Ever wondered where your website ranks in Google for a particular search word? This free SEO Tool (Search Engine Optimization Tool) will tell you.

Just type in your website URL and the search term you are targeting.

For example, in the screenshot at right I choose "My Website Position" (the pink arrow) and then typed in my URL and the search term "set up autoresponder" (the big pink circle).

The tool tells me that I am currently ranked 13 in Google for that search term (the small pink circle).

If you want to try out the tool, just go to www.rnk1.com

Today Darren Rowse from Problogger asked his readers: What do you know know about blogging that you wish you knew when you started?

My answer: I wish I knew to make links open in a new window. The reason why this is important is that making links open in a new window ensures that when someone clicks an external link on your blog they don't leave your blog for good. This helps your reader return to your page without having to repeated click their "back" button.

Wondering how to do this?

It's not difficult. It varies a bit depending on the blogging platform you use, but generally it goes like this:

1) you highlight the words that you want to make into a link (just like always)

2) you indicate by clicking the little link icon that you want to make the words or address into an active link (just like always)

3) a window opens up and asks you for the complete URL for the link (just like always)

Below is a link to a recording of my teleclass on making the transition to self-employment. The participants are all home-based business people in the early stages of establishing a coaching or consulting business.

During the discussion we heard from several people about challenges in choosing their business niche. That's often a sticking point for new business people making the transition to self-employment.

We also discussed ideas for one participant in particular on how to make the transition from full-time employment to his executive coaching business, keeping in mind that he is the sole income earner for a family of four. Enjoy the recording.

Click here to listen to the teleclass recording...

A "screenshot" is a snapshot of what's on your computer's screen. For instance, here is a screenshot of what I see when I go to Google.

You can see that the screenshot includes everything that I normally see on my computer screen, including the titles, menus and stuff at the bottom of the screen.

The reason it looks kind of fuzzy is because I have made the screenshot smaller to fit here. If I had left it the original size it would be just as clear as any page on my computer.

So how do you make screenshots?

You don't have to buy any special software to make screenshots. Your computer already has the cabability to do it quickly and easily.

To create a screenshot follow these steps:

1. Open the page that you want to capture and leave it up on your computer screen.

2. Press the PrintScreen button on your keyboard and let it up. (To find the PrintScreen or PrtScrn button, look on the right hand side of your keyboard).

3. You have now saved an image of your screen on your computer's clipboard. You won't be able to see it, but it's there (it's a similar idea to when you copy and paste).

4. Open a graphics program such as Paint. Everyone has Paint on their PC. To access it, click Start>Programs>Accessories>Paint.

5. Once you have Paint open, click "new" to create a new empty image.

6. Click Edit>Paste to paste in the screenshot you just took.

7. You will now see your screenshot as a picture. Click File>Save As and save your file in a place that you will remember. If it asks you what format you want to save in, choose PNG.

8. Now you have an image file of the screen saved on your computer. You can insert it into a document or webpage just like any other image.

Additional points:

If you want to skip the Paint steps, you can also paste the screenshot directly into a word processing program such as Word and into certain email programs such as Outlook.

This basic method will result in a full-size screenshot. This follow-up article explains how to make your screenshot smaller.

This article was chosen for the Carnival of Blogging Success.

Had a fun in-person meeting today with Andrea J. Lee and Sarah Van Male. For three people who normally communicate virtually, it was a real treat to be in the same room at the same time.

In fact, it was the first time Andrea and Sarah had met in person, even though they've been working together for two years. And in the six years that I've known Andrea, today marked just the third time that we've met in person.

We met at Serious Coffee in Nanaimo, which happens to be my second office (I'm there three or four times a weeks for a half-caf latte). Coincidentally, it's Sarah's favorite coffee place too when she's enroute to her home on Hornby Island.

Andrea's on Vancouver Island for a bit of a holiday, and Sarah was returning from a trip to Vancouver. We talked about work, pets and the men in our lives, although not necessarily in that order :)

Sarah's the creative person behind the graphic art for the various CD products that Andrea and I are collaborating on. We discussed ideas for the covers for the 11-CD Coaching Masteries product, and came up with a really exciting concept. You can see Sarah's portfolio here.

I was intrigued to hear that Sarah and Andrea connected via Elance. Sarah advertises her graphic services there, and that's how Andrea found her. Great example of the win-win of using online freelancer listing services.

As much as I enjoy doing business virtually, there's really nothing like an in-person meeting to connect and find out things about colleagues that just wouldn't make it into an email. For example, how Andrea and I both have a big hearty laugh!

Our guest writer this week is Joan Stewart, also know as the Publicity Hound.

If you need help with your public relations campaign and you can't do it alone, hiring a publicist or other service provider is often a wise decision.

Here are six handy tips to keep in mind when buying PR-related products or services such as the ones that are included on The Publicity Hound's Resources List.

1. Know your budget

If you call a company you might want to do business with, and the person to whom you're speaking asks "What's your budget?", that's not a trick question. They're simply trying to determine whether you can afford their products or services before they spend 20 minutes on the phone with you, then discover they're way out of your price range.

Some people who need help with press releases, for example, can only afford to pay someone $50 to write the release. Yet I don't know of one professional writer who would write a release for only $50.

If you don't know exactly how much you can spend, state a range. That way, the service provider can determine if there's anything they can do for you within your budget.

If you are not a marketing or PR person and have never bought these services before and truly have no idea what things cost, feel free to ask the vendor to give you a ballpark idea of costs, knowing that the ultimate cost will vary depending on the shape of the program you pursue.

2. Contact several vendors

The more companies you contact, the more choices you'll have in the end. If you can get a referral from a friend or business associate who loves working with a certain company, that will save you a lot of time. But most people looking for publicity products or services aren't that lucky.

I advise talking to three companies regarding the types of public relations services or products they provide. Prepare a list of questions before you call, and ask them all the same questions. If you're buying media reference directories, for example, in what format is the information available? And exactly what types of contact information does the directory provide? Can you see a sample listing at their website? Can you take a free or inexpensive test-drive before you make your decision?

In today's fast-paced world, many people find they have trouble feeling grounded and on top of things. Work is often filled with a sense of urgency leading to stress, fatigue, and even burn-out. Get some help prioritizing, by taking the Urgency Index test.

Used by Robert Gass in his Art of Leadership training at Hollyhock, this tool may help you find the right balance between what needs to be done now, and what can be reassigned or completed at a later date.

The Urgency Index test helps you determine the difference between things that are urgent and things that are important. And contrary to popular belief, you should not necessarily do the urgent things first. Why not? Because you could spend your whole life doing the urgent things (which are usually just self-imposed or putting out fires) without doing the important things.

via the Hollyhock newsletter. Hollyhock is an educational retreat centre located on Cortes Island, B.C. Hollyhock's mission is to inspire, nourish and support people who are making the world better.

Ah...the folly! I should know by now that nothing is every really finished. It's always evolving. Or at least, that's how it works for me. One project inevitably leads to another.

As Andrea Lee remarked this week "Remember the quote from the Godfather?" Oh yeah, that would be the one about making an offer you just can't refuse. Can't you just hear Andrea laughing gleefully in the background?

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Let's backup a couple of months. I had announced far and wide that I was leaving the coaching profession to become a full-time artist. I had already tried to sell my coaching practice but it didn't work out. So I announced in my newsletter that I was considering developing my materials into a self-study program.

No sooner had I pushed SEND on that message, than I received a immediate reply from Andrea Lee (she of Multiple Streams of Coaching Income fame, among many other things).

Barbra,

Re your project to home-study-ize the BACC materials. I wonder if you would be interested in a collaboration? I could offer to help in any way useful to moving the product creation part along...

What I envision is that having collaborated and perhaps cobranded the product, I could then very easily and on a continual active basis promote it at our online store, due to launch later this spring. I could also see continually finding opportunities to sell it, at events, exhibits, build affiliate relationships, etc. Might you be interested in discussing it further?