Here at One2One Network, we’re excited to offer meaningful and beneficial partnerships between brands and you, our members. As a member, you have the opportunity to discover new products and services, to be a voice for the most influential consumer group, to have a choice in the projects you participate in, and to have access to resources to help improve your social media and blogging skill set. And you get a team who is interested in seeing you succeed and reach your goals!

On that note, we want to know how you would complete this sentence, “I love being a One2One Network member because…..” or “My favorite thing about being a One2One Network member is…..” We’re looking for members to be voices of One2One Network! You are an integral part of what makes this company great and it’s your voice we want others to hear when they ask us, “so what are you all about?”

How does it work? Simply submit a short video answering one of the above questions. Use your webcam, the camera on your phone, or whatever recording device you have available that will allow you to send a digital file. (If you do not have a way to record a video, we’d still love to hear from you! Take a picture and add a speech bubble or text with your answer.) We will review the submissions and choose several to use in our “Voices of One2One Network” video that we will premiere at BlissDom ’12!

And now for the really fun part, all submissions will go into a drawing for FIVE – $100 VISA gift cards!

We can’t wait to hear what you have to say!

Deadline for submissions is Monday, February 6, 2012. Please e-mail your submissions (video or photo) to Malia at malia.carden@one2onenetwork.com.

Gift card winners will be chosen by random drawing. Winners will be notified via email and will have 48 hours to claim their gift before an alternate winner is chosen. Winners will be announced by Friday, February 10th. By submitting a video or photo, you release it for use by One2One Network for business and promotional purposes.

Happy New Year!

We hope that your holiday season was relaxing, blessed and merry! Here at O2O, we are very excited about what is in store for 2012. We were already working on 2012 projects before we took a brief holiday break and now we’re off to a great start for the new year!

One thing that aids in that excitement is looking back over what was accomplished in 2011. We brought our members 37 projects last year -  that’s at least 3 a month! And they ranged in everything from traditional product reviews to social media campaigns to social good projects (our personal favorite!)

So here’s a look, by the numbers, of what what 2011 looked like for One2One Network members and our team.

14 Product Review and/or Giveaway projects:

Crystal Light Pure, Fellowes Paper Shredders, Advil Congestion Relief, Scotts Turf Builder, Ritz Crackerfuls, Newtons Fruit Thins, Crystal Light Mocktails, Johnsonville Brat or Italian Sausage Patties, Crest 3D Whitestrips, Barbie Charm School Party/DVD, Defiants 4x4s, Barbie Perfect Christmas DVD, Sierra Mist cocktail/mocktails, and L’oreal Fiberlash mascara

10 Social Media promotion campaigns:

Centrum’s America’s Most Amazingly Energized Woman Contest, Clorox Get the Dirt but Keep it Clean, Centrum GET FIT, AMF Summer Unplugged, No Ordinary Burger Contest, Ragu Moms the Word on Dinner, Bounce It Off Millions, Hellmann’s Chicken & Turkey Challenges, and Master Lock Holiday Safety

2 TV Review projects:

Working Class & Power Rangers

3 Book Review projects:

Cinch!, Home-Ec 101 & Here, Home, Hope

2 Music Review projects:

Yanni – Truth of Touch & Mat Kearney  – Young Love

6 Social Good projects:

Don’t Fret the Sweat, GiveBack 100 Days of Giving, Garnier Cleaner Greener Tour, Hanes Virtual Comfort Package, California Milk Advisory Board Real Seal Appeal, and Advil Congestion Relief for Communities

4 Ambassadorships for Bloggers:

Kleenex, Bounce, Ragu, & Q-Tips

11 Conferences attended by at least one O2O Team member:

BlissDom, South by Southwest, Mom 2.0 Summit, SOBCon, Reviewers Retreat, Type-A Parent, Evo, BlogHer, BlissDom Canada ’11, Blogilicious, and LATISM

And lots & lots of Member Perks!:

Two members attended BlissDom ’11 on us, members attended and reviewed Yanni ‘Truth of Touch’ & Mat Kearney ‘Young Love’ tour concerts, the Mommin’ It Up bloggers hosted a meet & greet for Dayton area members with author Kaira Rouda (Here, Home, Hope), Chicago area members attended the SELF Workout in the Park in May, O2O Summer All-Stars Bowling parties were hosted by members for members in Salt Lake City, St. Louis, Atlanta and Denver, the YOU-phoria party at BlogHer, two members won sponsorships to the Becoming Conference, and one member won a conference pass to Blogilicious.

What about you? Did you write a 2011 year in review type post? Link it here so that we can come by and catch-up with your year and see what you are looking forward to in 2012!

photo credit: Dafne Cholet from Flickr

This giveaway is now closed. Winners will be notified via e-mail. Thanks for entering!

It’s that time of year again — no, not the holidays with shopping and decorating and indulging in treats — it’s BlissDom giveaway time!! We hope to make someone’s holiday very merry this year by giving them an opportunity to attend the 5th annual BlissDom Conference. BlissDom 2012 will be held February 23-25 at the fabulous Opryland Hotel in Nashville, TN.

Let’s relive the bliss of 2011, shall we?

Do you need a tissue? We do! Are you excited? We are!

BlissDom gets better and better, year after year. We are especially excited about the sessions that have been announced – Business, Writing, Photography and Life Development. Each year the “Bliss Chicks” take what conference attendees have deemed as most valuable to them and turn it up a notch. Breaking from typical conference format, BlissDom 2012 will have single speakers/presenters (no panels!) for each topic with extended sessions designed to give attendees lots of time to not only learn but to practice, plan and connect.

If you are already planning to be at BlissDom, we look forward to seeing you! If you’d like to go to BlissDom but need a little help getting there, we hope we can help with that! One2One Network is happy to announce that we are sending FOUR One2One Network members to the BlissDom conference in February!

PRIZING:

• GRAND PRIZE: Full conference registration + 3 nights in the Opryland Hotel for one member ($900 value)
• THREE (3) RUNNER-UP PRIZES: Full conference registrations for three members ($199 value)

HOW TO ENTER:

Now, go take a look at the four sessions that will be presented at BlissDom. Go ahead…we’ll wait.

1. Please tell us in the comments which session you are most interested in attending, why you chose it, and what you hope to learn from it. There are THREE parts to your answer – very important because that is your official, mandatory entry into the giveaway. Only answers containing all three parts will be eligible to win.

2. You can get an extra entry by tweeting about this giveaway:

I want some #O2OBliss for the holidays! I entered @One2OneNetwork’s Great #BlissDom Giveaway! http://bit.ly/o2obliss

Please leave an additional comment with the permalink to your tweet. Only comments with permalinks will be eligible as an additional entry.

3. You can get another extra entry by displaying the Proud One2One Network member badge in the sidebar of your blog! Need a badge? Find them here! Not a member yet? Sign-up here!

Please leave an additional comment stating that you are displaying a One2One Network member badge and the URL to your blog.

**UPDATED** If it appears that any of your comments go to spam, please send us a message via Twitter or Facebook and we’ll be sure to fish it out of the spam folder!**

Each entry must be a separate comment (i.e. to be entered three times, you should leave three comments: (1) the mandatory entry, (2) the permalink to your tweet, and (3) your proud member badge statement and URL to your blog). To be eligible to win, you must be a One2One Network member (Not a member? Join now!).

**Giveaway ends at 11:59PM EST on December 31, 2011!**

**Giveaway has ended.**

Good luck! We hope to see you in February!

No Purchase Necessary. Void Where Prohibited By Law. By entering the giveaway, you are agreeing to the Official Rules. Giveaway will run from Monday, December 12, 2011through Saturday, December 31, 2011. Entries must be received in those time frames to be valid. Contest is open to people 18 years of age or older and a resident of the United States of America or Canada. Winner will be chosen via Comment Contest and notified via email. Winner will have 48 hours to respond to the email accepting their prize. If no response is made within 48 hours, a second winner will be chosen. Winner will be announced once prize acceptance has been confirmed and no later than January 31, 2012.

There is a lot that is subjective about blog design. One person’s simple and clean is another person’s stark and boring. Ascetics are important but they should never overrule functionality. We’re going to look at few things every blog should have no matter what it looks like.

Header

First impressions mean a lot and your header is the first thing people really see when they visit your blog.

Headers should not be:

• Too big – if I have to scroll down to see your first post, your header is too big.
• Too cluttered – your blog’s name & tagline (simple & concise) are the key elements, plus of course, your logo. You can possibly have links to social media sites and other pages on your blog if it fits the overall theme of your site.

Headers should:

• Give a clear image of your personal brand.
• Set the tone of your site.

All the circles in the tree are linked buttons!

This header from O2O member, Carissa Rogers of Good N Crazy is one of my all time favorite headers! Not too big – you can see her first post directly beneath the header. Not too cluttered – the relevant links (such as social media icons and links to additional content) are contained in the tree graphic. Sets the tone of her site – the colors used in the header are repeated throughout the site.

Easy To Spot Social Media Icons

Readers want to connect with you, don’t make them search for that information! As Community Manager for One2One Network, I’m daily looking at blogs of our members. I want to make sure that we’re following members on Twitter, that we “Like” their blog pages on Facebook, that we’re subscribed to their feeds, etc.  The top, prime spots on your sidebar should be dedicated to making yourself accessible across social media platforms. Including your…

Easy To Find Email Address

A link with an html “mailto:” code is super helpful but even a graphic or plain text with your email address is fine. And for the record, just say no to contact forms.

Sidebar

Sidebars are tricky beasts. Where should they go – right side or left side? What should be in them? How much information and content should be in a sidebar? Here are a couple of things to consider.

1. Placement – “Nothing is quite so vexing to me as a blog whose sidebar is on the left. The natural movement of our eyes is from left to right: if we want visitors to read our blog post, we want their eyes to land on it first. This idea is reinforced by usability studies done by renowned usability expert Jakob Nielsen (e.g. Horizontal Attention Leans Left).” via Brad Shorr of Six Revisions.
2. Content – Content should be useful and fresh. Move multiple years of archives and old awards to a another page. Widgets should fit within the parameters of the sidebar. The overall look of the sidebar should be clean and uncluttered. And as mentioned earlier, prime real estate should be given to those ways that people can reach you (social media links and e-mail).

Generally speaking, 2-column blogs are easier to navigate vs. 3-column. If you just have to have 3-columns, make sure they contain relevant information and are uncluttered.

Be Searchable

Good PR firms and marketers are actually going to do their homework first before contacting you with a pitch or opportunity. It’s in your best interest to make it easy for them to find the information they seek. Many blog templates have search box plugins and widgets that you can easily add to your sidebar (in an easily found spot!). Google and Lijit are also search providers that I often see when searching blogs for potential projects. If you don’t have this already, get one today!

To round this post out, I will confess that my personal blog, is pretty much lacking in ALL these things. And in writing this, I even see some improvements that can be made here on the O2O blog. That being said, I’m going to be taking my own “advice” soon! What kinds of things do think are “must-haves” on a blog – on your blog?

**Congratulations to Andrea K. – she’s the winner of the Maximum Mayhem play set + 6 4×4 trucks!**

If you have a child or know a child that loves to play with cars or trucks or anything motorized then you have just found an ideal gift him or her! The Defiants 4x4s are mini, mighty, and motorized vehicles – no remote control needed, just two AAA batteries. Choose the gear (high or low) and let them go! They travel over rough terrain or climb Defiants play sets with ease. It’s hours of entertainment as kids can continually find new adventures for their trucks.

After our Defiants Maximum Mayhem playset (7 feet of track for the ultimate in extreme action plus one 4×4 vehicle) arrived and we got it all set-up (which was a breeze with easy, snap-together parts) we kept hearing things like, “Awesome!” and “This is so cool!” and “Wow! Did you see that?” and “This is the BEST toy ever!” from our six-year old son. It definitely gets two thumbs up from the first grade set. And just after a little while of playing with it, he was already a Defiants 4x4s expert. I figured he was the best one to tell you all about how it works.

Right now, the Defiants 4x4s trucks and the FlexTracks are on sale at Target stores throughout the country. Regularly priced at $7.99 each, you can get them through November 5th for just $5.99!! The trucks would make great holiday gifts or stocking stuffers. They would also be good for stocking up on for birthday gifts.

Like the Maximum Mayhem play set highlighted in the video? We have ONE play set + SIX 4×4 trucks to giveaway!

To the enter the giveaway, please leave a comment telling us who in your life would most enjoy the Maximum Mayhem play set! (Names are not necessary, you can simply state your relationship to the person, i.e. son, daughter, nephew, niece, husband etc.) This is the mandatory entry.

Get three more entries by:

1. Tweeting: I want to win a #Defiants Maximum Mayhem play set from @Defiants4x4s & @One2OneNetwork http://bit.ly/pd0LBZ (Please leave the permalink to your tweet as a separate comment. You may make your own tweet but the bit.ly & hashtag must be part of your tweet. Tweet as often as you like, but only one tweet is counted as an extra entry.)
2. Following: @One2OneNetwork on Twitter (Please leave a separate comment stating you are following on Twitter.)
3. Following: @Defiants4x4s on Twitter (Please leave a separate comment stating you are following on Twitter.)

Each entry must be a separate comment (i.e. to be entered four times, you should leave four comments: the mandatory entry, the permalink to your tweet, the @One2OneNetwork follow and the @Defiants4x4s follow). To be eligible to win, you must be a One2One Network member (Not a member? Join now!), you must be 18 years of age or older and a resident of the United States of America or Canada.

**Giveaway ends at Midnight on Sunday, October 30th!**
THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED

By entering the giveaway, you are agreeing to the Official Rules. No Purchase Necessary. Void Where Prohibited By Law. Approximate retail value of the prize is $90 (US dollars). Giveaway will run from 11:00AM CT, Monday, October 24, 2011 through 11:59PM CT, Sunday, October 30, 2011. Entries must be received in those time frames to be valid. Winner will be chosen via Comment Contest and notified via email. Winner will have 48 hours to respond to the email accepting their prize. If no response is made within 48 hours, a second winner will be chosen. Winner will be announced once prize acceptance has been confirmed and no later than Monday, November 7, 2011.

We’ve got a Blogalicious Weekend conference pass to giveaway to one of our members! This is going to be a quick turnaround giveaway, only 48 hours to get your entries in! But first, here’s a little bit of info about Blogalicious Weekend -

“Blogalicious Weekend is an event celebrating diversity among women in the blogosphere and social media.

Eighty percent of major business deals are said to be made on the golf course… Consider Blogalicious your green! Jam-packed with opportunities to make unique connections and valuable contacts in a sociable setting, this conference will arm you with the relationships you need and want. Whether your social media focus is business, storytelling, technology, politics, parenting, lifestyle or social change, the networking and educational aspects of Blogalicious will motivate and inspire.”

October 21-23 in Washington D.C. at the Gaylord National Hotel & Convention Center.

What is your social media focus AND how do you think attending Blogalicious Weekend will motivate and inspire you in that area?

Answer the questions in the comments! That is your mandatory entry for this giveaway.

Earn three more entries by:

1. Tweeting: I want to win a ticket to @beblogalicious from @One2OneNetwork! http://bit.ly/qGAAxx #blogalicious11 (Please leave the permalink to your tweet as a separate comment. You may make your own tweet but the bit.ly & hashtag must be part of your tweet. Tweet as often as you like, but only one tweet is counted as an extra entry.)
2. Following: @One2OneNetwork on Twitter (Please leave a separate comment stating you are following on Twitter.)
3. Following: @beblogalicious on Twitter (Please leave a separate comment stating you are following on Twitter.)

Each entry must be a separate comment (i.e. to be entered four times, you should leave four comments: the mandatory entry, the permalink to your tweet, the @One2OneNetwork follow and the @beblogalicious follow). To be eligible to win, you must be a One2One Network member (Not a member? Join now!) Winners will be chosen via Comment Contest and notified via email. Winners will have 24 hours to respond to the email accepting their prize. If no response is made within 24 hours, a second winner will be chosen. Giveaway will run from 11:00AM CT, Monday, October 10, 2011 through 11:00AM CT, Wednesday, October 12, 2011. Entries must be received in those time frames to be valid.

We are a team of Mac users. Most of us use iPhones (and those who don’t, um…me, have plans to change that). We are grateful for Steve Jobs and his visionary spirit. We were saddened to learn of his passing.

“[Y]ou can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”

– Stanford University commencement address, June 2005.

“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart. … Stay hungry. Stay foolish.“

– Stanford University commencement address, June 2005.

Rest in peace, Steve Jobs, you will be missed.

October is just around the corner and that means a cause near and dear to our hearts, National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Earlier this week, Hanes launched a new app on Facebook and we’re helping them spread the word about it. It’s called the Comfort Package App and from it you can send fun, free, virtual “care packages” to your friends and family on Facebook. What does that have to do with breast cancer awareness? For every package that is sent, Hanes donates $1 to the National Breast Cancer Foundation. The best part? It’s so fun and easy to do! Here, I’ll show you!

Go to Hanes’ Facebook Page and click on the Pink tab to left under the “Fan of the Week” picture. Then click on the “Send a Comfort Package” section.

You’ll be sent to the “Get Started” page.

Click anywhere on the page. You’ll then be sent to the “Personal Touch” page where you can add up to six fun elements to your Comfort Package.

I added a recipe.

A song.

A T-shirt.

And a personal note.

Then I reviewed it and sent it to my friend and O2O coworker, Linda.

You know what feels good? Putting a smile on someone’s face. I’ve re-learned this recently and I think that knowing I’ve brought a little bit of comfort into my friend’s day brings just as much comfort, if not more to me. Try the Comfort Package app from Hanes. It’s a simple, free way to spread some love and to benefit a great cause!

What are your favorite ways of providing comfort to those you love?

Sexy, chic heels or cute, sensible flats?

Paint the living room ‘Bluejay’ or ‘Moss’?

Name the new puppy ‘Fluffy’ or ‘Bruiser’?

Carry daisies or hydrangeas down the aisle?

Are you having trouble making a decision? Does a choice between two compelling options have you stuck? Bounce invites you to “Bounce If Off Millions” using their new Facebook app!

Go to facebook.com/bounce, click on “Bounce It Off Millions” and submit a choice or decision that you’re making in your life. Your question will be turned into a poll, and tens of thousands of Bounce fanatics can lend their opinion, so you’ll have thousands helping you make a guided choice.

Bounce will choose 4 of the most interesting polls to be featured in a facebook ad, so your question or choice could go out to the entire facebook world, inviting 150 million+ Facebook users to help you make a choice. Imagine having that many people decide between your two favorite names for an expected baby!

Bounce fans can also enter in sweepstakes for the chance to win two Bounce Dryer Bars—one to keep, and one for a friend of your choice. 5,000 winners will be chosen.

And even if you don’t have a decision to make, giving your input to all the questions that have been submitted is a blast! Trust me, I just might have spent…quite awhile answering questions as “research” for this blog post.

Speaking of tough choices. I could really use your help. The outcome will definitely affect, well…nothing really, I just can’t decide…

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Thanks for your help! Now “bounce” on over to the Bounce It Off Millions app and help more good folks with their decisions!

A few weeks ago we announced that we would be sending three of our members to Becoming 2011, a unique lifestyle conference that is the brainchild of One2One Network members Jen Schmidt and Jenny Martin. We put the call out for applications and we had over 60 lovely, smart, talented ladies take up the challenge. We wish we could have sent them all. Truly. The applications were well thought out, humble and inspiring. It was very hard to choose.

That being said, we did decide on three. And then unfortunately the third could not attend; and though we tried to find an alternate, we ran of out time before the conference. Today we’d like to introduce you to the two members who were able to attend Becoming, give you a little insight into their lives and let you hear from them about their experience.

Bridget Ivey of The Ivey League

Bridget Ivey is a mom to 4 vivacious and snuggly children.  Married to her college sweetheart, they live in the one-light town where she grew up.  Bridget blogs from the heart about parenting, spirituality and depression.  She also shares craft ideas, beautiful photographs and delicious recipes on TheIveyLeague.com.

What Bridget hopes to attain by attending Becoming:

I love getting together with women who lift my spirit and rejuvenate my creativity. I see this as a perfect opportunity to step back from real life and refocus and re-energize just as summer ends and school begins.

How living a frugal, intentional lifestyle has impacted Bridget and her family:

In the past few years I have really begun to focus on the little things in life. My kids have picked up on this as well and I love to hear them talk about how much they enjoy the things we do together like going on a walk or baking or helping others. We have tried very hard to teach our children (and to model for them) how to be intentional about helping others, being kind and accepting of all people, and being mindful of those whose beliefs are different from our own.  (Although in all honesty, it’s often they who teach me!)

Bridget’s thoughts about her time at Becoming:

Becoming Conference was perfect for me! The sessions were well-planned and full of great information. The speakers were not only knowledgeable about topic, they were also interesting and personable. I learned some great, easy-to-do tactics for dealing with a chaotic, stressful life. I was introduced to the exciting idea of couponing, learned practical ideas of how to create lasting memories with my family, and how to embrace an imperfect house and make imperfection beautiful.

Sitting in the rocking chairs on the front porch of Ridgecrest Conference Center, I was able to fully appreciate the cool mountain air and also take a moment to take a big, deep breath before heading back to the hustle and bustle of home. So much personal renewal in only two days!

I look forward to going back next year, hopefully with several friends.

Mickey of A Helicopter Mom

I’m Mickey, a thirty-something mom of three small children living in the South.  I used to work in a busy, high-stress professional field, but now stay at home trying to fill my children’s days with fun and creativity and with a few learning lessons thrown in. In my spare time (ha!), I run a small baking business from home.  Life is busy, but very, very good.

What Mickey hopes to attain by attending Becoming:

Simply put, I want to learn how to live a better life. I have three small children and don’t think that I’m parenting and living as effectively as I should be. I want to be more organized. I want to find ways to save money, to be more creative and active with my children. I know that I’m a great mom, but I want to learn ways to be better at managing issues that complicate life.

How living a frugal, intentional lifestyle has impacted Mickey and her family:

We have been forced to live a frugal life. It’s teaching all of us, parents and kids included, what is really important in life. We know the difference between wants and needs and try to keep focused on what we do have, not what we wish we have.

Mickey’s thoughts about attending Becoming:
I had such a wonderful time at Becoming ’11. From budgeting and couponing to creating purposeful moments with our children, there were so many new things to learn. I can’t wait to put everything I learned into practice and am so thankful I was able to experience this amazing weekend.

It was truly a pleasure to be able to send these ladies to Becoming. We’re thrilled that they came home with so many new ideas and skills! And to Jen and Jenny, thank you for your vision and creativity that made this conference possible. We’re proud that you are One2One Network members!