Since I am a visual person, I would like to begin this post with a short twitter video presentation from [...]]]> modified content  by Terrence O’Brien, posted Mar 26th 2009 at 1:59PM

I thought I would blog a small series of posts on Twitter so all the NE Internet subscribers could be on the same page .

Since I am a visual person, I would like to begin this post with a short twitter video presentation from the University of YouTUBE.

I know that you have  been hearing all about this new and growing service, but what exactly is it?  Twitter? is this something I do after drinking too much coffee or what?

What is Twitter?

Twitter is what is known as a microblogging service, an online place where you can ‘post’ short messages, or ‘tweets’ of 140 characters (including spaces). These ‘tweets’ can be read by anyone who is ‘following’ you (essentially, subscribing to your tweets). Similarly, you can follow (subscribe) to the tweets of anyone you want, from friends and family to favorite celebrities, publications and Web sites (like Switched, which you can ‘follow’ on Twitter by clicking here). The tweets of your followees show up in a main feed right on Twitter’s main page, one after the other in chronological order.

At its most basic, Twitter is a dedicated status updating service à la Facebook (in fact, Facebook seems to have modeled its recent upgrade on Twitter), with which you can keep people up-to-date with your life — be it what you’re doing at a particular moment in time, a link to an interesting Web site, or something as mundane as what you had for lunch.  In our profession you can market yourself using twitter and providing tweets about what you just had for lunch. Was it good, was it nutritional, was it something your peers or clients would find significant or useful? Do you want the whole twittering world to know about this restaurant and what are the particular features you want to shout in your tweet? Go for it!

Why You Should Use Twitter!

To increase your profile

Twitter is not just a fad. When very high profile folks begin evangelizing Twitter, it’s worth closer examination. Here’s what some of those gurus reported:

Duct Tape Marketing founder John Jantsch identified three big advantages of Twitter, “(1) I get great insight when I ask questions, (2) let’s face it, I get traffic and (3) people on Twitter spread my thoughts to new places.”

Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.com said, “We’ve found that Twitter has been a great way for us to connect on a more personal level with our employees and customers. We use it to help build our brand, not drive direct sales. It’d be like asking how does providing a telephone number for customer service translate into new business when they are mostly non-sales-related calls. In the long term, Twitter helps drive repeat customers and word of mouth, but we’re not looking to it as a way of driving immediate sales.”

Bestselling author David Meerman Scott said, “I have personally connected with hundreds of people I otherwise wouldn’t have, and I booked an interview on NPR and a big daily newspaper using Twitter.”

How do you get on Twitter?

You simply go to the twitter.com website  register and sign up.  Choose a username — something uniquely you, but not embarrassing. If it’s available, try to get your real name. The next step is to start following friends and family that you can find using Twitter’s contact importer, which searches your contacts on Gmail, Yahoo!, or other Web mail services for people on Twitter. If you just want to search by name, that’ll work, too. Following someone is as simple as pressing the ‘Follow’ button on their Twitter page.

Next, it’s time to create your profile. You get one image (so make it count) and 160 characters to explain who you are and what you do to the ‘Twitterverse.’ As you can see, we’re not in Facebook-land anymore. While Facebook and MySpace are filled with various ways to post information, pictures, and annoying applications, Twitter is a more controlled environment — just a name, location, Web site link, 160-character bio, and a picture. Therefore, it’s all about what you say in that 160-character space, especially since people are more likely to read your whole Twitter profile than they are the hard-to-wade-through, gargantuan tomes that end up on a typical Facebook or MySpace profile. In other words, yes, your Twitter profile can get you fired, so watch what you say here (and in your tweets, for that matter).

Stay tuned for more tips on your tweets….

Nadine

FIND any health-oriented video you seek from hundreds of [...]]]> HEALTHCARE VIDEO ON DEMAND
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Although the concept of search engine optimization can be somewhat complex, there are a number of basic search engine optimization techniques you can use to improve your organic search results. Keep the following in mind when trying to achieve [...]]]> Top 10 Search Engine Optimization Strategies For Your Website!
By Michael Fleischner | Marketing Expert, Internet Marketing Secrets*

Although the concept of search engine optimization can be somewhat complex, there are a number of basic search engine optimization techniques you can use to improve your organic search results. Keep the following in mind when trying to achieve top rankings for your website.

1. Meta Tags.

Meta tags are simple lines of code at the top of your web page programming that tell search engines about your page. Include the title tag, keyword stag, description tag, and robots tag on each page.

2. Create and update your site map.

Developing a site map is a simple way of giving search engines the information they need to crawl your entire website. There are plenty of free software packages on the web that can help you generate a sitemap. Once you create a site map, submit it to Google and Yahoo.

3. Ensure that all navigation is in HTML.

All too often, navigational items are in the form of java script. Even though navigation technically still works in this format, it’s not optimized. Create your navigation in HTML to enhance internal links throughout your website.

4. Check that all images include ALT text.

Your image’s alt text is spidered by search engines. If you’re not including your keywords in alt text, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity for improved search engine result placements. Label all of your images properly.

5. Use Flash content sparingly.

Content generated through java script or flash is a big no-no. Some webmasters like to use flash because of the presentation. If you must, use it sparingly, but only after your site has been properly optimized with basic search engine optimization in mind.

6. Make sure that your website code is clean.

Keep in mind when optimizing a web page crawlers are basically only looking at your source code. When programming your web pages, having W3C compliant code can make all the difference. Run your code through a W3C validator before promoting.

7. Place keywords in your page content.

Search engines scan your website and web pages for keywords. Shoot for a keyword density of between two and eight percent. Google likes your page to be at the lower end of this scale and Yahoo at the upper end.

8. Submit your website to search engine directories.

It’s always a good idea to let large search engine directories know that you’re out there. Submit your website URL to directories like Google, Yahoo, and DMOZ.

9. Build links to your website.

Consider building a link exchange program or create one-way links to your site using articles or forum posts. All major search engines value the importance of your website based on how many others websites are linking to it.

10. Stay the course.

Good optimization takes time. People expect to see results immediately. You may very well see improvements in a short period, but reaching the number one position takes time. Be patient.
Learning to optimize your website for search engines takes time and patience. Start by applying basic search engine optimization principles. If you’re new to website optimization, or even a well seasoned veteran, begin by prioritizing which pages are most important to you and go from there. Soon you’ll find yourself moving up the rankings.
Michael Fleischner is an Internet marketing expert with more than 12 years of marketing experience. To discover how to improve search engine rankings on Google and other major search engines visit http://www.webmastersbookofsecrets.com

There are 12 new, five deleted, and nine revised E&M codes. A new subsection, Non-Face-to-Face Physician Services, has been added that includes new codes for telephone services and online medical evaluations.

E&M codes

There are 12 new, five deleted, and nine revised E&M codes. A new subsection, Non-Face-to-Face Physician Services, has been added that [...]]]>

There are 12 new, five deleted, and nine revised E&M codes. A new subsection, Non-Face-to-Face Physician Services, has been added that includes new codes for telephone services and online medical evaluations.

E&M codes

There are 12 new, five deleted, and nine revised E&M codes. A new subsection, Non-Face-to-Face Physician Services, has been added that includes new codes for telephone services and online medical evaluations.

Three new telephone codes (99441-99443) are for physicians to use to report E&M services provided by phone at the request of established patients. But they can’t be used if the doctor sees the patient within 24 hours or the call refers to an E&M visit within the previous seven days. The new online E&M code (99444) is intended to report a physician’s Internet response to an established patient’s online inquiry. These services should be documented in the medical record.

The AMA created these codes in response to changes in patient expectations and advancements in technology. But Medicare won’t be reimbursing these new codes, and neither will most private payers. “It’s important to recognize the difference between code establishment and coverage decisions,” Thorwarth points out.

Another new subheading, Counseling Risk Factor Reduction and Behavior Change Intervention, features four new codes. Two of them report smoking cessation counseling (99406, 99407) and replace the G codes (G0375, G0376) that Medicare used to report this service. The other two (99408, 99409) apply to alcohol and/or drug abuse screening and brief intervention services. But you’ll have to use new G codes (G0396 and G0397) when you submit this service to Medicare.

Three new codes (99366-99368) cover interdisciplinary team conferences for patients or families by physicians and allied health professionals, such as audiologists, physical therapists, and psychologists. The specific conference code depends on time, whether the patient is present, and whether physicians or nonphysicians attend.

Read more here…