There is no disputing that the general public has embraced social media and it is here to stay - although we know it will evolve. Companies, both big and small, are starting to come to the realization that social media can be a positive part of their overall business strategy. The following are some articles I sent on to a client this morning who is beginning to develop a social media strategy:

DoshDosh put together a great guide for beginners, marketers and companies to using Twitter - complete with 17 ways to use it as inspiration.

Business Week talks about how companies are starting to use Twitter to bolster their brands.

I’m pretty sure I have linked to this before, but Peter Kim has put together a list of companies and what social media tools they are using.

The Boston Globe reports how businesses are using social media to identify and resolve customer complaints.

According to an Inc. study, its Inc. 500 companies are early adopters of social media use.

And Jeremiah Owyang gives tips and resources for monitoring your brand online.

Its October again and just a few days into the month more than 500 websites have gone pink in support of Breast Cancer awareness (including two of mine). Its not too late to get involved - and you don’t have to turn your website pink to do it - how about a pink Twitter background or give your avatar a pink sheen. If you are looking for pink inspiration, here are 13 more beautiful Pink for October site designs to go with my 13 favorite pink themes from last year.

Diary of a Website did the design for the main Pink for October site this year and used the same theme for her site. Very nice!

A little paisley and a little pink makes Adventures in Motherhood very eye pleasing.

Brendan Cullen does a nice job with the black and pink - I like how the footer is tied into the design as well.

I love the combination of the vertical stripes and the simple layout on the interior of SourceWave.net.

Swank Web Style always has something fun in the works - including their Pink for October look.

I love this shade of magenta! Blissfully Aware takes pink to the extreme.

Retro comic book funk is the best description for The New Pink - love it!

Anidan Design takes a very minimalistic approach that really works!

A little bit of sass and professionalism rolled in to one gives MarnieB my vote.

ScribbleScratch made my favorites list last year and has a new design this time around - she also has quite a few pink Wordpress themes available for download.

Bonita in Pink has done an amazing job of customizing my favorite Adii theme. Very striking!!

Who can resist a cupcake? This is one of Scribble Scratch’s yummy designs.

One of my design pals, Selene of iDesignStudios, gave her normally pink design an extra bit of punch for October.

If you have a favorite Pink for October design, please take a minute and share it with us. Or let us know which of these designs you happen to love. Thanks to all the designers for taking time to support a great cause by sharing your creativity and voice with all of us.

Not one of my strongest post titles, but you will forgive me.

One of my goals this year is to help my Printables4Kids.com website gain more popularity via online and offline methods. I am constantly mentioning the site to teachers, librarians, homeschooling parents, and friends who have young kids and needed a card I could give out that would give them a reason to visit the site. After hearing so many people singing the praises of Moo.com, I checked them out. Since one of the things I wanted to do with the card is highlight activities on the website, I needed a double-sided card. With Moo.com, no problem!

Moo allows you to pick up to 100 DIFFERENT designs for one side of the card for no additional cost. You can grab the images from your Flickr account, your own collection and a variety of other sources. This was the perfect solution. I chose 5 different printable activities from my site that would reduce well and set them up on the Moo.com site. Then I designed a very simple card front using their interactive design interface.

The result:

One front design and 5 different backs all for a really reasonable price! For 100 cards (20 of each design), I only spent $20. You can’t beat that - especially for small businesses or for marketing your blog offline!

Last week I had to mail something to fellow designer, Randa Clay, and I decided to include one of my new business cards for Printables4Kids.com (one of my other sites). After receiving her package, she sent me a tweet via Twitter that went like this:

Coming from Randa, the compliment means so much, but it also reinforces that putting the activities on the back created my desired result. Everyone I have given them to has also loved them - thanks to Moo!

If you have had fun making moo-velous cards with Moo, I’d love to see them! Leave me a link so I can check them out.