Looking for a gift for someone who enjoys cool tools, technology, or computer gadgets? Thanks to Mashable’s Barb Dybwad, you don’t have to look far. Check her 10 Great Digital Gifts list.

Many new business owners find themselves in a seemingly impossible situation. They have no recommendations from satisfied customers to build credibility with prospects, and they have no clients to give them testimonials and the credibility that comes with word-of-mouth marketing. How can you demonstrate your credibility from the beginning? Here are three great ways:

• Be active in your community. Volunteer. Mentor. Coach. Serve. The people you work with and those you help may not be your target audience, but they can attest to your character.
• Continue your education. Not only will you be adding value for potential clients, you will also have professors who can vouch for you and your degree of competence.
• Establish an online presence that proclaims your professionalism and expertise without being all about you. Create content that addresses the needs of your ideal client. Offer solutions. Solve problems. Be positive, especially when talking or writing about others.

Let YOUR words and actions speak for you now and when you have loyal customers.

Creating credibility is both an ongoing process and a one-shot deal. You establish and continually maintain your credibility with stellar business practices, continued education, and community service. However, if you destroy someone’s faith in you by being dishonest or unreliable in the early stages of a relationship, you may never get another chance to build trust. Your actions speak louder than your words, your promises, your written guarantee, and your customers’ testimonials.

How do you convince those who are interested in your product or service that you are trustworthy? Here are 7 ways that work:

• Be honest all the time.
• Add value not just a list of degrees after your name.
• Volunteer, contribute, and share both in your local community and online in your global  network.
• Supply valid contact information to prospects and clients. Include a mailing address, a phone number that leads to a real person, and an e-mail address that gets checked on a regular basis.
• Forget trying to hide your identity in online transactions.
• Be reliable, timely, and appropriate.
• Provide excellent customer service.

How have other business owners increased your trust in them?

Shortened URLs have become commonplace. They make texting and reading a URL aloud much easier. They enable Twitter users to share links that exceed Twitter’s 140 character limit. They are more user-friendly than lengthy URLs that contain directions, descriptions, or hierarchies.

Unfortunately, shortened URLs have allowed some affiliate marketers to cloak their identity and misdirect their visitors. Shortened URLs have also enabled pranksters and phishing scammers to redirect with ease.

What can you do if a tweet or post captures your interest but you don’t know where you’ll end up if you click the shortened URL? Cut and paste it into this cool tool to unhide it.

The next time you need
● note cards for a presentation
● a pocket-sized list
● a handy planner
● quick reference material
● a diary
try this fun organizer http://pocketmod.com/v2/.

What if teachers, administrators, and budget-passing school board members viewed technology as a way of life rather than a tool? What if students were encouraged to learn how to find answers and solutions instead of just memorizing facts and figures? It can happen.

This week I attended the Educator Technology Clinic Showcase at Harrisburg University of Science and Technology. Teachers from central Pennsylvania shared how they integrated computer technology into their classrooms. My favorite presenter, Lisa Butler from Hershey Middle School, just happens to also be my go-to person for educational technology. Check out her blog for more cool tools.

Not only are her students learning Spanish, they are also equipped to find answers, empowered to seek better solutions, and encouraged to use whatever technology is available to them in the process. Because Internet access is available in the classroom for all students, she uses Glogster to put directions and URLs related to an assignment on one very visually interesting page. She has her students using Moodle to test their mastery of concepts. They have a choice of using the classroom computers or their cell phones to search Google for facts, translation help, and culturally relevant information. They dialogue in Spanish in real time with Cover It Live. Every class has their own blog which tells parents and absent students everything they need to know about what went on in class that day. Senorita Butler’s students are excited about Spanish because they are engaged in the process of learning, thanks to technology.

Learning how to use technology is not the goal or the end result. Instead, Ms. Butler is nurturing a love of language, answer-seeking, and solution-providing that will be a valuable asset when these learners enter the business world and the global community.

Ask the right question to add value for your client or employer. Instead of asking “What do you need me to do?” ask “What do you think of this concept for boosting business?” and then present ideas you can implement that will save time or money, grow their business, or streamline production.

This is an especially important difference if you are a freelancer, a part-time employee in a company facing cut-backs, or a virtual assistant. By offering solutions to problems, you are adding value for the company while creating work for yourself. You are demonstrating your ability to be a partner instead of a drone and an asset instead of a drain on the budget.

By asking the right question, you are also more likely to get a satisfying answer. The answer to “What do you need me to do?” could be “I don’t know.” or “Nothing.” or “Get out of my space.” When you present ideas that free people to do what they love best, you are more likely to get a positive response. You end up being in a position to grow their business and secure your place in that process. Even if your client or employer needs to think about your ideas before taking action, you have demonstrated your value as a forward-thinking, proactive, solution-provider.

Are you asking the right question?

When you send out your e-zine or publish your blog, you are competing for your reader’s time and attention. Do you know what your target audience wants from you? Have you asked? Listened closely? Taken a survey? Read your e-mail? Have you taken a look at Google Hot Trends or Twitter’s Trending Topics to get a clue about what matters to the average Internet user?

Never assume they are looking for your product or service (or ads about what you sell). They are online looking for solutions to their problems, quick fixes, inexpensive (and sometimes costly) remedies for what ails them. They want answers to life’s troubling questions. They want things to make sense.

They have access to a trillion Web pages. A few mouse clicks and countless freebies, bargains, and special offers as well as information and misinformation pop up for their perusal. How do they decide what and whom to trust? Make it easy for them. Demonstrate through your consistent quality posts that you are a reliable, trustworthy expert on topics that concern them most. Provide value. Share. Be the answer to questions they have not yet thought to ask. Let them know you understand and you care.

As a proofreader, I see a variety of writing styles: biographical, conversational, gimmicky, humorous, informational, scholarly, technical, and more. Exceptional authors draw their audiences in with liberal use of action verbs and attention to details. Outstanding technical writers satisfy readers with accuracy, well-placed prepositions, and a firm grasp of the end user’s primary language. Both make it easy for others to follow along.

Anyone can write “Some assembly required.” Spice it up with action verbs and make it more accurate by saying, “If you don’t have all weekend to devote to assembly, hire an expert to assemble this for you. Otherwise, grab your receipt, jump in your car, and exchange this product at the point of sale for something fully assembled.” You can have even more fun with this if your target market is technically inclined or thrives on a challenge. Leave the assembly directions out of the box or forget to mention “Hammer B into the narrow slot on C BEFORE nailing A and B together at point D.” They will provide their own colorful language, saving you time and effort.

If you are stuck using passive verbs and non-descript language, do a search online for “action verbs list” or “descriptive words list.” Use these tools to put some pizzazz in your prose.

What can you do when your business (or your boss) requires good writing and you can’t write? Use the same strategies you would use if you broke your arm (the one connected to your dominant, writing hand).

• Make an audio recording
• Create a video
• Do a podcast and have someone else interview you on the topic needed
• Ask for help from family, friends, colleagues
• Hire help
• Enlist others to write for you
• Dig up previously written material to tide you over until you are ready to write again
• Take painkillers that give you weird dreams and use your dreams as prompts OR as excuses not to write

 I’m not entirely serious about the last one, but I do know the other strategies work as well for stuck writers as they do for the injured.