That’s the current number of fans/likes on the Ethics Trading facebook page! I wanted to reach 200 by midnight on Friday and that’s tomorrow and 200 has already been passed.

So, a new target and a second mystery prize. Mystery because I haven’t decided what it will be yet.

If the Ethics Trading page can beat 250 fans by midnight on Friday I’ll sort out a second prize to be awarded to a random person from the fans list. You have to be on the list at midnight on Friday, and the list has to be over 250 for the second prize to be awarded.

The shoulder bag will be awarded to one lucky winner selected at random from the friends list and that draw will take place on Saturday morning.

Bonus mystery prize up for grabs for the person who brings the most friends. There are a few people who have let me know they’re trying for that one and there is a leader…..

So, to give you all a little incentive I’m going to sort out a prize in the form of a virtual raffle. You could win a generously sized hemp fibre shoulder bag worth £25.

Hemp Fibre Shoulder bag

Ladies Shoulder Bag 31x7x36cm in black
Adjustable leather covered shoulder strap with a distinctive brushed metal buckle. 1 main compartment, 1 inner zippered pocket, 1 internal mobile phone compartment, 1 outer zippered pocket. Top flap with magnetic button fastener. Leather trim. A comfy, classic style ladies shoulder bag with quite a bit more room.

Like the sound of that? Then invite a friend to come and “Like” the Fan page and then let me know if they do.

Ok, some rules.

• If 200 Fans is achieved before Friday night (midnight) then I’ll draw a random person from the fan list as it is at that time.
• Bonus Mystery prize to the person who brings the most extra fans to the page. You’ll have to let me know who your brought so I can keep score!

Simples. You have 3 days and a few hours… Off you go.

Oh, a reminder of the page link: Here you go, Ethics Trading on Facebook.

Well, what would you do?

I’ve re-used an entire toilet, but minus the seat – I put that on the new loo as it wasn’t cracked. I planted wild strawberries in mine. But go and see what Mr and Mrs Green decided to do with their cracked toilet seat.

Zero Waste towers has also been nominated for a Green Web Award and we need your help to get them winning! (they’re lagging in 3rd place in their category as I type this) Go n over to the Green Web Awards voting page and vote away.

Voting closes on Dec 31st so you haven’t got much time!

So, what criteria shall I look at this week? How about a small handful of Business connections?

Let’s start with @BTTradespace whose main site at BT Tradespace is now featuring Ethics Trading on the front page and my web traffic is going through the roof. If you’re a small business it’s well worth joining up and setting up your own Tradespace and following them on Twitter can lead you into all sorts of promotional activity! Thanks BT Tradespace!

Then there’s Jane @MumsClub who is a dynamo of ideas and connections for small businesses, especially those run by parents who work from home. She also has a forum based website, Mums Club, that is jam packed with hints, tips, ideas and the fundamental basic for all small businesses, a space for networking and mutual support.

A similar sort of networking idea came from Roberta (@giantpotential) of Giant Potential, but with a different feel and vibe to it so it’s easy to follow both and join both their sites and still gets loads from each of them. It’s all a bit complimentary and I love the way women in business can often work alongside each other without becoming arch enemies.

Those folks I’ve known online for ages and they give great support when you need it. Through them I have found just about every business service I could ever need and more. I’ve found friends, suppliers and customers. What more could you ask for?

Then there are a couple of new folks that I’ve recently bumped into in the wonderful world of twitter (also known as the Twitterverse) and they show lots of promise for developing business relationships even further!

There’s the Business Women’s Cafe, whose main website I’ve not got to grips with but I will at some point. For specifically eco aware and ethical businesses there is Organic Linker who brings us all together in one big directory and also provides a forum for us to chat in.

Oh and then there’s me, you are following @EthicsTrading already now aren’t you?

Go and have a look, see who you can find to follow today.

I’ve been there for ages, well it feels like ages, I’ve lost count of how long I’ve been twittering. You can find me as EthicsTrading there. If you’re following already then Hi! If not, then why not?

Along with general messages and keeping in touch, Twitter has developed a number of mini traditions – one of which is Follow Friday (denoted in a tweet by #ff or #followfriday so people can keep track)  These are suggestions of people you might like to follow, it’s me suggesting to you that this person or that person might be interesting to you. But the messages are only 140 characters (inc spaces) and the #followfriday ones take ages. But a few weeks ago I spotted that Heather the Efficiency Coach had turned her #followfriday lists into a blog post….. How efficient!

I’m sure she won’t mind if I use that idea….

So, today’s #followfriday is dedicated to my favourite eco friendly and ethical twitterers, all the greenys.

@HelpSavebees is concerned with the declining bee population and has taught me so much about the different kinds of bees, I had no idea there were so many species just in the UK, let alone worldwide.

@myzerowaste is another interestingly eco person to follow and you might like to find her blog too. Her twitter posts and her blog are jam packed with ideas for reducing waste with the philosophy that if we use less, and produce less waste in the first place then the landfill problem won’t be as much of a problem. The Zero Waste family are living proof that we don’t need to throw away a bin full of waste every week. Oh and have a think about that, where exactly is “away”?

Karen from Pledging for Change is on twitter as @kar3n2 and she supports the promises we can each make to make changes in the world around us – small and large things but every change makes a difference.

Another Karen, but this time talking rubbish is @therubbishdiet who just talks rubbish all the time. Seriously, she is passionate about your rubbish, the contents of your bin – and she wants to help you put your bin on a diet…

More next week, will you make it into the blog?

Until now.

This week I’ve revisited Squidoo and updated some of my pages on there – Squidoo calls them lenses. You can see them here: http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/SarahBarnard and there are lenses on some Ethics Trading products as well as my writing and the Portal Series.

If anyone reading fancies giving it a go then you can sign up by using this link – it means I’ve referred you and I might get a bit of a bonus if your lenses earn anything but don’t worry, it won’t affect your earnings.

Squidoo is fun, free and you can do as much or as little as you want and it might just help traffic to your website, or raise awareness for your cause or event.