“the scent of the rose lingers in the givers hand”
Whenever my friends and associates call me up for help, I always respond with this phrase "talk to me".
What's on your mind?
Are you a mom or a professional who wish to work from home but you are not sure where to start?
Are you a business owner who need clients?
Do you want to know how to promote your business online?
Have you ever wonder where is the best place to network online?I can help!
I offer marketing solutions, consultation, coaching and outsourcing services to individuals, small business owners and non-profit organizations.
To learn more about me and my services click "about Imie" and "services".
What Makes a Good Site
Posted By admin on June 23, 2009 In: Business Solutions | No Comments »
We all naturally form opinions about the sites we visit. Some of them are so compelling that we come back several times a week and even bookmarked them. Others leave us bad experience that we quickly forget the name of the site.
A website is your real estate online. So it should reflect your purpose, taste, and that of your intended audience.
A good website must be clear, attractive and functional.
Web Designers are NOT Marketers
Business owners falsely believe that their web designers will help them get people to their site. Web Designer’s primary goal is to design your website base on your instructions.
So if you don’t know what you want, what your customer want, what works and what doesn’t work; you might not get the best result.
Some web designers specializes in designs, not coding or programming; some do both. My best site was created by a programmer working with a designer. The design and aesthetic elements were created by the designer while the programmer made sure everything functioned properly.
A site should have:
1. Clarity
Simple, clean and easy to understand website is attractive. Fonts that are too small and light is an assault to the eye. A busy website with all kinds of distractions make it difficult for people to decide what to do.
2. Accessibility
Your site might look good on your internet explorer but it might not show well on firefox. Your site should read well on all browsers. Download time is also a factor and site made of flash takes longer to load.
Can your customer find you online? If you are not on google, you literally do not exist online. So it doesn’t matter how beautiful your site is if no one can find you. Sure, your site shows up when googled, but how can people google you if they don’t know you exist? The answer to this question is “keywords”. People use words or phrases to look for something on google.
Knowing these keywords and incorporating them on your site will help you be on google. But some keywords are competitive - meaning it’s being use by so many people so simply using it is not going to help. That’s when you need someone who knows what they are doing.
3. Good Fresh Content
Some sites are so stale it looks like it was done by a neighbour’s kid back in the 90’s. Every site needs a face lift once in a while to stay up to date.
More importantly, the content should be current. It’s been said that “content is king”. The most amazing site that catches people’s attention will lose potential customer if it doesn’t have good contents to keep them interested. Having a blog incorporated on your site will keep it fresh.
4. Easy Navigation and Flow
Have you ever been to a site where you got lost and don’t know how to get back to the “homepage”? Part of an easy to navigate website includes having the key links to other pages of your site kept under the fold (right under your header).
5. Widgets
Widgets are what keeps your site interactive and allow your customer to come back for more until they decide to buy.
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Emphathy is Understanding
Posted By admin on June 17, 2009 In: Uncategorized | No Comments »
Someone I am following and is following me on twitter said something about how bad her days were. I responded with an expression of emphaty. I totally understand how this person was feeling at that moment.
Then she sent me a note saying that she was not particularly looking for an emphaty but my respond made her feel better.
I didn’t realize that a simple action on social network would grant someone a much needed understanding.
How about that. Anyone can actually make someone feel better through the networks of our wired world without meeting the person face to face.
No wonder more and more people are flocking to these social networks for business and for personal gain.
Reach out to someone today.
Word of Mouth Marketing
Posted By admin on June 10, 2009 In: Business Solutions | 1 Comment »
The majority of business owners understand the power of word of mouth but only a few understand how to implement a word of mouth marketing campaign.
The old word-of-mouth method of asking your customers for referrals still applies today. However, if you want to increase it tenfold, you need to leverage the internet.
Online marketing is affordable and sometimes free. But it does take time and patience to develop it.
Blogging and word-of-mouth
Many advertisers, marketers and business owners are embracing the power of word-of-mouth by starting a blog or teaming up with other influencers to spread the word about their business.
The majority of would be bloggers I’ve met are desperate to get on the blogging bandwagon but haven’t got a clue how to start a blog. My advice is to “just start” . Remember Nike’s famous ad “just do it”?.
When I started blogging, I was clueless. I didn’t know where to start. Luckily, I found a techie who taught me everything I needed to know about blogging in simple terms. So take it from me; start a simple blog on anything you are passionate about. Talk about your product or your service (hopefully that’s your passion) and develop a following.
Once you get it going, you will see the need to improve your blog in order to make it more effective. That’s the beauty of blogs. Unlike regular websites, blogs are easy to use, easy to maintain and easy to change.
Social Media and word-of-mouth marketing
As you blog, you will soon realize that it’s really pointless talking to yourself. You need readers and you need people to come and read what you have to say. You want your customers to talk to you and talk about you in their own circle of friends and networks -such as facebook, twitter, linkedin, stumbleupon, myspace, friendster etc.
Social media helps you connect with like minded individuals and business people. Whenever you post something on your blog, you can distribute it to your network through the “share this” option on your blog. Sharing your blog entry on twitter is powerful. Ask your twitter and facebook friends to comment on your post as well to encourage interaction and deepen the relationship.
Building trust through social media
Whenever a newbie jumps into the social media bandwagon, they are usually very careful as far as sharing personal information. That’s smart. However, incomplete or bare profile is not going to gain you customer’s trust. Think about it. Who would talk to you if they can’t see who you are, where you are from and what you do. Why would they spread the word about you if they don’t know you.
So be real, share, contribute, and be relevant. Do not become a social media outcast by aggresively pushing your products or services - that’s how you lose your friends.
Confuse?
Don’t Sell - Attract
Telling your friends to buy your services and products on social network doesn’t bode well with people online. Social media is like a party online. You don’t enter the party with your bags of products ready to be dumped on anyone who would listen.
So how do you get them to buy your products? Your profile! If they find you interesting, they will check your profile and check your blog. Your profile should entice them to check your blog or site. Where you can capture their interest and get them to take action; either to buy or contact you.
Your website or blog that’s designed to capture interests and turn them into customers is a must if you are going to engage in worth of mouth marketing.
Related Posts:
Delegating Tasks For Home-Based Business
Posted By admin on June 10, 2009 In: Business Solutions | No Comments »
It’s been a while since my last post. I can justify it with the usual ” I got busy” syndrome but in reality, I just didn’t have the energy to put my thoughts together.
I have been running around like a rabbit since Feb., trying to complete all the items on my “to do” list. It seems the harder I worked, more work lands on my desk.
Solution?
I hired a VA (Virtual Assistant):) Sounds great doesn’t it? It’s heavenly! I can now concentrate on what I do best; networking and dealing with clients. The admin stuff is picked up by my VA including some of my e-mails.
If you are experiencing the same, let me know so I can hook you up with VAs that suits your need.
Look and You Shall See
Posted By admin on February 4, 2009 In: Blissful Moments | No Comments »
As I work madly trying to answer all the morning inquiries, I noticed the cat looking directly at me as if saying “can you stop what you are doing and look over here?”
Then I noticed the sun shining through the back porch door from which the snow glimmer like diamonds.
So I had to stopped for a moment and enjoy the sunshine glory within my space…
New Year’s Resolution
Posted By admin on January 1, 2009 In: Random Thoughts | No Comments »
New Year’s Resolution
At this time each year, millions of people on earth make their New Years Resolution. Some fail miserably and swear not to attempt making these resolutions ever again. But some achieves them, and some achieve only half of what they set out to do.
I made mine last year and posted it on a forum. When I went back to look at it this week, I was surprise to see that I’ve accomplished about 60% of it. It felt good!
Acknowledging Your Accomplishments - Big or Small
Now I am thinking - what did I do differently that resulted in me accomplishing some of these resolutions?
Sure I did not accomplish all the things I wanted done, but hey, an improvement is worth acknowledging. I have to pat myself on the back because I know no one will. Giving yourself credit when it’s due will motivate you to do more. To keep the pace, to go further, to give it your absolute best.
Midyear last year, I realized that getting big things done requires the accomplishment of the smaller things. Big plan requires small projects. So breaking your big plans into smaller projects will make it easier to accomplish them. These smaller projects when done can boast your confidence to keep going.
New Year’s Resolution or Vision Board?
Writing your resolutions on a piece of paper or on a page is part and parcel of the “resolution” action. Your mind deciding to do certain things, and the body motion of writing it down is an act of agreement between the body and the mind making that resolution more solid and firm.
So whether you call it “vision board”, “New Year’s Resolution” or “Action Plan” it must be written.
My resolution for 2009.
1. Continue growing my social network, helping and connecting with my social community.
2. Improve my sites and make it more profitable.
3. Become better at doing the things I do by planning and relentlessly following it through.
4. Continue eating healthy, walking or exercising daily and regularly meeting people offline. I mostly work online, and I find it refreshing to meet people offline on a regular basis.
5. Start something awesome to help people in need around the world…
Have you written yours?
Blissful Fall
Posted By admin on October 24, 2008 In: Blissful Moments | No Comments »
Hard to believe fall has arrived!
While I love the beautiful colours the fall season brings, it saddens me to know that winter is coming and the blissful summer we have enjoyed so immensely is over.
But fall brings a different kind of beauty and wonder. My family have always enjoyed walking through the woods when the colours of the trees are changing. Letting the children gather their favourite leaves, sticks and whatever items they can find in the woods.
Last week, my family went to Crawford lake. It was glorious! It was unusually warm and we enjoyed walking on the board walks surrounding the lake, occasionally stopping to gaze at the breathtaking colours of the various trees and vines.
RESP
Posted By admin on September 6, 2008 In: Money Matters | 1 Comment »
I always believe that it is better to manage your own money rather than having someone else manage it for you. However, if you have very little knowledge about a certain subject, you are better off having someone else manage it for you.
The drawback of having someone manage your investment for you or in this case, manage your kid’s educational fund, is that you have very little control and in some cases, the fees associated with it are high. Some unscrupulous sellers hide the fact of the majority of your contributions early on will go towards fees.
Here’s an article which explains it further. Scholarship plans worth close study.
08-08-08
Posted By admin on August 23, 2008 In: Celebrations | No Comments »
That’s my Birthday!
Well… I wasn’t born this year, but rather celebrated my birthday this year with the triple 8! August 8, 2008.
I consider it pretty special - happens only to some selected people once in a lifetime. I was one of these lucky people so hey, its special.
My sister surprised me with a special breakfast:) She came to my house in the early morning of 08-08-08 at 8 am! Isn’t that special? I would say so. Our families shared a delicious breakfast and then later that day, my husband took me to see the “Dirty Dancing” movie which he and my son had purchased.
T’was a marvelous day…
What A Picnic!
Posted By admin on July 17, 2008 In: Community Service | No Comments »
Philippine Independence Day Picnic 2008 at Earl Bales Park
This is my 3rd year Co-Chairing this free event for the Community. It’s back breaking work that requires many hours of planning and organization, from conception all the way to the actual picnic. From getting the various organizations to participate, acquiring the business sponsors to fund the event, getting food donations, to prospecting free performers and the scheduling of the whole event is enough to drive one person batty. And luckily, I don’t do it alone. I have my family and a group of people to help me as well as my co-chair to make this event happen.
On the day of the event, my family wakes up at around 5:30, loads the van, and drives to the park before everyone else get there. This year, we had a scare when an early downpour threatened to cancel the event before it begins. But I think god heard all our prayers and gave us the sun after the downpour.
It is a picnic attended by thousands of families, social and civic associations, business enterprises and individuals every year.
This year, we released 110 white doves to commemorate our 110th of Philippine independence.
Here are some pics:
Filipinos and non-Filipinos alike came to enjoy this fun filled day. Picnic attendees - young and old enjoyed the volleyball tournament, watermelon eating contest, face painting for the kids and of course the non-stop all day entertainment provided by local artists.
Here’s my big family:)
Yours truly thanking everyone for coming:) See you all next year!!!
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