Frequent Flier Miles

As a mom, I'm constantly searching the web.  I'm looking for ideas for things to do with my monsters.  New recipes to tempt tiny tummies.  Books to read.  Sometimes, I'm even searching for information on whether or not something my child did was normal (because seriously?  Is it supposed to look like that?!).  

One website I use almost every day is BabyCenter (www.babycenter.com).  BabyCenter is one of the most amazing resources I found as a new mom.  I created an account, updated a profile, joined some groups and voila!  I was immediately plugged into dozens of moms of all shapes and sizes who were all experiencing things similar to myself.  Additionally, I found my email being flooded with amazing information.  Any nutrition information I need is right there in my email.  Milestones?  BOOM, there ya go.  Even better?  I made some very awesome friends with moms who have children born at the same time as my son (August 2010).  BabyCenter is effective because it's so simple to use.  I will always come back to a website that is easy on the eyes and to navigate.  BabyCenter is both of these things.  The design is clean.  It literally is C.R.A.P.H.T.E.D.  It's one of those websites that makes surfing the web fun.  One big thing that can change would be the background images.  Today, the background is a wavy pattern of circles and plus signs and even plus signs within circles.  When scrolling down, this image can be dizzying.  I suppose that's a personal choice but there are times when I wonder why they chose that particular image.  And honestly?  The home page is too long.  When scrolling down, sometimes it seems like it never ends.  Let's shorten that up, shall we?

Obviously I use Facebook.  Pinterest.  Ya know, the standards for a busy mom constantly on the go.  But one website that I absolutely love?  Amazon.  Good ole www.amazon.com  Did you know that they have a MOMS page??  And you can subscribe to have diapers delivered to your home?  I signed up for the free subscription to have Huggies overnight diapers delivered to my home.  Funny enough, I could never find them at the same WalMart twice.  Having them delivered at the same time every month, for several cents cheaper?  Total win.  Amazon also has a Students account which ROCKS because now you can rent textbooks.  Free 2 day shipping.  LOVE IT.  I do most of my reading on the Kindle app on my Droid so even that is easy.  Amazon Prime?  MADE for work from home folks.  I don't always have time to run out and get materials like paper and pens.  Amazon delivers with free 2 day shipping on a Prime account.  Plus you can stream video and buy music with one click for an insta-party worthy of Instagram.  One of the best things about Amazon is that the website is plain.  The background is white.  I think they could vary that.  Something holiday-esque once in awhile.  It could still be a solid color but how about an orange for Halloween?  Red or Green for Christmas?  Just something a little more fun to look at.  And how about you shorten that home page, too?  Way too many rows of recommendations.  Who actually reads all the way to the bottom?

Not that I'm complaining.  I love these websites.  I spend a lot of miles on these websites.  But ya know, if you're taking suggestions....

Aesthetics, Designs & Branding

In the land of internet plenty, there are certainly some bad apples (haha.  see what I did?) out there.  Two such websites are TecTorch and a RichSoil post on Raising Chickens.  Lets pick them apart, shall we?

TecTorch, oh TecTorch, how you torture me.  You try, you really do.  Listed down the left are your torches.  Oh look!  There's an American Flag picture above it!  And it MOVES!!  Super distracting.    I think the worst offense for TecTorch is the fact that the page reads flat.  It's impossible to tell what is important and what isn't.  In my opinion this website was created by someone with a minimal knowledge of web design.  They knew what they wanted on the page but have no idea how to make a page visibly pleasing.

When it comes to raising chickens, I know my business.  My parents have had chickens for as long as I can remember.  I knew how to feed them and collect eggs before I knew how to write my name.  Well, not really but it certainly feels that way!  Reading the RichSoil post on Raising Chickens, it's pretty clear that whoever wrote this knows their stuff.  What they don't know is how to build a web page that people actually want to read.  This post is much too long.  It requires multiple scrolls to get to the end and no where did I see an option to go back to the top.  The post should have been split into multiple pages.  The amount of information is overwhelming.  Visually, the website fails.  I would not read this.  No C.R.A.P.H.T.E.D action going on here.

Two absolutely fantastic websites are the Apple website and G Force Race Cars.  Shall we look at what they did right?

Apple's website is simply, clean and efficient.  At no point, does the navigator get lost.  Anything you may want to find is right there, easily found.  Apple is all about branding - who isn't familiar with Apple?  They are all about being ahead of the crowd when it comes to a cellphone or computer and they certainly don't shy away from sticking it in your face every where you go.  They certainly abide by the C.R.A.P.H.T.E.D mentality.

Another such website is the one for G Force Race Cars.  This is a website that even my grandma could navigate!  At the top of every page is their logo complete with contact information.  Where I'm from, working with cars is NOT synonymous with being tech savy so having a good ole fashioned number to call and reach someone is of the utmost importance.  Your big four are right there under the logo - Home, Media, News, Contact.  And on the left side, where a reader's eyes naturally stray are a list of categories for parts.  Not content with that level of ease that someone can order their part, oh no, this website continues on, giving the navigator a picture of the part listed.  Talk about your curb side service!  Another well C.R.A.P.H.T.E.D website!

Businesses and their Social Media

1. Rumpke - www.rumpke.com - Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Pinterest
2. Southern Ohio Disposal - www.southernohiodisposal.com - Facebook
3. TaskRiot - www.taskriot.net - Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest
4. Snapfish - www.snapfish.com - Facebook, Twitter
5. Etsy - www.etsy.com - Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest

Business Communications - Week Two Assignment

From September 2006 until December 2011, I worked for a company that did market research.  Specifically the company worked in entertainment, mostly movie trailers.  The biggest thing we did was intercept work – we had crews in movie theaters and malls across the nation stopping people who we then tried to fit into our quota.  If they fit in the quota then we would show them trailers for previously unreleased movies, get their opinions on what they liked and didn’t like and then, after companywide quota had been met, we would send that information back to whatever movie studio had booked the work.  They would then recut the movie trailer based on that information and that is what you see on tv and in movie theaters.  Sounds fun, right?  It was an absolute BLAST.  Except when you are trying to communicate. 

In my opinion, there isn’t a person alive who hasn’t had difficulties communicating with a business.  Whether that difficulty is in the mode of communication or in the people doing the communicating, it’s still there.  How many people get irritated when they pick up the phone and speak to someone with a thick accent that they simply cannot understand?  It doesn’t take the support person saying more than “hi” and a lot of people are already irritated and assume they will not be able to understand.  I think in a lot of ways, social media could alleviate those pains. 

Recently, I had an issue with Amazon Textbooks.  I had returned a book but they had no record of it.  Amazon has a nifty chat feature that made resolving the issue so much easier.  With two small children, my (quiet) phone time is limited so using the chat was infinitely better.  When the phone did ring and I spoke to the Amazon support staff member, he had a very thick dialect that was a bit difficult to understand.  We did not have that hurdle when in the chat window.

I’m sure you’ve seen the many viral Facebook posts about who did what at Walmart or Target and the response that they’ve received.  There have been more than one case of some business firing employees over something posted on Facebook.  The most recent thing I saw on Facebook was a group of employees quitting the shoe store Journeys during a back to school sale because of the manager.  I’ve liked the pages of several businesses and communicate through their Facebook page and it really does make it a lot easier.  You know they check their Facebook pages regularly.

 

In my opinion it is the people who make communication positive or negative, not the medium.

Which social media platforms seem geared towards personal use and which ones seem to work better for business?

I have some background with a lot of different social media platforms.  I have an account with twitter, tumblr, pinterest, LinkedIn, Facebook, Good Reads, PulseIt....and those are just the ones I remember that I have.  Playing around on all these, I think they can all be used for personal and business depending on what business you are in.

For example, I know many authors who are independent authors.  These people rely on social media to get word out about their book.  My first instinct is to say something like Good Reads or PulseIt are purely personal.  That's not true when you're an author.  Those reviews, people adding books their shelves, this is the bread and butter for an author.  If you're doing something like working in waste disposal then these platforms don't do you much good.

LinkedIn should be strictly business.  I've noticed that it seems to be a popularity contest, too.  I have been contacted by people I do not know who do not have a connection to me wanting to add me to their contacts.  Why?  I don't know them and they don't know me but here we are.

Twitter started out being personal.  Here again, I know a lot of authors and publicists who launch massive tweet campaigns to get the word out about a new novel or new product.

While I believe that all of these platforms started out for personal use, I believe that they are all being used for business now.  Facebook is the biggest of them and it's my opinion that many of these platforms are simply following Facebook's lead.

Entry 1

Why did I choose this template?

I chose this template because I like it.  It's a complex pattern of lights and colors that reminds me of myself.  It's also a fairly simple template to navigate, which I think is important in a blog.

I adjusted the font on the template because I don't like static fonts.  I like open and artistic, like me.  I also think it goes better with the pattern in the template.