Connect Simply

2007-11-15T21:59:00.000-06:00

My Wordpress blogs

I still love wordpress. Each time I come back to blogger, which is a great beginners place to blog, I realize why I prefer wordpress. Search engines send much more traffic to those blogs, more conversation at such. Still, without Blogger, I'd have never made it to Wordpress.

My first one I gave ConnectSimply its own hosted blog. I post there most often.

I turned Heidi's Cards into a blog. I've had many suggest that I get a photo website to show off my photos. I make my best photos into cards, I now have a blog of cards, some of which are available to my customers at no extra cost. It's purpose is to inspire others into making their own custom cards. Easy to do with picture plus and digital cameras. Fairly new blog, I think it will do well as it grows.

WinLadiesBlog was an experiment in a group blog. I learned how much work such a blog is to keep going without much participation. I've gotten great tips on how to get more of such. Time issue, it'll have to wait until after the Christmas rush. I want to change the theme to a magazine style, in my spare time, I think that one needs some committed partners recruited.

Blogging Texarkana can be great fun, participation from the local community, definitely a magazine style blog. Holding a place for now. More work later when I get caught up.

Keep blogging, it is worth it.

2007-07-18T00:30:00.000-05:00

Make Someone Smile: What is your Baker's Dozen?

I like that, when you enjoy what your work, work becomes play, Not a bad life, thanks for sharing.

Heidi

2007-06-19T12:13:00.000-05:00

Ok, I give up on getting that copyright symbol to show up in the file name and work in a post for now.

On to funner things. Over on the Ryze network, one of the groups I belong to is called Women in Networking. Although Ryze gives ua a directory, it doesn't include quick links to websites and blogs, just links to our Ryze pages. I forget who has blogs, which blogs I like to visit, etc. So I've started a Winning Ladies Blog project, it'll be interesting to see watch this project grow.

As I was tagging the Winning Ladies blog yesterday with Technorati, Angela Betts found the blog within minutes. We'll have to let her share some of her tricks.

Heidi

2007-06-07T19:46:00.000-05:00

Copyright Your Photos and Images

I was surprised one day to see that one of my photos, "Snow Rose" was being used as an avatar by someone else in the same online community. She also posted how she enjoyed being a photographer. No mention anywhere that she did not take that picture.

This prompted a round of what can you do to protect your images, often it is a case to teaching newbies that you must ask permission. Some of us would add the © to our photos, but distracted from the picture. Others would watermark theirs but then much of the image is blocked from viewing. And my keyboard doesn't have the symbol, I always forget the code to type such.

Yesterday I saw something I thought was cool, the copyright symbol as part of the file name, makes it hard to say I didn't know.

Testing.

Opps, messed it up, uploaded image to Blogger and lost the file name.

2007-02-07T23:15:00.000-06:00

Let me re-think this. I have a blog, write a little, have an article or 2 link back, leave it alone for 3 quarters of a year, come back and google likes it enough to give it a little page rank. So why get pages ranked by google, get that little green bar starting to move to the right, then abandon ship. Never hurts to have more than one blog to learn from. So this blog is back. Time to do some housekeeping, update links and I'm good to go.

Visit me either place, here or the other blog.

Heidi

2006-06-13T12:09:00.000-05:00

Moving

I've decided to use wordpress for any new blog entries, to drive traffic to my own site.

Visit ConnectSimply.com/blog

See ya'll there!

Heidi

2005-11-04T11:51:00.000-06:00

Need to send a few cards this holiday season?

Don't get buried go to Sendoutcards

Ever find yourself stressing about how to get those cards out? Picking out cards, finding the addresses, opps I forgot to get the stamps, I don't want to just sign the card, I want to add a personal note to each card, just can't seem to find the time. Often you'd find me the day after Christmas mailing out my holiday cards!

Now I can just pick out a card (or make my own custom Christmas card) and with a few clicks of the mouse, my Christmas cards are out in the mail, and I can relax and enjoy the holiday season.

Give it a try! Go to Heidi's Cards See ya there.

Now here is a tip, be different, send your cards out early, send a Thanksgiving card.

2005-10-13T11:59:00.000-05:00

Back to Work

Rita has come and gone. We were quite lucky, some wind and much needed rain, unlike the folks down south. Some are staying in the area until their homes/communities can be rebuilt. More volunteer workcrews heading down to help. Thanks to all those who called, wanting to know how we weathered the storm, whether we still had a roof over our heads, etc.

Now to get back to work.

2005-09-22T11:31:00.000-05:00

And Now Rita

Galveston is one of my kids' favorite places to visit. They love the sand, playing on the beach, watching the seagulls, playing in the waves. I love off-season, beat the crowds. Last spring we spent a few days there with my father-in-law and his wife, who were down south, thawing out from their Alaska winter. We had a great time. I'm glad that we went.

Rita is now heading that way, good to see that Galveston is being evacuated. That seawall just doesn't look big enough to me, not to mention the storm itself, it is huge.

Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, they are predicting whatever is left of the storm to be up this way. Gas already jumped 10 cents a gallon yesterday, they really did find a way to tie the price of gas to the weather. Meanwhile, I'm cleaning out my fridge before doing the week's grocery shopping. I don't want to be anywhere close to the stores this weekend, it'll be crazy Friday and Saturday, and Sunday-Monday if we are having 45 mph winds and a foot and a half of rain, I'm not driving anywhere.

2005-09-22T11:26:00.000-05:00

Home Safe

Last weekend, my brother Joe, my son Tim, and many other volunteers were helping clean up near the Gulf coast in Mississippi. The weekend before, my son Nathan was down there with the same group of volunteers. I know Nathan was quite sore and tired when he got back. Nathan's scout master was also with both groups and sent him a nice little postcard letting him know how impressed he was with his hard work and attitude.

Nathan could not believe how many trees were gone, many just looked like broken toothpicks. The area he was cleaning had many intact homes, he was amazed how so many trees and limbs could be down and more in the yard than what hit the homes. He also learned that the aerosol bug spray dissolves tree sap nicely. Scary thought!

2005-09-10T00:08:00.000-05:00

Katrina Clean-up Crew

I'm not going to sleep easily tonight. My 17 year old, Nathan, volunteered to go with a clean up crew heading down to the Mississipppi coast. He is an amazing young man, team captain of his swim team (which took 2nd in Texas last year, almost 1st), designed shelves/desk unit which his school built for all the English teachers this summer, super grades, and much more. His older brother is heading down the next weekend. The group headed down today after work/school, long drive down, will sleep in tents, work all Saturday and Sunday clean up downed trees, patching roofs, long drive back, school/work Monday. I'm sure he'll have some stories to tell.

It hit me when I got a call today, saying to make sure that he brought at least 5 gallons of water for himself, heavy-duty mosquito repellent, boots (preferrably rubber), gloves, first aid supplies, sleep bag, tools, etc. They are going to an area directly hit by Hurricane Katrina. It can't but help leave an impact on him. I'm proud of my son, I know he will be alright, but I'll sleep easier once he gets back home.

Heidi

2005-09-01T21:22:00.000-05:00

Katrina Thoughts

My brother-in-law's family is from New Orleans, although he lives in another state. All his extended family evacuated Friday and Saturday, safe with relatives at the other end of the state.

I had a hard time accepting what I heard from my sister Saturday. Her in-laws boarded up their homes, put their belongings up off the ground and left, knowing that most likely they would never see their homes again. I had a hard time accepting their concern that they'd need to find new homes and jobs elsewhere, that their hometown (for many generations) may not be rebuildable.

I live in Texas, a good day's travel from New Orleans. Monday morning, my kids were surprised at the heavy traffic on the interstate heading west. We were lucky, had some wind and much needed rain. We gave a sigh of relief as we heard the hurricane shifted east of New Orleans a little. Maybe things would not be so bad. My sister's in-law heard from some friends who stayed behind. Their street is flooded and no roofs on any of the houses. And this was before the levee broke. Then you watch the news, their fears Saturday no longer seem so far fetched.

I've heard that our hotels are packed, several places in town have offered shelter, radio station is promoting businesses that offer aid to the victims. One fitness center is opening their doors for several hours for a place for stranded families to get some excercise and have some fun. Taste of Texarkana (annual event where food establishments show off their goods) is offering free admission to those stranded. Everyone is doing what small things they can to the help the few who made it here. Superdome refugees are going to the Astrodome. The Collisium in Shreveport is now a refuge shelter. Dallas is also opening their doors, along with many, many other communities, large and small. One of my best friends is a RN in Shreveport, expects to be kept very busy the next several weeks. Many websites such as www.nola.com opened their doors to collect funds, get the word out on survivors and road conditions, etc.

Katrina's impact will be huge. Logistics a nightmare. It could have been much worse, at least a million people had the sense to leave the area before it was too late (and some did not have the means), but they still need homes, jobs, etc.

Overwhelming, too big for any of us to help on our own, what difference will this little bit make? But when we all pitch in and do what little we can, as these communities have done, the combined effort makes a huge difference. Everyone can help. Besides money, blood donations, and time (I believe Red Cross was setting up call centers in various towns) are all needed. Be creative, there are a lot of needs, find one and fill it.

2005-09-01T10:08:00.000-05:00

You don’t love your kids if you don’t . . .

"You don't love your kids if you don't buy my vacuum cleaner." The salesman looked me right in the eye and didn't even flinch. He was sure he was going to get the sale. I was a caring Mom, of course I’d buy his vacuum.

Now it was a good vacuum cleaner, but I wasn't buying one that day, already said so before his demonstration. To make things worse, he had a young assistant with him, training him. The only reason I let them do the demonstration was the new kid said he needed a place to “practice”, didn’t matter that I wasn’t going to buy one, “let me give you a free carpet shampoo”.

So I looked right back and told him exactly what I thought of his sales tactic. I also said that I didn't even think it was very effective, I'm sure he'd made many people angry. I could not believe it when he said that it did not matter since many would buy out of guilt or whatever. It had a lifetime warranty, thus no repeat customers. I guess he didn't want any referrals either, nor did he care about his reputation.

Recently, I got a call from a person I do not even know. “If you are serious about your business, you will take 45 minutes to listen to my call. I promise your business will explode.” (From a person who didn’t know me and had never heard of my business) Now I admit, there are times when I get frustrated, blowing up things could be tempting, but no thanks. I declined. Now the vacuum cleaner was good, so I'll keep an open mind, maybe the program they are selling is good. I do care about my kids and my business. But the sales tactic still stinks.

And we wonder why people hate sales. I’m betting that they met someone like that particular vacuum salesman. I suggest that he didn’t understand sales. I didn’t buy. Neither did my neighbors, amazing the power of word of mouth.

But what if, after his demonstration, listening to me when I said I wasn’t in the market for a cleaner, he was kind, thanked me for my time, left a couple of his cards for referrals?

What if the person on the phone, instead of saying “ Have I’ve got a deal for you, give me 45 minutes of your time or else . . .” introduced themselves, asked questions about myself and my business. There is no way they can know whether or not they have something that I need, unless they know a bit about my business. When and if they saw that they had something that would truly benefit me, then they could ask. I’m not going to give a total stranger 45 minutes just because they ask for it, nor do I want to learn better ways to market my business from anyone using this guilt trip technique.

I’m not fond of the “If you don’t buy now, you’ll be sorry” deal either. I can remember looking at cars, and I’d hear “You can only get this deal if you buy this car right now.” I bet if I showed up with cash the next day, that I could talk them into the same offer. But I do appreciate the car salesman who explains that since the ’06 model is out, they have a great deal on the ’05, but once it is sold they can’t promise to find another. I always appreciate truth, even if there is some fear of loss involved. Don’t pressure. “This deal may be gone, but I will see what I can do for you, whenever you come back.”

Now you have to admire Dr. Suess’s “Sam I Am”. He was persistent marketing his green eggs and ham. “Will you try them here or there?” “Will you try them in a box with a fox?” In the end, the character tried the eggs just to get him to shut up. Worked in the story, but I’d have hung up on the guy. I believe that try it to see if you like it is a great way to go, samples, money back guarantee, etc. But don’t shove it down my throat.

Consumers are bright. Find a nice way to get their attention without insulting them, show folks what you have to offer. Address any objections they have, clear up misconceptions, listen, and show concern for their needs. You don’t love your customers if you don’t treat them with respect and show that you care.

2005-08-30T08:37:00.000-05:00

My youngest

My youngest (8 years old) loves cats, she hates getting up in the mornings, not really thrilled about going back to school.
But she has done great, making sure she gets her homework done, and staying out of trouble. So, one night, after things calmed down and kids in bed, I got on my computer and sent her a card, telling her how much I loved her (with a cat on the front) and how much I appreciate her. This is a real card, goes through the mail, life gets busy, and I forgot about sending it.

Saturday, while I was getting ready to run some errands, she comes flying in my room, biggest smile on her face, clutching her kittie card. Lots of hugs. Great way to start the day.

2005-08-29T13:23:00.000-05:00

Beginnings--

This is my first blog. I ignored blogs for a while, not really understanding what they do. As I continued to hear more about them, and see some blogs very well done, the value of blogging is finally getting through my thick head.

I often want to wait until I have everything perfect and just right before jumping in. Decided better just to jump in and learn as I go . Since all this is new to me, (just like when a friend smells bad, you'd tactfully pass them the mouthwash or deorderant), if my site stinks, kindly pass me the cyberwash.

Heidi