Archive for the ‘Bizzie Mompreneur’ Category:
day 7 and Day 8 of 15 days of marketing
November 9th, 2008 / 1 Comment » / by S. Elie
Well here I go again combining to days into one. I actually completed Day 7 on Day 7 but after finishing my apple martini I figured it was too dangerous to blog. We’ve all heard of drunken dialing, but drunken blogging can be much worse, especially if Google decides to spider your site, and then you have your crazy, illegible post is out there.
Day 7’s assignment was actually pretty fun, it was really cool to see how many people were linking to my blog, okay there wasn’t that many but I love Tumblr what a great way to create that press page. I created one for Bizzie Mommy and will be adding the Tumblr feed to my online baby boutique very soon. I signed up for Google Alerts so you can learn when your name shows up across the web. I never even heard of it but I singned up immediately.
Day 6 of 15 days of marketing
November 7th, 2008 / No Comments » / by S. Elie
Today is all about Social Media Gurus and how and why they are relevant to me. To be honest I’ve been very interested in social marketing and pr and really wanted to learn more about it. Unfortunately working two jobs and taking care of two kids gives me little time for professional development.
However I am slowly trying to squeeze things in when I can.
This week’s assignment
To subscribe to a few social media marketing industry blogs, which I did just that. To my surprise I’ve actually heard of a couple of them. I even started following a couple of them on my twitter.
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day 4-5 of 15 days of marketing
November 5th, 2008 / No Comments » / by S. Elie
I completely missed day four’s assignment due to being completely engulfed in the election process last night so now I have to play catch up. I am so happy about Obama becoming the 44th president. A little disappointed about a couple of the Propositions in California and here I thought I lived in a liberal state.
But I’ve had enough election talk to last at least 4 years so back to my 15 days of marketing.
Day 4
The assignment was to tweet, talk about your 3 favorite brands twitter, tagging them #15days. I think it was just for that one day, so it feels kind of silly doing that now. However I did realize that I need to follow more PR people on twitter. It’s funny really because I went to school for PR and now here I am trying to track down PR people. I went into web design after college and never had one job in PR. I’ll be looking around twitter for some new PR friends to follow.
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day 3 of the 15 day marketing challenge
November 4th, 2008 / No Comments » / by S. Elie
This is probably going to be one of the most challenging homework assignments yet! I am one of those people that envision doing really cool and crazy things; I can even act them out in my head. But when it comes to actually performing them my confidence shrivels up and dies. Yes I can visually see that happening as well. I am one of those people that can imagine having a really awesome life in my head but in reality it’s a little boring, a little quirky and a bit goofy. I am trying though; I guess you could say I am a closet extrovert or something.
I’ve actually thought about vlogging for a couple of months, I even have my first post all planned out, yes in my head. I’m even about to buy the Flip Video camera to get things started. Until then I’m going to have to bow out of vlogging for the time being.
day 2 of 15 days of marketing
November 3rd, 2008 / 1 Comment » / by S. Elie
It is day 2 of 14 days of marketing, which means it’s not too late to sign up for your self. Check it out at jessicaknows.com.
My homework assignment: To sign up and take action on some of the points she mentioned. So what did I do?
I registered for some networking websites, Mom Central, Mom Select and One2One Network. I can’t wait to look around the sites and meet some more moms.
I also signed up for typeamom.net and I can’t wait to dig deeper into that site. I applied to become a contributor of blissfullydomestic.com and am getting more information on savvymoms.com.
So far I am in love with 15 days of marketing. It’s helping me push through my “woos me” slump this week.
day 1 of 15 days of marketing
November 2nd, 2008 / 1 Comment » / by S. Elie
So I decided to add one other thing to my “to do” list this week. I decided to try out Jessica’s 15 days of Marketing on jessicaknows.com.
I need to seriously start marketing my sites if I want to transition into “wahmdom” sometime this decade. My goal is much sooner than that of course. So of course on the first day we got home work and it’s been a long time since I used that term. My position is probably different then others because not only am I a business owner, but I am also a blogger. So after following her recommendations I signed up for some really cool sites. You should check it out at jessicknows.com.
testing out zencart
October 16th, 2008 / 1 Comment » / by S. Elie
Out of the three shopping cart systems, ZenCart was probably the system that took the longest to install. After downloading the cart and uploading it there was still more work that needed to be done. You have to change the permissions on several files which is a royal pain in the derriere.
I ran into a problem when ZenCart wanted to add the forum, even though I checked the box that said no. However, a simple Google search and problem solved.
choosing the best shopping cart for your store
September 26th, 2008 / 8 Comments » / by S. Elie
Starting an online store can be challenging, from setting up the business, selecting the right shopping cart system and for most selecting the right developer to bring your vision to life.
I am lucky enough to have a background in web design and development so I don’t have to worry about having someone build the site for me.
However, choosing the right shopping cart is a daunting task. When I first built the store I didn’t want to spend a lot of time on the design so I bought a CRE Loaded template from templatemonster.com (my first mistake). I even hired a programmer to assist me with some minor details. I uploaded the products and then the site was live in a matter of weeks.
That is until I received my first order. It turns out the attributes weren’t saving so I was never able to determine what size or color, a customer wanted this required me to call every customer for every sell. It turns out the template I purchased was missing files (oops), we spent countless hours trying to resolve the issue, uploading new files, reinstalling the shopping cart, consulting with CRE loaded, nothing worked.
roles – goals – plans
September 21st, 2008 / 3 Comments » / by S. Elie
Juggling my busy life has been a definite struggle. Trying to get everything checked off my to do list is nearly impossible. And trying to fit it all within a 24 hour a day, 40 hour work week is IMPOSSIBLE. So when I read “How to Structure Your Time” on The Integrated Mother last week, I thought she was talking to me.
Michele mentions an alternative method to schedule your day, called RGP (roles, goals, plans). Instead of schedule your time daily, the RGP approach schedules your weekly priorities. The goal is to shift your focus from the clock to people.
My roles this week:
1. Self/Individual
2. Wife/Mother
3. Employee
4. Business
5. Freelance
What I expect this week:
1. To work exercise back into my daily schedule either by running on the treadmill, in park, or exercise video
2. To find a fun activity for the kids to enjoy over the weekend. Sit down for dinner as a family. Spend an evening with hubby instead of on the computer.
3. Write career objectives and organize contact sheet
4. Add costumes to store, promote on Kaboodle and update other product photos.
5. Complete freelance web design project, check status of pending contracts
Check out How to Structure Your Time on The Integrated Mother.
back from the abc kids expo
September 13th, 2008 / 2 Comments » / by S. Elie
My feet are still tired from all of the walking. But the ABC Kids Expo is over now I can relax my feet and look forward to adding some new products to LaLa Baby Boutique and to writing some product reviews for some new innovative baby products.
How was this years show different then 2007?
For one the show was extended to 5 days this year, which was exhausting for both exhibitors and buyers. We attended the event the last two days, and on the very last day you could see it has taken a toll on everyone. I wish I could attend at the beginning of the show while everyone is fresh and vamped. But those days are reserved for brick-and-mortar boutiques, so for now I’ll have to wait. There seemed to be a lot of exhibitors with prototypes this year for products coming soon.
The biggest different this year is that most retailers have a better understanding of what online retailers do and how they can help their company. Last year I got a lot of “No we don’t work with online retailers” or “No, we already have a website.” This year there I only stumbled across a few exhibitors that didn’t want to work with online boutiques.
