Categories
Getting Down to Business

Read Your Site – What Does it Say About You?

I was looking at the site of an event planner today, someone who had contacted me about working together on weddings. On their site was an “About Us” page. Yay! I could read and learn a bit about her.

Or not. Other than the opening sentence, which was launched with a typo as well, it only included their names and nothing more. That isn’t “About Us” – that is “About our company”.

In the Internet age, people want to know about YOU. And what is really amazing is that while 10 years ago, I used to point out to clients that the awesome thing about the web was that you could make your business seem as large as you wanted, now people want to connect with the people they are working with. All around, you can see huge corporations wanting to act as if they are small mom & pop shops. They want to be personable. They want you to connect with them. To embrace their brand as your own. They want you to be loyal to them and only them.

So go look at your about page. Does it tell your reader about you? Really about you? Is it full of a lot of “we” puff up text where you try to make your business sound like there are many employees when it is really just you? Big brands are envious of the advantage you’ve got. Stop trying to be something that you’re not. Be yourself. Be real. People want to work with people they like – and that “About Us” page? It is the door to them liking you. Give people that chance.

Categories
Geek Love

Houston’s History of WordPress – Matt Mullenweg’s WordCamp Keynote

WordCamp Houston is taking place today, and I’m not there since I’ll be the wedding photographer at a Woodlands Resort wedding in a little bit. I tuned in this morning to Matt Mullenweg’s keynote presentation, and he even gave me a shoutout! Awww…

If you’re interested in watching it and learning about Houston’s history of WordPress, you should check it out!

So many great memories, like Matt’s Palm user club, us swapping tips about using our Handspring Visors (remember those?), SXSWi 2003, which is where he first told me he needed a name for the software he had been working on, the first time he met Jeffrey Zeldman, and so much more. It is great to hear that we are Matt’s people. I *heart* WordPress!

Categories
Getting Down to Business

I’m Here, Where are You? (The importance of the Title tag on your site.)

I see it almost every day while reviewing sites & content for Wholly Matrimony. Photographers and other wedding vendors that make it so that you have to dig through their site to figure out where on earth they are located.

I’ve said this before, but stop what you are doing RIGHT NOW and go look at the Title on your website. This is the thing that displays at the top of your browser window. Does it say “Happy Sunshine Photographer” and nothing more? Or better yet “Index” or “Home”?

Yeah. Change that. Go on in there and change it to say something helpful. “Happy Sunshine Wedding Photographer, Orange County, California” Make it easy for someone to figure out where you are at. Trust me, if they can’t find it fast enough they will move on. The Internet is vast & wide.

This is especially important if you have a Flash site without a splash page. Google and the other search engines can’t read your site. So you need to at least tell them where you are.

You get BONUS POINTS for including your city & state somewhere on the site as well – ideally, the footer of every page and on your contact & about page. Even better if you include your phone number too. Who doesn’t want BONUS POINTS???

“But Christine! I want to do destination weddings! I’ll travel anywhere!”

Ok. But your site right now doesn’t even tell people you shoot weddings. Or where you are coming from. So you’re competing with every other photographer that thinks location doesn’t matter. You just threw yourself into a much larger pool. Full of sharks. Get out & save yourself. Even if the visitor to your site lives in another country, they still want to know where you are coming from.

So what does your Title say about you?

Categories
Creative Geek

Posts on Building Better Blogs…

I’m working on my editorial calendar for the next two weeks for all of my blogs, and I realized that I want to write something to help YOU. But I want to know what that is – straight from you. If you could have help & guidance about how to build a better blog to make online marketing of your business work for you, what topics would you like to see covered? What can help you out?

I’ve got a list going, but I’d love to hear what it is you need so I can make it even more specific!

Categories
Smaller Pink Cookie

June Weight Loss – 5 in 10 Update…

YES!!! I lost 5 pounds in June! Finally, another month where I lost 5lb in one month this year!

I was torn on whether or not this was a victory that I could celebrate — the 5lb I lost were 5lb that I managed to gain in May. Obviously, my goal is to not keep gaining & losing the same 5lb. But I seem to be stuck at a point, circling the same number. The whole month of May it was 1lb up, 2lb down, 2lb back up again – all right around the same number. Then at the end of the month when we had our road trip to Taos, I came home 4lb heavier, and then that didn’t seem to move either. So frustrating!

But I AM going to celebrate it! Because instead of throwing in the towel and giving up, I continued on. I’ve been biking this month and really enjoying it. I’ve been eating better and even starting to crave vegetables. I actually asked Mike last night to pick up more cauliflower so he could make more roasted cauliflower for us this weekend! My plan of having him just tell me what I can eat has worked well for me; it seems that food suggestions is what kicks off my cravings most of the time.

Most importantly, while I do have the goal of losing weight, I’m refusing to consider myself to be on a diet. I’m making LIFE changes here. A diet is something you do for 2 months before summer vacation. This is a forever thing.

So to summarize, I’ve lost 13.2lb since the start of the year now. I still have to lose 2.2lb to get back to my lowest point in 2010 so far. My goal for 2010 is to lose 40lb.

We’ve officially started the second half of 2010. I’m going to continue to lose 5lb a month from here on out. MUST do it. I was going to say that I’m “hoping to” but that isn’t the case. Not hoping, because that isn’t very empowering. I must. That would mean a 30lb weight loss from right now, and reaching my goal of a total of over 40lb for the year. I just have to keep eating right, exercising, and not giving up!

Alright, so who is in this with me?!? We can do it!