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Happy Mother's Day
After losing a very dear member of our family couple weeks ago, i have been waking up every morning to my alarm clock wondering “why?”. If it all ends in the blink of an eye then “what is it all for?”. If it doesn’t matter how many homes you had, if it doesn’t matter how much money you accumulated, if it doesn’t matter how successful or unsuccessful you were and if in the end we all go out as we came in; without any money and without any posessions, then what’s all the hustle and bustle for? Maybe there is some truth to this whole deal about ‘the journey’? Maybe it’s not about where we get to and where we end up in the end, and it’s truly all about the journey. As annoying and as cliché as that is what is left behind is the fruits of our labor and our love. Abraham Lincoln said “What you do for yourself dies with you; what you do for others lives on forever.” Well, I completely agree.
I think the the alarm clock sounds different when you are waking up to something you love to do and something that is dear and close to your heart. I feel most alive when I work on my business serving our clients and when I’m around the people I love. I know in my gut that my life starts to make sense and that I am doing something that is in some small way making a difference. A difference to me and to the people I come in contact with and a difference which will not disappear into thin air when I do.
On this mother’s day my prayer for each and every one of you is that you are in some way shape or form making a difference and waking up to something or someone you love. Whether you are raising kids and taking care of your family, or making a difference through your work, I hope that you are enjoying your journey and I hope that you are creating something along the way which will live on even after you.
Happy mother's day.
Cemali
 Posted By: Cemali On: 2010-05-09 13:46:08 | ReplyView Replies |
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Social Media for Small Business - A Valuable Source of Exposure
Social Media for Small Business - A Valuable Source of Exposure
If you haven't jumped on the social media bandwagon to promote your business, you are missing out. It is an inexpensive way to gain much needed exposure. This alternative to traditional advertising creates buzz about your product, services or your brand from family members, friends and loyal customers, which is very different from exposure through paid advertisements.
When you set up a business page on Facebook (a fan page), you can link that page to your business twitter account. This will automatically send your facebook wall posts to your twitter page saving you from having to post the same information on both sites. You should also click on the Suggest to Friends link on your fan page to let your friends know about your page and to get a solid fan base started.
It is important to be conversational with your friends and followers, to stay connected with them on a more personal level, in addition to talking about new products, services and events for your company.
"As a result of developing a facebook page, twitter page and consistant e-mail newsletters, my sales online and retail store have shown a steady increase." states Debbie Brink, owner of Pure Enchantment. Debbie has been creating her own line of natural personal care products since 2003. She is busy filling orders for her wholesale division as well as running a retail store. Social networking allows her to engage with customers on a day to day basis and it is a valuable tool for getting input about product and fragrance requests.
It is important to manage the site daily. It is often best to outsource that task as Debbie is doing. "Running a small business on my own, I don't have the time nor the energy to manage a social media program. iBizard has done a fabulous job of marketing me online!"
Social Media is a necessary step in the growth of a small business. If you have created pages for your business, consistently maintain them, if you don't have pages yet, it's never too late to start. Posted By: Jeanette On: 2010-03-22 14:49:57 | Reply |
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vday
Use email marketing to give your Valentine's Day sales a boost
Valentine’s Day is almost here, and whether you love it or love to ignore it, it can give your business a boost in sales during an otherwise lackluster month.
There are many benefits of using an email blast to market to your customers. One is the fact that you are already engaging a person who is a customer and is interested in what you have to say. The second, is that emails, unlike direct mail, can be sent out with little advance notice (for those procrastinators out there - and I must say, I do know a few)! Also, it is an extremely cost-effective way to market.
I have chosen a few of our client's Valentine's Day emails to highlight. The first email was sent out by Urban Home & Garden. We designed the email for them. They opted for a subtle message to remind their customers that their store carries everything you need for a romantic Valentine's day. Everything from holiday decor and plants to set the mood, and gift certificates to give to the one you love. They included a $5 off coupon. Chances are this will entice the email recipient to come in and buy something for themselves!
Next is Johanna Pockar who owns an interior design and feng shui consulting company called Energy by Design. Using one of our pre-made design templates, she simply took the content of a blog she had written about Valentine's Day and made that the body of her email. For her, sending out the Valentine's Day email is about connecting with her customers by subltly reminding them that she is available to them and at the same time, giving them some free design advice.
The third email blast we also designed. This one was done for Pure Enchantment. This email is a friendly reminder to their already loyal customer base, to stop in, pick up a gift for someone they love and....they included a special offer for their customers. Over the holiday weekend, they will receive a complimentary chocolate lip balm with a purchase of $15 or more.
Quick to send out, and quick to get customer response is what makes email marketing so effective. At iBizard, all of our clients get to send out 25 free emails per month. Our basic email marketing plan is only $9.99/month and allows you to send up to 5000 emails per month. You can add coupons to your emails as well as clickable links to facebook, twitter, and my space. As far as designs go, you can use any of our premade templates, create your own email using our editor, upload predesigned work, or hire us to do your design work for you.
Contact iBizard for details about our email marketing and other services for small business and Internet marketers. Posted By: jeanette On: 2010-02-11 16:10:37 | Reply |
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law of paradoxical intent
The Law of Paradoxical Intent
I've had this book - Quantum Success by Sandra Anne Taylor sitting on my shelf for a while now. I see it every time I look up from my computer during the day. I always plan on reading it but never quite get to it. I decided to delve into it and I am reading a chapter called, The Law of Paradoxical Intent, which is one of the universal laws of success.
The principle of this law shows that if you are desperate to make something happen and waiting to get what you want, you are sending out a vibration that will actually push it away and push away the people and situations that could bring to you what you want. This will ultimately lead to your failure instead of your success.
Sandra goes on to explain that when you are waiting for something to happen, in order to be successful, then you are not truly happy. And when you are not happy, and see lack in your life, you forego present contentment. When you begin setting goals that you must achieve to to be happy in the future, you are making a very serious mistake. Set the goal, but be at peace in this moment.
If you can begin to enjoy your life and stop waiting for happiness in the future, the you will be projecting a higher vibration and an energy that will respond by sending you what you set your intentions on.
"The Law of Paradoxical Intent points out the underlying paradox of personal achievement: You can get what you want by knowing that you don't need it to be happy! It forces you to shift your focus from a desperate intention to a peaceful pursuit. Never send out the energy tat you're willing to wait to be happy-just that you're willing to wait for the goal. Needing a particular achievement before you can live with peace and joy creates a desperate energy that's absolute poison to the resonance of success, so be clear about your intentions and fearless in your motivations. Pursue your goals because you want them to enhance an already happy life, not because you'll be miserable without them."
The lesson is clear. We must grow our business by being present in this moment and content with where we are right now and trust that the positive energy and intentions we set today (without focusing on what we think we lack), will bring us all the success and abundance in the world. Posted By: jeanette On: 2010-01-27 15:48:19 | Reply |
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email manually
new feature added to our email marketing program
We recently added a new feature to our email marketing program. You now have the ability to manually send out emails from your list of created email campaigns. This requested feature is extremely beneficial when you just want to send a few additional emails out to someone that recently signed up on your mailing list. It is quick, easy and convenient.
To use this feature, click on View/Edit Emails from your iBizard home page. This brings up a list of your Email Campaigns. You will now see a new column titled Email Manually. Click on the Email Manually icon for the corresponding email. Simply enter up to 5 email addresses at a time and click the process button. That's it. Your email is on its way.
We will keep you informed as new features are added. Posted By: jeanette On: 2009-08-13 11:44:42 | Reply |
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iBizard Blog Pages RSS Feed into Facebook
What is an RSS Feed anyway?
An RSS Feed (Really Simple Syndication) is a way of syndicating content on the internet. No matter what the content is, RSS feeds are widely used to automatically broadcast changes and new additions to the subscribers or other web sites.Our blogs now have RSS capabilities. Your visitors can subscribe to updates on your blog by simply clicking the RSS feed icon  on your iBizard blog. Every time you create a new blog entry on iBizard an automated process regenerates your RSS feed updating it with the changes and new additions you have created.Your RSS feed will be located at your iBizard subdomain name and will have a URL that looks like this:http://www.ibizard.com/sites/YOUR_SUBDOMAIN_NAME/blogfeed.xml
You can also use this URL to have other web sites automatically retrieve new additions and updates to your iBizard blog without you having to do manual imports and updates every time you make changes. Facebook is a prime example for this application. Facebook allows users to import their blogs into their notes using the RSS feed method. Under the notes section you will see an 'Import Your Blog' link. Using this link and the RSS feed URL above, you can instruct facebook to check your RSS feed every couple hours and import any new additions automatically into your Facebook profile. Facebook will not only import these updates, but will also post them on your wall, therefore broadcasting your new additions to all of your friends and fans. Facebook also has a function where your friends and fans can subscribe to your 'notes updates', in which case they will get a direct message informing them of your new additions.All this without you having to make new entries and then logging into to Facebook to do a manual import and post. Pretty cool!Please remember that Facebook is just one example of how to use your RSS feed. You can use the RSS feed URL provided above to import your iBizard blog and automatically update any other sites, which allow RSS feed functionality.Enjoy and for further details and instructions on general RSS questions and how to link your iBizard blog into your Facebook notes, please refer to your iBizard Blogs Help Pages and search for RSS Feed instructions. Posted By: Cemali Emiroglu On: 2009-08-10 10:50:27 | Reply |
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