I'm a geek...
Until next time...
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Why I'm a geek #1
My new boss sent me a photo message from her phone of my new business card... I was SO stoked!!
I'm a geek...
Until next time...
I'm a geek...
Until next time...
Monday, September 28, 2009
Drumroll please...
BREAKING NEWS UPDATE!!
I start on the 12th of October and couldn't be more excited! Well... that's a lie because I get more and more excited every time I think about it... YAY!
My last at Experts Exchange will be Thursday the 8th and then I'll be moving down on the 10th.
If you want to see pictures of my new place in Ocean Beach, go here. Pictures courtesy of my new land lady Chana Groh. Check out her stuff, it's GREAT!I'm stoked for this new chapter in my life and will keep you all posted with more details when they come!
Until next time...
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Great news coming tomorrow
There will be some fantastic news (in my opinion) being released to the world tomorrow. Stay tuned for the not so breaking news update tomorrow!
Here's a hint... I FINALLY DID IT!!
Until next time...
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Lucy wanted to be just like mommie!
Even if you're not a dog person, this picture is just stinking cute!!
Meet my puppy, Lucy Juliet Seybert
Until next time...
Meet my puppy, Lucy Juliet Seybert
Until next time...
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Two ways to hire (and a wrong way) from Seth Godin
Seth Godin has done it again. I was reading through the archives of his blogs and ran across Two ways to hire (and a wrong way). Though I am currently employed and don't need to worry about trying to find a job in this economy, I do have a lot of friends who are still looking for jobs and having little to no luck.
The thing that struck me the most was his idea to have a five minute interview and then move on. While to the hiring committee this sounds incredible because they don't have to waste their time for a week trying to find someone, it makes landing a job even harder for those who are interviewing. Or does it?
I would argue that Godin's method will truly find the strongest interviewee in the shortest amount of time. People who know their stuff and convey a sense of confidence don't need an hour to let the hiring committee/person know that.
After listening to a manager at my office talk about his interviewing experience, the most important thing he said was the cover letter and resume. Makes sense. Then why do so many people not put effort into them or make mistakes?
My advice to those out there looking for a job. Make your cover letter short and sweet and to the point. Frivolous paragraphs about why you think you're qualified don't matter. If you're qualified, talk about it based on what the job description said. Who cares what someone they don't know thinks? Also,
polish up your resume and make sure it fits exactly how they flew the job. And finally, if they call you to set up an interview, count THAT as your five minute interview and blow them away with your professionalism and be ready to answer at least one question they may throw your way.
Seth Godin's Blog is great and I encourage any one who wants to have little tid bits of wisdom delivered to their inbox everyday sign up for his blog. You won't be sorry you did.
Until next time...
The thing that struck me the most was his idea to have a five minute interview and then move on. While to the hiring committee this sounds incredible because they don't have to waste their time for a week trying to find someone, it makes landing a job even harder for those who are interviewing. Or does it?
I would argue that Godin's method will truly find the strongest interviewee in the shortest amount of time. People who know their stuff and convey a sense of confidence don't need an hour to let the hiring committee/person know that.
After listening to a manager at my office talk about his interviewing experience, the most important thing he said was the cover letter and resume. Makes sense. Then why do so many people not put effort into them or make mistakes?
My advice to those out there looking for a job. Make your cover letter short and sweet and to the point. Frivolous paragraphs about why you think you're qualified don't matter. If you're qualified, talk about it based on what the job description said. Who cares what someone they don't know thinks? Also,
polish up your resume and make sure it fits exactly how they flew the job. And finally, if they call you to set up an interview, count THAT as your five minute interview and blow them away with your professionalism and be ready to answer at least one question they may throw your way.Seth Godin's Blog is great and I encourage any one who wants to have little tid bits of wisdom delivered to their inbox everyday sign up for his blog. You won't be sorry you did.
Until next time...
Monday, September 14, 2009
I LOVE Fall
It's that time of year again!
Time for sweaters and scarfs, pumpkin pie and turkey and best of all, Spiced Pumpkin scent from Yankee Candle Company.
It's the key indicator that Fall is here and it makes everything smell SO amazing!
My family has a big Spiced Pumpkin candle in the living room and it makes the whole house smell fantastic! I put one of Yankee's Car Jars in my car and it makes getting into my car a treat every time. DELISH!
What is your favourite season?
Until next time...
It's the key indicator that Fall is here and it makes everything smell SO amazing!
My family has a big Spiced Pumpkin candle in the living room and it makes the whole house smell fantastic! I put one of Yankee's Car Jars in my car and it makes getting into my car a treat every time. DELISH!
What is your favourite season?
Until next time...
Friday, September 11, 2009
Improve your online conversion rate
After helping a member on Experts Exchange with conversion from an ad to his website, I'd like to help others out there as well.
For marketers, the web is a great tool to reach many people pretty easily. However, just because you got in front of them doesn't guarantee a high return on investment. Depending on where you're advertising, whether it is banner ads on many different sites or it's as simple as a Facebook ad, making sure you see success in your efforts is important. Not only to your bottom line, but to the awareness of your product.
emroze asked how to increase conversion from a Facebook ad. Since I do conversion as a career, I was able to give some insight.
Couple easy tips to increasing conversion from your ads:
Make sure you have a call to action
If your ad only has information or statistics or general information, but no reason to click on the ad, then people won't click it. Make sure you have something beyond just click here or something generic like that. Make sure your visitor has a reason to click. "Click here for more information!" Learn more about _____" etc.
Make sure you answer "where am I?" "what can I do here?" immediately when they reach your landing page
This is critical. Marketing Experiments talks about how if visitors don't know what's going on within a couple of seconds, they will have clicked the back button and never gave your page a chance. Ways to make sure you answer that question quickly is to have the same headline or similar call to action at the top of the page. Make sure there is some continuity in the experience. If the visitor lands on a page that is completely different than what they thought, they're out. This leads to the next tip.
Manage expectations of your visitor
While you're building your ad and the page the visitor will be taken too when they click on the ad, ask yourself "what would I expect to see when I click on this?" Try to put yourself in their shoes. Make sure you're able to answer "where am I?" "what can I do here?" and ask your coworker or random friend who hasn't been to the site to give their honest opinion about the experience. The more you're able to do outside research, the better your entire experience will be.
Test a couple different ads
If you make a couple different ads (different colours, calls to action, images etc) you'll be able to see what more people click on, then you can presume that more people identify with the concepts in the winning ad. This will tell you more about what your audience is looking for and you can tweak your landing page and other aspects of your site to have the same look and feel as the winning ad.
Couple things to keep in mind
Some clicks are going to be "whoops" clicks
A slip of the mouse, or an over eager clicker can accidentally click on your ad and then click the back button before it's even loaded. Therefore they never gave your site a chance.
People are curious
Keep in mind that some people may want to know what you're talking about or how something can be done, but have no intention of signing up for your services or buying your product.
Having a 100% conversion goal is unrealistic. You should calculate your return on investment based on how many people you need to sign up and how much it's costing you to run the ad campaign.
Until next time and happy converting!
**This article was originally written for Experts Exchange and can be found by following this link.**
For marketers, the web is a great tool to reach many people pretty easily. However, just because you got in front of them doesn't guarantee a high return on investment. Depending on where you're advertising, whether it is banner ads on many different sites or it's as simple as a Facebook ad, making sure you see success in your efforts is important. Not only to your bottom line, but to the awareness of your product.
emroze asked how to increase conversion from a Facebook ad. Since I do conversion as a career, I was able to give some insight.
Couple easy tips to increasing conversion from your ads:
Make sure you have a call to action
If your ad only has information or statistics or general information, but no reason to click on the ad, then people won't click it. Make sure you have something beyond just click here or something generic like that. Make sure your visitor has a reason to click. "Click here for more information!" Learn more about _____" etc.
Make sure you answer "where am I?" "what can I do here?" immediately when they reach your landing page
This is critical. Marketing Experiments talks about how if visitors don't know what's going on within a couple of seconds, they will have clicked the back button and never gave your page a chance. Ways to make sure you answer that question quickly is to have the same headline or similar call to action at the top of the page. Make sure there is some continuity in the experience. If the visitor lands on a page that is completely different than what they thought, they're out. This leads to the next tip.
Manage expectations of your visitor
While you're building your ad and the page the visitor will be taken too when they click on the ad, ask yourself "what would I expect to see when I click on this?" Try to put yourself in their shoes. Make sure you're able to answer "where am I?" "what can I do here?" and ask your coworker or random friend who hasn't been to the site to give their honest opinion about the experience. The more you're able to do outside research, the better your entire experience will be.
Test a couple different ads
If you make a couple different ads (different colours, calls to action, images etc) you'll be able to see what more people click on, then you can presume that more people identify with the concepts in the winning ad. This will tell you more about what your audience is looking for and you can tweak your landing page and other aspects of your site to have the same look and feel as the winning ad.
Couple things to keep in mind
Some clicks are going to be "whoops" clicks
A slip of the mouse, or an over eager clicker can accidentally click on your ad and then click the back button before it's even loaded. Therefore they never gave your site a chance.
People are curious
Keep in mind that some people may want to know what you're talking about or how something can be done, but have no intention of signing up for your services or buying your product.
Having a 100% conversion goal is unrealistic. You should calculate your return on investment based on how many people you need to sign up and how much it's costing you to run the ad campaign.
Until next time and happy converting!
**This article was originally written for Experts Exchange and can be found by following this link.**
New favourite song
A co-worker sent me this song and thought I might like it. Oh man was she right!!
Dollhouse - Priscilla Renea
Here are the lyrics if you're interested:
Im just a girl, you're just a boy
This is my heart, it's not a toy
So what with you playin with my mind
We used to be cool, it used to be love
Now it's become, something like a job
Like it or not, maybe things will changing right before our eyes
I tried to be a picture perfect girl
But you were in your own fantasy world
Try to control me like some kind of barbie
but that just ain't me
Cause I ain't a doll, this aint a dollhouse
Your way to old to be, puttin me down like this
and playing around like this
I ain't a doll, this ain't a dollhouse
No I could never be stuck living life like this
behind these four walls, I ain't a doll
You call the shots, right down to my shoes.
I liked what you liked cause you told me to
An i dont think that you could even tell.
I fell out of love, but it never showed
I gave up on us so long ago
But you'll never know,
baby dont pretend like you know me so well
I tried to be a picture perfect girl
but you were in your own fantasy world
try to control me like some kind of barbie
but that just ain't me
I ain't a doll, this aint a dollhouse
Your way to old to be, puttin me down like this
and playing around like this
I ain't a doll, this ain't a dollhouse
No I could never be stuck living life like this
Behind these four walls
I ain't a doll
I'll never be made of plastic
So glad that my hearts elastic
No matter what you do
I'll bounce back offa you
Cut me but im not bleeding
I tried to be a picture perfect girl
but you were in your own fantasy world
try to control me like some kind of barbie
but that just ain't me
I ain't a doll, this aint a dollhouse
Your way to old to be, puttin me down like this
and playing around like this
I ain't a doll, this ain't a dollhouse
No I could never be stuck living life like this
Behind these four walls, I ain't a doll
And I come with imperfections
Epitome of perfection
if you cant understand, lovin the way I am
then your no good for me, so glad i kept my receipt
Until next time...
Dollhouse - Priscilla Renea
Here are the lyrics if you're interested:
Im just a girl, you're just a boy
This is my heart, it's not a toy
So what with you playin with my mind
We used to be cool, it used to be love
Now it's become, something like a job
Like it or not, maybe things will changing right before our eyes
I tried to be a picture perfect girl
But you were in your own fantasy world
Try to control me like some kind of barbie
but that just ain't me
Cause I ain't a doll, this aint a dollhouse
Your way to old to be, puttin me down like this
and playing around like this
I ain't a doll, this ain't a dollhouse
No I could never be stuck living life like this
behind these four walls, I ain't a doll
You call the shots, right down to my shoes.
I liked what you liked cause you told me to
An i dont think that you could even tell.
I fell out of love, but it never showed
I gave up on us so long ago
But you'll never know,
baby dont pretend like you know me so well
I tried to be a picture perfect girl
but you were in your own fantasy world
try to control me like some kind of barbie
but that just ain't me
I ain't a doll, this aint a dollhouse
Your way to old to be, puttin me down like this
and playing around like this
I ain't a doll, this ain't a dollhouse
No I could never be stuck living life like this
Behind these four walls
I ain't a doll
I'll never be made of plastic
So glad that my hearts elastic
No matter what you do
I'll bounce back offa you
Cut me but im not bleeding
I tried to be a picture perfect girl
but you were in your own fantasy world
try to control me like some kind of barbie
but that just ain't me
I ain't a doll, this aint a dollhouse
Your way to old to be, puttin me down like this
and playing around like this
I ain't a doll, this ain't a dollhouse
No I could never be stuck living life like this
Behind these four walls, I ain't a doll
And I come with imperfections
Epitome of perfection
if you cant understand, lovin the way I am
then your no good for me, so glad i kept my receipt
Until next time...
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Sometimes even Marketers focus on the wrong people
I'm a subscriber to Seth Godin's email blog updates and some days I scan through them thinking "oh yeah that was good" and others I'm like "OH MY GOSH! He's SO right!!" Well this morning was an "OH MY GOSH" moment.
In today's entry, The big drop off, Godin talks about how, as marketers, it's so easy to just focus on winning over that new sale, converting that new prospect and completely ignore canceled members or the friends of the current members of your focus. It seems like a no brainer. give your current fans a way to proselytize your product to their friend circle and watch the converts come in. Too bad that's not how it seems to go.
If you want to read Godin's entry on focusing on the 2nd circle too, check out The big drop off.
Until next time!
In today's entry, The big drop off, Godin talks about how, as marketers, it's so easy to just focus on winning over that new sale, converting that new prospect and completely ignore canceled members or the friends of the current members of your focus. It seems like a no brainer. give your current fans a way to proselytize your product to their friend circle and watch the converts come in. Too bad that's not how it seems to go.If you want to read Godin's entry on focusing on the 2nd circle too, check out The big drop off.
Until next time!
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
I love good commercials!!
I've been known to say "wow how depressing would it be to be a commercial maker and your only job would be to come up with good commercials and you come up with THAT?!" (referring to a HORRIBLE commercial...) Well when I see a commercial I love, I want to share it to the world!
IBM's USB rockstar commercial is one of those AMAZING commercials that catches my attention every time.
ENJOY!!
Until next time....
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
I've lost TEN POUNDS with Weight Watchers!
As a lot of you know 
I have been on Weight Watchers since the middle of July. Today I hit my TEN POUNDS benchmark and it feels great!! I am ten pounds closer to my goal and am so excited to get there!
For those of you who have questions about Weight Watchers, feel free to leave me a comment or Email me and I'll get back to you!
Until next time...
I have been on Weight Watchers since the middle of July. Today I hit my TEN POUNDS benchmark and it feels great!! I am ten pounds closer to my goal and am so excited to get there!For those of you who have questions about Weight Watchers, feel free to leave me a comment or Email me and I'll get back to you!
Until next time...
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Help support healthy living and the American Heart Association
In an effort to support healthy living, my company has put together a team to help raise money for the American Heart Association.
If you would like to help me out in reaching my $500 goal, that would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks readers!!
Look over at the left navigation to keep track of the progress of my fund raising goals!
Until next time...
If you would like to help me out in reaching my $500 goal, that would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks readers!!
Look over at the left navigation to keep track of the progress of my fund raising goals!
Until next time...
Weight Watchers widget to help with cravings
Behold... the handy dandy cravings widget from Weight Watchers. Type in something you're craving and it will spit out some low point alternatives and help you stay on track with Weight Watchers.
Enjoy!!
Until next time...
Enjoy!!
Until next time...
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