Yeah Baby! I have finally done it! I have finally worked how to make my blog look like a website. Gees, I realized that I’m a bit slow in understanding how to do it. Anyway, this is how to do it. In Dashboard, go to Appearance=>Menus. Give the Menu a name and then Save. Go to Pages=>View All on left side. Select your parent templates and click Add to Menu. Then go to Categories=>View All. Select the categories that you want for subheadings and click Add to Menu. Now comes the easy bit, rearrange the order of how you want people to navigate around your site. Move subheadings a little to the right when it’s under the Parent template. If done right, it should be indented by about 1cm. Save it. Go to Theme Locations and select the drop down box under Primary Menu and choose the name of the menu that you just created and save. That’s it folks! Pretty simple once you know how. Hope you enjoyed this tip.
So what’s a Digital will?
Is there such thing as a digital will? The internet allows people to join sites. Some join dating or professional associations, others join social sites like Facebook, YouTube, etc. People interact and engage with others for business or social reasons. Now, here’s the important part. A digital will is your statement of what happens to these accounts after you die.
Česky: Logo Facebooku English: Facebook logo Español: Logotipo de Facebook Français : Logo de Facebook Tiếng Việt: Logo Facebook (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
There are several factors to consider when talking about this complex subject.
- The Individual. Your empowered to make decisions about the accounts. I can’t remember every account, but I know the ones that I use the most. A solution is to create a list of your active accounts and decide what you want done with them after your death. Facebook has an “If I Die” feature that records a video and passes it on to beneficiaries and executors after proper proof of death.
- Businesses. A Sole Proprietor’s solution is like The Individual. If you want members of your family to carry on the business account then state it in a will. For Partnerships, discuss what happens when someone dies and if family members can take over the business. For companies this is slightly harder. So involve the lawyers.
- Sites. Popular sites have built larger data storage warehouses. The costs for housing business and personal information is expensive. I’m sure these sites would like to delete accounts that are inactive for say 1-2 years. I wonder if your connections on these sites will be notified of your death?
The solution isn’t easy. Firms and legal people can help with this business subject. These involve costs. A suggested inexpensive option is to write a list of your accounts and what you want done with them. Then if anything happens to you, your family follows the instructions. Include account names and passwords. Geek Business suggests several solutions in their article. Does your business have a digital will? Are governments making enough relevant digital media laws?
Related articles
- What Happens to Our Social Media Accounts When We Die? (michaela1123.wordpress.com)
- “Your Digital Will” byAngela Saini
Posted in Social Media, Trends
Can Nordstrom teach us about business?
What can Nordstrom teach us about running a business? In the United States, Nordstrom is one of the biggest department store chain. Fortune magazine has listed it as one of the Top 100 companies to Work For. It’s also been listed as a Fortune 500 company. Add to this, that customers love this company and so do the employees. What is so special about this company that differentiates itself from other company brands. What’s their magic formula for success?
Nordstrom at Washington Square (Oregon) Español: Nordstrom en Washington Square (Oregón) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
There is no magic formula. Nordstrom, bases their core philosophy on customer service with support from its employees and management. It bases its business on the 75 word employee handbook. Let me break it down this way.
- Customer Service – Most businesses don’t stack up to how Nordstrom does it. It trains sales staff to focus on the customer by giving you the product and a range of choice. They listen and understand your need. Providing outstanding customer service is the company’s number one goal.
- Employees – Are encouraged as professionals and to set goals. They believe in the individual’s ability to use their judgement in all situations. Thus creating a positive environment for people to grow their skills and complete goals. This encourages an environment for innovation.
- Management – Businesses have a hierarchy, but Nordstrom has a more open and probably flat management style. In other words, any staff can approach managers with ideas or for help, this creates an openness. This encourages the business to continually improve customer service and improve its efficiency. It creates a community that is able to adapt to the changing environment.
This simple 75 word employee handbook is what makes Nordstrom. It’s core goal of providing outstanding customer service is the driving force. They’ve adapted this to social media. Visit Twitter or Facebook to see it in action. Think about it; businesses survive by having employees listen to customers needs and then offer a solution to those needs. It’s business disaster when we stop listening to customers and treat them like numbers.
How can you improve customer service to help build your business?
April 5, 2012
I got a couple of comments that are half complimentary and half business. I’ve edited the comments and removed the business bits. I hate business spam. I don’t like editing comments but I find it necessary when blogging. I’m not putting up with the crap! Look, I know you’re running a business but don’t try to sell me your business. I’m trying to help people to build their dreams of growing their business. I respect that you’re trying to build a business, so please respect my blog site. Happy thoughts! Happy thoughts! Happy Easter everyone! 🙂
April 4, 2012
D’oh! Just realized that in my journal entry “February 22, 2012” I forgot to explain how I placed the Search widget in the header section. It’s pretty simple. Just go to Dashboard=>Widgets and then drag the widget that says “Search” and drop it in the section that says “Header Widget Area”. I did this to allow people to type more words in the search section. You can add a text widget above the search widget. As you can see “Type to your heart’s content”. I just added this recently. You probably think it’s too much of a cliché but it’s my blog and I can do what I want. So there!
April 3, 2012
So happy. Yesterday I discovered that WordPress had placed 3 of my articles in its section “Blogs about: Social Media Trends”. I’m quite surprised that I got so many in such a short amount of time. The only thing that disappoints me is that I still don’t have enough articles, but I’m still working on that. Hopefully, if all goes to plan, I’ll get better at producing more. Thanks WordPress for referring my site. I’m such a happy little camper. 🙂 Yippee!
April 1, 2012
I got a few likes on one of my latest posts. Sweet. Had a look around and decided to follow some blogs. Oh, crap just remembered that I have to add a link to one of my article. Need to fix this right away or I’ll forget. I also need to change the layout of my contact form. Done!
Is Apple doing enough to stop the labour issue?
A black & white illustration of a Persian slave in the Khanate of Kiva in the 19th century (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Is the Apple headache on China labour issues solved? Apple, the company linked with innovation and consumer appeal has a problem. Its been heavily criticized for allowing chinese people to work in slave labour conditions. People have heard stories of what happen in these factories.
There are stories of explosions and worker suicides in these factories. Staff working in these factories are poorly paid, they work in sweatshop conditions and work well above the regular hours. The workers are also poorly compensated when they suffer injuries in these conditions. It’s the 21st Century and conditions like this should not exist in the modern world.
Tim Cook, Apple COO, in january 2009, after Macworld Expo keynote. Picture by Valery Marchive (LeMagIT) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Tim Cook, Apple CEO, has been willing to tackle the global criticism that mistreated chinese workers build their products. After agreeing to an independent probe by Fair Labor Association (FLA), Apple and Foxconn have agreed to improve the conditions of the workers and increase the workforce. However, the FLA has also been criticized for its close association with corporations.
The pivotal point in this issue is the contracts between Apple and its manufacturing partners. It’s my understanding that Apple has invested in some of these companies to get started. This partnership allows Apple to buy parts and labour at reduced costs to its competitors for several years. Is Apple willing to renegotiate these terms and conditions with its partners? Will it be the manufacturing partners that will burden the costs or will Apple join in. Apple still uses the factories, the question is will they do the ethical thing?
As consumers in the modern world, are we in part to blame? We love these new technologies, it makes our lives easier. We love the product, we hate that it has some unethical issues surrounding it, yet we still buy because we’re addicted to it. In the end, the question remains. Has Apple done enough to stop the labour issues? What else do you think Apple could be doing to improve conditions?
Contributing and Related Articles
- “Long Hours for China’s Ipad Makers” video report by John Sudworth at BBC News
- “Apple, Foxconn to revamp China work conditions” by Poornima Gupta & Edwin Chan
Do Businesses need a Social Media facelift?
Data from April 2011 Editor Survey that lists Social Media activities (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Does your businesses need a facelift on Social Media? I’m asking for a simple reason. Most companies rushed in and joined social media platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. Most businesses built a basic display as they raced to get a presence on these sites. They linked sites together and made sure that traffic could be directed to their website. With production of content, the business should grow. This seems a perfect plan.
There’s a problem. Most sites are poorly designed and not well though out with the consumer and followers in mind. Think about your business site on Facebook . Is it poorly designed? Is it people friendly? Ask your followers on Facebook? What do they want? This helps in getting ideas to improve the look of your site. Only by listening, will you be able to formulate a redesign plan for each of your sites.
Wix.com (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Here are some tips to keep in mind when redesigning your Facebook site.
- House Rules. Establish rules on what people can do and not do on your site. If you are having trouble writing them you can look at some other sites to get ideas. Do not copy it! Or you can use a copywriter to write it. Enforce the rules, otherwise don’t put it up.
- Welcome Page. You can build a welcome page using a template on your Facebook account for free by going to the Wix site. This site is a free online tool that allows you to build websites through drag and drop templates without using coding skills.
- Visit popular sites on Facebook to get ideas.
- Plan your content. Content is king. Keep it fresh as good content will engage the followers. Will you include promotions in your content?
- Engage your Followers. Develop a system to interact with them and the frequency. Listen to what they say about your business and how you can make improvements. Reply to their comments and problems.
- Sales Planning. There’s two ways. i) Set-up a unique opt-in form to give people option to subscribe to more information about products and services. ii) Allow people to buy straight as an example add a shopping cart facility.
- Ease. Make navigating your site easy and simple.
It’s not hard! There are low-cost solutions. You can join Elance and pay people to do this for you. The better option is to ask people. Know anyone who loves working on these social media sites? Offer them a Recommendation or be a Reference for their work. Always negotiate a win-win situation. You can develop sites one at a time.
You find ways to develop your business. Why isn’t it applied to your social media sites. It’s part of your business presence, so develop it. What social media sites does your business need to redesign?
Posted in Business, Ideas, Management, Social Media
March 30, 2012
Yeah. Worked out how to change the link color for my articles and article title. Lucked out by stumbling upon by trying to do something else. Here’s how I did it. In Dashboard, go to Appearance=>Theme Options. Then go to the section where it says “Link Color”. Then choose your color. How easy is that. I’m stoked! Doesn’t take much to amuse me.
I’m about halfway through completing my strategy guideline for social media and crisis management plan. I can’t wait to publish this page.
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Aqua Black Cat 