Ok, so I went to school for public relations. That was 13 years ago. There have been a few changes in the world since then, I would say.
The internet was out there in 1998, but it wasn't anything like this. I have always been someone whose had the social media account. I had myspace and I have a Facebook. I never got into Twitter because I didn't understand how it was different from Facebook. I used the accounts for my own personal reasons. I never realized how much I more I would have to learn to run an internet based business in today's times!
If you are not moving forward as a business owner, you are getting left out. Trust me, I value the face to face interactions as much as the next person. But if you have no website, no email address, or no presence on Facebook or Twitter, you'd better hope to the heavens that you have a loyal band of followers who buy your product.
When we started this business, we knew that social media marketing, and our ability to do it well, was going to be extrememly important. I started reading anything I could get my hands on. (I am a researcher at heart.) I knew I wasn't going to just starting updating statuses and tweeting without a direction or knowing what the heck I was doing. I needed to launch our site, but I also needed to do it the right way.
I knew we just didn't want a bunch of followers or friends, or people from all over the US visiting our site. Our site was locallly owned and operated. I want people who are going to USE the site. Otherwise, the people paying us are getting no return on their investment. Google Analytics, keywords, those are all things I hear alot of from other site owners. Those are all great, but what I want are the business owners to see that our site is bringing people in and buying their product. All of the exposure in the world is great, but if it's bringing you no money, it's worthless.
So, it's taking a little time to start our marketing campaigns. Facebook and Twitter are great, don't get me wrong. There are essential. But we are also marketing the old fashion way. Face to face. There is still some value left in that, right?
If you are starting a business, you have to have a plan and a direction about everything you do. Nothing can be arbitrary, everything you do must have a purpose. And you need to be somewhat educated about it as well. Because as a business owner, the only thing of value you have in the beginning is your time, and you must invest that "money" wisely!
Monday, September 19, 2011
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Learning How To Design Graphics
So, there are many parts of the website that my husband and I don't touch. The company we have our license through does many things for us, which is nice, because I would have to take classes on that part (computer help support and stuff) and I just don't care to. But, what I am learning is where to find FREE resources on the internet for minor graphic designing needs.
Luckily for us, there are many other site owners who have been down this road before and are more than wililng to offer places they've found that offer resources for free. I do not like paying for things if I can find them free, especially as a business owner with no income as of yet. Our site has advertising spaces that are different sizes that need to be filled with something. But I didn't know how to do it.
Something I've learned - every advertising space that is on a website is a certain size. You've got the long, skinny "banner" ads that go across your screen, the little squares that are on the side of the screen, rectangular ones, all kinds of sizes. If you don't have the software to create those, where do you find it?
A fellow colleague suggested BannerSnack. Now, I haven't played with this site enough to know it's full potential, but for basic graphic design needs, this fits the bill. I can make a banner for any occasion in about 5 minutes and have it on the site in about 6 minutes!
It's important to spend time researching in the beginning for things like this, because it has saved me a TON of time, rather than trying to learn how to do this myself or paying for a professional!
Luckily for us, there are many other site owners who have been down this road before and are more than wililng to offer places they've found that offer resources for free. I do not like paying for things if I can find them free, especially as a business owner with no income as of yet. Our site has advertising spaces that are different sizes that need to be filled with something. But I didn't know how to do it.
Something I've learned - every advertising space that is on a website is a certain size. You've got the long, skinny "banner" ads that go across your screen, the little squares that are on the side of the screen, rectangular ones, all kinds of sizes. If you don't have the software to create those, where do you find it?
A fellow colleague suggested BannerSnack. Now, I haven't played with this site enough to know it's full potential, but for basic graphic design needs, this fits the bill. I can make a banner for any occasion in about 5 minutes and have it on the site in about 6 minutes!
It's important to spend time researching in the beginning for things like this, because it has saved me a TON of time, rather than trying to learn how to do this myself or paying for a professional!
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Planting the Seeds
As a Christian, there is a story in the Bible I really love. It's about two farmers who needed rain badly for their fields and prayed for rain, every day. One farmer just prayed for rain, all the time. He didn't have rain so he didn't tend to his fields. The other farmer prayed for rain, but spent his days tending to his fields to prepare for the rain that was to come. Even though they didn't know when or if the rain would come, one farmer was prepared and the other was not. The rain came. Who do you think was prepared?
There are really two stories here, one about faith and one about being prepared by doing the work. It's the same story as Field of Dreams. "If you build it, he will come." It's a story about doing the work, even though you are getting nothing in return. In fact, you are sacrificing in the beginning.
I think a new business is really like this. There are some that start businesses, especially "get rich quick" businesses that expect to get the rain, the reward (money) before they actually do the work. There are some who pray for money to come in, but are not concerned with their business, just that they get the reward. I hope that my husband and I are the farmer preparing his fields. We are doing the hard work first, without seeing a reward. I know it will come, in time. But for now, it's just hard work with no immediate return on investment. But the rain will come. I just know it.
There are really two stories here, one about faith and one about being prepared by doing the work. It's the same story as Field of Dreams. "If you build it, he will come." It's a story about doing the work, even though you are getting nothing in return. In fact, you are sacrificing in the beginning.
I think a new business is really like this. There are some that start businesses, especially "get rich quick" businesses that expect to get the rain, the reward (money) before they actually do the work. There are some who pray for money to come in, but are not concerned with their business, just that they get the reward. I hope that my husband and I are the farmer preparing his fields. We are doing the hard work first, without seeing a reward. I know it will come, in time. But for now, it's just hard work with no immediate return on investment. But the rain will come. I just know it.
Friday, September 16, 2011
Overwhelming
I have not done a great job at keeping up with this blog as I wanted to. All I can say is that I feel like there are about 45 hours a day of work to do, and I have about, oh, 4, at best? Not to mention the amount of self educating I am having to do to know how to run a social media marketing site.
It's definitely an undertaking. This business was something we'd knew would take time, from the beginning. I have had to get really good at time management and doing things efficiently.
I wanted to do this blog because eventually, I would love for other people who wanted to start a business to use this as a resource. Or at least, read through our day to day happenings and learn how TO do something or how NOT TO do something. I also want people to understand that nothing happens overnight. Vision takes time. A business, one that is fruitful, one that you can leave as a legacy, that has staying power, is one that takes time in the beginning. You plant the seed and pray for rain. When the rain comes, your garden is ready from all of the work you've done in the beginning.
So, I've spend today doing data entry. ALOT of data entry. The nature of our business requires alot of time spent in front of the computer. For now, that's pretty much all we are doing. In the near future, there will be more interacting with future clients and visitors to the site. But for now, it's the tediousness of sitting in front of the computer when I get home from work and just starting at the screen, entering in data.
It's not all bad. I would consider this my second job and I still get to see my daughter. My rule is that when I get home until my daughter goes to bed, the 2 hours I have a night with her, are spent with her and my husband. After she goes to bed, around 7:30, I spend the night however many hours working. I try not to stay up too late, because I still have to be able to function. So once again, it can't be time wasted. Time is just not something I have alot of to spare lately.
I am looking forward to the next part though!
It's definitely an undertaking. This business was something we'd knew would take time, from the beginning. I have had to get really good at time management and doing things efficiently.
I wanted to do this blog because eventually, I would love for other people who wanted to start a business to use this as a resource. Or at least, read through our day to day happenings and learn how TO do something or how NOT TO do something. I also want people to understand that nothing happens overnight. Vision takes time. A business, one that is fruitful, one that you can leave as a legacy, that has staying power, is one that takes time in the beginning. You plant the seed and pray for rain. When the rain comes, your garden is ready from all of the work you've done in the beginning.
So, I've spend today doing data entry. ALOT of data entry. The nature of our business requires alot of time spent in front of the computer. For now, that's pretty much all we are doing. In the near future, there will be more interacting with future clients and visitors to the site. But for now, it's the tediousness of sitting in front of the computer when I get home from work and just starting at the screen, entering in data.
It's not all bad. I would consider this my second job and I still get to see my daughter. My rule is that when I get home until my daughter goes to bed, the 2 hours I have a night with her, are spent with her and my husband. After she goes to bed, around 7:30, I spend the night however many hours working. I try not to stay up too late, because I still have to be able to function. So once again, it can't be time wasted. Time is just not something I have alot of to spare lately.
I am looking forward to the next part though!
Monday, September 12, 2011
Our new business starts tomorrow
I thought it would be really interesting to blog about mine and my husband's new business adventure. I would love to look back on how this adventure will unfold, day by day.
Tomorrow, our site officially goes live. I am a little nervous about it, just because I am a little worried about how this is going to work out, logistically. With both of us working 2 full time jobs, it's going to take major planning and efficient time management to make this venture do well within 60 - 90 days.
Basically, all of this came to be because of the past two years of our lives. With all of the uncertainty in the job market and in life in general, I mentioned to my husband that it might be a good idea to start something, a business perhaps, that we could invest a small amount of money into (while we were already making some money). He agreed and begin looking for something that would fit what would work best for us.
We came across this site that is a hospitality marketing site and it seemed perfect! I knew it was going to be incredibly labor intensive but in the end, it would be worth it. I guess we will find out in the upcoming weeks how things turn out!
Tomorrow, our site officially goes live. I am a little nervous about it, just because I am a little worried about how this is going to work out, logistically. With both of us working 2 full time jobs, it's going to take major planning and efficient time management to make this venture do well within 60 - 90 days.
Basically, all of this came to be because of the past two years of our lives. With all of the uncertainty in the job market and in life in general, I mentioned to my husband that it might be a good idea to start something, a business perhaps, that we could invest a small amount of money into (while we were already making some money). He agreed and begin looking for something that would fit what would work best for us.
We came across this site that is a hospitality marketing site and it seemed perfect! I knew it was going to be incredibly labor intensive but in the end, it would be worth it. I guess we will find out in the upcoming weeks how things turn out!
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