Friday, May 30, 2014

Websites are one of many online options


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After about six months of messing with a Wordpress template, I called it quits this week. No matter what I did, I couldn't get the site to look the way I wanted it to look.

I then had one of those "light bulb over the head" moments when I realized I didn't need to go with the traditional photographer web site. Duh. Once I realized that, I managed to find a new website template in under a half an hour that actually worked and looked great.
Reference: Melissa Bagley.

Melissa Bagley is a professional photographer, and while we don't know yet what she's come up with, I'm sure that many of us small-business owners can relate to her story.  We simply don't have the budget to engage a skilled but pricey designer, so we have to rely on our persistence and ingenuity.

Lacking resources has made me more resourceful.

I attended a talk recently, which, even though it wasn't so clear at first, was about online marketing.  The focus was on websites as a primary home for us business and marketing people.  But in reality websites are just one of many options we have at our disposal.

I've had more than my fair share of incompetent, unscrupulous website designers, but perhaps like Bagley, it dawned on me that I could create my own websites and therefore dispense with all of these clowns.  This way, I had full control over its design and functionality, and it fit my shoestring budget perfectly.

That said, my websites are not the center of my online presence and projects: Social media is, especially Google+ and Twitter.  My websites are an entry for my management consultancy, and it's on my business card.  But I've created a network around it and with it, which also includes Blogger, Tumblr and Pinterest, plus About.Me.

For your reference, here are my websites: Ron Villejo Consulting, Dr. Ron Art, and T'ai Chi Empower.

Friday, May 16, 2014

Be purposeful and playful with your blog


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Reference: How to Promote Your Blog Content to Get 1,000 Social Media Shares, by Irfan Ahmad, who has loads of great infographics on his Google+ profile.

Two of my guiding rules with my blogs are:

Be clear about my purpose, stay true to my passion

I detest efforts to game the system, for instance, by fabricating a title for a blog or an article simply to increase SEO.  You can certainly toy with different titles, and see what affect that has in your analytics results.  But be purposeful and be authentic.

Give things a try - apps, techniques, sites or platforms

It's impossible to know everything, but it's easy enough to play around with things that may serve your purpose.  Many of these are free of charge, and that works perfectly for my tight budget.  I am quite wary of allowing any app, for example, to have my location.  But other than that it's play away for me.

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Social media is a global community


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Reference: YouTube Around the World, by Irfan Ahmad, who has loads of great infographics on his Google+ profile.

I am so fortunate to have traveled across the world in my lifetime.  I was born in Manila, grew up in Chicago, lived in Dubai, and I am back home now in Chicago.  Not so much YouTube for me, but my Google+, Facebook and LinkedIn networks hail from around the world.  So I am mindful of time, language and cultural differences.  Google Analytics show you where your visitors or viewers are coming from, so have a look and reflect on what this means for your content.

Monday, May 12, 2014

Video is the new face of content marketing


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Reference: Video is the new face of content marketing, by Irfan Ahmad, who has loads of great infographics on his Google+ profile.

If you haven't yet heard this fact about content marketing, now you have.  Ahrvey does it!  Make a promo video.  So what are you waiting for?

Friday, May 9, 2014

Save the Children makes Reality TV in Liberia


One year ago we filmed T-Girl giving birth to baby Melvin -- footage later used in our TV advert, First Day. Now, we're thrilled to announce that Melvin has just celebrated his 1st birthday, happy and healthy. All thanks to the skills of midwife Watta.  MIDWIVES SAVE LIVES!
We Westerners are programmed to think in sophisticated, complicated terms.  We have our high technology, and believe firmly that it is the means by which to save the world.  We have our years of education, and our credentials behind us, but what much of the world may need are simply the basic things.  A perfectly qualified and compassionate midwife, not a physician, can save lives.

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Your girl for Save the Children in Syria?


A young girl's life gets turned upside-down in this tragic second a day video. Could this ever happen in the UK? This is what war does to children.
Reference: Three Years Later, We Finally Have a Brutally Powerful Ad About the Crisis in Syria: A girl's life destroyed in one second a day.

You hit with home with people, when you bring your message literally to their home.  You hit home with parents in particular, when you commandeer their children.  This video is horrifying and painful indeed.

Monday, May 5, 2014

Save the Children cannot make this sexy!


New York City fashion models came prepared to shoot a sexy commercial. Then we asked them to do the impossible...
Reference: Hot Fashion Models Are Recruited for 'Sexy' Ad, but Then Things Get Really Awkward: An impossible assignment.

Certainly a clever, definitely a powerful promo video for Save the Children.  You want to grab attention for your brand, or cause, or organization?  This is one way.

Friday, May 2, 2014

Scooter Magruder in techTrampoline



There was something both amusing and sobering about these 100 First World problems.  I really could relate to so much of it.  But I must remind myself, and others, too, that large segments of the world fall outside ours and therefore do not have the benefit of sophisticated media and technology.  

First World Problems, by Scooter Magruder is an article in one of  my blogs for Dr. Ron on the Internet (droi):

techTrampoline