I have to tell you up front that I am no "techie" - I know little about the technical aspects of computers and website and code and such.  But I'm a layout/design/content kind of gal, and last year I was introduced to Weebly.com as a source of easy website creation.For the several websites I've been involved with, including, of course, this one, I'd used Squarespace, I'd seen WordPress, and I'd investigated freebies like Google and Yahoo pages.  But when I started experimenting with Weebly, I must say that virtually anyone can use this resource to create an interesting and effective website.

The several things I appreciate about Weebly:

• Lots of beautiful designs (templates) appropriate for many industries and fields.
• Very simple drag-and-drop page creation.
• Very customizable - You can adjust the fonts, colors and so forth, to suit your needs.
• No need to know anything techie unless you want to add Paypal buttons or other code content (and even then, it's super simple to do).
• It's FREE!!  Yes, you heard me, it's FREE!  There are a few limits to what you get in the free version vs. the paid version, but the paid version is cheap, so consider the options before you decide.
• Fabulous built-in keyword and SEO options (traffic to my website has increased dramatically since switching to Weebly).
  

The few things I do NOT appreciate:

• Very limited Help options, but I've had fabulous online service when I've asked a question.
• No preview option - you have to actually publish the site before you can see the final result.  But it's easy enough to go back in and edit.
• I'd like to see more customizable design options like picture placement
  

Whether you want a website for a business, an event, a blog, a family's activities, Weebly may be the way to go. Anyone with moderate computer skills can make an attractive and effective website.  And if you don't want to bother with it, I know a GREAT freelancer who can work with you: Holly@LightseedsOffice.com!

As you know by now, I believe that how you present yourself, online and in person, goes a long way in communicating your message to your audience.  I've noticed many unintentional changes to American English that should be avoided at all costs to maintain a professional front.  I have ranted about a few of these recently (see my earlier post) and now I'll focus on a few more items that are either ungrammatical or simply are not words.

1.  Gratefulness: No such word!  We seem to have a tendency to create nouns from adjectives, even though there are perfectly good nouns already in place!  Try GRATITUDE instead.  I am grateful that I feel gratitude.
2.  Invite: a verb.  You send an invitation to invite people to an event.
3.  He wrote about you and I . . .  Jim and me went to the store . . . confusion between a subject and object of the pronoun.  Huh?  Easiest way to remember is to say it without the other person.  Me went to the store . . . I don't think so!  Jim and I went to the store.  And the other half of that issue "between you and I."   Take the sentence apart to see if it still makes sense:  "He wrote about you" is fine.  "He wrote about I" is, well, not.  It should be "he wrote about you and me" . . . object not subject.
4.  Irregardless: No such word!  The "Ir" doesn't belong there.  Regardless is a perfectly good word on its own.
5.  Do you want to lay down?  Wrong! If you're talking about getting horizontal, the verb is "lie".  Do you want to lay that heavy box down?  If you're talking about an object, the verb is "lay."  I won't even get into the past tense confusions between those!
6.  Orientated:  No such word!  To get oriented to your new position, you should go to an orientation meeting.
7.  It's literally killing me!  Well I hope to goodness that's not true, because it'd mean someone is stabbing, shooting or otherwise attempting your demise!  Remember that "literally" means "truly", "really", "absolutely."

There are more to rant over, but I'll stop now . . . you're welcome!  I understand that languages evolve over time, where once-accepted words become archaic, and where slang becomes accepted language.  However, grammatical mistakes like the ones above can make it harder to project a professional, expert image, so don't lay down on the job, irregardless of what you and me think.  HA!

Hopefully you just read this title and said "Whah????? Has Holly lost it?"  If you didn't, I'm shocked! You can be the best writer, the most connected intuitive, the most accurate accountant, but if you can't proofread your work, you may not come across as the professional you are.

I have read online articles, websites, blogs, emails, and other forms of business communication written by authorities in their field, with important things to say, but their writings contain blatant errors.  Granted I've missed a few in my own proofreading (hey, we're all human), but I am adamant about editing and proofing.  Think about the two sentences below.  Which would lead you to contact the writer for more information?  Which presents the writer as a professional who knows what they're talking about? 

1. Everybody has to profread what their writing so the customer's know they are professional.
2. Everybody has to proofread what they're writing so the customers know they are professional.

Well, obviously (it is obvious, isn't it?) the answer is #2. Many of us have forgotten the basic grade school grammar, sentence structure and vocabulary we used to be good at.  Let's review!

• Their = possessive (I like their new car)
• They're = contraction (They're driving in their new car)
• Friends = plural
• Friend's = possessive (I like my friend's new car)
• The most unique = my pet peeve.  Look up the definition.  Unique = one of a kind.  Can you be the most one of a kind?  I don't think so!
• Hysterical = another pet peeve.  Hysterical means out of control, freaking out, upset.  Hilarious, on the other hand, means extremely funny.  A great comic can be hysterical if he/she gets upset about a bad show, but if it's a good show, it's hilarious.  Think of the comedy club....is it called Hystericals or Hilarities?
• I Like To Capitalize Everything = a title.  The first letter of each word capitalized is called Title Case for a reason - it's only used for titles (of companies, of books, of chapters, etc.).  Otherwise, only the first letter of the first word of a sentence is capitalized. Of course we have exceptions like God, Bible, names, etc. 
• This is a great example of a run on sentence with no punctuation you have no idea where the beginnings and endings are so it's really hard to read. This is a great example, of the overuse, of commas when, you don't really know, how to use them.  There is a happy medium between the two extremes.  Review some basic rules here.
  
• Spell check!!  Every word processing program, blog site, etc., has a spell check function.  USE IT!
  

Well, this is a good beginning of things to review when you're writing.  There are all sorts of online and in-print resources to help you practice and become more professional.  Of course, if you need a good editor/proofreader, I know a great freelance assistant for hire:  Holly@LightseedsOffice.com!

Think about that word: networking.  Thirty years ago, what exactly did that mean?  Was the word as meaningful then in a world without personal computers?  Now, in a business world where computer networks are crucial, it's important to understand that personal networks are important as well.

"No man [or woman] is an island."  Nearly every sort of work we do requires a relationship with others.  You can write a book alone, but you need others to buy it.  You can work on a computer alone, but you need clients.  After working for many years in Corporate America where it was my superiors [I don't like that word - we're all equals - but you know what I mean] who networked with others in their field.  Once I became self-employed, I was a bit out of my experience in learning how to network with others who might need my skills or might know someone else who does.  I have never enjoyed sales and was uncomfortable with the idea of "selling" my administrative services.  What I discovered, much to my surprise, was that by attending functions with other business people, I could not only increase awareness of my own work, but hear about all sorts of wonderful entrepreneurship and ideas going on in my city, and it was the education, the sharing that created potential clients, not selling. 

Social media has become a great way to meet others, for business relationships or for skill exchanges, however LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. are two-dimensional.  You can educate others but your conversations are flat, with little personality behind them. We all know that for business (or any) relationship to grow we need to like each other, and that can only be accomplished face to face.  We must learn to follow up our online meetings with personal contact - meet for lunch or coffee, attend Meetup or Chamber meetings, and so on.  Even if you are shy of meeting new people, it's vital to form personal relationships to foster the business relationships. In needing to sell myself as the end product and have people like and trust me, it was my conversations and relationship-building that netted results.

I encourage you [good word . . ."en-courage" . . . to instill courage] to think about your friends, family and business associates as the knots in a great net of potential clients. Each knot leads to another thread which leads to another knot.  Follow the threads, and network your way to success.  And of course, if you need help uncovering your network, I know a great administrative / research assistant who'd love to help you - Holly@LightseedsOffice.com!

Since its launch in 2004, Facebook has taken over the world of social networking. Every time you post on your wall, you are marketing yourself, your likes and dislikes, and your activities to those you have marked as friends. Now that we can communicate instantly with enormous groups of people instantly, we need to be aware of the benefits of using Facebook as a marketing tool for our products and services.

If you are using Facebook as a true marketing too, which is the topic of this writing, then you want the publicity Facebook can generate.  All business / group / event pages are public, which means that anyone can view them at any time.  Internet searches for keywords contained in your pages will come up in search results, and friends can refer them to other friends without your knowledge.  But this is the whole point of marketing - getting the word out to the general public about your products and services. 

Because Facebook has become its own network, its own mini-internet, it has become as valuable a resource for information and services as the World Wide Web. If you're in the market for a anything from a mattress to a mover, a service or a celebrity, you can find it on Facebook.  Keep this in mind when developing your business profile.

The key to effective Facebook marketing is regular postings.  It won't do you much good to set up a business page but never post anything on it, as if you had placed an ad in a newspaper that nobody reads. Informative, related and timely postings on a business page will generate interest in you and your business.  The information contained on your business profile is also important:  it should be concise but explicit about what you offer, and should contain good quality photos.  The category in which you are listed (business, group, public figure, etc) and sub-categories are also important. 

If you have a blog, sign up for Networked Blogs, a free social media function which links a blog website with your Facebook account (or Twitter or other social media). Such cross-referencing will increase your visibility on the web and increase your exposure.

Once your public profile has been created, be sure to invite all your personal Facebook friends to visit and "like" your new page.  It's easy to switch from writing in your personal profile to your business one.  Simply click on the small arrow to the right of your "Home" page at the top of the menu, and click on "use Facebook as page." 

Through Lightseeds Office I'll be teaching a class soon on how to create business profiles. I plan to offer the class resources as an online tool as well.  Keep watch on www.LightseedsOffice.com or on Facebook for announcements.  As always, I know a great resource to help you develop your Facebook business presence - Holly@LightseedsOffice.com!

When I decided to go into business for myself, I knew that to create awareness of my skills and to get clients, I needed to have a website.  In general, the days of yellow pages and classified ads are antiquated - today most searches for businesses are done on line.  However when anyone decides to take the step toward self-employment, they may not have much start-up capital, and likewise not a great deal of technical expertise to do it themselves.  There are abundant resources now to make this important step easier.

There are many free website systems online, including the one this website is created with - Weebly.com.  Google, Yahoo, WordPress, and many others, like Weebly, provide a variety of designs and options to choose from. The amount of customization varies depending on whether you choose a free or paid version, and the domain name (the www.blahblah.com part) will vary. If you have a basic knowledge of software, for instance a familiarity with MS Word or Publisher, you can create attractive websites yourself.  You will need to determine a business name so you can choose a domain name - there are resources online to help you with this, like GoDaddy.com, www.domainsuperstar.com and more.

However the physical creation of a website is not enough:  what do you fill the site with?  What do you write about yourself, and HOW do you write it?  That's where a third party is important.  Here's how I work when I create a website for a business.

We write down all the keywords we can think of to describe a business.  Let's imagine a massage therapist startup: keywords might include relaxing, therapeutic, healing, expert, certified, licensed, compassion, professional ....and so forth.  We write down the vision for the business, the mission, the goal.  We write the steps we determine will lead to that goal.  We gather pictures, and testimonials from people who have experienced what the person does.  In other words, we get ALL our material together.  Not only do you want details about your business, but about you as well, giving an impression of your personality.

Consider the pages you'll need: a HOME page with the basic overview of what the business or topic is. Then an "about" or "bio" or some such, which is a short resume of your experience and why they should buy from you. A services / products / store page.  A testimonials page, and photos if appropriate.  Start writing a draft on each page using some of the keywords you determined.  After you get the basics written you can go in and flesh them out with more details.  Remember that the information should be clear, concise and to the point.

Most website systems online offer you a way to include keywords, categories and other Search Engine Optimization (SEO) options.  If you are doing a website yourself, you probably don't have SEO experience, but this is the aspect of a website that makes it visible on search engines like Google.  The better SEO information, the better traffic to your site.

The MOST IMPORTANT aspect of the website, in my opinion, is the professionalism.  If you have typos or grammatical errors, or if your content is not clear, then your work ethic and skills may not be as obvious as if the site were correctly written.  This is where the third party really comes in handy - have a second set of eyes look over everything before publishing to the web.  A clear, informative and professional website will convey the message you want the world to see.

Is all this intimidating?  I know a great resource to help you!  Holly@LightseedsOffice.com!