Why Blog at ALL? Top 6 Reasons By: Sharon LaMothe

I have had several people ask me about blogging...after all, setting up blogs is one of the many services I offer on LaMothe Services, LLC http://lamotheservices.com/. I thought it would be a great idea for me to post my answers here (on MY blog) for all to read...and decide if they, too, want to join the blog craze!

Why Blog at All? Top 6 Reasons

By: Sharon LaMothe

1) Think of a Personal blog as an on-line journal that you can share with your family or friends. You can post pictures of your latest vacation, your newest family member and chat about how the garden is growning. Whatever your interest you can blog about it!

2) A Business blog is a great FREE marketing asset that is a must have in this economy. Its a wonderful way to introduce new products or services or give Kudos to your best employees. You can run polls, have contests, and ask your clients for input and comments.

3) With almost everyone in the business world having computer access, there are a large number of people reading blogs. From professionals to potential customers or clients, blogs are here to stay and are even accused of taking the place of newspapers a crossed the country!

4) A blog offers credibility to you and your business. It also shows that you are on top of technology and not the "dinosaur" that some may accuse you of...

5) Blogs are viral (in a good way!) They attract regular visitors and subscribers...your blog can be RSSed (Real Simple Syndication) into your website and social networking pages.

6) Blogs not only offer a voice for you and your company but you can think of it as a form of communication of epic proportions along with the ability to "publish" anything you want at any time you want.

If you have any questions regarding blogging and how you can set one up, just contact me at SurroMatchFL@aol.com.

Sharon LaMothe

LaMothe Services, LLC

http://lamotheservices.com/

Your Online Reputation

This is something that I feel every business owner should keep in mind, especially if what is being "sold" is your own good name! Your reputation for being fair, honest, hard working and dependable is so important in the running of a surrogacy agency.

Read on and tell me what you think!

Sharon
http://lamotheservices.com/
Your Online Reputation
Does integrity really matter in online business? The owners of PCS Productions in Texas would likely say, "Yes!"

This company began in 1995 and has worked to develop quality audio and video productions. Their services extend to web design and hosting, audio streaming and print media projects.
This company has worked diligently to establish integrity in each form of media they present. Many of those media specialties interact with other forms of media so they must make sure they can transfer branding ideas from one concept to another.

I think what may be most impressive about this company is they have an extraordinary track record. Client testimonials are glowing and well respected.

If you are known by the company that you keep then this company visibly has a sense of integrity. Their staff has been sent on assignment to virtually every continent in the world and their work is called upon repeatedly by existing clients while others also seek them out for their skills.

So is this a puff piece about PCS Productions? No. In fact I don't know anyone who works there, nor have I visited with anyone. So, I guess you could say I am not promoting a service, but pointing to some interesting parallels I often find in the best businesses.

This company has a good reputation and that's the point of this article.

As an online business you need to work to establish a reputation that is used as a calling card for potential customers.

The web already has enough scam artists and fly-by-night operations so when I find a point of positivity I cling to it and then point it out to others.

The establishment of a strong work ethic combined with consistently providing the best possible service can do wonders for your business in the long term.

Someone once told me, "You really should take the high road. There's a lot less traffic." At first I smiled, but it's true. We all know someone who is adept at cutting corners. Perhaps we have encountered a business that left us high and dry after they got our money. We like those 'high road' companies.
What we want as business owners are those glowing testimonials that profess the depth of our commitment to excellence. These are words that may well encourage others to buy our product or use our service. Those precious words will not come if the customer is just another dollar figure.

As a business owner you place your name and reputation on every order you ship out. You stake the trust others would like to place in you on the way you handle issues that come up.


It's a whole lot easier to lose a reputation than it is to gain it back. Reputation is an investment in your future. It's an investment that can go away if you don't protect it wisely. What that means for a business owner is you have to put your customers first. Their concerns need to be a concern for you. Their issues require you be a problem solver. Deliver more than you have to and show absolute respect to your customers. After all, they are the ones you serve.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

About the Author: Scott Lindsay - Make A Website or Make Your Own Website Fast at HighPowerSites.com. Start a Home Business and Sell Ebooks at BooksWealth.com.

10 Top Tips for Banner Advertising

Banner Ads are the attractive advertising medium that quickly grabs the visitors attention. Implementing an attractive banner ad is more important in order to effectively utilize the features or the power of banner ads.

The success of your online advertising purely depends on how far you are putting the right efforts in building the banner advertisements. You need to take care everything from animation, color combination, banner size and most importantly the Ads positioning. This article carries proven tips that really works to boost the performance of your banner ads. So designing an rich and attractive banner advertisement is easy if you are doing that simple.

1) Design Clear And Simple Banners.

When it comes to attractiveness, you should keep things simple. That is 100% applicable for designing the banner ads. Make your banner design simpler. That really attracts the visitors impression. The first impression is more important and that should be the best impression. Simple design helps you to make quality banner ads. Learn how to make perfect quality banner ads.

2) Focus Your Target Audience.

Targeting the audience in advertising is the prior goal. So you have to understand the audience first. Do you have that understanding ? If not, try to understand in the sense know at least, what they expecting from you and your business ? This helps you to design Ads with correct and accurate facts or information.
3) Keep The Brand In Banners.

It is advisable to show your branding over the banner ads. In general, branding helps the visitors to remember you web site. So put your logo and URL over the banner ads at least in the lowest corner or in the top. Branding helps your ads to stand out from the other banner ads placed nearer.
4) Ask questions on Banners.

Asking questions on the banner ads is the intelligent way of calling the visitors. In general, a question strikes the people to look for the answer. So ask some attractive or catchy question to the viewers. Thats the ever known best Call-To-Action.

5) Banner Ads Placement.

Even though you have designed a poor banner Ad but when placed in a hot position (top, top-left, top-right, middle) of the web page it wins. At the same time, placing a well designed ad at the worst place (lower-left, lower-right, bottom) of the web page fails. So it all depends on where you are placing the banner ads. Find out the best position, by experimenting with different banner Ads placements. That makes sense.

6) Test Drive The Banners.

As I told, experimenting is more important. Both the banner design and the placement you have to test. Do more test, do even more test and measure the impact. Do the corrective action and finally, your banner ads will be in the right place.

7) Use The Right Design Tools.

If you are looking for selecting the right designing tool, better go for great tools like Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft’s design and publisher tools etc. That really works well and helps you to make attractive designs. Try to become the expert with these tools. Learn the banner design tips.

8) Using Gimmick Attracts The Eyes.

Gimmicks really works well. Try to put some catchy and flashy objects or text over the banner ads. That grabs the visitors eye on the first look. Attracting on the first site is more important with banner ads. Using colorful gimmicks adds more value and adds that rich look to your Ads. But don’t overlaod the graphics, that will become uglier.

9) Keep It Professional.

A professionally design banner ads drives the visitor to explore more. It builds the trust over the advertisements and gives the good confidence to the visitor. Like “this advertisement looks professional so the information it offers should also be professional”. So flow your professionalism through out the banner design.

10) Give Importance To Text In Ads.

Texts are not only important in Text Ads but also in banner ads. It not like banner ads should only have the graphical and animations. You should have the right text. Your slogan or a question or even an offer. Use the selected keywords over the banner ads that directly relates your web site or business. There should be a balance between text and animation. Better to go for the 50-50 approach. That helps to make better looking Ads. You should know the tips to write text ads and apply that for banner ads usage.

Always keep in mind, an attractive banner ad should have Simple Graphics & Right Text which leads to higher Click Through Rate.

Mr Ven

Happy New Year!!

We spend January 1 walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched. Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives... not looking for flaws, but for potential. ~Ellen Goodman

Content is KING!

Now that your website is looking good, design wise, what about your content? What are you going to have on your website for your potential clients to read and learn about? You know what the most important part of the content is don't you? Good Writing! And to keep people coming back for more, updating your content often. Now when we are talking about a website for a service like surrogacy I don't believe that visitors are expecting to have something new on your site every time they visit. If you actually have a gallery of available surrogates and egg donors then, yes, that needs to be updated each time you have an approved candidate come on board. IP's especially will continue to check in and see if there is anyone new that they may be interested in. However, if you are running your program in a way where Intended Parents and Surrogates have to call for information on available matches then you need to have another way to keep your site fresh. Some suggestions are to have an events calendar and list all related conferences and seminars whether you are planning to attend or not. You can list birth announcements or even birthday announcements with the permission of your surrogates and IP's. You can have a surrogacy or ART in the news where you have hot links to articles that may be of interest to your visitors. Will your agency hold luncheons? Holiday parties? Meet and Greets? Have a place on the site, with photos, for these events. Why not add a blog? Fresh content is always available if you know where to look.

What about the pages that will not change as often? Your About Us page, Contact Us Page, your Home Page with your Mission Statement? Are you going to have a page that lists your services? Will that page also have your price list? Are you going to have separate pages for Intended Parents and Surrogates? Keep in mind that they WILL read each other's pages. Are you going to have a page to list professional links? (This will be good to have so that you can have a link exchange for your continued marketing) Are you going to list medical requirements for your surrogates? And legal aspects for your IP's? There is a lot to think about and your website can have several pages before it's all said and done.

Yes, there will be more to come, but your homework now is to list out what content you are planning on sharing with the rest of the world! Happy writing!

Sharon
http://lamotheservices.com/

Personal Power: Living From the Inside Out

I wanted to share this with you today because I feel that we often forget that we have "personal power"! We move through our daily life being pushed and persuaded in what we "should" think or what we "shouldn't" question or we may just be wandering aimlessly until "things resolve themselves".

Below is a great little article that may put it all back into your own hands and offer you some guidance in bringing back your own personal power. Take that control and know that you are in charge of your life, your hopes and your dreams. You have the Power inside you!

Sharon LaMothe

LaMothe Services, LLC

http://lamotheservices.com/

Personal Power:Living From the Inside Out

by Laura Belsten, PhD, MCC

Lao Tzu, famous Chinese philosopher living over 2500 years ago, stated that the biggest problem in the world is that individuals experience themselves as powerless. Powerless individuals feel helpless, negative, lethargic, frustrated, resentful, and often live in fear, enslaved by circumstances they perceive as beyond their control.

The opposite of powerless is an inner awareness, an internal state of being we refer to as “personal power” in the emotional intelligence field.

Personal power is an inner awareness that makes us feel in control of our lives. It is an inner knowing that we can achieve our goals, a calm conviction about who we are and our ability to get the things we want in life.

Quiet Confidence

People with a highly developed sense of personal power have a quiet self-confidence that they can set the direction of their lives, and they do. They are able to distinguish among circumstances over which they have some control and those they do not. They define themselves from the inside out (for example, their internal self talk includes messages like “I am a capable person, I can manage this setback, I’m good at managing conflict, I’m creative”)

The biggest barrier to success in almost any endeavor is powerlessness, negativity, helplessness and inertia. Mahatma Gandhi had no army, never held or accepted political office, never used violence. He was a small, frail man, yet he defeated the armed might of the British Empire, driving the British out of India without firing a single shot. How did he accomplish this?

Personal power. Personal power can move mountains. Personal power solves problems.

Dr. Laura Belsten is Dean of the Graduate School of Coaching, Master Certified Coach (MCC), and a national leader in the field of Emotional Intelligence. Personal Power is one of the twenty-four key competencies of the Emotional Intelligence Profile. Learn them all!

Tips for Improving Your Donor Program By: Gail Sexton Anderson, Ed.M., Founder, Donor Concierge

I have exposure to over 60 donor websites and 14 years of experience working with intended parents in need of egg donors. I have recently been asked by a few egg donor agencies what they can do to improve their programs. My experience has taught me that what intended parents look for in donors, regardless of their ethnic background, is a healthy, bright, egg donor who comes across as wholesome and attractive.

Healthy means having a good health history with no serious illness, no addiction issues, no history of anxiety or depression, and no eating disorders. But it goes beyond the health of the egg donor herself. It also means no one in her immediate family has any of these issues. There should also be no cancer in her immediate family. While it is not unusual for a grandparent to have cancer late in life, it is alarming to intended parents to see cancer in the immediate family, especially with her mother or father, particularly those occurring before the age of 40. After the age of 40, while it still may be worrisome to many intended parents, it is not as likely to be of a hereditary nature. Other types of cancer, such as breast cancer on the maternal side, is more likely to be a hereditary issue if it occurs before the age of 40.

Adult onset diabetes in the donor’s grandparents doesn’t tend to be a big concern but juvenile diabetes in the donor’s immediate family is a major concern due to hereditary factors. Another major concern among intended parents is mental illness and addiction. Alcoholism in a grandparent is not necessarily a huge issue and is fairly common. What is of greater concern is seeing a pattern of addiction in the donor’s family. If the grandfather was an alcoholic, and so was the uncle on the same side of the family, that indicates there could be a pattern of addiction, which is a hereditary issue. If the donor’s parents have ever struggled with addiction, that is also a huge red flag for intended parents, and they are unlikely to ever choose that donor. The same is true of any mental health issues in the family such as anxiety, depression, bipolar, and schizophrenia. Unfortunately, there is a strong hereditary factor for all of these mental health issues.

I realize that all of these things are not terribly unusual. It happens in the best of families. In fact, many intended parents may have these same issues within their own genetic families. But if there were a choice to avoid serious health issues, mental health issues, and addiction, all of which have genetic components, wouldn’t you want to avoid them too?

It is often difficult for intended parents to truly assess how bright an egg donor candidate may be. But intelligence is a concern for most intended parents that I work with. Most of my clients are well-educated, having attended college and in most cases, graduate school. They have worked hard and truly value intelligence and drive, and are hoping to find these characteristics in an egg donor. They want to see a spark of intelligence that will help them relate to the donor and feel like this is someone they could like, someone who could fit into their family. With barely more than a few pages of information and a few pictures, intended parents have to make one of the most difficult decisions of their life. One of the most important aspects of this is to see if the donor has attended college. For the most part, most of my clients want to see a BS or a BA; some will consider an AA if the donor seems to have drive, but many really would like to see more.

The jury is still out as to intelligence being nurture or nature. Intended parents know that they can nurture, but will their child feel like they fit into a family of very bright people if the answer is nature? That is why intended parents want to see demonstrated intelligence. Intended parents are hoping to find someone that will remind them of themselves. These are people who have excelled in academics and value that drive in others. If they had the opportunity to get to know these egg donors personally, they might not care what kind of degree they have because they would already know the quality individual that they are, but that is not the case. All they have are a few pages of a donor profile.

Beyond health and intelligence, intended parents like to see wholesome girls. They are often trying to either see themselves or visualizing a future daughter. They don’t like to see egg donor candidates who look like they are trying to seduce the camera or worse yet, their husbands. They want the donor to look like a nice girl they could take home for a family dinner, not someone who would drink too much and wind up dancing on the table. Again, what they want is someone they can relate to, who will fit into their family.

This all brings me to my final point; first impressions count, and when it comes to donors, it may be all that you have to get the intended parents’ attention. If intended parents don’t find an egg donor visually appealing, they will not look any deeper. There are some agencies that are very good at marketing their donors so there are things that you can do to present the donor at her best. Everyone has good hair days and bad hair days; just don’t use those bad hair day pictures. Choose the pictures that show your donor at her best. You don’t have to use every picture she sends you just because she sent it, and if the pictures she provides are not very good, take the time to shoot some pictures when you meet her. If photography is not your forte, send the donor to a studio or hire a photographer to take a few good shots for your site. You never get a second chance to make a first impression.

Tips on Improving Your Egg Donor Site By: Gail Sexton Anderson, Ed.M., Founder, Donor Concierge

I work with over 60 agencies across the country, and they all have subtle differences that make them unique from the rest. Some are better than others, and there are extremes at both ends of the spectrum. Most, if not all of these sites, could use some general improvements. I have been asked by several agencies about how to best improve their sites, and I am happy to provide some tips. Many of these suggestions come from personal conversations with intended parents, and others are from my own experiences. Some sites are not very user friendly, and I know that if I find them difficult and cumbersome to search, you can only imagine how frustrating and discouraging they must be for the average intended parent. Most often, the intended parent is already emotionally frayed and desperately searching for the right egg donor. Hard to navigate sites exacerbate their stress and make the process more difficult for them.


Websites should be visually appealing, not distracting. It is probably worthwhile to keep your site looking fresh by taking a serious look at it every 5-7 years so that it doesn’t become stagnant or dated. Just as fashions come and go, so do website designs, color schemes, and technology. For example, at one point in time, most agencies used hand written applications. They felt that seeing a donor’s handwriting helped intended parents to form an impression of the donor. Today, hand written applications tend to make an agency’s site look small-time and unprofessional. Intended parents are far more sophisticated then you may realize. They have the opportunity to see numerous sites and as a result, they may worry when they see an outdated website. To them, it is a representation of a small mom and pop shop business. Even if you are a small agency working from home, which is how many agencies operate, you can present yourself as bigger than you are simply by having a fresh looking, updated site. It definitely makes a difference in how intended parents perceive your agency; I know because I hear their comments.

If you have more than 50 egg donors, you should have a filter to allow intended parents to find what they need quickly, without having to scroll through all of your donors. My favorite filters are those that allow the intended parents (and me) the ability to choose more than one option for each search requirement, i.e. eye color or hair color, by holding down the control key. I find that most intended parents are open to a range of eye colors and hair colors and having to search each possible combination separately can be very time consuming. The same holds true for ethnic heritage. Some Asian couples may only want to see Chinese donors, while others may be open to Japanese and Korean as well. Though lumping all Asian donors into Asian may be effective for the agency, it is definitely too broad a category and should list the donor’s specific heritage not just her race. Some of my favorite filter options are:

•Minimum Education = or < (College degree, Masters, PhD etc.)

•Hair color – Blond, Light Brown, Med. Brown, Black, Red (hold down control to choose more than one)

•Eye color – (hold down control to choose more than one)

•Age range

•Height range

•Repeat Donor (yes/no)

•Available (please, don’t show me who is in cycle)

•Race – Asian, African American, Middle Eastern, Caucasian, East Indian

•Ethnic Heritage – Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Filipino, Irish, French, German, Persian, etc. (hold down control to choose more than one)

•Academic Achievers – (Only donors who meet the following criteria belong in this group: GPA of 3.0 and up in college, SAT over 1250 on old SAT over 1700 on new SAT, ACT of over 27, Masters level or better)

Don’t make it difficult for intended parents to see full profiles. If they have to contact you to get a full profile, they may just move on to the next site that allows them direct access. You must have pretty amazing donors, either visually or academically, for intended parents to want to contact you for full profiles. And chances are that you are missing out on possible matches by making them jump through hoops to see a full profile. Some agencies feel they are protecting their donors, but in most cases, the site is already password protected. Those who have requested passwords are usually serious about finding a match.

The most important way to improve your site is to have really great donors. Make sure they complete their profiles, and stay in touch with your donors so that you aren’t surprised if they have moved, changed their mind, or are in cycle with another agency. Your donors will feel more committed to your program, and you will be more on top of their availability to cycle if you stay in touch. There is nothing worse than having an intended parent express interest in a donor only to find that you can’t locate her. Young women move frequently and don’t always update you with their new contact info. Staying in touch with your donors can also help you to keep your site looking fresh by adding current photos. Some agencies are good at rotating donor photos and posting new pictures, which can bring new attention to the donor and possibly a new match for you.

Think of your site as a storefront. You want to keep it looking clean, fresh, and interesting. Pay attention to details and make sure the donors’ profiles are complete. If a donor ages out, remove her from your site. Very few intended parents are comfortable choosing egg donors over the age of 30, particularly if she is not a previous donor and has no children of her own. It is far better to have a site with 50 great donors than a site with 1,000 so-so donors.

How Agency Owners Fail, Part Six: Unethical Behaviors

No kidding. If that’s not stating the obvious then I don’t know what is! But lets remember that I am talking about Agency owners/staff who are dealing with clients who come to them already vulnerable and needing a guiding hand through this family building process. Add to that hopeful women who are excited to help your clients become the parents they have always dreamed of being. The temptation to engage in behaviors listed below can be quite strong. RESIST!

What does unethical behavior look like? Below is a snap shot:

*Anything illegal (This is a no brainer but it has to be on the list and I believe we can think of a recent case or two of baby selling/human trafficking....)

*My personal current pet peeve, using state or federal insurance for a surrogate pregnancy (this is illegal in some states and a huge gray area in others and it seems that most people do not want their tax dollars going toward a surrogacy pregnancy)

*Misleading Intended Parents (“Yes, we have several surrogates waiting to be matched” when you really have 2 and you have 5 IP’s in line)

*Misleading donors and surrogates about how many recipients or IP’s are waiting to be matched

*Misleading donors or surrogates about how long the wait may be to be matched and how long it will be before they get any sort of payment

*Telling donors that the agency have bought insurance for them when really they have not

*Misinforming surrogates or donors about the potential risks or procedures (Shots anyone? Bloating? Weight gain? No sex? Hmmmm)

*Telling Intended Parents that the surrogate has maternity insurance when the reality is there is a surrogacy exclusion on her policy and you are just praying that no one finds out

*”Fixing up” donor profiles by removing family history of cancer, alcoholism, drug abuse, higher IQ, etc. (No one will know! It’s ‘anonymous’ right?)

*Padding the bill

*Holding escrow when you are not licensed or bonded to do so

*Encouraging a surrogate to waive the right to an attorney in order to save money

*Not contacting the donor with an IPs further questions…instead just guess at the answer

I could go on. I don’t want to you to think I am totally innocent from all of the above! I held escrow…once! Back in 2003 and it just turned out to be a bigger pain then it was worth. We quickly found a local attorney to hold all of our escrows for us. (Instant relief!) I, myself, have waived the right to an attorney for my second surrogacy (2004-2005)…shame on me because I could have really used some advice about half way through…but that’s called the classroom of life. The other issues that are listed are being done by someone, somewhere, right now. Maybe just one or two unethical practices but still…more then one someone’s as a matter of fact. And most are changing their ways…it’s hard to change when you want your business to flourish but if you continue along this unethical path you soon will have zero clients to worry about!

How Agency Owners Fail Part Five: Isolating Yourself

What does this ‘isolating yourself’ possibly mean? We have the Internet and phone(s) what else is there? Believe me I get this reaction all the time when I‘m consulting wanna be agency owners. It’s understandable that the Internet, which reaches almost every corner of our world, seems to be more then enough to run a business especially coupled with our cell phone! Not so my friends. In the world of surrogacy and donation being a one man alone show will not work. Soon you will find yourself lost in the ever shifting field of infertility, uneducated and uninformed. (Behind the times!)

I am not saying that you can’t run an agency by yourself. That is being done at this very moment by several reputable agencies a crossed the USA. What I am saying is that you need to connect with other agency owners, physicians, clinical staff, reproductive attorneys and mental health professionals. Being an island all unto yourself will not work in the long run.

I know that getting out of your home office is may cost you money and time. Visit clinics? Talk with attorneys? Attend a conference? Why do you need to do that when you can use the phone and internet? The answer is because people tend to trust those whom they meet in person and I don’t mean just once but over and over. It’s human nature. Plus the things you pick up about others when you meet THEM in person is invaluable!

Here are 8 tips to get you out of the isolation rut:

1) Making a few clinic/office visits a couple of times a year in your area will really help your business grow. (You don’t need to bring lunch…brochures and cards are just fine…cookies are good too!)

2) Attending a conference, seminar or workshop at least twice a year and networking while there (My suggestions: START ART and ASRM)

3) Meet with your clients, donors and surrogates in person whenever possible

4) Meet with hospital staff whenever there is a birth local to you

5) Bring brochures and business cards with you to your own personal appointments

6) Practice your ‘elevator speech’ for the next time someone asks you “What do YOU do?” Get use to talking about YOU!

7) Join a business group like the Rotary Club or Ladies Who Launch and attend meetings frequently (Even though these clubs are not within the infertility field you can network with other business owners and pick up some general marketing tips and make unexpected connections)

8) Join online list serves and then attend the face to face get togethers

You will find that once people see you out and about and connect with your charming personality your network and contacts will continue to grow. Someone who can’t help their client out might just send them to you. Others may want to work with you on a project or invite you to join a board. The more involved you become the more exposure you will get. Trust me…it’s all good!

Next week: How Agency Owners Fail: Unethical Behaviors