Friday, April 22, 2011
Are You Ready for National Infertility Awareness Week? April 24th through April 30th
Monday, April 18, 2011
Egg Donors Verses the ASRM: Antitrust Class Action Suit Filed
So the question is do egg donors have a case against these parties? I am not an attorney but in general I doubt it. However, this case is bound to shine yet another spotlight on what an egg donor is paid and how the infertility 'industry" is going about self regulation. Comments have been made that egg donors need to be protected and that they might be exploited however there are a lot of educational tools available not only within clinics, agency's, and not for profit sites but all over the Internet as well. But how does someone put a price on their own genetics? What kind of guidelines are being offered? The reality may be is that no one wants to think about selling their genetics...that's why it's called egg 'donation'. The compensation comes into play for the medical trauma and inconvenience of the donation itself. At the end of the day the Intended Parents maybe the ones who need protection. They are the people, after all, that will have to pay the upwards of $10,000.00+ bill. Perhaps the word donation will be removed from the third party family building vocabulary. We will all have to wait and see......
Thursday, April 7, 2011
It's Time to Register for START ART (formally SMART ART)!!
Infertility is a challenging and rewarding field of nursing, and one that is evolving rapidly and dramatically, requiring nurses and other healthcare practitioners to constantly remain current with the latest state-of–the ART technology. Those in practice, as well as nurses in transition, accept that this ever changing arena requires an ongoing commitment to pursue new information, techniques, and best practices. And, equal in priority, is the IVF nurse’s sensitivity to parents’ quest to create families and the fragility of early embryonic life.
The Annual REI Nursing Congress: Scientific & Therapeutic Approaches To Assisted Reproductive Technology (STARTARTSM) provides a unique and comprehensive educational opportunity, featuring critical updates on the latest advances in reproductive medicine, from procedures and protocols to psychosocial and legal issues. The goal of this Congress is to provide late-breaking information and cutting-edge techniques to improve ART outcomes - a goal that is matched by the IVF nurses’ skills, compassion, and caring that make this field so remarkable. (This is a great educational tool for all agency owners too!)
SO if you haven't already heard, START ART (formally SMART ART) is scheduled for August 4-6 at the Renaissance Las Vegas Hotel in Las Vegas. The same place SMART ART was held last year. If you haven't experience this conference then I highly suggest that you consider it especially if you are a surrogacy or egg donation agency owner because I have always found the legal and mental health segments to be excellent. Its also great to know what some of the clinical aspects are in Assisted Reproductive Technology as well. Here are the program objectives:
- Summarize recent advances in hormonal treatments and regimens involved in assisted reproductive technology (ART)
- Distinguish strategies for modifying stimulation protocols to maximize outcomes
- Describe clinical and laboratory features that predict response and prognosticate outcome with ART
- Explain advances in laboratory techniques for oocyte preservation
- Review impact and strategies for managing male factor infertility
- Discuss strategies to preserve fertility in cancer patients
- Identify mental health, legal, and psychosocial issues encountered by infertile couples
- Summarize various psychosocial issues and support strategies that clinicians can employ in working with infertile couples
- Highlight recent advances in the fields of molecular genetics and proteomics as they impact the clinical practice of preimplantation genetic screening and diagnosis
- This activity is intended for the education of nurses, nurse practitioners, and other healthcare professionals specializing in reproductive medicine and assisted reproductive technology.
I hope to see you in Las Vegas at START ART!
Sharon
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Don’t Use Twitter Like a Wet Cracker By Joshu Thomas
Twitter is a marketing bomb if used the right way. I have been using twitter for more than 2 years now and have been benefited only when I discovered the right way to use it.
Just like many of us I usually blindly do 2 things:
Blindly follow as many as suggested twitter accounts to follow.
Blindly tweet every single post on my blog using the retweet plugins.
I can for sure say these two are the biggest mistakes that could get your cracker wet.
The major pattern you could see on Twitter is:
You get followed back by many if you follow them
People subscribe to auto-follow tools to increase the follower counts
Your Twitter dashboard is flooded with tweets if you leave it un touched for 10 minutes
As soon as you tweet you see few new visitors from twitter landing on your website / blog
Is that what Twitter is all about – a few extra visitors, lot of blind tweets, flooded dashboards and huge chunk of followers to show off?
Now let me share what I learnt the hard way and something that could really help you benefit.
I created another twitter account and followed a different strategy that the one I used to use and many of us still use.
I had the new Ground rules this time:
Only follow who I really wanted to
Will try to keep the follower to following ratio unequal
Have a straight forward profile Bio (simple words about me and what I do)
Have a real profile pic (preferably not a graphic unless you are a huge brand)
Respond to direct messages
Visit / Reply to interesting tweets and if good, re-tweet.
Meet / interact with real people and build contacts
How this was different from my previous approach
With my old profile even though I had 8000+ followers on a retweet I used to get 120 -150 new hits on my blog posts. Then what are the 7850 followers for? Spamming you? I guess you have got the message I am trying to send across.
Here is a snapshot of my account: ( I have 60 people I follow and 1794 followers)
Take Home: Twitter is all about real people and real contacts – build them and you would be rewarded.
About the Author: Joshu Thomas is a Blogger from India. Blogging and web development helped him become independent, and that is why loves it. You can read more from him on his website, OrangeCopper.com.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
3 Ways to Make Your Writing Clearer and More Engaging By Bamboo Forest
The following three strategies will assist you:
1. Move confusing sentences to a clean page
Ever been whistling along with your blog post when suddenly you arrive at a thought you’re trying to express on paper, yet it’s being completely uncooperative like a toddler who refuses to eat his brussels sprouts?
If you’re dealing with a bratty sentence that doesn’t want to be clear and concise, don’t let it just sit there misbehaving. You have to discipline it. To do so, move the disorderly sentence away from your post, onto an empty page.
Once you’ve pasted the confusing sentence into clear, white space, begin formulating a new sentence underneath it. By moving the confusing sentence outside of your post and onto an empty page, you won’t be distracted by the rest of your writing. The singularity of focus gained will help you create a better, clearer sentence.
Sometimes it’s helpful when pasting the confusing sentence to include the surrounding sentences for context.
2. Replace a word used in consecutive sentences when it’s monotonous
I’ll use an example from a blog post I wrote that uses a river as a metaphor. Pay close attention to how the word ‘rushing’ is used in two consecutive sentences.
Here’s the original segment:
“Do you hear the sound of the water rushing over the rocks? Tell me… when you hear the rushing water, when are you hearing it; in the past or the future? Neither. It’s only possible to hear this precious sound in the now.”
Do you notice how the word ‘rushing’ used in these consecutive sentences sounds monotonous? Using this word consecutively dulls the delivery because it’s repetitive to the reader’s ear. Instead, it’s best to replace one of the usages of ‘rushing’ with a synonym or something close to it.
Look at the improved version with the second use of ‘rushing’ replaced with a new word:
“Do you hear the sound of the water rushing over the rocks? Tell me… when you hear the babbling water, when are you hearing it; in the past or the future? Neither. It’s only possible to hear this precious sound in the now.”
Much better sounding prose, no? In the aforementioned example, replacing one of the usages of ‘rushing’ actually fosters a more vivid picture in the reader’s mind. A thesaurus can help you come up with a good replacement for a word that’s detrimentally used twice in a row.
3. Don’t over explain
Our writing often gives enough information so that the reader will understand what you’re conveying even if you didn’t specify every last detail. If you’re determined to give information that your readers will discern without your help, you’ve bloated your writing and slowed its delivery.
In the book On Writing, Stephen King reminds us, “If I tell you that Carrie White is a high school outcast with bad complexion and a fashion-victim wardrobe, I think you can do the rest, can’t you? I don’t need to give you a pimple-by-pimple, skirt-by-skirt rundown.”
The above principle applies equally to non-fiction.
Earlier I told you that when you’re dealing with a confusing sentence, you should move it onto an empty page and construct a clearer sentence underneath to take its place.
I also added this:
“Sometimes it’s helpful when pasting the confusing sentence to include the surrounding sentences for context.”
You’ll notice I didn’t specify how many surrounding sentences you should include because that’s something you’ll determine yourself, right?
When writing for your audience, always make clarity and engagement the highest priority.
About the Author: Bamboo Forest created Tick Tock Timer, an online timer that helps bloggers increase their focus and get more work.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
5 Ways To Network Your Way To Blogging Success By Steve Roy
We all know the vast power of social media and the role it can play in your success as a blogger. However, there are still many, many blogggers who are not taking advantage of this phenomenon.
When I say taking advantage of it, I don’t mean posting your weekend activities on Facebook or tweeting out random thoughts you have throughout the day.
What I’m talking about is using social media to build relationships with your peers and with those who are in social circles that you want to be a part of
The Power Of Networking
Networking is especially important for a new blogger. If you think you can go it alone and see the same level of success, then by all means try it. However, if you want to speed up the process of building traffic and gaining new readers and subscribers, then you need to leverage other bloggers audiences. This is where networking comes in.
Great content is the starting point for a successful blog, but when you are just beginning, nobody is going to read it because you have no traffic. Building significant levels of traffic takes time and that’s part of the blogging process, but why not help yourself and begin networking with bloggers who have already achieved what you want?
For example, I have a fitness blog which has been running since 2008. It has never received more than 300 visitors in any given month. Why? Because I have not networked one bit. I have written my posts and done nothing to get people to read them.
Now take my current blog, I have focused my attention on building relationships through networking and have had much greater success. Here some of the things I have done which have helped grow my blog quite rapidly:
1. Use guest posting.
We have all heard that guest posting is a great way to reach out to more readers and build traffic. A few important things to keep in mind when using this method are:
Find a blog in a similar niche.I see a lot of bloggers who want to submit their post to a high traffic site even though it is in a completely different niche. Big mistake. Even if you get some traffic from it, chances are that they will have little interest in your topic. There is no point to driving traffic to your blog if nobody wants to read it or opt in to your newsletter.
Interact with those who comment on your guest post. Don’t just reply with a “thanks for the comment”, ask them questions and get them talking to each other, that’s how you will get them to come to your blog and become your readers too.
2. Use Twitter.
For months, I was resistant to Twitter because I thought it was a glorified chat room. When I was finally convinced to get on board by a friend, I discovered its potential. In my opinion, Twitter is themost powerful of all social media streams. Just in the last month, I have been in contact with “A” list bloggers and gotten their radar, formed relationships with very successful business owners and bloggers, and made several friends in the process. When used correctly, Twitter can be incredibly powerful and can have a huge impact on your business.
3. Be Useful.
Anyone can self promote and send link after link promoting their own stuff, but the real potential for massive traffic is when others start doing it for you. I can send out 20 tweets about my own most recent post and get a few visitors.
One tweet from someone like Pat Flynn, Brian Clark, or Yaro Starak will send 50 or 100 times the traffic that I could promoting myself. How do you get these big names to promote you? You need to get their attention. Email them something that will interest them, sell their products as an affiliate, send them a personal and unique Tweet, but you HAVE to provide value.
Successful bloggers are incredibly busy people and inundated with emails, calls, and everything else all day every day. You need to stand out, be different, and NOT be looking for a handout. “Please RT this” will not work with these folks.
4. Make Friends.
I have been lucky enough to meet a few people on Twitter who I can now call friends. It just so happens that these friends have blogs that are MUCH more successful than mine.
My intention is to build on those friendships and hopefully learn some things about blogging along the way. If you have a hidden agenda and are just using your “friendship” for your benefit only, it won’t last too long and you will have burned a very important bridge.
If we constantly ask our network to promote us, it will most likely ruin the relationship. However, if we are providing a good resource for people and our content is high quality, we may find that we get promoted without even asking. Just being mentioned in a high profile bloggers blog can send hundreds or thousands of visitors to our sites. The important thing here is to focus on building a network of friends, not promoters.
5. Give, Then Receive.
If you can adopt the philosophy that you need to give before receiving, you will be in a much better position in the long run.
If you can consistently promote high quality sites and valuable resources to your network, you will find that you will begin to build credibility and trust. These two things are absolutely critical to a building a successful blog.
People love to share information. It’s our job to share high quality and valuable information. If you find a new blogger who seems to have great ideas, by all means, send out a tweet. If you come across a fascinating article, share that too.
Don’t worry about others promoting you right now, that will come in time (assuming you have good content). Your focus should be on providing helpful resources and offering that information to your network. Over time and with a little luck, you may get the attention of the people whose blogs you have been promoting. That’s when great things can happen.
If you are not building your network in some capacity every day, you are severely limiting the growth of your blog. Make a commitment to building relationships with those in your niche and start building mutually beneficial relationships today!
You will be amazed at the difference it can make.
About the Author: Steve Roy is the owner of EndingTheGrind.com, a blog dedicated to helping people get out of their miserable jobs, build an online business, and live with passion!
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Time to Move Your Clocks AHEAD one HOUR on Sunday!!
Its that "TIME" already! Day Light Savings time starts Sunday March 13th at 2 am! This is just a friendly reminder to "spring ahead" and start going to bed a few minutes earlier each night so you can remain as productive as possible!
Friday, March 4, 2011
How to Get Your Black Belt in Blogging By Bamboo Forest
It’s more craft than art.
If you can internalize what’s required to write a solid blog post, you’ll beat out the competition in the same way someone with a black belt will usually win a fight against someone who hasn’t trained and internalized fighting principles.
While getting a black belt in blogging doesn’t guarantee you’ll become huge, it does significantly increase your chances.
Let’s examine some of the fundamentals you’ll need to master to receive your black belt in the craft of blogging.
1. Use Metaphors and Similes
Using metaphors and similes will increase the quality of your posts in two ways.
It helps your audience to easily understand a concept since you’ll be comparing the new concept with a concept they’re already familiar with.
It paints a picture in the minds of your readers which will engage and please them.
A metaphor I recently used was comparing water to focus. I explained to my audience that focusing on the negative is like randomly pouring water out of your canteen when you’re lost in a jungle and really need that water for survival.
Do you see how the above metaphor not only paints a picture that makes reading more enjoyable, but also instills the lesson with much greater impact than mere plain language does?
2. Be Succinct
Saying everything you want to say in fewer words requires more time than conveying the same message to your audience without concern of how many words you use.
It may seem odd that a shorter post often takes longer to write than a longer one, but it’s not.
When you strive to limit your word count without compromising your message, you have to be methodical in how you express your message. Conversely, when you’re indifferent about word count, you don’t need to make as much an effort in how you convey your message.
Just as a good martial artist strives to make every movement as efficient as possible with no wasted energy, likewise, you should make every post you write as short as possible without your message being compromised.
I have made this letter longer than usual, only because I have not had time to make it shorter. ~Blaise Pascal (1623-1662).
Your readership will love you for being concise.
3. Be Entertaining
As Jon Morrow of Copyblogger has mentioned before, if all people wanted was information they’d buy a textbook.
One primary reason people read blogs is because they’re looking for a diversion from the mundaneness of life.
If you want to compete with the competition, discover and practice as many ways as possible to make your blog entertaining.
Here are some ways to do that:
Use metaphors and similes.
Share interesting experiences and how they relate to your message.
Use quotes from books, music bands, movies and TV shows to help illustrate your points.
Be hilarious.
Be controversial.
4. Be Diligent
Unlike a black belt in the martial arts, once you get your black belt in blogging, it can be taken away from you within a moment’s notice.
In martial arts, once you get your black belt, you don’t necessarily have to spar with anyone from that day forward and you’ll always remain a black belt.
Not so with blogging.
You see, we’re fighting every day. Every day we’re fighting for people’s attention and trying to convince them that we’re worth staying subscribed to and that the competition can’t offer what we do.
There’s really only two ways to keep your black belt and it requires tremendous discipline.
1. Read like your life depends on it
I currently read an hour and a half a day and consider my reading more important than content creation for the simple reason that you can create all day long, but if it doesn’t shine, what good is it?
Reading diligently, blogs and books, will ensure that ideas are constantly coming to you and that they’re the kind of ideas that will keep your readers craving more of what you have to offer.
When I fall short in my reading regiment, fewer ideas come to me and the quality of ideas diminish.
2. Write like your life depends on it
While I definitely think reading is even more important than writing, writing’s a close second.
For starters, if you’re not updating your blog on a regular basis you can hardly be considered a blogging black belt no matter how much talent you have.
Writing is also the best way for you to practice all the techniques you’ve learned. Even in martial arts, any serious black belt never becomes complacent once they get to this exalted level. They just want to keep getting better.
What else do you need to receive your black belt in blogging?
About the Author: Tick Tock Timer is an online timer that helps anyone serious about getting things done be more productive, created by Bamboo Forest.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
5 Lessons I learned from Writing Almost 300 Guest Posts in One Year By Onibalusi Bamidele
1. Having Goals Matter
You probably have heard many bloggers say that having goals is critical to succeeding as a blogger; this same principle applies to guest blogging.
When I started guest blogging, I used the work hard approach instead of the work smart approach, I didn’t have a specific goal in mind and this led me to writing so many guest posts without tracking the results, it was after I have written so many guest posts that I discovered I’m not getting results.
Right from the onset, make sure you know what your purpose for guest blogging is because it will determine your approach. If your purpose for guest posting is to improve your search engine rankings your approach will be different from that of someone who wants to increase his/her blog subscribers.
2. Quality Beats Quantity
I wouldn’t have agreed with the above statement when I was still new to guest blogging, no wonder they say “experience is the best teacher”.
There were days I wrote as much as 6 guest posts and I write guest posts almost every day of the week, my main aim was to get my guest posts published on many blogs, which led to the quality of my guest posts suffering. I submitted most of these guest posts to small blogs and they ended up sending me very little traffic, some blogs didn’t even send me any traffic.
I didn’t discover the truth until one day, my guest post was published on an A-list blog which sent me thousands of visitors; it was then that I realized that quality beats quantity.
The bitter guest blogging truth many people might not want to hear is this, “submitting 5 guest posts to 5 “big” A-list blogs is better than submitting 100 guest posts to smaller blogs”. Most A-list blogs will send you thousands of visitors depending on the quality of your guest post while the majority of the small blogs will send you very little traffic, if at all.
3. Your Guest Post Will Determine How Much Traffic You Will Get
From my experience with telling people the benefits of guest blogging I’ve seen a lot of people who believe that writing valuable posts for other people’s blogs is a waste of time. They believe it’s better to have all their best posts on their blogs only.
The truth is, if you write an exceptional post on your blog it can go viral, but as far as blogs with little traffic are concerned, luck plays a very large role,
In order to get good results from your posts you must have a big audience, and one great way to do this is by writing for other, larger blogs. A guest post on a big blog can send you far more traffic than you’ll ever get in a week, no matter how great you think your blog posts are.
Another thing is that many people make a mistake of writing low quality guest posts for other blogs, as this ends up affecting them because it is either rejected or it underperforms on the blog they submit it to.
The better your guest post, the more traffic you get – and this factor might be even more important than the size of the blog you as publishing your post on.
4. It is Very Important to Work on Sustaining Your Traffic
When I wrote a guest post for an A-list blog that sent me thousands of visitors, I was so happy and I began to think I would be getting so many visitors from that period onward. How mistaken I was. A lot of factors will determine the percentage of visitors you’ll be able to sustain from your guest posts, some of these factors include the quality of your own content, your domain name and your design/user experience.
It is very important to work on getting as many visitors from your guest posts to subscribe to your blog because that is the best way to keep them returning over and over again.
5. Rejection Is Inevitable
One thing many people are afraid when they consider guest blogging is rejection. They wonder what will happen if the other person doesn’t like their posts. That is a pretty good question, but you should also know that being rejected is not the end of the world – as long as you will be guest posting you should always be prepared for rejection. What matters most is not the rejection but how you deal with it.
If a blogger rejects your guest post, try to face the reality and find out what can be responsible for your guest post being rejected. It can be because of your guest post’s quality, it can be because of too much grammar errors and it can be because your guest post is not in line with the style of that blog. If you can’t figure out what is responsible for your guest post being rejected try to get in touch with the blogger and ask him/her politely to tell you why your guest post was rejected so that you can improve on it in the future.
Share Your Thoughts
What do you think about guest blogging? If you were to start guest posting again what would you do differently? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section.
About the Author: Onibalusi Bamidele is a 16 year old entrepreneur and founder of YoungPrePro, a site with practical tips on achieving online success.
Monday, February 21, 2011
How to Instantly Kill Laziness and Boost Blogging Productivity By Bamboo Forest
I got lazy and stopped attending to my daily writing and reading duties as an online entrepreneur. On one of my blogs I haven’t written a single post since December 2nd. To say I’ve dropped the ball is a massive understatement.
What the hell do you do when you have a few sites going that have tons of potential and are even gaining momentum, but suddenly, a mad scientist injects you with the lazy bug?
Do you just sit there and watch it all go down?
If you want to ensure your online properties have any hope for the future you can’t allow yourself to be sucked down the whirlpool of complacency and indifference. Doing so is guaranteed to make anything you’ve worked hard on go absolutely nowhere.
But that’s NOT what we’re in the game for, right? We’re not doing this for our health. Let’s be honest here, we’re writing post after post, reading books and blogs and all the rest of it so that we can gains tons of readers and make the bloody mula.
You with me on this?
Laziness can hit anyone
We may enjoy what we do. But that’s not enough. Let me tell you something… the lazy bug can infect any and all people regardless of passion. And if you let it, it can destroy your dreams. I wish I could say this laziness and complacency that overcame me was a result of my busy schedule, but the reality is, it was due to my lack of will.
To be perfectly honest, I hit rock bottom. Not on drugs or alcohol mind you. But on incessantly watching YouTube videos, reading tweets, and in general, wasting time like my life depended on it.
Hopefully you’ll never get as bad as I was. And luckily there’s a technique that can get you out of laziness and into productivity even if you haven’t reached rock bottom.
Overcome resistance to work with this technique
The solution to inertia is putting yourself in jail. Not the kind of jail you go to when you steal a Twix bar from the local 7-Eleven, of course. What I’m talking about is called the ‘jail of productivity’. This jail, my friend, will guarantee that you get serious work done. And the best part is, it won’t let you out until you’ve actually accomplished something.
All you need to do to put yourself in the jail of productivity is simply set a timer and work non-stop until it sounds. This technique permits no excuses and leaves you with nothing in its wake except hardcore productivity.
How setting a timer saved me from laziness
Realizing I was letting days go by without getting much work done, I committed myself to setting a timer every day and working non-stop until it sounded.
By doing the above, I eliminated all outs available to me. I couldn’t watch another YouTube video, I was on the clock! I couldn’t check twitter; that’s not allowed while the timer’s running. Using a timer took me from rock bottom laziness to becoming a diligent worker.
I began my laziness recovery program with setting a timer and reading important blogs for 20 minutes each day and writing 30 minutes each day. The timer guaranteed I got 50 minutes of focused work in every day. That may seem small to you, but it’s a testimony that I’m on my way to full and complete recovery from my laziness addiction.
Why setting a timer is the best way to get you to work
If you’re in the planning stage of getting to work, this can last for hours. “Preparation” can consist of watching YouTube videos, reading the news, eating, TV, almost anything.
But we all know the truth… the “preparation stage” to getting to work is nothing more than procrastination disguised as necessity. Setting a timer, on the other hand, kills preparation. Setting a timer gets you right to work!
It also makes the work you do concrete. If you merely say you’re going to work on something, you have no idea how much time you’ll be investing into working. When work time is undertermined, your mind gets discouraged because it begins wondering how long and dreadful it’ll end up being which leads to procrastination.
But when you set a timer, committed to working for an allotted time, you’ve created a time frame that’s absolutely concrete. There’s a glorious light at the end of the tunnel which continuously entices you toward completion of your goal.
Where to find an effective online timer
I’ve actually created an online timer called Tick Tock Timer.
It’s specifically designed to kill your procrastination and get you to work without all the nonsense. I know it’s ironic that the very creator of a tool to beat procrastination fell into a whirlpool of non-productivity.
But it just goes to show you, any tool at your disposal, no matter how effective, is useless when you’re not using it.
If you’ve contracted the lazy bug, putting yourself in the jail of productivity (setting a timer) just might be the solution.
Give it a try.
About the Author: Bamboo Forest created Tick Tock Timer, an online timer that helps you stop procrastinating, get to work, and stay focused.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Website Building, Size Matters: Tips on Font, Color and Text Size
I can not stress how important readability is for your website. Contrast is very important so you need to assess your background color compared to your font color. Size is a big factor as well so please stay away from tiny font. Anything over 10 point is good but I really like to use size 12.
You can have color in your eCommerce website builder you just need to use it in the 'right' way. It can help establish your identity especially if it matches the colors used in your other marketing tools/materials such as your logo, business cards and brochures. You can also use color (and font styles such as bold) in your website to highlight important information for your visitors.
The great thing about designing and building your own website is that you are in full control and its your personality alone that will shine through as you add pages, photos and articles for your visitors to read and then, hopefully, be inspired to connect with you.
Friday, January 28, 2011
Building Your Own Website: Simple Tips for the Beginner
When you are building your own website keep in mind that although your audience may like to see large images, video and listen to audio clips it may be hard for them to enjoy if they have an older computer. Usually older models take quite a but of time to download or open to pages that are heavy with photos. Also remember that balance is key when you are designing your site. You will want to have your home page visually balanced and pleasing to the eye. Making it simple and strait forward is a must when you want to keep your visitor on your site and not become frustrated because there's just too much going on and they are finding it hard to navigate from page to page or find the information they are looking for at a glance!
Next we will talk about font and color when designing your website!
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Can I Afford to Have a Website?
A site is unaffordable when it's difficult to update because it takes too much time to figure out how to make changes or you have to hire someone else to make each change as you add a service or product.
A site is unaffordable when it doesn't work the way it should and your visitors become frustrated or annoyed which will certinaly make them lose all interest and leave your site.
A site is unaffordable if it looks unprofessional. Remember that your website is most often the first contact your clients or customers have and the first impression needs to be professional to reflect you, your products and services and your business as a whole.
A site is unaffordable when it's not search engine friendly, because you need to be easily found.
A site is unaffordable when it does not reflect what you are trying to convey to your potential clients or customers at all times.
People hire me to help them chose an eCommerce website builder because I am so familiar with the process but you can do this yourself. In the coming weeks I am going to post some tricks and tips when building your own website and hopefully this will inspire you to raise the bar and take control of your clients online experience!
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Is Your Coporate Blog Sabotaging Your Business? By Lisa Barone
Your blog is to be your hub, the place where all the rest of your social media marketing connects. It’s an opportunity to encourage users to connect and form attachments over their affection for your brand and what you represent. All of that is true and awesomesauce. Well, until your corporate blog attacks your business, kicks your customers in the face, and quietly sucks your sales dry. What, you didn’t know that could happen?
The surge in blogging over the past few years has resulted in some problems for business owners who blogged first, asked questions later. Because, for all its strengths as a communication platform, blogging can also help business owners shoot themselves in the foot if they’re not careful. Here are a few ways your blog may accidentally sabotage your business.
You dilute your link profile
If you’re reading this, you’re either someone who understands the power of search engine optimization and Internet marketing, or you just got very, very lost on the Internet (we’re sorry). Assuming it’s the former, you probably understand the importance of keywords and attracting links with a purpose.
You’re very deliberately trying to build links to your site and to your services pages to help them rank better and bring more awareness to your users. So imagine what it does to your link profile when you acquire 10,000 links to your home page for the very-useless term [lisa barone]. Imagine how that might throw off your rankings for the terms you actually wanted that page to rank for. Yeah. Welcome to me getting scolded by nearly every boss I’ve ever had.
One reason people pointed so many lisa barone-laden pieces of anchor text toward previous home pages was because there was no Lisa Barone page on the sites I blogged for. When someone wanted to reference me, they linked to the company that I worked for. Understandable, but counter-productive. Also make sure that you’re not diluting your own link profile by linking to your home page when you should be linking to your personal About page. Before you start a blog, take into account how the links coming into your site may affect it and have a plan for tackling that.
You make your blog your home page
When a new visitor lands on your site, they are there for a purpose. They’re looking for information about who you are, what services you provide, how you get the job done, why you’re different, what your rates are, and how they’re supposed to get in touch with you. The purpose of your home page is to answer these questions, show relevance, and to entice them to click and enter your conversion funnel. New visitors to your home page are not looking for your latest blog post. Serving them that will confuse them and leave them with no information about your business or what you offer.
Some businesses will make their blog their home page because that’s the page mostly frequently updated and where all the conversation is happening. However, it doesn’t mean that page best addresses your customers’ needs. And that’s what your home page should do. Instead of serving up your blog as your home page and making users figure out where they’re supposed to click, how they learn more, and who, exactly, you are, give them the home page they’re looking for.
It’s disconnected from the main site
Corporate blogs work best when they’re a natural extension of the rest of your Web site. When the content found on the blog serves to give more information/street cred to your services. And to do that, readers need to be able to see the connection that exists between to the two entities.
Your corporate blog fails when you put it on a separate domain and make it hard for people to tie back or access your site. It fails when your blog doesn’t link to any other pages on your site or reference your service offerings in any way. Sure, blogs shouldn’t be overly-promotional, but never mentioning your products or services is actually more awkward than giving people useful information as it’s relevant. If you treat your blog like a totally separate island, consider what value it’s really bringing to your company.
Your blog becomes your business
Blogging is a lot like working out – once you take to it, it’s addicting. You have to blog every day and you have to blog harder than everyone else around you. And that’s great if you’re a professional blogger and blogging is how you make money. But for most people, blogging is not their business. [Even professional bloggers have to worry about things like branding these days.] It’s one facet of much larger marketing strategy. Don’t forget about the rest of your marketing strategy just because your blog talks back to you.
Remind yourself about how your blog relates to your business, what its objective is, and what it’s supporting. If you’re involved in catering marketing, your blog may be one part of that. But you still have to figure out the rest of social media, network within your industry, and then, you know, find time to run your catering business. Don’t let your blog become a distraction, either because it’s more “fun” than your other work or because you like the way it makes your ego feel.
You don’t commit to it
As a small business owner myself, I can certainly understand how time consuming (and exhausting) it is to continually be producing content to publish so that you can publish it on your blog. However, showcasing a blog that you update once every you feel like it may not give the best impression to potential customers. It shows them that you do things without a plan and that you’re not always the most reliable service provider. If you can’t commit to blogging a regular basis (even if it’s just once a week), consider if it’s worth doing at all. What are you planning to get from it?
You don’t play well in the sandbox
As Outspoken’s Chief Branding Officer, I often recommend companies take on corporate blogs as a way to get their voice out there and to establish personality and a POD. If you can hook someone to your blog, you’re giving them a direct line to your company message and your way of thinking. Assuming they connect with that, you’re able to significantly lower the bar to winning them over as a customer.
Unless, you’re a jerk. One of the most awesome ways a corporate blog can sabotage your business is when you use it to attack, alienate, and annoy other people. If you don’t know how to play well with others and the idea of occasionally smiling for diplomacy offends you, then maybe a blog shouldn’t be your best friend. Because as Vitaly Borker found out, “crazy bully” isn’t a long-term business strategy. It’s only beneficial to let people “see the real you” when you think there’s a chance they’ll actually like the real you.
Lisa Barone is co-founder and chief branding officer of Outspoken Media, Inc.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Happy New Year! Bring on 2011!!
We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day. --Edith Lovejoy Pierce
Happy New Year!
Friday, December 24, 2010
Happy Holidays to You and Yours from LaMothe Services, LLC
Every piece of the universe, even the tiniest little snow crystal, matters somehow. I have a place in the pattern, and so do you…Thinking of you this holiday season!-- T.A. Barron
Wishing everyone a wonderful holiday season!
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
The Best of 2010 LaMothe Book Reviews:Surrogacy and Embryo, Sperm, & Egg Donation: What Were You Thinking?: Considering IVF & Third-Party Reproduction by Theresa M. Erickson
Education and research is key when considering any third party reproduction route and there are several books out on the market that can assist Intended Parents in making a sound decision. But along with reading books like Surrogacy and Embryo, Sperm, & Egg Donation: What Were You Thinking? visiting website's and researching all options, it is wise to surround oneself with seasoned professionals in the field of Assisted Reproductive Technology. Theresa Erickson is one of those highly sought after reproductive attorneys that can provide sound advice and guidance just as she provides in her books.
Surrogacy and Embryo, Sperm, & Egg Donation: What Were You Thinking? is divided into four 'fertility options' as stated in the title but there is so much more to be discovered here. With chapters on Disclosure, Reproductive Tourism, Agency vs Independent and Online Matching, Trust and Escrow Accounts, and much more, this book is a must read for any Intended or Recipient Parent considering working with a third party to build their family.
About the Author Theresa Erickson:
Theresa M. Erickson is one of the few attorneys in the United States who practices exclusively in reproductive and family formation law. The managing partner of Erickson Law, APLC, she is also the Founder and Chair of Conceptual Options, The Surrogacy and Egg Donation Center, and lives in San Diego, California.
Monday, December 20, 2010
The Best of 2010 LaMothe Book Reviews: One More Giraffe by Kim Noble
This book introduces the simple concept of egg donation to the very young and opens the door to the telling their own story.
I highly recommend any new parent via egg donation to have One More Giraffe by Kim Noble on their little ones book shelf.
Friday, December 17, 2010
The Best of 2010 LaMothe Book Reviews: Delivering Hope: The Exraordinary Journey of a Surrogate Mom by Pamela MacPhee
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
The Best of 2010 LaMothe Book Reviews:Why I'm So Special, A Book About Surrogacy by Carla Lewis-Long
Monday, December 13, 2010
The Best of 2010 LaMothe Book Reviews:Adopting: Sound Choices, Strong Families by Patricia Irwin Johnston
The introduction is the first place a reader learns what they are about to encounter between the covers of this thought provoking book (don't skip this!) and then you move onto the chapters....each and every one offering a tremendous amount of information but not in an overwhelming way. If you are a heterosexual couple, single or gay and are considering adoption to build your family then this is the FIRST book you should read. From Unraveling the Challenges for Family Building to a complete overview on adoption and finally how to make sound choices that fit your expectations (think financial, taxes, age of the child, open adoption, adoption services, home studies etc.) and the 'Real Thing'. These four parts bring all the important considerations to the reader in a way that is easy to understand with Pats personal thoughtful touch regarding infertility and adoption permeating each and every chapter. I also personally love the resource section at the end of each segment! So helpful! This is also a must read for professionals in the Infertility and Family Building Field.
About Patricia Irwin Johnston:
Patricia Irwin Johnston, MS, is an infertility and adoption educator and advocate with over 30 years of experience as both a volunteer (with local and national advocacy groups in the field) and as professional (publisher at Perspectives Press, Inc.) in the field of challenged family building. She is the author of several award-winning books (the most recent, Adopting: Sound Choices, Strong Families won the 2009 IPBA Benjamin Franklin Award as best self-help book) and has herself been given several awards, including being named a 2007 Angel in Adoption by the Congressional Coalition on Adoption. A member of an extended family directly touched through five generations by adoptions, Pat and her husband live in Indianapolis.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
The Best of 2010 LaMothe Book Reviews: Making Babies: The Definitive Guide to Improving Your Fertility and Reproductive Health by Jason Jackson N.D.
The introduction is what really captured my attention: "Over the thousands of years that humans have been able to reproduce, it has been only the last fifty years or so in the industrialized world, with its nutrient-depleted foods, genetically engineered agriculture, chemical processing, drugs, radiation and pollution, that we are now observing massive impacts on our ability to bear offspring, particularly in affluent Western societies." The last fifty years?
With chapters on Male and Female Reproductive Overviews, Preparing for Conception, Stress and Fertility, and yes, Medically Assisted Reproductive Technology (which is considered 'Plan C') I found that Jason Jackson was very adept at covering everything that one would need to know to do just that, Make Babies.
What I was really happy about were the detailed black and white photos depicting not only the human anatomy but also of fibroids, PCOS, IVF Procedure and quite a few more that add value to each chapter.
I recommend Making Babies The Definitive Guide to Improving Your Fertility and Reproductive Health by Jason Jackson N.D. as a guide to your fertility wellness as well as a great infertility resource.
Monday, December 6, 2010
The Best of 2010 LaMothe Book Reviews: If at First You Don't Conceive: A Complete Guide to Infertility Dr. William Schoolcraft, MD, HCLD
There are two hundred and sixty five pages in If at First You Don't Conceive: A Complete Guide to Infertility from One of the Nation's Leading Clinics and each and everyone of them are worth reading. If you have just found out that you have a problem with fertility, this must be the first book you read. Not only does Dr. Schoolcraft talk about being your own best advocate he writes about the most common fertility challenges, the most common solutions for those challenges and covers the emotional challenges as well. I love the fact that he includes stories from his patient's which makes you feel connected to what this book is all about, validation, education, support and solutions.
If you are not familiar with Dr. WILLIAM SCHOOLCRAFT, MD, HCLD, he is a fertility specialist and researcher and is the director of the Colorado Center for Reproductive Medicine.
Friday, December 3, 2010
The Best of 2010 LaMothe Book Reviews: Birthing a Mother The Surrogate Body and the Pregnant Self By Dr. Elly Teman
Birthing a Mother is divided into four unique parts: Dividing, Connecting, Separating, and Redefining. The entire work here is brilliant and, as a past Gestational Carrier myself, I can relate to the many stories shared within each part quite easily. A reference of "a child through the mail" caught my attention and I thought about my first Intended Mother who, because of distance, was not a 'partner' in the pregnancy the way that she might have wanted. Perhaps she thought of her twins as mail order until I flew down to her so she could take part in the last few weeks of the pregnancy.
I am sure that Intended Parents will see their thoughts and fears reflected in Birthing a Mother The Surrogate Body and the Pregnant Self and be able to use this information learned to understand their own intimate relationship with their Gestational Carrier.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
December is The Best of the LaMothe Book Reviews! Lets Start with Budgeting for Infertility By Evelina Weidman Sterling & Angie Best-Boss
I am dedicating the month of December to the best of my LaMothe Book Reviews for 2010. These are books that you should consider reading, buying for your professional library and promoting to your clients. If you have a book that you would like to recommend a book for a professional LaMothe Book Review please contact me at mailto:info@LaMotheServices.com.
Sharon
Budgeting for Infertility By Evelina Weidman Sterling & Angie Best-Boss : A LaMothe Book Review
Especially important in our current financial crisis, Budgeting for Infertility is a timely and accurate depiction of what it takes to pay for Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) to complete a family. I found this book not only assists with budgeting but also educating Intended Parents on all aspects of ART including treatment terms, how to choose a clinic, finding affordable fertility medications, understanding the financial options and even exploring adoption. I especially liked reading the comments from Intended Parents who know first hand what it's like to travel down the road of infertility treatments. I highly recommend this book for anyone starting out, or even in the middle of their own personal infertility journey. Well worth buying and passing along.
Synopsis
Having a baby can be one of the most wonderful times of your life -- but if you need help to conceive, it can swiftly become a staggeringly expensive undertaking. With the average cost of infertility treatments ranging from $35,000 to $85,000 in the United States (most of which is not covered by insurance companies), many women and couples find themselves having to make difficult choices about building their families.
Getting a grip on your finances is one of the few things you can do to regain control of this process. Infertility experts Evelina Weidman Sterling and Angie Best-Boss have created the ultimate guide to ensuring the most cost-effective care with the highest chances for success. With anecdotes, interviews, and advice from both doctors and patients, you can easily apply these specific money-saving strategies to your own unique situation.
Learn how to:
- Select a fertility clinic with a high rate of success
- Convince your insurance company to cover more of the costs
- Track down the most affordable fertility drugs
- Travel abroad for cheaper care or international surrogacy
- Avoid the scams and unnecessary expenses every step of the way
Personal and professional, Budgeting for Infertility is an invaluable resource that shows you how to pay for infertility treatment...and still have money in the bank for diapers and day care.
Sharon
Budgeting for Infertility By Evelina Weidman Sterling & Angie Best-Boss : A LaMothe Book Review
Especially important in our current financial crisis, Budgeting for Infertility is a timely and accurate depiction of what it takes to pay for Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) to complete a family. I found this book not only assists with budgeting but also educating Intended Parents on all aspects of ART including treatment terms, how to choose a clinic, finding affordable fertility medications, understanding the financial options and even exploring adoption. I especially liked reading the comments from Intended Parents who know first hand what it's like to travel down the road of infertility treatments. I highly recommend this book for anyone starting out, or even in the middle of their own personal infertility journey. Well worth buying and passing along.
Synopsis
Having a baby can be one of the most wonderful times of your life -- but if you need help to conceive, it can swiftly become a staggeringly expensive undertaking. With the average cost of infertility treatments ranging from $35,000 to $85,000 in the United States (most of which is not covered by insurance companies), many women and couples find themselves having to make difficult choices about building their families.
Getting a grip on your finances is one of the few things you can do to regain control of this process. Infertility experts Evelina Weidman Sterling and Angie Best-Boss have created the ultimate guide to ensuring the most cost-effective care with the highest chances for success. With anecdotes, interviews, and advice from both doctors and patients, you can easily apply these specific money-saving strategies to your own unique situation.
Learn how to:
- Select a fertility clinic with a high rate of success
- Convince your insurance company to cover more of the costs
- Track down the most affordable fertility drugs
- Travel abroad for cheaper care or international surrogacy
- Avoid the scams and unnecessary expenses every step of the way
Personal and professional, Budgeting for Infertility is an invaluable resource that shows you how to pay for infertility treatment...and still have money in the bank for diapers and day care.
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Happy Thanksgiving!!
LaMothe Services, LLC wishes you and yours a very Happy Thanksgiving!
For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food, for love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Monday, November 1, 2010
Important!! November is National Adoption Month
Activities and celebrations are kicked off with a Presidential Proclamation, and while efforts made at the national level certainly help build awareness of adoption, participation in local programs, events, and activities by those of us with a direct connection to adoption can often be the most effective way to promote positive perceptions, debunk the myths, and draw attention to the tens of thousands of children in foster care who wait and hope for permanent families.
Along with the month long celebration is the very special Adoption Day. November 20, 2010, will mark the 11th National Adoption Day. It's a special day because thousands of adoptions are finalized in court rooms all across the United States.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Password Issues By Toby Grundtner
Over the last few months I have been getting a lot of calls from people who have had their AOL/Yahoo/MSN and other accounts hacked into.
Whoever is hacking into the account is then changing the password so the real owner cannot get into it. Then the hackers start sending SPAM email to everyone in the owner's address book.
As you can imagine, it turns into a nightmare for the rightful owner of the account. Here are some tips to avoid this scenario:
1. Use Strong Passwords -
You wouldn't believe how many people tell me that their password is the word "password". This is one of the top 10 most popular passwords in the world. Other popular passwords are 123456, qwerty, abc123, letmein, monkey, myspace1, password1, link182 and (your first name). It would take a normal desktop PC mere seconds to crack these passwords. Choose something more complicated. How good is your password? Go to HowSecureIsMyPassword.net to find out. You'll be surprised.
2. Avoid the "Phishing" Net -
Phishing is the term for someone trying to gain access tour information through dishonest methods. "We need you to verify account info" and "Please log in to collect your reward" are just a few of the more popular ways hackers are getting your information. A bank, credit card company, etc will never ask you personal/sensitive information via email. DON'T FALL FOR IT! When in doubt, call your account holders directly.
3. Use Sentences to Make it Easy/Secure -
Use phrases to make it easy. "I Love My Canines Too Much!" could be made into a password of "ILMK9S2MCH!". According to HowSecureIsMyPassword.net it would take 12 thousand years to crack that password!
By following these steps you can keep all of your accounts safe and secure.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Tune IN!! On October 21, The Surrogacy Lawyer Radio will Interview Sharon LaMothe, Author of “Surrogacy Helps a Family Grow,” and Tracy Armato, Conceptual Options Program Director
On October 21, The Surrogacy Lawyer Radio will interview Sharon LaMothe, author of “Surrogacy Helps a Family Grow,” and Tracy Armato, Conceptual Options Program Director
When a woman decides to become a surrogate mother, she will have many conversations: with members of the surrogacy agency team, the intended parents, the medical and legal professionals involved in her care and with her spouse or partner and other adult relatives and friends, to name a few. But one of the most important conversations she will have is with her children, so she can explain the surrogacy process to them.
On the Thursday, October 21 episode of The Surrogacy Lawyer: Your Guide to IVF and Third Party Reproduction, Theresa Erickson, Esq., will be discussing how surrogate mothers should talk to their children about their pregnancies for another family. Ms. Erickson will interview Sharon LaMothe, a former gestational surrogate and author of the upcoming book Surrogacy Helps a Family Grow, and Tracy Armato, program director of Conceptual Options, The Surrogacy and Egg Donation Center and past surrogate. This episode will air on at 11AM PST/2PM EST on Voice America.
Sharon LaMothe is currently the owner of Infertility Answers, Inc., and the creator of two blogs about third party reproduction. She also owns LaMothe Services, LLC, an assisted reproductive technology business solutions service. Tracy Armato is responsible for overseeing the daily operations of Conceptual Options. Having been a gestational surrogate, Tracy has viewed third party reproduction from both angles and is a key support figure for surrogates.
“As a surrogacy lawyer and owner of a surrogacy and egg donation agency, I am excited about this new tool to help surrogate mothers talk to their children about the amazing gift they are giving another set of parents,“ says attorney Erickson. “Having open and honest conversations about third party reproduction is essential, whether you are a surrogate or egg, sperm or embryo donor. I look forward to advancing the conversation about this important topic.”
About Theresa Erickson, Esq.
Ms. Erickson is the managing partner of Erickson Law and the founder and chair of Conceptual Options, The Surrogacy and Egg Donation Center. In addition, Ms. Erickson is the author of the newly released Surrogacy and Embryo, Sperm, & Egg Donation: What Were You Thinking? Erickson was motivated to write her second book so she could educate potential intended parents, as well as the women who become surrogates and egg donors, about what all parties need to know if they are going to become involved in third party reproduction.
Attorney Erickson is a globally recognized expert in this specialized area of law and is a board member of the American Fertility Association and the legal director of Parents Via Egg Donation. For more information, please visit www.ericksonlaw.net and www.conceptualoptions.com.
Monday, October 18, 2010
Remember! November is National Diabetes Awareness Month!
Diabetes Commonly Occurs in Association with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS)
Increased Susceptibility to Urinary and Genital Tract Infections
Elevated Blood Glucose Is Teratogenic To the Growing Fetus
High Blood Glucose Level Causes Accelerated Fetal Growth
Psychological and Physical Effects on Sex
Although the entire month of November is dedicated to National Diabetes Awareness Month, November 14th is World Diabetes Day.
I plan on sharing posts on my other Blogs, http://surrogacy101.blogspot.com and http://infertilityanswers.typepad.com/surrogacy_101 regarding Diabetes during the month of November and how it can affect fertility.
Sharon LaMothe
Sharon LaMothe of LaMothe Services and Infertility Answers to Attend the ASRM Meeting in Denver
As for MY clients that I consult with, know that I attend these events, meetings and seminars around the country so that I can share what I have learned with you through my blogs, posts, and conversations. In this time of social networking, spending hours online and answering e-mail, I believe that it is so important to have face-time with clients and other professionals in this ever growing field of infertility.
Please contact me if you plan to be attending the ASRM or visiting Seattle, WA where my offices are located. If you need my consulting services remember that our first conversation is free so that we can assess how best to use my expertise to help you reach your goals.
I hope to hear from you soon!
Sharon LaMothe
Monday, October 11, 2010
ASRM Congratulates IVF Pioneer and Nobel Prize Winner, Robert Edwards (as posted October 4th 2010)
ASRM Congratulates IVF Pioneer and Nobel Prize Winner, Robert Edwards
Statement attributable to William Gibbons, MD President, American Society for Reproductive Medicine
"On behalf of our members and their patients, it is a thrill to extend our heartfelt congratulations to Professor Robert Edwards for his receipt of the Nobel Prize.
The development of In Vitro Fertilization truly revolutionized infertility care, allowing millions of patients to become parents. It also allowed us to further develop our understanding of human reproduction and development, leading further advances.
Professor Edwards and Doctor Steptoe tackled not only formidable scientific obstacles in order to make this advance, but worked in the face of significant social opposition as well. We are pleased the Nobel committee has chosen to recognize this very important work."
ASRM's affiliate, the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology publishes the latest assisted reproductive technology data on its website, www.sart.org.
And see, http://asrm.org/news/article.aspx?id=2512.
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