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Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Feed on the Good, Weed Out the Bad

You’ve heard it said before, garbage in garbage out!  The things we eat good or bad will effect our health. Things we watch, read and listen to will shape our hearts and our attitudes. Even the people that we hang out with will put a positive or negative spin on our lives. There are so many opportunities on the internet and hundreds of channels on television that bombard us with information and visual stimulants daily. Whether you want to believe it or not, what you put into your body and mind has a profound effect on your life. With this said, we need to be selective with what we feed ourselves. How often do you take inventory of what you watch, read, listen to or participate in? Are your values be watered down, it’s good to weed out the bad and soak up the good!

Even in business we need to be selective with whom we associate with, who we listen to and whom we take advice from. Negative thinking can seep into the mind subconsciously and can desensitize us, watering down our business ethics.  I like to participate in networking business forums and in these places everybody is trying to push their thoughts, marketing methods and various business tips, some of which are good and have value but some that have questionable practices and advice that needs to be weeded out. With so many people offering their own personal thoughts and ideas we need to decipher the good from the bad. Just remember to weigh things out constantly in order to stay healthy in life, business and all you do! 

Designs by Shell

Black and White Medical Appointment Business Cards

 
Colorful Heart Strings Tee Shirts

 
Elegant Teal Floral Wedding Postage

 
Silly Monkey Birthday Invitation

 
Starfish and Ocean Personalized Postage

 
Purple Wild Animal Print Business Card Templates

 

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

New Marketing Strategies

Time for some new marketing strategies! SEO is basically finding ways to promote and improve your website so that your traffic from the search engines increases. It seems SEO has become a lot harder these days and way more challenging for the online marketer. Some of the things that come into play with SEO involve words and descriptions, the way other sites link to your site on the web and also the set up of your site. Search engines are the main method that traffic is driven to your site. The big ones are Google, Yahoo and Bing. The thing with search engines is that people put in the description of what they’re looking for and if that’s what your site offers they will be directed to your page. These are referred to as targeted visitors. That’s why it’s important for the search engines to be able to find your business or you may just miss out on potential sales.

There are lots of new ways that are available to market your online business. Sure they are going to take some time but you have to decide how much time and effort you want to put in in order to promote your business.  Social networking sites are great to promote and advertise your company but you don’t want to bombard these sites and become known as a spammer because that will get you no where in a hurry!

My most recent method to promote my store came about when my son told me about this site called Weebly.com, perhaps you’ve heard of it. This site makes creating your own webpage really easy, you can buy a domain name like I did and create a page marketing your products. This is where you want to go niche’ and choose one type or theme from your business and promote through their own webpage. So I chose to promote my ‘baby shower section’ of my store and my ‘birthday invitation’ section. They now have their own website, so cool! Just click on the underlined words to see my new sites. So now I can promote them with their own url rather than a mass store url. I still have lots to learn but little by little I’m getting there.  Basic sites on Weebly are free but you can upgrade at any time to the Pro package. Basic is good for testing out and to see if this could be something that will help your business.

With my new websites I’ve been working on designs to fit into those pages, so lots of new baby shower invitations and birthday party ideas have been flowing lately. Here’s a sampling below, thanks for stopping by Designs by Shell

Yellow Duck Baby Shower Personalized Invitations

 
Choo Choo Train Baby Shower Postage Stamps

 
Pink Choo Choo Train Baby Shower Announcement

 
Pink Birthday Cupcake with Saying Tees

 
Splash of Stripes and Dots Birthday Invitation

 
Choo Choo Train Baby Shower Square Stickers

 

Monday, April 15, 2013

Words of Wisdom from Influential People

This post is a little different in that I wanted to share some quotes from influential people that can be applied to your every day life as well as your work life. We all need to be inspired and motivated to move forward and keep shining in whatever it is we do.

“Courage: the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can’t practice any other virtue consistently”  – Maya Angelou

“I always prefer to believe the best of everybody; it saves so much trouble” – Rudyard Kipling

“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.” – Steve Jobs

“But until a person can say deeply and honestly, “I am what I am today because of the choices I made yesterday,”that person cannot say, “I choose otherwise.” – Stephen R. Covey

“Be comforted, dear soul! There is always light behind the clouds.” – Louisa May Alcott, Little Women

“Ability can take you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there” – Zig Ziglar

“One thing life taught me: If you are interested, you never have to look for new interests. They come to you. When you are genuinely interested in one thing, it will always lead to something else.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream an new dream – C.S. Lewis

“It’s fine to celebrate success but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure.” – Bill Gates

“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” – Anne Frank

“Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Seek first to understand, then to be understood.” – Stephen R. Covey

In keeping up with my latest designs I’ve been working on a variety of different themes and creations. Feel free to visit my store and check out my designs.

Coral Floral With Monogram Makeup Bags

 
Classy Coral Floral Pattern Business Card Template

 
Orange Floral Pattern Coffee Mugs

 
Elegant White Hydrangea Wedding Stamps

 
Coral Zebra Pattern Monogram Personalized Address Label

 
Bold Purple Diamond With Monogram iPhone 5 Cases

 

 

Monday, April 8, 2013

Hand Writing Suffers Due to Technology

Due to the digital age and so many of us only using computers to send messages, letters, memos etc. hand writing has become a skill that many of us are losing. Just like the saying use it or lose it, it’s very true in this case. Cursive writing takes much practice when first learning it but also contributes to dexterity and good hand-eye coordination.

Hand writing is used less and less in the business world, everything being pushed out on computers. Granted keyboarding is much faster  for many and more efficient with spell check at hand. Holding a pen actually feels a little foreign,the letters begin to lose their shape while penmanship declines. Many people can still print okay but cursive handwriting when not practiced regularly begins to fade and get rather messy for some.

What do you think? How often do you use cursive writing in your day to day life?  Many of us simply only use it as our signature and nothing more.  The question has been brought up in high schools and colleges as to whether cursive writing should be continually worked on or the focus should be towards keyboarding skills. In college many students still prefer to take notes by hand but when it comes to turning in assignments the majority prefer to hand in a typed paper. It looks neater, easier to spell check and move words and paragraphs around. Bad penmanship isn’t an issue and the professors can mark it with ease.

Graphologists believe that your hand writing can give clues to your personality. A Graphologist is someone who analyzes hand writing, this term was new to me! They say the size, the slant, the loops etc. all say something about personality traits. Hmmm, interesting!

Well feel free to share your thoughts or comments here, hope you enjoyed the read! 

Been busy creating new designs for my store, always new ideas brewing, stop by for a look around!

Keep Calm and Eat Cupcakes Shirt

 
Blue Smiley Face Cupcake Postage Stamps

 
Cooking Utensils Tile

 
Butterflies and Stripes Baby Shower Invitation

 
Aqua Wild Animal Print Bridal Shower Invitation

 
Golden Wikd Animal Print Business Card