Pinterest for Business

How many of you have caught the Pinterest bug?  When I first heard of this site, I thought it was just a clever way to post things you'd been scrapbooking on.  I really thought it was just a site for posting your crafts.  Was I ever mis-informed!!!

Pinterest started out as a place where you could "pin" images for sharing.  You would pin your images to boards and other Pinterest followers could see them, comment on them, and even follow you as well.  It was launched sometime in early 2010, and by August 2011, Time Magazine listed Pinterest as one of 50 Best Websites for 2011!  Wow.  It has since exploded and is no longer used JUST for random sharing of photos!  Pinterest is now becoming Big Business!!

A few weeks ago, I sat in on a 3 day webinar class on How to Use Pinterest for Business.  It was presented by Melanie Duncan, a real Pinterest guru!!  She explained in detail over 3 days how to build a Pinterest following not only for personal, but more importantly for business followers!  AND, she indicated that many people are using Pinterest as a sales platform to market their products and services! How clever!!!  Indeed!   I would highly recommend checking out her site.  She's got loads of info there as well as webinars you can take that will show you how to market your business for Pinterest followers!  Another one of her presenters during this 3 day class was an awesome graphic designer, Christine Tafoya.  If you haven't visited her website, DeluxeModernDesign, you are really missing out!  She has tons of great graphic designs and logos, and offers templates and other social media elements that you can purchase and download to give your own website a boost!  Why, I even did that myself, and gave my website, CloudClericalServices, a whole new look!!

If you haven't explored Pinterest, and you are looking for more creative ways to expand your business presence, I'd give it a try!  I think you'll be pleasantly surprised!  Happy pinning!!! :)

iOS7, Yes or No???

Photo courtesy of Computerworld

Hmm, as the title might imply, I've spent the past several hours downloading and installing the infamous iOS7!!!!  OOOOHHHH...... But, as much as I thought I'd be super stoked to see all the kitschy new features, I'm a bit disappointed.

After waiting what seemed like FOREVER for the darn thing to download, and getting the new software installed on both my iPhone5 and my iPad, I'm a bit bewildered.  It looks and feels like something a windows or android phone might have.
:(   hence the frowny face

As I am writing this post, I came across this article (check under photo at left) from Computerworld as it talks about this new update as being so much more than just a sleek, clean, new look.

I mean, what was their intent?  Was Apple trying to revamp their whole look to match a windows or android phone?  One of the main reasons I bought an Apple phone was because it looked NOTHING like a windows or Android phone.

The mechanics of the software resemble the Android type phones in that they are now using "swipe" to close open apps much like the android phones I've seen in the past.

I am not a big fan of the new revamped calendar format; however, I DO like the time stamp on the lock screen.  It's quite a bit larger than before and makes it easy to read without glasses.

Still, I guess I should just take some time and poke around on the various screens and see what they do BEFORE making any rash judgements against the latest update.  As with everything else, change is sometimes not always welcome.  Perhaps in a few days I'll be updating this post boasting at how much I LOVE this new format!!  Stay tuned!!

Check your Work!

Do you blog?  Do you have a website?  Do you post regularly to sites like Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter etc?  If you are posting written content, may I kindly suggest that you PROOF your work before posting!  All too often, I read articles or posts that have misspelled words.  This is a REAL pet peeve of mine!  I mean, if you are in a hurry to post on your blog just to make sure you have content available, it just might be time to turn that task over to someone else.  Clearly you are too busy.  If you are posting articles hoping to attract clients, please take a few extra minutes to proof your work BEFORE you upload that post.  For example, if I were a client looking for a product or a service, and upon reading your article or post I noticed several grammatical mistakes, I'd really think twice before using your services.  Maybe I'm too critical, but I take my business seriously.  Now I'm not saying that you don't, I'm merely suggesting that this might be an area that you want to outsource.  If nothing else, BEFORE you upload content, why not have an extra set of eyes proofread your work.  Sometimes you can look right at a sentence and it looks completely fine, and someone else reads it and immediately finds the mistake.  I know, it's happened to me!!  Anyway, thanks for letting me vent!