Your Web Presence – Is it unique or generic?

Posted on October 8, 2009 by Wes Johnson

A big part of Personal Marketing is promotion.

As you may have read in “Personal Marketing (Promotion)” I suggest that part of promoting yourself involves posting to a blog or participation in forums and commenting on blogs.  As you start participating in discussions on the web you will start to get noticed.

How are you noticed?

  • Your Avatar will be displayed
  • Your words will be read

Avatar: a graphical image that represents a person, as on the Internet.

“avatar.” Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 08 Oct. 2009.

<Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/avatar>.

Is your Avatar a big sideways “G”?  That’s an indicator that you haven’t setup an Avatar yet.  So you are associating your name and comment with a Generic Brand.  If you don’t want that to happen, then you might want to read on.

How do I setup an Avatar, so I won’t appear as a big “G’ or a Generic brand Avatar?

You need a Globally Recognized Avatar.  There is a service called Gravatar.com, see the video that follows to see more details about what a Gravatar is.

To setup a Gravatar is a very simple process:

  1. Read “Resizing your image for social network profile” before you setup your Gravatar.  You need the right scale image to make your Gravatar look good.
  2. Make sure you have an image ready that’s Gravatar sized.
  3. Visit Gravatar.com
  4. Click the Get a Gravatar Today button or visit Gravatar signup page.
  5. Enter your email address you want associated with your Avatar
  6. Click Sign up button
  7. Expect a confirmation email, check your junk email folder if you don’t receive a confirmation email.
  8. Confirm your email
  9. Login
  10. upload your Avatar
  11. Logout
  12. Verify your Gravatar is working, by posting a comment on this post.

Note: You might have to flush your browser cache in order to see your Gravatar show up.

Gravatar Overview Video

https://videopress.com/v/UyDfmflZ

Posted in Blog, Branding | Tagged , , | 13 Comments

Store layout and traffic patterns affect sales

Posted on October 6, 2009 by Wes Johnson

Some of you might be saying, well of course Store layout and traffic patterns affect sales.  I usually think of store layout in terms of placing items where you want your customer to be.  But, I never really thought about how a store layout can affect foot traffic until, I saw it with my own eyes.  Of course this was a simulation in a Facebook application called Café World.

Café World allows you to layout your own Café.  You place the stove where the cook prepares the food, where the serving tables are and where the customers eat.  If you have a good layout, the cook is efficient, the waiters & waitresses can clean and serve efficiently and customers will get seated and served in a timely fashion.  If your customers are happy, then they tell other customers about it and more customers come.  If the customer walks in, but doesn’t see anywhere to sit, they grow impatient and leave unhappy.  If the customer walks in and sits down but isn’t served within a reasonable time, they walk out unhappy.

It’s interesting to note that changing the placement of  a door, table, chair or even a serving table can dramatically change traffic patterns either for good or bad.

Another interesting thing, is a layout that works for light traffic doesn’t always work well when it gets really busy.  Customers have to wait longer and grow more impatient.

I’m sure the larger restaurants, grocery and department stores do traffic flow studies, but I wonder if they do foot traffic simulations like this to see how traffic changes when fixture placement changes.

Posted in Blog, Fun | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Zynga has done it again

Posted on October 5, 2009 by Wes Johnson

Zynga the makers of FarmVille, a Facebook Application, have created another addicting Facebook Application called Café World.  It kind of sucks you in with a challenge.

The challenge is Time and resource management.  Of course you get to have some healthy competition with your Facebook friends as well.

You start off with 3 stoves, 3 serving tables, 2 dining tables and 2 chairs.  You also get a decent amount of money to decorate your Café.

Café Dishes take various times to cook and if they aren’t served in a timely manner will spoil on the stove.  Which means you have to clean up the mess and start all over again.

If you don’t plan it right you run out of hot food.  I’ve already had all the patrons get up and walk out on me because there wasn’t food ready to eat.

There are also challenges of meeting your customers’ needs.  If the customers walk in and there aren’t any empty tables,you  eventually see a though bubble with a clock in it.  Then they leave your Café unhappy.

The Solution is to add more tables and chairs.  Well, that’s part of the solution.  You still have to manage getting the food to the customers at the right time.  If you do, they’re happy and give you a thumbs up.  You know how well you’re doing by the Buzz Rating.  A Rating that indicates how popular your Café is getting with the community.  The higher it goes, the more people come to visit your Café.

The other part of the Solution can be solved with more ovens and serving tables.  This ensures you can keep up with the demand for the dishes you cook.

I heard from one of my kids it’s a little like the Sims.

You get to pick your neighbors and visit their Cafés.

Overall it’s pretty fun.  Unfortunately, there’s not much interaction between you and your friends in Café World.

Having said that, this game is for individual play.  Great, if you want your kids to have a little fun without worrying about them interacting with other people on the internet.

Have you tried it?  What do you think?  How do you like it?

Posted in Blog, Fun | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Don’t forget to date it

Posted on October 4, 2009 by Wes Johnson

Lately, I have been going through my filing cabinet and old boxes in storage. Inside are old paper documents from years ago; notes, pictures, diagrams, charts, etc. Some of these documents have dates in the header or footer or on the back, while others have no hint of a date. The challenging part is trying to place a document that has no date in the proper timeline with others that do. Unfortunately, in the past, recording the date a document was created or updated wasn’t high on my list of documentation activities.  I do have to say that over time I have developed some better documentation habits.

Good documentation habits:

  • Record the date the article was created
  • Record the purpose of the document (what was the problem you were trying to answer)
  • Record who was involved with your document (name, email, phone)
  • Record the date the article was modified
  • Record action items (what were the next steps for this document)
  • Use filenames that include the date as part of the title
  • I use a date format of YYMMDD for example 091004
  • If you’re sharing this document, you can always use YYYYMMDD or 20091004
  • Using this method helps you quickly figure out the earliest and latest versions of a specific file
  • Listing the files alphabetically will by default show them in chronological order or reverse chronological order.
  • When viewing the list, the year changes the least, then month, then day
  • When printing, add a header or footer that prints out the print date and/or filename_date
  • Group like documents together
  • Fasten them together with paper clips or staples or 3 ring binders.

Develop good documentation habits now and you’ll avoid wasted time in the future trying to figure out what a document is about and why it was created in the first place.  An added benefit is that you’ll have a paper trail that will help you track an idea’s development over its lifetime.

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Am I going down the right path?

Posted on October 3, 2009 by Wes Johnson

How do you know you’re going down the right path?

Here are some questions to ask yourself:

  • What is my Life Vision?
  • What is my Life Mission?
  • Does my Life Mission fulfill my Life Vision?
  • What is my Career Vision?
  • What is my Career Mission?
  • Does my Career Mission fulfill my Career Vision?

If you couldn’t answer these basic questions, stop right now.  You need a Life Vision.  It tells you who you are and what your values are.  You need a Career Vision.  It tells you and others what you do.  When you have both your Life and Career Visions together you will see where you need to go.  Your mission statements will tell you and others how you plan to achieve your Visions.

If you don’t take the time to find out where you are headed and check against where you should be going, then you can’t say if you’re heading down the right or the wrong path?

The Right Path:

  • You have a clear Vision
  • You have a clear Mission
  • You are actively fulfilling your Mission

A Clear Vision:

  • You have a Life Vision
  • You have a Career Vision
  • You Life and Career Visions are aligned and not in conflict with each other

A Clear Mission:

  • Your Life Mission strives to fulfill your Life Vision
  • Your Career Mission strives to fulfill your Career Vision
  • Your planned actions are always headed toward fulfilling your Life and/or Career Visions.

Do yourself a favor, take bearings on where you are.  Set your course on where you should be and periodically check yourself against the path you have set.  Make minor corrections along the way to ensure your Life & Career Missions become successful.

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