Chirssy's DGMD Journal

August 1: Final Project

Link to Project Slides

To-Do: Edit journal and presentation. Add data from Web site amazon study

July 30: Amazon Turk May be the best thing ever invented

I have been trying to figure how I would set up a interactive design survey that will give me enough information about the user’s design taste in order to recommend a design template to someone without talking to them. So I came up with a theory or an algorithm.

First I would find three sets of images and, using Amazon Turk, I would survey people as ask them to categorize images using the following adjectives:

• Classic
• Executive
• Casual
• Urban
• Bohemian
• Formal
• Sophisticated
• Glamorous
• Exotic
• Organic
• Traditional

When they do that I end up with a style score for each image. I am then doing the same thing with website templates I find on theme forest. The people taking the survey design will select their favorite image from three different batches. The scores averaged together will give me their overall style score. Next the system will recommend a web site template that has a similar style score to the survey takers overall score.

With Amazon Turk I can pay as little as one penny per test making it possible for me to gather the user information and research I need.

July 27: Creative explorations Journal

Excitement is building as things are coming into focus. Earlier in the summer I was ready to jump off my pedestal at work and become an entrepreneur. That is still in the cards, but as I need to feed myself and my son I have decided to slow down. My last post talked about taking “a journey focused on research” and I believe that is the part I am most excited about. I have started researching content marketing efforts happening targeting small businesses. I found an extreme amount of fluff and geeky talk. My theory is that small business owners and non web experts don’t have the time, energy or patience to learn about and keep up with the latest lingo. The important thing is for me to stop making assumptions and start asking questions and doing research.

I have fleshed out my idea for two primary research methods – for now. The first will be one-on-one interviews or surveys with small businesses. Potential questions to ask:

• Do you use social media to promote your businesses?
• Are you familiar with the term content marketing?
• What frustrations do you encounter when trying to market your business online?
• What are your business goals?

I believe gathering this information will help me make better decisions about what my target needs. I posted a request for small business owners to answer a few questions on linkedIn

July 26: Trying a few things

I have been searching on Google for web marketing tips for small businesses. But the search is not bearing much fruit. See it. It appears most people blogging or writing web marketing tips are targeting other seasoned online marketers. I think there is a need to write directly to the small business owner. To develop content that really boils down the ideas around continent and digital marketing for busy business owners and staff who may be wearing multiple hats. I have developed a few simple questions and plan to visit with small business owners in my home town to start getting a feel for what is missing and how I can help fill in the gaps.

July 25: Focus

I have lots of ideas in progress and feel like I am bubbling with creativity lately. I think my ideas have bounced around and I am at a point where it is time to focus a little more. I am also going to delegate some of the more highly technical aspects of this efforts. I am better and faster when I am strategizing and planning.

For much of my adult life I have been driven by the goals and needs of others. I think it is time to set my goals based on what I want in life.

So here is the life/work plan/goal: When my son graduates from high school – seven years from now – I plan to be a free agent. I plan to be running a thriving web design/digital marketing/consulting business focused on solving the digital problems of small business owners. I want to have the freedom to work from any place in the world. I wan the freedom to pick my clients based on mutual respect, creativity and flexibility.

I am in love with the idea of having a beautiful home base in Florida and spending summers traveling or living abroad while managing my business over via the digital network. I hope to mature my skills beyond my current position and become the recognized authority that small businesses turn to when they have questions about leveraging web technology to solve their business problems.

How do I get there? One day at a time.

I have the framework for my own small business set. The fledgling enterprise now has an official brand and small website. You can see it at www.bewellbedigital.com. I believe the site and branding helps bring authority and credibility to the conversation I hope to start.

As far as where we go and how we grow, I want to understand better the tools small business owners can use to thrive online. I’ve come up with a lot of ideas for things I can do to help, but pretty much to this point I am really just guessing and making things up. I’m going to begin a journey focused on research. This research will help me hone in on common problems business owners face. Once problems are identified I will work to come up with solutions – sometimes I can monetize those solutions, and sometimes they will help me with my own content marketing efforts. One such item I am working in is an interactive design survey for small business owners. This tool will allow me to understand, over time, the design preferences and digital needs of small business owners.

In an effort to build my own brand authority I will research using my social communities and share my findings and research.

Here are my to-dos:

RESEARCH

• Goal: Find out what problems small businesses face when working in the digital a marketing place
• Survey/interview small businesses
• Look for good articles discussing the issues small businesses face

Content Marketing

• To Do by Aug 3 - send instructions/wireframes to developer to add blog feature to Be Well Be Digital Website
• Weekly goal:
• Post one original blog post weekly on the be well be digital blog
• Share a minimum of 4 pieces of content
• Work to add 10 new friends/followers to Be Well Be Digital Channels

HELP AND SUPPORT THE SMALL BUSINESS COMMUNITY

Develop tools for use by the small business community

• Interactive Design Survey – recommends templates according to design preference and business need. - In progress:
• Research user preference and classification for website designs – develop design survey by Aug 3.
• Working to focus and identify the questions I need to ask
• Building wireframes and dataflow charts for use by developers – send to developer.
• Idea: The Anatomy of a Great Home page
• Needs more definition and verification. Need to make sure it is not always out there.

July 18: Content Marketing

When Alec first recommended the book Content Inc. I was a little hesitant. I manage two teams devoted almost completely to content marketing for the University I work for. But I had an extra audio credit with audible so I figured it couldn’t hurt to listen while I was riding the train back and forth to class. I am glad I did. The content marketing machine I am running is working well, but it is far different to the social networking and blogging I need to be doing if I really intend to spread the gospel to small businesses.

Shouldn’t have doubted you, Alec.

July 13: I Love You More

Inspired by the idea that we should try our hands at making small fun projects I made something for my son. We have always played the “I Love You More” game so I made him a digital card to show my love

I miss him so much!

July 11: Progress

Been making pretty good progress toward getting the site set up. My team decided that the Be Well Be Digital website should be as clean as possible.

We have been looking at themes to get a feel for what we collectively like. The Mochito and the Simplex themes have qualities we like I expect the design will come together well.

I have also been working on the copy for the site. I don’t want to explain too much on our website. In researching other web design and digital marketing websites I am finding many of them to be heavy with content. I think this can cause a poor user experience, that is the last thing a web design firm should have in a site. I don’t want my customers to try and swim through pages and pages of fluff and crap, I want them to know what I do quickly and get the sense that I will help them solve their problems.

This is what I am thinking of starting with:

(Under logo ) 
We are a web marketing and development firm devoted helping your business thrive. 

Services and Pricing 

We believe in building solutions that fit your goals and budget. One-size-fits-all solutions simply don’t exist in todays digital marketplace. We will work with you to evolve and grow your online marketing and web site at a pace and price comfortable for you.

Our services include: 

• Online content writing and development 
• Search engine optimization 
• Internet marketing and ad placement 
• Web site development and design
• System integration  
• Hosting and support 

About Us 

We are an international team with combined experience of more than 80 years in digital marketing, web design and development, writing, technical support and hosting. 

Our Goals:

• To reduce anxiety for our customers
• To create solutions customized to the goals and budget of our customers

Our Work >[Accompany the title of each item with an image of the item on the page. When the user clicks on the image or title they should get a pop up  with the title, image, description content and link to site ]

Dreams Soar 

Shasta Waiz, the first civilian female pilot from Afghanistan, seeks to empower women around the globe in Science, Technology, <

Engineering and Math (STEM) as she makes a historic solo flight around the world. Being strong believers in the need for STEM education and increased diversity in the workplace the team at Be Well Be Digital, along with the web design staff of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, built and designed a custom website for use by the Dream Team. The Be Well Be Digital continues to host and support the organization’s web needs and advise on digital communication efforts. 

Visit the Dreams Soar website 

Sweeties Factory

Brining a the taste of Brazil to Central Florida, the Sweeties Factory is a fresh desert startup. The team at Be Well Be Digital helped design and build the companies website and will be providing digital marketing, technical support and hosting ongoing. The Sweeties Factory website was build so it can scale on pace with the growth of the company. 

Visit the Sweeties Factory website 

Conten-Udo 

An easy to use website management system was built to serve the needs of small businesses. The system is an easy to use and reliable took used for updating the content on websites. Built using strong web development practices, Content-Udo can scale to meet the needs of any size business and website. The system also allows for custom integration and advanced development. 

Visit the Conten-Udo demo site 

CNEWS 

In today’s 24 hour news cycle the technology journalist use must perform to the highest levels. The team at Be Well Be Digital built and continues to support the station’s web site and hosting needs. The site leverages a multitude of dynamic features allowing readers to enjoy the news of the day. 

Visit the CNEWS website 

Contact us

Every project is different so let’s set up a free consultation to kick around a few ideas and options. We look forward to hearing from you.