This slideshow is for business headshots.  It looks beautiful for 2 reasons.  One, I am working with a talented photographer and two, the software I use to create these works well.

Please note, I share no affiliation with the company and I am not trying to sell you this product.  Just sharing my personal experience here.

I am using a software called Visual Slideshow.  This is now around the 5th slideshow I’ve put together and all have been really easy to do.  You can add folders full of images, output to a single file and upload the slideshow from the program.

I have to integrate the slideshow by brute force into the Dreamweaver template, but it’s 2 things to paste, so overall, I would have to say it’s a rather easy process.  They even have a way to do the integration for you, although it has not worked well for me, primarily because they do not detect their own slideshow when re-inserting and thus, it does not update the slideshow but pastes in a new one.

Here is a different slideshow for a different client with the Ken Burns effect: a spring tour to see tulips in Kazakhstan.

Screenshot of the Dr. Fisher's Mix Store

At $50 – $75 per set, the graphics would be affordable for a developer  and once you setup the proper templates, it won’t take more than an hour to get all the buttons (I think there are 3-5) into the customer’s colors and fonts. And if you have time, make a name for yourself by updating the default style of the cart for the next release.

From a quick search on Google, it looks like the vast majority of high ranking services offer integration, installation, etc. That’s expensive and not necessary for someone like me, who really just needs a small amount of graphics.

If you are a graphic designer and you’ve created Zen Cart graphics, contact me.

1.  When starting to use Twitter, be sure to setup your account properly.  Either read up on the subject or have a marketing consultant set it up for you.

2.  Put a few tweets (say 10) out there before you look for anyone to follow.

3.  Be on the look out for people to follow.  Usually followers follow you in return, so step 1 and 2 are crucial before you get to this step since people will look at your profile to see what you’re like and the type of information you will supply to them.

4.  Tweet regularly.  Twitter is a constant stream of information and if you want to be noticed and create a conversation around your business or your brand, you have to insert your throughts into Twitter regularly.  And be sure that they are quality posts and not just always promotional.

I’ve created a background for my own Twitter account and can do one for yours.  Contact me (dmark at browncouchconsulting.com)  if you’d like more information.

Dairy Free Molasses Spice Cookies
2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp ginger
1.4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp salt
2/3 c vegetable (canola) oil
2-3 tbsp orange juice (I squeezed 1/2 an orange to get this)
1/3 c brown sugar
1/4 c granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 c molasses
1/2 c zante currants (small black raisins), optional

Preheat the oven to 375F.

Mix the flour, baking soda, spices and salt in a medium bowl. Beat oil, sugars and orange juice with an electric mixer until the mixture thickens. Add the egg and the vanilla extract. While beating, add the molasses. Mix in the dry ingredients into the egg/oil mixture until just combined. Add in the raisins if using.

Line baking sheets with parchment paper (or I use the Silpats which work wonders and are reusable). Using 2 spoons (the dough will be soft and very sticky), plop 6 dollops of dough on 1 baking sheet and 6 dollops on another, at least 2 inches apart. These cookies will spread quite a bit. Bake for about 11 minutes, until the cookies are cracked all over and set in the middle. Take out of the oven and let cool before removing from the baking sheets.

But I digress.  Speaking of free websites, a few months ago, a friend approached me about creating a website for the Better Health Project (www.betterhealthproject.org) , an organization that has been making large strides in improving HIV treatment in Cape Verde.  Excuse my ignorance, but I first had to put Cape Verde into Google Maps, and now I know that it’s a country off the coast of Africa, comprised of small islands with a population in need of better HIV and medical treatment.   The organization has its start with Tim Comeaux from the Brockton Neighborhood Health Center, but the organization stands on its own and is not part of the health center itself.

So, why build a free website? When I first started my web consulting and website building business,  I decided to do one free project per year.  Last year, I built a site for IBEX Tours, a bioexploration (biodiversity exploration) non-profit which sends tours all over the world as an education and awareness effort for supporting and sustaining some of the most precious ecosystems.

As 2010 draws to a close, I will start on the lookout for the next pro-bono project.

Here is my conversation at 9:30am on Wednesday:

Me: Hi, I would like to make an appointment for a pedicure.
Salon: What? This is a beauty shop. We don’t do pedicures here.
Me: Hmm. I got a pedicure a month ago at your salon.
Salon: What? (talks to people behind him). Oh, call back in 1/2 hour. I don’t know how to book that.

11am conversation on the same day
Me: Hi, I would like to book an appointment for a pedicure.
Salon: We don’t do pedicures.
Me: Actually, I had a pedicure at your salon a month ago.
Salon: Oh. The woman who does it, she has a small child, sometimes she comes, sometimes she not want to come. Call on Friday at 11am. If she’s here, you can have a pedicure.

Friday, at 1:30pm:
Me: Hi, I wanted to come in for a pedicure.
Salon: Oh, did you make an appointment?
Me: No, I was told to call the day of.
Salon: I see. Well the manicurist is with someone right now and she will be busy until 4pm when she has to leave. Would you like to make an appointment for next Friday?

The old logo was not only all image based, but was also hidden in the background.  It was invisible to the search engines since background images don’t get ALT tags and the valuable words acupuncture, clinic and Brookline were losing one turn on each page.  We’ve kept the lotus flower but turned the rest of the logo into text.  You can see it for yourself at www.acupunctureclinicforwomen.com.  This also gave us a chance to update the business tagline to Natural Healing Endorses Wellbeing.  The new headline area now takes better advantage of the space at the top and helps with the business’ SEO efforts.

We’re not involved with Magi any more, but it can still be fun to exercise our thinking caps and come up with a list of things a spa should do to reinvent itself.  So, here it goes: 

1. New Name – New Image with a new brand.  Choose different colors, update the entry room, basically, give a different look to your business.
2. Same People?  This is a tough one because your customers, those who come regularly, are used to their specific hairdresser, cosmetologist, etc.  And since you want to retain the customers as much as possible, it’s best to keep those members of the staff who are performing well.   And of course, weed out those which are not.  Try to balance this off with some new faces and some new services.
3. Offer an introductory coupon – you’ll need to entice past customers and new customer to come and try something new – i.e. your services, so offer a 20% off your first treatment coupon to get them in the door.  
4. Fix the website!  Of course, with every new brand, there must be a new website.   I would also recommend this for spas which are also not going through an ownership change – every 3-5 years, redesign your site.  It will keep your business looking fresh to potential customers.

And, as I am left with a $38 Magi gift certificate burning a hole in my pocket, I anxiously await the opening of the new spa, even if just to see whether I can still get a manicure with my certificate.