essential claire

Inspirational places online round up

Spent some (long overdue) time today browsing blogs and communities I'd like to connect with and thought I'd share a few of my finds with you...

First up - if you haven't already discovered the Wiggly Wigglers podcast, then you are in for such a treat... http://www.wigglywigglers.co.uk/. I met Heather (MD of Wiggly Wigglers) at the Corporate Podcasting Summit earlier this week. She is a top bird and I'm going to interview for my podcast v. soon.

Then two I came across for the first time today...

http://www.bean-sprouts.blogspot.com/ - one family's search for the goodlife

http://www.optimistlab.com/ - experiment with joy

And I was doing some admin over at another blogsite I look after (www.ScurvyElephants.com) when I came across another social networking site which I've barely had time to visit since I signed up - Zaadz.com/ - let's change the world.

28 Days Later

wow... it's the 28th of January 2007 and its taken me this long to get around to posting on this blog...

To recap... I left London on 18th December to start a new life in Cardiff. My phone line installation was booked for 14th December... in the event, it didn't happen until the 16th JANUARY!! Anyway, I'm back online and my new life is proving to be everything I'd hoped for...

I've already made some new friends and am managing to get out into the beautiful countryside at least once a week. I'm going to post some pics over the coming weeks, but for now here are 2 views from my window: (click on the images to enlarge)

This first one was taken from the living room end of my balcony just before Christmas - it was a glorious day and this view never ceases to soothe and inspire me. 

This second one was taken a few days ago from the office end of my balcony - it was early evening and the setting sun (out of view) was casting the most surreal light on the St Davids Spa building in the centre of the shot.

Blogging away

Been blogging on other blogs more than this one of late...

Firstly, there's this new blogsite I have created as a platform for my Business Blogging Know-How. Reach it at www.BusinessBlogAngel.com.

Then there's other people's blogs...

Blogging

I wish I were a better blogger!

I have been up to so much lately, for business and pleasure and many of the stories would make for interesting reading here at Essential Claire, but - and this is where I'm not quite getting it right - the more that's going on, the lower I prioritise blogging.

Does anyone have any tips or advice as to how they manage this?

Website Design

Just finished (well practically) the site I've been building for Beryl Whiting - check it out at www.BerylWhiting.com .

I've got to focus on writing In Essence now, but after that I shall add Beryl's site to the Showcase page at www.ClaireRaikes.com .

Oh and I guess I should mention that its my Birthday today.  People keep asking me if I'm doing anything and I keep saying 'no', but why do I feel guilty about that?

Article Marketing

By far and away the most successful online marketing I've been doing lately is Article Marketing.  I have only uploaded 9 articles to one Article syndication site so far and yet, my writing has been picked up by several other sites. 

One site - rather annoyingly has broken several of the codes of conduct stipulated by the host site www.eZineArticles.com so far in that they have heavily edited one of my features - to the degree that my main point is lost and it no longer makes grammatical sense.  Additionally, they have changed my bio at the bottom - another big no-no.  And even worse, they claim (in the bit that is picked up by Google) that I have written it exclusively for them!!! I really should complain or at least notify eZineArticles.

On the other hand, a very nice man called Steven emailed me that other day, saying he'd used one of my features and would it be ok if he put my Bio in his Writers section along with my photo!  Well, of course I wouldn't and particularly not when he asked so nicely.  He emailed again today to say he used another one.  Check his site out - http://www.LifeDynamix.com

Aaaargh!

Perhaps it's the airless, heat here in Battersea today, perhaps it's my hormones. Either way, I am in a right old grump today.  All day I have been trying to complete a few pieces of writing. Nothing too hard - in fact - nothing at all hard, but between phone calls and emails and other interruptions and frustrations, I seem to be getting nothing done today!

Some would advise that I stick to my planned timetable and ignore the calls and emails until I have time to deal with them, but that is just not feasible. Some of the calls are about issues I've been trying to deal with for weeks now and are all techy related to do with my newsletter accounts.

And the people trying to help really are doing their best, but it feels like the blind leading the blind at the moment and I'm just getting crosser and hotter and I don't like it when I behave like this.

I think I should take a cold shower, take 15 mins out doing something mundane like loading the washing machine or something and then come back to my desk.  I'll let you know if that works!

Newsletters

I have started a newsletter that focusses solely on natural health and everything that Live In Essence is all about.  I use the incredibly powerful Total Business Cart for automated marketing, online payments etc. It also offers newsletter management, but I struggle to make the whole thing work without a lot of effort on my part.  Perhaps I'm making work for myself, because I've been constructing the newsletter in Dreamweaver and then copying and pasting the code into the Total Business Cart newsletter generator, creating 2 versions, text only and HTML. Its a faff.

So last week I decided to hire the services of UK based Just Add Content whose service really is fantastic, but not cheap.  This morning I signed off the new template and my first issue using the new system should go out next week. In the meantime, I have to put out this week's newsletter (a day late due to my connection challenges) the old way.

If you use Total Business Cart, 1 Shopping Cart, Autopilot Riches (they are all the same system) and know how I could have made life simpler as far as my newsletters go - please either comment on this post or email me at hello@claireraikes.com .

Posting via email

Had this blog a while now and have never posted by email because quite simply I didn't know what the address was. Today I have been delving a little deeper into what's possible with Typepad and have discovered TypeLists and other natty bits and bobs so I have spent the last 30 minutes or so playing with them.
I have also now set up my account to be able to email my posts in which I think is going to make me a much more regular blogger because its so convenient. This is my first attempt at blogging remotely - so let's see if I get it right shall we?

I'm intruiged to know whether it will pick up bold, italic and colours etc.

Cx

Claire Raikes Wellbeing Coaching, Speaking and Writing.
Get your fr^e WellBeing Checklist at www.LiveInEssence.com