Week #3 Sunday

Two websites I frequently use are Yahoo.com and Facebook.com

I'm sure that will be the majority of everyone in class. The two activities mostly used for me on the internet are my email and checking in on my village!

Ok. Almost missed this on Blackboard. Glad I doubled checked to make sure I did all that was required!

1. Why are they effective? Yahoo is effective in that it is structured well for emails but in addition I like that I can catch up on news, weather and movies just to mention a few.  Facebook is effective in that it allows me to stay in touch with family friends and some business affiliates but it also has been great for finding people that I may never have seen again in my lifetime. I finding friends that I haven't seen in over 30 years! I love that! 
2. What specific principles of good design do they include and why? Yahoo's overall structure is set up to be user friendly and easy on the eyes. The architecture is precise and flows down the page making it easy to see what is laid out. You can scan the whole page in a matter of seconds and not feel like you have missed anything. The nav bar is stationary and at the very top of the page for easy access. The home button is located to the upper left and you know that it's actually the home button. The other nice thing is that you can change some of the visual setting to your own preference. Facebook is easy scrolling and the links are set up for easy access. The search bar is fantastic and really simple to use. The site is sectioned off so that you can organize photos and information easily  .
3. What makes you come back again? Well, the obvious for both. I have integrated both site into my life so that I make them a part of what I need to do everyday to succeed at communication. Both are as important as my phone.
4. What could be improved? With Yahoo, I would like the issue of spam to be improved on. And, with Facebook I'm not crazy about how they try and suck you into the games..not interested.

Week # 3 Website Critiques

Bad Website #1 http://tectorch.com. 

Wow, this website needs a major overhaul! Where do I begin?

The first thing I would say is "Less is More!" There is so much information it's overwhelming to look at the page.

The entire layout of the site is bad. There is no styling on the page. Everything is centered and yet it isn't ever centered well.  The color palette is bad and I don't see a call to action.

When you click on the links the "Home" button is at the bottom of the page and not very obvious. 

There is no way of ordering online yet the phone number for calling in an order is really small and at he very bottom of the page. 

Bad Website #2 http://www.headhunterhairstyling.com/

This one is also very poorly designed. They didn't use a cover on the background so it's repeating all over the place. 

The nav bar has no styling, the fonts are horrible and really small. There are spacing issues and everything is in the middle of the page, yet, off centered. The grammar is bad.

 They have a strange little flashing bar that repeats down the page

The images are not placed well and some you can't tell what they are because they're too small. They also load incredibly slow.

The google map takes up an entire page!

They have a "download page" with a bunch of funky intertwined photos that are really large and they don't really make since. 

They also have a page completely unrelated to what they do and it is very poorly laid out as well. the images are horrible.

Good Website #1 apple.com

Well, this is Apple, of course it's going to be good. First of all it's easy on the eyes. The layout is interesting and well organized. It loads quickly and all the main links are very accessible and understandable. 

Each page loads instantly and has great esthetics. All parts of each page draws you in to want to see more, creating a curiosity to move through more the next page. There is always something new going on in the website. The look is clean and the art used is fresh. 

The Apple icon at the top left of the page brings you back home easily .

Apple has a shopping cart for online purchases and each product is displayed well and all the information you need is right there with the image. 

They have a blog page for community use as well as support. 

This has always been one of my favorite sites to visit. I'm never bored.

Good Website #2 Toyota.com

Toyota really hit nail on the head with this website. It is very user friendly. Maneuvering through this website is fun and very easy to use. Everything you want to know about any Toyota on the market is on this site. You can build your own model which is fun an enticing.

They have links to help you find the nearest location and links for keeping notes that you can come back to later.

The website has a search bar for finding things on the site and, if you speak Spanish, there is a link for that as well.

The style is clean and well organized and the images of the cars are fantastic! The layout is extensive yet simple a designed in a way that you don't realize just how much information is given. 

I love this site! Makes me want to buy a new car!

Week #2 Communication: List of Five Business Websites

Here is my list of 5 business and the social media they are using.

1. Mister A's Restaurant - Fine dining establishment located in downtown San Diego
    Website:  http://www.bertrandatmisteras.com/
    Social Media:  Facebook: 2/11/2015     4110 Likes
                             Twitter: 2/14/2015     2312 Followers
                             Linkedin: Nice informative page
 This restaurant has a beautiful website and is using social media well to their advantage.  They have done a spectacular job at keeping up to date with technology. The restaurant    has been around for since 1965. It's considered the nicest restaurant in San Diego.


2. Jadyen Presliegh, The Salon & Spa - Locate in the Village of Carlsbad on State Street
    Website:  http://http://jaydenpresleigh.com//
    Social Media:  Facebook / 2/14/2015    940 Likes
                             Twitter : They have the link on their website but it doesn't go anywhere.
                             Pintrest: 62 Pins and 128 followers
 While they do need to work on their website a little, the layout is really nice and they get the  idea about social media and are using it fairly well, with the exception of the link to Twitter.  Maybe it an issue of time management.

3. Century21- Residential Real Estate office with numerous locations nation wide.

    Website:  http://www.century21.com/

    Social Media:  Facebook: 2/15/2015     314,122 Likes

                             Twitter: 2/15/2015       83,000 Followers

                             Google+: 98,511  Followers

                             Flickr: 22,281 photos

                             YouTube: 3856 Followers

 This company has been around for awhile and is very successful with their  marketing and seem to be ahead of the game with social media.

4. The Joint - Chiropractic membership located in Oceanside.

    Website:  http://chiropractoroceanside-thejoint.com/

    Social Media:  Facebook: 2/12/2015     32 Likes

                             Twitter: 2/15/2015     30 Followers  

                            Google+: 2 Followers One bad review

                             Yelp: 21 reviews 6 really bad, 1, 4 star and 14, 5 star reviews
 The reviews are mixed for sure. Really shows the importance of making sure your  business is running correctly. Social media can really hurt you if your making  mistakes!

5. Thompon Heating and Air Conditioning - San Diego County/ Riverside County.    

    Website:  http://www.thacc.net

    Social Media:  Facebook: 1/6/2015     129Likes

                           Google+: 44 Followers 23,847 views 22 reviews 4.9 stars

                            Yelp: 48 reviews, all 5 stars

                            BBB: 0 complaints
 Very functional website. this company seems to understand the importance of great  service.

Week # 2

My initial experience with social media was somewhat of a night mare. I was temporarily working as a food server at at Mexican restaurant. A family of 12 came in and was seated in my section. When I approached them and introduced myself as their server I quickly realized that only one woman in the group that spoke English. They were apparently for TJ.  I asked her to translate for me what beverages her family would like to start with and she said water. I left and filled up 12 water glasses, brought them out and then took the lunch order from the woman speaking on everyone's behave. I left the table and went to the computer and typed in everyone's order. Once I finished I walked back to my section and noticed that everyone at my party of 12 had soda's and beer. I asked the women what happened and she said she stopped a male waiter and ordered drinks. I asked her why didn't she tell me? She said it was because I was busy. Strange......

I went to that waiter and asked him what happened and he said that the woman said that I wouldn't get drinks for them. I told him that I did take the order and that all they wanted was water. I thanked him for his help and went about my business taking care of all my guests.

The entire time I served the party of 12 they seemed annoyed with me and as I had anticipated at the end they left no gratuity. It was one of the strangest experiences. I later realized that they were upset because they preferred a Spanish server that spoke their language. The waiter from earlier told me that they stopped him several times for other items. They refused to ask me or tell me what they were needing. I've never experienced anything like it.

Two days later my manager pulled me into his office and showed me a post on Yelp. I was horrified. The woman that spoke for the family wrote on Yelp that the service she experienced was the worst she had ever had and she mentioned me by name! And warned everyone not to have me as their server! I was shocked! I really did give this table good service, but there is only so much you can do if they won't talk to you. I told my manager that I wanted to respond and he threatened me with a dismissal of my position if I responded. I left 3 months later and re-opened my own business, Chrysalis Spa. I had it for 5 years and had to close for a short while.

I was scared to death to use Yelp for my business because of the experience. Once I finally gave in and listed Chrysalis Spa it actually worked out well. I ended up with wonderful feed back from everyone that went on to leave a review. In fact, all my reviews were 5 stars.

Social Media Platforms

My exploration of social media is somewhat limited. I know that Linkedin, Facebook and Twitter are used for buisness but it seems that they are also used for personal postings as well. I've only delved into Facebook extensively on a social level.

I had a business for seven years.  I created a Facebook page but I ended up closing my business before I knew how to take social media to the next level. I also had my business listed on Linkedin but never quite invested the time to understand what that whole platform was about. Both pages are still up, just not active. Chrysalis Spa is how it is listed. I see there is a great need for businesses to be serviced by a contractor for social media.

It seems there are numerous sites to help with business as well as personal. I'm just not up to date yet. I certainly look forward to this class helping me to take everything to the next level. I would like to be able to hire out my services to maintain social media for businesses as well as covering their needs for other forms of advertizing.

Template

I started to use the red template but after I chose it and went back in I realized it was a bit much so I decided on the hummingbirds. Much easier to look at.

I'm anxious to get the necessary knowledge in the area of social media. I truly believe it's an advantage in our society for employment or for entrepreneurs. I haven't really blogged yet unless you consider Facebook a form of blogging. This should be fun.

I'm looking forward to working with everyone in class and anticipate learning something from all of you.

-Cheryl

Answered my own question....

Now after going back through Blackboard, I realized there is a PDF explaining how to create the template of choice. Now I need to READ the PDF! : )

I'll have to choose it later today. For now I'm off to class! Stay tuned for the template of choice!!

Why I chose the template that I did

Hello everyone. Sometimes I'm not sure I'm getting it when I read the instruction in a new class.

It appears that in the instructions #2 in "( )" we are told to choose the "Simple" template. Then in #3 in the instructions it tells us to explain why we chose it. Ok, not sure I missed something but.... didn't I choose it because I was told to?? Lol

Wonder if anyone else thought the same thing. I found that if I purchase a domain there apparently is another list of templates but, as far as the initial list, I only saw one simple one. Hmm curious...

I'll get with it eventually. Sometimes it takes me a couple of little kicks to get me going before I take off running!