My chosen Business, The Balance Connection

I am choosing to focus on a business that I would like to start. I would like to call it "The Balance Connection" since my service is connect people with the tools to provide themselves personal balance. Personal Wellness & balance (for your life circumstance) through custom crafter yoga, mediation and diet lifestyle routine outlines is how I intend to do it. Looking at the demographics it looks like my costumers would likely be, ● Age 18-65 primarily proffessionals ages 22-50 ● Education college degree ● Ethnicity all ethnicities potentially but primarily cocassion ● Gender men and women - primarily women ● Income 22-100+k per year And as for the pyschographics, What hey do in their spare time: yoga/exercise, volunteer/ community outreach, self improvement what their interests are: wellness, self improvement, fitness, wholistic living, spirituality Who heir friends are: successful people with upbeat progressive attitudes, saavy about living their potential Where hey hang out (both online and offline): OFFLINE: yoga studios, coffeeshops, bookstores and parks ONLINE: fitness and wellness websites, spiritual websites and forums and blogs. Social media with other networks of likeminded friends (Facebook especially and also You Tube for self education) What heir beliefs are: yoga philosophy/oneness, freedom of choice and thought, living an inspired existance income level: 22-100+k per year

Asthetics and design of websites I use a lot

(OOPS! Just realized I did not add the actual urls of the sites I am talking about on this entry. So here is the update. They are, ebay.com and miracosta.edu.) Oddly enough when I thought about the sites I use frequently to assess their usage of web design and branding principles the first one that came to mind is you tube and the first thing I thought is well they're messing up I don't see a single social media badge on their page. Ha ha ha, well duh ofcoarse not. I like to go to ebay to shop around so lets look at them. Overall I must say I can't see a lot of room for improvement with them. They have made their site properly. Their logo appears on every page, the navigation is consistent making it easy to find your bearings even when sifting through all kinds of auctions, excellent alignment. I thought that their proximity was good on everything too especially for their being so much user uploaded content which just shows how well they planned for all of the usrsupplied variable that would be generated by their site. Their hierarchy is well thought out and helps one to stay oriented and focused on their pursuit. Ease of use? I can't see it gettin much easier. The only thing they might add is a style guide similar to the one from this weeks lectures for people intending to auction off items so that they can make the most use of the design potential of their auction page. Overall, a great site by a company that has been at it for a long time. Next lets look at Mira Cost Colleges website. Honestly if I am going to reference websites I actually use typically these are about it. So at first glance the website seems appealing. This is because they have taken great care to desin it with a color scheme that pops. The no smoking symbol being displayed so prominently right on the front page is a bit of a turn off though. not really what I want to be captivated by. But that image oscillates to other images most of which are much more fun and feature people activley engaged in fun things or pictures of the collage which is an excellent way to bring a sense of connection between the asthetic and the target audience that they intend to appeal to. Again logo on every page, navigation consistent and predictable and the alignment of everything makes it clear that they are a proffession quality website. The hierarchy makes everything apparent and that is crucial for feeeling tht you can quickly assess the content on every page. The amount of content featured on every page is consistently well done, not too much, not so little that they are missing depth in encapsulating the info they mean to cover. The only room for improvement that I can see is that their contact info is not displayed prominantly enough and any time I've gone their to find a specific link to the path that will ultimately result in me getting a certain phone number for a specific department I wish to reach, I am certainly looking for far to long before I can figure out where to go for that. So overall I feel that their website like ebay's, is an example of very well done web design work that has resulted in very good ease of use and that certainly keeps me using them regularly.

So lets talk a bit about web presence. I have been looking at the web design and branding strategies used by various agencies and there is a lot of specific techniques that make all of the difference when intending to build a superior brand. First I'd like to bring some attention to some companies that I thought could use a little work on their strategy. I took a look at http://www.richsoil.com/raising-chickens.jsp and found a few things that are not helping their efforts. Fist of all their is a google add at the top that is confusing to have to establish is NOT an offiliated part of their site since it is so well woven into the color scheme used on the side menu (not a good display of concept and contrast or alignment). Also it is not visually stimulating since there is no moving graphics which these days can send a sense of low budget as a silent message before you have even realized it. Also the main font used in the body of the main page text I found to be a bit more difficult to dicipher than most pages, it was like too much of the characters were too bold and made it hard to make them out next to each other. And finally their main page is just too darn long. I can't stand going to sites where I am scrolling down for days only to find the side menu is a pilgramage back up to the top. They would be well served to use a different main text font, make a better logo, loose the google add mixed in to the top and break up their main page aswell as add a site map. Next I went to http://www.swagelok.com/. They appeared to be a more proffesionally created web presence but I still found plenty of room for improvement. First of all their logo was nothing substantual. Basically just a slightly catchy font of the company name. Also it is not really made immediately apparent just what the company does. Only if you hover over the website name in the browser tab does it reveal a dialogue box that follows with a little description behind the name that gives some idea of who they are. The concept and contrast was not well defined until you really begin an in depth study which made me feel that the ease of use of their site could be worked on. Another example of this is seen in the sideways text on the oscillating menu graphics at the top. I can't think of a more confusing way to create a menu to display a representation of options. They could remedy these issues by considering making a more recognizable catchy logo that features a graphic that sums up what they are all about for ease of association. Loose the sideways text and redue that attempt at a menu to become something obvious. And how about an obvious slogan right at the top to right away give an impression of what the brand is all about? Ok lets talk about whose doing it right. Apple.com. No big surprise here. If you had as much money and resources as they do to be continually planning and employing the most up to the minute marketing and advertising techniques you'd have no excuse for anything less than high calliber first rate brand delivery either. First of all right away they make it catchy with oscillating high quality images of their latest products and news. Which speaks to a sense of importance. Excellent concept and contrast through out the entire site. The depth of content is well configured to continually wet one's appetite and curriousity to learn more at every click. Also a they feature a site map to help with over all navigation incase you're looking for one. Great Higherarechy, the important content stands out. Top to bottom first rate content delivery done in a very streamline appealing manner. Next I went to http://www.gforceracecars.com/. While not as high end and fancy as the apple.com site I still liked the layout of this website for what it is geared to do for their consumers so I think it is a good example of a site done right. First of all the Alignment is great. Logo up to right away with immediate contact info right under the name which indicates by nature of there services that a large volume of their potential customers are calling with specific questions regarding applications of specific products and services they offer since it is to a great extent a company dealing with customized circumstances. So good job on ease of use.Their menus are straight forward and easy to navigate. Easy to discern what is important here and the color schemes featured look sharp and streamline which gives a sense of appropriate for the nature of their business and is a good mix of catchy but not too busy or confusing. A little bit of animation always adds a sense of modern up to the minute strategy even if it is nothing significant and they have just that where it keeps spellin gout the words "featured product". Also it is nic that they have a little blurb right up top that says what they are all about in a few sentences. I wish this was the way everyone did it. The only thing I wasn't crazy about was the length of that opening page. I still think it is best to move a lot of content to a different page when it begins to make the home page too long but theirs is right on the edge of acceptability in my eyes. Overall a well done site asthetically pleasing and appropriate for the type of business and customers they mean to attract.

Some agencies I like that are doing social media right

Here are a few agencies that I am in support of that have made wise usage of the social media tool in there business. (my favorite camping and outdoor recreation store) REI: Facebook, Twiiter, You Tube & Flickr (one of my favorite clothing manufacturers) Carhartt: Facebook, You Tube, Twitter & Pintrest (a government agency that I DO believe in) USDA.gov: Facebook, Twitter, You Tube, blogs.usda.gov, Flickr & RSS feeds (my favorite guitars) Fender (guitars): Facebook, Twitter, Google +, You Tube, Instagram, Pintrest (the best place for health and spiritual information) The Choopra Center: Facebook, Twitter, You Tube Pintrest Not suprising, Facebook and Twitter seem to be the most popular followed by You Tube

My Experience Communicating With an Internet Business

I have had one experience with an internet business that clearly stands out in my mind aside from all others. About three years ago I was shopping around online to buy a "folding bike". These are the types of bikes if you've seen them that usually have a hinge in the middle of the frame that allows the bike to be folded in half basically for a lot more convient storage in cars, boats, airplanes etc. When I finally found one I thought was the best I could get for the money I could spend I purchased it and had it shipped to my house. WHen it arrived I had to do some minor assembly and adjustments and it should have been good to go. Only problem was there was a rubber gasket beneath the handlebars that had come torn and so I needed to have a new one sent to me some how. When I contacted the maufacturer be phone he said it sounded very strange that that part would fail and at the same time said he wasn't sure what part that was and I would have to take the bike apart to get out the broken peice and mail it back to him before he could send me out a new one. I refused because I didn't want to have to buy tools to take it a part and pay to ship it back when I knew he could easily figure the rubber part I needed by the description. A few heated phone calls and the wrong part getting sent out multiple times made it such a headache I wished there had been a place to leave some feedback about my experience that would have definitely helped me to feel better from the experience and perhaps curtailed the attitude of a business that felt no obligation to help make anything right with its customer. I won't say the name of the company to be polite but I will mention that I just checked out there website before writing this and they still do not feature any links to any form of social media to connect you to their brand or products. Not suprising, perhaps the less potential to leave customer feedback about them the better it works for them. I think that social media helps to stimulate and direct the flow of honest fair and predictable commerce.

Social Media Options for Business VS Personal Use

So I'd like to talk a little bit about which options of social media seem to be best suited for personal VS business use today on the David C blog. Perhaps the best all around option for business is twitter but that's jsut my opinion. I think being about to leave brief tweets provides a convinient avenue to stay plugged in to continuously updating what is relevent to your business. I also think that Linked In and Facebook are great for business. But in my opinion, facebook is rather well suited for day to day personal connection needs too. This is partly because it is already the most popular option out there and so many people are connected but that makes it a great option for business too since increasing one's social capital is more probable with the potential inherent in such a popular platform. The best social media options for personal use I think are well, ofcoarse Facebook (duh) and You Tube. They have been the popular go to options for promoting yourself for a while for all kinds of reasons and with so many people scanning them both for recreational purposes they already have an entertainment oriented reputation. Instagram is great also as is Flickr (if sharing pics is your thing) and I don't know if anyone remembers a website called myspace but once apon a time it started this whole social media thing off to what it has becomd now so it is worth mentioning though I don't believe it still has many new subscribers compared to say Facebook but it is very much appropriate for personal use.

A little bit about why I have chosen the template for my blog that I have.
I found it hard to decide on a template theme that would serve me well in the long run. I wanted it to be something simple, interesting and gripping to look at and not irritating after a while. After looking through the options and trying out several themes I eventually came back to settle on the one that you see here. I liked it because it features nature. So even though I maybe indoors looking at a computer and so are you, we can still enjoy a taste of nature's awesome scenery in our awareness. I like the soothing colors and the sense of spacious distance it promotes through the scenery. I feel that this gives a sense of seeing things from a higher level and that may be subliminally intended since I like to consider ideas and subject matter impersonally and from a great contemplative height. I wanted font colors and styles to be fun and artistic so I went with these. I would love any comments, suggestions or feedback on my selections you may have. I may change things around a bit in the future but for now this is the setting for The David C Blog.

Welcome to the David C Blog!

             Welcome to my blog. This is my very 1st post on my very 1st blog! I hope your are as exited as I am ( if not that's understandable). I am not entirely sure how to encapsulate the intention of this blog in a way that will give you a well rounded explanation of what you can expect to find here. I can say however that this blog is to serve as your super source for all things David C. : ) I suppose that means that I will be featuring content related to my pesonal interests and ideas, issues and notions that inspire me and compell me to think and act to serve me in promoting a more fulfilling life. I hope you find the content featured through this blog nourishing and rewarding. It is my intention to serve in promoting happiness for everyone so I am exited to have created a blog as an avenue to help me in that intention.

            My current interests are mostly around music (as I am a lover of musical expression and a part time guitar teacher), graphic arts, entreprenuership, spirituality and wholistic healing modalities (such as Ayurveda, yoga and oriental medicine). The joy of art and good living are what I am all about so if I had to find one central theme for the David C blog I mean to coin the term "lifestyle science" since I have an avid interest in helping people fully express the joy of living a deeply fulfilling life and continually look at all of the ways and manner of things people tend to study and partake in to help them experience that.

So there you have it. The David C Blog, the "lifestyle science" super source.

Namaste  : )