unaboutique

I have a new home! Thanks to the beauty of Feedburner, if you subscribe by email or RSS, you'll automatically be subscribed to my new feed and may not even notice a difference! I'm writing this post to let those of you who have bookmarked this blog via "Favorites" or by typing in the website URL that I'm moving to a new platform and home for this blog, MarketingWithLaura.com . Instead of simply redirecting the MarketingWithLaura URL to this Blogspot blog, I've made the switch to a self-hosted Wordpress space.  After running multiple sites and blogs on Wordpress for the past several years, I was hesitant to move this blog over to the more robust platform even though I had that nagging feeling that it was what was best.  After moving my sweet friend Kelly's blog from Blogger to Wordpress just a few weeks ago, I was inspired.  It wasn't as complicated as it seemed a few years ago.  In fact, it could be done in a day! Wordpress offers an almost infinite n...

As you look ahead to a successful 2013 with fresh, new goals and an inspired perspective, take a moment to look back on everything you accomplished in 2012! Thanks to a fabulous goal-setting sheet from Laura of the Mixonian Institute , I did just that (look back on 2012) on a sunny afternoon in December.  One of the things I wrote down was 12 things I'd accomplished in 2012.  This prompted me to revisit the 50 goals I'd set in 2010. I was delighted to be able to cross 44 off the list ! Facebook has a helpful feature that can get you started in the exercise of recapping 2012 goals reached as you plan for 2013.  It's called their "year in review" feature, and you can access yours by visiting http://www.facebook.com/yearinreview . There, you'll find your 20 biggest Facebook moments from the year, including highlighted posts and popular stories.  I'll be sharing my 2013 goals over on my personal blog, LauraCatherine.co and hope you'll stop by for a visi...

On my personal blog I recently shared a few eco-loves of mine.   I discovered an eco website that I thought you would really enjoy called Recyclebank . I think you’re going to love the site…especially the perks they offer. To put it quite simply, you get eco-educated in exchange for Recyclebank points that are easily redeemed for free products and services. Trust me, the freebies are worth it.   Great discounts at restaurants and stores, plus totally free products and services.   Think InStyle magazine and $15 off purchases of $30 at vine.com, to name a few. The beauty of Recyclebank is that the eco-education you get (whether well-intended or simply to earn discounts) starts to have a measurable impact on your life and the choices you make.   Speaking for myself personally, Recyclebank has truly elevated how eco-conscious I am as I go about my routine.   I am delighted that the information I’ve read on the site is actually impacting my day-to-day activities a...

I recently came across the Brit + Co and fell in love! If you haven't visited, here's a snippet from their "About" page regarding what to expect: Started by Brit Morin, Brit + Co. is a lifestyle brand that provides the digital generation with savvy shortcuts for their online and offline lives. The Brit + Co blog was an immediate add to my Feedly reader.  The screengrab below captures the fun over on her blog...everything from apps to gift wrap in one place.  In today's post, I wanted to share an app with you that was just featured over at Brit + Co, just in case you aren't a reader over there yet.  The font is called iFontMaker , and it allows you to turn your own handwriting into a font in a matter of minutes.  I've had a love-hate relationship with typography for years...recognizing the power it holds but not always being able to harness it well! In the past year, I've given myself permission to experiment with typography a bit more, and have eve...

Quizzes are a great way to engage your audience and educate them on a topic without sharing a long list of pointers.   I recently found myself with the need to create a simple online quiz.   I started with Googling a “free quiz maker” and other similar phrases, only to find myself unhappy with the options.   Most of what I found was geared towards the educational field or appeared to be “free” but not without slapping ugly ads on my quiz.   I just needed a simple interactive quiz that allowed visitors to test their knowledge and immediately see if their responses were correct.   Google Docs provided quiz capabilities, but no way to easily show the answers in real-time as a visitor moved through the quiz. I didn’t need to store results or generate reports based on the responses. I’d forgotten for a moment that I was working within Wordpress! One of my favorite things about Wordpress is the vast pool of plugins offered to enhance your website or blog.   Surel...

unaboutique

In today's post, I'm sharing the process of creating Google Reader and Feedly accounts. I have to tell you, I think you're really going to like Feedly! If you already have a Google Reader account, simply visit Feedly.com and sync your accounts.  Then, download the Feedly app if you wish.  If you're an iGoogle user like myself, I've outlined the process below and shared my thoughts on the Feedly interface. In the process of finding a replacement reader for iGoogle, I knew I needed to first create a Google Reader account.  I wanted to bring over all my iGoogle feeds via an import instead of manually adding each one (I had more than 70).   Thankfully, the steps outlined here worked like a charm, and in only a matter of minutes.      Next, it was time for me to sync my new Feedly account with my Google Reader account.   I suppose you could stop at Google Reader, but I was not happy with the design/layout.   I wanted something that was be...