Piirtää

Open for Business: Healing InSight

2009-08-03T13:09:00.001-07:00

Client Healing InSight was recently featured in the St Paul Pioneer Press!
Source.

Open for Business: Healing InSight
Pioneer Press
Updated: 07/24/2009 08:17:20 PM CDT

Owner: Senia Tuominen, licensed acupuncturist and herbalist
Type of business: Traditional Chinese medicine clinic, specializing in acupuncture, herbs and food therapy for digestive issues
Number of employees: 1
Location: Crocus Hill Health Center, 653 Grand Ave., St. Paul
Contact Information: healinginsightonline.com; 651-792-5222; acusenia@gmail.com
Tell us what your business does. We specialize in treating digestive issues using holistic medicine to heal the root of the problem.
When people are tired of relying on drugs to manage their symptoms, they call us to get rid of the underlying problem. Or when people feel like something is wrong but they can't put their finger on how to fix it, we identify and treat the imbalance and give them tools to take care of themselves.
Why are you launching it now? It's been a dream of mine to reach out to people who are suffering with digestive problems, because modern medicine offers so few options to help people fix these issues. And most doctors don't have time to educate their patients on how to make lifestyle changes to take care of themselves.
Where did you get the idea for your business? I saw an acupuncturist for digestive problems when I was working as a biomedical engineer, and I was amazed that she could heal something my doctor could only medicate. I was inspired to pursue my graduate degree in Chinese medicine so I could bring it to other people.
How did you develop your business plan? I know people are passionate to take control of their health, so I designed my clinic with an emphasis in education. I teach classes on food therapy and digestive health through St. Paul Community Ed, sell books on food therapy and teach my patients how to make the right changes in their life and diet to feel good long after they've stopped coming to see me.
How do you see current economic conditions affecting your business? People want to spend less on health care, and they know they must live healthier. But there's so much generic information on what a healthy lifestyle is that people are throwing away lots of money trying to figure out what will work. By individualizing their treatment, we identify what will be successful for each patient so they won't waste money buying supplements that won't work. They also save far more because they're treating the root of the problem and preventing their health issues from spiraling out of control. Our patients are tired of feeling fearful, and taking control of their health this way makes them feel empowered and energized. Plus, acupuncture naturally releases endorphins so each person leaves feeling relaxed and ready for a new day.
What makes your business unique? We're the only traditional Chinese medicine clinic in the Twin Cities specializing in digestive issues and offering an integrative weight-loss program. We get to know our patients very well and help them make important decisions that will have lasting effects on their health.
What was the biggest obstacle you had to overcome to get this business going? Getting the right vendors lined up and identifying the highest-quality herbal suppliers; I'm very picky about quality products. Educating the public about the effectiveness of traditional Chinese medicine has been another challenge.
How did you overcome the obstacle? Talking to people in the community, writing a monthly e-newsletter and teaching classes. Our fall classes start in September, and they've been very popular for teaching acupressure, massage and food therapy to balance digestion. We keep getting requests that we teach, so word is getting out there.
What will tell you the business is successful? We've already helped dozens of clients heal their digestive issues, and we'll know we're successful when our practice is full of clients who want to do the same.

Web Presence for Beautiful Ama

2009-08-03T13:03:00.000-07:00

As a new clinic in the Twin Cities, Beautiful Ama was in need of a web presence to be used as a marketing tool. This earthy-feeling brochure-style website is as individual as Beautiful Ama's services themselves, right down to custom photography provided by owner and acupuncturist Sarah Sawyer.

Beautiful Ama, Acupuncture for Whole Body Health is now live on the internet!
Check it out!

What's in a Color?

2009-04-21T21:57:00.000-07:00

What's in a color? a simple pattern? a whole site layout?

Joomla (an open source CMS solution) presents Yootheme, a site stocked with layouts to be used in conjunction with their development platform. I haven't had the pleasure of working much with Joomla, but I frequently refer to their site as inspiration for new designs.

You can select endless combinations of templates using the drop-down at the top of the page, combined with multiple options (second drop-down to the right).

One of the most impressive aspects of this site is that you are vewing the exact same site (content), no matter which template you chose.

How might these different templates affect how you feel about the site? How do they alter where your eye moves across the page, or the heirarchy of the information?

Introducing: Healing InSight

2009-04-21T21:00:00.000-07:00

I'm proud to announce the launch of Healing InSight Online, the private practice of Senia Tuominen, an acupuncturist and herbalist located in St Paul, MN.

I had the pleasure of developing the first-ever web presence for Healing InSight, a marketing tool to be used in conjunction with the practice's other initiatives, as well as a stand-alone informational brochure for the company.

> Healing InSight

Domain Name Availability

2009-02-02T21:50:00.000-08:00

How do I check if a Domain Name is available?
I get this question quite often. First, try typing it into your address bar of your internet browser, and see what comes up. If its a web site: somebody already owns it :)

Any service you utilize to purchase a domain name can also be used to check if a name is available. A few examples: GoDaddy, WhoIs, Network Solutions, Check Domain. Through these sites, you can also see who has the address, when it expires, and other valuable information.

Caution!
If you run a query too many times on an un-owned domain name from one of the above services, it is possible that that company "reserve" the name - as they all charge different rates for domain names ($5-$20/year) you could get stuck paying for your domain name on the higher end of the spectrum. I'd recommend making sure you run the query from the service you actually plan to buy the name from to avoid these inflated charges. (I learned it the hard way!)

Media Meltdown

2008-10-20T08:17:00.000-07:00

Multimedia design is a tricky field: for many of us, we find ourselves riding the fencepost between being connoisseurs of design, and masters of technology. By contrast, developers primarily consume themselves with the technology side, whereas graphic designers concentrate on the visual end of things. Lucky for us, we find ourselves attempting to find the perfect marriage of both. The world of technology is moving at light-speed, changing the standards by which we develop our designs.

I wanted to share one of my secret resources... Design Meltdown.

Fun With Flash!

2008-10-15T19:19:00.000-07:00

Palin For President
Even Sarah Palin's biggest supporters have to admit, this site will get you rolling with laughter. I saw the site early on this week- by yesterday it was posted all over my friend's social networking sites such as facebook and twitter. The Palin As President site audience grew exponentially nearly overnight.

What are the implications of a site like this? Initially I searched the site for links to their sponsor- assuming some corporation sponsored its development as a way to link-back to their site and grow their business. I scoured the site for such a link to no avail. Specifically, for Palin as President, I'm tempted to believe its strictly an entertainment value/political statement.

Other Examples
One of my favorite corporate-sponsored gimick sites is Elf Yourself, by Office Max. I believe 2008 will mark its third year running- but even by last year, its hard to find a person who hasn't elfed themself, their family, or perhaps a co-worker.

Each year they're adding a new feature- last year was the ability to record your own voice. I can't wait to see whats new for this year!

The Search Engine Race
A site such as Elf Yourself not only helps gain notoriety for its sponsor, Office Max, but it provides something as equally useful in the race for search engine recognization: a link-back to Office Max and therefore site traffic. Supposing your company created such a digital footprint, perhaps you could increase your site traffic, thereby increasing your recognization among search engines?

The Digital Information Age.
Are you sick of hearing me talk about it yet? It's true. We ARE in a day-and-age innundated with digital information, often our marketing ideas are overlooked.

Perhaps something completely off-the wall wacky- and even a little questionably inappropriate is exactly what you need?

Captivate Your Audience

2008-09-09T21:06:00.000-07:00

Whether you're producing an e-newsletter, blog post, or simply a paragraph of content for your website, here are some tips I like to follow.

Content
I believe that direct response writing (terms such as act now, no-risk, click here now, call today) albeit cliche, encourage a call to action. Paired with language speaking directly to your audience, it reads as a one on one conversation.

Avoid big words, your objective should be to express ideas to your audience, not impress them with your vocabulary and extensive wisdom.

Subject Lines and Headlines
Don't neglect the power of headlines. With the amount of digital information coming at readers every day, many people skim. Its a good idea to try to capture the gist of your material via subject lines and headlines, so a reader can opt to delve into specific information that is useful to them. This is another area where a call to action can be helpful. Here are a couple of my chosen techniques:

Cliffhangers or Teasers bring the reader into your content looking for a solution.
"My website didn't gain much traffic until I hired Piirtaa."
Associating Interest gives you positive validation by associating yourself with a known entity.
"Google's AdWords Promote Piirtaa"

The McCain Brand

2008-09-04T07:30:00.000-07:00

Since candidates and running mates for both parties have now been officially accepted and recognized, I thought it was time to further my research online.

I read several articles around caucus time regarding the "Obama" brand (here's just one sample-- Google the "Obama Brand" for more). It seems there was quite a bit of hype over his fine-tuned branding, down to the Obama signs supporters are supplied with to wave at events (You'll notice home-made signage is sparce if not completely void). I recall also viewing McCain's website at caucus time, and perceiving it as was heavy, militiaristic, and someting I didn't relate to aesthetically.

I visited McCain's site again this week-- interesting how it's more mirroring Obama's branding.

What do aesthetics have to do with politics? In the competitive world of the web you have mere seconds to pull in and retain your audience before they move onto the next site- which one pulls you in and why?

McCain, 02/2008

McCain, 09/2008

Obama, 09/2008

Screencapture Love.

2008-09-03T17:53:00.000-07:00

I was recently referred to the Jing Project's screen capture software. What a great tool! Freeware for capturing and sharing images and video from your computer. Comparable to Adobe Captivate for my needs (but free!) I'm a new fan!

eMail: Marketing Power.

2008-08-27T06:06:00.000-07:00

The average Outlook business user receives 470 e-mails a week and spends 15 hours dealing with them. By 2009, workers will spend 41 percent of their time reading and responding to e-mails, according to market research firm Radicati Group.

I'm pretty sure you can safely double that email quantity for me and nearly double the time spent, considering much of my professional life is email-based. It seems daunting to consider 41% of my time at work will be spent reading and responding to emails.

With all the time spent in front of email its no wonder it has become a marketing tool- unfortunately more often than not it becomes a channel for "junk mail" - you know the kind I'm talking about, that can't be named in a family-friendly blog.

With a little effort, its not hard to provide recipients with valuable, useful information in as a means of with growing one's business- and become a much-needed resource to your audience by providing them with such great information they can't live with your e-newsletter- they begin to forward it onto friends- and all of a sudden you've become an expert and resource.

A few simple tips:

Connect with your audience frequently and regularly. They'll grow to expect- and anticipate reading your next newsletter.
Give out helpful information! Sure, you're not going to share all your information for free, but by providing handy hints and tips, you'll be trusted by your audience.
Special offers may entice business- by offering a "mention this email and receive..." you'll also gain an idea of whether or not people are responding to your methods.

Design for Democracy

2008-08-09T13:58:00.000-07:00

In light of the upcoming election (err, and situation concerning past elections) I wanted to share an interesting article about redesigning the ballot. The American Institute of Graphic Design (AIGA) has become active in creating ballot design guidelines in conjunction with the Election Assistance Commission (EAC). All I can say is thank goodness, its about time they had some guidelines!

Ballot Design Gains National Attention, Enabled by AIGA Advocacy Efforts

Google Analytics

2008-08-02T19:10:00.000-07:00

With all the free tools for small businesses Google offers, IMHO they're just short of owning the the world wide web. By far one of the most valuable resources is Google Analytics.

Google Analytics is software to track visitors usage of your website. All it requires is a small piece of code on each page, which produces great reports about where visitors came from, how long they stayed, and what they did on your site.

Worth checking out.

What is Web 2.0?

2008-07-17T07:50:00.000-07:00

Web 2.0 means different things to different groups of people in the web world, but essentially encompasses the concept of interconnectivity and social networking on the web. It refers to utilizing the web as a platform to communicate to global audiences and to enhance collaborative information sharing.

To people on the web design and production side of 2.0 such as myself, it means simplicity of design, and ease of finding information. It also means dynamic content, web standards and scalability. It requires thinking outside the box when interacting with clients to produce an effective web site. In the "old days" web design involved questions such "what do you want this site to say about your business" and brings into light questions such as

How can it enhance/drive business
How can it serve as a resource
What is the benefit to consumers
How will it engage consumers
How will it generate repeat traffic

"Web 2.0" is more than a buzz word for design elements such as rounded corners, drop shadows and control over white space, but how to encompass the the unique features of the Internet as an effective business tool.

Blog: More than SEO

2008-07-02T20:00:00.000-07:00

I'm a firm believer that a blog is useful for more than just SEO (blogging adds "current" content to a site, which is one thing that search engines look for).

By blogging to a specific target audience related to your business, you not only come across as an expert in your industry, but increase your web traffic by doing so. Good content through word-of-mouth will bring hungry consumers of information to your web site.

WebProNews Valuable Blog Survey Results

Of the blog readers, 54% form their opinions about products or companies on the basis of blogs.
51% of the blog readers visit product or corporate sites as a results of reading blogs.
58% of the blog readers, read them to find news and information they can’t find otherwise.
57% of them are interested in the personal opinions of the authors, but only 43% are interested in the discussions.
“If these results are correct, it’s one of the strongest cases for corporate blogs I’ve seen. What an opportunity to have 57% percent of your readers actually interested in your personal opinion, just to mention one detail.”

Tweet.

2008-07-02T17:42:00.000-07:00

After attending MWMC's Women@Work conference I got a little intrigued by this whole Twitter concept.

I haven't found it very intriguing from a social perspective (considering most of the contacts I'm following are the same people I can contact via facebook, messenger, and other instantaneous mediums) but I'm interested in exploring it in a professional light.

It seems to be a pathway into the helpdesk of some large corporations. Take for example, Comcast's or Zappos' Tweets.

On one hand, Zappos is well known for its good 24/7 customer service- interacting via Twitter is one more mechanism for them. Clearly their CEO is tweet-happy and wants us to know about many details of his personal life. This humanizes them as a company.

On the other hand, Comcast is not known for its customer service- in fact its reputation for poor customer service seems to proceed them in most circles. (for example, see this article about the 75-year-old woman who took a hammer to their customer service desk). Could Twitter be part of the solution to their problem?

What are other potential uses of Twitter? What is its potential for growth? As we explore the answers to those questions, feel free to Tweet with me.

Staying Above the Fold

2008-06-10T18:25:00.000-07:00

The "fold line" refers to the top portion of an email an email clients offers readers as a "preview pane". A general rule of thumb is to assume this is the top 1/3 (or less) of your email. This portion of the email is critical, as recipients may decide to open or discard your communication based on what they see above this line. Even worse, they may discard your email as SPAM if they do not recognize your communication.

You want to ensure your key content is accessible to your recipients without the need to scroll.

In addition to offering your most important information at the top, I also recommend offering 3 brief lines at the top of the email:

You are receiving this communication because you are a valued client of Piirtaa
If you are unable to view this email, click here (links to online version)
If you would like to unsubscribe from future communication from Piirtaa, please click here (links to unsubscribe function)

These lines, the third in particular, may help prevent you from being bucketed as SPAM and let your readers know you intended for them to receive your communication.