Read one Irish entrepreneur's blog as she operates a business in Dublin
Are You Opinionated?
September 25, 2003
Busy week.
The honeymoon site is flying. Heard yesterday that it's going to be profiled on TV3 on 9 October. Spaces for the focus groups are filling up nicely. However, I still need some more people.
If you are:
Opinionated, and not afraid of sharing
Quite fond of a drop of wine
A bill paying mobile phone user
Then I need you for 1 hour on 1 October. You will be fed, you will get free wine, and meet other interesting cool people. Please contact me.
Media Coverage
September 22, 2003
The honeymoon registry was profiled in two Sunday newspapers yesterday. Front page of the money section in the Sunday World with 2 pictures and an almost full page spread. First news story of the Sunday Independent's travel supplement too. Already had an enquiry yesterday, it'll be interesting to see now how many are generated as a result of this coverage.
Looking at the stats for last week - there were slightly less people on the site, but the ones that were looked at more pages and explored it in more detail. So maybe they are genuinely interested parties rather than people surfing around.
The last few weeks have seen me preparing proposals, this week I'm hoping to get some answers back on them. Also got to get ready for the focus groups I'm running on 1st October. Need to find 8 people who are heavy users of mobile phones and 8 business people who use mobile phones. If that is you and you'd be willing to give up an hour of your time next Wednesday evening, please let me know.
Wedding Websites
September 18, 2003
Whilst researching sponsorship rates on Irish wedding websites, I got talking to a guy called Ken Byrne from Des Byrne Irish Jewellers. When you type in "Irish Jewellery" or "Rings" to the search engines, he comes out number 1. Business is booming for Ken and it's largely coming from the 40 million Irish American market.
We got on to talking about search engine rankings and reciprocal links. Ken very kindly linked to my site. When I add this link to his, my site will rise in the estimation of the search engines because I'm linked to such a high traffic site. Another real life example of how online advertising has failed. Take note wedding websites - some of them are still trying to flog banner ads - get this - priced by time!! As in you pay for your ad to be up there for a quarter, rather than paying per click or for the number of sets of eyes who view it. Unbelievable!
Take note too brides - some of these sites will only include paid content. As in, they are not on the look out for newswy stories for their readers. They don't care about what the story is, so long as it is paid for. They're not all like this. This one has a lot of integrity. If you are a bride to be and you'd like to know which wedding websites are the ones to bother with, contact me and I'll happily share my findings with you!
3 Months Today
September 16, 2003
Hurray, the honeymoon registry had its first booking on Friday. I'm pretty pleased about that - a sale in just 4 days! I must remind them to ask for a testamonial when they're back from honeymoon.
Adam, who was doing work experience for me, is now gone to start his new life in London. No, before you put me down as a Bad Boss who drives staff Far Away, he's going to do a BA in Film Studies and good luck to him. If there's anyone who lives, breathes and sleeps film it's him. The office is kind of quiet without him. In one sense, I don't feel as pressured when I'm out to get back, but yet I don't feel as much need to go out either.
If you'd like to see what Adam looks like, you can check him out in this week's "Sunday World"newspaper. There will be one of the beach shots in it on 21st September and the 'groom' with the sharp suit and the piercing good looks (or even the piercing that looks like a spot) is Brightspark's Adam.
Shift in Focus
September 12, 2003
So one site goes live on Monday and it's a shift in focus to the 2 other clients I've got on the go, as well as 3 proposals due this week. I must say, one thing that has surprised me is the rate of client acquisition to date. Leaving Cert accountancy taught me to be prudent and so I expected a few solid months of cold calling and hard slog before wining the first one. Two weeks into business and The Travel Broker came on board. In July this other client came on - sorry I can't reveal what or who it is until perhaps November. But I can say, it's an exciting one - developing a brand new web-based product that will make all of our lives easier. And last week I got the good news on Number 3!
The thing that I hadn't properly planned for, however is the distance between when you sign a client and when you get paid for the work completed. That can be quite a long time. Lots of lovely mobile phone bills, eircom demands, software, hardware and other purchases in the meantime!
Honeymoon Registry
September 09, 2003
Very busy, that's why I haven't written since last week. Client site went live yesterday - go on check it out - Ireland's first honeymoon registry. Whether you're in the market for a honeymoon yourself or you know someone who may be, it's a veritable life saver for Irish couples who have all the homewares they need, yet feel guilty about spending too much on their honeymoon. It allows you to have your wedding guests pay for elements of your honeymoon.
Thanks to The Sunday Tribune for giving us a lovely position underneath coverage of Michael O'Leary's wedding on page 3. Also to the reliable Electric News who are always quick to pick up on what's hot online. And thanks also to Weddings Ireland.com, one of Ireland's leading wedding websites. Not only have they profiled the site but they've also included it in their ezine. Their view was that this site is something that their readers need to know about, and so they didn't let advertising rates get in the way. I have found them to be the most client centred of all the wedding sites, seeking to provide real valuable information for soon-to-be-married couples. If you're planning a wedding, you'd do well to visit them for all your information.
Seth Godin Likes Nuns!
September 02, 2003
I just thought I'd mention that Seth read the entire contents of my blog file (ie. everything that is written prior to this) and his favourite is the one about the nuns. That's what he told me in an email!
Client site is delayed til this week because euroConex who I spoke to back in early July only got their paperwork to my client on Friday. I'm thinking of transferring my hatred from phone companies to banks.