Elayna Fernandez - Marketing Expert - Naples FL

"What will I find on ActiveRain?"

There was a home for sale in the neighborhood and the couple was really interested in moving in. Eager to know about the neighborhood, they asked an older man:

"How long have you lived here?"

"About 40 years" he replied.

"Great, so you know all about the community" they exclaimed. "What is this neighborhood like?"

The old man, with a puzzling look on his face "answered": "my, that is an interesting question. What is your current neighborhood like?"

The couple went on about the gossip, the crazy neighbors, not getting along, keeping to themselves, egos, and the like.

The old man said to them: "Well, that is exactly what you will find here!". They were thankful for the honest response and kept on with their search.

The next day, another couple approached the man inquiring about the home for sale. "What is the neighborhood like?" they asked. The old man replied: "my, that is an interesting question. What is your current neighborhood like?"

The couple told about the amazing environment and their need to relocate for work. "The neighbors were pleasant, it felt like family, we all shared and had fun together".

The old man looked at them with a welcoming smile and said "Well, that is exactly what you will find here!".

When it comes to branding and design, you would think that working with start-ups would be more intense because they are "clueless"; however, it turns out that working with clients who already “HAVE" branding elements and a web presence is quite an adventure: they are "owned" by their former designer, whoever and WHEREVER he may be.

What is your stuff and how do you know you own it?

Logo - Do you have an EPS, PSD, JPEG in various resolutions, GIF and PDF version on file or disk?

Domain Name - Go to and check to see who shows as the registrant, administrative and technical contacts. Do you have access to the control panel? (URL, Username and Password).

Website - Do you have your FTP details? Was hosting purchased under your name? Do you know when and how to renew your hosting service?

Web Files - Did you get a disk of all files on your website? Yes, even the raw files (Photoshop images of your buttons and staged backgrounds) for any necessary duplication. When you read a web design contract, make sure YOU own the rights to your images. After all, this is what you are paying for.

Stock Images - Some entrepreneurs start out with a business card, which evolves to the trifold and then hopefully into the web. It's sad to find out that everything needs to be started from scratch because the designer failed to give a copy of the images and now they're out of business, relocated, or are charging you $300.00, when you already paid for the images the first time around. The same things goes for the web; if stock photography is purchased, it should be included in the fee and the designer must provide the original, high resolution file so it work for print, when needed.

Image Hosting - If you had someone design your blog or social media layout (such as MySpace, Facebook Landing Page, etc.), the probability of needing image hosting are pretty high. Do you know where all of your images are hosted? Do you have access? There are many free image hosting services that will generate the desired code. Photobucket created great hype with the MySpace revolution; Picasa, Flickr, ImageShack, TinyPic. Where are your pictures?

Font - An usually overlooked and seemingly insignificant element, but it can make all the difference. Just ask . The font should be included on the disk with everything else that is produced (both print and web).

The list goes on! Make sure you figure out who owns your stuff and claim back your ownership. If you own all of it, job well done and stay aware to avoid the pain. The rule of thumb is to have everything ready for someone else to take over where your previous designer left off. (This means you get a new disk with each update, too). It's your business, take charge!

My favorite feature of Internet Marketing is how measurable it is. By using tools such as Google Analytics, we can not only know our exact traffic stats such as visits, views and time on page; however, knowing what sites are referring traffic to your website is the icing on the cake.

ActiveRain is the source of most of my leads and referrals. Facebook has been reportedly driving more traffic to websites than Google itself and through Networked Blogs is where my blog visitors come from. Twitter is extremely powerful and responsible for many Positive Mommies memberships. Social Bookmarking works wonderfully to promote your site and your brand.

There is no doubt. Social media works. Social media pays. It’s no surprise that some are finding ways to measure just how much:

Facebook and Twitter are everywhere. Whether “online updating” is for your business or not, you won’t know until you try. With so many tutors and tutorials, the learning curve gets shorter. The investment is minimal, the return is measurable. Give it a wholehearted try, measure it, then make an intelligent choice based upon real facts relevant to your experience – and your interests.

Yes, my last post was indeed "Turning 7". It turns out that, just 3 months after Elisha came to this world, she was blessed with the knowledge that she was getting a "Forever Best-Friend". Elyssa was born exactly one year and seven days after Elisha. Today we commemorate that gorgeous day and we celebrated it yesterday at the Rookery Bay Preserve with fun crafts, face painting, holding sea critters, Irish fiddlers, picnic by the pond, and a boat tour to the Rookery islands to admire the gorgeous birds and mangrove forests. Elisha won a coloring contest! Then we were off to the bookstore to find some reading treasures. We're so lucky to celebrate both birthdays in two different weekends. We all have fun.

My baby girl and I last Friday. I went to the School and we had a healthy breakfast with all her classmates and we sang the "Happy Birthday" song. It was fun and everyone enjoyed it. I am so happy my little girls are growing up, but a little nostalgic, as well. They are my strength and my inspiration, and believe it or not, my best teachers. Do you remember when you turned 7? It's a big deal!