Happy New Year from Scribizzy!

We have said goodbye to 2009 and stepped into a fresh year and decade, one in which I hope you will all enjoy great success and bountiful prosperity.

The beginning of a new year is a time of reflection and planning, especially for entrepreneurs and small businesses. We all have to close out the last fiscal year (balance those books and file those taxes!) and open the new year with our plans for the future. Hopefully, those include growing our businesses and strengthening our online presence.

This year, Scribizzy will launch a number of new services, including website design, to make it easier and more convenient for our clients to get set up on the web without having to hire multiple service providers. Small business owners have enough to do without having to run around finding one person to write copy, another to create a website design, and then coordinate and manage online marketing projects.

So, my top goal for this year is to provide flexible and affordable website design solutions for small businesses and independent professionals and offer these services in conjunction with Scribizzy’s existing website copywriting, management, and marketing services. Our website design services will range from cost-efficient turnkey solutions to fully customized websites. These service offerings are in development and will launch officially in the coming months, along with WordPress theme customization (for bloggers). In the meantime, if you need a website design, we can always put together a quote and a project plan just for you, so go ahead and use this handy form to tell us about your project.

Once again, I wish all of you the very best in your business and personal endeavors. Let 2010 be a year of peace, prosperity and goodwill.

Sincerely,
Melissa Donovan

Welcome to the Scribizzy Blog!

It’s official. We’ve launched.

A Little History

My name is Melissa Donovan. Some of you may know me from my other blog, Writing Forward, which features creative writing tips and ideas. I have been writing all my life and earned a BA in English with a concentration in creative writing.

I’ve been writing for the web since the day I got an internet connection, over fifteen years ago. I also do website design and WordPress theme customization. I used to call myself an internet hobbyist. Now, I’m an internet professional.

In 2007, I launched my first business, offering a wide range of services as a freelance copywriter.

Website Copywriting

Website copywriting was in high demand. It’s a good thing, because I love writing for the web, and I’m pretty good at it. There’s nothing like composing a home page that dazzles or a services page that converts website visitors to paying customers. And there’s nothing like clients telling me that their website traffic has increased and sales have grown since they posted the copy that I wrote to their websites.

Specializing in Web Content Writing

Since I first launched my writing business, I knew that I wanted to specialize in something – but what? Editing? Proofreading? In time, it became clear that web content writing was my specialty. My professional background is in writing and the Internet is one of my passions, so writing for the web is perfect for me, and for clients who want to hire a professional with the right combination of skills.

Web Content Services

In addition to website copywriting, I’ve expanded my services to include a number of online marketing solutions, including website design, blog services, SEO services, and website management.

I’ve taken the most successful strategies from my own business and offered them as services for other small businesses and startups, particularly those that want to build a more effective online presence.

Visit the web content services page to learn more about how I can help your business succeed online.

Scribizzy’s Blog

As I was developing this site and the content for it, my ideas, knowledge, and experience were overflowing. Pages of notes, brainstorming sessions, and ideas started to pile up, much of it related to doing business online.

While effective web writing is essential to online success, it’s not everything. So, I decided to launch a blog in conjunction with my services as a way to share what I’ve learned as a web-based entrepreneur.

Practical Tips for Doing Business Online

The focus of this blog will be to share tips, news, and information to help website and business owners establish a successful online presence. Here’s a sneak peek at some of the topics that we’ll be exploring:

• Doing Business Online
• Business Blogging
• Web Writing and Copywriting
• Online Marketing
• SEO
• Web Content Development
• Website Performance Analysis and Improvement
• Website Design

Take a Tour

Please take a tour around the site. You can learn more about my professional website copywriting services, find out who has hired me as a web writer, and even request a quote online using this quick and easy form.

Here’s to doing business online! Cheers!

Scribizzy’s Fresh Look and New Web Content Services

Keeping your website up-to-date is essential for doing business online and succeeding. So, every year or two, a redesign is in order. This helps keep the website fresh, and it promotes good maintenance because a redesign is an excellent opportunity to review and revitalize your site’s content.

Scribizzy’s new design takes a slightly more minimalist approach than the previous design. I wanted something slicker and sleeker. The Executive Theme by StudioPress was a perfect fit, and I’m excited to announce that Scribizzy’s newly customized design is already featured in the StudioPress showcase.

I’m a big advocate for using WordPress in website design and management. When your site sits atop the WordPress platform, you can focus on design and content, letting WordPress take care of all the functionality and data organization.

StudioPress offers the very best in premium themes using the cleanest code I’ve seen and a wide selection of designs that can be tweaked so your site looks and feels exactly the way you want it to.

WordPress Theme Customization

In just a few weeks, Scribizzy will officially launch WordPress theme customization services, and these services will include full customization for all StudioPress themes. The good news? I’ll charge the same to customize these premium themes as any other themes.

I’m still working out the details for packaging and pricing WordPress theme customization, but if you’re interested in getting a website set up using WordPress and are interested in hiring me to do it, you can use this handy form to get a quote online.

WordPress theme customization isn’t the only new new addition to Scribizzy’s web content services.

Hire a Blog Coach

Have you ever thought about adding a blog to your website? Business blogging has countless benefits that will enhance and strengthen your online presence. My new blog coach program will be completely customized to your goals and skill level. You won’t have to waste countless hours sifting through information online or reading through books looking for the exact steps you need to take to make your blog a smashing success. I will work with you one-on-one to guide you through the steps from basic customization to writing and promoting blog posts. The entire program is driven by your specific goals for your blog (and if you’re not sure what goals to set, I can certainly help you with that).

Visit the Blog Services page to learn more.

Tips for Doing Business Online

In conjunction with the fresh design and new web content services, stay tuned for a new series of blog posts with tips for doing business online. I’ll talk about how to assess your website performance, offer ideas for web content development and website design tips. Plus, there will be feature articles on website copywriting and search engine optimization (SEO). I’ll also be posting updates about the new services, including details about WordPress theme customization and the blog coach program.

Make sure you don’t miss future updates by subscribing!

Russell Simmons Recommends: Personal Success Books

“Whatever we put our attention on grows stronger in our life; whatever we take our attention away from withers and disappears.”

-Deepak Chopra, The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success

Every entrepreneur could use a little one-on-one time with someone who started with nothing but managed to build an empire. But how do you get up close and personal with a successful mogul? How can you access the knowledge and wisdom that made him a smashing success?

A few years ago, I became disenfranchised as a typical office worker who kept postponing her dreams of one day becoming a professional writer. Around that time, I found myself paying closer attention to respected leaders in the business world, many of whom were in the public eye, and who had built their own success from the ground up.

One of those people was Russell Simmons.

Who is Russell Simmons and Why Should I Listen to Him?

Lots of small business owners and entrepreneurs have never heard of Russell Simmons but you can bet that everyone in the hip-hop community knows exactly who he is, an ordinary guy from Queens, NY, who has built one of the most successful enterprises in the world.

In 2007, USA Today named Russell Simmons one of the “Top 25 Most Influential People of the Past 20 Years.” Here are just a few of his achievements:

• Produced and managed early hip-hop artists like Run-DMC (Russell is Run’s brother) and the Beastie Boys. In 1984 he co-founded Def Jam Recordings, the first hip-hop label, which sparked an enormous cultural phenomenon.
• Established clothing lines (Phat Farm, Argyle Culture, Atman) and founded HBO’s Def Comedy Jam and Def Poetry Jam.
• As a committed philanthropist, Russell runs Rush Philanthropic, which helps disadvantaged young people experience the arts. He’s also Chairmain of the Foundation of Ethnic Understanding, an organization that works to bring unity to people of different religions and ethnicities.

Russell is also the author of the the 2008 New York Times bestseller Do You!: 12 Laws to Access the Power in You to Achieve Happiness and Success, a book that I hope to review here for you at some point in the future.

To put it mildly, Russell Simmons is an enormous success, and what’s great about this man is that he understands success as something more than the number of dollars in your bank account, or the worth of the property you own. He knows that true success is woven through every aspect of our lives, but realizes at the same time that business success is essential to personal fulfillment.

If Russell Simmons recommends personal success books, then I’m adding them to my reading list. You should too, and here’s why.

Listening to Leaders

Lots of people want to be leaders. They claim to be authorities and maybe they have mountains of success to offer as proof of their accomplishments. But a true leader usually has a humble quality and does not keep the focus on his accomplishments; a true leader is focused on the accomplishments of those around him.

Russell Simmons shows that kind of leadership, especially in the philanthropic work he does, which is central to his life today.

One day, I was channel surfing and stumbled across a show in which Russell Simmons was mentoring his young nephew, who was just entering the business world. The first thing Russell did was hand his nephew a few books. It was his first day on the job and his very first assignment was to read The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success: A Pocketbook Guide to Fulfilling Your Dreams (One Hour of Wisdom).

That’s a long title for such a little book. I thought to myself, if this is the book Russell Simmons asks his nephew read as he ushers him into to the business world, then surely it must be worthwhile.

I ordered a copy.

Personal Success

Books about how to succeed and make tons of money are everywhere. I’ve peeked at a few of them and most of the time they’re full of common sense tips for life dressed up in business attire. Most principles in these books are easily applied to other areas of life. Conversely, the best personal success books are holistic – they explain how to achieve success in all areas of your life, business included.

I ordered this book some time ago, but didn’t sit down to read it until I was looking for something to write about for this review. I cracked it open at the end of a hectic, stressful day. I was tired, frustrated, and edgy, exhausted from a string of 14-hour workdays and obsessively thinking about all the work still ahead of me in the days to come.

Suffice to say, I wasn’t in the greatest mood.

In fact, I was feeling pretty lowdown and negative. But by the time I finished the first chapter, I felt as if a weight had been lifted. No, all my stress didn’t evaporate, but I felt calmer and more equipped to deal with the challenges ahead.

Achieve Personal Success

The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success is a quick read. You’ll probably finish it in about an hour, which explains why it’s subtitled One Hour of Wisdom. But it’s also the kind of book you’re likely to revisit and flip through when you need a bit of inspiration, a pep talk, or a better sense of where you are and where you’re going.

The book covers seven laws or guiding principles and includes insights on how to effectively harness the powers that lie within yourself and in the energies around you so that you can achieve personal success, something I usually refer to as simply, happiness.

Although the book touches on a few spiritual themes, it’s not a religious text and is in no way associated with any religion. Whether you’re devoutly religious, somewhat spiritual, or agnostic, the ideas in this book won’t conflict or interfere with your beliefs.

The author, Deepak Chopra, is an Indian medical doctor and writer. He has written extensively on spirituality and diverse topics in mind-body medicine.

Here are a few of my favorite tips and quotes from the book:

“There is nothing you lack, because your essential nature is one of pure potentiality and infinite possibilities.”

• “…success in life depends on knowing who we really are.”
• “Witness the choices you make in every moment.”
• “Attention to the whims of the ego consumes the greatest amount of energy.”

Now it’s Your Turn

What books about business or personal success do you recommend? Let’s pull together a list of good personal success books and resources to help all of us do better in business and life, online and off.