Sunday 16 December 2007

Customer service top 10

  1. Appearance - first impressions last a long time
  2. Attitude - a learned behaviour, make it positive
  3. Friendliness - be generous
  4. Impression - make the customer return by making an impression
  5. Responsibility - take action, exceed customers' expectations
  6. Commitment - my pledge to service and teamwork
  7. Teamwork - my actions effect everyone in my organisation
  8. Communication - active listening and positive responses
  9. Service - my personal commitment to making a difference
  10. Personal excellence - I believe in my ability to make a difference

It's not just me who thinks customer service is broken - Seth Godin's written a lot about the subject.

Customer service

I had a day off on Thursday because Sky told me their guy would be over to install a satellite dish. He never showed up, he didn't call, but they have such a monopoly I will have to ring them back and organise another appointment - and another day off cos they don't do week ends.

I thought I'd kill two birds so on Thursday I was hoping to get my car serviced too. The garage promised they'd call with a estimated quote and confirmation of the time I'd need to take the car in. They didn't call.

Customer service stinks in this country.

Sunday 9 December 2007

iPhones sell like crepes suzette


I thought I'd follow up on my post below about the success of the iPhone.

Although I don't have any information on the UK market, on day one in France, Orange sold over 12000 iPhones.

Read the full story on how iPhones are selling like crepes suzette in France.

Tuesday 4 December 2007

Apple iPhone for Christmas

How's the iPhone doing in the UK? With only 02 being on-board and having full exclusivity to the product, is it selling like hot cakes?

Am I tempted? Not yet! I keep on seeing the ads, I keep on hearing the buzz, but for me it's a lot of money and it isn't going to make my conversations any better!

Sure when you see it and play around with it you don't want to give it back, but after a couple of weeks I'm sure boredom would set in.

And it's not really a proper Smartphone. The storage capacity is fixed and for people with large music collections it's not really going to replace the ipod. The camera is low quality, and the 2G handset is slow!

Is the iPhone on your Christmas list?

Sunday 2 December 2007

Egg nog french toast


Get into the holiday spirit with this tasty little number...

Egg Nog French Toast

Tuesday 27 November 2007

I hate UK property prices


It's no secret I want to move to London one day. It's no secret I can't afford to.

I hate UK property prices. Is somebody going to do something about it, just look at these average prices in London.

Quite fancy living in Barking and Dagenham actually - wonder what it's like there.

Published in November 2007.

Kensington And Chelsea £1,079,414

City Of Westminster £774,217

Camden £608,399

Hammersmith And Fulham £583,430

Richmond Upon Thames £558,321

City Of London £556,366

Wandsworth £493,237

Islington £467,238

Merton £415,387

Barnet £398,209

Haringey £381,972

Lambeth £374,511

Kingston Upon Thames £368,634

Brent £352,413

Harrow £349,995

Southwark £346,476

Ealing £344,984

Tower Hamlets £342,907

Bromley £339,752

Hackney £339,706

Hounslow £330,490

Redbridge £299,378

Enfield £284,221

Hillingdon £280,873

Greenwich £271,726

Sutton £271,203

Croydon £259,365

Havering £258,155

Waltham Forest £258,010

Lewisham £256,687

Newham £237,065

Bexley £228,372

Barking And Dagenham £196,886

Monday 26 November 2007

Web design shocker

I came across arngren.net today.

I'm very rarely shocked when it comes to web design.

Most of the sites I visit these days aren't bad. It seems like everyone's making an effort, and the web, compared to 10 years ago looks a lot tidier. How wrong can you be?

(They're probably making a packet of money from all the gadgets they're selling and don't really see the point in making the site any easier to navigate.)

52% of facebook users are over 25


So now with Facebook, you can target your product/service to an audience of 50 million +.

Isn't that incredible? I had no idea there were 50 million facebookers out there. And what's more, the number of users over 25 is on the up too.

Here's the breakdown. The number in brackets is the number of users over 25, which goes to show that it's not just for kids. Take the UK for example, 52% of facebook users are over 25.

  • USA = 21,782,240 (5,012,560)
  • Canada = 7,880,280 (4,073,120)
  • UK = 7,547,460 (3,921,580)
  • Australia = 2,024,180 (1,120,460)
  • China = 156,780 (79,380)
  • Columbia = 574,420 (276,920)
  • Dominican Republic = 42,400 (13,060)
  • Egypt = 482,240 (161,660)
  • France = 898,300 (458,200)
  • Germany = 448,940 (224,320)
  • India = 409,260 (155,920)
  • Ireland = 189,740 (125,580)
  • Israel = 255,040 (140,520)
  • Italy = 185,920 (104,140)
  • Japan = 119,220 (69,220)
  • Lebanon = 207,760 (80,640)
  • Malaysia = 192,240 (101,000)
  • Mexico = 490,780 (164,700)
  • Netherlands = 157,600 (95,400)
  • New Zealand = 269,160 (167,140)
  • Norway = 969,740 (478,440)
  • Pakistan = 142,900 (45,260)
  • Saudi Arabia = 152,200 (64,560)
  • Singapore = 319,920 (169,980)
  • South Africa = 685,560 (330,660)
  • Korea, Republic of = 61,660 (32,500)
  • Spain = 254,100 (150,560)
  • Sweden = 1,047,680 (563,360)
  • Switzerland = 165,640 (92,700)
  • Turkey = 1,854,640 (1,025,540)
  • UAE = 236,440 (130,360)

Saturday 24 November 2007

Top 10 worst company domain names

If you need a domain name, it is advisable to look at your chosen name as others might see it and not just as you think it looks.

1. A site called ‘Who Represents’ where you can find the name of the agent that represents a celebrity. Their domain name… wait for it… is
http://www.whorepresents.com/

2. Experts Exchange, a knowledge base where programmers can exchange advice and views at
http://www.expertsexchange.com/

3. Looking for a pen? Look no further than Pen Island at
http://www.penisland.net/

4. Need a therapist? Try Therapist Finder at
http://www.therapistfinder.com/

5. Then of course, there’s the Italian Power Generator company…
http://www.powergenitalia.com/

6. And now, we have the Mole Station Native Nursery, based in New South Wales:
http://www.molestationnursery.com/

7. If you’re looking for computer software, there’s always
http://www.ipanywhere.com/

8. Welcome to the First Cumming Methodist Church. Their website is
http://www.cummingfirst.com/

9. Then, of course, there’s these brainless art designers, and their whacky website:
http://www.speedofart.com/

10. Want to holiday in Lake Tahoe? Try their brochure website at
http://www.gotahoe.com/

Monday 19 November 2007

Nintendo Wii 've sold out!


There's no doubt about it, gaming consoles are big sellers at this time of year, but surely Nintendo could have built a few more Wii to go around?

Dixons sold out within hours of them going online on Wednesday and Amazon sold 2000 in 10 minutes.

There's no chance I'm buying mine from eBay, they're on there for 350 English pounds!

PlayStation 3 it is then... sorry Nintendo, but you're going to have to do better than that.

Sunday 18 November 2007

Star Wars - all six

Any word on when they'll release all 6 Star Wars movies together in 1 DVD box-set?

It's about time isn't it?

Loving this poster by the way.

Wednesday 14 November 2007

Man & property checklist

5 top tips for getting what you want.

  1. Write a list of what you're looking for in a flat/man, then cross off the ones you know you can live without.
  2. See as many men/properties as possible - it'll help you work out what you do and don't want.
  3. Be open-minded: you might fall for a type of flat/man you've never even considered before.
  4. Don't make snap decisions. Men and properties can grow on you!
  5. Be brave - whether it's putting in an offer or asking a man on a date, you won't know until you try!

It's true, I'm a big fan of Glamour mag, but surely they can come up with something better than this rubbish!

Monday 12 November 2007

Christmas decorations


Yes, I know it's early.

But this year we have to buy everything from scratch - the tree, baubles, and everything that goes with it. I've started with the baubles. Finding the tree has been difficult so I'll leave that until next weekend.

My question is, when's it acceptable to start putting up the Chrimbo decorations?

1st week of December - any takers?

Sunday 11 November 2007

script.aculo.us

Very tasty!

If you're into free scripts, and especially scripts for UI then this really hits the spot.

"Script.aculo.us provides you with easy-to-use, cross-browser user interface JavaScript libraries to make your web sites and web applications fly."

http://script.aculo.us/

Saturday 10 November 2007

blogTV







blogTV? Am I missing something?

blogTV = chatroom?

blogTV = youtube live?

blogTV = reinventing the wheel?

What do you all think?

What can CSS do?

And in case there's anyone out there wondering what CSS is, and more importantly what it can do, here's a site that demonstrates the power and flexibility of CSS.

CSS Zen Garden: The beauty of CSS design

CSS box model

Over the last two days I've been doing something I haven't done for a while. Training.

I've been on a CSS course, and I left feeling as though I understood, and will remember and put into practice everything I learned.

Without doubt, the number one thing that stuck in my mind was the CSS box model, beautifully illustrated below.

The CSS box model is everything. It is the cornerstone behind using CSS for layout, and with a little practice and understanding the differences between IE6/7 and Firefox you can begin to use it as a foundation for all your web page designs.

You can find out more about the CSS box model at the World Wide Web Consortium.

Tell me and I will forget, involve me and I will understand!

diagram of CSS box model

Content - The actual content of the element such as text or an image. When using the CSS width property, you are actually defining the width of this content.

Padding - This is set around the content when you define the padding-top, padding-right, padding-bottom, padding-left and padding properties, the latter of which is the shorthand property.

Border - This is set around the content and padding when you define the border-top, border-right, border-bottom, border-left and border properties, the latter of which is the shorthand property.

Margin - This is set around the combined content, padding and border when you define the margin-top, margin-right, margin-bottom, margin-left and margin properties, the latter of which is the shorthand property.

Wednesday 7 November 2007

10 techniques for finding blog readers

It's become a mission of mine to get more readers, and expand my readership beyond friends, family and work mates.

Out of all the information I've read so far about attracting more readers, I've found a beauty of a post written by Yaro Starak.

Rather than copy and paste (is that stealing?!) their entire article, I've bullet pointed the top 10 techniques. You can find the entire article here.

  1. Write at least five major pillar articles
  2. Write one new blog post per day minimum
  3. Use a proper domain name
  4. Start commenting on other blogs
  5. Trackback and link to other blogs in your blog posts
  6. Encourage comments on your own blog
  7. Submit your latest pillar article to a blog carnival
  8. Submit your blog to blogtopsites.com
  9. Submit your articles to ezineArticles.com
  10. Write more pillar articles
Note to self: Is my blog turning into a blog about blogging?

Sunday 4 November 2007

New born blogs


My blog's not even a week old.

How will it look one year from now. That's assuming I'm still loving it after a year?!

I hear that 3 months is a good indication as to whether you're going to stick at it or not. I've read so many blog related stories this past week, and to be honest, it's easy to become overwhelmed in blogworld.

There's so much information out there on blogging alone, and I guess it depends on what you want to achieve, what your goals are and what makes you happy, but cutting through all the information, tools, resource and advice is pretty difficult when you're a newbie like me.

There's simply too much going on!

I'm not about to quit, far from it, and I guess one of my short term goals is to climb this learning curve and eventually pull together some kind of hit list to help blogging beginners and newbies like me.

For starters, I think item one on the hit list will be 'getting traffic'.

Not that I'm looking for short-cuts or anything, but if there's anyone out there who could help, I'd really appreciate it!

Maybe one year from now, on my blog's birthday, I'll look back on this as a well seasoned blogging veteran and smile.

Friday 2 November 2007

10 things to perk yourself up

It's Friday, I'm exhausted. I've had 2 cans of red bull, but I'm feeling drained. What can you do to perk yourself up?

1. Increase your magnesium intake
- Add a handful of almonds, hazelnuts or cashews to your daily diet.
- Increase your intake of whole grains, particularly bran cereal.
- Eat more fish, especially halibut.

2. Go for a ten minute walk

3. Take a 40 minute power nap

4. Don't skip meal times

5. Reduce stress (do whatever it is that relaxes you)

6. Drink more water, but drink less alcohol

7. Eat more whole grains and less sugar

8. Have a power snack - like peanut butter on a whole-wheat cracker

9. Have a Latte - pair a caffeine hit with the sustaining power of protein

10. Check your thyroid function

Don't take my word for it though - this is what the experts are saying.

We are web 2.0

While I'm in my 'techy' mood, I thought I'd share a brilliant video that I found on youtube.

There's a whole load of information out there about web 2.0, but I though this video really hits the nail on the head.

Created by a team of cultural anthropology undergraduates at mediatedcultures.net who are exploring the impacts of digital technology on human interaction and human interaction on digital technology.

We are web 2.0...

Leopard OSX - under the spots

So Leopard's been unleashed, and it seemed like the right thing to do and upgrade.

Overall, I'm very pleased and it only took about 45 minutes or so to install.

If you're interested in knowing more about both the graphic changes and the technical ones too, I recommend The Ars Technica review of Leopard - make a coffee first, there's lots to read, not that it's not worth it!

Wednesday 31 October 2007

Halloween warning

Came home from work today to find that a letter with 2 chocolate bars attached had been posted through the letter box. I was amazed at how considerate parents can be.

Unbelievable, read this:

Hello

We will be bringing our sons around for their first trick or treat experience, as you can imagine we would like it to be a good one for them. Because we are all fairly new on the estate we were not sure if people would take part in Halloween.

Can we ask that if you are in, you answer your door and give them the treats that are attached.

And if you have any good tricks up your sleeves then that would be great as well.

Thank you

Trick or treat?

I found this Halloween greeting card in Wikipedia.

It's from 1904 and the young woman is looking into a mirror hoping to catch a glimpse of the face of her future husband.

Trick or treat anyone? ; )

Wine time

Didn't take long to find the tipple I was looking for.

After giving Quidco a quick once over, I followed that up with a search on HotUKDeals. And I was pleasantly surprised. 25% off all wine at Sainsbury's.

That's the vino taken care of.

Tuesday 30 October 2007

Addicted?

I'm really excited about this blog.

I'm at work and, as usual, I'm pretty bored. So I thought I'd get stuck into it - the blog that is, not work. It's like a new toy.

Well actually I was looking around some sites for offers on wine. We've got some friends coming over from Greece at Christmas and I've been on the look-out for some bargains. Why's it so expensive over here? In Greece you can get a very decent bottle of Greek wine for under 6 euros (the link will show you a very nice Boutari for about 10 euros). Over here you've got to take out a mortgage to get anything decent! £96.88 for 6 bottles of red and 6 bottles of white. I don't care if it's a south Australian shiraz that gets your taste buds leaping around like an over-excited kangaroo. After a few glasses can you tell? Actually, the seller's words are "the hottest wines of the moment" - now that's really sold it to me.

Well, I'm going to explore some more...

Alive and kicking

First of all, I don't know if the title I gave this blog is a little negative sounding?! ; )

It's not meant to be at all - I came up with around 6 or 7 others but they were all unavailable, and I guess I just wanted something that sounded original and something that's maybe a bit ironic - I'm a greek girl living in the UK after all!

Anyway, don't read too much into it, the title of this post is much more positive! And it's my first one. I don't know where this is going, but I'm looking forward to see where it takes me.

So, just wanted to kick this off - you gotta start somewhere. :)