Aranelle Consulting LLC - Customized Coaching, Capacity Building, Content Development

Customized Coaching, Capacity Building, Content Development

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Welcome to the Aranelle Blog!

Finally a "real" blog -- rather than a handmade web page. We are enjoying the format of this particular social media vendor, the opportunity to play with new widgets here and thought we would give it a whirl as a backbone for "Leigh's Blog".

For full information about Aranelle Consulting's technical services, be sure to check out our main website www.aranelle.com

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Barack Obama is Following ME on Twitter?! - A Dance with Social Media

Signed on to follow the Obama Twitter account when I noticed they were starting to become active again (post inauguration) in order to drive traffic to the newly launched White House discussion board, still in beta. I also noticed he was being followed by more people than he was following. So, it seemed to me they were actually reading tweet content and filtering out a few spammy tweeters. A good model for twittering.

So I have continued my mission to write positive, helpful industry tweets, no… Continue

Posted by Leigh Drake on April 5, 2009 at 5:00pm

10 Tips to Avoid Social Media Mistakes in Fundraising & Marketing - A Local Case Study

About 8:30 last night, I received a really strange email from the Cincinnati Museum Center’s email blast list with Exact Target and signed by their CEO, Doug McDonald. It didn’t seem like spam, so I checked the headers and pretty much determined it was a legitimate appeal. I like to look at fundraiser appeal letters for content ideas for clients, so I usually do skim them when they come in. Once I saw the article in today’s newspaper about the P&G social media experiment, (… Continue

Posted by Leigh Drake on March 12, 2009 at 6:00pm

Site Map Cleanup Heaven

I bought a utility for my December 31st tax deductible software blow out that has helped me quite a bit with fixing site map and page link errors before I launch a site I've edited or changed drastically. I've never really liked how Dreamweaver handles site maps and I have to admit that I get bored looking at code on some days and would rather look at "visuals" with pretty colors than a standard xml site map or a tee tiny file tree. This new software fits the bill. I can look at the site in file… Continue

Posted by Leigh Drake on January 26, 2009 at 12:00pm

A New Era of Responsibility

I found it rather charming that today's paper was all about "where were you during the inauguration..." It hasn't even been 24 hours yet....boy, are we speeding up history.

Hard to change my ways as an "eldest child" -- I'm always responsibly working. A bad habit and I guess I was inadvertently taking Obama's admonishment to heart now that we have entered "a new era of responsibility" - so, yes, I was meeting with a client in a technical training session, rather than goofing off and watc… Continue

Posted by Leigh Drake on January 21, 2009 at 9:30am

Thankful This Year

This year I think we are thankful that we had such a busy year -- our client diversity really increased and we had so many interesting projects to keep us out of mischief and learning new things.

We were grateful that business profits allowed us to make charitable contributions to three deserving organizations...our best year yet!

We are also thankful that Emmalie Hawes joined the firm last month -- her flexibility and cheerfulness have kept us grinning through many pesky technical deadlines.… Continue

Posted by Leigh Drake on November 27, 2008 at 6:30pm

Our 2008 Election Endorsements

We were on the fence for awhile but we are now coming out with the Aranelle Consulting "official" election endorsements:

Lucy Lou, the Border Collie as Mayor
Rabbit Hash, Kentucky

Rabbit Hash is a Sunday Picnic Drive down the road from us. It is the coolest little river town, right on the river. Occasionally some interesting bluegrass and folk bands perform at the General Store. We thought this was an awesome marketing idea for their nonprofit historical society.

You can still help get out th… Continue

Posted by Leigh Drake on November 3, 2008 at 11:00am

Thing 1 and Thing 2

So to share what I did instead of dressing up for Halloween this year -- I bought an equivalent technological Thing 1 and Thing 2. Mostly because I haven't figured out my short-hand of what to call my new gadgets. Thing 1 is my MSI Wind U-100 mini-PC - so tiny and portable. I used it for a client training last week at the library. It was great...it's not fully loaded, but perfect for being on the go and surfing with a client at a coffee shop and easier to respond to email than texting on the Bla… Continue

Posted by Leigh Drake on November 1, 2008 at 4:30pm

The Sky is High and the Horse is Fat

We have had several "Sky is High" days the last several days here -- my favorite time of year. The sky at it's bluest, my garden at its rustiest except for a few lingering purple asters. The dustyness of my garden is not really bothering me as much now -- it is an easy closing of a season. Time to walk around, enjoy the lightness of the air without it's normal humidity and fewer watering chores. Make fun of the chattering squirrels. Wait for the big chill to come and cancel out our lingering 80… Continue

Posted by Leigh Drake on October 14, 2008 at 7:02pm

Power Outage Etiquette

During the Greater Cincinnati Power Outage this past month, and after we had been at the library several days, in between the afternoon storytime and sing-a-longs going on in the Children's Book section, one could not help but start to observe human behavior of the other power-outage refugees as they gradually trickled in looking for a place to re-charge -- literally.

We did think about developing some power outage etiquette rules for the next time this happens in our community. Wondering if an… Continue

Posted by Leigh Drake on October 3, 2008 at 8:33pm

Bailouts, Blackouts and Building Disaster Capacity

After listening to endless financial doom and gloom, we were so excited to receive our own "bailout" this week -- the bank gave me a lollipop when I made a deposit this week and a friend gave me a scratch-off. After enjoying the bingo game, I won $10!!! Thank you to the KY Lottery -- I'm not a gambling type of gal, but I can probably find a way to apply it to postage and a pumpkin spice latte this month.

Still recovering from the "Greater Cincinnati Power Blackout" of last week. We had to help… Continue

Posted by Leigh Drake on October 3, 2008 at 8:29pm

Seen and Heard

I posted what I thought was a fairly inclusive, diverse picture of a group of professionals that we used as a stock photo for an organization's professional development website. The younger, shorter women were at the front of the picture -- taller/older folks were in the back because - duh - they were taller. But the picture had a youthful feel. When I went to the professional event, a distinguished older gentleman came up to me, known for his dry sense of humor, and said "I wasn't sure this event was for me because the picture on the website had so many young people in it!"

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Aranelle Consulting, LLC is a virtual management consulting and technical assistance provider committed to quality service and building capacity within small to medium-sized organizations.

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