tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74207511354820819822023-11-16T11:30:54.370+00:00OfficeThings.ieWelcome to our blog! We are a national distributor of office products. A cost effective single source solution to Irish business big and small.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7420751135482081982.post-5578605485787768862012-07-15T16:39:00.001+01:002012-07-15T16:39:02.760+01:00Ever evolving… as everything else is.<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Still surprised at how our industry is failing to recognise
the paradigm shift caused by smart technology and social or information networks.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF2npdYoDt8sSiaRPR6E-UjnUmGqi9CIR3FVOi0QD3BGwW64xSPbaMjdqXBXlaoUvfFw_WrsJ3u3TMsf2Fve34ZcL8ATy94OvzdJBFhHW5YbTngmB6Meizys2DZE04anmi9tMSkMpIEbOl/s1600/change-ahead.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF2npdYoDt8sSiaRPR6E-UjnUmGqi9CIR3FVOi0QD3BGwW64xSPbaMjdqXBXlaoUvfFw_WrsJ3u3TMsf2Fve34ZcL8ATy94OvzdJBFhHW5YbTngmB6Meizys2DZE04anmi9tMSkMpIEbOl/s320/change-ahead.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">There is something in the air… and it revolves around
social. But careful now! Social does not mean Facebook. We are way passed that.
Change is inherent to every single day that passes. Technology is ever evolving
and this is the era of the techies. They are the new rock stars! …so… failing
to recognise that something is happening and the world IS changing is probably
not wise.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">We are planning a second website. A presentation site. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Will tell you more. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7420751135482081982.post-74358311570873092682012-04-13T11:24:00.000+01:002012-04-13T11:24:44.591+01:00This is what we did...<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:OfficeDocumentSettings> <o:AllowPNG/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-IE</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/> <w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/> <w:OverrideTableStyleHps/> </w:Compatibility> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
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</style> <![endif]--> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">It has been a while for us… last year we put all of our efforts into making things work online.. and guess what: they are working. We are busy enough, we are growing and we have customers come directly to us... rather than us chasing them… which is something we are very happy with. <span> </span>We have started trading on Amazon, will use eBay at some stage soon, we are working on a second online platform... and we are thinking about expanding... abroad. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">It was not easy... we had to put our trust into this mad busy and noisy online world. But it is working. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ7FA-lFVa1X0heJ-CppFYDF0qPqBbFeaDhdLB8TOixb-D1sb7JfBwWw_LuWmyA6keCPjXxkWDJpn3G1_N3Nij_jwcRlahBCAGS7IOzbj682FLCMQE3nNFFkis3BX130hv8j1vp5QsUJyH/s1600/1368025_97483856+%28722x800%29.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ7FA-lFVa1X0heJ-CppFYDF0qPqBbFeaDhdLB8TOixb-D1sb7JfBwWw_LuWmyA6keCPjXxkWDJpn3G1_N3Nij_jwcRlahBCAGS7IOzbj682FLCMQE3nNFFkis3BX130hv8j1vp5QsUJyH/s320/1368025_97483856+%28722x800%29.jpg" width="288" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">These are some of the things we have done to get us where we are:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span>·<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>Rebranded, creating a new identity</span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span>·<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>Went online after 15 years of traditional trading</span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span>·<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>We picked a web platform that worked for us and customised it (redesign)</span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span>·<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>We built our new identity based on a business strategy we have developed for the digital world</span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span>·<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>We acknowledged the shift caused by social media and smart technology and responded to it</span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span>·<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>We went social – we are on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google + and we also use Blogger</span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span>·<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>We communicated evenly across all channels - Integrated Marketing Communications</span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span>·<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>We made use of SEO and SEM</span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span>·<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>We started a newsletter </span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span>·<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>We expanded and started using Amazon, selling in the UK</span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span>·<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>We started developing new relationships with manufactures</span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span>·<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>We stayed open, honest and friendly</span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span>·<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>We had fun... and still are having.</span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span>·<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>We had ideas... and still getting new ones, every day. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">What is next?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span>·<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>eBay</span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span>·<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>Facebook shop</span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span>·<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>Twitter ecommerce</span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span>·<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>A new specialised website</span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span>·<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>Getting into new markets (abroad)</span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span>·<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>…and still thinking.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7420751135482081982.post-10900551995578028312011-10-27T12:34:00.008+01:002011-10-27T12:55:38.682+01:00Water over... office things.<div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>We were flooded. Everything in the office was destroyed. </b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Check out the water level.</span></div><br />
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</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #990000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">These are the things we have learned.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"></span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
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<span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">1.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Have insurance. Without it... you’re toast.</span></span><br />
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<span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">2.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Do your back-ups. Without saved data you are... lost.</span></span><br />
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<span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">3.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Know all your account numbers (telephone, internet, software subscriptions and whatever else you need to run your business). Without these you are stuck.</span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
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<span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">4.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Ask for help. Without asking you will be buried under the... to do list.</span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
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<span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">5.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Communicate. Let others know. So you don’t disappoint your business customers. If you need to ask for patience, do it. Better telling, then... the opposite.</span></span><br />
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<span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">6.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Keep smiling. Go have a cup of tea and think things out. Without the ability to do this... you are gonna go bonkers.</span></span><br />
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<span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">7.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Don’t forget to say thank you. When all is back. And don’t forget the above list. Actually, share it.</span></span><br />
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<span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">8. Nobody hurt? Say thank you to that and move on.</span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> ‘’<i>And why do we fall? So we can learn to pick ourselves up.</i> :) Some mainstream wisdom for you hehehe. </span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7420751135482081982.post-17128201317606283402011-10-03T12:30:00.001+01:002011-10-03T12:42:54.830+01:00Building when it all falls to pieces. Or less dramatically put, how OfficeThings.ie came into place<div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">This is how it all started. For us.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">First , there was an idea. No. Recession. Yeah, that came first. Then, an idea. Then, a name for it, a website... and <b>no plan.</b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b><br />
</b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">We picked Evolution as our ecommerce provider – we found them to be <b>the best</b> (if you read this in 2015 you might want to do more research, but in 2011 – they are the best) and we went online. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">After 15 years of B2B we went B2C. We had to: the furniture market – that was so kind to us in the past, was gone, business was slower than ever and... since we are only a small <b>family business</b>, we had no choice but fight for survival. No parent company to hold us safe, nothing like that at all...</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">So we had this idea of going online and selling to anyone who needed the products that we supply. Nothing new with that paradigm. Except one little detail: <b>It was new, to us.</b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b><br />
</b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">We had our new website up and running for a month when <a href="http://www.brandalism.ie/">a friend of ours</a> had a look at it and came back with a report, an <b>online audit</b> of the existing website: SEO, design architecture, back-end and more. Everything was looked at and the result was something like this:</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMIXPdV1NbeIwXLasDwnNLCf_Jk1wiXtjMj3Im76D7jR0p-wDoo5epP0clJOdYq7iJ_zhraEe4p_OxWR6UotnOYcezJOWt_cI739nUs9N552yezIUrN2aiJNSWOWe8vq7WD66qPkGmGqkI/s1600/change+4.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMIXPdV1NbeIwXLasDwnNLCf_Jk1wiXtjMj3Im76D7jR0p-wDoo5epP0clJOdYq7iJ_zhraEe4p_OxWR6UotnOYcezJOWt_cI739nUs9N552yezIUrN2aiJNSWOWe8vq7WD66qPkGmGqkI/s320/change+4.png" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhV7Lte4cvZ4YnjIsQ6h8WemFtT0MTQ8Gg9gFg4haoj5NWVFsEvnjR7kUAW-VKQaKwwGqbkur8swu0oiMnZVefmzm6hSjdvihjQE14qfrK6U-L4o99I3R9CV4bZuVp3msXsnUv1n6oy9u9/s1600/remove+2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhV7Lte4cvZ4YnjIsQ6h8WemFtT0MTQ8Gg9gFg4haoj5NWVFsEvnjR7kUAW-VKQaKwwGqbkur8swu0oiMnZVefmzm6hSjdvihjQE14qfrK6U-L4o99I3R9CV4bZuVp3msXsnUv1n6oy9u9/s320/remove+2.png" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgstZa_bCD92mXAFCVXQd1IRjgDQMDUfWxFYxp3n2BCxY9MYuK_9dl9S-3RCXf4Q7AQcEz7EMD0njV5cYyffbEh173k40PAlqD3h8Yp12CrOSadd5guh7Eci5igziw-W7nfvO2bVHj7Zb1z/s1600/remove+3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgstZa_bCD92mXAFCVXQd1IRjgDQMDUfWxFYxp3n2BCxY9MYuK_9dl9S-3RCXf4Q7AQcEz7EMD0njV5cYyffbEh173k40PAlqD3h8Yp12CrOSadd5guh7Eci5igziw-W7nfvO2bVHj7Zb1z/s320/remove+3.png" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhywqG4vUJKwCQFstI41Au6-5H_xtJSbFYkkS2nkt6M8kY1IrBYJFnUjJHuozfuI7uWi4VTZ3vythsDf2sMgCXPHreQtyKlfla8A_QDTY2sBYbpj6uPCsa6u09jzAtkhtNEhCPC8CkC-zzU/s1600/proposal.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhywqG4vUJKwCQFstI41Au6-5H_xtJSbFYkkS2nkt6M8kY1IrBYJFnUjJHuozfuI7uWi4VTZ3vythsDf2sMgCXPHreQtyKlfla8A_QDTY2sBYbpj6uPCsa6u09jzAtkhtNEhCPC8CkC-zzU/s320/proposal.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE" style="color: red;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">We sort of took it all in and went: ok, let’s do this. We knew that in order to make sense of the online we had to get our things together and focus on what makes the wheels turn in this www. And so it all began. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Our friend became our <b>business strategist</b> and OfficeThings.ie as you know it started to be put together.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">We looked at our business and what it was all about for the last 15 years... and what it wanted to become. We sat down and had a long ponder on what we have learned in these 15 years and pulled customer feedback out of our experience, information that we already had... but never used for the purpose of <b>building a business. Or shaping a business.<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b><br />
</b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">We looked at the online world and picked what we thought we need in order to be relevant and useful. We wanted to go social but we wanted to do it right. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">We looked at competitors, both the big league and the small family business, like ours. We looked abroad, across the oceans, pretty much everywhere... inside and outside of the industry. We started reading Mashable religiously and we became a bit geeky. But it was all good, all constructive and positive... even if it was overwhelming. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">If we are to bullet point it all, it would look like this: branding / business strategy / information architecture / design architecture / product files/ marketing strategy / social media strategy / permission marketing... and some other stuff. Lots more actually. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Other stuff like... design. We knew what we wanted. We knew the colours, the design architecture was done, we picked all the photos that you see on the website now (except 2 or 3 that defaulted onto it and we agreed to keep them), we put together the new menu and the call to actions were decided already, everything was pretty much put together before the actual design came into shape.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">We worked closely with the developers, slashing and dashing stuff... for 6 months. Some changes had to be made to the initial mock-up in order to suit the Evolution platform and the developers were great at coding <b>our strategy</b> into life. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Looking back at it all, the way we changed things, adapted things, had the designers work our vision into an actual website we can only say this: stick with <b>how you see</b> things, how you want them to be. If you have to change things 10 times because something doesn’t feel or look right, do it.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjymhyG48JZjIkmsm-6gQ90fchawSBSdXFWs0NhUZ34FVcvPgQaUoVI0S7r-47jB_aGdWgNt_MOZUCz4JIjwCRFeEr0ADC5NwhA1Q7Z4MLGmmQNmclkyoTQe57udoqLc53KBgh-jiqXzfg/s1600/banner+examples.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjymhyG48JZjIkmsm-6gQ90fchawSBSdXFWs0NhUZ34FVcvPgQaUoVI0S7r-47jB_aGdWgNt_MOZUCz4JIjwCRFeEr0ADC5NwhA1Q7Z4MLGmmQNmclkyoTQe57udoqLc53KBgh-jiqXzfg/s320/banner+examples.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE" style="color: red;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">It is what we did. It is called <b>art direction</b>. And if you realise that creating a new website = shaping or creating a brand... then you must be involved, things must be built with your input, every single step of the way.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">We worked a good bit on officethings.ie and everybody involved in the process had <b>a lot to learn.</b> We learned so many things that listing them would now qualify as corporate treason, hehe.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">But we don’t mind sharing.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">From this</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin5TsQjDc79W0167Bwi2kfS2vWeeuWl-0kw84EpOJC3TieMJPFQfZ-ea4_fFEALXqPTKLXYqnC_dV0n12mX2M2mEuykUWu2EA91wQHYXzRAWgmjRIywa5YiQIkeAXP8mOH703VSkel9R9t/s1600/Office+Things+HOME+1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin5TsQjDc79W0167Bwi2kfS2vWeeuWl-0kw84EpOJC3TieMJPFQfZ-ea4_fFEALXqPTKLXYqnC_dV0n12mX2M2mEuykUWu2EA91wQHYXzRAWgmjRIywa5YiQIkeAXP8mOH703VSkel9R9t/s320/Office+Things+HOME+1.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">To this</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgeA3FTWr2NVOCc0sZrPwjixF3txgUQOmtmF0T430ouYZFT9AeUvwC-pZvGYm6YW5fXDKqj9UvDGu8ltU8nxnJfiUyYMnIx6DBtJzkhQpCDyv0f5OfmusGYcRXGdf17WjawluT1ZdmJl0n/s1600/mock+up.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgeA3FTWr2NVOCc0sZrPwjixF3txgUQOmtmF0T430ouYZFT9AeUvwC-pZvGYm6YW5fXDKqj9UvDGu8ltU8nxnJfiUyYMnIx6DBtJzkhQpCDyv0f5OfmusGYcRXGdf17WjawluT1ZdmJl0n/s320/mock+up.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">And this</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMv3pjzF9F-cP6SGXFwMUTVoldRKfcygumxB4FtShe0vAjOekFqgQ39-6J51H25uVgIzoH_jyyakjtOcTPq9103a8pXlnDngWR-J2rlIp4WNMg9e1F3KJyTYE6DWbAuxR5DtpSmyQ47JAU/s1600/homepage-20%2528upper+part%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="221" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMv3pjzF9F-cP6SGXFwMUTVoldRKfcygumxB4FtShe0vAjOekFqgQ39-6J51H25uVgIzoH_jyyakjtOcTPq9103a8pXlnDngWR-J2rlIp4WNMg9e1F3KJyTYE6DWbAuxR5DtpSmyQ47JAU/s320/homepage-20%2528upper+part%2529.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE" style="color: #c00000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">And a lot more scribbles and changes and mock-ups... <b>to this: <a href="http://www.officethings.ie/">www.officethings.ie</a></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b><span lang="EN-IE">Results</span></b><span lang="EN-IE"> so far?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span lang="EN-IE"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The attention we have been getting is impressive. Our brand identity is getting stronger and we try our best to do our best for our customers. Image without substance will never last.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">And we are <b>not done</b> yet. We are working on a few exciting things... and we will soon have a few launches. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Yes, we are selling more, yes we have very valuable new customers and yes... we are perceived better. An yes, we are liked. And we are grateful for all that. We truly are.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">And there is more... but we can’t share it all... Some of the most exciting news is... unshareable.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>For now.<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b><br />
</b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">P.S.: We will come back and look at the website a bit more in detail. And at our business strategy. We are happy to share some of our thinking patterns. We don’t mind if others <b>learn from us</b>. We have seen it happen already. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7420751135482081982.post-72703859923787766552011-08-30T12:34:00.001+01:002011-08-30T12:38:28.294+01:00Little secret<div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">There comes a time in everyone’s life when you start asking questions. From yourself. What am I doing, how did I get here, where am I going and why? The questions may very well vary with age, priorities or... you know, conditioned by all sort of things that are part of our lives, like: Is my house hurricane proof? Is my trip to NY going to be ruined because of the weather? *smiles a bit*</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Early this year, we asked ourselves some difficult questions: What are we doing, how did we get here... where are we going and... how? The ‘’why’’ was clear from the beginning. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Never give up, never surrender! *laughs* That’s a line from 300, you know... that film with all the naked Spartans. Mhm. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">We knew that although the economic situation was the way it was (still is) we had to keep moving forward. Build on top of what we have built for 15 years, but be innovative, daring and smart. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">So.. Commercial Business Products scratched its head and OfficeThings.ie came into being: a vision of not only survival, but rebirth. Sounds a bit corny but hey, it kinda is like that. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">We want to be great. For you. We want to be the best we can... for you. Because you see, we know one little secret: rewards will follow for us as well, as long as we keep putting our hearts and souls into this boring little business of office things. *giggles a bit*</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">It’s just how it is. You live to learn, be better, grow, give and love. We can’t say we love all our paper pallets and office chairs and little notebooks and copiers and faxes (anyone still uses them?) but hey... we do love being the answer to people’s problems. We love to try harder and be better. We are not saving the world, our inks and toners are not holding together families and feeding hungry children. :) But we are doing our little bit and we are trying to do it well.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">So thank you for reading, wipe away that tear and order something. Heheh *just messing*</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">With love,</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The <a href="http://officethings.ie/">OfficeThings.ie</a> Team of eejits</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7420751135482081982.post-74845516811581617862011-07-28T15:53:00.002+01:002011-07-28T16:00:41.025+01:00Irish Business Network - A frustrated but constructive idea of ours<div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">We have just created: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Irish-Business-Network/169420173129094">Irish Business Network</a> – a Facebook page dedicated to B2B interaction and to individuals who support local businesses, buy local, recommend local (or Irish) and thus help Irish businesses grow. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSoKCJ5JVFVaciK-Ys90akMcxSa7PWpRYOFyRgQ4Cy1YokruwtjlL4OfDecMaF1xUOZmwf4V6XR6xqEJaPTAQt6NPTpufu95wCMnqB0inscPLPvlvXLIoN8B3NiziHBU-PK12EXiRisFE4/s1600/irish+business+network.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSoKCJ5JVFVaciK-Ys90akMcxSa7PWpRYOFyRgQ4Cy1YokruwtjlL4OfDecMaF1xUOZmwf4V6XR6xqEJaPTAQt6NPTpufu95wCMnqB0inscPLPvlvXLIoN8B3NiziHBU-PK12EXiRisFE4/s320/irish+business+network.jpg" width="303" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
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</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">We are talking about small to medium size businesses that do not have the resources a large company has and thus need the support that a social network can give.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">But this is the story of why we created this page... and why we will do our best to grow it. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">...................................................................................................................................</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">We were in our Twitter account, looking at the number of people/companies we follow and the number following back. Using some online tools we established who is not following us and thought ‘’why not just delete them, what’s the point’’. Well... there is a point, being on their followers list is still something, even if they are not following back. Why? 1. Because once you follow them they get an email with your name on it... and they get to hear of you. So it’s good for brand awareness. 2. You are on the list, they could add you later on, if they care about their Twitter account, or social media strategy, they will browse through their followers and you might get lucky. 3. Others will look through their followers and might find you relevant. < --- That’s some free know-how for you :).</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">So anyway... we weren’t all at a loss. We were following about 500 people or companies, so our name was out there. But we thought.... ‘’How rude of them, not to follow back. We sell office stuff, we don’t spam them with quick rich schemes’’. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Because this is how we are: we re-tweet stuff that we find relevant, we follow back pretty much all the time (except spam accounts), we mention businesses that we find relevant, we simply do our bit to help others and ourselves. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">So we were a bit sad... seeing this lack of solidarity. So we thought... let’s do something. Print some flyers and go out in the streets and hand them to people and encourage them to support Irish businesses. We would get our name out there but we would also do something to help the online B2B realm grow. ''Let's not delete them, let's encourage them''.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">A Facebook page comes free. What we are doing with it? It’s up there, for anyone to use. Post whatever they want about their business, about their products and services. If anyone needs help with anything, we will give advice if we can and as the community will grow, we are sure that ideas will float around and flourish. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">We can look into the future and see B2B meetings or other things like that too. Or... we will just leave the page to exist and grow and aid businesses. We want accountants to find new clients on this page, solicitors to post their services, cake makers to upload photos of yummy cakes, restaurants to tell us their menus or makes us hungry with their dishes.. and so on and on and on. And on. :)</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
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</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">You know, we sell office things. It’s in our name. We are OfficeThings.ie. But we are also customers. Potential customers. Or we are looking for more customers of our own. There is nothing out of ordinary with this endeavour of ours. But... if nobody does anything... then nothing happens.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">So Like companies on Facebook if you think they are doing a good job. We are not saying like everything and follow everyone. But find quality and share it with friends. Find that good intent and share it, because it’s very valuable, in people or in companies. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">We are on <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/OfficeThings">Twitter</a>, <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/company/officethings-ie/products">LinkedIn</a> and <a href="http://www.facebook.com/officethings.ie">Facebook</a>. For now. And obviously this Blog.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiblPhzPs-yVGnZbZODuRvenmnyHdQCBqN3PDobWGSMRY0afl6IoBSmjgqirkVv1GMo-S-yhywT_z-5JpjrFqsM8MGzrr01IMld0cAUVK_rnA6TdNdOGRSnmzTHbh3x58p7Rishx_FGe7SN/s1600/Irish-Flag1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiblPhzPs-yVGnZbZODuRvenmnyHdQCBqN3PDobWGSMRY0afl6IoBSmjgqirkVv1GMo-S-yhywT_z-5JpjrFqsM8MGzrr01IMld0cAUVK_rnA6TdNdOGRSnmzTHbh3x58p7Rishx_FGe7SN/s320/Irish-Flag1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
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</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Thank you for reading. Support Irish businesses! Do your little bit and help the country grow. It needs to happen from bottom to top and not the other way around.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7420751135482081982.post-38059448295383498672011-07-12T16:27:00.002+01:002011-08-12T14:06:34.861+01:00Questions, ponderings and nothings about... office things<div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The pros and cons of writing a business blog. Or... an office furniture blog. What are they? </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Who will read your blog about office crap? And why? Is humour the answer? Blogging about nothing. Nothing with a twist of office stuff. You know... like Seinfeld was a sitcom about nothing.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgibfQ9PP3gJa1CUWpBvMY7VHoLsqdmss87PHwSY4nNRXUZBw7VfAIrCyUWSxaUYePt4YsCYfdf8uqyhojlg3KGV89zyDVBWRdfvaMySzk0vo8mZvhPEhWF0xwHU8ivEXkDeZYbpGfNTysT/s1600/seinfeld.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgibfQ9PP3gJa1CUWpBvMY7VHoLsqdmss87PHwSY4nNRXUZBw7VfAIrCyUWSxaUYePt4YsCYfdf8uqyhojlg3KGV89zyDVBWRdfvaMySzk0vo8mZvhPEhWF0xwHU8ivEXkDeZYbpGfNTysT/s320/seinfeld.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
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</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">These are and are not rhetorical questions by the way. Feel free to give your input.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Office stuff is not that interesting. Unless you maybe put pictures of cool office spaces like these ones here:</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitzyuGVzNNkVI8o7gJsugtRu9NxBTfKNhJHcwGuMLgszyjLYfAnta9o9zoTaS5YkRcCPdQeEHAnspNdHnFn_6kzgU6g4BR47OQHnfmpBRlTbjjISuDUOXBNDAB4XRgAuGLwibZau5jD6j5/s1600/google+office.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="277" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitzyuGVzNNkVI8o7gJsugtRu9NxBTfKNhJHcwGuMLgszyjLYfAnta9o9zoTaS5YkRcCPdQeEHAnspNdHnFn_6kzgU6g4BR47OQHnfmpBRlTbjjISuDUOXBNDAB4XRgAuGLwibZau5jD6j5/s320/google+office.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
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</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Or maybe some photos of some silliness at work, office pranks or pranks in general are always fun. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeSfjUtEtwFPVkwcRMjyIKPT_0UKLAdP2wijrAyKqqnIT7UqrcdJGYVOuh7GXT_z9YpK2mED3YdGmyCObGPyUgeAHEXTuUuQLpXK4tsUWCE4ppClLO04TkAhWz4xqBd0KSI1T5Ai_An1k9/s1600/office+prank-15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeSfjUtEtwFPVkwcRMjyIKPT_0UKLAdP2wijrAyKqqnIT7UqrcdJGYVOuh7GXT_z9YpK2mED3YdGmyCObGPyUgeAHEXTuUuQLpXK4tsUWCE4ppClLO04TkAhWz4xqBd0KSI1T5Ai_An1k9/s320/office+prank-15.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
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</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Do you then somehow cleverly squeeze in some of your own office things and say ‘’Hey, look at us, we are what you need... and more. You have been waiting all your life for someone as seriously awesome as we are’’ or do you just show your products, your services, your offers but don’t inflate your self image and shove it down peoples throats?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Nobody likes an obnoxious character. So you mustn’t become one. That’s key. You mustn’t take yourself too seriously but at the same time, you need credibility. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwfMtkTKdFsl9rxrxHEWgrSj9fNhZCO-rdOWHz_M3xatiqo6WEm1oDx1ybG1gjh35okdSxEXYITwCi-RuyVi2o5a_stklEL-z0PelIgN-CT4fsRqBEEQdBVkLg6z2dvkFcUaoNSD6RT9QN/s1600/self-esteem-meds1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwfMtkTKdFsl9rxrxHEWgrSj9fNhZCO-rdOWHz_M3xatiqo6WEm1oDx1ybG1gjh35okdSxEXYITwCi-RuyVi2o5a_stklEL-z0PelIgN-CT4fsRqBEEQdBVkLg6z2dvkFcUaoNSD6RT9QN/s320/self-esteem-meds1.jpg" width="186" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">And then... you must not be boring... because you will lose people’s attention just like... that.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6vdK5_mSZ4cIdsoq1LHQu-tQfv9NoAWktrDm_2ukMRkoSXCqcSFcGTCSi-shV1QVf7BvWnrrqdDMHxtqrXMHMFI2KwGNVNmHNePXMl8atyaGz04GnBeEGz0Prw5L-JhSh33uF2kEbTiQO/s1600/papadie2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="255" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6vdK5_mSZ4cIdsoq1LHQu-tQfv9NoAWktrDm_2ukMRkoSXCqcSFcGTCSi-shV1QVf7BvWnrrqdDMHxtqrXMHMFI2KwGNVNmHNePXMl8atyaGz04GnBeEGz0Prw5L-JhSh33uF2kEbTiQO/s320/papadie2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">So anyway? Where were we?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Ah yeah.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Go to officethings.ie. We are awesome. (< ---- This sentence just gave us another blogging idea. But there’s time, see you later).</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
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</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">P.S.: Serious self endorsement: <i>If you can find another Irish online company offering a lower price on a product of the same brand and model, we will give you a credit for 100% of the difference. Not only that, but we will always work in matching our competitors prices or, in most cases, we will offer you a better price. You might have your reasons to look elsewhere, but you have all the reasons to come back and buy from us: we listen to your needs and adapt to meet them. Always.</i></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7420751135482081982.post-72610850450571790082011-07-05T00:06:00.000+01:002011-07-05T00:06:38.444+01:00Like us and win!<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/OfficeThingsie/125853870808176?sk=app_4949752878">Like our Facebook page and win goodies every month!</a></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">We just gave away a Canon camcorder (and we should have some pics of the winner in a day or two)...</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEpjUKDaO3CwtnSpoxUJbt9uF4kHESR26k0MLr9_ltFVHApU2ApF_kybh2fKXwIVOzEnzzRYBVcO0krbRrjymNeZ3zHixhwLl8XumLVC52Eflxfk9t3fDQnltrxKD5HQopIXmjvwwC4_Mm/s1600/Canon+legria+FS306+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEpjUKDaO3CwtnSpoxUJbt9uF4kHESR26k0MLr9_ltFVHApU2ApF_kybh2fKXwIVOzEnzzRYBVcO0krbRrjymNeZ3zHixhwLl8XumLVC52Eflxfk9t3fDQnltrxKD5HQopIXmjvwwC4_Mm/s320/Canon+legria+FS306+1.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Our next prize is a pretty cool gadget as well: <span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;">7in Tablet TAB210 4 GB with WIFI/Trackbal Android 2.1</span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/OfficeThingsie/125853870808176?sk=app_4949752878"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWRWO8kE-qSd8ZaelZqH4dUSAVMbBxbO4fxBf5HMLuOBZDy5QqYodkZ1EAfEp66tUQxzuEXgQRIJIOgwvsLO-QusJ5VmRdexRxdWWOQSCnesVwCL3EHPif-BMvZuw2nHSpKt9bExgP7A8M/s320/tablet.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Tell your friends! Click <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/OfficeThingsie/125853870808176?sk=app_4949752878">here</a> to visit our Facebook page or just click the above image.</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7420751135482081982.post-74483246349370059512011-06-21T19:08:00.000+01:002011-06-21T19:08:00.541+01:00Why shop at OfficeThings.ie?<div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">And now... that we met... time for promises... Or maybe not. Time for coming clean.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">There is one thing you need to know and understand about us: we will have a look at your business, listen to your needs and come up with the best case scenario for you: the products and services that you need for the prices that you can afford. Sounds like something you might have heard before? Well... there are only so many words in the dictionary that will express what we wanted to say. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_c3Tw5jpIzm6c_wcskqBlP_vQrwlwfwzKTJZ4TcMsQ0tiHEFo97QZqGnprVxQ-pb83tZCDrx8cdOAJojWjxiwGBwdycVvTylUSDXrkZnGJy9ItwpOTAifkrlIx33fDZttAYg6H3LERVUQ/s1600/officethings.ie+best.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="313" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_c3Tw5jpIzm6c_wcskqBlP_vQrwlwfwzKTJZ4TcMsQ0tiHEFo97QZqGnprVxQ-pb83tZCDrx8cdOAJojWjxiwGBwdycVvTylUSDXrkZnGJy9ItwpOTAifkrlIx33fDZttAYg6H3LERVUQ/s320/officethings.ie+best.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
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</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>Why shop at OfficeThings.ie?</b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b><br />
</b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Best Price Guarantee! Consistently the cheapest place in Ireland to buy all the office things you need!</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Free next day national delivery on all orders over €75 (ex vat).</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">No hassle returns policy.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">20% off on your first order (offer available on orders of €300 or less).</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The OfficeThing.ie 1 year guarantee.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Attractive rewards scheme with fantastic free goodies.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Wide range of green, environmental friendly products.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Friendly assistance from real people. Emails, call us, find us on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Fully secure online shopping.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">We deliver to home office or business customers.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">All profits reinvested in Ireland, not exported.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Credit cards are processed securely using 3D encryption.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Fast and easy to navigate site using our powerful search, improved product groupings.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Quick order by catalogue number option, just simply enter up to 20 codes from any current catalogue along with the quantity and add them all at once to your basket.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Build your own shopping lists. You can build a shopping list of regular ordered items to save more time on finding/entering the items you require.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Regular special offers. With a monthly special offers section and also daily special offers on the home page you can't miss out on a bargain.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Order history, a list of all your online orders showing everything from the goods you ordered down, the address details down to the time you place your order.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Fastest ink & toner search, just answer the 3 simple questions to find the cartridges/toners for your machine.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">That’s our list of reasons. We will come back and talk about them in more detail.. but for now... thank you for reading. </span></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7420751135482081982.post-19162055864143083402011-06-15T12:08:00.000+01:002011-06-15T12:08:19.630+01:00Testing, Testing... 1... 2... 3<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Blog number one for <b><a href="http://www.officethings.ie/storefront/Home">officethigs.ie!</a></b> New website design, social media inclusive strategy, new offers, new products, new promotions, new rewards, lots of new goodies and just lots of new stuff. How exciting! And scary!</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLvwW2dVJKWdXHVcfbF6bklfOfXIuQZ7ioSuFzF8Q_GTFYbfA622Q0Mxn4r7Vr5zmW7LBo_cPkmQiJbO3EQC8PHUy_K6ySc87K9IfUBbBAbZVHwuVji8lcQEKsSqQuRx4KEwnGENYo_tjN/s1600/monty-python-silly-walks-5001144.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLvwW2dVJKWdXHVcfbF6bklfOfXIuQZ7ioSuFzF8Q_GTFYbfA622Q0Mxn4r7Vr5zmW7LBo_cPkmQiJbO3EQC8PHUy_K6ySc87K9IfUBbBAbZVHwuVji8lcQEKsSqQuRx4KEwnGENYo_tjN/s320/monty-python-silly-walks-5001144.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">It’s almost like starting a new job: new route to work and back home, new building, new office, new office smells, new chairs, new colleagues, new opportunities, old fears for new things or excitement for new experiences and opportunities. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">That’s right. Lots of ‘’new’’! So this is the new us: <a href="http://www.officethings.ie./">www.officethings.ie.</a> You can find us on <b><a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/OfficeThingsie/125853870808176?sk=app_4949752878">Facebook</a></b>, <b><a href="http://twitter.com/#!/OfficeThings">Twitter</a>,</b> here on <b>Blogger</b> and <b><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/company/2239886">LinkedIn</a></b>. Soon enough we will pop onto YouTube as well. Check us out, like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn and you will find that a little like goes a long way and we will reward your trust. That is a promise! </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Blog number one for officethings.ie! ...and we will not use this occasion to tell you how great we are and how many things we have to offer. Let us know each other first: www.officethings.ie. Come in and discover a place where you will find all the office things you need... and then some!</span><br />
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0