Applaud - 2009 - A Reflection on a Year of Positive Change

The last year started out with Applaud as Applaud Magazine, in print for the 6th year. As with many other print magazines things looked pretty bleak. Postage and printing costs had been rising for years and with a bad economy advertising revenue had sunk to the lowest level since I created the magazine in 2002. However, I am lucky to be doing something that I am passionate about; lucky that I enjoy learning new things and that I’m stubborn. I don’t like to give up. I think the businesses who are open minded and pay attention to new trends are the ones who will survive. Again, I am lucky that the trend is a shift to the internet for information, which is what I have to offer and in the use of social networking to market businesses. Another lucky thing for me was that I had already decided that 2009 was going to be a change for me, rather a positive change. That decision lead to the creation of a brand new website to house our on-line publication for women in NH and northern MA.

Although I have never designed a website before I was able to find a user-friendly software and use my design skills to accomplish this task. Once the website was designed it opened up a whole new world allowing me to offer a huge amount of information for local women, a whole new community with listings of restaurants throughout NH and MA; Hotels in NH (MA will be added in 2010); A massive Wedding Resource Center; Our female doctor listing for NH & MA (making it easier for local women to find the female doctors available in their area); Seasonal activities; and finally our Women Biz directory. In addition we have a number of informational pages with articles relating to Beauty, Health, Fashion, Celebrities and tons more. Many of the information pages have RSS feeds from either local or national websites. The new concept is for local women to find everything they need in one place, making it easier and quicker for them to find the information they need or want to find. Last year we were Applaud Magazine, one small vehicle providing local women with a fraction of the information that we are now able to provide them on Applaud Women. What a huge difference from this time last year!

So my advice for those of you who have had a tough year is to keep your mind open; know when you need to make a change and if you love what you’re doing – don’t quit.
Applaud Winter 2010 Issue

Applaud Winter 2010 Issue

For more information, lists or articles of interest to NH women and MA women visit us at www.applaudwomen.com to read Applaud the on-line magazine for local women. We are the largest, most comprehensive website for (local) NH women and MA women. We deal with subjects like Health, Beauty, Fashion, Parenting, Dating, Business, Seniors and our most important issue – Inspirational Women (local, national and international). If you have something you would like us to share please e-mail applaud@comcast.net.

Find out about what Applaud Women has to offer women in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Our on-line publication, resource listings for NH & MA restaurants, NH hotels, NH & MA female doctors and NH & MA wedding professionals, plus articles relating to Beauty, Fashion, Health and lots more.