Which competition?

We need your help! Please vote for which competition option you would like to see next at www.bellybeyond.co.nz

WIN:  Vote and leave a comment in this blog or on our Facebook page to be in the chance to win a Smart Mum Teething Bangle!



The Money or the Grab

Who remembers Trolley Grabs?  We used to love watching these on old TV shows.  The hero of the piece would get 2 minutes to run around the store grabbing as much as they could and it almost always ended in the slow motion last second one arm extended dive for the checkout.  Both Heidi and I used to dream about having a shopping spree at the local toy store and we want to bring that excitement back - but with a 2010 spin, by running the 'Grab' online of course!   Now just like in the old TV shows, there's a risk involved.  If you don't get to checkout in time and process your order you lose it all!!!  So, for those that like to play it safe you'll have the chance at either the Grab or a $1000 Belly Beyond voucher.

The Rules:  The amout of time available for the grab will be confirmed prior to launching the competition.  Single items only allowed (eg, you can't buy 20 Ergos - well you can, but you'll only qualify for 1 of each item in your trolley).  We will take the winner out to lunch at Soul Bar.  After lunch you will go the Grab!!  on our laptop and we will have guidelines in place just  in case of technology fails :) )  We'll film the excitement of the Grab for Belly Beyond TV!

Win a Wishlist worth $1000

Create a wishlist at www.bellybeyond.co.nz and you will go in the draw to win it! (up to $1000).

Member draw
Be a Belly Beyond member and go into the draw to win a $1000 voucher.

Cheeky Hotmilk Sale

An "off the radar" Hotmilk sale is now on our sale page. Save up to 40% off selected styles and yes we ship worldwide!

Babies - 2010

Check out this cool new trailer .

Babies doing what babies do in four very different parts of the globe.



Release date April 2010

Facebook Status Black

Seen all the one colour status updates appearing on Facebook?

Here's the skinny on whats going on (well it's one version!). This is a copy and paste of the message I received.

Some fun is going on.... just write the color of your bra in your status. Just the color, nothing else. It will be neat to see if this will spread the wings of breast cancer awareness. It will be fun to see how long it takes before people wonder why all the girls have a color in their status... Haha .

Given it's for breast cancer awareness, a subject very close to my heart, then I'm in. Today its

Red

A HOTmilk Cherry Bomb Chic no less!

School Zones

Something a little off topic today but it's quite a cool tool so thought I would share.

My daughter will be 5 in June so primary school is looming large on the horizon. A friend recently asked me which school I'd enrolled her in. Huh? I have to enrol her? Thanks for the tip!!

I found this nifty tool on a Ministy of Education site where you can look up schools in your "home zone" by typing in your street address.

School Enrolment Zones

At least thats narrowed down the options although I'm a bit disappointed that I can't just rock up to St Cuths and drop her off ;)

Copy Cat, Dirty Rat?

The internet is designed to share information. Millions of pages of content are available at the click of a mouse and countless links are shared freely via Twitter, Facebook and other social networking sites. Many pages encourage sharing via the use of Share Widgets or people just use copy and paste.

When information is so readily available the lines can become blurred about ownership of web content and information. It’s easy to forget that those words belong to someone and in many cases are copyright to the author.

After operating our online business for just over eighteen months we’ve had three separate incidents that we know of, where other websites have “borrowed” either our website copy or images. In one case, the company badly photo-shopped the Belly Beyond packaging out of one of our product shots, so they were certainly aware they were our images (as opposed to the manufacturers).

We know how easy it is to make the mistake. In the very early days of Belly Beyond, a similar error was made in setting up product text on our website. Text was used from a site other than the manufacturers which included personalised sentences being added here and there to the manufacturer’s standard text. In due course, we quite rightly received an email from the author, and then another hours later when further indiscretions were found, requesting their text be removed immediately. We amended the text and telephoned the company straight away to apologise personally.

We’ve since heard of many other companies who have had it happen to them and the majority certainly say it seemed to be out of ignorance rather than anything malevolent. So based on that, here are our recommendations from both sides of the fence.

1. Starting Out

a. Make sure any content and images you source are directly from the manufacturer or distributors themselves or a URL that they provide you. We check with each supplier every time we add a new product that images and content are available for us to use.

b. Take the time to write your own copy or in the least personalise it.

c. Do not use another site’s text or images. They belong to them and apart from possible copyright breaches, it’s just plain rude.

2. What to do if you’ve been copied

a. Take a screenshot. Then you have your own copy of the content in question.

b. Contact the company or person by email. Be professional and request politely but firmly that they remove the content that belongs to you.

c. Give them a reasonable amount of time to reply and rectify. In all the cases we’ve dealt with, the companies in question were apologetic and embarrassed and removed the content straight away and we trust that there won’t be another occasion to contact them.

If the company refuses contact or removal of the content, then get in touch with your lawyer.

At the end of the day you need to put it into perspective. Is it the end of the world that this has happened? If it’s a minor indiscretion then how much time and energy are you going to put into it?

3. What not to do if you’ve been copied:

The company who contacted us about incorrect text on our site has taken a totally different approach. As far as we can tell here is their step-by-step guide and I’m pretty confident they won’t mind us not giving them a credit for their actions in this case:

a. Set up customer accounts under false names on the competitors website
b. Ask for free samples of product
c. Place numerous fake orders, either then ignore the correspondence that follows or send false complaints about the service
d. Send fabricated complaints to joint suppliers
e. Email joint acquaintances about how awful the company is and how undeserving of their success
f. Set up yet more false user accounts and join the competitors Facebook page and spam with mischievous comments and your own website link
g. Use the false names to publish made up reviews about your company

While your first instinct to being copied might be a negative one, remember that just like any other action you take in business, how you choose to deal with the situation will reflect on you and your business as a whole.

Note: if you have been the target of similar tactics, in any industry or to any extent, please get in touch for more info on our support group “Business Against Bullying”. Your correspondence will be treated with the utmost confidence. info@bellybeyond.co.nz

Natural Chicken Pox Treatment

We had a visit from the Chicken Pox fairy this Christmas with Master 2 coming out in spots a few days before the big day.

We got off fairly lightly with him and because all the rest of our extended family had already had it we were able to still have a lovely family Christmas.

As is the way of things, Miss 4 duely came out in spots a few days ago and she is far harder hit. We used Pinetarsol for the little man but Miss 4 used his sponge after one wash and we were off to Starship in an ambulance due to an allergic reaction. We can't say for absolute sureness it was the Pinetarsol but given it was the only new thing in the house at the time, we certainly aren't going to take the risk in bathing her in it again.

That left us searching for natural treatments and my lovely friend Caroline suggested an oatmeal bath. It's been absolutely fabulous and of course super cheap to do as well!

Oatmeal Bath for Chicken Pox:

1) Use a knee-high stocking or cut off the foot of a pair of tights
2) Put 3/4 cup of rolled oats into the stocking
3) Tie a knot at the end of the stocking
4) Hold the filled stocking under running water and give it a few squeezes to get all the goodness out.
5) You can leave it in the bath soaking too if you like. The water goes a milky looking and the kids will smell like porridge but it works!

Would love to hear your natural cures in the comments below.