Tooling up our Websites to better reach the world.....3/27/09

Fri Mar 27 13:20:51 EDT 2009

- BANNERS UP!!  
- WHY THE WEDDING RING IS ON 4TH FINGER - ANCIENT CHINESE WISDOM
- IF YOU LIKE IT THEN YOU SHOULDA PUT A RING ON IT
- UTAH GETS PERSONAL WITH MARRIAGE HELP CAMPAIGN
- MARRIAGE MOVIES

I've been checking out the websites that have posted the Smart Marriages
Conference Banner or Widgets and I'm excited. There is so much progress
being made on so many websites - they are amazing, creative and give me such
hope.  Here are just a few of them.  If you missed it, find the banners of
all sizes here:
 http://www.marcpayan.com

Oh, and to find the code click on the word *share* on each one.
- diane
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- BANNERS UP!!  

> Dear Diane,
> I just put your banner on my site. It was real easy to do.
> http://www.lovingmarriagelovingfamily.com
> Troy Faddis
> 
> PS can't wait til July 8!

Looks great!  Thanks.  It was good to revisit your site.....wish I could
figure out how to borrow so many of your site's features!  I took your poll
(and got the right answer :)  - diane
--------------------------------
> Diane, Check out our home page with the Smart Marriage Conference widget!
> http://www.marriagealliance.org. This was a great idea...

> Larry Compter, Executive Director
Great idea you had to pair it with the Fireproof banner!  - diane
---------------------------------------
> Diane,
> I placed the widget on our web site: http://www.edhealthymarriages.org
> It is on the bottom of our home page.
> The Rev. Craig Kuehn
> El Dorado Healthy Marriages Coalition

Craig created a tag line:
We are proud to be a member of the Smart Marriages Coalition and then posted
the widget!  That's great. Also like your site's subtitle: Loving
relationships and a lower divorce rat.  That certainly is short, sweet and
to the point!   - diane

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- WHY THE WEDDING RING IS ON 4TH FINGER - ANCIENT CHINESE WISDOM

Here's another fun one to link from your website and/or to show at wedding
reception.   - diane

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1091345/why_wedding_ring_on_4th_finger/

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- IF YOU LIKE IT THEN YOU SHOULDA PUT A RING ON IT

And, maybe we should take help where we find it from the pop culture and
create links on our websites to this Beyonce hit where she's calling on *all
the single ladies*.  Show that we're not old out-of-touch preachy fogeys.
This reporter definitely has a point: Beyonce Was Right, Put a Ring on It
For the Good of Your Kids: Article here: http://tinyurl.com/ckaq7b

Excerpts from the lyrics:
> Cause if you like it then you shoulda put a ring on it
> If you like it then you shoulda put a ring on it
> Don't be mad once you see that he want it
> If you like it then you shoulda put a ring on it . . .

> Cause you had your turn (turn)
> And now you're gonna learn (learn)
> What it really feels like to miss me . . .

> Pull me into your arms
> Say I'm the one you want
> If you don¹t, you¹ll be alone
> And like a ghost I¹ll be gone . . .

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mVEGfH4s5g
(Disclaimer: do not watch the video if you don't want to see the Beyonce
dance. Watch it if you want to see what our kids/young adults are watching.
This was downloaded 50 million times. Maybe we should give Beyonce a Smart
Marriages Put a Ring On It Messenger Award.) - diane

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- UTAH GETS PERSONAL WITH MARRIAGE HELP CAMPAIGN

All these great websites have got to have an effect.  Pretty soon we'll
reach that tipping point, saturation, culture-educating, culture-changing
point.  - diane 

Utah gets personal with marriage help campaign
Nicea Degering

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4 News) - The state of Utah is interested in your
marriage.  So much so, that they have a brand new website designed to give
you tips on everything from finances to your in-laws.  So why is the state
getting so personal?

Richard and Marilee Hullinger were married twenty-three years ago and had
big plans for their future.  But just five weeks after their wedding, while
vacationing in Lake Powell, their lives changed forever.

"I dove off the back of the houseboat and the water was more shallow than I
knew and I hit the bottom and broke my neck, which left me with a spinal
cord injury."

The doctors told Marilee her new husband would never walk again, and she
told them, 'that's okay'.  "I didn't marry Rich because he could walk.  I
didn't marry him because he had a great job, I married him because he was a
lot of fun," she says.

Two decades later the Hullingers are still having fun.  Against all odds
they are making marriage work.  Something the state of Utah hopes a new
website will help other couples do too.

There are twenty-five thousand marriages in Utah every year and ten thousand
divorces.  The state says they are interested in lowering that number
because of the benefits of marriage to the community.

"Also, the cost of unwed child bearing and divorce.  The cost is
thirty-three billion nationwide and in Utah it costs taxpayers upwards of
two hundred and seventy-six million dollars a year, that's a big reason."

That's according to Melanie Reese from the Utah Healthy Marriage Initiative.
She says the website is for everyone, and it talks about everything.  From
dating ideas to on-line classes, it takes learning about love high tech.

Richard and Marilee Hullinger say they've taken a more basic approach, they
laugh a little and love a lot.  "I think looking out for the other person,
not being too worried about yourself.  She takes good care of me.  I try to
take good care of her.  And we try to play nice and get a long and it seems
to be working so far."

If you would like more information about Utah's Healthy Marriage Initiative
go to http://www.utahmarriage.org.

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- MARRIAGE MOVIES

Please include you comments on what makes your nominee a Marriage movie
(plus actors and year produced if you've got it).  I'll post them as they
arrive: 
http://www.smartmarriages.com/story.of.us.html#movie.list

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13th Annual Smart Marriages® Conference, Shingle Creek Resort,
Orlando, Florida, July 6-12, 2009 (General Conference July 8-11)
Pre-Conference Training Institutes July 6-8
Post-Conference Training Institutes July 12

Shingle Creek Resort: http://www.rosenshinglecreek.com/

Conference schedule, registration, & exhibit information:
http://www.smartmarriages.com/conferencedetails.html

List your program and resources on the Directory of Classes at
http://www.smartmarriages.com/directory_browse.html

Order conference audio & video CD/DVD/MP3s: 800-241-7785 or
http://www.iPlaybackSmartMarriages.com

Coalition for Marriage, Family and Couples Education, LLC (CMFCE)
Diane Sollee, Director
5310 Belt Rd NW, Washington, DC 20015-1961
http://www.smartmarriages.com
202-362-3332

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