Setting Goals for 2009

As the New Year approaches it is that time to set some New Years Resolutions.  Apart from the typical New Years resolutions to lose that last 10 pounds of pregnancy baby weight, eat healthier, exercise more, spend more time with the kids (do you ever spend enough time with the kids), read more books and of course spend more time with my husband, it is also a good idea to set some goals for each of the businesses!

How to Set Goals for 2009

Start Backwards.

First step is to think about where you want to be at the end of 2009.  These goals can best be represented in dollar amounts but could also be represented in traffic, page views, rakings for keywords and so on.  Depending on how many different websites and businesses you are involved in, this might take a little work!  It is not enough to simply say that you want to make $1,000,000 in sales for 2009!  Take each of your profit generating websites or as I like to call them, "money sites", and think about where they are at now financially and where you would like them to be at the end of the next 12 months.  Second step is to divide up the year into four quarters and to assign what goal each site or business needs to be producing each quarter in order to meet your financial goal for the year.  For example if I have a site that is producing $6K per month in sales now and I want it to go to $18K per month by the end of 2009, then for the first quarter, my goal will be to increase that from $6K per month to $9K per month.  The second quarter the goal will be $12K, third quarter $15K and by the end of the fourth quarter of the year, $18K. 

Write it down.

Second step is to write down your goals in the most visual way possible so that they will always be in front of you for the next 12 months.  My new best friend are the huge white sticky post its.  Take one of the huge post its, write the name of the business at the top and then write down the financial goals for each quarter.  Stick this huge post it in your home or work office or somewhere where you will see it every single day.  You could write your goals in a business journal or in a file in your computer but I find it best if you actually print out your goals and then post them up somewhere you can look at them everyday of 2009.

Break it down.

Next step is to write out what needs to be accomplished to be able to reach your goals.  Don’t hold back here.  On the same huge post it that you have the goals written down on for 2009, write out all the steps you need to accomplish to be able to reach your goals.  Maybe that is add live chat to your website.  Maybe start a newsletter list.  Maybe blog 2 times per week.  Write down all of your ideas and be as specific as possible.  As you achieve and accomplish each of these tasks you can cross them off of your list.  As you think of more you can also add them to your list.  The most important thing is to keep pushing towards your goals.  Many times we have great ideas but they never get implemented as we are too busy with the day to day activities.  Having the goals or steps we need to accomplish written down in a highly visual place will help us to always stay focused to the bigger picture. Some tasks can be outsourced.  I even have a list of things I want to learn how to do for 2009.  Family goals can be written down as well as personal and spiritual goals.  Don’t just write down: Read 12 books.  Write down the names of the 12 books.  If you don’t know which books you want to read, keep adding to the list as you have books recommeded to you. 

Plan it out.

Next step is to make a serious attempt to plan out how you will implement the steps to achieve your goals in 2009.  As you look at all of the steps you need to accomplish to reach your goals, it is time to plan out the calendar year of exactly when you will be focusing on and accomplishing each of the steps.  This can also be accomplished with a huge post it.  Write down the first date of each week for 2009 and write out next to it what you will be focusing on for that week.  Take into consideration holidays, family vacations, and so on.  You will soon find that the year 2009 is quickly becoming filled!  A saying we learned in college was "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail".  Take time to plan and you will soon find that as the months pass you will be accomplishing much more than in years past.

Keep Track

Last step is to create one final chart where you can record your progress.  Again, a huge post it comes in real handy here.  You don’t have to be fancy here.  Fancy takes time. A simple chart where you can record the monthly progress of each of your businesses with each of your goals.  You want to be able to quickly look and see if your efforts have been working.  You don’t want to get to the end of 2009 and realize that you worked the whole year but the strategy was not as effective financially as you hoped!  Keep track of what works and focus on the most profitable strategies first.  If something is not working, don’t wait six months to change direction.

Now go set some goals!

(PS next year I will be selling huge Post Its!)

Power of Audio on Your Website

This week we had an amazing visit from a pastor in a small town.  As many of you know my husband pastors a church in Puebla, Mexico.  About three years ago he began to add downloadable audio preachings to the church website, http://www.iglesiacristianabautista.com.  Little did we fully understand the impact that one site was going to have on the lives of hundreds of people. If you have any type of informational website and don’t have audio, read the following summary of how one simple addition to your website can have a tremendous effect.

A pastor had been pastoring for over 20 years in a small town in Mexico and had 30 people attending his church.  The small town he pastors in does not have internet access or most of today’s modern conveniences.  About three years ago while visiting another town and searching the internet for some information, he stumbled upon the website www.iglesiacristianabautista.com.  He found that the website contained many preachings about soulwinning, evangelism, and how to build your church.  He began to download the preachings to his MP3 player and take them back to his church so that the rest of the church congregation could listen to the preachings.  The church members had a great desire to reach others for Christ but did not know exactly how to do it.  After listening to the preachings about soulwinning, the church members and teens of the church began to go out and reach people in their community.  Every time the pastor visited the larger town he downloaded more preachings and brought them back to his church so they could continue to listen to them.  They finally heard about a soulwinning conference that was going to be held in Pastor Kevin Wynne’s church in Mexico City.  The pastor attended the conference and met a pastor and friend of ours, Pastor Victor Castillo in Texcoco, Mexico. 

Fast forward three years to this week.  Pastor Victor Castillo had invited the pastor from the small town to come to preach to his church in Texcoco.   As they were driving through Puebla, the pastor began to explain to Pastor Victor Castillo how his church had grown from 30 people to an astounding 120 in the last few years due to the impact of listening to the preachings from a pastor named Pastor Arturo Munoz and asked him if he knew him!  As we are good friends he called us up and a few hours later they had lunch in a local restaurant where my husband, Pastor Arturo Munoz heard this amazing story.  The pastor explained that each month he now travels to the large town close to his to download the preachings and takes them back to his church so that they can listen.  He said that all the teens in his church know my husband by name and would be very excited to be able to now see a picture of him and know that their pastor met him in person.  He also asked if my husband could please upload some new preachings as they had already listened to all of the preachings from November!  How exciting is that! 

As I heard this amazing story I remembered another amazing story about a church in the country of Columbia.  While we were visiting churches for four months in 2008, we ran into some missionaries that are pastoring in Columbia.  They said that everyone in their church know us as each Sunday after their services, they log in to the site www.iglesiacristianabautista.com and watch our live streaming preaching services!  They also subscribe in readers and download the preachings to listen to throughout the week. 

What a tremendous blessing it is to know that the power of God’s word is being spread throughout the world through our efforts of learning and using multimedia on the internet.  If you are pastoring a church or running a business and still don’t have audio on your website, now is the time to get started! 

AVG Anti Virus Software Customer Service Nightmare

As many of my friends on stompernet.com have recommended using AVG anti-virus software I decided to try this over the popular but system hog Norton. For the very first day of the free 30 day trial of the AVG software, I have tried to purchase the full version to no success.  The first day I downloaded the software and filled out the form to purchase and handed over my American Express.  Two days later I got an email saying that the transaction did not go through.  Okay.  Maybe American Express did not let it go through as they are sometimes very strict about charges on the internet due to protecting their customers from fraudulent charges.  Instead of calling American Express to figure it out, I pulled out the Mastercard.  Two days later same email.  Transaction could not go through.  Maybe their system is down?  Let’s wait and try again later.  A few weeks pass and I try again this time via paypal.  No luck.  Two days later another email.  Try a fourth time.  Still no luck.  Finally I send an email explaining that I cannot purchase their software and the response I get indicates that their customer service people either can’t or don’t want to read English.  No, AVG, you are not going to find my order number as I can’t place an order!  If you are listening AVG, please fix your order processing system before I have to purchase Norton!

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Dear Nicole,

Thank you for your email.

Unfortunately we have been unsuccessful in searching for your
purchased AVG License Number in our customer database.

To identify your purchase, please provide us with following
information:
- Company name (if applicable):
- Registered name (individual):
- Registered e-mail address:
- Country:
- Address:
- AVG product and the number of licenses:
- Date of AVG purchase (month and year)

Where did you purchase your AVG product?

If you purchased AVG in our on-line shop, please include a copy of the
e-mail that you received from Digital River GmbH (element 5), our
processing company or provide your reference number and order number

If purchased from an AVG Authorized Reseller, please provide the name
of that Reseller.

If your AVG product is already installed, you can find and verify your
AVG License/Sales Number using the following steps:

In AVG 7.5:
Please go to the License window of the AVG Control Center (Information
-> Activate AVG).

In AVG 8.0:
Please go to the License component in AVG (Open AVG -> double-click
the License component).

We recommend that you use copy&paste method to enter the AVG License
Number, as described at:
http://www.avg.com/faq/?num=988

We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Best regards,

Antoniya Zaharieva
Customer Service
AVG Technologies

website: http://www.avg.com

———————————————————————————-

Did you know that AVG Internet Security software and its virus
detection technology have won numerous industry awards and
certifications?
If you want to find out more, please visit:
http://www.avg.com/doc/76
On Mon Dec 08 21:13:44 CET 2008, Nicole Munoz wrote:

> Full name: Nicole Munoz
> Email address:
> Company: none
>
> License number: n/a
> License type: Nothing
> Product title: Internet Security 3-pack
> Number of licenses: n/a
>
> OS: Vista
> Service pack: n/a
> Program version: 8.0
> Build version: n/a
> Virus DB version: n/a
> Area: Sales Number
> Issue: Purchase
>
> Issue description:
> I have tried to purchase the software 4 times unsuccesfully.  I tried to purchase with a Mastercard, American Express, and via paypal.  All three times I waited 2 days each and the transactions did not go through.  I just tried via paypal right now and I hope it goes through.  My trial version has expired and I want to buy the full version.  Please look into your payment processing system asap.
>
> Country: MEXICO
> Choices sequence: 0B-1B-2D-3M-4C-5ET-6EQ
>
>
 

Ideainterior.com is now in Puebla!

A lesson in marketing from Idea Interior

Idea Interior is the closest thing to Ikea in Mexico and I am glad to announce that we now have it in Puebla, Mexico! I have to say that I am hardly ever impressed with the marketing skills of new stores in Mexico, but Idea Interior sure knows their stuff.

Before the Grand Opening: A good name and good advertising

Prior to the big grand opening, Idea Interior announced that they were coming to Puebla by putting huge red banners all over the entire construction site.  Although we had no idea of what products were going to be sold, we guessed from the name that they would be selling furniture.  The huge red banners had the name and the date that Idea Interior would be opening.  They also had the unique selling proposition displayed on their banners that they would have over 10,000 square feet of floor space to see all their products.  The location chosen for the new store was ideal.  A new Wal-Mart was being built so they purchased the entire second floor of the new shopping center.  Timing was great.  They opened a few months after the new Wal-Mart opened and just before the holidays.  Opening just after Wal-Mart did, they were able to get foot traffic from Wal-Mart without having to compete directly with Wal-Marts grand opening. 

Opening Day

Although we missed the grand opening, we visited Idea Interior just a few days after it opened.  We were greeted at the entrance of the new shopping center by friendly sales reps dressed in red t-shirts and carrying huge signs, passing out well designed marketing brochures telling us about the new store convenienty located on the second floor.  Although we were going to get some quick shopping done at Wal-Mart, we decided to take a "quick" look around.  We were quickly impressed. 

Our visit to Idea Interior

Walking in the doors of Idea Interior the first thing you see are all the products laid out in a typical apartment like setting in the typical living space of 600 square feet.  Yes I said 600 square feet… and that is for the entire home in Mexico.  Puebla has a lot of new construction and the majority of the homes will range from 50-75 square meters with the average being 60 square meters… for the entire home.  The home usually includes the living and dining room, a small kitchen, 2-3 bedrooms, and a laundry area usually located in the back patio. We lived in such a home for our first 5 years in Puebla so I speak from experience of how important it is to be able to be extremely organized and have many items that can be decorative but extremely functional as well.  I digress.  Needless to say, we were impressed.  The first thing we see when we walk in was all the products laid out in the way they can be used in the home!  A complete kitchen was set up with fridge, chairs, tables, tableware, tablecloths, magnets, and so on! A very small bathroom was set up with a sink with built in cabinet for sale.  The sink literally measured six inches from wall to the edge of the sink.  The faucet was pointed sideways and a small cabinet was under the extremely space concious sink.  Trust me… Mexican bathrooms are usually very small so a small space conscious sink is a great item to sell in Mexico!  Two bedrooms were set up on display as well as a living room with couches, bookshelves, and even books.  Their marketing did not stop with just showing how the items could be used.  On every single item there was a little tag with the price and the words, "This product can be found in …. department."  Amazingly as well, the prices were extremely competitive. We are used to seeing products marked up 200-300% of what you would find them for in the states.  This was a great breath of fresh air! Yes, we were impressed.

As we walked a few steps into the store we saw some more product displays set up as living areas, but this time targeting the owners of larger living spaces.  This was great!  They started with showing how you can use their items in the smallest of spaces, and then upgraded to showing how to use their products in larger spaces!  As we continued our journey we quickly realized that this store was not set up like the typical furniture or home interior store.  Idea Interior did something I had never seen a store do before.  As we continued in, we found that we did not have to make a decision of what we wanted to look at first.  The entire store was set up on a single path.  You had to follow the path through the entire store to see things and there were NO exits!  (Yes of course there were emergency exits.) There was even a map outlining the entire walking course through their store showing you how long it was going to take you to get to a certain section.  After passing the initial entrance, the rest of the store had more of a warehouse type of feel to it.  Having already seen how all the products could be used, we did not mind at all the warehouse atmosphere.  Now of course if you see something, you will want to add it to your cart immediately, as going back to that place where you first saw it, would quickly become a hassle.  But how many people actually go back for something.  Most purchases are impulse buys.  By having the store set up where it is inconvenient to go back to pick up, I believe will further encourage people to add things to their cart.  They can of course always take it out later! 

As we made our way through the store, something happened to us that had never happened before in Puebla, Mexico!  I know this will be hard to believe, and for some very hard to understand, but the workers in the store actually said "Hi" to us!  We were literally in shock when a guy carrying a cleaning bucket who was obviously part of the janitorial staff, looked us directly in the eyes, smiled, and said hi!  To our utter disbelief, this happened no less than 5 times before we made it out of the store.  Every time we walked by a worker, they greeted us!  What is even better is that they were not annoying sales people following us around the store trying to sell us things.  They were just simply friendly.  Digressing here… I don’t know about you, but I absolutely hate it when an unsmiling, unfriendly salesperson follows me around the store, two feet behind me, trying to wait on me… so annoying.  First they are in my personal space, second, they are not helpful, they don’t know enough to answer quesitons, and the net effect is to make me to want to get out of the store and annoying situation as fast as possible.  Not Idea Interior.  The workers were friendly and I knew they were there if I needed to ask a question. 

Idea Interior did not stop here though.  Half way through our visit of their 10,000 square feet I was feeling a little thirsty and tired.  Guess what they had!  A little rest area with a couple couches, a soda and snack machine, tables and magazines!  We bought a soda, sat down, rested, checked out the magazines, and basically got re-energized so we could finish our shopping trip. 

As we left, I noticed that they only thing missing is that they did not get my email address so that they could follow up the visit with a targeted email campaign.  I would have had someone standing at the exit with free soda and snacks and ask the customers as they left if they would like a free soda or snack and then ask them to take a quick survey and get their email address.  When we went back a few weeks later, I noticed that they now had a raffle promotion going on where they were offering a free entry in the raffle in exchange for contact info… so we were just too early for that.  I have to say, we were impressed.

Internet Marketing Lessons I learned from Idea Interior

1. Have a good name.  Be sure the domain name of my website is descriptiive enough so that people can figure out what I am selling just from the name.
2. Announce my site ahead of time.  Even if I just put up a name and date, announce the site to build up anticipation and advertise it.
3. USP.  No, not UPS.  Have a unique selling proposition that helps set my site apart from the competition.
4. JV Opportunities.  Look for joint venture opportunities to get traffic and customers from other non-competing sites.
5. Advertising.  Create great landing pages that advertise the offers and USP of my site and send the traffic to these landing pages when they come into the site.
6. Creative Copy.  Always show your customers how they can use your proudcts by using the FAB, feature, advantage, benefit method of copywriting.
7. Have different copy for different customers.  Think of your market and craft your salescopy for the different markets.
8. Live Chat. Be friendly to my customers and just say Hi!  Be accesible to them with an 800 number.
9. Funnel Marketing.  Have a specific sales funnel for my customers and know where they are at any given time in the sales funnel.
10. Look for ways to provide extra services that don’t cost me a lot but will mean a lot to my customers.
11. Create a list.  Don’t forget to get those emails so you can build your email list to send out future marketing campaigns!

 

Google Search Based Keyword Tool

Googles search based keyword tool is great for finding better paying adsense keywords for a website!  You an put in your website url and google will give you a list of keywords and the ppc value of each of them.  Check it out here: http://google.com/sktool/#

The tool works best with websites associated with your google adsense account.  It will still give you results if the website is not associated with your account but the results are more limited.

The tool does however work really well with foreign language sites.  Having tested it on a few of my Spanish websites I have found that it provides a pretty good list of suggested words for adsense purposes.