Failure is Just a Stepping Stone

In today’s economic climate, it’s safe to say that there are businesses that are failing. Because of this, it seems a good time to be reminded of the real purpose of failure – to be a stepping stone and a learning experience.

There are steps that one can take when faced with failure – or even just plain old hard times for that matter. Maybe you’re in the same boat as many online retailers (or any “traditional” business) in terms of profits. Sometimes it’s just a matter of redirecting efforts, and sometimes a business just won’t be able to pull through. Knowing how to deal with failure will help you as an individual to continue your climb to success and keep you from plummeting into a downward spiral of continued disappointment.

So how can you maintain a positive attitude when the very business you have been living and breathing is faltering? Separate yourself. That’s right. You are not the sum of the failures and setbacks you have experienced in your life. If that were the case, you would never have learned the simple task of walking. But because, as a toddler, you lacked the capability to think of falling as failure, you picked yourself back up and set back to the task of accomplishing your goal. How is it that children seem to be braver than we adults at times?

Being able to understand that A failure doesn’t make YOU a failure is huge. Without that understanding, your very belief may become dangerously perilous. So let’s just remember that we can walk, and all will be fine. Just keep taking one step at a time and you will be back on your path of success in no time.

Change your perspective of failure in general. Here’s a new way of looking at things. Failure is actually an integral part of success, for it provides the learning experiences that we so badly need in order to fill the big shoes we are trying to jump into. Everyone loves the idea as being viewed as prominent and successful vs. being seen as a failure. But the truth is, we need to fail. If we are not failing, we are not putting it all on the line and innovating new ways of doing things.

Should you find yourself in the position of having to dip into savings, having to get a regular 9 to 5 job, or even selling some things off in an effort to see your real dreams come to fruition, don’t waste time in despair. Talk to your partners, your friends, your mentors about the feelings you are having. But then stop talking and start doing. It is in the actions we take after a perceived failure that success has the opportunity to grow.

Failure strikes even the most prominent of figures. Here’s a great example:

• Family forced out of their home. He had to work to support them
• Mother died
• Lost his job
• Ran for state legislature and lost
• Wanted to go to law school but couldn’t get it
• Borrowed money to start a business. Ended up bankrupt within 12 months. Spent the next 17 years paying off his debt.
• A WIN! Elected to state legislature
• Fiancé died, leaving him alone and heartbroken
• A total nervous breakdown put him in bed for six months
• Defeated in run for House Speaker
• Defeated in run for nomination for U.S. Congress
• A WIN! Elected to Congress
• Lost re-nomination
• Rejected for officer position
• Defeated in run for U.S. Senate
• Defeated in run for Vice President
• Defeated in run for U.S. Senate
• Elected President of the United States in 1860!

Now you probably know the history of Abraham Lincoln quite well. Here is why all of it has been displayed once again. Abraham Lincoln is not known for his failures. He is known for his enormous impact on the world. Had he not bounced back from failure, he would not be known at all. Failure is just a stepping stone. Do not let setbacks stop you when they are meant to make you stronger.

All About Hashtags

One thing is certain: the internet world is constantly changing. This is the challenge for those of us who make a living utilizing its power. But as we keep up with the latest trends, we can come across interesting ways to capitalize on the social media front.

One example of change on the web is Twitter. Seemingly, this social site came out of nowhere and jetted right to the top of the popularity list. There are all sorts of people on Twitter, tweeting about anything and everything that comes to their minds. While many Tweeters are there strictly for social purposes, there seems to be a strong emergence of business people treading their way through the Twitterdom.

Hashtags were created to create groupings within the site; an organizational tool of sorts. They are a popular way of getting focused attention to your Tweets. Additionally, you can search hashtags to find tweets that are relevant to research you may be conducting, or just relevant to what you want to know about. For instance, if one would like to find tweets relating to article marketing, you can perform a twitter search for all tweets specific to that by searching “#article marketing”.

If you look further into the use of hashtags, you will discover that they have somewhat of a limited fan base at the moment. While their was a surge in popularity for a time, as well as a usefulness, overuse by some has caused popularity to wane. During the 2007 San Diego wildfires, hashtag use was instrumental in alerting the public to current events. They also were used as a call to action on the part of emergency services. This shows just how useful hashtags can be.

When considering the use of hashtags in your Tweets, it may be worth the time to perform a bit of research to see if your particular keyword is already being used in a hashtag thread. As you use hashtags, the key is to use them sparingly and to use them when you really want something to be followed. By looking around a little bit on Twitter, it is easy to find users who hashtag just about every Tweet they type. Really, nobody wants to read “I had the most amazing #chocolate #milkshake from #Carl’s Jr. today!”
Remember, Twitter asks a simple question: “What are you doing?” Answer the question; use natural keywords, use hashtags sparingly when you really want to drive home a point or call attention to something. Some of the things that hashtags are good for are emergency situations or natural disasters, as proved in 2007. Hashtags can also be used when tweeting quotes from others. “Highly developed spirits often encounter resistance from mediocre minds.”~Albert Einstein #quote
Hashtags may have their place, but Twitter IS a social media site directed at fulfilling peoples’ curiosity about one another in the here and now. Part of using social media in your business is to gain visibility…and familiarity. Overuse of hashtags can make your posts seem aimed not at the individual, but at the inner workings of the site itself.

Don’t lose sight of the other benefits of social media marketing. Pairing high touch with high tech is the way to build an enormous following. Hashtags, used sparingly, can be a part of your Twitter life, but shouldn’t take over the personal touch.

Hubpages, One More Thing To Outsource Now

As you are probably well aware by now, hubpages are one more avenue you can travel down to increase the traffic coming to your website. However, there may be many who have yet to turn down Hubpage Street due to lack of knowledge or just plain lack of time. Let’s be clear, there is no good reason for you NOT to take advantage of every single road that will bring more visitors to your site. Higher traffic equals soaring profits equals the success you set out for. So let’s get to it!

If you have not begun your walk down the Social media path, starting that walk with hubpages may be a great idea. And here’s the way to get started today. Outsource this task to a writer or company who can write effective articles for you. Writing quality articles is one way that many online businesses gain visibility. But the thing with articles is that they are time consuming. You as the business owner are dedicated to those tasks which directly build your business. Therefore, you are to assign writing tasks, not attempt to complete them yourself.

Outsourcing hubpages is a task you can do relatively quickly. Through word of mouth, online directories, or companies which specialize in SEO and marketing, you can find quality writers to create articles directly related submission. So while you want a quality writer, you will also want to make sure you work with a person or company that can handle the behind-the-scenes portion of hubpages as well.

In order to find the right tags to use in your hubpages, some research is necessary. It is not difficult. In fact, it is a simple Google search. But the real issue here is not the level of difficulty of the task; but the amount of time it will take you to research both keywords and tags for your hubpages. This is why it is highly recommended to find a quality writer or company that will invest the necessary time.

While you may pay a little bit more for a professional company to handle these sorts of tasks (I know how tempting it can be to outsource to the lowest bidder), this is just another investment into your business – your future. When you continually look at the big picture, which is to drive as much quality traffic to your site as possible, then you can easily see the necessity in hiring the right person or company to write your articles and hubpages the first time around.

In building a high functioning, profitable website, outsourcing is a must. It is the fastest way to get ahead of the competition that may be lagging in taking a step towards their success. Outsourcing to quality professionals can move you in the right direction quickly and consistently. Your job is to seek out the right people to do the job and then let them run with it. Hubpages and other articles are some of the easiest things that you can outsource, but also some of the most important tasks you will assign. Do it right the first time and you will quickly reap the rewards of outsourcing to your business.

Outsourcing for your Small Business

Small businesses, even home-based businesses, can follow the trend of outsourcing. For quite some time, large businesses have been on track with outsourcing activities such as payroll and accounts payable / accounts receivable; and now more and more business owners are realizing that there really is something to the outsourcing game.

One thing to keep in mind when beginning your journey into outsourcing work to a professional not employed by your company is that it does involve a fair amount of time and commitment. While finding a person or a company who will take on the activities you wish to outsource can be relatively simple, you’ll want to make sure to check work samples and references of candidates you are considering.

Once you have found the person or company with whom you will work, there is sometimes a period of adjustment for both you, the company, and also for the employees you do have working directly for you. Transitions can go much easier when you have a clear plan spelled out and meet with members of your staff to ensure understanding. It is important that everyone has a crystal clear understanding of their role, and their responsibilities when work begins to be outsourced to others.

Outsourcing companies, most of the time, will be good at what they do. For instance, many online businesses engage in outsourcing their SEO, or their Google Adwords campaigns because these are tasks that require a lot of time and almost constant attention to changes. Care should be taken, however, in considering an outsourcing company. There have been a few that make promises they just can’t keep in order to earn more business.

When choosing which tasks you will outsource, you want to consider what your point of difference is when compared to your competitors. If prices are the selling point of your business, then outsourcing customer service to an overseas company could be well worth the savings you will receive on the payroll side of things. However, if your company’s highlight is that nobody can beat your customer service, then you definitely want a full time staff member who will be invested in providing that customer service beyond what your competitors can offer.

While outsourcing is becoming more widely used with every inch of web growth, the best thing you as the business owner can do is analyze where you can take full advantage and see the most benefit from outsourcing. There are some tasks that you will definitely want to keep in house. Those tasks will differ from one business to another depending on how it is run. Tip-toeing into outsourcing is not a bad thing. There’s nothing wrong with trying out a few providers to get a feel for how they can best meet your needs. In fact, beginning in such a manner would be more advisable than entering into a long term contract with a company up front.

Some examples of tasks that can be outsourced are: multi-media, social networking such as blogging and twitter posts, sales and marketing, presentations, website design, SEO, and writing. These are only a few of the many tasks that can help your company grow at a lower cost than you might otherwise pay. Take your time, but give outsourcing some serious consideration.

Play the Popularity Game Linking to Build Your Business

It’s no secret that link building is one way to increase the visibility – and credibility – of your ecommerce site. So powerful, in fact, is this practice that it has the ability to catapult your site to higher levels of success. However, on the flip side of that is that improper linking from outside sources can be deemed useless and earn your site negative attention from the search engines. That’s right! Throw basically useless links to your site and you can find yourself in no man’s land of search engine world.

 

So, while it’s easy to see the validity of using link building as an SEO strategy; it’s equally easy to understand why not every internet business is eager to delve into building links to their sites. Taking the time to learn the ropes of “link popularity” is well worth it when you are serious about seeing your internet business through to ultimate success. With a few tips, you should have plenty of fire power to get started.

 

Let’s start here: there are two benefits of requesting links from other sites; search engines like links from reputable sites (key word: reputable), and when you receive links from other reputable sites, visitors to that site may click that link and you therefore receive some extra visibility and traffic. Keeping this in mind as you seek to request links from other sites will keep you focused on the real goals of link building.

 

Relevancy is key when setting out to choose the sites you want to request links from. For instance, if you are selling an e-book about weight loss, it would not be relevant for you to request a link from a site that sells patio furniture. The two are completely unrelated and hence will result in a negative response from search engines. An e-book on weight loss could receive relevant links from health clubs, nutritionists and other health and exercise related sites.

 

Additionally, building links with other sites is not a business building activity that is done one time. No, this is an ongoing task that requires time and energy. Many companies that are serious about this task assign an employee to handle it diligently. The other option could be to outsource your link building activities to a company that specializes in SEO strategies. Because outsourcing is so popular, there are multiple options for those looking to engage in this practice for linking.

 

When it comes to building links, there are several tools available to assist with analysis. Some are free and some are not. Finding free tools can be done by searching through areas such as Google’s webmaster tool or Yahoo Site Explorer. Firefox also has a tool, SEO for Firefox. Again, time will be invested into finding the sites that will be deemed most relevant and then requesting and receiving the links you want from them. Keep at it, because from the buzz going around this is a business building activity that is definitely worth the time you will invest.

Tracking Trends on Social Media Sites

Building a super successful ecommerce business really is something you can do from your Lazy Boy recliner! That doesn’t mean you should, of course, it just means that there are numerous tools in place to help you stay at the top of your game at all times. And at all times, the game is about keywords and relevance.

 

When running ad campaigns and attempting to drive more traffic to your site, keywords are of the utmost importance. Go too vague, and you loose consumers who are looking for something specific. Research is absolutely necessary before you begin any adword campaign, and also periodically throughout your marketing efforts. The following tools will help you gain valuable knowledge regarding keywords.

 

When searching the latest and greatest social media sites for buzz on keywords related to your business niche, it is important that you look at the words used in conjunction with your keywords, for oftentimes users are simply mentioning something and a particular keyword happens to be included. The goal is to find out if there is a buzz related to what you have to offer, and what that buzz is.

 

Lexicon is one tool that will help you get your hand on the pulse of the general public. This application is used with the popular social media site, Facebook. To utilize Lexicon on Facebook, you need to first have a Facebook account, for this application is used in conjunction with the site. Lexicon searches wall posts to obtain a general conversation held throughout the site; pretty fascinating, if you ask me.

 

Once logged on to Facebook, simply search “lexicon” (quotations not necessary) and the application will become available. You can use this application to search for specific keywords related to your business. For example, if you sell pizza, you will see that in December, relatively few people post about pizza. Perhaps this indicates that many are still recovering from their Thanksgiving day festivities. Try out Lexicon for your niche and see what sort of buzz you tune into.

 

And then there is Twitter, the new craze that has wings flapping and fingers strumming keyboards all across the globe. For searching Tweets, there is Twist. Twist was actually launched in 2008, but not everyone has caught on to the benefits of Twitter tools for business just yet. What Twist does is similar to Lexicon, but for the Twitter site only. Twist finds all mentions of your specified terms in messages and graphs them over time. Using Twist, you can even click on any specific term and go directly to recent Tweets for that phrase.

 

Using Twist, you can compare terms against one another. For instance, let’s take the pizza business again. Comparing pizza to burgers, you will find that pizza wins out every time as far as mentions go. From this data, you could draw the conclusion that the pizza business would fair better than a burger joint.

 

Now, you are most likely not selling pizza or burgers, I know; but examples are what they are. The main point of these applications is to help you see what the general public’s awareness is on any given topic. When your focus is to build your business, it is the voice of the general public that matters the most; and therefore utilizing social media sites and their tools will do the best job of telling you what you need to know.

Strategic Internet Marketing

Even during times of recession when it seems like many major companies are focused on downsizing, you can grow your business in such a way that it will thrive once the good times begin rolling again. The internet marketing strategies that you engage in over the next several months will lead you right down the path you want.

 

Consider this: more than two thirds of all consumers visit the Web for when seeking information on their desired type of product or service. It is due to this reason that the majority of companies have switched their marketing gears over recent years. However, that does not mean that one should focus solely on internet marketing techniques to build their business. Press releases in your local paper and of course stellar customer service are still good ways to grow your clientele.

 

Email marketing is a strong strategy, especially when the target audience is prior customers or those you may have met at market fairs of some sort. People who have willingly given you their email will be more likely to peruse a usable newsletter full of tips and information that will help make their lives easier. Remember, when you have something of value to offer, your word will be read.

 

At a time when people are seeing less revenue generated, it may seem like the time to abandon costly pay per click campaigns. I wouldn’t necessarily say stop this practice altogether, because you want to maintain high visibility. However, slower times can be the best times to review and analyze the pay per click campaigns and Adword campaigns you are running. Minimizing to very focused terms may help you gain more relevant and qualified traffic.

 

In fact, investing some time in really taking a good look at all of your internet marketing strategies can give you a good picture of what is really working for you and what is not. Change is inevitable and making changes will definitely be a necessity for you at some point in time. Looking at results from your current efforts should show you the direction you want to focus on in the coming months, and will also show you mistakes you have been making. Mistakes are wonderful learning experiences if you grow from them.

 

For instance, if you have been submitting articles to directories for the past year and you’re not seeing much traffic come from them, consider changing the location of these articles. Perhaps the same articles would receive more attention if placed in a blog relevant to your niche product or service. Perhaps you need to look at outsourcing blog writing to someone who has the time and expertise to read and respond to blog posts on your behalf. Perhaps creating articles for Squidoo and Hub pages is the way to get more exposure in a social networking manner. The real point is that if you try looking in different directions for your internet marketing, you just may be surprised by some astounding results.

Using Google Keywords Tool

When making decisions about marketing campaigns, PPC campaigns and general business strategies, it is wise to utilize any and all tools available to you. The more the merrier definitely applies here. One of the best tools around is Google keyword tool. Using this free application, you can learn much about the direction your business can and should go for maximum growth.

Here are the steps to using Google’s keyword tool for research:

• Choose the country or countries in which you make marketing efforts. You can also choose languages in this field as well. For those businesses that target more than one country or language, multiple options can be chosen by performing a “Control + Click”.

• Enter Keywords in one of two ways: by choosing your own keywords, or by entering a specific URL from which to pull words. By using a URL, Google will pull keywords off of the site you input and generate a list of related keywords. When choosing your own keywords, you can import words from your Adwords campaign or use a list from a team brainstorming meeting.

Once your words are entered into the search field, click to use synonyms or not to use them. Sometimes using synonyms can return irrelevant keywords, but it is recommended to try it when looking for new keywords. Click “Get Keyword Ideas”.

Using a URL to obtain keywords can result in new words you may not have thought of previously. Here’s how: perform a Google search for your general niche. For example, if you sell patio chairs, perform a search for “patio chairs” and use the top ranking search result as the URL for your keyword search. Using your competitors URLs for keyword research is a very wise move.

• To get the most relevant results for your keyword search, use Exact Match keywords. Once your keywords are displayed, look through columns and remove any columns that do not contain relevant information. This will simplify your search process. Also, sort your results based on relevance to save time.

• Once you have simplified your keyword list online, you can download the list into spreadsheet form so you can work with it offline. This is where you can remove keywords that are not completely relevant to your site.

If your site sells a variety of products, performing a search based on specific lines within your inventory will return the best keywords for you to use in marketing your business.

Projecting The Best Possible Business Image

“Mirror, Mirror on the wall..” We’ve all heard this phrase countless times since childhood. Rarely does one sit back to ponder the meaning behind the scene of Snow White, in which the ghastly stepmother has trained her trusty reflective friend to give just the answer she sought; but it really does give you something to think about as a business owner.

 

How often do you really take a step back from the daily grind of your business to ponder what image you are presenting? If this isn’t something you are doing – or if you are gazing into a trick mirror of your own – then how can you possibly reach the goals you have set before you?

 

Creating and maintaining a professional image is especially important for those who run a small business from home. In a home business, there is the air of relaxation and casualness that wouldn’t necessarily be present in an office environment. Taking certain specific steps can help you build your home business effectively and professionally – even from your living room.

 

Ok, the living room may not be the best choice here. Let’s just get very basic. When working from home, setting up an organized home office is very important. Working in an open room rarely works for anyone since there are so many distractions.

 

The phone is an important aspect of any business; but here we are addressing small home businesses. Take care to maintain a positive, professional attitude on the phone regardless of the type of business you run. Using proper grammar and speaking clearly and effectively to your clients and suppliers will set you off on the right foot as far as creating a good business image goes.

 

When speaking with anyone related to your business, you need to be in a quiet environment. No kids, dogs or birds should be flapping at your feet when you are taking a business call. Additionally, if you are in a place where you have nothing to write on or cannot give the caller your full attention, it may be best to let the call go to voice mail. Speaking of voice mail; when you run a small business, changing your voice mail message daily (with the day and date mentioned) presents an image of conscientiousness that everyone will notice and appreciate.

 

One thing that many people do when they run a business in which they deal with clients is to give their time too freely. Think about this: You would not just walk into your physician’s office if you wanted to have a checkup. No, you would make an appointment because you respect your physician’s time. Your time is just as valuable and your clients must understand this.

 

State your business hours, or the times that you can meet with clients. Do this even if this is your very first client and you have nothing else on the books. This sets the tone for your new working relationship and tells the client that you respect your own time. When they see this, they too will respect your time as they should.

 

While there are other steps you can take to build up a good image through marketing and advertising, the inner workings make the best impression and need to be handled right away.

Moving Ahead During the Recession

In tough economic times, it is only natural that business owners become frightened. Millions are faced with the reality of less money coming in, which means less money to spend. We have seen the affects of that over the past year as countless small businesses have closed their doors due to poor sales numbers. Who wouldn’t be frightened when observing this day in and day out for months on end?

This is the time for business owners, especially those on the web, to take a moment – a deep breath – and think very clearly. Why? Because it is possible for your business to actually experience a time of growth during times of recession if you play your cards right. While it can cause uneasy feelings to continue spending when profits are down, a 2003 study proved that doing so can lead a company through a recession and give them a hefty advantage on the competition long after the recession has ended.

The way to move full steam ahead is to not jump on the bandwagon of trimming fat and slashing prices to non-profitable levels. Downturned economic times are when you should focus on your company’s core competitive strengths, foster relationships with customers, and improve the effectiveness of your management team (or management skills of the one manager you have). Additionally, this is the time to hold prices at profitable levels.

One step to take is to closely monitor your competitors. See, these are times when many of those you are up against will take drastic measures: decreasing or completing ending marketing campaigns and investing, cutting necessary staff and adding to the work load of those team members still standing, putting off necessary research and product development plans. These are just a few of the ways companies are scaling back, but all are to their detriment. While cuts are a necessary part of surviving a recession, you can come out on top by giving serious consideration to where cuts can be made, and also where you may be able to continue spending.

It is important to understand that continued spending in a time where we seem to live in economic purgatory may cut into your personal pocketbook. This is the risk that is taken on when one decides to go into business; and one that can be handled gingerly throughout hard times, leading to long term growth and profitability.

When times are tough, you as a business owner can take advantage of lowered advertising prices or lower prices from your suppliers. There are several ways in which you can maintain revenues and keep your business afloat if you consistently seek them. Another aspect of taking advantage of the economic climate is in the talent pool. There are so many people in the job market right now with stellar qualifications, making this a time to snatch up a few people to add to your organization is a great idea. With few jobs to choose from and competition so high, you have the opportunity to add highly skilled and qualified team members to your staff that you may not have been able to get before.

Growth is possible even in times when people are tightening their purse strings. Look through your organization to find how you can improve client relations, build up staff morale, and continue to press onward and upward.

Analyzing Your Business

Every now and then, it is good to reflect upon the goals you set forth for your business. This should be relatively easy because the main goal (your version of success) should always be right in the forefront of your mind. Even in all the daily activity that goes into building and maintaining the growth of a business, the vision is at the very core of all that you do.

 

To go hand in hand with this reflection is a thorough analysis of how the internal workings of your business – your staff, your vendors, your product or service – are measuring up to the tasks that will get you where you want to be. This can be one of the most important jobs a business owner can take on periodically, especially in times when the economy is affecting most businesses.

 

Looking at the specific strengths and weaknesses of your business will give you a clear picture of where you need to make changes in order to achieve optimal growth and will also show you where opportunity lies. For instance, new trends in the marketplace may pose somewhat of a threat if your business is not utilizing powerful tools that are out there; but by recognizing these new tools, you can evaluate their performance and put them to use once you have proven they are effective.

 

Here’s what you’ve got to remember: be completely honest in your evaluation of each member of your staff and each vendor you work with, as well as the value of your product or service. Without complete honesty, this is simply a work of fiction and a waste of time. It’s never easy admitting to shortcomings of your own, let alone pointing out the shortcomings of your customer service staff or your managers. Difficult as it may be, it must be done. This is your business – your dreams – at stake.

 

When listing strengths of your business, you need to be somewhat stingy. This means that the strengths you list need to be above and beyond what your competitors offer. If others’ shipping times are the same as yours, then you could not list that as a strength. But if you offer some sort of a guarantee that they do not, this could be a strength.

 

When considering weaknesses, you’ve got to go through your entire organization; from individual team members to tools of the trade to your actual product or service. Are you offering what people want? Is your customer service filling orders in a timely manner and always professional on the phone? Is there specific expertise that is missing from your organization? Are all of your suppliers working well to fill the orders you provide?

 

As you know, the name of the game is opportunity. And for those who are truly motivated, opportunity is found everywhere. This means that you can find opportunity even in your weaknesses. For instance, the supplier who is not working out so well will lead you to search for a new supplier. Doing this just may land you into the position of getting better deals on products and increasing revenue, not to mention happy customers who get their products on time!

 

Analysis is a must for anyone serious about reaching their goals in business and in life. While it may be a somewhat painful process, no pain no gain!

Successful Marketing

In the world of clicks and conversions, the way to success is in building a website that one can feel comfortable perusing through. You want your customers to feel like they can kick off their shoes and stay awhile; for the truth is, if they don’t do this on your site they will do it on someone else’s. This is true regardless of the type of site you are building, and whether or not you are offering a service or selling the latest and greatest of products.

If you’re new to the internet world and just getting y our site off the ground, then you’re starting at square 1, which is actually a really good place to be! If you’re site has been up and running for awhile and not producing the results you’d like, then paying a visit to square one could reward you with some great benefits. Square one is simple. Figure out who your target audience is. This is a basic fundamental that, believe it or not, some people still miss.

The reason why it is so vitally important to pinpoint your target audience is because every last bit of marketing you put out there is geared towards meeting their needs. If you don’t market to your target, you will, well…miss the mark. You can determine your target audience by considering the following generalities: what is the age range of those who would benefit from your product or service? Is your product or service a necessity or a luxury item? Would men or women be more drawn to your product or service? While there are other questions you can ask yourself, these can help you take the first steps in your internet marketing campaign.

It seems that most people looking to make a decision about a product or service will do so by gathering information they find online. Therefore, it will help you to also perform your own online research so you can know what your competition is doing – and then do it better.

One way to do anything better is to include  video in your marketing campaign. While it seems an obvious winner, there are still plenty of sites out there that do not employ the power of video, and they will fall behind as more and more sites catch on to this trend. Finding a way, any way, to place video on your website,

or in your marketing campaigns will set you apart from others and give customers a reason to stay on your site longer.

Regardless of whether or not you use video to do this, the ultimate goal is to convey that you have something of value to offer visitors. This can be your best product, if you have many, or it can be the stellar service you can give them that nobody else can. You just need to remember that there ARE others out there who can offer the same service you are selling, or sell the same product. The question comes down to who can do it better. It is through your marketing that you show you are the clear front runner.

The Way To a Truly Powerful Press Release

Using press releases to build up your company’s reputation is a smart idea. First of all, press releases are an economical way to advertise. Second, a good press release tells the public about you or your company in third person form, which can – if written well – come across as a recommendation. But jumping right into writing a press release isn’t something for everyone. If you are really in a hurry to get started with putting good information out on the web, then I would highly recommend hiring a professional to write up your press release for you.

Why hire a professional when you are the one who knows all about your company? Simple: because the general public does not want to read a long information sheet detailing the history of ABC, Inc. Writing a release that contains general company information or what your company has done this week (unless it leans to the philanthropic side) will simply not get anyone’s attention.

The key to press releases is that you want to grab the reader’s attention in a short amount of time. Think about it like this: you wouldn’t strike up a conversation with someone in line at Starbucks and tell them the entire history of your company. If anything, you may make a few statements that will entice your target audience to want to know more. This is what you want your press release to do – just grab someone’s attention and get them to link back to your company page.

Step one is a great headline. You’ve got to put yourself in the shoes of the person you want to attract and think of a catchy headline that will make them read the entire press release. Say your company donates to a charity such as the local blood bank; your press release could say “ABC, Inc. Is Saving Lives Again”. This is marketing folks. If you’re boring, you won’t get read.

Next, your press release will need to be short, sweet and to the point. Avoid placing anything mundane into a press release. Also avoid putting in more information than absolutely necessary. Press releases need not be any longer than 200-400 words to grab attention. Remember, you can always link back to a full document with further information on what you are advertising. The point of your press release is to tease the reader to want to read more.

Press releases can also be a part of your SEO campaigns. Just as your web pages contain certain keywords with the right density so should anything you release out onto the web. Optimized releases have worked to increase rankings as well as traffic to a site, so go for it! Not everyone is set up for writing, so if you haven’t begun making the most of this marketing effort because writing your own press release is a daunting task, then find the help of a professional. The rewards are well worth the investment.

Master Site Manager Review

Looking for domain management and SEO Tracking Software? Look NO further.  My friend Don Schnure has done it again! If you are like me, you don’t just own 1 or 2 domains. In fact, my husband’s best friend says that I buy domains like some women buy SHOES. (Don’t tell that to zappos!)

Master Site Manager is the SOLUTION. You can easily keep track of where your domains are hosted and where they are registered.  No more manually keeping track of entries in an excel file!

The absolute BEST feature of Master Site Manager is Keyword tracking.  For each of your sites you can input a keyword and Master Site Manager will keep track of your rankings! Find out where you are ranking for each of your keywords at a glance and focus your efforts on the keywords you need to rank for.

Have SEO clients?  Then Master Site Manager is FOR YOU. Easily manage the SEO campaigns of your SEO clients.  Keep track of where they currently rank for keywords as well as where you have helped them improve!

Want to find out if your competition is catching up with you? Use Master Site Manager to see if your competition is targeting and improving in rankings in YOUR keywords.  Don’t delay!  Get your copy NOW!

More Than Meets The Eye

Bookmarking your favorite web pages has been something your web browser could do for some time now. Virtually every toolbar has a handy bookmark link that will easily store a user’s favorite pages right there on their computer. Typically, bookmarks are created for pages that a user visits often and doesn’t want to forget.

The problem with bookmarking on your personal computer was soon found, and thankfully solved. What was this nasty little problem? Simply put, when you bookmark a favorite page using the bookmark tool on your personal computer, and then you find yourself away from said computer in need of one of those pages, you cannot get to it. Using this method, bookmarks are stored only on a users personal computer. This is limiting, and nobody likes to be limited!

Alas, social bookmarking sites such as del.icio.us and digg were born in an effort to bring the public just what it wanted and needed: an easy and convenient way to organize, store and share bookmarked sites, videos and articles. In the process, a new business building tool was also born.

Here’s what bookmarking can do for your business: It can increase traffic to your website, help your search engine rankings, and also create an image of your company on the social media scene. On social bookmarking sites, postings are ranked by users, not editors. As I’ve said before, user created content and reviews are perceived as a sort of recommendation on the part of another average consumer, not a sales pitch from a large company.

Many businesses have blogs, which make great bookmarked pages. The key here is to make sure your blog has interesting and informative articles that keep readers wanting more. Because you are posting blogs to social bookmarking sites, you will want to keep in mind that people can share your bookmarks (this IS the whole idea!). The more your bookmarks are shared, the higher they will rank on the bookmarking site you are using. And judging from the buzz, if you rank high on these social media sites, your web traffic will increase significantly.

The only thing you need to do in order to make your bookmarks rank in search engines is to be sure to add the right tags and/or keywords to bookmarked pages. This is something that needs to be done consistently in order for your efforts to pay off. But this is most likely a practice you should be used to by now, as it’s the same in any SEO marketing effort.

The best thing about bookmarking is that all it requires from you is a little time. You’re most likely already writing articles and posting them to directories. You may even have some hubpages out there; or better yet, some videos. So what are you waiting for? Take those marketing efforts that you have already done and put them to the best use possible by posting them to an easy to use bookmarking site. Some consistent effort in this arena can steer you in the direction you want to go.

How Traffic Geyser Can Help Your Business

Business owners are always heading towards one goal – growing their business! So anytime a tool comes along that can help with that, ears begin to perk up. That does not mean, however, that everyone rushes out to get started with a new business building technique. Many times we business owners take our time tip-toeing around a new concept before jumping in. It’s like putting your toes in the water instead of jumping right in.

We are experiencing a time when videos are streaming onto the internet at a steady pace. Making a basic video is relatively simple and very quick. Oftentimes videos are made just using a webcam and then posted onto YouTube or Facebook accounts. With the birth of Twitter, videos are being seen all over the world through that site as well. While this is all good, because video gets you visibility, it doesn’t necessarily mean you will increase your search engine ranking, and that is what you really want in order to increase conversions.

Traffic Geyser has been around since 2006, and is still gaining users as many businesses are learning that video marketing is a powerful tool. The idea behind Traffic Geyser is quite simple; to automate the process of submitting videos to free video hosting sites such as YouTube. By now people are really getting the idea of just how much video marketing can increase credibility (and thus traffic!).

Now, this may sound very simple, like something you could really do all on your own. But the difference between doing it on your own and signing of for Traffic Geyser to do it is substantial. Their service optimizes your video and text content for SEO, then syndicates your videos to several dozen video sites as well as to Podcast sites, RSS feeds and blogs. Once your video has been syndicated, Traffic Geyser then social bookmarks the videos that draw attention to a specific landing page. Think about it: in the time it would take you to load your video onto YouTube, for instance, you could just as quickly load it to the Traffic Geyser software and get more bang for your buck as far as submissions go.

The name of the game in internet marketing is search engine rankings. Traffic Geyser’s aim is to increase those rankings for keywords you have chosen. Ranking high is one thing, ranking high with a VIDEO gives you a huge leap forward towards success in business. The more places your video is seen, the higher your rankings will be. So far, tests have shown incredible results in ranking increases for sites that use Traffic Geyser. If you are ready to move forward with building your business big, this could be the way to go to make it happen!

Don’t Forget Why You Do What you Do!

As a business owner who is striving to grow an online store, a corner store, or a large service oriented company, you have probably felt the minutes slip right through your hands as time wears on. Time; it’s your most valuable asset; and yet it is the one thing that can be the hardest to gain control over.

In all of the hustle and bustle of building a website and then creating quality content that will rank your landing page or pages, it is common to lose sight of the big picture. At the center of the big picture of your business is your why. Without that motivating factor, there will come a time when you can no longer push through obstacles like ever changes SEO practices and marketing techniques.

When you started your business, hopefully you chose something you love. At the very least something you can maintain an interest in! Beginning in this way allows you to stay motivated throughout the process of outsourcing work or building your website and then marketing it. This inspiration that you feel when planning for the future of your business is critical in maintaining the energy it will take to build it up.

The main way that business owners stay on track is through goal setting. Writing down your business plan, mission statement and goals is highly important. Mission statements are personal and should include that dream that you wish to achieve and why. I think of a mission statement as somewhat of a personal dream statement. Next comes the business plan, for without that, you may easily lose direction.

If you have a business plan but it’s stuffed in the back of your desk drawer, I suggest you pull it out and put in somewhere you can see it regularly. The same goes for your mission statement. Frame them and display them on your desk if that’s what it takes to really pay attention to them. In your business plan, you should include what work you can handle on your own, and what work would be better handled through outsourcing.

Outsourcing work to skilled SEO writers and web designers can seem a task that may be costly; but in the long run, there are some tasks that would just take you too long to complete. Therefore, outsourcing will save you money and add the bonus of growing your business faster!

Staying motivated in your business can also be facilitated through time off. You heard right; taking time away from the desk, the office, the phone and the email can rejuvenate you and remind you why you started your own business to begin with. When growing a business, there are many important aspects to tend to; marketing is important, SEO is important, web design is important, this is true. But above all, your dream is important! It was the dream that ignited the spark that got you going, and it is the dream that will see you through. Do what it takes to keep it alive.

Work More Efficiently With Basecamp

Those who work on multiple projects with several clients and team members know how difficult it can be to keep communication streamlined and stay on track throughout the duration of the project. In the past, there would be phone calls flying back and forth with notes scribbled on a notepad or transcribed into a word document. Then came email, and files upon files would be filled with emails that had been printed out or those emails sat in files on computers that were quickly overloaded.

Now you can ease the stress of project management by implementing the tool that is Basecamp. Using this collaboration tool, you will be amazed at how easy it is to facilitate smooth transitions between several projects at one time, even when there are several team members involved in each project!

Key benefits to Basecamp are file management, features and flexibility. Files can be easily uploaded to the specific project in which they belong with notices being sent to those who need to receive the file. Basecamp offers all the features busy managers need and doesn’t overwhelm you with features you don’t need. Your Basecamp profile can also be customized to your project and company! Using the message boards, communication between team members is facilitated and encouraged through ease of use. These benefits combine to give project management a whole new direction.

Using Basecamp’s Dashboard, you can get an overview of each project you’ve got stewing. On this page, you will be able to track milestones and deadlines as well as see new messages and files.

What busy managers may appreciate the most is their ability to create To-Do lists and milestones that will keep team members on track. Placing such items in Basecamp instead of simply sending a memo or email to team members is a better way to ensure work is monitored daily by all involved in the project.

You can also track time on Basecamp based on the To-Do lists you have created. Tracking time is as easy as clicking on the Time icon in Basecamp and then choosing a date when work was completed, the person who completed the task, and the task that was completed. This information is then saved in Basecamp but can also be exported in comma separated format into excel. Time tracking can be built right into the To-Do list by clicking Edit on the To-Do list and enabling the time tracking function. When you do this, a clock will be displayed next to each task on the To-Do list and time can be entered by clicking on the clock.

In addition to having the ability to send messages and create easy to follow threads in the message board, Basecamp also provides a chat feature. This feature is in real time and is widely used for Q&A with team members and clients at the beginning and end of a project. Even if you do not utilize the Chat feature, the Message board with threads can contain all pertinent information and allow communication to remain consistent throughout the duration of your project.

“Basecamp takes a fresh, novel approach to project collaboration. Projects don’t fail from a lack of charts, graphs, stats, or reports, they fail from a clear lack of communication. Basecamp solves this problem by providing tools tailored to improve the communication between people working together on a project.”

Video Ups Your SEO Game

Within the last six months, a high percentage of web retailers have increased efforts to makeover their sites. At the crux of the changes being implemented is good old SEO. Writers are busy coming up with fresh new content that will bring the site up in the rankings; analysis is being feverishly conducted to see what keywords are working and what needs tweaking. In fact, more than 70% of retailers are focusing their efforts on SEO. What they may not know is that putting time into video on their site can actually help those optimization efforts!

At this point, only just over 40% of online retailers are taking steps to add the advanced feature of video to their websites this year. Just behind that is a push to add product reviews and recommendations. This is all very good, because the web is making a change to become more and more interactive. Seeing the amazing success of sites like Facebook and Twitter shows that without a doubt.

Video marketing is in its infancy, with only about 50% of retailers using it on their sites in 2008. With numbers showing that consumers who first viewed a video averaged a higher ticket amount on a sale, you can see the immense benefit of using this type of media for marketing as well as throughout your site. However, it is important to constantly test your video pages to find the best placement. It is a common misconception that any video is a good video. This is simply not the truth.

Placement of a video on your product or service pages should be in a place where it is easily seen (and therefore easily used). It should also be in a position relative to text and images to get more attention. Customers want information, so give it to them through your videos. Tell them everything they need to know that will help them make their purchasing decision. Better yet, let another customer tell them! The emergence of using interactivity on a website has lead to video platforms where consumers can post their own messages or videos to your website. While this may make many etailers uneasy, it must be understood that your satisfied customers can do a much better job of selling your product or service than you can!

If you haven’t put your foot in the video pool just yet, what are you waiting for? Video can contain keywords that are relevant to your site. Video can be used on social sites such as YouTube and contain backlinks to your site. Video can explain and showcase your most popular product or service. Most of all, video can give your company a face and build a reputation that just isn’t attainable through other forms of media. Sure, articles are informative and easy to get done (and can also link to videos, by the way!) – but video speaks to the consumer tenfold. 2009 has yet to see the growth of video usage on websites, but it is coming. The numbers at the end of the year are predicted to be astounding. Be a part of the boom!

Twitter – The Ultimate Networking Tool

Anyone in business covets the benefit of everyone knowing your name.  Remember the song from Cheers?

You wanna go where people know,
people are all the same,
You wanna go where everybody knows
your name.

Ah, how often song lyrics just seem to get it right!  When it comes to doing business, the biggest obstacle is building up the clientele that will catapult you into the ecosphere of success.  This is at least doubly true for those fortunate souls operating an online business.  Although the internet is a great world in which to work, it is a vast space full of competitors.  When consumers cannot tell your site from any other, they have no real reason to stop on yours…unless they feel they know you.

With the bounce rate from internet sites at such a high rate across the board, bringing a face to your business is a priority for any business owner.  Ok, so you want to increase web traffic and decrease the bounce rate from the site pages you are linking to.  How does Twitter have anything at all to do with those aspects of building a solid web business?  Well, here’s a simple answer:  using the social aspect of Twitter, a business owner or company can learn what makes the consumers tick.  While this does not happen overnight, there really is no better way to get in touch with the heart and soul of the average consumer than through social media.

Not only can you learn what consumers are chatting about on Twitter, but you can determine if they are chatting about YOU!  That’s right!  For instance, just today I learned that Home Depot is opening a store in Valdosta, GA.  I also learned, through a link to a news article, that my weekly indulgence in Pinkberry yogurt is not all that bad for me.  This is getting us to a point, really.  Whatever your business is, you can search Twitter to see what’s being said.  You can even search your actual business name and see if anyone has “Tweeted” about you!  Invaluable information can be obtained through searching posts on this rapidly growing site.

One thing you can do with Twitter is to post video links.  Therefore, as you create new tutorials or product reviews, you can post a “Tweet” with the link to that video for users to see.  It’s important to remember that Twitter, like Facebook, IS indeed a social site.  That means that not all users are there to hear about your business and they certainly are not there to be sold on a product or service.  Using social media marketing is completely different than your typical forms of hard sell marketing techniques.  Using social media, you are actually getting to know the public, and they are getting to know you.

Keeping in mind that Twitter is a social site, you can go a lot farther by posting things that are not solely about you and your business.  You can do this while still maintaining a professional vibe.  Make comments about other posts, post about recent events or what you are learning about.  Instead of posting an update geared towards “What are you doing right now?, post more along the lines of “What’s got your attention right now?”  What are you reading?  What are you learning or teaching?  What did you hear in the media this morning that made you think?  What sale or promotion is your company running at the moment? These are all questions that can get you started posting relevant content to Twitter.

Twitter, with over 3 million posts blasting out each and ever day, is here to stay.  Grab hold of the tools Twitter has to offer and your marketing efforts can be much more effective!  With millions of members worldwide, just think of how many customers could know your name!

Benefit From the Tools of Twitter

Everyone is talking about Twitter. This rapidly growing site is even expanding language: “Tweets”, “Re-tweeting”,”Twittermance”..I’m sure there is much more Twitter slang that I am unaware of at the moment. The real point is, Twitter’s time in the spotlight has finally come. Although to many of us it may feel like Twitter magically appeared just recently, the company behind this social site was actually created back in 2006!

Twitter was created as yet another social site where friends and family could maintain their relationships while living busy lives. However, because of the openness of the site, anyone can find anybody and follow their “tweets”. This aspect of the social site has opened the doors for businesses to head down another social media marketing path. Here, we’re going to look at a few tools that you can use in your Twitter marketing campaigns. Just remember! This IS a social site and therefore if you utilize any tools to create hard sell type information, it is unlikely you will gain followers – or business.

Twiddeo is a powerful but simple service that let’s you do one thing very well: Twitter updates with Video.

To get started using Twiddeo, you must first have a Twitter account, of course! Using your Twitter username and password, you then log in to the Twiddeo site. From here, you can upload video from either your computer, from your cell phone, or from your Webcam. Webcam video posts are for those who are super confident in their abilities to get their message out quickly and eloquently on the first try – there is no editing here!

Uploading videos is a quick and simple way to keep in touch with your Twitter followers. And since so many people prefer to watch videos over reading text of any sort, video is an incredible format in which to get your message – and your face – seen by consumers every single day. Furthermore, there are those who write and those who speak. We all have our own innate talents. If yours is the spoken word, go with it and capitalize on the video marketing techniques you can use on Twitter!

Using Twitterfeed, you can get your blog (or any other RSS or Atom feed) sent directly to the popular micro-blogging platform. In addition to posting your desired feed directly to Twitter, this service also posts to identi.ca, custom laconica installations, and via HelloTxt or Ping.fm simultaneously to the many platforms supported by these services. I don’t claim to know all of the services out there, but luckily this article is mainly focusing on the Twitter platform.

The thing about using Twitterfeed is that you will need to also have an Open ID. This is a free service that basically sets you up with one ID that you can use to login to all of the password protected websites you use on a regular basis. You may be able to just use your blog login on Twitterfeed, but it will take a little figuring out. This just might be a project you want to outsource!

Because Twitter is a social site that seems to be clambering forward full steam ahead, there are certainly many more tools and applications that will emerge as time goes on. For now, find those tools that best suit your marketing needs and run with them!

SEO Scores BIG for You

Over the past few years, research has shown that more than 70% of online consumers set out to find a product or service by hitting the search engines.  With numbers like that, any business owner can see the immense benefit of optimizing their web pages to rank high in those search engines.

Just in case you are just getting started, I’ll quickly recap the basics of this valuable business building tool.  Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is a method of getting a website to place higher in search engine listings.  Typically, the higher a site ranks in search engine listings, the more traffic it will receive.  Wikipedia states that “optimizing a website primarily involves editing its content and HTML coding to both increase its relevance to specific keywords..”

So, that pretty much spells out the What and the Why of SEO.  Optimizing your web pages to contain the most relevant keywords and content helps your site to show up sooner when a consumer enters in what they are searching for.  And showing up within the first page of results increases your chances of site visitors.  Research has shown that consumers rarely search past the first three pages of search results, with most site visitors coming from the first page.

With all the other methods of marketing to choose from, years have gone by with business owners missing out on the FREE advertising they could be getting by just using quality optimized content on their web pages.  Maybe this is because the task of optimizing web pages can be time consuming for those who don’t do it regularly.  If this is the case, such business owners can benefit from working side by side with a professional SEO writing service to get their site noticed.

So why should you invest in content and organic rankings (ranking that isn’t bought through costly pay per click campaigns)?  Here’s one reason that should top all others.  Studies have shown that consumers are much more likely to click on organic listings over sponsored ads.  Even though a sponsored site may have the exact product or service the consumer needs, the subconscious mindset is that they don’t want to be sold on what they need.  Organic rankings come across as more of a recommendation versus a traditional ad.   Not only are these listings more likely to generate traffic, but they also carry a higher likelihood for conversion.

When done correctly, search engine optimization can increase the web traffic your site sees, bringing in people that are actually looking for what you are offering.  Clearly they want what you have to offer because they typed in the keyword or phrase that directly relates to your site.  Because understanding the ins and outs of SEO can take some time, it may be most helpful to have a professional SEO help you target the right keywords and make sure users actually see you.  This can ensure not only that you are visible, but also that those who see you really are looking for what you have to offer.

Working From Home Effectively

For several years, I had hoped to earn the title “Work at Home” anything.  But the field in which I worked simply didn’t allow it.  When my time finally came to take that leap from working in an office to actually running a business from the comfort of my own home, I quickly realized that I had a lot to learn about being organized enough to stay on top of the many tasks I faced every day while still maintaining a home life.  For a long time, I felt as though I could quite get that balance of work and family to a place where I wasn’t teetering from one extreme to the other.

I have realized that I am a workaholic.  Once I was given the freedom from spending 8 hours a day in an office, I found I was working 12+ hours in the home office on most days!  This certainly doesn’t leave much time for any other activities that are necessary for a happy, healthy life.

It’s important for anyone who works remotely to take measures that will keep them from becoming a prisoner of their work.  Remember, you wanted to work from home in order to have freedom, not confinement.  It is actually beneficial for those who work away from the office to schedule breaks throughout their day.  I know that sitting at the desk from dawn until dusk can be a hard habit to break for many dedicated freelancers and entrepreneurs; but if you understand that getting away from work for just a few minutes can actually make you more productive, you may be more open to stepping away from that desk.

Those who have kids may have built in breaks throughout their day, such as transporting to and from school.  This is ideal because all you need is just a few minutes away from the task at hand in order to rejuvenate.  However, if you don’t have built in breaks, perhaps the following ideas can help you create some for yourself.

• Make sure to start the day off right with a nice breakfast.  If the weather is nice, I like to sit on the porch.
• Taking a mid-morning walk in nice weather can be super refreshing and increase your productivity until lunch.
• Schedule lunch with co-workers or a friend at least once a week.  Taking this break with co-workers can allow you time to discuss updates and roundtable ideas while still getting you out of the house.  On days when you don’t have a lunch date scheduled, still take that 30 minute break and eat something!
• If the weather doesn’t permit you to get outside, take a break in a room away from your work.
• Allow yourself to make a non-work related phone call during the day.
• Set up a work schedule that will keep you on track.  I have to give myself a stop time or I will work until well into the night.
• I actually enjoy doing my household chores.  It gives me a sense of accomplishment.  I also focus much better in a clean environment.  So sometimes I will start a load of laundry before I begin a work task.  Then I take a short break to change the clothes over to the dryer.  May not be the most exciting break, but when I sit back down I find I have renewed clarity and focus towards the task at hand.

Those of us who work from a home office can easily be drawn into disorganization with our time.  We either work too much or too little.  Working too much essentially takes away from not only your productivity, but also your zest for life in general!  Take a break every single day.  Read a book; do something for yourself.  Doing so will benefit both you and your business.

Social Media Marketing - Social Media Marketing for Growth

Here’s what I see as the big dilemma of online business:  people don’t like to be sold.  This mindset held by millions of consumers worldwide produces highly fickle shoppers that will bounce from a website quickly if they feel the old “car salesman” push.

Where does that leave growing businesses when trying to get the word out about new products features and benefits?  Pay per click campaigns can quickly add up to large amounts of investment for customers who click on your page and then leave.  They also can sit idle because consumers who see those links on the search engine as advertisements will simply skip over them and move on to search results that show up organically. 

What does this one behavior tell you about online shoppers?  I think it says that consumers like recommendations from other consumers over sales pitches from the store that has exactly what they are looking for.  This behavior also accounts for the widespread popularity of Social Media and Social Media Marketing.  First let’s look at Social Media.

Typically, media refers to news and print.  In regards to marketing, using traditional media techniques, called industrial media”, can be so costly that a small business could never hope to invest in marketing of this kind.  Social Media is generated by users, not manufacturers.  Take YouTube for instance:  this highly popular site is filled to the brim with videos ranging from funny animals to business techniques.  What is special about YouTube is that the videos posted there are done so by users, not employees of the company. 

Social media can take many different forms.  These include weblogs or social blogs, podcasts, internet forums, pictures and video.  Just about everyone with a MySpace profile has favorite pictures and videos plastered through their site pages, as well as their favorite playlist.  What happens in Social Media is that users are now active participants in the whole online experience.

Now, how does this apply to your business?  Easy.  Keep in mind that people do business with people they know.  Up until now, it has been a bit of a difficult task to earn the trust of the average fickle pickle consumer.  But for the business owner who utilizes powerful Social Media Marketing techniques, business has never been better.  Becoming active on Social Media sites such as Twitter, YouTube or even Facebook and Myspace allows a company to reach out to the public in a way that is non-threatening. Startrankingnow is a good example to this.

Creating a blog is another way to interact with consumers.  Setting up and posting regularly about general issues relating to your business without pushing a product or service shows them that you are a good source of information, not a salesperson.  When first getting into the blogosphere, it is wise not to talk much about yourself.  Here’s another wise tip:  people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.  Show that you care about the thoughts and opinions of others when posting blogs and you will gain a reputation that will eventually lead to increased site traffic and sales. 

StartRankingNow - Working from Home Really is a Viable Option

With the economy leading companies to downsize, too many people are finding themselves in a situation where they do not have a 9 to 5 job to go do every day.  On the surface, losing your corporate job may seem like a stroke of bad luck; but if you look just a little deeper, you just may find that the opportunity to work from home is a very viable option. 

“Work from home”.  In the past, those words could make the hair on the back of your neck stand up.  Ok, maybe it wasn’t quite that bad for everyone; but at the very least, those words conjured up visions of stuffing envelops or making perfumed jewelry.  Bottom line, most work from home opportunities turned out to be little more than a way for companies to make money off of motivated individuals.  At one point in time, work from home opportunities meant multi-level marketing, a businesses many people just didn’t want to be a part of.

Don’t let these words scare you anymore.  With the steady advancement of the internet, there are multiple ways anyone with a little motivation and some ingenuity can break into business for themselves and be able to legitimately work from home.  Let’s take a look at ways to earn money using the power of the web:

• Blogging - A blog, for the most part, is easy and inexpensive to start and maintain.  The most valuable investment you will make in a blog is time.  Blogs can be specific, dealing with topics from business to fitness.  They can also be very general, acting as a sort of online diary.  The main point is that a blog that is interesting will gain popularity and a following of readers.  When a blog has a large following of readers, it becomes attractive to advertisers who will “rent space” on your blog page.

  It may take some effort for someone who isn’t an avid blogger to learn the ins and outs of how to blog effectively and how to get your startrankingnow blog noticed.  It’s not really as simple as posting a blog and the world instantly sees it.  “If you build it, He will come” does not apply to any internet website!

  Blogging also has immense benefits for small ecommerce businesses as it provides a way of marketing your online business in a way that sets you up as an expert in your field. 

• Ecommerce – Electronic commerce is a way of doing business electronically, typically utilizing the internet as a platform from which to launch.  Most ecommerce falls under the category of e-tail, which is online retail sales of an item or niche items. 

  Thanks to easy to use drop shipping programs, the cost and convenience of really getting your own online store up and running has become a much simpler process.  When drop shipping is implemented in a work from home ecommerce business, products are not paid for until they are purchased by your customer. This eliminates the need for a large up-front investment as well as any inventory control.  More and more people are finding the benefits of drop shipping.

These are just two options that enable people to get into a small business of their own.  If e-commerce or blogging is just not your thing, hopefully this article has given you the starting point to find how you too can work from home.

Importance of Pinging Your Blog

Up until recently, most people wouldn’t be able to discern the meaning of the word Ping if not related to Ping Pong.  But now, with the ever advancing technology of the internet, Pinging is an everyday occurrence. 

Remember that old movie with Kevin Costner, Field of Dreams?  Probably the most famous line of the movie was “If you build it, he will come”.  So famous is that line, in fact, that it has been used all over the world in all sorts of situations.  While many mistakenly thought that they could build a website with a great product or service and “they would come”, they quickly found out that ecommerce just doesn’t work that way.  Pinging can help change all that. 

Here’s how it usually happens:  Mr. Entrepreneur delves eagerly into the fascinating ecommerce world after searching high and low for the right product to sell or service to offer; After the product is in place, Mr. Entrepreneur builds a pimped out website with graphics and images that will attract the customer, maybe he even writes a few articles and places them on distribution sites or creates a blog that he posts to every week.  He then sits back and waits for them to come.  In doing all of the work to increase web traffic, what Mr. Entrepreneur misses is the key factor of HOW.  How do they know to come if they aren’t told where to go?  They will only come if you tell them to!  Pinging takes care of that.

According to Wikipedia, Pinging is described as “In blogging, ping is an XML-RPC-based push mechanism by which a weblog notifies a server that its content has been updated.”  You’ve got to love layman’s terms for describing a high tech process!  The inner workings of pinging are not what is really important to an ecommerce business; what IS important is that it works; and by that, Mr. Entrepreneur earns business. 

As a website owner, you are the CEO of your own business – the driver of your own destiny.  Your most valuable asset in building your business is your time.   You have spent that time choosing a product or perfecting your service.  You have spent it in learning the basics of web development and in hiring a team of professionals to handle tasks you are not skilled at.  Because you have spent your most valuable commodity getting your business going, it is pretty clear that you desire success as the end result.  Without employing the power of the Ping, you may be missing the big boat.  What pinging does is gets the word out that your marketing avenue, typically a blog, has updated.

There are multiple services that can ping a blog.  Instead of spending your time, your greatest asset, to find out how and what and where to ping, contact the professionals at StartRankingNow and have them take care of the service for you.  Not only can they ping your blogs to the most used sites; they can even write the blogs for you!  Those who are serious about increasing web traffic will be pinging.  Otherwise, they simply are not making the most of the marketing opportunities available. 

Smart Realtors Use Search Engines for Marketing

In decades past, a Realtor would spend a sunny afternoon baking cookies and welcoming guests at an open house, and they would actually drum up a fair amount of business this way.  Who would have thought that a time would come when a Realtor would benefit from SEO? 

Well, the time is here and the Realtor who can grasp the concept of SEO will gain a leg up on the competition.  In order to do that, the basics of SEO for Real Estate will need to be understood.  Just what is SEO anyway and what does it have to do with selling houses?  According to realtor.com, over 80% of all home purchases start on the Internet.  This creates a unique problem for Realtors to create a web presence that will show clients who you are.

SEO is Search Engine Optimization.  According to Wikipedia, it is “the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via "natural" ("organic" or "algorithmic") search results.”  It is important because it determines a site’s ranking in search engines such as Google.  The higher a site ranks then determines the amount of traffic it will see.  Ranking organically is more effective and far less expensive than attempting to drive traffic with costly pay per click campaigns.

The importance of optimizing your Real Estate web page is so that you get the visitor you want on your site.  What good does it do you if the visitors you are attracting are other professionals like yourself?  None at all.  You are trying to attract home buyers and home sellers, not realtors.  With that in mind, you can set out to optimize your site with basic words that a home buyer or home seller may use in a search; words such as “San Diego Realtor” or “4 bedroom home in Chicago”. 

Here’s the thing; it is ultimately a Realtor’s job to sell homes and take care of the needs of their clients, not write web pages and optimize them for keywords and phrases.  This is why the wisest decision a professional can make is to work with the writing team at Start Ranking Now.  Not only can you optimize your website to attract the targeted traffic you want and need to succeed; you can also establish yourself as an expert in your local area through the use of optimized articles that point back to your website.  Doing this develops your reputation and allows potential clients to feel as though they know you before they have ever met with you in person.

Because people do business with people they know, using SEO in your web content is smart.  It gets you more visibility (which is key for any Realtor) and a familiarity within the community.   So while you are busy putting up signs and baking cookies at your next open house, your website will be working to give you a face on the web.  Use Start Ranking Now to optimize your web page and get ready for business to boom!

Increase Web Traffic with Articles

As many business owners are quickly learning, writing articles is a new trend in advertising.  Ecommerce companies, especially, can benefit from this new marketing trend, as they really have no face for the general public to relate to, and hence need to do all they can to increase web traffic on their sites.  And when it comes to making purchases online, there is still a fair amount of skepticism that needs to be tackled.  Take a minute and think about the store you frequent the most, like the local grocery store.  You go there because you know what to expect – sometimes right down to which clerk will check you out!

Ecommerce companies must create a voice and a face in order to increase web traffic, and they can do so by submitting quality articles to online directories.   Well written articles do a lot for a website.

• Informative articles help you develop a reputation as an expert in your field.  If your site doesn’t sell a product but offers a service, then the articles submitted to online directories will be written about the benefits of the service you offer, or the problem that your service solves.  Not only do you now have a voice, but that voice is well spoken and enchants the reader to click on that link!
• Every article that is placed into an online directory should contain links back to your website.  What this will do is create traffic, which in turn will create revenue.  You know where that leads to.
• Publishing articles online through Ezines is essentially free advertising.  Who doesn’t like that idea?   A little time and thought into a well researched, well written article goes a long, long way.

Now, if you were a writer, you would most likely have made your millions publishing a book of some sort.  But you’re not a writer, you are a business owner.  This is why outsourcing to a company like Start Ranking Now to handle internet marketing has enormous value.  Article submissions can be a tedious task, not to mention the actual writing and research required to compose great articles for ezine marketing.   Working with Start Ranking Now, what a business owner gets to do is hand over a time consuming task to a group of professional writers and get back to the business of, well, business!

There are so many online article directories to consider for article submissions that finding out which are the best for your online article can be a shot in the dark.  Professional service providers know which article directory sites are high quality and reputable. This does make a difference, so why waste time trying them all out when you can get right to the best the first time out?

We’ve all heard it said that word of mouth is the best form of advertising.  That has been the truth since the beginning of history, and will not change anytime soon. Article submissions to ezines on a regular basis are a great way to create word of mouth internet marketing. You’re giving your site a voice that is friendly and informative;  You’re generating traffic back to your site through links; and with the help of great writers like the team at Start Ranking Now, you’re gaining optimized articles that will be read over and over again.

The Best Advertising is Press

A common concern amongst busy entrepreneurs is how to effectively market their business.  Let’s face it; if you’re not seen, you can’t make money.  Advertising can get expensive and there are no guarantees that any paid advertising will increase web traffic to your site anyway.  And yet most professionals overlook the power of a good press release!  This is understandable, as the preconceived notion may be that press releases come from news.  And if your company is not making news, then it doesn’t deserve press.

Not so.  When you have spent as much time as you have in finding a product or service to offer, priority must be given to marketing.  Since we live in a technologically advanced society, Social Media Marketing is where it’s at.  Advertising your business through press releases on the web through sites such as Google News can create a huge buzz that can lead you down the path of success.

An effective press release is good for building backlinks, credibility, and visibility in Google News for keywords.  Press releases also often receive good placement in search results for long tail keywords.  However, writing a press release yourself can be a daunting task that quickly begins to eat up the valuable time in your day.  Time is a CEOs most valuable asset, and should be spent wisely.  This is why outsourcing to a press release distribution service like Start Ranking Now is worth the small investment you would make.

For one, an effective press release can significantly improve your overall search engine rankings.  Key word being “effective”.   Every day, thousands of press releases are being distributed.  How to make sure yours is not overlooked amid the sea of news?  Know how to write!  If you don’t, that’s ok.  The professional team at Start Ranking Now know exactly what to do and how to do it.  Writing a press release is like breathing for these people!

The benefits of writing a press release are worth it.  The thing about this sort of advertising over others is that there is more credibility in it.  Press releases are give the perception of a third-party endorsement.  And since word of mouth marketing is the best way in increase web traffic to your site, a press release can act as the “mouth” that spreads the word!

No matter what the size of your budget, social media marketing is a tool that you can begin using today to grow your business. For a miniscule investment, you can have your very own press release, with added backlinks, distributed across the internet. Working with a professional team like Start Ranking Now eases your burden of trying to accomplish all the marketing yourself and leaves you with the time you need to effectively run your booming business.  There is so much to gain by taking advantage of a well written press release.  Credibility.  A reputation.  Visibility.  These things add up to an increase in web traffic, which equals more success for your site, which equals dreams coming true.

Hubpages Equal Success

In the lush forest that is ecommerce, internet marketing is like the roots of a tree.  Without nutrients (web traffic) flowing through the roots (internet marketing), the tree (your website) doesn’t grow.  You want your tree to grow.  Therefore, you need to make sure you nurture deep roots from the very onset of planting. Building an ecommerce site is an exhilarating experience full of adventure.  That’s the positive way of saying there are tons of changes to keep up with.  Technology constantly changes; and new ways of getting the word out about your business are emerging with each setting of the sun.  While there are benefits to these changes in internet marketing and social media marketing, there is one major drawback.  You have much more important things to do than follow emerging trends in marketing. You have a business to run. Taking on the task of learning SEO, writing articles to submit to online directories, writing scripts and producing videos is not necessarily the best thing you can spend your time doing.  Creating Hubpages and other social media marketing strategies is something many ecommerce business owners are choosing to hire a professional for.  Now that is the way to increase web traffic!

Hubpages are a marketing tool we hear much about.  These are like mini-sites that can be created on any topic of interest.  Hubpages, like everything else having to do with building a successful website, should be optimized and full of keywords.  They are similar to a Squidoo lens, except for a key point that Hubpages should not and cannot contain outright marketing for your own ecommerce site.  There is incessant gardening going on in these pages and too many links to your own site will get your growing tree pruned very quickly.  Tricky little bugs!

Because the name of the game with Hubpages is originality teamed up with length (the longer the better), stellar writing skills are involved.  Busy CEOs do not have the time to hone their writing chops while also preparing their sites shopping cart, communicating with vendors and dealing with employees.  This is enough to drive you mad before you take your first order! With all that there is to learn about Social Media Marketing and Hubpages, a business owners best bet is to get on board quickly by outsourcing the processing of these pages to a professional, like the team at Start Ranking Now.  Outsourcing not only saves you a great deal of time and frustration, but it also guarantees the success of the writing and submission process. Don’t fret.  Hubpages and Social Media Marketing work wonders to feed the growth of a website.  This internet marketing strategy is great for getting information out to prospective clients.  And with the proper content, you’ll be able to tell right away if you’re headed towards success because these pages are usually indexed by Google in a very short time. Get some help.  Get in the game.  Get your money tree to grow!

People do business with People they Know

A good friend of mine had a wonderful way of describing his understanding of building a successful website; and to me, it all revolved around the aforementioned statement.  He said that he viewed his website as a storefront; which in today’s technologically advanced society, it very much is.  He asked, “If you were to walk into a store which you have never been in before, wouldn’t it be nice to have someone show you around?  Isn’t that great hospitality in general?”  Of course, he had an interesting point.  Having my full attention, he went on, “Well we need to do the same thing with our stores!” 

He was absolutely correct.  See, the downside to internet stores has been that customers, for the most part, can’t tell one site from another.   In the eyes of the customer, most sites are generally the same:  some text here, a banner over there, pictures here and there.  You’ve seen it.  So, to capture the attention of customers, one must find a way to stand apart from the average Joe. 

Enter video marketing.  This application, which works alongside Web 2.0 marketing strategies, gives site building a whole new dimension.   For years, what has been lacking in internet marketing is the face to face interaction that really gives customers and clients a feeling of familiarity with you.  Video marketing is a way to get your message out there, yes, but with your own personality interwoven throughout your site.  And as the quote says, “People do Business with People they Know.”  Want to capture more business?  Make every visitor to your site feel like they know you.  Take them “by the hand” and show them around your well stocked store, and you’ll be pleased with the amount of click-throughs you’ll see!

Video marketing can be used in a number of ways.  It can demonstrate a product, or welcome visitors to your home page.  Most importantly, video puts a face to the site, which enhances the viewers experience on your site.  Enhancing their experience can trigger an emotional response that will increase your chances of making a sale.  It is a well known fact that consumers make emotional purchases.  And video has a much better chance of evoking emotion than simple text.    Additionally, you may have the opportunity to reach more people than you would otherwise, as today’s consumer is busy busy busy!  There aren’t many of us who have time to sit and read all the benefits of a product.  Besides, that can just get boring anyway.  Video – a good video – will tell me everything I need to know quickly and effectively. 

The team at Start Ranking Now has mega experience with creating videos for your own website, or videos to be posted to other sites.  If you want to try your hand at making your own video but feel uncertain about the script, you can turn to them for a script that will get attention.  All that’s left for you to do is film and post!

When you’ve spent countless hours performing research to create a stellar website, chances are you are of the mindset that you want this site to be successful.  Ok, it’s 100% certain that you want your website to stand out and be noticed!  Putting video marketing to work for you may just be the difference maker.

Dan Kennedy’s NO BS Books

If you have any desire to be a success in marketing, then Dan Kennedy’s NO BS Books need to put at the top of your Must Read Books for 2009 list.  One of the key things I took away from reading his books was that absolutely no marketing material should ever leave your office without a specific call to action.  He had an example of what he called "yellow pages marketing".  Basically the concept is that your ad in the Yellow Pages should have an offer with a call to action.  The call to action should be compelling and move Mr. Couch Potatoe to get up and visit that website, call that phone number, and best case, make that purchase!

We put our heads together and a few days after reading the books the Yellow Pages representative called us up about renewing our ad for 2009.  We quickly redid our bland bullet point ad and put in an offer for a free gift if they visit a specific url on our church website.  We did not put what the offer was as we need to have the ability to change the offer depending on the response rate.  By telling people to visit our website, it gives us another opportunity to present our offer and also gives us an opportunity to try to get their email and even possibly their address so we can follow up with a real live visit.  What is better than letting your leads come to you?

Insert Success Story Here Later

As the Stompernet Live 7 conference is coming up, it is time to make some more business cards before the trip.  Following the idea that every piece of marketing material should have an offer.. we got really creative here!  Don’t want to spoil the surprise so check back after the first weekend in March to see what we did!

Say what you mean and mean what you say

Seriously trying to not complain here but dealing with the US embassy can sometimes be frustrating!  Expecting problems and trying to be as time efficient as possible I always try to send all the needed info as well as answer any questions I think will be asked ahead of time.  Of course that would have to assume that someone would actually read the emails and that the person reading the emails would just not just assume that the sender is not following directions!

In anticipation for the 7th Stompernet Live conference, we need to get the passport for our new baby Ashley.  We were able to get her certificate of birth abroad a few weeks ago in Nuevo Laredo on our car trip to the states.  We did not have time to process the passport however as they don’t send it in the mail but rather require you to come back to pick it up later.  Now back in Puebla, it is time to try to hurry to get the passport from the embassy in Mexico City.  (New laws state we can enter into the US with a brith certificate only if by car but need a passport to enter by plane.)  Unlike all of the consulates, to make an appointment, you must first fill out the application online and then EMAIL it to the embassy.  After a real live person reviews it and approves you, only then are you allowed access to the online appointment setting system.  Therein lies the problem.

Email 1

We have the certificate of birth abroad.  It was given to us in Nuevo Laredo a few weeks ago.  Here is the attached application.

Response 1

You need to get a certificate of birth abroad.  Go fill out the application and then send another email.

Email 2

We already have the certificate of birth abroad.

Response 2

Go fill out the application and then attach it to this email.

Email 3

Here is the attached file. (Strongly resisted the urge to say something sarcastic like…. AGAIN!)

Response 3

Access to online appointment setting system.

The whole process was faster than expected and happily we were able to schedule in just three days.  Could have been taken care of in ONE email if the person had actually read the first email though!

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.
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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. 

 

 

Article Marketing Tips

Our seo services website, www.startrankingnow.com offers the service of writing and submitting original articles to article directories.  As we provide this service, I have seen some of the same errors repeated over and over by our clients.  When we open a new project with a client, we ask them for a list of the keywords and the landing page (url) they would like us to build links to.  Here are some of the common errors we see over and over again:

1. Using multiple keywords for one url.  A common error is to try to build links to one page with multiple keywords.  While it is good to use keyword variations, it is not recommeded to use completely separate keywords when building links to one page.

The correct way to build links is to match the anchor text of the links with the headline and topic of the page you are building links to.  For example, if you had a page on your site that had a headline of “baby swings” then you would want to build links to that page using the anchor text “baby swings”.  You could vary the anchor text so that there were variations of the anchor text such as “cool baby swings” “battery operated baby swings” “baby swings for newborns” and so on.  Note that the anchor text always has the words “baby swings” included but can also include other words.  You would NOT want to build links to the “baby swings” page with the anchor text of “swings for babies” or “baby toys”.  For the keywords “swings for babies” it is not recommended to make another product page on the site with all of the same prouducts as listed on the page of “baby swings”.  The correct way to do this would be to create an article on the site that has the headline of “swings for babies” and is keyword optimized for “swings for babies”.  The exception would be IF the keyword phrase “swings for babies’ was also included somewere in the text of the page “baby swings” and the search volume for “swings for babies” did not justify creating a new article page just for that phrase alone.

2. Building links to duplicate urls.

Most webmasters or site owners do not realize that the urls http://mysite.com and http://www.mysite.com are actually conidered to be TWO domains by google.  The same goes for the page http://www.mydomain.com and http://www.mydomain.com/index.html .  You should choose ONE version of your site… either the one WITH or the one WITHOUT the www and also choose ONE version of the home page… the one with the index.html or the one without the index.html to build links to.  The key is to be consistent in link building.

3. Not including the keyword in the title of the article.

The title of the article is the most important part of the article.  The article title will determine if your article will be read or skipped over.  Getting your article read by customers and more importantly, other webmasters, is the first step to getting your article picked up by other webmasters for placement on their sites.  Of course to be able to include the keyword in the title, the article must be relevant to the keyword.  This is not always possible, especially if you are writing about indirectly related topics.  Whenever possible, it is best to include the keyword in the article title.

4. Not using two links in the author resource box.

If you are going to go to all the trouble of writing an article and submitting it to article directories, why wouldn’t you get the most bang for your buck and have as many links in the author resource box as the article directory allows you to?  You should always read the terms of service by the article directories and put in as many links as possible.

5. Not having one url in the author resource box as a link.

Since most article directories allow for two links, it is best to have one link as an anchor text and the second link as an url.  The second link should be an url because some webmasters will “steal” your articles from the article directories using automated software and post your article to their website without the links.  The software automatically strips out the html deleting the links if you only have anchor text links.  The less sophisticated software however, will sometimes leave the url as a hyperlink.  Even if the software strips out the hyperlink, a potential customer can still see your url and copy and paste it to visit your site if they really liked your article.

6. Using your real name as the author.

Please, please, please, use a pen name.  If you use your real name and later sell your site… which should be the goal for all site owners, then you will one day have your name associated with a site you no longer own or control.  Also, if you own multiple sites you are leaving a footprint to your competitors of all the sites you own.  Another reason to use a pen name is if you are having your articles ghost written and you are not reading them to check the content.  Please don’t put your name next to anything unless you actually wrote it.  Most article directories allow you to have multiple pen names.  It is best to have a different pen name for each web site.

7. Linking to the same site twice in the author resource box.

If you only have one site, it is fine to do this in the beginning.  Once you have multiple sites or multiple web properties, it is always better to spread your link building as much as possible.  You can submit one article to an article directory and link out to two separate web properties.  A good way to do this is to have a blog on a separate domain… or at least on a subdomain of your money site.  You can also build a network of mini sites that are thematically related to a section on your money site.  The article you submit for distribution can then link once to your money site and once to your blog.  You can vary the links so that one article links to the money site with an anchor text link and the next article links to the money site with an url link.

SUPER SECRET TIP

One excellent strategy we have recently started to implement is to have all articles written in sets of three.  A keyword is assigned to the writer and the writer writes three topically related articles of 500 words each.  One article is placed on the main money site.  This article utilizes internal linking strategies to send links to the inner pages of the same site.  A second article is placed on a blog.  The blog article links out to the article placed on the main money site as well as to other topically related web properties. (Think Web 2.0) The third article is submitted to multiple article directories with two links: one to the blog article and one to the article on the main money site.  This strategy is further developed using web 2.0 properties and social bookmarking sites to send traffic to the articles.

How often do you buy a new laptop?

Well, it is that time again… a little sooner this time than expected.  My HP dv9408 which was purchased in July of 2007 has been giving me problems over the last year.  Lately it has been running hot and taking forever to boot up.  The main issue we have now is that when I leave it on and it is supposed to go to screensaver, it goes to a black screen.  When I come back and move the mouse or space bar, it does not respond forcing me to turn it off completely. It will then power up… but not fully turn on.  The blue lights on the keyboard light up but the screen does nothing.  It then turns on and off repeatedly until I turn it off completely again.  Usually after restarting it three times, it will start to work again.  Not last night!  This time I had to press F11 repeatedly, then F10, then F8… when nothing happened I called HP support.  After an hour of finally being routed to the tech support department, they admitted that the motherboard had failed and that there was a recall.  Since it was beyond the 1 year warranty, I was happy to find out that there was an extended warranty and that they would be sending a box to my house where I could pack it up and ship it back to them to be fixed.  Great news! ….. Only I am not in my "house" I am in Mexico!  Not to worry the tech support guy said… I had up to one year from July 2007 to return it. 

So, the laptop will get taken care of on our next trip to the states… most likely in March or April for the next Stompernet Live conference.  Maybe if we find someone taking a trip to the states sooner we can get them to take it back and then ship for us.  But even if we could do immediately, we would need to wait for it to get fixed which I hear is at least a few weeks… then wait for it to be shipped back to Mexico! Since I certainly cannot be without a computer for that long, it is time to buy a new one. 

When we first bought laptops we used to buy the top of the line with all the bells and whistles.  We soon realized that within 2 years we were ready for an upgrade or it was running slow, or other issues so now we focus on buying a mid-range laptop that will meet our needs for the immediate future.  For some time now I have wanted to get a Dell laptop for no other reason than it came in the color pink.  Why pink?  I have no idea.  One of those irrational desires that have no logical explanation but we still want.  Since I could not justify the expense of upgrading just because I wanted a different color laptop… I am actually a little excited I get to upgrade now.  Of course it also has to be 17" and have the number pad at the right.  Also got to have the extra loud speakers and a good video card for watching Stompernet videos! All the other technical stuff I will let my husband pick out.  As long as it runs fast and I can run all of my programs at the same time I will be happy!

Of course we have to price shop so after picking out a few options on dell.com.mx, we will be heading out to the local Costco and Sam’s Club to see what other options there are.  (No Best Buy here in Puebla yet though we just heard it will be coming to Mexico City soon!)  I don’t think that the stores here are going to carry a pink laptop so I am hoping that we can justify the price online over the prices and options in the stores.  If not, there is always 2 years from now when I will be buying the next one!

I hired somebody, now what?

I was on a private faculty call with some stompernet members yesterday and someone basically asked the question, “I hired somebody, now what?”  Since I was not the one answering the questions, I could not give my two cents… so let me take this opportunity to share my opinion!

For most business owners, we know we need to outsource.  We know we just don’t have time to do all the things we need to do. We spend lots of money on ebooks, coaching, courses that promise success.  We even complete the courses, finish reading the books, vow to do better.  The number one factor is time.  We don’t have the time to do everything we need to do.  Case in point.  I know I need to market to my email list.  I mean I have 10,000 names already! I have sent out a grand total of 3 emails in the last 5 years.  So YES I need to do that.  YES it would most likely generate some sales.  YES it would reactivate some old clients. YES it would help me to move some of the inventory sitting in the warehouse. 

The power of the group. I was fortunate enough to be accepted into a super secret Beta program within stompernet.com to be able to test out the effectiveness of the new program.  I won’t share all the cool details now… I have to wait until after the launch of this new cool super secret Beta program! But basically, in one of our group phone calls I committed myself to get started on the email campaign. First week went by and I wrote the first email in the auto-responder series that I have set up with aweber.com and then I programmed the mailing list to let me know when someone new signed up.  (A former employee email address was still being notified!) I then went in, figured out which template I wanted to use and then got to work writing my first email.  I decided to write one on Parenting Tips as it was topically related to that mailing list and for a mom of five, soon to be six, writing on parenting is pretty easy! I then went out and hired two people.  One to write the emails and another to put them into the autoresponder series.  Why two?  Well I hired them both full time… one as a full time writer and the other as a full time Editor for my team of writers.  I told the Editor it was going to part of her job to take care of the email campaigns for me!  So now when we have our group coaching mastermind phone call on Monday I can say, YES I did my homework. The power of the group.  Peer pressure at it’s best!

Back to the topic.  Let’s say you found someone willing to work for your budget and you want them to be as profitable as possible.  We all know that links is one of the most important factors in improving search engine rankings.  In this case I would recommend you to purchase the software program internet business promoter and to have them to some initial analysis of your site.  Get the business version as you are a business owner correct?  And use the link section to have the software find some potential link exchange partners for you.  Then INSTEAD of doing link exchanges, have your new employee call the websites and see if any of them would be willing to place an article on their site in exchange for a link back to yours! Then have your new employee write up an okay article related to the website content of the OTHER site. Somewhere in the middle if it is relevant or in the author resource box, have your new employee add a link back to your site.  Of course the link should be with a keyword and the keyword should be the same as the title of the page you are linking to… and of course, NEVER link to your home page.  It is a waste of a good link! This is just a start of the many things you could have your new employee do… but in my opinion, a good start.  Make a goal for them to have 2 completed articles placed on other sites per week.  Within a month they should have a list of 10-15 sites that are willing to put up your articles on a monthly or weekly basis.  At that point, or even sooner, you will want to outsource the writing part and have your new employee focus on just going out and finding new partners and cultivating the realtionship you have with the current partners.  There you have it!

Healthcare in Mexico

One of the main reasons people give about not wanting to move to a foreign country is “What if I get sick?” Most Americans will definitely want to keep their US health insurance plan for major medical emergencies of course. However, when you are living in a large city in Mexico, it hardly becomes necessary. It about one month our 6th child will be born here in Puebla, Mexico.  Of our children, only the oldest was born in the states.  When we were expecting our second child, we came to realize that the doctor was the most important factor for healthcare in Mexico. The hospital facilities are not as backwards as some would automatically think. We are blessed to live in a major city with good hospitals.  In fact, our city is home of the Puebla’s Children Hospital.  Puebla’s Children’s Hospital is THE major hospital for public healthcare for most of southern Mexico.  If people are sick from as far as Chiapas, they might be flown in to the hospital here.  But back to my story.  As we are getting ready for baby #6 we went to the hospital - La Beneficencia Espanola - to register.  Since we don’t have insurance, we pay privately.  We went to fill out the paperwork so that when the day arrives we would be all ready.  I know this will be hard to believe, but the rates for the hospital part of the bill are incredibly low!  The package includes 2 nights and 3 days in the hospital and is only about $350 USD! Now from experience we will tell you that by the time we get out the bill is going to be closer to $900 but that is going to include all of the medicine, treatment, and so on. That does NOT include what we pay our doctor or her medical team.  When we were in the states a few months ago, we had to take little Hannah to the emergency room for stitches.  She had 4 stitches on her eyebrow.  FOUR.  The bill came to $1000 more or less including the hospital and the doctor… which we found out later are two separate charges! So basically, the cost of 4 stitches in the states and the cost of having a baby in a nice hospital in Mexico are about the same!  I could go on and talk about how ultrasounds here cost $25 and the ultrasound I had done in the states a few months ago was $250 but I won’t.  

Driving Cross Country

July 10th - Visiting with Friends in Arizona and San Antonio, Texas

July 1st - Pictures of architectual designs

May 11th - Visiting Ridgecrest, California and Barnes and Noble

David and Hannah saying HI from Ridgecrest, California.

We visited a church called China Lake Baptist Church while in Ridgecrest.  They are located in this small storefront area.

David and Hannah enjoy a quick trip to the grocery store.  Don’t have this in Puebla, Mexico!

Sarah and Japheth can’t wait to get to the car to read the books they just bought in Barnes and Nobles.  We visited about 10 Barnes and Nobles bookstores on our trip.  The kids loved picking out new books and mom and dad loved the quiet in the car while they were reading!

June 16th, Darren Lambert, North Carolina

We enjoyed a few days in North Carolina with our friends Darren and Annette Lambert.

June 30th, Family Pictures, Encinitas, CA

Family picture with my BIL, sister, mom, dad and of course our family!

What a happy boy!

June 26th, Wedding Anniversary, Old Town San Diego, CA

We enjoyed a nice night out… without the kids for a change!  Old Town San Diego has always been a favorite spot of ours.  We used to enjoy going to Casa de Bandinis’s before it was relocated.  We found a place to park and wandered into a Mexican restaurant where there was actually a line of people waiting to get in!  Why in the world would we eat Mexican when we live in Mexico?  Simple.  The Mexican food in the states is 100% different than the Mexican food in Mexico.  I can’t find cheese enchiladas in Mexico!  Use yellow cheese… you can hardly find yellow (or cheddar) cheese in Mexico.  Olives or sour cream? Forget it.  Those are all American style ways of making Mexican food.  After dinner we wandered around the shops and little botiques before heading home to rescue grandpa from 5 tired kids!

June 18th - Cracker Barrel and Taking a Break at the Park

There is only so much fast food a family can take!  After spending almost two months on the road, our whole family was ready for as close to a home cooked meal as we could get.  Our kids ordered vegetables!  They enjoyed the corn, green beans, and carrots the most.  We actually stopped at Cracker Barrel several times on our trip after this stop.  Cracker Barrel was having a contest to collect stickers to win an RV and they gave you one sticker for each person in your party… with us that was 7 each time we ate!  We did not win, but it was fun trying to collect the stickers!

June 11th, Visiting Wonder Works in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee

This was a fun day!  We had to decide between driving through the Smoky Mountains or letting our kids get out and explore Wonder Works.  Even though we really would have enjoyed seeing the Smoky Mountains National Park, the kids, and mom and dad, needed a break from the car!  The kids enjoyed exploring Wonder Works and Japheth and daddy got to climb a rock climbing wall.

June 2nd - Beautiful Sunset in front of a mall

We decided to stop for dinner at the food court of this mall and took the picture of the sunset before going in.

May 21th - Petrified Forest in Arizona

The highlight of the petrified forest was seeing the actual Indian drawings on some of the walls.  I would not, however, call it a forest.  All of the “trees” were of course laying flat on the ground, but even then, they were few and far between and in the beginning we did not realize that that was ALL we were going to see during the driveing part of the tour. 

May 10th Visiting Friends in Ridgecrest

Our kids

We had pizza and pasta at Round Table Pizza before heading over to the park to let the kids run around before heading out again for the day!

Our kids enjoyed seeing the airplanes at the China Lake AFB.

Every day the sprinklers in front of the house / hotel we were staying in came on at about 5pm.  We let the kids run through the sprinklers for some old fashioned fun.  Hannah enjoyed it a few times but David wanted nothing to do with it!

May 4th, Warehouse

We have a few things to sell!  Anyone need a party grill for tailgating season?

May 29th - Solvang and Santa Barbara, California

Enjoying a park by the beach in Santa Barbara.

This was really fun!  With this 10 person bike, our family and the Sobrevilla family enjoyed an hour riding around Solvang, California.  Solvang is a little city with Dutch roots.  Most of the houses and stores in the downtown have Dutch architecture.  If you like wandering around shops and quaint towns, then this might be a destination for you!

We enjoyed some double hand scooped ice cream while in Solvang.

After Solvang, we headed down the coast to Santa Barbara where we spent an hour at the Santa Barbara Pier.

Japheth really liked the toy selection!

After the pier, we headed downtown and found a Farmer’s Market.  We decided to walk around and ended up in an open air mall area. 

More pictures of the Farmer’s Market.

May 28th - Solvang with our Friends the Sobrevilla Family

We choose Monday to visit Solvang with our friends the Sobrevilla family. Unbeknowest to us, about 95% of the restaurants are CLOSED on Monday night in this small tourist town!  We found this restaurant that was completely packed out with people so we accepted a table on the balcony even though it was coooold.  Being outside was probably nicer for us as we were the only one’s with so many kids at the restaurant… most of the other diners were couples out for a romantic weekend!

Check out the Dutch architecture behind this group photo shot!

It is fun that our kids can make friends wherever we go.  As we visited other cities later, our kids saw pictures of the Sobrevilla kids at various places and say “Oh wow!  There is a picture of our friends!”

Our kids enjoyed eating the green beans more than the chicken!

Me wearing my “mom hat” and feeding Hannah and David.

May 20th - Visiting Great Grandpa’s House

The five kids with their Great Grandparents!

David was asleep during this photo shoot.

May 8th - Visiting a Children’s Museum somewhere in the US

Here is a picture of “daddy” riding a bike on a thin wire at least one story off of the ground!  Fun for him and the kids, scary for mom!

April 29th Visiting Target somewhere in the US.

Our kids enjoy shopping almost as much as mommy does!

June 6th - U.S. Space & Rocket Center, Huntsville, Alabama

There is a funny story here.  As we were traveling, every time we would approach a huge industrial site or power plant, from far away our kids would say “what is that daddy?” We told them (joking of course), that it was a space ship.  They would say, “Really! Wooooowwwww!”  As we got closer we would clear up the “misunderstanding” and explain what it was.  As we were driving through Alabama, our kids saw the peak of the rocket ship and asked “what is that daddy?”  This time it really was a “space ship”! The US Space and Rocket Center is the official home of “Space Camp”.  We had a fun and educational time as we got to explore the museum and the interactive children’s area.  There were even some rides outside that took you from 0 to I don’t know how fast in just a few seconds!  It was very, very hot so we stayed in the air conditioned buildings most of the day.  At the visitor’s center, we checked out a backpack that the kids got to carry around with them all day.  Inside the backpack it had experiments the kid’s could do and an easy to follow guidebook just for kids that got them to look for answers to questions. We did not have time to stay as long as we wanted, but the few hours we were there, were a lot of fun!  If you want an educational experience for your kids, be sure to put this one on the map of places to visit. 

Check out the official site here: Space Camp

Japheth rock climbing at the Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

Even daddy decided to join the rock climbing fun!

May 31th, Playing football at a rest area somewhere in Texas

Rest area in Texas where we stopped to play catch with our kids.  Japheth is getting good at throwing the football!

Welcome to Texas!  We did NOT stop at this park.  Well, we stopped, told the kids we were going to get out and play… just until we saw the signs posted everywhere that said “Watch Out for Snakes”!  Reverse culture shock.  We had just crossed the border from Mexico and into the states and our kids really wanted to get out and play…. they settled for a snake free rest stop instead!

4th of July in San Marcos, California

This was our kids FIRST real 4th of July.  Living in Mexico, we always have a 4th of July get together where we invite other Americans or close friends to our house for an American style barbecue.  Our kids had a vague concept of the 4th of July but I think they get what Patriotism is about now!  We went to a local park and saw probably the best fireworks display I have ever seen.  It was incredible!  The kids enjoyed a day of just hanging out at the park with mom, dad, grandpa and grandma.  One of the highlights was that we were sitting next to a Mexican family that was grilling some carnes asadas… we made friends with them and they offered some of their delicious tacos, home made salsa, home made beans and rice, and of course some chiles to us!

Grandma reading to kids!

July 2nd, Park in Oceanside

July 1st, USS Midway Museum

May 16th, Disneyland Park (Anaheim)

July 3th San Diego County Fair

April 17th, Sea World San Diego

Sea World

Google Headquarters

Today, Sunday, we went for a little Sunday drive and ended up at the Google headquarters, close to Silicon valley her in San Jose. We were able to take some pictures and there is one of me standing in front of one of the Google signs. If you have never been to Google headquarters it is huge- they have probably 3-4 blocks of buildings.

Visiting Monterey Bay, California

On Thursday we drove from Oceanside up to Monterey Bay, Ca. If you have never visit Monterey Bay it is one of the places that should be on your top 10 list of places to go and see. Especially if you are going to take a trip with your husband for your anniversary or honeymoon. It is a very cute, romantic spot with lots of different things to do.

We arrived there Thursday night and we checked into the Holiday Inn Express right there on the beach. Its 5 minutes to the beach, we could walk over there if we wanted. The next morning, we went over to the Monterey Bay Aquarium where we got tickets. They have a special there- it was going to cost us about $95 for our whole family but we could get a membership package for only $120 that includes 2 adults and all your children. And we can go back as much as we want for the next year. So we became members and are planning to go back there a few more times while we are in the area.

It is a very beautiful aquarium. It is very modern, very well designed. You can see all different kinds of things. It’s really interesting for the kids.
They got to see all the jellyfish, sharks and sea otters. They also have a new area called the Splash Zone, where the kids can actually touch some starfish and other animals, kelp and different things. They really enjoyed that- it was a fun day.

They even have a really nice restaurant, with some good food- a little expensive, $9.95 for a plate of food. But the food was very good. I highly recommend if you have a chance to go see the Monterey Bay Aquarium, it is very nice.

After that we headed over to Cannery Row. We looked at the different shops there. They are currently remodeling to make it more beautiful. After that we headed over to the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory right there on Cannery Row and the kids got some chocolate covered Oreo cookies. They really enjoyed those and I got some English Toffee. Really good. We had a really fun day. Then we went down to the beach and the kids got to go stick their feet in the water. Clear views of the ocean, very nice. I highly recommend a day trip to Monterey Bay if you get the chance.

Aisle to Aisle in Barnes & Noble

A little while ago I was walking through Barnes & noble with my kids as part of my overall parenting strategy; to acquire a life long love of reading for my kids. Occasionally, I take them to Barnes & Noble and let them all pick out their own books. After they got done picking out their books they started to walk through Barnes & Noble and I began to think, wow, how much my life has changed over the years.

I remember when I was a teenager; I liked to visit the teenage section. As I got a little older I liked to visit the religion section. After I got married I remember my stop would always bee to the cooking section or how-to-decorate your home section. Then when the babies started coming I started to go to the baby section and parenting section. A little bit later after that, when I started to have more time on my hands, I liked to enjoy the fiction section of the book store and read alot of fiction books.

Now my favorite section would be the e-commerce, management and sales section and of course to go full circle, as I take my kids to the kid section all over again. Its amazing how a simple thing like a bookstore can remind you of little things in life that we should appreciate.

Starting a New Business

Combining business with family isn’t that hard. About 15 minutes ago my family and I headed on to City Hall and started a new internet marketing business. The whole process took about 10 minutes- after filling out the forms, the required information and $25 fee. I really love starting businesses in the United States, really easy.

If you haven’t started a business and you’re thinking about it- now’s the time to start. After that we took a quick trip over to Oceanside Pier where my 3 kids are making sandcastles and new friends in the sand.

I really love internet marketing businesses.

Traveling, work, kids, and fun!

For the next three months our family will be travelling the lower 48 states and visiting friends and family as well as a couple side trips to amusment parks. Our journey begins from Puebla, Mexico where we are live. On Wednesday March 26, 2008 we loaded up our minivan with 5 kids, a few suitcases, and of course our laptop and digital camera. Our kids are: Japheth - 7 years old, Rachel - 5, Sarah - 4, David and Hannah - Twin 1 year olds. Wednesday we drove to Tampico. On the way we stopped for some paletas in a zocolo of a little pueblito. (Frozen juice bars in a park of a little village.) Our second stop was a seaside little town that served up some excellent tasting shrimp and carne asadas. Thursday we made it to the border and without any complications we crosssed into Brownsville, Texas where a friend of my husband’s met us and took us to eat and to a hotel to rest.

Hackersafe A/B Split Test

Almost 6 months ago mostly due to high reviews and a great offer from www.stompernet.com we added hackersafe to two of our websites. As part of the offer we did an A/B split test to see if it really helped increase conversions or not. The A/B split test was run by Hackersafe and the results showed that conversions on our site increased 9.3%! Recently we just finished another A/B split test that we performed with google website optimizer (with the help of monitus.net!) and found that using the Hackersafe logo definitely continued to show an increased conversion rate! Off to test some more!

A/B Split Testing with a Yahoo Store

My latest adventure has been learning how to set up google analytics and use google website optimizer to do A/B split testing with my yahoo store. I can’t give a higher recommendation than to say that Michael at http://www.monitus.net is the guy you need to see.

First, monitus.net. Monitus.net is a service that you can pay a low monthly fee for to have your yahoo store set up with google analytics. One of the best features of monitus.net is the keyword monkey feature. With keyword monkey you can easily see which keywords converted. Each day you will receive a report for newly converting keywords and if you login to keyword monkey then you can see an easy to read chart of all keywords that converted as well as your conversion rate for any given keyword. This is great because then you can see which words you should be focusing your seo efforts on. Keyword monkey also tells you if the words are found in your store so that you can know if you need to create special pages for those words to generate even more conversions. I had google analytics set up for some time, but Keyword monkey is so much easier to read and understand. Also, if you want to use google website optimizer to do any type of a/b split testing with your yahoo store, then you will need help from monitus.

StomperMom.Com

Ever wondered how to homeschool 3 kids, take care of twin babies, manage the household, and run a full time business all at the same time? I have news for you. You can’t! At least not alone. Almost a year ago I joined an internet marketing membership site called StomperNet. Since then I have learned some important things about running an internet business.

1. You should be working ON your business and not IN your business.
2. Do you have a J-O-B or a business?
3. Is your business an asset that can be sold?
4. Don’t forget the most important thing: Spending time with Family.
5. Your income is the average of the people you hang out the most with.

Number One: This was me about 6 months ago. In between processing orders, answering the phones, and updating the websites to delete discontinued products, there was no time left to actual work on the business. I was so involved in the every day activities in became impossible to actually grow the business to the next level. Solution: Get out of the house and get an office. Hire a Manager. Train manager to do everything I do so that she can supervise all the other people I will hire. Second step: Hire a webmaster. Third: Hire link getters. Fourth: Hire someone to work on product updates and uploading new products to sites. Fifth Step: Outsource everything else and then train manager on anything I am still doing. Granted, these five steps took six months. It takes time to train people. But once you do, you can actually start working ON your business and not IN your business. It obviously also takes cash flow. You don’t want to go into debt to pay salaries, but you have to look at things ojectively. If I can pay someone $7 an hour to answer the phone, and I choose to answer the phone instead, then I am making $7 an hour! My job is not to answer the phone for $7 an hour! My job is to work on Traffic, Conversion, and Community.

Number Two. Do you have a J-O-B or a business? Do you HAVE to get up everyday and go to work or everything will fall apart? If so, then you have created a Job for yourself. Part of the beauty of being an entrepreneur is that you have FREEDOM to go and do whatever you want, whenever you want. If I want to take the kids to the park, I CAN…. because I have a business, not a J-O-B. You need to create systems and policies and procedures so that your office can run itself. If YOU are the center of every decision, then you have a job.

Number Three. Is your business an asset that can be sold? If every day you have to work 16 hours just to keep the business running, then you don’t have an asset that can be sold. You have a nightmere! If someone offered to buy your business tomorrow, do you have the systems in place for someone to come in and take over? It is as old fashioned as creating step by step flow charts for your workers using a program such as SmartDraw so that everything can be run without you. It takes time to think out and plan the flow charts, but once in place, everyone will know what to do and how to do it. Keeping good books is also important. No one is going to want to buy debt. Make sure to pay the sales tax you collect on time to the respective states and be sure to only go into debt for inventory and office furniture. Don’t bank on tomorrow’s income to pay today’s salaries.

Number Four. Remember why you quit your job! You quit your day job to be an entrepreneur so you could have the convenience of working from home and spending time with your family. Nothing is more important than the kids. If you don’t get that project finished, so what? Who is going to fire you? Your kids however, are only little once and they WILL remember that mommy or daddy put them first before their work.

Number Five. Brad Fallon said this at one of the live conferences. Your income is the average of the people you hang around. How true is that. Don’t be afraid to step out of your comfort zone and go out and meet people in a higher income bracket. It is not about the money. It is not about what THEY can do for YOU. It is about what you can learn from THEM. It is about the tips and advice you can think about and apply to your business. It is about expanding your horizons and seeing things from someone else’s point of view. Maybe spending $30 a month on pay per click ads is a huge deal to you. Wait till you meet someone who is spending thousands of dollars a DAY! Then ASK them for some tips! Believe it or not, people usually like to talk about themselves! They like to talk about their experiences and the their successes. Be genuinely interested in other people and don’t forget to help out those that are learning!