Newspapergrl: The news on Internet Marketing

My New Blog Home

2006-01-27T09:07:00.000-08:00

I like WordPress better. See my new blog at www.newspapergrl.wordpress.com

Reason #5 I'm enamoured with affiliate marketing

2006-01-26T08:09:00.000-08:00

It's ok (even encouraged) to click on your own links.

Rocky Mountain Affiliate Manager Association

2006-01-24T14:39:00.000-08:00

http://www.rmama.com/
The Rocky Mountain Affiliate Manager Association meets monthly. The location changes, but it's in Salt Lake somewhere, from 1-5pm. Companies like Overstock.com and Backcountry.com attend.

If you don't have an organization like this, start one. It can be very valuable to your affiliate program.

I'm writing about setting up an affiliate program for your small business. I hope to do a follow-up article on how to supplement or replace your day job with affiliate marketing. I also want to do it myself so I understand it from both ends.

I just added an affiliate ad for 3 free audiobooks. When you click this we both win. You get free books (or a good deal on Commcast or web hosting, etc) and I get a small commission for referring you. Win-win.

Co-registration for email newsletters

2006-01-13T19:59:00.000-08:00

I want to learn more about co-registration...so when someone signs up for a newsletter they can sign up for yours too. It's a way to leverage each other's lists.

How I got back on Adsense

2006-01-12T13:18:00.000-08:00

I hear I'm one of few people EVER who got back on adsense after getting kicked off. I hear this method is not working for others, but it's worth a try.

I'm not a fan of the way this is handled but thankful to be back on. First off, I had someone back me who makes Google a lot of money. He wrote first, vouching for me.

Often you get kicked off because of click fraud and its often out of your control (I'll blog about a tool that can help you detect when it happens though).

After my friend wrote a letter, I wrote a letter with the information requested, and was back on the next day.

I emailed adsense-adclicks-appeal@google.com with the details below:

- My name

- My company's name (if applicable)

- My publisher ID number (located in the AdSense code on your website
with the format, pub-################)

- My website's URL

I also explained how I didn't knowingly break any rules. I gave them a little about why I wanted back on. I make so little I have no incentive to commit fraud. Once I accidently clicked on my own ad (I clicked my mouse & it was near the ad space) and it scared me! It seems too arbitrary. I hope this changes. It's not fair that someone else (even well-meaning) could permanently shut you out of this great revenue stream.

Best Affiliate Summit speakers

2006-01-12T09:18:00.000-08:00

I dug (remember to put google alerts on these names) the presentation by Fredrick Marckini of iprospect.com. He collected business cards at the end of his talk so he could send us a white paper (smart) of his presentation. He shook everyone's hand and greeted most by name. Impressed.

He spoke about the end of search. Next stop: intelligent agents that tell you what to look at based on your preferences.

Another one that blew me away is Jeff Barr from Amazon.com. Mechanical Turk has to have other applications and could spon additional business models in the non-techie world.

I was impressed by what some of Amazon's affiliates were doing with one-page niche sites. I'll put a link to some of them once I have more time.

Declan Dunn from Dunn Direct Group was dynamic and insane. I loved it! Think aging hippie. He talked about podcasting. You learn most when you hear it. Most people don't read text and the retention rate is tiny.

Good to be back to 24/7 internet access. More later...

Affiliate Summit 2006 report 1

2006-01-11T21:18:00.000-08:00

The Affiliate Summit conference is amazing so far. Will blog more when I get home. Amazon.com web services guy blew me away. He challenged my thinking.

Avon does co-branded emails with MyPoints and others traditional marketers (should've written the whole list...Clubmom was on there...bingo sites).

Can't wait for tomorrow's class on how adult industry marketers work. They invented it and are cutting edge, along with the Christian Coalition. While I'm in sin city I may as well learn from the pros...

Definately my crowd here. This is my passion. Starting to see the same faces as at the Ad-tech show. Found an affiliate marketer in Draper to interview for Connect. Found Pete and guys from Paul Allen's class. Idea to start job site modeled after Amazon's model, push and pull jobs. Want to podcast....mmmmmmmm....eat this stuff up.

Dream jobs: affiliate marketer or buzz marketer. Love to create buzz...

This entry was blogged from the Apple store on the strip...hope I find my cell phone.

Glory Days

2006-01-05T07:24:00.000-08:00

When I first started at my day job as a web marketer I applied what had worked in the past and didn't pull it off so well. I'd dreamed about what our site could do for over a year beforehand.

When you first get a new position you have the glory days. You ask to go to conferences, you try to get budget, you try to rally people to get things done. The company wasn't as web saavy overall as I'm used to. Now we had a new VP who is totally committed to it.

This honeymoon brought a lot of focus and enthusiasm about the web site when before it was under the radar (at least to marketing). I find this is a good time to get things done. You act quickly. We hired a web programmer and graphic designer. I thought it was our chance to really rock. I was enthusiastic. I was estatic. Then reality hit and a lot of frustration.

I better read The Likeability Factor that's on my shelf, lol.

I still think we kicked trash. We met a very aggressive timeline. The positive feedback continues to come in. I've got a lot of goals ahead but I realize that my approach and timelines may need some adjusting. That's alright though. Like I said I'd still say overall there were a lot of successes...I just got 3 more positive emails this morning.

Rant #2: Linkhogs

2006-01-04T07:55:00.000-08:00

There are web sites out there that think we don't know the internet. Every single link on their site, links to a page in their site. They never link to anything outside their site. They highjack you, as if staying on their site means you are loyal to them or they can force you to purchase from them. As if we don't know we can pull up another browser or leave their site at will anyway.

Why not make give us high quality links (there is so much junk out there, thanks Jonas et al)? So we know we can trust you to lead us straight for more information or even more objective information. It's good web customer service to help us get what we're looking for and not try to sabatoge us.

Old thinking. The web is all about connection. It's networking. We're not grocery stores who arrange things as roadblocks so we will buy more. We don't have to walk through the entire store to find the staples we came for. We can go straight to the page we want and leave again. We don't force we entice someone to stay. Apple stores aren't arranging things so people will stay (neither is Barnes & Noble). They make it inviting or compelling and you don't want to leave.

I prefer transparency. Where it makes sense, why not link to better information, more information, other sources? Why not become the authority in your niche and direct people to complementary information or products? (do it with affiliate marketing and you'll get a kickback)

Adsense: how it's hurt. With contextual searching you have to worry more about ads which might appear on a page you link to. There could be illegal claims or competitors or misinformation. The legal department doesn't like it at all. Better not to link.

JetBlue's David Neeleman

2005-12-20T09:54:00.000-08:00

Article in City Weekly about JetBlue founder David Neeleman. I'm always interested in what he does. He's king of CRM and serving the customer. I didn't know he was LDS (I'm probably the last person to know). I haven't finished reading it.

Passion and Success

2005-12-19T15:08:00.000-08:00

How being passionate about what you do drives your success. Radical careering blog talks about how you propel yourself by believeing in what you do. If you put your all into something that keeps sucking life from you, move on out.

Reminds me of a blind date I had this year. Good guy, but his career bugged me. He operates a Burger King, which pays well but he doesn't like it, for over 10 years. He's now a single dad. He's getting up at 4am on Sunday mornings and dealing with high school and college kids all day. It pays too well to change.

I respect bringing home the bacon, but the other part of me, is WHY put up with something you don't like for that long? It's not a divorce for heaven's sake. I took major pay cuts to do what I'm doing now. But do I regret it? No way.

Work takes a lot of energy. I love what I do. Of course there are up/downs. But I love working on something so dynamic and interesting. Why people do what they do, how the internet helps them do what they do, and what I can do to influence their choices or help them. I can't imagine doing anything that I hated that long. We live in a free country, a blessed condition, may as well take full advantage.

starting a business

2005-12-19T11:10:00.000-08:00

37 signals blogs about how when you're starting a business, most muddle through it. They have no idea their company will one day be big. They essentially wing it.

"No one actually knows what they’re doing"

Pretty much how I feel about my life. I have plans and ideas and some things I do know, but otherwise, winging it. Sometimes, like the past few years it has taken me to VERY UNEXPECTED places, 360 degree turns, etc. If you don't get it, don't worry, neither do I! I'm learning to accept that and not feel obligated to try to explain until there's a more finished plan. It's all a process and can change at any time. I used to think that means instability, but now I'm thinking more of it is courage.

----------------------------------------

Great article yesterday about Back to Basics. When their management reached their capacity, they didn't get more cash by going public, they hired people more experienced in running larger companies. I respect that. I've worked for startups and they've all hit this stage. Some of them got outside help and stayed around. Most didn't and are out of business. It's always a pain point... success can kill you just as much as failure if you don't manage it well.

Jonas - on Google

2005-12-12T11:58:00.000-08:00

Check out what Jonas writes about Google today. I hope people comment. Bill Gates announced that MSN paid search wants to find a way for the end user to share the ad profits. I just want them all to give us all the information, so we know the exact rules of the game. Google does have an unfair advantage by controlling access to vital information. I just wonder how MSN will pull this off.

Vblogs and Change

2005-12-12T11:35:00.000-08:00

We had blogs, then podcasts, now vlogs (video blogs). New vocabulary all the time. Changing the media stronghold. I saw the movie "Good Night and Good Luck". It addressed the power of the networks & bemoaned the dumbing down of the medium. The networks got stale with too much power. They started entertaining more than informing. But in this case I see a bright future.

Disperse the power and the result is more creativity (capitalism in a sense). We'll also have more control over what we see and hear. Those who want garbage can have it, but the rest of us can access a lot of history and experts in ways we haven't been able to before. Plus we can prevent our kids from seeing trash. We can block content we don't want. We can see the good stuff, produced by a broad range of people, on our own time.
Good news.

Writing for Connect Magazine

2005-12-08T11:17:00.000-08:00

Yahoo! I'm writing a piece on affiliate marketing for Connect magazine. I'll link to it when it publishes, probably in the Spring.

Affiliate marketing is a great way for smaller businesses to leverage their marketing. My friend Peter is going to co-author it with me. We'll attend the Affiliate Summit conference in Vegas in January.

If you know a Utah-based company (less than 50 employees) that runs a successful affilaite marketing program, please let me know.

Career Books to Read

2005-12-04T21:06:00.000-08:00

I got this from Joyce Lain Kennedy:

Radical Careering: 100 Truths to Jumpstart your Job, your Career, and Your Life.
(Says it's good for tech people with short attention spans)

Knock 'Em Dead 2006: The Ultimate Job Seeker's Guide (classic on job searches)

Whoops! I'm in Business: A Crash Course in Business Basics (maybe my brother should get this, he seems to be suddenly in the treadmill selling business).

Six-Figure Freelancing: The Writer's Guide to Making More Money (sounds enticing doesn't it?!)

To Be of Use: The Seven Seeds of Meaningful Work. (working for the common good and making money doing it)

The World's Greatest Resumes (published by Ten Speed Press, a good quality thinking sort of book publisher).

And I still haven't finished, Never Eat Alone! I'm reading the great dating book called, How to Get a Date Worth Keeping. My friend has dramatically improved her dating life after applying the priniciples. I like the approach. If you're not dating and are ready/want to, it's time to do something about it. They say it guarantees you'll date more or your money back. I'm not dating but someday I will.

Any book recommendations from readers out there? Put it in the comments section.

Welcome to blogging

2005-12-01T15:12:00.000-08:00

My friend John just started an entrepreneur blog. Welcome to the blog world!

I need to update my links and add him to my bloglog.

Affiliate Marketing Summit

2005-11-30T15:20:00.000-08:00

It's funny I was thinking today, this is what I want to do in the company...be an affiliate marketing manager and manage relationships with affiliates. I don't know if it will work for our business model but I want to see if I can find others doing it.

Then my boss asks me, what would you most like to do here? I had a ready answer. My second choice is to run an email marketing program. I like affiliate marketing better because of the personal relationships you can build with your affiliates. I love talking to people, not just my coworkers or at a computer all day.

I also got a press pass to an affiliate marketing conference in January in Vegas. I'm excited. I wish I could find $500 to go to the Google Adsense boot camp too. But still...great day.

You know these are my type of people when nothing starts until 10am. The last conference I attended started at 8:30. I don't like to converse or be cheery before 9am. Now for a hotel and ride.

Google - free web analytics tool

2005-11-14T09:05:00.000-08:00

They did it. Google bought Urchin for web stats and today announced they have refined it. Plus it's free. Another way google is taking over the world and remaking it.

Liz Ryan

2005-11-10T09:30:00.000-08:00

I heard Liz Ryan speak this week. Soooo refreshing. A great wit. She speaks about all the books about how women need to change to fit into the business world. How come there are no books telling men what they need to fix about themselves to succeed in business?

She rejects the notion that we need to change to fit in or be successful in our careers.

"What women bring to the table is what the business world desperately needs: passion, intuition, non-linear logic, insight, pluck."

Marketers know women often control how money is spent, esp. in families. My company mainly sells to women but our top salepeople are men. Something is disconnected here. Shouldn't women, allowed to be who they are in the workforce, be the best resource about marketing to other women?

Pret - great company

2005-11-08T08:18:00.000-08:00

When I'm in England next I'd like to visit this restaurant - Pret. That's how good their marketing is. Just read their recipes (well-written, well-presented, and weaved with great marketing). The jobs page is full of branding...they measure things, they're open about it. I dare other companies to follow. They have an internet mind (open with information). Love Cats. I want to work for a company that thinks like this.

From their web site:

"We have good jobs for good people making great food. Pret is a private company determined never to forget that our wonderful hardworking people make all the difference. They are our heart and soul. When they care, our business is sound. If they stop caring, our business goes down the drain.

We pay our hardworking, wonderful staff as much as we can afford rather than as little as we can get away with. We invest in, train and develop our people (75% of our managers were promoted from Team Leaders). The average hourly rate during 2004 for our Team Members (with 6 months' service) was £6.60 per hour. Many get over £7 an hour, it depends. The average salary (including bonus) for General Managers during 2004 was £26,000 pa. "

ethics in business

2005-11-04T08:08:00.000-08:00

"We have set our expectations so high that it's causing societal problems, such as a breakdown in ethics."

- Utah Business Magazine, "Industry Outlook"

Expectations. Raising the bar. Our barometer of what's important is messed up. Bottom line thinking.

One of my favorite quotes is:

"Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he's been robbed. The fact is that most putts don't drop, most beef is tough, most children grow up to be just people, most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration, most jobs are more often dull than otherwise. Life is like an old time rail journey...delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders, and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed." –Gordon B. Hinckley

The beautiful vistas are what we live for. This reminds me of Nancy Griffith's line, "they never want the rain to come or the weather to get colder". We want clear sunny skies in life and yet we can't fully appreciate them unless we have other weather too.

search engine marketing

2005-11-02T11:00:00.000-08:00

I'm into search engine marketing. Example: my writeup.com blog (see last post) got over 80% click through rate yesterday. That is very high. Almost everyone who got to my blog entry clicked on a link. I love search engine marketing! Once you understand the way it works you can really increase your earnings. I still have a long way to go but I have made a lot of headway. I don't actually know how to tell exactly what link or blog entry was so popular. I need to check that out.

Work at Home

2005-11-02T10:31:00.000-08:00

I want to work at home, at least part of the time, eventually. I started this blog is to keep writing, to have a record of my life, and to connect with others. If I make any money on it, great. It's not my prime objective.

Work at Home
This isn't going to make enough to quit your job (at least not at first, lol). It's a good way to earn side income.

My friend Jonas is a great internet marketer. He makes loads of cash on his work at home efforts. He writes programs to automate search engine principles. He created a blogging site called Writingup.com. Since he's essentially a programmer, so the site design is nothing fancy.

It could take a long time to get enough traffic on your own blog. The advantage of going with the Jonas model is that you take advantage of his traffic and techniques (I guarantee he knows what he's talking about).

Research your subject on overture.com to see how to describe it as people search. Use the right words in your title, bold it as a headline, and mention it in the text. He also gives a bunch of suggestion of profitable terms to write about (like WORK AT HOME, lol).

Yesterday I made more than I've ever made in a day on adsense. I'm pumped about it. Blogging is great practice writing anyway, now if I make a little money, great.

Try it and tell me what you think.

networking tips

2005-11-02T09:53:00.000-08:00

I'm reading the book Never Eat Alone. It's about networking or actively getting to know and taking interest in other people (which sounds less corporate and self-centered). It talks about how the rich have a network of trusted people they can turn to at any time. The rules in life become more fluid for them because of relationships.

I have let my networks fade as I've focused too heavily on a few things in my life. I want to get myself back into networking mode.

How to From Buzzoodle:

Networking Tips (some business, some personal/both):

Help other people be successful (I think women are esp. gifted at doing this)
Superior Customer Service (a form of marketing/competitive advantage in a business and in relationships: following up, checking in, being aware of needs, etc)
Superior Product with unexpected benefits
Do the unexpected and make someone's day
Publicly recognize other people
Introduce people that you know that should know each other
Be open, honest and human (or in other words, be yourself)
Ask people what it would take to have them recommend you or introduce you to their friends (great tip...when you ask, you get more than if you never ask)
Constantly perfect your networking and communication efforts (read: Cruical Conversations)

Google Adwords Help

2005-10-28T09:35:00.000-07:00

I'm doing a Google AdWords experiment today. This is my first time. I read about using AdWords for affiliate marketing so I'm trying it out.

I found a great tool to help to enter keywords for Adwords. It puts all the forms of your keyword. With quotes ("this means that the phrase exists somewhere in the search terms"), with brackets ([this means just those keywords with no other words]), just the search term by itself means any form of those words.

The tool also lets you put in negative keywords, or keywords to exclude.

I was going to do this in an excel spreadsheet but now I know an easier way.

the donation button

2005-10-13T12:55:00.000-07:00

First, I was offended. My friend added a donation button to his blog. He insuinated that he needed money and played on hearts a little. And he actually got a donation. I learned how to add the button through Paypal and thought I'd try it out. An experiment. Sort of like leaving a tip jar out on the counter. Maybe someday someone feeling flush will drop a large bill in there just for the heck of it. So once in a while I check my account. So far nothing.

Then I decided to make it like paid advertising through donating. It happens all the time. Nonprofits for instance, offer awards, and ask the recipient to PAY for the priviledge. I guess my pleas to support a single mom aren't heart-wrenching enough or a good enough cause.

However, my donation button now has an extra feature. You'll get a link on my blog or a mention of your name or business. Think of it like a text ad or link exchange. Of course my audience is limited, but it is growing, albeit slowly.

I promise you this...if I get a large sum of money I'll use it for good. You know, paying off debt, going to Puerta Vallarta, enjoying nice food at a restaurant, things like that. Oh, and there is paying for speech therapy for my son, a cello, etc. But after that I'd use it for good things. Things like katrinahousing.org, slipping other single moms needed cash, help get good folks elected or laws passed (hey, I could be a lobbyist!), giving to NPR.

Please forgive my randomness lately. Since it's my blog I can wander wherever my thoughts take me. Hope you enjoyed my musings.

Notes on Backcountry.com CEO John Bresee

2005-10-12T09:18:00.000-07:00

John Bresee, CEO of Backcountry.com spoke in class yesterday. He's a revolutionary and pretty fun to listen to. His audience of mostly college students appreciated his take. Quit your MBA. Use the money to hire a programmer from the Phillipines for $750 a month (he used a service, anyone know of one to refer me to?).

Start your own business. His rules for the most profitable way to begin (not a complete list, I was late and didn't get all of it):

Build a system not a business

Have no employees (contract out everything)

Digital products (no inventory)

Use a subscription model

customers should create your content

customers should market your site

don't do any offline marketing

Turn strangers into customers and customers into evangelists. Let your customers create the content. Hire people to manage it.

I liked how he has backcountry.com that is a catchall for outdoor products (for generalists). He also has specialty sites for subgroups of that site. If you're a diehard snowboarder, go to their site DogFunk.com, not backcounty.com. I've been wondering how to handle what I call our "rogue sites". Let them live, give them their own identity. Create a way to incorporate user-generated content.

He has at least 3 other businesses on the side at one time. He reads like mad and from that reading ideas come to him all the time. Sometimes he worries when he's not getting ideas, but the gift returns (actually I think anyone who fills their minds with ideas from great minds will make connections and get great ideas themselves). He also talked about ADD. He emphasized that he's completely aware of his faults but his strengths far outweigh them. You can partner or hire out the things you suck at.

This is good perspective generally at least for business. In your personal life though, I still think there is an obligation to improve what you're defficient in...even if it's tough. It's one thing if you know how to do things but hire it out to save time. We can get so idea-based that we live too much inside ourselves and our relationships with people suffer.

His talk about hiring philosophy is hire for aptitude and altitude not for education and experience. Makes me want to work for him.

I also loved the idea about how the US needs to faciliate quick adaptation to economic changes. Pass laws to make it easier to re-educate and retrain people depending on what the market needs. I think companies should take that approach too, encourage their employees to be agile, track what is happening, and have people on your team who can quickly react to it. Being somewhat ADD myself that sounds a lot more fun than just doing the same sorts of things each day and year.

One last quote: "A sense of humor is the greatest sign of intelligence". Too bad I'm not that funny!

Call Centers

2005-10-05T12:38:00.000-07:00

I'm reading a lot about call centers and will write an article soon about VoIP. It really levels the field for small businesses. Call centers are the human voice of your company. Invest in a good phone system and treat your staff well because it transfers to your customers. You may think you're saving your company money by cutting corners, but usually it costs you more later.

"...your call center is probably the single cheapest investment you can make
in building your consumer or business to business brand among customers and
motivated prospects." -Seth Godin on call centers

Email programs

2005-10-03T12:02:00.000-07:00

I'm looking for a large scale template email marketing program. Let me know if you know what the industry standard is.

If you're a small business I recomend Constant Contact to manage your sales emails.

I'm into learning more about affiliate marketing (see abestweb.com). I've made some money from this blog but I'd like to try out more on my sites that get more traffic. I want Burr to start learning affiliate marketing for his forums page.

I want to try out bulletin boards for call-center-review.com and do affiliate links to sell headsets or related products. First though, I've got to be able to connect with John, which is difficult...

Get your blog indexed fast - Ping Goat

2005-09-30T16:09:00.000-07:00

Check out Ping Goat. I just tried it. I'll let you know.

I'm geeking today. Just bought Google Hacks (unfortunately I didn't see the 25% off coupon on dealnews until later) , downloaded the Google White Paper. I just downloaded my first RSS feeder and have a few blogs on it.

Geek woman Emily Chang's blog rocks. She also writes artcodes is more personal but still pretty geeky/arty/fun.

Ethos and Starbucks

2005-09-23T20:14:00.000-07:00

Ethos (bottled water) donates 5 cents for each sale to clean water projects in poor countries, to develop safe water supplies.

"Ethos is not a product with a cause, it's a mission with a brand."
- Peter Thum, co-founder of Ethos

This April Starbucks bought Ethos. Employees will be trained on how to sell it. How's that for an exit strategy built on a feel-good cause?

That would be my dream company, a mission with a brand...brilliant. I'm partial to conservation or environmental causes (which affects how the masses live). If you have any ideas, let me know. I wanted to make a line of vases and glasses out of recycled TAHITIAN NONI® Juice bottles. Local artisians would do the glassblowing. TAHITIAN NONI® Juice is in over 70 countries. Then sell them through Overstock.com's Worldstock program.

book suggestions for me

2005-08-23T11:27:00.000-07:00

I want to make these all affiliate links, but for now:

Tim Sanders, who wrote Love is the Killer App sent out a newsletter with these book suggestions. I like the way he thinks, so I want to pick these up:

Give Your Speech, Change The World by Nick Morgan - effective speeches
Working The Room by Nick Morgan - networking
Think Big, Act Small by Jason Jennings - about how organizations lose effectiveness as they grow.

My list:
Winning Results with Google AdWords (Paperback) by Andrew Goodman
SEO Book by Aaron Wall

Sellers wrote a beautiful essay on suffering. He suggests making a life's mission to end suffering. Take responsibility for the suffering you cause others. Be aware of the kinds of suffering that exists (like boredom is a form, mental anguish, as well as hunger, poverty, lonliness, even uncertainty, etc). Leaders address and find ways to end suffering (he's not a Buddhist is he??). Think about your personal suffering. Become self-reliant and introspective on healthy ways to reduce your personal suffering.

I have been doing this for the past 2 years. It's felt muddled, hurried, and incomplete at times. But then this is life mission sort of territory. It gives meaning to life.

"How you are successful during the day is who you become in the evening. Conversely, your personal mission should guide your behavior towards your family, friends and acquaintances. If you find one mission that successfully guides you throughout your whole life, you have a blueprint for success. If your mission is aligned with others, you have a blueprint for community and cooperation."

I like that definition of building community. I need to ponder this further...any comments?

affiliate/adsense ideas

2005-08-23T10:09:00.000-07:00

For google to think you're a real site you need things that are indicators of realness. Original content. Like comparing prices of products. A list of retail store locations. An actual customer service number or email address.

I also read that if you add graphics to your adsense links it will increase click-throughs. You use text ads but space them out in a table (is this google legal or is it tampering with code? I guess if you do a 1-ad for each one you're OK). Put an icon above each ad. Basically it's tricking people into not realizing they are google ads, which people usually ignor.

Remember: You can't ask people to click on links on your page to increase your revenue or click on your the ads on your site.

I found a lot of good links lately for more google adsense info:
www.Jensense.com
http://allaboutadsense.blogspot.com/
http://www.petefreitag.com/item/413.cfm

Can't wait for the day when yahoo gets more into paid search advertising. This is changing all the time and it's an adventurous ride so far...need more competition out there to keep a flatter playing field.

geek heaven

2005-08-10T09:44:00.000-07:00

Check out this blog by the 37 Signals folks: Signal vs. Noise.
There's also a great salon.com article where I learned about the 5 employees and their business model. No investors. No ads. One of the 5 works from Provo, Utah. I suggested to Connect Magazine they write a feature on him.

You don't have to surrender your credit card to use Basecamp for personal use (it's a project management app). Unheard of. I'm also using their task list. It's all designed to be simple, inexpensive, and intuitive. Good stuff for my slightly ADD tendancies.

Centrist Democrats

2005-08-06T21:16:00.000-07:00

My friend Jim was on KCPW (Salt Lake City's NPR station) Blogger's Friday yesterday. He mentioned me as the person who got him into blogging. See his blog at beehivedonkey.org. He's also a fellow single parent, centrist democrat who's interested in politics, and geek (more so than me). I like discussing ideas with him. I'm a little jealous he has time to get into politics. I used to. I want to be on the city council someday. I've helped on some campaigns. These days I hardly keep up. So I read Jim's blog.

Free Business Cards

2005-08-02T20:19:00.000-07:00

Paul Allen is always talking about VistaPrint. Here is the link (Get 250 premium quality, color business cards FREE! Order today! Get free business cards. You just pay shipping, about $5.

I made a generic card for people I meet in any situation.

Use them to network. Use to give someone your email or if you move and have a new address. You don't even need a company name. I just say my name: writer, internet marketer, blogger.

Affiliate marketing is interesting. I use Commission Junction. Any links that I have on my blog are for companies I personally use and like, not random things. The little boy is my son...my motivation to succeed.

Istockphoto.com and Guy Kawasaki

2005-08-01T18:18:00.000-07:00

istockphoto.com is a great site to get images to use on your web site or powerpoint presentations. You pay max: $3 a photo. When you register it asks how you were referred to the site. This is the first time I've ever see a person's name as a choice. You guessed it...it gave Guy Kawasaki. That's who referred me. amazing.

I thought it would be cool if istockphoto francised or google-ad-ed images. You get your own branded photo site. It all works through their system. Do google ads but for photos. Serves up relevant images for your blog or site...still developing...

Gel

2005-07-27T15:59:00.000-07:00

I'm dying to go to Gel in 2006. It's in May. A bunch of high level businesspeople get together to experience (meaning listen to and watch a bunch of other creative overachievers). The buzz is to create experiences (since none of us has time to have any of our own. We'll buy them!)

Play text message tag, roam hip neighborhoods and talk to people. It's like a travel agency and marketing conference and entertainment venue in one. You get tour guides. Journalists to professors to musicians, whoever. I think you just have to be smart or want to be around people who are.

Look at the attendees list. The Trachtenburg Family went. Now that's random. I saw them "perform" at the Arts Festival last year.

The pictures are by Flickr, people blog about it, it's so geeky. I want to go. I'm going to have to make a lot more cash to do it.

BlueHost.com web site hosting

2005-07-20T15:37:00.000-07:00

Blue Host: Easy Web Hosting $6.95
Blue Host is a great company if you need server space for your web site. I use them for my new business Altruis Media. Altruis is a way for me to test online marketing tactics/ideas, etc. Eventually I hope to turn it into a social entrepreneurship project.

Why I like Blue Host:

$6.95/month
lots of functionality
solid customer service. They answer the phone, help quickly, know what they're doing. They follow-up. I called them twice and problem solved each time. Everyone I've talked to is friendly.

But please, don't let the developers design your site. Not incredibly user-friendly. It's a pain for non-techies to figure out. Get a brand manager, marketing, writer, and design people to take over and interpret/filter things for the rest of us.

I posted several weeks ago with my bad experience working with a hosting company. Here's a plug for a good one. Click the banner ad on the right hand side of my page or the other links on this entry. You can't beat the price or the service.

Get Blue Host: Easy Web Hosting $6.95

internet wonders

2005-07-19T12:04:00.000-07:00

Found today: http://www.neighborhoodies.com. Brilliant marketing and branding for such a simple concept. Not too many choices, just straightforward. I ordered one even though I think it's overpriced. Utah is not hip enough to be on the neighborhood list. How about sugarhouse???

If I stay single for much longer my dream longer term is to buy a house in Sugarhouse and work in Salt Lake at some hip internet firm or just do my own thing. It's not time yet. Things happen so much more slow in life right now. Everything has to take its place in line. For instance I promised to clean out my friend's fishbowl while she's in Ireland. That was Saturday. It's now Tuesday and I haven't done it (I called but it was a bad time for the people housesitting the fish). Tonight. I'm on duty to pick up the organic produce this week. That will be a stretch. Once I'm home from work I'm on 4-year-old standard time. Once he's in bed I'm pretty much stuck in the house until morning. I'm too social and have too many things I want to/need to do. Sleep suffers. I'm usually beat.

My roommate Rebecca moved in last week. Since then we have planted a garden, my house is cleaner, Bjorn digs her, I've got a friend around to talk to, and I'm making more organic/healthy food at home rather than eating out so much. It helps that I'm on a dating freeze. All those dinners weren't good for my figure. Now if I can just squelch that clothes buying habit and lose 10 lbs.

I'm eating the best chicken curry with cashews. Found the recipe on epicurious.com. Life is good. How did we ever live without the internet??

be well,
Janet

everyone, start your own blog!

2005-07-19T11:58:00.000-07:00

I like people who blog in the same way I like true geeks. They tend to be pretty smart, open-minded people. This is how I started online, asking geeks questions. I answered the phones at an internet start-up company and worked into 2 careers (HTML programmer now internet marketer).
I believe networking with other bloggers is better than using linkedin.com or other ways of networking. I love how we mix business and life together and how simple it is. I want to recruit my friends to blog. Then I know what's going on in their head and what they're learning. Plus it can make you a better writer and organize your thoughts. I wish it had a blog search function though. I don't see one. There are a few things that are clunky to me but overall I'm an enthusiast.
My goal is to get a nice photo up. Before that my goal is to actually get a photo of myself that I like.

Top Blogs

2005-07-18T10:02:00.000-07:00

Favorite Blogs (I will update this as I go):
Paul Allen's Internet Marketing Blog - I'm indebted.
Making Money From your Blog (which btw, is not my strategy on this blog but if I made cash I wouldn't turn it down. Perhaps I'll start one for that purpose later.)
Utah Technical Jobs - Rob should write a Connect article.
John Jonas - This guy rocks. People scan his blog for SEM secrets. The secret is: he's not a marekter, he's a programmer.
Bigfoot's Cave This is my friend Jim's blog.

I'd love to find a blog about a specific Utah nonprofit or one that addresses all of them in Utah generally. Let me know if you know of any. Also, I'd like to read a good social entrepreneurship blog or two. How about one on environmental issues?

You can email me at grocerybike at gmail.com.

synergy and engagement

2005-07-11T16:17:00.000-07:00

Turns out that the more engaged you can get someone on your web site the more expontential growth of sales you can expect. So get them to email something to someone else, print out a shopping list or coupon, register for something, get an email from you, etc.

At ad-tech:
Studies show Hispanics are replacing television viewing with the internet or watching TV and surfing at the same time. They are downloading music and watching video clips. Hispanics are especially adopting the internet but only 1% of marketers are targeting this segment.

Most influenced customers to buy something:
- a web site, general about the industry
- the company web site
- search engine
- company email

Most marketers are not ready for the switch from television to digital. It's complicated and they're overwhelmed.

Use your site to:
acquire new customers
create awarenss (educate)
expand your brand

They spoke about persona marketing or really designing your site according to who is going there and why. If unexpected people are using your site and buying you might be tempted to think you've made a mistake. You haven't. Ultimately not you, but the market determines your customer or niche. Make your product better for them. Build on what they love about your company.

"Integrating Online into the Traditional Media Mix"
Fuzzy notes on this one.
If you can reach an additional family member and get them to purchase from you, that is very powerful. Also, the more educated (bachelor's degree or higher) the female head of household is, the more valuable she is. (note: look up this study, who did it, etc.)

most unique advertising seen: a car ad in the subway. It was incredible. We're sitting there. We're bored. It's an hour ride from the airport. No one is talking much. We see this cool ad, like a movie in the dark underground. It's about a car (yeah, as we're on public transportation). 3 long screens. I don't remember what brand of car is was (duh, they need to put that more in our face). I thought they should do movie previews in the subway like this. The young shoots next to me were talking about it. (did you see that??) It was almost like a dream. It was unexpected. I've ridden subways in London, Washington DC, Atlanta, and some other places but have never seen this. I loved it.

More Notes on Guy's speech

2005-07-11T16:01:00.000-07:00

On Utah:
He spoke about a hypothetical company that eradicates mice. It's expensive and sophisticated. But you have to not only pay for the contraction but the disposal of the mouse. You're going to have to drive to the middle of Utah to dispose of it! I laugh. Thanks to Utah politicians and Envirocare we're well-known for our radioactive waste dumping.

Suggested web sites: istockphoto.com. Use any picture for about $3, high resolution, royalty-free. For powerpoint presentations, reports, etc.

Nike's brilliant copy about women and how we measure ourselves by external factors. This is how you make evangelists for your brand (women's aerobic shoes).

Filmloop.com - new way to advertise, push content through photos (check it out).

Joke about the Apple II and Mac divisions at Apple. How many Apple people does it take to screw in a lightbulb? One. They just hold up the light bulb and expect the universe to rotate around it.

Make a mantra that describes you, your family, your brand, your product, your business unit, your service. In just 3-4 words long to describe the reason you exist.

thanks Guy Kawasaki

2005-07-11T15:46:00.000-07:00

I'm at an Ad-Tech conference in Chicago (I recommend it, coming to NY in November) and just heard the keynote speaker Guy Kawasaki speak. I have to say my favorite speakers of all time can do 3 things. Make me think. Make me laugh. Make me cry. He did all 3.

He spoke to something that is meaningful to me: being a revolutionary. I can't explain why I've always had a bit of a bent towards revolutionaries but I do. I like to be a free spirit. I think we all do.

I have two dreams in my heart right now:
1. I want to be an entrepreneur. A successful one.
2. Then I want to use all that I gain and share it with others who are interested.

I want to be a philanthropist of money, ideas, value, meaning. Guy is like that. These types of people give out their personal email address in their presentations. They sincerely care about what they are talking about, there is meaning beyond just money. There is truth. Truth gets me every time.

Guy talked about the end of our lives, the decision of what happens next, where do we spend eternity. He said going to hell is like being stuck in a car forever. Or heaven: an airplane. You can get to heaven and be on an airplane but once you're there it's still divided into classes. If you're in coach there still might be annoyances. You want to be on the best airline in 1st class. It can take you places. He hopes to spend his eternity on Singapore Airline's 1st class. I laughed at that but then I thought about it. I want to be in first class. I gave a lesson about degrees of glory at church last week. I never thought about this anaolgy. A lot of times the book gives pretty standard answers. Where are you going and how are you going to get there? Guy's place that represents heaven is a company (which is funny). I'm going to think about what my symbol for celestial glory is.

roundabouts

2005-07-04T16:22:00.000-07:00

I saw my friend Bill today. He designs roundabouts. Several years ago I built a site for him to put roundabouts information and photos. He's seriously into it and is really good at what he does. Have you ever ridden your bike or driven around a roundabout several times, just for fun?

Anyway, Bill gets at least a phone call every month resulting from his site. He's ranked 3 on google if you type in roundabouts and has a page rank of 5. Not bad. We didn't try that hard. It is full of real information though. He's not interested in putting up ads or fillers. He gets press interviews, invitations to present at conferences and contract work from this site. I also wrote an article for the Provo Herald that ended up on the AP Wire. It ran in a few papers. So he got free publicity that way. He's built himself into a roundabouts expert. I love that it's been such a success and helped build his career. I mostly did it for free dinner and he's pretty much taken over maintaining it now.

Kudos to Bill and Roundabouts USA.

things to read, do

2005-06-29T13:53:00.000-07:00

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/persuaders/interviews/roberts.htmlread this on brands

Things from today's Twinkie Talk

books to read:
The Right of Your Life

Tipping Point - a few people are responsible for the biggest ideas that change the world. applied to marketing, find the influencers in your demograhic and have them promote your product. If the right people have your products, they will spread quickly. Another book with a similar idea is called Linked (but it goes at it scientifically which sounds boring to me)

Done Deals - the history of venture capitalism in the US

idea for articles: guy from Utah who showed movies in his garage and is now a Fox exec.
RFIDs and how they'll change the entire universe and make everything trackable...now where are my car keys??

web sites:
prweb.com - free to post your press release
firepole.com - surveys
healthequity.com - start a medical savings plan
weightlosswars.com - compete with others to lose the most weight
sourceforge.net - open source software project posting/management

2005-06-16T13:15:00.000-07:00

http://www.crown.org
Check out this site on Christian financial management tools and principles. I write for these sites on debt, so it's on my mind. We are working on some software and hopefully interactive forms and budgets. Eventually we'd like to have webcasts.

Debt Consolidation Services
www.debt-consolidation-insight.com

Debt Management Solutions
http://www.debt-management-strategies.com/

You know I'm a marketer

2005-05-05T09:16:00.000-07:00

Since I'm into internet marketing I use this blog to test things out. I started my first afflilate marketing program today. I write for a few web sites like www.call-center-review.com but I don't own them. I plant to start my own affiliate site with my recommended reading. I love to read and learn. This way I'll have one place to collect all my favorite reads.

Lately I've been listening to the E-Myth Revisited, on my Ipod (thanks Stephen). The E-Myth is the myth that entrepreneurs start businesses. Entrepreneurs are the vision or dreamers but in reality most of the people starting businesses are get-it-done types. This severely limits what they can accomplish long-term.

Now, back to work!

Paul Allen - good internet marketing reads

2005-04-26T09:38:00.000-07:00

Paul Allen is a local entrepreneur. I worked for two of his companies, Infobases and Ancestry.com (now MyFamily.com). Over 5 years later he lectured for a class I took. I read his articles and everything else in Connect magazine (a must-read if you live in Utah and care about entrepreunership or business http://www.connect-utah.com/).

Paul has this hunger and appetite for all things internet and especially knowledge and information in general. It makes me want to read or listen to more books. I highly recommend his blog: http://www.infobaseventures.com/blog/. I'm willing to bet you can get a free online education about online marketing and other topics simply by following his ideas and book recommendations. It's truly inspiring.