Sunday, January 27, 2008

What Marketing Method or Business is Best for You?

I don’t know about you but with all that there is on the internet these days and all that ends up in your inbox where do you start when it comes to trying to make money online? Everyone is selling something and they all make it sound as if what they are selling and how they’re selling it is the only way to really make BIG money online.
Weeding out the good ones from the bad one is always a challenge but then trying to figure out from the good ones which is the best fit for you is an even bigger challenge. We all have likes and dislikes. We all have comfort zones. We shop at certain stores not only because they have what we are looking for, or we know they have the best prices. We choose because they are friendly and know what they are selling, they stand behind their products, they have someone we know who works there. There are so many reasons we make a choice of where we are going to shop. One of those reasons has to do with how we feel. We feel comfortable shopping there. It is not necessarily something we can actually state but it is something that we definitely know is there.
I don’t want to service products that are unethical or I feel the way they are being sold is. I don’t like to be anywhere close to the porn industry. I don’t like spam. There are alot of I don’t likes. These are the easy ones for me to make decisions on quick.
Then there are the ones that just don’t feel right. I don’t feel comfortable with high pressure sales people. I don’t feel comfortable being ignored. I also don’t feel comfortable with some products. Online I have signed up for some programs and find out that though they have said they will help you get started once they have your money you never hear from them again. Others you can’t get rid of.
How do you make choices when it comes to buying into a program, marketing method or product line? Some of us let our minds win. This sounds the best or this makes the most sense. Others it’s all about feelings.
We are going to explore this more in the future. I am sure we aren’t all the same and will and do make different choices but is there something we can use to help us make the right choices for us?
Till next time happy marketing.

Sunday, January 20, 2008

My Time Management

Last time in “Organizing my Marketing” I shared how this is one of my weaker areas and I promised to do something about it. How did you make out this week? Me?
I worked on it again and I feel like I’m getting somewhere.
I read this article this week in the Giblink newsletter dated Jan 14th 2008, titled “I don’t have enough time” Here is a part of it. “The underlying principle of time management is "do what's important first." The time management industry has complicated that principle to a fault. There's an "A-B-C" system, a "First Things First" system and theme variations into the night. I say reduce sales time management to one word: ‘YES’.” If you want to read the whole article go to giblink.com/newsletters/. By the way Giblink is a great new social networking site where they say “no one is left behind”. If you’re interested in being a part of a great community working towards the same goals you have then check it out at Giblink .
I thought that the article was right on. We can be pretty lazy and not manage our time at all or we can be rigid and not let anything get in our way of doing what we have set out to do and have no time for anything or anyone that does not fit our plans. Some of you may say that is how it should be but I think people are important and often it is people that mess with our time.
I of course am one of those who is not too rigid sometimes it is, give me anything for an excuse to put off to tomorrow what I could do right now and I know that is way out of line.
In the above mentioned article they also say that “All Marketers are always lamenting the fact that there are too few hours and too many things to do”. Is that true with you? I know it is for me but then I do that about everything.
Well that is not where I was planning to go this week but I thought after last week you would enjoy reading a little more on the topic of managing your time.
Till next time.

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Organizing my Marketing

The last week has been a busy one and I didn’t get to work on my marketing much. You see I am not a full time work at home online marketer. I have for the last 27 years run my own small home based business but it is in construction not online marketing. So you see not only do I continue to work a full time job but it is my own business which demands even more time than a typical 9 till 5 job. I am not complaining as I have had opportunities to go work for someone else and realized that though they may have been a great boss I would find it hard to work for anyone but myself. The reason I started to develop an online presence is to be able in a few more years to wind down my brick and mortar business and still be able to make a living. The challenge is always time. Part of what helps some people get more out of a day is organization or the management of their time. I can’t say that I am a poor time manager but I certainly am not as organized as some. It is one of my weaker suits.
So now as I am into this new year I’m thinking about managing my time related to my marketing. You know so much time working with my social networking sites, so much time trying to keep my traffic exchanges going. Making sure I get my ads out, continuing to work at generating leads and learning how to market well. Keeping my web pages up to date etc.
How on earth am I going to do all this? I could farm out some of my work but where can you get a good job for cheap? I mean people who will really work it as if it was theirs and where do you get the money to pay them?
The only thing that I can do for now is organize myself better. I have been thinking about this over the last few days and really have got no where yet. But it is what I must do. I’m asking what time do I have and then trying to figure out how to divvy it up. Well I guess I have my work cut out for me this coming week.
How do you make out it this area? Do you find it easy or hard? Do you have any good ideas?
Add a comment if you can help.
Till next time, HELP!!

Sunday, January 6, 2008

Setting Goals for 2008

Last time I talked about looking back at 2007 and analyzing what you did. This time we will look forward.
How many of us know what is going to happen this year? I certainly don’t. It is even worse than predicting the weather isn’t it? So how can we plan ahead? Well that is what setting goals is all about. Each day as I start my day I think about what I want to accomplish. Now I am not as manic as some as I don’t make lists down to the last detail. I have discovered that when it comes to my days I rarely get done what I set out to do and making detailed lists would just frustrate me. I do have goals in my mind though of what I what to accomplish and somewhat how I want to try and get there. Now I am not saying that a more detailed list is wrong or bad I am just saying that is not how I work. It may also be my cop out. So if you are a list maker and it helps you to get things done then that is what you need to do.
So now let’s think about the list. You’ve analyzed and now what are you going to do?
I’m going to give you my list but they are in no particular order.
Surf more consistently.
Choose the traffic exchanges that are working and stop wasting my time on the rest.
Be more consistent with the social networking sites I have signed up with.
Interact more with my contacts on these Web 2.0 sites.
Analyze my PPC programs more frequently.
Make changes to my sites based on my analysis more frequently.
Etc.
Do you see a pattern emerging? If I was to sum them up in a few words it would be.
-Consistent -going deeper -getting rid of the dead wood -work more with what I have got -stop jumping from new to new.
So that is my goal for 2008. I think I can do it. I know I can do it. Now all I have to do is do it.
Till next time, happy marketing.