If You Didn’t Measure It – You Didn’t Do It! Part 1

If you’re going to spend money doing something, the only way to know if you accomplished your goal is to measure it. Here is a tool that works well to both define the problem and provide a yardstick against which to measure results.

The analysis breaks down into three main components:

• Need – What is the problem, and what is the result we expect from the money we are about to invest?
• Content – How will we move people to the desired result?
• Measurement – Did you actually meet, or better, exceed, the goals?

Need drives the entire process. You are not going to spend the money to do something that doesn’t need to be done. You have a situation or a problem – and it usually has a measurable cost – and you need to solve that problem, to eliminate, or at least significantly reduce that cost.

We may have to invest time or money to solve the problem, but if the problem is well defined and quantified, not only can we reduce or eliminate the problem with appropriately targeted communications; we can measure how well we did it. It could be increased sales, increased signups for a new program, or broader support within a community for a new service or idea. Whatever it is, it must have the necessary yardstick for success.

Let’s use an example to illustrate how this process functions and how well it can work.

Several years ago, a company was planning to introduce a new product into a saturated marketplace. The new product represented major innovations, and would likely have been very successful by itself, but the company needed to ensure that success and overcome several other issues. We’ll start the story of the launch in this article, and follow it through two more articles.

The NEED – The situation or problem:

• Moderate existing market share for existing product, #2 in sales
• Lack of respect for the company because of “me too” parity products in the past
• Low company sales force morale from carrying unexciting products
• Lack of personal contact by company executives with dealers across the country
• An exciting new product to launch, including many firsts, under a new brand umbrella, based on a new and very unfamiliar technology

The GOALS – what were the desired measurable results?

• Capture #1 sales position in the marketplace, as measured by published industry data
• Establish the new brand with dealers and consumers
• Build new levels of respect for the company brand and their sales force in the market place
• Dealer owners pleased with personal contact with company executives
• Retail clerks educated and excited about the new product, and motivated to sell the product and the company
• A memorable event to keep the company “top of mind” for the foreseeable future.

The Obstacles:

• Low respect for company in the market place – would dealers even listen?
• Large number of outlets and clerks to be informed/trained/motivated across the market, preferably in as short a time as possible
• The introduction would be in January/February, the worst time to travel a show around the country.

You can see how all of these elements defined the measurement criteria. Sales can be plotted against the launch. Market share is a standard industry published statistic, and can be plotted against the time of the launch. Respect will be reflected in the attitudes of the retail clerks to the sales representatives calling on the stores and the how the products and the company are received after the launch. This, and how well the event was remembered, would show up in weekly sales call reporting.

Observable, accurate, and actionable. The hallmarks of good metrics.

This is the first of Three Parts of this story.

Part 2 is here: http://www.EzineArticles.com/?id=899065

Part 3 is here: http://www.EzineArticles.com/?id=886852

Copyright 2008 Dan Davenport

Dan Davenport is an award-winning business communications producer: Multimedia, video, print.

Goal: Bring excitement to business communications.

Look to http://blog.smallofficecommunicator.net to blog with us about small office communication ideas and answers – share your own experience with others and get answers to your questions.

Loan Modification Marketing Series – Ad Campaign Tracking and Analytics

Tracking your marketing and advertising campaigns is incredibly crucial to their effectiveness. You need to track who and where every lead comes from, which leads ended up paying you and how much, how much money and time went into each marketing and advertising effort, which leads were better than others in non-monetary ways, how many referrals have come from each lead source and how frequently, and more.

Build a spreadsheet that organizes everything. Compare the return on investment (ROI) for each marketing effort. Analyze and compare which marketing efforts are the most successful and profitable. Focus your future dollars and energies on these. Cut anything that doesn’t seem to be providing high returns (though, don’t be too quick to cut out the leads groups and other long-term networking efforts).

With regard to your pay per click (PPC) ad word campaigns and search engine optimization (SEO), there are really cool applications, called analytics, that collect, organize, and measure more information than you ever dreamed possible. Do not run any ad word, banner, or other online marketing campaign without using an analytics program or service. If you’re tech-savvy, then give one of the free ones a go, such as Google Analytics. If not, then pay for a service to do this for you.

A good ad campaign with solid analytics (assuming you have a competitive company, sales person, product, service, and pricing, obviously) can literally have a monthly ROI % in the 1000s, and an exponential monthly growth factor. These are very powerful tools when used correctly. If you want dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of clients every month, then you seriously need to make web 2.0, ad words, SEO, a blog, and analytics a central part of your business model and marketing plan. These kinds of results are absolutely possible, but you need to do them right to have that kind of success.

To learn more about how to build a successful loan modification business and to access all the tools and forms you need to get started, please click here: http://StartALoanModBiz.com

About the Author
Matt Sparks is a successful entrepreneur, both offline and on. He is also a licensed mortgage broker, employing real estate broker, and Realtor. He has written books, articles, and blogs about small business, real estate, finance, New Urbanism, and sustainable cities.

(c) Copyright – Matthew R. Sparks. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

How You Can Make Real Money Online

When it comes to making money online there are many challenges. In effect there are many pieces to the puzzle. One piece is to identify a market. The next step you will need to take is to determine demand within that market.

Once you determine demand you will need research the competition and see what you are up against. Then if you decide that you can compete, you will now need to try and understand what that market wants and how hungry they are to get it.

Keywords are one way to determine what is being searched but you also need to understand the person behind the keyword so that you can communicate with them in a way that they will understand what results can be achieved.

If they can see the results for themselves then you will have to do little to convince them and furthermore it is always be better when they convince themselves.

In order to gain understanding you will need to start a conversation with your site visitors. Then you will need to listen. One place where conversations take place all the time is on forums.

Here you will get to see what questions are been asked and what concerns they have relative to any given issue.

In order to find out what they want you will need to be constantly testing and monitoring the results. This way you will be listening by watching their actions.

This way you will know what is working and what is not and will do a better job moving forward when it comes to getting them what they need.

If you are an affiliate your job will not be to sell but to pre-sell, warm the visitor up so they know what they can achieve.

All in all testing and experimenting will be the key to your success because this way you will at least build on the facts rather speculate based on theory.

Learn more Powerful Web Marketing Strategies That are built on results. Join our conversation

Lets help one another build a real business online

On the blog you will get Free Videos On How To Effectively Market Your Business online. You can ask questions and leave comments as we work through our marketing experiment

Follow along as we test marketing techniques to see what results you can actually get. This can save you time and money

Learn How To make real money online

http://www.moneymakingfacts.net/

Work From Home and Build Business Opportunities

Working at home has gained in popularity recently. There are many people that still have the “old school” views on working; work 40 hours a week earn your salary and after 20 years, retire. The pay is always the same no matter how hard you sell or how much time is spent working. Starting a business online is a no brainer; when one works smarter, not harder the money is practically poured into the bank account.

In order to get started, all that is needed to take advantage of the magnificent opportunities to make money online is a computer and a cable or DSL internet connection. There is no limit to the earning potential once those two items are in place. The first option to online money making is to set up a retail shop. When operating a retail shop, the highly guarded secret is to choose the most popular high valued items. However, if the need is to begin without a start-up fee, an affiliate program is a good basic start to make money without any stress.

Affiliate marketing is why you have loads of junk emails. Yes, once in a while you do look at the advertisements. Most of these affiliate programs have neither start-up costs nor investments. Just sign up for an affiliate program, select the products, and refer the products to consumers or refer them to a personal site housing many different affiliate products. Most of the programs test the referral skills, once passed a commission is earned; on a percentage basis.

If you like the affiliate program, but would like to be more of a network, there are sites that have built-in affiliate networks. This is nice also because this way one does not need to brows site to site looking for affiliate programs with a decent percentage rate. The site houses all of the programs and it is easy to find and choose. After choosing the products you wish to sell on your site, you begin to make money by referring people to your retail store. Having an online store is essential when working at home, thus giving you an identity online. By having an identity online provides a platform for the affiliate products to be marketed and sold. Leveraging a variety of referral systems provide more money making opportunities; such as article marketing, blogs, PPC campaigns, and banner adverts, just to name a few. Affiliate marketing relies on the numbers, the more referrals made, the more money is made and the better the online money making opportunity.

To Learn More about Matthew Gruenke Author and Top Internet Marketer go to http://www.infofrommatt.com and also to learn more about Home Businesses go to http://www.mymysterywealth.com

The Quick Guide to Transferring Domain Names

If you ever get a new webmaster or switch web hosting companies, you might also transfer control of your domain name (that’s just the www.whatever.com) to someone else. This process varies from simple to extremely difficult, depending largely on the companies you’re dealing with. Since I have done this several times with various clients, I thought I would provide some insight.

First, some concepts. A registrar a company you register a domain through. They almost always have some sort of control panel on their site you can log into. Ideally, they also have a phone number you can call if you lose all your login information. Generally, transferring your domain name involves transferring from one registrar to another.

Also, don’t forget that a domain name is different from your web host. A web host (or web server) is like a house, and a domain name is kind of like a phone number. You can move houses and still keep the same phone number. Also, you can stay in the same house, but change phone numbers. It’s the same way with domain names and web hosting.

Okay, on to what happens when you try to transfer a domain.

Most registrars have their own method of requesting a domain be transferred to them. First, the person who currently owns the domain needs to go into their registrar’s control panel and make sure the domain is not locked. Then, the person who is going to receive the domain goes to their control panel and follows their registrar’s method of requesting the domain be transferred to them.

At this point, the procedure can vary. Several emails will likely be sent by both registrars to both the requestor and the old owner. Both the new and old owners need to follow any instructions given in the email in a timely manner. The instructions differ greatly from one domain registrar to another.

The other situation you might run into is if you’re transferring owners, but both owners use the same registrar. In that case, there is likely some method in the control panel of transferring ownership. This will probably be a completely different option from the first situation, where the parties have different registrars. If in doubt, call your registrar and ask what the procedure is.

Tim is the author of Webifiable – Plan, create and maintain your web site the right way and is owner and senior web designer at T&S Web Design. He also maintains a blog with free website advice for small business owners, GetASiteOnline.com.

Blogging and Why it is a Good Business Opportunity From Home

One business opportunity from home that anyone can develop is blogging. Not everyone that has a blog is making money however! Let’s take a look at how you can make money and create a good home business by starting a blog of your own.

One thing you should know right up front is that not all blogs are created equal. For example blogger.com is owned by Google and is a very fast way to get started with a blog of your own. This is not the best way to do it however.

A better way is to use Word Press as your blogging platform and host it yourself. To do this you need to purchase a domain name, and join a hosting company to install your WordPress blog at. If this seems a little bit much there are people that you can hire who will set it all up for you and do it for less than $100.

The important thing is that Word Press offers many advantages in terms of Plug-ins that will help you make your blogging efforts more effective. And the key thing in hosting your own blog is that you will now control everything about it.

A fast way to create income from a blog is to join the Google AdSense affiliate program. It is very easy to blend Google ads into your WordPress blog posts. The benefit of doing this is the ads appear to be part of the content and you will increase your click ratio when you do it this way.

This is an easy way to create income as well because every time someone clicks on a Google ad you earn a small commission. This can really add up as you begin to develop a blog and the traffic coming to it.

Another thing you want to do is monetize your blog post with affiliate products that you earn commissions selling. You can add banners across the top, down the sidebar, or in the footer of each blog post.

You can also embed your affiliate links in the text of the posts themselves. This is a natural way for you to promote your affiliate products and again send traffic directly to an affiliate sales page.

Blogging is a good business opportunity from home because people enjoy reading a well written blog, and search engines like them too. If you have a hobby or something that interests you, then you can certainly take money starting a blog about it.

Want to make money online now?

Sign up for our FREE Internet Business Training Program and learn more about a business opportunity from home to help you become a successful work at home professional!

David Ogden is an established online marketer who specializes in practical website resources and advice

Does Your Business Need a Search Engine Marketing Consultant?

Many businesses in the UK make the mistake of not using a search engine marketing consultant, especially when they are first contemplating whether or not to design and implement an Internet website. In this article, we’ll answer some of the commonly asked questions about search engine marketing.

Q. Why do I need a search engine marketing specialist?

A. First, some background: Successful Internet search engine marketing services can provide highly specialized services. One of these is called PPC (pay per click) and it’s a powerful way to direct customers to your website. But not just any customers, PPC helps assure that the customers who visit your site are already interested in your products and/or services. PPC is driven by search engine results. Search engine results are in turn driven by keywords.

Q. How can a pay per click consultant help me choose the most effective keywords?

A. Many business owners make the mistake of thinking they can generate their own list of keywords. While this may be somewhat true, an experienced search marketing consultant often sees the “big picture” and can consider tangential but critical issues like keyword variations including regional keywords, negative keywords, abbreviations, misspellings and unique brand and/or product terms and descriptions. Competent search engine marketers will also target users who are looking specifically for your products or services with a customized and effective landing page that will capture the user’s attention.

Q. What search engines does a search engine marketer work with?

A. At the very least your search engine marketing plan should include Google, Yahoo!, MSN, Ask, AltaVista and AOL. But the consultant’s actual expertise is best utilized by helping clients determine what second level search alternatives are available for the client’s specific products and services. A partial list of second tier search engines includes Kanoodle.com, Enhance.com, PageSeeker.com and Search123.com. Your consultant will also help you find specialized search engines that will, for a small fee, provide a customized search platform for you. Beyond search engines, a search engine marketer will help expand your web presence into blogs, forums and sites that review products and services.

Q. What about the costs?

A. Search engine consultant costs can be customized and tailored to your particular needs and budget. PPC advertising is extremely flexible and allows you to determine the amount you’re willing to pay whenever a user clicks on your ad. But this isn’t the whole picture. It’s important to remember that factors like how relevant your content is and the historical performance of your keywords will effect the bottom-line cost. This cost can range from $.05 to more than $20 per click. So the experience of a search engine marketing consultant would be of prime importance.

This FAQ has touched on only the very basics of what a search engine marketing consultant can accomplish for business in the UK. But the fact remains, that such a consultant these days is a definite necessity for a successful online business presence.

The author is an online marketing professional with Infomedia Direct Technologies Ltd – a professional Search Engine Marketing Consultant in the UK The company is an expert in providing innovative internet marketing solutions for small, medium sized and large businesses. They offers cutting-edge pay per click, Search engine optimization and search engine marketing solutions for your business with a full refund guarantee.

To get more information and for a 30 minute no obligation absolutely free consult in how to make your Internet marketing strategies work log on to http://www.infomedia-direct.com/search-engine-marketing

Art Workshop Holiday in Thailand?

Most people who vacation in Thailand have a similar pattern with respect to their sightseeing choices; they usually visit the same places and participate in the same traditional tourist activities. Now, this phenomenon can applied to almost any tourist destination, not only Thailand. By no means am I putting down Joe Average Tourist in his choices, but sometimes JAT feels uncomfortable about deviating from the norm and finds a comfort zone in following the pack.

As an example, the typical tourist to Bangkok stays only a couple days in this large metropolitan city; his itinerary usually includes an all day highlights tour visiting the Grand Palace and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, Jim Thompson’s House and a river boat cruise including dinner on the Chao Praya River. Now that’s comparable to a tourist visiting New York City whose sightseeing itinerary includes the Empire State Building, the Statute of Liberty, World Trade Center, Central Park and Broadway. In addition, the ladies usually love to go on a shopping spree at one Bangkok’s sprawling shopping centers like MBK, in addition to shopping for bargains at Bangkok’s colorful night market.

Now if the tourist were aware of some of the alternative activities available besides the conventional sightseeing expeditions, he would really have an opportunity to have a unique singular experience. For those people with an artistic bent, they may want to consider taking a special 2 day /1 night watercolor workshop with Pe Seenam, an internationally renowned watercolorist from Bangkok The workshop takes place in the rural countryside alongside a beautiful river, about an hour’s drive from Bangkok.

While in Chiang Mai, Thailand’s 2nd largest city and the gateway to Northern Thailand, a good option for the artistically inclined would be a special 3 day/2 night Terracotta workshop at a rustic homestay, located in the mountain village of Mae Rim, about a 30 minutes away from Chiang Mai. While you’re in Mae Rim, you can visit one of the area’s elephant camps and go on a little elephant trek into the countryside. What a thrilling adventure!

As a sidenote, in defense of about JAT (Joe Average Tourist), many times the JAT has a very limited time in a popular destination spot. As.a result, the most viable option for him is to do “the popular city highlights tour”.

Bus Goldberg is a seasoned world traveler and the director of Calypso Island Tours, a travel company that specializes in botanical adventures and nature tours to such diverse destinations as Costa Rica, Thailand and the Caribbean. He also maintains his own travel blog, Calypso Island Chronicles

188 Stage Hero’s Journey (Monomyth) – Hero Guardian, Hero’s Allies

FORWARD

Kal Bishop’s 188 stage Hero’s Journey (Monomyth) is the template upon which the vast majority of successful stories and Hollywood blockbusters are based upon. In fact, ALL of the hundreds of Hollywood movies we have deconstructed (see URL below) are based on this 188+ stage template. Understanding this template is a priority for story or screenwriters. This is the template you must master if you are to succeed in the craft.

[The terminology is most often metaphoric and applies to all successful stories and screenplays, from The Godfather (1972) to Brokeback Mountain (2006) to Annie Hall (1977) to Lord of the Rings (2003) to Drugstore Cowboy (1989) to Thelma and Louise (1991) to Apocaplyse Now (1979)].

THERE IS ONLY ONE STORY

PLOT POINTS, MID POINT and ACTS

Conventionally, a plot point (or twist) occurs at around page 30 and page 90. Thus Act I is approximately pages 0-30, Act II is approximately pages 30 — 90 and Act III is approximately pages 90-120. With the inclusion of a Midpoint at approximately page 60, we have Four Act Structure.

However, Three or Four Act Structure in this form is little use in writing a screenplay.

A more useful Four Act Structure is:

a) The Hero is encountered in and pushed or pulled out of the Ordinary World (and Ordinary Self).

b) The Hero becomes a New Self.

c) The Hero recognises an incompatibility between the Ordinary and New Selves. A lack of Wholeness.

d) The Hero confronts the Old and New Selves (represented by a Greater Antagonism) and Masters the Two Worlds and Selves to remove incompatibilities and attain Completeness.

(For the Complete 188+ stage Hero’s Journey simply go to http://www.heros-journey.info/ )

ABRIDGED TIPS, EXCERPTS AND EXAMPLES:

*****Hero Guardian*****

The Herald and Hero meeting is never quite as easy as it could be. There is always a block of some sort. Often Guardians block the Heralds from meeting the Hero. But obstacles can be expressed in many ways. In Brokeback Mountain (2005), the boys resist going into Joe’s camper.

*****Hero’s Allies*****

The Hero often has Allies in his Ordinary World that will accompany him on his Journey (often these are developed or more are encountered in the First Threshold). In Lord of the Rings (2001), Frodo has Sam and Pippin et al. It is these Allies’ Challenges that form the basis of the subplot.

Learn more…

WRITE THAT SCREENPLAY!

The Complete 188 stage Hero’s Journey and other story structure templates can be found at http://www.heros-journey.info/

188 stages of the Hero’s Journey can also be reached from http://www.story-structure.org/

You can also receive a free sample file by entering your email address at this site.

You can post this article on your web site or blog as long as no changes are made, the author’s name is retained and the links to our site URLs remains active.

**********************************

Kal Bishop, MBA

How to Read a Freelance Job Ad

The internet gives an entirely new dimension to job searching. You can seek, find, and answer job ads in a matter of minutes — and, if you’re lucky, find employment within days.

Of course, it isn’t always that easy.

When seeking the ideal (or just a darn good) freelance gig, you need to read ads with a more-critical eye. Here’s a few tips on sussing out the good job ads and ditching the rest:

1) Look for detailed, yet concise, ads. You want to know what you’ll be doing, but you don’t need specific job instructions just yet. Beware long, rambling ads — this is an indicator of an employer who’s not exactly sure of the job duties and will take up your time trying to explain what he or she wants from you. Likewise, stay away from vague ads that don’t provide enough detail for you to know whether you’re qualified for the position.

2) Beware the ad that seeks to micromanage your job application. It’s one thing for an employer to specify that they don’t want attachments; it’s quite another to be told that your application MUST be submitted as a Word doc, in 11.75 font, with no words that start with “s” or “u”. A micromanaging ad means a micromanaging employer.

3) Avoid defensive ads. An ad that starts out “Many of you aren’t good enough for this position, but you’ll apply anyway …” or likewise indicates a truly crotchety boss. And who wants that?

4) Look for a professional tone. Someone who can write a professional-sounding ad is likely (if not certain) to be a professional employer.

5) Don’t spend an hour on a job you haven’t yet gotten. Many ads ask for free work samples and detailed answers to questions. While it’s your call whether you want to put in this effort, be aware that it’s unpaid … and that this employer may expect more freebies in the future.

Good luck!

Allison Landa is a freelance writer and editor in Berkeley, CA. She is experienced with marketing copy, writing for the internet as well as for print, SEO, business-to-business, and journalism. Though she specializes in topics related to real estate, she’s written for industries as diverse as childrens’ products and womens’ lingerie. Visit her online at http://www.allisonlanda.com, or read her blog at http://www.allisonlanda.blogspot.com