Pareto Focus

Pareto was a philosopher that identified the 80/20 rule. He realized that 80% of your results come from 20% of your work. It makes a whole lot of sense then to focus in on that 2o%.

I have had a moment of clarity over the weekend. My failure so far has been to convince people to use my service at a cost. I have had no problem finding businesses to sign up for the free trial. I need to figure out how to convert those people to customers.

The second thing that I need to focus on is growing my list of Christian shoppers. If this is there then the business owners I want to put on my list will follow me as if I were the Pied Piper.

I have brainstormed ideas. Now I just need to determine which strategy to apply first. What of my 20% will be the most effective (hence 20% of 20%.)

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Alone

I find that I am truly alone in this venture. No one I know truly wants to help. I feel a bit like the hen making bread. I know that when I am successful everyone will want a piece, but I really am getting no support.

Sometimes you just need someone to turn to. Someone to care about it like you do.

This isn't the first time I have felt alone in my life. It is just so weird though to be surrounded by friends and family but to feel that no one really sees. No one really understands.

I wonder if I have the strength to go all the way alone. There is a very long road ahead. Today I am just putting one foot in front of the other and not holding my breath waiting for someone to ask," How can I help?"

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Does Anyone Listen Anymore?

I have been placing ads in various spots trying to gain some traction. The only responses that I have received are people wanting to sell me something. It just seems like everyone is yelling out to everyone else and no one is taking the time to listen. Maybe someone really does have something that will benefit me. I am making an effort to listen more to others and just maybe the favor will be returned.

I think this concept apples to business and personal life. What if we all just slowed down and listened to advertisements? (maybe there is really something good that someone is offering) What if we listened to the birds, the breeze and the patter of rain? What if we really listened to our family members and heard what they were trying to tell us? What if we really listened to God?

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Back from Vacation

I am back from a long weekend visiting family. My intention was to work on Proverbs 31 List while I was away, but it just never worked out. It is hard trying to work in computer time on someone else's computer. I thought that it would be a piece of cake, but could never break away from the kids and the rest of the family without seeming rude.

Not to mention, the computer at my in laws was ancient and the mouse didn't work! I am going to have to bring my laptop and somehow work wirelessly next time I go.

This next to weeks should be exciting. I have 15 days of heavy hitting business marketing planned. That will be 15 days closer to my tipping point, where my business will work for me instead of me working for it.

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Waiting on Traffic

I am doing all the right things, so at this point I am waiting for traffic to start trickling in. I feel very good in knowing that there are about 100 other things that I am going to do. I am just limited by time. You know things are bad when you are out of ideas. I am far from that state. My ideas are far outpacing my typing speed.

While I am in waiting and grinding out the work mode, I can't help but dream of shortcuts. I am fascinated with the thought of using the work smarter not harder premise to find the best and fasted method for traffic and then customer conversion. I literally can't fall asleep while my mind is whirring.

If it is out there, then I will find it.

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The Money Machine

You know that game where people get in the clear box and try to catch money that is being blown around? There are just so many pieces to grab!

Internet business is like this. There is a lot of money floating around out there, but if you are just jumping around and grabbing at it you will not be very successful. But what if you had a plan and some tools? This is where I am in my thoughts today. What is my plan and what are my basic tools.

Even though my plan is finally coming together, I am missing a big piece of the pie. I need time. I can't spend all day on the computer. Innovation is the key for me. What am I going to do to be more efficient and effective? To be cliche, I have to think outside the box. If it is a money box that we are talking about then taking a step out away from the excitement and emotion seems beneficial.

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Keyword Domination

My focus has been on keywords. Had I been more thorough and patient, I would have done this research earlier in the creation of my website. It really is not all that fun though. Keywords remind me of 11th grade English for some reason.

You can not be successful without proper keyword domination though. You have to find the keywords that others are searching for and place your site into those keywords. You do this by using those keywords in your content and titles, by creating html tags with the keywords and embedding them in your site and if you choose to purchase ads you use these same keywords.

It is pretty easy to come up with keywords. The challenge is to find keywords that people are using for searches, but fewer webmasters are using. Some keywords are just so dominated that as a small guy on the scene, you really don't have much hope getting a high page rank.

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Sticktoitiveness

If you do not quit, you can not fail. Every day I spend hours reading and learning from the greats of internet marketing. Mostly I am getting my information for free, but when it is recommended enough by those I trust, I pay for a class or ebook. One theme all the successful internet marketers share is, you can not give up. You may need to adapt and throw out some bad techniques and replace them with good, but never quit.

There are several things working against me. My site is not very SEO friendly and because it is so complex and designed by another company, there is not a whole lot that I can do about it. My mission is a complex one as well. I am marketing to a broad range of people. I started out with no head start. I knew nothing. All of these things are contributing to a slow start.

I finally have a working strategy though. Article marketing, blogs and SEO strategies are my focus right now. I am also starting to dive into the Social Marketing networks.

Monetization has become a focus for me. While I am building my network, it would be fun to have some extra income coming in.

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Bum Marketing

Today I finished up my first Squidoo page. I have learned that Squidoo can be a big part of a free marketing campaign (bum marketing). It was time consuming, but I hoping that it will be worth the effort.

One great thing about creating links is that they won't be fading. This Squidoo page should be a around for a long time.

In addition to the Squidoo page, I am beginning to add pictures to my blog. They definitely add something extra to the text and apparently Google gets happy when you add them. I need to look into whether or not you have to have tags on them of some sort. I am pretty sure that you do, I don't think that Google can read images. One more thing to learn.

It is a good thing that I enjoy the process.

Here is a link to my Squidoo lens. Click here. The hands are a picture from my lens.

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Copywriting - A New Priority

There is no doubt that copywriting is important. I wish it wasn't so. Wouldn't it be nice to just plop down some words and say,"done." I admit that copywriting has not been a major focus for me as of yet. Much of my time has been spent learning how to create and maintain a website, establishing basic business techniques and beginning to dive in to internet marketing.

Yesterday I spent most of my day reworking pages on my website and email system to reflect the fact that I am getting rid of my free trial. It was a great opportunity to brush up my copywriting skills. I think that I made some headway, but copywriting is something that one has to keep improving on.

First I have begun to test everything I write by the question "so what?" If I can't come up with a good answer for that question and fast then I am going to rewrite until I do. Secondly I am focusing my copy to pressure someone with fear, greed, guilt, exclusivity, anger, salvation or flattery. These are the pressure points that provoke action.






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Kaizening Proverbs 31 List

Today's theme on all of my blogs has been Kaizen. The Japanese use this term to define continuous improvement in an orderly and gradual manner. I have encouraged my business moms and stay at home moms to apply this idea to their homes and businesses. To put my money where my mouth is....How will I apply this to Proverbs 31 List?

The term grabbed my imagination and attention because God has already been "discussing" this with me. My nature is one of a creative, deep thinking. Like most "artists," I work in fits and starts when I feel inspired. Not that there is anything wrong with it, but working in an artistic style is not very conducive to being responsive to customer needs or internet marketing. These things have to be done everyday.

So to help my everyday work schedule, I have started a journal to house my various "to do" lists. I am prioritizing my marketing methods and I will be submitting articles everyday and submitting my blogs to blog rolls everyday. I will chip away at the mountain one swing of the hammer at a time.


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