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Posts Tagged ‘Internet Marketing’

My Wish #4 For 2009 Is Focusing

Focusing , this is a problem for so many of us, I know I’m not alone.

This is one area that I’m determined to master during 2009.

I make all these to do lists, task lists, get ‘er done lists, you name it and I have made the list.

A huge difference in working/running a business online to working/running a business offline is the distractions.

Offline, because what happens daily in your business is mostly related to what your business is about. Staying focused is not such a problem.

I owned florist shops and before the big days, like Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, for about eight weeks, there was so much planning, so much focusing on that one big day, that there wasn’t any room mentally for anything else, apart from the day to day running of the business.

It was such a natural thing to do, focus on what was needed to make that big day a success, because that is what was all around you.

So I know I am capable of ‘doing’ the focusing.

The big difference is the Internet is changing so much and at an almost faster than a flash rate. There are so many opportunities presented to you and updates are happening all the time.

While some of these changes on the Internet, will take your attention because they are new, others take your attention because they will improve the way you can operate, or will be something that you have been using that is updated and has a few more whizbangs that need learning and adjusting.

So the focus is shifted sideways.

I use WordPress a lot and it is forever being upgraded both the platform and the plugins that make it work so well. Plugins upgraded and new plugins that will perform a function you may have been looking for or will solve a problem you have.

Now this is not a bad thing, quite the opposite. But…..to take advantage of these upgrades, takes your focus away from the job at hand because you can see that by implementing the upgrade, will save you time later, solve your problem now etc.

That is just one little scenario, there are many others.

I do know that when working at home, it is easy to say, I can finish that up later, like after dinner when everything has settled down. That for me can be a really productive time too but it is too easy as well when the distractions come along through the day.

So, a better plan of working is what is needed, that’s for sure. If you Google the words, focus and focusing there are lots of results and lots of meanings, the most relevant to my needs would be these

From Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focusing

“focus is just a short period of time to concentrate on the immediate task at hand so that it can be completed, not the absence of all else around”

One of the Merriam-Webster dictionary Focus meanings that are close to what I want the meaning to be for my purposes are:-

“A center of activity, attraction or attention. or a point of concentration”

Maybe the above meanings will get me started on my plan to keep myself focused for 2009 and beyond.

If you are like me and have this problem, let’s know your ideas for getting on track and focusing in 2009 and beyond.

There are many other things I wish for in 2009, but these four are the main ones for my online business.

Take care

Cheers
Carmel

PS I’ve been looking for an idea to help me with this focusing, kind of center me and just before I posted this, I found something that looks good. Will get beck here and let you know if it is going to work.

Posted in Internet Marketing

2008 Handing Over To 2009, May It Be A Great Year For All!

Image by Christopher Chan via Flickr

This is the last day of 2008, in less than 24 hours (for me anyway) it will be next year, 2009.

Why is it that we always associate New Year’s eve and New Year’s Day with a new beginning?

When a year has been not so good, many of us seem to breathe a sigh of relief at the stroke of midnight on the 31st December and start to look forward to better times.

When we are going through a bad trot, you know we could pick a day, any day and do the stroke of midnight thing, breathe the sigh of relief and start a new period in our lives. It’s all in our state of mind, fresh beginnings can happen, we just need to make them happen with our ‘new start’.

I have much to give thanks for, my life in 2008 has been good, sure like everyone, some rough patches but all in all I am fortunate, I live in a great country, Australia, in a beautiful part, South East Queensland, have a wonderful family and friends, I do have so much to be thankful for.

Online I am fortunate too.

The biggest curve in existence is the learning curve on the Internet. All the tools, resources, the how to’s, what is the latest gizmo, gadget, the trends, what’s in, what’s out, what’s coming, what’s gone. It all helps keep the brain active, sometimes too active.

This year I’ve found what I really enjoy doing online and I have been learning as much as I can about that.

I admit I’m a bit of a tool junkie. Pity we can’t have ‘garage sales’ on the Net . Sure you can if you have purchased something with the resale rights but many of the other tools, you can’t.

(not sure what you call them in your country, but you advertise in the paper and have everything set out in your ‘garage’ with the price on little yellow stickers and people start turning up at 5.30am to get the best of the worst, I’ve never had one but my sister did, had one that is and never again).

As the state of the Net changes, so do the tools and resources we need.

While my computer has been turned off during the Christmas break, I have taken some time and cleaned out cupboards, didn’t have a garage sale, bagged the stuff and took it to the charity bins. Very cleansing!

Now that my computer is turned on again, I have tidied up my desktop and found inside folders, tools I will never use again.

Mind you, there is nothing wrong with them, some were in the expensive line too, but as the Internet has moved along the curve, these tools have stayed back in their time and unless this jolly curve starts to bend back, these tools will never be needed for the job they did again.

I’ve decided to ‘bag’ up these tools (who knows, maybe one day the curve will bend back) and put them into folders for the years they belong.

Then I’m going to put them into Dropbox http://www.getdropbox.com/ (not a charily bin as such).

Dropbox is a place where you can add your files and then access them no matter where you are or what computer you are on.

Not sure if that’s the right place, but has the same cleansing feeling as the Charity bins only they stay with me, just outa sight.

Anyway that’s the plan, gotta have a plan

I hope your break was enjoyable and you got to spend time with those you love and if Santa came, hope he was kind to you.

May 2009 be kind to you too, I would like to wish you all the very best for the coming year, may you have good health, peace and prosperity and….lots of it!

Take care

Cheers

Carmel

Posted in Internet Marketing

IMTW A Podcast Not To Miss!

Well after most of yesterday redesigning one of my sites, an older HTML one that I built a few years ago, I didn’t get much else done.

This site has just bubbled along but I felt it was time for an update and adding WordPress or the other way round. This is going to be a work in progress for a little while yet, I didn’t realise how much I had added to the site over the time.

I intend to give the product a bit of a ‘cut back and polish’ too.

I have only just caught up with the Internet Marketing This Week podcast for this week, that’s #4 and well worth a listen.

In case you haven’t heard about it. Ed Dale and Paul Colligan started out a few weeks ago doing a podcast each week and then brought on board, Lynn Terry and Michelle MacPherson. I’m tipping this will be “the must not miss” event each week.

So go on over and check it out, there are several options for you to subscribe or you can listen right there on the site. Here is the URL
http://www.internetmarketingthisweek.com/

What I really do like about this is, I can download the podcast to my iPod and listen to it while I work, walk or do so many other things and I don’t have to be ‘watching’ at my computer.

So far they have all been really good value and I know with Ed involved there will always be great info and I’m betting you will hear the latest there first ‘coz Ed is just like that.

Okay I’m back to the designing and a few other things, like playing with this site too, this WP-Flex template has so many options, Leanne, the WPQueen has finished the ebook to help with all the options for the template.

Bye for now and take care

Cheers
Carmel

Posted in Internet Marketing

The Ultimate WordPress Package Plus A Great Plugin

I have had a really good day so far. There have been a few frustrations but that goes with what I’ve been doing, par for the course as they say everywhere except in the golf club.

I bought WPQueen’s WordPress Package and what a good buy it was. Hope you were able to get it at the lower price as this is the best value in anything I have bought or seen for WordPress.

The package is for Leanne’s book on all things WordPress as well as a great WordPress template. There is a WSO running at the moment.

I’ve been playing with the template, it is very versatile and from now on, no two sites will look alike unless I intend them to do so.

This site is the one I’ve been playing with, very basic playing, so once I get into the swing of it, no saying what I will achieve. There are a couple of areas that I want to tweak and haven’t found how….yet.

As far as the book goes that comes in the package, Leanne’s book is on another level altogether from what is out there for WordPress, much higher level that is.

It is more like a WordPress Encyclopedia, not the book you sit down to have a good read, it is the quintesential WordPress reference book. Actually it is six volumes plus Resources and ReadMeFirst. think of something you want to do with WordPress and check the contents and there it will be, how to do it in great detail.

I don’t think Leanne has left anything out, while I haven’t read it all, what I have read has covered the minute details that are usually missing from other tutorials and books.

Leanne had done a great job and certainly deserves the title WPQueen, she certainly is that.

Get yourself over to the Warrior Forum and see for yourself, you won’t be disappointed.

Now the other thing I have been doing is trying out a plugin. I can hear you, yeah! what’s the big deal?

Well, this plugin is for an autoresponder that is working like a treat. At the moment the free version only lets you send out once a day, there is a pro version that if this works as well as it seems to be, I will get.

The beauty of this is, it is right there, no going over to Aweber or GetResponse to set up messages, broadcasts etc. If you use WordPress for your niche marketing, how easy is it to have your list for that niche right there, accessible from your Dashboard. All neat and tidy.

If you use the sidebar Widgets with your WordPress blog, then what could be easier than adding the GWA Autoresponder to your sidebar with the optin code already there, no setting that up either. When someone opts into your list, they receive the email asking them to confirm and as soon as that is done, they receive the welcome email that you have set up,

You can also add the code to another site if you wish, it is right there waiting for you. As I am using the free plugin, there is a little ad that goes with the form, I think this doesn’t happen with the pro version.

If you are into flipping niche type websites, what could be better as a selling point than to have an ecourse all set up with the buyer not having to pay out extra to get an autoresponder and learn how to operate it.
The link for the GWA autoresponder plugin is on my WordPress Plugins page here

So there you go, I am having a good day and so can you. Nothing like good resources and tools to work with to make the job so much easier.

BTW I just checked the WSO that Leanne is running, she was only selling 50 Packages of the WordPress book and the Template and looks like they are all sold. But…….

You are in luck as individually she is only selling 50 of each too and she still has them to purchase individually and the price of the two combined is well worth it.

So hop on over and take a look, this is not an affiliate push, I’m not an affiliate, I don’t think Leanne has opened up an affiliate program. It’s just such a good product and you get all the updates as WordPress grows and all for free too…….Bargain.
Take care

Cheers

Carmel

Posted in Wordpress