Shadowbend Studios’ “Flashback Fridays”
Speed Gibson Of The International Secret Police – Episode 3
Here is the third episode of one of my favorite radio shows, “Speed Gibson Of The International Secret Police” Enjoy!
http://www.otrfan.com/bins/speedgibson/speed_gibson_370116_003_heading_for_hong_kong.mp3
Shadowbend Studios’ “The Shelf Chronicles”
This week – The POWERPUFF GIRLS!!!
Sugar, Spice & Everything Nice…. The PowerPuff Girls!! Defending Shadowbend Studios since 2005! 🙂
SHIP YOUR CAR AND LOGISTIC SERVICES
From the home page:
“Ship Your Car & Logistic Services looks forward to providing you with reliable auto transport services that you can count on. We provide auto transportation for corporations, governments, individuals, and nonprofit organizations.
Please visit the rest of our website, take a look at our Domestic and International shipping information, and when you are ready to experience what it is like to have your questions clearly answered without feeling pressured, then take 30 seconds to Request A Quote.”
“Your morning cup of marketing know-how”
It happens to almost every blogger at some point. You start losing interest in your blog. You get busy, and you post less frequently. Perhaps you take a week off … and it becomes a month, and then three months.
It can be really tough to re-motivate yourself, especially if you started blogging with high hopes of a six-figure income within your first year, and you’ve been faced with the reality. There’s often a lot of work between where you are and where you want to be.
But you know, of course, that if you give up now, you’ll never succeed. Here’s how to get your motivation back.
Let’s face it, there’s a lot going on in your life – and you may find that some things are interfering with your blogging. Maybe you need to drop or cut back on another commitment. Maybe you need to improve your organisational or time management skills so the rest of your life doesn’t crowd into your blogging hours. Or maybe you need to take care of yourself before taking care of your blog – it’s hard to focus if you’re stressed or feeling low.
Even at times when it looks really hard to fix things, find a way to take one small step forward.
Even if you’ve only been blogging for a month, you’ve achieved a lot.
For instance:
When you only look ahead at the distance between you and your goals, it can feel like you’ve got a huge mountain to climb and you’re right at the bottom.
But when you look back at what you’ve already accomplished, you’ll see that you’ve climbed a big, steep section of that mountain already.
Many bloggers have eventual goals like “quit my job and live off my blog” or “make six figures a year.” But what would you like to achieve with your blog in the next three months?
That could be:
… or almost anything you can think of that’s realistic and achievable.
It’s tough to be motivated if you have to come up with new ideas every time you sit down to blog, or if you have no idea how your daily efforts will fit into the bigger picture. So make a plan. Do it on paper, in a spreadsheet, with an app … whatever works for you.
You don’t have to map out every single post in detail, but do make sure you’ve got enough ideas to see you through the month – and try to write plans for some of them.
Also, look for one way to take a real step closer to your short-term goal. So, if you want to earn $100/week, pick a great affiliate product that you own and can market, or start offering consulting, or write the sales copy for your first ebook.
Remember, other bloggers have succeeded, and you can too.
Whether it’s on Twitter, at a local event, in a Facebook group, in a forum, or even in the comments on DailyBlogTips, chatting to other bloggers can be hugely motivating.
If you’re on Twitter and need a bit of encouragement, tweet met at @aliventures. But don’t stop there: search for other people tweeting about your topic, and follow someone who has roughly the same number of followers as you. Check out their blog, and tweet them to tell them you like it (assuming you do!)
And if you’re struggling today … leave a comment below and tell us why you’re not feeling very motivated.
If you aren’t struggling, look at the comments and leave an encouraging message for someone who’s having a tough time with their blog.
source: dailyblogtips newsletter
Shadowbend Studios’ The Shelf Chronicles
This week’s episode – Phineas And Ferb!
As a kid, I grew up watching the likes of “Speed Racer”, “Kimba The White Lion”, “Astro Boy”, “Ultraman” and “The Banana Splits” so I have some experience with quality Saturday Morning kids faire 🙂
When my children were born I was exposed to some of the typical broadcast shows for kids and enjoyed most of them (if for no other reason than to watch my children enjoying them); Dora The Explorer, Teletubbies, Jacks Big Music Show, etc. As my children got older their tastes started to develop and lead them to some shows that ultimately would be family favorites. Phineas & Ferb is one of those shows.
Excellently written, funny and with a host of pop culture references (some of which need explaining to my children!). Phineas & Ferb is entertaining enough to warrant watching over and over again, so when (on a field trip to “Toys R Us”) I ran across this nice set of Phineas, Ferb, Doctor Doofenshmirtz (the chief “bad guy”) and Perry the Platypus (who doubles as a secret agent) I knew they would be a welcome addition to my collection of muses!
Hey…. where’s Perry!
“A-1 Hour Service”
Lori and Jim Perry of A-1 Hour Service are some of the nicest people you will have the pleasure of meeting. “Salt of the earth” types, and Jim is extremely good at what he does. And what Jim does is plumbing, heating and HVAC work.
From the home page of their website:
“A Customer is the most important person in our business. You are not dependent on us, we are dependent on you. You are not an interruption of our work, you are the purpose of it. Our service is not a favor, you favor us by letting us serve you. Bring us your needs. It is our privilege to handle them.”
Thank you for giving A-1 Hour Service the opportunity to serve you and fulfill your needs as a customer. With over 30 years of experience in this industry, I know the true importance of our customers and realize that you are responsible for driving our business and making it a success.
A-1 Hour Service services the needs of Solano and Yolo Counties with 24/7 emergency service and is a member of the Better Business Bureau and our local Chamber of Commerce. We are also Certified Technicians for Noritz tankless water heaters and Certified in Gas Piping for TiteFlex, WARDFLEX and Butt Fusion.”
Anyone looking for plumbing and HVAC installation, maintenance or repair would do well to contact the good folks at A-1 Hour Service.
“Your morning cup of Marketing Know-How”
Many small business owners struggle with the seemingly overwhelming task of managing their web site. There always seems to be so much to do, yet no time to do it all (something we know all too well). This brief primer should help to highlight the key aspects of web site management that will help them gain the most from their web site with the time that they have available.
The following ten tips are key to maintaining a successful web site. Follow these and your site will do better. Nothing will guarantee that a web site will be successful as there are simply too many different factors that impact web success – but as a general rule these ten tips will always lead to better performance.
Content is key
All the search engines scan a sites content now – almost ignoring things like meta tags. The more content you have on your site the more the search engines can scan – but there is more to it then that: people like content too. Many people measure a web site´s success by the number of visitors it gets – so ask yourself – why would people come to your web site? do you offer them interesting and informative information that relates to your product or service? if not, why would they come?
Relevant content and lots of it is a key for a successful web site. There is always room for more content on a web site, and you can never have too much.
Take this article for example, while it´s fairly useful information for many of our visitors, it´s also additional content for our blog, social media, etc. – and will serve to increase our online presence. Writing articles about aspects of your industry is a great way to generate content.
Set aside an hour a day (or at least an hour a week) to devote to adding new content to your web site.
Keep it current
Having lots of content is great – but if it is all three years old it´s not going to look like your site is much of a priority. The search engines actually track this. They monitor how frequently your site changes as they visit it for indexing. The more often it changes the better your rank in the freshness category.
What constitutes change? pretty much anything – which is why keeping a BLOG or adding frequent news articles to your web site usually produces such good results. It is also the reason why having something as simple as rotating content and the current date on every page has been shown to make a difference (although the search engines have been getting wise to this kind of tactic)
Don´t try to outsmart the Search Engines – Eventually you´ll loose
Many design firms promise success through the use of tricks, backdoors, and special tactics designed to sneak a web site into a top position rapidly. Something, of course, that the search engines are constantly battling to defeat. Why play the game? as the search engines find the cheaters they will plug the holes and a rank (that usually costs a pretty penny to achieve) will immediately be lost.
Links both in and out must be relevant
There has been a lot of talk about link exchanges – people linking to others merely to gain a higher rank (hmmm, this smacks of breaking tip #3) if you are going to link to someone and/or ask them to link to you – ask yourself: is it relevant?
Organize your web site and everyone will thank you.
Both the search engines and your web visitors prefer a web site that is well structured. The search engines due to their very nature (being computer programs) must break down all web sites into elements based on the structure of the pages. People, so frequently rushing to find the specific information they are looking for, rarely read through web pages but rather scan headings and bullied lists to find the detailed sections of interest. In both cases a well structured site will be far better received then one that is a mish-mosh of information haphazardly thrown together.
A web site that speaks to all is better then a site that only speaks to some.
Tips #6 and #7 are closely related: The Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) provides a list of guidelines for how to create web sites that are accessible to as many people (and systems) as possible. Think about your web site – can someone with a visual disability (perhaps even something as simple as colour-blindness) still get information about your product or service? If not, how do you feel knowing that you have just excluded a vast segment of the population from accessing your web site?
Well coded web sites perform better.
Many small business owners don´t have too much control over the code used to create their web site – but it is still important to know how important it may be. Standard compliant code that has been checked for errors is easier for the search engines to assimilate. It is more widely visible across varied platforms (computer types) and in different browsers.
Prudent choice of URLs will impact your web site´s performance
Professional web designers should already know this – but if you are using a content management system to build your web site, or portions of it, it is important to understand the significance of the URL used to access pages on your web site.
Looks do matter – but perhaps not the way you think…
In the grand scheme of things the “looks” of a web site in the classic sense are not really that important – honestly! once people have looked at a web site for a few minutes they will quickly discard their first impression (based on looks) and move immediately to asking – is this site giving me the information I need – and can I find it quickly (going back to tips #1 – content and #5 – structure)
Selling a product – better make sure it looks good
If you are selling something that has a visual representation – then professional looking photography is key. Even a multi-million dollar resort will not look good if the photographs are amateurish. If you care about what you have to sell, then it´s worth investing in some professional photographs to show people what you have. Remember, on-line people can´t get a hold of your product – so you need to give them some really good photographs so that they can feel confident that it meets their needs.
source: thepawprintnetwork.net
The Shelf Chronicles
“Alice Cooper”
I was a teenager in the 70’s and, like many of my contemporaries, listened to rock (as well as other genres). One of my favorite albums (yeah… we had ALBUMS) of the time was “Welcome To My Nightmare” by Alice Cooper. Released in 1975 it saw a lot of play at my house. A few years later I actually had the pleasure of seeing Alice Cooper live in concert, and what a show he put on!
Needless to say, when I came across this figure (in a Toys R Us no less!) I knew I had to add it to my collection 🙂
“A PERFECT PLACE”
I have known Wyletta over at “A Perfect Place” for almost 5 years now I have have to say I’ve never seen her without a smile on her face or a lovely “Hi Darlin'” greeting. Wyletta has been a joy to work with and I am very happy to be able to have the opportunity to share her website with a greater audience.
From the “A Perfect Place” home page:
“Wyletta’s A Perfect Place is Danville’s most soothing spot for massage & bodywork services. Wyletta offers an array of modalities which will send you on an hour’s “vacation”, soothe the soul and ease your stress.
“An Individualized Experience”
By focusing on each person, she sees more than just stress and muscles. Wyletta makes it a point to get to know you so she can give you exactly what you really need and expect from each visit. Wyletta has a variety of techniques and skills to choose from that will improve your quality of life.
Visit Wyletta in Danville, California, for the finest in relaxation massage or pain relief bodywork.”
“Your Morning Cup Of Marketing Know-How”
The World Wide Web is a tool with endless limits. Creating and maintaining a business presence online is more practical than ever before. In fact, online companies are popping up out of the woodworks. However, I can vouch that sustaining a successful online business is easier said than done.
With the immense amount of information on the Internet and users largely having the control to view exactly what they want, getting your product in front of potential customers can be challenging to say the least. Over the years, I’ve learned a lot about what works (and what fails terribly) when it comes to marketing online. Today, times are tough. Most companies have little room left in their tight budget when it comes to marketing. Here are 7 tips to follow to develop a successful online marketing strategy on your startups limited budget.
1. Know your market.
Your marketing strategy will never be successful if you do not have a clearly defined audience. Before you spend a dime on marketing, figure out your target market first. There’s no need to pay top dollar to hire a fancy market research firm. If you know your product, you should be able to figure out your market yourself. For example, who will be most interested in your product? Men or women? What is their age group? What are your customer’s interests? What is their likely financial situation?
Once you have a thorough profile of your customer, determining how and where to reach them is much easier. This step may take awhile, and that’s OK. If you start marketing before you have a clear customer profile though, you will likely be wasting your dollars in places that will never reach your customer. Just because Pinterest is growing rapidly, doesn’t mean your audience is the one making it grow.
2. Set and reset goals.
Determine what you are looking to gain from online marketing. Increased awareness? Increased revenue? You will probably have multiple goals, but keep track of what they are so you can measure your success. When you reach your initial goals, set new goals so your company can continue to improve.
3. Set a budget.
Now that you know who your target market is and have set goals, plan your budget accordingly. The good thing about online marketing is that you can be successful even when on a tight budget. A lot of platforms are available at no charge. However, sticking solely with free forms of online marketing might not be the best strategy for your company. Carefully determine what outlets are most necessary for your product and be willing to spend some money to get results.
4. Brand yourself.
Set yourself apart from the competition. There are thousands of companies trying to sell products on the Internet. Thus, you need to make your brand unforgettable. This begins with your website. Your domain name should be your company’s name if at all possible. If there are other companies online with names similar to yours, you may even want to consider changing your name to one that will not be easily confused with another product. Acquiring a domain name has a fee involved, but using a hosting service is very affordable even for the smallest budgets.
The way you want your brand to be viewed by customers is really up to you. But once you figure it out be consistent and stick with it. Having a professional website and a strong social media presence is important here, but you should also take the time to interact with potential customers and build relationships with them. The main cost involved in this step is just the man hours put into the process, which will drastically be reduced when you’ve established your brand.
5. Search engine optimization.
When someone enters a search query into a search engine about something relevant to your company, obviously you want to be one of the first results displayed. So how do you make this happen? Essentially, you need to make your website more appealing to search engines. Do this by using keywords that are commonly searched, backlinking your site, customizing the headline and description, etc.
SEO can admittedly be a complicated and time consuming process, however the time needs to be spent here to ensure your website is getting found. Your best bet is usually going to be spending a bit more of your budget and hiring the right people to do the proper research.
6. Blogging.
The more content on your site, the more opportunities there are for search engines to pick it up. Blogging can be a great (and free!) way to generate leads and links into your site. But don’t just be producing content to produce content. Write quality blog posts that will engage the readers. Guest blogging on more established blogs is another way to get more traffic to your own site.
7. Social media.
Don’t just sign up for these services and then forget about them. Start being active on social media. These sites should be used to promote your blog posts and communicate with customers. However, most people don’t follow companies on social media unless the company gives them a reason to. So, of course, give them a reason!
source: forbes online