I’m doing a Google AdWords experiment today. This is my first time. I read about using AdWords for affiliate marketing so I’m trying it out.

I found a great tool to help to enter keywords for Adwords. It puts all the forms of your keyword. With quotes (“this means that the phrase exists somewhere in the search terms”), with brackets ([this means just those keywords with no other words]), just the search term by itself means any form of those words.

The tool also lets you put in negative keywords, or keywords to exclude.

I was going to do this in an excel spreadsheet but now I know an easier way.

First, I was offended. My friend added a donation button to his blog. He insuinated that he needed money and played on hearts a little. And he actually got a donation. I learned how to add the button through Paypal and thought I’d try it out. An experiment. Sort of like leaving a tip jar out on the counter. Maybe someday someone feeling flush will drop a large bill in there just for the heck of it. So once in a while I check my account. So far nothing.

Then I decided to make it like paid advertising through donating. It happens all the time. Nonprofits for instance, offer awards, and ask the recipient to PAY for the priviledge. I guess my pleas to support a single mom aren’t heart-wrenching enough or a good enough cause.

However, my donation button now has an extra feature. You’ll get a link on my blog or a mention of your name or business. Think of it like a text ad or link exchange. Of course my audience is limited, but it is growing, albeit slowly.

I promise you this…if I get a large sum of money I’ll use it for good. You know, paying off debt, going to Puerta Vallarta, enjoying nice food at a restaurant, things like that. Oh, and there is paying for speech therapy for my son, a cello, etc. But after that I’d use it for good things. Things like katrinahousing.org, slipping other single moms needed cash, help get good folks elected or laws passed (hey, I could be a lobbyist!), giving to NPR.

Please forgive my randomness lately. Since it’s my blog I can wander wherever my thoughts take me. Hope you enjoyed my musings.

If I were in HR at Backcountry.com I'd be careful to hire rogue diehard gearheads who are single and can afford to live in a crammed apartment with a bunch of other single like-minded folks. They're located in Park City. The pay is rumored to be on the lower end (it's the buzz of working there, not the money so far that's the draw). Living in Park City isn't cheap. Probably John and the other CEO are the only ones who can afford it. You can't telecommute, at least not regularly.

Interesting enough, just talking to various people I found all sorts of opinions about working for Backcountry.com. One really wanted to. One did but quit. I guess that ADD stuff, being prone to disorganization translates into company culture. Some people thrive on that. If you've got a family and don't or can't live the company culture it may not be your sort of place. As a single mom I don't have as much time to ski or get into minute detail about recreation. However, I do try to get out, lol.

Other issues like using open source software and its scalability and dependablity (if there isn't a corporate sponsor or money source it may not be updated or supported). People are supposed to contribute to the open source software but often the people with time and resources at corporations won't do that. Too much proprietary information. Too customized to apply elsewhere. What happens when someone buys and then phases out the program??

I crave order and structure but most of the time there's a bit of chaos. Is that beauty and innovation or insanity? How does this work when you put it into a larger organization?

John Bresee, CEO of Backcountry.com spoke in class yesterday. He’s a revolutionary and pretty fun to listen to. His audience of mostly college students appreciated his take. Quit your MBA. Use the money to hire a programmer from the Phillipines for $750 a month (he used a service, anyone know of one to refer me to?).

Start your own business. His rules for the most profitable way to begin (not a complete list, I was late and didn’t get all of it):

• Build a system not a business
• Have no employees (contract out everything)
• Digital products (no inventory)
• Use a subscription model
• customers should create your content
• customers should market your site
• don’t do any offline marketing

Turn strangers into customers and customers into evangelists. Let your customers create the content. Hire people to manage it.

I liked how he has backcountry.com that is a catchall for outdoor products (for generalists). He also has specialty sites for subgroups of that site. If you’re a diehard snowboarder, go to their site DogFunk.com, not backcounty.com. I’ve been wondering how to handle what I call our “rogue sites”. Let them live, give them their own identity. Create a way to incorporate user-generated content.

He has at least 3 other businesses on the side at one time. He reads like mad and from that reading ideas come to him all the time. Sometimes he worries when he’s not getting ideas, but the gift returns (actually I think anyone who fills their minds with ideas from great minds will make connections and get great ideas themselves). He also talked about ADD. He emphasized that he’s completely aware of his faults but his strengths far outweigh them. You can partner or hire out the things you suck at.

This is good perspective generally at least for business. In your personal life though, I still think there is an obligation to improve what you’re defficient in…even if it’s tough. It’s one thing if you know how to do things but hire it out to save time. We can get so idea-based that we live too much inside ourselves and our relationships with people suffer.

His talk about hiring philosophy is hire for aptitude and altitude not for education and experience. Makes me want to work for him.

I also loved the idea about how the US needs to faciliate quick adaptation to economic changes. Pass laws to make it easier to re-educate and retrain people depending on what the market needs. I think companies should take that approach too, encourage their employees to be agile, track what is happening, and have people on your team who can quickly react to it. Being somewhat ADD myself that sounds a lot more fun than just doing the same sorts of things each day and year.

One last quote: “A sense of humor is the greatest sign of intelligence”. Too bad I’m not that funny!

I’m reading a lot about call centers and will write an article soon about VoIP. It really levels the field for small businesses. Call centers are the human voice of your company. Invest in a good phone system and treat your staff well because it transfers to your customers. You may think you’re saving your company money by cutting corners, but usually it costs you more later.

“…your call center is probably the single cheapest investment you can make
in building your consumer or business to business brand among customers and
motivated prospects.” -Seth Godin on call centers

I’m looking for a large scale template email marketing program. Let me know if you know what the industry standard is.

If you’re a small business I recommend Constant Contact to manage your sales emails.

I’m into learning more about affiliate marketing (see abestweb.com). I’ve made some money from this blog but I’d like to try out more on my sites that get more traffic. I want Burr to start learning affiliate marketing for his forums page.

I want to try out bulletin boards for call-center-review.com and do affiliate links to sell headsets or related products. First though, I’ve got to be able to connect with John, which is difficult…