It’s tough to believe these numbers. I’m biased because I read all the time.

Some stats on book publishing and reading habits:

• 55% of books sold are pop fiction and 10% are nonfiction
• Most people buy those books at large chain stores –Book Industry Study Group. http://www.BISG.org
• ebook sales are growing exponentially. If you want to write a book, try writing an ebook. Then sell your ebook on Clickbank. “eBook sales increased 1,442% in January 2003 over January 2002.”
  –Publishers weekly, March 24, 2003.
  http://www.PublishersWeekly.com
• Used nonfiction sell best online.
  –Ipsos Book Trends in Publishers weekly, June 9, 2003.
  http://www.PublishersWeekly.com
• most book readers are women and they have higher than average incomes
• 42% of college graduates never read another book after college (can that really be true? isn’t education about learning how to learn? if this is true then universities are failing us in this way).

Read this and weep.

I have to quickly turnaround a project to build a web site. It needs to have a slideshow on the front page of the site. I have all the thumbnails and larger images. Can anyone recommend software or a quick way to create a slideshow for a web site? Should I try Elance to build the whole thing? There are a few HTML pages, which I can add content to.
I’d rather go with someone local so we can work on it in person.

I read a report from MarketingVox about Business blogs. The shocking truth is most companies admitted that they started a blog because everyone else is blogging. They don’t know if blogging helps their business because they aren’t sure why they are blogging in the first place.

“63 percent said the company’s blog was started because of a perceived need to participate in the blogging phenomenon rather than to reach a specific objective.”

What do you want from your business blog? Are you trying to get leads? Educate customers? Start a dialogue? I’m a big fan of blogging. I love how quickly you can get information out to the people who need it.

What businesses are actively blogging and seeing great results? Please comment, especially if you know a Utah company.

The U|Tech Conference will feature Blake Snow, a prominent business blogger. He’ll talk about businesses who blog, the results, and help you evaluate if your business should start blogging.

The U|Tech Conference web site will be up early next week. We will then announce our major sponsors and our keynote speaker. Save the date (it was moved forward), October 18, 2006.

I’ve found a great way to apply for jobs. If you don’t already have your resume on Linkedin.com do it, it’s free. Network with people and tell them to do the same. Add each other to your LinkedIn network.

I need to add David Armstrong of Bounce whom I met yesterday. I asked the photographer who does my headshots to get his profile up so I can connect with him.

Be sure to get a short URL that they will assign, like: www.linkedin.com/in/newspapergrl – notice that the last part will be your linkedin username.

When you apply for jobs, put your linkedin profile on your resume by your email address. Put it on your cover letter or on your email signatures.

If I’m not working for myself, the ultimate goal, I want to work for the kind of company that understands and values networks.

I thought today that I’m talking more about Utah and businesses than affiliate marketing. I wondered if some of my readers may wonder why.

When I came out of Affiliate Summit this year the message was clear. It’s time to stop seeking ways to make easy money online and start managing a business.

Tim Hunt, CEO of Lingotek, spoke last night. I heard him and thought, that’s it, he’s got it. He interviews people for 4 hours. He hires the best people, he lets them in a sense be entrepreneurs. He trusts them. He doesn’t have to micromanage. And get this, his developers always complete projects on time or early. That’s unheard of.

If you’re an affiliate marketer who aspires to great heights, learn business first. Find affiliates who get it and talk to them. Whatever you do, build on something solid. Your stomach will be glad you did.

I went to The Wayne Brown Institute’s seminar about raising money in Utah. It was long but interesting. There were several women there.

Here’s what I took away (and I’m skimming the surface here):

• Understand how to run a clean company. Before you accept any money from any investor, even your dad, know the laws. You could jeopardize future funding.
• Networking is BIG. You need an introduction by someone they know and trust. Go to seminars like this. Do people favors and get to know people. You probably don’t know people with money but they might.
• Do your homework on your funding source. Call the CEOs of companies they have funded and ask for advice or input. Know the types of deals they do before you approach them. Read press releases about them. Make sure it’s a good fit.
• Keep confidentialities. Don’t name drop or tell them if you’re talking to another funding source. Be above-board about the weaknesses in your plan. Be careful how you handle confidential information.
• Either you have a solid management team with some good experience and you grow with funding OR you bootstrap and prove your team by showing results (potential customers, a solid product with a strong market, etc).

Types of funding:

seed – idea stag, under $500K, often friends & family or angel investors

institutional – VC money

mezzanine – before you go public, from equity class investors, private equity funds, and investment banker

Utah is attracting more funding both in and out of state:

• 5 angel investors along the Wasatch Front
• Utah has dramatic growth in VC funding since 2000. $500-$800 billion today compared to 1-2 billion then.

There is plenty of capital but not enough good deals. The biggest problem is not having the company clean (get an attorney: just listening to one talk made me know I’d pay whatever they asked so I don’t have to deal with this part on my own).

Here’s what Nick said about it. He talks about the management gap we have here. I’ll add that sometimes leaders here who are LDS lead as if they’re at church. Doesn’t work well in business but for some it’s all they know (how to be a bishop or stake president).

I could write an article on what I learned. I plan to learn more from The Wayne Brown Institute.

“By Republicans for Republicans,” is the tagline for Arena Communications. They are a direct mail company for politicians. They have only 8 employees (all republicans I’m sure). They are #123 on the Inc. 500 list and one of nine Utah companies who made the cut. In 3 years they had 800% growth and their annual revenue in 2004 was $12,840,728.00.

Makes sense as Utah bleeds red. Is there a corresponding company for democrats in Massachusetts?

This is an objective VoIP Comparison Chart. It needs to be formatted better. After the fold you have to scroll to the top of the page to see the header information. Compare Packet 8 and Vonage or other services. I learned that Vonage business is the same as Vonage regular only with more than 500 minutes base.

I’m not really sure why he doesn’t make affiliate links but runs adsense on this page instead??

This is mostly for residential use or small businesses (as in just you or a bunch of people who work from home on something like affiliate marketing). If you run a call center or interface with the public a lot you may need something more robust like Alianza or an in-house VoIP network.
If you want to go VoIP (my cell phone plan is expiring and I’m switching that line to VoIP next week), this chart will help you choose the service that best fits your needs.

Note: I’m looking for contact info for Daniel Gray who wrote the comparison chart. He publishes ebooks on many different services. I hope to interview him on the hits/misses. I can’t find contact info anywhere and there are no comments on his blog.

Connect Magazine “Growing Utah’s Technology Industry on a National Scale” speaks about Utah’s solid growth in the tech industry. It’s not only ahead of the nation but it’s well ahead of national averages.

“Utah is 38.5% higher than the U.S. total in tech employment per capita” – U.S. Census, 12/31/04

The USTAR Economic Initiative predicted 400 new companies will create over 100,000 new high-paying jobs in Utah.
We have sticking points though. We’re good at making good with what resources we have. However, we need to fund growth. We need more business support services. The article specifically points to a lack of PR, accounting, and legal services. We can’t thrive without all the tools. Imagine the results if we improved our infrastructure.

I’m encouraged by a new women’s entrepreneurial fund that is forming. I hope more captial will come to Utah. Our state should take a leadership role in encouraging businesses with favorable tax laws and necessary support. We have the talent, now we need to attract the money.
The Utech conference is addressing how businesses can leverage the internet to grow. It’s one piece of the solution. Utah has great potential and results to show for what we’ve done so far. We’re getting recognition for it. I want to see the success continue. I hope to have some part in it.

“The only cure for grief is action.” — George Henry Lewes
“My barn having burned to the ground, I can now see the moon.”—Unknown

You get to learn from my mistakes although making your own is probably more effective. Just over 2 months ago I quit my job. Affiliate marketing didn’t have much to do with it. I would’ve quit as soon as I found a job. I was mulling over options for several months. None seemed to fit.

Getting paid as an Affiliate has a significant lag time. Disconcerting when you’re used to direct deposit every two weeks…

If you are buying traffic with pay-per-click advertising you will need some capital and a living wage. It takes at least two months before you get a return (if you’re a fast learner because your mistakes can be expensive). But then you invest it back. Plan for it.

Pay-per-click super affiliates work very hard. They have to be obsessive about numbers. If you’re not interested in being the best, you can do well enough without the maintenance.

Lessons Learned:

• Save up a year’s worth of income before you quit. I met who gave up a nice salary and job to be an affiliate marketer. He has a year’s worth of income saved. That is very smart. Even people who make a very high income have seen it drop or dry up just as quickly, leaving them in a lurch and affecting their lives. Read my interview with super affiliate Colin McDougall: Riches to Rags about that very subject.
• Decide the price you’re willing to pay for success. If you have to neglect your family or the people you love for years to do it, it’s not worth it. At least to me it’s not.
• Be honest. Any even tiny lapses I have regretted. Keep your integrity even if it’s hard and others don’t. You need peace of mind. Money isn’t worth your reputation.
• Get things on paper. Verbal contracts are enforceable however there’s much more peace of mind when you have a clear written agreement. I know this is obvious.

Inc. Magazine has an article in March 2006 written by the wife of an entrepreneur. “Confessions of an Entrepreneur’s Wife. I thought I knew business. I thought I knew my husband. I was wrong.” Read it.
I don’t know many entrepreneurs (except maybe Burr!) who haven’t had the lows along with the highs.

Heights used to make me sick. I learned to handle them by challenging myself and talking myself into trying small steps. I can’t say I’m cured but I do things I never would’ve thought of before. That is my metaphor.

That screaming roller coaster ride that is terrifying to some is great fun to others. You get knocked down you get up again. The game is not over yet.

The U|tech Conference is going great guns.

As always I’ll keep you updated…