Great post today by Matthew at Bloomburst about the sad state of affairs with many Utah Businesses. It’s been a tough month for some of us!

Here’s some good news:

Logoworks Ranks No. 66 on the 2006 Inc. 500

Inc. magazine has announced its 25th annual Inc. 500 ranking of the fastest-growing private companies in the country. Logoworks, a Lindon-based provider of graphic design services to small businesses, ranks No. 66 on the list, with three-year growth of 1,053 percent.

So I’m trying my own suggestion and I sent a press release about UTech Internet Marketing Conference through PRWeb. It just went out this morning. I got a paying customer already. Since it cost $200 to send out this level of a release it’s almost already paid for itself.

For some reason Google News put it in the real estate category. So maybe some relators with web sites will come! They have a lot to gain from blogging. Blog about your listings and I bet you will see a return. I read a MarketingSherpa case study from a realtor who blogs about the luxury homes. Funny enough, the web site is UGLY and PLAIN (even though he sells very expensive homes). But it works so who cares. That means YOU can also. He’s not a techie, he’s a realtor who understands the power of communication and how easy blogs make it.

Try PRWeb! Sign up for UTech! I’m pretty excited. This is my first conference. I’m still new at being an entrepreneur so this is teaching me a lot. It takes a lot of getting in front of people. Since I have a full-time job that can be a challenge since most everything is during business hours.

Thankfully, I have the best friends who are rallying around me. Thanks to Kelly Anderson helping me spread the word. I can still use more help getting the word out (let me know if you’re interested, especially to different industries like attorneys, real estate agents, etc).

If you’re already thinking about signing up do it now. In a few weeks the price will go up. I really want this to succeed. Our Connect Magazine ad will be out any day (along with my article and one by my business partner Chris Knudson).

I’m going to get the podcast today with Utech speaker Judd Bagely of Overstock.com and I’ll post it.

I need more people to blog about the conference…Phil Burns, Jordy, Kelly Anderson of Startup Princess (a few times), Rob Merrill posted it on Utah Talent and hopefully will to his job seekers (this conference will make you more hireable – blogging has made me more hireable for sure). I appreciate Phil Windley’s post and Jason from Jibberjobber. What about Paul Allen, Blake Snow, etc?

When you blog about it, let me know and I’ll link to it here with the anchor text of your choosing.

Stuart from ePIFany conference has been amazing. He’s sending out a direct mailer for both conferences this week. Check out ePIFany Conference. You can sign up for both conferences at a great price through their web site registration system.

Thanks for everyone’s help so far. I really want this to succeed. I want to help put Utah on the map for internet marketing. I noticed today that graphic design firm Logoworks is on the Inc. 500 list. Congrats! Let’s see more!

Today I was on my first podcast with Judd Bagely. You’ll have to let me know what you think when I post it tomorrow. I can’t wait to get better at it.

After my experience I decided to register for the international podcasting expo on October 20-22, 2006.

You get access to all the downloads, podcasts, and videos. It’s only $20. Go to as little or as much as you want. Here’s a video about the podcasting expo.
Why am I so interested in podcasts or internet radio shows? PRWeb says their podcasts submitted with their press releases are getting upwards of 200 listens each. This is a ideal technology for marketers. Since this is a new technology people don’t tune them out. They are listening.

People listen to podcasts in many different ways (mp3 player, itunes, ipod, even your cell phone). Marketers are usually fighting for time and mindshare of potential customers. So this naturally appeals to me.

Up until August 31st admission is just $20 PLUS you get…
a FREE SEMINAR DOWNLOAD (immediately after registration)
a FREE CD of EVERYTHING (after the event)

Also

Register now and let’s blog about what we learn after!

Website Services Magazine Cites Two Free Affiliate Software Programs

I’ve been researching DirectTrack and MyAffiliate Program for a lead generation tracking solution. Both have functionality I’m looking for but the setup fees are high for a small affiliate program. Directtrack is $1k and MAP is over $2k plus monthly fees.

The reason most businesses don’t get affiliate software is because affiliates trust 3rd party solutions. Plus it’s easiest when affiliates can manage and view stats for most of their programs in one place. That’s why most choose Commission Junction. However, if you are a smaller program without a brand name this is too costly.

Here are the two free affiliate tracking software packages mentioned:

AffPlanet Free – for up to 3,000 transactions per month. Supports multiple commission structures.

AffiliateClick - real-time stats, email motifications, and % or flat rate commissions.

Does anyone have experience with these programs? Have you customized them or used them out of the box? Please comment.

Profitable Internet Marketing is a mix of things you do to market your business online so people will purchase your products. I love it for the variety and change. It’s never boring!

Here are ways internet marketing can help your business

• Spend Under $100 One Time and Get New Customers for Months. (Southwest Airlines traced over $60K in profit directly to a press release).
• Be seen as an Authority in your Industry AND Rank Higher on Google with Blogging.
• Outsource up to 30% of your Marketing to Online Salespeople who you only pay when they Bring you Sales.
• How to get 200+ people to listen to What you Have to Say.

Remember that U|Tech Internet Marketing Conference is coming up October 18th at the Miller Campus of Salt Lake Community College. We’ll start the day with 21 Proven Techniques to Bring in More Internet Sales on your Web Site.

The kids are starting school. You’re planning your vacations for the long weekend. Don’t forget to sign up for U|Tech. You can’t afford to miss this event. It will directly impact your business.

Special pricing is available through September 15.

Tomorrow I’m recording a podcast about U|Tech with my partner Chris Knudson. I’ll post it here and on the site.

PRWeb and Connect Magazine are UTech’s main sponsors. If you’re an agency you and your clients should attend. That way you’ll both be ready to start implementing these powerful tactics right away.

I didn’t attend this teleseminar from MarketingSherpa last year on creating effective landing pages. I found this list of tips on Jim Kukral’s blog, part of the Kowabunga network of blogs. What he lists still applies today.

• Always use captions under your pictures because eye studies have proven they get read a lot more than you think
• Headlines don’t get read, they get scanned
• Headlines are THE most viewed thing on a page
• Never use a reset button on a form (I would assume everyone knew this, but I guess not)
• Customize your submit buttons to your offer. Example: Change “submit” to “Download Ebook”, etc…
• Always put privacy information or link in close proximity whenever you ask for an email address
• Add to Cart performs significantly better than Buy Now buttons
• Don’t go below 10 point type, ever, if you want maximum readability
• The color red can cause alarm, use wisely
• Never use site navigation on landing pages
• Use only one call to action button on a landing page
• Focus your offer to one clear point
• Pretty graphics don’t mean success, keep it simple. Smack your designer if they get too fancy, k?

Good news! Bluehost makes it easy to host your WordPress Blog on your own domain. I use a WordPress template so my URL is newspapergrl.wordpress.com. I use it because it’s easiest. The catch is I have limited access to the code and to making change to the template.

Now Bluehost makes hosting your blog easy for non-techies. This means I can use my own domain: www.newspapergrl.com. If you contact WordPress and get the mysql file dump for your existing blog, you won’t lose your content.
Go to your dashboard to set up.

WordPress users love Bluehost for these reasons:

• 6 domains on one account
• $6.95 a month
• 15 Gigs of disk space, and 400 Gigs of data transfer.
• Free setup, with one FREE domain or domain transfer.
• 24/7 support

They should advertise this on their home page.

UPDATE or why Bluehost may not work for you: Bluehost has had some problems with their servers. There was a power outage last month (I actually saw the smoke from a main breaker–I just happened to be driving by). Backups didn’t last long enough.

Today I got an email about server space problems. I haven’t experienced problems but the sites I host with them aren’t ecommerce sites.

I believe they’ve learned and are actively addressing these issues. But tell that to people who’s sites were down for hours and they won’t be very understanding. I want to be up-front about my recommendations. I feel obligated to correct any misinformation on my blog that I become aware of. It frustrates me when other bloggers have been corrected but don’t update their blog to reflect the situation.

In my experience Bluehost has been very proactive. They will have to charge heavy users more which is only fair. They should’ve done this sooner. I still think they are a solid company and offer a great service for a very good price, depending on your needs. In fact, I’m probably switching all my domains to them. My other host has more bandwidth but I pay per domain.

You make the call. If you’re a small business or individual Bluehost is probably ideal. If you need more server space you may want to shop around.

I attended a lunch sponsored by Businesswire last week. I meant to talk more about it but I’ve been swamped.

First, it was a great networking opportunity. I met and learned from the people at my table and the room almost more than the presentation.

The presentation was ok, it went over the history of news and the age of the internet. I would’ve covered that in one slide.

The most important tip is to remember the impact of an image. Send an image with your press release (both high and low res for print and for web). It greatly improves the chances of being noticed and read.

They hinted at some social media press release features coming soon. But I know they don’t get it. They talked about the short shelf life of news (a few days). So they don’t give permanent URLs to their press releases. OUCH. I hope that changes.

Anyone who uses press releases for search engine traffic knows that a permanent URL is VITAL. Search optmized press releases are one of the least expensive ways to buy traffic to your site. Put 1-2 links that are keywords you want to rank higher on in the body of your press release.

I attended a WOMA meeting yesterday (Wasatch Online Marketing Association). For $80 total spend on PRWeb a company traced several sales to that press release. Not just when it was released but sales continue to trickle in now. How many ads for that price will give you measured results? I suggest they keep writing.

I talk a lot about PRWeb. I get no benefit, I simply know they get it. I’m perfectly willing to plug other SEO press release companies. Did you know PRWeb grew like wildfire with no sales or marketing? That’s how good they are.

If you are doing traditional press releases only, Businesswire has a larger distribution with traditional media. They also include bloggers as “freelance journalists” (I like that).

I suggest re-working your regular press releases and submitting to PRWeb or a similiar service. News sells better than ads usually, even online. Who knows, you may get lucky enough to get picked up by google or yahoo news. That’s a position you can’t pay for and ranks higher than natural or paid search results.

That reminds me, I need to follow-up with the U|Tech press release…I don’t think it’s hit the wire yet…

TIP: Come to UTech and meet Stuart Dean VP of Marketing for PRWeb. I’ve been talking to Stuart. He’s very passionate about how PRWeb can help your business from small to large. Stuart came from PR Newswire, where he led the sales efforts among 24 offices and 150 sales personnel in the Americas.

Since we’re doing some podcasting at my day job, I appreciated these podcasting tips from Marketing Sherpa.

Their new web site design isn’t my favorite color scheme. It has had some bugs. It looks like they used blogging software. That means comments! The quality of comments after the article adds a lot of value. The article is now a conversation between experts and adds ancidotal data. We all benefit.

Here are some takeaways:

• Talk to the individual not the group.

• Be consistent with regularly scheduled podcasts.

• Don’t just re-work your existing content (though you may get ideas from it). They suggest doing guest interviews, music, co-host chit chat, and rants.

• Give your podcast a distinct style and voice.

• Keep it fresh by adding variety. Get guest speakers (interesting ones who aren’t flat when they talk).

The bulk of the audience is older than 35 and listeners are split almost evenly between men and women. “At 45%, the biggest demographic slice of listeners is 35 or older, with 17% in the 45-54 age group.”

Consider the personality of the people who talk. I can’t stand it when the dynamic host goes to the marketing person or CEO. Suddenly the voice is flat and BORING. They may know a lot but they don’t have what it takes. They often go on too long. Skip.

This article happily proclaims podcasts are reaching the mainstream. I think it’s premature to say that. The most important part is that there is no shelf date. You may get as many listeners 6 months after the podcast is produced as you did at release.

I’ll let you know how our podcasts go. My friend Chris is doing podcasts, I hope to hit him up for tips too.

Here’s my recent chat with Efax and the reason I’m late to work…(forget about canceling online you have to use their chat to cancel)

Welcome to chat.
The session has been accepted. Hello, Janet. Welcome to j2 Global online support. I am Howard, your online Live Support Representative. How are you doing today?

{Janet}Hi, good. I’d like to cancel my efax service.

{Howard P.} I am sorry to hear that you wish to close your account. Could I have your fax number and PIN for verification purpose?

{Janet}gives information

{Howard P.}Thank you for providing your information. Please give me a moment while I go through your records. In the meantime, please type the number corresponding to your reason for cancellation:

1) Moving to another provider
2) Bought a Fax machine
3) Business or role changed
4) Short term project completed
5) Financial reasons
6) Problems with Faxing or Billing
7) Dissatisfied with Quality of service Too Costly

{Janet} 1 [Switching to FAXPIPE www.faxpipe.com]

{Howard P.} Could you please confirm the email address and last four digits of credit card number with which you signed up for our service?

{Janet}gives information

{Howard P.}Janet, we really value your association with us and as a goodwill gesture, I will credit your eFax plus account with $25.90 so that you do not have to pay any monthly fee for the next 2 months, which will enable you to send and receive faxes within this period, and also you will be able to recheck and revaluate our service, incase any future faxing need arises.
In the current situation, as a special consideration we will waive off the monthly fee for the next 2 months.

After that period if you still feel that you don’t need this service anymore, and the account is not serving any purpose, then there is certainly no obligation to stay back, you can always get back to us anytime. At eFax, we are continuously improving our products and services and we ensure that our customers get the best service from us. I’m sure that you will have a great experience. You will be able to utilize our services without paying any monthly fee for the next two billing cycles.

{Janet}(while she was waiting for her service to be canceled) another 2 reasons I’m canceling: bad experiences with customer service in the past and too many spam faxes. Those weren’t on the list…

{Janet}no thank you

{Howard P.}I do understand your concern and sincerely regret the inconvenience caused to you. At eFax, we are continuously improving our products and services, and we want to ensure that our customers get the best service from us. I am very sorry to hear that you had to face these problems.

[Janet notes: this is the first attempt at empathy…when I complained before they ignored my frustration)

{Howard P.}If you believe that you are in receipt of a junk fax, we ask that you take the following steps: 1. If the junk fax contains a phone number, fax number or other contact information to “unsubscribe” from receipt of additional junk faxes, please do so. 2. Submit the offending fax to us at http://www.efax.com/en/efax/twa/abuse Upon verifying your complaint, we will initiate legal action against the sender.

{Janet} ok, I’d still like to cancel

{Howard P.}Just to inform you, that since you have already been charged for the current billing cycle, I suggested you to make full use of this service for sending and receiving faxes, for the time you have paid for, and also enjoy 2 months credit, without paying any monthly fee during this period.

{Howard P.}If incase you feel that you want to continue after this period, you always have this account. And if you do not want to continue, there is no obligation at all to stay back. You just need to contact us once, before this period gets over, and inform us whether you wish to continue or not. That’s all you need to do.

{Janet}no thank you

{Howard P.}Alright, as per your wish, I will cancel your account with immediate effect.

{Janet}thanks

This is what it takes to close your efax account…how many times did I have to say no? You can’t call them to cancel. You have to use their clunky chat system. In a way that’s good because they offshore customer service and it’s really hard to understand the people I’ve talked to.

Since I’m on one about spam this week, it’s tough for me to believe they take action against fax spammers. I haven’t gotten a single spam fax from Faxpipe. They make money off it, which is why anyone spams.

Next up: canceling my cell phone plan – switched one of them to Vonage…

p.s. this has nothing to do with being an entrepreneur. If it did I’d be canceling my gym membership, selling everything I own, parting out my car, and selling my condo…