Add Google Remarketing code to WordPress Blog

Want to setup Google re-marketing and add the remarketing code to a wordpress blog?

It’s very easy, but not very well explained. Simply, in WordPress go to Appearance, Editor. Select the footer.php and insert your Google code before the </body> tag.

How to generate & use this remarketing code is explained in Googles help page here: http://support.google.com/adwords/answer/2454064?hl=en&from=166488&rd=1

As a general tip as advised by Google, add the code to your entire site and start capturing traffic information. Later, you can slice and dice the list data based on your different website URLs (pages) and start targeting some ads to these visitors.

Business Success Checklist – 5 point checklist

Today, I was reading an email from business mentor, Siimon Reynolds. You might recognise Siimon’s photo from a previous season of Dragon’s Den. Siimon asked me 5 simple questions today.

Those 5 simple questions helped me realise where I need to improve, to be successful in my business.

Here they are:

• Have you got absolutely clear about your year’s goals?
• Are you working quickly and efficiently?
• Are you spending several hours a day working on getting new customers in?
• Are you treating yourself with respect, physically and mentally?
• Are you remembering to enjoy each day, no matter how difficult it may be?

Going through this process of questioning may identify opportunities for improvement for success in your business too.

Here’s a spreadsheet to help you record these and identify any gaps you may have.

If you’ve identified areas of improvement, make sure you keep this list where you can revisit it again.

I believe success only comes when you regularly perform at your peak. When you consistently do the right things, without deviating, stopping, second guessing or wildly changing tact without purpose. Therefore, targeting scores of 9 or 10 across each business should be important – or perhaps seriously consider dropping and refocusing on the ones that are valuable. I have some work to do in some of my businesses, with scores currently ranging between 5 and 6.

How do you fair against this brief checklist?

Please share your result below, along with any insights gained.

Cyberglasses – A lucrative market from Google Project Glass

You’ve probably heard some of the hype around Google’s Project Glass. Birthing from this new technology, will be a new platform of user interactivity. Remember the hype and scale emerging from the introduction of mobile and tablet devices and how rapidly this shifted the technology and services market? Well, this is tipped to be the next revolutionary user device.

If you are an entrepreneur or a developer looking to get in at ground level to claim your stake in this emerging market, follow my Cyber Glasses business here: Cyber Glasses

Here’s the original marketing product teaser released by Google.

Now that’s opened up a new horizon of opportunities to watch!

Cyberglasses Development photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/robpegoraro/

Save your money – use Free Business Software

Don’t get me started on the cost of starting and running a business! To improve cashflow and increase productivity, I’ve invested a lot of time to find great, free software.

Save your money using free business software

Here is my list of tried and tested products that I recommend as high quality, professional and FREE!

Do your own professional level creative design & customise images: Gimp

• Free postscript editor
• Handles transparencies very well
• Professional image touch-up capabilities

Creative Design Editing without the Price Tag: InkScape & Zamzar

• Free Adobe Illustrator Editor
• Free Online Microsoft Publisher Converter (to word, PDF, html, …)

Manage your emails just like in Outlook: Mozilla Thunderbird

• Heaps of plugins available. Can add Calender plug-in called Lightning

Email marketing and manage website subscriptions: Mailchimp

• Auto-responders, form registration plug-ins, send emails, track campaigns…
• Example of opt-in subscription form (for a free speed training course)

Edit your own promotional videos: Windows Movie maker

• Comes standard with many versions of Windows
• Example of Improve Kick Speed product promo movie

Edit your own audio files professionally: Audacity

• Mix tracks, noise removal, overlay tracks, fading, plenty of effects and tools!

Create free eBook covers like a pro: MyeCoverMaker

• Don’t let the dodgy name fool you. This makes pretty slick 3D eBook covers for free. Customise text, colours, styles. There are paid options, but the free stuff looks pretty good

Get royalty free stock images: stock.xchng

• Not bad images. Also search for “Creative Common” licenced images on flikr.com

Great background music for your promo videos: Freeplay Music

• Search for your type of music (ambience, rock, driving, blues, metal, etc…), instruments
• Hear samples, download quickly and easily. No registration. Very simple, fast and high quality backing music

Please Like or Share this article to show your appreciation!

Business start-up approach for selling a product

Are you starting up a business that involves developing a new product? If so, here’s a few pointers I have collected from many hours of research and real-world practical experience.

Firstly, let’s jump to the end goal: What you are looking to get out of this business? Chances are, you are not dreaming about running a manufacturing plant to produce this product. Even worse, I bet your not looking to have a garage filled with parts and evenings spent assembling goods… right? Actually, you’re probably dreaming about selling the business idea for a mint and living the good life for a while. Sounds more like it hey? Either way… to ensure your business product has value, you will need to own and protect your Intellectual Property (IP).

Managing your IP: Get early protection

Did you know that if you talk about your invention to anybody before securing your patent, you may not be eligible to secure your patent? That’s right, part of some countries Patent application processes requires you to have not discussed or revealed your intellectual property (thus making the property general knowledge). As soon as your idea looks viable, I recommend securing an Innovation Patent. This can cost as little as $150, however the expert legal advice from a Patent Attorney will cost upward from $1,000 – $10,000+.

Personally, I skimped out and did the following:

1) Performed my own search through AusPat and found no overlapping inventions

2) Downloaded and studied the patent application guide

3) Reviewed similar types of inventions succesfully sealed patents and duplicated the style and content

4) Submitted it to a Patent Attorney who reviewed and supplied valuable feedback (at the low price of $1,000 for 2 hours work!!)

5) Lodged the Innovative Patent application (for $150)

6) Printed this Patent Number on prototype and referred to it whenever demonstrating or referring to the product.

Buy smart
Shopping around is one thing, but here are a few additional tips that have saved me thousands on top of bargain shopping on its own:

• Importing from offshore. Buying products and materials from sites dedicated to offshore purchasing, such as Alibaba. Remember, customs duty will be applicable for anything over $1,000. Shipping and handling charges and SAC fees are all applicable, so make sure you do your research on these things and include in your final product purchase cost.
• Purchase through your suppliers. My suppliers beat my best shopping prices be a mile because they have commercial accounts and preferred customer rates with the suppliers. I was shopping around as a small fish
• Look for bargains using Google Shopping. Google Shopping trawls the internet for bargains (including eBay). I picked up some of my material for 90% discount by purchasing from closing down businesses liquidating through eBay!

Sales & Marketing are key

Remember, your product is not going to make you money. Having a market that wants your product is. This is a whole seperate article, which I will write some other time, but for now… just know that market research, sales funnels, branding and price testing should be spent in equal distributions of your time with product development. This is what is makes a sellable business, not just the good idea.

 

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Kick Speed: Improve your kicking speed. Taking this product to market helped me to develop most of the fast learnings above.

Taekwondo kicks: Check out all types of taekwondo kicks. If you like taekwondo kicking, you’ll like these collections of clips.

How to run your own PR like a Pro | 4 simple steps

As a start-up, getting good PR can be a great marketing channel for getting early awareness and generating new customers. I assume you are passionate about your product and have a good handle on why the market needs your product or service.

Running your own PR campaign can be time consuming and exhausting, so let’s not waste any more time and get a short list of 4 action items to help you get on your way:

Step1: Identify niche writers. See who writes for your product/service industry. Keep this list handy – like a PR Prospect list that you can return to again and again.

Step2: Contact them. Reference their work and interests. For example” I enjoyed your article on… There is another new product in the market (your product) that you may be interested in….”

- Use statistics. I’m sure you have developed a business case and know why the market is going to eat up your new product or service. Share some of your market research (E.g. changes in consumer behaviour shows that people are buying more green USB sticks than red…”. Bad example, but you get my drift…

Step3: Follow-up. Unless you get lucky, you won’t hear back straight way. Follow up using a short, sharp message. Don’t annoy them with another long email to read. Something like “can I send you some photos of how the Australian market is already loving this product?”

Step4: Rinse and repeat. Learn from your rejections. Listen to any feedback (you won’t always get feedback) and keep going at it.

That’s about it. Sounds simple, but like anything with start-ups it’s about the value of your research and your persistence in action.

Good luck start-up PR Pro’s!

Stop hiding!

Loved this pic. Had to share:

Napolean Hills Mastermind is alive in our Social Media Communities

Have you read Napolean Hills “Think and Grow Rich“? I try to read it often, as I know many succesful business people attribute their success to the timeless principles stated in this book.

It’s amazing how some great principles can stand the test of time…

In the book Think and Grow Rich, Napolen Hill talks about the revolutions of his era. Things we take for granted nowadays. Things like:

• the light bulb
• the motor car and
• formation of giant steel companies

It’s amazing to think that this book was written in a completely different time, but the principles taught in it are still reveered today…

Napolean Hill states that:

The “Master Mind” may be defined as: “Coordination of knowledge and effort, in a spirit of harmony, between two or more people, for the attainment of a definate purpose.”

No individual may have great power without availing himself of the “Master Mind”.

In this book, the context of the mastermind was largely influenced by the era it was written – in the early 1900′s.

In that era, a Mastermind typically consisted of a group of driven business people. Or, on the other end of the spectrum were selfless leaders of human rights like Mahatma Gandhi.

It fascinates me to realise that the Mastermind is starting to find a new power in our modern life. Everyday, large groups of ordinary people are now interracting and sharing opinions in a way that creates the same type of power and influence of the industrial age Mastermind. As a business owner, it is surprising to think that your Mastermind can actually be your customers, your suppliers, even your competitors if you are clever!!

Today, we listen to our customers and provide them with a means to input into product development, marketing – even distribution and direct sales through providing referrals and building communities.

This new style of businesses is capable of operating with a lean management overhead, hence a new business model has been birthed. Today, there are a growing number of Solopreneurs (solo entrepreneurs, succesfully running their own businesses). These Solopreneurs rely heavily on interractions with their customer & supplier network, to be part of their mastermind to develop business and product strategy. There seems to be a shift away from a small group of executives dictating how the market will receive their products”.

It’s a very exciting time to be in business – one where all people are interracting more and contributing to the direction of businesses based on true desire and need.

Now, with this in mind I ask: Who is in your mastermind and how well do you work with them?

Get a free copy of Think And Grow Rich here.

Why Internet Advertising works in Australia

People always tell me that Internet Advertising is the best way to market, but it wasn’t until I experienced having some leads come from page 1 listings, that I started looking into why this is the case…

What I found explained why this is all happening: In 2011, most Australians had spent more time in front of their computer than they do in front of the TV!

According to the ABS, in 2008-09, three-quarters (74%) of people aged 15 years and over used the Internet.

Most people were accessing the internet from home, which suggests they were using it for personal reasons. Hmmm… are you starting to wonder where you should spend your advertising dollars?

In 2008-2009 SIX MILLION homes had internet access. That’s a whopping 78% of households! So it’s not just office workers reading their emails…

You might be wondering how often these people are actually surfing the net and discovering businesses like yours. Well… for the home internet users, over nine in ten (94%) were using the internet at least once a week, with over half (58%) of these people accessing the internet daily, up from 50% in 2006-07. That’s huge.

94% of internet users are browsing every single week and 58% every day!

But are these people really going to buy from you online? Well, let’s hear what the Australian Bureau of Statistics says: “Many Australians use the internet to shop online. In 2009, the domestic online retail sales for all sectors of the economy were estimated to have totalled between $19 and $24 billion“. Excuse me… was that around TWENTY FOUR BILLION DOLLARS. Ok, that answers that question. People are spending a lot of money online.

The data doesn’t lie. Most people are all over the internet. Your customers are all over the internet and making transactions online! There are many things we can conclude about this, but the one thing I would stress to you is that you should seriously consider advertising on the internet.

And it doesn’t have to be expensive. There are plenty of free internet advertising programs to choose from. Locally there is free brisbane advertising, there is free sydney advertising and I bet there is free advertising in your local area too. Better than free, you can even make money with Google Advertising. Search for advertising through Google for your local area and industry and you’ll be surprised the number of sites there to help you.

For those already into Internet Marketing, these stats above should confirm why you have been seeing such a ‘buzz’. If you are not yet marketing your business online… catch-up!

Happy browsing…

Keyword ranking rollercoaster – keeping your lunch down

I’m usually quite a level headed person, but when I see my
keyword ranks peek through to page 1 or 2, you had better be prepared for a
celebration of high-fives all around and big smiles!

On the flip side, when rankings invariably drop it’s time to either slump in your chair or pick up a weapon and start fighting for your rank!

A year ago, I barely used Facebook. Nowadays, I post on Blogs, upload movies to YouTube and post photo’s to Flikr – all which have good SEO capabilities.

If you are like me, you love the exhilaration of keyword rank ups and downs. It’s a fun, challenging and rewarding ride. Trying to fight the fear of losing rank is like trying to keep your composure while dropping down the big dip. Just go with it and take the ride again.

What I think makes a big difference to your persistence along the journey is belief in your value offering. If I can give Free Brisbane Advertising in my business and help my local tradespeople and community, then it is something worth fighting for.

I’m sure your fight for rank is worth it too, right??