The BILLboard

Final Tribal Formula Update

2009-09-11T17:04:00.002-07:00

Well, after the Tribal Formula fiasco (I sent well over 200 uniques to the sales page and got zero sales) I've been licking my wounds a little and wondering what went wrong. I realize a couple things:

1. Even in "big" launches the customer base is still really quite small.
2. Sending traffic to a launch page isn't good enough. I need to pre-qualify the folks somehow - something not possible with the lazy technique I was trying (from Dave Guindon).
3. Google AdWords bites back.

I still think Tim Schmidt is a good guy but partnering with him did not benefit me at all. It would be interesting to know if he filled all the seats in his launch...

Tribal Formula Launch report

2009-08-29T15:32:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday Tim Schmidt released Tribal Formula - an update to his popular Tribal Marketing training package. I am an affiliate of the program and was watching with keen interest as this was the first launch I was participating in (I've been observing for a bit and have noticed some patterns - more on that later).

Since I am bootstrapping my IM business (or business-yet-to-be) it was important that I get a real return on this launch -even if it was only a small one. My goal was to recoup any money spent on Google adwords and make enough to buy Micro Niche Finder a tool for researching Adwords...

So how did I do? Well, let's say for every dollar I spent in Adwords I lost 100% of it - not a very auspicious start. For the time being I'll chalk this up as a learning experience...

Here are my numbers for the campaign:
Adwords clicks: 120
Hits on the Tribal Marketing site: 265
Opt-ins: 6
Orders: 0

It's the last two that gall me. I was hoping for a 1% conversion rate and ended up with 0% ordering. Since I'm new to the business I didn't bother to check and see if opt-ins get me any commission, but I'll be looking into that soon!

The good news is that my occasional tweets seem to find clickers, at least (about 145 if my logic is sound). Someone actually is out there listening!

Tribal Formula Webinar

2009-08-26T12:02:00.000-07:00

So one of the marketers I've been shadowing is Tim Schmidt from Tribal Marketing and Delta Media, LLC. Delta Media is a periodicals publisher specializing in firearms and self defense magazines. Tim is interesting to me because his background includes engineering and publishing - somehow I figure this translates into a nice parallel for my day job.

Tim has been involved in IM for several years, first attending one of Yanik Silvers Underground seminars and then releasing Tribal Marketing. The strategies he preaches are the ones he used to turn his publishing business around - from losing money to the success it is today. Tomorrow (August 27th) he will be launching Tribal Formula - the next iteration of his internet marketing course.

Why do I care?

Well, for the first time I am an affiliate in a product launch. I've done some homework, set up some adWords campaigns and am hoping - really, really hoping - for something good to happen. What would that be? One sale. One glimmer to make me think this whole business can be legit.

Just one.

Keyword Elite 2.0 Released today!

2009-08-25T08:55:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note to anyone interested in SEO and adwords that Brad Callen has released the next version of Keyword Elite. It is called Keyword Elite 2.0 and can be ordered at www.keywordelite.com

Bellagios Pizza - well done, sir!

2009-08-15T19:56:00.000-07:00

We went to the Portland Zoo yesterday to celebrate Lori's birthday (note to self: parking is awful!!) and then stayed overnight at a friends house. It was a lot of fun and on the trip home we stopped for some lunch.

Not being familiar with the area we were driving through we just followed the signs to a Burger King (or BK or whatever its called now) because Sarah Jo likes the crown shaped nuggets. Nathan, on the other hand, won't touch them so when we saw a sign in a nearby store saying "Pizza by the Slice" we were sold.

The Pizza parlor was "Bellagios" and I guess there are a few in the Portland area. When Lori and Nathan went in they were out of cheese pizza (go figure!) and so offered to make a fresh one. While they were waiting and making small talk Nathan mentioned the trip to the zoo being for his mom's birthday.

And so - to finally get to the point of this story - the gentleman behind the counter gave us the pizza for free. That's right - three slices of pizza (I had BBQ chicken - yum!) gratis.

So why did this impress me? Well...

1. He (I wish I could give his name but he wasn't wearing a name-tag) knew we were not from the area and would not become regular customers.
2. We had already ordered so they already had our money.
3. Lori's birthday was three days ago!

So basically, there was no need for the kind of customer service we got. No way for that generosity to come full circle. And that is what struck me so much - they were nice JUST TO BE NICE. And you can bet that if we are ever in Beaverton again looking for lunch, Bellagios will be on our short list.

So if you live in the Portland area, please check out Bellagios Pizza (one near you!). If this experience is representative then they deserve your business. And the pizza was really good, too!

Internet Marketing anyone?

2009-08-07T21:08:00.001-07:00

I've been dipping my toes in the waters of Internet Marketing recently; signing up for free e-books promising to make me a fortune, getting on lots of email lists, following gurus on Twitter and the like. I've always kind of figured that internet marketing was the web's version of a back alley shyster ("wanna buy a watch?") but I'm beginning to change my tune a little. Sure, there are a fair share of scammers but there are also a lot of regular folks making a living (some more and some less) in the industry.

So far I've learned a bit about CPC and CPM and CPA, about opt-in pages and auto-responders, about PLR and squeeze pages, about affiliate systems and even why those sales pages are

S
O

S
T
I
N
K
I
N
G

L
O
N
G
!

So will this dabbling turn into an additional revenue stream for me? I dunno yet (I'm still making my list of "good guys" and "bad guys") but the fact that there are some honest marketers out there gives me hope.

Stay tuned...

Toyota Landcruiser

2007-10-23T11:20:00.001-07:00

HDR test, too
Originally uploaded by billdotd

My brother-in-law picked this Landcruiser up from a neighbor. At some point in the future he plans to get it running again. I don't know if it will ever be "restored", but it is such a great rig that I will be happy just to know its been resurrected.

Snarfer

2007-02-27T11:00:00.000-08:00

I've been using Abilon as my RSS Reader for the last couple years. Unfortunately the company seems to have disappeared and development has stopped. Recently some of my feeds have stopped updating or previewing correctly. I've occassionally searched Versiontracker and Tucows (and other sites) for an acceptable replacement with no luck; either the interface was too poorly designed or the app ran too slow or...something.

Finally today I stumbled across a potential replacement. Snarfer is a free RSS Reader that also supports queries on Craiglist, eBay, etc. I don't expect to use those features but can remove the plugins as necessary. The simple fact that Snarfer supports plugins has some interesting potential and I look forward to some of the options that will be available in the future. The interface is similar to Abilons; clean and simple. Snarfer also seems to be faster and has a better icon(!).

Updated: This is for my laptop running XP. Vienna is my reader of choice on the Mac.

[Listening to: The Imposter by Kevin Max]

Feedback Opportunity?!?

2006-04-11T10:41:00.000-07:00

I was in a local Petsmart recently buying some flea medication for out cat. The clerk behind the counter had just rung my credit card through when she exclaimed "Oh no - not again!" From my angle I could see a modal window on her computer screen. Since I work in the tech industry I was curious and changed my angle a bit to read the message:

"A feedback opportunity has occurred..." I actually laughed out loud at how my jaded mind translated that into "normal" English - ERROR! Of course the clerk had to restart her (ahem - Windows) computer and lose about six minutes of her day. Its funny how some people are changing the language to remove any form of negative connotation - regardless of its accuracy.

On a recent Podcast about small business startups one of the panelists said these two things: "there are no mistakes and no failures. Failure just means you went down the wrong path" and "there is no such thing as competition. Having competition just means you have failed to properly market yourself". I'm not so sure either of those statements is beneficial in the long run. How can you learn to stand up again if you never acknowledge falling down? How do you learn to run if you already believe you're flying?

I guess what I'm struggling with is the tension between a positive attitude becoming self deception and brutal honesty becoming self disqualification . How do I cultivate a positive attitude while still seeing the stark reality of a situation? How do I face the hard truth about something without becoming discouraged? I'm not a kid anymore, but still have so much to figure out...maybe I'm having a "Feedback Opportunity"!

[Listening to: New Horizons - The best Christian rock and alternative music featuring bands like DC Talk, The Afters, P.O.D. Zoegirl, Newsboys, Third Day and more. We have a huge playlist which means you won't hear the same songs over and over. Praising God Rocks! by ]

Brilliant!

2006-04-03T12:22:00.000-07:00

The clever folks at macZOT have come up with a brilliant guerilla marketing concept. First, for those of you who don't know, macZOT is a fairly new site that partners with programmers to sell programs at a discount - for one day only. Its a nicely designed site with some good utilities at a discount. Check it daily so you don't miss out!

Today's macZOT special has a unique twist: for every blog that links to macZOT, the price of the daily special (AppZapper) goes down a nickel! Thats right - if macZOT can get enough exposure the software becomes FREE! So macZOT gets a lot of guerilla marketing exposure and buzz, AppZapper gets a ton of new users and buzz, and users get a great utility for FREE!

So go to http://www.maczot.com/ and help us all get free goodies!

Brilliant!

I'm a Winner!!

2006-03-16T20:30:00.000-08:00

Maybe it's time for me to play the lottery: in the past week or two I've won over $500 worth of stuff. Just today I had my business card pulled out of the jar at a local cafe for a free lunch - sweet! But even better is that I won an online trivia contest. "What was the Grand Prize?" you ask? Well, it was - wait, it IS - a biometric safe. I got it a couple days ago (man its heavy for its size) and it works flawlessly. "Ya' can get one fer yerself fer a mer $500 or so..."

So now I'm thinking its time to go for it - grab the bull by the horns - reach for the stars - etc. and buy a lottery ticket. I see that Powerball is up to $88 million. Whew - that'd be nice, wouldn't it?! ;-)

[Listening to: A Winner by Brown, Dennis]

I Was Mentioned on a Podcast!

2006-03-03T14:36:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm feeling pretty special today. An email that I sent in to The Cubicle Escape Pod podcast was read on the air and discussed for a while by the hosts Jonathan Brown and Matt Thompson. Not a big deal to many, but it doesn't take much lately to make my day.

The Cubicle Escape Pod is a podcast for entrepreneurs and those hoping to be. My email was read on Episode 2.008 around 14 minutes and 30 seconds. My suggestions weren't hailed as epic, but hey, they got me mentioned.

So, a little joy to jump start the weekend.

Hmmm - I was trying to go a whole year without posting. Oh well, if at first you don't succeed... :-)

Blogs got Madlibs?

2005-06-14T14:35:00.000-07:00

Got this from Stephen today... so he deserves the mention he gets! Here goes...

A day in the life of bill

On a typical day I wake up, wash the foam insulation tape from my pinky toes and put on my boxers. I say goodbye to Mickey Mouse and I float to Nirvana where I am a systems analyst. I feel crazy excited about what I do; sure, I'd rather be a barista in Pocatello, but this pays the bills and buys me lots of sensitivities that I can shout about. My morning is pretty splendid. Aside from my 22 trips to the hallway to squash zits and my mushy encounter with Jason it's just the same every day.

I break for lunch and draw with Bruce Willis over a heavy plate of magic mushrooms. A quick jaunt to Johnny Oceans to thumb wrestle with Teevio, who's a total Tigger, and it's back to the grind until 1:30 when I jump on my monstrous taupe tricycle and head for home.

My evening is spent balancing the checkbook and listening to jget while romping around the family room wishing I was David Robinson and drinking all sorts of decaf skinny iced mochas. Then it's off to bed where I dream of cockroaches and Elmo in a turban.

OK, so in the spirit of the thing, I'll pass this along to...
David
Jason and
Chance (which should be really interesting because he has no idea who I am - just found his blog by accident...)

On Being "that" Family...

2005-06-14T11:19:00.000-07:00

You know the ones. They are always there when you fly. You've been in your seat for what seems like an hour, your seatblet is buckled and the tray table is in its "upright and locked" position, everyone is quiet (except the "professional" in seat 8C) and waiting for the flight to depart...

...and then, out of nowhere you hear some frantic muffled voices and the sound of something big and blunt banging the aisle seats. You know you shouldn't look up, but like a watching a wreck you really have no choice. Your eyes wander to the aisle and up, up, up toward where the front where "that" family is making their way toward you. One car seat, maybe two, carry on baggage and children making mom and dad look like pack animals, ticket stubs scattering like leaves.

If you're lucky they pass by you and drift away, forgotten until the next flight...but if you are the chosen one....

...my apologies. Believe it or not, we did the best we could.

Just for Fun

2005-05-26T10:26:00.000-07:00

Going on vacation soon, feeling kind of casual and came across a new iPod gimmick - iGuy. Although it is in no way worth $35, I have to admit that personifying the little white unit is an appealing thought. Why is that?

My kids would certainly like it - kind of like the Gumby action figure they have, but "cooler". I guess the next accessory would have to be a little seat so iGuy could ride on your shoulder...

By the way, where is the iGirl? Or the androgynous iGuess? ;-)

A View to a Soul

2005-05-18T10:03:00.000-07:00

Recently on a business trip I and was killing time by clicking through the "Next Blog" button in Blogger (my life is filled with this kind of excitement). That is how I stumbled across a blog called PostSecret which really touched me. The concept is that anonymous folk all over the world send a postcard to the blog's owner (Frank Warren) revealing their most private secret(s). Some of the cards are adult content stuff, but many are simply "unscripted honesty" as my friend Jason said.

Anyway, it is a very moving and profound site. A glimpse into how lonely and hurting many people really are...

Geographic Overlay Maps

2005-03-08T11:14:00.000-08:00

Ever wanted to easily search for a house that is in a specific school district, near a certain highway, in a certain tax area and with specific zoning allowances? All at the same time? Its a sure thing that all that data is available, but to get it in a format where you can see it and understand it easily is a vexing problem. Well, a solution is in the works. The Land Information Access Association has created software that allows multiple land databases to be queried and then displyed as a series of overlays - allowing pretty quick viewing of property lines, school districts, environmental areas, etc - all based on public data sources and referencing GPS data.

For a working example, check out the map page of the county where I grew up - Hillsdale, MI.

Very Cool ZIPcode Map

2005-03-08T11:08:00.000-08:00

Saying that a zipcode map is "cool" sounds pretty outlandish, but you really need to check this site out. I discovered it by accident while looking for a way to easily (and freely) get all the ZIP's in a specific geographic location.

I still don't have all my ZIP's but I had a nice distraction!