Internet Marketing Auto Pilot

For the past five years, our church has been using the same Sunday school curriculum and for the most part, we have been happy about it.  It was chalk full of valuable bible lessons and activities, and we received plenty of good feedback from our congregation about it.

But time has come for a change of programs, but sadly there doesn’t seem to be any programs that have jumped out at us.  Instead of just settling on a particular program, we have decided to create our own youth lessons and design them so that they follow the weekly sermons.

I don’t know if you have ever tried to create a set of lessons, but it has been a lot of hard work.  On one hand you want to include some sort of learning component which is tied into a bible verse, but at the same time, you need to make sure that the class will still be fun.  So, it has been a collaborative work between the Sunday school teachers, the pastor, and the kids to get things straight.  It is still a work in progress, but it is nice to see that we have made some progress.

Based on how much time has been devoted to the project, I doubt that we will ever do this again, but I still think that our children will have a better program thanks to the time and effort that we have dedicated to making our own Sunday school curriculum.

Technorati Tags: youth lessons, youth ministry

Most people think of Internet marketing as a way to promote a website online, and nothing more.  But there are also ways to use Internet marketing in othher ways.

A great example was an antiques show I attended recently.  It was a physical event, but the woman running the show used Internet marketing in a brilliant fashion in order to promote the event.

The show was held in a hotel just north of town, so it wasn’t the kind of thing that people were going to run across accidentally.  However, the woman has a marketing plan consisting of several different approaches:

• A website with information on the various shows she runs each year, including a listing of all the shows in the state;
• An email list that includes the email addresses of attendees from past shows, as well as people who have visited the sight and opted in; and
• A write-up in both the online and print version of the local paper, which ran a day or two before the show.

This model is a great one to follow if you are interested in promoting your event.  For instance, if you are planning an accessibility trade show, with manufacturers of equipment such as Pride lift chairs and stairlifts, having a website dedicated to the event would be your first step to promoting the show.  Be sure to also provide a way for visitors to opt in to your mailing list on every page of your website.  A press release sent to the local papers and released online is another great way to get the show noticed, as once the papers run even a small blurb on it, the news will spread like wildfire.

Can you think of other examples of where Internet marketing has helped to promote something that wasn’t online?

Technorati Tags: opt in, Pride lift chairs, stairlifts

A good friend of mine recently opened her own home-based business in Tampa. She has a really cool business selling handcrafted gift baskets through the Internet. However she’s having a tough time figuring out how to do the right Tampa online marketing to make sure that she gets the traffic that her website needs in order to sell her items.

I’ve been assisting her in learning more about what makes a good website. I’m trying to teach her a little bit about a lot of things. We’ve talked about Tampa PPC campaigns and the way to use a blog to promote the site and all of that. But the main thing that we’re focusing on is how to find the right keywords for her site so that it ranks better in the search engines.

The big thing that we’re working on is learning how to use the major search engines (Google, Yahoo and Bing) to get the right keywords for the site. By searching through the analytics tools for these various sites, we’ve been able to pinpoint which keywords related to gift baskets seem to be popular with people searching to buy these items. I’m not an expert in this but I think I’m able to help my friend at least get started.

Technorati Tags: Tampa online marketing, Tampa PPC

Ever since I started volunteering at a seniors center four years ago, I wanted to make a difference in people’s lives.  Whether it was just sitting down for a chat, playing a game of chess or going for a walk, giving them attention made a big difference in their lives.  It felt good that I was making a difference.

So when the opportunity to volunteer for the travel committee came up, I saw it as another opportunity to help out.  I was assigned the task of finding accommodations and finding some activities that we could do together.

I had to call around to all the hotels that offered coast accommodation as the membership had voted on going somewhere with a beach.  I was looking to see if we could get a group senior’s discount since most of the people going on the trip are on fixed incomes, which didn’t leave much room for splurging.  After a few calls, I was able to secure some lodging for less than half the regular room rate, which would be good for us.

Next, I had to figure out some coast activities that we could do in the general vicinity of the hotel.  We couldn’t afford a car or bus rental on the budget we were given, so we had to make due with what we could afford.  So, there will be trips to the beach, sailing, and a picnic.

With the trip just five weeks away, everyone is getting excited.  It looks like there will be about fifty of us going, so it looks like it will be a good time on the beach for us.  I just can’t wait to go – I bet it will be a blast!

Technorati Tags: coast accommodation, coast activities

Well, it is that time of the month again, and the homeowners association meeting is tonight.  There are some perks and responsibilities being on the board, but I love the fact that I have some say in how our condominium is run, and that alone makes it worthwhile.

It has been a lot easier now that we have been part of the HOA management for a little more than a year now, and I finally understand how things work.  The first few months were the hardest learning the ropes, but now I feel that I am somewhat of an expert – at least when it comes to how things work.

There have been some talks about how we might need to have another vote since one of our members left the homeowners association management board two weeks ago because they moved.  We were originally not going to worry about it, but since elections won’t happen again for another two years, it makes no sense to have one position vacant for so long.

So, it looks like tonight should be a good meeting, and probably a long one.  I guess I am just happy that it only happens once per month since any more than that would be too much of a commitment for me.

Technorati Tags: hoa management, homeowners association management