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Improving Usability

With the help of a web developer, it was time to tweak the usability of Lifemana, a Herbalife Independent Distributor website. Since establishing it in 2003, it has steadily served its customers as intended in providing them with product information on a 24/7 basis. Customers can easily locate any product information and are able to contact a product specialist when needed.

  • Added a sign-in feature to remember user addresses to speed up the check out process.
  • PDF product labels were added to each product page.
  • Audio product spotlights were added to each product page if they were available.
  • Product ingredients were converted to images for easy accessibility without opening up individual PDF labels.

Lastly, a Lifemana facebook fan page was created for fans to follow us and receive Herbalife product updates in a timely manner.

Overall, the changes have helped improved the website’s usability.

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By Billy – September 11, 2011

The Super Agency (A Hidden Secret)

There are a handful of large agencies with specialties in digital, media, traditional, or search. When these agencies are named, most potential clients will cringe because they should not be approached without a large budget. This is the rule; not the exception.

Now if you don’t have the budget, how would you go about finding a Donald Draper to run your advertising & marketing campaigns?

The answer lies within the walls of Sunshine Suites. It is a hidden secret amongst small business owners and start ups that have come to view Sunshine Suites as a super agency headquarters with multi-disciplined divisions specializing in every business need. In addition to experts who can manage your advertising & marketing campaigns, you will find professionals in fields ranging from public relations, web design, business accounting, social media, branding to business analytics under one roof.

Sunshine Suites has two convenient New York office space locations housing a community of self starters & entrepreneurs to help your business get to the next level. Walk in with a business goal in mind, and you will leave with a finalized business strategy while arming yourself with proven tactics to implement.

  • Tribeca – 12 Desbrosses Street (1 2 3 A C E subway lines)
  • NoHo – 419 Lafayette Street (6 B D F V R W subway lines)

Posted in Advertising.

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By Billy – February 12, 2010

Google Local Search Results

Regardless of how useful some of the local search results displayed with the local maps, it becomes terribly annoying and detracts from the user experience. There is an easy way to remove the map all together from Google search. Simply set and save your location as “Alaska”, then the Google local search results will never bother you again.

No more extra scrolling to get to results # 4 and below.

Posted in Search Engines.

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By Billy – October 22, 2009

Face to Face @ Chez Lucienne

With all the tools of social media such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and many others to help facilitate connections in today’s fast paced world, the reality is that we are not as connected as one would think.

Tonight at Chez Lucienne, people who were connected through words, photos, and exchanged emails were brought together to enjoy a three course meal consisting of fine French culinary delights. Sitting at the same dinner table allowed the free exchange of ideas, and for everyone to connect in terms of really knowing you as a person and the many projects that can benefit from furthering these relationships.

Not to detract from the entry on face to face marketing, but the food at Chez Lucienne was fantastic.

  • fricassee de champignons sauvages – if you love mushrooms, you will love this hearty appetizer
  • canard conf it et pommes sautees – a signature french entree that will make your palates dance
  • crème brulee a la vanille – top it off with a thin layer of blow torch sugar sweetness
  • along with a full bar and sophisticated wine list, you can’t go wrong

What better way to surprise clients is to take them to a hidden gem for French cuisine in Harlem.

I truly value a face to face meeting that can help seal a deal with a hand shake. So the next time you meet, you can say “I remember meeting you at that restaurant,” and continue reminiscing about the food. This type of shared common experience is only possible when the two or more people are physically at the same location.

When you are drumming up new business, get out there and network. Sit down to chat and really get to know the people behind the impressive bios on a personal level because building business relationships and face to face meetings go hand in hand.

Posted in Advertising.

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By Billy – October 21, 2009

Advertising on NY Times

Started a small ad campaign on the NY Times to test how well the traffic will convert. Setting up the campaign was easy through a premium ppc ad network other than the big three.

What I liked about the ads were that it didn’t require any creatives, and yet it took up premium ad space on sections of the NYTimes.

The real time tracking sorted by publishers offer a level of transparency that the content networks of major search engines have not been able to deliver.

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By Billy – September 5, 2009

YSM Quits

Yahoo Search Marketing gives up on the fight with Google AdWords and sells itself to Microsoft in a 10 year deal.

Anyone who has ever used the paid search marketing products from Yahoo, MSN, and Google for themselves or clients could have concluded this years ago. Managing a search campaign on AdWords was simple as many tools were specially created to empower the users. Where as users screamed for similar tools from YSM, and MSN AdCenter, they were never delivered.

Any advertiser’s hope is that MSN Bing’s search marketing will deliver on the ease of use that AdWords have come to represent in the search marketing industry.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/03/technology/companies/03yahoo.html

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By Billy – August 3, 2009

Picking a Good Niche

Started to target another niche to see if monetizing it would be easier. Prior keyword research indicates good volume and high paying advertisers. Those are two major factors that contribute to picking a topic or niche you are interested in writing about. Another is that you should enjoy writing about it day in and day out.

I dipped into producing content under the celebrity category briefly. While it was fun initially, but it became mind numbing that some people actually enjoy reading about their favorite celebrities showing up in the supermarket buying fresh produce. I have to give Perez Hilton props for doing what he does best which is to keep celebs in the blogging spotlight, and hurl insults at them from time to time.

Time will tell in the next two weeks how much traffic and revenue can be generated from the new site.

Posted in Blogging.

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By Billy – July 7, 2009

Moved WordPress Blog to a New Host

Spent some time moving an existing blog over to another host. Don’t attempt if you have no idea what you are doing because the process will appear quite convoluted and frustrating at best. Now the blog is running on the latest version of WordPress with the plugins needed to automate the population of blog content.

If the WordPress import and export feature had worked as intended then it wouldn’t have been necessary to do an SQL database backup and restore.

Once the latest version of WordPress connects to the restored database, it automatically recognized that it is an older version and initiated an upgrade script.

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By Billy – June 30, 2009

Multimillion Launch Does Not Equal to Good SEO

A client that I was working with previously decided to launch a new site rendering all the old backlinks and indexed pages obsolete. Even the use of 301 redirects would not be able to save them. The biggest blunder I witnessed throughout the process was the client choosing the wrong CMS that no self serving SEO strategist would recommend.

At the risk of losing millions of visitors driven through natural search, the new website was launched. Their tech team was never able to replicate any SEO friendly scenario on a smaller scale. Unless your web business is a wall garden akin to Facebook, you cannot ignore basic SEO principles to maintain the old established natural traffic and expect the new website to perform at par or better.

Very much like the history behind Friendster, this unnamed client needs to address the basics before adding any bells and whistles. As the scenerio plays out in the coming months, a couple of key individuals will probably be on the chopping block followed by a 10-20% company layoff.

Posted in Search Engines.

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By Billy – June 30, 2009

You are Doing it Wrong if Your Blog is Not Making Money

Watched a John Chow video yesterday, and he showed that everyone is doing it wrong if their blogs are not bringing in 100K-500K a year in passive income. Strangely enough, it is easy to replicate what he does but a lot of us don’t have that in your face internet marketing mentality.

There are many blogs that follow the same income model and make a lot of money on its readership. Before I give away the spoilers, it is highly recommended that you watch John’s video. The audio is not the greatest, but the wealth of money making information is worth everything.

http://www.johnchow.ca/how-i-make-40000-a-month-from-a-blog/

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By Billy – June 25, 2009