As we end 2008, are you prepared for the coming year?

When I looked at my calendar this morning I realized that this last month of 2008 is already half over! And my question… Where did the year go? Was I sleeping???
I have been working on my plans for next year’s efforts and some questions have come up that I have not fully answered yet. Things like… WHAT can I do Different ‘Next Year’ that will get better responses than what I have done this Last Year?

Hopefully you’re aware of the old saying that suggest that INSANITY is “Doing the same thing over and over and expecting DIFFERENT results?” You have heard that one, haven’t you?

If you have or have not heard it before… think about it as you plan your efforts for next year. What have you been doing? Were you doing the right things? Were you doing them enough? Could just a little bit more effort have made a big difference?

The next few posts will focus on areas that you might want to give SERIOUS attention to in making your plans for marketing online in the coming year.

It’s said that 2009 may be a BANNER year for those of us who do it “right” online. With all the layoff’s and job losses in the offline world, people will turn to the internet in hopes of finding a way to survive. You and I need to be prepared and the time to be ready is NOW! Are you ready?

What are YOUR traffic generation Goals? Email Marketing Goals? Sales Goals? We’ll talk about these and more in the coming days before the end of the year. Stay tuned! And have a Happy Holiday season, however you celebrate it!

David Perkins, (aka: TheTrafficMechanic)

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Did YOU Enjoy A Long Weekend?

Now that the Thanksgiving weekend is about over (mid-afternoon on Sunday) it’s about time for some rest! This has been a tiring weekend and a VERY trying weekend for some who may read this post. People who live where nothing EVER happens probably complain because nothing ever happens… but turn on the Television and suddenly living in a place where nothing ever happens just might not be so bad? Take for instance the poor worker in California who was trampled to death by crazed shoppers at a WalMart on Black Friday. Or all those who were murdered, wounded or terrified by terrorists in Mumbai, India. And, just getting into the terminal in Bangkok, Thailand became impossible with the protesters filling up the place and bringing Air Travel to a screeching halt there… Hope you weren’t there for the weekend!

Here in my back yard it was just beautiful. Kinda chilly but beautiful for raking up leaves, trimming the vines out front (huge trumpet vine) and finally putting up the Christmas Decorations before it gets too darn cold to put them up at all! And I got to see two out of three of our Kids this weekend and that really made it a winning weekend for me!

Life just can’t be lived TOTALLY in front of my computer… but don’t tell my clients that! They must think I don’t have anything else to do… and if it wasn’t for them, I must might not have anything TO DOo… so no more complaining.

How has this year treated you? Did you accomplish the things you meant to? Build all the business you planned to? I certainly did not meet all my goals but I was able to help a few others meet theirs… and that kinda makes me happy.

This past week I heard from a good friend and client that he’s back! That’s right, Jim’s back! This time last year he was looking at a “prognosis” that was NOT joyous… The doctor said he only had a short time to live. Several EXPENSIVE surgeries later… “golly, gosh” there wasn’t any cancer after all! Surprise, Surprise! Now the “diagnosis” is that he has a CLEAN “Bill of Health!”

If you EVER need INK for your printers, copiers or fax machines, get in touch with Jim and he’ll give you a GREAT price on ALL the INK or TONER you ever need! Visit with Jim HERE.

Actually, this past week had me getting emails from people I met many years ago while traveling all around the world. From places like Midway Island to the Red Sea. Yes, parts of my Navy life really were an “adventure!” Other parts… well, we won’t go there! Hmmmmm.

If you’re really into the blogging scene, you may have noticed that MY blog is still using a rather OLD version of WordPress. It’s about time to backup everything and come bounding into the present and start using the current version of WordPress. I was reading an article in one of Mike Paetzold’s blog posts, recently, where I believe he explained some of those upgrading things. Guess I’ll have to go back there and check it out. You do know who Mike is, don’t you? He is “Mr. Blog.” You can catch him at Mike Paetzold Recommends. Tell him Dave Perkins sent ‘ya!

My upgrade will take more than just a couple of clicks as I’m one of the “over 50” crowd and I’ve been using a hosting company for my websites that has really done me right… but they do not offer the CPanel version of a control panel and my upload of the blog to my server is still via FTP… and since it’s maybe once every couple of years… I really don’t mind. After all, a server that stays online 24/7/365 isn’t one to complain about! If you want really stable and secure hosting for YOUR website, check out my Hosting Company… the price is right and the service is “almost” instant!

Catch you again soon!

David Perkins (aka: TrafficMechanic)

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Happy Thanksgiving 2008

There was a time when anything that I might write would never have been read by anyone outside of my little community. “Community” being defined as a group of homes in my little town… here in the United States.

With the advent of the internet, what I write can now be read all around the world and elsewhere in the universe if you believe, as some do, that we’re not here alone…

So what does Happy Thanksgiving mean to you? For many who live in the United States it’s a time of year when we typically gather with friends and family that we probably haven’t had time to be with since the last year or maybe longer. The day is typically spent sitting around catching up on the past year’s events, eating much more than we should and many watch football (American style) on television… or actually at the event!

For others in the world, who are hard at work or wherever you are, my wish for you is that you have a very SAFE, Peaceful and Profitable day. As I watched the television last evening and observed the horrifying events that unfolded in Mumbai, India I realized that I truly do have much to be thankful for. My prayers go out to those who were (or are) injured as a result of the terrorists actions. If you’ve lost friends or family, Peace Be With You.

To all my friends,

Happy Thanksgiving

David Perkins (aka: TrafficMechanic)

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Get yourself an RSS Reader and start reading!

If you’ve read the two previous articles and are still curious and/or are interested in having RSS feeds coming to your desktop then you’re in for a treat today.

You must know by now that there is so much more information available on the internet than any one, or group, of persons can track or follow thoroughly. So, scanning for key information becomes necessary. That’s what your RSS Reader allows you to do with a click of the mouse! You set up your RSS Reader to send you information based on certain subjects, areas of interest or on certain key words that you add to a list. Or, you can add the “RSS Feeds” from websites or blogs that you WANT to follow but just don’t have time to check on each day.

There are a number of RSS Readers to choose from and I’m not into recommending any specific Reader to you… but after looking for what might be the easiest RSS Reader for you to recommend to YOUR followers… I decided to give a nod to the NewsGator reader. You can get a free download HERE

Just sign up and choose the information sources you want to be kept updated on. You can also add keywords and RSS Feeds easily.

For those of you who may already be using OTHER readers… congratulations on being ahead of those of us who are just learning! There are a HUGE number of internet users in the “over 50” crowd and we did NOT grow up with this as an every day part of our life and we’re largely in a “catching up” mode of operation… but we’ll get there!

Thanks for reading and make sure to drop a line if you have questions that are not answered here and you need help getting going!

David Perkins (aka: trafficmechanic)

http://twitter.com/trafficmechanic
http://rejaw.com/trafficmechanic
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1347470596
http://www.myspace.com/trafficmechanic

Advertising Successfully Online, in Social Media

There are 80+ Social Media platforms available for you to utilize to communicate with your audience. As I check in via my page on many of them I see blatent advertising for all kinds of things that people are selling… or hope to sell… to me or anyone they can lure to their sales page.

Some recent experiences tell me that this is not necessarily the best way to go about your marketing process. Why?

A BIG why is because it can get you BLOCKED by users of some of the sites and that can get you SUSPENDED from sites that you were “counting on” to reach your audience. Oops! So what do you do instead?

Try Blogging! Get yourself a free blog at WordPress.com and at Blogger.com and post to them regularly and write articles about your products that you have for sale and provide a link to your salespage there. Use Article Marketing concepts to their extremes.

Then, when you communicate with your audience on the Social Media sites, offer a link to your blogs and they can (if they wish) go there to read your articles and buy your wares if that works for them.

The GOOD news is if THEY choose to go to your Blog and from it, they make a purchase, you can’t be penalized for that. Make sure that the service you provide is ABOVE reproach! Be the BEST in your line of product sales. Give the best Service. Mail out the FASTEST! Tell everyone that is what you do. Get testimonials. Share them with your readers.

Just don’t share all that in the Social Media Platforms and YOU can Succeed in a Big Way!

David Perkins (aka: TrafficMechanic) writes from Frederick, Maryland
email: trafficmechanic@gmail.com
follow me on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/trafficmechanic