Seeking Clarity for Your Marketing Plan?

Michael Reese is a financial planner from Traverse City, MI.  Michael’s mission is to change the way retirees invest in the markets.  He’s pained by the losses of wealth many people over 60 incurred in the 2008 downturn.  Michael laid out a plan with us to change the lives of thousands of retirees by training an army of financial planners on a new way to invest for their clients (and earn them a nice living at the same time.) Click on the video to see how Michael found clarity on his full day!

 

Want to be our next success story?

Get a Free Book from Bob Regnerus at www.FreeBigTicket.com or call the office at 877-349-2615 and book your appointment to speak with one of Bob’s business coaches.

 

Filed under Rants by Bob Regnerus

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Blast From the Past

A while back, Bob showed me a rather interesting ad.  Although it appears very unusual, there are 5 elements that make it both effective and great.  Watch this video to find out.

Blessings,

Matt Gillogly

 

 

Filed under Rants by Bob Regnerus

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Did you Bing yourself yet?

Microsoft’s latest search engine is officially live, although in Beta. So how does it compare to Google? The initial reviews are mixed. Some like the new interface, while other say its the same search engine as Live, just with a different package. Time will tell if it can compete with Google I suppose.

 
So, go ahead and Bing yourself (not quite the same ring as Google yourself, huh?) What do you get? My results on Bing were slighly different than Googles. There has been some debate on how updated the indexes are for Bing. Matt Cutts of Google tweeted back and forth with Bing’s Betsy about the relevancy of searching for ‘mtv movie awards 2009′. Old results come up in some of the top spots.
Anyway, here are some of the features you can find in Bing. Some are similar to Google’s new Search Options but there are some new choices.

 

Web - Find what you’re looking for and a whole lot more with enhanced Silverlight Search History.
Web Search Features:
    • Save your searches locally or online using SkyDrive
    • Organize using folders
    • Add Notes
    • Share your results with friends on Windows Live, Facebook & Email
Images - Find the pictures that you’ve been wanting to see
Select Images by:
    • Size - small, medium, large, wallpaper
    • Layout - square, wide, tall
    • Color - color, black & white
    • Style - photograph, illustration
    • People - just faces, head & shoulders, other
Videos - Watch your favorite shows and videos
Select Videos by:
    • Length - short (< 5 min), medium (5-20 min), long (> 20 min)
    • Screen Size - standard, widescreen
    • Resolution - low, medium, high
    • Source - MSN, AOL, MTV, Hulu, ESPN, YouTube, MySpace, Dailymotion, Metacafe
    • TV (genre) - Action & Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Drama, Reality, SciFi & Fantasy, Talk & Info
    • Music (genre) - Alternative, Classic, Country, Electronica, Pop, Rap & Hip Hop, Reggae, Rock, Soul, R&B
    • Most Watched (date) - Today, This week, This month, All time
Shopping - Find, research, and buy the things you want using Bing cashback. Find great deals on the products you want from the stores that you know and trust. Get cashback savings.
What is Bing cashback?
Bing cashback is a great way for you to save money when you shop online. Find great deals on millions of products from hundreds of brand name stores that you know and trust. You’ll earn a percentage of the product price as cashback. The search advertising fees from participating stores are passed on to you.  After we wait for potential returns and exchanges, your savings will be rewarded to you by your choice of a deposit to your PayPal account, direct deposit to your bank account, or a check in the mail.
Here’s how Bing cashback works:
Search:
    • Search for cashback deals using Bing. Click a cashback listing and find great deals on the product you chose.
    • Your results list the cashback savings you’ll receive off the store price and your bottomline price, too.
Shop:
    • Compare and sort products by the bottomline price. Click the best deal to go to the store.
    • Don’t worry if you don’t see the cashback symbol or savings when making a purchase at a store’s website. We’ll email you after your purchase to confirm your cashback.
    • Your first time using Bing cashback, we’ll ask for your email address so we can tell you how to quickly open your free cashback account.
Save:
    • Save each time you shop with Bing cashback. Every time you make an eligible purchase, we’ll email you to confirm your Bing cashback savings.
    • You can request your cashback about 60 days after your purchase (the waiting period varies by store) and with at least $5 in your cashback account. Terms and conditions.
News & Sports - Find out what’s happening in the world today
Select News & Sports by:
    • NEWS - World, U.S., Local, Business, Politics, Entertainment, Sports, Sci/Tech, Health
Maps - See where it is and how to get there (Bing Maps is “powered” by Microsoft Virtual Earth)
xRank - See who and what everyone’s searching for most (movers, celebrities, musicians, politicians, bloggers)
Use xRank to:
    • Search - Tell us a name and we’ll tell you who they are and how they rate.
    • Learn - Browse a bio or get the latest news headlines about the person you’re interested in.
    • Explore - Explore a celebrity’s latest videos, images, movies, albums, and more.
    • Relate - Discover relationships among notable people. Thumbnail photos at the bottom of xRank show you the associates, friends, enemies, and romances, of the person you’re interested in.
    • Scan - Look over the rankings for names that interest you. Arrow icons show how their movement is trending. Movement at the top of the list means more than it does near the bottom.
    • Track - View a person’s popularity over the past six months on the xRank History chart. Under the xRank History chart, find the top-moving searches. These are real searches from users on the day the person peaked in popularity on xRank.
Local - Look up businesses and see where to find them
Local Business Selections:
    • Arts & Entertainment - Movie Theaters , Adult Entertainment , Amusement …
    • Automotive & Vehicles - New & Used Car Dealers , Aircraft , Auto Care & Accessories …
    • Business to Business - Agriculture & Food , B2B Communications & Advertising , B2B Computers & Electronics …
    • Computers & Technology - Cable Television & Satellite , Cellular & Wireless , Computer & Web Publishing …
    • Education - Adult Education , Alternative Schools & Home Schooling , Charter Schools …
    • Food & Dining - Restaurants , Taverns, Bars & Cocktail Lounges , Bakeries …
    • Government & Community - Animal Shelters & Humane Societies , Associations , Cemeteries & Memorial Parks …
    • Health & Beauty - Abuse & Addiction Treatment , Alternative Medicine , Assisted Living & Care Services …
    • Home & Family - Child Care Services , Appliances , Bathrooms …
    • Legal & Finance - Banks , Accounting & Bookkeeping , Appraisers …
    • Professionals & Services - Apparel Services , Audio-Visual Equipment Services , Copying Services …
    • Real Estate & Construction - Apartments , Building & Construction Services , Buildings …
    • Shopping - Florists , Malls & Shopping Centers , Antiques …
    • Sports & Recreation - Archery & Shooting , Bicycles , Bowling …
    • Travel - Hotels & Motels , Lodging , Aircraft Charter & Rental Companies …
Travel - Use hotel and fare predictions to decide when to book (Bing Travel section is “powered” by Orbitz)
 
(thanks to http://scooopy.net/blog/review-bing/ for this summary of features!)
 
So, what do you think of Bing?

 

 

Filed under Rants by Bob Regnerus

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Preventing Bright Shiny Objectitis

Hello fellow entrepreneurs-If you have stacks of unread manuals or unwatched DVD’s, more CD’s than you could ever listen to, or are constantly looking for the end-all be-all solution to your business problem, then you suffer from “Bright Shiny Objectitis.”

I can explain how you can prevent this from happening to you.  To learn more, watch this video.

Matt Gillogly 

Filed under Rants by Bob Regnerus

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Have you tried the new Google Search Options?

Google announced some new search options recently. Have you tried them yet?

 

 

New options included:

Video Only

OK, so this isn’t totally new but its now available with all the new tools. The search results that are pulled are different from those on video.google.com and you have more power on narrowing your search. Want new videos? Want short or long ones? You now have the option to tell Google what you are looking for.

So, do you have videos to attract clients? You need to! And you need to have them tagged with keywords that will get the attention they deserve. And don’t settle for a single video posting. You need to keep new videos rolling so you are in the recent postings listing.

Forums Only

You can now pull results from various forums only. In some cases, it shows the number of posts from an author and when they posted last so you can see how active the posts were.

Do you have an SEO team that is posting your info to relevant forums with return links to your site? Looks like those backlinks are going to be worth more than just increasing page rank… Once again, post with relevant keywords and post often.

Reviews

This is a big one for those businesses with product reviews available. A person can now search for an item they want to buy and instantly see all the reviews available for that product.

We have always advocated adding product reviews to a retail site. Now, its more important than ever. Google is handing you an easy way to get traffic to your site for people who are searching to buy the product being reviewed. It doesn’t come much more highly targeted than that!

Timeline

This search option has some flaws. It has pulled data from the 1700’s on certain searches. But for an overall view of how traffic trends have been for a certain keyword, it does a fairly good job.

Have you experienced a sudden drop in traffic? Do certain months seem to do poorly for you? Check out the timeline feature to see if its more than just your imagination. Traffic can ebb and flow with the seasons or with other market trends.

Wonder Wheel

I think this is fast becoming a favorite tool. Its not a new idea but the presentation of data is appealing for users. For every keyword entered, you can click on related keywords, which brings you to more related keywords, and on and on. Everytime a new keyword is clicked, the search results on the right change to reflect the new keyword.

This is great if you have keywords with lots of impressions or clicks but no conversions. Sometimes keywords have many meanings that we don’t realize. Seeing what Google deems as related in search can show you where your keyword is or isn’t relevant. This is also a great tool for long tail keyword research. Start with what you think a user would type in as a basic search and keep drilling down to see what other things they are looking for related to their original search. Remember that the important keywords you are finding need to be optimized on your site so you show up on the new results screen.

So, go and play with the new options. Its very cool and powerful for getting the exact information you want (both doing searches and collecting data on your potential leads!).

Filed under Blog by Bob Regnerus

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