WARNING: Qualify Your “Internet Marketing Specialist”

November 20, 2009 by Paul Ferrier

For some companies, times are tough.  So when a marketing manager or CMO (chief marketing officer) receives an email from an “Internet marketing specialist” who can get their site to the top of the search engines for a specific phrase, the company might jump at the opportunity.

Marketers beware…these “opportunities” from these “Internet marketing specialists” may not be as good as they sound.

Here’s a real world example that just prompted this blog post.

I received an email from one of these “Internet marketing specialists”.  Obviously he does his research since we’re an SEO firm (that’s sarcastic).

Here’s the opening line:

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“Hello, my name is [removed] and I am an internet marketing specialist. I was looking at websites under the keyword 4 wheeler parts and came across your website http://www.polarispartshouse.com. I see that you’re not ranked on the first page of Google for a makeup search. Knowing your websites rankings as well as your competitions rankings is crucial for your online success.”

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It goes on to tell me more about his service and his promises. Impressive, right?

To someone who doesn’t understand SEO, this might sound very appealing.  If you sell Polaris parts, why wouldn’t you want to get traffic for 4 wheeler parts? After all, you DO sell 4 wheeler parts.

Here’s why.

What are we selling?

  • 4 wheeler parts – yes, sometimes.
  • Polaris parts – yes, ALL THE TIME.

So where would you want your focus to be? 4 wheeler parts…or Polaris parts?

The search phrase “4 wheeler parts” does not qualify the traffic.  Simply stated, there are a lot of manufacturers out there that sell 4 wheeler parts like Honda, Yamaha, Arctic Cat, Can-Am, Suzuki, Kawasaki, and, of course, Polaris.  Among many others.

So if someone is looking for 4 wheeler parts, they need parts that fit their specific make and model.  They don’t want to land on PolarisPartsHouse.com if they are looking for Yamaha parts!  So the effort is wasted and no sales are going to happen anyways.

So what we do choose to focus on is higher quality traffic.  Would “Polaris parts” be a good search phase?  If someone types “Polaris parts” into the search engines, what are they looking for?  Polaris parts.  And would it make good sense for them to find PolarisPartsHouse.com, where all Polaris parts are sold?  Heck yeah!  (And where do you see PolarisPartsHouse.com for Polaris Parts on Google?)

A few more reasons why this offer is a joke.  The search phrase “4 wheeler parts” is searched for 12,100 times in October according to Google.  The search phrase “Polaris parts” was searched for 673,000 times. But if he knew the target market, he’d know they don’t search for “4 wheeler parts”, they search “atv parts”.

I’m writing this post to educate companies who might jump at the original offer.  When I visited their website, there was no address, just a phone number, an email, a testimonial and a way to pay for their services.  Come on!  Do not do business with companies like this.  Choose a local company that you can talk to and hold accountable or a company that you’re referred to because someone else has used them with success.  Guess what…the saying, “If it sounds too good to be true, it is.” even applies to SEO.  :)

I hope this helps!
Paul

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Step-by-Step Process to STOP Wasting Money On Your Online Marketing

November 17, 2009 by Pete Brand

So it’s been a touch over two months since I posted my rant on the “posers” in the online marketing world.

Believe it or not I am still fired up over the “hacks” that swindle business owners out of their money for services they are less than qualified to provide.  I am quite sure I’ll continue to be irritated because this type of junk will never stop.

Rather than go off on another tangent, I want to provide some value and equip you with a step-by-step process I promised to post if enough of you asked for it.

Well, I received several requests and although it’s been awhile … here you go!

Step One – Build a List of Keywords Focused on Benefits Your Visitors Want

Your customers don’t care about you, your company, or how cool your products and services are.  The only thing they care about is what’s in it for them.

Does your website currently talk about the benefits they’ll receive from doing business with you?  If it does, are you speaking the language they speak?

I’m not talking about English vs. Spanish when I ask  if you are speaking the same language your customers speak.   I am referring to the heavy use of industry jargon which we so often end up using with our clients.

I’m here to tell you they don’t understand industry jargon, so don’t use it.

Ask yourself what you would type in if you were your customer looking for a solution, and then take whatever time is necessary to think like them and compile a list of keywords as they would type them into the search box.

Step Two – Check and See How Often Your Keywords are Searched For Each Month

The beauty of the Internet is that everything is measurable, including the amount of times someone searches using the keywords you selected.

For example, we were working with an organization who was fairly proud of the high rank they were receiving for a particular keyword.  We did some research and found they were indeed ranking number 3 on Google for that keyword.

We did a little more digging and found that although they ranked well …

that particular keyword was only searched for 72 times each month (on average).

We also found out they ranked 18 on Google for the plural version of that same keyword, and the plural version of the keyword was searched for over 12,000 times each month.

It’s amazing how one “s” can make such a significant difference.  The great thing is you have access to the same information and it won’t cost you anything!

Just go to the Google Keyword Tool at:  https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal .

Below is a quick screen capture video of what to do once you’ve arrived, and a quick explanation of what the data means that you’ll be looking at.

Step Three – Determine Whether Your Customers Intend to Buy When Using Those Words

Just because you find your keywords are searched for frequently each month doesn’t mean they are the right words.  You have the ability to determine the percentage of the time people searching with these words, intend to make a purchase.

We’ve never believed in optimizing a website simply for the sake of driving traffic.  In my opinion it doesn’t matter how much traffic you receive if nobody is looking to take the next step.

Well, you also have access to this information as well … and it is completely free!

Just go to the MSN Commercial Intention Tool at:  http://adlab.microsoft.com/Online-Commercial-Intention/ .

I planned on producing a video on how to use this but unfortunately the Ad Lab website has been down for the past couple days.  It is very easy though and I am sure you won’t have any difficulty once it is back up.

Conclusion

If you take the time to think like your customers, understand how often your customers are searching for the solution you provide,  recognize when your customers are looking to make a buying decision, and ultimately use this intelligence to guide your marketing direction …

You will win!

I hope you find this information useful and I encourage you to ask the next “Internet Marketing Professional” what their process is.

If their process doesn’t include all of the following …

Grab your wallet (or purse) and RUN!!!!

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Why “Make My Logo Bigger” Can Actually Hurt You

September 22, 2009 by Paul Ferrier

A very common statement made by clients to their design firm is, “Make my logo bigger.”  In some instances this might be a good thing, like on a billboard where your target audience is doing 70 MPH (on a slow day).  But I’m here to help you understand why “make my logo bigger” regarding your website is actually, believe it or not, a pretty bad idea.

Let’s face it.  You love your company.  With the logo being your staple, why wouldn’t it be BIG on your website?

The answer actually has two parts:  Your logo doesn’t sell and visitors really don’t care.

Now, let me explain.

1) YOUR LOGO DOESN’T SELL
I will be the first person to say your logo is a huge credibility piece.  Agencies don’t get paid the money they do to develop smart, on-target logos for their clients just for the sake of spending money.  It’s a great investment in your brand, but that’s another blog post.

But when was the last time you went to a website and bought something just because you liked the logo?  I’d bet you actually bought the product or service because…it was what you were looking for.

In the most simplistic sense, your logo is on your website to identify your company.  But your logo doesn’t sell.  Your logo confirms to the user that, “Yup, this is the company I was looking for.” or “Yup, this company looks professional.”

2) VISITORS REALLY DON’T CARE
When the logo is bigger, it draws attention.  And although this might seem like a good thing, take into consideration you only have a handful of seconds to grab your visitors attention and draw them into your website based on your offering.  How many of these precious seconds do you want your visitor to invest into your logo, which…doesn’t sell?

People visit your website for your content, whether it’s information marketing, explaining the services you have to offer, or products you would like them to purchase.  They really don’t care about your logo.  Your major calls to action should take visual priority over your logo.

Each successful website has a strategy that walks a user through the website from point A to point B to get them to do something in relation to the sites overall goals.  I have never developed or read a visitor strategy that starts with the logo on the site.

But please, for the success of our website, don’t let your logo scream for attention.

Hope this helps.

Thanks
Paul

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Do friends really influence purchases in social networks? The answer is…

September 16, 2009 by Paul Ferrier

Harvard Business School recently published a working paper titled Do Friends Influence Purchases in a Social Network.

And I read it, of course.  So I’ll save you some time and give you a simple overview on what they learned, and what I learned from them.

  • First, I had to get back to my Trigonometry and Calculus classes to get my head around all the equations they have in the document to define their findings.  Very interesting.  Very amazing.  Very intelligent.  And I am not pretending to really understand what all of it was.  Ha.
  • Second, the paper is a working paper, so a bit of duplicate content to get through.  Unless they were just trying to really drive the point home.  :)
  • Third, I found it odd that a paper from 2009 would use data mined in 2004.  Sure seems like behaviors could change over this 4+ year span.

Ok, so this is what I gained from it:

Of course, the answer is YES, friends do influence the purchase of other friends in social networks. Big surprise, right?

Well, here’s where I think it gets interesting.  There are 3 levels of influence:

  1. Good.
  2. Indifferent.
  3. Bad.

The paper breaks these users out like this (out of 208 users):

  • Good – 40% bought products based on their social network.  So from a revenue standpoint, there was an increase of revenue produced by this group.  They call it “Keeping up with the Jones.”  Which we are all familiar with. This group interacts often with other users in the social network, but are not seen as the leaders.  These are the followers, naturally.
  • Indifferent – 48% were actually unaffected by their social network.  This is also the group that interacts with other users the least.  So just like real life, people who don’t talk to people would naturally be unaffected by…other people.  Weird coincidence. :)
  • Bad – I loved this one and where I think the most new knowledge is gained.  These users are the highest level users with the most respect/followers. This group, 12%, have their purchase behavior negatively impacted by their social network.  Meaning if their neighbor bought it, they didn’t.  Weird, right?  Not really.  This group is looking to differentiate themselves from everyone else by being the leader, not by being one of them.  If they buy the same thing, they are a follower.  So super users don’t want something average…they buy a Mercedes vs a Chevy.  Or a Mac vs a PC (sorry, had to throw that in there).  They want to be the first to have something, not go along with everyone else.

So, knowing this, I conclude that in order to connect with super users in the social network like Mindscape at Hanon McKendry recommends clients do, this reaffirms what we’ve also been telling clients:  what’s being offered MUST be unique and more “first to market” to truly grab their attention.  If others have it or others are talking about it, it’s of little interest to them.  And this is the group you want to get in with.  Because if they do it, it has an effect on 40% of their network.

What are your thoughts?  Let me know.

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Focus On Profitable, Targeted Traffic to Succeed Online

August 31, 2009 by Pete Brand

It drives me nuts when I’m helping a client who trusted a, so called, “professional”  to help them with their optimization or pay-per-click campaign, and all they did was flush their money down the toilet.

I’d like to take a second to make an announcement to all those “professionals” out there who insist on preying on the naivity in the marketplace …

STOP PRETENDING YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING MORONS!!!!

Sorry for the harsh words and tone but I am tired of it.  The more of this garbage that happens in the marketplace, the more the industry I love gets muddied up.

We’ve finally gotten to a point where the search engine algorithms are becoming very accurate and the old “used car salesman” approach of telling everyong (via email) that you promise to get them a number one rank on Google for $20, are dying down.

The only problem is now we’ve got a bunch of inexperienced people who are making claims to be Google Adwords experts, and they have no idea what they are doing.  Just because you’ve seen an increase in your traffic since they’ve taken over your PPC campaign, doesn’t mean they are doing a good job.

How can you tell?

The first thing you can do is measure if the amount of quote requests, sales volume, or contact inquiries have increased since you’ve begun receiving this new “wealth” of traffic.  If the answer is “No,” then you may want to either find out why, or find a company that knows what they are doing.

Why do I have such a strong opinion on this?  Let me show you …

Let’s say you happen to be a health insurance sales person working in the state of Michigan.  If that were the case you’d definitely want an ad to display anytime someone searched on the keyword “Health Insurance” … right?

Well that’s probably what one of these “professionals” might tell you so they can make an impact and increase your traffic.  I personally would encourage you to STEER CLEAR of this term!

You may find it difficult coming to terms with my stance on this keyword, until you have the complete picture.

At first it looks very promising since it is extremely relevant to what you sell.  Plus that keyword is searched for an average of 7,480,000 times each month.  The second closest keyword to that amount of search volume is searched for, only 246,000 times each month.

Alright, now you may think I am even more crazy, but please stay with me here.  I promise it will save you a ton of dough!

If you wanted to have your ad appear every time someone searched on the keyword “health insurance” in the State of Michigan, you’d receive, on average, between 21-26 clicks per day.  Those clicks would cost you somewhere between $7.27 and $10.08 each time someone clicked on them and visited your site.  This could cost you as much as $260 per day, or $8,000 per month!

Now you may be thinking that’s not bad if I am making sales.  I agree if that were the case!

The problem you would run up against is the average commercial intention of someone searching with the keyword “Health Insurance” is a touch under 50%.

Basically what that means is more than 50% of the time that someone conducts a search using “Health Insurance,” they aren’t even interested in making a purchase.

That doesn’t sound like as good of a deal … does it?

Well there are quite a few so called “professionals” who believe that “a click is a click.”  In my opinion that is about as far from the truth as possible!

I believe a click is only as good as the probability the person clicking might actually be interested in doing business with you.

A perfect example of this is, if you chose to focus on the keyword phrase “individual health insurance,”  you’d improve your chances immensely!  The commercial intention of someone conducting a search using this keyword is a touch over 90%.

You won’t get near the amount of traffic increase by choosing these type of lower volume keywords, but you will definitely receive quality visitors who is looking to do business.

Make sure you keep this in mind when you are either conducting your own PPC campaigns, or if you’ve hired a “professional.”

If you are running a PPC campaign it shouldn’t be an expense.  It should deliver a very clear return on your investment.

Finding the information I just provided to you is available to ANYONE. It can be found out in only a few minutes, and it won’t cost you anything.  If you would like to find out exactly how to find it on your own so you can check and see if the “professional” running your campaign knows what they are doing … just leave a comment.  If I receive enough, I’ll provide step-by-step instructions on how to quickly evaluate your keywords in the coming days.

Watch out posers!!!  :)

Posted in B2C Internet Marketing | 3 Comments »

Why Should Your Prospects Choose You? Show Them You Are Worthy!

August 24, 2009 by Pete Brand

It’s interesting to look at the process people go through when starting a new website …

Once they decide they need a site they begin to plan what content they’d like to have on the site.

The majority of the companies decide they need a page that talks about them so they add an “About Us” page to their site.

Secondly they would like to talk about their products or services so they add a “Products” or “Services” page to their site.

The most important part to the new website is giving it’s visitors the ability to contact them to do business or ask questions which is where the infamous “Contact Us” page comes from.

I could go on and on but I am guessing you’ve seen these types of pages on almost every website you’ve ever been to, so I won’t bore you.  I am sure when you decided to get your first website online you had the intention of increasing your business and tapping into the “gold mine” the Internet makes available to us all.

Heck, this was my initial motivation as well and I’m sure this is no earth shattering revelation.

Well the problem with this process of developing a website is unfortunately absolutely wrong.  No, I’m not saying you won’t make any sales or receive any phone calls by structuring your website this way.  I am just saying you are limiting the potential revenue by doing it and you could do MUCH better.

The first issue I have with this tired old navigation structure is it doesn’t offer any value to your potential buyers and, if you don’t provide value for your buyers, they’ll leave and go to a competitor who does.

These buyers don’t care about you, your products, or your services.  They only care about what’s in it for them!

If that’s the case why would you spend even two seconds creating a website that blathers on and on about your company, products, services and then provide them with a page so they can contact you?

Well, I should say why would you do that and expect any level of online success?

If you want a visitor to arrive at your website, consume the information, and ultimately make the decision to do business with your company instead of the competition, you need to prove you are worthy!

Let’s say you happen to be in the insurance industry.

We all know there are a million insurance agents out there ranging from property & casualty, life insurance, disability insurance, health insurance, and all the other forms of insurance available.

We also know you can’t swing a stick without hitting a half dozen or so agents in your local city, and if you go online you could spend a week non-stop online checking out every agent.

Although it may seem like standing out amongst your competition is a staggering, uphill battle … it’s not!

The best way for you to impress visitors to your website is to provide value to them before you ask them to spend any money with you insuring their prized possessions.  You can provide this value by allowing them to download a free report, or maybe a discount card for their prescriptions that doesn’t cost them anything.

If you’d REALLY like to stand out in the crowd you could include a section on your website which educates your potential customers by including articles.

Every person looking for insurance or any product for that matter has the question in their head, “Why should I buy from you?” when they visit your website.

It is your job to answer that question.  If I am going to be insuring the possessions or making sure I am covered if something happens to me physically, I want to work with someone who has knowledge of the products I am looking for so they can make intelligent recommendations based on my situation.

If I happen to read a couple articles on your website which relates to a situation similar to my own, and I can tell the person who wrote it knows their stuff …

They have proved themselves worthy of my business and the chances will dramatically decrease that I’ll find the need to visit their competitor’s website.

Whatever business you’re in, don’t just assume that because you have a website, and a prospect visits it, that you’ve done everything necessary to get their business.  You need to use that website as a platform to prove your worth, and once you have, make it easy for them to do business with you.

Use your website  to showcase your expertise and you’ll dramatically increase your chances for online success!

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You May Think You Are Helping Others … But Find Out You Were The One Getting Helped!

July 3, 2009 by Pete Brand

Today was an amazing day down here in the Dominican Republic on many levels.  Although I leave tomorrow to come home, I am not returning alone.  I’ll be bringing  memories of all the kids we had the opportunity to help and meet while we were down here home with me.

I’ve been feeling like I wanted to help others who were less fortunate than myself for the past six months or so.  I didn’t know what I wanted to do, or how I could help, and then this opportunity arose.  I personally believe that everything happens for a reason and I immediately decided I wanted to go.

I purposefully decided to not draw any preconceived notions of what it was going to be like.  I’ve seen presentations from people who have attended mission trips in the past, so I had an idea of what it MIGHT be like, but I decided to just go and let the experience happen.  WOW am I glad I did.  I would have never guessed in a million years how powerful it would be!

Today we visited the Sanisi House which is a home for children with AIDS.  The children ranged in ages from six months to around 15 years old.  There were approximately 25 children that live in the home which is a three story house with six bedrooms and lots of bunk beds.

The home is run by a married couple.  Their names are Luis and Rosa.  What an absolutely incredible, selfless couple.  We were talking to them when we first arrived and one of the team members mentioned how much respect we have for them.  Luis became overcome with emotion and left the room to regain his composure and returned a few seconds later.  This couple is so passionate about those children and they treat every single one of them as if they are their own.  They do it all by themselves with the assistance of the older children.

While we were there we noticed there wasn’t any electricity.  We found out the government doesn’t turn it on for them except for random times.  They don’t have any idea of when and they aren’t notified.  It was off the entire day and all of a sudden around 3:00pm I heard the kids cheering as it came on.  They could then do Karaoke on the TV and listen to CD’s in their stereo.  All of us here in the United States, regardless of our political affilliation should thank our lucky stars that we don’t have such an insensitive government.

We spent the day building shelves in the children’s bedroom closets.  The walls are made of concrete and we had to rely on a generator to power the drills.  While some of our team built the shelves, others played games with and did arts and crafts with the children.  The kids would just walk up and give you hugs randomly and CONSTANTLY smile.  Again, although there was a huge language barrier, it seemed as though we all spoke the same language.

When it was time to leave for the day my heart broke.  I didn’t want to say goodbye because although I am absolutely going back, I am not sure if those beautiful little children will still be with us when I do return.  What a horrible reality.  As we were leaving those little cuties were standing at the gate with their huge smiles waving goodbye to us.  That was one of the most difficult moments of my life.

Although I came to the Dominican Republic hoping to help others who were less fortunate than myself, they ended up helping me and giving me far more than I could ever have done or could give them.  If you have never been on a mission trip before, or if you find yourself at the same spot in your life that I found myself, do something about it!  If you don’t know who to contact you can always contact Vision Trust which is the organization that hosted us, or you can contact me and I’ll put you in touch with the right people.

I know there are a million opportunities around the world to help, but I would love for you to go see the amazing children I spent the last four days of my life with.  Thank you for allowing me to share this incredible journey with you, and thank you for all the very kind words.  I’ve added some more photos from today to my Facebook page. Go check them out if you get a chance.

Posted in B2B Internet Marketing, B2C Internet Marketing, Online Business, Website Development | 1 Comment »

Doing Good and Having Fun Can Transcend a Language Barrier

July 2, 2009 by Pete Brand

Well I am on day three down here in the Dominican Republic and somehow my body is still functioning.  I won’t lie … I am not someone that partakes in much physical labor.  It’s not that I don’t enjoy it … well ok, I don’t, but I am loving every second of it down here.  :)

Today we were up early and headed back to the school in Herrera to do some painting.  Our little 12 person team painted four classrooms and the kitchen!  The walls were quite dirty to begin with but once we were finished everything looked fresh and new!  If only we could see the looks on the students faces when they return to the newly painted walls.  I am sure they’ll enjoy it since they are some of the most appreciative people I’ve ever met.

After we finished with our painting we stopped back at the hotel for a very quick shower and then had dinner at a Dominican buffet.  I didn’t know what to expect but let me tell you … the food is excellent!  If you are like me you probably thought the food would be hot and spicy.  Well I was wrong and so are you!  :)   Dominican food isn’t very hot or spicy, it’s simply delicious!

Following our dinner we headed over to another Christian school which is very close to the Sanisi House, a  children’s HIV / AIDS home, where we’ll be spending tomorrow.  The school is where they hold their church service on Wednesday evening and the children from the Ramar house (where we spent Monday) and the children from the Sanisi House attend.  Although I couldn’t understand one word, I was amazed at how engaged the children were and how strong their faith was.

On Monday when we first arrived at the Ramar House I must admit I was a little uncomfortable.  We served dinner to all these young men who ranged in age from 10 – 18 years old.  I stood a little away from the table and wondered what I should do.

1.  We didn’t speak the same language.

2.  I simply didn’t know what to say.

Once we finished dinner some of the kids took time to share their stories.  It was sad and amazing all in one.  These kids mostly came from the streets, didn’t have any parents, and yet they had huge smiles and a tremendous belief in themselves and God.  Wow!!

As they were wrapping up they challenged us to a basketball game.  The second we walked on the court there was an instant connection.  The first game they won by a basket.  We dominated the second and third games to hold on to the title.  :)

The neat thing was that as soon as the game began there was no longer a language barrier.  I am not saying  all of a sudden I understood Spanish, or they understood English.  I am saying the universal language of sports and competition kicked in.  They were talking trash, and I was talking trash right back.  Neither of us could understand the words but the typical trash talking gestures transcended the language barrier.  We got the point.

When we left to head back to the hotel I asked if we’d be seeing them again.  I was told that we might not.  I immediately felt a knot in the pit of my stomach because I was seriously going to miss those boys!  Although we only hung out for a few hours there was a connection made.

Well tonight when we attended the church ceremony the boys were there!  I was told they were going to be and I was looking forward to seeing them again.  I took some great pictures with them and got to tell them how nice it was to see them.  I also promised them I’d be back and told them they better practice.  :)

I am looking forward to our day tomorrow but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t going into it with a heavy heart.  All the kids we’ll be seeing tomorrow have AIDS, and although they aren’t visibly sick, I’ll know in the back of my mind that their days are numbered.  I can only hope that through enough prayer and good thoughts that something will happen to save them.  It’ll be tough, but I am hoping to help bring a smile to those sweet little kids.  I am sure I’ll have plenty to write about tomorrow evening.

I have uploaded quite a few new pictures from today, and even uploaded some videos to my facebook page.  Although videos and pictures can never clearly show you what it is like here, the videos should give you a littler clearer perspective.  Check them out and I’ll talk to you again tomorrow!

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What Excuse are You Using to Not Improve Your Situation?

July 1, 2009 by Pete Brand

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve came up with what I believed was an incredible idea, and either came up with a reason why it wouldn’t work or simply didn’t take any action toward making that idea a reality.  I’m sure you have found yourself in the exact same situation.  Think about how many times you’ve heard yourself saying one of the following statements…

I am just too busy.

I would love to do (insert goal here) but I just can’t afford it.

That may work for some people but I don’t think it will work for me.

or the infamous …

I will get around to it someday!

I read a statement in an article earlier this year and was compelled to write it on a post it note and stick it to my desk.  The statement was, “There is never a lack of good ideas, only a lack of follow through.”

I don’t think there is a statement that could be a truer reflection of REALITY!

Well as I wrote about yesterday I am currently in the Dominican Republic on a mission trip and today was a day that made that statement 1000% more clear in my mind.  We started our day eating a HUGE breakfast and jumped in our vans to head over to the school we planned on working on in Herrera.

Herrera is a very poverty stricken part of town.  Although the Dominican Republic is a Democracy, almost every leader in the country has turned into a dictatorship.  Basically when they get to the end of their four years they get the military on their side and stay in power.  One of the longest stints lasted from 1930 until approximately 1961.  The main way these leaders lose power is by getting killed.  This happened in this case in that same year. When it happened all the land the president owned became government land.

Santo Domingo was very “modern” and had all the amenities not available in the surrounding towns.  All the people flocked to Santo Domingo and started “squatting” on this government owned land.  They would grab up small little areas and build makeshift homes on their land.  The police would come around from time to time and tear down their homes, and once they left, the people would build them again.  This happened for some time until the police finally gave up.

Words cannot come near to explaining what this area is like, so I just wanted to give you some background and you can view a bunch of pictures I took while working in the area today.  The pictures are located at http://www.facebook.com/petebrand1 .

We spent the day working on the top floor of a Christian School they are building for children in the community.  65% of the children that attend the school are orphans.  We poured cement for seven columns that are going to support the roof of the school.  It was VERY hard work since there were no machines.  We had shovels, buckets, a water hose, sand, gravel, and bags of cement.  We had to mix all the cement, sand and gravel with the water using shovels and carry the cement up a ladder by way of a human chain.  It was amazing teamwork and we got everything complete!  The last team that came down only poured four columns in a day so YAY TEAM!  :)

We had a chance to hear from some of the students from the school and they let us know what they planned on doing once they were out of school.  They aspired to be doctors, lawyers, accountants, designers, social communicators, and a number of other very ambition goals.  The amazing thing is they come from families that live in absolute poverty (as you can see in the pictures), but they are very determined to break that cycle and create better lives for their children.

Once we finally returned from our day and dinner at 7:00pm we had the opportunity to hear from Nelson, the Executive Director from Vision Trust, which is the organization that is hosting us.  The amazing thing about his story is he came from that exact neighborhood.  His mother would make 100 – 200 empanadas each night and his father would walk into the city and sell them in the intersections to cars that drove by.  He would often times make only enough money to feed his family for the following day and hopefully enough to make more empanadas for the next day.  Nelson was determined to change things and he has in a BIG way.

The children from the school, Nelson, and the incredible children we saw in the neighborhood while we were there, made it very clear to me that we don’t spend enough time focusing on all the incredible opportunities we have.  If these people who have absolutely nothing can not only aspire to do great things, but actually accomlish those great things … Why can’t you??

The next time you find yourself making an excuse as to why you can’t accomplish your goals, or find yourself saying “one of these days…”  I hope you remember this story and use it to find the motivation to accomplish whatever goal you are looking to achieve.  Don’t forget to check out the amazing pictures at http://www.facebook.com/petebrand1 .  The pictures are in the “Dominican Republic” folder.

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Take a Break from Focusing on Your Success and Focus on Giving Back!

June 30, 2009 by Pete Brand

I know I typically use this blog to write about Internet marketing strategies, web marketing tactics, and basically whatever it takes to be successful online.

Well, in my opinion there is no reason to do all the hard work to become successful online if you don’t GIVE BACK!  Call it good karma, call it blessings, call it whatever you want.

We are all human beings  inhabiting the same planet and it’s very easy to get caught up in ourselves and forget there are many less fortunate people who could use our help.

I personally have never either had the opportunity, or found the motivation to make the decision to pitch in to help make the world a better place.  Until now!

We made a decision as a company to donate a website to The James Fund last summer.  I found out this spring that due to our donation, we had the opportunity to send two people on a mission trip to the Dominican Republic.  I made the decision to come along and bring my mom and I am VERY happy I did.

We’ve made it through the first day of the trip which began this morning at 3:30am.  Our flight out here was pretty smooth except for when the plane made a very erratic right turn and the pilot came on and said, “sorry for that move but air traffic control told us to turn immediately because another plane was coming right at us.”  Hmmmm….lucky he didn’t say anything before everything was ok.  :)

Our drive to our hotel was interesting.  It seems although there are stop signs, lights, and even lanes in the road … nobody seems to care.  There is no way I’d ever hop in the driver’s seat of a car in this country.  I have a very difficult time being a passenger with ANYONE, but I’ll happily take that position here.

We’re staying at a very nice hotel by Dominican Republic standards. I’ve included some pictures on my Facebook page which can be found at http://www.facebook.com/petebrand1 .

We had an opportunity to meet with the rest of the mission team to discuss what our itinerary would be for the next five days and then we were off to the Ramar House which is a home for boys ages 10 – 18.  There are 20 boys that live in this house and the majority of them are orphans.  We had an opportunity to hear their stories through a translator since they speak Spanish and, except for a few cases, can’t speak any english.  The stories were amazing and sad.  Most of the kids lived on the streets and found their way to the Ramar house following a stint in a government program.

Despite the difficult circumstances these kids have been through, they have HUGE GOALS and even bigger smiles.

Following dinner we played a game of four on four basketball.  I am proud to say we won three of the five games we played, and even prouder to say I fought off the urge to throw up out of pure exhaustion.  :)

Man am I out of shape!

Well it’s time to hit the sack since we have to be down to breakfast at 7:00am and we are going to be heading to pour seven cement columns for a Christian school they are building.  The interesting thing is we’ll be on the fifth floor which is the roof.  There is no shade and if you’ve checked the weather down here lately it is going to be in the upper 80’s and humid.  All the better to shrink some of this fat from my midsection.

Oh, also … they don’t have machines for that down here.  We’ll be mixing the cement by hand and hoisting it up by “human powered” pulleys.  I’ll have some pictures of that tomorrow.  Don’t forget to check out the pictures at http://www.facebook.com/petebrand1 .

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