Koka Sexton dot Com » Entrepreneur

SOCOM Sales Redesign

Koka Sexton — Fri, 01 May 2009 04:02:41 +0000

Tweaking my websites and blogs is actually really fun for me. I love finding a new theme and getting into the code to make it my own. Since my online sales tips blog hasn’t had a real refresh since February 08, I spent some time making it look a bit more clean. I used the same theme as HyperLocal Edge since it seems to be my new favorite.

SOCOM Sales started off as a way for me to blog about my journey as a sales person and has morphed into a blog that covers a bunch of different topics. I was getting such a great responce to the site through comments and emails that I even wrote a Channel Sales Playbook to explain how to run a channel sales team. The e-book is free and there are plans to put together a more detailed and expansive e-book covering channel sales in a very simple format.

SOCOM Sales was my first professional applicationof using social media. Besides having a blog with over 300 posts on sales tips and selling skills, I manage a Twitter profile called Sales tools that has grown to a following over 1000.

Most of that growth has been in the past month. I was happy with the followers before but I figured since I am currently out of work I would spend more time building my sales tools network and using social media to fill my time looking for a new place to work. Getting to know more of my sales tools network has been fun and I have met some very professional sales people through Twitter I never would have known before.

I put together a Facebook page for the site as well. Really I just wanted another Facebook page to test my skills on. Since this is in a different niche that the HyperLocal marketing site, there will be a seperate set of tabs and information that will be broadcast on the SOCOM Sales Facebook page. I need to do some more customization to the fan page but I am gad that I have gotten a few fans already even though a few of them are collegues of mine from work.

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HyperLocal Edge: Case Study in Online Marketing

Koka Sexton — Fri, 01 May 2009 02:49:17 +0000

Keeping myself busy in between jobs has been easier than I had thought. After a few weeks I started wondering the age old question “What would you do if you could do anything?” I decided that spending my time using the internet to drive business for other businesses sounded like a good idea.

I started HyperLocal Edge as a way to creatively put my skills to work for others. HyperLocal marketing is a growing trend on the internet.

For small businesses in this challenging economy, getting solid results from a marketing investment is an absolute must. A new survey from Nielsen Online and WebVisible, however, reveals that local businesses and online consumers are often failing to connect.

The survey polled nearly 4,000 Internet users and business owners about their online consumer behavior and business marketing strategies. The data shows a “Great Divide” between media usage and small business advertising. The study provides valuable insight for local businesses that want to better understand online consumer behavior in order to maximize the return on their marketing spend.

Some of the key findings:

Consumers use search engines 72% more often than they did two years ago
Search engines are the No. 1 choice of consumers and small business owners alike when looking for a local product or service.

Yet, of small businesses:

Half spend less than 10% of their marketing budget on Internet advertising
Only nine percent are very satisfied with their results – meanwhile 63% turn to the Internet first when looking for local products or services

Reliance on multiple resources, reviews, blogs

The survey found that 75% of respondents rely on multiple information sources to find local business information; only an tiny minority (6%) said they used a single trusted source. However those “trusted sources” weren’t identified — whether traditional media or online.

Three fourths of users say they read reviews (product/service business) online. The number is higher (80%) as the audience ages:

–60% of 18-24 year olds read online reviews. –Ages 34 – 64 saw an average of 80% reading online consumer reviews.

–69% use blogs as a source for consumer product reviews, yet only 23% have ever posted a consumer review on a blog (among this group of posters: 45% of the posted reviews were negative, while 15% were mixed and 40% were positive).

Shop online, buy locally

Just over 70% of survey participants say they prefer to stay within a 20 minute drive of their homes to reach a business. And 80% of respondents say they have researched a product or service online and then made their purchase offline from a local business.

These findings are consistent with other information and empirical data in the market but serve to reinforce the importance and power of both search/SEM and local search in consumer purchase behavior.

Getting listed on localized business listings like Google Local and Yahoo Local can be tricky. We can mange these for you and make sure the information listed is up to date and draws customers to your business.

From the several online yellow pages and other local directories there are dozens of places we can make sure your business is listed correctly and professionally. Getting listed in these online directories is usually free but not an easy task to accomplish with many steps and waiting for confirmations. We can manage this process and insure your business is listed locally for customers to locate easily.

Maximize your local exposure

Localized marketing on the several online yellow pages and other local directories where we can make sure your business is listed correctly and professionally. Getting listed in these online directories is usually free but not an easy task to accomplish with many steps and waiting for confirmations. We can manage this process and insure your business is listed locally and correctly for customers to locate easily.

Google Local
Yahoo Local
Online Yellow Pages
Yelp.com
Many others

Many of these online directories make it easy to reach out to people who have reviewed your business. By contacting the people with the most positive comments to express your appreciation and possibly give them a special deal, you stay top of mind with some of your best influencers for more business. Even communicating with the people who gave negative comments to get a better understanding of the issues could give you another chance to get another customer for life.

Social Media Twitter

I have a Twitter account setup for the site. Actullay I had the account before the site but it ties in well. Social Help is a Twitter profile that spreads news, tips and trends in social media marketing.

The Twitter profile has been gaining in popularity among others interested in the latest news about social media.Besides pulling the feed from the HyperLocal website, I add in links to other sites that talk about everything from Twitter, SEO and other new media tools.

I knew there was a market for Hyperlocal marketing services and I decided to do a bit of generic marketing to test the waters. After designing the website and making sure it looked professional enough to show to the public and then using the Twitter profile to help spread the word, I got started on Facebook. I set up a Facebook fan page for HyperLocal Edge.

This was the first Facebook fan page I had spent any special amount of time on. I need put myself through some additional training on the system but I have the basic understanding and can make a decent fan page.

Many businesses want to be on Facebook but have no idea how to do this. So I figured this could be a service I offered.

Facebook makes advertising very easy and extremely targetable. I initially started off spending $0.20 on ads specifically in my area. Then I got to thinking and figured I could really offer services like this all over the US and now I have ads placed across North America.

I chose to only run the ads on certain days that’s why there are so many dips in the click throughs. Over all there were thousands of impressions and a couple dozen clicks. After dozens of clicks, that turned into about a dozen emails and call backs.

This only helped me understand what the business model should be. After each of these calls I was able to take note of the common questions and redesign some of the content on the site to address those issues.

I even played around with Google ads. Again these can be extremely targetable ads and I setup both text links and flash ads that are displayed online.

Since there doesn’t seem to be a company that caters to the small business and home based business for hyperlocal marketing, I figured I could be one of the first.

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I Fell In Love With My Roku

Geezeo Financial Management Online

Koka Sexton — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 05:42:58 +0000

In case I ever need to put my budget online and track my money with some Web2.0. Geezeo helps people make “Educated Financial Decisions.” The team at Geezeo believes that cutting edge financial tools and services don’t need to come with a high price tag. Geezeo is a free web-based personal finance application that makes it easy to track all your finances, see where all your money is going, set financial goals and learn from others.

On Geezeo, members can create discussion groups with other users about specific financial topics…Starting this week, users will be able to provide feedback on financial products, such as student loans, credit cards or savings accounts…read more

Geezeo has a Facebook feel to it and the most comprehensive all-around offerings, including online connections with most major banks, good investment and financial advice areas, money confessionals, well-traveled forums and mobile-delivery options.…read more

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Become the Mayor

Koka Sexton — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 01:23:12 +0000

You hear about it everyday. People making money online with the most simplistic ideas. I had written about kids making money online before and these ideas came about from some kid with a computer being the first to start a website on a niche. A few days ago I launched the Mayor of Concord website to get into the local blogging scene. I was unaware how much of a niche this really is. Within just a couple days and a few backlinks I was getting comments and emails from people in my city. Some were asking how I got the domain and then there were the ones that asked how they could get promoted off the website. Businesses in the city were interested in paying for advertising on my blog. Isn’t this what every blogger wants. Stay away from affiliate links where you get a percentage of the sale and have full control of who advertises and how much to charge. I haven’t decided how to much to charge initially so the advertisers are waiting for the dollar amount. I’m thinking something like $20 a month starting. It’s not exactly a gold mine but it is a start. With most cities having hundreds or more small businesses wanting some additional exposure you are sure to get enough to fill your side bar of real paying advertisers. If you are a MMO blogger you can think of several ways to cash in.

Become the Mayor of your City.

Are you a blogger? I suggest you stop reading this post now and head over to GoDaddy or whatever domain registrar you use and invest the $10 on buying “Mayor of…” Chances are no one owns this yet. The fact is I now own several of these domains and plan on developing all of them. As I said each city has hundreds of businesses with or without websites that will pay for some additional exposure. Especially from a website that has Mayor of….

How much money can be made?

As I started developing the site I got an email from a person in the city that had come across it when they Googled “Mayor of Concord” and I came up as the 2nd result. That’s the best news about it, how many times do you think people look for the ‘Mayor of’ any given day? Own the site and put some work into it and you can own the ranking. I was reminded when the WhiteHouse.com was all over the media because it was actually a porn site.

The Govt had whitehouse.gov but not the .com. Big mistake. The owner Daniel Parisi eventually sold the site when his children were growing up to avoid embarrassment. The site was generating about 1 MILLION dollars a year in advertising. Now, lets be clear, I am not suggestion you turn your Mayor of… site into a porn site. I would hope that the readers of my site have better ethics than this. Do something responsible with the site and generate revenue from local businesses. You will make money online and feel good about it.

Where are you the Mayor of? Link back to this post or leave a comment of your site. Good luck bloggers and get ready to cash some checks.

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How To Instantly Get Traffic From Google

Koka Sexton — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 03:33:09 +0000

by mnadi

There are many ways to get traffic from Google and Pay-Per-Click is one of those methods. I’ve been using that technique for a while and I know exactly how to use it in order to get highly targeted traffic, build a list and make money. This article will speak about how I do that step-by-step.

Here’s the first step:

The first step I do is find a viable market to operate in. This means finding a product or service that a large crowd is hungry to buy. I can supply the information in e-book format in about 30 pages and charge $20 for it, or I can work as an affiliate and simply take a commission.

The second thing you need is:

The second step involves finding a product to feed the market with. This is an easy task using some of the resources online. You can use sites like clickbank, paydotcom, and ebay to find products to feed these hungry sharks. Try it!

The next step is this:

Finding matching and relevant long tail keywords is key to your success. Being able to target your market with relevant terms is amazingly profitable. You can find keywords and stuff like that with services like wordtracker, SEO book and keyword discovery.

by stonefaction

The next thing is step four:

Now it’s time to calculate conversions and bids. Set up a squeeze page that will collect names of prospects so you can market to them later. A good example of a squeeze page can be found all over the internet.

The fifth step I take is:

The next step is registering for Google AdWords and Yahoo Search Marketing. Why? These are the top advertsing sites and will easily generate you money. Having target ads written here is an amazing little marketing tool and it’s virtually hands off when you have set it up!

The following step six requires:

Now it’s time to e-mail people who sign-up to your newsletter in which you have given a free gift. When they subscribed you’ll also get sent to a sales letter for an affiliate product, or your own for that matket. Finding those can be easily done at clickbank.

The seventh step is this:

Relax back and wait for the money! It’s literally that easy in theory, but you need a lot more components that just this. I’ve been doing this for a few months and I can consistently pull in a couple hundred, to thousand of dollars per day. You can too! Try it!

You’ve learned how it is that some people literally make hundreds and thousands of dollars per year from the internet as an affiliate. You can do this like they do. You’ve learned the basics and theory in this article, but it’s not enough to make you a millionaire!

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How To Get More Traffic With Article Writing

Koka Sexton — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 03:21:43 +0000

by Neville_S

You can make article writing a key to topping the search engine Google. Here is why this works. Search engines want searchers to have a good experience when they search. That means finding good information easily. So what is good information. Well, it must cover the topic that was searched, and it should also have some indication that it is well regarded by others. That translates into good keyword use and links from other sites to yours.

Article Writing Tips

Share your knowledge – Write an article of general interest concerning your domain knowledge. For example, if you are a doctor, you may write an article on, say “How to prevent cold.” You can be sure of instant traffic. Draw inspiration from your skill set. It is a powerful source for you to draw inspiration from.

One area that almost everyone can tap into is a hobby. There are lots of people looking for helpful information to help them enjoy their hobby. Write about your experience in photography, scrap booking, music, gardening or fishing. People want to read about what you know.

Attention spans today, especially since the internet, are really short. Give your reader what they are looking for quickly, or they will click away from your webpage. Try to keep your articles around 400 words or so. If they are much longer, your reader could lose interest. If you want to say more, just write another article, being sure to focus on important keywords.

by cambodia4kidsorg

Focus on keywords – This aspect cannot be overstated. You need to optimize your article for keywords. Let your keywords turn into links back to your site. Include keywords in the headline, at the beginning of the article and a number of times in the main body of the text. This is essential for article writing success. But don’t just load your article with keywords or it will not read naturally and search engines will penalize you.

Submission of article – A good search engine will help you in finding sites to submit your article. Select a site most suited to your article subject and a one having a large number of subscribers.

If you take your time and write something readable and useful, you will find that many site and especially article directories will want to use your article. Every website owner need to supply their readers with useful information, and if you are the author that gives it to them, you will get the backlinks to your site when they publish your article on their sites.

You may not see results overnight. You need to give the search engines time to spider the sites where your article is located and then update their index. Even 100 inbound links may not make a big difference in your rankings, depending on how competitive your topic is. But your efforts will reward you in long term links and if you continue to submit articles you will find that the work involved more than outweighs the benefits, and is a much better long term marketing strategy than many others.

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Bulk Domain Name Secrets

Koka Sexton — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 15:43:21 +0000

Domain names aren’t immediate online identities these days. They are the most vital piece an online business owns.

Many businesses are eliminated simply because the owner came upon on a popular quality domain name. These people are mining currency like crazy and many reuse this money to erect superior businesses.

If you have invested in stocks you know that bad news can utterly change the value of any stock. Why not put your money into online domain names that are moderately trouble free and easy to get a hold of.

For the every day web junkier, the phrase “domain name” really doesn’t mean that much, but without that, everyone would have an extremely hard time browsing the net. The Domain Name System or DNS is used in much the same way that a phone system is used. The only differnce is that Domain Names are based electronically.

When your crowding the net, you’re using the DNS and not even apprehending it. Most likely not knowing whats technically going on.

Today citizens are starting to use mass domain names for a wide selection of money making oppurtunities that are rising as we speak. At the center stage of trouble-free no employment profit is affiliate programs.

Domain name holders or webmasters can come up with a straightforward domain name that can sell nothing and yet still make an amazing profit from the way the website is created and the way yahoo domain names are used.

By the power of affiliate programs, any person that holds a yahoo domain name or many yahoo domain names, may certainly use that site to make trouble-free money. It really works, if you hold many yahoo domain names and have easy web sites with affiliate programs prepared on every site you may very well earn yet a larger profit.

Go one step further. Build one site and have it hosted on many yahoo domain names. Have all the affiliate programs in position ready to earn you a killing!

When you finally own your yahoo domain names and you have your site being hosted all you have to do is just supply links to other web sites that are wanting to pay you for the traffic that your giving them. Buy one or ten yahoo domain names.

Make some sites that are a component of affiliate programs, link exchanges or whichever of the countless cash for traffic programs. Then cash in!Mass yahoo domain names are very simple to get your hands on!

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The A-b-cs of Domain Name Registration

Koka Sexton — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 15:42:39 +0000

Before registering a domain name, know the facts. Domain name registration is easy – finding the
perfect domain name for your personal or business website is not! There are
thousands of possibilities for your domain name, but you can only choose one
domain name for a website. So, you must make it count! Here are some pointers to
get you started with domain name registration. It’s easier than you think.

Keep your Domain Name Simple

A domain name should be simple so visitors will remember it easily. What’s
easier to remember – three or four words, or only one or two words? Obviously a
short, simple domain name is easier to remember. The shorter the name, the less
likely people are to misspell it as well. Your goal in choosing a domain name
should be to find one that is easy to remember, easy to spell, and will stand
out in the minds of visitors. It should be related to your products and
services, or personal website theme.

TIP: Avoid using your company name initials or your own name initials. These do
not describe anything at all about your website’s theme. Visitors will not
remember it unless you promote it heavily on national television and all over
the Web. But, we’ll leave that to “Corporate Web” for now!

Domain Name Registration Pricing

Don’t be fooled by high domain name registration prices. Whether you pay a cheap
domain name registration fee or a high fee, you’re still getting the same thing
- a domain name! There’s no secret add-on service that can benefit you unless
you’re getting web hosting or a low-cost web site with your domain name.
Otherwise, domain name registration is the same whether you order a cheap domain
name or an expensive one. Be sure to shop around before you register.

Checking Domain Name Availability

You can visit almost any web hosting site to check the availability of a domain
name. Never assume a domain name is available just because it doesn’t show
online when you try to bring it up in your browser. If a domain name is not
showing online, it could be that the site’s server is down at the moment, the
owner is still designing a new web site and hasn’t put it online yet, or the
owner might be trying to sell the domain name. When you check to see if the
domain name is available, you do not have to purchase it from the site where you
checked. You can purchase it from any company that offers domain name
registration once you know it is available.

Beware of Expired Domain Names

If you are considering buying an expired domain name, do research before
completing the domain name registration process. You could be wasting your
money! Ask the registrar questions about why the domain name has expired, what
type of site it was before expiring, etc. Some expired domain names have been
banned from the search engines all together because they were used by spammers
or those selling illegal products or services. If that were the case, you’d be
better off finding another domain name. Once a site is banned from the search
engines, getting it listed again is almost impossible. Your chances for good,
targeted traffic are next to none.

Web Hosting and Domain Names

Some companies offer both web hosting and domain name registration. Others might
offer one or the other, or a combined package where you can get a low-cost web
site along with a cheap domain name and web hosting. Though it’s easier to keep
up with billing and expenses if you do all this through one company, you are not
required to host your site with the same company where you register your domain
name. It will not affect how your web site services are handled, or how you
operate your site.

Domain name registration can be an easy process once you decide on the right
domain name. Your domain name will be a key player in your online success, so
take your time to choose a winner!

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Your Identity – Picking A Domain Name To Register

Koka Sexton — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 15:40:48 +0000

Perhaps the most poignant scene in Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible happens at the end when the protagonist, John Proctor, refuses to sign his name on a false confession. When asked why he refuses to sign the document, even though it could save his life he cries out in anguish, “Because it is my name. It is the only name I will ever have.” It is a heartfelt and stunning reminder that our identity begins at birth when our parents name us. A web site also depends on its name, which is why choosing a domain name that best represents your site and its purpose is something to be done very carefully indeed.

Choose the right name

When you are ready to start a web site don’t just run to the first registry you can find and type in the first thing you think of. Sit down and do some research about your site and what you hope it will accomplish. What is the goal of your site? What kind of images do you want customers to associate with it? If you could sum up your site in one word, what would that word be? The best domain names tend to be names that are short and easy to remember and something to do with the topic or service your web site provides. If you are going to attempt humor with your domain name, make sure it’s a joke that not just you can understand. Overall, the name should add to the quality of your web site not distract from it.

Check availability

As you’re picking a name for your web site, one of the common things to happen is you find the absolutely most perfect name possible, go to the registry and type in the name in the lookup box and lo and behold – its already taken. Then you have a problem. You’re already sold on the idea, and now it’s not workable. Make sure to have a lookup box from the registry available as you are choosing the name for your domain site so you can check availability instantly. You should also check names that are similar to the domain name you are choosing to make sure there won’t be confusion later on in and your advertising doesn’t accidentally send your customer to someone else’s site.

Pick the right extension

Many registrars will also let you choose the extension along with your domain name. That means that you get to choose whether your domain name will be a.com. or .net .biz or any of the other approved for public use extension names. Be sure to pick one that does not mislead your customers or clientele. If you’re really selling something, choosing an .org which is largely for nonprofit organizations or a .net which is for social networking, may seem like a brilliant way to get people to your site. However, customers know when they’ve been conned and it tends to backfire on the business. Choose the proper extension for what you’re doing and let your site’s integrity sell itself.

What’s in a name? Everything. Careful and thoughtful picking and use of the name for your web site will help keep your enterprise on the top of its game.

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Sell Your Domain Name For Profit Or Should You?

Koka Sexton — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 15:39:58 +0000

These days as a professional domainer I do very little selling. I don’t like to, nor do I need to.

I have come to the conclusion that the longer I hold something the more it is going to be worth. Just look at three-letter .com’s, .net’s, .org’s, .us’s, and .biz’s. There are zero left “out in the wild” to be registered. (Three letter domains I am talking about here, not three-character domains, though all three-character .com’s have been registered as well).

These three-letter domains always go for, well, let’s just say much more than the registration fee. regardless of the extension.

As the value of good generic names keeps increasing, there is very little reason to sell your domains names at this stage at the game. Yet, people do. You would do well to learn one thing concerning the domain name market very early:

PATIENCE. If you are eager to spend money then there will be sharks salivating and lining up, happy to take it from you. The point is, that you don’t want to spend money just to spend it, you need to make sure the buys you are making are quality buys.

However, if you do come to a time and place that you want to sell your domain name, you need to keep a few things in mind.

If you are going to make a business out of domains and you are going to open your own company, you need to make enough to pay any taxes that may be incurred. This is a big area of debate and I’m not a tax expert, so consult your tax adviser.

You obviously need to make enough to cover the original purchase price, but you may also need to factor in other expenses such as renewal fees, how much PayPal, escrow fees (sedo or other escrow company) are going to take from you when you make the domain sale.

Can your domain names make more money if you wait a bit longer for a different person who may want this more?

Is there a big enough market to where other people would be willing to buy this name so they had an “edge” on the competition?

Or are you selling to a “reseller”? (a person just as yourself who is buying the name to hold and resell later).

Is it really the “right” time to sell your domain, if you wait will the product/service/etc become more widely known or will the domain bring in more traffic?

Do you really even “need” to sell or do you just want to? You may need money for other ventures, but if you don’t, then what is the point?

Is it an offer that you just cannot refuse?

I have had offers on domain names that I could not refuse before, it’s not common but it happens. I had just registered about 20 .us domain names and shortly thereafter someone got a hold of me and offered $500 off the bat for one of them. Considering that I just registered the domain name, and the mere fact that the .us market has really not picked up, it was probably a good decision to sell. I sold him the domain for $500 total. That sale paid for the purchase of the other 19 .us’s and also the renewal fee for them along with some money to spare.

In a case like the above, unless what you just registered is a true gem, there is probably no reason to decline the offer. But before you sell make sure a transaction will even be worth your time. If the same guy came to me and said he would have given me $40 for the domain name (and that would be as high as he would go), then there would have been very little reason for me to sell.

Remember, your time is worth money too. However, if you are a “time” person, then these are the types of sales you need to target and you need to target them over and over again until you reach a healthy base with domain name parking revenue. Once you become a “money” person, these types of things are not worth your time at all in the slightest. Remember, you want to become a money person as soon as possible.

So if you decide to keep your domain names or not which is completely up to you. Just be sure to make a well thought out decision.