Blogging Along

Making money is hard! Losing it a lot easier!

Making money and then with very little effort after the setup to carry on making it is even harder.

An ultimate goal for us all?

Scott Jones has 2 websites I think down to a T.

First is a tattoo website that converts everything from a word and name translated into one of many popular languages. No physical stock and when an order comes in for say the name “Gavin” it’s converted to Chinese at £x by a (one of many) private translator of Scott’s and the next time a “Gavin” wants the conversion it won’t cost Scott a penny!

To name a few on offer:

• Arabic Translation
• Gujarati Translation
• Chinese Translation
• Hindi Translation
• Hebrew Translation
• Thai Translation

The second a fresh new site of Ambigrams. I’ve not seen a site online like it until now so should do well if promoted in the right places. Ambigram isn’t a word you type in every day and so may need to play on the present idea maybe ?

Taken from Scott’s site:

Scott’s site

What is an ambigram?
A design that may be read as the same word or phrase (or sometimes two different words or phrases) when oriented in two different ways, usually when reflected in a vertical axis or when rotated through 180 degrees.

Basically you have say Jasmine and Joanne enter them both in click on Script and it creates a style of name that reads Joanne one way up and Jasmine the other. Some names don’t work in that way and it creates 2 words that both can be read either way up but as separate names.

Great idea and when you start banging in names of people you know and then see both names when 180′d it’s great.

So another sit back and let it work for you website with no stock. I’m pretty sure it’s just a computer program used when generating the bigger image that is sent vie email to you as that’s the only way it could be. Another blinding idea and a great one to grow and let the cash roll in website.

I have a Joke Shop online and it ranks pretty well in Google for the expected phrases and keywords. The only thing is, unlike Scott’s websites I have to order stock, store the stock, print orders out to send with the products, pack joke items, post the orders, restock etc so not a “sit back” and reap the rewards website.

I have a few ideas on current trends a lot of people are turning to online, but time will tell whether theirs a market for my idea. The hard work for these types of “sit back and reap” websites/ideas is in the planning and preperation. Get the model working for you and as automated as possible the better in my eyes.

What are your ideas for an online store that:

• Needs no stock
• As near to 100% automated as possible
• People will want to buy online
• Hasn’t been done before
• Isn’t illegal ;o)

Mini sites using affiliates is one idea, but it does need quite a bit of input to keep offers and products fresh.

Email me your ideas LOL

Moved out from Hull to Gilberdyke into a brand new house a few years back to move closer to work, but to cut a long story short. Got laid off, setup on my own and is at least an hours round trip to anywhere towards Hull.

Been out in the sticks (watching tractors pulling trailers full of carrots and potatoes) I thought would be quite peaceful but when you get a dick of a boy racer bombing around all the time from getting in from work till going on midnight it ain’t! (Needs his exhaust fixing I think) He skidded off the road last year, his car was a right off and luckily no one else was involved as he does think 2 inch from peoples bumpers is acceptable.

COCK!! a doodle doooooooo……

Hopefully he’ll do a better job now the wet weather is back!

Been self employed and only just starting out in April 08 isn’t a great platform to look at moving and so need to start thinking big and up a gear or two into earning some serious cash.

This is in the form of mini site revenue, domain sales, directory building, websites for clients and any sexual favours needed. (last part is a lie)

Been self employed is great at times but can put me on a bit of a downer not been able to bounce ideas around with people face to face. Living in the sticks again doesn’t help that situation, distance, travel, and cost etc.

2010 we should be looking at selling in spring time and then start to rent for a year or so to sort things out and get back to normal living in Hull.

All in all I need to move people!

This post is a bit of a moan and a blatant plug for the best advertising money you’ll spend within Hull!

Formed our limited company around April 08 and submitted the company details to many directories and other sites alike for free.

From that day on (un-ticking the box I wish to receive news letters etc) we have had nothing but a constant bombardment of phone calls and spam emails from most of them. I know they have to make money and to follow up listings but the annoying thing is when they try and sell us a listing and then when we decline SEO or a new website. They clearly have no idea,

That’s what we do!

Two points that bug me -

1. First of all, the call centre person who calls you has no idea what a company offers, who then calls them up to get a listing upgraded to pay annually and just wants your card details.
2. The next day not giving 2 hoots what happens to your listing or business leads now they have their commission and another tick in their box. This is backed up by everyone I’ve spoke to having NO results from paid listing on these national directories.

Really isn’t right that is it?

This got more and more grinding as the months went on. I asked clients and businesses at networking events, do you get these calls and confirmed -

“All the time! Bloody annoying”

Knowing how people generally do searches online using Google, Yahoo, BING and other search engines using a Geo location and service or product required. We decided to start buying up all Hull related domains, Services, products e.g. HullBeds.co.uk, you get the idea where we were going by covering all angles.

• 100′s of domains
• 100 hour’s,  late nights and long weekends
• £xxxx’s for registration fee’s and secondary market domains

We had a solid network of domains and a main directory they all interact with in some way- Hull Local.

We have found people like to speak to faces and real people, not some guy or voices at the end of the phone. We didn’t want to try and create a national directory but kept it a local one just to Hull which also made sense for travel and getting to know businesses. We don’t just expose your business from one website/directory which limits how many times you can be shown in search results but a whole spread of websites.

An example, If your company sells blinds, you can be listed under our Blinds, Conservatory, and Windows categories. All  of which focus on been in Hull and then on our specific mini websites again all focused on been in Hull – Hull-Blinds.co.uk, HullConservatories.co.uk and HullWindows.co.uk This gives your company 8 shots at any one search when people perform a search instead of the usual 2 shots. If you need this explaining a little better please do contact me.

I could write a book on how the network of websites would benefit your business. I’ll leave it there and just ask you to take a look, see how it works and if you do want a chat let me come and show you how it could work for your company!

I thank you ;o)

Ok here goes a rant on our wholesaler of VoIP who we resell VoIP under our umbrella of Hull VoIP.

Since taking them on-board last May-June 08 to sell VoIP through them, I have lost count of issues they have had with their system. From a total melt down, to lines been cut off, poor sound quality and so on. If you were a one man band or personal use you wouldn’t in all fairness notice that much.

I have a local company on Gradwell’s system with around 50 phones making 1500 incoming and outgoing calls a month (excluding internal) and all works great with the setup we’ve installed. All hell breaks loose at least once a month and phones either de-register or are just totally unusable to name just 2 problems.  When something isn’t right these guy’s are the first to SHOUT with calls coming in and going out every minute of the day, something goes wrong, they know!

Apparently over the past 6 months Gradwell have invested in a lot of kit to fail safe it but it always seems to have issues still after all their investment. Their status (what they do post) reads like a nightmare script and you wouldn’t touch them if they paid you.

One of my biggest rants is at their over flow (lack of staff) system that goes to a answering service who never get informed of whats going on. Email is a wonderful tool to just say

Hey any customers calling (from their mobiles LOL) about VoIP it’s down with a estimated time of fix 30 minutes

Call backs happen at least 24 hours after any messages you’ve left and emails longer. I’m not sure whether it’s lack of money extra staff don’t get employed or it’s just penny pinching that leaves a shite customer service.

I’m sure Gradwell have Google scan the Internet for mentions of “Gradwell” and read this and many other rants. How about a bit of compensation or credit to my account as I must have ran around like a blue arse fly for hours this year trying to calm clients down and show willing to resolve issues out of my control.

Before this year is out and with all the issues over the past 12 months and some days feeling phyically sick. I’m affraid I’ll have to say for them reasons I will have to think about saying….

I’M OUT

Maybe…

I had a nice suprise this morning because besides:

• VoIP Telecoms installations and support
• Website design and office IT Support
• Online Marketing and SEO

An email from SEDO asking for my input on an offer that had been made on one of my domains. You set a minimum price i.e. £350 (any offers below that are rejected automatically)  people place bids, and you respond with yes great or more please.

This runs the risk of missing the sale and so I accepted and transfered the domain, deal done and dusted. RESULT!

Although it was a .org.uk it was a very nice generic which is now becoming a must for the area your in. Toys R Us bought Toys.com

Back on track and the whole thing of getting an email totally out the blue. The prospect of getting £350 from a domain I bought 2 years ago for no more than £8 is such a good feeling and to think I have a good few more very similar too is warming.

Here’s a few .org.uk’s as examples:

• Anti-Bacterial
• Parkers
• Correct
• BlackDress
• Crowd
• HotTub

Here’s a few .co.uk’s as examples:

• Dehydrates
• PricesCompared
• Reading-Books
• Anti-Fungal
• ReduceCo2