Web Business Creation Week 7 Reflection: Google Ads and Keywords

Week 7 Reflection: Google Ads and Keywords

This week in our Web Business Creation Course we studied more about Google ads and Keywords.  We created the beginnings of our Ads campaigns.

We began by watching these videos and readings:

Get Started with Google Ads: What are Search Ads? https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=4&v=cOTMWqwUXPU&feature=emb_logo

o    How Keywords Work (Links to an external site.)

o    Get Started With Google Ads: Pick the Right Keywords (Links to an external site.)

o    How to Build the Best Keyword List (Links to an external site.)

o    Exclude Keywords from your Campaign (Links to an external site.)

We utilized the accounts we had started in week 2 of the course to create a basic Ads campaign that we will not activate until later.  We focused on using Google’s search network and studied about and entered keywords which we will refine over the next couple of weeks. We learned about geographic locations, targeted devices which influence our sites design, bidding options of manual or automatic, and budgeting.

We created tools to help us choose the best keywords for our sites, the group themes those fall under and the best match type (Broad, Phrase, Exact and Negative). Here is a Keyword Spreadsheet Example.

We learned that affiliate businesses have some special policy’s about content that must be followed see the link here:  Google's Policy on insufficient original content (Links to an external site.). If you don’t follow them, your ad campaign will be shut down. 

We were given these additional resources to study if we wanted:

o    Google Ads Help (Links to an external site.)

o    $75 Google Ads Credit (Links to an external site.)

o    Google's Policy on Bridge Pages (Links to an external site.)

I found this week very helpful to be able to use my resources of time, money and energy more wisely to help make my site have better chances of meeting our goals. I see the value in spending the time now to do the research and choose keywords for a campaign that will bring the best results for my site. 

MKT 250 Web Business Creation Week 6 Reflection Legal Structure

W06 Reflection: Legal Structure

This week we studied about licensing, legal structure and taxes. It is kind of a hard lesson to do as a group because these are all so specific to your city, county, state and country.  As this is required to be on the internet, I do not want to give specific details about what I found in my studies about my location as that would be revealing to whomever gets access to this my location. Those have already been reported in an assignment earlier in the week.  

We were given the resources on legal structure to study:  

·          http://www.hg.org/busstructure.html

·          Legal Structure and DBAs: Idahobizhelp.idaho.gov (Links to an external site.)

·         Idaho Secretary of State Business Entities (Links to an external site.)

·         eHow - Do I need a Business License for an Online Business?

We were given the following license and tax resources to help us:

• Business Wizard (Links to an external site.)
• Nolo.com Sales Tax on the Internet
• http://emp.byui.edu/lundink/250/licensestaxes.htm

It was a good refresher for me and as this is a different type of business than the ones I have owned before, it was helpful for me to go over all this again. There is so much more that I need to find out about sales tax for other states.  

We also spent the rest of the week completing our websites.

This week was especially difficult for me. Two members of my family have the influenza and everyone of the seven of us has other viruses. Caring for those with high-fevers (possible seizure inducing levels) and sick tummies resulting in so much laundry, have kept me not able to sleep. We have had more Doctor visits than I could imagine possible.  Everyone has stepped up as they have been able but we are drowning.  I am going to have to ask for an extension as I do not know how I will be able to finish in time.  Two more, the toddler and the one just older, were on the mend from their stomach illnesses, they are now coming down with the Flu.

MKT 250 Web Business Creation week 5 Reflection: Site Design

MKT 250 Web Business Creation Week 5 Reflection- Site Design

This week, we studied about site design and focused on building our sites. Some sites that we studied about site design were:

·         Essential 2017 Web Design Trends (Links to an external site.)

·         A Beginners Guide to Building an E-Commerce Website

·         Color Scheme Designer 

We discovered and discussed what pages are necessary and why as well as those that are just nice to have. We studied about flow, appearance, color scheme and themes. We discussed ways to build credibility of your site and how to keep customers engaged in your site. We discussed the importance of ease of navigation for customers and how that can impact the design of your site.

Some questions we asked were: Are you going to use the hamburger style of navigation, or not, maybe a combination of styles.  We learned more about analytics and the role it plays in site design as well as in the back end of things for your site.  Images, fonts, colors, loading speed, interactivity, etc. are all vital components that can effect the success of your site. We also learned about how to create and put payment buttons on your site. We experimented with this at the following site. Buttons for Shopping Cart Purchases.

We researched websites that were the same type of site we were wanting to build i.e. Blog, E-commerce, merchant, and so forth.  We compared those sites to each other and determined the similarities, differences and what we felt would work best for our site. 

If I were to sum up what I learned this week is the details matter.  It won’t matter how great your product is, or your marketing is if you don’t take the time to pay attention to the details that make a great site, you will be fighting an uphill battle and will probably never be as successful as you want to be.   

MKT 250 Web Business Creations

W04 Reflection: Site Builder & Hosting

This week in Web Business Creation we learned about choosing a site builder and choosing a host.  We learned we needed to make the decision based on such things as our time frames, knowledge of HTML, our business’s requirements for size, power, appearance, ease of use, etc.

We learned about hosting and read information from these pages:

·         How to Choose a Host

·         Top Host (Links to an external site.)

·         Host Promo Codes

We learned about some of the criteria to look for when choosing a host also.  Things like price, discounts, ads, domain names, ads credit-google analytics, bing, facebook and Instagram.  We had to compare things like size, power, strength, capability to integrate with 3^rd party programs.   I wish we would have had some more guidance about things to look for as far as ecommerce sites and items needed with it.  I hope my choices not only meet my business needs, but also the requirements of the class.  Some of the site builder and hosts or both were GoDaddy, Blue Host, Square, Webgator, Wix, Weebly, Shopify, Ionis, etc.

This was the first time I have ever felt that the discussions helped me understand the information better.  There was a lot of information that the students gleaned from evaluating for their sites that brought frustration because we have to make these decisions fast and without a solid understanding.  Some of these commitments are for a couple of years.  That adds up financially.  It would be helpful and less frustration for students to have had a heads up from the instructors not just luck through other students or own searching.   

MKT 250 Web Business Creation Week 3 Reflection: Sourcing the Product

This week we studied about sourcing products for our online businesses.  We specifically studied about manufacturers and wholesalers in the United States as well as many international manufacturers and wholesalers.  We studied about deciding between drop-shipping and affiliate sales and which methods would be good under which type of circumstances.  I think the case studies are a bit silly, but I also see how they are helping us to be able to apply what we are learning about in a safe way and be able to discuss it with the classmates helps us to see many different perspectives that we would be blind to otherwise.

We learned how to quantify and compare between different options to help us see what may be the best solution for us between a few options in regards to several criteria.  We learned about the following top affiliate networks: 

1. Commission Junction
2. ClickBank
3. LinkShare
4. Affiliate Window — A UK based affiliate network
5. ClickBooth
6. Amazon
7. Shareasale
8. Google Affiliate Network
9. OurFreeStuff

Some resources we were given for wholesalers are these websites:

https://www.thebalancesmb.com/how-to-find-a-wholesale-distributor-2531713 

https://www.thebalancesmb.com/top-online-wholesale-trade-directories-3502182

I am devastated by the amount of fraud that happens as well as seeing the amounts that you can purchase items for is so low from China that it makes me sad thinking about how there is no way that those companies are paying the workers a comparable living wage.  I want to make sure that I am choosing wise business practices that help lift all within my circle of influence and that I remember to be a wise steward.    

This week, I realized that there was no way I was going to be able to do all the things I need to do as a wife and mother plus be able to study and create the business I want without making a change.  I had to drop another one of my courses, so I only have two this semester.  I learned that I needed to focus my efforts.  My health was suffering, and I was speedily losing abilities. If I want to be able to do anything at all, I knew I had to simplify. It has helped and I hope to be able to move forward from here. 

Web Business Creation -Week 1- Reflection

I have only a few semesters before I reach my goal of getting my bachelor degree.  This semester I am taking three courses. SCM 361 Production and Operations Management, Bus 310 Launching New Ventures, and MKT 250 Web Business Creation. I was excited about these courses, but as I have gotten into them the past two weeks, I am saddened by the amount of busy work that has been thrown into them.  I value true learning not irrelevant activities that do not allow me to actually learn and prevent me from being a wise steward of my time in my sacred obligations. 

This week in Web Business Creation we have been studying about choosing a business, Business Model Generation, Demand and Competition

Some of the readings we did were:
Russell Brunson and His Secret Magic Box  Video: http://digitalenterprise.org/models/models.html
http://bizthoughts.mikelee.org/brainstorming-business-ideas.html
business models online:   http://digitalenterprise.org/models/models.html
Entrepreneur.com's 3 pointers for Choosing a Business to  Start

We were given a couple spreadsheets to help us choose between a few different ideas. they talk about: Brainstorming and Screening Web Business Ideas,Inputs,Demand,Competitive Levels,Suppliers,Start Up Cost,Time Requirements,Profit Potential, and Recommendation.

I feel like I have been drinking out of a fire hose this semester.  My confidence is shaken and at this point I hope I survive this semester. 

B -283 Entreprenurial Journal 1

B -283 Entreprenurial Journal  1

April  24-30, 2016

This week was the second week of class.  We studied and discussed many concepts that have to do with Entrepreneurial resources, such as researching the best entrepreneurial blogs from this list:

 Harvard Business Review

1.    Young Entrepreneur

2.    The Personal MBA 

3.    Instigator Blog 

4.    Fast Company

5.    Creative Web Biz

6.    Work Happy

7.    Entrepreneur Interviews

8.    Small Biz Daily

9.    Both Sides of the Table

10. Penelope Trunk’s Brazen Careerist

11. Steve Blank

12. Church of the Consumer

13. Wise Bread

14. AllBusiness.com

15. How To Change The World

16. Entrepreneur Daily Dose

17. A VC

18. Small Biz Survival

19. Blog Maverick

20. Small Business Brief

21. Kevin Kelly’s Lifestream

22. Copyblogger

23. The Scott Adams’ Blog

24. Small Business Trends

25. Duct Tape Marketing

26. The Entrepreneurial Mind

27. Venture Hacks

28.                Seth Godin’s Blog

We created a “Points of Pain” list where we identified areas that could be a need to be fulfilled with a business and we created a list of 20 ideas for our $100 dollar project and 20 ideas for our Big Idea list.  We were also given some additional resources to help us with our BIG Ideas:

Find BYU-Idaho Alumni at www.byuiconnect.com

1.    BYU-Idaho Mentor Resource Groups (on LinkedIn) www.byuiconnect.com

2.    Another great resource is www.greenleaf.org

3.    Senior Core of Retired Executives www.score.org

4.    Small Business Administration www.sba.gov

5.    Contact your local University School of Business for student teams

6.    Chamber of Commerce in your area

7.    Small Business Development Center www.idahosbdc.org

8.    Innovation Center in your community

I really liked this assignment to create these lists.  It was helpful to make the points of pain lists because It helped me see with greater clarity businesses that could do really well and meet needs that currently are not being met. 

We also watched a video and read about Action Hero, Corey Bell. He encourages entrepreneurs to “eliminate the word can’t from your vocabulary.” and to “Live without regrets and fear that bring the dreaded ‘What ifs”.  He encourages everyone to be of the mindset that we are all a part of something bigger than ourselves and to contribute in a positive manner that “Makes and impact.”   

We continued to read and finish our entrepreneurial books this week in preparation for a book report next week.  I am reading Dale Carnegie’s “How to Win Friends and Influence People.”  For my future reading, here is the list of other books recommended:

1. Ready, Fire, Aim: Zero to $100 Million in No Time Flat by Michael Masterson

2. The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey

3. Street Smarts: An All-Purpose Tool Kit for Entrepreneurs by Norm Brodsky

4. The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9 - 5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Timothy Ferriss

5. StartupNation: America's Leading Entrepreneurial Experts Reveal the Secrets to Building a Blockbuster Business by Jeff and Rich Sloan

6. The Big Book of Small Business: You Don't Have to Run Your Business by the Seat of Your Pants by Tom Gegax

7. The Art of the Start: The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guid for Anyone Starting Anything by Guy Kawasaki

8. The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur: The tell-it-like-it-is guide to cleaning up in business, even if you are the end of your roll by Mike Michalowicz

9. Go it Alone!: The Secret to Building a Successful Business on Your Own by Bruce Judson

10.Flying Solo: How to Go it Alone in Businessby Robert Gerrish and Sam Leader

11. Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable by Seth Godin

12. The Innovators Dilemma: The Revolutionary Book That Will Change the Way You Do Business by Clayton M. Christensen

13. The Start-up of You: Adapt to the Future, Invest in Yourself, and Transform your Career by Reid Hoffman

14. The Lean Start-up: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses by Eric Ries

15. Great by Choice: Uncertainty, Chaos, and Luck-Why Some Thrive Despite Them All by Jim Collins

16. Usually Excellent: The Necessary Nine Skills Required for the Practice of Great Leadership by John Hamm

17. Do the Work by Steven Pressfield

18. Little Bets: How Breakthrough Ideas Emerge from Small Discoveries by Peter Sims

19. Everything is Obvious*: *Once You Know the Answer by Duncan J. Watts

20. The Innovators DNA: Mastering the Five Skills of Disruptive Innovators by Jeff Dyer, Hal Gregersen, and Clayton M. Christensen

21. Poke the Box by Seth Godin

22. Anything You Want Derek Sivers

23. The Personal MBA: Master the Art of Business

24. The Element: Why Finding Your Passion Changes Everything by Ken Robinson and Lou Aronica

25. Steve Jobs by Isaacson

26. Startup Weekend: How to Take a Company From Concept to Creation in 54 Hours by Marc Nager and Franck Nouyrigat

27. The Ultralight Startup: Launching a Business Without Clout or Capital by Jason Baptiste

28. The 100 Best Business Books of All Time: What They Say, Why They Matter, and How They Can Help You by Jack Covert

29. Good to Great by Jim Collins

30. Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Sharon L. Lechter and Robert T. Kiyosaki

31. How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

32. Awaken the Giant Within: How to Take Immediate Control of Your Mental, Emotional, Physical, and Financial Destiny by Anthony Robbins

33. The Magic of Thinking and Big by David J. Schwartz

34. Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill

35. The Tipping Point by Malcom Gladwell

36. Crush It!: Why NOW is the Time to Cash in on Your Passion by Gary Vaynerchuk

37. Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant by W. Chan Ki and Renee Mauborgne

This blog was created as a place to gather all the lessons learned throughout the semester that may be of value to me now or throughout life.  Instead of creating an additional blog, I am using the blog I created for a class in a former semester to keep it all in one uniform and central place that will be the most useful to me.