WebsandWings

Keeping Track is AVAILABLE!

The man veteran Notre Dame Head Track Coach Joe Piane calls "The Gentleman Coach" shares his insights into how to succeed at track and field and cross country as an athlete and as a coach.

Bob Smith has experienced track as a Central High School and University of Notre Dame athlete, then as Riley High School coach and later as Notre Dame assistant coach.

From sports washout to the Olympic Trials, from student to teacher and coach, his story shows the triumph of hope and perseverance. The book is more than a memoir. It covers every aspect of the sport from the tribulations of a beginning runner to the insights of a master coach. Many area track athletes and coaches are mentioned and/or pictured in the book. The appendices give statistics for years of area and regional competitions. Joe Piane, awardwinning head track coach at the University of Notre Dame for over 30 years, has written the foreword, giving his views of track as a sport and its potential to change lives, encourage growth, and prepare a person to succeed in life.

One of the questions we have been asked by people who have seen advance copies of the book is: "How did you pick out the colors for the front cover?" They are quite simply the team colors of the South Bend schools where the author ran and coached: Central High School (blue and orange), Notre Dame (blue and gold), and Riley High School (purple and gold). South Bend Central was the school made famous by the movie Hoosiers, which also got its school colors wrong. In the movie, Central lost to Hickory in the state championship basketball tournament.

The book isn't up on the Productivity Publications website yet because it has not been "officially launched", but you can buy it at Amazon by clicking on the link in the book list on the right side of the page.

GoDaddy

If you do your hosting through DoDaddy, and get their Deluxe Package, you can host as many sites as you want in the space allowed for under $10. They have a sliding scale based on other services you select (such as domains) and length of time you lock in.  In addition, they offer built-in blogging and free shopping carts using OSCommerce or ZenCarts. You need to be a bit web savvy to use these carts. If this is more than you want to deal with, you can use their shopping cart package for around $10/month. It links seamlessly with PayPal or you own online merchant account. It is quick and easy to set up.

I find the GoDaddy website a bit confusing to navigate, but if you call Tech Support they are GREAT and walk you through everything and/or set you up themselves if necessary. I must say they have the friendliest tech support I have found.

Resources

I have added the links to the books and CDs I mentioned in my workshop on Saturday to the list of links on the right of the page.

One website that I have not mentioned is http://www.mrfire.com. This is Joe Vitale's website. Not only is he an excellent writer and marketer, but he has many free tips on how to write copy that really sells. He has also started a blog, he uses podcasts and video, and is a good example of what people can do with these technologies.

Stores and shopping carts - updated

There are many benefits to being an Amazon Affiliate. Typepad  blogs allow you to enter your affiliate ID once and then when you enter an ISBN number  they will automatically create the link to the Amazon site, downloading the cover thumbnail to your blog. The link to find out about being an Amazon Affiliate is http://affiliate-program.amazon.com/gp/associates/join.

If you just go to www.amazon.com and scroll to the bottom of the home page, on the left side there is a list of  services most people don't even know about because they never scroll down that far.

You can sell just about anything Amazon carries on a website or blog. You can also sell through an aStore, Amazon's new program for creating sales pages with anything sold on Amazon.com. On the left side of the Affiliate page above, there is a link to aStore information. You must be a member of the Affiliate program to have an aStore. It is absolutely free to sign up as an affiliate and free to have an aStore. Amazon takes care of everything for you and you get the profits. You do not have to go through the hassle of setting up a merchant account, getting products, shipping, etc.

Now, aStores are fine but they have limits.  One thing you can't do as an affiliate is add products. If you are a publisher, you can join the Amazon Advantage program for under $30/year and send inventory to them for sale then sell it for free on your aStore. 

If you want to add a product to ship yourself (such as used books, or products that you make) they have a special Marketplace program for that. The cost is steep - currently arount $40/month, but you can list and sell any products you want - used books, electronics, etc.

Another option is ProStores. http://www.prostores.com/. ProStores is owned by eBay. You have to pay to play, but there are multiple levels of services to choose from. They are tightly integrated with eBay and PayPal. With PayPal, people used to have to join PayPal to purchase products. This is no longer the case. When you process payments through PayPal (www.PayPal.com) consumers have a choice of paying through their PayPal account OR through a credit card. PayPal takes care of everything. It is very secure and you do not have to have your own merchant account. You do have to join PayPal and set up as a vendor there.

There are many other ways to have stores, but these are the two easiest ways. In later posts, I will go into other options. With many of these, they expect you to have online merchant services, which can complicate things and expose you to risks from scam artists. I will also get links to some of the books I recommend on marketing for small business.

Batavia Chamber of Commerce

I gave a presentation this morning on Word of Mouth Marketing for the Batavia Chamber of Commerce. I mentioned many websites during the course of the talk and I'd like to make sure everyone got the ones they needed, so some of them will be listed here in the blog today and I will add more later.

I am going to be starting a series of blog entries on Word of Mouth marketing here, so stay tuned.

The Word of Mouth Marketing Association is http://www.womma.org

For inexpensive domain names http://www.godaddy.com. They have had free blog promos here if you get your domain names with them.

For free blogs: http://www.wordpress.com  or http://www.livejournal.com

The paid blogs have a lot more features. My blogs are at http://www.typepad.com and I recommend them highly. Check out their features if you want a more professional site. They have a variety of plans. Remember: you get what you pay for.

You can have a photo blog for free at http://www.vox.com from the same people who bring you type pad. This type of blog is not for everyone.

I will be writing about other kinds of blogs in the days ahead.

THE place for video is http://www.youtube.com.  You can do a search on Geico and/or Mac to see the ads we discussed in class.

I didn't mention much about podcasts, but those are big too. As time goes on, I will share some of the places where you can put your podcasts on a business channel. This is a great thing for people who want to build some national recognition.

In future posts I will also share some of the books, websites, products, and blogs that I have used to help expand my knowledge of marketing in general and word of mouth and internet marketing specifically. So check in tomorrow to find out more. If you have questions or a specific need, send me a comment and I will try to address it in a future post.

Understanding E-Body Language Released

Understanding E-Body Language will have its official/major launch in September, which will be a busy month, since I am also going to have Keeping Track: Success in Track and Field available in 2007.

Keeping Track is starting to shape up and will be a great addition to High School and College libraries as well as a useful resource to athletes and coaches alike. It's a fascinating read, too.

New Website

The new website is up at www.productivitypublications.com and there will be additions and changes soon. The e-commerce is in, but we are looking to expand what is currently available. Stay tuned for more updates.

Change? Ya got Change?

Big news here at Webs and Wings and Productivity Publications - and in my other pursuits. It doesn't seem possible that my last post was 2/15! All the recent action has been on my InnerQuest blog and Area16 blog, but all the while, other projects have been moving right along.

First of all, Understanding E-Body Language is available from Amazon and other online bookstores. You can click on the link in the Recommended Book List on the right to buy it from Amazon. We decided that we wanted to be able to sell it from my website on the internet, and I decided that I didn't like my website's looks, so I am in the process of getting a brand new website set up. E-COMMERCE! I will be able to accept credit cards and e-Checks through PayPal. People do not have to have a PayPal account anymore to pay through the PayPal site. They can use their credit cards. PayPal is only the processor.  I have a new web host that makes it very easy to connect, so I hope to have the site up by the end of the week. I really like the look of the new site. Once it is up, we will begin a massive publicity blitz for the book.

I have been named to the Board of Directors of The Labyrinth Society as PR Chair. This is really exciting because I will be working on a lot of new projects. I will also be working with Hallie Sayers as a member of her Educational Outreach Committee.

The Toastmasters year is coming to an end, with our 11th Hour Speech-a-thon on June 3rd helping to get last-minute educational requirements met. I will be doing an officers training for Central Division Treasurers on June 10th and a Success module at the District Officer training on June 17th.

I will be attending two workshops Flower of Life Facilitator Shari Bilger will be giving in Spencerport, NY  the weekend of June 24th-25th - Sacred Space of the Heart and Disconnecting from the Collective Conscious/Unconscious Fear Matrix.  Contact me if you are interested in more information. She is also doing the Flower of Life workshop the weekend of June 17th.

Another new book is shaping up: Keeping Track is the current title, and  it is about (of course) running and coaching track from the viewpoint of a Notre Dame athlete who ended up coaching there. I'll be spending some time the end of the month of June on development with the author.

When June turns into July, I will morph from Toastmasters Area 16 Governor to District 65 Public Relations Officer.

As you can see, I am gradually (quickly?) changing to a marketing focus. In addition, I recently  realized that my two businesses are slowly merging. Eventually, Webs and Wings is going to become a Division of Productivity Publications - or vice versa. I may not renew the QuickBooks Pro Advisor program in August when I come due - we'll see how things look then.  I want to start working on my own books! I have three in various stages of completion and ideas for two more. There is never a dull moment, and never enough time.

Welcome 2006

There are many changes afoot in the new year. Our last Labyrinth walk at Colgate Rochester Divinity School will be held on January 9th. In February our monthly labyrinth walks will be moving to a new home at the Unitarian Church on Winton Road. Check for more details soon on the InnerQuest blog, www.websandwings.blogs.com/innerquest. Also on the InnerQuest blog is informationabout the Flower of Life workshop being held in Spencerport the weekend of January 20th.

I am doing less computing and more on the creative side, as I am getting several books ready for publication and promotion in the next few months. I am spending the weeks remaining of winter to hole up and get things done and ready for a blowout spring. The first book out of the gate will be Understanding E-Body Language.

I am finishing up programming jobs and will focus mainly on QuickBooks and miscellaneous consulting.

Toastmasters officers training and club visits will keep me very busy the next couple of months, culminating in the spring contests and the race to get clubs to distinguished status by the end of the year. Visit www.websandwings.blogs.com/area16 for information on what's going on in the area.

District 65 Toastmaster of the Year

Toastmasters has been a real growth experience for me the past few years.  In fact, it has changed my life by ridding me of my fear of public speaking and getting me accustomed to being in the public eye.  Last weekend I was very honored to receive a wonderful award for my services to Toastmasters last year - District 65 Toastmaster of the Year.  Here I am, with Harry Carlson, receiving the award. See www.websandwings.blogs.com/area16 for more of the story.