Category Archives: Email Marketing

Thank you Kansas City! Celebrating 10 years of being in business at MyJoeCard.Com

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Thanksgiving is nearly upon us and we are celebrating our 10th year of being in business and invite you to join us!

Marketing Kansas City - 10 year celebration

To join MyJoeCard at our 10 year celebration, call 913-271-2955 and mention this email.

In 2004, we launched www.myjoecard.com and began building a ‘Go Green’ and ‘Shop Local’ network of Kansas City area businesses. In the last decade we have grown to 100’s of business members and many tens of thousands of cardholders.

To celebrate, we are offering our best on marketing for Kansas City businesses!

We love Kansas City and we are grateful to grow and become a part of the community of greater Kansas City through partnering with local charities, non-profit organizations and also participating in many regional events with area businesses and attractions.

The Silicon Prairie has come a long way in the last 10 years. The KC online community has grown and blossomed tremendously. Where once we were just beginning to leave dial-up connections behind – we now are the envy of the World as Google Fiber has made us the starting point for their fiber-optic network delivering Gigabit Internet speeds!

Google Fiber Kansas City

We have a lot to be thankful for and we have decided to bundle together a package of our best and put it together at a better rate than we ever have before.

This package provides your business listing at myjoecard.com (one year), email advertising twice/month (linked with your logo) and 1,000 cards with YOUR logo on them.

We would love to have your business aboard and we look forward to being your #1 Marketing ROI.

Interested?

Drop a line to joe@myjoecard.com and mention that you want the 10 year anniversary advertising package.

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Google Fiber - THANK YOU

Fire Up A Torch. Light Up The Sky.

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Google Fiber - THANK YOUMy friends, there is a coming superstorm. Not a bad one, but a good one. An EXCELLENT one.

One that we will build (and in some cases are building, and have been working toward).

We have a World that is in flux in many ways – which is alarming, in that we have been sedentary for decades (centuries?). Joseph Conrad’s ‘Heart of Darkness’ was dispelled by global growth – a lack of question marks on the map – and more importantly, a lack of querying in our minds. The old ‘it’s all been done’, ‘I can’t make a difference’, ‘what can I do?’ fears and excuses are sad comforts that are easily cultivated in our minds and later manifest in our Worlds.

Snap your fingers and dispel those lies. Do it now.

The World needs people that are, as the Chili’s say, are ‘Wide Awake Now‘.

Wake Up!

Start making a difference. You are a generator of storms. We are all builders, creators, explorers, pioneers, inventors and innovators. Marianne Williamson is right – Our greatest fear is not that we are powerless – but that we are powerful beyond all belief.

My experience is that activating that power in oneself happens when we begin allowing ourselves.

Allowing.

To dare, dream, plan, build, achieve, create.

No one can keep us down but us. Let’s allow ourselves to experience a full life and fix this World as much as possible.

Right now there is an election going on that people are all in a furor about. But this is not about politics. Every time someone starts getting ‘bent’ about politics, it just makes me think about how disarming the idea of choosing someone else to make decisions for us can be. If we all dared to make the World that we live in a better place – then evil men would be eternally discouraged and confounded.

I like the sound of that.

Every day that sun comes up, the turnstiles turn, people die, people are born, and the status quo rolls on in a slightly different iterations.

I’m all for kicking it into a better gear.

Conrad’s Heart of Darkness has returned like a wicked multi-headed Hydra.

It aint no big deal.

We’ve been slaying beasts and overcoming ‘insurmountable’ problems for as long as anyone has been paying attention. It is what we do.

What heads on the hydra?

  1. Global economic fears,
  2. Global environmental fears,
  3. Conspiracy fears,
  4. Health-related fears,
  5. Fears for our safety, livelihood and future.
  6. Et al and ad naseum.

I’m not buying it. Make a play for all of the brightest minds and light will shed (thank you again, Anthony Keidis).

The mythical beasts have returned in digital forms. The Medusa holds us paralyzed in her gaze through TV screens, live feeds of varying nonesuch-ery and sales pitches. The evil creeping up has been creeping up slow and digging its tendrils in for a long time. Certain unnamed industries have used a steady hive of smartly-dressed, sexy sirens in Washington lobbyists to turn the eyes, blind the minds and darken the hearts of our good men that we keep VOTING for. Those poor, over-paid, over-sexed and over-privileged lost sailors.

We must retake the World for tomorrow by waking up today.

I pride myself on having a television that is far older and crappier than the one in the lavatory at the local sports bar. Yes, I admit I will follow a certain long-maligned local NFL franchise and my Alma Mater in certain sports. Not saying that we don’t need some re-creation and entertainment. But let’s wake up and not be blinded, used, misled.

Dearest Mankind, we can handle ANY problems that come our way. We have to believe, we have to try, and we have to wake up and pay attention. We are capable; we have been blessed with endless gifts. You can’t tell me that one person can’t make a difference. Sure, more helps. But we all have to start somewhere. If we start lighting torches and lanterns, we kill darkness around us and provide light for others so that they may light their torch as well.

It is not about a political party affiliation. It is about who we are, what we do, how we see ourselves and how we can choose to change the World by starting with ourselves, our outlook, our decisions on what we will think and what we will do with our time and abilities.

They say that is cheap, but I am lighting my torch. I want to spread light, to shed light, to help wake people up. I dream of seeing a World of empowered free-thinkers.

Let’s wake up and slay some dragons. Our ancestors climbed mountains, slayed beasts, overthrew tyrants, sailed seas, conquered the wild, trekked forests and deserts and tundras.

We can do the same. Let’s allow ourselves. Let’s have REAL ADVENTURE and build a better World.

Forget online fantasy role-playing games that eat up your time. Disengage from any scurrilous activities that are beyond engaging us – but engorging us . . . hello Mr. Eight Fantasy Football League Teams.

The World is for doers. For dreamers. For those that dare.

So wake up and un-plug. Dare. Dream. Do. Grow. Learn. Create. Build.

That person in the mirror is a dragon-slayer – and we’ve got plenty of dragons in our new Hearts of Darkness.

The World in flux? How about the WORLD ON FIRE WITH LIGHT!

You want opportunity, challenges, adventure, drama, romance? It is all there in front of us – ALL YOU WANT.

So, here I am spouting off, running around with my torch, looking for dragons to slay. I need some help. That darkness closes in a bit at times. It also brightens the heart when I see other points of light.

Grand terms, yes. Why not.

It is only our World, our minds, our lives and our futures.

Strike it up!

If I can help – let me know. There is a lot going on out there. If you have a retail business and could use some exposure, branding and extra traffic (Internet or ‘foot-traffic’) – I will help. If you made it through my ‘rah rah’ blog post, the least I could do is offer to help.

Just let me know you’d like to help spread some light, slay some dragons, have some adventure and build your business a little more.

What will I do to help? I will advertise your business at no cost. As long as you are willing to help me as well – help me spread some light – and make a decent offer (discount or promotion) for our Cardholders.

That’s it.

I’ve been inspired by many to try to spread light. I get inspired by people and company led by people that dare, dream, do, build, create and do things for the right reasons. I’m talking to you, Google.

Yes, a lot of people like to gripe about an industry leader. But this one actually builds things and GIVES THEM TO THE WORLD.

I like that.

  1. An excellent search engine that organizes the World’s information and puts all of it at your fingertips? (Google)
  2. An incredibly detailed, feature-rich global (and then some) mapping system?(Google Maps),
  3. An awesome email system? (Gmail),
  4. Et cetera.

They just keep going.

What I love is their latest gift to the World. Google Fiber.

This has been needed for so long. I’m doing EVERYTHING I can to help make this latest Google ‘gift to the World’ get built and spread as quickly, and effectively as possible.

  • Gigabit Internet Speeds Upstream and Downstream? OH YEAH!
  • Crystal-clear HD video-conferencing? OH YEAH!
  • Speeds that are 100 TIMES FASTER at a better rate than companies that just want to keep out any new competitors, continue to screw their customers and NOT work to build something better? OH YEAH! (Yes, Pete – I heard you).

Well, I’m drinking the Kool-Aid.

It can’t be any cooler that Google Fiber chose to start in Kansas City. They have decided to LIGHT UP A TORCH that can light up the sky and help make the World a better place.

It starts here. I’m helping them. I am helping spread the word.

Thank you, Google Fiber for coming to Kansas City and firing up that big, huge torch. I see the light. Better things are coming.

Booyah!

And I’m out.

Joe

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Web Analytics: On-Site Analytics In A Nutshell

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Web Analytics - On-SiteIt starts with data. Internet data. Get it, measure it, analyze it . . . and report it.

Why?

Well, to be better, My Dear Watson. More specifically, make your website and product/company better.

Part of that improvement lies in helping to measure traditional advertising campaigns and to hone your digital marketing campaigns for optimum effectiveness.

*business research and market research*

By properly implementing Web Analytics you will have access to valuable info:

  • # of visitors
  • # of page views
  • # length of visit
  • # traffic flow
  • # most popular links
  • # geo location of visitors

Off-Site versus On-Site Web Analytics.

Off-Site Analytics measures potential audience (I.e. your site’s opportunity, visibility and ‘buzz’) on the Internet overall (and Off-Site Analytics is not today’s main topical focus).

Effective Use of On-Site Analytics

On-Site Analytics track and measure the site visitor’s journey from the moment they reach your website. With On-Site Analytics, you can see what works – and how well (measure ‘drivers’ and ‘conversions’);

  1. Define what is important to your organization.
  2. Set goals.
  3. Develop a digital marketing strategy to achieve goals. *Note: unless your organization has an endless supply of money, you will want to measure the Return On Investment (ROI) from investing in the following digital marketing channels (I will address Digital Marketing ROI in another post):
  4. Implement On-Site Web Analytics:
    • Decide what you want to measure and how you want to measure it.
    • Configure Google Analytics (or other) to track all relevant assets (pages, files, pdfs, podcasts, videos, links, contact forms, etc.).
  5. Start a digital marketing campaign(s) (I.e. Email blast, Adwords Ads, Banner Ads, Pop-Up Ads).
  6. See what assets or landing pages are driving the sale – or phone call/email that leads to the sale.
  7. Compare this info with key performance indicators (jargon for performance measurement).
  8. Take the information gathered from your efforts, interpret it, adjust your organization’s digital marketing strategy accordingly.

How can your organization best apply On-Site Analytics? /UGLY BABY ALERT!/

Be prepared to learn that you have an ‘ugly baby’ for a website (and possibly an ‘ugly baby’ for a digital marketing campaign as well!). That’s okay. The whole idea here is to reach your organization’s goals. The improvement of certain aspects of your website and your digital marketing campaign will move your organization further along the path to reaching its defined goals.

Now that you have gathered Internet data on your digital marketing efforts:

  1. Verify the accuracy of the data. (I.e. Compare your website’s data as shown through Google Analytics, to direct analysis of the raw server logs). What is it they say? Trust, but verify.
  2. Ensure the validity of the reporting (ideally two reports; the first being a snapshot of data relevant to focus; the second being an overall site metrics. The combination of these two allows context and perspective).
  3. Interpret the data.
  4. LEARN from the data. (What worked? What did NOT work?)
  5. Identify issues, roadblocks, challenges.
  6. Adapt (improve strategy).
  7. IMPROVISE/INNOVATE (improve, change, create or eliminate) your:
    1. tactics,
    2. functionality,
    3. products,
    4. services.
  8. OVERCOME CHALLENGES. If you don’t fail, you can’t learn. Remember that every digital marketing campaign fails to a certain degree. Embrace the experience, dissect the elements that are lacking, and pay attention to what your audience is telling you.
  9. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Evolution of Web Analytics.

The definition of Web Analytics and On-Site Analytics continues to evolve, and the methods and tools used for Web Analytics continually evolve. To ensure optimum accuracy and effectiveness, your organization needs a resource (person) to be continually integrating new techniques, tools and functionality of existing tools.

Dynamic Evolution: Digital marketing continues to evolve, as does traditional advertising, the mobile web, competing platforms, emerging technology, how people connect/share and overall consumer habits. Effectively utilizing Web Analytics to measure your organization’s performance will require insight, peripheral vision within your org’s industry, anticipation of future tech, recognition of emerging trends, impact assessment and adaptability. Change is the only constant.

Joe Wooldridge is a Digital Marketing Generalist, currently working on MyJoeCard.Com in Kansas City.

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