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Digital Presence & Marketing Strategy

Diet Sodas…Do they make you fat?

Interesting question, isn’t it? Many soda manufacturers promote the fact that this soda has 0 calories. So what? Does that mean people that drink 0 calorie colas are going to be ok? Studies show otherwise:

As we can see, advertising can not always be what it seems. I found a product review of Cola vs. Diet Cola that sums it up nicely:

Artificial is accused of being worse for you than natural. Guilty as charged. Although regular soda has more calories and carbohydrates, diet soda contains more caffeine and because it contains aspartame it can sometimes trigger seizures, dizziness, migraines, and other negative effects. A good alternative to both is water. If you can, try to limit sodas to special occasions.

Like the song says by the Wiggles, “Drink, Drink, Drink Water…it’s so good for you!”

Here’s another video that shows proof that yes, diet soda DOES increase the risk of obesity:

Categories
Digital Presence & Marketing Strategy

10 Steps to Avoid GoDaddy Upselling


Go Daddy $1.99 Domains

I thought I’d put together a step by step ordering system to avoing GoDaddy.com upsells. There are many different places you can buy domain names. Often times I’ll buy a domain name and then point it to another hosting system like BlueHost. To purchase domain names, I choose GoDaddy.com primarily because of credibility and reliability. However, like any business, Godaddy is always trying to increase the average transaction size. This step by step guide will hopefully help you avoid spending $300 + on one simple domain name (I had a client almost do this once, no joke!)

Step 1: Go to www.GoDaddy.com

Step 2: Look for this box. Type in a domain name you may be interested in and push Enter (notice the .com is already there at the end)

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Step 3: If the domain is available it will look like this:godaddy7.png

If the domain name is already taken, you will see something like this:

Look for additional domain names below:

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Step 4: If you find the domain name you want, check the box and click Continue

Step 5: This is where things can get tricky. You may see a page like this:

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Most often, you want to click on No thanks. Continue to checkout… You don’t need the other websites and this is how GoDaddy increases the transaction size.

Step 6: Fill out the information. Create a new GoDaddy.com account:

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Step 7: Here’s another red flag…look at all the upsells they shoot for here! Things I recommend:

  • Get a domain name for at least 3 years
  • Get the standard package
  • Steer clear of everything else.

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Step 8: Below the above information you’ll see this box. Make sure you do the Quick Checkout option!

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Step 9: You’re almost there (dang this is a pain in the neck!) Here’s where we verify that we haven’t purchased anything we didn’t mean to purchase:

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Step 10: You did it! Now get out there and make some money! But wait, there’s one last thing: unless you want to be sent tons of promotions, select no to all these things:

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Hope this helps! Now purchase your domain name with CAUTION! www.godaddy.com

Categories
Digital Presence & Marketing Strategy

Baby Madison Mae is here!

The baby is here! Madison Mae Moller was born on March 13th, 2007 at 8:45 a.m. MST. Becky had been having contractions since early Sunday morning when we came to the hospital at 2:30 a.m. for a false alarm. Since that day the contractions got worse and worse. Becky began cursing life (and me), but this was to be expected!

On Monday, she went to the doctor to get her weekly check up. She told the doctor about the contractions and they decided together that she would be induced on Tuesday at 6:30 a.m. This was relief for all of us.

At 4:00 a.m. Tuesday morning I was elbowed and told “I can’t take this anymore!” Even though we were scheduled to see the doctor later, we packed and took off. We headed to the Orem Community Hospital – labor was official. When we got to the hospital at 4:30 a.m. they hooked her up to the machines and confirmed that she was dilated to a 4.

Becky’s getting readyNot long after that the epideral came and petosin was started; things were much better. Both Becky and I took a small nap for about two and a half hours, expecting to be able to sleep for quite a while. Then, at 8:30 a.m., Doctor Young came in to break her water and get things moving. However, to all of our surprise, the water had already broken and Madi’s little head was already starting to appear. “Don’t cough, don’t laugh, and don’t push!” he said as they quickly got things ready. Nine minutes later, with just one small push, Baby Madi was here. She cried a bit as they got her cleaned up but man did she have a lot of blond hair. She weighs 7 lbs. 6 oz. and is 21 inches long. We are really excited.

Her little brother Caleb came to visit at about 10:30 a.m. with Grandma Moller and Uncle Andy. Caleb mentioned, “Ah, a little baby…she’s cute and I like her!” We’re going to hold him to that later! Here’s a few pictures:

Madi weighs 7 lbs. 6 oz. & is 21 inches long!

Madison Mae Moller weighs in!
Daddy and Madi. Mom, Caleb, and Madison


All sprawled out…

Baby Madison Mae Moller

A happy grandma!

Look what Grandma Moller found!

Mom, Dad, and Madison

Madi, Mom and Dad

Look at that blond hair!

Look at that blond hair!

Categories
Website How To's

Positive Power!

I’ve been involved in marketing, sales, and eCommerce for over 6 years now and, probably the most imporant thing I’ve learned is the power of confidence, belief and mindset. Nothing new – just true. Here are some of the things I’ve learned that help build self-confidence:

  1. Identify your successes. “Small Success leads to Big Success!” Everyone is good at something; discover things you excel at, then focus on these strengths. Take pride in them. Take credit for your successes. Feeling sorry for yourself is a state of mind – you’ve declared yourself a victim. What good will this do you?
  2. Be grateful. By acknowledging and appreciating what you do have, you can fight the feeling of being incomplete and unsatisfied.
  3. Remember that nobody is perfect. Even the most confident people have insecurities. The reality is that we all have things we’re not going to completely understand. It’s important to focus on the positive.
  4. Accentuate the positive (even if you don’t feel positive). Avoid self-pity, or the pity and sympathy of others. Don’t let others make you feel inferior. If you belittle yourself, others are going to do and believe likewise. Instead, speak positively about yourself, about your future, and about your progress. Don’t be afraid to share your strengths and qualities with others. By doing so, you reinforce those ideas in your mind and encourage your growth in a positive direction.
  5. SMILE when you look in the mirror. The “facial feedback theory” says that expressions on your face can actually encourage your brain to register certain emotions. By looking in the mirror and smiling every day, you’ll feel happier with yourself and more confident in the long run.
  6. Fake it ’til you make it! Acting confident, even if you don’t completely feel confident, can have great affects on your mindset. Pretend you’re completely confident; go through the motions and see how you feel.
  7. Express yourself. Find something you enjoy. Everyone is born with talents and strengths. You can develop and excel in yours. Adding a variety of interests to your life will not only make you more confident, but it will increase your chances of meeting compatible friends!
  8. Expect Success! Has this ever hurt anyone? When you go into something with a positive mindset, you can find good in any situation. Even when things don’t go as “planned”, the positive thinker can come out with something gained. The opposite is true as well: if you think it’s not going to work out, it probably won’t.

I guarantee, if you practice these things and really believe they will help, they will.  Now get out there and “getter done!”

Categories
Digital Presence & Marketing Strategy

Too much time on their hands?

Some of my clients really like dogs. Thought they would get a kick out of this (I know my little boy Caleb thinks it’s funny!):

Categories
Digital Presence & Marketing Strategy

UCA Cheer Competition at the Kodak Theater

Wow, just got back from a huge UCA West Coast National Cheer and Dance Competition in Hollywood, California at the Kodak Theater. It was a tiring, terribly energy draining, and a great marketing time! I had the chance to interview Lauri “Looie” Harris, the Universal Cheerleaders Association West Coast Regional Manager. We’ve worked with her now for 4 years doing customized videography and action photography.

Since becoming the Marketing Director for Highlight Sports about 2 years ago, it’s been fun to see the progress we’ve made. My partner and friend, Brett Eden, has been great to work with, always keeping the clients best interest in mind.

My role has been to acquire sponsors who not only help carry the costs of DVD and photography production to dance and cheer participants, but also give themselves unbelieveable targeted traffic to their businesses. Below shows the traffic to our website, www.HighlightSports.com, in the last 7 days. The event started on Saturday, March 3 and went through Sunday, March 4th. We handed out over 2,500 flyers and business cards to remind clients to pick up their “Free DVD and Pictures, brought to you in part by Capezio Dancewear, NuSkin, and Catch the Spirit.” Capezio created a great flyer with a 10% off coupon. On the back was a Scene Interactive ad with a tracking code (I’ll be interested to see how that works!). Here’s our current traffic stats:

UCA West Coast Nationals Traffic

I’m learning so much about effective and creative advertising:

  1. There’s a huge difference between long term branding and short term ROI ad space.
  2. If you want to know if advertising is working, you have to create a way to track it’s progress (stat tracking, landing pages, 800 numbers, special email ads, etc.)
  3. The two marketing strategies are vitally important to the growth and prosperity of a business.
  4. What Highlight Sports does, not only for the cheer and dance participants, but also for advertisers, is really hard to put a price value on – it’s unbelieveable.

Anyway, there’s my two cents! If you’re interested in direct, targeted traffic to a marketing demographic of primarily 12-24 year old girls and their super involved mothers of 30-55, this type of ad space could be for you. Email me at nate@highlightsports.com.