Monday, March 15, 2004
I've been blogging for a while now, and I do find that it is quite addictive. It's part of my sense of connection to the rest of the world. People feel this way about e-mail and chat too, I think. So when you can't blog, you really notice it!
Obviously I can still access this account. But I have another blog - a humorous one - with another host. They've been upgrading it or have been having major trouble for the last day or so. Every time I log on, I get this notice, about it being down for 30 minutes, and "sorry for the inconvenience".
It's really getting to me. I'm a little worried that some of my recent posts, which I didn't save onto a floppy, may have been lost. (Although do think that's fairly unlikely. I think it's probably their main server that's down, or something.)
But it's not just the anxiety of not knowing what will happen, it's also the feeling of not being able to write what you want at a particular time!
Obviously I can still access this account. But I have another blog - a humorous one - with another host. They've been upgrading it or have been having major trouble for the last day or so. Every time I log on, I get this notice, about it being down for 30 minutes, and "sorry for the inconvenience".
It's really getting to me. I'm a little worried that some of my recent posts, which I didn't save onto a floppy, may have been lost. (Although do think that's fairly unlikely. I think it's probably their main server that's down, or something.)
But it's not just the anxiety of not knowing what will happen, it's also the feeling of not being able to write what you want at a particular time!
Sunday, March 14, 2004
I was thinking again about this flyer to web-page technique:
I know it works, because I've used it to get visitors to my home page, and those of others. Over several months I've probably done about 6 000 flyers, and have probably got about 150 to 200 hits from it. It's not a great ratio. But from all the hits I received after posting (that came from "unknown") I came to that estimate.
I was also lucky enough to put one in an computer mag editor's letterbox, and he ran a little story on it, with a photo of the actual flyer. I would have got dozens if not hundreds of hits from that on its own.
So, working backwards, if I had been selling something directly off my home page, and my visitors were going there because of the interest in the product, I would certainly have sold a few of these at least.
Obviously this technique is not going to be the part of your business that pulls in the profit but it can certainly pay for your stationery! The profit with this technique comes from you actually delivering other people's junk mail.
I know it works, because I've used it to get visitors to my home page, and those of others. Over several months I've probably done about 6 000 flyers, and have probably got about 150 to 200 hits from it. It's not a great ratio. But from all the hits I received after posting (that came from "unknown") I came to that estimate.
I was also lucky enough to put one in an computer mag editor's letterbox, and he ran a little story on it, with a photo of the actual flyer. I would have got dozens if not hundreds of hits from that on its own.
So, working backwards, if I had been selling something directly off my home page, and my visitors were going there because of the interest in the product, I would certainly have sold a few of these at least.
Obviously this technique is not going to be the part of your business that pulls in the profit but it can certainly pay for your stationery! The profit with this technique comes from you actually delivering other people's junk mail.
I have been thinking of how to most effectively promote stuff. Obviously there is a lot you can do online with free classifieds, paid classifieds, etc. But there's also delivering flyers as well. The key (obviously) is to get people to actually go to your site. Then they can learn more about your product or service.
I've been dropping flyers for a while just to promote my homepage and other blogs. I've found this is a surprisingly effective method. (I think I may have mentioned this.)
Last night I was thinking of a way to make flyer delivery most effective, and profitable. Her's the plan I came up with:
The first thing you've got to do is get paid to walk and deliver someone else's flyers. There are heaps of companies that will employ you, always putting ads in local papers. But the money is poor for the amount of effort. (Here in Oz it's usually around 20 bucks for the first thousand of one flyer, 10 or 15 for the next flyer, etc. So if you do 500 letterboxes, with 2 flyers, you might only make 15 dollars. Not much for the effort. But still, it's a start.)
So, the thing you do is put one of your own flyers in with the catalogues they give you. So you're getting someone else to pay you to promote your own website at no extra effort. (There is cost for your stationery, but you can photocopy A4 sheets that will each produce 4 or even 5 small flyers. So it's not very expensive - especially if you have your own photocopier, or can use one at work!)
So, you are promoting your own stuff. And this should hopefully result in a sale or 2 eventually.
But you can make this technique still more effective. On the other side of the flyer you put an ad describing your service as a letterbox dropper yourself. If you do a thousand letterboxes, you're sure to get a few hits to your site, and you're also sure to get at least one individual or company that wants you to deliver flyers for them.
If you get one extra catalogue to deliver next time or down the track, then you've certainly increased, perhaps even doubled your earnings for that flyer run - even if you don't sell any products from your site.
The other effect is psychological: If you're being paid better to deliver more flyers, then you become more energised. The more you deliver, the more you earn, and also the more delivery work you get out of it! The other bonus is that you're also getting fit as you do it.
Anyway, that's the plan. I don't see any reason why it shouldn't work!
I've been dropping flyers for a while just to promote my homepage and other blogs. I've found this is a surprisingly effective method. (I think I may have mentioned this.)
Last night I was thinking of a way to make flyer delivery most effective, and profitable. Her's the plan I came up with:
The first thing you've got to do is get paid to walk and deliver someone else's flyers. There are heaps of companies that will employ you, always putting ads in local papers. But the money is poor for the amount of effort. (Here in Oz it's usually around 20 bucks for the first thousand of one flyer, 10 or 15 for the next flyer, etc. So if you do 500 letterboxes, with 2 flyers, you might only make 15 dollars. Not much for the effort. But still, it's a start.)
So, the thing you do is put one of your own flyers in with the catalogues they give you. So you're getting someone else to pay you to promote your own website at no extra effort. (There is cost for your stationery, but you can photocopy A4 sheets that will each produce 4 or even 5 small flyers. So it's not very expensive - especially if you have your own photocopier, or can use one at work!)
So, you are promoting your own stuff. And this should hopefully result in a sale or 2 eventually.
But you can make this technique still more effective. On the other side of the flyer you put an ad describing your service as a letterbox dropper yourself. If you do a thousand letterboxes, you're sure to get a few hits to your site, and you're also sure to get at least one individual or company that wants you to deliver flyers for them.
If you get one extra catalogue to deliver next time or down the track, then you've certainly increased, perhaps even doubled your earnings for that flyer run - even if you don't sell any products from your site.
The other effect is psychological: If you're being paid better to deliver more flyers, then you become more energised. The more you deliver, the more you earn, and also the more delivery work you get out of it! The other bonus is that you're also getting fit as you do it.
Anyway, that's the plan. I don't see any reason why it shouldn't work!
