Persuasive ability is a trait every marketer seeks to master. However, there is one thing which will persuade people every time and if this one element is missing… you will NEVER persuade them! What is it? It is the expression of genuine interest in them! It is being a good listener, truly hearing and trying to understand them so you know what you can do to help them. People do not want to feel as though they are on a shady used car lot with some salesperson getting ready to devour them like a buzzard.

One of my mentors, Dennis Yu, has been telling me this for quite some time. I have seen him live it out. First of all, he showed a genuine interest in me… as a person.. not just as someone who was going to do business with him. I have watched him over and over taking an active interest in potential business partners, employees, employees’ families, clients and just about everyone he meets. One of my other mentors, Jeff Behrendt, lives this out as well. Both of these guys, are astute business men, but they know how to balance a sense of genuine human touch with the bottom line.

A famous psychologist by the name of Alfred Adler said, “It is the individual who is not interested in his fellow men who has he greatest difficulties in life and provides the greatest injury to others. It is from among such individuals that all human failures spring.”

Jesus even addressed this issue when he said, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

An interest in other people must be sincere and not contrived. People in our communities have needs. Small business owners have needs. We should be sincerely interested in meeting their need and we should convey this interest.

So, if you want to be truly successful in marketing or any other relationship, then express a true interest in others and by all means, while you are doing that… SMILE.. because a genuine smile goes a long way toward showing your sincerity and humanity.

References: Alfred Adler in the book, “What Life Should Mean to You”
Jesus: Mark 12:28-31 New American Standard Version of the Holy Bible

Wow.. It is snowing in Houston today. Annual snowfall in Houston averages .8 inches per year and this is counting sleet and ice pellets. Sometimes the unexpected happens. A lot of people did not expect the recent economic downturn. People are tightening their belts and turning to frugal habits to counter a recessive economy. Here are some books to help consumers save money and get out of debt.

In the coming days, I will feature great books for those who are trying to save some money in today’s economy.  The Economides have lived debt free and fed a family of 7 on $350 a month for years.  They also offer many other household budgeting tips.  They dispel the myth of a two income society, proving even a larger than average family can live on less comfortably if they are conscientious and disciplined.

Brick & Mortar Stores

T.J. Maxx

K-Mart

Burlington Coat Factory

Marshalls

KB Toys

Sears

Ask at local stores: I have even found consignment stores who will do LayAway

Online LayAway

http://www.elayaway.com/

https://www.lay-away.com/

http://www.layaway-travel.com/

http://www.babysabode.com/

Please add those you know about in your comments.  I am headed to KMart!

Do you have a home mission church or small church? Mission churches exist to grow. Although the Gospel message of Jesus Christ was established around 2000 years ago, churches need to utilize modern day advertising and marketing techniques to get the Gospel message out.

A lot of churches have a website. Usually the pastor or someone in the church has built a site whereby they try to convey service times, church beliefs, information about the pastor and staff and maybe some online podcasts or sermon notes.

The church was given a directive in Matthew 28:16-20:

“Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

In Acts 1, Jesus said the following: (Verse Seven (7) He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority;

(Verse Eight (8) but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”

Verse 8 demonstrates that people were to witness in their own community and beyond. Most churches minister to their own people and they have community programs as well. Most churches support home mission works as well as foreign missionaries and organizations. There has never been a better time or more effective way to reach not only your local community, but your state, nation and every other nation for the Lord.

The overwhelming majority of Americans use Internet search engines to find the information they need. This includes and especially applies to searchers who are trying to find a local church. Is your church concerned about outreach that truly results in new visitors? Is your mission organization interested in an effective online presence where people in each local community can find the home mission work you are working to establish?

I have done research to find out how effective church websites are in their local communities. As an example, three of the largest churches in Tulsa cannot be found on even the first 3 or 4 pages of Google when I search for “Tulsa Churches.”

Why do you have a website? Is it just for your members or is it a method of outreach? If it is only for your current members then a non-optimized site is sufficient. However, if you desire new members, outreach, fulfillment of the Great Commission and growth, then you absolutely must utilize the services of a search engine optimization and search engine marketing expert.

This is where I come in. My AA is in Elementary Education, my minor is in Missions and my BA is in Theology. I was president of the foreign missions group in my college. I served as a student missionary for three months in Brazil and I also participated in many other outreach efforts. This means I have a true burden to help churches grow. I can relate to pastors and their members on many levels. I have also moved over 80 times in my life and had to search for new churches each time. On top of all of this, I am a trained web analyst who will help you design or update your current site. We will also go through a 12 step process to find opportunities for growth from a search engine perspective. Then, our expert team will use well established strategies and make your site show up on the screens of potential visitors when they search for a new church to attend in your town or city.

Our company, BlitzLocal, offers reasonably priced packages and we do not make you sign a contract. You have 24/7 access to your reports showing how many people visit your site, what pages they visit, how long they stay and more. We offer your church the ability to use a special phone number on your site where site visitors call on that number and then you can tell that they called as a result of visiting your website. You can even record their calls. This feature is offered for a low price of only $15 a month.

Please call Joan at 918-852-7469 today! The sooner your church or organization starts to utilize this method of outreach, the sooner your church will grow as a result!

I have been looking for a new church.  As a BlitzLocal analyst, I have also been analyzing church websites.  I find it interesting that many churches claim to be “seeker friendly” but when it comes to their websites, they are not “seeker friendly” at all.

When a church needs a website, they often times have a church member design a pretty site and put it on the WWW.  However, a pretty site is not automatically a visited site.  92% of Americans search the Internet when they are looking for anything local. They no longer consult the yellow pages. A cool looking site is like a luxury car with no engine!

When I search for local churches, the front page results usually bring up websites which contain church directories or listings of churches.

Is it more effective for a church website to come up in a prominent place on major search engines or is it more effective if the church comes up in a list of hundreds of other churches?  Of course it is more desirable to have your CHURCH website to come up instead of a bunch of sites that simply “list” hundreds of other churches along with yours!

Churches pay for many types of products and services.  They pay for general overhead, staff salaries, materials, mailers, etc.  However, it is obvious that churches are NOT paying for one of the most important services if they want to reach PEOPLE and especially young people.

You have heard the passage “Seek and you will find.”  People are “seeking” in more ways than one.  They are searching Google, Yahoo! and MSN for a church in their local area.  Unfortunately, they are not finding.

Call or email me today so that those who seek WILL find!  It is a small price to pay for an “engine” in your “luxury vehicle.”

Joan Vasquez - joan@blitzlocal.com

1-918-852-7469

Church SEO and Internet Marketing

I know what you are thinking. No, this is not a political entry. As a matter of fact, it is about a company that hates politics and loves transparency. I started my first “work at home” website three years ago. I was tired of getting results like “Make $20,000 Working 3 Hours a Week from Home” when I searched for legitimate jobs from home. Frustrated people were writing me, they were being scammed in their desperation to make some decent money from home. Unfortunately, the scammers and the spammers are still out there trying to make a quick buck off the backs of the unsuspecting honest person, who just wants to live beyond survival!

Hold on… Change is coming! Hope is on the horizon! Finally a company that will be hiring thousands of people from home and will be rewarding them based on their performance and hard work! If you work a few hours a week, you will be rewarded for a few hours a week, if you work full time and really put your heart into it, you can live beyond survival. Well beyond.

Who is offering this hope? Who is offering this change? Hope for widowed parents trying to raise kids after a devastating life event. Hope for single parents who have been through an unfortunate divorce. Hope for women who are tired of the daily 9 to 5 grind and parents who want to spend more quality time with their children. Hope for people who are tired of paying high prices for commuting to a job where there income caps out at a certain point.

BlitzLocal will be offering this hope and this change. We will be offering hope to parents or others who want to work from home. We will be offering change to the local “little guy” who cannot afford big enterprise prices to optimize and advertise their services online. We plan to BLITZ the Internet with this hope and change sometime after Thanksgiving. We will offer a very generous compensation plan and extensive training to intelligent and enthused people who want to learn how to be Web analysts. On top of that, we will be rooting for small business owners as we help them build their business.

It is a win/win/win. We help the analyst to help their clients to help their customers!

The World Wide Web denotes a world wide or global reach. Product oriented merchants and even some service related businesses have been afforded a national or even international audience with the expansion of Internet popularity and marketing.

Despite global possibilities; high gas prices, postage costs and the need for a community comfort zone have brought about trends toward local search and loyalty. Business owners used to be able to rely on the Yellow Pages and other traditional print modes for effective advertisement. However, more and more consumers have tossed their phone book aside in favor of Internet search engines to find what they need. It is the new way to let one’s fingers do the walking.

Most people search for information about schools, real estate agencies, lawyers, physicians, local merchants, restaurants, religious institutions, mechanics, car dealers and much more by perusing Internet search engines rather than print media. Because of this shift in consumer focus, businesses need to be willing to invest in expert search engine optimization and Internet marketing services.  If a small business owner is willing to invest, they can effectively level the playing field so they can even compete with larger corporations.  With the correct SEO techniques, people will be able to find them just as readily and most customers prefer the face to face, personal experience they can get from a smaller entity.

Personally, I rarely use the phone book or any other print media to find what I need. I have people who are not as Internet savvy as I am, who call me and ask me to look for local businesses for them online. I use the Internet when I need a new doctor, an attorney, real estate information, a new church, lodging, products, repair services, local events and resources and much more.  

Do you utilize Internet search to find what you need locally? Leave a comment describing how you use the Internet to find things in your local area or advertise items for those in your local area. When you use the Internet for local searches are you usually successful or do you wind up pulling out the Yellow Pages?

Welcome to my new blog.  My interests are varied, but my strength remains constant.  My primary strength is attention to detail and quality.  I first realized this when I worked in a factory back in 1987 where I inspected IBM computers.  I would inspect the keyboard and then the computer would make its last stop at Quality Control before being sent down the line to an awaiting carton for packing and shipping.  I worked there for about 6 months and I never once had a “call” which is when QC finds a problem with one of the computers which were just inspected.

Years later, I began work as an Assistant Mgr. for McDonald’s Corporation.  Attention to quality was paramount.  Quality was demanded in several areas, including food, customer service and cleanliness.  I learned to keep a constant eye out for quality in these areas and I was good at it.

Fast forward a couple of years and I started work as an external editor for a top online directory.   In the course of 3 years, I reviewed about 50k websites for the directory.  I learned to check for working links, sites that worked in multiple browsers, unique content, substantive content and just overall quality as far as whether or not a site was truly a valuable resource to the end user.   I corrected the entries of other editors when I found spelling, grammatical or mechanical errors.   I paid attention to quality, truly cared about how our company presented itself in the area of quality and enjoyed the project immensely.  

I am not saying I am perfect by any stretch of the imagination.  I am human, after all.  But, I make an effort to fly with the eagles instead of gobbling it up with the turkeys of mediocrity.

So, now you know a little about me and you know why they call me “Eagle Eye”.