In the home stretch

The thought that came to me as I reflected upon this past week (as well as the entire course) was "drinking from a fire hose." So. Much. Information!

The focus this week on Google Analytics was eye-opening and I was impressed with the extent of information available for deciphering the who, what, where, when, and how of visitors to a website. I can certainly see how this type of information would be valuable to a company looking to ensure they market to the right demographic and provide the right product. 

For me, with my little niche product, I'm not sure all this information would be as valuable...at least not in the beginning. I was excited that anyone would visit my site just from my ads. I wasn't as concerned with who they are or where they live. Going forward, this type of analysis will pay off as my husband and I fine-tune what exactly we want to offer and who we are trying to target. 

I was also grateful for the continued outreach of Google Analytics to provide multiple lessons sent directly to my email. I haven't had time to review them yet, but I'll be glad for the resource once I do have the time. Knowing how many articles and videos and other resources are out there to help understand the functionality and benefit of analyzing this data will prove useful in the weeks and months to come.

I'm certainly grateful for the opportunity to see this type of information in action. Although it's a little intimidating to see how much of my online shopping is visible to the companies I patronize.

Homestead Woodworks meets Social Media Marketing

Gone are the days when we could only reach people within our physical circle of life. With the onslaught of social media, we can talk to millions of people virtually. As scary as that sometimes seems, it is a perfect way for businesses, especially online businesses, to find customers. The ripple effect is alive and well in the world of social networking. 

Finding the right social media platform can be tricky. It is important to understand the demographics of the various platforms. Twitter is indeed a popular platform, but for my business, it doesn't make as much sense as Facebook, which is used by more older individuals. Based on the visitor demographics of my website, Facebook is the way to go for Homestead Woodworks. My plan is to create the account and then a Page that can be followed by multiple users without my "approval." As a marketing tool, that works well so anyone who "likes" my page can see when I post updates.

I like the idea that Facebook does a couple of things: providing access to a bigger market for a nominal cost and the ability to post images, videos, and text. That will allow me to attract people who relate in various ways to their own social media patterns. I can create flyers and coupons in Word and post them on Facebook. I can use images from my website to create brand recognition as I reach out to more people. 

In addition to Facebook, because my products can be considered art, I plan to work Pinterest into my marketing strategy down the road. As with most things, I feel better starting small and working my way up to adding more on my plate. Becoming more expert at one thing will give me the capability to expand my marketing plans and learn more. 

Working to make it better

Complacency is the destroyer of success. Well, it may not be quite as black and white as that, but this week I was reminded over and over again that every time I sent my manuscripts to my editor, I did it because I wanted my book to be the best it could be. Fortunately, or unfortunately as the case may be, advertising is a similar situation. Only in advertising, you try something, see if it works, and if it doesn't you try something else. Thankfully, Google is there to help me see what is working and what isn't. The tricky part now is where to go from here and how much effort I want to put into it. 

Time is not on my side. My old life of having so much time on my hands has gone by the wayside and with time now vying between work, school, and my own projects, putting together a new business that is essentially for my husband means something doesn't get done. And, yes, I'm that kind of person who will put my own things on hold until everything else is done. How did I manage to write six books and start several others? I had everything else done. 

But every time my husband gets up in agony and hobbles to bed at night, I am more convinced than ever that he needs to do a job that is easier on his body. The hard part is the complacency. I didn't realize that I couldn't go back to other things once this was set up. It certainly isn't a "one and done" type of thing. I'll need to make time to review the ads that are working and those that aren't and why. I'll need to make decisions about how to optimize my ads and my website so my husband actually has customers and this business can grow. Perhaps eventually, the ads won't matter as much as he develops a clientele and we can see what limited ads work. 

In the meantime, I'm back at it and trying to find enough mental capacity to make it happen. 

So Many Hats!

Fortunately, for those of us who don’t intuitively understand how to analyze the amazing amount of data that can be collected from a website, there is Google Analytics. Delving into not only the information Google Analytics supplies, but also the recommendations it makes helps me to feel as though I have a marketing partner, holding my hand through this learning process.

Once I overcame the surprise of seeing the number of clicks and impressions on my site, and determining to issue a newsletter soon for those who have signed up, I found the information from Google Ads and Google Analytics valuable as I adjust my ads for the future.

My biggest hiccup in this process is figuring out what Wix (my hosting site) does and what information I need to provide. In some senses, it’s as though Wix and Google Analytics are providing the same information and I ask myself whether I need them both. For the purposes of this class, I will, of course, do both. But as I look to the weeks ahead when I don’t have assignment deadlines and more information to learn, I can take a more careful approach to the type of information each site offers. I may stay with them both, but I may find that one is enough.

Moving forward this week, I updated my ad for heritage products and turned off a couple keywords that weren’t working. I’m look forward to seeing whether these changes have any positive result.

Now, to create my first newsletter, because there are eight people out there in the world who are waiting on me!

Google Analytics

Many years ago, there was a commercial on TV showing four or five people surrounding a lonely laptop computer sitting on a folding table in the middle of an empty warehouse-type room. Someone clicked “Start” and they were thrilled when the order box turned from zero to one. Within minutes another several orders popped up and the group became excited, laughing and cheering each other on. It quickly got out of hand, though, when several became many and many became an overwhelming number in the thousands; sort of an oh-my-gosh-what-have-we-got-ourselves-into moment. (The ad was for UPS).

As I signed up for Google Analytics this week, I opened my Google Ads Campaign and quickly discovered that my ad was running. I had over 85 hits and 2.53k impressions! When I went to my store page, I also realized I didn’t have the right kind of hosting set up to actually make sales online. This learning process is a bit of a “J” curve.

I can see that the different pieces of information Google shows me in relation to my ad campaign will help me make decisions going forward; things like the timing of my ads and the demographics of who is clicking on my site. I hope to understand better the data on each of the charts as time goes by and I generate sales. It will be exciting to see monetary results of my efforts.

With the limited amount of traffic already to my site, I can tell that people are actually reading my ads and responding to them. That’s a pretty heady feeling. And on top of all that, four people signed up for my newsletter! A newsletter that doesn’t exist yet!

I’ll be working on that in the coming days…

Advertising

One of my favorite movies, Mr. Blandings Builds His Dreamhouse, includes a quote with an interesting slant on advertising:

Jim Blandings, the father and an advertising executive, is sitting with his wife and two daughters at the breakfast table. His daughter, Joan, is sharing her teacher's opinion...

Joan Blandings: Miss Stellwagon says advertising is a basically parasitic profession.Jim Blandings: You don't say?Joan Blandings: Miss Stellwagon says advertising makes people who can't afford it, buy things they don't want, with money they haven't got.Jim Blandings: Oh she does, does she? Well perhaps your Miss Stellwagon is right. Perhaps I should quit this basically parasitic profession, which at the very moment is paying for your fancy tuition and those extra French lessons and that progressive summer camp - to say nothing of the very braces on your back teeth.

I would love to have a profession where people desparately needed my [advice, skills, talents] and I didn't need to advertise at all. My husband has been a general contractor for his entire career and he hasn't advertised once. We haven't always known what he was going to be doing six months down the road, but he has never been out of work. 

That being said, creating ads for my new website is a chance for me to exercise my creativity in a way that is so completely different from my normal writing that it becomes an exciting challenge. Google Ads is a fairly easy to use tool to work with. 

In addition, the focus of our website is to reincarnate old wood into something new and useful, while maintaining a sentimental legacy. When I think of the joy and happiness someone can derive from turning a piece of junk into something new and beautiful, I believe we are doing something worthwhile, all while helping people remember their heritage or ancestry.

Advertising is a necessary function of letting potential customers know we're here in the middle of the country willing and able to share what we know with the world. The Internet has made it possible for us to reach others on a global level, but good advertising separates us from the competition. We have something special. We just need to get the word out and do it well.

I don't want to influence people to buy from me who can't afford it. I want to share beautiful things with people who will appreciate the skill and talent required to create it. At the same time, most of the things I plan to sell have some kind of practical use. 

Perhaps it isn't so parasitical after all.

The power of words

For the last several years, words have been my life. After publishing six novels, I believe in the importance of word choice. In a story, the difference between choosing a passive phrase or an active phrase influences how connected your reader feels to your character (and whether or not they finish your book). As a writer, I have had to learn to write differently from how I talk. And although I’m getting better with my first drafts, there are still multiple revisions that fine tune my use of words.

Keywords share a similar power. The right keyword will bring the buyer you are hoping for. The wrong keyword will bring someone who might surf through your website, but won’t be interested in what you’re selling. My target market isn’t as big as others may be and I want to make sure the people who come to my website are looking for high quality, hand-crafted turned wood sculpture and dishes. Even those looking for wood wall art will not be happy with my product line. Therefore, it is essential to choose keywords effectively.

Google is that vast ethereal cyber-something that honestly overwhelms me most of the time. Thank goodness for a class that holds my hand through a system so big it could handle any size of company; from a mom-and-pop operation to the largest corporation. Being able to get computerized help with advertising and keywords gives me a confidence I truly need to succeed. As I slowly navigate my way through creating my first ad campaign, I can see the value of taking advantage of the Internet benefits as much as simply being able to launch my website.

I’m looking forward to seeing the results of my journey through GoogleAds.

Getting the legal stuff taken care of...

There are times when I think if I take on one more thing my brain will burst, and I’ll break into a million tiny pieces. I don’t think my world has changed much with the COVID-19 pandemic, but then I hear about people being afraid to communicate even across respectful social distancing lines. How did they come to be so driven by fear? My concern for taking on something new isn’t fear but more a matter of time. I’m in my fifth year of college classes (almost a junior because I’ve been taking it so slow) and I’m staring to question whether I should just move on.

Yet, somehow everything manages to get done, and I know that whatever doesn’t get done isn’t going to topple the earth’s spin or bring countries to a standstill. It won’t even affect my world all that much. I am learning to let go.

Starting a business is familiar territory. I ran my husband’s business for years. I still do, although it’s much smaller than it used to be. After we built our second house, I remember following our accountant’s advice to incorporate his business in order to protect our home and young family. At the time, the internet was only just being developed and home computers were the latest toy. I called the state office where I lived and they held my hand though all the paperwork needed to establish the business as a legal corporation. Then he decided to broaden his business to include another state. I called them and did it there, too.

Then we moved and I did it all over again in yet another state. Along the way, I dabbled in this or that type of business which required special tax filings and registrations. It wasn’t hard, just time-consuming, and I’m sure I missed something. But I had faith in my accountant and we were lucky.

Moving back to Oregon, we re-established my husband’s business so he could continue doing what he’d been doing. However, that time is swiftly coming to a close and a new business is now on the horizon. When I signed up for this class, I thought only of improving my author’s website and learning some tricks for marketing my books. It didn’t take long to see the potential of using what I was learning to create not only an outlet for my husband’s creative talent with wood, but to envision a new working environment; something that wouldn’t be so hard on his body and keep him alive longer.

Finding what I needed to legally establish this new online business didn’t take me long. Years of working not only for myself, but others, has given me experience navigating government websites and asking the right questions. Gone are the days when a phone call put you in touch with a real person who knew the answers. I guess the internet websites accomplish the same thing. In any event, my new business is registered and we are that much closer to being ready to start this new journey.

Finally, my new website has a name: Homestead Woodworks. It's really my husband's business, but I'm the one putting together the website and designing everything. He'll do all the work creating the products. As I contemplated the learning modules in class this week, I think there were a few things that stood out to me when it comes to web design.

As our lives have become busier, websites have become simpler. It's an interesting phenomenon that what holds our attention today is something that doesn't clutter our vision. I started my website with a template that I felt would translate easily into the type of site I wanted. Many of the best practices I ran across were elements I had already implemented into my site design.

I have high resolution photos of the products I'm selling. Each description is basic and concise. I have a few catch phrases that hook the viewer into reading more about what we create. I haven't written it yet, but the bio for my husband (because he's the one creating the product) will be heartfelt and introduce the buyer to what is important about the product from our point of view.

I have signed up with Paypal and opened a business account so my buyers can use either their Paypal account or their credit cards to purchase. This saves me from needing a merchant account through my bank. I also have a Square credit card reader for onsite purchasing, but that's not how we plan to market our product. And with a Paypal business account, chances are we can obtain a scanner from Paypal if that became necessary.

As I put the finishing touches on the website this weekend, I am grateful for the advice from the lesson materials that remind me what is important for the internet surfer of 2020. It's gratifying when I have already implemented some of the best practices and helpful to learn more.

This week, we go live!

Taking a Web Design Class - Reflection of my week

Why do I allow myself to get trapped into those “30-day refund guarantee” gimmicks? I did it again, and I should know better!

There I was, trying to get information about web hosts from the actual web host sites and they want me to sign up first, before letting me into the site to see what they have to offer. And because I don’t know enough about what I’m doing, I got sucked in. There ought to be a “back-out button” for at least the first 30 minutes!

Then, of course, because I immediately saw the error of my ways, I tried to follow the screen commands to cancel my order, but to do that you have to call in and—you guessed it!—they aren’t open in the evening. I did call the next day and canceled my order. The customer service representative was cordial and professional and it only took a few minutes. But really. Someday, that may be the site I want to use, but not today.

Research, apparently, for web hosts must be done by searching what others have found and not from the source. It’s really too bad because I’ve always believed it’s better to go to the source. Like, when people say they know what members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believe when they haven’t actually talked to a member. They’ve learned everything they know about the Church based on reading or listening to what others say, usually people who don’t like the Church.

And that’s why I stayed with my first choice of Wix.com to build my site and buy my domain. It may be more expensive in the beginning, but I’ve used it before and I like it. The site is easy to navigate and offers me the opportunity to play with the web site design before I buy anything. For me, they got it right.

Homestead Woodworks, here we come...

Finished the Rock My World manuscript! Can't decide whether to start editing or keep writing something else. I'll wait to see where my inspiration directs me. In the meantime, I'm reading the boxed set of Books 1,2,and 3 of the Utah Fury Hockey series by Brittney Mulliner. So far, I've finished the first one, Puck Drop, and I'm halfway through the second, Match Penalty. Fun stories, lot's of great dialog, hard to put down...but, oh how I wish she would have made one more hard pass through the books for word use errors! If you can get past them, the books are great! Here's a link to the first book, if you're interested.: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FDK7QFF.

Building a Life is live

When you have lived with a builder for over 30 years, it's a natural step to write a story that involves building a house. Finalizing the revisions for Building a Life was done during the construction phase of the last house my husband built for us and I'm sure he laughed when I would come out of our trailer (parked on site for convenience) and ask an obscure question about building while he was working.

In every book there is a little real life. In this book, the soccer scenes, especially the goals scored by Nick, came from my son's high school championship team. He played center forward, just like Nick, and it was pretty fun to sit in the stands and listen to other soccer moms cheer for Hendo, the nick-name his team gave him. So here's a shout out to Scott for the inspiration behind the soccer scenes!

My next project, Daisies in the Driveway, is ready for revision. But the month of May will be focused on traveling and I won't get back into the swing of writing until the middle of June. My husband and I are going to Japan to see a friend (we call her our Japanese daughter) and her family. Perhaps our trip will give birth to more ideas for stories down the road!

In the meantime, Building a Life, is now available from Amazon and booksyoucantrust.com.

Building a Life

After weeks and months of revisions and finalizing cover art, my new novel Building a Life is in the final stages. Release is set for May 1st or 2nd. Here is a sneak-peak at the cover:

And a little bit about the book:

Sara Castleton resolved to make better choices now that there was a new life growing inside her. When her husband, Peter, plowed through that stop sign and left this world, he left a mess behind. Picking up the pieces of her shattered life and finishing the house Peter started could be the answer to her future, but she needed help.

When Nicholas Bradford was asked to step into Sara’s unfinished house project, he reluctantly agreed. He didn’t always see eye-to-eye with Peter’s friends and business associates, but one look at his pregnant widow and Nick couldn’t say no.

Before they know it, they aren’t just building a house, they’re Building a Life.

I'm so excited to be teaming with Books You Can Trust Publishing on this project. They have been excellent to work with.

Now, back to the keyboard to finish the next one! (Daisies in the Driveway)

The Spirit of Christmas - my new novella

It's the same old story. Too much going on. Too little time to stop and post ideas, thoughts, and events. I've not only neglected my blog, but Facebook, emails, and my telephone. I'm such a disappointment to myself when it comes to communicating...except for my stories. There is that. So, in the context of communication and announcements, I'm happy to say my next book is ready to be published and I'm waiting only on the proof copy for final review. It's a Christmas novella (everyone must write at least one, right?) based on the classic A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. I've twisted it slightly and turned it into a romance. It's called THE SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS. Here's the book description:

George Stone can’t wait for the Christmas season to be over and his employees, especially his executive assistant, Kathryn Gleason, focused once again on their work. When a missing report requires George to stop in at Kathryn’s parents’ home the day before Christmas Eve, he ends up as an unexpected guest. Between the haunting journals of his late grandfather and the unsettling dream of an unhappy future, George is swept away by the magic of Kathryn’s charm and her family’s love.

Will the Spirit of Christmas show George the happiness he’s missing and will Kathryn’s warmth and beauty melt his cold heart? 

Estimated day to go live is January 12th. 

This week, I discovered new (to me) author, Christene Houston, and thoroughly enjoyed the first two books in her series Snowflake Falls Romance, Cookie Girl Christmas and When Fireflies Sing. Great reads with engaging characters and some pretty funny scenes. Here's the first line from Cookie Girl Christmas:

"Call out the Coast Guard, I think we're out of buttercream."

I've been reading a lot of anthologies lately. I like reading stories by different authors, usually along some kind of theme. Occasionally, I find a new author in a group that really peaks my interest and I end up with several of their individual novels added to my collection. That happened with the anthology "Man of My Dreams." In this group you'll find the novel Jett (Descended) by Dana Pratola. It's a contemporary romance with a supernatural element - not scary, more like superheros. I'm not usually a fan of such stories, but this one captured my attention and I truly loved the characters. It didn't hurt that the heroine was an artist. I liked it so much, I bought all three of the rest of the series. Can't wait to read them this coming week. So here's the first paragraph (because one line isn't enough) of the first book of this series by Dana Pratola:

"The light was no match for him. He could become one with any shadow or light, keeping his presence secret for as long as he wished, causing a man to believe his mind was playing tricks. Or he could be the last thing that man saw before he met his Maker. There were prices to be paid for his rare gift--consequences--but none dissuaded him from his mission."

LDStorymakers this week! My daughter and I are headed to Provo, Utah this week for the LDStorymakers Writer's Conference. Juggling work and school has been fun while traveling, but we are ready to begin the writing adventure tomorrow. To pass the time while traveling, I picked up Shanna Hatfield's series Grass Valley Cowboys. Living in Oregon, I love that she sets her stories nearby and references places I'm familiar with. Although Ms. Hatfield is a master of head-hopping, I still love her romances and enjoy getting to know what seems like an entire community. Every book has a theme: plan, romance, love, falling, etc. and each chapter begins with a quote based on the theme. The first book in the series: The Cowboy's Christmas Plan starts the reader off introducing the Thompson brothers. They are all fun reads. Here's the first lines of the first book:

Cadence Greer gaped at her boss in disbelief. "I don't think I heard you correctly, Neil. Would you please repeat that?"

Happy Friday!

Finally back to normal. Hope to have time to write this week. My book is calling to me...:) Here is my first line for this week. Sierra St. James is the pen name for Janette Rallison. I met her at the LDStorymaker's Writer's Conference last year and she signed my book. I love meeting authors! Her book What the Doctor Ordered was a funny, off-beat romance that I loved.

"The topic of conversation at the Baxters' dinner table was insanity."

Happy Friday everyone!

My son is married. My husband is working out of state for a couple months. My visitors have returned home and my house is now blissfully quiet. In the aftermath of the wedding, I needed a respite. I turned to my all-time favorite romance by Staci Stallings, If You Believed in Love. Available only as an e-book, that is the only thing disappointing about this book. I don't buy many hard-cover or paperback books (I have a LOT of e-books), but this is one I would buy in print if I could. It's the story of a grieving widower who has been coerced by his sister to take a college class just to get out of the house. The class he chooses to audit is English Literature at the local community college and from the beginning of the story, we are right there with him as he discovers the classics--Browing, Austen, etc.--and how the beautifully captivating and intriguing professor brings a new light to the stories we all love to love. Here's the first line:

"I do not believe I'm doing this." Jonathan Danforth strode past the knots of college students who were draped and drawn over every available step and statue.

Happy Friday!

I seem to be reading a lot of novellas right now. My son is getting married next week and I need the down time in the evenings to let go of the stress of work, school, and planning for company and food preparation for the reception. But I don't want to have a storyline carry over from one day to the next because I never know when I'll be able to get back to it. Thank goodness for authors who write shorter stories that can be read in a couple hours, but with the same quality of writing as their longer novels. Here's one from this week:

Never Ever After: Quotable Romance Book 2 by Lucy McConnell (A Cinderella story)

(the funny thing about this book is that Book 1 is coming out later this month)

"You work too hard."