Ads and Ad Groups

15/15

Ads are a great way to attract more customers and people to experience your services. Ads help promote things that you have available for their interest. According to google there are 3 main keys to having an effective ad and they are: 1. Be relevant with the ad, 2. Be specific as to what you have to offer, and 3. Include a call-to-action (such as a url link to your site that you want them to go to). These 3 steps are supposed to help you get more clicks to your website. Normally you find these ads to be short with a headline, a URL, and a simple description. The headline is to attract attention, the URL is to relocate to your desired site, and the simple description allows the person to know a little more insight to what you are about. There are a few other tips that google offers when it comes to setting up ads with text. These six tips are: 1. highlight what makes your business, product, or offer unique 2. include prices, promotions, and exclusives, 3. Tell your customers what they can do 4. Include at least one of your keywords in your ad text 5. Match your ad to your landing page and 6. appeal to customers viewing your ad on a mobile device.

1. I like how much information Google support can help you with setting up an ad account to attract more customers.
2. I like how they provide information through text and videos to help you find what is needed to set up ads and what things are needed to make it successful.
3. I like how simple and specific you can make your ads and make them more appealing to those that are searching for things in that field.
4. I dont like how it can be costly to you if people dont use your business even after clicking on the ad often.

I am glad to know and understand what needs to go into an ad if and when I decide to start advertising my business. I can plan to remember what I need to do to get my business started and planned out.

Keywords Basics

 15/15
Keyword basics goes along with the last post about Google AdWords. With Google AdWords you are able to select words that relate to your business making it easier to be searched under the google search bar for your ads to appear. There are several advantages to this if you have the words set up correctly and there are several people who dont understand that and waste their time and money in the attempt to making use of the key words. With the key words you want to use words that relate to your business and area if you have an area fixed for your location. You want to be specific as to the words that you use because if you are too general your ads will not pop up like you would like them to. With the amount of traffic that the words generate is could cost you per click and other things like that.

• I like how you show your ad more times through key words that are being searched on the web.
• I like how through key words you can generate a way to promote your business online
• I dont like the costs that come from the adwords which you rely on and most of the time the ads are clicked on accident.
• I dont like how if there are several users using the same words in searches that your ad wont be shown as much as you would like it to.
• It is only effective if you are specific with the words that you use

I dont plan on using Google AdWords just because I have decided that the business that I am promoting is only a service and is not costing me except for the website that I created for it. If things change by a miracle and people start using my services then I may do it but until I generate more business I have decided not to use it. I also feel like it would only help those businesses that are more of corporations rather than simple single businesses.

Google Adwords

15/15
There are several ways to advertise and promote what you have on the internet and it is easy as taking a little bit of time setting up things such as an account with AdWords. AdWords is a google based advertising setup where your ads may appear when someone searches words related to your products or services. You can set this up using your google account and it's fast and simple to do. It does cost a little bit to do this type of advertising which can be per search that your ad appears after a search, per click on the ad, and per purchase generated by the advertisement. A lot of people use google to search the web for information and to purchase things so this can be a great way to advertise. As many good things come from AdWords there are a few drawbacks but anything that you try to advertise there always is some type of drawback.

• I like how simple and smart it can be to have an advertisement on google.com
• I like how trustworthy google is having majority of searches used by it.
• I like how the setup and benefits to AdWords is quick and simple.
• I dont like how it will take away from making a sale, that could cause you to make your prices be higher.
• I do like that according to what is searched in the word box it could show your advertisement depending on what words were typed into the search box.

I will give more thought into using Google AdWords but at the meantime I dont plan to use it because I have decided that my website is not for purchasing things but it is for contacting me for my bicycle services. I also dont have any products to sell on my website at the moment and I dont know if I will have anything to sell as of right now.

Accepting Credit Card Payments

 15/15
Depending on the type of business you own there are several ways to make credit card transactions. Some are through providers such as paypal, amazon, and even google. Most major bank companies offer other ways to make transactions with credit and debit cards. Others have come up with devices that you connect to your head phone jack to your cellular or mobile device enabling you to make transactions quick and simple from anywhere. With all this great development with money transactions it is important to remember that there is a small price to pay for each transaction that you make using these devices. Most companies add a per-swipe-fee along with a percentage of the actual bill. Normally these fees arent much for a bill less than $100 but if you get in the thousands it can be quite costly. Overall if your product is reasonably priced the devices can be a blessing making it easier for you to make money and settle the transactions quick and simple. Most card readers that are offered are given to their customers for free and just take away from the transactions made from them.

• I like how you can make transactions on the go wherever you are just by using your phone.
• I like that you can take your business anywhere and make transactions over the internet enabling you to receive money anywhere you go.
• I like how easy it is to setup an account and start making transactions right away. 
• I like how easy it is to obtain a card reader for free even if you dont use it. 
• I dont like however, how it can cost a lot of money if large transactions do occur. 
• I dont like how a lot of people have had bad things to say about the readers such as not working and reviews say the customer service with these companies are not very good.

I will someday attempt to add these payment types but as of right now I am not exactly going to take credit card for right now but eventually if things go well with the business I will then plan to sign up for the credit card services.

Pinterest

 15/15

Pinterest is quite an amazing network of ideas and things to share with everyone in the world. There are things you can search and things that you can just browse around. It's a place where you can create your own boards by grabbing ideas and things from others and add them to your boards which people can follow and get good ideas from. There is everything from things that you can buy to things that you make all on your own. You also can follow people and see their postings. For business you can advertise your products and things that you can do on there. It is more recommended for those that have products to share and show their uses along with sharing photos and possibly events. It is a highly addicting site that you can get trapped in with all the amazing and fun ideas and things that are shared on a daily basis shared with people all around the world. It is simple to post things from your website or another to share with the world and it is a snap to find out about certain things that you seem to find interests in.

• I like how it is able to attract many people very quickly and through it you can see who likes your ideas and posts. 
• I like how simple it is to log in just by connecting other networking media
• I like how you can share your products and ideas with the world instead of just people that you know such as Facebook.
• I like how there aren't any pop-up adds that get in the way as you use the site which is a big factor for users and followers.
• I like how everything is in categories to make searching easy and fun along with exploring made easy to look at things.

I will try to incorporate using Pinterest in my business of bicycle repairs in the way that I can link photos and things to bring interests on how to do repairs and what is possible to be done is your bike has a problem and I can show the tools needed to do certain repairs and things of that nature. I can use Pinterest to look for good ideas as well and follow other bike companies and parts with their innovations.

Text and LinkedIn

 15/15

SMS text messages can be great for promoting a business and advertising anything you want. It seems that nearly everyone that can drive or talk uses a cell phone and checks it daily and nearly every minute of the day. With that you can create an account for your business to send out text messages to your followers/ customers and give them the updates about new services or promotions. It can be super effective but also somewhat costly. It is a great way to promote discounts and deals every once in a while but I dont think it would be recommended to be done on a daily basis.

LinkedIn is a professional network that gets you connected with people more on a business structure. Through that you can build your professional experience of your work experience and receive endorsements from people to build a stronger connection to other people. You can use this site to help you endorse your connections to companies and explain what you do for others to see. Great things can come from this because it can show employers your experience.

• I like how you can receive texts about good information about promotions and deals on your phone 
• Advertising is getting easier with the help of sending instant text messages. Updates are quicker and everyone loves getting messages about discounts. 
• I like how you can show off your work and connections with LinkedIn with your friends and acquaintances and know what their professions are to possibly help expand your business and theirs
• I like how LinkedIn focuses more on the professional side of things rather than the daily social norms like Facebook.
• I enjoy the simplicity of how LinkedIn can be connected with your contacts and social friends making it easier to receive endorsements without having to look everyone up under search bars.

I havent tried doing text messaging with the small business that I have started and I dont think that I will incorporate it until I have more followers and more work from people in Rexburg. I do however have a LinkedIn account and I find it convenient to incorporate my simple business to it to show people what I do besides just going to school and working on a class assignment. 

Youtube and Google+ for business

15/15

YouTube is a great place for advertising and marketing your products. Through videos you can see how things work, explain why it's better than other similar products and you can show with great detail what it is you are marketing. YouTube provides a way to make a video journal and there are many things that you can do with it, such as make videos of how things are made, where things come from, where they are made, and it's an easy way for you to entertain your clients and market what you have. If you get a good amount of followers you could even get paid from people trying to advertise on your video page which could even pay for the movie that you made for your company. Google+ accounts with businesses have started to take form this year and is becoming more user friendly. There are a few reasons to add Google+ to your media marketing strategy that can only help in the long run. More users are starting to use Google+ and after all they should because Google is already the #1 used search engine in the world. It'll only be time before they become as good as most of the other social networking sites on the internet.

• I like how YouTube can be set up as a channel for you to promote your business
• I like how YouTube has become a great way to show in good quality what it is you do and what you are selling or trying to get out to the world.
• Everyone uses YouTube for videos and entertainment and people around the world can see what you are doing
• Through YouTube you can easily reach out to the world and show them your ideas
• Google+ is made by google and can be trusted
• I like how you can put people in circles and relate them to certain things in businesses.
• I like how easy it is to set up an account if you already have a gmail account, they just transfer from one to another
• Google+ is easy to use, they even have tutorials on how to do anything with it.

I will try to adapt putting up videos of how to maybe change a tire or repair something on a bicycle so that they can try to do it themselves to save them time and money and I can promote my services through that for assistance on repairs and things of that nature. I feel like Google+ will only help to show that I and my small business would have one and can be updated with things of that nature where people will also be able to connect to it.

Twitter

15/15

There are several great advantages to having a twitter account that I didnt think was at all necessary. I tried to avoid twitter as much as possible because I already feel that I am subscribed to everything else and it's just one more thing to bother with. After doing some research I have come to realize that through twitter you can get information that can help you to connect with others and that can help you with clientele. It was cool to see the functions and everything that comes from having a twitter account and the nice thing about it is that you can virtually followup on anyone you would like. You can even get good recommendations with ideas and people. Twitter is simple and easy to use which everyone likes and enjoys using because of how simple it is.

• I like how you can only post a certain amount of words on each status or tweet
• I like how versatile it is with connections to other people
• It is easy to use and can be fun to use and follow people you know and also follow celebrities if you'd like
• I enjoy how you can share things with only the use of little words which makes it easy to get updates that are readable and noticable

I will try to use this more to follow other people and get updated on events and things that are going on around me which can help supply information to those that are trying to look for things associated with the services that I can supply. I will try to use it to promote my services by sending out tweets at least once a week and I will try to follow those that I know first and later move on to people my friends know in the community.