mkt 250

mkt 250, personal reflection, Uncategorized

Ads and Keywords

Gallery | Posted on by Pamela Espinosa

Photo by Myriam Jessier on Unsplash

This week definitely was interesting! We tackled some of the basics of making a google ads campaigns, making ad groups and choosing keywords. It definitely was an interesting learning process and I’m a little bit intimidated, quite frankly. However, I’m excited to learn more and the module for this week definitely was good primer.

For the first preparation and discussion assignment, we had the option to choose the geographic location my ad would appear in. I chose Europe, North America and Southeast Asia as the geographic locations I want my ad to show in.

For the next prep assignment, we did some keyword planning. Some of the metrics I used to choose my keywords are the following:

  1. Relevance to my business
  2. Measurable performance
  3. Broadness and Specificity
  4. Conversion value
  5. Search Volume
  6. Competition

All in all, it definitely was an interesting week of learning. I can’t wait to dive into this more!

mkt 250, personal reflection

Some Really Boring Stuff

Gallery | Posted on by Pamela Espinosa

This week I had to learn stuff about being an adult. Well, not that I didn’t know of these things previously, but I was forced to stress about it. This week we talked about acquiring business licenses and figuring out taxes. Fun. Fun. Fun.

Photo by Olga DeLawrence on Unsplash

To say the least, I spent about 3 hours reading articles on business entities, licenses, which ones to get, when to get it, and what applies to my blog business. I learned it was very different to get licenses here in the Philippines and in the United States.

One thing I did figure out is I do not need to acquire any license yet, unless I want to register my business name and be formally recognized as a “web business” under a sole proprietorship. I will do that, but there are other things to worry about first: building the website and getting it out there. Get traffic, grow enough until we can get people clicking on affiliate links. It’s technically not a business yet until we are earning.

Photo by Danielle MacInnes on Unsplash

At the end of this week, the dreaded project 2 is due. I was like: what?! Two weeks to build a website with everything on it? What, do I suddenly have all the time in the world? Kidding. But I did try my best, and hopefully it’s good enough. It took me hours. HOURS.

However, it was pretty fulfilling. It’s a great opportunity to be in such a class where they expect you to do and figure out everything by yourself. Again, just kidding! It’s a great learning experience. It made me have some form of carpal tunnel, but I know it’ll be worth it.

mkt 250, personal reflection

Like Legos

Gallery | Posted on by Pamela Espinosa

Photo by Greg Rosenke on Unsplash

This week’s assignments and discussion boards were juicy. We had to determine which site builder and hosting provider were the best fit to the business idea we had in mind. Finally, we’re going to get down to business.

WEBSITE BUILDERS

I didn’t realize there were a lot of site builders on the market that were one-stop-shop things (meaning site builders, web and domain hosting all-in-one) for people who are complete beginners. I’ve always seen them on YouTube ads, but never checked them out until now.

There were Wix, Weebly, Squarespace, GoDaddy as popular all-in-one site builders. Of course, there’s still WordPress, which is obviously industry-standard. It honestly just boils down to what you value the most: ease, customer support, price, etc.

HOSTING PROVIDER

Okay, so. Here’s the part where it’s a little bit confusing. There is a lot of types of web hosting out there. Cloud, shared, VPS, etc. This could also be confused with domain hosting, which is a totally different topic.

Basically, if you went the Wix-Weebly-Squarespace route, when you build your site there, they are also your web-hosting. However, you can have a domain from another hosting provider but point the DNS to whatever site builder you chose, etc. Confused? Yes.

However, there’s WordPress.org, which is self-hosted. Which means, you have to buy your own domain name, and hosting provider. Lots of hosting providers have one-click installation for WordPress, so that’s convenient.

In conclusion, it’s like building a lego castle, and both are your lego pieces. You just have to find which ones actually fit. So the verdict? Green legos.

mkt 250, personal reflection

DECISIONS, DECISIONS

Gallery | Posted on by Pamela Espinosa

Photo by JESHOOTS.COM on Unsplash

“Chess is rarely a game of ideal moves. Almost always, a player faces a series of difficult consequences whichever move he makes.”

-David Shenk

I learned a lot of things in this week’s class that were beyond business models and how to source products. It made me ponder on what goes in our pretty little heads when we are faced with decision to make. Hence, the chess analogy I just included.

QUANTIFY AND COMPARE

Photo by Raquel Martínez on Unsplash

Two case studies ago, Trevor was worried about how they are to compare apples with oranges. Well, the short answer is we quantify and compare. It makes it seem like you’re comparing apples to apples, and you are better able to arrive to an objective-based decision. Quantifying means one thing: you are turning those apples and oranges into numbers. How many seeds does the apple have? Is it more than the orange’s seeds? Well, how about the apple, how many times can you break it off into pieces?

You get the point. But I’ve learned, there are steps to ensure you are looking at legitimate numbers that actually tell something about each alternative you are comparing:  1) choose the criteria, 2) determine how to rate each alternative, 3) determine how to weight the criteria, and 4) rank alternatives to help in the decision. Really good stuff.

A GAME OF IDEAL MOVES

David Shenk was onto something with that quote. Most of the time, is not about the decision, but what consequences are at hand no matter your decision. Rarely is life the same, to be honest. You can pull apart every single detail, every little string of every single decision, but that decision will always have a consequences.

Photo by Mesh on Unsplash

That, ladies and gentlemen, is what I experienced when helping Joe, Amy and Trevor pick which model is better. Affiliate or drop shipping? Both are fabulous models for those who are wanting to begin in the online business shebang, but what is the best? What is ideal?

By now, you should have been able to answer that to my liking. Ask David Shenk.