Move Along

So I'm finally back from the trip. Joel's father-in-law is Derek Franklin. He was more down to earth than expected. The whole family is hilarious. I'm glad for Joel. Derek gave me a flash book he wrote for Action Script. I really need to learn Action Script. I'll have to put it in the schedule.


I called the Library. They were busy. I told them to check the email and that it explains what's been going on since my phone was still messed up at the time.

I got a haircut and talked to my barber. Her and her fellow barber/business partner are looking for a new location. I gave them business cards and let them know what Solar Dragons does.

My phone came today. It took forever to get it turned on and I still have to link the Hot-Sync with the new software.

My press release went out today. I IM'ed my agent and we cut a decent deal. I told her I want the release to go national. I can track incoming links to my site, so we'll have to see how it goes.

Back on Track

The past few days have been crazy. I went away for my anniversary. While on the way to the hotel, my phone started going crazy. After we come back, the phone was still broke, so we went to the Verizon dealer. It was closed. I called Verizon when I got home and they wanted me to do a hard reset but It would erase all my info on my phone. So I had to Hot Sync the phone to the laptop, which I hate, to save my info. Did the hot sync work? Of course not. So now I have to get another phone.

Meanwhile, the basement flooded yesterday with over a foot of water. It took 30 minutes for the basement to fill that high. Our mailbox was almost covered the water in the street was so high. Fortunately, it drained as fast as it came once the rain stopped. Then there was the massive clean up.

Meanwhile, the library hasn't called me. I emailed them before I left. On the other hand, I don't know if they called because my phone is messed up. I still have to finish Vince's website and get back on track with the blogs. I think I might have bit off more than I can chew with them. I think I have to find a better way to advertise them other than just putting them in signatures in my posts for forums.

I still have to make some cold calls and drive to some small businesses. I still have to get my phone fixed.

Guess its back to work.

Countdown

With the press release done, I'm preparing myself for whatever business may come. I have to make sure things are organized for whenever a paper picks it up. Becky was saying that you don't know when some newspaper will pick it up. I hope they do. A lot is riding on me getting this out. I'm going away for my anniversary and Joel is having his reception in Bloomington next week. I'll probably send the press release out after that. When I get back on Monday, I have to finish the library and Vince's site. I hope the library calls me back so we can get things done. I want those blogs to go up as soon as possible.

I talked to Jared and thanked him for the hook up. I was telling him that he needs to get his site up and running so there is some way for people to see his work. I hope we can collaborate on a project or two, with him drawing and me coloring. I received a lot of business cards recently. I'm going to have to go through them and just cold call about websites.

I've been thinking about what Vince and I were talking about as far as an online classified section. I think the main problem would be getting the ranking up. I'll look into it in a couple of weeks. Haven't talked to Matt in a while. I wonder how things are going. He said they moved to a new building in crown point.

Blogs so far seem like the way to go for getting yourself in Google. Yahoo never hassled me about getting in their index. Google takes forever. But when I mention something in my blog, I pop up in Google. For example: The name 'Solar Dragons' isn't common. So I don't expect to see it a lot. But 'Solar' and 'Dragon' are common. Every D&D game, Final Fantasy and any other role playing game that has a dragon in it shows up before my site does on Google. Ditto for 'Solar'. There's moves from Dragon Ball Z with the term 'Solar' in it. Other RPG games in addition to fuel discussion mention 'Solar'. So it takes forever to actually find my site in Google, if its even in there. As soon as I mention something in my blog though, I'm in Google. Just like that. So now I'm debating how to advertise my blogs so I can be in Google under a variety of topics. Since I'm always feeding a blog, it would seem faster than making a webpage and waiting forever.

Again, more research is needed. Guess I'll get started Monday.

Whirlwind

My Grandfather went in the hospital yesterday. He's ok though. That kind of slowed me down work wise.

I still have to finish Vince's site. I remember when we were talking about blogs. He was saying that pro bloggers post several times a day. I think next week I'm going to create one blog that talks about everything I see in the news.

Meanwhile I still need to get mass content going for the rest of my blogs. I signed up with over 40 forums, but I need to make sure that I have content for the blogs before I use those in my signature.

I also have the library's site to finish. I'll probably do that today. I set the blogs and the email up. Found some great deals for the vs system cards. Now I just have to make sure I'm in the schedule to teach them. In addition, I think they want me to teach the kids how to color. That gets expensive per kid. I don't know if they can afford it.

I got my press release done finally. She emailed it to me. I like it. It gets straight to the point and explains what the business does. I told her that I need an official writer for releases because I'm putting package deals together. She accepted. So that's one less thing to worry about.

I'm going way for my 1st anniversary this weekend. It'll be good to get away for a while. I'm going to be out of town next weekend too. So I might not do the press release until after that. Becky said that it might take a while for the release to get picked up. I'd hate for someone to call me while I'm out of town.

I also put Google search bars on some of my site. I want to put ads on the site but I don't know where to put them without it looking tacky. I might redesign the site again. Next time I do, I'll think ahead about the ads.

I hate working on the weekends

I went to the Grande Prairie Library on Friday. I was there for 6 hrs finding out what was needed. The section I’m redesigning online is for early to mid teens. So I recommended using blogs to keep there interest. Plus, libraries aren’t known to have a lot of money. So I’m going to put Google ads on the various blogs for the kids. Here’s hoping the gamble pays off. Fortunately, they want a lot of blogs. I figure kids are going to click the ads and that’s one way to produce residual income for the company.

The library has several connections to different news stations. When the remodel has been done and the blogs are up and running, they will send out a press release. I’m going to donate some Vs System cards and buy new starter decks just for the kids. I’m sure that will help my company look well. In addition to that, they want to hire me to teach the kids how to play Vs System and how to color. So my one library gig might turn into three. I have to call Jared and thank him for the hook up.

On Saturday I went to one of my old gaming stores in Chicago. I ran into some people I used to play cards with. We talked about the latest cards for Vs System. One of the guys is opening his own barber shop. So I gave him some business cards. Then I talked to the owner. I know him pretty good. I told him about my business, making websites and promoting them. He said his site is under construction. I let him know Solar Dragons could do it in two weeks. He said he’ll keep me in mind when it’s time to launch the site.

I finally got to sit and work on the computer Sunday. I signed up to a lot of different forums to make sure I can put the appropriate blogs and sites in the signatures of my posts. I need to make sure I get organized too. Went with Vince to Joel’s and talked about window washing for a minute. We’ll see how things go with that.

I’m about to finish up working on Vince’s site. I’ve been debating putting Google ads on my own site. I have had it up for a few weeks. I notice the most hits come to the site between Tuesday and Thursday. Whenever I get my press release done, I’ll make sure it goes out on those days. Holidays throw things off as well. I’m going to take a look at more websites to see if Google ads or a search bar will be appropriate for the site.