Archive for Internet & Technology
Video or Photo Documentary
We provide time lapse video, documentary and photography for Creative and Construction Projects.
There are many benefits to having a dedicated camera operator/photographer for your project:
1. You don’t lose time while stopping to document your work or project
2. You can move on to the next paid project (we can go back to get those all important “after” images)
3. Your photos and video look much more professional and steady
4. You will have documented evidence of your work for marketing, training, sales and use on your website
5. Few things are as dramatic for presenting job progress as a “time lapse” video
As executive producer and producer we have worked with many trades and business owners to document their work, edit it, and present it in ways that help them draw more attention to their talents (and the work they have ALREADY done).
Our services are affordable. We can handle heights, lighting and getting the right professional shot (under any circumstances).
We are even equipped to deliver broadcast quality production in the event you would like to have your own web-cast or broadcast television show (self-help, docu-drama or just for fun). We have narrators, hosts and animation capabilities as well (for that professional touch in communicating with a viewer, whether it is images, a great script or a smiling face).
MY OPINION: The best and easiest way to gain credibility as an authority in your field is to be depicted as one…in a video.
Mark Mahar
Give us a call and we can discuss your next project.
Phone A Friend
SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE
Over the last decade, it has become normal for me to hear from my clients about once a week to discuss an idea, obstacle or need in their business.
This casual relationship, with constant communication, has allowed me to stay in touch with my clients and be most effective in answering issues immediately.
I’m offering a subscription for what has essentially become a “phone a friend” relationship.
Having my personal creativity and attention applied to your problems is will save you thousands.
Having someone to speak with in a candid and confidential manner will save you thousands.
Having access to the talented people in my network, only when you need them, will save you thousands.
Having my experience to prevent you from making a mistake will save you thousands.
Applying my creative strategies will make and save you thousands.
JOIN HUNDREDS OF PAST CLIENTS that have benefited from my personal attention, creativity and strategic advice. Your subscription, solutions and problems remain confidential (and that’s why my clients aren’t plastered all over my website).
- COMPLETELY CONFIDENTIAL -
The “Phone A Friend” Subscription is $99/month.
In addition to having my personal cell phone number, here’s what you have access to EVERY MONTH:
- Unlimited Q&A on the Forums (other professional contributors)
- Up to 6 Hours of phone or Skype consultation ($300 value)
- Confidential Support on ANY TOPIC in ANY INDUSTRY (I refer it out if necessary, typically at no fee)
- Internet Resources & Marketing Tools, reserved for my personal clients.
- Opportunities for tangible savings, reserved for my personal clients.
- Updates and News specific to your industry (60-90days before I publish it)
- Inclusion in our Affiliate Marketing Network (directed at one page of your website)
- Design, Web & Graphic support (if I can handle it myself you can just burn an hour on it – logos, etc…)
You will immediately experience the value of our services or you can cancel at any time.
PERFECT FOR STARTUPS, INVENTORS, ARTISTS & DISTRESSED BUSINESSES – START NOW!
The #1 question I get asked is to solve a problem on a specific budget. I have yet to fail in charting a realistic course for success within a client’s budget. I can show you how to do things that many businesses spend ten times as much for (without half the insurance measures I show you how to include).
How many people can you call who know your industry well enough to give you an intelligent opinion?
How many of those people can you be completely honest with, share your REAL concerns, and receive unbiased confidential advice? I don’t SELL anything…I help business owners arrive at cost-saving conclusions for rescue, launch, efficiency, growth and sanity.
I make my living by providing unique creative solutions…and mapping routes to revenue. I don’t sell anything other than my brain (and you can rent it for the bargain basement price of $99/month). I expect you to cancel this subscription once we we figure out the best way for me to be available to you down the road. Until then, I’ve made it as affordable as possible to “try me”.
Subscribe now (no cancellation penalty – buy it, try it, cancel at any time):
Marketing Results, Guaranteed
I am SO VERY PLEASED to announce that I am now making a few of my unique proprietary marketing tools available to the public. This service represents an incredible value…and I have to confess that I’m totally excited about turning the marketing & advertising world on it’s head.
FOR A LIMITED TIME – ACT NOW!
AN ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION costs $1200/year (80% off)!
REGISTER BY August 31, 2011 and receive my “Phone A Friend” package for FREE ($1,200 value).
Here is how it works:
- Contact us with interest in marketing a website product or service.
- We analyze your products and services for the best application of our proprietary tools
- You pay us $1,200 to be included in our marketing and referral system (for one year)
- We coordinate with you and your webmaster to place the most useful/relevant hosted solutions on your server (sometimes it is just a tracking code).
- We track and monitor the progress of your internet traffic and sales.
- After 12months you decide if you received $1200 worth of services and results.
As long as you ride it out for the entire 12 months, I will personally honor any refund request…for ANY REASON (I only ask that you tell me personally why you felt it wasn’t a value). It couldn’t be easier.
I defy you to find anyone in the SEO, Web or Marketing world who is willing to GUARANTEE RESULTS. I not only guarantee results, but I guarantee you will experience growth in your business as a result of our relationship. This will be an exciting relationship and you will enjoy your business more as a result of hiring my company.
- A substantial boost in web traffic (within 45 days)
- A substantial boost in online sales and incoming phone calls (within 90 days)
- Tips and Tricks to help you in other areas of your business (at no fee)
Our internet traffic and sales generation tools rely on a human referral system (not some automated search engine work-around). Visitors to your website are REAL…and they will read every line of your page.
Not only is it legal, ethical and amazing…it is extremely affordable. Our techniques are a trade secret (don’t even think about asking “how we do it”). Follow instructions and you’ll be pleased. Our integrity is our most important asset. That is why we screen companies (instead of just adding a “buy it now” button to our page).
Where else can you get a marketing campaign that promises to give you measured results AND offers a money-back guarantee (let alone at $1,200)?
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If you don’t see the value in our program and strategies we don’t want you as a client.
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If you aren’t willing to commit $1,200 to promote your business we don’t want you as a client.
(that’s why I’m willing to refund the entire amount to anyone who sticks with us for a year…and why I have set the budget so low that there is no excuse for even the smallest of companies).
Web Developers, Search Engine Optimization “experts” and Marketing Executives HATE ME… Not only do I tell them to their face when they waste my client’s money, I consistently prove that I can do more with a dollar than they can do with $1,000. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve solved complex problems in 30seconds or less, right in the presence of high-paid pretenders. IT DRIVES THEM NUTS!!! Ideas are free but you can’t put a value on real talent and common sense.
It only motivates me more to know that my creativity is capable of frustrating people who work in the “creative” industry. 
This is, without a doubt, the smallest single budget scope of work I have offered in my entire consulting career.
More Traffic, More Sales, An Expert Business Strategist, and Marketing tools at your disposal for a whole year. My competition can’t even touch it. I defy them to even try.
I’m either completely out of my mind or I have actually figured out a way of making marketing so affordable and profitable that nobody else can even come close to creating this level of value. After over a decade of consulting for small businesses, artists and inventors, which do you think it is?
I look forward to working with you and having a truly measurable POSITIVE IMPACT on your sales! (I guarantee it or your money back).
- Mark Mahar
Free Website for Startups
Attn: Entrepreneurs
It is challenging to start a business in any economy, let alone an economy as uncertain as this one.
We believe that small business is the heart of the American way of life. It is the engine of our economy. As a service to innovative and enterprising entrepreneurs, we are offering free websites for qualifying businesses.
Here’s how it works:
- Register for the forums [SUPPORT FORUMS]
- Visit the “Welcome (General Stuff)” Section
- Read the “Free Website for Entrepreneurs” post
- Post a brief reply, explaining why you should be chosen to receive a free website for your business
The free custom site will consist of 5 pages of static content, featuring the products and services, a BLOG and other unique resources related to the business. The complete hosted web solution will consist of WordPress Content Management Software (open source) with custom modifications and templates. All modifications are made online, by you (the owner)…and you won’t need a web developer to maintain your website.
QUALIFYING WEBSITES:
- At least one market ready, featured, product or service
- Paypal or Google Shopping Cart account
- Engaged Business Owner (with a blog and frequent entries)
- Highest consideration given to:
- national products & services potential
- “made in usa”
- clear business plan
- art & innovation
- maintainable by owner
- active blogger
Candidate will work with me and my team to arrive at the best presentation/branding. We can retool your existing site or create an entirely new one.
The last recipient of our free website launch was VictorianTailor.com
The Victorian Tailor already had a website. The problem she had in her business was a constantly changing inventory (constant web support for a small company). I don’t like seeing small business owners handcuffed so I imported her existing design into WordPress, added custom templates and functionality, which turned it into a blog site with more “search engine friendlly” content and keywords. I then trained the owner, Celeste, on how to manage all the web content herself. She never has to hire a web person to change her products again. All the content you see on that site was put there by Celeste – if she can do it, you can do it!
Every 90 days, we will select one business to receive a website (it gets launched before the next site is selected).
If no qualifying candidate site is found among the applicants, we reserve the right not to select any applicant.
We are running this promotion to give “business ready” entrepreneurs a leg up on achieving a professional web presence that they can maintain themselves. We want our visitors to use our forums and we hope to have more of a relationship with our internet audience in general (while introducing them to great new companies). We decide, at our sole discretion, if the website you need is within our skill-set (and if your business is ready for it).
Our decision to support your business with a free website revolves around one internal question: “Are we interested enough in being associated with your success that we will invest the cost of launching your website?” (the more creative, grassroots, self-sufficient and prepared your business is, the more likely you’ll be one of the businesses we pick to support).
You must have a domain name and hosting (about $120/year) and we take care of the rest.
Domain name and hosting can be bought through www.HighwayMerge.com
We HIGHLY recommend that you at least own the domain name PRIOR to discussing it on our public forums. Don’t make a post that says “I want a website for mybusiness.com” if you don’t own “mybusiness.com”.
One business is scheduled to be selected on the following dates:
August 15th, 2011
November 15th, 2011
February 15th, 2012
May 15th, 2012
August 15th, 2012
We look forward to helping you succeed on the internet.
Visit the forums now.
(If you’re a web designer or developer interested in helping us make a positive impact with entrepreneurs through this free service, please contact us @ info@maharenterprises.com)
Social Marketing (Facebook, etc…)
Everyone in the web world is talking about the value of social websites as a catalyst for your business. It seems every business is now jumping into the Facebook and Twitter pond.
If you do decide to start a Twitter feed or a Facebook fanpage for your business, there are a few things that you should keep in mind about social behavior in formal social forums.
1. The art of using social sites for promotion is a fine balance between promoting on YOUR PAGE with inpunity (and despite apathy), while not subjecting your followers/fans to gratuitous personalized mail and newsletters (particularly not “calls to action”). Social means social, it doesn’t mean “accept my delivery, read it thoughtfully, then take action”. Don’t expect “action”, simply expect exposure. Fans, Friends and Followers will click on your “internet channel” if they feel it is worth viewing. They are not subscribers or another inbox for your marketing – save that stuff for your newsletter/mailing list.
2. Shame (or something like it) shows up in the strangest places. Somehow, a sense of social dignity can surface and becomes a measure for restraint – it can become an emotional obstacle whenever a free promotional opportunity is actually “called one” (or acknowledged as one). This is worthy of note because any breakdown of the “social illusion” prevents an otherwise proactive person from engaging in even the most convenient of free resources/interactions (but, for some strange reason, if it doesn’t look like an “advertisement” people are willing to abuse it as a resource and interact gratuitously). Figure that one out? I’m not here to explain audience psychology, I’m just telling you what the organism does.
3. The best social marketers are kind of in denial and engage in the act of promoting themselves passively (“Just hopped on a plane for another trip to Florida for the pet food client - ugh – I’m gonna be beat tonight”). People are more apt to “pretend not to promote themselves” than they are to actually OPENLY promote themselves (or their business). Over the years I can include myself in this category on more than one occassion (so I’m not minimizing anyone or their human psychological weaknesses…I’m simply being honest). Psychology is part of Dr. Bell’s acumen – I’ll leave that one for him to elaborate on.
The point is: Engage in social marketing by simply being SOCIAL (and the marketing will take care of itself). Approaching it from the other direction is a strange violation of “social forum etiquette”. I don’t know why. That’s just the nature of the organism.
If you don’t believe me, you can try the same test I did when this awareness occurred to me:
I posted a status which said, “Today I’m inviting anyone who wants to tell all of my facebook friends about their business or product to drop a mention. Right here, right now – plug it, promote it, pitch it. Go!:”
ONE REPLY – one person posted their company with a link - out of hundreds of artists, business owners, etc… Why? Because I actually called attention to a social marketing forum – I labeled it what it actually was. I’ve said “hello facebook” before and gotten 15 replies with a bunch of “thumbs up”. Don’t try to understand it, but do be aware of it.
People on social networks (even the ones who are there to promote themselves) are not openly willing to admit they are there to promote themselves…and everyone has a sort of “anti-social trigger” that kicks in the moment something stops “pretending to be social”. This can be an advantage or a disadvantage to your personal style, depending on how you structure your communication with your “friends & fans”. In any case, don’t expect action – simply expect an audience.
REALIZE: social networks are inherently narcissistic environments - momentary digital soap-boxes for the user (it’s all about them). Most people are instinctively uncomfortable acknowledging that their facebook or twitter account is really “all about them and their ego”…it is psychological evasion on a really basic and NORMAL level (it’s not a mean acusation, it’s just the truth – no harm in having a place to call your own and no harm in having instinctual defense mechanisms around your natural interest of having an audience). We have an ego and it feels good to feed it (particularly when it feels more like interaction than soap-boxing). That’s part of what makes us human. Again, Psychology is part of Dr. Bell’s world – ask him? I don’t know.
The upside is that if you are equipped to invest yourself in your friends/fans/followers (by acknowledging THEIR world instead of just broadcasting through your own) you will fast become a welcome part of their day. I will openly admit that I’m more apt to broadcasting something that I’m promoting in the moment than to actually invest in the effort required to be personally relevant in the lives of hundreds of people on a daily basis (the latter being a passive effort to encourage and approve of them/their ideas, personally). I try to engage personally with a couple people each day (on THEIR posts, not my own). Most often I poke fun at myself, as if facebook really is “all about me”. Everybody has a personality trait (I lead with volunteering as the butt of a joke). The goal here is to empower you with my perspective, for whatever value it has. (maybe none?) I don’t know - most of my facebook friends are actually my real friends…not some fanbase I’ve built up. To each his/her own.
When I hit my own wall of time & energy on a social level, my formal default mechanism is “motivational quotes” (typically related to business). This month I plan to cycle between quotes in revolving category fashion: “Learn”, “Teach”, “Love” & “Honesty” (my way of enforcing my business philosophy and ideas about life’s opportunities). Even if I do reach someone with my ideas or thoughts I’ll likely never know about it – that’s the social component and it requires a willingness to simply “contribute”.
We’ve all got our bag and we all want to promote it. Don’t over-promote on a social network and you’ll never run the risk of being considered “baggage”.
Happy “socializing”.
- Mark
PS. For the record: I would NEVER get away with this flavor of expression on Facebook or Twitter – know your forum and adhere to it (this more corporate blog format on MaharEnterprises.com has relevance as well – you’re reading, after all).
Demand the keys! (no handcuffs)
Demand the Keys – Owning and managing your own web content.
Why on earth would a small business owner or independent artist want someone else driving a car that they paid for?
You may not understand how to design a website, but a properly designed website is like a well-designed car. It is perfectly reasonable to pay someone to design and build your car (pick your brand). They build it. You buy it. Once you own it, who drives it? That’s right – you drive it.
To be clear: The act of “updating website content” is NOT like hiring a mechanic to maintain your car (though many web companies have packaged it as part of a “maintenance” service). Hiring someone to add the bio of your new manager to the website is more like leaving the remote door lock gadget at the dealership when you bought your car and then calling them every morning to press it for you.
<insert hate mail in Mark’s inbox from irate web developers who think I am over-simplifying their talents>
You don’t pay someone to use your laptop or your cell phone for you. No – you pick up your technology, punch some keys and use it for what it was designed to do (it is operated by the person who bought it, not the person who designed it).
I have three words for you: “Content Management System” (cms)
WordPress is getting a lot of nods from the web design community. I happen to like it because it is a fully-functioning vehicle for communication which let’s the driver get in and drive it. There are countless solutions. WordPress is just an example.
Content Management Systems (CMS) are website platforms which allow the designer to hand the keys over to the owner…so the owner can drive it. If you paid for it you’re the owner – ask for the keys. Without CMS there are no keys and you remain a slave to your “dealer”. Don’t be a prisoner of your web content “administrator”.
CMS automates the process of keeping track of what would otherwise be more complex (those things which require a web designer or developer with extensive coding experience). CMS is similar to adding a safety carriage around a high-performance motorcycle and giving it an automatic transmission – thereby making it “safer to drive for someone who lacks high-performance skills” (IE, any idiot like me).
CMS is simply a framework, not a design. Someone still has to design the look and feel of the hosted solution. Think of it as someone designing letterhead for you (you write a document, you know your business and you can use a word processor). Even though you can express yourself and your business more intelligently than anyone else, you still have to print it on your letterhead. The design of a great website involves a logo, color scheme, features, content and the most clear expression of your business possible (people don’t spend a lot of time on your site - making an impression is important…it’s just like your letterhead or business card).
An ideal website is one which arranges a series of “editable areas” into a useful design (and you should have the keys to those editable areas).
Anyone (and I mean anyone) can run a CMS site after it is set up properly. The trick is getting it set up and then manipulating the framework to have your unique identity expressed well. Once the identity is in place, you have a great vehicle. The difference with a CMS website is that you can get in and drive the vehicle (with much less talent than is required to build it from scratch). It’s your car.
You don’t have to click around MaharEnterprises.com too long before realizing that I am a huge proponent of handing business owners their keys. My clients and associates don’t want to hire a driver to race for them – they want to hire an engineer to help them build a car that they can get in and race themselves. After all, the car my clients drive was their idea – it’s THEIR BUSINESS. I’m happy to drive anything (I love to drive)…but if my client asks for the keys and I can’t hand them over I’m completely useless to their vision. My first position is never “pay me to do this for you” but rather, “pay me to deliver a car” (the whole “teach people to fish” thing). The most elegant pieces of engineering don’t require the user to be an engineer, they simply require the user to be an operator. My clients are owner/operators.
Nobody wants their car engineer saying, “I know you paid for this car, but it is a tempermental and sophisticated piece of engineering…you should really let a professional drive it”. Screw that! Let me tell you something: It takes more talent to find, download and install a ring tone on some of these crazy geeked out cell phones than it does to update a website – there is absolutely nothing wrong with demanding that you are able to drive what you paid for. Demand it. Demand CMS. Demand the keys to your own business.
I’ll also have some thoughts on Search Engine Optimization (SEO)…another very highly over-engineered sales pitch in the web world.
I’m a fan of common sense. NO HANDCUFFS! Demand the keys!
- Mark
PS. I wrote this article. I designed this website (and many other sites). I can drive a car because I have the keys.
I’m an idiot who doesn’t know how to add a ringtone to my iPhone (not that I care, because a ringtone doesn’t make me any money unless I wrote the song…but my business does make me money…in fact, my business makes me the MOST money when I’m the one driving it). Some things are worth learning and some things aren’t. That’s a personal choice. I’m not trying to decide that for you.
[MaharEnterprises.com is a CMS website utilizing WordPress with added functionality developed by Mahar Enterprises, Inc.]