I made this flyer recently for my club’s (Asheville Bicycle Racing Club) big annual race: French Broad Cycling Classic. It’s called an “Omnium” because over the three day event there are time trials, road races and criteriums.
You can get the full size flyer (PDF) and more info about this great bike race FrenchBroadCyclingClassic.com. The site is still being updated. Come out and watch the crits if nothing else. More on that later…
Go, Mars, go! He’s in the t-shirt with black and white circles. Every year the middle school kids at Rainbow Mountain Children’s School put on a show. This year’s show has a USO theme, and for part of the show the kids needed to learn the Lindy Hop. Show time tomorrow night! I think they’re ready. The kids seen here are actually the entire middle school. Crazy man.
I can’t stop playing with Camtasia. This is a ridiculous and self-indulgent video, but I’m sure someone will like it. This is a great bike ride, and if you’re in Asheville I recommend that you check it out. For my out-of-town friends: come visit and we’ll go for a ride. I have some extra bikes!
UPDATE: The castle I mention in the video is Seely Castle. I believe he was the son-in-law of Dr. Grove and he built the castle as his home while he managed the Grove Park Inn. And, yes, Obama did stay at the Inn, I believe when he was preparing for the last debate. It was interesting to watch because the Inn is literally my next door neighbor.
Also, the times I mention in the video, e.g. 85 minutes to Craggy would be pretty fast for someone who is just a weekend warrior. Plan accordingly.
I have found something that’s helping me better understand my niche(s). For one campaign I am using a short opt-in or “squeeze” page. To entice people to opt-in, of course, you need some type of “lead magnet.” I find that most decent publishers/vendors offer their affiliates something that can be used as the “magnet,” usually a “free report” PDF or maybe a really good article.
To make sure people enter real email addresses I make it clear in some agate text next to or below the opt-in form that I will email a link to the thing I’m offering. I set up the first autoresponder email to do just that, and nothing else. I just fulfill on the promise and don’t try to sell to them yet. The next day, the second email goes out and I use this one to get some input from the subscriber. I’ll write something like this:
“I hoped enjoyed the free report on basket weaving.
It’s not easy weaving baskets. If you can spare a minute I would love to know what specifically is your biggest challenge when it comes to basket weaving. Is it:
(I just list the most obvious hurdles I can think of for the niche.)
1. The cost of basket weaving?
2. How to get started?
3. Having enough time?
4. Having a plan with instructions?
5. Knowing where to get the supplies?
6. Something else?
If you want to, just hit “reply” and type one of the numbers above. Of course, if it’s number “6″ I would appreciate a couple extra words. ;-)
Thanks for your help.
Bill Basket”
If you want to throw in a “P.S.” with a mention of the product you’re marketing and a link that might be OK. I prefer to wait until there’s some commitment to the relationship from the reader, or at least until the third email. I’ve been surprised how many people respond, almost 20%. Usually the response is just “1 and 3″ but occasionally someone will write an essay, and some others will want personal coaching! I usually ignore that last group, depends.
Then, I keep track of the results and use those insights to retool my landing page. If it’s clear that most people are having trouble with “5. Knowing where to get the supplies?” then I definitely will focus on that pain, not just on the landing page, but also in my follow-up emails. Of course, if you’re going to develop your own product for a niche this kind of information is priceless.
You may be surprised what most of your audience tells you. I know I was.
We went to a great bonsai expo at the North Carolina Arboretum in Asheville. (Don’t let that old school web site fool you, the Arboretum itself is stunning.) I have been interested in bonsai forever and decided to get this Mugu Pine from a vendor in the marketplace. I asked the seller “what kind of tomatoes are these?” but I don’t think she was amused. The truth is that joke is an accurate representation of my gardening and bonsai experience, but I had to get the little guy. Some of the big ones were thousands of dollars. The expo had exhibitions by numerous bonsai clubs from several states. Just as impressive is the permanent bonsai exhibit at the arboretum. I took a bunch of pics and you can check them out at Flickr. Hey, there is a sample below…
We got some kick-ass peppers in the garden, but we don’t know what they are. Mary bought bell peppers and banana peppers, and we’re pretty certain this is neither. You can see the scale in the image below; that’s a quarter next to the pepper. It took forever for this baby to turn red. He gave his life for good cause, Friday night’s dinner. Bigger images at Flickr.
I got tired of looking at those mystery person silohuette avatars I have on the various social sites so I made this graphic. To me, it’s funny. Those fists are actually Hulk Hands ™ that I bought on eBay and sprayed with chrome paint. The knuckle letters were inspired by some of the ideas at KnuckleTattoos.com. But “GIVE” and “TAKE” actually came from a drawing in the liner notes of one of the more recent Metallica albums.
Rabbits be damned! You can take our parsley, murder our cucumber plants, but you’ll never get our Japanese eggplant. First we had to put up a fence to keep out the rabbits and groundhogs. It worked, for a while. Then, a couple days ago Mary came back in the house from tending the garden and announced “breach of security, breach of security” like Gomer Pyle from an old rerun I remember. So, I fortified the garden fence and we’re now running at maximum security. We ate these eggplant for dinner. All thanks to Mary.
My friend Chris Brock is a custom home builder in Asheville, NC. I recently put a web site together for his company, Brock Builders, Inc. They are working on a monster of a house in Biltmore Forest. It’s over 11K square feet with tons of details. I got some pics at the job site this afternoon. The gothic-revival-revival styling may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I think anyone can appreciate the art of the framing in this domed ceiling. Or should it be called a vault?
Want to know what it's like to have brain surgery? Well here's the long version of my experience. Complete with pictures and videos! Read all about the Brain Surgery Experience.
"I'm Heavy Duty!" was my original blog about everything. Now it's about new music, old records, live shows, stories, memorabilia, garage band demos, anything and everything else related to music. Over 500 posts at this Music Blog!
"Heavy Duty Incorporated" is our blog about making things. It can be "art" or clothing or almost anything. If we or our friends make something I like to share it. Craft & Art Blog
This is the marketing company I started in 2009. The video blog has everything from quick interviews with small business owners to marketing-related how-to topics. We're an Asheville Marketing Agency.
