24 Hour Special Tomorrow

Just a reminder, tomorrow (Friday) I release a DVD that will show you… You’ll see tomorrow!

Don’t miss it. The price will go up after 24 hours.

Until then check out:

http://www.keithgoodrum.com/the-irs-tax-deadline-is-a-great-marketing-lesson/

And

http://www.skelliewag.org/how-to-get-piles-of-links-subscribers-and-comments-273.htm

DVD Coming Soon,
Sam Carrara

Posted in Products | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

About to Break 200K in Alexa

As I write this post, this blog has an Alexa Rating of 205,159. Just a few months ago it was around 8,000,000 (Eight Million).

Good movement, but I’m not done yet. I’m doing a big push now to move to 150,000.

I’m asking for a little help.
Go to the post below and come to my site over the next few days:
http://www.samcarrara.com/marketing/more-traffic-download-the-alexa-toolbar/

Thank you for your help.

Also, this Friday I have a product being released that you won’t want to miss, it will have over 60% savings for only 24 hours. After that time period, the price goes up.

Keep watching here each day, next week I release the Alexa Secrets that has propelled my blog and others using this method.

Stay Tuned,
Sam Carrara

p.s. Download the Alexa Toolbar now- http://www.alexa.com/site/download

Posted in Alexa | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Staying at The Atlantis

Last night I spent the night in The Atlantis Casino Resort in Reno. I had some work to do nearby and my company has a corporate discount there. The discount made the room price low compared to anywhere else in the country, under $50. The view of The Atlantis from the outside was amazing.

The Atlantis Reno

I checked in and expected a regular room like everyone else and was told my room was on the 26th floor. Thinking nothing of it, I went on my journey to the third set of elevators to the top floors. After walking past rows upon rows of slot machines (one-arm bandits), I had to ask someone working the floor where the “hidden” elevators were.

Finally I found the elevators and I had to swipe my key in order for the elevator to let me up to my floor. (It still hadn’t hit me yet!) Going that many floors up quickly was a little disheartening since it had a glass front and OH do I love heights! I got off the elevator, went to my room and had a shocking discovery…

It was a Suite! It had a Hot Tub, Huge Comfy Bed, Marble Bathroom and more. The Hot Tub was big and looked like it could fit two people comfortably. The hot water and bubbles can really relax you after a long day. The white robes with slippers were great. I almost thought of keeping one, but there was a little note that said they were available for purchase in the Logo shop.

Atlantis Hot Tub

The dark wood bed had about 10 pillows, some of them traditional white ones and other big black soft ones. The bed was comfortable and the black blanket was soft. The spindles on this bed were artistic. It was great.

Atlantis Bed

The bathroom had white marble (probably Carrara marble). The shower was spacious and the double sinks really gave a lot of room to put your toiletries. There was two types of soap, both hand (milk and honey) and body soaps. I forgot to take a picture of the bathroom. In the morning I noticed that the windows of my room were pink (look at the picture above and see the pink window areas).

I also used the internet there which was only $9.99 per day. It was a small price to pay for getting a lot done. Overall it was a great stay. Oh! I forgot about eating breakfast there. Toucan Charlie’s Buffet and Grille was delicious. I love food and could have gone for multiple trips, but I was trying to be good.

I started with orange juice and water to drink. When I headed for the buffet, I expected breakfast only food. I ended up getting- eggs, corned beef hash, a taco, an enchilada and more. They also had omelets, a Mongolian Grill, fruits, and lots of other yummies. On the way out I almost got a few treats from their bakery because they looked so good. I think I need to exercise more so I can indulge on some more treats.

There were also spa treatments, a beautiful pool and many other well done services that I would have taken advantage of if I had more time.

What a great stay, Thank You Atlantis!

Living It Up,
Sam Carrara

Posted in Travel | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

How To Solve The Airline Mess?

This may not be a popular or welcome post, but I feel I need to state some facts (or my opinion). How do you solve the Airline mess? RAISE PRICES on airline tickets.

Recent Problems

  • American Airlines grounds 100 MD-80 twin jets on Wednesday April 9th, 2008 for immediate maintenance inspections. Each MD-80 can hold 100 passengers and this action cancels 1,094 flights.
  • ATA, Aloha and Skybus Airlines closed for business last week. ATA may come back after a Chapter 11 bankruptcy due to financial problems, but it may take awhile. They have been in business since 1973. Aloha had been in business for 61 years and recently had to lower fares to compete with Mesa Air Group’s inter island passenger flights.

Why

  • Rising jet fuel costs– You thought the $50 you spent at the gas pump filling your car was high. Imagine hundreds of gallons of fuel for each flight. Each cent increase of fuel costs is huge to the airline industry.
  • Slowing economy– All over people are seeing the slow down and deciding to hold off on some purchases. Instead of taking a long distance trip, they will take a local one and save money. More companies are using teleconferences and webinars to get business done, rather than pay for the flights, hotels, meals and included costs of face to face communication.

Other Issues

  • Workers pay– Month after month you see another part of the airline industry “in talks” or on strike to improve their compensation, be it dollars or benefits. The three main groups I see are Airline Pilots, Mechanics and Airline Attendants (the term keeps changing).
  • Pension plans– Very closely related to pay, most of these plans are underfunded. How many plans need to be taken over by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC). Do you know what money is used by PBGC to makeup the difference in funding for pension plans? Taxes!

These are just a few of the issues about Airline woes. Rising ticket prices would solve some of these problems. Although raising prices would decrease the number of people flying, I think in the long run it is needed. On the short term due to the price elasticity of demand for airline tickets will hurt for a little bit. (I can explain price elasticity of demand in another post.)

This is always a big marketing question that is often overlooked-
Am I charging to little for my product or service?
You don’t know unless you do some testing.

More posts to read about this Debacle:
http://timeshareownersblog.sellmytimesharenow.com/2008/04/10/how-airline-closings-effect-timeshare-vacations-and-timeshare-resales/

http://michelemiller.blogs.com/marketing_to_women/2008/04/i-am-a-dividend.html

http://www.freightdawg.com/2008/04/ata-bankruptcy.html

Check Your Prices,
Sam Carrara

Posted in Marketing | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Save Time with LeechBlock

I found another good way to reclaim your time in the form of a FireFox extension/plugin. LeechBlock lets you set times and domains to block to help you get more accomplished.

Really it helps you to avoid looking at the newest Anime episode when you should be working.

To read the whole review see it at LifeHacker-
http://lifehacker.com/374812/save-yourself-from-time-sinks-online-with-leechblock

Save Time,
Sam Carrara

Posted in Advice | Tagged , , | 2 Comments