It’s some time since my last post and during that time things have been moving at a hectic pace.

My affiliate activities while still an important stream of income now play second fiddle to my first faltering steps as a merchant, in November Gluten Free Food Products Limited was born and the last 2 months have been a steep learning curve with premises, equipment, stock, Vat reg, e-commerce website, credit card integration and a million other things to sort out, thankfully I have haven’t had to do it alone and my wonderful girlfriend Mandy is also my business partner and we have embarked on the adventure together.

My internet marketing skills and Mandy’s inside knowledge of Coeliac Disease means we cover a fair few bases.

We have now soft launched and are waiting for the trickle of orders to become a torrent, full launch comes this Saturday when we are handing out leaflets and samples at our first food fair as an exhibitor so if you happen to be in Leeds pop over to St Chads and give us some support.

Guest post by Joe Williams of SEO Training

“A man can’t see, he can’t fight” [Terry Silver – The Karate Kid III]

Insightful words from Karate Kid villain ‘Terry Silver’.  A principal so profound it can be applied to just about anything, including online marketing. To compete in your online industry, you need to see what works and what doesn’t [a man can’t see, he can’t fight].

So, how do you know what works?

It’s all about successful actions on your site or the ‘conversions’ your visitors take which help drive business. This could be an enquiry (lead), sale, download, subscription, newsletter signup or anything else which helps reach your goals. This is something I often highlight in our SEO courses.

Google Analytics Goals (and how it’s got a whole lot better!)

Google Analytics allows conversions to be tracked as goals. Once a goal is triggered, you can see what contributed last to its success e.g. Affiliate, SEO or PPC, and whether a referring keyword was involved. This is really useful but often there are many referring traffic sources and many keywords that assist in any one conversion.

So only knowing the last referrer is a bit like Terry Silver attempts to blind Karate Kid. You can’t see the whole search journey and this makes optimisation (or fighting) difficult. Much more difficult.

The Rise of Google Analytics Multi-Channel Funnels

Read more about it here.

Knowing the whole search journey and allocating assists for conversions has been around for a while but only for premium web analytics packages which small businesses and often affiliates can’t afford.

Well, Google has now made this feature free for all. And this makes everything a whole lot easier to plan and optimise in your online marketing efforts.

Every wandered why brand keywords convert so well? Customers must know who you are. But those that only recently discovered you are likely to have found you another way first and now using Google Analytics Multi-Channel funnels you can find out how! A super handy feature.

A couple of weeks ago I soft launched my new project Outsource Resource with the aim of setting up a freelance marketplace tailored to the UK.

The seed of the idea was planted at A4expo, for a fair while I have been dabbling in outsourcing work, and have been active on sites such as elance and odesk, however at the expo I was introduced to fiverr a website where every job costs a mere $5, it wasn’t the pricing structure that appealed to me (you get what you pay for) but the simplicity of the website.

http://outsourceresource.co.uk/ uses the fiverr model but it is aimed as an alternative to odesk and elance with realistic prices.

How it works

1. Freelancers list the service they are willing to provide
2. Clients buy the services they require
3. Freelancers are notified when their services are bought
4. Clients are notified when the work is done and can approve the payment
5. Freelancer receives payment

Alternatively if service required is not available

1. Client posts the service they require
2. Freelancers apply to provide the service
3. Client approves application
4. Clients are notified when the work is done and can approve the payment
5. Freelancer receives payment

Payments

• All transactions are made via Paypal for better security and dispute management
• For each task the freelancer receives 80% of agreed price
• The payment is made only when the client has confirmed the task has been done

So if you have a job you require doing set up a free account and list away, or if you offer a service put up the details and hopefully someone will employ you.

Advantages of Outsource Resource for freelancers who are already active on odesk and elance is that your feedback on those websites can be imported to your profile. Also you can record an introductory video.

If you want to introduce freelancers and employers to Outsource Resource there you can pick up your affiliate link on the edit your profile page.

This project is very much in beta so please give feedback, report any bugs, offer suggestions (keep them clean) etc. using the comments below or the feedback form here and I will pass them on to my developer.

Oh btw the logo on Outsource Resource came from the job I posted

Outsource Resource is also on twitter @1outsource and Facebook.

I was sitting in the pub the other night having a quiet drink with a very good friend of mine who expressed her concerns about Google Instant Search, she was telling me how much she disliked the way everything changed as you typed a query into the search box, now this lady is just a normal computer user and not a complete and utter geek (yes I do have none geeky friends).

Well to cut a long story short the conversation ended with the plea “How do I get rid of it?” and I got to thinking many others may want to do the same, hence this article….

so How Do I Turn Off Google Instant Search?

Well the short answer is very easily.

Actually there are 2 ways:

1. You can turn off Google Instant Search by clicking the link Instant is on next to the search box on any search results page.
2. Or by visiting your Preferences and scrolling down to the bottom of the page and clicking
   Do not use Google Instant.

When researching the subject I discovered this excellent video from Lifehacker which goes though the process.

page.

Many of my compatriots have posted on their blogs reflecting on the last decade or year and very good reading it is too here are some of them:

• CantBarsed.com 10th Anniversary Year! Joe Connor
• Surviving A Decade Of Self Employment Jason Dale
• Goodbye to the Noughties and a New Life in the Teenies… Nadeem Azam
• What a difference 10 years makes… J Lil (aka James Little)
• That’s All For 2009 Folks – What will 2010 Bring? Kirsty McCubbin

For me this is not a time for reflection, the Noughties were ok to me well actually a bit of a rollercoaster ride, however, as one top astrologer put it on New Years Day, they have tweeted their last tweet and updated facebook for the last time, and you cant phone, text, email or skype them, they are gone forever.

Now looking forward to the Teenies (is that the accepted term?) what will they bring, undoubtedly for all of us, a whole world of new changes and challenges on so many levels both personally and professionally.

On a professional level I am going to start by building on the foundations our dear friend the Noughties left behind, 2009 was all about consolidation, I ended the year spending 90% of my time on the few sites bringing in the majority of my revenue rather than wasting time on dead ducks.

The main focus this year will be on building up the brand of Fashion Style You which is now over 2.5 years old and steadily growing month on month (google willing).

Aside from that I am going to remain flexible while continuing other projects and collaborations which have proved fruitful in the past I will also be looking for new opportunities, possibly selling a few sites but above all moving forward.