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Summer Felix has been in internet marketing since internet happened. Her unique ability to connect with anyone and take on his or her voice led her to co-found The Draw Shop, a whiteboard animation studio whose goal is to make jaws drop and mouths say Whoa! With The Draw Shop, Felixhelps her clients hone their core messages and translates those messages into whiteboard animation videos that have proven to increase sales and marketing success.

The success of The Draw Shop was immediate. Felixand her co-founder Erik Kerr sold four videos before they even incorporated. But, The Draw Shop is just one of the many successes of Felix. Prior, she had owned and sold numerous online businesses and had made a big name for herself in the copywriting and ghostwriting worlds. Felixs success in writing continues today with her novels The Right Oneand Lost and Profound.

Related:How This Idea Went From the Founder's Kitchen to a $20-Million Company?

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This Serial Internet Entrepreneur Explains How to Find Your Core Message - Entrepreneur

If you believed every advertisement in your Facebook news feed selling the entrepreneurial dream, you would think that everyone and their brother is creating million-dollar online businesses while traveling the world or floating in their pool.

Now, Im not saying every one of these courses is pure BS. There might be some solid actionable advice to be found, but instead of paying $97, $197 or $297 (you know those are the magic numbers) to some self-proclaimed internet gazillionaire, Im going to walk you through the steps that are required to build a successful online business, in several articles here on Entrepreneur.com, starting with this one.

A few years ago, I had the opportunity to secure an attractive domain hack: LAWYE.RS. Its the only one-word lawyers domain hack available, and while I wasnt sure what I was going to do with it at the time, I knew it had potential to be turned into something very special.

The time has come to do something with this domain, and I have determined the strategy I will use to build this website out and monetize it.

Will I be successful? The potential to turn it into a multi-million-dollar business exists, but I could alsofall flat on my face.

Heres how I laid out the concept and monetization strategy for this new project. The same strategy can be used to help you develop any online business -- its universal.

I decided I was going to turn this domain into a law firm directory, and two factors played a role in this decision. First, there will always be a need for lawyers and plenty of law firms for consumers to pick from. There will never be a shortage of website visitors or law firms to monetize as customers.

Second, online marketing and online branding is on a consistent growth pathwith no sign of slowing down, so another platform for law firms to use for marketing and brand building will be welcomed.

When you create an online business in a niche that will never see a decline, you are drastically increasing the chances of building something that will generate revenue for a long time. I see too many people trying to start online businesses with only the short-game in mind. Instead, focus on building something with long-term sustainability.

Related:5 Habits of the Wealthy That Helped Them Get Rich

Building an online law firm directory resource isnt going to win any innovation awards, but it can still be different than other available options. My main focus with this project is creating an online community and content platform -- giving lawyers a platform to publish content on, which will be seen by industry peers and potential clients. The personal branding benefit and ability to be seen as a thought leader is the unique angle here.

When you create an online business, you dont have to reinvent the wheel, but you do need a unique selling proposition and a way to provide some level of value that isnt currently available.

There are several ways to generate money with an online business. You can sell your own products or services, re-sell products or services, sell information or courses, promote affiliate offers or sell advertisement space, for example.

For my law firm directory, user experience is a priority. The last thing I want to do is annoy visitors with banner ads and pop-up offers. They need to be able to land on our website and quickly find the information they need. So, the revenue model will be based around an annual premium listing upgrade that law firms can claim.

We will be building out the directory with every law firm in the U.S. Every basic listing will contain the firms name and address. For an annual fee, law firms will be able to claim their listing and upgrade to a premium listing, which allows for full contact information, a complete listing of all lawyers on staff, images, video, social media profile links and a link to their website. Also, they get unlimited inbound form-submit leads and each lawyer on staff will receive a contributor account, allowing them to publish content on the directorys blog.

This monetization strategy allows us to keep the website free of advertisement banners and affiliate offers, keeping our user experience pleasant. It also provides several attractive benefits for our target customer, which is important if we want to convert a large enough percentage to turn this into a multi-million-dollar online business.

A lot of people get hung up on the monetization component, and while its an important piece of the puzzle, you need to remember that you can always pivot.

Related:Habits of the World's Wealthiest People (Infographic)

Your online business is unlikely to take off without a solid marketing and advertising plan in place. Whether you are using simple public relationsstrategiessuch as HARO for securing press mentionsor launching a six-figure campaign on Facebook, you need a detailed plan.

Our plan for the directory is a combination of email marketing and highly targeted digital ad buys. Automation is key here, allowing for more teamwork on the back end. A team of customer support reps, developers and editors will maintain the directory and continue to add new premium listings and blog content.

While the email marketing and digital ad buys will drive awareness, we also know that the content platform will help get the word out. As more lawyers sign up to contribute content and then share it across their networks through social channels like LinkedIn and Twitter, they will introduce our directory to their industry peers.

We will also be doing our own content marketing outreachwith an emphasis on infographics and interactive mediafor maximum social shares and exposure within the legal community.

Launching an online business without any feedback from your target customer base is foolish. You might have a great idea, but a gut feeling or intuition alone doesnt mean its a viable business model. Taking the time to gather feedback and constructive criticism can help you avoid launching a dud and coming to market with a better product.

I spoke to countless attorneys and law firms before moving forward with this project. Taking their feedback and feature requests, I was able to create an offering that is highly desirable at a price-point that makes it affordable for any size law firm.

I sent emails and even picked up the phone and called random firms. You have to be willing to put yourself out there and listen to the feedback, both positive and negative. This step helped to polish the finished offering.

Related:8 Reasons a Powerful Personal Brand Will Make You Successful

Building a successful online business capable of generating millions of dollars in revenue requires a great ideaand, more importantly, flawless execution. Everyone has ideas, but very few can execute them.

We are currently finishing the design and development of this project, which I will expand on in a future article, along with launch and growth strategies. To follow this project more closely, add me on Snapchat. My goal with sharing this project is to provide you with actionable advice that you can apply to help build your own online business.

Jonathan Long is the founder ofMarket Domination Media,a performance-based online marketing agency, blerrp, an influencer marketing agencyand co-founder of consumer productSexy Smile Kit&trade...

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5 Steps to Creating and Monetizing a Million-Dollar Online Business - Entrepreneur

The reorganization memo released Monday didnt mention any workforce reductions. But the changes will mean thousands of job cuts in areas such as field sales, said a person familiar with the restructuring.

Microsoft reorganized its sales and marketing operations in a bid to woo more customers in areas like artificial intelligence and the cloud by providing sales staff with greater technical and industry-specific expertise.

The company unveiled the steps in an email to staff Monday that was obtained by Bloomberg.

The memo didnt mention any workforce reductions. But the changes will mean thousands of job cuts in areas such as field sales, said a person familiar with the restructuring who asked not to be named because the workforce reductions arent public. The company had 121,567 employees as of March 31.

Commercial sales will be split into two segments one focused on the biggest customers and one for small and medium clients, according to the memo. Employees will be aligned around six industries manufacturing, financial services, retail, health, education and government. Theyll focus on selling software in four categories: modern workplace, business applications, apps and infrastructure, and data and AI.

Microsoft is in a pitched battle with companies like Amazon.com and Alphabet for customers who want to move workplace applications and data to the cloud, as well as take advantage of advances in artificial intelligence. The company, which has not dramatically overhauled its sales force in years, wants to tailor those teams better for selling cloud software rather than desktop and server solutions.

There is an enormous $4.5 trillion market opportunity across our Commercial and Consumer businesses, according to the email, which was sent by Worldwide Commercial Business chief Judson Althoff, Global Sales and Marketing group leader Jean-Philippe Courtois and Chris Capossela, the companys chief marketing officer.

In the consumer and device sales area, Microsoft is creating six regions selling products like Windows software and Surface hardware, Office 365 cloud software for consumers and the Xbox game console. The group will also focus on new areas such as the internet of Things, voice, mixed reality and AI.

Microsoft will track metrics including large companies deploying Windows 10, sales of Windows 10 Pro devices and competition against Alphabets Chromebooks and Apples iPads.

Microsoft aims to expand its consumer business by creating desire for the same creativity tools that people have at work through Surface, Windows devices and Office 365, according to the memo.

In addition, gaming is growing rapidly across all device types and is evolving to new scenarios like eSports, game broadcasting, and mixed reality content and we will drive growth in this category as well, according to the memo.

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Microsoft announces global sales-force, marketing reorganization - Seattle Times

A free, eight-week-long coding workshop for students in grades eight through 11, kicked off June 12, at Northern New Mexico College.

The program will be one of three classes run by the Albuquerque-based Cultivating Coders, this summer. The other two will take place on the Navajo Nation and in the South Valley during the same period of time, June 12 to Aug. 4.

The companys goal is to get high school students excited about computing and software development, according to president and founder Charles Ashley III, who believes computing is just as important as reading and writing.

To date, Cultivating Coders has run 11 workshops throughout New Mexico and will soon bring workshops to Mississippi and Florida, as well. The company partnered with the Los Alamos National Laboratory Foundation and the Espaola School District to bring the class to 13 students in Espaola.

Ashley compared Espaola to his hometown of Chicago.

The regions are different but the circumstances are the same, he said. I relate to these kids. (In Chicago) you were either drug dealing and gang-banging or you were playing sports. I see a lot of that in Espaola. These kids dont feel there are a lot of options and when, as a teenager, you feel you are without options, you get into trouble.

The program provides free instruction, breakfast and lunch, as well as a free laptop that students get to keep at the end of the eight weeks, thanks to a grant from the Foundation. Ashley said he hopes to make the program as accessible as possible, and would even possibly like to provide transportation to and from the class, in the future.

Technology for rural communities is a real potential game changer, Gwendolyn Warniment, the K-12 director at the Foundation, said. I think Cultivating Coders is an amazing organization that has figured out that beautiful place where change happens.

Other Cultivating Coders workshops have been funded by various private donors and grants, including a grant from Microsoft.

The class begins by teaching students the coding languages HTML, CSS and other basic computer science skills.

The students then learn JavaScript, and finally, spend their last two weeks in the class coming up with project ideas based on something that affects their community. The class votes on the ideas and then groups form to create websites for the projects.

Instructors Kyle Hagler and Dana Yazzie are leading the workshop.

Hagler is a University of Florida computer science graduate and a former instructor at a coding camp in Vancouver, Canada.

Yazzie was a student of the first Cultivating Coders class in Farmington, and has since led six Cultivating Coders workshops and taken a remote developer position at WSI, the worlds largest internet marketing company with more than 80 offices worldwide, according to their website.

We selected her for the Espaola camp because I know her background and her empathy is a great fit for this area, Ashley said of Yazzie.

Having a female teacher is also inspiring for the only two female students in the workshop, Judith Perez, 16; and Rique Fernandez, 17, both of whom discovered the program through a recommendation by their social workers.

Im really interested in (coding), Perez said. At first I wanted to be a veterinarian, but this seems pretty cool.

Perez is excited to use her newfound coding knowledge to create websites where she can share her writing something she is also passionate about.

It feels good (to be in the class), she said. Its like that weird stereotype that girls dont do as much stuff as boys do and were here doing it too, which is really fun.

Fun and empowerment is exactly what Cultivating Coders hopes to provide its students with.

Ashley said he hopes, through the workshops, as well as the ongoing mentorship and after-school coding clubs that Cultivating Coders offers, there will be an explosion of talent in New Mexico in the next few years.

Most of the Espaola workshop students are in high school, but two students, Gabriel Duran, 13, and Eduardo Juarez, 13, are in eighth grade and found the workshop through their involvement in their schools gifted students program.

For these two, and other young students, the goal is not to immediately make them employable, as is the goal with which the adult Cultivating Coders workshops began, but instead, to put them on a path of computing. Duran said he sees himself pursuing a career in computer animation, while Juarez is considering software development.

Ashley noted how gifted the boys are and said he hopes some day they will create the next Facebook.

See the article here:
Program Aims to Cultivate Coders - Rio Grande Sun

Students from Oklahoma Baptist Universitys Paul Dickinson College of Business recently earned Google certifications in internet marketing. The business school competed for the first time in the 2017 Google Online Marketing Challenge. This practical experience was one of many that OBU students undertake in their courses to better prepare for their future careers.

The Google Online Marketing Challenge provides undergraduate and post-graduate students direct experience with online advertising and marketing. The Challenge began in February 2008 and is open to any higher education institution from anywhere in the world. Student groups receive $200 to spend on Google AdWords advertising while working with a local business of their selection to devise effective online marketing campaigns. In this process, students develop an online marketing strategy, run the campaign, assess their results and provide the business with recommendations to further develop their online marketing, all in just three weeks.

Dr. Daryl Green, assistant professor of business and Dickinson Chair of Business, stumbled across the Google challenge while researching for a class.

When I read about this Google challenge, I was excited for our students, he said. It provides a practical experience in internet marketing on a real landscape. We set out to assist about nine local organizations. I did not expect to see so many of our students become Google certified. Its a difficult process.

The Google AdWords certification is a professional accreditation that Google offers to individuals who demonstrate proficiency in basic and advanced aspects of AdWords. An AdWords certification allows individuals to demonstrate Google recognizes them as an expert in online advertising. Students must pass two of the AdWords certification exams (the AdWords fundamentals exam and one of the following: search advertising, display advertising, mobile advertising, video advertising or shopping advertising) to become an AdWords certified professional.

Dr. Green adds, Our students were certified in record-setting time. They achieved these certifications in less than 3 weeks.

There were nine teams who participated from OBU in the Google AdWords campaign. Sixteen students became Google AdWords certified, including Connelly Rader, McKenzie Lumry, Jessica Schooler, Brittany Watts, Christina Roach, Sarah Hancock, Michael Vetter, Daniel Maranell, Emmalee Ewbank, Brad Adams, Zachary Romoser, Summer Templeton, Bailey Davis, Kailey Moore, Jacob Vanderslice and Samuel Guillaume.

Many companies across the nation are looking for students who understand digital marketing. Emmalee Ewbank, a non-business major, appreciated the opportunity to achieve her Google certification.

I learned that Google AdWords is a lot more intricate than I anticipated, but anyone can definitely understand it if they take the time to do so, she said. I value having the opportunity to gain knowledge over different subjects and this was another chance to do just that. I definitely think it is a necessity for students to have an understanding of internet marketing due to the major influence the internet has on our everyday lives.

For more information about the Paul Dickson College of Business at OBU, visit http://www.okbu.edu/business.

Originally posted here:
Students earn Google certifications - Shawnee News Star