milsoms.com blog

I wanted to try a different theme for the blog and start to understand the templates and how they work so I can get the blog designed exactly as I want it and begin to add the features and functionality I want.

I have purchased a set of AdSense templates and there is one that looks like a good start. The hgeader image is wrong but I have the Photoshop .psd version and can edit the text to show what I want.

I have copied the whole theme to a working directory on my hard disk, edited the header image and edited the index.php, header.php and right.php templates within the theme to use my own adsense publisher ID. I also defined an AdSense channel for this blog and edited that as well.

I then used my FTP software to upload the whole theme directory to
www.milsoms.com/public_html/blog/wp-content/themes/

and it magically appears as a chioce on the Presentation / Themes page. Selecting it changes the whole blog to work with that theme. There is quite a lot I want to change but I will stick with this for now.

This is going to be fairly flexible and will no doubt change as I go along, but this is the outline of what I am going to do…

1. Create a wesite and blog framework that I can start to put content into.  It must be template based and easy to add additrional content sections within the main style and navigation structure;
2. Establish a submission and marketing process to get the site and all new pages indexed in search engines and directories as quickly as possible
3. Write my profit improvement handbook pulling together all of the proven techniques and tools I have into a structured process for tuning up a web business to make higher profits;
4. Do some hands-on consultancy work with suitable businesses to prove the approaches and help with documenting the process in a real situation;
5. Add sections of the handbook as content on the website as it is developed and create subfolders or subdomains with supporting content on each target area plus links to the software, tools and information I am using;
6. Create a series of short articles based on the main stages from the guide and submit to article directories to generate interest and incoming links;
7. Follow my own advice and process to monetize the content on the milsoms.com site using Google AdSense, affiliate links and other tools;
8. Develop a range of “mini sites” within the milsoms.com site to promote the information and tools  needed to undertake the profit improvement process (when the handbook is sold, the ones I have ownership rights to will become part of the package);
9. Set up standalone web sites for areas where I have sufficiently stong content.  These will be income-generating in their own right and also act as traffic generators and feeders to milsoms.com and its products;
10. When the handbook and tool set is complete, start to market the package;
11. Set up a membership site where people who have ordered the handbook can get ongoing help and advice plus access to new tools and techniques as I test and approve them.  This will include:

    * A library of tools, information and software for members
    * FAQ answering the main questions I receive
    * Member forum where members can help each other and I can post answerse to questions
    * Regular emails to members with latest information and updates

12. Consider joint ventures with established internet marketers to promote the profit improvement package.

That’s all!

I plan to have all of this completed and operational within 6 months, with the key milestones being:

• Have an operational framework for the milsoms.com website and blog working and with basic useful content and submit to search engines and directories - end September 2006;
• Outline of profit improvement handbook and main content done by end October 2006 - start submitting articles to directories and syndication sites;
• Develop content sites related to all main areas of activity in the guide (either as sub-folders, sub-domains or stand-alone sites;
• Finalise first version of the profit improvement guide and associated resources by end November 2006, give away to some trusted business contacts to get feedback and additional content;
• Update guide as a sellable product, decide on pricing and set up web site to sell it and take payment - complete by end December 2006;
• Start marketing in earnest Jan 2007;
• Set up membership web site, FAQ, forum, product library etc. by end of January 2006;
• Test and improve site, content and all systems during February 2007 so it is all fully working by the end of the 6 month target - 28 February 2007;
• Then move on to more marketing and considering joint ventures.

I am willing to work with a couple of businesses as a way of proving that it is possible to double their monthly web profits within 6 months using my methods and tools and also as a way of documenting the process in action.

This is the ideal profile for a business I would want to work with:

1. Established and viable offline business with an existing website that has been in operation for at least a year;
2. Sucessful offline but have not really achieved the expected success online;
3. Owner-Managed business where it is the owner who wants my help and is willing to work direct with me to make things happen;
4. Some technical expertise in-house to make changes to the website and undertake the ongoing marketing work required;
5. Preferably based close to London, UK as it would be nice to have some physical contact as well as working on the web;
6. Preferably using Actinic as the online catalog and shopping basket software;
7. In an acceptable and interesting (to me!) business niche with good untapped matket potential (investigating this is an early part of the review process);

If this is you, please get in touch and we can see if we could do some work together

Tel: 020 8770 3722

How do I get my email contact address available without making it easy for spammers to harvest it from the blog? I will find out, but in the meantime, you can adapt this:

keith at milsoms . com

This blog is going to get pretty big so it is going to need some organising!  I am going to include links to all the resources and tools I use and also my own comments, reviews and working notes on software and training materials as I need to be able to find things as well as my visitors.

I will start by setting up some categories and  take it from there.  Here is my starting setup

• Introduction and background
• Plans
• WordPress and blogging
• Website setup
• Website creation and content
• Consultancy work
• Resources (software, information, tools, websites)
• The profit improvement handbook
• Marketing (this is going to need some subdivisions later)

One thing I have learned the hard way (and watched many others learn as well) is that if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

I have spent years writing and reviewing business plans and have been in a continuous cycle of writing and updating business plans for my own companies for many years. This project is a bit different as it is only me involved and there is very little setup cost so I do not need any help or finance from anyone else to make it happen. That being the case, I do not need a formal business plan or financial forecasts to raise finance and involve others.

Why am I doing this and what am I trying to achieve?

This is my thinking behind what I am doing…

• Over the years I have gathered a huge amount of experience and expertise in all aspects of business (if I say so myself!) and, more recently, have learned a massive amount about how to set up and run a web-based business. When I have spoken at conferences and business events, what I have to say seems to be of great interest to the other people there and the like what I have done and how I go about it.
• I am still running Anything Left-Handed on a fairly full time basis and have interests in other businesses as well as some consultancy work for clients who have known me a long time, but I want to start doing something different and get back to my consultancy roots and helping other businesses and entrepreneurs.
• When I look at other peoples’ web businesses I usually think to myself “if you let me loose on that for a couple of months I could make a dramatic improvement in profits”. I can see basic mistakes they have made in what they have done and, more to the point, a huge number of things that they HAVEN’T done that would generate additional income and profit.
• While learning about internet marketing and building the Anything Left-handed business online, I have read probably thousands of books, reports and training courses, listened to hundreds of audio recordings and watched loads of videos. I have also tried hundreds of different bits of software, scripts, online tools and services and a very wide range of marketing approaches and methods.
• Some of these things were great and worked, others were rubbish and a waste of time - but at least I now know which are which! My hard disk is chock full of software, tools, reports, information sources and other valuable resources that have taken me years to extract from the mass of information available on the web. I have also got a lot of articles and reports I have written myself about a wide range of subjects related to doing business on the web.

When you put all that together, I reckon I would be a pretty useful resource for almost any web business, but particularly small to medium sized businesses that are not getting the success they really deserve online.

I plan to do some consultancy work over the coming months for a few suitable businesses to prove that I really can help them double their web profits within 6 months and then carry on upwards. I will do the work completely free of charge on the basis that they will let me document the work and use them as a reference and testimonial if it works. More on this later.

I will only be able to help a small number of businesses owners personally so what I really want to do is put my business development process into a practical handbook that any business owner could use themselves and to provide all the tools and information they need to review their own business and do the things that are really important to make a dramatic increase in their profit. I will also provide ongoing information and tools as I find new approaches and methods that have been successful in my own businesses.
That is what this is really about and the milsoms.com website will be the vehicle for delivering it.
Next post will be my plan for developing the website and profit improvement handbook

This blog tells the tale of how I set up a business website and consultancy operation from scratch and created a successful business based on the expertise I have gained over the past 30 years.

It is a bit unusual in that it is not a history, it is LIVE! I am going to keep a diary of what I did, how I did it and what results I got starting from the very beginning - now on 5th September 2006.

My intention is to document what I have done and all the tools and resources I have used for my own reference but also to help others do the same thing.

I do not come to this as a complete newbie - I have had a long and varied experience in business and sold a large leisure management business that I owned before spending the past 6 years learning about how to run an internet operation, build and market websites based around my business Anything Left-Handed.

See the Anything Left-Handed website

Find out more about the Anything Left-handed business

Who is Keith Milsom? - see my background and credentials
I think the best place to start this is with a plan - so I will put that in the next post.

PS - I am a beginner at WordPress Blogging so I will be learning that on the way and hopefully creating something impressive along the way - at the moment it is straight “out of the box” and I will document how I improve things as I go along.