“How is your business perceived based on your website?” by Chris Dixon

"How is your business perceived based on your website?”

by Chris Dixon

It is said that we have just seconds to make a first impression.    They teach this for the interview process so that you can land a job.   This is also one of the first things you are taught in sales as you will live or die based on the first few seconds you spend with a new customer or client.  

So what happens when someone visits your website for the first time?   Does it look professional?  Does it make them want to spend some time there looking around?   Most importantly is it helping you close sales or is it making the process harder?

Over the last year I have visited over 2000 websites related to the firearms industry.   There are those of us that are hungry for new or innovative ideas.   If you had stumbled onto one of these ideas you might find yourself searching all over to refine your thoughts or to see if there was anyone else out there using your idea.    This was where I found myself last year when I had the idea for the Conceal & Carry Network.     This is also why I hired professionals to build my site versus doing it myself.

Stay with me for a minute as this article is not a slam against the do-it-yourself web designers.   We are discussing first impressions and how you can add more sales and profits to your company.   Not everyone has the money to build powerful websites especially when the firearms industry is mostly a collection of hardworking small business owners.   It can cost you $10k-$20k to build a powerful website with massive search engine capability and social media share-ability designed into it.   Trust me, this part I know from firsthand experience.   You also have to look at effectiveness and ROI (Return-On-Investment).    This is why many firearms industry business owners build their own websites and then hope that just because they have a website people will come and buy products from them.   Don’t we all wish it was that easy?

There are approximately 60,000 FFL Dealers in the US and the major companies like Dick’s Sporting Goods, Cabela’s, Gander Mountain, Bass Pro Shops, and Academy Sports and Outdoor all have impressive and very expensive websites.   It is difficult for a small company to compete…or is it?

What if you could tap into the strength of a professional website that was there to help you advertise your business?   What if the cost was negligible?   What if you could harness the strength of social media to get the word out about your business?   What if you had a way to direct happy clients to give you reviews that were visible to new prospects?    The Conceal & Carry Network www.concealncarry.net was designed and built to answer those questions and much more.

We charge $100 a year for our best business listing which is a Platinum level listing.    These listings while affordable are the most innovative way to attract new clients to your company.     What else can you do for less than 28 cents a day that can help your business as much?    The concept is simple…. the Conceal and Carry Network is an information hub that is continually collecting new and interesting news, articles, blogs, videos, and much more to keep visitors coming back.   Our platinum level business listing are the visible to all visitors that come to our site.   The secret to effective advertising is to spend your time marketing where your potential customers visit.    Example#1, Example#2, Example#3

We also offer a service to build a custom product or service page which we also charge $100 a year to build and post.   Example #1, Example#2

If you are an FFL Dealer we have several manufacturers that offer their wholesale products directly to you.    We have just launched a new section called Gun Dealer Offers which are wholesale products you should consider selling to increase your incremental sales volume and profits.

I hope you have found this article useful as we are here to help you get more professional exposure for your business and ultimately make you more money.   We have a saying here….”Join the Conceal & Carry Network where our goal is the success of your business!”   CLICK HERE to join us today.

If you have any question… email me at chrisdxn@concealncarry.net

Have a Blessed Day!

Chris Dixon

Link to Article... http://concealncarry.net/blog/how-is-your-business-perceived-based-on-your-website-by-chris-dixon.html

Dan Meadows interviews Chris Dixon on Shooting Channel - 10212013 - Dan Interviews Chris Dixon - Tindeck MP3 Download

Dan Meadows interviews Chris Dixon on Shooting Channel - 10212013 - Dan Interviews Chris Dixon - Tindeck MP3 Download

"I'm a RICH MAN but I'm not Wealthy" 

by Leon Measures

I am not a rich man in terms of money and possessions. I am extremely wealthy in things money can't buy. While working with kids, more than half a century, I have been 'paid' many times over.

This morning I remembered Kevin and know I will have a good day. This story has to be long, in order for you (hopefully) to enjoy it with me.

 Several years ago, a lady named Sharon Pagel called to ask if we would be interested in doing our shooting show, in Denver. She went on to say she was blind and put on an exhibition with bow and arrow. Sharon said she was practicing to go to Kodiak Alaska to kill a big bear with her bow. I said, 'Lady, I've not met you but I can tell from here, you are certifiably insane”! Her husband stands behind her and touches her, 'left', 'right', 'up', 'down', and 'shoot'. We got a Christmas card with a picture of her sitting on a big bear, holding her bow. For you Trapshooters, at last report she was up to 17X25 and can't tell daylight from dark.
Several years later, Texas Parks and Wildlife asked us to help with a POINT (Paraplegics On Independent Nature Trails) gathering at Caddo Lake. The gathering was held at “Crips Camp”. He is in a wheelchair. Frillie, my wife and constant companion, wasn't able to join me. I set up the shooting gallery under a big tree, with BB guns and targets.

A gentleman came to ask, “Do you think you could help Kevin shoot”? I asked if Kevin wanted to shoot and got a resounding, “Oh, yes”! The man explained, “Kevin has been blind since birth”. I immediately thought of Sharon, and said, “No problem! Bring him on, we have a special gun for a special kid”! Kevin was almost as big as I am, he shuffled his feet, with his head bowed. I sat him down at a table and let him feel of the BB gun, while I described its various parts. By this time a crowd had gathered to watch a kid who couldn't see, shoot. I put a pair of safety glasses on Kevin and he chuckled. I told him we couldn't afford the appearance of being unsafe. I demonstrated how he should mount the gun, got his cheek on the stock, and said to the onlookers, “Watch this. This gun has radar”. I reached around Kevin, held the gun barrel (which pointed the gun) and whispered to him, “ Kevin, when I poke you on the shoulder like this, you pull the trigger”. He did and the crowd cheered. Kevin may have shot twenty times. His dad took his target and laid it on the table for Kevin to feel. Kevin laughed out loud, and the crowd cheered. Kevin left with his head held high and a spring in his steps.

Later that day, Kevin's dad told me, “That was one of the few times in Kevin's life he has had something to laugh about”. Anybody want to trade that for money?

Stay with me now. It gets better.

The next year, Frillie went with me to Caddo Lake. I had told her she had to meet Kevin. The first question I asked was, “Where's Kevin”? A man answered, “Kevin won't be here this time”. I expected to hear about some sort of tragedy. The man explained, “Kevin is on a mountain climbing trip”! If that wasn't enough, the next year the gathering was held at Lake Dallas. “ Kevin won't be here this year, he's off on a deer hunt”!

A couple of months later, Steve Hall (now Executive Director of International Hunter Education Assn.) called. He said he had an interesting story. A wealthy rancher invites certain physically handicapped kids to cull his deer herd. A guide takes a kid and tells which deer to shoot. Steve said, “ I drew Kevin”! The rancher told Steve, if Kevin gets a shot at the biggest deer on the place, let him shoot it. A serious trophy buck was standing on Kevin's side of a road ,watching three does across the road. Steve turned the truck so Kevin would have a clear shot. Kevin said, “ Mr. Hall when you think the gun is right, poke me on the shoulder and I will shoot”. Steve said he was looking along the top of a scope. When he thought the gun was right, he poked Kevin and the buck fell!

Steve asked Kevin, “How did you learn to do that”? Kevin said, “Mr. Measures taught me how”!

Life's best rewards are not defined by Dollar Signs. They are defined by how you have enrichened someone elses life by your actions.

'Nuf said?

Leon Measures

If you want to read other articles by Leon Measure visit his blog post "Shoot where you look" or his website Shootwhereyoulook.com

Gun Guy Radio 087 - ProGun Merchant Solutions for the Firearms Industry

Freedom Isn’t Free

By Chris Dixon

While this concept is neither new or original it is still an active issue that we must face daily while living in a country run by a super liberal president.    We’ve heard this old clichés before but do people actually realize there is a daily attack on our 2^nd Amendment rights and liberties by this administration.   Wake up America your Freedoms are slipping away!

The older I get the more patriotic I feel.   My love of this country and my love of liberty are completely inner-twined.   When I see an active duty solder I am compelled to shake their hand and thank them for their services.    These folks are the front line protecting my freedom and yours.   They bleed and die so that we can work where we want to work, attend church where we want to attend, or to believe nothing at all if that is your preference.

Our nation is running at full speed in a direction that tries to eliminate God, morals, and liberties in every aspect of our lives.   While I do believe in God, Christian morals, and common liberties I also believe that everyone else has the right to believe in anything they want or nothing at all.    We should fight just as hard to defend an atheist’s right not to believe in a higher power as we do to defend a Christian’s right to believe in God.

We cannot pass a day that we do not hear liberals angrily talking about gun control and how we need tighter gun laws.   When will people understand that this is not and has never been about guns in the hands of everyday citizens?   The issue is criminals with guns.   The fact is a criminal will always be able to get a gun just like they can get drugs at many street corner inner cities.

Criminals are cowards with a gun and they will be happy to take your freedom, your possessions, and your life if they can.    If liberals get their way they will be making us all sheep in fear of the big bad wolves of our society.   This Travon Martin case just adds fuel to that fire.  The fact that he was a violent kids with a criminal pass has been overlooked by our media and liberals in general.    The facts do not matter if you use energy and anger behind this case to drive the agenda the liberals want and that is a gun-free America.

There is a solution and it does work.   Arm yourself America!    This country needs less sheep and it needs more sheep dogs.   The sheep dog’s role was to protect the sheep.  Armed citizens will be able to defend themselves and others around them.   Almost every massacre we can remember would have been mitigated if someone at the scene had a firearms and had killed the bad guys.

Remembering that freedom is not free might just change the way you view things.  Edmund Burke said it best 'The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”   Will you read this blog and do nothing?  I hope you will arm-up and stand up for your freedoms and liberty.    Your safety might just depend on what you do next.

http://concealncarry.net/blog/freedom-isnt-free.html

It’s a Great Time to Advertise!

By Chris Dixon

Advertising expenses can range from 1%-30% of a business’s yearly operating budget.  New companies might even budget 50% of their operating expenses to promote a start-up business.   This can quickly add up to vast amounts of money spent on printed materials, email campaigns, PPC Ads, Radio and TV spots, banner Ads, and so on.   These expenses can add up quickly.

If you are lucky with an email campaign you will get a 20% view rate, 7% Click rate, and a 2% conversion rate that gets you a sale.   Snail Mail (postal mail) today is very expensive with postage stamps at 33¢-46¢ each.  Direct mailers average from 1.3-3.4% response rate.  PPC Ads can average $2-$3 per click and have a 4-5% conversion rate. 

Are you depressed yet watching all of this money getting spent with limited results?   Is there an affordable way to advertise?    If you own a firearms or outdoor sports related business there is a super affordable option.   The Conceal & Carry Network is a Rope Style Marketing website that only charges $199.99 a year for a Platinum Business listing.

This Platinum Business listing can actually function with the power of some websites.  Your listing can display a video, show 15+ pictures, be shared on most social media sites, receive reviews, and allows visitors to send emails straight to you.  A super professional look for less than 55¢ a day.   What form of advertising can offer you anything close to this value?

We also offer Classifieds, Banner Ads, Event/Class Listing, Product Showcases, and even website building services.  Getting your company listed on our website and helping us drive clients to your listing is a winning plan.    This is likely the smallest advertising expense your company will have with the greatest possible return on investment.

Like the title of this article says “It’s a Great Time to Advertise” so take a minute and join us today. 

You will be glad you did!

http://concealncarry.net/blog/its-a-great-time-to-advertise-by-chris-dixon.html

Rope Marketing as a Business Plan

By Chris Dixon

There are countless forms of marketing and many share different names.   To my knowledge the term “Rope Marketing” is not a recognized name as I just made it up.  Being a Texan from birth this sounded like a fitting name for the topic of this article.  Merriam-Webster defines ROPE as “a large stout cord of strands of fibers or wire twisted or braided together”.  This definition matches what I want to refer to as Rope Marketing. 

There are more recognized terms like Cross-Marketing where 2 like-minded companies work together to the mutual benefit of both companies.   This is a great way to market and is one of my favorite tools I have used to market my new website.   It does lack a critical component that is needed for it to be considered Rope Marketing.

Rope Marketing to me is the idea of braiding together a large number of common themed or related business into a single network or website.  This Rope Marketing Network has each member invite their social media followers to check out the new marketing website where all businesses are listed.  This would become an exponentially fueled new network.   

This concept has a major Achilles heel it only works if everyone contributes and markets the idea.   Most businesses are busy trying to keep what market share they have and might not feel they have time or interest in a new form of marketing.    Several might think that investing in marketing that does not directly support their brand is pointless at best or futile in nature.

What would happen if you tried?  Imagine embracing this new concept of Rope Marketing. 

You take a minute to review how your company could join this network to the mutual benefit of all involved.   You set up a membership and invite your social media followers to check out the new website or network.   When you send out newsletter you refer to the network.  You have a link from your website to the new network.   OK now what happens?

If you are the only one that drank the cool-aid then nothing good is coming.   What if several others joined and brought their followers with them.   Your 10,000 followers join their 10,000 followers and soon this new network has 100k to 1 million followers that will also see your company on this new network.   Your small initial investment now pays you back with huge brand awareness and most likely financial gains as well.

What does this Business plan look like to those in the Firearms Industry?   It is called Conceal & Carry Network.   The concept is new and unproven but it is built on a sound Marketing approach.    We are much stronger if we stand together and help each other grow.  Our motto is “We will succeed by helping our members succeed first!”

Join us today you will be glad you did.

http://concealncarry.net/blog/rope-marketing.html