Lesson 7 Reflections

First we needed to start the google adwords account.  We went to http://support.google.com/adwords/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1704406&topic=1713895&ctx=topic

This tells you where and how to start.  Once you log into your adwords they have you writing your ad. 

Here are 5 tips to help

1-Structure your adwords account (traveling, hiking, family, kids cooking)

2-Choose the right keywords.  Use adword keywords for help.  Use 2-3 words.  Don't be to generic but don't be to descriptive.  Choose 5-20 keyword per campaign.

3-Write attention grabbing ads.  Think like the user.  What are they searching for.

4-Select the right landing pages.  For traveling have them land on a traveling page and so forth.

5-Track who became your customer.  Adapt and change what isn't working.

Tips for picking the right keyword
1-think like a customer
2-organize by theme
3-Be Specific
4-Use negative keywords(when searching for your product see what similar searches come up that are not related to your product and negative them out.
5-Use the Keyword Planner

Lesson 6 Reflections

I started the lesson out researching what type of legal structure I wanted to set my business up as.  Since I do have a partner it will be a partnership.  It is wise to make a partnership agreement as to expectations.  Since we don't sell any goods we will not be needing a business license.  As our blog gets bigger we would need to see a lawyer and accountant to set up an s-corp.  That way we will not be personally liable for anything that may go wrong and with the s-corp we will be able to have fluid funds go to us personally at the end of the year.
As far as licenses when the point comes, I have made a list.  This is just for me living in Utah.

1.      Business license

-Get a state business license first at and then they will register for a federal id. https://secure.utah.gov/account/log-in.html

-Get a city license and mail it in.

http://www.cedarcity.org/DocumentCenter/Home/View/796

2.     -State income tax is 5%, there is only one bracket.

http://incometax.utah.gov/topics/rates

-Federal income tax has different brackets depending on earning amount.

https://www.irs.com/articles/2015-federal-tax-rates-personal-exemptions-and-standard-deductions

3.     Tax rates

-Utah state sales tax is 4.7% and Iron County sales tax is 1.25%

http://tax.utah.gov/sales/rates

Workers Compensation

-You have to have workers comp in Utah.  It is based on each individual employee that you get coverage through the state or private insurance company.

http://workcompone.com/Utah

5.     Property Taxes

This is done by our county.  They assess property value and then tax upon that each year.  Our city rate is .012572

https://www.ironcounty.net/department/assessor/understanding-your-assessment/

6.     Labor laws

-Utah labor laws here

http://laborcommission.utah.gov/

-Federal Labor Laws

https://www.dol.gov/

Lesson 5 Reflections

This week we talked about designing our sites.  At first I thought I wanted my site to stand out as far as design but I learned that users really want to see the same layout because its easier to navigate and makes them feel comfortable.

We also learned about setting up paypal buttons.  I didn't realize how easy it is to make them.
paypay.com/buttonfactory
It is as easy as entering the price, tax and shipping and it will create code for the button that you can put into your site.  There are several button templates.  I learned that the seller is liable for most everything.  It takes about 3-4 days before the the seller can receive money from a customer's purchase.  Paypal works with apple pay.  My husband would like that.  I also learned about tax rates.  Since I am from say utah, if I sell to anyone from utah I have to charge sells tax.  Not sure how that would be calculated with paypal.  But the term for taxes is nexus.  Interesting.

LO4 Reflections

This week we researched website builders and hosts.  I researched weebly, wordpress and dreamweaver.  For me at this time I chose to use wordpress for these reasons:
1.  It lets me have most control over my site without me having to code every line.
2.  Its widely used and has a ton of plugins.
3.  It was better than weebly because weebly only had a few templates to choose from and not many plugins.  
4.  It was better than dreamweaver at this time because I dont have time to code the entire site.

As far as hosting goes... I compared Justhost, Doteasy and GoDaddy.  They were all pretty comparable but doteasy was running a special for $1 a month for the first year.  Everything else to google adword credits were the same.  I did hear from a class mate that godaddy's service was pretty bad.  I use justhost and they have great customer service so I used them as my hosting.

I also finished up my project #1 this week.  It helped me use Google adwords keywords to help me decide if my business had a demand, competition, startup costs, supplier issues and profit.  I really felt that the spread sheet and the whole experience was useful.  I hope to use it again in the future.  I already bought my domain name and hosting.  TravelingHikingFamily.com