This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Boost Mobile. All opinions are 100% mine.

No Contract Needed!

My Wife and I went looking for new cell phones. Our contract was up, 2 years ago, we never renewed because they didn’t require it, and plus we weren’t sure if we wanted another contract. We were with the same company for over 10 years, so we weren’t sure if we wanted someone else. Anyway, we wanted new phones with better text and web access. What we really wanted was to get on Twitter and Facebook with our phones, plus a few other sites. But we didn’t want to purchase a $600 Blackberry. So in order to get free phones we would have to enter into another 2 year contract, which we weren’t ready to do again. So we decided to look at all the major cell phone providers, you know who they are, before we agreed to another contract. We even looked at Boost Mobile, a new provider in our area. Boost didn’t require a contract, we could get a Blackberry for $150 bucks, and all data plan that includes everything for $60 a month per phone. Which we both like because we can get on the web, get some great free apps, and get on Facebook. They even provided a way to reload your account, it’s called Re-Boost. Re-Boost is a way to reload your account to fund your plan. I will end with this, these guys, Boost Mobile, are worth considering for our next provider. I will be reading more about them to make sure their the right fit for us.

Increase Your Sales!

Are you a business owner looking to increase your sales in this economy? I am, and I’m always looking for new ways to increase my sales. Lately however it’s been really tough going with sales. It seems what ever I try to do it’s just not working like I want it to. Some of the things I have is running discounts and compiling services, selling packages basically. I’ve even lowered prices on a few of the products I offer, which has worked a little. But when you start lowering prices it underscores your products services in my opinion. And then what do you do with the customers you have paying full price, do you lower them as well? I know I would want my price lowered if I was a customer paying full price.

So I’ve been looking for new ways to get my name out there. One way is marketing offline, something I’ve never thought about before. Since all of my services and products are related to webmasters and site owners I’ve never marketed offline. I’ve been thinking about doing some direct marketing by sending out fliers. I’m even thinking about sending a postcard to some of my customers to let them Know I appreciate their business. I think by sending a full color postcard could go a far way, and hopefully bring in new customers. I know I would like to receive a great looking postcard with the vendors I do business with. The cost of a few postcards is very cheap, and the amount of business coming in could be huge. After all word of mouth is the best form of marketing. The more people you have saying great things about you will grow any business. What do some of you think about marketing online services offline, do you think it would work?

Blu-Ray Players!

I just read an article online that states that the Blu-ray Disc Association recently started to license their technology to Chinese manufactures. You all know what that means, Blu-Ray players for under $100 bucks. I hate to say it, but that’s when I’ll get one. If we could build these players and sell them at a much more affordable price I would have gotten one a long time ago. Right now these Blu-Ray players are selling for more than $200, which is way to high in my opinion. And the disc’s cost about twice as much as the standard DVD, why? I once heard that making a Blu-Ray disc was cheaper than making a standard DVD. The same happened when we went from a VHS tapes to a DVD, it was cheaper to make the DVD. At the time they where selling the DVD for twice the amount of the VHS tape. If these makers would stop being so greedy we wouldn’t need Chinese manufactures to get the pricing under control, and people would by more things made in the USA. I really feel that if the maker of anything would charge reasonable prices for their products we would be much better off than what we are now. The greed needs to stop!

FAO Schwarz!

What in the world happened to FAO Schwarz? I had no idea they filed for bankruptcy in 2002, and then again in 2003. Then I read that not to long ago they were sold to Toys R Us Inc. I’m not sure how will Toys R Us will do with them, or if they even fit in with them. FAO Schwarz only has 2 locations, that I know of. One is their flagship store in NYC, and the other one is located in Las Vegas. They also run a catalog business, which up till today I thought they where doing very well. I guess their main customers, the rich folk aren’t buying their toys anymore. I once went to their store in NYC and saw race care their listed for over $25,000, a kids race car. Their toys are over priced, only the rich shopped there. Now with Toys R Us taken them over maybe we’ll see prices come down to where everyone will be able to afford that crap.