December 12, 2008 — Tis’ the Season! lifeBLUE Media is giving one lucky winner a free web design makeover. The 2nd Annual I Need a New Web Design Contest has officially started with more features than before to help contestants reach the coveted #1 ranking. Registration is 100% free and anyone can win as the grand prize is determined by the website with the highest number of average daily votes.

2007 marked the first year of the contest and it proved successful from the start. Over 300 entries were received and over 100,000 votes were accumulated during the course of the one month competition. Competition was stiff from beginning to end with as many as 30 different front runners. For 2008, lifeBLUE Media is expecting entries to be twice that amount if not more. Phillip Blackmon, Director of lifeBLUE, states “we want people to not only have a chance to win the contest but to use it as a way to promote their website and get their own site visitors involved in the process.”

This year lifeBLUE Media has chosen to provide even more tools to help contest participants spread the word. Contestants can email the contest directly to friends and family; place a direct link voting button on their site, and to give everyone a shot at a new web design, the winner is determined by the highest number of average daily votes. Contestants can therefore register anytime and still have a chance to win. Sign-up is easy and free, simply go to http://www.lifeblue.com/web_design_contest_two/join_contest.html and see what the rest of the world thinks about your website. Contest ends February 15th, 2009.

lifeBLUE Media is a custom web design company located in Dallas, TX. LB Media specializes in quality web solutions and application development for small, medium, and Fortune 500 businesses.

“The Bottom Line” quoted Rick Erling in their December issue about growing your business in today’s one-two punch of a credit meltdown and global economic downturn / recession. The quoted text follows….

According to Rick Erling, president of The CxO Group, LLC, a Dallas-based business coaching company, firms must pave the way for increased business. “At times like these many companies prefer to move into a survival strategy to ride out the storm. Survival strategy, while conservative, has one underlying problem,” he noted. “In today’s hyper-connected economy things can unravel quickly, and when your business is not growing and improving it is falling behind and headed for extinction.”

Business may be slow now, but it “will return to profitability in the future if you do what is necessary to survive today,” noted Erling.

Read the complete story at this link… Firms Facing Business Trial by Fire

Rick is the CEO of the firm and invites companies to contact him directly to chat for 20 minutes about the programs to learn if they might be a good fit for your company.

Learn more about CEO Coaching, Marketing Advisement, Business Growth Strategies and Strategic Planning services at http://www.thecxogroup.com

Contact The CxO Group directly by email info@thecxogroup.com or phone (972) 727-6880

Townhouses do not really fit into either of the main categories of homes for sale in Dallas. They are not as spread-out as your typical single family home, yet they provide more space than a condominium. The market is not quite sure how to view them either, and right now townhouses are having mixed success in the marketplace.

Unfinished Business

Some builders, plagued by an excessive amount of inventory already on the market, are pulling the plug and walking away from partially finished developments. For example, on Bryan Street there is a large, unfinished townhouse development that has been abandoned, leaving the weeds to reclaim the property.

Starts are Down

Starts in Dallas townhouses are also down, dropping 75% since their early 2007 peak. Right now the number of finished, vacant townhouses available to buy was 335 at the end of 2007, up from 200 in late 2006. This is an estimated nine-month supply of Dallas townhouses, significantly more than the traditionally acceptable two and a half month supply found in stronger markets.

Some developers continue to forge on, though. Those in good locations or who have something unique to offer are pressing on with new Dallas townhouse projects, such as the Ross Avenue Brownstones. They will be finished and ready to buy in March 2008.

The good news for buyers is that developers are looking to sell, and will likely offer incentives to prospective buyers to entice them into completing a sale. This makes the townhouse market particularly attractive. Those with down payments and good credit should consider taking advantages of the bargains available in the Dallas townhouse market.

While there is widespread disagreement as to if the U.S. economy is on the edge of a depression, a recession or is just experiencing an “anxiety economy”, no one can argue that the financial crisis is not having a huge ripple effect and its going to take years to work out.

Rick Erling, President of The CxO Group, LLC, a Dallas, Texas CEO Coaching and Business Performance Improvement firm adds “Today’s uncertain economic times are forcing all executives, managers, and business owners to adopt new strategies for navigating through the current business downturn. At times like these many companies prefer to move into a survival strategy to ride out the storm.

Survival strategy, while conservative, has one underlying problem. In today’s hyper-connected economy things can unravel quickly and when your business is not growing and improving it is falling behind and headed for extinction. Keep in mind that even though your business may be slow today, your business will return to profitability in the future, IF you do what is necessary to survive today. ”

The CxO Group specializes in CEO coaching and business performance improvement by integrating financial management, strategies, marketing, and sales to maximize corporate revenue growth. We use a copyrighted methodology to advise CEOs on action steps to take to grow revenues, consult with management staff on best practices and train sales and marketing teams on tactics and strategies that put your business value in front of you so your prospects see you differently than your competition and take action steps to buy.

So, what are you going to do? Let employees go?  Cut back on marketing?  Squeeze your current clients for more money? Yes, you can do all of this, but is that going to help? What can you specifically do during a recession to grow your business profitability?

Receive our COMPLEMENTARY SPECIAL REPORT titled “10 Tips To Grow Your Business in a Recession or Economic Downturn” that will help answer those questions. You can download your copy now at this special link  http://growth.thecxogroup.com/ . Alternatively, you can contact us by email at  info@thecxogroup.com, or call (972) 727-6880 to request your copy.

“A recession is when your neighbor is out of work. A depression is when you are out of work.” Rick Erling - President The CxO Group, LLC

This fall, free outdoor concerts will be offered in downtown Arlington in the one-of-a-kind Leavitt Pavilion. Designed to be a gathering place for the community, it will be the only amphitheater of its kind in Texas.

Fifty free concerts are planned to take place at the pavilion once it opens in the fall of this year. A gift of $250,000 from the Mortimer Levitt Foundation kicked off the planning for this attraction that will become the crowning jewel of Founder’s Plaza. A fundraising campaign in underway to secure the remainder of the funds needed to complete construction.

Pavilion Gives a Cultural Boost to Downtown

As the city of Arlington continues to develop, this gem will provide an added benefit for anyone seeking to purchase Arlington real estate. The city hopes the free concerts will engage a diverse cross section of the city, providing them with social and cultural enrichment that was previously unavailable in this community.

The Mortimer Leavitt Foundation has a History of Enriching Lives

The first Leavitt Pavilion was established over 30 years ago in Westport, Connecticut. The foundation has continued to bestow the gift of artistic enrichment on chosen communities who will benefit from such a gift, including Pasadena, California and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Proposed openings of new pavilions, in addition to the one planned in Arlington, include Memphis, Tennessee and MacArthur Park in Los Angeles. All three new pavilions are expected to host their first concerts during 2008.

The addition of the Leavitt Pavilion to Founder’s Square will provide a wealth of beautifying open space and enriching artistic showmanship to those lucky enough to call Arlington home.

As Colleyville keeps an eye on the future in terms of the city’s potential growth, it has asked the Fort Worth Transportation Authority to include a proposed Colleyville light rail station as part of an upcoming environmental impact study. Existing rail service connects Fort Worth and Dallas, and is becoming an increasingly popular way to decrease traffic and pollution.

The addition of a light rail option for commuters could boost the values of Colleyville real estate, offering an attractive transportation option for those who wish to live in Colleyville but work in Dallas or Fort Worth.

Fort Worth Transit Helps Boost Home Sales

Fort Worth real estate has received a shot in the arm from The T, with a special program offering incentives for homebuyers who purchase property within one-quarter of a mile from a T transit route in southeast Fort Worth.

The program, called Smart Commute®, allows potential home buyers to add the estimated decreased commute expenses to their income, increasing the amount of qualifying income and opening up more purchasing options. Under the program, single income households can add $200 per month and dual income households can add $250 per month to qualifying income.

Loans under this program are available through participating program lenders and applicants must meet normal loan qualification requirements.

The use of light rail in metropolitan areas only makes sense. It offers a convenient commuting option that will reduce the amount of traffic and lower pollution levels. The addition of a light rail station to Colleyville could provide an easier transit from this community’s beautiful neighborhoods into the employment centers of Fort Worth, Dallas and the Metroplex.

It’s been said that money hides mistakes. Corporate earnings are down, the market drops and gains triple digits on multiple days, housing prices continue to fall and foreclosure rates are skyrocketing. It’s no question that we are in an un-stable economic environment. Are we in a recession right now, if not today will we slip into one next week, or perhaps next month? With economic uncertainty looming, many of our clients are asking: How should I position my firm in the months to come? We are fast approaching the end of the first quarter. Today, we cover a topic that just might contain the insight you need to uncover any hidden mistakes and help you surpass your 2008 goals.The “Balanced Scorecard” is a strategic management approach developed in the early 1990s by Dr Robert Kaplan of Harvard Business School, and Dr David Norton.Much like the “Balanced Scorecard” of the 1990s, that focused on linking business performance to department metrics, The CxO Group, LLC uses a “Sales and Marketing Metrics Scorecard” (http://www.sales-scorecard.com/) with a similar approach, but designed for today’s economy.Today’s scorecard creates interaction and links between five sales management pillars as a packaged team to help drive performance.– Sales– Marketing– Strategy– Operations/Development– Partners/AlliancesFirst, we create identifiable tactical measures for each of your sales team members and contributing departments. Then, we develop and help you implement the scorecard into a living, breathing business tool to proactively manage and link strategy, marketing and sales.This tool becomes a leading business driver that when used correctly, increases corporate cash flow, accelerates operational success, and allows companies to manage their business model by proactive metrics, not reactively by emotion.With this linkage, the scorecard provides clarity in strategic and tactical goals that can be readily monitored to understand where performance is coming from and where remedial attention is needed. As I mentioned, we are regularly asked about the best improvement initiatives to be made in this uncertain economy. We always suggest companies look towards sales metrics as the way to grow their business and uncover those “hidden” mistakes.Start with the foundation. If your sales and marketing organization doesn’t have clear objectives and metrics for accountability then you probably have a few mistakes hiding in your process that are costing you money. Clear sales objectives that are aligned with company strategy is one way you can be assured of hitting your goals in uncertain economic times.At The CxO Group, we believe the entire company, not just the sales department, is responsible for revenue capture! Visit us online at http://www.thecxogroup.com/ give us a call today at (972) 727-6880, or email info@thecxogroup.com to chat about how we can help you create a sales & marketing metrics scorecard that is custom fit so your firm’s business assets are centralized on revenue development and all departments are linked to the performance.

First instinct for me is vote for Hillary. I actually like her and I’m sure there are a lot of people disagreeing but I would like to see her be the president. Sad thing is, I actually don’t think she will win. I do think she lives her life to do what she does and I think she will do a good job at it. I think she will also do something about health care that would benefit more people. The latest news is that Hillary is mad at Obama for some campaign literature that said “her health care proposal would force everyone to buy health insurance, regardless of ability to pay, a charge Clinton vehemently denied.” (See the article on cnn) I just can’t imagine that she would do such a thing and force people to buy health insurance. I think she might make health care more available to people who might not be able to afford it, but to force people to buy it who can’t???

The health care issue is very close to me. My grandmother who just celebrated her 90th birthday today has to spend SO MUCH money per month on prescription drugs and some things are just not covered that well…meanwhile someone who just came to the country and/or has not worked if any can get the medicaid and get lots of coverage. She’s worked all her life and now still has to make sure she saves up just for her prescription drugs. I think it’s completely unfair. We also have a close friend with 3 kids who are trying to make ends meet since they were both laid off few years back. Now they do not even have insurance except catastrophic coverage for themselves…which is scary. The kids gets coverage from the state as long as they do not make too much but just low enough…which is like dumb since if they make just a little more they will have to pay for it themselves and they will not be able to at this time. There has to be a kind of health care available for families like them. Why should a family that does not try to work or try to earn money get the full help from the government while families that do, sometime can’t.

Whatever, I don’t even want to talk about it anymore since there isn’t much I can do. Anyhow, I think Obama might win since he’s got the young crowd. My husband said people are in a Obama high since they want something different so badly, but their high will come down…but might be too late when that happens. I don’t have too much against Obama (unless if the campaign literature is actually false…then it will be shame shame), but I think Hillary will be a better President since she knows how to nudge her way around to get things done since she’s been in the White House before and I agree where she stands on some of the issue. I do like Obama for some things and if I keep thinking too much, I will just need to toss a coin.

Still…vote for Hillary!!!

Does your website create website traffic and generate enough sales leads? If you are like most CEO’s, sales and marketing management I speak with on a daily basis, the answer is probably no.If you perform a Google search on “sales and marketing strategies” you’ll be pleased to find over 62 million web pages devoted to helping market a business and increase sales. Spend just five minutes looking at the search results and two items become very apparent . . .

1. You can’t expect to compete in business today without leveraging your reach with online digital marketing tools and having a Web Site Marketing Strategy.
2. If you’re not appealing directly to the person who is reading your ad, you risk them seeing it without realizing how it relates to them.

Considering there are over 65 million pages devoted to “sales and marketing strategies” validates the importance of creative writing and how to appeal directly to your customers’ need to increase traffic and conversions.Keep in mind that when people meet in a live in-person business meeting, we introduce ourselves with some statement about what we do, and why we should work with one another. In a live meeting it’s important to show very quickly that we understand their issues and needs, and that we have ideas and solutions to address these.Your website is a virtual meeting tool. It must accomplish the very same objectives of an in-person meeting. It must convey common points of interest, whether personal or professional. The virtual visitor must begin to feel that they can relate with you, and this helps to build the beginning of a business relationship. Studies show you have 8 seconds to build this relationship before they click to the next site listed in the search listings. If the visitor doesn’t feel they can relate to you, if they’re overwhelmed, confused, can’t easily navigate your site or simply not interested in your site, they’ll leave in very short order — 8 SECONDS!Keeping the above strategy at top of mind, here are the top seven smart ways to get your business noticed on the Internet.1. Keep it simple.Get rid of Flash and fancy intro pages! Studies today show you only have 8 seconds to convince a prospect how you can help. Does your website describe your product or service in a succinct, compelling and visual fashion in that timeframe?With thousands, perhaps millions of Google hits for a given search term, prospects are looking for exactly what they’ve typed in or they move on to the next search result.2. Value First, Brand SecondDon’t make the mistake of dragging your business value behind you by leading with the brand name of your product, service or company. Push your business value out in front of you and set yourself above the competition by using “Value Forward” methodology!3. Call to ActionOnce you’ve got their attention you must have calls to action like an offer of a free white paper, webinar, or newsletter to harvest prospect contact information.4. Easy NavigationYour website must be easy to navigate with less than 7 navigation buttons on the home page.5. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)Make sure your site appears high on search engines’ results pages. By including the right keywords and phrases, your site will appear higher up on Google, Yahoo! and other search engines.The key to keywording is translating what your product or service does into appropriate “Value Forward” keywords and phrases that will turn your visitors into qualified sales leads.6. Pay Per Click (PPC)Your sponsored or PPC listing on a search engine results page (SERP) must call out to the person reading it. If you’re not appealing directly to the person who is reading your ad, you risk them seeing it without realizing how it relates to them.In many situations it may even be necessary to develop new landing pages to help increase site level conversion.7. Podcasting and YouTubePodcasting and YouTube are new and simple technologies that you may want to take a look at. All you need to get started is a decent microphone, a digital audio or video recorder and editing software.This is a great strategy for many small businesses for several reasons. A voice, or video reference or testimonial rather than words on a website can convey conviction, credibility and personality.8. Track Your Customer Conversation Ratio or C.C.R.It is not how many unique visitors come to your website that is important. It is how many you can identify as prospects. Most companies today spend large amounts of marketing dollars on tradeshows, advertising, email marketing, corporate branding and direct mail driving thousands of potential buyers to their website . . . yet they don’t know who is there and don’t have engagement devices to capture their name. To generate more leads, track your C.C.R. through your daily audit logs as well as the names of those who sign up for your free information.Are you interested in insuring your solutions, products and services are conveyed in a compelling fashion on your website? Yes, your web designer will provide the actual website design and artwork, BUT it’s up to you to know what the content should be. Most importantly, you need to supply content that will trigger search engine hits and drive qualified traffic to your website.When you’re not experienced or don’t have the budget to have web strategy, marketing, sales or systems people on staff, or simply don’t have the bandwidth, get help! Smart business owners surround themselves with consultants that are strong where they are weak. Please consider having us help with your sales, marketing, and website strategies improvement projects.

Even though Valentine’s Day is over, you can still “Share the Love.” That is of course until the 31st of March. Local Dallas web design company lifeBLUE Media has released its very own flash game player where users can test their romance movie wits. The game features 60 different images all relating to a romance movie title where users must correctly guess the exact movie title. The game features a save option, email a friend, & loads of fun.There is also a contest involved where one can enter to win their shot at the $500 cash prize. All you have to do is sign up at www.lifeblue.com/romance/register and “Share the Love” by distributing your unique game link code throughout the Internet or write a blog about it to receive bonus points. The user with the most points in the end gets the grand prize.Play the game, win money, & “Share the Love” today!Web Design