Richard Kraneis Blog

Republican Advice

Seems like the Republican Party needs advice this early 2009.  Here it is.

Stop looking for 2012 presidential candidates. 

All this talk about Jindal, Palin, Pawlenty and others is misplaced.  Election 2010 will come soon enough so focus on that instead.  That means re-earning the trust middle America.

Create an honest response to Recovery.gov

Am I the only one whose noticed that the entire Republican party doesn't have a coherent response to President Obama's Recovery.gov ?  The current website built by the White House is a good initial attempt but it's missing some obvious features.

1)  Recovery.gov has no Excel spreadsheet of the actual American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, also known as ARRA 2009, also known as the 2009 Stimulus.  Read my February blog articles for my responses to the 2009 Stimulus, I even have a spreadsheet.
2)  The Recovery.gov website leads to a WhiteHouse.gov page where you can read the entire 400 page PDF of the ARRA 2009.  But strangely enough, the WhiteHouse PDF on the ARRA 2009 doesn't even have a "find" feature for looking up programs.
3)  The 2009 Stimulus will cost each American "on average" $2578 so why not tell them?  Use a spreadsheet like the one I made at Your 2009 Stimulus Credit Card Bill.

Stop Sitting on Your Hands

It was embarrassing watching the Republicans at President Obama's February 24, 2009 speech to the joint session of Congress.  The Republicans tried hard not to applause but kept looking around to see if other Republicans were applauding so they could applaud.  Embarrassing.

Be your own person.  Try closing your eyes and applauding because you think President Obama's ideas deserve applause.  Applaud with your ears and your heart, not your eyes.

Start Working

Build a website named Recovery2.org as the honest Republican position on the 2009 Stimulus.  And find something about the 2009 Stimulus that you can agree on with the President and start helping him.  Find some common ground.  You can disagree on a bunch of the President's ideas, but help him with something.

It's time for every American, Republican or Democrat, to do their part.

As for me, I'm an Independent living in Chicago, IL, USA.

Economic Stimulus Package in Detail

Stimulus Package Basic Info

Many people still want to know the contents of the Stimulus package that was passed earlier this month and signed by President Obama.  So here's my best non-political guide to the Stimulus.

The real name of the bill is not Stimulus Package but rather American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.  It's a long name but that's the official name.  The bill was signed by President Obama on February 17, 2009 and also goes by the acronym of ARRA.

The bill was signed for $787,000,000,000.  That's 787 billion dollars.

The Official White House Info:  http://www.recovery.gov/

The White House has created a web page for information on the bill and its located at http://www.recovery.gov/.

The http://www.recovery.gov/site is produced by the White House (not Congress) and announces its own efforts at transparency.  So what can you find at http://www.recovery.gov/?

1)  You can find a simple bar chart of categories of money to be spent within the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.  The bar chart is on the home page of the site under the topic Where is your Money Going.  The chart is simple, useful, but meant for a younger audience.

2)  You'll find a link on the Recovery.gov home page in a section named On Our Way:  Read the Bill pointing you to another web page where you can find the full text of the ARRA 2009 Bill.  The bill itself is 407 pages long.  If you want to see it immediately, click ARRA 2009 PDF.

Transparency Problems.

This isn't political, just informational, perhaps you'll agree with me.

1)  Neither http://www.recovery.gov/nor the White House has published an Excel spreadsheet of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.  I've searched the Internet for an Excel spreadsheet of the Stimulus and the closest I can find is my own spreadsheet of the Senate version of this bill (Senate Bill was for $801 billion, final bill was $787 billion) on my blog:  Senate Stimulus Bill

2)  The actual bill in PDF format, the 407 page bill, isn't searchable.  Most PDF files are searchable but this the PDF for the public at ARRA 2009 PDFis not searchable.

3)  It's hard comprehending the Stimulus Bill 2009 when its in billions of dollars.  I suggest the White House (and Congress) use a CPT or Cost per Taxpayer value.  For example, $787 billion dollars / 300 million Americans is $ 2624.34 not including interest.  That means that ARRA 2009 cost every single American $ 2624.34.  It will be more with interest on the loan.  If you'd like to learn more, my blog at Stimulus Cost per Taxpayer has a spreadsheet so you can calculate your portion of  the Stimulus Bill for 2009.

4)  Information on the ARRA 2009 is either the very simple bar chart at http://www.recovery.gov/ or the incredibly long, non-searchable PDF at ARRA 2009 PDF.  We need an Excel spreadsheet of this bill.

What Can you Do?

Whether Democrat, Republican, or Independent, I think its laudable that the White House is making an effort at transparency.  Let's give them a little more help.

Go to the White House and give them this simple feedback:

We appreciate the White House's attempt at transparency and we encourage it.  Please provide a downloadable Excel spreadsheet of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 for Recovery.org.  Secondly, make the ARRA 2009 bill a searchable PDF file.  Finally, a Cost per Taxpayer number would be useful at www.Recovery.org.  Thank you.

Finally

Thanks for reading this blog.  I do hope you use it to give the White House your feedback.  As for me, I'm neither a Republican nor a Democrat, I'm an independent voter from Chicago, IL.

2009 Stimulus Package Spreadsheet

Where is the 2009 Stimulus spreadsheet?  Or do you call it the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 spreadsheet?

The White House has recently created a website named Recovery.gov that has the full text of the signed 2009 Stimulus Bill and simple graphs of monies to be spent.  But no detailed Excel spreadsheet of the bill.

Whether Democrat, Republican, or Independent, it's nice to see a timely attempt at explaining the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.  I certainly commend President Obama at making this information available.

But for transparency, give me the actual detailed spreadsheet.  I'll crunch the numbers myself.

One of the categories of the 2009 Stimulus at Recovery.gov is named Protecting the Vulnerable.  The category will receive 81 billion dollars.  I don't think that the phrase Protecting the Vulnerable is very transparent.  Just give us a detailed spreadsheet so we can analyze it.

Analyzing a government spreadsheet isn't rocket science.  (It's coming to agreement on the bill that's hard.)  Earlier this month I analyzed the U.S. Senate Stimulus Spreadsheet after the Senate created their plan.

So if President Obama can instruct his website team to provide the 2009 Stimulus spreadsheet and post it to Recovery.gov, those of us who understand spreadsheets can get that "transparency thing" moving for him.

If you'd like to encourage the White House to provide a detailed Excel spreadsheet of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, go to the White House Feedback Form, fill out the request form, and submit your 2009 Stimulus spreadsheet request to the White House.

In case you're wondering, the 2009 Stimulus was an unfunded bill that is owed by every American, sometime in the future.  Government debt will be issued and sold to cover the bill and your federal taxes will go towards paying the interest on the debt and paying down the principal (we hope).

The 2009 Stimulus (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009) will cost every man, woman, and child $ 2624.34 .  How do you get that number?  Take 787 billion dollars and divide by 300 million which is the approximate population of the U.S.  Your calculator may not be able to do it.  You'll need a spreadsheet.

Your bill for the 2009 Stimulus will be $ 2624.34 as of today.  Since the U.S. government just "charged" you $ 2624.34 for the 2009 Stimulus, you and I will be paying for that Stimulus as the years go by, with interest.

Don't forget.  Go to the White House Feedback Form and ask/demand that a detailed spreadsheet of the 2009 Stimulus be posted at Recovery.gov.

Thanks everyone.  (In case you're wondering, I'm neither Democrat nor Republican.  I'm an Independent.)

Your 2009 Stimulus Credit Card Charge - $7,064.20

Give me 5 minutes and I can prove your 2009 Stimulus credit charge will be just over $7000.

I'm an Independent and voted for President Obama.  I'm also glad there's enough Republicans in Congress to make democracy work in Washington,  D.C.  This 2009 Stimulus bill is a nasty business.

Do you know how much the Stimulus will cost you personally?  Your personal credit card with the federal government?

Today, the L.A. Times says that the Stimulus compromise is estimated at 789 billion dollars.

There just over 300 million Americans of which 27% are under the age of 20, and probably not paying a whole lot of taxes (they get tax refunds).

Of the people who pay taxes, the National Taxpayers Union believes that 50% of all wage earners pay 97% of the taxes.

You build a Download Stimulus Bill per Taxpayer spreadsheet of all this and you'll find that only 111 million of Americans will actually pay the taxes for the 2009 Stimulus.

If you're over 20 years of age and earn over $35,000 per year, I estimate your Stimulus bill will be just over $7000.  That doesn't include interest and/or overspending.

Don't believe me?  Play with the numbers on my spreadsheet at   .

Remember I voted for President Obama, I'm an Independent, I'm from Chicago, I want the President and Congress to do well.

What scares the daylights out of me is that my Stimulus Bill spreadsheet doesn't include the 2008 Bailout, Geitner's 2 trillion dollar estimate, or the fact we are trying theories on a massive scale that have never been tried before (sorry FDR wasn't immediately a Keynesian, read history).

Ultimately what scares me is that the White House and Congress are avoiding providing Stimulus spreadsheets that show where the money is spent or your Download Stimulus Bill per Taxpayer .

What do I want out of this?  I want the President and Congress to provide simple spreadsheets and the truth that the Stimulus will cost taxpaying Americans $7000 (actually more when you add the interest on the loan).  Give me the truth, that's all I want.

2009 Stimulus Package in Excel Spreadsheet Format

Too bad neither the White House nor Congress provide a simple downloadable spreadsheet of the proposed Stimulus bill.  They do provide a downloadable 700 page PDF file of their work but no spreadsheet.

I have searched the Internet for a simple downloadable spreadsheet of the proposed 2009 Stimulus package, and I couldn't find any from any source until today.

But courtesy of Anderson Coope's blog at http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2009/02/10/the-stimulus-bills-house-vs-senate/ and Michael Grabell's article at http://www.propublica.org/special/the-stimulus-bills-house-vs.-senate I think I finally have an easy spreadsheet to understand that depicts the Stimulus plan of 2009 as of February 10, 2009.

Michael Grabell is part of www.propublica.org and their article at http://www.propublica.org/special/the-stimulus-bills-house-vs.-senate helped  me to create a spreadsheet.

I copied the data from www.propublica.org and processed the data into my own spreadsheet.  There's the QC problem.  If we trust ProPublica that their original work is correct, than my spreadsheet is correct.  I'm hoping their data is correct.

Here's my downloadable spreadsheet in Excel 2003 format:  Download Stimulus Bill Spreadsheet

The spreadsheet has 5 worksheets.  Each worksheet has a yellow cell with brief comments.

1)  ProPublica.org - This is the data I downloaded from ProPublica.org on Feb 10, 2009.

2)  Stimulus Data - The first worksheet embedded totals so that when you added things up, the Stimulus looked twice as large as it should be. In this worksheet, I deleted the total lines to avoid double counting.

3)  Stimulus Data in Billions - Reading numbers with lots of zeroes can be confusing.  In this worksheet, I converted all numbers into billions.  For example, a number of 30.3 would mean 30.3 billion dollars.

4)  Senate Stimulus Pivot Table - If you know what pivot tables are, you'll be excited to use this worksheet.  If you don't understand pivot tables, just use worksheet #3.

5)  House Stimulus Pivot Table - If you know what pivot tables are, you'll be excited to use this worksheet.  If you don't understand pivot tables, just use worksheet #3.

I describe myself politically as an Independent.  So I don't think I have a political axe to grind in the Stimulus conversation.  My only complaint about the Stimulus bill is that neither the White House nor Congress has made it easy for people to understand the Stimulus with a downloadable spreadsheet.

Hopefully my 2009 Stimulus spreadsheet will help many Americans voice their support or dissent regarding the Stimulus package in Congress.  Download Stimulus Bill Spreadsheet

How do I get my church on Google?

I wrote a blog article regarding Google and my church’s advertising, and a few days later, someone was looking at it on the Internet.  Their search phrase according to my blog was:  How do I get my church on Google?

It doesn’t really matter whether you’re a church, a painting contractor, or a $20 million manufacturer, getting your website Googled is still the same.

1. Create a website, even a small one, with reasonably good content.
2. Submit your website to Google for indexing.  (Go to http://www.google.com/addurl/ and submit your website.)
3. You’re done.

In a few days, Google will spider through your site looking at all of your web pages and it will be indexed within Google on the Internet.

Perhaps a week after you submit your site for indexing at Google, you’ll be able to find your church’s website on the Internet.  (But that doesn’t mean that others will find your website easily.)

You can even push more traffic or visitors to your church’s website using Google’s Adwords advertising.  (Go to http://www.adwords.google.com)  Yes, it will cost you money whenever someone clicks on your ad.  But it may be worth it.

But the question, “How do I get my church on Google?” is only the first question in a series of 3 questions.

• How do I get my church on Google?
• How do I attract new visitors to my church’s website through Google?
• How do I persuade new visitors to our website to come to church one Sunday?

I don’t mean to be overly religious on this blog.  I’m actually a Fishing Methodist (I’m either fishing or in church on Sundays.)

But a church’s effort to be visible on the Internet through Google is just part of a marketing campaign.  You want to attract people to a website, you hope to interest them in your services, and finally you hope they will visit your church one Sunday.  Church members want to believe there is something very different about their website compared to a law firm or a CPA firm, but the similarities are striking.

So yes, you can get your church “on Google”.  But just like a law firm, a CPA firm, or a boy scout troop on the northside of Chicago, the real objective is to get someone to walk through the door.  Building a website isn’t enough.  It needs to be marketed, traffic needs to be encouraged, content needs to be persuasive.

Good luck to the person who found my blog on Google with the keywords:  “How do I get my church on Google”.

Church Advertising and Google

I don’t know where I learned this concept, but I believe it’s valid:  plan, PPC, and then Organic.

My church’s website doesn’t get much traffic.  Although attractive, the website wasn’t designed for traffic optimization (much less conversion).  So I’m trying to change that.

The Plan:  How will people find your church on the Internet?

PPC:  Use this tool to test your plan and to drive traffic to the website or at least measure searches on Google.

Organic:  Once PPC has helped you determine the best keywords, try to get the traffic organically.  It’s free once it’s running, and if you combine organic with PPC it draws even more traffic.

So I made a small plan for attracting more church traffic on some keywords.  The keywords draw about 20-25 searches per day on Google.  But over 250 searches, my church’s Google Ad hasn’t been clicked even once.

When People Search for a Church on Google, do they Avoid PPC?

Some experts think that users click 80/20 on Google.  80% of all user clicks are on organic listings.  20% of all clicks are done on Google Ads.  So far, in my small Google ad campaign for my church, I have reason to believe that less people than expected click on my church’s Google ads.  Actually, in 250 searches, there have been no PPC clicks.

After running this ad one trend is becoming clear.  I’m getting more clicks from content ads than search ads.  Currently, 1 in a 1000 exposures yields a click.  But the price is right so I’ll continue it.

Time to Focus on Organic

So using PPC has shown that there is search traffic for my church’s keywords and its Google campaign.  Not much traffic, but enough to care about.  So if Google PPC is getting little traffic, I’m turning my attention to some basic website page optimization.

My church’s website scores this way regarding its critical HTML coding:

Title - The HTML does exist but the titles are generic.  They have not been customized to match the actual page.

Keywords - The HTML seem adequate.

Description - The HTML code is non-existent.  We are not feeding good descriptions to Google even if the page is indexed.

So for this simple test, it’s time to create meaningful titles for my church’s website, continue with good keywords usage, and to begin meaningful use of descriptions in the HTML code.

So at least for my church, I believe simple planning, a dash of PPC, and some organic SEO is a good idea.

Summary

PPC direct search in Google is surprisingly low, non-existent.

PPC content search is a pleasant and affordable surprise.  I’ll continue Google content search for my church.

I need to tune my church’s website for about 3 keywords and pages to get my church onto the first page.  It will be interesting to see how difficult that will be with churches as competitors.

Clements Fishing Barge: Catching more Fisherman

Today, let’s take a look at the website http://www.clementsfishing.com/ . Great fishing in Genoa, WI on the Mississippi River. I look forward to my fishing visit in the fall of 2008.

But let’s take a look at its website for a few minutes. What’s good about it? Can it be improved? What simple things would improve it?

I learned of Clements Fishing Barge in Wisconsin reading one of my various fishing magazines. But I always had trouble remembering their name. I knew they had a fishing barge on the Mississippi in Wisconsin.

Here’s a good thing, when searching for fishing barge Wisconsin, their name shows up right away.

So if you search on Google for fishing barge Wisconsin, fishing barge, or Clements fishing, www.Clementsfishing.com shows up at the top on Google. That’s certainly a good thing.

Another good thing is that Clements Fishing does try to build an email list with their Add me to your mailing list option. An email opt-in would be more attractive. Gathering emails with a manual email opt-in is time consuming and doesn’t ensure the double-optin method.

Their website shows a problem that even larger websites have: a failure to use HTML code for title, keywords, and description. If they used those features with planning and intention, they could increase traffic to their website. The title for many of their website pages is blank.

Google has indexed 40 pages of their website and Yahoo has 165 inbound links to their website (very impressive). They might consider looking at each inbound link on Yahoo to see if advertising at that site would be helpful (or a thank you).

So this little website for a Mississippi fishing barge does have some good things going for it.

What would I suggest at a minimum?

1. Consider using an email opt-in for gathering emails. More efficient. Send fishing reports to people. Send emails giving discounts or special services for group fishing.
2. Consciously use better HTML with title, keywords, and descriptions. Their website traffic should improve.
3. They might consider writing more website pages with targeted keywords.

At $15 per adult customer and $5 per child, will improving the website increase the number of fishermen (and fisherwomen) to Clements Fishing Barge? Only they know for sure.

I hope to see them soon for some fishing (only 270 miles from Chicago to their fishing barge).

If you’d like an outside opinion on your website, please send an email to me. Time permitting, I’ll give your website a good look.

Really Mediocre Websites

I’ve started observing, keeping track, and analyzing some mediocre websites. It’s a delicate thing, telling someone that their website needs work.

Who am I to say that someone else’s website is mediocre? Am I an expert? Well after 5 years SEM (search engine marketing) part-time, I think I qualify as a knowledgeable source on SEM. In the Middle Ages you had apprentices, journeymen, and master craftsmen.

In the world of SEM, I believe I fit in, for now, as a journeyman. So, as a SEM journeyman, I think I’ve learned enough to comment on the SEM of other websites.

But humility is always a useful concept. I’m old enough to know that just because I think something is true or accurate, that doesn’t mean that I’m right. So my unsolicited opinions on other people’s websites is just that: opinion.

But in a positive spirit of helpfulness I’m going to start commenting on websites that I see on the Internet. To compliment what is good, to advise what could be done differently. To entertain, to educate, and to hopefully acquire some new business along the way.

If you want me to comment on your website, for free, send me an email and I’ll do so, time permitting.

2009 Nissan Murano Advertising – April 17, 2008 - Great Car, Not so Great Advertising

Actually, my wife loves the look of the Murano. That’s why I clicked on this beautiful graphical ad that was displayed prominently at www.weather.com .

Unfortunately, the ad didn’t work. Mozilla’s Firefox blocked the pop-up. Yes, I could allow the popup in Firefox, but that’s not my job. Nissan’s job is to get the ad to me quickly and easily.

Then I tried going to www.weather.com to see the same ad using Internet Explorer. This time, the pop-up worked. But it was like watching paint dry…

It took about 15 seconds to load on my T1 connection and then displayed another beautiful ad. I wondered how long the ad would need to load in DSL/Cable, or dial-up. See below.

Also, I’m confused. Isn’t it still 2008? Does Nissan release their 2009 models this early? It’s 2008 and the advertising says 2009?

From an advertising standpoint, from a metric standpoint, how are they keeping track of clickthroughs from Internet Explorer vs. Mozilla Firefox? This is the link from my clickthrough at Internet Explorer:

http://www.nissanusa.com/murano/?dcp=25868130;&dcc=24722859;&dcn=1

But even if the dcp, dcc, and dcn coding means something (and it does), whose tracking this and will they notice the blocked Mozilla clickthroughs vs. better clickthroughs from Internet Explorer?

This brings up another point, whose the target audience for the Nissan Murano? Is it the Internet Explorer kind of person or the Mozilla Firefox kind of person? I know, the beautiful graphics ad should be tested for both ads, but who is their audience?

I bet that the majority of purchases for the Nissan Murano come from the Mozilla Firefox users than the good, old fashioned Internet Explorer users.

So, lots of thoughts on this 2009 Nissan Murano ad today. The ad was beautiful, its click through rate is questionable. I wonder what Nissan would say about this blog article?