Jacob S Paulsen's Blog, page 7

The Perfect Yellowstone Vacation Plan

I grew up in southwestern Wyoming, only a few hours from Yellowstone but only visited a few times in my youth. I married a woman (also from southwestern Wyoming) whose family visited almost annually.

Thus, Yellowstone trips are now part of our family culture and our kids hold us accountable to keep our commitment of visiting every 4 years. We are not experts by any means but I really like our approach and plan we have followed when we've been the last 2 times and given the number of times I've shared it with others I decided it was time to put it in writing so it would be easier to share.

To give credit where it is due, my first Yellowstone trip as an adult was planned by my in-laws, who are Yellowstone experts and veterans. It was fantastic and since then I'm inclined to follow the plan the same way every time.

What follows is a helpful guide to anyone visiting Yellowstone but it caters to our 5-day trip which includes 2 days for travel and 3 in the park.

Jump to a Section:



Getting there – Airplanes, Cars, and which entranceWhere to Sleep – Camping VS “Lodges & Cabins”What Should I Expect For Food?The Paulsen LoopThe Paulsen Itinerary – Day by Day



Getting there – Airplanes, Cars, and which entrance

Yellowstone National Park is not close to any major airports. One could in theory fly into Jackson Hole but the cost is prohibitive for most. More likely you are going to fly into either Billings MT, Salt Lake City UT, or Denver CO.

Billings MT is the most expensive as it is the smallest of those three airports and finding a direct flight is near impossible.

Choosing between Salt Lake City and Denver is an easy choice as the drive from SLC to Yellowstone is appx 5 hours while the drive from DEN is 8 1/2 hours. Save the 3.5 hours in the car and fly into Salt Lake City.

If you rent a car get something with a little muscle. You likely won't be visiting during the winter so 4-wheel drive probably won't be necessary but you will be stuck behind your fair number of rented RVs and having a little muscle makes it easier to pass those vehicles, going uphill, on a 2-lane road.

I strongly discourage you from driving a RV or pulling a camper. Far too many places you visit are going to have PACKED FULL parking lots with limited spaces for oversized vehicles. You are going to hate parking.

This will also allow you to enter the park from the Southern entrance which is in my opinion preferable. There are several points of entrance to Yellowstone.

[image error]Image courtesy of this helpful page on the official park site that goes into more detail on each entrance. https://www.yellowstonepark.com/park/yellowstone-park-entrances

Coming from Montana you can enter at one of 2 northern entrances, or from Montana you can enter from “West Yellowstone” (which is almost Idaho), coming from Wyoming you can enter from the East coming from Cody WY, or lastly, you can enter from the south via Grand Teton National Park and Jackson Hole WY.

If you are driving from somewhere northwest or north perhaps one of the Montana entrances or the Idaho entrance will just be the most convenient for you but the Paulsen family comes via the south entrance primarily because visiting Yellowstone, but failing to visit Grand Teton National Park and/or Jackson Hole is a MAJOR Fail.

So trust me and come via Jackson Hole and enter the park from the south. If you fly in from Salt Lake City that will be the most convenient and direct route anyway. Coming from Denver it is equally as convenient as coming via Cody WY.

Where to Sleep – Camping VS “Lodges & Cabins”

Throughout the park there are many campsites, lodges, and cabins. Also immediately outside the park you can find lodging in Jackson Hole, Grand Teton National Park, West Yellowstone, and Cody.

On the Paulsen Yellowstone trip we don't camp. We are campers generally speaking but it isn't part of our Yellowstone experience. That said you do you.

Where you decide to stay, camping vs a lodge may be in part due to availability on your selected travel dates. Yellowstone allows you to book campsites and hotels/cabins up to 1 year in advance… and if you want your choice of options you should book 1 year in advance.

If you are traveling to Yellowstone between June and September and don't want to sleep on the ground you better be booking at least 6 months in advance.

Resource: Book Here

On our Paulsen trip we stay in the lodges and cabins. We book as far in advance as possible. More detail below in the “Itinerary” section on where we stay but if you are lucky to happen to find any available room at the iconic Old Faithful Inn book it immediately.

[image error]Image Courtesy of the official Yellowstone website. – Grant Ordelheide. Use this link to learn more about Old Faithful Inn https://www.yellowstonepark.com/where-to-stay-camp-eat/historic-old-faithful-inn

The Inn is the largest log hotel on the planet and was built in 1904. It is amazing.

What Should I Expect For Food?

Eating is a complicated thing in my family. My wife is a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner and we are blessed with one extremely picky eater child. All the same, with some basic sacrifices that are required for any vacation the below generally works well for us.

Throughout the park there are a number of “Lodges” and each is generally equipped with a restaurant and a cafeteria.

For the Paulsens we just plan to eat at the cafeterias as they tend to offer a lot of options, don't require waiting to order and be served, don't require tipping wait staff, and generally serve our needs well.

Resource: Click here to see all the dining options in Yellowstone

We also generally have a large cooler that we stock with some fresh food items including everything we intend to eat for Breakfast each day. We pick stuff up from a grocery store before we enter the park and use a cooler that can be “plugged-in” in both the car and in the hotel rooms.

Note that there are a few small stores in the park with a few basic grocery items but it is the equivalent of shopping at a 7-Eleven convenience store so don't count on finding what you need.

More details on where we eat in the Itinerary section below.

The Loop

Yellowstone National park is huge but most of the best tourist sites are right off the main highway of the park. The main highway system of the park looks like a big number 8 with two connecting loops. There are 5 core highways that connect the number 8 to the outside world.

When we visit we enter from the south entrance and circle the bottom loop of the figure 8 as shown in my little photoshop map below.

Screenshot from Google Maps with some Photoshop rough editing by yours truly.

Most of the awesome stuff is on this loop and while one day we may venture north to Mammoth Hot Springs and the old arch entrance, for now, we are very content with our loop shown above.

The Paulsen Itinerary – Day by Day



A fun Yellowstone map from the National Park Service website that highlights some of the most popular attractions in the park. https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/kidsyouth/places.htm



Day 1 Arrive in Jackson Hole

Day 1 is a travel day. Our objective on this day is to get to Jackson in time for dinner. We eat dinner at Bubba's because my wife's childhood says we have to; and I am on board. Great BBQ and been a famous stop for over 40 years.

If budget and time allows and you want some excellent entertainment to go with that meal you should also consider the Bar J Chuckwagon.

After dinner we explore Jackson Hole downtown. Take the required picture at any of the four entrances to the town park and go in and out of all the fun tourist shops. Maybe buy some chocolate or laffy taffy just because.

2017

Stay that night at either the Antler Inn or the 49er Inn and Suites. Both are local, non-chain options that are affordable and come with plenty of local flavor.

Day 2 Explore Old Faithful & The Upper Geyser Basin

Day 2 wake up and head north toward the National Parks. Stop at most of the turn offs where tourists take pictures of the Teton Mountains. Yeah, you will never grow tired of the view and you can't take enough pictures.

My Son Is Awesome

Enter Grand Teton National Park and pay the $5 or whatever it is per vehicle entrance fee. Drive north to Yellowstone National Park. Pay another fee. Drive to Old Faithful and the Upper Geyer Basin. (Follow signs for Old Faithful).

We generally end up eating dinner at the Old Faithful cafeteria. We either packed in lunch or we eat lunch at the cafeteria as well.

Spend the rest of the day at Old Faithful. Things to do:

Watch Old Faithful erupt.Explore the visitor's center. This is the best and most comprehensive visitor's center in the park by far. Our kids love it and we do too. Walk down the hill, starting at Old Faithful and going roughly west and then north, past all the various geysers on that trail. Don't stop until you get to Morning Glory Pool. Even if you aren't staying at Old Faithful Inn, go in after dusk and sit by the fire and admire the building and fireplace.



This picture was taken in June. Bring a jacket.

If you can stay at Old Faithful Inn you are lucky and I'm jealous. We've stayed at Snow Lodge before and it is very modern. We've also stayed in the Old Faithful Lodge Cabins and they are fun as well.

Day 3 Grand Prismatic, Paintpots, & Grand Canyon

Wake up and leave Old Faithful. Continue the loop to the west and north. Stop at all the larger parking lots where you see cars. Its probably worth stopping.

On Day 3 we drive all the way to Yellowstone Lake but on the way we are going to stop and see:

Grand PrismaticThe Paint Pots at “Fountain Paint Pot Trail”Lunch at Canyon Village CafeteriaInspiration PointLower Lookout PointUpper Falls of the Yellowstone (take Uncle Tom's Trail)

Finish the day at Lake Lodge. Eat dinner at the cafeteria and stay at the lodge or one of the Lake Lodge Cabins.

We love spending the evening on the porch/patio looking out at the lake and we love taking a short walk or hike along the lake.

Day 4 Enjoy the Lake and Finish At The Tetons

Wake up and take your last look at the lake as you drive on, now west and then south.

Stop at West Thumb Geyser Basin and walk those trails.

Then proceed south out of Yellowstone and into Grand Teton National Park.

Depending on how quickly you are moving you could get lunch at Grant Village or in Grand Teton National Park.

On our last trip we stayed at Colter Bay on Day 4 and we loved it. I'm sure staying at Jackson Lake Lodge or Jenny Lake Lodge would be equally picturesque.

Image from Grand Teton NP official site. https://www.gtlc.com/lodges/

My wife remembers hikes to and around Jenny Lake from her childhood and we enjoyed it as a family as well. Spend the afternoon and evening of Day 4 staring at the mountains from various places in Grand Teton National Park.

Day 5 Go Home

Day 5 it all comes to a close and we go home.

A few closing helpful thoughts

Don't plan on cell phone coverage… anywhere in the parkA few lodges may have wifi you can pay forThere is going to be a lot of wildlife. Stop and take pictures but don't be those annoying people who cause a traffic jam every time there is a Bison off the roadOn our last Yellowstone vacation, we saw a license plate from every state but Delaware. Yeah, we play the license plate game and this is one place where you can probably find them allThe person who isn't driving should be on the lookout for wildlife as you go through the park. Deer, Bison, and Elk should be easy. Coyotes are bonus points. Gold star if you spot a bear. Call me immediately if you see wolves. A decent pair of binoculars would be nice.The lodges and hotels don't have air conditioning. Its cool in the mountains… open a window. And even if you are coming in the middle of the summer bring a jacket or sweatshirt.August is the busiest month at Yellowstone but the entire summer is pretty packed. Coming in the Spring or the Fall helps avoid crowdsLeave your dog home. I love my dogs but they are prohibited in most parts of the park. It isn't worth the hassle.Here are answers to other frequently asked questions

The Infinite Game by Simon Sinek – Book Review

The Infinite Game by Simon Sinek


My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Great read from Simon Sinek. I'm a huge Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action fan and while I liked Leaders Eat Last to me it wasn't nearly as good. Still well written just not as life-changing.

The Infinite Game is very applicable and actionable. At first, I was a little concerned that the book was going to become repetitive and overly exhaustive. Afterall how many different ways can you tell the reader to focus on the long term and not the short term?

But it turns out there are a lot of different contexts where that philosophy changes the way one acts and I didn't feel the book was dragging on or repeating itself too much.

Only 4 stars here for 2 reasons. First “Infinite Game” feels a lot like Find a Why and Don't lose it. The concept of the book just didn't feel super different from the core Sinek philosophy presented in Start With Why.

Second, the entire book is focused on the business arena but I think the idea of playing the infinite game in one's personal relationships and stewardship is even more valuable. It obviously wasn't the author's intent to discuss parenting etc but I feel it would have been nice to do so.





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What Do People Find When They Google Your Name?

There were 5 of us inside the cab of a Ford F350 driving back home from our week-long trip to SHOT Show in Las Vegas. 12 hours in the car doesn't exactly go by quickly and somehow we got on the topic of what one finds when they type their own name into Google.

I Know What I'll Find

Over the last decade, I've put some effort into tracking search results for my name and optimizing pages that I want to be found when people check me out.

For the most part my colleagues in the car it turns out, haven't given it much thought or effort.

Does It Matter?

I think it matters. When I interview potential employees I Google their name. When I meet someone at a tradeshow or get an email introduction to a new person, I Google their name.

A quick search tells me a lot about the person… even if what I learn is that they don't have much of a digital footprint. In 2020 when I'm writing this, the lack of a digital footprint can be a real bad thing depending on the business you are in.

So How Do You Control Searches For Your Name?

All normal SEO principles matter and of course depending on how common your name is the greater the challenge you have in front of you. There are a decent number of Jacob Paulsens' in the world but nothing like trying to compete on Google for Mark Smith I'm sure.

The things I've done over the years that seem to work:

LinkedIn is a SEO Giant. When I search for a name on Google the odds are very high that one LinkedIn profile will be in the search results. ONE. Make sure you have an up to date profile and make sure you have built out your profile really well. Do you have a cover image, a profile image, a description, etc?Do you have your employment history and credentials? Do you have recommendations? There are plenty of other good reasons to be rocking it on LinkedIn, but ensuring that YOU outrank others with your name on a search engine search is a really good reason.Twitter is almost always there. For whatever reason when it comes to search power Twitter beats Facebook every time. Generally, when there is a Facebook link in a Google search result it just takes you to another search result page in Facebook. Not very useful. Twitter not only generally outranks Facebook in search but it also indexes specific user accounts and will take the search directly to your profile. Make your Twitter profile awesome and complete. Obviously make sure it has your name… not a nickname but the name someone might type into a Google search when looking for you.



These are the top 4 results on Google at the time of this writing when searching my name. LinkedIn, my business site, Twitter, and then my personal blog. LinkedIn and Twitter just dominate most of the time when I search a person's name.



Have a website that is your name as the domain. Having a website does mean there is a cost and you have to have some basic knowledge and skills to build and maintain said website but if you can get some version of yourname.com that is going to do wonders to control search traffic for your name. Identify the single place that you WANT to be the #1 search result for your name, and make sure your Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and all other web assets you can control link back to that website.As a general rule cross-link everything. On your LinkedIn profile and YouTube channel, for example, be sure to put in your Twitter link. The more all your web assets link to each other the easier it is for Google to see that all of that is associated together and that this “Your Name” is more relevant and popular than anyone else sharing that same name.Rename images. When you upload an image of yourself anywhere online (Your website, Twitter, Facebook, etc) be sure to put your name as the file name of the image. Also if you are loading it to a website you control; add your name as the ALT title of the image. Almost for sure in the top 10 results on Google for your name is going to be some image results. Google is going to show 3-5 images and give the user the option to see more images that meet that search criterion. Uploading images online that have your name as the file name and/or alt text is going to help you control that part of the search results.







Use Google Alerts to find web content with your name and where possible link it back to you. Google Alerts are a free service from Google that alerts you anytime a given phrase or set of words are found newly anywhere online. I have a few Google alerts set up with different variations of my name and so on occasion, Google emails me to let me know the word Jacob Paulsen has just popped up somewhere new. I ALWAYS check those web pages. If it is about me I certainly want to know what people are saying about me. I might contact the website owner or publisher and ask if they can please link my name back to my website. I might leave a comment if it is a news story, blog post, or article that accepts comments and in that comment include a link to my website. The goal is for Google to see that this webpage that has my name on it also has a link back to this other website that has more information about me. This ensures that the website I control is more likely to be the authoritative source for my name that should rank higher in search results. If the web page is about some other Jacob Paulsen out there I may still try to leave a comment and say something like “hey nice name” and still link back to my site.

Jacob Email Sins

I have a problem. I'm neurotic when it comes to email. I manage my inbox really carefully and I care too much about proper email etiquette.

Over the years I've developed a list of what I've come to call Email Sins. Things that are just against any decent email etiquette and, in my opinion, should not be done. Here they are:

No Subject Line Emails:

If you are going to send someone an email have the decency to include a subject line. Leaving the subject line blank does make me more likely to open your email but also more likely to think you are incompetent or lazy.

Using An Old Thread:

What I think happens is you want to send an email to someone but you are too clueless to know how to create contacts and then reference them when adding a recipient to your email.

So, you do a search in your inbox for that person's name and find the last email conversation between the two of you and you reply to that email with an entirely new conversation that is in no way related to the previous email you are replying to.

This creates confusion. As I read your email I'm trying to understand what it has to do with the previous conversation and in the future, if I ever have to search my inbox to find your email I am going to have a hard time finding it because it is nestled in a threat with an unrelated subject line.

Sending An Email With a Request To Call or Text

I still don't understand why people do this. I get an email that looks something like this:

“Hey, Jacob give me a call.”

That is all. Nothing more to the email than that. This is super annoying.

There is the whole fact that you could have just called me but more importantly and really what makes this an email sin is that you went to the effort to type an email but effectively refused to tell me WHY you feel we need to chat on the phone.

Would it be that hard to append something to the end of the sentence to communicate the topic of the desired phone call?

What is worse is when that phone call takes place and the topic of conversation could and should have been fully handled via email. Why did we have to get on the phone at all? Clearly you have my email address and are capable of typing…

An Unruly Inbox

Now if your email inbox is a disaster that shouldn't affect me but what sometimes happens is I walk past a computer of one of my employees or a friend and I catch a glimpse of their email inbox and see they have somewhere between 150 and 14,000 unread emails.

This makes me want to vomit a little inside. Your personal email is your business I suppose but in the business world quality communication via email is a standard. Anyone not capable of managing an inbox so as to ensure they don't drop the ball or an important thing doesn't fall through the cracks needs to make a serious change.

So what are your email sins? What really gets on your nerves? Let me know in the comments below.

The $100 Startup by Chris Guillebeau – Book Review

The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future by Chris Guillebeau

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I wish I had read this book a few years ago as it would have been more valuable then but all the same I'm glad I read it and would recommend it. The author basically takes you through several examples of modern “micro-businesses” and shares patterns or lessons you can learn from many of them.

For anyone who is primarily familiar with traditional large businesses, venture capital, and writing business plans this should provide a valuable view into a new type of company.

Simple concepts like how to build a product and how to perform a good product launch are my favorite things in the book.

That said, I'm not giving the book 5 stars because it utterly failed to discuss TRAFFIC. Endless stories are given that provide the reader with the impression that you can just create a product, build a website for it and somehow magically the customers will find it and give you money.

Even in the product launch chapter, it assumes that the reader has a list or audience of potential or past customers they can message about the new product being launched.

The success of any online business is directly tied to getting web traffic via some means and generally, this means spending money on advertising or engaging in some sort of joint-venture or great PR.

If you want a more comprehensive book that will help you start and launch a simple “micro business” online I suggest you go read The 4-Hour Workweek instead of or in addition to this book.



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Getting Past The Spam Filter And Into The Inbox

Like most of my blog posts, this one is in response to a question I recently received (and have received many times in the past) from a friend.

Email Marketing continues to be a strong and valuable asset in the hands of any marketer. However, email deliverability or the ability to get one's marketing emails into the inbox of the recipient is a paramount and critical factor.

And similar to how all the search engine marketers are constantly trying to figure out the workings of the Google Algorithm; email marketers are trying to figure out the workings of the ESPs (Email Service Providers) & the ISPs (Internet Service Providers) and their algorithms.

*Note that in this article I'll refer to ESPs universally to refer to both ISPs and ESPs.

What follows is a round-up of some of the more important factors that impact email deliverability. Each is discussed in short form with a link to a credible and thorough article on the topic.

This could be overwhelming to anyone who is new to the topic. Don't feel like you have to do each of these things perfectly… but starting to manage any of these factors where currently you don't manage them at all, is sure to have a positive impact.

Not in any specific order:

Avoid Spam Complaints

It goes without saying that having your emails marked as SPAM is a really good way to communicate to the ESPs that your emails shouldn't make it to the inbox.

Resource: Definitive Guide About Spam Complaints

Make the unsubscribe link EXTREMELY easy to find. In the welcome email consider putting it at the top in line with the welcome paragraph in addition to having it in the footer. Don't do shady crap to get more email subscribers who didn't explicitly give you their email addressAlways send new subscribers a good welcome email that explains WHAT and HOW OFTEN you will be emailing them. If possible also include detail about where you got their email address so they can be reminded they opted in.



Focus on Quality Not Quantity

It feels warm and fuzzy inside to have a big email list. We want to associate big with better but it isn't so.

The number of quality subscribers matters and has a positive affect.

Equally so the number of bad subscribers (anyone who doesn't want to get your emails) matters and has a negative affect.

Focus an equal amount of energy on removing the bad subscribers (or not adding them to begin with) as you do on getting good subscribers.

Don't Buy Lists And If Possible Force Double Opt-In

There is great risk, both short-term and long term to having people on your email list that didn't ask or agree to be there.

The value proposition here is: Add some bad subscribers that MIGHT buy your product knowing that most of them won't which will make it so that long term even your good subscribers will stop seeing your emails.

RESOURCE: Why Buying Email Lists Is Always a Bad Idea

Is the short term gain worth the long term loss?

Also consider:

Purchased email lists often contain spam trap email addresses that signal to the ESP that you bought that list and are sending spamYou are not violating the CAN-SPAM Act in the US but you are violating GDPREmail marketing services and providers generally have policies against it and can penalize you or kick you off their system.



Don't Send From Free Domain Email Addresses

Don't make your “from” or “sender” address something with @gmail, @yahoo, @msn, etc.

For one you can't use custom authentication (see next section) but think about it… they know you didn't send it. Meaning, if I use my Gmail email for example and send an email out to a list of 1000 people and 300 of those have Gmail addresses; Gmail is smart enough to figure out that that email wasn't actually sent from Gmail.

It says it was sent from me@gmail.com to you@gmail.com but Gmail sees that it isn't in the sent box of me@gmail.com. This looks like phishing and carries enormous SPAM weight.

Use Custom Authentication

Email authentication is basically the process of sending email that is identified as originating from your sending domain. This helps ESPs verify that the email is coming from where it says it is coming from.

Basically is allows your email marketing platform to send verified email on your behalf that actually originating from YOUR domain.

Setting this up requires one of several methods that all require some form of adding or editing DNS records on your domain. Many email marketing platforms have tutorials or guides to walk you through this.

RESOURCE: What is And How to Setup Email Authentication

Avoid Spammy Words and Phrases

ESPs maintain a list of words and phrases that are often associated with SPAM email. The use of these words on occasion isn't likely to have any significant impact on your deliverability but a high concentration of them or frequent use of them will hurt.

Being somewhat familiar with the list will at very least help you know when you should avoid certain words or look for alternative ways to say something.

RESOURCE: Test the Spammyness of your Emails

Don't Use URL Shorteners

Avoid using URLs like bit.ly or tiny.url or other shortener services. ESPs just see that you are trying to redirect people and that isn't generally associated with good senders.

Your email marketing platform should be tracking opens and clicks anyway so you don't need those shorteners for analytics.

Limit the Amount of HTML

Companies that send marketing and promotional email want it to look very professional, so often they use complex coded email templates with a lot of images.

Using simple code only and as little of it as possible is going to positively impact your deliverability over time.

Don't Use A Shared Sending IP Address

A sender IP reputation, as viewed by the ESPs, is associated with the originating IP address from which email is being sent. Most of the popular email marketing platforms by default will have you sharing a sender IP with other users of that platform.

Often you have to pay more for a dedicated IP address but it is worth it. Do you want your sender reputation to be negatively affected because the other users sharing the IP address do spammy stuff?

Warm Up Your Dedicated IP Address

When you do start using a dedicated IP address you need to warm up that IP address. Warming it up is the process of slowing building up it's sending reputation.

Suddenly sending a lot of email from a new IP address is going to throw up a red flag to the ESPs.

RESOURCE: How to Properly Warm Up An IP Address

Send With Consistent Frequency

The ESPs get concerned when you go from sending email once a month to once a day. Being consistent with your sending volume and frequency will help your sender reputation.

Ask Customers to Whitelist You

In the same way that it hurts your sender reputation when recipients mark your email as SPAM, it may help when recipients whitelist you.

Whitelisting basically means they set a filter or do whatever else is necessary depending on the ESP or email client to communicate to the system that they WANT your emails to get to the inbox.

In addition to potentially having a positive impact on your sender reputation it most certainly goes a long way to ensure that specific subscriber sees your emails.

Ask them to whitelist you, maybe as part of a welcome email and consider providing some instructions for how they can go about doing so.

Remove Bounces

A bounced subscriber or email address is one where the email address is not able to receive your emails. This could be because the email address doesn't exist, the inbox is full, or a myriad of other reasons.

If your email marketing platform is worth anything at all it will have a Feedback Loop that communicates the issue back to the system and automatically marks that subscriber as bounced.

You don't want to continue to send email to an email address that can't receive it. This costs you money and hurts your sender reputation.

Purge or Clean Your List Frequently

So what about those subscribers that haven't bounced, but they just don't engage with your content anymore?

In the last 90 or 120 days or more they haven't opened a single email or clicked on a single link.

If you are hanging on to those contacts thinking that eventually, they will “re-activate” and out of the blue start opening your emails again and buying from you that is wishful thinking.

These contacts cost you money and hurt your sender reputation. Use automated processes often available from your email marketing platform to identify and remove those contacts.

You can always move them into a re-engagement campaign that sends them 1-3 emails specifically designed to “wake them up” and get them to engage with you once again. But beyond a few emails to that end, continuing to send them email as part of your normal sending is foolish.

Check Blacklists

Sometimes bad things happen. Maybe you broke one too many rules or someone hacks your account and does naughty things.

For whatever reason if you end up blacklisted it will have obvious negative impact on your deliverability.

Blacklists are generally 3rd party companies that specialize in identifying and registering naughty IP addresses. ESPs then rely on them to help filter out bad email.

On a regular basis, you should check the biggest blacklists and see if you are on them. If you are, appeal the decision and get removed.

RESOURCE: Email Blacklists 101 – What You Need to Know

Be Compliant With The CAN-SPAM Act

The CAN SPAM Act is a law that prohibits behavior consistent with spammers.

In short, it requires that you make it easy how recipients can unsubscribe and honor those requests. In addition, you need to have accurate and congruent subject lines, and to include the company physical address.

RESOURCE: The CAN SPAM Act of 2003 – Email marketing compliance

Include Your Business Name In the Sender Name

You want email recipients to quickly be able to identify the company that sent the email. While you can and should (per the CAN SPAM Act) include your company name in the body of the email somewhere (generally in a footer) including it in the FROM line is a good practice.

Don't Include Attachments

Just please don't do it. Including attachments is a certain way to hit the SPAM box.

Use Good Spelling and Grammar

Check your emails for good spelling and grammar. The ESPs have learned over time that Spammers tend to have bad grammar and they tend to spell words wrong in an attempt to get past firewalls.

Spelling errors and grammar mistakes are not only bad for your credibility and brand but also can have a negative impact on your sender score.

You Have Emails But You Don’t Have An Email Marketing Strategy

This is for any business owner or marketer who is currently NOT sending regular emails to an email list of subscribers, customers, and potential customers.

This conversation usually happens when I'm talking to a business owner who has been around for a few years but doesn't currently send much or any email.

WHY You Need to Be Sending Email

Not building and cultivating an email list is costing you money. Depending on how amazing your email strategy is, your lack of doing something is probably costing you between 5 cents and a dollar per email address per month.

Now I get it… writing emails is hard and can be expensive! That is what has been holding you back. It doesn't have to be that rough… I promise.

Scraping Together Your Email List

Before we get into the how and what, we need to build your email list. It is time to go to all your various resources and combine all the files, exports, and other assets you have to build out your email list.

Where possible, you want to capture as much data about each email subscriber as possible but specifically where you can be sure to export/capture: First Name, Last Name, Email Address, State, Zip Code.

This information will be handy later when you are making so much money from email you can't handle it and you decide to start segmenting or customizing emails to each recipient

Getting a High ROI From Your Booth

My first ever booth. 2008 at a 5K race in Utah. Learned some tough lessons.

I've been through a handful of business ventures and through them all I've been to A LOT of trade shows where I've seen A LOT of booths. I've had some opportunities to manage or execute a booth or two of my own and today's blog post is my attempt to point out the obvious lessons that aren't so obvious.

Have A Clear Core Objective

A big mistake I see are booths that suffer from having too much going on. They have sale signs, fish bowls to enter to win something, swag, flyers, and more.

This confuses the target consumer and makes it difficult to stand out. Like almost everything else in business you tend to succeed when you pick one thing and do it really well.

Potential Objectives May Include:

Lead Capture. Gather contact information for potential customersReal Conversations. Talk to target consumers and understand their needsBrand Engagement. Get consumers to use or better understand your company / product / serviceSell product and generate cash revenue

In addition, having a core objective also helps you understand who your customer is and how to target them in the crowd. Most likely you do NOT want EVERY person at the event to stop by your booth. Just the people in the market for what you are selling.

So identifying your objective leads to identifying your target consumer at the event, which should guide my next few points.

Lead With Value

A booth at an event is no different than any other marketing medium. If you want someone to do business with you or buy your product you need to lead with value.

What experience, product, tool, insight, or conversation can you provide to your target event attendees that will be inherently valuable on its own and relevant to your product or service?

The SilencerCo Booth at SHOT Show 2016. As you walk in it tells a story in timeline form along the walls about the history of gun control and specifically suppressors in America. Very captivating and provides and valuable experience that is RELEVANT to their products.

ONLY AFTER you provide some immediate and inherent value do people tend to be willing to hear your sales pitch.

A common way businesses will try to do this is to hand out a product sample but unfortunately, this doesn't create a now experience. You need something that creates a NOW experience that causes the person to stop at the booth and engage with you.

Benchmade Knife Company has a busy booth each year because they will sharpen, service, and laser engrave your knife on site for FREE.

Your lead must be relevant to your service. In the last few years I've seen booths that setup comfortable chairs and charging stations so people will stop, sit, and charge their phones for a few minutes. This is effective at getting people to stop but they aren't stopping because they have any interest in you or your business and that is a problem.

Now you may be thinking you just have a 10×10 booth with a limited budget and you just can't afford to do something huge. It is ok to start small, but it isn't smart to think people will stop and talk to you at your booth just because you have a fabulous product.

They do not know they need or want you. In order to let them know you need conversation time. You earn that conversation time by providing something valuable.

Don't Have SUCKY SWAG



At the USCCA Expo 2018 we handed out FREE pistol cases valued at about $15 each. People went absolutely insane. You want to be the booth that someone walks up to and says “Hey I see people everywhere with %%THING%% how do I get one?”

If you are handing out candy, pens, koozies, frisbees, balloons, or some other cheap trinket that anyone can buy at a dollar store your SWAG sucks.

Attributes of Awesome SWAG:

Visible at the event. When people take it from you and walk around the event everyone else sees it and wants to know where they got it. If your swag fits in a pocket it becomes invisibleRelevant to your product/service. People associate you with whatever you give away. Make it relevant to your businessIt doesn't have to have high retail value as long as it has high perceived value. Free bottled water on a hot day doesn't have high monetary value but it has high perceived value.



Design Pickle booth (don't know where or when). These guys always let you take a picture with their mascot… which is a pickle. They also give away cold crisp pickles. Real ones… that you eat… because apparently a lot of people enjoy a fresh crisp pickle.

I know what you are thinking… you can't afford it right?

On more than one occasion I've been able to partner with a 3rd party company to provide me with some products either at steep discount or free to be able to give away at a booth. A joint-venture on a swag item can be a big win for both parties.

You can also lessen the cost of a swag item by including along with it a coupon or offer that, with even a low percentage of conversion will help you generate some cash to offset the cost.

In the above picture, those pistol cases we handed out were stuffed with about 10 coupons from various companies that paid us to deliver their offer to event attendees. It was a pain to stuff those cases but it offset the cost of buying the swag.

When you still can't figure out a way to justify the expense, think of something you can print that would be valuable. A flyer or card with some sort of inherent value like a tutorial, recipe, tips, or something that you would normally sell.

Start Small!!!

Now, if you are about to have your first experience with a booth I strongly recommend you start with the standard 10×10 booth and do your best to follow the above ideas. No point in investing a lot of money in a big booth and then losing that money due to poor execution due to lack of experience.

A booth for my promotional apparel business JP Tees. Setup at a local 5K race trying to convince people to buy our shirts or hire us to print shirts in bulk. We sold one shirt and I'm still frankly shocked that we did even that well. This was not the right target audience and even if our target customer was in the crowd we didn't do anything well to attract their attention. But we gave away a lot of bottled water which was a good primer to understanding how to attract bigger crowds.

If your first time is anything like my first… 6 times, you will make some critical mistakes and learn some important lessons about your target consumers that will make it easier to do a bigger and better job the next time.

Learn From Others

Always take the time to walk around the event, even if you have a booth there, and observe the other booths. Look for the crowds and see what is attracting people.

See if you notice a pattern of products or swag items that everyone seems to be carrying or using or wearing.

Your market or industry is unique to you and there is no shame in copying the best ideas of others in your industry.

What other things have you found that make for a great booth experience and ROI? Let me know in the comments below.

How and Why To Buy Domains That Are Not Available

In 2016 I was attending the Traffic and Conversion Summit event where I heard a presentation from Perry Belcher about some of his best tips to acquiring good domain names.

Since then I've been on a personal journey to acquire quality domain names. I've found some tricks that work for me and some that I learned from Perry that have proven fruitful as well.

First, WHY Go To The Effort?

I imagine it goes without saying that your website's domain name is arguably more important than your company name and where possible they should be one and the same.

In today's climate your domain name will become your brand even if you don't want it to. Despite this I often talk to businesses and friends who tell me they can't name their business X because the domain name isn't available.

When you decide to launch a new business or project don't restrict yourself to domains that are available or you are effectively restricting yourself to crappy business names. All the good ones are probably taken unless you are launching a local business with no plans to expand and can include the city or state name in your domain.

For Sale By Individual Or Broker?

When I identify a domain that I would like to own that isn't available I follow these steps:

See if the domain is being used for an active website or if it is just parked.

If the domain is in use then I'm going to spend some time looking through the website to determine some important things.

First, how recently it has been updated and how much traffic it may be getting? Websites that get a lot of traffic or have been updated recently are going to be more expensive or difficult to convince the owner to part with.

Second, is the content on the website relevant to my business? Likely search engines have already crawled the website and if I completely redo the website to a topic that is different that is going to slow down my ability to rank well for target search terms on that website. This is worth considering.

If the domain is parked or otherwise not in use that is likely a good sign as the owner is more likely to be willing to part with it. Often the parked page will have information about the domain being for sale and how to contact the broker and make an offer.

Here is a domain I'm interested in. Going to the site loads this “parked page” that tells me it is for sale. The broker is Uniregistry which I really like but sadly they want $16,000 and to me it isn't worth more than about $1,500. Sometimes it just doesn't work out.

If there is information about contacting a broker to make an offer to buy the domain this is generally a sign that the domain is going to be on the more expensive end of the spectrum.

In my ideal scenario the domain isn't in use and doesn't have any information about it being available for sale.

Use WHOIS Tool to Find the Owner

All domains have a registered owner. There are a number of lookup tools online to help you discover who the owner is. My preferred tool is the GoDaddy WHOIS lookup tool and you can find it here.

Put your target domain in that search box and presto… you may get lucky. You are lucky if you see the name and address of a real human along with an email address and sometimes a phone number.

If that is the case you now have contact info and even if they had a broker listed to contact you can bypass the broker and contact the domain owner directly.

SADLY, you aren't always lucky as domain registrars do allow the domain owner to use privacy registration to replace their personal contact info with the information for the registrar. When this happens you don't have any way to directly contact the domain owner without working through a broker or buying service.

This is the WHOIS results for the domain jacobspaulsen.com. I have domain privacy on all my domains and so you get results that don't show my email, address, or information



If You Can Directly Contact The Owner

Here is a script I use a lot:

SUBJECT LINE: Would you consider selling it?

Some noteworthy things about my script:

I think it is very important to include your personal cell number and letting them know they can text you. This communicates you are a real normal single human and that you are serious about buying the domain and that this is very unlikely to be a scamI don't include my full name as my name is fairly easy to Google search and find out who I am, what I do, and to make some assumptions about how much money I may haveI do not include an initial offer or bid. Right now my only goal is to solicit a response. Negotiation can take place after they respondI don't say why I want the domain or what I intend to do with it. It isn't any of their business and again I don't want to turn them off before I even have a chance to begin the conversation

In addition to an email I will often try to find the person on Facebook and send them a message there as well. Script might look something like:

If You Have to Use A Domain Broker

Don't despair if you have to use a domain broker. I especially like the team and service at Uniregistry.com and have acquired several domains via a broker. But understand the broker is going to keep a fee and the seller must be fairly serious about monetizing their domain assets or they wouldn't have hired a broker to begin with. You should expect to pay a lot more.

Making Your First Offer

When I'm dealing directly with the seller I generally start really low. For example if I would be willing to pay $1000 I might make my first offer $250.

When dealing with a broker I'm going to leave less room for myself. If willing to pay $10,000 I might offer $5000 in my initial offer.

Should You Use Escrow

There are a number of different Escrow services you can use which effectively will take your payment and hold it in an account giving the seller confidence they can transfer the domain without fear they won't get paid. Once the domain is transfered to your satisfaction you notify the Escrow account to release the funds. Thus you are both protected in the transaction.

I prefer to use escrow.com for this service but understand that escrow services come with fees. I rarely use them and so far I've never been scammed or otherwise dissatisfied with a transaction. Use your best judgement.

The Dumbest Mistakes When Returning A Product To An Online Vendor

My eCommerce business has now shipped over 100,000 orders since late 2015. We have a return rate of about 2.5% which means we've probably processed about 2500 returns and I personally received and processed every single one of them. For the most part, it is a simple and routine part of my workload but there are some patterns I see from our customers that DRIVE ME NUTS.

The returns from the last several days that I will be processing today

Below are some of those patterns distilled into some suggestions and advice that I wish my customers would read… but alas it would probably be a little rude to include the below in each package that goes out the door.

Um, You Just Returned The Thing You Said You Want

Yeah, this happens all the time. Someone ships something back to us claiming we shipped them the wrong one. Sometimes they want a refund and other times they would like an exchange. I open up the package, read the note, look at the product and say to myself “you just shipped me the thing you said you want.”

Before you ship back a product triple check that it isn't the right thing. Maybe the packaging looks a little different than what you saw online, maybe you are looking at the product wrong and falsely identifying it, or perhaps you just don't actually know how to use/recognize the thing you just bought.

Instead of jumping to conclusions contact customer service and ask clarifying questions. Include pictures of what they shipped you and ask if this is the correct product. Trust me its frustrating for the business and embarrassing and frustrating for you to find out you screwed up. When I call you on the phone and say, “if you wanted an X I can just ship you back the thing you just returned,” you are going to feel foolish.

Uh, You Shipped Your Return To The Wrong Place or Didn't Include The Thing We Need to Refund You

The big key here is ASK for return instructions and then follow those instructions.

For example, a lot of modern online retailers drop ship products from various different locations or manufacturers. The origin address on the package that you receive may NOT be the correct address to send the return. This is a common issue for us. We include a card inside every package that tells the customer to NOT return the package to the address on the label and we still get about 12 returns a month to that address.

Even more frustrating is when people don't include any identifying information in the package. Something shows up and when I open it I just find the product. No order number, customer name or information, or anything else that would be helpful. Sometimes I can find an order that has the same return address but this is more problematic when people take things to a UPS store or small shipping service retailer that will put their own address on the return label instead of the home address of the customer.

At very least if you do nothing else just include a piece of paper with a name, address, email address, and phone number. Then if we can't find your order at least we can call you and ask you for more information.

You Just Super Overpaid To Ship This Back to Me

Ok, this is no skin off my back but it still hurts a little when I see that my customer just overpaid to ship back a product. If the customer is paying for return shipping then that will leave a bigger sting than it needs to and if they are using a prepaid label provided by the company and they use the wrong packaging then the business may have to pay for the difference in postage when it arrives.

The most common issue is the use of flat-rate packaging. USPS flat rate boxes are generally the best deal in postage when you are shipping something that is heavy. The Flat Rate box is the same postage no matter the weight so putting a lightweight, small product in a box and filling it up with newspaper is almost guaranteed to cost you more than you need to pay.

Take a cue from the vendor. However they shipped it to you, that is probably the cheapest way to ship it back to them.

Here Is An Idea; Call Us Before You Call Your Credit Card Company

This is the worst. I get a notification from the merchant company (the guys that help us accept credit cards) notifying us that a customer has just disputed the credit card charge. I contact the customer to ask why they disputed the charge and they respond with, “It wasn't what I wanted” or “I want to return it.”

Disputing credit card charges when you did, in fact, authorize the charge is dishonest and painful for everyone involved. You may have to get a new credit card which is an inconvenience to you. On our end, we are charged a fee for every dispute and we have to put together a packet of evidence to prove we, in fact, did get a payment from YOU and we did in fact ship you a product.

Now if you have gone the rounds with a retailer and they are treating you like crap and not willing to enforce the return/refund policy they claim to have in place then sure, go ahead and call your card company. But if you need customer service, like wanting to return the product for a refund, call/email or otherwise contact the company before you go to the effort of disputing the charge on your card.

With a lot of card companies once you dispute it I cannot refund you even if I want to. It puts the transaction in a category of untouchable and if I can show them that the charge came from you and I shipped the product to your billing address you may never see that money back. Just contact us and tell us what you need.

Well, Did You Read Our Return Policy During Checkout?

I feel like a jerk when we get contacted by someone asking us to do something completely outside of our policy and I have to say no. We generally will go outside of the policy to make customers happy but sometimes we get requests that we cannot honor for one reason or another and if the customer had just read the policy before checking out they would have known about those restrictions.

When you buy something online that costs more than you think about 5 minutes of your time is worth; READ THE RETURN POLICY. I know this is a pain and nobody does it but before you drop $100 don't you think it is worth reading a policy that you can read in under 5 minutes?

Next Time Don't Throw Away The Paperwork & Packaging

A lot of companies have a policy that you can't return something if it shows clear signs of wear and use. One of the best ways to demonstrate that you didn't use it at all or very much is to carefully put it back in the original packaging the best you can. Not only does this at very least suggest minimum use but the company may appreciate that they don't have to spend money on more packaging to be able to repackage and resell the product you've returned.

When something arrives in the mail you don't know what all you may need in order to return it. Keep the packing slip (which has your order number on it) and all the product packaging at least until you are 100% confident you won't be returning it.

Actually, We Would Love For You To Review Us

There is a tendency among customers who have a positive return experience to think they are doing the company a favor by not writing an online review. Afterall we don't want potential customers to see that you didn't like the product enough to keep it right? WRONG.

Customers sometimes do not purchase a product because they are concerned about the potential work involved in returning it if they don't like it. If you have a positive experience in the return and refund of your order then write a positive review. Tell people the product wasn't for you but you were very happy with how easy it was to contact the business and get the return done. This will help customers who have reservations about a potential return to feeling comfortable enough to buy.

Keep The Tracking Number

When you ship that return package KEEP the receipt that has the tracking number on it. You never know what might happen. The package might be lost by the Post Office or you might have accidentally forgotten to include the return paperwork.

That tracking number is the only other proof you have that you returned the product to the vendor. Don't throw it out until the refund posts to your credit card.

Oh, and while not deserving of a full section of this article please also:

Do not write your credit card number on the return paperwork
Return the correct product to the correct company
Type and print the return letter/request if your handwriting sucks
If you smoke or someone in your home smokes try spraying the product with Fabreeze before you package it up and hope we'll refund you
If you have pets try a lint roller on the product so as to remove all the hair before you send it back for a refund
Avoid using packaging that isn't recyclable. When I open returns I have two piles… one for packaging that I can put in our recycle bin and one for packaging that will go in the garbage. If it isn't fragile, don't use a bubble mailer.

Hopefully, you found that advice helpful… and next time we are hanging out together ask me for my best return stories. I got some doozies that you wouldn't believe.