Maxxd Business Blog

For starters, I have to state how busy and stressful this week has been. We have never in our lives had the amount of stress and pressure put on us like we have this week - but it is all so worth it.

We have been finishing and proof reading our magazine, as it went to print TODAY! It has been a very tiring experience, as you can read through something four times, and still not see all the errors. Hopefully we have it error free, and have made it a really good read.

We have been planing everything for the show next weekend too, as the last show we left everything too late. We should be picking up a loan vehicle to take us both and the magazines and marquees to Donington - its an exciting experience!

A big thanks to Helen and the rest of the team that have helped us with the mag, and also Scott from xXx who is lending us a vehicle. Ollie has made a fantastic job of the features, his write ups are something to shout about.
Its time to start working on the second magazine now and developing the MaxxDirectory further. There are alot of companies out there interested in the next issue and becoming more involved with Maxxd. The front page advertising is looking promising, we have a few companies fighting for the front page space, which we are offering to a set amount of companies, well, for the time being that is who knows how far it will all go.
We are working on some large deals with the directory too, not just the £49 per year accounts but more on a national level which are worth thousands.

Since starting the magazine, our horizons have widened no end and we have learnt so much about online advertising, there’s so much out there, its amazing.

We are taking the weekend off and chilling to the max, Dave’s car is back on the road so he’ll more than likely be visiting a few local towns and attracting some new members for the club.

Next week will be a like a new beginning, Helen & Dave are sorting out a new approach to the sales and marketing and creating a fresh media pack and then the fun and games shall commence.

If you are new to this blog, then check out the following links:

http://www.Maxxd.com

http://www.MaxxDirectory.com

http://www.Maxxd.info

http://www.Maxxd.co.uk

Today has been very hectic, I am writing this as I leave for the day as i need to get things ready for the show this weekend. We have been finishing off a few bits for a client’s website and also for our magazine.

Dave is going to spend a few hours with the accountant tonight, to get the books up to date. Friday night + accounts work, niiiiiiiiiiice.
Ill end this now with this word from our sponsor…

We are approaching the end of another month, time is going too quick at the moment, the days feel like a few hours, and the work load is slowly piling as high as a small tower.

We have recently quoted a few companies for front page advertising and we hope to close these very soon. We have our fingers crossed.

The magazine is still full steam ahead, we have had two companies pull their advert out which has put us under a bit more pressure than we expected but this is already in the process of being pulled back. The deadline is approaching and the pressure is on.

Dave and Helen have been out today visiting a few local companies in the hope that they’ll pull in a few extra adverts. Its looking like a local organisation are putting £2000.00 in for a advert and some editorial, fingers crossed.

More tomorrow…

Sixty six days have passed in the Maxxd offices, and there is so much going off!

We started out focusing on one thing, and we have ended up doing something totally different.

The mag is looking slightly more promising, in the sense that we have managed to pull a few advertisers back onboard. We have also got more pictures for the features, and more writeups. We’re having another meeting with the publishing company tomorrow to ensure we are all on the same wave length

We have started to play about with our google ad’s too. We have noticed a massive increase in revenue earned just by MOVING the ads to different locations. Its as if google knows its at the bottom of your page and doesn’t give you as much cash!

Making your site perfectly search engine friendly, and making the most of google ad’s really is an art. An art that we will perfect!

Dave has been on fire today on the phones, he’s made shit loads of phone calls and sent shit loads of emails. I (Olly) have been listening to music and cracking on with various things as i cant put up with dave having the same conversation with people 400 times. Haha.

More tomorrow guys!

Today, we had to deal with a situation that no business owner ever wants to have to deal with.

We were liasing with a client who were interested in advertising, and they were also talking about a few other things they’d like to do with us. Then, at the last minute they pulled out, but had got some flyers made up with our logo on them. And to top it all off, they used the incorrect logo.

Now we didnt want to fall out with this company, as no one wants bad marks against their name. But at the same time, they used a logo of ours, incorrectly, and without our permission.

So what do you do in a situation like this?

Do you follow it up - as the logo is copyrighted?

We decided to let it pass, as to be fair its free advertising for our club - even if the logo looks rubbish. We sought advise from our legal representative and she told us to make sure they were aware of the fact they had breached copyright, and to make sure that it doesnt happen again with us - or with any other company they deal with.

It was quite an unpleasant situation to be in, and it could of turned messy. Its deffo been something we’ve learnt from though.

We paid a visit to a few clients today too, one of them is giving us some cool demo cars to use in our magazine.

More tomorrow.

We came in this morning to find out that three companies had pulled out on the advertising. We felt like we have been kicked in the stomach big time.

We are now trying to pull back this lost advertising but only have six days to do so. The pressure is on. For now Project Golf is on hold as we are not in a position to do everything we needed to. It will still happen but may be left for a more appropriate time. Were probably gonna do an intro to the idea in the first mag, then the actual finished product in the second, that at least gives us another month!
We are having to dedicate a lot more time to this magazine than first expected, but we dont mind as the advertising and marketing benefits for Maxxd are second to none…
Ollie came in today to help write a few things up for the mag, he has become our feature editor and will probably do a lot of the magazine work if it becomes a full time thing. Fingeres crossed eh!

This week so far has been mental, this is definatly a sign of how our futures are set to be, fast paced, non stop and INSANE!

Got to go!

Today has been complete madness.

The pressure is kicking in from all angles..

If you are new to this blog and have no idea what we are doing here goes…

MAXXDIRECTORY - We are building this up to be the largest online car styling advertising directory in the UK and eventually the world. We are giving companies free listings as well as giving the users of Maxxd.com a place to find what they need for their vehicles. It has been a slow start but things are getting there.

A basic listing is free, but does not include web links, banners and logos. To make the most from the directory and give your company more exposure there is an annual fee of £49.00.

We are also working on expanding Maxxd.com, making it the number one site for modified cars and peformance vehicles.

Check out our websites:

Maxxd.com

Maxxd Marketing

MaxxDirectory

Have a good weekend folks…. Check back next week.

We came in this morning to see that we had made $5.82 yesterday through google ads. This is the highest it has ever been and we are hoping that this is the start of something. If it carried on like that we’d be making about $150 per month just from people clicking ads. If only we had set this up back in 2001 when Maxxd.com was born.

Olly is still working on web design for clients and doing a new Maxxd site, its looking quite nice, we are looking forward to launching it.

The sales are still coming in and more and more interest is being generated, we are really pushing that front page exclusive now and hope to have closed one or two of the eight companies by the end of next week. Fingers crossed.

The deadline for the magazine is approaching and we still have a photoshoot to get done and editorial to sort, this is being taken care of but the pressures on to get it all sorted in time. We have shows coming up which we need to be ready for, times going so fast its unreal.

Friday tomorrow, another week almost over..

Today has gone really quickly, its been none stop.

Olly has been doing more design work and I have been on the phones chasing leads and introducing Maxxd to more new companies.

Things are still going well, the directory is filling up rapidly, Teddy is currently in the lead adding the free listings, he’s keeping me on my toes, I can’t get enough calls done I need two more hands and another phone.

Now that we have decided about the Maxxd.com homepage advertising, we have been looking for eight companies that would like to share this and we already have two what are very interested, so fingers crossed.

Google Adsense has gone mad today, it was on $2.50 at 10.30 this morning which is strange, it usually takes all day before its at that amount? Is this a sign that we are getting alot more page impressions and even more hits?

The weekends almost here again and the show season is here at last. Things can only get busier.

Olly has been finishing off customer sites as mentioned yesterday and I (Dave) have spent the day following up leads and making new calls.

We have sold another directory listing today and have also sold the inside front cover for the magazine. The company that are having this are doing some exciting things this year, I won’t say what but its gonna take the car club scene by storm and hopefully we’ll have alot of input into it.

Following an enquiry into an advert on the front page of Maxxd.com we have looked into what to do. We have had a random ad from the directory displaying on Maxxd but are now thinking about offering a shared advert to maybe 6 companies. The front page is the most premium level of advertising available as it gets so many hits.

After a bit of research we have a good idea about the price, for now I’ll leave it at that and blog when we sell the space.

Also, a few invoices have been chased up, something we hate to do but we all need paying..

Until tomorrow, peace out fellow car modders of the world