More Information On Non Status Car Finance And Leasing

Found a great article today on the subject

http://www.carleasingblog.co.uk/2007/10/10/non-status-car-leasing-for-people-with-bad-credit/

take a look, see what you think

Fax Marketing – How to find ROI

With so many different forms of marketing out there, it is sometimes difficult to find out which one works best for you, or indeed any combination of different styles.

The most important thing with any kind of marketing campaign is ROI (Return On Investment).

ROI

In its purest sense, its a simple calcuation of:

How much business did I get – How much did I pay to get the business.

Now the actual aquisition cost can run to many different things, such as rent,salaries,computers,etc,etc but for the purposes of this article, lets just deal with the two.

So, if I sell a widget for £100, and the cost of taking it to market down route A is £40, then I’m in profit until I find a marketing media which will only cost me £39.

Fax Marketing

Easily one of the most exploited and uncontrollable forms of marketing, very difficult to measure the results. But I am going to help you find out.

1. Telephone Numbers

First thing to do, is get yourself a lo-call number with some basic reports. These can be obtained online from anyone like uk2numbers.co.uk, etc. This will let you know exactly how many calls you recieve over a period of time from your marketing campaign.

2. Website

If you decide to redirect people to your website aswell as telephones, register another domain name (alias it to your main domain) and install tracking on said domain. This will give you strong results and analytics for determining how effective your campaign was/is.

3. Sales reference code.

Create a specific special offer or bonus, and attatch a reference code to the offer. This will help your salesmen determine where the enquiry came from.

4. Global.asa

Edit the global.asa file on your website to open a session when a user lands. Then display the results on a hidden page on your website. This will let you know how soon after the campaign you are recieving hits.

Couple all of these elements together in a spreadsheet to find your ROI. So work out how many hits/conversions and calls/conversions (this information will tell you which is a better salesperson, The Website or The Salesman) you recieved for a given spend, and take that away from how many sales you completed.

If you want anymore information on this subject, please give me a shout

Bye for now

Whats the point in buying cars?

As the years go by, more and more it seems that there is not point at all in buying cars.

 I have been involved in the british asset finance industry for some time now, and with funders desperate to lend their money, leasing cars becomes more and more a viable option.

Take for example the following (which was released today)

Mercedes C220 CDi se 4dr Saloon

Now this is what?£25k worth of car? So using some simple maths, that makes it around £400-500 per month on a purchase scheme.

Even with a comparable overdraft facility, assuming that you purchased it outright, that gives around 11% per annum which, apart from the useage of precious cash flow, would cost around £230 per month in bank interest alone!

This particular offer comes in at £280 odd per month all in (plus vat ofcourse).

The beauty of this kind of scheme is that:

1. Its off-sheet accounting, the contract is for the use of the vehicle, not purchase. So it doesnt go on the company’s balance sheet.

2. 90% of the payment toward the vehicle can be written off as a loss (less tax again)

3. After 2 years (or just when you are getting bored to you and me), you dump the old one, and get yourself a new one (maybe the new BMW for example)

It just seems that finance companies are willing to take more and more of a risk, and you dont have to worry about the value of your metal going down.

Would you want to pile £25k in cash outside for it to be rained on or scratched?

Its just my view, but things seem to be getting better and better for consumers using an asset-less way of financing business and personal goods.

A bit like an interest only mortgage (I’ve got one )

Linux Exchange Alternative, Chapter 1 – Webmin

Due to the interest in my blog about a linux alternative to exchange, I have decided to compile a step by step tutorial for configuring linux as an exchange tutorial.

I will do this over a period of a few days, as I have found that configuring linux (for the non-linux professional) is different than configuring windows, and is a steep learning curve (which I have gone through) so I will go through is slowly, and step by step

If you get bored with the pace, then the article isn’t for you, as you are obviously more profficient at linux than this article would assume.

For the first part, we will deal with the basic linux distribution.

Linux distros are available in a variety of different flavours, big and small. For the purposes of this excercise I would suggest a liveCD version of linux

LIVECD – A linux distribution which will run entirely from CD or USB pen, allowing you to test the configuration on an existing machine (with windows for example) without compromising your existing installation. Dont like linux? eject the CD and press reset. Messed up the config? eject the CD and press reset. Simple

I have tried a few different liveCD linux flavours, and my favourite is PCLinuxOS. This is a great LiveCD based linux distribution which can be downloaded a variety of different ways and acts as a great desktop platform. This has been taken further by the fantastic guys at www.pclosbe.org who have made a business edition version with all the appropriate server software installed.

So, its a good idea to start with a good platform.

First thing to do is to get Webmin running. Webmin is a fantastic web based linux administration suite, which means you dont have to be sat at the machine to administer linux.

In order to install webmin (or at least on the distro’s i have tried) open a terminal window(while logged in as root) and type

apt-get install webmin

This will download and install/configure webmin as a module on your linux distro.

pclosbe comes with webmin as standard (told you it was useful)

To access webmin, there are 2 main ways

1. Locally in a browser using https://localhost:10000 (dont forget the httpS, otherwise you will be pulling your hair out for hours)

2. Remotley in a browser from a network machine using https://[ip address of linux machine]:10000

Right, thats chapter one done. And webmin is installed (or should be) now play around with it.

I would suggest doing the following with webmin in order to become accustomed.

1. Upgrade the version

2. Add different modules

3. Use the file browser to browse the file structure on the linux machine

4. Shut down and re-start the machine

5. Cock something up completely!! – remember, its a liveCD you can always start again in about 3 minutes flat.

All of this stuff will make you more confident with webmin and give you a really good start going forward.

I will speak to you very soon about the next stage

Enjoy

Fax Marketing – Does it work?

I am today having a fax marketing campaign designed and sent to 10,000 people.

I have never tried it before, as have had much success with conventional SEO and Adwords,etc. But I thought I would give it a try.

I have compiled an excel spreadsheet with the current costs of the campaign and the projected returns for anyone to download and look at.

I have also registered a lo-call number which can produce accurate statistics in terms of the number of incoming calls.

Watch this space, as tomorrow I will upload the results of the campaign (phone calls,sales conversions,etc) to demonstrate the potential ROI’s,etc.

Non Status Car Leasing for People with Bad Credit

Shopping for a new car should be an exciting and rewarding experience, but it can be all gloom and doom if you have non status credit. What could be worse than finding the exact car of your dreams, in just the right colour, with all of the right options, and then getting turned down by the dealer, bank, or finance company because of your credit history or some other circumstance that makes you non status?

Well, if you were the only person that this has ever happened to, then it would be fair to say that you are well and truly hosed. But, the fact is, there are millions of people in the U.K. who have less than perfect credit, or find themselves classified as non status because of a recent divorce, being self employed, or just simply not having any credit history to rely on. And yes, these people still can get into a new car. Want to know how they do it? Here’s the secret.

Non Status Car Leasing Options

There are U.K. car financing companies who specialize in helping people who are classified as non status. These automobile loan companies realize that credit problems happen to good people, and the chances are that you will make your payments on time if someone would just give you a chance to prove it.

Here’s how it works for Non Status Car Leasing

Typically you go about your business shopping for a car just like you normally would. Once you determine the make and model you want, and what options you want to order, you contact your non status car leasing loan provider and give them all of the details.

You’ll have to fill out a credit application, but don’t panic! They already know that you have non status credit or you wouldn’t be coming to them. The application process is a legal requirement for any legitimate car loan provider. Once the application is completed, and the lender approves you for the amount you need, their expert car financing staff goes to work for you.

The way that it works is the non status car loan company will usually buy the car themselves and then lease it to you for a pre-determined period of time. You simply make the monthly payments just as if you leased it through a more traditional lender. As you make each payment you are building your good credit which will go a long way towards helping you when you are ready to get your next car. All you need to do is keep up with your payments. Should you ever find yourself in a position where you just can’t make a payment when it is due, contact your non status lender right away. Being honest and up front will keep the relationship running smoothly, and the chances are they will be able to help you over the occasional rough spot. One last word: Be absolutely sure that you deal with a legitimate, licensed lender who specializes in providing non status car leasing alternatives. The last thing that you want to do is end up signing a car leasing deal with a company that’s running a scam!

For a full rundown, on a good repair strategy or if you need more info, please give me a shout.

Hilarious Video Of Fiat 500 Going Backwards

http://www.fiat-leasing.ultracar.co.uk/funny.asp

The linux based equivalent to MS Exchange

After months of searching and testing, and practicing. I have finally found the recipe for a linux based alternative to the hugely popular and expensive MS Exchange 2003 with outlook.

Although the solution isnt a like for like replacement, it has certainly proved successfull so far in a 45 user domain environment.

The ingredients are as follows

1 A Basic linux distribution, I used a business developed version of PCLinuxOS – BELinux

2. Postfix

3. Dovecot IMAP server

4. Groupoffice groupware software

The sum total of all this software is a whopping £0.00

Postfix is the SMTP server which communicates with the internet to send and retrieve email. Picture it as the sweet old post lady at work

Dovecot is the IMAP server. This collates and distributes the email for use by other programs. The delivery format for Dovecot is IMAP or POP3, and it works very well out of the box

GroupOffice is the big one. This software creates a user interface similar to that of Outlook 2003 or OWA, and feeds the information from Dovecot to produce a server based email/calendering solution.

If you go to pclosbe.org , you can download they’re livecd distribution which contains all of the required software. This LiveCD version can be run up on a VMWare style sofware package, or an old PC you have lying around for test purposes.

If anyone requires any further information, or help configuring this solution, please give me a shout on this blog.

www.pclosbe.org

http://www.group-office.com/

CO2 and Carbon Footprint ! – They do care

Recently, Jane Garvey, presenter on BBC Five Live’s Drive Show, commented that in America, ordinary people look at the driver of a big flash car and think to themselves ‘Wow! I wish that were me’, whilst over here, increasingly they are thinking ‘What a prat!’

Maybe Ms Garvey was exaggerating but it is certainly true that UK attitudes are changing and that people are becoming more aware of the need to reduce greenhouse gases. This, combined with road charging measures that will penalise cars with big engines and high CO2 emissions, means the rules are changing for fleet buyers.

Firstly, they will need to consider running costs to a greater extent than ever before and this will fuel a trend towards smaller engine sizes and better CO2 efficiency as road charging becomes a major factor in running costs. At senior management level, where the size and quality of car allocated is deemed to be a status symbol, people’s changing perceptions will dictate that ecological friendliness will become a prestige factor, with hybrids like the Lexus RX 400h and GS 450h coming into the reckoning as senior executives feel the need to set an example to their employees in the eco stakes.

These factors will influence car design, with hybrid cars more likely to be targeted at senior management by becoming more prestigious and luxurious, as manufacturers seek to establish them as premium price vehicles. Lower down the scale, balancing the equation between physical car size, fuel economy and emission levels will pose a problem for manufacturers as car users try to resist anticipated company inclinations towards providing them with smaller cars. The inevitable outcome will be a decrease in engine size relative to the size of the car.

Another outcome is likely to be more cross-company collaborations like the recent one between Toyota and Peugeot-Citroen that produced the fuel-efficient three-cylinder petrol engine now used in the smallest model in each of their respective ranges.

Not so very many years ago I chose a Peugeot 406 Estate 2.0HDi as a company car. At the time it was considered to have one of the most efficient diesel engines on the market, meaning I had less of a car tax implication. The CO2 emissions were around 180g/km, which seemed really good at the time. After only a few years, that would now be regarded as less efficient.

Not that many car manufacturers have much to shout about when it comes to meeting today’s CO2 emission targets. The EU strategy on this rests primarily on a voluntary agreement for the average new car sold in the EU by 2008 to emit no more than 140 grams of CO2 per kilometre, with an additional target of 120 grams per kilometre by 2012. In October, the European Federation for Transport and Environment published research which showed that of the 20 major car brands on sale in the EU, only three – Fiat, Citroen and Renault – were meeting the emission targets required under the voluntary agreement by 2008, with just two others – Ford and Peugeot – likely to meet their targets by the required date.

The other major thing for fleet buyers to consider for future fleets is the anticipated residual value of the cars, which in turn will affect monthly lease charges. At this early stage, even car leasing companies don’t know for certain how much fuel economy and CO2 emissions will impact on resale values of cars once the cost effects of road charging are felt. But, it is certain that these factors will rank alongside mileage and colour in determining the desirability and value of fleet cars at resale.

Tax measures that make motoring more costly for fuel and CO2-inefficient cars are already producing ecological benefits. Increasing tax penalties further, in the form of road charging, will increase the quest for ecological benefits. Responsible car leasing companies are starting to talk to their fleet customers about all these issues and advising them accordingly so they can make informed plans for the future. The most far-sighted are weighting their marketing efforts towards incentivising fleet managers to give fuel-efficiency and emission levels higher priority when they are specifying. This is the inevitable way forward as fleet managers seek to minimize the cost effects that road charging will bring.

How I Saved £20,000 a month on adwords

In november last year, our total company spend with Adwords was £24,000.

Things had got bad…..very bad

Not only that, but everyone in my industry was starting to suffer the same problems. High CPC, low click through rates, good keywords fetching huge premiums. Something had to change.

I am no dummy as far as SEO and Web marketing strategies are concerned, but by no means have I stopped learning. So I decided it was time to crack on and start gathering some information. Even a 10% reduction would represent over £2k a month, and I wouldnt mind that money for myself.

I had already utilised most of the popular strategies for optimising adwords (and for that matter any PPC advertising media) exact matches, broad matches, phrase matches,etc,etc,etc. Anyone that already does this will realise that the list goes on and on.

Then it occurred to me, instead on having one (very expensive) search term ‘widgets’, how much traffic would ‘inexpensive widgets coloured red for immediate delivery’ gather, and how much would it cost?

Obviously, the cost was unbelievably low, but as was the amount of traffic said keyword would realise.

For Example:

Widgets – Maybe £1 per click, but 10,000 clicks per day available producing a cost of £10,000

inexpensive widgets coloured red for immediate delivery – only £0.01 per click, but only 2 clicks per day

So, simply enough, all I have to do is wait 5,000 days (about 12 years) and I would realise a fantastic saving in my marketing spend. Duh!!!!!

No, all I need is 5,000 comparable, multi word (sometimes known as long tail) keywords, at the same price, producing the same amount of traffic. Then, my 10,000 clicks would only cost £100

Good eh?

However, this would have taken a considerable amount of time to collate these keywords. So I devised a script on my website which understood the exact keyword searched to reach the site.

This is quite a complex script, and I would be more than happy to share the concept with anyone who asks,links or contributes to this blog.

All that remains to say is that the script was created, and within 3 months, well over 8,000 long tail keywords were developed and refined for use.

The company marketing spend is now down to around £4k – £6k per month, with much more flexibility for manipulation. ie if things are slow, increase the CPC to 5p for a day or so, to force some enquiries into the system.

If this series is of any interest to anyone, please link to or contribute/comment, as there are many more techniques I have successfully implemented into adwords with great effect – and many that havent.