Help Resources.Net Blog

I have got to say that I am so very happy with what we have accomplished in 2009, but am so very excited for the new year of 2010.

In 2009 I was able to finally get this site together the way I wanted it to be, and got some great resource information propagated through out the site.  And to think, I really only started working on the site back in June and July of 2009. So in July is when I started promoting the site and what it was about. I signed up for many different networking sites, but focused most heavily on two in particular. Those were our facebook site: http://www.facebook.com/helpresources and our twitter presence: http://www.twitter.com/helpresources

This was really my first foray into social networking sites, so I really did not know what to do or what to expect. And I have to say I was very pleasantly surprised at the results from both of those sites. Our facebook page has almost 1800 friends on it now, which in my humble opinion is phenomenal growth for a FB account. And our twitter account is closing in on 900 followers as I type this.

Something that I have learned in that short amount of time, and would be advice I would give anyone trying to use those networking sites to help drive hits to their sites, and actually “network” with people and organizations that have like interests would be this.

Be sincere and passionate. People can tell if you really are passionate about what it is that you are doing, or if you are just so so about your cause.  And they can tell very quickly if you are actually out there to help others, or if you are hoping to sneak in some links here and there to earn some click through revenue.

Be interactive and listen. For any of you that have been in sales there is a well known rule out there. Listen more than you talk. And this is not easy. I fell into the “ohhhh, I have a great cause, I need to spam the heck out of it and people will follow” through a lack of understanding, as well as allowing my passion for what I was doing just burst out and boil over. Its easy to get into the habit of just spamming out info about you and your cause, and not interact with others. But you will find that if you interact with those you follow and those that follow you, you will get a tremendous amount of positiveness out of those interactions. And you will build trust and bonds with those around you, which means what you have to say holds even more merit. And will likely be viewed and acted upon at a much higher percentage than before, when all you did was just spam your info out there.

The more you interact with others, the more you will find that they are willing to take of their time and promote you and your cause. And this is an invaluable resource, one that a monetary value just can not be put on.

So we found many great connections with like minded organizations out there. And what is so great is to see these folks that are specializing in their particular areas, doing such great work for others. And making a difference on a day to day basis for others. It really warms my heart to know that I can help them spread the word about the work they are doing, and in turn help people by getting them in touch with these great organizations.  And this has happened several times for us in 2009.

I had the honor of helping out several people, for a variety of needs. Helping them keep their utilities on, food on their tables and a roof over their heads. I can count on 2 hands the amount of folks I have helped, and in the 4 months that the site was really up and running, that may not sound like very much accomplished. But I will tell you this, just knowing that I helped one person/family made it all worth while. Much less several, which is just even more icing on the cake for me.

Our “hits” and overall traffic to the site has increased tremendously. Our unique visitor count has increased 5 fold in a short time frame. And overall hits, we now get anywhere from 2,000 to 11,000 hits a day on the site. Our Alexa.Com ranking is great and getting better and better all the time. What all this  information tells me is this; people are finding useful information on our site and are coming back over and over.

So I feel very good about what we have accomplished, and have a great out look on where we are going with HelpResources. My dream is still to one day be able to afford to just work on this site full time, and make as much positive impact on others lives as humanly possible.

For those of you who have given me so much encouragement I want to take this time to thank you, without your kind words and encouragement I do not think I could have gotten as far as I have with this site. I hope everyone has a blessed and prosperous New Year. Just keep close to your heart your goals and dreams, never let them go. And you will meet up with those goals and dreams sooner than you think.

~ Frank