I wrote a book! The book, Better by the Gram: Ten Actionable Steps to Increase Your Visibility, can be pre ordered or (depending on when you see this) purchased by clicking the link HERE. My birthday is April 7, so I decided what better birthday present to myself than to release a book that day so I really have something to celebrate? A new chapter will post daily through April 6th and on the 7th the book will be available for immediate purchase instead of just preorders.
I also released the rough drafts of the book chapter by chapter on my website and you can read what I wrote and get the gist of the chapters. Honestly, you don’t even need to read the book. There is enough information between the blog postings and the resources pages found HERE that the rest of the book might just be fluff.
With that said, the blog is a very first draft, mostly notes, of the final book. It’s out of order and a tad messy. The book itself its a much easier format to read and honestly, I would truly appreciate your purchase.
Every social media outlet has a best posting time and some accounts will even show when you’ve had the best historic engagement on your posts. These posting times are offset. Let’s say 4PM is the best posting time for Instagram. Do you really want to post when everyone is sitting on the can reading their Instagram? No. You want to post at 3PM so it has time to start showing up in their news feeds. Do not hold me to those exact times. I always have a “best posting time” cheat sheet nearby with the latest data for posting times. These posting times are offset to get you into the time when people are engaging with their social media so you don’t post too late and get overrun by the masses of people online.
Anyone in the restaurant industry that had to learn what HACCP was in their foodservice sanitation class will understand the next concept automatically. Your posting time is the last critical control you have on your post. It is the final point of failure so please make sure that doesn’t happen. Everything else can be fixed until the post online, which is why it is mission critical to select a good posting time for you and your post. Every Instagram is different and it’s not just tattoo shops or auto detail shops. Every business has a specific industry standard that is the perfect time for social media.
Thank you for reading this little piece of Better by the Gram: Ten Actionable Steps to Increase Your Visibility. If you received any value from what you read, I ask you to please consider purchasing this book by clicking HERE. Thank you for everything!
I wrote a book! The book, Better by the Gram: Ten Actionable Steps to Increase Your Visibility, can be pre ordered or (depending on when you see this) purchased by clicking the link HERE. My birthday is April 7, so I decided what better birthday present to myself than to release a book that day so I really have something to celebrate? A new chapter will post daily through April 6th and on the 7th the book will be available for immediate purchase instead of just preorders.
I also released the rough drafts of the book chapter by chapter on my website and you can read what I wrote and get the gist of the chapters. Honestly, you don’t even need to read the book. There is enough information between the blog postings and the resources pages found HERE that the rest of the book might just be fluff.
With that said, the blog is a very first draft, mostly notes, of the final book. It’s out of order and a tad messy. The book itself its a much easier format to read and honestly, I would truly appreciate your purchase.
Why should you post Reels on Instagram?
Reels are vertical, looping video snippets that range in length from 15 to 90 seconds. These videos serve as a blueprint for the brief, compelling content seen on TikTok. The advantages of Instagram Reels for brands are well known and excellent for engagement. Reels are also ideal for businesses that have never used video material before. That is because they are simple to produce!
I'll explain why brands should post Reels in this chapter as well as how to make them from scratch.
Major Advantages of Posting Reels.
Reels Allow Companies to Use Creativity in Product Promotion.
Looking for a novel method to display your products on Instagram? Post your reels now! By doing this, your products will have more life than just still images. Here are a few typical formats for brand-related videos that we see:
Placing goods in innovative or distinctive environments.
Displaying a product from many perspectives or uses.
Tutorials and how-to videos.
Commercials for products.
The creative freedom the format offers you is among the main advantages of creating Reels for Instagram. This is crucial for businesses who wish to use social media to boost their sales efforts.
The New Instagram Algorithm Loves Reels A Lot.
Think about how Instagram Stories seldom go popular and how static photo postings do. The closest thing to a "sure thing" brand accounts have for generating engagement are reels. Now that the algorithm is so unpredictable, this is especially true.
Hell, we frequently saw Reels gain popularity. You only need to look at your Explore page to find proof.
Brands cannot force their own virality, but Reels are currently the Instagram post format that brands are most likely to use when they do go viral.
Brands Can Streamline Their Social Selling Activities With Reels.
Don't discount the ability of short-form video to sell. In fact, 81% of marketers concur that video marketing directly and favorably affects sales.
Social selling is greatly aided by posting Reels on Instagram. Reels offer a structure where businesses don't have to be shy about showcasing things, which explains why. Once more, the Reels of numerous brands mainly highlight their products.
This brings up an additional significant benefit of Instagram Reels over TikTok. In other words, Instagram does allow you to tag products in postings. And this is a sweet spot for marketers to do brand deals with bigger companies.
Reels Don't Need a High Production Value or Big Budget.
The fact that Reels on Instagram require very little resource usage is another underappreciated advantage. Reels can be made even if you are short on time or have little to no money for content. To get started, all you need is a smartphone. This equalizes the playing field for both large and small brands.
Reels are really more effective when they are informal and spontaneous, as opposed to conventional video posts or advertisements that call for extensive editing. A music library and a variety of creative tools are currently available for the format, which makes videos pop.
Remember that brands and creators alike enjoy basic how-tos and tutorials. The reason Instagram Reels are so successful is because of their genuine, unpolished nature.
Reels Have Been Shown to Increase Engagement and Reach.
The popularity of short-form video cannot be disputed. Both Reels and TikTok can attest to this and this is a competition.
Instagram Reels are involved in 20% of all Instagram activity. Short-form video content is in high demand, and brands who produce it benefit from increased reach. Look at the Instagram feed for any brand right now. Reels probably dominate it, don't you think?
Making Your Reel.
Physically Creating Reels is a simple task. I could do a step-by-step guide, but with as fast as the internet changes, whatever I write on how-to might not be the case when this book publishes.
In my opinion, the best practice is to have a dummy Instagram account on which you can post to see how things work, but Instagram want’s you to create content for them and use their features so they make exploration rather simple. It shouldn’t be difficult to create a new Reel and get it posted.
What Else About Posting Reels Should Brands Know?
Post Reels to your main Instagram feed to increase the number of people who see it. When you publish a Reel, you'll get the option to "Also share to feed." There is no justification not to. This enhances the likelihood that both regular viewers and newcomers will see your video posts outside of the Reels tab.
-Promote your most recent Reels via Instagram Stories. Stories are ideal for ensuring that your followers don't miss your most recent videos, just like any other sort of Instagram feed content. Whatever you can do to increase the number of people who see your posts is a benefit given how obstinate the present algorithm is. A simple method to do it is via Instagram Stories.
-Pay attention to the hashtags, captions, and descriptions you use. The Instagram algorithm "tells" what your post is based on these details. The Explore page may also propose your Reel based on these details.
-Post them without hesitation! You may essentially post Instagram Reels as frequently as you choose, which is one of its major advantages. You may have noticed that Reels are frequently published on Instagram by large firms as opposed to other types of content. Although there is no ideal frequency, these are my suggestions:
Three to four of your posts on Instagram should be reels if you post to the platform seven days a week.
Two or three Reels per week are OK if you only publish throughout the week.
If Reels are outperforming posts on your Instagram grid, change this frequency.
A balance of three (3) Reels and four (4) In-Feed Posts is acceptable if you publish seven days a week. If you observe that Reels are outpacing posts on your grid, you may also change this frequency. If you only post during the week, a decent place to start is with a split of two (2) Reels and three (3) In-Feed Posts.
But what is the truth? The real deciding factor in “Post or Reel” is your own analytics. Stick with it if you discover that a particular format generates more reach or engagement. You can try converting your Carousel concepts into Reels, and vice versa.
-To improve your Instagram Reels ranking, interact with other users. Reels are ranked by Instagram's algorithm in a somewhat convoluted way. Having said that, your captions, conversations, and platform engagement are all important. Simply put, interact as much as you can with other accounts and Reels. You might have moments when your degree of engagement seems arbitrary. This is quite normal, so trust us.
-Reels can increase engagement by include artists and influencers. Fact: Before making a purchase, 62% of shoppers want to watch videos of real people using the product. Once more, the top Instagram businesses share Reels with actual customers and influencers. This clarifies why companies use influencer whitelisting in their Instagram marketing plans.
Thank you for reading this little piece of Better by the Gram: Ten Actionable Steps to Increase Your Visibility. If you received any value from what you read, I ask you to please consider purchasing this book by clicking HERE. Thank you for everything!
I wrote a book! The book, Better by the Gram: Ten Actionable Steps to Increase Your Visibility, can be pre ordered or (depending on when you see this) purchased by clicking the link HERE. My birthday is April 7, so I decided what better birthday present to myself than to release a book that day so I really have something to celebrate? A new chapter will post daily through April 6th and on the 7th the book will be available for immediate purchase instead of just preorders.
I also released the rough drafts of the book chapter by chapter on my website and you can read what I wrote and get the gist of the chapters. Honestly, you don’t even need to read the book. There is enough information between the blog postings and the resources pages found HERE that the rest of the book might just be fluff.
With that said, the blog is a very first draft, mostly notes, of the final book. It’s out of order and a tad messy. The book itself its a much easier format to read and honestly, I would truly appreciate your purchase.
You are a very busy person managing your brand (personal or business). There are many books on social media out there right now and a lot directly pertaining to Instagram marketing and growth, but I had a different goal. I wanted to write the shortest book on the subject. I could bore you for days on end or I could instantly create value and get you on your way packed with new knowledge for a low price. I think that’s worth the price of admission. The primary text of the book us under 6,000 words and gives you some online resources on my personal website that I can update as long as there is an interest.
I even released all main information on my website as blog posts from the first draft, typos included. I hope the information find its way into your arsenal of tools to use while increasing your social media outreach and if this is even quasi successful, I will follow up with short books on other social media topics.
Either way, please read this and follow as much of the advice as you can. I understand sometimes an area of advice won’t exactly work for every reader, potentially due to time constraints, but these eight basic steps should be followed routinely to increase your engagement.
I even included an infographic in the ebook version and the blog pieces that is a handy guide for each subject I hit on to give you quick and actionable information. The infographics MAY be included in the print version depending on production requirements. The introduction was written long before the primary formatting. If it is not included, there will be a link where to find them.
Thank you for taking the time to read this book. I am truly humbled and appreciative of your support.
Thank you for reading this little piece of Better by the Gram: Ten Actionable Steps to Increase Your Visibility. If you received any value from what you read, I ask you to please consider purchasing this book by clicking HERE. Thank you for everything!
Dyngus Day is three weeks away from today and it’s one of my favorite holidays for a number of debaucherousreasons and I wanted to talk about an idea I had and wrap it into another thought to answer a common question. What is branding? Branding is a marketing function to get people to know your product where marketing is a function to get people to buy it. Branding is the “why” and marketing is the “how.” Branding builds loyalty and / or create value. So what are your brand values?
I love Dyngus Day! It is one of my favorite days of the year. It is often called “Polish Mardi Gras” since Mardi Gras is the day before Lent starts and Dyngus Day is the day after it is over and you can go back to all the bad things you couldn’t do for the previous 40 days. In Poland it is a holiday of joyous festivities and in the US it is sponsored by beer companies in various regions that celebrate it. Not everyplace celebrates it and that saddens me because everyone is Polish on Dyngus Day! I ended up being in Los Angeles on Dyngus Day one year and I know it’s not wide spread there but obviously the Polish restaurants will celebrate it. No. I called every Polish restaurant in LA County…all three of them. One was closed for the day when I called, one answered and said they are closed on Monday’s and when I asked about Dyngus Day she seemed to have no idea what I was talking about and the third was permanently closed but Google had not been updated yet. So I had a Long Island iced tea at a Mexican restaurant in Barstow and wept a tad for society.
I currently use the URL and hashtag of TheMichaelBeebe as my primary brand and monikerbut I am thinking of creating a secondary brand for myself called “King Dyngus” or “KingDyngus” for the hashtag and username I would post under for that site. The goal is to talk about Dyngus Day and create an area of exchange for Dyngus-related activities around the United States. My life’s work would be summed up by being able to find a local pub crawl on the day after Easter anywhere in the country. I think this all says more about the trajectory of my life than anything else, but it’s fun and celebrating Dyngus Day has become part of my personal branding.
I would have information about what cities offer Dyngus Day celebrations and allow various people to blog about things they have done on Dyngus Day, like the girl dancing topless in the bar or the guy pissing in the planter on the sidewalk and no one cared because it was Dyngus Day. Dyngus Day can be wild fun or a family-friendly celebration of endless Polish food. South Bend and La Porte are some twenty miles apart but in South Bend most Dyngus Day activities focus on activities for various clubs and organizations around town to raise money and in La Porte we have a shuttle that takes us from bar to bar and the bars on the route, I have heard, can earn as much as one-third of their yearly income on that day. Neither town does a parade like Cleveland or Buffalo do and some even have a Dyngus Day Queen. Both La Porte and South Bend use it to kick off political season with politicians doing from event to event because part of our local tradition is to get the politicians drunk so they can’t lie to us for once and the May Primary is roughly a month after.
I find the differences in celebration methods interesting to say the least which creates an overall macro brand and marketing locally is the micro activity…just as in the general branding-marketing relationship. Branding is the macro and marketing is the micro.
I sincerely hope this clears up any and all confusion you have over the differences between marketing and branding and exactly what a brand is. I hope I defined a brand pretty well here.
Please like this if it helped you, share it with a friend who can benefit from it and / or tag that friend so they can see it. Share on your social and please tag me at @TheMichaelBeebe on all things social or use #TheMichaelBeebe or #MichaelBeebe. Also, if you got something out of this, please follow my social. There’s a lot of it! If you have any questions, feel free to shoot me an email at [email protected].
For my 2021 holiday messages, I posted a “Merry Christmas” plus a unique half moniker of “Tha Mikester.” The use of “tha” dates back to something a friend used to call me so I used it to be cooler. The problem is, half of my friends thought I simply misspelled “the.” Now it does go off brand slightly since I’m @TheMichaelBeebe across all social media plus my website so it was my fault for trying to change the branding. Lesson learned and I no longer have permission to go against my own brand, which means my branding is noticed even with a rather small following so that’s a good feeling.
What is permission and who gives it? Permission is a social concept for brands based on what people envision in that brand. A towing company tows cars. Since they work with people having a shitty day with their ride, tire changes, lockouts, and battery jumps are obvious services they have permission from their customers to perform. How do you know if you have permission? Because people call you and ask for it. That’s your poor man’s market research right there. So what happens when said towing company creates a metal structural support for wood framed homes? Unless they create a new company to sell and distribute them, they sit in boxes. You don’t have that permission.
Follow your dreams, but create separate LLCs or at least a DBA to promote the side business.
Anyway, don’t break your branding image because people will notice, but to break from your branding you have to create an unified brand first.
Please like this if it helped you, share it with a friend who can benefit from it and / or tag that friend so they can see it. Share on your social and please tag me at @TheMichaelBeebe on all things social or use #TheMichaelBeebe or #MichaelBeebe. Also, if you got something out of this, please follow my social. There’s a lot of it! If you have any questions, feel free to shoot me an email at [email protected].
If you are selling ANYTHING, you need your own website. A website will be the quarterback for your branding outreach and it will create higher conversions and can help serve as a sanitized life résumé that you control plus it will push you higher in search results. Blog on it and tell people your thoughts. It’s great for so many different things. When I say “selling,” sometimes that means you are the product. Make that product stand out.
I am TheMichaelBeebe.com because some motherless panty waste is cyber squatting MichaelBeebe.com but I do have the dot net version and…I don’t love having a dot net. I know they convert just fine now that it’s 2023 but I still have the old school “eww gross” response when I think about being a dot net instead of a dot com. Gag me with a spoon! My primary moniker is the same using both the hashtag and the name for all of my public social media. I do use a personalized email address at the dot net out of pure vanity though and egocentrism. The personal identifier really helps boost your searchability online. Staying active with updating information on your website and posting blogs helps keep your search ranking high.
Blogging is important. Each blog piece you post could be popular and help you rank higher in search results. Both your website and the individual blog piece on your website could rank in Google. That gives you two entries. If the blog piece is picked up on other sites, it could be a duplicate of the original and be listed independently of your website blog piece. That’s three hits on you from one search. The goal in this section is to push your arrest record of the public intoxication charge you caught in college to the bottom of search results. Let people see you in a good light and you control your narrative. So now you’re wondering what you should write about for your blog. Unless you’re Kanye West, whatever you have to say that you can speak with authority on is the answer. Politics, technology, and basket weaving are all fine topics if you know what you’re talking about. The goal is to have a lot out there with decent substance so try not to alienate people with extreme views on topics. We are going to assume you are the product we are selling here. Why are you selling yourself? To get more views on YouTube videos, to gain more subscribers to your OnlyFans account, to sell more books. The final goal matters less in the overall need for it, but have a clear goal stated so you know how to lay out your website and it’s purpose. I like job searching because if you’re an author, people are still hiring you (by buying your book) to tell them a story and if you sell blinds, people are hiring you to help them make a wise choice on their blinds. My blog focuses on several areas that I feel I can discuss compliantly. Mainly they are travel, website design, social media, business management, poker (draw poker, not that Texas crap for people who can’t play cards), marketing, entrepreneurship, cryptocurrency, and politics somewhat. Politics divides people so much that I tend to shy away from it as much as I can unless I have something going around in my head. If you want politics to be part of your brand, then by all means, go for it. I’ll delve into some philosophical and esoteric thought exercises on occasion, as well, if I am trying to figure something out. I am not actively looking for a job, but I’m not saying I’d turn the right job down. So this slowly helps increase search rankings for your name and your name starts popping up in certain topics. So your blog helps you establish credibility on a topic or topics.
Sending people to your website helps with conversions to sales because the person gets a truer sense of who you are and it’s easier to buy from a buddy. If you’re an OnlyFans girl, this is key to you. Let people know you. Become the illusion of girlfriend material. I point them out because sex workers (of every level) already know this. It’s their entire job and there is no business that would suffer from being more like a sex worker when it comes to customer relations and customer retention. With that said, if you are letting OnlyFans manage all of your distribution of content plus merchandise, you are leaving money on the table. Bring them in to your bedroom, your website, and you will control their entire experience, including your OF content they purchase. You can always redirect them back to your OnlyFans content or to your Amazon Author page. It’s really all the same.
Restaurants need online menus and reservation services. Doctors need online scheduling and patient testimonials. Car dealers need online financing options and inventory information. Websites help facilitate all of that.
There is no downside to having your own website, if for no other reason than to be cooler than your friends and pass out pens at the bar with your name and URL on them. Your website is an essential part of your brand and its importance cannot be overlooked.
Please like this if it helped you, share it with a friend who can benefit from it and / or tag that friend so they can see it. Share on your social and please tag me at @TheMichaelBeebe on all things social or use #TheMichaelBeebe or #MichaelBeebe. Also, if you got something out of this, please follow my social. There’s a lot of it! If you have any questions, feel free to shoot me an email at [email protected].
I stayed at the STRAT again the last time I stayed in Las Vegas and honestly, it’s not that bad. It is dated, but you can’t beat the price. It has a low rate, but does include a $40 resort free making it still a cheaper place to stay.
But…I’ve learned how to navigate to cheaper. If you are a Best Western Rewards Member, its low rate is 5,000 points per night and when you book on points there are no resort fees. Plus you can buy points for $10 per thousand which means 5,000 points is $50. You can’t stay in a Motel 6 for that price and since it’s bonus points, they don’t charge tax on it. So Monday when I checked in all they pulled was a $50 per night security deposit which was back in my account within an hour of checking out so it was an even 5,000 points. Nothing more. Now most times, the front desk clerk will try upselling you “for just $20 since you’re a rewards member.” He didn’t this time but I usually let them and get a strip view. One note, the bottom two rooms are 5,000 points per night so make sure to book the next tier better than the most basic room. It helps to have a fridge and coffee maker in room. I haven’t upgraded enough there yet to know which tier has an in room microwave yet and I’m disappointed it’s not just standard. All told, the Strat isn’t a bad property but it’s not in the best part of town. As I understand it to be, when the place was built, the city was going to “clean up” that part of town and that was going to be part of The Strip. The city fell through on its promise so it can be sketchy after dark and they do have more “aggressive” hookers working the lobby area and elevators, but they don’t want to make a scene and get banned so they take a simple “no thank you.” Be nice to hookers. You don’t want the embarrassment of “crazy hoe” screaming at you in the lobby.
For what you are saving by staying at the Strat, you have to be smart on transportation options. They have a city bus stop right outside the property by the doors to the theater portion of the property. I’m not sure on price, but the city bus in any city is usually cheap and generally offer some sort of day pass so you can do connections and see schedules, prices, and routes. The monorail is nearby—sort of. It’s “two blocks” away. You walk two blocks and then go into the Sahara and then walk through a maze of poker tables and slots with only a couple signs to give general directions to it so you will probably get lost your first time or two. As of this writing, look for the Starbucks kiosk. It’s pretty close to that. Then back outside and up an escalator and over a street and then down an escalator and you’re right there. It’s convenient…ish. Day passes are $13 and last twenty-four hours and it runs around every ten minutes during the day. I’m not sure on overnight frequency. The monorail is scheduled for demolition in 2028 do you have four or five years to use it. It’s not convenient for all places and doesn’t go to the airport so getting to the hotel will require an Uber or a taxi. The monorail seems like a great idea but let’s say you decide to save money on your Uber and just take a rideshare to MGM, which is the southern station of the monorail system and you’re staying at the relatively new Resorts World. You take the monorail north to the Resorts World stop which is at the Convention Center stop, which then has nearly an one mile walk to the lobby of Resorts World…in 100+ degree heat for much of the year. The monorail only runs on the East side of the Strip by roughly one block and the blocks casinos are on are bigger than the block in Anytown, USA. They have massive resorts on them. Resorts World is on the West side of the Strip and I think the front door might actually be on the side away from the Strip too. I walked there from the mall that is right next door and had no luggage one time and thought I was going to die. I was so covered in sweat that I would have kicked me out of the place. There is a Tesla Loop around town that may be a viable option. I’m not suggesting staying at Resorts World because the goal here is to save money. The monorail is good for Strip access and you will get lost. It’s inevitable but that’s part of the fun and the monorail serves as a great way to see the city for a bit.
So where do you eat? If you stay at the Strat you have several food options. Door Dash may be cheaper than any of them. I paid $9 for a slice of shitty pizza and a 20 ounce cup of flat Mug root beer. The Strat Café is ok but also is $6 for a flat Mug root beer (including free refills). The center bar is $4 each for fountain Pepsi. That’s right! No free refills on pop. They nickel and dime you after you come in for the low room rates. It costs about the same to DoorDash food “to your room” over eating on site. I put that in quotes because the time I did DoorDash something there, the girl messaged e to come down and get it from her by the back entrance. Don’t worry. You tip upfront with DoorDash so I couldn’t take that lack of service into account when tipping. The pizza dude came to my door when I ordered that though, so I don’t know if it was DoorDash policy or if she was just a lazy bitch. There is a Circle K a block away and a Walgreens across the street and at the far end of the block from the Circle K. Between the two, you should have anything you need for drinks and not resort property prices. One trick I like to do is get those bowl of soup things. I get two per day I’ll be there generally from Walmart before I leave for my trip and stick them in my suitcase. Theirs is why it’s worth it to have a coffee maker in my room especially since the lowest tiers don’t have microwaves in them. With what you save on two meals a day, you can have one good one.
There’s an old adage for traveling that says you don’t eat places you can eat at home. So where do I recommend eating? In no particular order, they are:
Wahlburgers. I’ve not been there but I hear great things. They just have a kiosk and no sit down area so consider this for DoorDash.
Marrakech. This is one of my favorite restaurants anywhere. Dinner is $50 per person and served family style. They go above and beyond for service and you will feel like a Sultan of old. Take a few $5 bills. They have belly dancers for entertainment and you should tip them. Please don’t embarrass me or yourself by being the person that only puts a single dollar bill in a g-string.
In-N-Out Burger. Good price. I’m not a fan but I’m alone in that. Everyone I know loves them and it’s cheap enough for a lunch stop and two meals out for the day if you find another place with a reasonable price. I know they are a chain place but Las Vegas or Phoenix are probably the farthest East they go.
Fatburger. Not cheap. Expect $20 to $25 per person. They are also not very quick. Then you get the burger and it’s huge! They aren’t fast food burgers. They are a chain place but very limited on locations.
White Castle. They have three of them in Las Vegas. I went to the one on the Strip inside the Casino Royale and my normal $16 order at the one by my house in Indiana was $26 there, but they also serve beer if you’re so inclined. White Castle is a (mostly) East of the Mississippi place so West Coasters have a treat. The hours are weird but they might not be able to get workers for round the clock there. For me it was weird being at one while the Sun was out. They are more of a 2AM place to those of us who are initiated.
Blueberry Hill. Great prices! Very competitive for other places of the country for what you pay per meal and HUGE portions. It’s a family restaurant so they just have a large selection of great food. Expect about $25 per person and to waddle out of the place.
Buffet at the Palms Casino. It’s $64 on lobster day (Wednesdays) and worth it. The biggest drawback is you only have 90 minutes. I went for first seating and it was almost 20 minutes till I got back to my table with my first plate. Don’t dawdle between plates of food. I ate so much I literally thought I might shit myself afterwards and I wasn’t hungry ‘til the next day. It’s well worth it.
Dona Maria Tamales. I can’t say enough good about this place. The prices are very reasonable and even the drinks are a good price. I had a quart sized margarita and staggered out of the place after dinner. The food is some of the best Mexican I’ve ever had. It may be my favorite Mexican place or at least top three (one in McAllen, Texas and one in Lake Station, Indiana rival it).
Gordon Ramsay Burger. I spent $45 for a burger, fries, soft drink, and the tip and I was glad I did. I was very full afterwards. The burger was perfection on a bun and the fries were great. They serve chipotle ketchup and curry ketchup with their fries and have a house ketchup for their parmesan fries. I’m not sure which ketchup’s I had but they set it off. Heinz 57 has nothing on them!
Galpão Gaucho Brazilian Steakhouse. Ok. It’s $100 per person including non alcoholic drinks and a tip but I usually spend closer to $120 to $130 at the others and the food at Galpão Gaucho just tastes better and the servers are far less rude than I’ve experienced at the other chain Brazilian steakhouses. I’ve been there a few times now and I love them!
As a dark horse outsider, I suggest Pizza Hut if you want pizza delivered. Ok. Hear me out on this! I live near Chicago and so far, every local pizza place not in the greater Chicago or New York areas has left me disappointed. You know what they have and you know the quality and you know the price. So get Dominos or Papa John’s delivered. I don’t care, but I’ve been hard pressed to find great pizza outside of those two places. From what I’ve experienced in Las Vegas, it’s not looking like a bright future for pizza there either. There is one pizza place I want to try and will report on once do if I like them and it’s called Evil Pie and they are a block away from the Fremont Street Experience. I went there once but just for drinks and I was pretty full when I got there so I couldn’t eat but it smelled great and they had a lot of orders so we will see.
Where do you drink?
If you want to drink socially and be near the action, I suggest the Center Bar at the Casino Royale. Drinks are like $5 each. Everything else on the strip is going to be twice that. Evil Pie and Therapy had reasonable prices and good atmospheres also.
What do you do?
People watching is fun in Vegas. It’s also free. Everything else is $40 plus tax. Ferris wheel…$40. Wax museum…$40. Shitty seats at a show…$40. The Neon Sign Museum…only $28 for the top price with a daytime admission of $20, so not bad. Vegas is like any other city in the country. What do you do when you’re in your home town for fun? You can do that there too. I have heard great things about Area 15. It has several interactive features like VR and a flight simulator plus the very popular Meow Wold Omega Mart. Tickets for individual areas seem to range from $12 to $50 and depend on day and time you will be there. If you stay at the Strat, it’s $12 for the observation pod or $20 if you aren’t and it really is a great view of the entire bowl the Greater Las Vegas Metropolitan area sits in. There is no better view of the city. There is also the Gallery of Fine Art at Bellagio for $18 per person. The Pinball Hall of Fame is actually free but they do take donations and some games are available for play for a quarter or two and it’s across the street from the “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign, which is also free but there is always a long line of people waiting to get pictures taken there. I did a Google search of “cheap things to do in Vegas” and a page popped up from Vegas dot com with the same title as my search. in the URL it says “under #20 and you will be disappointed because half of the tings listed are more. Vegas isn’t a cheap place so people watching and the fountain show at the Bellagio are free and the Volcano show for as long as it is still there is also an option.
Remember the point of this piece was to help you save money. If you can afford to stay at the Wynn, this wasn’t for you. This was for the average person to maximize their Vegas vacation. I also wrote this from the perspective of a non gambler so Las Vegas kind of hates me for that. I really just don’t get any excitement out of it; there is no rush for me, but I do enjoy watching people play and have a good time.
Viva Las Vegas!
Please like this if it helped you, share it with a friend who can benefit from it and / or tag that friend so they can see it. Share on your social and please tag me at @TheMichaelBeebe on all things social or use #TheMichaelBeebe or #MichaelBeebe. Also, if you got something out of this, please follow my social. There’s a lot of it! If you have any questions, feel free to shoot me an email at [email protected].
Stop using “Link in Bio” on your social media. Link Tree is a great idea but falls short for your engagement. You have a website. Create a page for your posts links that way you are directing people to your website instead of some other company’s. This drives traffic to where you want it and helps keep, people on your site.
Basically the first thing you do with Link Tree is find people who are interested in you…and send them somewhere else. Keep them engaged in your website. Obviously if you’re sending them to follow on other social they will leave your site, but create your own “link in bio” pages for that so you can set it to open in a new window for social media redirections or Amazon book sales.
The concept is really pretty easy.
Create a new set of pages.
Do not add them to your primary menus.
Create a different menu for these pages specifically.
Embed links to pages you want to focus on.
Optimize for mobile devices.
I build on WordPress so it’s rather quick and easy but play with it and make sure you’re using a responsive theme. Most people build their website to reflect what looks best on a computer and though responsive (formatting changes to suit the screen size), it can be cumbersome to view on mobile devices. Think of information overload. Consider your link in bio page to be Cliffs Notes or a series of elevator speeches. You want quick and informative and since it comes from apps on a mobile device, the link can be named whatever you want since they simply click on it. Mine is TheMichaelBeebe.com/link-in-bio since most people reference that phrase due to Link Tree’s popularity. Use it to your advantage but let people also see your name in your own URL. Any decent website designer can build it for you in just a few hours. Most entrepreneurs today know how to build on WordPress so it should be an easy job for most people who already have their own website.
I should do a companion piece titled “Everyone Needs Their Own Website” and if I ever do, I’ll turn that last part into a link so if it’s blue, it’s been updated (I did write it and it will be available after 9 AM on January 30, 2023). If you are selling ANYTHING, you need your own website. It will create higher conversions and can help serve as a sanitized life résumé that you control plus it will push you higher in search results. Blog on it and tell people your thoughts. It’s great for so many different things. When I say “selling,” sometimes that means you are the product. So make the product stand out.
Please like this if it helped you, share it with a friend who can benefit from it and / or tag that friend so they can see it. Share on your social and please tag me at @TheMichaelBeebe on all things social or use #TheMichaelBeebe or #MichaelBeebe. Also, if you got something out of this, please follow my social. There’s a lot of it! If you have any questions, feel free to shoot me an email at [email protected].
This year I am keeping things simple and doing four small goals for my New Year’s resolution. I’ve failed in years past with lofty goals and even tried breaking the, into monthly resolutions, which would work normally, but but the last eighteen months has been rather unusual with a lot of things coming my way unexpectedly. I’ve basically been on autopilot. I’m focusing just on my digital presence for my resolutions this year. Don’t get me wrong. I do have other goals as well, but I need to achieve them or work towards them at my own pace without the stress of a 365 day timeframe hanging over my head.
Books.
So far I have written and self-published one book. It was a goal of mine and I did the finalization last Christmas Eve. It was a goal of mine so I did it finally. It was a short book, but it got me to continue writing. I am working on ten more. What? Yes! Ten! There is a plan there. Most of them are short and I work on it when the mood strikes me. The goal is cross marketing. Mine of the books will be business related, while the tenth book is about my travels around the country and was supposed to come out three years ago and I got lazy. Writing is actually hard because after a while, you get sick of your own words. The goal is to release the other nine books and have them in my catalog of work and when I release the travel book, market that one hard. When people look on Amazon for “about the author,” it will show my other works and spur sales. So why ten? Because the US Copyright Office allows you to copyright ten books at once in a bulk copyright and save money. I might just do nine total and create a second edition of my first book, Your New Business Mind: The Tools to Transition from Employee to Entrepreneur, to round out to ten. As I alluded, it was kind of rushed.
Each book, when ready for release, will have a blog post daily of the text from a previous draft so you’ll be able to read for free but not the finished version and without pictures or graphics and they will be used as a sales promotion piece with links to buy or preorder the book as they are ready for release. My goal will be to have each one ready and done completely prior to the scheduled release. I fell into that trap with my first attempt at releasing my travel book and it blew up in my face and has since been deleted.
Instagram Growth.
I’m writing this on December 29, 2022. A year ago I just hit 500 followers on Instagram and was excited. You couldn’t tell me shit! It was all organic growth the “proper” way to ensure good followers instead of paid growth. It’s a boring process but works. Today I have 691 followers. I won’t gran nine more in two days probably but my growth goal is to reach 1,000 followers by the end of 2023. I would also consider promotional growth suck as having an influencer post “follow this guy” because they still pop open your account and make the decision to do it after seeing some of your posts.
Twitter Growth.
My Twitter account currently has 173 followers and I want to hit the lofty goal of 500. It is doable but will take a lot of work. I am considering getting an online scheduling service so I can preplan my posts among several social media outlets and just deal with a single interface and program everything for a specific time and day so it will auto post as desired.
Blog Pieces.
April of 2021 was my last blog piece I published. I need to do better so this year it’s my goal to write six of them. Six is a good number and I already have a few done making it easily manageable. I don’t want to blow my wad early, but I have at least four scheduled for Mondays every two weeks starting the day after this post drops.
All of my goals listed here are reasonable and easy to accomplish which will give me a few wins in this forthcoming year.
If you’re interested in buying cryptocurrency, I suggest Coinbase for the easiest transfers and they have more than just Bitcoin. If you click on the link to sign up, I get $10 after you deposit a total of $100. So please check out Coinbase.
BiblePay (BBP)
This cryptocurrency touts themselves as “The Cryptocurrency for Christians” and on their website, they are rather heavy-handed on their Christian-based marketing…and it’s kind of genius. To be frank, God sells better than anything else. All cryptocurrencies make money for existing from people buying into them and this one uses 10% of its profits to help impoverished children in Africa through orphanage sponsorships. They also require 75% of the donations to be used to directly support the child and only a 25% overhead. In essence, they believe in something and work for it. I really like that. They are one-sixth of their all time high, but like Phoenixcoin, I see this as an undervalued cryptocurrency and they have been around for less than one year as I write this so I feel this has strong potential. In the near future, I would like to see christian sellers (bookstores etc.) start accepting this currency as well as an easy direct tithing method for churches. Those would make me feel better about this coin, but it is still going in my “buy” list.
NOTE: This piece was originally posted by Michael as an on- site page on TheMichaelBeebe.com while he was doing research into cryptocurrencies.
Disclaimer: Michael Beebe is not a financial advisor and all research is for his own purposes. He is simply sharing the research with the readers of this or other blogs and makes no claims to be an expert in finance or any forms of investment.