From Machine Guns to Mice

SEO Today

Brett — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 16:37:26 +0000

I remember working on some websites and reading about SEO back in the early 2000’s it seemed so much easier then. Now it is clear that the Internet can make lots of money and everyone wants a slice of the pie. SEO campaigns run much more then I had ever thought. This means two things, first – www.jobtrio.com is a great cost affective place for contractors to advertise. Second – It is going to be a lot more work then I had planned to get our site generating us revenue. Our leading competitors charge upwards of $100 for contractor leads when a month of premium hosting on our site is only $19.99. Not to mention our members get full profiles with pictures, contact information, description and more. Check out our contractor profiles

Navy A School

Brett — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 16:34:00 +0000

Most sailors following boot camp go to what the Navy calls “A” School. This is a school where you learn at a basic level how to do your job in the navy. I was in the navy before the rate Seal Operator (SO) was created, so I went to Information Technician (IT) A School. To tell you the truth nothing very exciting happened there. I got my tonsils taken out and was sent home for the weekend without painkillers, that sucked. I also got my wisdom teeth removed with just Novocain, which also sucked. I trained a lot for BUD/s (Basic Underwater Demolition/ SEAL training) that was nice, although the staff at my A school didn’t like the idea of me missing their PT. So, I had to participate in their lame PT that did nothing but get in my training routine for BUD/s. When I was in IT A school the USS Cole was attacked, this was the first time I realized that after completing BUD/s I might see some action somewhere overseas.

Better Late Then Never.

Brett — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 19:41:39 +0000

Looking back, I should have started this blog when I joined the navy. I really wish I could have documented everything I did to become a SEAL and everything we did in the Teams. But, it’s to late for that. Whenever I get a chance I will write a little bit about life in the Navy, leading up to present day, and talk a little bit about what I’m doing with jobtrio.com.
I joined the Navy under what was the SEAL Challenge program on May 16th, 2000. Off to boot camp I went! I hated it. I got strep throat twice in boot camp and never had enough sleep. I was there to become a SEAL though, so I had to wake up an hour before the rest of my boot camp division and go to SEAL PT. SEAL PT was lead by a couple of actual SEALS and some scrubs that were on their way to BUD/S (Basic Underwater Demolition/ SEAL training) It wasn’t that hard it just sucked loosing that extra sleep, the nice thing about it was I didn’t usually meet back up with my division until noon. Because of the SEAL challenge I had to pass the SEAL PRT test in boot camp. It’s a swim, pull-ups, pushups, sit-ups then run, I have completely forgot the times and distances. I do remember that I failed it my first time. I believe it was do to the strep throat. I finally passed the test in boot camp and graduated boot camp. Next step in my Navy career was A school. I will cover this later.
Today with www.jobtrio.com I am putting together our SEM plan. Josh, my partner, and I are trying to work with a budget and need to have a daily plan to drive traffic to our site at a low cost. We are making posts in craigslist.com for general contractors in Santa Barbara to follow a link to our site, this in for keyword optimization. Unfortunately our URLs are not optimized so this link might be dead soon. We are running radio ads that have a general call to action to find local contractors and that’s about all we have worked out so far. I will post our plan updates later.

Hello world!

Brett — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 15:24:13 +0000

Welcome to WordPress.com. This is your first post. Edit or delete it and start blogging!

Busy…

Brett — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 17:02:37 +0000

I have been super busy starting jobtrio.com, when I get time I will start to fill in the gaps of my life in the SEAL teams, till now. Stay tuned!

Our First Press Release

Brett — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 17:00:29 +0000

This February, a new type of web site will be launched which connects construction contractors with their clients. “Our goal was to create a very low cost advertising tool for contractors and a great, free resource for home owners and project managers,” says Brett Vernon, CEO of jobtrio.com, headquartered in Santa Barbara, California.
Jobtrio.com is a free service that allows users to browse over 250,000 listings of contractors, or quickly search for a business by name, location, or specialty. Jobtrio.com features candid customer reviews and in-depth profiles so that it’s easy for home owners and project managers to find great construction professionals. “Contractors tend to be self-sufficient and frugal. The modern home owner likes to make informed decisions before they spend their money, and they get most of their information off the Internet,” says Josh Groves, President of jobtrio.com. “Our site is a bridge between these two groups of people.”
But, jobtrio.com is not solely aimed at connecting home owners with contractors; it has many features which are clearly intended for use by construction industry professionals. For instance, search results can be sorted by union and non-union labor, and you can quickly look up the cell phone number of a specific employee in a specific department. “We want contractors to view jobtrio.com as an undeniably valuable asset to their business,” says Vernon.
A 2008 study conducted by Yahoo shows that 59% of homeowners use the Internet to find the right construction contractor for their projects. Jobtrio.com eliminates the financial and technical hurdles which prevent most contractors from taking advantage of all the exposure offered by Internet marketing. While other web sites act as a middle-man, charging the contractor for every potential lead, or charging the consumer, jobtrio.com connects the customer directly with the contractor of their choice. The end result is a more satisfied consumer and a more profitable contractor.
Both Vernon and Groves have experience as construction contractors themselves. Vernon, a 28 year-old former Navy SEAL and business college graduate, worked as a general contractor alongside his dad and brother. Groves, a 30 year-old systems engineer, worked as operations manager for a building automation company. To help them realize their vision for jobtrio.com, they enlisted Louder Design from Pasadena, California to head up the software development efforts, a firm composed of Microsoft and Yahoo veterans.
“We are trying to present all the means for making the right decision when choosing a contractor,” says Vernon. “We really just want to bring clarity to contracting – clarity that benefits everyone.” When jobtrio.com launches this month, Basic and Premium profiles will be available for purchase at $15 and $20, respectively – a quarter of the price their competitors charge. As Groves puts it, “The jobtrio.com product sells itself. And that was always our goal: to give contractors a great marketing tool at a fair price.”