A Step Closer

Normally I don’t put up too many products by name on this blog - it’s a rule of thumb, however, I came across Google Adsense Secrets, and that I will gladly list because it’s ingenious!

One thing I want to get clear about this product is simply that it’s not just for internet marketers, or search engine marketers, or the lot - it’s for anyone who has a website displaying adsense or anyone who would like to put adsense on their website.

I’m glad I came into contact with this report when I did (and I have to admit, the selling point for me was the testimonial by Chris Pirillo). Since I decided to start a network for my highly targeted niche blog sites, I drafted a business plan and found that my 80% of the money I was hoping to generate from the blog was going to be Google Adsense revenue and the remainder would be from affiliate products and sponsors.

Although I’ve known about this for a little while, I wanted to hold off on saying anything until I could give you some figures for myself (read my earlier post on so-called internet marketing gurus and you’ll see why). I just got done checking my Adsense figures, and since implementing just one of the techniques gleaned from this resource, my Google Adsense revenue went up 86% - now, that’s nothing to smurk at.

This report came very timely for me because it’s definitely helping to get my cash flow up there. With this under my belt, and with some SEO strategies and traffic techniques I’ve learned from visiting various forums - this network of sites will be generating more revenue than I can expect in half the time - woo and hoo! Life is definitely starting to look up.

Honestly, if you want to implement Adsense on your website properly - you’ll need this resource - trust me.

I am subscribed to so many marketing, search engine, how to ezines that it can make anyone’s head spin. I’ve actually come to the point where I only download the headers in my email program, skim the subject lines, if it interests me I’ll download the full email. 99% of them are never downloaded.

Today, I decided to download an article that was sent from SitePro News with the subject “Google Takes Care of Idiots Too” - and on a side note, this is a good attention grabbing subject line, take note.

Alexis Dawes writes:

“As for me… well my actual sites still didn’t rise much in the ranks. I’m still hovering somewhere around #50+.

But that hasn’t phased me one bit.

I look at the big picture and understand that getting traffic from Google is much more than having my site reach the top 10.

If I have 50 advertisements (similar to the ones from Backpage.com) that are in top 10 positions, and they’re all delivering traffic from targeted keyphrases, I haven’t lost anything. All those keyphrases delivering trickles of traffic equal a flood of clicks and orders at the end of the day.

Not a bad deal for somebody who’s SEO illiterate.”

That’s all well and good, but I prefer to have my cake and eat it too. While back roads to getting into Google’s index might be a nice *addition* to your marketing strategy, I’d just as soon prefer to be SEO literate.

I’d rather have my website ranked between #1-10 or #1 on the 2nd or 3rd pages in Google, Yahoo!, and MSN for highly targeted keywords. If I can’t get ranked for a highly targeted keyword, then the back road idea is a good one. Let’s just say that this article sounds like a “Plan B” option or a compliment to “Plan A” in my opinion.

This weekend I made a vow to myself to not work. That’s right. I promised myself that I would not work on client projects, I would not work on my own projects, and I would not work period. The only thing I was allowed to do was relax and learn.

I’m actually quite glad I took that time to focus on myself because I was suffering from some serious burnout. I’m still a bit burnt out, but at least my head is screwed on a little tighter and I can focus a little more.

Just so you can share in what I learned up on. I went through all the PDF ebooks on my computer (there’s somewhere around 40ish), printed off the ones I knew I really wanted to read which totalled around 4 or 5. I grabbed my pen, a highlighter, and a glass of water.

I didn’t get through all of them, but I am proud that I accomplished something.

I read The Guide To Search Engine Marketing (PDF) available for download from OneUpWeb. It contains some pretty basic information and if you’ve done any research into search engine optimization, this will be old news. However, there are some good reminders sprinkled in there to keep you on your SEO toes. I also loved the glossary. I’m sure it will come in handy. They also offer just the glossary in their articles/whitesheets section, so no need to download the full manual (41 pages) if you’re only interested in the terms.

The second ebook I read was The Beginners Guide to Business Blogging by Debbie Weil. This is a really great introduction if you’re completely new to the world of blogging. While there are also bits of great information, it’s filled with a helping of fluff. Had it been edited for content/repeat information, I’m sure it would have shrunk by more than half.

On another note, however, I love the formatting of this ebook. It’s always nice to see an ebook that’s not plain jane.

Reflecting on one of the notes I left myself in the printed version:

search engines seem to love blogs

Next to it, I wrote “BURN INTO CORNEAS!” - just in case you haven’t guessed it yet, this is an important concept to grasp.

The free download of this ebook has been disabled, however, if you really would like a copy of it, leave me a comment by clicking on “Leave your review” and use your real email addy - it won’t be shown. I’ll send a copy of the ebook to that email address.

And finally, I’m reviewing a copy of Liz Tomey’s JV ebook. It’s a bit rough around the edges, but there is a lot of good information to be found within its pages. It goes over some techniques for locating and contacting JV partners which is something I will be doing in the near future with the launch of my upcoming project. I’m only halfway through it, but so far it makes for good reading.

On the “to be read” list, I have The Power of Concentration by Mike Litman (what I love about this book is that it’s an actual book - not an ebook, so I didn’t have to use any ink printing it out and it doesn’t cost anymore than the average marketing ebook does either).

I also want to get through Think and Grow Rich by Napolean Hill (PDF) which is definitely all the rage with the “gurus” and from what I can get through, it contains a lot of wise information. I currently have the PDF version (230+ pages) and haven’t printed it yet because I had to order a new ink cartridge for all this stuff LOL. I’d recommend getting the paperback version from Amazon - it’s only about $3 and you won’t have to worry about wasting ink or going blind.

Next after that is Scientific Marketing by Claude Hopkins. I don’t know too much about this ebook - but if it can help my sorry marketing skills, then it’s definitely on my list of “to be read immediately” books.

The list of ebooks I want to get through in the coming weeks seems somewhat endless, but I’m focused. I will only read the ebooks that will directly apply to my current project - all the rest can wait. I’m learning up on business blogging, search engine optimization, press releases/free marketing techniques, and business management (i.e. setting up business plans and setting business goals).

And for the curious people - none of these links (except Amazon) are affiliate links. This is my own personal blog, not a place for me to pimp out products. I really like these lucid days.

Gosh this week’s been hectic and somewhat surreal. It’s like I’m watching my life go by right in front of my eyes and there’s nothing I can do about it and I can’t seem to “jump in” anywhere. There are so many things I want to do, but it’s so hard for me to focus and I can’t understand why.

That’s when I realized. It’s just about time for me to write another letter to God. We need to have a serious sit down chat. I need to apologize for a few things (eh hem - cough). I need to let him know that I am going to focus more and what I’m going to focus more on. I need, most of all, to ask him for his help again.

It seems like, sometimes, when I do ask for his help - receive it - I take off running with it and just start thinking “hey, this isn’t so hard. I think I can continue on without his help from this point.” - HA - wrong.

So today, I plan to take it easy and work things out with my spiritual essence. I also plan to do a massive brain dump (which I’ll most likely publish here later on). Then the rest of the weekend, I also plan to take it easy still - however, it will be a learning time.

I get so busy and these ebooks that I’ve purchased and downloaded just keep piling up and piling up and ultimately, none of them get put to good use. That’s going to change this weekend. I plan to read at least 5 of them (well, skim them, choose which ones are actually worth my full attention, then go back and read those) - so expect a full review once I’m all finished up.

I think that’s it for now. Thanks for listening to me ramble on.