A Step Closer

I always thought of the sandbox as something that “happened to other people” and not me, until today.

My affiliate site appears to have been sandboxed by Google and it’s very disconcerting to say the least. I now know and understand what those web masters go through when they check to see if their site’s been indexed in Google only to find it hasn’t. Then scamper to check in Yahoo! and MSN only to find that it has. After that, a web master doesn’t really know what else to think.

I decided to do a little bit of research on the domain name I purchased (on a whim and it simply seemed like a good choice at the time) and turns out it was previously owned. The big clue should have been when a good chunk of my referrals were coming from the yellow pages website.

Google bot loves crawling my site, but it seems like I’ll have to wait in Google limbo until it’s all fixed up. I’m not sure whether I should contact Google and ask them if there’s something particularly wrong with this website - it’s no different structurally than any of my other websites (which were all crawled and indexed in under a week), so other than the domain name being previously owned.

It is still a little odd to me that Google would sandbox my affiliate site because of being previously owned - it’s been more than 2 years as far I can tell. And this website (www.astepcloser.com) was previously owned too, but it’s still indexed and doing well in Google. Guess this is a wait and see game.

The good news is, I’m getting a TON of traffic from Yahoo! and some trickles from MSN. Yahoo! is now my new best friend .

I didn’t focus on the $100 per day project today. Instead focused on my long neglected affiliate based website. I gave my clients the boot for the day and decided that I was going to do something for myself since I was hinging on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

I signed up with a new affiliate program over the weekend (my last one discontinued their affiliate programs), added 32 new pages of content, and made a few tweaks to the template and layout.

I’m feeling a renewed vigor for this particular affiliate website because I got the approval notice from the new affiliate - yay. And this affiliate allows me to create links directly to individual products (aka smart links).

I was totally starting to feel bummed for a minute because I hadn’t heard anything for so long from the previous affiliate program I applied to (they didn’t even bother to contact me and let me know they discontinued their program, I had to contact them).

Aside from that, I’ve become an Adsense tracking fiend. I’ve broken the tracking down as follows:

1. Week
2. Channel name (i.e. the website)
3. CTR (click through rate)
4. Page Impressions (Total/Average)
5. Clicks (Total/Average)
6. Earnings (Total/Average)
7. Notes

I track the results weekly and note the ad format I’m using or changes I made. This way, I am able to see at a glance where I am with my Adsense earnings and quickly see what’s working on what sites and what’s not. So far, my most recent change has yielded a 2.7% increase in my click through rate - yay.

When I’m not so lazy, I may turn my spreadsheet into a PDF for download with a few more notes.

Earlier, I talked about the importance of getting yourself educated. Now that I’ve finished reading (or well, semi-finished), it’s time to actually apply what I’ve learned to some real world examples.

Personally, this can be the scariest part because it will mark whether or not you experience success. But some times you just have to buck up and dive in feet first without questioning it. If you start questioning everything, you may run into analysis paralysis and we all know how dangerous that can be.

I’ve not had much time to work on my $100 per day project due to some prior obligations and some other issues, but I have managed to do something (and that’s always the biggest hurdle). I finished setting up one of my 3 pre-researched mini content sites.

I toyed with the idea of using WordPress as the content management system as Nadav suggested (a good suggestion by the way), however, I decided for what I wanted to accomplish - WordPress proved to have too steep a time requirement. What I wanted to accomplish was very simple and it was a wise decision, for me, to develop the website locally using a Dreamweaver template.

1. I have complete control of the layout. I know you can customize WP, but it would take more time to figure out the ins and outs of getting WP to look the way you want while still being fully functional - at least without learning PHP or hiring someone to do it for you. Remember, I’m cheap.

2. I have static pages. For this particular project, I’d rather have the static pages than having the pages generated on the fly.

Best advice: look closely at your project’s needs, then look at the tools at your disposal and then decide which would best fit your needs.

So, I know you’re all pretty anxious for some results so, here goes. Since my first project will be Adsense powered, I used some of the techniques found in the Adsense Secrets Revealed guide.

The site has been up for 2 days. I just checked my Adsense account this morning and boy was I blown away at what I saw! I have an average click through rate of 5.4% and I’m well on my way to earning back the domain registration fee of that website in less than a month .

The traffic came solely from the 3 link exchanges I did (I haven’t actually started marketing the site yet). I will be applying a few more changes to the site over the next week and I want to add at least 25 more pages of content and then I’ll start my traffic campaign (I haven’t found a book or program yet, but I’m hoping I will find one by then).

Total marketing cost so far: $0

A good education pays.

People want to **** themselves in the *** with a tree trunk and then expect me to yank it out for them when they realize it’s covered with ****?

AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!

I’m having one helluva time with a client who went and screwed himself royally on a project I just helped him complete.

I finished my tasks for this project as near to perfect as a human can get (according to the client) and then he decided he could do some things better - because I “made it look so easy” - completely ignoring all my *sage* advice (like I was just pulling it out of my *** for the hell of it or something - <sarcasm>it’s not like I’ve been down that road before or anything</sarcasm>).

Well, everything is now BORKED and he wants me to fix it for him - for free.

He hasn’t come right out and say “hey, can you fix it for free” because he knows better - but I get an email every day which starts with “how do I…” in the hopes that I’ll get fed up and either write up some detailed instructions (which will take me the better part of an hour) or do it for him.

I’ve done neither and I won’t, not because I’m mean or don’t want to, but because it’s not fair to me or my paying clients. Just seeing his name in my inbox is very draining mentally.

I think I’m going to start filtering his email into my junk folder.

I just finished signing up with blog explosion - an awesome way to get visitors to your blog and an awesome way to find new blogs. I also figured out that it can be *very addictive* once you get started cruising the blogs - I actually had to set up a timer!

If you found your way here via blog explosion, I’d love to know it - please feel free to leave a comment (and you can pimp your blog while you’re at it). You can leave as little or as much info about yourself as you want!

If you didn’t find your way here via blog explosion, no worries, you can still leave a comment and pimp out your blog (just mention where you came from and spread some linky love)

* Moderation is enabled, so if you’ve never commented before, you comment may not appear right away. I’ll approve once I get a chance

Today sucked to put it mildly.

I had a toothache. Not just any toothache. I had a throbbing, painful, so bad that I stayed in bed and cried toothache. I got no work done, not even for my clients.

I’ve scheduled an appointment with my dentist, but because it’s “not an emergency” I will have to wait - in pain, and to make matters worse - I ran out of Advil (and I don’t have any other pain killers in my home).

When I’m in pain, it’s hard for me to stay conscious (literally). It’s definitely hard to drive when you can’t stay conscious.

It’s evening now and this is the first time I have been able to sit at my computer without screaming out in pain all day. I’m hoping that I can stay conscious long enough to go to the store and get some pain killers.

Since I work for myself there was no work done today - sucky. And since I am my sole source of income, days like this definitely hinder the flight to financial freedom…gosh I hope tomorrow is better.

I’ll be meditating on it.

Since I am achieving my goals by utilizing some foreign techniques (to me, at least), I figured it was time for me to collect some reading material. I decided that I will not choose to learn “the hard way” - it’s kind of redundant, and if someone’s already done it for me, why in the world would I put myself through the same torture .

<sidenote>
When starting an online business, it’s a good idea to budget for business expenses such as learning materials, domain registration, hosting, and marketing costs.
</sidenote>

I mentioned earlier that I purchased Google Adsense Secrets Revealed: What Google Never Told You About Earning Money With AdSense and I highly recommend it.

I am very glad I own this book because it will help me in structuring my three content sites. A full review has been placed on my “neverending” to-do list.

I’ve also purchased James Martell’s 2005 Affiliate Marketer’s Handbook and I will be structuring my main content site based on it’s instruction.

It’s a fairly thick book and something I probably won’t get through in the next day or two, but I feel it will definitely help me in the long run. It’s one of those “long term business” plan type books (and it’s definitely good to have a long term business plan). I’ve also added a full review on my “neverending” to-do list.

Total business expense for learning materials so far: $246 (it may even be tax deductible - please consult your accountant because I’m not one).

Both of these books were pricey to me (if you haven’t already picked up on it, I’m very cheap). I did my research to see if I could get by without these two sources, I asked trusted friends and did some research on the authors. I weighed the pros and cons and realized, I will probably earn more and faster with these books than without.

While most of the information in these book can be found online with a lot (and I do mean a lot) of research, tracking, notation, & trial and error, I don’t have that kind of time.

My best advice, do what’s best for you to get you where you need to be. If you cannot afford the outlay for instruction right now, you’re going to have to roll up your sleeves and work a little harder.

My final education purchase will be regarding traffic generation. In order for the AdSense revenue to come pouring in, I will need quality traffic and quality rankings.

That’s all for now. I’ll update when I’ve found a suitable program for getting traffic.

Since I decided to take Nadav’s $100 per day challenge, I sat down and came up with a rough game plan and road map for achieving this goal.
(more…)

Apparently, this is a hard concept for people to grasp, but we cannot control the actions (or inactions) of anyone but our own self. To further this point, we are not responsible for anyone’s actions (or inactions) but our own. Let that sink in for a few moments.

The first thing I tell my clients when they approach me is that they will be held accountable for their portion of the project. I will not do their projects for them, I will do their projects with them.

They will receive a to do list, I will receive a to do list, and we each receive a time line. Under no circumstance will the other person be liable if one of us does not get a task done properly or on time. We both need to deal with the consequences of our own actions.

I should note that accountability and consequences are two different things and consequences are not necessarily bad.

If we both complete our portions of the project as outlined, the consequence is having a wonderfully completed project (good). If one of us does not complete our portion of the project, the consequence can be a delay in the project (bad).

Having accountability means that if there is a hiccup, we can look through what needed to be done, but wasn’t - then correct it.

If a client is unwilling to be held accountable for their own actions, then that is a client you do not need or want. It’s usually the indicator of a person who doesn’t want to do anything for himself and wants someone else to run his life for him.

If a person shows that they do not want to be responsible for their own actions - then that person has another think coming and it’s someone you should disassociate from ASAP. You may just find yourself being blamed for something you had no control over.

With that said - remember that you are only in control of yourself. Control over anything else is an illusion. Live your life to the best of your ability. Say what you mean, do what you say, and mean what you do because you are responsible for it.

Last night, I touched on the fact that I won’t be accepting any new consulting clients. The fact of the matter is, when I work as a consultant for other people, I am still am employee. Although the business is mine, I work from home, and I can set my hours - I am still a slave to deadlines and the whim of my clients.

Remember that old saying “in order for things to change, you must change“? Because I want to start establishing true financial and personal freedom, things need to change in my current life and way of operating. Basically, I’m changing.

As of yesterday, I stopped accepting new clients and will not be until June 1, 2005. I will continue to work with past and current clients while still being selective within that pool.

My consultancy has definitely blossomed, enough so that I am literally turning clients away. It feels wonderful to be able to pick and choose who I will work with, but recently, I’ve been so busy I don’t have much time to work on my own projects - the projects which will allow me to enjoy true financial and emotional freedom.

I have saved enough money to allow myself to pay my bills while having a little extra padding for incidentals. I will establish at least 5 passive income websites by my June 1 deadline. The websites don’t need to be huge cash cows overnight, but I want them to establish a foothold in their respective niches.

By this time next year, I will be taking new clients only because I want to, not because I have to.