A Step Closer

In the internet marketing world, it’s incredibly easy to become distracted by the next big thing online. It doesn’t help that every other day a new guru is touting yet another product that you need to buy if you want to succeed.

Over the past year, I’ve been realizing just how important focus truly is to one’s success. Sure, some people seem to work better when they have multiple tasks going at the same time so they don’t get bored, but even when you’re spinning a few plates, there is a limit; the key is figuring out that limit.

For me, I’ve been spinning plates in the double digits for too long and it’s kind of got me burned out. No more. Looking over the various methods there are online to make money, I’ve settled on working out two for actual profits part and one for the marketing part.

The money-makers:

1. My own ebook in a niche market. A really hot niche that I’m pretty damn good in was made huge by a very public person and I’m thinking I need to cash in on it. Since I can’t stand those crappy products some people put out, any product I create will be completely top-notch.
2. ClickBank products. Creating your own good product takes time and dedication. Two things I’ve been running short on in this online marketing world. Of course, I will only promote products that I feel are good products that I can attach my name to.

The marketing:

1. Craigslist. I’ve heard so many mixed reviews about Craigslist that it has me a bit scared that I won’t sell anything there. I’ve already had one failed advert, but I’m not going to let that or the naysayers deter me. Even if I need to post 50 Craigslist ads, I will (and don’t worry, I don’t plan to spam the pace). It’s about sticking with something until I’m sure that it’s time to move on.

It’s never good to place all your eggs in one basket, but I’m simply focusing on one method at a time. Once I’ve got a system down for Craigslist (or determine it’s simply not a good method for me), then I’ll move on to another one.

Eventually, I plan to have a number of blogs, affiliate websites, and services set up to make a profit - passive, preferably - in the near future. Hmm…maybe I should start documenting the actual numbers from these experiments as I conduct them. That’s something to think about.

After reading an ebook about marketing on Craigslist (no longer available, but I’ll be sure to let you know if I find another comparable one), I’ve decided to test out the theories.

My first go round with posting an advert to Craigslist bombed, but in this business, you can’t let these minor setbacks scare you away. Hindsight is 20/20, so I’m able to see exactly where I went wrong with the ad — it was far too hype-y.

Today’s internet users are getting smarter and what worked a million years ago (seems like) will not work on today’s audience. They’re looking for something different, something honest — or least, that has the appearance of honesty.

So, my goal today is to post two more adverts to Craigslist for testing purposes. They’ll both promote the same product, but with tracking codes to see which ones were successful.

Since I’m too lazy to create my own product to market on Craigslist right now, I’ll be using something from ClickBank.

Why ClickBank?

1. The marketplace makes it easy to find products
2. The products are usually information products which helps to satisfy the “must have it now” in most people — i.e. impulse buyers.
3. ClickBank handles the sales, refunds, and various other aspects, as well as providing some basic statistics.

I have a script which will track the click counts each time someone clicks on one of my links, and I’ll just set up a few links with the CB tracking code. From there, I’ll monitor my sales.

(In case you’re wondering, I’ll be using the ClickBank Accountant software to manage my ClickBank account. Expect a review fairly soon.)

I’m starting to love Frank Kern’s twisted sense of humor. He actually wins my ‘best line in a sales letter’ award this year for this gem:

…my results aren’t typical. I ain’t promising anyone a damn thing. I’m just showing you what’s working for me.

and, this one comes in a close second:

Here’s my vision of retirement. I’m on a beach someplace warm and sunny. A nubile young nymph brings me a drink.

I should mention, both of these sentences are taken out of context, but they’re just as funny in context.

I checked my inbox yesterday evening and saw what seemed like a newsletter from Joe Vitale (and being as neurotic as I am, I glean his words with a fine toothed comb to see if I can discover any wonderful copywriting tips or nuances in his word selection).

I didn’t think it was an absolute literary masterpiece, but it was certainly well written. That’s when I got another newsletter, and one paragraph stuck out like a sore thumb:

But what you may not know is that he’s getting
married. Not only that, but he and his bride-to-be
have a lot more in common than most couples.

I thought to myself…hmmm…that looks extremely familiar, come to find out it was the same newsletter that Joe had sent out — verbatim.

This morning, again I find myself receiving the same damn sales letter from yet another marketer…at least thing one included his own introductory paragraph which made it a little more difficult to spot.

I have but one thing left to say about all the hype that’s floating around: it sucks. Chances are this program they’re all promoting is no better than the programs you already have collecting dust on your bookshelf.

It’s very apparent that the only reason most gurus even run a newsletter anymore is just so they can shove “the next best thing, end all, be all, you’re nothing if you don’t have it” product in their subscribers’ faces. It really is sickening.

While I respect Joe and the other newsletters I subscribe to, if they can’t even write up their own personal endorsement for the product, I don’t see myself purchasing it and I really don’t see any reason to continue as a subscriber.

So, before you go throwing money at someone because the guru in your inbox told you so…stop…take a deep breath and investigate whether it’s a true product endorsement or if they’re just trying to earn a commission off of you.

Well, because I’m cheap, but I love to learn new stuff, the offer was irresistable: A free copy of the Google Profits ebook if I can convince the ‘fine folks’ at ebooktastic to get me one. So here goes…

After reading eBooktastic’s Google Profits review, I believe that the fine folks at eBooktastic should give me a free copy because I’m cheap and like to get free stuff.

Okay, no really, I believe that I should get a free copy of Google Profits because I love to learn and try new methods of marketing online. I’ve been using getting my own sites ready and establishing myself online. Because of all that work I put into my business I now have the room to experiment and try new things.

I’ll also promise to try out the book and report back to you guys (and of course, those who read my blog) with my progress and how I’m doing with it: a real world battle test. What can be better than that?

If anyone would like a free copy of Google Profits, then I’d suggest getting your entry in early - the contest runs through the first week of December and they are going to give a free ebook to the 3 best entries they receive.

Okay, yes, it’s been months. This blog has fallen to the wayside and I apologize. I haven’t left the internet or the blogosphere, I’ve just been working on building up my online business (which has been going smashingly, if I do say so myself).

To get things back in motion here, I was reading an entry over at Workboxers written by Jamsi called “The Overlooked SEO Technique“, here’s a taste for you:

I noticed that the keyword �Funny vids� (which I had used) was very popular, however I entered the keyword �funnyvids� and saw that it was being searched for A LOT LESS than �Funny vids� BUT still enough traffic to pursue.

I decided to start easy and aim for a top 3 spot using the keyword �Funnyvids� .. and it worked. On the 3 major search engines (Google, Yahoo and MSN) I achieved a rank in the top 3. My website statistics quadripled [sic] and whilst nothing to rave about, I was relatively pleased. 90% of my traffic was now coming from search engines. (1.2% from the US Military. Should I be worried?!?)

My initial thought was - that’s not an overlooked technique. I really was expecting some wonderfully juicy tidbit, but the entry just didn’t deliver.

I have some news - this isn’t a new SEO technique, actually it’s been around for a while - it’s called niche marketing and there are a lot of websites dedicated to it (eh hem, nicheology comes to mind). There are even sites dedicated to providing you with the content for your niche site, heck, there are sites that do the keyword research for you!

Because I’m half geek and half internet marketer, I’ve been watching this bad habit of blogging inside the box. It’s as if a lot of bloggers don’t realize that the potential to earn money from their blogs and gain recognition extends far beyond what’s discussed in the proverbial blogosphere or on traditional blogs.

There are a lot more ways to make money through blogging than plastering your blog with AdSense or blogads, and there are a lot more ways to drive traffic to a blog than pinging the update servers or praying one of the A-list bloggers take notice.

Even the “discovery” of using niche keywords is kind of interesting to watch. If most bloggers actually took the time to hang out in some internet marketing forums (SSWT and the Warrior Forum come to mind), I’m sure there would be a lot more bloggers talking about how much they earn (in a good way).

If you want to “discover” more “overlooked” techniques (overlooked by bloggers) - start expanding your horizons, the sites that you visit to include more than just “blogging”, “gadget”, and other tech related blogs, you may just be surprised at the jewels you find.

Now, if it seems like I’ve brought the hammer down on Jamsi, I haven’t. I’m making an observation.

I’m glad he figured it out on his own, but it would be nice to see some bloggers expanding their horizons and visiting sites that don’t specifically deal with “traditional blogging methods.”

Well, it seems Dreamhost is offering a gift to all new hosting subscribers, you can get an entire year of hosting for only $9.24 (this plan normally costs $119.40 per year).

If you’ve been looking for some incentive to try out Dreamhost, then this is definitely it - where else can you get:

• 2400 MB Storage (that’s 2.4 GB)
• 120 GB Transfer ($1/GB extra) - that’s a whooole lot of data transfer
• 3 Domains Hosted
• 15 Sub-Domains Hosted
• 600 Mailboxes
• 75 Shell Users
• One FREE .com/.net/.org/.info domain (test out that new niche site idea)
• CGI/FrontPage 2002 Extensions
• PHP4, perl, python, C, C++
• Unlimited MySQL Databases
• IMAP, POP3, and Web-Based email access
• Unlimited email aliases, auto-responders, announcement lists, discussion lists, media streaming, and more

Not to mention extremely reliable hosting and super awesome support for less than $10 for the entire year?!

In order to get this special price, you need to follow some basic instructions though:
1. Visit Dreamhost
2. Click on the “7.95 Managed Webhosting Plan” button and select the “Crazy Domain Insane”
3. Make sure you sign up for the 1 year package (this is important) and when it asks for a promo code, use promo code 777

That’s it, enjoy!

P.S. Yes I host with Dreamhost and while the control panel takes some getting used to if you use cPanel, it’s more than worth the money.

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.

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.

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.