A Step Closer

It’s amazing what you can accomplish when you set your mind to it, but it’s amazing what you don’t accomplish when you can’t control your mind. I’ve already discussed getting myself focused, but it’s easier said than done.

My office looks like a tornado hit it. Seriously. I keep telling myself that I’ll get around to organizing, purging, simplifying, but it seems that day will never arrive. Not only is my office disturbing my mental well-being, the outside obligations are starting to get to me. It’s has nothing, almost, to do with business — it’s all family. Luckily, that’s scheduled to sort itself out come next week.

One thing this family obligation has shown me, however, is that I need to have a better system for myself and I need to stick with it. Clear boundaries and clear working start and end times are absolutely necessary — two things I never really had before.

All of that out in the open, I have some serious re-thinking to do. My goal, right now, is to simplify my life. My office is overrun and it needs to be controlled, plus I need to get rid of all those documents that serve no purpose other than taking up space. Personally, I believe I use this disorganization as an excuse not to work on my success — in other words, self-sabotage.

The list needs to be re-evaluated and re-prioritized:

• Clean and organize my office. A structure and system that works for me needs to be developed.
• Lifestyle and values re-evaluation. It’s time I really nailed down what’s important to me, what will make me happy to my core, and clearly define my value system so I can live my life in accordance.
• Finish my ebook product and a few other projects that have gone the way of the back-burner.
• Domain control. It’s time to sell, develop, or let the ones not in use expire.

Broken down, it seems plain as day. Now, let’s pray I can accomplish it. I know I can, I’m just anxious.

This blog needs some serious sprucing up. There are dead links all around, I need to update the software, and there is so much I want to do. Below is my rough to-do list for the blog over the next couple of months (basically, this post is serving as my back-up brain because I may not remember it all with everything else that needs remembering).

• Fix the dead links. Prior to using the link manager software, I was manually creating the PHP redirect files for links. When I moved hosting, those files were all lost and now I need to work on getting them all set up in the link manager and updating the links throughout the blog.
• Install some helpful plugins. The net has been chugging along just fine without me, and some of the plugins I’m using are simply outdated or not in use at all. The main plugin I want to get set up here is the SimpleTags plugin so I can tag my posts and the WP-Shortstat plugin so I can get quick overviews of my stats.
• Move the newsletter. I’ve been handling the newsletter/site updates in house and frankly, I don’t need yet another thing to manage by myself, so I’ll be moving the system over to the Aweber service.
• Reorganize, restructure, and redesign. Personally, I enjoy the design here, but it’s dated. I want to make the site more user friendly, easy to navigate, and easy on the eyes while still expressing my personal style.
• Upgrade (and get back the missing comments). I need to upgrade WordPress to the latest version because it has some awesome feature improvements that I can’t want to test drive. Also, I need to dig out my own back up so I can get back, at least some, of the comments I accidentally deleted.

There’s probably more I need to add to the list, but the above is all I can think of at the moment.

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.

For a little while, you won’t find any comments here although, previously, there were a couple hundred throughout the posts.

Because I’d been away from the blog for so long, the spam comments accumulated in my moderation queue — there were nearly 2,000. Instead of scanning through every one of them, I decided to delete it from the database.

Well, since WP marks the comments it thinks are spam as spam, I tried that first, but only a few were nuked. So, I got the brilliant idea just to delete all the comments…it didn’t occur to me while the query was running that I should only be deleting all the un-approved comments.

Needless to say, that was a really stupid move. Luckily I have a database back up. I only need to find it (on a CD somewhere).

If you’re in the same boat, make sure you reconsider your database query before you hit that ‘Go’ button.

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 truly haven’t kept up with the blogging here for the past year because, to be frank, I lost interest. Not that I lost interest in bettering myself or my online business in general, simply writing about it.

There are so many blogs in the blogosphere and so many blogs on marketing. One day, I sat down and wondered to myself, “Self, what exactly is it that my blog brings to the blogosphere that isn’t already there?” The answer I received was one I didn’t care to hear.

So, this blog became dormant…up until now. Over the past year, I’ve experienced some significant ups and downs, successes and failures. I figure, what I can bring to the business/internet marketing blogosphere that isn’t already here is a true and honest voice.

Yes, there are a few great blogs out there that don’t sugar coat anything, but for the most part, everyone is trying to sell you something regardless of whether it’s a good product or not.

You will not find that here. I plan to outline what I do, what I use, and give honest reviews of the products I purchase. In the interest of disclosure, I do plan to use my affiliate links whenever applicable, but being an affiliate of a product certainly won’t skew my opinions — if it’s ****, I’ll say so (with my affiliate link) and if it’s not ****, I’ll also say so (with my affiliate link). What you do with my reviews is completely up to you.

I also think this blog is getting a little raggedy, so some aesthetic and backend changes will be going on over the next month or two. Unfortunately, I can’t dedicate an entire day to fixing up this site, so it will need to be done little by little until it’s where it needs to be. What matters is that it still works, right?

Now, let’s get down to business.

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.”