Entries in "February, 2008"

Learn From Nike - Just Do It!

I came across this post today by a guy named Matt Heaton. It's about how so many people have great ideas but are afraid to pursue them. Here is a an excerpt that is the meat & potatoes of the article.

"Successful people based on my observations are usually successful over and over again. They have great ideas. They learn what it takes to implement that idea - which by the way is 90% more than what most people do, and then they do what so many people won’t. They DO it!

You can’t do something that you don’t know how to do, but learning is a means to an end. The end goal is ACTION. Its so easy to talk about wat you want to do. Its entirely another thing to do it. You all know the person who talks about what they want to do their whole life but never does it. Don’t be that person."

I wrote about giving yourself a gut check and how it can be beneficial to live outside of your comfort zone before. There is a lot to be said about a person who has the guts to go for it. Some call them crazy and others admire their gusto.

Right now I am in the middle of launching 2 companies. One is active and doing business right now, the other we hope to be live by the end of March. As things get more stable I will give more info out about these businesses. I hate that I waited so long to go after an idea — regardless of the reason.

So while I am no where near where I want to be in life, I feel like I am finally on the right path and and will get there in time.

If you are waiting to get started with your idea for business, or pleasure, my only advice to you is that you should listen to Nike.

Technorati Tags: business, gut check, just do it, matt heaton, nike

Fortune & Fame ... Becoming A Rock Star

Ever wanted to be a rock star? I think we all have at one point. I mean, what's not to love about it. They rock on stage, party all night and have their pick of the hottest ladies at the show. Sure that all seemed great when we were younger but what about becoming a modern day rock star?

What is a modern day rock star?

Good question. That could probably be defined as any one who truly stands out in their industry. For instance, Michael Arrington could be considered a rock star in the blogging world for the huge success he has seen from TechCrunch, the blog he started in 2005 that covers internet startups and has achieved behemoth status in the blogosphere.

Examples from the affiliate marketing world would include John Chow, Zac Johnson and Neil Patel. These 3 guys are recognized as experts in their industry and have been able to build up a solid reputation and a large following. Whether or not these guys are actual experts I have no idea and I don't know any of them personally. What I do know is that I read their blogs every day and find a great value in their writings a lot of the time.

Point is that they have been able to build a (cult like) following and are able to leverage that into large profits while attempting to help people in the process.

How do you become a rock star?

What the hell are you asking me for? Seriously though I don't have an answer to that question. I don't know that there is a specific formula but I am sure it is a mixture of charisma, experience, hard work, education and a degree of transparency.

If you can figure out a way to give away value — actual or perceived — for free and do it in a way that is magnetic, chances are you will slowly build a large following. As your following grows, so can your profits.

There are many ways to pass value to your following. Obviously blogging is a slam dunk but there are many other methods. Before blogging was so popular there were forums, which provided an excellent vehicle for users to interact with each other as well as the "rock stars" of the community. Look at the success of Fark — it all started with a niche and a forum.

Are you a rock star?

Everyone has some rock star qualities about them. Well, nearly everyone. Not everyone has the over all mixture that is required to really stand out. That's OK because you don't need to be a rock star to be hugely successful. If you want to be a rock star then I suggest you get started right away. Throw yourself out there and see how it goes. Don't let self doubt or other hang ups stop you.

Bottom line: you never know until you try.

P.S. Yes, I realize how corny the "rock star" thing is...

Technorati Tags: rock star, cult, profit, value, blog

How To Deal With Click Fraud

Today TechCrunch has a post written about the rise of click fraud in 2007. The article references a new report from a company named Click Forensics. The report states that click fraud rose 15% for 2007. If you are using PPC to help you make money online, then this news is obviously important to you!

The TechCrunch article notes the following: "According to this data, nearly one out of every three clicks on a Google or Yahoo ad is fraudulent." Yowza!

Detecting Click Fraud

There are lots of options for software solutions on how you can track click fraud. Some options are more expensive than others. But how can you detect it on the cheap?

First, you need to make sure you track your incoming clicks. Usually this is done by sending the user to a specific URL when they click one of your ads. That URL will handle the tracking for you by making a note in a database. This is easily accomplished in PHP (and other scripting languages). If you aren't one for writing code, there are scripts available for download that are either very cheap or completely free.

The easiest — and most obvious — way to spot click fraud is seeing multiple clicks from the same IP address (or IP address subnet). There are companies out there who's sole purpose is to commit click fraud. They have multiple servers running 24/7 submitting phony clicks. So pay attention to the IP addresses and look for patterns.

Filing Click Fraud

So if you happen to notice that one of your campaigns has been the victim of click fraud, what do you do? For the big search engines the process is usually very simple. Give their advertising department a call and let them know about the trend you spotted. They will usually ask you to submit a ticket of some sort with the evidence you have as well as a URL where they can see the evidence for themselves. So if you keep your data password protected, you may need to add a new account for the search engine folks.

Some companies — like Google — issue a credit pretty quickly (48 hours or so) but it can take up to a week for them to investigate. I've noticed that Yahoo tends to take longer than most to issue a credit. I had one case with Yahoo open for nearly 3 weeks before credit was issued.

Conclusion

Since PPC advertising is so important to affiliate marketers, the trend of click fraud is costing you money (after all, time is money!) If it starts to become a serious issue for you it is probably worth the time and effort to submit the trouble to the advertising platform and get some credit issued to your account.

Even if the fraud isn't denting your pocket too much, it is a good idea to keep track of it. Removing fraudulent clicks from your over all tracking will help show you your true conversion rate.

Technorati Tags: click tracking, advertising, click fraud, ppc

Groovr Got Fancy!

For a while I worked at a new startup here in LA called Groovr. I resigned earlier this year from Groovr but still keep in touch with the guys & gals over there. Today they launched the latest version of the website. It's been about 5 months since the last release and the features they implemented are really cool!

So what's new?

New Design - As much as I loved the last design when we rolled it out 5 months back, this new one definitely takes the cake. It is very "cool" and flows very well for the type of site that Groovr is.

Localized Explore - You can now "explore" your local area. See who is currently near by, any new shouts/photos/videos they may have submitted. All of it plotted out on a nice map so you can see how close someone may be to you. For an example, check out the Los Angeles explore page.

Feeds - No, not your standard RSS feed. Now data from a user is grouped into an "activity feed." You can see the latest shouts, images, videos, etc. all in one feed, along with comments.

Lightbox - You can now browse a users photo submissions via a lightbox display. This makes it much faster to see all the images on a single page.

Custom Profiles - Users can now customize their profile pages by choosing from an array of different background images.

Friend Importer - Pretty standard across most social networks, but they added a nice friend importer. Let's you invite/find friends from your address book (GMail, Yahoo, etc.)

There are other new things as well, but they are mostly changes behind the scene that the users won't "see" but they really improve the service. All in all, I think the site looks great and I wish them all the success in the world.

If you decide to give Groovr a try, make sure and add me as a friend. My profile is found here.

Technorati Tags: design, business, social network, geek, groovr

Dealing With Business Emergencies

Fun morning for me today. I use Amazon S3 service for storage of various files, including the static media for most of my websites. This morning there was a major outage across the AWS farm. After noticing the errors I began to scramble to figure out what was going on. Obviously the issue was on the remote side (Amazon) so I had to sit and wait it out.

The outage seemed to last about 3 hours (for me, others are still reporting issues.) While S3 is an awesome service and very affordable, this shows that nothing is fail proof. Even with this outage, their service falls into their 99.9% SLA.

These things happen

I've spent a lot of time on the other side of this fence. Trying to figure out what is causing a major outage, dealing with pissed users and keeping the bosses away long enough to get my job done. I understand that "these things happen," but how do you convey that to your customer who's service is effected as a result?

It's also difficult to accept when you are losing money as a result of an outage such as this. Luckily I keep backups of all my sites so if I needed to I could upload the static content and change the templates to reflect that. But that is a lot of work and money will still be lost during the down time.

How to deal?

There really is no need for huffing and puffing in the beginning. Especially since the service is still operating under their 99.9% uptime SLA. Once it begins operating outside of that SLA, is when the yelling may start. Obviously the situation will be different for everyone. There are a lot of startups who depend on Amazon AWS services right now.

You have to make a rational decision when is it time to quit the service. Do you have a back up plan? If not, you should. If your history with the service in question is a very positive one, then forgive them for their "bad" and continue on. If they have a bad or unstable history then look into an alternative and take your business else where.

A lot of times switching companies/services is easier said than done. It will probably come down to which scenario loses more money. Putting up with the bad service or the amount of man hours required to switch. In the long run, it's almost always smarter to dump the bad service.

In the case of Amazon, I've been very happy with their service and this outage today wasn't that big of an issue though I'm sure many would disagree.

Technorati Tags: amazon s3, business, outage, service, startups, technology

Living Outside Your Comfort Zone

One can learn a lot about themselves when they are put into situations that they are uncomfortable with. How many times have you come up with an idea that you loved but stopped yourself from following through with even a modest attempt? If you're like me, quite a few. The reason is we are a little afraid to step out of our comfort zone.

What is outside your "comfort zone"?

The real definition here will be unique to every individual. A general definition would be: Knowingly placing yourself in a situation that you feel mentally, emotionally and/or physically uncomfortable with.

A good example would be a job interview for a newer or unfamiliar position. When I started working in IT my first job was doing tech support (ugh, for AOL even). After a few years I went out and tried to get a Linux sysadmin gig and since I had no professional experience I was very nervous and uncomfortable going into the interview. Because I was uncomfortable, it made me prepare more which helped boost my confidence and I ended up giving a great interview and got the job.

Many years later I was tired of the sysadmin stuff and wanted to move more into a full time development position. Again, I had no experience as a full time developer so I brushed up and landed a new gig writing code for a living.

Leaving your comfort zone

Whenever you are considering a new idea or venture there will always be the naysayers who will try to discourage you. But sometimes the biggest barrier you have to cross is yourself. Don't let your reservations stand in the way of your personal success.

Once you have stepped out of your comfort zone you will probably surprise yourself. Most people will rise to the challenge when faced with adversity. The fact that you will mentally prepare yourself for this challenge will give you a jolt and you will hit the ground running.

The benefit of being uncomfortable

Sometimes you just have to follow what your gut is telling you. Sometimes that involves leaving a very happy & comfortable situation. As Steve Pavlina puts it: "Intuition is just as important in business as it is in other settings. You’d be amazed at how many gigantic corporate deals are green-lighted or red-lighted because of some CEO’s gut feeling."

When thinking about a potentially life changing decision one will usually do some research and follow all the appropriate steps to making the decision — and then never actually make that decision.

If you choose to step out of your comfort zone you may or may not succeed. Regardless of the outcome you will benefit from the experience. The education it provides will be invaluable through out your life time. It will help you in future attempts at risk in your personal and professional life.

Conclusion

Right now I am personally out of my comfort zone. Building a new business is exciting, fun and a very scary. I am very confident I will succeed but if I don't, I am very happy for the experience. I've wanted to start a company for as long as I can remember but never had the guts to take that first step.

I'm sure a lot of you out there feel similar to how I did. Don't continue to hesitate; take that first step — even if it's just a small one — out of your comfort zone.

Technorati Tags: business, comfort zone, confidence, success

Page Peel Away Ad - For Free!

I ran across this article today by John Chow talking about the more and more popular peel away ad. It's basically an ad that sits in the corner of your website and "peels away" when your visitor places their mouse over the ad.

Some people are reporting a lot of success using this type of ad. In John's article he is promoting the product for the special price of $37. While I am sure this is a good price — and I hate to step on any toes — but there is another option.

You can get a script that does the exact same thing for free. The script is called PageEar and can be downloaded here. I don't personally use this script for anything but I have buddies who do and they claim it works fine and functions properly across all standard web browsers.

I have no clue what is involved in adding this to your blogging platform (wordpress, etc.) as I use custom software that I created. I am sure it's quite easy using your systems template editor.

So there you have it, my gift to you. If anything I saved you from doing a google search and finding this yourself :)

Download PageEar here

Technorati Tags: free, john chow, page ear, peel away ad

Web Designers Are Worth Their Weight In Gold

I realize that the title is pretty obvious in the internet marketing world but it's something that many of us forget far too often. A good web & graphics designer can sky rocket your conversions (profits) and turn an OK campaign into a great one.

One thing I usually try to do when creating a new web page is take a free template and tweak it into something I think looks good. Problem is that I don't have a creative bone in my body — at least in the web design sense. The end result is I wasted time because I still end up paying someone a few bucks to make a nicer page for me.

I am a programmer not a designer and because I know how to write HTML, and CSS to a lesser degree, doesn't mean that I should. I've also purchased templates in the past and that has been OK but my best results have always come from a unique design created by someone with the proper mind for it. Meaning, someone who can envision the website and then bring it to life.

Finding a good designer is not always easy. I use two guys who I got via a referral and they give me a break on the price. I usually only need a single page from them and I can create any other pages needed from their one page template. So that helps lower the cost but I still have to pay for any additional graphics I may need.

Here is a recent example. I built a "rating" type site for a niche I am starting to promote. After the usual test, tweak, repeat process I didn't feel it was performing very well. The next step was the design and that cost me money that I was trying to save for advertising costs. After the new design was ready and put in place, I saw conversions jump up at least 150%. I still can't explain it because the site doesn't look so great to me, and presents the same information as the old design, but it obviously has something that is more appealing to the end user. My brain just doesn't see things in that way.

As a programmer I tend to want to do things myself. Sort a control freak I suppose. I am slowly learning that design is something I need to outsource because in the long run, I'll save time and money.

Technorati Tags: advertising, graphics, marketing, web design

Walking Before You Run

Neil Patel wrote an interesting post about how much experience should you have before going out on your own. In other words, how much time spent walking is needed before you can actually run?

Neil says he didn't really walk at all when he first started out and failed as a result. However the education he gained in trying was worth "millions."

My opinion is that you need to have a general idea of how to proceed before doing so. I don't mean 5 years interning (or whatever) at some corporate office before going out on your own. More like a lot of reading and some rational planning. Everything else is just guts and making correct decisions quickly.

Your personality will play a role in your success as well. People who are more assertive generally are able to make things happen easier. They aren't afraid to ask for — or demand — what they want. While that seems easy, it's a little more difficult for most people. Myself included.

Other personality traits will come into play as well. Are you a social person or more of a recluse? Obviously this can play a role in your real life networking, which is a part of practically any business.

Discipline is very important. It is one thing to manage other people but it is a much harder task to manage yourself. Are you able to stay focused and motivated when it really matters? We all find ourselves distracted during the day. Email, IM's, RSS feeds, etc. all cause us to take a break many times a day. This break also takes you out of the "zone" when you are focusing on actual work. You must be able to avoid, or limit, those distractions as much as possible to ensure that you are getting your job done. Your success can (does?) depend on it.

Confidence can make or break you and your new venture. You have to truly believe in yourself and your idea/product. Lack confidence and you might as well wear a sign saying so. It's already written all over your face anyways. If you don't feel confident in yourself, why would anyone else?

I feel that if you prepare and plan correctly then give yourself a real gut check, you have a good shot at making it. Walk a little before your start to jog. Get a good pace and begin to run!

P.S. The comments on Neil's article have many good opinions. I suggest you read them.

Technorati Tags: business, confidence, discipline, neil patel, planning

Super Tuesday - Go Vote!

For those of you in the US, today is an important day. It is our national primary (essentially) and will decide our candidates for the presidential election later this year. Just wanted to post a reminder for everyone to go out and vote today!

Technorati Tags: history, super tuesday, vote

Superbowl 42

Superbowl Sunday came and went. What an amazing game it turned out to be. I personally had no stake in the winner and I didn't bet anything on this game. Either way it went, it made for a great story and a shining moment in NFL history.

Patriots win and they secure a perfect season; done only once before. Of course they were heavy favorites coming into the game. The point spread 2 weeks ago was 13 points!

Giants win and it may be the biggest upset in NFL history. This is a great underdog story and is a source of motivation.

Obviously by now everyone knows the Giants pulled it off with their 17-14 victory. FoundRead had an interesting article using the quotes Eli Manning (Giants quarterback) gave after the win. The post applies his comments to modern day business and how: "Sometimes it takes a slightly larger challenge to draw the high performance out of you." This is very true!

Of course, the commercials were a big source of discussion as well. Pretty lame commercials this year in general (imho) but there were a few that stood out to me. My favorite was the Godfather spoof commercial for the Audi R8. Mainly because I am a huge Godfather fan but I did find the commercial funny; regardless of the unoriginality of the premise. Using Moe Green as the actor didn't hurt either. Jason Calacanis graded the commercials as well and agrees with me on this one.

The game itself was so well played that I was glued to the couch the entire time. OK, part of that was because I had a very late night on Saturday and didn't have the energy to do anything but sit around and watch TV. Oi.

Technorati Tags: commercials, football, godfather, motivation, superbowl

Million Dollar Goal - January Update

This is a quick recap of my progress for January. I made a crazy goal for this year and so I am keeping people updated here.

Business

The company I co-founded is doing well for our current stage. We are live and actively getting subscription sales. We are right on track for the volume of business that we are currently able to handle. One negative is our customer up selling. It's progressing slower than we would like but we still need to put together a proper training system for our only sales guy. I am still not ready to announce the company name / website; maybe in the February recap.

My affiliate marketing efforts fell a little behind because I was super busy with other projects. I have been spending my personal time catching up and tuning campaigns, etc. I still made slightly more than 6K profit for the month. I am positive if I had more time to focus on these efforts I could have squeezed out another thousand or two. These are small numbers compared to others, but I am very happy with my progress in these ventures.

Personal

One thing that has been really tough is my dieting. Well, the issue is, I haven't been dieting! Prior to this year I had been working from home for quite a while and got used to the convenience it provided in terms of making a healthier lunch, etc. Now that I am commuting into Los Angeles again, lunch is usually the nearest place selling a hamburger. Not good.

February Goals

I will spend more time on my affiliate marketing efforts. I do have a full plate on my hands this month but I will make the time to tweak my campaigns and try to up my profit for the month.

I am also starting on a new project that should have a beta available by March. It should be ready for full public consumption by the end of March. I don't want to say too much about this yet, but it will be a service to help with visitor conversions. More on this later.

I will continue to hit the weight racks every morning. I need to design a new work out routine, as it's been far to long since the last time I switched it up. It's generally smart to switch routines every 6-8 weeks to keep your muscles guessing. I will also focus on running a little more, though my left knee has been pretty sore for the last week.

I have to start eating better. My usual lapse here is my lunch. I have to make the effort to get a lunch ready the night before and take it into work with me. If I could drop 10 pounds of fat I think I would be satisfied and try to maintain at that point.

Wrapping Up

That's a basic recap for January on my progress of hitting the $1 million dollar goal I have for 2008. When I announce more about the company I co-founded I will give more details in terms of financial gain, etc. Will I hit my goal of a million bucks this year? I don't know, but I sure will try! Regardless, it is shaping up to be a very good year in my life. A life changing year.

Technorati Tags: affiliate, business, make money online, marketing, weight lifting