Focus
In economic trying times such as these its imporant to remember the main things. Focus=confidence. Keep the main thing, the main thing.
Forcing myself to take a vacation
So I pretty much stink at taking vacations. Given that I work my day job and my internet job I am always working. So when I would take a week off at my day job, I would just use that as an opportunity to work a full week on my internet job. On the whole it has been a good thing for me to work on my internet job while I am on vacation from my day job, but sometimes you just need a break. Quite frankly its hard for me to take a vacation from my internet job for more then a day or two tops.
Two weeks ago I took a 6 day vacation from my day job. I worked one day in the middle of the six days, but forced myself to take the other days off. The biggest challenge was not doing anything for my business and not letting myself think or plan for it. It is really tough to not let myself even think about it. That is what i had to do though. I needed a break, or I was going to lose it. I forced myself to play games lol. Some people may think thats not tough, but I am almost addicted to business, so it was tough for me. All told I came out refreshed and I will be more productive now.
Ever Ellusive “more info” on SEO
I received a question, aside from forums and blogs, where I got more info about SEO as a newb. I have seen this question a lot and have asked it myself many times. We all know that Google and the rest of search engines are not going to come out and tell us how their algorithms work. However there is still a wealth of information on SEO out there, but where to find it and who to trust?
I have spent a lot of time on forums and blogs reading about SEO. There is a lot to be learned, and there is a lot of junk. I prefer to trust people who have proven themselves. If you have been around the SEO community very long you have probably heard names like Aaron Wall and Shoemoney. I regularly read shoemoney and have learned a lot from him. He recommended Aaron Walls “SEObook”. I had heard of Aaron Wall other places too, but his book was $79. As a startup thats a fair bit of cash, and there are so many “secrets” out there that are junk that people are trying to sell. Having written a quality ebook myself, I also realize that there are good ones out there. When Shoemoney recommended Aarons book I figured it was worth taking a look at.
I poked around Aaron’s site seobook.com and found a lot of quality info and tools for free. I found a tool that I had used in the past, but never even connected it with SEObook. After some research I decided that all the evidence indicated that SEObook was worth the $79. Living paycheck to paycheck from my regular job, I had to wait a little over a month to buy the book. I was quite excited the day I got to buy the book, and was pleasantly surprised that it came with a large ammount of extras.
Aarons book is over 300 pages and it is quite a task to tackle. I set out reading it, printing portions sometimes to read in a more comfortable spot then at the computer. I had, as I said, gained a fair amount of knowledge on SEO from forums and blogs, but only bits and pieces. What I found in SEObook is a complete, A to Z guide for not only SEO, but business online in general.
It would serve little purpose to understand SEO and then not apply it to something productive. For me that purpose is to earn money. Aaron gives quality advice about how to run a business online, how SEO affects it, and how to utilize SEO. I would not say its a “do steps 1 thru 10 and you will get instant success book”. It is more of a blueprint for success. Sure there are steps, but I like a book that teaches me to fish, rather then just gives me a fish. Certainly SEObook teaches you how to “fish” in SEO and online business.
Aaron has since changed the setup of his book. He no longer sells the book by itsself, but he gives it away free when you join his SEO training course. He has put together a good amount of training videos and information beyond the book itsself, as well as a private forum and made it into a monthly membership. The membership is not inexpensive for a startup, but is certainly worth it.
If I was coming into this scene now, I would do it like this. I would join the SEO training course at SEObook.com. I would take advantage of the membership and learn as much as I could from the online course and forum. Then I would cancel after the first month. I would then take the time to read thru the 300+ page ebook. By the time I was done with it, I would have a wealth of information. I would then start some projects and begin to earn a little. Once I was earning a net profit of over $100 per month I would rejoin Aarons training course. Then I could expand my knowledge and get even further.
There are no “Instant Success” SEO trainings or books, you have to go through the pain of learning and experimenting . Then learn some more and experiment some more. Even Aaron states he is always experimenting. If you want solid info, check out SEObook.com, but by all means always read and learn elsewhere too. Aarons book was my tipping point for getting started learning. It pushed me over the edge, and gave me the knowledge I needed to start succeeding, as well as a solid point of reference for the future.
Exercise helps me earn money
I find exercise helpful in making money online. Its obviously important to not be sick while your trying to earn money, but I used to overlook the fact of being proactive about exercise. I find that when I exercise regularly I am more productive while I work. I love to walk, just to get out and go for a few miles at a nice pace. I love to walk in my neighborhood and on trails. I try to do it regularly, but I find my self going through lapses where I neglect my body. In so doing I become less productive, which ultimately is a loss.
This morning I had a lot to do, but I wanted to take the time to exercise. I have been slacking off lately, and I need to get back into the flow of things. Despite the fact that I had a lot to do, I took 45 minutes this morning and went for a fast paced walk. I woke up droopy eyed today and had a hard time waking up, but after the walk I was wide awake. I find that exercise clears my mind, it gets rid of all the cloudiness. I am also more productive and focused. Overall even though I skipped 45 minutes of work time to exercise, I will be so much more productive that I will make that up and more. Plus I will feel better at the end of the day, and sleep better tonight. Which will make me more productive tomorrow too. The repercussions make it even more worth it.
I don’t exercise everyday, but I try to get out there and do it at least a few days a week. Overall I am more productive and thus earn more money and feel better when I exercise. I believe exercise and good health is an important part to earning money online.
Exercise is also one of the three major things that can be done to reduce stress in ones life. Having less stress helps my life enables me to again be more productive and more importantly to make better decisions in a timely manner. Here are the 3 things to reduce stress and anxiety:
- Get more exercise
- Get more sleep
- Simplify your life
Simplifying my life also makes me more productive, and obviously sleep does as well. When I start to feel worn out, stressed out or just unproductive I implement these 3 to help me get back on track.
Web 2.0 – My Understanding
This weekend I had a spare 55 minutes and 33 seconds so I watched a video that ProBlogger recommended. The video was from an anthropologists point of view on Youtube, more or less. The video was packed full of info regarding Web 2.0, YouTube, social media and how people interact online. There was so many applications in the video that I can use in online business, it was just chuck full of good knowledge.
However the largest thing that I took away from the video is an understanding of Web 2.0. There is of course a large volume of information on Web 2.0 available online, but everything that I have ever read has left me still with a lack of understanding of what Web 2.0 really is. By definition Web 2.0 is a lot of things, but definitions don’t necessarily mean a working understanding or an application to make money.
Web 2.0 from my working understanding is about linking people. Its about connecting people online in a social way. Web 1.0 to my understanding was about information, aka the internet was a massive library. In real life libraries are helpful, but I wouldn’t hit one up to socialize. Web 2.0 is about connecting people at their deepest level socially online. If you have ever read any books on people, such as “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie, you will know people are deeply involved with other people. That may or may not make sense, but basically people desire to be around and associate with other people. I am a student of people, and I love to learn about how people interact. Web 2.0 is a platform for people to interact.
Web 2.0 would be like the park, the local club, a conference, the networking mixer, the bowling alley, the pool hall, or the block party down the street. Web 2.0 is all about people, which involves informations, but does not center around it like Web 1.0 did. Its not a library its an event. An ever changing, ever emerging, social event. Its an opportunity to meet people, share my life, to connect, to meet people with my interests, to interact, to virtually dance, to live. Thus Myspace, YouTube, Facebook, Digg, and feed readers exist.
Understanding what Web 2.0 is and how it works is crucial to doing business online. After all Web 2.0 is the internet, it is where I make my money. I have certainly been lacking, but now I realize how much I have been missing.
One example would be blogging. If I were in Web 1.0 then I would write content for the visitors of my blog. Using words like you and your. That would be because I would be writing for information for the reader. However in Web 2.0 I write with I and My. That is because the content is social. I can associate easier with someone, like Shoemoney for instance, who relates their experiences. I see them as a person and I associate with other people. If I write with You and Your I am perceived then as a book would be or an advertisers. If you think about it too much it sounds backwards, write with I and My to influence You the reader. 
Mind you I don’t write just so other people will read, at the time of this post I only have a handful of readers anyway. I write for myself, its an expression of myself and a record for me to review my thoughts. But because of that, readers can identify with me. Franklin Bishop has a great article on Writing Content for Yourself. However that is just one example.
There are many application to Web 2.0 and understanding the social structure of the web. I plan to use my new found knowledge to begin earning more money online. Thank you ProBlogger for sharing.
Meet the Robinsons
I love the movie Meet the Robinsons. Meet the Robinsons makes me cash, or rather the principles in the movie help me make cash. I enjoy lots of different kinds of movies, but most won’t help me earn any money.
What I like about the movie is the main theme that is woven throughout the entire movie -”Keep Moving Forward”. When I just stop to think about it, I realize how profound that phrase is. The idea of always moving forward. Regarless of what happens, regardless of how much money I make or don’t make, regardless of what people say, keep moving forward.
Sometimes I just get stuck on a project or maybe I get flooded with problems. I just keep moving forward. I pick something and do it, then I do the next thing and so on. I accomplish a lot that way.
Sometimes it helps remind me not to look back. There is a lot I can learn from my past, but sometimes I just have to focus on going forward. When I stress out over a mistake I made that cost me a bunch of money, I stop, refocus, and keep moving forward. When someone says negative things and tells me I can’t do it, I just keep moving forward anyway.
The movie is a cartoon movie, but amazingly it teaches a profound concept. The movie also sort of centers around success and failure in being an entrepreneur. To that end they talk about having great failures. “That was a great failure!” they would say. When I fail I learn, but I don’t really learn that much when I succeed. In fact I am sure I have missed big opportunities because I succeeded at something small and didn’t realize what I was missing. I am not for always failing, but it gives me the perspective that when I fail its an opportunity to learn something that will allow me succeed later.
I keep moving forward.
Finding a SEO startup project
When your new to earning money online it can be a bit tough to discern exactly how and where you should start. One great option is a Spring Board business. However once you have mastered that, or if you don’t want to start there, SEO is a great place to start. Creating a project that you can successfully earn money with is no easy task. There is much work that has to be done before choosing a business niche. Some of which is learning SEO, keyword research, search volume research, and analyzing competition in your niche. Those are all after or part of just choosing what your project is. Then there is the actual building the project which will take longer, and the promoting the project which will take ever longer. This can be quite an overwhelming task to start with, plus you don’t even know if you will be able to make any money with your project.
I personally prefer to have someone else do all of the research and testing part for me for free. Then after I know it can be profitable and have a basic blueprint to follow, then I will proceed. How can you get someone to do all the testing and research for you without paying them anything? Simple, look at sites for sale. This idea is not orignial to me, but I wanted to share my experiences with it.
Given that I have only been in the SEO market for a little over a year I am relatively new myself. My first major SEO project came from Sitepoint.com. Sitepoint has an excellent marketplace that is known world wide for selling websites. When someone sells a website they have to provide a lot of information about that site in order to attract potential buyers. Information such as:
- How long the site has been up
- How much money the site earns each month
- What advertising platforms that money comes from
- What the cost of the site is each month, including advertising and other expenses
- How many visitors the site gets each month
- Where the traffic comes from
- What methods they have used to promote the site
That is just to name the most popular. You can often times see screen shots of some of the above info. You can visit the site to see what it is like, and you can look up in Yahoo how many backlinks the site has. Once you look at a few sites you kind of get the idea. Basically they disclose everything about their business.
I go about it like this. I head over to sitepoint, and I look at the Premium listings or the Established listings. I go through and look at lots of sites. I typically look for sites that I think I can reproduce. So a site that takes a lot of high end custom scripting or a site that sells physical goods won’t work. However a site like Icanhascheezburger.com is do-able. Mind you icanhascheezburger is way out of my league for startups, but you get the point of the type of site.
When I find a site that looks do-able I check all the stats, is it profitable? Is it worth the time? Is there lots of competition? How established is it, aka how many backlinks does it have. When I find a site that I think will work I start my project. I make a folder on my desktop, in there I stash all the info I can get from the auction ad at sitepoint. I save off the actual auction article, the website for sale, how much it makes, the screen shots, the sitepoint auction url, everything. At some point the sitepoint auction will end and the ad will be deleted, but I may want to reference some of the info down the road.
Then I choose a domain name, get it hosted and begin duplicating their idea. I do NOT copy their content. I am not saying go pirate their copyrighted material. In the case of Icanhascheezbuger I would go find other pictures of cats and give them captions. As I go along I try to find ways to improve or slightly alter the project to be more my own. In short I duplicate their idea not their content/site. Its the idea that I wanted to begin with, they tested the idea, proved it was profitable and then made that info public.
I have two sites right now that I did this with and they are both profitable already. One of them very new, and the other one a bit older. The established one is earning $200+ profit per month and I have plans that will probably double that in the next six months. This is not killer income, but I don’t spend killer amount of time on them either. They are both still growing too, plus I have been doing a lot of learning to get to this point. My goals are to get a good base of income down, and use that to branch out to bigger and better ideas of my own.
I certainly have plenty of ideas of my own that I think will be profitable, but I like to be able to start on solid ground. Beside that my sites are morphing into more and different things then they originally started. I feel they are better then the original idea that I duplicated. After all, its all about building a better mouse trap.
Paypal Security Key – Securing Your Business Funds
I am an avid paypal user, I pay for almost everything for my business with paypal. What I can’t pay for with paypal, I pay for with my paypal debit card. Give I use paypal so much, it would be a huge mess if my paypal account ever got stolen/hacked. Now I don’t have to worry about my account being hacked from paypal’s side of things. Most of the time when an account is “hacked” it is just a matter of someone using a poor password, giving that password out, or being phished. I use a pass rather secure password for my paypal, and I don’t use that password for anything else. However I am always up for more security.
My paypal security key is linked to my account with a special serial number. Every time I log into paypal I push the button on the key and it generates a random six digit code. I add that six digit code to the end of my password. Each code can only be used once, so its very secure. In order for someone to get into my paypal account they would need my username (easy), my password (hard to get), and my security key (which is attached to my keys and never leaves me). So if someone were to find me, steal my keys, figure out my password, then they could log into my paypal. Assuming I didn’t change my password first. Anyway, that scenario is highly unlikely.
I also linked up my security key to my ebay account. I got my first key right after they came out a few months ago. After having it a while my 1 year old son got ahold of it and chewed on it. I can say that they paypal security key, albeit durable, was not designed to withstand a 1 year olds mouth. 
So I ordered a new one. In the mean time paypal let me log into my account without the key if I could answer some extra security questions. Then when I got the new key I set it back up, which took all of a couple of clicks. I can’t say that it was that easy for ebay. To get the security key disconnected from my ebay account I have to call them. That takes a small act of congress, and is not something I typically have time for. Rather I don’t want to take the time to do it, I hate long waits on phone systems. I don’t like the automated ones, and the voice activated are even worse. It would be so much simpler to just do it online. It has been a month an a half since I replaced the key and I still have not contacted ebay, meanwhile paypal is back to functioning smoothly. Sometime when i stop using my wife’s ebay account and get mine fixed up I will not be hooking the security key back to it.
The key costs only $5 and it totally worth it for me. I once had my Chase business debit number was stolen and a bunch of charges racked up. Chase refunded all of the charges and fees, but it just took a while to get done. The key doesn’t protect my paypal debit card, but the debit card is backed by mastercard, so I am good there. I enjoy knowing paypal has got my back and its would be pretty impossible for my account to get stolen.
Acutally “Doing” the “Make” money part
Making money online is just that, making money. In order to make something, like good food for dinner, there is some work involved. You have to actually do something. Reading about it is great, but you have to do something with what you read. You won’t get a check in the mail by reading blogs. There is a great article about “Doing” over at Money Bites. Yes you should go read it, and then Do something about it.
Glype 1.0 Released
I have been using Glype proxy script for almost a year now. There has been several versions since I started using it, and for some time I have been checking in to see when V1.0 would come out. Nick, the script developer, quite the smart man I must say, has been working hard to get V1 done. Its a complete overhaul of the script, website and forum. I believe this makes glype officially out of beta, but I never have really understood the whole Version structure system.
V1 brings some excellent changes to play. The admin control panel is very slick and functional. It makes admin much easier and more organized the previous versions. Another big plus is there is now a stock privacy policy, TOS and disclaimer. I won’t list out all of the features, you can read about it in the V1.0 annoucement post.
I will say this, Glype runs fast and executes smoothly. It supports myspace out of the box. It comes out of the box with more options then scripts that I have purchased for over $200 in years past. It comes fully functional for FREE. Enough said.
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