My 2 Cents on The Economy & Tax Rebate

I got my Tax Rebate notice the other day. Most of it will be spent in a few weeks when we go on vacation.

I will spend the whole thing and watch to see if the Economy gets stimulated. That is said tongue in cheek as it could take years for the economy to improve.

What else can be done to stimulate the economy? Keep in mind credit card debt and gas prices continue to rise. Add in Health care and the cost of groceries and there is barely anything left to stimulate the economy with.

Fortunately in addition to my day job I make some money on the internet too. A little money for entertainment, nice dinners out and a car payments.

There are many benefits to making money online compared to my real job, but there are downsides as well.

Time to get back to work on my online business to see if I can make more money to spend.

A little disclaimer here. I am not saying that you should spend all your money. In my real job I have a great retirement plan, so that is where I save my money. That way I can spend all the money I make online (after taxes). Your results may vary and if you don't have some savings built up, please do that first.

Michael

Provide Exceptional Value and Live Forever

Ok, you got me. I added the live forever part. I had a conversation about vampires, so I just threw that in.

But in a sense you could be imortalized by providing exceptional value. Write an interesting book and it could be read thousands of years for now.

There are two directions I am thinking for this article.

First, free content. While writing free content is great, if it doesn't provide exceptional value visitors may never return.

This goes for offline as well as online writing.

Second, paid content. If you write an ebook that provides exceptional value and charge below that value you could have a customer for life. But provide marginal value at a fair price and you may have lost future sales from that customer.

Imagine going to the movie theater to watch a movie. The $7-16 to get in ontop of $8-12 for food make for an expensive experience. But what if at the end of the movie, the stars where there to take pictures and sign autographs for free.

People would no longer complain about spending $28 to see a movie because of the exceptional value added by the photos and autographs.

I am a bargan shopper. I buy good stuff, but as cheap as I can.

By providing value beyond what the customer expects they will look up to you. It is a win-win situation. They were happy to give you $20 for an ebook that was worth $47 and you have a customer that is more prone to make a future purchase.

Blog content may be free, but it must be good to keep people comming back. And if what you write (ebook, etc) isn't free, then customers better be asking you why you sell it so cheap.

Michael

CPM Advertising for BLOGS

Last month I tested some CPM advertising. Conversion was terrible and it would have been much cheaper at $1 CPC.

But on the flip side the sites I advertised on got paid and didn't loose any visitors. Instead of earning for a visitor to click and leave they simply had to show an ad to get paid.

Direct sales are the best way to make money with CPM because the rates are lower. Check your current eCPM and cut it in half, then in half again.

But on the plus side, you may loose less visitors from clicking.

There are plenty of networks where you can display CPM ads. Check out my tools section for the ones I use.

Michael

Make Money Project Updates

I don't know why I didn't see this before. Shopster. Sign up now for a 7 day free trial. No commitment, all the upside! What a great way to find products to sell.

Last night I worked on getting my AdSense data into my own database. I was having problems getting the date to insert into my table, but I have an idea on how to fix it. My plan is to export my AdSense stats each month and put it in my custom database. This database is going to contain some of my stats and other info. Once I have everything loaded then I am going to design a custom dashboard so I can see the status of my business real quickly and easily.

My new website is starting to look good and I will probably start a second one this weekend.

If I have time tonight I will finish a little something that I have been working on and testing. I will put it online tomorrow if I get it finished.

Michael

Website Testing and Tracking - Visitor Value Part 2

Welcome to Part Two on my Visitor Value series. If you missed part one, you can find it here.

Now that you have a rough idea what your visitor value is lets look at improving it. This time we are going to discuss tracking and testing.

Website Tracking

There are many free and paid website statistics services. I wrote my own a few years ago, but the features in some of the free ones passed my custom design that I now mostly use two free services.

The first is feedburner. Yes feedburner helps with creating RSS feeds, but they also do an awesome job at tracking your stats as well.

Rumor has it that feedburner was purchased by Google, so things can only get better.

The other site I use is sitemeter. Feedburner is my first choice though.

The important stats I look at are "Searches" and "Other Sites". This tells me how people are finding my site.

Review where your traffic is coming from. You may notice that people are finding your site using keywords you didn't realize and can increase using those keywords.

For example a few months ago I did a post on "Sweet Popcorn". Interestingly enough Saturday I had a visitor from Google searching for "How To Make Sweet Popcorn". This is a long tail search term. Not one that I was looking to be indexed for, but it does prove an interesting point.

There are other stats you can look at, but I focus on what words people use to search for my site and what websites are sending traffic to my site.

Website Testing

Before changing anything you need to record your statistics before the change. I like to keep track of daily stats. Then I aggregate this information for review once a week. This is also when I record my income stats. Then at the end of the month I review the weekly data and the final totals for the month.

When I am going to make a change I do it at the beginning of a week. That makes it easier for me when reviewing my reports. If I am spending money on advertising I will closely watch the change for 2 or 3 days so that I don't loose too much money if my change fails.

On a dynamic content site like this BLOG there are many things that can be tested. Header graphic & text, above the fold layout, below the fold layout and bottom layout just to name a few.

Even though AdSense is one of the most popular advertising networks that people use, there are many others. I like to test offers from 3 or 4 advertising networks. Many of these companies give you better control over what ads are displayed then AdSense does.

The key is to use a minimum amount of targeted advertising. Remember we want our visitor to come back again some day. So provide advertising that is related to what you are blogging about and a little bit of contextual advertising for visitors that would rather leave then continue reading.

I could easily fill a book will all the details of tracking & testing, but this should get you started in your own testing and tracking.

Part three in this series will be out next Wednesday, please come back. Check out Visitor Value if you missed the first part.

Michael

Money Making Project Updates

I was a little worried yesterday. In the morning and early afternoon, ads from one of my networks was not showing on the page. It was just empty space. This worried me because it was my highest earning network.

For about 2 hours I was thinking of was to replace the ads with something else. Fortunatly I didn't have to try any of my ideas. But there was a good lesson learned from this experience. Don't rely on one "Main" source of income.

Yes, I already do have multiple streams of income. But there is only one network that brings in most of my internet income.

So far the records I listed on Ebay have no bids. It could be because I listed all 12 as one lot. This makes writing the title harder. I did this to save money on the listing fees.

Blakeize.com is doing fine. The design needs changed. Design is one of my week areas. Next I need to plan when and how to sell Blakeize.com

My secret $5 project is doing fine. It will be about a month until I can give any details.

Using Text Link Ads was one of my better moves. Their system runs smoothly and the process for earning money from them is fantastic. And thank You Top Home Business for purchasing a sponsor link this month. These listings are lower on the right side. As you know I only sell 1 sponsor listing in the upper right and I manage that sale myself. Thank You Sell You Manitoba Cottage for purchasing this spot. Dont miss the $100 in FREE Links from Text Link Ads.

My test with Shopzilla isn't going very well. My guess is that the people that visit my sites are looking for information and not physical goods. When I get a chance I will develop a BLOG about a physical product category and see how that works.

ClickBank and the other affiliate networks I promote are running as expected.

Michael

Money Buckets Update

Today I added the $3.20 advertising income from March. There will be more added later when the check arrives from the other affiliate network.

So far no bids on the records. If they don't sell I will probably pitch them.

So far ShopZilla is not converting like I had hoped. I'm going to just post the Shopzilla ads when they match the content of the post. They may convert better on my other sites so I will have to see what fits.

Tonight is practice for the Church Play. If I have time later I hope to finish researching my next project test.

Here is a snapshot of the hotel I will be staying at in Vegas. Mandalay Bay looks like a fun place. The confrence runs from 9-6 Sunday thru Wednesday, but I will have plenty of free time to check out the sights.

Michael

Second Life Income

Today I stopped in on Second Life a little. I wanted to find an amusement park, but many of the places I found were full. One of the locations was real slow, so I left early.

After that I went to a meditation place and relaxed. Yep, you can relax in a virtual world.

Right now I have $41L in Second Life. Not bad for doing nothing.

Sell Your Manitoba Cottage is our Advertiser for April, May & June. I will probably do a review of their site later this month. One thing to point out here. The earlier you buy a link for me, the better chance you have at getting the cheapest price. As this site gets more popular the amount will just keep going up.

Speaking of advertising income, I will record and update that tomorrow. There was income from multiple networks, so some will be recorded tomorrow and the rest when the checks arrive.

Michael

Adding Money To The Project

I updated the Project Chart with my Ebay text link income. This new design is much easier to read. What do you think?

Some of the transactions are ongoing. It isn't a beakdown to the smallest level of found money or non-promoted advertising income. That would make a huge chart. I will list advertising income and commission from offers where I pay to advertise them.

I have plans for the future. Too early to start giving out details, but I have some big plans when I hit $1,000.

Once again I would like to thank ExcellentSeat.com for advertising on this site in March. The new advertiser will have their link online Sunday. This person is considering purchasing an additional link. So if you see 2 links, they are both from the same person. As I said before I will only sell 1 text link in that spot.

Take Care,

Michael

Making Money Thinking Time

Yet again I am shocked at how much traffic my Ebay Auction listing is getting. This auction has more traffic than any other I did on Ebay.

Tonight I might have to play some Second Life. So far I have $16 Linden Dollars. I also picked up a bunch of free items. If you like to explore, Second Life is a lot of fun.

Thinking time is very important. I will try to put in some time tonight to think about investing $10 of the project balance. I still have my notes from last time, so all I need is a little quiet.

My March Madness picks did good. I didn't see the tally sheet yet, but I have 3 of the final four and I had 6 of the Elete Eight.

Have Fun,

Michael

Money Buckets Update

I decided to change the money buckets chart. The other chart grouped all the transactions together.

So now I have Project Chart Image instead. With this image you will be able to see the transactions. I color coded the money buckets.

Ebay listing fees will be included in the investment column, final value and merchant fees come off of the income. If I had room for an expense after income column I would put it there. Some items are currently in inventory. There are 12 records and Blakeize.com that can be sold. This will change those transactions when I sell those items.

Let me know what you think of the new image. I will keep the image updated and there is a link in the Project Status section to the right.

Michael

Another Money Making Idea

Last night I was working through my ebay research and figured up another idea.

This is something that I did before and had a great ROI. But, as always, it will require some research.

If Ebay has a discount listing day on or near St.Pattricks Day then I will list a few more records. If not then I will throw them away the following week.

I am considering adding a $20 money bucket to the project. All the money buckets below $100 will be the low level. Then the $500-$10,000 money buckets will be the middle level. Finally the $20,000+ money buckets will be the upper level and hopefully produce 6 figures ($100,000) or more a year. :-) That is the goal, but anything can happen.

Looking forward to having you follow along on this journey.

Take Care,

Michael

Advertising Income Beats Ebay Income

I looked at my income from February advertising on the 3 BLOGs in my OPP network. Total advertising income is $6.18 for February. That is 1.68 more than I made from Ebay.

I will update the Money Buckets graphic over the weekend.

This takes my balance over $20 and also give me the opportunity to test 2 $10 money bucket ideas.

I'm not giving up on Ebay. There is good potential in Ebay, but for now I am going to pass on testing any more $10 money buckets on ebay.

Take Care,

Michael

$10 Money Buckets And Passive Income

Based on the work I completed so far with my first $10 money bucket test I want to reduce my risk and do less work next time. So while doing my research I want to focus on ideas that produce passive income.

Interest - I could invest the $10 in a PayPal account and earn about 5%, but at that low rate it will take forever to double. SO that is out.

Commission - Yes, this will fit. I have some ideas, but no details for now.

Rental Fee - Who would rent something they can buy for $10?

Royalty - Not from a $10 investment.

Digital - Yes, this is another idea that could work.

Work of Others - Again, yes I could pay someone $10 to do something then sell it for $20 or more.

As I said before this is a very fun project, many thanks to all those who are following along.

Take Care,

Michael

First Money Bucket - More To Come

Guess what today is? Other then Valentines Day, it is 50% listing fee day at Ebay. How cool is that.

I did some research and thought about what I wanted to list for this project. At first I was thinking along the one page idea. That way I could put up the listing, then work on the page during the week before the auction ends. Below is the query that I was working on for closed auctions.

cheat -honda -replay -shark -final -weight -diet -hard -roulette -lock -goth -saints -birch -alpine -golf --xploder -cherry -fruit -poker -genie -gameshark -memory -tabs -dog -website -photoshop -ps2 -gameboy -xbox -nikon -canon -nintendo -wii -sims -monster -psp -phone -playstation -dvd -plug

Notice all the negative qualifiers? That is a big key when doing research. Weeding out the stuff you don't want from the stuff you do want.

As it turns out I found something a little easier. You know me, I look for the way that involves little work.

The "Your Link Here" link to the right is my first investment of money in this project. I took advantage of the 50% listing fee day. Even with the gallery photo the listing only cost me $0.45 today. I could have done the listing without the photo for only 10 cents. Way cool, but I think the photo listings get more attention.

Since I only invested 45 cents I plan on putting up another listing today for the same amount or without the photo. I don't know what I am going to list, but it will be a digital product so that my total cost of both listings is below $1. This will go in the $1 bucket on my next Money Buckets Update.

Something that I will also need to think about. If both listings hit at the minimum bid, then the fees could produce a negative transaction. I want to have 2 listings to reduce my risk.

Take Care,

Michael

More Time For Money Making Research

School is closed today and work is closed for at least a 1/2 day. So this will give me a little more time for money buckets research.

Yesterday I started working with ebay research. Today I will continue down that path.

Thinking about a $1 investment. The listing fee for and Ebay item below .99 is .20 with no extra features. With the gallery option a .99 listing would be .55 leaving only ,45 to purchase an item.

So lets look at a simple example at this low level. Starting with a $1 investment, purchase something for .50 and list it on ebay without any options. Total investment would be 70 cents.

If this item sells for $5 + $1.50 S&H the final value fee would be .27 and PayPal fee would be 50 cents. Lets say actual shipping is $1.11. The profit in this fictional example would be $3.92, not bad. Keep in mind this example sells for $5, not all auctions have buyers and the amount will vary. This is just an example to look at the fees involved.

Now I am off to think about items that I can buy for 50 cents that might sell for $5. Obviously not an easy task, but I want to start with the $1 bucket before going to the $10 money buckets.

Take Care,

Michael