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There Is No “I” in Team March 8, 2007

Posted by Evil Green in : Ranting and Raving , add a comment

Yesterday, I had a meeting with my business partners regarding “the project”.

This morning, while shifting a few pixels on a Web site, I had the opportunity to reflect.  I realized that we have assembled a great team, and we will accomplish far more together than any of us could ever accomplish alone.

It can be a tough decision to get others involved, why share the profits?  The simple fact is partnerships are often more successful then sole proprietorships (I think I read that somewhere once – but I am rolling with it until someone proves otherwise). 

Let’s take a look at some of the reasons, using our team as an example:

  1. We are smarter together than we are alone.
    • When we combine our minds in an effort to solve a problem or make a decision our dynamics and different backgrounds often bring forward an ideal solution after some discussion
  2. Responsibility to each other
    • if I don’t carry my weight, I am letting down not only myself but three of my partners
  3. Individual Skill sets
    • We have an Information Architecture / Usability Expert
    • A great programmer
    • A business major
    • And a finance guyCombined we bring to the table the skills required to ensure that each aspect of business in run well.
  4. Shared Work Load
    • While one partner was writing a 60 page business plan I was free to do what I do best, get started on the development of the product.  We’d never get this done with a one or two man team.
  5. Shared Costs
    • Getting up and running costs money.  We spent about $1200 on a domain name and while trying to get going on a budget there are a lot of small incidental costs. 

I am pretty wonderful, but contrary to popular belief I am not perfect ;) , and there are things that I am not that good at.  This is fine because I have partners or “teammates” who have the skills to take care of the things that I can’t and vise versa.
Cheers, to our team!

I have some info for you February 19, 2007

Posted by Evil Green in : Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Search Engine Marketing, Ranting and Raving, Domain Names , 2comments

You want some .info, I’ve got some .info for you.  Stay away from those junky domain names.  I typically only register dot-coms and maybe the odd dot-net and I think in the future I will try to buy existing sites rather than starting from scratch but I have decided that I will only buy the main TLDs (top level domains) from now on.

Here is why, so my forums are experiencing more traffic, more posts, more members, and more SPAM.  I normally receive 2-5 spam posts a day and that’s with CAPTCHA Image Verification on my registration form.  At least 70% of this spam comes from members who have registered with .info domain names such as xxxx@payday-loans-for-free.info or xxxx@save-on-v-iagra.info. There is no way all these spammers are not frustrating the search engines which leads me to believe they will take action by weighting them lower.  I think I will avoid hyphens (“-“) as well as that seems to be common theme as well.I know I am going to try and avoid looking and smelling like spammer so I don’t get painted as one – I’d suggest you do the same. 

Why Hostway Annoys Me - A Story I’m Compelled to Tell February 15, 2007

Posted by Stray Dog in : Ranting and Raving, Web Hosting , 2comments

When I first started shopping for Hosting some years ago I was looking for somewhere that provided a decent resellers package and offered ColdFusion as a web application platform. At the time these were harder to come by but were available if you did some homework. I found I nice little start-up in London England called IARNA. For a sizable amount I could host unlimited domains with them. Sounded good to me although I knew it would take awhile before I’d make any money with them.

So about 18 months goes by and I finally have enough accounts to make it worth my while and Hostway buys out IARNA and away goes my unlimited plan. Buggers tell me that I’ll have to pay for each separate account and the amount for each was going to be nearly twice what I resold it for. So I bitched them out. Guess one of the IARNA founders was still involved in running the joint and gave me a ’smashing good’ discount. So all was well but any new accounts I resold would be full price minus their lackluster discount. I should have moved the entire bunch of resold accounts elsewhere at the time - but the overall discount was good and moving all the sites would be a pain…

Then over a year ago Hostway bends me over and screws me hard by taking away my discount. Note that this is Hostway in the UK - but still the same company overall. So now I’m paying big Hostway dollars for everything plus puking out the exchange difference from dollars to pounds (I’m not in the UK). So before they could rape me for too long I pulled all my business away and went with another company who actually gave me two free months on each account in order for me to get things setup properly.

This same company was already hosting a site I was involved in but they kept screwing with the servers, changing settings, PHP libraries etc. and breaking the site. So I actually moved it to Hostway in Chicago quite awhile back. Hostway is big and reliable and better for a site like the one I had to move. But I’d keep the smaller basic sites away at more economical hosting companies.

So why does Hostway annoy me? Their support sucks. And for what I’m paying it should not be that way. Seems like their support people rarely completely read a support request and then respond to it before they truly understand the nature of the request. That pisses me off.

Here’s an example. I noted that the application generated emails on the server were not being sent so I questioned Hostway on it. They replied:
This email is in response to your phone call. We do not allow webserver to be used for mail because sendmail is not installed on the server. Please use smtp.mydomainname.com as the outgoing mail server name within php scripts and please make sure that you authenticate the users by using a valid user/password for an email account under mydomainname.com.

What the #$%&??? Until the day before everything was working. Why would this be the case now. So I reply (and I am far, far too courteous):
When did this change? Is this a new policy? Should account holders not have been informed about this? This was all working on our site up until approximately yesterday. Please confirm that you have in fact made a change on your end.

To which I never received a reply… But the email started working again. The Hostway reply really annoyed me as there had not been any code changes on the site for weeks, the mailboxes were not full, the emails were just not working and it was Hostway - nothing else - but they are so quick to respond like that. And I really needed to know what was up as I did not want to have to make code changes in the site based on this dumbass support person.

So last week same shit happens. I email Hostway:
Since Dec 02, 2006 email for the site has been functioning fine. Yesterday afternoon it appears that our ordering system is not being able to send out email messages once again. Can you please look into this.

They quickly respond with:
Our logs show that email from your domain is being sent out correctly. Can you provide us with the email that your orders are being sent to? We will search our logs for that address and make sure that the messages are being received there. We appreciate your patience.

I reply:
This morning I received a whole bunch of the system generated emails that should have gone out over the past three days. The email messages generated by our code on the server go to the following addresses:orders@mydomainname.com; web@mydomainname.com; her@mydomainname.com; him@mydomainname.comIt appears to me that the messages are getting spooled and not going out — or at least not when they should be. Could there be that much email that a three day delay is occurring or potentially SPAM being sent??

Hostway replies:
Our systems engineers discovered a problem on that server that was preventing mail from getting delivered. This was corrected on the morning of Feb 9. When that was fixed, the queued messages got delivered. We apologize for the inconvenience. Please let us know if you have further questions.

No shit Sherlock!

And it seems like every support request I make I need to ask twice before I get results and I don’t know how many small items I’ve asked that have gone unanswered completely. Hostway - stop wasting my time! Don’t assume that all your customers know nothing. Perform due diligence on your part please!

Incidentally - this email problem - which appears to have been on-going was the cause of me thinking I was getting a sudden burst of sales. Once the email was working all the previosuly sent ones on the spool would come through all at once. I had never had time to check the actual sale date and time.

Anyway - approach Hostway with caution if you are looking for hosting. Their uptime has been nearly perfect. It is the support that makes me crazy. I should note that phone support does seem to be better than email support. Also - the other hosting company that I have much of my business at these days is 100 Megs - 100megswebhosting.com. Great for smaller basic sites!!

A Month in Review February 1, 2007

Posted by Evil Green in : Ranting and Raving , add a comment

At the end of 2006 I put up a list of goals.  I figure I will try and write a little review / status update every month in an effort to keep myself on-track and to keep my fan club up to date ;)

So here it goes.
I almost had an opportunity to go to the Elite Retreat which would have really helped me with a few goals.  Namely meeting Shoemoney and attending an SEO conference/event, but it would have helped indirectly with my earning goals.

As far as earnings go I haven’t done a ton to increase my earnings, I am working on our main project which is one of my goals (and should be a good earner when complete) -  it is not done so it’s not earning… yet.  I am seeing continued growth will a small forum, it’s not ready for ads or to earn yet but it is getting closer.

As far as maintaining an A average in my computer science courses goes, well, I feel I am taking a very tough class right now and have an unfair instructor, and I think my evaluation is justified, I do after all teach at three colleges.  However I am sure I will score well, my average mark as of now is an A+ so I should be okay.  One class is eating about 40 hours of studying a week though so it is really cutting into my online marketing time.

Getting back in shape – I have been consistent at the gym and eating decent, dropped 5 pounds in January.

I have paid my tax bill using a credit line and a refinance so now I just need to concentrate on paying down the credit line and the house.
I have also been spending more time with my mom and keeping better books but I haven’t come up with a better name yet :(

All in all I am doing okay and will keep plugging away.

Until next time….

Lesser-Known Celebrity January 8, 2007

Posted by Stray Dog in : Ranting and Raving, Adsense, Adwords , add a comment

So on a whim I added some keywords to one of my adwords campaigns today. Somewhat specifically I read an MSNBC article about a rather major celebrity from another country getting caught doing something bad. This should trigger quite a few Google searches on the celebrities name. So I added the name as keywords for one campaign.

The notion of doing this comes from me reading about someone (shoemomey??) bidding on Lance Bass as keywords when he came out of the closed and it generated a good deal of impressions and clicks.

Of course the quality score for this will be piss poor but I did add it to my ‘Beauty’ campaign for the site… I’ll let you know how it goes.

I should also mention that ALL of my campaigns were exclusive to Google but I have extended them to the Google network as well and that appears to be providing a few extra transactions a day, at least at first blush.

Goals for 2007 December 21, 2006

Posted by Evil Green in : Ranting and Raving , add a comment

2006 is quickly coming to an end.  Reflection is equally as important as goal setting.  2005 was a huge year with the purchase of my first house, start of a new job, a new dog, and a live in girlfriend.   2006 wasn’t overly eventful.  I worked at the same job, made my mortgage payments, girlfriend moved out, got pushed around by the tax man, cut down on contract work to concentrate on my own projects, started school as a student, started instructing at another college, went on a few great vacations, and I got two colds (one now - crazy).

Let’s look forward to 07 – here are some goals in no particular order:

  1. Earn $96.77 per day through online marketing
  2. Attend an SEO conference such as PubCon or SES (preferably PubCon but my Stray Dogs daughters birthday is that same week)
  3. Maintain a 90% or greater average in computer science classes
  4. Get back in shape 
  5. Concentrate on paying my tax bill
  6. Go to Vegas and pretend I own it for a weekend
  7. Finish and launch an in progress project
  8. Earn a-mil-a-month from item #7 (which would of course eclipse goal #1)
  9. Retire 
  10. Meet Shoemoney
  11. Spend more time with my mom
  12. Take some time to come up with a better name - Evil Green = lame :)
  13. There was something else but I keep forgetting - so now for now I will say “forget less” ;)

Update December 24th, 2006:

  1. eww i remember, Keep better books so I don’t have to deal with the tax man in a negative way again

I can’t see any reason why I shouldn’t be able to achieve all or most of them.  A lot of them are basically a byproduct of success in the Search Engine Marketing arena.

So there it is, we can take a look at how it went in 6360 hours. 

Dealers and Webmasters December 14, 2006

Posted by Evil Green in : Uncategorized, Ranting and Raving , add a comment

Yesterday, I talked about how I was going to work on incoming links to one of my sites.  That is still on the drawing board although I haven’t done much with it yet.  I took a look at text-link-ads.com and will probably take advantage of their free $100 (must spend $25.00). 

One thing that I have spent a little time doing is trying to make the Website look more established.  It is of average or good design and is clean and professional, but doesn’t look like its a player when compared to the larger sites out there.  I am thinking by adding more content, the right type of advertising (possibly for my own services, possibly for dealers), and just going for a more corporate look I may be able to appeal to more visitors.

Lastly, I spent some time creating a page targeting dealers and webmasters (the site is auto related), hoping to sign some deals with them.  I will make it worth their while so hopefully in the coming months I will hear from someone who wants to do some cross-promotion.

Tis the Season December 13, 2006

Posted by Evil Green in : Uncategorized, Ranting and Raving , add a comment

A few days ago I said I expected a major slowing in December on my eBay affiliate program.  I haven’t experienced it yet, in the first 11 days of December I have earned around $88.00.  I sitll expect the slowdown but closer to the week before Christmas. Shoppers are more and more apt to leave things to the last minute and trust UPS, USPS, and FedEx.

My Goal - $96.77 per day December 11, 2006

Posted by Evil Green in : Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Search Engine Marketing, Ranting and Raving , add a comment

On Friday I talked about the two things that I feel are ever so important in the SEO game.   This post is regarding item #2, setting goals and working towards them. 

My goal is to earn $96.77, in other words $3000.00 in a 31 day month.  As I work towards it, I will talk about what I am doing and its effects.

In November I earned an average of:  $7.93 per day (equivalent to $245.91 in a 31 day month) however most of this was made as an eBay affiliate and I expect revenue to be about 30% less in December and January due to November being a good month for online Christmas shopping.

So that’s what I am working towards, I will keep you posted on the progress.

ShoeMoney ShoeMoney - My two most important lessons December 8, 2006

Posted by Evil Green in : Ranting and Raving , add a comment

I must admit I am a die hard ShoeMoney aka Jeremy Schoemaker fan. If you’re not familiar with him, check out his site as well as his Podcast Net Income Radio (Tuesdays at 6:00 EST). I read his blog posts and I listen to his radio show. I have learned a lot from him which I will put to use on the road to riches.

There are two things that I have heard him (and others) say time and time again and have a hard time digesting.

1: Don’t worry about what everyone else is doing
I’d be lying if I told you it isn’t really, really, really difficult to force myself not to obsess over others profitable web sites. You see it everyday on forums – what sites does ShoeMoney own? How does he make his money? How many sites does he own? He does something with ring tones right? The fact is it never hurts to take a look at a successful site if you get a chance however it’s really not going to help you as much as sound advice.

Looking at a profitable site won’t make you rich. Go look Google; last I checked they are profitable. Go look at plentyoffish.com – he is making money. If it was as easy as copying google we would all be running billion dollar companies. They money is in the traffic, the marketing, the conversions, the stuff you can’t see looking at a Web page.

Rather than asking to see everyone’s work ask them for a SEO tip, take some advice on an adwords campaign, or learn about alternative marketing. methods. They’ll thank you for not obsessing over their “URL” and you might get some information that can make you profitable.

2: Set a Goal (and stick to it)
Believe it or not advertising online is not new. About 6-8 years ago I told my friend that you could get paid 25 cents anytime someone clicks on a “banner ad” (this was back before the AllAdvantage days). He setup a Website and made a few thousand, the industry changed and he adapted. He makes 30K a month and has been for the past 6-8 years. In that same timeframe I have been telling myself I got to set something up and threatening to make a lot of money. Well guess what I’ve started 10 or 20 projects, become bored with them, and am still broke – my buddy isn’t (broke).

It’s a bout goals baby. Back to Shoe Money over at Digital Point he said “Set goals and keep them. When I first started with adsense my goal was to make 273.98 per day.” Read the full thread here. Once you hit it, never settle and keep working.

I think a lot of newbie’s are like I was - they are looking for a quick rich scheme. But if you want to be profitable and remain “unbanned” from affiliate and cost-per-click programs it takes constant hard work.

So there it is my first rant. See you all on Monday. On the Road to Riches.