Thursday, April 12, 2007
Blogging for Dollars
I recently was reading this article and just had a lot of thoughts on it... I cannot express them all, but would like to comment the most important (as I see them) moments.
I see two hints for me: 1) Silicon Valley is all about startups and companies, technologies and business. A lot of people also interested about it all around the world. 2) Blogging is an add of personal touch and opinion to something. Blogging about something, is to share with people part of your life; while reading blogs is the same as being a part of someones life for a while. So mix those things together, and that will be bloody success Mary.
They are free (blogs) - the only expense is your time. And if you really want to share something with somebody. People do not usually read one-two sentences posts. ;-)
True! You can put you inside out and you can get nothing (0, zero, none) from your blog. Even if it will be full with your adsense, or whatever you also want. It's a mystery, but it's also a very desirable knowledge - to build profitable site or blog. I know how people are making their living with blogs/sites and AdSense on it; but I just is not enough experience for that -- even if it sounds easy from the first sight. I'll get there, but from the very beginning you SHOULDN'T overestimate your possibilities.
Really -- don't listen people who gives your numbers like 5-10% of CTR (click-through rate). Crap. 1% is a standard.
Overall -- very nice article. Read it twice. And understand that there is no silver bullet. Blogs are not something you create and start cashing out. It's a hard job, which obviously not for everybody (I mean - making it profitable).
Winning lottery - know the history and winning lottery numbers.
Best deals - best credit card deals and offers, free gifts, best deal auto and more.
Arrington, a 36-year-old entrepreneur behind a long list of unrecognizable startups, has suddenly become one of the rising stars of Silicon Valley. Why? The answer lies in TechCrunch, Arrington's blog about new technologies and companies. In the year since he launched the site, he has amassed such a strong following that he's become a go-to person for VCs and tech execs looking to leak corporate tidbits or announce news. More than 1.5 million readers regularly check out his site. But here's what gives Arrington real distinction: He's pulling in $60,000 in ad revenue every month. That's 10 times what the site was making earlier this year, which was when Arrington, convinced of the potentially monstrous riches ahead, quit his day job as president of a startup to blog full-time.
I see two hints for me: 1) Silicon Valley is all about startups and companies, technologies and business. A lot of people also interested about it all around the world. 2) Blogging is an add of personal touch and opinion to something. Blogging about something, is to share with people part of your life; while reading blogs is the same as being a part of someones life for a while. So mix those things together, and that will be bloody success Mary.
What has changed? For starters, blogs today benefit from what might be termed uneconomies of scale: They are so cheap to create and operate that a lone blogger or a small team can, with the ever-expanding reach of the Internet, amass vast audiences and generate levels of profit on a per-employee basis that traditional media companies can only fantasize about.
They are free (blogs) - the only expense is your time. And if you really want to share something with somebody. People do not usually read one-two sentences posts. ;-)
But before you quit your day job, consider that this isn't easy money, nor is it guaranteed to last. For one thing, the market is small right now: Web ad agency Organic puts ad spending on blogs at $40 million this year. Bloggers are typically selling only about a third of their available ad space at top rates. (The rest goes at heavily discounted prices.) And as with any business dependent on the mercurial ad market, prone as it is to sudden skids, the threat of crashing and burning always looms.
True! You can put you inside out and you can get nothing (0, zero, none) from your blog. Even if it will be full with your adsense, or whatever you also want. It's a mystery, but it's also a very desirable knowledge - to build profitable site or blog. I know how people are making their living with blogs/sites and AdSense on it; but I just is not enough experience for that -- even if it sounds easy from the first sight. I'll get there, but from the very beginning you SHOULDN'T overestimate your possibilities.
Despite all the ferment a critical question remains unanswered: Do blog ads work? Sure, readers can click on ads and view an advertiser's website, potentially even making a purchase, but that rarely happens. Intel's Campbell says the industry standard is a click-through rate of less than 1 percent.
Really -- don't listen people who gives your numbers like 5-10% of CTR (click-through rate). Crap. 1% is a standard.
Overall -- very nice article. Read it twice. And understand that there is no silver bullet. Blogs are not something you create and start cashing out. It's a hard job, which obviously not for everybody (I mean - making it profitable).
Labels: blog marketing, blogosphere, make money with blog
Home based business - my experience of getting online marketing "degree".Winning lottery - know the history and winning lottery numbers.
Best deals - best credit card deals and offers, free gifts, best deal auto and more.
We need to be in love with the idea
Two thumbs up, really!
In 1980, when the younger of her two daughters started kindergarten, Doris Christopher "started feeling this urge to get back to work." But not just any work. "I wanted to do something meaningful that had responsibility attached to it."
After months of deliberation, Christopher came up with a concept that accomplished her aim, and eventually put her at the helm of a $700-million business. She founded the Pampered Chef, a Chicago-area company with a sales force of 70,000 "kitchen consultants," who sell kitchen tools to guests during in-home demonstrations. Her company went big-time when it was sold to the Berkshire Hathaway investment group (Christopher remains as chairman), but she cooked up the idea around her kitchen table.
Christopher, a former home-economics teacher, loved cooking and teaching, but was wary of the demands of a full-time job. While brainstorming ideas with her husband, Jay, she noticed that friends often didn't have the small kitchen tools that she considered essential. "When people were in my kitchen, they'd ask, 'Where did you get this? Can you get one for me?' That was the notion that finally clicked."
Selling kitchen tools suited Christopher's background and her desire for flexibility, but her husband's entrepreneurial experience was critical. "My husband had the idea that you could try something and it might work, or it might not," says Christopher. "That was very helpful."
Borrowing $3,000 against a life-insurance policy, Christopher prowled the Merchandise Mart in downtown Chicago, picking up good-quality kitchen tools at wholesale prices. At her first home show, in October 1980, she sold $175 worth of vegetable peelers, kitchen shears and other gadgets. By year's end, she had grossed about $7,000.
The business grew slowly. Says Christopher: "You have to be in love with your idea because you're going to spend a lot of time with it." It wasn't until 1987 that the Pampered Chef surpassed $1 million in annual sales. But "I was as busy as I wanted to be, and I was successful."
Read original story here (By Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine).
Winning lottery - know the history and winning lottery numbers.
Best deals - best credit card deals and offers, free gifts, best deal auto and more.
In 1980, when the younger of her two daughters started kindergarten, Doris Christopher "started feeling this urge to get back to work." But not just any work. "I wanted to do something meaningful that had responsibility attached to it."
After months of deliberation, Christopher came up with a concept that accomplished her aim, and eventually put her at the helm of a $700-million business. She founded the Pampered Chef, a Chicago-area company with a sales force of 70,000 "kitchen consultants," who sell kitchen tools to guests during in-home demonstrations. Her company went big-time when it was sold to the Berkshire Hathaway investment group (Christopher remains as chairman), but she cooked up the idea around her kitchen table.
Christopher, a former home-economics teacher, loved cooking and teaching, but was wary of the demands of a full-time job. While brainstorming ideas with her husband, Jay, she noticed that friends often didn't have the small kitchen tools that she considered essential. "When people were in my kitchen, they'd ask, 'Where did you get this? Can you get one for me?' That was the notion that finally clicked."
Selling kitchen tools suited Christopher's background and her desire for flexibility, but her husband's entrepreneurial experience was critical. "My husband had the idea that you could try something and it might work, or it might not," says Christopher. "That was very helpful."
Borrowing $3,000 against a life-insurance policy, Christopher prowled the Merchandise Mart in downtown Chicago, picking up good-quality kitchen tools at wholesale prices. At her first home show, in October 1980, she sold $175 worth of vegetable peelers, kitchen shears and other gadgets. By year's end, she had grossed about $7,000.
The business grew slowly. Says Christopher: "You have to be in love with your idea because you're going to spend a lot of time with it." It wasn't until 1987 that the Pampered Chef surpassed $1 million in annual sales. But "I was as busy as I wanted to be, and I was successful."
Read original story here (By Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine).
Labels: million, success story
Home based business - my experience of getting online marketing "degree".Winning lottery - know the history and winning lottery numbers.
Best deals - best credit card deals and offers, free gifts, best deal auto and more.
Scott and Mandi Leonard can figure out strengths
Very nice story of real estate tricks - this one (By Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine) here.
Soon after Scott and Mandi Leonard were married in 1996, they took a big risk. Scott quit his job as a stockbroker and started his own financial-planning business. He had no clients, no income and a big mortgage -- the Leonards had just put a 10% down payment on a $320,000 house in Redondo Beach, Calif.
For three years, Scott and Mandi lived on the income from Mandi's jobs with technology companies. Employed by Oracle and PeopleSoft, she earned valuable stock options during the go-go years of the late 1990s.
By 2000, Mandi wanted to quit working: Son Griffin was a year old and Jacob was on the way. Her PeopleSoft stock, for which she had paid $6 per share, had risen to $43, and Scott was getting nervous. They decided to sell the stock, trade up to a bigger house and stash some of the money in the bank. Says Scott, "Having a safety net was more important to us than trying to get an extra $10 per share on the stock." And a good thing, too. Within a year, the price had dropped into the teens.
The Leonards also made a smart real-estate investment. They sold their first house for about $500,000 and moved up to an $800,000 house in Hermosa Beach. With an ocean view and a rooftop deck, the house was recently appraised for $1.45 million.
Meanwhile, Scott's business began to take off -- he now manages about $100 million in assets for his clients -- and once again the Leonards decided to invest in real estate. About two years ago they paid $1.25 million for a historic but dilapidated house overlooking the water in Redondo Beach. They spent about $250,000 -- mostly in cash -- to renovate the property for Scott's business. That building was recently appraised for $1.8 million.
Having astutely ridden California's real-estate surge, the Leonards have enough home equity plus savings to put them comfortably in millionaire territory. They also have about $175,000 in 401(k) and IRA retirement funds invested in stocks, which they plan to beef up now that they have renovated their business property. "I'm very much in favor of diversifying investments," says Scott. But if the real estate market turns soft, he'll take the opportunity to "look hard at picking up another property."
The Leonards owe their success to knowing the difference between a calculated risk and a gamble. They felt more confident about starting a business and investing in real estate than about hanging on to their tech stocks. "Stand back and figure out your strengths and weaknesses," says Scott, "and keep your eye on your long-term goal."
Read original story here.
Winning lottery - know the history and winning lottery numbers.
Best deals - best credit card deals and offers, free gifts, best deal auto and more.
Soon after Scott and Mandi Leonard were married in 1996, they took a big risk. Scott quit his job as a stockbroker and started his own financial-planning business. He had no clients, no income and a big mortgage -- the Leonards had just put a 10% down payment on a $320,000 house in Redondo Beach, Calif.
For three years, Scott and Mandi lived on the income from Mandi's jobs with technology companies. Employed by Oracle and PeopleSoft, she earned valuable stock options during the go-go years of the late 1990s.
By 2000, Mandi wanted to quit working: Son Griffin was a year old and Jacob was on the way. Her PeopleSoft stock, for which she had paid $6 per share, had risen to $43, and Scott was getting nervous. They decided to sell the stock, trade up to a bigger house and stash some of the money in the bank. Says Scott, "Having a safety net was more important to us than trying to get an extra $10 per share on the stock." And a good thing, too. Within a year, the price had dropped into the teens.
The Leonards also made a smart real-estate investment. They sold their first house for about $500,000 and moved up to an $800,000 house in Hermosa Beach. With an ocean view and a rooftop deck, the house was recently appraised for $1.45 million.
Meanwhile, Scott's business began to take off -- he now manages about $100 million in assets for his clients -- and once again the Leonards decided to invest in real estate. About two years ago they paid $1.25 million for a historic but dilapidated house overlooking the water in Redondo Beach. They spent about $250,000 -- mostly in cash -- to renovate the property for Scott's business. That building was recently appraised for $1.8 million.
Having astutely ridden California's real-estate surge, the Leonards have enough home equity plus savings to put them comfortably in millionaire territory. They also have about $175,000 in 401(k) and IRA retirement funds invested in stocks, which they plan to beef up now that they have renovated their business property. "I'm very much in favor of diversifying investments," says Scott. But if the real estate market turns soft, he'll take the opportunity to "look hard at picking up another property."
The Leonards owe their success to knowing the difference between a calculated risk and a gamble. They felt more confident about starting a business and investing in real estate than about hanging on to their tech stocks. "Stand back and figure out your strengths and weaknesses," says Scott, "and keep your eye on your long-term goal."
Read original story here.
Labels: million, success, success story
Home based business - my experience of getting online marketing "degree".Winning lottery - know the history and winning lottery numbers.
Best deals - best credit card deals and offers, free gifts, best deal auto and more.
Marco and Sandra Johnson - did whatever it takes
I just love such success stories - they are very very impressive and motivating. I'd like to share this one (By Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine) here.
Marco and Sandra Johnson started out saving lives in their community of Lancaster, Calif., and ended up running a multimillion-dollar business whose customers come from across the United States.
The idea was born on the job. Marco, a full-time firefighter and paramedic, would come home from an incident and complain to Sandra that lives might have been saved if bystanders had been able to administer first aid. At the time, the Johnsons were trying to have a second child, and Marco was particularly upset when "children died unnecessarily because no one at the scene knew CPR," says Sandra.
In 1997, they began offering CPR and first-aid classes to local businesses. Sandra handled scheduling and other arrangements, and Marco taught classes between shifts at the firehouse. At first they borrowed material and equipment and brought it to each site; after a few months they scraped together enough money to rent a 400-square-foot office.
The business started to take off when workers whose jobs require CPR certification, such as schoolteachers and bus drivers, sought them out. Then students asked them to start training emergency medical technicians because local junior colleges had a two-year waiting list for EMT classes. Within a few years, the Johnsons had become accredited for EMT training and moved their Antelope Valley Medical College to bigger quarters. "Everything was happening fast," says Marco.
Riding the momentum took seven-day-a-week stamina. Marco alternated shifts at the firehouse with classroom duty, and Sandra was "always on the phone" setting up appointments. The couple didn't want to take out a business loan, so they plowed their own income into the school and sometimes put off making mortgage payments on their house to pay their employees. Says Marco: "There were times when it was a gut check. We looked at each other and said, 'What did we get ourselves into?'"
Now the Johnsons can breathe easier. In 2004, their school was expected to pull in revenues of $7.5 million, and their corporate clients have included businesses from Boeing to Burger King. That boom in business has given the couple the means to own several houses and to treat their extended family -- a group of 12 -- to vacations in Hawaii.
Read original story here.
Winning lottery - know the history and winning lottery numbers.
Best deals - best credit card deals and offers, free gifts, best deal auto and more.
Marco and Sandra Johnson started out saving lives in their community of Lancaster, Calif., and ended up running a multimillion-dollar business whose customers come from across the United States.
The idea was born on the job. Marco, a full-time firefighter and paramedic, would come home from an incident and complain to Sandra that lives might have been saved if bystanders had been able to administer first aid. At the time, the Johnsons were trying to have a second child, and Marco was particularly upset when "children died unnecessarily because no one at the scene knew CPR," says Sandra.
In 1997, they began offering CPR and first-aid classes to local businesses. Sandra handled scheduling and other arrangements, and Marco taught classes between shifts at the firehouse. At first they borrowed material and equipment and brought it to each site; after a few months they scraped together enough money to rent a 400-square-foot office.
The business started to take off when workers whose jobs require CPR certification, such as schoolteachers and bus drivers, sought them out. Then students asked them to start training emergency medical technicians because local junior colleges had a two-year waiting list for EMT classes. Within a few years, the Johnsons had become accredited for EMT training and moved their Antelope Valley Medical College to bigger quarters. "Everything was happening fast," says Marco.
Riding the momentum took seven-day-a-week stamina. Marco alternated shifts at the firehouse with classroom duty, and Sandra was "always on the phone" setting up appointments. The couple didn't want to take out a business loan, so they plowed their own income into the school and sometimes put off making mortgage payments on their house to pay their employees. Says Marco: "There were times when it was a gut check. We looked at each other and said, 'What did we get ourselves into?'"
Now the Johnsons can breathe easier. In 2004, their school was expected to pull in revenues of $7.5 million, and their corporate clients have included businesses from Boeing to Burger King. That boom in business has given the couple the means to own several houses and to treat their extended family -- a group of 12 -- to vacations in Hawaii.
Read original story here.
Labels: million, success, success story
Home based business - my experience of getting online marketing "degree".Winning lottery - know the history and winning lottery numbers.
Best deals - best credit card deals and offers, free gifts, best deal auto and more.
Monday, April 9, 2007
Startups failures and weirdness
- EBalance. "Equipment less than one year old!" This is perhaps the saddest epitaph an Internet company can get. It was printed on a flyer for the liquidation auction of failed dot-com EBalance. Founded in 1999, EBalance aggregated consumers' online financial accounts so that they could view stock trades and checking account balances all on one Web page.
- Hell. Web domain Hell.com hath no takers. The Internet domain name Hell.com failed to be bought via a live auction Friday, which organizers had hoped would bring bids of more than $1 million. Hell.com was founded by Kenneth Aronson, who described the domain as a private network "global think-tank" that he wanted to sell because of all the traffic receives and all the rumors the name generates.
- Kiko. When original news of Google Calendar came out, the Kiko founders didn’t seem particularly worried. But you don’t have to look scared to survive. But you do have to be scared and make some adjustment in the light of an oncoming train. Chances are, there was something that could have been done with the Kiko business that would have shifted them away from competing with Google Calendar. They likely needed a small dose of reality.
- Huckabuck. By spending a year of development and marketing it failed to be sold even for $20k.
- Inclue. This company is built around delivering feeds like this one to Microsoft Outlook users. Inclue is basically an Outlook RSS plugin. The entire product will be useless as soon as Windows Vista comes out, which includes an RSS feature, so inclue is a startup with an expiration date.
See also:
1. Will increasing gas prices keep you from going on vacation? Answer here.
2. Switching to DISH Network - the reason now.
3. Miscellaneous deals on The best of hidden. Home based business - my experience of getting online marketing "degree".
Winning lottery - know the history and winning lottery numbers.
Best deals - best credit card deals and offers, free gifts, best deal auto and more.
Sunday, April 8, 2007
Marketing trends to work with
The U.S. population is older, more multicultural, more time-pressed and more jaded toward overt sales pitches than ever before. And your marketing strategy should be built accordingly.
You cannot assume and even expect that your proven old methodics will work. Sure they can. But you can much more chances that they will not. Hot works better. And Entrepreneur's magazine brings to the air few things which prove to be better:
So, even if it sounds like something you've been buzzed about, think that may be there is a reason for it. Use it.
See also:
1. Jamster makes access to music video better.
2. Miscellaneous deals on The best of hidden.
Winning lottery - know the history and winning lottery numbers.
Best deals - best credit card deals and offers, free gifts, best deal auto and more.
You cannot assume and even expect that your proven old methodics will work. Sure they can. But you can much more chances that they will not. Hot works better. And Entrepreneur's magazine brings to the air few things which prove to be better:
- According to the Mobile Marketing Association, by 2008, 89 percent of brands will use text and multimedia messaging to reach their audiences, with nearly one-third planning to spend more than 10 percent of their marketing budgets on advertising in the medium.
- Online ad spending is up as much as 33 percent over last year, says David J. Moore, chairman and CEO of digital marketing firm 24/7 Real Media Inc. in New York City.
- Matt Thornhill, founder of consulting firm The Boomer Project, which helps businesses reach adults born between 1946 and 1964, says it's time for marketers to recalibrate their thinking about marketing to older adults. Boomers are a dynamic group that's much more open to new experiences and brands than previous generations of older adults have been.
- "You [can] launch a profile for your business and give it a personality," says Pigg, who has launched MySpace marketing campaigns for major consumer products companies. "It's similar to a dating site, where you tell people a bit about yourself. Then, you use the search function to find the group you want to target--maybe single people in New York [City] between 24 and 30--and contact them to become your 'friends.'"
- From valet tickets and hubcaps to T-shirts emblazoned with video displays, advertising is popping up in new places. A March survey of marketing executives by Blackfriars Communications entitled "Marketing 2006: 2006's Timid Start" found that business spending on traditional advertising continued its decline, and spending on nontraditional marketing methods--from online promotions to buzz marketing--rose 12 percent since late 2005.
- Robert Scoble, technical evange-list at Microsoft and author of Naked Conversations: How Blogs Are Changing the Way That Businesses Talk With Customers, believes blogs are important for businesses that want direct customer feedback. Scoble predicts a rise in regional blogs linked to Google's new local advertising program and Mapquest.com for quick access to directions, giving people more insight into the local businesses they want to frequent. He also says we'll see more video blogs, which won't replace text blogs but will more effectively communicate with some audiences. "If I'm trying to explain to you what [video game] Halo 2 is, I can write 10,000 words and I'm not going to get it right, but you can see a 2-minute video and you'll understand," he says.
So, even if it sounds like something you've been buzzed about, think that may be there is a reason for it. Use it.
See also:
1. Jamster makes access to music video better.
2. Miscellaneous deals on The best of hidden.
Labels: blog marketing, marketing trends, mobile marketing, online marketing, social networks
Home based business - my experience of getting online marketing "degree".Winning lottery - know the history and winning lottery numbers.
Best deals - best credit card deals and offers, free gifts, best deal auto and more.
Niche business will work
Between all different questions every entrepreneur always had - this one is the best and most popular ever! How to find out best idea for my business? And yes, it's the hardest one, which, nevertheless has one easy answer (among like billions of all other answers). Choose niche business. Even if you copy somebody. You can never play bad with niche variation of even already existing business. Just choose your business-target to be profitable and your niche to be really required. Examples? Easy -
and
and more
Winning lottery - know the history and winning lottery numbers.
Best deals - best credit card deals and offers, free gifts, best deal auto and more.
Patrick Ferrell, 50, who started Overtime Fitness for teens in Mountain View, California, is the father of three teenagers. (here)
and
While Job Boards spring into existence faster than their founders can be laid off from their former jobs, there are a few niche operations that set real standards in the industry. TaxTalent, realizing that it would be constantly ahead of the market, has pioneered its own technology, created a viable community, built the independent content that keeps visitors coming back, and generally demonstrated how to build a profitable niche business. (here)
and more
Interior decorator and small-business owner Deborah Wiener, 46, has carved out a special place in her Silver Spring, Maryland, market. She doesn't just help clients pick out colorful fabrics and comfy furniture--Wiener's work is much more specific and detailed than that. The entrepreneur's 4-year-old niche company, Designing Solutions LLC, specializes in creating family-friendly interiors for her clients' homes. This includes helping customers choose furniture that can stand the wear and tear of active children, stain-resistant fabrics, and lamps and accessories that are less prone to breakage. (here)
Labels: entrepreneur, niche, niche business, own business
Home based business - my experience of getting online marketing "degree".Winning lottery - know the history and winning lottery numbers.
Best deals - best credit card deals and offers, free gifts, best deal auto and more.
Press Releases work better for me
Short intro:
Press releases were originally designed as a communication tool between company PR staff or public relations firms and the media. But now that online news sites such as Yahoo News and Google News contain such an abundance of press release content and RSS makes it easy to syndicate news, press releases can be effectively used as a direct to consumer communication tool.
I am not a professional marketing specialist - frankly speaking all my life I was very far from marketing at all, and most of "marketing" for me was the word MLM ;-) which I do not like. However, it's been my passion at the same time. Only now I am trying to figure out my own way out there, and here are am I sharing some results. I had few products to sell (they had Web sites, and they are online businesses) and the owners were incredible believed that PPC/PPA will work for them the best. They spend tons of money on AdSense and Yahoo's Overture tools, but well -- the success was not quite there. They tried dozens of different ads/copy/wording/etc. Still not there. So then they finally allowed me to "play". I am learning stuff by "playing" around. Hopefully it can help. Sometimes it does not, but finally it always works -- it's only about timing ;-)
Well, so I did try PR (press releases). I do not have English degree, and I am far from being good speaker/writer (you can tell!). But still. I was able to release few PRs with the help of PRLeap, PR, PRWeb and PRBuzz which were related to release of new version of my friend's software (which he sells on the web), and he did get four times much more visitors (and 2.6999999... times more sales!!!) than he ever did before. And he spent the same amount of money which he usually spends with PPC/PPA stuff.
But please be aware that press releases can result in nothing much at all! - I did get that too 10 or 15 times I tried them.
Each day, news sites are inundated with press releases about everything and anything. There are avalanches of useless “news” stories designed to promote a product, service or view point, and most are destined for the trash. There’s an old joke: if you don’t want anybody to know about a scandal, issue a press release about it.
However, a good press release can work wonders (see above!). If your press release is picked up by major news sites, it will obviously generate links and attention.
Quick tips from me (I got 4 press releases declined before I wa able to make it work):
- Be relevant to your target audience - just have your audience in mind as your write the release.
- Don't issue old news.
- Make it personal, but remember to follow PR rules (write from the third person, etc.)
- If in doubt, replicate what "big guys" did. Who are they? Just take a look of ads/PRs of huge companies in your sector/industry.
To crown it all, few words more -- with web PR you can get a lot of SEO benefits, among which is "sharing" their nice PageRank, and being likely picked up with other website replicating news wire's content. Don't think it's a panacea, still. If you are satisfied with PPC - you are fine. But you can also enjoy PR at the same time, why not?
See also:
1. Will increasing gas prices keep you from going on vacation? Answer here.
2. Switching to DISH Network - the reason now.
3. Miscellaneous deals on The best of hidden.
Winning lottery - know the history and winning lottery numbers.
Best deals - best credit card deals and offers, free gifts, best deal auto and more.
Press releases were originally designed as a communication tool between company PR staff or public relations firms and the media. But now that online news sites such as Yahoo News and Google News contain such an abundance of press release content and RSS makes it easy to syndicate news, press releases can be effectively used as a direct to consumer communication tool.
I am not a professional marketing specialist - frankly speaking all my life I was very far from marketing at all, and most of "marketing" for me was the word MLM ;-) which I do not like. However, it's been my passion at the same time. Only now I am trying to figure out my own way out there, and here are am I sharing some results. I had few products to sell (they had Web sites, and they are online businesses) and the owners were incredible believed that PPC/PPA will work for them the best. They spend tons of money on AdSense and Yahoo's Overture tools, but well -- the success was not quite there. They tried dozens of different ads/copy/wording/etc. Still not there. So then they finally allowed me to "play". I am learning stuff by "playing" around. Hopefully it can help. Sometimes it does not, but finally it always works -- it's only about timing ;-)
Well, so I did try PR (press releases). I do not have English degree, and I am far from being good speaker/writer (you can tell!). But still. I was able to release few PRs with the help of PRLeap, PR, PRWeb and PRBuzz which were related to release of new version of my friend's software (which he sells on the web), and he did get four times much more visitors (and 2.6999999... times more sales!!!) than he ever did before. And he spent the same amount of money which he usually spends with PPC/PPA stuff.
But please be aware that press releases can result in nothing much at all! - I did get that too 10 or 15 times I tried them.
Each day, news sites are inundated with press releases about everything and anything. There are avalanches of useless “news” stories designed to promote a product, service or view point, and most are destined for the trash. There’s an old joke: if you don’t want anybody to know about a scandal, issue a press release about it.
However, a good press release can work wonders (see above!). If your press release is picked up by major news sites, it will obviously generate links and attention.
Quick tips from me (I got 4 press releases declined before I wa able to make it work):
- Be relevant to your target audience - just have your audience in mind as your write the release.
- Don't issue old news.
- Make it personal, but remember to follow PR rules (write from the third person, etc.)
- If in doubt, replicate what "big guys" did. Who are they? Just take a look of ads/PRs of huge companies in your sector/industry.
To crown it all, few words more -- with web PR you can get a lot of SEO benefits, among which is "sharing" their nice PageRank, and being likely picked up with other website replicating news wire's content. Don't think it's a panacea, still. If you are satisfied with PPC - you are fine. But you can also enjoy PR at the same time, why not?
See also:
1. Will increasing gas prices keep you from going on vacation? Answer here.
2. Switching to DISH Network - the reason now.
3. Miscellaneous deals on The best of hidden.
Labels: affiliate marketing, online marketing, PPC, PR, press release, web business
Home based business - my experience of getting online marketing "degree".Winning lottery - know the history and winning lottery numbers.
Best deals - best credit card deals and offers, free gifts, best deal auto and more.
Saturday, April 7, 2007
Google AdSense Success Stories
Here is something which I am more interested in. This is really motivating and very impressive.
The following is a list of the Internet’s eight biggest Google AdSense Money Makers publishers. I got this from John Chow. His post provides a lot of detail with the list and I will not repeat the details here. It is interesting to see the big winners - thought, I believe it's a big outdated, but still!
1: Markus Frind: PlentyOfFish.com - $300,000 per month, the biggest free dating site on the Internet. It has only two employees, as the post said, “Doubts about Makus’s Google earnings were silenced when he posted this $900,000 check from Google. According to Markus’s blog entry, the check represented two months of AdSense earnings.”
2: Kevin Rose: Digg.com - $250,000 per month (guess), one of the biggest news sites on the Net, with over 400,000 members and over 200 million page views per month.
3: Jeremy Shoemaker - $140,000 per month, a search engine marketer who knows how to take advantage of both Google AdSense and AdWords and uses hundreds of sites and thousands of domains, unlike all the others, who have one site.
4: Jason Calacanis: Weblogs, Inc. - $120,000 per month (before AOL) as the post said, “Now that AOL controls Weblogs, you can bet it is making a lot more than a measly $120,000 a month.” His work was covered in Business Blogs: a Practical guide, along with two netwrok blogs, The Office Weblog and The Tablet PC Weblog by Marc Orchant.
5: David Miles Jr. & Kato Leonard - $100,000 per month, gives away designs that people can use on MySpace. Not a bad idea.
6: Tim Carter: AskTheBuilder.com - $30,000 per month, “catering to an avid following of fellow builders on the site.”
7: Joel Comm - $24,000 per month, get rich quick guru who wrote the best selling e-book, What Google Never Told You About Making Money with AdSense.
8: Shawn Hogan – DigitalPoint.com $10,000 per month using a unique revenue sharing model that was not detailed on the post.
See also:
1. Will increasing gas prices keep you from going on vacation? Answer here.
2. Miscellaneous deals on The best of hidden.
Winning lottery - know the history and winning lottery numbers.
Best deals - best credit card deals and offers, free gifts, best deal auto and more.
The following is a list of the Internet’s eight biggest Google AdSense Money Makers publishers. I got this from John Chow. His post provides a lot of detail with the list and I will not repeat the details here. It is interesting to see the big winners - thought, I believe it's a big outdated, but still!
1: Markus Frind: PlentyOfFish.com - $300,000 per month, the biggest free dating site on the Internet. It has only two employees, as the post said, “Doubts about Makus’s Google earnings were silenced when he posted this $900,000 check from Google. According to Markus’s blog entry, the check represented two months of AdSense earnings.”
2: Kevin Rose: Digg.com - $250,000 per month (guess), one of the biggest news sites on the Net, with over 400,000 members and over 200 million page views per month.
3: Jeremy Shoemaker - $140,000 per month, a search engine marketer who knows how to take advantage of both Google AdSense and AdWords and uses hundreds of sites and thousands of domains, unlike all the others, who have one site.
4: Jason Calacanis: Weblogs, Inc. - $120,000 per month (before AOL) as the post said, “Now that AOL controls Weblogs, you can bet it is making a lot more than a measly $120,000 a month.” His work was covered in Business Blogs: a Practical guide, along with two netwrok blogs, The Office Weblog and The Tablet PC Weblog by Marc Orchant.
5: David Miles Jr. & Kato Leonard - $100,000 per month, gives away designs that people can use on MySpace. Not a bad idea.
6: Tim Carter: AskTheBuilder.com - $30,000 per month, “catering to an avid following of fellow builders on the site.”
7: Joel Comm - $24,000 per month, get rich quick guru who wrote the best selling e-book, What Google Never Told You About Making Money with AdSense.
8: Shawn Hogan – DigitalPoint.com $10,000 per month using a unique revenue sharing model that was not detailed on the post.
See also:
1. Will increasing gas prices keep you from going on vacation? Answer here.
2. Miscellaneous deals on The best of hidden.
Labels: ads, adsense, big, business, google, online, story, success
Home based business - my experience of getting online marketing "degree".Winning lottery - know the history and winning lottery numbers.
Best deals - best credit card deals and offers, free gifts, best deal auto and more.
Elevator pitch
Recently Vator.TV project got a little bit of exposure. Of course, quite a big influence was made by PayPal co-founder, venture capitalist and hedge fund manager Peter Thiel who uploaded to Vator.TV the video pitch "why Vator.TV is a powerful resource for VCs to get a better sense for a company and the team, and how entrepreneurs can benefit and perfect their business through interacting with the community".
While I am not targeted into "startup/angel/VCs" theme, but more into self running business (and yes, I can accept necessity of future investments through the investment sources; but business has to be profitable, and investment I understand needs to be for expanding/etc. -- I am totally against "bubble-startup" thing!) -- still I find that Vator.TV sounds very innovative. It's like bringing teenage-popular tools into the business world. Don't know thought how this will work out for them, but potential is great.
The Vator.TV project was started by Bambi Francisco.
See also:
1. Switching to DISH Network - the reason now.
2. Jamster makes access to music video better.
3. Miscellaneous deals on The best of hidden.
Winning lottery - know the history and winning lottery numbers.
Best deals - best credit card deals and offers, free gifts, best deal auto and more.
Vator.TV is a place where entrepreneurs can share their ideas with the rest of the world through video. We provide a platform for innovators in all fields of industry and from around the world to be showcased, benefiting from the opportunity to reach others that might contribute to their success. The people behind any company are the main reason why a company succeeds, fails, or receives funding. The video elevator pitch enable people to introduce themselves and their team in a personal way and to reach worldwide audience. The video pitch is also a more powerful means for entrepreneurs to demonstrate their business which can often be based on abstract concepts. We hop that the personal stories behind the ideas will not only entertain the audience but also encourage aspiring entrepreneurs to take that leap of faith.
While I am not targeted into "startup/angel/VCs" theme, but more into self running business (and yes, I can accept necessity of future investments through the investment sources; but business has to be profitable, and investment I understand needs to be for expanding/etc. -- I am totally against "bubble-startup" thing!) -- still I find that Vator.TV sounds very innovative. It's like bringing teenage-popular tools into the business world. Don't know thought how this will work out for them, but potential is great.
The Vator.TV project was started by Bambi Francisco.
See also:
1. Switching to DISH Network - the reason now.
2. Jamster makes access to music video better.
3. Miscellaneous deals on The best of hidden.
Labels: business, demo, entrepreneurs, ideas, innovators, TV, VCs
Home based business - my experience of getting online marketing "degree".Winning lottery - know the history and winning lottery numbers.
Best deals - best credit card deals and offers, free gifts, best deal auto and more.
Friday, April 6, 2007
Starting my blog
It is never easy to earn your money - no matter what you do. You can work as a computer programmer, system administrator, waitress, top chief or CEO, it really does not matter. It is still hard to earn for decent living. But possible. What I find more challenging - is to be an entrepreneur. With your own intention you try to be surrounded by a lot of risks and problems. Staying on your own, it's all on you. You cannot really have "job security", because you have no any. You need to pay rent, utilities, credits debts (if you are trying to make it more challenging for you) and some food... did I also mention insurance, car, medical insurance? It's all on you. And what you get instead? The freedom. I know for sure, and I believe that everybody who has goals and freedom can achieve them.
This is what I've been doing. I am doing online business. I am working online. Please, don't think about MLM - no, absolutely opposite. I just work from home office, having laptop and high-speed internet connection. I am building Web sites, market them very unusual way (well, I hope so - but it does work), and get my income from the "air" of the Internet. It really does work. Sometimes I am very in debt, and sometimes I treat myself as a king, by having enough in my bank account. But I have strong goals, and the reason I opened this blog - is a lack of self exposure. And I want more people to be free from "full-time cubicle" job. Sorry - but it's just as it is.
If you expect to see stuff about MLM subscriptions, "please buy and be rich" and other crap here -- you will see that, but only if I will want to show you how this stuff fails. I consider better businesses -- human built, and human powered.
It's very exciting to me, and hopefully, I can get your responses. Home based business - my experience of getting online marketing "degree".
Winning lottery - know the history and winning lottery numbers.
Best deals - best credit card deals and offers, free gifts, best deal auto and more.
This is what I've been doing. I am doing online business. I am working online. Please, don't think about MLM - no, absolutely opposite. I just work from home office, having laptop and high-speed internet connection. I am building Web sites, market them very unusual way (well, I hope so - but it does work), and get my income from the "air" of the Internet. It really does work. Sometimes I am very in debt, and sometimes I treat myself as a king, by having enough in my bank account. But I have strong goals, and the reason I opened this blog - is a lack of self exposure. And I want more people to be free from "full-time cubicle" job. Sorry - but it's just as it is.
If you expect to see stuff about MLM subscriptions, "please buy and be rich" and other crap here -- you will see that, but only if I will want to show you how this stuff fails. I consider better businesses -- human built, and human powered.
It's very exciting to me, and hopefully, I can get your responses. Home based business - my experience of getting online marketing "degree".
Winning lottery - know the history and winning lottery numbers.
Best deals - best credit card deals and offers, free gifts, best deal auto and more.
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