Friday, December 29, 2006

Google's New Software to Find Spam Pages

In Google's fight to weed out spam pages and honeypot pages aimed solely to have visitors click on ads, they've requested a patent on software that will detect spam documents in a phrase based information retrieval system.

What does that mean?

That means phrase stuffing pages will be nixed out of Google's database as soon as they are "detected". If you are guilty, your days may be numbered.

The patent application came out yesterday.

Pipeline Profits or Pipe Dreams?

Brad Fallon and Andy Jenkins have done it again - peaking my interest into their product, StomperNet. This time, with a new video from one of their students who devised a way to build an online business without SEO, cpc, ppc, or traditional methods.

It's worth a look, mainly because most AdSense junkies rarely tap into the list building market, and there is money to be made there. Most people on lists are attuned to the pitch.

Here's the link to the video: Pipeline Profits.

After you've watched that, make sure you bookmark John Reese's new site, due out next month, http://www.income.com/

Sunday, December 24, 2006

Merry Christmas From Contextual Ads

Wow! Our second Christmas at the blog and things are simply grand. We're here in Crossville, TN, at my Mom's for a beautiful Christmas. We drove up in one of the best cars I've bought, our brand new 2007 Mercedes GL450.

I don't say that to impress you, but to impress on you how important it is to stay in the game and make each moment count. Now that Christmas is here and soon New Years, you'll have to opportunity to set goals for 2007.

What will 2007 be like? Like 2006?

For me, I truly hope so. This was a banner year - lots of growth both personally and professionally. Remember to work on yourself as much as you work on your business. Spend at least 30 minutes every day listening to inspirational and motivational material. Study your craft. Sharpen the saw... remember what Abe Lincoln once said - about being give eight hours to cut down a tree? He said he'd spend six hours sharpening his axe.

Okay, folks are calling... Christmas Eve here. Time to spend time off the computer and with the family.

I am so excited because I'll soon be releasing my latest ebook on arbitrage using contextual ads. You'll love it!

Merry Christmas from the mountains of Tennessee!

Monday, December 18, 2006

Joel Comm Leads Us Astray

Unintentional, I am sure, Joel Comm released free Google AdSense templates today which are against Google AdSense Program Policy.

Today, Google's Arlene Lee sets the record straight about having images next to ads, something Joel and others claim was the breakthrough in 2005 for AdSense publishers.

Google gives us these images of ad placement that breaks policy:

Ad with picture placement















and...
























Granted, Joel's pictures are better; still they are placed near the ad block in a way that, as Google says:

If your visitors believe that the images and the ads are directly associated, or that the advertiser is offering the exact item found in the neighboring image, they may click the ad expecting to find something that isn't actually being offered. That's not a good experience for users or advertisers.

Joel's AdSense template:


















If you're offering this type of page, now might be a good time to clean house.

Sunday, December 17, 2006

The Art of Combining Niches

MoneyThere are so many flaws in the work of most struggling for any Internet marketing profits, I would love to have a token percentage of money lost to the PPC and CPC advertising giants. Still, I feel the need to help.

It's true that once the cat is out of the bag, the airtight plan you had to retire on progressively spins out less and less fortune. That's why many of us who make a great living off the Internet don't open our hand. You dilute the mix. Just makes sense.

However, I have not been quiet about the majority of my findings that if followed, could set you free. The problem I find time and again is that people are too lazy (busy?) to read it all and follow. We live in a quick-fix world; Internet marketing should reward us for simply participating, no?

One great tip, especially for those who are stating they can't seem to make a profit with AdSense and AdWords, is by combining niches. More on that in a second.

The beauty of the Google AdWords system is that it allows you to create an ad that can be displayed on their Content Network for mere pennies a click. I have several campaigns that run a penny a click on my ad.

But the fact of the matter is that on the Content Network, people are not looking for you.

On the Search Network, they are.

If you can remember that, your chances of success in creating a low-costing ad (0.01 is nice), and sending that traffic to a page displaying ads that pay you $1.00 a click is good. Why?

Because when people are really searching for you or your great ad, IF they click on it, it's only because that barely caught their attention. Remember, they weren't looking for you. You're just comic relief on an otherwise boring page. Or, possibly, a footnote on someone's page. (Depends on where your ad appears on their page.)

So, remember, converting those people who wandered half-awake to your page, is a major challenge. Your ad and your landing page should reflect this. Wake them up with great copy.

With AdWords Content Network groups, you must come up with a quiver of keywords that will help Google know where to serve your ad. For example, if you are targeting mountain bikers, you will be competing big-time with other mountain-biking companies if your keywords have to do with that sport. Chances are, unless few companies are using the Content Network to advertise, your ad won't even show up - unless you fund it well - say $0.10 or more a click.

But then your conversion ratio has to be unbelievably high - around 10% or more - to make any profit.

So what do you do? Well, okay, what else do mountain-bikers like to do? Kayak? Climbing? Adventure types? YES!

I like mountain biking and do read a few sites on wake boarding, because I like that as well. So what if there's a mountain biking ad in my wake boarding site? If I'm bored with the content, I would probably click to find out if I need the latest gizmo in biking. Just a thought... that works for me.

And for all the Keyword Elite users, quit targeting the top money keywords. Start with something smaller - with a low R/S ratio. You'll profit less per click, but you'll get far more conversions.

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

AdSense Arbitrage Alive and Well

I just love the software produced by Brad Callen. He has produced useful software for SEO and keyword studies, some I use everyday. As I have always said - you have to put in the work to find good keywords. Most of the lists out there just aren't "fresh".

Today I want to give you a very exciting ebook produced by Brad on how using his software you can make money with AdSense arbitrage.

Why is this exciting?! Because many have been preaching that the arbitrage days were over!

This book will show you precisely how you can find keywords and create content sites. Using Google AdWords, you can buy low cost keywords to drive traffic to your sites.

One fellow made $4500.00!

So grab your ebook here and read through and then put it to work. I use this same method using Brad's software and make a good living. This is your chance to create a great stream of income. Download my gift to you now.

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

New Linking Strategies

There are new linking strategies I am experimenting with, which I will begin discussing here. Actually, I've been thinking about creating a new website with SEO for beginners. The more I search, the more I see there are many opinions based on very thin premises.

Of course, that's human nature. One bit of feedback in the positive and we shut the book on our study. Bad move.

Ideally, you first learn from those with a great track record and later you pick and choose what you feel will work for you.

You create goals, then values, and filter everything through those.

Say for instance you happen upon my blog. You start reading through some of the old posts and you begin to like the way I write, the way I bring it down to earth where you can use it. And because you have a goal of creating another stream of income with the Internet, and you want to do it with ads, you find that this blog is worth subscribing to.

I've some great news on linking and you'll be the first to know.

Would be cool to have a live chat session about this. Let me know if you're in.

Monday, November 13, 2006

Google's Landing Page Reviews

Today, through a live chat with a Google Specialist, I was informed that for one keyword, my landing page had been reviewed. This particular keyword went from .10 to .50. Naturally, I wanted to know why?

Because I practice what I preach, I've made sure since the beginning that if I create an ad about skateboards, the landing page is going to be all about skateboards. What have I been saying over the past year? Quality content is king.

Unfortunately for Google, the Internet is bigger than they can handle. So, they enroll software to check sites for them. Upon asking the specialist, this was my case. As a matter of fact, for my keyword, there is only one advertiser - with an ad that has nothing to do with the keyword!

According to Google, this is fine. As long as they pay the penalty. So, my question was - so it's okay to give the user a bad experience at the cost of the keyword penalty? The answer was - yes. Google thinks this is okay.

How would I do this if I were Google? I would provide a better, easier way for users to provide feedback to objectionable sites. Let them voice their opinion. Then, a scorecard would have to be kept. Much like accumulating tickets.

Imagine if our justice system was run by robots.

I can see where click-fraud could be a problem with a feedback system. However, the same system Google has in place to expose click-fraud could be used to track abusers.

Bottomline, Google needs to get humans involved when good sites and good users are penalized.

Saturday, November 11, 2006

Beta Blogger and Trouble in List Land

Aweber.com isn't at fault, but today when I switched my Blogger blog from blogspot to the Beta, (newer, cooler, better, you get it...) - Aweber's list system sent out around 20 e-mails thinking that all of the posts in the past few weeks were new messages.

My apologies to everyone affected by the multiple posts and I will alert Aweber so they can come up with a fix.

Thank you for your patience and your subscription.

Kind regards,
Dave Jackson
Naples, FL

SEO Tips - Found in Search Engines

My eyes are glazed over from all the "SEO advice" sent to me and lodged in the nooks and cranniesSEO tips of the web. Take a look - over 9 million entries just in Google. Enough to make your head spin?

I was fortunate enough to hear Mike Murray of FathomSEO talk about his top SEO tips, and since I haven't discussed this in a while, I thought I'd go over what I feel are some of the best. Mike had a list of 8 tips, but I'll make this an even 10, incorporating his with mine.

Before you get into this too much further, let me tell you a couple of things. First, SEO is hard work. It entails a lot of coding, time, and testing. But, the work can payoff... just don't give up, as many do, before payday. And, secondly, don't take my word for it - or someone else, either. Get the general consensus; the collective wisdom of SEO and use that. (That's what I do, so maybe you can follow what I say, he he).
  1. Have keywords in the domain name. This is one that no only works with ranking, but also plays highly with the algorithm AdSense uses to put ads on your page. No, don't forget context/content - but domain name scores higher.
  2. The age of the website. Forget the age of the domain name. It's rather, how long have you had that content up and available on the web? How many quality inbound links do you have? How often do you update your website? I covered how valuable old domain names are - and how you can bypass months of hard work by mining expired domains.
  3. Quality of inbound links. This speaks for itself, but ranks higher than content and Page Rank. My rule of thumb is try to secure links of a PR higher than yours. Make sure that page (link) has no more than 15 outbound links. And above all, make sure it comes from a site on the same topic as yours.
  4. Consistency of source code. If it's just you, you probably don't have to worry because you code all your pages the same. However, if a team works on a site, make sure everyone codes the same - i.e. same URL format, alt text, simplicity - this is so the bots can crawl your site without problem. Inconsistency is a red flag.
  5. The amount of content on your page. There are dozens of opinions on this, but most gurus agree on 350 words. Again, know that because of your high quality inbound links, you can rank right up there in the top for a page with little content.
  6. Work on your home page. If you have little time to work on your website, make it all work on your home page - it's the most powerful page of your site.
  7. Change up your text. Murray says this is useful because you can miss keywords by not carrying another iteration of them, like plurals, etc. Change it up a bit and track your results.
  8. Study page cache trends. Okay, this is a good one because many don't do this. In Google, you can easily see the Cache of the website which is what Google saw on that date. It's cool to click on the text version of the cache to see what the bot picked up. You want frequent caches. If your caches are not frequent it is because the search engine doesn't know your page is there, or because each visit nothing has changed. Pretty soon the visits die down to once a week, once a month.
  9. Title tags. Try different things, keywords. You can get away with saying: Great SEO Tips from a SEO Master. There we used "SEO" twice. Is that title tag stuffing? No. But stay away from something like: Great SEO Tips - SEO Tips - SEO TIPS for you. That's stuffing. I know it's November, but remember - don't raise a red flag or you'll get your turkey cooked.
  10. META tag "Description" formula. Here's my advice, and Murray agrees; Use your keywords, company name, and then why you are different from and better than the competition.
I've followed these rules and found you can get even a Blogger blog ranking high, with a PR of 5 or more, and cached every three days or so. As I look through the logs it's amazing to see where traffic comes from.

Sam's Club clickFor instance, on my post about Sam's Club Christmas Catalog, I noticed a click from Sam's Club home office on the very day of my post, November 3!

Another experiment I did, early on, was to put the words How to Raise a Parakeet in H3 tags and held a spot on page 2 of Google's SERPs until after a few updates concluded there was no info about parakeets on the page. But try the same entry with quotes, "How to Raise a Parakeet", and we're #1 in Google. Of course, nobody searches that way.

Work on these 10 and let me know if you have any questions! Let's get your pages noticed.

Friday, November 10, 2006

Google Website Optimizer Beta

Google Website Optimizer Beta If you're into analyzing your data, Google's Website Optimizer is a welcome tool, and one that can certainly help you find the best landing page for your site. It just makes total sense. Isn't that exactly what you do when you're tuning a car?

I've always loved working with numbers and patterns. You'll find that if you get enough feedback, you can sit and tweak just about anything to make it give you its full potential.

Google Website Optimizer BetaWhen in shop class, our teacher always told us that we needed three things for an engine to work: spark, gas, and air. But mainly, he said, spark and gas. There's a bunch more to an engine, such as oil and compression, etc. But if you're looking to get an engine going - check spark and gas, first.

Any auto mechanic worth his salt knows that with spark, gas, and air - just those three - you can tweak, or tune an engine to a soft purr. Likewise, you can get every combination of sputter, backfire, gas guzzling you can imagine.

With Google's Optimizer, or "tune-up", you can change your landing page for your AdWords ads to a point where they are performing best. In fact, you can have many versions of the same page running simultaneously and Google will advise you based on goals you create (sales, etc.), how well your page is performing.

As of this writing, you can sign up for the program http://services.google.com/websiteoptimizer/ and be considered. I strongly recommend this tool. From my experimentation, it works well and ... who wants to run around with a poorly tuned page?

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

The Vote

Dave Jackson VotesA reminder to my American buddies to go out and vote today. It's drizzling here in Naples, but the poll people tell me that turn out has been great!

Saturday, November 04, 2006

Creating a Virus

I called my Mom yesterday. She could barely talk. The affect of a common virus, the "cold". And yet research tells us that you can never catch the same cold virus twice.

I don't believe that either.

But the way virii spread is by exposure. In other words, if the virus remains in the petrie dish, or say on someone's hard drive, it will be ineffective. And that's the way it is with anything you do in our field - you gain knowledge, yet you never use it - that's probably why things aren't working out for you.

For websites, a most interesting virus is something of great value. For instance, many people visit www.quote.com to get stock quotes. And they tell their friends. And pretty soon it catches on. Fun sites give us entertainment value. You get the idea.

This weekend www.BaristaGuru.com launched some pretty fun web videos that show you how to make a great espresso, or a great coffee. And I like how it's so easy to do this... viral marketing. All they did was video the making of an espresso, along with comments on why you need to use filtered water, fresh beans, fine grind - the whole nine yards - and then uploaded the video to Google Video.

Next, they placed the videos on their website with a simple cut and paste of the script Google Video gives you. Pretty easy. And plus they're in Google Video's directory. Can't get much better than that.



Do you have an interesting marketing tip you could share? If I deem it worthwhile, we'll share it with the list and you'll be rewarded with the extra traffic. Let me hear from you.

Keep working hard and your goals and remember, get out of the petrie dish!

Friday, November 03, 2006

The Sam's Club Christmas Catalog

It arrived today. Without fanfare. Along with the other mail, bills, etc.

It's this year's Sam's Club - Gifts 2006 Christmas Catalog!

From the outside it is so much like any other gift catalog that I tossed it aside. Then I took it in the bathroom, thinking there might be something new and interesting to see.

Cessna CitationOn the inside cover, I thought I was reading the Neimann Marcus Christmas Catalog. At first, I thought it must be a model of a Cessna Citation Mustang. Not the real thing. After all, we're talking Sam's Club, where I buy chips and socks and nice Dockers.

But it's the real thing. With a price tag of $2,734,600!

Want one? I do. How cool would that be to fly around in your own private jet? Some of my friends do - but I haven't reached that "level" yet.

There are several other "cool" once-in-a-lifetime packages in the catalog. But, you may be asking what this has to do with making money with contextual ads? Well, for one, I love the content of the new catalog.

I don't normally toss the Sam's or Costco catalogs because I know they'll have something in them of value. This time around Sam's blew my socks off.

The draw is the association with those stores. I go there because they have things I look for (think search/keywords). And when I open the doors or the catalog in this case, I am greeted with something I definitely "click" on - the Citation.

Nice lesson to offer great content that will blow away your audience.

Thursday, November 02, 2006

The Importance of Privacy

David Faber of CNBCTwo stories coming out the same week on privacy issues made me curious.

Do the "big brothers" really glean more information than they are letting on? If you think not, I think you're in for a surprise.

Two groups, the Center for Digital Democracy and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group have petitioned the Federal Trade Commission to look into among other things, how software giants track consumers' Internet activity.

And David Faber of CNBC presented his finding in his "Big Brother - Big Business", shows how Google records every search that has ever been conducted by anyone who uses Google. Kinda scary stuff.

Here's what I take away from this.

If you are trying to separate your AdSense sites, make sure you don't provide a back door link to someone like Microsoft (MSN), or Google, by using their Desktop searches. These technologies are linked to the Mother Station and provide it with a list of your sites.

Paranoia? Maybe. But two firms think differently and want the Feds to investigate if our privacy is being jeopardized.

What do you think?

Sunday, October 29, 2006

Google AdSense Channels

I've been asked what are Google AdSense Channels and why would you use them?

First, if you've followed anything that I do, you know I'm into logging every nuance. So, how can AdSense Channels help?

Let's say you run a sports website and you've placed a leaderboard at the top and bottom of every page. To track performance of the ad placement, you create two channels - "top-leaderboard" and "bottom-leaderboard". The channel code goes in the AdSense code on your website.

If you want to hone in on more specifics, say you want to know about the top leaderboard ad on your hockey page, you can do this with what Google AdSense called "Multiple Channels". Up to five different channels can be assigned to one ad block. Now you can assign "top-leaderboard" and "hockey score page" to that leaderboard ad on the hockey score page on your site. No need to generate a separate code for each block. With the Multiple Channels, you can create unlimited combinations to follow your metrics.

Remember that each channel is going to report its own ad impression, so say you have all five channels on one block, you'll get five channel impressions for each page view.

Great tool. Use in good health.

Too Many Leaks

We have one of the coolest gadgets, in my estimation, in our house. Everyday, like clockwork, a gizmo called an iRobot backs out of its dock and proceeds to vacuum-sweep the kitchen and most of the living room.

Along with the Roomba, as it's affectionately called, comes two virtual walls. This keeps the robot confined to one area of the house. Without them, the Roomba tries its best to clean the entire house. It has a two-hour battery life and is programmed to do four passes over the surface it's cleaning.

Needless to say, without the walls, in any sizable home, you're going to find your iRobot sitting in a corner out of power if you let it roam the house without the "walls".

Those walls help it get the job done right.

Recently one of my students had me analyze his site. He was getting dismal click-through rates on the ads on his pages. Now, sometimes this happens because of the structure of the site. It just looks crummy and people click back before they do anything else. But this site looked professional. Looked like something you would want to spend some time investigating.

But soon I saw a fatal flaw that happens mainly after the site has been online for a few months. People wonder why their click-through rate has dropped through the basement and yet, they keep tweaking and tweaking.

That's the error. They don't understand why the click-through rate is good, and when they go to improve it, they actually "take away a wall".

When Roomba wanders without the walls, the job does not get done. The robot eventually runs out of power and dies. Two bad things.

What are "walls" when we are referring to website design? Walls are simply keeping your visitor on your site and not allowing him or her to click off your site without it benefiting you. In the case of the student, there were simply too many links from the main page that allowed the visitor to wander off on a rabbit chase. What happens next is that the visitor will get lost in the site and eventually lose interest.

So the solution was to use "walls" and keep the visitor in the site. Make fewer deep links to other pages within the site - at least very obvious ones. The obvious should be your contextual ad links (ad themselves). Yes, content is very important - and the visitor should read that, see the pictures, but then the next option should be to click an ad. Something on the same theme. Maybe even more focused.

Look over your sites and see if you need to put up any walls so that the job can be done better. Too many outbound links can be considered "leaks" and should be patched up.

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Google's Website Optimizer

This is a tool that should be able to assist you if you make a living by monetizing your website with contextual ads.

Google's Website Optimizer is a tool that allows you to track variations on your landing page. So, now you'll know if the leaderboard is better converting than the block. Maybe...

I have not been graced with a reply to an invitation I received this morning to check out the Optimizer. My concern is that there will be no way to add an ad click as a conversion URL. However, it's been done with Google Analytics and both AdSense and YPN ads, so maybe the creative Javascript authors will cook up the appropriate code.

This bears checking out because if it does accommodate an ad click as a conversion, it will be very beneficial.

Here's the URL. Let me know your thoughts.

http://services.google.com/websiteoptimizer/overview/

How are your conversions going? Let me know.

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Upgrading to Windows Vista

I want to buy a MacBook or MacBook Pro. If you own one, let me know how you like it. I have an iMac, and absolutely love it. It's such a delight to lug it anywhere in the house, sit down and watch an episode or two of a TV show I missed. Programmers are getting so good with Internet video.

Windows Vista has been sitting on my desk for two weeks. It's been over five years since I did a major OS change and today was the day I chose to see if I could clean up my main PC.

At first, I was going to migrate everything over to another PC here in the house, but that seemed like a lot of work. I may end up doing that anyway, simply to start over.

Remember how we had to do that every few months with Windows 95? Get out a notepad and write down the programs and files you wanted to keep, then format that baby.

Times have changed.

So, I have been installing Vista all day.

But I couldn't use the DVD on my PC, because it doesn't have a DVD drive. However, I knew that there was some way to get an ISO to run from your hard drive as if it were a drive. A few visits to a few forums, and I was downloading some tiny program from Microsoft that creates a virtual drive, and allows you to "mount" the ISO on that drive. I had confirmed that someone was successful installing Vista this way. You can download the Vista Beta at Microsoft.

First, I thought it was hung at "Upgrading Windows..." (which is a misnomer because this OS is not really an upgrade in the true sense of the word - it's a completely different puppy)... "Completing upgrade..."

I looked down at the hard drive light underneath the desk. Only an occasional blip. Okay, we're toast. Hard reboot.

And, before I knew it, a DOS screen comes up with three choices - the default being, we're gonna put everything back where we found it, because your PC has some sort of problem we can't identify.

Poof! as my friend Flavio would say. It rebooted and told me - don't touch anything!! We're putting all your old files back. We'll be done in, say -- half an hour.

Ugg.

So, I fired up CNN Pipeline on the laptop here, and watched the reporting on the small aircraft accident in Manhattan, while my PC hard drive was whirring away.

About 45 minutes later, there it was - Windows XP, just like before.

But, you know me by now - I already blocked out today for doing this; the compatibility gizmo said my PC was in great shape, so, let me at it again - and this time, if it freezes, I'll know to switch the DOS choice to "I'm so sorry I did a hard reboot - pretty please, keep installing", when it comes up.

I can't believe it, but after four hours hung on "Completing upgrade...", it "finally" installed and gave me the "Welcome" screen. I thought, whoa... I must have had a lot on there that needed fixing! Yes, the hard drive was doing something. I was impatient. I did read that many people simply let it "compile" overnight to wake to the "Welcome... I'm done" screen in the morning.

So, now it's time to tinker with it and say goodbye to Windows XP. And, where is that MacBook? I'm tired of waiting...

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

StomperNet Too Expensive

Once when I mentioned a certain item was "too expensive" to my friend, he simply replied, "It's not too expensive; you just can't afford it."

With the release of StomperNet today, I couldn't justify buying into the program at some $750/month when I have so many other profitable ventures going on - that take time to keep well greased. StomperNet wasn't a fit.

I wish both Brad and Andy the best as they get into this new venture.

If anything, Andy should be given an award in 'Net marketing.

Saturday, September 30, 2006

StomperNet Heats Up

There was a time in my early commodity trading days that I used a service called Unfair Advantage. The idea behind the software, before the days of the Internet, was that you could have years of data at your fingertips, delivered on CD's. Input that data into software programs and you would be weeks ahead of the competition, sometime.

Of course, in the end, there were SO many other variables out there that the market could deal you a bad hand no matter your unfair advantage.

And that's where trading commodities or stocks differs from what Andy Jenkins and the gang at StomperNet are doing.

Yes, both rely on market rules, but in StomperNet's case, there aren't that many variables. In commodities, you have the weather, the economy, market sentiment, and thousand and thousands of other traders. With the system Andy is promoting, there are only a few variables worth noting - and they cover all of them.

Due out Tuesday, October 3rd, 2006, StomperNet promises to be everything you've dreamed about in making a living on the Internet. Because the fellows have been so open about their system, it bears taking a look at.

In every newsletter and website video you can glean a ton of information, for free. For example, in today's e-mail, Andy talks about how StomperNet's member have an "Unfair Advantage" as well. He says it's SEO Automation, in the form of a linking system that is totally white hat.

And then he explains how it works.

So, take notes.

First, if you want to have great, white hat links, note he calls the system the StomperNet "Content Exchange System" and runs on their own system.

So, from this you get that:

1. Only exchange links with similar content sites.
2. Don't exchange links between any of your sites on the same network.

Okay - more points.

Andy says - Theme and Topic are important. Hosting company and IP are important.

3. Exchange links between similar topics (Andy cites air conditioning and home improvement).
4. Again - keep sites and your external, inbound links on different hosts, networks.

One thing I love about Andy is his ability to explain anything in a sensible and humorous way. He's fun to listen to and you can tell he's genuinely interested in making sure what he says is understood in today's lingo.

I look forward to seeing the whole project and Andy promises us we won't have to sell the farm to afford a seat.

Search Engine Submission Keyword Phrase

Yahoo Overture Keyword Selection ToolI've found a great way to snag some niche keywords using any keyword extraction tool, such as the one at Overture - and Google AdWords Keyword Tool.

For example, say you wanted to create sites on ATV Tires. First you would go to Overture and find the top searches.

Next, you could put this list into the Google AdWords Keyword Tool and see how much Search Volume versus Advertiser Competition there is.

Why is this interesting?

Because with this tool, you can find niches that have high searches and not much advertising. Advertising generally means that the niche is exploited - so, it's no longer even a niche.

Google AdWords Keyword ToolFor me, I use this to find areas where I can advertise - using AdWords to send traffic to my site. Say you are selling ATV Tires. You could then see that a top search keyword is atv tires wheels and atv wheels and tires - and not much advertiser competition - according to Google.

As far as I know, this is for all Google's AdWords competition, so you can't break-out just the SERPs.

In any event, with ads I place in AdWords, the ones with low advertiser competition normally start around five cents per click, when you specify an exact match.

Let me know your findings.

Friday, September 08, 2006

New Videos on Organic Traffic and SEO

A few days ago I was made aware of some very good free videos that help explain how you can get that best of all - organic traffic. These videos are worth a look and start right here:

http://www.convertlinks.com/video1.php?revealed

There are no affiliate links here. The videos are all white hat, "natural" search.

Hope you find them beneficial.

Regards,
Dave in Naples

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Best Way to Get Great Domain Names - Part 2

Tropical storm Ernesto is drizzling down on us. There are a few heavy showers, but nothing to write home about. We thank God for that.

If you're mining old, expired domain names to use for their "reputation", you need a source. In my comments on my last post, I mentioned 1expired.com, and there are others out there that sell lists of expired domain names.

I used these for a bit, but because they place them in tables, (even though they show things like PR and backlinks), it was too hard to cut and paste them into the Domain Grave Digger.

So, somehow, (not even sure how I found this site), I came upon SeguinHost.com. Seguin is great because they offer the domain lists free, and separate them by dot com, net and org. The lists are published each day, and all you have to do is copy them right off the web page.
http://www.seguinhost.com/expired-domains-list.php

But the complete expired list is much too big for the Domain Grave Digger to handle. You'll need a file splitter to split the files into manageable chunks. For this I use the free tool called The File Splitter. After I copy and paste the entire dot com list into notepad, I'll feed that into File Splitter. I'll select "Custom" size for the output (it defaults to a floppy size), and make 20k the size of my files. That's about right.

Next, all you do is open the text files it creates, one by one, and feed them into the Domain Grave Digger. This script works well on most servers that allow PHP, but according to the creator, it has had problems on some servers. You can find the script here:
http://www.myinstantsupport.com/expired_domain.zip

I can't help you if the script does not work for you. The PHP is pretty straightforward. I did put my own Google API key in my version, but it appeared to work without modifications as well. One thing I did find is that the script won't work when archive.org is down for maintenance - and there is no error from the script. It simply says all the domain names are bad (failed).

Once I have good domain names, I check them out at iWebTool.com.

So, there you go - a great way to get nice domain names that people and companies have let expire for one reason or another.

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

The Best Way to Get Great Domain Names

I'm finishing up the last details on a family DVD I'm making from our adventure in Grand Cayman last month. The Mac is just an excellent tool for this, and iMovie makes it SO easy and fun. What we did differently this time was to use the small, digital camera to make a few AVI movies as well. Compiling them with the HD video camera makes the movie look even more like a documentary.

On the Windows PC, I am running a few Firefox browsers with a PHP script that checks for great expired domains. All you do is load in around 200 expired domain names and it does the rest. It checks to see if the domain is registered. If not, then it checks to see if there are any pages in the Internet Archive. If there are, then it makes one more check, and that's to see if there are pages indexed in Google.

If the domain name passed the test, when the script ends, it lists the names for you.

What I do further is check in archive.org to see if the domain was used as a Google AdSense Spam site. You don't want to be associated with that, so even if you see your new found name has 100 backlinks and a PR of 6, skip it. Everything linked to that name will most likely be flagged and banned.

Checking two days worth of expired dot com's, (not dot nets and orgs, which are good, as well), I found around 25 PR 3's, 15 PR 4's, 8 PR 5's and even a nice PR 6!

Why do we want these parameters?

Mainly, because of the reputation of the domain name. Many of the "PR" (page rank) domains have been around a long while. I found through archive.org that most were dropped because the company simply had a new domain name and didn't need the old one. Secondly, Google favors what is already indexed. What you add to that domain will get indexed in short time.

Backlinks are a great way to get anything you add to that domain, indexed as well. And old backlinks will take a while to die out, mainly because people don't keep them up to date.

In my next post, I'll tell you where I register most of my domain names and why. And if you're interested in the PHP script, I'll be posting the link to that as well.

Monday, August 21, 2006

Experimenting with Rotating Ads

My work with AdWords and YPN ads involves a constant checking parameters. These are sign posts I've set gained through experience. Sometimes a glance can tell if something isn't right - for example, the decreasing revenue from one site a few days in a row.

Among all the parameters I use, my rule of thumb is, if any vary by 25%, I revert back to where it was set before. And, I do this with everything; ad colors, pictures above ads, keywords, new templates, etc.

It's important to keep your eye on any changes, but swings of 25% ring my bell.

Since Friday, I have switched "on" the ad rotation in Google AdWords. What this means is that for a given campaign, if you have more than one text ad created, Google will simply serve them up equally. The alternative is to let Google serve them optimally. This means when Google sees that one ad is getting more click-throughs, it serves that one more.

This reminds me of the way in which AdSense works. Ads on that network are served according to which one gets clicked more. But more on that in another post.

You might ask what is wrong with Google serving up your text ad that gets the most clicks? Yes, it means that your pages will gain more traffic, but one other thing comes into play here. And that is - which ad brings you the most sales?

In the case of arbitrage, the question is, which ads bring you the most further click-throughs?

Not all ads are the same. What impresses a true researcher will obviously not be the same for someone simply surfing the net for fun. Let me give you an example.

Here's an ad for a muscle building website you might have:

Greatest Gains in Mass
Muscle Building Technique is
Newest Strength Enhancer!

And another:

Huge Gains Obtained
with our Muscle Building
Technique. Great Pictures!

The first one will most likely snag the person genuinely interested in muscle building, and open to new data. Whereas the second one will probably get many people (females?) interest in looking at great bods.

The second ad MAY not perform as well, because people interested in looking at pictures are probably not the same ones who are again, genuinely interested in your new product.

Which ad would Google serve more?

Naturally, the second one - because it would probably get more click-throughs - based on the fact you put the word "pictures" in there and that most people are "spatial" in nature.

The challenge now is to figure out which ad you are running is performing better. How can this be done? Wouldn't it be great to know exactly which of your AdWords ads is the one triggering the most sales? Just think of the money you could save over time if the ad bringing the most purchases was running. As an added bonus, you could then track other ads as you add them and see which ones are working and which are duds!

In my new report released today, I'll show you exactly how to do this. The report will take you step by step in how to setup your AdWords account. You'll be able to print your findings, sort by percentage of click through's and see at a glance what's working and what isn't.

The report is $17. To order the report, simply use this link. The report will be sent to your e-mail address in comes in PDF form. I hope you will put this to use quickly so you can start saving and fine tuning your AdWords ads.

By the way, this will work with Overture as well. The money you'll save by running the correct ad will more than pay for the report in little time.

Thursday, August 10, 2006

AdSense Wealth Empire Videos Released

AdSense Wealth EmpireJust wanted to post an update on AWE. The new videos that Roy promised have been released and I took the afternoon reviewing the new data.

Roy went over about ten topics in great detail that will help any current user have a better understanding of the whole system, and how to make it work more efficiently.

The videos were a response to questions posed to the team. What I like about them is that you can pause them at any point and "easily" skip back a few frames to repeat an item. This isn't always possible in video - many times the player has to buffer the entire video causing delay and frustration. With the AWE videos, you can click anywhere in the timeline and you are instantly there. Nice.

What this video does is also helps you become more organized with their system. It's a challenge to have websites, directories, links, e-mails, and a myriad of other important keys active at the same time. I am always telling people that it's the discipline that will make you wealthy. Most people see the challenge and decide it's big for them.

My wife and I had a good laugh just the other day over something similar. She has her own business and many times people will ask what she does for a living. Sometimes she says she "has her own business".

She said that recently, and before she could get another word out, the gal shot back with, "Oh, I could never do that!!"

We laughed later, because what if the job was "picking money from a huge money tree", or "collecting golden eggs this goose keeps laying?"

Here's the point...

Something like AdSense Wealth Empire is a big project for anyone. But, so is owning a McDonald's franchise. Yet, the reward is sweet. And the work - as shown by Roy in the AdSense Wealth Empire new videos - can be organized, and taken a step at a time. You'll see a mountain, or an ocean - but both can be conquered in small steps.

You guys know I keep a journal - actually a few. One is a life journal, and one is a business journal, i.e., how things are going with my businesses, notes, observations. I've often suggested to you to grab a journal and start doing the same thing.

So, if you haven't purchased one, yet - this is your goal for the next 24 hours. Get your hands on one and start writing. And, for those of you who have one - here's something you may want to do in the next 24 hours - order the AWE package, if you haven't, and if you have - map out what you are going to do this week.

And here's a tip.

Do this away from the computer. Away from the TV, or other distraction. In fact, if you can, go for a walk with your journal in hand or in a backpack, and spend an hour or some and scheme how you will get going with AWE or any other strategy. You'll find the wide open space will do wonders for clearing your mind.

Let me know how it goes and stay tuned! The best is yet to come.

Thursday, August 03, 2006

Danny Sullivan's Best Banner

Yesterday, when I scanned through my Wall Street Journal, I was excited to see in the Marketplace section, a big article on how MSN is poised to do big business with Video Ads. Have you tried any of the Google video ads on your site?

But this is a little different.

MSN will be competing with Yahoo Video, YouTube, AOL Video, and Google Video. Yes, MSN already has Video - to the tune of 15.6 million visitors a month. That's a ton of exposures!

These are those pesky video ads that begin before you start watching what you want. MSN will be adding those to their videos, soon. The demand is there.

What was even a bigger surprise, was to see Danny Sullivan from Search Engine Watch in the Money section of USA Today, yesterday. WOW! Danny got the top banner! And the story hit home for me because it tells how Danny lives with his wife and kiddos in Chitterne, England - a town so small and quaint, they just got DSL about a year ago (June 2005).

It's a must read for you and am happy to say, is available online to you. Give it a read.

A few friends are headed out next week to the Search Engine Strategies Conference & Expo in San Jose, California next week. This is a must attend - and I'm still looking to get out there for a few days. Check the schedule for the next conference and let's go!

Friday, July 28, 2006

New AdSense Wealth Empire Videos

AdSense Wealth Empire videosOne thing I like about the team of Roy Oron & Maayan Marzan is that they actually take great pains to keep their product up to date, and to change strategies when industry changes are occurring. This endorses the fact that the AdSense Wealth Empire program works.

There's a cabinet full of other "AdSense" related programs I've gone through which either do one of two things: never update their product or simply tour the country and conference calls as an "expert" on all things AdSense. To put it another way - other guys make most of their money on software sales and ebooks than they do on Google AdSense.

Roy and Maayan, while you never hear them speaking out about the conflict in their homeland - which I'm pretty sure I couldn't keep quiet about, are busy in research and development. When you log into the server while using the products that come with AdSense Wealth Empire, you're often greeted with "There's a Update" to download. Oryah Meir, on the AWE support team is keen to hear every suggestion and quickly assists with going over your gameplan and problem solving any area of your "empire" work.

And today is no different - an exciting new strategy that involves just what I've been discussing the past few days, is about to be released. New videos, to compliment the AWE program and blueprint, will deal with linking and how to correctly structure Page Ranking - plus, what to do with it once you've got it.

The videos, due out in days, will be available to all AdSense Wealth Empire customers.

More information on AdSense Wealth Empire.

From Naples, FL - Dave Jackson

P.S. Please remember what is happening in the Middle East at the moment. I encourage you to switch off the TV and search some of the bloggers who are posting in spite of the conflict in their backyard, for the real story.

Saturday, July 22, 2006

The Importance of Inbound Links

It's raining outside, and my view is no longer of the Caribbean Sea breaking over the reef out front, but of my pine filled backyard in Naples, Florida. Yes, we're back home. Back to the comforts of that two minute coffee, familiar surroundings - you know the feeling.

When you're gone for any length of time, the mail stacks up. One item of vital importance, and why I write you on a Saturday, is something I found from the good people at Fortune Interactive. It speaks of an analysis done on June 30, 2006 of 100 search results and tells us what the search engines find important.

I've been telling you from the beginning how important it is to get great inbound links to your sites, but this report goes even further. Here's a breakdown of the report:

In-Bound Link (IBL) Quality. This is a measurement of key elements on the page containing an in-bound link which, in combination, influence the link reputation for the target of the link. This is the only factor that had the same level of relative influence across the search engines and happened to be the most influential in all cases.

In-Bound Link Relevance. This is a proprietary measurement of the topic/keyphrase relevancy of the content on the page containing the in-bound link. Yahoo™ and MSN™ place the same level of importance on this factor but not as much as Google™.

* In-Bound Link Title Keyword Density. All three search engines differ on the level of importance placed on this factor. Google™ assigns more importance than the others, followed by MSN™ and then Yahoo™.

* In-Bound Link Anchor Keyword Density. Google™ and Yahoo™ assign the same level of importance here. MSN™ places more importance here than the others, the second most important overall among its other factors.

In-Bound Link Quantity. Yahoo™ and MSN™ place equal importance on this factor, but still to a lesser degree than Google™ does. It is worth pointing out that not only is IBL Quality of most relative importance among off-page factors across the board, but IBL Quantity is of least relative importance among the off-page factors across the board.

Title Keyword Density. This is the most influential on-page factor for the competitive landscape in Google™ as well as in MSN™™. Yahoo™ assigns the same overall relative degree of importance to it as MSN™.

* The score used here is not the raw value for the measurement, but rather a proprietary formula based in part on the raw values for the keyword density.

So, here's what you need to consider when someone requests a link, or when you go searching for inbound links:

1. Look at the quality of the inbound link. It's got to be related to your page/site topic.
2. The inbound link has to carry some weight. Look for PR 2 - 5, and not above unless your site is very solid.
3. Check their Title Keyword Density. If it is off-topic, your link will probably not be worth as much.

Comments? Let me hear from you.

Nice to be back,
Dave in Naples

Monday, July 17, 2006

Google Page Rank Changes to Note

Everyone I know has been affected by Google's latest Page Rank changes. Many people who follow what I do are happy to see the shake-out. But, it's been a confusing past seven days.

Pages that have done poorly, gained PR's of 4. Pages that were supposedly quality, dropped to zero. Why?

First, remember that Page Rank is figured by inbound links. The links must be quality links. Google figures that if you have quality inbound links, your page must be important. They know you can't control the inbound links, which is why it really doesn't matter if a bunch of crappy sites happen to link to you.

But Page Rank does care who YOU link to.

If your outbound links tie you to crappy sites, i.e. zero Page Rank with poor quality content, then your score will be lower.

I believe the PR run is almost done now. So, there isn't much to do immediately to improve your rank. However, now is the time to start building a linking strategy - and here's what you should consider:
  • Find sites that are listed in the search engines.
  • Sites that have a PR of 2 but not more than 5.
  • Sites that don't hide their link pages. Make sure a spider could crawl from the home page to the links page without a problem.
  • Sites on the same topic as yours.
  • Honest, white hat webmasters. Do a "view source" on their pages and look for no-follows or other black hat tactics.
Next, I'll talk about why some high ranking PR sites show up lower in the search engines than sites with less PR. Until then, start your linking strategy now and be ready for the next Google Page Rank update.

Sunday, July 16, 2006

Stingray City

There's a sandbar off the coast of Grand Cayman locals call Stingray Sandbar. Stingray City, a similar sandbar is deeper, and after Hurricane Ivan, has fewer rays. Check out the action here as we had a fun day today. Later, I'll write about Google's latest Page Rank changes and what you should be doing.

Friday, July 14, 2006

Wreck of the Ten Sails

Wreck of the Ten Sails, Grand CaymanI am still in the Cayman Islands as of this writing and I was frustrated that I could not find better information on something that fascinated me as we drove around the east side of Grand Cayman.

The one and only road that parallels the coast, (sometimes the lane is at the ocean's edge!), took us out to East End. We stopped when glancing at the map in the left-hand seat I noticed this was the area of the "Wreck of the Ten Sails!"

We looked out, me in the driver's seat and my wife and daughter in the back, to the reef, almost a mile offshore. I was explaining to my wife that this was where a large sailing vessel struck the reef in the late 1700's.

From shore, we could see the channel markers near the reef. But, there was something else sticking out of the water. It looked rather large - time to get out the binoculars. We peered out and saw pieces of other things, which looked like they could have been from a ship - sticking out of the surf.

Okay, let me read the caption from the Cayman tourist magazine. What IS this out here?

I read it out loud - It was common for merchant ships to carry goods from Jamaica to Britain in the late 1700's. Many times they went in convoys. On February 8, 1794, ten merchant vessels took off during the night and made way by Grand Cayman.

The vessel leading the convoy, HMS Convert, made a really bad mistake misjudging how far out the reef ran from the shoreline.

Boom! The Convert hit the reef! In an effort to warn the nine other vessels, a signal was given (at night) - however, the signal was misunderstood - and instead, the nine vessels thought it was to follow closer to the Convert through this area.

All 10 ships ran aground right off the East End that night.

That led me to think about how much tragedy one error can turn into. I started to make the comparison to much of what is out there on the Internet - many people with books and products to offer as maps to prosperity.

The responsibility is great. Because the Internet is still a pretty level playing field, it is hard to determine if the seller has ever helped anyone become a success like themselves. Customers purchase the goods and follow the "leader" in hopes they will be successful.

Nobody wants to hit a reef.

Okay, so now, how to apply this to what we do here? You and I both know there are a myriad of products and ebooks out there on AdSense, AdWords, CPC's, PPC's, etc. We don't want to miss anything - so it's easy to become fanatical about this and buy everything that comes out - but don't. Do a little homework. See if there is a blog you can read, or a forum. Ask questions - see if they answer.

Ask God for help.

When you choose a strategy, you are following a plan someone has drawn out. It pays to be careful - yes, many make it. Many don't.

East End, Grand Cayman - near Wreck of the Ten SailsThe Wreck of the Ten Sails is a fascinating story that ends with heroism. The people living in the East End showed great heroism that night. They heard and saw the wreck that stormy night. They got in their boats in total darkness and went out to the reef and saved everyone.

For this act of heroism, it is said King George III of Britain granted the Cayman Islands freedom from taxes. I could find nothing online that backs up the part about no taxation, even though they have no taxes here. And the other puzzling part is those things sticking up out of the water - which local maps claim to be remnants of vessels from 1794. Doesn't wood deteriorate in the elements in a few hundred years? Plus, you can't see a thing in my picture... and I couldn't find a picture of the Wreck of the Ten Sails, anywhere.

Liberty Ship Ridgefield, East End, Grand CaymanHowever, after a little more investigation, I found out that what you can see off the reef is the wreck of the Ridgefield, one of the 2700 Liberty Ships that were constructed during WWII. It exchanged a few hands and was a tramp steamer when in 1962 it was traveling from Maracaibo, Venezuela for a Gulf port and lost power and blew into the reef. Salvage efforts proved fruitless.

'Til next time... Dave in Grand Cayman

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

AdSense Wealth Empire Latest Update

Grand Cayman Beach

Have you ever been to a country where they drive on the left-hand side of the road? If you're from one of those countries, than picture driving on the right-hand side.

But for many of us yanks who venture to countries where they drive a little strangely, it takes "some" getting used to.

It's not like you "can't" do it - millions are. It's simply that you are have been programmed to doing it differently. So, when a new way of doing something comes along - even though you end up at the destination just the same - it does take some thinking to get your mind around it.

We're in Grand Cayman for a few weeks and here they drive on the left.

I've never done that before!

So, it's taking some major re-programming. They call it re-wiring in NLP. You take the path that has been ground into your mind for years and suddenly you change it. Your mind keeps wanting to go back to the old pathways. We are not wired mechanically. It is difficult to shut something off - it takes some programming.

But those of you who know me know that I am all for "change" when it means good stuff. For me, driving here is a challenge. It's different and fun. And yes, I took out full coverage on the rental car!

This week, Google came out with a Keyword Quality update. What's in store is that if your AdWords landing page is fluff - be prepared to pay through the nose for your keyword. And, it's about time Google addressed this. In my work, I've seen more and more loss of the top 3 - 5 position on Google's SERPs to spamvertisers.

Now all we have to do is click on the Ads by Gooooogle link and report the fluff and garbage. Will they get banned? Maybe. But, at least Google has promised to take a look at that landing page. And if you're thinking you'll put your competition out of business by doing this - remember that if their landing page - that page that the ad in the search engine takes you to - is quality content, you'll probably flag them as a great advertiser. Remember: Google checks.

In a little while, we're headed out to eat for the first time here in Grand Cayman. And, back again I'll be to driving on the left - this time in darkness. Scary? No - but "challenging". And, that's the way it is with the latest from AdSense Wealth Empire.

New strategies for linking are forthcoming. What is vital is that these links are created in such a way that "you" hold all the power. Isn't that the way it should be?

Imagine your own network of links that you control and you determine where you point them. You give power to your own work. One way quality links that webmasters die for. These strategies are powerful and is what makes AdSense Wealth Empire really work - long term.

Grand Cayman Beaches

Is it "drink out of a coconut" money? Hey, I'm sitting at a resort in Grand Cayman! This is the perfect compliment to what I am doing with YPN. Click on the AdSense Wealth Empire Fast Facts link in the menu column for more.

I'll have more later. Got to get ready to face those crazy drivers.

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

YPN Ads Performing Lower

A quick note to tell you I've experienced lower payout in the contextual ads from the Yahoo Publisher Network. That was expected.

When I asked all of my Brazilian friends why the team failed to continue in the 2006 World Cup, they all replied - it was expected. One went so far as saying that, politically, FIFA requested that they not qualify so that another team could win this time. Six is too many.

Hogwash.

But it's fun to dream up all kinds of excuses when you're defeated. In any event, if everyone expected this, why bother to cheer and go crazy when your team scores? You know the outcome.

I've been predicting that YPN ads would lose some value as more publishers joined the network. That seems to have happened.

Here's what you need to do: Continue to add more pages of great content to your sites, and make very sure they are linked properly so that the search engines can spider and index them. Your increased amount of pages and content will offset the loss in revenue.

That's your homework for now. Remember, successful people simply do what unsuccessful people are unwilling to do.

Go Portugal...
Dave

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

Happy 4th From Naples, FL

We are celebrating our country's independence today, a birthday for the USA. This time around, mainly because of the weather, we'll be doing a great deal of it indoors. It's hot, even though we're a five minute walk from the ocean.

We'll be grilling up a salmon, since we're fish-a-tarians. And while we're thinking of what it took to make this nation great, we'll be seeing if Germany can pull off a win over the powerful Italians this afternoon.

So many have asked me to explain step-by-step what I'm doing with AdSense Wealth Empire. At the moment, I am putting in place a network of sites that will help strengthen the "AdSense" sites. The method is common, but the way in which the AdSense Wealth Empire gurus go about it is brilliant. While I won't get into specifics, because even though these fellows make good money with ad revenue - they also have a mission for revenues from the sale of the program, I will say that everything done is practically done manually.

And that's a huge clue.

If you've read through the blog, you know that I've never been a proponent for blatant automation. Neither are the major search engines - which is why so many of these methods are a mere flash in the pan.

Fireworks off the Naples Pier - courtesy naplesnews.comOne the most beautiful things about 4th of July here in Naples, is the fireworks off the Naples Pier. Starting around 9 PM, everyone makes their way down to the beach to see the spectacle over the Gulf of Mexico. Choreographed to music, it's the crown to a wonderful day.

Imagine, if you can, that all the fireworks somehow went off at the same time - one huge boom! Yes, that would be spectacular - what brilliance and sound! However, the effect would be quick and not as rewarding as seeing the fireworks metered out over a half hour or so.

Well, that's the effect you get from tossing a few hundred sites up and expecting to get your fortune. Consumers may see it briefly - but that's not what they want. You may gain something - but soon are delisted completely from the SERPs.

Make it a great day, wherever you are. I am still working my YPN ad network. This (AWE), is a great addition to an already great business.

Regards,
Dave & family

Monday, July 03, 2006

Slow and Steady Wins the Race

For the past few weeks at the Jackson household a CD has been playing, almost non-stop, with the tunes to a "kids" musical. I can even hear it playing now, from the portable CD player near our piano. Rachel dances to the tunes, sings the songs and even tries her hand accompanying them on the piano. Does a pretty good job, too!

When I was a kid, there wasn't the myriad of summer camps that we have now. We didn't really need them then. Whatever the season, it seemed we found much more interesting things to do outdoors than in. There are probably more cool things to do outdoors nowadays, too - we've just allowed ourselves to become hypnotized by the TV, "now with over 500 channels!"

Rachel with Jessica and teacher Lori Santos of the Naples Community TheatreIn any case, at Rachel's age, and with the summer heat, we signed her up for Acting Camp at the Naples Community Theatre. The two week intensive had her singing songs of Aesop's Fables. What a learning experience for us! Imagine hearing the wisdom of Aesop ringing through your house for two or three weeks?

One wonders how one person can be blessed with so much wisdom.

Among the "look before you leap", "don't count your chickens before they hatch", and "never cry wolf", is my favorite and applies in a major way to my work with Google AdSense, YPN or any contextual ad methodology. And that one is: Slow and Steady Wins the Race!

Remember the tortoise and the hare? Who doesn't? Yes, the tortoise won by simply being consistent at the task before him. The hare, on the other hand, wanted instant gratification - but thought so much of his rapid plan that he assumed he had the luxury of taking a nap.

Many moons ago, when a friend and I were creating one of the first radio networks in Brazil, he took me aside and said, Dave - if you climb the ladder too fast, you're going to miss a few rungs and fall. It's best to take each step slowly and solidly. Wow, what great advice - which has helped me through my entire life.

So, please leave with this - this business of building great income with contextual advertising is not something you will make quickly. As a matter of fact, many make some "good" money quickly by using poorly thought out strategies - but end up back at near zero because their system doesn't work long-term.

Remember, you need to build a strong foundation. Machine-gunning hundreds of spammy websites with little content of value is not only a poor game plan, but will get you delisted in days - and all of your work will be in vain.

When you see systems, programs, such as the one I've been evaluating over the past few weeks, (AdSense Wealth Empire), and you wonder how these fellows can possibly make that kind of money with Google AdSense, you must know that they went about the challenge much the same way the tortoise did - one solid step at a time. It takes time to build a solid game plan.

And that's something the hare couldn't appreciate.

Slow and steady does win the race.

Later,
Dave

Friday, June 30, 2006

Two Methods of AdSense Domination

Just a note to let you know I haven't forgotten you. I am patiently awaiting the "Content Generator" from AdSense Wealth Empire to finish finding a few more articles.

As you may know, I purchased AdSense Wealth Empire at the same time as the Publishing Business Secrets course. The Publishing Business Secrets arrived from Malaysia, first - and I spent a day or so devouring that.

A few days later, the AdSense Wealth Empire program came from Israel. I'm still consuming it. There is a complete mindset to AWE. It incorporates some awesome strategies that completely make sense.

The Publishing Business Secrets goes at winning at AdSense a totally different way. And, that's okay - because there is much to be gained with both systems. I am partial to the AWE system. It is closer to what I am already doing.

I'll post my comparison of both after I make some sites and use the software a little more - but I want you to know I haven't slipped away into Dave's Contextual Ad Labs never to be seen again.

Stay tuned. The info will be worth the wait.

Monday, June 12, 2006

Another Shot at AdSense Wealth Empire

Do you really believe these dudes make $4000 + a month with AdSense? Their visuals tell it all, yet I find it almost unbelievable that they do it "white hat" all with search engine traffic.

The AdSense Wealth Empire folks did open the window to get the system at half price again for 48 hours and maybe you took advantage of that - if you were following the blog here, you would have seen the links to get the latest update on this - but not sure if you wanted to dive right in.

Okay - the ship date is a week away still. And, I'm not going to Hawaii as many have e-mailed. We are leaving for a nice vacation in Grand Cayman. I found a great B&B and the best fare possible through Spirit Airlines - just couldn't pass this one up.

Rachel in snorkel gearWe went by Costco today and picked up a snorkel set for our daughter - who promptly tried it out in the bathtub. Isn't that so much like human nature? I suppose that's why I want to see what these fellows with AdSense Empire are up to.

If it is new and benefits - saves time - etc, we want to be advised.

Today I was talking with my son, Dennis - about Windows Vista. He tells me that the beta is readily available from Microsoft for download. And that it is SO cool. But, my question to him is - okay - it does really cool visual things. It fades in menus, etc. - yes... But I asked him - Dennis, does it save you time? Can you get things done quicker?

I didn't get a straight answer. I think the jury is still out on his findings. It is slick - I've seen it. And you can download a free Beta version. Kinda cool. Check it out.

So, what's you're homework this week? Okay - you should be tracking your keywords. And, I suggest that today you go through them and make major revisions to the ones not paying - not converting well. It's not that hard to spot them. These are the keywords you spend a lot of money on and they do not convert to clicks.

Say, want to see my "Country" file with Google AdWords? See which countries provide the MOST clicks? Drop me an e-mail and I'll shoot off my list to you and you'll be able to implement it in your studies.

But, I suggest you try as I did - run the "countries" for a week, or more - and see which ones are actually clicking on your ads or goods. It will surprise you that the countries you though would want this most are the dead pans of the bunch.

Great! Hey, a fantastic week ahead. We can make great headway. I have made major revisions to my keyword list with AdWords simply by seeing what's working. Do the same. Write me if you need help in this area.

Take care and stay safe!
Dave

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

AdSense Wealth Empire Pack

It was an exciting pre-launch. The countdown clock simply added to the excitement. I just wanted to know what these fellows over on the other side of the globe were doing differently than say Joel Comm or Perry Marshall, or me! For goodness sake...

When the clock struck 10 AM here, a video started to play on the page. This four minute video told me that these guys had all been making AdSense income from organic traffic - free, search engine traffic.

The AdSense Wealth Empire Pre-Launch video was narrarated by a fellow named Roy Oron. Roy seems to be involved in joint ventures (affiliates), and sells things to show you how it's done.

Another name mentioned on the website next to Roy's is Maayan Marzan. Marzan is also connected to affiliate marketing.

The title on the website said "We Made Over $1,000,000.00"... I am anxious to analyze!

The flash video tells you that you'll receive everything they use to make their income - including - five tools that they use each day. I am thinking that these are content generating tools. And, you get over 50 videos. You're told you'll get a 50% discount.

After you view the initial video and order page - you are forwarded to a very long web page that simply pitches you more on the product. They show four screen shots of Google AdSense account. They claim that all of their work is 100% white hat. And something that caught my eye is that they ask that you don't order unless you are really going to treat this venture as a business.

In other words, no "trying" allowed.

Yes, you get a 30 day guarantee - no questions asked, but they want you to treat this as a business. That's very fair. Where else can someone sit you down and show you how to make five grand a day? Not many places.

According to the website - I should get my material mid-June. And, that's fine with me - we should be back from Hawaii by then. It will be good to be refreshed and get cooking on this to see what I can learn and pass along.

AdSense Wealth Empire Review

I'm sitting in front of my PC and watching an interesting JavaScript clock count down. We have 30 minutes to go on the AdSense Wealth Empire's "Pre-Launch" DVD - which will explain, hopefully, how a couple of fellows are making over $1 million in AdSense.

The link is http://www.adsensewealthempire.com/prelaunch/default.aspx

The background to the page is an AdSense screenshot of a report page listing around $4500 daily revenue from whatever they are doing.

My thinking is that the DVD will sell for about $500+ and they will offer it half-price today for around $250. Not shabby - considering there are many who are willing to pay that price to find out how they made $4500 a day in AdSense.

Yesterday, from a totally different source, I received a document from Patric Chan and Kelvin Hui - I believe Kelvin is the one making the income - with a sneak peek about their sites.

The gist of the article is that they have around 30+ sites using AdSense, started back in 2003, but the breakthrough didn't come until 2004.

So, I'll have an update in a little bit with this launch and some comments. I am always interest and open to new ideas about contextual advertising and making money from it. And I'll let you know what I find on Kelvin and Patric's system as I'm a BIG fan of Patric Chan.

Monday, May 15, 2006

Increase Revenue Using AdSense Tools

Air Nautique 216 in FloridaIt can be very easy to get lazy about maintaining your campaigns once the money starts to flow in. This is typical in every single home-based business, and most businesses in general. You achieve a little success and get comfortable.

One of my passions is wakeboarding. It's fun and can really wear you out. After a good day on the river, you are dreaming of driving home and eating, then relaxing in front of the TV.

As much as I'd love to do just that, I know that I don't have that luxury. Yes, I have the boat, and the car to tow it. The river is about 45 minutes away. But what has become a ritual with the family is to clean the boat up after we finish.

We do it right there at the river, just after pulling the boat up out of the water. Out come the white towels and spray bottles of white vinegar and water. The hull gets sprayed down and wiped off, taking off any residue from the river. And the boat is readied for the next time we want to take it out.

Now, I don't have to be that picky, but I am. With the great time we have on the river, the last thing anyone wants to do is clean a boat. But it must be done.

The same with your contextual ad campaigns. When the money starts flowing in, you still need the discipline to sit down and evaluate what is happening. Take a look at every parameter you can change and ask yourself if there is any way you can tweak it for the better.

When is the best time to do this? If you work full time, this is something you can do in the evening, maybe in trade for one of those TV shows that is NOT paying you the money your campaign is. And you don't need to do it every day - but every day would be my choice. Things can change rather quickly in this arena.

Lock in a time, and make it like cleaning the boat. It's got to be done in order for you to continue to reap the benefits. Don't get lazy about it.

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Another Record Month

Inflight map on TAM AirlinesA quick note to let you know that March's revenue from my methodology is over $30k. Those of you employing my methods have indicated that you're seeing banner revenue as well. Congratulations for your hard work. It does pay off.

In March I took a trip to Brazil. There were about two weeks that I had no Internet access. Still, a record month. Truly residual income.

Although I've never shared this, I did grow up on the Amazon River. I was born in the USA and when to Brazil as a kid. Imagine growing up like that? It was the experience of a lifetime. I still want to go back to the Rio Negro near the Equator and see the places I used to play.

I couldn't help myself when flying back to Miami from Sao Paulo to watch the inflight map on the monitor on my seat for when we were over the mighty river. Even though the cabin was completely dark because everyone was watching inflight movies and had the window shades down, I had to lift mine and peer down on the river that was once my home.

The Amazon out the window.As fate would have it, we did indeed fly over the Rio Negro, the largest tributary of the Amazon River. What you're looking at is the river just northwest of Manaus. It's called the "Anavilhanas Archipelago". I remember back in the '70's my Dad would have a river guide steer us up through this area.

Even then, at times the seasoned river guide missed one of the passageways and we'd have to turn around and retrace our way back to entry. As you can see, this could take a few hours.

Eventually we'd get back on track and make progress. When you're out on the water, the jungle all looks the same. It's not easy and I respect those river guides.

What I want you to take with you is the fact that learning how to best monetize your website is like navigating the Amazon River. There are times when the river is wide and you cannot make a mistake. And there are times when you come to an Archipelago and need a seasoned river guide to steer you in the right direction.

Will they hit it 100% of the time? No. But know that nobody does. However, without them, you'd run out of fuel before you successfully made it through.

Speaking of guides, my ebook is chock full of how-to's to get you going in a step-by-step fashion. You'll want to get it as soon as it hits the market. Make sure you are signed up on my e-mail list to know when the launch is. Subscribers will have first shot with a nice discount.

Until next time,
Dave in Naples, FL