I Pay The Cost To Be The Boss! | Wizno.com

Landing Pages…

Wizno — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 07:26:51 +0000

So I got myself signed up on Yahoo with an advertising account. And I’ve also launched my first campaign. Did some direct linking, and then decided that it’d be best to create a landing page to maximize my chances for success. The bad news is that I’m a perfectionist and I keep revising the landing page so my campaign is more or less paused.

Good thing is, I’ve been working hard all day to get it done and I think I see the light at the end of the tunnel. And if I don’t go to sleep soon, I might see the sun rise too…

Ok, it’s not that late, but I’m up later working that I usually am.

Time To Diversify

Wizno — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 18:05:23 +0000

So… I’ve received most of my commissions back from the Affiliate Networks I deal with, and that feels good. And because of that I’ve been able to run a few more campaigns on facebook, which felt good at first. But nothing has been converting well enough to make profit, let alone break even. I don’t know if I’m just promoting the wrong offers, or it’s a bad month, or what other 3rd variable is causing ‘failure’ but I’m not enjoying it.

As a result, I’m working on my first landing page so that I can diversify into other traffic sources. I’m going to focus on Yahoo and possibly Google. I’ve had the unfortunate experience of being banned by Google already for trying out a few things, and breaking a rule that I didn’t know was there… despite trying to search for it. Oh well.

Anyway, I’m excited to be moving forward and having better luck with a new traffic source. I’m not completely abandoning facebook, but I am parting with it for an undisclosed amount of time.

23 Directories To Get Your Link Building To The Next Level

Wizno — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 04:07:34 +0000

Link building is probably the most frustrating part of any SEO campaign. There are plenty of relevant websites you can place your links on, but finding them is half the battle. Being able to post your link, or get your link posted is the other half.

This battle is what keeps me from doing SEO in the first place, however, I’ve decided to move forward and get a few more websites running. I’ve been successful in ranking a website in the Acne niche 2nd for a primary keyword, and 1st for about 5 other related keywords. It’s because that website is doing well that I am motivated to start up a few more websites with a few affiliate products. There’s a few physical products that I know a lot about and wouldn’t mind making a few review sites for to generate some passive income from. I’ve also found a couple niches, which may turn into gold mines with some hard work. As a result, I need to find all possible places to get back-links from so I can succeed in achieving my goals.

Soooo…. I’ve prepared a list of 23 websites that are either FREE submission directories, or are websites that provide links to more directories and websites that you can drop your link at. I hope they help you out, and if they do… Link back to this page from your blog or Tweet this

Wizno, LLC is here!

Wizno — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 03:59:02 +0000

Two awesome things happened today. #1 I registered Wizno, LLC (Finally). Then I applied for an EIN (Employer Identification Number) so that I could open up a Business Account with Wachovia and keep my business expenses separate from my Personal ones. Managing funds isn’t my strongest suit as it is, and this will help me draw a line between personal and business expenses.

Http://www.Wizno.net is the official homepage for Wizno, LLC.

Why “KISS” is Priority #1

Wizno — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 04:33:43 +0000

Nearly every internet marketing guru out there will tell you to make all your landing pages a certain way: Simple.

Keep it simple, stupid.

It may not always make sense, and it seems like you can never make your landing pages any simpler than they are, but it’s important that you try. The fact of the matter is that we as internet marketers always look for the Call-To-Action first. We open up a website, and we immediately know whether we’re being sold, or offered some information. Then we find the CTA.

However, the average internet user may not even know what hyperlink is, and when they look at a web page they may need to spend several seconds to digest what’s being presented to them. This is why it’s very important to have the most important information laid out in large easy to read fonts.

Have the most important points in a bullet list above the fold, along with an emotionally catching headline. People buy a product because it appeals to their emotional senses, and then justify the purchase with their own reasoning.

Anyway, the main thing I wanted to point out is just how stupid consumers are. Yes, they are.

I currently work at a sporting goods store, where every department of the store has a LARGE sign hanging from the ceiling reading “FOOTWEAR”, “GOLF”, “FITNESS”, “TEAM SPORTS”, etc, etc… All these signs are clearly visible one you walk through the door. The golf section is in the corner to the right, and you can’t miss it.

Whenever I work on the register, I get at least 10 people a day that walk through the door, look left and right, and then ask me “Where is the golf section?” Or, they’ll look at me and ask “Where is your fitness section?” despite the fact that the sign hanging behind me says “FITNESS”…

I cringe… and put on my nice face, and say “It’s right over there…”

This is a prime example of how it’s impossible to make anything simple enough for everyone…

So keep that in mind the next time you’re designing your landing page. Make every important detail as apparent as possible, and then some!

Comments appreciated.

I Hate SEO (Sometimes)

Wizno — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 04:44:12 +0000

I haven’t been running any campaigns on facebook for the last week, and won’t be running anything for a another week or two because I’ve exhausted my advertising budget. As a result I’ve had to focus my efforts on my SEO websites. Unfortunately, between August and October I was pumping out 1-2 new websites monetized with AdSense every week and I’m just sick and tired of the work required to rank a website.

In many ways, I believe SEO to be much more difficult than PPC advertising because of all the various theories out there about what’s the best way to optimize a site. I’ve had a lot of luck getting a couple websites optimized and ranked well, but the process is just so tedious that I want to turn around and walk away every time I think about doing some link building.

The thing that keeps me coming back time and time again is that it is passive income. I have 2 websites that are collectively earning 1$ a day on average. I know it doesn’t sound like much, but if I were to slowly scale that up to 100 websites, I’d have a nice ‘base salary’ from SEO, and my CPA PPC campaigns could count as my ‘commissions’.

It really all comes down to having the patience, and work ethic to write articles and build back-links daily. Writing articles over and over for one website just makes me feel like I’m being redundant in what I’m saying, and I hate keeping track of all the links I post.

Ok, enough complaining. I got that off my chest, and no it’s time to man up!

Action plan:

Make a list of websites I have to write articles for, then do 2-4, 200-300 word articles a day.

Find 5 Do-Follow directories / blogs to post links to.

Watch what happens.

Long Term 2010 Business Goals

Wizno — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 02:42:30 +0000

They say that the difference between those that are successful and those that aren’t is that the former set goals. Since I consider myself pretty successful, I should set myself some goals to conform with the theory.

Here are my goals for 2010

Expand my Business rapidly January-March by reinvesting all revenue weekly and obtaining at least 50% ROI.
Have a fully sustainable business within 6 months.
Earn 1500$ in profit daily by the 3rd quarter of the year.

January 2010: Rapid & Aggressive Expansion

Wizno — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 02:32:55 +0000

November 27th marked my official entry into Affiliate Marketing. After just my 1st month in this industry, I’ve managed to make about 360$ in profit after putting a little over 500$.

My biggest problem when starting out was having a source of funding, but thanks to some careful planning and a great brother in law, I was able to rack up some money to invest in my business. That was the biggest problem when I was starting out, but not so much anymore. Now the problem is getting my revenue back so I can re-invest it and grow it once again.

Most networks pay on a Net-15 basis, which is just terrible for someone that’s impatient and wants to keep the wheels turning. Luckily there are some networks, like EWA, who pay weekly no matter what. This makes it really appealing to new affiliates that are trying to quickly grow their business.

January 2010 Goal

My goal in January is to produce at least a 50% ROI weekly. I have some offers that I know I can work with and achieve these results, especially once I optimize them. I’m still using Facebook as my advertising platform, and I may be moving onto Plenty of Fish with some successful campaigns. It appears to be a somewhat untapped advertising source, and some high ROI’s can be expected with the right offers.

Alright, let’s make some money in 2010!

2009 Internet Marketing Progress Report

Wizno — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 21:30:55 +0000

For almost anything I do in my life, I tend to undervalue the experience I gain, or the amount of work I put into a project. At the same time, I also have the ability to easily learn just about anything, and when something seems easy, it’s easy not to assign a high value to it.

Anyway, I was thinking about some of the things I didn’t know about internet marketing earlier this year, and I thought I’d come up with a list of things I had little to no knowledge about when it came to internet/affiliate marketing.

Here we go:

Conversions
Landing Pages
CPA
I didn’t know it was possible to earn money promoting email and zip submits.
How to make successful FB campaigns
How profitable Adsense can be with enough scaling.
How to optimize a website for search engines.
That anchor text is the key to success.
How to use wordpress
How valuable Wordpress is.
How easy affiliate marketing really is once you get going!

The list could probably go on for a bit longer, but these are the most important things that came to mind.

A Job Won’t Take You Where You Want To Go

Wizno — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 16:10:02 +0000

I’ve been wanting to write a post about my thoughts about how Corporate America treats its employees but, there’s a few people who have done the work for me already.

Both articles bring up really valid points about why having a job is more of a risk than running your own business, or making money for yourself. If you’re employed, you’re basically on a fixed income and nothing’s going to make you more money, not even working harder. Even if you’re a commissioned salesperson, and the company promises ‘uncapped commission’ the reality is that achieving those results is impossible. I know because I used to be there myself. I worked for a very WELL known brand, selling their warranties on appliances. The average warranty cost 150$, and no matter how much I sold one for, my commission would always amount to 1$.

Let’s dissect this a bit more though, I was selling a ’service’ that many people never even used, which means it’s free money for the company, yet they only paid me 1$ in commission every time. They wanted you to believe you could make a lot, but the formula they used for calculating your commission always made your commission just 1$. Why should I work harder to close a sale, if it’s only getting me 1$?

To further illustrate my dismay, here’s an example of some of my stats.

This is from 11/30/2008 – 12/20/2008.

Net Sales: $29,177.25
Base Commission: $149.98
Total Commission (Base x 2): $299.96

Ain’t that a rip-off?

My commission got doubled only because I was in the top 10 all the time. But if everyone had made about 29,000 in sales, only the top 10 people would get double commission, and that’s nowhere near fair. I have to admit, it felt good raking in $2,000-$3,000 in sales everyday. On that note, I think that’s a goal I’m going to set for myself for 2010.

There’s also a lesson to be learned from my experience there. When I first started that job, it was my first run at telemarketing, and because I hate losing I went in there with a determined attitude that was geared for success. It’s the same attitude I came into Affiliate marketing with, and let me tell you something, BEING DETERMINED TO SUCCEED WORKS.

Anyway, John Martinelli and Steve Pavlina get it right in their articles when they explain that having a job is for chums.

Steve Pavlina from 10 Reasons You Should Never Get a Job:

It’s funny that when people reach a certain age, such as after graduating college, they assume it’s time to go out and get a job. But like many things the masses do, just because everyone does it doesn’t mean it’s a good idea. In fact, if you’re reasonably intelligent, getting a job is one of the worst things you can do to support yourself. There are far better ways to make a living than selling yourself into indentured servitude.

John Martinelli’s article The Art Of Bending Time also illustrates how employer’s exploit their employees, and they fall for it all the time!

“An employer will never pay you what you’re worth, because if they did, you simply wouldn’t be a profitable asset to the company.”