soo, me and Ella picked up Annika at dance class at 430. We went to the Lewis’ house to check up on things. Annika and Ella miss Emma and Aubrey a great deal. And of course they went inside the house and were sad that there was nobody home still. Then we went to BJ’s wholesale club to look at flat screen tv’s. The girls love the cart with the little race car attached to it. Sadly, that lasts for about 5 minutes and then they began climbing all over the shopping cart. In and out of the basket….. standing on the sides like Navy Seals hanging off the side of the high powered raft……

so we looked at all of the tv’s and hit Wendy’s for dinner. Ahhh, the chicken nugget kids meal….. so we got them to go and the girls ate the nuggets and most of the french fries. We got home around 7pm and played a computer game that we got from the kids meals. 8pm rolled around pretty quick and it was time to get ready for bed…. Ella melted down about brushing her teeth and after about 5 minutes of negotations she brushed them. Ella also did pee on the potty TWICE today for me!! She got a treat from the purple bowl(halloween candy) each time. Annika got a treat just because she is awesome! I went to the gym, got home, showered and off to work. Work was quiet. I had the desk. Maybe the calm before the storm since today is St. Patty’s day. Well, for now that’s it. I am looking very much forward to getting home and hugging and kissing my two peanuts!!! Can’t wait!

Friday night I played indoor soccer. My team was in the championship match and we won 4-2. Saturday we went to my wife’s sister’s son’s Christening. It was a very nice ceremony. All of my wife’s family was there, cousins and uncles included. Then I hit the sack due to the four hours sleep I got Friday night. Woke up, kissed my two chiquetas goodbye and went to a poker tournement. $50 buy in. There were 18 people in the tourney. I made it to the final table and with 5 players left, I had one last big blind left for chips. I laid it out and landed a pair of Aces!!! I ended up hitting a third ace and won the pot from three players. Back in the game! My buddy bounces two players and I bounced one. Now it’s down to me and my buddy. I was up about four fold when it was announced that we had three hands left due to the time. I could have folded and won, but I let my friend win since he helped me make it to the number two spot by bouncing two players out.

I won a night at a nice Bed and Breakfast, a foursome of golf at Highfields and $120.00 in AMEX gift cards. Not bad for second place. Sunday was sleeping in, couldn’t sleep for some reason. Got up at 130pm, brought my daughter to her learn to skate class, went to dinner with my father, went back home to drop my daughter off and then off to work……. fun fun…..

I’ve been reading and taking a few steps towards setting up campaigns over the past several months. I just set up a facebook campaign using a soccer affiliate program and targeting the UK. I am trying facebooks geotargeting for males in the UK over 18 years old. My daily budget? $2.00. I don’t feel comfortable spending more than that when I still have no idea if I am even doing this right. I’ve read for the past YEAR and I still haven’t figured this out. SOOOO, when PPC Classroom opens up, I think I am going to give it a try. I am also thinking about ppc-coach. If these don’t help I will move on to other .com ventures in hopes of retiring by 45.  To be continued…….

But an important part to making a mistake is telling people about it and teaching them how to avoid making the same mistake. So this is a list of the top five mistakes people using AdSense make.

You should read them well, and see if any of them is applicable to your contents. If it is, you must stop and attempt to fix such errors as quickly as possible.

The first major no-no that everyone seems to be hitting at one point or another has to do with breaking the rules. Google’s AdSense is a great program but it relies on you respecting a few set rules.

The most important thing is not to create “artificial clicks” through any means possible. Never click your own links, never ask your friends or close ones to click the links and never, by any means have your content encouraging the visitors to click the links. You run the risk of being permanently banned, and that will definitely damage your revenue.

Failing to comply with Google’s terms could have your AdSense account suspended. And this is why this rule is by all means the most important one of all. It’s because this is the difference between life or death.

The second thing users get wrong a lot of time is having a bad color palette for ads. Many times this happens because the publishers aren’t knowledgeable enough to change default color palettes.

Others just can’t seem to spend enough time in changing those defaults. Having bad ads that stand out is sure to push people away from clicking; whilst having something which is clearly visible yet distinctive will.

Third, of course, the position of the ads is probably the key element you should get right if you want to maximize your profits with AdSense. This is noted in a lot of places on the web and Google talks about this as well. Google can provide you with statistics which illustrate what positions work particularly well on your website.

Fourthly, banner ads are also a very bad idea if you’re using AdSense. 480×60 type ads are a sure way to drive many people away as most Internet surfers have developed a natural resistance to such means of advertising.

And last, but clearly not least, is not taking care of the site running the ads. Because ultimately it doesn’t matter how cool the site is itself. If it doesn’t have updated contents and a lot of daily visitors it will probably never earn you any serious AdSense revenues.

So these are the most important five things people get wrong while using the AdSense program. But of course if you don’t like this means of expressing the issues, here are the top five things you should do to ensure your AdSense ads are constantly bringing in that revenue.

Never break Google’s policy. Don’t make visitors create “artificial clicks” on your website regardless of the person doing so or the reason. Make sure your ads have the right colors that blend in with your site, and make sure they’re positioned in the right places to attract as many customers as possible. Always try to avoid using banner-like (480×60) adds unless you really know what you’re doing and constantly keep your site fresh and up to date.

So with that in mind you should be raising your AdSense revenues in no time.

Here is what you can buy when you have more money than you know what to do with:

The latest and greatest way to make your internet millions comes in the form of an online “classroom”. Amit Mehta of Super Affiliate Mindset and Anik Singal (who I’ve never heard of before), thought up the idea of using Amit’s knowledge of PPC marketing and put his formula’s and techniques into a class structure at www.ppcclassroom.com for the low price of $77.00.

I learned of this long before they went live with the site and signed up for the updates and “bait” emails through Amit’s Super Affiliate Mindset blog. I received the video’s that consisted of Amit’s lecture on the basics of PPC, his strategies, tips, thoughts on where the industry is going as well as a few nuggets of information.

Because I haven’t signed up for the site, I can’t comment on whether or not the whole concept is worth the $77.00, but from what I’ve heard about it from others who have signed up, the material is not much different than what you’d find on Amit’s website. I’m sure you’d get a few nuggets of information that you won’t find out there, afterall, that’s why you’re shelling out the money versus just reading the many blogs out there.

One thing to note, they have currently stopped accepting members. A great strategy to press those who want in to wait and then sign up in droves once the site “opens” back up. How does the old saying go? You always want what you can’t have, lol.

If anyone has in fact signed up, I’d be curious to know what you think. Send me an email lambo@markspeeding.com.

Here are a few reviews:
If you’re looking for a few quick and dirty tips to make a few quick bucks from your typical $47 or $97 ebook, PPC Classroom will not be your cup of tea. In fact, you’d probably find that there’s way too much reading involved. - Andrew Wee

The PPC Classroom course is not about a “cool trick to make money.” It’s about building a real business that can sustain itself and not one that can fall appart like a tower of playing cards hit by strong wind. It’s important to be building a business and not a simple “money maker.” - George Katsoudas

The PPC Classroom is a complete tutorial and system that covers the whole spectrum of knowledge of how to make big money as an affiliate. Along with extensive tutorials and down to earth written material, you’ll get his privately developed software that helps you managing your advertising as well. - Richard Perez

1000+ people all fighting for the same few niches…does that sound like fun to you? Didn’t think so. If you’re a seasoned pro, maybe this is ok, but PPC newbies beware! - KingdomReview.com

Anyway… invest in PPC Classroom at your own risk. It might be a winner… but could just as easily be a dud. My gut feeling is that it’ll be great, but like a lot of great internet marketing products, you’re gonna find that the committed 5% of its users will absolutely rake in the cash, while the rest will struggle to make their money back from purchasing the product. - Mark - Affilorama

PPC Classroom does not give you instant data that you can bank on. You need to be patient and wait to see results after a month. If you get too hasty, you may be getting excited about someone else’s testing that may not pan out. - Mr. A

-Mark S

The only way you can earn a good, stable income is
to put in the hard work it takes.  Before you join
any affiliate program, you need to do the proper
research.  That’s one of the best benefits of the
internet - finding the information you need.

All you need to do is search for the name of the
affiliate program that your intested in, adding
the word scam to it and see what pops up.  You
should also join some work from home forums, and
don’t be afraid to ask the right questions.

There are a few ways that you can tell what
program is most likely a scam.  If a program
doesn’t tell you their compensation plan unless
you sign up, watch out.  A lot of programs won’t
tell you what you’ll be doing unless you buy a
kit for a set price.

With any program, there should always be 100% free
disclosure.  You’ll need to know what you are
going to be doing before you even start.  If a
program doesn’t tell you what you are going to be
doing or if you have to pay money first, you
should avoid it.

Let us take a quick look at how PPC Search Engines work.

These engines create listings and rate them based on a bid amount the website owner is willing to pay for each click from that search engine. Advertisers bid against each other to receive higher ranking for a specific keyword or phrase.

The highest bidder for a certain keyword or phrase will then have the site ranked as number 1 in the PPC Search Engines followed by the second and third highest bidder, up to the last number that have placed a bid on the same keyword or phrase. Your ads then will appear prominently on the results pages based on the dollar amount bid you will agree to pay per click.

How do you make money by using PPC into your affiliate marketing business?

Most affiliate programs only pay when a sale is made or a lead delivered after a visitor has clickthrough your site. Your earnings will not always be the same as they will be dependent on the web site content and the traffic market.

The reason why you should incorporate PPC into your affiliate marketing program is that earnings are easier to make than in any other kind of affiliate program not using PPC. This way, you will be making profit based from the clickthroughs that your visitor will make on the advertiser’s site. Unlike some programs, you are not paid per sale or action.

PPC can be very resourceful of your website. With PPC Search Engines incorporated into your affiliate program, you will be able to profit from the visitor’s who are not interested in your products or services. The same ones who leave your site and never comes back.

You will not only get commissions not only from those who are just searching the web and finding the products and services that they wanted but you will be able to build your site’s recognition as a valuable resource. The visitors who have found what they needed from you site are likely to come back and review what you are offering more closely. Then they will eventually come back to search the web for other products.

This kind of affiliate program is also an easy way for you to generate some more additional revenues. For example, when a visitor on your site does a search in the PPC Search Engine and clicks on the advertiser bided listings, the advertisers’ account will then be deducted because of that click. With this, you will be compensated 30% to 80% of the advertisers’ bid amount.

PPC is not only a source of generating easy profits; it can also help you promote your own site. Most of the programs allow the commissions received to be spent for advertising with them instantly and with no minimum earning requirement. This is one of the more effective ways to exchange your raw visitors for targeted surfers who has more tendencies to purchase your products and services.

What will happen if you when you integrate PPC into your affiliate program?

PPC usually have ready-to-use affiliate tools that can be easily integrated into your website. The most common tools are search boxes, banners, text links and some 404-error pages. Most search engines utilize custom solutions and can provide you with a white-label affiliate program. This enables you, using only a few lines of code, to integrate remotely-hosted co-branded search engine into your website.

The key benefits? Not only more money generated but also some extra money on the side. Plus a lifetime commissions once you have referred some webmaster friends to the engine.

Think about it. Where can you get all these benefits while already generating some income for your site? Knowing some of the more useful tools you can use for your affiliate program is not a waste of time. They are rather a means of earning within an earning.

Best know more about how you can use PPC search engines into your affiliate program than miss out on a great opportunity to earn more profits.

Compared to traditional advertising practices, affiliate programs are more effective, risk-free and cost-efficient. But why do many people still fail in affiliate marketing? There are a lot of reasons and a lot of areas in the program to look into. The most critical aspect in the affiliate program is advertising. Many affiliate marketers fail in this aspect because they lack hard work, which is the most important thing in affiliate marketing and in all other kinds of business as well. Although it pays to be lucky, you cannot merely rely on it. Affiliate marketing isn’t as simple as directing customers to the business site. If you want to earn big, of course, you have to invest time and great amount of hard work in promoting the products. As earlier mentioned, the competition is very high and customers nowadays are very wise, too. After all, who doesn’t want to get the best purchase—that is, to pay less and get more in terms of quantity and quality.

Lack of preparation is also a reason why one fails in affiliate marketing, whether he is a merchandiser or an affiliate. Part of the preparation is researching. On the part of the merchant, he has to be highly selective in choosing the right affiliate websites for his affiliate program. In order to be sure he has the best choices, he must have exhausted his means in looking for highly interested affiliates whose sites are sure fit to his products and services. The affiliate site’s visitors must match his targeted customers. On the other hand, the affiliate marketer must likewise research on the good-paying merchandisers before he signs up for an affiliate program. He must ensure that the merchants’ products and services match his interests so he can give his full attention and dedication to the program. He can get valuable information by joining affiliate forums, comparing different affiliate programs and reading articles on affiliate marketing where he can get tips from experienced affiliate marketers on how to choose the best merchants and products with high conversion rate.

The website is a very important tool in the whole affiliate program. As an affiliate marketer, you should plan how your site is going to be, from domain name to the design, the lay-out, the content, and ads. Some users are particular about what they see at first glance and thus when they find your site ugly, they won’t read through the content even if your site has many things to say and offer. On the other hand, there those who want information more than anything else. Affiliate marketers with “rich-content” web sites are usually the ones who prosper in this business because the content improves traffic to the site. Websites with high quality contents—with relevant keywords and more importantly, right information about the product and not empty hyped-up advertisements—allow you to earn big in affiliate marketing even when you’re asleep. If you won’t be able to sustain the interest of your site visitor, you won’t be able to lead him to the merchants’ site. No click-through means no sale and thus, no income on your part.

Selecting a top level domain name is also crucial to the success of the affiliate program. Lots of affiliate sites don’t appear in the search engine results because they are deemed by affiliate managers as personal sites. Major search engines and directories would think of your site as transient ones and thus, they won’t list it in the directory. Before you decide on the domain name, know first what you are going to promote. Many fail because their sites are not appropriately named, so even when they feature the exact products the customer is looking for, the customer might think the site is not relevant and thus, won’t enter the site.

Above all, an affiliate marketer must be willing to learn more. Certainly, there are still a lot of things to learn and so an affiliate marketer must continue to educate himself so he can improve his marketing strategies. Many fail because they don’t grow in the business and they are merely concerned about earning big quickly. If you want long-term and highly satisfactory results, take time to learn the ins and outs of the business. Continue to improve your knowledge especially with the basics in affiliate marketing ranging from advertising to programming, web page development, and search engine optimization techniques. Likewise, study the needs and wants of your site users and how different merchandisers compete with each other.

Keep on trying; don’t get disappointed if your first attempts did not pay off. Thousands are attracted by the possibility of generating skyrocketing incomes through affiliate marketing and so they sign up in any affiliate program without carefully understanding every aspect of the business. When they don’t get instant results, they quit and sign up for another program and repeat the process of just copying links and referring them to others. When you sign up for an affiliate program, don’t expect to get rich in an instant. Work on your advertising strategies and be patient. You’ll never know how much you can get if you don’t persevere.

As an affiliate, all that is required of you is to simply place the merchant’s ad on your website.  Then after that, you virtually do nothing but wait for anyone to click on the merchant’s ad and later collect your profits.  Easy, right?  Well, not quite often.  Many affiliates earn almost nothing from their affiliate programs simply because they do nothing.  Remember that affiliate marketing is but another form of marketing, and you’ll definitely need to market your merchant’s product for you to earn something.

Successful affiliates in any affiliate program simply don’t sit there and wait for money to come.  Why?  Because there is no money in simply sitting and waiting.  If you want to be successful in affiliate marketing and if you want to continually grow your affiliate checks, you’ve got to do something.  Think of ways on how to promote your merchant’s business and products better.  Think of ways on how to induce other people to click on the link or ad provided to you by your merchant.  Think of ways on how to make your affiliate sales increase!

So if you’re new in affiliate marketing and you try to follow the easy go lucky pit that most unsuccessful affiliate marketers follow, then you’re definitely on the wrong track.  But we’re not advising you to stop right there.  No.  Rather, we want you to take some steps to make your affiliate program work better and gain more commissions for you.  How?  Here are a few guidelines that may help you to continually grow your affiliate checks:

* Become an expert on your affiliate product.

You can promote your merchant’s product better if you know a lot of things about it.  To become an expert, the best thing you can do is purchase your merchant’s product yourself.  This way, you can tell your customers about your first-hand experience using the product.  You can even write a testimonial or a personal endorsement ad about it.  But if any condition does not permit you to purchase the product, you can at least make a thorough research about it.

* Host your own website.

Or at least have a domain name that is short and easy to remember.  You certainly wouldn’t expect a visitor to remember a very long and incomprehensible URL.  And if that’s so, you also wouldn’t expect him to visit your website any time soon.  That means less traffic for your page and the less chance for your affiliate ads and links to be clicked.

It is also a good idea to create a private website and offer access to it to anybody who clicks on any of your affiliate ads.  Visitors usually get interested with these private websites.  Private websites also gives you a venue to promote your back-end affiliate products.

* Write your own affiliate ads.

Many merchants usually wouldn’t mind if you write and design your own ads for their products, for as long as you ask permission from them and present them your ad before posting it on your site.  This gives you a greater advantage over a lot of other affiliates who must be advertising the same affiliate products.

* Participate in chat rooms, discussion boards, and forums related to your product.

If you use to ignore them before, then it is time for you to start focusing your attention on them.  You can start your own chat or join an existing chat related to your product.  You don’t have to promote your affiliate product at once, but find the chance to advertise and promote it as you go along.  The same would be true for message boards, discussion boards and forums.

* Create a free ezine or newsletter.

Ezines and newsletters are periodical publications whose aim is to inform a group of people about a certain subject.  In your ezines and newsletters, you don’t always have to promote your merchant’s product for this may greatly annoy your subscribers.  Rather, find a way to insert your affiliate ads and links on some portions of the letter.  Also, don’t forget to promote your ezine or newsletter on your website.

These are but a few guidelines on how you can increase your affiliate sales and continually grow your affiliate checks.  Sure there can be a lot of other tips that out there, and if you think they would work, we won’t discourage you from following them.  What’s important is that you be able to find a way to: attract more traffic to your site, induce your visitors to click on the ads on your site, and be able to promote your merchant’s products even outside the boundary of your website.  If you can do these, there’s no reason for you to fail in affiliate marketing.