Online Biz Connection

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-23T09:52:00.001-06:00

As things begin to wind down, and we all begin to enjoy the holiday weekend, I am already thinking ahead to 2012, and where I hope that my business takes me.
This year, we've been through a rollercoaster ride with the search engines, have frantically tried to change things to regain our rankings, and finally settled upon our course of action. And, although the penalty is still sitting squarely on all of our sites, at least we have regained our own purpose instead of continually trying to change to regain something that could again be lost with the click of a mouse, or a simple change in code...

To be brief, we have returned to the fundamentals of our business. Why we created it. What we hope to attain. And, how we choose to operate that business.

Next week, we will go into a little more detail about our plans for 2012. In the meantime, give some thought over the next few days to your own plans. Are you where you want to be? Are you doing things the way you know they should be done? Or are you "selling out" and frantically trying to stay ahead of that mouse click, that change to the algorithm, or worse?

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-21T19:46:00.001-06:00

Get in shape with the Merit Fitness 725T Plus Treadmill!

A great choice for both walkers and recreational runners, the 725T offers a quiet, yet powerful 2.5 horsepower continuous-duty motor, with a walking or running speed range of 1 to 10 miles per hour and an incline (elevation) range of 0 to 10 percent... read the rest of this post at http://ping.fm/qmfEe

2011-12-21T16:32:00.001-06:00

Thinking about a Kindle Fire? Visit http://ping.fm/ve6d8 and see if it's the right tablet computer for you!

2011-12-21T16:31:00.001-06:00

Check out the updates to my treadmill site, http://ping.fm/IYsBo

My New Strategy...

2011-12-07T09:06:00.000-06:00

Over the past year, I have been dealing with what appears to be a penalty from the search engines...

At first, I tried taking down all my sites and then bringing them back online one by one. Then, I tried deleting all the blogroll links...but that didn't work either. I tried completely revamping each and every site. Again, that didn't work. My sites are still languishing on page 5 or 6...

Finally, after a great deal of thought, I decided that I could no longer keep trying different things, frantically trying to figure out how to get out of one search engine's "sandbox."

All that I was doing was continually changing everything...and if you think about that for a minute, you'll understand my new strategy.

You see, part of the reason that you patronize a particular store, be it online or off, is because it is familiar. You trust it. It always delivers the same service. And, it looks like the same place every time you go there. Now, if that particular store never looked the same, and you could never trust it to be open when it should be open, and further you never knew what to expect...how many times would you go back to that store before you found somewhere else that better met your expectations? Not long.

That's what I was doing to my online business...in my frantic changing, rearranging, and updating, I was sabotaging my own efforts. I am trying to create a stable, long term business...not some little fly by night sites that will make money, then that I must frantically change every single time a certain search engine updates it's algorithm. Further, if you think about that, do you honestly think that search engine will include or direct people to sites that cannot be trusted? Sites that change so rapidly? Sites that are there one minute and gone the next? I don't think so either.

So, I stopped changing everything. I am back to working on my sites, but I am following my original business plan, and I am building sites that will not change every five minutes. In other words, I am in it for the long haul. And, yes, even though I am still languishing on page 5 or 6 for most keywords, the slow growth that I am experiencing now should be sustainable growth...and not a flash in the pan that's gone before you know it.

Want to Succeed Online?

2011-11-02T12:38:00.000-05:00

Today, I'm going to write directly to anyone who is interested in starting your own online business...and one of the biggest reasons why people don't succeed. That's right...this one is about why you might fail!

One of the first things that you must do when you start marketing online is to learn! You have to learn how to build a website, learn which products to promote...heck, you might even have to learn what online business really is! So, if you're like most people, you start visiting forums, buying ebooks and courses, and software, and plugins, and more. You try one, and when it doesn't work, you try another and then another and then another... And, then six months or a year later, you wonder why you aren't making money online!

And that's just it. You aren't making money online because you aren't working on your business! You're buying course after course, or visiting forum after forum, or worse...and you are wasting your time. That's right, you are wasting your time.

Let me give you an example from my own business: This year, Google has updated their algorithm several times. And, that update has really lit up the forums with threads about the updates, products designed to help you beat the updates, and more. So, what did I do? You guessed it...in trying to figure out the updates to the algorithms, I spent TOO MUCH TIME and TOO MUCH MONEY in the forums and on products to help me change the way I was building my business so that I could "stay on top of" Google's updates.

Well, guess what happened...my sites got hit, and I spent the entire year changing my personal business plan in the hopes of regaining what the updates took away. And, where am I now? Exactly where I started. The changes I made either had no effect or they were wiped away by subsequent updates...and it's cost me one year of potential growth. All because I spent too much time and money in the forums listening to other people's ideas about why sites lost ground and what products they had created or recommended to correct the problems created by the updates.

So, about a month ago, I took a long hard look at what I was doing...and I stopped buying ebooks, and software, and plugins, and such. I stopped reading the forums. Stopped listening to the "experts" and everyone else. And I went back to building my business my way. That's right. MY BUSINESS. MY WAY. That's something you need to read again and again. Because that's the important point. It's your business. Yes, learn what you need to in the forums, from ebooks, software, whatever. But then just QUIT listening to others and start doing. Take action. Don't analyze. Don't second guess. JUST DO IT.

That's the biggest thing I have learned, and it is the best advice I can give you. Stay away from the forums. Stay away from the miracle softwares and plugins. And, simply, just do the work.

Goodbye Comments

2011-09-22T10:36:00.000-05:00

Over the past few weeks, I've been reviewing individual sites that I own, and deciding what updates to make. Unfortunately, after reviewing the sites, it has become painfully evident that there are very few legitimate "comments" on any of the sites...all of them are from robots or spammers hired by other individuals to make comments on blogs in hopes of gaining backlinks. Personally, I don't worry about backlinks to my websites anymore. The reason is fairly simple...building backlinks is a boring waste of time, and quite honestly, search engines are the only ones who care how many backlinks you have to a site. People don't. People are interested in the quality of the site, and the information that you provide, not who else is linking to your site.

So, after deleting hundreds of spam comments, I finally decided to just do away with all the comments on all of my sites. With the exception of the contact us form, and the questions/answers forums, on my sites, they will no longer be subjected to endless comments from foreign spammers...and unfortunately, real live people will have to work a little harder now to share their opinion on my sites.

Thanks, search engines...because you made backlinking such an important part of ranking, spammers discovered the comments section...and once again, ruined it for the actual human users.

Write for Your Visitors

2011-08-29T14:13:00.000-05:00

Well, over the past few months, we've been trying all sorts of radical things, trying to get a penalty removed...to no avail. We tried removing 90 percent of our sites. Removing the ads. Removing the affiliate links. Removing anything questionable. And, yet, we are still caught up in the recent algorithm changes or in some sort of manual review... so what next?

As of the latter part of last week, we have UNDONE everything that we've done to try and get the penalty removed. Why? Well, actually it's pretty simple. We didn't put the sites up for the search engines. We put the sites up because that's what we love to do. And, we are doing it to provide information and to make a living doing exactly what we like to do.

Trying to redo everything, and conform to something to please ONE single program, took all of the enjoyment out of the business. It was no longer fun. No longer exciting. And, frankly, it was either go back to building sites the way we wanted to build them or to give up, sell all the sites, and quit. That's right, I said QUIT. And, a quitter I am not.

Instead I have decided that you cannot cater to a single piece of software...no matter how important that piece of software might be, you still are not building your business for that software. Especially in this case, it just no longer made any sort of sense to us....because we all know what would happen. A month from now. Six months from now. Even a year from now. The program could and would change again. And, guess what...we could find ourself right back in the penalty zone. And, again, we would change everything...and maybe escape again. Only to be trapped again at some point. It's a never ending circle...so we decided to stop the merry go round and get off.

Effective last Thursday, we started putting the sites back up, in their original form. As we planned them to be. Yes, we still have the penalty. And, we may never get out of it. But, just as the search engines are a business...so are we. And we must run our business the way we see fit, even as the search engines run their business as they see fit. So, one particular engine no longer "loves" us...does it matter. Yes and no. You see, our business wasn't started for the search engines...it was started because we wanted to share certain things, products, information, etc., with other people...

And so, we shall find our way back to our core business principles...

Another Month...

2011-06-27T14:09:00.000-05:00

Well, it's been over a month since our last post, and truthfully not much has changed...we're still waiting for the changes we made months ago to disappear from indexing so that our sites can return to some sense of normalcy.

We've removed all of our experimentation...but, as you know, it can take months for things to be "resorted" in the various indexes...still we wait.

But. And this is a big but. But, we are not just sitting here waiting. We are continuing to build, continuing to add unique content, and continuing forward with our momentum.

Big Changes

2011-05-16T13:33:00.000-05:00

So....we've tried some things over the past few months and these things seem to have affected our rankings. And, to make it worse, the changes in the Google algorithm seem to have picked up on our experimenting with three different types of software...needless to say, we're a tad bit disappointed in the software that we used. I suppose we only have ourselves to blame in the end.

If we have learned nothing else, it is this:

There is no shortcut to a good website.

No software can create good content. No software can create real traffic. Yes, you might get some results initially. But, in the end, you shoot yourself in the foot.

Now, if you'll excuse us...we have some software to REMOVE from some websites!

(Bottom line: NO SOFTWARE CAN DO WHAT YOU NEED TO DO ON YOUR OWN.)

Targeted Advertising

2011-03-04T15:55:00.003-06:00

This is just a short post about something that most people who own multiple websites will definitely understand...at first it was Google, and now Facebook is "targeting" ads to what they think are my preferences... except, I own 23 dating sites, over 50 financial sites, and over 100 niche sites... So, their targeting is HILARIOUS!

Search Engines Chasing "Quality" for ME?

2011-03-02T16:11:00.000-06:00

So, Google has twice updated it's algorithm this year. My sites took a hit in early January... no change yet for the "Google Farmer" update....

While I do try very hard to conform to Google's standards, it's important to also remember that we're putting up the sites for the consumer. Google is just the middleman. Just like Bing, Yahoo, MSN, etc....are all middlemen. Now, one thing that is beginning to concern me is the emphasis on what the middlemen consider to be "quality" - when does it cross the line to censuring the results? While I appreciate the "quality", I don't appreciate my choices being made for me, and it concerns me that at some point, the search engines will be choosing what we see.

And, I say that in all honesty. When I go to the store, I want to see ALL the brands the store offers, and not just the ones they choose for me to see that day, all the while keeping other ones in the back of the store.

For some reason, choosing my definition of quality for me is unsettling.

Google vs. Bing

2011-02-02T13:03:00.000-06:00

Apparently there is some truth to my earlier post about the blanket penalty imposed by the algorithm.....this from Microsoft: "Don't be fooled. Google wants to change subject because they're under investigation in the US and Europe for manipulating search results."

Read the rest here...

Censuring the Results of User's Searches? Yep. It's happening.

2011-02-02T10:33:00.000-06:00

So, here we are....back again. The holiday season is now officially behind us, and we're concentrating on our 2011 plans. Unfortunately, on January 4th, those plans appear to have changed. Without our consent. What happened?

Well. Apparently, we've been penalized by the big G for some unknown issue with one or more websites. And, you know what that means. Oh, and it's not what you think. No, it wasn't just those sites that got penalized...it was ALL OF THE SITES. That's right. All sites connected with our account were dropped approximately 40 positions in the search rankings. (Strangely consistent...definitely an ACCOUNT WIDE penalty...again not based on the sites themselves but on an outside influence...)

Now, I could understand the sites with problems dropping in the results. But to drop all the sites? Even the ones that were #1 on their search pages? The ones with hundreds of pages of content. Clearly, this is wrong on the part of the big G, and to be very honest, it's a disservice to the users of their product. Why? Well, for all their tinkering with the results to try and get "the best results" for users, issuing a blanket penalty to over 100 sites, without considering the content of each individual site is manipulation of the results. That's right, it's like GAMING their own system!

(And, if you're not a webmaster, let me tell you...for those of us who actually build websites, attempting to game their system can get you deindexed...but then again, guess it's okay to skew it from the other end...)

So, either way - if I were to attempt to game the system, or if THEY game their own system, the end user is the one who suffers the consequences. And, gaming the system from their end, especially in this manner, is actually bordering on censuring the results. Instead of Big Brother (the government), we now have Big G censuring what we see online. And that's not a good thing.

Tune in again soon as we explain the lesson we've learned from this...and how we plan to recover.

Christmas is beginning

2010-10-31T13:51:00.002-05:00

Are your niche sites ready for the Christmas season? If not, you'd better hurry!

Mine are almost there. We now own 250 domains! And about 2/3 of them are built out nicely. Income is now climbing steadily. Visits improving. Where are you in your business plan?

We're Makin' Money

2010-08-30T22:04:00.002-05:00

We're making real money this month...more than we ever have before!!!!

Back soon with more details.

A First

2010-08-09T07:58:00.000-05:00

Over the weekend, I tallied up my income for the week...

For the first time ever, my weekly income from my business topped the check that I received from my job!

If you're in business for yourself, you know what a milestone this is, and you KNOW the motivation it provides! Imagine when your weekly income tops your check EVERY week! What if your DAILY income could do it? It can. But, it takes time. And dedication. LOTS of hard work.

Still, this is a glimpse of what will be....

(Thinking about starting your own business? Visit The Best Home Business Ideas to see some different business models - perhaps one will work for you!)

Taking a Risk

2010-06-28T08:43:00.000-05:00

Last night, after several weeks of consideration, we made changes to one of our biggest earning sites...a new layout, a couple of new plugins, and less advertising on the site. Granted, our hope is that this actually improves the site, but since it's our biggest earner, we're also a little nervous....in fact, we were hesitant to even change anything for fear it would lose it's ranking, lose revenue, etc. But, and here's the key point, the old format was no longer working for us. The site has grown so much over the past year that it appeared jumbled, confusing, and less professional looking...so we're taking a risk.

Do you take risks in your business? If not, you may be missing opportunities to grow your business, increase your earnings, and build a better business. While you should always be conservative in business, there are also times you just have to try something...if it doesn't work, then you can undo it, drop it, or whatever. But, sometimes you just gotta go for it.

Our site: http://www.bestereaders.net/

We'll update you on the site in a few weeks to let you know how our risk is working out.

A Quick Update

2010-06-14T09:17:00.000-05:00

Just a quick update...I have about 30 of my credit card sites updated now. Just waiting for Google to decide where they belong in the new Caffiene index. And, trying to build and add to them so that they rank a bit better in the long run.

That's one thing anyone who is trying to make a living online needs to learn - plan your business for the long term. Especially if you're working with organic SEO, long term pays off much slower, but also pays much longer. Spammy sites, gimmicky products, and the like....you'll make a little money short term, but you'll have to keep making the same sites, products, etc., over and over.

Building a quality site takes longer. Finding the right products takes longer. But it's worth it.

Credit Card Sites are UP!

2010-05-20T08:08:00.000-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, I bought a few credit card offer sites, and have been working like crazy to get them up and live! They're done. Now, to just build on them. That brings us to a total of, are you ready for this, 37 credit card offer sites.

While I was devoting so much time to bringing the new sites online...the old ones continue to earn. Soon, all 214 sites will be live...oh, well, by the end of the year at least.

If you're looking for a great start to earning online, I read this book a year ago, and it's one of the few that I actually learned from. It's not all hype - there is some real, practical information inside, and I encourage you to make this type of reading the norm while you're building your business.

Away for Awhile

2010-05-10T16:25:00.000-05:00

Well. It's been a while since we posted. We've been updating some sites that we haven't touched since early 2009...they were just sitting there, and they suddenly started appearing again in January, so, like most good marketers, we paid attention to the trend, and have spent the last few weeks reformatting the sites, building a few new ones, and checking all the links.

We've also been testing a new site building strategy and it appears to be working! You might remember that earlier this year, we refocused our efforts, pared down our affiliations, and have totally concentrated on four areas of the business. Well, a portion of those four areas involves rebuilding a number of sites, and for once, those tendencies to be extremely anal about things has paid off...in the form of a near perfect checklist for building/updating websites. So far, we've built or rebuilt about 12 sites, and those sites come back very strong in the search engines! And, you know what that means...or what it should mean, anyways. They should also come back strong in earning power.

Another Site Updated

2010-04-16T11:24:00.003-05:00

This past week, I have been evaluating my sites using the Website Grader tool at www.websitegrader.com, and as much as I have read that you should "read the report and ignore the results" on several forums, I have to disagree. So far, I have run the reports on my sites, and compared them with the results I see, and the truth is - the higher the grade the site receives, the more income I am seeing from the site. Therefore, I am using the results to redesign, upgrade, and fix any problems Website Grader finds with any of my sites.

The first one, www.AdaptiveMotionTrainer.com, underwent a complete renovation, and my score improved 20 points. Now, we watch to see if the SEO ranking, and the income improves, as well.

Working Today for Tomorrow

2010-04-09T10:25:00.003-05:00

One of the most interesting things about owning an online business, and also the most challenging, is the notion that what you do today may have no effect for weeks or, in some cases, even months!

In most occupations, you work today, and at the end of every week, you get a check for the work that you did the prior week. Therefore, it's a regular "reward" for your efforts.

In an online business, the work that you do today may not pay off for some time...for example, this week, I have built 446 back links to my websites. Will I see increased traffic immediately? No. That will not come until the back links are indexed and found by the search engines, and in many cases, that will literally take months! Talk about waiting a long time for the "reward" for your efforts!

Unless you know this up front, and expect it up front, it can be a problem motivationally, because your efforts will feel as if they are for naught. That is why, especially in an online business, you should know UP FRONT that you will not see a quick return on your investment of time and money. And you must plan accordingly. Otherwise, you could become like one of the many millions of people who start in this business every year, only to give up and quit before their efforts pay off.

The Credit Card Connection

2010-04-07T23:09:00.002-05:00

Another one updated! The Credit Card Connection is now converted to a Javascripted site!

And, the site we converted the other day is back up in the search engines....adding more content and links to both over the next few days!

Revisiting My Credit Card Connection

2010-04-05T12:11:00.002-05:00

A few weeks ago, I noticed an interesting trend on one of my sites....my credit card affiliate sites began to experience an uptick in site visits. Now, since I own 23 of these sites, an uptick in traffic essentially means the opportunity to earn more money, and considering that I had not touched some of the sites in over a year, this little trend was worth taking another look at....

The results aren't in yet, but the first step is a complete redesign on one of the sites:

My Credit Card Connection

Now we wait to see how it performs in the search engines.

Note: Anytime you redesign a site, expect the search engines to go react wildly....you'll either see a crazy spike in visits or your site may even disappear for a few days or weeks...but it will come back, and hopefully, it'll come back stronger than ever. (At least, that's what we're expecting with this one!)