This is what my life has come to

Major Update

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Sat, 14 Apr 2007 15:02:00 +0000

I've not updated this blog for a long while, basically as I have been so busy with other things.

Right now, my portfolio of websites is running in the 20s and other than a dabbling in other services and projects, cars are my life and basically, I have decided to stick to what I know.

So over the past few months, I've been busy devising a plan for a major new business that is going to help traditional businesses make the most of the internet.

With the advent of many internet car dealers over the past 5-7 years, they are popping up everywhere, including myself and my site, www.mattcardy.co.uk - Matt Cardy Specialist Cars.

I actually have more sites than just that one, which are linked under my own name. Whether this is the best idea, I have no clue, but hey, that's the way I have done it!

So my portfolio looks like this:

Matt Cardy Specialist Cars

Matt Cardy Classic Cars

Sell My Car On Ebay

LHD in the UK

LHD Specialist

Coming soon:

E-Car Systems
E-Car Sold
Xcel Porsche

I also look after another two car websites for their respective owners, which of course, I built.

As you can see, I am a busy boy, taking up a lot of my time updating and adding to these all the time. That's the way to do it.

I'm intending to put up a few more updates on this blog over the coming weeks and making it a little more upbeat than it's been, in the hope I can attract more visitors.

Oh, about my experiment, I would say that it's still there, somewhere, but I think that I've kind of been sidetracked into getting things done and more projects on the go.

As a side note, I will say that if anyone is interested in buying any of the sites you see listed here, or you would like a bespoke site built for you, put in an enquiry at Circus Media Group and I'll come back to you via email. Everything is for sale at the right price!

Until next time...

Matt

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Sat, 30 Dec 2006 15:28:00 +0000

Things have been tramping on in my world and busy is another keyword that is number 1 at the top of my list.

Since my last post, I have made close to $100 on AdSense alone and for the next month I'm going to be spending time re-jigging www.toptenonline.net - the idea for that site, being a directory of the top ten sites in many categories was becoming a noose around my neck and my affiliates were dropping off left right and centre as it was simply a banner farm.

So a very swift decision was made to take it down and replace it with something, but I didn't know what. One night while indulging in a late night smoke on the porch, I came up with the idea of pursuing one of the great passions in my life as content for this new site. Music.

That's going to be the direction that I choose for www.toptenonline.net - It was supposed to go live on new years day, however, it's not going to pan out that way as I have a different site going up that day and I've been busy with that one too.

I've also bought 300 fully featured websites that I have put up on the web at www.infoontheinter.net - in my opinion, a great domain name and I actually own www.foundontheinter.net also, which is going to become another source of information for anyone needing or searching for it.

Eventually, these websites will be sold on eBay as fully set up and hosted sites that are a source of income for people. However, before I do that, I have to fine tune my 300 sites and get them up and running, earning money as soon as possible.

I have also made a few changes to a few of my other sites.

www.circusmediagroup.com - Has now taken over as my website design and portfolio, advertising my skills in bespoke web design, offering hosting and domain registration, SSL certificates, free email and anything Internet related through it's sister website www.circus-media.com

www.mattcardy.co.uk - In fact, to this site, I added a sister site which is located at www.sellmycaronebay.net - I added this as I have been getting a lot of enquiries from people asking me to sell their cars for them. By selling them on eBay on behalf of the customer is the best way to secure a quick sale and nearest the amount of money that the customer needs.

www.mattcardyclassiccars.com - In 2007 this site will be cosmetically kept the same but will undergo a transformation as I use this for my other passion in life. Cars. This site will allow me to flex my journalistic muscles by writing about cars which I find to be classics, both modern day classics and traditional classics. Look out for that, as it's going to be a beauty.

By the time January is over and www.toptenonline.net is complete, www.infoontheinter.net is running smoothly enough to accept an influx of visitors wanting to know about the Internet and web design and everything that goes with it, I shall be trying my hand at self promotion and utilizing all the tools that Google have been kind enough to provide to aspiring web developers and marketers like me.

That said, by this time next month, I should have some good news, with any luck.

Have a great New Year and all the best for 2007!

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 17:55:00 +0000

Been really busy since my last post, too busy in fact to set any goals, but hey, that's one for next time I think.

Not feeling all that positive at the moment, even though things are on the up. I think my work life is taking over a bit much and my success is at the forefront of my mind rather than the things that are really important in my life. Oh well, it's been a weird week that I'd rather forget.

Onto more positive things, I've had a really fun day last week when I re-vamped my .com site, sorry, www.mattcardy.com I had a lot of fun with it, dreaming about cars I want for my own collection and a bit of a self-discovery if I'm honest. Pictures of myself are up there, rather daringly I shall add along with the truth about the side of the car industry most people don't actually see. Interesting stuff.

I've taken it from being a commercial site where I'm selling stuff to being nothing but a site about myself. Like I say, it was fun to do and looks, in my opinion, great.

Other projects on the go at the moment, I just finished building another site which, again is all about selling cars, as I get more enquiries from people wanting to sell their cars rather than buy new cars. Most of these are from people selling lhd cars, so if anyone wants one, get over to www.mattcardy.co.uk , as I have access to loads of them!!!

So there's that site that's all ready to be made live, I need a domain name for it, which I'm going to buy next, so I'll come back and put it up after I sort out all the testing when it goes live.

The site that started all this, that started as an idea about 2-3 years ago and evolved into www.toptenonline.net is about to be written off as a bad job. Te fact is that it was an idea that's been done to death and has disappeared down the toilet of the internet and I was stupid enough to try. The fact is the content of the site isn't up to much and the work involved is just far too much to uphold and keep up-to date. Besides that, it has been described as a banner farm, which I was none too pleased about at first.

After a good look at it, I can see that what it has become in such a short space of time, was a good concept, but in practice it was always going to be a dead duck. So.... we have come up with something totally new and different.

We're working on a new concept for the site and it has a projected launch date of January 1st. You can see the existing monstrosity at www.toptenonline.net for the next few weeks, although I'm going to take it down and put up a holding page very soon with a 'coming soon...' message on it, so it stays in favour with the existing visitors and builds some interest for the first day of 2007...

Anyway, I think that's about it for now, but I'll be back for an update soon, until then, I'm outta here.

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 12:39:00 +0000

I’ve been busy over the past week or so creating and setting up a new website. Ok, so I didn’t create it per say, I actually bought a template from a well known company to sell their products. I added a logo to the site, re-input the prices in the hope that it is going to make me a profit, all I have to do is promote it.

The site is called Circus-Media.com in which I sell Domain names, hosting packages and various other products and services that encompass everything web based. The range of products is amazing. They include e-commerce shopping carts, secure certificates, email packages and much more. It includes a support system that is 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The best thing is, all I have to do is promote it and it runs itself. It’s totally automated.

Of course, I have bought products from Circus-Media and got them at cost price. I’ve even called the customer support centre. The guys there are so good and professional and get the job done without a fuss.

The best thing is, that even though it’s 100% automated and I have a massive range of products that I can set the prices for, it only cost me $99 to set up. When you think of it like that, it’s good value. I also got a free credit of £100 to use with Google Adwords, a free traffic blazer, which submits the site effectively to all the most popular search engines, and a whole host of other benefits that I have yet to get to grips with.

On a different score, I have been creating websites for a while. They are simple, nothing amazing that is going to set the world wide web on fire, but are informative, aesthetically pleasing, effective, and easy to use. I haven’t got a clue about programming languages, php, asp, etc. but I am wanting to learn as I have a killer idea for a website that will make money while I sleep, so for the past year or so, I’ve been looking for a partner who can program, but some have been slow on the uptake.

I digress. I have a few websites that I have built and have been running for a while now. I’m currently getting about 700 visits per month to one of them, Matt Cardy Specialist Cars , but my enquiry rate is slow. I’m not surprised really. The fact is, I sell left hand drive cars to the UK market, which is right hand drive. Why? Because my market is to those people who are moving to, or live in continental Europe. It’s also slow because I sell top notch, high end cars, which I import and export all over the World.

So, if you’ve seen the site, you’ll know it’s white, clean, uncluttered and classy. I didn’t ever want to put an advert on it. Never did I want to do that. However, yesterday, I did. I succumbed so to my own pressure and added some adverts to just a few of the pages. I had signed up with Google’s AdSense. Basically, they put small adverts on your site that are tailored to the text you have on your pages. They are relatively unobtrusive and subtle, without being too cluttering.

Bearing in mind I put these on there yesterday, I signed into Google AdSense to obtain a further advert for a site I’m perfecting, and I saw the following.

Ok, so it’s only 51 cents, but within about 2-3 hours of putting up the ads on my site, I have earned 51 cents! I was so excited when I saw it because yes, it’s change, but in a year what do you think I’m going to earn from it? Well, guess all you want, but I’m going to blog it here, so you can see. I’m going to post it every month, so you can see what I’m earning and what I’m not. Remember, this is an experiment, so I’m going to show my results to you, so if you stick with me, in a year you’ll see what I have earned from it.

Of course, it’s not going to stop there. My current income streams are as follows:

My Blog– I have Google AdSense linked to it.

Circus-Media.com – Making profit for selling domains, hosting etc.

Matt Cardy Specialist Cars – Selling Cars and has Google AdSense on a few pages.

Top Ten Online – Not complete, In the process of completing, but have AdSense on it also.

Matt Cardy Web Design (I’ll be changing this site this weekend to accommodate my new special offer which gives you a 3-5 page website of your own, for free. Yes, free.)

So from spending a little over $99 and applying myself for the time it took to build the above sites, update them and implement them, which I have previously done, I’ve made 51 Cents.

Remember, a business is about making money. To make money, you have to work hard, be smart and trial and error. There isn’t some pain in the ass boss hanging over my shoulder all day paying me for my time. I don’t get paid every month, I don’t have a regular income, I am doing this for my own results. Therefore, I have to get to a point where I can pay myself per month. That means building my business from the ground up.

In fact, I’m in a hole. I’m still $98.49 in the hole. I have to make that back before I make a profit. From a business point of view, I’m in a good position. A lot of people starting out in business take out massive loans of $20,000 upwards to buy equipment, tools, etc. They have rent to pay on their premises, they have decoration to do, implement an advertising budget, put up signage on their store, stock the store, and work at it day and night to make it work. Above all, they have to convince the bank that they can pay back the loan.

I have a long way to go. I have to sustain myself and my family. Thing is, I have no shop to maintain, no building, no stock, no bank manager breathing down my neck and no loan. I owe myself $99 which is nothing in the grand scheme of things. I work from home and I work on my own time. I am committed and know where I want to be. I have goals, I have dreams.

Next time I post an update, I’ll set some goals. Until then, I have work to do.

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 22:30:00 +0000

This isn't the first blog I've ever had. This is the fourth. My others are still active and I very much enjoy writing my personal thoughts, feelings and basically just shit I think of.

Basically, the purpose for this blog is to document my life from now on.

My title, 'This is what my life has come to' rather than sounding quite negative, is a positive one. I'm normally quite a positive person and in writing down my thoughts and feelings, my positivity shows most of the time. In reading back my posts, sometimes I cringe and sometimes I am astounded that I actually wrote what I was reading.

I'm loathed to say that this blog is purely documenting my business life, as my plan is that it's going to be a lot different, with little bits of other stuff thrown in. Ok, yes, while it is going to be centred around the fact that I am entering a new domain for the first time in my life, I am not going to use this blog for some commercial interest and therefore use language to that effect. Not going to happen. Why not?

First of all, I'm not a corporate machine. I don't like the corporate machine and although yes, there are a lot of people that follow the guys in suits, I'm not one of them. I did actually get up out of bed one morning, pull on my jeans and thought to myself, 'wouldn't it be nice to get dressed up in a suit to go to work'.... So then I got myself a job where I looked like a penguin, in the hot summer sun in a suit. What an idiot I was.

Frankly, wearing a suit I like. I have a tailored suit that I paid good money for and I like wearing it and I like the way people treat me when I wear it. Thing is, I'm not going to wear it every day. I refuse to and I don't need to. I wore a suit for a full 6 months and hated it. So I went back and got myself a job where I could be comfortable in my Jeans and T-shirt again. I was a lot happier. Since then I've worn my suit literally five or six times.

The job I got then was a car salesman for an internet car retailer. It was the most fun job I ever had. So that's what I've done ever since. Most recently for myself and through a few trials and tribulations, I'm still here to tell the tale.

The internet is something that I have been interested in since I first had an opportunity to use it. Back in 1999, when the dot com boom had been and somewhat gone, some would say, I tried to jump on the bandwagon. And failed. Without really getting my teeth into the internet and what it was capable of, by doing traditional business with a Nightclub, the owner decided to rip me off and everything that was set up with him and his club, I basically lost everything I had. Shit happens. Boo hoo.

Since then, I have learned to create websites, had two other businesses, one that I still run and about 7 jobs, one of which started my car sales career. I advertise myself as an internet car retail expert, a broadcaster, a marketeer and a Website designer. Yes, I can sell cars. Yes, I have been a radio presenter. Yes, I can build websites, very simple html sites, but they look nice and are somewhat effective, with the experience I have had. But marketing. I thought marketing was something that intelligent people who didn't do a lot for a shit load of money, sold to idiots. It's actually a little more complicated than that and I learned how to do it effectively in a traditional sense of the word.

Internet marketing is a whole new kettle of fish. I'm just learning. There is a lot to learn and is a massive business. In the name of getting your website seen by a fraction of the millions of users across the world, it's a chore. You have to know your SEO's from your PHP's and all sorts of things that I really have no clue about. I'm learning though. It's going to take me some time,. even though I am a lot more web-savvy than a lot of others I know.

I'm basically experimenting. I'm about to link up my site with AdSense, and I have about 30 affiliate schemes all waiting a raring to go. I'm getting a nice amount of visitors to my site, but I've earned absolutely sod all out of them. This is the point where I'm going to turn it all around.

I'm going to document here, how easy or indeed how hard it is to make money from the internet.

Call it an exercise, call it a bit of fun, call it what you want.

There are hundreds of people on the web that are promising you that you can make $47632 per day if you just follow their techniques. Yes, I want a bit of that! I get excited and start my sign up process, with my spam email account, created for signing up to things - yes, I get 1000 spam emails per week.... fun. NOT. Until I find that I'm not going to have to pay $30,000, nor am I going to have to pay $5000, I have to pay $349!! That's all, just $349!!!

But I don't have $349 in disposable income.

Yes, I'm serious about my future. I want my kids to get a bloody good education, I want to give them a nice chunk of cash when I fall off this mortal coil. I want to build a house, I want to buy my wife a nice car and I want a Ferrari.

I have goals. I have time. I have the inclination. At the moment, I'm learning how to become the next internet millionaire. That's not necessarily my goal. I just want to make enough money to feel my family, to have a nice house, to buy my kids a good education and to live happily and have fun.

Bottom line is that I'm a lazy bastard. I want to work, I'm a self confessed workaholic. I've spent the past year working hard, hard, with very little reward. That's what you do when you run your own business. In the early days I was broke, totally skint with no money and wondering if I was going to be lucky enough to eat during the day. I used to go down to the store with little more than a few dollars and buy pasta because it was the cheapest thing I could find. I ate pasta, and pasta only for 3 weeks straight. I have a family now and they are never going to go through what I have.

So I have the motivation. I have the inclination. I have the get up and go to do this. So I will. I've got some ideas, but I am yet to put them into practise. In fact, other than my websites, which I will show here later, not quite yet, I have a very low income.

This is an experiment to see if I am able to get to where I want to be in a relatively small amount of time, with a small amount of knowledge, and an almost non-existent budget. Everything I do will be documented here, so those of you who are interested, you may track my progress, you may laugh at me in the process and if you would like to offer advice at times, you go right ahead.

I must warn you about a couple of things first. Before you start commenting on things, I need to set a few ground rules.

10 Things you need to know about me...

1. I am who I am and I don't suffer fools gladly.
2. I say what I think and I shoot from the hip.
3. I treat people the way that I wish to be treated.
4. I like to have a laugh and have a sense of humor / humour. I can also laugh at myself.
5. I like to have discussions, not slagging matches.
6. I love my family and don't wish to hear anything bad said about them.
7. Say what you want about me and I'll have some choice words for you. If I hear it, you will too.
8. I swear a lot. If you don't like it, don't read my blog.
9. I'm not religious in any way shape or form, so please refrain from talking about it here.
10. I'm not a freeloader and I don't put up with freeloaders. I help people that want to help themselves.

10 Rules to adhere to...

1. I'm not arrogant, I hate arrogance and I will not put up with arrogant people.
2. If I ignore you, I might not have a reply for you at that time. I might do another time.
3. I have an opinion, you might get it without asking for it.
4. If you are going to disrespect someone on my blog, don't post it, be big enough to walk away from it.
5. I reserve the right to disrespect you if you disrespect me.
6. If you don't like what I say, that's fine, have the decency to say it in a respectful way.
7. Be freindly. If you can't be friendly, then please go and don't come back.
8. I'm a human being, just like you. I'm approachable. If you have a question, ask it.
9. The views and opinions contained within this blog are my own.
10. Don't be intimidated by these rules, I'm being harsh because I wont put up with assholes.

I hope you get something from my experiences and enjoy my blog. Even if it is just going to be for entertainment.