Well, after a long talk with my corporate boss, who btw is a great great man to work for. I’ve decided my corporate career is close to being over. Its the right time for me and for the company. So in the next few months me and my family will be going through a major change, and I see nothing but positive things happening. We will be losing some income and insurance, but I fully expect to make up that income within 6 months of being a Full Time Affiliate. Honestly, I think 99.99999% of people would have left a corporate job years ago if they were in my position. But I have no regrets, and I think if I keep working 3 jobs then I’ll find myself in an early grave

Anyway, its late so I’m going to keep this post short for a change. I’m excited and a little scared about what will happen in the coming months. But I have time to prepare, and if I’ve learned one thing from being a Poker Affiliate, Motivation is the key to success. Nothing is more motivating than being a failure, so I have 7 people (wife and 6 kids) that are looking to me to keep things going. Of course you never know what the future will bring, but I’m confident that everything happens for a reason.

So wish me luck and let’s finish 2010 strong!!!

Also, this is one of my favorite motivational videos, enjoy;

I went ahead and decided to check out his fan page which had 6 cover songs he recorded. I WAS BLOWN AWAY! This guy has real talent! So if you have a few minutes, and wanna hear some good stuff, check out his page – Matt’s Music and please share with your friends! I spoke with Matt this morning and he will be posting some original tracks soon, so check back! Funny how its always the “quiet ones” that surprise you with their talent.

I dunno about you, but I get bored super easy and I have to keep things fresh in order for me to stay interested. For the last 4-5 years being a Poker Affiliate has been fun, exciting, and sometimes even stressful. Those are the good parts of being a poker affiliate. The bad part is the constant changes by Poker Rooms, roller coaster commissions, and of course the constant UIGEA battles raging in courtrooms. As with any business, the thought of having all your income tied to one customer, or in my case one industry (poker) can be scary and really is just a silly risk that will eventually bit you in the a$s. So since the start of 2010 we have been researching new markets to jump into, and I think we have found a few.

Finding New Markets

You can use google to easily find a million new markets to jump into. The problem is finding our which ones you can compete in and which ones will make you the most money. the wild card in all this is; You have to have some kind (even just a little) interest int he market. Without the passion to drive you, money is the only motivator, and that leads to bad things. Laziness, complacency, lack of motivation, lack of knowledge, etc.

Most reader of this site know last year we jumped head first into a new market with a series of sites centered around the books and movies “Twilight”. This market was white hot a year ago, and with 3 more movies coming out, and a world wide cult following it will continue to enjoy success as long as the site is live. I wish I could take credit for the success of the sites, but honestly it was just a shot in the dark. At the time all I knew was gaming, and even with 10k Visits a day we we not monetizing the site well. Thankfully after a learning curve I because decent at Adsense, Ebay, amazon, CJ.com, etc. So the sites made money and lots of it.

So some things just happen to go right with the twilight sites, and that was my first venture into a new non gaming market. We have since sold all the twilight sites, except for 1 which is our largest non gaming property now. While our primary income still comes form Gaming (Poker) with all the changes to US law, deposit issues, funding issues, etc – We made the decision we have to diversify ourselves and FAST!

After some research, I had it narrowed down to a few new markets, non I was passionate about really, so I knew I needed to keep looking. I finally realized my new big project has been staring me in the face for the last 8-10 months. Every 3 week I was paying $50 to watch the next big UFC event. every weekend I was catching old UFC fights on Spike TV. I’m a serious UFC addict! If I was younger (and tougher) I swear I would try and be an MMA fighter Anyway, so I started really looking at the UFC Market. At first glance the SERPS told me there is some very old very established UFC/MMA websites.

Jumping into a new market

My buddy Dealer Dan write a great article on building mini sites and taking advantages of opportunities here: Time Limited Niches – Now I don’t want to rehash everything he has already said. But READ that article ASAP! Just like the poker market, non gaming markets work pretty much the same. You need:

• A Nice Domain
• Write Quality Content
• Get some bank links
• Add more content
• Keep up with current events (more below)

The list item there has a lot of old school webmasters confused it seems. Before you could be the first in a niche, get the most links, or have an exact match domain and sit confidently atop the SERPS’s – With all the recent changes to Google, current events, live search, social media, and keeping fresh content are now a nice formula for ranking well. Keeping your site current will keep you a step ahead of the older more established websites, you are actually offering something people are actively searching for.

Two new Projects we are working on

I’m mainly known as a “Rakeback” affiliate by a lot of the webmaster I know, but most of the actual Poker Rooms that knwo me, they know I’m a CPA guys whenever possible for most new sites. I’m not going to get into the age old Rakeback Debate, but as a small business owner I want to be diverse as possible and I’m always looking for ways to extend our reach. So here is a couple of my most recent projects:

Internet Poker Bonus – This is reallly my wife’s websites and so far she is doing very well. Nice domain name, nice template

UFC Betting – I am super addicted to UFC stuff, my boys and I have even bought a bunch of boxing gear, safety equipment, training videos, etc – We don’t plan on becoming MMS fighters, but its a great way to stay in shape! We have a very nice custom design for this site almost ready, and we plan on this being a big site. Within in the first 10 days of the site being live, we had over 150 visits and even made some money. So this seems like a great market where our experience and SEO knowledge will allow us to compete quickly.

Poker Affiliate Tips

As promised, I knwo this post is a little boring so I’m goign to share a few good Poker Affiliate Marketing tips. Use these tips to make your self some money because I knwo it works!

1. Look Past the US Market – I’m an American born and breed, but I have so little faith in our government to regulate or handle anything without screwing it up so even if by some miracle we ever do regulate gaming, it may be worse than we could ever imagine. Over the last 2 years we have invested a lot of money into building sites and translating websites into various languages. We use a great pro translation firm and these guys do top notch work. Translating and targeting new markets has made the difference between making ok money in this industry, to buying my dream car and being able to afford to buy my kids a new car. So don’t feel trapped by the US market, be ready for w/e the world throws at you by “going global”

2. Do not try and be the next pokerlistings.com – Not because you shouldn’t strive to be a dominate force int he industry, but because you do NOT HAVE to be the next pokerlisting. All too often I see people wanting to emulate what PL has done, and simply put you can do better than that. If you want to compete in the poker industry, find some original way to build your client base. Even if that just means writing great content that doesn’t sound like its form a commercial. Remember, its not how much traffic you havem its what you do with it. If you have traffic, you can make money simple as that.

3. Draw your own conclusions – The first thought that pops in my mind as I write this is: Do not believe everything you hear on a Affiliate Forum or Webmaster Forum. I’m positive that people intentionally mis-lead people quite often, and worst of all people are all too ready to except what they hear on a forum or on a blog as the gospel. DO YOUR OWN WORK! don’t rely on me to tell you about SEO or Marketing, get out there and find out for yourself and then use that knowledge to make money. While other people are debating on a forum all day, you can be out gaining valuable information which will help you rank better, rank faster, and make more money.

Ok so that’s it for today. Sorry if this post was sorta boring but posting here helps me organize some of the random thoughts that swirl around in my brain.

Avoid Miscommunications

The biggest problems I’ve had with designers all came from miscommunications. To avoid these problems, I recommend that you outline the entire job/payment/details BEFORE you start working with any designer. Here are a few items I would make sure to discuss with the designer before we started (especially if the designer was someone I hadn’t worked with before):

The Price

The price is the topic that usually causes the most problems if it isn’t determined before hand. Before you get started with the designer you should determine an exact price for the project, and also determine exactly what you will get for that price.

For example, if you are having your designer code you a little table that will be used as a “top-list” and includes mini graphics for each poker room’s logo, make sure that he knows you expect to receive mini graphics for every site you plan to promote. Same goes for any USA/non-USA graphics, country flags, additional graphics for sub-pages that weren’t discussed up front, and any other potential “surprises”. If you can agree on a list of work for a fixed price there will be less chance of a dispute down the road.

Who Codes?

Make sure you are clear with the designer about who will get the template coded (if you are expecting a .php file but receive a .psd instead, that is an extra step and more money you have to spend before having a working template).

Payment Schedule

Work out a payment schedule. With my current designer I send all the money up front because we’ve worked together for a while and he’s done countless jobs for me. However, if I were working with a new designer I would prefer to send only a portion up front with the rest of the money being sent upon completion.

Future Edits

Make sure you discuss future edits with your designer. For example, if you change your room rankings down the road and need a few new logos. Most designers don’t have a problem sending a few small items over for free, especially if you’re a frequent customer, but if he’s going to charge you extra it’s good to know.

Get the Design YOU Want

There are a lot of super talented designers out there who are insanely creative, but when it comes down to it sometimes you need to rein in the ropes. This is your site, and no matter how many cool graphics and features he wants to add on, you need to make sure the site primarily accomplishes your goals (which should be to load fast, look clean, and convert well).

I’ve found that you can avoid a lot of these problems by sending your designer a simple Paint image that is a basic outline of the template, and then have him make it look good. This will put a little bit of restraint on him and make sure there is no WTF? moment when you receive the first version of the design.

This article was provided by Mike from BestPokerSites.org, which lists the best poker sites to win money as well as poker game toplists.

This is not a “brag” post

Now I want to be very clear, this is NOT a brag post! Life is good sure, but there is a downside to online marketing and working online. Just like any other job, there is real grunt work that must be done, and unlike 9-5 jobs you are never assured of a paycheck that is a set amount. So like I said above, 2010 started very good, then I hit a slump and I wasn’t sure why. Not just a slump of income, it stayed pretty steady, but it was a creative slump and a lack of new ideas. I didn’t get into this business because I wanted to do what Poker News or CardChat was doing, I wanted to do something new and better. At some point this year I realized my sites were not doing anything special. That depressed me a little bit, I want to be different and I want to make money. Sometimes those two ideas don’t jive lol.

The Downside of working online

Sitting in front of a computer for extended periods – Int he past 4 years, I’ve put on the weight! Not just a little, a lot! The Wife and I have started eating right and exercising thankfully and I’m slowly losing weight! But sitting all day hurts your body, back, and your mind. I’ve started taking my laptop outside and getting fresh air while I work. If you have a coffee shop with wifi, take your laptop (or even a notepad) and do some work there.

Working online has a lot of distractions - Ever been on Facebook? I’ve found if I’m not careful I’ll spend WASTE a ton of time checking out websites which slows me down from working. FB, Twitter, your favorite chat forums (PAL), skype (OMG if I had a penny for every minute I’ve spent chatting about random stuff on skype I’d be a bazillionaire. Now there is cool apps you can use to ban or block yourself from websites which can be a distraction, but I think if you have any chance of being your own boss and running a company, then you should have the self discipline to just focus on what you need to do.

Too Much Brainstorming – Man-o-Man! I’m the world’s best “idea man” but to run a successful business you need to be better at executing ideas and following them to fruition. As a marketer, we have to come up with new innovative ideas for promos, bonuses, ways to get new traffic, ways to convert traffic, etc. We also get caught up in TOO many projects and not enough time. A great example is a site I just bought. I bought PKR Poker Rakeback from a friend on PAL. I spent two weeks negotiating for the domain and after I bought it, I realized I spent over $6,000 in 2010 on domains, websites, and affiliate accounts and each time I was looking too far ahead to my next purchase or project. We also bought:

• Internet Poker Bonus (My wife’s new project )
• Winning Poker (Mine and Eric’s new Site)
• Poker News Online – Ugh not sure why lol
• My Poker Corner – Partnering with Marius – Soon to be dominating the SERP’s

Thankfully my wife and business partner said “Stop, lets work on something until we reach a specific goal” – Which obviously is great advice and something I’m smart enough to know. But I get so excited about my new ideas, there is such a huge rush when you have an idea and it works. Its addictive and destructive unless you practice good follow through!

Lack of social interaction – At my old 9-5 job, I saw and dealt whit people daily with the same environment as mine. They generally knew what my job was and I knew what their job was. In the world of online businesses, we do not have that easy access “Tribe” like most people have. Our peers can be contacted through blogs, IM’s, emails, etc but unless you are super fortunate, you rarely see these people daily or face to face. So that creates a somewhat isolated environment which can become weird after a while. Think about how many people as you “what do you do for a living” – then the blank stares or constant questions from people once you try and explain it to them.

So as you can see by the small list above (and yes I could go on) that working and “living” online has serious obstacles which have to be dealt with and overcome on a daily basis. There are a ton of positive things I can list out about this job life but I bet you can guess a few of them. But the bottom line is that this is a job and one that has to be taken seriously. So many people with great ideas and even great business models do not make it more than one year doing this. IMO its mainly because when they do not see results happen right away, they get discouraged and go back to the 9-5 they tried so desperately to leave.

Finally, I ask again “How is 2010 treating you” – Are you having some ups and downs? Are you not finishing your projects or following through on your ideas? If you are like me, you have room to improve on this, and following trough should be our goals. One thing is for sure, regardless of the challenges we face, we have a life only a handful of people will ever understand, or be able to experience, so we are the lucky few.

The last month has been a true test of my determination and motivation. For the last few years I have worked and worked trying to make a better life for my family. 2010 from a business perspective started out really nice and I’m on track to make more money than I ever dreamed of making. But for some reason I have just been so drained and tired lately. My health has been suffering and I just have been off balance so to speak. So I made the decision to change my schedule a bit and I’ve been working hard on keeping a more “normal” schedule. I’ve also started working out on a regular schedule and that has really helped. So, ya know you just have to keep your life in balance and that is something I have been struggling with.

My Buddy Shane

After a great time in Tunica a couple weekends ago where I final tabled two tournament and won one of them, and on the way home I found out some shocking news. My old buddy Shane Morton has a brain aneurysm. He is only 33 and had really been working on moving his life into a new direction. He married the love of his life Daphne and for the first time in years I knew he was truly finding happiness. Having known Shane since we were in grade school, I could tell by the sparkle in his eye when he spoke about his wife “Daphne” that he was truly happy and in love.

Ya know we all think there is time to do the things we want, and to say the things we want to say. But life has a funny way of showing us the error of our ways. I have not seen Shane in a couple years, but I always figured one day we would have time to catch up, and I would have a chance to tell him how one night he changed my life (I’ll post about that another time). Sadly I never got that chance, but it will provide me with a powerful lesson, one mistake which I hope I never make again.

My buddy Shane died on April 1st leaving us way too soon. We had his memorial yesterday and it was amazing seeing all the people that turned out. People who had not seen him in several years. Shane touched so many lives and was loved by everyone. He had faults just like we all do, but we was constantly working on making himself better. WE all can learn something from someone who faces test after test and keeps on pushing. Shane wasn’t a business man, wasn’t a guru, and was never a millionaire. What he was is a genuine person who made everyone around him feel important.

A wise man once said “Some people are rich, and some people are wealthy” – Shane was wealthy. Most important of all, Shane made people feel loved.

Although nothing can be said or done to take the pain away from his family, I felt the need to help and do what I could do. Shane and his wife have been going to college and working hard like most everyone does. With Shane gone I knew they would need some help and support. So I’ve been working with my friends in the Poker Industry to raise some funds to help them get through this difficult time. I have been amazed and impressed by the willingness of strangers to help strangers in times of need, and this has been no exception. Many people think that the world of poker or gaming is full of degenerates willing to gamble their lives away, once again those people have been proved wrong.

Several webmasters and affiliates have been auctioning off old websites and domains and donating a percentage of the sales to Shane’s family. A couple webmasters have just made outright donations. To help a friend is cool, to help strangers is something special. I want to thank all the special people who are helping me with this fund raising. You guys are a very special bunch of people and I will never forget your generosity!

Below is a list webmasters who have helped raise funds for Daphne and her children. She has not asked for anything and that is what makes giving so sweet.Please take a minute to visit these websites as there is a good mix of information, special bonuses, and all these sites are 100% trustworthy and being run by special people.

• Suited Spades.com – Owned by Matt Geer
• Poker Marketing Star – Kevin M
• Poker Affiliate Bible.com – Dealer Dan
• The Rakeback Mafia – Gary
• Real Money Gambling Online – Casino Kev
• Rake Reduction - The Crew
• Online Poker Bonus – The Bonus Crew
• Felt Poker Forum – Members of the coolest Poker Forum ever!

One final note; If you are reading this and want to make even a small donation, please contact me at Randy@randylayman.com

If you ever wondered about the perks of a sub-affiliate or internet marketer, a friend of mine sent a video of a cool party thrown by Bodog. I feel pretty lame sometimes because for every conference, every WSOP, etc I get invites and free trips offered to me and the crew to all the major conferences… But I’m lame and I never go. Part of it is my new found fear of flying (Thanks American Airlines) and the other part is that I have a big family with 6 kids, hard to find a sitter for a week lol. I have promised to hit Vegas this year and throw a party for some of our Sub-Affiliates, but now that I know more about Vegas Parties, we will probably be better just goign to a Bodog Party

Anyway, if this Video doesn’t make you want to go to a Conference, nothing will.

Projects

Nothing new in the way of projects, I am helping Marius with his MPC website, this site has so much potential and the groundwork is being laid to make it an awesome portal. Check out the new Poker Rakeback section too, will be big we hope!

I did buy some new domains and small websites which my team is building up, I have high hopes for these and we are seeing instant traffic which is the cool thing about exact match domains. The new ones are:

• Poker Rakeback Online – Future Rakeback Site
• Online Rakeback – Coming along nicely – Instant Traffic
• Internet Poker Bonus – Got this domain for a steal! Aged domain with a good history
• Carbon Rakeback – Thanks MJ – Just the domain ranks #5, just wait until I do some SEO and add some content
• Secret Project – LOL, well I think everyone int he poker industry will know about this soon enough, especially since it involves some big players in the biz, super excited about this! Could be my “Million Dollar Idea”

Anyway, like I said short post with nothing awesome to say. Oh for all the webmasters reading this, I made what I’ve been told is a good post over on the SEO website : Affiliate Tips For Making Money

I’ll post some more pics later and probably update this post with the official snowfall and ice stats. We are literally snowed in which is actually pretty cool. The wife and I spend so much time working and driving our kids all over the country that its actually nice to know we will all be here together and ride out the storm. Watching the kids play “snowball” which is really just a bundled up tackle football and just be able to dive into the snow. Man, being a kid is awesome.

This is also a great time for me to devise a strategy to beat my boys at ping pong!!! We bought them a regulation size pingpong table for Xmas and of course they joined the school pingpong team <—- LOL at my tax dollars – Anyway, my kids are good and I’ve never played much. So they have been smacking me around for the last couple weeks. I’ve managed a few wins so far, but I think they just felt sorry for me. I’ve coached these boys at Football, Baseball, etc since they were little and before they had to have real coaches. So I know they are enjoying teaching me, and beating me down. They are even talking non-stop smack.

Anyway, I’ll post pics and such later and I’ll try to post something useful too.

BTW – I figured I would throw in some marketing candy to everyone that reads this blog for info. So do yourself a favor and check this out:

Homework: Figure out how this site makes money, and why it works. Melted Felt – Poker Comedy

2009 was a great year for me personally and in business. I work 12-18 hour days sometimes, I’m sleepy a lot, and according to my kids I’m cranky lol but overall life is good. I have to remind myself how good I have it sometimes. I remember 6 years ago I was thinking making 30k a year was ballin’ lol – Now I dunno how we would survive on that. We have 6 kids and we would just be poor as hell!

Poker Changed My Life

I was one of those guys who say Moneymaker on ESPN and figured if he could do it, I could too. I started playing poker on Paradise Poker and after losing $50 I went super hot and never looked back. Later I needed a new hobby and built a website on Lycos (Tripod) Being the perfectionist I am, I quickly realized a cheap website creator type thing like that wasn’t going to be enough. So I moved on to bigger and better things. Hell I didn’t even make any money during the first year and a half lol. It was fun though and the thought of creating a website various people might visit intrigued me.

Anyway, that is my new big time goal. I have 8 years to make it, and I’m more than 1/4 of the way there. If the start of 2010 is any indication, I should make it with a few years to spare. More than the money, the stability appeals to me more than anything. My brother and sister in-law are both Teachers at our local High school, and they even fo extra things to make money and they still struggle with no end in site. I remember that feeling all too well and I never want to live paycheck to paycheck again.

Its funny, I almost feel arrogant saying something like that out loud. I just don’t ever want to have to worry about money again. Worrying about money sucks. Most couples fight more about money than anything else, including sex! Tons of people I know seem to have given up on their dreams of freedom and stablility. They think staying at the jobs (which most hate) keeps them stable and worst yet they think they don’t have any choices. Sure they may not become internet guru’s but they have lost motivation to even try which is sad.

Anyway, I think I’m rambling now. I have high hoped for this new decade and I just feel lucky. A few years from now people will be saying “If only I got into Internet Marketing a few years ago”. We are the future of Poker, we are bringing a whole new generation of poker players into the market. We actually create a bigger marketing base for ourselves! <0—– It awesome and something most marketers cannot do. We all need to consider ourselves lucky….

Let’s go make some money!

The original article can be found here: 700% Increase in Email Subscriptions

Originally we planned on posting it on Arkansas Gambler, but I thought it was a better fit on my SEO website.

Anyway, you can see the article which is about email marketing here: John Chow Article Re-post

Big thanks to John for posting this for us!