Dealer Dan, pictured here with WWE Superstar Mick Foley, has been in internet marketing since 1996. He likes hugs, long walks on the beach, and making money while wearing his jammy jams. For more information, you can read all 
Welcome to MONDAY! The first day of another awesome work week for everyone, and I am PUMPED.
Thank God It’s Monday again, because I had a lot of #WINS last week, and I’m looking to roll out the momentum this week.
Just a couple of highlights from last week:
WISE FWOM YOUR GWAVE
Back in September 2009, I launched the website CasinoSignupBonus.org. I don’t know why, but I just got REALLY pumped about that site after buying the domain. I invested a lot in it, using my top content writer Ed Scimia, and a ton of hacking and modding to the Dealer Theme. All in all, I invested over $10k into it.
And it all went to hell.
The conversion ratio was great. That was my main focus and it was working out amazingly well – 1 in 3 visitors were converting to an RMP. The only problem was no-one was visiting! The site wasn’t ranking AT ALL, for practically any term.
I tried absolutely everything with this site, and I don’t even want to think about what I invested in it. More articles, non-bonus articles, news section, flash games, link building, SEO consultants, speeding up the site(at one point it was 100/100 in PageSpeed). I even purchased a dedicated server JUST for that site, in case my server was “cursed” or something.
Nothing bloody worked. I was convinced it was penalized, and filed a reinclusion request to no avail. I had completely given up on the site, and the only reason I didn’t move all the content to Casino Answers and 301 it was that I was worried that the domain may be penalized, and that would negatively affect CA.
Last week, I was going through my To Do List, and I noticed I had CasinoSignupBonus on there, with the to do list item: “Figure out what the F%@# to do with this site”.
I decided what the hell – one last try, but let’s go back to basics. I removed a bunch of internal links from the homepage, and optimized the site specifically for “casino signup bonus” rather than a few different terms.
One freaking day later…
It jumped from – I dunno, like 900 – to 3. All because of a few simple changes. Now it’s a case of seeing how the term does visitor wise, and if it works out then focus on revamping the site and maybe actually turning a positive ROI out of it!
Lesson to be learnt is of course the KISS concept – when something’s not working out, always look for the most simple solutions.
To Do List = Done
Months ago, I made the decision not to build any new websites until I had completely caught up on my to do list for my 50 or so websites. I spent a good week going through every site, and just writing up a to do list for each website, and everything I would do on them.
I’ve been good in that regard anyway – the only major websites I’ve built in the last 18 months are Play Roulette and Order of Books – but I wanted to start new sites with a clean slate. That way I don’t have anything “nagging” at me disrupting the work.
After a ton of hard work I’m happy to say I’m all freaking done! From here on out it’s building new websites and writing content for existing websites. Easy streets! Then if something crops up with one of my existing websites I can tackle it IMMEDIATELY.
I know many of you are in the same boat I was – try and take a timeout for a couple of months. Go through every one of your sites, make a list of EVERYTHING that needs done – then start tackling it. Trust me, the clear head I now have is worth it!
Alright, what else do we have to talk about on this wonderful Monday? Well….
Sons First Business
I had talked to my son recently about what he was going to do when he grew up. I explained to him what I did, how I ran my own business etc – just so he realizes I actually WORK, and don’t laze around all day like a bum playing XBox.
Well the next day he was busy with boxes and markers and paper towel, and next thing I know he’s started his own business outside:
Concept is: Pay him $5 to tell him what video games you like.
Kid is genius. Who the hell wants to sit around making crappy lemonade that may not sell? Especially with a corner store 30 seconds away! The least investment possible for this sort of venture means more potential for a positive ROI. A high price point can encourage consumers to pay more because they think they’re getting something of value. And now all those buttertrolls who sit in their parents basement all day playing World of Warcraft actually have someone to talk to!
At the very least, there’s probably more chance of making money from that than there is being a US poker affiliate these days!
Sticky Note Spectacular
Now to the meat of the article – a couple of tips to hopefully help you work better!
First off is the Firefox plugin Internote. This is a really sick add-on, that basically allows you to set up sticky notes for any URL. Ever been browsing one of your websites, saw something out of date or wrong, and thought “I really need to fix that”? That’s what I use Internote for – to make those little reminders.
So every time I visit CSB for example, I’ll see this:
Also very handy if when you post an article, you have to paste it in a template. No longer do you have to create a separate text file with that template – just throw it in a sticky note, and it’ll be right there every time you go to add a new article. Also handy to make notes if you come across a webpage and want to copy concepts from it at a later date!
Finally, there’s a sticky note program I’ve been using for years called Turbonote. It is fantastic, and it sits in my system try and I use it to write lots of notes. It’s highly customizable, and so easy to use.
Actually when I went through the To Do List above, I used it just for that and had something like this:
(Website D was CasinoSignupBonus.org obviously!)
It’s a fantastic program. I’ve always found the best way to work is To Do List, To Do Lists and To Do Lists. Break everything down into multiple to do lists then start chugging away. Turbonote is a program I’ve used since around 2002, and is one of the most essential tools in my day to day life.
They’ve also got a free version so you get to try before you buy.
Trust me on this – it’s an AMAZING program, best sticky note program out there, and will help you a ton once you get used to it.
Finally….
Let’s hand it over to the marketing wizards at Nike to get us #PUMPED for this week:
If you can be even 5% as good a marketer as the Nike marketing division, you’re good to go. You’re an internet marketer, you’re working from home, you’re living the dream. Stop sitting around wasting your time on facebook, forums, twitter, MSN or whatever and stop complaining about how crappy the gambling industry is these days.
Suck it up, adapt, and get WORKIN’!
TGIM!
This article was written on August 8, 2011 however all articles are looked at on a monthly basis and updated to keep them relevant.
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