Firefox 3.5 is out

Firefox 3.5 was released by the Mozilla Foundation. It took about a year for the upgrade to be completed. I got it installed on 1 computer so far. On a first look it is not that much different, but once you start reading up on the details it shows that there are quite a few improvements.

The main thing I have noticed so far is the improved performance. I still have to do a little more testing, but the first impression seems to confirm the improved performance. Other new things are a new privacy mode that allows you to remove all the traces of where you have been on the Internet from your local computer (not the Internet). Other features are more under the hood and less visible.

Visit the Firefox homepage, read the release notes and download it.

Best Google Adsense Placements in Thesis for Wordpress

I did move a website of mine from an unsupported content management system to Wordpress and then used Thesis for Wordpress as the Theme or Framework for the site. The site is making a good chunk of money from Google Adsense and so I was very concerned about how that move would turn out. My concerns seemed to be justified, because my Adsense income dropped by 75% right out of the box and I almost feared I would have to go back to the old CMS.

So, I started experimenting with the different Adsense placements within Thesis and it is maybe too early to call it a complete success, but I think I found the best working combination of Google Adsense ads within Thesis. I am also having a newsletter form (through aWeber) setup and as a result from that move the signups have grown from 1-2 per week to about 3-4 per day.

So, for starters I am using an Adsense Plugin for Wordpress called “Easy Adsenser” which works quite good and is frequently updated by the developer. I am also using a normal ad rotation software to rotate ads in different locations. “Easy Adsenser” has its strength of placing ads within the postings, while my normal ad rotation software works solid in the sidebars.

Below is a screenshot of how I have placed the Adsense ad blocks and where the sign up form for the newsletter is. I have been running this for a few days and it seems like this is a good working solution for me.

Now that the newsletter signups are taking off, I really have to get into gear to provide content and to eventually monetize it properly. I do not have much knowledge about what the best approach for that is and so I will have to do lots of research. If you know a good source about how to monetize a newsletter best, please post a comment. Thank you.

Internet Marketing Update

In December and January I did setup a spreadsheet with my goals for 2009. I did plan to concentrate on only a few websites of mine and to let the other ones go onto auto-pilot. Goal was (is) to streamline the few resources I really have to optimize results and therefore increase my online income. The spreadsheet is there to help me to stay on track and to keep track of my progress.

The first quarter of 2009 was very different than expected. I sold 2 websites for a total of roughly $35K. Both sales were unexpected, but overall I think it was a good move. I am flush with cash accordingly, but of course lost some recurring income accordingly. I have been struggling in rebuilding that income. Main reason because I am still working to get into the Payday niche. This is one of the most competitive niches to enter and I can admit it is extremely difficult. I am doing PPC and SEO and so I am draining quite some cash into this. To a certain point I thought it (the problem of no conversions) was my API integration with the network I am using, but as I go I am learning a lot about this industry and its customers and once all software problems were solved, I ran into the “normal” PPC problems one will experience when entering this niche. So, I lost some money already, but I am not giving up that easily. I have collected a lot of data and I am working on using that data for better results. I still expect this to be a money pit for a while.

Anyway – 2 of my other websites were running on a non-supported software called Evo-Articles. Great software, but the guys who wrote it and marketed it probably got into disagreement on things and the company is dissolved and the software not updated. I have been able to move 2 of my sites from this unsupported software to Wordpress – a blogging and CMS software with a large following and great support. The moves were hard working as I had to match the databases against each other, but it worked out good. I was even able to maintain the link structure which is awesome from an SEO perspective. I still have 4 websites to migrate, but overall the 2 main ones are done. One of the websites I migrated made good income from Google Adsense. That income dropped down really since the migration and I have been doing a lot of Adsense testing. Interesting findings that I will write about in a different article.

Last year I invested into a developer license for the Revolution Themes for Wordpress – quite a chunk of money. That investment kind of vaporized when Brian Gardner decided to change things around. There is still support for the product, but overall development has shifted away. That sucks. So, I bought a Thesis developer license. Thesis is more a Theme Framework for Wordpress and (knock on wood) highly supported. The framework allows you easily change layout and design and to customize the look of your website. At first I had some problems using it, but now I am on my 3rd site with it and I just love it. Once you invest a little more time to work with it, it really is easy to use. If you do not know Thesis for Wordpress – check it out.

The Biggest Problem of unsuccessful People

Life has many secrets for success and often hints for failure, but from my experience when talking to losers and seeing how they go through life, I always see ONE BIG, RECURRING Problem:

The Inability to make decisions and to stick to the decisions made

People who are not able to make decisions will always question the one single decision they just made. They doubt they made the right decision and they change their mind over and over again. The result? Failure! Why? Because they never ever have the will power to stick to a decision and to pull through on it. Example: Starting a business? What if I fail? I got this great idea for a product, but what if nobody wants it?! These and other thoughts influence the decision making process and in the end no business will be started, because there is always another “if” that waters down the initial decision to start a business.

Now, starting a business is a bigger thing in life to decide on, but you can see the same problem with smaller things in life already. Know somebody who changes clothes 5 or 6 times before making a decision of what to wear for a dinner with friends?! You can be sure that even the last chosen outfit would have been changed again if there would have been more time before going out. You can mark that person as a loser. Look for patterns. Doing the same with right before a dinner with somebody when dating is a little different. I am more referring to the more casual dinner or party. Overall, I don’t mean this in a bad way, not everyone is cut out to make it big in life, but look for more things and you can tell if you are dealing with someone who is eventually cut out to make it big and to be successful. Another example: Food. You are sitting in a restaurant reading the menu. You have been to that restaurant a dozen of times already. You know the menu inside out. But over and over again you are the last person to decide for a dish. Even when the waiter takes the orders of your friends, you switch your choice back and forth at least a couple time and only when everyone else’s order is down you finally decide (last second, you are out of time …). You are a loser and you will never make it big in life. This are 2 very small samples, but once you know what to look for, you can identify more of these issues easily. And remember, I do not mean the occasional indecisive moment – we all have those. I mean the recurring pattern. Need more hints? Buying clothes and then return them a day later? Bingo. Not sure what movie to watch? You bet. Can’t figure out where to go for vacationing? Yes, …

So, carry this over into business life and you know who not to pick as someone you want to have as a business partner. Or if you see yourself in what I describe above, you need to do a lot of work on your personality to overcome this limitation. This is not something written in stone, we all can change. But it requires a lot of character and will power to overcome these obstacles. Once you lose your fear of making a decision life is so much easier. Who cares if you made the wrong decision? Rather think, what if I made the right decision and suddenly you are super successful?! Failure is just another hint to try again and again. We learn from those mistakes. If you do not make mistakes, because you avoided the situation altogether by not making a decision, you cannot learn from it and you will never advance.

Wordpress Landing Pages – The Easy Way

I just purchased my copy of the Affiliate Theme Package for Wordpress.  Affiliate Theme is a brandnew Wordpress Theme package specifically designed for affiliate marketing. With over 30 pre-made backgrounds and 30 pre-made Wordpress headers, and the ability to change every tiny little piece of the look and feel of the Wordpress theme with a simple click, you can create uniquely branded Wordpress sites in just a few MINUTES!

Affiliate Theme is made by the guys from Unique Blog Designs. The new affiliate theme package for Wordpress is a step away from a single design for a single domain, but rather a set of tools to build affiliate websites with Wordpress within minutes. The package comes with a large set of options where you can change design pieces one by one so that no one of your websites looks alike. But it does not stop here. Unlike many other Wordpress Themes that  you can buy, this large package comes with a huge set of Video Tutorials and resources (including a support forum) so that you can really get a lot from this small investment. Included are lifetime updates + depending on the package you buy monthly design or header updates.

I will probably use the Affiliate Theme Wordpress Package on 2 sites initially and then based upon the success spread it out. For $197 it is a small investment that is easily made back if it is as successful as it looks like. I’ll keep you posted.

Some Random Thoughts …

The first quarter of 2009 is almost completed. It is mid-March and I am amazed how fast time is flying. The first 8 weeks of the year have been extremely interesting to me. I saw a few successes and I am also seeing some frustrations growing on my side – mainly with how difficult it has gotten to drive traffic to my websites via SEO. Google really has gotten a good grip on things and made it hard for webmasters. I can understand their approach, but it also removes the ability for average webmasters to rank in their specific niches, while the really large players can take over a market segment and dominate it. Difficult for a new site to rank and I might have to use shortcuts, too (i.e. buying existing sites that already rank). Sure, some of the low end content put out by sleezy affiliates that don’t care about quality is kept out of the index, but it also shuts out quality content provided by smaller players. Oh well – I got to work harder I guess.

Anyway – Now that I am having a better overview of my finances with 2 large website sales under my belt and some smaller acquisitions done as well, I can better plan for the year. I will need to upgrade my hard drive storage at home and are thinking about getting one of these Western Digital 2TB My Book Studio Edition II Hard Drive. I usually order hardware like this from Newegg, but in this case Amazon has the better deal (~$30 lower pricing) + they have the better return policy. This unit allows to mirror the 2 drives and therefore give me redundancy in case of a drive failure. And even though it is targeted towards MAC users, it works under Windows just fine.

I might not attend any conferences until the end of the year, but maybe plan to attend Affiliate Summit 2010 in early January instead. I might consider PPC Summit in Los Angeles again, but not sure if that will work with my schedule. I will decide on that during summer. I attended PPC Summit last year and really enjoyed the event. Tons of knowledge. Good stuff. Overall I am delaying a decision based on the economy. Rather than spending money on travel, I’d rather invest it into the business. The knowledge gain and networking would do a similar job, but at a higher price. For now at least I hold off, but if things go really well I might scrap that and travel.

My current laptop is coming up for replacement this year (I swap hardware every 3 years) and I hope I can stretch it until Windows 7 has been released by Microsoft. So, I will probably be in the market for that around October/November. I will not buy a Dell for the first time in many years due to their ugly designs. Why do business laptops have to be so ugly? I am considering a Sony laptop instead. It will cost me a little more, but I have heard good things about their laptops. I want a powerful, but lightweight laptop with at least a 15” screen. The new E series from Dell is just plain ugly. A friend recommended ASUS laptops. Have to check into that.

In an earlier posting I wrote about possibly being scammed by a seller of a website. I increased the pressure and added legal consequences to the mix and seem to have gotten what I was asking for the entire time. Still checking. But in general – why does this have to be such a hassle? If you sell a website and data, then deliver properly. Don’t mess around with other people. It might come back and hurt you really bad.

I am currently working in a new niche on Google Adwords and I am not seeing sufficient conversions yet, but I am seeing great success with my ads, keywords and the quality score. The campaign started off with a QS of 8 (QS=Great) and the CTRs are between 4% and 20% (consistently). I guess by tomorrow I can slowly reduce my bids without losing rankings for my ads. I still need to work on my landing page to turn visitors into buyers. Hopefully conversions will go up and make this a success. The other good news about this is that this is a brand-new Google Adwords account and that this campaign with high CTRs and great quality scores will help to build up a good account history.

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