Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Trying a Different Size Ad Banner

Trying out a different size Amazon contextual ad type. So many to choose from. I will get back to posting interesting things as they happen in my life that I want to share. But for now it's all think about is playing around with Google's and Amazon's tools and creating stuff. I like to learn about new things and computers have been a passion since I bought my first Radio Shack TRS-80 Model II. That was like back in '79 I think? Does anyone remember? I edited this post today, June 1st, 2012, to add this Amazon ad link to this most popular author's books right now. 'Fifty Shades of Grey', a trilogy bundle. I saw an interview on one of those morning shows with the author. Afterward I figured it would be a pretty good read. On the flight to Cancun for relaxing four nights at the Grand Princess Resort, I spotted a woman on the plane with a Kindle Reader reading this book. I wonder if the Kindle can speak the words to you. This thought just came to mind and would be a great way to absorb a good book, just listen to it. I'd get it now and sit down and get into it...

Blog Report to Share With Everyone

Studying more in the Amazon astore area section of their website I was able to easily create a banner ad for people to click on that will take you to my astore. The banner looks innocently like Amazon's own link but embedded in the coding behind the link is my Amazon astore i.d. number. That number associates my account with Amazon so when someone buys something I'll recieve the commission. More on commissions in another post. Here is a jpg screen capture I did using Windows 7 Snippet Tool. It is self descriptive. It's a little hard to read but there's nothing more I can do about that here.
As I continue my research in increasing traffic to my blog and my astore I'll update the report pictures for you to see. If your not already using Blogger you might give it some thought. Because it's a Google product it is going to get the service it needs as far as it being easy to find in anyone's Google search. Google puts a lot of hard work into giving us tools to make use of their product so why not take advantage. We all make money. That's the point I think Google has been trying to get across. Don't let others try and tell you about the internet scams and so forth. Research on your own. There's plenty of data on the web now where anyone can make an informed decision on their own. I'm now into marketing on the web. You should be too. You spend enough time on your computer. Why not take a little time each night or whenever you can and get into this? It took me awhile to figure out but I'm hoping I can help you save some time now. I don't mind sharing my information. We all have everything to gain here. It's called 'networking'. You rememeber the term. That term is used with everything just about everywhere now. Maybe not as much as in the beginning but I feel we are onto another phase in life. Is there a name for this phase? I know people are searching and thinking about it. I am and have been. I can feel it. Can you? Get going, get rich, okay? Ask me any questions, I'll answer to the best of my knowledge. In the mood to buy something? I know a place that ships fast. There are great reviews also. ;)
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Sunday, May 27, 2012

My Amazon Website Store

A light bulb came on this morning in my head. I've had this Amazon affiliate store set up for I don't know how many years now. But, I didn't know what to do with it. Since I've been reading this book, 'The Laptop Millionaire' (shameless plug again) it's all I think about. It hit me to go to Godaddy.com and register a domain for this store. It's only an experiment I figure but who knows. If enough people like it maybe it will catch on. I don't like the green background I gave it initially so I'll have to go to Amazon and find out how to change that. I can't remember when I last played with this store. Why not give it a click and see what you think about. Or, better yet, buy something if you are already an Amazon shopper and looking to buy. I'm an Amazon shopper and I wish I knew someone who was an affiliate, I'd shop through your store and give you the commission. If all my friends and family caught onto this we'd all make money. I've included a widget below. That was easier than I thought. I think I'm getting the hang of this now. Go check it out now...(I have edited this post and deleted the domain name I had registered as it was against the Amazon terms of service, see the new domain below). Update: 9/13/2012 - Got an email from Amazon that I violated the terms of agreement. You cannot use their trademarks. Ooops! I have since changed my URL domain name to www.vannalovestoshop.com. Got to roll with the punches they say...

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Facebook IPO a Bust or Wait Some More?

I wanted to get a thought in here before all the hype calms down on this. I never even thought of wanting to get in on this IPO. I've had enough experience in IPO's decades ago with many brokers chumming me with them and then only to talk me into selling right after and buy some other worthless hyped stock of the day they were pushing. After all, brokers are a business and they have their agents to sell their products to you so they can make money. See, everything today is about business and making money. But, you don't want to be a schmuch with egg on your face, who does. This IPO was too over hyped in my opinion. I believe if the price falls down to around $8 to $10 a share then the common man might want to buy up a hundred shares or two and put them away for awhile. I mean, you do have a Scottrade account don't you? Only $7 a trade and I don't see anywhere cheaper than that. Do you do 'limit orders' when you trade? If not you are missing out and possibly losing money too. With Scottrade they offer for $10 a month, Level II stock monitoring and trading. What the heck is Level II you ask? It's the real-time stuff, not fifteen minutes delayed stock prices like you see on the tv and you get on your smartphone apps and all over the web. It's a premium feature. Scottrade is now offering this to you for only $10 a month. I remember when they just started offering it as a beta product and I used if for over a year or more, then, got out of trading for a couple of years. Now, they've got all the bugs worked out and they can offer it for a fee. I recommend you try it out. The best part is being able to see the buy and sell side by side as the different exchanges show their offers in a little window of whatever stock you want to watch. It's right up the second and to the penny. I put in a trade for a 100 shares of Harley Davidson I had been holding onto for a few years. When I bought it the stock just started dropping. Such is my luck most times with stock it seems. Well, a couple of weeks ago I noticed it had climbed above my purchase price. I thought, I better get going and see if I can dump this and make a little profit when I do. Sure enough, I saw the offers at $48.28 a share. Blocks of a 100, 200, 300 shares were stacking up to trade. The buy side was taunting the sellers, inching up a penney at a time when the sellers pushed their price up. This told me the stock was going up but it was slow trading that morning and I knew it was just a matter of time before the stock will start to slump again. I better hurry I thought. So, I put in an order to trade a 100 shares at $48.29 with a limit order to sell all or none for the day. Then, I sat back and watched the little window. About two minutes later the I could see trades taking effect as the price punched through the $48.29 level. I knew I had made a sale so I check the status of my trade. Bingo! I had made $100 minus the $7 trade fee for the day. I was happy. After the market closed for the day I decided to go in a look at what Harley (HOG) leveled out at. It had dropped below $47 a share. I felt a good feeling of satisfaction. Now, if I wanted to take some more time and I felt this stock was being played by the masses, I'd go in the next day and put in another limit order to buy another 100 or 200 shares and see if I could clip off another $100 or $200 dollars. I didn't though, I'm not a day trader. I still work a full time job and I just don't have the time to sit around on the computer and watch the market, not even for an hour. When I retire, then, I'll maybe put more time into this. That is, if I'm not making it rich on marketing here on the web or rental properties.

The Ads Have Arrived!

A week later and I see the ads have started to show. But, they are wide banners that stretch too far over to the right side and overlap my sidebar stuff. No biggie. I can go to Google's Adsense settings in my account and just set it to show shorter width ads. I'll get all of this right yet. You see, I keep reading and studying all about Google's Adsense hopefully to one day make some money with this blog. I've got in mind to set up a website to offer some free stuff to people also. This website will have affiliate links that will also add to the income stream. One thing at a time. I take things slow so I can understand how it works and to get it to work. There's a lot to know about all of this I've found. Just to learn how to operate Google's online apps is one thing. Knowing what to write about here is another. It's all about keywords and lots of text. Keywords so your audience can find you using Google search. Most everyone knows about this by now I hope. Why lots of text? Google's bots go out every night and crawl the web and index every word into their giant search index. That way you are able to find anything you are searching for. Relevance is a key word here. There is a lot to what makes that up. If you have relevant information on your blog or website and it's popular with enough people, then Google will put up the links to your site above others who don't have the relevance. It's tough to do and takes a lot of time to get it right. That's my post for today. Next to see how my income stream is doing...

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Google Adsense

I've enabled the Google Adsense setting today. From what I've learned I can earn money by letting Google serve up ads on my blog or website. Since this blog serves as my website for now, this is it, a blog website. So, let the fun begin. Google's terms and conditions strictly forbid me from encouraging anyone to click ads so I won't be asking you to do so. Advertising has always been one of those things where the individual decides wether he or she is influenced and follows through on the desire to purchase or not. In today's situation we are confronted with ads all over the web wherever we go. We see something we like or are curious about, we click the link. Not a big deal. At least Google's ads are not the type that smack you in the face and crawl all over your screen and you have to figure out how to make them go away, taking your precious time when all you wanted was to read an article. My, how we are so distracted today. We spend hours on the computer and can't seem to pull away. How many times do you find yourself going to your computer to do one thing but end up cruising around reading every little thing you ar curious about and then you switch off the monitor and get up out of your chair, and suddenly it dawns on you. You never did what you wanted to get done in the first place. I'll tell you what. I'm making an enhanced effort now to get done first what I sit down to do before doing anything else. I did it once yesterday and what a great feeling of accomplishment it was. Oh, I was talking about Google's Adsense. I've came to the realization that marketing and advertising is the game today. If you are not in it, you are just a regular worker bee struggling to pay your bills and not saving any money. Yeah, I'm still one of those too but I'm learning about all of this and one day I'm going to tout my success right here to your face. Do you want a challenge? Go for it! It starts now with you. I'm already ahead of you though.

Saturday, May 19, 2012

The Laptop Millionaire

I'm touting a book I have recently been reading and I have to say it is current and up to date with the net. So many tools are discussed and how to use them to get rich. I thought at first this was going to be a boring book but once I started reading I couldn't put it down. I've got a few chapters to go but I'm just waiting for the right moment to strike me to continue. About half way through the book it dawned on me what the author was trying to get across. Marketing. That's the ticket to success and in his book he gives you all the information and straight forward scoop on how easy it is to do. Like anything though, it will take some work. But, I believe once the major work is done it's just a maintenance thing to keep it going. Just like a well oiled machine. I have come to this realization of how to make money on the net before but this time it really rang a bell in my head. My only thought now is, do I have what it takes to get going and make it happen. Like most people, we don't want to put forth the effort it takes to get ahead. We want things to just come to us but it doesn't happen like that. It isn't luck either. Well, yeah, a few people may get lucky and hit the lottery but will it be you or I? I don't think so. So, we work to get what we want in life. We all want to be rich and happy, who doesn't. Why does anyone want to continue to work for someone else your whole life? I sure don't. I just about have already but I still have hope for a better life. Okay, so now what? It's time to get the book out and begin to outline the plan and start making steps forward. If you look on Amazon I think you'll find this book for just under $20. It's not available as an ebook as far as I could find. So, just click the link and check it out! The Laptop Millionaire

Friday, May 4, 2012

New Template Tried today

I like to try new things so I clicked through several of the pre-made templates Google has and I've decided on this one for now. I'll probably change it again in the near future as I don't like things to stay the same normally. I watched a couple of Google's Adsense videos after stumbling upon them through my blog interface. Google is pushing you to create ads that appear all over the web and you pay per each click. I've set this up and used it for about a year for my wife's real estate website and it has worked to attract her callers from out of town. It took several months before she started telling me that she was getting calls but I had cancelled the ad as it was eating up my monthly budget of $10. Not a lot mind you but it's an amount I hadn't planned on expending for too long unless it was getting results to compensate. I may experiment with turning it on once again as she hasn't told me of any calls recently. I would also like to create and ad for my blog but I am not selling anyting at this point. In the first year of my blog I had allowed ads to appear from other sites like Amazon. Now, for some reason I am not getting any ads served up on my blog. I'm researching it but as of yet can't figure out why. I did find a link to 'known adsense issues' and back toward the first of the year they had a problem with serving up ads to smaller sites. There are links to click if you are still having a problem. My thought is that since I am no longer a subscriber paying for ads for my wife that is why I'm not being served ads from others. In other words, Google is penalizing those who used to have ads served up and getting ad revenue with click through for other advertisers, without you have to pay for an ad yourself. If I can ever figure out how to make revenue over the amount of my ten dollars a month in ad expenditure, I might become a Google Adsense subscriber again. I've only earned $7.39 approximately to date for the years I've had this blog. That amount came in a flurry after making a post about an problem AOL had with their service. I may have to go read about this again and see what to do next. I think it has to do with big advertisers like AOL and other large companys. I believe that if I make post about large companys and what's going on with them, I'll attract a lot more interest to my blog and possible more click throughs on ads, if they are served up on my blog. I know a lot of this is confusing and maybe you don't even care about it. I'm old enough to know that money makes the world go round and also makes happiness. That's another different subject altogether that I'd like to explore and discuss more later. I welcome all comments. Hope your day is paved with gold! Paul