Wednesday 18 April 2007
Websites and medical research?
The wealth of knowledge available in free to download podcasts is amazing: I can't believe I've never tapped into this amazing resource before. For the last week or so I've had my iPod on virtually 24/7 and have learned tons while driving, running and doing the washing up - I highly recommend it.
Today I was listening to Joel Comm, author of The Adsense Code, and realised that I'm not doing enough to test the adverts on my sites. I've been running ads on some of my sites for several years but I'd never realised that small alterations to the layout, position and style of the ads could make such a difference. I'll certainly be ordering his book and running some tests to improve conversions.
The 'medical research' in the title refers to my sister who apparently is reading a medical proposal form tomorrow and filling in a questionnaire in return for £20. Hardly a massive amount of income but not too shabby for 30 minutes work. More importantly however, there will be lots of other people there also filling in a questionnaire to collect £20. Logic would predict that if they are giving up their time to earn a little extra cash they might be interested in a home based business, so Tracy will be pitching them all on the Kleeneze business and handing out info packs!
For a change I actually have a little spare time tomorrow which is unusual for a Thursday. I intend to spend a couple of hours working on my book early in the morning, and then look at my revenue generating ads in the afternoon in the hope of increasing conversions.
Today I was listening to Joel Comm, author of The Adsense Code, and realised that I'm not doing enough to test the adverts on my sites. I've been running ads on some of my sites for several years but I'd never realised that small alterations to the layout, position and style of the ads could make such a difference. I'll certainly be ordering his book and running some tests to improve conversions.
The 'medical research' in the title refers to my sister who apparently is reading a medical proposal form tomorrow and filling in a questionnaire in return for £20. Hardly a massive amount of income but not too shabby for 30 minutes work. More importantly however, there will be lots of other people there also filling in a questionnaire to collect £20. Logic would predict that if they are giving up their time to earn a little extra cash they might be interested in a home based business, so Tracy will be pitching them all on the Kleeneze business and handing out info packs!
For a change I actually have a little spare time tomorrow which is unusual for a Thursday. I intend to spend a couple of hours working on my book early in the morning, and then look at my revenue generating ads in the afternoon in the hope of increasing conversions.
Labels: adsense, earn extra cash, home business, medical research, ppc
Tuesday 17 April 2007
Feeds and ideas
I've been finding more and more interesting and useful blogs recently and have finally started subscribing to feeds in an attempt to keep on top of them. I've been using Google's free reader tool at www.google.com/reader and it's made me realise how useful feed subscription buttons are. For that reason you'll notice some nice shiny new buttons on the left hand menu!
I carry a notebook with me almost everywhere. I've found it to be the best way of keeping track of ideas and formulating plans. Over the last couple of weeks I've filled pages and pages with ideas for businesses and products. In fact, the problem I have is not coming up with ideas, but choosing the one or two I should be concentrating my time on. I've always loved the idea of multiple streams of income. More specifically, multiple streams of highly automated income. Internet marketing with information products, or software products fits this criteria very well. Here are some of the ideas I'm currently toying with:
Online brainstorming tool. This would be a multi user, real-time collaboration tool for brainstorming and working on plans/ideas for a project or business. Possible features to include a virtual whiteboard, multi user text editor, spreadsheet, chat client and mind mapping software which could export to PDF format. I've started coming up with a detailed feature list and researching the competition but I'm pretty sure there is a strong market for this.
Book/training course for Network Marketers looking to expand their businesses via the Internet. This is the book I'm currently writing. I've not decided to market the book by writing a 7 day crash course to be delivered by autoresponder. Hopefully by the end of the course, subscribers will be suitably impressed to purchase the book.
Direct input browser plugin. This is something I've been thinking about for a long time and I really need to research it some more. The basic idea is to enable the use of gaming input devices for browser based games. There is a definite market here but I'm not convinced on the technical possibility of doing this with Flash (although I'm pretty sure it can be done for Shockwave and Java) which would severely limit the market.
So there we have it - loads of ideas (as usual) but only so many hours in the day. At the moment I can only devote so many hours per week so top priority is to finish the book, write the autoresponder course and get the marketing website up and running. Once that is online and (hopefully) starting to produce a profit I'll look at getting going with the next project. Whether that will be within the 90 days remains to be seen, but I did pull in an extra £60 for an update to an old Hotel site which I wasn't expecting so at least I can update the total slightly!
I carry a notebook with me almost everywhere. I've found it to be the best way of keeping track of ideas and formulating plans. Over the last couple of weeks I've filled pages and pages with ideas for businesses and products. In fact, the problem I have is not coming up with ideas, but choosing the one or two I should be concentrating my time on. I've always loved the idea of multiple streams of income. More specifically, multiple streams of highly automated income. Internet marketing with information products, or software products fits this criteria very well. Here are some of the ideas I'm currently toying with:
Online brainstorming tool. This would be a multi user, real-time collaboration tool for brainstorming and working on plans/ideas for a project or business. Possible features to include a virtual whiteboard, multi user text editor, spreadsheet, chat client and mind mapping software which could export to PDF format. I've started coming up with a detailed feature list and researching the competition but I'm pretty sure there is a strong market for this.
Book/training course for Network Marketers looking to expand their businesses via the Internet. This is the book I'm currently writing. I've not decided to market the book by writing a 7 day crash course to be delivered by autoresponder. Hopefully by the end of the course, subscribers will be suitably impressed to purchase the book.
Direct input browser plugin. This is something I've been thinking about for a long time and I really need to research it some more. The basic idea is to enable the use of gaming input devices for browser based games. There is a definite market here but I'm not convinced on the technical possibility of doing this with Flash (although I'm pretty sure it can be done for Shockwave and Java) which would severely limit the market.
So there we have it - loads of ideas (as usual) but only so many hours in the day. At the moment I can only devote so many hours per week so top priority is to finish the book, write the autoresponder course and get the marketing website up and running. Once that is online and (hopefully) starting to produce a profit I'll look at getting going with the next project. Whether that will be within the 90 days remains to be seen, but I did pull in an extra £60 for an update to an old Hotel site which I wasn't expecting so at least I can update the total slightly!
Labels: autoresponder, ideas, information marketing, mind mapping, notebook
Monday 16 April 2007
I'm still here!
You'd be forgiven for thinking I'd disappeared, given up, or been abducted by aliens, but I'm still here!
The past couple of weeks have been totally hectic for me, and although I've not updated the blog I have had lots of ideas and have been working on projects behind the scenes. I'll post some of the ideas over the next few days but the main one I can't actually say too much about. What I can say is that I'll be taking part in a major national television program and filming starts next month. Unfortunately I can't say much more than that at the moment as I've signed a non-disclosure agreement and they are very keen on confidentiality. If things go well, the program could have high potential for a massive boost to my future income, but at the moment it's back to the grindstone with other projects.
The games I've been trying to sell on eBay haven't been producing the results I was hoping for. It seems the first sale was a fluke since that's the only one I managed to sell. After listing several more I've reached the conclusion that the way I'm listing them could be the problem. I've been reading a lot from Yanik Silver and Michael Rasmussen recently and I think that improving my 'sales pitch' in the auction, and raising the price (to increase the perception of value) could be the answer so I'll be trying that and posting the results in a week or so.
My book is also coming along nicely. I've found a company to print a short run for direct sales while I'm seeking out a publisher, and I'm confident of selling a reasonable number in that way. If I can keep focused I think I can finish the book within a month. I really need to because after mid-May things will be hectic for me again with my father's wedding, my little sister's baby due, both my older sister and mother visiting and I'll be going up to London filming... Basically if I don't get the book done and sent to the printers by 15th May it won't happen until well into June.
So there we go. I'm back, and I'll be filling you all in on my projects and new ideas over the next few days.
The past couple of weeks have been totally hectic for me, and although I've not updated the blog I have had lots of ideas and have been working on projects behind the scenes. I'll post some of the ideas over the next few days but the main one I can't actually say too much about. What I can say is that I'll be taking part in a major national television program and filming starts next month. Unfortunately I can't say much more than that at the moment as I've signed a non-disclosure agreement and they are very keen on confidentiality. If things go well, the program could have high potential for a massive boost to my future income, but at the moment it's back to the grindstone with other projects.
The games I've been trying to sell on eBay haven't been producing the results I was hoping for. It seems the first sale was a fluke since that's the only one I managed to sell. After listing several more I've reached the conclusion that the way I'm listing them could be the problem. I've been reading a lot from Yanik Silver and Michael Rasmussen recently and I think that improving my 'sales pitch' in the auction, and raising the price (to increase the perception of value) could be the answer so I'll be trying that and posting the results in a week or so.
My book is also coming along nicely. I've found a company to print a short run for direct sales while I'm seeking out a publisher, and I'm confident of selling a reasonable number in that way. If I can keep focused I think I can finish the book within a month. I really need to because after mid-May things will be hectic for me again with my father's wedding, my little sister's baby due, both my older sister and mother visiting and I'll be going up to London filming... Basically if I don't get the book done and sent to the printers by 15th May it won't happen until well into June.
So there we go. I'm back, and I'll be filling you all in on my projects and new ideas over the next few days.
Labels: auther, filming, sales pitch, television, tv, write a book
Tuesday 3 April 2007
Ice cream vans and summer business
It's been nice and sunny for the last few days, and with Easter fast approaching I've been thinking of summer business ideas. Cornwall is a tourist trap and over the coming months tens of thousands of holiday makers will visit the county, each with wallets which will be decidedly emptier when they return home.
What do tourists (we Cornish call them Emmits!) want to spend their money on? Cream teas, ice creams, postcards, sun lotion, t-shirts... the list is endless. By coincidence there is an ice cream van on the garage forecourt not 2 miles up the road which I spotted today. I pulled in to take a look but there is no price on it, so I'm not actually sure whether it's for sale. I know Duncan Bannatyne (of Dragon's Den fame) started his multi-million pound fortune with an icecream van and the idea does appeal; a small fleet of vans with commission only drivers covering the Cornish beaches and tourist attractions. I did actually look into the idea a few years ago and still have the paperwork for license applications, I'll have to dig them out and take a look.
Postcards are also worth investigating. I posted in a previous thread my idea for photo-mosaic postcards and I do believe there is a real market for them. If we have good weather over the Easter weekend I'll have to take some shots and put a demo card together. I think if I approached the major Cornish attractions in the right way it could be a profitable venture.
The tools of the trade are what are really needed to succeed! Whether it's an air impact wrench, or Dreamweaver, choose and learn the right tools to get the job done!
So - online games, ice cream, postcards, articles and web design workshops! When I started this challenge I had no idea I'd have such diverse ideas but so far so good, I'm well on my way to £5000 but there's a long way to go yet, and a lot of work to do.
What do tourists (we Cornish call them Emmits!) want to spend their money on? Cream teas, ice creams, postcards, sun lotion, t-shirts... the list is endless. By coincidence there is an ice cream van on the garage forecourt not 2 miles up the road which I spotted today. I pulled in to take a look but there is no price on it, so I'm not actually sure whether it's for sale. I know Duncan Bannatyne (of Dragon's Den fame) started his multi-million pound fortune with an icecream van and the idea does appeal; a small fleet of vans with commission only drivers covering the Cornish beaches and tourist attractions. I did actually look into the idea a few years ago and still have the paperwork for license applications, I'll have to dig them out and take a look.
Postcards are also worth investigating. I posted in a previous thread my idea for photo-mosaic postcards and I do believe there is a real market for them. If we have good weather over the Easter weekend I'll have to take some shots and put a demo card together. I think if I approached the major Cornish attractions in the right way it could be a profitable venture.
The tools of the trade are what are really needed to succeed! Whether it's an air impact wrench, or Dreamweaver, choose and learn the right tools to get the job done!
So - online games, ice cream, postcards, articles and web design workshops! When I started this challenge I had no idea I'd have such diverse ideas but so far so good, I'm well on my way to £5000 but there's a long way to go yet, and a lot of work to do.
Labels: cornish, holiday makers, ice cream van, tourist attractions
Monday 2 April 2007
On target
I had confirmation today of the 2 Flash workshops I arranged last week. That adds £300 to my total which puts me back on target.
I've also been working on an old game (which I started writing over 2 years ago!) these last few days and I think by the end of the month I can have it ready. That means I'll be relaunching Kwikgames.com with at least two, but hopefully three new games which should increase the traffic (and revenue) significantly. I'll also be adding a store section to the site, selling re-branded versions of some of the games.
I have decided against submitting my YouTube article. I think I'll have more success with a tutorial style article so it's back to the drawing board to think of a subject. If I can decide on one soon I can write the article and submit it before the weekend.
I've also been working on an old game (which I started writing over 2 years ago!) these last few days and I think by the end of the month I can have it ready. That means I'll be relaunching Kwikgames.com with at least two, but hopefully three new games which should increase the traffic (and revenue) significantly. I'll also be adding a store section to the site, selling re-branded versions of some of the games.
I have decided against submitting my YouTube article. I think I'll have more success with a tutorial style article so it's back to the drawing board to think of a subject. If I can decide on one soon I can write the article and submit it before the weekend.
Labels: flash games, macromedia flash, quota, target, viral games
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