Steven Brady

So, while browsing online forums for Internet Marketers, you’ll always hear horror stories of customer service experiences. Just over two months into this, I’ve already had trouble with one user.  Over a $2 sale.  Yes, $2.  On my new site Target Followers a user signed up for 1 week VIP at $2. Less than 5 minutes after paying he already E-mailed me about not being immediately upgraded. I E-mailed him back immediately and let him know I’d manually upgrade him soon. After I did, I let him know I gave him 2 weeks access. The next day he E-mailed me and complained that he had not received enough followers.

First, it’s a new site, and going to the blog anyone can read that. Second, the stats are right on the front page. It’s a new site, and I don’t fluff my numbers. You can see that we’re still new. Third, it’s $2.

I sent an E-mail out saying that I’d give a shoutout, and to let me know if he had any other issues.  I’ve gotten no more complaints.

But I started thinking about it … I’m not going to continue jumping through hoops for $2 users.  I won’t be giving more shoutouts, as then I’d need to do it for every user that doesn’t perform. Shoutouts defeat the purpose of my website.

On a sidenote, there is an unannounced bonus that none of my users know: The VIP countdown timer isn’t started.  That’s right. Out of fairness to new subscribers, their time has yet to countdown! I won’t be starting countdown timers until the individual groups hit 150 users each.

I had four reviews out on my site Android App Review called 4 Android apps that help my online business.  They are here if you’d like to read them:

• WordPress for Android
• Exygy Domains
• Web Analytic Client
• Droidsense

I’ve started a little promotion through my Facebook Fan Pages.  Thus far it’s more of an experiment than anything, as I’m not sure how to go about proper Facebook marketing.  However, I did find a tool after a little Googling called NetworkedBlogs.  It’s a Facebook application that will take your blog feed’s RSS and post entries to your fan page or to your own wall.  It seems pretty nice thus far, and makes it so I don’t have to go add links every time I add a post to my WordPress blogs.  Definitely worth looking at.

I’ve included links to my pages so you can see what they look like …

Weight Loss Steve
Facebook Fan Page
NetworkedBlogs

Android App Review
Facebook Fan Page
NetworkedBlogs

February was an OK month, but I was certainly hoping for better growth.  I’ve expanded my Twitter strategies (as mentioned in previous posts) and it’s helped with traffic and Target Followers signups.

Site Hits
Every single site showed improvement.  From 0.33% to 113.5%.  Nexus One News had 3,300 hits. That was the highest.

Amazon
No growth.  However, end of March and early April I expect to see growth.  Why?  The Nexus One will officially be available for Verizon Wireless, so I’m expecting more wireless accessory sales.
Earnings: $21.33

Google Adsense
Definitely growth. Not as much as I’d hoped for, but definitely on the right track.
Earnings: $15.11

Sponsored Tweets
Same as last month.  It’s kinda depressing. I want to get 20,000 followers on some account so I can make better money.
Earnings: $4.00

Target Followers
First month owning a free site with paid features.  Three paying VIP members.
Earnings: $12.00

Other
Clickbank, Hostgator, WP Robot, WP Video Tube, and anything else that I might have signed up for and tried to promote this month didn’t succeed. Now using CBproAds on sites, and definitely had some clicks, but no sales.
Earnings: $0.00

Total
Total February 2010 Earnings: $52.44
Year-to-Date: $87.84

I had to purchase the Target Followers software and domain, so there were expenses this month, but things were certainly looking up.  Just not too much to say about it this month. Just going to keep working at it.

On all of my sites, since the day I started, I had Google Adsense.  While it’s not generating that much revenue right now, it’s bringing in a few cents a day.  Since then I’ve added CBProAds advertising to some of my websites.  By signing up you can create ad campaigns that allow you tailor fit ClickBank categories to your sites.  No need to go through, one by one, picking out ads to promote.  Just add your ClickBank ID and have a run at it.

Right now I’m testing it, using the free version.  With the free version only 50% of the ads displayed have my own ID.  The other 50% have the CBProAds ID.  Until I can prove that it’s a profitable system, I won’t be purchasing.

In the last 10 days I’ve had 434 ad impressions, and 1 click.  0 sales.  However, as traffic increases to my sites, so should clicks.  Here’s hoping!

If you choose to sign up, please use my affiliate link:

I’ve heard before of WordPress themes that were encoded with links to other sites, and I’ve seen it, to a point.  Well, the theme that I choose for Weight Loss Steve had a link to health pills.  I wanted to remove it, so I went to look into the footer, and it was gibberish.  The theme was encoded, and there was no easy way to remove it.  (I tried an unencode tool, and it didn’t work).  I downloaded another copy of the theme, and it was clean, without the link.

I don’t mind having a link back to the theme’s creator, but I don’t particularly want a theme with a link to weight loss pills. Don’t endorse those one bit.

I’ve noticed that I get much more traffic to my sites when I tweet their URLs regularly.  It makes sense, doesn’t it?  However, Twitter terms of service prevent sites from starting up that allow completely automated tweeting.  And some days I just don’t have time, between work and everything I do outside of work, to make sure that enough tweets were scheduled with cotweet. That’s why I came up with my own solution.  I made a bash script that pulls random tweets from a text file and pushes them out using the command line client twidge. I create this last night, but got errors today.  After that this morning I made a new version of the client, then even another version of it.

So, as of right now I have made Tweet Cruise Control available.  I’m giving away 100 copies free.  Head on over to the site if you’d like to pick it up.  After that I’m not sure if I will charge or not.

I’ve stopped using Twitter Tools on my websites.  It just wouldn’t let me make tweets like I wanted.  Instead, I’ve changed to WP to Twitter.  It’s very configurable, but my favourite part is being able to have tweets with my title and the link, without the need for any of the extra crap that Twitter Tools requires.  Definitely worth checking out.

The one thing that WP to Twitter is missing, and I don’t necessarily mind that, is a Twitter updates widget.  I chose Twitter for Wordpress to add my Twitter updates to my sidebars.  It’s a nice little widget, and will seemingly allow up to nine instances of Twitter widgets.  Very nice.

For more controlled advertising, I’ve elected to start using Smart Ads.  It allows me to add code to the top and bottom of each post, and to only show ads on the pages after they hit a certain number of days old.  I quite like this plugin, and I’ve started adding it to my other sites.

And finally, for a bit of security, I’ve added AntiVirus for WordPress.  This regularly scans my installations for known vulnerabilities as well as scanning my themes for changes.  It then E-mails me if there are any potential security threats.  While I’ve not had any security threats yet, I’m optimistic about this plugin, and would recommend it to anyone.

I started a new blog called Weight Loss Steve.  I joined a Biggest Loser contest at work, and I’m trying to lose weight using the Fat Burning Furnace system.  Head on over to the site to follow my progress. Of course, also have a Twitter and a Facebook Fan Page setup.

Well, January proved to be a little bit better than I expected (being my very first month) but not nearly as much as I’d like to be making monthly. That said, I’m not complaining, as I have a great mentor, an understanding wife, and I’m working hard this month at pushing some new sites and products.

Site Hits
We know the percentages really don’t mean a thing, as this was the first full month with the new sites and tracking, but otherwise, the numbers show promise for the visitors for the website.  Here is the Piwik screenshot for the month of January.

Amazon
I’ve had seemingly good numbers with Amazon affiliate sales.  I’m happy about this month, and I’m excited to see future growth.
Earnings: $22.78

Google Adsense
Well, I’m not sure how some sites seem to use this as their primary means of income, as I’m not overly impressed.  However, it did generate a bit of revenue, so better than nothing.
Earnings: $8.62

Sponsored Tweets
I charge $1 per Tweet on Sponsored Tweets, and I had four offers, accepted four offers, and spammed my friends with four ads.
Earnings: $4.00

Other
Clickbank, Hostgator, WP Robot, WP Video Tube, and anything else that I might have signed up for and tried to promote this month didn’t succeed.
Earnings: $0.00

Total
Total January 2010 Earnings: $35.40

Of course this wasn’t profit, as I’ve purchased domains, software, and hosting.  I’m rather negative for January, but this certainly helps to recoup my losses.  Here’s to doubling that in February!