Day 25 30DC - Eureka!

I no sooner posted my new site, completed my social media postings, and checked my rankings in Google and voila! My first $10.00!! So now my name goes into the draw for the trip to Australia. Yay!

To be specific, it was a $24.95 item sale price of which I get 60%, which is $14.97. So I've hit the goal and can now relax. Whew! Did I say "relax"? Not a chance! The point is to keep doing what I've been doing, and keep following the instructions until the challenge ends. Sort of like taking all of the antibiotics your doctor prescribes. When there is a specific route to follow, don't go off track unless you are absolutely sure where you are going. Good advice any time, but especially useful when the goal is to achieve something that very few people have managed to do.

You might think that there are scores of people making money on the internet, thanks to all the spam of which you are aware. Unfortunately, those are just people TRYING, often unsuccessfully, to make money. Most of them are spending much more than they are making, and annoying people in the process.

That's why Ed & Co.'s 30 Day Challenge is so valuable. Not only does it teach correct principles that avoid spam, but it is possible for anyone who follows the instructions to achieve a successful result.

I've just proved it! Thanks, Ed!

Day 24 30DC - Conversion and a New Challenge!

Here we are, a week from the end of the challenge, and by Gosh, we are starting again! We are now concentrating on conversion, making sure that we have a product that converts visitors into sales. That's really minor compared to the gauntlet Ed just threw down.

Offering a prize of a flight to Australia to attend the next Immediate Edge conference, the challenge is to start from zero on Friday and make that first $10.00 by 9 am. Monday morning. If you succeed, your name goes into a draw for the free flight. (I believe it is a return flight.)

So, what better time to launch another niche than that? I began from a standing start at 6:29 p.m. today, Friday. As of writing this at about 10 pm. I have secured a brand new niche and keyphrase, obtained a platform, created the first few posts, installed my tracking codes, and begun the social posting process. Whew!

I rather wish I didn't have such a busy weekend coming up with other things that have nothing to do with the Thirty Day Challenge.

Day 23 30DC - The Waiting Game

Well, no, I'm not sitting around waiting. I'm actually working on a second niche and spending quite a bit of time doing the social media thing, generally and for some of my team members. I haven't seen any movement yet on my first site. I have seen competition -- it turns out that key phrase was a little more popular than I thought.

Personally, I think my rendition of the pages about the niche are far better than those of my competitors, but perhaps they are more aggressive at getting the rankings and social bookmarking. I prefer to have it happen a little more naturally, as Ed has suggested.

I think you can also tell who can write, and who cannot. And who knows anything about their subject matter, and who does not. I think readers can tell as well.

So I have every expectation that my site(s) will rise to the top of the quality ladder, but perhaps not in time for completing this challenge within the 30 days.

Still, it is an amazing learning experience. Ed has let us know that it is indeed the largest, by far, online Internet Marketing training ever given. There are some interesting stats as well. In previous years' Thirty Day Challenges, there was an initial boost in traffic as people signed up, but over the course of the month, the number of users dropped off, making a distinct downhill line on the graph.

With this year's Thirty Day Challenge, it has been the opposite. As word spreads about the training and the results we are having, more people are showing up to see what's going on.

In the world of Web 2.0, you can expect people to gather wherever something interesting is occurring. That's a good marketing message any time.

End of Semester

After the pressure of exams (on both students and professors) it is nice to have a chance to conclude the semester's business and look forward to the next semester, which is imminent. It's enough of a break to allow for some catching of breath, and to take care of some housekeeping to prepare for the new school year.

I just got this from one of my students:

I would like to thank you for what was easily one of the most thought-provoking classes that I've had throughout both college programs that I have been in. I really hope to apply a lot of the ideologies in my future projects.

It's always nice to know that students get something out of the courses I teach. It's even better when they apply what they've learned in their future endeavours and it makes their lives richer for the educational experience they have received.

That's why I do what I do, in the way that I do it. FIGJAM!

Day 22 30DC - Playing in Traffic

Part two of Ed's magnificent symphony in four parts is all about traffic -- getting it, keeping it, watching what it does. To that end, the folks at Thirty Day Challenge have provided us with a statistics tracker. We know the now-old business adage that you can't manage what you don't measure. Tracking statistics with any business venture, whether online or offline, is vitally important.

The other aspect to tracking -- which is really testing and observing results -- is to make changes only under controlled conditions. Think of it in the same way as doing a laboratory experiment. In order to know for certain which factors affect the outcome of the experiment, you must set up your test design (your experiment design) in such a way that you can control as many of the variables as possible.

Then as you run your test or conduct the experiment, you observe and record -- record -- results. If the outcome is not what you expected (or hypothesized), or to explore the results further, you then make a change in one (only one, if you please) variable and run the experiment again. Observing and recording once more. In this way you build up a body of empirical data that informs your decision-making about what has been going on in your test or experiment, and why these results might be occurring. This is the nature of scientific inquiry.

Remember, too, that you must run the test over a statistically-significant sample, over a reasonable time frame to obtain accurate data, and continually be vigilant for other factors or variables you hadn't accounted for which may be affecting the outcome.

Many marketers skimp on the market research phase of their projects, and suffer the consequences. Even more marketers do not conduct adequate testing of their campaigns and therefore make poorly-informed decisions (guesses, really) and also cannot prove to their clients what works and why, and what doesn't. Many marketers would be flat out of business if they billed based on results.

Once you know how and why you are getting the results you are getting, you can duplicate the test -- it's repeatable. More than that, it's predictable. That is the key for experiments as well, and the crux of the scientific method. Given the same controlled situation and variables, any other researcher should be able to replicate the experiment and get the same results. In business, it means that you can achieve the same successes over and over again, and even predict the outcomes. It doesn't get much better than that.

Day 21 30DC - Regaining Momentum

Now that we're over Tumblrgate and have regrouped enough to put up our niche pages once again, we can begin to move forward in earnest. Due to end of term and some other concurrent projects needing my attention, I have chosen to focus on just the one niche to get it up and running before working on the second one.

As Ed reminds us, all of this is still market testing. We are testing to see if the visitors to our pages will like what they see enough to convert to sales. Hence the emphasis on quality content.

And just an aside, if you are doing ANYTHING on the internet that does not involve quality content, what are you thinking? Don't we have enough dreck out there without you adding to it? That's not what I taught you at Seneca!!!

I get to say that because it's my job at college to turn out skilled content providers. So they had all better uphold the values I teach about that. And remember, light and fluffy content intended for fun can still be quality content -- and had better be, in a Web 2.0 world.

So, to get back on track, the rules of the game are the same. The venue may have changed, but the core players have not. The goal is still the same -- to generate at least $10.00 from one or more of our niche webpages. Some people are already claiming victory. Good for them. Early success is indeed wonderful -- but so is longevity. I want not only that first $10.00, I want it to be followed by many, many, many of its friends.

Day 20 30DC - Regroup and Go Again

Okay, the Tumblr thing was unfortunate, but that's life on the Internet. Time to regroup and go again. I have already secured another platform and begun to publish quality content (as I always do) on my niche topic. Let's see how this one fares.

I believe that it will have the same spectacular results if I use the same techniques to get it ranked in the search engines and drawing traffic. We are getting the opportunity to refine the process, and of course, as with anything else, repetition is a good way to ensure you learn what is being taught.

I'll keep you posted.

Day 19 30DC - Tumbled!!

I suppose it had to happen. When you have thousands of people doing the same thing at the same time, it is going to get someone's attention, even on the Internet. Tumblr has shut down any page created on August 18. This is a knee-jerk reaction to the mass creation of pages on their site. Frankly, it could also be a server problem, and I think all the action scared them.

They may have a legitimate reason from a content standpoint. As we know, the internet marketing field is glutted with scum-sucking bottom-feeding spammers who, instead of following ethical teachings such as in the Thirty Day Challenge, voraciously grasp onto any new technique and pervert it for their own selfish purposes. There were quite a few Tumblr pages that were blatant hard sells instead of providing good quality content. The Tumblr folks didn't want their platform abased and their credibility ruined by hosting illegitimate content. It would very quickly turn off their audience, and drive away their visitors. They have every right to run their shop the way they see fit, since they are footing the bill.

Unfortunately, a fair number of good pages with high quality content, including mine, were axed in the mass suspensions.

The bottom-feeders have always given internet marketing a bad name, and it looks like they are continuing to do so. This is why you must be SO CAREFUL when trying to do business on the Internet.

What is good, however, is that in a Web 2.0 world, social pressure has huge clout. It is the only defence against these kinds of people. If you come across a site that is a blatant sales-only selfish attempt to grab money, Stumble it with a thumbs down, give it a bad review, and if necessary, report it to the hosting provider. Speak loudly and clearly that we don't want this crap on the internet. Google, Squidoo, and other major entities already slap down any offenders, and most platforms have Terms of Service agreements that contain clauses allowing them to do the same.

If you provide quality content, your gentle and organic sales message will be accepted and even welcomed. Bottom line: Give before you get.