It seems with my last post on PPC, readers have been wanting more information on how to do this. There are even a few forum threads that have been sparked over the topic. I think I will try to take a swipe here and answer a few general questions and dispell a few myths.

First off, if you have never used Google Adwords then you had better get educated….and fast. Adwords is a beast and it will kick you in the nether region faster than almost any advertising platform on the planet. So, I am not going to teach you AdWords. Go learn it. Second, if you have never done a placement campaign it gets even worse for you. I hope when everyone read my previous post they realized I have been using for Pay Per Click for about two years now. That’s two years of throwing money down the drain testing offers and then kicking Adword’s ass by establishing profitable campaigns. It takes time, and if your not going to be patient then your only hurting yourself. You might want to start at the learning center for more information on a placement campaign.

Is there some secret to making money with Adwords? Uhh no.

The only thing really about paying for your advertisements is profit. There are tons of other things to consider but if your profit outweighs your spend, your on the right track. Those other things will come to you. The first thing you need to do though is gain experience with Adwords. There are tons of ebooks out there that you can get for free to get some knowledge about Adwords. I would suggest the learning center (link above) to get started though.

Thinking about 2008 has been a thought on my mind since getting home yesterday. Many things have changed over the past year. Google SEO and PPC has changed quite a bit, video marketing has skyrocketed and even Email Marketing has changed. (Speaking in respect to aweber, my autoresponder service that is a required double optin service now).

So what does the future hold?

I don’t know for sure. Although I have a photographic memory, I still haven’t developed any senses to see in the future. Which really sucks, because if I could, work would sure be a lot easier. However, I have some huge thoughts on what we MIGHT see.

1. Blogs will continue to kick the shit out of static sites. However, regular bloggers will probably turn more into user interactive communities. Take a look at CashTactics. I have already begun to do this. I have incorporated a forum where we can all get together on a more personal and regular bases to talk about every aspect of making money and marketing online.

It won’t stop with community sites though. Bloggers will also be podcasting and vlogging (video blogging) a lot more. As a matter of fact, your going to see something I hope that will interest you greatly in a few weeks. I will have a live streaming video feed so you can communicate with me at certain times and watch, read and listen as I respond to questions. Websites are still great in my opinion but will not stand a chance against someone that will regularly communicate with readers. While website owners will rely on their content to do all their preselling, they most likely rely on SEO, PPC and every other traffic method out there. That’s great but that is traditional also. The more social interaction you see with a website, the more likely you will return. Returning visitors are key and without them, your site sucks. Period.

If you haven’t noticed already, I removed the Entrecard Widget and the Scratchback Widget. I really don’t know what I was doing other than testing them out. However, I tried to leave up all the Scratchback links at least for a week before taking the widget down. The traffic that these widgets produced was pretty shitty.

Anyway, Entrecard and Scratchback are cool ideas (I guess) but they just aren’t for this blog. I would rather take one serious person wanting to learn how to make money online, then 50 Entrecard droppers that don’t have a clue as to what they are doing. I find dropping the business card off a little petty anyway. To tell you the truth, I only dropped mine off out of courtesy to other bloggers, who I already knew. So now we can get back on track here and not worry about that annoying horseshit that used to be in my sidebar. 

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After a one hour plane delay in Charlotte, North Carolina I was able to finally board a Regional Aircraft and get my ass home. A woman had a seizure on the incoming craft that prevented people from exiting the plane so I got to sit there and watch all the cops and medics frantically run around for an hour before I got to board.

It’s all over now though and I am comfortably back home, sitting in front of the command center. I was welcomed home with 32 degree weather with snow and ice on the ground. The moment I walked out of the terminal, I immediately wanted to board and go back :).

All in all it was better than I thought. Met a few people I hadn’t met previously and we were able to keep the house warm at about 100 degrees with about 20 pc’s and laptops running. The brainstorming is now over (for the time being) and it’s back to our regular scheduled programs of furthering our businesses online.

I just wanted to drop a quick note on how important it is to keep up with contacts and NEVER, EVER judge a person until you meet them. If I had not gone to Florida I would have missed out on some great upcoming future opportunities for me. Until we launch I will just leave it alone for now, but am excited to share some great news of a new venture I was able to team up with a great group of marketers, individuals and Entrepreneurs.  I am happy to be home now and look forward to getting back on track tomorrow!

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I am just getting ready to walk out the door for the hour and a half drive to the airport and then it’s check in time. I’m really looking forward to my second trip to Florida this year. The climate is going to be so refreshing and the gang I run around with are some pretty cool guys. All of them have different skills in the Internet Marketing and Offline Marketing world and it’s always refreshing to get face to face with them and start picking each other’s brain.

I was able to book a nonstop flight on Midwest which was pretty cool. Last time I had to stop in Memphis, Tennesse and board a second flight just to get down there. I always hate stopping and boarding another because I tend to freak out when I don’t get a layover. It’s cool to get off a plane and hop right back on one, but in environments I am not very familiar with, I tend to start freaking like addict with a shortage in crack-rocks. Unfortunately, I have to pitstop in Charlotte on the way home on Saturday but since I never been there, I guess we can chalk that one up as a plus and I get to experience my roll as super duper weirdo searching for my flight.

So, I don’t know if I will do any blogging down there. I plan on it but since the trip will only last until Saturday I know we are all going to be pushed for time in our brainstorming sessions. However, most of these sessions usually lead to hijacks (much like forum posts) so hopefully I can break away for a post or two. CashTactics will shortly be undergoing some server changes but it should stay up as long as the bandwidth does:). I’m hoping that it stays up until I at least get back. Last time I switched, I lost 2 sites during file exchange and no, being the idiot I am, I did not have these sites backed up. They were simple little affiliate sites but I nearly passed out 2 days later when I remembered I had PPC Campaigns running for them. Lost sites and money down the drain. Shit happens.

I’m not much of a holidays man and it wasn’t until I had my first child 4 years ago that I really celebrated them. Just not into it. However, I got really happy this morning and thought I would give a shout out to all the readers!

Merry Christmas And Happy Holidays!

Another year gone by. Hopefully an even better one on the way. Unfortunately, I will be in Orlando, Florida two days from now. Aww shucks, I have to trade this 30 degree weather for 70 degrees. I don’t if I can handle that. Anyway, have a safe holidays everyone!

 Best,

Ruck

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I celebrated my Christmas today with the wifey, 2 sons and her two brothers today. I caught myself spacing out this afternoon during the Patriots game and started thinking about what I wanted to accomplish this coming year of 2008.

First I would like to consistently update my blog and keeping the discussion forum in forward progress. This has become my #1 priority and rightfully so. So far there have been a great group of people joining up and starting some great discussions. That’s really what it’s all about, people helping people. I will be putting a lot of dedication into it the next year and would love to see some exponential growth.

Second, I would love to hurry up and get a hold of my CPA and begin the necessary documentation to get incorporated. I am already an equal manager in Dynamic Media (a corporation in Orlando, Florida) with a few partners, but I have a lot of checks coming to me in my name, and quite simply I am going to get destroyed on taxes. I been saving up, but the amount I am estimated to pay in could have bought me a new house this year. I am on the road to quickly get myself some more education in taxes, my company and investments. I put it off this year, because quite frankly, I never planned on earning this much, or half of what I made to be truthful.

Third, I am always a sucker for trying out new things. Although, I think I spend way too much money to determine results. Knowing I got capital, I tend to swing it around a little too hard. I am trying to get myself to start taking a little bit of a smarter approach on how I research niches, test and track them and then ultimately, implement whatever idea I decide to market in the niche with.

I apologize to some right now as something urgent is coming up for me tomorrow and Monday. Then turn around an Tuesday is Christmas, then on Wednesday I have to get to Kansas City by 7 am (2 hour drive) to check in my bags at the airport so I can head to Florida until Saturday evening. So I really cannot tell you how long I have been awake, but it’s been quite awhile.

How To Rock Out With An Affiliate Mashup is available for download here.

There will most likely be a large discussion starting over this in the forum. Everything from site ideas, development, implementation and tons of more traffic generation techniques and methods will most likely be covered. However, feel free to download the guide as I have a lot of points I touched on that will prepare you to start asking your questions as you gear up for your first affiliate mashup.

Going to pass out,

Ruck :)

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