I haven’t made a post to my blog in a while, so I thought I would give a quick update with what I’ve been up to.  I have been pretty busy with school stuff as it is the last month of school, and I’ve had some tests and assignments due throughout April.  My last exam is this Wednesday (April 28th) and I can’t wait!

After that I will have 4 full months of just relaxing and doing my affiliate stuff and a bit of vacationing.

I plan on getting a lot done this summer to really take my online business to the next level.  Last summer I had times that I worked hard for a couple of days at a time, but overall looking back at it I don’t think I got close to as much done as I could have.  Working in the summer is really hard, but in order to get where I want to be I’m going to have to buckle down and work hard.  I think one of my plans is going to be to cut down the amount of hours I’m on my computer overall, but make sure I am being productive while sitting here.  A lot of time when I’m on the computer I am wasting time, but if I can make sure I’m only doing work while on the computer it will seem like I’m working a lot less and will give me more free time.

I’ve got some significant news I will write a blog post about pretty soon here when it is all finalized, but it has to do with me focusing more on a couple bigger sites rather then trying to run like 30+ sites.  Also, I am currently getting a new redesign done for The Sports Geek which I am really excited about, and I am going to try and make it more of a site that visitors will remember.

I am kind of all over the place right now, but I will be back with a post at the Start of May with some news, my May goals and April recap.  I will be really busy May 1st  with the Kentucky Derby and then I am getting my wisdom teeth out May 3rd, but I will try to get the next post up by May 5th.

Check ya later.

After a pretty productive March I am looking to get a bunch done in April to set me up for my 4 month summer off of school.  I have school until April 28th and then I’m pretty much free all summer, which is going to feel great.  Here is a little recap of March and my goals for April.

MARCH AFFILIATE GOALS RECAP:

Focus a lot of time on my March Madness site and try to make it earn some $$$ – Well my site got sandboxed or something (dropped in the rankings) for the majority of the tournament (it actually just came back a few days ago which was nice to see – should get some nice traffic next year if I keep it up there).  I didn’t make too much money off the site even though I got lots of referred traffic.

Get my MLB and UFC sites going – Well I got my MLB site up and going pretty good.  Really excited about the MLB season, hopefully it gets some good traffic.  The UFC site actually got indexed when I didn’t want it to, now I need to get some content up on it in April.

Invest $2000 into my sites – I invested far more because I sold one of my sites and had lots of funds I wanted to put back into my business.  Hopefully the investing I did in March will show in the next months.

Work on my Poker Bonus site – I didn’t really get around to this, I really should though.  I wish I was better at writing about poker, but I don’t play much anymore.

Earn $10k affiliate revenue – Did it again for the second straight month which I am really happy about, but my net revenue wasn’t very close to 10k yet again because of the amount I spent in March.

APRIL 2010 AFFILIATE GOALS:

• Kentucky Derby $$ – One of the biggest sports betting events in the states is the Derby.  This years Kentucky Derby is at the start of May and I am going to see how I can do with it.  Me and Niko partnered up on my Bet on Kentucky Derby domain to try and get that ranking, plus I have a Kentucky Derby Picks site going that I want to try and get ranking too.
• Write 30 pages of quality content spread over my network of sites
• Launch my UFC, Nascar and other MLB site
• Earn 10k affiliate revenue
• Cut back on expenses

As far as personal goals go I want to finish off school on a good note and continue to make sure I get to the gym 4 times a week.  Also want to start playing some basketball outside instead of doing cardio in the gym, we are getting some great weather for April right now.  Oh and I also want to make a trip out to Montreal for UFC May 8th so I gotta start planning for that.

Have a great April!

For my blog followers that didn’t already know from my CAL blog post or Skype name, my March Madness site got put in the google sandbox (or something that affected my rankings).  Just as I was probably going to get thousands of hits I got hit with that which sucks big time. Although I am really pissed off I am putting that aside and still working hard at getting the site some exposure.

I’ve never done any PPC and though this would be a good time to test it out.  I set up a campaign to test it out and I will post some results up in the blog when it’s all finished.  I will also try and send traffic from other related sites to the March Madness site, including TheSportsGeek, where I will be writing a bunch of articles related to the Madness in the upcoming week.

On top of all of the March Madness stuff I have going on I also have a couple other projects that need work.  With the MLB season just around the corner I am working hard getting some articles posted and backlinks pointing to my MLB Predictions domain so I can get some preseason traffic.  I also have 1 pretty nice domain that I am working on getting the content done for because I don’t want to wait until after the tournament to start that.

With all of the work I have to do I also have two stupid tests early in the week which I need to spend some time studying for since I have barely gone to many of the classes this semester haha…

Anyway just wanted to give a quick update on things, time to grind it out like I did for Super Bowl… hopefully it pays off.

A couple days late here on my monthly affiliate goals post, but I was on a bit of vacation during my “spring break” week up until Tuesday, and then got sick when I got home.. probably from all of the alcohol and shitty food I ate all weekend.  I will start with a recap of my February goals and then post up my March goals below.

FEBRUARY AFFILIATE GOALS RECAP:

Publish a bunch of Super Bowl articles on The Sports Geek and work on Super Bowl site – I ended up getting like 20 articles posted on The Geek for the Super Bowl which gave my record traffic numbers (like 4x any other day).  I went over what I did with my Super Bowl site in another post here in February.  This goal was completed for sure.

3 Sites to launch (sports betting related) – The one site I had planned to launch and wanted to become a money maker hasn’t been launched yet, but I did manage to get a few sites launched (some not sports betting related).  I don’t mind delaying the launch of the other site because it isn’t really time sensitive like a lot of sports sites.

Create better bonus codes – I got this done at a couple rooms, but still should get it done for every room.  I created some nicer bonus code type images in February which may help conversions a little bit (learning new things on photoshop everyday).

Replace PokerStars with a room that will actually make me money – I got this done on my main site, and it feels good.  Slowly over time I will be taking them down from all my other sites as well.

Invest $1000 into my casino site – Done, and a little more.

Earn $10k affiliate revenue – Woooo got er done by a hair, first time ever so it felt good (was really really close a couple months ago).  I had a shit load of expenses though, but that should pay off in the future.

Other stuff I did in February – I sold a couple sites, put up a couple mini sites, spent a lot on making my sites look nicer, started a fun March Madness Predictions project which I hope can make some money, bought domains (I think I became an addict now), ordered a couple templates for new sites to be launched.

MARCH 2010 AFFILIATE GOALS:

• Focus a lot of time on my March Madness site and try to make it earn some $$$
• Get my MLB and UFC sites going
• Invest $2000 into my sites
• Work on my Poker Bonus site some more
• Earn $10k affiliate revenue

My personal goals include getting back into the gym after a week off, make sure I keep up in school except for days when the March Madness is on , figure out if I can make it down to Panama City beach Florida where my mom and her husband have a condo rented out at the end of the month

Hope everyone had a good February, and lets get er done in March!

Something I have personally came to realize is that I am missing out on a lot of money over the long run when I have a site sitting on a very ugly template or design.  A lot of visitors probably look at some of my sites out there and leave almost immediately because of the unprofessional look to the site.

Although the actual content on the site is most important, giving the visitor a good first impression can gain trust, and in the end convert more visitors for an increase in money in your pockets.

Here is a guest post from Eduardo or Eyenod from the PAL forums about how having a quality design can lead to more money in your pockets. He recently just completed another beautiful design for my March Madness Predictions site that I am blogging about over at CAL.

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Quality graphic design comes hand-in-hand with a solid backbone of intentions and perceptions designed to affect viewers psychologically.  First off we deal with an impression. Imagine that a famous celebrity arrived at a luxurious award gala wearing torn jeans, flip flops and a dirty shirt, and didn’t show any signs of combing their hair whatsoever.

Not so good right?

They may be thinking, “But I wanted to be cool” or “I thought it would be my style.” However, it is too late for that, as the audience has already formed its first impression.

The idea behind quality graphic design is to give viewers not only a fantastic first impression, but also to capture their curiosity to learn more about you and your brand.

Color selection, shapes, and styles are just some of the ingredients involved in a design. A good graphic designer will take these elements and combine them into a proven formula that is guaranteed to work. This formula can mean the difference between a profitable website and an instant disaster.

What about templates? Those are pretty right?

Yes, they are. Templates are pretty but they are limited to a target market.  Also, they weren’t designed specifically for your name and your brand. Some people with a good eye can get away with a premade template that seems to flatter their logo or image, but a well developed website will always deliver much more. Why? Very simply, the fully customized website is made to order. It fits your needs and most importantly it fits exactly what your viewers are after. Your image and your brand have left a template behind and are now connecting with potential clients.

Pre-made templates can make an impression, but the design never really sparks the visitor’s interest. Good design creates a memory. It sticks to your brain like gum to your hair. It will never leave, and each time you associate something with it, it will stick even more.

Affiliate marketing is the industry that benefits the most from high quality design. All the support from an experienced designer takes a huge load off your back. A seasoned designer will understand which layouts, table designs, promotional material, and color selection will increase your sales, your traffic, and your leads.

Of course, you can always try and save money by doing it yourself. You could consult a tutorial or instructional video to learn the basics of graphic design. When you are done, your site will look fantastic to your eyes, but remember that our famous celebrity going to the gala event also thought he was appropriately dressed.

Trust your designer. He will lead you to success. Guide your designer. Share your opinions and preferences and let him interpret them for you. Feedback is the best thing you can give your graphic artist. It not only feeds his hunger for improvement, but it also develops your project.

How do you know if the design is good?

Deciding is rather subjective, but your best guide is your own instincts. Ask yourself these key questions:

Is the concept visually appealing? Is everything clean and properly organized? Does the content flow? Is it easy to read? Do you want to stay on the site and keep reading?

At the end of the day you have choices. You can be the ratty dressed celeb, you can wear a consignment store outfit that kind of fits, or you can don a tuxedo tailored to your needs and become the sensation of the event.

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Thanks for the post Eduardo.

Thought I would give a quick update with what I am up to these days.

In my last post I talked about my Super Bowl site and wanted to give a quick update about that.  Overall I didn’t get as much traffic as I would have liked, but it was a great experiment and I got some sports betting sign ups from it.  Here is my Super Bowl Site Review recap blog post at PAL.

I also talked about how I was getting a mini site up focused on betting on the Winter Olympics.  I fixed it up similar to the Super Bowl site and have gotten only a small amount of visitors so far but have a couple sign ups.  I am actually working on the site with a friend who is trying to get into affiliating, so I had him do the content and I did the website stuff and SEO, and we’re splitting profits 50/50.  The site wasn’t as big as I had hoped when I bought the domain back a couple months ago but oh well I have a ton on my plate right now.

The last couple days I’ve been working hard on a  new site.  I actually started a blog series at CAL where I’m explaining step by step how I go abouts creating a new site.  Here is the first post on Creating a Site – Research and Planning. Since that blog post I have got my template back and have been putting some content on it.  My next post will come within the next few days.  The template I got for the site is probably my nicest template I have ever used, which has motivated me like crazy… I cranked out a bunch of work this weekend and didn’t even get into the alcohol at night so I could work the next day .  I might ask Eduardo from Eyenod to make a guest post here about the importance of a nice looking template, something that I need to focus on more because I have some ugly ass sites out there.

So next week I will basically just be working on my new site, making a couple oylmpic betting posts on my sports news blog, and possibly doing a few touch ups to other small sites that are starting to get traffic.  I have like 2 or 3 more domains that I want to get going soon too because I hate seeing good domains sitting around.  Check back soon.

This weekend is SUPERBOWL WEEKEND

Superbowl weekend should be pretty good to me this weekend for a couple reasons… firstly I love football and love watching the Superbowl, we will having a little Superbowl party at our house which equals beer and some great food, and also Superbowl is the biggest sports betting event in North America.  Since I have been building up a small base of sports bettors under me this football season I hope to see some good action on the big game!

I picked up a solid domain a couple weekends ago  which was focused on the superbowl niche – Bet on Superbowl.  I ended up getting some pages up on the default wordpress theme and getting some links to it.  I started to see some visitors trickle in the past few days and thought “shit the site will probably convert like crap since I haven’t focused on it much”.

I decided it would be cool to get some input from PAL members on the site for conversions, hoping a couple people would pitch in with a couple tips.  After making the post the amount of feedback I got back absolutely amazing.. it goes to show what a great resource PAL is for affiliates – check out the Superbowl Site Review thread.

I then went and ahead and started making some big changes.  I put the site on a new template, got a sick superbowl header made from Eduardo, fixed up the content, put up a newsletter thingy, added some pages, and even found out how to put a comment script in a static site thanks to JohnH.

The site looks 1000x and even more importantly will convert 1000x better.  I may not have done enough SEO work this year to get a huge amoutn of traffic, but I am expecting some decent traffic and conversions and then I want to hit it HARD next superbowl.

I am going to do the same thing for my Bet on Winter Olympics site (which I’m working with a friend on) and make a blog post probably at PAL with the before and after.

I will report back on how the Superbowl site does next week sometime, enjoy the game