It's true that many search engines send spiders to find websites like these and post them on their search pages. However, a good way to easily speed up the advertising process is to submit to websites that forward your site information to multiple search engines. Oftentimes, the engines they submit to are small ones, but not totally insignificant. Every little bit of exposure helps; after all, engines will also search smaller engines to eventually find your webpage.
AddMe was the first multi-engine I submitted to. It's very simple and easy to use- just fill in the page title, URL, description and some tags, and confirm! Instant exposure.
There are definitely some SEO points to be made (metatags, RSS, labels, etc.), but luckily sites like Blogger take care of this for the most part.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Sell What Sells
I got this useful little tidbit from some online business how-to book.
Common people like me get intimidated by competition. If I see someone who's selling the same thing I am, I get scared that the customer will pass me up for this other product. However, the evidence against this mentality is all around us: for instance, a single look down the aisle at a grocery store might produce 10 different brands of water. It's all water. Virtually the same water. But the fact that there are so many sellers demonstrates that there is also much DEMAND.
So when I see all these sites advertising on Google and Yahoo! for the same products as mine, I try to think positively. There are only so many vendors paying for ad space because there are so many customers. Undoubtedly, at least a few will stray my way.
Common people like me get intimidated by competition. If I see someone who's selling the same thing I am, I get scared that the customer will pass me up for this other product. However, the evidence against this mentality is all around us: for instance, a single look down the aisle at a grocery store might produce 10 different brands of water. It's all water. Virtually the same water. But the fact that there are so many sellers demonstrates that there is also much DEMAND.
So when I see all these sites advertising on Google and Yahoo! for the same products as mine, I try to think positively. There are only so many vendors paying for ad space because there are so many customers. Undoubtedly, at least a few will stray my way.
Multiple Streams of Income
Multiple Streams of Income was the title of a book written by some filthy rich real estate investor who bought houses for no money down (hence the name of his first book, No Money Down, or something to that effect) and rented them off immediately. It probably was a great idea while he was doing it in the 80's, but not so much anymore. Anyway, I flipped through Multiple Streams of Income and found that some of his proposed streams were far-fetched: writing e-books and selling them off, exchanging discount offers with local businesses... come on, I'm only human.
It's the title that inspires me- that even if you can't quite find that 1 million dollar idea, find 10 100,000 dollar ideas is just as good or even better. So here's my proposed multiple streams, and they are much simpler and down-to-earth:
- my office job
- my 401k, operated by Fidelity
- this blog, through Google Adsense
- an e-commerce site, through Shopify
- stock trading, using Zecco
- high-yield online savings accounts
- various selling of stuff on Ebay or Craigslist
No one of these ideas is likely to make me rich, but hey, together they all help.
It's the title that inspires me- that even if you can't quite find that 1 million dollar idea, find 10 100,000 dollar ideas is just as good or even better. So here's my proposed multiple streams, and they are much simpler and down-to-earth:
- my office job
- my 401k, operated by Fidelity
- this blog, through Google Adsense
- an e-commerce site, through Shopify
- stock trading, using Zecco
- high-yield online savings accounts
- various selling of stuff on Ebay or Craigslist
No one of these ideas is likely to make me rich, but hey, together they all help.
E-Commerce Websites
I have to say, building an e-commerce website has been one of things that I've tried many times, only to quit after a few days. The reason why is that no matter what they advertise, these "free shopping cart" hosts are never turnkey operations. It takes weeks just to update your inventory, not to mention set up a payment gateway or perform search engine optimization and advertising.
One prime example of this is OSCommerce. OSCommerce is an e-commerce platform that is open to the public. This means there's plenty of customization, templates, and neat options. The problem is, the operation of OSCommerce requires a pretty hefty knowledge in SQL databases, something that most of us aren't going to take the time to learn.
That's why I ended up joining Shopify, a relatively new e-commerce package and webhost that is simple, professional-looking, and also has a free trial session for five purchases. This plan is great since you'll have five true chances of measuring the ease of the website, rather than just a time-based trial.
Anyway, I will be launching my new shop soon, so keep an eye out for it!
One prime example of this is OSCommerce. OSCommerce is an e-commerce platform that is open to the public. This means there's plenty of customization, templates, and neat options. The problem is, the operation of OSCommerce requires a pretty hefty knowledge in SQL databases, something that most of us aren't going to take the time to learn.
That's why I ended up joining Shopify, a relatively new e-commerce package and webhost that is simple, professional-looking, and also has a free trial session for five purchases. This plan is great since you'll have five true chances of measuring the ease of the website, rather than just a time-based trial.
Anyway, I will be launching my new shop soon, so keep an eye out for it!
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Free Stock Trading
I'd just like to introduce my favorite stock trading platform- Zecco.com.
Zecco is free. That's right, all stock trades up to a monthly maximum of 10 are free (not including options and other special orders). This drastically reduces the overhead for stock trading when you're like me and only investing a few thousand dollars at a time.
That said, I'm sure hoping that Zecco will stay afloat. Since it's inception in Canada I believe, it has since opened a new office on the west coast of the US. However, the minimum account balance has risen from $1000 to $2500 while the number of monthly trades dropped from 40 to 10. Also, they now charge a nominal fee for mailing paper statements. Emailed statements are still free. Luckily, the trading interface has greatly improved, providing real-time balance info (yes, this was not available before), stock quotes, and execution history. It still doesn't provide even the simplest of graphing tools for tracking past performance though.
All in all, I'd highly recommend for basic investor who plans to hold just a few stocks. You can get stock tools that Zecco lacks from other free sites.
Zecco is free. That's right, all stock trades up to a monthly maximum of 10 are free (not including options and other special orders). This drastically reduces the overhead for stock trading when you're like me and only investing a few thousand dollars at a time.
That said, I'm sure hoping that Zecco will stay afloat. Since it's inception in Canada I believe, it has since opened a new office on the west coast of the US. However, the minimum account balance has risen from $1000 to $2500 while the number of monthly trades dropped from 40 to 10. Also, they now charge a nominal fee for mailing paper statements. Emailed statements are still free. Luckily, the trading interface has greatly improved, providing real-time balance info (yes, this was not available before), stock quotes, and execution history. It still doesn't provide even the simplest of graphing tools for tracking past performance though.
All in all, I'd highly recommend for basic investor who plans to hold just a few stocks. You can get stock tools that Zecco lacks from other free sites.
Google Analytics
Personally, I don't even like Google Analytics that much. I always get screens and screens of tables, charts, and other graphics all trying to "analyze" my traffic and tell me how to grow my website... let's be realistic. At the start, I'm only going to get 1 visitor a week (not including myself, of course) and all I really need is that little number that tells me how many visitors I've had.
Interestingly, setting up Google Analytics for Blogger is a bit more difficult and time-consuming than Adsense because it requires email confirmation, as well as the manual insertion of tracking code into the website. This is pretty annoying considering both companies are owned by Google and ought to be integrated instantaneously. Nonetheless, I'll get the tracking code in, wait it out a few days, and see how things go.
If you'd rather have a simpler solution, go check out Sitemeter. Sitemeter also drops a visitor count right on the page (why did you not think of this, Google??) that everyone can see.
Interestingly, setting up Google Analytics for Blogger is a bit more difficult and time-consuming than Adsense because it requires email confirmation, as well as the manual insertion of tracking code into the website. This is pretty annoying considering both companies are owned by Google and ought to be integrated instantaneously. Nonetheless, I'll get the tracking code in, wait it out a few days, and see how things go.
If you'd rather have a simpler solution, go check out Sitemeter. Sitemeter also drops a visitor count right on the page (why did you not think of this, Google??) that everyone can see.
Google Adsense For Blogs
Perhaps the one big pipe dream of all bloggers is the fantasy of making money off of ads. By far the easiest and perhaps most viable way of hosting ads is through Google Adsense. In particular, they integrate perfectly with Blogger, and they look professional and relatively unobtrusive. I wouldn't expect it to pay more than a few cents a month but hey, the blog itself is free so it's a profit without capital investment.
As of today, the Adsense box is filled with a public service ad, which is why I've got it in such a small box over on the right side. Google places these on the site before replacing them with paying ads, once it gets a chance to scan your site for content. Better get that content up and running before the spider drops in a doesn't find anything!
As of today, the Adsense box is filled with a public service ad, which is why I've got it in such a small box over on the right side. Google places these on the site before replacing them with paying ads, once it gets a chance to scan your site for content. Better get that content up and running before the spider drops in a doesn't find anything!
The Beginning
I was comfortable at first.
Fresh out of college, I started out with my first entry-level job at a highly respected company, working with smart people, supported by good benefits and a great starting salary of $62,000. I had few student loans, a fully paid-off car, and a bargain-basement rent of $450 a month achieved by squeezing 3 people into a 2 bedroom apartment.
Then came the taxes. The auto and medical insurance. Heat and hot water for the apartment and gas for the auto. Soon enough, I saw that paycheck diminish more and more- if I was lucky, I might be able to sock away $25,000 a year. It was clear that the only way to increase my income would be to supplement it from outside sources.
And so it begins- my journey to obtain wealth through sources beyond the cube.
Fresh out of college, I started out with my first entry-level job at a highly respected company, working with smart people, supported by good benefits and a great starting salary of $62,000. I had few student loans, a fully paid-off car, and a bargain-basement rent of $450 a month achieved by squeezing 3 people into a 2 bedroom apartment.
Then came the taxes. The auto and medical insurance. Heat and hot water for the apartment and gas for the auto. Soon enough, I saw that paycheck diminish more and more- if I was lucky, I might be able to sock away $25,000 a year. It was clear that the only way to increase my income would be to supplement it from outside sources.
And so it begins- my journey to obtain wealth through sources beyond the cube.
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