ReubenRock.com
Internet Marketer, Graduate Student, Radical Dude.
2010 Goals: What Will You Accomplish?
Dec 31st
My 2010 Goal Mindmap
Here it is again… the new year!
It sneaks up on us every time, and it leaves me scrambling to figure out what I’ve accomplished in 365 days? But the new year also brings the opportunity to dream big for the next 52 weeks.
So in the spirit of dreaming big, I present to you my 2010 goals. Just like last year, I used Bubbl.us to create a pretty little map of my goals. It is separated into business, personal, and academic sections. Click on the image at the top left to view my goals.
This year the academic goals are taking a hit. School is great. I hope to land an amazing job in my field after I finish my phd. But I don’t want school to be my BIG focus this year, so I cut back on my academic goals. Grad school has consumed my life and pushed my business aside, so this year will need to be different. I’m shifting my entire mindset: leave school at school. My business is my life and always will be. So profits will no longer take a backseat to statistics homework.
There is also a goal related to this blog: I want to make ReubenRock.com a little more personal. Writing about business-only topics killed me this year (which is why I haven’t written much to speak of in 2009). I hope to open up a bit about my life and the amazing things I experience. My wife and I travel, party, laugh, learn, and have a great time. These things are important to me, and I want to share that with everyone. So expect some personal flair in the coming year. And if you really want to get to know me, follow me on twitter (@reubenrock). Trust me – I really open up there!
My business goals this year are pretty lofty. They include specific $$$ amounts on some of them, which I sincerely hope to accomplish. I’ll be sure to share my progress throughout the year. If I actually hit these goals, I’ll probably be really excited – so you can expect a post about it.
So wrapping this up, what do you hope to accomplish this year? What will 2010 bring for you? I strongly encourage you to commit your own goals to paper. You don’t have to map them out like I did, but write them down. Post them somewhere in your home or office. If you see these goals on a daily basis, you won’t forget to make progress toward achieving them.
That’s all for now. Good luck, and I’ll see you in 2010!
Article Marketing Still Works
Dec 4th
I still write articles and submit to EzineArticles.com. Why? Because it still brings me quality traffic that converts. It still delivers high rankings in Google. It still works for my business. The articles I wrote 2 years ago are still driving traffic to my products, and they are still earning me more money.
Despite the fact that this technique has been around for years and is still effective… many internet marketers refuse to take advantage of it. Why? All I can figure is laziness. Sure, there are folks who focus exclusively on PPC or whatever and make tons of money. I can understand why they aren’t writing articles. But the people who are struggling to get started online, who haven’t earned a single dime, and who are begging for a silver bullet… these are the people who aren’t writing articles. And that makes me sad.
Why are so few people using article marketing? Because it involves work – actual, honest to god work. People hate writing. And they think making money online is the result of some special combination of WordPress plugins or secret Adwords methods. So they continue to search for that one secret they need to learn. If they spent that time writing a couple articles instead of reading Warrior Forum, they might make a couple bucks. But most beginners just don’t do it.
There’s no real “hot tip” in my post today. Just a reminder that this old fashioned way of driving traffic is still an option. It’s just as effective as it was years ago. My articles regularly get click-thru rates of 30% and higher. Some of them as high as 60%. That’s money in my pocket, and it should be money in your pocket too.
If you really need an action plan, go build an affiliate site promoting my product at RecordingStudioProfits.com. The commission is about $29/sale. It’s converting really well right now, and my affiliates are starting to make more and more every month. Once you’ve built a quick landing page to promote the product, submit a couple articles to EzineArticles.com. Topics could be anything related to recording studios, home studios, sound engineering, etc. This niche has been getting high CTRs for me on my articles. You should be able to earn some quick commissions. Then I’ll send you a commission check and a note that says, “I told you article marketing still works!”
Paypal Shopping Cart Abandonment
Sep 2nd
I’ve been noticing a high rate of shopping cart abandonment on a few new products I created. After going through my checkout process, I think I have the problem nailed down. My receiving email address was wack. Yes, wack.
Consider this – you decide to drop $100 on an info product. Click the buy button, and suddenly you’re sending your cash to sk8rboi666@aol.com (not my email address, btw). How confident do you feel that your money is safe? Does it seem like you might get scammed? Probably. Or at the very least, the seller is incompetent.
So my quick suggestion for the day is to check out your Paypal emails. Make sure the payment is being sent to a related email. For me, payments are now being sent to 90minutebusiness (at) mydomain.com.
If you sell softballs, make sure the email is softball related. Trust me – it makes a difference.
Here’s to reduced cart abandonment!
Google Adwords Managed Placements – Use Them!
Jul 22nd
Here’s a quick post and a quick tip: use your Google Adwords managed placements.
If you are using Adwords to drive traffic to your site, you are losing out on low cost clicks if you don’t use managed placements. Use the placement locator tool to find some good potential sites to target. Content clicks can be had for a low CPC, and you will get higher CTR if you target sites properly.
Let me give you some stats from one of my personal campaigns:
- Average cost per click – $0.09
- CTR’s ranging from 1.3% to 5.73%
No, those CTR’s are nothing too special – but for the content network, it’s pretty good. I’m happy with it, and I’m making money from it.
But what I really like is the CPC of $0.09. That’s incredibly low, especially considering my CPC for search is between $0.50 and $0.79.
So go use the placement locator tool, get some low cost clicks, and thank me later!
That’s all for today – good luck,
Reuben D. Rock
Take My Money – Not My Time!
Jul 6th
What’s more valuable to you - a bit of cash or a couple of minutes? You might be surprised at the number of people who choose time over money.
I was reading a few articles about setting price anchors in your sales copy, and I realized there was very little mention of time. Comparing the price of your ebook to the price of your coaching is one thing… but what about the time investment? If you save your client some time, they may not care what price you are asking. Here’s an example: More >
