Oh Google, how I love and hate you.

It seems that Google likes to keep people on their toes. Just when you think you have a business built up they pull the carpet out from you.

If you follow anything at all about SEO I’m sure by now you’re aware that the big G changed up their algorithm once again this week. While they say it only affected just over 3% of their results, it seems like much more.

I’ve seen some screwy stuff where pages are now ranking high that have nothing to do with the search term, and other quality sites with useful content knocked into the depths of the SERPS.

To be honest, a lot of the results don’t make sense. Sites that haven’t been updated in years are now outranking sites that have current content.

So what’s a person to do when the site they’ve invested days, weeks and years of their life and lots of money falls off the face of the planet?

Well, there are two basic choices you can make.

Become Ron Burgundy

You can just do nothing, not adapt to new changes and keep doing what used to work, much like Ron Burgundy in the movie Anchorman.

“Bob Dylan once wrote, The times, they are a-changin. Ron Burgundy had never heard that song.”

Maybe you will slowly work your way back to the top, but I guarantee you there will be more algorithm changes in the future.

Exploiting the system can only work so long before your business fails. Your rankings dry up as does your profits and you’re left there drinking away your sorrows.

Make a Drastic Change

The other option you can do is get working on making some drastic changes to either your website or business model.

If you are relying completely on Google rankings to build your business just know that you’re on shaky ground. One change and your clawing and scratching for a way to pay the bills.

If you have a profitable site that was kicked in the knees by an over-optimization penalty there are a few things you can try, but just know that it will be very time consuming and/or costly.

Create a Killer Site

Take a good hard look at your site and make sure to take your marketing/SEO glasses off. Does your content make sense? Does it help people?

A good way to check this out is to show your site to your non marketing friends and family and ask them what they think. You will probably be surprised with some of the answers you get.

If you’re afraid to show it to them then chances are search engines won’t like it either. Focus on making your website really, really good. (Yeah, I may be sounding a bit like Matt Cutts, but there is a lot of merit in it).

Think of your site as a long term investment and turn that sucker into a brand. Build up excellent content that people will actually want to share. Create a community either through your social media pages, comments or forums and get connecting to people. Give them what they want.

You will notice that you won’t have to rely as much on SEO as your traffic will start to shift and come from other sources.

Stop Link Building and Start Promoting

Ok, I’m going to admit that I’ve used a lot of different link building tactics such as article marketing, blog commenting, Web 2.0 creation, and blog networks. To be honest I don’t see these as bad, but they don’t work long term as we are seeing.

It’s time to take that energy and money that you were using to build low quality links and focus on promoting your sites in new ways. I’m talking tactics such as guest posting on quality sites, building up your Facebook pages and email lists, PPC campaigns, and a million other ideas that can help you build long term visitors.

Become a true marketer, not just a “me to” marketer.

One of my goals I’ve decided on for my business is that I want to start doing at least 2 strategic guest posts a month. I’m not just using them to build links, but to reach new audiences and build up my brand (which I’ll be relaunching over the next few weeks, but I’ll save that for another post).

Change Your Business Model

Is your business based off of building small niche sites? It may be time to change. I’ve been focusing a lot on niche sites over the past few years and to be honest I always feel like I’m playing the game Jenga and they can topple over at any time.

A few years ago I was doing really well on AdWords. I had found a way to spend $25-$50 a day in advertising and was making 4 figure profits every day (not a bad ROI). I rode that wave and got lazy until 1 day I got an email that I was banned from AdWords for life and I was left trying to figure out what to do.

Fast forward a few years and the niche sites I’ve been creating are once again at the mercy of Google and that sucks.

For me my business model is changing.

I’m in this business for the long haul so it’s time to start building up a brand.

Maybe you decide to change your model up and build up an e-commerce store, build out some software, write books, do freelance work, take on advertising clients, or whatever you’re good at. It’s time to start building some long term assets that aren’t at the mercy of what another company happens to do.

Not to say that SEO is dead, but don’t base your business on what another business does. If you’re success is dependent on what Google or Facebook decide to do than you’re building on rocky sand and it’s just a matter of time until you have your face shoved in a pillow shouting obscenities.

Take Action

So how are you going to react? Are you going to do what a lot of people do and cry about it or are you going to get to work?

Unless you know someone working at Google there isn’t much you can accomplish by crying, but there is so much you can do by working hard and smart.

Make some changes and move forward. Build a solid business and go create something that lasts.

How Did The Google Over-Optimization Penalty Affect You?

I’ve heard from multiple people who have had their businesses completely wiped off of the top 100 results of Googles and their profits gone. Other had a few slight changes up or down. Maybe this was even a good change for you.

Write in the comments below how it affected your business and your thoughts.

I know how blogging and content creation goes a lot of times. You spend hours writing a post, edit it, make it look nice and promote the crap out of it on social media.

However you look at your traffic and there might be a slight spike, but not much, and very little comments if any at all. You created some epic content and yet no one reads it.

Why does this happen?

Well there are a number of factors, but one thing you need to remember is that when people are online they have ridiculously short attention spans.

If your blog post title doesn’t sound interesting or tell people what your post is about, chances are they won’t click and read your article. Without hooking them with your title, you leave them bored and they WILL move on.

So how do you write an awesome blog post title?

Well to be honest there is no single magic formula to help flood your server with traffic, but there are many great structures to follow that will help you get more traffic.

Instead of just giving you a list of some of my thoughts, I decided to list 21 blog posts from some of the top bloggers around the web to see what works for them. These posts are actually their top posts on their blogs based on the number of the comments they have received (many over 500).

This isn’t meant for you to copy, but to help you analyze what bloggers of some of the most trafficked blog posts online have done with their titles to attract massive traffic.

They are in no specific order:

1. The Inigo Montoya Guide to 27 Commonly Misused Words

Copyblogger - Great way to tie in some pop culture into a list that catches your attention.

2. How I Made $860,538.38 PROFIT in 4 Months!

Zac Johnson – People love how to articles, especially when it shows making money. This title definitely gets peoples attention.

3. How NOT To Suck At Blogging

Man Vs. Debt – Another how to post. Nobody wants to suck at something which entices them to click.

4. A Brief Guide To World Domination

The Art of Non Conformity - Who wouldn’t want to dominate the world if all you have to do is a read a brief guide.

5. 28 Ways to Make Money with Your Website

DailyBlogTips – A list that tells people exactly what’s in the post and how it will benefit them by reading it (make money).

6. The VBL Community ‘Niche Site Project’… PLUS – Unveiling My Own Niche Site!

Virtual Business Lifestyle – While not that attention grabbing, I think the last part of the title is what draws people to this post. In the internet marketing world, most people don’t reveal any of their sites. So when Chris says he is unveiling what he was planning on doing, people jump on the chance to read about it.

7. THE Backlinking Strategy That Works

The Smart Passive Income Blog - This is a pretty straight forward title. It tells people what the post is about, and lets them know that the strategies discussed in the post actually work and are worth a read. It is also followed by awesome content.

8. 10 Ways To Instantly Build Self Confidence

Pick The Brain – Notice the use of numbers in blog posts titles. People use them because they work at getting people to click. This title explains exactly how it will help people.

9. How to Use Your Subconscious to Change Your Life

The Change Blog – Another how to post. People love easy to digest how to posts that can help them with something.

10. 50 Reasons Why I Suck

A Daring Adventure – Another list, but he is also being vulnerable and people love to connect with bloggers. This is especially true when you tell people the reasons why you suck, as they are probably feeling slightly the same.

11. How to Figure Out What People Want To Buy From You

Social Triggers – Another how to in the title. How to articles work at attracting people to your post if they are written correctly.

12. 51 Creative Business Cards That Will Make You Look Twice

Quicksprout – Another list that gets your attention (and it got a ton of comments).

13. My Crazy Simple 7 Step Plan To Promote A New Post

Money Dummy – Not just a list but also his formula of how he promotes his blog posts. People love reading not just theories, but actual ways people do things that they can replicate in their business.

14. How To Really Build Backlinks and Dominate Google

ViperChill – A how to on a topic that peaks the interest of anyone with a website.

15. Getting Naked with Noah Kagan: How He Started AppSumo for $50 and Got Over 500,000 Subscribers

The Rise To The Top – Some slight shock value plus some huge numbers that are almost to good not to click on the link.

16. How to Lose 20 lbs. of Fat in 30 Days… Without Doing Any Exercise

Four Hour Work Week – One of the oldest headlines around and it still works. This post has 5000 comments on it.

17. 21 Quick Actions You Can Do Today to Set Your Blog Up for Massive Success

Think Traffic – Not only is this a very well thought out post, the title is well thought out. People like things that don’t take much time and are easily consumable. Both of those issues are taken care of in this title.

18. The Ultimate Link Building Guide for Niche Websites

Niche Pursuits – This targets a topic that many people are scared of or just plain hate to do. The title guides the user into seeing this post as a complete guide to help them.

19. An Interview with Newbie Rockstar Matthew Newton and How He Got to $1500/Mo in Just 60 Days

Online Income Lab – An interview that is turned into a how to in the title. Great way to title an interview where real value is given to the reader.

20. 57 Living Legends Expose The Moment that Defined their Passion

Live Your Legend – Another list (yeah, lists work great at drawing people to your posts).

21. Why I’m Living In Bali, Indonesia

Tropical MBA – This is a little different than the other titles. I think it might be so popular because Dan has built a relationship with his readers by giving them some details about his life in general.

As you can see from these different blogs, there are a few themes in the top blog posts from these blogs.

• “How To” articles work great at attracting visitors.
• People love lists and easily consumable content that is broken down.
• People like to read about personal information from bloggers.

So what do you think makes a good blog post title? Please share your thoughts below.

If you’ve been following my blog the past month, you’ll know I’ve been spending a little time on building up 8 exact match sites I own that had pretty much 0 traffic and revenue.

My goal was to do as little as possible to get them ranking, and over the past two weeks I’ve done very little and the results so far aren’t that drastic. 

Check out my original post and my first update if you haven’t read those yet.

Setbacks in SEO

One of my setbacks was that I was using BuildMyRank and High PR Society to build links to these sites. Both are high PR blog networks and both have been Tonya Harding-ed in the knees by Google. BuildMyRank has actually shut down, so the recent links I build to these sites didn’t go live.

You can read more about the death of blog networks at Niche Pursuits.

So now I’m regrouping and coming up with a new SEO strategy for these sites.

Still the time I’ve spent on these sites is probably less than the time I’ve spent writing posts on here and some revenue is starting to trickle in.

Here is the breakdown of the sites to date:

Site 1

Niche: Construction
Original Google Rank: Over 350
Current Google Rank: 300 (Entered the top 350)

What I’ve Done This Week:
Ordered 3 articles ($9 total) from iWriter and have dripped them into the site. 0 link building done this week.

Total Spent On Link Building: $3.75
Total Spent On Content: $31.30
Total Spent: $35.05
Total Revenue:  $0.00 

Site 2

Niche: Finance
Original Google Rank: 258
Current Google Rank: 172 (+86)

What I’ve Done This Week:
Ordered 3 articles ($9 total) from iWriter and have dripped them into the site. 0 link building done this week.

Total Spent On Link Building: $0
Total Spent On Content: $31.30
Total Spent: $31.30
Total Revenue:  $0.00 

Site 3

Niche: Construction
Original Google Rank: 262
Current Google Rank: 72 (+190)

What I’ve Done This Week:
Ordered 4 articles ($12 total) from iWriter and have dripped them into the site. 0 link building done this week.

Total Spent On Link Building: $3.75
Total Spent On Content: $12
Total Spent: $15.75
Total Revenue:  $7.00 

Site 4

Niche: Food
Original Google Rank: 335
Current Google Rank: 70 (+265)

What I’ve Done This Week:
Ordered 3 articles ($9 total) from iWriter and have dripped them into the site. 0 link building done this week.

Total Spent On Link Building: $2.48
Total Spent On Content: $31.30
Total Spent: $33.78
Total Revenue:  $2.41

Site 5

Niche: Food
Original Google Rank: 191
Current Google Rank: 60 (+131)

What I’ve Done This Week:
Ordered 3 articles ($9 total) from iWriter and have dripped them into the site. 0 link building done this week.

Total Spent On Link Building: $0
Total Spent On Content: $31.30
Total Spent: $31.30
Total Revenue:  $0.00 

Site 6

Niche: Electronics
Original Google Rank: Over 350
Current Google Rank: 70 (First time in 6 months its shown in my Rank Tracker. Up 100 since last week)

What I’ve Done This Week:
Ordered 3 articles ($9 total) from iWriter and have dripped them into the site. 0 link building done this week.

Total Spent On Link Building: $0
Total Spent On Content: $31.30
Total Spent: $31.30
Total Revenue:  $1.70

Site 7

Niche: Software
Original Google Rank: 7
Current Google Rank: 4 (+3)

What I’ve Done This Week:
Nothing new this week. Move up to #4 in Google and clicks starting to come on AdSense. $0.85 average CPC.

Total Spent On Link Building: $12.00
Total Spent On Content: $59.00
Total Spent: $71.00
Total Revenue:  $8.52

Site 8

Niche: Automotive
Local Exact Match Search: 720
Original Google Rank: 85
Current Google Rank: 73 (+12)

What I’ve Done This Week:
Ordered 3 articles ($9 total) from iWriter and have dripped them into the site. 0 link building done this week.

Total Spent On Link Building: $0
Total Spent On Content: $31.30
Total Spent: $31.30
Total Revenue:  $0.00

Totals Overview

Total Spent: $280.78
Total Revenue:  $19.63
Profit/Loss: -$261.15

My Thoughts

I still need to figure out my inexpensive plan for getting some links built to the site since my original plan isn’t going to work now. Check back next week and I’ll let you know what I decided to try.

Overall my rankings are about what I expected at this point. These sites haven’t been a top priority and I’ll spend a little more time over the next two weeks getting some links built to them so they will all start making some AdSense money.

Let me know if you have any questions!

Last week I wrote a post on a case study I’m working on that includes 8 exact match niche AdSense sites I bought last year that weren’t ranking and making any money. I decided to try and see the least amount of work I could do on them to get them up and ranking (and profitable).

Go read the post here if you haven’t yet.

It’s been exactly 1 week since my last post and I figured I’d give an update of what I’ve done and where things stand.

To best see results for each site, here is a breakdown of each of the 8 sites with what I’ve done and their rankings.

Site 1

Niche: Construction
Original Google Rank: Over 350
Current Google Rank: Over 350 (No change)

What I’ve Done:
This site I didn’t make any changes with until Friday. I went to Text Broker and ordered a new 1000 word article for the home page using a 4 star writer. I didn’t put that on the site until this morning. I also changed the WordPress theme to Thesis (which I did with all of the sites). Then on Friday I started a daily link building campaign with Drip Feed Links. You don’t get quality links with Drip Feed Links and I’m sure they won’t help at all with rankings, but it does give the site some good link diversity so my higher quality links can use my main keywords. I then used the blog network High PR Society and submitted 50 articles. This is my first time using High PR Society as I generally use Build My Rank, so will see how it goes. Will probably need to build more links but will see if there is any movement in the next week.

Total Spent On Link Building: $3.75
Total Spent On Content: $22.30
Total Spent: $26.05 

Site 2

Niche: Finance
Original Google Rank: 258
Current Google Rank: 253 (+5)

What I’ve Done:
This site I haven’t started any link building on yet other than starting a Drip Feed Links (75 links a day) campaign. I switched the WordPress theme to Thesis. After that I replaced the homepage article with a 1000 word article I had written on Text Broker.

Total Spent On Link Building: $0
Total Spent On Content: $22.30
Total Spent: $22.30

Site 3

Niche: Construction
Original Google Rank: 262
Current Google Rank: 70 (+192)

What I’ve Done:
This site I opted to keep the homepage content that was there and haven’t ordered any new content. This was the only site that was static html and so I converted it to WordPress and used the Thesis theme. I setup a Drip Feed Links campaign and ordered 50 articles from High PR Society. The High PR Society links are dripping out at a rate of 5 per day and they started on Saturday. Already seeing a quick jump in the ranks after just switching the site to WordPress/Thesis.

Total Spent On Link Building: $3.75
Total Spent On Content: $0
Total Spent: $3.75

Site 4

Niche: Food
Original Google Rank: 335
Current Google Rank: 77 (+258)

What I’ve Done:
This site already had the Thesis theme on it (I think I switched to it when I first bought the site awhile ago, but that’s all I did with it at the time). I got a 1000 word article written for the home page from Text Broker. I also setup a Drip Feed Links campaign and added 33 articles on High PR Society. Within 2 days of adding the new home page content the site hit the top 100 rankings. Link building just started this weekend and are dripping out at a rate of 6 articles per day.

Total Spent On Link Building: $2.48
Total Spent On Content: $22.30
Total Spent: $24.78

Site 5

Niche: Food
Original Google Rank: 191
Current Google Rank: 103 (+88)

What I’ve Done:
Site 5 I bought new content for the home page (1000 words) and changed the WordPress theme to Thesis. I started a Drip Feed Links campaign and that’s about it. This week I’ll add some more links.

Total Spent On Link Building: $0
Total Spent On Content: $22.30
Total Spent: $22.30

Site 6

Niche: Electronics
Original Google Rank: Over 350
Current Google Rank: 174 (First time in 6 months its shown in my Rank Tracker)

What I’ve Done:
This is the same as site 5 as far as what I’ve done. New home page content, added Thesis theme and a Drip Feeds Link campaign.

Total Spent On Link Building: $0
Total Spent On Content: $22.30
Total Spent: $22.30

Site 7

Niche: Software
Original Google Rank: 7
Current Google Rank: 5 (+2)

What I’ve Done:
I haven’t done anything since last week other than switch the theme to Thesis and add the Drip Feed Links campaign for link diversity. The site is getting about 20-25 visits a day, up from about 1-3 a day since I’ve started. So far only 1 Adsense click for $2.39 in revenue this week. I just changed the theme over to Thesis so hopefully will see more clicks this week.

Total Spent On Link Building: $12.00
Total Spent On Content: $59.00
Total Spent: $71.00

Site 8

Niche: Automotive
Local Exact Match Search: 720
Original Google Rank: 85
Current Google Rank: 63 (+22)

What I’ve Done:
This is the same as site 6. All I did was add new homepage content, switch the theme to Thesis and add a Drip Feed Links campaign. Already seeing a little movement in the SERPS though.

Total Spent On Link Building: $0
Total Spent On Content: $22.30
Total Spent: $22.30

My Thoughts

Overall I didn’t spent that much time on these sites. Most of my time was spent changing the themes over to Thesis. I’m already seeing positive movement on all of the sites except 1. It is still early since I just started the link building on all but site 7 just a few days ago. Usually it takes a week or so to see the benefits of link building. I’ve never used High PR Society so will see how that works out.

Not a bad start and I believe most of these sites will hit at least the top 20 within the next months.

I may be over spending on my home page content, but my though was that I wanted quality content on the home page. In the future when I’m looking to scale (building a few hundred of these sites a month) I may need to try some lower quality writing to reduce costs. However I’m happy with the quality Text Broker provides so visitors to these sites are getting solid information.

Later this week check back as I’m going to write a post on the tools I’ve used to check my search results.

Let me know if you have any questions or topics you’d like to see covered in future posts.

Last year I started venturing into buying and selling websites as part of my business and have accumulated quite a few sites over the past 6 months.

In June and July of 2011 I bought a little more than 200 exact match sites (the domains were the exact keyword the site was targeting) that were being monetized just through Google AdSense.

Out of the 200, probably 190 of them weren’t ranking in the top 100 for their keywords and not bringing in much revenue. I fixed up some of them, but for the most part have left them to gather dust.

Over the past few months I’ve sold about 80 of them and clung on to a little more than half. Last week I decided to start spending a few minutes a day blowing the dust off of 8 sites that haven’t made anything the past 6 months and aren’t ranking in the top 100 of Google.

I figured it would be a great case study on how easy (or hard) it is to get exact match sites in the top 10 of Google and making money.

I love building small sites as they’re generally easy to rank for 1 or 2 keywords and don’t take much time to build and maintain.

The goal for most of these niche sites is to generate $2 a day. That doesn’t sound like a lot, but that’s $730 a year per site. Multiple that by 200 sites and you’re at $146,000. Plus each site I work on less than 8 hours, so for less than a days work I’m making $730, not bad.

Also long term once I get a site making $2 a day, I can generally sell it for $700 to $1000.

My Niche Challenge

So over the course of the next couple of weeks/months (however long it takes), I’m going to take these 8 sites which aren’t ranking and turn them into an average of $2/day profit each. So once I hit the $16/day average for these sites, I’ll consider it a success and most likely sell them for about $6000 or more.

Also I’m not going to be spending hour and hours working on these. My Goal is to work smart at getting these ranking quickly and get them making money with the least amount of work I can.

I’m not going to be revealing my domains, but here is where they stood as of last week. I’ve already started working on 1 site and already have it in the top 10 in less than a week (read below for details).

Site 1
Niche: Construction
Local Exact Match Search: 320 (yes, that is lower than I’d waste my time on, but the average CPC is $10.08)
Current Google Rank: Over 350

Site 2
Niche: Finance
Local Exact Match Search: 1000
Current Google Rank: 258

Site 3
Niche: Construction
Local Exact Match Search: 720
Current Google Rank: 262

Site 4
Niche: Food
Local Exact Match Search: 1300
Current Google Rank: 335

Site 5
Niche: Food
Local Exact Match Search: 880
Current Google Rank: 191

Site 6
Niche: Electronics
Local Exact Match Search: 880
Current Google Rank: Over 350

Site 7
Niche: Software
Local Exact Match Search: 1300
Current Google Rank: 7 (it was 141 last week and I got it ranked in top 10 in under a week, read below how I did it)

Site 8
Niche: Automotive
Local Exact Match Search: 720
Current Google Rank: 85

So as you can see I have a little work cut out for me.

First a quick note on building niche Adsense sites. I generally prefer keywords that get between 1000-1800 local exact monthly searches, but I chose a few that were less than this for this case study. Just based on my experience I think I can monetize the little traffic in a way that I won’t need as many visitors for a few of the sites. However it could come back to bite me and I don’t suggest exact match sites for keywords with such little clicks generally.

What I’ve Done So Far

As of right now I’ve only started working on 1 site (site 7) which is in the software niche. The site had a home page, 4 content pages, contact page, about us page, and the privacy/terms of service pages.

What I did was went to Text Broker and ordered a 1500 word home page article from a 4 star writer. The cost for that was $32.20. Yes it’s a lot but worth it as it turned out to be really great content for the site (Google loves good content). I also ordered 4 additional 500 word articles that I dripped into the site from 3 star writers. The cost was $26.80 for the 4 articles.

Total from Text Broker: $59.00

Next I went to Build My Rank, where I have a monthly membership, and submitted 15 posts with my main keyword, and 5 posts with other keywords (for a little keyword diversity).

I could have written the posts myself, but I’d rather pay someone to. I found a guy on Freelancer.com that wrote 20 posts for $12 (they are 150 words each and aren’t meant to win any writing awards. Check out Build My Rank for details if you aren’t familiar with their service, however they have recently closed their membership to new members for the time being).

Total From Build My Rank Writing: $12

Total Spent On Site #7: $71

Before I started working on this site it was ranking around 141 in Google for the keyword I’m targeting. Within a week it’s ranking number 7, which it just moved up to last night. The top 3 spots for the keyword are Wikipedia pages, so that might be tough to outrank, but I’m optimistic. I’m already starting to see traffic coming to the site.

I’ll keep you updated each week with where I’m at with my case study.

Feel free to ask any questions you have below.

Years ago (the mid 90s) when I was learning how to build websites I remember there was a lot to learn in order to get a website up and running. You had to know how to code html, manage a server and of course choose the best animated images.

Fast forward to today and things are completely different. In all honesty you could probably show a 5 year old how to setup their first website.

It’s really not that difficult with todays technology.

If you’re brand new to making money online or have been thinking about setting up your own website than now is the best time to do it. In fact it will take you less time to setup a site than it will to listen to Meat Loafs I’d Do Anything For Love.

So let’s get started.

How To Setup Your First Site Fast

The first two things you need for getting a website up and running is a domain name and web hosting.

If you are just getting started I recommend Bluehost for both. Yes, I get a commission from them if you signup through my link, but that’s not the reason I recommend them.

I myself have an account with them and they are great. I’ve never had a problem with their support and they make it really easy to signup. Plus when you signup you get a domain for free so it makes the process really simple.

On top of that you can host multiple sites under 1 account plus they have a great help center.

So let’s get started.

Step 1. Click here to go Bluehost and click the big green get started button.

Step 2. Come up with a new domain and enter it in the box. Make sure you type it without spelling errors (and include keywords based on your niche).

Step 3. Enter in your information. Choose your desired length for your hosting. You save a bit by signing up 2 years in advance. Enter credit card info and click “next”.

Step 4. Skip all their up sells on on the next page and click “complete”.

Step 5. Choose your password and then login.

Step 6. Once logged into BlueHost. Click on “cPanel” up top and scroll down to the header “Software/Services” and click on “WordPress”. If you are unfamiliar with WordPress, it is the software that a good majority of sites run on (including this site).

Step 7. Click the green “install” button and follow the directions. Congratulations, your site should be setup now.

Now it’s time to login to your WordPress installation and start adding some content and configuring your site the way you want it. At this point if you are unfamiliar with WordPress check out the help section here. You’ve already done the first 3 steps so just scroll down to step 4 titled “Setup WordPress”.

I decided to setup a new hosting account with Bluehost and setup a WordPress site before writing this post. From the time I went to their site and went through the order process until my site was online and ready to go was less than 5 minutes.

Next comes the fun part, adding content. However I’ll save that for another post.

Have any questions with getting your site setup with BlueHost? Ask your questions in the comments section below.

Yesterday I posted how I’ve started listening to marketing podcasts while I run and how that increased my running distance substantially.

As a follow up, I wanted to create a list of 5 marketing podcasts that I’m listening to that I’ve taken away some good solid information. They all are definitely worth listening to if you are interested in growing your affiliate marketing business.

These aren’t listed in any specific order and all have provided me with at least a nugget or two of great marketing ideas.

Make Money On The Internet Podcast

My friend Chris Guthrie (also from Washington) podcasts just about once per month. While he doesn’t have a ton of episodes live he is definitely getting better with some quality content.

If you’re looking for ways to make money online outside of just the standard blog or niche website (although he does cover those as well), give Chris a listen.

Social Triggers Insider Podcast

Derek Halpern just started this podcast in January and only has 4 episodes up, but all are packed with solid information. If you have ever been on his blog you know that he is one smart guy and drops some knowledge bombs that will take your business from pennies to Bentleys.

I definitely recommend anyone who has a website, regardless of what it’s about check out the Social Triggers Insider podcast. It is definitely worth your time.

The Smart Passive Income Podcast

Pat Flynn of Smart Passive Income has been podcasting since July of 2010 and each of his episodes gets better and better. He is easy to listen to, often has some great guests, and has great content, especially for those just starting out in building niche sites and creating passive income online.

He’s a very likable guy and an easy listen with some excellent info covering topics like how to conduct a webinar, buy and sell websites, build traffic, and hire virtual assistants.

The Lifestyle Business Podcast

This is a newer podcast to me, but Ian and Dan have been podcasting for awhile and are living a pretty exciting life. You never know where they’re going to be podcasting from. I’ve heard them in the Phillippines, Thailand and the US (and it sounds like they’ve done episodes in a bunch of different countries).

They cover all kinds of topics on how to make an income without having to work for a boss as well as work from anywhere in the world. This is definitely a podcast I’m starting to go back through and listen to older episodes (especially since they aren’t that long).

Inside Internet Marketing

Daniel M. Clark has a number of podcasts, and his Inside Internet Marketing is a great look inside the Internet marketing (mainly affiliate marketing) community. Each podcast he interviews experts in the industry who discuss a wide range of topics.

It’s always an interesting listen and definitely worth your time if you are in the affiliate marketing space.

What’s your favorite marketing podcast?

Today is Monday, my favorite day of the week for sure. Why exactly? Well, I get to go back to working on projects that I absolutely love. My feelings on Mondays have definitely changed since I was stuck in a cubicle working on projects that didn’t interest me years ago.

Anyways, I wanted to share with you something that I discovered this past week that has changed me for the better and apply it to the question, “What should I be doing in my affiliate marketing business?”

Running Just Got Better

Over the years I’ve dabbled a bit in running. While I’ve never run a race (although I’m signed up to run a half-marathon in June), I’ve ran short distances off and on.

Honestly there are times I enjoy it, but most of the time I get bored. I put on my headphones, turn on some tunes and hit the pavement. Within 15 minutes my mind just gets tired of it so I quit.

I just figured I wasn’t in that great of running shape so I didn’t push myself.

Running for the most part was boring.

Then I remembered back in my college days going to the gym and jumping on the treadmill during March madness. I’d watch a game and run the entire first half as I was preoccupied with watching some college basketball. The second half I’d get on a stationary bike and watch the rest of the game if it was good enough.

It didn’t feel like exercise, it felt more like watching a game.

While I prefer to run outside, I took that principle I learned years ago and tried something new last week when running. Instead of music, I downloaded some marketing podcasts and put them on while I ran.

Wow, my first run was 3 miles and it felt like a warmup as I was so engulfed in the podcast. Friday I ended up running 4.3 miles and Sunday I ran 6.1. All 3 were probably my longest runs in over a year and my pace was a 8:30 mile.

At the end of the run I didn’t feel like I did when listening to music. I was learning and felt amazing. Honestly I could have ran longer.

In my years of running this is the first time I absolutely loved running over 5 miles.

I found what works for me. Listening to business podcasts while running.

If you were to ask other runners, they might prefer music or even just silence. I even have a friend who loves running and listening to comedians.

While there are many different ways people prefer to run, I tried a few and found what I like best and gets me the best results. I don’t have to do it the same way as everyone else (although I’m sure a lot of people listen to podcasts on the run).

What Does Running Have To Do With Marketing?

One of the big questions I get asked from people just starting out in online marketing is what should I do? Should I build a blog or a niche site? Should I run social, PPC, or mobile ads? Should I monetize with adsense or Amazon?

My answer is usually simply do what works for you.

Now for beginners I’ll point them in a direction of their passion. What is it that you love to do? Start there and build out a site around what excites you and don’t sweat the small stuff.

It’s like me and running. Before I found out what works I put on my shoes and started running. Each time I did I started tweaking things until I found what works best for me.

Once you get your first site up, then and only then, start testing the waters. Try some PPC, try some mobile or social. Find what makes you excited to work every day and do it.

Don’t just sit there and continue running if you don’t like it. Keep trying new things until you discover what makes you energized to wake up Monday morning and rush to your computer to start working.

As for me, I can’t wait until my next run. I also am excited to be working on some really cool projects this week in my business.

What energizes you?

Wow, it has been over 2 months (almost 3) since I’ve blogged on LoganThompson.me and I’m back. Were exactly have I been you ask?

Well, working on my business.

I’ve been working with my team on building up multiple new websites, buying websites, selling websites, launching mobile affiliate campaigns, launching social media campaigns, testing a plethora (yes, that’s one my favorite words) of SEO tools and services, and spending a lot of time working out (one of the benefits of earning passive income).

Since black Friday my business has grown quite a bit, plus I’ve lost over 20 pounds and am getting stronger day by day (working out with a personal trainer 3 times per week). To me the affiliate lifestyle isn’t about working 16+ hour  days, that’s just ridiculous and I feel bad for people who live like that.

If you follow Ad Hustler on Twitter, he tweeted a great quote yesterday that sums up my philosophy on working.

That’s why I love passive income. In fact some of my highest profit days I am no where near a computer.

So I’ve decided to take my blog in a new direction. Up until now I’ve just posted every now and then when something has been on my mind. I now plan on taking the knowledge that I have and helping others earn passive income online. In fact it’s not that difficult to do, it just takes time and a willingness to learn.

Unlike a lot of bloggers out there I don’t have an agenda. I’m not trying to pitch you on a 12 step system for making a billion dollars in 7 days. I’m here to help you out.

What Do You Want To Learn?

Is there something related to Internet marketing that you are wanting to learn? Just send me an email or write in the comments below and I’ll make sure to cover it on my blog.

Also make sure to follow my new Facebook page with updates and tips.

Best of luck!

Last week my wife and I just got back from a vacation in Maui which definitely was a much needed break from the internet hustle. In fact while I was there I did absolutely zero work, which for those that know me is like a week in rehab.

While there much of our time was spent sitting on the beach doing nothing at all other than reading a book or watching the waves roll into the warm sand in front of us. Quite a bit of time I was able to spend time thinking about my business instead of working in it.

So often I get so caught up in working in my business that I don’t take the time out, unplug, and really think deeply about where I am going and what I’m doing to reach my long term goals. If you haven’t taken a few days off away from your computer and cell phone for awhile, I highly suggest you do. It is amazing what I’ve learned and thought of in the week away from my business.

Lessons From a Menu Guy

One night while in Maui we decided to head into Lahaina to shop a bit and grab some dinner. We walked past a guy standing in front of a restaurant holding a menu. Obviously he was working for the restaurant to lure tourists in to eat whatever they had to offer. While walking by I was waiting to get the sales pitch, but instead, he just looked at me, we both smiled, and then we walked past without him saying a word to us.

I thought maybe he didn’t work there or possibly he was the shy type. A few hours later we were walking on the other side of the street and there he still was, standing in front of the restaurant holding the menu out not saying a word as people passed by.

We ended up going to a burger place that was right next door to where he was and the business man inside of me was happy when we were seated at a table on the balcony overlooking the sidewalk where this guy was “working”.

I watched hoping to see him in action. Obviously the guy was getting paid to be there so what was his angle? In the hour or so we were there I watched closely and counted a few hundred people walking by and only 1 person he talked to. From the looks of the conversation and some pointing, that person had just asked for directions.

Every 1-3 minutes he’d reach in his pocket, pull out his phone and look at the time. He probably did that 20 times in an hour. He’d also study and read the menu making it look like he was busy. Between that he’d pace back and forth giving passers by a polite smile as they walked on by.

To someone walking on the sidewalk this guy looked like he was working. He was probably a busy guy.

From my point of view however, he did absolutely nothing to get people into the restaurant. I actually only saw 1 couple walk in and they didn’t even make eye contact with our menu friend.

So here is this guy making money by acting like he was busy, when in reality what he was doing didn’t help the bottom line of the business at all.

Are You The Menu Guy?

I started thinking about this guy and how sometimes I can relate to him. Obviously he wasn’t the most outgoing and probably just took the job for money so he could live in Maui and surf (he looked like he might be a good surfer).

He was doing everything he could to look busy, but no progress was made.

Do you ever find yourself in that position? I know I do. I check stats, keep my email open so I can delete or reply to emails as soon as they come in, check stats again, read another blog post, check stats again, check analytics, take a break, delete emails, chat on Skype, look through Flippa, and then check stats one more time.

It seems like I’m busy, but I’m not at all productive.

Busyness is not productivity. 

Sometimes you need to take a step back from your business and really take a look at how you are spending your time and how it is actually helping you if any. If your time is being wasted, change your plan.

If you’re too busy to stop and analyze your business and what you are doing day to day, you are most likely not as productive as you could be. You’re the menu guy.

How do you make sure you maintain good productivity in your business?