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	<title>TylerCruz.com: An Internet Entrepreneur's Journey</title>
	
	<link>http://www.tylercruz.com</link>
	<description>The journal of a young web entrepreneur on his journey to wealth.</description>
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		<title>First Sneak Peak Video of RobotWarz</title>
		<link>http://www.tylercruz.com/first-sneak-peak-video-of-robotwarz/</link>
		<comments>http://www.tylercruz.com/first-sneak-peak-video-of-robotwarz/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 16 Nov 2009 09:55:07 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Tyler Cruz</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[My Websites]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.tylercruz.com/first-sneak-peak-video-of-robotwarz/</guid>
		<description>Since the development of RobotWarz has been making pretty good progress, I thought I would unveil what the game is all about.
RobotWarz is an online robot fighting game in an arena-style environment. The best way to describe it would be as a combination of the old 1995 PC game One Must Fall 2097 and the [...]</description>
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<!-- ### // Embedded 300x250 Post Ad ### --><p>Since the development of <a href="http://www.robotwarz.com" target="_blank">RobotWarz</a> has been making pretty good progress, I thought I would unveil what the game is all about.</p>
<p>RobotWarz is an online robot fighting game in an arena-style environment. The best way to describe it would be as a combination of the old 1995 PC game <em>One Must Fall 2097</em> and the recent Flash game MyBrute. However, we actually borrowed elements and play design ideas from several games including World of Warcraft (respecing) and Fallout 3 (Attribute upgrading).</p>
<p>Only two-and-a-half weeks in, we&#8217;re obviously still in the very early stages of development. So far, work has focused mainly on the actual fighting mechanics of the game. It turned out to be much more complicated than originally anticipated as we had to factor in a plethora of different variables such as the physical size of objects for ranging calculations and accuracy attributes of robots in order to determine trajectories. </p>
<h2>Summary of the Game</h2>
<p>First, let’s keep in mind that this is an online Flash game and not something produced by a multi-million dollar game studio, so don’t go about comparing it to Half-Life or anything <img src='http://www.tylercruz.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif' alt=';)' class='wp-smiley' /> . </p>
<p>Here’s how the game works:</p>
<p>Players create a free account and then proceed by building their own robot which is highly customizable. They begin by choosing between one of 3 possible robot &#8216;core&#8217; designs: Android, Industrial, Tank (we need a better name for this one). Each core has a distinctly different look and has different starting attributes and strengths. For example, the Android has a higher Intelligence attribute but lower Armor.</p>
<p>New robots are given 10 Attribute Points (APs) in which they can distribute between 7 different attributes. Players can also use credits, the game&#8217;s currency, to purchase weapons and add-on’s for their robot. These choices of customizations not only allows for a unique character, but also provides a strong strategical factor to the game.</p>
<p>Credits can be earned by winning fights and referring other members. Experience points (XP) are earned solely through combat, in both winning and fighting (obviously winning fights will yield more XP).</p>
<p>The actual fights are not controllable by the user but are predetermined based on how the opposing robots are built. Each fight result between the same opposing robots is different since there is still a small element of probability and chance based on various variables that is factored into the game engine.</p>
<p>While many people may be put off by the fact that you cannot directly control the robot, we chose to make this gameplay decision as it instead forces players to make strong decisions on how they <em>build</em> their robot as opposed to how <em>fast</em> they can move their fingers. In that sense, RobotWarz is more of a strategical game than anything else.</p>
<h2>Game Features</h2>
<p>Here is a very summarized feature list that RobotWarz will have upon launch. More will come in the future:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>3 Robot “Cores” </strong>to choose from. These can then be customized by each robotic part, colours, textures, etc. Each robot core has its own special bonuses. </li>
<li><strong>20+ Different Weapons and Add-On’s</strong> that can be purchased with credits earned from the game and physically added to the robots. (Ex. Laser Gun, Plasma Shield, Laser-Targeting System, etc.) </li>
<li><strong>20+ Special Abilities</strong> (available from the in-game store with credits). A special ability is used in lieu of a normal attack with a weapon and costs Capacity (or energy). (Ex Reflect: Reflect portion of the damage, Self-Repair: Repairs portion of the Condition etc.) </li>
<li><strong>8 Attributes</strong> that are upgradeable with Attribute Points (APs): Condition, Armor, Power, Mobility, Agility, Accuracy, Intelligence, Capacity. </li>
<li><strong>Store Credit System </strong>that allows players to purchase/upgrade their weapons and add-on’s and special abilities among other things. Players earn credits through winning fights and sending in referrals. </li>
<li><strong>Helper Bots</strong> &#8211; Players can purchase small &#8216;Helper Bots&quot; which will aid them in their battles. </li>
<li>Respecing &#8211; For those familiar with World of Warcraft, RobotWarz will offer a rebuilding option, which will cost 1 credit and increment by 1 for each time it is used thereafter, which allows users to effectively start from scratch, regaining all of their credits to rebuild their robot. This is similar to how players can &quot;re-spec&quot; their characters in World of Warcraft. </li>
<li><strong>Replays – </strong>Players can watch their past battles and share them with friends via a simple link. </li>
</ul>
<p><strong><u>Future Features:</u></strong></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Team Play</strong> &#8211; While not planned for the initial release of the game, this will probably be available in the future, allowing for 2v2 and possibly 3v3 or 4v4 teamplay. </li>
<li><strong>Tournaments</strong> &#8211; Again, not scheduled for the initial release, tournaments will be done in a single or double elimination ladder-type style with the winners possibly receiving credits and/or actual prizes. </li>
<li><strong>Dynamic Maps – </strong>Maps that have dynamic objects that can influence the fight (Ex. walls, traps, etc.)</li>
<li><strong>More Weapons, Add-On’s, Special Abilities, and Helper Bots</strong></li>
<li><strong>More Robot Core Designs</strong></li>
<li><strong>More Visual Customization</strong></li>
<li><strong>Possible Turn-Based Feature</strong></li>
</ul>
<h2>Early Preview </h2>
<p>Below is a screenshot and video of a <strong><em><u><font size="4">very early preview</font></u></em></strong> of RobotWarz. I want to emphasize that this is an extremely early version of the game and isn’t even remotely close to being finished. If I had to guess, I’d say that the game is currently about 6-7% done.</p>
<p>All the graphics are <b>temporary placeholder graphics</b> that are being used until the graphic team is brought in, which should be tomorrow. In fact, the temporary background was Photoshopped from One Must Fall.</p>
<p>While the game is currently playable at a very basic level, it’s nowhere near ready for a public beta version yet. We hope to offer a public playable beta version sometime in December, and the game should probably be ready before 2010.</p>
<p>Here’s a screenshot:</p>
<p><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" title="58" border="0" alt="58" src="http://www.tylercruz.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/58.jpg" width="626" height="742" /> </p>
<p>And here’s a short 3-minute video demonstration: </p>
<div align="center"><object width="626" height="494"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/oGfArBkfyEk&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/oGfArBkfyEk&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="626" height="494"></embed></object></div>
<p>I will probably have another update for you in about a week’s time, and will probably post another updated video. We should also have the real graphics starting to get developed by then, so I may be able to show you something at that time.</p>
<p>What do you think so far? Outrageously disappointed? Optimistic? Undecided? </p>
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		<title>How to Make Visitors Reach For Their Wallets</title>
		<link>http://www.tylercruz.com/how-to-make-visitors-reach-for-their-wallets/</link>
		<comments>http://www.tylercruz.com/how-to-make-visitors-reach-for-their-wallets/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 13 Nov 2009 08:23:02 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>SeanPlatt</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Guest Posts]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.tylercruz.com/?p=2580</guid>
		<description>Great job! You’ve finally finished development of your killer new product. You’ve done your homework, your ducks are neatly lined in a row, and you’re ready to rule the world with your wonderful widget. Your web design is aces, the traffic nearly guaranteed, and your copy is so clean it practically sparkles. Now how can [...]</description>
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<!-- ### // Embedded 300x250 Post Ad ### --><p>Great job! You’ve finally finished development of your killer new product. You’ve done your homework, your ducks are neatly lined in a row, and you’re ready to rule the world with your wonderful widget. Your web design is aces, the traffic nearly guaranteed, and your copy is so clean it practically sparkles. Now how can you make certain those who land on your page aren’t clicking away without reaching for their wallets?</p>
<p>The key is in conversion.</p>
<p>When a visitor first arrives at your site, you must be mindful of what you want them to do. Whether it’s signing up for your opt-in newsletter, or purchasing your product right from the get go, the full fruit of your endeavor will never be felt until the site is successful in every cylinder. Visitors don’t make a niche website successful, conversions do.</p>
<p>There are plenty of tools to help you climb to the top of Google. Attracting traffic is only part of the target. Conversion is where you’ll find your site’s true magic beans. The only thing that’s going to render it to reality however, is having the best landing page possible.</p>
<p>A landing page is the first thing you want your visitors see when arriving at your site. It must not only instantly convince your visitors to stay, it must drive them directly to action. If your landing page isn’t great, you are simply not going to convert. If it isn’t good, your visitors will barely be around long enough to register the visit. </p>
<p>The next time your sitting down to write a landing page, keep these four tips in mind to ensure it’s the best it can possibly be. </p>
<p>1) Install an exit pop-up into your page. When visitors are about to leave, they’ll see a pop up inviting them to stick around and receive an extra special discount. This tactic is best used when coupled with scarcity. Let the visitor know about your limited time offer. CAUTION: Scarcity works, but you should NEVER say anything that isn’t true. Credibility is exponentially more important than a sale.</p>
<p>2) Consider your opt-in IS your conversion, at least for now. Sure, you could make the sale straightaway, but perhaps that’s a bit short sighted. Perhaps it’s better to gather a name and address, steadily building a list of prospects for future conversion. A one time sale is nice, but by getting that visitor on your list, you might be making a long time customer.</p>
<p>3) Use an opt-in pop over. Feel comfortable with the knowledge ahead of time that though not everyone likes to buy, nearly everyone likes to get stuff so long as it’s free. Use an opt in pop over to provide your visitor with the option of receiving a free ebook in exchange for their email address. The sale is still your priority of course, but a visitor who leaves behind their email address is a lot better than a visitor who simply leaves.</p>
<p>4) The no pressure opt-in. Consider a landing page with absolutely nothing to sell. I know, I know, it’s the stuff of fairy tales and it probably leaves you wondering what the point could possibly be. It’s simple. If you have a well written landing page with nothing to sell, you should have little difficulty gathering opt-ins for whatever it is you’re offering. You might not be able to garner tens of thousands of sales, but a landing page built to gather leads might be a better paved road to riches after all.</p>
<p>The job of your landing page is to convert. What you are asking your visitor to convert to is entirely up to you. Just make sure you spend the time needed to make your landing page as bulletproof as possible. </p>
<p><em><a href="http://ghostwriterdad.com">Sean Platt</a> and <a href="http://dannycooper.tv">Danny Cooper</a> help small businesses to build their websites and establish an effective online presence. Click the link to get the free report, <a href="http://planproducepromote.com/">“Why Your Business Needs a Website.”</a></em></p>
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		<title>Updates on My Robot Game</title>
		<link>http://www.tylercruz.com/updates-on-my-robot-game/</link>
		<comments>http://www.tylercruz.com/updates-on-my-robot-game/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:52:27 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Tyler Cruz</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[My Websites]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.tylercruz.com/updates-on-my-robot-game/</guid>
		<description>A lot of you seem to be quite interested in the robot game I am developing, so here’s an update on how thing’s have been progressing.
First, I’ll reveal a bit more about the actual game. The game is called RobotWarz, located at RobotWarz.com, and is an online multiplayer flash-based game where players can quickly sign-up [...]</description>
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<!-- ### // Embedded 300x250 Post Ad ### --><p>A lot of you seem to be quite interested in the robot game I am developing, so here’s an update on how thing’s have been progressing.</p>
<p>First, I’ll reveal a bit more about the actual game. The game is called RobotWarz, located at <a href="http://www.robotwarz.com" target="_blank">RobotWarz.com</a>, and is an online multiplayer flash-based game where players can quickly sign-up for a free account. They they build their own custom robot, which has many customizable options, and then proceed to fight other robots in an arena-style environment.</p>
<p>Only a couple of weeks in, we&#8217;re obviously still only in the very early development stage, but currently have a good underlying programming core developed. Basically, the main fighting engine has its framework laid out and now work is starting to focus on other elements of the site such as the user registration, control panel, etc. The graphics will be amongst the last things that get developed.</p>
<p>While the game is currently playable at an extremely basic level, it&#8217;s constantly being modified and improved so it’s still in early alpha stages. We hope to offer a public playable beta version sometime in December, possibly a private beta version before then.</p>
<h2>Initial Site Up</h2>
<p>I put up a basic splash page at <a href="http://www.robotwarz.com" target="_blank">RobotWarz.com</a> in order to start building up a mailing list and to provide any news and updates for those interested. I created a Twitter account (<a href="http://www.twitter.com/robotwarz" target="_blank">@robotwarz</a>), an <a href="http://www.tylercruz.com/go/aweber" style="" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" onmouseover="self.status='http://www.tylercruz.com/go/aweber';return true;" onmouseout="self.status=''">AWeber</a> mailing list, and put up a <a href="http://www.robotwarz.com/forum/" target="_blank">forum</a>.</p>
<p><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" title="53" border="0" alt="53" src="http://www.tylercruz.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/53.jpg" width="626" height="539" /> </p>
<p>The splash page was just made by me so it’s not a hint of what the actual site or in-game graphics will look like, but I’m actually pretty proud of how decent I made the temporary textual logo look!</p>
<p>It will most likely be very difficult to gain an early following to the game before it’s released since I have no prior games to leverage any traffic from. We will probably just have to wait until the game is released before word starts to spread.</p>
<h2>Monetization Plan</h2>
<p>RobotWarz will be free to everyone, with the option of upgrading your account to a Bronze, Silver, Gold, or Platinum account on a monthly subscription basis. The price ranges for the paid accounts will be approximately $2, $5, $10, and $25 respectively.</p>
<p>There is a <a href="http://mochiland.com/articles/you-should-be-making-a-premium-flash-game" target="_blank">great blog post</a> written by Colm Larkin in which he compares how much money flash game developers can make by offering the game for free with the upsell of purchasing the entire game or upgrading the account in some way, to simply slapping ads in-and-or-around the flash game.</p>
<blockquote><p>“Luckily there’s a better way to fund game development than scrounging for ad-pennies. It’s been proven in almost every form of consumer entertainment ever made, from theatre to music to cinema and yes, even games: ask the consumer of the entertainment to <em>pay you</em> for providing it. That’s it. Asking the players to fund game development takes away the dilution effect of trying to get ads to pay everyone’s cut, and directly rewards the developer regardless of the size of their ‘aggregated traffic-power’. It works for all those other kinds of entertainment, and it certainly works for the rest of the gaming industry.       </p>
<p>And it can work for flash games too. Several developers have been successfully charging players for full versions of their free flash games, by integrating a payment processor such as PayPal. This method (often called a “demo”, write that down) is so proven that almost no console or PC game <em>doesn’t</em> use it. </p>
<p>Others have tried splitting out the purchase into smaller bundles using a microtransaction/virtual currency provider, and are charging for decorative things like a fancy hat or small upgrades like level packs and new weapons instead of selling the whole game in one go. In fact recently launched providers such as <a href="http://www.mochimedia.com/coins/">MochiCoins</a>, <a href="https://www.gamersafe.com/">GamerSafe</a> and <a href="http://www.heyzap.com/">Heyzap</a> have made it easier than ever for flash developers to take payments from players. </p>
<p>One advantage of the idea of using virtual items, temporary powerups, or other small purchases is that you aren’t <a href="http://forge.ironrealms.com/2008/10/04/mmo-subscriptions-vs-free-to-play/">putting a cap</a> on how much your biggest fans are able to spend on your game. Generally speaking selling virtual items works best in a persistant-world / MMO style of game, where you can put all kinds of social and economic effects into play to really leverage the idea…”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>He provides a number of examples. I will post just two of each method below:</p>
<h3>Flash Games Supported by Ads:</h3>
<p><strong><u>Desktop Tower Defense</u></strong></p>
<p>One of the original ‘break out hits’ of modern free flash games, created by a single developer, and supported by ads inside &amp; around the game:</p>
<p><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" title="54" border="0" alt="54" src="http://www.tylercruz.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/54.jpg" width="626" height="470" /> </p>
<p><strong>Total Plays:</strong> 15 million in the first few months     <br /><strong>Gross Revenue: </strong>~$12,000 in that same time frame     <br /><strong>Gross eCPM:</strong> ~$0.80</p>
<p><strong><u>Mytheria</u></strong></p>
<p>A fairly typical successful flash game, though not a massive hit in terms of plays:</p>
<p><strong><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; border-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; border-right: 0px" title="55" border="0" alt="55" src="http://www.tylercruz.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/55.jpg" width="626" height="478" /> </strong></p>
<p><strong>Total Plays:</strong> 3.7 million plays to date    <br /><strong>Gross Revenue: </strong>~$8,200 to date    <br /><strong>Gross eCPM:</strong> ~$2.22</p>
<h3>Flash Games Supported by Sales/Memberships:</h3>
<p><strong><u>Fantastic Contraption</u></strong></p>
<p>A free-to-play flash game, hosted on it’s own site plus some portals, with a premium unlock for $10 that let you make your own levels and play other people’s custom levels. Included solution-sharing via unique URL that helped it spread virally:</p>
<p><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; border-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; border-right: 0px" title="56" border="0" alt="56" src="http://www.tylercruz.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/56.jpg" width="626" height="447" /> </p>
<p><strong>Total Plays: </strong>Over 3.5M unique users in the first 3 or so months    <br /><strong>Gross Revenue:</strong> For every unique site visitor, he converts 0.5% to a paid version [at $10] = ~$175,000    <br /><strong>Gross eCPM:</strong> ~$50.00</p>
<p><strong><u>Now Boarding</u></strong></p>
<p>A free-to-play flash game hosted on various portals that had an upsell to a downloadable for-sale version (at ~$15):</p>
<p><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; border-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; border-right: 0px" title="57" border="0" alt="57" src="http://www.tylercruz.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/57.jpg" width="626" height="501" /> </p>
<p><strong>Total Plays: </strong>4.2M – 6.2M plays (some portals made it impossible to track this, hence the range) over the last year    <br /><strong>Gross Revenue:</strong> 10,500 sales so far x $15 = ~$155,000    <br /><strong>Gross eCPM:</strong> ~$25.00-36.90, depending on above</p>
<h2>Early Signs Show Positive</h2>
<p>In the Fantastic Contraption example above, it shows the game converting to sales at 0.5%. I had a friend create a poll on a flash game related-site which has an audience which will also be RobotWarz’s target audience, asking them if they would purchase a monthly subscription to RobotWarz, without giving them any details of the game, just that it’d be better than the game they’re currently playing.</p>
<p>So far, 13% of them said that they would purchase a monthly subscription and 8.7% said maybe. That is a lot higher than I was expecting, as I would have been quite happy with 5%.</p>
<p>Now, this is of course only a poll and there were around 30 votes so it’s not the most accurate thing in the world, but it does help to give a rough idea of what can be expected.</p>
<p>I am quite confident that the game will take off and be pretty popular, so the fact that 13% have said that they would purchase a monthly subscription is very encouraging.</p>
<h2>Porting to Facebook and iPhone</h2>
<p>If the online version of RobotWarz proves to be popular, I will be porting the game to Facebook and the iPhone. This type of game should work very well on both platforms.</p>
<h2>More to Come Soon</h2>
<p>I will try to give you guys more details on the game as things progress. I’ll try to give another update in a couple weeks – by then I may even be able to show you some early screenshots of the game.</p>
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		<title>Can You Start Affiliate Marketing from Nothing?</title>
		<link>http://www.tylercruz.com/can-you-start-affiliate-marketing-from-nothing/</link>
		<comments>http://www.tylercruz.com/can-you-start-affiliate-marketing-from-nothing/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 09 Nov 2009 05:23:18 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dan</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Guest Posts]]></category>

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		<description>This is a guest post by Dan Walker. Dan hasn&amp;#8217;t been in the affiliate marketing game that long but gives out some great tips and technical tricks at Dans Blog.
To coin an old saying; everybody has to start somewhere. This is also true of affiliate marketing, there would have been a day where some of [...]</description>
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<!-- ### // Embedded 300x250 Post Ad ### --><p>This is a guest post by Dan Walker. Dan hasn&#8217;t been in the affiliate marketing game that long but gives out some great tips and technical tricks at <a title="Dans Blog" href="http://www.dans-blog.com" target="_blank">Dans Blog</a>.</p>
<p>To coin an old saying; everybody has to start somewhere. This is also true of affiliate marketing, there would have been a day where some of the super affiliates you read about now earned nothing or even made a loss. Retrospectively you could say they came from nothing to the riches they enjoy today, but the whole idea of coming &#8220;Zero to Hero&#8221; in something like affiliate marketing often gives off the wrong ideas to people new to the field.</p>
<p>A lot of startup affiliate marketers that I know personally or that get in touch with me through my blog take this phrase too literally. I&#8217;m in the same boat as a lot of affiliate marketers, I don&#8217;t have a job (I&#8217;m a full time student) and there are no jobs in the current economic client, I&#8217;m pretty broke and I&#8217;m looking for a way to turn my spare time I usually spend playing games to make some extra cash &#8211; hopefully it&#8217;ll turn in to a full time job eventually. But one thing I&#8217;m come to realize and the new affiliate marketers should too is that risk plays a big part in affiliate marketing. If you&#8217;re in this for the big bucks, you&#8217;re really going to have to spend money to make money &#8211; if you don&#8217;t dare, you&#8217;re in the wrong place.</p>
<p>Let&#8217;s put it into perspective. For example one of my friends, we&#8217;ll call her Carol, spends $250 a month on clothes. Now when it comes to affiliate marketing, she spends maybe $10 on a domain, $10 on some hosting and then she hopes to make money instantly. Why didn&#8217;t Carol just spend $100 less on clothes that month and use it on affiliate marketing? Chances are she would of learnt a <b>helluva</b> lot and maybe made a small return. In order to learn, you need to test, in order to test, you need to spend. If losing $25 to a bad campaign is putting you down in the dumps and making you think about quitting &#8211; your mentality is all wrong.</p>
<p>I&#8217;m not new to the game, but I&#8217;m not a pro either. I&#8217;ve earnt $100&#8217;s, but I&#8217;ve lost $100&#8217;s. If I spent $500 and made $450, I don&#8217;t see that as a loss right now, because I&#8217;ve spent $50 on learning so much that it was worth it. Too many newbies are losing $10 on a campaign and deleting it. Spend a bit more, if it doesn&#8217;t convert; pause it and investigate why, ask for help from any affiliate marketing friends you may have or ask on a forum for advice.</p>
<p>Now this post isn&#8217;t here to discourage you low budget startups, it&#8217;s here to give you a warning that you need the right mindset to make big money in this game. This isn&#8217;t to say that starting from nothing is impossible. You can setup a free website, put some amazon affiliate links on it and wait for the SEO traffic to trickle in slowly, you might make $xx a month to start with, if you really go for the SEO tactic you could make $xxx or even $xxxx. But starting from nothing is a slow process and I&#8217;d recommend you get used to testing and losing a bit of money &#8211; if you can&#8217;t afford to lose $100 each week, try a new campaign each month.</p>
<p>Whatever your situation, you can start affiliate marketing and earn a profit, it&#8217;s just whether or not you go about it properly. Don&#8217;t get overwhelmed by the losses you&#8217;ll make, just keep thinking of the day you crack how to run a successful campaign.</p>
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		<title>The New Movie Vault Finally Launches</title>
		<link>http://www.tylercruz.com/the-new-movie-vault-finally-launches/</link>
		<comments>http://www.tylercruz.com/the-new-movie-vault-finally-launches/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 06 Nov 2009 02:11:19 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Tyler Cruz</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[My Websites]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.tylercruz.com/the-new-movie-vault-finally-launches/</guid>
		<description>If you’re wondering where the hell I’ve been for the past week, it’s because we finally launched the new Movie-Vault.com on November 2nd. Unfortunately, there were a lot of technical issues that arose which required most of my time and attention.
We tested the new site on the development server over and over again, but it [...]</description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>If you’re wondering where the hell I’ve been for the past week, it’s because we finally launched the new Movie-Vault.com on November 2nd. Unfortunately, there were a lot of technical issues that arose which required most of my time and attention.</p>
<p>We tested the new site on the development server over and over again, but it seems that no matter how much you prepare for a massive revamp on an existing site, there will always be issues.</p>
<p>It is always much easier launching a brand new site from scratch that it is revamping an existing site because you don’t have to worry about content migration and conflict with existing site mechanisms.</p>
<h2>Five Years in the Making</h2>
<p>While the launch of Movie-Vault.com’s massive revamp was delayed briefly, it finally got launched. This was something that I had been planning on doing for literally <em>years</em> – roughly 4-5 years in fact. </p>
<p>I just kept putting it off because I knew just how big and expensive a project it would be (the revamp cost me close to $10,000).</p>
<p>Check out the new and improved <a href="http://www.movie-vault.com" target="_blank">Movie-Vault.com</a> for yourself and let me know what you think.</p>
<p><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" title="51" border="0" alt="51" src="http://www.tylercruz.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/51.jpg" width="626" height="622" /> </p>
<h2>Bugs</h2>
<p>As mentioned in my introduction, there were a number of bugs that plagued the relaunch. Most of these have been squashed and attended to, but there are still a few more scattering around in there. </p>
<p>The lead developer for this project is away until Monday so I’ll have to wait until next week for the rest of the bugs to be fixed. But again, most of the remaining ones are very minor.</p>
<p>The biggest issue was the bridged integration of the main members system with the vBulletin forum’s member system. It appears to work fine with new users, but it created quite the issue with existing forum members. The forum is currently functioning fine right now, but the integration is disabled until a better solution can be worked out.</p>
<h2>We’re Not Done Yet!</h2>
<p>While the new site looks complete, there is still more work to do in addition to fixing any bugs that remain.</p>
<p>For one, I need to update the content on the site to reflect the revamp. For example, our advertising page is out of date and I am not going to accept paid text links on the site anymore in order to aid in getting our PageRank returned (even though I don’t believe in PageRank as a useful metric) and increase the overall quality of the site.</p>
<p>I also need to send out a newsletter to site members to let older members who haven’t visited the site recently know about our revamp. I am waiting for all the bugs to be finished before I do this, however.</p>
<p>Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, I need to round up staff again to help contribute reviews and news to the site. We once had a very active and fairly large staff which did a superb job, but after years of my neglecting the site and not giving it the attention and TLC it deserved, most of the staff moved on.</p>
<p>Fortunately, we have a bustling forum which will be the first source I look to. There are already members there who post their own movie reviews, so it should prove to be a good resource.</p>
<h2>Win An Official 2-Disc Pirate Radio Soundtrack!</h2>
<p>In part to help celebrate our relaunch, Movie Vault has partnered with Focus Features to give away <u><strong>5 official 2-disc soundtracks</strong></u> from the upcoming film <strong>PIRATE RADIO</strong> which will be coming to theaters across the US on November 13th, 2009.</p>
<h4><b>How to Enter:</b></h4>
<p>To enter to win one of 5 official 2-disc soundtracks from Pirate Radio, all you have to do is:</p>
<ol>
<li>Follow <a href="http://www.twitter.com/movievaultnews"><strong>@movievaultnews</strong></a> on Twitter </li>
<li>Tweet the message: &quot;<strong>I entered to win a Pirate Radio soundtrack at Movie-Vault.com</strong>&quot; </li>
</ol>
<p>That&#8217;s it! On November 30th, 2009 we will award 5 random winners and contact them by a private Tweet. Be sure that you stay followed to @movievaultnews and have tweeted the message above in order to be eligible.</p>
<p>This contest is open to US residents only, however feel free to follow us on Twitter and tweet about this contest anyways!</p>
<p>The Movie Vault twitter account is brand new and currently nobody has entered the contest so your chances of winning are currently 100%…</p>
<h2>Movie Vault Interviews the Goat in The Men Who Stare at Goats</h2>
<p>One of our staff news posters conducted an online interview with the goat in the new film The Men Who Stare at Goats.</p>
<p>This will be posted on the site within the next day or two.</p>
<p><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" title="52" border="0" alt="52" src="http://www.tylercruz.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/52.jpg" width="626" height="417" /> </p>
<p>As Movie Vault begins to grow again, so will our opportunities to deliver high quality unique content. We’ve already interviewed celebrities and film producers, etc. in the past, so it’s exciting to have a nice revamped site to feel confident to represent again.</p>
<h2>Growth will Take Time</h2>
<p>Movie Vault had fallen into such a downward spiral over the past 2-3 years that I know it’s going to take time to grow it into the site I know it can be. I first have to convince past staff members that it’s a site worth contributing to, in order to give the site quality and timely content again.</p>
<p>It will then also take time to get our site mentioned, known, and reintroduced to the film industry again and to return to the authority status we once were fortunate to have.</p>
<p>Anyhow, be sure to check out the new and improved <a href="http://www.movie-vault.com" target="_blank">Movie-Vault.com</a> and let me know what you think.</p>
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		<title>Project Development Updates</title>
		<link>http://www.tylercruz.com/project-development-updates/</link>
		<comments>http://www.tylercruz.com/project-development-updates/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:02:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Tyler Cruz</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[My Websites]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.tylercruz.com/project-development-updates/</guid>
		<description>I’ve been working so many hours lately it’s crazy. I need to do errands such as get my badminton racquet restrung because I broke 2 strings the other day, pick up more printer ink, etc., but I just can’t seem to pull myself away from the computer.
There’s simply so much work to be done. I [...]</description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I’ve been working so many hours lately it’s crazy. I need to do errands such as get my badminton racquet restrung because I broke 2 strings the other day, pick up more printer ink, etc., but I just can’t seem to pull myself away from the computer.</p>
<p>There’s simply so much work to be done. I plan on relaunching Movie-Vault.com on November 1st, PublisherChallenge launches a new competition set up for November 1st as well, and I’ve been extremely busy working on the very early stages of my upcoming game.</p>
<p>I’m looking very forward for when Mass Effect 2 and then Starcraft 2 are released so that I can take a real break from work and immerse myself into some nice relaxing gaming. I’ll save the vacations for next summer.</p>
<h2>Game Development Updates</h2>
<p>As mentioned in a comment I left on my blog yesterday, I decided to forgo the investing idea and just fund the whole thing myself.</p>
<p>I received a lot of criticism for the investment opportunity I put forward, but I still stand behind it. In fact, I think it was actually a very generous opportunity. But I’m fine with how things turned out, as now I can now reap all the rewards (if any) myself.</p>
<p>There is a lot of risk though – I’ve never developed a game before, so this is a completely new venture for me. Together with Movie-Vault, this will have been $20,000 that I’ve invested into my projects during the past 6-8 weeks, which is the most I’ve ever invested at once before.</p>
<p>I still have a mortgage to pay, so this really is quite a risk for me. But few people get anywhere by always playing it safe.</p>
<p>The game I’m developing (or am getting developed, rather) is an online multiplayer robot-themed game. I am currently going through various early mock-up designs (seen below) for the robots that will dictate the look and feel of the whole game, so this is an important stage of development.</p>
<p><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; border-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; border-right: 0px" title="48" border="0" alt="48" src="http://www.tylercruz.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/48.jpg" width="626" height="480" /> </p>
<p><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; border-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; border-right: 0px" title="49" border="0" alt="49" src="http://www.tylercruz.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/49.jpg" width="626" height="539" /> </p>
<p>The game will take between 2-3 months to develop… probably about 6 weeks to get a beta version out there with several follow-up weeks to tweak and polish it.</p>
<p>I am extremely excited about this game. It’s so different from anything I’ve ever done before that it’s a wonderful and refreshing new thing to get into. I love games, anybody who knows me can attest to that, so this could be the start of something beautiful. </p>
<h2>New PublisherChallenge Competition</h2>
<p>It’s been a slow time in the affiliate marketing industry due to a number of factors including the economy, FTC rulings, and flog and rebill slapping. As a result, <a href="http://www.tylercruz.com/go/peerfly" style="" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" onmouseover="self.status='http://www.tylercruz.com/go/peerfly';return true;" onmouseout="self.status=''">PeerFly</a>’s Awesome Autumn contest had a very poor turnout.</p>
<p>But they’re back with yet another contest (their 6th in a row) for the winter, aptly titled <a href="http://www.publisherchallenge.com/competition_details.php?orderr=1" target="_blank">PeerFly&#8217;s Wonderful Winter</a>. The winter season usually picks up for most affiliates due to the Christmas shoppers, so here’s your chance to start with a fresh new competition.</p>
<p>Like its previous competition held between September and October, this winter competition is a bit different from many of the prior ones held on PublisherChallenge in that it is strictly tier-based. While there is still a separate category for New Signups, there is no Main Category in this competition.</p>
<p>Instead, everybody competes against himself to make as much as possible. Anybody who makes it to a tier will win the corresponding prize, regardless of how many people are eligible.</p>
<p>Some of the prizes of this contest include digital cameras, Macbooks, VIP Las Vegas trips, a 2009 Honda Accord Coupe, <strong>2010 Honda Acura TSX</strong>, and a top grand prize of a <strong>2009 Lexus GS 460</strong>!</p>
<p><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; border-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; border-right: 0px" title="15" border="0" alt="15" src="http://www.tylercruz.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/15.jpg" width="624" height="212" /> </p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<h2>Movie-Vault.com Revamp Updates</h2>
<p>I was really hoping to relaunch Movie-Vault.com on November 1st, but now I’m not so sure it will happen. There’s still a number of things to do on the site, and tonight is the last day the programmers work before the weekend.</p>
<p>If I can get them to go into the office and work on Saturday then we might be able to make it. Worst case scenario is we launch on November 2nd or 3rd though so it’s not the end of the world.</p>
<p><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; border-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; border-right: 0px" title="50" border="0" alt="50" src="http://www.tylercruz.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/50.jpg" width="626" height="586" /> </p>
<p>I also have a giveaway contest I need to set up and launch once the new site is up, so I really have a lot of work on my plate.</p>
<p>Now I’m starting to realize how those 2 badminton racquet strings broke…</p>
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		<title>Movie-Vault.com Development Update #3</title>
		<link>http://www.tylercruz.com/movie-vault-com-development-update-3/</link>
		<comments>http://www.tylercruz.com/movie-vault-com-development-update-3/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 27 Oct 2009 01:22:59 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Tyler Cruz</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[My Websites]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.tylercruz.com/movie-vault-com-development-update-3/</guid>
		<description>It’s been another week-and-a-half since I last gave an update as to the status of Movie-Vault.com’s revamp development, so I thought I’d give you guys an update on what’s been going on.
Work has mostly focused on fixing small bugs and making small changes here and there, although there were a number of larger new features [...]</description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>It’s been another week-and-a-half since I last gave an update as to the status of Movie-Vault.com’s revamp development, so I thought I’d give you guys an update on what’s been going on.</p>
<p>Work has mostly focused on fixing small bugs and making small changes here and there, although there were a number of larger new features implemented.</p>
<p>It looks as though we might be able to relaunch on November 1st, but a lot of it will depend on how smooth the forum bridge and integration goes, as that could potentially be a bit difficult to implement.</p>
<p>Here’s another screencast video I made showing what new progress has been made on the site. This time I made notes beforehand in order to make the screencast a bit more organized, which also helped reduce the length of this video to 13 minutes (as opposed to 28 minutes for the last one):</p>
<div align="center"><object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" width="626" height="512" id="viddler_c6fccc91"><param name="movie" value="http://www.viddler.com/player/c6fccc91/" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><embed src="http://www.viddler.com/player/c6fccc91/" width="626" height="512" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowScriptAccess="always" allowFullScreen="true" name="viddler_c6fccc91"></embed></object></div>
<p>As you can see, the site is really coming along now and looks just about to be complete, but there’s still a number of more things to be done. At its present stage, I’d say it’s around 90% complete.</p>
<p>I contacted one of my old contacts at one of the marketing firms that does work for film studios, and already have a little contest lined up for when the site launches next week. We’ll be giving out five official 2-disc soundtracks for the upcoming film by Focus Features, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRh1-cyWfGQ" target="_blank">Pirate Radio</a>, starring Philip Seymour Hoffman.</p>
<p>I haven’t decided what type of contest I’m going to run, but I’ll probably make it pretty simple such as some type of Twitter follow or re-tweet contest.</p>
<p>I had kept procrastinating and putting off this much-needed revamp to Movie-Vault.com for about 5-years now, so it feels good to have finally done it.</p>
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		<title>Investment Project Updates</title>
		<link>http://www.tylercruz.com/investment-project-updates/</link>
		<comments>http://www.tylercruz.com/investment-project-updates/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 25 Oct 2009 17:37:55 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Tyler Cruz</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[My Websites]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.tylercruz.com/investment-project-updates/</guid>
		<description>It seems I completely underestimated the cost of Flash development. 
As I mentioned in my last post, I had never commissioned any Flash work before so I was not familiar with what the costs were. 
I have contacted dozens of flash game and design studios and am still waiting to hear back from most of [...]</description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>It seems I completely underestimated the cost of Flash development. </p>
<p>As I mentioned in my last post, I had never commissioned any Flash work before so I was not familiar with what the costs were. </p>
<p>I have contacted dozens of flash game and design studios and am still waiting to hear back from most of them since it&#8217;s the weekend, but it seems that the cost for this project is looking to be more towards the $20k-$40k mark, which I was not expecting. Some people even quoted me $80k-$250k! Maybe I should get into the Flash development business.</p>
<p>So, there is no way I’m going to do this for $5k anymore as I wouldn’t get anything of decent quality for that. I’m not even sure if I want to continue with this anymore since the costs (and thus risk) are pretty much 2-3 times what I was expecting. But I’ll have to wait to hear back from more studios before I can get an accurate median quote.</p>
<p>I did get a quote from one studio for $10k. They&#8217;ve done work for big clients including Nintendo and they seem to have an impressive portfolio with some high-quality games, so I think this project may be able to get done well and properly for $10k-$15k, but there’s no way it’ll be done decently for $5k, so I’m either going to drop this idea and leave it for another day or else see how many people are interested in investing at these higher levels.</p>
<p>That’s the reason for this post – to see how many people are interested at these new levels. Since the level of risk in this has increased by quite a bit, I have increased the return rate %, the length by 2 months, and included a new clause to compensate. </p>
<p>I am basing the following options on the project costing $15,000:</p>
<h2>Investment Options</h2>
<style type="text/css">
table.sample {
	border-width: 1px;
	border-spacing: ;
	border-style: outset;
	border-color: gray;
	border-collapse: collapse;
	background-color: #fffff0;
	margin-top: 10px;
	margin-bottom: 15px;
}
table.sample th {
	border-width: 1px;
	padding: 3px;
	border-style: inset;
	border-color: gray;
	background-color: #fffff0;
	-moz-border-radius: ;
}
table.sample td {
	border-width: 1px;
	padding: 3px;
	border-style: inset;
	border-color: gray;
	background-color: #fffff0;
	-moz-border-radius: ;
text-align: center;
}</style>
<div align="center">
<table class="sample" border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="1" width="620">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td valign="top"><strong>Investment</strong></td>
<td valign="top"><strong>Return</strong></td>
<td valign="top"><strong>Length</strong></td>
<td valign="top"><strong>Buyout</strong></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">$2,000</td>
<td valign="top">10.6%</td>
<td valign="top">20 months</td>
<td valign="top">5x</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">$3,000</td>
<td valign="top">16%</td>
<td valign="top">20 months</td>
<td valign="top">5x</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">$4,000</td>
<td valign="top">21.3%</td>
<td valign="top">20 months</td>
<td valign="top">5x</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">$5,000</td>
<td valign="top">26.6%</td>
<td valign="top">20 months</td>
<td valign="top">5x</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">$10,000</td>
<td valign="top">53.3%</td>
<td valign="top">20 months</td>
<td valign="top">5x</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table></div>
<p>If you do the math, the site would need to make a total of $18,750 during the first 20-months in order for you to break even. This works out to an average of $937.50 a month. </p>
<p><strong><u>Here are two sample scenarios:</u></strong></p>
<div align="center">
<table class="sample" border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="1" width="620">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td valign="top"><strong>Investment</strong></td>
<td valign="top"><strong>Site makes X during first 20 months</strong></td>
<td valign="top"><strong>Your Return</strong></td>
<td valign="top"><strong>Profit</strong></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">$2,000</td>
<td valign="top">$12,000</td>
<td valign="top"><font color="#ff0000">$1,272</font></td>
<td valign="top"><font color="#ff0000">-$728</font></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">$5,000</td>
<td valign="top">$12,000</td>
<td valign="top"><font color="#ff0000">$3,192</font></td>
<td valign="top"><font color="#ff0000">-$1,808</font></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table></div>
<div align="center">
<table class="sample" border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="1" width="620">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td valign="top"><strong>Investment</strong></td>
<td valign="top"><strong>Site makes X during first 20 months</strong></td>
<td valign="top"><strong>Your Return</strong></td>
<td valign="top"><strong>Profit</strong></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">$2,000</td>
<td valign="top">$36,000</td>
<td valign="top"><font color="#008000">$3,816</font></td>
<td valign="top"><font color="#008000">+$1,816</font></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">$5,000</td>
<td valign="top">$36,000</td>
<td valign="top"><font color="#008000">$9,576</font></td>
<td valign="top"><font color="#008000">+$4,576</font></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table></div>
<h3>Guaranteed 100% Return Clause</h3>
<p>If, after 20-months, the investor has not received back 100% of their original investment, they will continue to receive their 80% share until they do. This effectively guarantees that the investor will make back 100% of their original investment. The only question is how long that might take… if the site ends up making virtually nothing then it could take years.</p>
<h3>Buyout Clause</h3>
<p>There is a buyout clause in which at any point I can buyout the shareholder for 5x their investment. This buyout will be on top of any return they have received so far. For example, if an investor invests $2,000 and after 5 months I want to buy them out, they will keep whatever Returns they have made so far, plus $10,000 (5x) for the buyout.</p>
<h3>Notes</h3>
<ul>
<li>I will only accept investors up to when the cost of the project is met (Ex. If 3 investors want in at the $5,000 level then it will be closed there). </li>
<li>The 20-month Return timeframe will begin once the site is finished its development and goes live to the public. </li>
<li>The Return is based on site income, whether it be from advertisements on the site or paid memberships and will be paid back to investors once a month until the 20-month timeframe has finished. </li>
</ul>
<h2>Other Information</h2>
<p>I did not include the FAQ and other information here since that can be read in my <a href="http://www.tylercruz.com/want-to-invest-in-my-latest-project/" target="_blank">previous post</a>.</p>
<p>If you’re interested in investing or have any questions, please <a href="http://www.tylercruz.com/contact/">contact me</a>.</p>
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