Introductions Thread

[Ryuzaki]

@ItsYoBuddy, welcome back to the game. I'm glad you've straightened out the negativity in your life. You should be more resistant to stress and temptation now, which will be useful on your way to the top! You may enjoy our Crash Course if you haven't seen it to help you get a bird's eye view of what the landscape looks like these days.

 

[ItsYoBuddy]

@ItsYoBuddy, welcome back to the game. I'm glad you've straightened out the negativity in your life. You should be more resistant to stress and temptation now, which will be useful on your way to the top! You may enjoy our Crash Course if you haven't seen it to help you get a bird's eye view of what the landscape looks like these days.

That's perfect to start reading and hopefully things will start coming back to me. Thanks!

 

[showbizvet]

This is a long-ago tale, but I thought it might serve as an introduction here since this is how I got my handle “Showbizvet” or SBV as most say. I originally wrote this last year during the holidays, so if you've seen it elsewhere, you'll know why.

It was given to me by my mom when I was just a kid waiting up late for Santa Claus. At the time she called me her ShowBizBaby, but I amended that to ShowBizVet after I marshaled out of the USMC. Hope you enjoy the story.

-----------

First, let me say, this is a real story, my story or more precisely the story of how my mom and dad turned fantasy into reality for one special Christmas. And while this is about Christmas, the spirit of the story crosses all boundaries of race, creed or religion. Frankly, I hold no prejudice concerning what you worship or even if you do, or what holidays you celebrate or ignore. This is purely a post I'm making about one of my childhood memories I hold dear. That said, on to the story.

My parents come from a show business background, they were both a little kooky and enjoyed looking at life from a nontraditional slant as do I.

I write this as a middle-aged adult but experienced it as a young child filled with the wonder of an approaching Christmas. In later years, my mom would tell me, "Christmas is for children," and she believed that, being one of the orchestrators of this tale.

Since they worked in the film business, they knew some of the best voice actors, sound and visual technicians in Hollywood, at least at the time. This was WAY before CGI, so there were no computer-generated effects, everything that happened was analog and occurred in real time.

Let me set the stage.

We lived in Hollywood, about a mile or two down from the Hollywood sign, and man, don't I wish I still owned the property, it would be worth a fortune in today's market. The house was English Tutor, located on Beechwood Dr and this is where a bit of magic, at least for me, took place.

It was December 24th, and I'd been pestering my parents all week about Christmas morning, I wasn't a greedy kid, but I was an only child, so yeah, I guess I was a little spoiled, but eventually I outgrew it.

Bedtime on the 24th was hard on me, I didn't want to sleep, I was too excited and begged them to let me stay up late, but that wasn't to happen. My mom saw the expectation in my eyes and allowed me one more visit to the living room where we checked the tree, smoothed the stockings, one for each of us, and for a moment quietly watched the flickering Christmas tree lights. Then we settled together into an armchair, the ambiance of the room planting subtle suggestions in my mind of the night to come and Christmas morning to follow. As I think back, I can see the twinkling lights reflecting on my mom's face as she read me, "Twas the Night Before Christmas." I didn't know then that both my mom and dad were setting the stage, allowing my imagination to run free and were gently planting suggestions of Santa. In just a few hours from that moment, those ideas would awaken in my mind as I saw, heard and experienced Santa Claus as he made his whirlwind appearance in our downstairs living room.

As she read the words with merriment in her voice and love in her heart, my eyes began to grow heavy, and she whispered, "time for bed, Santa has a busy night, and he won't come till you're asleep."

NOTE: the Complete poem can be read at…
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43171/a-visit-from-st-nicholas

I vaguely remember riding piggyback on my dad's back, as he climbed the stairs, laying me gently on the bed, snugging up the covers and saying, "Go to sleep, it will be Christmas before you know it," and I closed my eyes in slumber.

What seemed a moment later, but was apparently hours, my dad nudged me awake saying, "I think Santa is coming." I was immediately awake, running to the window, looking into the blackness of the night. Then I saw or imagined in the distance, but moving in our direction, a sleigh being pulled by reindeer. Emotions flooded thru me; the story was real, the poem my mom had read was happening, here, now, right before my eyes.

Any illusion can be broken if you stare too long, and my dad, knowing that, said, "Quick, get back in bed, you're not supposed to be watching." And I did, but I was brimming with emotion, filled with fantasy, experiencing the moment, not in a poem, but in reality.

As I jumped into bed, pulling the covers tight, my dad whispered, "shhh, just listen." For a moment there was stillness, no sound other than my breath. Then faintly, as if in a dream, I heard distant sleigh bells. Then, moment by moment they became louder, getting closer and closer. They grew louder, seeming to gather force just above my head, beyond the attic and on our roof. Then a crescendo of sounds as the sleigh landed, reindeer stomping their hooves, sleigh dragging to a stop just feet from my head. I was spellbound, but this wasn't my imagination, my dad was right there, my mom nearby, they heard it too, but shhhing me since I could hardly contain myself. Then, I heard the voice which even today echoes in my memory, "Whoa Dancer, careful now Blixen." And then with a thud and a myriad of reverberating sounds, they came to a stop. A wonderland of amazement was happening scant feet from where I lay quietly, excitedly, wondering what was to come. Christmas was for children, my mom would say in later years, but right now I was that child she spoke of.

The story could end there, and it would still be a fantastic memory, but it continued, growing even more amazing, more real, and more memorable as I again vividly see the details.

The hoofs of the reindeer quieted, though there was still the muffled sound of their labored breathing. All was still for a moment, then came heavy footsteps moving toward our chimney. I was elevated to a realm of imagination and fantasy akin to Narnia; I knew what would happen next, Santa would come down the chimney, I didn't think about how, I didn't care about the size or space or difficulty, I was enveloped in the magic of the moment. Then I heard a groan, and a whoosh and quick as a flash I heard laughter, a hearty and bold ho, Ho, HO nearly echoing from downstairs. "Merry Christmas," came the booming voice and both my mom and dad sat next to me on the bed, both smiling, no doubt filled with their amazement as they watched me rapt with emotion.

Then, if I ever doubted for a moment that this was real, and I didn't, Santa called out my name, he knew my name and with a ho, Ho, HO he asked if I'd been a good boy.

My dad leaned in close, quickly coaching me on the words to say, "Tell him Yes" and I quickly did. "Well, ho, Ho, HO," Santa continued, "Merry Christmas, now Tim, don't you come down till morning." And my dad told me to say I wouldn’t,' and I echoed his instructions, speaking, at least in my mind and heart, directly to Santa Claus as I heard the sounds of him laying out presents around the tree and filling the stockings. Then with a sound something like tree branches scraping across bricks combined with a whoosh, I heard him ascend the chimney, arriving on the roof where the reindeer began to stomp their hoofs in expectation of their worldwide journey.

Then with a final ho, Ho, HO, he gathered his reins, and I heard the sleigh move across the roof as he urged his reindeer onward with an "Away Dancer and Prancer…" and I heard him getting further and further away till again there was only stillness.

It could be my memory playing tricks, but I remember both my mom and dad seeming to glow from within. Their magic was watching me experiencing mine. I don't know my exact words, much too long ago, but they would have been filled with amazement, I'd believed, and my dream had become a reality. They whispered to me, "go to sleep now, and we'll see you in the morning."

I have no clear memory of how long it took me to fall asleep, only the feeling of excitement as the sun broke through the windows Christmas morning. Santa had come, he'd visited me personally and KNOWING that, I knew there would be presents. With the energy and excitement of a young boy, I leaped out of bed running toward our living room. What I found was an enchanted room filled with presents, electric trains tooting around their tracks, a shiny new bike leaning on its kickstand and my parents watching me experience the fantastic treasures that lay in front of me. Of course, my memory is from my point of view, from my parent's perspective, I can only imagine the young boy in "Close Encounters of The Third Kind," whose face was filled with wonder as he saw whatever Spielberg had created for him to see and heighten his expressions. I remember reading he had someone dress up in a giant bunny costume, but I have no idea if that's true. What is true is the intensity of that experience has remained with me for a lifetime.

What I didn't realize till years later, was what went into creating my Christmas experience. As mentioned, both my mom and dad were in the film business, and years later I'd meet some of those who helped pull off the evening, sound technicians, voice actors, equipment rental and hours and hours of prep. There were stereo speakers in the attic, assigned to one channel, another set in the downstairs on the second channel. My dad and mom had choreographed the entire evening, complete with script, subtle subconscious suggestions, and a prearranged voice track, for which my dad had fed me the answers. When Santa said, "Have you been a good boy," of course, my dad knew the timing of the voice track and the answer I should give and fed me my lines. There was high-quality stereo equipment hidden, and cable runs to the attic and downstairs living room.

When my mom had read me, "Twas The Night Before Christmas," I know now, but not then, she was painting a vivid scene in my young mind, and I dare say, I did have sugarplums dancing in my head.

When my dad gently woke me, saying he thought Santa was on the way, he had moments before hit the Play button on the equipment and of course, knew the timing perfectly. I'm not sure what I saw when I looked out the window and saw the sleigh, perhaps that was purely in my mind, aided by my dad saying, "see if you can see his sleigh." The magic of course happened within my imagination, as I heard the sleigh arrive, the sound effects of Santa and the reindeer, then his sliding down the chimney and calling me by name. After I heard the sleigh, vanish into the night, and while I rested till morning, my parents were busy setting the living room stage for my morning arrival.

There may be some who'd say; my parents were wrong to create such an elaborate fantasy, but I disagree, they crafted a childhood memory that lives within me still. It would be the following year I'd learn the truth, that there was no magical being bending space and time to deliver presents to all the good boys and girls. I accepted the truth, but even then, and especially now, I so much appreciate what my mom and dad did, they let me, if only for a little while, experience the wonderment of believing.

The holidays mean different things to different people and what may be important to me, others may dismiss. That's fine, what I hope you will glean from my long-ago tale is merely this, keep a childlike lust for life and learning and may the spirit of the season be a blessing to you and yours. It matters, not you're whether you celebrate Christmas or any of the myriad other holidays around the world. I wish for each of you happiness, health and prosperity.

p.s. If you're wondering about the bloody nose I used ihe title, well that's not hype, it happened. I believed in Santa Claus so fervently, I actually got in a grade school fight when one kid said, "he's not real", and I pushed him saying, "yes he is". Doesn't detract from the memory, just makes it more vivid.

And that Builders, is how I got my handle.

 

[Rowling]

Hi everybody!

I found BuSo some days ago and I got shocked: I had discovered the place I always dreamed about, a digital paradise of wisdom.

I have devoured the Digital Strategy Crash Course, the Traffic Leaks Boot Camp and a lot of threads (Laboratory, Garden, DevOps…).

I wish I would have found you earlier.

Days go by and I want to share my story with you. It's the way of show my gratitude.


'I've seen things you people wouldn't believe'

When I was a child, I thought that, when we are going to be born, we choose how will be our family and our environment. With those cards, you have to play to overcome the life difficulties and finally win. Win is achieving self-fulfilment, doing what you like the most.

Well, I chose the most dysfunctional family I found on the album.

'I've seen things you people wouldn't believe', as it was said in Blade Runner, and I have lived things that didn't deserve to be lived by anyone.

Those are my cards.

I had to leave my home very young to survive.

Despite the terrible C-PTSD I still suffer, I have never forgotten my mission.


How I failed in my first web venture (short version)

I always liked web pages. I started to build them in Geocities just for fun. Later in Blogger and Wordpress.com. I didn't know anything about monetization.

In 2012 I build my first sites to make money, Wordpress in shared hosting.

From 2013 to 2016 I was working on two sites. More than 8 hours/day to only get cents (literally) with AdSense.

I made many mistakes. Some of them:

• I thought that low competition in Adwords keyword planner meant it was very easy to rank instead of lack of advertisers.
• I was focused in creating content but I didn't promote it.
• I didn't care about linkbuilding.

It's a nonsense, but when I considered leaving, I saw this picture in my mind and I kept on harder:

In my world of 'I'm the dalai lama in Disneyland', I thought I was digging for the treasure.

But, in fact, I was digging my own grave.

My turning point (no joking) came when I read this in a forum I used to visit:

I realized that facts were telling me I was driving on the wrong lane. Most of what I was reading about web business until then was misleading.

After 3 years I decided to finish this venture and kept my webs sleeping in the shared hosting without caring about them.


Numbers and facts

I want to share with you Analytics metrics from my sites.

----- Site #1 – Sports related

• 1200 visits/day on average.
• 0,03 € CPC on average.
• Most of the posts ranked number one on Google.
• Traffic peaks are due to an important event for what I ranked in first Google positions. I used to update the post a lot of times in the day of the event to tell what was happening in it and the final ranking. I was the only one to do this.
• An important newspaper linked to my web.

---- Site #2 – Fashion related

• 350 visits/day on average.
• Most of the posts ranked on the second page of Google.
• I won three times as much as with the other page.

And now?

 

[Ryuzaki]

@Rowling, Hi, welcome. I'm right there with you. CPTSD, started on Geocities, etc.

That sucks about doubling down for too long on the lowest competition for Adsense instead of the SERPs. I hope you can laugh about it. It's funny and sad. But all is not lost.

Those two sites you have going have decent traffic. Have you tried publishing on them for higher valued Adsense CPC? They may have some ranking power with any links you got and the age.

What's your plans? What's next?

 

[Yvv]

Well I've tried affiliated marketing, coding, MLM, and data entry, but e-commerce seems to be whats moving forward for me.

I just to be successful online to escape 9-5 life since a technical AAS degree served no good. Im only hireable in basic jobs even though I have 10+ yrs of work experience and only hireable as a cashier.
Ive made a shopify store that sells clothing for the youth and hope to make 1k monthly for starters and go from there.

 

[Rowling]

Hi @Ryuzaki

Nice to talk to you.

My CPTDS symptoms are getting much worse because of a recent unexpected event. Besides this, my financial situation is bankrupt.

The good new is that I have nothing to lose nor any ship to burn because there are no ships either.

I confess that I'm a bit scared, but I'm brave and I know I will rise from my ashes.

My idea is was create some webs and monetize them with AdSense and Amazon.

I'm now in 'researching mode' and my first impression is that may be this is not a good idea, but I'm still researching.

At the moment, while researching I'm designing a strategy on paper and catching up with websites updates (seo, UIX, monetization, etc.).

I'm solving some warnings on Search Console about my two pages, migrating domains to a cheaper domainer, doing some keyword research.

Things have changed a lot in this years and I'm conecting to web world again.

Sometimes I think that I will waste my time with webs. When I read this forum, I realize that my business ideas are dumb and childish, far away from your business concept.

I'm writing a list of pros and cons and doubts of coming back and, when it will be ready, if you don't care, I would like a lot you to read it. I will really appreciate your opinion and advice.

I'm learning a lot here and I want to become a good builder.

 

[Ryuzaki]

I'm writing a list of pros and cons and doubts of coming back and, when it will be ready, if you don't care, I would like a lot you to read it. I will really appreciate your opinion and advice.

Absolutely. Share it when ready and we'll give you some feedback.

When I read this forum, I realize that my business ideas are dumb and childish, far away from your business concept.

This is why we say to fail often and fast. Every single time, you learn more, and your next plan is more sophisticated and stronger. You'll get there. Emulate winners on this forum and learn what you can from their postings so you don't have to learn the lessons through failure. That's a key part of BuSo, no matter what you're doing online. We share so much information that anyone can get a giant head start and take shortcuts simply by applying lessons we learned through failing.

 

[GNews]

I've invited you to this forum to help you grow.

Ecommerce is a booming niche on the internet with lot of people trying their hand.

$1k a month is a very reasonable goal if you have trendy product.

My suggestion is that you start a lab as people here will chime in freely.

Also, you might want to add to an already started post like "Newbie Question(s) so dumb, you're afraid to even ask! " to talk the experiences you had on Fiverr, etc.

And to add to this post. This is someone I met in person, who's highly intelligent. Therefore i invited them to this forum to begin learning how internet entrepreneurs think.

 

[illmasterj]

As for the SERPs being dominated by .com and US sites I say it depends on the niche, quite a few Australian sites and coming up and Google is definitely recognising the importance to rank local content so times are changing

What's the deal with registering .com.au's? Do you need to register trading names every time? For example: one Pty Ltd, but 5 trading names and domain names?

 

[uzz]

I started my IM journey in 2006-7. Found a forum called Wickedfire (good place to ‘make money online’ ) which motivated me to build out my first couple of MFA sites. Even now, looking back, I can see I was pulled in a lot of different directions. I was a web designer turned web developer turned SEO turned marketer?? I also did ppc. I remember slinging some game offers on FB ads when there were only 2 ad sports to be had. Bought my first car from that, which was fun - until the offer went away and so did my motivation. Oh yes, I slang berries too, mainly copying landers and traffic sources, nothing original - was bound to fail.

Got back into building out MFA sites. Chasing the paper. Sites rose and fell within months (because of tactics). Also got a full time SEO job for corporate and got comfortable for 7 or so years. It did fund all my other side projects which was great - got heavy into paid traffic, won some campaigns, lost more. After the dust settled, spent about 10k on paid ads with nothing to show for it.

Did a lot of Mass Pass Generation (SEO) - which was okay, until it became less effective. I still have some of those sites, but letting them die a natural death. Plus I felt bad for ‘littering’ on the internet

I quit corporate in 2017 and have been going at it since then. I still do an assortment of things to bring in the $$ like Client SEO work, and Lead Generation/Affiliate marketing.

Which brings me back here. Even though I can make money for clients/offers, work from home,I feel like there’s something missing. I don’t have any of my own assets. Or at least nothing to build a brand around. I build out a lot of local lead gen sites, but those are just fronts for other clients/offers.

I’ve been a lurker here for a while now - I actually went through some of the ‘digital crash course’ material years ago, but as my post title suggests, I was more interested in quicker/short term gains and was not ready for this place. Plus that shit needs a TLDR tag lol.

To Recap:
10+ years of SEO
Currently do client work + build out lead gen sites (just focus on SEO)
I have tried Email marketing,PPC,& CRO

My goal is to build out my own brand/s so I can focus on 1 project at a time!
The niche? Good Q - I have some ideas, but would like to align them with my vaules.

I believe the thing that's held me back a lot in the past was the effin work! I got comfortable building out these ‘quick’ sites and got addicted to short term gratification. Plus when your supporting your fam, it’s hard to think about building out sites that might not make any $$ for months. But on the flip side, if it works, then it is better for the fam! Frued who!

Also, I think I have to be aware of what sites/businesses to start and not get them confused with hobby sites or sites that will ‘help the world’ type of sites. AKA sites that don’t make any $$!

Well, wish me luck. There’s work to be done.

 

[Ryuzaki]

@uzz, Welcome aboard as a poster, very happy to have a veteran onboard.

Sounds like it's time for you to evolve. You're itching to bust out of the cocoon, but I'd say you've got some mindset changes to make. I'm not at all trying to talk down to you or psycho-analyze you (though you're the one that brought up Freud!), but it soooounds like you've been in that "get rich quick by scheming" mindset and a kind of lazy "stinking thinking."

I was on Wickedfire and buddies with all the big guys, still am. My pal @Physiq was one of the first if not the first to start harping on authority sites. He had one built and prospering before the rest of us even caught on. But I was paying attention because he could see the future and put that bug in my ear. I tried to pay it forward and told all the big spammer guys to please at least build one authority site starting now. Just get it going. They scoffed and said "if there's an algorithm then spam will work." Sure, but what about meta-algorithms and offline filters, etc. Most of them bailed to cryptocurrencies or do consulting or just quit the game altogether.

That's the same with all you've described. MFA micro sites. Mass page generation. Even local sites and GMB pages are about to get the same treatment. SEO has matured greatly, largely because of the Panda and Penguin filters. Tricks are tricks and they fly-by-night and then crash and burn.

Yeah, you can still make money in spam but the game has changed there too, maturing and trying to hide better, focusing on quality over quantity. It's not really worth the time when the end result looks just like a white hat authority site but costed a lot more and now you can't sleep well because you know Google is going to pop you at any moment.

If you need the quick hits and fast builds, have them. But start planting the seeds of an authority site project. All it requires is to toss the site up, get a logo, and start dripping content regularly. In a year's time it will be aged enough that you'll start seeing results. Of course, getting some links will be key too, but if you must, just do it passively without pressure. You'll be glad you did in a year's time.

I'm the same way, but with perfectionism. So ultimately I created an authority site that I could treat like a precious baby and coddle it and all that. It acts as my outlet for that problem. So now on other projects I don't feel the need for perfection, because I aim it elsewhere.

Sometimes we can't beat our problems, we can only cope and manage our way through and around them and bring them along for the ride. We can compartmentalize them so we can gain clarity everywhere else though.

 

[uzz]

@uzz, Welcome aboard as a poster, very happy to have a veteran onboard.

Thanks! Your response is much appreciated and has actually got me really excited. Sounds like there are a lot of kindred spirits in here! Funny thing is when I first came here, I was like - ack forums are so dead. Wheres the FB group at? But now I'm starting to see some of the benefits - mainly no noise. There's so much happening on FB that no wonder I developed a major case of the shiny object syndrome. Although i appreciate the hustle of the guru brand builders/teachers/scammers, its so turned me off of FB, even when I try and filter certain groups.

Sounds like it's time for you to evolve. You're itching to bust out of the cocoon, but I'd say you've got some mindset changes to make. I'm not at all trying to talk down to you or psycho-analyze you (though you're the one that brought up Freud!), but it soooounds like you've been in that "get rich quick by scheming" mindset and a kind of lazy "stinking thinking."

You know i never though of myself as a get rick quick schemer, I always wanted just enough to be financial independent/freedom (hello values). Perhaps in my case its more of a get slightly rich scheme lol. Nonetheless, you're right. It IS time to evolve. How much for the session Freud

Thank you for the rest of your response - I took it to heart and will most likely be revisiting it in times of need. Time to build an authority site.

 

[Rowling]

Two weeks later… thinking out loud.

This picture summarizes what I have been doing these days. At least a part of what I have done.

I have written some posts for BuSo, but I haven't published anyone.
The more I read you, the more I realize that I was playing at a kindergarten level in my first venture.

Today I have promised myself I will publish a post on the forum and here I am.


~ Foreword ~

> I'm not you

That's an important discovering I made this year.

I repeat it to myself when I see someone is much better than me in any aspect.

I'm not you and I can't be now where you are.

We don't have the same background nor the same knowledge.

Why can't I be you?

Because you are you and I am me.

I will learn from you. But I'm not you and won't.


~ Talking to my inner voice ~

I. Two reminders (in no particular order):

• Rome was not built in a day
• Relying on my talents and exploit them is key

II. Opening my eyes…

I love giant steps, but baby steps move me forward too.

III. Not only learning from my mistakes…

but yours too.

​

IV. Learning and applying new knowledge

Reverse engineering shows me what it's happening backstage.

All that glitters is not gold.

Take care of yourself.


V. Avoid stumbling over the same stone again.

Forget huge goals. At least at the moment.

Start with small, achievable and measurable goals.

When you achieve it, set another goal and repeat.


~ Foreword ~

> Mushin

I have no faith. Not in the hopeless sense but the mushin sense. No mind before the combat.

Carry on...

 

[Ryuzaki]

Did you get any work done in the past two weeks? Made any decisions about new projects versus working on the old ones?

 

[mj22]

welcome to the forum @Rowling , that was a pretty good intro(i got a chuckle out of it). I wish you well on your endeavors.

Good luck and cheers!

 

[Rowling]

Hi @Ryuzaki!

Facts, facts, facts.

Question #1: Did you get any work done in the past two weeks?

Yes, I did.

• I had some issues with my shared hosting. I couldn't update PHP (I had 5.3). I spent one evening talking to my hosting support center and finally they solved it.

• I installed SSL certificate in my domains. I had some issues because the images didn't show. I spent two days solving it. The problem was I had hotlinking protection active in my cPanel and hotlinking protection in htaccess. Solved.

• I updated Search Console information (https). Then I realized that I don't how to use Search Console properly.

• I checked my two pages with free tools and I saw that the one about Sports had a lot of spam links. I took note of spam links and disavowed them in Search Console. But I had to do it twice because I realized the first time I didn't do it following Google instructions.

• Moz Spam Score says that my pages are 13% Spam Score (Sports) and 19% Spam Score (Fashion). I'm worried about that because I don't understand how to interpret that data. I don't know if it's important or not. I'm looking for information.

• I opened a blog at my university. No, I'm not studying at university now, but I did. I heard that I could have one and I asked for it and now I have it. It has no content. I want to publish some quality articles and link them to my projects (whatever they are). It's only a fuzzy idea.

• I bought a cheap web sports-related for 25 bucks in a forum, domain included. The boy who sold it to me made the web only for selling. It was only 20 days online. The domain is an expired one. Before I bought it, I saw it in archive.org and in all its history it was a web from a personal trainer. Moz says that its Spam Score is 0. But I don't know if this domain is really a good one. There is a famous international magazine that has the same name. But the famous one has the word 'magazine' on its domain name and the web I have bought hasn't the word 'magazine' and has a misspelling (the letter 's' is missing). The positive part is that the web I have bought has some decent articles that I can use. This web is not online at the moment.

• I was ordering my assets. This is what I have:

• Two shared hostings paid until 2023 and 2024. When I actively worked on my pages, I took advantage of a hosting offer and I paid a ridiculous amount of money for them. I invested for the future.
• 7 domains paid until 2020/2021: 4 in shared hosting #1, 1 in shared hosting, 1 in Blogger, 1 no hosted.

• Sports-related (online). – Shared #1 hosting
• Fashion related (online). – Shared #1 hosting
• Principal domain for installing #1 hosting. It's a brand name I invented. It has no content. It's a name I liked for my blog network, but I could use it for something book or writing-related. – Shared #1 hosting
• A domain with my name. No content. – Shared #1 hosting
• A domain of an association (.org). I did this web a lot of years ago for an Association. The association has no activity. The web is mine and the domain too. It's hosted on Blogger.
• Principal domain for installing #2 hosting. No content. A brand name I invented business-related.
• The new web I have bought, sports-related, but no hosted.

Tomorrow I will answer your second question.

It's very late here and writing in English is the hardest thing ever!

Thanks for your questions.

 

[mj22]

bwahahahahahaha! is this thread a troll? or for real? i just re-read this thread, my face hurts from laughing my ass off at it.
if not, ok, good shit @Rowling , keep it coming brotha haha.

 

[Ryuzaki]

Moz Spam Score says that my pages are 13% Spam Score (Sports) and 19% Spam Score (Fashion). I'm worried about that because I don't understand how to interpret that data. I don't know if it's important or not.

I wouldn't worry about this unless it specifically says it's link spam. They think one of my sites is spammy because it's too fast and the HTML is too lean and optimized. That's absurd. Another one they said is spammy because I'm not linking to enough other sites. It's nonsense for the most part.

I opened a blog at my university. No, I'm not studying at university now, but I did. I heard that I could have one and I asked for it and now I have it. It has no content. I want to publish some quality articles and link them to my projects (whatever they are). It's only a fuzzy idea.

I would, and I'd create links, but I'd expect the college to take it down after a certain number of years of you no longer being enrolled (I did this same thing).

bwahahahahahaha! is this thread a troll? or for real? i just re-read this thread, my face hurts from laughing my ass off at it.
if not, ok, good shit @Rowling , keep it coming brotha haha.

Is it because Rowling keeps using the word "web" instead of "website" or "site?"

 

[mj22]

^ Ry, its that and a combination of the dudes humor, excitement, and good vibes i guess that i got from reading his posts. they seem to be well thought out, thorough, and entertaining. either way good stuff, i got a good laugh out of it.

keep on keepin on

 

[Rowling]

Hi again!

I would, and I'd create links, but I'd expect the college to take it down after a certain number of years of you no longer being enrolled (I did this same thing).

The university has two kinds of blogs: the ones for the enrolled student and the ones for graduates, people who work in the univesity, and teachers. This last is which I have as graduated. It's not properly a blog. It's like a site from the 90s, old fashioned, for writing book reviews in your own space, as many as you want. You can include links and some people do it and write about another stuff, like it was a blog. I think they won't take it down to me unless I do something very weird.

The second question is waiting for my answer.

Question #2. Made any decisions about new projects versus working on the old ones?

Yes, but I only have the big picture.

Do you remember I said to you I was writing a list of pros and cons, etc.?

Let me explain it in little chunks. (Easy for you to read, easy for me to write and it helps me to put in order my ideas.)


* My main conclusions

• My two sites will never give me much money. But I can use them to learn and experiment while I make some money from them (I will explain how later). So I will use them at the beginning.
• It's necessary to start a new project.

* The BIG question

There is a question that I can't answer at the moment. It disturbs me because it put my feet on the ground:

How I will earn money with my new project(s)?​

Because of my first venture, I think that say merely 'AdSense' and/or 'Amazon' it's like living the guru dream that says: Hey! Do you know that I got rich with Adsense? I was an absolute newbie. I made a site, put some ads and boom! Try it! If I can, you can.

No. This is not Disneyland. This is a business and I must think like a business person.

How I will earn money with my new project(s)?​

[I know if I repeat myself this question once and another I will find the answer. But I have not it yet].


* Cons, cons, cons

I can't compete with you. You are younger, smarter and better than me. You know how this business works. You say 'sites'. I say 'webs' as the old-fashioned person I am. As I read your Laboratory threads, I see that you have technical and practical knowledge to solve everyday problems (server, HTML, CSS, keyword research…). I'm lacking of them. I feel like a dumb when I'm reading you.

Of course, I can learn these skills, but it will take me years. I must be smarter than that

I know that if I try to compete with you, doing what you do, I will fail because I am not you.

The only way I can win this war is being myself.



* Pros

• Learning doesn't scare me and I can learn quickly. My life is a non-stop learning.
• I know how to touch hearts. I'm a survivor. I was born and was raised in the hell, I grew up alone and I understand feelings very well. I'm graduated in Education and I know how to help people.
• I have valuable writing skills in my language (but not in English: writing posts in BuSo takes me blood, sweat, and tears).

Yeah, your blah, blah, blah is very nice, buddy. And then?

Sorry, I was just landing

* How to make money from my old sites

Small, achievable and measurable goals. Baby steps.

• Pruning content: I will only keep evergreen content. I will improve posts that are getting visits.
• Outdated content will be deleted and deindexed and I will put it on a Blogger or Wordpress.com. I will use these contents to create 'blogs hermanos'. Little blogs that will help my main site.

• I will siloing contents.
• I will change my homepage. Now it contents the latest published posts. I will write an introduction to my sites.
• I will interlink posts.
• I will only write 2 or 3 new posts.

What I expect with these improvements is

1. Earning monthly what I was earning in the past with them
2. Having a little blog network to experiment with

I will not do anything more with them. I mean I will not actualize them.

Do you know Chinese acrobatic plate spinning?

That's what I want.

When I get my sites spinning like Chinese plates (earning monthly what I was earning in the past with them), they will behave as a Newton's cradle at less for a while (4 months?).

At that time I will be in a new project and I will have more experience and technical knowledge.



* My new project(s)

I'm looking for my own path. My path is waiting for me. It is on my writing skills. That is what I do best.

A lot of fuzzy ideas, but are they profitable?

The only way to know it is keyword researching and calculating profits.

I need a tool for figuring it out but I haven't decided which one.

Now I'm doing it searching in Chrome incognito mode. I measure profitability if there are ads in searching results.

I don't want to bore you with my doubts.

-----------​

My workplace is full of papers. My desk is a mess. Most of them are notes with my discovering and questions.

Most people say that disordered desks are productivity killers. I used to think so too.

But now I think this is something good. Very good.

It's only reflecting the mess inside me.

And it means that I'm starting to move my toes.

My desk will be perfectly ordered when I will be walking, I swore.

Thanks for your help.

Carry on…

 

[DragnBalzDeep]

Hey everyone,

Just another former WickedFire member from back in the day. I made an account here a while back but only decided to post now. Partially to get myself to take action again haha.

I'm currently working on some other projects (offer side) with partners but am starting up some more authority/niche site personal projects of my own on the side.

For the past few years, I've mainly been focused on paid traffic (mostly native ads and Google Search/Display), but honestly hate having to start over every few months or years with offers, traffic sources, accounts, etc.

For my main work, I don't mind doing paid traffic since we're heading in more of a WH direction with a heavy focus on copywriting. However, for my personal projects, I want something that's a little more passive. Something that doesn't require as much stat checking.

I keep trying to make "faster money" with some nutra/native ads campaigns, but I actually end up burning more cash. That's why I'd much rather think longer term and build some sites of more value. I've accepted that I'll probably make more grinding it out a few months.

Lots of ups and downs the past few years. Had the highest of highs and the lowest of lows, so I really just want something more stable for my personal projects. It doesn't need to make anything crazy.

Right now, I have 1 authority site from 2011 that's still making like $100-$200/month from Amazon Associates. From 1 longtail best X for Y post that I put up in 2016. This ranked on the first page within a week or 2 of posting, so I hope to scale this out with more commercial posts.

The site originally started as a blog where I posted every day, but was barely making money. That's because I was way too focused on info content.

It probably has around 100+ posts of info content and 3-5 commercial posts lol.

I'll admit that I blasted the shit out of that site back in the day with anything from Drip Feed Blasts, Link Genie, BuildMyRank, Layered Links, GSR, and other link services. There are also some high quality links from legit sources in my niche, as I was a bit of an authority for a while with a following.

It's still holding daily traffic, so I plan to revive it with:
1) Commercial content targeting low competition longtails that I'll write myself at first (around 30 articles)
2) A mix of legit link outreach and buying some of the higher quality link services here
3) Eventually outsourcing the content

I also have a Merch By Amazon account for print on demand t-shirts that's currently making around $300/month through organic Amazon traffic, and will probably hit over $1k in November/December. I'm thinking of scaling that out more and also using that as monetization for my niche site.

To start, I'll keep things simple with my sites. Down the road though, I'd really like to rank for info keywords and funnel traffic to copy-driven pages that either ask for email opt-ins or push for a sale. I'd like to build my own info products and monetize a high quality list of buyers one day.

Looking forward to shooting the shit with you all here!

 

[Ryuzaki]

Welcome, glad you decided to start posting. Sounds like you have a lot you can teach us about PPC and maybe we can help out with SEO and other marketing methods.

It probably has around 100+ posts of info content and 3-5 commercial posts lol.

Hell yeah, that's a great foundation. Do you have Search Console set up? You should be able to find additional keywords those posts are almost ranking for and work them in, and optimize each post for further gains. You can add internal links as you go, funnel juice to the commercial posts, and do the same as you add new commercial posts.

I'll admit that I blasted the shit out of that site back in the day with anything from Drip Feed Blasts, Link Genie, BuildMyRank, Layered Links, GSR, and other link services.

Again, do you have Search Console set up? I'd do it if not, and check to make sure you don't have a Manual Action of any kind on the site. I'd be amazed if you didn't get one. Maybe you did and it expired over the years as the bad links dropped off.

I'd add some new content and see how quickly it ranks and how it behaves / performs in the SERPs, so you don't inadvertently put too much effort into a site that's penalized, even algorithmically. Worst case scenario you go on a disavow spree and jump out of a penalty.

I also have a Merch By Amazon account for print on demand t-shirts that's currently making around $300/month through organic Amazon traffic, and will probably hit over $1k in November/December. I'm thinking of scaling that out more and also using that as monetization for my niche site.

Nice, how many designs do you have up? Does one or two designs account for most of the sales? This always interested me but I see people talking about having 3000 designs and make $50 a month on a couple sales. I understand that this has become a long-tail game within Amazon and/or paid promotion to get positive reviews and sales to influence the organic rankings. Sounds like a nightmare but a fun one.

 

[mj22]

welcome to the forum DBD, i remember those dog snuggie days LOL

Im a fan, you post some pretty good stuff buddy, keep it coming, looking forward to more of your updates down the road. If you have questions on anything just ask, one of us will most likely be able to help with answers, and if we cant we can help point you in the right direction to get them.

Good luck again, Cheers!

 

[DragnBalzDeep]

Welcome, glad you decided to start posting. Sounds like you have a lot you can teach us about PPC and maybe we can help out with SEO and other marketing methods.

Thanks!

I have the basics down but honestly I've really only had success with BH/more aggressive campaigns. The issue is mainly dealing with FB/Google accounts. I've accepted that I'm no account farmer lol.

Can't really speak on media buying for WH stuff like lead gen, ecom, or straight sale nutra.

Again, do you have Search Console set up? I'd do it if not, and check to make sure you don't have a Manual Action of any kind on the site. I'd be amazed if you didn't get one. Maybe you did and it expired over the years as the bad links dropped off.

I'd add some new content and see how quickly it ranks and how it behaves / performs in the SERPs, so you don't inadvertently put too much effort into a site that's penalized, even algorithmically. Worst case scenario you go on a disavow spree and jump out of a penalty.

Yup! I do have Search Console set up. Just checked it and don't see any Manual Actions.

In the next week, I'll put up a few new articles for low competition keywords and see how they behave in the SERPs and go from there.

Nice, how many designs do you have up? Does one or two designs account for most of the sales? This always interested me but I see people talking about having 3000 designs and make $50 a month on a couple sales. I understand that this has become a long-tail game within Amazon and/or paid promotion to get positive reviews and sales to influence the organic rankings. Sounds like a nightmare but a fun one.

I had over 1000 designs at one point but a huge chunk of them didn't sell so were removed from my listings after 60 or 90 days. I'll probably relist some of them in time for the Q4 rush.

Right now, I have 400ish designs up with about 10 of them bringing in the most revenue. I currently have a max of 6000 slots so I have a lot of uploading to do haha.

The good news is I learned to start with a broader approach of uploading designs for a wide variety of niches, and then narrow down to niches that work the best. Now I'm going to flood my best niche to see what happens. So far, almost anything new I upload eventually sells in that niche.

There's definitely more potential with authority/niche sites, but I think Merch is a good way to get a low $XXXX/month passively to add to your portfolio.

Welcome, good to have you onboard. Looking forward to see how things will go for your personal projects.

Thanks! I'll probably start a follow along soon.

welcome to the forum DBD, i remember those dog snuggie days LOL

Thank you! Haha good times (PM Grin...)