I’ve described a little about the current state of my online business in a previous post and it’s now time to take inventory of what assets I have left and where to take things next. It brings to mind images you see on TV after a natural disaster such as a flood, tornado, or a hurricane: homeowners picking through what’s left of their homes trying to find anything that might be salvageable. Books, an old sofa, or even a few cherished family photos that somehow escaped being soaked by the floodwaters, certainly not enough to replace what they’ve lost, but at least something to hang onto as the rebuilding process starts. I certainly don’t mean to compare my current situation to such tragedies, but the mental picture hits home with me.
So Where Were We?
I really can’t stand it when people start blogs with good intentions of posting regularly to them only to abandon them after a few short months. Looks like I’ve joined that prestigious club. I just checked and my last post was about my plans for 2009. Sigh.
Granted, few people are interesting enough as well as inspired enough to make blog posts on a daily basis. I truly admire those who do. I originally began this blog as a journal of my Internet Marketing experiences. In that regard, it also serves the purpose as a kind of therapy. It would take way too long to detail everything that has occurred since my last post back at the beginning of 2009 and now.
My Plans For 2009
As is typical for me I’m a bit late posting about my plans for 2009. This really isn’t a post about my goals and certainly not one about lame resolutions. I’m still working through New Year’s resolutions from 1986. I think striving to make improvements in one’s life and overcoming obstacles and bad habits is a 365-day a year effort.
At the planning level, things are a whole lot broader and it came down to identifying my strengths and weaknesses. I took a self-assessment test that Jerry West linked to on his blog. To be honest, I already had a pretty good idea what mine were as I think will all do. However, taking the self-assessment test confirmed things for me.
PPC Training Courses – The Year In Review
A regular and thoughtful commenter posted a question to me regarding my experience with the various PPC training courses I’ve purchased over the past year. All of these are big name courses and most were surrounded with a great deal of both hype and anticipation:
- PPC Clasroom v1
- PPC Classroom v2
- Black ink Project
- Commission Blueprint
Now, I don’t have to refer back to the original sales letters or wrack my brain too hard, but the only one that actually iived up to the full promise of its promotion was “The Black Ink Project I“.
Organic vs Paid Traffic
I tend to want everything when it comes to my online efforts. My first affiliate site was all about getting top rankings in Google for my list of keywords. I diligently checked off all the required steps (the ones touted at the the time).
In no particular order this included:
- On-page SEO optimization
- Lots of article marketing
- Reciprocal link exchanges
- Continuously adding my own content
- Rinsing and repeating