I Make NO Money » Losing Money Online http://www.imakenomoney.com Learn from my mistakes Fri, 16 Jan 2009 04:13:17 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 en hourly 1 Do you suck at making money? (like I used to) http://www.imakenomoney.com/85/do-you-suck-at-making-money-like-i-used-to.html http://www.imakenomoney.com/85/do-you-suck-at-making-money-like-i-used-to.html#comments Fri, 16 Jan 2009 04:13:17 +0000 Papa Bear http://www.imakenomoney.com/?p=85 Ok, so the whole point of this site was to show you things that I’ve done to not make money online. In fact, for a while, you could have even called it my specialty. So when I received this email from Russell Brunson asking me “Do you suck at making money online?” my ears perked up, to say the least. I clicked on the links in the email and it took me to this HILARIOUS video of “Zoobie” the Internet Marketing Newbie. Very funny.

Well Zoobie figured something out, he figured out how to make money by GIVING his products away…that’s right, FREE. Best part: it works–even in today’s economy. But don’t laugh. Because he’ll show you how to forget about selling products and just give them away for FREE! Don’t worry, you’ll STILL get paid! Because this simple 3-step system shows you how to earn even MORE money than if you actually sold the product.

Click on the screenshot below to watch the video for yourself:

]]> http://www.imakenomoney.com/85/do-you-suck-at-making-money-like-i-used-to.html/feed 0 Worry about content and traffic first. http://www.imakenomoney.com/26/worry-about-content-and-traffic-first.html http://www.imakenomoney.com/26/worry-about-content-and-traffic-first.html#comments Mon, 08 Sep 2008 02:22:55 +0000 Papa Bear http://www.imakenomoney.com/26/worry-about-content-and-traffic-first.html When I was young, my parents subscribed me to a magazine called “Highlights”.  On the cover each month they would have a challenge for the kids that challenged them to find “What is wrong with this picture?”  Tonight, I am providing a similar example…what is wrong or missing from this picture?

Advertising in the Desert

Of course the obvious thing missing from this picture is an audience, traffic or people for this advertisement.

Have you noticed (if you are a serial website developer like myself) that the first thing you do after setting up a new website is to look for ways to monetize before actually developing any traffic or content?

I found myself recently spending quite a bit of time on shareasale and clickbank looking for potential partners for a new blog that had zero content and zero traffic.  What a waste of time (and money)  That is just about as effective and pointless as the billboard above.

Lesson:  Focus your development efforts on quality content which provides quality traffic.  Once those two fundamentals are in place, then you can spend time looking for ways to monetize on that traffic.

]]> http://www.imakenomoney.com/26/worry-about-content-and-traffic-first.html/feed 4 Not making many money? Check your domain name. http://www.imakenomoney.com/55/not-making-many-money-check-your-domain-name.html http://www.imakenomoney.com/55/not-making-many-money-check-your-domain-name.html#comments Fri, 08 Aug 2008 14:40:06 +0000 Papa Bear http://www.imakenomoney.com/55/not-making-many-money-check-your-domain-name.html I was on the way to work this morning and was scanning the radio when the nationally syndicated radio show “Bob & Tom” came on. They mentioned something about a URL list and I suddenly stopped my scanner. They had a guest comedian, Gunner, on their program discussing some URLs that really weren’t thought out that well.

Those were some of the ones mentioned on this morning’s broadcast of the show. I did a google search and came up with some more.

  • Find the name of the a celebrity agent at: www.whorepresents.com
  • Exchange advice with a expert programmer: www.expertsexchange.com
  • Find a Therapist at: www.therapistfinder.com
  • Need a power generator from Italy? www.powergenitalia.com
  • Mole Station Native Nursery in New South Wales: www.molestationnursery.com
  • Need some IP computer software don’t forget: www.ipanywhere.com
  • Speed of Art Designers await you at : www.speedofart.com

Thanks to http://humour.200ok.com.au for their contribution to this list from their page Bad Domain Names

Lesson: Pick your domain name carefully. I’ll be looking over my list for any misspellings. You should too.

]]> http://www.imakenomoney.com/55/not-making-many-money-check-your-domain-name.html/feed 1 Move your website to a new host but forget to set up your default email address http://www.imakenomoney.com/54/move-your-domain-but-forget-to-set-up-your-old-email-addresses.html http://www.imakenomoney.com/54/move-your-domain-but-forget-to-set-up-your-old-email-addresses.html#comments Mon, 28 Jul 2008 03:45:07 +0000 Papa Bear http://www.imakenomoney.com/54/move-your-domain-but-forget-to-set-up-your-old-email-addresses.html Here’s a good way to lose readers and active participants in your community and blog. When you move your domain to a new hosting provider, you should forget to set up the default email addresses at your new host.  For instance, let’s say your email address for your website is paul [at] imakenomoney [dot] com.  You physically move your domain imakenomoney.com to your new host.  Change the name servers at your domain service provider and check to see if you blog is able to come up at your new host.  If everything is displayed correctly your good to go right?

If you have been wondering why it takes a comment so long to get published around here, that’s why.  Because I am trying to manage too many websites, it is impossible to remember all the email addresses at all the different domains I have.  It was just by chance that I was going through the default inbox at my new host and saw some bounced emails directed to paul [at] imakenomoney [dot] com!  I had completely forgot to set up this address at my new host.  Sorry!

So now you should have no problems making comments and getting them approved rather quickly.

Lesson:  Write down the email addresses you will have to set up at your new host before transferring service.  Even better, set up the email addresses at your new host BEFORE changing your domain name server so you know you won’t lost any email.

]]> http://www.imakenomoney.com/54/move-your-domain-but-forget-to-set-up-your-old-email-addresses.html/feed 0 Well, at least I didn’t lost this much! ($3,500) http://www.imakenomoney.com/53/well-at-least-i-didnt-lost-this-much-3500.html http://www.imakenomoney.com/53/well-at-least-i-didnt-lost-this-much-3500.html#comments Mon, 21 Jul 2008 14:36:33 +0000 Papa Bear http://www.imakenomoney.com/53/well-at-least-i-didnt-lost-this-much-3500.html I’ve posted before about how I spend a lot of money on a Adwords campaign on irrelevant keywords.  I found a similar story recently from one of my favorite affiliate bloggers, Johnathon Volk, a “super” affiliate.  He posted recently about losing $3,500!  Why?  Because:

1) He was tired

2) He was tired

3) He was in a hurry.

Apparently, while in a hurry to get to bed (because he was tired) he accidentally sent a recent ad campaign to $45.00 per click instead of the $0.45 he was hoping to.

You can read more about his whopping $3,500 mistake here:

 http://www.jonathanvolk.com/affiliate-marketing/my-3500-mistake.html

Lesson: Please don’t rush through your setting up your campaigns (it could cost you) and try not to make big changes when you are boderline unconcsious.

]]> http://www.imakenomoney.com/53/well-at-least-i-didnt-lost-this-much-3500.html/feed 2 My first cease and desist letter http://www.imakenomoney.com/47/my-first-cease-and-desist-letter.html http://www.imakenomoney.com/47/my-first-cease-and-desist-letter.html#comments Thu, 10 Apr 2008 15:16:50 +0000 Papa Bear http://www.imakenomoney.com/47/my-first-cease-and-desist-letter.html I was checking my email today when I saw I had a very short email that said, in short, “Please see the attached letter”, “Thank-you” and from the “Law Offices of….”

Oh, that can’t be good.  As I continued reading I found that I had just been sent my first cease and desist letter.

To quickly bring those who may be naive about what a C&D letter is. A “Cease and Desist” is a letter drafted usually by an attorney directed toward a recipient (that’s me) asking him (or her) to “stop” or “cease” certain specified action. In this case, it was asking me to stop an apparent trademark infringement and copyright violation. Apparently I have a website that sounds very similar to another popular website in my niche that provides a very similar service.

The letter that I received was long winded and verbose but I’ll summarize what they were asking me to do:

1) Stop my website

2) Turn over all my profits

3) Transfer my domain

This is the funny thing. I went to my Adsense account to find out how much I had to turn over, and noticed that ALL my profits from this domain were: $5.78. Did they want that in a check? Money order? Wire Transfer?

I’ll be completely honest here, I kind of knew, deep down this might have been coming. I mean the domains did sound VERY similar AND the websites did provide a very similar service.

In my defense, there were some KEY differences between the two sites. One, was that the other site actually had business, traffic and made that owner money. My site, on the other hand, had no traffic and has made me, yep you guessed it, no money. The other defense I have is that I own a lot of domains and website similar to the one in question that stretch across MANY different niches.

I have decided to play nice (see my post about karma) and give in to the requested demands. I have moved the website now to a new domain. I’m sure it’ll take me a little while but I my traffic will return. It won’t take long for it to trickle in 2 or 3 a day, just like it was doing before. If they want the $5.78, I’ll guess I’ll give it to them but it seems awfully inefficient.

Lesson: Do a little research before starting any business, especially if it is online. Pick a domain carefully and it might not hurt to consult a lawyer if you have some questions about the legality of it.

]]> http://www.imakenomoney.com/47/my-first-cease-and-desist-letter.html/feed 2 Finding a shortcut http://www.imakenomoney.com/40/finding-a-shortcut.html http://www.imakenomoney.com/40/finding-a-shortcut.html#comments Fri, 28 Mar 2008 12:00:06 +0000 Papa Bear http://www.imakenomoney.com/40/finding-a-shortcut.html So most of my stories up until now have been about how I make an online mistake and lose some money.  This post will be about how I lost money offline and how that applies to losing money online.

It happened easily enough.  As I was out and about running some errands, I found myself at location where I could either a) go straight and maybe find a “shortcut” or b) turn right and take the highway to my destination.  (”Two roads diverged in a woods and I decided to take the one less traveled by”).

I am a visual kind of guy (aren’t we all) so I thought I would draw you a really crude map to help visualize my point (I used to make maps for a living…can’t you tell):

A map of my shortcut

So I of course decided to take the blue line hoping to find a shortcut.  It didn’t work.  Just about the time I was thinking, “Wow, I am making great time.  I might have found a shortcut”, I see a police car going the opposite direction on the other side of the road.  My first reaction is to look down at my speedometer, followed closely by me hitting the brakes and looking in the rear view mirror.  When I look, I see the police car making a hard 180 degree turn and suddenly I know that I am done for.  “Crap” I say.  I start pulling out my insurance card and auto registration almost immediately.  Even before I had pulled off the road or the police car had it’s lights on, that is how sure I was of getting a ticket.  I, of course, did get a ticket from a very nice police officer who says they had just set up a speed trap to catch people cutting through this road (my shortcut).

Lesson:

Just as “shortcuts” on the road don’t save you time or money well similarly, there are no shortcuts to wealth on the internet. Trust me on that one.  Anyone who says they have a faster better way to making wealth online is flat out lying to you.  The only person who is shortcutting their way to wealth is the person selling you that “shortcut”.  And even what you think will be a shortcut will end up costing you time and money long term while you otherwise could have been on an established proven path lessening the distance to your destination (internet riches I assume).

]]> http://www.imakenomoney.com/40/finding-a-shortcut.html/feed 0 Let a drunk guy publish as a guest blogger http://www.imakenomoney.com/25/let-a-drunk-guy-publish-guest-posts-on-your-blog.html http://www.imakenomoney.com/25/let-a-drunk-guy-publish-guest-posts-on-your-blog.html#comments Wed, 19 Mar 2008 16:00:45 +0000 Papa Bear http://www.imakenomoney.com/25/let-a-drunk-guy-publish-guest-posts-on-your-blog.html I enjoy the occasional microbrew or craft beer. It’s true. On the weekend it is nice to stop by a local place that carries beer like Shiner Bock, Abita TurboDog, Flying Dog Pale Ale and the like. I’m not saying it’s an obsession just an occasional indulgence. I thought it would be nice to have a little beer blog where I make a post about the beer of the weekend. Just a write up about what I thought about it and maybe a link to the microbrewery’s website.

Now my friend, let’s call him “Bob”. “Bob” likes beer and he knows a lot about microbrews from his personal sampling. So, when it came time to have someone guest post on my blog, the first person I thought of was “Bob”. Maybe I should have thought about it some more….

“Bob” was given full administrator rights to this blog. That means he could make posts at will without my reviewing, editing or approving. Whatever came to him at whatever time. Remember this is a beer blog. The idea was that he would contribute content and we would split the Adsense revenue….yeah.

His first post….second post….and third post was entitled “Beer Talking”. I am not kidding but I wish he was when he made this following post:

welcome, this is Beer Talking

hey, i’ve been enjoying “rogue dead guy ale” recently, they sell it in

a little booze store down the street from me. its strange , they sell

about 3 different microbrews and this is one of them. is rogue big time

or something? its from oregon (i’m in ohio),and the other two microbrews

they sell are kinda local. anyway , this beer kicks my ass, and i blast

music and sing along when i drink this, so try this beer , if you have’nt already.tell us

what you think.

i plan on talking about beers i’ll try, places i’ve been and had some

local brews,etc, nothing in depth obviously, ……

until next time….beer it up

There were two more posts like this. I’ll save you the time and not quote them. Now I like “Bob” a lot and he is a super great guy but this isn’t exactly what I had envisioned for the site. Which is why I should have….

Lesson:

Even if it is your best friend, spouse, boss, “Bob”…whatever. Please review and edit posts before they are allowed to be published. You can do this in Wordpress by registering your guest blogger as either an “Author” or “Contributer”. This means that they can still write posts for your blog but it won’t be published until either an Editor or Administrator (yourself) has looked and approved the post. Also, it would be even better if they already have a blog and you can sample their writing style and make sure it flows and works with your site and style. Because when it comes down to it, it is your blog and it is your name and reputation that is at stake.

]]> http://www.imakenomoney.com/25/let-a-drunk-guy-publish-guest-posts-on-your-blog.html/feed 6 Start a bid word directory http://www.imakenomoney.com/17/start-a-bid-word-directory.html http://www.imakenomoney.com/17/start-a-bid-word-directory.html#comments Mon, 17 Mar 2008 02:18:46 +0000 Papa Bear http://www.imakenomoney.com/17/start-a-bid-word-directory.html So about a year ago I was sure I was going to get rich from creating niche bid word or link sizzler directories by purchasing a script that generates a list of words people could bid on.  I’ve never seen an official count, but I bet 99.9% of the people who bought those scripts never saw a return on their investment. I’ll guarantee it. Why am I so sure? Because I bought one…

The idea behind the site is this, you create a website that has a list of words.  People bid or buy from your list of words and link that word to their product or website.  A popular and already very rich internet marketeer came up with this idea (I think) and the truth is he probably made A LOT of money from it.  You can still purchase this script from him for nearly $1,000.  I cringe to think how many people each day are still buying something like this.  I didn’t lose that much, but I did lose $19.95 for a similar script which may not sound like much but that was JUST for the script plus the 3 domains I bought (why lose money once when you can lose it three times for three times more fun!)  Each of those domains were between $30 and $35 a piece. So I may not have lost a $1000 but it was no less than a $100.

Here is the key or trick with a bid word directory.  You have to have existing traffic.  If you have no content other than a list of words than in six months you’ll still have nothing but a list of words.  Now someone may read this and say,  “I made $4000 in a week with my list”  Congrats to you but I’ll bet there is more to your story than just throwing up a list of words for people to bid on.

Lesson:

Don’t buy into the hype of word directories unless you want to make a very rich man richer.  It may work for you, IF you have a ton of traffic with users that have money burning holes in their pockets.  If you have that, then have them purchase something of real value that has better commissions for you and repeat traffic and conversions.  Remember, once those words are sold…that’s it, your income stream is dry.

]]> http://www.imakenomoney.com/17/start-a-bid-word-directory.html/feed 0 Start a website with a topic you know nothing about http://www.imakenomoney.com/6/start-a-website-with-a-topic-you-know-nothing-about.html http://www.imakenomoney.com/6/start-a-website-with-a-topic-you-know-nothing-about.html#comments Sun, 16 Mar 2008 23:36:49 +0000 Papa Bear http://www.imakenomoney.com/6/start-a-website-with-a-topic-you-know-nothing-about.html People are usually attracted to the idea of making money “online” because they know someone personally “offline” who has been successful. In my case, it was an associate of (again) my brother-in-law. My brother-in-law had listed his lumber business with someone who ran a online lumber directory. I can’t remember the exact figures but my brother-in-law’s colleague made A LOT of money from a small niche. I remember looking at the website, hearing about the sales numbers and thinking to myself, “I could totally do a online directory like this!” I mean, I can design websites right? Only one problem. The niche I chose, I knew nothing about…

I don’t know why but the idea of an RC Directory really appealed to me. Now I need to tell you something. The last remote control car I had was when I was 10. It was a “wired” controlled car supposed to look like a Ferrari Testarossa. I received it as a Christmas present in 1988 and it lasted until about March of 1989. But despite this complete and utter lack of knowledge about RC vehicles, I thought the idea of an RC directory was GREAT. I could have links to manufacturers and…uh…well….what else? Uh oh…I don’t know. I know, I’ll go buy a lot of magazines about Remote Control, that will surely make me an expert. That cost me about $30 and my understanding of the RC industry before and after was about the same. I’m surprised I didn’t go out and buy a $500 RC airplane just for research. Geesh.

And of course, I couldn’t use a free link directory script like PHP Link Directory. No, I had to use a premium directory script from Turn-k, that I believe cost me at least $140.

The result: A complete and utter traffic flop and about $200 out the door (at least for now…we’ll talk about this site later)

Lesson:

It is vitally important that if you want to create a successful website with traffic, incoming links, high natural page rank that you pick a site that you actually know something about. The sites that have been even a little successful have been the ones I actually have some experience in the subject area. That is why I think this site will do well because I have A LOT of knowledge in the area of losing money online! I know something about that!

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