Bootstrapper Notes

"Why Not Me?"

I just read a post over at JonnyQ's blog.  He made a very interesting observation about self imposed barriers - the fear of the unknown.  Been there done that.

What was really interesting is that I had really been thinking about this topic since yesterday morning.  I was home for a couple of hours yesterday (sick child), and the Tony Danza show was on.  One of his guests was Donny Deutsch.  This guy created a huge advertising firm, sold it, and now has a show on CNBC, and might run for Mayor of New York.

Tony ask him how do you make the leap from one direction to another in your life.  Donny referenced his book "Often Wrong, Never in Doubt : Unleash the Business Rebel Within" to answer it.  He says that we need to ask ourself "Why not me?" - why can't I own my own business, why can't I run for Mayor, etc.

He claims it is this one question that most people never ask themselves.  They feel trapped where they are and never say - "I can do this.  Why not me?" 

I firmly believe that taking that one step outside your comfort zone can make big things happen.  Will you always be successful?  NO.  Will you always be a bigger, more educated person for trying?  YES.

Busy...Just not Here

I have been busy, just not posting here. 

• For the last several days I have been adding keywords to my Adwords account for my "leads based" site.
• Added and updated pricing/descriptions on 1,000's of products on one of my ecommerce sites.
• Researched and found a new supplier for a totally new ecommerce site.

So I have been busy!  I am hoping to get this new ecommerce site online by mid-November, and hopefully at least generate some Christmas sales via PPC.  It will be hard work to make get it up quickly, but that is the beauty of OsCommerce. 

I have decided to put new affiliate sites on hold for a while.  I really need to focus on my ecommerce sites (and the new one) since Christmas is just around the corner.  However, I will continue to add new link exchanges to my affiliate sites - just to keep the rolling.

I am anxious to try some of the promotional techniques I have learned with the affiliate content sites on my ecommerce sites.

I am a .mp3 file type

The Empress posted about this quick survey that tells you what type of file extension you are, so I decided to give it a try.  Here is mine:

Which File Extension are You?

First Lead in the bag...

Last night I got my Adwords campaign kicked off.  I put about 300 keywords into the campaign - using "keyword" and [keyword]. 

I started getting impressions last night, and by this evening I had about 193 impressions - AND one click.  Well guess what?  That one click converted into a lead!  We will see if it converts - I only get paid if the lead converts, but that is when the recurring commissions kick in and it is very profitable.

So bring on the clicks AND leads!!! :)

The plan is coming together

I am putting the finishing touches on my newest site.  I purchased a beautiful template from Golden Pinecone, to build this site with.

While it is not a JM style site, these templates work perfectly for what I want to do with this site.

I also purchased ArticleMiner after reading the good review by BJ.  Right now I am doing the initial download of all the content.  I am going to add tons of these articles to this site to get it started.  Article Miner has some unique things that will make it easy to add this content over time.  I know they are all reprints, but I am going to do some things to the pages to make them as unique as possible.

I am also going to create a "landing page" with will be a very direct marketing style page with my lead form on it.  I will send all PPC traffic to this page.

So I am slowly putting my plan together for this project, and I am excited for the change of pace.

Okay - Its not that different

Okay, so I guess I made this new direction sound really mysterious in my previous post.  In reality it is not that different from affiliate marketing.

Basically it is a lead generation site, with recurring revenues on accepted leads.  The thing that is really interesting to me is that the payouts and the target market could make it possible to do some small scale off-line marketing.  I will definately be experimenting with that possibility.

Eventually I hope to set-up my own affiliate program for this site as well - don't worry I will keep you posted.

Changing Course

Okay, I am officially changing course for a little bit.  I have 4 content sites that each have over 100 pages - now I am going to try a different approach.

I am going to try something completely different, and in a very competitive niche.  I am simply tired of doing these pure content sites - and I want a new challenge that has the ability to make tons of cold hard cash.

I will report back later when I announce the launch of my new site.  In case your wondering, yes I will still be creating lots of unique content.  The cool thing about this next project is the ability to also drive traffic thru off-line advertising.

It will be an interesting adventure - and I will keep you informed.