Dave and Jay - Crazy Web Entrepreneurs

My day job company is currently running a free giveaway promotion, and I thought I’d tell you guys about it. Now, the prize structure is fairly limited compared to many of the contests I’ve seen out there, but this contest will have a lot less entries… so your chances of winning are much higher.

The prizes are all in gift certificates to a family-friendly store of your choice (WalMart, BestBuy, Zellers, etc.), and the dollar values are as follows:

1st Prize: $100

2nd Prize: $50

3rd Prize: $25

In addition to the gift certificate, you and your website will be featured in the January edition of my company newsletter, which currently goes out to over 70 people. So, you’ll get some free money, and free promotion for your site… what’s not to like?

How do you enter?

There are several easy ways to gain entries into the contest. The more you enter, the greater your chances that you’ll win! Here are the different ways you can enter:

1. Subscribe to the Reality Hosting newsletter and receive at least one issue.

The newsletter is sent monthly and contains content that is focused on increasing the effectiveness of your website, as well as web design principles that will help grow your business. If you don’t like the content, you can instantly unsubscribe at any time.

Value: 5 Entries

2. Link to this post describing the contest.

Say anything you’d like about the contest, as long as you direct people to this post in case they’d like to enter too.

Value: 5 Entries (a bonus five entries if you link to Reality Hosting as well)

3. Become a fan of Reality Hosting on Facebook.

If you have a Facebook profile, you can enter by becoming a fan of Reality Hosting (click here for our profile). If you’d like to learn more about marketing your business on Facebook, take a look at this article.

Value: 3 Entries

Good Luck to all those who enter!

Dave appears to have jumped on my guru-bashing bandwagon, and why not? I’m well known as a trend starter after all…. Ya, whatever. :)

However, I have had a bit of an epiphany over the last few days in regards to how these systems work. So this time around, I’m going to have to play the devil’s advocate.

I was “dropping the kids off at the pool”, as Dave would say, when it hit me… If one year ago at the height of our adsense earnings ($5000+/month) we had written a guide to creating a network of websites using the exact same principals, software, tools and steps we were using, but leaving out our celebrity fan site niche, we would have been writing a 100% honest guide to making money based on our own experiences - and it would have failed for maybe 95% of the people who bought and actually tried it themselves.

Why? Because many niches need to be approached differently, and there is no “one size fits all” approach. But at the same time when you have a killer idea, it just doesn’t pay to release it to the public until either you are so entrenched into the market that having 1000’s of people doing the same thing won’t hurt you too much, OR the idea is going downhill and you want to maximize your earnings before it falls apart.

I guess the point I’m trying to make is: while I have tended to bash the “gurus” a lot as of late, I can relate to why they do what they do and how it can be perceived by pessimists like myself.

I’m sure there are some good ones out there who, even if their products aren’t all that great, do actually try to give something back to the community… but in general, what works for, say, the travel niche, probably won’t work the same for the wedding favors niche.

Our best ideas have always come from us trying something and getting an idea as a result.

At least Google is doing more than laying the smack-down on “innocent” bloggers. Slashdot reports that they’ve recently removed over 40,000 malware sites that had gamed the system to achieve top results for thousands of random terms. I wonder how much money these black-hatters made before Google found out about the problem. Fortunately for Google, there are companies like Sunbelt Software, who pick up the slack when Google drops the ball.

In other Google news, Wired has posted a recent article about the state of spam on the net today. Brad Taylor, Google’s head spam fighter, says spam to gmail accounts is flat and may even be declining for the first time ever. He attributes this decline to Google’s advanced spam filters.

Not surprisingly, Google will not release any statistical data backing this up… so take the information with a grain of salt. It’d be nice if spam was not growing anymore, or even decreasing… but it just sounds too good to be true, and you know what they say…

Good Profits.

You’ve probably heard the saying, “set yourself up as an expert” or something along those lines when reading about how to run a successful blog. It’s true, being viewed as an expert in your field is going to help you… presuming you know what you’re talking about.

Otherwise, you’ll only be able to keep the facade up for so long. This principle translates to almost any other business. I picked up my car from the garage yesterday. I took it in because there was a whine coming from the rear wheels, and my Dad thought it might be the wheel bearing. When I dropped it off, I said that we had thought it was a wheel bearing, and asked them to take a look.

About $200 later for replacing the wheel bearing, the noise is no different than it was… and I’m quite irate. I took the car to them because I perceived that they were experts at what they did, and that I could trust them to properly diagnose the problem and fix it.

Instead, they fixed something that probably wasn’t broken and the problem still exists; now they have a customer that won’t be giving them any return business and they made maybe $50 off the job (most of the cost was for parts). Let’s look at the direct result of this: not only have they lost my business, but it’s highly unlikely that my parents will return to that garage either. So they’ve lost repair work on my vehicle and both of my parents’ vehicles.

Not only that, but I’ll probably tell this story to friends and business associates from the area, so there is a potential for even more lost business there. A happy customer will continue to do business with you, and maybe tell one or two people about your business. An unhappy customer will likely tell 10 or more people about their experience.

So now because of one simple mis-diagnosis, there has been a direct impact on their business immediately (the loss of maintenance work on my vehicle, and my parents’ two vehicles) and the possibility of losing potential clients (anyone who talks to me about my bad experience). This type of far reaching consequence is why it’s so important to treat customers like gold, regardless of whether they’re purchasers of an electronic product or are a customer of a brick and mortar store.

I plan on giving them a call tomorrow about this issue, and perhaps we’ll have a story about answering complaints and customer service as a follow-up.

Good Profits.

With my recent foray into online publishing, it’s become increasingly obvious that with new products, it’s a real challenge to convince buyers to actually click on the “buy now” button without having testimonials on the site.

When you think about this, don’t assume the product is complete BS, but think of a well thought out product that was written after much research from experienced sources.

You see, when writing sales letters, it’s very difficult to project yourself or your product as someone knowledgeable about your chosen subject - especially if you’re a nobody in the field.

Common sense would argue that to appear knowledgeable, you should structure your letter to talk about things in the field that only someone who is an expert would know, however in doing so, you lose the ability to tell a story or keep the majority of your viewers interested enough to keep reading.

So for the average publisher, we’re left with two very unappealing options: either we write the sales letter as pure copy and hope the buyers simply assume we are knowledgeable, or we’re forced to use fake testimonials to convey how “good” our product is, and simply plan to replace them with real testimonials as we receive them…

I was recently speaking with my sales letter writer on the topic, and her suggestion as an alternative was to visit a number of forums dedicated to the topic of the product. This would be done for the purpose of soliciting opinions about experiences that have to do with using professional services related to your product… and then use those as stand-ins.

However, I feel that’s a rather morally gray area in and of itself, as you’re obviously going to have to remove some text from this opinion in order for it to be relevant… and if someone puts a company’s name in the “opinion”, that has to be removed, and so at the end of the day, you’re still left with a “testimonial” which isn’t based on your product but could be construed as being about your product… At which point I ask, how is it any different than me writing up a bunch of fake testimonials?

Unfortunately, the only way to get around this issue is if you already have a name that’s easily recognized or are well-known as an expert, so that you can use actual reviews about your service.

My question to anyone reading this is… How can a morally right person tell people how good their product is without having to resort to such tactics? Any ideas out there?

So, the results are in, and as I predicted (though I think Jay had a sneaking suspicion that this would happen): Jamie beat out Charles Trippy. Viral Video Fever made $39,000 in the first week, while Jamie’s book made $79,000. Technically, that means that I was right in my predictions… but let’s cut through the crap and look at the real results.

In seven days, Jamie and Charles earned Joel and Co. over six figures. I’m sure there were a lot of expenses involved in this, but if the books were laid open, I’m sure Joel made more net profit than the commissions they paid / will pay out. This doesn’t even take into account their “Secret Classroom” package that will be released in just under a week.

There is very little information, but the Secret Classroom is probably just another one of those high-priced online video tutorial products that rehashes all the same information that’s been floating around the net for a while. The ‘Gurus’ will get richer (I guarantee every one of the teachers will be getting a cut of the profits), while poor shmucks who just want to make a living online will get sucked in by unrealistic promises.

I am still willing to bet that, with the amount of exposure NIM provided, the 10k seed money and an all-star backup team, any one with half a brain could make just about anything a successful product. Think: “Hobo Dan’s ‘Begging for Dollars’ e-book - Earn up to 500,000 a year, making your own hours! Be your own boss!” or “Jojo the Blogging Circus Monkey - Nonsense Words = Adsense Profits!” or maybe even “Bag-O-Poo.com - $49.99 for your own bag of fresh poo”.

Just listen to the pitch at the end of the last episode, where Joel tells the viewers that this is the exact information that Jamie and Charles used to make their first products wildly successful… notice how he fails to mention the $10,000 seed money each of them received, and the arguably more valuable support services from Joel’s company which is made up of veteran Internet Marketers.

Don’t get me wrong, there is money to be earned online… a lot of it, but an expensive training package isn’t going to teach you anything you won’t learn from a less expensive product like SEO book, which is really just a collection of the knowledge from industry publications and forums. If you’re really resourceful, you can probably learn all you need to know without spending a dime… and resourcefulness will serve you 10 times better than an over-priced training package.

Good Profits.

This post is going to sound incredibly geeky, however… it’s true. Last Thursday I purchased Mass Effect for the Xbox 360, and ever since picking it up, I’ve played it pretty much non-stop until Monday morning - when I finally beat it with 20 hours played.

What is so amazing about this game is the emotional impact it had. Most games you play just for entertainment or to see some cool graphics, but this one really did feel like a 20 hour Sci-Fi movie, and quite possibly the best Sci-Fi movie ever, at that.

Since the story is much longer than the average movie, it really gets a chance to see the characters’ personalities, and then just when you feel you know the characters, it suddenly presents you with a moral dilemma - and the developers really stick it to you by making these moral dilemmas focus around the characters you interact with the most, or who have the most speaking roles.

A great example of this is when you’re forced to choose who to send on a possible suicide mission, and both your character’s love interest and the character who has been with your crew since the beginning volunteer for it… who do you choose?

Most people will play games like these and just click through moments like this, but I eat this sort of stuff up - and it was definitely a different experience going to bed last night feeling solemn with the fact I’d sacrificed two incredibly fleshed out characters with my decisions.

As for the reported bugs, I personally never experienced any of them - however, reading the BioWare, forums it appears that some people either have huge problems with bugs or don’t have any problems. It makes me wonder if they fixed something after going “gold”, and if the first copies sent out were bugged…

All I can say is, hats off to BioWare, and Dave? I’ve got more gamertag points than you AGAIN.

Jay has led the charge in changing the shift of the blog a little bit, and has started talking about gaming somewhat frequently. Since gaming is a fairly big part of our lives (and Faith’s too), I thought I’d chime in with my thoughts about a game we’re playing through right now.

Faith and I have been playing through Assassin’s Creed the last week or so, and the game’s locale and visuals are absolutely stunning… and maybe I’m a bit odd, but the stealth wrist blade just doesn’t get old!

Assassin’s Creed is supposed to be a stealth / assassin game (duh), and it can be played that way. When it works, the game can be very satisfying. Nothing beats sneaking up behind a guard and sticking him with your knife blade, then sneaking through a door that was guarded until the guards left their posts to investigate their recently fallen comrade.

The problem is, there is no motivation to play this way. There is absolutely no penalty for running around in a very un-assassin like manner, killing every guard you see without thought of stealth or the sneakiness that is supposedly part of your creed. Out of curiosity (and desire for more Gamertag points), I decided to see how far this extends… and unfortunately, it seems that you can literally kill every guard in the city by any means (often taking 10 - 20 on at a time), and then run around unhindered.

This would be alright if there was any sort of difficulty involved in fighting large numbers of guards, but it’s easy enough that I could teach my grandma to do it. Any health you lose will quickly regenerate back during combat, and dispatching your foes in open battle is as simple as timing a single button press to your foe’s attacks. As the player, I’m supposed to be controlling an expertly trained assassin, but it often feels like I’m controlling Arnie in an 80’s action movie, where it’s me vs. an army and they don’t have a chance!

Don’t get me wrong, Assassin’s Creed is enjoyable to play, and there is “fun” to be had. The problem is, this is a sad case of what could have been a classic game, reduced to a merely good one. I think part of the problem was the scope of the game… they just planned a little bit more than they could pull off.

This is apparent when you look at some of the minor game decisions that seem to be rushed or just slapped in. For example, you play an expertly trained assassin, but apparently they don’t teach you how to swim at the academy, because a two foot drop into water will kill you… what?

Assassin’s Creed is a fun game that sadly could have been so much more with a little more development time, or more man-power. It’s a nice diversion, but don’t expect a challenging game unless you have the discipline to force yourself to play it as the stealth / assassin game it should be.

Hullo Folks,

Writing “make money online” content is hard, especially when there are so many other blogs out there doing it that practically anything you write has been covered before (think: a million monkeys typing on a keyboard coming up with Shakespeare, only Jay is the hairy one). So I thought I’d take a little break from the ordinary and help you with the particularly hard to buy for people on your Christmas list this year.

Everyone has one of today’s subjects in their life: that guy… who doesn’t really do anything “wrong”, but you just get a bad vibe from the way he looks at your girlfriend, and he’s kinda weird looking. He may live on your street, or if you’re from a smaller town, he may just be everywhere. His habits include spending hours in coffee shops, taking pictures on the beach in the summer, and digging through trash bin of the college girls who live on your street… that’s right, it’s THAT GUY.

How do you pick the perfect gift for that creepy guy who has everything? Does he want a mint condition, life size Xena: The Warrior Princess cutout? Nope, he’s already got one! So, how do you put a smile on his face Christmas morning? Two words: Binocular Camera.

Digital Binocular Camera, w00t!

If you think about it, this really is the perfect gift… when the weather gets warm next summer, he’ll be able to pick up his favorite pass-time (taking pictures of girls on the beach) from a safe distance. No more getting beat up by angry boyfriends! He’ll never be able to thank you enough for getting him this gift, and maybe he’ll even stop scoping on your girl… probably not though.

This Christmas, give the creepy guy on your street the gift that keeps on giving, the digital binocular camera!

Merry Christmas!

One of the most disappointing aspects of online work is: for the most part, you’re not going to earn $1,000,000.00 in 30 days or less.

It’s ok… Take a minute for the shock of that statement to pass.

I recently purchased Affiliate Elite, and part of their “bonuses” was a 30 minute consultation phone call with an “expert” that really got me thinking, just not in a good way.

During the phone call, the “consultant” - and I use that term lightly - asked: “So what are your goals with your online business?”, to which I replied with what I thought was a well reasoned goal of saying: “Well, I’d like to earn an extra $600/month more online than I am now”.

What was his response?

“Well, how would your life change if you were earning an extra $100,000 a month?”

LOL.

At that point, I knew this wasn’t someone who actually knew anything, and of course it turned out to be just a disguised sales call for a $4500 training program - thanks so much, Brad Callen. Anyway, I requested a refund on Affiliate Elite the very next day.

The point I’m trying to make is, I believe many people out there are getting lured into this business by claims of being able to earn ridiculous sums of money for little or no effort, only to discover the truth is that it’s alot of work getting started… and revenue takes a long time to take off.

Sure, there are some overnight successes or people with the next big idea like “Facebook” or “Youtube”, but in general, websites take time and nurturing to grow into anything meaningful.

But… when you’re promised overnight success, it can be a hard pill to swallow when your first website starts off earning you $1.50/day.

My line of thinking is:

Sit down and add up all your bills, take everything into account, and then ask yourself: “how much more does it take to better my life in some way?” I believe if you really think about, it the number is actually quite low.

An extra $200/month of income can make a surprising difference in many peoples lives, and that breaks down to only $6.66/day (assuming 30 days) - and the real beauty of it is, once you know how to make $200/month, it’s usually not all that hard to make another $200 and so on.

If you set yourself up to believe you’re going to be the next big thing, then you could be right… but chances are you’ll be wrong. Start low and build yourself up into something, and if you surpass your goals, great!!! If not, well at least it’s not the crushing defeat from having believed that you would make much more after things don’t pan out.

Of course I’ve been told, repeatedly, that I am a pessimist, so…