May 2008

It’s My Birthday Today, Man I’m Old Now!

by on May 30, 2008

Today is my birthday! I can’t believe I am turning the big 40. Seems like only yesterday I started drinking, well I was but for another reason.

So how does that old saying go? “If I knew then, What I know now!” is feeling more and more true. Right now I have a couple of “kids” that help me do some coding and some other miscellaneous projects with some my sites. I feel like the “Old Man” when I talked to them. Oh to be young again.

So what am I gonna do to celebrate the big 40? I am going to hang out with a bunch of kids just so I can feel younger. Well kinda of, my wife and I are volunteering at my son’s school carnival tonight.

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What Accounting Software Do You Use?

by on May 28, 2008

Last week Neil from NeilsWeb asked on Twitter what affiliates and others are using for tracking their income and expenses. So I thought I would share what I use and a couple others affiliates use.

Up until about 2 years ago I was using QuickBooks Pro and to me it was just too cumbersome for what I needed it for. So I made the switch over to MS Small Business Accounting software and I have never looked back. One of the things I love is the way it integrates with Excel, Word, and Outlook’s Business Contact Manager.

So I also poised the question to a couple others affiliate friends:

Alan LeStourgeon from Affiliate Confession:

Says that he keeps it pretty simple; his wife does the accounting and they use Microsoft Excel to track expenses.

Super Affiliate Zac Johnson:

“Excel. Many years ago I used QuickBooks, but I just use Excel to throw everything together now.”

Ian Fernando of IanFernando.com:

“QuickBooks Pro and Excel, with Excel there are some things I want to calculate out of QuickBooks when I want to find some other smaller factors, also Excel has more functions and versatility than either software.”

Chad Frederiksen of CDF Networks:

“I use Excel. I have custom scripts that dump the data I need in CSV form into the Excel file.”

A great tip for new affiliates and accounting came from Zac Johnson who said:

“If you aren’t currently INC or LLC, I would recommend it. I would also recommend using PayChex services, so they can pay you monthly/weekly and automatically. It makes salary, payment and taxes a lot easier on you.”

Thanks to those who took the time to answer, I really appreciate it.

So I will poised the question to you, what software do you use to keep track income and expenses?

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vBSEO The Results: One Year Later

by on May 22, 2008

Late last night I realized that my Demolition Forum has been running vBSEO for a little over a year now. So I wanted to put some quick numbers together and let you know how it’s gone for the past year.

I installed vBSEO on May 18th of 2007, since then obviously have had some growth over that period, in members, post and revenue. Here are some numbers and stats.

Page rank increased for a pr2 to a pr4, although I don’t put much stock in page rank, that’s just my opinion. But I figured people might ask.

From May 18th 2007 to May 18th 2008 the monthly averages, using Google Analytics are listed below. The numbers in parentheses are the increases from the year prior to installing vBSEO:

2,346 Visitors per month (+ 21%)

26,669 Page Views per month (+50%)

Traffic Wise for the year, almost 13.5% of our traffic came from Google and 10.73% came from Yahoo.

Can I say vBSEO had an impact? I don’t know for sure. It’s really hard to say.

Let me know what else you would like to know or see.

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I’ve Been so Busy Lately, It’s Crazy

by on May 21, 2008

I have been working on so many projects lately, I am not sure where one ends and the other one begins. I had some of this post in my unpublished file in WordPress and was going to finish this post about a week ago, but you guessed it, I got busy.

I used to use my MS Outlook calendar and it just got to be too cumbersome and a lot of stuff I would just dismiss or snooze for a week or sometimes longer. Most of the time some of those things would never get done.

Ever since I got back from Affiliate Summit West in February I having been writing almost everything down on a white board and add-to or use it almost everyday. Using the white board, to me is so much more effective and it’s staring me right in my face and I can’t help but at least do something on the list.

If you’re looking for some great tips, Ian Fernando has a great post about how he uses his white and bulletin boards. Check it out.

So what do you use to keep track of things to do?

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Getting it done with cold calling

by on May 16, 2008

I had to call on a potential new advertising partner for one of my forums yesterday. I have never spoken to before, although I have talked to some of his co-workers before, but never to him personally.

So hear are a couple of tips that I have learned and use when making a cold call.

Always be positive, remember that cold calling is a powerful business strategy. First be positive with yourself. You must have some enthusiasm in your voice that the person your calling can feel it right away.

One of the things I do is to prepare a list of whom to be called and how the introduction should be done. Things may not go the way you want them to, so have always have some type of backup plan in place. Being well prepared can turn a simple cold call into real business.

Anticipate that you’ll be declined, that’s it! It’s really hard, but never ever take it personally it just may not be the right time.

Be patient and learn from your mistakes it will all work out in the end. If you’re rejected, ask them with “May I call you back in 3-6 months?” Always leave the door open.

Oh and I did get a deal done with him and look forward to a lasting partnership.

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