Though the above site has already been sold,  I have always had an interest in gaming and casino sites…  As a matter of fact some of my first commissions were gambling based.  The US became increasingly hostile towards the online casino industry so I ceased making any gambling related sites…..  I did not do extremely well with them anyway,  but have always been fascinated nevertheless….  moral issues aside.     It has been interesting looking up some of my old affiliate sites in that industry… and where they are now…

So why was I always fascinated with this industry?   Again, moral issues aside…  I liked these two facts with most casino affiliate programs:   1.  Once a customer was yours,  they were yours for life.  2.  You typically received 50% of their losses…   3.  Overhead is extremely low, something I really appreciate now that I am actively pursuing video lottery in my home state..  (they too take 50% of the revenue,  but the “machine owners” take 25% leaving you with 25% of the losses if you’re lucky… So needless to say,  A LOT of overhead in the physical world… which of course is typical… not going to stop us from doing it,  just aggravating..

Anyway,  below is the listing for the recently sold Casino Affiliate site… again, needless to say,  I’m constantly on the lookout for these on Flippa.com. another reason I like this site is that it gets search engine traffic from 3 or 4 different countries and is translated in an equal number of languages.

online casino listing

I also found something regarding legal issues on the casino affiliate programs website…. interesting read… I am going to look into this further….

us state stances on online gambling

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I have been wanting to develop a gaming (arcade) site for quite awhile… I have actually done some extensive research on them so know a little about how they work. Arcade sites are basically database driven sites… a lot of traffic comes from the games being found in google search engines… I have heard that the bandwidth requirements can be significant and revenue can be not impressive at times.. There are different ways to monetize the sites, including adsense, clickbank and CPA offers.. Upon visiting flippa.com I came across a gaming site that ended up selling for $7K… the revenue is in the 300 to 600 per month range… all of this on 9 dollar hosting. The owner has 2 gaming sites, funbrainplay.com and gamestransformers.com… 7K is not bad for a site that is less than a year old… not sure how much he had in it, but still… Below is a screenshot of the revenue he claimed for the past several months.

Looks like the domain was registered in October 2010.. but took him awhile to start developing it I believe.. The site runs on phpArcadeScript v4.0… something I have researched before.  It would be interesting to know when the site first appeared in google.

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Bob and I found ourselves engaged in a heated discussion regarding promoting our material on the Amazon platform Kindle versus the Google platform YouTube.com.  We disagreed on several key points. I decided to record the dialogue (with his knowledge)  so we have an account of the actual disagreement…. you can listen to the last 15 minutes below… warning… it gets a little warm in the kitchen and it’s raw and unedited…  don’t say I didn’t warn you!!

Hot topic: 15 minute debate

We intend on running a marketing experiment on a web property on the same subject; travel related.  I will break down our positions below… keeping in mind we have a recording to review in case their is any misunderstanding with our positions and how I interpret them.

Bob’s position

Bob believes that making a series of videos and placing them on youtube will give us more income and exposure to a cross promoted website over a period of 12 months. He claims that google gives  preferential treatment to their properties (something I don’t necessarily dispute) He contends we not only will Garner  traffic from youtube itself but also will recieve search engine traffic directly from google by virtue of the fact we promoted on YouTube first. His thoughts are our YouTube videos will rank in Google for our search terms and the related website we place on the video page will be the beneficiary of not only “link juice” from YouTube which will undoubtedly effect rankings… but we will also receive auxillary traffic from the link placement itself.

Again, the above is my interpretation of what he’s claiming… you can listen for yourself and be the judge.

My position is that we can gain more income by having a series of kindle books on the subject matter charging 3 dollars and upwards… I am not disputing the advantages of having YouTube videos… I’m simply stating that we can earn more money on kindle… especially in the vertical we will be focusing on.  Like his YouTube plan we can do some seo on our kindle book and have a related website. You can actually shoot 2 birds with one stone and purchase software that will turn your blog that was written on the subject into a kindle book… with a little editing you can easily have 2 revenue streams….

So….. what to do now?  Create the content and use either of our ideas to determine who is the most profitable ….. we can do a benchmark for each month…

Stay tuned!!!

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As you know I have been experimenting advertising on Facebook…  Currently Facebook is the leading social media with over 750 million active users. Facebook marketing is currently an excellent way to reach a target group fast,  that is a no brainer!   There are different techniques that you can employ to advertise your business on the  Facebook social site. The first requirement is to have a Facebook account. Creating a Facebook account is absolutely free given that you are over 18 years in age. Admittedly, I have not been doing a lot of Facebook marketing on my sites… They have been marketed mainly via SEO, but I do have an interest in Facebook marketing. If you have read my Payday Loan Experiment post, you will see that I failed the first time but plan on implementing some new ideas.  As you are aware,  marketing is all about testing.  Trying one thing and failing just won’t cut it… you need to get back up on that bicycle and try again…  it’s cliche but true,  Don’t give up!

For effective advertising on Facebook you need to create a business page. A Facebook page is much better for marketing than a personal profile. Once you have created a page you need to inform your target group to know that you have a page. Once they like you page you can easily reach them through posts you make on the page.   You can use tools such as fan gates to get people to like your page.  The more people that like your page (real people, not bots) the more exposure you get.  Be leary of people that will offer you a certain number of “likes” for cash.. these are mostly junk and fully automated…  You won’t get any real value by doing this except a higher count on your page.   Be sure to always add value to your page,  you don’t want to appear spammy or utilize illegal or shady methods to generate activity.

A business page should be exclusively used for business issues and not personal matters or else you lose fans. You should use the page to inform your fans about your products and services. Ensure that you are always keeping track and responding to each comment made on your page. Respond to all questions that may be asked buy your fans.   Noone who is on your business page wants to hear about your latest date or the pictures you just posted of your children.  Keep it focused on your business and everyone will be happy, including yourself by getting laser targeted traffic.

Avoid spamming your page so as to retain all your fans. Posting the same thing repeatedly can annoy your fans. Avoid repeating the same post as this can be considered as spam. Ensure that you post the latest updates that your fans need to know about your business and services.  Have a coupon or a special engagement?  Be sure to post the details on your fan page.  Your fans don’t want to hear from you 5 or 6 times a day everyday,  this is too much for anyone.   You will quickly loose your fan base if you abuse the system.

Another great marketing tip for facebook is using videos and pictures. Videos and picture can offer more detailed information about your business. You can record yourself explaining about something and then upload the videos on your page. Also pictures can serve a great purpose in displaying your products to your prospective buyers.  There is something to that old saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words”.  If you let your users see what is going on in your shop and how “nice”  and “friendly” your employees are or even yourself,  the chances are much better that they will pay you a visit and purchase your goods and services.

In conclusion, facebook can be used as a marketing tool to reach prospective customers.   Never has it been so easy to inexpensively create a marketing campaign for your fledgling business.  Take advantage of all the tools out there to get you started.  Create a facebook page for your business today and discover how easy it can be to advertise your business.

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Currently Facebook is the leading social media with over 750 million active users. Facebook marketing is currently an excellent way to reach a target group fast. There are different techniques that you can employ to advertise your business on the Facebook social site. The first requirement is to have a Facebook account. Creating a Facebook account is absolutely free given that you are over 18 years in age.

For effective advertising on Facebook you need to create a business page. A Facebook page is much better for marketing than a personal profile. It is also against Facebook’s terms of service (at the time of this writing) to have a personal profile stand as a business or for one person to have more than one Facebook account. Once you have created a page you need to inform your target group. Once they like your page you can easily reach them through posts you make on the page. This also works well when you you use Facebook paid advertising. It is much cheaper to send visitors to your business page than to your main website. You can use a “fan gate” to encourage fans to “like” your page before they get to your content. Offer your visitors something free on your fan page, and have them “like” the page before they receive what you are offering for free. The offering can be anything from a report to a coupon at your restaurant. You should also encourage them to give you their email address for further follow up. This does a few things, giving you maximum return for your advertising dollar. One, you will have their email, that in itself is worth at least a dollar. Also, each time someone likes your page it will show up on others’ wall. This will help your brand or website get the attention it deserves. You get more “bang for the buck” as opposed to sending the visitor directly to your website. A fan gate will also work even if you are not paying for traffic, be sure to get the most of every visitor to your fan page. Unfortunately I have learned this the hard way but have yet to implement this new strategy. This method will milk the traffic you are paying for so to speak.

A business page should be exclusively used for business issues and not personal matters or else you lose fans. You should use the page to inform your fans about your products and services. Ensure that you are always keeping track and responding to each comment made on your page. Respond to all questions that may be asked by your fans.

Avoid spamming your page so as to retain all your fans. Posting the same thing repeatedly can annoy your them. Avoid repeating the same post as this can be considered as spam. Ensure that you post the latest updates that your fans need to know about your business and services. Always be sure you add value by telling them something new or offering them a freebie. People love getting things for free.

Another great marketing tips for facebook is using videos and pictures. Videos and picture can offer more detailed information about your business. You can record yourself explaining about something and then upload the videos on your page. Also pictures can serve a great purpose in displaying your products to your prospective buyers. Give visitors as much eye candy as possible.

Facebook can be used as a marketing tool to reach prospective customers. Create a facebook page for your business today and discover how easy it can be to advertise your business. I plan on updating our Facebook experiments as soon as we get the fan gate system up and running, there are several sites that we plan on marketing on Facebook, we will allow our users to follow along on a select few of the campaigns, stay tuned for updates.

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It’s amazing the world we live in, isn’t it? Do you realize how lucky YOU really are? Seriously, think about it. For starters, chances are real good if you are reading this you live in one of the most powerful, influential and wealthiest places on Earth, the United States of America, where almost anything is possible. One is only limited by their imagination and drive to make things happen. Secondly, chances are excellent that you have an internet connection ( at least somewhere).. I can further deduce that you most likely have electricity and running water. Do you realize how many people in the world do not have any of these things? We take soooo much for granted! You also have the ability to move quite freely within our country… You do not need permission to do so but possess only a valid driver’s license. I’m not going to go off on a legal driver tangent, I have known many to think that “driving” is a RIGHT and not a privilege as set forth by our government. I get a lot of slack for this but basically: Rights can not be revoked except by due process such as a criminal conviction, usually a felony — for example the right to vote. Privileges can be revoked or suspended administratively. If someone is a chronically unsafe driver, they will lose the privilege of driving. They can still come and go as they please, just not by driving themselves. So be clear on what your RIGHTS are as a United States citizen and what your PRIVILEGES are, because they both are entirely different.

I digress however…. you don’t need to be able to drive in order to be a fully functional citizen. You don’t even need to leave the house for that matter. You can envision and create your own income streams directly from the comfort of your home. Tired of getting up everyday at 6AM to work? Tired of your boss telling you how, when and where to do it? It is easier than ever to set the way you want to live your life. The past 10 years and onward to the future are an introvert’s dream. You can not only sustain yourself and family without ever leaving the comforts of your domicile but can entertain them as well. You can buy about anything online (even groceries though you will pay a premium), pay bills, get paid, hire employees, all from the comfort of your home office.

I’m not an introvert, I do like people, thus getting out of my home office is a treat for me. I’ve been known to get into conversations with operators at a call center for hours… ask me what we talked about or how it started and I’d never be able to tell you… I just know it happened. I used to live in a multi-purpose (business and residential) high rise downtown, I’d have to avoid the lobby at times and walk up several flights of stairs just to avoid getting in a big conversation with someone on the way up to my apartment. Many times I would spend hours talking to people in the lobby or hallways of my building….. I enjoy people, I like talking to them… finding out what makes them tick… I don’t regret one second of any conversations I’ve ever had in the confines of those halls… There are other times though that I do not want to be bothered, being alone is the order of the day… Guess I’m moody like that, or so I’ve been told.

My point is, no matter what your personality is, you can have your cake and eat it too in our virtual world. It’s only going to get better. By using creative visualization and positive thinking, creating the world you want to live in is a definitive possibility… and it doesn’t have to be Sim City either.. it can exist outside of your computer’s CPU and even possibly outside of your mind. Get out there and make it happen.

So what you ask does this have to do with marketing? Well as some of you are aware, I am in the process of creating my own communications company…. It will be a combination of white label and systems I create myself… It will entail text messaging and mobile marketing services for several verticals. Because I will be developing my own infrastructure of sorts, I can drive the price down for those early adopters of my services. My mind is overflowing with ideas… my latest idea that I plan on incorporating into my schema is marketing with mobile hot spots. Yes, mobile hot spots, be on the lookout as I discuss my plans on making mobile hot spots a viable marketing solution for those we do business with.

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Admittedly,  I have been lazy on this project. My intentions were to setup a facebook page. I am thinking that you can get traffic much cheaper than going directly to your website. My intentions were to offer something in return for liking the facebook fan page.. then I decided that the facebook market may not be appropriate for payday lending websites.

I decided to try facebook pages for another product related to cell phone spying. Keep in mind I do not condone spying on phones that you do not own.  However when it comes to the safety of your children or  to keep tabs on your employees, I do not have a problem with that at all. I do feel however that you need to let them know that thier phone  activity may monitored and  you in fact are keeping tabs on them. They should never be under the mistaken  impression that they are having a private conversation with someone.  Again I do not condone  invading  people’s privacy except for the two instances I just stated.  I believe in full transparency and the people you are monitoring should be aware of the likelihood.

I also do not condone recording your partners are spouse’s phone activity. To do so would be a violation of their privacy. With this in mind I put the app on my own phone and did a video demonstration to put on youtube.com. The  video was reported to youtube.com for a violation of their policies. There is a lot of gray area whether this is actually a violation or not. I was demonstrating how in fact  this is possible and was doing so on my own device.  I appealed the decision and lost pointing  out that google allows advertisers to promote such applications… applications that are clearly used to spy without the footnotes that I added to my presentation stating that I clearly do not condone  this for any phone that you do not own. Google owns the youtube.com brand so I felt that this was a double standard on their behalf. There are also many videos promoting this same activity but for some reason they chose to strike mine down.

So anyway with all the setbacks with you tube not liking my video I kind of assumed that I would have the same problem with facebook. You should never assume anything but I really think people need to be aware of this technology. How valuable would this technology be if your child went missing and you had his or her final location recorded before the phone was turned off. Would you be so concerned about invading your child’s privacy then?

Anyway I’m going to do some facebook promoting via setting up a fan gate and a facebook page. I will offer them something for free in return for their email address and liking the page. Supposedly you can get visitors much cheaper by keeping them on facebook.. which only makes sense. So the steps I need to take are the following.

1. Set up a facebook page for the remote spy application. Don’t give me any heat over this… keep in mind I only condone using it on phones that you own.

2. Set a series of emails sent out to the subscriber list discussing the features and benefits of using this application.

3. Set up a fan gate for the facebook page… visitor will have to like the page then enter their email address to receive further information.

4. Set up advertising on facebook and see if they approve it.. don’t spend time with more than one ad in case they do not allow those types of ads.

5. Consider possibly not promoting the spy applications in and of itself.. but promote a page on keeping tabs on your children… something like ” do you know where your child is?” Then selling them the product through the email list… providing them hints and tricks on how to protect their children.

I will keep you updated on the direction that this takes. I am abandoning advertising the pay day loans on facebook at this time… or at least until I can find a better way to do so.

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As you know I have been experimenting with Facebook and testing the results on different ads. I have found that I like the security of PPC other than pay per impression. The average cost per click was over 3 dollars compared to less than a dollar using the PPC option. Granted, a couple of the ads performed much better, and I received a cost per click of 13 cents or better. I did a few things wrong my first time out and I want to go over them.

1. I did not have a landing page.

2. There was no direct call to action.

3. Did not collect any information for further follow up.

4. No “Facebook Fan Page”

5. Did not have sufficient ad versions for testing.

Granted, this was for our payday loan project, it is a difficult demographic…. and you don’t see many marketing it on Facebook .  however,   you can see exactly what we did by clicking the link. ….  We are still experimenting with different things on Facebook…. but have yet to venture into other networks.  I will update as we do.  I have several networks that I have promoted other sites on successfully in the past and am anxious to promote our payday loan projects on.

Now I’m going to discuss how we are going to correct these problems and more importantly WHY?

Problem|Solution|Why

1.  No Landing Page|Used a landing page I created with a wp plugin… this way I can have several different versions to test conversions.| Landing pages are important because peoples’ attention spans are short and it gets them to take action very quickly.   I will focus on collecting their email address before continuing…  I do this with my mailings lists but for some reason didn’t on the facebook ads.

2.   No direct call to action|this is related to the above problem…  You want them to do something quickly before they close the page out… you only have a few seconds to grab their attention.  If you are overly verbose and provide too much information,  you lose the opportunity to follow up with them.  |  The solution is to have an email collection form to get their email address before they get the next piece of information.  Give them a little teaser of sorts,  collect their email then give them the rest… This gives you the opportunity to follow up with them all on autopilot.  It is important that you have an autoresponder setup before you start… I use aweber.com

3.  Did not collect any information for further follow up| Also related to the above.  I will put an email collection form or a fan gate on the page separating the teaser from the information they want… then we can follow up later.

4.  No facebook fan page|  This is important because if you promote the fanpage instead of your teaser page you can supposedly get the  cpc down pretty low… at least lower than if you were sending them directly to the landing page… I’ve yet to try this but will follow up.   Also, if you put a fan gate (they have to “like” the page before they receive any further information) followed up with you opt in form for further follow up…    you can even further milk your advertising budget for every penny.  Not only will you have their email address for further follow up,  but since they are a fan of your page,  everything you post will show up on their wall… so you have 2 different ways to promote… just be sure NOT to over do it and spam them with a bunch of crap, offers or whatever… be sure to deliver value.

5.  Did not have sufficient ads for testing|  This was a big one,  I recommend that you have at least 10 ads and test test test|  of course some of them performed better than others,  my CPC was much lower on some than others… it was seemingly very high or very low… if you want to be on the safe side,  go with CPC and NOT CPM…    Better yet,  set yourself up a fan page,  put up a fan gate and extract their email before you give them any additional information.

That’s it in a nut shell…..  Facebook is an interesting place to advertise.. I will be experimenting with other networks in the future, I will keep you updated.

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Well,  I must say that I am giving up on advertising my Payday Loan Site on Facebook….  it was met with dismal results…. Perhaps I didn’t wait long enough for results, but after blowing 30 bucks (I know this is not a lot)  with zero return and a cost per click upwards of $3 I intend on trying other networks and focusing on SEO as my primary method of collecting leads for the site.  I am not giving up on Facebook though,  I am now going to use our remaining budget that was earmarked for the Payday Loan site for a new “cell phone spy” project that I have been interested in…. It is part of my “discreet intelligence”  network of sites.   This network  includes everything from mobile spy apps, desktop monitoring software to background checks and reverse telephone number lookup web properties.   Of course these monitoring programs are only to be used for legal purposes on phones and computers that you personally own.  I have several desktop and mobile applications in this vertical that I want to get developed.

I am aware that some products perform better or worse depending on the market you advertise in… I am thinking that payday loans are just not suited for the Facebook demographic at this time…  It may be too soon to tell,  perhaps enough time wasn’t given,  but I just had to pull the plug before anymore money was wasted.  I believe the money would be better spent on an SEO campaign using a database of cities and states we do loans in.   I am opting to not display details of the ads I am going to use on the “mobile spy app”  but put them behind the members area.   So if you are interested in seeing any of the ads used, places we advertise and the results we get,  be sure to sign up to our members area.   You can do so below….  you will then be redirected to the members area of our website.

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