I made a video for my rcLazy.com website, and got it on the first page of Google’s results in seconds, even before YouTube had finished processing it.

It was very easy, choose a keyword with little competition (but with some interest), make a video, upload it. Shockingly easy!

I never knew that Alexa listed Baidu.com as No.8 website in the world.  I never even realised what Baidu was.  The Chinese site must be massive, how can internet marketers make the most of the Chinese market?

Clickbank

I’m a relatively new Clickbank vendor, and whilst I love the thousands of affiliates their system provides, I’m a bit concerned about their sales tracking.

I have one product on Clickbank (with more in development), and am selling, on average, about one a day. Sometimes it’s 2 or 3, sometimes it’s none.

A couple of weeks ago I had a whole 8 days without a sale. None. At all. Then sales picked up again, again averaging about the same, maybe a little more, maybe just over one a day.

I don’t know anything about statistics, but that 8 days looks like a big gaping hole in my sales to me. Nothing else seemed to change, the sales page remained the same, the traffic was virtually identical, from usual sources throughout.

Could it have been the season? Lots of people on holiday, Holiday days in both USA and UK – the primary markets.

I just don’t get it, I just can’t see how it could have suddenly just stopped selling for a week, and then carry on as before.

I read lots of things about affiliates losing sales on Clickbank.  I can understand that, that’s an age-old affiliate marketing problem, with whatever referral tracking system is being used.  That’s one reason why I’m moving towards being a vendor as well as an affiliate, as vendors usually get the sales that the Affiliates lose!

But is Clickbank losing vendor sales too?  I’m sure it’s skimming in some way, but it could do it a little less obviously!

Are you a Clickbank vendor that has experienced similar periods of no, or low, sales?  Comment below to let me know.

Off-shore outsourcing online is nothing new, it’s been happening since the 90s.  More recently in this century it’s become apparent that countries such as the Philipines, India and China offer highly-skilled freelancers at a fraction of the cost. And in al sorts of areas, writing, graphics, video production, programming, marketing, telemarketing, etc etc.

The leader in this field is Elance, you post a project, people respond, you pick one, they do the work, and you pay ‘em.   It’s fine, but there’s lots of other alternatives too, with less projects, and hence cheaper prices.

I recently found a post on the Warrior’s Forum suggesting the use of Craig’s List for finding freelancers.  It said post in the actual city you want people to apply from, eg Delhi, Mumbai, Manila, Shanghai.

So I did this, I posted with my requirement (I was looking for writers), and literally within minutes I had people applying.  And they carried on applying for the next 48 hours until I deleted the ad.  There were dozens and dozens of applicants.

You’re going to have to do some filtering, so make it easy: in your ad, ask for a resume and samples.  That’s the first test, if they don’t send what you ask for, delete.

Next, send them a list of questions, and ask them to produce a simple sample of the type of work you need (if possible).  This two stage process will sort the men from the boys, and the best people will rise naturally to the surface.

Best of all, no middle man, no posting costs.  And so rapid, I’d got someone hired within a few hours of posting.  (If you’re reading this, hello!  You’re doing a great job!)

And the cost?  A few US dollars an hour.  The differences in our economies suddenly comes to light, what is way below our minimum unskilled wage in the West is a decent skilled wage in these Eastern countries.

Some people suggest you hire freelancers and hire them out to other people for more than you pay, effectively becoming an agency, and getting your work done for free.  That’s fine if you’ve not got any resources and you’ve can be bothered to manage that whole thing, but remember, you’re supposed to be running a business, focus on that real business, not on earning a few extra quid on the side.

What’s your experiences on out-sourcing off-shore?  Post a comment below and let me know.

This weighty communication, numbering probably around 200 pages of A4, was sent from Switzerland by UPS.

The jolly large multinational corporation that owns the trademark don’t seem to be too happy with a domain name that my company has registered, despite it being used to promote the products of that company.

The process seems to be they give loads of legalese documents, trademark certificates etc, and the WIPO have a committee meeting to decide if the domain name should be given to the trademark owner. Oh, my company could respond if it would like, if it doesn’t they’ll decide on the information they already have.

There’s not a cat in hells chance of keeping the domain. Win some, lose some!

A kettlebell. Some money.

I’m currently overweight. About 2 stones overweight.

I’m an Internet Marketer. I have been for about a decade.

Lately I’ve been wondering how to lose weight, and get fit again.  I’ve also been wondering lately what my next Internet Marketing project might be.

I decided to lose weight mainly by weight training.  I love to eat, so ‘dieting’ isn’t really for me, and I’ve done weight training in the past, and I loved it, mainly because it allowed me to eat lots!  These days, I seem to have carried on eating lots, but not carried on training.

I’ve already chosen the weight training method I’d like to try first – the Kettlebell.  This is Russian device, basically a heavy cast iron ball, with a handle.  It’s main attraction is it’s use involves dynamic actions, using many muscles at once.  This creates many advantages including a good aerobic workout, and improved fat burning.

Internet Marketing (IM) is often all about targeting ‘niches’.  That is to say, a narrow topic, where the audience are very keen to improve a part of their lives.  The most profitable ones are basically to make people rich, make people sexy, or save people time.  Money.  Sex.  Time.

Weight loss is one of the biggest IM niches going, a huge amount of people want to lose weight.  So marketeers sell them things, pills, information, inspiration, a system, a gadget, etc etc.

My current business model mainly involves marketing products and services that are intangible, that is to say, they don’t involve any physical goods.  I do this mainly so I don’t have to worry about stock, or worry about the supplying company about any stock, if I’m acting as an affiliate.

Information products: ebooks, audio, videos are hot sellers right now.  They tend to be sold either as a one off purchase, or as a subscription.  I’ve been wondering what product I might turn into a subscription type product.

Tonight, whilst sitting in the bath, I had the brainwave.  I always have good ideas in the bath.  I must start taking them more often.

The brainwave: create a weight loss / weight training / fitness type subscription product which basically focuses around my own battle to lose weight and get fit again.

Two birds, with one stone: I get fit and I make money.

Quite what form it will take is yet to be decided…  But this is the first step.

Thanks to G. for pointing out this amusing article at 160over90 - The 50 Dollar Logo Experiment.

G. says, “i want anthropomorphic cheeses”.

I have to agree!

[And hey!  160over90 - your font is TOO SMALL! Hmm, actually, so is mine, I'll have to go increase it...]

money back guarantee?

Over 2 months ago I tried out 25poundlogo (also know as 50dollarlogo) for a logo for a new site.

The results were DIRE, despite repeated attempts, so I asked for a refund. They have a 100% satisfaction guarantee.

They said it would take up to 21 days!  Err, I’m sure it only takes about 21 seconds.

Over two months later, a dozen or so emails to them, a support ticket to NoChex (re-opened 3 times) and today I finally got my refund.

My advice: avoid them like the plague. And if you do need a refund, ask NoChex, lots.

[NB: I do not link to them in this article, they're not having my link juice...]

Recognising web site address is easy these days, anything with a .com, .net, .tv, etc etc etc on the end people pretty much know there’s gonna be a web site.

Compare the following:

1. rclazy.com
2. www.rclazy.com
3. http://rclazy.com
4. http://www.rclazy.com

1 is fine for use in print, in logos, aurally etc, people know what a domain name is.

2 is perhaps prettier, and more obvious that it’s a website, but the www. is essentially redundant nowadays

3 is ideal when quoting a web site in an email, on a social media site, in an article, on Facebook, Twitter, MSN, YouTube etc, etc.

It’s VERY important to include the http:// in those cases, as software often converts the link into a clickable link if there is an http:// on the front of it.  If you miss it off, people can’t click, and are often not going to bother to cut and paste it, or type it in.

4 – see 2.

So folks, keep it simple using these two rules:

PRINT, SPOKEN, LOGOS, T-SHIRTS

rcLazy.com – keep it simple, short, and (optionally) use capitals to make it more readable

ANY ONLINE USE

http://rcLazy.com – include the http:// but again keep it short, readable and consistent

Make sure your sites get the visits they deserve – don’t waste the opportunities.

I tried Joomla, and quite liked it, I put up a few sites with it.  I found though, that I wasn’t updating the sites, and wasn’t relishing building new sites with it, as I knew it was quite a task.

I’ve recently tried WordPress and it’s just brilliant.  My record is just over an hour to install, configure, theme and post a 4 page mini-site.  I’m almost addicted to building WP sites now, and this blog is the latest.

I heart WordPress – t-shirt please.