Well, once again I'm back! This time I hope I'm here to stay, after my last attempt at coming back kind of fizzled. What have I been up to? For the past three years, I've been working for a major online company that I'm sure you have all heard about. Since I've been employed with this company, I have spent very little time in internet marketing, and more time working. I've also been involved in new hobbies like mountain biking and dumping my money into bikes and bike projects. Never thought I'd say this until recently, but sometime after the new year, I plan on spending between $1000 and $1500 on a new mountain bike. Yikes! I've been wavering between a full suspension 26er, 29er, or 650b, which is a wheel size somewhere in between 26" and 29", and is rumored to be a better wheel size for shorter guys like me (I'm just over 5'7" tall). Last summer, I did something I thought I would never do: I went on a week long bike ride across most of the state of Nebraska! Unfortunately, I didn't finish the whole ride and had to sit out a day and a half of the ride because of stomach flu that affected more than just my stomach...I'll spare you of the gory details! Anyway, I was still happy to ride 355 of the 455 miles. I rode both on and off road on a fairly consistent basis until late August, then kind of tapered off from there as temperatures started to drop and it got dark earlier. Since then, I haven't done a whole lot of anything other than work. For a 6 or 8 week stretch, I was working overtime on a consistent basis. Lately, I've grown increasingly unhappy at my job, and have also become quite inactive physically, and it started to show! So, I've been in the gym over the last several weeks, and bought myself a new laptop to help motivate myself to start doing internet marketing again. Let me tell you, its has been quite fun and quite intellectually stimulating! The main thing I'm focusing on right now is revamping the websites that are getting the most traffic or have the most profit potential. While I'm always interested in doing new things, I really want to focus on building and rebuilding on the foundation I already have. In some cases, I found myself purchasing domains, getting lazy, and either creating minimal content or no content at all, so these websites will also be getting some much needed attention, especially those in the mountain biking niche, which I've grown rather passionate about. After I revamp my existing websites (look for a major facelift on the one's in my signature over the next couple of days and weeks), I have at least one or two ebook projects I want to work on. Needless to say, I've got lots of work ahead of me! What has really stood out to me is how much internet marketing has changed over the past couple of years, but then again, some things have remained the same. For example, Google Adwords has really cracked down on affiliates lately making it much harder for affiliates to succeed in Adwords, yet at the same time, it seems that unique, quality content is as important as ever for SEO. My main challenge ahead of me it to learn and adapt to new methods of internet marketing that I'm not familiar or comfortable with. Right now, though, my main task is to create and improve content! Anyway, just thought I'd say hi to everyone and that I hope to stay around longer this time than my brief return last time. Thankfully, the desire to leave my current job and become my own boss again has given me a lot of motivation to stick with it. I'll post an updated photo after I get back into better shape. You would think that biking over 2,000 road miles and countless hours on the mountain bike trails would keep me in shape, but as in internet marketing or running your own business, if you get lazy as I did, things can sneak up on you and things can go "South" fast. On that note, I'm off to the gym! By the way, Vishal, nice new forum look!
What, only a grand? The guys around Sedona spend $10 grand+ on their mtn. bikes. (mine's a $150 Mongoose) The point being, that's a great niche to be in with all the money being spent on upgrades. A growing sport, one local shop even bought a resort for their customers to stay at. Welcome back but try to spend as much time as possible outdoors instead. A smartphone can map the trails as you ride and post it to your website. Older, fatter, and uglier balder I can relate to. Ouch!
Glad to see you back Keith and really enjoyed reading your post From the way things are changing, I think that's the only thing you should focus on (with main focus on building a list). There is really no point in dancing to the tunes of search engines. Quality content and your list will always rule.
Yeah, it amazes me how much money some people shell out for their mountain bikes. I remember when I thought $600 was expensive!
Hey Keith! Great to see you again! It sounds like you've been doing really well and enjoying life (for the most part). It also sounds like you're on the right path to getting back into IM, particularly with that mountain biking niche. You can really fly with that, particularly since you've become so involved in it - which you well know. Seems as though that should be your main focus for the next little while. Hope everything else in your life is going well. Mine has been hectic and crazy lately, but I'm still very happy and rejoicing in the Lord! Blessings, Angie
Hey Vishal and Angie! Good to see you guys too! Yeah, Vishal, quality content is and always will be very important. I've done some email list marketing, but I need to do more, and I need to keep with it over the long haul. I do wonder how effective it is compared to a few years ago, though. With Facebook coming into the picture, seems like email is not used nearly as much as it once was, but there is definitely a place for it, and most successful marketers will say its a goldmine. There have been several limited time affiliate offers that I came across where I really kicked myself for not having a list, because I knew if I had a list up and running at the time, I would have made easy cash with the click of a button. That's one thing about a list that is very valuable, even if your "normal" email marketing content doesn't convert very well, doing a broadcast message with a special offer related to your niche can convert into sales. Say you have a list of 1,000 people, and you come across an affiliate offer that pays you $15 for each referral. Even if only 1% of your list responds, you are looking at profit of $1,500! DANG I WISH I HAD A LIST! Guess I'll have to start one again! Angie, you make my life sound more interesting than it really is! LOL Seems like most of my social life revolves around biking, so when it gets cold, well, I don't have much of a social life! But I guess you have to force yourself to kind of get out there more, and sometimes, you have to force yourself out of your comfort zone. Tonight, after picking up a new (well used) vehicle, I needed to ask a favor from a friend to get my old car back home (the dealership didn't offer me enough money for it so I'm selling it to a private party). Well...turns out he had plans to go to Salsa dancing lessons, so he kind of had to drag me in there with him! But honestly, I'm glad I went - after a few more lessons, I will have some new dance moves to use at swing dance! The only downside to picking up a car and making car payments is that I may not be able to pick up another bike! Grrr! Anyway, I'm sure I will see you guys around the forums. I still have some work to do on at least one of my websites before I get really active again, but hopefully I will run into you again next week! S
Email is never going to die. No matter how much social media sites you use, the importance of email will never diminish. If you happen to meet someone what would you exchange (apart from mobile/cell no.)? It would be email address, not your facebook address.
