In order for me to get back on track I knew I would need an effective way to sort out and organize my ideas.  Since I’ve been out of touch with affiliate marketing in a while, thinking up new campaign ideas and brainstorming for the first time in months was like opening the flood gates –  tons of questions, thoughts and ideas came to mind!  Before now, I would usually kinda file an idea away in my mind thinking “I’ll get to that later” only to end up forgetting about it for weeks, if not forever.

Mind Mapping to the Rescue

I first heard about mind mapping about a year ago.  I had tried using a couple of different Windows programs but found them to be overly complicated when it came to just throwing ideas down.  I ended up just giving up on mind mapping software resorting to white boards or black pieces of paper.  White boards are great for laying out thoughts and ideas, but the problem is you have to eventually erase it.  Pieces of paper are cheap and easy but are limited in size and can easily be discarded accidentally.

iThoughtsHD FTW!

iThoughtsHD Rocks!

iThoughtsHD for the iPad is by far the most effective mind mapping software I have tried.  It’s very intuitive, very simple, but very powerful.  It has great options for sharing mind maps created within iThoughtsHD including exporting a mind map to a PDF or like 10 other file formats.

The emailing option is great.  It converts your mind map to a nice, color coded outline, attaches a copy of the iThoughtsHD file, and attaches a PDF of the mind map.  Being color coded really makes it easy to correspond items between the outline and the mind map.

The fact that it automatically creates a PDF of your mind map and attaches it when emailing your mind map is very convenient and handy since not everyone has an iPad or this app installed.

I took a bunch of screenshots from my iPad and pasted them together to show what it looks like when you are emailing a mind map from iThougthsHD…

iThougthsHD Email (click for full size)

As you can see, it’s very clear to see how each section of the outline relates to the mind map.

iThoughtsHD is $7.99 and is available at the App Store.

iThoughtsHD has several more features that I didn’t really get into.  I just briefly highlighted my favorites so far.  If you want to read the full details on the app, check out their Features page.

If you own an iPhone or an iPad and are curious about mind mapping, this app is definitely worth trying out.

We Are Experiencing Some Financial Difficulty...Please Stand By.

Dang…my last post was over 5 months ago, and it wasn’t even affiliate marketing related!  Sheesh, has it been that long already?

The Situation

I kinda fell into full time affiliate marketing when I was laid off for the 2nd time last year in October.  I was fortunately able to find some success early on which helped me to support my family and keep a roof over our heads, as well as fund the next Adwords bill.  When the reigns were tightened on “rebillz” early this year, my success proved to be short lived.  Shortly after  Big “G” banned my Adwords account I decided to take a break from affiliate marketing.  I was spending way more than I was making and with no primary income I couldn’t afford to do that for long.

Since my last post, I have since found an 8 to 5 for some stable income.  Now that my bills are getting back under control I feel confident in getting back into the game.

Target

This time, I’m going to focus on Facebook.  I had tried a little here and there before but now it’s time to get serious.  Currently, my ad spend budget will be $50 per week.  I think it’s a good starting point.  It’s enough to get some good results so I can split test effectively, but not so much that it will hurt if I don’t make a dime from it.  Of course, the long term goal is eventually to start killin’ it!  But for now, I’m starting slow.  The targeted launch date is November 1, 2010.  That should give me enough time to pick a niche, find a product, and get some ads together to test.

Goals

1. Launch campaign November 1st
2. Optimize campaign to be profitable by the end of November
3. Scale the campaign in December
4. Earn enough profit by mid December to pay for an ASW 2011 trip

I think these are some realistic, tangible goals for the rest of the year.  To some of you, these goals may seem like I’m setting my sights pretty low, but with my time and financial constraints, they are about as good as they can get.

Stay tuned!

ATTENTION – THIS ARTICLE WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR IRON MAN 2.
If you haven’t seen the movie yet I suggest you watch it first, then read this post and any comments.

I went to the midnight showing of Iron Man 2.  Overall the movie was entertaining but there were some things I thought were kinda stupid.  I’m not a comic book reader so my opinions are rather untainted in comparison to someone who grew up reading Iron Man comics and have strong emotional ties to the characters and story lines (i.e. 99% of the people in the theater).

I really enjoyed the first Iron Man but was worried that they were going to take the ingredients that made the first one so enjoyable and just double the recipe.  Fortunately John Favreau kept it under control.

Rawksauce!

Special Effects

I thought the special effects were very well done.  Some times the action sequences of movies are waaaay over done.  Fortunately the special effects used in Iron Man 2′s action sequences were pretty well balanced and not overdone.

Fight Scenes

Most of the fight scenes were pretty exciting.  I appreciated the fact that they weren’t overdone as well.  They were exciting and entertaining to watch.

Tony Stark

In the first Iron Man, Tony Stark’s smugness was entertaining.  In Iron Man 2 it was just as entertaining and fortunately not annoying.  Kudos to Robert Downy Jr.  Once again he did a great job.

Weaksauce!

The Villains

Ivan Vanko grew up with an alcoholic dad who spent the better part of his life in a vodka fueled rage towards Howard Stark and his legacy for what Howard did to muscle him out of Stark Industries as well as the United States.  Ivan’s GENIUS idea to exact his vengeance on Tony Stark was to make some static charged whips.  Whips…Really?!

He managed to do some damage while on the race track in Monaco but once Tony Stark put the Iron Man suit on it was game over.  So he gets hired by Justin Hammer who is really jealous Tony Stark’s intelligence as well as his success both with Iron Man and with the ladies.  Ivan has access to Justin Hammer’s deep pockets to make a competitor to Iron Man that Justin can sell to the government.  In secret, Ivan is also making his own secret weapon to FINALLY deliver his revenge.  His weapon of choice for round 2 – LONGER static charged whips.  Lame!

Final Battle

I really was disappointed by the final battle scene.  Ivan Vanko, the genius that he is, lasted all of about 3 minutes when taking on Iron Man and his buddy with those ingenious static whips which he made longer to offer some extra static charged goodness.  Upon his defeat he mumbles to Tony “you lose” after which his power unit begins blinking red.  Apparently he armed his wannabe Iron Man suit along with all the drones with bombs.  Uh oooohhh!  Good thing he was courteous enough to use those red blinking indicator lights as well as a 30 second timer giving Iron Man plenty of time to fly away as well as swoop down to pick up Pepper Potts before all the bombs go off.  Once again Ivan, being the destructive genius he is, opts to use fireworks grade explosives for his bombs instead of something that could really do some damage.  Speaking of fireworks, the fireworks show in the beginning of the movie give Iron Man more trouble than the entire tribe of Iron Man wannabe drones.

Miscellaneous Lameness

Did Ivan’s dad run some cruel, Wolverine-esque experiments on him or something?  How else could he survive getting slammed into a concrete barrier by a 5600 pound Rolls Royce Phantom, multiple times mind you, and not be crippled for life?

Also, I’m no Formula One fan or anything but do they not have headsets?  There was this crazy dude on the track with some static charged whips and the drivers were just continuing on with the race as if everything was dandy only to drive up to a rude awakening hiding around the corner of turn 3.

Overall Thoughts

I liked the movie overall.  I thought it was really entertaining despite the weak stuff here and there.
What did you think of the movie (or my review)?  Let me know in the Comments!

I ordered my 16gb WiFi on April 19 and it arrived 10 days later.  Pretty quick turn around considering it had to be made in China, then shipped overseas to me in Texas.  I don’t really understand how it went to Tennessee before coming to Texas, but anyways…

Being a fan of Apple products (not a fan boy mind you…there’s a difference) I was pretty anxious to get my hands on an iPad.  Eager to know as much as possible before actually getting it I spent a few days listening to iPad themed podcasts that discussed the overall usage experience, app reviews and general iPad news and info.  One of the most common raves I heard had to do with the unbelievable battery life people were seeing from their iPads.  One reviewer said they were using it “non-stop” for 3 days and they still had 64% of his battery charge left.  Others said they had used it every day for over a week and were still above the 20% mark.  Rrrriiiiight!

10 Hrs, eh?  Not quite…

I some how managed to drain it to below 50% in just a day and I didn’t even use it very much!  I downloaded some apps, tried (frustratingly so) to watch a few episodes of Modern Family on the ABC player, surfed the internet some, messed around on the Maps app and let my daughter try out the Color & Draw app for 15 minutes or so…that’s about it.  How is that enough activity to drain it more than half way from a full charge?!

What’s with all the bugs?

Another huge source of frustration was the bugginess of the ABC player app.  Last night their servers must have crashed because the app wasn’t working at all.  It kept saying something to the effect of “Cannot connect to server. Please check your internet connection, restart the app, and try again.”  After a quick Google search I found a couple of forum posts from people having the same issue which let me know it most likely wasn’t MY internet connection.  Today the app managed to work enough for me to watch 2 1/2 episodes of Modern Family.  While watching the 3rd episode it started crashing.  The iPad would completely lock up.  The only way out of the app was to reset the iPad by pressing the Home button and Sleep/Awake button for 5 or 10 seconds.  That was a big let down.

iGouge App Prices

$9.99 for an app that’s almost exactly the same as the $1.99 iPhone version…seriously?  I can understand slightly higher prices for iPad specific apps since its increased computing power thanks to the Apple A4 processor gives developers some elbow room when it comes to utilizing the extra capabilities I have a hard time justifying a hefty price increase for an app that’s basically just been re-sized to take advantage of the extra screen real estate.  Yay capitalism!

How are you supposed to hold this thing?!

I have pretty good sized hands…large enough to palm a basketball without struggling to do so.  Having said that, I cannot manage to find a comfortable way to hold the iPad!  If I try to rest it in the palm of one hand it doesn’t feel very stable.  The weight of the iPad combined with the fear of dropping my new $500 device to the floor makes me very leery to use it that way.  I also tried holding it with two hands but that wasn’t very comfortable either.  Then I tried holding it up with one hand between my fingers and thumb the way you would prop up a single sheet of paper you wanted to read.  No good.  It’s too heavy to do that comfortably as well.  I found that I had to apply so much pressure using thumb that my hand started to cramp.

A good idea for a case would be to include an adjustable strap on the back side of the iPad so you can securely attach it to your hand.  Or maybe even a case with an attached glove or finger loops.

A Few Good Things

The iPhone’s biggest crutch when it comes to comfortably browsing the web is its small screen size.  While it’s a very nice size for a mobile phone, it is a little small for surfing the web.  That’s where the iPad clearly excels.  Its bright, clear screen is plenty big for the internet and its touch screen interface is really intuitive and natural feeling when using it to browse web pages, photos or Google maps.

Final Thoughts

All in all I do like the iPad.  I think over time it will only get better.  Apps will improve, accessory options will make it more comfortable to use, and I myself will just get more used to using it.  When a solid jailbreak solution comes out I’m sure I’ll begin to enjoy it much, much more.

5/7/2010 Update: The Marware Eco-Vue case has a nice strap on the back and is available on Amazon.com!

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking over the last few weeks about the direction I want to go in with my affiliate marketing efforts.  The fast income possibilities of CPA (cost per action) marketing is very appealing. Especially since, technically, I’m currently unemployed and have been living off of whatever income I could generate promoting CPA offers.  I kinda fell into CPA marketing when I was unexpectedly laid off in October for the second time in 2009.  A guy who started out as someone in the social network of someone in my social network quickly became a good friend and mentor showing me some things I could try out that were working for him.  They worked for me too, and in no time I was grossing twice what I earned while doing contract work for NASA.  Without his help in getting started these last 5 or 6 months would have been much, much harder for my family and I.

(You know who you are…thanks, buddy.)

Well, since getting laid off in October, my goal was to get enough CPA campaigns going so that I could let them do their thing for a few weeks at a time while I focused on starting some CPS (cost per sale) based sites.  After all, that’s what he had been doing full time.  The CPA strategy he shared with me was something he was toying around with to make a few extra bucks.  CPS was where his main focus was, and still is to this day.

To me, the bottom line is this – I can blow all my remaining funds in a week or two…maybe even stretch it out to 4 or 5 weeks, and not make any money back.  That’s just how it goes in the CPA game.

OR

I can take the remaining funds and put them to work in a more long term strategy – CPS!

So I am officially saying goodbye CPA and hello CPS!  This isn’t a forever goodbye…more like a goodbye  for now.  The speed and earning potential available in CPA marketing is too tempting to just walk away from.  However, realistically speaking I am not in a financial position that would allow me to fund campaigns that do nothing but lose money while I test and optimize them.  Once I start generating some stable CPS income, then it’s game on!

Stay tuned…

Man, I can’t believe it’s been 10 days since the last update!  Not that there’s been a lot that has changed but still…I ordered a second monitor from TigerDirect and a new graphics card from Newegg.  After working with two monitors in the mechanical design/drafting field for several years it has sort of become a necessity.  The extra screen real estate as well as the physical separation makes it great for frequently switching back and forth between main programs and secondary ones.  For example, I can have Dreamweaver up on my main monitor and my browsers on the secondary monitor for quick and easy previewing as I make changes locally to pages before they get uploaded.  Also, when doing keyword research, having my browser open on the main monitor and Excel open on the secondary is really handy.  You get the idea.  If you haven’t ever worked with 2 monitors before and you can afford a second one, I’d highly recommend it.  Just make sure your graphics card can handle support running two monitors at once.  Mine did not…hence the new graphics card.

FYI – they dropped the price of the card I bought by $10 since I ordered it 4 days ago (grr!!!).  With the MIR you can snag one for $50 bucks!

The biggest change came in the form of an email from the nice folks over at Google.  I guess they didn’t like some of the offers I had promoted so they decided to suspend my Adwords account.  I wrote about it here.  That is forcing me to rethink some things but it’s not going to stop me.  It will force me (and anyone else who has gotten banned) to adapt becoming less and less dependent on Big “G”.  Either that or give up (which I’m not going to do).  If anything, it will thin out the heard of newer affiliate marketers, essentially making it easier for the tenacious ones to find success.  Less newbs equals less bidding wars equals lower CPV/CPC equals higher ROI.

I keep debating on whether or not I should spring for an iPad.  I have a few iPad related domains I bought at the end of last year when things were going better with the intentions of getting an iPad the day it came out and use it for those sites – tutorials, product reviews, etc.  The stuff out on youtube right now really looks like crap.  I know I could out-do them.  The hard part would be getting ranked.  SEO…she be a harsh and mysterious mistress.

If I did end up getting one, I would only get the bottom line 16gb wifi version for now.  Once the sites started generating some dollars, then maybe I’d spring for the 64gb 3G version.  Decisions, decisions.

Til next time…

Earlier this week I got the dreaded email regarding some of my Adwords campigns.  Google
banned me…now what?! To be honest, I’m not sweating it too much.  I only had one campaign running.  I had paused all my campaigns in February and haven’t bothered to unpause them while all the new FTC regulations and advertising terms were being released.  I was wanting to let the dust settle first and get a good understanding of what was allowed and what wasn’t.  I guess I should have waited longer?  I dunno…

The only thing that is sort of a bummer is that I was getting ready to try 2 new avenues with Google for the first time – image ads and the content network.  I had worked for around a week and a half doing demographic research, designing some banners, etc.  Oh well…Google’s not the only banner and content network in existence.  There are still plenty of other banner networks available.  I’m thinking I can get my feet wet with those networks, do some testing and optimizing, make a few bucks, then pay a visit to some forums to learn what hoops I need to jump through to get another account with Big “G”.  I know it’s possible…it may not be easy, but it’s possible.

The one thing I am truly grateful for is the fact that I wasn’t currently making any money via Google’s ad network.  Sounds kinda funny, right?  I’m glad I wasn’t making any money?  Let me explain.  I can only imagine the sick feeling in the pit of the stomachs of those who were banned while making 5 figures per month or more with their Adwords account.  Talk about a punch to the gut!  A knock like that throws a person into panic mode which can result in some bad decisions as they scramble to get other traffic sources going to replace what they had.  Since I didn’t really lose anything I’m not panicking.  This day was inevitable in the back of my mind anyways.

So, for me, the hunt is on.  Can I find a combination of other advertising possibilities that add up to the same earning potential as Google’s ad network?  Only time will tell.

Stay tuned…

Today’s scheduled P90X workout was the Legs and Back workout followed by Ab Ripper X.  It was a good one!  I definitely felt the burn with this workout in my legs.  My legs have become somewhat of a weak point for me over the last 5 years or so.  Years and years of working in an office sitting in front of a computer combined with very little physical activity in my down-time and bad eating habits resulting in a steady weight gain as well as steady loss of strength and muscle mass.  Not good…The Legs and Back workout will really help me build the strength in my legs back up.  That, as well as weight loss, will really help me regain that spring in my step I had in my early 20′s.  I really look forward to being able to keep up with Tony and the gang soon.

I want to take a moment to touch on something that I think a lot of people can relate to.  Day 4′s workout was Yoga X and I don’t do yoga so I kinda took an unscheduled off day.  That led to a couple of unscheduled off days.  That’s a dangerous trap in so many ways.  Stopping a workout regimen early on is a very tough thing not to do when you’ve been inactive for a while.  Changing that pattern of inactivity to one of activity can take a lot of will power.  If you do find yourself unable to do a day’s workout don’t let that continue any longer than it has to.

Sure, the workouts are hard and they can really burn so avoiding them can be tempting.  Having started several workout and fitness regimens over the years and not sticking to them, I can say this from experience – any physical pain experienced by an hour long workout fades a lot faster than the mental anguish and emotional lows that come when you don’t do the workouts because you just feel like being lazy.  If you get yourself off your butt and do the workout, you feel great.  If you don’t do the workout, then you feel like crap.  It’s really that simple.

Getting yourself up and going so you can workout not only makes you feel better physically, but you feel better about yourself!  You accomplished something and in doing so, you give your ego a little boost.  I have never felt sad or down after finishing a workout that I had to push myself to start.

On the other hand, I always feel bummed when I skip a workout because I felt like being lazy.  I feel down on myself.

After years and years of this type of pattern I can honestly say that it’s just not worth it, people!

So, after skipping a couple of days I feel great after doing today’s workout!  I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s.  If you have started P90X and stopped it after a couple days, or even a couple of weeks, get back on the horse!  Do what they say…”Keep pressing play!”

Til tomorrow…

The scheduled P90X workout for today is Yoga X.  I don’t do yoga so I’m going to have to find an alternative workout to do for the Yoga X days.

If anyone has any recommendations for an alternative to Yoga X please let me know in the comments.  Thanks!

Til tomorrow…

I just finished today’s P90X workout.  The scheduled workout of the day was the Arms/Shoulders workout.  I enjoyed it!  My two favorite body parts to workout are the arms and chest.  The arm aspect of the workout didn’t disappoint!One thing the trainer (Tony Horton) emphasizes is not letting your ego get in the way.  Some of these exercises are pretty intense and proper form is very crucial.  Those of you who used to be gym rats in your glory days may have some old habits to get rid of, as well as a little pride to swallow.  It was a surprise to me that I was struggling with 20lb dumbbells in order to maintain proper form and focus on the proper muscles to do the lifting.  By the time I work my way back up to the weight I was used to doing at the gym (with little to no attention paid to my form) I’m confident I’ll be much stronger and bigger.

The soreness that came from day 1′s workout is almost gone.  This is the feeling I enjoy most when going from being inactive to being active.  It’s hard to describe, but I would say it’s almost like an itching in your muscles to do more work!  Getting to this point is always rewarding because it makes the workouts so much more enjoyable to look forward to.

My legs are still pretty sore from day 2′s workout, but that soon will pass as well.  That’s been one of the nicest things about this program.  I know I’m only 3 days in and still have a long way to go, but being allowed to go at my own comfort level means I am able to avoid overdoing it resulting in serious muscle soreness and pain.  You are free to increase intensity as you go along knowing that when you feel sore after increasing the intensity it just means you’ll be seeing more results.  Starting out a workout plan that leaves you in serious, intense pain is very hard to stick to.  I’ve learned that lesson many times.

Well, 3 days down and 87 to go.

Til tomorrow…