As mentioned in a previous post, I gained a lot of things from this year’s system seminar held in Chicago at the Eaglewood resort. I have to say, this is one of the best places to learn about internet marketing in general. I shouldn’t say in general, because a lot of the stuff I learned was drilled down the exact things needed to be done to make money on the web. One breakout session in particular gave me a step-by-step understanding of how to build a content website that generates income in multiple ways, including affiliate marketing and the hot topic of the web, Google Adsense.
The trip didn’t start off on a hot note unfortunately. I learned my lesson that just because you pay $130/night (and that was at a discount) that you shouldn’t expect to have free internet in the room. They didn’t offer wireless access, just ethernet, and it was $10 for 24 hours. So, I was there three nights, it would have run me $30 bucks, which is almost as much as I pay in a month for home connection. The reason this bothered me because I could have gone across the street and had a cheaper room and FREE wireless internet. Note to self: do research on the hotel…don’t just assume.
After that, things got better because of all the great stuff I picked up. I don’t know if I will post much on this blog about it like I thought I would because I don’t want to infringe on the seminar’s leader, Ken McCarthy. Ken puts on one hell of a show, and I feel it was the best money I have spent on internet training. If you are looking for a good way to get in the game, this is a good place to check it all out.
I will, however, be posting about some of the sites that I will purchase and what I am doing to improve them, which will come from the stuff I learned in the seminar.
One thing I did decide on was how I do and don’t want to run my business. A lot of talk was focused on bringing value to the web, and not just putting up pages that create “digital pollution” out there. Dave Taylor mentioned how much junk is out there and how he makes money the old fashioned way by giving information away for free. When I first started this site, I wanted to buy 100 sites that were income generating and I didn’t really care how. I mostly was thinking of Adsense sites. While there are still are a few out there that are doing well, I am going to be much more picky about what I buy. These sites that are built on these auto-generation techniques (i.e. Traffic Equalizer) may be good for now, but in the long hall, I think it’s just like building a house on sand. The income is bound to erode away, leaving nothing but a crappy web page, and not an actual business.
This post is getting long, so I will shorten by saying I know now what I will be focusing on and since we all know you can’t get rich overnight, I am pounding into my head that I am building for the future, not tomorrow.
More on that later.