by Mr Impulsive on June 24, 2009
I try to keep this site as professional and as profitable as I possibly can. Sometimes that means I need to sacrifice that quick 1-liner I wanted to post, and sometimes it means I need to come up with new topics even if they don’t feel natural to me. It seems that after a little over 1 month that my website has already began to alter itself.
The evolution of Mr Impulsive is not, necessarily, a good thing. I began this site as an extension of myself number 1, and a side-money maker number 2. It seems the tables have turned and I have begun turning this website into a side-money maker rather than my own thoughts.
There are too many websites out right now that only offer professional opinion and dull commentary. I did not want to become part of that club, but it seems I have. My personal updates and stories from my days in Miami as an Entrepreneur/Student/Playboy are far and few in between. This website needs its DNA and its character back. I’m sorry I left, but now I’m back, and I’m gonna be injecting a little bit of myself into every post. Hopefully everyday, but don’t quote me on that.
by Mr Impulsive on June 20, 2009
People have great ideas. Whether it’s just in the line at the movie theater or sitting at their desk during the job they don’t like, people will always dream big in their head. A lot of the times, the dreams are unique and have the ability to be successful. The problem most people have is that they, A) talk themselves down and never go through with their idea, or B) Once they get their basic plan in order they start but don’t complete anything because of snags or just simply inconvenience.
As you can see from the banner above, I had a great idea during the summer of last year. I registered my company, developed a website with a professional developer in India, and even began creating flyers to hand out and begin marketing. The problem is, I didn’t follow through with my idea. One problem after another and I slowly got too exhausted and simply lost my interest. I spend xx amount of money developing this website and almost even partnered with another company focusing on the same demographic, but I just never continued with my project.
I don’t think my project would have failed, but even if it did, what would I lose? At this point in time I have already paid for the website and hosting and corporation registration. The only other expense I have is marketing, and if I spend that correctly, there should be no more out of pocket expenses. But I have not gone forward. In fact, the whole website and idea are getting less and less attention by me as the days go on.
I have literally nothing to lose because as of now everything I have spent is a waste of money, I only have the ability to gain from this, yet I do nothing.
This is for all of the people who have ideas and dreams and have the drive to get things done. The only way to be successful (in blogging or in life) is to have the drive and dedication of a successful person. You can’t quit or lose interest before you gain any success. If that’s the case, prepare for a life of wasted resources and disappointment.
In blogging it is the same. At a little over 1 month in I am having trouble thinking of topics and beginning to lose interest. I am not making any money from this website, but I have not even begun step 2 of my blogging process. The lack of money, need to dedicate time, and (for blogging) the slow rate that income is generating is enough to dissuade anyone not making it big time, but times like these, when things are most difficult or confusing, are when I remember that all of the successful blogs didn’t just stay around for a month or 2, but for years. In fact, all blogs that are around that are older than a year seem to be successful. Dedication is a huge factor in success and an impatient (or impulsive) entrepreneur’s or blogger’s biggest risk is himself.
Point being, stick to what you start. If it does not work in the beginning, fine, but stick it through because you have nothing else to lose. And if you start to lose interest then it’s time to switch things up. Maybe a re-design, or a new business plan. Something in your idea captivated you once, it’s hard to hold onto that, but if you get tired or exhausted it’s time to find it again. If you stick around long enough people will know of you and success has a way of finding you, even when you least expect it.
by Mr Impulsive on June 18, 2009
Often times people will tell you that success comes from the least likely of places. I never really believed it until now. I made a simple post a couple weeks ago about a Parkour expert. The post did not say much, but it did have a video embedded in it. Now, this post has become the most popular post on my website. This post alone is bringing in more new traffic than all of the my other posts combined.
Which brings me to my point: write for yourself and people will come. I know I didn’t write much in the Parkour post, but I posted it because it was something I enjoyed and now it turns out so do many other people. The next question I have is, “how do I transfer this traffic from that single post onto the rest of the website?” or ” do I put more posts that are similar to gather even more traffic?”
The problem with the latter is that if I do that then I will never be able to monetize this website like I want to becasue there simply wont be any subject matter, except videos posted. I do enjoy the videos, but it is not bringing my any closer to my goal. The former, on the other hand, is exactly what I need to focus on. I need to determine how to channel all this traffic and bring it into the site and properly monetize it.
A simple way I can do that is by editing the post and including links to other videos I enjoy. This will keep the new traffic around a bit longer and perhaps they will get curious and look around at the site. I can also try to exploit the single posts’ success by selectively putting adsense or an affiliate-type ad ONLY on the page containing the video becuase, after all, it is the page getting all of the traffic.
The good thing about my template is that it allows for simple editing of specific posts so I am going to see what kind of success I get with selectively putting up a small ad or affiliate link. I will post the results (good or bad) and you guys can use the knowledge for any situations you find yourself in that are similar.
by Mr Impulsive on June 16, 2009
Back home now, slight cold, but ready to post.
On my flight back I watched a classic movie entitled, Legally Blonde 2: Red White and Blonde. Before anyone decides that I’m crazy, you must see the movie. It is one of the funniest chick-flick type movies I have ever seen.
Anyway, in the movie there is a scene where a sitting congressman – from Arkansas or Arizona, I believe – is being pestered by a homeless man for money. In response he tells the homeless man that he does not “reward idleness.” It makes sense in theory, but isn’t it what we all desire? To be compensated for doing nothing. Many call this passive income, but I call it success.
It brings to mind so many blogs or websites already in place that seldom update their content because, simply, they don’t have too. Their old content is popular enough to support them in the way they wish. They do nothing, and get paid for it. Idleness being rewarded. The real American Dream.
by Mr Impulsive on June 11, 2009
This is sort of tied into my other article to-be-published about posting frequency and content quality
When you want to know something, what do you do?
- Go to browser
- www.google.com
- search your term
- click on all relevent search engine results.
How many of those search results come from blogs? a lot? a little? all? none?
The amount of blog-fueled results really depends on what your searching; no matter the topic, I can assure you that there is at least 1 blog that covers it.
A blog generates traffic, essentially, in 2 different ways: Search Engines, and Word of Mouth. Search engines link to specific posts regarding topics that the searcher wants to learn about. The more people that click on your post and link to your blog, the higher the article will be on each search engine. This is why quality is so damn important. People don’t link to shit. I don’t. You don’t. He doesn’t, either. In fact, people tend to stay as far away from shit as they can because it stinks. I call this the Shit-Distance-Phenomenon, or SDP.
Quality does not stink. In fact, if I had to say what quality was like I would compare it to freshly baked cookies (chocolate chip….mmmmm). The smell of cookies attracts people, and if they are good cookies, people will tell their friends about them. See where Word of Mouth come into play? Posts need to be like good cookies (I don’t know if my metaphor is still making sense, but I’m gonna run with it). For example, when someone tastes a delicious cookie from a store, they begin to tell their friends about the wonderful treat they discovered. That one delicious cookie that that person tasted is now responsible for hundreds of people coming to try your cookies. As long as you keep the cookies good, then the people will continue to tell their friends and the cycle will not stop.
Traffic will always come from delicious cookies. Burnt cookie (bad posts or shit) can literally kill traffic. Don’t make a delicious cookie just to follow it with a burnt piece of shit. Decide what kind of blog you want and stick with it because if you can create 1 great post a week then traffic will build, I can promise that. If you only have the ingredients for 1 great cookie a week then make that, people will appreciate your dedication to quality and repay you in traffic and high regards.
by Mr Impulsive on June 9, 2009
Well, It’s already been 1 month since I started this little project, and I’m quite surprised in the outcome. I did not think I would stick with it for this long, but it is really addicting. I’m much more into the whole redesign and research part of blogging, not so much the marketing. I’m also happy to say that ideas for posts have not run out yet, so maybe this is supposed to work for me. I don’t know, not yet. There is stil much more to come so please stay tuned.
