Baby and Family

Well in my last post I mentioned that I would have some really busy days ahead and on Aug 22, 2010 at 2:22 p.m., those days started.  The birth of my baby girl Lauren Dallas Hales at 8 lbs and 9 ounces has really changed my life, the way I look at what’s important, and the way I manage my time. I mean, sleepless nights make you savor every moment you do get to sleep.  So that means that I don’t have the time to stay up all night testing new pay per click campaigns.  It’s all worth it though.  I was telling my wife that this is all a temporary time in our lives.  This wont go on forever and we’ll have a sense of normalcy back soon.  However, I can say this is some of the best times of my life right now.   She’s a beauty.

Affiliate Marketing

On the affiliate marketing standpoint things are going well.  I have 2 campaigns right now that are averaging me about $250 bucks a day in pure profit.  I’m not sure how long these campaigns will last but I’m planning on milking them as long as I can.  The campaigns I’m running are on the Yahoo Search Marketing network.  I know in the next few weeks Yahoo and Bing will be undergoing a merger on the search marketing side of things.   This is making me a little nervous as the campaigns I’m running I have no real competition on the Yahoo Search network, however, not so sure about my standings on Bing.   Oh well, time will tell and in the mean time, between feedings and sleep, I’ll be looking or other campaign opportunities to increase my affiliate income.

Weight Loss Goals

Being consistent this year has proved to be a challenge.  I’ll start off with a work out routine and then after a couple of weeks either I’d get bored with it, my work at my job would pick up and i’ll be too tired to continue the workout, or some other dramatic shift would happen in my life that would throw me off center.   I’m still trying to figure this consistency thing out, but I will admit I’m getting a little better each and every time I retry my workout goals.  I’ll continue to keep you all updated on my progress. As of right now, I’m still doing the whole running thing, albeit not as consistent as I’d like, but its something.   What really helped me out was the fact that my wife purchased me a mp3 player so that really helps me out on my runs.

Too be continued…..

I’ve still be busy with my CPA marketing.  I’ve realize that although the money can come really quickly, it can also all evaporate just as fast.  For example, I was running this $250 Grocery Zip Submit campaign that pays out $1.35 per zip code submission.  Easy offer right…I was profiting anywhere between $50 to $100 dollars a day with the campaign.  Then all a sudden, my profits started dwindling down to $15 to $20 dollars a day.  What the heck right?!  Turns out someone else had mirrored my campaign and keywords and were promoting on the same platforms as I, thus diluting the market.   I tried to continue to attempt to make this campaign profitable, however, I was just on a downward spiral from which I never returned (well for that campaign).  I’ve moved on to other cmapaigns since then, but I learned a valuable lesson in the process.

1.)  Never fall in love with an offer.  If it becomes unprofitable, ditch it an move on to something else.

2.)  Expect your campaigns to be copied.  You can’t promote the same campaign for months and months on end and NOT expect anyone to notice.

So what’s been going on these last 3 weeks.   We’ll I’ve been on vacation for the past week and a half and during this time I’ve really hunkered down and started testing various affiliate offers using Yahoo and Google as my main traffic sources.   Initially the types of offers I focused on were zip and email submit type offers as these are the easiest to convert, but what I’ve noticed over the past few weeks is that my zip submit offers are getting scrubbed heavily.  For those of you out there that dont know what scrubbing is, its the process by which and advertiser can choose not to give you full credit for the leads you submit to them.  In my case, the zip code submissions.   This being the case, I’ve decided that I would move on and focus on some short form submit offer in the edu and insurance space.   I will let you guys know how this goes later on this week.

I just completed putting up 6 campaigns on the yahoo search network.   Most affiliates will find that only 10 to 20 percent of the campaigns they launch will break even or create a small profit.  So in my case,  I guess that 1 of the 6 will be a winner for me.  Let’s pray my numbers are a little better.

On a personal note,  I start fasting on tomorrow, so I’ll be in prayer for the next 40 days on things pertaining to my life, family, and business.  I’m very excited about this year, but at the same time I know that God is ultimately in control of my life and I have to make sure my plans are in line with His.  So I’ll be using this time to seek out His plan for me this year and make sure I’m in lock step with Him.

So what will I be blogging about.   Well as many of my close friends know, I’m on a mission to 1.) Loss Weight, 2.) Start an online business, and 3.)  Develop and/or acquire a jetpack…….yes a jetpack…..like James Bond.    I figure these topics would be something interesting to blog about online.   I know corny corny corny……but whatever.  It’s my blog.    So if you are interested, subscribe to my blog and I promise I’ll keep it interesting.   I will be discussing things like what I’m doing and/or not doing to lose these extra pounds……..what I am doing to expand my online business….and how I will be going about getting that elusive jetpack.   So peeps check back often.  Until next time.