13. Plowing Forward, New Attitude

10:23am

Time.

Well, I’m still doing the same thing. I’ve been slightly more motivated today and yesterday, as opposed to the entry a couple days ago, so I’ve been able to keep putting out articles, regardless of how monotonous it’s starting to become. I started around 8:30 and have four articles done, so I figured I could take a small break at this point. 3 more articles shouldn’t be hard, and I hope to write even more than that since Wednesdays are wide open with no classes. I might set a goal of 10 on Wednesdays since I have so much time. We’ll see.

The more I think about it, the more I want to try this new method I learned from the forum member. It would require a bit of time, but I think it would be worth it, because it would allow me to target keywords with much higher search numbers, even though the competition will be higher. Depending on the quality of the results on the first page, I think I could target keywords with any competition less than 100,000 or so; anything above that might be too much. Right now, for the most part, I’m limiting myself to phrases that have 20,000 or less, and obviously, the only phrases with so little competition are usually the ones that aren’t searched for a lot. Not only would it allow for better keywords, but it would give me more authority in Google’s eyes, and therefore greater stability in the search results. It won’t cost me anything to use this method.

I crunched the numbers yesterday (as I seem to do a lot), and for this campaign, I would need the following conditions to hit the mark: 5% of the searchers using Google to view my article; 25% (my current CTR) to click-through from my article; 2% of the traffic from my article to purchase the product. If all these are met, then I will net $51.95 a day. I am trying to be as optimistic as possible, though. The ideal scenario would be: with the above method applied, I could reasonably expect 10% of the search traffic, 25% CTR, and if the vendor is truthful about the conversion rate they claim, then about 5% would convert into a sale. These numbers would translate into a whopping $260/day.

Along those lines, I had to sit down and make some changes in my thoughts about internet marketing. I will admit that seeing a number like $260 a day has made me think about what I could do with that kind of money — I could buy this without thinking twice about it, take vacations whenever I want, and so on. While there is no problem with being successful financially, I need to realize that greed is a horrible thing that has caused many people to live a sad, unfulfilling life. The Bible speaks about being covetous: always wanting more and more, and never being satisfied with what you have. Paul said to Timothy in 1 Timothy 6:8, “And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.” Again, I don’t believe that there is any problem with me making that much money; it’s what I desire to spend it on that is the problem. I need to realize that, if God will bless me with such success, then I need to use it in a way that’s not greedy, covetous, or desiring things I don’t need. It sure would make me happier than anything if I could make $260 a day or more, and give most of it to my church to support it — my church is quite small, and it could achieve lots of the dreams that my pastor envisions if it only had the finances for it. Along with this, here is the motivator that I talked about in my first post:

This is my mom. She’s the sweetest lady I know, and she loves her three sons more than anything in the whole world, and she has sacrificed so much for us because she cares for us. She has been over her head in past-due bills almost as long as I can remember, she’s declared bankruptcy once if not more, her credit is completely shot, and she’s struggling to keep our house because she almost can’t come up with the mortgage. But guess what? She gave me $100 for my tuition before I left for school. That’s $100 she could have used to pay a bill or keep the creditors at bay, but she gave it to me so I could have some help with my bills, which are nothing compared to what she has to worry about. When my brother visited home while he was in the Coast Guard in New Jersey, she took all three of us out to eat because she was so happy we were back together again. This was when she didn’t have a job, and when she was at the lowest point in almost losing everything we had. I can honestly say that I don’t know anyone else who would spend their precious money on a meal for four, while not having a job. Right now, my oldest brother, who is 28, has moved back into our house because he is also struggling financially. Do you know what she could have said? She could have told him, “No, you’re 28 years old, go find your own place.” But she welcomed him freely because she cares about him so much and wouldn’t want him to be without a place to stay. I am telling you, the last person on Earth that my mom thinks about is herself. Who am I, to hoard all the money I would make for myself, and not help my mom who has given so much to me, regardless of whether it would hurt her financially? That would be the most ungrateful thing I could ever do to my mother. Not only that, but God tells me in Proverbs 3:27, “Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it.” Again in James 4:17 He says, “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” I earnestly pray that God would grant me success in internet marketing, not so I could waste the money on myself, but so I could honor Him with it and help my mom who has done so much for me.

But anyway… It’s almost lunch time, and after that I am going to hurry up and write the 3 remaining articles.

Brad

1:51pm

Those three took longer than expected. All 7 are done, and man do I need a break. My mind is numb after writing those.

I trimmed out even more keywords that were either too difficult or reflected a person who wasn’t late in the buying cycle. Now I only have to write 16 more articles. If I can squeeze out 2 articles later today (definitely not in the mood to write now) and hit the goal tomorrow and Friday, then I’ll be done with the articles. I’m going to spend at least a part of next week implementing this new method to see how it turns out. If it’s a waste of time, then I’ll still have 3 weeks to keep doing what I’m doing.

Don’t know what I’m going to do right now, but I know I won’t be opening WordFlood any time soon…