eBranchOffice.com

business community

Welcome to
eBranchOffice.com

You can also sign up with:

All Blog Posts (61)

Are Facebook Fans Worthless?

Facebook fans are great, but there are a few things you should know:

* Some people "like" everything. If you are paying for fans, understand that you will buy a lot of very friendly people who also like a lot of other companies.

* Facebook is push marketing. On Google, people are actively searching for you or your product. On Facebook, they see your ad while engaged in something else.

* Not sure if they still do this, but Facebook…

Continue

— No Comments

How Will Siri Change Things?

We all need to start thinking about Siri.

Siri is the voice activated virtual assitant on the iphone.

You can ask Siri for the cheapest flight from Madison to New York and she responds very quickly with all of the details. She then asks you if you want to book the flight.

The "old" process involved a search engine, a travel site and a ticket purchased through one of many travel agencies. The "new" process will just be…

Continue

— No Comments

What Should I Do With My Travel Site?

I'm trying to figure out what I should do with my travel site. The name of the site is based on the phrase cheap round trip.

My initial idea is to create a community site for travelers so ideas and deals can be shared. I know that the ad clickthrough rate and revenue is good, but getting people to the site and getting them to participate will be a challenge.

The other obvious idea is to sell…

Continue

— No Comments

Digital Publishing Vs. Digital Marketing

Are you a digital publisher or a digital marketer?

The basic difference is that a digital publisher has something they want to share with the world. A digital marketer is trying to make money on the internet as their primary goal.

Most people end up being a little bit of both, but your starting point will influence many of your decisions.

A digital publisher already has a passion for the content, art, music, etc... they want to share…

Continue

— No Comments

Thanks

Thanks for eBranchOffice.com

It has helped me in numerous ways.

— No Comments

Please Sell Something!

I'm writing this blog post as a reminder to myself that I need to sell something. I have a few sites that focus on generating advertising revenue, but I need to start a few shopping sites to focus on selling something.

This thought especially occurs to me at this time of year when online sales are roaring to life.

I have a really good domain name for a general shopping site, but I have been holding off on launching the site until I find the perfect technology partner. I… Continue

— No Comments

New Data, New Observations

I admit that I am a stats junkie. I probably look at them too much on a daily basis, but the reality is that there is a lot of good information in the stats.

Every time I have improved my stats program or reach, I have learned new information that has revolutionized my thinking about what I am doing online.

The first big revolution was finding out that one source of my traffic is responsible for over 90% of my revenue.

My second revolution was that 90% of my… Continue

— No Comments

TheFind.com Represents My Online Shopping Goal

I've always wanted to have a good online shopping mall. The problem is that I've been waiting for the right technology so it will run smoothly with daily management. I haven't found the dsolution yet, but TheFind.com provides a good example that my goal is attainable.

TheFind.com is just a basic shopping mall with affiliate links. There is nothing special about the site other than it allows companies to update their own feeds which allows for more unique content and better search… Continue

— No Comments

Online Success And Failure

I am quickly realizing that I am both an online success and an online failure.

Some of my sites do pretty well and some of my sites are absolutely terrible.

The hard part is closing down the sites that don't work. I can't seem to pull the trigger because they SHOULD work. They just don't.

One thing I am learning is that sometimes things just don't make sense. I need to pull the plug on these sites and convince myself that the stats don't lie. Even though I like… Continue

— No Comments

Quality Content Should Be Rewarded

We all know the saying that content is king. However, is it just any type of content or does it need to be quality content?

One reason I'm asking this is because I saw the conversation in the forum about content farms. People upload very poor quality articles to content farms because the high authority of these content farms gives the articles a higher search engine placement. I'm glad to see that Google is starting to reduce the authority given to these content farms.

It… Continue

— 1 Comment

Any Luck With InfoLinks or Kontera?

I really don't want to try InfoLinks.

They are similar to Kontera ads which highlight words on your site and pop up a small ad box when a visitor puts their cursor over the highlighted word.

Personally, I think the ads are annoying, misleading, and intrusive to quality content.

However, I have a couple of sites that aren't doing much so I am trying to monetize the visitors I do get ads much as possible. There is a chance I will end up taking these sites offline,… Continue

— No Comments

Motivation From Inc. Magazine

I just finished reading the current issue of Inc. Magazine. I enjoy reading it because it gives me motivation and ideas from other people who are starting businesses.

Sometimes I get frustrated because some of the success stories remind me that i am not a success story as of right now. However, seeing people succeed motivates me to reach that point.

My favorite article in the current issue was an interview with a wine salesman. It reminded me of my days making lots of… Continue

— 1 Comment

The Internet Is The Primary Medium

Goodnight newspapers. Goodnight tv. Goodnight magazines. Goodnight radio sleeze. The old lady is whispering hush because the internet is now the primary medium.

How could the internet not become the primary medium? All the other mediums are passive forms of media where someone chooses what content is available and then spoon feeds it to us as they please.

The internet is an open and active medium where we choose the when, what, where, and how.

Will there be… Continue

— 1 Comment

My Websites Are Really Touchy

You know how sometimes you can have a friend or a family member who can change moods based on the smallest things? Well, that is my websites. They are really touchy sob's.

I always knew that small changes could make a big difference. I once added an extra space between two lines at the top of my site and doubled my conversion rate. I once added a new ad unit to the top of my site and greatly increased the click through rate of a different ad unit on the same page.

Because… Continue

— 1 Comment

I Want To Make A Difference

I just read the article in Inc Magazine about the founder of Toms Shoes. I wish the article was more about the business and less about the life of the founder, but the article gave me great motivation.

I want to make a difference.

This is something I have always wanted to do. I have started many peace and political websites hoping to make a difference. The problem is that these sites took a lot of my time, energy, and money, but rarely made a difference. Arguing political…

Continue

— 1 Comment

A Discouraging Discussion With A Share A Sale Representative

I had a chance this week to talk with a representative from Share A Sale. The rep is in charge of helping publishers and affiliates like me achieve better results.

I was excited about the conversation because this rep would know what was working and what was not working. He had the knowledge about which publishers make the most sales and how they are doing it.

Unfortunately, I ended the conversation with less enthusiasm than I had going in.

I figured he would… Continue

— 1 Comment

Tough Decision - Shut Down A Site?

I have always had the philosophy that I would start a whole bunch of sites in order to see what works.

My problem now is that I know what works, but I have a bunch of sites that kinda work.

I already shut down a few of my sites that were not working or I had no interest in. One thing I figured out is that it is tought to work on a site if you don't have any interest in the subject matter.

Now I am down to my best sites, but I still wonder if I should close down… Continue

— 3 Comments

Add A Facebook Badge To Your Site

If your website or business has a page on Facebook, you can promote the page with a Facebook badge placed on your site.

This allows people to "like" your page on Facebook.

You get more people connected to your Facebook page and your Facebook updates will show on their walls. When they "like" your page, this update will be sent to all of their friends allowing a nice word of mouth referral to your site.

Here's the simple… Continue

— 2 Comments

Google Still Allowing Misleading Ads

I just saw a high traffic website that had Google ads on the bottom of the page. The ads were all for acai berry and teeth whitening offers. The domain names looked like they were from television news stations.

Since I have been doing online marketing for so long, I know that these ads are misleading scam offers. These are not news sites or real blogs or real testimonials. These ads are for free trials of products that are not very effective. These free trials start when you arder… Continue

— 1 Comment

The Start Of My Business Blog

The goal of this blog is to give me a place to write about my online busines efforts.

I have been building sites for a long time. Making money online has never been a sure bet, but I love trying to make it work.

I look forward to interacting with other people on this site in the forums and I hope you will read my blog once in awhile and share your comments.

— 1 Comment