GeneIlten.com

Boy! 6 weeks since my last post! Time flys! It has been a busy time. In July I attended Ross Goldberg’s Midwest Internet Marketing event. After that, I had minor surgery and 2 weeks after that surgery for my wife. And just to add spice, our grandson is due any time! SO I thought I had better get this post done while I can.

I thought I’d take a different track today. Anything worth pursuing requires a certain mindset. It doesn’t matter if you are trying to keep a marriage going, raise kids, or build your business. So I thought I would share a few thoughts about mindset.
In the early 1990’s there was a popular cartoon show called “Pinky and the Brain.” Unless you are VERY young you probably remember it. Pinky was the comic relief with a very simple outlook on things to The Brain’s very serious view. They had a very simple goal: Take over the world! Every episode opened with Pinky on the little wheel asking, “So what are we going to do tonight?”

“Same thing we do every night, Pinky,” replies The Brain. “Try to take over the world!”
So the rest of the show was spent watching them undertake Brain’s elaborate, crazy plans for world domination. These always ended in disaster. After the collapse of another plan the show ends with Brain saying something like: “We must rest for tomorrow night, Pinky.”

“Why?” Pinky would ask. “What are we going to do tomorrow night, Brain?”

“The same thing we do every night, Pinky. Try to take over the world!”

Your plans may not be as grandiose as The Brain’s, but we all have plans, hopes and dreams. Most of you are trying to build a business. So what can we learn from Pinky and The Brain?

Well, one thing you need is determination. Brain set his goal and was going to achieve it. Nothing was going to stop him. Not even failure. Even thought it looked like an impossible task for a lab mouse to rule the world that did not stop him. He did not consider his size for a moment; never entered his mind.

Next The Brain was always focused. He kept his goals in sight all the time (except when Pinky distracted him, usually with funny and catastrophic results). Brain was unwavering in what he wanted.

So how does this apply to you? If you are serious about building your own business, you can’t give in. Not to fear, frustration, or failure. Most people never start because they are afraid of failing. Sometime you have to fail to learn. If you do, pick yourself up, brush off the dust and try again. No one ever succeeded by quitting. Every week The Brain was back out there with another plan going for it again.

Also remember, don’t lose focus. This is something that has taken me a long time to learn. As you sift through all the stuff that bombards you, pick what you think is the best way and stick to it until; 1. It works or 2. It doesn’t. If it works, you have your income stream in place and go for another. If it doesn’t, stop and figure out why and improve it or pick something else. The Brain never stopped; after each failure, he re-grouped and started again.

So, use this and go out there and conquer your world!

This post is dedicated to my friend and fellow “Pinky and The Brain” fan, Liz Tomey and her husband, Jamie Bing, who have both been examples to me of what it takes to succeed.

There must be hundreds of ways to build cash-generating web sites. In fact just about any web site you build has the potential of generating money. You have to choose the method that best suits you.
There are a number of factors involved. First is the amount of work you want to put into your business. This begs the question of whether you are generating cash as a bona fide business or just something you dink around with as a hobby. If this is your business, then you should be willing to put more into it. If a hobby, then all you need to do is put something together, slap on some Adsense code and you are ready to go.
So, I will assume you are trying to build a business. Let’s look at a couple possibilities:
You can build a site around a product. There are 2 ways to accomplish this. Sell physical products or use electronic/downloadable products. Many people have made a lot of money with physical products, but these “catalog” type sites can be a real pain to set up and maintain.
The better way is a “virtual” or downloadable product. These are great because you have no inventory, no hassles with drop shipping, or any headaches other than if a download goes bad. And the web sites for these products are relatively easy to set up.
The best way to utilize a downloadable product is to build your own. This gives you the advantage of owning the profits and allows you to leverage your profit by using affiliate programs and joint ventures to market it. It gives you total control of how much you can profit.
Don’t want to hassle with product creation? You have a cornucopia of possibilities if you use someone else’s product. No I’m not saying copy it, but there is an abundance of affiliate programs out there that you can market and sell. With these you may not even have to set up a full web site. Many time all you need do is set up a “squeeze page” that directs the visitor to the product using your affiliate link. Many make a very good living selling other people’s products.

I will take a look at other ways to generate cash in future posts.

First, I want to welcome you to my blog. I want to share what I have learned about websites that generate cash. These posts will serve as a reference that you can look back to as needed.

One of the things you need to consider when developing a cash-generating web site is what purpose you intend for the site. This is important because it will determine where you will be placing your cash-generating units.
For example: If the purpose of your site is strictly Adsense, you will definitely want your ad unit to appear “above the fold” so the Adsense ads are the first thing your visitor sees. This means your ads appear somewhere above the bottom of the typical monitor. The ad block can either appear before your content, or you might try placing it among the content so it looks like part of it. Just make sure you keep it according to the Adsense Terms of Service. You should also consider placing an ad block at the end of your content, so you can capture those who read all the way through. Remember, even though the content is important, you really want your visitors to click on the ads.

Maybe your primary purpose may not be to generate cash. You may be passionate about your subject and want to share your views with the world. You can do this while still allowing some monetization. In this case you do not want your ads to take away from your content. Consider placing the ad units to the side or at the bottom where the visitor can see them after reading all the way through. It’s up to you. As with any endeavor, it is a good idea to test what you are trying. If placement in one spot doesn’t seem to be working, then you might try moving things around.

Did I mention the dreaded test word? Actually testing when it comes to Adsense is fairly easy and straight forward. Just log into your account and take a look at the information on tracking that is located there. Once you have your tracking information set up, you can see which ad units are working and which ones are not. Change one thing at a time and retest. Keep at it until you are getting consistent results.