noob questions - getting started, a few questions

[RickC]

Hi all,

First post, just joined here after getting fed up with the spam over on WaFo, ok not everyone there is a scammer but it's hard to wade through all the crap posts of guys promising page 1 google results for only $xx.

anyhow i'm in Canada, 38, husband and father of 2 great kids, and i'm tired of trading dollars for hours. I'm self employed but have 2 service businesses so it's not much better than working for someone else...

before i create my first site i want to make sure i get started in the right direction.

I already have a couple google accounts, signed up for adwords/adsense long time ago and did very little with it, but i also use them for my "real" businesses.

QUESTION #1: Should i start fresh with a new goog account specifically for my future online businesses or is it ok to keep it all under 1 acct?

the reason i ask is I worry that if i make a mistake or bad choice that causes google to punish me somehow, i dont want that to affect my 2 existing home businesses. is this a silly question?

QUESTION #2: I've been listening to podcasts by a guy named Trent Dyrsmid, who is a proponent of micro content & authority sites with google adsense. Has anyone here got anything good/bad to say about this guy and his offer? he offers a pkge/process that should get me on the fast track by providing instruction on exactly step by step what to do and the best/quickest ways to do them. ok its under $100 so not a big investment. it's just nice to hear a first hand report of someone who did his program and their results.

Just reading on WaFo taught me quickly that you cant blindly trust anyone offering coaching or how-to packages...

I have some ideas for authority sites where i really am an expert with tons of industry knowledge, a possible ebook etc. i also have one that would fit well with an affiliate offering 8% commission on sales for their products.

Any Advice is appreciated! :bigear:

 

[ron.ray]

Hi Rick, I'm pretty new here myself but working in IM for years as my main business. Don't know about your 2nd questions, but i wouls search for reviews and give it a try, it's not much and i guess you can get a refund if it's completely not ehat promised. about your first quesdtion, i believe aged adsense accounts are gold and you should your aged one instead of making a new one.

 

[RickC]

Hi Ron, thanks for replying,

It didnt occur to me that google might place value on the age of an adsense account....is this statement based on something you read somewhere?

also hope i dont get flamed here for asking about an adsense expert now that i realize this forum appears to focus on affiliate marketing (correct me if im wrong).

cheers,

Rick

 

[Mightier]

QUESTION #1: Should i start fresh with a new goog account specifically for my future online businesses or is it ok to keep it all under 1 acct?

Keep them separate. Though it's unlikely that anything bad will happen, you don't want to screw over your real source of income.

the reason i ask is I worry that if i make a mistake or bad choice that causes google to punish me somehow, i dont want that to affect my 2 existing home businesses. is this a silly question?

If you're doing SEO, it's unlikely bad stuff will happen.

QUESTION #2: I've been listening to podcasts by a guy named Trent Dyrsmid, who is a proponent of micro content & authority sites with google adsense. Has anyone here got anything good/bad to say about this guy and his offer? he offers a pkge/process that should get me on the fast track by providing instruction on exactly step by step what to do and the best/quickest ways to do them. ok its under $100 so not a big investment. it's just nice to hear a first hand report of someone who did his program and their results.

Don't pay for shit until you understand why you're buying it. Period. People seem to forget that internet marketing is a business -- everyone has an angle and not everyone can get rich. If some guy is offering you advice, he's profiting off it somehow.

Anyway, most of the crappy advice he'll give you is probably freely available online. That being said, figure out who you think is smart and who you think is an absolute fucktard. Fucktards abound and they'll give you shitty advice or tell you things that are just plain wrong.

Just reading on WaFo taught me quickly that you cant blindly trust anyone offering coaching or how-to packages...

Most people who visit Wickedfire, WarriorForum, and BlackHatWorld barely make any money (if they make money at all). They regurgitate what other people have told them without thinking it through. Thinking outside the box will get you farther than listening to the herd.

I have some ideas for authority sites where i really am an expert with tons of industry knowledge, a possible ebook etc. i also have one that would fit well with an affiliate offering 8% commission on sales for their products.

Offering people advice, particularly if you can back it up with experience is valuable. That's how SEO Gurus make their money and there's no reason you cannot be a guru of your own in an industry you understand.

If you're going to go this route, just remember that you're building YOURSELF as a brand more than anything. Don't fuck it up. A lot of people can't see farther than 10 yards down the road when it comes to SEO and they take a lot of shortcuts to "get there." Once they "arrive," they're surprised how quickly everything turns to crap.

Any Advice is appreciated! :bigear:

1) Figure out who isn't full of shit and listen to them.
2) Testing things yourself is better than going with the herd.
3) Focus on providing value and building something to last.
4) Use your brain.
5) If it sounds too good to be true, it is.

 

[Staccs]

^ 5 star post.

 

[RickC]

Great response thank you muchly!

If you're doing SEO, it's unlikely bad stuff will happen.

Yes i plan to only wear the white hat, pandas seem to be attracted to the black ones....

Don't pay for shit until you understand why you're buying it.

Ok i may be a noob here but not in life lol...Im a bit smarter than to throw $$ at a program i dont understand. I would be buying it to accelerate my learning, not skip it, and to get things like templates for my VA's, spreadsheet for tracking progress when i get too many sites to manually handle one at a time etc...

If some guy is offering you advice, he's profiting off it somehow.

He likely is profiting thru commissions from the services he recommends which are mostly paid, like marketsamurai, and im ok with that, and he also will recommend free alternatives that may not be as efficient maybe.

Anyway, most of the {assumed crappy} advice he'll give you is probably freely available online.

Yes, but that takes time, and time is something i dont have a lot of to spare., searching forums can be huge time waster (i get distracted easily).

1) Figure out who isn't full of shit and listen to them.
2) Testing things yourself is better than going with the herd.
3) Focus on providing value and building something to last.
4) Use your brain.
5) If it sounds too good to be true, it is.

1) Working on it
2) I loathe testing, but recognize i will have to do it, though i might prefer to just throw a lot of stuff up, see what sticks and what doesnt and hopefully recognize patterns (im good at that kinda thing). I learned a long time ago that marketing success often defies all human logic.
3) absolutely - it may be more work but making a "real" authority site seems much more appealing, and I hate web spam so i couldn't bear the thought of creating more of it.
4) yep.
5) yep.

Thank you for your thoughtful response.

I just drove 1400 kms in 3 days so i listened to all of this guys podcasts, he seems very honest, genuine and informative...just gotta dig and if i find no dirt i may buy in...he's offering a hosting deal tie in that actually sounds like a good deal just for doing a 1 yr with hostgator...

 

[Mightier]

Great response thank you muchly!

Anytime

Yes i plan to only wear the white hat, pandas seem to be attracted to the black ones....

I think that is a pretty meaningless distinction. Unless you're going to be hacking sites to promote Viagra, terms "white hat" and "black hat" have little to no meaning at all.

Ok i may be a noob here but not in life lol...Im a bit smarter than to throw $$ at a program i dont understand. I would be buying it to accelerate my learning, not skip it, and to get things like templates for my VA's, spreadsheet for tracking progress when i get too many sites to manually handle one at a time etc...

It's not a matter of just throwing money at something you don't understand, it's throwing money at something you don't need. There are many tools out there that work well, but only if you know what you're doing with them and the only way to figure that out is to do your homework.

As for VAs, templates, and accelerating your learning... meh. You're in no position to hire VAs right now, you don't have any sites so you don't need to worry about tracking them all, and the quickest method to accelerating your learning is to simply get out there and do it yourself.

By doing everything yourself, by learning to do your own research, and by figuring out your own method for building links you're going to wind up with a much better understanding of how SEO works.

He likely is profiting thru commissions from the services he recommends which are mostly paid, like marketsamurai, and im ok with that, and he also will recommend free alternatives that may not be as efficient maybe.

Yup, but that means he's not talking about superior tools that might not have affiliate programs.

Yes, but that takes time, and time is something i dont have a lot of to spare., searching forums can be huge time waster (i get distracted easily).

I'd caution against this kind of approach. Not having a lot of time to spare is not compatible with being successful at SEO, especially given the latest Google changes. Patience in SEO is a virtue and expecting overnight wealth and success is simply the wrong mentality.

The dude you linked to has an agenda and that's selling people on the idea that making money online is easy, can be done by following a formula, and can be done by anyone. None of these things are true. Period. Most people don't make a dime online. The ones who do bust their asses and don't follow formulas.

Yeah, there are things these gurus can teach you, but you've got to dial in your signal-to-noise meter first and without doing your own legwork it's never going to get there. Why? Because gurus provide a crutch which is very tempting when you don't know shit, but ultimately it hinders your ability to think critically and learn.

1) Working on it
2) I loathe testing, but recognize i will have to do it, though i might prefer to just throw a lot of stuff up, see what sticks and what doesnt and hopefully recognize patterns (im good at that kinda thing). I learned a long time ago that marketing success often defies all human logic.

Do lots of things and pick the winners, just don't stretch yourself too thin or you'll get overwhelmed and give up.

Thank you for your thoughtful response.

I just drove 1400 kms in 3 days so i listened to all of this guys podcasts, he seems very honest, genuine and informative...just gotta dig and if i find no dirt i may buy in...he's offering a hosting deal tie in that actually sounds like a good deal just for doing a 1 yr with hostgator...

No problem, glad you're learning, and good luck.