Genius Types Is Not Just A Great Name...

In the never ending search for meaningful content on the web, Genius Types is a refreshing discovery that can actually restore your faith in blogging and the Internet

Over the past year I've been on a quest to find the way to make money from home/on the Internet... and I've seen plenty. Everything from bogus ads on Craigs List to mortgage brokering. During that time I've also done lots of reading on finances, debt, and getting things done. Through all of this I was beginning to piece together what I thought was a pretty original framework for how to work my way out of debt, build some residual income, and not have to work 26 hours a day. Then I found Brian Lee's blog, Genius Types.

If anyone else had been home they would have seen me sitting slack-jawed in front of my monitor reading all the things I had just moments ago been so proud of as original thought! But instead of being mad, upset, or disappointed... I was thrilled! Brian had just confirmed my ideas and gave me even more confidence in my own. The link that got it all started was to his number one article, Five Ways to Create Passive Income With Little Or No Money. For the better part of the remaining day I wandered around through Brian's posts gleaning nuggets of wisdom and encouragement. Wow!

Brian doesn't just tell you how, he proves that it works!

While there is no shortage of blogs that will tell you how to make money online, some even promising huge payback in a couple of weeks, Brian is a bit more practical and doesn't mind proving it.

First, Genius Types is all about passive income, what I call mailbox money. Little or no effort for a regular, recurring income stream. Without a doubt there are ways to make your Internet business pay off quickly, but from what I've seen they take lots of time and effort...and then they're gone. I'm willing to make the trade-off of slower start for longer return!

Second, and this has been the kicker for me, Brian posts a detailed breakdown of where his blog income comes from each month! Granted, I haven't read the whole Internet yet, but I have yet to find anyone else bold enough to do this. This also means Brian is complete transparent about how much he makes. While he hasn't broken the $1,000 a month plateau yet, he does grow his income each month and that is the name of the game.

All Part of the Plan

Finally, Brian is using the Internet as one source of income that is part of a larger plan, one that will free him from the mouse wheel of working for debt and allow him and his family the latitude to pursue their joys and passions. This is the reason I like Brian and his approach so much! He's not out looking for the quick buck, he's put together a plan and he's working the plan.

So many times people get into a temporary bind (like charging up credit cards for Christmas?) and go out looking for a quick payday to get out of that whole, only to dig a new one the very next day. That's crazy, but it was me and 98% of the rest of America. I hope that by drawing attention to Brian's blog that more of us Internet citizens will wake up and see what we've been doing to ourselves and maybe glean some great pearls from Genius Types to help jump off that treadmill!

Thanks Brian for all your work on Genius Types! Keep up the good work and good luck.

-Thom



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New Weblog Launched

East of Huntsville is a new blog featuring news affecting the east Huntsville community and the greater Huntsville area. A call is also being made for guest bloggers so if you have content that might be interesting or informative to the residents of this area click here for more information.

-Thom

The Web Store Is Growing!

It only opened a couple of weeks ago, but the web store is growing!

My Internet store is open and growing! With just under 100 products traffic is picking up and business is booming!

Some of the most popular categories of products are

• Dallas Cowboys Fan Gear - Don't let the playoffs start without your gear!


• Chess Anyone? - Chess sets for every occasion and budget


• Civil War Collection - Figurines and memorabilia from Civil War times

All orders are processed by Google Checkout so you can rest assured that your information is private and secure! Visit the store at shop.jtrigsby.com today to get in on all the action!

$500 from Barter Genius

Here's a chance to win an easy $500

The owners of Can I Make Big Money Online is holding a contest for their new barter site called “Barter Genius“. They are giving away 500 dollars to one lucky winner and all you have to do to enter is write a blog entry like this one. For more details about the contest click here.

Dallas Cowboys Make the Playoffs!

And not only have the Cowboys made the play-offs but take home field as well!

One of the great things about living Life In the Internet is that you can do it in so many physical locations. The family and I have just moved from Dallas to Huntsville, AL over the summer (yeah, I know, just in time for the Cowboys to start playing well, yada, yada, yada), but we still have some pretty strong ties to the Dallas area. And of course our teams, Dallas Cowboys, Dallas Stars, (and maybe even) the Texas Rangers! Just because we don't live there doesn't mean we can't still support our teams, right!?

I've been catching three kinds of grief over my support for the Dallas Cowboys this year. You know, things like, "we lived there for 10 years and you didn't like them, why do you like them now?" Uh, honey... because they're WINNING now! I always said Dallas fans were the most fair weathered I had ever seen but now I know why, its because they are so used to their teams winning that anything less is just a letdown!

Well anyway, I wanted to say way to go Cowboys and to remind everyone that we have Dallas Cowboys fan gear in our Internet store at shop.jtrigsby.com! You wouldn't want to start the playoffs without the right gear now would ya?

-Thom

Reaching My Blogging Goals for 2008

Inspired by Daniel's 2008 Goals blog writing project over at Daily Blog Tips, I recently published my blogging goals for 2008. Now what?

So here are the goals again, with a few more details (I hope!). As always, if you have any ideas for me by all means please share!

Write at least one post every day I'm already behind on this one (although I guess technically 2008 hasn't started yet so I'm still ok, right?) I think the key here will be to write ahead so I'm not pressed everyday to write something. Writing is a chore for me but when I get on a roll, I can just let the stuff fly! Maybe by taking advantage of that the blog can stay fresh and filled every day. I've also thought it might be a good idea to come up with a content schedule / outline. Does anyone else do this? How does it work for you?

Network with (not just link to) other bloggers I've really become a big believer in networking, both on-line and off. If you are not intentional in building relationships you can simply wander through life and miss out on some great support and experience that is just wait on you to ask. I've tried re-inventing the wheel and its hard.

Average at least 100 daily unique visitors Networking will help this but I think it will just take a little time. I'll continue my linking quest(s) and commenting sprees and the like to get the name out there. I'm not in a huge hurry to build traffic and I really want organic growth so I'm really trying to avoid building traffic through ads like AdWords. I am trying to be diligent about putting links out there in my email, on Facebook and LinkedIn, etc.

Average at least 300 daily page views This is simple math. If Life In the Internet gets 100 daily visitors and they look at three pages each (on average of course) then there are my 300 page views. Key here is interesting content (see number one above).

Have at least 100 RSS subscribers I was talking to a good friend of mine once who used to sell cars. He told me one of the first things they were taught to do was ask potential customers to buy the car. Seems simple but... So key number one to making this one happen is asking my readers to subscribe to my RSS feed! (There, that wasn't so bad was it?) Beyond that however, more interesting content (wow, that seems to be coming up a lot!)

Average at least 3 comments per post I was reading Mark Cuban's blog (www.BlogMaverick.com) the other day and he said the best way to make sure you get lots of comments on a topic is to say something you know will push peoples buttons (paraphrased). Not so sure that will work for me but maybe. Any ideas?

Break into the top 5,000,000 on Alexa (currently 8,167,786) As I look back at the other goals here (100 visitors, 300 page views) I'm realizing this may be a bit unrealistic, but it's a start. Again, it will just take a little time and giving readers a reason to visit.

And finally, Generate at least $500 monthly I'm working on two concepts here. One, under promise and over deliver. If I only aim for $500 a month it should be easier to hit and I'll feel much better about making $600. Second, I don't think I want this blog to be the sole source of income. Sure, it needs to support it's own habits but I think it could work much better as a gateway into other ventures, similar to the way Brian Lee over at GeniusTypes uses his blog. At any rate, here are some of the things I've got going. Suggestions are, of course, welcome and encouraged:

• Of course there is AdSense (as you can see). So far it has made a grand total of $4.11 for me. I know that will improve some with more targeted content and with more visits / page views. Any other ideas?
  
  
• The Tip Jar is always there (top right, just under my LinkedIn profile button). I don't really expect it to be a primary source of income but a few buck here and there would be nice (hint, hint)
  
  
• There are a couple of ads from Commission Junction (Boca Java, Calendars, etc). I probably need to revisit those ads in light of the content focus to make sure relevant ads are rolling.
  
  
• There are a few ClickBank links scattered around the site. Nothing really going on with them either.
  
  
• And then of course there are the ads to my other income producers. They are all the way at the bottom on the right. Should I move them up higher?
  

Ok, there you have it. A slightly more detailed look at my goals. Please, feel free to leave a comment if you have any suggestions for me. I'm all in for trying to learn from other folks experience.

Thanks for stopping by, reading and commenting. Oh, and Happy New Year and best of luck in 2008!

-Thom

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Can't Tase This

Ok, ok... I know this isn't new... but it is pretty funny!

Can't Tase This

Blogging Goals for 2008

With a fresh bit of inspiration from Daniel and his Group Writing Project: 2008 Blogging Goals, I've decided on some goals for my blog in 2008. Granted they may be meager since I'm just getting started (a little over a month as of this writing) but hey, its a start, right? Anyway, here goes....

Write at least one post every day
Network with (not just link to) other bloggers
Average at least 100 daily unique visitors
Average at least 300 daily page views
Have at least 100 RSS subscribers
Average at least 3 comments per post
Break into the top 5,000,000 on Alexa (currently 8,167,786)
Generate at least $500 monthly ($4.11 last month, I know, long way to go, right?)

Wish me luck!

Is Target Coming?

Ok, a few days back I posted an article that stated with some enthusiasm that Target is Coming! Well now we see that might not be the case.

In a December 10th blog post on AL.com (actually the day before my aforementioned post) a question is posed whether this was a concept or reality. So AL.com contacted Cole Walker of Walker Family Properties, the developer of the project. In the "interview" Walker says, "...the preliminary site plan...that has circulated recently is "a concept only[.]" He goes on to state that the plan was prepared for a Texas developer (Merchants Holding Company, LLC), "interested in a joint venture...with the developers[.]" (see the full article here)

Despite his statements in the most recent article, the site plan does seem to be consistent with Mr. Walker's previous concepts for the development. In a November 11th interview by Marian Accardi published in the Huntsville Times (and here on AL.com) Mr. Walker outlines his dream for the property, all of which are included in the site plan.

So the question remains, is Target coming? I'll guess we'll have to wait and see.

Things I've Learned on the Internet...

Let's make this a running list. Please add to it via comments! - Thom

I'll let my friend David Wier get us started...

1. If they start their email "my dear Friend" - they're not

Radical Buy is....well, Radical!

Ok, ya GOTTA see this! The newest alternative to Ebay called RadicalBuy.com. But that's not the best part, Ohhhh Nooooo.

The folks at RadBuy have worked out a deal with the good people at Facebook.com, a leading social networking site, to tie the two together! Now you can list, refer, and buy all from within Facebook!

Now we're getting somewhere. Just like VisiCalc was a killer app and web browsers became killer apps, Facebook is now migrating into a new killer app. No longer is it only for keeping in touch with friends, it is now becoming a platform for eCommerce. Just think how your shopping habits will be effected when they tie in your moods, schools, employers, etc to filter and "suggest" products you might be interested in. For instance, it's a reasonably good bet that if you live in the Dallas area you might be a Cowboys, Mavs, or Stars fan. Now filter NFL, NBA, and NHL products to put those teams on top! How about your favorite college, even high school teams? Where else could it go?

Mark Cuban has a great article about this topic on his blog, Blog Maverick.

So what does all this mean? I'm not really sure yet... but I bet it will be fun to find out!

-Thom

A Journey of One Thousand Miles...

Here's another great one I found on the web. Ever feel like you could use more money? Start here!

-Thom


http://www.financeandfat.com/archives/stop-borrowing-money/

What the Heck is Email Marketing?

It's that dreaded time of day... opening your email. How much junk mail did my spam filter miss? How many times will I have to click to get rid of all this UCE (uh, Unsolicited Commercial Email, :)). That my friends is what most people think of when they think of Email Marketing... Junk Mail, aka SPAM (still not sure what the association with a fine nearly meat product is...?)

For those of us that live our lives in cyber-space, we're used to wading through a bunch of junk mail everyday, every once-in-a-while finding a gem even. But most Internet citizens think of it as the worst the web has to offer. Too bad, because it can be a very useful communication tool with the businesses you want to hear from, say Super Suppers or Creative Courtroom (just to name a couple of completely random companies).

Email Marketing is simply using email to distribute your marketing message, instead of (or in addition to!) the newspaper, magazines, or (Heaven help us!) telemarketing!

I actually do quite a bit of Email Marketing, almost 10,000 emails a month, and all of it with one vendor, Constant Contact!

Constant Contact is a service that gives me the tools to manage my contact list, design email from very simple to very elaborate, and automate the sending process. They also spend a lot of time working with ISP's to make sure as many of their emails get through as possible AND making sure they stay off the RBL's (real time black lists!). No small feat my friends.

I've included a link below if you want to try them out. They have a 60 day free trial going on right now so don't miss it. You can also email me if you have any questions about how it works or how to make the most from your email marketing campaign!

- Thom

Making WebMoney with AdSense & AdWords

While reading through the various links that came through my GoogleReader page today, I came across this one... and I quote:

"Let’s see if I have this right. Google places links to other people’s web sites on my site and they pay me for each hit. WHY? What’s in it for Google? How does Google know if the hits are coming from me…just to increase my check from them?"

It was then and there that I decided to write this article, so Ralph, here you go buddy!

If you look down the right margin on this page, then again at the bottom (and probably several more locations as well) you'll see links grouped together with a small tag line at the bottom that says, "Ads by Google". I have reserved these spaces and use a Google AdSense component to display these links to other people's web sites. In return for letting them use my screen "real estate" Google pays me a few cents per link clicked. That's pretty much how AdSense works...in a nutshell. But now the better question of Why? What's in it for Google?

I have forgotten who said it but I think the quote goes, "If in doubt, follow the money." Well that certainly applies in this case. Google is in business to make money, right!?! In addition to AdSense, Google has a program called AdWords. People with websites that want people to visit their site (eg, Joe's Pumpkin Patch) create an account with Google AdWords and bid on certain key words (eg, "pumpkins"). When a website (like mine) mentions that keyword (pumpkins) frequently enough, and has space reserved for AdSense ads, then my site would display an ad for Joe's Pumpkin Patch. Now, when Joe setup his account with AdWords, he agreed to pay $.05 to Google every time somebody clicked on a link to his Pumpkin Patch website. Google in turn pays a portion of that revenue out to the websites that display the ads. And there you have the magic of Google Advertising!

And finally, Google knows the hits are coming from my site because the link doesn't go directly to Joe's Pumpkin Patch, it goes to Google, THEN to Joe's website.

Now don't think Google is the only player in this game, or even the first. Yahoo! (and others) were doing it long before the Google search engine even went live. Google has however become the top dog for many, many reasons.

So this non-authoritative, non-comprehensive, (yet lengthy!) post leaves us with a couple of take aways.

First, create a Google AdSense account and get some ads on your website/blog!!! It is FREE and only stands to make you some money. Worst case, it won't cost you anything and you won't make anything.

If you have a website to promote, use Google AdWords. There are literally volumes out there on picking the right keywords, how much to pay, etc. Here are a couple of good places to start:

AdWordsHowTos

Besting AdWords
(This site makes EXTENSIVE use of AdSense advertising!)

Earning Thousands With AdWords

And finally, this is just the beginning! There are hundreds of ways to make money off your site/blog. None of them may make you rich by themselves, but as I've always said... nickles make dollars! Happy hunting and good luck!!!

-Thom

A Great Article on Making The Most of Landing Pages

If you're not really into AdWords, AdSense, selling on the web and my WebMoney series, this won't make much sense (or is it cents?) to you, so you have my permission to skip it now.

If you are/have then here is a great article on maximizing your landing pages by Jon Rognerud. It comes from his blog SEO World.

Enjoy.

- Thom

Target is Coming! Target is Coming!

The graphic below is an artists rendering of a future shopping development in east Huntsville. The Harris Hills development will be anchored by a Super Target and will include retail outlets for Barnes & Noble, Ross, Pier 1, J.C. Penny, World Market, Hobby Lobby, Dick's Sporting Goods, Kohl's, Pets Mart, Best Buy and many more. The develoopment will also include a movie theatre, office space, and multi-family development. The accompanying plans indicate the new 170 acre complex will fill most of the space between Moores Mill Road and Shields Road SOUTH of Highway 72 (click here for a Google map of the location) and will have over 1.1 Million Square Feet of space, and over 7,000 parking spaces.

The development is being spearheaded by Merchants Holding Company, LLC, a Texas based company. According to the company's web site, MHC specializes "...in the design, development and implementation of specialty retail concepts throughout the United States. The preleminary site plan below was developed by Wakefield Beasley & Associates, an Atlanta based architecture firm."

The Latest Killer App!

Since the beginning of the computer age users have been asking the same question, "Yeah, it's cool... but what will you do with it?"

The first killer app was a spreadsheet called VisiCalc. It harnessed the power of the PC and made it a useful tool for the everyday business user. With a tool like VisiCalc there was actually a reason to buy a PC.

The Internet has been the same way. Oh, by no means has there been any shortage of killer apps for the Internet. (How about e-mail and web browsing just to name two!) Then, building on web browsing as a platform, we experienced e-Commerce, that multi-billion dollar industry we're all still trying to tap for our few cents.

Well now there is a new killer app. Many have tried to do hosted applications before but none have been as successful as Google with their new Google Apps! With Google Apps you can now host your own domain, have email, calendar, and shared documents, even your own blog! And the best part is the price... it's free!

I'm such a big believer in the Google Apps platform that I run my whole Internet existence with it. My domains are now hosted by Google, my email, calendar and documents are all hosted on Google Apps. And as you can see, I'm a big believer in AdSense from Google. More to follow.

-Thom

The Store Is OPEN!!!

Well, its been quite a while coming but it is finally here, my Internet store is OPEN!! There are only about 20 products there as of this writing, but more are being added daily! The URL is http://shop.jtrigsby.com. (I'm so excited!)

I know, its a little late for getting in on the Christmas rush, but hey, better late than never, right? It features a PayPal shopping cart so all your purchases will be safe and secure! Even if you don't buy anything you should still check it out!

That's all for now, see ya at the store!