It’s been a while…
Okay it's been a while since I posted... A lot has happened since them... For personal reasons I had to change the domain on which I used to host this blog. And I've added Hatch to the blog, since we are pursuing this freedom 31 together. I guess I will remain the main writer for the blog for now, unless Hatch decides to add his own section or comments =)
Over the next few posts, I will do a big recap of what I (we) have been working on over the last few months and how the websites (I have many many of them right now!) have been doing. Your comments and advices are welcome, as always!
p.s. Hatch wanted me to give him credit for inspiring me to create this blog
Quick update
I decided to change the layout of my websites, and suddenly saw a big change in the adsense click through rate and had my first 2 amazon affiliate sales. I am extremely happy and as we are talking, I am looking in refining my SEO techniques and am already looking for a new niche.
April 26th update
Lots have happened since my last update April 12th.
First, I went ahead and decided to make the next big move... Investing in real estate :D Okay I did have a little bit of help with that one. My father, who has a lot of experience in real estate, talked me into investing into that nice small apartment building. With the low mortgage interest rates, I had the perfect combination, so I decided to just do it.
The apartment building consists of three main units and also has a bachelor in the basement, that can also be rented out.
The reason I decided to invest in the triplex is that, other than the down payment, there isn't any real cost associated with the building. The renting out of the three units+bachelor covers the mortgage and will even give me a bit of surplus by the end of the year. This way, I feel my money was put in a very safe investment, that will give me a big return on the long run.
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Second, my websites. I learned a lot throughout those two weeks as well in terms of websites, niche, adsense and affiliate sales.
My niches were: Niche 1 (ct), Niche 2 (ca), Niche 3(h), Niche 4(o)
My goals were:
* have Niche 1 on the first page of Google for the chosen set of keywords
--> Niche 1(ct) is on the first page of Google for the chosen set of keywords, after a lot (and a lot and a lot) of SEOing... HOWEVER, I realized that Niche 1(ct) wasn't gonna make any money. I realized that this first niche was chosen poorly, and although it has the potential of attracting people, it doesn't have quite the potential to making any money, as the click-through-rate is extremely low (below 1%). So I decided to let that website dies on its on, which I found a little bit frustrating since, as my first website, I had put so much dedication and effort into it. I least, I can learn from my mistakes.
* have Niche 2(ca) on the first 3 pages of Google for the chosen set of keywords
-->Niche 2(ca) is also doing well. It is now on the 2nd page of Google for my chosen set of keywords. Niche 2(ca) has pleasantly surprised me, as it is generating the most money and growing in the most steady way. The click through rate is fairly high, being between 5% to 20%. I can't wait to see Niche 2(ca) being on the first page of Google, now that I see its potential!
* have Niche 3(h) on the first page of Google for the chosen set of keywords
--> Niche 3 is doing fairly well and is on the first page of Google for the chosen set of keywords. It is on the fourth position of Google, although it seems to be stuck there. I have been doing a lot of SEO, and am hoping that it will catch up and climb up the page. Niche 3(h) is returning an okay click through rate, I am still positive of its potential of making money once its up the ladder.
* Start doing some SEO work for Niche 4
* Write some content for Niche 4
-->I neglected Niche 4(o). I did write a little bit of content and did a little bit of SEO work for it, but I certainly did not push it very hard. After being stuck on page 30, then 15 of Google for the longest time, it showed today on page 6 of Google, which I think isn't too bad, for a website that was neglected.
* be making about 5$/day
--> Unfortunately, I haven't reached my 5$/day goal yet. Nevertheless, I have been averaging 3.30$/day and have even had a 6$ and 8$ days in a row. My big mistake was too put so much effort in Niche1(ct) at the start, therefore neglecting the money-makers. But I am still learning, and hopefully I can catch up quickly.
* start a new blog with a new Niche with a good set of keywords
-->And I did! I started a completely new website, with a new niche (Niche 5(cr)) and a new set of keywords. This time, I decided to make things slightly different. I did not put any Adsense and decided instead to sign up for an Amazon affiliate sales. The set of keywords I chose had so few competition and so well targeted that after 3 days I setted up the website with the affiliate products from Amazon on it, it was on the first page of Google in 4th position! Although it is in 4th position, I haven't seen any sales yet. I'm hoping that as it goes up the page, I will start seeing some sales soon.
Some graphs
Niche 2 (ca) week by week: shows a steady increase over the weeks (the average of visits per day over last week is 40).
Niche 3(h) day by day:shows a steady increase over the days (the average of visits per day over last week is 25)
Niche 4(o) day by day:is taking some time to pick up, because I neglected it (the average of visits per day is lower than 10)
1st month of income
After researching a little bit, I concluded that I needed to find a niche easier to break in. So I found two more set of keywords for 2 different niches.
And this is how I created two more blogs.
So to this day I have 4 blogs, in different niches.
Niche 1: Has high pay per click, but low click rate. Keyword difficult to break in.
Niche 2: Has low pay per click, but extremely high click rate by the end of the week. Keyword medium to break in.
Niche 3: Pay per click unknown. Keyword easy to break in.
Niche 4:Pay per click unknown. Keyword easy to break in.
So far, after about 3 weeks of adsense, I have made 18$.
My goals by april 26th:
- have Niche 3 in the first page of Google for the chosen set of keywords
- have Niche 1 in the first page of Google for the chosen set of keywords
- have Niche 2 in the first 3 pages of Google for the chosen set of keywords
- Start doing some SEO work for Niche 4
- Write some content for Niche 4
- be making about 5$/day
- start a new blog with a new Niche with a good set of keywords
I started
I started ! I started to create residual income with a money blog earlier in February. A lot has happen since early February. I now own 4 blogs.
So I went through Steve Crook's blog (the 100buckschallenge.com) and read about how he does it.
Then I looked for a good niche using the Google Adword tool. The set of keywords I choose had to fit those criteria in Google Adword tool: above 3000 searches per month, an average CPC higher than 8$ not too much competition.
Then I verified that the set of keywords of interest was available in .com, which it was :) I signed up for an account on a host server, registered the domain et voilà.
Okay that was only the first step. Then I had to start added content to my site. I wrote about 40 articles in about 1 month and started promoting my website doing SEO.
SEO :
- started social marking my website and each post (and making sure I was also social marking other articles and sites so I would not get ban from the social marking sites for spamming)
- started registering for blogs and adding my links in my signature
- started commenting on blogs and online journals, with a backlink within my signature
- I also started using "Angela's packages", which happen to be the best thing on earth in terms of SEO, for a few bucks a month
- I sent a few articles to Ezines with a backlink to my website
- I created a squidoo lense, with a backlink to my website
- I added XML sitemap to my blog
During the process, I got to read a lot about other people achievement, and their way of doing stuff. That's when I learned about long-tail keyword. I read about that guy who found a long-tail keyword, with very very low competition and a lot of searches. Apparently that long-tail keyword worked out so well for him that he is set for life. That's when I decided to look for more a long-tail keyword. That long-tail keyword had to have a lot of searches, good CPC, and be available in .com. After I found it, I registered the domain and started writing articles right away and had about 20 articles after 2 weeks.
After over 2 months of intense SEO works, my two blogs are starting to show up... slowly...
How I will create residual income
So I am really serious about creating residual income. The books I've read gave me ideas on how to start. At this point, I decided to focus on three ways to create residual income and passive income streams:
1--> Work on my investment and savings portfolio
2--> Develop a money making blog (not this one... not so far :P)
3--> Investing in real estate
So what do I need to know? Well I guess I need to learn about all of that...
Lessons from Rich Dad Poor Dad
The big lesson to be learned from Rich Dad Poor Dad:
Don’t work hard for money; instead, have money work hard for you.
I have read several bad reviews about Rich Dad Poor Dad... I myself wasn't too much of a fan at first. However, I came to realize that Kiyosaki is a seller, not your personal broker. He gives the concepts, and you take what you like, discard what you don't. You have to be a little bit critical of what you read, and see the feasibility in your situation.
According to Rich Dad (and Poor Dad), there are two main types of income: Earned income, Residual income (including passive income and portfolio income).
Your earned income is what you earn by working. Your job, for example, is an earned income. If you stop working (quit, are let go, etc), you will stop earning that income.
Residual income is what your earn with not direct involvement from you. Of course, you need an initial effort, but once it's going good, it's going, and doesn't stop (usually). A good example of a passive income is income derived from real estate or from your paper assets (bonds, mutual funds,etc). Residual income can be difficult to create, and the key is to be alert for residual income opportunities.
The other main discrepancy between Rich Dad and Poor Dad is that Rich Dad will spend his money on assets while Poor Dad will spend his money on liabilities, without understanding the difference. For example, while a new car is an asset to Poor Dad, that same new car is a liability to Rich Dad. This is the reasoning behind it:
An Asset is something that will pay you back, by producing income.
A Liability is something that will cost you money, by causing expenditures.
So when you buy a new car, what happens? You spend money. Similarly, when you purchase a new house in the suburbs or a new TV, you spend money, by creating a monthly mortgage payment or monthly credit card payments. And as people make more money, they tend to buy more goods and services on credit, increasing the amount of debts.
This is where investing in other types of assets become interesting - the residual income. You need to purchase assets that will create a streaming income. Over time that residual income will become greater than you earned income (job), allowing you to become independently wealthy.
Images from www.web-developer-job.com/rich-dad-poor-dad.htm
Lessons from The 4 hours work week
I started following Tim Ferriss blog after a friend sent me the link.
My first reaction was that Tim Ferriss was way too weird to my taste... I didn't believe that he could be 100% truthful in his blog... How he became a tango professional dancer by hiring a local dancer at a local rate, how he learns any language in 3 months by cutting down on some elements usually taught in school, how he wanted to become an actor and became one... in Hong Kong and mainland China...
The other day, while I was visiting some friend in my hometown, that friend and I got talking about Tim Ferriss. That friend of mine happened to had read his book and to have liked it. That why, the other day, as I was browsing in the bookstore, I remembered about Tim Ferriss book... So I went and found it, found a cozy spot in the bookstore to sit down and started reading the book.
I realized that he was nowhere as crazy in the book as he is the blog. The 4 hours work week book is a bit less cliché than Rich Dad Poor Dad. I did find it more enjoyable to read, because Tim Ferriss demonstrates what he means by his weird own experiences. I still think that Tim Ferriss is a little bit odd, but I came to realize, just like Rich Dad Poor Dad, that The 4 hours work week book is a great book for the big concepts it brings and to get start ideas about becoming independently wealthy and create residual income.
So the big idea of The 4 hours work week revolve around 4 concepts: Define your goal, Eliminate distractions to free up your time, Automate your cash flow, Liberate yourself of the traditional and expected stuff.
To define goals. Basically what do you want? Nothing more nothing less... I guess a question we often don't know the answer. That's why we should take some time one day to decide what we really want (What do I really want??)
To eliminate distractions in order to create free time. In summary, learn to focus focus focus on the 20% most important things, and learn to say no. 20% seems a little bit low to my opinion, but it's the general idea I would like to emphasize: focus on important things, and learn to create free time for yourself.
To automate cash flow, create residual income and outsource. I personally think that Tim Ferriss does emphasize too much on outsourcing, and that he sometimes brings the outsourcing to a ridiculous and even offensive level.
To liberate yourself from the conventional, be different. Tim Ferriss recommend to make changes to your professional life, change your job so you can increase your mobility. Use your time to follow your dreams.
Of course Tim Ferriss book is not for everybody. Many people do not want what Tim Ferriss wants to experience. I know many people who are less than interested in trying weird stuff and living around the globe. I find most people like the cozy idea of staying in their hometown, getting a cute house the suburbs, a good job, getting married, having children and possibly early retire at 58-59.
However this conventional lifestyle I find does not suit me (yet), and this why Rich Dad Poor Dad and The 4 hours week work books are so appealing to me. It has open my eyes to all the possibilities beyond my everyday job.
Create residual income?
Like I said in my last post, my next big thing is to decide where I need to start...
I will admit it, I didn't thoroughly read Robert Kiyosaki, Steve Crooks and Tim Ferris blogs or books, nor I have make very much investigation on the topic yet... I kinda read pages there and there, posts there and there, read reviews about them and listen to my close friends talking about them (while I was taking mental notes heeheehee)
The only thing I know... I need to create a residual income. I currently work, but in the future, I would like to be able to generate and collecting money from "X" while doing "Y" in "Z". Now I need to fill out those blanks... Easy to say... less easy to do...
Their secret
So what does Robert Kiyosaki, Steve Crooks and Tim Ferriss all do in common?
They all have very different background, different interests, even different ways of getting there...
How do they achieve to all three, be independently wealthy?
The answer lies behind these three words:
Create Residual Income
.
To create a residual income consists in creating circumstances or conditions where a first boost of effort is needed. After that first boost of work, income keep flowing in, no matter what, with you needing doing minimal or no work at all. In summary, you are earning a passive income for your initial work.
There are many ways to make residual income, most people do it the traditional way, by investing their money in mutual funds, stocks or saving accounts. However, by reading Robert Kiyosaki, Steve Crooks and Tim Ferriss and similar authors, I realized that many more options were available, such as making websites, owning real estate, etc.
The next step is to choose where to start...