Category Archives: Insights

Using API’s for Fun and Profit

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So every major software platform out there has an API. I’m not just talking about “social media” stuff here. I’m talking about all software, be it: project management, Google Places,  your affiliate network, or any one of the major pay per click players. All of those platforms will usually just give you access to all or a portion of their data programmatically. No site scraping needed.

Here’s the thing: you don’t have to be a programmer to do crazy stuff with other peoples’ APIs. Sure, being a programmer helps, but coming up with really cool ideas is what its really all about.

You don’t have to know much to go somewhere like Yahoo! and checkout the API Console and start to get some ideas. Just poke around and see what kinds of information you can get. The ideas will start flowing.

The real power you get is when you start combining the APIs of different platforms to create new and exciting things. What if you used the Foursquare API for location based services and checkins in combination with the Facebook API to find all of the single chicks where ever you’re planning on going drinking tonight. Yeah. It can get down right creepy (or fun, depending on which party you are).

So let’s make some profit.

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The Smart Way to Start a Project

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Your next amazing idea doesn’t need to be a big project with a ton of investment. Sometimes people jump directly to the website building part of their next big venture, when really that’s more like a mid-point. You can build an amazing website that costs thousands of dollars and looks pretty, but if it doesn’t attract any users or doesn’t convert, you’ve wasted your time and money.

Have a plan.

People skip the planning stage too often. It’s hard work and they don’t want to do it. They just want to jump right in. A plan doesn’t need to be some 30 page business plan, but it should fill a certain amount of criteria. It also doesn’t have to be that detailed. It should answer the 5WH criteria at least:

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Series: 7 Weeks to a Successful Blog: Week 1

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I’m starting a new blog series called 52 Weeks to Success.  It’s going to be about starting a blog and building it up, start to success (notice I didn’t say finish).  It will make decent money online and detail every part of the process from conception to execution to making money.  Without further adieu:

Commitment

Time: 7-10 Hours; Cost: $11

Research a Niche

I’ve been losing weight for about 3 months now and I’m down about 25 pounds.  I’d like to lose about 30 more, so I’m going to focus on health and fitness as my niche I think.  Notice I said I think, because I haven’t done any research yet.  I’m not a fitness expert, nor am I particularly fit.  I do know from hearsay that gaming, fitness, dating, and finance are great niches to work in, but they’re extremely competitive.

Since I know I want to do something in Fitness, I’m going to pull up GoDaddy.com and Google External Keyword Tool.  I’ll start with the keyword tool and check for phrases that are in my niche.  I like phrases have a lot of words and a lot of searches.  3 words and over 5,000 searches usually means it should be easy to reach number one.  On GoDaddy, I’ll try domains that match the keywords that show up in the External Keyword Tool. It’s absolutely important that you know what keywords you want to rank for, because if you don’t you might be wandering a bit.  This allows you to focus.  I found that this is ultimately what lead to my success in building websites.

After an hour or so of playing with variations on diet, health, fitness, exercise, and blog, I ultimately chose “core fitness blog” as my keyword of choice.  It has 27,000 searches and is extremely competitive, but I’m ambitious.  This may blow up in my face later, but we’ll see what happens.

Get a Domain Name and Set Up Hosting

Now that I’ve selected a niche and some keywords, I need to buy a domain.  I just happened to find the perfect one that includes both of my keywords and another fairly relevant keyword.  I registered the domain and proceeded to set up my hosting.

If you have questions about how to set up a domain or hosting, just shoot me an email or leave a comment.  I can help you with that.

Install WordPress on the website and stick with the generic template.  Design doesn’t matter right now.  What you need is content.

Start Writing Content

Write 10 articles, spending about 30 minutes each on the articles.  Don’t go straight from one article to the other either.  Take 5 minutes or a day in between to take a break.  Have some food, surf the net, work, sleep, play Tetris, or do something else that gets your mind off of writing.  If you don’t do that, you’ll burn out.  Remember: this is supposed to take about a week.  Once all of your articles are written, go back and read them all out loud.  I don’t care if it’s awkward.  Also: if you can have someone else read them – do that too.

Once you have all of your articles written, load them into WordPress and date all of them 15 or so days apart going back in time.  If you need help doing that, just let me know.  The reason you do this is to give your blog some long term relevancy right now.  People tend to trust a blog that has been around for a while and has multiple posts.

Get the Word Out

Any time you’re not working on the things mentioned above, you need to be discussing your niche with like minded people.  I’ll be detailing specific effective ways to get the word out in later posts, but in general, just get a conversation going.  Use social media like forums and other blogs to drive peoples’ interest in your direction.  You could easily spend 40 hours a week on this specific part of development.

Concluding Week 1

You should have more than enough work with these tasks.  Always remember that if you have extra time, you can move on to next week if it’s out already, or you can fill your time with spreading the word.  Everything listed in this post should take about 7-10 hours (less getting the word out) to do and cost $11.  You can use this method to build 4 blogs simultaneously as your full time job, or one blog after work.  Tell me how your first week went in the comments below.

Apple is Better than Microsoft – Every Time.

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That’s a bold statement right?  Why do people prefer apple products over Microsoft? Let’s break it down by product:

Mac OS X vs. Windows

  • Cost – sure, an apple computer might cost you more up front, but the average lifespan of an apple laptop for $1000 is about six to eight years. A PC of the same price is about 4 years.  When you also factor in additional costs like anti-virus and tech support, the cost of a PC goes even higher.  Now it’s probably important to know we’re comparing OS X and Windows, not Macs and PCs.  This means we shouldn’t forget Linux, which ALSO beat Microsoft on price.
  • Stability – I’ll be the first to admit that Macs do crash, but for every twenty PCs that come through my business to be repaired, I get one Mac (and sadly no Linux machines).  Apple makes both the hardware and the software for their devices, so the operating system is extremely stable.  I leave my machine on for months, whereas a windows reboot at least every two days or so is a good idea.
  • Features – iMovie, bundled with all Mac computers, is the best (bundled free) application out there for making movies.  When you also consider that all recent Mac computers come with a built in webcam, all iMacs come with built in Wifi, and in general, apple sets the bar for functionality, Apple wins by a landslide.
  • Usability – It’s insane how much time apple puts into developing the GUI interfaces for programs.  Every application in OS X is drop dead simple to use.

iPod vs. Zune

  • Cost – Both devices are comparable in price, but the iPod (especially the touch models) comes with SIGNIFICANTLY more features, driving the value of the iPod much higher than the Zune.
  • Stability – The Zune software is just annoying to install – especially on older versions of Windows (XP 2002 and Before).  I don’t think I’ve ever experienced an iTunes installation going wrong on Windows and it’s bundles with OS X.
  • Features – One of the best features of the iPod is the Wifi connection to other Mac based computers on the network for DJ voting, etc.  The iPod Touch was also an amazing upgrade from the original iPod.  It really set the bar for other devices, and nothing else has come close except the iPhone.
  • Usability – I’d say the Zune and the iPod are equally usable – especially the older versions of the iPod.  The touch interface on the newer ones really makes things simple though.

iPhone vs. Windows Mobile

  • Cost – The iPhone actually costs more than the cheaper Windows mobile devices, but in terms of value, if you consider the rest of the features and stability of the devices, the value in Apple’s product is much higher.
  • Stability – I can’t speak directly for the stability of Windows mobile devices, but I do hear people complain about freezing / having to reboot their phones on a regular basis.  Once again, I believe that this has a lot to do with apple making both the hardware and the software as opposed to just the phone’s operating system.
  • Features – the biggest feature for the iPhone is the app store, and Microsoft doesn’t really have a product or service that really competes.  This is where the iPhone really blows Windows Mobile out of the water.
  • Usability – I think the large touch interface on the iPhone is much less clunky than the Windows Mobile interface, but I’d say that that is up to opinion.  I’d say they’re about even, depending on the Windows Mobile phone you have.

Google Image Swirl Makes Finding the Perfect Image Easier

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Check out this great new tool from Google: Google Image Swirl.

Basically what it does is allows you to dial in images based on how close they are to the last image you selected.  For instance, you can search for cats and keep selecting cats until you find the exact one you’re looking for.  They take image properties into account, such as color and face composition.  I could be crazy, but it also looked like it was pulling out expressions.  Here’s an image of my experiment with cats:

Zac Johnson did a great writeup on how this is relevant to you and your Facebook ad campaigns.  I think it’s also relevant to the many other ad platforms as well.

Earthquake Shakes Toronto and Twitter

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Ok, so Toronto just had an earthquake ( June 23, 2010 at 1:45 ).  I don’t really know what the details are yet, but I can give updates.  That’s not what is interesting to me, so much as the speed at which I was able to figure out what happened.  I was able to figure out where and when it was about 5 minutes after it happened.  The speed at which we can get information these days is astounding.  I felt the ground shake and immediately did a Google search and found all sorts of relevant results – most of which were from twitter.

I think that for breaking information, the Internet is an amazing place to ween data, but to get trusted information, classic journalism is still king, albeit not for too much longer.  What do you think?

In an emergency situation like an earthquake, would you go to twitter to report it?

Update: From what I can tell, it was a 5.5 magnitude on the Ontario/Quebec Border

Google stalks you. Did you know?

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I was reading an article over at PPC.bz about how Google links your social contacts to its index to improve your search results.  This is the first I had heard of the service, which is called Google Social Circle.  Click this link to see what social information Google has about you. The service has been around since October of 2009, but this is the first I had heard of it.  You’d think they would announce something like this, especially amidst all of the Facebook privacy news.  You’ll need a Google account and be logged in for the link to work properly.

Barman from PPC.bz basically equates the whole thing to information rape, because they’re taking fondling your privacy.  I don’t agree with that so much, because I feel more like they’re harvesting public information, and everything I put on the web I assume will be public anyways.  That being said, I still wish they told me.

My view is more in line with Bobbi Newman, who says: “Google’s Social Circle & Social Search may not violate any privacy laws but it gives me the creeps.” This is a lot like finding out that you have a stalker – only this one isn’t human, which might be even a little more creepy.  If this technology truly does increase relevancy, I suppose I support it, but I still feel like they were shady about it’s implementation.

In reality this is a lot like XFN search engines, which will probably be the next evolution in social networks.  I’m actually amazed that people aren’t building more of them to compete with Facebook.  It will be interesting how the privacy issues and technology develop with this.

What do you think about it’s privacy implications?

Pros and Cons of URL Shortening Services

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URL Shortening services have become all the rage recently, especially with the character limitations on twitter.  They have their advantages, but also have disadvantages.  Those disadvantages become readily apparent as a web developer, affiliate, or Internet marketer.  URL shortening services.

Pros

  • Making your URLs shorter. The biggest advantage to using these services is their Unique Selling Proposition (USP).
  • Masking your URL. This can be advantageous if you want to hide the fact that you’re linking to an affiliate offer.  That might also be considered a little gray or black hat.
  • Tracking clicks is possible with some providers. This can be useful for tracking the effectiveness of campaigns or specific mentions of things.  You can have multiple shortened URLs point to a single place with different sources, allowing you to track click data.
  • You don’t have to manage the shortening software or hosting yourself. For people that aren’t technically inclined, especially with web programming, this can be a major advantage.

Cons

  • If the URL shortening service goes out of business you’re screwed. This is especially true if it was a popular link, or it took a lot of work to get the link listed where a lot of people can see it.
  • They can see a lot of your data. If someone at a shortening service gets wise to what you’re doing, especially in the affiliate world, they can track a lot of your data and what you’re doing and mimic it, reducing your sales.  I’ve had this happen personally before, and it really sucks.
  • People don’t always trust shortened URLs. I find that if I can use a shortened URL that makes sense to a person behind my own trusted domain, I see about 15% more clicks.  I’m actually in the process right now of adjusting all of my plug-ins that do automated posting to my personal URL shortener.
  • Shortened URLs carry no SEO value. This is an important one.  You aren’t getting credit for your links when you use a shortening service, they are.  SEO credit doesn’t carry through the service because it usually isn’t a 301 redirect.

What do you do?

It’s hard to decide what you’re going to do, knowing these things.  I’ve found that it’s best to use your own URL shortening service.  There is a plugin for WordPress called Self Shortener.  It can be automatically installed via the plug-in manager or downloaded from their website.  This specific service doesn’t track clicks, but I’ve modified mine to do so.  There is also the open source project by Gentle Source for an installable URL shortener.

Starcraft 2 Beta Heats Up

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Starcraft 2 is poised to be the biggest game launch in the last few years.  The original Starcraft has been played for 12 years with international competitions taking place multiple times per year with first place prizes over $100,000.  The second version has been ambiguously close to launch for the last two years, we think.

Recently the game went into private beta and people were scrambling to get keys for the game, with some selling on eBay for $500.  Well now you can get a key for $60.  If you pre-order the game at Amazon, you get a beta key.  I can’t express how excited this makes me.

I’m in for one, how about you?

Luck is Just Being Prepared for Opportunity

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Many people think that hitting home runs in business is quite a bit about luck.  I hear all the time that I’m lucky I work for myself and I can live the way I do, making my hours, etc.  My first response is usually: “yeah I make my own hours, but usually it’s 16-20 hour days.”  What really happened is I prepared myself mentally to start a business for some time.

When the opportunity presented itself, I was ready to execute.  I knew I would be changing jobs soon, and so I decided to take a leap of faith and depend on my ability to execute.  It worked.  Since then, I’ve started and joined many ventures with many people, some of which didn’t work out, but others that worked tremendously.  Most of all I learned something from every single venture.

I’ve started or joined businesses making t-shirts, building websites, fixing computers, doing real estate, Internet Marketing, general sales, creative writing, fine art, and some other things I’m probably forgetting.  The first extremely sustainable was my main business, Acute Technology, which started as a hodgepodge of IT support and website development, but is now building enterprise level applications for businesses, educational institutions, and government.  I was able to leverage my clout with Acute Technology to get into other projects that I’m passionate about as well.

Luck doesn’t just apply to the large victories, but the small ones as well.  Just the other day, I heard through Twitter that Brian Brushwood was looking for someone to help with Name That Autocomplete, and was on a very tight deadline.  I was able to make things happen for them and make some friends along the way.  I think the ROI on my few hours worth of work will pay off, and that small victory makes me feel lucky, but really I was just listening at the right time, with the right knowledge and skills (preparedness).

What are your thoughts on luck?