Focus On One Project

One of the things I found success with in the past is bringing it all together and focusing on One Project. That’s been my goal this year so far, shedding my focus from other sites and just focusing on the one with the most potential. In this case I believe that’s Lake Chapala.

Lake Chapala
Lake Chapala Tours
Lake Chapala MLS
Lake Chapala Real Estate
Lake Chapala Rentals

Favorite Things In Life

Favorite Websites
Facebook
Twitter

Favorite People To Learn From
Prince Campbell
Zachary Cohen
Brian Clark

Favorite Software
WordPress
Pixelmator
Thesis

Favorite Restaurant
Los 3 Garcias ~ Mexican Restaurant and Take Out in Lakewood, Colorado.

All Kinds of New Projects

The end of this year has been about how many projects can I get off the ground before the new year starts. Here’s the state of my projects and my goals for them this year:

Internet Marketing Group
Targeted Visitors
A reseller project for traffic, I plan to develop this aggressively in 2010.

Magnum Visitors
Landing page for my other services I offer as a consultant.

Vive Mexico Project Group
Mazatlan Exchange
A slow to get off the ground, now revamped project surrounding expat living, and tourism in Mazatlan.

Lake Chapala
This guide of Lake Chapala is a site that is really special to me. I plan to use it as a central place to build out content as I plan for an eventual move to the Lake Chapala region. The key goals at the moment are to build up a sustainable newsletter, and content strategy that is profitable this year.

Tijuana Reader
A site covering all things Tijuana including hotels, travel, tourism, medical tourism, restaurants. Consider this your source for all info on having fun and staying safe in Tijuana.

DIY Spanish
A paid eCourse project, is slow to get off the ground. My main marketing will be towards expats living in Lake Chapala, and or thinking of moving there. This too will be a key project in the New Year.

Recycle Awards Group
Interior Door Shop
Just getting going, but plan to be a central part of my plans for 2010 as far as income generating goes.

Exterior Door Shop
Late 2010 Project

My Take On the Google Yelp Acquisition Rumors

For more coverage head on over to TechMeme.

Viral Marketing

So It’s been awhile since I launched a new project for a client. Wow it feels really great. I plan to launch a few more before the beginning of the year and really kick ass and take names.

Magnum Visitors is all about creating viral marketing campaigns so you don’t have to. We also plan to be the place to buy web traffic, and eventually add on some other small business SEO packages.

My first article for them is all about Megan Fox and the seduction of Viral Marketing.

SEO: Essentials For Healthy Web Growth

There’s a misconception in the business world that Search Engine Optimization is a complex thing. I try in my development of websites and my management of clients to help walk them along the path of minimalism and simplicity of growth. I recently started working on a site with a friend it’s called Investing Thesis . It’s a Canadian site dealing with investing, stocks, and futures. It’s in the foundation process so we are in the initial process of finding fans, developing solid structures, and of course if I’m involved it’s built on the Thesis Platform, and will have kick ass SEO. Here’s the secret to SEO Success.

SEO is a major component of website growth, business growth, and expansionism for any owner of a website.

SEO is not complex. It’s as simple as baking a loaf of bread.

Below is my quick tutorial on the essentials of using strong search engine optimization to grow your website’s traffic via Google,Bing and Yahoo. Understanding this quick walk through is the same as your grandmother giving you here recipe to bake bread, practice is the ultimate perfecter.

SEO: Essentials for healthy web growth
1. Build Upon A Strong Platform
When building a new website, or revamping an old one. Build upon a strong platform. A simple content management system, or framework to keep your web standards up to par. A few examples of great platforms to build upon include: WordPress, Expression Engine, and MovableType.

2. Create Amazing Content for Your Fans
You can read 101 Tutorials about how to create great content, but ultimately you have to create content that your FANS will love, embrace, and share. They will share it in the forms of linking back to you, Tweets, Facebook Shares, submitting to Digg, Reddit, Stumbles, and emails. All of this helps your site gain more Fans, and also helps create more links, and social media authority. All of this is going to help your short term and long term growth. But the key thing here is to focus on your fans. If you create content for them the search engines will reward you with even more Fans.

3. Sharing is the most effective way to gain new Fans
Imagine being a musician and creating stunning music. But never sharing it. How is anyone going to be able to find it? They aren’t. Here’s a great set of resources in order to share your content with the world and gain new Fans.

Blog Directories
BlogCatalog
EatonWeb

Sign up for blog directories to get new visitors and healthy link backs from a respected authority site in Google.

Social Media
Digg
Reddit
Mixx

Submit content that is relative to your niche, as well as sometimes submitting content from your own site.

Social Networks
MySpace
Facebook
Twitter

Developing a healthy following on Social Networks is a great place to get your initial fans, and followers to your new web project.

Other valuable sources of links:
Viral Media Campaigns
PayPerPost.com
ReviewMe.com
Article Directories
Niche Social Media

There are lots of other valuable sources of links, some paid, some free. I try to focus on niche social media, and healthy links from related bloggers in my niche that I’m building in.

Remember SEO is like baking, if at first you don’t succeed try try again.

5 Location Independent Businesses

Over the last few years I’ve had the luxury of being for the most part location independent. There are a number of ways a person can become location independent.

1. Freelance Writing
There are numerous companies that you can work for online. I personally in the past have relied on freelance writing and project management to supplement my income while I’m on the road or living in some exotic place around the world.

2. Web Design & Development
I’ve been doing web development and design for about 10 years. It’s a great source of revenue on the road. Especially with a healthy source of returning clients.

3. Affiliate Marketing
Selling someone else’s product is one of the best ways to make money online, and remotely. My favorite digital product that I sell is the Thesis Theme for WordPress

4. Sell an eProduct
One of the best things anyone who seriously wants to develop a self sufficient product and that is a digital product such as an ebook, a WordPress theme, or possibly a plugin.

5. Membership Site
I’ve managed and owned a couple of membership sites. They are great money makers for anyone looking to sell valuable content. Educational sites, and tutorial sites are great examples of highly sustainable membership sites.

The Ultimate SEO Platform

I’ve been building, and managing websites for what seems like forever. I’ve always loved WordPress, but in the last few years I’ve learned that there isn’t a lot more I need than WordPress + the Thesis Theme for WordPress.

If you have a website, and aren’t running on Thesis you probably aren’t up to spec as far as performance. I don’t know why more big sites aren’t using it. They really don’t have a clue how much Thesis does to improve your site’s speed, indexing and performance.

Simply put in my experience Thesis is the Ultimate SEO Platform.

Ignite Your Website With Passion

Back in 2006 I started a website I wish I never started.

PopCrunch

It’s not like I even liked celebrities, it’s that I was lazy. I lacked passion. I knew if I wrote about celebrities that Google would send me visitors. And visitors it sure did send almost at ease. I started a video show to get a bunch of people to link to the website. You know links do amazing things to your traffic. It send people directions right to your site. PopCrunch grew and grew but it compromised my morals every single day.

Finally one day … I had enough. I sold it. I lost money on the project. I could have made money on the project but to me the site wasn’t worth it. It’s a MASSIVE SUCCESS story. It makes around 1/2 Million Dollars a Year and has blessed it’s new owner immensely.

But PopCrunch taught me something, that I have slowly learned very well. If you are going to do something for the rest of your life you should do it with passion, and it should mean something to you.

Now I don’t have a bunch of websites. But when I work on projects for clients I evaluate each one and put in the same level of passion I would if it was a project I was going to do for the rest of my life. Your projects should be an extension of your life, and what you are truly passionate about. Not just whatever brings visitors, or has the potential to make money. If you are passionate about something in due time the money too will flow.

Ignite your website with passion, it’s the true secret ingredient for people who reach the upper echelons of web success.

Return to Colorado

After a few years away it feels great to be back near family. I’m out job hunting polishing up my resume, and enjoying time with family for Thanksgiving. This website will take on a new theme as it will be more business, and industry related instead of a personal publication.