Līve Ambitions

My friend, Daniel Scocco, of Daily Blog Tips has officially launched OnlineProfits.com.  You can think of Online Profits as an exclusive all-in-one learning center for SEOs and Internet Marketers.  Online Profits is limited to the first 300 people, so once it’s gone, it’s gone.  The program offers training material and resources for both beginners and professionals, so there is something to learn at each level.  The price is reasonable – 4 payments of $98, which comes out to $392 total.

As a member, you’ll get lifetime access to:

• Training material
• Tools section
• Resources section
• Content library
• Social clubs
• Private forum

I’m personally most interested in the social clubs and private forum, as I think it’ll be a good way to network with people who share the same interests as you.

Sign up today before it’s sold out: OnlineProfits.com

Don’t look now, but Dell is coming back to the smartphone market after a disappointing 2007 for them. On hand to be launched in China in a few days will be the Ophone Mini 3i which is an Open Mobile System, hence the name Ophone. Although there isn’t much concrete information on the Ophone Mini 3i, it is said to be featuring a full touchscreen interface and will most likely run on the Android operating system.

Based on the pictures floating around on the web, it looks like a Palm Pre without the keyboard.  Sorry for the crappy picture – it’s the only one I could find.

It will also have a 640×360 screen display as well as a possible light sensor to automatically adjust the backlight. From what we have gathered, it seems to be a good PDA phone but of course, speculations are a far cry from actually trying it out.

What has gotten people’s attention though is why the Ophone Mini 3i will only launch in China for China Mobile. A common theory is that the Ophone Mini 3i will only operate solely on the China-specific TD-SCDMA 3G band which basically won’t work anywhere else outside of China. But there are also reports that it will be a GSM phone which can be more flexible. Seems weird for a US company to launch a phone in China without first launching it in its own backyard. That’s just plain wrong!

There is a thick cloud of mystery surrounding the Ophone Mini 3i from Dell and only time can tell what it really is capable of. If it’s any consolation, everything mentioned are all speculations and you know how people can make mistakes. Hopefully, we’ll be seeing this phone in the US so we can try it out. Who knows, we might finally have a phone from Dell that we’ll actually like. If you ask me, Dell should change the name of the Ophone Mini 3i to Area 51 because of the secrecy surrounding it.

I knew this was coming.  Because Twitter is so immensely huge and popular, Izea decided to create an advertising platform based solely on tweets.  So, if you have enough money to blow, sign up with SponsoredTweets.com and have your favorite celebrity tweet something about your offer.

It’s a pretty clever idea.  A celebrity with a big following can potentially influence thousands of followers to buy.  Obviously to maximize ROI, the key here is to target the right celebrity to promote your product or service.

This post was inspired by ShoeMoney’s post about how he made $1,120 in one day via Sponsored Tweets with only 4 tweets.  Man…I would be happy with $1 per tweet.  Anyways, if you ever make it to web celebrity status, SponsoredTweets.com may be worth checking out.  I don’t think they accept peons like me. 

Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to manage PPC campaigns in Google, Yahoo, MSN (Bing), MySpace, Facebook, Adsonar and even Business.com.  Here is how I rate them (1-7):

#1 Google Adwords - Google has not only proven to be a very effective tool for marketing, but also consistent.  Needless to say, Google brings me the most conversions at the most cost-effective rate.  In fact, in my experience, Google has brought in more conversions than all the other PPC traffic sources combined.

#2 MSN Adcenter (Bing) - Although MSN Adcenter was the late bloomer in the PPC industry, I think they’ve made significant progress in a short amount of time.  I see consistent conversions from MSN on a daily basis, however, their traffic is only about 1/10 of what Google brings.  Cost per conversion is also good.

#3 Yahoo Search Marketing - I’m a little biased against Yahoo because I never really liked them as a search engine.  Google has always been more superior in terms of relevancy, for both organic and sponsored search, so it’s no wonder why Yahoo has lagged so far behind.  Conversion volume from Yahoo may be slightly higher than Bing, however, you can also expect to spend more per click. 

#4 Facebook Ads -  I was running an ad through Facebook with a targeted audience of a little over 1 million members.  Soon after the campaign was set to active, I was surprised to see the volume of views and click-throughs.  I think I received 200 clicks within a matter an hour or two.  I tried them out for about a month, but unfortunately I couldn’t continue due to the high cost per conversion rate.

#5 Adsonar – Adsonar has a massive content network (ie. Fox, AOL, ET, People.com and many more).  In fact, their coverage is so big and fast that your balance may be used up in a matter of minutes.  If you don’t have a big budget, it may even be hard to test out a campaign.

#6 MySpace – MySpace is pretty similar to Facebook ads in that they both allow you to target a large number of members based on specific categories.  I used them for about a month, and dropped them due to lack of traffic and conversions.  At least, I didn’t spend much money to test it out.

#7 Business.com – I was pretty dissappointed with these guys.  I received a bunch of click-throughs, but 0 conversions.  I think their traffic may cater more for B2B type of businesses.

Remember, this is my personal opinion, and it is only based off my own experiences.  Your results may vary based on the type of products or services you’re selling and the profit margin involved.  Some type of products may perform better for certain types of audiences.  The bottom-line with any ad campaign is that it should be profitable.  If you spend $1000 and make $1200, you’ve still made a profit (even it’s small).  If your business is still in its infant stages, you may even opt to break-even just to get some exposure.  Finally, if you’ve tried to optimize your ad campaign and you’re still losing money, then it’s time to move on to a new PPC program or marketing strategy.  Don’t try to force something that doesn’t work.

I know there are other PPC programs out there like Bidvertiser and Clicksor, but I’ve never tried them out.

Update:  After I wrote this post, Microsoft and Yahoo joined forces to “change the search landscape.”

I’ve tried selling stuff on both sites, but from my experience, I’ve had better results with eBay.  Here are the reasons why I think eBay is better for selling:

• Both sites get a huge amount of traffic, but eBay seems to attract the more serious buyers.
• Buyers tend to be more confident with eBay because they provide some protection for buyers.
• You would think that for local pickup items that Craigslist would easily win over eBay.  This is not the case.  eBay has massive coverage, so location is usually not an issue when finding local buyers. 
• Craigslist buyers are cheaper than eBay buyers.  I know the whole point of shopping at these sites is to save money, but come on now!

I like both sites, and use them regularly but eBay is simply more effective for selling stuff.  For everything else, I use Craigslist.  In fact, I found my current job using Craigslist.