Posts from ‘Web Marketing’
My Social Networks
Last week I realized that my “social networks” were all over the map, and I needed to try and bring some type of coherent method to the madness. This post exists to allow all of my friends, readers, and fellow bloggers quick access to my online network. Hopefully you join me on each site.
Here is how I see this working… you can either comment here on my post with a link to the post you write on your own blog with each of your networks, or you can simply comment here telling me how to add you/network with you on your social networks.
The idea is to create a big list of center-right bloggers who wish to be better networked via social sites. For everyone who participates, I’ll list you here along with a link to your blog.
Network away!
Facebook
OK, so the first stop for me is Facebook. I don’t spend much time on Facebook any more these days, but I still log in once per day to get the updates and make sure my profile hasn’t burned to the ground. If you’re logged in to Facebook, you can visit my profile here. Please feel free to add me to your list, or drop me a link to your profile and I’ll add you.
StumbleUpon
Next is my personal favorite… StumbleUpon. I’ve been using Stumble for some time now. Unfortunately, I’ve had to bounce around through several accounts so I have no established account at this time. I am, however, working to establish my main SU account, and I would like to invite everyone here to join my friends list. You can view my StumbleUpon profile here.
Tagged
This was JUST pointed out to me by Publius Forum, so I’m a noob on Tagged. My Tagged profile is here.
YouTube
I watch videos like crazy, but rarely submit them. Don’t be surprised by that. 
My YouTube profile is here.
By the People @ Ning
Then there is By The People, a social networking group over at Ning.com. By The People functions similar to MySpace, only it’s cool. If you’re a limited government activists and would like to network with others who share your view, this might be just the place. Check it out!
Technorati
Does anyone really still use Technorati? I mean, the results are fairly easy to manipulate, and spammers have noticeably taken advantage. That being said, I still run a profile and would be happy to exchange favorites. View and favorite all of my blogs by clicking here.
You can favorite my blog by clicking the button below.
MyBlogLog
I need to log in and make some changes to this account, so please forgive me if the information there is a little outdated. You can add me to your network by clicking here.
Digg
I’ll admit, my friends list is a mess and I don’t really use it to find stories and content. However, if enough of you are willing to start networking via Digg, I think I can persuade myself to clean up the list and start using it more aggressively. You can view my Digg profile here.
LinkedIn
This network is one that I consider a little more professional than the rest. I use LinkedIn to discover the background of a lot of people I work with in politics, and I find it’s a great place for resume building and contact management. If you have a LinkedIn profile and would like to connect up, send me an invite using ericjodom@gmail.com. My profile can be found here.
There ya have it! Like I said, if you write a post like this, please leave me the URL so I can go add yours as well. If not, just leave me a comment with your networks or any instructions on what I need to do on my end to connect up with you.
Best Regards,
-Eric Odom
My post about the internet in 1996 got me thinking and prompted me to take a look at my own websites from five years ago. Until now I didn’t realize how long I’ve been doing this. Sure, many have been doing it for a lot longer, but for me five years of being self employed, at least part time, has been quite a run.
My first website went live in late 2003. It was at Backpackerdeals.com, but for some reason Archive.org has nothing previous to February of 2004 and even then the cache seems to be missing.
Anyway, the site was an affiliate site for student travelers. It was a lot of fun, and the site made a few bucks. More importantly, it helped me learn what NOT to do and opened up a lot of doors for my internet marketing career.
My main mistake with Backpackerdeals.com was that I knew nothing about code when I started it so I used an out of the box solution. Which, at the time, was complete crap. After a few months I began to learn a bit about code and felt backed in to a corner with the site builder.
In the summer of 2004 I launched two more student travel websites. Backpackearth.com and Traveljive.com. I’ve since sold both sites, and it looks like the new owner took the content and parked the domains. But the two sites made me quite a bit of money from 2004 until early 2007.
This is Archive’s cache of TravelJive in the summer of 2004.
As you can see… it’s quite laughable. But in those days it was quite popular. On average, any given day in 2005 would result in about 600 unique visits. Backpackearth.com was doing MUCH better!
In 2004 the main source of revenue was Google Adsense. I was getting decent checks every month and it felt worth the effort. In 2005 Google Adsense started paying so low that it was almost insulting, so I yanked Adsense in favor of the new Yahoo Overture network. Overture paid more per click, but was still somewhat lacking.
This is when I entered the text link market. Yes, I was one of those… Continue Reading
I posted about the Organic Listings forum yesterday, but haven’t gotten a chance to add any more to it because of limited power supply here at the Chicago Hilton. I promise, though, I’ll be posting a lot more about the conference in the next few days. Continue Reading
Today is Tuesday, December 04, 2007. This makes it day two of Search Engine Strategies Chicago. It’s 11:42 A.M and I just finished enjoying a brilliant hour of discussion on “Organic Listings”. Continue Reading
I’ll be attending Search Engine Strategies here in Chicago on December 3-6. This is the first time I’ve gotten the chance to attend an SES, so I plan to milk it for all it’s worth. Continue Reading
Friday I learned that a local business here in Nevada was ready to cut me a small check to host a link to their new website on one of my blogs. The business is a web design firm here in Northern Nevada. The owner is a friend of mine and he’s now ready to do some advertising.
Unfortunately, thanks to Matt Cutts, it has come to my attention that Google appears to be positioning itself to penalize sites/blogs who sell text links.
This doesn’t hurt me too much, and the reason it won’t hurt me is a bit ironic. I already sell text links to Google. Yeah, that’s right, Google sends me a monthly check for displaying the text link ads you see to the left of this post when looking at the single post page. Google also pays me to display the image banner at the top of the main page of my site. Continue Reading
