It has been quite a while since I have made a post on this site but I think it is about time I start making regular use of it.  Some of the most interesting blogs on the web are from those chasing a goal.  This allows for readers to really feel part of a journey and learn a lot on the way.

It has been about 9 months since I started my Internet Marketing and web design journey and everyday I get more and more motivated to make this work and beging working for myself.  The amount I have learnt is phenomonal and if I wasn’t juggling a full time job I am sure I could have been making a comfortable amount of money by now.

This lack of time has been a benefit though.  It makes my thinking to the point and my methods efficient.  I work best off a schedule of tasks and stick to what I have set out to do. I have spent time in creating processes that can be scaled up and repeated as quick as possible.  I use tools that are automated as much as possible and make sure something is always running while doing hands-on tasks.

I also no longer get sidetracked onto new and wonderful methods and my time on the forums is kept to a minimum.  At one stage I moved away from AdSense and spent a lot of time learning and using PPC.  I actually made quite a bit of money from it but I found that it was too much of a time sink with my limited schedule.  I now have one tweaked campaign running constantly on the Google Content Network with a cost per conversion of $0.33.  The ads lead to a squeeze page and a mailing list that is very under utilised – I will tackle this down the track.

One of the most exciting things I have learnt through this period is that keywords are a lot easier to dominate than you might first think.  If you are persistant, patient, and methodical, you really can dominate the front page of Google in some very tough niches. Patience is the big one though.   Many people get caught up in trying to get indexed in 1 or 2 days but it really takes more than 3 months before a keyword will begin to bring in serious money.

I actually had one of my AdSense sites in the weight loss niche on the front page for some difficult but very rewarding keywords.  It was bringing in $50/day and rising weekly.  This site allowed me to invest in several automated tools and content for other sites that would have really got me close to my goal by now.  Unfortunately it was too good to be true and I received a Cease and Desist from a weight loss company who insisted I was breaking a handful of US Laws and I had to hand over the domain (I was under just under their site for their company name).

After a lot of swearing and denial I decided I would change the domain name of the site BUT would not hand it over to them.  I 301 redirected the domain to my new one and replied to their letter informing them that they held no trademark in Australia but I changed the domain over anyway.  I haven’t heard from them since but the damage to the traffic really put the brakes on my march to a full time income.

The site is starting to return to its previous form now.  Many of the keywords actually dissappeared from the top 100 for a few weeks but many have now returned to positions higher than before.  It is one thing many people gamble with but if you are making an authority site I would not risk it with a trademark in the domain name.

On top of the weight loss site I have several other AdSense projects running and they are starting to pull their weight now.  I really regret not building more sites when I first started but as many can relate to, I didn’t think I would be able to have any type of success.

From here on in I am going to document my progress as well as methods used to achieve what I am doing.  Each week I will add some quick stats from my sites so you can get an idea of where I am at.  My goal is to leave a job that I’m not enjoying and to do that will require $150/day.  Let’s see how I go!