No, this isn't another invitation to a webinar. (There will be another of those along soon, don't worry.) And it's not about another live video release. (There will be another one of those soon too.) In fact, it's not about me at all. It's about you. Continue Reading

Online publishing has all sorts of advantages. You become your own boss, you have your own schedule, you get paid to produce content and bring in users. It's all great fun... and you can do it without leaving your house or having to cope with office politics. It's those last benefits that can look so appealing and be a little dangerous too. Social networking sites have made it so easy to chat with other people... Continue Reading

Become an Internet publisher, and you'll need to learn a whole bunch of new marketing skills. You'll have to unwrap the mysteries of search engine optimization, figure out how to make pay-per-click advertising pay for you and get to grips with "link bait," banners and keywords to name just a few. None of it is really very difficult and all of it can be learned but for anyone just starting out, it will all be... Continue Reading

We had a great time in Glenwood Springs. From taking a Segway tour of the area and a day at the world's largest hot springs pool to downtime for rest & relaxation and a trip to a rain-covered Snowmass, my family and I enjoyed our brief vacation. I may put up some video once I get the chance. But I've had a lot of people curious about how the return train ride went on Amtrak... Continue Reading

I boarded my flight from Dallas to return to Denver yesterday morning, hungry and certain that my first class seat would get me some sort of meal. As I boarded the plane, I asked the flight attendant if there would be food service. He informed me that there would not be and I quietly expressed my disappointment. I didn't really ASK for food, but I did make it known that I was hungry. Continue Reading

There are people who get things in life and there are those who don't, What's the difference? I find that those who get things and make more things happen are unafraid to ask for them. Whether we are talking about making the sale, getting a complimentary upgrade on an airline or getting a date, I find that there is an axiom that rings true across the board... "It never hurts to ask!" Continue Reading

Episode 2 of Joel Comm LIVE was an extra-long episode that went over one and one-half hours. Dan and I ordered in lunch and I pretty much made a pig of myself choking down a chicken wrap and french fries. We answer tons of questions from viewers and enjoyed up to 150 people streaming the video at one time. There were three giveaways and we put some advertisers URLs on the whiteboard. All in all... Continue Reading

I'm not a big fan of the major airlines. In fact I have written several entries that demonstrated poor customer service by United and American. However, I had a uniquely good experience on United a couple days ago and wanted to share it with you. I was traveling to Los Angeles with Joel Ownby and Tim Prince, en route to Yanik Silver's Internet Underground conference in Los Angeles. The three of us board the 737... Continue Reading

I was at a conference recently and someone asked me if I had anything in the works. I had to laugh. Ha! When I think about how many projects we've got in the works, I can't help but laugh! Seriously, me and my team are projectaholics. We just love creating and coming up with new stuff that people will like. Continue Reading

Just got a fun email from the Google AdSense team. They have printed up a batch of AdSense stickers and are offering them for free. All you need to do is send a self-addressed stamped envelope to them and they will drop a sticker or two in it for you. AdSense has been good to me, so I'll probably find a good place to put my sticker. Would it be sacrilege to deface my Macbook... Continue Reading

I've long been a proponent of using contests, sweepstakes and giveaways to drive traffic to web sites. In fact, if you do it correctly, you can get others to provide all the prizes in exchange for a link back to their site! Gyutae Park of WinningTheWeb.com has done just that. Gyutae has pulled together over $7600 in prizes and I am guessing that the amount will grow as more people catch wind of this contest. Continue Reading

I'm in Las Vegas for Affiliate Summit and am looking forward to the a few days of networking and learning. And while I have nothing to say about the conference yet because it hasn't started yet, I do have an experience to share with you. As you know, I enjoy blogging about my customer service experiences... especially the bad experiences. Why do I do this? I place a very high value on customer service and... Continue Reading

Last week, I sat down in my office with several members of my team and we began doing a brain dump of all the great ideas for sites, services and products that we had. We filled my fairly-large whiteboard in no time at all. The fact of the matter is that we have more ideas than we have time or manpower to accomplish! But ideas are not exactly in short supply, are they? There are... Continue Reading

I recently won a Mac Mini in Marlon Sander's affiliate contest and wanted to show him how I was putting it to use. So I made this video and then decided it would be fun to share it with everyone. I'd like to say thank you to Marlon for the Mac Mini, and recommend that folks check out his InfoProduct Dashboard tool for making information products quick and easy. Enjoy the video... Continue Reading

I make no secret of it. I am a 43-year old man who loves playing computer and video games. And why not? I was a teenage when Space Invaders, Asteroids and Centipede took over the arcades. I was sixteen when I bought my first computer, a TRS-80. It was great for primitive gaming. And I've got a great collection of old computer software in a special room in my basement. Perhaps I'll do a video... Continue Reading

I'm at a loss for words. I've started this newsletter half a dozen times trying to find the right way to share some information with you. Sometimes the words don't come. Eloquence doesn't seem to be in the cards for me today. It's not that the topic isn't interesting. It's just that I've got writer's block. Has that ever happened to you? There are days that I am able to create new content for my... Continue Reading

I'm a huge fan of developing online communities for revenue generation. The wonderful thing about community sites is that the members create the content for you. However, it can sometimes be tricky to kickstart your forums in order to get people posting. If you launch forums and people visit only to find that there is no activity, odds are they aren't going to register, post or return. This is the primary reason most forums don't... Continue Reading

I have a confession to make. I haven't watched the Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon in years. And I honestly feel like I am missing something. As a child, I would watch the show religiously, year after year. I remember the parade of celebrities, Jerry Lewis' banter with his guests, Ed McMahon, the volunteers answering phones, and of course, the magical toteboard that would light up with huge numbers indicating that the cure for... Continue Reading

I did it. I bit the bullet and picked up an iPhone. I've been a faithful Treo 650 user for two years, but the buzz regarding Apple's new device won me over. So I ponied up $599 + shipping and tax to get one of these puppies in my hands, though I was unsure of what I would find once I actually got to try it out for myself. I may now render the verdict... Continue Reading

We arrived on Maui on Tuesday afternoon, snagged our rental car and made our way to the hotel. We're staying on the west side of the island in the Ka'anapali area. It's absolutely gorgeous here. From my fifth floor balcony I can see the ocean, the mountains, palm trees, sandy beaches and a beautiful landscape. It's 6 am Hawaii time as I blog this (my body says it is 10 am MST) and I've enjoyed... Continue Reading

A couple months ago, I shared the Bookwise opportunity with you. It appeared to be a solid MLM with potential. I've seen some people jump on board this, but the past few weeks I've been skeptical that they could really make it work. I've been using the domain BookWiseProfits.com to build my BookWise business.... until today. Continue Reading

Brad Fallon's new project, FreeIQ.com, is taking off very fast. Thousands of people have registered for this site which I think is like YouTube, only with the opportunity for anyone to earn money! I have just finished preparing the world's first FreeIQ ebook... ... and I want to give it to your for free! Continue Reading

I'm sitting at the airport in Atlanta, Georgia, awaiting my return flight to Colorado. After living on the front range for nearly three months, I already find myself missing the beautiful mountains and am eager to get home. I wanted to send this newsletter today because I have just spent the last few days at Big Seminar #9, where I had the privilege of speaking to four hundred attendees and teaching how anyone can make... Continue Reading

As an AdSense publisher, I've become accustomed to earning passive income. And in doing so, I've trained myself to watch for revenue-generating opportunities. Late last year, I told you about Agloco, a new company that would be releasing a viewbar that would pay you to surf the web. The naysayers thought it would never happen. Continue Reading

Everything has changed. I remember when I first discovered computers. I was in high school when Radio Shack came out with their TRS-80 Model I personal computer. I remember going to the store and staring at it... ogling it... feeling the power of its keyboard... Hey, I guess I just wasn't into girls yet. That time came along eventually as well. ;-) Oh, those were the days. Continue Reading

You already know that ad units placed above the fold tend to get the most clicks. But did you also know that Google automatically places the highest-earning ads in the first ad unit on the page? That's very helpful. Before you've done any optimization, you're already getting the most valuable ads in the best spot on your page. The problem comes when you start optimizing. Continue Reading

Google is very protective of its AdSense code. Start changing bits here and there and you can't expect to keep your account open for very long. But there's one exception to that rule and it's a very important one. You can put this code on your Web pages: <script type="text/javascript">    var random_number = Math.random();    if (random_number         //your first ad unit code goes here     } else {         //your second ad unit code goes here     } </script> <script type="text/javascript... Continue Reading

I just got up from the television set to come write this entry, abandoning the program I was watching. I've been a fan of The Apprentice since the first season. I thought Trump's choice of Bill Rancic as his first apprentice was solid. Since then, the show has had fewer truly qualified contestants. I thought a new location would be an interesting twist on previous seasons, so I began watching the first episode of The... Continue Reading

He beat me to it. I'm not angry... it's not my style. But I am just a little.. bit... um... er... envious? Ok, I said it. I'm envious. And I think I have a right to be. Continue Reading

The information age really does move at the speed of light. Technology is advancing faster than we ever conceived possible. I've been online for 26 years now. In 1980, I bought my first computer, a TRS-80. This machine had 4K of RAM (not 4MB... 4K) and a cassette player that was used as a storage device. There wasn't even a floppy disc drive! I owned a 300 baud modem that I used to dial into... Continue Reading

Who would have thought that my post about Arbonne would have generated so much discussion? Admittedly, it does get heated from time to time. But I have allowed the post to be a forum for free speech as long as people keep it clean and don't abuse each other. If you try to read it, expect to spend at least an hour... it just keeps going and going... A few months ago, I put up... Continue Reading

I love to play games with my family. Board games, card games, party games. We like them all. Sure, sometimes we have a hard time agreeing on what to play. But once we get going we usually have a fun time. We are always on the lookout for new games to play. And with so many choices, how do you know which games will give the biggest bang for the buck? Continue Reading

I am currently in a top-secret location with an unnamed group of people. What do we have in common? We are all online entreprenuers. Why gather? Because when people get together and begin discussing their lives, powerful stuff takes place. Continue Reading

It was a pretty exciting day yesterday. The UPS man dropped four boxes at my front door. I instantly knew what they were. Carrying the boxes insides, I quickly found scissors and gently cut the tape that sealed the cardboard boxes. It was just as I had expected. Books. Dozens of copeis of the same book. My book. It had finally arrived... Continue Reading

I offended Vern Troyer, the actor who played the role of "Mini Me" in the Austin Powers movies. Why would I do such a thing? I didn't mean, to, but it happened anyhow... If you've been following my blog, you would know that I've been in D.C. attending Yanik Silver's Underground Seminar. Yanik was very clever in putting the seminar together. He gave the entire thing an "Austin Powers" secret agent feel, which each attendee... Continue Reading

Yes, people will talk. And the things they will say are quite interesting. Ever since my AdSense ebook has come into the spotlight, my name has become more well known. Once your name is "out there", commentary and opinion is not far behind. So how do you know when you have "arrived"? Continue Reading

We awoke at 8 am so, preparing for our Thanksgiving journey to Chicago. You won't believe how smoothly that journey went. Continue Reading

Google AdSense has becoming a primary source of income for many Internet publishers. The ubiquitous AdSense text ad has brought life into many sagging business models and created opportunity for mom and pop site owners to actually make some money. In response to many requests from the readers of my AdSense ebook, last week I quiety launched AdSenseChat.com, an online discussion board for site owners who use Google AdSense. Continue Reading

In the midst of a global war on terror, it's good to see the President coming out for some of the battles on the home front. WASHINGTON, Aug. 3 (UPI) -- U.S. President George Bush reignited debate over evolution by advocating teaching concept of intelligent design in schools. That view promotes the idea that an unseen force is behind the development of humanity. Scientists claim intelligent design has no supporting evidence and is an attempt... Continue Reading

My post on the Arbonne business has continued to generate a great deal of interest. So I've decided to post my take on multi-level marketing in general here to start a new thread. What are the problems with Multi-Level marketing? 1) Most people are not mature enough to work the business truly looking out for other people. Greed is a huge motivator in MLM. There is the facade of "I have something to tell you... Continue Reading

After many months of programming, design and delays, I've finally got an almost finished site that I am excited to tell you about. Since 1999, DealofDay.com has been a leader in online coupon codes. We post dozens of deals each day from many of the web's leading merchants. Whenever someone makes a purchase through one of our links, we get a commission. Now I am providing others with the tools to create their own coupon/deal... Continue Reading

In 1996, Eidos Interactive came out of nowhere with a game that has become one of my all-time Top 10 computer games. (Maybe I'll do a top 10 series if I ever finish my 15 Best Movies of All Time) Continue Reading

I am blogging this entry from my new cell phone/pda/camera/toy, a PalmOne Treo 650. It truly is a remarkable device and does just about everything but laundey. The keyboard is smaller than the Sidekick that I have been using, but the other features make up for this. More on my new toy, er, necessary business tool... stay tuned. Continue Reading

We are in the process of designing a new home which we intend to build this year. A few years ago, we bought two acres of land in our city. We have been holding on to it and think the time is ripe to place a home on the property. My father is an architect, so he is drawing the plans. Thanks Dad! But I thought it would be a fun thing to play with... Continue Reading

And I thought it was going to be as simple as getting on an airplane... Our flight home was initially scheduled for 6:30 pm, putting us into OKC around 8:30 pm. However, our schedule for the day was clear, so we decided to head to the airport early in hopes of catching an earlier flight on standby. We arrived shortly after 12:15 pm and attempted to book on the 1:11 pm flight. It had been... Continue Reading

On Thanksgiving Day, I did what any respectable guy would do. Besides stuffing my face, I took some time to browse the sale papers for Friday's big bonanza. I found the usual suspects. Circuit City, Comp USA, Best Buy and Ultimate Electronics. Even Target's ad got a once over from me. Many of the bargains looked quite appealing, but there was no way in the world I was going to get up at 5:30 am... Continue Reading

About fifteen years ago, I started using bulletin board services online. These were pre-world wide web servers that ran out of people's homes. You would dial up the BBS on your 1200 baud modem and connect to a text-only based site. These sites would provide forums for discussion, information for reading and programs for downloading. Some of the more progressive boards had games you could play online, text only of course. Way back then, I... Continue Reading

One of the more popular articles on this site has been my review, and the subsequent discussion, of the IBIZ Virtual Keyboard. I received a review unit of the VKB and was led to believe that it was an IBIZ unit. As it turns out, the unit was manufactured by Enterprise Capital in Israel. Each side claims that they have severed ties with the other and it has gotten ugly. It seems that litigation is... Continue Reading

A Review of the IBIZ Virtual Keyboard Up until now, portable keyboards for PDAs have been clunky and fragile This review is being written on a device the size of a cigarette lighter with a keyboard that is invisible. I am speaking of the IBIZ Virtual Keyboard, a new device from IBIZ Technologies that combines infrared and laser technology to deliver a keyboard that is both functional and portable. Using a standard laser, the VKB... Continue Reading

Earlier this year, I went to my local T-Mobile store and purchased a Sidekick, a unique cell phone and PDA that is pretty slick looking. T-Mobile has a 14-day trial period, so I took advantage of it, not really sure if I would want to keep it. Plus, I had already decided that I would be returning this phone as I found I could get it cheaper on Amazon.com. The phone retails for $350, but... Continue Reading

A few months back, I heard about a new gadget that was due to come out this spring. It is called the Virtual Keyboard, and it is made by a company called IBiz Technologies. The virtual keyboard (VKB) for your PDA uses laser and infrared technology to projects a full-size keyboard onto any flat surface. As you type on the laser projection, it analyzes what you're typing by the coordinates of that location. Unlike the... Continue Reading

My investment in GameZNFlix.com is starting to pay off. Trading as GZFX on the OTC bulletin board exchange, this little penny-stock company has got guts. As mentioned in a previous entry, Ben Curtis of "Dude, you're getting a Dell" fame was on CNBC Wednesday afternoon and he talked about the company. He will be featured in three commercials to be broadcast nationally in early May. The stock hit a high of .14 today and is... Continue Reading

The conference in Reno is going great. What a fantastic opportunity to face-to-face with so many of the people whom I have had the opportunity to work with online. Back in a 1996, I had the privilage of being interviewed for the now-defunct Boardwatch Magazine by the infamous Bob Rankin, a tech guru from the dark ages of the online world. Dr. Bob, as he is known online, is the originator of the Internet Tourbus... Continue Reading

As a follow up to my entry on VeeGeez.com, I am still holding a position in the company, now renamed GameZNFlix. The company is trading on the OTC Bulletin Board under the symbol GZFX. The new GameZNFlix.com is going to go up against NetFlix, the leading online place to rent DVDs. GameZNFlix has a different plan. They will be renting DVDs AND video games for one low monthly fee. This is a great plan, in... Continue Reading

As the World Wide Web enters its second decade of existence, .com has become a ubiquitous surname. From the obvious pets.com and business.com to the unique sendmeadollar.com and hollywoodjesus.com, it is clear that .com has become King of the domain roost. .net and .org have been around almost as long, but they are like the red-headed stepchildren at K-Mart. (No offense to red-headed kids, but all offense meant to K-Mart.) .net was initially intended for... Continue Reading

I don't play with penny stocks much, but I've got my eye on a company with great potential. Point Group Holdings (Symbol PGHI) recently acquired VeeGeez.com, an online video game rental site. It's like NetFlix, only they rent video games instead of DVDs. If you'll remember, NetFlix went from $6 to almost $80 this past year. The DVD rental business is huge. So is the video game rental market. VeeGeez has some existing competition, but... Continue Reading

Let's face it. Since Michael Eisner took the helm at Disney, the "Walt" has literally been taken out of the Walt Disney Company. In the past decade or so, Disney's motion picture studio has continually promoted and released dozens of films that are anything but family-friendly. The theme parks have celebrated alternative lifestyles by promoting "gay days". Money has become the absolute bottom line and many supporters have protested this direction. Well, things are shaking... Continue Reading

About six years ago, a friend of mine introduced me to a new Christmas CD by The Trans-Siberian Orchestra. For those not familiar with the band, they are all rock and rollers, many with a heavy metal background. Their first album, Christmas Eve and other Stories is unlike anything I've ever heard before. It's a rock opera. It's spiritual. It's progressive rock. Simply put, it is an album that captures the essence of Christmas better... Continue Reading

Holy Moses. If this isn't BIG BROTHER attempting to claw away at your privacy with his big hands, I don't know what is. This from the Washington Post. Fliers to Be Rated for Risk Level New System Will Scrutinize Each Passenger, Assign Color Code In the most aggressive -- and, some say, invasive -- step yet to protect air travelers, the federal government and the airlines will phase in a computer system next year to... Continue Reading

Recently, I have been looking to get some inexpensive web design for new sites I am developing. A friend referred me to DesignOutpost.com. What makes this site so unique is that the client (that would be me in this case) runs a contest to have graphic design and html created. You simply post a message with the specifications for a site and offer a prize bounty for the winner. The bounty is pre-paid to designoutpost.com... Continue Reading

We're picking up in part 9 of this ongoing series. To start at the beginning, visit the dot.com story archives One of the first things I did was to submit the site to every search engine, newsgroup and message board I could find. A Yahoo search displays 36 entries to WorldVillage sites. Of course, we were happy with the original one that helped launch our traffic. I'll never forget the thrill of receiving the coveted... Continue Reading

This has been one crazy week. We run three web servers on a T1 line. This week, every single one of them crashed, a couple of them more than once. I've seen a power supply blow and begin smoking. I've had a motherboard go bad. I've got two hard drives that are failing. It has been an insane week for web servers. When WorldVillage.com failed this week (ie: smoking power supply), I decided it was... Continue Reading

Once again, if you are just joining us on this story, you may wish to click here to read so far. After the incredibly overwhelming reception (about 8 emails) I received from my print publication, I knew I needed to do something to get more exposure. It was then I met Ken Burge. Ken is a great guy and a programming guru. He and I met around 1994 and instantly enjoyed discussing all things computers... Continue Reading

If you are just joining us on this story, you may wish to click here to read so far. Continuing... Those were the days of BBS's, bulletin board systems, where you would dial in to another computer with your blazing fast 2400 baud modem in order to post messages, download software and play text-based games online. It was also the time when AOL, Compuserve, Prodigy, GEnie and Delphi were battling it out to see who... Continue Reading