Duplex News

Here's the latest on the duplex. The seller was pretty mad about the $4700 (I wanted $4500 but asked for $4700) I wanted him to contribute. He told my agent he only wanted to pay the $3900 that the estimate for repairing the foundation stated and no more. When I heard this and told my agent that this deal was a "no-go", you could probably hear my agent's heart shatter=) He asked me why and I told him very bluntly that I saw the benefits of the $4500 contribution and wanted it. We talked for awhile and finally I told my agent to ask the buyer what the most he was willing to contribute would be.

The next day I get an email from my agent saying the seller would go for $4200. That was good enough for me. In the seller's eyes he saved $500 when in reality it was only $300. I'm liking this real estate thing=) I get with the loan officer and take care of the loan application tomorrow.


Affiliate Marketing

It's back to basics for me. After this major overhaul in Adwords, it seems that Google wants actual websites and not landing pages anymore. I found two free audio interviews discussing the matter. Unfortunately, the both sites seem to be down. One was Affiliate Classroom and you can find the other byt going to Google and looking for the Perry Marshall July 2006 Adwords Update interview.

Anyway, I'm taking my next project and making a regular content site to build around the sales page. We will see how it does.

The Latest on the Duplex

Here's an update on the duplex. I had the inspection made and there were problems with the foundation. I had an engineering firm do an estimate and the amount they came up with was $3900. I talked it over with my agent and we are renegotiating the contract and asking the seller to provide $4700 toward my closing costs and to buy points to lower my interest rate. If this goes through, the duplex will cost me just over $800 in closing costs and $1100 counting the inspection. Not to bad=)

The rent in the unit that I'm keeping the tenats in is $750/month so my portion will be a little over $400/month. Lower cost of living, lower taxable income all in a single real estate investment.

Craziness at the Day Job

Yeah, August 31 is a huge deadline for projects at work so I'll probably be staying late all week. Maybe even the same thing next week. Sorry but there probably won't be many posts during this time. Talk to you when I get my head above water again.

Death of a Dragon

That's right. I am no longer chasing the PPC2 dragon. If I were to tell you how much money I have lost on that site, it would make most of you physically sick. One good thing did come out of it though. It forced me to push the envelop on how much I was willing to spend. While it did little to help on that site, it did get me rolling on PPC1 which consistently performs. It doesn't get the volume needed to be substantial but it does turn a profit.

Without PPC2, I would probably still be trying to make things happen bidding $0.10/click and setting my campaigns to less than $10/day. I've learned that you can't really get a campaign rolling if you are afraid to set the bar higher. In general I keep Adwords set to $50-$75/day. I have never spent that much but having it set that high makes sure my ads show up consistently. In fact, I have been told my experienced marketers that they didn't REALLY start making money until they were actually SPENDING $100/day. Something to think about.

No Post Last Night...

Short post tonight. I had some things come up last night that required immediate attention so I did not get to do much work. Same thing today. One thing I can say though is this.... the offer on the duplex was accepted last night=) While this wasn't what I had to take care of last night, it is good news. I'm venturing into the dark now and blazing a trail so that I know how to do this the next time I buy one. Scary stuff.

It Must Be Contagious, Part Deux

Obviously by the posts by Empress and Jenn, I am not the only one feeling the frustration. We all know it can be done because we have seen it done. It is just a question of finding the right method that works for you, I guess.

The truth is that I am on the very last attempt for PPC2. This site has cost me more time and money than I really want to think about. I'm tired of chasing that damned dragon! The newest program I am testing isn't too happy either. The whole upheaval with Adwords and the lack of traffic from Overture is making it impossible to tell if the program is viable or not.

Real Estate:
The first duplex I looked at was a no go. After making my offer, I went back and took a look. There were numerous problems that I had not notice before so when the counter-offer came back, I decided to let it go. There was a nicer duplex down the street that I made an offer on Saturday. The owner said he would not go lower than asking price. The asking price is lower than the original duplex I looked at and is below market value so I gave in. My agent said that the owner indicated that he would accept my offer if I gave him the asking price so we will see.

It Must Be Contagious

I've been to a couple blogs lately and it seems that many of us are in the same boat. We were doing well at some point in the past year or things seemed to be headed in the right direction in the very least. Then you wake up and today things are taking a backslide. Former producers aren't producing. Tried and true methods are failing. Frustration is setting in.

I am no where near any of my goals right now. I could easily blame Google and Yahoo for my problems (they do play a large role in it) but the failure is mine in not adapting adequately. OK, they say that the first step in solving a problem is realizing there there is one to begin with. Acknowledge problem - check!

Alright, now what...

Nothing New

More of the same. I did try broad match for my Adwords account. Something I said that I would never do. Hopefully it won't turn into a fiasco.

Adwords Rage

Since this latest upheaval at Google, I can't get any of my new campaigns off of the ground. I have PPC2 which I can't seem to let go of and a new program that I am testing out. The new one has been up for 3 days and has 200+ keywords in it. I'm bidding at $.75 and getting NO impressions. Not one. Google has this whole Catch-22 thing going. You can't get good position and clicks until you raise your quality score. You can raise your quality score without getting good position and clicks.

They say that you can raise your quality score by having a relevant landing page but I have not found this to be true yet. Anyone else experiencing this?

New Program Ready...Almost

I finished the form and the php system that delivers the lead info to my email today. Tomorrow, I will do the keyword research and get my Adwords ads running. Nothing too exciting yet. This one does not pay out nearly as well has PPC2 but my hope is that it will bring in $500/month starting out.

Empress, I'm a bit disappointed to hear that images are going to be blurry=( I wish that my CRT was thin like this one...and never had problems.

Oh, oh. I forgot. I'll be making my first offer on a duplex tomorrow.