“War was always here. Before man was, war waited for him. The ultimate trade awaiting its ultimate practitioner.”

– Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian

How I destroyed 106,654 blogs in 3 months

At the start of this month I promised to double site traffic.

For a long time my blog had been a hobby and readership reflected that. It was time for a change. I sat down with a pen and paper one evening and scribbled out my master plan.

It’s been 28 days since then and here are my results:

This was my site ranking on the night I decided to take action. Back then my global rating was 353,935. It was actually better than I thought it would be.

As of yesterday this was my site rank. 320,938 is an improvement. If my math is correct 30 Days To X surpassed nearly 33,000 other blogs this month. Not bad at all. On top of this, the site outgrew 106,654 other blogs in the span of 90 days.

Traffic exploded. I got a ton of new readers and met some really cool people.

However, this isn’t going to be a brag post. I’ve got too much work ahead of me and there’s no time to celebrate.

Instead I’m going to show you how to beat me. The information below will showcase all my weak-points and give you the tools to build something bigger, better, and more entertaining.

Learn from my mistakes:

My SEO sucks

Most search engine experts are con men. Their only interest is inside your wallet. Worrying about optimal keyword density is for niche misers and dweebs.

However, there are a few things that you should always do. When I started out I never knew about these tricks and it hurt my site growth.

• Give your title a descriptive name.

If you’re writing about baked beans, include the words “baked beans” in the title. Trying to get artsy will make it hard for Google to index you. Additionally it will be difficult for you to go back and find that post later. Personally, there are about 100 “lost” posts on this very site. I can’t remember what I named them and it would take hours to track them down.

• Host your own images.

On your blog you can either embed images that are already floating around the net, or you can upload your own. Always host the pictures yourself. It’s simple. My Judge Dredd photo at the start of this post was downloaded from Google Images and then uploaded to my blog. You can get search traffic off the image this way and never have to worry about the link getting corrupted. At the start I didn’t know about this and ended up with a lot of missing pictures.

• Link to your own articles.

I’ve written several posts about blogging, but this is a lesson that’s always worth repeating. Link back to relevant articles that you’ve written. Not every reader will have seen them and some people might want a quick refresher.

Networking is not my thing

Being an introvert, and socially awkward, I really don’t engage with a ton of people online. Right now I’m backed up with emails and don’t have the time, or willpower, to visit other blogs and comment on them.

A lot of people always assume that I’m a huge jerk because I don’t respond to every email or comment that comes my way, but in actuality I get overwhelmed easily. I can get to the really important stuff, but doing things like asking me to critique your theoretical blog idea isn’t a top priority.

Someone with better social skills and more patience could probably deal with these things in a much more efficient manner.

I am lazy

Writing is hard work. Running a blog is only fun for about the first six months. After that you have to start thinking critically and doing a lot of behind the scenes stuff.

You also have to constantly come up with new topics. A lot of guys make the mistake of trying to stretch 15 minutes of information into 12 months of blogging. Their readership suffers as a result.

Tomorrow I’m starting up a new set of challenges and I have no idea what’s in store. While I’m kicking around some ideas, nothing is set in stone.

I’d suggest trying to plan your content out at least one week in advance. That might sound like a lot of work, but it will save you from producing dud posts.

My content is boring

Until the police locate and dig up all those missing persons I’ll be known as a boring guy. And that’s okay. However, it is a problem in the world of blogging. Especially when your target demographic is men. Writing about girls, daring adventures, and exercise draws a bigger crowd than posts about business or mindset do.

I wrote a quick piece about a hypersexual hobo who’s plowing through Manhatten. The post had a 15 to 1 readership ratio compared to the other articles I published during that same week. Folks wanted to hear about a homeless playboy.

If you can find ways to spice up your content you’ll draw in all kinds of new readers. Posts about current events and famous people, when used within reason, can really grab the attention of your readers.

I don’t know the first thing about social media

Aside from using them as jokes, like “enjoying a #cup of coffee,” I don’t know the first thing about social media tagging or movements. I always seem to miss out on big events and have no idea how a lot of stuff works.

The average high school girl knows more about social media than I do. For a long time I sucked at Twitter and really wasn’t able to gain any new followers. While you could probably buy a book or take a class on the subject, I’d recommend being more interactive with others. Tweeting at different bloggers, or linking articles that you liked, is a great way to cultivate new readers.

I sent one simple Tweet to James Altucher back in August and got several hundred hits within a few short hours.

What’s next?

Although I met my goal, I want to continue growing. I’d really like to be in the top 200,000 sites by early 2015. Right now I’ve got a larger readership than a lot of small magazines and newspapers. Within six months I want to be big enough to do some crazy challenges that will blow your mind.

I’m going to take this afternoon off from blogging so that I can go play with some Humboldt penguins, but I’ll be back in the morning with some brand new content.

Until tomorrow,

Robert Koch

“When you know what a man wants you know who he is, and how to move him.”

– George R.R. Martin, A Storm of Swords

Manipulation for fun and profit

As some of you might know, I’ve been working on a book about sales.

To make it perfect I do a lot of research and look into all kinds of different techniques and strategies. When it’s done you’ll be getting $100,000 of information for $10.

Over the weekend I ended up watching some videos on copywriting and selling. These covered some of the darker aspects of the trade, like manipulating clients and stretching the truth. I’ve linked one of the videos below, but it is a little long. If you don’t have time to sit through a 15 minute lecture, here are a few key points:

Clients are insecure about the problem your product solves.

There are two ads that every man has seen in the spam folder of his email. The infamous male enhancement message about increasing the “length and girth of your manhood,” and the letter about picking up women.

Ads like these have been done to death and are ingrained in pop culture. But they still get people to buy. Obviously good marketers do a better job and there are some products in these niches that actually work, but most of the sales come from insecurity.

Wilt Chamberlain and Gene Simmons aren’t ordering The Mystery Method. Those products are, generally speaking, aimed at men who have trouble meeting girls.

If there’s a magic bullet people are more willing to buy.

This is something that I’ve seen a lot, but never really thought about from a sales standpoint. A gizmo or gadget that can do something creates a lot of interest. People frequently email me about stupid programs that are supposed to automatically make you money with just the press of a button. I always give them the same response:

If a product that generated money without any input actually worked, why would the inventor put so much time and energy into getting others to buy it?

However, there are certain programs and devices that actually do work. Online dating is easier than going to a bar and approaching a huge group of girls. Selling services online is less work than owning a brick-and-mortar store.

With that said, How To Make $100 A Day Blogging sounds a lot easier than How To Make $100 A Day Working At A Coffee House even though the latter is actually less work. Blogging is the magic buffer in this case. The site is going to do all the work, or so the client thinks, and it won’t require as much effort.

Outlandish stories are better than facts.

Word choice can make all the difference. I could write a post titled “How I made $15 a day from three blog posts.” Or I could choose a headline like “I make $5,475 last year from these three articles.” Both are true, but the first is less exciting. In fact, I’m going to give you three true statements about myself that I could easily use for some shady marketing techniques:

1. I’ve flown in a private plane

2. I’ve sat behind the wheel of a Ferrari Testarossa

3. I’ve made thousands of dollars in my sleep

I must be quite the big-shot.

All of those are actually true. However, they were carefully worded. When I was 10 or 11 I got to fly in a propeller plane for some Boy Scout event. I’ve also had my picture taken in a Ferrari at an auto museum. And I’ve done a lot of work for clients in Asia who pay out while I’m in bed.

How you say it is just as important as what you say.

Our buying choices are driven by emotion.

When I worked in retail this was actually something that I noticed but couldn’t articulate. Most products were targeted towards a specific emotion. A smiling family drinking hot chocolate in their new turtlenecks. Everything appealed to the buyer’s feelings.

This doesn’t always have to make sense either. A new set of turtlenecks isn’t going to bring the whole family together. There is no logic but it doesn’t matter. People aren’t looking for something reasonable. In the video below the speaker talks about numerology. At the end of the day, most people into this topic just want to feel special. That’s it.

Same with being an entrepreneur. No one wants to spend Saturday night at their desk, but they do want show off how successful they’ve become and rub it in at the next family gathering.

Final thoughts

I’m not a huge fan of manipulation. Honesty builds a following and benefits everyone. But I do think that some of these “dirty” tactics are still important to study. There are a lot of famous con men, Jordan Belfort comes to mind, who can teach us a lot. These guys might not be the most ethical, but they have some great information and can show you how to improve your own business.

“Affiliate marketing has made businesses millions and ordinary people millionaires.”

– Bo Bennett

How to make your own travel agency

Earlier this month I saw a poster advertising weekend trips to the Galápagos Islands. As both an animal lover and nature fan I knew I had to go. Visiting the travel agency and inquiring about their trip made me realize something crazy.

This massive international tourism firm used the exact same business model as me.

Doing a little detective work I learned that they had special affiliate deals with all kinds of hotels and airlines. This got me thinking. If a big company could sign-up for an affiliate program with an airliner or rental car agency, why couldn’t the average man?

There are plenty of guys who like to travel and who run blogs about their various adventures. But most of them try to monetize their sites with cheesy banner ads or Amazon Affiliates. For many bloggers there isn’t much money to be made that way.

Getting a commission on something like a hotel or flight would be far more lucrative. If you were to make your own travel agency you could do very well for yourself. Going on a trip, writing about it, and then adding some affiliate links to the services you used is a pretty simple process.

Just to make sure that this was feasible I decided to investigate further.

Travel agency affiliate programs

Looking around I found that it was possible to get into the travel niche. A lot of major companies, like TripAdvisor and Orbitz, have their own unique programs with different commissions and guidelines. Almost all of the big guns are willing to pay you something.

However, it is important that you realize a few things before signing on with anyone:

• Not all programs are created equal.

TripAdvisor offers sellers a 50% commission. Expedia pays 5%. That’s a pretty huge difference. A lot of airlines and cruise services have similar pay gaps. Other services only pay a flat fee. Airbnb gives you $25. Looking at every option is important.

• People hate fakes.

I’m actually going to play around with the travel niche when I get back from my trip. However, I’m not going to just sit down and write-up a bunch of generic nonsense about places that I’ve never been to. Trying to fool people is a poor business strategy. If you wanted to get into this niche you’d have to already enjoy traveling. It would be pretty hard to pull off otherwise.

• You still need to do a lot of work.

Sales is a tough racket. I’ve made an average person’s weekly salary in a weekend. I’ve also had monthly earnings that were less than minimum wage. If you don’t want to work hard go get a cubicle job. The Internet and affiliate marketing is a struggle that requires a lot of blood and sweat. High commissions mean nothing when no one is buying.

Final thoughts

There are a million ways to make money and this is just another one of them. If traveling is your passion, or there’s a particular place that you’re really knowledgeable about, this could be a great niche. With that said, I wouldn’t recommend it to people who can’t walk the walk.

If you don’t like traveling, or haven’t been to many destinations, don’t try this. Being a shady businessman could honestly jeopardize someone’s life or, at the very least, force them to waste a ton of money on a mediocre trip.

For an honest traveler willing to provide unique insights, this could probably turn this into a pretty good gig.

“I disagree with people who think you learn more from getting beat up than you do from winning.”

– Tom Cruise

The best advice Tom Cruise ever gave me

Back in May I was eating dinner with the television on. It was late at night and the channel was set to ABC. Jimmy Kimmel Live was playing.

I wasn’t paying much attention until Kimmel cut to a segment where he interviewed the show’s special guest, Tom Cruise. The first part of the conversation was standard fluff. “I heard you’ve got a new movie coming out. What’s the premise?” Basic nonsense. The second part however, that was pure gold.

Kimmel asked Cruise how he’d been able to succeed in the notoriously difficult entertainment industry for so long.

The secret: He watched some of the best movies every single day and took notes. Look at the greats and emulate them.

Sounds pretty simple right? Well, I didn’t start following his advice until recently. Applying this strategy to blogging hadn’t even crossed my mind.

How to become a better writer

I like to dedicate one hour a day to mindless web surfing. Every time I see an interesting headline that makes me click over to the article, and this isn’t very often, I’ll write the title down. Other times I’ll read a post that I really like and then hand copy it onto a sheet of paper. Occasionally I’ll even find an article that convinces me to buy something. When this happens I make sure to take notes on the product too.

Afterwards I get out a pen and make comments next to everything that I liked.

Most of headlines that get my clicks contain words like “How,” “Why,” or “Who.” I’m a sucker for grand promises too, as long as they sound somewhat reasonable. “Make One Million Dollars Today” is cheesy, “You Can Earn $100 This Afternoon” is much more effective. Titles that reference a famous person are also a guilty pleasure of mine. “A Life Lesson From Socrates” or “Bruce Lee’s Workout Routine” will get my attention. Celebrity trash, like articles about Kim Kardashian’s latest shopping spree, are ignored.

The importance of copying

One thing that I love about writing is the fact that anyone can do it. If you wanted to make a movie you’re going to have to spend several hundred thousand dollars. The written word costs virtually nothing.

Taking a good article and writing it out lets you feel what it’s like to make something of quality. It gives you the opportunity to better understand the author’s style and tone. If you copied Bukowski stories every day you’d eventually write just like Bukowski. We’re adaptive creatures our writing can evolve.

If you write garbage all day don’t be surprised when no one will read your work. You need to know what good writing feels like in order to improve.

I used to suck at sales. Then I started copying down old landing pages and product reviews that had sold me on all kinds of items. Within a few days my ability to sell improved greatly. Reading more books, or buying an expensive web seminar, wouldn’t have done nearly as much for me as copying did.

Becoming a better writer is tough. Some people spend their entire lives trying to improve but never make any progress. Although it isn’t a magic cure-all, I’d recommend taking notes on, and re-writing, articles that you like. Doing so allows you to understand what makes a good piece of writing and allows you to use this information in your own endeavors.

“In his strange cold eyes a vagrant gleam
grew wayward and blind and bright,
And Solomon put the people by
and went into the night.”

– Robert E. Howard, Solomon Kane’s Homecoming

How to stay motivated while living abroad

A lot of people always talk up location independence and world travel. They try to make it sound like the ultimate experience. Something with no downsides whatsoever. You wake up and everything is great all day long.

While traveling and living overseas is fun, there a lot of drawbacks.

It can get lonely at times, you can become bored easily, and it can be hard to stay focused.

Here I have new friends, and can go out every night of the week, but it can still feel like something is missing. In the afternoon when no one is around you can start to feel completely alone. An alien in some distant land.

After some time this really starts to get to you and it becomes easy to get distracted. You end up going for a long walk, sitting around and staring at the walls, or mindlessly browsing the web. Work and obligations keep piling up and all you can do is stand by and watch.

It’s like sinking in the ocean and lacking the willpower to swim up.

There’s no logical reason for your inaction, but that doesn’t matter. It isn’t like you forgot that you’re supposed to do stuff. No, an invisible mental barrier is holding you back and hoping that you fail.

Your mindset sucks and needs changing.

Immediate action

The person who said “Running away from your problems won’t solve anything” was a liar.

99% of the problems throughout my life were the result of a poor environment.

When I start getting depressed I just uproot and go somewhere different. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to change cities or anything, but you should go someplace new.

The other day I was feeling down so I walked to an art museum that I’d never been to before. If you’re going to be depressed do it while surrounded by millions dollar pieces of art. It’s better than stewing at home and you’ll probably take some cool pictures that you can show your friends.

Going to gym is another good option. You can’t be sad when there’s 315 pounds of metal pushing you into the ground.

If you stay home you won’t get anything done. It’s easy to tell yourself that you will, but the hours will pass and the work will just sit there.

You’re going to have to face the consequences either way. Might as well blow off your responsibilities and have something to show for it.

Five ways to stay focused

Getting out of a slump is hard enough. But avoiding a relapse is even tougher. Once your mind is filled with negative thoughts it can be hard to push onward. You start to doubt yourself and question all your goals.

The other day I was feeling bad and then some moron messaged me to say “Your blog sucks and you’re an idiot.”

Normally that wouldn’t bother me, but I my self-esteem was already low. I ended up writing three posts that afternoon and threw each of them away, all because I was worried that they weren’t good enough.

After that I hit a wall and couldn’t write a single sentence.

It took me a good day to fully regain my drive and get back to working toward my goal.

I ended up using several strategies to refocus and I’ve listed them all below. If you’re having trouble or need to stick with something, these five tips can help you out:

1. Make lists

Several of you are probably rolling your eyes right now and thinking: “A list about lists, somebody call Michael Chabon because we’re in for some postmodern nonsense!” And yes, this might sound like lazy writing, but it actually works. Taking a piece of paper and writing down 10 goals for the day will really help you to get your work done.

I usually start with something simple, like cook breakfast and do the dishes, before moving on to something much more challenging. In the middle of the list I also try to pepper in a few fun activities like studying Spanish and hand copying great writings.

Giving yourself 10 things to do, and making a few of them pleasant, is a way to build discipline.

2. Book every waking hour

I fill my lists with 10 items because that’s how many things usually occupy my entire day.

Making breakfast, lunch, and dinner takes time. So does writing a blog post. Spanish eats up at least an hour. By the time I’m done with everything my day is over.

When you pile on too much work you get stressed and can’t do anything. It’s overwhelming. And when you give yourself too much free time you end up sitting around and getting sucked into your own head. A busy man is a happy man.

Being occupied keeps me from going crazy and it will save you too.

3. Invent new goals

Unless you’re about to die you should have future plans. A big problem with lofty goals like “move to another country” or “be my own boss” is that they have no continuation.

Once you move, you’re just twiddling your thumbs.

You must have big goals. This way there’s always something for you to work towards. Writing a book, building a blog, sculpting a better physique; those are all great goals to have. They’ll keep you busy and provide you with something to look forward to.

4. Check your diet

I love bread and baked goods. I also like ice cream. The other night I ate a half-dozen Strawberry Dreams from Dunkin’ Donuts.

While I love junk food, I always reel it in whenever I’m feeling lethargic. Making a big glass of juice, eating some eggs, and avoiding sugar helps clear my head.

If I was consuming doughnuts while depressed I’d feel even worse about myself.

Healthy meals, with junk food as an occasional reward, make you feel good about yourself.

5. Annoy some friends

At some point during the day I usually call someone up and chat with them for a few minutes. When you spend all day working alone it’s nice to be social for a little while.

Even if you’re an introvert, and especially if you’re socially awkward, you need to have human interaction. Without it your conversational abilities will disintegrate.

Plus, talking and joking around helps to relieve some of the monotony in your day and lifts your spirits. Laughing and chatting with other people is a great way to turn your attitude around.

Closing thoughts

Staying motivated overseas is tough to do. You’re in a foreign land, there’s culture shock, and you can get burnt out easily. However, it is curable. With the right mindset you can overcome your issues and get yourself back in the action.

Leaving your immediate environment, writing out goals, managing your time, creating a vision for your future, being healthy, and socializing are all important tools that will allow you to refocus.