I visited one of my favourite sites this morning – Dooce.

If you don’t know about Dooce yet her story begins with getting fired from her job in 2002 for blogging about her workplace.

I’m browsing through the site and I notice a new button on her menu bar called “Hate”.

I’m intrigued. I know that a lot of people disagree with her honesty about family life etc.

The navigation button called “Hate” is alluring – it makes you want to click on it – what’s Hate? Is it going to outline a procedure for letting her know you hate what she wrote? Is it going to be a sad story of how the hate ruins her day?

No, turns out it’s a clever way to turn a negative into a positive – literally.

Dooce has published her hate mail on a page filled with advertising.

Sure, some people might click back. But if you like Dooce and what she does then you’re probably going to give her a break and click on an ad.

I know I did.

Would love to know conversion rate on that page!

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A couple of months ago on a whim I registered the domain (shut your eyes if you are offended easily) stopwatchingfuckinglost.com after talking about Gary Vaynerchuk to some of my friends.

The domain was taken from a quote in the first video I ever saw of Gary – his Web 2.0 keynote speech in 2008.

At the time I was working day and night to get my consultancy up and running, had just started this blog and what he said resonated with me – the idea of really knowing your subject before you try to make a living from it, working hard, knowing who you are and embracing the ‘hustle’ involved with business creation and growth.

When I bought the domain I had no idea what I would do with it. I’ve thought briefly about it every so often and while I was browsing garyvaynerchuk.com I watched this video about his new book being available for pre-order.

I’d signed up to be an Amazon affiliate with intentions of selling books from another domain that is in development so I thought – here we go – there’s my business goal for the site.

I sketched out a design, had a think about the content and social media aspects of the site and settled on creating a simple one page site with rich media and network sharing tools via Twitter and Email.

I got about creating the site – using Tweetmeme button for the Twitter sharing tool and FreeTellaFriend for the email a friend tool.

I embedded the keynote speech with the magic words in it, into the page and wrote a diddy about how inspiring Gary Vaynerchuk is and with his lessons anyone can make a living doing something they love with a picture of the new book and an affiliate link.

Got the go ahead from Gary (yes an actual email, HOW EXCITING!) and launched the site.

Within 20 minutes I’d taken the site down.

Why?

Because the content of the site was all about me and what I wanted to get out of it. It was all about why it’s a great idea to buy this book and it was all about getting the visitor to click on that affiliate link and purchase the book.

It didn’t offer anything new or exciting or useful to the visitor – why would they pass it on? I wouldn’t.

I had a think about my audience – people who know about Gary Vee like to talk about him – his charm is the inspiration he offers and his direct way of delivering that inspiration.

The answer was in the domain – a page with inspirational business/web 2.0/doing-what-you-love-to-make-a-living quotes – that’s something I’d pass on while still being inspired to pre order the book – reaching my business goal for the site.

So that’s what’s up there now. It’s a work in progress. If you haven’t heard of Gary please watch the video it’s WELL worth the time. If you have – I’d love to hear what your favorite Gary Vee quote is!

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Google’s introduction to Search Marketing/Google Adwords is free to use and it’s a nice run down about how to approach your website for business and get into an online marketing mindset.

While Google have defined Google Adwords as “Search Marketing” there are actually two forms of search marketing – SEO and Paid Search Advertising.

Google Adwords is a type of Paid Search Advertising. You pay to advertise your website with a short piece of text and your website link – the ads are displayed down the right hand side of search results.

You can decide when your text ad is displayed by selecting keywords you want your ad to appear with.

Advertising using Google Adwords means that you can immediately connect your website with visitors who are searching for keywords relevant to your business.

SEO on the other hand delivers free high quality visitors from Google. While the results are not immediate and the initial outlay is more than Adwords, the return on investment is much higher.

Visit: http://www.10searchmarketingsteps.com.au/ to test it out.

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There’s quite a few online businesses who sell their unique, handmade products – i.e. beauty products, hand creams, homemade candles, jewelry etc.

How you package those products is incredibly important – it will help define your brand, your level of professionalism and will help sell the products on the website.

I just came across this website – The Dieline. It’s showcases beautiful package design across a range of industries. If you’re looking at branding your own products, you must check it out.

I don’t have to tell you that not only is the packaging that is used to present your product important, so is the packaging of the product when it’s sent.

Everyone knows the thrill of receiving your latest purchase in the mail. Think about the packages that you’ve received and which are the ones that stand out? It usually comes down to the quality of the packaging, branding and the addition of something special you weren’t expecting.

All these elements can make or break a repeat purchase so pay careful attention to how you present your products and package them.

If you visit the website check out my favourite page – the Before & Afters.

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