This Is An Exercise In Words – ReubenRock.com

I seek the satisfaction of waking next to the person I last saw before drifting into dreams. It doesn’t happen.

I picture the cold reality washing over you… waking to the morning sun illuminating the walls of my room, but failing to warm it… it must be disconcerting. The heat outside is seductive. Stealing you away every time.

When my eyes first glimpse the expanse of linens, clearly rumpled from a missing body, they signal some part of me to shut down. There are no expectations in the games we play. Nor are there clear winners. So the “feeling” portion of my being grows calloused.

Maybe the ultimate satisfaction should stem from the fact that we aren’t bound to one another. I challenge us all to consider that. And to relish in the light of day – alone.

I look at fingers and toes, and I recall specific people from my life. We’re unique.

I remember my father telling me that when I was born, my oldest brother came into the room and immediately inspected me. He checked to make sure I had all my fingers and toes. And for some reason, that has stuck with me. A sign of health? An indication that I met some minimum requirements that suggest there aren’t other hidden problems? I really don’t know. But it’s inherent.

When we’re together, I’ll create a mental map of your fingers. When I hold your hand, I’m actually investigating and silently cataloging. Your form will remain a part of me for years to come. And when I run across somebody with similar features, it will trigger memories in the same fashion that a scent does.

This happened recently. A memory was triggered by the sight of a thumb. It was like traveling back some months and seeing her thumb overlapping mine. There was no longing. Just simple recognition.

But those toes. Those will never be recreated. They were truly unique. Not in the way that made a person self conscious, although it often did. In the way that suggested individuality. They were inimitable.

This site was rebuilt from the ashes of a site that was recently hacked. So be aware that most of the posts here were copied/pasted into this new installation. The timeline doesn’t make sense. Most of these posts are from well over a year ago.

Just wanted to give you a little insight into the “funkiness” of this site.

For me, nothing spawns more mental fiction than a text message from a girl. The thoughts that dance through my head could inspire volumes. They could fill the wall of empty bookshelves in my modest, midtown Memphis home. The same home where a rift formed last fall. A rift that raised the floor like something prehistoric, separating two parties that were previously fused.

A “yes.” Mind races. What are the possibilities? What would our life be like? Could this work? Probably not. I have shortcomings. But I’ll imagine the scenes that would make up our timeline nonetheless. Couples nights. Who are her friends? Work functions. What does she do for a living? Family dinners on holidays. Will her mother see right through me? The same nonsense that preoccupies us all for years and years, until we suddenly look around and realize – that was my life. When my phone buzzes, I become the author of this mental fiction. I flesh out the plot from prologue to epilogue. And at the end, I’m no more satisfied than I was at the start. I’ll stack this on top of the other dusty editions that line the sagging bookcase I imagine myself owning. But in reality, the books left. And so did their owner. The only works I own are in my head, so the bookcase is barren.

A “no.” She has somebody better.

If you’re involved in internet marketing, you probably see tons of high-priced products all the time. Seminars for thousands of dollars. Huge video courses for $997. That sort of thing.

Let me first say that I DO NOT charge that much for any of my current products. Nowhere near that much. But I want to let you in on a little secret that I have been discovering in that 6 months…

Selling a $97 product is no harder than selling a $7 product online.

Let that soak in for a minute. How much happier would you be if you sold a $97 product every single day versus selling a $7 product every day? I’m not trying to equate money with happiness here, but it makes a difference. Last summer I launched 2 products at the $97 price point. One of those products has taken off. I have 0ver 1,000 affiliates promoting it. I make sales nearly every single day. Think about that – that means nearly $100 in extra income every single day.

If you think it was difficult to create that product, market it, recruit affiliates, etc…. you’re dead wrong. The process was the same as when I was creating 10 page ebooks on little niche topics.

So decide what you would rather do: spend hours creating a $17 product, or pump the product up a little bit and have a great $97 product. Which product is worth your time?

For an example of the my product creation process, check out Product Creation with Skype.

There’s my tip. Take it or leave it. Go make some more money!

Best of luck,
Reuben D. Rock

I still write articles and submit to EzineArticles.com. Why? Because it still brings me quality traffic that converts. It still delivers high rankings in Google. It still works for my business. The articles I wrote 2 years ago are still driving traffic to my products, and they are still earning me more money.

Despite the fact that this technique has been around for years and is still effective… many internet marketers refuse to take advantage of it. Why? All I can figure is laziness. Sure, there are folks who focus exclusively on PPC or whatever and make tons of money. I can understand why they aren’t writing articles. But the people who are struggling to get started online, who haven’t earned a single dime, and who are begging for a silver bullet… these are the people who aren’t writing articles. And that makes me sad.

Why are so few people using article marketing? Because it involves work – actual, honest to god work. People hate writing. And they think making money online is the result of some special combination of WordPress plugins or secret Adwords methods. So they continue to search for that one secret they need to learn. If they spent that time writing a couple articles instead of reading Warrior Forum, they might make a couple bucks. But most beginners just don’t do it.

There’s no real “hot tip” in my post today. Just a reminder that this old fashioned way of driving traffic is still an option. It’s just as effective as it was years ago. My articles regularly get click-thru rates of 30% and higher. Some of them as high as 60%. That’s money in my pocket, and it should be money in your pocket too.

If you really need an action plan, go build an affiliate site promoting my product at RecordingStudioProfits.com. The commission is about $29/sale. It’s converting really well right now, and my affiliates are starting to make more and more every month. Once you’ve built a quick landing page to promote the product, submit a couple articles to EzineArticles.com. Topics could be anything related to recording studios, home studios, sound engineering, etc. This niche has been getting high CTRs for me on my articles. You should be able to earn some quick commissions. Then I’ll send you a commission check and a note that says, “I told you article marketing still works!”

I just had an interesting experience. I was Googling myself (dirty) and found that my Slideshare profile had shot up to the top of the rankings. It overtook all of my various profiles, websites, blogs, etc. Basically, Slideshare just one-up’d Squidoo, EzineArticles, Myspace, Twitter, WordPress.com, and others.

Here’s the kicker – I set up my Slideshare.net account one week ago. It has one presentation uploaded (which was done for a graduate class). And I haven’t friended, commented, or taken part in any of the community behaviors they allow on their site. So I did a little investigation to see if others were experiencing the same thing.

I found this interesting article about Slideshare and SEO: http://www.socialseo.com/leveraging-slideshare-to-gain-rank-in-the-search-engines.html

From this little tiny case study, I’ve gleaned two hypotheses:

1. Slideshare.net can earn quick Google rankings.
2. Google likes Slideshare better than other sites, like Squidoo or Twitter.

Sure, those two ideas are related. If Google likes you, they rank you better. But I want to separate them because they should be investigated separately.

First, Slideshare seems to get quick Google rankings. This can be tested in a simple way. Create a few Slideshare accounts or presentations for specific keywords, send them on their way. Then watch and see how/when they rank in Google. Try keywords with varying amounts of competition. Obviously, my name (Reuben Rock) doesn’t have a ton of competition. So maybe Slideshare won’t get great rankings for keywords like make money, start a business, get pregnant, etc.

Next, Google seems to like Slideshare better than other sites. This can be tested by creating a Slideshare page and a page with another site, then coming back later to check their rankings. Yada yada yada… More importantly, why would Google like Slideshare better? Let’s think about it…

• Slideshare hosts slideshow presentations. It attracts academicians, professionals, and other educated people with something valuable to offer. That’s a heck of a step up from Ezinearticles, where any jackass can and does publish slop.
• These presentations are valuable and dynamic content for users to access. It isn’t a quick blurb about Topic A. It’s an interactive medium. People click through slides, learning as they go. It encourages CLICKS on every page. With a site like Squidoo, a visitor will scroll through it quickly and then hit the back button. Maybe they will click one link. Slideshare gets people clicking multiple times on one page. Then they will look at other slideshows from the same author.

What does it all mean? For the time being, Google seems to like Slideshare and gives them a nice pat on the back (in the form of rankings).

Should you be using Slideshare to get keyword rankings? Only if you have something valuable to say. Post crap, and people won’t read it or look through your slideshow. Quality is everything, as usual.

Hope that gets your gears turning!

Reuben D. Rock

I’ve been noticing a high rate of shopping cart abandonment on a few new products I created. After going through my checkout process, I think I have the problem nailed down. My receiving email address was wack. Yes, wack.

Consider this – you decide to drop $100 on an info product. Click the buy button, and suddenly you’re sending your cash to sk8rboi666@aol.com (not my email address, btw). How confident do you feel that your money is safe? Does it seem like you might get scammed? Probably. Or at the very least, the seller is incompetent.

So my quick suggestion for the day is to check out your Paypal emails. Make sure the payment is being sent to a related email. For me, payments are now being sent to 90minutebusiness (at) mydomain.com.

If you sell softballs, make sure the email is softball related. Trust me – it makes a difference.

Here’s to reduced cart abandonment!