How would you like to uncover all the best deals available on Amazon.com?

I have uncovered a secret method of searching through the Amazon.com product database and showing only items that are on sale. You can pick the product category and exact discount range you want to search and Amazon will do the rest.

The information I found involved a fairly messy process of copying and pasting codes together to create a special search string and then pasting that into your browser. I decided to make the process easier so that anyone could find these great deals.

Here is the result of my labor:

Give it a try and see what you find! You can download a Windows version of this tool here:

AmazonDealFinder.exe

Make sure and bookmark this page and tell your friends.

Happy Bargain Hunting,

The Go-To Guy!

P.S. Do you use bookmarking sites like Delicious or Digg? Or, how about StumbleUpon.com? Recommend this page and give it a good review. Thanks!

12/18/2006 - Adsense Blog

The rules on image placement for websites using Adsense ads has changed. Several of the techniques that Adsense gurus have been touting are now explicitly off limits.

The policy basically boils down to this: if you are using images to try and trick users into thinking that the ad and image are in some way connected - you broke the rules.

Two specific examples are given in the Adsense blog entry.

The first example gives the impression that the images next to the ads illustrate the products that the advertiser is offering for sale (if users click the ad and don’t find what they thought would be there, the advertiser is cheated when they click away.)

The second example involves blending the ad into a menu list in such a way that it looks like a menu option. The image is an icon the resembles the icons used for the rest of the menu options. If the user thinks he is navigating through the site, but ends up on an advertiser’s site (only to click away immediately because he hadn’t intended to click an ad) the advertiser is again cheated.

I saw a few people using this technique last summer. At the time, the Adsense rules did not clearly ban the practice.

The technique seems to have worked as a way to increase ad clicks. Soon, a major Adsense guru incorporated the technique into the templates included in a product being promoted to people creating Adsense sites. Before long, thousands of sites were using the technique and Google pulled the plug.

This all boils down to one thing, if you try to set up your ads in a way that tricks users into thinking they are not ads, Google will eventually catch up with you and officially ban the practice. It is their responsibility to protect their advertisers. It is in the best interest of the whole community to help them. If advertisers find themselves battling fraud instead of finding customers, they will stop using pay per click ads (and this source of income for site owners will disappear.)

Adsense is a great tool for generating revenue from a website. There are plenty of ways to optimize the click through rates and earnings per click on your site. Google rewards sites with valuable content and allows a great deal of latitude for you to creatively incorporate Adsense ads into your site. Leave the trick tactics to spammers and ‘black-hat’ outlaws and go build quality sites that users want to visit.

The Go-To Guy!

P.S. Don’t let me have the last word. Leave a comment and let us know what you think.

Mrs. Go-To Guy and I are expecting our first baby soon and I am anticipating less free time in my schedule for writing.

To make sure that I continue to address topics that are important to you, I’ve compiled a list of some of the most recent questions I have received.

Please look over this list and let me know which ones are important to you. Also, let me know what needs to be added to the list. Just leave a comment with your thoughts.

Possible article topics:

1. What are the steps to designing my own newsletter?
2. How do I update my newsletter for monthly/weekly release?
3. How do I set up a newsletter subscription page?
4. What are some strategies for getting subscribers?
5. How do I create an email list?
6. What are the steps to directing traffic to my site?
7. What are some ways to get people to buy my book from my site?
8. How can a press release help me?
9. How can I re-purpose/re-package my book to reach more people?
10. How do I get people to respond to my blog entries?
11. How can I improve my site’s standing in the search engines?
12. How do I turn audio recordings into MP3’s for my site?
13. How do I partition my Wordpress site to create a subscriber only area?
14. How do I use YouTube to get video on my site?
15. How do I combine audio MP3’s together into an audio book?
16. How do I create banners, page headers and other graphics usine Photoshop?
17. How plausible is it to create multiple newsletters to reach general and targeted audiences?
18. What are some ways I can increase income from my website business?
19. What is the best way to record audio for my website?
20. Do I need a content management system for my website? If so, which one?
21. What equipment do I need to record video for my website that looks professional?

Vote for the questions you really want answered. Leave your comments below and let your voice be heard.

The Go-To Guy!

“Earn enough money through online marketing to pay for the month’s hosting fees.”

That was my goal back in January of 2006 as I decided to try and find a way to earn a living through my own websites.

I had been working online for over 10 years at that point, but never ran my own online business. My income came from working on websites for other people and a full-time corporate gig.

I knew how to manage vendors and build websites and media components, but I had never built my own website with the intention of turning a profit or tried to create and sell a product - I thought about it a lot, but never did anything about it!

Setting a Small Goal

My hosting fees are pretty low (I use 1&1 Internet and my fees are roughly $25/month.) I decided my first threshold would be to make sure that my online activities didn’t cost me money - $25/month!

I set out creating a niche website and writing about it (and other things) on this blog. I read every book and website I could find about building traffic. I learned about Adsense, Adwords, and Search Engine Optimization (SEO). I ran tests and wrote up my results. I got indexed in the Google search engine and did some article marketing. I made a little money and spent a little money. But mostly, I learned a lot.

The big thing I learned was that the real steady traffic was coming to the articles on this blog - and not just the ones focused on marketing. My niche site gets a little traffic here and there, but currently ads very little revenue.

I also learned the value of focus. At first I tried a little of every legitimate technique I found. But, if you’ve ever tried to make a sandwich with a little bit of everything in the kitchen, you know that the results are usually disappointing.

In the last few months I have started to list all of the different things I want to try and then evaluate which ones will most effectively build on the work I’ve already done. The goal is to continually improve and support things that show promise and not chase around looking for a big overnight score. Sometimes the real value of a work takes time to develop.

A Tiny Seed Grows And Blooms

As the title of this article suggests, I achieved my earnings goal in November - actually I earned 3.5 times that amount! I earned over $20 from Adsense alone, and nearly every penny of that ad money came from visitors to one page on this site.

I wrote a small tutorial last spring that I posted on the site. It was based on a fun little side project I started and I didn’t think much would come from it. After a few months this article was getting low, but steady, traffic from natural search results. While I was busy working on other projects this traffic steadily grew. Other people started linking to the page and more traffic came. Then, one night, someone using the social promotion website www.stumbleupon.com recommended my site. The next day my traffic spiked. It wasn’t thousands of visitors, but much more than usual.

As the traffic to that page kept growing I focused my energy on trying to find ways to revise the page to encourage affiliate sales and ad clicks. I played with the layout and added some resource links and product recommendations. I wrote a few related articles and added links to them too. No major breakthroughs, but traffic keeps coming and I keep getting a few ad clicks here and there.

In the middle of November the page was recommended again at www.StumbleUpon.com and even more traffic has been coming. Those referrals are now the biggest source of traffic to my site, and the other sources are still sending traffic too. The ad money started building and then, in one day, I sold 2 e-books through an affiliate link. This pushed me way past my goal.

Quit Driving Traffic And Start Building Relationships

At the same time that my site traffic was growing, I stopped chasing after visitors and started building relationships with them.

My primary strategy so far has been building a newsletter subscriber list. I’ve got several hundred people on my first list and I email them about once every week or two.

I let my subscribers know about relevant new articles I have placed on this blog and I can see an increase in traffic every time I send out a newsletter. I also recommend new products that I have tried and that accounts for two more of my affiliate sales this month.

It is amazing to be able to send out a email and see people respond directly to what you have to say.

What Is Next?

Will I make my earnings goal again this month? That remains to be seen, but I am building on the foundation I created. I’m learning more about the people on my mailing list and exploring ways to provide them with the information and resources they need.

I’m planning a project to get to know the people coming to that one super popular page on my site and considering whether to spin that off into a new niche site.

I’m also still exploring new things and writing about them - you never know where that next popular article will come from or where it will lead you.

Oh! I almost forgot - I’m also raising my monthly income target a little higher. I want this business to grow.

The Go-To Guy!

P.S. Don’t let me get the last word. Leave a comment and let us know what you think!

Are you curious about the value of your website? I came across a link in one of the business forums I visit for a website that claims to be able to evaluate what your website is worth. The site is called the Sootle Web Directory. The box on the right side of the page shows their current estimate for www.AndrewSeltz.com. At the time I am writing this they give it a value of $555.00. Not bad for a domain that wasn’t worth anything except the domain registration fee 12 months ago.

This website is worth
What is your website worth?

Their value seems to be based on the number of backlinks coming to your site. This is a reasonable indicator of value as the traffic your site gets (and which can be monetized) is tied to the number of incoming links that are listed around the Internet. Google, and the other major search engines, all use this indicator when evaluating sites.

Just a fun little observation that I thought I would share. It will be fun to see how this value changes over time.

The Go-To Guy! - A $555 value available for a fraction of the price!

I was looking through the stats for this site today and saw that someone had followed a Google search for “The Go To Guy” and arrived at my homepage.

Being the curious type, I clicked on the referring link to see what came up on a Google search for that phrase and where www.AndrewSeltz.com placed in the search results.

This site is number 11 (top of the second page) for the phrase “The Go To Guy.” Not bad considering that I have made no specific effort to rank well for that phrase and there were 295,000 results.

The results that placed higher than this site were mostly big news sites and/or referring to well know people, so I’m in good company.

Maybe someday this whole Go-To Guy! thing will stick in a big way?

Andrew Seltz, The Go-To Guy!

If you value my opinion at all, please DO NOT EVER rent a truck or trailer from U-Haul.

U-Haul representatives have just put my very pregnant wife through a day of hell trying to return a truck we rented yesterday afternoon. She spoke to numerous people from both their 800 call center, and local offices who have given her contradictory information, lied to her, threatened to report her to the police as a car thief, and just plain hung up on her because they didn’t want to deal with her questions. (My wife is a very gracious woman who is not prone to yelling on the phone or bullying people, particularly when others are being helpful and courteous.)

We are involved with a non-profit theater company. Another theater group donated some stage platforms to the company - if we picked them up from storage. The platforms are large and required a truck to move. On Saturday night, through the U-Haul website, my wife reserved a 14 foot truck. She called the 800 number to confirm our pick-up time and they instructed her to contact the local office in the morning.

Sunday morning the local office informed us that they did not have a 14 foot truck available until after 7pm (our volunteer labor force was only available at 3:30pm) They informed us that we could pick-up a truck at the U-Haul location in the Bronx (our pick-up and delivery were in Mid-town Manhattan on the west side - near the original location.) We drove up to the Bronx and picked up the truck.

After dealing with midtown traffic and moving the stages to their new location, I only had about 20 minutes to get from west 57th street back to the Bronx before the location closed for the evening - I didn’t make it. My wife called U-Haul’s 800 number to ask if there was any other place where we could drop the truck off. (You can’t just park a 14 foot truck in Manhattan. Most lots won’t/can’t take them and it is illegal to park on most streets because it is considered a commercial vehicle.) They told her that we could drop it off at one of two locations open late night in Manhattan. The closest location to the Bronx (where I was at the time) was the U-Haul at 126th street and Park Avenue.

I dropped off the truck at 126th and Park avenue. The man working there gave me a receipt with the mileage and gas level marked (I had refilled the tank before the short ride back across the river from the Bronx.) He initialed the paper an gave me a copy. He said that we would likely have to pay a fee of approximately $15 to pay for someone to drive the truck back to the Bronx in the morning - a fee I was happy to pay.

When my wife called back to U-Haul today to get a final amount for the bill, she was told that the rental was still considered ‘checked-out’ and would remain so until she drove it back into the Bronx location - they did not care about the receipt we were given last night. She called the 800 number to try and resolve whether she was going to have to trudge all the way over to 126th and Park Avenue to drive it to the Bronx (did I mention that she is 6 1/2 months pregnant?) She was bounced from person to person over at U-Haul. The customer service reps gave her contradictory information about what she had to do to close out the contract. Some representatives simply hung up on her and another told her they would report the truck stolen if it was not returned to the Bronx location by 1pm. They stressed her out so badly over the phone that she broke down crying.

After my wife regained her composure, she took a train and a bus over to pick up the truck and drive it back to the Bronx U-Haul location to try and close out the contract and get away from the whole mess. The last person she spoke with on the phone said they would extend the return period until 1pm.

The distance between 126th and Park Avenue and the Bronx location is about 3 or 4 miles - not far at all (I know because I drove it the night before.) When she arrived at the drop-off location they immediately informed her that the gas level was low (I have a signed receipt stating that it was at 1/2 tank last night when I dropped it off, but mysteriously it was low after driving 3 miles across the Harlem river.) U-Haul was eager to slap on a fuel charge (over $30 for 3 gallons of gas.) My wife was sick of the whole mess and said she didn’t care - slap on the fees, just let me be rid of you rude and incompetent people.

When she went inside to complete the paperwork, she was told that the return period had not been extended - rather, they had slapped on two additional rental periods and two $75 late charges to the bill (and would soon be adding the fuel charge!) Keep in mind, this whole bill is being paid by our little non-profit theater group. What was supposed to be an inexpensive truck rental to pick up donated stages was now becoming a several hundred dollar drain on our meager budget and a HUGE STRESS on my pregnant wife. Once again the stress got to her and she broke down crying. Fortunately, the counter clerk took some pity on her situation and backed-off a couple of the extra charges, but not all of them!

Eventually, she got a signed piece of paper saying the contract was closed and left as quickly as she could manage.

U-HAUL, you owe my wife an apology.

You owe your customers decent service and it is shameful that your corporate communication is so shoddy. I wish there was some way I could punish you for the awful experience you put my wife through. I WILL NEVER rent a truck or buy moving supplies from your company again. I will tell everyone that I ever come in contact with who needs to rent a truck, van, or trailer to avoid your company and rent from ANYONE else.

I respectfully ask all of my readers to please avoid using U-Haul. There are other rental companies available who treat their customers well. I would not have gone through this trouble if it had only been a rude clerk or one local site causing a problem. Every level of communication at U-Haul contributed to this bad experience. The corporate office is just as responsible as the local clerk - they built the system.

The only way that a company like U-Haul will ever change these types of bad business practices is when it costs them money. Please bookmark this page on digg, de.licio.us, and other social bookmark sites so that people see it when they look for information about U-Haul.

This whole experience has made me very angry and I wish there was more I could do to make things right.

The Go-To Guy!

P.S. If U-Haul has treated you badly, please take a moment to comment and leave a note of warning to others.

A project I am currently working on had me doing a little research about the Dead Sea Scrolls. Found in caves near Qumran (on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea), the first scrolls were discovered by a Bedouin sheep/goat herder in early 1947. According to the most frequently told account of the discovery of these ancient religious texts, he threw a rock into a cave into which one of his animals had wandered. The sound that echoed out of the cave was that of breaking pottery. When he went inside to investigate, he discovered the first set of scrolls. They were wrapped in linen and stored in clay pots.

Over the next 9 years, additional scrolls were found in eleven different caves. Most of the scrolls had decayed leaving behind little more than fragments of what had once been a large collection of texts. In total the fragments represent portions of more than 800 texts.

According to scholars who have studied the scrolls, 30% of the texts are from books of the Hebrew Bible. Other fragments are from religious texts and commentaries not included in the Hebrew Bible Canon, and about 15% are from documents that cannot be identified. Those 11 caves were a giant library of sacred texts.

A Giant Library Of Ancient Religious Texts

The library nature of this collection of texts was what caught my interest. Modern people are familiar with the Bible in its post-printing press form. In the minds of the contemporary reader, it is a single entity: neatly organized into books, chapters, and verses. Because of this, many people misunderstand the nature and history of the texts that come together to form the Bible. Add to this the fact that nearly everyone’s exposure to the Bible is in a translated version, and the opportunities for confusion grow.

The Bible is a book of books. Over many years, religious communities, like the one in Qumran, gathered and preserved their sacred texts. Those deemed to be most important were set apart. Over time, the larger religious community collected the texts that were widely acknowledged as ‘essential writings’ and they became the canon - an authoritative list of books that are accepted by the religious community to be Holy Scripture.

Back in the days when the Dead Sea Scrolls were first placed in those caves near Qumran, the Bible was a physically large collection of special scrolls. It is important to note that no part of what is now known as the New Testament had even been written when the earliest Dead Sea Scroll texts were made.

Many more years passed before the Christian community had gathered together an authoritative list of writings that were accepted as Holy Scripture, and which were added to the exisitng texts of the Hebrew Bible Canon.

A New Understanding Of The Bible

The Bible as we know it today did not fall from the sky - indexed, cross-referenced, printed, and bound with a nice leather cover stamped with a gold cross. It grew out of the experiences of a living breathing community of people as an authoritative expression of their understanding of, and relationship with, God.

It is fascinating to imagine the history of these texts and the people who preserved them. Their form, and our understanding and relationship to it, have shifted over time. Knowing this history can open up a new level of understanding of the stories that have been preserved.

Additional Dead Sea Scroll Resources

If you would like more information about the Dead Sea Scrolls, these sites are recommended by the authors of the Wikipedia entry on this subject:

• 25 Fascinating Facts About the Dead Sea Scrolls
• Orion Center for the Study of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
• Basic Facts Regarding the Dead Sea Scrolls
• Timetable of the Discovery and Debate about the Dead Sea Scrolls
• Dead Sea Scrolls & Qumran
• The Dead Sea Scrolls (FARMS)
• Some of the scrolls can be seen inside the Shrine of the Book at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem
• Library of Congress On-line Exhibit
• Guide with Hyperlinked Background Material to the Exhibit Ancient Treasures and the Dead Sea Scrolls Canadian Museum of Civilization
• Biblical Archeology - Articles about Biblical Archeology and Dead Sea Scrolls
• Open Scrolls Project - An ongoing effort to bring all the scrolls online in English translation.
• The Dead Sea Scrolls and Their Significance for Christianity (MP3), by Jim Hamilton (Evangelical presentation)
• The Importance of the Discoveries in the Judean Desert Israel Antiquities Authority
• Dating of the Dead Sea Scrolls by the University of Arizona
• F.F Bruce, Second Thoughts on the Dead Sea Scrolls (1956) On-line book (PDF).

The Go-To Guy

I recently came across a website that promised I could “Get Paid For Blogging!” Who could resist? (I know there are purists out there who claim that blogs should never be tainted by money, but look at the advertising I’ve got planted around here - I’m not one of them. I would enjoy getting paid for my efforts every now and again!)

PayPerPost.com asked people to write about what you would pay someone else to do for you. This question fit nicely with my desire to write about hiring a personal assistant - win/win.

This past spring I did 2 freelance jobs that earned me a couple thousand dollars doing work I enjoy. That’s a pretty nice combo and makes Mrs. Go-To Guy smile. But, weeks and months after the work had been done, I still had not typed up an invoice and billed the clients (Mrs. Go-To Guy was VERY UNHAPPY about that!) I can’t even explain why I was so reluctant to sit down and make an invoice.

Mrs. Go-To Guy is an amazing woman who, rather than beat me up about my shortcomings, prefers to help me discover ways to rise above them. We talked at length about what motivated this behavior and, as best I could figure, it seemed that the interesting part of the work was over and what was left was drudgery. Since I did not need the money desperately (it felt like bonus money) there was less pressure to deal with the paperwork. So, I let it slide. This was not the result I wanted.

Eventually I got the paperwork done and billed my clients. I also started thinking about the value of hiring a part time personal assistant to handle paperwork and clerical duties. There is nothing like someone showing up and asking “what would you like me to do” to get things moving. A few years back I had a summer intern who would be waiting, every day, for an assignment. Because he was there waiting, I found the motivation to plan assignments (and we got a lot of things done!)

This strategy might fit well with my “rock in the stream” idea of content creation. If I have somebody waiting to transcribe the thoughts and notes I dictate into my voice recorder, I will be more motivated to actually record them. The outside influence of a ’staff person’ my be the trick to improving my productivity.

PayPerPost.com told me I would Get Paid For Blogging about what I would pay someone to do for me, and I cranked out this nifty little article.

Do you think this article is horribly skewed because I was paid to write it? Is this any different that writing articles on topics that will attract profitable Adsense ads? Is Roger Ebert’s opinion compromised because movie studios pay to advertise their films in the newspapers and on the television stations that distribute his reviews? Will the Mighty Heros escape the evil clutches of The Shrinker?
And the real question on everyone’s mind… what would you pay someone to do so that you wouldn’t have to do it?

Leave a comment and let me know what you think.

The Go-To Guy!

Building a home theater? I just posted a new article on my www.ColossalTV.com website titled How to Make A Projection Screen.

Check it out and let me know what you think. I’d appreciate feedback.

The Go-To Guy