So prices are significantly lower than I had anticipated. What I thought would cost $10,000 to get designed costs at most only $5,000. That's definitely a good thing for me. I'm going to throw all of the money I've earned into a game of pitch and toss into the web application concept. If all else fails I'm fairly confident I can still sell that for break even or profit.

That said, if the first one is successful, then I'll probably get the next concept coded. I don't care much for this one, so I don't care if the concept is taken.

Basically it will be like Hot Or Not, except it will be slightly more "scientific". There will only be head shot photos, and even those must be arranged onto a grid by the user. Because it eliminates all the other variables like clothing, posture, etc. it won't skew the attractiveness results, and places the focus squarely on the face. I'm not sure what type of ranking system to use yet either, but that will come. But the experiment has to pay for itself at least, so it'll also have dating website functionality.

So tired. So incredibly tired. Head's hurting and I'm feeling short of breath. I hope I'm not coming down with the flu. This would be an awful time. Organic chemistry test, web application to design and get coded, money that doesn't make its way into my pocket by itself. With the hope that one day, I'll have a day where (I can be fairly young 22?) and sit in my backyard without a care in the world. That would be great.

These are some useful articles regarding startup businesses.

http://gigaom.com/2009/10/20/the-10-ways-startup-advice-is-flawed/
http://techcrunch.com/2009/10/24/startup-school-paul-buchheit-on-why-he-sold-to-facebook/
http://techcrunch.com/2009/10/11/finding-your-co-founders/
http://techcrunch.com/2009/10/08/startups-101-the-complete-mint-presentation/

These are some useful articles regarding creating social games.

Market Research
http://gigaom.com/2009/11/09/the-scorecard-who-wins-loses-with-ea%E2%80%99s-400m-playfish-buy/
http://techcrunch.com/2009/11/06/zynga-scamville-mark-pinkus-faceboo/
http://techcrunch.com/2009/11/05/scamville-new-offerpal-ceo-admits-mistakes-makes-bold-promises/
http://techcrunch.com/2009/11/05/facebook-to-increase-enforcement-of-anti-scam-rules/
http://techcrunch.com/2009/11/03/tragedy-of-the-social-gaming-commons-a-blueprint-for-change/
http://techcrunch.com/2009/11/03/myspace-says-zero-tolerance-for-app-scams-changes-terms-of-use/
http://techcrunch.com/2009/11/02/rockyou-joins-the-no-scams-parade-but-whats-facebook-up-to/
http://techcrunch.com/2009/11/02/zynga-takes-steps-to-remove-scams-from-games/
http://techcrunch.com/2009/11/01/how-to-spam-facebook-like-a-pro-an-insiders-confession/
http://techcrunch.com/2009/11/02/scamville-zynga-says-13-of-revenue-comes-from-lead-gen-and-other-offers/
http://techcrunch.com/2009/11/01/scamville-hotornot-plentyoffish-facebook-myspace/
http://techcrunch.com/2009/10/31/scamville-the-social-gaming-ecosystem-of-hell/
http://techcrunch.com/2009/10/29/how-to-measure-the-true-stickiness-and-success-of-a-facebook-app/
http://techcrunch.com/2009/10/28/d-day-for-facebook-app-developers/
http://techcrunch.com/2009/10/28/playspan-study-shows-growth-in-virtual-goods-marketplace/
http://techcrunch.com/2009/10/26/social-games-how-the-big-three-make-millions/
http://techcrunch.com/2009/10/20/mark-pincus-web-3-is-the-app-economy/
http://techcrunch.com/2007/06/20/virtual-goods-the-next-big-business-model/
http://businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_44/b4153044881892.htm
http://cdixon.org/?p=1220
http://appdata.com/
http://videogames.yahoo.com/events/plugged-in/why-you-can-t-stop-playing-bejeweled/1366266

Irrelevant Doom And Gloom Predictions
http://homethinking.com/brontemedia/2009/03/25/the-impending-doom-of-facebook-apps/

Game Concepts
http://mathsisfun.com/games/tanks.html
http://appdata.com/

Articles from Wired.com, regarding sweeping changes caused by the internet. These perfectly describe the revolutions that have occurred and will continue to occur in the next 20 years due to the equalization and potential of the internet.

The New New Economy: More Startups, Fewer Giants, Infinite Opportunity
Secret of Googlenomics: Data-Fueled Recipe Brews Profitability
The New Socialism: Global Collectivist Society Is Coming Online

Realization came too late. The big monies are in the product and service ecosystems. Realization came after thinking about this other company, that will soon take over this particular industry for sure.

Microsoft has their software ecosystem, Apple has their consumer product ecosystem, Google has their internet ecosystem, etc. Each new product and service builds on the others.

Technology works best for ecosystems because it's so easy to connect the different products and services. But I can't think of any industry needing such an ecosystem. Unique ideas are more and more difficult to come up with as the easy stuff gets created.

So there's no doubt that paper is out, and Amazon seems poised to control the Ebook market, but apparently Apple is developing their own tablet or ebook reader of some sort according to Fast Company. The article suggests that Apple could essentially leverage its existing iTunes store to start pushing ebooks and stuff.

But the success of this supposed ebook store would seem to rely partially on Apple's existing user base, which hardly seems like a demographic that reads books very heavily. This isn't to say that they might make sales from customers not using Apple products, but it seems that at least trying to push ebooks on its existing user base would fail.

So the other night I bought a mocha latte at a McDonald's near my house, which was remodeled a while back to include a McCafe, basically McDonald's take on coffee. Anyway, I drank it right before I went to bed, and I had the most extreme caffeine rush ever. I was not able to fall asleep until around 3:00 A.M. It felt like I was taking some sort of brain enhancing drugs. But while my thoughts were racing I came up with quite a few new ideas for websites. Alas, I'm too cowardly at the moment to spend any of my money to expand that production possibilities curve and make even more monies.

But back to the McCafe train of thought. I just now Wikied it and learned that McCafe has actually been around since 1993 outside of the U.S. Not surprisingly, the McDonalds with McCafe earn significantly more than a traditional McDonalds. With stats like these I would have expected McCafe to be introduced to all McDonald's earlier. Basically with the addition of a McCafe, the entire McDonald's gets remodeled, and the stores adds expresso machines and a few extra ingredients. With just the addition of whipped cream and chocolate syrup and various flavorings (simplified to prove a point), they've added 6 entirely new high profit products to their menu.

In addition, McCafe dramatically improves the image and appeal of the restaurant. The one I went to added a few flat screen TVs, free WIFI, some trendy (laminate) wood dividers and it all looked pretty nice for a factory hamburger joint. In fact it looked good enough that I suddenly wanted to eat there more than usual.

The coffee drinks are quite good when considering that it's from the factory that is McDonalds. The only problem with the McCafe is that their "handcrafted" drinks slow down the food manufacturing process.

So basically, McCafe=good idea. And that's all this post was ever about. The end.

On a side note, just saw this on Liveside.net
http://microsofttranslator.com/
http://windowslivetranslator.com/
Extreme management failure.

Well I've finally got a legitimate PPC campaign setup. I'm bidding high to up that quality score, but aside from the occasional lead, I'm hemorrhaging monies. Hopefully this all or nothing charge will pay off once my CPC starts dropping.

So I'm sure you've all heard about the Snuggie. A reverse bathrobe branded as an alternative to blankets which can "slip and slide" and make your hands "trapped inside". If you haven't, get ready for some laughs.

And then there's the ShamWow and the Tiddy Bear... All are worth no more than $1 to make in some foreign country, and yet according to Wikipedia, the Snuggie has sold 4 million units. Yeah. Unbelievable.

So the business model to success is -
1. Create stupid product that spreads virally because of how stupid it is
2. Buy up ad spots on late night TV
3. Profit from the random people that actually buy Snuggies and Slankets and ShamWows.
4. Repeat!

Will definitely try to create a crazy product eventually. Maybe the "Brop". The broom and mop!

Product designs seem to be shifting away from the current "messy" look to a more minimalist look with flat colors or gradients. Because all the products are currently using different effects to attract attention - banners, "star explosions", boxes, etc. on the packaging, the whole thing ends up as a mass of eye glazing mess, like this package of Wheat Thins.



Two boxes and a banner. Messy. There was one product I saw with about 8 different banners advertising different merits of the product. Needless to say it was a mess. Now when this effect is multiplied out across every product at the market, it doesn't work well. Too much stuff vying for attention.

Pepsi's new look, on the other hand, is awesome. It's got sufficient brand recognition, so it really doesn't need to put any gimmicky labels on the container (and neither does Wheat Thins). It's got a single flat color and a logo. (Cool detailing, as the size of the white region changes according to type of Pepsi.) It is much more eye catching than before. On display it's a huge wall of blue with logos. Coca-Cola went with this approach a while back too, no more faux water droplets on the bottles and such.

Tropicana made their packaging more clean as well, although theirs seems to have a vaguely retro look that doesn't work well - probably the white on orange, and poor font.

Just an interesting trend.

So I've been thinking about the internet recently, mostly because people are always asking me since I'm online more than usual. No, I'm not online endlessly refreshing my Facebook (lame) or watching pointless videos on YouTube of people crashing into fences or something. (On a side note, have you ever seen someone with an iPhone use Facebook? "Shake to Refresh" feature + Endless Refreshing = Endless hilarity for you) The internet is like the revolution that personal computing was. A few of these ideas are taken from Meatball Sundae, which I happened to be reading at the time.

Information At Your Fingertips
Original this was applied to computers individually, but really it's more applicable to networks. There is really no other medium that has such an incredible amount of information with so much variety.

No Physical Limitations
It's all digital. Stores can be infinite in size and distance does not exist. The ways you can now stay connected with people across the world are just amazing, with videos, audio, text, etc. Whatever you create can be as big and wild as you imagine it.

Ease of Publishing
No other form of media makes it so easy to publish content. You pay to publish everywhere else, but on the internet, it's all free. Setup an account on Windows Live Spaces, and instantly you have a presence on the internet.

Power of Voice
There is no other medium where everybody has equal power and has equal opportunity to reach the masses. You don't need to be on a fancy TV channel or get prime spots on a magazine. If you have something new, people will come, the word will spread. Even better ideas go viral.

Scale
All other media is mostly regional, and you can only capture so many eyeballs. The internet has no boundaries, and its scale is enormous. Just recently total world internet users passed 1 billion, and that's only 15%.

Money to Be Made
Basically, there's a massive opportunity here, and everybody has a shot at it. Just like personal computing was back then. Some people took advantage of the opportunity, because it was the perfect time. There's a reason Bill Gates and Steve Jobs were born in the same year. Now is the perfect time to get involved. Ideally, being born in 1985 would be perfect for somebody to latch on to the internet revolution. While I can't say what the trend to latch onto would be, but I have a couple ideas. In fact, if you get started now, it's a tad late. So get to it.

Source Factors
Expertise and trustworthiness
Physical attractiveness
Situational similarity

Increasing Conversion
Mentioning two sides of an issue
Repeating a statement many times
Forewarning reduces effects of argument
Fear works well with persuasion
Giving something for free can increase probability of performing desired action
Foot in door technique levels up individual for larger actions

An interesting read on Google's market domination strategy.

So basically at my school students are allowed to start their own clubs. It sounds fine and wonderful and everyone (including me) assumed a moderate turnout would be guaranteed. As many have discovered, that just isn't the case. That is rarely the case for unique interest clubs such as business, DIY, etc. The only clubs that are able to gain a rather large following seem to wonderful like a land of unicorns and hopping bunnies, but somehow it is just about impossible to capture anybody's attention unless it is some sort of social oriented club.

So here's the story of two clubs and their (slightly) different student turnout rates. Both clubs did the same paper advertising, putting up flyers and such. But the other club, simply boomed loud music (Eminem) and threw out some chips and salsa and attracted 50% more people, a large amount. Although the people weren't necessarily there for the club, it's incredible how much these more outlandish advertising methods are so successful. The purpose of the initial meeting is indeed to simply garner interest.

So how can I advertise my own club more effectively? Paper obviously doesn't work because nobody reads these days... Have you seen advertisements from the mid-1900s? There were entire paragraphs of information advertising the product. In a (probably) wonderful world without email and endless information people had time to read. Look at today's ad. It's basically a picture and a phrase expressing a particular ideal because people don't read. I guess same goes for all those flyers hopeful start up clubs put up.

Going back to the music booming club, I'm assuming the most successful type of advertisement to the senior high school crowd is something that gets attention. While the officials weren't pleased, as advertising for Aqua Teen Hunger Force, those little LED ads definitely did the trick of conveying the anti-establishment ideals of the show.

I'm thinking about some sort of 3D display type ad that will be easily reproducible and actually invite curious people to take a look. So essentially the flaw in the current advertising system employed is that the ads simply don't get attention, so the next step of readers getting the information isn't achieved, thus the 3D display would fix that particular problem.

Alright... so I haven't exactly been making loads of money online. But here's the plan. This month, all I need to do is balance out my PayPal account so that at least I'll be out of the red from all the hosting fees and such. Next month, serious link building time and MMO with affiliate marketing, outsourcing, website, flipping and whatever I can get my hands on.

So there's this interesting new site. Linkbee.com. Basically it's your standard URL shortening site but with a twist - you get paid for views. The site gives income by giving users the options to attach either a banner ad or an irritating interstitial ad on the linked URL. Naturally, as ad irritation increases, earnings increase at a similar rate. Now obviously, this type of site is the holy grail of online money making of sorts. Basically, you've got other people advertising for you (a web franchise of sorts as well), so you don't need to do any work. With any luck, it will start spreading like a virus. Once one person creates a link, say 100 people see it. If even 5% sees it and likes it, from then from then on the site will spread at 5^x power. Aka viral marketing is done for you. Even though the payout is obviously rubbish, people (including me) will think it's great at first, and that is why this site is going to be hugely successful. I doubt the owners will keep it for any long term period though, and I'm almost certain it's going to be bought in the coming months. Nevertheless, it's a great idea.

Plus along the way I found a fantastic new blog - KillerStartups.com. No need to describe it in detail - it's a blog of killer startups. It's definitely a great place to get inspiration and such. It is a bit fishy that a blog with 10k readers has less than 5 comments for most posts.

So I'll keep posted on the MMO (make money online) status. Oh, and I've created another URL shortening site (woot for the .com domain!). The first one was sold for $50, so not a bad return. Unfortunately, I spent way too much time on it. I will be keeping this new site though.

Unbelievable. Remember my post about Cafepress and online businesses? No I can't go a day (okay, maybe two days), without seeing a referral from somebody Googling "web business" or "online business," and these keywords are only going to make it worse . So I will probably continue blogging about online money making, seeing that I'm going into affiliate marketing. My ever so lofty goal is earn $1000 by the end of two months. So maybe if I get a steady stream of commenters, they'll have it easy and I might end up detailing step by step affiliate marketing techniques. But I'll see how that goes first.

Also, I won a T-Shirt from one of my favorite (Favorites listed in my Live Favorites Gadget) websites - Inhabitat! Inhabitat is a fantastic site dedicated to sustainable design. The designs showcased are just plain amazing, and will really inspire you and change the way you look at everyday items. The site also receives a steady flow of updates, If you haven't already, I highly encourage you to take a look at this fantastic website.

I've been thinking about online businesses recently, but as of now most of my plans have been imitations of existing business models. But numerous real-world business models have not been "ported" to the net yet, and doing so would probably create a very successful business.

Business online is different from the "real world" business in that there is a lack of inherent limitations such as distance, location, and time. Physical businesses need to hire workers, can only be open certain times of day to maintain profits, and must pay money for the store and countless other things. Online stores are free from all of these limitations and are thus much easier to maintain.

A great business model is the franchise. Wikipedia says that "Franchising refers to the method of practicing and using another person's philosophy of business." Of course, Wikipedia is right (Non sarcastic). But basically it lets you set up shop under someone else's shop name, while a large portion of royalties are paid to the franchiser. This is probably one of these best business models because people essentially ask you to make you money and it is probably also easier for the franchisee to set up shop due to the establishment of the brand name. Not only that, but expansion and brand recognition is much faster than with non-franchises. Plus, it gives the added benefit of making your business look like an evil empire because of the numerous locations (Starbucks, McDonald's, College Prep type businesses).

Some real-world examples are McDonald's, Subway, and Quiznos (which happen to be my favorite fast food joints). Some online stores are in fact online franchises of sorts. Cafepress is similar in that sellers set up shop under the Cafepress name, and create their own products, while a (massive) portion of profits is paid to Cafepress (making it impossible to sell thus making it useless). In fact, it is probably easier to hand print shirts and set up your own store. So basically, don't use Cafepress  (First emoticon ever on this blog!), and open your own store. Just as franchises in the real world have begun sprouting left and right like shrooms after a summer rain, numerous internet "franchises" have also appeared. But to make some money, forget setting up a Cafepress shop. Set up your own net franchise!

A basic pattern seems to be create some template product (Cafepress uses mugs, shirts, underwear, etc.), allow franchisee (user) customization, reap your (the franchiser's) profits. A key is also to establish your store brand to improve potential sales.

Wikipedia notes numerous disadvantages to franchises, but these are all real-world limitations that exist due to distance. With the internet, everything is under control because distance simply does not exist, making this the perfect online model. However this is one of the most common models, and a new business model would definitely mean a different level of success. Here's a list of some business models. Be sure to read about its legality first, before you go off creating pyramid schemes and such . Now if only some of these could be modified for the net... If you think of any ones that would be viable online, drop a comment!

It seems that every few months, a curious new website emerges that ultimately ends up raking in truckloads of cash. One of the first was the Million Dollar Homepage, an simple website based on an ingenious concept, it sold pixels on the webpage at a cost of $1 each, and promised to keep the webpage up for at least 5 years as a piece of internet history. Within several months, all the pixels on the site had been sold, earning the founder Alex Tew over $1,000,000.

Initially, if such a concept had been tossed around, most would have shot it down as foolishness. After all, who would want to purchase random pixels on a website? And yet, sites like these are continually successful, with more appearing every day.

The newest such site is the Something Store, which sells you a "something," anything, for only $10 including shipping. A glance at the Something Tracker reveals the most valuable items, which range from a Senseo Coffee maker, around $80, to a whatever clock, around $20. Naturally, not every something is going to be worth more than $10, so essentially it is a gamble. With numerous high-value items mixed in with the average somethings, the average probability of scoring something of value is probably around 20%.

As one customer noted -
"As the nature of the store inherently involves gambling that the quality of their product
will be worth more than the ten dollars one spends on it - I do not feel ripped off. But I
do feel stupid for falling for it."

Regardless, the something store is a refreshingly innovative new concept and it can be an exciting experience to receive your own mysterious "something" by mail. Having already sold 1000 somethings in several months, this site will be highly successful in the years to come.