Becareful About Using Your Credit Card!

This will be a really different post from my normal marketing message.

I felt that it's my responsibility to share with my fellow friends (you) about this. True Story.

I never expected this to happen to me, not in a decade! But it did and it's happening all over the world. This would be a shocker to you probably that an affiliate marketer like me would be hit with this tragedy as well *sigh*.

Anyway, I received my credit card statement somewhere at the end of May and didn't actually take a peek at it. My wife was telling me "Hey! You gotta look at this statement...". I was so tired that night I didn't actually bother to check it and I was sure that it's just a normal statement that "blah, blah" stuff, whatever. Baaaaad move.... Vern...

You see, I don't spend that much money. Just basically online stuff.

Went to bed that night thinking that I should just take a look the next morning.

I was glad I did.

A shocker of about S$4000 (US$2700) was made on my credit card on the same day!

Honest To The Heavens, I never ever spent that much in a day. Not even when I was in France having my 2 weeks trip. Heck no. So, what did I do?

Yeah, you bet I called up the credit card company and they even told me "are you sure you didn't make that transaction?", "you mean you don't remember making that purchase?", "you want me to check and verify a transaction that you made for you?".

*frustrating* *frustrating* *frustrating*

... Did you ever get that feeling that your conviction of the truth was so strong you could swear by a lightning? That's the moment right there. For this post sake, I will not mention the credit card company here and just let this serve as an educational note. Okay, let's carry on.


Here's what I did in about 5 steps when I discovered a fraud transaction on my credit card:

1. Contact The Lost/Stolen Card Call Centre and report it. Block it or something.
2. No matter what, make a police report and as for a 'dispute form'
3. Attach the reply of the 'dispute form' with a copy of your statement & police report.
4. Send it immediately.
5. Wait a few days for confirmation of the credit card company, if not call them again.

I never went past step 5 because it all went pretty smooth for me. However, the investigation would take about 90 days to see if it's valid or not. So, I'll keep you updated about the result. It's been something like a month plus already.

Here's the thing, it's an online transaction. How did I know that wasn't my transaction? easy. It's for payment on a phone bill. I never paid my phone bill online and definitely not with my credit card - ever. Plus, my entire lives phone bill was never over $300 a month. You do the math, a total of S$4000 in a single month? No way, hosay.

Alright, situation is simmered down for now because they already got my dispute form and my credit is temporary restored back to normal. Hope for the best, hope for me. Okay, no flaming needed here. This happened all a month ago.

By the way, I'd like to leave a resource for you from Visa International on protecting your credit card from fraud. Check it when you're available. Who knows, anything can happen, right?

Golden Advice: Fraud Prevention Visa Credit Cards

Be safe,

Vern

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Abusing Google Adwords (This Is Dirty)

It's been awhile since I've posted some video's and believe me, I researched in youtube and video.google.com and found out all those irritating stuff about how to this and how to that videos.

Nothing out of the ordinary - just usual boring stuff. I'm going to post another video in my next posting and it will be an inspiring one but this time, I found a rather "dirty" video that reveals something sneaky about Google Adwords.



Google, if you're watching this - please don't ban my website .. LOL!

I don't think it's solved yet but I do know that you can still profit from it if possible and try to make the same tactics you see in this video.

Yes, I did the research and some of these sites are still at large and profiting like mad. Probably it's because Google doesn't have that much time to pin point every single website and disable them. Pay Per Click is certainly a science. Smart ones profit.

What do you think?

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Something You Should Know About Pay Per Click

I'm feeling a little pissy today so I've decided to not write my usual blog rant and just give you a small tip or two about Google Adwords and about PPC. Which actually means Pay Per Click. Recently, I know that some people have been trying to contact me about PPC and the many ways to make money from it.

You can still make money and lots of it. However, nothing comes into good manifestation if you don't do your due diligence in research and then making a move after that. The many downfalls are still the primary "throwing money down the toilet" with PPC. So, what's the typical user doing?

He/She's setting a budget of maybe $30 - $100 a day and put a bunch of keywords they "think" it's profitable and then sit and wait while tweaking their results.

LOL! what a bunch of crap.

Ok, let's get into the gist of this post. I'm going to show you a small hint or two about doing good PPC research and I'm going to get flamed for this but honestly, I don't really care and hey.. if this helps the guy in critic, then all glory be unto his business, right? no harm done.

Let's start.

By the way, I assume you're no naive newbie on this topic because I'm going to be quite direct about this. It's straight from the horses mouth and if you still don't understand, please either read up on Adwords or just plain write in my comments so I can answer it for you there.


Step 1: Go into Google and type "make money"




You'll see patterns there such as the "sponsored links". Now, please don't be confused because the 3 ads you see on the top of the 'organic' searches are really quite the same with the ones you see on the left. I don't know the ads might be different when you do this exercise at your end but the foundation is still the same.

Though you have you becareful because "make money" is a pretty competitive and generic term so I'll only use this for demonstration and educational purposes.

I underlined that headline because it's a little misleading and I didn't quite like it. No selling, Not m.l.m. how amateur! I mean this person that put up the ad is like a newbie or green guy from planet Mars or something. Now, I don't claim to be a guru about ad copy on Adwords but obviously this person thinks that his CTR (click through rate) is great because he's on the top 3 and getting clicks from that ad copy style.

Yes, people will click but imagine a guy that buys into the program and finds out that in order to make money online he needs to resell his program or ebook or whatever to another person and get a commission?

See where I'm getting at here.

We're all salesmen and selling on the internet. The way we do is through the legendary skill known as internet marketing. The stuff that everyone is drilling into your brain about what to do and what not nowadays. Filter the good and throw the bad away. Information overload is not good for you.


Step 2: See those ads on the left




These are not very different from the "sponsored links". The only thing is that they don't contain the phrase "make money" in their ad copy, this means that their ads are penalised in a way where they will have to pay more.

Actually, I like to be in position 4-7 or so. It's much more targetted unless Google loves you for some reason and "bumps" you to the "top sponsorship listing" for being relevant. A little more explaination on this next.

You should not even consider putting up an ad thats not proven itself yet.

what do I mean?

Ok, I could tell straight up that people who target these keywords and based on the way the ad is written I can judge immediately that they are newbie's. If you want to create a good ad. At least make your keyword appear ONCE in your ad copy in Adwords.

This way the users and Google will find it relevant in a certain sense.

Honestly, how would you feel if you wanted to find "flea collar for dogs" and then you saw ads showcasting "dogs for sale?". Weird right ? exactly. That's the same with the ads right here.

Also, you'd be best to monitor these ads for at least a week or two and I'm quite confident that you will most likely not see the same ads appear again.

Why?

It's because you know that they are just there to jack up the price of the bid in Adwords and replaced by other newbie's that "races" the top listing just to get clicks.

What a sad cycle indeed.


Step 3: Investigate the performing ad copy

I won't dive into too much into the details of such a post on ad copy but just to illustrate how you can dissect the website and watch if it's profitable is just by observing how "engaging" the website copy is.

Getting people to click is one thing, getting people to either buy or register with you is another thing altogether. Seriously, if you target the right crowd and give them what they are exactly looking for - then my friend, we are in business!

Let's come back to topic and visit that website as I have highlited earlier in step 1 and also by checking it out.

Here's what I saw...




Can you see how I saw the headline and thought it was pretty good? The two elements that I thought was pretty cool and hit a home run was that this person emphasized on the reader and not on himself/herself. In fact, the best part of the headline was "spend more time" with your family and friends. I know it's common but this stuff still works.

Though the entire website and pictures was quite generic and non-personal. If I were visiting it I'd think it was a little too professional and 'cold'.

Just be yourself whenever you want to make a website ad copy and write it from your heart. You'll be suprised at the responses you get. I'm still suprised at how people still respond to my webpage and decide to "opt in" no matter how old or ugly my webpage looked.

In closing, you can monitor and watch other keywords and ad copy on the web by doing some homework on what target market you want to go for. My advice is be consistent and just focus on 1 or a few target markets or niches you'd like to attack.

This keeps your goals in check too.


Till next time,

Vern =)
P.S. oh yeah, I'm using a nice software now to automate my entire ad copy monitoring. Have a look and maybe it's what you need to in your business -> AdSpyPro

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How To Live Like A Billionaire

I love reading books and perhaps this is my confession I started out actually reading novels and crappy gamebooks which gave me 'cheap thrills' when I was young. If you can identify with this of you could just have a love to read some small novels previously or just plain reading about any great materials about life, read on.

Recently, when browsing at the local library I picked up a great book and I suggest that you should pick this up if you're really thinking about expanding or just need that 'tiny' push on your internet business. It's really a gem but don't let the title fool you to think this is just another mumbo-jumbo inspirational stuff.

Pick up "Automatic Wealth For Grads" by Michael Masterson.

Yes, I know. You're thinking - come on man... I'm not a grad anymore!

Ok, me too.

But this is different. really.

Just pick it up if you have time and read it. Order it from amazon or whatever. After going through cover to cover I felt that the most intruguing part about this book was it's final chapter which mentioned about ...

Can you believe it...

"How To Live Like A Billionaire"

Pretty catchy I must say and this is just an except from the first parapragh.

"When you think about the rich - the really rich - you may find yourself marvelling at their... well, their money. Consider for example, Bill Gates, the world's richest man. If you thnk $10 million is a fortune, consider this: He has 4,000 of those fortunes..."

Then, this is what really caught my attention.

"Consider, for example, sleeping. What does a billionaire want out of sleep time? I'd say the same thing as you do: blissful, uninterrupted consciousness. And what will give you that (besides peace of mind, which you can't buy)? Answer: a great mattress. And how much does the world's best mattress cost? Maybe $1,500"


Tell me now... how darn inspirational and mind-blowing is that two paragrahs to you?

It's was really awesome to me.

You see, what we don't know is that for the super-rich. The whole thing about earning money or hoarding lots of it really isn't to buy anymore nice toys and materials things anymore. It was for the game and for the sport of the whole cycle of business.

Think about it. You could always have what the rich have, a good bed, a good house, car and all that. They drive almost the same thing as you. Oh yes, you thought of that luxurious sports car or that 5 figure vacation, right? Well, stop it.

I guarantee you that if you really follow your hearts desires and work towards your passive income you will get more than what you will ever need in your entre life!

Learn to enjoy life. That's the lesson.


By the way, here's a few pictures of me chilling with my wife during one of our 'outings' during the past months or so. I was so lazy to put this up but felt it was due time that I had this posted. Please don't mistake me as an ego guy but just goes to show that while I earn good income from my business, I also allocate a good portion to enjoy it with my family as a celebration.

You should try it too ;)

me and wife watched the sunset =)

I'm so lazy on my lazy beach chair... the best part... my business is still working for me.

Enjoy life,

Vern

P.S. Don't envy me, join me in this incredible journey to financial freedom with this business

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