Publisher. Builder. Investor. Writing about online business, leverage, and building a life that feels less like work and more like choice.

Vancouver, BC
Joined October 2014
Most experiments I run fail. The ones that work make up for the bombs. This week I spent one hour coding with AI a new email signup feature for two sites I own. This feature would normally cost me $99+ per month with 3rd party software. Now it’s free. It’s a simple email popup form with unlimited split testing capabilities. As you can see, this particular experiment is one of the few winners. I’ve tested popups many times in the past but this time simplified the copy. That made all the difference.
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What's up with @GoDaddy's alarmist email marketing? Their use of "Billing failure" as an email subject line is an over-the-top way of saying "did not renew domain." There's a HUGE difference between payment failed and chose not to renew. The first time I saw that, I dropped everything to ensure my payment methods were working. They are. Hence, my choosing to not renew a domain was NOT a "billing failure" but a choice to not renew. Domain registration is one of the most sensitive services in our World. Losing a domain could cost someone everything. IMO, GoDaddy needs to choose its words more carefully.
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I added 1,480 additional email subscribers simply by adding gamification features to my sites. Initially, I designed and deployed gamification to increase dwell time. I did not expect that with a single tweak it would be my second best lead source. What’s gamification? It’s anything that adds some sort of engagement features on websites. In my case I set up an incentive for visitors who engage in anyway twenty times during a visit they get one of my info-products for free (give their email). What’s an engagement? Any tap on an up or down vote, save an article (every visitor has their own library for saved content), emoji responses and of course signing up for the email newsletter. Why do this? It’s proven to be one of the best things I added because it adds a tremendous amount of time on site PLUS attracts email subs.
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9,435 email subscribers over the past 30 days reveals the following: Context: 1. Every subscriber signed up to a form that offers to email them the article they were on. 2. Every article was AI-assisted. 3. The two publications are in very different niches. Conclusion: AI-assisted content can be so good that 9,435 people over the past 30 days were willing to give me their email so that the article they read is emailed to them for future reference.
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Replying to @gbechtold1
Me too. I have my work cut out for me lol.
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Not all internal links are created equal. Some can double time on site and others not. The ultimate internal linking system self-improves by split-testing and then changing up link destinations based on results. It's a system I've wanted for years. AI finally made it possible.
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This is how I added over 6,000 additional page views over the last seven days. A few weeks ago I asked Claude how to get more page views per website visitor. Claude in all its brilliance suggested "build more internal links." Internal links are not new to me but I must admit I've disregarded all these years how effective they can be for additional page views. I decided to take Claude's advice. I built thousands of surgical internal links across my sites that morning with the help of a custom script AI helped me with. Lo and behold... Claude was correct. Internal links built right got me a lot of additional page views.
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Quick heads up if you're in the San Diego area this Wednesday, May 22... @tonythill , @jaredbauman and I are meeting up up this week in SD for a project and thought it would be fun to meet others in the area to talk shop for a couple of hours at a local watering hole. If interested, here are the details and an RSVP form (so we know how much space to set aside): docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F…
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Replying to @AnneMossYeys
lol. That’s a novel theory. Recovery requires more ads, not fewer. Sounds like Denis Leary’s more drugs is the solution youtu.be/2mIGlPvXqes?si=rqf3…
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Google has gone off the logical cliff. I'll be proven wrong if their profits grow. After all, that's their primary mandate. Time will tell. For now, stock price is performing well.
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