Kansas City SEO and PPC

Affiliate Marketing - Facebook Ad Copy

So, I learned one lesson in my first day of running one very, very limited Facebook Campaign.

If you want to be successful on Facebook, you’d better have a pretty compelling ad.  I segmented down my audience, and burned through 11k impressions in about 1 hour (perhaps a sign I didn’t segment down enough?).  Of that, a piddling 4 clicks, meaning my ad got paused.

Back to the drawing board.  Learned some good stuff though.

13 Mar 08 | Everything Else | Comment (1)

Awesome Mashed Potatoes

I’m feeling kind of bad about all the folks coming here for GourmetDudes recipes - so I’m going to try to post a couple a week.  From now on, any recipes you would have found at GourmetDudes will be in the Cooking and Recipes category page.

Ingredients

* 1 pound Yukon Gold potatoes
* 1/2 cup butter
* 2 cups Parmesan cheese
* 1 cup chopped fresh chives
* 1 1/2 cups cream cheese
* 1/2 medium head garlic, peeled and minced
* salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add potatoes; cook until tender but still firm. Drain and return to stove over low heat to dry for 1 to 2 minutes.
2. Add butter, Parmesan cheese, chives, cream cheese, garlic, salt, and pepper. Use a potato masher to mash until smooth, and serve.

That’s all there is to it folks.  My aunt actually tried to fight me over the holidays to get this recipe.  You think I’m kidding…but I’m not.  They are that good.

12 Mar 08 | Everything Else | Comments (0)

Thoughts on Fallon’s Resignation

When I read this a few moments ago, I was taken back to a few days ago when I read the aforementioned article in Esquire. (The link to the article is down).

First of all, anyone calling something in Esquire “News” obviously doesn’t read the magazine.  If I want a self-loathing short story (Read ‘The Last Days of Heath Ledger”), select a fine wine, or know how to knot my tie, it’s a pretty good resource.

But, let’s be real guys, Esquire is nothing but a classy tabloid.  It’s Cosmo for Men.  It’s not “Real” Journalism, and any attempt to pass itself off as that is shameful.

The fact that this ridiculous (I thought it was asinine as I was reading it) “story” forced a situation in which Fallon felt compelled to resign angers me.  Then, as I look at so many media outlets that play to sensationalism and meaningless stories, I start to become very worried about our values as a country.

When Paris Hilton is more important than improving our education, when congressmen are more interested in millionaire athletes swilling HGH (arguably, something that isn’t even bad for them) than 14 year olds slinging crack, and more people know who Britney’s Spears’ 18th illegitimate child is than who our Secretary of State is - I feel I have cause to be concerned.

11 Mar 08 | Everything Else | Comments (0)

Randy Pausch - The REAL Last Lecture

The last video I posted was from Oprah - this is the full, 76 minute version. Thanks Clayton.

06 Mar 08 | Everything Else | Comment (1)

Randy Pausch - The Last Lecture

This is absolutely amazing. Watch it.

05 Mar 08 | Everything Else | Comment (1)

Proper Running Shoe Fitting

This is advice you should take - from a guy who, back in November, couldn’t run 5 minutes non-stop at once, and is now running 3.5+ miles 3-4 times a week fairly easily - and that’s not because I’m super talented, dedicated, or anything of the sorts.

It turns out, I was wearing the wrong running shoe for a long time.  I finally analyzed my stride, and found some styles that worked for me…and, what do you know?  I started running with a LOT less leg/foot pain.  So - if you’re not comfortable when you run, you need to get fitted.

Now, there are a few options you have here - one is that you can simply guess.  That’s bad.

1) Use Zappos’ Running Shoe Fitting Guide.  It is at least a good place to start.
2) Go to a running shoe store that has an electronic analyzer (I went to Dick’s)
3) Best Option (if you can afford it) - get professionally fitted.

I went the #1 route, then confirmed it via #2.  It led me to getting the best shoes I’ve ever owned (and they weren’t hundreds of dollars).

By the way, if you’re a 200 pound plus guy, who is a mild pronator, I’d like to suggest the Diadora Mythos Ultimate. They are pretty hot shoes. Zappos has free shipping too!

(disclosure - none, Zappos and Diadora didn’t pay me for this post, I just dig them both)

05 Mar 08 | Everything Else | Comments (2)

Quick update.

Man - I’m a terrible blogger.  I have honestly been insanely busy the last few weeks - between work, work, work, helping friends move, training, and trying not to burn myself out….I haven’t paid any attention to the dear old blog.

So, a couple quick updates: One, the vegetarian experiment has come to an end.  It was nice, but honestly, I found trying to avoid meat exhausting.  Since I had no real agenda other than to see what it was like, it was double tough.  I’m glad I did it though, and I’ve found that I carry some aversion to greasy foods that I didn’t have before.

That being said, I had a burger from Winstead’s yesterday, and I was awe-inspiring.

I’m still keeping most of my business related stuff under wraps for now, I’ll talk about it more beginning this summer.   It’s going well though, and I’m 500% the web designer/pseudo-developer I was three months ago.  Thankfully, I won’t be doing any of the actual coding on the live project

I ran five miles today, non-stop, for the first time since high school soccer, I guess. Although, I never really measured the running I did there, I just know we had one practice where all we did was run around the track for 90 minutes.  I’m guessing I went further than 5 miles that day.

All right folks - It’s bed time for this guy.  Gotta get this week off to a great start.

25 Feb 08 | Everything Else | Comments (0)

Hey Senate - stimulate this.

So, the House has already passed this, and the Senate is probably voting today - what am I talking about? A stimulus package that includes tax rebate checks to tax payers that earn below a certain income level. Because, for a family of 4, living check to check, that $400 three months from now will really make a difference!

Never mind that, if that family has half a brain, they’ll take that money and apply it to the debt that it forcing them to live check to check. Congress is hoping they’ll run out and buy an Ipod or something.

Because, it makes sense to me that the solution to the problem created by allowing money hungry corporations to give easy money to people that didn’t bother to read their mortgage agreements, do any planning, or think about whether or not they could afford the houses they were buying - is to simply give those people a few hundred more dollars.

In comparison, I managed to make it through the last year with the only debt I incurred being that of a 5 year old car (to replace my 10 year old car) that was $8-9k less than the max I could afford (but it IS a hot little car). My car payment is currently covered through June, and will be paid off by November (it’s a 5 year term). I’ve also managed to save enough to maintain my current lifestyle and not miss a payment on anything for 6 months, if I were to lose my job(s). I’ve also paid in 1 out of every 4 dollars I’ve earned this year into assorted taxes (including the ABSURD KC Metro 1% Earnings tax).

You really want to stimulate the economy? Tell people in my position they don’t have to pay more at the end of the year just because they worked their butts off to earn more. I’ll make a deal - give me back the $3500 I just paid (on top of the excessive taxes that come out of each check) - and I’ll run around town just stimulating the economy all over the place. That’s right - give me my tax money back, and I’ll spend it.

I like that idea much more than knowing I’m going to have to pay even more next year, so you can take that and re-distribute it to people that were ALREADY GETTING TAX REFUNDS!

Edit - I’m all for helping out seniors and other people who really NEED it.  I’m complaining about the checks that will be going out to people with HHI’s of 45-60k, that are already getting refunds, and bought a house to flip last year because they saw someone on TLC do it and it seemed easy.

06 Feb 08 | Everything Else | Comments (2)

Expanding Your Horizons

alternatively titled: “How to Enjoy Your Life More”

I’ve recently (in my quest to read at least an average of 30 minutes a day) been reading a book entitled “How to think like Da Vinci - Seven Steps to Genius Every Day.”  Basically - it breaks down to a couple things:

- Never stop learning.  Check.
- Take Time to enjoy life and its sensory experiences (food, music, etc…)
- Keep expanding your horizons

Interestingly enough, in the last few weeks, I’ve been doing the latter without really realizing it.  Committing to a month of vegetarianism is definitely broadening my horizons a bit.  Committing to running a half-marathon is pretty expansive.  Another aspect that has been especially enjoyable is listening to musical genres I would normally not pay attention to.  So far, I’ve focused on Classical and Classic Jazz - and it’s been pretty cool.

I’d encourage everyone to step out of the box whenever possible.  Try a food you think would be gross, or make yourself listen to music you think you won’t like.  Even if you don’t enjoy the act, you should strive to become able to appreciate the experience.

05 Feb 08 | Everything Else | Comment (1)