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CDBurns

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Everything posted by CDBurns

  1. I'm always intrigued by the "power" that people have. This power creates opportunities for the individual and this is good for that person who has the ability to parlay the traffic and interest they have in their brand. It's definitely a market owned and dominated by Black women. This market is what created the hair care products like Cara B and Miss Jessie so Troy they are really powerful. Curly Nikki was able to parlay her social media presence into a best selling book and multiple opportunities for sponsorships. I don't think ownership of Twitter is the power play. I get that you are saying they aren't powerful, but I don't agree. Black women actually grow their presence online like no other group in the country. That makes them amazing and powerful. Now if they were able to launch their own Twitter I actually think they could build it, but like many issues with us, we simply don't place the creation of the technology in the forefront. But Black women are definitely powerful.
  2. I think what you are doing has to catch on in some way eventually as everyone realizes that the reach is diminished on Facebook. You are right though. In the last week or so there has been an increase in visits to my ARCH page on FB. I'm not quite buying the interaction since I know it will lead to me generating more content on FB and I'm not sure it will develop into anything. I guess you keep pushing and whatever I can do when the time comes that my book sales pick up and I'm an AALBC success and in my first interview I can say, "Troy Johnson, of AALBC, helped generate my success as a writer through his efforts in promoting African American literature."
  3. Weren't you at an event this weekend? Your increase in traffic is a direct relation to your interaction with people I'm sure. I've noticed that my best days are. 1. When I have a guest writer on the blog (He's a cop). 2. When I've spoken somewhere or visited a place and people realize that I'm the shoe guy. Maybe a few people spread the word that AALBC was at the event and you know like I know people will search for you on Facebook before looking for your site. The scrolling feature is excellent! Do you know in the last 48 hours I've had zero traffic from social media on CBP? 26% Direct Traffic 23 Visits 12% Referring Websites 11 Visits 62% Search Engine Referrals Now you should get a kick out of this though; on my ARCH page your site sends more traffic to there than my book stuff!!!!!! 21% Direct Traffic 13 Visits 21% Referring Websites 13 Visits 6.56% 4 Visits aalbc.com/tc/topic/3178-your-opportunity-to-support-a-black-owned-athletic-shoe-company/ 3.28% 2 Visits images.google.de/imgres?imgurl=http://www.arch-usa.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/k8mfvdeinoxesadsz78a.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.arch-usa.com/blog/author/admin/page/3/&h=601&w=1024&tbnid=2-_ED2OPTc0woM:&docid=vn3RTcHQ78lAKM&hl=de-DE&ei=-SGNV5iuEIq7swH5kYmQBQ&tbm=isch&client=ms-android-tmobile-de&iact=rc&uact=3&page=2&start=6&ndsp=8&ved=0ahUKEwjYjped1P3NAhWK3SwKHflIAlIQMwggKAswCw&noj=1&safe=images&bih=567&biw=360Image Search 1.64% 1 Visit android-app://com.google.android.googlequicksearchbox 1.64% 1 Visit images.google.co.za/imgres?imgurl=http://www.arch-usa.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/air-jordan-4-retro-legend-blue-grade-school-lifestyle-shoe-whitelegend-blue-midnight-navy-limit-1-per-customer-0136cd23.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.arch-usa.com/blog/category/jordan-brand/&usg=__i2fKhv0heOP3KbuXydeFUHLRBAg=&h=1000&w=1000&hl=en&start=56&tbnid=Lh3LS5gWGkxmDM:&tbnh=149&tbnw=149&ei=ihKLV7HyKsmBgAbbloHYAw&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwix37Od3fnNAhXJAMAKHVtLADs4MhCtAwgnMAUImage Search 1.64% 1 Visit images.google.de/imgres?imgurl=http://www.arch-usa.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/940x616q80.jpeg&imgrefurl=http://www.gleitschirmfreunde-taunusstein.de/898at-jordan-3-retro-store&h=616&w=940&tbnid=OHOXIxAfszMNfM:&docid=efG2XuxwRxplxM&hl=de-de&ei=FZaLV-qFJozTU4-Zn4gG&tbm=isch&client=safariImage Search 1.64% 1 Visit int.search.myway.com/search/GGmain.jhtml?searchfor=arch+brand+pathani&n=782a2f2f&p2=^BE4^xdm647^TTAB02^in&ptb=4BC64543-10A4-4D98-95BB-4480D900E9F8&qs=&ss=sub&st=tab&tpr=sbt&ts=1468829138087 1.64% 1 Visit l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http://www.arch-usa.com/&h=NAQEvIZlX More in Came From 11% Social Networks 7 Visits 46% Search Engine Referrals 28 Visits I get a referral of like 1% from AALBC to my CBP site. What do you think about that?
  4. I just recently started and I'm at $4.29. Which isn't bad to start considering my content is really not as entertaining as books or music. I've been primarily attempting to be a grassroots source for aspiring entrepreneurs. The funny thing is the best performing video I have is a video about a fake shoe a customer attempted to return to my shop. If I were to stick with commentary on fake shoes or shoes in general I could easily grow faster, but that's not the goal. YouTube is by far and away the best social media platform available. The others offer no real support financially and offer no potential for monetizing content. Just think... one video catches fire and you're making 600 a year on that one video or even 600 a month. It can all change in a hearbeat which is why I continue to place content on the platform although engagement is better for Facebook video and Snapchat. Engagement doesn't mean conversion though.
  5. The weekend is a bad time for advertisement. People typically browse and watch videos during work or on weekdays. My interaction dropped to 23% over the weekend and watch time went down from 3:00+ to 2:17 average. Interestingly enough the more views that happen the more the ad becomes monetized. I thought originally that views based on ads were not monetized. I saw that somewhere during the process of running the ad, but now the ad has generated 5cents. Which I guess happened because someone clicked because my initial understanding was that promoted ads didn't generate revenue. I'm going to look into this a bit more. What I have found out is that larger stations have a budget and are constantly running ads to build up views on their channels. This increase in views ranks the videos higher in search and discovery. It's pay to play, but the difference in FB and YT is that pay to play could literally generate ad revenue and interaction as I've had an increase in traffic to CBP from Social and the majority is from YT. It's interesting watching how it plays out. Keep me posted and you know I'm ready when you have the final plan of attack.
  6. I like the favicon and it is an additional selling point for those willing to pay for a "Boost Page" type post. You're talking about self contained marketing tool!!!! You have every right to add ads. You have to pay for the hosting, but honestly I wouldn't pay for the domains. I would simply build the pages individually under your server and save the money. Overall, if you can develop a tweet/facebook/boost page type program for those author pages I think it would be great. I like the favicon and it is an additional selling point for those willing to pay for a "Boost Page" type post. You're talking about self contained marketing tool!!!! You have every right to add ads. You have to pay for the hosting, but honestly I wouldn't pay for the domains. I would simply build the pages individually under your server and save the money. Overall, if you can develop a tweet/facebook/boost page type program for those author pages I think it would be great. On a different note, I changed the thumbnail on the video to a picture of me and the traffic on the current ad I'm running for the video decreased to 22% from 365 the previous day. I changed the ad back and the interaction increased back to 36%. I haven't added any subscriptions while running the ad, and the people watching the video are only watching it for 2:30 seconds. Which means I'm not getting any engagement on this video under 3 minutes. My overall watch time on the channel is 3:14 which means paying for this video is losing me watch time. Anyway, I thought you would find this interesting. In-stream Eligible $0.04 In-stream 714 260 36.41% $0.03 $8.56
  7. No I'm not talking about a Facebook campaign, I'm talking about you having an option for paying for the promotion of the page. The one page is more effective than my own sites because this one page is concise. My sites have so much going on people go there and get distracted. This page is about the books and only about the books. That's a bonus.
  8. Man that page looks incredible! If most authors are like me and didn't buy their own names, this service is fantastic!!!!! Especially since the widgets link back to the content on all of my sites. I think a pay to promote the page feature ala Facebook would be something I'm willing to do. Something like a subscription feature or maybe a one time payment for a tweet out of the page in some way? Whatever you decide I'm sure it will be great. Thanks for the coverage Troy!
  9. Black Music is not dying. Open your ears and mind and look for the artists. They aren't on tv, but they are on YouTube. Start with Maxwell and you will find the Foreign Exchange http://amzn.to/29nTewK and their extended family of Zo! http://amzn.to/29UYcmk and Eric Roberson http://amzn.to/29myx9i. Multi Instrumentalists and singers like Dwele http://amzn.to/29nT2gU and then you can bring it back to the women like Emile Sande http://amzn.to/29A99fE and Corrine Bailey Ray. Black music is doing very well. It's just not in the mainstream anymore. I posted a link because someone else said the same thing about music dying and I thought to myself that it's not dying, it's just harder to find. Here is a list that includes Gregory Porter and Jose James: http://www.cbpublish.com/music-get-these-songs-and-then-ride-out/
  10. Thanks for the update. I've found that sharing your looks to social is simply a better strategy. However I would chalk up your growth because of the content you are sharing. You've been posting some golden stuff lately. It's been timely and the lists and updates from the redesign of the site keeps unearthing more and more info. So the social growth is due to the amount of content you are reintroducing. On the picture/screenshot I had a pic of me presenting as the thumbnail, but it wasn't getting any traffic. The video actually got more views from changing the name of it and using the Shut off the world placard. YouTube is funny that way. You never know what's going to click and drive people to click. I've been playing with my thumbnails in other videos to test what works better. It's a good experiment. I'm serious about paying for the promotion of that page or something like it. If you have a plan let me know so we can make that happen.
  11. The F Speeches book is missing, but Google may call that inappropriate. The page looks good. As far as ads, I would put them on the page at the header and footer because it's still ad revenue. I think it's a dope service and I'm willing to pay for the promotion of the page if you come up with a package price of some kind. You know I agree with the Facebook thing and authors...I just hope authors realize how valuable this service is if they don't have their own site. You can remove CCB center court basketball as it is long gone now. I stopped running the site in 2011. My last update would be to use my copy of the video from ignite so I can get the views and not Ignite. Those are my only suggestions. Your work is definitely appreciated.
  12. Thanks Troy! The check is in the mail!!!!!! LOL!
  13. It seems that the target is black lit based websites. I get at least a message every week about the number of pages giving 404 errors from Webmaster tools. Now I know why this is happening (my host is having issues with the server and this has led to the site having multiple pages that aren't loading). Thankfully, I don't serve any Google Ads on that site since the site was kicked out of Google years ago. Although my other sites are all approved and doing well, I get the same message every week explaining that my search will not be served. I'm indifferent since I don't get any ad revenue. Unfortunately I can't run a Google Adwords on CBP either as it was kicked out of Adsense so there isn't any way to get them to adjust this. We are all at the mercy of the bigger platform all because people simply don't take the time to bookmark and visit sites anymore. We keep rolling. Then again, I'm overreacting about the black lit sites thing...
  14. I shared this post on my site which addresses your position. http://www.cbpublish.com/cbp-business-jaron-lanier-why-facebook-isnt-free-stop-giving-it-away/ Content will always be the way to build. However, once you peep this maybe this is where Facebook will actually head... then again probably not.
  15. This continues to diminish the use of Facebook for small biz. While I saw a slight spike in sales from using Facebook recently, the creation of content by larger platforms will always trump the smaller users who are looking to find a way to monetize the people who they have connected with on Facebook. Facebook is still in the process of figuring out how to beat YouTube at it's game, but they are a long way from doing so. The process of paying big named content creators, or stupid video creators is an attempt at making the regular user feel that they can also generate the type of viewership that those more popular videos generate. The failure is in the fact that to gain watchers/viewers you still have to boost post and the user has to pay for those eyes which is not the case with YouTube. It's compounded by the fact that at least with YouTube the potential to earn is inherent. All of this leads to more of the same for small websites... how do you get people to your content on a consistent basis. Facebook is just going to continue to maximize and benefit as it has been doing.
  16. Just saw the Kam and Djimon interview there... that's crazy!!!!! But I've found sites with my shoes on them, with reviews and other information. The www is still the Wild Wild West so it's best to be vigilant and stay on top of it.
  17. The site is already down so good job on that. There isn't much you can do, but your advice is proactive and helps. I caught this happening when I was visiting my Google dashboard for adsense and saw a site listed as one of mine that I didn't create. I guess being vigilant is the only key. We have to keep checking and updating our info in order to see the offending sites. Sharing work with a redirect is one thing. Copying with the intent to generate ad revenue is another. That's why I hate those assholes who sit around telling people to build sites strictly for affiliate marketing.
  18. It's funny how UPROXX works. I actually hate that they bought Dimemag.com Dime used to be one of the best basketball mags and sites in the biz and it has just fallen apart. I guess the same problem in publishing with Black websites has happened in every industry. There used to be a ton of indie sports site, now there are only a few. Those left over are basically getting what they can and exiting. You can see why they are doing so though. When they become a part of the machine there is a lot of dough in the payout... but it leaves the market less interesting. Check out this post on how much Hypebeast (a former indie lifestyle blog) garnered in a Chinese IPO: http://www.cbpublish.com/lifestyle-blog-hypebeast-soars-708-in-record-asia-debut-bloomberg/ I hate those clickthrough lists, but I get it.
  19. It's hard to keep track. The music is easy because I only have two albums out and I'm working on a third project. The shoe stuff runs itself. My shoe company struggles, but the Nike and Adidas stuff sells itself. You don't have to work that hard. It's just a matter of adjusting. The reciprocity thing was me discussing social, emotional, and financial capital. It's not long at all. It was in response to someone asking for something, but them not willing to do the same. It's very frustrating. I'm going to sit down and do a video about the Lyft experience because it is a very interesting thing to analyze.
  20. Considering what UPROXX and the like are doing I can see how the LISTS posts are the primary drivers of traffic. It's easy to share this type of info and it allows for engagement. There is a reason why so many people create those lists that have clickthrough pictures for the countdown. I guess the goal is to continue building the lists... which you said a while back that you would focus on anyway.
  21. Reciprocity!!!!! Of course I have a video about this on my YouTube. If you don't keep preaching about it, it will get worse of course. Keep up the fantastic work. I hope it begins to payoff as it used to, or it least gives you some return on investment.
  22. Great post Troy. It's always good to see the results of work on a site. I understand appreciate the struggle. You definitely benefit from consistency. I have a question for you. Is your message board the ultimate driver of traffic to your site? I know that personally have the Stream bookmarked and I very rarely go to the homepage to get to the message board because I know that the message board will have a new topic, or some debate and it has the type of engagement that drives the type of quick visits that we all tend to do. I don't typically browse through the other parts of the site until you share a link from inside of a post here. I've begun doing a new feature on my sneaker site to increase traffic and it's working great. I'm using the Press This feature to share sneaker industry news. Obviously I need to do this for CBP, and I will, but content is king for us until we can get a cosign or share from a larger platform (which still only provides a temporary bump in traffic unless the bigger site shares the info consistently). Nice update anyway and congrats.
  23. Lyft has capitalized on all of the shortcomings of Uber and the drivers are better for it. This is why asking a ton of questions does matter just as much as looking at some research about the owners. The car rental service, the extra benefits, the protection of the driver, Lyft improved on Uber which is what business is all about. Does it still benefit the billionaires? Of course! as it should... they created it. I could walk out the door of my house tomorrow and start Chris' ride share in Memphis. I would have to advertise to get people to log on and sign up and then I would have to build an online platform to documents mileage and credit card processing. Or I could do it the old school way like a Taxi and do a meter... the bottom line is you are talking about this peer to peer thing for transportation as if it is going to be something as simple as asking your neighbor for a ride. (I know you aren't that simple, but they way you bring up peer to peer it seems like you are saying this). I guess if you could lay out a peer to peer platform for individuals and ride sharing then I can better understand you. Paypal's separation from eBay last year was topical. If it was a genuine separation then you would be able to accept Stripe, Square, Amazon Payments or other payments through eBay... as it stands you can't. You must have a Paypal to have an eBay. The only true peer to pee platform online is craigslist. That's it. How you see eBay as peer to peer is surprising. This doesn't mean that I don't think it's a viable business idea. In every book I write about business I list eBay and Paypal as a great option for launching a small biz, but they are not peer to peer. If any company takes 10-13% of your profit they aren't peer to peer. As a matter of fact the same way Amazon has distribution centers across America, eBay is building a FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) type of delivery where they now warehouse your goods. More important are the exclusive arrangements on eBay that prevent you or anyone from selling specific brands. You can't sell Coach for instance on eBay because of a back end deal that eBay made with Coach. Why is this important? Because if it was peer to peer anything you purchase and want to flip you should be able to sell on eBay, but this isn't the case. I like Square, but unless you sell a service, like you do with ads and services on AALBC, and not a product, Square still requires you to do a serious amount of advertisement to generate traffic to your site or your Square store. If you are only using it to process payments the differences between Square and Paypal are negligible outside of the fact that you can get your money the next day with Square (which is actually pretty important). Selling a service is a completely different monster than selling a product. Peer to peer is possible when selling a service. Now if you really wanted to make a point about Amazon being bad for business, then you should know that Amazon is actually allowing you to sell a service on Amazon Home Services which is in direct competition with Angie's List. Will Amazon trump Angie's List... maybe. Will this be bad? of course, but this is all hypothetical as Amazon has tried to upend Etsy and their handmade products but the results have been shitty on their new platform Amazon Handmade. The Marketplace is huge for Amazon although having their own fulfillment centers allows them to compete for the Buybox on particular items is big, it isn't any different from the exclusive deals eBay has with brands. It's the same thing especially now that eBay has fulfillment centers. I have to think your problem with Amazon is personal and not about business or how it affects the market overall.I don't know how you can blame Amazon for doing what a company is supposed to do when it is publicly traded. It isn't any different from what Nike is doing to Sports Authority and all of these big box shoe stores closing.Amazon and Nike are taking advantage of brand loyalty and consumers who value convenience over service. I know it seems like blaming the consumer and you hate blaming the victim, but honestly you have to start looking at the consumer. Because the small biz person simply doesn't have the money or time to persuade buyers to shop with them and people aren't networking to help each other.
  24. Note, I said Uber sucks and I explained that most of the drives I took were Lyft which has a much better model and has already improved on where Uber failed. Most of those drivers had switched from Uber to Lyft. I used Uber in Memphis because more people are signed up here. Research is simply a person asking questions and documenting so my asking questions, although on a small scale, is just as valuable as any report written by someone analyzing the business aspects because all research can be skewed and should be taken with a grain of salt. We have to listen to research though because most of us don't want to take the time to do our own analysis. When you say Peer to peer you include eBay? That has thrown me for a loss. I don't consider eBay peer to peer. eBay is the same as Amazon so that creates a flawed discussion point in my view. But that makes me realize that when we both started discussing this we failed to layout what Peer to Peer means in relation to the original discussion of the first post. My thought of peer to peer is when people are able to visit farmer's markets or use their own platforms to sell to people,no middle man. Here are some of my thoughts on eBay and Amazon: I will give you my own example of peer to peer that makes sense. I have a hedge fund. I researched how to start one and launched it through ARCH. I had 3 investors at 10,000 a pop. One person received a 900 dollar return in one month and pulled out. One person received a 1600 dollar return on his 10K in 5 months, and the current investor will get a 10% return over a 3 year period. This is peer to peer because there wasn't a middle man in between my investor and me. http://www.arch-usa.com/arch-investment/ If you are considering eBay a better option over Amazon I call into question every argument you've made. They are the same. The only difference is that Amazon has entered a space that you are very sensitive about in books and you've seen it directly affect this area. eBay has transitioned into a replica of Amazon. It simply hasn't chosen to enter the book industry, but Amazon started in books and made a natural progression in business growth. eBay takes 13% of every sale. Amazon takes 10-15% depending on category. Amazon has Amazon payments and eBay has Paypal. They both take monthly fees for professional accounts. They both have the right terminate you for any reason they choose. They are essentially working in the same areas. Paypal is better because Amazon came along after and copied the platform so no one really uses it. A true peer to peer won't happen and won't exist. There will have to be advertisements paid to get people to your product. The same money that you spend to get people to your product could possibly cost more in customer acquisition than using Amazon or eBay so as it stands it makes sense to build your platform through these companies to avoid having to pay for the advertisement expenses, but it goes both ways. If you can create content that drives traffic to your site you can win, but you have to have a Huffpost level of content from high profile people or a ton of info that the people are interested in and searching for. Once again I agree that peer to peer is the way to go, but if you watch the video I explain it as best as I can using the destination vs foot traffic theory the person who has a product, books, shoes, shirts, electronics will have to pay to acquire customers. If I can give Amazon or eBay 13-15% and I don't have to think about customer acquisition I'm going to take the easiest route.When Rushkoff says we are being used, he's right. We are being used, but after ten plus years I have finally conceded and I take the easiest path while still adjusting and trying to deliver straight to people. You know like I do how hard this is. But my small sample size for Lyft gives a different story.
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