My main interest in the iPad is two fold – 1) I’m a Mac whore, so I’m required by my membership fees to have one of these in my possession 2) I was lucky enough to be asked by the Mouse to lead a team in building an app for the iPad called the “Craft Finder for iPad” after creating the “Craft Finder” for iPhone not so long ago for FamilyFun Magazine – crafts galore – Trust!  Feel free to download those two apps if you can, since they’re absolutely FREE and downloadable over the air

But I digress . . .
I have my iPad now and my hands are sore from holding it up. Yes, I’m 5’11″ and 220lbs and my hands got sore holding this 1.5lb device for 30-40 minutes. Good Luck Skinnies!

So, what did I do? I made a dock for the iPad to show it off on my desk.

If you can’t figure out how to make one yourself, then I’m sorry. Life’s just tough like that But since I’m feeling a little nice, check out this video you’ll need to see to figure how to get the connector to hold steady in your dock.

Photos taken from my awesome iPhone 3G

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Brought to you by: Bunkers Paradise | Camera Equipment Pros | Kicksologists | Lakers Nation

• Great way to inspire the people and get consumer confidence going!
• I still think people who overextended themselves and can’t afford a home, should be ousted from their home. I don’t want my tax money going to people who are sitting around their brand new granite kitchen counter tops, watching the news about unemployment rates on their brand new 42″ LCD.
• Fugate doesn’t really have much to live up to. Just don’t F up a Katrina like disaster and you’ll probably get a raise.
• Sorry to hear about the football players.
• Don’t we already know that xrays are dangerous? Who’s paying for these reports? Anyone want to pay me to do a report about how breathing oxygen leads to more cases of cancer? I swear I can twist into something shocking if you want!
• Is it me or should parents of those convicted of pretty heinous crimes be punished in some way? It’s society’s way of saying “you F’d up and we had to deal with your incompetency as a parent.” Nothing crazy like jail time, but how about some mandatory community service or something, right?

What are they thinking?

With the Super Bowl just passing, there wasn’t just a new NFL champion crowned, there was the best of the best in advertising out on full display. With ad rates as high as $3M per 30 seconds, advertisers made sure they were using their most effective ads. What I learned is that every time I watched a new commercial, I was given a chance to get a free marketing lesson from some of the top marketing firms in the world.

Key Points to look out for:

• Type of Message – i.e. Prey on Fear or Urgency (think Viagra Commercials)
• Choice of Words - Too many vs. Too Little.
• Images – Question why they chose that image vs. another.
• Transitions – Are there any? Do they funnel you into any direction?
• Choice of Music – Fast vs. Slow? Excitement? Commercials are mini-movies with their own soundtrack to evoke feelings as well!
• Choice of Actors – Did they affect you with their presence? (i.e. I still don’t understand why Kenny Mayne does insurance commercials)

The bottom line is that you should try your best to figure out what emotions the commercial just evoked from you. Determine what the advertiser succeeded and failed in doing. I would suggest keeping a pad and pencil on your coffee table or in your car for you to jot down your thoughts, so you can take advantage of all the free lessons of the day!

Check out all the super bowl ads at hulu.com and let me know what you thought were the best or the worst and why.

Admittedly, I arrived a little late and even more admittedly, I didn’t know who the hell was speaking as I entered the room. I just heard so smart mouthed, New York accent cussing and trying to get some cheap laughs. I finally figured out who Jason was and began to listen to his main messages

1. To ask affiliates to stop polluting the net with garbage.
2. Quality Content is King and will prevail for the long term.
3. Be prepared to take 5-10 years to build a high-quality site.
4. Reach for the stars. Go ahead and build for the long term.
5. I’m a dork who struck it rich and wants to put down everyone else that didn’t do it my way.

You’re probably guessing right that he didn’t really emphasize the last point in his powerpoint presentation. That message was translated all by yours truly. As I was listening to his keynote speech, I was having no problem with his elitist stance that the internet needs to be cleansed with the junk that affiliates are making to trick the unknowing. It was only until he got to pointing out bloggers like Shoemoney and Zac Johnson, who take pictures with their 6 figure checks. He includes both Shoe and Zac’s famous check pictures in his powerpoint presentation. Jason uses words like “pathetic, desparate, and uncouth” to publicly embarrass these bloggers. Jason tries to save some of their reputation by calling them “brilliant,” but through the rest of his presentation, he would use the “100K people” reference to represent the group of internet marketers that you shouldn’t strive to be like.

So, don’t get me wrong and think that I’m on Shoe’s and Zac’s side because I’ve personally met them and think they’re really great people. The point at which I felt I should write something about today’s events came later in the presentations when Jason begins to point out how he was a struggling magazine writer when he first started and that his first job was working on HP laser printers. He talked about how no one in the “Valley” wanted him around because of what he wrote. Well, he finally started getting credit for his work and was quickly establishing himself as a major voice in the internet community. This is the part of the presentation where he pathetically waves his resume and tells us how he gets invited to “all the parties” because everyone wants him there.

I know it’s not like showing off how much you make, but in a way, it really was. I can understand that he’s proud of the quality content he’s been able to prove. I can understand if he wants to rub it in people’s faces that his vision for quality would persevere all trends. I can understand if he wants the internet to be full of purists who strive for high quality content forever and ever.

The only thing I can’t understand is the quality of Jason’s character in putting down other’s to make his ego feel that much better.

More to come about the rest of my first day as I got to meet one of the people that inspired me to become the entrepreneur that I am today and notes from some of the presentations being given at Affiliate Summit West. 

For the rest of us normal fun people, this is going to be my most “asian” post I’ve ever posted, so hopefully get a smile out of it! Coming from California, I’ve met every one of these Asians, so it’s pretty hilarious how damn close each description is! I wonder where my friend Greg Morgan falls into this list!

After your done, check out my YouTube Video at the bottom of this post – an asian dance crew called Kaba Modern (click for their Profile) from my alma mata – UC Irvine – competing ( and representing pretty well) in MTV’s America’s Best Dance Crew! Zot! Zot!

What Kind Of Asian Are You?

Young Asians in America come in many forms. Below are the major categories. Most Asians fit into multiple groups. For example, Rice-boys can also be Fobs and many Tabs are Fobulous. The only groups that are never part of another group are the Twinkies and the Asian-Americans. Claim your Fobbiness! When you see your Asian friend, greet them with “Wassup Fob!” And if your Asian friend says something ridiculous, say “Fob please!” Of course, when a non-Asian calls you a Fob, that is grounds for a fight. Ahahaha… The categories below are to be taken lightheartedly. Read, recognize and laugh.

Twinkie
- Besides your nationality, there is little to distinguish you from white people
- Your significant other is not Asian and never has been
- You have few Asian friends, if any
- You are embarrassed at family events because you cannot speak your language and everyone has to switch to English to communicate with you
- You have no idea that the other types of Asians on this list even exist
- You think Hello Kitty is dumb and do not know what Sanrio is
- You are the only Asian on this list that does not know what Bubble Tea is
- You drive a Ford or some other domestic car and if you drive a Honda, it is stock

Asian-American
- You claim yourself as Asian, but real Asians think you’re whitewashed and non-Asians see you as a foreigner. You fit in nowhere
- You have heard of Bubble Tea but have never actually had any
- You are confused about your cultural identity and express this frustration through spoken word performances at your college
- You read A. magazine and think it’s great
- You do not know who Edison, Jay Chou, Ayu, or G.O.D. are
- You are only vaguely aware of the other Asians below

Yap (Young Asian Professional)
- You are in one of these professions:
a) Medicine / Pharmaceutical
b) Engineering
c) Finance
d) Investment Banking
e) Accounting
- Most of your wardrobe was purchased at Banana Republic
- You go to “mixers” on Thursday nights to meet other Yaps and talk about the Dow Jones.
- You did exactly what your parents wanted you to do and as a result, your life is hella boring
- Your apartment/home is decorated almost exclusively with stuff from Pier 1
- Your parents always talk to their friends about how much money you make. If they don’t, then you’re a dissapointment

Fob (Fresh Off tha Boat)
- You were not born in America
- You know who Edison, Jay Chou, Ayu, or G.O.D. are. In fact, you have seen them at Atlantic City or Las Vegas recently
- You speak your native language fluently and so do all your friends
- You do not have any non-Asian friends
- Your parents do not speak any English
- When you speak English, you like to make everything plural
- You get extremely good grades in school
- You cannot dance
- Your fashion sense comes from whatever country you’re from and you incorporate nothing from American fashion into your wardrobe

SuperFob
- Your command of the English language is minimal and you don’t care
- You like dim sum chicken feet
- You do not own a single CD, VCD, Video game, or DVD that isn’t bootlegged
- Your only hangout is Chinatown
- All the lights in your house are fluorescent
- You dry your cloths outside your window
- You need a haircut
- You either smell like cigarettes or food

Fobabee
- You are an Asian-American or Twinkie who has recently “awoken”
- You have a newly found fetish of Asian girls/boys
- You have taken the Asian Studies course at college
- You are trying to learn as much as possible about your culture to make up for your lifetime of trying to be white (Twinkie ; Banana) or Black (Chigger ; Tea egg)
- If you are lucky, you will grow to become Fobulous

Gangsta Fob (Fobsta)
- You have shot another Asian
- Your favorite hangout is a pool hall
- When you talk, you sound like a cross between a Fob and an urban black kid
- Your hair looks silly, but no one will tell you because you’ll shoot them
- You have a serious gambling problem
- You are a Rice-boy, but your mods are cheap and are never painted to match the rest of your car
- No one tells you your rice ride looks cheap because you’ll shoot them
- You want to have a Tab girlfriend, but can only get Hoochie Tabs

Tab (Trendy Asian B*tch)
- You shop at A/X, Bebe and Club Monaco
- You only wear black and will occasionally wear white to “mix it up”
- You do not weigh more than 105 lbs
- You have never paid for dinner at a restaurant in your life
- Platform heels are your favorite
- You are a makeup expert, in fact, you appear completely flawless
- You do not smile in public
- You are the object of desire of all Asian men and you know it
- You smoke
- Your cell phone is completely customized
- Somewhere in your purse is a Sanrio item
- You only date Asian and will only date a boy with a nice car
- You are often seen with Rice-boys
- You never travel alone. You are either in the company of other Tabs or your Rice-boy boyfriend

Hoochie Tab
- You are an import car model
- Your boobs are not real
- There are naked pictures of you floating around on the internet somewhere
- Clear heels are your favorite
- Your role models are Tila Nguyen and Kaila Yu
- Your boyfriend is a Gangsta Fob
- You cheat on your boyfriend
- Unlike most Asians, you do not do well in school

Rice-Boy
- You drive an Asian import. Usually a Honda or Acura
- Your souped up car (known as a Rice-ride or Rice-rocket) is unrecognizable from it’s original stock form
- Your exhaust pipe is big enough for your head to fit in
- The spoiler on your car looks like it was made by Boeing
- The interior of your car also looks like it was designed by Boeing
- You always drive like you are racing someone
- You are not afraid of dying in a crash, but you are afraid of speed bumps and parking lot on-ramps
- The only other person besides yourself who can sit in your car is your 105 lbs Tab girlfriend. If anyone else sits in your car, the entire bottom of it will be touching the ground
- Even though your car is a Honda, it goes faster and is worth more than a Lotus Esprit

Fobulous
- You speak perfect English and you are fluent in your native language
- You have Asian friends as well as non-Asian friends
- You listen to Asian pop as well as American music
- You are equally aware of both popular American culture and Asian pop culture
- You are a good dancer
- You date Asian by choice even though you could rock the opposite sex of any other race
- You are a good designer and have superior Html skills (for that fly MySpace / Xanga page)
- For you, FOB stands for Fabulous Oriental Being
- You have lots of Asian pride

By the way – Happy Be-lated Chinese New Years!

Today is a great day for the City of Los Angeles as my Lakers have added the final piece to the championship puzzle. If you haven’t heard yet, the Lakers have pulled off the steal of the year by trading one of the worst players in the league – Kwame Brown – for Pau Gasol – an underrated 7 Foot Power Forward who has lead Spain to the European Championships. When I heard the news, I was literally screaming in my car while driving down Wilshire Blvd in Santa Monica! People must have thought I was crazy, but I didn’t care! I was loving my Lakers!

I know some of you are going remind me that I was asking for Kevin Garnett last summer, but now he is a mortal enemy as he wears the horse manure green of the Boston Celtics! I usually hate Stephen A. Smith, but the man’s speaking the truth in this video clip and I can’t wait to celebrate our next Championship down Figueroa!

Why so many email addresses?

Personal (GMail): I use this to communicate with friends and family and get my evites for fun non-internet related events.

Business (GMail): I use this to register for all my main services like my hosting and and affiliate programs.

Spam (Hotmail): For all those contests or promotions that require email to enter. I use it more to research how these contests are working so I can put my own twist to it.

Domain based Emails (gary@example.com): I have a lot of sites where when I communicate on behalf of the site. My rule is that when communicating to vendors for a website, try and use the domain to show a level of authenticity so that the vendors will take you more seriously.

How do I check and organize my emails? 

Mail.app – This is the program that comes standard in Leopard and is a pretty decent mail system if I was only using one computer for all my jobs. The reality is that I move between at least 3 different computers throughout the day so my best solution should be a web based email program.

GMail – I thought this would be my solution since GMail has a feature to check all your emails and to also send all your emails.  From what I’ve seen, the feature works like Google promotes, but the problem is that I don’t get my emails right away, so when someone is emailing me to my other accounts, I don’t receive it until 15-45 minutes later. In our fast paced life, this is definitely a problem.

I haven’t found a solution yet for my email woes, but hopefully, I’ll figure something out. While writing this post, I found some stuff on .Mac’s iSync. I’ll go check that out and see if that’s something that can work better than GMail. For now, I’m just gonna have to deal with the sloth of the snail unless you have something you could suggest?

It’s not only 5% that you’re saving, it’s the increase in Gross Margin that you’re gaining.

With that said, you will be able to bid just a little bit higher on your campaigns over your competitors that aren’t using American Express. Remember my article on finding out your maximum CPC? Now you can use the number you found and apply the 5% discount to find your new maximum bid.

Example:

Formulas to Know

Cost Per Click (CPC) = Total Cost of Campaign / Total Clicks from Campaign Landing Page
Conversion Rate (CR) = Total Number of Leads / Total Number of Page Impressions
Cost Per Action (CPA) = Cost Per Click / Landing Page Conversion Rate
Lead Value = Value of Sale * Lead to Sale Conversion Rate
Gross Margin = (Lead Value – Cost Per Action) / Lead Value

Assumptions

Landing Page Conversion Rate = 10%
Lead to Sale Conversion Rate = 25%
Value of Sale = $100 – Determined by Total Profits divided by number of Sale
Lead Value = $25 – Determined by Total Profits divided by number Leads

Goal

Find Maximum Cost Per Click for a 20% Gross Margin

Solution

Maximum CPA = Lead Value – [Gross Margin (20%) * Lead Value ($25)] = $20
Maximum CPC = CPA ($20) * Landing Page Conversion Rate (10%) = $2.00

Example

Budget = $200
Clicks = 100
Leads = 10
Sales = 2.5
Total = $250

Gross Margin = (Revenue – Cost)/Revenue = (250 – 200)/200 = 20%

So you have figured out that you’re maximum CPC is $2.00, but now that you have got yourself an American Express small business card, you get a 5% discount, so what is your real maximum CPC before the discount?

New Maximum CPC BEFORE 5% discount from YSM.
$2.00 / 95% = $2.10

When it comes to search engine marketing, $0.10 can be the difference between ranking 7th and getting no traffic and ranking 3rd, which is the optimal spot you want to rank for highly targeted, converting traffic.

So, what are you waiting for? Go get your American Express Card and your Yahoo Search Marketing Account today! Here’s some of the things they get discounts for:

Travel and Dining

– Delta(R): 3% off flights (plus 2% with co-branded Business Cards)

– JetBlue(R): 3% off flights (plus 2% with co-branded Business Cards)

– eSkyGuide: 20% off digital flight timetables

– Hyatt Hotels & Resorts(R): 3% off hotel stays

– Hertz(R): 5% off car rentals

– Courtyard by Marriott(R): 5% off hotel stays

– Fairfield Inn by Marriott(R): 5% off hotel stays

– SpringHill Suites by Marriott(R): 5% off hotel stays

– Wingate(R) by Wyndham: 5% off hotel stays

– Ruby Tuesday(R): 5% off dining

Supplies and Services

– Yahoo! Search Marketing: 5% off internet marketing

– Yahoo! Small Business: 5% off internet business tools

– FedEx: 5% off express and ground shipping

– FedEx Kinko’s Office and Print Centers(R): 5% off business services

– 1-800-FLOWERS.COM(R): 5% off flowers and gifts

–

American Express

Incentive Services: 5% off prepaid cards

– Symantec: 10% off security software

Business Building Tools

– BizFilings: 20% off incorporation services

– Ceridian: 20% off payroll services

– Constant Contact(R): 5% off e-mail marketing services

– ExpensAble: 25% off expense management software

– Logoworks by HP: 15% off logo and graphic design

So now, NBC has brought back American Gladiators and instead of the hokey hosts Larry Csonka, Mike Adamle, and Joe Theisman, we got hosting rookies Hulk Hogan and Laila Ali. I’m watching the premier episode as I type this blog, so don’t expect this post to be as eloquent as my other posts . The format seems to be pretty much the same, but to be honest with you, I thought NBC would make it into a reality show with the competitors in one house and the gladiators in another house! Speaking of the Gladiators, I was curious to see who would be the new Gladiator Hottie, replacing my all-time favorite Gladiator – Lace! Here’s a list of the new female Gladiators . . . which one are you gonna pick as the Gladiator Hottie?

	Crush – Definitely a hottie. From what I’ve seen, not really big on personality, but I’m sure she’s just a little shy right now. Doesn’t she remind you of the start of Bionic Woman?
	Fury – At least she’s keeping it old skool with the 80′s scrunchee and hair!
	Helga – Is it me or shouldn’t she have a sweedish accent? She dresses the part, so she might as well play the part! I think she’s going to be a Pop Icon for 2008. Someone’s gotta replace Psycho Spears, right?
	Siren – Probably comes in second for the Gladiator Hottie. I didn’t really get to see her much, but based on this picture. Nice!
	Venom – OK, this might sound mean and if by some chance in hell she reads this blog and sees me on the streets in LA, I’m sorry. But she looks like a porn star.
	Stealth – She looks like what Jada Pinkett Smith would look like if she took steroids.

Final Thoughts – These are not in order, just overall impressions after watching the show.

• That Eliminator is whack. What happened to the arm bike thing? What’s this swimming under fire thing? And WHO THE HELL thought it was cool to put the rope on the Travelator to help them make it up?
• I think it would be so cool to have Celebrity Gladiators. Imagine Brian Urlacher of the Chicago Bears or Terrell Owens and his personality or Shaquille O’Neal aka The Big Gladiator!
• New York Fire Fighters should learn how to swim!
• These Gladiators aren’t as nice as the 80′s version! You can tell how much trash talking and public humiliation has permeated into society, replacing good sportsmanship and friendly competition.
• How is Assault not a every episode staple?
• Someone is going to make their own version of American Gladiators on YouTube and get a lot of hits! Remember those backyard wrestling videos of kids jumping off roofs to powerslam their friends. This IS the next Phenomenon.
• Again, the rope on the travelator is so pure cheating!

I can’t wait to go watch a episode in person. The studio is just down the street, so I hope my friend can get us tickets!

Anyone catch the first two episodes of American Gladiators? What are your thoughts?

So far, I’ve received my certifications for both the Google Adwords Program and the Yahoo Ambassador program. The Google Adwords Program test consisted of 117 questions, which 75% of them need to be answered correctly within 1.5 hours. Trust me when I say that you should really study for this test as I spent a lot of time at their lessons section reading every little detail of their adwords program to make sure I would pass the test. At a cost of $50 a test, you don’t want to take it too many times! On the other end of the spectrum, we have the Yahoo Search Marketing Ambassador program, which is similar to the GAP test, but is only 80 questions, which you have to answer 80% of them correctly to pass. Let’s just say the test is more of a proproganda campaign for Yahoo as there were questions that dealt directly about Yahoo’s search features (i.e. 6.2 Billion Searches in March 2006). If they were self-promoting themselves, the test was more like a joke, with such questions as this:

How do you set the daily spend for your campaign?

    a) Use the Daily Budget Feature

    b) Set your Desktop Alarm

    c) Get a Junior Associate of your company to remind you

and you think I’m kidding . . . . go take the test and find out yourself!  No matter though, the preparation for both tests gave me a thorough understanding of how bout the Google Adwords and Yahoo Search Marketing programs work and I feel fully confident in putting up campaigns.

So, why did I just drop $100 on these certifications? These certifications are necessary as I get ready for a new business venture with Ms. Danielle – an internet marketing consulting firm specializing in search engine optimization, search engine marketing and pay-per-click advertising. Nate Whitehill and his crew at Unique Blog Designs are currently putting the final touches on our site and both Danielle and I will be announcing the launch of the new site very soon.

Other than that, I have been diving head first into a lot of affiliate marketing, which is something I really haven’t taken a look at because of my previous full time jobs. I don’t think there should be much of a problem as I’m already very familar with some the methods already used and have a great network of bloggers and entrepreneurs around me to keep me in line. I really look forward to diversifying my income sources and see the money fill up in my bank accounts.

What do you have planned for this year? Are your goals financial or personal?