A Quick Update And A Thank You
Hi Gang,
Dan here, and I can’t believe it has been nearly six weeks. since the Thirty Day Challenge finished… truly spooky… Time flies soooo quickly.
But I just really wanted to shoot out a quick email (and now a blog post) to let you know what is going on around the camp.
Firstly, you guys did a fantastic job. We raised nearly $8,000 for our charity of choice. You have really made a difference here… and I really appreciate it. I will give you an update on this later on in the week and let you know HOW BIG a difference you have made.
Secondly, Ed and I have been working on some cool things for you guys and we are nearly ready to reveal what we have been up to… Now don’t hold me to this, but we should be able to tell all at the beginning of next week (around the 22nd).
But what I really wanted to find out in this email (post)… is how YOU are doing… really, I want some feedback. Ed and I really enjoyed doing the 30 Day Challenge, but we want to make sure we covered everything we needed to. Now I know there are always things to learn, but seriously, I would appreciate it if you would give us an update on your progress….
So, if you want to bow down and praise us like the gods that we are… or shout at us and smite us like a center of pestilence, then please shoot us an email at challenge@wuranga.com.
I am going to say this right up front that I won’t be able to answer every email. But Ed and I will compile the best questions… abusive statements, and witty retorts into a post or podcast for your enjoyment.
Ok, guys and gals, I look forward to your response, and thanks for listening / reading me drone on.
Dan
October 13th, 2007 at 10:14 pm
Hey Dan,
Are you looking for us to post our replies here, or still email it to challenge@wuranga.com?
~Shannon
October 13th, 2007 at 10:20 pm
Both would be great, it’s always nice for others to see replies… even if they are negative.
Dan
October 14th, 2007 at 12:24 am
Well I have been powering onwards. The hardest thing has been to remain focussed on my current niches without running out and creating 50 more.
Seriously it came together that easily after the teaching, and over-committing my time has been the only major issue going forward.
I researched and found a great platform to begin with, built up some great traffic. using one niche to learn all about lists, and the other all about conversion, the other I am let float along waiting for when I drop a nuclear bomb on it and see it go inferno.
For my first “real” 30DC I must say the camaraderie and the patience of some old timers was very welcome.
Some of the hardest things to deal with had nothing to do with the 30DC itself. Getting a great deal of people together in one place will mean there is a cross section of humanity involved. There were those that were genuinely looking for help, those that just wanted to be spoon fed, the absolutely negative no matter what anyone said, and those that had an opinion and wanted to rub everyone’s face in it. Oh and the filthy thieving spammers that were using the 30DC techniques to sh*t in everyone’s nest. Yep people were the worst and best thing about the 30DC.
The amazing tools that were developed during the 30DC were an eyeful too. They really should be more than a freebie (and I hate paying for anything!) and I am immensely grateful for Mike Mindel and others that have given them away!
Also post 30DC I have been watching some people stretch their wings and start to soar in the IM world. This is incredibly encouraging to those of us that can’t quite make the full time jump into the pool (yet!). Go you good things!
I know that I CAN do it and it is due to Ed and Dan mostly (but the long tail belongs to the rest of those giving 30DC people who put in their time and effort to help others).
Oh and Dan….Twitter is not an instant messaging client lol *wink*
October 14th, 2007 at 1:25 am
Allison,
Awesome comment. You said it more simple than I just did in some posts (or something)
in other areas of 30 DC.
The tone of your comment tells me you will succeed in something (money or respect.)
And, whatever you achieve, you will become one of the honest teachers of the
Thirty Day Challenge. In fact, as a teacher, it behooves you to get to it and be
ready to submit your learnings and experiences to the rest of us.
Ohhh! And, that goes for all of us.
October 14th, 2007 at 3:27 am
The TDC was actually more for me than ‘just’ the challenge. It was to see if I could work again. Well I did the 30 days. I made money shortly afterwards, that has slowed down so I have set myself a challenge - go find it.
I think the fun and general anti IM attitude that you normally get (I am GOD so shut up and do it) is hilarious when a couple of years after the 2K curse (sorry course) the ruddy things still don’t work and the help desk is still working overtime.
What our two FIGJAM leaders have done is shown us something that does work.
For me it is slow steps, but I have the flow chart and every day I write a minimum of two 500 word articles and stick them in the appropriate places. I also do one of the ‘other’ items on the list (hub, promotion etc). Then I do two things on the Immediate Edge that fit in. Before I was fertling about like a blue bottomed fly and getting swatted. I am also charting everything I do and it gets faster and faster. I also get my real work done.
You have shown me the runway and given me the tools to fly, now it is down to me. The greatest fun is deleting all the other offers I would have jumped upon - sorry Ed. I can only do one thing at a time.
More power to your elbow.
October 14th, 2007 at 4:35 am
Hi folks,
I didn’t finish the 30DC because of other business duties. So I am just starting all over again, which is, due to the great content, no problem at all.
One thing I learnt was what Web 2.0 is really all about. To tell the truth, I didn’t have a clue when I started. I thought this whole Web 2.0 thing was something to fool around with for teenagers. Now I start realizing what great power all those tools have.
Dan, Ed -thank you. You have done an awsome job. It was, and still is on the Immediate Edge, a great pleasure to follow your tipps and rules. They are just made for success.
Last night I even dreamt about StomperNet, Immediate Edge and all the new technologies - this shows how deep I got myself into this. Unbelievable.
All the best to all of you from good old Germany
Kirsten
October 14th, 2007 at 6:10 am
Great post by Allison,
Aside from the actual method,I’ve learnt to set time each day for IM activities.
I have found the more I focus the more actually gets done.
Method. I have also been made aware of the very basic but important observe or notice section before you judge to continue or not.This has been my downfall.I realise that now.
All the best to the whole crew.
Malcolm.
October 14th, 2007 at 6:38 am
The cool thing about the 30 DC is that it serves to make people less confused. So many people come to me now and say ‘I don’t get this internet marketing thing hmmkay?’ I no longer need to say ‘go buy this $300 internet marketing course’ which they probably won’t read, use and therefore won’t make any money. I can now say ‘well if you want to make your first $10 in 30 days and get a good introduction to internet marketing for FREE, you could do worse than the 30 DC’. Their eyes light up and off they trot happy as larry.
If said person tries the 30DC and it works for them then great - they’re happy! If on the other hand said person reads a few posts, watch a few videos and doesn’t follow through - well hey - it didn’t cost them anything. They ‘get’ internet marketing a bit more so they’re happy too!
So I would say the 30DC has been very useful for me personally as well as professionally.
-Mike
October 14th, 2007 at 11:28 am
Good morning fellow TDChallengers:
This was a magnificent experience for me and got me over a major hump. I have made wonderful contacts and established some relationships that I believe will turn out to be fruitful for all concerned.
I too, need to go back and do some major review…especially over the last five days of the challenge.
I hope that the momentum created here will continue to grow and ultimately result in a huge internet revolution. And all begun by a tubby nerd with this pink thong-wearing sidekick.
Olivia
October 14th, 2007 at 3:31 pm
Hello Ed and Dan!
I’m extremely grateful for the amount of information that is presented here on the 30DC, I’ve been doing the training bymyself and have also linked the thirtydaychallenge to some of my friends who are also going through the materials and learning new things about the internet.
Thank you so much!
Junaid Ahmed
October 15th, 2007 at 12:13 am
The TDC has been exactly what I needed. I have two squid pages up and functional and plans for more; updating the photos I previously had online and focusing on getting some new ones ready for another site; then I am going to concentrate on some articles and blogging. Finally, I will get my own website going and tie it all together because I previously had my own website and putting that together was not the problem for me. My problem was getting the traffic and marketing. I was completely overwhelmed. Every time I tried to sort it all out and focus on something I would go into shut-down mode! This course has given me the knowledge and incentive to dig in and sort it all out in bits and pieces that are workable (and I haven’t had to spend thousands of dollars!!). That is a big part of it all. No, I haven’t made any money yet, but I haven’t spent any either, so I can afford to take my time and learn to do it right. To understand the concept of each part of the process before proceeding. What more could a person ask for?
I am also following along in The Edge, and learning, learning, learning!
Thank you, thank you, thank you too eveyone involved. Your generosity of time, energy and expertise is appreciated.
October 15th, 2007 at 3:49 am
Hi Ed, and mates,
I want to say thank you for the 30 Day Challenge.
For me, it has brought together some of the ideas that I was thinking about in relation to the main site that I have created. I am new at this web stuff, but thought there was a need for the sort of information that my site offers. It does not fit into the traffic figures that you talked about if I wanted to make $10 in August. But that wasn’t my aim. I have doubled my traffic since August though.
My aim was to learn more about generating traffic to my site. And the Challenge has done this for me. I have not necessarily used all of your techniques in the ways that you have suggested, but I figured that you wouldn’t mind. And the thought of having thousands of people doing exactly the same thing reminds me of the scene in The Life of Brian “Yes. we are all individuals!”
The Challenge has also taught me to not be so afraid of the social networking sites and to use them to my advantage.
I was late to find out about the challenge so started on August 10 and always felt that I was behind in everything. I went on holidays for all of September and had time to think about what I had learnt and am now putting it all into practice. I have also downloaded as much of the video and audio that I can so that I can relive it at my convenience.
My only criticisms are organisational.
1. Posting some of the videos on YouTube showed us what we could do. But your promises of later making them available for download was not always followed up, so my collection of resources is not complete.
2. Your file formats for video changed over the 30 days. Keeping the same file formats would have just kept things a little simpler.
3. Your file naming convention changed during the Challenge. Again, only a little thing, but a pain now when I am trying to sort out what I have downloaded in order to go through it all again, if I want to get it in somewhat of the same order.
But with all that said, I loved the laid back attitude, the casual approach. And I have no problem with your accent (mine is probably quite close to yours) and I didn’t even notice when you said ‘fair dinkum’ on the videos!!
I will not be joining you in the ongoing stuff about buying and selling websites. I am not ready for that yet. If you do the Challenge again next year, I’m in from the start this time with enough time to do the preseason stuff. And by then I may also have a site or two that are ready to be sold and will come to you for more advice.
Thanks again. See you next year!!
October 15th, 2007 at 7:48 pm
OK
1. Hands up who made any money?
2. Hands up who got ranked?
3. Hands up who actually got their arse in gear and posted ANY content to ANY Web2.0 platform?
- Is it just me with my hands down?
OK try this one:
1. Who had spent their kids’ school fees (obviously without telling the missus) on IM “products” before the 30DC 2007?
2. Who is a bit less worried about that now?
3. Who can’t sleep because they have keyword/niche madness?
4. Who is still struggling to find the right niche?
5. Who has had their faith restored and their hopes renewed?
- I bet nobody else has got all FIVE hands up.
Ed, Dan, Rob and Mike “The Fourth Musketeer” Mindel, thank you for August 2007. My brain hurts - and it cost me nothing.
October 15th, 2007 at 8:21 pm
Hey Dan,
This is going to be a two part response… Before I continue I have to let you know upfront that I am forever grateful for the information that you guys provided. I know you gave it all and didn’t hold anything back to try and upsell to us later. I appreciate the dedication and time it took to provide the content for this year’s Thirty Day Challenge. So I thank you very very much.
In saying that, I do have something to say. During the challenge everything was moving along at a fast pace, so you really didn’t get to notice a few things. I wish I had a better memory for specifics because it would make writing this response much easier. Since the challenge I have extracted the audio from all the training so I could listen to the awesome teachings while on the road.
I noticed there were a lot of things that we were suppose to get into later in the challenge that we never did go over. In many of the videos and podcasts Ed mentioned things that we would cover, but every time it was said “We’ll get into it next week” or “later during the challenge” or something to that effect. I don’t know if the tumblr slap caused too much of a ripple in the training or if we just ran out of time, but it seems like there was a lot of things that we were suppose to cover, but never did.
Just looking at the sympathy of four parts… we never even started talking about our own product, but that was suppose to have been covered by the end of the challenge (according to early video/podcast by Ed). Let alone cover many of the things that we had to install for firefox during pre-season. I’m still trying to figure out why I have fleck installed.
So what I’m trying to say is that I really appreciate all the information and knowledge that I learned from the challenge because I have a completely different understanding of web 2.0 stuff now. It’s just frustrating to have a lot of things promised, but few of those promises kept.
Now don’t get me wrong… This is not meant to be a complaint against you or Ed… Nothing could be further from the truth. I respect you guys and the things that you have accomplished and look forward to becoming a member of the immediate edge in the future. I just wanted to express my thoughts and be completely honest with you guys.
The second part of this response is what I’ve been doing since the challenge…. In respect to the training I’ve learned, I’m afraid to say that I haven’t really done anything…. YET… That’s my choice at the moment though. In early September, I started to get a sudden increase in traffic to one of my sites… Because of this influx of traffic, I had to make a decision and change the theme of my site to cater to the new traffic source because this source has a much better potential to bring me a lot of traffic.
So because my efforts have been side tracked from the TDC material to this site, I haven’t done much in the way of utilizing the information you guys gave. But, you would be glad to know that I have used some of the social promoting techniques that were taught to start promoting that site and will be using other parts of the training to help push the site to the top of the Google results! So in reality I guess I am taking action and using the things I’ve learned.
But not all is lost, because like I mentioned I have all the audio extracted from the training material and put on my mp3 player and I’m listening to it while I’m on the road. This is keeping the techniques and material fresh in my mind. I really want to fully understand this process from the inside out so that it’s 2nd nature to me.
I know this stuff is powerful, but it’s useless until we put it into action. That’s what I’m afraid of because if I don’t continue to keep this information fresh in my mind, it will slip to the back burner, and will blend in with all the other things I’ve studied in the past.
I’m going to stop my rambling now. Just note this… Although there were a few things that in hind sight could have been done better, I have no regrets signing up for the challenge. You guys rock and I totally understand the amount of time, effort, money, sweat, and tears that was needed to host the challenge this year. For that, I will be forever grateful, and I thank you.
~Shannon
October 15th, 2007 at 8:35 pm
…And “thenetwork.pdf” is just pure gold… it’s beyond anything I could say… That one document has become my bible… All future niche projects will be based on this diagram… It’s extremly powerful… ONCE YOU UNDERSTAND IT! LOL
~Shannon
October 15th, 2007 at 8:40 pm
I also agree with Johanna Botman about these two:
2. Your file formats for video changed over the 30 days. Keeping the same file formats would have just kept things a little simpler.
3. Your file naming convention changed during the Challenge. Again, only a little thing, but a pain now when I am trying to sort out what I have downloaded in order to go through it all again, if I want to get it in somewhat of the same order.
Those are little things, but at the time when I finally sat down to listen to the material for that day and couldn’t play the video/podcast because of the format changed, it was frustrating. During the challenge I had to switch between multiple programs depending on the format the video.
~Shannon
October 16th, 2007 at 10:27 am
I’ve sent you an email Dan, but, like you say, it’s nice to share replies with other TDCers too. I’d previously done SIMPLE and was keen to do the TDC because of Ed’s involvement. Once in, it soon became clear what an incredible team you all are and your giving of your expertise and time for free still staggers me - especially as there are so many supposed internet marketing gurus out there who over promise and under deliver - with you, Ed, Rob, Mike and the gang you get what’s on the tin, which is a breath of fresh air in itself. I’ve used the TDC to help me promote my existing site, and have mainly focussed on writing articles, responding to blogs, doing some social networking etc and I’m thrilled that I’m no. 1 on Google for a couple of my exact longer keyword phrases and still on page one for the non exact phrases too. Traffic was taking time, but then today I got 160 odd visits as a result of Stumbleupon and although I’m not quite sure how that happened, it was great to see! Sales in my niche are slow, but that’s the nature of personal development stuff as it’s important to build up a relationship first, which I hope I’m doing. The main thing was to improve the traffic first, and that’s coming. Can’t wait for the next up-date you mentioned on the 22nd and really hoping that you, Ed and the others are still keen to keep this forum going. Quite apart from the excellent learnings, it’s been great to be part of such a helpful, sharing, likeminded community, and I’m sure we can all benefit from pitching in anyway we can to keep that going.
Thanks for much again
All the best
Tamsin
October 16th, 2007 at 1:15 pm
Hi Dan,
I’m in Los Angeles California and started the 30 day challenge at the beginning of September. I was frustrated trying to find my key words because I wanted them to be in line with my own passions and products. I wrote my first article and did a redirect to a hoplink using a custome url at the end of September.
I used Clickbank to test the keyword phrase and received 6 views of my GoArticles.com article and one sale with a commission of $22.16 within the first two days of submitting the article. I received 75 views and 14 click thrus to the url within two days of submitting my article to ezinearticles.com and was promoted to expert author immediately.
Previous to the TDC, I had been complaining to friends that we’ve been throwing money away for 5 years on useless programs (unless you own the software and are the internet guru telling everyone that YOUR software is the key to success online) and that the next program I would join would have to show me fr*ee tools and be a fr*ee course! and then I heard about the thirty-day challenge. Woohoo! Thank God for you guys.
So, now I am assuming I am to test my other keywords and then use social networking to promote the articles.
I have been sharing the TDC with all my friends and they are bringing their kids on board as a family project. Once I’ve figured it all out (I also love the network pdf as well, Shannon) I will share it with my group of women who are transitioning from domestic violence into the mainstream, who need an income source that does not depend on face to face interaction or rely on a network of family and friends. (they have to cut past ties and it’s hard to use semi-anonymous people with mlm biz models).
Can’t wait to learn how to create websites to sell my own products!
thanks again!
Dr. Neen
October 17th, 2007 at 2:42 pm
Hi Everyone,
30DC provides a great environment for learning a whole lot about web 2.0 methodologies and aspects of the social bookmarking/networking wave currently swelling on the Internet.
I think the biggest strength of the challenge is walking people through the “how to’s” of getting started, blogging, networking, and so on.
I do not, however, think the 30 DC is a sustainable approach to generating online income, or at least serious online income. At least not without a great deal of outsourcing and help to keep the virtual plates spinning as you test and monitor your projects.
Granted, Dan, Ed and a handful of others use aspects of these techniques to generate some income, but not the BULK of their income streams. Further, if you look at the number of people who participated, weighed against the number of people who actually participated, it is a very small percentage of people who made $10.00 or more.
Yes, there were a few “over the rainbow” success stories, but all-in-all, only a small percentage of folks got over the $10.00 mark.
Me? No $10.00. It’s not sour grapes, either. I loved the process of the 30 DC, loved meeting people, and enjoyed learning new things. However, when the dust settles, I can’t see it being a sustainable way to generate serious enough money that I can leave my day job.
So, I would like to see the 30 DC information build to an approach that helps us build sites we own, or can build to own, or some other way of creating equity that is not so vulnerable to the slaps that happen on Web 2.0, Google, etc.
Best,
John
October 17th, 2007 at 10:52 pm
Hello all this is just amazing,
I don’t blog or leave comments much but as this is my first day. I know I’ll make a start,
I love the toolbar it’s great. Listening to the rap station at the moment and feeling good.
I’ll keep it short for now but I just want to thank Ed and the team for this great learning experience.
Thank you guys.
October 18th, 2007 at 9:24 am
I am just finding the time to get started. And I am so grateful that the information will be up for awhile I hope.
There is so much confusing stuff out there about email marketing it makes my head spin and I do not know where to begin. I just bought some hosting space and a domain name and I am trying to figure out how to build a website. I think I had it all wrong. i first had an idea for a domain name then around that name I saw a product line and now I realized that I do not even know if there is a market out there for this
thank you Dan and Crew for breaking it down in bite size pieces and I will keep you posted,
Martina
October 20th, 2007 at 11:54 pm
Let me add my kudos for Ed, Dan, Mike Mendel, and all the TDC’rs who provided helpful comments. I’m off to a (delayed!) late start, but I’ve got tools that I never knew existed plus guidance most generously provided. It’s clear that all this has cost much time and money. You’ve well earned the gratitude of a LOT of people here. You certainly have mine.
JohnOh
October 24th, 2007 at 7:22 am
Hi Ed and Dan, I am still benefiting from the 30DC in the group on Taggzilla. I want to say thanks to you guys for opening my eyes. I have today started communicating with blogs I have on RSS feed, partly to stay in touch with clever people and part in self interest to get more links and traffic for my blog.
November 6th, 2007 at 10:52 am
It is no longer possible to do this challenge as outlined, since Wordtracker has become paid-only.
November 8th, 2007 at 9:37 am
Mike Mindel was right! No more buying “how do” products that don’t really teach. Since 30DC I have a better overall understanding of IM process. My web 2.0 sites are increasing ratings (just not profits yet). Like some other challengers, I have to moderate myself not to stay up all night chasing the next niche research. My biggest issue now is how to schedule myself to visit sites/diggs/articles/etc on a regular enough basis not to completely overwhelm my day (still have other jobs).