| Marketing With Miles Categories... | |
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January 16, 2006 |
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Miles: Hello Rob! Thanks for doing this interview with us today. Do you mind telling us a little bit about yourself? Rob: Sure. I was born in 1972. I completed High School and attended some College. I began marketing online in 2001 mainly doing affiliate marketing and advertising. Miles: How did you get started, what made you decide to start an online business? Rob: While I was working for a respected CD/DVD Burning/API Software company I was asked if I knew HTML since they didn’t have a webmaster. I only had basic knowledge at the time and I said YES anyhow because I wanted the challenge of maintaining a company’s website in addition I could use that on my resume. At nights, so I could enhance my skills, I started a news and information site on the industry that the company was in which happens to be BurnWorld.com. I already had many vendor contacts to get in touch with to receive the latest news and products for reviews. So I just started with that. A few months later I was asked to research various affiliate vendors so the company could start an online affiliate marketing campaign. Having no idea what this meant I starting researching. After setting up with RegNow.com the company started to see some sales from affiliates a few weeks later. Since I was in charge of this I researched what sites these sales were coming from so I could contact them. What I found shocked me. The sites were complete garbage. So that motivated me to add a few links to my site that I was working on at nights. I was getting a few dozen visitors per day so I was hoping for at least something. Day 1 – Nothing, Day 2 – Nothing, Day 3…… , Week 1…., Week 2…., Week 3… all nothing. Now I’m getting discouraged. But Week 4 changed things forever – 1 sale that equaled $9.94 in commission. This started a chain reaction and I was able to quit my day job one year later. Miles: Wow, that’s fantastic! So what type of visitors comes to your website, who is your target market? Rob: My market consists of Internet searchers for information on CD/DVD Burning products. The ideal visitor is one that is actively searching for hardware or software. Miles: How do your visitors find you? Rob: Search Engines are #1 and cross promoting with other sites is #2. Miles: Do you get any help or have any employees? Rob: Currently I have one outsourced worker for help with web site maintenance. Miles: What has been your best month in income so far? Rob: $20k Miles: That’s fantastic. It looks like your hard work is paying off. How many hours a week did you work on your business when you were starting? Rob: During startup this was an exciting time so I worked on it whenever I could which was probably around 25 hours, yes I even logged time on weekends. Miles: And now? Rob: Even now it’s an exciting time, since things are always changing. Now I probably only work on this site 1-2 hours a day and most of that is outsourced. However I have expanded to other sites and am always trying and testing new ideas. Miles: What are some of your favorite blogs or websites that you would like to share with my readers? Rob: SiteProNews, Matt Cutts’ Blog, SearchEngineWatch, MarketingTips.com. Miles: What software programs do you use in your business? Rob: I use the following programs…
Miles: Great programs, I use all those myself, especially SEO Elite. So Rob, what is one piece of general advice you would give someone who is just starting out online like you were back in 2001? Rob: First it takes an idea, and then it takes determination to make it happen. Just do a little every day, even something small that keeps you thinking about what you want to accomplish and eventually you will turn around and say ‘how did I get here?’. Miles: Living the Internet lifestyle is great. What is your favorite part about working online from home? Rob: Obvious reasons, I’m my own boss. I work when I want to and I am able to do whatever I want whenever I want. Miles: Okay, so what’s your least favorite part? Rob: The only thing I don’t like about working online is the lack of camaraderie. Looking back I did like having the co-workers around even though some smelled and were annoying most of the time. Miles: Ha! So you started marketing online back in 2001. How many months was it before you actually achieved a profit? Rob: Profit? Probably four months into it. I was making money after one month but after hosting fees I was still losing money, but it’s only a few bucks so that was okay with me. Miles: Have you authored any books or software? Rob: I currently offer CD/DVD Burning Exposed! Which is an E-Book tailored for newbies to CD and DVD Burning or anyone that is just curious on the subject. I also offer free CD/DVD Burning software called BurnOn CD/DVD which can be downloaded. Miles: What motivates you now to continue building your business? Rob: Not ever having to work for the man again. The man will only allow you to grow to a certain level, yet working for myself I can get to any level I want whether it forward, backwards, or sideways. Miles: How often do you focus on improving your online marketing skills or knowledge? Rob: You can never read or listen to too much good knowledge. I always try to find the most respected people in the industry so I can learn from them. Miles: What has been your biggest online marketing mistake? Rob: Charting off course to do what was thought to be the next big internet boom. I worked on something totally unrelated to my main goal hoping it would be better than what I already had, only to find out that I had wasted 6 months of growing of the original goal. If I kept my one track train of thought I would have been better off overall. Miles: What do you consider to be the main keys of your success online? Why? Rob: Partnering with the right people and sites. Without them I would not be where I am at today and of course determination to make this real. Miles: What is one secret or tip that you would like to share with our Readers? Rob: My one main secret to online success had been to get as many quality website partners as I can. This is not a simple link exchange; I’m talking about true partners that will link to you even if they don’t link back. I usually contact large companies and establish a good relationship with them and over time I have gained some seriously good one way links to my site, which without them I would not be as successful in the SERPS. Miles: Well thank you Rob for sharing with us a bit about your business and your online success. I wish you much success for years to come! Rob: Thanks Miles! I hope you enjoyed reading this interview with Rob Boirun. More interviews are always on the way. Read through them all at the Interviews Page. I hope you enjoyed this post. Stay updated on future posts by subscribing to my RSS Feed. |
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Yours in success, Miles Baker |
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3 Comments on “Interview with Rob Boirun”RSS feed for comments on this post. Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time. |
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– for website creation/maintenance.
Nice interview.
I think my favorite part was
“Looking back I did like having the co-workers around even though some smelled and were annoying most of the time.”
Awesome interview, guys!
I could really relate to a lot of what Rob said about his experience… especially about missing the office staff, staying on target, and seeking out quality partners & peers to work with.
Good stuff! Thanks
Lynn Terry (SSWT)
I enjoyed your interview Miles. Great job!