AdToll is Serious

>The following is a paid review and is completely of my own opinion and is not influenced by being paid. If you’re interested in having me review your site or product, you can purchase a review from me through PayPerPost by clicking on the PayPerPost Direct button located at the top left of my blog.

76

I first reviewed the ad network AdToll on my blog back in June, literally only a few days after they launched. I also have AdToll reviewed on PublisherSpot, which contains a constantly updated review of AdToll which you may wish to read or refer to.

For a brand new network run by two guys, my original impressions of AdToll were "so-so". I figured it would be yet another small ad network launched with the hope of somehow magically exploding and being the next AdSense, only to quickly fade away and be forgotten.

But it’s now five months later, and I don’t think that anymore. Why? Because Dan and Paul from AdToll have been working their asses off - and they’ve shown me that they’re really serious about their ad network.

They’ve made more improvements and features to AdToll within five months than most ad networks make in two years. This review will showcase the new features and improvements AdToll has implemented since my original review back in June.

Rate Cardlets

In order to help publishers market themselves to advertisers on their own site better, AdToll has introduced Rate Cardlets.

Rate Cardlets is a feature that helps publishers sell advertising space by providing detailed statistics and metrics such as Cost per Week, Estimated Clicks per Week, and Average CPC.

Publishers can embed their AdToll Rate Cardlet into their site with a simple snippet of CSS and JS code. Below is an example Rate Cardlet:

73

This is actually a pretty useful thing to have if you sell your own ads as you don’t have to update your prices or stats on your advertise page, and it lets your advertisers know what to expect in terms of traffic.

Default Ads

One of the basic essentials missing from AdToll when I originally reviewed them was the presence of default ads. Fortunately, this was one of the first things AdToll made sure to work on, and publishers can now take advantage of default ads.

In addition, this feature allows publishers to set weighting to ads. Effectively, this allows publishers to show an alternative URL rather than network ads, which they can also weigh.

72

AdToll’s description of the weighting feature from their blog provides a good example:

"For example a Publisher may place AdSense ads in his default ad and may want to weigh it at 50%. What that means is that half the time AdToll network ads will be displayed and the other half will be his default ad. This weighting can be 100% if the Publisher wants as well so as to never show AdToll network ads."

In the situation where publishers ads are not filled with sponsored ads, Run of Network (RON) ads will be displayed.

Goal Tracking

Advertisers will love this one. AdToll has implemented goal tracking for advertisers which effectively allows the measurement of conversions. By knowing exactly how much each conversion costs, advertisers basically learn how cost-effective their campaign was.

74

Goal tracking is easy to use and works simply by adding some code to your website which visitors can only access if they perform an action that meets their defined goal.As such, goal tracking is very useful and can be used to help split-test which ads perform best. An advertiser, for example, could have 2 ads running that are different in nature but the goal is the same. At the end of each campaign the advertiser can then see which one was more effective.

Flash Ad Format Added

A simple improvement, AdToll has added Flash as one of the acceptable ad media in addition to JPG, GIF, and PNG formats.

As a result, publishers can also expect to display flash adverts now. Unfortunately though, there is currently no way for publishers to easily opt-out of displaying flash adverts. Hopefully AdToll will provide a solution for this in the near future.

Video Ads Added

AdToll has added video ads to their list of available ad creative formats. Currently, the video ads are available only in the standard 300×250 dimension, but more sizes may become available based on demand.

Referral Program Improvements (>Ooh la la)

This is by far my favourite improvement AdToll has implemented since my original review. Sure, I may be a bit biased since I tend to refer more people to ad networks these days than use them myself, but AdToll has really stepped up to the plate in this area.

Revamped just two weeks ago, AdToll’s new-and-improved referral program now allows referrers to refer both advertisers and publishers. Previously, AdToll only paid for referred advertisers and not publishers. They added publishers partly due to my original review.

This was a much needed improvement… although I must say that it’s too bad they didn’t have this when I did my original review as I’ve sent them 73 sign-ups to date, most of which were probably publishers which I missed out on cashing in on. Oh well…

AdToll’s new-and-improved referral program also has added a plethora of new statistics, graphs, and charts to play with including a Number of Referrals graph, Referrals by Country pie chart, and Referrals by Domain pie chart. Referrals now show detailed information including what date they joined, what country they reside in, the referring URL (very important), and what Ad Group they came from if they signed up by clicking on one of your AdToll ads.

75

But wait, there’s more! That’s right, I saved the best for last.Previously, AdToll only paid out 5% to referred advertisers for the first 30 days of their membership. This was obviously not the most lucrative referral program in the world, but AdToll has made up for it and then some.Their new payout structure pays out:

  • 20% commission from Advertisers for 90 days
  • 10% commission from Publishers for 365 days

This is a fantastic improvement. I review a lot of ad networks and speak to a lot of owners and staff of ad networks, and when they ask me how they could improve their network I usually respond by saying how they could be more generous with their referral payout’s.

I can tell you right now that paying 10% for referred publishers for one year is one of the highest in the industry for an ad network. Take a look at PublisherSpot.com and compare for yourself.

Autopricing Feature

Their most recent improvement, and launched only a few days ago, AdToll’s Autopricing feature allows publishers to have the prices of their ads set and maintained automatically.

76

The Autopricing feature considers several factors such as the the ad format, level of demand for ads, and expected traffic to provide relevant pricing. For example, if you have a lot of ad slots available, it will lower the price; if you are booked out it will raise the price. In essence, it balances your price based on the market.

Taking these factors into account, AdToll’s Autopricing feature effectively manages a publisher’s pricing on a regular basis, which requires no intervention form the publisher.

In addition, AdToll has even implemented a Pricing Strategy feature which allows publishers to select a pricing plan for Autopricing to take. There are five different strategies: Cheap, Bargain, Normal, Premium, and Exclusive. Depending on your site, conditions, or preference, you may want to select cheap to attract a lot of advertisers quickly, or choose exclusive to wait for the perfect high-paying advertiser, while displaying your default ads in the meantime.

Whatever the strategy, AdToll’s Autopricing feature is useful for publishers who do not have the time to keep an eye on the pricing of their ads, and could be ideal for publishers with many sites.

Sign Up Through Me and Get a Bonus

If you sign up to AdToll through my referral URL (any of the links to AdToll in this review) and enter the bonus code >TCRUZ01 when depositing funds as an advertiser, you’ll receive a free $3 credit for every $20 you deposit! That’s $15 free if you deposit $100.

This offer is meant for advertisers only, of course, but hopefully you will sign up as a publisher too. This offer is valid through until 2008.

Originally Syndicated via RSS from TylerCruz.com: An Internet Entrepreneur’s Journey

AdToll is Serious

>The following is a paid review and is completely of my own opinion and is not influenced by being paid. If you’re interested in having me review your site or product, you can purchase a review from me through PayPerPost by clicking on the PayPerPost Direct button located at the top left of my blog.

76

I first reviewed the ad network AdToll on my blog back in June, literally only a few days after they launched. I also have AdToll reviewed on PublisherSpot, which contains a constantly updated review of AdToll which you may wish to read or refer to.

For a brand new network run by two guys, my original impressions of AdToll were "so-so". I figured it would be yet another small ad network launched with the hope of somehow magically exploding and being the next AdSense, only to quickly fade away and be forgotten.

But it’s now five months later, and I don’t think that anymore. Why? Because Dan and Paul from AdToll have been working their asses off - and they’ve shown me that they’re really serious about their ad network.

They’ve made more improvements and features to AdToll within five months than most ad networks make in two years. This review will showcase the new features and improvements AdToll has implemented since my original review back in June.

Rate Cardlets

In order to help publishers market themselves to advertisers on their own site better, AdToll has introduced Rate Cardlets.

Rate Cardlets is a feature that helps publishers sell advertising space by providing detailed statistics and metrics such as Cost per Week, Estimated Clicks per Week, and Average CPC.

Publishers can embed their AdToll Rate Cardlet into their site with a simple snippet of CSS and JS code. Below is an example Rate Cardlet:

73

This is actually a pretty useful thing to have if you sell your own ads as you don’t have to update your prices or stats on your advertise page, and it lets your advertisers know what to expect in terms of traffic.

Default Ads

One of the basic essentials missing from AdToll when I originally reviewed them was the presence of default ads. Fortunately, this was one of the first things AdToll made sure to work on, and publishers can now take advantage of default ads.

In addition, this feature allows publishers to set weighting to ads. Effectively, this allows publishers to show an alternative URL rather than network ads, which they can also weigh.

72

AdToll’s description of the weighting feature from their blog provides a good example:

"For example a Publisher may place AdSense ads in his default ad and may want to weigh it at 50%. What that means is that half the time AdToll network ads will be displayed and the other half will be his default ad. This weighting can be 100% if the Publisher wants as well so as to never show AdToll network ads."

In the situation where publishers ads are not filled with sponsored ads, Run of Network (RON) ads will be displayed.

Goal Tracking

Advertisers will love this one. AdToll has implemented goal tracking for advertisers which effectively allows the measurement of conversions. By knowing exactly how much each conversion costs, advertisers basically learn how cost-effective their campaign was.

74

Goal tracking is easy to use and works simply by adding some code to your website which visitors can only access if they perform an action that meets their defined goal.As such, goal tracking is very useful and can be used to help split-test which ads perform best. An advertiser, for example, could have 2 ads running that are different in nature but the goal is the same. At the end of each campaign the advertiser can then see which one was more effective.

Flash Ad Format Added

A simple improvement, AdToll has added Flash as one of the acceptable ad media in addition to JPG, GIF, and PNG formats.

As a result, publishers can also expect to display flash adverts now. Unfortunately though, there is currently no way for publishers to easily opt-out of displaying flash adverts. Hopefully AdToll will provide a solution for this in the near future.

Video Ads Added

AdToll has added video ads to their list of available ad creative formats. Currently, the video ads are available only in the standard 300×250 dimension, but more sizes may become available based on demand.

Referral Program Improvements (>Ooh la la)

This is by far my favourite improvement AdToll has implemented since my original review. Sure, I may be a bit biased since I tend to refer more people to ad networks these days than use them myself, but AdToll has really stepped up to the plate in this area.

Revamped just two weeks ago, AdToll’s new-and-improved referral program now allows referrers to refer both advertisers and publishers. Previously, AdToll only paid for referred advertisers and not publishers. They added publishers partly due to my original review.

This was a much needed improvement… although I must say that it’s too bad they didn’t have this when I did my original review as I’ve sent them 73 sign-ups to date, most of which were probably publishers which I missed out on cashing in on. Oh well…

AdToll’s new-and-improved referral program also has added a plethora of new statistics, graphs, and charts to play with including a Number of Referrals graph, Referrals by Country pie chart, and Referrals by Domain pie chart. Referrals now show detailed information including what date they joined, what country they reside in, the referring URL (very important), and what Ad Group they came from if they signed up by clicking on one of your AdToll ads.

75

But wait, there’s more! That’s right, I saved the best for last.Previously, AdToll only paid out 5% to referred advertisers for the first 30 days of their membership. This was obviously not the most lucrative referral program in the world, but AdToll has made up for it and then some.Their new payout structure pays out:

  • 20% commission from Advertisers for 90 days
  • 10% commission from Publishers for 365 days

This is a fantastic improvement. I review a lot of ad networks and speak to a lot of owners and staff of ad networks, and when they ask me how they could improve their network I usually respond by saying how they could be more generous with their referral payout’s.

I can tell you right now that paying 10% for referred publishers for one year is one of the highest in the industry for an ad network. Take a look at PublisherSpot.com and compare for yourself.

Autopricing Feature

Their most recent improvement, and launched only a few days ago, AdToll’s Autopricing feature allows publishers to have the prices of their ads set and maintained automatically.

76

The Autopricing feature considers several factors such as the the ad format, level of demand for ads, and expected traffic to provide relevant pricing. For example, if you have a lot of ad slots available, it will lower the price; if you are booked out it will raise the price. In essence, it balances your price based on the market.

Taking these factors into account, AdToll’s Autopricing feature effectively manages a publisher’s pricing on a regular basis, which requires no intervention form the publisher.

In addition, AdToll has even implemented a Pricing Strategy feature which allows publishers to select a pricing plan for Autopricing to take. There are five different strategies: Cheap, Bargain, Normal, Premium, and Exclusive. Depending on your site, conditions, or preference, you may want to select cheap to attract a lot of advertisers quickly, or choose exclusive to wait for the perfect high-paying advertiser, while displaying your default ads in the meantime.

Whatever the strategy, AdToll’s Autopricing feature is useful for publishers who do not have the time to keep an eye on the pricing of their ads, and could be ideal for publishers with many sites.

Sign Up Through Me and Get a Bonus

If you sign up to AdToll through my referral URL (any of the links to AdToll in this review) and enter the bonus code >TCRUZ01 when depositing funds as an advertiser, you’ll receive a free $3 credit for every $20 you deposit! That’s $15 free if you deposit $100.

This offer is meant for advertisers only, of course, but hopefully you will sign up as a publisher too. This offer is valid through until 2008.

Originally Syndicated via RSS from TylerCruz.com: An Internet Entrepreneur’s Journey

Want to Win One Hundred Bucks

So do I! That’s why I’ve decided to enter a contest that really is quite easy. It’s being offered by home based business opportunities and sweepstakes. They are looking to increase their links (which makes great sense), so to do that, they are giving away one hundred bucks. That’s right…You can get a Benjamin Franklin or two Grants or twenty Lincolns or ONE HUNDRED WASHINGTONS if you win this contest. So, I am sure you want to know the rules. Allow me to tell you them:

Voila, you’re done. This is a real simple contest and I am hoping that I can win. But, if one of my readers does win, please leave a comment letting me know that you won so I can hate you forever. No, I’m joking. It’d just be cool to know that someone in the Dorm Earning community actually won. Oh…And sorry for such late notice, but this ends on Monday, so hurry! Best of luck!


>/>/>/>/>/>/>

Did you find something interesting here? Buy me a beer then!

Share This

Tell a Friend

Originally Syndicated via RSS from Dorm Earning

Want to Win One Hundred Bucks

So do I! That’s why I’ve decided to enter a contest that really is quite easy. It’s being offered by home based business opportunities and sweepstakes. They are looking to increase their links (which makes great sense), so to do that, they are giving away one hundred bucks. That’s right…You can get a Benjamin Franklin or two Grants or twenty Lincolns or ONE HUNDRED WASHINGTONS if you win this contest. So, I am sure you want to know the rules. Allow me to tell you them:

Voila, you’re done. This is a real simple contest and I am hoping that I can win. But, if one of my readers does win, please leave a comment letting me know that you won so I can hate you forever. No, I’m joking. It’d just be cool to know that someone in the Dorm Earning community actually won. Oh…And sorry for such late notice, but this ends on Monday, so hurry! Best of luck!


>/>/>/>/>/>/>

Did you find something interesting here? Buy me a beer then!

Share This

Tell a Friend

Originally Syndicated via RSS from Dorm Earning

Want To Buy a Button?

I have a few 125×125 sponsorship buttons available for December. These buttons are displayed on right side of the page and randomized with each page load to give advertisers even exposure. The price is $500 per month. Advertisers can leverage their button buy with a text ad in the RSS feed (over 14,000 readers) for only $100 more.

If you wish to take advantage of this offer, paypal $500 (or $600) to johnchow@johnchow.com and send the ad creative to the same email. The button can not be bigger than 15K in size. Animation allowed but no Flash. RSS text ads can have a full 80 character title and 150 letter description. Of course, all new advertisers receive a welcome post.

This Post Was Brought To You By

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Originally Syndicated via RSS from John Chow dot Com

WidgetBucks to Serve CPM Ads to Non North American Traffic

WidgetBucks have announced that they will begin to serve CPM based ads to traffic that isn’t from the US or Canada (starting early in December).

This comes in the wake of them previously stopping international traffic from seeing their ads - something that caused many publishers to stop using them. The announcement on their blog doesn’t mention what the CPM rate will be or what type of ads will be served.

They do say that the ads will not be adult or have ‘other suggestive themes’ and that they are country specific ads. My concern is that the quality and relevancy of an ad can have an impact upon the blog that it appears on. For example if you’re running a fashion blog and the alternate ad is one of those annoying smiley face ads then it’s going to be a turn off for readers.

It’s a step in the right direction - but I’d prefer a little more control over what ads appear on my blogs and would want to know the CPM range before I’d reinstall WidgetBucks on those blogs that I removed it from due to large proportions of non North American traffic.

My personal preference would be for them to set up a system like AdSense that would allow publishers to run their own ads as alternate ads.

Share This

Originally Syndicated via RSS from ProBlogger Blog Tips

WidgetBucks to Serve CPM Ads to Non North American Traffic

WidgetBucks have announced that they will begin to serve CPM based ads to traffic that isn’t from the US or Canada (starting early in December).

This comes in the wake of them previously stopping international traffic from seeing their ads - something that caused many publishers to stop using them. The announcement on their blog doesn’t mention what the CPM rate will be or what type of ads will be served.

They do say that the ads will not be adult or have ‘other suggestive themes’ and that they are country specific ads. My concern is that the quality and relevancy of an ad can have an impact upon the blog that it appears on. For example if you’re running a fashion blog and the alternate ad is one of those annoying smiley face ads then it’s going to be a turn off for readers.

It’s a step in the right direction - but I’d prefer a little more control over what ads appear on my blogs and would want to know the CPM range before I’d reinstall WidgetBucks on those blogs that I removed it from due to large proportions of non North American traffic.

My personal preference would be for them to set up a system like AdSense that would allow publishers to run their own ads as alternate ads.

Share This

Originally Syndicated via RSS from ProBlogger Blog Tips

Win A Nintendo Wii From Truebluetitan

This blog is about making money of course, but sometimes we need to take a break from making all that cash and just have some fun.  What better way to have fun than with a Nintendo Wii.  I don’t own one of these myself but my friend does and we have a blast playing with it.  I especially like the golf but that’s because I am a golfer and it feels pretty much like the real thing the way you swing it.  The Nintento Wii is great for family fun.

That being said, Internet entrepreneur Truebluetitan is giving away a Nintendo Wii to a lucky reader just in time for Christmas.  If you haven’t been there yet, check out Truebluetitan.com.

Rob Shultz is the titan behind this blog which follows his journey to become self-employed.  I for one enjoy reading his blog because his blog is clean and to the point.  Blog posts are concise but insightful and it’s cool to see how someone just starting out in the blogging niche grows and excels.

Entering the contest is easy, you can either comment on any one of the posts on his site or you can blog about the contest and site.

I look forward to seeing the site and Rob’s skills grow as an entrepreneur.  While you are there, don’t forget to drop your Entrecard.

RSS Readers: Win my copy of The Millionaire Mentor by Greg S. Reed. All you need to do is comment on this post stating you wish to be entered to win the book. Thanks for subscribing!

Originally Syndicated via RSS from Million Dollar Portfolio

Win A Nintendo Wii From Truebluetitan

This blog is about making money of course, but sometimes we need to take a break from making all that cash and just have some fun.  What better way to have fun than with a Nintendo Wii.  I don’t own one of these myself but my friend does and we have a blast playing with it.  I especially like the golf but that’s because I am a golfer and it feels pretty much like the real thing the way you swing it.  The Nintento Wii is great for family fun.

That being said, Internet entrepreneur Truebluetitan is giving away a Nintendo Wii to a lucky reader just in time for Christmas.  If you haven’t been there yet, check out Truebluetitan.com.

Rob Shultz is the titan behind this blog which follows his journey to become self-employed.  I for one enjoy reading his blog because his blog is clean and to the point.  Blog posts are concise but insightful and it’s cool to see how someone just starting out in the blogging niche grows and excels.

Entering the contest is easy, you can either comment on any one of the posts on his site or you can blog about the contest and site.

I look forward to seeing the site and Rob’s skills grow as an entrepreneur.  While you are there, don’t forget to drop your Entrecard.

RSS Readers: Win my copy of The Millionaire Mentor by Greg S. Reed. All you need to do is comment on this post stating you wish to be entered to win the book. Thanks for subscribing!

Originally Syndicated via RSS from Million Dollar Portfolio

Working Efficiently by Minimizing Distractions

I know that the majority of you out there do not do this "web thing" for a living (although that’s the goal). And I know that most of you either work a regular job or go to school, or even do both.  As such, I can only imagine that when you are able to find those 2-3 hours each day (probably late at night, I’d imagine) to work on your sites, you cherish the time that you are able to spend on them.

If you fall into this scenario, it is crucial that you work as efficiently as possible in order to take advantage of the short amount of time you are able to work on your sites so that one day you can quit your job and do this for a living (isn’t that the goal here?).

I am going to focus this article on working efficiently by minimizing distractions only, and will save other aspects such as automation and record-keeping for some possible future posts.

Enough distractions, let’s get started!

1. Isolate yourself

I know that some people can do homework while watching TV, or read a book while on the subway, but I can’t. I need absolute concentration with zero distractions.

Even if you are one of those people above who are not easily distracted, I still think this tip is beneficial.

If you work in an environment where there are other people, such as if your office or desk is in the family living room, unless you live alone you are going to be distracted and disrupted throughout your work sessions, even if you don’t readily realize it.

I’m not even talking about things such as your kids running around the house yelling, but just the small things which can add up.

For example, you could be in the middle of a great writing storm on a blog post, writing fast and smooth, when your wife calls out from the kitchen asking (telling) you to take out the trash. Oh, sure, you don’t plan to do this now since you’re working, but even responding and saying that you’ll do it later, you’ve already had your concentration broken and it may take 5-minutes to get back into that intense writing mood again.

This may sound overboard, but these little things add up. When you work around other people you’re simply going to get interrupted and distracted.

Preferably, if you can, make one of the rooms in your house into an office for yourself. Or if your house isn’t big enough for that, tell everyone that you’re working now and don’t want to be distracted. It’s not much too ask since you’re only going to be working for 1-3 hours.

You may be surprised just how much more you can get done when you’re not being interrupted by people around you.

2. Close Instant Messengers and E-mail Notifications!

Turn off all your IM’s including MSN, ICQ, AIM, Yahoo Messenger! And don’t forget to turn off any e-mail notification programs such as GMail’s Notifier tool.

This is most likely the single-biggest leech that is usurping your time. Unless you’re 40+, I’m sure that every single one of your is guilty for talking on instant messengers when you are supposed to be working.

The funny thing is, I’m sure that all of you know that you waste a lot of time talking when you should be working, but shrug it off anyway.

It is amazing just how much time is wasted by having these programs open when you should be working. Going on away or busy mode isn’t enough; some of your buddies will still message you anyway - you know I speak the truth. And then there are added distractions such as when your buddies log on or off.

E-mail notification programs are just as bad, because if you’re like me, when you receive a notification of a new e-mail you instantly stop what you’re doing to go and read it.

I must admit that I currently have my programs open and running as I work right now, but sometimes I have to because I have side work stuff going on in addition to writing this post. For example, I’m waiting for somebody on AIM to tell me when he’s finished something that I need to handle right now.

But that doesn’t excuse me for having GMail Notifier and MSN Messenger running. The bad thing about MSN Messenger is that it’s both an IM and E-mail notification tool.

When I do my work sessions with all these programs closed, I can focus much better and can get work done that requires my full attention. For example, I always close down these programs whenever I’m writing a paid review on my blog or a review for PublisherSpot.

Try working with these programs off - you might be surprised just how much work you get done.

3. Turn Off your Phone and TV

Hopefully you don’t have a TV in your office - if you do, you should remove it as your office should be used solely for work (or gaming *smile*). If you work from a desk in a room such as your living room that has a TV, then be sure to turn it off.

Even if you think you’re not going to watch it and have it on some channel that you’d never watch such as say the Women’s Network, there will be times when you turn your head and sneak some peaks at it. There are certain words and sounds that will inevitably catch your attention. >BREAST. What? Exactly. That just proved my point. You could be working, then somehow be alerted to the word "breast", because a woman on the The Women’s Network just announced that it was "Breast Cancer Week", but as a guy, you only heard the word "Breast".

Okay, that was a bit of a comical example, but it still illustrates my point. There will be times when words and sounds will simply grab your attention and you waste 15-seconds here, 15-seconds there, and again, this adds up to wasting your time.

And turning off your phone or leaving it in a different room on vibrate is pretty obvious, but how many of you actually do this? Apart from simply not being distracted with phone calls from your friends, wife, or girlfriend, you may receive text messages or even e-mails.

I actually have my Blackberry Pearl right in front of me, and every few minutes I see the red light flick on it, alerting me to a new e-mail. I then go and delete the e-mail. This occurs once every few minutes (God, I get a lot of e-mail) and each time I waste 5-6 seconds deleting them.

So I need to listen to my own advice and start leaving my phone in a different room. I don’t answer calls, though. It’s not like I can’t phone them back afterwards. I consider myself at work, and as such, my boss (me) won’t let me take phone calls :-)

4. Be Comfortable

While at first it may not seem that being comfortable has any relevance to minimizing distractions, it in fact actually does.

I currently have a half-empty (half-full?) mug of coffee in front of me to help keep me alert and awake. By drinking coffee, not only am I keeping myself relaxed and comfortable with a beverage, but I’m providing my body with caffeine to help keep focused on my work.

I also have Winamp running with an online radio station. Shoutcast.com has a great selection of free radio stations, many with no advertisements. This means that I can listen to music non-stop with no interruption and no ads. The music helps me stay focused by relaxing me. I’ve actually noticed that changing the different genres of music by listening to different radio stations actually really helps. For example, I’ll listen to a top-100 pop station for a couple months, a Beatles station for another 2-months, etc. I’ve listened to everything from Reggae to Bach for long periods of times to keep my brain interested.

I’m sitting in a leather message chair. Again, being comfortable helps. If I was sitting in a rigid chair, I may keep fidgeting around, taking rests to rub my back or reposition myself into a more comfortable position.

Being comfortable and content while working pays off!

If you found this article interesting or helpful, please take 5-seconds to Digg it by clicking on the button below, thanks!

Originally Syndicated via RSS from TylerCruz.com: An Internet Entrepreneur’s Journey

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