What is anyInput?

anyInput is online free inventory system that can be used for multiple purposes such as storing and sharing movie collections online or other lists of collections.

anyInput is flexible and customizable. Therefore other uses are: listing and displaying of advertising, articles, stories, 

lists online, book Collections, movie Collectors, directories, information exchange comic, baseball, video games and etc.

Also, anyInput is for - simple asset tracking and easy preventative maintenance.

Or for people in need of a simple Database GUI that is sortable and searchable for database information sharing.

Why I started anyInput?

In case you do not know, I am an engineer at a large fortune 500 company. The job is decent, the salary is adequate and I am solid with many co-workers. So why in the world would I even consider starting my own thing? One textbook from an entrepreneurship class that I took in my Masters program says people become entrepreneurs for different reasons. Here are some:

1. Negative Displacement - No good jobs are available for me since I am an immigrant with no degree. Screw the job search, I am starting my own thing.
2. Being Between Things - I just graduated college. Now what? I can get a job or start this company that I was dreaming about.
3. Positive Pull - My Dad owns a successful software company. He has set the example and standard which I need to live by.
4. Positive Push - I have been working for a large company for many years and see lots of unresolved problems. I am going to start a business to help solve those problems. **

Off this list, I would say that 3 and 4 match me the most. However, no one can exhaustively list the reasons for entrepreneurship. Currently, my ‘real’ reasons for starting anyInput are:

1. Escape the life of corporate mediocrity.
2. Develop a product that is useful to people.
3. I always wanted to have my own a business
4. Have ‘real’ ownership in something built from nothing. Being able to say that anyInput is mine.
5. Be my own boss. Report to no one.

I will elaborate on my reasons in future posts.

Money Sucking Machine - PPC Through Google adWords Review

Review of adWords: Google is an awesome money sucking machine. They make billions of dollars per year mostly by serving ads through Google.com or adSense. Google uses the Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising model. So when a person clicks on your ad, Google bills you for that click. The average cost per click nowadays is around $0.50. If that person looks at your ad but does not click on it (impressions), you are not billed. Keep in mind that if a user does not click on your ad, he probably does not see it.

The cost per click is determined by Google’s secret formula which is based on advertiser competition for keywords. You must choose keywords so that Google knows when to display you ad. You could choose “database,” “online database” and “web enabled online database” as keywords. “database” will probably have more advertiser competition. Therefore “database” will have a high cost per click of greater than $0.50. I would not be surprised if the cost per click for “database” was $2.00. The other two keywords would have less advertiser competition and have a lower cost per click.

In adWords, you pick your keywords, set your maximum daily spending limit and set the maximum amount per click you are willing to pay. For anyInput, I started with a $5.00 daily max. and $0.50 max. per click. In about 17 clicks, Google achieved my maximum daily budget with an average cost to me of $0.30 cents. Naturally, I wanted more clicks so I upped the daily maximum to $13.00. In about 43 clicks, my daily budget was reached. Everyday, Google was reaching my daily budget!

Let’s do some math. At $13.00 per day, the PPC ad campaign costs $390 per month. 1000 clicks per day is my goal. If I used Google adWords, then the cost would be $300.00 per day or $9000.00 per month assuming $0.30 per click. I am just a little guy, and have no where near $9000.00 to spend on marketing per month. If I wanted more competitive keywords, I could easily be paying $1.00 per click or $1000.00 per day!

I did this for about 3 months, then got wise and decided to stop my PPC campaign and allocate the funding toward other marketing strategies. In all, Google does an excellent job of taking your money away. For this they deserve praise! Bow to the mighty Google.

Lastly, keep in mind that the keyword’s chosen should be what your customers search for. I am still searching for keywords that anyInput customer’s use! More on keyword selection in a later post.