Power Maxx Blog

Thats right - I said it.  94 Miles per gallon in a BMW M5.  How you might ask? Read on and find out!

As some of you may know, I currently drive a 2000 BMW M5.  As much fun as it is, it’s certainly a fuel hungry beast at best.  The other day, I went to fill up and as I drove off, I reset my fuel consumption indicator, which temporarily displayed my real time fuel mileage, and it was a shocking 94 miles per gallon!

I thought to myself how is this possible, is my computer broken? What’s up with this truly strange reading.

Then it occurred to me, I was in neutral, coasting towards a red light, and my engine was at idle.

So then I got this crazy idea in my head - what if I were to coast as much as possible in neutral - what would my mileage be?

Fortunately for me, the M5 is a big car, and once it gets moving, its got a lot of momentum, and it will take a long time for it to slow down.  This especially goes for large hills, and even on slight downhills the car is capable of maintaining a constant speed.  Pretty incredible if you ask me!

So anyways, as I coasted along, my mileage test started.  As an update, I’ve gone through all of Sunday, travelled 76 kilometers, barely used a 20th of my tank of gas, and my miles per gallon is just over 26 right now.  This is all city driving, with plenty of stop and go traffic.

My goal for the test is going to be to match the mileage of a Toyota Prius, at a whopping 50 miles per gallon.  My tank holds 18.5 gallons worth of fuel.  This means I could have a range of 924 miles, or a whopping 1479 kilometers!  Imagine that, a 50 MPG BMW M5!

I haven’t done anything else to my car by the way.  I haven’t even checked tire pressures!  So at the conclusion of this test, when I post my results, I will be performing a second test to try to optimize my car even further for maximum mileage.

I personally think the results of this test could be incredibly valuable, especially in a day and age where we are dealing with a recession, rising gas prices, and global warming.  I suppose some people might have a problem with putting their car into neutral and having to put it back into the correct gear.  Personally, it doesn’t bother me.  Whether or not I continue to use this method after I complete my tests we will see, but for now, its a whole bunch of fun to say the least!

Be sure to check back for my next update.  If anyone else is curious about trying this method of fuel saving, feel free to post your results in the comments of these posts.  Happy coasting!

Only 6 more ad slots available at OnePoke.com for the introductory $30 for at least 3 months offer!  Here are the details for those that are unable to receive my emails!!

First off, some brief details about the spot itself.  The ad slot is a 160×600 skyscraper banner at the right side of every page on the site.  There are 10 spots in rotation, with ad impressions being divided equally between these 10 slots.  There are no other ads on the page, and we have no plans to put any additional forms of advertising up to distract the users attention from your advertisement.

With regards to the length of the term, as I mentioned before it is for AT LEAST 3 months.  The term will officially start when the website hits 21,000 pageviews for the month.  We are currently sitting at just under 10,000, with the average daily page views being around 600 and rising over the past week.

Your term, should you sign up immediately, will not start until we hit 21,000 page views.  All of the time  that your ad spends on our website before that point is simply free bonus time.  We currently have one other advertiser that signed up about a month ago under the same offer, and he has been enjoying free traffic from our site as he waits for the 21,000 page view mark to be achieved.

The term would end at the point which our site reaches 90,000 page views for the month which we project will be about 3 months after the term begins.  During this term, we guarantee your ad will receive at least 15,600 ad impressions.

You might ask, what happens if that page view mark is reached in say, 2 months, or what happens if that page view mark takes 6 months to be realized?  Will I lose out on the term, or on ad impressions?

The answer is absolutely not.  If we reach our 90,000 page view mark in 2 months time, and say in the 3^rd month we’re up to 180,000, your ad will still be left in the rotation until 3 months have passed from the start of your term.

If it takes us 6 months to reach the 90,000 page view mark, your ad will stay up until the point at which we achieve the 3 month target of 90,000 page views.

As mentioned before, the cost is $30 for 3 months, or $10/month.  At 15,600 pageviews, that works out to be $1.92 CPM if we reach our 3 month target in 3 months.

In a scenario where we reach this mark in 2 months time, and see 180,000 page views in the 3^rd month (this is our 4^th month projection), your ad will have received 29,100 impressions, with a CPM of just $1.03.

In a scenario where we reach this mark in 6 months, your ad would receive an estimated 31,200 impressions, with an even lower CPM of $0.96.

We estimate that our page view goals will be achieved faster than our targets, in line with the 2 month scenario mentioned above.

Any advertisers that sign on with us during this introductory ad term will be given a special preferential rate of $0.80 CPM going forward, in comparison to the $1.00 CPM we will be charging advertisers that sign on at a later time.

To recap, here are the details of the ad:

160×600 skyscraper
10 total ad slots
$30, for at least 3 months as described above
Bonus ad exposure for signing up before the 21,000 page view mark

Some of you may have already heard this but I figured I would post it anyways!

A man walked into a bank in New York City one day and asked for the loan officer.

He told the loan officer that he was going to Philippines on business for two weeks and needed to borrow $5,000. The bank officer told him that the bank would need some form of security for the loan.

Then the man handed over the keys to a new Ferrari parked on the street in front of the bank. He produced the title and everything checked out The loan officer agreed to accept the car as collateral for the loan.The bank’s president and its officers all enjoyed a good laugh at the guy for using a $250,000 Ferrari as collateral against a $5,000 loan.

An employee of the bank then drove the Ferrari into the bank’s underground garage and parked it there.Two weeks later, the guy returned, repaid the $5,000 and the interest, which came to $15.41.

The loan officer said, “Sir, we are very happy to have had and this transaction has worked out very nicely, but we are a little puzzled. While you were away, we checked you out and found that you are a multi millionaire. What puzzles us is, why would you bother to borrow “$5,000″.

The millionaire replied: “Where else in New York City can I park my car for $15.41 and expect it to be there when I return”

Well thats how the rich stay rich, they know a lot more about Money Management. All the millionaires I have met in my life were penny wise. Look after your cents and the Dollars will look after themselves.

Just wanted to do a quick welcome to OnePoke’s first official advertiser, Fasblog.com. Although the blog has many sections, they chose to highlight their Adsense section, and it contains many great tips.  If you need any tips on Adsense, this is the place to go.

FasBlog.com jumped at the great opportunity for cheap ad space that we’re offering, and so far, the owner is very happy with the results, only a week or so in.

I would also like to remind you all that there are only 8 spots remaining now for the introductory $30 ad contract.  This includes at least 3 months worth of ad space, with a 160×600 skyscraper ad on the right side of OnePoke.com.

Please contact me for more information!

So the other day I was on Twitter, checking my DM’s and JokezGuy aka Arfan (PS follow him) messages me asking me how I got so many followers in such a short time.

Using my method, I’ve gained over 2,800 legitimate followers in under a month. They follow me, I follow them - everyone wins. This isn’t a spam follow either - I will always keep following everyone that follows me! Afterall, I want to read what people are saying about the website, as well as take their input on how to improve.

I also want to build a relationship with my users - afterall - how many of you have talked to Mark Zuckerberg, owner of Facebook? I know I haven’t! Heck I don’t even know how I would contact him if I wanted to. But that’s beside the point.

So I told Arfan that the secret was in the OnePoke.com ToolBox, and that I would actually revealing the answer through my blog in the form of a signup contest! As promised, here it is.
Click here to read more…

This post is a continuation of the “How to sell on Ebay” series.

Some might say that my title is very obvious. DUHH Taris obviously if you have good customer service you will avoid bad feedback. For those people, I completely agree.

The big question is, how, on Ebay, which is an online establishment, where YOU are the sales, marketing AND customer support guy, how exactly do you improve customer support with such limited means of doing so. Again, we have a fairly simple answer.

Communication.

Although simple in form, the real trick is how to effectively communicate with the buyer. Some might think that this simply involves answering peoples questions in a timely manner, but that is just scratching the surface of communicating on Ebay.

As I mentioned in a previous post, buyers are getting more and more difficult to please as the years go by. Some buyers will even give you a negative if you don’t thank them for paying quickly! Although those problem bidders are few and far between, you might find yourself trying to jump through hoops if you’re not careful.

So how exactly do you EFFECTIVELY communicate with a buyer.

Let’s break this down into three categories: pre-sale, during sale, and post sale. Assuming that responding quickly is a given, I will define responding quickly as within 12-24 hours. If you can answer your emails twice a day, you’re usually good.
Click here to read more…

As we get closer and closer to full public launch, the time is approaching for OnePoke.com to start taking on advertisers. I am giving you, my loyal blog readers, first dibs on the advertising spots for the first three months the site is up and running.

Here is the way the advertising will work. The cost for three months will be $30, or $10 per month. Our goal is to have enough traffic at the end of that three month period, that we would raise the monthly fee up to $20 per month.

Here’s where it gets interesting. What happens if we don’t reach our traffic goal, or what happens if traffic explodes?? You might ask yourself, will I get ripped off, or will I get charged more for the extra traffic?

The answer to that question is: ABSOLUTELY NOT!
Click here to read more…

If you’ve read my other “How to Sell on Ebay” articles, you’ll know that there’s a LOT more to selling on Ebay than just taking pictures of knick knacks you have lying around and waiting for the auction to end after you’ve listed. One of the thing’s I’ve mentioned before is that buyers these days are very hard to please, especially around the Christmas season.

The problem is, buyers expect the item to get to them the next day, regardless of what method they paid for, how far you are from them, or how long you’ve clearly stated that it will take to arrive. It’s a pain in the butt, but theres nothing you can do about that. Or is there??

One way to try to get around this problem of impatient buyers, is to simply SHIP FAST! In a perfect world, we would all be able to make daily trips to the post office. Since that isn’t the case, set yourself a schedule and try to stick to it. A good rule to follow is to visit the post office AT LEAST twice a week.

I personally visit the post office every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. This ensures that there is never more than 1-2 business days delay from the time that the buyer pays, to the time that it is on the way to your customer. This is especially useful if you are shipping items via a particularly slow or economical method. It’s going to take a while to get there anyways, so you might as well get it out the door asap. Then when the customer asks you when it was shipped, you can reassure them that you did your best to get it shipped as quickly as humanly possible.
Click here to read more…

Recently, I’ve been very involved in the development of OnePoke.com, which has led me to decrease my posting frequency to one a day, as well as decrease my overall posting on other blogs as well.

I used to be the top commentator on both John Chow’s and Shoemoney’s blogs, and I definitely noticed the traffic that I picked up from those sites.  Since I have stopped being the top poster on said sites, I have noticed a direct drop in my blog traffic!!

When I logged into my google analytics, I was actually shocked to see that my traffic was about 2/3 of what it was prior to my decline in activity!  I couldn’t believe it.

This truly proves the old saying in the blogosphere that posting on other peoples blogs really WILL drive traffic to yours.  Truly amazing.  I know that I will certainly begin increasing my posting frequency on these other blogs once the time allows for it, as who knows what traffic I might have been missing out on.

So for all of you other bloggers, that AREN’T swamped with work like I am, I STRONGLY advise that you maintain your posting frequency on your favourite blogs, ESPECIALLY if they are high traffic ones.  This is really a free traffic source, and all it takes is for a person to subscribe here and there for you to gain a strong, long term reader base, as well as a continually increasing amount of traffic.

I’m sure that as soon as I start posting again, my traffic will climb up to the previous levels.  That IS how it works right?  In the mean time, it was a very eye opening experience.

DON’T FORGET TO CHECK OUT MY $200 BLOG COMMENTING CONTEST AT THE FOLLOWING LINK!!

Alright guys, this is a two for one post today!! First, I am announcing Februaries contest - the format will again be a posting contest, just like the first one was. I found much greater reader participation, which is what I really want to have on this blog.

Prize structure will vary a bit from previous contests, and there is more up for grabs!!!

First prize: $100 cash
Second prize: $50 cash
Third prize: $25 cash
Fourth prize: PNY 4gb USB Drive
Fifth prize: Blog review
Sixth prize: Blog review

Contest will end Feb 27th at 11:59 PM Eastern time, at which point I will be taking a screenshot of the top commentators, and any comments thereafter will not be included in this months contest.

Rules are simple, only relevant comments will count, any irrelevant comments will be deleted!
Click here to read more…