Today we’d like to introduce you to Carl Weiss.
Hi Carl, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
An Online Gamble that Paid Off
My story starts before the turn of the century. Back in the 1990’s I made my living as a professional blackjack player. In 1995, I published my first website called Players edge.com that shared playing tips with the world. By 1996 the website had turned into an online magazine that featured articles from other players, as well as reports of new casino areas that were opening up across the country. Before long, I was making more money publishing the zine than I was playing cards. This is also when I purchased my first digital camcorder and began shooting videos that were used to educate the playing public. (At least those players who owned a DVD player.)
By 2000, I was managing three zines that covered every casino game and sports betting. I also had a staff who was responsible for publishing the three zines and selling banner ads. From 1999 to 2003 the company’s revenue grew an average of 70% per year. At least it did until 2003 when the dot com bubble burst and ad revenue dried up completely. That’s when I had to choose to either fold up my tent or pivot to find a new way to use the same technology to reinvent the company.
In 2005, I created an online marketing company called AccessJax.com that helped local businesses promote their goods and services on the Internet. This is when dial-up service was being supplanted by high-speed Internet connections that allowed businesses to post videos online. Using the same technology that I’d previously only been able to share via DVD, I was soon posting videos for local businesses online, especially after the advent of YouTube. I was also able to repurpose my writing ability to start producing weekly blogs for local businesses.
By 2008, with the advent of Facebook and other social networks, I realized it was time to take on a partner. That’s when met a man who specialized in social networking. After working together for a year, we decided it was time to rebrand the business. That’s when Working the Web to Win was born. With a small staff of dedicated online marketing professionals, we were able to offer local businesses one-stop shopping for all their online marketing needs. We also prided ourselves on keeping up with an ever expanding array of online advertising options including pay-per-click campaigns. My partner, Hector Cisneros and I also published our first how-to book of online marketing tips on Amazon called Working the Web to Win in 2010.
In 2020, I sold my interest in the business to Hector who still runs workingthewebtowin.com. That’s when I decided to pursue my dream of being a novelist. That same year I published the first in a series of murder mysteries entitled Anatomy of Annihilation. Since then, I’ve published three more novels in the series and have just completed my fifth novel called Fear Factor Five, which postulates the theory that the world’s most dangerous hackers will soon be able to turn the tables on the police departments tasked with bringing them to justice.
And to think all this happened because I decided to take a gamble back in 1995 on a little known electronic marketing medium called the World Wide Web. As I used to tell my readers on Player’s Edge, “If you’re going to play the game, you might as well play to win.”
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The problem with technology is that it changes rapidly and often. Before the turn of the century, online marketing was simply a matter of creating a website and fighting for position on the Internet. Back then there were dozens of search engines from which to choose. It also didn’t help in 2003 when the dot com crash made banner ads worthless. (Although they’re now back, but only profitable for major online players.) Then the 800-lb gorilla in the room known as Google crashed the party by monopolizing search engine marketing. This bottleneck made it much more difficult for small businesses to generate traffic. Zines turned into blogs that were much less likely to succeed financially and social networks while initially a godsend to small businesses have gradually become less and less effective due to rule changes that make it more difficult for business owners to distribute their posts. Running an online marketing company has meant dealing with changes that occur all too frequently.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
As a blogger and videographer I enjoyed the process of writing stories and scripts that engaged the audience while imparting a kernel of wisdom designed to teach a lesson that would prove valuable to the reader or viewer.
As a novelist, I enjoy speculating on how technology can be a two-edged sword that can make our world more convenient or make it more dangerous depending on how it is employed. Think about it…An ATM card designed to make it easier to withdraw cash can also be used by cyber-criminals to wipe out your bank account. Your smartphone, tablet PC, or laptop that gives you access to the world online can also give hackers access to your personal and financial information at the click of a mouse. All of my crime novels explore the ways in which technology can be used to commit murder. The question is, how long will it be before the world’s most dangerous cyber-criminals prove that the rule of law no longer computes in a wired world?
Alright, so to wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
Where Does Reality End and Big Brother Begin?
Having worked with technology for more than 30 years, it worries me that people have become so addicted to it that it’s done the exact opposite of what it was originally intended to achieve. Where the Internet was meant to open up the world to the websurfing public, it has gradually become a platform designed to keep users staring at their devices as long as they’ remain awake. Social networks have gone from a way to share our thoughts with friends to a thoughtless digital succubus that most people find nearly impossible to walk away from. Like George Orwell’s world in the novel 1984, it’s now clear that everything we think, say, and do is being monitored by entities that we neither wanted, nor voted for. Just how far down the techno rabbit hole we’ll go in the next 30 years isn’t certain. But one thing I’m sure about is that I’m glad I won’t be here to see the end result.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://workingthewebtowin.com
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MancaveMunchies (My online cooking show)
- Other: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B3GMZDNY
