Video Blogging, Vblog, Vlog … New here on the Blog!

I’ve been wanting to bring you some of my messages via video … known as video blogging, vblogging, or vlogging … and that day is finally here. I really enjoy visiting blogs that have video messages. I personally learn a lot that way and I know many others do too. As the lessons progress I will start to add more and more video learning tutorials with screen capture so I can give you great instruction on how to make money online.

I know sometimes it’s not convenient to watch a video so I will add a transcript for the video whenever possible.

I really value your feedback so please leave me a comment about how you feel about video blogging in general, let me know if there’s something I could do to make my videos more enjoyable, and be sure to let me know if you also do vblogging so I can come check you out too!

I will be doing a video shortly on how to actually do a vblog, as well as, the benefits of using them and how to use them to market your blog effectively. I hope you give it a shot with me. It’s really fun and it’s actually pretty easy once you get the hang of it.

 
Thanks for reading (and watching) and please post your comments below. *SmiLes* Suzanne

How to Schedule a Post on WordPress

Want to know how to schedule a post on your WordPress blog? Well, it’s very simple and I’m going to show you how to do it.

If you’re wondering why you would want to schedule a post on your blog there are a few reasons. If you are going to be out of town or on vacation, you know you have a very busy day or week coming up, you aren’t feeling well and know you might actually be getting sick, you are going in for surgery … or maybe you’re just feeling very productive one day … but instead of posting several times in a day you’d rather draw them out over time … whatever the reason it’s a very convenient feature so let’s get down to business.

Go ahead and write your post as you usually would and when you’re finished be sure you click the “save” button. Then look in the right hand column and find where it says, ”Publish immediately”.

Click the “Edit” text link next to Publish Immediately to reveal the timestamp options.

Then enter the date and time that you want the post to actually appear on your blog. You can choose a date that is days or even weeks away … pretty sweet huh? 

Once you have done this, go back to the post and click “Publish”. Your post will automatically post on the date and time you’ve selected.

You can even edit an unpublished post’s timestamp.

So there you go … you are free to go on vacation and relax … and no one will be the wiser! Just be sure you send me pictures as a “thank you.” *SmiLes* Suzanne

A lot of times we think we’ve got the perfect “niche market” when what we actually have is a product we’re already selling (or would like to sell) … and now we’ve decided it’s a “niche market.” Derek Gehl said it perfectly when he said, “A niche market is a group of people who are searching the Internet for a solution to their problem - and not finding many relevant results.” Most people go on the Internet to find information … not to purchase something … so that’s what we need to give them.

Let’s use the vitamin and wellness business as an example. A representative who is selling these type products might think that their target market is … well … everyone walking the face of the planet because “everyone” should be taking vitamins. Well, they are going to have a very tough time being successful with that way of thinking.

In fact, ideally your online business would start this way:

1. Write down all of your hobbies, interests, and passions
2. Do key word research on all possible terms related to each and every subject
3. Look at the competition for the subjects that have a market
4. Look at forums and blogs for a hungry market (what is their problem and can you find a solution)

But, for this example our representative is already in business let’s see how we can back into finding them a niche market.

I would start by brainstorming every word that I personally associate with health and wellness. You want to use subjects that are important to you because it will be a whole lot easier to be passionate and stay interested in something that matters to you personally. For me that would be: healthy, sickness, allergies, back pain, joint pain, fibromyalgia, weight loss, fatigue, kid’s health, immune system … that’s a good start.

Now I would go to my favorite key word research tools and plug them in one at a time. I usually keep a Word Doc open and copy/paste my results so I can compare my findings. If I find fibromyalgia has good traffic I would then do a Google search for fibromyalgia + forum and fibromyalgia + blog and see what I find. I would probably also go to Yahoo Answers and see what I find there. I’m looking for a common thread … what type of information are these people online looking for? What are the symptoms of fibromyalgia? How do you control fibromyalgia pain? What do you take for fibromyalgia? This will give me my niche market … my target market … people who want to “control fibromyalgia pain” for instance.

Now I can further research my key words and phrases, I now know what type of content I need, I have a marketing approach, I know where to hang out to help my target market … and I can help solve their problem … and in this case it would be with the supplements I sell that are known to help fibromyalgia.

Of course then you would want to “rinse and repeat” with allergies, weight loss, etc.

Do you have a niche market … or just a product? Share your thoughts … we’d love to hear from you! *SmiLes* Suzanne

Make Money Through Affiliate Programs & Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate Programs. An affiliate program is simply a program that pays you to drive traffic to someone else’s products and/or services. If the traffic you send results in a sale you will be paid a referral fee (commission) which is either a percentage of the sale or a flat fee per sale. This allows a merchant to have 100’s or even 1000’s of affiliates promoting their product or service simultaneously without costing them a dime in advertising. These payouts are made on a “performance” basis. It’s truly a win-win. These programs range from Jane Doe’s custom hair bows to well-known companies like Wal-Mart, Amazon, and eBay … and of course everything in between.

Affiliate Networks. I personally believe that one of the simplest ways to get started with an affiliate business is to get set up with a good affiliate network. An affiliate network is a company that has made a business of matching up advertisers and publishers.

The advertisers are paying the publishers a commission to go out and market and sell for them. The publishers are those who specialize in the advertising and marketing of products and services on the internet … that’s us. When you get signed up with an affiliate network company you have access to promote and sell ALL of their advertisers. It’s great because you can pick and choose the products and services that you want to sell and you can manage your account from one site and get paid from one company … all while offering several products.

Affiliate Marketing. Affiliate marketing is the business of promoting and marketing the various affiliate programs you have decided to represent. Just to be clear, you can choose to be an affiliate for only one company or product … or for dozens … it’s your choice. Affiliate marketing can be done in many different ways and that all depends on your experience, desire to learn, and budget. You can write and submit articles, write blog posts, send out newsletters to a mailing list, do review pages, set up separate websites or webpages for each, use pay-per-click advertising, social marketing, and there are a host of other methods you could use. Make sure you stay on my Email List so you don’t miss any important information I send out that will help you with your online promotions.

My Favorite Affiliate Programs:

eBay Affiliate Program

Vat19.com

Amazon

My Favorite Affiliate Networks:

PepperJam

MarketLeverage

Commission Junction

Clickbank

Visit each of these sites and get registered with them for free … and a couple of them even offer a sign up bonus from time to time. If you have questions or if I can help you in any way with your business please let me know. *SmiLes* Suzanne

BANS Profits for July 2008

It’s that time again … time to post my EPN (eBay Partner Network) stats and profits for July 2008. EPN is eBay’s affiliate program and I’m really starting to love it!

I’m very happy with my BANS (Build A Niche Store) numbers for July. We were gone traveling for several days throughout the month and I didn’t put as much time and effort into my stores as I would’ve liked. When we were home … we were out partying on the boat! LOL. We do that here when it’s over 100* day after day … after long hot miserable day!

Here’s the breakdown for July - Stats and Profits: 1584 clicks, 6 CRUs, 5 ACRUs, 104 bids, 36 winning bids, bid revenue $144.41, and $125 for the 5 ACRUs … for a monthly total of $269.41.

In July I was still operating the 3 stores. My #1 store earned $206.95 of that and my #2 store earned $58.33. The other $5 bucks came from various links and widgets I have on blogs and sites. My third site is just not performing. It gets random traffic but I’m going to need to put together a marketing strategy for that and see where it takes me. It’s a great Christmas gift product so I want to have it ramped up and ready to go for the holiday selling season.

There are two different approaches to the BANS business building model. There’s the method of slapping up as many stores as possible … right “out of the box” without any work or customization or search engine optimization … much less marketing. And then there’s the method I prefer … quality over quantity. I do believe “Slow and steady wins the race.” I will put up 1, 2, or 3 sites at a time … at the most! I can see the difference in the 3 stores I have now. I put the most effort and energy into my #1 store … the next level of effort into my #2 store … and almost NONE into my #3 store … hmmmm … I see a pattern here don’t you?

My initial goal with my BANS business was to get each of my 3 stores making at least $100/mo. and then start up 3 more stores … wash, rinse, repeat. I have decided to go ahead and put up my 4^th store and I’m excited to see how it does.

I’m back on track and ready to do some serious marketing so I’m hoping to have my record month in August …

Do you have a BANS store? How was your July? Would you like to know more about making money through eBay’s affiliate program? Post your questions and comments here! *SmiLes* Suzanne

P.S. I LOVE helping others … it’s just in my nature. If you’d like to get an online business started … shoot me an email or a comment here and let me know what I can do to help!

Do You Wish You Knew More
About How to Win eBay Auctions …

At the Price You WANT to Pay?

I CAN HELP!

My name is Suzanne Franco and I’ve been an eBay buyer and seller for over 5 years now … and I’ve learned quite a bit in that time.

I had someone who taught me the ins and outs while I was getting started and I still made some mistakes … mistakes that cost me time and money!

A couple of years ago I had a business helping car dealerships list their cars on eBay Motors … and that’s when I realized how many people there were out there who wanted to bid and purchase on eBay … but they wouldn’t actually do it because they were afraid of making a mistake … and afraid of being taken advantage of. They let that fear keep them from getting some great deals on eBay and I don’t want you to miss out on hot deals due to inexperience or fear.

eBay offers a free service for buyers and it’s pretty easy to get your account set up with them. If you don’t have an eBay account you can use the link at the bottom of this page to get yourself registered.

The two most important things to learn about bidding is their “incremental bidding” process and about “proxy bidding.”

The bid increment is the amount by which a bid will be raised each time the current bid is outdone. It is predetermined based on the current high bid. Below is a chart:

Here is how increments are determined:

So if a bid is at $1.00 the next allowable bid is $1.25 (bid increment of $0.25). Sounds easy enough but the confusion usually sets in when there are other bidders involved who have placed a “proxy bid” so let’s take a look at how that works.

A “proxy bid” is eBay’s “automatic bidding system” and once you understand it you’ll see that it actually makes bidding much more convenient than watching your auction like a hawk. There’s nothing you need to set up, the system is already in place.

eBay uses an automatic bidding system to make bidding on auctions more convenient and less time-consuming for bidders. There is nothing you have to set up in order to bid in this way. When you bid on an auction style listing you will be placing bids using this method.

Here’s how bidding on eBay works:

1. When you place a bid, you enter the maximum amount you’re willing to pay for the item. The seller and other bidders won’t know your maximum bid amount.

2. eBay places bids on your behalf starting with the next bid increment for the auction. eBay will bid as much as necessary to make sure that you remain the high bidder (or to meet the reserve price). They’ll keep bidding for you until bidding reaches your maximum amount.

3. If another bidder has placed the same bid before you or a higher maximum bid, they’ll let you know that you’ve been outbid so that you can place another bid if you want. However, if no other bidder has a higher maximum bid at the end of the auction, you win the item even if your bid doesn’t go as high as your maximum bid. You could pay significantly less than your maximum price. This means you don’t have to keep coming back to re-bid every time another bid is placed.

You won’t necessarily pay the amount of your maximum bid. eBay will increase your bid on your behalf, using only as much of your bid as is necessary to maintain your high bid position. Your maximum bid is kept confidential (until it is exceeded by another bidder).

Using our example from above, if the current bid is $1.00 you could either place a bid for $1.25 (the next incremental bid) or you could bid $5.00 (the most you want to pay for the item). eBay would place a bid on your behalf for $1.25. No one else knows that your proxy (or maximum bid) is $5.00 ~ the seller can’t see it … the other bidders can’t see ~ JUST YOU. Now, where it gets tricky is if there is another bidder (or several). If you bid the $1.25 and another bidder has a proxy bid of $3.50 it will place your bid of $1.25 but it will automatically place the other bidder’s bid at $1.50 and you will be out bid. Now, if your proxy bid was the $5.00 and theirs $3.50 … it would automatically place your bid for $3.75 out bidding them … but ONLY by the amount necessary to place the next necessary incremental winning bid … it WON’T automatically place your $5.00 bid.

When bidders don’t understand how this works they would swear that some other bidder can see what they are bidding and that they are sitting at their computer laying low for them … and they place a higher bid … EXACTLY at the same time … just narrowly beating them out … every single time they bid … LOL … when it’s eBay’s proxy bidding system hard at work for them.

This takes a few times over to really “get it” so re-read it … and please contact me (honestly) if you need a different or better explanation.

eBay is really fun and addicting once you get the hang of it. I have saved hundreds … if not thousands … of dollars by shopping on eBay. I even purchased one of my cars on eBay and it was an awesome experience. Happy bidding and good luck!

Again, if you’re not yet registered with eBay please use the banner below to get all set up. It’s free and pretty simple to do. Besides, if you use the banner below eBay will thank me for referring you and they’ll throw a “tip” in my piggy bank. LOL

And remember, I’m a “real” person (Suzanne Franco) and I actually enjoy helping others. If you need some help just let me know.

I don’t know about you but when it comes time to upgrade my WordPress blogs I get myself all worked up and stressed out. Time to back up all of my files and my databases up and make sure I follow the upgrade instructions to the letter … or else!

Well, this time I stumbled on to Alex’s blog post, How To Upgrade To WordPress 2.6 In 5 Minutes, and my upgrade was a breeze!

Read his post and follow the links he has to “The Instant Upgrade plugin for WordPress” by Alex Günsche.

The only instructions I would add after giving this a try is to have your FTP login and path information handy before you get started.

And if you’re wondering IF you need to upgrade your WordPress blog please do this right away. I had several of sites hacked at least a half a dozen times this past year and the first thing they pointed to as a security issue each and every time was my WordPress blog.

With that said, go give it a shot and please report back here and let me know how you did with your upgrade. *SmiLes* Suzanne

Every day I have someone emailing me or even calling me asking how to actually make money online.

I personally believe that one of the simplest ways to get started with an online business is to get set up with a good affiliate network.

Affiliate marketing is the business of marketing other people’s products and services in exchange for a reward - money! An affiliate network is a company that has made a business of matching up advertisers and publishers.

The advertisers are paying the publishers a commission to go out and market and sell for them. The publishers are those who specialize in the advertising and marketing of products and services on the internet … that’s us.

You will usually be paid per sale, per lead and/or per action. A sale is a completed sale of a product. Per lead is basically where you drive traffic to an opt-in page and your referrals sign up to find out more about the product or service. Per action is where your referral performs a certain action such as: filling out a survey, applying for something like a credit card offer, or signing up for something like a singles site. Some of these per action offers are free and some of them require your referral to pay something … like maybe a free learning CD but they pay the shipping cost.

MarketLeverage is one of the best affiliate networks I could find. They have hundreds of products and services to choose from and their affiliate support is second to none! They are making a name for themselves by truly caring about the “little guys” out there who are blogging their hearts out every day.

It’s absolutely free to get signed up and it can be done through their simple online application process.

Once you get signed up let me know and maybe we can help each other brainstorm for the best products and services to promote on our blogs.

Market Leverage - Start Making Money Today!

P.S. There’s a really cool contest that Jason (The University Kid) is hosting that is sponsored by MarketLeverage … you could win a Wii or a Flip Mino (oh … pick me! pick me!) so go check it out and tell him Suzanne sent you over! 

I am so excited to get started with Pepperjam Network! They are an awesome affiliate network who is really making a splash in the affiliate world right now. 

I was introduced to them through my BANS (Build A Niche Stores) business because they recently struck a deal with eBay to handle their affiliate program. From what I understand, eBay Partner Network will still offer their in-house program but this also gives us eBay affiliates another avenue to try.

Right now Pepperjam Network is offering a very generous $10.00 sign up bonus (through July 31, 2008) and they’re giving their existing affiliates $7.00 for referring new affiliates … sounds like a win-win to me! Use one of my links or banners and let’s do some brainstorming together on how to best promote the great products and services available to us through the Pepperjam Network.

Why sign up with Pepperjam Network? They work with top notch advertisers to bring us great products and services to promote. Their site is easy to navigate and to get signed up with their advertisers. They have very professional banners and text ads for us to use on our sites and their affiliate support is second to none.

Sign Up for Pepperjam Network and Get a $10 Sign On Bonus

Post your questions and thoughts in the comments section … I’d love to hear from you. *SmiLes* Suzanne