How to Start a Blog – Brainstorming Ideas – Video Tutorial #1

Posted on 29 August 2008 by Suzanne

How to Start a Blog – Brainstorming Ideas – Video Tutorial #1

Want to know how to start a blog? I can help!

I’m so excited! I am starting my new video tutorial series on “How to Start a Blog” and it is designed with the total newbie in mind. It will also progress into a “what to do next” type of series.

This “How to Start a Blog” series will include: brainstorming, keyword research, finding a niche, choosing and purchasing a domain, setting up a hosting account, pointing your domain, how to install WordPress, backing up your sites, how to use FTP programs, choosing and installing a theme, widgets and plugins, RSS feeds and mailing lists, and other tools that will help you analyze and run your blog … and probably much more!

If you or someone you know is new to blogging or would like to start a blog please sign up for my RSS feed and follow along with the lessons.

I would be very happy to answer any questions so please ask away … either in the comments section or through my contact page.

Enjoy the first video (I’ll get better at this as I go … I promise! LOL).

Notes and Outline from this lesson:

Today’s Lesson is on Brainstorming

Write out ALL ideas you have had for a business
Write out ALL of the things you are interested in (i.e. sports, hobbies, what you do in your spare time, what you like to read about, material possessions you have or want, etc.)
Write out WHO you are (i.e. woman, divorced, engaged, parent, mom, soon-to-be step mom, Christian, like to help and teach others, tall, etc.)
Write out what you are experienced in (i.e. list cars on eBay, cell phone business, direct sales, sales, marketing, people, etc.)
Write out ALL of your causes or passions (i.e. politics, environment, advocacy issues, etc.)

Write out EVERYTHING that comes to mind
Nothing is silly to add to the list
Do NOT try to figure out if you could make a business out of this (that’s another step we will get to … I promise)
Once you are done, you should start to rearrange your list putting the top 5 – 10 towards the top (they don’t need to be in an exact order) and then try to filter on down as you see fit

That’s it … that’s your homework to get done before moving on to Tutorial #2.

Hope you enjoyed it and please leave me your questions and comments. Your feedback is very valuable to me and I’d love to help you in any way I can. *SmiLes* Suzanne

Update/Edit: I mention that if you already have a blog or a business that you can skip this step. I have since changed my mind. If you have a blog or a business that isn’t as successful as you’d like it to be … one reason might be that you haven’t YET discovered your “niche.” This basic exercise might help you narrow down or become more specialized in what you are already doing. So I think everyone should give this a shot … including me!

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The Best $5 Bucks I’ve Spent in a Long Time!

Posted on 28 August 2008 by Suzanne

The Best $5 Bucks I’ve Spent in a Long Time!

Wow! Today I spent the best $5 bucks I’ve spent in a long time! Anik Singal (the hugely popular “Affiliate Classroom” guy) just made my job as an online marketer 10 times easier!

His eBook, “Not Your Typical Article Report,” is a 96 page step-by-step instruction guide to researching, writing, and submitting articles to article directories and to article marketing in general. If you’re not already using article marketing to promote your site, your blog, your products, or affiliate products … you should be. It’s free and it’s a very effective marketing and SEO method! Now read below about how you can also add another income stream by doing so.

Anik has also just started an amazing new article directory, AffSphere. It’s very different than all of the other directories. AffSphere is being built with business owners and affiliate marketers in mind. Not only do they allow affiliate links in your articles and in your bio box, you can earn banner ads through the unique points system, you can earn money through AdSense, you will get those all important backlinks through links in your articles and in your author bio box, you can make money for referring others to AffSphere, to the Affiliate Classroom, for any courses purchased, and much more.

It can’t hurt to see what he has to offer so check it out and let me know what you think. If you buy the eBook come back and let me know if you too feel it’s worth WAY more than $5 Bucks! *SmiLes* Suzanne

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Back to School – Time to Get Busy!

Posted on 25 August 2008 by Suzanne

Wow! Kids went back to school today and I have such mixed feelings.

We had such a fun summer and I never wanted it to end.

The flip side is that with kids gone in school I will be able to focus my attention on my work and not be so distracted.

I’ve put up a slide show below with some of our summer fun and I hope you enjoy it.

Do you juggle kids and work during the summer? Have yours gone back to school yet? Are you bummed or are you ready to get down to business? I’d love to hear your comments. *SmiLes* Suzanne

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Thanks Blog Design Studio … I LOVE My New WordPress Theme!

Posted on 25 August 2008 by Suzanne

I LOVE My New WordPress Theme!

If you follow my blog regularly you’ll notice the fresh new look. If you’re here for the first time I guess you won’t know the difference. Either way, please excuse me while I finish up the last efforts to get ads up correctly, get the audio up and running, and deal with a couple of glitches with my plugins.

I’d like to give a huge “Thank You” to both Rajat and Oliver at Blog Design Studio (http://blogdesignstudio.com/) for “dressing up” one of their free themes for me. I love the graphics and the “look” they’ve helped me create. They have also been very professional, timely, and most of all – patient with my newbie questions and requests. I would confidently recommend them to anyone I know.

Like the new look? Find something that’s not quite right? Have a suggestion? I’d love to hear from you so please leave your comments. *SmiLes* Suzanne

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

Posted on 19 August 2008 by Suzanne

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

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How to Schedule a Post on WordPress

Posted on 18 August 2008 by 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

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Niche Market vs. Selling a Product

Posted on 15 August 2008 by 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:

Write down all of your hobbies, interests, and passions
Do key word research on all possible terms related to each and every subject
Look at the competition for the subjects that have a market
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 so 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 keyword 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

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Make Money Through Affiliate Programs & Affiliate Marketing

Posted on 12 August 2008 by 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:

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

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BANS (Build A Niche Store) Profits for July 2008

Posted on 07 August 2008 by 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. I also will add to that the other $88 bucks ($88.72) that I earned for two BANS referral sign ups for a grand total of $358.13 for the month.

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!

Update:

Goal for September $800.00

August 2008

July 2008

June 2008

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