I’ve received a lot of emails asking me how my new business is going (blog post here: http://www.suzannefranco.com/im-starting-a-new-online-business-wanna-join-me/) so I wanted to give you an update. I purchased the Traffic Geyser “business-in-a-box” training and it included their video submission service for a year (and a bunch more quite honestly) and it was a great decision. It was $2,000 so it wasn’t for everyone but I’m at a point in my career where I was ready for it so it was well worth the investment.
I have spent a ton of time watching the tutorials (as I mention often – I’m very detailed and over analyse everything so I’m “slow” LOL) and I’ve learned a lot about how to start this business. I have also done some testing using my own businesses and so far everything is working really well. For those who aren’t familiar, the Traffic Geyser system is focused on using video submission to get page one Google results. This “business” is using that method to get local search results for offline businesses.
I can’t wait to try this for someone else’s business and so I’ll be doing some barter here soon to get my feet wet.
Did anyone here reading also start this business? If so, how’s it going? I’d love to hear from you … questions … comments? *SmiLes* Suzanne
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So I took some time off from the blog during the holidays (still had to run my other businesses) and when I was ready to return … tragedy struck. My 12 year-old son, Nathan, crashed his dirt bike doing about 30 mph and broke his collar bone and both of his wrists (poor little guy). I already love working from home but when this happened it reconfirmed just how lucky I am to be able to truly be there for my family and to not have a boss to deal with.
If you are working a job and would like to work from home why don’t you make 2010 the year? What I’d suggest you do is to figure out exactly how much you need to make to replace your job. List out all of the expenses of working at your job (clothing, lunches, gas, etc.) and subtract that from your take home pay and see what you need to come up with. That way you’ll have a true picture of what that will take for you.
You can start out by supplementing your income and see what it will take to replace the job all together.
I took the plunge by purchasing an existing business (on eBay LOL) and it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I’ve had several people ask me what I’d charge to help them set up an online business from scratch and it’s got me thinking about doing some site flipping – which is where you set up an online business and then sell it (usually auction style) so stay tuned for any news related to that. If you’d be interested please leave a comment below and/or shoot me an email telling me what type of business you’d be interested in and let me know your budget … we’ll see what I can come up with OK?
Hope everyone is well and I’m glad to be back to work here on the blog. *SmiLes* Suzanne
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I’ve had a crazy busy week! In a good way. LOL. I’ve been trying to organize all of my sites (there are a ton of them *sigh*) and I’m evaluating each site, prioritizing them, figuring out what each site needs, looking for sites that I many need to drop (or handle differently), and just plain trying to get organized with my work. I have so much going on that sometimes I’m overwhelmed and I know I get less accomplished because of the disorganization.
So new news on my business partnership with Anthony too. We decided to get Anthony set up on his own blog (http://www.anthonyaugugliaro.com) and it’s been a great decision that we’re both really excited about. It gives him a chance to find his “voice” and niche without having to “tag along” on my site. LOL. Go check it out!
Meanwhile, we decided we’d team up on a niche site and we’re both super stoked to see what we can do with the site. It will be wine related (still deciding on the exact niche) and we’ll announce how we conquer the site as a team as soon as we get all of the details ironed out. This lead to me prompting Anthony to get his feet wet with his own niche store/site and this really got F-U-N! Anthony has been putting off starting his own site since we met (like a year and a half?!) so as any good friend would do … I started to push and get bossy! LOL. Well, he started his keyword research and he promised to follow some steps and do some “homework” by a certain time and he didn’t follow through (completely – and I’m a stickler) so he lost the bet he made with me. You can see how he made good in the video below.
As for my niche stores, I can’t believe it! After I just did my update post telling you how my income was cut fairly drastically with eBay/EPN and how I was looking for ways to diversify and drive less traffic to eBay … I’m on track to have my best month ever with them! Geez … I just don’t get at all how they are calculating my clicks or my income. I guess I need to take the time to go to their blog and forum and read up on this new payout. *sigh* So … I’ll keep you posted as the month progresses (let’s say that through the 9th of December I’m already over my November total).
I hope you’re having a great month. Please share any questions you have either in the comments section or via my Contact page and I’ll help in any way I can. *SmiLes* Suzanne
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As you may or may not have heard, EPN (eBay’s affiliate program) has recently changed the way they pay their affiliates and most people I know have not been too happy about the changes. Although some affiliates are making more money on this new payout the vast majority are not. Not only that, people are concerned that they can’t seem to pinpoint exactly how we’re paid so that’s a bit of a concern.
My earnings from September were $528.06 and my earnings for October were a mere $298.38.
I’ve finally set out to do some maintenance on my niche stores. I’ve been slacking and I’m ready to get back into the niche store “game” and I’m willing to put in the time and energy to get the stores performing and possibly add some more stores.
I’ve written out each store I have now (there are five) and I’m in the process of evaluating their status: what I need to update/fix, what promoting would work best, and I’m trying to get an overall feeling for how each store is performing and what I could do to each to make it perform better.
I’m looking to make sure all software is updated and running the latest version (including BANS, WP, WP plugins, etc.) and I’m adding some plugins to each as well (there are various plugins designed for adding affiliate products to a WP blog). For instance, on my first three BANS stores (Build a Niche Store) I used a free theme designed for BANS stores but these stores don’t have blogs on them. I don’t want to redo the entire stores and lose my search engine positioning and/or backlinks so I’ve decided to add WordPress blogs to the “backend” of them (installed in a subfolder). The other two stores were built on a theme that was designed specifically for BANS but it’s a WP theme that integrates the BANS store on the blog. I’m upgrading everything and I’m also planning on updating the “look and feel” of some of them too. It’s also a good idea to go through each store page and make sure everything is in working order. If eBay changes a category number it can destroy your site and if you’re not monitoring the sites and/or stats you won’t know about it.
Once I have these five stores under control and performing smoothly I’ll be adding a handful of stores. I’m still deciding if I’ll be using a BANS format or if I’ll use a WordPress blog with some of the various plugins available for pulling affiliate products into the site.
My favorites are: phpBay and ReviewAzon ( and you can even integrate the two by using ReviewAzon) and I’m also beta testing two more affiliate plugins so I’ll have more information on those too.
So, although my store earnings are down with the new payment methods I still plan on working hard on my sites and hope to up my income by remaining flexible and adding some other affiliate product sources too. I’ve written before about how important it is to diversify! I’ll be looking at some other options (besides eBay) and I’ll keep you posted here on the blog as to what I find, what I try and how it works out.
Do you have any niche sites? What tools do you use and which are your favorites? Have you wanted to get started with some niche sites but don’t know where to start? Let us hear from you! *SmiLes* Suzanne
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I honestly feel that keyword research is one of the most important skills you can have as an online business owner.
I decided to use a video from my Blogging for Bucks BootCamp and I think you’ll enjoy it. If you did not make it into BootCamp you can clickHERE and see if I’m still accepting new attendees.
Since the video will “show” you what I do and why I won’t go into a ton of detail here in the post.
I start with a very broad term and then use the results from the tool to drill down until I find a keyword phrase that will work for my needs. I use keyword phrases for the main title of a blog, my domain names, my file extensions, for each individual post, for anchor text, for tags and keywords … for any aspect of telling the search engines (and readers) what my site, page, or information is about.
After I find some potential keyword phrases I move on to checking out the competition. I need to know how many other pages I’ll be competing for if I use that phrase. You want to find that “sweet spot” … enough searches to bring visitors vs. the least amount of competition for that particular term. Make sense?
So … I’ll share some of the ways I look at the competition in an upcoming lesson.
Was this video helpful? Do you have any questions? Do you have any ideas or tips that I’ve missed? Do you need help? Share your thoughts and ask your questions below and if you’d like some one-on-one attention please see my services page. Let us hear from you below and please Retweet this post if you’ve enjoyed it. Thanks! *SmiLes* Suzanne
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I’m just wrapping up a small series on brainstorming and how to go about finding a topic that you’re truly passionate about and now I want to do a follow up on how to narrow that topic down into a niche topic to give you a better chance of success for your online business.
What I don’t think I stressed enough in the previous lessons is how important this is … even if you ALREADY have an online business.
If you’re not as successful as you’d like to be I hope you went through the lessons as well. If you didn’t get to them yet please do yourself a favor and give them a quick listen (they’re audio/video lessons). You can find them here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and you’ll also want to check out the post about Gary Vaynerchuk’s book, Crush It, that is specifically about finding a topic you’re passionate about (enter for the signed book giveaway too).
In fact, I once heard Gary say (I wish I could remember which interview I heard this on *sigh*) that one mistake people make is that they have a topic they’re passionate about but they change it (even slightly) because they think there’s not a market for that specific topic.
Diet Soda … Soda … or Beverages?
The example he used was about a guy who was passionate about diet soda. He figured there was no way he could make a business out of his passion for diet soda so he thought maybe soda (all sodas). After he put some more thought into it he decided he wanted to make a fortune (and there couldn’t possibly be an audience for diet soda) so he decided to go with beverages. The problem with this way of thinking is that this guy isn’t passionate about all beverages … he’s passionate about diet soda! So when it comes time to speak and/or write about vodka or juice or any other beverages for that matter … he’s just not very interested (not full of passion for the subject) and he dreads going to work on the business and/or gets overwhelmed.
This was a “light bulb” moment for me. I have a site that I’d love to work on more often and I just don’t because it’s overwhelming and I feel like I’ll never get it to where it can be truly successful. As you might already know, Ken and I got married in Mexico earlier this year and I spent a ton of time online researching destination weddings … where to get married, what the requirements were for each country, the seasons/weather, travel expenses, etc. I was so excited about the subject that I started a site/blog on the subject (Best Destination Weddings – might as well give it a little link juice huh? LOL).
Well … after hearing the diet soda illustration I realized this:
Weddings = Beverages
Destination Weddings = Soda
Riviera Maya Weddings = Diet Soda
Do you see the idea here? I could research, read, write … and talk about the Riviera Maya area where we got married (we returned to their for our honeymoon as well) all day every day and be totally excited and passionate about it … without wondering how much money I’ll make for sharing this information … B-I-N-G-O!!!!!!!! There’s my passion … don’t you agree?
I will not scrap the existing site but rather I will be adding a separate site that’s more specific to that area and then the sites can be a referral source for each other. I hope to find alternative ways to fill the existing site with steady content (article directories, guest bloggers, etc.) and that way I can focus my time and energy on the niche site and I’ll be thrilled to work on it.
So … where are you at in choosing your niche topic? Are you ready to get started? Do you have an online business? If so, was this helpful to you too? Are you considering an adjustments to any of your niches? Have questions? Let us hear from you! *SmiLes* Suzanne
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NOTE: Read details for FREE signed book at the bottom of this post!
Last month I went up to Austin (about an hour away) to Gary Vaynerchuk’s (Vay-ner-chuk) book signing for his new book, Crush It, and it was so worth the trip.
If you’re not familiar with Gary you’ll want to check him out on his blog, Gary Vaynerchuk, and his wine site, Wine Library TV. He was the first person who really, truly inspired me to try vlogging (video blogging) even though after watching him I felt totally inadequate LOL.
He has been hugely successful at using social media to brand himself and to grow his businesses and now most recently to promote his book.
I love the explanation on his book cover, “Why Now is the Time to Crush It! … Cash in on Your Passion.” I feel that brainstorming and truly digging deep within to find your passion is one of the most important aspects of starting any business and I’ve really enjoyed the book.
He talks a lot about how much business has changed (and is changing) and with the internet anything is possible for anyone who wants to succeed … and I completely agree. Gone are the days of needing a ton of money as start up capital … you can be up and running with a new business in a day and for under $10 bucks. Don’t believe me? Shoot me an email … Contact Suzanne.
We showed up for the signing and when he arrived he took his time with each of us privately while he signed our books and then he said to stick around for a “Q & A” session. He stood up and started speaking and I let the good’ol flip start rolling (I felt a little bad sticking that thing in his face but I’m happy to have the video). He spoke and answered our questions for over an hour. In fact, I used up my 60 minutes on the Flip and had to switch over to my Blackberry (I’ve never used that feature so I lost a few minutes of recording – and I can’t figure out how to make the Blackberry portion bigger but you can still hear it LOL).
NOTE: The video was too long (large file) and it was causing the page to have problems loading so Ive added an audio version too:
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I hope you enjoy the audio and if you’re looking for a great motivational read you need to pick up a copy of Crush It for yourself.
Now let’s have some fun!
I have a signed/autographed copy of the book, Crush It, that I’m going to raffle off here on the blog. It will be a drawing and it’s super easy to enter.
Subscribe to my RSS via email (must be email so I can confirm the subscription)
Tweet this post using the “Retweet” button at the top of this post (if you have a Twitter account)
Leave a comment below that you’ve done so (with your Twitter ID)
If you are already subscribed via email no worries just retweet the post and leave a comment that you’re subscribed and that you’ve tweeted (with your Id) … if you are not on Twitter please state that as well.
Last day to enter is November 30, 2009!
Let us hear from you! Are you familiar with GaryVee? Have you read the book Crush It? If so, what’d you think? Are you entered into the drawing to win your own signed copy of the book?
Crush It … the book sold on Amazon.com – for less than the cost of lunch?! Better at least check it out!
I did a couple of posts about brainstorming (Part 1 and Part 2) and if you did the exercise you should have two lists of topics that you are passionate about. Do any of them jump out at you? Are there any topics on there that if you spent several hours a day researching, reading, and writing about you would lose track of time? Something that you’d talk and/or write about whether you got paid or not? If so, you might want to explore it further for a new online business.
Now … here’s the part where I want to interject some wisdom.
I want you to answer this question … honestly. How long have you been thinking about starting an online business? Has it been two months … six months … a year or two? I meet and converse with a ton of people online and I am always amazed (and sad) to hear how long people have been searching for the “perfect” online business … so they NEVER get started!
What If?
I’d like to ask you something … what if??? What if you just picked one of these topics and got started … NOT knowing at all what you’re doing … having no business plan … but just decided TODAY that you are going to give something a try??? How does that feel to you? Scary? Exciting? Relief? Come on! Let’s do this! Quit researching, reading, and writing your ideas down … and watching what seems like everyone around you do this … just do it … TODAY! OK?
Now with that said I want you to know that it’s almost certain that you will start more than one online business so the one you start with does NOT have to be perfect … or even great. You just need to get yourself started and you can make changes and adjustments along the way. You can even scrap it and start all over if it’s not working right?
So … are you willing to get your new online business started? I’d personally suggest getting started with a self-hosted WordPress blog because you can do so much to that platform that you can start almost any type of business with it … and again … you can always make changes down the road as you get the hang of things.
I’ll make you a deal. I use and promote HostGator hosting and I love them. If you’re willing to use my affiliate link for your new hosting account (or transfer to them) I will personally help you get your hosting set up and get your domain purchased and pointed to your hosting account. Then I will help you get WordPress set up on your new account and give you some basic pointers on where I’d start and we’ll get you up and running for your new business very quickly. Basically you can get your business started with my assistance and guidance for under $8 bucks using the links and coupons at the very bottom of this post!
So … what do you think? Are you ready to quit sitting on the sidelines and start to play this game? I can help … so just let me know! *SmiLes* Suzanne
Have you been searching the net looking for the perfect business? Are you afraid to get started? Do you want my help with this? Please reach out and tell me what’s up! Let us hear from you in the comments below (or via Contact page).
Today we’re going to take a look at any problems you’re having in your life (or have had). You want to especially think about topics that you think of that you would go search the internet looking for answers and/or solutions.
This could be a parenting issue, how to get rid of debt, a medical issue … or how to get a stain out of clothing or carpet.
Again, don’t try to second guess anything about the topic – just write down everything that comes to mind. You can analyze these topics and ideas later. It’s best to just write down everything that comes to mind.
OK … watch the video and see what you come up with.
Was this harder than you thought? Was it a good exercise or do you feel like it sent you off into the wrong direction? Don’t be upset … just do the exercise and we’ll discuss each of your lists in the next lesson. Let us hear from you! *SmiLes* Suzanne
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I recently conducted a poll here on the blog and I asked you, my readers, to take part in it (Where Are You at in Your Online Business). If you haven’t done so I hope you’ll take the few seconds to check the box that most closely fits for you – it will really help me give you the best content and information here on the blog. After reading the results I found that there are some of you who still need some direction in finding ideas for your new online business. I think those of you who chose answer one or two, that you’d like to have an online business but don’t yet have a topic in mind or that you have a topic in mind but need some help getting started, will benefit greatly from this tutorial.
If you have an online business and you are not truly happy and excited to work on it you’ll want to listen to this too. I for one know that I’ve “happened onto” some businesses that I don’t truly have a passion for and it makes it really hard to work on the business without feeling like I’m “working” LOL. If you have a business that you ended up in for whatever reason but you’re not truly happy with it then maybe it’s time for you to too to see what other business options are out there. Working a business that you don’t truly enjoy is almost as bad as going to work every day at a job that you don’t enjoy and none of us should put ourselves in that position – don’t you agree?
Now, before we get started with this lesson I want you to get out a pen and a piece of paper (or your notepad or journal) because as we go through this lesson I want you to write down EVERYTHING that comes to mind as it pops into your head.
NOTE: These notes differ a little from the video so I suggest if you have the time you not only watch the video but you also read this post.
This is what I want you to think about and to start writing down … and for now don’t worry about spelling, penmanship, what order or which number they fall under … just let your ideas and thoughts flow out and onto your paper OK?
Let’s get started:
***In fact … as we go through this exercise … I don’t want you to try to figure out if ANY of these could actually be monetized or not … we’ll be looking at that in a different lesson … so for now … just make sure that every single thought and idea makes its way onto your paper.
OK … let’s continue:
Write out ALL ideas you have … or have had … for a business (don’t worry about if it could be made into a blog or business or not.
Write out ALL of the things you’re interested in (i.e. sports, hobbies, what you do in your spare time, where do you travel to (or where would you like to travel to?), what you like to read about, material possessions you have or want … think about what magazines you read or subscribe to (or wish you did) … what type of shows you like to watch … what interests you and captures you? Are you crafty? Do you make things? What do you make?
What’s a subject or topic that you’d research and write about that you could care less if you got paid for that work or not? Which topics could you do this work on and hours have passed before you even know it?
What do others tell you you’re good at? Are you a good cook? Baker? Good with relationship advice? At organizing? Cleaning tips? At decorating? At event planning? Do others come to you before they make a purchase? If so … of what? Computers? Cars? Boats? Appliances?
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 … for instance what did you study in school? What types of jobs and careers have you had? (i.e. legal assistant, list cars on eBay, cell phone business, direct sales, sales, marketing, people, etc.)
Write out ALL of your causes or passions (i.e. politics, religion, environment, advocacy issues, etc.)
Write out EVERYTHING that comes to mind
Nothing is too 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 for the Brainstorming Part 1.
I want you to put that aside for today and tomorrow we’ll move onto Brainstorming Part 2.
NOTE: I made this video some time ago and even though it says for “blogging” it definitely pertains to any type of business you’d like to start
Was this helpful for you to get some ideas about what you actually enjoy in life? Are there things on your list that got you really excited? Did you find yourself asking, “Wow! What if I could actually make a living around “blank”? I hope you’ll keep adding to this list as other things you enjoy pop into your head. Let’s hear from you below! *SmiLes* Suzanne
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