My “Sticktoitiveness” Interview!

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As promised, I am going to post my EPN (eBay Partner Network) stats and profits for August 2008. EPN is eBay’s affiliate program and I’m using a combination of ideas and techniques for making money with their program … but my #1 way of profiting from eBay still remains BANS (Build A Niche Store).

I haven’t spent a lot of time or energy using the other methods because BANS just plain works … but from time to time I will also want to diversify with some other ways to promote eBay auctions.

I put more time and effort into my marketing in August and it really paid off. I also started a new store and it did great! We went camping for the long holiday weekend and I didn’t have access to the internet … I couldn’t wait to get home (once we were driving) so I could check my numbers! OK … it’s official … I’m a BANS addict!

Here’s the breakdown for August – Stats and Profits: 5047 clicks, 8 CRUs, 6 ACRUs, 501 bids, 172 winning bids, bid revenue $693.70, and $150 for the 6 ACRUs … for a monthly grand total of $531.51 (nearly doubling my $269.41 profits for July).

As mentioned, I added a new store in August – so I’m up to 4 stores. Prior to this month my stores had always performed in the order that they were built … but that’s no longer the case. From here forward I will refer to my stores using the alphabet order (A, B, C, etc.) referring to the order in which they were built. Then I will rate them numerically based on their profit performance for the month.

With that said, Store A (remember – first store built) earned $80.97 – making it my #3 store (for profits). This was down substantially from last month (I believe it earned just under $200 last month and has always been my #1 store). This store has fairly seasonal products so I was expecting this somewhat. Of course I thought it would hold out through September but apparently not. I have some ideas in mind to work-around this and I’ll post them as I implement them.

Store B (built second) earned $251.16 and became my #1 store for the month. I can directly attribute this to the effort I put into promoting the store. For some reason Google just doesn’t send me very much traffic for this site and it’s almost all referral traffic from ads and links. I’d really like to work hard at getting more search engine traffic so it will be on more of an auto-pilot some day. For now, I’ll roll up my sleeves and keeping working at it.

Store C (built third) earned $1.75 … you read that right … was (and still is) my #4 store! I have not put much time, work, or energy into this store and clearly it shows! I am still on the fence as to whether or not invest the time into it … but it does have a great Christmas product line so I might just stick it out for the holidays and see how it does.

Store D (built mid-August) did awesome … especially for it’s first (partial) month online … bringing in $191.90 and moving up to be my #2 store! I did spend some time on my SEO and on thinking out and organizing my store pages … but it wasn’t nearly the work as Stores A and B … proving that there is a learning curve to setting up BANS stores and I am growing more and more confident in choosing a niche and setting up and promoting my stores. My traffic was split almost 50/50 between search traffic and the ads I placed. For me this new store was a true success story!

The other $5 bucks came from various links and widgets I have on blogs and sites.

I’ve mentioned over and over that 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 just can’t say this enough … so be ready to hear it over and over here on the blog!

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. With that in mind, my BANS goal for August was $400 … and it was an amazing feeling to exceed that goal.

I am also going to start posting my goals here … I think this will help motivate me and will hold me accountable to do the work necessary to hit … or even succeed … my goals.

BANS Goal For September 2008 … I Will Earn At Least $800.00 … On or Before September 30, 2008!

BTW … If you want to meet or exceed your goals be sure to check out “The Magic Words In Goal Setting” and report back here with your goals.

Do you have a BANS store? How was your August? 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!

P.S.S. Wanna make some extra cash? Take a look at BANS (Build A Niche Store) … right now … you won’t be sorry!

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