Niche Store Earnings January, February, and March 2011

It’s that time … time for me to update you on the progress and profits from my niche stores. Since I last wrote, I have built a handful of new stores (with the help of an outsourcer) and I’m really glad I did. They are all indexed nicely and starting to perform well.

If you recall in my last niche store update I mentioned that I was going to basically duplicate my existing niches and stores and that’s what I decided to do. There were some stores that Google just did not like so most all of the traffic was from Yahoo and Bing. With these new stores it seems almost the opposite – I’m doing great in Google and not so well with Yahoo and Bing *sigh* So goes the story of trying to figure out what the search engines really want right?!

I also decided to try some classified advertising (I’ve use USFree Ads in the past) and that seems to have produced some nice traffic too.

So on to my profits: 

January 2011: $608.68

February 2011: $495.96

March 2011: $1,188.16

In my next niche store update I will tell you about some issues I’ve run into in my SEO/backlinking efforts … it’s always a learning experience isn’t it? LOL *SmiLes* Suzanne 

P.S. Do you have niche stores? If so, how do you monetize them? How have they been performing? Do you wish you had niche stores but don’t know where to start? I can help … shoot me an email k?

P.P.S. I’m asked daily what tools I’m using to make this kind of money on my niche stores … I personally use this plugin and this theme … and I’m willing tutor you to success up if you purchase one or both of these products

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1. Niche Store Earnings September, October, November, and December 2010 OK … I’m a bit behind on posting my niche...

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Ever had “one of those days”? Well, that was yesterday for me LOL

I live in a very small town that’s located about 15-20 minutes north of San Antonio and when I started working with local businesses I put some serious thought into where to focus my energy … here in my local area or further into San Antonio.

I’ve done some cold calling here locally and I’ve had some decent results so far but I’ve also decided to do some marketing in San Antonio. There’s a business association in the north side of town that meets about once a month for a lunch meeting with guest speakers but they also do an event called “Speed Networking” a couple of times a year … and last night was one of them. There are about 150 people, you have a number, a chart, you move every so often and introduce your business to all other attendees throughout the night – pretty cool huh?

I decided about a week ago that I was going to go to this event and see if I could make some good contacts and gain some new clients.

A while back I had Chrissy design me some business cards and although I’d been printing them out on my computer I decided it was time to order them from a printer so they’d look more professional (and so I wouldn’t burn through my toner cartridge). I also got the idea to have a shirt made up that says, “My Business is #1 on Google … Is Yours?” I put some thought into an “offer” for potential clients and I decided to print up some coupons on cardstock offering a free one hour consultation to discuss online marketing, SEO, social media … whatever they’d like to discuss about their business during that hour (I limited this to the first 25 people who took me up on it and booked an appointment).

The “Bad”

So … it’s the day of the event … I finish my workout … I call to let the lady know I’m on my way to pick up my shirt – not ready yet. *sigh* OK … I’ll go home and eat first. I leave and go print and cut the coupons – no issues there. I go pick up my shirt but I happen to be on the phone so I quickly look at the shirt and pay her and leave. I stop in to see an existing client and we visit for a while. OK … time to go home and get ready. I very proudly pull out my new shirt to show Ken and the kids when my daughter looks up and says, “Mommy, I don’t think something is spelled right?!” Huh? What? Very funny! Yea right! I put the shirt down … Oh sh#%! What the???!

Well … as you can see she ran the words “business” and “is” together so it looked like some kind of misspelling. Hardly the attention I wanted to get or be remembered for right? LOL. OK … I’m upset but not the end of the world.

Hmmm … More “Bad”

Come to think of it … Did UPS deliver my business cards yet? What no cards either?!” *sigh*

Have you had one of these moments? You know … the kind where you feel like everything that can go wrong is going wrong? OK Suzanne … pull yourself together!

Ken’s reassuring me that I’ll do great despite these hurdles *sigh* (very sweet of him – love that guy).

I get showered and ready, find something else to wear and gather my coupons. Ken says he has kids and dinner handled so I run out the door a bit frazzled but back on track for a great evening.

Here Comes the Ugly! LOL

Well, as I’m flying down the highway telling myself how great tonight is going to be … meeting a lot of wonderful business people in town and reminding myself how much I miss interacting with real live people LOL … my radar detector starts screaming at me! Oh sh#%! You’ve got to be kidding me! There he is … on the other side of the highway going the other direction … oh please … just this once … give me a break … Well crap! There in my rear view comes the unmistakable colorful reminder that I’m driving through the “gauntlet” (the nickname for the town I was passing through because it’s well known for a high number of speeding tickets and, yes, I know better than to speed there LOL). I get my driver’s license out and as he approaches I’m sarcastically saying to myself, “Miss … is there an emergency I need to be aware of?” (They’re required to ask you that here in Texas). Hmmm … I’m reciting in my head, “No, dude … I’m late for an important business networking meeting and absolutely nothing has gone right today! Could you please give me a break?!” Uhhh … feeling fairly certain that wouldn’t go over too well … I hand over my driver’s license and smile, “No sir … no emergency.”

Now I have a decision to make … I’ll be a few minutes late … I’ve never been to an event with these people before (remember they’re expecting 150 attendees). Will I make a fool of myself? A bad first impression? I’ve teared up a bit … have I run my makeup everywhere? Screw it … I should just go home … nothing has gone right today. Clearly this wasn’t meant to be. But … how would I face my kids? I don’t let them “quit”!!! What will my husband think? Say? Is that really the soft, weak, self-defeating person I strive to be? No … Suzanne … pull it together and get back on the road (drive the speed limit) and walk in with a smile on your face and have the great night you deserve (Yes, lots of self talk yesterday LOL).

Finally … The “Good”

Well, guess what? I got there in plenty of time … met a ton of really neat people. Had a wonderful dinner (I even made very healthy choices – despite my mood LOL) and I expect to get some new clients from the event. In fact, I couldn’t even sleep last night. I stayed up late running keywords through my tools, checking rank for some of the potential new clients … I was happy and totally glad I followed through (despite feeling the world was just totally against me LOL).

Thanks for letting me vent … and if you’ve read this far … you must be a true friend (or bored LOL).

And, yes, I’ll keep you posted on how I make out with gaining new clients. *SmiLes* Suzanne

So … you know I’m going to ask … ever had “one of those days”? Did it work out fine in the end? Do you find that you let hurdles keep you from being successful in your business? What does your self-talk sound like? If you hear it getting negative … are you able to turn it around before you end up defeated? What do you think of the marketing materials I used (or even the ones I wasn’t able to use LOL)?

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Well … we’ve planned our next trip to Mexico and I’m soooo stoked! In early June we’ll be taking kids down to the resort where we took our honeymoon, Dreams Puerto Aventuras, in the Riviera Maya area about 45 minutes from Cancun. It’s an all-inclusive resort and we’ll be totally spoiled. LOL We’ll also be in our bathing suits much of the time … so that means the race is on for me to lose some weight and tone up.

Since I was journaling my food and exercise and taking before and after pictures I decided to put up a blog and share my tips and ideas with others who would also like to look great in their swimsuit http://www.bikiniafter40.com. Why am I sharing that with you? Well, I am building this blog from the ground up so I thought some of you might want want to follow along and see what I do to set it up, to drive traffic, build backlinks, do the SEO, monetize, etc.

If you’d be interested in watching me I’ll be posting every so often here on the blog at suzannefranco.com and I’d love to hear any questions you have about what I’m doing with the site. I’d also love to have your feedback on the blog itself. What do you think of the concept? Of the look and feel? Of the content? All thoughts are welcome of course!

Here’s a video message:

Please leave me your comments and let me know what you’d like to learn about my new site and I’ll address it here on the blog. *SmiLes* Suzanne

P.S. If you’re looking to lose weight and/or tone up … or interested in health and fitness in general I hope you’ll join me over on the new site so we can support and encourage each other

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<—— A quick reminder to Retweet if you enjoy the post … Thanks!

There are so many factors that go into starting and promoting a successful site/blog. If you’ve read my blog for any amount of time (if you’re new to the blog welcome!) then you already know how I feel that keyword research and SEO (search engine optimzation) or two of the most important factors to being successful online.

Whenever I’m doing keyword research I also do some “competition” research right along with it. I go look at the top 5 to 10 results and I “size” them up. One of the things I’m looking for is the number and quality of inbound backlinks to the pages I’d be competing with … make sense?

This video i found on YouTube does a great job showing exactly what I do to analyze backlinks for the pages I plan on competing with and it’s worth the watch.

So … Do you do keyword research? Do you also anaylze the pages that come up first in the search engine results? Do you check the backlinks to those pages? Will you from now on? LOL. Let us hear from you. *SmiLes* Suzanne

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(*Click image to view larger image*)

As you may or may not know I’ve been helping my son, Austin, with his own BANS site (Build a Niche Store) since October (his site was his birthday present LOL).

We worked hard on the keyword research and I taught him how to check out his competition and gave him some pointers in online promotion.

He did a great job setting up the blog and store and he has put up some decent content. He built a Squidoo lens and he spends some of his time participating on niche related forums (it’s a corn snake site).

After using as many promotion ideas as he could come up with he felt frustrated that he could never get the site to page 1 of Google (he could usually be found on page 2 somewhere).

Well, a couple of weeks ago I was using the 30 Minute Backlinks method on all of my sites and Austin and I decided to use it on his site too.

Here’s the text I got from Austin yesterday, “Yes! Mom!!! I’m num 2 in google for corn snakes as pets!!!” His traffic from yesterday was three to four times his normal traffic and so are his click throughs to eBay. As you can imagine he’s pretty stoked! (Today he’s actually #1).

I can honestly say this product works! All three of us (Ken, Austin and I) have had great success on each of our sites after using the 30 Minute Backlinks. And truthfully, we’ve only used one of the five methods outlined in the instructions.

If you have a site and you want to see better results in the SERPS what have you got to lose? Michelle offers a money back guarantee so I think you should do yourself a favor and give it a shot.

Check Out 30 Minute Backlinks Now!

UPDATE: I just checked this site for the first time in several weeks and I’m now #2 for Money Making Ideas (the term I optimized for … this really works guys!)

P.S. I’ll tell you what … if you purchase 30 Minute Backlinks through my link and you’re not satisfied with the results … I’ll personally help you promote your site! *SmiLes* Suzanne

Have you tried 30 Minute Backlinks? Have you been wanting to try it but haven’t yet? What’s stopping you from trying this? Let us hear from you!

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I get a ton of emails asking me what products I’ve paid for and whether or not they were worth the money I spent. So, I thought I’d start posting about some of the products that I own and I’ll give you my honest opinion about whether or not I’d recommend you spend your money on them or not.

Yes, I’m an affiliate for some of them but if you’ve followed me for any time at all you’ll know I’m not here to take your money or scam you so relax and just read about the products without wondering if I’m trying to rip you off. LOL. I’m not. If you do see something that interests you and you want me to get the credit for your purchase go ahead and use the links here in this post. Thanks … and here we go.

HOST GATOR HOSTING

Host Gator Hosting. I’m going to start with my hosting because I think moving my sites to Host Gator might be the single best thing I did for my businesses since getting started online. I won’t go into detail here about the problems I had with my prior hosting company but you can read more about my move to Host Gator here.

Are they worth the money? Yes! I can say without a doubt that having trouble-free, high quality hosting is well worth the money.

(First month for a penny and then $9.95/month)

BANS – BUILD A NICHE STORE

BANS – Build a Niche Store. I started my eBay affiliate career (EPN) by purchasing the BANS product and I’m personally glad I did. I’m not very techie and I knew very little about websites at that time. I wouldn’t necessarily call it a product for total beginners and I did struggle at first with it. But, the installation manual and user manual are very detailed and helpful and the forum is simply second to none. I’ve learned so much on that forum not only about BANS but about all aspects of internet marketing and promoting.

I still have BANS stores and I will probably be building a few more stores here in the next couple of months. I have also purchased phpBay which is another tool for promoting the eBay affiliate program and some say it’s a more versatile product than BANS but BANS seems to be a bit better for beginners. Here’s my post with more information about BANS.

(One time $97.00 fee and good for an unlimited number of websites)

WEALTHY AFFILIATE UNIVERSITY

Wealthy Affiliate University. Wealthy Affiliate is an online membership site that teaches its members how to start their own online business using Internet Marketing … specifically Affiliate Marketing. I have never seen so much valuable information in one place … and I’m not kidding!

I will say that this information can be used to run and promote any kind of online business or website … even though its teachings are geared towards affiliate marketing. There were times where I read the material and the forum for days on end and I learned so much there. In fact, I believe the amount of time I invested in learning on this site would’ve earned me a degree of some kind LOL. I’m also going to be taking a class on PPC through their site here soon and I’ll let you know how that goes too. If you’re new to the online business world (or even if you’re not) this is definitely my favorite learning resource so go check it out now and let me know what you think (and let me know if you have any questions too).

(Now’s the time to check out WA – They’re offering a one week trial for $1.00! If you choose to continue with your membership it’s only $39.00/month and I promise you it’s well worth it!)

POTPIEGIRL’S ONE WEEK MARKETING ACTION PLAN

PotPieGirl’s One Week Marketing Action Plan. This eBook teaches you how to make money through affiliate marketing using FREE tools and methods … and it’s awesome! I feel like I’ve learned a lot over the past few years and quite honestly I didn’t expect to learn much from this eBook … but I really did.

Not only will you learn a lot but it gives you a step-by-step guide to use so you can start, and more importantly, FINISH a campaign without much trouble. I used it to target one of my fiance’s sites (I’m an affiliate for his site LOL) and I got top Google positions and traffic right away using her instructions. I plan to use it for many other sites/products and I now know it will work like magic. This one’s pretty much a no-brainer due to the low price! I’m certain it will more than pay for itself if you actually do what she instructs you to do.

The eBook also came with some killer bonuses. I don’t know for sure if they’re still available but if for some reason they’re not just shoot me an email and I’ll bet I can get her permission to share them with you. Definitely go check out PotPieGirl’s One Week Marketing Action Plan Right Now!

(Only $47 … I couldn’t believe it! It’s worth more I promise!)

30 MINUTE BACKLINKS

30 Minute Backlinks. I am a HUGE fan of Michelle MacPhearson’s 30 Minute Backlinks! The system she came up with is simply ingenious and there is no denying … it works!

She will show you step-by-step how to build hundreds or even thousands of high PR backlinks to your sites. The first couple of times you do this … I wouldn’t necessarily call it a “30 minute” project LOL … but as you learn the ropes that’s more fair. I will say it’s worth every minute you put into it.

I’ve used this system for several of my sites and so has my fiancé and we’ve both seen some amazing results. I’m almost certain it’s the reason my brand new destination wedding site already has a PR1 (after a month and a half online) and my fiance has several of his retail products that have risen (some quite a bit) in the SERPs after using this system. Check out her sales page and watch her video “commercial” and see what you think.

(It costs $97.00 and if you have a website … it’s definitely worth the moderate price tag!)

SUMMARY

Alright, I don’t want to give you information overload but I do want to give you a brief summary of these.

1. If you are just getting started online I personally would give the PotPieGirl a shot. One of the bonuses is an email journal of back and forth conversation between her and a guy she helps who’s never made any money online and he’s successful within the one week time frame.
2. My next choice for learning and getting started would have to be Wealthy Affiliate and with it being priced at a dollar right now … you can’t go wrong! I will warn you … there is NO WAY you could possibly get through all they have to offer in a week but it’s a great way to see if you’d benefit from their site on a monthly basis.
3. If you already have some experience and you’re looking for a way to diversify your income I’d recommend BANS as a way to make money with the eBay affiliate program (EPN). It makes it very simple to get some niche stores set up. You will be most successful with these if you understand keyword research and SEO.
4. If you already have a site (or several) you should definitely give the 30 Minute Backlinks a shot. What would a rise in the SERPs and a higher PR mean for your sites? For me it was well worth it!
5. I just can’t say enough about HostGator hosting so they will always have my endorsement.

If you have any questions about any of these products please let me know either in the comments section or by using the Contact Us page.

Have you used any of these products? If so, do you feel they were worth the cost you paid for them? Let us hear from you below so we can all learn from each other. *SmiLes* Suzanne

Trying out Number 1 Way to Make Money Online too …

and Niche Profit Classroom …

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Promoting Your Blog Offline – T-shirts and Business Cards

Today I was IMing (instant messaging) with a friend of mine on Facebook and I mentioned that I was wearing my “Blogging Idol Shirt” and he said, “Where did you get it?” I told him I made it and I wear it proudly. Thanks again to all of you who helped me earn that title. I took this self-portrait with my Blackberry while we were chatting and sent it directly to Facebook … how easy that was.

Well, what I was telling him was how much attention I get while I’m wearing that shirt … people asking me what’s Blogging Idol … and it’s a perfect opener for telling them what I do online. The problem is that I don’t carry any business cards so once I explain what I do … it’s difficult to invite them to my blog …because I’m not prepared. I’m going to be putting in my order for my FREE business cards through Vista Print and you should too. You can pay a few bucks more to upgrade and such … and they’ll try to “upsell” and to sell you a bunch of add-on products but their offer for their free cards is great!

So … two lessons here … one see if you can come up with a shirt (or something wearable) that will lead to conversation about your blog … and then be prepared with business cards!

Get Your FREE Business Cards!

Do you have anything you carry or wear in public that is a conversation starter for your business? Do you carry business cards? Have you ever tried Vista Print’s free card offer? Are you good about inviting others to view your blog? Let’s share some ideas about what works OK? *SmiLes* Suzanne

P.S. A huGe thanks to my friend Mark McClinton for designing my cards .. i’ll post them once they’re done – he’s awesome and very reasonable so go to his site and contact him for a quote http://northstargenesis.com.

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30 Minute Backlinks ~ On Sale for Only 48 Hours!

Well … if you’ve been on the fence about purchasing Michelle MacPhearson’s 30 Minute Backlinks … NOW IS THE TIME TO BUY! She’s running a 48 hour special … or 100 copies … which ever comes first. She has lowered the price by about 30% … to only $67! It’s an awesome deal so go get it right now!

Check Out 30 Minute Backlinks Sale Now! 

If you aren’t familiar with this ingenious system for getting hundreds of high PR backlinks to your site go read my review post and see why you really owe it to yourself to use this method to rise in the ranks with Google.

30 Minute Backlinks ~ Hot or Not?

 Have question? Do you own 30 Minute Backlinks? Do you give it a raving review? Let’s hear from you so we can all learn from each other. *SmiLes* Suzanne

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Why Use Social Bookmarking Sites?

Using do-follow social bookmarking websites to bookmark your sites and/or pages on your site will create important backlinks … and you can really build up a lot of great backlinks over time. I tend to check the page rank for the sites so I know which ones are the most important to use … but using as many do-follow sites as possible is the best idea.

To make sure you take advantage of the do-follow benefits make sure you mark all of the bookmarks to your sites as “public.” That way Google can “follow” the link to your site and give you credit for the backlink.

Do this every time you have new content or posts and you will have some really great “high PR” backlinks before you know it … and Google seems to be really impressed with backlinks these days … so be sure you make the time for it!

Also be sure you read “What is Social Bookmarking” and “30 Do Follow Social Bookmarking Sites”

Do you use social bookmarking sites to build backlinks? Which sites do you use? Have you been able to confirm the credit for these links? Be sure and ask any questions you have and I’d love to hear from you in the comments section … that way we can all learn from each other. *SmiLes* Suzanne

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30 Do-Follow Social Bookmarking Sites

Listed by PR (Google PageRank):

Furl.net (7)

Mister-wong.com (7)

Blinklist.com (7)

Backflip.com (7)

Spurl.net (6)

JumpTags.com (6)

BibSonomy (6)

LinkaGoGo (6)

MyLinkVault (5)

Bookmark Tracker (5)

Folked (5)

Connectedy (5)

SpotBack (5)

MyVmarks (5)

A1 Webmarks (4)

OYAX (4)

TeDigo (4)

MyPIP (3)

Totagit (2)

Yattle (2)

Feedmarker (1)

Buzztagz (0)

YouTagz (0)

Socialblink (0)

WigleyTagz (0)

SyncOne (0)

Space-Ed (0)

Info4It (0)

i89 (0)

Chipmark (0)

You should also read “What is Social Bookmarking” and “Why Use Social Bookmarking Websites”

Are you registered on any of these sites? Do you submit your own sites and articles and posts to them? Do you know the importance of using these sites for backlinks? Be sure to look me up and we can be “friends” (wahmsuzanne) … Post your questions and comments here so we can all learn from each other. *SmiLes* Suzanne

September 30, 2008

*Additions:

My friend JR has posted a couple more Do-Follow bookmarking sites on her Internet Marketing Strategies blog:

http://www.dizzed.com (3)

http://www.wagg.it (3)

And thank you to Oopza for letting us know about their site too:

http://www.Oopza.com (2)

Let’s keep this list growing!

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