Niche Store Earnings September, October, November, and December 2010

by Suzanne on February 17, 2011

OK … I’m a bit behind on posting my niche store earnings so here we go.

I’ll jump right in to the figures and then discuss some of my discoveries and share some of the changes I’ve made.

September $466.05

October $452.42

November $866.10

December $839.88

There is usually an increase in my income during the holidays so I wasn’t surprised at that … and there is usually a decrease in the couple months to follow so I won’t be too surprised by that either. One of my top performers is in the water sports industry and that usually picks up in the Spring and Summer so I have that to look forward to as well.

You know how many blessings are disguised as problems? Well, I can say that did happen to me with my niche sites. I got a friendly email from HostGator letting me know that I needed to upgrade all of my WordPress installations *sigh* (yea, like over 40 of them – don’t ask LOL … well … let’s just say I tend to hoard websites LOL … and I still have a fear of upgrading from back when I started and it all had to be done manually). Unfortunately, in doing the upgrade, I broke a few of my BANS sites (Build a Niche Site – for those who aren’t familiar). I had to contact my online buddy, “Soggy Dave,” (he sold me the theme I was using for these sites) and ask for his assistance. He fixed my sites and nicely let me know that it was TIME! Time to start building my sites using phpBay instead of BANS … and I begrudgingly agreed. If you’ve read my site for more than a day you’ll know I’m not techie and I hate even trying new techie type stuff LOL … in fact I even tried to hire Dave to convert my sites for me. He’s very sweet and told me he thought I could do it myself and that I should give it a try. Well, I’m glad I listened to a trusted friend.

To start with, I was so bad at checking my stats and so uninformed about these old sites that I had never realized something very important. None of my BANS sites were getting any Google traffic (none of them)! They get decent traffic but it turns out all of the traffic is either from Yahoo and Bing or from links I’ve built over the years. Well, I have great news! I’ve rebuilt my sites and they are starting to do really well in the SERPs (search engine results pages) for the terms I’m tackling … and BTW … I’ve learned a LOT about SEO since I built those BANS sites years ago so I actually expect my new sites to do much better than their BANS predecessors.

Once I got the hang of building the phpBay stores (they’re pretty easy actually) I decided to continue on with my efforts. So … not only did I rebuild my six existing stores I’m on a mission to get my portfolio up to about 50 sites (I have three new sites up and a couple more partially done). I can’t possibly build, dress up, and promote that many stores effectively on my own so I also made the decision to hire a couple of VA’s (virtual assistants). In fact, I’ll soon be blogging about how that’s going too.

The numbers were about average huh? But, I think you’ll agree they continue to be a consistent passive income so I really can’t complain.

So … do you have any niche sites? Are you an ex-BANS builder? Have you ever tried phpBay? Are you approved with EPN? If not, do you do anything with Amazon? I’d love to hear what you’re doing with niche sites and share some ideas … if you’re new and this is all “greek” to you … let me know if you’re interested in learning more about niche sites … I’m happy to help in any way I can. *SmiLes* Suzanne

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{ 74 comments… read them below or add one }

Alex February 17, 2011 at 6:04 am

Hey Suzanne

Wow love your blog its such a unique design!

Nope, never used any of those methods or niche sites as yet I am trying my hand at affiliate marketing with information reports right now but hopefully will move into specific niches soon.

Well done on the earnings and nice of you to be so honest in sharing them with us.

Alex
Alex´s last [type] ..Monetize Your Blog And Get Free Targeted Traffic – Part 2

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Suzanne February 17, 2011 at 6:14 pm

Hi Alex ~ Thank you for your comment and your kind words. I do a little with affiliate marketing too … I guess I could start sharing all of that too LOL … that fluctuates greatly depending on how much I’m working and where I’m investing my time. The great thing about the niche sites … is after I did the initial work they kept performing … this was also a bit of a curse! LOL. I got lazy and didn’t make much effort to grow beyond that niche store income. Well, that’s changed now. I haven’t set any concrete goals for this year (income) but I can safely say I’d like to be making 2k+ with these sites and I know that’s very doable. Let me know if I can help with anything at all ;)

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silpada February 17, 2011 at 11:24 am

Thanks for sharing your income of different months and rebuild of your site.

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Suzanne February 17, 2011 at 6:26 pm

Thanks for stopping by … do you build niche sites too? Can I help you with something?

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silpada February 17, 2011 at 9:20 pm

@Suzanne I am interested in niche but do not know which one to select. I have back ground of programming.

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Suzanne February 18, 2011 at 3:10 pm

Well, there’s a difference in building a portfolio of sites and in putting most of your efforts into one niche. If it’s one … choose something you are very interested in because the more content you can create the more successful you’ll be! If it’s a diverse portfolio then you will have to create a system for evaluating a niche you are considering. It’s still best if you can add as much content as possible. LOL I have one niche that is a type of power tool and I never, ever, ever … never … want to write about it … so it doesn’t do as well as some of the others LOL ;)

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Paul @ Leeds Photography February 17, 2011 at 5:34 pm

Hi Suzanne
From my perspective I think these figures do not look too bad, especially November! But then I guess I make about $60 per month from my blog and that is only very recently.
I have heard quite a bit about BANS, you have written about it but I still have no real idea of how the whole thing works, yet I would regard myself as pretty net savvy now. I have had my Leeds daily photo for a bit over 2 years now and post most days, but would love to able to generate more ££. Paul
Paul @ Leeds Photography´s last [type] ..Leeds and Liverpool Canal Warehouse Blue Plaque

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Suzanne February 17, 2011 at 6:32 pm

Hi Paul … How have you been? So that’s great to hear you are making an income on your site … what method? I guess I better come over and take a look LOL. As for BANS, I no longer promote their tool/product because the developers stopped supporting the product and with phpBay on the market I wouldn’t ever go back. I won’t take down my sites that are still performing but I won’t build more with it either. I will do a comparison here soon for those who have been following and have always been curious/interested. Are you approved for EPN (eBay’s affiliate program)? How about Amazon? Adsense? Just curious … and your comment ended up in the spam folder since you added a link in the comment (which you don’t really need to do since I have Comment Luv installed) … and I added the ninja plugin and it’s gone crazy (definitely user error! LOL) so I need to see what’s up with that huh?! Glad to hear from you … let me know if you need any help. *huGs*

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Paul @ Leeds Daily Photo February 18, 2011 at 2:55 pm

Hi Suzanne
Thanks for the reply. Never heard of EPN. Only make money from Ebuzzing and also the odd link, oddly an ad company emailed me yesterday wanting link for client. Just need to haggle over money now.
Gave up on Ad-sense, just a trickle of notional cash. Never heard of phpBay. I would be very interested in some kind of niche for Amazon or eBay. Like most people I guess just need poining in the right direction. Paul
Paul @ Leeds Daily Photo´s last [type] ..High Rise Window Cleaner

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alex February 18, 2011 at 12:18 pm

thank you for the affiliate links, ive just bought products

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mainan anak February 19, 2011 at 11:48 pm

Hey Suzzane, thanks for the info and sharing. really encourage me a lot

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Stephanie February 20, 2011 at 1:18 am

I am very new to Niche site building and am really enjoying your blog. I was wondering when you will be launching your SEO videos. I think that is something that will really help my websites. How about any information about Meta tags and how to place them on niche site??
I was reading your blog post from last may and it says you use Squeeze Theme, are you still using that?
Thanks
Stephanie

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Suzanne February 22, 2011 at 5:09 am

Hi Stephanie … SEO posts should start this week … and, yes, I’m still using Squeeze theme … but quite honestly I’m thinking of switching to either Thesis or Optimize Press here soon. Are you looking for a new theme? What would you like it to do?

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Lauren Bennett @ Affiliate Marketing for Dummies February 21, 2011 at 1:44 am

Impressive stats Suzanne! Haven’t tried phpBay and EPN, but I have been an active with Amazon’s affiliate program and have built several sites promoting physical products. What I’ve realized recently is that the real key to achieving a solid income stream through affiliate marketing is through a solid email marketing campaign. It’s really important that you can get your visitors to sign up on your opt-in to have more chances of selling.
Lauren Bennett @ Affiliate Marketing for Dummies´s last [type] ..Ways to Make Money Online

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Suzanne February 22, 2011 at 5:13 am

Hi Lauren … great to hear you’re doing well with Amazon’s affiliate program. I’ve never done well with them but I haven’t made any effort either (but I’d like to get that going this year). Do you use ReviewAzon or how do you build your sites/stores? Do they (Amazon) allow you to put affiliate links in emails or do you have to drive the traffic back to your sites? Thanks!

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Friendiversary February 21, 2011 at 3:38 pm

Thanks for posting your results. I’ve seen a lot of crazy reports on affiliate earnings…they’re a little tough to believe. Yours seem realistic for someone who knows what they’re doing…you not me that is! :)

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Suzanne February 22, 2011 at 5:16 am

Thanks for the nice comment … I will say some are pretty unbelievable but I do suppose it’s possible too. I know when I first got started with niche sites there were guys who I trust that were making $10k plus per month … I let my fear of technical stuff hold me back from success … and now I’m building up my portfolio and hope to grow my niche income substantially this year … wish me luck LOL … do you build niche sites too? Is there anything I can help with?

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Jason P February 21, 2011 at 11:56 pm

Hey Suzanne! It’s been a long time since we talked. Good to see you’re doing well, I sold my SEO business off completely and have gone into full time CPA marketing. It has changed my life! I’ve made over $50k in the last 3 months!!!! Anyway, shoot me an email if you wanna talk sometime!

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Suzanne February 22, 2011 at 5:19 am

Hey Jason … what’s up?! Great hearing from you … yeah, I dabbled with some local clients and I really enjoy it … but we also travel a lot so the thought of being “tied down” to a client’s schedule really freaks me out! LOL … but I do plan on getting a small client portfolio this year … like maybe a core of 10 clients who I enjoy working with. I hope the sale went smoothly. I sent you an email and I’d love to chat. Reply or hit me up on Skype and we’ll chat there (I’m slower than usual – crashed my dirt bike on Saturday and busted up my thumb LOL so it hurts like crazy to type *sigh*)

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Andrew @ DUBturbo February 22, 2011 at 2:51 pm

Congratulations on your earnings. I have a few questions about your niche sites:

Do you keep adding content to your sites, i.e. posts, or write the initial content and then leave it?

Do you build your own backlinks and what are any tips you could offer about that area?

Thanks.

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mahabaleshwar hotels February 23, 2011 at 12:28 am

Even i tried and starving to earn money but not getting that much what i expected.but your blog contain lots of important things which i definitely gonna to implement .

Thanks for your knowledge:)

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Eddie Gear - The Guy With An Attitude
Twitter:
February 23, 2011 at 4:12 am

Good Job Suzanne. I just stumbled up on your blog and was surprised to the see the money that you are making here. There were quite a few articles that I really enjoyed reading. Thanks for that.

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smokeless cigarettes February 23, 2011 at 8:04 am

congrats to you for earning. have you done seo or marketing for your site??
smokeless cigarettes´s last [type] ..Hello world!

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stanley February 24, 2011 at 7:41 am

never heard of niche sites! need to find more info abt them as i want to earn money as well!

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Funny T Shirts February 25, 2011 at 10:27 am

You’ve almost doubled your income in november/december in comparison with two months before. Quite impressive, well done.

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Facebook Applications February 28, 2011 at 2:17 am

Hey Sunzan

You are impress woman..I think you have better understanding about how to earn money form niche market so i want some guideline about earning program but legal.As you know there are lot of website available on the internet.who are ensure you for earning money.
Facebook Applications´s last [type] ..Introducing the Facebook Photo Theater- Here to Stay whether we “Like it” or Not!

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Simon Duck March 1, 2011 at 10:30 am

Always good to hear of someone doing well, and the little increase in money in the winter months should allow you to treat yourself a bit.

I’m in some niches, but haven’t had much success, so have been searching around for some advice. I’m selling one of my website at the moment to try and get some quick cash and then in turn I’ll be using that to build up my other niches, hopefully by the end of March I’ll have some money coming in!

Thanks again,
Simon Duck

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Aloys @ Yeast Infection in Men March 1, 2011 at 2:59 pm

Hi, this is what I call down-to-earth blogging. Real information, actual data. This is useful, thank you! I just found out from you about the phpbay micro niche sites, and searching around on this topic I also found out that Ebay will pay you commission for a week for any product purchased by a visitor sent through your website. That got me thinking that these phpbay sites may be a cool thing to look into.
Aloys @ Yeast Infection in Men´s last [type] ..Male Yeast Infection of the Mouth

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SuperMom in NY
Twitter:
March 8, 2011 at 11:10 pm

Wow. I’ve heard of BANs, but not about phpbay. I use Squidoo to create niche sites and I earn through Amazon, ebay and other affiliate networks. I am going to look into this other opportunity, I am always interested in more passive income avenues. I’m a mom to 7 kids, the youngest is autistic. I’m sure you know how expensive kids are… LOL!

:)
SuperMom in NY´s last [type] ..SuperMom in NY- A WAHM to 7 Kids That Makes Money Online updated Tue Mar 8 2011 5-56 pm CST

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kofi@jobs in Ghana
Twitter:
March 11, 2011 at 8:42 pm

There are niches that convert well; Just keep trying and expanding your keyword research, I believe there are enough room for everyone at the top.
kofi@jobs in Ghana´s last [type] ..Energy Commission Ghana Jobs- Electrical Engineer

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maryland mazda March 13, 2011 at 6:09 pm

Hi, Thanks for these kinds of interesting writing as I were able to discover here. I agree with most of what is written right here and I’ll be coming back to this website again.

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Daisy March 15, 2011 at 2:01 pm

I switched from BANS to PHPBAY over a year ago and have not looked back. One thing I learned from BANS is that I would rather buy a plugin to integrate into Wordpress, than buy a stand alone platform again. Don’t get me wrong: I made some nice money with BANS, but converting the BANS stores to WP with Phpbay was quite a pain.

Congrats on the earnings btw!
Daisy´s last [type] ..How to Get in Shape before Summer

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Clark Hetherington March 16, 2011 at 1:11 am

Hi Suzanne! I would love to read more about niches. I have a blog site recently and I want to know more how to make earnings out of it in the most friendly way. Is that possible? What do you suggest?
Clark Hetherington´s last [type] ..The Best Decision You Have Made For Your Business

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MoneyNinja
Twitter:
March 17, 2011 at 4:30 pm

Wow, those are some great numbers. I recently started an amazon niche market last month and I’m only on schedule to make like $50 for the month. I’d be really interested in knowing how your sites are set up.
MoneyNinja´s last [type] ..Breaking- It is now free to post ads on ebay!

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Hausboot March 28, 2011 at 10:39 am

looks like november and december performed twice better than previous months… was there also an increase in traffic, or you just improved the conversion rate?
Hausboot´s last [type] ..Bootscharter Holland

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Web Design Dubai April 7, 2011 at 12:44 am

This is encouraging post to start online business. I appreciate your income graph. I think there is no need to worry if temporarily income graph declines.

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New Zealand Business Directory April 8, 2011 at 11:41 pm

Great blog and very informative information in this blog, keep it up.

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Campervans April 14, 2011 at 4:28 am

I’ve just started in the affiliate field, and you’re an inspiration to me. It’s good to hear you’ve earned so much over the past few months!
Campervans´s last [type] ..1979 Vw Devon Mooaker Campervan

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FinallyFast.com
Twitter:
April 15, 2011 at 12:46 pm

You mentioned in this post that you would be hiring a couple VA’s to help out with you stores. I’ve got a pretty full plate with my business now and I’ve been considering that very option. Any feedback on your experience? Did it work out for you? Maybe a good topic for a future post!
FinallyFast.com´s last [type] ..FinallyFast Commercial – original 1 minute spot

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eric May 10, 2011 at 6:15 pm

Hey suzanne

love your blog, what nice layout you got going on here, cool articles i must say.

eric
eric´s last [type] ..The Deadbeat Millionaire – Full Review

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Kids' Craft Blogs
Twitter:
May 16, 2011 at 7:37 am

Although I just started on the internet trying to make money, posts like yours give me hope that it’s possible…
Kids’ Craft Blogs´s last [type] ..Design a Fathers Day Card in Adobe Photoshop

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Melanie May 24, 2011 at 9:53 am

Wow nice income, good job, Suzanne. Your post is inspirational for me because I’m learning how to make money online. I’m a newbie :)
Melanie´s last [type] ..Tips for guys How to attract cute women

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Lynda May 24, 2011 at 1:03 pm

Suzanne,
I am with you, anything techie and I cringe at the thought. I am glad you managed to do it on your own :) I am not familiar with phpbay but after seeing your figures I am intrigued and intend on looking into it. Great information here and thank you for posting you figures.
Lynda´s last [type] ..Diet to Go Coupons & Discount Codes

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Kevin@Dog Training June 6, 2011 at 6:29 am

WOW!!You earn quite a lot from Blogging.Congratulations!!As it is niche stores are favored by Search Engines.A General blog cannot earn that amount in a month.
Kevin@Dog Training´s last [type] ..Learn On How To Choose a Dog Trainer

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PHP Books June 6, 2011 at 10:01 am

The numbers are not average.In fact I am quite impressed with those earning amounts.Niche sites always do well.
PHP Books´s last [type] ..How to Use PHP for Better Web Development

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Appolon June 11, 2011 at 10:02 am

Wow! You have a really nice income from this blog. You show us that making money with blogs is really possible.

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portable air conditioner June 16, 2011 at 8:52 am

Suzanne,
Great article. I too am not a “techie” and struggle with it each day to learn how to grow my part-time online business. Your making great strides with your income, so congrats and keep it up! I just sold my first product from an e-commerce site I’m working on and my niche is potential seasonal as well.

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tomy June 27, 2011 at 11:47 am

Wow nice income, good job, Suzanne. Your post is inspirational for me because I’m learning how to make money online. I’m a newbie
tomy´s last [type] ..First Date Tips For Women

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Franklin D. Smithson June 27, 2011 at 9:25 pm

Great blog! Very informative and useful. Thank you for sharing it….
Franklin D. Smithson´s last [type] ..Growing Tomatoes from Seeds

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Rothman@iPad Games June 28, 2011 at 3:57 am

Suzanne! Those figures are really good and I cant wait to get there. (Threading between 100-150 a month, LOL) and Adsense is really starting to pick up. Thanks for introducing me to blogging!
Rothman@iPad Games´s last [type] ..World of Goo Review

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Mario | andrea zapatos June 29, 2011 at 5:48 pm

Hi Suzzane!. I’m just starting with niche stores (not using blog software, I have setup 1 ecommerce site using opencart). Those are great figures. How do you manage the duplicate content if you’re promoting ebay products?

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Aaron July 12, 2011 at 11:41 am

Hi I’m starting with niche stores. thanks for sharing

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Mircho July 15, 2011 at 1:55 am

and I still have a fear of upgrading from back when I started and it all had to be done manually). Unfortunately, nice articls that ur share about this matter.

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Carly Jones July 19, 2011 at 11:21 am

Wow I love you blog, btw just dropped by to say thank you for the affiliate link!

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Miniclip July 27, 2011 at 3:04 am

@Alex you are right, but beside that what’s more?

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Ayesha Malik July 29, 2011 at 4:28 am

Your blog is really nice… n Thanks for sharing your experience with us, it is really encouraging for newbies….

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Cell Phone Types July 30, 2011 at 2:25 am

Congrats to you for earning. have you done seo or marketing for your site?? and thanks for this nice blog

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friv August 8, 2011 at 11:01 pm

Do you build your own backlinks and what are any tips you could offer about that area?

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Friv August 8, 2011 at 11:02 pm

It’s really important that you can get your visitors to sign up on your opt-in to have more chances of selling.

Reply

seiko August 15, 2011 at 2:43 pm

Your Article Impress me And i Definitely Start Nich Earlier. Thanks for a very Brief Information on niche.

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unibet August 27, 2011 at 3:34 am

Nice post.After reading your post I am enjoying my self.Thanks for sharing.
unibet´s last [type] ..Vind 100 € hver måned i SEKS MÅNEDER med Dragon Island!

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