I Got a New Laptop (Finally)

I decided to take the plunge and purchase a new laptop for my affiliate marketing business. Actually I’ve been thinking about this for months, but I didn’t know if it was something I could afford. Yesterday while out shopping, my wife (the money miser of the family) asked if it was time to get a laptop, and had no objections to getting one right then and there. So we bought one. Read more

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[Affiliate Marketing Niche Blog Series] Step Two: Getting In The Customers’ Heads

Today I’m going to continue the Niche Blog Series with Step #2: Getting inside your customers’ heads. Or put another way, understanding the people in your niche.

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Status Update - Site Move & Domain Transfer

What happens when you transfer your domain to a new registrar at the same time that you’re moving to a new web host? Nothing, which is the problem.

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[Affiliate Marketing Niche Blog Series] Step One: Find a Niche

Welcome to step one of the Affiliate Marketing Niche Blog Series! In this installment, I’m going to find myself a niche to promote. As I type this, I actually haven’t started the process at all. So you’re going to be able to follow along with me as I actually do the research.

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The Foolproof Method for Keyword Research

I’ve discovered my own “foolproof” method of keyword research. Obviously that’s my opinion and I’m entitled to it. However if you stick with me, I think you’ll agree this method actually is foolproof.

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Affiliate Marketing is a Business

When people are first starting out with affiliate marketing, one of the most important lessons they need to learn is that this is a business. Now some people get that sooner than others. Myself? It took me awhile to figure that out, but it was important that I did.

Here’s why…

1. You need to make more than you spend. Just about every new business loses money at first, but eventually, it needs to start earning a profit or it won’t be sustainable. That’s why keeping track of your business earnings and expenses is so important.Fortunately, it’s easier than ever to keep tabs on everything. Both Intuit and Microsoft have free versions of their accounting software available for download. While these free versions don’t have all the bells and whistles, they’re far superior to spreadsheets.

   You can download either Intuit QuickBooks Simple Start or Microsoft Accounting Express and start getting a handle on your business finances.
    

2. Time is money… and neither one grows on trees. If you treat affiliate marketing like a hobby, then you’ll spend a lot of time on marketing forums. You’ll constantly be looking for the “next new thing.” You’ll be the guy or gal who buys the next great e-book from that so-called “guru” who made $100,000 last month (hey…. here’s a little secret they don’t want you to know… that “guru” made their money selling e-books to folks like you).However if you treat affiliate marketing like a business, then your time–and how you spend it–becomes more important than ever. As a business owner, learning new techniques and networking with others on forums is important, but it takes on a different perspective. As a business owner, you realize that the most important way you can spend your time is working on ways to improve your business and your profits.

   Suddenly, spending 4 hours tweaking the color scheme of your new site just doesn’t cut it anymore. You realize the colors are good enough, and instead work on ways to promote your site more effectively.

   Suddenly, as a business owner, wasting your time learning a new technique for success isn’t as enticing, as you realize the potential with the method you’re already using, but also realize you haven’t put in enough time or effort to see it pay off yet. So instead of bouncing around from method to method, you stick with what you’re doing through fruition.

   Suddenly, paying somebody to do some of the grunt work on your campaigns starts to make a lot of sense, and you start to outsource some of those tasks (keeping point #1 in mind of course) so your time is freed up for more important things.

   Can you see where this is going? Every business owner and every business is run in different ways, but the fact that you treat your affiliate marketing like a business is the key to proper time management so you can take things to the next level.

There’s probably a lot more that could be written about this subject, and why treating your affiliate marketing as a business is a good thing, but I’ll just stop here and ask for your thoughts. Why do you think it’s important to run your affiliate marketing as a business?

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BookmarkingDemon

I recently purchased BookmarkingDemon because I wanted a tool to help me social bookmark my sites. This is a process I could certainly do by hand, but anytime a software tool can speed things up, it’s sometimes worth the investment. Especially when you consider I’m only working part-time on my affiliate marketing business.

However it didn’t work for me. I was able to install it on my computer, but I can’t run the software. I’m running Windows Vista, and as it turns out, they don’t have good Vista support yet. Apparently some people have gotten it to work under Vista, but others including myself, have not been able to get it to work.

For the record, BookmarkingDemon’s technical support has been very fair and helpful in trying to resolve the issue. They’ve even offered to give me a refund.

I haven’t accepted the refund yet because I’m not sure if I want to keep the software. I was able to get it running on a Windows 2003 virtual machine I have under Microsoft’s VirtualPC software. I just really don’t find it very practical to have to launch a virtual machine just to run one piece of software. So I have to decide if I want to keep it and run it under a virtual machine, or if I should ask for the refund.

I’ll let you know what I decide in a future post.

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BANS User Forum

Until this moment, I would have said nothing but positive things about the BANS user forum. I really have learned a ton there, and it’s a huge bonus that’s included with the Build a Niche Store software. Unfortunately, I just had my first bad experience there…

Now some may think this is ticky-tacky on my part, but someone wrote a long post about a recession and whatnot, and they had to throw in some jabs about the war in Iraq. I responded in a not-so-subtle manner that there were better places to talk about that stuff than the BANS forum. As expected, the response back was how it was posted in the “general discussion” board, and they had the right to talk about it.

I’m sure they’re probably correct that they have the “right” to talk about the Iraq war there, however having a “right” to do something isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be. I mean, I have the right to be a jerk, but if I exercise that right… well that just means I’m being a jerk. See what I mean?

Enough digressing…

Maybe I overreacted, but I really don’t want to talk about politics or anything like that at a place like the BANS forum. I checked, and there are over 19 million forums that show up on Google that deal with politics. Certainly these would be better places to talk about such divisive topics. And I realize it was just one comment in one post, but where does the slippery slope end? Should we talk about Democrats versus Republicans, religion, abortion, class warfare… where would it end?

So I wrote back and basically said “goodbye.”

Did I overreact? I don’t know, maybe… probably… But the thread also made me realize that I was spending way too much time posting to that forum… time I should have been spending developing my affiliate marketing business. Time I could have used to build new BANS sites, optimizing and promoting them. Time I could have used to build up this blog (where I can truly help people).

So I think it’s a good thing this happened, because it made me realize I was spending too much time posting to the forum, and not enough time taking action on my business. Which leads me to a valuable lesson I’ve already learned in the past, but apparently keep forgetting…

Take action!

It’s so easy to get caught up watching another “how to” video… or participating in the “affiliate marketing forums”… or “learning” or “experimenting”…

Let me say unequivocally that there is nothing wrong with any of those activities. However if all you do is watch, post, learn, experiment, then you’re not taking action to further your business. There always comes a point where the learning has to stop, and the doing has to begin.

That time has come–yet again–for me.

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Social Bookmarking Widgets

Social marketing and Web 2.0 are important to your affiliate marketing efforts. I’ve had a lot of success using social bookmarking to promote my web sites and articles. Imagine how powerful it would be if your visitors helped promote your site through social bookmarks too!

I found a couple new widgets that adds a handy bookmark widget to your web sites. They make it super easy for visitors to submit your site to popular social bookmark sites.

Both widgets are completely free, and each give you a snippet of HTML code that you add to whatever pages on your web site that you want the widget to appear.

Add This - http://www.addthis.com/
This widget adds a small button to your web site that can either prompt the reader to “bookmark” the page, or “subscribe” to your site’s RSS feed. It makes it extremely easy for visitors to add the page to their favorites, or add the page to one of several popular social bookmarking sites. It does not allow visitors to e-mail the page to others. I’m currently adding the Add This bookmark button to my Build a Niche Store web sites. I add the widget in the header.php template, so the button automatically appears on every page.

Share This - http://www.sharethis.com/
This widget is similar to Add This, as it adds a button to your site. Unlike Add This, there are not options to bookmark or subscribe to an RSS feed, it only supports bookmarking. It also does not support adding the page to the visitor’s local browser favorites, but it does support all of the most popular social bookmarking sites. What makes Share This stand apart is that a visitor can use it to e-mail the current web page to their friends and family. I’m currently using the Share This widget on my Affiliate Marketing Blog, so you can check it out at the bottom of this post. I added the widget to the blog’s templates, so it automatically appears beneath every blog post.

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January Mid-Month Progress Update

I just wanted to give an update on some of the commissions I’ve earned so far this month through my Build a Niche Store sites. After the first 13 days of the month, I’ve earned $39.40 through my Commission Junction account. That brings my CJ balance up to $72.71 (when you include commissions from last month). I also earned another $13.01 from Amazon’s affiliate program through one of my BANS sites, when someone clicked on the Amazon ad on the page to buy the product.

So just from BANS alone, after only half the month so far, I earned $52.41, with a total balance of $85.72.

Now that small amount of money isn’t going to go very far, and I did have some expenses along the way also (such as web hosting fees). However… and this is the really good part… I’m just getting started here folks! You see I only have four BANS sites up and running, and have only actively promoted one of them. I’m still learning proper online marketing techniques, and so I really believe the sky’s the limit.

Sure, for the amount of time I’ve invested, I could make a ton more cash moonlighting at the local convinience store every evening, but it wouldn’t be as much fun. I’m having a blast learning about affiliate marketing, trying and experimenting with new ideas and strategies, and see how some things work and some things don’t. And even though my CJ balance isn’t that huge, there is a sense of accomplishment whenever I login to check my stats, and see that earnings balance tick upwards by a few more dollars!

Besides, the owner of the local convinience store is probably going to expect me to show up at a certain time, on certain days, without exception. As an affiliate marketer, I can set my own hours and my own goals. If it’s been a tough day at work, and I just want to relax in front of the TV or play with my daughter, then I can do that. If I want to spend 6 hours in the evening working on my affiliate marketing, I can do that too. It’s completely up to me!

As I said, the sky really is the limit. I could probably get a second job making $10/hour… working for the man… burning myself out for a little extra income. Or I can have a blast running my own affiliate marketing business… answer to no one but myself and my family… and potentially earn thousands of dollars each month doing it.

Like I keep telling people who ask, at least I’m trying something that could better myself and my family. Compared to playing video games, or watching TV all night, or going out to drink at the bars three times a week… even if I fail at affiliate marketing (and I won’t) at least I went down swinging… making an attempt to better myself and succeed.

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