Blog Income Life

Welcome to Sunday Morn Musings.  This is my weekly free fall – writing about whatever it is that occupies the mind on a Sunday Morn.  The idea of a “no topic” posting is the stepchild to a blog I used to write:  Four O’Clock Thursdays which is still up there if you want to check it out – more likely, I will republish some of those posts here over time.  On Sunday Morn Musings the topic may be about blogging but just as likely it may not be.

As I was doing my blog rounds this morning, I came across a comment on Website In A Weekend The topic of the day’s post was on being “done” with something … you know, like a plumber goes and does his job and at the end its done.  No more planning, continuity, fine tuning etc.  The comment that got my attention was this one:

That’s why I like doing dishes. when they’re done they’re done…clean, dry, and warm.

Carlos is a wicked blogger. He’s brand new to the game – or at least his blog Conscious One is and he knows a thing or two about life… but Carlos, darling, sweetheart, have you never heard of that old and now hackneyed saying “a woman’s work is never done?”  … back in the oooolllldddd days, men would not be caught dead anywhere near a sink let alone doing the dishes!  I know, times have changed.

That comment brought up an image of residual.  You know how we all want to have a residual income where you get paid over and over and over for doing something once.  Authors and movie stars come to mind as the obvious candidates – they get money dropping down to their bottom line every time a book sells or a movie is viewed, at least while the royalty legal is in effect.  A residual or passive income is what blogging for money is about.

But residual dishwashing?

Yeah, yeah, yeah!   I know you don’t get paid over and over and over for doing the dishes once, in fact unless you are the dishwasher at a restaurant you don’t get even a measly dinero for your effort no matter how often the dirty deed is done.   No, what I am thinking here is that doing dishes is like residual work – you get them done and put away nicely into the cupboard and like magic, there they are again, all dirty and smudged with sauces or residues of a meal, and they need to get washed again!

I have noticed in our household – all two of us, so I know who the culprit is and it is not I – that not only do the dishes need daily attention, but they even have this nasty habit of just collecting in the sink!  Huh?  I mean, how hard is it to put them in the dishwasher?  OK … ongoing domestic issue which I won’t get into here.  Ohhh, and while on the subject, once they do get into the dishwasher and get all suddsed up, scrubbed clean and dried who is it that eventually empties them and puts them into their nice little spaces in the cupboards?  Hmmm?  Hmmm?  It is not he I guarantee.  Oh, slightly off topic here, not meaning for this to become a rant (just don’t get my hackles up) or air my laundry in the blogosphere.

In fact this kind of residual work is the least rewarding – at least it is to me.  The results are fleeting at best.  Hardly the sort of motivational material that the feel good gurus go mining for.

Same thing with cleaning.  Vacuum.  Damp mop the floors.  Clean the bathroom!  Oh the list is endless.  Now I know, that there are actually women out there who claim to love to clean house.  There may even be such men, but I have never met one while I have heard with my very own ears, these most strangest and foreign of words “… I love cleaning my house….” drop from the lips of a woman.  More than once!  Yes.  Honest.  I have heard these very words even from friends.

There is something wrong with this statement.  Upon hearing that one of my own circle loves to clean, of course I immediately step up to the plate and offer her more happiness – my own house for her to clean.  You would think that anyone who LOVES to clean would jump at the opportunity to do more of what she loves so I really don’t understand the why of the painfully withered look that I am subjected to with nary a word of explanation for the contorted muscles on her face.

Now take doing the laundry … puhleeze, someone?  The laundry basket is a perpetual source of clothing, surely it can’t be just ours, I mean there is only the two of us and since my wardrobe takes me from morn to noon to night there isn’t a whole lot of changing going on (such are the blessings of a stay at home blogger) – obviously it is HE!  AGAIN!

And they say that women are clotheshorses!  Weeelll…. ok, in my previous corporate life I had a vereeee nice closet filled with clothes destined for certain “jobs” but that may be a post for another day. But with a Blog Income Life business, drop dead gorgeous suits, silky blouses and shirts, soft hand tooled leather shoes don’t draw traffic to your site (not to mention that the paycheck hasn’t reached the point of supporting  …  oh but the Armani suits!  Hmmm….. be still my beating heart, do not apply for that executive position that a certain well connected friend mentioned.  Remember the commute, the corporate politics, the quotas, the backstabbing, the deadlines, yes, take a deep breath, feet firmly planted on the ground,  aaahhh, I am over it.

Armani?  Did I hear Armani?

Shush!

Oh. Off topic again!

Carlos my darling, you are delusional.  Dishes never get “done”

To Your Awesome Blog Income Life!

Valentina

Before I get into the week, I thought you might be interested in these photos I took just a few weeks ago.Once a month on a Saturday afternoon a small group of us get together for a friendly game of Cashflow.  Today was that Saturday.  We have a good time, but more importantly we are learning the art of the deal.  Our host is a master at the game, both on the board and on the real boardwalk doing the deal.  Recently he and his wife bought some metal – silver metal.  This is a photo of their stash.

This little bundle of silver, 412 oz to be exact,  is worth $7799.16.

This second  photo is a 1/20 of an oz gold coin and is worth $58.24. Just to give you an idea of the difference between silver and gold … if that stash of silver was gold, it would be worth $479,856.40

All prices are based on the price of each metal on the date of purchase net of fees.

Today we decided to make the game more interesting.  Starting next month we’ll all throw in ten bucks.  The winner will get a 1 oz silver coin.  Overage stays in the pool to eventually fund an ingot, then a bar and perhaps eventually a brick.  I think it’s a lot more fun than just cash.  Eldorado anyone?

Now to the week at hand and the blog income life:  there was lots of internet marketing stuff but not much blogging. The week began with the Monday Master Mind meeting, which now has a name:  Internet Marketing MasterMind Group.  In my MasterMind Series over at Dave Doolin’s  I wrote about the formation of a third mind wherein things begin go move in a certain direction, without directing.  This Monday I had such an experience.  One of the members and I found out that we have a mutual connection – we are now talking about a strategic alliance.

Then there is the Internet Marketing Bootcamp.  Of course there was homework which took some time and effort.  I am putting up another blog on the Wordpress platform but  this time without the benefit of Wordpress Direct.  I want to have a better understanding of the underpinnings of Wordpress and I thought that putting something up from scratch would be a useful exercise.  It is – if somewhat painful.

Friday was a full day with my monthly Smart Thinking MasterMind Group.  This coming week I will post some of the things that I took away from this day that can apply to the online world.  During the time that we devote to “masterminding” members with their business, I took the opportunity to have my Blog Income Life  turned inside out.  I was pleasantly surprised that marketing wise it is on track based on traffic, conversions, and sales. When the numbers are crunched the ratios are decent after all.  Whew!  I also got some good feedback on how to fine tune some areas.

New Posts This Week:

Musings on a Sunday Morn …On Money, Elitism & Olympics: 31/01/10
With the Olympics on our doorstep I took the morning to express my thoughts and in that way pose a reply to those who are the perpetual complainers on monies being spent, on elitist athletes and why the Olympics.  I like to see people rise to the top of their game

Month in Review – January 2010: 01/02/10
Traffic increase by 78.22% over last.   First time on Google page one for keyword phrase “Blog Income”.  WooHoo!  Sam over at Financial Samurai has thrown down the gauntlet (or whatever it is that samurais wear) to members of his community to get their blogs to an Alexa ranking of under 200K :   Creating Power Friends: Samurai’s Alexa Ranking Challenge

Meet My Friend – Author Wendy Atkinson 02/02/10
What’s the point of owning a blog if you can’t occasionally bring out the pompoms and cheer on with a big Sis Boom Ba! for your chum?  Meet Wendy Atkinson, brand new published author and imaginateure (I think I just made up a word) extraordinaire.  Read the post and then hop on over to Amazon for your own copy of  Law of Attraction A Fable: Mr. Moon & Friends’ Simplified Blueprint to Health, Wealth and Happiness

Till next time …

To Your Awesome Blog Income Life!

Valentina

Don’t you just love it when someone has a success?  And doesn’t it just make your heart pump with joy when, better yet, it is a friend?  That’s how I am feeling right now.  Today’s post has nothing to do with building a blog income – it has everything to do with a friend who wrote a book … I mean, what’s the point of owning a blog if you can’t occasionally bring out the pompoms and cheer on with a big Sis Boom Baa! for your chum?

Meet Wendy Atkinson.

Here is her book:

Law of Attraction A Fable: Mr. Moon & Friends’ Simplified Blueprint to Health, Wealth and Happiness

To know Wendy is to know a fertile imagination.  Wendy flirts with the English language in an impish sort of way; the characters in this tale are a spoiled but scruffy lot: an egocentric cat named  Poopscapaleon Appotamus, an insecure bulldog  has been christened Roger Earl of Henry and two shallow mice are Freddie and Arthur … they must not have any traceable lineage or why else would they have no last names?

Wendy’s guardian angel must be a literary agent.  This is her first book.  Through a set of circumstances … law of attraction anyone? …  Wendy was introduced to a publisher who was completely bowled over her manuscript  lock, stock and barrel and immediately signed her on.  Now you know how even J.K. Rowling had to schlep from publisher to publisher before getting her first Harry Potter off the press?   So this must be good.  I think the publisher saw a winner in Wendy and the book. Of course Wendy will be on tour, and she’s already getting booked for seminars and guest appearances on shows.

This is a quick, feel good read whether for child or adult.  It’s a parable.  It’s charming.  There is a life lesson. No matter how you slice it,

Law of Attraction A Fable: Mr. Moon & Friends’ Simplified Blueprint to Health, Wealth and Happiness

is a good buy.

In true Mastercard tradition:

Cost to author:  sweaty equity, countless hours of misery (its tough writing), more sleepless nights than you can count on fingers, toes,  or bleating sheep jumping over fences.

Cost to you:  $19.95 + shipping

Shipping:  who knows, but tell you what, get your purchase up to over $25 -  second copy anyone? – and Amazon will ship it for free, nada, zip, that is zero dollars!

Good Feeling:  PRICELESS!

Oh!  And I am not above being bribed for an autograph … Wendy  practically lives in my back yard!

Please join me in wishing Wendy extraordinary success with her first book.

To All  Budding Authors -  Success to You!

Valentina

Did you hear that whishing sound?  That was January, the first month of a new decade rushing by!  How is your year so far?  Are you on pace for your goals? Personal, career and blog?

First day of a new month.  That means  a review of the month that was.  This has been a busy month and a lot got done.  One of the main objectives for 2010 is to grow traffic on Blog Income.    Traffic increase is goal one for 1Q.  I go for a monthly increase of 10% – 20%.  When the numbers are scant to begin that is not exactly a stretch.  I have chosen this rate of increase for two reasons:

1. I read in one of Darren Rowse’s posts that that is how he began.  I like to follow in the footsteps of success.
2. I am creating a mindset and therefore a pattern for results.  As traffic increases the 10% – 20% will be tougher, but by then it will be a pattern that my brain is set for and will inform my actions accordingly.

So, how did January stack up?  I am pleased to say that it was a good start to a good year.

#1.  Google Analytics Traffic up by 78.22% = reached 360 visits

#2.  .One of my goals for this year was to be on page 1 of Google for the keywords “blog income.”  I can now cross that one off.  This was a June 30 goal.  I gave myself that much time because I was so far down in position and found that it had wide and wild swings – now that may happen again, but it seems to have settled in on page one for several days now.  Here is an excerpt from my post of  September 28 which explains why I chose “blog income” as the keyword phrase that I wanted to dominate.

Blog Income is already a crowded playing field as I expected it to be.  Needless to say Blog Income was not available as a domain so I added the word “life”. The two key deciding factors were the two figures:

SEOT = 91
SEOC = 39,200

I learned at 30 Day Challenge to go for a niche (read that keywords) that has more than 80 SEOT and 30,000 SEOC (OK… this one is higher).  I have been peppering my posts with other keywords and now have to decide which is the next one that I want to get on page one for. (Blogger to Wordpress full article.  Whichever one it is it will be far more competitive than Blog Income.

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS OF THE MONTH

-         Played host to Mike Paetzold for a week as he published 5 guest posts here on his “Blog Tour”

-         Played guest blogger at Dave Doolin’s Website In A Weekend with four posts on MasterMinds

-         Published 18 posts

Sam over at Financial Samurai has thrown down the gauntlet (or whatever it is that samurais wear) for his community to get their blog to an Alexa of below 200K by June 30.    I started the year with an Alexa of 504,964 and ended January with 409,922.  I know it gets tougher and tougher as you approach the 200K mark, but I am confident that 200K will be toppled … of course, there are some awesome bloggers in that community that will be brandishing their “katana”  with impunity to get to that benchmark!  I have no katana, which is a samurai sword … maybe I should become a ninja (oh yes, isn’t there a course on Ninja Online Tactics … did not buy that one)

WHAT’S UP FOR FEBRUARY?

Staying focused:  Traffic increase by 20% =  432 so I’ll make that 450.  It’s a short month … amazing what a difference 3 days can make …nevertheless, the stretch is 500 plus.

I also need to work on my SE.  A few months ago I zigged in the backend – the admin area, and lost links etc.  and my SE plummeted to below 1% – gulp!  Now when I look at the actual number that come in via SE, it is not far behind what it used to be.  My referral stats have really gone up.  I read somewhere that a perfect pie chart is equal parts of 1/3.  Being as that the world is not perfect … I don’t think I’ll be seeing that any time soon, nor is it a big item with me.

I have noticed that as I keep pushing myself, my concentration is improving as is my output, not just here on this blog, but in my other businesses as well.  This is a neat game.  I like it.

Enroute to reaching that number I am sure there will be other highlights that I will be able to share with you at month end.  I wish the same for you.  In the meantime please visit often – the door is always open here and your comments are most welcome.

To Your Blog Income Success!

Valentina

Welcome to Sunday Morn Musings.  This is my weekly free fall – writing about whatever it is that occupies the mind on a Sunday Morn.  The idea of a “no topic” posting is the stepchild to a blog I used to write:  Four O’Clock Thursdays which is still up there if you want to check it out – more likely, I will republish some of those posts here over time.  On Sunday Morn Musings the topic may be about blogging but  more than likely not.

Here in Vancouver we are in the final stages of preparation for the 2010 Winter Olympics.  Two weeks from today some medals will already have been won, more to be fought over for another two weeks.   Tears of joy and tears of disappointment will be shed.  I have no doubt that it will be a momentous event and plan to watch some of my favorite winter sports and cheer on the home team.  Of course I’m rooting for them!

Right from the outset  there was unbridled opposition to the Olympics – even before we were granted them.  Mostly the opposition centered around cost:  that we can not afford the Olympics; tThat they would leave the city and province mired in debt for decades to come; that  the money could be better spent, for things such as health care, the homeless and the poor.  Others have a problem with what they perceive to be elitism.  The noise has not died down.  This being a democracy the demonstrations go on.  Frankly, I am sick and tired of them.

Fine!  You’ve made your point!  I have a point too.

On Money and Elitism.

I’m not going to get into the economic spinoffs from an event such as the Olympics.  I leave that to the economists and the government.  They do a much better job of it than I can ever hope to.  But I have some thoughts on both money and elitism.

Money and affordability.

The first thing that comes to mind is that if societies of the past were to have built only that which was affordable then the world would be a poorer place today.  So much of  man made grandeur would have never been built if it was left strictly to affordability and affordability in this case often meant not just money, but manpower which was often put at significant risk.

If money and affordability were the ultimate deciding factor we would not have the Pyramids or the Sphinx, the Great Wall of China, St. Petersburg, the Taj Mahal, the Golden Gate Bridge, city of Petra, the Channel Tunnel.  The list is not exhaustive.  It could go on for pages.

If  societies only proceeded with major projects based solely on their affordability absent would be the testament to man’s ability to create beauty, engineering feats, the power to awe and inspire future generations to greater achievements, to build a greater future on the past.

On elitism.

When did the word “elite” become a dirty word?  Granted I did not grow up in North America but when I was growing up we looked up to the elite with admiration.  We wanted to be part of that group.  Some of my friends were good at sports and wanted to join the ranks of that group of elites.  Some of my friends were artists and wanted to be amongst the elite in dance, music, painting.   In school the smart kids were an elite group and were looked up to and more kids tried harder to get good grades.  In short, to be a member of some elite group was both desirable and motivating.

You can imagine my puzzlement the first time that I heard the word “elitist” used with scorn.  It was a revelation.  Over the years I have come to understand the conflict with elitism in North America.  It seems that the biggest objection to “elite” is that by definition it is a small group, hard to get into.  Takes talent, work and perseverance and even that is no guarantee.  I have seen demand of  entitlement, deserved or otherwise, creeping like a slow but debilitating disease.  Might be desirable certainly I don’t see it as motivating.

Personally, I like to see people rise to the top of their game, whether it is in sciences, literature or sport.  I think that we as a society should acknowledge their hard work and be proud of their achievements.  If the Olympics is one way to honor our athletes, good!  Let them play the good game, let them enjoy that fleeting moment of glory and pride.  I believe that for that one moment in time humanity as a whole is uplifted to a plane that it cannot reach but can bask in the light of possibility made real by a few of its own.

Yes.  I think that sometimes you have to step up to the plate and take on a debt that has a good repayment plan and yeah, we need to champion those who can for they take us all to a higher level of our own possibilities.

Let the Games Begin!

To Your Success!

Valentina

Strange week fraught with frustrations.  I think that frustration is the biggest time thief because it is the most difficult to tame.  Frustration takes your mind off the business at hand and takes it to the crisis at hand.

Related article:  Avoid Time Thieves

This week the thief stole a lot.

It started out with nothing more than an annoyance and escalated into full blown anger.  When all … well almost all that “annoyance” has yet to be fixed… so when almost all was handled I sat down and mentally went over the events of the week.  I like to do this with a cup of hot tea and some good classic music playing in the background – can be classical or classic rock. There seems to be something in each of those two genres that gets my brain chugging along, putting things in order in a calm and logical way.  Eventually the brain and I agree … get on with the present.

One of the best antidotes to feelings of time frittered away is to sit down with notepad and pen and write out all the things that went right.  This is something I do routinely anyway, but when I am down in the dumps because things just haven’t gone my way, it is amazingly therapeutic.  So as I review the week that was, I find that there is enough to call it a good week.

Here is a summary of The Week That Was: January 24- 30

As with last week, the highlight of this week were my final installments of the MasterMind Series on Dave Doolin’s Website in a Weekend.  Writing the series stretched me in more ways than one.

First I made a commitment and its amazing how procrastination is suddenly not even an issue.  I don’t give commitments lightly, so it got me off my keester and got me writing.

Second I promised a series, or rather “shingled” articles, so they had to flow one into the other with seamless grace (eehhh… don’t know how graceful or seamless the result is).  I had to push myself and I can tell you that the feeling of having completed something at which you have to put in some extra effort is very rewarding.

Third.  I met some really neat people over at Dave’s.  That’s a cool and smart group that hangs out there and some of them came over here as commenters.  Thank you.

Guesting is a great experience.  I recommend it to every blogger and if you can muster it up, write up a set of shingles!

You may be interested in the MasterMind Series:

MasterMind Power I: How 5 Boys Achieved Unparalled Success.

MasterMind Power Part II: Napoleon Hill – Father of the MasterMind

MasterMind Power III: The 5 Ws Of a Successful Mastermind Group.

MasterMind Power IV: Some MasterMind Examples

SUMMARY OF BLOG INCOME POSTS FOR THE WEEK THAT WAS!

Sunday Morn Musing -  Of Books and Bookshelves and & More Reading Stuff 24/01/10

Sunday January 24: I emphasize the date, you’ll see why further down.    Posted my first Sunday Morn Musings  The idea that on Sunday mornings I will write about whatever it is that resides in my mind at the time, it may or may not have something to do with internet marketing.  Last Sunday it was about books and libraries in your home.

Today as I was doing my blog rounds, I happened on Jeffrey’s Bloggers Market , my first visit there ever.  Jeffrey just started  Sunday Morning Post, the first was published on, wait for it, drum roll please:

Sunday January 24!

Coincidence?  Serendipity?   Naaah.  Great minds think alike!
Read the full article

Tools of the Trade 25/01/10

What should you have in your internet marketing tool box especially now that you are flirting with Affiliate Marketing.  Some you already know about, others, such as link cloaking may surprise you.  Fill up your toolbox with these items.

Blog Income Under Attack from Cyber Gremlins 28/01/10

A sneak preview of some of the things that led to frustration and lost time.  Here too another blogger, Caroline Middlebrook is mired in frustration as she encounters some techie type issues.  What can I say except that my stars must be aligned with the right bloggers!   Avoid these pitfalls.

Let The Games Begin: 29/01/10

In two weeks’ time Vancouver will be proudly hosting the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.  Got me thinking though and somehow the dots connected to blogging, internet marketing and “launches.”See if it makes any sense to you.  The full Olympics and Internet Marketing article.

Gotta scoot on out … Toastmasters Training – I’ve been told that George Clooney is going to be the mystery guest trainer …. WOOHOO!  Yeah, right!

To Your Awesome Blog Income Life!

Valentina

Exactly two weeks today on February 12 my home town welcomes the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.  It seems only yesterday that Vancouver was awarded this singular honor and now we are in the throes of last minute everything!

This morning the radio practically crackled with all the last minute things that the city is going through.  Today the flag bearer for Canada will be announced – speculation is rife as to who that might be and why.  Listeners called in to weigh with their preferences.

With coffee firmly cradled in my hands I got to thinking … I got to thinking that there are momentous events in our lives when you just jump in and learn to swim with the tide, and other times when you need to plan everything to the minutest detail.  I think that our first day at school is just jumping in while weddings, even elopements, take some planning and of course the bigger the happy day the more details to tend to – these are the Olympics of our lives. Would I be stretching it if I said that this thinking applies to internet marketing as well?  Stay with me.

Blogging is a just jump in event.  I think it is momentous because it sets us on a new career in the world of the internet.  Sometimes we don’t even know that, it just happens.  We know of course that proper planning ups the success factor as a blogger, but really, how many people do you know who sat down day one and said, yup, gonna create me a blog, choose my niche topic, select my primary keywords, optimize my site for search engines, monetize and then sit back and enjoy an awesome blog income life?

None!

If there is a blogger out there that is pulling in the big bucks who started out that way I have neither met nor heard of him.  Most bloggers, even the superstars, began by just jumping in.  Along the way they learned to swim.

Think of it this way: as a blogger in the water your skills improve and you jump from pool to pond to bigger pond to lake to sea and finally to the ocean.  How far do you want to go out in the ocean?

At this point the landscape takes on a different perspective.  The blogger is now a full blown internet marketer and is about to launch her own product.  Just jumping in can kill you.  Takes good detailed planning – form a team, design and develop the product, beta test, form strategic alliances and joint ventures, promote, check that all engines are firing on full throttle.

LAUNCH!

Now that’s what I would call an internet Olympic event!  How do you want to participate in such an event?  As a spectator?  A supporter?  A joint venture partner?  Or do you want to be the host and throw the party?

No matter how, before the launch ever happens, you have to just jump in!

To Your Awesome Blog Income Life!

Valentina

What?  Was there a full moon or something?  It seems that the cyber gremlins have been  working over time this week and the best laid plans have gone awry.  So I am way behind on my blog income schedule for the week.

Today I am breathing easier but guess what?  This morning I read my Google subscribed email from Caroline Middlebrook – she’s a super cool gal out in the UK, smart as a whip and both IM and IT savvy, I mean she is developing her own software for crying out loud and her blog is drawing envious traffic in spite of having all but ignored it for almost a year.    Well, it seems she’s been doing battle with a weird Wordpress error that just showed up out of nowhere. Now she’s no mean techie and it was days before she fixed the error which she “hopes sticks!”

Strangely enough that makes me feel a lot better (sorry Caroline).  If someone of Caroline’s stature has to occasionally get into the innards of Wordpress and smack an offending HTML character and put it in its right place, well, then I’m at least in good company when it comes to untold hours of internet grief.

What was it that set my schedule behind?  Not a big thing, but as I previously mentioned my post on Golden Nuggets, little things do mean a lot.  The first thing was nothing more than an annoyance.  For some reason when I publish or edit and update a post, instead of the usual re-display of the posting/editing page in Wordpress, I get a blank page with a torn page icon at the top left hand corner.  The actual publishing or updating happens, but if I want to do additional work in the admin area, I have to log in again.  So far, no solution found.  This hiccup set the tone for the week.

Annoying though it may be it was not this hiccup that led to the tearing of hair, gnashing of teeth and spewing of language even I didn’t know I knew!  I am taking an internet marketing course and we had to create a Wordpress site, select a template and all the nice little things that everyone who has a Wordpress site needs to do.  What is it about those who know the steps so well that they could walk them in their sleep that when teaching it they skip through the basic steps – perhaps they think we know more than we do.

Anyway, I’ve never had to do that – you see I use Wordpress Direct which does all the setup for me.  Now that I’ve been using it since October I thought it wouldn’t hurt to learn more about the innards of the real world of Wordpress.  Aaarrrgghhh!!!

Memory is a wonderful thing even if it takes time to kick in.  Two words:  Ewen Chia .  I have several of his courses.  One of them takes you through setting up your Wordpress site/blog.  Videos.  Step by step.  Pause.  Execute.  Voila! Success at last!

I know exactly how Caroline felt when she had to deal with her Wordpress gremlin.  Mine may not have had the hefty muscles of hers but it had the same effect.  Calmness has returned to both my inner and outer worlds and peace reigns once again in the land of Blog Income Life.

To Your Awesome Success!

Valentina

Now that you have selected an affiliate to promote and bought a unique domain name it is time to fill your box with some basic tools.

1. YOUR OWN SITE –  LANDING PAGE

The good thing about affiliate marketing is that the better affiliates already have collateral material ready for you including the “long sales letter” if you want to use it.  You could just redirect your new domain name to your affiliate URL – that way the traffic goes directly to the vendor’s site and buys the product.  You get the commission.  Easy as pie.

But you really want more.  You want to capture that buyer’s name and email address so that you can send your newsletters, emails, updates and valuable information to your customer.  That is where your own landing page …  alternately referred to as a squeeze, portal or capture page comes in. Now each of these have shades of difference, but basically their main job is to entice the visitor to give you their name and email address.

This is merely a mini site that is a page long – in this instance a “page” is not a designated size, it can be a short 5 x 8, a typical 8-1/2  x 11, or, go on and on like a roll of paper.  On this page you offer an ethical bribe so that the visitor gladly fills out her name and email address.  That ethical bribe can be in the form of a free ebook, a video or cd, a subscription to a free newsletter or if you can afford it a discounted price to the affiliate product (limited number, limited time), but in order to receive these they need to register through your landing page.

2. HOSTING

If your blog is already self hosted then that is where you host your new affiliate domain name.  I use Hostgator . This was the host that was recommend when I was going through the 30 Day Challenge last summer. I find their customer service to be excellent and their pricing is competitive with other hosting companies.  Another company I see cropping up more and more often is Blue Host.

3. AUTORESPONDER

An autoresponder manages your list.  It is a way to stay in touch with your prospects, to build rapport, establish credibility and promote new products and services.  You can program a thank you page to show up after a product has been purchased.  You can keep your prospects and customers updated on new developments in your business.  An autoresponder can have sub lists so that your customers are separated from your prospects, or perhaps they responded to different promotional material that way you can customize your messages to sync with their interests.

One of the most important features of an autoresponder is that about 90% of it is on autopilot – periodically you will want to interrupt pre-loaded messages with something new and fresh with a broadcast.  Use and abuse your autoresponder, it is there to serve you, your business and your subscribers – the more you know about how to use it, the stronger your business will be. A good autoresponder starts at about $10 per month and increases as your prospect list grows.  I use iContact . It was recommended to me by my mentor as a user friendly service and indeed I found that the learning curve was minimal.

4.  LINK TRACKING

Test, test & test again and make sure that everything you do to market your affiliate is tracked precisely.  What link tracking does is that it gives you information on every URL that you have published, whether it is by email, advertisement, articles, pay-per-click, even offline. A link tracking software is way over and above the statistics that your platform system or hosting company provide – those are just an overview of traffic and the source of that traffic. 

As you become more comfortable with your affiliate marketing efforts, you will want to mine deeper into which ad or words or  title drew the most traffic and converted in sales.  You can subscribe to a monthly link tracking software such as Website Gear from $10 a month or buy from about $300 upwards.

5.  LINK CLOAKING SOFTWARE

You don’t always need link cloaking but it is a good practice to get into.  What does link cloaking do?  It changes the original URL to a different one, while still leading the visitor to the same destination – in other words, the original URL is cloaked, or hidden. One of the reasons you may want to cloak the original URL is for sheer appearance.  Have you seen URLs that take up a whole line, something like (not a real URL)

http://www.valentinasaffiliates.com/linktracking=img&affID12345

I have seen URLs that are twice the length of the above.  Not only does it look cumbersome but it is much easier for the link to break, or it can be so long that your prospect needs to cut and paste it into the browser bar – some just won’t bother and another sale is gone.

Another reason to cloak your affiliate URL is, well people can be funny.  Onliners are becoming insreasingly savvy and recognize an affiliate URL when they see one.    Sometimes, for whatever their reason might be they don’t want to have someone make a commission on their purchase so they eliminate that part of the URL that is affiliate sensitive and buy directly from the vendor… I know, the price is the same, go figure!

There are URL shortening services such a Tiny URL which are free.  The problem is that you have no control over how long the redirect will last.  Affiliate Cloner Software will do the job for a one time fee.

There will be other tools that you will want to add to your toolbox.  The five mentioned here are a good start and signal  your professionalism.

To Your Awesome Blog Income Life!

Valentina

Welcome to Sunday Morn Musings.  This is my weekly free fall – writing about whatever it is that occupies the mind on a Sunday Morn.  The idea of a “no topic” posting is the stepchild to a blog I used to write:  Four O’Clock Thursdays which is still up there if you want to check it out – more likely, I will republish some of those posts here over time.  On Sunday Morn Musings the topic may be about blogging but  probably not.

Welcome to the first edition of Sunday Morn Musings.  A weekly post without a niche, continuity of topic or an agenda of any sort… well, that last one is not true.  There is an agenda.  It is to share, to tickle, to even provoke – the main thing is, I hope that my Sunday Morn Musings will get you to thinking, and hey, maybe I’ll be able to throw in a bit of humor here and there, or at least some witticism –  that would be a major for me, I’m not known to be a ha ha type of person, it is one of those things I try to work on as I keep entering the annual humorous contest at my Toastmaster club year after year and have  yet to win the top spot and to move on to the next level of competition … I just think that the club I belong to has a lot of “ringers”, at least that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it.

It’s a grey sort of Sunday morning.  The kind that makes you want to sit curled up on your sofa with a good book in one hand and  a cuppa still steaming coffee and indulge in some good reading.  I like reading.  I love books.  My spare bedroom is both my office and  a “library” a wall lined with shelves and shelves of books.  I have always wanted to have a real library in my home, you know, the kind where the books go from floor to ceiling and from wall to wall and of course there would be one of  those ladders that moves on a track so that you can reach the top shelves of your library.  Hmmm…. how would I categorize them, organize them?

As it is my books are currently organized in my own higgledy piggledy way.  Books I buy and read for pure pleasure: the best sellers, the authors that I like, the autobiographies and historical novels, the literary prize winners  - they are all at one end of the wall slid onto the shelves alphabetically by author.  I try to leave wiggle room at the end of each shelf so that I don’t have to go rearranging the books when yet another is added and needs to be slid into the proper alphabet slot.  It’s getting tighter and tighter.  I think I am going to have to buy another bookshelf and start on another wall … and that would mean a lot of rearranging!

At the other end I have the books that will make me grow – personal development, financial savvy type stuff, internet marketing.  I have made room at the bottom of one of the bookshelves for the internet marketing courses that I have bought, and the myriad of CD’s  - takes up 3 cram filled shelves if you must know (and then there are those that reside on my computer). This second grouping of books is relatively new in my life.  I have always been an avid reader of mysteries, romance, history and intrigue and even a bit of sci fi but the books on personal growth, on getting ahead in life were introduced to me well into my adulthood.

How did I get introduced to this genre of writing and what is it about these books that keeps me  going to the bookstore for more?  Certainly they are not particularly well written – at least most are not, no Pulitzer Prize winners amongst this lot, even if they have hit the bestseller list. Years and years ago, my personal trainer Nina casually mentioned that she was reading The Artist’s Way and recommended that I read it too. Now Nina – you’ll come to know her here – is one of the most gentlest of people that I know, yet, there is nothing ambivalent about her.  She has a quiet way about her that means business. Of course I went and bought the book.  Of course I immersed myself into it.  Of course I did the exercises.

Thus began my addiction with the  self improvement industry. If you haven’t read The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron yet I cannot recommend it highly enough. It is a great excursion into self re-discovery.   Get your own copy.  You’ll want to write in it and as the years pass, periodically you’ll want to pull it off the shelf and do the whole dang thing all over again!

What about you?  Do you have a bookshelf?  What books have you got there?  Do you have a favorite?  Or is it a CDshelf (my husband has one of those).  Is it mostly music?  Of course, why bother with a cdshelf anymore – there are mp3 players and ipods and all sorts of gadgets.  Share your thoughts on books and authors and music and artists. Best………………Valentina