Sorry!

I'm sorry I'm not posting a lot - I blame the holidays! I've been busy, and .. well, there's not a lot to talk about. I'm still doing the same thing, working on my One Week Marketing plan. Of course, this most recent campaign has been more like a 3 week marketing plan. I have finally picked my product/keywords for my next campaign though, and I'm eager to get started. I just have to finish up with the last one!

Happily enough, I'm already getting some good traffic, and even getting some Google traffic. I feel like my keywords were a lot better this time.

I hear you now - what? One Week marketing? Keywords? What?? One Week Marketing is a system of internet marketing created by a woman named Jennifer, who's known around the internet as PotPieGirl. Over the last 3 months, I've been on a search for a way to get started making money on the internet, and in all my research, I felt that this was the right way for me to get started. The 2 biggest draws - It was easy to understand, and other than the purchase of her program, it could be done for free. Everything she teaches in her program is using free platforms, like Squidoo and Blogger.

If you're interested in earning money on the internet, visit her site at One Week Marketing. That's an affiliate link, so if you should decide to buy her system, I'll make a little money from it, she'll make a little money from it - and you'll find a fantastic way to make some extra money - maybe even enough to quit your job. Everybody wins!

Trapped in Squidoo's Spam Filter!

I had some issues with Squidoo this week. I got my lenses done for my current campaign, and when I went to publish them, they all got caught in Squidoo's 'spam filter'. But honestly, they weren't spam! I went through all the information I could find, and couldn't find any reason why they would be considered a problem. The only thing I could figure is that because they are based around a health problem, they mentioned 'diet' quite often - and Squidoo doesn't allow weight-loss lenses, because they're quite often scammy and spammy.

So - how did I solve my problem? Well, Squidoo gives you three options:

1. Edit your lens, and remove any problem causing modules or text. Well, that didn't work for me because I couldn't find any thing that was against the rules.
   
2. Delete your lens and post it on a more forgiving platform, like your own blog. Squidoo has an 'export' option, where you can download everything from your lens onto your own computer, and that way you don't lose any hard work you've done setting it up.
   
3. Have it hand reviewed by a live person - but only do this if you're willing to risk them deciding against you, and locking your lens - and if they find you have a lot of spammy stuff, they make go so far as to delete your account.
   

So, I took the plunge and asked that they be hand checked by a live person. Because I was SURE there was nothing spammy about my lenses. First though, I went into edit mode on each lens, and exported the file to my computer - just in case.

And today... Hooray! All my lenses are there and published. It's so nice to know that I was doing it right, and that the people at Squidoo are fair! It's a pleasure to deal with a company that is run by real people, and not mindless machines.

If you'd like to check out what I was working on, here's a link to the lenses for this week's campaign.

• Buy Gluten Free Food
• Gluten Free Cookbooks
• What's all the Fuss About Gluten Free Eating?
• Best Gluten Free Breads
• Recipes for Gluten Free Bread

If you'd like to find out what all the fuss is about with Squidoo, check out this free download: FREE Squidoo Guide!

Amazon Associates

I have to say, Amazon is doing pretty well for me. I'm going to break $100 this month in Amazon sales, so I can't complain about that. It will be interesting to see how things go after Christmas - after all, people still shop for a lot of these items, right? For example, some of my items are good for camping, so it stands to reason that come summer time, people may be searching for them. And kitchen items - people cook all the time, and mother's day may be great for that, too.

We'll just have to see how it goes.

Problems Galore

The last week hasn't been very profitable for me.

I've been lazy and unorganized. I've done more thinking about 'how' to do it instead of just getting in there and doing it.

I was all prepared to really buckle down yesterday and make it different. And what happens? Internet gone. ALL FREEAKIN' DAY! GAH!

Ok - so I'll just start today. Of course, it's almost 4 pm now, and I really haven't done much of anything. I've got a house guest and she's a bit chatty, which normally is fine - but I have a TON of work to do!

Good news, I'm up to 25 sales on Amazon this month so far. Bad news, is Christmas is only 10 days away, and I can see the hits on my product lenses drying up. I was averaging about 50 hits/week on my best lens, and in the past 7 days, it's only had about 25. I've dropped on the whole from 350 page views/week to 290. So the traffic is definitely moving on.

Maybe I need to start planning something for Valentine's Day? I bet I could turn some of these lenses into Valentine's day gift lenses.... hmmmmmm.

No Drive!

Image by clydeorama via Flickr

I've got no drive to get up and go this week. I'm now 4 days behind on my one week marketing! This lack of motivation is NOT going to get my family to Disney World next Christmas!

I have updated all my blogs, and have got the first part of my campaign started. It's just a matter of writing, writing writing, and I'm dragging my feet. I need a big kick in the butt!

Moving on...

Wow! I've already had 14 Amazon sales this month! That's an average of 2 a day - I'm really pretty stoked about that.

And I've started getting hits on Clickbank for my campaign from last week. Sweet. :D Just need to start getting more attention from Google to my pages. The Ezine articles should help, they were just posted yesterday. Well, the two I finished were - and I just got the email, my account was approved, so now I can get back to writing articles there. Excellent.

And now - I've started working on this week's campaign. So - I'm still a little behind on last week's campaign because of the Ezine hang-up, and we had some domestic issues that kept me from getting what I needed to do today done. But tomorrow's a holiday, and I can sit here and work my bootay off all day. :D I'm gonna be a writing fool tomorrow.

Remember! $100 a day average by my birthday in June - that's my goal! November had me at $8.40 a day, so I've got a ways to go in the next 7 months!

If you'd like to see how I'm doing it, check out One Week Marketing.

Working Hard!

Image via Wikipedia

I've been working hard this week, but had a few snags over the course of the last few days.

One of the things I did was buy a domain name. I'm using it because hoplinks - the links you use to send people to the product you're supporting - are kind of ugly and shady looking. So, I created my own url - BestWaytoLearnSpanish.info that I set up to forward to the sales page of the product I'm selling. All well and good - except that the day after I got all my Squidoo lenses, articles, blogs etc. pointing at that URL - it stopped working! I was in a panic, sure I'd done something wrong - except that they had all worked the day before. Finally, I sent an email off to customer service of my domain name server, and turned out it was an issue there, an hour later they fixed it right up. Whew!

Later in the week, I was busy at work writing Ezine articles, when I hit the end of my account limit. So now, I can't proceed with anything until my account is reviewed and they raise my limit.

I'm planning on starting another blog, on another topic, and am waiting for a PLR article pack that I bought to help me with some of the content - it's supposed to be here today, if it shows up I guess i can get started on that. AND I did go ahead and do my keyword research for the campaign I've got starting tomorrow - so that'll be exciting! I guess i can just move ahead with other things while I'm waiting for this one to catch up.

Make Me Money November Round Up

Ok - here's the scoop, not really too much different from what I wrote in the other post, but I did want to have a definitive total.

Freelance Article writing - $100
Associated Content articles - $14.08 in residuals, $3.57 in upfront payments*
Christmas Cash Squidoo Lenses - 82.46
Other affiliate sales - $52.67

So, my total for the month of November is: $252.78

Wow! It might not seem like much, and it's certainly not enough to live on - but dang! I only got serious about earning money online in about the middle of October, so to already be making that much is .. just.. wow.

The thing to remember is this - and I know I said it before - Everything I do online, once I put the work in, will keep earning me money for as long as it's online. So if I can find something that sells enough to make $10 a week, that's $10 a week for however long the internet keeps working this way, and the product stays available. And I'll keep getting that $10 a week, without having to do anymore work. So, if I can find 50 products that make $10 a week? That's $500/week, that's enough for me to live on. And 100 products? That's $1000 a week, and I'm living large. Ok, maybe $1000/week doesn't seem that big to you, but since I'm in Peru, we get by on about $900/month... so $1000/week would be HUGE. (heck, $500/week would be awesome!)

If you're interested in seeing what I'm doing on Squidoo, check out one or more of these pages -

Learning Spanish Verbs Online
Learn Spanish for Travel
Best Ways to Learn Spanish
Best Spanish Language Software
Learn How to Speak Spanish Fast

If you're interested in finding out how those pages are making me money, check out PotPieGirl's program One Week Marketing - I bought it, I've read it, I'm working it. It's not a get rich quick scheme, it's a real way to work and make money on the internet in an ethical manner. But I'm telling you now - I'm using it, and I love it. After a lifetime of being miserable working for other people and by their rules, now I'm working for me. I can't wait until I'm making enough money that my husband doesn't have to work 12-15 hour days! (That link is an affiliate link, so I will make a little money if you should buy the program - but I wouldn't be linking to it if I didn't believe in it.)

Ok... I'll get off the soap box now. :D I'm just super excited to see all my hard work is really starting to pay off - like the Tortoise and the Hare, 'Slow and Steady Wins the Race!'


*Residual is the payment I got for page views on all my articles on AC, upfront is the amount I was paid.. well, upfront, for the one article I submitted last month. (I didn't do much article writing, as I was busy with Squidoo lenses)