Monthly Update for February

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It's that time again - time for another monthly update.

I've found a new way of making backlinks for my pages, and it really seems to be working well. I've seen about a 20% increase in traffic, and have also seen an increase in my Amazon sales, and I've only been doing it about 3 weeks now. I've got so many lenses out there, but none of them are really ranking well in Google, so I thought for the next short while, I'd change tactics and spend more time building on what I have, rather than making a bunch of new stuff that's not earning me anything.

One thing I did realize - that I'll start working on this coming month - is that I can use blog posts and other articles I've written on Associated Content and make some money from them. Most of them will just need a little bit of editing, and I can't make any upfront money from them - but they can add to my page views.

So - here's the numbers:

Freelance writing: $100
Associated Content: $2.97
Amazon: $43.28
Other affiliates: 0

Grand Total: $146.25

So - No clickbank sales this month, which is a definite bummer. I'm going to promote my OWM sites hard core this coming month, and do a ton of backlinks to those sites, so hopefully, that will make a big difference.

ALSO - I'm taking on some more freelance work, doing backlinks for someone else, so I'll be making another $50/month on that one.

Slowly, but sure, I think I can see things starting to turn a corner!

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.

Working Hard!

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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.

One week later...

I've spent most of the last week making backlinks for my Squidoo lenses. I now know what my least favorite part of Internet Marketing is - making backlinks. Basically, I've been writing articles of about 300 words in which I can put a link back to my Squidoo lens - (get it? link back = backlink!) and posting them on free article sites. I've put some on Ezine.com, some on 3stepads.com and even more on various other similar article directories. But that's what you've got to do, soI'm doing it! My lenses still aren't where I want them to be in Google - I've got about a third of them on the front page, some at the #3 and #4 spots. I originally had a lot more - but I can see that the Christmas competition is really heating up, and other pages are passing me by. So, I'll just keep on chugging along, and make as many back links as I can, and hopefully get the rest of these things at least up to the first page of Google.

I HAVE had some good news though - two more sales this week, for which I earned about $10. So it is possible to make money with Squidoo lenses and as an Amazon Associate. $10 in a week doesn't sound like a lot - but you figure, I wrote an article also for $25, and made about $4 on page views. so that's nearly $40 this week. Ok.. still not a lot -- but I'm new! I'm just starting, and still learning. And if I can make $40/week with what I've got, I can double it and make $80. Then triple it, and make $120. Remember, with affiliate marketing, it's that set it and forget it thing - once you've got the work done, it keeps making money for you even if you don't do anything else.

Also, my money came in this Monday, so I've done a transfer over to PayPal. As soon as that's through, I'll be purchasing One Week Marketing from PotPieGirl. I'm REALLY eager to get started!! I already have a couple niche ideas, so I just need to get the blue print on how to get started. If you think One Week Marketing might be something you'd like to try, or if you're just interested in seeing what it's all about, PotPieGirl let's you download the first 18 pages for free. Check it out if you're at all interested in making money online.

If you've checked out Squidoo and would like to know how to get started making lenses the easiest way, PotPieGirl also makes a great Squidoo tutorial available for free download. I had already started making Squidoo lenses and thought I knew what I was doing - her tutorial made me better and faster. I recommend it if you want to make money - or just make lenses. It's free, so you can't go wrong.

Oh - and my lens traffic? Remember last week when I said it had moved up to 215 views per week? Up through today I was at 320/week. w00t!

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My 6 Month Make Me Money Challenge

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I'm an avid reader of the website Internet Marketing for Mommies where I've been studying Jackie Lee's Beginner's Internet Marketing Strategy. This week, Jackie has written a post titled "Are You Going to Make Next Year Different Than This Year?" and has challenged her readers to FOCUS. To focus on one thing, one method of making money, and to throw everything we have into making that one thing work. I, for one, am up to the challenge - and figured, hey, I should blog about it and let the world see. I believe I can be successful in my attempts to "make me money", and if I can do it, anyone who has doubts in themselves may read this and decide that they can do it too!

So first, a bit of background.

I'm a stay at home mom, living in Lima, Peru. My main income is a house I own and rent out back in the United States. But the income from that has been problematic; what with tenants moving out, unreliable property managers and emergency repairs there's actually been next to nothing to live off for the last 2 years. I've done a bit of blogging as a mostly diary keeping sort of thing, to keep track of what I'm doing in my life. Back in August, (about 3 months ago) I was offered an opportunity to write some articles for a friend's website. Since I love writing, and needed the money desperately, I immediately agreed.

It worked out really well - so well, in fact, that it became a full time gig, which is great! I enjoyed it so much, I started looking for other places online where I could write, and soon found Associated Content, where I have posted around 50 articles since I first made my account. It's a small income, but it has generated around $30 or so per month since I started - and the nice thing is that it is residual income. I don't have to do anything else, as long as people read my articles, I'll keep getting a few bucks a month.

In my quest to create more 'buzz' for the articles I was writing, I made my way to Squidoo.com. My original plan was to simply create a page where I could make some links to my articles on AC - more links means more love from Google, right? I was hoping to get my articles higher in the Google page rankings, and hopefully draw more page views.

But when I found Squidoo, I quickly realized the potential for making money from the site. It wasn't long until I found Jackie Lee's websites, and those of PotPieGirl - both women who started with nothing - work at home mom's who had no money to invest, just like me! - and have been able to achieve their dreams through working smart and working hard, online. What I really have appreciated the most about both women is that they don't try to sell, sell, sell me products that I HAVE to have in order to make me money. They both are quite positive that it's possible to earn money online without having anything to invest. Well, I can already vouch for that! In 3 months, I've so far made about $600 online - without investing a penny, except for the computer I already had. What I have invested, is time. Lots of it.

Now I could sit here and thing - Jeeze, Louise, I'm working as hard as a real job, and only making a couple hundred dollars a month! However - what you need to realize is that once that work is done, it's DONE. And the work I've done - articles, blogs, Squidoo lenses - will always be there, earning me passive income. Residual income that I won't have to do any more work for! The goal is to have as many little points of income as I can make - and each little spot will keep earning for me, for as long as the internet is around, anyway :)

So - that brings us to the challenge. I am taking Jackie Lee up on her challenge - to focus on one goal and on one method. See, there are a million ways to make money online, and when you're new at this, it can easy to be distracted by all those bright and shiny toys they throw at you: Do This, and Start Raking in the Money! So, you do that... and the money doesn't come in fast, so you pop off to another idea... and another... and another after that. Sorry folks - After only 3 months of working on the internet, i can tell you it just doesn't work that way. The way to making a real, livable income is to focus on one thing and WORK IT.

So:
1) I am going to invest in PotPieGirl's One Week Marketing Plan. (PotPieGirl will let you download the first 18 pages of her OWM plan for free at that link - if you want to make money on line, check it out! it's worth a read)
2) I have already bought MicroNiche Finder - a keyword tool to help me find product and niches to focus on.
3) Total investment - less than $200 (But remember, I started with NOTHING and already earned $600, so I'm actually just re-investing some of my earnings back into my business)

I'm going to use OWM to create one niche per week, every week, between now and my birthday in June. My goal is to be earning a minimum of $1000/month from online sources by the time I turn 47.

So, won't you follow along in my journey? Perhaps we can learn something together! And let's find some ways to make me money!

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