How I've Made Pennies
I say pennies because I have made about $300 in the past 2-3 months. But once I get a system in place, the money should roll in. 
Think of this post as a way to help even newer newbies than myself. This post might sound like a ramble, but bear with me. I have some points under all of my rambling.
I'm still new to the game but have made a small amount of money with Amazon and Adsense. I've made a whooping $5 from Linkshare. I don't have enough for Adsense to send me a check yet, although I would have if my most profitable site would not have danced away from the top just in time for Christmas. (I am still not sure why it is still gone. It has not been deindexed either).
Anyways, let me tell you a SUCCESS story before I tell you what I have done.
As a mom, I am interested in mom blogs. I'm sure you have seen or are aware of what a mom blog is, right? Just a blog with coupons, deals, housework tips, etc. My friend has a really popular mom blog. In over 2 years time, she has made her blog her full time job/full time income. An extreme example would be Money Saving Mom (not my friend, but a blog like hers) who has made enough off of affiliate marketing to pay for her house. Anyways, my friend had no knowledge of SEO. She just blogged about mom stuff. Overtime, her blog grew because she had so many pages, and people would buy stuff thru her links. At the time, she knew nothing about SEO. Now she takes that into consideration for her blog.
My pathetic mom blog that has an ugly header has made a few sales through Amazon. Why? Because of keyword searches that I never was aiming for. If you actually write content, imagine that, sometimes people will find your site and just click on the link. I would not say this is totally luck of the draw either. Just open a personal blog and see what happens on top of your regular IM efforts. Write blog posts about your purchases. Seriously. If you write, sometimes they will come.
Besides that blog, this is what I have done. I have read the forum in and out, especially at night when rocking/nursing my youngest child asleep. It is like a pass time thing to do when rocking her. I have mainly been interested in making websites like Paula and Wanda (who makes a lot of money with Amazon) and Xfactor (but more developed sites). I have had some success but am becoming a little overwhelmed right now because I don't know what I want to concentrate on.
If you read the post from the guy who has made $930 in the past couple of months or so- my efforts are similar to his. So instead of repeating everything he said, here are some things I want to suggest or reiterate:
1. Use EXACT search in Google Adwords. I have purchased websites that have keyword searches for under 1000 a month, and some with a lot more than that. However, I would focus your time and energy focusing on a profitable and INTERESTING keyword as opposed to spending your energy and time finding an easy keyword that you will rank well on immediately.
2. A website I own with a keyword with 1000 searches a month is actually my most profitable. It also has the most pages. HOWEVER, that is the one that has danced away from the top, and a lot of pages does not always convert well either. I have a few pages of well written content, but it is clearly an Amazon affiliate blog with some WP-Robot auto posts included. Is this why it has not resumed to the front page of Google for the main and long tail keywords? I don't know.
2. I have several sites with one page of content and WP Robot posts. No sales on one of them but I have had clicks to Amazon. I have another site with one page of content and WP Robot posts with no keywords on the top of Google yet. However, I have made a very large commissioned sale. People found me through long tail searches. I also have a small informational site with a ridiculous amount of hits daily. It is still fairly new, so no sales yet (but a lot of clicks to Amazon).
3. I have made money by people clicking on my site from StumbleUpon. However, I think it was only because of Christmas shopping.
4. It is very important to have your site PING a lot of sites. I am a War Room Member so I have gone through most Amazon/Adsense WSO in that room. There is a great one in there with a list of sites to add to Wordpress. My new post is usually indexed in Google searches very quickly after all the pinging happens.
5. I don't bother anymore with the amount of competition unless I want to top Google quickly. I just looked for anchor text, backlinks, and SEO on page. However, the smaller amount of competition is of course better for easier ranking.
6. You will get burnt out if you are bored with your keywords. This goes back to point number 1. I was so bored with the keywords that I ranked well for, that I have such little content. I am like on the front page and have had 1 sale in months.
7. Use text links and some pictures.
8. Write CONTENT.
9. I have had success with WP Robot. However, my sites primarily using the robot has danced away from the top even with content. Hopefully they return soon. Not sure why this has happened.
10. Don't write your posts always around a keyword. Sometimes overly focusing on a keyword is a turn off. Most of my searches come from long tail words I was not aiming for. Only ONE of my sites receives most traffic from the keyword I was aiming for when I bought the site.
11. I did make a pathetic Squidoo lenses for Christmas that targeted a VERY specific keyword. I did have a few Amazon sales from that...just not the product I was aiming for. But, $$ is $$.
Things I have purchased:
1. War Room
2. One WSO under $15
3. Amazon WP Robot for the purpose of combining with content
4. Websites- Buy thru Google Apps unless you have a 99 cent coupon with Go Daddy. It only cost $10 AND you get free private registration. However, I think Name Cheap has free private reg with a coupon code.
Things I have wasted my time on
1. Buying websites with keywords I had no interest in.
2. Buying websites thinking people will want it because of the name.
3. Not taking action
4. Not focusing on one project at a time
5. Multitasking
What I mean by number 5 is I am overwhelmed. If I would just sit down, pick one thing to focus on, maybe I would make more money. However, I waste time trying to make QUICK money that I end up making NO money.
Remember, this is like any other job. It takes WORK.
Hope this helps. I know it is nothing new. I was just trying to tell you that even a newby can make money.
Think of this post as a way to help even newer newbies than myself. This post might sound like a ramble, but bear with me. I have some points under all of my rambling.
I'm still new to the game but have made a small amount of money with Amazon and Adsense. I've made a whooping $5 from Linkshare. I don't have enough for Adsense to send me a check yet, although I would have if my most profitable site would not have danced away from the top just in time for Christmas. (I am still not sure why it is still gone. It has not been deindexed either).
Anyways, let me tell you a SUCCESS story before I tell you what I have done.
As a mom, I am interested in mom blogs. I'm sure you have seen or are aware of what a mom blog is, right? Just a blog with coupons, deals, housework tips, etc. My friend has a really popular mom blog. In over 2 years time, she has made her blog her full time job/full time income. An extreme example would be Money Saving Mom (not my friend, but a blog like hers) who has made enough off of affiliate marketing to pay for her house. Anyways, my friend had no knowledge of SEO. She just blogged about mom stuff. Overtime, her blog grew because she had so many pages, and people would buy stuff thru her links. At the time, she knew nothing about SEO. Now she takes that into consideration for her blog.
My pathetic mom blog that has an ugly header has made a few sales through Amazon. Why? Because of keyword searches that I never was aiming for. If you actually write content, imagine that, sometimes people will find your site and just click on the link. I would not say this is totally luck of the draw either. Just open a personal blog and see what happens on top of your regular IM efforts. Write blog posts about your purchases. Seriously. If you write, sometimes they will come.
Besides that blog, this is what I have done. I have read the forum in and out, especially at night when rocking/nursing my youngest child asleep. It is like a pass time thing to do when rocking her. I have mainly been interested in making websites like Paula and Wanda (who makes a lot of money with Amazon) and Xfactor (but more developed sites). I have had some success but am becoming a little overwhelmed right now because I don't know what I want to concentrate on.
If you read the post from the guy who has made $930 in the past couple of months or so- my efforts are similar to his. So instead of repeating everything he said, here are some things I want to suggest or reiterate:
1. Use EXACT search in Google Adwords. I have purchased websites that have keyword searches for under 1000 a month, and some with a lot more than that. However, I would focus your time and energy focusing on a profitable and INTERESTING keyword as opposed to spending your energy and time finding an easy keyword that you will rank well on immediately.
2. A website I own with a keyword with 1000 searches a month is actually my most profitable. It also has the most pages. HOWEVER, that is the one that has danced away from the top, and a lot of pages does not always convert well either. I have a few pages of well written content, but it is clearly an Amazon affiliate blog with some WP-Robot auto posts included. Is this why it has not resumed to the front page of Google for the main and long tail keywords? I don't know.
2. I have several sites with one page of content and WP Robot posts. No sales on one of them but I have had clicks to Amazon. I have another site with one page of content and WP Robot posts with no keywords on the top of Google yet. However, I have made a very large commissioned sale. People found me through long tail searches. I also have a small informational site with a ridiculous amount of hits daily. It is still fairly new, so no sales yet (but a lot of clicks to Amazon).
3. I have made money by people clicking on my site from StumbleUpon. However, I think it was only because of Christmas shopping.
4. It is very important to have your site PING a lot of sites. I am a War Room Member so I have gone through most Amazon/Adsense WSO in that room. There is a great one in there with a list of sites to add to Wordpress. My new post is usually indexed in Google searches very quickly after all the pinging happens.
5. I don't bother anymore with the amount of competition unless I want to top Google quickly. I just looked for anchor text, backlinks, and SEO on page. However, the smaller amount of competition is of course better for easier ranking.
6. You will get burnt out if you are bored with your keywords. This goes back to point number 1. I was so bored with the keywords that I ranked well for, that I have such little content. I am like on the front page and have had 1 sale in months.
7. Use text links and some pictures.
8. Write CONTENT.
9. I have had success with WP Robot. However, my sites primarily using the robot has danced away from the top even with content. Hopefully they return soon. Not sure why this has happened.
10. Don't write your posts always around a keyword. Sometimes overly focusing on a keyword is a turn off. Most of my searches come from long tail words I was not aiming for. Only ONE of my sites receives most traffic from the keyword I was aiming for when I bought the site.
11. I did make a pathetic Squidoo lenses for Christmas that targeted a VERY specific keyword. I did have a few Amazon sales from that...just not the product I was aiming for. But, $$ is $$.
Things I have purchased:
1. War Room
2. One WSO under $15
3. Amazon WP Robot for the purpose of combining with content
4. Websites- Buy thru Google Apps unless you have a 99 cent coupon with Go Daddy. It only cost $10 AND you get free private registration. However, I think Name Cheap has free private reg with a coupon code.
Things I have wasted my time on
1. Buying websites with keywords I had no interest in.
2. Buying websites thinking people will want it because of the name.
3. Not taking action
4. Not focusing on one project at a time
5. Multitasking
What I mean by number 5 is I am overwhelmed. If I would just sit down, pick one thing to focus on, maybe I would make more money. However, I waste time trying to make QUICK money that I end up making NO money.
Remember, this is like any other job. It takes WORK.
Hope this helps. I know it is nothing new. I was just trying to tell you that even a newby can make money.
Pen Name + 8 eBooks + social media sites 4 SALE - PM me (evergreen beauty niche)
Learn how you can get paid writing online with NO startup money! I will help you make part-time or full-time income as a freelance writer at http://getpaidwriting.org. No previous writing experience necessary!
- Jack Trout
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