Need Some Direction

[lydia515]

Hi all,

This new year I've put in some resolve and I want to achieve some sort of affiliate marketing success by taking consistent and focused attention. I see a lot of glimmering and shiny stuff that I want to try but I now know that if I keep changing my mind, I may not find the kind of success I'm looking for. I'm not looking for get rich quick stuff. I'm willing to put in the hours and effort to get there.

However, I have limited time as I have a full-time 2 shift day job. Here's where I hope some kind soul (or souls) can help me out. This is what I'm planning to do for the whole of this year. Please critique me and give me more direction if you find my plan vague.

I am currently trying out Squidoo as a way for affiliate marketing. It is my main 'site'. I do not intend to set up my own site or blog as yet. This I've reserved for next year's learnings. I now believe (even though I have this urge inside me to try something else) that I have to try out a particular method a few times first before I pass on any judgment on whether it's working or not.

So this 'first' year, I'm trying out Squidoo. Simply because Google loves Squidoo and it's quite simple to set a lens up. Furthermore, its high pr site can get my lens indexed fast.

So this is what I'm planning to do. In each month,

#1 Set up a lens in a particular niche.
#2 Set up 2 other support lens as backlinks for my main lens.
#3 Writing and submitting 10 articles through eza to bring visitors and as links to my main lens.
#4 Writing and submitting 2 isnare articles which will be submitted about 45 days apart from each other.
#5 Write 4 articles and submit through senuke (a software that automates certain tasks like social bookmarking and rss submissions). This will act as backlinks and traffic for my main lens.

I will try to do one niche each month. Only after trying this 10 times will I then decide if this is a good way or not. However, there is a part of me that hopes I'm not wasting another year of doing a lot and not getting any in return.

I would love for some feedback or comment on my method. Am I wasting my time or should I just give it a go? Is there a particular aspect of marketing that I've left out? Give me your comment. Thanks. Really appreciate it.

[Stephen Clark]

Sounds like you have a great plan laid out! The main thing I can advise is to watch out for distractions along the way. Now, I don't mean that the rest of your life has to be put on hold, but you will find that little things can easily creep in and sap all of your time away.

If you stay steady with this for a year, I don't see any reason that you would not be making some decent profit!

To your success,
Stephen Henderson

[Teenage Genius]

I agree with Stephen, the biggest thing which can slow you down now is distractions. I think it makes good practice for any marketer to set aside hours for working and during that time turn off all music, messenger, games, tv, the works. - It's too easy to take a quick snoop at a website and then end up being on the net for hours, only to realise you haven't made any progress with your business.

I heard a great quote from The Layer Cake which might serve you some purpose here: "Have A Plan And Stick To It!"

All the best mate,
T.Genius

[ashwinsatyanarayana]

I agree with stephen here.

Kick distractions away. Stay the course.

I am guilty of leaving something midway, for example, and I have learnt it the hard way. Just keep doing it until your beak dips into gold.

[zoobie]

I am wondering the quality of lens and hubpages that SENuke generates.
I have few hubs got flagged and had it removed. So if the quality aren't that good then I might have a problem with that.

By the way, how much is SENuke now?

thanks

[lydia515]

Originally Posted by Teenage Genius

"Have A Plan And Stick To It!"

All the best mate,
T.Genius

Ha, ha, that's exactly what I'm trying to do. Thanks guys for the advice. I will try to stick with this. Hopefully, by this time next year, I can finally have a taste of some sort of affiliate marketing success!

Originally Posted by zoobie

I am wondering the quality of lens and hubpages that SENuke generates.
I have few hubs got flagged and had it removed. So if the quality aren't that good then I might have a problem with that.

By the way, how much is SENuke now?

thanks

Hi zoobie, I'm still trying out senuke. But i think it depends on how you use it. What some people do is they create and add content to hubpages, ezinearticles and article content separately. Then they use senuke to submit to the other sites. It's $97 right now but will go up to $127 in march I think.

[rondo]

I suggest you spend the year building links to a site you actually own.

Andrew

[Rachel Zaouche]

Hi Lydia

I would agree with Rondo in that you should be spending the time generating links to a site you actually own and therefore have more control over.

But squidoo is an excellent testing ground if you use it properly. Build a good quality lens etc and then see what keywords people use to find your lens. Write blog posts on each of these keywords to drive traffic back to your own site.

And link out to your own site from the lens and also back to the lens from your site.

Use your two links on ezine articles - one direct to your lens and one direct to your site (or direct to affiliate program if you use top level domain redirect)

Good luck and stay focused. This little tool may help -www.stayonfocus.com (not mine but recommended to me by a friend who says I should wear sunglasses so I dont get attracted to shiny new stuff)

Best wishes

Rach

[lydia515]

Originally Posted by Rachel Zaouche

Hi Lydia

I would agree with Rondo in that you should be spending the time generating links to a site you actually own and therefore have more control over.

But squidoo is an excellent testing ground if you use it properly. Build a good quality lens etc and then see what keywords people use to find your lens. Write blog posts on each of these keywords to drive traffic back to your own site.

And link out to your own site from the lens and also back to the lens from your site.

Use your two links on ezine articles - one direct to your lens and one direct to your site (or direct to affiliate program if you use top level domain redirect)

Good luck and stay focused. This little tool may help -www.stayonfocus.com (not mine but recommended to me by a friend who says I should wear sunglasses so I dont get attracted to shiny new stuff)

Best wishes

Rach

Hi Rach,

I know what you're trying to say. I have two blogs that I've been playing around with. But I think to get it noticed by Google takes a lot more effort. And it's a whole different ball game. In Squidoo, I have this one main lens where I'm focusing on and building traffic for. In blogs, I have a few pages that I have to build traffic for and it's just taking forever. By the time I'm halfway through, I feel like doing something else. That's why I thought of doing blogs/ sites next year when I'm more ready.

Well, that's one of the reasons why I chose to go the Squidoo way.

[zoobie]

Hi Rachel, I would suggest a one way link rather than two way links exchange. As Google nowadays weight one way links more. Hopes that help

[TLTheLiberator]

Squidoo is great for traffic generation but since it has so many distractions I wouldn't use it for any thing else.

If you need a very easy to setup landing page(s) to presell your prospects you can use... synthasite.com.

Is free and there will be no other ads other than yours.

Hope This Helps!!

TL

[mikemcmillan]

Lydia515--Good plan. I would make a short 3 min video on each product you promote as well. Put it up to YouTube and about a dozen other sites...metaCafe, Viddler, DailyMotion, etc.

Two Squidoo Tips: First, when you submit your EZAs (in your author resource box) have one link go out to the product you are promoting (your affiliate link) and second going to a squeeze page you have to grow your list. Offer them some kind of bonus for opting in.

Second: If you are promoting a specific affiliate product, it is vital that you get your lens up ASAP when you find a new launch coming up. You should actually try to get your lens functional a week prior to the launch if possible. Actually, when I get a new product launch announcement in my niche, even if it is 5-6 weeks off, I beat a path to Squidoo and get a great URL for my lens before 100 other Squids get the good ones.

Squidoo can sell a lot of products for you, but you've got to be promoting something very, very new!!! A few weeks after a product launch you will get very little traffic and sales... gotta be there for the initial buzz.

Gotta remember, when a new product launch occurs, the big JV partners are sending out a cumulative hundreds of thousands, even millions of emails, and the recipients often go to Google to find review sites where they can get good bonuses for the product. The big JV partners will only send out promotional emails for a week, maybe ten days, after that the buzz dies down very fast and so will your traffic even if you're on the front page of Google.

If you do the iSnare thing, by the time your second article goes live such a buzz will be long gone. iSnare also takes much longer to approve articles than EZA.

Get in on the initial two week buzz for a new product and milk if for all it's worth with your lens. Then move on to creating a new one. You MUST give away some great bonus for your affiliate product to get any sales.

Good luck kid!