salamony86

I accept the challenge!

Free Quick Start Guide For Internet Marketing

Tips and Tricks for your Internet Marketing, SEO, Affiliate Marketing Visit

jezbiz

ok shay, I quickly read the from the first post and luckily I was already planning to do a blogger site again, I already have the keyword to target and registered my blogger site. just a quick question, would it be ok if I just sell affiliate products like from clickbank?

Need Articles? chek my gig @ http://fiverr.com/markwilson

ShayB

I'll be using a Blogger blog, using a Blogger domain.

Upsells are fine!

You won't be paid in the 30 day timeframe from that, will you?

If you can find an affiliate program that pays in the timeframe, then that's fine.

JSThompson

For clarity sake you said we can't use any of our "own" money in this project. Does that include vouchers? I have one for $100 on adwords and one for $50 on FB Ads.

ShayB

Vouchers that you already have? Sure thing.

shingy

I accept your challenge ... lets start making money today

cShingy

MnyInTheBnk

I accept the challenge.

ShayB

DAY THREE

Things are progressing nicely.

I have the new blog set up and I have it gadgetized the way I like it.

Here is what I do when I set up a new blogger blog as far as gadgets are concerned. (If you don't know what a gadget is for a blogger blog, please let me know and I will explain it.)

GADGETS I REMOVE IMMEDIATELY FROM A BLOGGER BLOG

There are several gadgets that I don't like, but they come as a default on a Blogger blog. I remove them as soon as I set the blog up.

They are

~ Followers - Nobody wants to be the first person to follow a blog, and I don't want them to follow it anyway - I want them to sign up for my list. If I take away the option to follow it, then that increases the likelihood they will sign up for my list.

~ About me - I take this option off because I always add text on the blog that tells about me and tells about what the blog is for.

GADGETS I IMMEDIATELY ADD

I also add several gadgets to all of my Blogger blogs.

~ Subscription links - I add the gadgets that let people subscribe via e-mail and also RSS feeds. Would I rather than sign up for my list? Yes. But as second best I will accept that they sign up as a subscriber - I'm going to be offering an invitation to sign up for my list on every post.

~ Text boxes - I always add several text boxes that talk about what the blog is for and also tells little bit about me. I also put a disclaimer that says any links that I give could be affiliate links and then I explain what an affiliate link is.

~ Popular posts - self explanatory

~ Labels - I always want to make sure that people can find whatever posts that they might be looking for on a particular subject.

~ Blog archive - self explanatory

~ Link list - any time I create another piece of virtual real estate, I link my other stuff to it. I don't go overboard, but I do make sure that I put at least two links in there - one to my Cookie Jar Money site and the other one to my Hotsheet site.

GADGETS I ADD LATER

After a blog has some age to it and also has more content, I will add other gadgets such as pages, search box, etc. Maybe some more text to give more detail about the history of the blog.

GADGETS I NEVER ADD

~ Adsense - if I am going to try and promote my own products or an affiliate product, why do I want to jeopardize that in the hopes of getting a couple of pennies from adsense?

~ Blogger logos - Um, no.

~ News RSS feeds - I want them to read my stuff, not the current news headlines. I want the blog to be all about me me me.

Okay, as far as the domain name goes...

I always choose stuff that has my name in it. Whether it's my name or a pen name, I always choose a domain that has my name in it.

Why?

Two reasons.

1. I know that it's almost always going to be available. For example, I might have a two or three word phrase that is very popular in the search engines, but it's highly competitive and the .com is, of course, not available. Stick my name in the front of it and it magically becomes available 90% of the time.

Now, this doesn't necessarily mean that I'm going to skyrocket to the top of the search engines for that term. It gives me a warm fuzzy feeling inside to be able to get that domain name, though. It also helps it be more memorable, and it does give me traffic for those terms, judging from my stats.

So....it works for me. That's all I'm sayin'. I'm no SEO expert, but if it ain't broke, I'm not going to try and fix it.

2. Branding. They aren't going to go to just any old site. They are going to go to my site. My site with my cheesy grin avatar plastered on it. My site where I am going to give them information that they can't get anywhere else. My site so that they can get to know, like, and trust me - and get to know me better when they join my list.

---------------

Okay, done with the blog setup.

Now, I have a little bit of a dilemma, and I want your feedback.

I had several people that would like to see the site that I'm working on. They don't want to see screenshots. They want to see the actual site.

I think that being able to see the actual site would be a good learning experience, but I also know that it's going to screw up the traffic stats and maybe the subscription stats for this project. Maybe even the sales stats, too.

So... I'm gonna ask you guys.

Which would you prefer?

Screenshots of what I'm doing ( once I figure out how to post them), or do you just want me to provide a link so that you can follow along?

RickAllen

OK, day 3, the web sells page that I will drive buyers to is completed (except for some minor tweaks).
This is for example only and not to actually sell anything here. QR Code|Bar Code|Quick Response|Mobile Marketing|Allen Direct Marketing

"I can get you more sales without spending a dime more on advertising!" http://ThePRexpert.com Free video course, whitepapers and more.

ShayB

I am quite impressed!

Don Holland

Hi Shay,

I think this is a great idea for a contest. I am really enjoying following this thread. I'm not part of the challenge (this time) but I'm certainly learning from it. I hope that's okay.

I would love to see your site to follow along, but since I'm not taking the challenge, I guess my vote doesn't really count.

Don Holland

ShayB

Glad to have you following along!

It does count. Even if you're not participating, you ARE following.

RickAllen

I should add this is all done with free tools I have. I already have web hosting so using that, however if i didn't I would use a free site or WP.

"I can get you more sales without spending a dime more on advertising!" http://ThePRexpert.com Free video course, whitepapers and more.

ShayB

That is very, very impressive.

BTW - for anyone thinking of using a wordpress.com site for the challenge - can't use the free version of WP to monetize.

Thomas-West

Rick, Neat simple site, good stuff. Like you I have used all free methods so far.

Shaw, I think screen shots are ok as I understand your issues with stats, one reason why I haven't posted my site link.

I have my site completed with the exception of the payment method, not sure which one to use here. Currently writing the autoresponder messages ready to load when we get to that step.

bensonenterprise

Updated Day One: OK, I have chosen a product. It is called the "Ultimate Weight Loss Program" I chose this one because it met my criteria for adding exercises but also speaks to a person who is afraid of getting started. It talks about different methods that I believe would be very appealing to some people who are seeking a weight loss solution.

Updated Day Two: This is a bit challenging for me still because I am tempted to purchase the product so that I can show people how I am actively losing weight by using the product but at the same time this is about making money without spending money so I think I am going to go with my original idea and create a video showing people some of the arm exercises that I have recently started doing myself and document my personal weight loss journey.

Really looking forward to Day Three. I need to start thinking of what keywords I am going to be using for this don't I?

I own a small writing company that takes the time to make sure you are pleased with your end product visit my site at http://www.ebookwritingservices.org for more details.

RickAllen

Whoops, your right, it's been a long time since I used actually used WP without first going through my web hosting.

Also Shay, about showing your site, is it possible to clone it (a little extra updating each time) but would keep your stats clean. Just a thought.

"I can get you more sales without spending a dime more on advertising!" http://ThePRexpert.com Free video course, whitepapers and more.

ShayB

Just a note about what kind of site you have for this challenge.

I use Blogger because I love Blogger. I've used Blogger for years.

Any site that isn't in your control (meaning you don't have it self-hosted with your own domain) carries some risk. If you violate the site's TOS, you can have your site deleted.

BUT

I teach people to use free resources first so they can learn the basics without risking money. It's the way I started, so it's the way I teach others.

You could also use Freewebs (another fave of mine - free template site). I'm sure there are other free options, as well, but I don't want to recommend anything I haven't tried myself.

sethdrebitko

Well I think posting a link to your site wouldn't be to bad. If you think about it anyone who wants to make money online is likely part of some online community and as such would tap into that free resource.

Tiptopcat

So Day 3 Of My Challenge

Today I knew that I wouldn’t have much time to work on the 30 Day Challenge so I decided to do something that was quick and easy. I basically did a little research on the type of people that I am aiming my product at.

I found a nice batch of blogs and collected together some website addresses.

I will look at the info that they have then use these to write a couple of articles as part of my article marketing campaign.
That’s all for today.


Tiptopcat

JSThompson

I think you should post the link and let us follow along. The contest is more about following your instructions then competing with you

sethdrebitko

Day 3

Finished the design for the 3rd shirt as well as planned out the offering I will make. This is picking up well with the zombie shirt thing so I think I might just drop my secondary project and devote more time to this. To help promote things I am also going to get 2 popular freelancers in my field to do 2 small pieces as long as the kick starter hits a certain point which should encourage more sharing of the project from participants.

jezbiz

shay just post your screenshots so that others may see it, and at the same time your blog stats will be purely from real visitors..

Need Articles? chek my gig @ http://fiverr.com/markwilson

Agard

Hi, I am totally new to all this and just got scammed as well

Can someone explain to me, how do you get the product?

Thanks in advance.

ShayB

Um....there is no product. It's a free challenge thread. :confused:

bensonenterprise

screenshots, it will keep this challenge the way you intended it while still providing us with what we need to get an idea of how we should be doing it.

Sure seeing the website is great but at the end there will be some people who will say "of course you got XX hits to your site, we were all going there!" this can be avoided by simply not letting us go there and forcing us to take what we can from the screenshots.

I can work with screenshots and I appreciate that you want this challenge to be fair and accurate and I think you have the right idea. Screenshots will protect the integrity of the challenge but also give us the tools we need to be successful at it as well.

Screenshots is my vote.

I own a small writing company that takes the time to make sure you are pleased with your end product visit my site at http://www.ebookwritingservices.org for more details.

Hulk Hawking

me too. i accept this challenge.

ShayB

Bingo.

This is exactly what I want to avoid.

I think screenshots are the way I'm going to go.

KyleGolemMedia

Shay,

I started following your 30 Day Challenge and wanted to thank you for facilitating information that I really need to understand IM and get the ball rolling. I'm a web designer and understand SEO pretty well so I figure I should be using those skills to make some money on the side! Again, this is just a thank you. I'm following you on twitter too! I'm @kylegolem

Kyle Golembiewski

Jpolk74

I accept the challenge!!

ShayB

DAY FOUR

Well, this is going to be short, to the point and boring.

Working on content for the blog and my paid product. If I get time, I'll work on the autoresponder stuff, too.

ShayB

Glad you're liking it!

KyleGolemMedia

Shay,

When you work on content, do you organize a list of titles that contain keywords then begin writing? Also, how often will you push content to the blog. Once a day, 3 times a week? Just curious!

Thanks,

Ensemble

Sorry for the lack of updates, My stepson (20) had a heart attack yesterday and I will probably not get around to any work for the next couple of days.

povchef

Well I kind of cheated a bit but this challenge get me to do something. I used a domain name and my current hosting (I know its not free but that my cheat) The websites been sitting doing nothing for a few months.

Day 1: I did some keyword research, I already had one keyword from the domain name but wanted at least 3 to work with. Set up the WordPress blog for no page and off page seo. I use the all in one SEO plugin for this.

Day 2: spent the day writing content for the website. Added images and posts to the blog.

Day 3: set up all my currently written articles to post one a day. Set up a twitter account for the website and started to plan out my free gift to hook some sign ups.

Day 4: Started work on my free gift for the list - this may take some time. (still have 3 more days worth of posts).

Even if I don;t make any money with the challenge at least its got me to make some use of a domain that was sitting dormant.

Thomas-West

Ensemble sorry to hear about your stepson. It's a fact today that younger people are having heart attacks. Hope he returns to health quickly. You'll catch up.

povchef, thanks for your post it made me think about some sites I have sitting dormant here. All they need is a responder form and some followup messages and some additional posts. A couple need a product to focus on but in general they are complete. Good prompt for me there.

Agard

My bad, totally new to all this. I will just watch and learn from you for now

ShayB

*hugs*

Go take care of your stepson. I hope he's okay. Please let us know how he's doing.

ShayB

For this type of site (one that's basically a personal blog that I'll monetize), I usually just talk about various subjects without much keyword research. The keywords will pretty much flow naturally.

The exception to this is that I will target some posts with keywords pertaining to my paid product (smoothie recipes).

When I first start a blog, I try to get at least 10 posts up quickly (within a couple of days) so the blog doesn't look empty. Then I aim for 3 times a week - more if I can.

By the time I start marketing the blog, I want to make sure that I have a minimum of 10 posts up.

Let's talk for a minute about the length of posts.

When I first start a blog, the posts may be shorter because I'm trying to get some content on there mainly just to make it look filled up.

When I say shorter, I mean around 500 words.

Once I get into the blog, I shoot for around 1000 words per post.

The one thing that I do keep in mind, however, is that I don't want huge blocks of text. I want to make sure that I have spaces so that it makes things easier to read. I also want to have some headlines in the blog posts so that it makes things easier for the reader.

I'll be getting some screenshots up about what I'm talking about soon.

ShayB

I am so glad that this challenge is getting you to use some dormant assets!

Keep us posted!

bensonenterprise

OK, I have started working on the site. Hoping for your feedback. No posts yet but hoping I have the ground work completed before I started to post:

Ultimate Weight Loss Program

Let me know if I have the right idea and if I am setting it up correctly. This is really an exciting challenge.

I own a small writing company that takes the time to make sure you are pleased with your end product visit my site at http://www.ebookwritingservices.org for more details.

Tiptopcat

My Day 4 of This Challenge

I can only give a little bit of time each day to this 30 Day Challenge but that is ok. It only takes a little bit of action each day in order to achieve your ultimate goals.

I had a mini brainstorming session and wrote a new article. This will be used as part of my marketing campaign.

I resorted to using pen and paper as I was so frustrated with a particular program that I was trying to set up on my computer. Anyway the article is drafted and I just need to type it up. Then I will have it ready to submit to Ezine articles and an assortment of other article directories.


Tiptopcat

Falknersjf

I accept this challenge too.

angiedc

I'm in the same boat here. I've been planning on starting this project for months and never did. I have quite a few things that have been sitting untouched for a few months. This challenge has helped me to start working on things a little bit each day.

For days 3 and 4, I installed Wordpress onto a domain I already owned. I'm still tinkering with this trying to figure out how it all works. So far, so good, but still some perfecting to do. I figure I can spend the next day or two getting things where I want them. I've already written a few posts and will be ready to put those out there pretty quickly once I get my layout done.

Thomas-West

Boy when I joined this challenge I didn't expect todays events.
My server developed a major problem and I lost all access to my previous sites.

So now I have learned how to change a lot of things in my backend of my hosting. I had to change all access codes,(with the help of a great techo at the hosting of course) and check one at a time, darn I didn't know I had so many data bases.

Anyway it's all in a days learning. Now this does not reflect on the excellent hosting provided by this company. I have been with them for many years and this is the first time I have had such a problem. Anyway just a day in the life of an Internet Marketer, get used to it.

Mikaedi

What a great idea, especially for newbies.
I to accept the challenge

RickAllen

Didn't do much today... life happens, and the week end is booked out. I did setup a Blogger site I named "Gotta Love QR Codes" and found a few articles I can spin and use for posts and auto responder followup.

"I can get you more sales without spending a dime more on advertising!" http://ThePRexpert.com Free video course, whitepapers and more.

millionairesandie

Just saw this I'll be joining a few days behind y'all .

Great job! That's awesome!

*hugs* I hope he's OK

You're fine, she stated that as long as you've already had it that's fine. She's using software to post her blogs that she already has .

KyleGolemMedia

Like I said in previous posts, I'm not really a part of this challenge because my next month is pretty swamped but I'm following along and have started two bloggers, both of which are in different sectors of the health niche. I have an article written for each! I saw somebody state that they submit their articles to directories? Any chance you could elaborate? Thanks a bunch

iva

Since it is not really a "product development" challenge for me, I am pretty much solely focusing on becoming a successful service provider at the moment. I chose this approach to generate "seed" money for other IM-related strategies. I am trying to find clients on Fiverr and so far advertising only in my signature here at the WF. I noticed, that just by focusing on one thing, and upselling my services, I started to get results. I am pretty encouraged by that, and planning to place an ad in the "Warriors for Hire" section shortly. At the same time, I am following this thread and learning along the way.
Good luck to all!
Evgueni

Send me a PM if you have any questions.

"Ask simple questions to get simple answers"