Thursday Night at Lynn's

It's Thursday night, and quiet - the kids have already gone up to bed. We all went out earlier to do a bit of shopping and have dinner, which was nice. While we were at the mall, Albert ran into the man that originally owned the house I've been looking at. We found out what the lot, and construction of the house, costed - why they sold, and more about the 2nd owners. The house is a GOOD deal at the price they're asking (159,900) - so I'll be very pleased if they accept a lower offer (which she said was very possible).

All of this has, of course, been a huge motivator to me business-wise. I'm planning to double my income this year, and putting a lot of thought into my marketing strategy and short-term goals. One thing that I decided from the beginning was that I did not want to change. Meaning, I dont want to become a pushy sales-person, or one of those newsletter publishers that sends nothing but promos for "the next best thing" that I can make a buck on.

I want to continue to offer the best content possible - on my site, in my newsletter and through my forum - and also continue to offer the free phone consultations. In fact, in 2005, I plan to go above and beyond in ALL of those areas.

With that decision made, I'm going to focus on my other sources of income. Specifically on the new affiliate site and my Google Adwords campaigns. My latest promotion on Google is still moving very slow, but very profitable - which is fine by me. I'm keeping a very close eye on it.

As for the affiliate site, we're still working on it daily. It is very plain, and I have considered 'dressing it up' with a nicer template - but for the moment have decided not to. While it is plain, it is also very straight forward, easy to navigate and the focus is on the products. I am planning to use this site as a Case Study later this year within the Turning Ideas Into Dollars portal, and want to make the point that you dont need extensive web design knowledge or experience to put together a successful affiliate site.

We've stopped adding pages and products for the moment, and are focusing on the Link Strategy. Albert is working on that now, actually - he is submitting links that he can do easily, and compiling a report of all that require payment or a reciprocal link so that I can review those later.

He asked, "How many inbound links do you want me to get for each page?"

I said, "As many as it takes to get to #1" :-)


It's the same strategy that I've discussed three recent issues of SSWT:

12/15: Creating Affiliate-Based Websites

12/21: Creating Affiliate Sites, Part Two

12/28: Using Competition To Your Advantage & "Link Strategy"

What we are doing is gaining Inbound Links to each and every page of the affiliate site. Not just to the site itself (as in, the main page), but to each category or page. There are currently over 200 pages to this site, and I'd like for every one of them to rank in the top 3 on Google & Yahoo for their keyword phrase.

Some of them require 10 or so inbound links, some of them 100 or more. This is a process, so we're just working on it one day at a time - obviously focusing on the more profitable areas of the site first.

Albert being totally green to all of this 'internet marketing stuff', it's cool to see him doing so well with the various parts of this project. With 15 minutes of explanation and details, he's off on his own for hours. I cant even begin to tell you how great this is for me - as it free's me up to focus on the other things I want and need to be doing.

Too, it's really nice to know that anybody can do this type of work from home, with just a little instruction. The people that I work with one-on-one all seem to be making great progress, and that makes it all worth it! I think I enjoy that more than any other aspect of my business - the personal mentoring, phone consultations, and of course my weekly newsletter.

I plan to do more audio this year, and also offer detailed video tutorials - both of which should be available over the next couple of months. I would really love to get this kind of information to more people - to help them grasp the concepts, and get their own profitable ventures up and running.

There's nothing like it. This is the BEST type of business to be in. Truly the "American Dream" for our generation... but not just limited to Americans. Anyone, anywhere, can do very well in e-business - with just a bit of help and guidance.

All it takes is an Idea, or the desire. Everything else can be acquired or learned ;)