How to Become a Six Figure Freelance Graphic Designer
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Wow. My last post on Battlestar Galactica is by far the most popular post I’ve ever written. Thanks for the comments and kind words. Obviously, a lot of people are still worked up about the BSG final. I’ve got some new ideas and theories as to what might be going, which I’ll publish in my next post (perhaps later tonight, time permitting). We’ll have to see.
Anyway, this next post is a guest post written by Aaron Abber. I think it’s an interesting article on how you can make money online as a graphic designer. If you’re interested in ways to make some extra money online, you might want to sign up for his newsletter. You can get to it by clicking on the link on the upper left. Here’s the article:
A couple of my subscribers wanted to know how they can make some money selling graphics. Being the overachieving giver I am, I decided to show them how not to make just a few cents, but to…
“Earn $100,000 or more Per Year”
Earning big bucks in any business requires some of the same features:
- A Way to Attract Potential Customers
- An Incentive (or Two) to Get them to Subscribe
- A Product to Sell Them
- An Effective Sales Process
Let’s break these down for the freelance graphic designer…
“Who is the Potential Customer?”
Most “creative” types are not marketing types. That’s OK ’cause and effective business needs both and it is much easier to learn marketing than it is to learn how to be artistically creative. The first thing someone who wants to be a freelancer needs to do is consider who buys products from freelance graphics people.
The Starter Small Business Website
Small businesses understand they need to have sharp graphics on their sites and have a small budget to get it done. Typically they are spending as little as possible to get a banner or logo made. $100 per graphic or logo is probably the limit, meaning you have to attract 300-500 new customers a year (since some of them will buy multiple times) in oder to make $100K.
The Secure Small Business Website
This can be a solid money maker. They have a bigger budget and can see the value of a $400.00 logo. The owner doesn’t want to spend the time trying to create the graphics himself so he is more than willing to get a long-term relationship with a freelance graphic designer. They are still “mom and pop” run, but have the budget to pay you.
“Target the Biggest Mom and Pop Store in Each Niche”
In almost every market niche there are a few websites that dominate the niche. Make a list of the top five or so with contact information. Then visit their sites. See how you could improve the graphic design of those particular sites.
Then contact the owners, offering to do a site redesign free.
“Add Them to Your Portfolio”
Tell them you want only three things from them:
First, you want to be able to add them to your portfolio.
Second, you want to have a link on their main page pointing back to your developer site.
Third, an acknowledgment from them on their site saying you did the redesign.
This accomplishes several things for you. It gives you instant credibility. “If so-and-so used him, he must be good.” It gives you traffic from the link back. It helps your search position by placing a solid keyword phrase on the high PR main pages of authority sites. It provides an instant, high value, testimonial.
“Create a Seductive Hot Resource”
At your site you want to offer your visitors a free download to get them on your RSS and email lists. As a graphic designer you want your download to be something related to how your services will benefit them. It needs to have a compelling, benefit laden title and a professional looking cover.
Page one of the ebook will be the cover. On page two have coupons or other incentives to return to your site and get a service at a deep discount. Don’t make it free, but make it so cheap that any serious prospect just can’t resist. This will move them from the prospect into the customer category.
“Remind Your Subscribers About the Coupons”
Every week when you publish a new newsletter, remind your subscribers about the coupons and encourage them to redeem them with you. Point out what a great value they are.
Over time more and more of your subscribers will be moving from prospects to customers.
“Add a High-End Product/Service”
High end products are key to making big money in almost any market niche and graphic design is no different. It is much easier to get 10 people to pay $10,000.00 each than to get 10,000 people to pay $10 each.
So once you have the infrastructure built to do the above, add a high-end product. This could be a complete site redesign or some other service. You want it to be able to create for you at least $1,000.00 in profit if you pay someone else to do the work for you, even if at first you complete the service yourself.
“Hire Out the Work”
Imagine Ray Kroc, the founder of McDonalds, had tried to make every hamburger himself. He would have lived and died owning one small hamburger stand–and probably worked himself to death there.
Scalability refers to your business having the ability to handle higher and higher numbers of customers while not sacrificing quality. While at first you will be providing graphic design services personally, over time you will want to have more and more people doing the actual work for you while you focus on marketing, high-dollar product creation and servicing only your high dollar customers.
As you run your business and are providing services yourself, document the “steps” that would be required for a reasonably skilled graphic designer to duplicate your efforts. Then hire virtual employees to do those tasks. It is easier than it sounds and will make you tons of money.
“Now Go Do It”
One of the toughest parts of any business is just going out and putting into action the things you already know you can do. It’s scary. It’s sometimes risky (though not as much as we pretend in our minds.)
But when we do it an amazing thing happens: We make money.
“Coming Tomorrow…”
Have you seen those cool “page peel” ads on high end sites? Tomorrow I am going to continue in the spirit of giving by giving you a free page peel script.
You’ll want to stop by and grab it.
This article is a guest post by Aaron Abber of FullTiltBlogging.com.
I am a part of Aaron’s mentoring program where he is teaching me and
others how to make
money blogging. Go visit the site now and grab his
free report “How to Retire on 200 Visitors a Day”.
Motivation for Monday (and the other 6 days of the week)
Image via Wikipedia
As I’ve mentioned before, I originally started this blog as a Make Money Online blog. However, I decided to change the focus of it when I realized that there were already so many other blogs in this niche that were already doing a great job. One of the best is a blog run by Aaron Abber at FullTiltBlogging. Below is a post from his website. I know the article is Motivation on Monday, but I think it’s relevant for the other six days too (especially if you’re trying to set up an online business in order to Making Money Online). I’m in Aaron free mentoring group, and it’s definitely worth checking out. Below is an article from his blog:
“Starting a Web Business is Hard”
Despite what you may have heard in sales copy, it can be tough to start an internet business. Heck, nobody is going to give you $100,000.00 a year for nothing.
But the hard part isn’t finding a product or building a website. Those are things pretty much anybody can figure out with the right tools and the right instruction. The hard part is…
“You Have to Manage Your Emotions”
Let’s look at this honestly–without the sugar coating:
When you decide to start a web business you look like a fool. Your family thinks you’re crazy, your friends think you’re crazy, the guys and gals at work giggle behind your back.
Worse yet, you make the same mistake everyone makes when you start out. You buy some sure-fire, can’t miss product and tell everyone–especially your spouse…
“Next Month You’ll Be Rich”
…or, at least, be making some money.
But you don’t. You try it but there are either previously undisclosed steps you can’t figure out to complete, or you don’t yet have the experience to give your sales copy the right nuances or the “must win” product is just so much fluff.
And you’re embarrassed. Maybe you’re also a little jaded. You’re tempted to give up and everyone around you is encouraging you to give up your “silly” dream.
“Here’s Your Good News”
Guess what? Everyone I know who has succeeded online has had this exact experience. Everyone. E-V-E-R-Y-O-N-E
.
Despite how you may feel: You’re not foolish. You’re not stupid. You’re not following some impossible pipe dream.
“You’re Just Normal”
Right after I first started out online in 2001, I was sitting in my friend’s office shooting the breeze. He happened to be the president of my bank. While we were sitting there I made the mistake of telling him about my web site. He instantly typed the URL into his computer.
He laughed. At me. About my site.
A couple years ago he came to me and asked me to help him start a web business. It was sweet.
“This Week You Need to Persevere”
As you pursue your dream, you have company. Others are doing the exact same thing with the exact same struggles.
Will it be emotionally hard to succeed? Of course. Can you do it? Definitely.
And once you succeed no one will laugh any more–they’ll just want your help!
I just put up a new report you will want to pick up.
“101 Ways to Grab New Subscribers”
84 GREAT Ideas,
11 CRAZY Ideas,
5 ILLEGAL Ideas and
ONE MARKETING BABE
http://www.FullTiltBlogging.com/101ways
This article is a guest post by Aaron Abber of FullTiltBlogging.com.
I am a part of Aaron’s mentoring program where he is teaching me and
others how to make
money blogging. Go visit the site now and grab his
free report “How to Retire on 200 Visitors a Day”.
Let Me Pay You $215.64 Per Subscriber
Image via Wikipedia
As I’ve mentioned before, I originally started this blog as a Make Money Online blog. However, I decided to change the focus of it when I realized that there were already so many other blogs in this niche that were already doing a great job. One of the best is a blog run by Aaron Abber at FullTiltBlogging. Below is a post from his website, talking about a new site he is setting up. If you’re interested in Making Money Online, it’s worth checking out.
28 days and counting…
As I mentioned yesterday, on June 27th I will be launching a private, members only site for you. It’s like nothing you’ve ever seen online before.
It will address the biggest problems keeping you from succeeding online:
- It will show you exactly how to get tons of traffic to any website you choose
- It will give you the motivation to get you through the rough spots in your business
- It will provide you a simple way to earn thousands of dollars per month—even if you are a complete newbie
I want you to be a part of it. In fact, I want you to bring some of your friends along.
“You Get Up on Saturday $5,391.00 Richer”
Imagine it’s Saturday morning, June 28th…
You get out of bed, stretch and check your stats and find you’ve added 25 new subscribers while you were asleep—and those subscribers are now earning you $5,391.00.
Not a bad way to start a weekend. And it’s all on auto-pilot.
“Here’s Your Autopilot Income Plan”
Between now and when your new membership site launches on Friday, June 27th I will be adding people to my private announcement list. The second I launch the site, the people on my personal list will be the first to be notified.
The first 500 places will be gone in the first hour or two.
I have set up a unique way for you to be the first to start earning commissions—even if you do absolutely nothing on June 27th. You don’t have to have a website, a list or any skills of any kind.
“You Will Make Money”Without a Product, Website or Even a List
You’ve been told you must have a website—or at least a list—in order to make money online.
To some extent I agree with that: You will likely make far more money online if you have your own website and even more if you have your own list. If you really want to cash in ($250,000.00+), you need your own products.
But if you are like most people, those hurdles are hard to overcome.
Like most people, you are probably looking for a way to earn a few thousand dollars while you figure out online business–giving you time and income while you learn how to make the real big money.
“Affiliate Programs Make It HARD for You”
You already know affiliate programs make it hard for you, but you may not have realized why.
Here’s how typical affiliate programs work: You have a website, you get some traffic, you build a list, then you send some of your visitors—with your recommendation—to the affiliate sales site.
A few of those people buy—maybe 1% on the first visit.
FAR MORE PEOPLE don’t buy but still sign up for the affiliate merchant’s email list. Sometimes this is as much as 50% of the visitors you send to the affiliate site.
Of that 50% many return to the site days, weeks or even months later and buy the product—and much of the time, you don’t get the commission on those sales.
You helped build someone else’s subscriber list and they paid you pennies.
“They Also Pay TINY Commissions”
Typical affiliate programs also pay you very low commissions—often just 20%-50% of the sale of a completely digital product. But you are doing all the work—you get them the visitors, get them the subscribers and pre-sell their products.
Between not getting credit for sales made to subscribers you sent them and paying you just a small amount on each sale, it’s almost impossible for you to earn any real money.
“How This Affiliate Program is Different”
First when you send a subscriber to me I am going to encode your affiliate number along side their email address on my list. Whether they join today, tomorrow or next year, you get the commission.
As soon as you add them to my list they are locked in forever for you. It’s exactly what you have been hoping for—something that gives you a real opportunity.
Next, you get to earn a commission not only on the subscribers you send to your private membership site, you will earn a commission on every product that subscriber buys from me in the future—even years from now.
I will be paying you a TON of money–$17.97 per month for each subscriber you send to your new membership site. That’s $215.64 a year for just one subscriber.
“What You Need to Do Right Now”
As I write this I am getting ready to contact the “big guns” about this launch. Soon, they will be telling their subscribers about it, locking in those people’s email addresses for themselves. Once a subscriber is on my list, the person who placed them there gets commissions on them forever.
I’ve intentionally waited to get the big guns on board so you can have a chance to get your own group of subscribers on the list.
“Grab Your Unique Affiliate ID”
I will be paying your commissions through ClickBank—not only does that guarantee you will get every penny you earn, it also means you can get a regular paycheck every two weeks.
The first step you need to take is to get your own ClickBank ID. It’s free and I know some of you already have one. If you don’t have one, go here (opens in a new window):
http://www.FullTiltBlogging.com/affiliate
“Now, Tell Others About FullTiltBlogging.com”
Here’s the cool part. All you need to do to be ready to make serious bank on Friday, June 27th is this: Tell your friends, visitors, subscribers, etc. to visit FullTiltBlogging.com.
No sales pressure. No muss. No fuss.
Just use this link, replacing CLICKBANKID with your own unique ClickBank affiliate ID:
http://www.FullTiltBlogging.com/blog/?a=CLICKBANKID
When people visit through your link, I’ll do my part to get them signed up for my list coded with your affiliate ID.
“You Don’t Have to Do Any Selling”
How do you get them to visit? Simple: Just ask. Tell them about a neat or helpful article. Tell them about a freebie I am giving away. You never have to sell them anything—I’ll take care of that for you.
“Everything Is Done For You”
Once they are on my list, you can sit back and relax, waiting for June 27th. Before the site launches I will send them all sorts of “getting ready” emails, getting them ready for the launch. Then, on June 27th, my well oiled promotion machine will kick into gear and start earning you money.
Every two weeks ClickBank will send you a check for your efforts.
“You Can Act, Now You Have Real Opportunity”
Go ahead and start, right now. It’s simple. It’s free. It will make you money.
And once the big guns start promoting, they will suck up just about every uncommitted subscriber–you need to get yours on the list first.
This article is a guest post by Aaron Abber of FullTiltBlogging.com.
I am a part of Aaron’s mentoring program where he is teaching me and
others how to make
money blogging. Go visit the site now and grab his
free report “How to Retire on 200 Visitors a Day”.
The Power of Concentration and FeedaPALOOZA!
I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but on the upper right of this blog, I’ve added a “subscribe” button for a newsletter I’m planning on making. The newsletter will basically be a compilation of this blog, plus anything else I find that is interesting. I set this up using Aweber, which was fairly easy to do.
If you sign up for my newsletter, I will also send you a copy of “THE POWER OF CONCENTRATION” for FREE. What is “THE POWER OF CONCENTRATION”? Well, it’s a long out of print book that I’ve only heard fantastic things about. It’s basic premise is this. As human beings, all of us are pulled by two natures. One nature wants us to succeed, the other does not. These natures are manifested in our consciousness as positive and negative thoughts. If you want to succeed and be happy, you need to train your brain to focus on the positive and constructive thoughts, blocking out the negative and destructive. The problem we all have is that none of us have been trained to do this. It is this training that “The Power of Concentration” offers us.
Now, like I said, I have only just recently discovered this book, although I have only heard positive things about it. Here’s what I’m planning on doing. I’m going to read this book chapter by chapter, and post what I think about it here on my blog. I’ve only read a little bit about it, but what I’ve read so far is fascinating. If this sounds interesting to you, I suggest you sign up, download the book, and follow along with me. Maybe we can learn together? Here’s hoping. 
On another topic, Aaron Abber at FullTiltBLogging has a new initiative up called “FeedaPALOOZA”. What FeedaPALOOZA does is bring together a whole bunch of blogs in one place with the following intentions:
1) help bloggers promote their blogs
2) help readers find blogs and free e-books that they might find interesting
If you’re a blogger, or if you’re just interested in discovering some cool new blogs, I suggest you head over to FeedaPalooza to check it out.
Also, as I’ve mentioned before, I you are interested in making money online, I suggest you head over to Aaron’s site and sign up for his newsletter and free e-book, as I guarantee you’ll learn a lot.
That’s if for now!
All the Best,
- Dave
A Change in Direction and Focus …
In my previous post I talked about why this blog was no longer going to be an exclusively make money online blog. I mentioned an article from Jay at DatMoney, and Jay was kind of to post a comment. He notes in the comment that he had a friend who changed his blog from mmo to anything he wanted to talk about, and he has met with much success. I plan on doing the same thing.
It’s not like I no longer want to make money online, it’s simply that the focus has changed. Rather then coming from a place of wanting to make money online first, I’m going to focus on my interests and passions first, and then try and monetize that. You know what I mean? Before, I think I was really putting the cart before the horse, so to speak, whereas now I think I’m coming at it from the right angle. Take the site I set up earlier (you can read about it’s creation in the “niche inspector” category) at www.acne-solution-tips.com. The information there is actually good, but do I feel I’m really adding anything new to this topic? Thankfully, my acne days are long behind me. Did I have fun researching and writing the articles for this site? I’m curious by nature, but acne isn’t one of the topics that is high on my list. Do I want to set up another site similar to this one? Not particularly.
So, the question is, what is my plan going forward? Well, here’s what I’m going to be focusing on with this blog for the foreseeable future.
1. Politics / economics – I’ve always been interested in this stuff. However, I’m really going to focus on creating little youtube video’s on various topics, aside from just writing. I talked before in a previous post about how impressed I was with the video that was done on the declining American dollar and gold. This is the kind of thing I’m looking at. I think it would be a lot of fun.
2. I think I’m going to build a site all about Vancouver, where I live. There is so much to do here, and I haven’t been to too many places since I was a child. When you live in a great place, you typically don’t explore it that much. You figure, well, I can do that tomorrow. Not anymore. I’m going to really explore this city this summer, and I’m going to create a cool website about it. Stay tuned.
3. Health and Fitness Stuff. I’m always interested in health and fitness, plus I have some somewhat unconventional views on the subject.
4. As far as the Make Money Online Stuff, I think I’m mostly going to quote Aaron at FullTiltBlogging. If you’re interested in this, I suggest you go to his site and check it out.
Anyway, that’s where I’m at right now. For the rest of the week, I’m really planning on looking into the social networks, as I can see this being very helpful going forward.
Till next time,
- Dave
Blog Marketing: Establishing Expertis
Image via Wikipedia
If you are attempting to build an audience as an expert in your niche it is important that your blog posts show off your expertise.
Some people attempt to paint themselves as an expert by telling everyone what an expert they are. Unfortunately this approach–even when it is true–tends to create the opposite impression.
Here are some tips to help you make an “expert” impression:
- Talk Like an Expert without ApologySometimes even when we are an expert we feign false humility. We pretend we aren’t as accomplished as we are.Go ahead and speak with authority. Others will see the difference between your absolutes and imposters’ weaknesses.
- Teach Others How to Do Something in Your NicheThis is one of the best ways to show your expertise. Don’t just do it, teach it. Let others learn from your expertise.
- Expose Little Know Tips, Tricks and ExperiencesOften the difference between someone who has real expertise and one who has none is the detail they provide. When you provide real details of what your readers will experience as they follow your direction you build your credibility. Your “little tips” and anecdotes will establish you as a real expert.
- Admit Your Lack of Expertise When You Don’t Have ItOne characteristics of true experts is their willingness to admit when they lack expertise. I can teach you hundreds of ways to make money online, but I know absolutely nothing about making money on eBay. If someone asks me about eBay I just admit I have no clue. It’s not something I’ve done before and I’m secure enough in my expertise that I can admit that without any embarrassment or fear.
- Never Attack or Be DefensiveThis is a tough one at times–even for someone with real expertise. If you are online long enough you will see someone doing something that makes your blood boil. You will want to attack them. Or even worse, someone will attack you.In almost all (if not all) of these cases your best course of action is to ignore it. When you attack someone else you hurt, not help, your credibility in the minds of many of your readers. When you get defensive, you often look weak.
If you do have to make a statement, use something neutral. One I like is: “I’ll let my track record speak for itself.” You appear strong and make your accuser appear weak.
Whether you are an expert in trading stocks or in knitting, following these tips will help you to project that image online.
This post is by Aaron Abber. Aaron is the owner of http://www.FullTiltBlogging.com where he teaches bloggers just like you how to make money blogging. Go there now to pick up his latest book “How to Retire on 200 Blog Visitors a Day” free.
More on Aaron Abber and an explanation of the previous post
In my blog post yesterday, I actually posted a post from Aaron Abber’s website. For those of you who haven’t been paying attention, Aaron is running a FREE mentoring program every Monday for the next 10 weeks. I know what you’re thinking, as I was thinking the same thing too. Is this a scam? How can it be free? My fear was that he was actually an internet con man, as there are so many of them on the Internet (see my posts on Yuri the Pig Farmer). My next fear was that he would be this kid pictured above. I mean, do I really want to learn about internet marketing / blogging from some punk kid who looks like his acne just cleared up? (The picture above is from Aaron’s site at FullTiltBlogging.com) However, I’m willing to learn from anybody, if they have knowledge that is worthwhile. I mean, if this kid is making a ton of dough, then I’d be a fool not to listen to what he has to say.
Thankfully, Aaron is not Yuri or some punk know it all internet whiz kid. He’s an older gentleman with years of experience in internet marketing. He’s the real deal. At our first meeting, which was an online webinar (a format which will continue in the weeks ahead), I learned a lot. The meeting itself went on for nearly 2 hours. How’s that for value! Another great thing is some of my fellow apprentices seem to be really great people as well. One of them was Suzie Cheel, who runs The Abundance Highway blog. I’d actually read her blog before I signed up, so I was excited to see that she was part of the group as well. I’m looking forward to learning more about the other people in the mentor group as well.
At any rate, Aaron still has some spots open (at least I think he does). If you’ve been thinking about starting an online business of any kind and you’re willing to do some work, I can’t think of a better way to start. If I were you, I’d bust my butt over to FullTiltBlogging right now and sign up. I think Aaron realizes that he may have made a mistake by making this mentoring group free. When it’s free, people’s first reaction is that it can’t be any good. I think Aaron realizes that he might have had more serious people sign up if he charged them for it. I think he’s right. Again, take advantage of Aaron’s miscalculation and sign up today. You won’t regret it.
To our Success!
- Dave
Whew! I am WORN OUT!
We just got done with the first of our Mentoring Group meetings.
I gotta tell ya–it was exciting as well as exhausting!
If you haven’t signed up for the Mentoring Group yet do it now–it’s free. You’ll immediately get the Podcast and slides from tonight’s meeting. Just go here now:
http://www.FullTiltBlogging.com/blog?p=194
We have a few spots left. Why in the world WOULDN’T you sign up? I can’t figure it out.
If you were one of the participants tonight, I’d love for you to put your comments below and let others know what you thought. I know I told you not to divulge the content, but you can still tell whether you learned anything, whether it was worth the time and whether it was FUN.
This post is by Aaron Abber. Aaron is the owner of www.FullTiltBlogging.com where he teaches bloggers just like you how to make money blogging. Go there now to pick up his latest book “How to Retire on 200 Blog Visitors a Day” free.
Final Thoughts on “10 Day”, go PHILLY! and more
Before I do anything, I want to give a big shout out to my favorite Basketball Team, the Philadelphia 76ers. Today, they upset the Detroit Pistons 90 to 86 in game one of their 7 game series. It’s been great watching the sixers this season. A lot of people had them pegged to finish dead last before the season began, and for awhile, it looked like that might happen. However, they really pulled it together. Unlike a lot of more talented teams, this edition of the Sixers really play as a team. They just don’t quit. At one point in today’s game, it looked like Detroit was just going to run away with it, but Philly just kept coming. In my opinion, if they were playing Cleveland or Orlando, I bet they could pull the upset. Detroit though, is just too talented. They took Philadelphia lightly this time, and I doubt they’ll do it again. At the very least, they won’t be talking to former teammates during timeouts, like they did today.
To business. Here are my final thoughts on the “10 Day Cash Secret”. It is interesting, and it’s worth a try. However, at this point I’ve created 10 websites using this system, and I’ve made $4.78 in total. Not exactly a great ROI. How to explain the discrepancy between my results, and the results that Neil achieved? Well, I can think of a couple:
1) With the site that Neil set up for Tesco, he was actually able to use the Tesco brand name in his blog. I believe Tesco is a fairly big name in the UK. If would be like being able to use a brand name like “Safeway” or “Walmart” in North America. I suspect this gives his blog an added bit of credibility. When you click on this Tesco blog, you are taken right to Tesco direct.
2) Like I said, I created 10 blog / datafeed stores to test this out. However, this is probably too many, and I was trying to use datafeeds that were too large. I suspect this is why I can no longer get the sites to update automatically. If you were going to try this, I would recommend only setting up one or two sites, with a max of 3000 products in the datafeed.
Although I haven’t achieved any kind of great sales with this system, there is still potential with them as far as being satellite sites for your main websites. For example, if you own a gardening website, you might want to set up a datafeed store with just gardening equipment. The datafeed store would support your main website, and vice versa.
If you’re interested in checking out the sites I set up using “The 10 Day Cash Secret”, here they are:
Bestcatanddogstuff.com
Comicstatuesreplicas.com
Swimmingpoolsandpumps.com
Wallandceilinglighting.com
Orientalandpersianrugs.com
Networkitsystems.com
Luggageandtravelgear.com
Indoorandoutdoorfurniture.com
Bestguitarampsandkeyboards.com
Bathroomtoolsandpumps.com
If I suddenly start to make a lot of money from any of these sites (and all of them have been up for less than a month), I’ll let you know.
I think what I’m going to focus on for the next couple of weeks is video blogging, or making viral video’s for youtube. In an earlier post, I wrote about and posted this video, which concerned the falling American dollar. What really caught my eye, and what I’ve been mulling over, is that one video had something like 200,000 views since it went live on April 4. If you create an interesting video, and it’s promoted by a social network, it can really drive traffic to a site. It just looks very interesting.
As well, tomorrow (April 21) I’m going to have my first mentoring session with Aaron (unless it really is Yuri the Pig Farmer). I’ll have to report on that as well.
To our Success!
- Dave
Yuri the Pig Farmer and the Sneaky Blog Trick
Ok, first things first. In my previous post, I mentioned the comment I got by some guy claiming to be one Aaron Abber. He was going to start a mentoring program, and was looking for mentorees (I doubt that’s a word, but I’ll use it anyway). The strange thing was, he was offering his program for free. I won’t go over the whole post again, you can read it just below if you want to. My question was, is this legit? Or was “Aaron” really the notorious Russian internet scam artist Yuri the pig farmer? (whose picture I have managed to get for this blog. I had to pull in a few favors from Interpol to do this. The bureaucrats at Interpol didn’t tell me WHICH guy was Yuri though. Damn bastard desk jockeys …)
Anyway, so far, this seems to be legit. The first meeting is going to be this Monday at 7pm eastern time. Aaron left a comment on the previous post. He seems to have a sense of humor, which is a good thing. This could be fun (or else old Yuri is a lot smarter than even I gave him credit for)
As far as the site I set up using niche inspector (to find the niche) and Xsite Pro (to actually build the thing), I signed up for an affiliate program today specializing in acne products. The only problem though is that I need to fill out a W-9 form to be accepted, which is a United States Tax form. I explained to the good people there that I’m a Canadian citizen, living in Canada, so is this really necessary? Apparently, it is. Speaking about bureaucrats, hello IRS.
As far as my sneaky trick to promote this site, well, it may not be that sneaky after all. My plan was to set up a wordpress blog on a subdomain of www.acne-solution-products.com at www.acneproducts.acne-solution-tips.com. I would then use the “10 day secret” wordpress plugin that Neil Shearing made to feed a merchants datafeed into this blog. The way this works is that the blog is updated every 5 minutes automatically with product posts. When this is done, search engine spiders absolutely swarm the site. I thought this might help get the main site indexed that much faster. However, although I have the blog up and running, I’m not sure how to set the cron job for the subdomain. We’ll have to see. I’m going to talk more about the 10 day secret in a future post (in fact, maybe I’ll do it tomorrow).
To our Success!
- Dave
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