I did it again

And forgot a title yesterday. It happens when I just post the link to my article and plan to come back later to write the entry.. lol Speaking of which:
Need A Coffee Gift For A Starbucks Lover?

So about the adult site. I don't know. I like the idea and all, but I don't think I'd be posting a link from here (don't want to be associated with a "bad" site off the blog) and it just seems SO overcrowded an industry (even my "niche" which is fairly loose) I'm just not sure it's worth it. It would be reallllllllly fun to write though! (I'm not shy about stuff like that... lol) If I DID do it, I think I would really have to approach it from the "review" angle, rather than the "informative" angle. Or, the "too shy" angle. Got another site to do before I get to that point anyway, so who knows.

Unless I can seriously start getting content done for me, I doubt I'll have 10 sites started by 2006. That's 6 in 4 months. Doable, but very tight. I'll truly have to work on all 6 at the same time, or maybe 3 and 3 for it to work. I know there are a few of you that have several sites - do you have any tips for getting a bunch out? Without hiring anyone?

On the personal front, looks like I'll be heading back down to camp tomorrow evening instead of Friday evening. My 'rents both have Friday off so they're going down tomorrow and I'm going to thumb a ride. Which probably means less work done. Oh well, the week's been pretty much written off anyway, I just can't stop watching CNN and their Katrina coverage. If I had some spare cash (and room on my CC) I would make a huge donation. If someone wants to pay my way, I'd go and help down there. And hell, if you can make your way to West Chazy, NY or Montreal, I've got a spare room and a couple couches and blow up mattresses I can put people on. I just cannot get over the devastation. And that stupid song by the Tragically Hip keeps playing in my head "New Orleans is sinking man and I don't wanna swim" - it seems hauntingly prophetic to me.

Well, even though it's Wednesday, I'm not sure how much I'll be online, so just in case - have a GREAT long weekend everyone, stay safe!

Tara :)

Today's article:
Too Many Kinds Of Popcorn Gift Baskets To Choose From!

Nothing much going on. I finally have managed to turn off CNN and will hopefully start getting some articles written. Not that I'm terribly in the mood, but... ah well, gotta get done!

Tara :)

Wow

I'm sure hurricanes have done this kind of damage in many other places, but living in Montreal, we don't get affected, other than the remnants (i.e. lots of rain and a bit of wind) and usually hurricanes don't quite make the news like this. I can't imagine having been there, and thank goodness it didn't directly hit N'Awlins. I still have everyone in Katrina's path in my prayers, and especially those in Slidell, Mobile and Gulfport. I tried to imagine the concept of losing everything I own, and even possibly my life, and I just can't. Those of you that live in the areas that are repeatedly hit by tropical storms and hurricanes - I just don't know how you do it. Hopefully all my readers loved ones are safe and sound - TMTB - please let us know how your dad is doing!

On to today's article:
Everyone Loves Old Fashioned Candy Gift Baskets!

I brought 21 article outlines home and I thought I would have no problem getting them done this week. Of course, with the state of the world right now, I have to admit that more CNN watching will get done than work, at least until more is known. If all goes well though, you may start seeing articles from my other sites as well.

I started brainstorming a little yesterday for my next few sites. I think I'm going to do an adult site - NOT porn - which means no Adsense on that site. There are other PPC companies I can go to, but I may make it a pure affiliate driven site. Another idea was home accessories. Obviously more nichy than that, but I don't want to show my cards yet ;) Maybe also something related to cooking. I'm hoping by that point I can start to hire writers so I can do niches that bore me to death. Like ball bearings.. lol (That's a Martell site)

That's about it. Again, good luck and God Speed to anyone who was, is, or will be in Katrina's path.

Tara :)

OMG Katrina

Unless you've been living under a rock, you know about the nightmare that New Orleans and the Gulf Coast are about to experience. While I don't personally know anyone in the current path, Chrissie told me enough about Katrina (and it was a category 1 then!) that I'm shit scared for anyone who's left in Southern Louisiana. I just want to say that if any of my readers are in Katrina's path - be safe, I hope you're out or high up, and my thoughts and prayers have been with you all day, and will continue to be with you until Katrina is but a memory. God bless and God speed.

Tara :( (not a mistake)

I'm sore, but it was fun

Here's today's article:
Wine Gifts For Men? We Can Help!

After boating on Friday (smallish fishing boat, big waves, lots of bumping around) and sharing a bed with Eric (smallish old bed, bad frame) and then standing and dancing for a few hours, I am SORE, but had a great weekend.

Because of Katrina (as usual, we always get the leftovers up here) they're predicting at minimum rain every day until Friday, and one site says thunder storms every day till Thursday. Kind of hard to work when I have to unplug everything since the electricity is so crappy here. So I've decided to head home this week. It will be nice to use DSL again for a little while, and see my kitties whom I've missed a bunch. Plus my nice pillow-topped king size bed sounds pretty cool too! lol

I guess that's about it - be back tomorrow with the latest article!

Tara :)

Not much work going on

Here's today's article:
We'll Help You Choose The Perfect Gifts For Wine People

Forgot about yesterday's article. By the time I got done buying and setting up my templates in EZ Article Publisher (I bit the bullet) I had to go pass a message on to someone down here, and then I went on a lovely 2.5 hour boat ride around Lake Champlain. I WANT A BOAT! lol Then it was "happy hour" and then supper and then bed. Had to get up early to send a package and do some shopping for the camp party tonight, so that's another day that no work will be done.. lol

That's about it - hope your weekend is as beautiful and fun as mine is shaping up to be!

Tara :)

What a beautiful day

Finally after about a week of almost strictly clouds and rain, we actually have a sunny day. Now if we could just get over 21C (about 70F) I'd be a reallllllly happy camper!

Here's today's article:
Fresh Seafood Overnight - Beware The Word Fresh!

Got 4 total done yesterday. 1 left of the outlined articles for the gourmet food site and then it's time to add some more article to the other sites. I'll be attacking the pet memorials site then the dog site. The travel site will be the last one since it has the most articles. And to be very honest, that's the one I really want to hire an author for. I'm so thoroughly sick of everything to do with travel accessories and I think I've run out of things to say! lol

I must say though, when I'm writing articles (as boring as they are, I know!) as long as I know that I have a preset limit in mind (usually 5 for the day) I can manage to suck it up and just write them. And this is (barring directory/article submissions) my least favorite part of what I do.

Anyhooooo, not much else to say, have a great Thursday! Adsense payments are on the way, at least mine is, so keep your eye out. And if you're in Florida, I hope Katrina passes over you with no damage! Oh, and Chrissie, you are welcome!!

Tara :)

Yesterday was declared a "no-work" zone

So I'd gotten up, spend 3.5 hrs doing laundry, and then I was invited to dinner at my best friend's parents trailer last night. (They're on vaca this week) So by the time laundry was done it was practically time to walk over. Then I got back just in time for Big Brother, and decided to hell with it! It was nice. I look forward to the time when that will be the norm and days like today will be occasional. Alas, tis not to be yet.

So, despite the fact I've been up for 3 hours, I haven't started working yet. Though to be very fair, I lost more than a half hour due to my ISP going buggy. I did manage to get today's article published, Want To Buy Wine Online? No Problem! It's funny, some articles practically write themselves (it also helps when I "borrow" from some of my own articles) and others it takes me an hour to write because I can't think of a damn original (or even UN-original) thing to say. Hopefully today's articles will be the former rather than the latter.

Has anyone tried EZ Article Publisher? See Burke's blog for more details. I love this program personally, I'm just not sure (and Eric says NO) that I can justify $97 for it. However, I've been using it on the gourmet food site, and it works PERFECTLY with Andrea's template and I have no doubt it will work well with my other 3... It's just that it's $97. Any opinions?

I'm not sure if I'd mentioned it earlier, but I was hoping to (was GOING to even) take some of last month's Adsense earnings and hire an author. However, if I wait another month or 2 and put all that money towards my credit card and assorted bills I may be able to postpone job hunting until at LEAST October. And hopefully by then I'll be able to say screw it, and not look for a job at all. So unless someone wants to offer writing articles for $1 each, I'll be waiting a while longer... lol

I guess that's about it... funny, before I write my entries, I always have 1000 things to say, but when I start typing they fly out of my brain. And before I forget, must wish a Happy Happy birthday to 3 important people in my life: Daddy! Only 3 more years until retirement! Auntie Gail, I won't tell your age :) And Chrissie, of Internet Insomniac and Learning Geek fame, I stayed 21 for about 7 years, so I get the staying 30 for a while, but geez, you're hardly an old lady!! (xo)2

Tara :)

I don't know what to say

Let's get today's article out of the way:

Buy Seafood Online - Safe And Cheap!

Ok, so here's where the real entry starts. I may ramble on here, but please bear with me. I guess I should start from the beginning. Over the weekend, I had read about (not sure where now) this new internet/affiliate/ecommerce etc conference. What's great about it though is that it's really affordable (well, unless you're me, not paying bills so I can do this full time! lol) and it looks jam packed with awesome presenters and booths and so on. The best news is that you don't need to worry about your flight or hotel because it's all online!

So I was going back and forth with Eric whether or not we can swing it or not. Or rather whether or not I can justify the expense. As BJ would say, synchronisity hit today. I got up this morning, and after checking my stats, emails and how much money (ha ha) I'd made, I opened FeedDemon to read my blogs. So I get to one of my favorites (really, I'm not just saying that, it's under the heading "AM Favorites") Shawn Collins' Affiliate Tip Blog, which was talking about how affiliatetip.com is an exhibitor at the conference. As an exhibitor, he received free passes to give away. Rather than use them to give to friends or high performing affiliates or something more selfish (which would be well within his rights!) he offered passes to the first 20 people who responded. Not to a question; all you had to do was send an email. Luckily, I was one of the 1st 20 people. How cool is that?

I don't think Shawn has any tickets left (I told a good friend about it that was online at the time - not trying to exclude anyone - and she hasn't gotten an answer, but it was only the first 20 that would get any kind of answer) but just in case, head on over and visit his blog. And even if you DON'T get a ticket, this is the same guy who's the co-creator of the Affiliate Summit, which if you follow James Martell, you know is another GREAT conference for anyone involved in affiliate marketing. So you know he's chock full of interesting information. I'm particularly enjoying his current feature "What is wrong with affiliate marketing and how can it be improved?". He prints people's answers, and many of them are very thought-provoking. Here are 2 more reasons to read Shawn's blog: 1. If you send in an answer to the question and he posts it, you get a free t-shirt with a funny on it. (go see!) 2. Before the last Affiliate Summit if you answered a trivia question (you had be right and first, of course) he was giving away passes. So Shawn, if you're reading this, once again, thank you.

Everyone else - what are you still doing here???? Go check out Shawn's blog!

Tara :)

Oops, forgot the title

Here's Monday's article:

Mix It Up With A Mixed Nut Gift!

I'm getting low on banked articles so I have to release only 1 a day for now.. lol Hopefully I'll get a bunch done today. Not sure how many though, as I see a very dark blue cloud coming up, and soon, so if there's a storm I gotta go offline. Assuming all is good though, 3-5 articles are expected to be written.

Wish me luck!

Tara :)

2 new articles

Here are the 2 latest going live:

You’ll Go Nuts For These Gourmet Nuts!
There IS Such A Thing As Inexpensive Candy Gifts

I was wrong... didn't get anything done this weekend. lol Oh well, tomorrow starts the work week! Hope your weather has been better than ours here!

Tara :)

Good and bad couple of days

Here's a start to the good stuff, 2 more articles are live on the new site:

Need A Last Minute Or Quick Gift? A Coffee Basket Is Great!
Corporate Coffee Gift Baskets Don't Have To Be Boring!

Let start with the bad stuff. 2 days in a row now I've nearly thrown my dogs out. The last 2 mornings they have been very shitty trailer mates. And I'm being half literal. Thursday they got me up (barking every 15 minutes for 3 hours) after about 6 hours of sleep. Long time readers will know I have a sleep disorder which wakes me up over 100 times a night (no, I'm not joking, look up sleep apnea) so to be honest, even 12 hours of sleep isn't enough. 6 hours isn't even freaking close. But, despite my tiredness, I managed to get 2 articles done and then called it a day. I might've worked more, but got very excited and absorbed in Big Brother and spent the rest of the night reading the live feed updates. So, tired, I finally head to bed around 1:30 am. Read until about 2, turned off the light. Then Tequila decides she going to clean herself. Loudly. For 45 minutes. Despite repeated chastising and kicking. So I dozed off around around 3ish.

Then around 6 Tequila decided she still wasn't clean enough and started up again. Jager decided since I was awake, he could bounce on me to get me to let him out. Not sure WHY he wanted out so badly since he'd already emptied his bowels across the trailer (fun to clean up on 3 hrs of sleep and bleary eyed) so while they were out, cleaned that up (great smell to wake up to also) let them back in and went back to bed. Have you ever seen a dog so obsessed with cleanliness? Back at it Tequila went. Right beside my head. I finally gave up around 6:45.

So all that to say (hope you at least got a giggle out of it!) that no work was done today. At all. I figured it was safer for my visitors that I didn't write an article with severely diminished brain capacity. Maybe if it's quiet around here tomorrow (and Eric takes care of letting the dogs out) I can get a few more written. Still 12 articles isn't bad for the week, I'm not going to beat myself up over it.

On to the good stuff. Other than everything going according to my plans on Big Brother (me and Arnold Shapiro are thisclose I tell ya) I made a few sales this week. 2 I already told you about, 1 was from the blog. And then, when Eric got here today he handed me a funny piece of mail. It looked like it was from a vet in Nebraska, where I've never been. I opened it up - it was a cheque!!! 2nd biggest commission - $16.69. It was from one of my pet memorials affiliates. Odd that the sale never showed up in the reports, but when I'm more coherent (and let me apologize now for any grammatical errors) I'll write them an email to ask what's up.

I also figured out that with very careful planning and the sites doing slightly better in the next month or 2, I may be able to hook up with Chrissie and head to an internet marketing conference in November. I would love to go, it looks like the speakers there will be fascinating and meeting other AM'ers would be awesome. Especially Chrissie, we're 2 peas in a pod - we even both have dogs named Tequila!

I know there's something I'm forgetting, but on 3 hours of sleep and with an already swiss cheese brain, I just can't think of anything else right now. So after boring y'all to death, I'll finally end the rambling and say have a great weekend!

Tara :)

I STILL don't wanna work

But I am. As a matter of fact 10 articles in the last 2 days, but I'll only show you 2 since I'm going to start publishing 1 or 2 a day as per the continous pour concept (Martell).

So here they are:

Candy Gift Baskets Will Remind Them Of Their Youth
Here's Some Great Tips For Buying Tea Online!

Hope you enjoy them. Have 2 new sales, 1 early Tuesday morning (travel accessories) and 1 late last night (pet memorials). Total would be just under $10 CDN. Not exciting in terms of $$$ but very exciting when you think about when the pet memorials site was actually released. I'm also very happy with the number of sales the travel site is making. If only the damn dog info site could a) see some actual traffic that wasn't from here or forums and b) could actually make me more than $3 a month. I guess it's just too competitive. I also need to add more articles, I know. Link partners aren't an issue, I have tons, as a matter of fact, they probably make up more than half the average 8 visitors per day... lol

Ok, off the rant now. Hey, for anyone looking to outsource articles or link building, keep an eye on Learning Geek, which is Chrissie's affiliate marketing blog. She's working on a site to publicize everything, but it shouldn't be long, and heck, let's try to give business to her, k? I mean, why not keep it "in the family" so to speak ;)

That's it for me. Have a great day!

Tara :)

Back to the grind :(

Iiiiiiiii don't wanna work, I wanna bang on the drum all day...

To say I don't feel like working would be an understatement. I did a little bit yesterday. Article outlines, sorting the outlines and a little bit of link xchgs. Most of the day was spent reading Big Brother 6 live feed updates (if you watch the show, make sure and watch tonight, HUGE fighting going on all day and night yesterday) and playing poker, my latest addiction that's lasting way longer than it should.

So my new goal for the next few weeks is write, write, write. At least 3 per day, more if I can do it without falling asleep. We'll see if I can... my best friend's dad is down on vacation now and he's promised to take me fishing.. which I like doing, sans the baiting the hook part.. lol The big problem with article writing right now is that I've gotten the bug in me to hire authors even though I don't really have the money for it. I'm at the point where it looks like I will be taking a job next month, partially due to the fact that we're going broke fast, partially because I want some side cash to hire authors.. lol We'll see what does happen.

As for the financials, well, not so spectacular. If it was this time last month, I would've been tickled pink with my daily average. Not so much this month. It's nice, and it's higher than last month - but not by much. Certainly no where near the growth from June to July. And even with CJ's stats down for several days, it looks like no new sales. I thought for sure I'd have at least 1. So I guess it's true - a LOT of people go on vacation in August. I know in the southern U.S. a lot of kids are already back in school, but most of my visitors must be from the North as around here, kids don't go back until end of August/early September. So anyway... on the upside, most months have kicked in harder in the 2nd half and yesterday that proved true! Let's just say more than twice my daily average last month :)

Now, a quick question for all my readers - does anyone know of any work from home jobs that I can do from Canada? I had a lead on a great one, but it's looking like they don't accept Canadians :( Hopefully the do, but just in case, I'll take any suggestions under advisement ;)

Have a great day!

Tara :)

Wish you were here....

Just a quick note... Having a wonderful vacation, lots of fun and games. I did manage to get a few link exchanges started and done and if anyone is waiting on an email, I'm getting to them as fast as I can, just not at the puter much this week :)

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Tara :)

Some pics of where I am

Some people have asked to see pictures, so here's a few of where I'm "not" this week, but returning to tomorrow. Enjoy or don't :)

I love launching a new site/I hate launching a new site

Ok, I love it because it's so gratifying to see your hard work open for business, and the nice things people say (even if they're lying) doesn't hurt either! lol Thank you to everyone who visited and had something nice to say, and special thanks to Ottawa Information Guide for pointing out a typo that I'd missed!

I HATE HATE HATE launching a new site since it means site and article submissions, though I think I've figured out a new system for doing the articles at least. I open a window for each article and copy/paste all the common info, then the titles, then the articles themselves. It seems to go a bit faster. Still not pleasant though.

Something I think I've mentioned before, but definitely bears mention again, which I forgot the other day - if you liked the layout/header/look of the new site, you really should visit GoldenPineCone Templates! Especially if you like the header. That was a custom design for me, I got to pick the pictures and let Andrea do her magic. Her prices for custom work are very reasonable as well, see the site for details. Oh, and if you like her templates and would like to promote them too, her affiliate program has a great commission with prompt payouts. Something to think about :)

The rest of today will be fighting the urge to play in a bunch of poker tournaments (new addiction, and it's STRONG, even for play money! lol) and do more article/site submissions and desperately needed laundry. Back to camp we go tomorrow and Eric's on vaca again, yay! Even better, my best bud is also on vaca with her boyfriend. Many drunk days await us, wooo hooo! lol So please forgive me if you don't see too many posts for the next week or so, not sure how much work will be getting done, and if no work is done, there's nothing to tell you about here! lol

Tara :)

Birth Announcement

Well, it's time to usher my latest baby into the world.

Gourmet Food Gifts is the latest site in my arsenal. If you have any comments to make, as per usual, keep 'em constructive or don't bother ;)

Got a bunch of directory and lesser SE submissions done today. More of those and *shudder* article submissions tomorrow. Oh how I hate those. Jon and I were discussing our hatred of doing that today. He would prefer to write articles and I'd rather submit sites, though I'm happy to outsource the article submissions also.

Not sure if I mentioned it yesterday, but I had a sale (tiny) through the travel site yesterday and another sale from my blog today. I prefer not to mention where the blog sales come from specifically since I cover a few and I don't want too much competition ;)

Mark said today I was an insipiration and I find that so kind, and I guess hard to accept. I've always been the type of person where my life is an open book - too much so sometimes - and when we were chatting later elaborated that it was not only because I'm doing so well (relatively) but because I share my financials. I have no problems sharing at this level, at all, but I will be honest enough to admit that after I hit a certain (undecided) point, I won't be quite as open as I am now.

I'm also uncertain how many more sites I'll be sharing here. Most of my affiliate marketing buddies don't share any, or very few. Many of them also think I'm brave - or crazy! - to share what I do. The way I look at it is when I started 6 months ago, it would've been lovely to have a benchmark to measure myself against, or at least see someone else's struggles and triumphs along the way. So, I hope those of you who are celebrating your first $1 day, or your first month of $1 a day are enjoying this :) I also hope that you'll share your struggles and triumphs too, even if you don't feel comfortable with my level of openess :)

Tara :)

July Totals

As promised, here are my July totals:

$369.47 USD
$13.46 CAD

$334.85 of that USD was from Google Adsense. Which put me at an average of $10.80 per day. I'm looking forward to an average of $100 a day, but I'm pretty happy where I am now, considering the travel site hasn't been officially live for 6 months. I'm a ways away from the $500/month that James Martell suggests, but that's ok with me - on my personal goals page I've written "No time limits - when the time is right, my goals will be achieved!" and I firmly believe that.

A friend of mine was recently disappointed because they achieved a goal earlier than expected, so they reset the goal, and came close, but didn't quite get there and was upset. I tend to be the opposite (which is easy to say as I surpassed my $9/day goal) and think, well, at least I got my first goal done. The rest is gravy, as the saying goes. My only major goal that I need more than want is $1000 a month since that means I won't have to drag my fat ass outta this chair to find another job ;)

Hopefully tonight will be writing the last 3 articles that I want on the site before going live and during the day tomorrow you'll see the brand new site I've created. I'm still waiting on a few merchants, but I've got plenty of other ones, so screw it, as soon as the hubby is done with the article editing, you'll all see it. I came home from the trailer this week to get the article and site submissions done on DSL rather than dial up, because as long time readers will remember, I'd rather pull out my own fingernails than do that stuff. Add dial up speeds to it and I'd probably go drown myself in Lake Champlain.. lol

So folks, I think that's about it. Thanks to all that wished me a happy birthday, I had a great one, though I'm still coming to grips with being 29... especially when half the time I feel like I'm still 21 ;)

Tara :)