I WILL make it!

Monday, February 27, 2006

I can't believe it's been 2 weeks since I blogged...

Sorry about that, but honestly, I haven't had much to say, and I still don't, really... The biggest news is how I'm still struggling to make myself not quit my job, and it still may happen this week. They're forcing 2 people to change to shifts they don't want and we won't know until tomorrow (hopefully) who gets them. If I get the early one or the late one full time I'm outta there. They are both really bad for me for various reasons (some personal, some job related) and I have a bad feeling of either of them, I'll get the late one. It was mentioned that everyone doing one day a week was a possibility, but if you're a long time reader, you'll remember that I'm Queen of Murphy's kingdom, so luck is not on my side. I'll let y'all know.

In other news, I've been told to mention if you have questions about Colin's books' or if you'd like to bitch about the fact that a certain someone's system really doesn't work anymore, feel free to head over to Colin's blog and vent your little heart out. Also, Colin has dropped the price of the VEO Report by almost half - so if you've been thinking about it, now's a great time to check it out. I don't know how long the price will be so low. Also, I heard from a friend that The Positive Mind (which is free when you buy The VEO Report) that right after reading it they quit smoking cold turkey and have maintained it now for 2 weeks. If you've read either, I'd LOVE to know your thoughts!

Out of curiousity, how is everyone's income doing this month? I hope it's not as bad as mine! All of this month won't equal just my Adsense from last month. I can only pray that March is better than February! And not just for my income, but my initiative for working on my sites. I've done little bits and pieces here and there, but nothing much. Fingers crossed!

And on that note, have a great week everyone!

Tara :)

Saturday, February 11, 2006

More to come this weekend, but...

In the meantime, check out this great article in Revenews by Colin :)

Tara :)

Thursday, February 09, 2006

Quickie

Lynn Terry from Selfstarterweeklytips.com has a great deal posted on her blog, http://clicknewz.blogspot.com/ She's let everyone know about a great price reduction for Alice Seba's (the self-proclaimed Internet Marketing Sweetie) products. More than half off. So go take a look. I picked up one of the courses and so far (listening to the first audio right now) I'm enjoying what she has to say. If you already have her stuff or pickk it up, let me know what you think!

Tara :)

Sunday, February 05, 2006

Back to work... somewhat

I think I've discovered the trick to getting my fire back for my business. It was sorely lacking for a long time, but it seems that when this happens, the cure is simply to talk to a bunch of my AM buddies until the early morning hours. I got quite a bit (relatively) done yesterday. I've decided to scrap the idea of the 2 sites that I've been working on and combine them into 1 big one which will also have several other topics. While I know this goes against everything Martell is saying, I've come to the decision that I won't be following his methods anymore. I still think his system might be valid for someone just starting out who has no website creation/SEO knowledge, but once you move beyond that point, you just don't need him anymore. And there's an interesting thread on that topic that Martell himself answered on Allan Gardyne's forum, here's the link: http://associateprograms.com/discus/ftopic15748.html. I still stand by what I say in there - go pick up Colin's book and read it, learn it and apply it. You won't regret it! (If nothing else, sign up for his free newsletter, you'll get alot of info through that, too!)

Let's see, what else did I get done... Scouted domains for the new mega-site, non-dashed of course. Thought about all the categories that could be added. For example, let's say my original site was about patio furniture (it wasn't) so I broke it down in to tables, chairs, fireplaces, umbrellas, etc. The other site would've been cute knicknacks, plates, glasses, plants, etc. Well now, I'm going something more like, patio furniture, accessories, plants, fireplaces, tiki bars, outdoor equipment, pools, etc. I think that's a fairly good analogy, since I'm not ready to reveal the topic yet :) I'm excited about it. I've pretty much decided on a domain, it's quite catchy, and while I KNOW this will be alot of work, I'm hoping to divide it somewhat between PLR/authors/me and eventually grow it into an authority site. For now all my new sites will be like this. My existing ones will stay as is (maybe to grow out, maybe not) and I'll be honest and admit if I find a hot niche like Pet Memorials I may do a mini-site, but I agree with Colin that the mega authority site seems to be the new way to go.

I also tweaked a bit of the travel accessories home page and completely restructured the article directory. When I created the directory it was on the 2002 book advice, i.e. no more than 30 links per page, so I had it spread over 5 pages. How is that useful to the visitor? Plus they were all mixed in together with no way to easily find the topic you were looking for. This has all been changed now, if you want to see what I did, see travel articles. It really didn't take long, but what a difference! It all goes back to design and write for your visitor, NOT the search engines. We've all heard it before, but how many of us really listen to that statement? I wasn't REALLY... maybe a little, but the scale was definitely tipping in favor of the SE's. And look at where it's gotten me? I don't give a crap about the "Big Daddy" Google update because Google hates my sites anyway... and I think that's a sorry attitude. Because I know many of us are struggling to get Google to notice us, and just think about what kind of revenue we're losing every day because if we're lucky, we're on page 10 - if we're not, we're on page 100 or just don't seem to exist. If we do things right though, there doesn't seem to be a sandbox or getting "Google Whacked." There ARE other ways of doing what we do, we just have to be open to them. Which goes back to buying Colin's book.

If you're thinking about it at all, please bite the bullet and buy it. I'd gladly give to you all for free if I could, but even if you don't want to buy it through my affiliate link, that's fine, http://www.veoreport.com - I just think it will help all of us who I know have been struggling, because we've all discussed it at one time or another. It will be $67 well spent. Besides which, I'll be probably talking about it more as I'm building my sites and I'd like you all to be in the loop of what I'm saying ;)

Anyway, I guess the long "I heart Colin" post (as I'm sure that's how it feels to many of you) should end now, plus I can't think of anything else to say right now. Other than I'm slowly discovering what they say about February being the slowest month is true. I'm getting decent traffic (for my sites, nothing like in the hundreds per day) but no one's buying, and very few are clicking on Adsense even. I haven't seen CTR this low in a looooooooooooooooong time. Oh well, thankfully there's only 28 days this month! lol

Have a great week everyone!

Tara :)

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

Quick note

Here's January's money: $392.27. Not as good as December, duh, but not horrible. Not looking good so far this month, the earnings are way down the last few days. Oh well, just means I gotta get the next sites out asap :)

Tara :)