After running my affiliate marketing poll, I see one of the biggest problems affiliate marketers run into is trying to get the traffic they receive to their web pages to convert into sales. It’s also one of the top questions I get from my readers. They tell me they are getting traffic, but they can’t get that traffic to turn into sales…. What are they doing wrong? I think this topic deserves some in-depth conversation, so grab a Coke or a cup of coffee and let’s get into it.

I’ve had this post almost finished and sitting in my draft folder for some time now. Life has been so crazy lately that I am just now getting to finish it. With the holidays…work… family… and that new awesome, wonderful, precious granddaughter…well, I’m swamped! (and a HUGE thank you to everyone for extending your congrats and well-wishes on her birth!)

The GREAT news is that the person who inspired this post is now making money! Ted contacted me via my help desk to give me the good news.

Hey Jen!!!

Just wanna tell you that I am your another living proof that OWM is totally awesome!!! I am making a living with this already!!! woohooo!!!!

I’ve a few sales already!!! yeah!!!!

and it just keep on coming!!! AWESOMENESS!!! Thank you so much!!!

I’m so sorry Ted for being late for you, but apparently you didn’t need my help after all! haha! I’m super proud of you!

However, I think there are still a few folks that suffer from the same situation Ted was in, so I am going to talk about this anyway.

Meet Ted

Ted is one of my One Week Marketing followers. He’s been working hard (has 7 campaigns out there already) and is getting traffic to his web pages – but, no sales. He contacted me to ask for some help and insight and since his questions were so good and so important, I asked his permission to re-print his message to me so we can all learn from it.

I have a problem with my OWM. The problem that I have is as below:

1. Product chosen – How do I know whether the product is converting? Any preference to choose clickbank product? looking into gravity? referred? or what? I have 7 campaign now and non of them are converting to sale.

2. Which leads me to the second and last problem. I am getting traffic from google and other various places but I don’t see any sales. So my question is, how can find a BUYING keywords and PROFITABLE NICHE KEYWORDS.

Is it true that PROFITABLE keyword is the keywords that is “problem-solving” keywords? like “How Can I”, What is the”, “Where Can I Find”, or what?

I guess if I have the solution for the above problems my OWM would be better I guess.

I am very determined to make this work for me and I won’t give up until I get my first sale! Once the first sale is made I will just rinse and repeat and eventually proceed to your wordpress niche!

Thanks for your help,
Ted.

PS-How long it takes for you to get your first sale when you started your FIRST campaign?

Great questions, Ted! Let’s take your questions one at a time and see if we can clear things up a bit.

Choosing Clickbank Products That Sell

This is always a tough one – how can you tell for SURE that a Clickbank product will sell for you? Well, you really can’t be SURE, but you definitely can take a look at some things to see if it might work for you.

About Clickbank Gravity –

Clickbank gravity, in a simple explanation, refers to the number of affiliates who have sold at least ONE copy of that product in the last 30 days. If an affiliate sells 100, it still counts as ONE gravity point just as if someone only sold one in the last 30 days, that would count as ONE gravity point, too.

I DO look at gravity…. but gravity does NOT make or break my decision of whether I promote that product or not. Yes, I like to see SOME gravity so I know that affiliates ARE able to convert leads to sales. However, I don’t have a “set” gravity number that I use as a rule of thumb. Some products are more popular, or have vendors that have more partners… some vendors have no idea how to attract affiliates. Some products answer the problems of a large group of people and some products are very, very niche-specific.

In short, for me, I look to see if there IS gravity…and then I look at the sales page. I want to make sure *I* don’t click to it and leave instantly, that it’s set up properly, no AdSense ads on the sales page (ugh), things of that nature.

Now, many ask me, “Do you choose a product to promote based on whether YOU’D buy it?”

No, I do not. ME buying it has NOTHING to do with it. I am looking for a product that answers the problems of a certain sub-set of people. Odds are good that I am not part of that sub-set. I can’t judge value for someone else.

Matching Clickbank Products With Buyers

To me, the most important part when looking as a sales page for a potential promotion is – WHO wants this?? WHAT is their problem and can this product solve that problem for them?

As the guys in Wealthy Affiliate always say, affiliate marketing is like being a match-maker. Find a group of people with a certain problem and match them up with the solution.

If the product you are thinking of promoting doesn’t solve at least one important problem of the target market, it’s gonna be tough to make sales. The more “troublesome” the problem is, the more sales you should make.

Travis, Mr Bum Marketing, used the phrase “Hair on Fire”. I love that phrase and I keep it in my mind whenever I am looking at products to promote. If the problem the group of people have is not like having your hair on fire, sales will be slower and you’ll have to work harder for sales.

Think about problems people go thru that are all-consuming for them at the moment. Think about things that have happened in YOUR life that you would’ve done just about anything to get the answer right away.

Anyone hearing me? {tap, tap, tap…. is this microphone on? Anyone hear me?}

Finding Buying Keywords

Learning how to identify buying keywords is a left brain/right brain technique. Sure, we have keyword tools that can help us identify good keywords in a competition sense – maybe even tell us the “commercial intent” of a keyword – but sometimes you just have to look at a keyword phrase and think about it. Think of what problem the searcher is having. If the keyword doesn’t imply a problem, but more an intent for something free or just some information, then it probably won’t lead quickly into a sale.

Unless…..

Yup, there’s an “unless”…lol. UNLESS you plan to bring people in with the “info searching” keywords and somehow get them to stay with you thru their cycle to get to a buying keyword. Good niche sites do this – they offer info to all cycles of the buying process. Good One Week Marketing campaigns do this, too =)

But this takes practice and learning how to identify if there even IS a product at the end of their search cycle. Sometimes…no, a lot of the times, you just have to get the content out there, see what keywords people are using to find you, watch their behavior, and take a good hard look at your own stats. There are NO stats better than your OWN.

Summary

Do you think someone who is looking to learn how to grow tomatoes is having a “hair on fire” problem? No, not likely…and the odds are really good that they will find all the info they need to satisfy them for free online.

However, what if some weird bug thing was eating their tomato plants? Hmmmm…. hair starts to sizzle a little now, doesn’t it?

The “problem” with most campaigns is not that our keyword research was wrong or the product was bad… usually the only problem is that we are “missing” with our match-making. Affiliate Marketers give solutions…we don’t sell =)

People come online to socialize, for entertainment, to get info….and to get solutions to their problems. Help them solve their problems and the sales will follow.

Oh, forgot a question…

How long it takes for you to get your first sale when you started your FIRST campaign?

It took me about a week to make my very first sale online. I have NO CLUE how someone found me or my site because I knew NOTHING about internet marketing or SEO or back links or ANY of that. But, through some grace of God, someone bought a $7 ebook from me… and changed my life. Once I saw with my own eyes that I COULD do this AND it really WORKED, well, I was all over this internet marketing thing.

As for my first sale with a One Week Marketing campaign…. See, the thing is, One Week Marketing didn’t exist back then. I created it as I went along learning. I didn’t even know I was creating a product – had no intention of it nor did it even cross my mind. I was just trying to turn the things I was learning and writing onto thousands of post-it notes into a plan of action that I knew worked and that I could repeat over and over and over.

No matter what you’d like to end up doing with internet marketing, One Week Marketing is the solid basics of just about all of it (excluding PPC).

Ted, THANK YOU for your questions! I love being inspired! Better yet…. CONGRATS on your sales! Keep up the great work!

Post from: PotPieGirl.com

Traffic But No Sales?

Apparently there was some confusion about my last post regarding boycotting Squidoo. First off, my apologies if the points I was trying to make were unclear. It also seems from the comments that folks wanted to know if *I* thought we should boycott Squidoo….and I didn’t flat out give my answer. While I thought I was clear, it seems I was clear as mud… so let’s try this one more time.

Should We Boycott Squidoo?

I mainly was asking this question to all of YOU. I really wanted to know if YOU planned to boycott using the Squidoo site. I already know what *I* think…hahaha!

However, you, my readers, must not know what I think. According to this thread I just found in the Squidoo forum, I must have been VERY unclear now, and in years past, when I talk about Squidoo.

And that is MY bad.

So, based on that, I will ask MYSELF what I think about boycotting Squidoo (yes, I am talking to myself…and answering myself…again).

“PotPieGirl, do you plan to boycott Squidoo?”

“PotPieGirl, Do you think that other online marketers should boycott Squidoo?”

“PotPieGirl, do you think other marketers should still use Squidoo if it does NOT fit with their current online marketing plans or topics?”

If anyone thinks *I* plan to boycott Squidoo, they’ve lost their mind (and I mean that in the nicest possible way, of course).

Did you know there are over 700 sites out there that will allow you to make a free blog? There are over 460 free article directory sites and there is no telling how many free forums and social bookmarking sites and social networking sites there are – all allowing us to get our content online and found for free. Oh, and video sharing sites, and podcast sites…. and review sites, and RSS sites, and document and software sharing sites, and Press Release sites…. and on and on and on…all allowing us each to have a voice online for FREE.

I don’t plan to boycott a single one of them. If they don’t fit in with what I need, I simply won’t use them.

Free sites are designed to be authority-getters, link-getters, and traffic-getters. They are not designed to be MONEY-getters. However, in my opinion, Squidoo has made itself one of the rare sites online that will allow it to also be a money-getting site. Squidoo shares their revenue with you and allows affiliate links. That’s rare.

Squidoo has allowed affiliate links since Day 1 (and they still do). Squidoo allows you to use THEIR affiliate links via their earnings modules (like the eBay module or the Amazon module) and split the commission with you.

Squidoo knows folks sell stuff on their lenses 

In fact, recently Megan Casey (Editor-in-Chief for Squidoo) made a post on the Squidoo blog about a new, more interactive module/feature they are planning to add to Squidoo.  Creating things on your lens that promotes people to participate can make your lens more “sticky” – ie, people stay on your lens, read, and click when you want them to.

In Megans post she said,

When they can answer that, they’re more likely to dive in and participate as well, or at least get stickier and stay on your lens a little longer (until you tell them to leave, by recommending some action for them to take, like buying a book or visiting a blog).

Squidoo knows we make lenses to get reader interaction AND to get readers to sites WE recommend….and yes, to make money.

That makes Squidoo unique from most of the other free sites, doesn’t it? And, in my opinion, Squidoo is the perfect place to learn how to start affiliate marketing, testing markets, and getting some online income coming IN.

Once you have your own sites, Squidoo is the perfect place to also build a brand, promote your area of expertise or your business or your eBay store or your charity or your own product…

BUT…

You have to play by the rules.

If what you want to talk about is not allowed on the Squidoo site, then I would feel safe to say that Squidoo may not be the right site for you. However, that is a choice YOU would have to make for yourself. What *I* am doing may not apply to what you are doing.

Ok, now the big question…

“PotPieGirl, are you just saying this because One Week Marketing is another Squidoo guide?”

First off, One Week Marketing is not “just another Squidoo guide”… it is a beginners internet marketing guide, it is an internet marketing exposure guide, it is an action plan that focuses on using free sites and free methods to begin to make money online OR to gain exposure for your current online projects, your business, or your service OR both.

OWM was created by me to help ME clear the massive confusion I was experiencing while trying to make sense of internet marketing. It took me quite some time to break thru the brick wall of jumbled confusion, but once I did, it was all soooooo much easier for me.

It just so happens that Squidoo is a site that I focus on in One Week Marketing, but not ONLY Squidoo…and OWM does not have to be implemented on Squidoo. It works pretty dog-gone well on lots of free sites.

The main thing about One Week Marketing that I think either people miss (or haven’t read it to find out) is what is REALLY learned following the action plan.

Let’s do a brief over-view:

- Learn how to find a market
- Learn how to pick 5 or so relevant, low-competition keywords in that market
- Learn how to create a web page for each of those long-tail keywords
- Learn how to link those pages together for maximum exposure
- Learn how to get those web pages indexed by Google and other search engines
- Learn how to get traffic to those web pages

Wait a minute, doesn’t that sound like building a small niche website?

Why, yes it does

The beauty of One Week Marketing is that while many think they are only learning Squidoo marketing, they are in fact actually learning about online marketing…. oh, and using free methods.

What makes me feel really good is what *I* personally discovered when I started using the OWM Action Plan for my own online marketing. One day (in November 2007 to be exact), I realized it was time to reinvest some of my earnings from free methods and start to make my own sites.

When it came time to make my first niche site, I realized I already knew about picking the topic/niche… I already knew how to pick the keywords… I already knew how and why to link my pages together…I already knew how to get it indexed…. I already knew how to get traffic to it.

All I had to learn was how to use WordPress to build those niche blogs (which I teach for free at 6StepNicheSites.com ). The rest is very much the same.

It was quite the defining moment for me when I realized I already knew the basics for niche marketing online – and I haven’t looked back since.

After almost a year of One Week Marketing being available, I know that others….many others… have had that defining moment, too. They have gone on to twist and turn the OWM Action Plan into their own secret recipe – used it on all kinds of sites – added all kinds of sites – but they have had their defining moment and ran with it.

That feels AWESOME.

Internet marketing has flat out changed my life. No, not just my bank account, but my LIFE. I started with nothing – maybe less than nothing – and with the help of free sites like Squidoo, with pure grit and relentless determination, and with VERY little sleep, I turned that nothing into a nice heap of something and I’m still working it every, single day.

And now I know that with the help of 5 pdf guides from me, others are doing the same thing – taking nothing and turning into a whole heap of something. They didn’t let policy changes, or nay-sayers, or Google changes, or any of that get in their way.

They just keep moving forward. I am so proud of each and every one of you!

However, fact remains – and it’s in my face every, single day, that the majority of folks just don’t “get it” – or haven’t “gotten it” yet. Sadly, many quit any form of internet marketing long before they even give their brain a chance to experience their defining moment.

And that… well, that breaks my heart.

To summarize…

No, I am not boycotting Squidoo. No, I do not think other new online marketers should boycott Squidoo, either. However, it is a choice that you make for yourself.

So, let me ask the question I really wanted to hear the answer to from everyone…

Do YOU think YOU should boycott Squidoo?

Post from: PotPieGirl.com

Should We Boycott Squidoo? (Part 2)

Oh yes, this video totally shows how to find low-competition niche keywords for your One Week Marketing campaigns.  Not only that – this technique shows you how to find keywords for your Ezine Articles, Hub Pages, USFreeAds, BlogSpot Blogger blogs, GoArticles, or any other free-to-use website you can think of.  And we’re talking keywords you can actually RANK FOR in Google!!  I know there are as many ways to do keyword research as there are internet marketers, but here is how to find niche keywords PotPieGirl Style!

Keyword Marketing Research for Niche Affiliate Marketing

Throughout the last few blog posts, I’ve been sharing videos with some great pointers for getting your One Week Marketing lenses found in the Google index.  We covered a lot of important aspects of why your lenses won’t rank….why Google won’t keep them indexed (or index them at all)….and why Google won’t even show your lens as a search return.

If you haven’t watched these 3 previous videos here at PotPieGirl.com, do so now.  That way, you’ll have a clue what I’m rambling about today  =)

Intro:  The Basic Structure of Making Money Online For Free

1.  Squidoo Doesn’t Work Anymore (is Squidoo still effective?  Video)

2. Squidoo Keyword Research Video

3.  Web Page Indexing and You Video (Why Your Lens Won’t Rank in Google)

What good is a web page if no one can find it?

Seriously, why even bother making ANY web page if the number 1 source of traffic (Google) won’t send traffic to it?  We are affiliate marketers.  Our job is to create useful content online that recommends a solution to our readers (via our affiliate link, of course).

We don’t SELL – we get found and then we recommend.  However, it doesn’t matter what we recommend as a solution to someone’s problem if we can’t found, right?

Now, we COULD work our tails off dropping links and Twittering our lenses to death in attempt to get SOMEONE to come see it… OR…

We could just create good,quality web page content that Google falls in love with and then sends traffic TO us without any effort on our part.

Passive Traffic.  Passive Earnings.

That’s what I’m talking about!    =)

PotPieGirl’s Secret Keyword Finding Tool

Yes, I have a secret tool I use that helps me easily, and QUICKLY, discover keyword phrases that get my own One Week Marketing campaigns off to a healthy start to a love affair with Google.

I’ve talked about this software a few times, but I don’t push it.  First off, people yell at me when they think I am trying to :::gasp:::: sell something….lol

Secondly, this type of software is only for those that are serious about their affiliate marketing campaigns and ready to invest in their online business.  I totally understand when people aren’t ready to invest whether it’s due to financial constraints or lack of belief – and I am not asking anyone to do anything they are not prepared to do or cannot afford to do (that is my super nice way of asking some people to PLEASE stop yelling at me when I talk about or recommend something that costs money.  Thank you!)

Now, if you are in a place in your affiliate marketing efforts where you’re ready to roll AND you do have the resources to get things that leverage your time and effectiveness, you will love this.

Who Will This Keyword Research Technique Work For?

If you make online content, this software is for you. Especially if you are using free-to-use websites like Squidoo, HubPages, Ezine Articles, USFreeAds (Bum Marketers, are you listening?), GoArticles, Zimbio, Blogger blogs and on and on and on.

For One Week Marketing Action Plan followers, this software is a DREAM tool.  It is the one tool that I would not be without when creating a One Week Marketing campaign.

Just watch and see what only one LITTLE feature of this software can do for you.

Perhaps now you’ll see how I can crank out my campaigns so quickly….(yup, the proverbial cat is now out of the bag…haha!)

Finding Niche Keywords – FAST (the video)

Pretty cool stuff  there, isn’t it?  While keyword research is always part guessing-game, this software gives me even better educated guesses and gets me creating my online content SOOOOOOOO much faster.  And THAT is the part that makes me money.

That video was 5 minutes long.  In it, you saw me pick a VERY high gravity Clickbank product and find a handful of keyword phrases that I can rank for using free-to-use websites like Squidoo.com.

During that video, I went thru over 200 keyword phrases and was able to pick one AND find an available Squidoo url to be able to start making my lens.  All in 5 MINUTES.

Trust me, I remember the days of typing away and searching til my eyes hurt on Google – and I don’t miss it one little bit.

You can try the software I use for FREE for 7 days thru this link – SENukeFree.com.

If you are a One Week Marketing user, take the free 7 days and at least TRY IT.

This software does SO much that goes hand-in-hand with One Week Marketing.

Do You HAVE To Have This Software For One Week Marketing to Work For You?

No, of course not.  I stand by the One Week Marketing Action Plan as-is 125%.

I made a new campaign last night because I came across something I wanted to try.  It was about 3:30 am (yup, I’m a nightowl…lol).  By about 11 am this morning when I checked, everything I did was already in the Google index.  I went straight by the One Week Marketing guide – well, I kinda half-assed it because I was super tired – but even half-assed, it still works like a charm IF you pay attention to the things I’ve been talking about in the previous videos.

Site saturation is VERY important to check BEFORE starting a OWM campaign.  It can make a B-I-G difference in the ultimate success of your free marketing campaigns.

SENukeFree.com cuts down on your research time majorly.  I’m not hard-selling here.  I truly don’t think there is any need to.  Just that quick 5 minute video speaks VOLUMES about the time that you can save and the ultimate potential of your campaigns.

Ok, ’nuff said from me.

I have GOT to do some laundry.  This past week or so has been crazy busy and the laundry is less like a pile and much more like a MOUNTAIN.  In fact, I coulda swore I just saw a golf shirt walk by and put itself in the washing machine!

I wish they made software for laundry!  hahahahahaha!

Post from: PotPieGirl.com

Finding Niche Keywords FAST – Video

The past couple video posts at PotPieGirl.com have been regarding the effectiveness of Squidoo.com and getting those lenses indexed. I showed how doing a little research before ever making a lens on Squidoo (or a web page on ANY site for that matter) can really help your chances of getting your web page indexed. One of the questions I am getting is, “Why should I care how many OTHER lenses are already targeting my keywords?” Today’s video will show you why you should REALLY care about other web pages on the same site that are already indexed – and they are targeting your keywords.

Google and Web Page Indexing of Squidoo Lenses

Lots of great feedback and questions from the previous video posts – thank you! And a BIG thank you to all who actually liked my very unimpressive graphic and video skills =)

Thank goodness I don’t have to be a hi-tech computer genius to make a living online or else I’d be in a world of trouble!

Alrighty…

Today we are going to talk about WHY you should really care how many other web pages on Squidoo.com are already in the Google index for your keywords. In fact, this is true for all web sites, but it is most important when trying to rank a web page on any free Web 2.0 property that relies on user-generated content to build its site.

Before you watch this video, make sure you’ve watched the other videos in this series so you’ll know what the heck we’re talking about.

1. Squidoo Doesn’t Work Anymore?

2. Squidoo Keyword Research Video

Keyword Research and User-Generated Content Sites

*** The keyword research technique I use that I talk about in this video (the one that gives me the rankings you saw), is the keyword research technique I showed in this blog post – read Keyword Marketing Research (Keyword Research – How I Do It).

*** A bunch of questions about this technique are answered in this post – and the keyword research tools I use can be found in this post (My Top 5 Free Keyword Research Tools)

*** My entire method of researching keywords is shown in great detail in my Keyword Research 101 guide that is available at LuLu.com.

*** Since researching keywords is SO important to the success of online marketing campaigns, there is a special offer to get my Keyword Research 101 Guide at a big discount when you get my One Week Marketing Action Plan.

Wait! What IS a User-Generated Content Site?

A user-generated content site is a website that is built entirely by other people adding their content. Think YouTube, for example. That site is free for others to use and is built entirely from others submitting their videos. Each video submission creates a web page on YouTube.com

Squidoo is a user-generated content site, too. The site is free for us to use and make our own web pages. In exchange, we are building a website that belongs to someone else. HubPages and many other sites are out there that work on this same platform.

Article directories, like EzineArticles.com and AssociatedContent.com, are also user-generated content sites.

While any of the above sites could have thousands and thousands of web pages on a similar (or the same) topic, Google will still only pick one or two pages from these sites to show for a search result. In order for YOUR page on these sites to be shown by Google, you need to check the keyword competition on that site BEFORE making a web page.

Not doing this could very well mean your new web page gets lost in the masses never to receive Google traffic.

- Check the site you are using for keyword competition
- Check Google for keyword competition
- Decide on your keyword(s)
- THEN create your web page

You will find life online to be MUCH easier if you find windows of opportunity instead of walls of resistance.

I’m not saying it is impossible to rank for popular keywords on Squidoo. It IS possible, but it will take a lot more effort and a lot more time. Remember, you are competing against web pages on that site that already have authority with Google, are already indexed in Google, and already have back links to them.

However, if you give Google something new…and something that might be their only choice when returning a page from the Squidoo site, you could see more immediate results.

Note to One Week Marketing Action Plan users: This is REALLY important for you to do before creating your campaign. I have had many emails from folks who are having a hard time with Google and their campaigns. Most of the time, I can do one quick check (the site:squidoo.com check) and see what the problem is.

Now, if you already HAVE a campaign that is in one of these super competitive keyword markets on Squidoo, don’t do something crazy like delete the lenses or something. Instead, be sure to get good back links and be patient.

I’d also like to mention that the best keyword research in the world won’t do a thing if your web page isn’t a good experience for the reader – and it isn’t TARGETED to what the user is looking for.

Web page indexing is all cool and fun, but it still comes down to how your page appeals to the reader who finds you.

Sorry it’s taken me so long to get this video up and posted. We have had HORRIBLE weather in Atlanta today and I’ve had to stop a few times due to lightning and storms.

Have a great weekend!

Post from: PotPieGirl.com

Web Page Indexing and You (Video)

Yesterday, I did a quick video about the effectiveness of Squidoo these days since I have been hearing lots of “Squidoo doesn’t work anymore!” comments thru-out my travels on the internet. In that video, I showed a technique I use to get keyword ideas for Squidoo lenses that are original to the Squidoo site (which should help the chance of your lenses being indexed…and STAYING indexed). Now that there are over 1.5 MILLION pages from squidoo.com found within the Google index, it more important than ever to give Google something unique from the Squidoo site. Prepare to be DAZZLED by my incredible video and graphic skills once again…

How To Find Keywords For a New Squidoo Lens

Before we start, if you have NOT watched yesterdays video about the death of Squidoo, please watch it first (or else this video may not make as much sense to you).

First…. I get to ramble about my emergency today….

I meant to post this video earlier today, but I had an emergency. Yes, an EMERGENCY!!!

The TV in my office just stopped working. Blank screen…nothing..nada… a goner.

Now don’t laugh… this is serious (said in my best “mean mom” voice…haha!)

Yes, this IS an emergency…at least THIS week it is. This is Masters Week. If you follow PGA golf at all, you know this is THE week that golfers wait for all year long. No TV in the office meant I either work… or watch The Masters…but I couldn’t do both.

During this one week of the year, golf would totally beat out work , so I knew I had to take immediate action. Ok, golf beats work most of the time anyway…but very rarely golf on TELEVISION =)

Nobody panic! All is right now. I went and got a new flat screen for the office….and now I may NEVER come out….haha!

OK – my rambling is over now…

Let’s talk about keyword for a Squidoo lens.

Better yet, let’s talk about finding keywords that give you a better chance of getting and keeping your lens in the Google index. Squidoo is a BIG site…. 1.5 million pages or more. We have to find a way to get keywords that DON’T bore Google… we need to give Google something unique.

In short, we need to give Google a REASON to index our lenses.

Here is a more in-depth look at one keyword research technique I use before ever making a lens on Squidoo.

Squidoo lenses still work, IF you’re not doing the same ol’ thing that has already been done thousands of times on the squidoo.com site. Not only is this better for the Squidoo site, it will also make your effort of getting indexed and ranked MUCH MUCH easier.

For those of you that have lenses that are having a hard time getting love from Google, have you looked into what kind of competition you have within the Squidoo site?

Does Squidoo Still Work?

Squidoo is still PLENTY effective, BUT – only as effective as the keyword research put into making the lens and the uniqueness of the content. A little research before ever making a lens can go a long, long way.

In fact, this same concept happens on many big sites that have user-generated content. This is not unique to Squidoo.com. I remember doing this same basic concept for my research when writing articles for Associated Content. The articles that had topics/keywords that were NOT already covered on the AC site did much, much better.

Your thoughts?

Post from: PotPieGirl.com

Squidoo Keyword Research Video

Yesterday, I talked about nine of my Squidoo accounts that were suddenly deleted. We sure have had a lot of conversation about this, haven’t we? Today, I am proud to report that all is right in Squidoo-land. All my accounts have been restored. Everything was handled today on a nice phone call chat with Seth Godin, owner and creator of Squidoo.com.

First – and Most Importantly

Before I go into ANY of this, I want to say something. I am beyond flattered and amazed and humbled and ALL those words by the over-whelming response and support I have received during this situation.

Words just will not come to me that properly express how grateful I am for each and every one of you. When I am rendered speechless, well, let me tell you – you have done something amazing (just ask my husband…”speechless” is not usually a word used in regards to me…lol).

The group of you that read here at PotPieGirl.com are some of the finest people I have never met….however, I feel like I know each of you personally. Maybe that’s because there is so much of YOU that is ME, and so much of ME that is YOU. Whether we could pick each other out in a crowd or not doesn’t matter to me. We know each other – we are friends. I appreciate your friendship more than words can express.

Thank you.

Hush, Jen – Tell Us What Happened!

Ok, you don’t want to hear me get all mushy. I get that. So, let’s get to the big question…

What the heck happened that caused nine of my Squidoo accounts to get deleted?

This evening I got home from my errands and appointments (and Mom Taxi service) and sat down to my email. Let me tell you – it was one super-dooper, uber full inbox! As I am sorting thru things, I see an email sent to me from…

Seth Godin.

Ok, I’ll be honest, I opened that one as soon as I saw it (c’mon, you know YOU would, too! lol). Part of me thought, “This must be a joke” and the other part of me thought, “uhoh… I’m in trouble”… lol! The email simply asked me to call him.

So, I did.

My Conversation With Seth Godin

Wow, he is totally the cool guy I thought he’d be. Now, I’ve never been the “star-struck” or guru groupie type person, but Seth is someone that has always fascinated me. I love reading his work and I have always found that his words resonate with me. As someone who was once reprimanded by a former boss for my customer service skills being TOO good, it was refreshing for me to come across someone like Mr Godin. In short, I didn’t feel so alone anymore (and how someone can have customer service skills that are so good that it is viewed as a fault… Well, I still don’t understand that one).

ANYWAY….

So, I called Seth Godin and we had a great chat. Now, I’m not going to go all into our conversation, but there are two important questions that we all wanted answered. I will quote those answers here (Seth also sent me a follow up email so I would have official documentation to quote here for all of you).

Why Did My Accounts Get Deleted/Locked/Terminated?

Here is the official answer to that question:

“IP tracking engaged an algorithm within Squidoo’s systems which led to your lenses being locked. The data wasn’t lost, and we’ve gone ahead and started turning your lenses back on. Squidoo works hard to maintain our Terms of Service in order to make it a great experience for everyone.”

What that means:

Apparently, there was some weird activity on other lenses associated with my ip address. This activity triggered a filter that caused the said accounts to be locked/terminated/deleted. (Note: I use those three terms because each of them has been used to me through-out this situation so I don’t know what the correct terminology is here.)

I know first hand that this “weird activity” was not ME. First off, I pinky promise it wasn’t me, and secondly, if my ip address had really triggered this filter, ALL my accounts would have been affected. All my accounts were NOT affected, only the nine in question.

Long story short, it was a freak glitch in the system that I feel sure will be corrected if need be.

How Much Power Do Volunteers at Squidoo Have?

Yes, I asked this, too. I’ve heard a lot of rumblings about the ability for non-paid, volunteer staff members at Squidoo being able to do harm to another lensmasters account. I wanted to know, and to set the record straight, as far as how much power our volunteers have.

So, I asked.

This is the answer I received:

“Our volunteers do great work and are often called on to lock lenses that violate our terms of service, but only Squidoo staff can delete accounts.”

What that means:

Volunteers DO have the power to lock an individual lens if need be so that it can be reviewed by a paid staff member, BUT, they (the volunteers) do NOT have the authority or the power to block or ban an entire account. Only a paid staff member can do this.

Now I Can Exhale

Now we know, this was not an act of spite, this was not due to the structure of the lenses, nor did it have to do with multiple accounts or anything like that.

This was a freak accident.

All my accounts have been restored. All my content is in tact. Nothing malicious or hurtful was done or caused by all this.

Everything is ok.

No, it’s better than ok because now we KNOW what happened and the fear of mis-use of power by volunteers in this situation has been laid to rest.

Squidoo.com remains a wonderful platform to have your opinions and work seen AND found. I, PotPieGirl, will not hesitate for even one second to recommend anyone and everyone to join the Squidoo site.

Seize The Moment

While all this information is GREAT news, I realized that I (we) have more questions. I had two main questions in mind that I thought an official answer would be a big benefit to all of us and maybe set our minds at ease.

So, I took a chance and decided to email Megan Casey (Editor in Chief for Squidoo.com). I THOUGHT that her reply email would end up being a follow up post, but it turns out that she answered very quickly. ( Thank you!)

I know many of you are waiting and refreshing my blog to read this post, but it’s going to take a few minutes longer so I can add this information from Megan.

The following will be a copy paste of the email I just received from Megan that give her thoughts on the two other questions that were on my mind. In bold are the questions I asked…the rest is her thoughts.

“Jennifer

This was such a fun and thoughtful and well-reasoned email to read!

here are some thoughts back (quotable if you like) that might help.

1. Are affiliate marketers that create high-quality lenses welcome on Squidoo?
Of course they are. Absolutely. Lenses with unique (that means, created by you and you alone), personal, useful content are a good thing on the web. Here’s where the rub comes in: some affiliate marketing setups promote programs or ebooks or topics that we have to draw the line on. Hoodia Gordoni sales and Viagra reviews and Penis Enlargement and Yuwie affiliates and the like. Even if the quality of the lens itself is good, 9 times out of 10 the topic gets surrounded by so much bad, spammer activity that we have to flag it or lock it, for the good of the whole community.

[Important to remember that while spam the verb is never allowed, otherwise our SquidDon't topic guidelines are just that... guidelines... and if you're non-anonymous, authentic and creating good content, you're welcome to request a hand review. We like to give people who deserve it the benefit of the doubt. But at first blush, we'll probably overcorrect and lock spambait lenses.]

Ebook sales lenses, in particular, have unfortunately earned a bad reputation in the Squidoo community for being cloned, cut-and-pasted content. I can’t even begin to tell you how many Wow Gold Review lenses we’ve found that have word for word identical content!

There’s plenty of room for goodness in all this, though. I appreciate that affiliate pages are high-yield, and would just recommend teaching people how to post honest, personal, gracious reviews.

2. Is it ok to have multiple accounts on Squidoo as long as they are created and used within the TOS of Squidoo?

Again, yes! I totally understand why some people want to have multiple accounts. It’s the same reason I have multiple Facebook accounts… one to joke around with friends, one for Squidoo.

Multiple accounts are fine by me and fine by our TOS.

The caution I would give, however, is that growing one’s reputation is worthwhile, and that anonymity hurts. I posted some thoughts about this on the SquidBlog today (completely unrelated to your case, by the way!). If someone has multiple accounts, but has only earned a good reputation in one of them, then it’s not really viable to expect special treatment in the other anonymous accounts. And, if we find that people have multiple accounts only to boost the ratings and comments on their other lenses, or to engage in bad behaviour in regards to other lenses, that is ratings manipuation (or worse) and is against the spirit of Squidoo and our TOS.

Hope this helps!

Megan “

I’m not going to explain or interpret that… Megan did a nice job of that on her own.

What We’ve Learned

When you’re playing in a sandbox that belongs to someone else, you either play by their rules, go find a new sandbox, OR, go make your OWN sandbox. Do you agree? Thing is, it is pretty much that way when you are working online using free methods and sites that don’t belong to you.

Everyday, I hear complaints and rumblings about EzineArticles and YouTube and HubPages and tons of other “free to use” sites. Whether we like it or not, whether it’s fair or not, we either play by the rules of the owner…. or we don’t play there anymore. Sometimes, we are forced to leave the site, other times we choose to not use the site.

Regardless, we, the consumers, have the right and the power to choose which sites and which communities we participate in online. It stinks, but none of these sites OWE us an explanation for why they do or say what they do. In fact, just today with my situation, I was not OWED an explanation. I wasn’t deserving of a thing – regardless of “who I am” or “what I do” or any of that.

The sheer fact that the Squidoo staff DID reach out to me to help resolve this situation and to pass info to me so I could, in turn, pass it to YOU, speaks VOLUMES to me. Remember, I’m the one who has customer service skills that are “too good”….lol! I have the utmost respect for Seth reaching out and working with me to resolve this issue. And yes, I feel a little special tonight =)

However, I also feel a little guilty because I know that Squidoo handling ALL situations this same way is literally impossible.

In the big picture, I am small-potatoes online and I know that *I* can barely handle the email and correspondence that I receive – and my ratio of readers to me is NOTHING compared to what Seth and the Squidoo staff have going on.

Based on that, I want to apologize for being the “special one” in this situation. I hope you each feel that I represented YOU well in my moment with the powers that be at Squidoo.

Now, I am going to shut up (FINALLY) and get this post out there for y’all. Maybe I’ll prevent a few broken fingers from pushing that refresh button one too many times….lol

Yes, I will do a follow post to this if need be. Feel free to leave comments and questions here and I’ll do my best to answer (While I can’t answer FOR the Squidoo staff I will do my best to answer or guide you TO answers).

Again, THANK YOU to ALLLLLLLLL of you!!

For more info on Squidoo:

Top Reasons Accounts Get Deleted on Squidoo

Squidoo’s FAQ

Squidoo’s TOS

About Squidoo

Everyone’s an Expert Ebook by Seth Godin (I highly recommend that any Squidoo user read this free ebook. I think many of you will find it enlightening. The link opens the pdf in a new browser window).

Post from: PotPieGirl.com

Squidoo UN-Deleted Nine Of My Accounts

Some things just totally blow my mind. Do you know how many people are looking online for a way to make money doing nothing? Doing nothing. Really? Do these folks truly expect to find a way to do this? What in the world gives ANYONE the impression that they can make money by doing NOTHING? Ok , other than having a rich relative….lol

Do Nothing. Make Money.

Alright, I’ll be honest. Yesterday I was a bit under the weather. Actually I was just plain worn out from a very busy Super Bowl weekend. I answered some email and then took the rest of the day off. I took a nap, watched TV, and just rested because apparently, my body was calling for it.

For ME, that was a “do nothing” day and yes, I still made money. But do people realize that there had to be a whole lot of something done before I could ever look towards a day of doing nothing and making money?

That is the great thing about working online. If you take the time and do a whole lot of something, there will come a day when you can do nothing and still make money. In fact, that is your goal, isn’t it? To end up with lots of web pages and campaigns out there on the internet that work FOR you down the road?

I know it sure was MY goal. Make money fast or overnight or quick was not a pressing issue for me. Sure, I’d have liked the money to come fast, but in the long run, I wanted these things to make money for me for a long time whether *I* worked or not.

The Reality

I think one the biggest mistakes I made with One Week Marketing was to offer it to anyone and everyone. Now, I know that is how it is supposed to be done, but it’s been a little hard for me.

You see, One Week Marketing is my “baby”. It’s not some old re-hashed system… it’s MY system. It’s very personal to me and I know it works.

Am I Afraid It Will Make MY Efforts Less Effective?

Oh heck no, I’m not afraid that allowing others to see the same techniques I use will make my efforts less effective. That is so not my “problem”.

My problem is the reality. Realistic stats ( the ol’ 80/20 rule) show that only 20% will actually DO anything with the information that is right in front of them. That means, for every 100 copies of the Action Plan that go out, only 20 people will even DO anything with it.

How sad is THAT?

Oh, but wait… it gets worse.

Out of those 20 people, only 20% of THEM will actually follow thru and find success with it. That means for every 100 copies, only 4 people will see real success with it and be on their way to making money doing nothing.

Four people out of every 100.

96 copies will grow cob webs on a computer hard drive somewhere in the world.

And to be perfectly honest, the more I am around this internet marketing world, I think the 80/20 rule I am using should be more like 95/5.

This breaks my heart.

Do they decide it’s too hard? Do they realize that it takes work and follow-thru…then give up – or worse yet, never even START?

Or is it simply because the majority of folks that search online for a way to make money, want to make that money by doing NOTHING?

Yes, I am ranting a little bit today, but it’s time I ask this question out loud:

What IS it that makes anyone feel entitled to a life making money doing nothing?

Your thoughts?

Post from: PotPieGirl.com

Make Money Doing Nothing

I was recently extended an invitation by Andrew Wee to do a phone call interview with me for the Friday PodCast series he runs on his blog. Wow, what an honor! I don’t know about y’all, but when I walk out the door of my home, there really isn’t anyone to just sit and talk to about all this internet marketing mumbo-jumbo. To be able to sit and chat with someone like Andrew was super exciting for me!

I’ll admit, I was a bit intimidated and nervous about the impending interview. C’mon, I’m just PotPieGirl – not some high-profile internet marketer… what the heck would *I* have to talk about? LOL!

Well, it turns out that I had plenty to say. I was given the opportunity to talk about how I got started working online and all the road blocks I ran into along the way. Just a note to those of you that are really new to internet marketing, I PROMISE that once you hear how much *I* didn’t know when I started, you will feel much better. Seriously, I was clueless. (Can’t believe I admitted some of those things….lol!!)

We also talked about Squidoo and affiliate marketing strategies for Squidoo lenses. And yes, I even finally told the story about how I got the “PotPieGirl” name =)

Anyway – I had a great time talking with Andrew and want to take a moment to thank him for the invitation. I hope you’ll stop by and have a listen. You will end up learning a lot more about little ol’ me.

The PodCast Interview With PotPieGirl is Here

Have a great weekend!

Post from: PotPieGirl.com

Who Is PotPieGirl?

I love reading other make money online products. People out there have such great ideas and techniques, don’t you think? But something hit me tonight as I was finishing my latest read. Have you ever noticed how many of these ebooks you finish and then have NO CLUE where to start? Seriously! I read and enjoy the knowledge and the concepts…and then when I’m all geared up and ready to implement the processes I just learned, I realize that I don’t know where to START.

I Read It So Why Am I Still Broke?

There is one fact about any make money online system, ebook, training, video, etc etc etc that will always remain true. Not a single one of them “works” without you implementing the things you just learned. I have yet to find a single thing online that made me money just because I READ IT.

And let’s take that one step further…. how many ebooks do you actually READ? No, not scan… but READ. How many have you read twice or three times to be sure you absorbed all the information that was offered to you?

Now, on the other hand, how many make money online training resources have you scanned and them tucked away on your hard drive?

No need to answer out loud. I’m really just putting those questions out there as food for thought as opposed to taking a poll =)

I’ve done it. You’ve done it. Odds are really strong that the majority of us have done it at LEAST once.

Why Do We Scan and File?

There are many, many reasons we scan a new ebook and then file it away on our computers. Among those reasons are:

1. OMG! This takes Work! - Yes, let’s admit it. There are some great systems and tutorials we read that absolutely come across as an unbelievable amount of effort. Sooooooooooo, we just file that away for “when we have time”.

2. OMG! Cool Idea! – Yes, we also read some really, really great stuff. These ebooks might get saved directly on our computer desktop as opposed to in the ol ‘ ebook file folder because we are SO going to do this – one day.

3. Yes! This Is What I Want To Do! - Eureka! You found it. THIS is how you want to make money online. You actually READ it instead of scanning and you’re all fired up to start. Only one problem…. WHERE do you start? It’s that one obstacle causes that ebook to live a lonely life on your computer.

Reason #3 is the one that is stuck in my mind tonight. Why do so many ebooks and systems take you through all the tricks and tips…..maybe run you through some case studies…. but when you’re done reading, you have no idea where “Square One” is so YOU can START?

Square One – Start Here

SO many of you voluntarily email me and say such nice things about One Week Marketing and I appreciate it SO much! I got an email the other day, though, and that probably is why this specific topic is on my mind.

The person emailed to tell me thank you. She finally read something to help her learn how to make money online and instead of feeling lost when finished with the package, she felt motivated, totally prepared to get started, AND she knew WHERE to start.

Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

That is EXACTLY what I was hoping people would feel after reading One Week Marketing. That is WHY the Action Plan was created in the first place – so *I* had a daily plan of action and always knew what I needed to do today, and tomorrow and the next day and so on and so on.

Yes, I created that Action Plan for myself.

When I was putting OWM together, I knew that I wanted to arm each reader with knowledge and understanding of what to do and WHY we do it…and then send them on their way prepared and comfortable at Square One.

One really great thing for me is that I KNOW that if those that read One Week Marketing actually implement what I teach, that it won’t be long before they find balance and confidence in this totally unfamiliar world of internet marketing.

The “Unknown” presents itself to us as a brick wall. An obstacle. It is this very wall that keeps 95% or more of the people trying to make money online from being successful in this business.

Do you know that if YOU are one of the people who not only read One Week Marketing, but you are actually IMPLEMENTING the Action Plan, that you are WAYYYYYYYYY, WAYYYYYYY ahead of the rest of those trying to make money online?

Just the simple fact that you are willing to get your hands dirty and break through that wall speaks volumes about YOU. Everyone is NOT doing that. How many people do you think read OWM and then MIGHT make ONE lens…and then give up?

Most.

Yes, there are a LOT of people all over the internet that are quite vocal about their love of One Week Marketing and about their SUCCESS with One Week Marketing. But if I take that number and compare it to just how many people have a copy of the Action Plan, it would shock you to know what a small percent of people actually take real, COMPLETE action….. and CONTINUE to take action.

One Week Marketing is NOT about creating ONE campaign and getting rich. However, it IS about creating multiple streams of income and compounding wealth.

Those that understand that are doing very, very well. Their future in this business is bright because they are the ones that are getting dirty and making mistakes and busting butt to break that wall down one brick at a time.

Those are the ones that will make money online =)

You know who you are….and I am so SO proud of each and every one of you! I hope you are equally proud of YOURSELF.

On Another Note

I have also gotten a few emails lately asking me why I didn’t expand on the “how to use Squidoo” portion of One Week Marketing. I have two main reasons for my decision to NOT do that.

1. You don’t need no stinkin’ book to learn how to make a basic Squidoo lens. Now, there are some that want to shorten the learning curve and have all the info they need in one place, so they DO buy an ebook. (Hey, I’m ALL about saving time, so I am NOT knocking that….lol! I buy guides to save time very often).

I came across a lens today that is such a wonderful resource for those that are new to the Squidoo platform. For free, this extremely generous lensmaster walks you thru opening a new Squidoo account all the way thru publishing and beyond. If the reason you are not implementing the Action Plan in One Week Marketing is because you don’t “get” Squidoo, please visit and bookmark this lens – How To Make A Squidoo Lens

For those of you that think you’ve “got it”, set aside a little time and go read thru this lens, too. It is that good.

2. Why Try and Re-Invent The Wheel? There are SO many ebooks and resources out there for those that want to learn how to use Squidoo that it would be silly for me to repeat it all in One Week Marketing (which would also probably make a price increase necessary). A simple search on the Squidoo site will return a WEALTH of information on the topic – all for free.

If you really want a guide that is good for beginners all the way to more advanced Squidoo tips and strategies, I still recommend Squidoo Cash Machine.

In Closing

I hope all of you on the One Week Marketing list got the BIG list of resources and Frequently Asked Questions I sent out the other day. Again, I apologize for sending such a long email, but I think it will end up being a very valuable resource as you are getting your hands dirty breaking thru that wall.

And before I forget, I am 99% positive that I have something really cool to share with y’all on Friday. Nope, I’m not selling anything….lol Just something that I am very excited to share =)

Have a great day!

Post from: PotPieGirl.com

Start Here?

One day your lens is in Google, next day it’s gone. Sound familiar? While we’ve talked about why your lens falls out of Google before, I think it’s time we talk about it on a deeper level. I’ve hesitated doing this mainly because it is a more advanced topic – but also because Google does what Google wants. There is no absolute understanding of Google – and I don’t want anyone to obsess with trying to do just that. But, let’s talk about ol’ Googlebot and your web pages.

Rule #1 – You Can’t Understand Google

Cold, hard fact is this… it’s Google’s search engine and they’ll index however the heck they want to. They do not WANT us to totally understand how it all works. Heck, I read that last year (2008), Google changed their algorithm over 450 times! That is at least one change every DAY.

There is no “code” to crack with Google. Whatever the “code” is today WILL BE different tomorrow. The sooner you accept that, the better off you’ll be.

Rule #2 – The Definition of Insanity Is TRYING To Understand Google

Seriously, the more and more you try and “figure out” Google, the crazier you will make yourself. All my men readers – C’mon guys… how many times have you looked at your wife or girlfriend and thought, “I am going crazy trying to figure you out!” ???

Honey, we women have NOTHING on Google. Google is the most temperamental “woman” you will EVER come across. Worst yet, Google has absolutely NO desire for you to figure out a THING about her. Ironically, the most temperamental woman in the world was developed by two men in a dorm room. (makes me laugh a little)

How Google Indexes Web Pages

With all those disclaimers and warnings out of the way, let’s talk about Google and web pages. Did you know it is Google’s objective to index every page on the web?

This is a HUGE job.

They also take it one step further by trying to rank these web pages in order of relevance to a search query. Just think about all the information that is processed in that 0.15 seconds it took to give you your search results! It’s amazing to me – astounding!

Now, Google also wants to find all the newest and freshest online content and get it in their index asap, too. Yet another HUGE under-taking. Just think how many people are publishing blog posts and articles and lenses and videos and ALLLLLL that every single second of every single day!

Google’s crawlers (GoogleBot) are out on the web all the time looking for new content, updating older content – just spidering the web like crazy.

In fact, GoogleBot actually has two types of crawlers – FreshBot and DeepBot (no, I am not making this up…lol)

Meet FreshBot and DeepBot

Freshbot has one job – find all the newest and the freshest content as it can and get it in the Google index.

DeepBot has a monthly job – to deep crawl all the web pages on the internet, follow the links, evaluate the web pages, and then completely re-update the entire index and get it to all the Google data centers.

Let me use my blog as an example -

Good ol’ FreshBot is hanging around here or at least waiting on me all the time. I love FreshBot! Within minutes of me publishing a new post, here comes ol’ FreshBot. He grabs it and gets it in the Google index within about 30 minutes. Then, he will tell ol’ DeepBot to get over here to PotPieGirl.com and be sure to do a deep index of my site each month.

DeepBot also “remembers” to come do a deep crawl here by finding my blog from other links all over the internet (remember how important I said back links are???)

FreshBot finds you and gives you a bonus of getting in the index quickly. DeepBot decides what to do with you. In other words, DeepBot checks your back links and ALL that stuff that FreshBot could care less about.

What Does This GoogleBot Activity Look Like?

Now I want to show you an image from inside my Google WebMaster Tools. This is an image of the number of pages that have been crawled per day in the last 90 days here at PotPieGirl.com.

As you can see, ol’ FeshBot is in here daily checking for new content, new posts, new comments, etc etc. But, see that BIG spike there in the beginning of December? That is DeepBot coming in for a BIG look at my site. I’ve recently had two more big scans. I first realized this was happening here at PotPieGirl.com when I got a nice little “Warning!” message about my bandwidth usage from my hosting. Yes, DeepBot can eat up some bandwidth. The better your Page Rank, the deeper they go….and the more bandwidth they use.

I can only imagine what the big sites with high Page Rank go thru! You know, sites like Squidoo.com

FreshBot, DeepBot, and Your Squidoo Lens

Ok – now Squidoo has a nice high Page Rank of 8. FreshBot hangs around there A LOT- probably all the time. He KNOWS there is constantly new content to crawl on that site.

Problem is, sometimes he misses stuff when crawling the Squidoo site. This is why we get some links to our new lenses to help FreshBot get there. Or we could do some edits and republish helping to remind FreshBot that we’re there. Even if we do all that, he still might miss. Hey, he’s a computer program…give him a break…lol

OR, FreshBot DOES find your new lens and you are in that Google index in a matter of hours – or minutes! Awesome! BUT – then days go by and DeepBot hasn’t been….and your new lens falls out of the index.

OR, FreshBot DOES get to you and DeepBot does, too – BUT, ol’ DeepBot didn’t find or wasn’t aware of any back links TO your content – and your lens falls out again. Remember now, just because YOU know there is a back link to your lens does NOT mean that DeepBot knows about it yet. And also keep in mind that you may SEE your back link in the Google index, but that could be the work of FreshBot – not DeepBot.

Regardless, it’s Google’s party and they’ll crawl if they want to =)

Bottom Line

When your lens is new and if appears to be struggling with Google, keep it fresh. I’m not talking about major updates – just a little sumthin-sumthin and republish. Also, keep making those links TO your lens (preferably from places that FreshBot hangs out).

All this with FreshBot and DeepBot applies to article marketing and blogs and ALL web sites. I know it’s confusing, but the best tip I can give to understand all this is to simply accept that you will never completely understand all this.

Good content that is well-optimized with links pointing TO that content WILL come back into the Google index. The higher the Page Rank of the site your content sits on, the better your odds of being found and STICKING in the Google index. The only thing that WON’T work to bring your lens back into the Google index is obsessing over why it’s not in the Google index. As I always say – KEEP MOVING FORWARD =)

Just for the record, I do not KNOW all this. Nor do I personally KNOW anyone at Google who has told me all this. These are my observations and the results of my reading and testing. You can read more about the GoogleBot and all her buddies here.

Post from: PotPieGirl.com

How Google Indexes Your Web Pages

It’s getting harder and harder at times to get our lenses indexed, isn’t it? I’ve gotten a few emails from folks who have been following the One Week Marketing “secret” steps to getting Google to index your lens…and Google still won’t do it! Darn Google! So what’s going on? Why are many lenses indexed within hours…and some sit there and wait…and wait… and wait. Worse yet, why do lenses jump into the Google index FAST and then drop back out just as fast? Is Google out to get you?

Google and Squidoo

Naturally, no one but the mystical Google algorithm knows for fact what exactly is happening with each individual lens. However, I have my theories and since I like to ramble endlessly, I thought I’d share my theories with you.

Squidoo is a BIG site. Reality is, Google most likely will not keep all pages focused on a certain topic within their index. Why would they? Think about it? Wouldn’t you keep the most relevant and have them on hand for those that search for those topics?

“Most relevant” – Now that is an interesting phrase. What IS “most relevant” to Google? Google scans your page and decides what it is about so it stops there, right? Oh no, Google relies on sites outside of Squidoo to tell them which web pages are “most relevant” and important to a certain search.

Google likes when other web pages “vote” for your lens =)

So, how does another web page “vote” for your lens in a way that makes Google feel your lens in “most relevant”?

Back links.

When another web page links to your lens using your focused keywords as the anchor text for that link (ie, the clickable words), Google sees that as a “vote” for your lens to be “most relevant” for that term.

Naturally, that is the short and condensed version of how all that works, but that is the gist of it.

So, even in the best case scenario that we get our lens indexed within hours, it could drop out of the index just as quickly because Google hasn’t found any ‘votes’ for it yet. Now, this doesn’t mean that you haven’t made any ‘votes’/back links… it just means that Google hasn’t found them and processed them yet.

After time, those votes will be found and your lens will come back IF your lens is MORE relevant than the other lenses on that topic/keyword search term. Build your links, be patient, and it will come back 95% of the time IF it is ‘most relevant’ to that search term.

So, What About The Lenses That Are Taking FOREVER To Get Indexed?

I’ve been keeping my eye on an odd little trend that is going on with Google and Squidoo lenses as of late. To “test” my little theory, I made two lenses. One was on a new “trendy” topic and the other was on a more established topic that Squidoo has quite a few lenses on already.

These lenses were made here in the last 3 days. One is in the Google index, one is not.

The lens that was on the more unique trendy topic got indexed and was showing in the index within 8 hours. To all you One Week Marketing followers – all I did was the first little easy part of getting a lens indexed, too! Google scooped it up. Why? They NEED web pages on this topic. It is a new and time-sensitive topic and they need all the info they can get.

The other lens…. yeah, well, it appears Google has said “No, thank you” to the first peek at it. Squidoo already has a good bit of lenses on this topic AND the url for the lens is very, very similar to the urls of OTHER Squidoo lenses.

I did all the steps within One Week Marketing to the letter…and to the extreme to get this lens indexed. I knew it was a bit of a saturated topic within Squidoo and also knew it would take more effort on my part – both to GET it indexed and to KEEP it indexed.

So, How Did I KNOW This?

How did I know that one lens would be harder than another? Simple, I asked Google!

For the sake of this post, I am going to share these lenses with you.

The “trendy” lens is about how to buy inauguration tickets. Pretty new and time sensitive topic isn’t it?

Look what is already in the Squidoo site for that term:

3 pages on Squidoo for that term. That is NOT competition…lol! As you can see, Google got my lens quickly (I made that lens yesterday). My lens is the first listing and as of this writing, it was indexed 22 HOURS ago – and kids, this is a NEW lens! Remember, I only used one little copy/paste technique that we use in One Week Marketing.

Now, my other lens is on a more “pressing” topic – loan modification.

Let’s ask Google what I am up against if I want this lens to do well.

Well, 161 lenses all focused on the exact phrase of “loan modification” within the Squidoo site ALREADY. Yikes!

Yes, that lens will take work – and I have done a LOT to get that lens indexed. So far, nothin’ honey. Also, the url that I chose for my lens is very, very similar to lenses that already are in the Google index.

It’s gonna take time for that lens. Time for Google to find the back links that are already out there, and time for it all to “simmer” together for Google to even begin to think my lens is “more relevant” than other lenses.

But, That’s Ok With Me

Yes, it’s ok with me. My lenses are made and I am moving forward. I can’t control Google. I did everything I need to do to get BOTH lenses indexed. Now, I wait on one, and for the other, well, I get to start seeing what that lens will do.

But I am not going to watch – I am going to keep working. Yesterday I also made two new websites … TWO… complete websites with blogs and landing pages for PPC… AND I set up the PPC campaigns, too. AND, I was using some techniques and tools in all steps that are new to me. (Just for the record, I had a BLAST doing it and can’t wait to share all that with you when I have some feedback and results).

Anyway, I know Google will probably find my lens eventually… I also know Google will probably drop either or both of them like a hot potato before long, too.

It is the nature of the Google organic listings business – the business many, many of us are in.

Google is not out to get me. I know my lens is relevant to the topic I chose.

Wait, how do I KNOW my lens is relevant?

Again… simple, I asked Google.

Yes, ASK GOOGLE if they think your lens is about what YOU think it is about. Now, this that I am about to show is not a fool-proof guarantee, but it sure can tell you from the git-go if your are even on track with the content you have ON your lens.

So, let’s ask Google about my loan modification lens.

Go to the Google AdWords Keyword tool, and choose the “Website content” option… then enter the url for your lens and let Google scan it.

Well lookie there….looks like I am kinda on target. Lots of good foreclosure words (another focus of the lens), but not enough loan modification words. (Interesting… wouldn’t some of those keywords Google shows me that GOOGLE thinks my lens is about make some pretty nifty Squidoo tags? hint hint)

Perhaps I need to improve the keyword focus/density for my main word?

Hmmmm….body is 3.6%… that’s not too bad. (and before anyone asks me how I did that keyword density report… if you read One Week Marketing, I already told you….lol)

But…I think I will let this lens be for right now and see what happens.

And keep moving forward.

THAT is the “secret” to all this – KEEP MOVING FORWARD. Stop micro-managing your lenses and campaigns. Get them out there, do what you’re supposed to do…and move on and create MORE. I push everyone hard in One Week Marketing to keep working…keep creating…keep trying. Why? Sure seems like a lot of work – why not just make one campaign and work it to death?

You could do that….but what if that campaign is a bomb? You just spent all of your most precious commodity – your TIME – on that campaign and it’s not doing a lick of work for YOU. With MANY campaigns, you have MANY streams of potential income AND many web pages out collecting intelligence for you.

Why is that important? Because you may not believe it right now, but someday you will start to have money coming in and you will be ready to expand your online efforts. You’ll want to know WHAT markets to focus your expansion on…..and you will have a SLEW of campaigns to choose from that will show you exactly what you need to know. No starting from scratch – simply expand what is already working.

That sure takes a LOT of pressure off when you start paying for websites or PPC, trust me!

Get those campaigns out there. Make them quality, focused content….but they don’t have to be works of art. If those campaigns show you that they are worth your TIME, then you can ALWAYS go back and add more content or more lenses or more whatever….

Just stop wasting your precious time.

Each moment you spend staring at your stats… each moment you waste beating yourself up with statements like “I’m not good enough”, “I’m not smart enough”, “I’m not cut out for this”, etc etc etc is time wasted.

The most frustrating statement I hear is this -

“This doesn’t work for me”

Sadly, this usually comes from those that have made half a campaign and within a few days they haven’t seen results…so, it must not “work”.

No, THIS doesn’t work for YOU -

YOU work IT.

If your lens drops out of Google – don’t sweat it, it will come back with the right steps. Besides, if you are constantly moving forward, that one lens or web page out of Google temporarily won’t matter as much in the BIG picture because you have LOTS of web pages that are still working.

Very few things in this world work FOR you. Heck, even that neglected vacuum cleaner of mine doesn’t work FOR me – I still have to push the darn thing. But, when I DO push it, it does a pretty nice job (if I remember correctly). But staring at the vacuum cleaner won’t work….. thinking positive about the vacuum cleaner won’t work….and telling myself and others that I am just too stupid to make a vacuum cleaner work won’t cut it either.

I also can’t push the vacuum cleaner half way and expect a complete result.

If it gets clogged, I un-clog it and get back to vacuuming. If the belt breaks, I take the time to fix it….and get back to vacuuming.

Just keep pushing that internet marketing vacuum and suck up ALL the keyword marketplace that you can!

You can do this!

BUT, you don’t need anyone to TELL you that you can do this….

You’re too busy DOING IT!

Post from: PotPieGirl.com

Getting a Squidoo Lens Indexed

$200 a day – sure would be nice to make that online, wouldn’t it? I know for myself, as with a lot of people, that kind of income made from home can really be… well, it can be life changing. Sadly, too many give up on internet marketing before they get there. They let their heads get filled with ideas like “easy” and “fast” and “simple“. It’s not easy, fast, and simple – BUT… it IS DO-ABLE. This is how I got there.

My Five Steps To Earning $200 a Day Online (and beyond….)

Below I am going to talk about the 5 steps that took me from $0 a day online to $200 a day and more online. I know this is the part where I should show a screen shot of my earnings to prove it, but ya know what? I’m not going to.

First off, we all know screen shots can be a bunch of crap. Secondly, I have been sick as a dog and I’m a tad bit cranky from sinus pressure (sorry, too much information? haha!). If you read here at PotPieGirl.com enough, you already know that I take serious issue with this perceived need to flash my account earnings on the internet in order to have credibility to prove that my info is worthy. So, I’m not doing it.

However, I will give this. Here is my cb-notify alert that sits at the bottom of my browser window and updates as I make sales each day. This is the total of my sales for today:

As you can probably tell, I took that screenshot from right here inside the admin area of this blog as I was writing this post. And that screen shot matches todays bar graph earnings at Clickbank:

So… now that we have THAT out of the way….

Wait, I know what’s next…

The questions

Good! Ask Questions!!!

Q. How much of those Clickbank sales are from your own Clickbank product?

A. About half… Some days more, some days less, but half is a good average.

Q. Do you use PPC? How much daily PPC costs can be deducted from that?

A. Yes, I am now using PPC on my more successful campaigns. I’m still starting and have about $40 in PPC costs each day.

Q. What other costs are associated with those sales?

A. Other than a few bucks a month for domain names and hosting – nothing. There are no other direct costs associated to make those sales.

Ok, NOW can we move past that?

Nope…. forgot the BIG question…

How Did You Get To Earning Over $200 A Day Online?

If someone wanted me to tell them exactly what learning steps (and DOING steps) to take to get to $200 a day online, I would say this:

Before anything else – get the words “easy”, “fast”, and “simple” out of your mind. You are building a business. You need education. You need tools. You need support. But you do NOT need “pipe dreams” standing in your way. If you want to learn how to make money online starting with very little money to invest, these are the things you do. As you make money, you reinvest into your education, your tools, and your business.

Step One -Get the basics

Learn the basics of all this online marketing stuff. Learn about keyword research, and article marketing, and Squidoo, and search engine rankings. There are tools you will need to do these things so you will need that, too.

You will also need support and a community you can count on for help and feedback. Working online can be a bit lonely at times and it can also be VERY over-whelming when you feel you are going at it all alone. Community is important as you move through this stage. It will help keep you motivated, involved, and also help you build a network of marketing peers that will be able to help you (and YOU help THEM) through-out your entire career.

I have found all of those things at Wealthy Affiliate. Beyond the endless tools, resources, and tutorials, the community there is flat out amazing.

Step One – Join Wealthy Affiliate

Step Two – Get a Plan Of Action

As time passes, you will find you have a lot of knowledge in-between your ears, but feel a lot lost as to what to DO with it all. It is time to begin a daily plan of action so each day you have focused goals and can see yourself being productive… AND you get to see RESULTS. This is crucial…and this is the part where 95% give up.

Whats the saying? Fail to plan and plan to fail? Something like that…lol But you need a way to put it all together using free online methods and get some money coming in. You also will want an action plan that is also a strong root system for your entire online business that you can build on.

That is what my One Week Marketing Action Plan is.

Step Two – Get One Week Marketing

Step Three- Amp Up Your Squidoo Lenses

If you’re using One Week Marketing for affiliate marketing, you will eventually be ready to really amp up your lenses and make them more effective to create affiliate commissions for you. The very best thing I read on this is Squidoo Cash Machine.

Step Three- Read Squidoo Cash Machine

Step Four – Your OWN Websites

Now you’re really cooking with gas – really rolling along! WTG! You’re creating free online campaigns and finding the ones that convert. You’re ready to amp up those earnings with… with… with WHAT? How can you beef up a campaign so that it works even better for you and makes even more sales?

Simple. You now create your own niche site to go with it. It’s time to own your own piece of the internet real estate market. Creating your own niche sites is NOT hard – especially if you use WordPress to do it. This is the best guide I have read on how the whole WordPress niche site system works.

Step 4 – Learn for Free at 6StepNicheSites.com

Get These WordPress Niche Site Instructions

Step Five – Time To Pay For Traffic

Yup, that’s right! When you’ve got a free campaign that converts and then add a niche site that converts, all you need is more targeted traffic to make more sales. This is the point I reached not too long ago. I have all those One Week Marketing campaigns out there….and all those niche sites out there… all they need are for me to learn the right way to pay for additional targeted traffic and get that traffic there.

Works like a charm!

However, PPC has a BIG learning curve to it… AND it costs money to use PPC. You do not add PPC to your business until your business is making a profit that you are ready to reinvest back into the business. I’ll also add this – PPC is MUCH MUCH easier when you are working in a market you are already familiar with.

While you learn and network on Wealthy Affiliate, you will also have a LOT of great information and PPC experts right there at your fingertips. You will get a great deal of free information and learning right there. However, for me, I needed to take it one step further. I went and bought this FANTASTIC PPC system.

Last week, before this nasty cold kicked my butt, I watched the videos and read everything in this package from beginning to end. I took notes… LOTS of notes….AND I printed everything out (I rarely do that anymore). I was very impressed with this PPC learning system and the way it is all presented and put together is just superb.

Step Five – Get Advanced PPC Education

It All Fits Together

Can you see how each of these steps lead to more growth and more sales? That is the beauty of it! The One Week Marketing Action Plan and the 6 Step Niche Sites give you campaigns to grow your business on. While you are working through those steps and learning (AND earning) you will be coming across great campaigns that YOU created that are ready for more targeted traffic. AND, you will be READY to learn how to do that!

How Long Will It Take?

That is a really tough question for me to answer. After all my own trial and error, I have isolated the steps down to these five. I know that if I had just joined Wealthy Affiliate when I was first starting out that I could’ve cut 4-5 months off the learning curve of my own painful self-education.

I didn’t have One Week Marketing available to me so I had to develop it myself. I did, however, cut a lot of learning curve by getting the WordPress Niche Site instructions. That system is awesome.

It took me about a year – give or take. I fumbled my way around and made my way thru all the junk and empty promises just to get to these basic five steps.

How long will it take YOU?

I have no idea. How long WILL it take you? We’re all so different – we each have different schedules – time restraints – different levels of determination. How fast do you WANT to get to $200 a day online – or more? How hard are you willing to work for it? We all know by now that no one is going to sell us the “magic system” that just hands it to us, right? (however, if there IS a magic system, please use my contact form to tell me about it! hahahahaha!)

The education you need to get to $200 a day online is right up there in those five steps. Regardless of any “hype” on the sales pages, I pinky-promise that they are all high-quality programs that I have not only read, but I USE (or I wrote it…. ).

Everything you need is there. I know they work – I’m absolutely positive that when you work these things, these things will work for you.

What Can Hold You Back?

1) Getting distracted by “shiny things” – The goal is to spend the least amount of money as possible to learn to have a profitable online business. Each time you stray off path and get distracted by the newest, latest-and-greatest super system (ie, the shiny things), you are setting yourself back.

2) Insisting on promoting “Make Money Online” type products - This one is a killer. I didn’t even realize how bad it was until I had a Clickbank product of my own. Unless you have some amazing bonuses to offer someone who buys thru your Clickbank link, you very well might lost that sale.

When you are promoting “Make Money Online” (MMO) type Clickbank products, you are marketing to fellow marketers. These folks have Clickbank accounts and they will replace your id with theirs. As I watch my own stats for my product, I am amazed at how many visits I see come in on one affiliate link – and end up buying with another.

I’m not going to go into whether this is “right” or “wrong”. Yes, I have my own personal “code” about it (If I am going to, or considering promoting it, I will use my own link as opposed to asking the vendor for a free copy. If I am buying it to learn from, I use the link I came thru on. If the only reason I found a product was because of an affiliates efforts, I use their link. That is just my own personal code there in case you’re curious). I simply want to remind you that there are MANY MANY other markets you can work in and make great sales with way less link-switching and way less refunds.

3) Micro-managing yourself and your web pages – I KNOW how hard it is to not pay attention to every little detail of every article or lens or blog post you make. It is also a good learning experience to see how things work, when and why things get indexed, why and how they rank, etc etc, but trust me on this…

Do not spend a large amount of your time tracking and fretting over things that are already out there in the free campaign “cooker”. If it fell out of the Google index, it will come back. You watching it will not make it happen faster (voice of experience there…haha!). Keep moving forward.

Once you have a good bit of stuff out there, you won’t have time to track every little detail. Once upon a time, I kept a spreadsheet of every lens I had at the time (not many…about 20) and every single day, I tracked the stats on each one. What a waste of time. I could’ve been spending that time making MORE lenses and articles.

Take one day a week and set aside stat checking time. Pop thru your campaigns, see how things are going… If things fell out of the index, take the steps on Page 56 of One Week Marketing to try and encourage them back in the index. You can’t force Google to do anything (stubborn search engine!), so there is no need worrying about it. Do what you need to do and keep moving forward.

Tonight, I created a new One Week Marketing campaign. I’ve been so busy (and then so sick…ugh) to do any of my fun stuff lately. I made 6 new lenses, got them all set for indexing and then….

And then that’s it. I’m not going to fuss with them. Google will find them eventually. If they don’t, I know how to help them find it. I’ll probably check to see if they got indexed this weekend – do what I need to do there – and then leave them alone for a few weeks (unless I see sales… THEN I pay more attention to them!)

The Value Of Your Time

I am a one-woman show. Many of you are one-woman, or one-man, shows too. All we have of ultimate value is our time. The best lesson I learned was to not spend too much of my time while testing a market. Now, once it converts (ie, works for ME), then I work it to death!

It’s the 80/20 rule for this too. 20% of your campaigns will be responsible for 80% of your earnings. Keep making those campaigns and uncover all the profitable little markets you can.

So, there you have it. Five steps to $200 a day online (and then some).

Learn>>>>Get a Plan>>>>Refine Your Plan>>>>Build Your Own Sites>>>>Pay For Targeted Traffic

Post from: PotPieGirl.com

5 Steps To Make $200 a Day Online

I LOVE it! I am now getting email from folks that are asking me, “How’s Nick doing?”!!! That’s so cool! For those of you that are unfamiliar with Nick, let me tell you about this young man. Nick was my “guinea pig” for One Week Marketing and his entire training with me is one of the guides included in One Week Marketing. Nick made THREE SALES the first week he was working with me! So, naturally, people wanna know – How’s Nick Doing NOW?

Life After One Week Marketing

Nick and I had a blast working on One Week Marketing together. In fact, my entire family became this huge Nick Fan Club and they would all cheer when they’d hear ol’ Mom (me) scream thru the house, “He Made Another Sale!!!!!!” after reading Nicks message. They all knew who Nick was. I was so excited about walking Nick through One Week Marketing. It was an incredible experience!

But now that moment in time is over…and my “little bird” has flown the nest and gone on to….

Gone on to WHAT? How IS Nick doing now?

Why not let Nick answer for himself?

Nicks One Week Marketing Story

If you can’t see the video, you can find it here on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJdpBAxT5zU

I am so proud of Nick that I could bust! Way to go, Nick! And THANK YOU for helping me get One Week Marketing out there to help others!

Curious as to what One Week Marketing is all about? Get the first 18 pages for free here and make an informed decision on whether OWM is right for YOU.

Post from: PotPieGirl.com

So, How IS Nick Doing?

“I made my first $50 online!” …. “Wow! Only half way thru and I’ve already had LOADS of a-ha moments!”…. “I Already Got 70+ Visits To My Page!” … “My First Sale! Thanks PotPieGirl!”… “Finally! A guide that isn’t for a total newbie….but isn’t over my head!” These are just a small sample of what I see in my email all day long. The feedback from One Week Marketing has been truly PHENOMENAL! I am so humbled and so HAPPY for these people! Throughout all these email exchanges, I have met some amazing people and I want you to meet one of them right now…

PotPieGirl.com Readers – Meet Linda

Linda is such an incredible, amazing, talented, forward-thinking, fun, and beautiful lady. Linda runs her own advertising agency and saw the need to be able to offer her clients something new…something edgy…and something that DOESN’T cost an arm and a leg. Heck, with this economy, we gotta get creative, don’t we?? There also comes a time in business AND in life that we realize that we have to take active steps to CREATE our OWN success…. no one is going to hand it to us, are they?

Linda knew that it was time to think bigger and get out there and CREATE more success for herself by learning something new… affiliate marketing. Thing is, Linda ended up also finding her ‘edgy’ business idea in a little product called “One Week Marketing“. Wait, you say, isn’t One Week Marketing about making affiliate commissions online using free websites and techniques? How would that help someone in advertising?

Yes, OWM IS geared towards helping real people like you and me learn how to make money with affiliate marketing …. but when you think outside the box you just might see how multi-functional this One Week Action Plan really is. Linda thought she was getting something that would help her learn affiliate marketing, but what she found is that she got so much more.

Linda wrote an amazing review for One Week Marketing…and I want you to read it. So now, I hush up and let Linda talk =)

==========

HOW THE ONE WEEK MARKETING PLAN BLASTED ME OUT OF INTERNET PARALYSIS IN ONE WILD WEEK

I could see it in their eyes when I entered the room for the website meeting. A visual snicker. The young, tech-savvy WebGuru was there, holding court. The client was enthralled with his wisdom. I got through the greeting and seating and the proposed home page was presented. Very nice. Very classy. Very dead. No call to action. No way to find out who was opting in. No way to start building a data base. No way to interact, to link to blogs, success stories.

OF COURSE, WE’LL WANT AN RSS FEED, I said.

Heads turned. I mentioned that I was developing blogs for the client, in which he would be offering a free report, so that we could capture the data. I mentioned that it would be good to have outbound links to the blogs. I mentioned that the articles and blogs should be indexed. I mentioned that we could first offer the report on a Squidoo lens, as a test. I asked why no RSS feed had been set up. Throats cleared as the junior WebGuru agreed those were great ideas. The client looked at me with new respect. My business partner’s eyes popped out. She was thinking “When did you learn all that?”

THE ONEWEEKMARKETING PLAN HAD SAVED MY BACON.

In one week I had gone from know-nothing to know-how. I had certainly had offers of internet business guides before Hundreds of emails from internet marketers came in with subject lines like: “Internet Windfall” “How I Earned $600,000 in my first year” “Complete Guide to Setting Up Your Internet Business” Many times, I bit. I downloaded another ebook and tried to read it. Tried to find an actual plan of action I could understand. But all I found was hype. And then along came PotPieGirl’s day by day, you can do it, action plan, namely

ONE WEEK MARKETING –

I LEARNED IT IN GUESS WHAT, ONE WEEK!

I don’t know about you, but I learn by doing. Other guides left me with my head swimming, and two hours later I couldn’t remember a thing. The One Week Marketing Plan led me baby step by baby step through actions and decisions, until I looked down and realized “No more baby steps! I’m running now.”

BY THE END OF DAY ONE I HAD ACCOMPLISHED 3 THINGS FOR THE FIRST TIME.

1. Found a list of keywords through a FREE keyword tool I had never used before.
2. Had an actual product to offer.
3. Had urls reserved for Squidoo lenses

GUESS HOW MUCH I SPENT ON DAY ONE?
NUTTIN’ HONEY!

OWM gives you live links to tons of tools and sites you can use immediately FREE.

DAY TWO

By Day 2, my little group of Squidoo lenses (really they’re like one page websites)was indexed by Google. Honestly, truly.

I THOUGHT RSS MEANT I WAS REALLY STUPID, STUPID

I never understood who was eating all these RSS feeds I was seeing. Feed who? I asked myself. But I went from complete ignoramus to RSS feeder, by Day Two of the OneWeekMarketing plan. I won’t even tell you what I could do by Day 7, because you won’t believe it, until you get the OneWeekMarketing plan for yourself.

DAY THREE THROUGH THE REST OF MY LIFE

Through the rest of the week, I learned how to write articles, and crosslink them with lenses, and even get a domain name and a website for my new product. In a week!

TRULY A RESCUE SHIP IN AN INTERNET SEA

Yes, I needed to be rescued. I needed to be able to delete a sea of ebooks I couldn’t understand. I needed to get going and get started making some money. PotPieGirl had always answered my questions honestly and helpfully before, so I knew she would rescue me now. That’s why I jumped in the OWM ship, and why you’ll want to as well. You’ll be taking action from Day One. You’ll actually BE in business, instead of just reading about it. And that’s a moneyback guaranteed promise. (Pinky promise, as PotPieGirl would say. )

~~~~~~
by Linda Johnson

President, AdCetera Advertising

http://www.adcetera.biz

==========

How GREAT was THAT? Thank you, Linda, for sharing your creativity and your honest feedback of One Week Marketing with all of us. You are a shining example of all the many people that have taken their future by the horns and got to work with One Week Marketing to create their OWN success story!

And I have to toss this in, if you are need of an innovative, edgy, and forward-thinking advertising agency, you have just found it in Linda and AdCetera Advertising.

Post from: PotPieGirl.com

The Power To CREATE Your Success Online

Squidoo lensmasters just received their payments for August earnings. Holy Big Numbers, Batman!!! I read on the Squidblog where we were going to get a bonus, but WOW, I had no idea it would be THIS good! Did you get your payment from Squidoo? Are you as tickled as I am?

Not sure how many of you read the Squid Blog post about this months bonus payments, but I really had no idea they were talking money like this! Seems they had been miscalculating things one way in our favor….and another way in their favor…so in the the good-hearted spirit that Squidoo is based on, they just gave us all extra to be extra-completely-totally sure we’re all square.

This Squidoo bonus seems to be based off number of lenses and how long you’ve been participating within the Squidoo community. Regardless of who or why, I am thrilled.

Squidoo already pays my monthly business bills (and then some), but THIS payment…. we’ll let’s just put it this way – I’m going SHOPPING!

Talk about stimulating the economy!

For those of you that come into this whole internet marketing thing like I did (BROKE), being able to have access to powerful and FREE websites to get some income rolling is is PRICELESS. What’s even better is that not only does Squidoo give you a place to have a voice and an online presence, but… THEY PAY YOU TO BE THERE!

That is how THIS broke marketer got it all going her way. I followed my own One Week Marketing plan…. got me some good Squidoo campaigns going and started having some money coming in. Then, Squidoo started paying me each month, so I felt ready to get an auto-responder so I could start building lists. Slowly, I could then afford domain names and hosting accounts for my niche sites and some other cool tools that made my online business efforts not only more profitable…but easier on ME.

And now, like clock-work, Squidoo sends me more than enough to cover my monthly business expenses.

It’s a beautiful relationship

Making money online is not some magical overnight thing – especially if you really don’t have any spare money to invest. So, you need a plan and a strategic course of action to grow your business. One Week Marketing is the plan I took and by golly, its worked like a charm for me!

In fact… know what? I’m not gonna go shopping. I have an idea. I like to ‘pay back’ for all my blessings by helping others move forward.

If you are currently a One Week Marketing Action Plan owner… expect an email from me shortly.

To Squidoo: THANK YOU!!!

Post from: PotPieGirl.com

Holy WOW, Squidoo! Thank You!

So, let’s see if I can answer some questions that I am receiving.

“Who Is The Perfect Candidate For One Week Marketing?”

This is a great question! It’s also easy for me to describe who I think will benefit the most from OWM because I am describing MYSELF not too very long ago.

The perfect candidate for One Week Marketing is….

Someone who has had their fist balled up and been within a split second of putting it thru their computer monitor more than once. They are past the point of thinking that this make money online thing is an easy and fast solution to all their financial problems, and have buckled down knowing that in order to make this work, they will need to work. However, they have no clue HOW to do that… and WHAT work to do.

At times, they feel like they have been pulled under the ocean by a fierce under-tow…and don’t know which way is up, can’t swim if they wanted to, and they have a very real fear of drowning before finding a little bit of oxygen to catch their breath.

Then, there is the pressure. Many, many of us have x amount of days, weeks, or months to give this a go, or its back to a real job we go! There is very little money available for investing into the online business, but a whole lot of need to get money OUT of the online business. Reality is, you either learn how to start making money online using all free websites and techniques – or you quit.

The perfect candidate for OWM has a varied resume…. probably made a few lenses (or many), has written articles a la Bum Marketing, and performed keyword research of some sort, and may have seen a little success in the form of a sale or two, but nothing consistent.

This perfect candidate works hard – probably all day and many hours into the night – and reads until their eyes burn trying to soak up any piece of information they can. But, at the end of a long work day, they can’t think of a single thing they’ve DONE to create a potential stream of income….and they feel even more confused than they did that morning when they started.

I could go on and on because I’ve BEEN there. I have a crystal clear recollection of how I felt then. And I know the difference One Week Marketing made for ME. OWM was developed by me FOR me. It is how all this started, and it is the base line for everything I continue to do.

After using my own free marketing plan for all this time, I now have tons of little campaigns that are converting and are ready to become a bigger campaign. I have lots of bigger campaigns that are ready to expand because I know they convert. I have many bigger campaigns that are now ready for…. PPC. Yes, after all this time of earning income with free websites and techniques, I am now ready to PAY for more targeted traffic to my campaigns. For one, I know they convert, and secondly, I am now MAKING MONEY so I can AFFORD to use AdWords advertising…and still pay my bills.

If you’re willing to do for a year…. (you know the rest….lol)

Bottom line is this… YOU will know when YOU are a perfect candidate for One Week Marketing.

You will read the first 18 pages for free and if you can’t wait to read more…. you are READY to read more. You are the perfect candidate for One Week Marketing =)

So, for those of you that have been emailing me and messaging me…. or are thinking about emailing me or messaging me… to ask if One Week Marketing is right for you…. Do this for me.

Go to OneWeekMarketing.com. Sign up to get the first 18 pages of the main guide completely free. Read those 18 pages. You will KNOW if you are ready to learn how to earn income with free websites from One Week Marketing or not.

No one knows what YOU need better than YOU.

Post from: PotPieGirl.com

Earn Income With Free Websites? How?

What ARE People Saying About One Week Marketing?

Here are just a few notes that I have received via email and private message…

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“Looking forward to putting it into action NOW!
This is really an answer to a question I have had for some time. I was just about to ask if you had a mentoring program. I have been following your progress for about two years now. You have really grown in your IM career. It just proves that honesty and integrity are very valuable assets.”

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“Hi Jennifer,

Thank you for writing this great guide. I like it very much. One Week Marketing seems like a real cure to information overload I experience since I started to experiment with internet marketing.”

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“I just started reading…man…a conversation with Nick is just flat out awesome stuff!!! ….
…that’s pure Gold! You could sell JUST that.”

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“All the GREAT stuff I noticed:
Your passion and excitement come though very well!
VERY easy to follow steps.
Excellent advice on finding keywords and products.

Anyway I just wanted to say thank you for making such a good resource to add to my arsenal.”

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“Hey Jennifer,

Just wanted to congratulate you on the new product. And also to thank you at the
same time. This is exactly what I and I’m sure thousands others have been looking for.

The interview with Nick is icing on the cake. So many nuances to Squidoo and the other things that many of us would of probably never figured out. lol

Anyway, good luck, hope it sells a boatload. You have hit it right with this.

P.S.- As a bonus you might find a discount for printer cartridges to throw in.
Stuff this good you have to print.”

======~~======

Wowowow! How wonderful! LOVE the comment about the printer cartridges!

This is just a small sample of the great response I have received. Thanks to EVERYONE who took time out of their day to drop me a note!

Want to see what all the fuss is about? Head on over to OneWeekMarketing.com and take a peek.

Now, I need a NAP!

Post from: PotPieGirl.com

One Week Marketing is LIVE!

Already Signed Up For One Week Marketing?

No problem! I am about to broadcast the link out to all current subscribers so keep an eye on your email inbox!

WHEN Is One Week Marketing Going To Be Released?

I am shooting for Wednesday, October 1st at 12 noon EST (I am in Atlanta, GA, USA). Let’s all cross our fingers that I don’t blow anything up as I stumble thru this newest learning curve! =)

Just a note: Only the PUBLIC launch of One Week Marketing will be announced here at PotPieGirl.com. Only those that are the OWM pre-notification list will be informed of any pre-launch specials.

Not Signed Up?

What are you waiting on? Get to OneWeekMarketing.com now and get your FREE sneak peak!

Back to work for me. Y’all have a GREAT day!

Post from: PotPieGirl.com

Free Sneak Peek Of One Week Marketing

What Is It About Earnings Screen Shots?

As I’ve been working on my One Week Marketing Action Plan, I’ve had to seriously reconsider my stance on showing the inside of my affiliate and earnings accounts. Yes, I still think it is flashy and hypey… but will anyone buy from me if I can’t visually prove that what I am teaching DOES make money?

There is something magical about Clickbank earnings proof on a sales page, isn’t there? It initiates all these emotions of jealousy, and awe….and a really strong desire to have a Clickbank account just like THAT one you are looking at.

Wow, what would life be like if YOU made money like that, too???

So, you know what? I’ve worked hard – really, really hard. I make good money now. I practice what I preach…and what I am selling at OneWeekMarketing.com really DOES work.

I can tell people that until I am blue in the face. *I* am proof that it all works… me!

But, the only thing that will really get anyones attention….and drive them down to that “Buy Now” button is this:

As you can see, that screen shot was taken just a little bit ago. You can also see that this is a current screen shot from my Clickbank account.

So, there you have it.

What’s It Like To Make THAT Much Money Online Each Day?

The earnings from my Clickbank account alone have completely and totally changed my life. Not just MY life, but the life of my family, too.

Options we never thought possible are now VERY possible.

We can now afford vacations, college…and lots of really cool toys.

I NEVER stress anymore when at the grocery store about spending too much…. even a simple trip to the mailbox to get our bills is stress-free.

Life is great…. and I want others to live like this, too.

That is why I can’t WAIT to get my One Week Marketing Action Plan on the Clickbank market. No, not so I can make MORE money – obviously, I have plenty of that already – but to help OTHERS get to making money like this.

All it takes is following my simple weekly action plan – and you are off and running to having a Clickbank account just like that of YOUR OWN.

So, now let me ask you something….

How do you feel right now? Are you interested in One Week Marketing? Do you want to get our hands on that simple weekly marketing plan that will get YOU earnings like that?

Think I would make sales?

Sadly, I would….. and I’d be the biggest liar in history.

I might end up being a very RICH liar…but still a liar none-the-less.

Folks, I am a tech-IDIOT. I can barely make graphics that are even kinda good. But guess what? I managed to edit my Clickbank screen shot up there in about 2 MINUTES.

It is sadly VERY VERY easy to do.

Do not fall for the emotional response a earnings screen shot gives you when deciding whether or not to buy an online marketing aid or system. Emotional triggers will send your credit card WAY over its spending limit before you even know what happened to you.

Know what else is really sad?

There are plenty of ethical marketers working online that ARE honest. Yes, people like me. I DO follow my own One Week Marketing Action Plan….and it DOES work. And, quite frankly, I am REALLY proud of my REAL Clickbank account.

However, it does NOT look like the one above. Well, not quite yet, anyway =)

How To Make Millions On Clickbank In MINUTES

Ok, naturally everyone wants to know HOW I did that. No, I didn’t use PhotoShop or anything like that.

Here is the YouTube video that is available for all to see. The narrator is bit hard to understand, but the entire ‘instructions’ last about a minute and a half.

Be careful what you believe. Be careful of those little emotional triggers that cause you to enter your credit card number or PayPal id without serious thought.

I’m telling ya…. If *I* can do this in mere minutes… ANYONE can do this.

So, will we see a screen shot of MY REAL Clickbank earnings on the One Week Marketing sales page? Maybe… Still undecided.

Post from: PotPieGirl.com

My Clickbank Earnings – With PROOF

My First ClickBank Product – WooHoo!

I have been keeping notes and also keeping track of all those little things I do when I set out to make money with a Clickbank affiliate program. The notes and all were good…. but they were missing something. I just couldn’t figure out WHAT it was all missing tho!

Then it hit me. My action plan was missing the objectivity of questions asked by someone who is new to all this. I do so many things by instinct now. I don’t even realize I am doing them let alone ask myself WHY I am doing them. Based on that, I held off and put that project on the back burner. You know, on ‘the list’ of to-do projects? C’mon, I know you have one too! haha!

However, as life always does, the right time was given to me. I received an innocent and not so unique message one day from a young man who just wanted me to take a look at a web page he made the day before. He was asking my input, perhaps some advice or pointers.

Whenever I receive the emails and messages like his, I am swept with two emotions. 1) I know what it takes to approach someone online when you need help… I totally respect that and do the best I can to help. And 2) What a compliment that someone is asking ME!

ANYWAY, this particular message started to become a conversation. I realized that I would have given just about ANYTHING to read what we were talking about when I first started in all this online marketing craziness.

Then, it hit me. BAM! THIS is what my product was missing – a real person, just like all of us at one point or another, who was willing to listen and try the system I use.

I asked him if he was interested and for his permission to use our conversation, stats, and the whole she-bang for my product. I kinda expected him to say, “no”, but he was all about it. He had the time, and the drive, and a whole lot of desire to FINALLY get something out there that made money.

So, we went to work. I kept every single word of that on-going week+ conversation. What I have now to go along with my product is like a real live mentoring case study. I have 110+ PAGES of an on-going tutorial where I teach and explain and he asks REAL questions… its good stuff. Really good stuff.

Can you imagine having someone who knew what they were doing taking you by the hand for a week or so and talking you thru the entire process? Man, that would have been AWESOME!

What Were The Results Of Our Time Together?

Of course we all want to know HOW this young man did after spending a week working with me, don’t we? haha!

Get this, the kid made THREE sales within the first WEEK of his campaign going live!

Incredible!!! Not only were we both so excited – and I don’t know which ONE of us was the most excited – but my family here at home was cheering him on, too. I’d open up my messages and scream, “He made another sale!!”

Needless to say, we all had a blast AND now he is also left with a sound and solid foundation to rinse and repeat… rinse and repeat….

All those millions of pieces of info over-load started to click into place. He is off and running now. Kid just totally flew the nest! hahha! Just kidding, he still keeps in touch =) I’ll have to get him over here so you can meet him.

I met him in the Wealthy Affiliate Forum. Lots of great folks in there! Not only great folks, but BUSY folks. Kyle and Carson just released an incredible, fabulous, wonderful AND amazing set of tools for us. They tore apart one VERY profitable and very BIG market…and now we all have everything we need to make a LOT of money with it. We’re talking keywords, and sites, and guides, and tracking, and market research, and, and, and…. EVERYTHING you could possibly need for this very ‘evergreen’ online market.

I have no doubt that my ‘little grasshopper’ is off an running with all that. Between what he learned with me and allllllll the incredible niche research he now has right at his finger tips… well, I’d say he is good to go!

Introducing – OneWeekMarketing.com

OK, I’m done rambling in the way I do when I am all fired up about something – sorry! My One Week Marketing Action Plan is not 100% complete yet, and I still have to go thru the whole Clickbank process as well as get some really cool tools for any potential affiliates (yes, this one WILL have an affiliate program!) But, while we wait, I have set up a page where you can sign up and be the first to find out when my One Week Marketing is available.

Feel free to go ahead and sign up. I won’t terrorize you with emails – just important updates, etc.

I can not wait for y’all to read this!

OneWeekMarketing.com

Post from: PotPieGirl.com

My First Clickbank Product! Say Hello To One Week Marketing