3 Article Marketing Strategies

3 Ways To Use Article Marketing

After posting my article marketing strategy the other day here at PotPieGirl.com I realized that perhaps we need to talk about article marketing in general. There are 3 “types” of article marketing strategies – each accomplish something different and are done differently. When trying to make money online it is important to understand each type of article marketing, what each does to help your online business, and be clear about why you are writing articles in the first place. Let’s talk about the three unique styles of article marketing so you can choose which strategy will be best for you.

Understanding How Article Marketing Works

The term “article marketing” can mean many things and each can have a different result when done properly. The problem is, that term “article marketing” is all bunched together into one lump concept and it causes a LOT of confusion.

The 3 main types of article marketing are Direct Article Marketing, Article Marketing for Traffic, and Article Marketing for Backlinks.

Let’s look at each one.

1. Direct Article Marketing

Direct article marketing is the process of putting your articles online and having each article link directly to the page that makes you money. In other words – the link goes straight to the sales page via your affiliate link.

In that graph, A= your article and $= the page that makes you money (the sales page).

In short, you are writing articles with the sole intention of getting people to read your articles and click straight through via your affiliate link to the page that makes you money. In most cases, this is the sales page – but in all cases it is the page you want the reader on because that is the last step before they buy something.

Pros of Direct Article Marketing

1. Easy.
First off, direct article marketing is easy… not just easy to do, but it’s easy to understand and perfect for those that are new to this whole “make money online” thing.

2. Free.
You can do direct article marketing for no cost what-so-ever.

3. Uncomplicated.
This is one of those great techniques to make money online that is very basic. No need for a website, no need for a long, drawn out, and complicated learning curve. Just write, submit and go (and then repeat, repeat, repeat).

4. “Noise-Free”.
What I like about this technique is that it is not nearly as “noisy” as all the other things we can do to make money online. You don’t need other tools and learning programs… you don’t have to keep up with the “latest and greatest” – you just write on your own time and as often as you can. The more you write, the more you can earn.

Cons of Direct Article Marketing

1. A Lot Of Writing.
You need to write often and submit articles as often as you can. This is not a “write one article and get rich” thing by any means.

2. Affiliate Links.
Many good article directories will not allow the use of affiliate links in the articles they publish. There is a totally ok way to get around this, but it can cost a little bit (less than $10 a YEAR).

I have a completely free online course that teaches all about Direct Article Marketing and it teaches how to get around the “no affiliate link” rule that many article directories have.

If you are brand new to all this, or are just wanting a “no fuss, no muss – and no NOISE” way to work a few hours a day and make money online, this would be perfect for you.

The name of my free course is The DAM Way and you can find it at theDAMway.com

(and no, I’m not saying bad words… DAM stands for Direct Article Marketing )

2. Article Marketing for Traffic

Article marketing for traffic is a bit different. There is another web page involved that DOES allow affiliate links. This “other” page is called a “Landing Page”.

This Landing Page can be a page on your own website or a page on a free-to-use site (like Squidoo or Blogspot, etc). In short, you make a landing page and then write articles to push traffic to your landing page in hopes that those people will take whatever action your want them to take (ie, sign up for something, buy something, join your mailing list, etc). For this example, we will be writing articles to push traffic to a landing page that has our affiliate links.

In this graph – A= Your Article LP = Your Landing Page and $= The Sales Page

The immediate goal of this type of article marketing is to bring traffic to our landing pages. We put our articles on high-authority sites that are free to use because those sites rank well in Google. When someone searches in Google for the things we write about, they find out articles, click through the link and end up on our landing page. At this point (we hope) the reader clicks one of our affiliate links and buys something (earning us a nice juicy commission).

While we tend to write things in our article to encourage people to WANT to click and see our page, these articles are not promotional. They are general interest/informative articles that would appeal to someone who would be interested in the product we are promoting (same as Direct Article Marketing).

These articles CAN be used to help our landing pages rank better in Google if we make the links to our landing pages clickable words that we want our landing page to rank in Google for, but that is not the primary goal for writing these articles.

Pros Of Article Marketing For Traffic

1. Can be totally FREE.
You can do this entire system using all free sites.

2. Repeat Readers.
Enables you to build a readership for your blog.

3. Lists.
Also gives you the opportunity (if you want) to build a mailing list of your visitors so you can communicate with them long after they are gone from your page. Email marketing (list marketing) is a very powerful part of internet marketing.

4. Pre-Selling.
This article marketing strategy enables you to “pre-sell” readers on your product better than sending them straight to a sales page (like you do with Direct Article Marketing). You can review/compare more than one product, talk about your experience with a product or in a situation where someone might need that product… whatever, it just gives you more opportunity to connect with the reader.

Cons Of Article Marketing For Traffic

1. There aren’t any Cons.
Seriously, it’s a great technique that can be done for your own sites or with free-to-use sites. The more you write, the more traffic you can bring to your landing page. You don’t have to worry about getting around affiliate link usage either.

In fact, many people make a nice extra income (or more) from this simple strategy alone. Here is a video about a woman who makes over 100k a year doing this simple article marketing technique.

Article Marketing for Traffic using free sites is how I started making money online. The cost to start and do this technique is ZERO. Once you understand the basic concept of Direct Article Marketing taught in The DAM Way, you’ll be set to learn my way of using free sites to make money online.

I teach how to make money online using free websites and free techniques in One Week Marketing (OneWeekMarketing.com).

3. Article Marketing for Backlinks

The third type of article marketing is when you submit articles in order to receive backlinks to your web page and those backlinks help your web page rank better in Google and other search engines.

In this graph – A= Your Article, LP = Your Landing Page (lens, blog post, website, etc), SERPS = Search Engine Results Pages (ie, Google).

The primary purpose of this type of article marketing is to get backlinks to your web page from many different sources. We don’t particularly care if these articles rank well or if they bring us traffic. We want these articles to help OUR web pages rank well

The basic concept is that you write quality and useful articles on some topic that is related to the theme of your landing page. Within these articles (or in the author bio box) we are permitted to have links. We make those links clickable words that we want our landing page to rank in Google for.

The higher you rank in Google, the more organic (free) traffic your landing page will get. Theory is, more traffic means more sales.

Also, backlinks to your sites/landing pages help build authority and trust for your site/web page.

The “secret” is to get your articles syndicated to as many different sites as possible. We want as many links from as many different domains as we can get.

Now, this can be done with the exact same article all over tons of websites – but that is not the best idea in my opinion. I have done a LOT of article marketing for backlinks and have tried all kinds of ways to get my articles syndicated across the web.

Note: these articles are NOT monetized – meaning, there are no affiliate links or anything promotional about them. You are giving other sites free, quality articles to put on their site in exchange for a link (or links) to your site (or page).

I have narrowed down my own personal article marketing strategy that I use to gain back links and make my sites/web pages rank higher in Google. My system requires only ONE unique article…but gets you many, many quality backlinks from all over the web.

If you’d like to learn my article marketing for back links strategy, read this post here.

Summing It All Up

These are the 3 main types of article marketing and what each can achieve for you.

You can combine #2 and #3 so your articles both help bring you traffic AND help you rank better in Google. But #1 (Direct Article Marketing) is a system that is not used for any other purpose than to make money directly from your articles.

Many, many people ask me “Should I do…… {this, that or the other thing} when article marketing?” “Does article marketing work?” “What is the best way to {insert anything} with article marketing? etc etc etc.

My main answer is always – “WHAT do you want to achieve with your article marketing? What is your goal?”

Once you know your goal, deciding which article marketing strategy is best for you is easy.

Just pick one

One Last thing… If you haven’t gotten any of the cool free stuff that’s listed at the top of this post (in the red box) you might want to hurry and get it. All these cool pre-launch freebies will be gone starting tomorrow.

Who Cares About Bing?

YOU Should! Here’s Why

Bing – I imagine you’ve heard of it? This new little search engine? If you’re like me, you probably don’t pay that much attention to it…. and you probably don’t worry about how you rank in Bing, either. Not much traffic comes from Bing, does it? They are small potatoes compared to the almighty Google, right? Yeah, well…. the days of ignoring Bing are just about over. There are some major changes rolling out now. Here’s what you need to know and what you need to do about it.

…and they lived happily every after….

Once upon a time, not so very long ago, Bing and Yahoo met…and decided to form a partnership – a search alliance.

They made an agreement to share resources and work together in an attempt to claim more of the online search market share that Google has dominated for years.

I didn’t think much about it when I was reading the details months ago. I knew it would have some impact, but it never crossed my mind that it would work out like this.

All this came to my attention when a fellow Wealthy Affiliate member asked in our private forum if anyone else was noticing major changes in their rankings in Yahoo.

Now, I’m gonna admit that I rarely check on my rankings in Yahoo. Whatever traffic I get from Yahoo is such a small percentage of my over-all traffic that it never concerned me all that much.

But, when the question was asked, I got to poking around online and found out something that really caught my attention.

It is starting out now in their testing phase as they are incorporating a certain percentage of results from Bing into the results shown at Yahoo. If all goes well, I imagine the full change will be rolled out soon after. Now, the Yahoo blog has claimed that they might wait until after the holiday season to finalize this change, but who knows? I keep reading different thoughts and claims so as usual, we wait and see.

Now, Yahoo will still LOOK like the Yahoo we’re used to – and Bing will still LOOK like the Bing we’re used to…. but search results on BOTH sites will now be coming from Bing. This change is slowly rolling out. It’s been claimed that all US and Canada organic results will be fully powered by Bing (Microsoft) as soon as August or September. But again, I keep reading different time frames.

What Does This Mean To YOU?

The main response to this is usually, “So what? What does that mean to ME?“

Here’s what it means for you…

If you currently have good rankings in Yahoo, but NOT in Bing… kiss those Yahoo rankings good-bye. Whatever your ranking is in Bing will be what your new Yahoo ranking will be, too.

Considering Bing is so new and their index of the web is still so very small, it’s really possible that they don’t even KNOW about your site yet…and you won’t have any exposure or chance for organic traffic from Bing OR from Yahoo.

Great, huh?

But still, who cares, right? Google is the only search engine you need to worry about, right?

Well, yes…. and no.

What Does This Yahoo/Bing Alliance REALLY Mean?

They are going after market share… BIGGER market share. The online search business is BIG business…and the Bing/Yahoo folks want more of it.

Take a look at this chart from Comscore.com showing the market share for the top search providers online.

Google has a strong 62.6% share of all searches online. Even tho their share is down a bit for June 2010 that is still a LOT of searches going through their search engine.

Now look at Yahoo at 18.9% and Microsoft (Bing) at 12.7%. What’s gonna happen when those two search providers really start working together? I’ve read folks saying they expect the Yahoo/Bing alliance to achieve 30-35% of that online search market share very soon.

Now it’s making a bit of a difference, isn’t it? In my humble little opinion, if Bing gets it together, gets more of the web in their index and starts returning really good and relevant results, I bet they could get more than 35%. I’ve haven’t been a fan of search results from Bing.

In fact, I’ve barely paid any attention to them… until now.

Oh, wait, here is another interesting tid-bit. You know the search option on FaceBook? That is powered by Bing. It’s getting more interesting now, isn’t it?

Google SEO vs Bing SEO

Here is a really good video from WebProNews that talks about the differences in Google SEO and Bing SEO. It’s time to learn how to rank in Bing – because that will get you ranking well in Yahoo, too.

More WebProNews Videos

What To Do About It

We’ll talk more about the “how to rank in Bing” stuff in a moment, but first let’s talk about “Now What Do I DO About This Bing/Yahoo Thing?”

First, go to Yahoo and search for your keywords… compare them to how you rank in Bing. Whatever you see in the Bing results will be what you will soon see in the Yahoo results, too.

Are your rankings in Bing ok? If so, great! If not, you’ll need to do something about it.

As I mentioned earlier, Bing is still new – their index is still small with a LOT of web content still left to be discovered. If your site can’t be found in Bing at all, you need to tell Bing about it…help them find you.

There are a couple ways to do this.

How To Tell Bing About Your Site and/or Web Page

First, consider adding your site to the Bing webmaster tools. They are updating this area for webmasters in an attempt to…well, to get their index better and increase their market share =)

There is something called Microsoft Silverlight 4 which is this little application your install and then Bing webmaster tools is able to tell you a lot about your site from what Bing knows…and these stats can go back as far as 6 months. Things like indexed pages of your site, crawl stats, top search queries and click thrus, and the ability to help them find specific urls on your site that they haven’t found are all parts of the tools area for webmasters inside Bing.

The tools aren’t bad – not Google webmaster tools by any means, but it’s ok and they claim they will be adding more and more tools and stats inside the webmaster tool area as time goes by.

If you don’t want to add your site to their tools there are other options to be able to tell Bing about your site or web page to help them find it, crawl it, and add it to their index.

You can submit your site or url to Bing here. Simple form, not much to it. It won’t happen quickly, but at least you are headed in the right direction for trying to rank in Bing.

If you have an xml site map for your site, I highly suggest you submit your site map, too.

Submitting your site map to Bing is a bit different.

You need to copy the query string below, paste it into your browser, and then change the “www.YourWebAddress.com” part to the web address of YOUR site map.

http://www.bing.com/webmaster/ping.aspx?sitemap=www.YourWebAddress.com/sitemap.xml

Then, simply click “enter” like you were going to that web address. Bing will display a “thank you” message when it is complete. Complete instructions on how to submit your sitemap to Bing are here.

Ranking In Bing – How To Rank In Bing?

Right now, Bing seems to love pages on big sites that have lots of content. For example, Wikipedia pages sure seem to rank well in Bing which makes me think they like pages with LOTS of content and lots of links OUT.

Bing also seems to be liking many article directories and big content sites. And they seem to like older, more “aged” sites, too. In my testing I’ve seen many Wikipedia pages, articles on article directories, Squidoo lenses, eHow articles, news sites, and Blogger blogs ranking really well when, in my opinion, they might not be the best result for the query (just my personal opinion on that).

For a very popular and competitive phrase in our business, I saw TWO Blogger blogs ranking at the top in Bing – and neither of these two blogs show in the first two pages of a Google search for the same phrase. Odd – especially since Google OWNS Blogger/Blogspot.

While Google and Bing (and the current Yahoo) like keywords in the domain name – Bing seems to like hyphens a bit more than Google does. Again, just my observation…and the index at Bing is small and new so this is subject to change as their index size increases.

Bing also seems to not only love lots of content on a web page, but they seem to NEED it, too. In my niche site guide, I talked about a test I did with a totally BLANK website. Google loves it… the current Yahoo loves it…but Bing loves it NOT. There are no words to “read” to tell them what the page is about to help them decide how to rank it, I guess.

What About Backlinks… Does Bing Use Them To Rank Your Web Page?

Yes, Bing uses back links to rank your web pages in their index however, they don’t use them the way Google uses them as a ranking signal.

With Google, high-quality backlinks to your web page are really, really important – and they are one of the three most important ranking factors for Google (read about all three ranking factors for ranking in Google NOW here).

Google loves backlinks – it’s a major part of their patented Page Rank formula. The anchor text of your links plays a major part and so does getting links from .edu and .gov sites (read this to learn the easy way to find .edu sites and .gov sites for backlinks to your site).

Bing also likes backlinks, but Bing likes LOTS of links from LOTS of different domains. The anchor text of the link doesn’t seem to be as much of a factor, or a factor at all. I’m not quite sure Bing is “smart enough” to read anchor text of a text link and use it as a ranking signal for their index.

What they DO seem to do is count links from web pages that are on the same topic as the page being linked to. They seem to get that info from the words in the title tag of the page doing the linking.

For example, if you have a site about puppy training and someone links to YOUR site from their web page about dog training – regardless of HOW they links (click here, good anchor text, straight url…whatever), Bing seems to really value those kinds of links.

And again, they (Bing) seem to like LOTS of links from LOTS of different domains.

(that was a hint that they seem to like my article marketing strategy).

Here’s a little tip: As you find backlinks to your sites/pages, check and see if the url for the page linking TO you is already in the Bing index. If it’s NOT in the Bing index, submit it. That link won’t help your ranking in Bing if Bing doesn’t know about it.

How about another little tip?

Remember how I said I observed these different sites that Bing seems to really like right now? Try getting links on those sites to your web pages. Also, learn how to get links from .edu sites and .gov sites – I think those sites are considered authority sites that Bing will love, too.

For more tips on how to rank in Bing, Mark has a good blog post that you can read.

Focus On Bing SEO or Google SEO?

Bing is a different beast than Google… SEO and ranking are not the same.

We’ve talked about How Google works in this post (with a great flowchart type image to help understand it all)…and we’ve talked about Google’s latest big change, Google Caffeine, in this post called Google Caffeine – What It Means To YOU.

If you got this free report about how to rank in the “new” Google, then you know the 3 major factors that affect your Google rankings now…and how to make it all work for you. (by the way, that is a REALLY good free report. Be sure to print it out after you read it. It has a lot of info that you’ll want to keep at your fingertips like I do).

We talk a LOT about how to rank better in Google, but I’ve never talked before about ranking in Bing.

Last month (June 2010) Bing only accounted for 1.56% of my search engine traffic here at PotPieGirl.com – but so far this month, I’ve seen a nice jump in traffic from Bing…and I think it will continue this way. For some of my niche/info sites, Bing is already accountable for over 11% of my search engine traffic this month.

I think it’s time to start paying attention to Bing.

I’ll still be keeping my focus on ranking in Google, but I will start paying more attention to Bing ranking factors now, too. While one more thing to worry about is not overly welcome, when you’re in this business, you have to stay flexible and aware of what’s happening in the industry…and adjust accordingly.

Will YOU start paying more attention to optimizing for Bing traffic now?

Your thoughts?

My Article Marketing Strategy

One Article – 5 Steps – Tons of Backlinks

Article marketing for backlinks does NOT have to be a hair-pulling, confusing, punch your monitor experience. I have my own article marketing strategy that I use over and over…and it works pretty darn well. Know how many articles you need? One. Yes, just one good article is all you need to get through my simple 5 step article marketing process. Think you can do that? If so, keep reading and let’s walk through this step-by-step.

Article Marketing for Backlinks

Before we get going I want to make a few things clear.

1. This article marketing strategy is for the primary purpose of building back links. If these articles send me traffic, great – if they rank well, also great….but those are all bonuses. I want back links that help MY sites and web pages rank better in Google. That is the primary goal of this strategy.

If you are interested in doing article marketing to directly make money, read my free e-course, The DAM Way.

2. I will be talking about spinning articles. Do NOT freak out and think this is complicated, hard, or time consuming. The way I do this is NOT any of those things. I like things simple, remember? Why work harder than you need to?

Also, I am NOT going to even HINT at mass-submitting tons of spun crap onto the internet. If you’ve wandered the internet at all, you know exactly what I am talking about. These articles all read well and add value to the sites they are placed on.

3. I am NOT talking about submitting the SAME article all over the internet. I don’t believe in doing this – I also don’t believe in the “one massive blast of the same article and done” concept. I like a steady and LONG TERM drip of back links going to my sites and I like them to come from articles I am proud to have on the internet.

If the “one big blast of the same article everywhere” technique works for you – Great! I’m not a fan…and in the time it takes to do that, I can do my strategy which I feel works better for all involved.

4. I LOVE “Set and Forget” Strategies. This IS a “set and forget” article marketing process. After step one is done, you can do all the other steps in an hour or so….and then you don’t touch it for at least 4 months. BUT, this strategy WILL continue to drip links back to your content the entire time. THAT is what I like… a steady stream of backlinks being built and found – and I don’t have to do anything!

Ok, to sum up, we are learning article marketing for backlinks in a way that will improve our ranking AND add value to the internet (and not take hours and hours to do it). This is a “set and forget” process that takes a bit of your time NOW and will continue to be working FOR you for at least the next 4 months.

Let’s get started…we have a lot to cover.

Step 1 – One Good Article

Yep, that is all you need for my article marketing strategy – One Good Article.

And right now, I can feel the back button clicks start happening…

What?!??!? WRITE ?!?!?!? Me?!?! Nooooooooo, I can’t do that!

Yes you can. YES. YOU. CAN. Hear me?

What we want to do is write one really good article. We want this article to have it’s own unique title, be well-written, and be designed to also get click-throughs to our site/web page. About 400 words is fine.

If You REALLY Can’t Write – Or At Least THINK You Can’t Write…

Or, you just want a MUCH easier way to crank good articles out and do this article marketing process faster – take a look at this article writing software. Seriously, take a moment and watch the video to see what it does. It’s awesome, it’s fast, I have it, I love it (and it makes my article writer nervous because she thinks I won’t need her anymore…lol!).

So, if you can’t write, or want to write faster, use this software and get your really good article written.

Step 2 – Submit Article To Ezine Articles

The article you wrote is going to EzineArticles.com first. No matter what anyone says or thinks, EzineArticles is a top place to place your article for good rankings, traffic, good back links, AND the potential to have your article picked up and syndicated by other sites.

Write your one good article, submit it to EzineArticles.com and wait until it is published (very important – do not start step 3 until this article is live and online at EzineArticles.com)

This is the only article that we really DO want to rank and send traffic – and this article is the core component for the rest of the copy/paste steps.

Step 3 – Article Submission Service #1

Now that our one good article is published on EzineArticles, it’s time to move on to step 2. The rest of these steps can be done whenever you want to. I usually take an hour and do all of them at one time. It’s a bit of “copy/paste” but not a lot of WORK or brain power (just the way I like it…Can you tell I made this strategy for ME? hahaha!)

Now, take that article that is now published on EzineArticles and put it into this article submission service. You can have THREE links IN the content of articles for this service…and that is AWESOME!

So paste your article into the submit article area. Then, link it up the way you want. Now, use the built in “spin” tool to get your article to create a unique version each time it is published. It’s easy enough to do – there is a video that teaches you how.

Note: if you used this article writing software, you don’t need to spin again. Just copy the article from the software (with the spintax or whatever the coding is that makes it spin is called) and then paste it into this submission service.

Choose your categories, set how many to go out each day (I choose unlimited….that usually gets me a few each day) and the submit it.

Done.

Here’s why I like this submission service so much.

1. You get THREE in content links to your sites/web pages in each article. No resource box…no footprints. This service is not about getting your articles out there FAST, it’s about getting GOOD back links out there in a slow-drip fashion.

2. I have 80+ Sites in that network that RECEIVE content. So far, my sites have accepted and published almost 5,000 articles from OTHER PEOPLE. My sites are good – many have a good Page Rank…and I don’t accept articles that are not spun to a good uniqueness. I don’t want crap on my sites..and that works best for all of us.

My sites also pass ranking value well. (If you don’t know how to test to see if your article marketing strategy passes ranking value, read my niche site guide. There is a good way to test it). I have tested this service, I use it, I KNOW the sites *I* have in the network, and I feel very comfortable recommending it to others.

If you’d prefer another article network, you can try this one. It’s not quite as good and doesn’t have all the rank tracking and stuff that mine does, but it’s ok.

Ok, step 2 complete =)

Step 4 – Submission Service #2

This second submission service submits your articles in a unique version to a whole other big network of sites. It also “spins” the article a bit differently so you are contributing even more unique content on the internet.

BOTH of these services allow me to have many, many unique versions of my article title, too – and that is SUPER important to help you get the most out of this article marketing strategy. Lots and lots of unique titles, got it? (yes, that was a BIG hint)

This second service allows for TWO links in a bio box area, BUT you can also set it to have tons of versions of your bio box (and your anchor text)- also a VERY good thing.

Ok, so now have your article in Submission Service #1 open in one tab and the have the form to submit your article into submission service #2 open in another tab. (I have dual monitors/expanded desktop over two computer monitors – this is a BIG help for things like this, but don’t ask me how I managed to make it work. I think I beat my computer into submission…lol).

Now, at the bottom of the view article screen in service #1 there is a button that says “spin” – click it and a new version of your article will appear – highlight the article and then paste it into the place for the first version in service #2. Click “spin” again, and then paste that into the box for the second version, click “spin” again…and then paste into the box for the third version. (the second service takes 3 versions of an article and makes unique versions out of them. You can use their spinning option to make them even more unique, but you don’t have to).

Now, give each article a new title, add more titles, add in your resource box with HTML links to your sites/ web pages, choose your keywords and categories and let ‘er rip.

I usually choose to allow 50 articles go out per day. This works fine for me. Not all get published…not all get found…so this seems to be a good number for me to work with (and it’s what the service recommends).

hint: Become an affiliate for this service to help offset the costs…make it free… or make you LOTS of money. Your articles sent out can have your affiliate link for this service in the bio box…and it helps A LOT

Sound like a lot of work? Guess what? It took me longer to type all that than it ever takes me to DO all that!

In fact, I could probably do THREE articles from step 2 til this point in the time it’s taken me to type the 1600+ words I’ve typed so far.

Step 5 – Everywhere and Anywhere Else

Ok, now you’ve got your article at EzineArticles.com, you have unique versions dripping out slowly in one service and 50 more unique versions going out each day in the second service. This is all being done FOR you everyday… set and forget, right? Right!

Now, we ALSO have our article in two different services that both are creating various unique versions of that first (and only) article we wrote.

Guess what? You can now go into either (or both) of these services and click to “view” your article and get a unique version for you to use anywhere and everywhere else! All you have to do is click “view article” from your list and click either the “spin” button or just refresh (F5) your page… a new unique version will appear.

Kinda cool, huh?

Now, take a unique version and make a Squidoo lens and link it up… make a HubPage… submit it to other article directories…put it on other blogs you have… make a link wheel if you’re into that….submit it on free to use blogs (If you’re a One Week Marketing member, you know some great free blogs to use – HINT!)

Just go copy/paste crazy! Use a unique title – a NEW unique title – each time you put a unique version of your site somewhere else. This is important, ok? Unique titles and unique first paragraphs are really important to get the most out of this.

How Often To Do This Article Marketing Strategy

If you are doing it for one little mini niche site and one round of this process is all you need to work on the keywords you want to rank for – you don’t need to do much else ever again except one step.

After 4 months have passed (make sure it has been OVER 4 months) – go back to step 4, review your article, see if you want to change up the anchor text (no need to touch the article), and then re-send it. Your article will begin dripping out again for the next 4 months (or until it hits all the sites it can – I usually see between 600-900 sites available to take my articles)

If you are working on many keywords or you have many pages on your site you want to rank, repeat this process for all of them. Don’t forget tho, that you get 3 links from step 3 and 2 more links in step 4… you can change them up or spin them, ok?

As for step 5, you can do that for as long as you want, as many times as you want. What I really love about this strategy is this – anytime I am wandering the internet and find a new place that will accept my content with links, I just pop over to service #1 or #2, get a unique version and paste it into the new site. Add a few links, a new title..and I’m done.

What About Making Other BackLinks?

Now I’ll get the questions… “What about social bookmarking?” or “What about blog commenting… forum links…profile links…so-and so’s backlink package or linking service…or….or….or…?”

Do whatever else you want to – or you NEED to do – in order to achieve the ranking you want. Seriously, go for it. All links are good, so get them whenever and wherever you can, ok?

This is how I do MY article marketing. Do other people do it this way? I have no idea. Does it work? Yes, for me it does. I’m not trying to reinvent the wheel here – nor am I saying that the way anyone else does it is wrong… this is just MY way.

I work in low to mid competition markets – it doesn’t take much work for me to rank well… and I LIKE IT that way…lol! This article marketing system I use is usually all I need to get where I want to be (Page 1 in Google, preferably above the fold/top 3). For the niches I work in, this system is almost always plenty and I know that Google is finding new links to my stuff everyday – and I don’t have to DO anything else for that to happen. Make sense?

Bonus Tips For Article Marketing

1. Use as many unique titles as you possibly can.

2. Rewrite/spin your first paragraph as much as you can.

3. Your article does not have to be about the keyword you want to rank for – just something on that general topic.

4. For in-content links, get your first/most important link in the first sentence. Bold it, too.

5. Do not submit crap to the network site owners – we don’t like it and are prone to delete it or not publish it at all. Remember, we opened our sites to others for free (ie, kindness of our hearts and yes, we like receiving free content).

6. Do not submit or spin articles that you do NOT have rights too. Write your own article… you only have to write one so don’t be lazy.

There are no easy ways to success in this business – do your part and do it to the best of your ability. While there is no easy way – there are faster ways…and that is why I use the article marketing system above. I work hard, but I don’t like to work THAT hard…and I like to make the most of my time.

The Short Version

1. Write an article, 400 words or so (use this software if you can’t write).

2. Submit to EzineArticles.com – wait until it is approved and published.

3. Paste, spin and submit article into this article network.

4. Take 3 versions from step 3 and submit to this article submission service.

5. Take unique versions and make web content everywhere else – Squidoo, HubPages, GoArticles, blogs….everywhere you can.

It’s taken me almost 3000 words typed to explain this. In the time to type and post this article marketing tutorial I could have written and sent 7-8 articles into this drip-feed system of mine.

This is NOT hard… everything you need is here laid out exactly how it needs to be done. This is not something you stress over – you do it and forget it. Don’t over-complicate it, ok?

For those who wanted to know, this is how *I* do it. After MANY, MANY ways of trying this in all different ways and fashions, this is the way that a) is the fastest way for me, b) is the easiest to outsource (or outsource some of it), and c) works the best for me and my niche marketing needs.

Will it work for you? Why not try it and find out? Don’t talk yourself out of it – try it =)

Here is another post I did about the 3 main article marketing strategies you can use to make money online – click here to read.

How Google Works

How Does Google Get Their Search Results?

It never ceases to amaze me – I type something… anything… into the Google search bar and in less than a second or two, I get this huge list of web pages that can help me. Since I first started playing with the internet back in 1995 or so (AOL anyone…2400 baud rate…remember the sound when you tried to connect via dial-up…lol!) – since then I have been fascinated by how search engines work. HOW do they get all those different web pages and then list them in some sort of order of importance? Let’s talk about that…

Getting Search Results

Just now, I went to Google and typed in keyword marketing research. In “.26 seconds” almost 4 MILLION web pages were returned just waiting to give me the information I need.

HOW does that happen?

In my previous post, we talked about the “New Google” (Google Caffeine) and changes that have happened with the Google search engine – but what about the basics of Google that HAVEN’T changed?

When you are working online, I think it is REALLY important to understand how this happens.

How can you learn how to rank web pages
if you don’t understand how web pages are ranked in the first place?

Google is BIG… as in B-I-G big. It is claimed that Google has over 19 data centers in the United States and at least 17 more all over the world (which explains why sometimes your search results are different from what others see).

Now, these data centers are HUGE…. 500,000 square feet EACH with a cost of something like $600 MILLION each.

Google is a very complex beast – no one will understand exactly what happens… and just when you think you are getting close, they change again. When you consider all that people do to manipulate the Google search engine, you can imagine that staying at least 50 steps ahead is a really good idea to preserve their business model, agree?

So let’s get into how Google works. Let’s start at the top with what happens as soon as you add content to the web. This could be a comment on a blog, a “tweet”, a new blog post (such as I am adding now), a new page on your site, a comment in a public forum, an ebay auction, a social bookmark… or an entirely new website… anything that makes the web bigger.

We, as online marketers, are adding to the web in MASSIVE proportions every second of every day.

So what happens after we add something to the web?

How Google Works

This image/flow chart from ppcblog.com was shared on the Wealthy Affiliate forum not too long ago (thanks, Des!). I think it is fantastic! I’ve had it open on a browser tab all this time with the intention of sharing it with y’all.

Go ahead and start at the top and follow it all the way down. This chart takes you from you adding new content to the web to how pages are returned and ranked when a user searches Google for related terms and phrases.

It’s a BIG image and I did the best I could to get it to fit on my page here at PotPieGirl.com – but if you can’t read it, just click the image to view it in full size (MUCH easier to read it and follow it that way).

Infographic by PPC Blog

Spend some time and really think your way through that chart…let some light bulbs go off and let it all sink in.

I’ve said it before…and I’ve heard it said by others quite often…

It’s not magic. When you combine the factors that Google wants with the factors that PEOPLE want, you will do just fine.

To me, this is all flat-out amazing. Yes, I’m weird, but seriously, Google fascinates me.

What do you think?

Google Caffeine – What It Means To YOU

Introducing the New Google Index

You may have heard talk about a new and improved Google index called Google Caffeine – but we had no idea when this new Google index would be released. Turns out, it has been released now and is slowly making its way to a Google data center near you. What IS Google Caffeine? And more importantly, what does Google Caffeine mean to YOU? Keep reading and let’s talk about this…

Old Google vs New Google

Before we get into talking about the “new” Google – Google Caffeine – we need to back up and talk a bit about old Google and how their search index worked.

Early in 2009, I did a post about how Google indexed web pages. In short, indexing was done in “layers” or stages. First, they would find your url, then over time, it would be released into the main Google index.

Ever done a site:YourWebsiteNameHere.com search on Google only to find that Google DID find your new site or new web page, but when you search for your keywords, your site or page is nowhere to be found in the main Google index?

This happened because your site (url) was stuck in transition – meaning Google found you, but needed to wait until their main index updated to ADD you to the main index.

Indexing happened in steps or phases. When your site or url was added into the main Google index all depended on how often Google updated their main index.

Updating The Google Index – Some History

Back in 2000 and earlier, Google updated their main index about 1 time every 4 months. So yes, that means that webmasters could very possibly have to wait FOUR MONTHS to see their site/url start ranking within the main Google index.

FOUR MONTHS! (feel a little spoiled now that we can complain if we aren’t indexed within a WEEK?)

Then, in 2001, this “little” event happened called 9/11. Google struggled to keep up with requests for fresh and new content relating to this horrific event – in fact, they COULDN’T keep up. Google realized that something had to change.

Google then went to updating their main index once a month. And this is a BIG process. Google is not one single main index – they are actually comprised of numerous data centers all over the world. This means that you and I could search for the same phrase…and get different results. It is a major process attempting to get all data centers to show the same results.

So, to summarize, getting Google to find and release your site/url into their main index was kinda like waiting on a bus.

You wait for the bus (build your site/url and leave something to help Google find you). Finally, the bus shows (Google crawls/finds your content) and you get on the bus. Now, you wait until the bus drops you off at your destination (your online content gets released into the main index).

Now, that is a very simplistic way to look at how Google finds and indexes new web pages, but that is the basic concept. Your “bus ride” (ie, how long it took your new web content to SHOW in the main Google index) all depended on how soon until the next monthly index update.

Thing is, this is now how “Old Google” did things…. but that has all changed now that Google Caffeine is here.

Google Caffeine – What Is It?

First, let’s explain some meaning behind the name “Caffeine”.

Old Google was decaf…. New Google is caffeinated. Old Google = slow with no kick… New Google=fast and kickin’.

Google Caffeine is not an algorithm change… meaning it is not something designed to change HOW Google ranks web pages (ie, ranking factors…ranking signals…). It’s not an optimization thing, for the most part.

Google Caffeine IS a change in the way Google finds and releases web content into the main Google index.

It’s faster… claimed to contain 50% fresher results.

Instead of being a “phased” indexing process… it is now more “real time”.

It’s the difference between waiting on a bus… and saying “Beam me up, Scotty”.

Old Google vs New Google

image credit

This is a BIG difference in the time it takes to get new content into the main Google index!

Let’s work with an example based off my own understanding of what is going on.

Google Caffeine Indexing Example

From what I understand, new content – fresh content – on a topic will be found much more quickly AND will be able to be FOUND in the Google index very quickly (like within seconds).

Now, in essence, this does not affect your rankings in Google – just how fast your content is found AND released into the main Google index.

But let’s take this example of how Google Caffeine could affect your Google rankings.

Let’s say you have a Squidoo lens about growing apples.

It sits pretty day after day in the Google index, ranking well, bringing you some traffic. The competition is not tough so you don’t have to do much to maintain your top ranking.

All is good in apple land.

Then, one day, this major news story breaks about a serious health threat due to apples – specifically the way apples are grown.

BAM – the Google results for your keywords will now be saturated with “real time” news and updates about this situation. They will rank above you (from my understanding).

How to counteract it?

If this happened to me, based on the way I understand the new Google Caffeine to work, I would totally update my lens with new content and info relating to this apple situation. I’d then make sure it gets “talked about” on Twitter and/or other social networks so my apple lens might be part of the new “fresh” content that Google wants to offer its users.

Ya see, that’s what it is all about… Google wants to be able to offer it’s users the newest, freshest, and most up-to-date info on the topic they are searching for.

I think that is pretty cool.

Consumer Expectations From Google

User/consumer expectations of Google have changed over the years.

Personally, I can say that even though I used the internet back in 2001 when 9/11 happened, it wasn’t my first thought as to where to get information. I still relied on primitive things like newspapers, TV and news…. radio. It never crossed my mind back them to hop on the internet and get current information.

Today, totally different story. The FIRST place I go for information is the internet…. specifically Google. I have a sneaky feeling that I am not the only one who has evolved this way.

Google is evolving to meet our needs and our expectations as consumers.

Is Google Caffeine Showing For YOU?

While Google has said that Google Caffeine is now live, I don’t believe that it has made its way to my data centers as of yet. There is this site where you can compare “Old Google” search results right next to “New Google Caffeine” results (with no personalization) and when I do that and compare to my own Google results – I believe I am still seeing “Old Google” results.

Note: The site to compare old vs new is here.

I imagine this will change over the coming days as Caffeine makes it way around the globe.

How Will Google Caffeine Affect YOU?

Please keep in mind that this is all my opinion and feeling after reading a LOT about all this “New Google” stuff. NO ONE really KNOWS what Google does, ok?

I am thinking that the big sites might have some issues. BIG sites – think Amazon.com, etc… BIG sites. There sites are full of catalog type pages that I don’t imagine they do much link building too nor do they do a whole lot of social marketing for.

But, as I poke around, it appears that when Google claims that Caffeine will be a BIGGER index, they just might mean it. Comparing site: type searches for a lot of sites, I see MORE pages indexed in the “New Google” index than in the old.

In fact, the official Caffeine announcement on the Google blog puts Caffeine into a crazy perspective:

Caffeine lets us index web pages on an enormous scale. In fact, every second Caffeine processes hundreds of thousands of pages in parallel. If this were a pile of paper it would grow three miles taller every second.

Three miles taller EVERY SECOND! Holy cow! That statement alone was a WOW moment for me!

I am in agreement with this post that says they believe news sites and blogs will come out on top with Google Caffeine – and Matt Cutts from Google has apparently confirmed this (and needless to say, this pleases me )

Fresh relevant content released into the Google index faster… that’s what it’s all about.

Will Your Ranking Change In Google Caffeine?

Maybe, maybe not. As I’ve felt about the “Old Google” index, I feel the same about the “New Google” index – the more competitive the query space, the harder you need to work to get rankings and KEEP rankings.

If Google is “hungry” for content and they don’t have much to offer, your rankings should be more stable. If your keyword space is really dynamic (ie, competitive), you’ll need to work. I don’t think that changes with Caffeine – unless some timely news event happens or the trend suddenly changes.

If you’re looking for a keyword to work with that you don’t want to exert that much effort into, check to see what Google has found in the last 24 hours. Are they hungry? Or are they finding a buffet of content to return for a user search?

Will You Need To Constantly Update and “Freshen” Your Content?

Again, this is a maybe-maybe not type answer. If your rankings and traffic are fine, then you should be able to continue with business as usual. However, if you see major changes in your rankings, you’re probably gonna want to get to work.

As I talked about in my Google Tiger-Tail Effect post back in December, Google is trying to offer their users the most recent content and comments on a hot topic as fast as possible. Those scrolling Twitter links on a search were a BIG hint as to what direction Google was trying to go in order to please their search engine users.

We, as searchers (not as marketers…lol) want the most timely and newest information on a topic we are searching for. If we do NOT want “new” results, HOW we search will reflect that.

For example, today a BIG thing happen with USC (University of South California) – it is MAJOR. All I have to do is type “USC” into Google and I’d hopefully get the “real time” information I am looking for.

As you can see, all I have to do is type – usc – into Google and the info I am looking for shows right at the top – pushing the usc.edu site down a notch.

But if I’m looking for USC football stats from the 1995 season, I, as a searcher, would not type only usc into Google – I’d type want I want…. usc football stats 1995 (or something like that).

And when I search like that, the Google results change to reflect what I am looking for.

Summing It All Up

What Google Caffeine will mean to YOUR online activities will vary from person to person and from site to site. I think trusted news sites, blogs, social sites, and user-generated content type sites might come out well with Caffeine. Larger “static” older sites might struggle, but that will remain to be seen.

As always, getting relevant and fresh content out on the web AND getting people “talking” about it (ie, linking within conversation) will be very important – now more than ever. The degree this will be necessary for YOU will depend on the dynamics of your query space.

In short, Google may have gotten faster and bigger – but did they really change THAT much?

Time will tell.

Matt Cutts Video About Google Caffeine and More Resources

I’m going to leave you with a list of content that I’ve read about Google Caffeine and a video of Matt Cutts talking today at SMX Advanced (note: the video was hard for me to hear – had to turn my volume way up – but it’s really worth watching and listening to)

PCWorld Article

Official Google Blog Post

SearchEngineGuide article

I’d love to hear your comment and feedback in the comments area. If you need more information about Google Caffeine, well, just search Google

Why Do Some People Succeed?

Factors Of Success

I had two events happen recently in my life that have caused me to think more about why some people succeed and others don’t. Oddly, neither of these events had ANYTHING to do with internet marketing either (yes, I have a life away from this computer…lol). However, the similarities of these two “other” things in relation to success with internet marketing has really stuck with me – and I’d like to talk about them with you.

Football and Internet Marketing

My hubby and I were out with friends this past Saturday. We were out at our favorite sports bar (owned by a dear friend of ours). At one point, my husband touched my arm and was looking towards the front door at a young man that had just walked in.

He said, “That’s Roddy White”

Ok, I’m gonna admit it, but I said, “WHO?”

My dear sweet patient husband said, “He is a wide receiver for the Atlanta Falcons – he went to University of Alabama at Birmingham…”

Oh, he’s a pro football player… ok.

Now, I’m not one of those people who gets all weird around famous people – and I’m far from shy. To me, people are people. So when the guys at our table started talking about Mr Roddy White, I just got up with a girlfriend of mine and we went over and talked to him.

This guy was SO NICE. He came over and sat at our table for awhile and just hung out.

I wish I had the thought to take a picture, but it didn’t cross my mind at the time. However, I DID get an autograph. Know what’s funny? All I had in my purse that was even close to good enough for an autograph were a bunch of paint samples I’ve been carrying around (plans to repaint our living room – inability to choose color).

So, I asked Roddy to autograph a couple of my paint samples for our friends and us. There’s a picture of one of my Roddy White paint samples.

{I can’t believe I just admitted to the world that I got a famous professional football player to sign PAINT SAMPLES…sheesh!}

So anyway, the table conversation is about his goals, his accomplishments, how the Falcons are doing this season – ya know,
the normal guy talk when a pro football player is around.

Suddenly, I found myself asking Roddy a question that even
shocked me after I asked it (did I mention I’m not shy?).

I asked:

“Roddy, it sounds like you have an amazing career so far, and your future looks really bright…. What makes YOU so different from all the other kids out there that have dreams of being a pro football player? Why did YOU succeed?”

You see, I know the statistics and the odds of a high school football player making it to the pros. If you think the “odds” in the internet marketing industry are scary, you should try on pro football player odds for size.

Anyway, Roddy looks at me, and in all seriousness says,

“Hard work, luck, and talent”

“In that order?” I asked.

“Yes” he replied.

Wow, hard work… luck… and talent – in that order.

I just smiled at him and realized what a mature, honest, and responsible answer he just gave me. Super nice guy… such a pleasure to meet him.

Pro Baseball

Last night, my hubby and I went with friends to a Gwinnett Braves baseball game. Now, the Gwinnett Braves are an affiliate/minor league type team for the big-time Atlanta Braves team.

This is the last stop in “almost pro ball” that these kids play in until, hopefully, they get called up to “The Big Show”.

Now, I’m not all into baseball lingo, but the hubby explained it that the Gwinnett Braves are Triple A ball…and there are lots of minor league teams below that. Getting to play at the Gwinnett Braves level is quite an accomplishment in itself – but it’s not each players goal or idea of true success. Make sense?

Anyway, the game was great… the new stadium we have for this team is awesome… and the customer service at this field was flat-out some of the best customer service from EVERYONE we came into contact with I have ever experienced anywhere. I was quite impressed.

But again, I’m sitting there watching the game, but I’m thinking about all these kids that start out in T-ball and play ball all their lives to get to this field I am sitting at right now. What makes some of these players more successful and get called to The Big Show compared to all the other players?

Talent alone can’t be enough – but I have no doubt it helps as long as you work hard… and you’re lucky.

In the internet marketing industry, we all work hard (or should be working hard) – and we all have enough talent to do this successfully. In fact, I’d reach and say that I believe that hard work can make up for “talent” in our industry.

But is that enough to be successful?

What about “luck”?

Luck

Does it all come down to luck? If I asked you what you think “luck” is, what would you say?

I use the word “luck” all the time. I consider myself very lucky to have the husband I have. Did I just “luck out” by meeting him and marrying him?

My answer? Yes…and no.

I think luck has a HUGE part in success…but not the kind of “luck” that others might think I am referring to.

I COULD have stayed huddled up in my house and never even attempted to meet anyone… but would I still have “lucked out” and met my hubby? I don’t think so. I think it took me getting up off my bottom and interacting with people for that to happen for us.

Did I become successful with internet marketing because I am “lucky”?

Or did I create my own luck by working really hard and having some talent?

I don’t think for a second that Roddy White got lucky by sitting on the couch watching TV reruns. I DO think he worked really hard with the talent he was blessed with and continued to put himself out there – and put himself in the way of “luck”.

How many times have you heard the story of someone who is NOW famous, but talks of once being broke and unknown for years and years… working their tail off? They didn’t magically get discovered overnight – neither did these sports players.

They worked… they put themselves out there and in the way of luck…so that when the “right place at the right time” happened – they were there.

Will YOU be there? Hard work and talent are huge parts of this equation… but will you stick with it long enough to “get lucky”?

No one owes us anything in this world – you gotta get out there and go get it.

Create your own luck.

What are your thoughts?

Fish Giver Week – Part 4

More Free Keywords AND a Special New Guide From Me

Today marks the last day of Fish Giver Week here at PotPieGirl.com. All this week, I have been giving away a daily list of niche ideas with keywords and available domain names to go with them. Today is the last list. I’ve had a ball doing this and I hope it’s helped some of you find some neat niche site ideas or One Week Marketing campaign ideas. If the number of domain names already registered is a clue as to how much y’all like this, when I’d say this week went over well! I also have a special new guide out that I have been busy cleaning up and getting ready for you (that’s why this post is a little late… Sorry!)

Free Keyword List – Day 4

Here is today’s list of “fish” – grab ‘em while you can – and let me know how you do with them!

domains:

banjobarometers.com
banjobarometers.net
banjobarometer.net

Check Domain Name Availability

other keywords:

banjo barometers
banjo barometer
antique banj barometers
antique banjo barometer

domains:

batterytvs.com
batterytvs.net
batteryoperatedtvs.net

Check Domain Name Availability

other keywords:

battery tvs
battery operated tvs
battery powered digital tvs
battery operated digital tvs

domains:

electriccupwarmer.net

Check Domain Name Availability

other keywords:

electric cup warmer
electric coffee cup warmer
electric cup warmers

domains:

microscopelens.net

Check Domain Name Availability

other keywords:

microscope lens
microscope objective lens
microscopes lens
lens in microscope
nikon miscroscope lens
microscope ocular lens
microscope lens adapter

domains:

stovetopteakettles.com
stovetopteakettles.net

Check Domain Name Availability

other keywords:

stove top tea kettles
stove top tea kettle
stove tea kettle
stove tea kettles
wood stove tea kettle
cast iron tea kettle for wood stove

domains:

invisiblefencedogcollar.com
invisiblefencedogcollar.net

Check Domain Name Availability

other keywords:

invisible fence dog collar
invisible fence dog collars
invisible fence dog collar batteries
invisible fence dog collar battery
invisible dog fence collar

domains:

queenbedrails.net
queensizebedrails.net

Check Domain Name Availability

other keywords:

queen bed rails
queen size bed rails
bed rails for queen bed
queen bed rail
queen bed side rails
queen bed frame rails
queen hook on bed rails
queen bed rails hook
bed rails for queen size bed
wood queen bed rails
queen metal bed rails

domains:

usbwebcamwithmicrophone.com
usbwebcamwithmicrophone.net
microphonewithusb.com
microphonewithusb.net

Check Domain Name Availability

other keywords:

usb webcam with microphone
usb headset with microphone
microphone with usb
usb headphones with microphone
usb headets with microphone

domains:

videorecorderdigital.com
videorecorderdigital.net
videodigitalrecorder.net
videodigitalrecorders.net

Check Domain Name Availability

other keywords:

digital video recorder
digital video recorders
4 channel digital video recorder
video recorder digital
video digital recorder
digital video recorder surveillance
video digital recorders
security digital video recorders
handheld digital video recorder

domains:

indoorportablepropaneheaters.com
indoorportablepropaneheaters.net
indoorportablepropaneheater.com
indoorportablepropaneheater.net

Check Domain Name Availability

other keywords:

indoor portable propane heaters
indoorportable propane heater
portable propane heater
portable propane heaters
portable buddy propane heater
portable indoor propane heater
portable propane water heater

Niche idea #1 tickled me – I had never heard of a banjo barometer before…lol!

Ok, one last thing to tell you about…..

New Guide From PotPieGirl

I have taken all my notes from my own results, and case studies, and testing, and techniques and all that good stuff that makes up my special way of making little niche sites. It will only be available for a short time – not sure how much competition I want to give myself! lol!

There are two ways to get a copy of my new guide. One is free – one is not.

Check out my (not-so-great) sales page for my new niche site guide here.

Have a great weekend!

Fish Giver Week – Part 3

More Free Niche Keywords and Domain Names

Here we go, part 3 of Fish Giver Week. This week at PotPieGirl.com I am giving a daily list of different niche ideas with keywords and currently available domain names – for free! I’ve had a ball digging up these little gems of niche site idea and I can’t wait to hear the results folks have after using them. If you’re looking for niche ideas and the keywords to go with it, keep reading…

Fish Giver Week

Why am I giving niche ideas and keywords away for free? ‘Cause it’s fun! It’s also nice when someone just GIVES the info you need, isn’t it? I think so. Learning is great, but getting little money-making gems for free is a nice break the norm.

How To Make Money With These Free Niche Ideas

I make niche sites with these ideas I find. If you want to know the different ways I make sites and learn the things I have learned, here are some learning resources:

Niche Site Money-Making Techniques

Speaking of “passive profits” – if you don’t really know what I’m talking about or want to learn more about my thoughts and how I build mine, you can read my free online course here: Under The Radar with PotPieGirl (it’s free, no opt-in or anything – just click and start reading).

If you’re not comfortable making sites, or don’t want to buy a domain name with a brand name in it, think One Week Marketing campaigns (hint hint). These ideas are all good for use with OWM, too =)

Ok, then…gotta do the disclaimer, too (sigh…lol)

I can’t guarantee anything about these niche ideas. Every domain name could be gone by the time you are reading… some might not make money…some might not rank well….no tellin’.

BUT, I CAN tell you that I picked these niches the same exact way I pick them for myself to turn over to my team.

HOW I do that is part of my “secret sauce” tho….lol! (but, a hint is that I use this tool when picking terms for this technique)

Alrighty, let’s get to today’s list of niche ideas!

Niche Ideas – Part 3

domains:
10disccdchanger.com
10disccdchanger.net

Check Domain Name Availability

other keywords:

10 cd disc changer
10 disc cd changer
10 disc cd changers
10 disc car cd changer
kenwood 10 disc cd changer
10 disc cd mp3 changer
kenwood kdc c719 10 disc changer
audiovox 10 disc cd changer
jensen 10 disc cd changer

domains:

12vdeepcyclebattery.net
deepcyclemarinebatteries.com
deepcyclemarinebatteries.net
rvdeepcyclebatteries.com
rvdeepcyclebatteries.net
deepcyclebatteryprices.com
deepcyclebatteryprices.net
batteriesdeepcycle.com
batteriesdeepcycle.net

Check Domain Name Availability

other keywords:

deep cycle battery
deep cycle marine battery
12v deep cycle battery
deep cycle battery charger
deep cycle marine batteries
agm deep cycle battery prices
batteries deep cycle
deep cycle lead acid batteries
best deep cycle battery

domains:

evaporatorpad.com
evaporatorpad.net

Check Domain Name Availability

other keywords:

evaporator pad
humidifier evaporator pad
evaporator pads
evaporative pad
990 13 evaporator pad
humidifier evaporator pads
skuttle humidifier evaporator pad

domains:

fryercooker.com
fryercooker.net
cookerdeepfryer.com
cookerdeepfryer.net
fryerclowcooker.com
fryerslowcooker.net

Check Domain Name Availability

other keywords:

fryer cooker
cooker deep fryer
fryer slow cooker
pressure fryer cooker
cookers fryers
cookers fryers
fryer cookers
deep fryer cookers
cajun cooker fryer
king cookers turkey fryer
betty g cooker fryer

domains:

carbatteryterminal.com
carbatteryterminal.net
carbatteryterminals.net
batteryterminalcleaner.com
batteryterminalcleaner.net

Check Domain Name Availability

other keywords:

battery terminal cleaner
car battery terminal
car battery terminals
positive battery terminal
negative battery terminal
battery terminal connectors
clean battery terminals
side battery terminal
battery terminal post
battery terminals cleaning
gold battery terminal
cleaning battery terminals
battery cable terminal
battery terminal accessories
battery terminal cover

domains:

doublecassettedeck.com
doublecassettedeck.net
doubledeckcassette.com
doubledeckcassette.net

Check Domain Name Availability

other keywords:

double cassette deck
double deck cassette
stereo double cassette deck
jvc double cassette deck
double deck cassette player
double deck cassette recorder
technics double cassette deck
double auto reverse cassette deck

domains:

icecreamchairs.net
icecreamchair.net

Check Domain Name Availability

other keywords:

ice cream chairs
ice cream chair
ice cream table chairs
antique ice cream chairs
ice cream shop chairs

domains:

calleridmodem.net

Check Domain Name Availability

other keywords:

caller id modem
caller id compatible modem
caller id modems
caller id voice modem
caller id fax modem
caller id modem software
modem with caller id
usb caller id modem
pci modem caller id

domains:

motorcyclebluetoothheadset.com
motorcyclebluetoothheadset.net

Check Domain Name Availability

other keywords:

motorcycle bluetooth headset
motorcycle headset bluetooth
motorcycle helmet bluetooth headset
bluetooth motorcycle headsets
motorcycle bluetooth headsets
bluetooth motorcycle helmet headset

domains:

electricsmokerreviews.net
electricsmokerreview.com
electricsmokerreview.net

Check Domain Name Availability

other keywords:

electric smoker reviews
electric smoker review
electric smokers review
masterbuilt electric smoker reviews
electric smokers reviews
cajun injector electric smoker reviews
old smokey electric smoker reviews
brinkman electric smoker reviews
bradley electric smoker reviews

There ya go – 10 fresh niche ideas with keywords and currently available domain names!

I will have one more list tomorrow so be sure to stop back.

If you missed the previous niche keyword lists, you can find them here:

Free Niche Ideas – Part 1
Free Niche Ideas – Part 2

Have a great day!

Fish Giver Week – Part 2

More Free Fish!

Wow, yesterday’s post full of free niche ideas, domain names, and keywords sure went over well! I did a little check a bit ago and most of the domain names are already taken! That is so exciting to me – I love seeing folks take action…and I can’t wait to hear their results so please, be sure to let me know how things work out. Today, Part 2 of Fish Giver Week and MORE free fish!

This Is Fun!

First off, I just want to say that I am having the best time doing this! I love digging up new niche ideas and the goodies to go with them – it’s like a treasure hunt for me – and apparently y’all love getting them. I’d say this is working out perfectly!

Before we release the fish, let’s recap some things…

What Do I Do With These Niche Ideas?

I make niche sites with these ideas I find. If you want to know the different ways I make sites and learn the things I have learned, here are some learning resources:

Niche Site Strategy Ideas

Speaking of “passive profits” – if you don’t really know what I’m talking about or want to learn more about my thoughts and how I build mine, you can read my free online course here: Under The Radar with PotPieGirl (it’s free, no opt-in or anything – just click and start reading).

If you’re not comfortable making sites, or don’t want to buy a domain name with a brand name in it, think One Week Marketing campaigns (hint hint). These ideas are all good for use with OWM, too =)

Ok, then…gotta do the disclaimer, too (sigh…lol)

I can’t guarantee anything about these niche ideas. Every domain name could be gone by the time you are reading… some might not make money…some might not rank well….no tellin’. BUT, I CAN tell you that I picked these niches the same exact way I pick them for myself to turn over to my team. HOW I do that is part of my “secret sauce” tho….lol! (but, a hint is that I use this tool when picking terms for this technique)

About Brand Names In Domains

Some of these “fish” have brand names in them. Whether you use them or not is totally up to you. I’ve heard of marketers getting Cease and Desist letters from having a brand name in their domain name and the marketer had to take the site down. That has never happened to me as of yet. If it ever does, I’ll take the site down with no issues. That’s my thoughts on that- not to be mistaken for advice or legal counsel =)

We talked more about using brand names in the comments area of yesterdays post… you can read that discussion here.

Let’s get to the fish…. Some of these are pretty good – I was tempted to keep them. One of them tickles me (#9) – I never woulda thought of that without my handy-dandy little keyword tool…lol!

Ok, let’s throw some fish!

Fish Giver Week Part 2

domain: sunroofglass.net

Check Domain Name Availability

other keywords:
sunroof glass replacement
glass sunroofs
autoglass sunroof
panoramic glass sunroof
sun roof glass

domains:

darkroomaccessories.net
darkroomtimer.net
darkroom light.net

Check Domain Name Availability

other keywords:

gralab darkroom timer
darkroom equipment
darkroom supplies
darkroom light
darkroom safelight
darkroom kits
darkroom lights

domains:

small applianceskitchen.net
appliancesforsmallkitchen.com
appliancesforsmallkitchen.net

Check Domain Name Availability

other keywords:

appliances for small kitchen
toasters small kitchen appliances
small kitchen appliance
kitchenaid small kitchen appliance
small electrical kitchen appliances
kitchen aid small kitchen appliances

domains:

graphiccarequalizer.com
graphiccarequalizer.net
cargraphicequalizer.net
cargraphicequalizers.com
cargraphicequalizers.net

Check Domain Name Availability

other keywords:

graphic car equalizer
car graphic equalizer
car graphic equalizers
in car graphic equalizer
car stereo graphic equalizer
kenwood car graphic equalizer
graphic equalizer for car

domains:

ttxnumark.com.
ttxnumark.net
numarkttx.com
numarkttx.net
numarkttxturntable.com
numarkttxturntable.net

Check Domain Name Availability

other keywords:

ttx numark
numark ttx
numark ttx usb
numark ttx turntable
numark ttx usb turntable
numark ttx turntables
numark ttx review

domains:

britaxboosterseats.net
britaxparkwayboostercarseat.com
britaxparkwayboostercarseat.net
britaxboostercarseats.com
britaxboostercarseats.net

Check Domain Name Availability

other keywords:

britax booster seat
britax booster seats
britaz booster car seat
britax parkway booster car seat
britax booster car seats

domains:

seashellbath.net
seashellbathaccessories.net

Check Domain Name Availability

other keywords:

seashell bath
seashell bath accessories
seashell bath towels
seashell bath rug
seashell bath rugs
seashell bath mat
seashell bath decor
seashell bath sets

domains:

solartubelight.net
solarlighttube.net
solarlighttubes.net
solartubelights.net

Check Domain Name Availability

other keywords:

solar tube light
solar light tubes
solar tube lights
solar tube lighting
solar tubes lighting
solar light tube
solar lighting tube
tube solar lights

domains:

turkeydecorations.net
turkeydecoration.com
turkeydecoration.net
turkeydecor.com
turkeydecor.net

Check Domain Name Availability

other keywords:

turkey decorations
turkey decoration
turkey decor
turkey decorating
decorating a turkey
turkey home decor
turkey table decoration
decorating a paper turkey
turkey decorating ideas
wild turkey decor
turkey cake decorating

domains:

panasonicelectricshaver.net
panasonicelectricshavers.net

Check Domain Name Availability

other keywords:

panasonic electric shaver
panasonic electric shavers
panasonic es2218vc electric shaver
panasonic mens electric shavers
panasonic wet dry electric shaver
panasonic women’s electric shaver
panasonic electric shavers reviews

There ya go… 10 more free fish for ya – now run with it!

There will be a new list tomorrow (Thursday) and the last one will be on Friday so be sure to come on back for more free fish!

Here is part 1 in case you missed it.

Have a great day!

Fish Giver Week – Part 1

Can I Just GIVE You a Fish?

You know the saying that goes something like: “Give a man a fish and feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime”? I’ve spent the past few years here at PotPieGirl.com trying to help others learn how to fish – and well, I’m a little bored of it and feel like switching it up this week. This week, I want to be a fish GIVER. Instead of telling you HOW to find little niche markets, I’m going to GIVE you ones I have found. Ok with you? Can I give YOU a fish? If so, keep reading….

Teaching To Fish

I like teaching to fish. I also firmly believe that by teaching HOW I am doing a better service to others than by simply giving fish away.

But that gets so old, doesn’t it?

I mean, c’mon, don’t you ever wish someone would just GIVE you some niche ideas and some keywords to use? I know *I* sure woulda liked it back when I was trying to figure all this out.

So, this week, I’m giving fish away. If you don’t want a fish, ya better leave now…lol!

I’ve just come back from a great vacation with my hubby and followed by a wonderful weekend with my family (kids, grandbaby, daughter-in-law, the whole she-bang). During the 9 days or so of vacation with my hubby I NEVER TOUCHED A COMPUTER.

That is an AMAZING feat for me. But I’m gonna tell you something, I feel good – really good! Refreshed, excited, and ready to roll. I highly recommend time away from the computer to everyone and anyone who is tangled up in this internet marketing mumbo-jumbo – but I know just how hard it is to do.

Thankfully, I finally have come to the point where I can get help and I have some amazing outsourcers in my corner that make my life SO much easier. I also highly recommend help as soon as you can manage it =)

Ok, enough of my talk about time off (but, forgot to mention that we saw the new Shrek movie, too – it was real cute…. I love that donkey….lol).

Let’s get back to fish giving….

I’ve been doing my research to get my projects together for my team and realized that I found a LOT of little gems for niche sites (or One Week Marketing campaigns) and I was going to snow them under if I kept adding projects faster than they could even read them.

So I said to myself, “Self, Why not share the little nuggets I found with y’all?”.

“We” thought it was a great idea

Fish Giver Week Details

Here’s what’s going to happen:

Today, tomorrow, Thursday, and Friday there will be a Fish Giver post here on PotPieGirl.com. Each post will have a list of niches I’ve found along with available domain names and other related keywords.

I will give them to you just as I give them to my team. Now, my team knows my “secret sauce and top-secret techniques” for making my niche sites, but I’ll share places I’ve learned different techniques I use with you if you’d like to check them out.

(note: all the links will open in a new window/tab so you don’t lose your place here)

Recommended Learning Resources

Speaking of “passive profits” – if you don’t really know what I’m talking about or want to learn more about my thoughts and how I build mine, you can read my free online course here: Under The Radar with PotPieGirl (it’s free, no opt-in or anything – just click and start reading).

Otherwise, you can do what you want with these “fish”. The domain names I show as available when I type this are a strong hint – and the “other keywords” are another hint as to what other posts/pages to have on your site or what other pages to have for your One Week Marketing campaign. How you monetize the site is totally up to you, but I will hint and say that for many of my sites like this I start with AdSense and Amazon =)

Recommended Hosting

If you want to make your own sites from these “fish” and don’t have hosting, I highly and strongly recommend HostGator. I’ve been with them for years and they are fantastic. I have a couple hosting accounts with them all the way from small add-on hosting accounts, reseller accounts, and fancy-dancy hosting and I have never had a problem with them. Also, you can pay month-by-month instead of having to fork over a years worth at one time. For less than $10 a month you can be up and running and have all you need to get started as far as hosting goes.

This is my link to sign up with HostGator. If you choose to use it, THANK YOU!!!

Under each domain name(s) hint(s), there will be a link to check and see if that domain is still available and to purchase it if it is. I have recently fallen in love with a new domain registration company…. they are super easy to use AND they offer free private registrations (which is awesome!).

One last thing before I release the fish….

Yuppers….a disclaimer (even tho I know y’all know all this already…lol)

I can’t guarantee anything about these niche ideas. Every domain name could be gone by the time you are reading… some might not make money…some might not rank well….no tellin’. BUT, I CAN tell you that I picked these niches the same exact way I pick them for myself to turn over to my team. HOW I do that is part of my “secret sauce” tho….lol! (but, a hint is that I use this tool when picking terms for this technique)

Some of these “fish” have brand names in them. Whether you use them or not is totally up to you. I’ve heard of marketers getting Cease and Desist letters from having a brand name in their domain name and the marketer had to take the site down. That has never happened to me as of yet. If it ever does, I’ll take the site down with no issues. That’s my thoughts on that- not to be mistaken for advice or legal counsel =)

Ok, then – let’s start releasing some fish!

Fish Giver Week Part 1

domain: nickelmetalhydride.net

Check Domain Name Availability

other keywords:

nickel metal hydride battery
nickel metal hydiride batteries
rechargeable nickel metal hydride battery
rechareable nickel metal hydride batteries
nickel metal hydride rechareable batteries
nickel metal hydride battery charger

domain: conairsteamer.net

Check Domain Name Availability

other keywords:

conair fabric steamer
conair compact steamer
conair garment steamer
conair professional steamer
conair handheld fabric steamer
conair uprighty steamer
conair facial steamer

domain: vikingcooktop.net

Check Domain Name Availability

other keywords:

viking cooktops
viking electric cooktop
viking induction cooktop
viking professional cooktop
viking designer cooktop
viking 6 burner cooktop

domain: angelsstatues.net

Check Domain Name Availability

other keywords:

cherub angel statues
angel demon statue
cherub angel statue
half angel half demon statue
angel statues and figurines
black angel statue

domain: allinoneremote.net

Check Domain Name Availability

other keywords:

all in one remote codes
all in one universal remote
all in one remotes
all in one tv remote
all in one remote controls
logitech all in one remote

domain: flightsimcontrols.net

Check Domain Name Availability

other keywords:

flight sim controller
flight sim controllers
google flight sim controls
flight sim x controls
helicopter flight sim controls

domains:

waringprowaffle.com
waringwafflepro.com
wafflemakerwaringpro.com

Check Domain Name Availability

other keywords:

waring waffle pro
waffle maker waring pro
waring pro waffle maker
waring pro belgian waffle maker
waring pro professional waffle maker
waring pro professional belgian waffle maker
waring pro waffle iron
waring pro waffle makers

domains:

cheappolaroidfilm.net
polaroid500instantfilm.com
polaroidinstantcamerafilm.com

Check Domain Name Availability

other keywords:

polaroid 600 film
polaroid instant film
polaroid camera film
polaroid film cameras
polaroid 600 instant film
buy polaroid film
cheap polaroid film
polaroid 500 film
polaroid instant camera film
cheap polaroid 600 film

domains:

canonlensconverter.com
canonwideconverterlens.com
canonwideangleconverterlens.com
cononlensconverters.com

Check Domain Name Availability

other keywords:

canon wide converter lens
canon wide angle converter lens
canon wide angle lens converter
canon lens converters
canon lens mount converter
canon telephoto converter lens
nikon to canon lens converter

domains:

homegraphicequalizer.com
homeaudiographicequalizer.com
homeequalizers.net
equalizerhomeaudio.com
graphicequalizerhome.com

Check Domain Name Availability

other keywords:

home audio graphic equalizer
home graphic equalizers
home stereo graphic equalizer
home equalizers
home audio equalizers
home equalizer
equalizer home audio
graphic equalizer home
home stereo equalizer
home stereo equalizers

So, there you have it…. lots of fun little niche ideas to use or get your brain going.

Have a good time with them and look for a new “fish list” tomorrow!

3 Free Gifts For You

I Found Cool Stuff!

I have 3 free things I’ve come across lately and they all get the “cool beans” rating from me. One is free training, one is a free tool, and the other is a free e-course from little ol’ me =) I’ve been a busy, busy girl behind the scenes lately (yes, Under The Radar…lol), but I’ve been keeping a list of cool things to share with you whenever I got back to posting. Ok, let’s give some gifts!

Gift #1

Yep, Mothers Day is upon us again. This year is extra special for me since I am now not “just” a mom, but a grandmom, too! I know kids always struggle with the “what to get Mom” question, but I have one friend who is doing something AMAZING for his Mom – Let me tell you about it.

My friend is an internet marketer. He is going to open up a Clickbank account in his mom’s name and then make some campaigns online with her Clickbank link.

And she doesn’t know a thing about it!

In fact, she has no clue what Clickbank is! I love it!

My friend is Travis – perhaps you’ve heard of him or his BumMarketingMethod.com site?

Travis and his awesome wife, Jeannie are about to start something called Project Mom – and it’s totally FREE!

Now, Jeannie doesn’t do internet marketing, but she will be working along side Travis as he follows a new program to make what he calls “3-Hour Money Machines”. I believe she will be the voice of reason in this project and keep him from getting all technical on us so she, and the rest of us, can learn what he is doing.

Travis and Jeannie will be video taping every step of the way – and you can watch along, step by step, for free.

My hubby and I had the pleasure of hanging out with Travis and Jeannie in Las Vegas last month, and let me tell you, those two are good people (there’s a picture of Travis, Jeannie, and me at the WA SkyLoft last month). There is one very special thing about the way Travis works online…. I believe he is someone who completely exemplifies the concept of adding value to people’s lives. Helping them and giving them as much as humanly possible to help THEM succeed.

The truth is that is something I recognized early in my internet marketing career from Travis and I chose to follow in those footsteps because it is something that I firmly believe in, too.

I have no doubt that Project Mom is going to be awesome and I can’t wait to watch as the it all plays out. I hope you’ll join us and follow along, too.

Just go here and get signed up:

==>> http://www.bummarketingmethod.com/ProjectMom.html

It’s totally free – you don’t have to buy anything at all. This is to help YOU and to help Travis’ mom. I think I am going to get a copy of the product that Travis will be using to create the 3 hour cash machine sites for his mom with Jeannie just so I know what’s going on – but you do NOT have to buy anything at all, ok?

Watch the video there, too. It’s funny when Travis gets to talking about imagining his Mom going to the mailbox when that first surprise check comes from Clickbank – it certainly tickled me!

Gift #2

Those of you that have read One Week Marketing know that there is little FireFox add on that displays your Clickbank earnings right at the bottom of your browser window. I love that thing! However, it seems that it has been hit or miss with the FireFox updates and I had given up trying to get it to work.

Well guess what? It’s working again, and now it’s better than ever. Now, you can have up to 10 Clickbank accounts being tracked at one time – no more logging in…. yay!

Go ahead and get it – you’ll love it.

You’ll need to opt in, but that’s all. You even get a free bonus ebook that is pretty good.

Follow the instructions to install it and then go up to your browser window, click tools>>>addons and then “options” under the tool settings. In that area, just enter your clickbank id and your password for any Clickbank accounts you want to track.

Then, PRESTO, your clickbank earnings will be showing at the bottom of your screen.

Go ahead and click the download banner. It won’t start downloading on you or anything – it just goes to the info page.

Gift #3

If you are on any of my lists, you already received this, but, in case you have NOT received it, let me give it to ya now.

I have a totally free e-course online called Under The Radar. It talks about my favorite way of making passive income online – by making tiny/micro niche sites. It’s a really good read (in my humble opinion) so I hope you’ll check it out.

You can being reading here (no opt in required):

===>>> http://www.potpiegirl.com/a/Day1.html

Alrighty, back to work for me! Have a great day!

How To Use Alexa For Research

Getting Keyword and Niche Ideas from Alexa.com

I’ve been crazy busy lately working on my husbands windshield repair business website for his new company. Exciting times for the PotPieGirl family, that’s for sure! In the process of my local search research, I found some cool stats that Alexa is now offering to those that have the Alexa toolbar installed. I’ve got a quick video to show you what I’ve found.

Using Alexa For Marketing Research

As mentioned in my previous post, we were off to Oregon last week to become certified windshield repair technicians. Yes, I got trained and certified, too!

How could I possibly do a local search marketing campaign or create a website if I have no clue what the business is about or how repairs work? That intensive training class we went thru sure gave me a LOT of info about the industry AND I can fix a mean windshield chip now, too! That’s a picture of me getting my badge and certification =)

I’d like to send a quick thank you to the fantastic staff at Delta Kits in Eugene, Oregon. They are a top-notch company and we really appreciate your hospitality as well as the hands-on training – Thank you!

We actually got “stuck” in Eugene for almost 2 more days when our flight was over-booked and we got bumped – but that’s a story for another day….lol!

Anyway, since we’ve been back, I’ve been hard at work getting my hubby’s website created and promoted. It’s a process, but it’s coming along nicely.

While doing some market research I happened to check-in with Alexa and was surprised to find that they are now offering more stats – and these stats really help!

Here’s a quick video I made showing you what I found:

(remember, you must have the Alexa Tool Bar installed in your FireFox browser for this to work)

As you can see, this info can be really helpful whether you are doing niche research, keyword research, or local marketing research (as I was doing) – or some good old-fashioned research of your competition

Check it out and let me know what you think!

When I Was a Newbie

…It Bothered Me, Too

Once upon a time, I was a newbie – a broke newbie at that. I absolutely absorbed any and all free information I could get my hands on. I was on tons of lists in hopes that they would each give me one more little piece of the internet marketing puzzle so it would all start to work for me. There was one list in particular that I LOVED (and still do), but suddenly, that list owner started to push Wealthy Affiliate and I started to lose interest in their emails. So now, I imagine YOU are wondering why *I* promote Wealthy Affiliate. Fair question… and one I’d like to talk about today.

It’s a Jungle Out There

Learning internet marketing, especially the way *I* went about it at first, is tough. It’s a jungle out there full of shiny things, “get rich quick” offers, and lots of bad information. When I first started trying to learn, I would sign up for any list that even hinted at giving some of that good information away.

Inevitably, the list owner would try and sell me something – and that’s ok, I know that’s how this all works. Besides, who here wants to work for free? Yes, giving things away and helping people is GREAT…that is super important to me, it gives me a nice “warm fuzzy” feeling that lets me know I am living my life on the right path for me.

However, I can’t recall the last time our mortgage company would accept a “Warm Fuzzy” as payment!

(makes me think of that gum commercial where the guy offers to pay the babysitter in gum….I’m not thinking my mortgage company would be near as excited as that babysitter was…lol!)

But – when you don’t have the money to buy some of the answers, it is FRUSTRATING. That feeling of “If I only had money, I could figure all this out” gets stuck in your gut – and it kinda hurts.

It starts this whole cycle of – “I don’t have money, I’m trying to learn HOW to make money, but I don’t have the money to learn – why can’t someone just tell me FOR FREE and STOP asking me to buy stuff?!?!?”

Oh, I’ve been there….yes I have.

So back on topic – this particular list owner started in with the Wealthy Affiliate thing – and I became disenchanted. Thankfully, I kept reading the emails from this list owner, but I still couldn’t hear what they were trying to tell me. Finally, one day in July 2008, I got it – and I joined WA.

I struggled with the decision of whether or not to pay $39 a month for that membership – really struggled. Now, in hindsight, I’m SO glad I chose to make the choice to give it a try and see what it was all about.

I was an active member of Wealthy Affiliate for about 8 months before I said anything about WA here on my blog.

Why?

Because I wanted to be sure of what it was all about. I wanted to know that *I* would choose to stay and be an ACTIVE member in that community and that *I* found real value in the tools and training.

Promoting something just for the sake of an income stream is not how I wanted PotPieGirl.com to be – or to be seen.

I believe in Wealthy Affiliate – I am proud to be a member of WA, too. If that changes, you can be sure I’ll speak up.

I also know deep inside that when someone is new to internet marketing, or is ready to take their efforts to the next level, that WA is a GREAT place to be.

Let’s Break This Down

Let’s break this down a little. There are a lot of great products and great tools out there that can make your online efforts better.

Each month, I could tell you about one product or one tool that can help you – and good stuff, too. And many people would be out there buying ONE piece of the puzzle and spending $30, $40, $50 and more each month for that ONE PIECE…

Or…

They can get a LOT of the pieces (if not MOST of the pieces) for $39 each month (tools, training, services, AND the community).

Do I make money off of it? Yes, I do – I’d make money whether someone opted to get the single piece of the puzzle each month thru me or if they opted to join Wealthy Affiliate thru me.

It doesn’t make sense to me to offer one piece of the puzzle at a time – even if *I* make MORE doing it that way – than recommending a complete package that I believe in AND participate in.

And that’s the thing, I don’t just PROMOTE Wealthy Affiliate, I RECOMMEND it.

I recently came back from a trip to Vegas with Wealthy Affiliate. Yup, it was a great time – yup, it was cool to be spoiled – yup, it’s awesome to be able to say I was honored with an invitation for that trip AND to sit around a table with some I consider to be OUTSTANDING marketers (and people).

The BEST part of my trip to Vegas was being able to sit down, face-to-face, with the owners of WA (Kyle and Carson). I got to speak with them and hear from them what they are trying to accomplish with WA – what their visions are – what they hope to achieve – and that had a huge impact on me. Their values are very much in line with what *I* want to achieve online.

They were also very much about helping me better ME – Not just how I can promote them better, but helping me be better with my online marketing and improving my results.

That meeting in Vegas could have turned out to be one big “YAY, Wealthy Affiliate!” pep rally-type thing, but it didn’t. It WAS about making each of us better in this industry as a whole. Kyle and Carson give like crazy – their site is massively under-priced – but they want it that way. They want what they offer to be attainable to anyone who needs it.

Is Wealthy Affiliate Right For EVERYONE?

No, Wealthy Affiliate is not right for everyone. I’d be hard-pressed to come up with a learning/tools community that IS right for EVERYONE. We all learn differently and have different goals. All I know is that I chose the Wealthy Affiliate path – and have no intention of coming off that path. It was – and IS – right for me.

There are also readers here that HAVE been Wealthy Affiliate members – and they hated it. Some may have even had a bad experience with WA. I’m sorry it went that way, and I can understand why you don’t like me talking about it.

Others have joined and then quit because they didn’t feel it was the right place for THEM. That’s great, in my opinion, you tried it and it wasn’t what YOU needed. You didn’t base your decision off what others said (including ME), you made the best decision for yourself based off your own experience.

My goal is for each of you to be able make the best choices for YOUR online business and for YOU that you can. Internet Marketing is a strange little industry. You really can’t take the word of what others say about tools and services – you need to try them yourself.

My Video From Las Vegas

I made a video while I was in Vegas. I’m not big on the “getting in front of the camera and talking” thing, but something moved me while we were there that last day that compelled me to do it.

Many of you might know that I love to play tournament-style Texas Hold ‘Em poker (like what they play in the Main Event in the WSOP – World Series of Poker). Now, there are all kinds of poker to be played, but tournament-style (like the Main Event) is playing until one person has all the chips. It’s very challenging – involves a good bit of skill and the ability to read people.

Anyway, Binion’s HorseShoe in old, downtown Vegas is where the WSOP originated. Downtown Vegas is not NEARLY as “shiny” and glitzy as The Strip in Vegas (where we stayed) – but I love going down there. It’s rich in history and a bit more “real” for my taste (if you can call Las Vegas “real”…lol).

So, our last day there, we went down to old Vegas. Through-out our trip, we talked to many dealers, servers, hotel employees, cab drivers, etc and we kept hearing a recurring theme that had to do with the economy and how badly it was hurting Vegas – and hurting the very real people that count on Las Vegas to make their living and support their families.

When we got to “old” Vegas, it all really slapped me in the face how BAD things are. I saw WAY too many people working that should be retired. I saw WAY too many “things to do” in Vegas with very few people doing them (not just gambling, but restaurants, attractions, etc).

Then, I walked into one well-known place for me that we have been before – and I could really see in a large scale what was happening. The room was EMPTY – abandoned. The emptiness I show in this video is not just a lack of customers – it also represents a LOT of people that are without jobs.

There are so many people working that should be retired and so many more people that also need to work, but they can’t GET a job.

And that is not just Las Vegas – that is the state of my country.

And *I* had just spent a spoiled week in Vegas because of the blessings internet marketing has given me – and I suddenly became very moved and very THANKFUL to be a part of Wealthy Affiliate.

Now, just a note: I am a goober. Seriously…. I’m an odd bird at times…lol! But this video might lag here and there when you watch -and it makes me appear to be an even BIGGER goober. I’m also not used to being in front of the camera and I think it shows.

However, I’m posting this video anyway – maybe someone can hear my message.

By the way, if you are already a Wealthy Affiliate member, Kyle and Carson just posted more videos from our Vegas trip. Those videos and a trip summary are here.

To sum up – when you believe in something and are thankful for the value it added to YOUR life, you talk about it – you can’t help it.

I know there are some that read here that don’t like me talking about it. In fact, thank you for mentioning it in comments on yesterday’s post because it helped me remember that I wanted to do a post on this very topic. THANK YOU!

I know I can’t please everyone – hard as I try, I just can’t. However, I can talk about what I believe to be good things for others to check out and try out for themselves. I believe in Wealthy Affiliate, so I talk about it.

Will Wealthy Affiliate Work For YOU?

I sure hope Wealthy Affiliate works for you, but obviously, I can’t guarantee a thing regarding your online business. As I’ve said many, many times – there is no “get rich quick” available out there. This is a business that takes work and constant action (not much different from any other business).

Wealthy Affiliate is NOT a “magic pill” – you get out of it what you put into it (again, like any other business or education situation).

So I don’t know if WA will work for you. The only way YOU can know is by taking a chance on Wealthy Affiliate and finding out for yourself.

Ok, that’s enough about that =)

Other Stuff

Wow, yesterday’s post sure got a LOT of insightful feedback – 200+ comments in less than 24 hours….Wow, thank you! Please, if you’d like to comment on that post, be sure to leave that comment ON that post. I’d like to leave that topic there and move on.

Otherwise, we are headed out for Oregon early Thursday morning. This trip is for my hubby’s new business – and we are both so excited! Also, I’ve never been to Oregon before so I am looking forward to the trip as a whole.

Once we get back, I’ll be off to work on the website and promotion of his new business so I might be quiet for awhile (IF I am CAPABLE of being quiet….lol), but I’ll still be around.

Other than that, I hope everyone knows I have a new, FREE, online course out. I worked many long nights on it and it seems to be really helping people. It’s called The DAM Way – and it’s specifically written for those brand new to internet marketing, those that have very little time, and/or those that can’t seem to get started.

If that’s you, you can read The DAM Way at thedamway.com.

Finally I want to say that you all are a GREAT bunch of people and I appreciate all of you very much!

Should We Censor Blog Comments?

What Do YOU Think?

An interesting, and somewhat painful, situation happened on a fellow marketers blog recently. A comment was made about me by a blog reader that was uh…not so nice. The situation sparked conversation and a follow up post from the blog owner. In my opinion, the conversation and opinions were very interesting and it got me to thinking whether we, as blog owners, should censor the comments that come through our blogs.

Censoring? Or Free Speech?

As US citizens, we are granted the right to free speech in a public forum. Now, we don’t have the right to scream, “FIRE!” in a public area when there is NOT a fire, but we do have the right to state our opinions and beliefs.

But is a personal blog a “public forum”?

Let me back up and give you the short version of what happened.

An excellent and well-respected marketer was doing a multi-part review of One Week Marketing on her blog. This marketer did this review on her own free-will. She did not contact me before doing it or while she was doing it. She bought the course and spent days with her readers as she worked her way through it. She and I both made some sales as a result of her review and many people who had felt lost with OWM actually went back to it to try again. All in all, it was a good review series that contained very valuable feedback and constructive criticism for me that I listened to.

However, in her “final decision” post, a comment was made by a blog reader that really, really teetered as being a personal attack on me.

This lead to some controversy. The blog owner then went on to make a follow-up post about a reader she had that chose to remove himself from all the blog owners lists because she chose to allow that comment about me to be approved and posted on her blog. The blog owner then went into great detail about her comment policy for her own blog and a great conversation in the comments began. In short, the blog owners policy for comments is that she does not censor unless she considers the post to be “racist or threatening” (or spam…lol).

Here is a quote from her post regarding this situation and her blog comment policy:

If I did NOT allow Dorothy to have her say on what her personal experience was, THEN I would be an unethical marketer. If I filtered what my subscribers experiences were, THAT would be wrong of me. THAT would make me the kind of marketer who makes things look great through rose colored glasses in hopes that you would click on my link and buy her OWM product.

Not a great situation – no real “right” or “wrong” here, but I’m telling ya, I totally respect the transparency in which this blog owner handled this situation. And, yes, I also really appreciate someone being that loyal to ME. It felt nice to know that someone felt deeply that what they read wasn’t “right” in their opinion.

That said, the reader who did the un-subscribing emailed me and told me about the situation and his reasons for doing what he did. I emailed him back and thanked him…and of course, added my 2 cents about the situation.

I’d like to show you my response now so I am also transparent on the situation. However, I will not be showing the original email sent to me (not my right to post someone’s private email to me without permission), but I will say it was very well-written, stated his reasons for his actions, and did not attack anyone personally.

Ok, here is a screen shot of my response email (with personal details removed):

So, this all brings me back to this question…

Should We Censor Blog Comments?

I do believe this is a judgment call. Your personal blog – your personal choice. To me, my blog is like my home – it’s not a forum. Heck, ask my kids what I say about our home. I’m always saying, “This is NOT a democracy!”…..lol! And it’s not. We don’t elect who makes the rules around here – Mom makes ‘em (and sometimes Mom lets Dad make some, too! haha! Just kidding!)

My point is that my home is not a public forum – and neither is my blog.

I won’t allow someone to USE my blog as a platform to personally attack another human being. Besides, as Angela pointed out in a comment on the post in question, by me POSTING that personal attack, couldn’t it make me somewhat liable legally? That content is on MY site after all.

BUT – those are all MY thoughts and MY policy for MY blog.

Now, the comment in question, while a bit “bitter”, did have some “constructive” feedback and comments. I can handle bad – I can handle someone not having nice things to say about my product. That was all part of the conversation that was going on.

However, when words like “sheep”, “wannabe”, and “poser” come in to play in reference to me PERSONALLY – well, now we’re treading on thin ice…. and it’s a thin line, isn’t it?

It can be a very thin line when trying to decide if someone’s somewhat hateful comments are actually offering valuable feedback that contributes to the conversation – or if someone was just using you and your blog to spark controversy and get their bitter feelings out in the public.

I don’t envy the decision that had to be made there – not at all.

What Do YOU Think?

I’m about to point you to where the original comment in question is and where the follow up post is, but before I do…

I am asking – no, I am BEGGING each of you to PLEASE not get personal if you choose to comment about this situation (either here on the other blog). PLEASE DON’T. This is not High School. We are all grown-ups and professionals so please let’s be respectful and behave that way when adding to the conversation. THANK YOU.

Whether we are marketers or readers, we are all people with feelings and families. Heck, it was my husband who found that comment about me – and I’m not gonna lie, IT STUNG. I work hard to help others and to NOT be like “all the other gurus”…and yes, I do try to make some money along the way. But I’m a big girl and I can handle this personally. So please don’t post personal attacks about another human being. I won’t post them. It kills me to think that someone’s loved one or friend could read something nasty and personal about someone they care about on my blog. I won’t take part in that.

If you want to do things like that, you’ll need to get your own blog

Alrighty, here is the final review post where the comment in question was made (down in the comments section by someone named “Dorothy”):

http://www.tiffanydow.com/blog/main/final-one-week-marketing-decision

And here is Tiffany’s follow up post regarding her comment policy and the situation at hand:

http://www.tiffanydow.com/blog/main/i-dont-censor-my-subscribers-sorry

To Tiffany, I’d like to say – ‘Girl, I don’t envy you ONE BIT over that situation. You just stick to what YOU believe in – You are doing great things for people!’

Ok, now, I want to hear what you all think about this. Do you think blog owners should censor their comments? Do you feel your blog is a public forum? I don’t care if you agree with me or not…. let me have it!

How To Make Money On Google

How I Make Money On Google For Free

If I’ve been asked once, I’ve been asked a thousand times – “Jennifer, How do you make money on Google?”. When I first started making money online, no one really paid much attention to what I was doing (or they thought it was a scam…or it wouldn’t work…etc, etc), but now that things are really kickin’ for me and we have enjoyed a serious positive life-style change, suddenly people want to know what I do, how it works, and how they can make money on Google, too. So, I decided it is time for this post to explain the basics of how I make money on Google for free.

Table Of Contents

Below are “quick links” to the info on this page about how to make money on Google:

2 Main Ways to Make Money On Google

There are two main ways to make money on Google. One is free, the other is not.

If you’ve ever done a search on Google you may have noticed two main parts to page that is returned to you after you click “search”. Let’s take a look at that page so I can show you what you’re looking at.

As I noted in the above picture of a Google search for the phrase make money online, there are two main/basic parts of a Google search result page (also called the Google SERPs which stands for Search Engine Result Pages).

The Left Side

The listings that are returned on the left side are the free side of a Google search result page. These web pages (not webSITES, but web PAGES) are returned in an order based on how relevant Google thinks they are to a search that is requested.

The process of making your web page more relevant to a search in Googles “eyes” is called Search Engine Optimization (or SEO for short). The basics of SEO are fairly simple and straight-forward to learn and to implement.

Keep in mind that Google is an algorithm….a computer program…that runs on a patented formula to rank pages in order of relevance based on what Google thinks a web page is about. Your job when you optimize a page is to help Google understand what your web page is about so Google can rank you well in the search engine result pages.

If you consider the fact that about 80% (or more) of the world uses Google to find things online, you can bet that being in the top 5 places on the free side (also called the “organic listings”) of Google can bring good traffic to your web page. It has been reported that a web page with a #1 listing in a Google search result will get 40% of the clicks for that specific search.

Based on that, it is pretty amazing to think that 80% or more of the WORLD that is looking for a certain something in Google will click that #1 listing – and if it’s YOUR web page there….well, that’s a really, really good thing =)

The Right Side

The Right Side of a Google search result is paid advertising. These are advertisers who deliberately create ads that will only show up when a certain phrase is searched for on Google. These ads are charged each time they are clicked. How much they are charged can range from 5 cents all the way to $10 -$15 or even more. The amount is decided based on the competition of the phrase being searched for (that phrase is also called a “keyword” or a “keyword phrase”).

This type of advertising on Google is called PPC (or Pay Per Click) and Google’s program for this is called AdWords. PPC is a whole ‘nother can of worms that I am not going to get into today.

What I want to talk about is how to make money on Google for FREE.

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How To Make Money On Google For Free – The Basic Concept

Here is the short version of how this all works – or at least as short as I can make it…lol.

The majority of people who make money on Google for free are doing something called “affiliate marketing”. Affiliate marketing is similar to a “real job” in the sales industry where you are paid a commission when you sell something for a company.

Being an “affiliate” for an online company like Amazon.com is completely free to do. There are HUNDREDS, if not THOUSANDS of companies that will allow you to be an affiliate for them for absolutely no cost.

Once you sign up to become an affiliate with a company online, you will be given special links that you put on your web page. These links are coded so that is someone clicks those links, the users activity is tracked and if a sale is made, the commission goes to you.

Commission amounts can be anywhere from 4% of the purchase price all the way to 75% or more (the higher commissions are usually for things like ebooks – digital products). People buy all kinds of things online – and each year their online spending increases. Believe it or not, I have actually sold gas grills, furniture, and other things online as an affiliate.

In order to be an affiliate and make money on Google for free, you will need to use sites that allow you to make free web pages. There are many sites like that out there on the internet. Just always make sure that the site you want to use allows “affiliate links” so you don’t break any terms of service.

So that’s the short of it – you make a free web page, put your free affiliate link on it along with some great content (a good article….not a sales pitch), then – repeat and make another.

The concept is simple, but people tend to really complicate it.

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What You MUST Have To Make Money On Google For Free

Want to know what you MUST have in order to make money on Google for free? Ready?

Yup, that’s it….and for most of us, we already have those two things so why not make them work for YOU?

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How I Started Making Money On Google For Free

When I started trying to make money online I was pretty much broke. I had no money to invest into making my own web sites or to pay for PPC advertising so I had to find a way to use all free resources to bring money in.

I ended up using a site called Squidoo (squidoo.com). This site allows you to make a free web page (or hundreds of free web pages) on just about any topic you’d like. Now, they do have rules so be SURE to read their terms of service before making a page to be certain that you aren’t going to break one of their rules.

Squidoo calls their free web pages a “lens”. Think like the lens on a camera….how it will focus in on one very specific topic. That’s how a Squidoo lens web page works best, too. A Squidoo page will do best when it is about one very specific topic or product. For example, a lens will do best when it is about purple rhinestone dog collars as opposed to dog collars or dog products or worse… about dogs in general.

When I started out, I would make a free page (a lens) about a specific product or topic and put my free affiliate links on it. When people came to my lens, clicked my links, and then made a purchase, I made a commission. I made a LOT of these free web pages on all sorts of topics.

Here is an example of a basic Squidoo lens (web page) that I have – go ahead and click here to see it (it will open in a new window) It is about Vizio TV’s. The links on that page are my affiliate links. When someone comes to that page, clicks thru via my links, and buys something, I make a commission.

Go ahead, take a good long look at it. It’s doesn’t LOOK difficult, does it? That’s because it’s not.

Keep in mind that ONE free web page will most likely not make you rich overnight. However, a bunch of free web pages mixed with some time can make a very definite positive impact on your income.

If you like having extra money, this is a great FREE way to make money on Google from the comfort of your home when YOU have time to work on it. Plus, once the web pages are up and in Google, those pages will work FOR you even when you are not working. That whole “make money while you sleep” thing is very real IF you work it.

I have a free guide that walks you through the process of making a web page on Squidoo that has helped a lot of people get started. If you’d like to read it, you can get my free Squidoo guide here (just click – it will open in a new tab/window so you don’t lose your place here).

Over time, my free web pages on Squidoo were making me some nice extra money so I decided to amp up my efforts and turn it into a full-time income. It was the best decision I ever made.

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What To Watch Out For

As I’ve just explained, making money on Google can be totally free. However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t some “make money on Google” sites out there that want to charge you for their information. While not all of these sites and systems are bad, there are definitely some “bad apples” out there so be careful.

Before you pay for any “make money on Google” type program, be sure you know WHAT you are getting, how much you will be charged, and how OFTEN you will be charged. I’ve heard of some horrible situations from my readers where they signed up for some program and were getting charged ridiculous amounts each month – and had to go thru hell and high water to get the charges to stop. Naturally, those details were somewhere at the bottom of the site in very small, and very light, print….so be sure to read.

As with all things, if it sounds too good to be true…. well, just trust your instinct. Or, join an online marketing forum and ask others their opinion and feedback. Trust me, if there is negative, they’ll tell you =)

I know what I am showing now about making money on Google might just sound too good to be true, but at least it’s free to try it and find out for yourself.

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Where To Learn More About Making Money On Google

As I said, I started out the free way doing what I teach in my free Squidoo guide. Once I got that rolling, I wanted to learn how to make really great free web pages that did better in Google….and better for ME. That’s when I really kicked it in to learn how to better my efforts and started plowing thru the internet for little tips and advice. I slowly worked out a system that works awesome for me. My readers here at PotPieGirl.com wanted to know how I was doing it – they actually TOLD me to get it all in an ebook and sell it – so I did. That process is now a series of 5 ebooks that is called One Week Marketing.

Now, if you are TOTALLY new to all this, don’t go buying One Week Marketing yet – it will totally confuse you. Get your basics first with my free Squidoo guide….see if it’s something you’d like to continue doing and do better….THEN think about One Week Marketing.

After getting my One Week Marketing Action Plan working for me, I wanted to learn more about all the ways to make money online so I joined an affiliate marketing training site called Wealthy Affiliate University. It was also a great decision for me and really helped me accelerate my success online.

Wealthy Affiliate can teach all about free ways to make money online, PPC, making your own web sites, creating your own products, and so on and so on. They also have all the tools you need to get each type of technique rolling.

The best part tho, to me, is the forum. Whenever you have a question, you just post in their private forum and there are hundreds or more people in there who can answer you.

That forum has been a “sanity-saver” for me many, many times!

There are also tons of member-shared tutorials in WA. I have many tutorials in there that I only share with other Wealthy Affiliate members. For example, that example Vizio TV lens I showed you earlier (click here in case you didn’t see it ) – I have a complete step-by-step tutorial inside Wealthy Affiliate that shows exactly how I made it. It’s in the training resources section and it’s titled “Fast Action Quick Start” (not to brag, but it’s currently the #1 rated tutorial. Ok, I guess that WAS bragging….lol!)

It’s funny to me now, but a year and a half ago when I was trying to decide if I should join Wealthy Affiliate or not, it was a really tough decision. Everything they have is included for a whopping $39.99 a month – that’s just a little over $1 a day! Now, I can’t believe I hesitated for even a second – it was the best decision I’ve made to help me turn my part-time online income into a real live full-time online business that I run from the comfort of my own home (and many times in the comfort of my own pajamas too! lol).

I have met the two owners of Wealthy Affiliate, Kyle and Carson, face-to-face. They are the real deal. That entire community is founded on their solid integrity and principles. They both started with nothing like I did, and now are very successful internet marketers. They could charge SO much more for all they offer, but they want to keep the rate in reach for everyone. Wealthy Affiliate is changing peoples lives – I see it in there every single day.

I recommend keeping Wealthy Affiliate in your mind as you move along with making money on Google – or just click here to learn more about their community, training, supports, and tools. They also offer a free guide that is definitely worth the read.

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Summing Up

Ok, that’s my “quick” overview of how to make money on Google for free. Well, maybe not so quick- it’s about 2500 words or so – but I felt it was important to explain the basics of what I do the very best that I can (and hopefully not confuse the heck out of anyone).

I’ve been doing this for over 3 years now – and I LOVE it! I started out not knowing much more about the internet than the basic skills that are needed to send an email – things most people know these days. However, by sticking with it, taking action every day, and working hard, I have managed to turn this into an income that I have never made before in any “real job”.

Best part of all – *I* am my own boss.

I decide when I hang with the kids or my hubby, when we go on vacation (which we do a LOT more of these days), and when I work. It’s also kinda cool having a business you can run from anywhere you have internet connection – the beach, your couch….anywhere. There is no more stress and struggle over bills, or holidays, and as a former broke single mom I can tell you that I won’t go back to living that stressful broke life ever again – not ever.

Now, don’t misunderstand me, this all did not happen overnight, but this is something that over time, will snowball and potentially become the best income YOU ever made, too.

I wish I could promise that, but we all know I can’t. The biggest determining factor in your success is YOU. You are starting your own business and just like in the real world – you only get out of it what YOU put into it.

If you have any questions, please ask here in the comments section. While I tend to be extremely busy these days, I do the best I can to balance my time and help as many as I possibly can.

Best of luck to you!

Jennifer
~PotPieGirl

Back From Vegas

I Attended The Wealthy Affiliate Private Super Affiliate Conference

I just got home from a week in Las Vegas for the private Wealthy Affiliate Super Affiliate Conference. If I had to sum up the entire experience in one word, it would be “WOW!” Can you imagine sitting in a posh luxury suite table with some of the most talented and successful internet marketers in the world? Can you imagine how humbling it is to look around that table of select marketers and realize that YOU were invited to sit there, too? I’m still suffering from a severe case of “shock ‘n awe”! lol!

A Brief Summary of My Week In Vegas

I have so much to share about my trip….videos and pictures to upload…..tons of thoughts and details to download from my brain and get on my computer…it’s almost overwhelming. The entire experience was….well, pardon the “hypey” way of putting this, but it was life-changing. Kyle and Carson (the owners of Wealthy Affiliate) absolutely went above and beyond for the group of us. Thing is, not only did they spoil us beyond reason, they also once again proved to me that they are completely involved and dedicated to my personal success online. Yet another example that those that give more DO make more money online.

In short, the entire conference I was surrounded by others who have found great success online by giving as much as they can. What’s the saying? “Your success is a direct reflection of the number of lives you have touched”? I think that’s it…if not, I’ll look it up to find the exact wording.

For a conference, it was a small group of people. I’ve been to other conferences and usually we’re talking hundreds of people who are being spoken to by any given speaker. Of course, those conferences are a great learning experience, too, but this private Super Affiliate conference was something of a different breed all-together.

While most conference-style events are usually a one-sided presentation type thing… the Super Affiliate conference with Kyle and Carson was a conversation. It was more of a “meeting of the minds” thing as opposed to a “meet the mind” event.

That spoke volumes to me.

I love to learn and love listening to people talk “at me” about their techniques and experiences. But when two VERY successful internet marketers, who also started with nothing, want to talk WITH me about techniques and experiences….well, that’s a whole ‘nother ballgame. Add in a small group of other VERY successful internet marketers to the conversation and it’s just plain ol’ AWESOME.

If Kyle and Carson didn’t keep some sort of structure to our meetings, we would all still be sitting there a week from now….or longer!

The cool thing is that each of us brought something a little different to the table so we could all add to each others ideas and thoughts. Just proof-positive that Wealthy Affiliate can crank out some very successful internet marketers who each attack the business from different angles.

What REALLY Shocked Me

Know what REALLY shocked me? When these other fantastic marketers came up to me and said it was an honor to meet ME.

ME?!?!

Now I will brag a little and mention that not only am I the first woman to qualify for this yearly WA private conference – I’m the only woman to ever qualify (so far….but I sure hope to change that!). But c’mon, I’m still just little ol’ me….lol!

Quite a few of these other marketers who qualified to attend are “under the radar” type marketers. They aren’t as uhhhhhhh……as out-spoken and chatty as I am online….lol. But if you want me to name-drop, I’ll pick one name that I bet the majority of you know of.

Ever heard of Bum Marketing? Ever heard of Travis that wrote Bum Marketing? Yup….he was there..and I have the pictures to prove it too =) I’m here to tell you that he is just as nice (if not nicer) than he comes across online.

Let me ask you… if you just spent time hanging out in Las Vegas….in a luxury 2-story suite….sharing meals…seeing a show…riding in a limo…chatting and exchanging ideas….wouldn’t YOU be in a bit of “shock ‘n awe” too?

But wait…. it gets even better…

My “Blonde” Moment

First off, my apologies to my blonde friends – no offense intended – but I had a total “blonde moment” while at the conference.

On Tuesday, I had my private meeting with Kyle and Carson (and yes, they DO exist…lol). This meeting was just the three of us sitting at the table in their fabulous suite.

Know what they wanted to talk about? They wanted to help me with MY business. They didn’t want to talk about how I could make THEM more money….they simply wanted to help ME make more and be more successful.

I was totally unprepared for that meeting.

I was expecting them to want to talk about me and Wealthy Affiliate. Nope… I was wrong. They wanted to talk about me and MY business. As they started talking with me I found myself sitting there thinking, “Get outta here! Is this a joke? Every conference has a pitch…where’s the pitch?!??!”

There wasn’t a pitch. No hidden agenda at all. I got to look those two successful young men in the eyes and see what I have always suspected about them. They are givers who do as much as they can for as many people as they can for the least amount of investment possible.

If you’re on the Wealthy Affiliate mailing list (either as a member or a non-member) have you ever noticed – EVER noticed – Kyle and Carson pimping any other product? No, you haven’t. They are completely confident that they have all the training and resources inside Wealthy Affiliate that you need to be successful online. You don’t NEED anything else.

When those two say, “Your success is OUR success” – they mean it. That’s why I’m part of their community and it’s been why I have always recommended Wealthy Affiliate for anyone who wants to accelerate their success online. My experience in Vegas has now doubly confirmed my feelings about that.

Oh, wait… I got off track. I was about to tell you about my “blonde moment”…sorry!

Ok, so I had that private meeting with Kyle and Carson. It was so good and really helped me a lot. Got me thinking about a lot of things that suddenly made so much sense after hearing it from another point of view from 2 people who had been exactly where I am now.

As I left the suite to the super-private elevator to take me down to the “real world” (if you can call the MGM Grand in Las Vegas the “real world”….lol). I got in the elevator and was totally lost in thought. The only way I can describe it is as a bunch of “lightbulb” moments hitting me all at one time.

Suddenly I realized that I’d been in that elevator forever. I know I was wayyyyyy at the top of that huge building but surely it didn’t take that long to get back down – at least it never had before.

That’s when I realized that I never pushed the button to take me somewhere in that elevator.

I just got in, the doors closed and then I stood there lost in thought.

I bet the security guy in charge of watching the elevator cameras was laughing his butt off at me! I know *I* am still laughing about it!

More Details About Vegas Coming Soon

That’s about it for tonight. It’s almost 1 am and I am wiped out from the past week. I need a vacation from my vacation so I guess it’s time to get back to work!

As I mentioned earlier, I have pictures and videos to share as well as more details from in my little pea brain that I’d like to share (and that I’m allowed to share).

I actually did my very first “sit down in front of the camera and talk” video on our last day in Vegas. I don’t consider myself a shy person, but I’ve never been a video type person before – but something happened on that last day that gave me the strongest drive to make a video and talk about it.

Oddly, making videos is much easier than I thought it would be especially when it comes from the heart and is unscripted.

So anyway, I’ll share that with everyone, too. Not sure how I’m gonna put ALLLLL this stuff together, but I’ll figure something out. Right now, my brain says it’s tired and I need to leave it to rest for a bit.

Perhaps I’ll avoid MORE “blonde moments” if I do just that! lol!

If there is anything specific you’d like to know about the Wealthy Affiliate Vegas Conference, just ask. If I’m allowed to answer, I will, but please keep in mind that this was called a “private” conference for a reason. It wouldn’t be cool of me to share things from other marketers that might be sensitive.

So ask away! I love the conversations in my blog post comments – they are WAY better than the actual posts!

Otherwise, just hang in there and I’ll let everyone know when more details, photos, and videos of the Vegas Trip are available. If you aren’t familiar with Wealthy Affiliate or haven’t gotten their free Internet Wealth Guide, you can check all that out by clicking here.

Give More – Make More?

Can You Make More Money Online By Giving?

As many of you know, I started internet marketing in early 2007. For the first few months to almost a year, I was doing it wrong. I thought, “I am an internet MARKETER now. Marketers sell – so I must SELL”. And as much as I detested the “salesperson” concept, I went about trying to SELL online. It wasn’t pretty, but little did I know how wrong I was. I came across a post today that made me think back to this crucial lightbulb moment in my online marketing career and what a difference it made for me both personally – and professionally.

FlashBack to 2007

This little blog of mine started out in 2007 as a free blog on Blogger.com. Every single post was designed to sell and to GET. Needless to say, it wasn’t working and I was clueless as to what was wrong. Not only did I not get what was wrong from a financial standpoint, I also was troubled about how I felt personally. Being a pushy salesperson was never my thing. I never respected that and I didn’t like feeling like that, either.

Then it hit me – I didn’t BUY from that, either!

I have never in my life bought something from someone who was shoving the product in my face – why was I thinking it was going to be any different when *I* was the salesperson?

So, in January 2008 I made two major – and business changing – decisions.

1 – I was moving my blog to my own WordPress site on my own hosting account, and 2. I was going to stop selling and start giving and sharing as much as I could about as much as I knew at that time.

A Question For You

Let me ask you something…. If you and another person are headed for a door at the same time, but you got there first – would you hold open the door for that other person?

If so, would you expect ANYTHING in return for opening that door for them?

Is that just one of those little things you do each day as a random act of kindness that make you happy to be you?

See, that’s me… that’s how I am. Trying to become a pushy salesperson just was NOT me. Not only did it not work for me, it also did not feel good.

Opening doors for people DOES feel good for me.

And that is exactly what PotPieGirl.com became – a place where hopefully, the door to low-cost internet marketing skills and advice is opened. I set out to better myself and increase my knowledge so I could help open as many doors as I could. After all, you can’t give what you don’t have, right? That goes for knowledge and experience, too.

Funny thing is, I didn’t know there was a name for what I was doing or for how I am, but after today, reading a certain blog post, I realize there is.

I Am A Go-Giver

Apparently, I am a go-giver. It’s a whole mentality for life – not just business. But let me tell you, giving online DOES really, really help your online business results in a BIG way.

Overnight? No – don’t be silly….lol. But I’ll tell you this – if YOU are feeling crappy about the way you are putting your content out there and feeling like you are just another one of “them” online…..changing into a go-giver WILL make you feel MUCH better overnight!

As I wrote in the comments of the blog post I read today (I’ll link out to it in a minute…hold your horses…lol), I think the biggest roadblock people have with being a “go-giver” online is this:

giver = get taken advantage of

Don’t be afraid to give. But if your sole reason for giving is just to GET, you might have a hard time.

About Being a Go-Giver

The Go-Giver concept comes from this book – The Go Giver (go ahead and look. That’s a link over to the book on Amazon and it will open in a new window) which has been followed by another book titled Go-Givers Sell More.

I just ordered them both tonight after listening to an interview between Justin Brooke and Bob Burg (co-author of Go-Givers Sell More). It was really, really good – and I’d like to send you there to read Justin’s post and listen to the interview recording.

Justin’s Go-Getter post and interview with Bob Burg is here.

Take a few minutes and listen to it – check out the books – these are the types of things that really make YOU better (online AND offline).

Tell me what you think – do givers make more money? What did you think of the interview with Bob Burg? Have you read the book, or like me, just ordered it?

Let me know!

Giving via your content online as an affiliate marketer is really tough to teach. Usually, it is a lightbulb moment, just as it was for me. I think learning to be a go-giver can totally transform your online business AND make you feel really good about what you do.

Agree? Disagree?

Time or Money?

Which Can You Afford?

I get so many emails and questions asking me if I think someone should do PPC, or outsource articles, or purchase a pre-made website, or buy this program or that program, or do article marketing, or….or…..or…..or…..(you get my point). I know it can be difficult trying to decide where to start, what to buy, what NOT to buy, what’s worth it, what will work for you – but it really comes down to one question of yourself… Time? Or Money?

What Can You Afford?

Let’s put experience and all that aside for a moment and talk about the hard-core question that should be in the back of all our minds when choosing what to do to make money online.

It comes down to Your Time, or – Your Money.

Do you have more money than time? Or, more time than money?

For example, when I started, I had more time each day than I had money to risk. I couldn’t afford to do PPC -whether it was “easier” or “faster” or not – I simply didn’t have the money to risk, let alone the money to do it at all.

The biggest investment I could make on my new online business at that time was my time and my elbow grease – and I invested a LOT of both things!

As time went on, I managed to get to a place where I wanted to save time and I used money I had earned to do just that. I saved my time by getting good tools, by outsourcing, and now, by purchasing sites that are pre-made.

Before, when I had no money, I did all my research by hand using free tools. I made all my own sites, promoted my own sites, wrote for my own sites – all of it.

Was it the “fast” way? Was it the “best” way? No, probably not – but it was the ONLY way for ME.

Was it hard and frustrating when someone would offer to show me the light for only $700, $70….or even $7? Yes – because I didn’t have that money to spend in order to see that light. I had no option but to find the way myself.

We are all blessed with 1,440 minutes in each day – 24 hours. Those minutes were my investment into myself, my business, and my family’s future – and I invested as many of those minutes each day as I possibly could (and then some…lol).

But dollars were NOT an option. I had to invest alllllllll those minutes in order to eventually have the luxury of investing dollars to save minutes and hours.

You

So let’s talk about you – Before you make any choices about your online marketing future, ask yourself, “What can I really afford?”

Perhaps you only have 2-3 hours a day to work online, but you do have a little cash that you can invest into your business on things that will SAVE you TIME…

Perhaps you have alllll day to work, but you just can’t invest dollars now…

Perhaps you have time and some money….

It’s also possible that you have very little time each day – and no money to invest.

These are all very real situations that I hear about from very real people every, single day.

Which one are you?

If you have limited time to work (as in WORK…lol) and no money, then I recommend getting a plan and following it each day. Stop tormenting yourself with all the offers out there for things that you can’t have right now – and only work each day for the time you have.

If you have ALLLLL day, but no money, I recommend the same thing. Always keep note of the things that take the most time from your day so when you DO get money, you will know the things you need to save you TIME.

If you have some cash then think about investing in things that will save you time. What those things are truly depends on your experience and knowledge level in this industry. For example, perhaps you know how to do keyword research, but it’s taking a lot of your time. You would then look for a good keyword research tool that will do what YOU need done to save YOU time.

Can Having Money Accelerate Your Success?

That’s a good question – if you ARE able to buy things, does that mean you will succeed faster?

Statistically, I say NO.

Sadly, there are too many people out there who have spent thousands and thousands of dollars – and never really took any ACTION. It’s a sad cycle of buy this/try it a little…. move on and and buy that/try it a little…..and so on and so on and so on.

However, I do believe that those that make thoughtful purchases of things that they WILL use and know WILL save them time so they can be even MORE productive, will see faster results from their ACTIONS.

Money, alone, will not buy you success online.

YOU create your success – no matter WHAT your situation is.

Do you REALLY want to know what “works” to make money online?

YOU.

Happy Anniversary To Me

…And a Happy Birthday, Too!

What a busy week or so it’s been! I don’t like it being this long between posts, but time flies by before I even know what’s happened! I figured I’d take a break and let you know (and see) what I’ve been up to. Besides, if your email inbox is anything like mine lately, you’re over-whelmed with the “latest and greatest” launches out there. I think we can ALL take a break from business and product launches and allllllllll that stuff we do day in and day out today. So, if you don’t mind, let’s take a little break from the norm and I’ll ramble about some of the corny things that have been happening around here. I’ve got pictures and a video, too =)

I Got Old(er)

Yes, as of February 13th, I officially became one year older. As a special gift, we received about 4 inches of snow the day before my birthday. It was absolutely gorgeous! That night, my hubby, my daughter and I played outside in the snow. I’m tellin’ ya, if you want to feel young again, drop yourself in the snow and make a snow angel while big puffy snowflakes fall on your face.

It was awesome!

Yes, that’s me making my snow angel =)

Thankfully, my daughter grabbed my hood and pulled it up just as I was about to fall backwards into the snow (not sure exactly when SHE started mothering ME, but I like it).

Unfortunately, my already snazzy hair-do I acquired from the snowball fight all went into my face when my hood was pulled up so I have this lovely picture of me and my daughter for all future generations to see.

Oh well, the moment was perfect….

After our snowball fight and snow angels, we just HAD to let our cats out to play in the snow. OK, perhaps “let them” is not the correct terminology… we PUT them out in the snow for our own entertainment and made a quick video of it. (just a note: no animals were hurt during this production. Both cats were quickly back in the house and snuggled up by the fireplace).

For my birthday, my sweet daughter-in-law made a special dress for my granddaughter, Hanna, to wear. The front of the dress says, “Happy Birthday GiGi” on it. “GiGi” is my nickname and I’m guessing what Hanna will call me. Here is a picture of Hanna wearing the birthday dress (both the dress and the bow were hand-made by her Mommy).

Hanna will be 3 months old soon, and everyday she changes. I’m tellin’ ya, if I had known how wonderful being a (young…ha) grandmother would be, I woulda had the grandbaby first! She is so precious!

My 3-Year Anniversary

Today, February 18th, marks my three year anniversary for working online. Talk about time flying! Wowzers! Seems like just yesterday that my hubby came home and found me staring at a blank computer screen and asked, “Hey baby, whatcha doin’?

Me: “Making a website – I’m gonna make money online!”

Hubby: “Uhhhh…do you know how??”

Me: “Nope, I have no clue…..but I know I can do it.”

The rest is history – and so is that first website I made since I accidentally erased it while trying to learn FTP….lol!

Those first 2 years or so, I worked my tail off online. We’re talking 12…14…..or more hour days. I wanted this more than anything and was determined…. FIERCELY determined to learn and achieve all I could to make it happen for myself.

I know there are so many of you out there that are going thru exactly what I was going thru just a short time ago.

Hang in there! Please don’t give up!

Do this for YOU.

I wish I could articulate what a difference this has made in my life. Yes, money is cool and all…..but it’s not that. There is something liberating and empowering about wanting something so badly and doing more than you ever thought possible to make it happen. It all happens because of YOU, because of YOUR effort and YOUR learning and YOUR actions.

I know it’s hard to have faith in all this. There is so much uncertainty – no guarantees. No one can promise how much you will make, or how long it will take you to make it.

It’s all up to YOU.

I have no doubt that every single person reading this right now has ALL it takes to make this work.

You just have to want it badly enough… and then GO GET IT.

Think back on things you’ve worked really hard to achieve in the past. Reflect on the dedication and focus you mustered up to get them. You have all it takes =)

Perhaps you are someone who really can’t think of something you’ve ever poured your heart and soul into. That’s ok – but TODAY is the day to start. Do it for YOU.

Think You Can Sell Hot Dogs?

How Would You Sell Them?

Yes, I said it… hot dogs. Today we are going to talk about hot dogs – more importantly, how to SELL hot dogs. What in the world do hot dogs have to do with making money online? Well, actually it has a lot to do with it. Sit back and enjoy another trip into the weird mind of PotPieGirl.

Congrats! You’re a Hot Dog Vendor

Well, it’s been decided that YOU are going to sell hot dogs for a living. You got your hot dog cart…you got the buns and the weenies and all the cool stuff that goes with it. Awesome, now you’re ready to rock and roll.

Selling hot dogs should be easy, right? I mean c’mon, EVERYBODY loves hot dogs, don’t they? All you gotta do is put yourself and your hot dog cart where the people are. Easy.

So, you think about a place like downtown New York City. Tons of people there, right? Should be a breeze to sell a ton of weenies each day.

But wait – there’s also tons of OTHER hot dog vendors in New York City, too, aren’t there? You bet there are!

You’re gonna have to compete… get there early, get a good spot, offer something a little different than the rest of the vendors…..whew, you’re gonna have to like WORK.

Sure, there’s tons of people there and sure, you’ll probably sell a few, but you’re gonna work your tail off, jump up and down, and stay on top of things to get that piece of the market. There are also plenty of vendors there already that have been doing this for YEARS. They know what they’re doing… they know their market. In short, they are established and experienced and just might run your little hot dog business into the ground.

So, okayyyyyy….maybe downtown New York City is not the place for us. Maybe we need to take your hot dog cart to a place where there are a lot of people, but not any other hot dog vendors.

That should be easy, right? If you’re the ONLY hot dog vendor, you shouldn’t have to work so hard, ya think?

Yeah, well what if you find a large group of people somewhere every, single day BUT…..they’re vegetarians.

Think you’ll sell any hot dogs even tho you are the ONLY hot dog vendor for miles?

Not thinkin’ so.

We need to rethink this….

Ok, what if you park your hot dog cart right near a construction site that has a large group of workers? Now, that could work! Only problem is, it’s winter….they aren’t working now, but maybe they’ll come back soon….maybe?

Or maybe you could park your hot dog cart right outside your house…whatcha think? People come by now and then…maybe someone will want a hot dog AND be willing to pay you for it as opposed to going in THEIR house and just cooking one….maybe?

Selling Hot Dogs Is Too Hard!!

Sheeesh, this big idea to sell hot dogs suddenly got tricky. Perhaps it’s too hard and you should just quit before you even got started? You can park that hot dog cart in your garage and make your family eat your hot dog supply for the next 5 years….lol.

Not the answer. Quitting before you even tried is how I define “failure”. Let’s get back on this and make YOU a Hot Dog Tycoon!

So you gather your wits and get out there and take a look around. You suddenly drive past a good-sized high school or college that is right next to a park…and there’s no other hot dog vendor around.

Hmmmmmm……

No, you probably won’t see as many hungry people as you would in New York City, but you definitely will see more hot dog eaters than you would with the group of vegetarians…and you won’t have to wait to SEE if someone shows up as opposed to the construction site….but it could work – with a LOT less work on YOUR part.

These folks are hungry AND they eat hot dogs…you are positioned to be found without having to jump up and down and carry on the BE found.

You put yourself where you can be found by people that are looking for what you’re selling.

Hello? Tap, tap….can anyone hear me?

Put your offer where you can be found by people who want/need your product…and where YOU don’t have to work so hard to BE found.

Hot-Diggity!

Making money online is the same way… especially with affiliate marketing. Sure, those high-gravity Clickbank products are cool…and people are obviously buying them – BUT tons of OTHER affiliates are also SELLING them (New York City).

And yup, you can take that high-gravity product and get it found for a totally unrelated keyword…..so what? (think the vegetarian group). They don’t want what you’ve got so why offer it them?

Or… you could work one itty-bitty keyword that is very relevant, but the search volume is super, super low….and then fuss ’cause you aren’t getting massive traffic and results from that one web page (think the construction site). You can’t MAKE people search for a keyword more than they do. You have no control over search volume. You’d need a group of those itty-bitty keyword pages to have an impact on your sales and traffic-levels.

Or maybe….just maybe… you could pick a less-competitive product and have YOUR “cart” be found in a little nook (niche) where you don’t have to work so hard to get there and STAY there….AND, people WANT what you are offering.

You can do the same thing with a high-gravity product, but the odds of finding that little nook where you can be found and stick there are slim. Not IMPOSSIBLE, but slim. The folks you are competing against are not all one-man/one-woman hot dog carts – they are multi-cart owners who have lots of people working for them and deep-pockets to MAKE it work (and KEEP working).

Pick your battles. Use your time wisely.

Sell hot dogs.