Money Making Ideas - Suzanne Franco

My 13 Year Old is #1 in Google Now! Wanna Know What We Did?

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:09:55 +0000

(*Click image to view larger image*)

As you may or may not know I’ve been helping my son, Austin, with his own BANS site (Build a Niche Store) since October (his site was his birthday present LOL).

We worked hard on the keyword research and I taught him how to check out his competition and gave him some pointers in online promotion.

He did a great job setting up the blog and store and he has put up some decent content. He built a Squidoo lens and he spends some of his time participating on niche related forums (it’s a corn snake site).

After using as many promotion ideas as he could come up with he felt frustrated that he could never get the site to page 1 of Google (he could usually be found on page 2 somewhere).

Well, a couple of weeks ago I was using the 30 Minute Backlinks method on all of my sites and Austin and I decided to use it on his site too.

Here’s the text I got from Austin yesterday, “Yes! Mom!!! I’m num 2 in google for corn snakes as pets!!!” His traffic from yesterday was three to four times his normal traffic and so are his click throughs to eBay. As you can imagine he’s pretty stoked! (Today he’s actually #1).

I can honestly say this product works! All three of us (Ken, Austin and I) have had great success on each of our sites after using the 30 Minute Backlinks. And truthfully, we’ve only used one of the five methods outlined in the instructions.

If you have a site and you want to see better results in the SERPS what have you got to lose? Michelle offers a money back guarantee so I think you should do yourself a favor and give it a shot.

Check Out 30 Minute Backlinks Now!

UPDATE: I just checked this site for the first time in several weeks and I’m now #2 for Money Making Ideas (the term I optimized for … this really works guys!)

P.S. I’ll tell you what … if you purchase 30 Minute Backlinks through my link and you’re not satisfied with the results … I’ll personally help you promote your site! *SmiLes* Suzanne

Have you tried 30 Minute Backlinks? Have you been wanting to try it but haven’t yet? What’s stopping you from trying this? Let us hear from you!

Were These Products Worth the Money?

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 02:49:15 +0000

I get a ton of emails asking me what products I’ve paid for and whether or not they were worth the money I spent. So, I thought I’d start posting about some of the products that I own and I’ll give you my honest opinion about whether or not I’d recommend you spend your money on them or not.

Yes, I’m an affiliate for some of them but if you’ve followed me for any time at all you’ll know I’m not here to take your money or scam you so relax and just read about the products without wondering if I’m trying to rip you off. LOL. I’m not. If you do see something that interests you and you want me to get the credit for your purchase go ahead and use the links here in this post. Thanks … and here we go.

HOST GATOR HOSTING

Host Gator Hosting. I’m going to start with my hosting because I think moving my sites to Host Gator might be the single best thing I did for my businesses since getting started online. I won’t go into detail here about the problems I had with my prior hosting company but you can read more about my move to Host Gator here.

Are they worth the money? Yes! I can say without a doubt that having trouble-free, high quality hosting is well worth the money.

(First month for a penny and then $9.95/month)

BANS - BUILD A NICHE STORE

BANS - Build a Niche Store. I started my eBay affiliate career (EPN) by purchasing the BANS product and I’m personally glad I did. I’m not very techie and I knew very little about websites at that time. I wouldn’t necessarily call it a product for total beginners and I did struggle at first with it. But, the installation manual and user manual are very detailed and helpful and the forum is simply second to none. I’ve learned so much on that forum not only about BANS but about all aspects of internet marketing and promoting.

I still have BANS stores and I will probably be building a few more stores here in the next couple of months. I have also purchased phpBay which is another tool for promoting the eBay affiliate program and some say it’s a more versatile product than BANS but BANS seems to be a bit better for beginners. Here’s my post with more information about BANS.

(One time $97.00 fee and good for an unlimited number of websites)

WEALTHY AFFILIATE UNIVERSITY

Wealthy Affiliate University. Wealthy Affiliate is an online membership site that teaches its members how to start their own online business using Internet Marketing … specifically Affiliate Marketing. I have never seen so much valuable information in one place … and I’m not kidding!

I will say that this information can be used to run and promote any kind of online business or website … even though its teachings are geared towards affiliate marketing. There were times where I read the material and the forum for days on end and I learned so much there. In fact, I believe the amount of time I invested in learning on this site would’ve earned me a degree of some kind LOL. I’m also going to be taking a class on PPC through their site here soon and I’ll let you know how that goes too. If you’re new to the online business world (or even if you’re not) this is definitely my favorite learning resource so go check it out now and let me know what you think (and let me know if you have any questions too).

(Now’s the time to check out WA - They’re offering a one week trial for $1.00! If you choose to continue with your membership it’s only $39.00/month and I promise you it’s well worth it!)

POTPIEGIRL’S ONE WEEK MARKETING ACTION PLAN

PotPieGirl’s One Week Marketing Action Plan. This eBook teaches you how to make money through affiliate marketing using FREE tools and methods … and it’s awesome! I feel like I’ve learned a lot over the past few years and quite honestly I didn’t expect to learn much from this eBook … but I really did.

Not only will you learn a lot but it gives you a step-by-step guide to use so you can start, and more importantly, FINISH a campaign without much trouble. I used it to target one of my fiance’s sites (I’m an affiliate for his site LOL) and I got top Google positions and traffic right away using her instructions. I plan to use it for many other sites/products and I now know it will work like magic. This one’s pretty much a no-brainer due to the low price! I’m certain it will more than pay for itself if you actually do what she instructs you to do.

The eBook also came with some killer bonuses. I don’t know for sure if they’re still available but if for some reason they’re not just shoot me an email and I’ll bet I can get her permission to share them with you. Definitely go check out PotPieGirl’s One Week Marketing Action Plan Right Now!

(Only $47 … I couldn’t believe it! It’s worth more I promise!)

30 MINUTE BACKLINKS

30 Minute Backlinks. I am a HUGE fan of Michelle MacPhearson’s 30 Minute Backlinks! The system she came up with is simply ingenious and there is no denying … it works!

She will show you step-by-step how to build hundreds or even thousands of high PR backlinks to your sites. The first couple of times you do this … I wouldn’t necessarily call it a “30 minute” project LOL … but as you learn the ropes that’s more fair. I will say it’s worth every minute you put into it.

I’ve used this system for several of my sites and so has my fiancé and we’ve both seen some amazing results. I’m almost certain it’s the reason my brand new destination wedding site already has a PR1 (after a month and a half online) and my fiance has several of his retail products that have risen (some quite a bit) in the SERPs after using this system. Check out her sales page and watch her video “commercial” and see what you think.

(It costs $97.00 and if you have a website … it’s definitely worth the moderate price tag!)

SUMMARY

Alright, I don’t want to give you information overload but I do want to give you a brief summary of these.

If you are just getting started online I personally would give the PotPieGirl a shot. One of the bonuses is an email journal of back and forth conversation between her and a guy she helps who’s never made any money online and he’s successful within the one week time frame.
My next choice for learning and getting started would have to be Wealthy Affiliate and with it being priced at a dollar right now … you can’t go wrong! I will warn you … there is NO WAY you could possibly get through all they have to offer in a week but it’s a great way to see if you’d benefit from their site on a monthly basis.
If you already have some experience and you’re looking for a way to diversify your income I’d recommend BANS as a way to make money with the eBay affiliate program (EPN). It makes it very simple to get some niche stores set up. You will be most successful with these if you understand keyword research and SEO.
If you already have a site (or several) you should definitely give the 30 Minute Backlinks a shot. What would a rise in the SERPs and a higher PR mean for your sites? For me it was well worth it!
I just can’t say enough about HostGator hosting so they will always have my endorsement.

If you have any questions about any of these products please let me know either in the comments section or by using the Contact Us page.

Have you used any of these products? If so, do you feel they were worth the cost you paid for them? Let us hear from you below so we can all learn from each other. *SmiLes* Suzanne

BANS (eBay Affiliate Program) Earnings Update Feb, Mar, and April 2009

Mon, 04 May 2009 15:00:19 +0000

It’s that time … time for me to give you an update on my BANS (Build a Niche Stores) business and my other EPN (eBay Partner Network) profits here on the blog. If you haven’t been following along you can take a look at my BANS profits for June 2008 ($203.36), my BANS profits for July 2008 ($269.41), my BANS profits for August 2008 ($531.51) and my BANS profits for September 2008 ($821.74). Or you can get an overview by seeing my last post update of my BANS profits for October, November, December and January.

I could see my numbers were down a bit this month and I was “tracking” to do just over $500 and then on May 1^st I logged in to get my final numbers and they were down! Huh? What? Well, they changed my ACRUs (new eBay customer sign ups) from $40/per to $28/per. Since my ACRUs started out at $25 and were as low as $10 at one time I shouldn’t be too upset but it was shocking and somewhat upsetting.

So my income for February 2009 was $533.45, March 2009 was $661.14 and April 2009 was down to $407.05. Considering I haven’t put any work or effort into these sites in the past several months I really can’t complain right?

I will reiterate that you should never put all of your eggs in one basket and online you should definitely diversify your income streams.

Last month I launched a new site, “The Destination Wedding Site,” and I am just starting to integrate some eBay products there (and now Amazon products too) so we’ll see how that goes. For this new site I’m using two new products that I LOVE!!!

The first one I tried is phpBay and it’s a WordPress Plugin that makes it really easy to add eBay auctions to any WP post or page. You can see an example here: Destination Wedding Books.

I can’t tell you how easy this is to do! You add this product like any other plugin and activate it. There’s a very easy to follow manual that walks you through your options and tells you how to do each. The most technical it got (you know me … non-techie! LOL) was I chose an option that required me to copy/paste some code to my .htaccess file and that was very easy too. If you get hung up on any of it there’s a support forum and everyone is very helpful.

The second new product is ReviewAzon and it’s an awesome new plugin that helps you add Amazon products to your WordPress pages and posts and it even pulls in the product description and customer reviews (great for much needed content instead of page full of affiliate links!).

You can see where I used it on my new site here: The Destination Wedding Planner: The Ultimate Guide.

Again, this was a plugin that you add like any other WordPress plugin and then you control it and use it right in your WP admin panel. It also have a great user manual and a support forum that’s been very helpful.

I’ll keep you posted on how these new products do for my sites but I expect great things from them.

Be sure you check them out:

Check out phpBay

Check out ReviewAzon

So here are my eBay numbers for the past several months:

September 2008 - $821.74 (ACRUs $25)

October 2008 - $733.33 (ACRUs $25)

November 2008 - $315.81 (ACRUs $10)

December 2008 - $186.11 (ACRUs $10)

January 2009 - $613.83 (ACRUs $40)

February 2009 - $533.45 (ACRUs $40)

March 2009 - $661.14 (ACRUs $40)

April 2009 - $407.05 (ACRUs $28)

Are you using BANS? Are you using EPN to make money? How have your sales/profits been these last few months? Have you tried phpBay and/or ReviewAzon? Please comment below so we can all learn from each other. *SmiLes* Suzanne

Thesis WordPress Theme - Quick Review

Suzanne — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 13:00:30 +0000

I’ve been working hard at one of my new websites (The Destination Wedding Site) and I decided to give the Thesis WordPress theme a try. I’ve heard a lot of great things about the theme and so far so good.

It was written by a couple guys who know a lot about SEO so it’s a very SEO friendly theme and I love that!

The theme is very easily customizable. You can use a two column or three column in a bunch of different configurations with a simple click of a button - sweet. There is a Thesis admin section right inside your WordPress admin panel so you can make most of your changes right there while logged in to WordPress.

So far, the only thing I’ve tried to do outside the admin panel was to add my own header image and that didn’t go so well. As you know, I’m not very techie at all so whenever I come to something that involves code I usually expect to mess it up the first try … and I did. Well, a huge “THANKS” to Bey Luen, of BlogHighlight, for helping me get it working. I followed a tutorial on his blog and when it didn’t work right (shocker LOL) I used his contact form and he helped me immediately and without making me feel *dumb* at all.

Overall, from what I’ve read (a LOT) and from my experience the Thesis theme is a total winner! It’s much less expensive than having a theme designed for you and has a lot more to offer than any of the free themes I’ve seen out there. They also have a support forum where the creators are very active and seem to help everyone when needed.

Take a Quick Look at Thesis WordPress Theme!

Let me know if you have any questions about the Thesis theme and I’ll answer what I can and go find answers to what I can’t. *SmiLes* Suzanne

Are you looking for a new WordPress theme? Have you heard of or seen the Thesis theme? Are you using the Thesis theme? If so, what do you think of it? Please leave your questions and comments below.

Avoid Duplicate Content by Using the Canonical Link Element

Suzanne — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 17:33:39 +0000

Avoid Duplicate Content by Using the Canonical Link Element

I wanted to share a great video by Matt Cutts that is posted on the GoogleWebmasterHelp YouTube channel.

The canonical link element is lack of a better word a new “meta tag” that will help you avoid duplicate content on your site.

This video addresses the solution to the problem of having so many different URLs on your own site for the same page. One example he used is that Google sees all of these as different pages:

www.example.com

example.com

www.example.com/

example.com/

www.example.com/index.html

example.com/index.html

www.example.com/home.asp

example.com/home.asp

It’s almost certain that these pages all have the exact same content. As you can imagine if these are “viewed” by Google as different pages they will produce duplicate content on your site.

This is especially confusing when your backlinks point to a combination of these 8 different URLs instead of just one of them. The best way to head this off is to fix these problems before they arise. Matt says we need to “standardize” or “normalize” our URLs from the start so that there’s only one way to get to your content. One way to do this is by getting into the habit of choosing one URL and using it for all of your backlinks and for all of your internal linking (you should also always choose absolute URLs instead of relative URLs).

You will also want to go into your Google Webmaster Tools and set this chosen URL your preferred domain or preferred URL.

Google also considers the URLs submitted in the sitemap you submit. If they see one URL submitted that’s on the sitemap and one that’s not they will “prefer” the URL on the sitemap.

You can use a permanent 301 redirect for each of the other versions of the URL to the preferred URL. But there are instances where you don’t have access to do so (i.e. free hosting or anywhere you don’t run the web server, and of course you can’t help how other people link to you).

This video addresses some other issues that you’ll want to be aware of and it also give you the code you’ll want to use to for your canonical link elements and tells you where to place the code.

So check it out and leave your comments below. Have you ever heard of the canonical link element? Do you think you might have some duplicate content issues? Let us hear from you in the comments section. *SmiLes* Suzanne

P.S. A special note in the video for WordPress bloggers … he mentioned there will most likely be some new plugins to address this or possibly even have it written in to the next WP update version.

VIDEO - Avoid Duplicate Content by Using the Canonical Link Element (If you’re reading this via RSS Feed come on over and view this great video)

Update on My BANS (Build a Niche Stores) Profits

Suzanne — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 14:00:53 +0000

In the past I had been posting the profits I’ve made with my BANS (Build a Niche Stores) business and my other EPN (eBay Partner Network) profits here on the blog. If you haven’t been following along you can take a look at my BANS profits for June 2008 ($203.36), my BANS profits for July 2008 ($269.41), my BANS profits for August 2008 ($531.51) and my BANS profits for September 2008 ($821.74).

I got very busy while competing in the Blogging Idol competition in November 2008 so I didn’t get around to posting my profits for October 2008 … which were $733.33. It also meant that I got so busy that I didn’t spend any time whatsoever working on (or promoting) my BANS stores in November 2008.

At that same time (November 2008) EPN switched over to their “Value Based Pricing” commission structure for their ACRUs (Active Confirmed Registered Users) payout. The main reasons I see for this change is to insure a higher quality traffic and to reduce ACRU fraud and abuse. They basically structured a pay “range” for ACRU payouts … so instead of being paid a flat $25 per … the commission switched to a pay range … ranging from $1 per to $40 per. What did that change mean for me? Well, November’s ACRU commissions dropped down from $25 per to $10 per and my total profit for November 2008 (under the new payout) was $315.81. December really took a dive and was a mere $186.11.

I suppose you could say that there was a “vicious cycle” going on where the less I made the less I felt like working on the stores and, of course, the less I worked on them … the less I deserved to make.

Well … I have no idea what eBay based their decision on but I’m happy to report that my January’s ACRUs went up to $40 per and my January profits were $613.83. The ACRUs are still reporting at the $40 for February and I’m “tracking” to do about the same for this month. Of course this has prompted me to want to get back to work on my stores and to possibly even build a couple new stores.

I’m sure there are some lessons to be learned here and for me the biggest remains to diversify your online marketing efforts - never put all of your eggs in one basket.

If you are interested in learning more about BANS and/or the EPN program … I encourage you to contact me BEFORE you apply for the program and before you purchase the BANS product. It’s getting more and more difficult to get approved by eBay and I want to help you with some information if possible.

So are you a fellow EPN and/or BANS user? How have you been affected by the new system for ACRUs? Are you putting as much (or more) effort into your stores? Do you have questions about EPN and/or BANS? I’d love to hear from you below in the comments section. *SmiLes* Suzanne

September 2008 - $821.74 (ACRUs $25)

October 2008 - $733.33 (ACRUs $25)

November 2008 - $315.81 (ACRUs $10)

December 2008 - $186.11 (ACRUs $10)

January 2009 - $613.83 (ACRUs $40)

Let’s Thank These Gurus for Making a Valentine’s Day Appearance!

Suzanne — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 19:54:18 +0000

A special “Thank You” to John Chow , Bob Jenkins (Bob the Teacher), Frank Kern, Rich Schefren, and Derek Gehl for giving us a great big smile (OK … a good laugh) for Valentine’s Day!

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

These are the guys who I solicited for help during my Blogging Idol competition … and I really appreciate how they supported my efforts and helped me win that title!

Let’s be sure and give others a fun break from their work today too … so go post a link back here to your favorite social site now!

Twitter:

RT @wahmsuzanne put up a funny video of some gurus getting “bare” for Valentine’s Day! Check it out! http://is.gd/jsj6

RT @bobtheteacher @johnchow @masscontrolkern @richschefren very funny video! http://is.gd/jsj6 Happy Valentine’s Day!

I want to thank all of you for the love and support you’ve shown me these past few months … it means the world to me! Have a wonderful Valentine’s Day weekend and be sure you tell everyone you love how much they’re loved … we could never hear it enough right? *huGs* Suzanne

So … which guru gave the best performance? What are your plans for Valentine’s Day? Let’s hear from you …

PS. If you’re receiving this via RSS email … be sure to come over and watch the funny video!

Promoting Your Blog Offline – T-shirts and Business Cards

Suzanne — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 23:34:40 +0000

Promoting Your Blog Offline - T-shirts and Business Cards

Today I was IMing (instant messaging) with a friend of mine on Facebook and I mentioned that I was wearing my “Blogging Idol Shirt” and he said, “Where did you get it?” I told him I made it and I wear it proudly. Thanks again to all of you who helped me earn that title. I took this self-portrait with my Blackberry while we were chatting and sent it directly to Facebook … how easy that was.

Well, what I was telling him was how much attention I get while I’m wearing that shirt … people asking me what’s Blogging Idol … and it’s a perfect opener for telling them what I do online. The problem is that I don’t carry any business cards so once I explain what I do … it’s difficult to invite them to my blog …because I’m not prepared. I’m going to be putting in my order for my FREE business cards through Vista Print and you should too. You can pay a few bucks more to upgrade and such … and they’ll try to “upsell” and to sell you a bunch of add-on products but their offer for their free cards is great!

So … two lessons here … one see if you can come up with a shirt (or something wearable) that will lead to conversation about your blog … and then be prepared with business cards!

Get Your FREE Business Cards!

Do you have anything you carry or wear in public that is a conversation starter for your business? Do you carry business cards? Have you ever tried Vista Print’s free card offer? Are you good about inviting others to view your blog? Let’s share some ideas about what works OK? *SmiLes* Suzanne

P.S. A huGe thanks to my friend Mark McClinton for designing my cards .. i’ll post them once they’re done - he’s awesome and very reasonable so go to his site and contact him for a quote http://northstargenesis.com.

Facebook Twitter Status Update Client - Add Your Tweets to FaceBook

Suzanne — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 04:28:29 +0000

Add Your Tweets To Facebook (or MySpace, Blogger, etc.)

If you’re using Twitter (which you should be) and Facebook (which you should be LOL) you might want to use the setting on Twitter that will automatically change your status on Facebook by inserting your latest tweet.

Now … if you’re the type who tweets what you’re doing every two minutes or you’re very active on Twitter than you might annoy your Facebook friends with hundreds of updates a day so do keep that in mind.

Quick Steps:

Go to Twitter
Click on Settings (at the top of the page)
Go to “More Info URL” and look below for the blue text in parentheses - “You can also add Twitter to your site here” and click on that blue text
Choose the site where you want to add your Twitter updates and then follow the instructions there

Watch this video for some quick, easy instructions:

So … are you on Twitter? Are you following me there? Are you on Facebook? Are you following me there? Let’s here your comments. *SmiLes* Suzanne

P.S. If you’re getting this post via RSS … come on over to the blog to see the quick video

7 Ways to Find Post Ideas

Suzanne — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 20:28:54 +0000

So … do you have days that you can’t think of anything to write about? Check out “7 Ways to Find Post Ideas” below.

When you’re giving out your web address anywhere online be sure to put the http:// in front of the web URL so that it will be clickable. This works is most cases: email, websites, comments, forums, social networking sites, etc. Keep in mind that it won’t always LOOK like it made a link but it usually does. Quick example: Use http://www.suzannefranco.com instead of www.suzannefranco.com.

7 Ways to Find Post Ideas

1. YouTube Videos - I tend to spend a lot of time on YouTube when I’m looking for a tutorial or instruction on how to do something. Almost every time I’m there I see a topic or idea that I hadn’t thought to blog about. Be sure to use the “search” function to get yourself started. Give it a try!

2. Forums - If you hang out on any forums regarding your niche you will be able to see what the hot topics are just by watching people’s reaction to the posts that are there. If you see one that has a ton of replies … that’s usually something you might want to consider writing about.

3. Other Blogs - You should be frequenting other blogs in your niche and this can often spark an idea of your own. I say your own because obviously you don’t want to go around swiping other people’s ideas. If you see something interesting do you share their opinion? Do you have a completely different twist for the topic? Could you do a more thorough post or if it’s thorough could you break it down to a list? If you do this please, please link back to the post and give credit where credit is due.

4. Google Trends - Many people like to use Google Trends to look for current/hot topics and I guess this really depends on what your niche is … or you might just find a new niche this way LOL

5. Yahoo Answers - You can go to Yahoo Answers and type in your niche and see what kind of questions people are asking there.

6. Read the Newspaper (or magazines dedicated to your niche) - While you’re out and about check out any newspapers and/or magazines that are dedicate to your niche. If you find any good resources for ideas you might also consider subscribing to these publications so you can stay “in the know.”

7. Pay Attention - Start paying attention to the conversations around you and see what people are talking about. When you tell someone what you do or what type of website/blog you have what questions/comments do they have?

I hope these ideas help you out when you have those days that you just can’t think of anything to write about.

Do you have any other ideas to add? Have you tried any of these yourself? Please share your thoughts and ideas in the comments so we can all learn from each other. *SmiLes* Suzanne