By sharing my experiences here and at eBook Marketing Journal, my goal is to give you a brutally honest look at what it takes to make a living selling ebooks online. It’s not always a million dollar experience. Sometimes it’s not even a thousand dollar experience.

We always hear these stories about how a couple of ‘absolute newbies’ stumble onto the scene and make $16,237 within 27 days. (Rule #8 of Internet Marketing Copywriting: Be precise!)

I’m not here to smash that reality. Absolute newbies DO stumble in and make $16,237 within 27 days. Trust me, I’ve seen much bigger dollar amounts first hand. But this is truly one of those “your results may vary” type of situations.

Most people struggle to get those first 100 sales. They get discouraged along the way because they’re not one of those absolute newbies with the five figure PayPal screenshots.

Hell, I’ve been there. If you read my posts from early last year then you know I was an A1 flop for longer than I cared to admit. Check out eBook Marketing Journal and you’ll see that I still singe a few hairs from time to time.

How do you make it right?

First, have a good hearty laugh at the whole internet marketing industry.

Second, realize that my results, other peoples results and your results will all be totally different creatures. Your skills are very different than mine. And people who I admire have very different strengths than mine.

Third, realize that time and timing have a lot to do with where you are.

I hang out with a lot of Amazon Kindle authors, and the general consensus is that the first movers made a lot more money a year or so ago – with fewer books – than they do today. There were fewer self-publishers back then.

Now that doesn’t mean you can’t make a small fortune selling ebooks on Amazon. There are authors who started less than a year ago and are cleaning up there.

It just means that the strategy you read about a year ago might not be the same thing that’s gonna get you to the promise land today. As soon as you come to that conclusion you’ll be ready to move on to…

The 3 eBook marketing strategies for sellers suffering in silence

1) Volumize. The days of “I’m-gonna-make-$100K-from-this-ONE-ebook” are not as prolific as they used to be. One ebook probably isn’t going to be your savior. Two ebooks,? Nah! Three ebooks? Keep going. FOUR ebooks? Okay, now you’re getting into the comfort zone.

In Creating eBooks that are Impulse Buyer Magnets I say you should write no fewer than four ebooks for a given niche if you really want to maximize your profits.

With four ebooks you easily attract repeat buyers. Your average sale amount is higher. And at that point you’re more easily perceived as an expert rather than a fly-by-nighter. That type of status IS a major selling point.

If you read John Locke’s How I Sold 1 Million eBooks in 5 Months! one of things he advocates is volume. You don’t even have to read it. Just look at the number of titles he’s got up and running on Amazon.

I just read a story from an author who has over 100 titles up on Amazon. He said he didn’t even break the triple digits (per month) until around month three. At month eight, he earned over $20K.

Mind you, these aren’t 200 page ebooks, either. The vast majority are short stories. Piddly little things that are 10 pages or less! Surely they’re not award winners, but he has volume on his side.

You will never understand the sheer power of volume until you’re knee deep in it.

2) Promote like a barracuda. Though you may want to throw in the towel, the worst thing you can do is stop marketing. I’ve seen the most gosh awful ebooks do tremendously well, not for their literary value, but because the author was a marketing barracuda.

You just have to do a little bit each day. Guest blogging. Blog commenting. Twitter. Building a blog. Lots of tiny little steps accumulate over time.

I just said it the other day… when I started writing on Squidoo, I really had to hustle to see the sales come in. I wanted to give up after the third article because traffic was so dismal.

Now with 14 articles (and growing) at Squidoo, ebook sales come in on their own. You just have to keep going. Don’t stop. Don’t stop. And most important, don’t stop.

3) Be everywhere. As soon as my first ebook went up Amazon, I noticed an immediate uptick of ebook sales here (on this blog).

Seems a bit counter-intuitive considering my Amazon ebooks are only priced at $2.99, and everything here is $10-$20. But I don’t sell all of my ebooks on Amazon. (A strategy I decided to experiment with.)

So if someone wants Impulse Buyer Magnets, they’ve gotta get it here. This helps me to sustain during the lean times while I’m building my Amazon empire. I know that I’m getting sales on Amazon and because of Amazon.

Now I don’t think this particular strategy would work if I were selling fiction only. But for nonfiction (which I know many of you reading this blog focus on), it’s golden.

Hop on over to eBook Marketing Journal and you’ll notice that I’ve been spending a lot of time trying to decipher Squidoo. Okay, not really decipher. More like make it bow down and do my ebook sales bidding. (Enter maniacal mad scientist laughter.)

Squidoo is a user generated content site, which is just a fancy Web 2.0 way of saying, ‘a place to submit your articles.’ However unlike a traditional article directory like EzineArticles.com, Squidoo allows you to include text, video, link lists, Amazon modules, and a whole host of other graphical elements to make your ‘lens’ (lens = article in Squidoo-speak) attractive.

Squidoo had always been that “Hmmmm, maybe…” kind of thing lingering in the back of my mind. But truthfully it always seemed a little cartoony for my tastes, with the little character mascots and all. (This probably sounds a wee bit hypocritical, considering I display a somewhat silly sense of humor on this blog.)

Instead I opted to hobnob at HubPages, Squidoo’s rival cousin. Back in 2010 I started building a little HubPages empire (using a variety of profiles). Thanks to the HubPages revenue share program, I make a little cash from my hubs every single day. Not a fortune, but way more than I ever did with Google AdSense.

Why I ended up jumping the HubPages ship

Although HubPages has been good to me, they can be quite funny (‘ha, ha’ in a bad way) about selling ebooks.

They don’t mind if you’re promoting ebooks on Amazon, but you can’t do Clickbank products. They can even be kinda fickle about PDFs you sell on your own site.

Squidoo, on the other hand, is more lenient about ebook sales – within reason.

According to their terms of service, they don’t mind if you publish a lens on a topic you’re interested in or have experience with, even if it promotes a specific product. What they don’t want are purely promotional lenses that don’t offer any educational value to the reader. And they also have a ban on certain topics like get your ex back kind of stuff.

This may not suit everybody, but it works for me as I have experience in the topics I write about, and I definitely don’t want my ex back.

I started publishing on Squidoo back in March, and now I wish I hadn’t waited so long.

Why Squidoo is kind of a big deal

Several years ago I believe Squidoo had some issues with good, ole’ Uncle Google. Maybe this was during the Google slap era, I don’t remember. (One day when we’re all old and frail, we’ll be reminiscing about stuff like, “Do you remember the great Google Slap of 2010?”) Well that spat between Squidoo and Google is a distant memory.

Squidoo lenses indeed get ranked very nicely in Google. Whilst not all of my lenses have received the red carpet treatment, a few of them are sitting comfortably in the SERPs.

I just wrote lens #14 last Friday – (101 Nonfiction Writing Prompts) – and it currently has first page rank for several key terms. It achieved those positions in less than 48 hours. (See my eBook Marketing Journal blog for the exact keywords I’m ranking for.)

When I had only 12 lenses under my belt, I was averaging about 6-10 ebook sales a week solely from Squidoo traffic. And this was from some insanely low click thru rates.

For example, 36 people might’ve visited my Squidoo lenses. Five people would click thru from those lenses to this website. Out of those five visitors, two people might order an ebook. (That’s the Impulse Buyer Magnet magic!!!)

There’s a lot to be garnered by writing on Squidoo, but before you start here are some interesting pointers I picked up:

1) Squidoo is a topic testing heaven. 

From an authors perspective, Squidoo is very cool for testing a variety of topics in your niche. I have several ebook related lenses up and running, but only a handful generate the bulk of my traffic.

Those productive lenses have helped me better understand what I should be writing about, and I’ve adjusted my strategy accordingly.

Sure you can post a survey on your site and ask people what they want, but nothing beats actual traffic stats. Especially when you have the benefit of a site that generates a huge amount of traffic on its own.

2) Write multiple lenses on one topic if you want to see those sales.

The more I write about ebooks on Squidoo, the more I’m looked upon as an expert on the topic, and the more consistent my sales are.

Last week I got an order from a lady who had commented on one of my first few lenses back in early April. She came back and liked (similar to a Facebook like) almost every new lens I put up. She emailed saying that she finally decided to order because of all the lenses I had published.

And I quote… “If your paid info is as good as the free articles you have on Squidoo, I wanted to see it.”

3) Publish at least 3-4 lenses at the same time to start dominating a category.

When you go to publish a lens on a Squidoo you have to choose a category. You also have the option of selecting a sub-category and a sub, sub-category.

If your lens is getting traffic (which I tell you how to do at eBook Marketing Journal), Squidoo will showcase it on your designated category page.

For instance, my 101 Nonfiction Writing Prompts lens is currently featured in the Latest Additions column of the Books, Poetry & Writing category page.

One week I published three lenses, all within the same category. Those three lenses all ended up on that Books, Poetry & Writing page. When they dropped off of that page (you’re only up a week or so in the main category), they landed on the Publishing Tips sub-category page and the Self-Publishing sub, sub-category page.

At one time I had six lenses in the sub and sub, sub categories. This is where I saw the most traffic volume.

With 6-7 lenses up and running you can almost take over a niche in less than a week, depending on how busy the categories are. Obviously some categories are going to be a lot busier than others.

What Squidoo ISN’T for

I know I mentioned this yesterday, but I don’t delve in the whole spun article thing on Squidoo.

I use Squidoo as a source of traffic. Sure it’s a backlink, but I don’t really care about the whole backlink debate.

My priority is sales. At the end of the day I count dollars, not how many backlinks I’ve gotten. If the dollars aren’t where they’re supposed to be, I look at my traffic and the conversion rate.

That’s what matters to me, so I try to do things that match my overall strategy. I can’t see this working out favorably if all you’re doing is spinning a bunch of really generic PLR articles. I think readers are getting tired mish-moshed content. Google certainly is.

Take all of this into account as you embark on your Squidoo adventure.

And good luck!

When I started this blog back in February 2011, I had every intention of filling my coffers through a combination of ebook and affiliate sales, as well as freelance writing income. That’s how it is when you first start off, all starry eyed and bushy tailed… hopped up on Rockstar Energy Drinks and Trader Joe’s banana chips and whatnot.

I did manage to maintain that model for a year.

Well actually, let me clarify something. I’ve been doing the Amazon affiliate thing long before I started writing and selling ebooks. So that part of the master plan was already on cruise control by the time I launched this blog.

Unfortunately that one stream of income was almost sucked up by the Google Penguin. Uuugh… it pains me to talk about it, though the extent of my damage could’ve been a lot worse! I had several #1 listings in Google drop to #6’s-10’s.

True, I didn’t lose much of the first page advantage. But I did lose that coveted first place position for a lot of my keywords.

I ain’t gonna lie… my profits took a proper beat down. (Cue the “woe-is-me” violin music in the background.)

I don’t care if your targeted keyword gets 300 searches a month, when you’re in the #1 position, you get a lot affiliate sales love. Especially when you multiply a #1 position across several dozen stinky little keywords nobody else seemed to love.

Here’s what sunk my battleship…

Lack of updates.

The pages that booted me from my ivory tower had all been frequently updated. I knew this because I keep track of what’s going on around me in the search engine results.

My pages – though well written and of more-than-adequate word count – were about two years old.

Google gave me my props for a long time and I got comfortable with my meaty checks. In hindsight I’m surprised I didn’t lose my first page advantage altogether.

Lucky for me I had set up that affiliate revenue stream early on in my career, because even though it got sliced with the Google Ginsu knife, it did allow me the flexibility to set up a pretty solid ebook business. And while I wasn’t updating my affiliate sites, I was working overtime to make sure the ebook business was growing by leaps and bounds.

Diversifying horizontally saved me

Instead of planting seeds into several different niches (affiliate sales, freelance writing and ebook sales), I’d actually been taking the horizontal route and focused solely on growing my ebook sales.

In my last post (back in March) I mentioned that I was working on several new ebooks. I actually wrote six new titles between that last post and the end of April.

Four of them are already up on Amazon. Two were written under a pen name that I won’t be disclosing.

And the other two (which I just put up Wednesday and Thursday last week) are:

1,699 Nonfiction Writing Prompts

How to Write Blog Posts that Sell eBooks

I’ll be putting these two up on the Barnes and Noble, Smashwords and this blog (as PDFs) within the week. Then I have the last two ebooks going up on Amazon within the next 10 days.

It’s harder to get that stinger out of your butt than it is to avoid the thing doing the stinging

When my affiliate site rankings dropped, it was like being in a hot shower and suddenly having the water turn lukewarm. It wasn’t enough for me to completely jump out, but it put me on alert that the water might soon be going cold.

As much as I love the traffic I get from Google (across the board, they are my #1 traffic source), I don’t want to end up as one of those site owners who loses their entire income because they’ve been drop kicked by Google.

The WRONG time to worry about Google is when that rank dropping boot is already wedged in your hind parts. As we’re seeing, rank is not guaranteed no matter how sparkly and shiny your site is. There are a lot of very sad site owners who will attest to that.

I knew the smartest thing I could do was to diversify more of my ebooks to sites that already had a sizable audience. This way if I ever got a major thrashing from Google, my business wouldn’t be killed off altogether.

This is what I refer to as horizontal diversification. And you’re gonna see me doing a whole lot more of it in the upcoming months.

In that respect, I’ve done quite a bit more content marketing away from this blog.

For example, I added 13 articles to Squidoo.

And Squidoo ain’t so bad ya’ll!

I won’t go into a long drawn out story about Squidoo, because I’ve fully documented my journey from March till today, at eBookMarketingJournal.com.

But I will say this… Squidoo represents just one of the sites that pushed me from my friggin #1 spots on the affiliate sales level.

That’s because you’re seriously encouraged to update your articles at Squidoo. I actually thought it was kinda silly at first, but a lot of those frequently updated articles are now in the #1 position where I once was. Nothing is “silly” anymore!

And FYI, I don’t use Squidoo for backlinks. I’ve been using my articles there to generate ebook sales, and yes, it does work.

Part of the reason is because Squidoo generates a lot of traffic on their own. Only a few of my articles there have gotten ranked well in Google. But all of my articles still get traffic – much of which comes from Squidoos internal search engine.

The less I have to rely on Google, the better for my peace of mind.

As I’m quickly discovering, this requires a lot writing.

Not that spun article bullshit that a lot of internet marketers love to indulge in. I’m talking about articles that make are genuinely helpful and make perfect sense.

The better my articles, the better my profits. That’s all I need to know.

What should you be doing?

The problem I have with affiliate sites (after this whole Google Penguin business) is that they’re basically dependent on bringing in traffic, much of it being traffic from Google.

Whereas if you have some ebooks on your blog and some on Amazon and some on Barnes and Noble and some on iTunes and some on Smashwords, you’re not dependent on one site and you’re not totally dependent on Google.

I’d rather take a little bit longer to keep cranking out ebooks, knowing each one will sell in multiple locations, rather than creating one site and betting my entire livelihood on it.

Google has an uncanny way of making you get philosophical about your income. (Fast, might I add.)

So what’s your ebook writing plan?

I’m always here to help:

Creating eBooks that are Impulse Buyer Magnets

1,699 Nonfiction Writing Prompts

How to Write Blog Posts that Sell eBooks

eBook Marketing Journal

Odds are I don’t know who you are. I don’t know where you went to school. I don’t know what type of work experience you have. Don’t know if you’re married, single, with kids or without.

What I do know… what I’m 100% sure of… is that you’ve got everything you need to write an ebook today. Not ‘just’ because I’ve written a kick-ass guide to writing ebooks (though that will give you the rocket booster you need to figure it all out).

I know you’re ready to write an ebook because you’ve lived a life. You most likely have a blog going or an affiliate website. Perhaps you’ve got an Amazon review site that you’re working on. Maybe you’re a freelance writer or you’ve been inspired to become one because you’ve caught a glimpse of How to Become the Freelance Writer Everybody Wants to Hire.

So what does your experience have to do with writing an ebook?

People buy ebooks for two different reasons

Actually it’s the same reason with different wording. In one instance they want to educate themselves on a process. For example, if I want to learn how to sew dresses, I’ll pick up a book on that very topic.

In the second instance, readers want to solve a problem. I might want traffic from YouTube, but I don’t know what kind of videos to create.

The disconnect from Starting Point A – me wanting to get traffic from YouTube, to Ending Point Z – me knowing how to get traffic from YouTube, is the reason why I’ll set out to buy an ebook.

You – and every other person reading this article – have experience doing something. Perhaps you’re not an expert on getting traffic from YouTube or teaching others how to sew dresses, but you’ve got experience doing something that other people want to know how to do.

And it’s experience that makes you fully equipped to sit down and write an ebook starting today. If you can verbalize your accumulated experience, you’ve got an ebook.

And if you’ve got an ebook, you’ve got a passive income source that’s going to put some cash in your pocket today, tomorrow and for years to come.

Questions to help you find an ebook idea from your experiences

I was talking to a girlfriend of mine who’s building a women’s shoe website. Although she understood the basic steps involved with building a website, there are many nuances she’s discovering on her own that weren’t in any of the books she read or the college classes she took.

She didn’t anticipate having to write SEO’d descriptions for dozens of shoes. She didn’t know the bank providing her merchant account would require her website to have an SSL certificate, which cost her an extra $80.

This is EXACTLY how ebooks are born — from petty little details you learn by actually going through the fire.

The questions below will hopefully help you see that your experiences are a lot more valuable than you imagine them to be.

1) What types of websites have you built or helped maintain? Are you a blogger? An affiliate? A review site builder? A directory owner? A forum moderator? Do you sell physical goods via eBay or Amazon?

2) What have you learned from the experience of building/maintaining that site? What were the most difficult problems you had to overcome? What were your methods/strategies for overcoming those problems? What research did you have to do? What did you have to learn that you didn’t know ahead of time? Was it harder or easier than you expected? Were there any surprise experiences? Were there any financial costs that you didn’t anticipate?

3) What misconceptions do people have that you want to clear up? In How to Become the Freelance Writer Everybody Wants to Hire I discovered that sometimes IT DOES pay to take on low-paying clients. This totally goes against the grain of many freelance writing experts who charge market rates. But I believe I provide a valid reason why a writer would want to buck the trend.

“But Dahlia, my experiences are NO DIFFERENT than other people’s experiences!”

I love reading business books, but for the life of me I can’t get through a Harvard Business Press title.

I LOVE the titles and the ideas, but the way they’re written… it’s too dry and blah-blah academic for my tastes. (No offense to any of the Harvard Business Press authors, of course. I take the blame for being the idiot here.)

But if you give me the exact same concepts by an AMACOM author (American Management Association publishing company), I can eat it up. I get it. It’s understandable and usable. Same ideas and experiences, different presentation.

This past weekend I started reading Engagement from Scratch: How Super-Community Builders Create a Loyal Audience and How You Can Do the Same! by Danny Inny over at Firepole Marketing. The book is basically a compilation of articles from several different entrepreneurs and bloggers who give their take on building a base of devoted fans.

All of the contributors have varying opinions. As Danny explains, this book isn’t a roadmap, it’s a compass. You take what works for you and go in that direction. If an author’s style doesn’t resonate with you, don’t follow their advice!

That’s exactly why I can sell a freelance writing ebook even though there are dozens of other freelance writing ebooks out there. My beliefs, words and style of explanation are different than other peoples.

And that’s precisely why you’re ready to write an ebook. The big question is why are you sitting on the fence? If you are, I’d be curious to know the reason why. Leave a comment below.

In Creating Ebooks that are Impulse Buyer Magnets one of main principles I advocate is volume.

Not necessarily volume in terms of the number of pages you write. But volume as it pertains to the number of ebooks you write that are related to one another. I believe you should have at least four ebooks of related topics if you want to see a steady influx of sales.

And no, I’m not talking about back end sales.

I can tell you (because I’m doing it in other niches) that if you have four ebooks on your website and they’re all related to the same topic, you’re going to make some decent passive income dollars or euros or pounds or whatever it is you use to pay your bills. But it’s important that you have them all selling on your website – like I’m doing here in the sidebar of this blog.

If you have only one ebook for sale on your website, and everything else is a back end product, I find that you actually LOSE more sales. People come back to a blog over and over again, but they don’t re-visit an information product even a fraction as much. True story.

So if you’re selling most of your information products through one funnel-type ebook, you only have a handful of chances to make a sale. Whereas, if I put all of my ebooks on the blog in front of you, you’re going to constantly see them which increases the opportunity for me to make a sale.

This is why having a blog versus a traditional sales letter website is so valuable if you intend to sell ebooks. By their very nature blogs generate return visitors, sales letter websites don’t always.

The more ebooks you have the more sales you make

Seems pretty obvious. But you should really see this theory in action.

Up until a couple of weeks ago I was selling two ebooks on this site. Two weeks ago I added the press release ebook. During the week that I added the press release ebook, sales for ALL ebooks increased by roughly 40%.

I didn’t do any extra blogging. No promotional work. I just added the press release ebook to this site and visitors started buying all of my ebooks. This isn’t an unusual phenomenon. I’ve seen it happen on other sites before.

Knowing this, it’s time to take some lessons I learned over the past few months and crank out a few new titles here. My goal for the month of March is to write at least eight new reports. I told myself 15 pages max, but I always end up going into the mid 20’s to 30+ page range. I’m not going to get hung up on that part as much as I’m going to keep myself on a tight time schedule.

Each title can only take 3-4 days for me to write. I just wrote How to Become the Freelance Writer Everybody Wants to Hire in three days and it’s a total of 29 content-filled pages.

How to write fast – a synopsis into my personal strategy

Let me be honest with you… I can’t write fast all the time. It’s normally a cyclical thing for me. I can write fast for a few months and then my brain needs a break.

And sometimes I can write fast at one thing and not write fast at other things.

For example, when I’m writing a ton of press releases I go into fast writing mode. But it’s hard for me to write both press releases and ebooks fast simultaneously. I get burned out pretty quickly. So I’m limiting the press release clients I take right now so I can put all my concentration into writing these reports.

The reason why I’m not so stressed about fast writing these reports is because I can switch up the topics every few days. I work better when I’m not totally immersed in one topic for weeks at a time. I need the freshness of different topics to keep the momentum going. The topics can be related, but not the exact same thing.

If I’m going into a fast writing cycle I like to have a set number of projects that need to be completed. And it needs to be a slightly demanding amount. I need a number that’s big enough to make me nervously excited in the morning.

As silly as it sounds, I wouldn’t get half as much done if I said I was only going to do a report a week. That’s not enough fuel under my hind quarters to keep me moving. I need that tight deadline stress and a bit of unreasonableness.

I also work better if I have a beer mid-way through my day. After several hours of intense writing, I’m usually wound pretty damn tight. I’m excited, but also a bit mentally taxed. I need something to loosen up my neurons again. Sipping on a beer loosens my brain so that I’m able to get back into a stream of consciousness. Otherwise I find myself going back over the work I’ve done and editing the shit out of it. That’s not what I’m supposed to be doing.

Not a lot writer’s admit to such “loosening” methods for getting the job done. Some do well with exercise or a cup of coffee. I have done both.

Right now I’m in a mid-day beer mode. Next month I might be doing 300 sit-up’s at noon to get rid of the Hoegaarden beer belly I’ve slowly accumulated. The point is, you have to do what’s going to work for you. You’re no different than millions of other creative types with their nutball rituals. Neither am I. Thank goodness for that… the world needs more of us.

Outlining my reports ahead of time is also a vital part of the strategy. Granted, I do revise (a lot) along the way, but I need to have a working plan in front of me when I sit down. That definitely helps keep me in a writing flow.

And finally, I’m a big, HUGE proponent of the Pomodoro Technique. This is when you work for 25 minutes and then have a five minute break. After 4 Pomodoro’s, you take a 15-30 minute break.

This was probably the BEST change I’ve made for writing faster. It used to take me 60-90 minutes to write a single press release. A week after I started using the Pomodoro Technique, I’d cut that down to 30-40 minutes per release. That timed session forces you to think more efficiently — at least it does for me.

I use the online Focus Booster App to keep track of my Pomodoro sessions. There are other apps available out there.

If you’ve never tried the Pomodoro Technique before, I strongly suggest you give it a go on your next few writing projects or even your blog posts. If you don’t see an improvement in your speed, I’ll be very surprised.

Do you have any fast writing suggestions? I’d love to hear how you whittle your words in record time.

As some of you know from reading previous blog posts, I’m a freelance press release writer. I run Buyer Friendly PR, and I’ve been doing it since October 2011.

This is actually my second incarnation in the freelance writing field. A few years ago I wrote articles and blog content for business owners… a ghost guest blogger of sorts. I had no experience writing articles or blog content professionally back then. That was my first foray into the client scene and I just kind of winged my way through it.

But let’s be honest — it doesn’t take a Rhodes Scholar to write a blog post. (Obviously.) I’m here on a wing and a prayer and a high school diploma.

The story I’m about to tell today is slightly more interesting. You see prior to me launching my press release service, the only experience I had was writing a handful of press releases for myself. For this very website, in fact.

I hadn’t taken any classes. No coaching sessions. No interning at some PR firm. Just me and my few press releases on the road to success.

There’s a reason I didn’t blog much here in December 2011

So like I said, I started my press release writing business back in October. From the official hanging of the shingle, it was never slow going.

By December I had so many clients I could barely keep the pace. I was swamped with work. Overwhelmed with $150 orders.

The level of amazement I felt was like a deer caught in the headlights.

I mean I had an inkling that I could do well writing blog content for other people. But with no significant press release writing experience, I wasn’t sure how well I’d be able to float that boat. Not only did the boat float, it happily carried a ton of cash paying customers.

My press release writing income for the month of December almost started to rival what I was making selling ebooks. This was all extra income during a time of the year when most providers swear business is slowing down.

A series of well orchestrated steps BEATS experience!

I admit, before launching that press release writing business, I mapped out a flow chart of steps I would take to get from Step A (the beginning) to Step Z (thousands of dollars a month in press release writing income).

I won’t bore you with the details of that entire flowchart, but I will tell you a little bit of what worked.

The first thing that worked was selling myself cheap for the first few weeks. Dirt cheap. Scarily cheap. Not-enough-to-go-to-dinner-with-the-family cheap.

I know you hear a lot of freelance writing experts say that you should NEVER sell yourself cheap, but that’s not always true. There’s a way to sell yourself cheap and not corner yourself into that price range forever. And there are some very legitimate reasons why you might want to be a low baller.

Secondly, I didn’t let my cheap rates dictate the quality of my work. I worked just as hard on those bargain basement priced press releases as I do with the $150 ones.

Third, I didn’t try to make my bargain seeking clients fit the $150 price mold. I didn’t have to. There were an abundance of clients at the el cheapo rates. And there are an abundance of clients at the healthier $150 price point. It’s just a matter of going to the right places at the right times. That’s where most freelance writers fall short.

They try to get too much money too soon because they’ve been preened to believe “I’m worth it!!!!” Or they try to get big bucks from the wrong client base.

One thing I’ve learned from this entire experience is that you’ve got to be calculated with your moves.

If you’ve got some writing chops to work with, you CAN make six figures as a freelance writer

My success isn’t some wildly unusual occurrence.

As special as my boyfriend tells me I am, I know this only applies to my girlfriendly skills, not my writing prowess. I’m a pretty good writer, but I don’t consider myself a word wielding prodigy.

My strength lies in figuring out how to make money with my writing and replicating those steps over and over again. That’s why I was a success in my first freelance writing life. And I’m convinced that’s why I was a much bigger success this go around.

If you’re interested in taking the shortcut route directly from “I have no experience as a freelance writer” to “I’m making a shitload of money as a freelance writer,” let me show you my game plan.

It’s all mapped out in my latest 28 page report, How to Become the Freelance Writer Everybody Wants to Hire: The “Do-What-You-Gotta-Do” Guide for putting serious money in your pocket in 60 days or less. 

First let me tell you what this report isn’t going to teach you (because there are A LOT of freelance writing books that waste a ton of space on irrelevant chatter):

I’m NOT going to tell you how to get a business license or set yourself up as a corporation.

I’m NOT going to tell you how to deal with taxes and all that legal mumbo jumbo.

I’m NOT going to tell you how to write a business plan or a mission statement.

I’m NOT going to tell you how to set up your office, do invoices (are you kidding… I only take cash up front!), or figure out your optimum writing schedule.

NONE of that stuff is relevant to making money fast as a freelance writer.

Instead I’m going to give you the gold nuggets, the pieces that really matter. They include:

• The ONE KEY TRAIT you better learn to cultivate if you want to be an in-demand freelance writer — and how to master it fast;
• Why specialization is mainly craptastic unless you do it the way I’m going to teach you;
• 7 writing niches that are always, always, always in demand — (recessions mean nothing when pitted against these suckers);
• How to tackle a writing niche, even if you’ve never tried your hand at it before;
• The one thing most freelance writers DON’T want to do… and how this revelation is going to set you up for financial abundance in a few weeks;
• 3 Reasons why being hammered with low paying clients is a serious blessing in disguise;
• How to go from dirt cheap prices to a happily higher rate without missing a beat. I was getting orders from cheap chasers and luxury seekers at the exact same time. That’s a VERY nice problem to have!
• How to find clients even if you only have minimal experience in a writing niche… I’ll tell you exactly what you’ll need to make clients hire you;
• The one thing you need to do today to get higher paying clients tomorrow;
• 4 Features you must have on your website and 1 “surprising” option.

How to Become the Freelance Writer Everybody Wants to Hire costs $9

If you’ve ordered any of my other ebooks then you know I only teach what I’ve tried and I know. This isn’t a general how-to guide. I’m not going to explore every possible writing niche out there.

This is MY PERSONAL 28 page strategy for developing two successful freelance writing businesses (as a ghost guest blogger and a press release writer) at separate times in my career. This is about learning how to use your existing skills to get work fast.

Will it work for everyone? Probably not. But if you’re a blogger and you’ve got readers and they like your stuff, then it’s a good chance you’ve got the mojo to make it happen.

And if not, there’s always my…

60 day “plain-and-painless” guarantee

I want you to be 100% happy with How to Become the Freelance Writer Everybody Wants to Hire. If you’re not, send me an email and I’ll refund your payment via PayPal within 24 hours.

No hassle, no fuss. Seriously.

GIVE ME How to Become the Freelance Writer Everybody Wants to Hire Now!

Hurray! I see you’re ready to order…

Once you place your order, you’ll immediately be directed to the download page, plus you’ll get an email with the download link.

If you have any problems, I’m here.

(Of course you would!)

As you’ve probably noticed from previous posts here, I’ve added “press release writer” into my freelance resume of stuff-I-know-how-to-do. As a result, I’ve been a press release writing maniac.

I’ve written them for:

• iPhone apps
• Software products
• WordPress plugins
• Membership websites
• Fiction/Non-fiction ebook authors
• White paper publishers
• Social media service companies
• Halloween costume stores
• Toy stores
• Network marketing companies
• Lead generation company
• Product review websites (affiliate sites)
• Pillow manufacturer
• Men’s clothing stores
• Women’s clothing store
• Women’s accessory store
• Lingerie store
• Jewelry designers
• Fabric store
• Fitness equipment store
• Car insurance website
• Used car website
• Alternative health websites
• Meditation website
• Massage website
• Psychic website
• Herb store
• Florists
• Restaurants
• Coaches/Consultants
• Bootcamp instructor
• Artists

Granted that’s not every business type in the known universe, but it is a nice stretch across many different industries.

Writing for these varied industries taught me 3 very important things:

1) Some industries instantly do better than others when it comes to press releases. For example, I can tell you that most Internet marketing related press releases I’ve written have done extremely well.

2) There are certain key factors that make or break a press release regardless of the product or service being promoted. Keywords are WAY more important than people think when it comes to getting traffic to your press release. Sometimes high volume keywords work, sometimes non-competitive keywords  work, and sometimes you have to completely break away from your primary choices and go with something completely off the Richter.

3) One press release isn’t going to make you king of the mountain. Neither will two or even three. The more press releases you publish, the better your traffic results. This is why most people who try their hand at press releases fail to do any damage. They’re not consistent enough to really see the power they can yield.

Done right, press releases can easily become one of your most reliable sources of website traffic

I don’t do press releases for backlinks and other airy-fairy branding jazz. When I taught myself to write press releases (you don’t need a friggin’ college degree to write a kick-ass press release) my goal was to get traffic and sell stuff.

If there are any other results besides getting traffic and selling stuff I view them as icing, gravy, the proverbial cherry on top of the dessert. But the main course has always been clicks and sales on a skewer. (Yum!)

And I can teach you how to cook that very meal.

But wait a minute… aren’t press releases primarily for product launches?

Ummm, no!

Did you know that PRNewswire (one of the oldest and most well-respected press release distribution companies) suggests using press releases to promote blog posts? No, not the entire blog… just the individual blog posts.

This means every time you write a blog post, you’ve got a reason to write a press release. If you’re writing two press releases a week based strictly on blog posts, that’s eight releases a month. You’re going to see some pretty good traffic results with eight press releases a month – and it has nothing to do with product launches.

In fact, whenever you publish new content, you’ve got a reason for a press release. New YouTube video? Do a press release. Free ebook? Do a press release. Running a giveaway? Do a press release.

It doesn’t matter if your site is five years old or brand spanking new, if you’ve got something notable and newsworthy to talk about, you’ve got a reason for a press release.

Let me tell you what makes a press release deliver traffic to your website…

My 48-page ebook, Writing Press Releases to Increase Website Traffic and Sell More Stuff, will give you all the tid-bits only a real-deal press release writer would know. 

SEO PRESS RELEASE PRIMER – In 5 minutes you’ll know the difference between a regular press release and an SEO press release (not to be confused with an SEO article). I’ll give you the suggested length for your press release, what to include and what kind of traffic I normally expect.

KEYWORDS – Waaaayyyyy beyond the basics: I don’t just cover “everybody-knows-this” keyword usage.  I categorize types of keywords, I give you the pro’s and con’s of each type, and I tell you how to use each one in your press release.

For example, there’s one type of keyword that’ll help your press release get syndicated on niche websites — but it doesn’t work for every niche. I’ll show you how to tell if it’s going to work for you. Another type of keyword has a greater chance of helping you get traffic from Google Search. And then there are certain keywords that can decrease your chances of getting traffic from Google News.

And where should you put the keywords? If you want traffic from Google, Bing and Yahoo, I’ll tell you exactly where they should go.

WILL GOOGLE NEWS LIKE IT? Google won’t outright tell you how to structure your press release, but they do hint around to it. I’ll tell you exactly what they say so you can stay in line with their unspoken rules.

WILL OTHER NEWS SITES AND SEARCH ENGINES LIKE IT? You’ll learn what it takes to make it into:

• Google News
• Google Search
• Bing News
• Bing Search
• Yahoo
• Niche websites

Where you’re placed has everything to do with your keywords and which press release distribution service you use. This is where experience begins to pay off in spades.

WRITING THE RELEASE – First I’m gonna give you 9 rules. Then I’m gonna give you a master template – that’s my 30 Minute Press Release Template. Next, I’m gonna give you five more press release templates, so you’ll know exactly what to write if you’re promoting an ebook, a webinar, a YouTube video, etc. And finally I’m gonna give you some examples of actual press releases written to promote my own sites.

PRESS RELEASE TRAFFIC = GOOD TRAFFIC – When someone visits my site from a press release it’s not uncommon to see them go through 6-7+ pages on the first go round. That’s good, quality traffic. And you can thank a very basic feature on your press release page for delivering such quality traffic. I’ll show you exactly what that feature is and what you must do to use it to your advantage.

DISTRIBUTION STRATEGIES FOR WINNERS – Fiverr.com has a bunch of freelancers who will distribute your press release to 20-25 freebie sites. Is this a better deal than paying $100+ to have your release go through a site like PRWeb? Don’t waste your time (and possibly your money) wondering… just read the ebook!

Who is this ebook for?

If you’d like to spend under $100 to write and distribute an unlimited number of press releases a month, this ebook is for you.

If you know you’d like to add press releases to your marketing arsenal, but don’t know what to write about, this ebook will give you some concrete ideas.

If you’d like to become a freelance press release writer, but want to ramp up your education from someone in the trenches, this ebook is for you.

Writing Press Releases to Increase Website Traffic and Sell More Stuff costs $19.95.

It’s a PDF ebook so as soon as you place your order – BAM – you’ll be reading it in minutes.

It’s 48-pages long with a few screenshots to demonstrate my points. The material isn’t going to overwhelm you, but it’s not filled with page after page of basic chit-chat either.

When you finish reading it you’ll be able to start writing your first press release. You’ll know where to distribute it and you’ll be in the same league as press release writers who charge upwards of $200 a release.

The plain and simple guarantee

Buy Writing Press Releases to Increase Website Traffic and Sell More Stuff. If you don’t like it, ask for a refund.

No hassle. No questions. You’ll get a refund.

I want you to love this ebook. And if it’s not to your liking, I have no problem giving you a refund.

“Yes, I want to BUY Writing Press Releases to Increase Website Traffic and Sell More Stuff!”

Okay… Click that button and you’ll be on your way.

Do you know what this is?

Yes, that would be my shoulder!

But if you go about an inch lower than my shirt, you’ll find a lump. A lump that wasn’t there six months ago, or even two months ago. It’s a lump I discovered a few weeks ago while watching television with the Mister.

It feels like it’s smaller than half a green pea. It’s hard, but it doesn’t hurt. The mammogram tells me I should have a biopsy, which I’m going in for next Wednesday.

My mother’s side of the family, unfortunately, has had two deaths due to breast cancer… my aunt (in her mid 30’s) and most recently my grandmother. My mother and my cousin frequently get lumps, all benign, thank goodness. I’ve never had one until now.

So you can imagine the “Awww shit!” moment I had when I found that lump.

It wasn’t an “Awww shit, I’m gonna die,” moment. Because breast cancer runs in my family, I check myself all the time. Religiously. Even while I’m watching TV with the 3D glasses on.

I can assure you that little lump is as fresh as the morning dew.

Sure, I’m worried. But moreso about losing my hair and the little bit of curves I have, than following the white light.

The “Awww shit!” moment I had was partially because life is going so well right now that I don’t want to deal with a monkey wrench. I met a guy, fell in love, got loved back. I’m in the honeymoon of relationship happiness right now, and here comes this lump!

Yes, this is all very personal, and maybe you think it’s a little sad to hear about my boobie lump, but there is a very important point here. It has to do with all the cackling I’ve been doing about passive income for the past year.

Life is full of surprises, passive income is your insurance policy.

Regardless of what you do, I’ve always said that you should have a few ebooks in the fray just in case.

Just in case you get sick and can’t work on custom projects for a few weeks. Just in case you’re skiing and break a collarbone. Just in case your significant other has a heart attack and you lose ½ of your income.

Life doesn’t come with a smooth sailing guarantee. One day no lump, the next day “Awww shit!” That’s how life operates.

My solace is knowing that yesterday I got ebook orders. Today, I’ll get ebook orders. Tomorrow I’m banking on the fact that I’ll get ebook orders. If I feel like having the granddaddy of all meltdowns, I know that lying in the bed with the covers thrown over my head, I’m probably going to get some ebook orders.

And that’s comforting beyond belief. There’s NOTHING like doing something once and getting paid from it indefinitely.

So here’s what I want you to do…

If you’ve never written an ebook, I want you to come up with an idea for a 10 page report and hash something out in the next seven days.

It doesn’t have to be perfection in a PDF. It may not be something that makes you $5K next week. You may not get the swing of it until your third or fourth report. Get over it! We can’t all be six-month millionaires.

I just want you to feel what it’s like to sit down and put words on paper that you’re going to sell. If you never allow yourself to feel what it’s like you’re always going to look at it as some mysterious unicorn. And it’s really not as difficult as you think.

Don’t wait until an “Awww shit!” moment is breathing down your neck. By then it’s too late to think clearly.

Use your time to create products that will continue to generate income in good times and bad. And get started today. That’s an order.

Every year as Thanksgiving (American holiday) rolls around I’m reminded of just how lucky I am. Though I might complain about the occasional sore throat and runny nose brought home from my kiddo (parents with school age kids, you know what I’m talking about), I have excellent health.

I started a whole foods diet earlier this summer… I’m walking more… I shoot hoops with my kiddo four times a week. Because breast cancer runs in my family (my grandmother and my aunt passed away from it), I consider myself very lucky to have such exceptional health.

That’s why several years ago I signed up to become a bone marrow donor through the National Marrow Donor Program.

My reason was simple. While there are over 7 million people in the bone marrow donation registry, there isn’t enough ethnic diversity to save more lives.

By ethnic diversity I mean Blacks, Hispanics, Indians and Asians. The fact of the matter is that 70 percent of those with terminal diseases aren’t compatible with family members, so they must turn to the National Marrow Donor Program for a match.

My aunt passed away when she was 36. Unfortunately none of us were able to donate bone marrow and we didn’t find a suitable match in time.

The best possible match, besides a family member, is usually someone within the same ethnic group. So Hispanic patients most likely need a Hispanic donor. Asian patients most likely need an Asian donor, and so on.

The beginning of my story…

A few weeks ago I was contacted by the National Marrow Donor Program informing me that I was a possible match for someone. Because of confidentiality issues, I don’t know who the person is or where they are.

Honestly, it doesn’t really matter. To help save the life of another human being would be my greatest accomplishment behind bringing my daughter into this world. I am almost brought to tears that I would be so lucky to possibly be put in this position.

There are tests that have to be done, so I don’t know if I am that person yet. But even if I’m not, I have a favor I’d like to ask of you.

The beginning of your story…

If you have it in your heart, do sign up to become a bone marrow donor. All it requires is a swab of your cheek to get started, and you’ll remain in the registry until you’re 60 years old.

If you ever have to donate it’s on an outpatient basis. And the donation you’ll be giving could possibly save a child… a mother… a father… a grandmother… a friend… an internet marketer — just like you.

Should you decide to become a donor, send me an email and I’ll schedule you for a free 30 minute ebook coaching session. Bring me your most pressing problems, your questions, your “what if” situations and I’ll work with you to give you some clarity.

Thank you for reading my blog. Thank you for being my customers. And thank you for giving of yourself in one of the best ways you can.

I started reading a book last week that totally and completely changed my mindset about the way I’ve been running my business.

It’s THE reason why I started my accountability group and why I decided to stop BS-ing and move forward with my new affiliate sites. It’s THE reason why I’ve started getting eight hours of sleep a night instead of my usual six. I’m 100% sure it’s also the reason why I’ve been picking up some good high end press release clients lately.

Honestly, I’ve been more productive in the past week than I’ve been in a LONG time. Don’t get me wrong — I’ve always been a mover and shaker because I like being self-employed. But I normally work to the point of comfortable-ness, and then I chill, telling myself that I’m enjoying the fruits of my labor.

I could’ve been a millionaire many times over, but I always stop short of taking it all the way. I make it just so I don’t have to worry about finances, and then I coast.

That’s just NOT sexy anymore

Time waits for no man or woman. You can sit around dreaming up ways to get out of the stuff you really need to do, or you can push your ego face down in the dirt.

The latter is very difficult for most people because the ego is very accommodating when it comes to justifying reasons why you’re time wasting. It’ll allow you to keep mindlessly surfing when you should be writing an article or starting that ebook.

With a chipper little voice it says, “It’s okay to start that project tomorrow. Yes, yes… bright and early tomorrow!” But as you know ‘tomorrow’ usually means NEVER.

You really have to decide what you want in your life and just start moving towards it. Not slowly because you’re trying to anticipate or avoid every pitfall. (That ain’t gonna happen anyway.) And definitely not tip-toeing like you’re terrified of waking your greatness out of its comatose state.

Greatness is rewarded to people who work hard, make mistakes, learn from their mistakes and keep moving forward

That’s the secret to a successful business, in a nutshell.

You can’t honestly say you’re working hard unless you’re coming up against obstacles and dropping the ball a few times. You won’t ever feel truly confident if you’re not busting down a few walls like the Incredible Hulk.

And you won’t ever move beyond the current financial scenery in your life if you’re doing the same thing day after day.

You need rocket fuel induced momentum. And that’s where The 10X Rule by Grant Cardone comes into play.

Normal work = Working class wealth (and that’s not anything to cheer about)

That’s exactly where I am right now.

I didn’t get hit by the recession because fortunately I’ve always had the smarts to live slightly below my means. I taught my kiddo to always treasure experiences more than physical things, so we live pretty light.

But if I ever got hit with an illness, I’d be screwed after maybe eight months. My finances as an entrepreneur are only slightly stronger than those of my friends who go to work every day.

To become a millionaire in internet marketing you have to work 10x harder than you think you need to and you need to do it consistently.

According to The 10X Rule, you must also set outrageous goals. If you have a financial goal of making $10,000 a month, then you really should be aiming for $100,000 a month. Why?

Because if you set average goals, then you’re setting yourself up to do average work. If you set outrageous goals then you’re going to work 10X harder to make those goals a reality. You may not hit the mark, but would you rather fall short on a $10,000 a month goal, or a $100,000 a month?

Will you say yes to the 10X test?

The new year is coming, but you don’t have to wait until January 1st to draw the line in the sand. Today is that day.

I sat down this weekend and revised my strategies for reaching some pretty lofty income goals.

In doing so I realized that my apprehension to trying out new marketing strategies holds me in a little box. That box ultimately limits my financial growth.

A perfect example is my press release writing business. When I started doing press releases I never anticipated that it would be so freaking awesome. I’ve always heard other marketers say they’re a total waste of time, so that’s what I believed too.

And now look… I love them AND I write them for other people. I was S-T-U-P-I-D to assume that because they didn’t work for others that they couldn’t work for me.

Anytime you take someone else’s experiences and make them your own, you’re not living your own life anymore. Unless you’re avoiding physical death or a loss of moral integrity, then your mind should be open to ALL options and possibilities. Screw what anybody else says.

You can’t expect a 10X increase when you’re operating on someone else’s 1X mentality. For all you know, you could be bypassing the very thing that could take you to the next level financially.

That trap is always sitting in front of us. And so many times we blindly fall into it, and then wonder why we can’t get ahead.

Where will you begin?

I’ve been avoiding YouTube like the plague. But this week I’m going to get Leo Vidal over at Media Marketing Company to do a free video commercial for my press release writing service. (He’s offering free YouTube videos in exchange for testimonials, so click on over if you’re interested.)

Then I’ll work on growing my YouTube video base. If it works, fantastic. If not, well at least I know that it doesn’t work instead of assuming that it’ll never work.

This week I’ll also be putting together a second accountability group for those of you who are interested in flexing your goal achievement muscles with me.

I’m beginning to see that it’s not enough just to say you have goals, if you’re not putting them out there in the public eye. Verbalizing it in front of a group makes you want to do what you said you’d do.

The second group will be small… 5 people or less. We’ll meet for an hour a week to express our goals and help keep one another on track. Take the first step and email me or leave a comment if you’re interested.

In the meantime, get a copy of The 10X Rule and commit to living its tenets starting immediately.

I can’t tell you what direction to take. But I do know that if you start working 10X harder, you will start seeing some extremely positive results in your life.