Delicious Food at Ethos Gallery 51 in New York City!

I am very excited to be attending the BlogHer 12 conference this August 1-5th in New York City. I am actually coming in to the city a bit early just so I can spend more time in the Big Apple. I also hope to meet up with bloggy friends for meals while I am there and eat at some popular eateries. There will be catered food at the actual conference and at the parties but you can’t go to New York without eating the food!!

A super duper way to keep it cheap and affordable is to use Restaurant.com. In fact this is a great travel tip in general. They offer discounted gift certificates (ie $10 for $25 worth of food). It can be easy to spend a lot in these places and this can cut the cost in half, literally. You have to be careful to read the terms, like dinner only, must meet a minimum amount spent, certain days only, or must order at least two entrees but even with restrictions you save money. Find the discount that works for you.

If you search for zip code “10019″ you will find dozens of restaurants within a 2-3 minute walk of the conference hotel.

La Barrique
City Lobster & Steak
Ethos Gallery 51
Mamajuana Cafe
L’YBane

If you are going to make dinner plans and get together with bloggy friends plan ahead and save money!

Many bloggers have a tough time turning their blogging efforts into profit and they end up getting discouraged. Is it possible to make decent money blogging or will you just have to be happy with pocket change? What do you need to do to make a living wage?

Okay, first it is totally possible to make a living as a blogger. I have been blogging for about eight years and have brought in a full time income for six of those years. I make more blogging than I did in corporate marketing. It can be done. The most important advice I can give is that you need to diversify your potential income sources and have your fingers in a lot of different pies. Not only does this mean you have many opportunities to make money it also serves as a protection for you in case one of your revenue streams dries up.

Also, in my experience you need to network with people who know this business. Nowadays many bloggers seem to gravitate towards other bloggers but since so many are having trouble making money with their craft, is that the wisest idea? Since the day I first started my blog I considered myself to be an Internet marketer and affiliate marketer, not a blogger. I networked with other Internet marketers, whether they had blogs or not. I learned all about SEO, search marketing, PPC ads, paid search, niche markets, keyword research, and so on. Bloggers are starting to get more savvy in this regard but in general they still have a lot to learn and you want to be hanging your hat with people who know how to make money online, if that is your goal.

Here are some of the ways you can make money blogging:

Affiliate Marketing – Online companies have figured out a great way to get an army of free advertisers willing and ready to help them spread the word about their products. How so? They offer affiliate programs. You sign up for the program, you get a unique code, and you spread it around on your site. When one of your visitors clicks the link and makes a purchase, you get a commission. The commission depends on the company and product but there is a lot of money to be made by recommending products on blogs and niche sites. As long as those links remain active on your site the potential for earning never goes way, even on content you wrote a couple years ago.

Hot Tip!! Companies can change product pages or close affiliate programs so make sure to check your site for broken links regularly. There are WordPress plugins designed to check this daily and notify you of broken links, so install one today!

Don’t be lulled into thinking that affiliate marketing is not for you if you don’t see immediate results. It can take time, especially if you don’t have a lot of traffic yet. If you started using affiliate links after you have established a blog then spend some time going back over all your old posts and seeing where you can link to affiliate products. In June of 2006 I made a whopping $2.34 cents from Amazon. In June of 2008 I made over $2,000, just from Amazon and just in one month. Good things come to those who wait and work hard.

Another wonderful aspect of affiliate marketing is that companies with good programs will bend over backwards to give you the tools you need to succeed, especially smaller brands and businesses. One affiliate program I love is run by a small green company that sells reusable products. They have offered me products at a 40-50% discount so I can purchase and then review. They have also offered me exclusive discount codes for my readers representing a 30%+ savings. Those promotions been very profitable for me. Building relationships with your affiliate managers can be very lucrative!

Hot Tip!! Use affiliate links everywhere, not just blog posts. Use them on Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Pinterest, in emails, in newsletters, in discussion forums, as the URL in blog comments, in response comments on your own blog posts, and wherever it makes sense to do so.

Sell Your Own Products – Think physical products, eBooks, physical books, eCourses, teleseminars, audio recordings, smart phone apps, etc. I dived into selling e-books about three years ago and at $12 a pop they are not making me rich but they do bring in a couple hundred dollars a month with no work required to maintain that. A good smart phone app can bring in thousands a month. Brainstorm some product ideas.

Sell Ad Space – Many bloggers and site owners already do this to some extent but it can be a great source of revenue if you have a high traffic site. You can sell the ads yourself directly or you can use an ad network. You can do both even. Offer banner ad spots as well as text link ads and you may just come up with a steady new income stream. I know one blogger who makes 2-3K every month just from text link ads on her small network of blogs. About 30% of my income is derived from ad sales and a nice portion of that is text link ads that I sell in six month and one year terms. Just be aware that text links must only be use on blogs with high quality, regularly updated content.

We hear text link ad nightmare stories all the time about bloggers who started selling text links and were then de-indexed by Google, effectively killing their traffic and rankings. This does happen, I do not deny that, but more often than not they were not blogs with high quality content and the bloggers sold too many text links and also sold them to non-relevant sites. If you are a beauty blogger for instance it makes no sense to sell a text link to an online bingo site. Even if they agree to pay you $500/year for that one little bitty link, it will do you no good if it hurts your online reputation and ranking. Just say no to spammy, irrelevant links, post original high quality content, post regularly, and you will be fine.

Hot Tip!! When a marketer or big company emails you and asks for your ad rates you don’t want to low ball yourself. Instead of giving them a rate ask them to make you an offer. Many times you will end up getting more than you would have asked for and if you don’t, counter until you get a better rate.

Running out of ad space? Have you considered starting a newsletter and putting ads there or putting ads in your RSS feed?

Host a Directory – Forming a products and/or services directory on your site is another option. Businesses would then pay a small yearly amount to be displayed on your site. PhpMyDirectory is software that allows you to maintain a professional looking directory in minutes. You can see it in action here.

Sponsored Posts/Paid Reviews – When companies contact you with press releases or product pitches send them a form email informing them of your compensation rates for helping them to promote their products or services. Many will simply ignore you and move on to find other bloggers who will do this for free but some may take you up on your offer, thus providing new sources of income. You have nothing to lose by asking. The next time you get an email asking if you would share “XYZ” with your readers reply with a nicely worded email telling them you would be happy to, provided they compensate you for your time.

Another potential opportunity comes from emails asking you to accept a guest post. Instead of coming from other bloggers, many of these proposals come from freelance writers who have been paid to build links to their employer’s web site. They are being paid to put that link on your site and you get nothing in return, beyond blog content that you could have written yourself. When you get these pitches email them back with this…

“If you’re a fellow blogger looking to guest blog and link back to your relevant blog, we’re glad to welcome you. If you’re guest blogging to build a link to a company website, we’ll be happy to quote you a price for publication. “

The writer may end up deciding to split the profits with you and then you get a small stipend and free content.

Blog Sponsorship – Bloggers will often look for sponsors when they need to defray the costs of special events like blog conferences but you can look for and accept sponsors at any time. Typically you offer some sort of benefits package such as dedicated blog posts, tweets and/or Facebook shares, a banner spot in your sidebar, etc. and they pay a set rate in return. This is very much like selling adspace but it is typically more personal and involves developing a supportive relationship with a company or brand.

Build Your List – Marketers are fond of saying that the money is in the list but many bloggers are not hip to this. If your site gets de-indexed or penalized in some way or if it gets hacked and/or the domain stolen (it happens!) would you be ruined? If any of that happens pretty much anyone will be hurt but those that have a list will be way ahead of the game when it comes time to rebuild. Your visitors should be encouraged to sign up for your list whenever they visit any of your posts/pages. Yes, we want them to click affiliate links and make purchases but we also want a way to contact them in the future and put more of our content in front of them. That may not happen if they don’t subscribe to your list(s). Give them incentive to subscribe by offering free content such as an exclusive report, ebook, ecourse, tutorial, or video. Not only will you have that data if the worst happens you will also have a list to send offers to. I use Aweber for list management and autoresponders and would never be without it!

Network  - This isn’t a direct monetization method but it is important nonetheless. Relationships and contacts will help us go further in the blogosphere and ultimately make more money. If you hide behind your puter and insist that you don’t need friends, then you will be passing on many potential opportunities. Establishing relationships with other bloggers and marketers means you will have more blog interaction, more links to your content, more “shares” on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest, and also more word of mouth opportunities. When a blogger friend is asked by a brand if they can recommend any other bloggers for campaign participation they may put in a good word for you. That is money in your pocket from a referral. You can also form marketing groups that encourage reciprocal blog commenting and social media sharing. Facebook groups are perfect for this! It’s a sandbox folks and the more friends you have, the better.

Membership Sites – If you have managed to establish a nicely trafficked site or a size-able online community it may be time to create an inner circle. This can be done via a private forum or a password protected area on your blog where you share specialized content with paying subscribers. It can also be a place where you offer coaching and personal assistance with those interested in your niche. If you run a recipe blog for instance this can be a place where you offer exclusive recipes, step by step instructions, videos of you cooking and sharing tips, menu planners, shopping lists, and other value added features. Your particular niche will determine if this is feasible but many bloggers and site owners have had great success with offering their best content to paid subscribers.

Squidoo and HubPages – Both of these sites allow you to create your own content and be paid a percentage of commissions from ad clicks and affiliate sales. You basically split the profits from your pages 50/50. Product reviews and write-ups do especially well on sites like these and they can be very profitable. I myself usually only make about $50-$150 a month from my Squidoo lenses but I have some friends you make a lot more.

What I like most about them though is that you can make your own online purchases through your Squidoo or Hubpages affiliate modules and get money back via commissions. I cannot click on my own Amazon link and get the commission, Amazon will not permit it. But I can click Amazon links on my Squidoo lens and then I get 50% of the commission. That is money back in my pocket that I would not otherwise have gotten.

You can also use these sites to create backlinks to your blog(s).

Create Niche Sites – A blog or web site is virtual real estate. All the work we pour into our blogs and sites is building equity and value. Successful real estate tycoons often own multiple rental properties so that they can keep a steady flow of income when the market is not doing so hot. Like them, we may want to expand and add more real estate to the mix with small niche sites. This way we have more avenues to bring in money and our eggs aren’t all in one basket. If one site gets slapped by Google for some inexplicable reason or the traffic just slows for market reasons we can just change focus and work more on another. You can even use your stats from your blog to figure out other lucrative niches. This is what I did when I built my bento lunch site. A few blog posts were wildly successful in selling lunchboxes during the back to school season so I figured that a whole site dedicated to them would be even better. It is not uncommon for this site to make $30 in a single, non seasonal day and over $50 a day during the back to school months.

I now have several small sites like this. My least profitable one brings in only $100 a year but since it only costs about $10 a year to maintain, that is worth it to me to keep around. Most make around $2 to $5 a day. Not bad for sites that require only a few hours a year to maintain.

Market Locally – In addition to finding local affiliate programs you can also reach out to local businesses and/or start a blog or web site about your city or township. This will give local businesses more incentive to seek you out for paid ads, sponsored posts, and product/event reviews. Some opportunities that come your way might not be paid, they may just offer you something of monetary value in return for a review or endorsement but when the opportunities are local it may help your bottom line regardless, in services or products that you didn’t have to pay for. Mom blogs especially, that are location specific, can be a great way to leverage free services and entertainment for your family. Typical perks might be free dinners at local eateries, free rounds of mini golf, or maybe a night at a bed and breakfast. It’s not cash but it still has value.

Group Deal Sites – This is another option that will not result in cash payments (unless you are an affiliate) but it can result in shopping credit. Group Deal sites (think Groupon , Zulily, and Mamapedia) are popping up all over and there is usually incentive to share these deals with friends via email, blog, Facebook, and Twitter. When someone you referred buys the daily deal you get credit that can be used on future purchases. When you use these credits on things you would have otherwise purchased, like a new winter coat or rain boots in a larger size) you “earn” money. I have made many hundreds of dollars of credit a these places which I then used to order things like gym memberships, supplements, shoes, and iPad accessories… free.

Vlogging – This stands for video blogging. You basically do the same thing you do in a written post – share your life, vent frustrations, do a product review, ect. – but you do it via video. Companies might pay you specifically to share your experiences with them via video and you can also earn ad money on youTube.

There are many others ways to make money as a blogger such as speaking gigs, paid writing for other sites, consulting, and so forth but I decided early on that I didn’t want to use my blog to leverage me into something that felt like employment. I have been offered consulting jobs and blog outreach campaigns for big companies but I have turned them down because I want easy, passive income and I want to be my one and only boss. It can be done!

If you have any successes on blog monetization to share I would love to hear!

Photos courtesy of my fave stock photography source Depositphotos.

We all experience bloggers block from time to time. We just don’t have ideas for fresh content round the clock but on the flip we side we WANT to offer our subscribers the content they’ve been waiting for. If you are known for your awesome content the stress can be pretty intense. Being a blogger without nothing to write about sucks! Here are 6 ideas that’ll help get the creative juices flowing and help come up with blog posts worth reading.

1) Use Your Daily Life As Inspiration

You might not be writing a personal blog, but that doesn’t mean you can’t bring personal experience into the posts you write. If you can relate personal experience to the topics you write about, then do so. Sometimes you have to get creative, but your blog posts will be more interesting as a result!

2) Google It!

Why not Google the main topic of your blog and see what appears? You don’t want to copy any other blogs, of course, but one idea will often lead to another. Have a read around blogs in your niche – maybe even blogs outside of your niche – and see what they’re writing about. Either use this as inspiration for your own topics or write a direct response to what’s already out there. You can also skim through your RSS feed reader for post ideas.

3) Check Your Analytics

Checking your stats can leave you with a whole range of blog post ideas. Take a look at the keywords people are typing in to find your site. Chances are that some of the things they’re searching for aren’t on your blog yet. Why not use these keywords as ideas for future blog posts? You’ll also have the added benefit of knowing there’s a future audience for those posts!

4) Test Something And Post Your Results

If you’re really stuck for ideas, why not give yourself a challenge and post the results? For example, in the personal development niche this could mean making a gratitude list each day and writing about the effects. Or you could try a new fitness program and write about how you’re dealing with it. In most cases, readers in any niche love to read real life case studies!

5) Use Videos

Why not get surfing YouTube and see if there’s an interesting video you can share with your subscribers? Embed the video into a post where you give your own personal comments. This is a super-fast way to come up with content that’s still interesting.

6) Invite Readers To Ask Questions

What better way of coming up with content that your readers will enjoy than to invite them to ask questions? Write up a quick post one day asking them what they want to know, then post a follow up a few days later with all the answers. This last method is also an excellent way to connect with your audience.

There is of course nothing wrong with deciding to slow down and enjoy your summer but if you find that you just can’t find the desire to blog then you might be feeling some pain in your pocketbook. Here are some ideas to get you out of a summer blogging funk and make the process just a bit easier… so you can get back to taking it easy of course.

Scan Your RSS Feeds – Quite likely you subscribe to a number of blog RSS feeds. This allows you to keep up with your favorite personal blogs and also any blogs related to your online business niches and passions. Whenever you need a little topic inspiration scan through your RSS feeds for ideas, even going back several months if you have to. Surely there is something there you can use to inspire your own blog post.

Use Facebook to Get Feedback – One of the best ways to get content for a blog post is to pose a question to your Facebook friends or page fans. You can use their responses to create a new post. For example you could ask on your fan page how people prefer to cook Rhubarb and use the ten best responses in an article titled The 10 Most Delicious Ways to Cook Rhubarb. Food might not be your niche but you get the general idea. You can also take Facebook fan questions that are asked on your page and answer by writing a new blog post.

Visit Niche Forums – If their are any public forums or communities for your niche those are a great place to get content ideas. You can see first hand what people want to know and what they are concerned about.

See What Your Visitors Searched For – Every good blog should have a search function and there are several plugins available that track what your visitors searched for when they visited your blog and how many search results were returned. When you see searches that have few or zero returned results then you know what to blog about!

Seek Out Interviews – Contact people that you admire in your niche and ask if you can send them some interview questions via email. Most times they will happily answer your questions in return for a little exposure on your blog and they provide you with fresh, relevant content. It is a win win for both parties.

Ask for Guest Posts – See if any of your networking contacts or blogging friends want a chance to spotlight themselves on your virtual real estate with a blog post. Again, they benefit from the exposure and you get new content.

Scan Old Magazines – Another great place to source ideas is in old print magazines. This will of course depend greatly on your niche but you can find great ideas and inspiration for your home decor blog, for instance, by looking through back issues of decorating and design magazines.

Ask Your Readers – If you are lacking topics to blog about ask your readers via post, email list, or Facebook fan page about what topics they would like to see covered. You may just end up with a nice long list to work through.

Purchase Content – During the summer you might want to outsource a couple blog posts per week so that you can prioritize your time. This can be done by buying PLR (and editing it to ft your needs) or hiring a ghostwriter. Fiverr.com is great place to find writers for this purpose… just make sure to look for users with lots of good feedback. Once you find a good writer that you trust, you can breathe a little easier.

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In my mind it is a turbulent time to be in the affiliate marketing niche. Several states (including CA, IL, NY, AR, NC, and RI) have passed affiliate nexus laws. If you are not familiar with this legislation it is basically a law that seeks to force online retailers (like Amazon) to collect sales taxes. Constitutionally sales tax does not have to be collected from customers who live outside of any state where that retailer has a physical presence… think warehouses, shipping centers, and corporate offices. These laws seek to force them to collect the taxes by saying that using affiliates as independent sales people creates “presence” or nexus in the states where their affiliates reside.

For all the reasons why this is horrendous news for affiliates read Sales Tax Laws May Kill Affiliate Marketing. Even worse news is that recently an Illinois Senator took this shakedown attempt national. To put it simply though imagine that you are a big corporation and a state law passes in California that states your business relationship with John Doe in that state now requires you to collect sales taxes for all California customers. Jumping through those hoops will cost you money and lots of extra work so it is not hard to figure out the easiest course of action… simply fire John Doe and avoid all that extra money and paperwork. That is exactly what large retailers are doing. They won’t be strong armed by state governments, they simply fire their affiliates and devastate thousands of small businesses that reside there.

So, the million dollar question is.. what do you if your state passes an affiliate nexus law and you got your walking papers from Amazon and other large retailers? Here are some ideas:

Move to Another Location – This is the most obvious one and if you make a substantial income with affiliate marketing it may well be worth it. Of course this law may follow you to the new state as well, so keep that in mind. You may choose to live in a state where your largest affiliate company has a physical presence but you may lose your relationship with others. Another option would be to move out of the country. Just make sure the income tax there isn’t greater than what you pay here or it may not be worth it. There is also the possibility of incorporating in another state but you should talk to a tax professional about the legalities of it.

Find Affiliate Programs in Your State – Any retailers based in your state must collect sales tax already so they are unlikely to fire affiliates from their own state. It wouldn’t make sense to do so. This may not be as profitable as before but you may be able to get creative and salvage some income. You can always try niche sites that center around what is available in your state.

Sell Digital Products – This option may not be available for long since many states are looking to tax digital products as well but for the time being you may have luck promoting ebooks and info products as an affiliate.

Sell Your Own Products – You can also make and sell your own digital products. Think eBooks, eCourses, teleseminars, audio recordings, plr articles, etc. And of course you can sell physical products by opening a retail shop online.

Sell Ad Space – Many bloggers and site owners already do this to some extent but it can be a great source of revenue if you have a high traffic site. You can sell the ads yourself directly or you can use an ad network. You can do both even. Offer banner ad spots as well as text link ads and you may just come up with a steady new income stream. Forming a products and/or services directory on your site is another option. Small businesses would then pay a small yearly amount to be displayed on your site.

Sponsored Posts/Paid Reviews – When companies contact you with press releases or product pitches send them a form email informing them of your compensation rates for helping them to promote their products or services. Many will simply ignore you and move on to find other bloggers who will do this for free but some may take you up on your offer, thus providing new sources of income.

Membership Sites – If you have managed to establish a nicely trafficked site or a sizeable online community it may be time to create an inner circle. This can be done via a private forum or a password protected area on your blog where you share specialized content with paying subscribers. It can also be a place where you offer coaching and personal assistance with those interested in your niche. If you run a recipe blog for instance this can be a place where you offer exclusive recipes, step by step instructions, videos of you cooking and sharing tips, menu planners, shopping lists, and other value added features. Your particular niche will determine if this is feasible but many bloggers and site owners have had great success with offering their best content to paid subscribers.

Squidoo and HubPages – Both of these sites allow you to create your own content and be paid a percentage of commissions from ad clicks and affiliate sales. You basically split the profits from your pages 50/50. While it may seem foolish to create profitable pages on someone else’s virtual real estate this is a great option to have if you cannot collect these commissions in your own state. Product reviews and write-ups do especially well on sites like these and they can be very profitable. And another tip… you can make your own online purchases through your Squidoo or Hubpages affiliate modules and get money back via commissions.

Market Locally – In addition to finding local affiliate programs you can also reach out to local businesses and/or start a blog or web site about your city or township. This will give local businesses more incentive to seek you out for paid ads, sponsored posts, and product/event reviews. Some opportunities that come your way might not be paid, they may just offer you something of monetary value in return for a review or endorsement but when the opportunities are local it may help your bottom line regardless, in services or products that you didn’t have to pay for. Mom blogs especially, that are location specific, can be a great way to leverage free services and entertainment for your family.

Group Deal Sites – This is another option that will not result in cash payments but it can result in shopping credits. Group Deal sites (think Groupon) are popping up all over and there is usually incentive to share these deals with friends via email, blog, Facebook, and Twitter. When someone you referred buys the daily deal you get credit that can be used on future purchases.

If you want an affiliate based business to survive and thrive you may need to get creative find new income streams. Do you have any ideas or tips to share?

I was giving this blog a little facelift today and noticed that I never did a review of 2010 to tell how that went and what I learned. Income wise I earned 16% more money than in 2009. The amazing thing about that is the fact that I didn’t really work that hard to increase my income in the first place. I would say I did the bare minimum but some new hobby projects as well as the aging of already established sites and projects brought in more cash.

The Back to School season was very profitable for me, again. I think I doubled last year’s earnings in that regard and I think my bento lunchbox site may have overtaken my naturemoms site in that arena. I have been updating the prior site often, adding content, in preparation for another great year in 2011.

I dipped my toes into the Halloween niche in 2010 too. I created two blogs, a static html shopping site, and a few Squidoo lenses in a specific vampire niche. I created them all just because I am completely fanatical about the cable TV show that they were created for. I did it because it was fun and I wanted a place to share my thoughts and ideas not so much for the money but they were all pretty successful anyway.

Both of the blogs started getting good traffic and one in particular got up to around 20,000 monthly page views after only a couple months! I started selling Blogads spots like crazy for romance novel sellers and made an extra $500-$600 in just a couple months. The shopping site linked to various costumes for the TV show characters and between it and the Squidoo lenses I made another $500. I actually got my first ever check from Commission Junction! Not bad for my first foray into Halloween sales. The sites are still getting nice traffic and the show they were created for starts its fourth season in mid summer so I am looking forward to seeing what type of income they will bring in.

I almost always choose niches that I am truly passionate about, and not ones that I think will monetize well but it still works out well. It just goes to show you can make money without analyzing niches and keywords. Just write about something you LOVE!

Christmas was also better than in 2009. Honestly I did almost nothing to increase sales in that regard except update my existing green gift guide. I am going to assume it was the economy that spurred the increase in sales. I did make some decent money on Squidoo for those months, on old lenses.

My ebooks are still selling well… several dozen a month (each). I REALLY hope to add two more ebooks to the mix in 2011 and see what magic that will bring.

Anyway that was 2010. The year was full of personal turmoil and I didn’t really work that hard on my business but made 16% more anyway. I LOVE Internet Marketing!

My Money Makers for 2010:

• Amazon
• AdSesnse
• Private Ad Sales
• Vita-Mix Affiliate Program
• PLR Sales
• My Recipe Books
• Shareasale
• BlogAds
• Text Link Ads (TLA)
• Squidoo
• Linkshare
• Commission Junction
• Various Small Affiliate Programs (ebooks, ecourses, ect)

I have made no secret of the fact that Amazon accounts for a pretty significant chunk of my earnings as an affiliate marketer. I have had one blog post generate over $2000.00 in a single month when that post went viral. During the ‘Back to School’ season I can easily rake in an extra $1000 or more from one or two posts on my blogs about school supplies. I have the same success during Christmas as well, in regards to green Christmas gifts. Even during non-seasonal times I make a very nice amount each and every month from Amazon… enough usually for my rent and all my utilities.

I never had a guide to help me make Amazon sales, I just learned via trial and error. The first two quarters I was promoting Amazon products I earned whopping 7 dollars and some change. I also used the same tracking IDs on all my sites so when I did start making sales… I had no idea where they were coming from. But nowadays, newbies to Amazon don’t have to take a shot in the dark. They can get step by step instructions for Amazon success.

One of my two favorite guides is Info Product Killer. In my review I mention two ways I implemented the ideas found in this book and I shared the results with exact dollar amounts. I followed up the next year with this post. The pages, sites, and Squidoo lenses I made using IPK strategies are STILL making money so that is a great testimony for how well it works.

My second fave Amazon sales resource is new but oh so very valuable. It is called Amazonian Profit Plan and it was created by two Aussie affiliate marketing women who started a small network of niche affiliate sites together and they are now making over $10,000 a month from Amazon. The book outlines how to craft Amazon product reviews that will sell and then how to drive traffic to those pages. The key to their success seems to be the criteria they use to select the products, the way they craft the reviews to make them valuable to the reader, and the formula they use to drive traffic to those reviews. I realize my Amazon success has been very much a fly by night operation so it fascinates me when people create success with methodical, calculated formulas.

This book teaches you:

• How to choose the right Amazon products
• How to determine what keywords and keyword phrases you should target
• How to spy on your current competition and beat them on the SERPs (search engine results page)
• How to drive traffic to your reviews and get inbound links

Once you use the formula and start seeing traffic and sales you rinse and repeat with new products (the book suggests only 5 at a time). I REALLY like this formula because it is actionable and broken down into easy to follow steps. I have no doubt that anyone who took this much time to create such an action plan DID in fact see amazing results.

Both IPK and Amazonian Profit Plan are wonderful products and methods. I doubt I will follow either exactly as described but I take the most valuable tips and insights and put them into place when I have the time. I say this only because my fly by night method leaves me with loads of free time and almost nothing on my “To Do” list… which is highly valuable to me… but $10,000 a month from Amazon??? Hmm… I might have to rethink that one!

I was reading my review of 2008 this morning and had a few thoughts. I started out 2009 all gung ho and really didn’t end up doing as much as I wanted to. 2008 was really the year I found out what worked and where I needed to go but all in all 2009 was not as big of a growth year for my business as it could have been.

My income went up by 30% yes but not because I did very much that was new… older projects and web sites just had time to marinate and get better with age. I did not not add any new info products to my line up.. I just have the three ebooks and they continue to amaze me with steady sales. I still giggle when I think how I hoped the sales would at LEAST be able to pay for the shopping cart I use to sell them. Those books were one of the single best things I ever did business-wise.

I guess a big part of why I didn’t really reach all of my goals would be because we moved to a new town. Our expenses doubled and it made us more reliant on my income for mundane things like bills. Instead of spending time dabbling in new income streams I had to stick with what I knew would pay the rent. I also moved away from my extended family and starting spending nearly every weekend traveling back to see them.. that took 3 days off my normal work week… since I usually do work (a least a little) every day.

But I did accomplish some new things. I added a new niche site that did really well. During the peak for that niche I earned $450 a month from that one site. In off peak months it makes anywhere from $20-$60 so I am really happy with it and have already added a similar site that was earning money from the first week.

I also revamped my Squidoo efforts. At one point early in the year I got discouraged with my Squidoo earnings and I sold off half of my lenses. Then a few months later I got an invite to an exclusive group within Squidoo called Rocket Moms. It was basically a group project to give Squid moms a special place to house their lenses and encourage them to make more. I made some new lenses during the Rocket Moms challenges and they started to do pretty good. I decided to try and become a Giant Squid… which meant I had to have at least 50 quality lenses. I bought about 10 lenses and reworked them and I made the rest.. about 30 in all! Anyway I am a Giant Squid now and I am working my way to the Giant 100 club.. I have about 70ish lenses right now. I am making MUCH better money than before and my lenses direct traffic to my other blogs. I am a happy Squid.

Now at about 6 months or so into our new house I am finally getting down to business with new growth projects… better late than never right? Last year I bought a site for $500 and pretty much just sat on it. I re-did the design and added articles sporadically but that’s about it. Even with that teeny bit of attention though it has earned a modest amount of money via affiliate sales and the list attached to it is over 2000 strong. This past month I converted it to a blog and I hope to dedicate as much time to it as I have my other blog. It has the potential to be just as big, if not bigger… I feel it in my bones.

I also created a couple new blogs in an entertainment niche that I am passionate about. I finally made that leap after I started to see how well my Squidoo lenses on those topics were doing. Squidoo is an excellent place for market research too!

My love of seasonal affiliate sales has only grown as well. In addition to having another great xmas season, I also had a great Halloween, and a great back to school season.

Going into 2009 I know that I need to take some risks and work a whole lot harder if I want to double my income again. I plan to create a new ebook and have the topic picked and the cover designed… I just need to write the book! I am going to really focus on blogging for 6 blogs… 3 in the natural niche I love and 3 in the entertainment niche I love. I want to add a few more static product sites since those have performed really well for me. I have big goals again this year but let’s see if I can generate the steam to see them through.

I have said it before but it warrants a few more shouts… I LOVE seasonal affiliate sales! Well I love all affiliate sales but seasonal affiliate sales provide a huge boost in earnings a few times a year.

The back to school season is a big seasonal earner for me. I would guesstimate that I made AT LEAST an extra $1000 from late July to mid September. I celebrated by buying myself a new camera lens for my DSLR.

I also see increases during Halloween and Christmas, especially the latter. Remember my review of Info Product Killer last year? It teaches you how to create niche web sites, especially Christmas sites. I used the information to create one niche toy site and a Christmas gift guide on an existing site. Today I ran a couple reports to see how much I earned from these in total. I earned $122.52 from the Wall-e site and $804.55 from the gift guide. Since it only took me 5 hours to put them together I earned $185 per hour. Not bad! I Paid for a domain and the Info Product Killer product and made an $840 profit. Again.. not bad! It can pay to invest in quality learning materials. And remember this was in additition to the monthly income I usually bring in… it was a BONUS.

I really want to get on the ball and make a few more this year. Unfortunately, it is hard for me to be inspired by products I wouldn’t buy or use myself. Somehow I don’t see making dozens but that’s okay. AND instead of making whole sites I can take a shortcut and create a Squidoo page.. they do really well seasonally too. I am already seeing my monthly lens earnings go up.

I did a little research for this year and found one of the HOT toys for xmas 2009 will be the Twilight Barbie Dolls, so I threw together a site for them in less than an hour. Then I put together a quickie Squidoo page, and linked to the new site from a few existing ones. I may try to get an article or two up at ezine articles as well. So I am off to a running start and I love the product too. Now I just need to find the inspiration to make a few more, update my ones from last year, and I will be set to make a nice chunk of change again this Christmas…

Kelly at Sparkplugging has asked people to participate in a meme and “Spark an Idea About Something You Want So Bad You Can Taste It”.

I have something I want so bad I can taste it…

My goal is to be able to travel with my folks when they retire in a couple years. They want the kids and I to spend summers with them in various parts of the country and world and I want to be able to do that with them. I need to be making enough in income and have enough saved to pay for extended travel for months at a time basically. I also want to be able to take a couple 4-7 day cruises each year. Add heck I have to be able to spend time my brother and nephews who will be moving to Indonesia in a couple months. AND I have to be able to afford to offset my travel (carbon) emissions in some way so that is an extra expense.

When I look at what I REALLY want… it is to travel and I used to be quite the jet setter until my second child was born. Always has been and always will be what I want most in life… it is about time I start making that happen again.

My goals this year are to get a rewards credit card and start paying all my bills with it so I get airline miles BUT I will pay off the card with my debit card immediately so I don’t ever carry a balance. I will also be opening an ING account so I can start adding to a travel fund. I plan to create more niche sites since I am doing so well with the ones I have now… passive income rocks. I also plan to add two more info products to my line up since those too perform fantastically for me. I would love to find a way to make money off my photography too…

I figure I need to be making about $1000-1500 more a month to be able to do this AND keep paying my bills at home. This amount is VERY achievable so I need to get on it….