In all the years that I have been working in affiliate marketing, I have never really considered myself a web designer. Sure all the sites that I own were built by me.  I took an online html course way back when. Until recently though I had never designed a site for someone else though. Not sure why that is part of the criteria for me, but it is.

Anyway my daughter attends a private school. Not the snooty upper crust kind (not that there is anything wrong with that), but one that uses one of the best education styles out there and doesn’t have a lot of money. She started going there about 2 years ago and from the first moment that I saw their website, I have been itching to revamp it.

Okay revamp is a bit of an understatement. I wanted to completely overhaul it from top to bottom and give it a fresh new look and better usability. They finally took me up on my offer at the beginning of the school year and we started talking about what kind of changes we could make to it.

This past weekend all of the stars finally lined up just right and I was able to change it over.  I am using Wordpress as a CMS (content management system) for it, so that the school staff can make changes easily without having any coding knowledge. I learned a few things while setting it up and hope to share some of the tidbits with you soon.

Really the best part was being able to give back to a group that needed it. I encourage you to do the same. I’m not sure that I would ever want to work with clients on a full time basis, but I learned much from this project. It still has a ways to go, but is a huge improvement over what was there.  Still not quite ready to call myself a web designer, but getting closer.

As we wrap up the work week (do you keep Monday through Friday working hours?) it is time for another Freebie Friday. Here are the ones that I have rounded up for this week:

• Free Computer Programming Training – Alice is a visual based learning environment that shows students both children and adults how to use computer programming languages such as Java and C++.
• Store Ideas & Resources – Are you constantly finding things that you would like to keep track of such as recipes, snippets of code, or an idea for a new website? Spring Pad is a free tool that lets you store and organize all of these ideas. Definitely better than trying to keep track of pieces of paper.
• Free Celtic Music – St. Patrick’s Day is just around the corner and these Celtic songs can be downloaded from Amazon for free.
• St. Patrick’s Day Printable – Print out this color by numbers printable for your kids to work on while you write out one more article. It features a leprechaun, rainbow, and a pot of gold of course.

That wraps up another week of freebies. Please let me know what you think of them in the comments below.

*Freebies may expire or become unavailable at any time. While I do my best to research the validity of each offer, some bad ones may sneak through.  Thank you for understanding.*

Recently I made the decision to change an old website over completely to Wordpress.  It had wordpress installed in a /blog directory and I wanted to move it into the main domain. I knew that it would be good for this old site that had been cobbled together with a combination of hand coding & Frontpage. It was badly in need of an update.

I asked around for some recommendations on how to do it and did some reading. I think the best resource that I came across was from the Wordpress Codex on moving wordpress within your site.  The other great resource was my computer savvy hubby that said “let’s just do it!”

All in all it went much better than I expected. I am still in the process of changing over some old pages to the new format. It is really important to remember to 301 redirect all the old pages to the new ones. Plus I need to have a new header & logo designed, pick out colors, you know make it pretty.  For now though it is so much better than the old site and my traffic from the search engines is already increasing.

Just a heads up that the Jeremy Schoemaker has reopening his Shoemoney System to new members.  Based on early feedback from current members they have rearranged the training materials so that members can make their first $100 within the first 30 days and $500 within the first 60 days of belonging.

I am not a member, so I did some digging for reviews. It sounds like many people feel the system was built for the very beginner.  It also sounds like Shoe may have been listening and that is why he has revamped things.

Fortunately if you are interested you can check it out risk free for 60 days with his money back guarantee.  I’m not sure how long he will be reopened for, so check it out today.

I have been feeling rather direction-less lately. I don’t want to say unmotivated, more like being pulled in many different directions.  Sort of like a compass that spins because it is too close to a magnetic field.  There are so many things that I want to do, so many good teachers out there, that it can be difficult to find which way to go.  Until I read this blog post on Thursday.

I sort of glanced at it on Thursday and then reread it yesterday.  And reread it again.  I started clicking on the links in the article and reading those too. Then I started taking notes. Brainstorming ideas that I can apply to my own business.  Things that I am doing wrong, things that I am not doing, some things that I need to be doing right now.

The article is by Rae Hoffman, also known as Sugarrae. I have known her for a long time now and she is the person that I credit for encouraging me to go into affiliate marketing.  She is also one of the most successful people that I know and her advice is stellar.

This comes at such a good time for me, as I am revamping what I consider my biggest website.  And a time when I am ready to make some changes to move forward. I encourage you to read it too.  I’ve already ordered the The E-Myth Revisited based on her recommendation and it will go to the top of my reading queue.  Tomorrow I will reread her post again and start to put the steps into action. Success lies at the end of this compass direction.

Here is another round of Friday freebies. I think there are some fun ones this week:

• Free training journal – In honor of my new running challenge these sheets are helpful for any athlete looking to set goals and track their progress with a very  girly spin.
• Online To Do List – If you are looking for a great way to get things accomplished, then this free to do list may be for you. It is a web based list that you can assign both daily tasks and a someday list.
• Why Diets Don’t Work – This free report talks about why diets don’t work and what you can do to overcome it.  There is no opt in to read the report.
• Frost Paint Recipe – This kid friendly craft idea uses items that you probably already have around your house.  With the snow gently falling outside my window (and much more heavily in other places), winter still has a huge hold on us.  Embrace it with a snowy project.

Let me know what you think of these freebies in the comments below.  Have a great weekend!

*Freebies may expire or become unavailable at any time. While I do my best to research the validity of each offer, some bad ones may sneak through.  Thank you for understanding.*

I have been a mom for a while, working at home for longer, and married for longer than that.  Taking care of things has been my “job” for a long time now.  My husband tends to work long hours, so a lot of things fall on me. That is the way things need to be right now for a variety of reasons, and well, I deal with it.  Which can make it very difficult to find me time.

I’m very lucky in that my daughter attends school 5 mornings a week, so that I can work, but I don’t consider that me time at all.  And for everyone out there that has their own business, you probably know what I am talking about when I say there really are no regular business hours for me.  There is always work to be done and I get it done whenever I can.  Maybe not the best approach but I have goals I am working hard towards.

About a year and a half ago I decided to take up running.  Now for anyone that knows me, this was completely out of my character.  I was the girl that tried the track team for a week back in junior high and quit cause of all the running.  A mile long warm up run before the actual practice?  Thanks, not for me, goodbye.  So I joined a gym that has locations near my house and my daughter’s school and started on the couch to 5K program.  I made it all the way through but then the summer came and I found it difficult to find time to run.

School started in the fall and while I’ve tried to be consistent, running just hasn’t been much of a priority for me. I can’t say that I’ve ever found that runner’s high that some describe. I feel better when I do it for sure, but it is something I struggle with.  Well now I have something to inspire me. Affiliate Summit has created a running challenge that benefits the Avon Breast Cancer Crusade.  It works in partnership with the Nike+ sensor. For every mile run by the participants, they will be donating $1 to the charity.

I got the Nike+ sensor for Christmas from my husband and it works with an app pre-installed on my iPhone. I don’t have the shoes made for it, so I’ve been placing it under the tongue of my shoe. Thanks to a tip from Shawn Collins though, I ordered a sensor case that will attach to my shoelaces. I can’t wait for it to come to see how it works out.

I got back on the treadmill this morning after an almost 2 week hiatus and can’t wait to start racking up the miles. If you are a runner or want to try it out, why don’t you join us? A great cause, a good way to connect with Affiliate Summit participants, and a great way to make time for yourself.

I have been testing out some modifications to this website to see what works as far as banners, widgets, and the like.  I am using the Thesis theme for Wordpress. While it comes with a steep learning curve for someone that knows little about programming, such as myself, fortunately there is a wide knowledge base out there that is just a Google search away.  A couple of weeks ago someone on Twitter asked me how I put the 6 buttons inside the multimedia box on the right.

It is a pretty easy thing to do.  Here are the directions and code needed:

This allows the various images, as well as making them clickable.  125×125 size button ads are what I used and they fit perfectly.  The code is attributed to Satish Talim who can be found on Twitter as @indianguru.  I like this one as it only requires very little changing of the custom.css file plus the ads are easy to change from within the Thesis design panel.

One of the toughest things about affiliate marketing seems to be getting started. Across the board one of the most common questions that I hear is “How do I find a niche?” or “How do I find a niche that will make money?” This very question is the one that seems to paralyze most people from ever taking any action. Over the weekend I downloaded a $7 report called How to Uncover a Hot Profitable Niche in a Few Hours from Susanne Myers that answers this question very well and will have you on your way to setting up your first money making website.

Starting off she gives a definition of a market and a niche within the market and then why it is important to define your target market.  Finding a niche is often very easy, but the trouble is in finding a hot niche. Susanne describes how she had a great niche website with a steady stream of traffic, but it just wasn’t making her much money at all.  She says there are two big motivators that turn people into buyers and she goes into depth talking about them and how you can use it to your advantage.

Whenever Susanne is considering a new niche she has several tests that she runs on the idea before deciding it would make a profitable website or not.  I picked up some really great tips in this section.  They are all very easy tests to run that won’t take you very long either.

This report is a real gem at such a low price.  Plus it comes with a bonus report on Niche Solution Strategies.  If you have been sitting around not taking action or have some websites already that are just not making money, then you need this report. Download it today and get working on a profitable niche in just a few hours.

It is time for another installment of Freebie Friday. Here are the free deals that I have found for you this week:

• Free To Do List Printable – Moms are busy people and having a to do list makes things much easier to manage. Check out these printable pages with a cute latte theme that will have you organized in no time.
• Emergency Preparedness Guide – In case of an emergency it is important to have information such as telephone numbers, social security numbers, and a plan in place to contact family members.  Are you prepared? Download this free guide that you can write all that information down and keep in a secure place. Also includes sheets that you can cut out and fit in your wallet.
• Laundry Tag Guide – My daughter and I were just in the car this week when she asked me what some of the symbols on her coat’s laundry tag meant. I honestly didn’t know and found this guide to help us decipher them. Perfect for printing out and putting in your laundry room.
• Little Pig Craft – Your preschooler will love this craft. You just have to print out the page and they can have fun cutting, coloring, and gluing it all together.  It is adorable!

I hope that these add some value to your week. As always, feel free to contact me to submit your own freebie for future editions.

*Freebies may expire or become unavailable at any time. While I do my best to research the validity of each offer, some bad ones may sneak through.  Thank you for understanding.*