Tiffany Washko

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.

Share This

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

I saw a question on a business forum recently that asked why a blogger should have more than one way to subscribe to their RSS feed. This is important because visitors subscribe so they can be updated whenever you add new content. You want to keep them happy so they keep coming back.

There are two main ways that a site visitor can subscribe to your web site/blog or your “feed”.  They can subscribe by adding it to their feed reader or they can subscribe by email. Both have advantages and disadvantages.

Personally I choose to subscribe to my favorite sites using a feed reader. My personal favorite is the built-in Internet Explorer feed reader. Most of my own readers also subscribe via feed reader. I do have the option though for email subscriptions. Some people like to be notified of new content with an email either daily or weekly. Others, like me, may subscribe to so many RSS feeds that they would be bombarded with emails. I like to read on my own time.

But it is still important to let your visitors choose for themselves. You can allow for email subscriptions through services like Feedburner or FeedBlitz. I chose Aweber to manage my RSS email subscriptions because it allowed for many options that other places didn’t offer and it has ended up being a very savvy way to market to my readers. For one monthly price I can host as many newsletters and feeds as I want so if you have more than one site…Aweber is awesome.

When my readers subscribe via RSS they get an email about once a week with links to all the content for that week. I set it up to look like a newsletter rather than a random group of links so that I can get my affiliate links in front of more eyeballs each week. My main blog has about 1400 email subscribers and this is what they see every week. It matches my web site colors, it links to new and fresh content, and it has affiliate links or text link ads from advertisers. Ever since I switched to this format for email subscribers I have had better retention rates and more sales. Even if MOST people like feed readers it is just silly to let pass an opportunity to email your readers directly on a regular basis.

Share This

We hear a lot about traffic conversion…but what exactly is it? Well, the goal of any business site should be good traffic conversion. Your site doesn’t have to be about business either. You could have a site or blog that focuses on crafts but the goal is the same…you need to convert your traffic to make a profit. You need to be able to turn a site visitor into a customer or a subscriber. That is how your site will make money and keep your prospect coming back. If we don’t manage to convert our site visitors they will go away and they may never wander back our way again. Getting viewers who click and pass on is no more productive than window shoppers at the mall. You make money online when you capture that traffic and convert the “lookers” into “buyers.” So what can you do?

12 tips to increase your traffic conversion:

1. Refine your Unique Selling Proposition (USP). What makes your product or site different, special, better or more desirable than others? That’s your USP. Now get the answer to that question down to one or two concise sentences. If you have trouble figuring out what your USP is how can you possibly be telling your visitors why they should stick around?

2. Sound friendly, but not slick. Your sales copy needs to sound like one friend excited to tell another friend about a great buy. This is especially important in affiliate marketing. If you are recommending a product, your visitors will respond better to a friendly voice..not that of an oily salesman. Avoid sounding like a high-pressure infomercial.

3. Ask for help. Give the viewers a reason to interact with you by asking for their opinion on a survey or product rating. You get useful information and keep them thinking about your product longer. People love to have something to contribute.

4. Simplify the offering. If you have three different products to sell, use three websites. Don’t make the mistake of trying to offer too much at once and confuse your audience. This might work for major retailers, but they already have a brand and a following.

5. Leave some open space. Prepare a sales page that’s easy to read with wide margins. You don’t have to fill every inch. That can get overwhelming! Leaving some white space helps the reader to better focus on the copy and feel as though reading it is a manageable task.

6. Strut your stuff. If your product has a good rating or endorsements from satisfied buyers, then let them brag about the product for you. This increases consumer confidence in YOU.

7. Cast with plenty of bait. In your sales letter and squeeze page, put out the “bait” for your offer over and over. Don’t skimp on bait. Better too many offers than not enough to convert that buyer who is still uncertain.

8. Find problems. Even after your sales page is complete, keep thinking about other problems that your product can solve. You might get a hint of new ways to promote your product by asking buyers how they use the product. Asking for feedback from your peers is another great way to get some insight. I recommend Mom Masterminds.

9. Use highlighting in moderation. Yes, highlights draw visual attention but too many highlights or excessive colors can frustrate online readers. Highlight the most important points only.

10. Package deals are increasingly popular. After presenting your USP, sweeten the offer with a package including several free items as part of the “Buy Now” deal. Limited time offers create a sense of urgency for the buyer to act. Make sure the offers are relevant to the product though.

11. Ask for the order. An old principle of sales that must never be ignored – ask for the order, ask again then ask again. Many people won’t act until the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th offer.

12. Say “Thank you.” Have a gracious, personal sounding, “Thank you” email with the order confirmation. It never hurts to show appreciation! Remember this isn’t the end of your relationship…just the beginning….so make a good impression.

Share This