April is always such a busy month for me – both of my daughter’s birthdays are in April, and it always seems like that is when everything else starts up as well…(soccer, swimming lessons, etc. etc……).

But, I have made a conscious decision this year that I am going to also make sure that my business is taken care of as well – and while I am still going to be as busy as I can doing everything I need to do every day to grow my business, (sadly, at the expense of my spring housecleaning, but that is another matter altogether!), I know that I can’t possibly do everything that needs to be done.

Time For A Leap Into The Great Unknown!

Well, I have now got a couple of sites up following the Amazon auto-updating plugin model.  While it is nowhere near enough time to really judge how things have worked out, and I really don’t have enough sites to really get an accurate picture – I do want to let you know my results so far.

As I had mentioned in a previous update – I had 2 orders within just a few days of finishing up the first site.  I have had a few clicks here and there since then.

Meanwhile, I had built another site – this one using keywords for my domain name, after doing some keyword research to choose my niche.  This site is taking a little longer to get the traffic to it, simply because it is new.   The first site was one I had for awhile, so it was already getting some traffic.

I have had 2 more orders yesterday on my first site – so in total, I have had 4 orders out of about 80 clicks.  And I think I should also mention – I have really done nothing to promote these sites yet.  I am going to do some social bookmarking and link building – but really, up until this time, I have done nothing.

**The following is an article which kind of explains a bit about becoming a blog consultant for offline businesses.  If you have been online for any amount of time, then you likely have some knowledge that even you don’t realize is in high demand in the offline world.  Taking that knowledge, and using it to help offline businesses is a great way for you to build a business that makes you very good money.**

If you have been online for any length of time you’ve been exposed to a blog in one way or another. In fact you’re probably using one yourself and understand the importance of a small business utilizing a blog for several reasons such as increasing traffic, building a relationship with your readers, etc.

Not all people are as fortunate as those of us that know the importance of blogging. Speaking on a local level if you’ve ever had a conversation with a small business owner who has a brick and mortar business you have probably come to the conclusion that some of them don’t even know what a blog is!

I was reading a blog post the other day, which talked about doing things your own way when you are working online – not just following the “herd mentality” and doing everything the way the experts tell you is the only right way.

This post might get long winded, and maybe go a bit all over the place, so I do apologize.  I tend to write as though I am talking, and as happens a lot of the time I am talking, I can go in about 5 different directions by the time I am finished!  But, I will do my best to keep you with me;-)

I have been working online for a few years now – and I am proud of the fact that I have never sold myself out to make money.  What I mean is, I know there are markets, and niches I could go into that would make me very good money.  However, I can’t – in my own conscience – do it.  Not that I am saying that those who do are bad people – but I just know that it isn’t something for me.

I just wanted to do a quick post here today, as I am busy doing some more sites.  But, I had to come and let you know my results so far!

After just one day of having the Amazon plugin installed, and completely redoing my site…….I had 3 orders through Amazon!  I only had 6 clicks – but 3 of them ordered!

I was so surprised – and I know that it does help that I was already getting traffic to the site, but it still isn’t a large amount – averaging about 40 a day.

Because Amazon doesn’t show any amounts until the order is actually shipped (I believe), I didn’t see until today what I had even made.  It isn’t a huge winfall by any means – only $8 and some change – but seriously….if you can’t see the potential in this, then I don’t know what to say!

Get enough of these sites out there working like this every day, and you will start to see something building up that will continue to make you money every month.

While I have actually been doing Affiliate Marketing for awhile – I know that there is still a lot I need to learn, so I decided to do my own case study of a method that I am trying.  Basically, it consists of setting up niche blog sites – taking a lot of information from a man who has seen quite a bit of success with this model.  You can get access to a ton of free information and videos outlining every single detail of getting set up at www.supersimpleblogging.com

I already know how to set up a blog and had a pretty good idea of keyword research already, but I still picked up some very good tips that I didn’t know about.  I didn’t watch the videos about installing the WordPress blogs or anything like that, but for those of you who are just starting out, and who have no idea of how to do any of this stuff – trust me, there is no better resource out there.  He literally walks you through every single step.

Anyway – I am kind of adding some of my own twists to it, but for the most part, I will be doing things as outlined by him.

Today’s post may be considered off-topic maybe – or a bit of a rant perhaps.  And, as always, I am just going to start writing and see where the post even goes…..

Yesterday, I was looking through a few of my RSS feeds to see if there was anything new I should read about.  I stumbled onto a blog post about Kate Gosselin doing Dancing with the Stars, which basically asked readers what their thoughts were on moms who had ambition and how they were seen by others.

The post isn’t what got to me – (even though Kate Gosselin is not one of my favorite people, I don’t really feel it is any of my business how she conducts her life).  What got to me was where the comments started heading.