Well its a new year and a time when many people make new year’s resolutions. I’ve thought about it this year and I don’t plan on really making any changes in my life. I may make a few in my business online, but that is about it. I could set goals such as I’m going to increase my web traffic, but that is going to happen regardless as I’m constantly cranking out new content on my other blogs daily. I did decide to take things to a new level and actually start investing more than just time in my online endeavors. I’ve made a fairly decent amount of money this past year and I’m thankful for everything I’ve been able to accomplish. I have not made my goal of 6K per month every month from my online activities, but I’ve done okay this year. The main reason I’ve improved this year is because I really started concentrating on tasks that help me obtain my goals and not looking at different methods too much. Perhaps that is the reason or perhaps I just found my niche. Who knows and who cares because the money is rolling in and it allows me more avenues.
Since I’ve been profitable this year and I want to avoid some taxes, I invested a decent amount of cash back into my business this year. One thing I’ve never done is to run a list. I’ve needed to do that, but I’ve never really taken the time to build one. One thing I purchased was subscriptions to a list manager and I will be offering the ability to sign up to my list in the near future. I could put one up right now, but I’ve decided to take a little while and really think about my list building activities. If I start an IM focused list, then I’m definitely not going to be one of these IMers who just pitch every product that comes down the line without providing any real value. I’, on enough of those lists already and I plan to maintain my brand of No Nonsense Tips. Its no secret that people run lists to make money from, but I think there needs to be a balance between give and take. If you join my list, then I’m going to hope you will give me something in the form of commissions when I locate a product which needs to be promoted, but at the same time, if you give me your time, then I’m going to provide tips to my list members which I don’t provide anywhere else. Long time subscribers who know me also know that I don’t post near what I actually know on this blog or any other one for that matter. I will be a lot more open on a list which I own and in a medium where I don’t have to share with just anyone.
Another thing I’ve done is to invest some money into PPC marketing. I’ve loaded up several PPC accounts with cash and I will start to spend more money on advertising than I have in the past. One reason for this is I’ve been studying Cost Per Action affiliate programs and I’m a member of several programs now. A lot of these programs work very well with PPC, more so than SE marketing, so I’ll be promoting these to various audiences over the coming year. CPA is really hot on quite a few IM forums and while it takes some work, the payout for a lot of these programs can be lucrative. Of course CPA is just coming full circle as CPA used to be a lot more popular to promote than lately. But many people are making some really good money with CPA programs as they mostly payout very well and they are a lot of times easier to convert than other product purchase types of Affiliate programs.
Some of the first money I ever made on the web was from a CPL program. Commission Junction offered a program where you got people to sign up as a member to Tech Republic and it paid me a buck a conversion. I actually did okay and converted a bunch of people as during that time I had a fairly successful certification site which got some decent traffic. I’ll likely be posting more about these types of programs and how they can make you money later, or this may be one of the topics I save for the list.
So regardless of what your new years resolutions are know I don’t really have one, except to utilize my talents and resources to continue to build my online presence in a manner which allows me to have additional choices in where I take my life. I for one am really tired of others controlling my destiny as has been the case lately.
Hi Bruce!
Nice to hear that you have found out that you want to start and build a list! )I was ovelooking this for a while myself, and I`m seeing now how much I was missing out… But we can`t get all things done at once can we`:)
You should check out my free listbuilding ebook! It will help you build your list pretty fast.
http://www.AndresMarketingEvolution.com
All the best,
André T.
Hello there,
You sound like you are doing well online and taking control of your future, that’s great.
I am amazed you have done this without a list, but I am thrilled to hear that you are actually taking an interest in your list rather than using them as a wallet to be emailed any time you want some money! Too many marketers do this already.
As Michael Cheney said “The money is in the relationship with the list” – like you say, it’s vital to maintain the trust the people on the list have in you.
Best wishes,
Ruth Stewart
Now there’s a refreshing idea. A New Year’s resolution to avoid New Year’s resolutions. I heartily approve. You’ve taken the approach to New Year’s resolutions that I take to raising my daughters. I don’t worry what they’re going to be like when they’re 16, because I’m doing my best to raise them now. By that time, it will be too late to worry. You made solid business decisions in your initial planning, so only minor course corrections are needed now.