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Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Too Many Niches

Do you have too many niches?

Are you spreading yourself too thin over numerous topics and trying to manage several websites and blogs?

I know I am. I have a pets website, a toys website, a cooking website, several craft/hobby sites, a nutrition site, and several blogs, on top of hundreds of individual content articles. The best of my niche sites is earning $350+ a month, but I have not had time to add to it in weeks.

An insight that really hit home for me during my Wealthy Affiliate course yesterday was the instruction to not diversify until you have exhausted a niche.

One single keyword can earn you $1,000 a day.

If you are earning $50 a week from one of your sites, the temptation might be to make another site on another topic and get that one earning $50 a week too. But stop right there -- what if you wrote more articles, promoted more products more successfully, and started a subscriber list on that SAME topic, all connected to your website? What if you added more backlinks, started a PPC (pay per click) campaign and drove as much targeted traffic as possible to your site and subscriber list?

What if you could really earn $1,000 a day from one keyword or set of keywords? Would you really need ten niche sites and a half-dozen blogs on a variety of topics?

The problem with over-diversifying is that you lose the ability to focus well on one particular niche.

This realization has been a light-bulb-moment for me. Starting today, for the rest of the summer, I am going to try to focus 90% of my efforts on one specific niche as I work through the Wealthy Affiliate training. My goal is to be earning $1,000 a month from that one particular site, which I began building over a year ago, by the end of this August.

Are you over-diversifying without maximizing your potential in a specific niche? Have you considered just working on one site for a couple months, giving it your complete focus, and measuring the results?

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Wealthy Affiliate: Day 5 -- hey, this is fun!


It's day five, lesson three for me at Wealthy Affiliate University and I am having so much fun! Yes, I'm following the course and it's "work," but honestly, I am really excited to get out of bed at 5 am so I can get started on it each morning. And now I sneak in some work time after the kids are in bed, and sometimes during their nap/quiet time, just to explore the WA resources further or work on my tasks that go with each lesson.

Being part of the WA community, even for just these few days, has gotten me out of my rut and excited about my niche sites again. There is so much I've been overlooking, by moving on to other niches before I've even tapped a fraction of the potential already there. I finally have a focus when it comes to niche internet marketing; the blueprints to make my online work truly successful... and enjoyable once again.

I think it's easy to get into a rut, or become discouraged, when your focus is unclear or you're trying to do too many things at once without a set plan. If this is the case for you, like it has been for me for a few months, consider joining me at WA. So far, it's the best investment I've made all year. And unlike stocks, I expect it to be a profitable one.

So here's to having fun and working at the same time -- what a concept!

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Wealthy Affiliate: Day 1

Two years after first reading about Kyle and Carson's forum and online course for internet marketers, I finally subscribed for one year. The time was right: I trusted the most recent source who recommended them, I have the money to re-invest in my online business, and I'm ready -- more than ready -- to take my affiliate income to the next level.

That, and the price, which has been $39/ month for years now, even though the site has been continually updated and improved, is doubling on June 7. By subscribing now, I locked in the current rate for all future renewals. And that benefit was enough to motivate me to make the leap now ... not after I finished another website of my own, not after the kids are back in school after the summer, not after I meet another income goal, but now: today.

The few hundred dollars I make per month in affiliate commissions (my highest month was close to $1,000 in affiliate earnings) pale in comparison to the success stories from Kyle and Carson's forum. Top earners, who started out with less knowledge than I have at present, earn impressive six-figure incomes every year.

Sure, I could spend years and countless hours learning the ins and outs of top-tier affiliate marketing myself, but paying for a resource like this just makes sense. My time is precious; as much as I enjoy my work, I am always cognizant of how precious these days are with my young children. Any resource that helps me to be more productive in less time is worth its weight in gold.

Over the coming days, I'll share with you what I discover within the walls of the Wealthy Affiliate University. Hopefully I'll be able to explain enough about it so you'll know -- before June 7 -- whether it's a resource you want to use for your online marketing business.

Have you tried the WA program?