Wow! I ACTUALLY made a Sale!

WEll, whady'know, after 2 weeks of nothing I actually made a sale, I couldn't believe my eyes - I had to look twice! Though it was on a bum article I did nearly two months ago, so the recent challenge efforts didn't play a single part!

Anyway, this coincides with my announcement today that I am putting this project on hold. Why?

Because I am moving flat in little over a week and I need to do some packing. And coming back home to crank out articles usually means that time flies by and it is time for bed in no time.

So, over the next three weeks (it'll take a while for my broadband connection to get back up when I move - this is inefficient England after all) at least I'll post updates of the odd thing such as the odd article written.

I'm also doing a mini experiment so expect to hear about that as well - Adwords. Its kind of like pay per lead effectively. So we'll see how many signups to my list I can get from Adwords, should be interesting. In my ad, I am trying a technique of saying that I offer a signup by email course, so it should mean more clicks turning to leads.

Saying that, I just paused a campaign on a generic keyword because I had 9 clicks and only 1 sign up - even though I blatently pointed out the email aspect! I guess a lot of people don't think about where they click!

Quick Update

Bad days generally.

Bad day at work. My heart races and my chest doesn't feel right (not tight like a heart attack), I'm in my late 20s. I'm fed up of this place and am going to do some contract work and cream that f**king money.

Not particularly great news for my niche blog incl. squeeze page either. Its early days and basically I'm really only on Day 3 of my corrected and new challenge. I've got about 50 page views of my articles but barely 1 or 2 bio follow ups. This is getting ridiculous now.

I'm going to look at forums now for getting people to my squeeze page but they are few and far between for this niche - and also I feel as if I've nearly cornered the market in high volume keywords. Nevertheless, 3 more articles today - 2 for ezine and 1 for the blog. It is relatively early days though.

I have a couple of secret promotions I'm doing. We'll see how they go and maybe I can reveal them later.

I'm also tempted to try an Adwords experiment and spend a few bucks.......

Sunday Update - Site Setup Complete incl. Autoresponder!

So, today was a good day.

I started around 10.30 and spent about 3 hours finishing the autoresponder series, creating an opt-in page and a couple of thank you pages.

You really can't rush this and I really didn't because I wanted it to be really good and personal so that my conversions are good. It really helps if you have a passion for the topic, which I do because there is a personal connection.

I'm quite proud of what I produced although it took around six hours which is the same amount of time it takes to pump out maybe 5 or 6 articles.

Anyway, for this bum marketing and the product creation, I've now done all the preparation so that just writing and not building or other tasks are left. And I've done it before the end of the weekend which is great because I never get that stuff done during the week.

In fact, apart from a couple of articles, I might take the rest of the day off - frankly I deserve it.

Later

Article! 4th Update Saturday

Another 4 articles pumped out, so overall progress for today is:

• 4 articles to my niche blog
• 4 articles to ezinearticles point to the niche blog
• product creation outline finished
• 5 day e-course for niche blog outline finished

I'm also going to change where my bio box links to. So far, I've been linking direct to the main blog page. But what I'm going to do after designing the e-course and opt-in form is to link to a single page containing the opt-in and a simple, "no thanks, let me see the main page" link at the bottom in small letters. I can create several of these and compare the hits on the main page from the opt-in page to the ezinearticles count for outgoing clicks to get a rough conversion rate. I could even split test if I want to.

I don't think I'll change the bio links on my existing posted articles at ezinearticles for now, I'll just leave them as they are.

Also, I noticed that my site is already indexed! Google came visiting yesterday! I'm sure this is because ezinearticles is pointing this way.

So, you can see how the original bum marketing method which relied solely on the article site pages ranking high and providing inbound traffic, can change into a sort of affiliate site with seo. This is Stuart's method and the one I want to replicate.

Product Creation Progress! 3rd Update Saturday

OK have done some product creation. I know have my outline sorted.

Basically the title of each section in my book. It strikes me that you could now actually outsource the rest of the project i.e. the writing. Though, if it something that you have a great passion for, it would be quicker to write it yourself!

I have calculated that, at five minutes per section, this is going to take me 7 hours to complete. By the way, if you are intrigued to learn more about the product creation technique that I am using, then check out the 24 Hour E-Book Writing System that I am using.

So, 7 hours to go, not including tidying up. I wonder if I can get this written this weekend. It will be interesting to see. I still aim to complete a 5 day email course for my niche blog, and hopefully some new articles.

We will see. I want more of a rest day tomorrow so today could be the huge effort. Its only 3.30pm so I have plenty of time left. Time to get some munch and refuel my body and mind.

Quick Update Saturday

Just a quick update. Written 2 articles for my passion blog.

This is great. It really feels like you are making much progress.

Instead of a few articles per niche funneling to someone else's page (though as an affiliate), this feels like all your work is for you as the traffic will hit your page before they see the CB vendor.

This is a great feeling.

Off to write more!

Weekend Update - Lot's To Do Today

First of all, need to get this of my chest. F**kin estate agents! I rush home from work to accomodate their viewing. One hour later, noone has turned up! Then the guy at the office blabs some c**p to say that the guy will turn up soon. One hour later I ring up and same guy claims he told me the appointment was cancelled! BS! Next time they want to view, I give them a 15 minute window or they lose the opportunity. Simple as that. I hate timewasters and if I'm waiting for someone, I can't write articles or do any work.

Anyway, I think Friday night is going to be rest night for me from now on. I'm always really tired. I heard someone saying it was an excuse before, but I often work early (7am) and I have never in my life been an early bird. I had really bad hayfever last night (where the hell did that come from) and I started to nod off at about 10pm last night. My throat and nose feels on fire and I slept until 8 in the morning. So now I am fairly refreshed.

Today is gonna be a big day. I want to pump out lots of articles and product creation.

I'm going to concentrate solely on this single niche passion blog of mine. After writing a few articles for it, I realise that I should have concentrated my efforts like this in the beginning, instead of spreading around my efforts for diversification. Another thing I recently noticed is that those two sites that I was using a special technique for, they are starting to get hits from search engines. I was quite surprised but for reasons that I cannot divulge at this stage - rest assured, I will later. So I may write an article or two for these.

So I'll report back later today with my progress - look out for it and please leave any comments you have because I always reply to any questions or comments. Thanks

PS take a look over at Bum Marketing Adventure. The guy is starting to see some regular sales coming in. Mainly from Squidoo lenses. Wow! I had heard of them being good traffic funnels but never thought that you could make good CB income off them. The problem I find with Squidoo lenses is that they take forever to construct. Is there any way that you can save a template and use it for each lens of yours, but change the keywords?

New Blog Created!

I decided to create the blog tonight instead of waiting till the weekend. Let's just get it installed!

This way, as well as my product creation (in a different niche by the way), I can create and post 2 articles a day - one on the blog and one with an outbound link on ezinearticles.

I used Wordpress as I know this is very SEO friendly. So far I haven't put on any Adsense - I've installed a theme but I may change it as it looks good but there could be something a lot better available.

Also installed alinks, which automatically creates links out of post keywords that you specify. So I configured it so that four common keywords will link to Clickbank products. I have another blog which has brought in a little cash using this technique so I am hopeful it will help for this blog as well.

The aweber opt-in form is yet to come.

Also installed Spam Karma 2. In my experience, without this you either have to sift through all the spam, or let it through. This kind of plugin is essential.

Also installed a statcounter plugin and Ultimate Tag Warrior. UTW is pretty cool but the Yahoo tag search feature is temperamental. Its supposed to suggest tags for you based on your post which is great, but yo have to trick Yahoo by changing your id on each post to get it to give you suggested tags. Dunno if I can be bothered to do this on every single post but we'll see.

Got delayed today due to more flat viewings so only got an hour left in the day until bedtime......should I burn the midnight oil tonight? I guess there's only one day left until the weekend so we'll see if I get any product creation done tonight.

Good Product Creation Progress + Usual Bum Stuff

Another typical day in some respects but a good one nevertheless. Even though I must go to work early due to work commitments.

I'm currently watching "The Apprentice" on TV whilst writing this.

I need absolute silence or music to write articles or do other "work" anyway so this is a great time to update the blog.

Again no sales - no surprise. Most bizarre but no surprise nevertheless. Something like 300 sales page views and not a single sale - and my author boxes do not lie about what is coming up either (the sales pages and products) so I figure should have a few sales out of 300+ views. Anyway......

2 articles written for my passion/niche/blog. Still haven't created the blog but wrote two more articles nevertheless. Although it is not good for the challenge deadline to delay building the site, I don't want to rush it so I'll wait until the weekend to do this while I still write articles each day.

Product creation - was going to do 2 more half hour sessions of brainstorming but did half hour because I actually didn't need to do the 2nd session. I have exhausted all my ideas and am really stoked (as you Americans might say) about this project because I have such a passion and a knowledge for this product I'm creating.

It also got me thinking about the product creation process - I might, for my 3rd book, create a book on product creation. Based on several product creation courses and my own input, I think I can create something pretty good. Heck, I'm even thinking of taking a week's holiday just so that I can work like nuts and maybe get 2 products done!

What Is The Secret Of Bum Marketing Success (Day 11)

Hi all, hope you are well.

Done half an hour product creation work and half an hour bum marketing (1 article).

It is tempting to ditch this Bum Marketing and concentrate simply on product creation.

"Ah, but you haven't even given it 30 days" some of you might say.

That's true, but I would counter with the fact that I have done circa 40 keyword optimised articles with no sales. Is there any point in continuing without changing strategy? And until I have worked that strategy out, I might as well hit my head against a brick wall.

Well, I have not given up as you may have noticed, but I've certainly downscaled my efforts.

Concerning the product creation, I'm quite happy with the way that things are going - this 24 Hour E-Book Writing System is pretty damn good. Though I am tempted to skip some stages, I am giving each one the full half hour work that it deserves.

Anyway, I'm really looking for some solid bum marketing tips that I hope some of you may have. I'm talking about:

• how to write articles
• how to pre-sell in articles
• what kind of style of writing to use in article to get highest click throughs

These are the things that not many people share and, to me, this is how to succeed at bum marketing - knowing the answers to these questions. I welcome any comments you have and advice you can offer, not just me, but the readers of this blog :-)

Day 9 Bum Marketing Challenge Update

Jesus, what a boring GP.

I managed to write two articles during the race which is 3 laps from finishing as I write!

Another 2 articles written so new total for today = 6 articles.

Time to start some product creation.

Day 9 Bum Marketing Challenge

Update, no more articles done yesterday but today I have done four already, all on different niches. These niches I like a lot actually. These are direct to clickbank links.

Gonna watch the Monaco GP now (come on Massa and Ferrari!) and then write more articles for direct hoplinks and also my 2 niche content sites.

I think I can even do some of these during the GP!

btw still no sales, at least I'll be ecstatic when I get some!

I might also start my product creation tonight.

Day 8 Bum Marketing Challenge

No articles for yesterday for reasons I will not go into.

So far today 2 articles via Method 1

3 day weekend here in the UK (Monday is a bank holiday), so hope to pump out a lot of articles.

btw these crap sales are making me think about product creation rather than Bum Marketing.

Even my so-called passion niche is difficult because I do not feel a close affinity with any of the products on Clickbank, which seems to me a great reason to make my own product.

Anyway, will post later today with more progress.

Total articles written today so far = 2.

Day 5 Bum Marketing Challenge Addendum

Ah well, I got zero articles done. Well I wrote one article on the train but nothing more today and nothing submitted. I had to clean the apartment because there will be some viewings soon and I watched the Champions League final. Good news - Liverpool lost! Result I wanted because I support Man United. AIG=Another Inzaghi Goal ;-)

Anyway, I needed the rest. Tomorrow I will carry on as normal. No, not trying to make up for it because that never works with me. Just back to normal.

G'night

Day 3 Bum Marketing Challenge Continued - Quick Update

ok just a quick update, I've got some cleaning to do! Chores don't stop unfortunately!

I reached my target for today. So:

* 2 x articles on two different topics with links to affiliate pages
* 2 x articles to content site containing CB ads and opt-in boxes (this is a secret how I do this, currently an experiment that will be revealed later, I'll call this SECRET METHOD in future)
* 1 x article on new niche page

The only thing about the last article, is that I haven't yet created a blog. Any advice for a blog? I have a lot of experience with Wordpress blogs but I find that they look kind of crappy. To be honest, I don't like reading Wordpress blogs personally, they are flippin everywhere!

PS my Wordtracker subscription runs out in a few days. Tomorrow need to do some KW research!

Day 2 - Bum Marketing Challenge - My Strategy Defined

Well Day 2 is going pretty well. Day 1 was rather strange.

As you know, I write articles going to and from work. This is an amazing tip and I'll tell you why.

On public transport, I normally fall asleep, I can't help it. But by writing on my small notebook, it is surprisingly enjoyable. I do this with my tunes in my ear. I get some funny stares but I don't care! The only thing I need before I head out are a couple of keyword phrases for the 2 articles I will write.

I normally type up my written articles that night but on Friday, well a tough week at work - my job is very stressful - so I typed up on Saturday.

Then I screwed about for a bit and was quite angry at myself for doing this :-( Luckily I saved the day and did some good work in the evening which actually gave me ideas for my strategy.

- I am going to abandon my own product creation until after 30 days. I need to concentrate on this challenge
- I will continue to write 2 articles a day going to/from work. These will link to clickbank products and not include email capturing from an opt-in form
- I will write 2 articles per day that will link to a content site with clickbank ad and opt-in form. This is an experiment to me. I will be using some interesting techniques that I have never heard of before but hope to be successful
- Lastly, I will soon start a passion niche site. No, this has nothing to do with porn or s3x ;-) I have noticed that Steve, Stuart and Trevor have started by having only one site from fresh, but something that they are very passionate about. I am quite knowledgable so enjoy writing about many things but I really need a no.1 passion that also has a product on Clickbank, then start to write about it. Stuart showed that from a single niche alone, one can fulfil this challenge. That is my objective.

Maybe sounds like too much but remember:

- no more product creation
- 5 articles. 2 of which written on the train, 2 of which I will use an interesting technique to write very quickly. 1 of which will be about something I love. I think this is achievable.

All this and I will be moving out of my apartment in one month. Yikes, these things always come in twos!!

Finally Posting Articles!

Well I've had 4 days off this Easter, and this is my final day.

I can say that I have been much more productive than I have been in the past. It has been great.

For Bum Marketing, I've posted several of my rentacoder articles to ezinearticles. They all required a quick run through for grammatical changes. I'm glad I chose three because if I outsource again, I will ignore one of them, the writing and grammar was very poor for this individual concerned.

These articles are already getting approved and I'm posting several a day - will probably have them all done in a week's time.

By the way, Ezinearticles now allow you to link to Clickbank and other affiliate sites. It looks like a recent rule change of theirs. The only caveat is that you must redirect from your own domain, and when you link to it, you must link to the top level and not a sub-page.

This will help a great deal - I guess ezinearticles probably gave in when they saw many other people using sneaky redirects and realised that they couldn't police it.

Yikes Still Not Posted The Articles!

Need to get back on track. At least I have 4 days over Easter coming up......

Terrible Outsourcing Experience Delivers At Last!

Despite setting a deadline of a week for each set of articles which was more than sufficient time, my outsourcing experience this time round has not been so great.

With the first two suppliers, the writers ignored half of my criteria despite my specific say-so and emphasis that they must be adhered to the letter. Instead of canning the project though, I was willing to extend the deadline, so long as the criteria were met. I was happy enough with the general quality of the articles to give these writers another chance to deliver on the project.

The third writer produced the best articles but had some severe internet access troubles and was the last to deliver.

Whilst I had some bad experiences, ultimately I got what I wanted. Here is some advice when outsourcing work on such sites as rentacoder and elance:

• Never pay out until you are 100% satisfied with the completed work. No matter how long the deadlines are extended and how frustrating it gets, never cut your losses and accept lesser work - always insist on 100% satisfaction or don't pay a penny.

• State explicitly what you need in the original tender and state that this must be met. Do not leave any room for ambiguity, be as specific as you can.

• Be willing to accommodate the writer's circumstances. For instance, if there is an emergency in his/her life, kindly extend the deadline. We are all human.

• If the work submitted is not as requested, be polite but demonstrate how this is the case, extend the deadline, and insist on a resubmission.

• Always communicate via the website as all communications are put on official record and cannot later be denied by either party.

• Don't be fooled by ratings of 9.9. Make sure to check the comments as well as the ratings. If you still have some doubts, try a smaller project first. For instance, I have 3 small projects and may well choose the best person to do a larger project on later.

I hope you find the above advice useful. Now, to post my articles and create the hook text at the bottom. Please leave any comments on the above!

Keyword Crazy!

My ad on rentacoder for freelance article writing is going well and I will choose one of more writers soon. In the meantime, I have drawn up a long list of several tens of keywords to be used.

The key to getting good results from outsourcing is to be very specific up front about what you want. That way, there are no nasty surprises or arbitrations further down the line. This is probably the most key thing.

You also usually indicate a rough price range i.e. you enter your offer into one of the many price ranges but this is merely a guide and not even necessary and does not play much of a part at all.

Probably tomorrow I will accept one or more bids and wait for the articles to be written.

Now, I just need to make better use of my free time. given that I won't have to write any more articles for a short while. I think I will consider Adwords as I have read Day Job Killer and gotten many ideas from it.