Thirty Day Challenge Ends Today

Yep, it ends today and things didn't go as I had hoped. My markets didn't pan out so I need to test some new ones. Even though August has ended, I will be continuing on my path to having 2 new products in two new markets. I need to go back to the drawing board and figure out what can be done.

A fortune cookie I had in San Francisco ominously warned, "Be prepared to change your plans." Don't ignore the wisdom of the fortune cookie.

Enter Web 2.0

Hard at work on the 30DC I have to say that I have entered the web 2.0 game. I never really thought much of it before but that has changed since I have seen what it can do. That said, the process of bookmarking is tedious. I need to find a way to outsource it without it becoming spammy.

The challenge hasn't been going too hot for me. I think I have a good topic but this year's challenge has been so popular that I'm up against at least 10 challengers in each market plus those who already have established sites.

I'm interested to see what is in store for the rest of the challenge. I have yet to get enough traffic flowing to make a sale in either of the markets. That said, there still isn't any confirmation that the markets will be profitable.

Over the weekend I built a mindmap of my Business and the active sites. Using the mindmap truly organized things and allowed me to see things from a more strategic point of view. If you don't have a mindmap of your business, I suggest you build one.

Enough rambling, back to work or off to bed. I haven't decided which one yet=)

Traffic Time

In the 30DC, we are at the point of bringing in traffic. I have caught up a bit in the challenge but still need to write more articles. If you have not joined the 30DC you are missing out. Trust me on that. It is most definitely Web 2.0 but you will be astounded by what can be achieved.

I outsourced some articles and they all relate to the two new niches. Hopefully this new writer is fast.

San Francisco gave me a taste of the life I want to live. I had no obligations other than to myself and my girlfriend. I woke up when I wanted to. Worked when I felt like it. Roamed around outside until I found a place I wanted to eat a leisurely lunch. Then I took a nap in the afternoon. It was great and (un)fortunately it spoiled me. Now I am having more trouble than ever going to the day job and I have more motivation than I can describe to have the Business support me.

Into the Fray

It looks like things are about to get thick in the 30DC! We have created content for our topics and by the titles of the videos today, it looks like we will be putting it to use now.

I still have 3 more articles to write for each of my topics. I will do those during work today. That's about it for now.

Back from San Francisco

San Francisco is great! I spent the last few days there for a wedding and had a great time. Unfortunately it put me a little behind in the Thirty Day Challenge.

I have my markets and we have been told to make 3 articles each for yesterday and today. I have 3 finished and 1 in the works. I'm so excited. Ed is actually having us use a technique for testing markets that I had tried on a limited basis (read: one market) a few months ago. You do the research, find a market, and find an affiliate product to promote. If people will buy the affiliate product, then it is an indication that making a product in that market could generate money. If the affiliate product doesn't sell, then it may be a good idea to move on to the next market.

The reason my testing didn't work when I tried it was because I was trying to use old PPC techniques from a year ago. Those techniques worked before the "Google Slap" and quality score algorithm. Now it is too costly to drive traffic to a site that doesn't have content.

Rather than driving traffic with PPC, Ed is having us use organic traffic. If we do everything correctly and follow the guidelines he set for choosing a market, we will be able to generate the traffic needed to make sales. 200 unique visitors to the sales page per day is the goal.

New Market Idea!

Finally! I have my two topics that I am going after for the Thirty Day Challenge. The first one that I have been jabbering about in my limited blog posts is in an area where it will be a fight to get on top. The other is also competitive but I think I have a pretty good shot in if I do everything right.

2 Markets - 2 Products - At least $75 each

That's the goal. The task as set in the 30DC is to get 200 visitors/day to the salespage. We have been told to bank on a 0.5% sales conversion so that would equate to on sale per day. At $75, my cut from Clickbank will be $68.37. Do that for each of the new products and I'll be looking at a minimum of $136.74. That's not bad=) Factor in the affiliates and getting my current product to a sale per day and we may be approaching the $200/day mark.

I need to ramp up the outsourcing and business investment. Take a look at Jen's blog for an example of successfully investing in your business. Since she started doing so, her earnings have catapulted! It is time for me to start investing at least $100 per month every month.

Slow Going

I have been participating in the 30 Day Challenge and things have been a bit slow this year. There have been so many people joining that it has overloaded the servers. Ed Dale and Dan Raine have had to do some emergency work to keep things running.

The good news is I think I may have found my second market. It is completely obscure and I stumbled upon it accidentally. The only problem is that the traffic doesn't look like it is going to be very favorable. That said, there are multiple products on the market for the niche and some have been online for several years. That is a good sign.

Other than that, not much has been going on. I haven't looked at the numbers for last month yet but I know they aren't as good as June. Adsense and refunds were up, sales were down.

Alas. I need more products to promote.