Remember back in January when I told you about the 52 week Amazon Lens Challenge?  Right after I wrote this I went to NAMS 3 and I honestly have not done any Squidoo lenses since.  Even though I have not continued I have made money on the lenses I have.  Yay, right?!  Well yes and no.  I need to get back on the bandwagon!  Why am I telling you this?  I want you to learn from my mistake.  If you are making money somewhere then continue doing what you are doing and get better at it!

So what is Squidoo?

Squidoo is really where you can create a mini-website for free!  You can enjoy the benefits of making money and not have to spend money!  I am all for that.  The thing about Squidoo is that  you can create a Squidoo lens (your mini-website) on anything you would like.  So for my purpose I want to create genealogy Squidoo lenses!  I can create Squidoo lenses on software, books, how-to, etc.

Why use Squidoo?

Squidoo is a great way to build links to your site.  This is the first thing Squidoo is really good for.  The next is search engine ranking!  When you use Squidoo as a mini-website you will get the benefit of Squidoo’s high ranking in Google.  You can build a brand and reputation off of your Squidoo lenses.  One of the best advantages of Squidoo is it is so quick!  You can get a lens up and going in an hour or less!  You will also be supplementing your income with affiliate marketing on your Squidoo lenses.

If you haven’t opened an account with Squidoo go do it now!

PS. If you haven’t used Squidoo ever or need a guide as to how you should build a lens I would recommend Tiffany Dow’s ebook Social Networking on Squidoo!

My last post I talked about the top 4 things I learned at NAMS3.  NAMS (niche affiliate marketing system workshop) was such a great experience for me.  In my last post I barely touched on all the things I learned.  I must say I learned a whole lot after hours.  I am so grateful that I stayed in the hotel!  I had some great room mates Kelley Denz and Kristen Arnold (pictured at the right, Kristen on the left, Kelley on the right).  We spent some time together but it was mostly mingling with everyone.  I have shared in that past about the brainstorming group I belong to.  It is Lynn Terry’s Self Starter Weekly Tips Elite Group.  I spent a lot of time with elite members at NAMS.  We had such a good time and spent time helping one another!

What is the Value of a Brainstorming group?

To me the value of a brainstorming group is huge, maybe even invaluable.  When I went to NAMS I knew I was not alone.  I felt like I knew all these people.  The reason why was because I am on the forum with them and at least once a week we get together for a brainstorming webinar.  Now when I found the elite group I wanted to join right away but I couldn’t because the membership was closed!  So I waited and watched the tweets coming in about brainstorming hour “the best hour of the week”!   In July the membership was finally opened again.  I jump on it!

Why?

I will tell you why because that is access to Lynn Terry!  Lynn has fourteen years of business experience online.  She knows how to make an income and do it right!  She has integrity and is one of the “what you see is what you get” kind of people.  I really found that out at NAMS.  That was the main reasons I joined the Elite group but it has become much bigger than that since then.  In September I found my accountability partner in the elite group – Angie Newton.  You can see her pictured in my last post.  We talk and text over Skype several times a week and we keep each other on track.  At NAMS we really helped one another and stuck together.  One of the best compliments I got at NAMS from my room mate Kelley was that Angie and I were so much a like we are like the same people! Read more »

I am at Niche Article Marketing System workshop.  I have been having such a good time and surprisingly I am not in information overload.  I am close but not there yet.  I have been really looking forward to today because the topic is traffic!  How to drive traffic. If you recall from my last blog post with my NAMS goals, one of my goals is: I need to learn how to bring in more traffic.

This morning five incredible marketer sat down and shared great strategies for social media marketing.  I have learned so much and I am excited to implement it today!  You can learn the same things that I did from these fabulous marketers: Willie Crawford, Joey Smith, Jeff Herring, Kevin Riley and Maritza Parra! There presentation was recorded and is now available to listen to on audio!

Check it out at Strategies 4 Social Marketing.  This is going to help me get really use to using social media marketing.  This is something I have not been great at and it will bring in traffic to my websites and blogs.  It will do the same for you.  I have found the I have a hard time justifying my time on Twitter or Facebook. I just feel like I am wasting my time but I have learned today that I am absolutely not.

One more thing that is shared on the audio is… the experts secret weapons for social marketing!  These are things they use to save time and not sit in front of the computer all day.  So I invite you to use this social media marketing training.  It is so worth it!

Okay I covered the press releases on Monday.  I am really working some different angles to get traffic to my websites.  This is such an important part of the
business. For the last week I have been working to get Articles up on Ezinearticles.com.  I currently have thirteen articles approved. I am having a good steady stream of traffic from article marketing.  This is really exciting for me.  I am enjoying the results of some of the hard work.

Since I am having such success with it I am wondering if I should be putting a little more effort into it. Besides press releases services that I covered in my Monday post I am wondering about Easy Push Button traffic.  This is a product or service that submits articles for you.  As of right now I have only submitted articles to Ezine Articles.  I know that if I submit to more article directories I will have even more traffic from article marketing.  So I am up in the air about using this service.  Here is a video review of  Easy Push Button Traffic:

Alright the difference between WebWire and Easy Push Button Traffic is WebWire is only a press release service.  Easy Push Button Traffic is a service that distributes articles, videos, press releases and podcasts. So the Easy Push Button Traffic is looking better and better for what I am needing.  I am still going to look research a little more.  I will let you know either on my Saturday personal accountability post or next week!  So stay tuned.  I will also let you know what I think and how well it works for me!

Until tomorrow,

photo credit: leoncillo sabino