Wordpress

I think I've mentioned before, my challenge of having so many ideas arriving in my head.  If only I could get them up and running as fast as they arrive!

Wordpress could be something that could help though.  You really can install it quite quickly.  The thing that I'm finding takes some time is choosing a suitable template and making the necessary changes to make it mine.   Well, today I installed Wordpress and completed a beta version of the template - all in the hour that my son was napping.  He doesn't nap for long you see and now I need to either get creative with finding time to some of these ideas to life or wait until he goes back to his day mum before I can get some work done again.

Well, I've decided to take the creative route - letting go of the form.  Whatever will be will be.... and hopefully Wordpress will be the answer.

I first came across it as a component of Joomla and I found it clumsy and so I thought that it extended to the standalone version.  Wrong!  It's brilliant, smooth is a word that comes to mind (amongst all the ideas :-).  And SO easy to use.

If I was to come up with an idea and try and roll out a website with my all time favorite CMS, Joomla, then it would take about 3 days of dedicated work.  With Wordpress I can see it taking about 1 day :-)  

Hooray!  3 cheers for Wordpress!  and I'm not the only one who thinks so.

Why I'm a millionaire....

I can tell you now, it's not my bank balance, that's for sure. One day it will be that too BUT what it is that makes me a millionaire is a smile...

a smile from my son, first thing in the morning,
at night, in our special time before going to sleep...
when he looks up at me and smiles...
when I'm in the middle of doing something and turn around, catching him watching me with a great big smile on his face
after I've finished bathing him, he gives me a cheeky little smile and runs to my bedroom so that I can chase him... then he chuckles....
with a million smiles
a million smile each day ... make me a millionaire mum!

thank you Jamie

STOP the train

I'm beginning to realise that there is no quick solution to making money online and am beginning to realise that what I've been suspecting about internet marketing is true.

Basically Web 2.0 with it' social networking is changing the way we operate on the internet. We are beginning to filter out the adverts that we constantly see on the websites. In fact, I've started noticing that I click away from websites that have been created solely for the purpose of displaying google ads. How on earth can they be getting return visitors?

...and those domain names that are JUST serving google ads? How on earth are they even existing? (marketplace.com is one of them - there are many that fit this style of website) They must be making money because the word 'google' is not displayed with the 'sponsored links' label' - this means that they're doing so well with the click through rates (CTR) that google have 'promoted' them to a new level.

One really excellent site that does actually provide good content is gumtree (in SA it's gumtree.co.za but they also have the other domain extensions for different countries). Gumtree displays google ads and they must be doing very well because they too have the 'sponsored link' label not displaying the word 'google'. BUT I don't mind the ads on their site. They're in strategic places AND gumtree is providing an excellent service to the world with the free classifieds.

So yes, it can be done - people are making money from it. BUT don't believe everyone who says that they're doing it too. I've been following some of Joel Comm's advice and seeing what he does. The man has created quite a presence for himself on the internet and he says that he's making loads from displaying google adsense on his sites - so how come then, when you visit worldvillage.com - one of Joel's sites - do the words 'google ads' still display? He either uses separate accounts for the adsense, or, google requires ALOT more revenue to be generated for the words 'google ads' to disappear, or, he's not making as much money from it as he says.

Also, I've noticed that all these e-books and one time solutions that you can buy are going for a once of special offer of $47, but just for today because they normally go for $97. Odd? Copy cat solutions? They must've worked but my suspicion is that they're losing their power. All the websites look the same. With their highlighting text and testimonials.

Ok, I'm good at picking up patterns, and this pattern is telling me something. STOP the train, do something different. The internet is changing, traditional marketing methods are not going to work anymore - we are becoming immune to all the flashing banners and adsense stuff.

So what does work? What should we be looking out for? In a world that is FULL of advertising, what is it that we can do? What can we trust? Who can we trust?

Each other.

A result from Google :-)

Yay! and Hooray! Google got back to me with regards to my adsense account - it's finally been approved.

Now I still have to figure out what's wrong with my adwords account. Google still remains silent on that one but I have noticed that the 'reason' for the ads not running has changed.

For now I'm just taking it as a sign that I shouldn't spend any money just yet on advertising and find some other ways to direct traffic to the money making things. My yahoo adwords equiv.account is also on hold but that's because my credit card is empty (full?). So, another sign....

Beautiful weekend here in Cape Town today :-) The wind has finally died down a bit.

Still no reply from Google

Well, it must have been one helleva thanksgiving over there at google because I still have not received any reply from them and it's been 5 days.

This evening I think I will start advertising with yahoo - but after I finish reading the 2 valuable e-books I have. No time to post details about these e-books just now - have to rush over to the other side of the mountain for a meeting. :-)

Until later then...

Google Adwords for Free?

Yesterday I bought the book by Dr Jon Cohen called "Get Google Ads Free". It has caused quite a stir in some forums - some people think it's great while others think it's a cheat. You apparently don't actually get AdWords for free BUT you do learn a technique with it that just about makes sure that you might as well be getting AdWords for free.

So, I've bought the book, you can too if you like, by clicking here and I will be providing you some feedback on how it goes, as soon as I get my adwords working, that is :-)

My suggestion is that you wait until I have read and tested the process but if you find that you can't wait and want to GET STARTED NOW, then please do so and maybe we can compare our results. They say 2 heads are better than one and I would love to be sharing this discovery with others along the way.

Until next time...

Adwords not working? Now what?

I set up some adword campaigns a few days ago, with some products I had chosen from the affiliate networks and they're not running. I have checked every variable I can find to see if I can find out why and there's nothing that I can see. I sent google an email and am still waiting for a reply. It has just been a long weekend for them over on that side of the planet so I need to still give them time to reply.

....BUT what now? How else can I test these campaigns that I want to run?

What would we do without google? I started signing up with yahoo's equivalent yesterday but found it a bit clumsy and you don't seem to have the option to target just South Africa.

Hmmmm, will keep you posted.

Just do-ing it!

Getting started with taking the the next steps of making money through affiliate networks has been more of a challenge than I first thought.

I struggle a little with 'Just do(ing) it!' because I'm a bit of a perfectionist - I feel that I must have everything planned and setup correctly before I just go ahead and do it. I even analyse what other people are doing and discover how I can do it better. A really great quality but not so great if I'm still not actually 'publishing' anything that actually compares. I have now changed my opinion about other people that are doing something online but only, in my (humble?) opinion, 60% well. NOW - I admire them. They've done something that I am still perfecting in my own safe environment, just not publishing it just yet, because it has to be prefect...... tick, tock, tick tock Jane - the 3 months is passing you by.

Anyone relate to that? Well, today I (re)discovered a new concept - you can change, and edit things! :-) I can! ...and I just did. I just changed my blogspot address to millionairemum - from something that was too long for me to remember, even now. (I think it had something to do with "how I made my millions online". )

So, I have a blogspot now - a web page that I can now add to my signatures - more importantly - A STARTING POINT!

:-) hope this post finds you wonderfilled.

Missing the boat, well, almost

A concept that I missed while reading the business warriors website was that you can reap the rewards and more importnatly, earn some money, being an affiliate WITHOUT having a website! I had all the pieces of the puzzle in my mind but for some reason I have never thought of it this way, and feel a bit silly for not having done so. What you do is promote the affiliate products on Adsense. Eureka.

Yesterday I popped in at my favourite Seattle Coffee which just happens to be next to Exclusive Books and I meandered over to my favorite section (e-commerce) and found the following book just sitting there - begging to be picked up and read. So I did, settling down nicely with a Cafe Mocha, grande, wild and full of fun (no fun is caffeine free and I don't see much point in that :-)

Anyway, I found the book on Amazon and listed it here for you (over to the right) to have a look see yourself. Oh, and yes, the link is using my newly setup affiliate account with Amazon.

Now I'm going to find a product again on clickbank and see what all the facts and figures mean.

Learning Curves: ClickBank and Adsense

Just do it! ?

In my last post I mentioned business warriors - and here I'm going to mention them again because I found a great section about internet business models and such.

I was going through the step by step guide and Peter strongly suggested that I do the step before moving on to the next - and not shelve it for later. Like I'm prone to do.

So, here goes Peter...

Adsense is something that I'm really keen to master - there are some out there that say they earn about $20 000 per month on Adsense. Well, I think I've managed to get $44 on our www.clipps.co.za website so there LOADS and LOADS of room for improvements - wouldn't you say?

For those of you who might be new to this, Adsense are google ads.  You see them on the right hand side of the google search page when you do a google search and you see them a lot on other peoples websites.  People pay for the actual clicks they get from these ads so it could be a very worthwhile stream of revenue if you have a website that is going to receive a lot of visitors.

Now, how does one get started with Adsense? Here's one resource I found through clickbank that actually looks quite promising.

Click Here!

:-)

Valuable Resource - Elixir of Life

Today I've been gathering some thoughts together and doing my best to get back on track - most of today has been spent viewing the Business Warriors site. Wow - why do I need reminding about this valuable resource? If I could somehow convince the proverbial horse to drink the water that it had been led to then I would do so - because it's like the elixir of life for business people (SMME's and Entrepeneurs) :-)

If there is just one thing I could share that would help you with whatever you are creating with your business then here it is:



and I really suggest that you become one too - especially if you're based in South Africa or the UK.




Seriously - I still get excited when I visit the resources that Peter Carruthers has made available for us Business Warriors.

...and then there's the forum - where you'll find a whole lot of really genuine people who offer their advice and resources and very often, whether it's intentional or not, provide the good giggle. Really FRIENDLY :-)

Click here to visit the Business Warriors Site

or here:

Immobilised by choice

So the next step was to list a lot of possibilities and opportunities.

For the last little while that list has been expanding and I've been struggling to focus. Anyone have that? Which one should I focus on? Or should I do 3 at once - with 3 different things/themes.

And then I realised that it had been more than a week since my last post - eeeeeek - no, make that more than a month! Times ticking and I need to get moving on some things.

Back to the drawing board.

My background

Ok, so we're one day into the challenge and I must say I'm feeling quite excited as well as a little daunted by this challenge that I've set myself. I have a tendancy to succeed at just about everything I do, and if what I'm proposing to do is possible then I can find a way to make it work.

I studied both computer science and psychology and have completed various other diplomas/certifications in modalities that are very closely linked to the psychology side of things. Included in these is NLP and Coaching. My career took me into the IT world of computer programming and I got to be quite good at what I did, but... I was working an 80 hour week in the end, and that was just Monday through to Friday, and there were times when I was on call for those '3am, leap in the car and get my proverbial butt into the office' duties because the web servers were giving error messages, and heaven help me if the boss were discover 'down-time' when he came into the office in the morning. So now I'm self employed, and have been for 3 years. AND I managed to fulfill my dream of having a child in that time. Quite an achievement, if I say so myself.

BUT, I still fit into the left hand side of the quadrant (for Employees and Self Employed), according to Robert Kiyosaki's well known "Rich Dad, Poor Dad". ...and he's right! It DOES take some time to get one's head around what's needed to move into the right hand side of the quadrant.

You can find out more about here:


So now I'm going to get myself onto the right hand side of the Cashflow Quadrant (for Business Owners and Investors). Keep visiting this blog and I'll keep you posted about my journey to freedom.

It also about making it easy

There are many ways to do something and sometimes I find myself getting lost in my attempts to find the best tools for the job.  It pays off though, most of the time! :-)  That is when I'm not geting distracted by all the other goodies that I find out there on the web.  Hah!

So this post has been done through my desktop widget (on my Macbook).  Let's hope it makes posting a little easier...

The Challenge

Hi,

My name is Jane. I'm a single mum with a vision and a mission to be able to make money online so that I can be a mother, in the traditional sense of the word.

I have read so much about how to make money online both on various websites and in books that I've purchased - and I've noticed one thing - these people that sell these tips and books are making their money by, get this, selling these books and tips. Not one that I found actually had real life examples on how they took a concept, an idea, and made into something that generated an income for them.

So, my challenge to myself is to actually create a few sites that are earning money for me and my son. I give myself 3 months to do it in.

My journey will be written here in this blog. Hopefully, after 3 months, I will have some real life examples to show you. When it's done I will then do my best to share this information with other mothers who want to spend some more time on just being a mother.

Next time: some more about my background.

Hope this message finds you well and wonderfilled!