Well anyway… it finally got a little overwhelming and I convinced my husband to get around to taking them to the recycling place. He asked me to call up there and find out how much they were paying for aluminum so we could get an idea of how much money we’d make off all these cans.

I did and it was 25 cents a pound. So I thought, “cool, there’s 20 bucks”.

My husband came in and called a recycling center in Wichita (which is an hour away) and the price for aluminum was 50 cents a pound. Dang ~ he just doubled our money. He happened to be going to Wichita anyway so the drive was really no big deal.

So who really cares about my cans and how much money we got for them ($47.63)? Nobody, but the point was to illustrate that by looking around, doing a little research you can easily double your money for the same effort.

This is true in internet marketing as well.  Later that very same day a friend sent me a link to a video that shows one easy way to do just that. I thought I’d share it with you today.

It’s very easy to use Amazon as your affiliate program. It’s probably relatively familiar to you. It’s a trusted site. There are definitely reasons to use Amazon. But… if you’re looking at promoting specific products it’s worth it to look around and see if there are other affiliate programs that could possibly earn you more ~ even double what you’d make at Amazon.

Here’s the video:

I’d love to hear what you think about what Andrew has to say. Is it worth it to search around for other affiliate programs? Are you going to stick with Amazon? Let’s talk about it. Tell me in the comments.

No related posts.

I don’t use a lot of images on this blog, but images can really add to a site. They look great and can serve to keep people on your site a little longer. They can also really bring home a point you’re making in your blog post.

Here’s the rub…

Where do you find great images you can legally use without paying for them? Sure you can scour through flickr and find images you can use, but I’ve got another idea.

Allposters.com

Yep, a poster store. They have thousands of posters on thousands of subjects and I’m sure you can find one that will fit the topic of your blog post.

The even better thing is that you can use your affiliate link to create the images and if someone clicks through and buys it you make a commission.

Now I’m not saying you’re going to make a million bucks from your images ~ but, an additional little income stream is never a bad thing and you get fantastic images and don’t have to worry about using them illegally. Win -win from where I’m sitting.

Their affiliate program appears to be in house ~ although I thought at one time it was through another network, but now it seems all you have to do is fill out the application.

You will need a website for your application. If you don’t currently have a blog or a website you can create one for free on blogger to get you started. You can use the images with your affiliate  links on any site after you’ve been accepted.

This is also a great way to create images on Squidoo lenses ~ and hubpages… I’m just sayin’.

I hope this gives you an idea on how to get free blog images  ~ and maybe helps you make a little cash on the side. I’d love to hear how you’re finding free blog images ~ or are you paying for them? Tell me in the comments!

No related posts.

What happens when you realize the topic you’ve decided on for your site just doesn’t really respond to that type of monetization?

Maybe you chose a topic that is early in the buying cycle, and people aren’t looking to buy something, or they’re just looking for information.

What do you do?

Do you just quit the site and let it lay around doing nothing?

Well that’s one option for sure ~ but it’s not the most profitable option I’m certain.

Let’s look at an example from my website portfolio.

A couple years ago when I went through Amy’s Niche Blogger program I built a blog featuring Easy Chicken Recipes. It met all the guidelines she talked about. I built it as she suggested and it gets traffic. I haven’t really touched the site (until just recently) in a year or so ~ and it still gets a couple thousand page views a month. The keywords aren’t the problem ~ they are getting me traffic, problem is no one’s buying.

When I stop to think about it, it makes perfect sense. I go online all the time looking for recipes. I’m looking for recipes, not to buy something. Because I realized the error I made I just left this site laying around ~ I added a cool plugin that makes it look like the site is updating regularly ~ but it’s really just rotating older posts through to the front page ~ so I just left it.

I recently read a free report from a big guru launch about email marketing. As I read it some big time lights went off in my head. The first light was about my internet marketing blog ~ but then other lights began going off ~ I realized I could look at the recipes site in a totally different way and make it work.

Here’s the new plan.

1. Add clickable advertising (adsense/chitika) Which I hadn’t been using because the amount I make per click is so minimal it didn’t seem worth it ~ but it is getting good traffic and will be getting even more traffic now.

2. Create an out of this world freebie (It’s going to be a cookbook of my favorite chicken recipes ~ I’ll also be getting a quality ebook cover done for this)

3. Add  the PopUp Domination plugin to start collecting names.

4. Create an autoresponder series that once finished will create a hands off passive income stream.

How’s that going to work?

These people are looking for information ~ we know that. I’m going to offer them a free cookbook of recipes they were searching for to get them on my list.

Once on my list I’m going to keep sending them even more fantastic chicken recipes. (Is this going to be hard ~ NO because I love cooking, and I love to cook chicken, and I make chicken a LOT, and have a lot of chicken recipes)

Here’s where the money comes in:

While they are looking for recipes ~ people looking for easy chicken recipes are probably also in need of other things that make life a little easier. I bet they are probably moms ~ busy moms!

In each email I will let them know about something that can make life a little easier ~ whether it’s a way to organize their recipes, a great cookbook or whatever. This is known as soft sell ~ just adding a little note at the top and/or bottom of the email.

Then every 2 or 3 emails I’ll send them an entire email focused on something. Something they can buy. It may be a cookbook (via Amazon or Clickbank), it may be a way to get their printed recipes organized, or a great workout program (you think busy moms are looking for a quick way to work out?), or a service that will create an entire week’s menu for them and send them the grocery list along with the recipes.

The key to this working though, is I’m not going to just shoot them recipes every week. I’m going to let them get to know me. I’ll tell some stories ~ add our family’s thoughts on the recipes. I’ll let them know I am like them ~ a busy mom who wants life to be easier. By allowing them to get to know, like and trust me it will be much easier for them to accept my recommendation when it comes to something to buy.

This plan will work in just about any relatively specific niche (I’m not talking about micro niches here though). It will work especially well if you find you’ve gotten yourself in a niche where people are looking for information instead of to buy. By getting people on your list you’re giving yourself the opportunity to be in front of them more than once.  I’d say 99% of my traffic is new people on that site. Yeah, they come by looking for a recipe, and even if they might have needed something I was advertising on the site, they aren’t in the mindset to buy right now. I can keep talking over time until I hit the moment they ARE ready ~ then they buy.

What do you think? Are there niches you’ve chosen where this strategy might work for you? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments section!

No related posts.

I realized my road bike will fit in the car (without the car seat there!) ~ Now if it gets under 100 degrees I’ll go for a ride *fingers crossed for the morning*

I then went out and cut veggies from the garden and realized it would be a perfect time to get some canning done. As much as I love to cook with Hanna ~ I’m still new to canning and think it will be much easier to do without a million questions and a little one under foot.

So I went looking for recipes. I’ve got plenty of cucumbers for regular pickles, but I’m getting inundated with Zucchini and was wondering if I could can it… so in search of recipes I went.

I found a couple relish recipes, and realized it was getting on dinner time and without my picky eater (the husband) in the house I could eat foods I don’t normally fix. YAY!!

That’s when I came across this fantastic recipe: OH YUM. And so many ingredients I love but the hubby won’t touch. Sounds perfect for dinner.

I’m reading the recipe, and then got to the comments and here’s what I saw:

(the hi-lite is mine). The author talked a lot about this completely fantastic Mandoline she just got, how much she loves it, the great features it has that make it a dream to use and then didn’t tell us what it was, or let us look at it or give us a link.

I have a mandoline and I haven’t quite figured out how to use it yet (maybe I will for this recipe ~ but I think I’ll probably use the potato peeler method lol)

She is talking to cooks ~ that’s her audience. Don’t you think if she LOVES this mandoline so much, then they will too? Isn’t there a chance that someone out there reading this fantastic recipe might also be in the need of  a fantabulous mandoline?

As a matter of fact ~ after a quick search at the Google tool I can see there are 1900 people every month looking for a mandoline review. hmmm…

So many times we get caught up in what we’re talking about (the recipe) that we forget there are other elements involved in the story that could easily help us monetize a post. (the mandoline)

I know in the beginning I would think about putting links to tools I was using or talking about in the post and I’d feel like “oh jeez, I don’t want them to think I’m trying to sell them something”.

I don’t think like that anymore. I think along the lines of wow ~ I don’t want my readers to have to say… I would have liked to have seen the (fill in the blank) you recommend. I’m in the market for one too!

I was talking to Mary K about this the other day. (She’s my accountability partner and the Queen of Play) She was saying how frustrating it is when she’s reading something and someone’s talking about a something ~ be it a tool, or a site or whatever ~ and they don’t link to it. It’s like they are “keeping” it from her, and she really wishes they would share.

As you’re writing, and telling stories make sure you keep in mind the tools you use. Those are the things you are likely to be very passionate about, and may be things you can easily monetize. If you leave out your links you’re doing not only yourself, (almost all the De Buyers mandolines at Amazon are over 100 dollars) but your readers a disservice.

What tools of your trade do you use regularly. Are you talking about them in your blog posts? Are you linking people to be able to buy them? If not… maybe you should be. I’d love to hear what you think in the comments section.

Now I’m off to make that fabulous looking recipe.

No related posts.