This is a really exciting day for me.  I learned a few new things yesterday, overcame some personal mental barriers about my abilities and I came up with something exciting to tell you all about. It all revolves around monetizing my squidoo lenses with Free PLR products.  ~ now don’t get that glazed over look, just take a second and listen to me!!!

How it started:

I was reading email (after all my work was done of course), and followed a link to a free PLR membership site. (of course there’s an upgrade but I was just checking it out). While I was there looking around I saw an ebook about hybrid cars.  That got me to thinking. HMMM. . . I have a Squidoo lens on global warming and also a lens on running your car on water ~ that also talks about hybrid cars. hmmm. . . my little engine got to running. I started thinking wouldn’t it be nice if I could set up a sales page and then have the money go directly to my acct, which means I make ALL the money instead of just a portion in commission.

Why yes, indeed, that sounds really good.

Here comes my problem. As you all know I love wordpress. I am a wordpress girl. I almost hesitate to say I have never put up a “real” website before. I don’t know how and frankly  ~ I’m a little scared. I’ve been online for years, and I have managed to avoid dealing with this task.

It’s time to get over it!!!

I downloaded the hybrid car package and took a look. I was astounded to see that included with this package, was not only the ebook, sales page and images but get this

1. a bunch of free plr articles on the topic
2. a whole adsense website I could just put up (content included)
3. a 5 part autoresponder series about buying hybrid cars
4. prewritten google ads
5. prewritten yahoo ads
6. a huge list of hybrid car keywords

Needless to say I was astounded ~ and then of course I got overwhelmed, which is where I think most people go when they get so much for nothing.

I decided to just stay focused. Put up the sales page, get my info in it and then put a link on my squidoo lenses to the sales page.

So that’s what I did.  Here’s how I did it.

I bought a relevant domain name: http://whybuyhybridcars.com (after some keyword research of course)

I forwarded nameservers and added it as an add on domain in my hosting.

I uploaded the sales page and the images to the root directory. Which I screwed up and it wouldn’t work. All I was getting was a list of what was on the directory and not the actual page. A few frantic instant messages to friends and I was up and running again.  I had a friend send me some great videos and another one walked me through finally setting up an FTP (which I had never used either ~ I just did all my stuff in cpanel ~ ok, stop laughing now) (this gets me thinking this would be a very informative squidoo lens hmmm)

Anyway, I finally got the site to show up when I typed in my url.

I then went to the index file in my server and opened it up by clicking on the edit button on the right hand side in my server area. I added my own city, state to the top of the letter. I also added my new signature graphic (which I really love). They guy who my did my sales page graphics for Keyword Research Revealed (yes putting up this sales page was kind of a test run for getting that one up.) made it for me. You can get one too if you want. He’s really cheap. Mario at Cheapestprocovers.com

I then went to paypal and set up a paypal button. Which I copied and pasted the code into the index file where the other order button used to be. I really wanted my info to come up and still use their graphic but it just wouldn’t work. I also thought it would be fine because everyone trusts paypal, so it’s not such a bad thing to have a paypal button.

I then tried to figure out how to add my own autoresponder information into their pretty box. This one was tough. I asked for help in a couple forums but the only reply I got was make a copy of the file and play around with it until it works. Which is just what I did. I made some crazy things before I got it right, but it is finally right.

So once that was all in there, every link is now taking them to something of mine, whether it’s a payment page or a place to sign up for my newsletter.

If you want to check out Why Buy Hybrid Cars and see how it came out, be my guest!

Then all that was left was to put some links in my squidoo lenses.  I do still need to go and put the autoresponder series in the autoresponder so they will get messages when they sign up.  I can also use some of the free plr articles that came with this set to make more messages to send once the series is over. This will give me more opportunities to send them information about other related products/services.

WHEW!!!

As I was doing this I thought dang, this is complicated and I should write it all down so I can show my readers how they can do this too.  As I went back through the PRL membership site to see what else was available I found a whole ebook that outlined exactly what I had just done. LOL, would’ve been nice to have some instructions BEFORE I started.  7 Days to PLR Profits outlines this whole process. His intention is a little different than mine was. He is setting up a whole product he is going to put on clickbank to sell, and have affiliates sell. That’s not a bad idea, but I was only thinking to monetize my squidoo lenses ~ since they are already getting traffic.  So he has you doing a lot of rewriting and whatnot, but for my purposes I think it will be fine. (if you click the link you can get a free copy of 7 Days to PLR Profits ~ I’m probably going to set up the sales page for that too, and add it to some of my other lenses as well.)

This sounds really complicated, and believe me, I didn’t know what I was doing. I still managed to get it all done in an afternoon, and now that I have done it once I’m sure it will go much quicker.  If you want to implement this plan, as I have done it here’s what you are going to need:

1. A good squidoo lens ~ if you don’t know how to make a squidoo lens check out my squidoo for beginners course (just sign up top right hand corner of the page). It should get you started. If you arent’ getting traffic to your lenses check out Squidoo Profit System

2. A hosting account

3. Access to decent PLR Products ~ there are a lot of PRL membership sites out there, some are free and some cost a fortune. Start with the free ones, and if you enjoy this and are going to do more of it upgrade or join the sites where you pay, but they only sell a limited number of each product.

4. An autoresponder

5. A paypal Account ~ setting up the button is free and so is the account. They will take out a bit of each sale to pay themselves.

6. Some patience and kindness (for yourself)  if you have no idea what you’re doing

If you decide to try this method of monetizing your squidoo lenses and you get completely stuck or something’s just not working, give me a buzz on Skype (momtohanna) and I will see what I can do to help you out.  Just make sure you tell me who you are and where you know me from or I might ignore you.

So this has turned into a book ~ not surprising as long winded as I am.  I just wanted to share this with you all though for a couple reasons.

1. I’m damn proud of myself for overcoming my fears and actually doing it!

2. There are free resources out there you can use to monetize not only your squidoo lenses but also any niche sites you make.  These are things YOU can get paid 100% for, instead of only a percentage. You can also change the amount you sell the product for and you can even fix it up and make it completely your own. Put your name on it and make it yours.

So many people say having your own product is THE way to make money online. I don’t disagree with that, especially with the sales I have seen with keyword research revealed, without even having it on an affiliate network yet.

The process of making a product can seem so intimidating to people they just don’t do it at all. But using PLR products and PLR content you can quickly put together a unique product you can call your own.

Well, creating your own product is a whole other topic. If you decide to try this please let me know how it goes!! I had a blast and I’m excited to do more. I mean, I have all this hosting space just sitting there, I should start filling it up with things that will make me money!!

And so should you! Get busy

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!<

Are you ready to take Undaunted Action? But don't know where to start?
Getting people moving is what I do best!
If you're ready to take action, join us in the safety of a friendly caring community. Join us in the K.I.S.S. Club! Your business will never be the same!

Other Posts That Might Help:

1. PLR Basics ~ An Easy Way to Create Content
2. Content Creation Series: List Post
3. Content Creation Series: How to Write Reviews