Day 31 30DC - Now What?

Whew! It's over! Or it will be very shortly. Making sure that all participants get every possible in order to qualify for the grand prize trip to Australia, Ed and Co. have determined that the official deadline is midnight Hawaii time.

I think it's so the goddess Kummonayewantmymunni can bless the last efforts of everyone who has been diligently working the plan, mining their niches, and promoting their sites.

My grand total, as of this writing, is $46.45 which I think is pretty fair for what constitutes only a few days of my sites being in operation. Of course, there's a whole MONTH of work behind all that.

The question is, now what? I have tons of work to do for the upcoming semester and a few things happening in my life as well. I want to keep going, using the new skills I've learned. And I know the value of momentum, that forward motion that helps you continue moving in the right direction. It's a lot harder to get started again after a stop. The next few days will dictate how I proceed. Here's hoping that I will have the time and energy to add this to my routine and keep working on my sites. The promise of additional $$ is there; I just have to keep them up to date or at least fresh enough for a respectable showing in the search engines.

In the meantime, I'm taking a bit of a break! Blogging about the challenge has been fun, but I don't want to succumb to the tyranny of the daily blog. When it becomes a grind, and a job, it's no longer fun.

Stay tuned. I am committed to "always a new idea, never a dull moment", and will report back on that shortly.

Day 30 30DC - SO Tempting!

I am REALLY tempted to haul out one of the other niches I've discovered and put up Site #3. I've got the process down pat -- I think -- and things are working. Neither of the niches so far are the oil wells I thought they could be, but it is early yet. Some continued drilling is obviously necessary.

Knowing that, however, it is still tempting to throw a few more irons into the fire. After all, the gospel according to my friend Robert Allen is to have multiple streams of income. If one or two sites are starting to bear fruit, then why not have a few more?

In practical terms, I cannot maintain that many sites. Not at the moment. And they're not generating enough income yet that I can justify hiring someone to help with the maintenance.

But it is a great idea, and I'll let it incubate a little longer...

Day 29 30DC - Site #2 Rings In!

I am more than thrilled to report that I have now made some money from the second niche, the one that was put on the back burner when I made the choice of which one to launch first. With a few spare moments, I managed to get Site #2 up and running, posted and ranked.

It has now reciprocated with a small sale that nets me some profit. (Although not a lot if you consider the amount of time I've spent on it, but still...)

So that reinforces for me that the process does indeed work, and more importantly, that **I** can work it. That makes all the difference.

It's fine watching someone else do these activities and make their $$ on the internet, but until you master the process yourself, you don't really become converted to it. Nice to know that what I did with Site #1 has been replicated with Site #2 and it too can generate income for me.

Day 28 30DC - Winding Down in a Way

With a new semester starting shortly, and the Challenge coming to an end, I definitely need to look at my workload and perhaps start to wind down. I don't want to. Now that I've built up some momentum and started a successful site (or 2) I want to keep going.

But reality is quickly descending. I have more responsibilities this semester, with new courses and plenty of challenges in the academic sector not just on the internet. So I'm going to have to look at how I can keep working on my sites while not neglecting any of my students. In fact, the students are the priority so it will be the other way around -- how to best serve my students while still being able to dabble in the internet marketing.

Now THAT's a challenge!

Day 27 30DC - Not Just a Fluke

There have been two more sales on my site, so this new niche is working out nicely. As with most internet marketers, I'm being close-mouthed about the niches and key phrases I am using. This is a competitive business and the waters are full of sharks. Especially the kind of sharks who prefer to get something easy than do the work themselves.

As I said yesterday, it IS work. I have been swamped this weekend but still managed to update my content a little. That daily attention is what is necessary to keep the sites lively and interesting.

But at this point, four days days from the end of the Challenge, I am pleased that I've been able to make those first few dollars.

Now, it's just "rinse and repeat".

Day 26 30DC - No Blips Today

Can't realistically expect every day to be a money maker, but that is the ultimate goal. There were no $$ drops today. :-(

As long as I keep up the momentum, though, I am sure that there will be additional sales. The key is to maintain the work on the sites and the niches, and keep the content fresh. That will keep them being crawled and ranked by the search engines and therefore easily accessible to people who want to buy.

Remember, it's easy to sell someone something if it provides a solution to their problem. They will only know it's their solution when they come across your site. That's why having a top ranking gives you a greater chance in snagging the buyers.

Of course it's work! Like most money-making activities.