I'm going to start off by actually apologizing before I even get going, this post isn't meant to be a rant but if it becomes one then I'm sorry in advance.

Does anyone else think that trying to find a decent domain name for any niche related website is becoming increasingly difficult. Personally when I'm choosing a domain name(s) I like to get the DOT com extension where possible and preferably it should contain my main site 'theme' key phrase which I aim to rank the front page for. If my main key phrase is a short one and maybe two words long then I may have to place another word either in front of or behind my main key phrase, this is all very well but what if it's not available. Lately with most of the new niches I have discovered it has been the case that the DOT com has inf act been taken and short of hyphening the hell of it or adding several random words to the end there is no chance of me acquiring a decent DOT com. So what do you do? Read the rest of this entry »

As I mentioned in my previous post, Amazon Associates has remained overshadowed for a while now by eBay's larger and more popular affiliate program, however due to many changes over the last 12 months all of this is likely to change.

The new QCP structure from eBay has alienated A LOT of affiliates and if you read around the internet on the large networks, blogs and forums (eBay's being one of them) you can get some idea of what a lot of affiliates are currently thinking. At present around 30% of affiliates are reporting that they are seeing increases in their earnings but a large percentage of affiliates are seeing a significant drop in earnings, to the point that many of them have vowed to drop eBay as an income stream other than for their 'no work' sites. Whilst I'm not one of these affiliates I have significantly reduced the amount of sites I am building targeted purely at ePN. The fact is though that these affiliates will look for the next best thing, whilst Adsense or Chitika can provide a steady stream, neither exactly lend themselves to the product based niche affiliate website model. This is where Amazon comes in. Read the rest of this entry »

Over the next few weeks I want to write a series of posts concentrated around the Amazon affiliate program. Originally I was going to cover this in a separate blog because it's so focused around Amazon but I have since changed my mind and opted to cover it here, I hope this doesn't alienate any of my readers.

I have spent the last 3 out of the 5 years I have been working online building and developing product based niche affiliate websites in conjunction with one affiliate program or another. Like many people I used eBay for around 25% of these sites and have made a lot of money utilizing their affiliate program as a monetization method. But one program for me which I still feel is underutilized is the Amazon affiliate program and there have been several reasons for this Read the rest of this entry »

16/10/09- UPDATED 1.7.5 - NOW INCLUDES CLICK TIMESTAMP METER READ MORE BELOW

Understanding your ePN stats and being able to make changes accordingly could be difficult enough at the best of times but now that ePN have changed their commission structure, the way that you interpret your reports has also changed. Personally, one of the major flaws with the new program, other than the program itself, is the layout of the ePN dashboard. The fact that you have to navigate in and out of screens quite honestly makes things a lot harder than they have to be. Alan Lewis has come up with a solution for this in the form of a WordPress plugin known as PiggyBank.

Piggybank is not a new plugin by any means, it's been around for a while now but since the change of the ePN commission structure from % to EPC this plugin has really come into it's own. What this plugin allows you to do is see all of your important report data in one place, helping you to better understand which sites are failing and which ones aren't. I was lucky enough to beta test the new PiggyBank and I've personally spent the last 24 hours playing around with the latest version (1.7.3) which I think is fantastic. Read the rest of this entry »

Building a healthy portfolio of product based niche affiliate websites has been dubbed the N1Way to make money online. However, building a portfolio which is large enough to bring you in a significant amount of income is something which the majority of people struggle to achieve on their own. That said, it's entirely possible to build a portfolio of websites on your own which consistently bring you in enough money to work from home it's just going to take you significant longer to do so.

Outsourcing is a good way of speeding up this process and it's covered fully as a step in the N1Way e-guide. The entire process of site building can be outsourced from niche research right thought to actually putting the site together and submitting it to the first search engine, however outsourcing costs money! Read the rest of this entry »

Over the last couple of months I have been following the N1Way guide to put together several new websites, around 10 inf act, all are doing well so far and fitting in with the overall plan. You may remember that Mark over at N1Way Guide was kind enough to give away one of his Rank Spanker reports completely free on his website. This 'blueprint' contained full recommendations on a complete site structure including the niche itself, domain names, reviews and guides. I was lucky enough to snap up those domain names and build my first N1Way site and thanks to Mark, I had it completed a lot quicker than my other 9.

So without further a due, here is the site I completed first using N1Way and I wanted you to be able take a look for yourselves. The site was built around the niche of mallet putters. Read the rest of this entry »

This is just a short post to let you know about a prize package which Gerri has up for grabs over at NinetyNineWays.net. This give away is to celebrate the re-launch of his blog which I have to say looks fantastic.

What's On Offer?

There are two prize packages on offer, combined they are worth more than $900 in value and will be given away to two lucky winners at the beginning of November. Read the rest of this entry »

No longer for sale: Updated to the Niche Site Building Network.

Well I honestly have to say this wasn't something I fully expected, I know Adam and Kelvin had said they have taken BANS as far as THEY could but I didn't expect to see it for sale so soon after they had mentioned it, whoever buys it will certainly have a couple of excellent products on their hands.

In my opinion BANS is something which still has a lot of room for development and in the right hands with a good team of programmers it could potentially be taken a lot further. I will personally be watching with interest to see who the lucky buyer is. Read the rest of this entry »

Having just returned from a nice break away in the Mediterranean I suddenly realized how important it is to be able to take a step back from everything and relax for a while. When working from home it's all too easy to work from 8am to 10pm and not think anything of it, but it all soon catches up with you.

This is the first time I have been away (abroad) since I began working full time online and leaving everything wasn't anywhere near as easy as I had first thought it would be, the autopilot business isn't so autopilot after all :). It wasn't until I actually sat down on a sunbed in the 28 degree heat, in the sunshine, with a cocktail or two that I actually realized how much I needed the break away from work. Fortunately or unfortunately, however you look at it, the hotel did actually have an internet connection Read the rest of this entry »