Super Simple Blogging
You know how sometimes you just find yourself coming back to one thing over and over? You get jazzed about something else that looks good, check it out for awhile, learn new techniques...and then you get this nagging feeling that there's still unfinished business with that other thing that was so intriguing.
Well, I've been coming back to this one free site for tutorials since Feb. now. I bumped into a guy named Steven Resell, on the Warrior Forum. I was determined not to become one of those people who gets addicted to get-rich-quick internet schemes...so I eagerly followed Steven's advice. And then checked out his free program, called Super Simple Blogging (http://supersimpleblogging.com)
Steven is not against Bum Marketing or PPC marketing. Far from it...his approach is similar in many ways. But it's largely product-based (rather than Clickbank-based)--and Steven is not ashamed to admit that he subsists on scraps. Lots and lots of micro-blogs, each of which is based on careful keyword/competition research. And each of which may only bring in less than $10 a day.
I think I remember him saying somewhere along the way that he began doing this in grad school out in Southern Cal. He just wanted (like Potpie Girl and Travis and others) to find a very low-cost way to begin bringing in regular revenue. So that he could then invest that revenue back into his business and maybe turn to more glamorous things.
What I liked right away about Steven (besides the fact that his stuff is free) is his low-key style. In his videos, he's very laid-back. And sometimes he'll even say things like, "Oooh, I never saw that happen before. Sorry guys...well, let's just pretend that worked and move on."
I like teachers who are human...and I like "low-hype" and low-key.
I did hours of the SuperSimpleBlogging vids before I ever joined WA. Steven taught me keyword research every bit as methodically as the good folks here at WA. He did it with his own parameters/filters in mind...but nonetheless, I learned the ropes. He likes Market Samurai, but he also shows you how to do it all using GEKT and Traffic Travis.
I've joined his brand-new coaching program, which was really pretty cheap at $200. I think it's closed to new people at the moment, so I'm not hawking that or anything. I just spent a day researching and bullding a WP site with the techniques I'm learning from him, and I'm excited.
Basic stats on what I built today:
217 exact-match searches per day
91 SEOT
$.86 AWCPC
6290 SEOC
99% OCI
Exact-match .com domain name available.
(If it doesn't hit criteria similar to these, you are not allowed to pursue it. I need that kind of rule-setting. Otherwise, I chase after the merest slips of possibilities.)
My whole goal here is to spend these months trying different things...putting enough different types of "web real estate out there" that I can get an idea of what works for me.
This is not something I'm recommending anyone replace the well rounded WA education with. But for those of you who want a bit of video-based hand-holding, this may be a nice option. You need to be open to the lower commissions that long-tail-keyword product review blogs represent. And you need to be prepared to create lots of 'em (which means buying domains).
But if you like the rinse-and-repeat ethic--and if you feel most comfortable promoting tangible products that you might search for yourself--you might just want to take a peek at the free tutorials over at Steven's site.
http://supersimpleblogging.com
Oh, and for those of you who want to be told exactly which WP plugins to get, all of that is here as well.
Hope this is helpful to someone!
Maureen