Shelley Allen’s Internet Marketing Lab

It’s hard to know where to start, in terms of allowing you to learn from my experiences, both good and bad. Thinking about it, I decided that the easiest thing was to start right now at the present time. I will tell you what I’m doing now, and as the opportunity arises I will fill you in on some of my IM history.

So….

Right now I have 12 income producing websites, all in varying stages of development and all in completely different niches.

The breakdown is as follows:

6 are BANS stores. 2 of these are a combined BANS/Wordpress platform, the other 4 are straight BANS platforms.

2 are static Adsense sites.

1 is a Wordpress blog (with the capacity to add a BANS store if I choose)

1 is a static Lead Capture site

1 is a static Product Review site

1 is a static website for Darren’s carpet steam cleaning business

I have decided (for now at least), that this will be my base for now, with my initial goal being to develop these websites to a point where they each earn $100 per month. I chose the goal of $100 for a couple of reasons, but mainly because psychologically $100 is very achievable and when taking into account the 12 sites I have, $1200 per month is a very good base from which to escalate further growth of my business. This is probably one of the most important things I have learnt along the way…and that is to be realistic.

At the moment, not all the websites are producing the $100, although some are and all are earning something. This is for a variety of reasons, but mostly because I have not yet finished developing them. The plan is that this will help me keep my focus where it needs to be and stop me jumping into other niches before I’m ready.

The income generated by these sites are basically coming from three sources:

1. Adsense

2. EPN - Ebay Partner Network

3. Clickbank - Affiliate sales

In addition, I only use SEO methods to generate free traffic, and I NEVER pay for visitors.

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As I mentioned on one of my earlier posts, I have spent thousands of dollars and followed many people up the wrong path, so to speak.

The turning point for me, was discovering that there is very, very good, free information available on the net from people who are not looking to rip you off. When you read a website or blog, trust your gut feelings on what the writer is trying to achieve. Most times your instincts are right and honest people do shine through.

Probably the first blog I came across that when I read it I really felt an affinity with the author, was Mark Hanson’s blog The Niche Store Builder. I was led there because one of my purchases along the way was the Build A Niche Store or BANS software. Mark is a fellow developer of BANS stores amongst other things and the information and guidance he provides his fellow marketers is second to none.

Mark’s blog, in turn, led me to Rochelle at Niche Store Strategies who provides step by step instructions that even the newest marketer could follow for just about any conceivable tweak they may want to do on their BANS site and again it was refreshing to read and utilise such valuable, but free information.

It was these two sites, that led me to build and develop a number of BANS sites that are now producing me a regular monthly income. I have discovered that you do not need to pay a fortune for information that will ‘guarantee’ an income, but if you are prepared to read, learn and ask questions, then you will be able to succeed.

My internet marketing career has since (and still is) evolving and I utilise only two or three key resources for my business. I refuse to chase every latest offer and I believe I possess the necessary tools which will allow me to develop a ‘quit my day job’ income.

There are times, that you need to spend money to progress your business, but there are many more times when you don’t need to. Please take a look around my blog. Anything I’ve linked to…I use, period. I do not promote trash or get rich quick programs just to make a fast buck. In my favourite links in the sidebar, I have included the blogs that I regularly read and who provide incredibly useful, free information. Any ads you see are from programs I personally use…that’s why there’s not very many!!

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OK, I’ll try not to bore you, but I know I like develop an affinity with the bloggers that I like and the best way to do that is to get to know them a little better….so:

Name: Shelley

Age: 40 something

Marital Status: Married to Darren for almost 22 years

Children: 3 of the best - Matthew 16, Rebecca 14 and Zach 12

Pets: I’m definitely a dog lover. We have 2 dogs, Shania (8 y.o. pug/schitzu) and Rosie (2 y.o something) who we got from the Lost Dogs home last year for Matt’s birthday.

Where do I live: Melbourne, Australia

Occupation: This is a bit complex, as we have our own (offline) business in property maintenance and carpet cleaning which I do the accounts and admin for Darren. But I also work part time for a local real estate office assisting the Property Manager. This doesn’t count my online work (and yes I treat it like a job).

What I like to do: Well, really I am a self confessed internet junkie and I spend countless hours building and developing my online business. Aside from that I spend all the rest of my time taxing my children around to all their sport and work things. Netball for Bec, cricket or football for Zach and taking Matt to work pretty much fill in any time I have left in a day. It can be pretty tiring a lot of the time, but I wouldn’t change it for anything. That’s why I do what I do, so I can spend quality time with my family.

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Hi, my name’s Shelley Allen and I’ve been Internet Marketing for about 3 years now and for the last 18 months in particular I’ve been putting in a pretty serious effort.

I’ve made numerous false starts on this blog, but I finally feel as though I have not only the confidence in myself and my experiences but also I’m ready to share with other marketers the things I have discovered, endured and used on my journey (and hopefully they will help someone) and also to follow with me as I continue this journey.

I intend to write in a natural way, and being an Australian, I do have a pretty broad sense of humor, so I hope you won’t be offended by anything I might say. You’ll probably also learn a few Aussie sayings, as I’m naturally colorful and expressive in my use of the English language Australian style!

By now, you’re probably wondering how successful I am? Well, it depends on what you term successful and what benchmarks are used.

The fact that I’m still going and very committed to my goal of earning enough income online to quit my day job is definitely some level of success. Another is that I’m earning a modest amount regularly each month, and it’s growing steadily. Do I earn enough to quit my job? Not yet, but I’m getting there and….I KNOW I will get there.

However, I do want to let you know…there has been much pain along the way and many dollars wasted. So much so, that I had to promise my husband not to spend anymore money before I started earning anything. I’m tallking probably in the realms of around $10,000 (which doesn’t include my foray into Herbalife, which cost me around $8,000).

So, please join with me and I will tell you not only about my successes and wonderful discoveries, I will also tell you of the stupid things I’ve done and wasted money on. Unfortunately the internet is full of scammers and rip off merchants who prey on people exactly like you and me. The sort of people who innocently wander onto the internet with wonderful dreams and hopes, only to have these lowlife take us for what they can get.

I can honestly say that I’m learning at the school of hard knocks, but I fully intend to graduate with honours!

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