Ugly Videos Make You Money

Posted on March 8, 2006

I got so stoked!

Last week I was working with this truly fantastic technique to add hundreds of products to a website - essentially building a unique online store - using merchant datafeeds…

I knew you’d love this too, but I was pretty sure if I just wrote to you about it, you’d probably skim or skip the email.

Why?

Because it sounds geeky, it sounds complicated, it sounds like something that is a lot of work.

But it isn’t any of those things!

And there was only one way to prove it. I had to show you, from start to finish, how I created my own online store (selling other people’s products) in 20 minutes.

So I made you a few videos where, in 20 minutes, I added 100 products to my site, complete with images and descriptions, and with my affiliate link embedded into every link.

Just a few problems…

The dang videos were massive.
They didn’t load.
They sounded like I was whispering down a hallway.
My Great Dane Kizzie is snoring at my feet (which is perfectly audible!).

Aw heck.

I grabbed Sherman and asked about his video creations - and I knew that I should record my videos over again - the only problem was that in order to honestly show you what I’d done I’d have to undo all my work.

So I attempted to remaster, resize, and reformat those videos into something you can hear and load. Which worked out great!

But now they’re ugly. Smooshed, small and a little fuzzy.

Can’t see this video? Get the latest flash player here

However :) they do show you what I had intended to show you…that you can find a pile of products, in a pile of markets, to sell on your site for a commission. And the merchants make it really easy for you - they provide photos, descriptions and an automated linking system all in one tight little file called a datafeed.

“Integrating datafeeds on a website are one of the most painful ways to make money online.”

Up ’till now! And that, my friend, is what I want to show you in my ugly videos - 20 minutes to take that awful datafeed, clean it up, add your affiliate ID, and run it through a tiny little WordPress script which creates content, posts, products, images and income (yay!) to your site.

You’re going to love it.

Here’s what you can do:

  • breathe life into a neglected dot com.
  • start a new online store that is uniquely yours (by selecting various product lines from various merchants).
  • add hundreds of products at once, or trickle them into your site hourly, daily, whatever time period you want (trickling is best for search engine results).
  • easily intermix your own descriptions of the product, or your own articles with products (that’s what I’m doing next).

Here’s why you want to do it:

  • earn some affiliate commissions easily,
  • re-ignite the search engines’ interest in your site with all the new content you’re adding on autopilot,
  • because you’ll be using a search engine friendly WordPress blog and a very simple script (that doesn’t leave a footprint and is gentle on your bandwidth) to do it.

Here’s the only reason why you wouldn’t do it:

  • because you don’t know WordPress yet. (What? Shame on you! After all the writing I’ve been doing to you over the last year about how easy and profitable blogging is… Take the fast track, get yourself right over to WordPressTutorials.com right now and sign up for Sherman’s new pay as you go plan - it’s a steal at his monthly rate! Sherman’s videos are fast, easy on the eyes and he makes learning fun! Plus, I’ve been spending a lot of time in his WordPress forum so we can connect there as well!)

Finally I have to add a little secret here…

A few months ago I was emailing a merchant about my Commission Junction earnings. The affiliate manager accidentally emailed me a reply that was intended for another affiliate! That other affiliate was using datafeeds from multiple merchants on their site and their monthly commission for that month for just this one merchant, was in the five figures.

Now I never said a word to anyone, but I went over to the site to check out what they were doing to make that kind of money. And that, my online friend, is why I’m so pumped about this new script!

In the last few months I’ve been investigating some of the software, tools, and techniques for using merchant or affiliate datafeeds and not one of them has been so search engine friendly, so easy to use, so fast, and so inexpensive.

Please, take 20 minutes and watch my ugly videos, grab the script for yourself, investigate some of the merchants in many markets who offer datafeeds, or if you need to learn WordPress first go see Sherman.

I don’t know what else to say other than I truly believe this is the best advice, the best ‘push’ towards adding an income stream to your site that I’ve ever disclosed.

Your friend in marketing,

Laura Childs
www.smartzville.com

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45 Replies to “Ugly Videos Make You Money”

  1. Sherrill on March 8th, 2006 12:18 pm

    Hey Laura,
    You always share such good stuff and make it seem like you ain’t even sellin nothin…such style ya got bout yaself…I think “That’s” what you should be sellin…ya style…I’ve been doing some stuff with self hypnosis that is amazing and works for pretty much everything. Laura be sure to stop by the coffee shop when you’re in the neighborhood. All the best Sherrill

  2. Gene on March 8th, 2006 12:28 pm

    Not up and runing yet,but with this information you just sent me,I should be in the mix shortly.
    Thank you.

    With Integrity.
    Gene.

  3. Smartzville on March 8th, 2006 12:35 pm

    Sherrill:

    Thanks for your note. You’ve got a great style too ya’ know! Always respectful and friendly. We’ve chatted back and forth for 6 months or so and I’ve always felt like I knew you in real life. I appreciate that, online can seem so cold sometimes…

    You could set this up on your coffee site easily - make some back end sales - coffee makers, grinders, specialty mugs, etc. Seriously my friend I want you to look into this - this is hot and that’s not just the marketer in me speaking…

    We’ll chat again soon yes?

    Laura

  4. Smartzville on March 8th, 2006 12:41 pm

    Gene:

    Thanks for your note. I hope you fully understand that I am here for you and will help you in any way I can.

    I’m glad you’re stepping into the game with technique/system/process. It’s likely something I’ll be rambling on about for some time so stick with me - I promise the next set of videos will be more enjoyable… :)

    Plus there are just so many markets to choose from. You can set one up, get it in the green and move onto the next ’store’ when you’re ready.

    But let’s not get ahead of ourselves…lately I’ve been writing about how doing something (even badly) is better than doing nothing. It’s all about momentum and learning on the way…

    Drop me a line anytime if you need help or have questions or if there’s anything I can do to help another traveller.

    Laura

  5. Sally on March 8th, 2006 1:24 pm

    Yet again an astonishing amount of great information, dont know how you keep delivering but thankyou, Sally

  6. Bob Lowell on March 8th, 2006 2:28 pm

    I like it. More.

  7. Smartzville on March 8th, 2006 7:13 pm

    One reader asked by email:

    “Does the datafeed software reside on the server or the client side? If client side, I assume it is PC only? I’m on a Mac.”

    ————-

    Laura says:

    The datafeed ’software’ is actually a ’script’. And, as such, resides on the server and is browser operated.

    Then again maybe you’re asking about the spreadsheet software (in the videos I used Microsoft’s Excel and on the info page recommend a free program that is PC)…I don’t have much info on MAC spreadsheet software, but I imagine there’s some really good stuff available. Now that ’software’ is just for the preliminary edits of the datafeed (which are usually available as txt or csv files) - which I’m pretty sure you can work with in a MAC environment.

    At any rate, if you like the idea of the WordPress DataFeed Import script (and I really love it and will be building a number of specialty stores on a bunch of my sites real soon) then snatch it up and get busy - your only MAC concern will be the spreadsheet software - you’ve probably already got something installed…

    Drop me a note if I can answer other questions or if you just want to touch base from time to time…

    Laura

  8. Dave Black on March 8th, 2006 11:29 pm

    I’m a little awestruck…so what you’re saying is I can plug weight loss and health products right into my site via a datafeed(s)? This is ridiculous…we’re talking about saving hundreds of hours of work each month just in page design and code and uploading photos and coding the links alone. My head hurts just thinking about this…thank you so much for emailing me about this!

  9. Smartzville on March 9th, 2006 6:39 am

    Dave, yes! Isn’t it fantastic?

    Now you know why I was so stoked about it…

    And why the glitch with the videos was really getting me down because I really wanted to get to work building a few stores.

    Aw well, at least they’re done and helped out a few people.

    If you have a copy of RSS2Blog you likely already know it can do the same thing (and more, unrelated to building affiliate datafeeds), although not quite as smoothly as the WordPress Datafeed Import Script.

    Send me your results (if you’re not too shy) and let me see what you’ve done after using the script. I’m always excited to see how my work benefits others.

    Laura

  10. Guy John on March 9th, 2006 8:41 pm

    Very new to all this. I don’t have my own website.

    What do I need to get started!

    Thanks.

  11. Smartzville on March 9th, 2006 10:59 pm

    Hi Guy,

    We just ’spoke’ by email but I figured I’d copy my replies to you here to help others as well.

    You stated this would be your first project and site and I’m proud of you for moving forward.

    WordPress runs this script and WordPress is by it’s very nature pretty good at search engine optimization - of course there are many tweaks you can do to make it better. WordPress is donation ware, so you can pay the developers once you’re in the green if you can afford it.

    Now the big plus is that search engine optimized sites bring traffic in organically - you don’t need to pay for traffic like lots of the big html run websites. I’ve never paid for traffic or advertising on my WordPress blogs - usually the traffic starts coming in about 10 days. It may take longer for someone new to website creation, keyword research, etc.

     

    That’s pretty much it. By taking the steps above you’ve got a lot of help available to you. Teli’s system will help with scripts and datafeed, Sherman and his support network will be there for WordPress tweaks and best practices, the host I recommend has 24/7 online chat support - and anything else you run into I could probably answer…

    I’m guessing for someone completely new to online business this is about 6-8 hours to set up. Then you’d be spending time learning more about WordPress, traffic, keywords, subscribers, etc as you go and building your business. Choose a market or product line that you like, especially for your first site, and don’t just go where everyone else says you should go and says the money is…sometimes there’s too much competition in those markets…follow your own interests and you’ll enjoy your business more. Once you’ve got it all down and under your belt you can move into other markets, other product lines, easily. And, if you sign up with the host I recommend, your second business won’t cost you anything more than a new domain registration - but I’m getting ahead of ourselves here…

    It’s late and yours is the last email I’m replying to tonight - so excuse my haste - I will help you more when you’re ready, just email me any questions and I’ll do my best to answer promptly.

    Laura

  12. Dawn on March 13th, 2006 9:02 am

    Laura, thank you for such a simple step-by-step action plan. I’m familiar with these items, but just haven’t put it in order and gotten it together enough to take action. Finally, I can “see” my action plan.

    Which hosting company are using that we can set up a second website? Is it limited to two or does it handle more?

  13. Dawn on March 13th, 2006 9:07 am

    Laura, one more question….
    You used the WordPress datafeed script to put the products on your website, not on a blog, right?

    Thanks

  14. Smartzville on March 13th, 2006 9:29 am

    Hi Dawn, questions are always fine, if you’ve got them, then others do as well so your needs serve many - cool hunh?

    I use hostgator. I have a baby gator account (I think that’s what it’s called), where I can host multiple domains with one $8/month account. In each account I try to keep the domains unrelated, because I cross-promote my sites and it’s probably not a good SEO strategy to cross-promote to the same IP address.

    Now your second question confused me a little…

    I use the WordPress DataFeed Import Script to put products on a blog, on my website.

    The blog is a WordPress blog, highly customizable and easy to learn. WordPress blogs are search engine friendly - even more so with just a few tweaks - which is also easy to learn.

    I think when you asked “not on a blog” you were likely asking “not on a free blog”?

    The technique I show in those videos is by using a WordPress blog, on your own domain/website, and the DataFeed Import Script.

    No other way of working with datafeeds that I’ve investigated has been as efficient or easy. The fact that the products can be trickled in is a huge organic search engine placement bonus. In short order your site could very well be indexed and receiving lots of free traffic - no advertising required.

    Hope that helps, feel free to write back for clarification…

    Laura

  15. Dawn on March 13th, 2006 9:59 am

    Yes, that information helped tremendously! Now, I have a more clear understanding.

    Dawn

  16. Smartzville on March 14th, 2006 12:03 pm

    A blog visitor wrote me today and asked:

    “i’ve been reading what you have about data feeds. i get the software and the conscept but i can’t figure out how to get data feeds from Commission Junction. i copied a free one offline for everything home to mess around with but i don’t know what to do with it. it tells me to change things but i don’t know the answers for changing them. can you help me?”

    ————-

    My reply, copied here to assist all who land on this page:

    “No trouble, I’ll help as much as I can.

    “Commission Junction generally has a rule about affiliates and datafeeds. I think the rule is that you have to pay for datafeed use until you’re making $10,000 per month as a CJ affiliate. After that the feeds are free. I apologize that I don’t know more about using CJ’s feeds system. I’m the queen of ‘easy’ - if it’s a hassle I stop investigating and that’s what the datafeeds at CJ.com seem to be - a hassle.

    For that matter that’s what most of the information and software available up to date on working with datafeeds has appeared to be. You can buy some pretty fancy software from $200-500 that takes the info from datafeeds and turns them into html pages, but they are time consuming, require a high speed connection for use, and/or aren’t search engine friendly. Why? Because every site that uses a datafeed has similar or exact layouts, templates, images, description - and search engine robots smell them from a mile away.

    And that’s why I’m so excited about the script I talk about.

    It’s fast, it’s cheap, and the customizations are as personal and unique as you want them to be. Plus, with the use of WordPress as your publishing platform you’ve practically got search engine optimization built right in. (There’s always more to learn and do to your sites for search engine optimization, but WordPress is far more capable and easy to tweak for higher ranks than the old way of building product sites with datafeeds.)

    I don’t know what free datafeed or datafeed software you’ve grabbed so I can’t answer specific questions about what needs to be changed or edited in the program/feed that you picked up.

    And, please understand that I’m not trying to push a sale on you, but Teli’s script and her short ebook on how to use the script with WordPress is only $97 right now and it will shave hours off learning how to do this and getting your store set up.

    Plus you’ll have access to the script creator who can easily answer any specific questions you have. She’s really great - I even needed to email her with a question or two and she answered quickly and concisely.

    Right after I made those first videos I:

    • registered a new domain name, 5 minutes and $9
    • installed a WordPress blog (through cPanel hosting it took 5 minutes),
    • copied and tweaked my favorite layout (10 minutes)
    • grabbed a datafeed and edited it (10 minutes)
    • installed and ran Teli’s script (5 minutes)

    That was last week.

    I didn’t advertise, I just let WordPress do it’s thing to get indexed. As it stands only one page is listed in google, not sure about yahoo and msn.

    BUT last night I made my first sale on that site, for $2,200 (of course that’s not all mine - that was the purchase price). And that’s just the beginning. As the WordPress DataFeed Import Script continues to trickle in products, the search engines continue to visit, index the site and send me free traffic. And, with more traffic comes more sales!

    If any of my friends and family asked me the best way to make money online and they wanted to start right away I’d tell them straight up to lock themselves in a room for a day, and learn about using WordPress with datafeeds. If they already knew WordPress or they were fast learners they would only need a few hours to really get this concept.

    And that’s the exact same advice I’m telling my site visitors and subscribers.

    1. Decide on a market and the products to sell to a market.
    2. Find a suitable datafeed.
    3. Register a catchy domain name. $8-9
    4. Grab a cPanel managed hosting account. $8-10 month
    5. Install WordPress (free and 5 minutes to set up)
    6. Buy DataFeed Import Script ($97)
    7. Read the ebook and install the script (15 minutes)
    8. Edit the datafeed(you can follow my videos or the ebook that comes with the script - 10 minutes)
    9. Run the script (2 minutes)

    After that’s done, if you don’t know WordPress very well, spend some time learning about tweaking WordPress, editing templates, etc. Learn it from Sherman Hu’s video tutorials - I think it’s less than $30/month plus you get access to Sherman and a pile of other WordPress users (from newbie to advanced) in the forum.

    To boost your sales even more, spend some time learning about promoting blogs, and search engine optimization for WordPress blogs. You can actually learn quite a bit about that in Sherman’s forum as well (or I can answer those questions as well).

    I don’t know what else to tell you. Don’t waste your time on free software to do this because you won’t see the kind of results you’re after - just think that if it’s free and you’re using it, so are thousands of others.

    Plus ‘free’ is never really free, because it consumes your time trying to figure it out and get it working, often with less than desirable results.

    I hope this helps to get you started on the road to earning more affiliate-based income.

    Write back or leave me a note on the site if I can help further…

  17. Hot New WordPress Script | Smartzville’s Marketing Help on March 14th, 2006 8:51 pm

    [...] ** Make money online by building unique affiliate income based sites easily with a WordPress blog and a groovy new script [...]

  18. Gerry on March 15th, 2006 8:31 am

    I’ve bought the script and I’m really excited. I have set up a basic wp blog and I’ve got a data feed.

    Nearly good to go.

    3 questions.

    1 Where do I upload the edited datafeed to?
    2 Are there any wordpress plug ins that I need or that you would recommend to enhance the experience.
    3 How did you get the heading for the Celtic Jewellry into the blog? What would it look like without your tweaking?

    I need the basics of wordpress but I’m not ready yet to commit money to Sherman’s video tutorials!!

  19. Mike on March 15th, 2006 11:29 am

    Hi Laura,

    I will definitely take a lok at this video. I actually built 5 websites using a datafeed with Wordpress about 10 months ago - still automagically post to them 3x a day - they average 60-100 visits per day - and I’ve never earned a single commission from any of them.

    Hopefully your video will show something I’m missing. I love the concept - just can’t quite seem to figure out the final ingredient.

    Thanks for being willing to share these…

    ~Mike

  20. Smartzville on March 15th, 2006 11:56 am

    Gerry, that’s great! Let’s get going then…

    1. Teli’s instruction book, or your contact with her, should have told you where to upload the datafeed and script (it goes in the root directory of your WP install).

    2. If you’re using a standard install of WP, I would suggest using at least the recent posts plugin found here: http://www.coffee2code.com/archives/2004/08/27/plugin-customizable-post-listings/ - good for human visitors as well as search engine bots. I just use the top level function of the code to show post titles and have the plugin add those titles to a sidebar.

    3. It’s been so long since I looked at the default theme for WordPress I’m not sure I remember how to get a header graphic into that theme. There are a pile of themes to choose from (and I suggest to not use the default theme). View them here and pick one you like, install it and either add your own graphic or use the one provided with the theme: http://themes.wordpress.net/theme-viewer.php - themes take just a few minutes to download, upload and install but they could make a huge difference to your search engine placement and visitor appeal.

    I know that Sherman’s membership seems like an extra cost that you might not be ready for yet, but it will save you hours of struggling to get WordPress running the way you want it to or get the best results. I truly believe this is money well spent - you get the benefit of having a bonafide guru ‘watching your back’, and a collaborative forum of like minded entrepreneurs - people learning how to take WordPress and turn it into a profitable, enjoyable business.

    If you still have questions, I’m still here, we’re doing some renovations now, and I’m building a few more online stores myself, but I’ll try to answer promptly.

    And of course, Teli, your script creator, is a good resource as well.

    Truly, Laura Childs

  21. Smartzville on March 15th, 2006 12:14 pm

    Mike, that’s terrible news - but I do appreciate your sharing this with me and your honesty….

    Let’s get those sites making some money!

    With the level of traffic you’re getting you should be making sales! I have some ideas why you’re not making sales but I don’t dare prejudge without knowing the market or look of your site…if you send me your urls I’ll have a look.

    Don’t post your urls here though, unless you want the whole world to know what you’re up to! I’ll vow my confidentiality, send one or all of them by email to me laura at smartzville.com and I’ll try to give you some ideas/suggestions.

    Laura

  22. Smartzville on March 16th, 2006 10:41 am

    After a long discussion with Mike about his sites (and his inspection) we discovered that the ‘traffic’ he was receiving weren’t actual site visitors - they were bots and spiders. No wonder he wasn’t making any sales - spiders and bots don’t have credit cards.

    Which led Mike and I into great discussion over

    …building sites for the user experience…

    and search engine optimization…

    and rss feed promotion…

    …plus much more!

    I’ll be disclosing all - except for Mike’s urls - in my next post. In the meantime, start building your online stores with the WordPress DataFeed Import Script!

    Laura

    p.s. In short this means that you don’t need to wait until you have every little piece of information collected before you start working at making money online. If you do this, you’ll never get started and you could waste years ‘learning’ and never ‘doing’. Gain some knowledge, get some tools, follow some advice and begin. You can build as you go, fix as you learn and start building tenure and trust with the search engines. I applaud Mike and others like him, that have set forth and actually created something, then have not given up but keep striving to learn and profit. Every journey, every dollar began with that first step of a dream.

  23. Joe on March 20th, 2006 5:08 am

    Laura

    I have tried downloading the videos but only get the sound. It says ‘Screencast Loading” in the small box on the download page but the pictures do not appear.

    Can you help please

    Thank you
    Joe

  24. Smartzville on March 20th, 2006 7:25 am

    Hi Joe!

    Sorry, I should have provided a link for people who don’t have Flash installed on their systems.

    You can download the latest flash player here for free:
    http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer the file size is only 727 K and takes about a minute with a 56k connection speed.

    Then come back and watch the videos…

    Laura

  25. Build Search Engine Friendly Online Stores... on March 21st, 2006 12:33 am

    [...] Press release pingback from a press release submission site that uses WordPress blog software as the platform - very cool [...]

  26. Destination: Success on March 28th, 2006 10:31 am

    Limiting The Number of Software Licenses

    It seems the WordPress Data Feed Import customers don’t want the script in the hands of everyone under the sun and has urged me continuously to limit the number of licenses that are made available. And I’m forced to comply, now it is a matt…

  27. Smartzville on March 28th, 2006 3:17 pm

    Friends:

    I just sent Teli a long email explaining all the reasons why she shouldn’t do this.

    I mean, everyone should have a shot at creating one of these online money making stores, after all…

    And the truth is, I’ve seen it in the past with other website buiding helper apps, just because 100s buy the application doesn’t mean that they all use it. So no, the market doesn’t become flooded - unless of course we’re talking about 100% computer generated pages like DirectoryGenerator - that was a hands off application. The WordPress DataFeed Import Script takes a little time and a little finesse - gosh you gotta spend at least 20 minutes on it. Way more time than most spam-site-builders will invest in a business!

    Anyway, Teli’s adamant - I think she’s crazy. But she never ceases to amaze me - did you know that when she released the script she gave all her affiliates one month to sell it before she started her own promotions?

    Listen, I wouldn’t stop selling the WordPress Datafeed Import Script if it were mine. I’d milk those sales long and hard!

    If you want your copy, get it now.

    If you want to tell her how crazy she is, head over to her blog…

    Good luck to all of you! You just can’t reason with a crazy person… :)

    Laura

    p.s Teli’s not really crazy, and I do appreciate her ‘protecting’ all of us by capping sales, but gosh!

  28. Telian Adlam on March 28th, 2006 3:33 pm

    Laura,
    You are a treasure! I loved your e-mail, filled with so much inspiration and wisdom, I really took your words to heart :).

    That said, yep, I’m still capping the sales LOL. Down the road, I may release another batch of licenses, but for now…first come, first served.

    ~ Teli

  29. Smartzville on April 10th, 2006 10:05 am

    A quick note on Commission Junction datafeeds…

    If your monthly affiliate commissions (as a cj publisher) haven’t topped the $10,000 per month mark yet, you can still get Commission Junction to authorize your account for datafeed use for a fee.

    Now the fee is $200, but if you take those feeds and use them well, you’ll make this money back very quickly.

    Can I tell you how much money you’ll make or how fast you’ll make it?

    No, I can’t.

    Making money online is entirely up to you, I couldn’t even hazard a guess what you’re capable of earning. I can tell you one thing though, the more you learn and apply what you’ve learned, the more your potential to earn money online grows!

    So, get busy already!

    My best to you, as always,

    Laura Childs

  30. Eric on April 10th, 2006 9:48 pm

    I just came across this info and had a question. Hopefully, it’s not too dumb or has been addressed somewhere already.

    I’m new to the use of data feeds. Is it the case that some feeds are static and some dynamic or are they all dynamic? What I mean is, one merchant in particular told me once I post their feed, I never have to touch it again because it will update automatically. For example, I could have a data feed of their “best selling products”. As the makeup of best selling products changes, the feed would automatically update the new product mix on my site.

    Would this plugin by Teli handle such a data feed or would I have to change something manually whenever there is a change to the “best sellers” list.

    Thanks,

    Eric

  31. Smartzville on April 11th, 2006 7:53 am

    Eric:

    My apologies for not replying sooner. Lots of projects on my plate and I was rather hoping someone else would chime in with an answer…

    Dynamic feeds are set up in a variety of ways with a variety of tools, on (you guessed it) a variety of websites from a variety of merchants.

    I suggest emailing the merchant that you’re referring to for support - they are best suited to help you. Without knowing the specifics of your situation/agreement with the merchant, your site, the tools you’re proposing to use, I had no idea how to direct you on using datafeeds on your site.

    The script I’m discussing here are static, but you can run the script repeatedly and most of the merchants I’m working with presently have redirects on their site (if the product is removed the link on my site automatically takes the visitor to a related product that is available.

    At any rate, contact your merchant datafeed provider for specific info on dynamic datafeeds. It is, after all, their job to assist you - if they aren’t helpful then I suggest finding a new merchant to showcase.

    Truly,

    Laura Childs

  32. Dana Sanders on April 14th, 2006 10:04 am

    Great info, Laura! I had purchased this script, but not gotten around to installing it (not good!!). Your video gave me the motivation to get off of my duff.

    I also commend you on your writing style. Let me know if you’re ever interested in ghostwriting :

  33. Smartzville on May 3rd, 2006 6:40 pm

    One day soon we have to talk about using videos to make money online, because that little series of videos I did about creating an online store in 20 minutes, netted me a lot of visitors, a lot of commissions and keeps bringing in positioning from google. (And as you know, my videos were nothing more than a few simple screencasts - poorly done.)

    For now though, if you want to know more about using video to make money online and attract visitors to your sites and offers, I’ve got a free pdf for you.

    This pdf is free and was written as a resource - mistakes not to make when using or creating videos for online viewers - but it’s full of valuable information and even a few trade secrets. Grab it now and when you’re ready to use video to market online, it’ll be on your hard drive ready to learn from.

    Free video marketing trade secrets.

  34. Adam on June 25th, 2006 8:33 am

    Hi Laura,

    Just been reading through all of this and am pretty excited by it all. On a sort of related topic are you familiar with RNW rapidnichewebsites.com? Do you think this software would add any value to the process you’ve described here? To be honest I not sure what value RNW provides….easier/faster customization of the WordPress blog perhaps?

    Thanks,
    Adam

  35. Smartzville on June 25th, 2006 7:39 pm

    Rapid Niche Websites - I had the chance to review a copy a few months back. Over priced and makes learning about blogging more confusing than it needs to be.

    You’re better off spending a lot less time and money and learn how to manage and run a WordPress blog(s) from Sherman. The information will serve you longer, isn’t long winded and confusing and the one-on-one support superb!

    Laura Childs

  36. Deb on September 5th, 2006 1:43 pm

    Laura, I have to say you are the best!

    I learn so much reading your posts and you’re so incredibly generous with your time and knowledge. Thank you so much.

    I also love to read that you can make some videos and make them available free to others and you can make a bunch of money at the same time. I have a lot to learn, but I am learning. Are you making the money through your affiliate links in your post?

    Finally, in this post you offer a link for a free pdf about using video to make money online. That link connects to a site that ends because of a runtime error.

    Any idea how to get the report in another way?

    Thanks for all you offer.

    Deb

  37. Laura on September 5th, 2006 1:48 pm

    Hello Deb:

    Thanks for your uplifting note!

    The video ‘gig’ is a sweet and relatively easy (once you get used to it) way to make money online. I’ve just been so busy lately with life on the farm and working in the community that I haven’t done more - but it’s in my radar!

    I’m sorry about that pdf, I checked and it did take a while to load, but I’m not sure why, it’s only a 1/4 mg. You probably don’t need it to learn what’s required to start making screencasts like the one I made and profiting from your efforts.

    Here’s a direct link, perhaps that will work for you.

    One of the most interesting parts of making these videos is that not only are you promoting products, gaining loyalty from your readers, and so on, but because I submitted a short version to google’s video search I’ve seen a huge spike in targeted traffic site-wide.

    Well, I’d better run along here…drop me a note anytime!

    Laura Childs

  38. mark on September 21st, 2006 4:18 pm

    are you still using this script?

  39. Laura on September 22nd, 2006 9:04 am

    Hi Mark :)

    I am still using this script (I just haven’t run it on my demo site for a few months although it is on my list of things to do).

    I use the script on 2 other sites that I have a passion for and the income from them rises every month as more and more visitors arrive. It’s really a set it up and let it run - although I do keep my eye on them and check in every week.

    The ‘trick’ for me has been choosing niches that I enjoy because as I pick and choose the product line I’ll feature I feel as though I’m window shopping for items I might like (only I get to make money and not spend it!).

    Laura

  40. Laura on September 27th, 2006 1:36 pm

    This week Michelle (creator of RSS2Blog) quietly launched a nifty piece of software that doesn’t limit owners to flowing merchant datafeeds into WordPress blogs.

    Michelle’s datafeed software gets a user out of the confusing XLS datafeed and allows you to create RSS feeds (with your affiliate link embedded), html pages, RSS2Blog posts, and much more.

    I’m still in testing mode with it (because I want to be one of your experts to turn to on this) before I promote it by linking to my own examples, and a video or two - but if you want to jump in now the link is here - merchant datafeed software.

    Okay, okay, I’ll show you one example…pages that I made (but aren’t entirely proud of because it was my first trial) are here antler products. I think there are a total of 12 pages there, created in about 5 minutes total using my own template, the software, and a merchant datafeed.

    More to come…

    Laura

    p.s. If you think this might be for you (and I can tell you that much of my income now comes from affiliate commissions using datafeeds, so it’s a sweet gig), grab a copy now while Michelle’s selling it at pre-launch prices. Affiliate Datafeed Automation Software.

  41. james on October 3rd, 2006 12:54 pm

    confused as it seems this associate feed generator is like her other product for affiliate feeds
    not sure which one to get

    second, where do you find your templates for doing that example site?

  42. Laura on October 3rd, 2006 9:07 pm

    Ah James, yes Michelle is a powerhouse when it comes to making great software and it can be hard to keep track of and distinguish between them all…

    Here’s how I remember. Amazon labels their affiliates as ‘associates’ - therefore Michelle’s Amazon income producer is Associate Feed Generator. Good program, very versatile.

    Her other, and more recent creation, is my personal favorite because it can work with such a wide variety of merchants, promoting such a wide variety of products - the sky’s really the limit. And, Michelle has thought out all the details - see them here.

    Although I have written a small article on Michelle’s latest, I haven’t promoted them yet…because there is one more affiliate software she just launched that works with Clickbank products (generally higher commissions per product sold with excellent on-site conversion). Watch here for my latest reviews and examples!

    Laura Childs

  43. Joe Justin on January 3rd, 2007 10:13 pm

    I am trying to publish a Wordpress blog.

    I am looking for an add-on that is will write code for me. For instance make the blog look like a website but at the same time be a blog.

    I received an email about 6 months ago about a product like this. I must have deleted the email.

    Please let me know if there are products like this out there…

    Thanks,

    Joe J.

  44. Ugly Videos Show You How to Easily Rake In Some… | Web 2.0 Traffic on January 9th, 2007 1:56 am

    [...] Blogs that Earn an Easy Income - Free Video. [...]

  45. Laura on January 16th, 2007 8:59 pm

    Joe:

    Sounds to me like you just need a nice WordPress template. Choose the one you want that you feel your website visitors will fell at home in…

    No products required - all free to download over at http://themes.wordpress.net