2010 Third Quarter Goals Update

Wow, it’s October! It seems like I just wrote my July update. Here’s what I have been working on in the past quarter, as well as those much-requested income numbers. 🙂

(If you’re new here, welcome! I set 3-5 major goals every year publicly on my blog and update my progress every quarter. Here are my goals for 2010.)

Goal #1: Create and Release 10 Products in 2010

You may have noticed that my product creation machine has dramatically slowed down in the past few months! That’s not necessarily a bad thing; I’ve been focusing my resources more on my new business.

I do have a new product coming out, and I expect it will be out by the end of the month. Originally called Maximum Clients, Minimum Time, I’ve now changed the name to Maximum Traffic, Minimum Time, both because I like the alliteration better and because I feel it will appeal to a wider audience with the new name.

I created a mind map for the course and, after sorting out everything I wanted to include in it, broke it into 6 modules. I’ve completed modules 1 and 2, and aim to have module 3 completed this week. I want to make more progress than one module per week, so I intend to crank up the work and get ‘er done by mid-month. Then, I’ll prep the members’ area and sales letter, and you all will have first crack at it!

It’s a blockbuster product, which will have 5+ hours of video content encompassing everything I’ve done to help get this blog top rankings in Google and gain over 14,000 visitors per month on autopilot direct from search engines. (That’s about 43% of my total traffic.) You might think top rankings come naturally for a blog such as this one, but even with good post titles, it doesn’t work like that. The course is a comprehensive look at the “missing link” between creating a website and getting piles of free traffic from search engines. It’s a course worth purchasing for every blogger, content creator, and business owner who has a website.

It is likely that Maximum Traffic, Minimum Time will be the last information product I release this year, as I refocus all my effort on launching my new company.

Goal #2: Create and Launch My Startup

Wow, has this been a crazy ride! In my last goals update, I mentioned I hired a local developer to work with me on Best Blogs. But In August, I revealed that we stopped development on Best Blogs. Then, in a more recent post, I explained why. In summary, our most difficult problem with Best Blogs was just getting people to care, and it was going to be a really long path to monetization.

So, we pivoted, and are ready to launch Whoosh Traffic. In fact, as you’re reading this, we’re working with a few private beta customers to get early feedback! We’re only 2 months in, and I’m so excited to be at the point where we can start helping customers. The back end is looking great and our website is coming together, too.

So, what is Whoosh Traffic? One of the best ways to get better search engines is to get other sites to link to you, but it’s a long road to do this manually. Whoosh lets you outsource all the tedium to our staff, saving you time and frustration. Plus, we have amazing proof that our system works to boost your rankings over time even for competitive terms. (And no, nothing we’re doing will get you banned by Google!)

We have a specific type of customer to target and the market is hungry for a SEO service that doesn’t stink, so I feel we’re sitting on top of a huge goldmine, and I’m really excited about the company.

Goal #3: Get 20,000 Blog Subscribers

In December 2009, I had 6,400 blog subscribers. I will successfully double that as of this month. Erica.biz is currently adding 20-25 new subscribers a day–mostly from traffic coming directly from great search engine rankings for all kinds of search terms.

Many would be envious of that rate of growth. Unfortunately for me, I set a really aggressive goal–20,000 subscribers by the end of 2010! Frankly, I’m not sure I’m going to achieve this goal. It would take a lot more writing–mostly guest posting and more search engine-optimized posts that rank well–to drive enough traffic to hit this goal.

In case you’re curious, here’s how I would hit this goal: I’d increase posting frequency on erica.biz to twice a week, and at least one of those posts would be search-engine optimized. I’d continue to utilize the Whoosh Traffic strategy to get those posts ranked well. I’d also write one guest post a week and submit it to a blog with an Alexa rank of 50,000 or less (remember, lower Alexa rankings are better…Google, the #1 most-trafficked site on the Internet, is Alexa #1.)

This strategy would push me into the 20,000 subscribers realm pretty fast. But honestly, I wouldn’t enjoy blogging as much as I do now if I set an aggressive schedule like that. I enjoy writing one post per week, and I really enjoy having a “diary” where I can look back and see exactly what was going through my head every week for years at a time. Blogging more often than that, though? No–I’d rather focus on building a business. 🙂

Profit Instruments Sites

Several people asked me how my Profit Instruments sites were going. I’ve only done one, though I have the domain name registered for a second one. My PI site is ranking #1 for its targeted search term, but it’s not converting visitors into buyers.

I have some ideas on how to fix that, but just haven’t had a free moment to sit down and work on the site. In the meantime, though, I’ve used the Profit Instruments methods here on erica.biz to huge success.

My oDesk review and Super Affiliate Handbook review posts were both based on the Profit Instruments course. In particular, I used the SEO methods that he recommended (now the basis of Whoosh Traffic as well) on both posts, which are working exceedingly well.

The oDesk review post netted $100.00 in passive income last month. The Super Affiliate Handbook review post is new, but it’s ranking #2 for its targeted search term, which I expect will drive sales. Assuming both posts make just 1 sale per month (pretty likely), I’ll be making about $72 per month in 100% passive income. Not bad for a $200 investment in an info product, some time spent writing review posts, and some Whoosh Traffic magic! (Not to mention I can continue to do this over and over again for more profit.)

My Income Numbers

Now–what you’ve been waiting for…my income numbers!

I reposted June’s numbers to represent the final income I received from the Profit Instruments promotion (vs. my estimated numbers that I posted in July’s update.)

July and August were pretty slow, mostly because I didn’t run any promotions on my blog. I ran a small promotion for Guest Post Secrets for my birthday in July, resulting in a nice bump in sales. Blog Setup continues to hum along, mostly from people reading this blog and wanting to start their own blogs.

Here are my full income numbers:

September saw a quiet launch of my personal 1-on-1 consulting, which I ran to gauge interest in an offering like this. It did pretty well, and I really enjoyed getting to know some of my blog readers on a personal level! I may offer this again in the future if I have some extra time.

Assuming I can get Maximum Traffic, Minimum Time out this month, I should see a nice boost for October.

Whoosh Traffic will be a separate company, not 100% owned by me, so I won’t post its earnings here, but I do plan to update regularly with how it’s going. I plan to continue posting my blog earnings here.

That’s it! My next goals update will January (*gulp*), when I get to look back at how I did throughout all of 2010.

Recommended Reading:

• 2010 Goals. My original 2010 goals post from January.
• 2010 2nd Quarter Goals Update. My July update.
• 2010 First Quarter Goals Update. My April update.