Richard writes in with a question: “When can a person tell a blog is just about making money with affiliate sales vs. truly helping a person or business? Sometimes they sound really alike.”

This is a great question. Many bloggers–myself included–run promotions for both our own and other products on a regular basis. Some blogs are heavily promotional, with an affiliate link in nearly every post, whereas other bloggers make their money mostly through advertising and only rarely include affiliate links in their posts.

First, let’s look at things from a blogger’s perspective. Then, I’ll give you a few metrics to help you decide which marketers to follow online. (more…)

Manifest money — even huge sums! Here’s how. I smile at the delicious irony of this blog post compared to my last one. However, one of the things I enjoy most about having this blog is sharing things as I’m doing them.

It’s really easy to already be successful in some area of your life and then blog about it, looking back with rose-colored glasses and saying “This is why I am successful.” It’s much harder to blog as you go, trying things, bumping into walls and fumbling around in the dark, and risk looking like a complete fool when things don’t work out as planned. (more…)

Increase web site traffic with these simple tips. Traffic can really make or break your website.

If you crank out piece after piece of great content, yet no one reads it, it can be demoralizing. (This, I think, is why most bloggers quit after a few months.)

If you have a great product or service that you know can help a lot of people, but no one knows about it, and you’re on a limited budget, it can seem impossible to get your business off the ground.

I understand. I’ve been in both of those places, and in both of those cases, traffic can help. Today, I’ll take you “behind the scenes” and show you one of the big ways I grew a business in a highly competitive industry to the $1 million mark, and also how I grew this blog to one that gets massive traffic every month–in the top 0.1% of all websites by traffic, according to Alexa.

Then I’ll show you how you can do the same thing…and grow your business by leaps and bounds without killing your wallet by buying advertisements. (more…)

I just spent a few hundred dollars on an information product. Now…you have to know how rare this is for me. I get “pitched” probably 100 times a month or more. The last time I spent over $100 on an information product…well, it’s been a while!

But today, I bought one. And for some of you, I think it might be the right decision, too. Hear me out, and you may be on your way to making money online, too: (more…)

A product roadmap helps you figure out
where your business is going.Amy asked, in a recent comment, “Do you have a plan on how not to overwhelm yourself promoting 10 products after they are all launched? Thinking of your 10 separate products reminds me of the traditional business advice of only focusing on one start-up at a time. Do you think it’s better to launch 10 products that perform ‘ok’ as opposed to 1 product that performs great?”

Great question, Amy! I’ve shared my goal about creating 10 products in 2010, but I haven’t talked much about how they all fit together… (more…)