My Obsession Is Showing

I vowed I would limit my time on the computer today. I thought I'd only stay on here for a few hours while having my coffee, and then I'd go pursue other things. Of course I tell myself this everyday. But I swore to myself that today, would not be one of those 12 to 16 hour days that I've frequently been spending on this thing.

Right now it's only been about 7 hours or so, but I was hoping to only be spending 3 or 4 hours here today, and so far I'm not sure I'm accomplished a thing. But wait, there's still hope for me! Maybe I actually can escape the tight grasp that the Internet seems to have on me. Maybe I can get off of this thing while it's still daylight, and actually get a few other things accomplished.

You mean, there's more to life besides my computer and the Internet?

The problem is I'm still trying to learn about things, regarding Affiliate Marketing and the benefits of submitting Articles to different directories. Of course as a newbie at all of this, I have to spend some time reading, so I can learn what's recommended, but I can't seem to stop reading.

It's like I'm starved for information. I've become obsessed with reading as much as I can, and obsessed with learning what my next step should be. So who has time, to write anything? Oh yeah, that's right I'm supposed to be doing that to. Since that's the thing I enjoy the most, is the actual writing. But then I've read that you can't just focus on the writing, you have to focus on the marketing part of things too. Something else I have to read about, since I've never done it before in order to learn how to do it.

Maybe it's been so long, since I fed my brain anything new to learn about, that's I've become like a kid in a candy store. The addiction kicks in. The obsession takes over. Give me more info. I need to learn more about how this works, or why that doesn't work.

As much as I like Mozilla Firefox, I think it's adding to my computer addiction and obsession. Because I can open one topic in one window, then open a whole bunch of subtopics in different tabs within that same window, and pretty soon, I've got a whole lot of open windows, with a whole lot of open tabs, that I think I want to read or look at.

It starts with my wanting to read articles other people have written about Affiliate Marketing, or blogging, or writing and submitting articles, or learning what's needed for copy writing. I'm trying to learn from those who appear to have had some success at doing it. Then within one of those topics, I find something else that looks interesting. I click on that link, and before you know it, I've clicked on so many links, that I find myself dazed, and confused, as to what I should look at next. I not only lose all sense of time, I lose focus as well.

I'm one of those people, who tries to read a great deal about a site, to see if it's right for me. I must have a fear of commitment. Today along with all those other links I was opening on different topics I went to explore PayPerPost.com, and Payu2Blog.com. I thought here's a couple of sites where they'll pay me to do what I'm already doing now. Except that no body's paying me, at least not so far. That seemed pretty cool.

Well after looking at several different pages on PayPerPost.com, just as I was finally ready to actually sign up with the site, I discover that they require that my blog be active for 90 days. Well since it isn't yet, there didn't seem much point in signing up with them right now. But of course I learn this only after I've already spent a great deal of time, reading how different things work on the site.

So I move on the PayU2Blog, only to discover that I'll have to wait a few days to see if a representative will approve my blog, before they'll let me join. They might. They might not. If they don't approve my blog, they've already warned me, that I might not hear anything from them, due to the increase in traffic. So why don't you all get off of the Internet Highway. Go take a break, go do something else for awhile, so that I can get through.

Filled with disappointment, that I couldn't get immediate blog gratification at those two sites, I shut down my many open tabs, I closed my many open windows. It was getting pretty cold in here anyway.

I thought I could sign up at either or both of those sites, and then read more of what I needed to read, and within a short amount of time I'd be happily posting my first blog post at one of those sites, and then I might even earn a buck or two. Nothing seems to be easy to set up. In some ways the Internet makes things more complicated, and certainly more time consuming.

In addition I was trying to get an RSS feed subscription set up here, as well as signing up with Technorati which required more reading, and more going back and forth between those sites and my blog. Then I'm trying to link things up to Adsense Ads, get the needed script copied over to my blog, and after awhile I became so confused, I just had to stop doing it.

For all I know I might have linked up my RSS feed to some other site, that will pay me to blog that I can't recall looking at. Maybe I've linked up things that ended up somewhere else. And that web site owner or blogger is now scratching their heads, wondering how in the world did that strange link end up on their site? It's mine. Yep. That's right! I misplaced my links somewhere. Would you mind just sending it back to me?

I may not have any traffic coming to my blog just yet, but when I actually do get some, at least I'll be somewhat prepared, for that overwhelming response I'll be getting of all the people who I know just can't wait to read my words of wisdom from my blog. Mine and how many millions of others?

As they used to say on that TV Sitcom, Friends, it became a matter of my tired brain, just trying to take in "Too Much Information."

All I can say is it's a good thing I like to read. But I didn't expect I'd have to be reading so much, or that so many hours would so quickly disappear while I was stuffing my brain with more information then it could reasonably be expected to handle.

An unseen force must have taken hold of me. Something unknown to me must have convinced me that I needed to read just one more article, then one more after that, and one more after that. Something must have taken hold of me, that said go ahead click on one more link, and when you get to that page, you know they'll be a dozen more that you'll feel it will be absolutely necessary that you must read them all right now.

Maybe I can learn to tame that need I seem to have to learn and read more about so many different things. My brain has rebelled, and said that's it. I've had it. I can't absorb anymore right now.

So if you'll excuse me, I believe my obsession is showing.

Good Site Recomendation

There are quite a few sites where you can cloak your affiliate links. The reason you want to cloak them, is because your customers may bypass you and buy the products you’re promoting directly from the parent company. Other people could cut off your affiliate links, and substitute their own links. Then you might lose your commissions. In adddition, some people are reluctant to buy products from an affiliate marketer.

One of the sites I like a great deal makes it easy to cloak your links. The site gives you options to add a new link, or to manage the links you’ve already set up. You can also create new ads as well as managing your pre-existing ones. Then you can easily edit things, or change the wording of your ads later.

The screens for creating your cloaked links or your ads are set up well. They’re easy to maneuver through, and self-explanatory as to what information you’ll need. Once you’ve typed in your ad, with your cloaked affiliate link in place, you can then preview what it will look like. You want to make sure it will fit into the space provided. If not go back and make more changes or if you like the way it looks, then after clicking a few links you ad will be saved. Newly created ads need to be approved by the staff first. After approval, your ads will start cycling through.

What I like about this site is that you ads are viewed multiple times. This is beneficial as it increases your possibilities of generating more sales, as opposed to a classified ad site, where the ads are static.

The ads are displayed in a flyin window. Your ads cannot be blocked from being seen. The flyin window will display 3 ads and you earn 10 credits from your ad being displayed. The ads you created will then display on the flyin window when other members' links are clicked! You continue building up credits, when you go back to cloak more links, and continue placing more ads on the site.

You can join the site as a free member, or as a paying member. The amount of credits you earn increases a great deal, if you join as a paying member. You also earn more credits when someone clicks on the ads of your referrals.

You earn 10 credits every time one of your ads is clicked on. You earn an additional 5 credits every time someone clicks on one of the ads of your referrals. Then you get an additional 3 credits for each ad clicked for level two, from the people, that your referrals brought in. You can earn an incredible amount of credits this way.

Paid members have the added advantage of using HTML ads, while non-paying members are limited to black text within their ads. As a paid member, you can use different fonts and colors, have graphics on your ads or create banners. Not only will your credits increase as a paid member, and increase even more through your referrals, but also your affiliate commission is twice as much as those who join for free. But it's a good site for those on a limited budget, as you can also build up a large number of ad credits here.

The site has a very good promotional area, which means you can place your cloaked affiliate links on your blog, your website, in forums, or any number of places where you usually promote your products. The site will track the number of clicks you get on each of your links, as well as tracking conversions, and signups for you. Email support has responded to me quickly. You also have an email inbox on the site.

The only negative I have to say about this site, is about the flyin box. While from an affiliate marketer's standpoint it's a great concept that the box which has 3 different ads appearing on it, doesn't close, can't be blocked and just doesn't go away. But I could see how this might get annoying from a prospective customers viewpoint.

In fact that's how I ended up signing up for this Site. No matter what I did, how I scrolled through the main page I was looking at, or how many times I clicked with my mouse, I just couldn't get the flyin box to move, so I could read the initial page I was on. Finally in frustration, I clicked on the different links, in order to get it off the main page I was viewing. Of course then as I started reading more about it, I could see why this would become a very useful product to have.

There have been times, when I've needed to again look at a site, that I was promoting, that I had cloaked with this program. I needed to double check that the price and the bonuses hadn't changed from the last time I looked at it. At times I've had to reload the page using my original link, instead of the cloaked one so I could again view those details.

However, the area where you manage your links shows both your original link and what it became as a cloaked link. You have the choice of having your ads appear in a viral format, or not. For programs that I’m an affiliate member of, it’s at times been advantageous to not have my ads appear in a viral format, as it does block part of the page that I want people to look at.

So other then that one negative aspect of this site, I’d highly recommend this site for cloaking your affiliate links. It’s easy to use, and your ads get viewed multiple times, which helps increase your traffic and your potential sales. It has a good stats tracking area, email support, and other benefits. Whether you join it as a non-paying member or as a paid member, it's well worth joining this site.

New Marketplace: Benefits for Vendors

There is a new online marketing company with thousands of products and services. They carry both digital and physical products. This company was developed by internet marketers, with benefits for both the vendors and for affiliates.

Some of the benefits for vendors are that the site is Integrated with PayPal. As a vendor you’ll have the choice of being able to mass pay your affiliates each month either through PayPal or by check.

You can sell your own products, ebooks, software or services, or have the companies affiliates sell your products for you, or build up your own team of affiliates. You determine your own suggested retail price for your product, whatever you want that price to be.

There is no pre-approval required for your sales pages or your thank you pages. Your products do not become the property of the merchant. There are detailed fee schedules listed on the site, and tools available to help your affiliates. You can place an affiliate sign up page on your website, track the statistics of your affiliates, as well as tracking your own statistics and your campaigns.

There are vendor discounts as well, where you will get 25% more for your money.

The site shows comparison fees to two other marketing companies, and this company’s fees appear to be much lower then the other two are.

There’s an active forum, and help desk support available.

The Vendor accounts are free. If you want to add multiple product lines, to your Vendor account, they are only charging a onetime lifetime activation fee of $29.00. You’ll then be able to get unlimited product lines to add for life. This price may soon be increasing to $49.00.

To learn more about this company, and the other benefits they offer that I haven’t listed here, please click on the link below.

http://www.virallinktracker.com/vlt/links/7428

New Marketplace: Benefits For Affiliates

There is a new marketplace that’s 100% free to join! This company was developed by Internet Marketers, with benefits for both vendors and affiliates.

As an affiliate for this company, you can earn up to 80% sales commissions, by linking your customers to the products and services available in the Marketplace. You can place both your affiliate link and the links to the products you’re selling to your customers, on your web page.

Your links and promotional tools are all available from the Vendors affiliate tools when you select the product. From there you can track all your stats. There are quite a few statistics listed including your profits for today, the last 7 days and the last 30 days.

There are both digital and physical products available in several different categories. When you’re looking at the products you want to promote there are several links under each product. You can get more info on the product, see the sales pages, view the Vendors Profile, and even contact the Vendor directly.

There’s an active forum available as well as help desk support.

The Site is integrated with PayPal. Your commissions will be paid each month by the Vendors. The Vendors can do this by a Mass Pay feature where the Vendor chooses whether to pay you each month through PayPal, or by check.

There is a detailed fee schedule listed on the site. It also gives you comparison fees that are charged by this company as compared to two other marketing companies. This company’s fees are significantly lower then the other two they’ve shown on the site.

In addition, you are allowed one free vendor account to sell your product. If you want to add multiple product lines the fee they are charging for Vendors is a onetime lifetime activation fee of $29.00. Then you can get unlimited product lines to add for life. However that price may soon be increasing to $49.00.

To learn more about this company, and other benefits that they're offering, please click on the link below.

http://www.virallinktracker.com/vlt/links/7428

Cats Go Round

I thought if perhaps I slowly reintroduced Skitzy and Cole to each other, maybe we could finally have the peaceful two cats, one human household that I longed to have. I pictured myself contentedly typing away on the computer, while they both were free to go into all areas of the house. Then I would no longer have to keep them separated. Maybe I could finally put an end to my separated cat system, and my cat rotation system.

Maybe they'd get along better now. They were both older. They both knew the other cat lived here. They both lied down in front of the closed door the other occupied. I thought they were telling me, why don't you just let us be the Cats we are, and we'll take care of things in our own way.

Cole was neutered now. Much of that testosterone would be gone, and his aggressiveness surely would have diminished by now.

I had to plan this carefully. I closed my bedroom door, because I knew Skitzy likes to go under my bed. If Cole followed her there I wouldn't easily be able to get to either one of them to stop the cat fight if it happened. Skitzy would be let out first to freely roam the house. Then I warned her that I'd be letting Cole out. I had my trusty water bottle in hand. I was prepared to break things up if I needed to do that. I steeled myself for the spitting, hissing noises that I soon might be hearing.

Cole slowly came out, requiring much petting by me after having been left in the bedroom over night. Skitzy was hiding somewhere.

Cole looked at me, as if to say, I'm trying real hard to be a good guy cat here. I'm trying to behave. I was proud of him. He seemed to have no interest whatsoever in seeking Skitsy out. I'm sure that he could smell her, as Cats' have a much stronger sense of smell then humans do.

Cole went on to explore the room that Skitzy's often kept in. He advanced to where her food was. I knew he'd eat it if he got the chance. So there I was standing there with a Spray Bottle of Water in One hand, and Skitzy's food bowl in the other. How was I going to fend off any potential cat attacks like that?

It finally occurred to me to put Skitzy's food bowl down. And if Cole ended up eating it, I would replenish it for her. I wasn't about to let her go hungry, and putting her food bowl in the fridge didn't seem like a good option. I might forget I left it there.

I've now had to keep the bag of cat chow inside a plastic grocery bag. Knot it loosely and then keep it hidden away in a cabinet. Even at that Cole has managed to get the kitchen cabinet open, tear through both bags to get to the cat chow. While I'm certainly not starving him, in fact he's gained weight, if he wants more cat chow, he seems to find a way to get it. I haven't yet been able to stop him.

Cole continued exploring the room, that Skitzy gets kept in. Skitzy made herself visible to me by crouching near the garbage can in the kitchen. So there all three of us were, in this L shaped formation, with me standing in the corner of that "L" between the two of them, armed with my spray water bottle in hand watching the two of them to see what would happen next. I started wondering how long I would have to remain on cat guard patrol like this.

It was if we had some kind of two cats, one human standoff. I started to think maybe this can work after all. Cole had been out for a few minutes, and he didn't initially go after Skitzy or even try to seek her out. Then Cole came down the hallway where I was at. He even ignored Skitzy for awhile and sniffed at other things.

Then Skitzy moved, Cole went after Skitzy and all hell broke loose. I couldn't keep up with them, armed as I was with my trusty spray water bottle.

Maybe it wouldn't have happened again if Skitzy hadn't dashed off. Yeah right. Like that's a natural thing to expect a cat to do. To not move at all, to just stand still! Like that was ever going to happen!

Cole had Skitzy trapped in one of the closets of the bedroom she's often forced to occupy. My spraying him with water, didn't seem to phaise him in the least. He wasn't about to move from the closet. He laid there a foot away from her, just waiting for her to make her move. Skitzy was curled up hissing and starting her dreadful keening noises again. Skitzy was looking at me desperately as if she was saying to me "Help Me! Save Me! You're supposed to love and protect me from this brute of a cat. You're the one who brought him into this house! Do something!"

Skitzy dashed off with Cole in gleeful pursuit. They got my bedroom door opened, which doesn't close very well to begin with, and after more hissing and spitting they both ended up under my bed. Exactly what I was trying to prevent. Both of them in a corner under my bed where I couldn't see them, and certainly couldn't reach either one of them, to grab them or to squirt them to to try to put an end to the cat fight, spitting, hissing, keening noises I was now hearing once again.

My heart was racing like it was about to come flying right out of my chest. I pounded on the bed in frustration, and fear for how this might turn out for Skitzy, and how she'd feel about me in the future at my having left her to fend for herself against Cole. There wasn't much I could do about any of this. I was just a frustrated, ineffective, helpless, scared human after all. Things had not turned out as I had planned.

My hopes for a peaceful two cats, one human household vanished as quickly as they had come. Then Cole casually strolled out from under my bed. He looked at me as if to say, "What did you really expect would happen?" He sure didn't have that look on his face now, that said I'm trying to be the good cat you want me to be. Instead he looked rather smug and extremely satisifed with himself. This time he was looking at me as if he was saying, "Hey, I'm just doing what comes naturally to me! What in the world is your problem, human person, who doesn't seem to have a clue about normal cat behavior?"

Casually he made his way out of that bedroom and into another one. Skitzy remained under my bed.

About a week ago, Skitzy and Cole somehow ended up in the same closed bedroom together. Everything seemed quiet, and peaceful while I went in search of Skitzy wondering where she had ended up hiding. I was very surprised to see her occupying the same room at the same time as Cole. I can't for the life of me figure out how that happened. As soon as I came into that room and opened the door, then the hissing, spitting, snarling started.

So maybe all this chasing, all these terrible noises I can't bear to listen to are all being done for my benefit. Maybe it's some scheme the two of them concocted to have their dubious version of cat fun with me their human counterpart.

I think they've both got my number. I think they both know exactly how to play me, and how to push my soft spots to their fullest advantage.

As I type this, Cole and I now occupy the room with the computer, while I type away with the bedroom door closed. I'll have to entice Skitzy out of hiding, by bribing her with canned cat food. Then her and her food will get placed in the bedroom she is often forced to occupy and then Cole will get his turn to be let out to freely roam the rest of the house.

After awhile Skitzy will get bored with it. She'll sratch at the bedroom door to be let out. Cole will then be placed in the bedroom with the computer, with the door closed and then it will be Skitzy's turn to freely roam the rest of the house, or to go into hiding, somewhere as she now so often does.

And so we're all three carrying on, just exactly as we were before. My Separated Cat System and my Cat Rotation System continues to be left in place. At least until I can figure out what my next move might be, in simply wanting to live in a peaceful quiet two cats, one human household.

Two Cat Household

I own two Cats, or they own me. I got Skitzy my small sweet female cat, as Misty another cat that we had, started getting older. Misty, a tabby, was with us for a good 16 or 17 years. Bringing Skitzy into the house, I felt was about the continuing circle of life. Misty made some unhappy keening noises at times, but for the most part she didn't seem to have a major problem with Skitzy coming into the household.

Skitzy didn't go after Misty, but pretty much just left her alone. They didn't fuss and fight with each other. In fact at times, they were sleeping near each other in the separate cat beds I had bought them.

Skitzy is a tortoiseshell cat. She's sweet, somewhat shy, very gentle and likes to occupy my lap while I'm trying to knit. She's like a ballerina cat, the way she softly, gently puts her paws down. It never got to a point where Misty and Skitzy cuddled with each other, or licked each other but at least they seemed to tolerate each other.

Sometime after Misty died, I wondered if Skitzy was bored being in the house all by herself. I felt she had gotten used to having another cat around. She came to me from a household that had another cat there.

Along came Cole. I thought Cole would keep Skitzy company, and give her companionship that I thought she might have needed after Misty died. I thought they would play together and happily chase each other around from time to time. They were closer in age to each other then Skitzy had been to Misty.

Soon began the snarling, the hissing, the spitting between the two of them. The mad dashes by the two of them through different areas of the house. The disturbing sounds of two cats fighting, that were hard for me to listen to, and even harder for me to ignore. Those noises probably sounded much worse to me, then they might have been to either one of them.

Skitzy then started going into hiding, looking over her shoulder whenever she went to use the litter box, or go to eat. As if she was checking out if it was safe for her to pursue those activities. Cole's a lot bigger than Skitzy is.

Often he seemed to trap her in a corner, though he didn't appear to actually be hurting her. But just sort of waiting, daring her to move, so he could chase after her again. What was worse were the keening noises that Skitzy started making when Cole got too close.

She sure didn't sound like a very happy cat to me, glad to have the company of this new cat I had brought into her territory. At times I think she gave me looks of hurt, confusion, and that I had somehow betrayed her by bringing Cole in.

And Cole seemed to become a type of Bully Cat, towards Skitzy though he is very sweet and affectionate to me. Before I gave him a home I had heard he didn't get along with the other cat residing there. Maybe Cole just needs to be the Solo Cat of his cat household.

People told me this aggression on Cole's part might ease up once I got him neutered. Skitzy was spade, so I couldn't figure out what kind of sexual scent she might be leaving that would be attractive to him. But Cole was just doing what comes naturally to a Young Male Cat, who wasn't yet neutered. Basically going after anything that moved. Skitzy moved. Cole went after her.

I then started my separated cat system. I'd keep one cat in one bedroom, while the other got to roam the rest of the place. I rotated this to try to make it fair to both of them. It was difficult for me to logically think this through, in the mornings before the coffee had kicked in. I'd put one cat in one bedroom, and then realize he or she needed fresh food or water, or their litter box needed to be cleaned out. Then I'd have to sneak in and out to accomplish this task. I'm sure both cats had a good laugh at my silly human disorganization, before the caffeine had its desired effect on my addled brain.

I initially thought about naming Cole, who is all Black with incredible green eyes, Nat KinK Cole, since he had a KinK in his tail. It's a good thing I didn't. Cole started attacking his tail, going after it in a frenzy. He scared me when he started these attacks upon himself. Soon part of his tail became fur bear, and bleeding.

Sometimes he started hissing at it or hissing at me. I wasn't quite sure which. Since Skitzy was in another room. That only left Cole, Me and his battered tail for him to be hissing at. Obviously something about his tail was bothering him.

Off to the Vet, where Cole finally got the neutering he needed, as well as having to have part of his tail amputated. He came home wearing a collar, so that he couldn't go after the bandage on his tail. At that point I was told by the Vet to continue keeping them both separated until Cole recovered from his surgeries. Cole would have an animal hospital smell attached to him when he first came home and Skitzy might freak out at seeing Cole wearing his Collar. I can't say I'd blame her for that, as he looked like an Alien Cat with it on.

Poor guy had a hard time wearing that collar. He bumped into things, or his collar would get caught on something, that I'd have to free him from. He couldn't groom himself with the collar on. At times it didn't seem like he could eat very easily. He'd get the corner of his collar caught under his water bowl, and spill the water.

This wasn't his fault. He couldn't help it. It was frustrating for both of us. Skitzy at one time, looked at me, looked at him, with his collar and his amputated tail, as if she knew something wasn't quite right. I would take the collar off of Cole for awhile so he could have an easier time at eating his food, and give himself a good grooming session. But as soon as he started going after his tail, the collar went back on him.

When it was Cole's turn to freely roam the house, and Skitzy was safely in another bedroom, Cole stayed close to me as he followed me through the different rooms of the house. As if he knew I would need to act as his guide, since he couldn't use his whiskers for that purpose, while having to wear that collar.

Cole being the smart cat that he is, managed to get the Collar off himself, by chasing madly through the house. Somehow with the chair and table legs he came up against, the collar came off, and Cole again attacked his bandaged tail. Back to the Vet we go. Now the majority of his tail had to be amputated.

Cole came home again. He now looks like a small Bobcat, with just a small stub of black tail left. But at least he is no longer having his frenzied attacks towards his tail anymore. This time for his 2ND episode of tail amputation recovery, he had a collar on that would be much more difficult for him to get off, and even if he attempted it, he wasn't able to accomplish this the second time around.

My separated cat system continued. It was as if I owned two cats, but owned them one at a time. Yet each of them would lie in front of the bedroom door that the other cat was occupying at the time. Skitzy voluntarily would dash into the bedroom, that she has to often occupy. As if to say to me, I don't like this set up very much, but at least I know I'm safe in here, and that Cole can't get to me, as long as you keep the door closed. Of course when she's getting bored with that, she's scratching at the door to be let out, and my cat rotation system starts all over again. Cole gets put into another bedroom, Skitzy then gets let out to roam the rest of the place.

This would all be so much easier, if I had some sort of Cat Revolving Door in place. But it's not a great situation for any of us.

If I'm on the computer, which I am a great deal of the time, I can't really keep an eye on the two of them, so I continued on with my separated cat system. I knew I was keeping them separated more for my sake then for theirs. I didn't want the additional stress of having to break things up, if they should get into another cat fight, while I was on the computer. In addition, I couldn't always remembers where I had last left the spray bottle of water to cool things down between them. I think I could have learned how to deal with the hissing and spitting noises in time. But it was Skitzy's keening noises I had the hardest time listening to.

Maybe I just should have enclosed myself in one room, with a good pair of headphones on and let the two of them figure things out. I felt like I would be setting up Skitzy to be attacked by Cole. I wasn't seeing trails of blood droppings or clumps of fur left behind. But those noises...they were heart wrenching to me. They were too difficult for me to listen to, and impossible to tune out.

If Cole and I are both enclosed in the bedroom where the computer is, and Skity's out in the rest of the place, the room that Cole and I are in gets incredibly warm, while the rest of the place seems to get very cold. Now I have to make increased trips to turn the heat down, turn the heat up, or at times just turn the heat off altogether for awhile, until the bedroom with the computer in it cools down.

This was becoming a crazy way for all three of us to live. I had kept them both separated for so long, I didn't know how to undo it anymore. I knew something had to change.

To be continued:

Change or Stay The Same?

It's been recommended to me, that I shouldn't divert off topic the way I have been doing and get my blog more focused to the people I'm trying to target. I know this is good advice. I know it makes sense.

Yet I have a hard time doing it. I don't want to remove my post about my Cat Cole, or the one I wrote about the toys I've created. Neither of those topics might have anything to do with Affiliate Marketing, though Cole taught me that sometimes you have to say no, which I was able to relate to Affiliate Marketing.

It was a bit of a stretch I admit. But that's what immediately came to my mind that cold and snowy night when he was meowing insistently at the back door. Having to say no to Cole and the other cat, as well as having to say no to many of the things being offered to me by other affiliate marketers.

As for my toys, I'm proud of them. I'm proud that I made them, and actually finished them. I'm proud of the fact that I actually got into the 21st Century and was able to upload those pictures that other people might enjoy looking at.

Part of me feels I should remove those pictures of My Mini-Me Doll and Rolly the Octopus from this blog. Part of me feels I won't be taken very seriously with pictures like that appearing here.

Maybe it's the little kids voice in me, that's saying "But I don't want to take them down!" I like seeing them here when I sign in here. They make me smile when I see them greeting me, when I first enter my blog. Maybe they'll make other people who might look at this blog from time to time, smile as well. Maybe there's nothing wrong with a bit of silliness appearing on my blog from time to time, as well as everything else that might end up landing here.

I actually want to add more pictures of my toys here. Maybe it's also the part of me that is generally just somewhat rebellious to begin with. That doesn't quite want to do things the way it's recommended, even though I know it's a great recommendation.

Isn't there room for diversity? Isn't it possible that other affiliate marketers, or other people who might be reading my blog, could also be pet owners? Isn't it possible that some of them might even enjoy crafting in their spare time, and might enjoy seeing a few pictures of my hand made toys here?

Maybe I just don't want to have to categorize my blog posts, other people or myself, into tiny little boxes. I suppose I could say this could be part of my spillover into other areas, not exactly related to Affiliate Marketing.

Besides this might give Google some variety in the AdSense Ads they might be placing here, because of my having different keywords, that relate so far to cats, crafts, writing, as well as affiliate marketing. I wouldn't want Google AdSense to get bored if their spiders have to look at the same keywords over and over again.

OK I'm justifying my diversionary tactics for myself. I admit it!

It was also recommended that I start separate blogs for each different category that I might blog about. Target one blog to cat owners, another to crafters, another to writers, another to affiliate marketers. Or else I should just make my blog a hodge podge of different things that I'm going to be blogging about, which so far, seems to be the direction this one's heading in.

Good Grief! It took me quite a long time to get this blog up and running. I spent hours making up my mind about what colors, fonts, I wanted and the placement of things. I put off starting a blog for quite some time, because I felt it would be a time consuming task.

If I start a different blog for each different category that comes into my overcrowded and disorganized mind, I might not get much writing done. And what if I only end up with 4 posts about cats, 7 posts about crafts and then I can't come up with anything more to blog about on each specific topic? Then I'll have a whole bunch of mini-blogs I'll have to keep track of, each of them perhaps not having much content?

Now it's occurred to me that probably I should change the name of my blog since it doesn't seem to be about The Affable Affiliate, and since it is becoming a hodge podge of this and that. Actually I initially wanted to title it Jan's Promo Place. But when it came to also having to come up with a link name/address for myself, I thought people might remember Jan's Promo Place easier then they would remember The Affable Affiliate.

So as you can see, things did not end up exactly the way I thought they would. If I was having that much trouble trying to figure out which should be the name of my blog, and which should be my http link address, just think how much trouble my brain will have coming up with several more new blog names, and addresses? Not to mention that I'm not that thrilled with the concept of moving to begin with or having to set things up at a whole new location.

If I change my blog's name from the The Affable Affiliate to something else, that could also mean, I'll start getting 404 errors or some other kinds of errors from Google. Because I'll have to make changes in other places behind the scenes. At this point I don't want to spend the time figuring out how I go about doing all of that.

Right now I can't come up with another creative name for my blog, that might be more appropriate for the diverse topics I've already started blogging about. I'm just not getting that light bulb coming on for me right now, or that creative bolt of lightning, that says to me, Aha! This is what you should rename your Blog. Maybe it'll come to me in the future, maybe it won't.

Until it does, this blog will remain titled The Affable Affiliate, it'll still be located at http://janspromoplace.blogspot.com. This blog will probably contain some posts from time to time that appear to have nothing at all to do with Affiliate Marketing. I won't guarantee I can always accomplish it, but I'll do my best to tie in my unrelated blog posts somehow. That might not just be a bit of a stretch, it might become a major reach. Be that as it may.

As the writer of this blog, I obviously feel a need to have those unrelated posts appear here once in awhile.

Should I change things here or have them stay the same? They were great recommendations and I appreciate it that someone took the time to give me that good advice. I know I should be following them, but I just can't yet bring myself to remove my unrelated posts about Cole the Cat, or the posts or the pictures of my hand made toys.

So for now things are staying the same, if and until I can come up with a creative name for this blog that would be more appropriate.

Nothing is Simple!

My Hand Made Toys

While this Blog is titled The Affable Affiliate, it's time I diverted off of the main road for a bit. Since The Affable Affiliate is located at Jan's Promo Place. That means I can promote all kinds of things. I think it leaves my niche wide open. I think I can promote whatever I want to promote, and furthermore I intend to do just that.

So I guess in a way I'm promoting me right now. That's right! You read that correctly. I'm engaging in a form of shameless self promotion. Do I hear your surprised intake of breath? Ok you can exhale now.

As you can see from some of the titles of my submitted articles, some of them have to do with the yarn crafts of knitting, crocheting and the Knifty Knitter, so this post is about that particular topic. And since I've already listed articles I've written in that area, I don't think I'm drifting too far off topic.

Or else I'm justifying for myself, the occasional need I have to impulsively travel down some unknown side road. I used to like doing that while driving my car, before the price of gas became so high, so why shouldn't I do it with my blog from time to time?

I'm slowly but surely getting into the 21st Century. I developed pictures in August, 2007. I even had them put on a CD. Well yesterday I finally got around to uploading those pictures from the CD's I got in August of 2007. I sure don't want to rush into these things. Procrastinators of the World Unite.

It was a lot easier then I thought it would be. Then I enjoyed watching the screenshow of my pictures. And of course I got into cropping the pictures, and seeing what all the different effects would do.

Well one of the CD's included pictures of the different stuffed animals, I had hand made. From there I advanced to a group on Yahoo, that I had joined some time ago, but hadn't actively participated in. This group is called Joyful Toys. It's a group of people who make toys by way of knitting, crocheting or using the Knifty Knitter, which is a set of 4 circular knitting looms. I enjoy making all kinds of hand made items. But I think making toys and stuffed animals are my favorite items to make. Those critters come to life for me, once they're all put together and I put the faces on them.

I'm proud to say I got the pictures of my stuffed creations uploaded to a photo album in that group. I've been wanting to do that for a long time. I've often lurked and looked at the cute creations other people had made, but I had never posted any of my own.

I have another printer with scanning capabilities, but it's currently not connected to my hard drive. It also seemed more complicated, and required more reading then I often felt like doing, on that particular topic.

But with a CD, I open up the tray, put the CD in the slot, close the tray, and within a few minutes my pictures were appearing on my computer screen. How cool is that? How simple, how quick, how incredibly easy. Sometimes I just love modern technology, when things go as smoothly as loading those pictures did.

Considering I have a whole gang of computer gremlins that reside in my computer, and delight in making my computer life more difficult, those pictures appearing that easily was like a breath of fresh air to me. Maybe all the computer gremlins were napping at the time. Or could it be they've finally vacated my computer to go mess with someone else for a change? You don't know how many times I've heard those computer gremlins laughing at me in the background at all the mischief they so delight in creating for me.

Right now my computer starts up with immediately wanting to search for something. It didn't do that before. So far I haven't found a way to stop that search from appearing when I start my computer, but fortunately I can click out of the two search boxes that now appear at start-up. I believe my computer gremlins are responsible for making that search request appear so suddenly on my computer. It couldn't be something I must have clicked on, that I don't remember doing, and now I can't find it, since I can't remember what I may have done, so I can change it back to how it was before. So I can only conclude it's because of the computer gremlins that reside in my computer.

I'm grateful that my computer gremlins, gave me a break when it came to getting those pictures on my computer. I enjoy looking at the many stuffed animals I've made. They seem happy that at last they can now be visible to the world.

So this post might not have anything to do, with Affiliate Marketing. It won't tell you how to earn money, it won't give you a free ebook to download and read, it won't point you in the direction of a dozen different web sites or products I'm recommending. It isn't even about the things I find difficult or confusing about Affiliate Marketing.

I'm proud of the stuffed animals I've made. I'm proud of myself for actually getting their pictures on the computer and then into a photo album from Yahoo's Joyful Toys Group at last. I'm delighted that maybe others might look at the pictures of my hand made critters from time to time.

So if you have kids, or if you're a kid at heart, who likes keeping that kid alive within you, then maybe you'll go take a look at my pictures. I'm not sure how it works, if you have to join Yahoo in order to see them.

Looking at the pictures of my stuffed animals, won't earn you more money. It won't get your more downline referrals, it won't be a about a product you need to know more about.

Buy maybe it will awaken the little kid in you. Maybe those pictures will help you forget your troubles for awhile. Maybe my pictures of my cute and cuddly hand made stuffed animals will put a smile on your face and fill you with as much delight as I get from making them.

But you'll never know if you'll get that warm and fuzzy feeling, unless you take a look at them.

http://ph.groups.yahoo.com/group/joyful-toys/photos/browse/8bee

Mozilla Firefox

I put off downloading Mozilla Firefox, for some time. Often after I’ve downloaded something, some of my other computer programs seem to go haywire. I didn’t want that to happen to me again.

Finally, I decided I’d give Firefox a try. Within two days of my downloading and using it, I wanted to give it a five star review. But I thought that might come across like I was lavishing false praise on it after using it for such a short amount of time. Then I got sidetracked. The Internet often has that effect on me.

Now that I have been using it for about a week or two, I can’t help but tell you how much I really like using this innovative Internet Browser. I’m one of those people, who likes to have many computer windows open all at the same time.Sometimes I’ve gotten a message that says, I’ve reached the limit of how many windows I can have open all at once. Even computers reach their limits I guess!

I figured I was multi-tasking, by having so many windows opened all at the same time. I’m still on a slow dial up connection. So while one program was getting opened, why not have the others that I wanted to look at, get themselves started in that procedure?

The problem I often had in doing that was that when they were all minimized, I couldn’t distinguish one open minimized window from the others. Then I had to go about restoring many of them, so I could find the one I actually wanted to look at right then. In addition to that, sometimes, my browser not only moved at a crawl, but it would come to a full blown stop.

I couldn't scroll through any screens. Clicking on my mouse keys many times, didn’t get anything moving for me either. Everything just came to a standstill. All I could do was sit and wait, until one of my many windows finally got opened enough so I could look at it.

I have a hard time just waiting, sitting there doing nothing! So, of course I used my time wisely, improving my skills at playing a game of cards, like Spider Solitaire or Free Cell, while I was waiting for those breezes to blow on me, from the many windows I wanted to open.

Sometimes I got a message that AOL was no longer responding to me. It was as if I had given AOL a major headache, by wanting it to open those windows all at the same time. So AOL got even with me, and said, that’s it! I’ve had it! I won’t open one more window for you now. I won’t even keep on opening the windows you already requested that I open. So there!

Then AOL would decide it needed to take a break and go lie down for a while, because of the excess strain I must have put on it. It just disappeared, since it was no longer responding to me at all. I guess AOL has its limits too of how much it will take from me.

With Mozilla Firefox, I can open things up in several windows. Within those open windows I can then open up several related links in different tabs.

Say I’m looking at a site about different cities I want to travel to on vacation. Then I can open up some tabs as to what hotels or airfare might cost to that specific location. I can then open up another window for my second choice of locations, and then open tabs that relate to that second destination. I can then open up a third window with its related tabs about what the predictions will be for the weather next week, where I live. Then I can more effectively dream about that nice warm sandy beach I want to be lying on, when that snow and cold arrives here.

Everything stays better organized with Mozilla Firefox. Being able to open tabs within the windows, lets me easily click on links that relate to the main topic. I don’t have to figure out where they’re now located when I’ve minimized them at the bottom of my screen.

Mozilla Firefox, lets me rearrange my bookmarks in whatever order I want them to be. It asks me if it should remember my passwords for me. How can I say no to that polite and helpful request? My brain is already overcrowded as it is. My memory isn’t that great to begin with. Much better, that Mozilla Firefox remembers my many different passwords for me, so that I don’t have to.

As I looked more at the website, I found myself liking Mozilla Firefox, even more. It was developed by a grassroots community. A diverse group of people from all walks of life, from different parts of the world, who are devoted to enriching people’s lives by preserving choice and innovation on the Internet!

This is a not-for-profit organization, unlike many other things on the Internet that are only motivated by profits, or shareholder value.

They built Firefox to keep people safe online. If a critical bug is discovered, they make it public knowledge, so it can be fixed as soon as possible. Because it’s an open source, they have an entire community of users, from around the world, constantly, working, improving and updating, Mozilla Firefox to make your web browsing a safer experience.

You can customize it for yourself, because the people who developed it don’t subscribe to the viewpoint, that one size fits all. It has spell check, and search suggestions. You can view your live RSS web feeds for current news, your favorite blogs, or to keep an eye on your auctions!

It has a lot of features I haven’t yet learned how to use. The only thing I now regret, is that I didn’t download Mozilla Firefox much sooner.

The Story of A King, with a Kind and Giving Heart

Sometime back, Cole my male cat was meowing quite insistently at my back door. Cole is an all black cat, with incredible green eyes. He seems to think this should carry some extra weight with me, and that he should have more advantages then my smaller female cat Skitzy does, who has lived here longer.

Now it’s possible since he was previously an outdoor cat, before he came to live with me, that he had this sudden desire to go outside to romp, and play once again. But it was cold and snowing out there! And whether he likes it or not, as long as he’s living with me, he is now an indoor cat. I wasn’t about to put on my coat, hat and gloves to chase after him, by letting him go outside. Nor was I about to be consider the possibility of my having to call the fire department. That wasn't going to be an option, if I had let him out, and then he decided to get himself comfortable on some high up unreachable branch of a tree.

But he was quite insistent with all his meowing. Cole is one of those cats who talks quite a bit. I haven’t yet figured out what all his Cat Speak language is supposed to mean. I can only hope we’ve established some sort of communication where at times we have some understanding of each other.

Then he started in on me, with that pitiful cry. If you’re a cat lover, or even an animal lover, you know what I’m talking about. That pitiful cry is that meow that pulls at your heart. It’s the one that’s hard to resist, and frequently I agree to whatever it is Cole wants when he uses that pitiful meow on me.

It’s definitely not the same meow that says he’s hungry, even though he’s already doubled my cat food chow bill. He’s put on a few pounds, since he's lived here, so needless to say he’s definitely not starving around here. It’s not the cry that says “Hey Person, who is supposed to love and care about me. It’s about my Litter box! Get with it will you already!” It’s not even the meow that plaintively asks, “When are you going to get off of that darn computer and pet me and play with me?”

No this meow was much more insistent. I picked him up, and cautiously opened the inner back door to see if there was something going on onside. Then I heard it. Outside on that cold snowy night was another cat nearby also giving forth with it’s own version of that pitiful and plaintive cry.

While it’s certainly possible Cole, who is neutered, just wanted to go out and chase down that other feline, who was invading his territory. Perhaps he needed to prove once again, that he is indeed the Reigning King Cat of our block. And that he would not look kindly on any other cat invading the territory of his distinguished Cat Kingdom, no matter what the weather might be like outside.

But more I got the feeling that he was saying to me, “Aren’t you going to do something about this? Aren’t you going to let that other cat in from the snow and cold, so it can get warmed up?”

I felt like his pitiful meows were saying “I was once an outdoor cat too! I know what it’s like to have to fend for myself in the cold, and snow, or to have to seek shelter from the rain. I know what it’s like to have to find creative ways to find food for myself, living with the harsh realities of that cold outside world. I’ve been there, remember? I had to do it myself not too long ago before I adopted you, as the person being most suitable for caring for me on the inside.”

His heart wrenching meows had taken on an intensity all their own. Now I was hearing a harmonious duet of pitiful cries from both him, and that cat that found itself outside on that cold and snowy night.

What does any of this have to do with affiliate marketing? Well, sometimes you just have to say NO!

No, Cole, I can’t afford to take on the care and feeding of a third cat right now. No, I can’t read another email, look at another web site, or click on another link right now. No, Cole, you don’t get along with Skitzy that well now. So why would either one of us believe you’ll easily get along with a third cat?

No, I can’t afford to buy your recommended affiliate program for $197.00, $97.00 or even that one, that is “reduced for a limited time” to only $47.00. Yes I know if I don’t pay my $47.00 to you, right this instant, I’ll lose my chance forever, at joining your program that guarantees I’ll make thousands of dollars in a very short amount of time, with very little effort needed on my part.

I guess I’ll just have to take my chances that I’ve missed out on yet another great opportunity that will drastically change my life forever. I’ll just have to say NO to it, right now, though it fills me with much regret.

But I have to tell you. It was much harder for me to have to say no to Cole and his insistent plaintive cries that night. It was much harder for me to have to say no to the desperate meows I was hearing from that other cold Kitty, who somehow found itself outside on that cold and snowy night.

I had much more regret having to say no to both of those cats, then I have had, in having to say no to some of the programs being promoted to me by other affiliate marketers.

My sweet cat Cole, with his beautiful green eyes, and his good, loving and generous heart, who now has my vote, as the Coolest King Cat of our particular Cat Block, taught me that cold and snowy night, that sometimes you just have to say no, whether you want to or not!

And sometimes having to say NO, even when you may not want to, is not an easy thing to do.

Internet Marketing: A Beginners Perspective

SUBMITTING ARTICLES PART 2

Another thing I don’t understand is that when anyone places an ad in any other medium other then the Internet, those places expect to be paid for providing that service. Whether that’s placing a classified ad in a newspaper, buying a radio spot, or having a commercial appear on TV.

Sometime back I tried some of those get paid to read email programs. While I don’t know what the going rate is today, back then I was being paid fractions of a penny for the advertising emails I did read. Since I wasn’t easily able to get people as my referrals to those programs, it took some time before I could even reach the minimum payout required from some of those sites.

When I calculated my hourly rate, I would have done better working at my local fast food place. But I couldn’t go to any of my local stores and ask them to give me change for a penny. Yet I was being paid less then one cent, to read those emails.

No, it’s not rocket science to spend some seconds reading those get paid to read email advertisements. I didn’t expect to make thousands of dollars doing that. But I also didn’t expect that my rate of payment, would be fractions of a penny. In some cases I had to look at several emails, before I actually earned my first penny. Reaching the minimum amount, before I could get to payout, seemed very far away back then.

Newspapers, radio, and TV charge accordingly for the ads they allow people to place there. The large TV networks are paid quite well, if a commercial is aired, during an event such as the Super Bowl.

When writers submit an article to a brick and mortar publication, they are hoping that the publisher will agree to publish their article, and will compensate the writer accordingly. If that publication accepts that article, poem, or short story, they might pay the writer in contributors’ copies, if the publication isn’t very well known. Other larger publications are willing to pay money, if they agree to publish your writing.

How did the Internet, which is still in many ways a young and growing form of communication, become a place, where Affiliate Marketers and Writers often aren’t paid for their efforts? Why is it not only recommended, but also almost expected, that writers will submit their articles for free publication?

Many Affiliate Marketers don’t receive any money for the programs we’re trying hard to promote, until someone actually buys those products. Being paid strictly on a commission basis, seems like a hard way to make a living, from what I’ve experienced and learned about Affiliate Marketing so far. How did things become so different regarding the Internet, as compared to what newspapers, magazines, radio or TV do?

The Internet is amazing, with the worldwide reach and potential that it has. Not too long ago, if we wanted to communicate with someone in a different location, from where we lived, we could do that either with long distance phone calls, or by sending them a letter through the U.S. post office. We didn’t have the ability to send an Instant Message, like we can today. The letters I sent to someone living in a different city, or a country then I do, never arrived as quickly as email now does.

But I wonder how we’ve strayed so far, from that old philosophy “That there are no free lunches.” Affiliate Marketers don’t get paid, until someone actually buys the other peoples’ products that we work hard to promote. Writers are now expected to submit their articles for
free publication, and we’re told to submit them to as many places as possible.

When did things change so drastically? Where was I when that happened? I guess I must have missed that memo. But I’m doing my best to comply with things the way they are now. I’m willing to follow the submission guidelines, as stated at various Article Publishing Sites.

I hope by following these ever changing rules, I might actually earn money someday, from the articles I work so hard to write. I’ve read from many different sources from different people, more experienced then I am, who have stated that I could earn money submitting my Articles to different Publishing Sites. They said that could happen for me, and I believe them.

So perhaps I’m not only naive because I do believe those written endorsements, as a way I hope to eventually make money on the Internet today, but as I've mentioned a few times before, I’m also new at all of this.

Internet Marketing: A Beginners Perspective

There’s a lot of areas regarding Internet Affiliate Marketing, that I still don’t know much about. Some of it I find rather confusing.

SUBMITTING ARTICLES PART 1

It’s been recommended that I submit some of my written articles to different Article Publishers. Many people have indicated that I can earn money by doing this, but I don’t understand exactly how that works.

I admit that I have a hard time, wrapping my mind around the concept that I’m supposed to allow my writing to be published for free. Apparently if I submit my articles to as many publishers as possible, that will help to increase my by-name recognition. I don’t understand how submitting my articles to multiple publications for free, will later lead to my earning money, either through the writing of my blog or from those published articles.

My blog is new. So far I’m promoting other people’s products or web sites. I don’t have any products of my own to promote, except for my writing ability. I don’t yet have products I can resell, or give away to anyone who might be reading my blog.

I feel like I’m missing something here. How does it go from point A, submitting my articles for free publication, to point B, earning money in the future, from those articles? People say you can earn money by doing this, but nobody explains the details of how that actually happens. I’m one of those people who needs to know the details.

Other people hold a different viewpoint about submitting your articles to as many publishers as possible.

"So what does that mean for that article you wrote and submitted to 50,000 publishers… It means that it did just that – it was submitted to 50,000 publishers. You do not know who it was submitted to, whether they are a respected website, whether they actually have any reasonable amount of traffic, or even if they will publish your article without your permission. You have no
control over what happens to your article."

Mark Daoust, goes on to say that this is not what publishers want from the writers who are submitting to them. He indicated that it’s not in the writer’s best self interest as well.

“The idea of submitting an article to as many publishers as possible is obviously contrary to what a publisher is looking for. At the same time, though, it is also contrary to what you should be looking for. The secret to writing successful articles starts with a simple concept: you want to control who publishes your article, and you want to help promote that article. If an editor chooses to publish an article and sees that it was well-received (and brought in a lot of new traffic), they will be more inclined to publish future articles from you…A properly written, distributed, and promoted article can be far more effective than any other form of marketing, and far more cost effective.”

A web site owner might need content for their web site, but he or she, might not want content that’s already been circulated widely over the Internet. A publisher would prefer that one specific article from a writer, is not being submitted and published by many other publishers.

As a writer, I’ve put in time and effort writing that article, to be as well-written as I can make it. That not only includes the writing itself, but proofreading, editing, and revising my article, before I submit it anywhere. I may have needed to research my topic, before I even put my fingers on the keyboard.

These days, with so many people blogging and writing, it certainly seems there’s much more writing competition for all of us to contend with.

My article might be viewed by some people, as nothing more then a long written ad, for something I’m promoting. Many Article Publishing sites don’t allow the writers’ to place direct links to the items we’re promoting, within the body of the article itself. The writers are allowed to include a link to our blogs or web sites, within the Author’s Resource box at that publication site.

But I feel I’m making my potential customers take extra unnecessary steps. First they hopefully read my article about whatever it is I’m promoting. Then they’re supposed to travel back to my blog. Once they get there, they need to find the link to the product I’m promoting as mentioned in my article. Then when they click on that link, they’ll finally be getting their first look at what I’ve been trying to promote to them all along.

It seems like I’ve sending my potential customers on a long scenic route, with a few extra detours thrown into their Internet Highway travels. If they get lost or it’s dark out by the time they arrive at whatever it is I’m promoting, they’re probably going to expect that I’ll be putting them up for a night or two and that I’ll be feeding them as well.

I've found reading what more experienced Affiliate Marketers recommend to be quite helpful. I just want it to make sense to me. So far submitting my Articles to a large amount of publications for free, doesn’t seem logical to me, but I'm willing to give it a try. Maybe someday I’ll have discovered all the missing pieces I now have with this Article Submission writing puzzle.

But for now, I’m new at all of this.

Source: “The Misunderstood Marketing Method” By Mark Daoust, from
http://www.homebiztools.com/marketing-method.htm

Internet Marketing: A Beginner's Perspective

My new journey into things I’ve learned so far about Affiliate Marketing continues.

WEB SITES AND BLOGS

Some sources said it was necessary, that I have my own web site, while other things I read said it wasn’t a requirement. No wonder I’m confused. At first, I thought I wouldn’t really need my own web site, as I was promoting other people’s products.

Starting my own web site intimidated me. I knew it would take time to get it set up, with the colors, fonts, style, and placement of things the way I wanted it to be. I could see myself easily getting bogged down with all those details. And after doing all that, it might not work right, since my knowledge about html and the other high tech stuff is rather limited.

I soon realized that I had no central location, where that mass of internet humanity would be flocking to my web site, just to see what I would be promoting next, or what I might even be ranting and raving about from time to time. I decided to start a blog, which did take time for me to set up, but I’m now glad I have one.

The only thing is, now that I have my brand new blog, I don’t think I’m getting much traffic, if any. My blog must have been placed on some rural road somewhere. No one told me, I wouldn’t be able to pick the location for my blog. I thought I’d just be able to direct the blog movers, to what I thought would be a good location for my brand new blog, on that vast extensive Internet Highway. I sure didn’t expect that my Blog would be placed in the middle of nowhere.

So what’s my next move? Am I supposed to stand in the middle of the road, trying to flag down whatever few cars might pass by, so that maybe somebody, anybody, might stop, take a look at my blog, and buy a product from me that I’m promoting there? Is begging an option?

In addition, I don’t yet have any items I’m directly trying to sell myself, except for those potential hand made affiliate cloaks I’m thinking about knitting or crocheting. As an affiliate marketer, I’m promoting other people’s products, and not any of my own.

So if anyone visits my blog, and clicks on my ads, at best they might go visit, a program I’m affiliated with. Even if they sign up under my cloaked referral affiliate links, they might just sign up for the free versions of the programs like I did, and I still won’t earn any money by them doing that.

As a writer, I’m glad I now have a blog. Especially since there are few restrictions about what I can blog about or how long or short my blog posts are supposed to be. In school, I had to write my essays about the topic the Teachers assigned me. At an online writing site, where my writing first went public, I had to get my writing to within their suggested guidelines for both a minimum and maximum word length to my articles.

Now having my own Blog, I can blog about whatever comes to mind. It feels freeing and empowering to be able to do that.

Then there are the recommendations that you’re supposed to write to a specific “niche”. With all the time I've already spent setting up my very first brand new blog, not much writing will ever get done that way. I guess you can expect that I will probably divert off that specific “niche” topic I’m writing about, from time to time.

As a driver of my car, I often enjoyed going off on some unexplored side road, just to see where that road would take me. Why should blogging on the Internet Highway, be all that different from those spontaneous side trips, I used to enjoy taking in my car?

Since my web site link is currently about promoting things, that leaves my “niche” topic
wide-open doesn‘t it? I could promote my two cats, deep-dish pizza, the weather, even myself from time to time. This is Jan’s Promo Place, after all.

Maybe I’ll need to get more specific? Maybe I’ll need to narrow it down more, as to what my specific blog “niche” will actually be? Well I kind of like having my particular “niche” be wide open and spacious, like the rural country road, my blog seems to be currently residing on. I like being able to promote whatever it is I want to promote.

Right now, it seems to be working well for me, but as I’ve mentioned to you before, I’m new at all of this.

Internet Marketing: A Beginners Perspective

I continue learning more things, with my new journey into Internet Marketing.

AFFILIATE LINKS

It seemed obvious to me, when I started looking at my own affiliate links, that I was trying to promote something or other. Once again, I had to wonder why anyone would buy from me, when my affiliate links were practically shouting out to anyone who looked at them, that I was trying to sell something to somebody.

Then I discovered the many different sites that “cloak your links”. This protected me from the possibility that my future potential customers would bypass me. Seeing my obvious Affiliate Links, they might buy whatever I was promoting, directly from the parent company instead of buying it from me. If I didn’t cloak my links, it was possible that other devious internet users could replace my affiliate links with their own. There go my hard earned commissions that I hadn‘t even earned yet!

Here's one of the programs I like to use for cloaking my Affiliate Links.
http://www.virallinktracker.com/vlt/links/4898.

Granted the links that contain words like “sign up to be my affiliate slave” “buy from me now or else”, “I’ll make money, you might not” are dead giveaways that other affiliate marketers are creatively cloaking their links.

We often wave or honk our internet car horns at each other, as we pass each other on this vast Internet highway we’re all traveling on. There goes another affiliate marketer, who is cloaking his or her affiliate links just like I am. We’re all members of the same big team after all.

I must be a “hard sell” as I’m not easily willing to part with my money. And considering that I haven’t earned anything yet, in my new adventures of Internet Marketing, it might be near impossible for some of those other affiliate marketers to convince me to buy their products.

At least now, I’m less likely to lose those commissions that I haven’t even earned yet. My affiliate links, are proudly wearing their lovely new cloaks. They come in a variety of sizes and colors.

Plus my links and I could use that added warmth. We’re in the middle of that cold, snowy, season here, fondly known as winter. There can be ice, snow, rain, slush, and extreme wind chill factors where I live. I sure wouldn’t want to present ice cold, numb, frostbitten affiliate links to anyone. I don’t think that would go over too well, with my future potential customers.

It’s been recommended that I should have my own product to sell. Maybe I should pick up my knitting needles and my crochet hooks, and start knitting my own hand made cloaks designed to fit a wide range of affiliate links. I’ve got plenty of yarn and different colors to choose from. I have a love for both knitting and crocheting.

My hand made cloaks, will be warm, practical, colorful, and reasonably priced. I’m sure I’ll soon be overwhelmed by the amount of people, now rushing to my blog, wanting to buy a handmade cloak, from me to protect their affiliate links.

I’m glad that my precious affiliate links will now be wearing their nice warm cloaks of protection. They’ll still be wearing them even when it’s 90 degrees outside, and high humidity in the summer time.

I don’t understand why there would be so much protest about having to wear those lovely affiliate cloaks, in warmer weather, but I’m new at all of this.

Internet Marketing: A Beginner's Perspective

In my continuing new journey in Internet Marketing, here’s some other things I’ve learned so far.

CLASSIFIED ADS

Many of the classified ad sites were free to join. Some I only had to register with in order to frequent their web site. Others I could place an ad without registering there first. This would be good if I wasn’t going to be placing too many ads too often, but that seemed to defeat the purpose of trying to promote things frequently.

I got very excited when I received a few email responses to my earnestly written ads. The subject lines said things like “I saw your ad!” or “Question about your product?” Well of course I immediately had to read and respond to those emails, thinking I might soon be making my very first sale.

Only to find out, those emails were from other affiliate marketers, once again promoting something to me. They knew I wouldn’t hesitate to open those emails, with those misleading subject lines. They weren’t at all interested in what I was trying to promote.

It’s not nice to get a newbie’s hopes up like that! Especially when the bill collectors are rapidly gaining on me.

One classified ad site seemed quite extensive. It must have been recommended to me, from one of those links I must have clicked on, from one of those emails I must have read, that I must have gotten from one of those members of that safe list I had joined. This could be the beginning of the Affiliate Marketing House that Jan is trying to build.

This classified ad site had a number of services available for both their free members and their paying members. Some of these services included an email account, a traffic exchange, the ability to start a blog or web site, from that Classified ad Site, or the option of becoming an affiliate member there.

This wasn’t just about placing some classified ads somewhere, but this was much bigger than that. This was a community where I could learn from others, and share my new and growing knowledge and experiences with many of them.

I’d recommend you take a look at this Classified Ad and Community Site.

http://www.virallinktracker.com/vlt/links/5016

Shortly after I signed up there I quickly received over 40 requests to become “friends” with other members there. I’ve never made so many friends, so quickly in all of my life. That sure didn’t happen for me in high school! At last I had finally achieved that lifelong dream, of quickly becoming “popular” with many other people, and I didn’t even have to make much effort at achieving that popularity. I agreed to join that Classified Ad Site, and shortly after that, I had over 40 people requesting to be my new online "friend".

It kind of reminded me of campgrounds, with many Recreational Vehicles, (RV’s) parked in that one location, one right after the other. Campers are usually friendly people, as many of these people seemed to be from this site that not only allowed you to place your classified ads there, but had a large supportive community as well.

So what, if many of the other campers parked at that site, had air conditioning, satellite tv, and screened in porches on their RV’s. While I only had an icebox, no fridge, a portable radio, no tv and a fly swatter with my camper, and no screened in porch.

I mean… so what if many of them had already sold 100’s of items, had years of experience in Internet Marketing and were now enjoying early retirement at their luxurious beach homes, while I hadn’t yet sold one item. They still were requesting my friendship. I was honored. I was grateful to accept those offers of friendship from so many people, who didn’t know me at all.

Never mind, that a good majority of the people were once again promoting something to me, in the requests they were sending to me to be my “friend.” What else should I have expected from a campground, …I mean a web site that is a community based classified ad site, of other affiliate marketers and web site owners. I could smell the hamburgers cooking on the barbecues. I could hear the beer caps flying off of the bottles. I couldn’t wait to join them at the campfire my first night there.

Of course the Internet deffinition of a “friend” is rather odd to me to say the least. I found myself wishing that there were other labels available I could’ve chosen, depending how it fit each individual. Such as “total stranger”, “major player”, “super salesperson”, “practical joker”, “evil twin”, “outright enemy”. At least I could have classified the individuals better, until some of them actually became my new online “friend”.

I’m glad to have found this site. I hope I’ll learn more there about Affiliate Marketing there. I hope that I actually will become good online friends with some of the people residing at this RV park… I mean that Classified Ad and Community Site that I joined.

I believe deep within me, it is possible to make money by typing from my home computer. I’m willing to spend the time, learning and reading more about it.

But I couldn’t be expected to learn it all at once could I? I couldn’t realistically expect I’d quickly see those large promised amounts of money rolling in for me, as much as I wanted that kind of instant gratification.

After all I was new at all of this.

Internet Marketing: A Beginner's Perspective

As a newcomer to Internet and Affiliate Marketing, I admit I still have a lot to learn about how all of this works. I paid for a program, that has given me extensive, detailed, step-by-step information, how to go about trying to do this for myself. You can take a look at the program I joined here.
http://www.virallinktracker.com/vlt/links/4886

There are still many areas that I don’t know much about or even what my next steps are supposed to be. Here’s a look at some of the things I’ve experienced so far.

SAFE LISTS

The program I paid for, recommended that I join safe lists. A safe list is a listing of other people who have opted in to receive information about that specific topic. In Affiliate Marketing, as a member of that safe list I could send email advertisements, promotions or newsletters to other members about web sites, products, or services that I’m promoting. Those emails are not considered to be Spam, since everyone agreed to receive that information, when we “opted in” by joining that safe list.

Since I’m doing this on a limited budget, I joined one safe list as a free member. Soon I was receiving a large amount of emails, that other members wanted to promote to me. These were emails hoping I’d sign up, join this program, click on that link and most important of all, pay for the products that other affiliate marketers were promoting to me.

As a non-paying member of this safe list, I was allowed to post one promotional email ad per week. That didn't seem quite fair. It soon became an unbalanced ratio of emails I was receiving versus, what I was allowed to send out. I’m receiving fifty or more emails a day as opposed to my one promotional email I could submit each week. What’s wrong with that picture?

Nobody told me how much time I’d be spending reading those many emails. Many did lead me to learning about other useful products and programs that I would never have known about. But soon, I asked to be removed from that safe list. I couldn't’t keep up with all the emails I was receiving daily. And that was from only one safe list.

What would have happened if I had signed up with several of them? It might have caused an email explosion at my email address.

It also made it difficult for me to find the emails I might actually need to look at, such as someone inquiring about actually buying one of the products I was promoting, for instance.

Affiliate marketers, seemed to be promoting their products to other affiliate marketers. Was this the way Internet Marketing was supposed to work? Didn’t that leave out a large portion of 0f the population, who weren’t affiliate marketers, who weren’t promoting anything?

It seemed to me, that as affiliate marketers, we were spending our time and efforts promoting to each other. Why would the other members of that safe list buy any products from a newcomer like me, when they were doing the exact same thing that I was doing? They also had more experience doing it, then I did.

I’m sure there are some positive benefits to signing up with safe lists. I certainly learned some helpful things, and learned about products and services I would never have known about or even where to look for them. But I was spending more time, reading those emails and clicking on all those different links, and less time writing my own promotional ads or articles.

I’ve read that you’re supposed to start building lists: one about your potential prospects, and another list of your customers, who have actually purchased a product or service from you. I just don’t quite understand how other affiliate marketers would fall into either one of those categories, when they’re doing the exact same thing that I’m trying to do.

Maybe I’ll have one of those “light bulb” moments, when I have a clearer understanding of all the benefits I can receive my being a member of a safe list. I haven’t yet had that “aha” moment however.

I’m still learning how Internet Marketing works. After all, I’m new at all of this!