Why Do You Blog?

I’ve been thinking a lot about blogging lately and I’ve come to the decision that a running a blog is not the best business plan for long term success. 

Yes, there are some notable exceptions…but overall I find bloggers work waaaay too hard for little financial reward.  Of course, making money is not the only reason to have a blog…

Maybe you just want a place to share your thoughts on a subject. 

Or perhaps you use your blog to network and make contacts. 

Do you blog to promote your main website?  Or an offline business?

Are you trying to make a name for yourself so you can cash in on your notoriety down the road?

For me, making money off of this blog is not really important.  I have other sites that generate income and this blog  is just a way for me to share my thoughts and internet marketing strategies while making some friends.  If I make a few bucks in the process…sweet!

What about you?  Why do you blog?
 

Strange Happenings At Clickbank

If you’re into affiliate marketing then odds are you know all about Clickbank.  If you’ve never heard of CB you should know that they’re probably the largest online retailer of digital products and they have thousands of products to promote.  Its where most newbies start their affiliate marketing journey.

Unfortunately there have been some rumblings in the past few weeks about orders not being processed correctly.  More specifically, vendors and affiliates alike are afraid that they’re not getting paid for their sales.  Conversion rates for some products have tumbled and while some may shrug it off as a fluke a lot of people are concerned.  After all, if you’re spending money on a PPC campaign your profit margin may be pretty small.  Losing a few sales could mean the difference between a tidy profit and a huge loss.

Personally, I did notice a very quiet two weeks from my affiliate sites, but this past week has been back to normal.  Is there a technical glitch in Clickbank’s system?  Or is there something more sinister going on? 

Check out these two threads from the WarriorForum for updates…

http://www.warriorforum.com/main-internet-marketing-discussion-forum/27188-dreaded-clickbank-problem-some-facts.html

http://www.warriorforum.com/main-internet-marketing-discussion-forum/24125-clickbank-hows-strange.html

Update on Review Style Case Study

Well its been about six weeks since I launched my review style case study and I have good news and bad news.

My Best Web Host Ratings site uses the WPReview site plugin to let vititors leave their own comments and ratings about the web hosts they’ve used.  The idea is that people who are shopping around for a web host will find my site, read some of the reviews and comparisons, and click on one of my affiliate links.

The bad news is that I’ve really underpromoted it…I had planned a good sized article marketing campaign but I’ve only written two short articles.  I’ve only gotten 128 unique visitors to the site and there aren’t that many customer comments.  I added a few myself for the hosting providers I’ve used and some I got thanks to a forum post telling people they’d get a free link in return for a review.

However, there is some really good news.  Even though I’ve only gotten 128 visitors…I’ve made 2 sales!  Eash sale earned me $100.   that means I’ve already pocketed $200 with next to no traffic.  And you know what that means?

My combination of the Conduit Method and the WPReview site plugin looks like a winner!

Now it could just be a fluke so I really need to get some articles written and drive some more traffic to this site to really see its power.

If you’d like to help the study move along please go ahead and add your own web hosting review.  And please stumble it, digg it, and add it to any other social bookmarking site you use.

Thanks!