Top
Browse > Home / Archive by category 'BLOG / Creating Income'

Subsidizing our Scuba Trips - Part II

May 16, 2008 by mj · Leave a Comment 

As you may have read in our last post, we have been looking for ways to subsidize our Scuba Trips.    If you have not read that post you can access it here:
We have continued our research effort and found a software package called BANS. (Short for Build A Niche Store)   We found it searching through google. This software package works directly with eBay.   With this software we have the ability to create several different niche stores.   As you can probably imagine, we focused our first niche on Scuba Gear as we initially did with  Associate-O-Matic.    The first BANS niche store we created was http://auctions.finforyourself.com.   We chose this name because we previously purchased the domain from GoDaddy.   Under the first domain we purchased, we were able to setup two different affiliate stores.    

Here is how we are making money on eBay

When you hear "eBay" and "money" in the same sentence your probably think of becoming an eBay seller.

You place product listings in the eBay marketplace, buyers bid, you pay your eBay seller fees and what you have left is your profit margin.

There is, however, another way to build a business which still revolves around eBay but which doesn’t involve you selling a single thing in the eBay marketplace.

This alternate opportunity is based on the eBay affiliate program.  It is a great tool which makes entry into this opportunity not only possible but also super easy. This tool is called "Build A Niche Store".

Now if you don’t know – an affiliate program enables you as an individual internet entrepreneur to promote the products of a company in exchange for a commission on all sales that you refer.

You are basically operating as an internet middleman and connecting internet browsers to particular products and companies through your own network of websites and marketing methods.

If we return to the eBay affiliate program, eBay actually invites you to promote all of the product listings in the eBay marketplace and, in exchange for your efforts,  we will pay you up to 75% of the revenue they make from each sale you refer.  In addition, you will receive up to $35 for each new active eBay member you refer.

You can read about the eBay.com affiliate program here

What this means is that you can earn up to three quarters of eBay’s revenue simply for connecting people to the products listed in the eBay marketplace.

Not only do you get to partner with the best branded marketplace in the world, you also get access to and control over ALL of the products listed in this marketplace. The eBay product inventory becomes YOUR product inventory and yet you do NOT have to stock items, deal with customers, organize shipping or process refunds.

You are no longer limited to selling only those products which you can buy and sell for a profit margin. You can choose ANY niche market and promote those eBay products relevant to your chosen niche outside of the eBay marketplace, funneling targeted traffic through to eBay and into your own affiliate commissions.

Baby clothers, SCUBA gear, golf equipment, automobiles, sports memorabilia.....

If you know eBay you know how BIG it is – there are NO limits.

At this point you might be thinking - well this sounds interesting but in reality is there any money in it? Well, here’s the shocker – eBay's top affiliates make over 1 million dollars a month. That’s right – 8 figures a year without stocking, selling or shipping a single thing!

Now eBay does provide some basic free tools to help you succeed as an eBay affiliate and build an affiliate business BUT it has been the development of a tool outside of eBay that has really opened this up as a legitimate business opportunity.

The tool, as we mentioned earlier, is called "Build A Niche Store" and what it enables you to do is build eBay affiliate websites targeted to any eBay niche you want. These act as the medium through which you funnel targeted visitors to eBay.

Here are several live store that  we built targeting Several Different niches.   Not all of our stores are listed.

As you can see, these are professional looking websites that contain all of those eBay products related to their target niche inside a searchable store format, each of which automatically contains our eBay affiliate/Partner id.

These stores then automatically update as new products are listed for sale and old listing expire from the eBay marketplace.  The software has built in development features which enable you to create new store pages, add content to these pages, create content pages, modify your template etc etc.

Basically, in the space of about 10 minutes (once you are familiar with how the software works) you can create a fully functional eBay affiliate website targeted to the niche market of your choice.

Your store content is all search engine friendly.  This will provide the foundation for attracting targeted traffic from the search engines.  You can then use the development features to attract more targeted visitors which will in turn mean more eBay affiliate commissions.

It really is a brilliant concept.  We've been hearing great things about the team behind the project and the member forum which you get lifetime access to when you purchase the product.

Build A Niche Store comes with a step by step user manual which will walk even the most technically inexperienced through setting up their eBay affiliate website.  The software has nine professional template layouts which can be customized (from inside your admin panel) to match your target niche, lifetime member forum access, comprehensive product support and possibly most importantly – an UNLIMITED domain license which means you can build as many of these niche websites as you want for the small one time fee.

Think about how many niches eBay caters to!

How big could your eBay affiliate business be?

This product gets our full recommendation –  we recommend you check it out today…
Click Here To Read More About Build A Niche Store

We just want to provide you more details behind our eBay affiliate niche stores.   We personally created several templates which are based on one or more of the many templates that the Build A Niche Store software provides.

We advertise some of our niche stores with Yahoo's Publisher Network, Google Adwords, and Microsofts Ad Center.   Most of our BANS stores are hosted  with HostGator.


All of our hosting domains have been purchased through www.GoDaddy.com. I also purchased a hosting package where we host a few niche stores.


Visit GoDaddy.com
Domain Registration at GoDaddy.com
Hosting Plans at GoDaddy.com
Web Sites at GoDaddy.com
Security at GoDaddy.com
What is a domain name?
A domain name is a Web address, such as godaddy.com, that is linked to an IP address (which represents a physical point on the Internet). When someone types a domain name into a Web browser, the requested Web page displays.A domain name consists of a top-level and a second-level domain. A top-level domain (TLD) is the part of the domain name located to the right of the dot (godaddy.com). The most common top-level domains are .COM, .NET, and .ORG. Some other popular top-level domains are .BIZ, .INFO, .NAME and .WS. These TLDs have certain guidelines but are, for the most part, available to any registrant, anywhere in the world.

The part of the domain name located to the left of the dot — "godaddy," in this case — is called the second-level domain (SLD) name. The second-level domain name is the "readable" part of the address and refers to the organization or entity behind the Internet address. Second-level domain names must be registered with an Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)-accredited registrar.
Copyright © 1999 - 2007 GoDaddy.com, Inc. All rights reserved.

Our next article will include information regarding publisher networks, and placing ads within our niche stores.

Thanks!

Mike and Shannon

Share/Save

Filed Under: Creating Income, General Articles, Scuba
Tagged: , , , ,

Subsidizing our Scuba Trips - Part I

May 16, 2008 by mj · Leave a Comment 

One of our most recent endeavors was looking into ways to make extra money to subsidize our SCUBA trips.  There are so many places we have yet to visit!  Unfortunately, SCUBA can be an expensive endeavor.  We decided to research ways we could use the world wide web to assist us.  The journey started in February, 2008.  After much searching we stumbled across a software package for an Amazon affiliate store called Associate-O-Matic.     The cool thing about Amazon is they have an affiliate program where anyone can earn up to 10% for every sale generated through their web site using this Associate-O-Matic Software.  Associate-O-Matic offers a free version of this software which is not as flexible as the full version.   We opted to invest in the full version.   The cost is not bad.   It is $99 for the first year and $20 per year thereafter.   Essentially this is pretty much a lease.   This full version does include unlimited email support and forum access.  If you start a business, all related expenses are tax deductible.  Also of note,  Associate-O-Matic allows you to create unlimited stores without additional purchases.

Getting started was amazingly easy.  This was the path we followed to creating our first successful store.

  1. We registered with the Amazon affiliate program here.
  2. We then purchased our first domain called finforyourself.com from GoDaddy since they were inexpensive.
  3. We purchased a hosting package from GoDaddy.
  4. We uploaded the  Associate-O-Matic software to  GoDaddy and configured our first Amazon Affiliate store called Fin For Your Self.

We really like our store.  We posted the store link in the  Associate-O-Matic forum and asked the members to critique it.  Several members provided great feedback.  We received very helpful information on how to improve the aesthetics of our site to potentially attract more customers.

The beauty of it is that we do not have to worry about many of the things a typical store would.  As with most retail stores you are required to have inventory, order processing and fulfillment systems.  With this software, and being an affiliate of Amazon, you don’t require any of this.

No programming experience is required to use the Associate-O-Matic software.   The installation procedures are easy to follow and can be found on their web site.

We have gone on to create several other Amazon Affiliate stores with this software.   These stores are:

Even now, we continue to brainstorm for new store ideas.  Future articles will discuss another affiliate program which offers services similar to Amazon.    Until then, thanks for the read, and safe diving.

Share/Save

Filed Under: Creating Income, General Articles, Scuba
Tagged: , ,

Bottom