I was sick for so much of January that it seems to have gone by in an absolute blur. I did learn that having a fever of 103 while getting ready for a new product launch is no fun at all. I was lucky that I have some good friends who jumped in and helped out with some of it, but all in all 3 days of shivering and shaking so much my teeth sounded like castanets is not something I recommend to anyone.

Testing New Things
February is going to be the month of testing new things. Here are a few of the things I am working on this month

Facebook
I have started a Facebook page and am running ads to get new likes on a page that has been sitting dormant for a while. In my first run I got the cost per like down to 12c each. That is for targeted likes, these are people who are interested in the page. I am aiming for 2k likes, so I really do want to get the cost down to below 10c each.

I will be doing some testing of targeting and the images I use until I can get the cost down. For those who do not know a CTR of 0.8% is pretty good. Once I have got some more likes I will then try and get them to interact with me and try to move them across to a email list so I can then make some money back.

I have a 2nd niche lined up, very very different from this first one to test next.

Squidoo
Google killed my sites in 2012, and while I am rebuilding I want to try some different platforms to build income. One other advantage to using squidoo is that if I find a niche that works well then I can build out a full site on it.  Squidoo is free, and while you still have to put the work in to create a decent lens (that is what they call a page on Squidoo) it is a lot less than building out a full 5 page site and of course you save $10 on the domain name.

It’s a numbers game, having one or two lenses will not make you rich. Like in the old adsense days you need to have a number of lenses. Partly because the more you throw at the wall the more will stick but also because Squidoo give you certain benefits when you become a Giant Squid (based on number of lenses, not on your calorie intake) with a minimum of 25 lenses.

So right now I am reading info that I can find and collecting keywords and ideas for lenses and then I will start building.

Downside- The only downside I can think of is that this is going to be a lot of writing and I am hearing it takes people 3 hours to make a deep and thorough lens from start to finish. So I would say that limits me to a max of one a day. That means dedication is going to be needed!

Authority Site
While I did get wiped out in the last lot of updates I have decided to build one large site in a niche that I actually like. Since I read the news in this niche it is easier to post a couple of times a day. I am not doing any keyword research, so far I am not doing any link building. I do not know if these things will work against the site or not but I want to give it a try.

New Software
Yes I have some new software ready to go out as well, but the thing I found when launching Viral Word Search is that it takes a lot of time to find affiliates and to sell a product the right way. I want to add a larger than normal information part to go with the software so this is going to take some time.

Remember An Hour is An Hour
No matter who you are an hour is an hour, you decide what you do with it. Try and make it something productive is my advice..

What are you testing this month?

It is too easy to sit here at the end of 2012 and blame all our woes on Google.

Yes the Panda and the Penguin (oh and the emd) updates cost many of us thousands of dollars of income, yes it got harder to build sites and make money fast for many of us. But the pain made me for one look at other ways of earning income.

My Suggestions for A Successful 2013 

Learn Something New Every Quarter
I mean really learn it, not just ask around and buy a few cheap WSO’s. Learn the supporting items, if you want to make video a big part of your marketing for 2013 then you should learn not just how to slap a quick video together but learn how to use some video editing software.

Buy The Tools You Need Not The Shiny Objects You Want
People want to achieve results without spending money on the tools. If you want to do video, then look at Camtasia, look at Sony’s range of video editing programs. Don’t just try and wing it with free programs.

Think
Think about who is delivering the message of doom and gloom. The guy saying SEO is dead when he is trying to sell you a Facebook marketing course has a vested interest.

Diversify
If you can build a wordpress site to sell dishwashers for Amazon on, you can build a wordpress site for the local dentist. There is no real difference in the mechanics, the main difference is that you have to actually leave your desk to go speak to the dentist (well you could do it by phone). If you can drive paid traffic to sell a WSO why can’t you drive traffic to sell a boat.

Build
Stop thinking the first thing you do must make your rich or else you are a failure. Build on it, build another stream of income, then another

Sorry.. It’s Work
Ok I hate to be the one to tell you this, I know it is not hip and cool, I know I am going against all the rules. But when people say they want to Work Online , they seem to forget it is work. Real work, it is not a case of sitting here playing a video game and money just pours out of the computer. You have to put some hours in WORKING, not chatting to your friends on Skype, not looking at funny videos on You Tube.

Work at creating content for your sites, work at making a product, work at making videos, work, work work

Have Faith In Yourself
Lot’s of people are dropping out of IM, lots of SEO agencies are changing their focus, lots of negativity around.  If you learn new things, build on your success and do the work you will succeed, don’t buy into the negativity.

Master Mind
Build a group of 3 or 4 people who you trust and like and share information between you all. Give as much as you take and genuinely look for ops to help each other and you will all grow and improve your income.

Ok I think that is enough for the last day of 2012, I want to thank a few people Dave Toomey , Mark Thompson, Hispanic Rob and English Rob (I know 6 robs). I would also like to thank Sandra (she doesn’t have an IM site) for keeping on plugging away at this crazy online stuff and I hope she sees the success she deserves in 2013.

Let me know your ideas and plans for 2013 by commenting below