Niche Store Empire Series – Kim’s Updates!
April 20, 2008 | 12 Comments
Obviously I haven’t been good at updating on my progress, but as Mark can attest, I spend just about every minute of my day either working on these sites, dealing with my own ebay sales, running kids to doctors, dentists, orthodontist, softball,lacrosse,blah,blah,blah! In addition, I just took my oldest daughter to DC for spring break (Christmas present for her) and Mark and I are out of town for a week coming up! So, since I’ve now given you all the excuses for why I haven’t posted, I REALLY have been working hard 
So, here goes
I’ve finally started to make a bit of money on this one. Put up on 2/8 but not really optimized and submitted to search engines until end of March. I’ve made about $150 in the last 5 weeks
| Robots/Spiders visitors (Top 25) - Full list - Last visit | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Also originally put up on 2/8 and optimized, submitted around the middle of March. I’ve made about $60 on this one in the last 3 weeks, so its starting to ramp up.
| Robots/Spiders visitors (Top 25) - Full list - Last visit | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Put up on 3/6 - didn’t really do much to it until the end of March. I’ve made about $85 in the past few weeks.
| Robots/Spiders visitors (Top 25) - Full list - Last visit | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Put up this one on 2/18 - started submitting to search engines and optimizing at the end of March. In the last few weeks the traffic has picked up and I’ve made about $40.
| Robots/Spiders visitors (Top 25) - Full list - Last visit | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
All of the sites above have been submitted in the last 4 weeks via SubmitEdge, Directory Submitter, kaboodle, Stumble in addition to a couple of other directory submitting programs. I currently have about 40 Niche stores up right now in varying stages of building. I’ve been concentrating on getting all updated to epn version and I’ve slowly been updating my 2.0 stores to 3.0.
Hopefully I’ll be better at updating in the future - at least when sports and school are over for the school year! 
Hope everyone has a great week!
Kim
Popularity: 9% [?]
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
Is it May yet? I Feel like a SlumLord…
April 19, 2008 | 7 Comments
What a month so far… On April 1st, we were all hit with the EPN changeover on our existing eBay affiliate websites and if you found yourself head scratching along the way, you weren’t alone! In total, I think I am still only 50-60% of the way through all of my store updates! That’s not bad, but definitely not good!! What I found during this process is that I have TOO MANY Build a Niche Store sites out there that have been abandoned for one reason or another.
As many of you may recall, I mentioned a long time ago that I struggle with a short attention span! I don’t know that I would call it Adult ADD, but damn… it sure does feel that way sometimes! As I have been going through my hosting accounts for the EPN update, I have found no less than 30-40 BANS sites that I installed the software and walked away from! Some of them, I never even put in an eBay category! (That’s bad!) It kinda makes me feel like a landlord who owns property and doesn’t take care of it, yup, a SlumLord! The funny part of it is that some of the sites I DID setup a category for have actually been pretty busy, which raised a question in my own scrambled mind… Do I have too many niche stores, and if so, how many IS too many?
Did you find any abandoned stores during your own EPN Updates?
On another note… answering of emails (I get more than 100 each day in regard to BANS) is going to be slower than usual over the next week. I am going to be out of town from Sunday through Friday and while I will have a laptop with me, I am only going to be near it about 1 hour a day. I will do my best to get the to each… but no promises for a week. One thing I never realized was just how hard it is to get pets cared for while gone! I mean, we generally go on trips 2-3 times each year, but this is the first time since we got our second dog. We had to line up a friend to stay at our home during the time to make it easiest…
When I return, I will spend the rest of this month sewing up any loose ends with the BANS EPN Update, along with an unrelated e-commerce project of 12 sites I am almost done with. On May first, I am going to start the closing stages of the 12 week Empire series, which will involve 12 days (1 day for each week) of posts, outlining every step of the process on 10 domains I am going to dig out of the list I mentioned above.
May is coming quickly… and I personally, cannot wait!
Mark
Popularity: 7% [?]
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
Site Performance for Bill 4/19
April 19, 2008 | 4 Comments
Hi everyone.
It’s been some time since Ive posted a performance report. The migration to ePN has set me back. Not only did I have to update to ePN but I had many sites that needed updating to BANS V3. On top of that I have 20+ blogs filled with links built over a 4 year period with the flex tool. I’m still not done. Once I get into a site I tend to do more than I’m there for.
As for the sites I have started for the 12 week course I don’t have accurate stats for earnings and clicks. Hopefully that will be straitened out soon. Thing like this tend to come out in the wash. I don’t really expect much from my newer stores. I haven’t been doing much marketing during the migration.
Site 1: Lionel Train Auctions ( Sitemap )
| 9 different robots* | Hits | Bandwidth | Last visit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yahoo Slurp | 131+90 | 3.59 MB | 19 Apr 2008 - 05:03 |
| Googlebot | 104+10 | 1.91 MB | 19 Apr 2008 - 02:28 |
| Unknown robot (identified by hit on ‘robots.txt’) | 0+18 | 2.30 KB | 18 Apr 2008 - 08:28 |
| Alexa (IA Archiver) | 7+5 | 156.01 KB | 19 Apr 2008 - 05:13 |
| Unknown robot (identified by ‘crawl’) | 3+3 | 85.32 KB | 14 Apr 2008 - 17:07 |
| Unknown robot (identified by ’spider’) | 2+2 | 55.60 KB | 14 Apr 2008 - 15:04 |
| Unknown robot (identified by ‘bot/’ or ‘bot-’) | 2+2 | 57.45 KB | 14 Apr 2008 - 05:02 |
| Google Sitemaps | 2 | 56.56 KB | 15 Apr 2008 - 21:46 |
| Ask | 1+1 | 28.07 KB | 09 Apr 2008 - 21:44 |
Site 2: Asus Ecobook ( Sitemap )
| 8 different robots* | Hits | Bandwidth | Last visit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Googlebot | 134+16 | 2.01 MB | 19 Apr 2008 - 04:41 |
| Yahoo Slurp | 82+56 | 1.60 MB | 19 Apr 2008 - 01:51 |
| Unknown robot (identified by ‘crawl’) | 19+5 | 321.88 KB | 16 Apr 2008 - 08:44 |
| Unknown robot (identified by ‘bot/’ or ‘bot-’) | 13+4 | 141.10 KB | 18 Apr 2008 - 04:24 |
| Unknown robot (identified by hit on ‘robots.txt’) | 0+11 | 1.41 KB | 17 Apr 2008 - 07:27 |
| Unknown robot (identified by ‘robot’) | 0+5 | 655 Bytes | 18 Apr 2008 - 04:47 |
| Unknown robot (identified by ’spider’) | 2+2 | 47.69 KB | 15 Apr 2008 - 01:16 |
| Google Sitemaps | 2 | 42.72 KB | 15 Apr 2008 - 21:46 |
Site 3: Backup Power Generators ( Sitemap ) Age 3 weeks
| 5 different robots* | Hits | Bandwidth | Last visit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Googlebot | 93+9 | 2.16 MB | 18 Apr 2008 - 16:16 |
| Unknown robot (identified by hit on ‘robots.txt’) | 0+16 | 2.14 KB | 17 Apr 2008 - 11:47 |
| Unknown robot (identified by ‘bot/’ or ‘bot-’) | 2+2 | 72.90 KB | 13 Apr 2008 - 12:44 |
| Google Sitemaps | 2 | 72.90 KB | 15 Apr 2008 - 21:46 |
| Yahoo Slurp | 1+1 | 36.54 KB | 17 Apr 2008 - 23:18 |
Site 4: Gadget Niche Store ( No Sitemap ) 289 visits in April.
This is funny. This site is one of my V3 beta testing sites. When I went update it during the release of V3 I had issues and had errors when I tried changing it. I hade done some experimenting with it and didnt want to lose what work I did because I knew I could repeat what I did. So I put it back to beta. This store has made a sale every day after the 1st week of beta. See for your self. The site has no content but a RSS feed. Makes me wonder.
| 7 different robots* | Hits | Bandwidth | Last visit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yahoo Slurp | 152+93 | 5.07 MB | 18 Apr 2008 - 22:34 |
| Googlebot | 83+12 | 2.74 MB | 19 Apr 2008 - 01:44 |
| Unknown robot (identified by ‘crawl’) | 12+4 | 408.06 KB | 18 Apr 2008 - 04:19 |
| Unknown robot (identified by hit on ‘robots.txt’) | 0+15 | 1.92 KB | 18 Apr 2008 - 08:08 |
| Alexa (IA Archiver) | 10+3 | 330.71 KB | 14 Apr 2008 - 18:12 |
| Unknown robot (identified by ‘bot/’ or ‘bot-’) | 3+3 | 110.44 KB | 13 Apr 2008 - 22:02 |
| The web archive (IA Archiver) | 0+1 | 131 Bytes | 12 Apr 2008 - 22:26 |
Site 5: Antique Collectible Auction ( Sitemap ) 4 Weeks old
| 7 different robots* | Hits | Bandwidth | Last visit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yahoo Slurp | 207+135 | 8.55 MB | 16 Apr 2008 - 09:28 |
| Googlebot | 174+14 | 4.34 MB | 19 Apr 2008 - 04:10 |
| Unknown robot (identified by hit on ‘robots.txt’) | 0+29 | 392.11 KB | 19 Apr 2008 - 06:05 |
| Unknown robot (identified by ‘crawl’) | 17+5 | 482.12 KB | 16 Apr 2008 - 15:25 |
| Unknown robot (identified by ‘bot/’ or ‘bot-’) | 2+2 | 68.33 KB | 13 Apr 2008 - 11:42 |
| Google Sitemaps | 3 | 87.71 KB | 13 Apr 2008 - 17:27 |
| The web archive (IA Archiver) | 0+1 | 131 Bytes | 13 Apr 2008 - 03:57 |
Site 6: Cafe iPhone ( Sitemap ) ( Blog ) 389 visitors April, No sales in 2 months
This is a site I put up around Christmas 2007. It converted a little then got buried in the sand box. I have been inspired by Wordpress over the last month, so I decided to add a wordpress Blog to this site in hopes of wrapping bans around it some day. In a highly competitive category I need something special for this one. I’m a iPod nut. I import accessories for them to sell. I also repair and hack Ipods and Iphones on a blog. I started hacking electronics years ago starting with Ham Radios and CB’s. I plan on re-writing some content and adding it soon. Like the rest of my sites little or no marketing has been done for it in some time. The site also has issues with speed. Thats on top of my to do list.
| 11 different robots* | Hits | Bandwidth | Last visit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unknown robot (identified by ‘bot/’ or ‘bot-’) | 217+51 | 5.70 MB | 18 Apr 2008 - 20:58 |
| Googlebot | 177+15 | 2.76 MB | 19 Apr 2008 - 02:15 |
| MSNBot | 136+22 | 2.98 MB | 18 Apr 2008 - 05:29 |
| Yahoo Slurp | 85+55 | 1.93 MB | 19 Apr 2008 - 05:23 |
| Unknown robot (identified by ‘crawl’) | 15+14 | 386.52 KB | 17 Apr 2008 - 22:11 |
| Unknown robot (identified by ’spider’) | 4+15 | 123.79 KB | 18 Apr 2008 - 02:52 |
| Unknown robot (identified by hit on ‘robots.txt’) | 0+19 | 2.43 KB | 18 Apr 2008 - 21:25 |
| Unknown robot (identified by ‘robot’) | 1+8 | 46.31 KB | 18 Apr 2008 - 02:40 |
| Alexa (IA Archiver) | 6+2 | 139.46 KB | 16 Apr 2008 - 20:53 |
| Ask | 4+4 | 131.28 KB | 18 Apr 2008 - 18:38 |
| Google Sitemaps | 2 | 66.21 KB | 15 Apr 2008 - 21:46 |
My plan is to build or re-build two more sites for the 12 week course and catch up this coming week. I can’t remember when we started but time must be getting short. Hopefully the end of the month my statistics will fix themselves. The stores I have worked on here haven’t performed to my expectations. This is due to the lack of marketing I am sure. I’m a one man show and can’t afford to pay for marketing.
So I thought I would post some stats from a site that has consistently made money for me since the 1 st week I put it up. I haven’t been able to figure out why its working, but it has mad at least $400 a month since Christmas 2007. I wont reveal it but the stats should give those wondering if bans works some confidence.
Mystery site: 1127 visitors $345.00 for April to date. The site only has 33 backlinks and I never submitted it to any directories. The SE’s have certainly picked this site up though. Its #1 thru 4 on page 1 for 11 different Long Tail Keywords. I’m sure if I could learn to make a nice template I could push sales over the top.
| 12 different robots* | Hits | Bandwidth | Last visit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yahoo Slurp | 79+58 | 1.95 MB | 19 Apr 2008 - 05:07 |
| Googlebot | 117+13 | 1.98 MB | 19 Apr 2008 - 01:25 |
| MSNBot | 65+52 | 1.65 MB | 19 Apr 2008 - 03:49 |
| Unknown robot (identified by hit on ‘robots.txt’) | 0+24 | 3.07 KB | 18 Apr 2008 - 18:34 |
| Unknown robot (identified by ‘robot’) | 13+7 | 266.31 KB | 18 Apr 2008 - 18:39 |
| Unknown robot (identified by ‘bot/’ or ‘bot-’) | 10+7 | 238.82 KB | 18 Apr 2008 - 04:24 |
| Unknown robot (identified by ’spider’) | 12+4 | 182.22 KB | 19 Apr 2008 - 01:40 |
| Unknown robot (identified by ‘crawl’) | 6+5 | 155.15 KB | 14 Apr 2008 - 16:30 |
| Voila | 5+5 | 166.42 KB | 15 Apr 2008 - 22:23 |
| Alexa (IA Archiver) | 5+2 | 131.79 KB | 08 Apr 2008 - 04:08 |
| Ask | 3+3 | 118.14 KB | 07 Apr 2008 - 23:53 |
| Google Sitemaps | 3 | 103.49 KB | 15 Apr 2008 - 21:46 |
| Connect to site from | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
I still have some sites to move and update to V3 this week. Plus who knows how many blospot blog links. Once thats done its back to promoting. I’m kicking myself for not learning Wordpress earlier. I like Blogspot because its easy and seperate from my server, but WP, What can I say ? Learn it if you havnt already. WP is more like a real site and teach’s you much more. Mini sites are next for me.
Have a great day :-)
Popularity: 8% [?]
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
Why Won’t my Build a Niche Store Search Box Work Right?
April 17, 2008 | 19 Comments
We have all been through this before… I even talked about it a bit in a previous video. You go to your Build a Niche Store site homepage and search for an item that is actually on the screen right in front of you, yet the search box delivers NO results! What is wrong here?
The solution is so simple… I even smacked my own head a few times! :-)
Do you have any other tips for best search results?
Popularity: 8% [?]
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
Kickstart Earnings from Day 1 - Revenue Domains Exposed
April 15, 2008 | 11 Comments
There have been MANY questions in the blog and the forum on 2 very specific subjects. What other methods can we use to monetize websites, and How do you find GREAT DOMAINS for the purpose of BANS or other forms of affiliate marketing. As many of you already know, BANS is not the only way to make money online and I have a few blogs that are monetized with AdSense and a few other small ad networks, including the eBay Partner Network.
Brian Johnson, a reader of this blog and a successful BANS user, sent me an email last week asking me to take a look at a new e-book he published, called Revenue Domains Exposed. First and foremost, this is the first time I have reviewed or promoted ANY kind of ebook on this blog! I have however read many… with the hopes that they may useful to you, the readers. You have not seen any of those reviewed for a good reason! Read more
Popularity: 15% [?]
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
Subscribe to The Niche Store Builder Site
Don't miss a single post about Developing your Niche Store or Website! Subscribe today and start Making Money!
Featured Links and Resources
Featured Niche Store of the Month
Current Niche Projects
Top Niche Builder Commentators
- Randy (9)
- Mike (9)
- Niche Store Journey (8)
- Elijah (6)
- otis (6)
- Thrandur (5)
- Paul (4)
- Shawn (4)
- Susan (4)
- Sherrin (4)
Last 10 Comments
- SEO Diva: Mark, this is a beautiful theme! I can't wait until you make it available. Thanks for
- Drumroll.... PageRank About to Update! | The Niche Store Builder - Succeed with Build a Niche Store: [...] Hmmm… I felt it was near! [...]
- Elijah: Hey, It's good to have you back, and I'm glad you had some fun in the
- Paul: Thanks for the offer but I am going to stick with Hostgator for webhosting and
- otis: Mark, not trying to cut in on answer from Augie but you can
- Lee: That was FAST! Got a new domain-name, free for 1 year. Thank you Mark!
- Deadly Internet Malady | Affiliate Ground Zero: [...] I’m reading a blog post on my favorite BANS blog “The Niche Store Builder”,
- Rochelle: Mark, I never got my email so I did it again with a second email of
- Mark: @ Rochelle - Mine was instant Rochelle! I was also able to withdraw all of the newsletter
- Rochelle: Mark, Thanks for sharing this! I just signed up and am looking forward to getting
Blogroll
- Affiliate Confession
- Hit Doctor Link Directory
- Niche Store Strategies
- ShoeMoney - The Guru!
- The Earners Blog
Niche Builder Categories
- Blog
- Niche Site Reviews
- Marketing Your Niche Store
- Niche Site Research Tools
- Recommended Reading
- Step by Step Niche Stores
- Niche Store Best Practices
- Build a Niche Store MODS
- Niche Store Builder Contests
- Featured Niche Store Review
- Everything Else
- Spot the Niche
- Find and Research your Niche
- Domains for Niche Websites
- Niche Store Software and Hosting
- Affiliate Partners for Niche Sites
- Search Optimization of Niche Websites
- Building Niche Site Templates
- Maintenance of a Niche Website
- Niche Store Performance
- Guest Posts
- Weekly Review
- WordPress and BANS
- WordPress Plugins
