My game plan for 2008!

[sunfunbill]

So with the new year here I have been thinking of just what I should be doing to try to be working just on the web at the end of the year. I have closed my yahoo lingerie store, as I want to open it with my own oCcommerce one. Yahoo charges many fees.

OCcommerce has an affiliate plugin, so I could easily get others to push my store. A lingerie store can be pushed by both porn sites and mainstream. I also want to open a cross dresser store and do the same. Of course that would tie in well with my CD blogs. So here is what I think I should be working on:

1. build traffic to my current mainstream CD blog
2. Make a CD porn blog
3. Make my lingerie store
4. Make my CD store
5. Make a lingerie blog
6. Make a leather blog, for leather wear, jackets and bondage.

I could have all those done by fall (yes I'm slow). If I am prepared by the Holiday season I can make a lot off the stores. I could have sold a lot more this year, but was not prepared for it.

So, does that sound like a good plan? Is there something you think I should add, or take out? Hope everyone's Holidays are going smoothly, don't break your new toys!

[razor]

Sounds great Bill you just need to execute your plan effectively and next year this time you'll be rolling in it

Have a great 2008

[horney]

Hammer gave you a great idea along the lines of the Dame Edna Everidge/Barry Humphries thing.

Dame Edna was very big here in the UK for a number of years. I seriously suggest you should be spending at least some time researching that niche and working on a game plan to exploit it.

Whether travelling to Holywood, New York, LA or staying put in Forida, it really should be a part of your agenda.

With the Bilinda name established, or even just getting established, all of your other plans will be soooo much easier to implement.

[sunfunbill]

Thanks for the suggestions. I looked up Edna Everidge and see she has her own personal page. I will contact her and see if she wants a picture gallery in my gallery section like I did with Grae Phillips.

I see in my stats that one of the top 10 search strings I get is her name, so that is paying off. As for going out and getting a persona for Bilinda, you have to remember I am almost totally deaf.

That is a BIG turn off for people, celebrities in particular. Everyone wants to be pretty perfect, not having to deal with someone deaf. I can't interview anyone, can't talk to anyone, can't talk on the phone. It would quickly drag down anyone. You don't notice it here cause you can't see or deal with it.

So, since I seem to be equal on the web, I think I should stick with that medium. I could make utube vids of Bilinda impersonating a celebrity, have a Bilinda gallery, have a myspace page and all that. But any interaction "live" is not to my advantage.

Once again though, If I have a store and get Bilinda somewhat popular, I can start a line of products with her signature and all!!

[horney]

Remember it? I wasn't even aware of it!

That makes the rest of the plan look pretty good. You have a great cornerstone to build on in your blog. You just need a bit more of a concrete plan for building Bilinda's "virtual persona". It currently looks a bit vague, as though it may get painted on to the rest as and when you remember.

I'm sure you'll be rolling by the second half of '08, probably even earlier, if you can keep at it. Good luck!

[quazatron]

Hey Bill,

some opinion to get you thinking.

Regarding your plan:

1. build traffic to my current mainstream CD blog
2. Make a CD porn blog
3. Make my lingerie store
4. Make my CD store
5. Make a lingerie blog
6. Make a leather blog, for leather wear, jackets and bondage.



If I were you, I would do:
1. 2. 6.

Why?
Because with 1 and 2 you can build an audience and sell them stuff as affiliate (mainstream stuff and porn stuff).
You can make a nice living as an affiliate, if you do the right things.

Regarding 6, it makes sense because you know leather for a long time, so it's something you are interested on and you can offer some valuable input.


But regarding 3, 4 and 5. Do you have any physical stores selling these products already?

I think it would be wise to focus all your energies specially on 1, 2 and 6.
If you do all the six activities, you will not be able to do any of them with 100% focus. Result? They will not achieve their maximum potential. And without that, maybe you will just be 'average' on most activities. Why not be among the best in just 1 or 2? Probably gives you more income that way.

To add up, think of logistics. Having a store and selling stuff, takes a long time: ordering, packaging, managing payments, paying importers, dealing with unsatisfied customers, returns, etc and then more.

If you plan to sell the products yourself, I think you will waste most of your valuable time, for a low profit margin (stores don't have a big profit margin these days, with so much competition). But if you plan to set up a 'white brand' store, being an affiliate for a main store, then maybe it works.

Just my 2 cents.

[sunfunbill]

Well quazatron, I will think about what you said. I have been told before here, I think Hammer said so, that a store is a waste of time.

The reason I keep going back to the store stuff is I HAVE had a online store for most 5 years now. Never made much, but at least some. I have never made a dime off affiliate stuff. Now, that is only because I have up to now never done that.

The blog I just made is the only one so far I have pushed affiliate stuff. So far I have not made a cent, but it's only 2 months old. I will make my CD porn blog and see what happens. If I start selling affiliate stuff good on that, then fine, I will stick to that.

But if not, having a few different ways of making money seems like a safe plan. I'll let ya know how the porn blog goes. Thanks!

[odysseus]

I would tend to agree with quaz on the need for focusing, but I don't think that necessarily means limiting your options. What it does mean in my opinion is that if you are going to do all 6 of these things, then make a definite plan. Make sure the order of completion is correct, and stick to it. In other words, don't worry about doing part 3 until part 1 and 2 are done. Don't do bits and pieces of each here and there. (I still make that mistake sometimes, and it sucks when I do) Make sure that if part 4 is going to need certain assets, that you acquire them as a part of an earlier task.

Quazatron is right about the work involved in some of these endeavors, but you know that already. You've been there. You know the problems with having too many orders to fill, or not enough sales coming in, or not enough startup capital, or maybe needing an assistant for some things. Build all of the solutions to the problems you've encountered into your plan. If you don't have a solution, I'd not take on the work until you do.

As for the profit margin being low, and competion being high and all that, here's some encouragement for you. My wife works in a brick and mortar store (knick knack kind of place) that started selling online this year. Ebay store, oscommerce, and amazon. Even with a warehouse and a small dedicated staff, they weren't prepared for what they were selling over the christmas rush. Amazon was giving them more sales than they could handle. They were coming in quite literally faster than they could process them (many hundreds of sales a day). They had to shut down the ebay store and the oscommerce site because they couldn't get to those orders. So, lots of sales, but lots of sales lost as well because systems and solutions weren't in place before hand. There's a market for anything out there. You can hit it, just do your best to hit it with focus and efficiency and you'll do fine.

I also agree that it will be important for you do build the "Bilinda" brand during 2008, and my opinion is that each thing you do should help to build that a little bit. You're doing well with it, keep it up!

[sunfunbill]

Thanks odysseus, glad to hear you had so many sales. Yeah when things come fast it can be a pain to keep up. This year with my store it was not enough $$ to buy the stuff I needed. I was not prepaired, because I did not expect it.

I tried a new ad formula, and it just really clicked, but right when I ran out of money! I am making a osCommerce store to replace my yahoo store. The guy at ATCI said the one click setup they have is not the newest version, so I will have to install it fresh.

Anyway I will keep at it. Just got back from my new part time job, so will be getting money in now. Thanks again everyone!

[odysseus]

Originally posted by sunfunbill
Thanks odysseus, glad to hear you had so many sales.

I wish it was me having so many sales. It was my wife's job. So, her boss had a good Christmas. But, they will be more prepared next time I'm sure.

[Cozy Monica]

I agree with the focus issue here. There's no reason to not try anything and everything you want to do, but you definitely need to concentrate on one thing first, and then the next.

It's VERY easy in this job to stretch yourself over too many projects, and never turn a profit as a result.

I've known quite a few people who have done this, and I'm sure we've all fallen victim from time to time.

I think for your stores, perhaps you should just be an affiliate for now, or work with drop shipping programs, and then when you are done concentrating on your blogs and sites, you can look at your stats and really analyze which is going to pull a profit for you if you invest in building up your very own store, and go from there.

[wrbpilot]

Good Day Bilinda!!!

I agree with everyone above on the need to focus. I advise you to drop the stores and work on your blogs more. Why, you may ask? Just look at your profile. You have over 2000 posts and lots of people responding with support and encouragement. You are one prolific writer, Bilinda!!! Hammer and the moderators are the only froggers I can think of that post more than you!!! Forget the stores for now and concentrate on what you do best, write!!! You can always revisit the store possibllities after you have established several good blogs. I cannot imagine online stores directing traffic to a blog better than a blog directing traffic to a store.

Also, I saw a posting on another website that may be of interest to you now. You could use it as a source of money now, a way to develop your writing skills more and possibly a way to direct traffic to your blogs. Check this out.

http://www.online-writing-jobs.com/j...member&m=24693

Best wishes to you in 2008!!!

Wrbpilot

[sunfunbill]

Thanks everyone, and you too wrbpilot. I have bookmarked that site. Funny, I am actually writing a bunch of post right now for two people. One asked me and the other had a job writing post on a forum.

But, writing porn post sure can get,,,,, boring. How many ways can you say "tight teen with long creamy legs gets her dripping wet pussy stuffed with her huge purple dildo as her perky hard nipples get squeezed"!!!

Yeah, I do like writing, but I think I'm better at mainstream writing. That link you gave me had a lot of mainstream writing stuff on it, so I'll check it out. Ok ok, I'll add more stuff to my current blog, and start my porn blog. Then after both are well established I'll do the stores and blogs for them.

[odysseus]

I think you should bookmark thesaurus.com Bill. You'll be needing it when the writing starts getting really boring. Plus, your posts will be more interesting than other peoples' when you start finding the really creative ways to write about those same things everyone else is.

[Hyballs]

Hi Bill, I am not going to mention the word f@#^s here because it is probably drilled into you brain by now!

What I wanted to suggest was for you to look for a company that will drop ship your sale items. If you can find some-one to do that you don't have to carry any stock at all.

I wanted to do it with electronic gear and cameras but with those items it's hard to get some-one good. Maybe you can get lucky with leather goods!