My first post-declaration of goals for this week...

[sunnyslife]

I have been away from the forums for a couple of years, due to health issues, but I am back, and I am ready to make a go of my home businesses: catalog marketing, fundraising, and an online "affiliate" mall. I have no choice since I now find myself unemployed.

My goals for 10/14-10/18:

Catalog marketing - Thursday, I will write my business plan for a three month period. Friday, I will order 100 general merchandise catalogs; I will print 100 contact information labels to affix to the catalogs when they arrive; I plan to hold a "neighborhood-get-to-know-me" special, so I will print up 100 coupons with a 10% savings on first orders; and, I will get a post office box account.

Fundraising business - Thursday; I will write my business plan for a three month period. Friday, I will order 50 fundraiser catalogs; I will go through the local phone book and make a list of a minimum of 50 organizations to contact next week; I will develop, and print a letter to send to the contacts, to introduce them to my business, as well as to give them the benefits to them by enlisting my service.

Affiliate mall - Saturday & Sunday, I will work on cleaning out, and organizing my office so I can begin working there Monday, without distraction. Right now, I can barely move my mouse on the desk top due to clutter that has accumulated over time.

I realize it may not sound like a lot, but I am also taking college courses, have two teenage children that are involved in too much, and my health is not 100% yet, so anymore would just be too much at once right now.

Now that I am back, I look forward to learning as much as I can from everyone here, and sharing what knowledge I can.

Barbara

[Adriana]

Great plan, Barbara,

I am looking forward to following your progress here.

[Lynn Terry]

Welcome to the new forum, Barbara

I'm interested in hearing more about each of these models when you get time - particularly the "affiliate mall". Not sure what that is, exactly.

[christianwins]

Looking forward to seeing your progress Barbara. Sounds like you have done much of this before and are ready to get off to a quick start.

[angienewton]

Barbara,
What company are you with? It's been a long time since I did fundraising and had catalogs. I would highly recommend that you don't spend a ton of $ on catalogs. I have some fundriaser info that you could have as an example of what to say when contacting people for potential fundraisers. It was used for the gourmet food and gift direct sales company I was with but you can make it work for you.

Also, what is an affiliate mall?

Best to you on meeting your goals.

[sunnyslife]

Welcome to the new forum, Barbara

I'm interested in hearing more about each of these models when you get time - particularly the "affiliate mall". Not sure what that is, exactly.

Terry, it is simply a mall layout (orgainzed by product type) with many (and I mean many) affiliate stores to choose to shop from. However, when I took ill, I shut it down. I kept the domain name and server active because I planned from the start to re-open the site. Before anything, I intend to write all new, up-to-date content. It will be a couple of weeks before I actually start on that as I have a couple of other businesses to get up and moving.

[sunnyslife]

=angienewton;17162]Barbara,
What company are you with? It's been a long time since I did fundraising and had catalogs. I would highly recommend that you don't spend a ton of $ on catalogs. I have some fundriaser info that you could have as an example of what to say when contacting people for potential fundraisers. It was used for the gourmet food and gift direct sales company I was with but you can make it work for you.

Hi Angie,

I will be working with a list of different companies, and which one I will use for each fundraiser will be solely dependent on the needs of the organization. If you have companies that you have worked with, and would highly recommend, I will look at their information open-mindedly.

As for the information you have, I would greatly appreciate it. Just PM me.

Thanks,
Barbara

[Lynn Terry]

Terry, it is simply a mall layout (orgainzed by product type) with many (and I mean many) affiliate stores to choose to shop from. However, when I took ill, I shut it down. I kept the domain name and server active because I planned from the start to re-open the site. Before anything, I intend to write all new, up-to-date content. It will be a couple of weeks before I actually start on that as I have a couple of other businesses to get up and moving.

You might rethink that model before you get too far into it. While that worked okay back in the late 90's, things like "site theming" and "authority" carry a lot more weight now with the major search engines, such as Google.

It's better to create focused niche sites. You can of course create multiple sites, but I wouldn't create a "buy anything here" type site in today's online landscape.

Did you get a chance to listen in to the live webinar or replay of the Affiliate Marketing interview I did with Rosalind Gardner this week?

[sunnyslife]

Thank you for the words of wisdom, Lynn. I guess I really have been away for too long.
I will take all the information I can get that will send me in the right direction. I suppose that I will concentrate first on the other two business models, and spend time researching niches before I bother with the third.

No, I didn't get to listen to the webinar or the interview. Can you tell me how I can hear them?

Barbara

[Lynn Terry]

Ahh - you would have received them by email through a subscription to the SSWT newsletter. You can do that on the main page (Home) here. I'll PM you the links since you already missed it.

Also, this post at my blog may help some as well:
http://www.clicknewz.com/2077/seo-co...words-phrases/