Sucess / Victory Thread

I'm so excited! I just made my very first Zazzle sale 

I've been selling other people's Zazzle items for a long time but it's thanks to DustyToes (Pam) for her wonderful articles here and her encouragement that persuaded me to start making items for Zazzle myself.

Still very much a newbie there and lots to learn but excited to sell some stickers - yes!

Had some nice little orders from zazzle via my Wizzley articles too - thanks Wizzley :)

what wizzles, I want to see what a successful zazzle set up looks like :)

@ Dusty toes can you show me yours and anyone else who has made sales on theirs... I'm in zazzle research mode and I like to work backwards from seeing pages that work to how to do it/format it etc...

thanks!

(any takers I'll g+,fb,twitter your page- incentive hehe)

Wow!  I am seriously having a good couple of days on Wizzley.

First of all I won the Summer Contest (which I didn't expect to happen at all); then I actually made a sale on Zazzle via one of my referral links (still rare enough for it to be cause to dance in my seat); and now I've just received my 9th Editor's Choice Award!

It was for this one: How to Get People to Read the Next Chapter

And if you could just see me now... Happy dance smiley doesn't cover it. 

My stats seem to go up (traffic) but I have yet to get a single sale from anything, but at least the bells are going off from people entering and clicking things :)

Congrats Kinworm and Jo! 

It'll come.  It'll come.  At least that's what I keep telling myself and all the indications are pointing to the same conclusion.

oops my browser froze and accidentally posted twice (Simon how about making the save button dim/not work after hitting it once :)

It will, I'm confident my wizzles are optimized and well written, but even my best earner on HP took almost a year to start earning then it took off and ended up with 139k back links after 3 more years with no promotion on my part (one was the new one I published called regrowing teeth yaddah yaddah)... it takes time to season, this includes naturally occuring back links, comment conversations, moving up in the serps on it's own merit etc...

Right now I'm just going to focus on building my wizzles the best they can be, monetizing them seamlessly as possible (I love how amazon images can double as an ad but not look like one if done right)... that will be a big part of what makes it take off in the long run, the other stuff will happen, just make sure to have a diverse niche market (I discovered this was what I did when my HP started to really take off, it's not a site you have to stick to one topic/niche, people love the "news station" feel of being able to look through all the cool stories so making some product based, some interresting psychology, some technology based etc.... diversifies it.  

@Jo you are great at this already- Mrs. 9 Wizcademy award winner celebrity :)

My goal when embarking on a new site, even though I have a lot of experience from other work/properties, is never really the money- it's nice to see some nickles hit to excite me but my main goal is "if you build it, build it well, have patience, monetize it well, they will come"- I'm giving it a year before I start really crossing my fingers for more income- for now, I'm playing in the sandbox and having a great time building articles that look amazing because we have the powerful tools missing from all the other sites like this...

Wizzley writing isn't just going to later pay my rent, car payment, and philantrophy fund (hehe), it's a journey in honing the skill set, writing what your passionate about and building a business- each wizzle is a business asset, my accont is an incorporation of business assets- build it, develop, and later your hard work does pay off- I've experienced this before, and in line with HP's growth (my account there once upon a time) Wizzley is falling in better actually, I have more instant traffic here than I did starting out at HP in their first year (I joined about when they were as young as Wizzley!). I have a lot of practice so Wizzley is about application... Digital Carpentery that's fun to build, with none of the hassles of some other nameless sites, right Katie :) hehe...

Jerrico

I just wanted to say that after a Wizzley earnings lull, my Wizzley earnings have picked up in a big way.  I earned $4.50 yesterday on Adsense from Wizzley, and I have been getting daily sales on Amazon for a week now.

I haven't been here much over the last couple of months due to working on several other projects, but I am still paying attention.

Way to go, Jo!!!! And everyone else above. Great news about sales and articles!

I'm halfway to 50....baby steps.

But my brain has dried up.

Keep it going, Ragtimelil!

I'm trying, I'm trying.

Ragtime, I can tell you from experience that what you want to focus on right now is just putting in the work, the articles, etc... and perfecting them. The money will come but you won't see it in the early periods. I methodically wrote articles for an entire year on HP before I saw a dime but I persevered and saw it as a hobby and investment in my future, not a "when's the money coming?" kind of thing- that will make you crazy, trust me on that.

It's hard to get your head around it at first because it's far different from an offline job persay, where you put in a certain amount of work/effort and get compensated right away or within the month (granted not "fully" compensated but at least you see enough to justify the time and work you put in).

Some people just happen to hit the perfect niches, and have a lot more work put in behind the scenes with promotion and social networking (i.e. commenting on others posts, liking them, interacting etc... which actually causes some traffic as other will see your comment, for example, and if your comment intrigued them they may visit your site...

Get it in your head that you won't see much until a years time, but that you need to put the time in throughout that year, this is your investment properties, your REAL- estate, think of it as maturing over time. As your articles stack up to a formidable cluster of well written and monetized articles you will start to acquire more fans, more readers linking back to your article, and the money WILL come.

I remember that first 10 cents I made on HP, it would be about 6 months before I saw a second click though, but by about a year and a half in, I started to see dollar clicks, and many of them. By year 2 I was generating apx 100.00 a month consistently across 300 hubs (hubpages), and by the third year that number grew to 300.00 and doubled every few months. In hindsight had I chased the money I'd of quit, actually I did quit after the first 6 months there, I had about 120 hubs at the time, I thought oh I get it "ad-CENTS!" and moved on.

My hubs marinated for a year before I returned to check on them and that was when the 100 a month started to come in, it was a funny story actually- I forgotten about HP I was working for a writing mill where I got paid per article/post, then I got this Google envelope in the snail mail- it was a check for 120.87 and my ambition shot up- I started to watch my earnings stats and in amazement it kept climbing and apx 100 a month came in- that was when I realized it was not BS, it was just about patience... I started writing again there and eventually earned thousands instead of hundred(s)...

Wizzley is no different than HP when it comes to this aspect, the only difference here is that they are newer and are still building up in the serps, and various other things that happen over time (synergies of networking i.e. people getting links to their articles become links to the site at large etc...)...

But what is really interesting is that I started on HP when it was about a year old too- I came here in wizzley's 11th month I believe, so the best advice I can give you is write like your already getting 1000.00 a month! Trust me, later it will all catch up, I feel I not only made the money I wanted when i started (retroactive pay?) but with a profit (more than I thought).... don't let earnings or success status currently be the light house of the work you put in or the hope you have- you will get everything you have coming to you, it just takes time to marinate- although the web is all about speed and abundance of data, where earning is concerned it's no different than any other job. 

In looking through your articles your on the right track, just keep trucking... I built an empire on HP and it crumbled due to bad management decisions (theirs), but I'm starting over fresh just like you. I do have experience behind me that helps cushion the patience, so it's easier for me to see it, but if you keep pushing yourself to learn more, write more, you will be there. I'll get back to you in a year or two with my progress. 

Good Luck, I got faith in you, you'll make it. I like to think of internet marketing (which is what we're doing essentially) like driving a jeep with a horrendously dirty windshield.. you can see through it enough to drive and stay on the road if you try to focus and persevere, then as if by fate, a downpour comes down washing all the windows, front, back, side to side-  and it all becomes easier (including easier to see and stay motivated).

Jerrico

p.s.

In moving my articles over to Wizzley I'm really starting to see how much I've grown in writing, in monetization awareness (how to find products, what types of articles to write that make money etc...) and this round although I could copy paste all of them here and likely just wait for them to earn (marination time remember), the fact is I'm moving them and turbo charging them (writing more concisely, being very attentive of formatting, space around words, images, quality overall, and especially to moneitze.

All the money I made on HP was 100% without any monetize modules/capsules (amazon, ebay) I never used any until the last month! I likely left tens of thousands on the table over the years- so learn that, learn what article types make money, I learned from doing research and experience testing different topics but I always wrote on what I liked, products are the money makers not writing about things like psychology, although there are places there (i.e. selling the secret DVD etc...)... I find well written honest reviews of products (that don't sound pitchy) make the most coin, they take time to marinate but they eventually bring in the gold.

Jerrico, I know that was to Ragtimelil, but I'm in exactly the same boat.

Thank you very much for your honesty and encouragement.  I took a lot of heart from what  you wrote just now. 

Patience for the win.

My job here is done then :) It took me a long long long time to really crystallize this concept... many told me this very thing in the beginning and I did listen but it didn't hit home until I saw it with my own eyes... but the secret to success is learning from others and being able to think ahead of the curve!

By the way I'm working on (among others) an article I wrote years ago to promote super apprentice proprietors book on my affiliate site(now the membership sites IM bible and the book is no longer being sold so the site came down) into a wizzle. I believe that a site that is robust with good information sells products more readily than better placement of ads and such, so I always made my sites robust so people had enough information to make an informed decision... long story short, I wrote a bunch of articles on that site (was called profit loophole about site flipping and internet marketing tactics) that really put you into the mindset of an internet marketer (they were based on the many lessons of my guru and boss D.K.)... 

Last week he had me write several articles a day based on people migrating from offline work to internet marketing positions (what we do is one aspect of that), and as a shortcut I wanted to use those articles, but after reading them I wasn't about to give them up :) I think you may find it enlightening, it should be up in a week or less, but it expands a great deal on what was written above but more into the other aspects of the mindset/realm.

Jerrico

@ JoHarringon, I'll let you in on a little secret, I keep admiring your work, your "editors choice" awards, and your consistently landing on the front page of the site, and it's not (entirely) jealousy (but yea, a little, I mean who doesn't like being recognized for their hard work- in this business since money isn't there right away, it's praise that empowers us no?), it's more so that I have been to the other side we're all trying to get to, I've seen the glory, the stats, the everyday excitement of seeing FREE MONEY coming in (passive income)....

...and  I can say with some experience I see where YOU'RE going... if you keep punching things out like you are in a year or two you're going to be recognized for something new- Wizzley's Author Achievement Awards or Success Story (like on HP's front page)... Keep truckin, the money will come, it's just the physics of the online earning train are a bit "slow motion" at first then it springs like a sling-shot... I'm starting over as far as making passive income on these 2.0 sites (as I put all my eggs in HP's basket and then dropped the basket)... but I'm confident things will progress, I think more so than the first round due to my now understanding a great deal more about how it all works...

Good Luck!

Thank you.

I wish you could see my face right now.  But if I told you that I Gyazo'ed your comment and saved it, it might give you some idea.

Thank you.

isn't that your face in your picture *<{8^) haha ok back to work... I'm pulling double shifts (mine and my immediate supervisors) this whole week and for being here (just monitoring tickets etc...) my boss has promised not to throw any 'projects' at me so I have more time to write/fix up wizzles woohoo! (but it also means I have to be up by 8am till 10pm, although it seems to be more productive than pulling all nighters and sleeping all day till 4 haha)... noopept to the rescue!

J

Just received my 7th Editor's Choice Award for my latest article  ;-) I am catching up with you soon Jo! SY

Woot!  Congratulations! 

what am I doing wrong to not receive a single one of those things? I have long articles, sure, but  interesting topics, well formatted, and I have short ones just as interesting... what am I missing?