Wizzley Writing Challenge 1.0

After a discussion on another thread, I've decided to start a challenge for writing 'sales articles'. You know - the articles that help bring in an Amazon cheque. Yes, lots of people are scared of them, but it's important to remember to open up your revenue streams - and just earning off Adsense leaves you precariously reliant on one company for the majority of your earnings.

Please make only ONE post on this thread, stating that you plan to join the challenge and what your personal challenge is. Then edit it and add updates as relevant - you can use it simply to record the number of articles you've written or make it as a bit of a diary.

DISCUSSION & QUESTION THREAD FOR THE WRITING CHALLENGE

GUIDE TO GETTING AMAZON SALES - By Wrylilt

ONLINE WRITING TIPS & TRICKS - MAKING SALES by LakeErieArtists

I'm planning to write a Wizz about how to do sales based articles - which I'll link here once it's done. Have you written a wizz guide on earning from Amazon? Let me know and I'll link it here too!

My Personal Challenge - I plan to write 30 'sales' articles by the end of December. Starting 19/11/11

Articles Completed and Published 1/30 (But I've got plenty of ideas ready to go!)

Oh, fantastic! I'm in! I need to think of a realistic goal. Making a wizz is pretty quick, but I have a lot of other online projects now (not to mention real life!).
Thanks so much for taking this on!

Loving what you're doing. Still have not set a goal. I've got an ebook coming out next week, and it's taking all my attention. Once that is squared away, I should be able to decide.

MY GOAL: 100 WIZZES by Valentines's Day 2012.

I'm at 58, so I need 42. I want a lot of those (all?) to be product/sales pages.

That's 12 weeks. I need to write 3-4 wizzes a week to reach this goal. I think I can do this!

Nov. 25 Update: Now at 62 wizzes. Only 38 more to go!

I've created these FOUR product pages:

1. Best Stainless Steel Roaster
2. Happy Napper Pillow Toys
3. Dinosaur Pillow Pets
4. Cellulite Workout Pants

Nov. 28 Update: Now at 65 pages. 35 left to go!

I'm ahead of schedule so far! Okay, I reverted back to informational content for two of these. I can't help it! 

1. Cookbook Stands
2. Should I Homeschool?
3. Why a Blogger Should Write Articles at Wizzley

December 5 update: Now at 71 pages! Only 29 left to go until my goal of 100. I'm having a hard time sticking to product/sales pages. I'm trying! Two of these fit into the sales page category, I guess (#1 and 6). The others fit into my normal informational style. Ugh. I can't seem to break out!

1. Thermal Underwear for Women Who Are Always Cold
2. Poetry Unit Study: Poetic Forms
3. Daily Editing and Proofreading Workbooks
4. Building Sets for Kids and Teens
5. Making Money on Wizzley -- My Story
6. Shoe Organizer Ideas

I'm certainly in for a sales article challenge. I find writing for sales much easier than writing for adsense, though I'm trying to learn that too.

30 new articles sales with a new baby arriving is an amazing challenge. Good luck!

My personal challenge: Make $300 from Wizzley sales in December

(Including Amazon and other affiliates - mostly Amazon.) Definitely a challenge! Gosh, that seems like such a small amount when I write it down, but this business is all about scaling up. 

I'll also write a Wizzle on my sales approach. I don't do much keyword research, I'm more of a market watcher. Actually when I'm stuck for an idea, I just ask my kids.

Update: Dec 9th. Gosh, I've done it already. $315 from sales via Wizzley in December. Just from the first 8 days. Actually it might be a bit more. I haven't been tracking Zazzle sales. I hit the 8% tier on Amazon today so that gave an extra boost. (I also went over $300 from sales in November.)

The challenge really worked for me (thanks WryLilt!). It made me focus on producing enough pages that I would hit the goal. And obviously I went a bit past that! I'm glad I put the effort in in November because in December I haven't had much time for work - so much Christmas stuff going on with my kids.

Next year Wizzley will have a significant role in my business plan.

OK, I'm in too. I actually got my first sales from Wizzley yesterday, and I've only been writing wizzles for about two weeks, so am very encouraged.

Goal: to write 30 wizzles in the next month, starting today (Nov 19th)

Update Nov 20th: Have done two so far.

Update Dec 3rd: Have done nine so far - have had six sales

I am unofficially in.  I am already writing sales articles, and have other goals for December, so I am not going to add a goal here, however I will be here in mentoring spirit.

Wry, you might want to link to my Make the Sale series on Writing Online.  And I would be honored to return the favor with a guest post from you on Writing Online.

I am also unofficially in - if that's okay?  I am working on creating a series of pages which I had originally thought of creating on Squidoo (I know!  Wash my mouth out with soapy water LOL) but will be creating here which I think will fit in nicely.

Having said that a lot of my pages are Sales pages

No need for a bubbly mouth, Paul - Wizzley loves Squidoo!  

I would like to join in.

My immediate goal is to get to 50 Wizzley pages which I want to achieve by the end of January - so roughly 2 months.

It should be possible. I'm up to 14 pages now and I am currently devoting most of my article writing time here. I've made some sales here (thank you Wizzley) so am seeing a lot of potential.

I was amazed when one of my newly published articles was indexed and had its first Google visitor in an hour. That is lightening fast and means I can carry on doing seasonal pages right up until the last minute.

UPDATE: 10 Jan I've finished 50 Wizzleys well in the target time frame. Now on 51!

My next goal is to get to 100 Wizzley pages by March. I might not make this because I'm doing a lot more tutorials and these take a lot of time to photograph and write up.

As usual, I'm a bit slow at noticing things like this challenge!

Here it is January, and you have all been at this goal setting for two months. Actually, I've been plugging along, trying to increase my articles and have been inching up on that 100 mark. I now have 62 published pages and hope to get to 100 by Valentine's Day. Writing it down in a forum like this helps me be accountable and so will keep me on track.

Thanks, Wrylit.