It's been a while....

Well it’s been a while since I last blogged on here. Since that time I have got married to my beautiful girlfriend of 11 years and got into the world of affiliate marketing.

I have created six websites, yes six in my spare time as I have a full time job and two kids, one aged four the other nine.
Now affiliate marketing is not a get rich scheme and certainly is not a scam.
The majority of my websites run on word press with the exception of allmemorabilia.co.uk and corsetsets.org.uk which run on datafeed studio created by Martin Wood. A shop window displaying all the products you will be advertising from merchants (companies such as Asda, Toys 'R' US). These datafeed sites have the added bonus of having a blog, to add rich original content and the ability to edit the generated products you can pull from the database that runs the show.  It sounds complicated but it really isn't.

I started this back in the beginning of December 2011 with no idea of what affiliate marketing was, how to create websites, apply for merchants, checking Google analytics etc etc. It all started of when I worked for a certain MLM company specializing in aloe Vera products. Need I mention the name! A friend convinced me it was the thing to do and would earn me shed loads of money. I attended the meeting in which the top sellers, earning five figure salaries were of course selling the idea like no tomorrow. I bought into the concept, paid my £199! Steep yes but I was told I would make my money back in no time.

After receiving my pack for £199, which included various products, I proceeded to bug advertise to my friends on Facebook, in the real world, work colleagues, neighbours you name it I advertised talked about it. What made me uncomfortable, was knocking neighbours doors, like a door to door sales man and having Aloe Vera ‘parties’ where I showcased drinks, skin care etc. I knew after a few weeks this wasn’t for me and told my friend/sponsor I had had enough.
I don’t regret one minute of it as it taught me that even though I didn’t ‘make it big’, I knew that others enjoyed it and were making money. It made me search for something that could give me a part time/full time salary working less ours. After looking around I came across Get out While You Can, a book written by George Marshall.
This opened my eyes to the possibility of making a living off the things I review and write about. It gives a basic step by step guide on high to create a word press site and how to monetise it. Once you have created your site from George’s advice he gives you a head start and allows you to link to his page. Linking websites to other websites with high traffic, i.e. visitors improves your ranking with Google and other search engine giants as well as the potential for someone visiting http://www.gowyc.co.uk/ to click on the link that will take them directly to your website you have created.

The first site I created, penny4thoughts began life as a portal for shopping. It didn’t really have a theme or niche, meaning it didn’t concentrate on one particular product or product range. On George’s advice I completed changed the theme and I am grateful for the little push and advice that George gave me. The name of the site doesn’t match what I advertise and talk about on it, which was my rookie mistake but the next five websites I created have URL addresses that match the content I write about. It is now a shop/blog advertising and talking about educational toys for children, and has healthy visits from Google, Facebook, Pinterest, Stumbleupon and Twitter to name just a few.

Gaining visitors through social networking is something I have done recently after reading about affiliate marketing in depth and detail.
I haven’t made a lot of money in this industry, some have, but the main thing is I really enjoy it and I learn something new every day.

This will be the first of many articles detailing my ups and downs in this industry and any tips I can pass on as I come across I will share.

Wii Weekend

As I write this my arm is aching. It's the same for all of us this week as we have spent the better half of the weekend on the Nintendo Wii. It started Saturday afternoon, after a mile walk to the park with the dog, kids and Lisa. We spent a good two hours there coupled with the walk there and back, taking into account Daylan's little three year old legs in total was about three hours. Deciding that watching TV wasn't going to happen that afternoon, Saturday TV can be boring, we decided to dust down Lisa's neglected Wii and play Wii Sports. Cyrah my seven year is the person to beat , seriously she gets strike after strike and it's turned into a real competition to beat her! As you can imagine we played this most of the afternoon until we got bored and put on Just dance and danced, or attempted to in my case, until kids bedtime.
Sunday was much of the same but we switched it to boxing which Daylan loved and proceeded to happily beat us up and knock us down! We are paying for it now as it feels like we have had a session at the gym. Simple tasks like picking up a mug and brushes your teeth becomes hard work. It was worth it though and I will beat Cyrah's score one day!
The Wii might not be up there compared to Playstation 3 or Xbox 360, but for those fun  family or party moments and for the non gamer it surpasses the latter two by a fair mile.

The Christmas break

Christmas has been and gone and as usually I have over indulged on booze and food. More booze than food I might add. From going out on Christmas eve night. To eating Christmas dinner at Lisa's granddad's house, and drinking with said grandad in his local rugby club before dinner. Which is the first time in seven years we have eaten Christmas dinner away from the house! New Years eve was spent again at Lisa's grandad house with her sister from Norfolk, her fellow and her two kids. Good times. We arrived to be presented with presents for the kids and for us, and we exchanged our gifts. It was like a peace offering minus the dignitaries! My present was 63% proof Jamaican white rum. Yes 63% the smell alone would get you drunk!
If that wasn't enough after drinking rum and vodka, we had to go out New Years Day with the kids God parents around the pubs in my old stomping ground, Pill in Newport, South Wales. Rough as we felt we drunk through it and listened to karaoke and caught up with people from high school.
Bank holiday evening 2nd January was spent at the theatre as a last treat for the kids and what turned out to be a treat for us as well. We went to see Cinderella just me Lisa and the kids, which was enjoyable and much better than the school pantos for obvious reasons. They had a cast of stars which included Melanie Walters (Fairy Godmother) from the hilarious Gavin and Stacey series and Keiron Self (Buttons) from the hit BBC series My family. All in all in what was good Christmas spent with family and friends, and a good start to the New Year. I'm hoping for big things this year, hope you are too!

The long day before

After building two kids bikes, one for a seven year old and three year old and finally mastering the art of break adjustment, I deserved and enjoyed two cans of Stella 4%. Not exactly party mode but I did finish building the bikes at 12am after starting at 10pm (I was distracted by Christina Aguilera in Burlesque). I was also winding down from doing the Christmas rounds. You know visiting friends and family, traveling from one house to the other, seeing different smiling faces pleased to see you.
For the first time in a long time I'm going out today (christmas eve) but only for a few drinks, be back home by 8pm. Drinking with my mates and kids godparents. Should be an evening of fun and laughter.
The cycle begins again, you put the kids presents under the the tree and try and make as little noise as you can. While sipping Santa's brandy/rum/scotch delete applicable or add your own! And is it worth it? Hell ya it is to see the look on your kids faces that reminds you of your faces when you where their age and believed.
But again the kids are happy to have their loved ones there and easily forget the presents.
Just one more thing i'm glad I had some vouchers from work for Waitrose because I bought about 6 items which come up to £48.50 but I had change! My vouchers were worth £50. Wish I bought something for £2 and went to another superstore!

Hope your Christmases are what you hoped they would be. One love

Sunday nights

Since Lisa has started work on a Sun evening, from 6pm to 11pm, I can chillax on the settee, with the duvet up to my neck and watch geeky sci films like Star Trek (2009) and not get frowned at and called a geek!
Sipping my hot chocolate in my heat for feet socks (you know the thick ones with the funny picture grips, mine say coach potato) and looking at the decorations and the seizure inducing flashing Christmas lights, makes me feel all festive. That and the fact it's a three day week for me next week makes me feel even better.

Choices

I look back on my life and the choices I've made and wonder what if.... What if I didn't quit my Electrical apprenticeship all those years ago and carried it on. Would I have not met my finacee in a night club, on a night on with different work mates? Or would I have mate her anyway? Great scot, guess it's the Back To The Future conundrum.
It makes me wonder about parallel/alternative universes, and a Red dwarf episode/book (rimmer comes to mind)whereby the choice you didn't make gets played out in an alternative universes.

Look where you are today in your life and think about the choices YOU have made to get you where you are today. Have you made the write choices? Are you happy with your choices? Be mindful in what you do now as it might bite you in the butt in the future!

poker face

My first poker game in about a year last night and it showed! Did a bit of research online to do with poker hands, Royal flush, Flush etc, before the night. Being a beginner when I first started last year and only playing a few times on facebook, it took me a while to get into it. That the drinks and happy trees flying around didn't help! £5 a game, with the very first warm up game being for a £1, you would have thought we were playing for £100,000! The two £5 games and warm up game saw me loose...yep you guessed it £10 well £11 really. I started slow but grew with confidence as I bluffed and played my hands well.
What I really enjoyed though was the banter and we might even do a skydive later on next year after my friend saw this video. Ok we wont actually be doing that but it looks awesome. It will be more like being strapped to somone else and jumping from a plane. Always wanted to do that and it will come true in May, watch this space....

Guess I better get some poker practise in!