AMS Case Study: Week 2

Hello all! Well, this past week has been an absolute challenge for me in terms of decisions regarding my niche, keywords, etc. Last Tuesday, I finally settled and committed (so I thought hahaha) on my final choice for a niche. I was pumped up, raring to go – all these ideas were popping into my head – it was super cool.

In the middle of the night on Wednesday, I began freaking out because I didn’t think I should be tackling what would be my first niche venture with this course. I immediately jumped out of bed and got onto my computer where I proceeded to brainstorm yet again. I performed keyword research with Google and Wordtracker until it made my head spin and I heard the birds begin to chirp outside. Although I didn't want to stop, it was almost time to jump in the shower and get my kids up and ready for school.

The following two days I was in this tailspin – I was frustrated. Every time I thought okay, I got it – finally, hooray! - Nope, I’m just not feeling it. I kept going in so many directions, totally opposite of each other. I barely slept at night because I was on the computer doing a ton of unquoted and quoted searches as well as allintitle searches (a type of search in the Google search bar I learned in the Affiliate Marketing Schoolbook course, enabling you to evaluate your main competitors – i.e. allintitle:”abcdefg” and it comes back with defined search results.)

Everywhere I went where I knew I would have downtime, I brought my little notebook and jotted down things and ideas – i.e. – waiting in the parking lot while picking my kids up from school, in the kid’s doctor’s office waiting room, and during warm-ups before baseball and volleyball games. I was making myself crazy. I walked around the house talking to myself – saying ideas and things out loud. My kids continually looking at me – thinking I had OCD about this whole thing. I finally decided to just put everything aside for like two days – though it continued to silently haunt my thoughts hahaha.

I have to say, the break did me good. I came back to it fresh and much less frazzled because I came up with a niche that I hadn’t even thought about earlier. I was able to fully absorb myself into Lesson 4 and Lesson 5 with “Determining Demand” and “Evaluating Your Competition Part 2” respectively (which I had also been dabbling in during my “freak out”).

I created my little (big) spreadsheet (which I did “old school” (meaning not on Excel). Sometimes pen to paper allows the creativity to flow better for me and I like the simplicity of it as well. As I followed along with the lesson plan to figure out my chances with my "Keyword X and Keyword Phrases XYZ," I had one vertical column that listed all of my keyword phrases and five corresponding horizontal columns for my SERPs (search engine results pages) with allintitle/quoted/unquoted/monthly search/CPC; and plugged in all the results into the columns.

I was happy because I ended up being almost being very close with what Laura states in her course as, (allow me to paraphrase) - “A good rule of thumb...may be to look for at least 10 searches/day, which is 300/month, and less than 5,000 allintitle results in the SERPs.”

Lesson 6 of the Affiliate Marketing Schoolbook has me “Building the Bones” which Laura explains are the “basic elements of the site’s structure.” This lesson went into domain names, IP addresses and choosing a domain. Ah yes, choosing a domain name. Geez, if I thought the niche and keyword portion was tough to decide on, how am I ever going to be able to come up with and choose a domain name that will be a good fit as well as one that would be ideal for an affiliate marketing beginner! Hmmm………

Until next time...
- Kelli

Laura's comments:

Now that Kelli is walking around muttering to herself, staying up till the birds sing, and her family thinks she's cuckoo, she is officially an affiliate marketer. Welcome to the club!

There are some things we can learn from crazy people, though: It's a great idea to carry a notebook or digital recorder around with you so you can take advantage of "downtime" as she did. If you're anything like me, don't rely on your memory! It seems every new idea I come up with makes something else fall out, so I am always making lists.

It's also a good idea sometimes to take a break as Kelli did. Your brain will be working out thorny problems as you do other things, even subconsciously. You'll be amazed at how much more competent you'll feel after being away from the computer for a while!

Another thing Kelli did that you might want to try is making a spreadsheet. Whether you use Excel or write on a cave wall with a pointy rock, it's a great way to organize your keywords.

Thank you, Kelli, for the good tips. We look forward to seeing what you've come up with next week!

Previous post in this case study:
Week 1 - Brainstorming ideas and keyword research