The 60 Day Challenge Return– Learning How to Increase Online Traffic and Improve Affiliate Sales

I believe that taking the 60 Day Challenge will help me reach my ultimate goals of learning how to increase online traffic, and improve affiliate sales. In the beginning, really was not sure if anyone would be interested in my hubs on HubPages. It took over a month before I made that first dollar; and about seven months to get the 1^st Adsense payout. Needless to say, over half my hubs do not generate money and would really like to improve my overall money making potential.

During this 60 day challenge I will be logging struggles and successes alike in order that this might become a learning guideline for others. One struggle that concerns me is the fact that I’m a slow writer; while many Hubbers can produce hubs in a matter of hours most of my money making hubs took me days to write. So I see this as one huddle that I would like to overcome rather quickly.

Never participated in the 30 Day Challenge and missed out on the last 60 Day Challenge; nonetheless, I’ve read and studied a lot of hubs written by sunforged, darkside, and Mark Knowles. Some of the hubs that I've studied from these experienced writers are found in the next section.  While I’ve learned a lot from these hubbers as well as others; there’s still a lot to learn about keywords, SEO, and online marketing. And to be honest with you most of the IM language goes right over my head and this could be looked upon as another hurdle for me to overcome.

However, an individual must be willing to take on a challenge like this one in order to elevate oneself to another level of learning and understanding. You might ask, “So why take on this hurdle?” – And my answer is, “Why Not?” Nothing can ever be won if you are not willing to jump into the game. "There is no challenge more challenging than the challenge to improve yourself." Michael F. Staley

Will admit to being somewhat proud and in awe of my accomplishments within the last year, since I knew absolutely nothing about writing online. However, there are still goals that need to be attained and my goals for this 60 Day Challenge are:

1) Increase Online Traffic - Develop 30 additional quality hubs within 30 days in order to generate more online traffic. Would like to increase my page views from around 500 a day to over 1,000.

2) Improve Promotional Skills - This is truly an area that needs a lot of improving. In the past have very minimal exposure on socialmedia groups like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Generally create backlinks with Diggs and StumbleUpon; and occasionally RedGage and SheToldMe.

3) Improve Affiliate Sales - Amazon sales are almost none existent. Would like to start generating some income from this affiliate. Would also like to learn about promoting other affiliate programs. And would love to receive Adsense payouts monthly rather than bi-monthly.

As with most of the challenges I’ve participated here at HubPages, I’m entering the 60 Day Challenge with the anticipation of coming out on top with additional knowledge of improving my writing skills in addition to learning how to increase online traffic, develop promotional skills, and improve Affiliate Sales. To reach these goals my overall plans are to:

• Develop a strategy for keeping up with the writing assignment of 30 hubs. This means there should be at least seven hubs a week to keep up with the 30 hubs in 30 day requirement.

• To remain positive, focused, and not discouraged on getting the task done in a timely fashion.

Based on a book by Marsha Sinetar titled “Do What You Love, the Money will Follow,” I will be continuing my writing on health and fitness, longevity, and alternative medicines. However, I view myself as being a very versatile writer so there may be hubs on holidays, ice swimming, crockpot cooking, and or domestic violence as those articles have been successful in the past as well.

Week One

Whoopee! Mid-day Monday August 16, 2010, however, did not discover this until midnight prior to calling it a night. Played Ms. Social Butterfly, hub hopping and meeting other 60DC Hubbers only to discover there was other work to be done. Needless to say, a hub was not completed.

August 17th - Was spent frantically attempting to read and learn what to do next. It really pays to know someone who has taken the challenge before and that way an individual does not have to overloaded sunforged with all the 'newbie questions' like "where do I find the private forum?" Thanks for your patience Miata, (prettydarkhorse).

August 18th - Finally caught up on everything that should have been done on Monday, Tuesday at the latest. I think :0 Now onward to creating the hubs....

August 19^th – Started my first hub however, fell asleep with the laptop in my lap and hands on the keyboard. LOL! Too bad I haven’t learned to type unconsciously, yet.

August 20^th – Woo Hoo, almost finished my first hub about 4:00 a.m. this morning. Now I’ve got to get a little sleep and then go about my weekend duties.

August 21^st - Got some much need support today from wavegirl22 who reached out and sent a ‘just checking on you’ quick e-mail. In response I was able to vent my concerns of finding balance between writing and having family obligations. Shari, thanks for the advice and hublove; it was very much appreciated. J That’s one thing that is good about being on a team, one can always learn from those that have done what you are attempting to accomplish.

August 22^nd – O.k. another day and another hub started, sincerely hoping to spend time in the forums today and catching up on what else needs to be done. I’m letting my first hub marinate a little prior to publishing. Week one is almost over and I’m still juggling attempting to find a good balance between writing and being personable with family, fans/followers, friends, and co-workers.

August 24th - Wow the end of week one and the beginning of week two. Where did the time go? Only managed to accomplish 3 hubs this week (one 2 showing the third is still unpublished). Needless to say, hopefully next week will be less busy. Thinking of changing my strategy a little as well... Well here goes...

August 27th - They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Well I think this one says it all. The reality of the challenge at hand becomes real and in some ways a little overwhelming. Very frustrated that some of the steps and tools are still somewhat unclear in my mind . Feeling the way I did when I began my online education. Lots of long hours and blank stares at the computer. In some ways still working on week one. However, I'm determined to keep pushing forward....

August 30th - Woo Hoo, alright! Received a Google Adsense payout today. Now, the vision becomes clear again as to why this challenge is so important to win.... Completed one hub that I just published and finishing up on another two that hopefully I can publish tomorrow. But, for now enjoying the bliss of receiving money for all the effort put forth. :)

It's hard to believe that the team is entering into the 3rd week of the challenge and after this evening I will have only published 7 hubs counting this one. Needless to say, the way I feeling is depicted in the picture to your right. "I'm late, I'm late, will I make that all important date?" OMG!

However, I choose to stay focused on the vision and celebrate the fact that I got my very 1st payout today from Amazon sales. And I will be receiving another one for at the end of September. Woo Hoo!

September 6th - Wow, the game plan for having a productive weekend was shot to h#ll. Had computer problems all weekend and could not figure out what it was until today. Somehow the last FireFox update did not complete properly. Therefore, I could not create hubs. It took me a long time to figure out exactly where the problem was. Ugghhrrrrrrr!

September 7th - It is hard to believe that this is the week that in seven days everyone should have completed the 30 hubs/30 days. This is definitely the part of the race where one feels the burn, wonders what is over the hill ahead, and will I make it to the finish line. Hopefully this week some way some how will be more productive than the past three. Definitely have observed some concerns, however, I will wait and post at the end of the 30 day journey.

September 15th - Wow, 30 days have came and gone and I am so far behind on producing 30 hubs that it not funny.  For about the last 10 days, I've had computer problems and connecting to the internet problems.  My cable/internet service decided to do an upgrade and I have been without access for 3 of those 10 days.  Well, I've decided not to stop, because I don't like quitting.  So let's do a recap of what has been accomplished in this 30 days and see what the next 30 days bring.

I have really had some tough blows during this race to win the 60 day challenge. And to be honest right now it appears in some ways that I am losing badly. I only have 14 hubs completed (2 of which have not even been published yet) within the first 30 days.

Lessons Learned

In every circumstance there are lessons to be learned. What I've learned within this challenge so far is that "Life is going to happen and lots of times you can not control the giant you will be facing." Unfortunately, I had no way of foreseeing computer and internet problems that would require so much of my time and cause me to be so much further behind.

Of course, when you see how big the giant really is you can choose to stand and keep fighting or run away and quit. I'm choosing to stand and keep kicking at the knees of this challenge that is if sunforged and the rest of the team will have me.

I hope you don't view the following stats as bragging because I'm not that type of a person. However, in order to keep moving forward one must take a look at where you are:

• One of the small successes is that I've had an article on the Front of HubPages I believe everyday since the challenge started. Some days 2 and 3 hubs, which I consider to be an honor.
• Here's my hub stats that reflect the changes for the last 30 days....
  

September 16 - O.k. as stated earlier, I'm not quitting, I want to see what the next 30 days bring. Obviously from the stats, although I'm moving slow, there has been a good change in the overall stats. So here we go again....

September 21 - Another week is gone and I'm still behind in many areas. Only about half the hubs that I should have completed last week.  But, I've learn from the work industry that some projects never get "caught-up" and many never end on time.

September 22 - Now not only am I behind on the hubs but the promotion of them as well.  Uggggh, can I have 90 days please...  Quotes to keep me moving forward this week…

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” - Winston Churchill

“Winners are not those who never fail, but those who never quit.” - Unknown

Although, it will be 60 days before this challenge is over; I believe that an individual must conceive from the beginning that the goal can be accomplished in order to have a positive end results.