OK, it seems like no matter what website I end up, there is a common theme - promote, promote, promote! Promote this page or link and watch the sales come soaring in, they say. But the thing is, not too many of these sites teach you how to promote. So - how do you do it? How do you promote your website and get targeted traffic to your website?

While researching on ways to drive traffic to my website, I'm running into some very interesting marketing methods that I have never heard of before. They're quite interesting, but do they work?

They are Traffic Exchange websites - supposedly from earning points and viewing other people's ads, and you get to submit your own website into the mix. You are required to look at the displayed websites, so I suppose it could work. But how targeted is it?

Well, I've decided to give it a try. I signed up for a lot of these traffic websites, signed up for a rotator and even purchased a software that helps automate this process. It's quite an investment, so I sure hope this works!

Alright - I joined another program, and this one required a lot of financial commitment upfront!

I suppose it's not only an investment in the business; I actually purchased a self-help course that teaches you a lot of the skills you will need to succeed professionally and personally. The thing is - it was expensive!

However, the point was that I wanted to get involved in this business - it sounded intriguing. It's basically a direct marketing website where the site has a flash movie that sells the product for you. It's a high ticket item and everytime you make a sale, you earn $1000! There's also a system in place where the first 2 referrals you or your downline make also earns you $1000!

So I will give it a try. The thing with this is that it does have an annual fee as well as a monthly hosting fee for the website. I feel that the investment portion of this business is kind of steep, especially for a beginner Internet Marketer such as myself.

Unfortunately, my upline is on vacation right now so I can't talk to him about the business. He is supposed to help me get started.

I ran across a website today from a guy who seems to have once been in the situation that I am now. His name is Stone Evans and he was struggling to make ends meet for a very long time in the Internet Marketing business. Like me, he is holding a daytime job, and spending most of his off-time dedicated to his online business.

Stone has a very unique proposition. He's willing to build you a website, complete with content and information, and even links to affiliate programs that are free to join - at $0 cost! The catch is - register for a webhosting service under his affiliate link. Now, webhosting is something that I'm going to need anyway, so I figured maybe it's not such a bad deal. However, the hosting service costs $25/month!

I took a look at what it includes, and it does have a lot of business related features. And also, once I get good at promoting, I can also earn $10 per referral under this service's affiliate program!

So I signed up. =
I didn't want to register another domain name yet, so I decided to use my current one - www.buzzmein.com. I just gave Stone all my webhosting account information and he's supposed to take care of the rest.

Wish me luck!

I got my domain name!

It took days of brainstorming and figuring out what name to register. This was a lot more involved process than I imagined! All of my original choices were not even available. But alas, I finally got one that I actually like a lot. Introducing...

BuzzMeIn! Marketing - http://www.buzzmein.com

I can already think of a few tag lines for this:

- Have you heard the buzz?
- Get Buzzed In!
- The buzz on...

Now the hard part is figuring out what to put on the site! My Internet Marketing skills is very limited to what I've been reading online during the past few months. And let me tell you - it's not much! I mean, I've run across a ton of information, and I think I'm just about over my head at this point. Give me some more time - I'll think of something good!

Jeez...these customers are pissed! I mean, I suppose I would be too - some products still have not arrived, some are not satisfied with the quality of the products, and yet others are just trying to be difficult...

After this round is over, I'm seriously going to shut down DealClickers.com and ValueClickers.com. Oh by the way, did I mention that the store I bought DealClickers.com from is a TOTAL SCAM? I've had sooo many problems with them, and they don't pick up calls or return them! They're called GetEstore...STAY AWAY FROM THEM!

So yea, I'm through with wholesale products. I'm going back to good o' Internet Marketing, where I won't have to worry about failed delivery of physical products. All my products are going to be digital and available for instant download. It's going to be a DREAM...

Next step - figure out a business name and register a domain. Should be fun!

Somebody please shoot me!

I think I made a terrible mistake doing this. I'll start from the beginning.

So I got those 2 websites, right? These were ready-made websites all ready to go. All I had to do was promote them.

However, I couldn't use AdWords or any of its competitors. My search engine optimization skills aren't exactly up to par, either. How else can I get traffic? I honestly did not know. I did some research, but quickly got confused and could not find a correlation to get viral marketing techniques to work for my product.

I couldn't wait any longer, so I decided to simply take the products individually and sell them one by one. I began listing these items on eBay and Amazon. At first, I had a hard time selling. And then one day...

BAM - a bunch of bulk orders, many of which are for the same product! I was stoked - that is, until I contacted my supplier and they were SOLD OUT! I checked with another dropshipper - BACKORDERED! What the heck was I supposed to do?!

It was a NIGHTMARE! I had to deal with angry customers, whipping around all kinds of threats. I then had to search for the product myself on eBay from other sellers just to get the product. Of course, this was yet another hurdle. I would already be shrinking my profit, and in some cases actually lose money, by buying from other sellers. However, I did it anyway...

And then, the seller contacts me and says that his supplier has run out ALSO! OH MY GOSH...

Basically, I ran around for several days in a crazy panic. Other problems arose, including that the products were getting shipped late by the dropshippers, items getting damaged, sent to wrong addresses, order cancellations, refund requests, complaint escalations, you name it. It was just a complete DISASTER, and continues to be...

I still have a ton of listings left, too, and a lot of pending issues to take care of. It might take me another several days to finally clean this mess up, but when I do, I'm DONE!

I was tossing around in bed tonight and couldn't sleep at all. I was thinking about what I could do with my Internet business. Surely there has to be something for me. The world of Internet Marketing is so vast and full of opportunities; why can't I find my niche?

And then, I had an epiphany. I don't even know how it came to me, but all of the sudden, it hit me - I can sell wholesale products! Of course, why didn't I think of it sooner? Folks are making a killing off of eBay and Amazon selling products!

My sisters who live in Hong Kong actually have wholesale fashion businesses, and have been doing it for over a decade. I can learn a thing or two from them.

I jumped out of bed and turned on my laptop, and started doing a bit of research online. Product importing, it turns out, could be a hassle, especially from Asia. So it looks like I might not be able to recruit the partnership of my sisters, at least not until I can get this thing figured out.

In the meantime, I should go ahead and find some wholesale sources that are easily accessible, I thought to myself. So I continued my search...

There were a few AdWords ads that caught my eye, so I clicked on them and began reading the salesletters. I couldn't decide between 2 different services - both of which are actually ready-made websites, complete with shopping carts and ready to take orders. It would be my very own eCommerce website, without having to build anything on my own!

Man, AdWords really does work, especially for suckers like myself. I ended up getting BOTH! I'm such an idiot, but I did it...

So here I am not, with 2 websites: www.DealClickers.com and www.ValueClickers.com. I'm going to need to register on eBay and Amazon with these names. They're unique enough - hopefully, no one will have taken them yet.

Looks like I got myself a new business! But here's my problem - how the heck do I promote them? Doh, I totally forgot that I shouldn't be using PPC. So now I'm stuck with 2 websites and no way of promoting them. I guess my research continues. I'm never going to sleep...