Associate Programs Newsletter #328
Do you want to be more efficient? Do you want to get more high priority things done EVERY day to improve your affiliate business in leaps and bounds?
Today I share a very simple technique which helps me sharpen my focus and actually get things done.
I wrote this because I've been distracted lately and needed to remind myself to use this highly effective technique.
CONTENTS:
1. How to actually get those affiliate tasks done
...and sharpen your focus
2. Our annual migration
3. Niche-finding tool revisited
4. What to do with those profitable niches
5. Six affiliate marketing success stories
6. Thought for today: Making good use of your time
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1. How to actually get those affiliate tasks done
...and sharpen your focus
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Here's something I sometimes struggle with. Perhaps you do to.
Because there are so many distractions online and in our lives, we sometimes start the day with good intentions and end up achieving hardly any of the things we'd planned to do.
Here's a very simple, free way of solving this problem. It's an online to-do list.
This simple gadget won't be perfect for everyone. (I use a more complex, paid tool which is designed to enable several people to share projects.) However, you'll be pleasantly surprised by how much you can accomplish with this free gadget.
First, go to http://www.google.com/ig and, if you haven't already, set up your personal Google Homepage.
Click the "Add stuff" link (it's at the right of the page).
Ignore all those distracting gadgets. Most of them will just waste your time.
Use the search box to "Search HomePage Content" for "todo".
Select the gadget that is simply called "ToDo" (NOT To-Do List). Click the button to install "ToDo" on your Google Homepage.
This gadget is wonderfully simple. You can't possibly waste time fiddling with it because there's almost nothing to fiddle with. Instead, you can see at a glance all the important tasks you need to do each day - and then actually do them.
The "ToDo" gadget allows you to type in 7 tasks, rank them and delete them as they're done. I reckon 6 spaces for important tasks is quite enough for one day.
Here's how to use it...
At the end of each work day, go to your Google Homepage - http://www.google.com/ig - and make a list of the 6 most important things you want to achieve the next day. Make sure you create this list at the END of each day. You want to start each day fresh with your to-do list already written.
This is important. You don't want to waste time at the start of the day trying to figure out what to do. Sort it out the night before.
Next day, ignore emails. Ignore newsletters. Ignore blogs. Ignore RSS feeds. Ignore forums. Just DO the first item on your list. Don't stop until you've completed it. (This is the hardest part of all, but you can learn this skill. If in doubt, picture the extra revenue you're going to earn and imagine yourself enjoying spending it.)
Do the second item. Do the third item.
Time for a break. Reward yourself by going for a walk or getting some other healthy exercise. Get some healthy oxygen into your brain. Feel good about the fact that at long last you're organized and are getting very useful things done.
Do the fourth and fifth items.
Reward yourself by briefly checking for urgent emails. ONLY urgent ones.
Do the sixth item.
Hurrah! A good day's work is done. Reward yourself. Take a break.
Now you can check emails, read newsletters, or just put your feet up and read a novel, chat with a friend, whatever... Reward yourself for accomplishing high priority things today.
You may be thinking that you need more than 6 things on your to-do list. Perhaps you have a LONG list of things to do. I do. However, I've found that the big disadvantage of a long to-do list is that it's so easy to keep skimming your long list, looking for something you're in the mood to do.
It's also far too easy to feel overwhelmed and click away from your long list and read emails or do something easy, something low priority which isn't even on your list. Been there, done that - lots of times.
For me, a SHORT list of about 6 items is ever so much more effective. It's not nearly so daunting. Also, you need to focus, so it's much better if all those other things waiting to be done are out of sight.
At the end of the day spend a couple of minutes typing in six more high priority items to put on your "ToDo" list.
This is the really crucial bit...
Each night, you need to ask yourself, "What's the most effective thing I can do to improve my business? Write down the answer. Then ask, "What's the NEXT most effective thing I can do to improve my business?" And so on.
For example, you might write down some of these...
1. Write an article for AssociatedContent.com.
2. Write an eye-catching item on my blog.
3. Write Part 1 of new autoresponder series.
4. Write a useful how-to article for my website.
5. Do keyword research for new authority site.
6. Check out 47c product reviews - http://www.AssociatePrograms.com/product-reviews
7. Make a thought-provoking post on a forum.
How much you pack into one day is up to you. You can split a large job up into six sections, and get a sense of satisfaction as you complete each section.
Here's a very useful refinement of the idea...
Beside each task, write down how long it should take, for example, "50 minutes" or "10 "minutes". My ex-journalist wife, Joanna, does this. Time yourself and train yourself to do the task in the required time. Journalists learn to do this because they work to deadlines and absolutely must get the task done by the deadline. This technique will teach you to work faster and more efficiently.
If you try this, I think you'll be very pleasantly surprised how efficient you become.
Try using a simple to-do list for at least 21 days. It takes about that long to form a habit.
You may lapse a few times. I'd be amazed if you didn't. Whatever happens, keep going. Stick to the plan every day for 21 days. It's really important that you put your head down, ignore distractions and start each day by DOING the first item on your list.
I used a very simple to-do list like this several years ago when I was working really hard to build my business and make it grow fast. I've lapsed a bit in recent years and I reckon part of the problem is that I've been using a much larger, more complex list.
You'll especially appreciate a simple to-do list if you're ill, have family distractions or have any kind of complications or worries in your life. A simple to-do list helps you maintain your focus and manage to get things done in spite of all the challenges you face.
Also, it's quite amazing how it sharpens your focus, when you repeatedly ask yourself, "What's the most effective thing I can to improve my business?"
If you haven't tried using a simple to-do list, you'll be surprised how good it feels when you achieve useful things early in the day and then keep achieving useful things all day instead of just puddling about.
After that, the next surprise will be seeing your affiliate business improve in leaps and bounds. Been there, done that.
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2. Our annual migration
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I wrote the item on to-do lists partly as a way to remind myself what I should be doing. Joanna and I are a bit more distracted than usual right now because in a few days we'll be leaving New Zealand on our annual migration to warmer climes - Rainbow Bay, Queensland, Australia.
There always seem to be a lot of last-minute family get-togethers and things to do before we leave.
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3. Niche-finding tool revisited
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I've been playing around with Myleena Phan's niche-finding tool to identify profitable niches. The more I use it, the more impressed I am.
One obvious criticism of Niche Inspector was that it gets its search data from Overture.
However, you can also choose to import data from Wordtracker, or you can even import your own plain text list of keywords.
It's an incredibly useful bit of software. You can adjust the settings in all sorts of ways to suit your requirements.
The best way to understand why it works the way it does is to read Myleena's free report.
http://www.AssociatePrograms.com/niche-finder
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4. What to do with those profitable niches
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Once you've identified a few profitable niches using Myleena's software, what are you going do with them?
One thing to do is what Andrew Hansen does. Andrew, who lives not far from me, has developed a surprisingly simple system for identifying powerful, low competition keywords, quickly building little sites, getting a few links to them from key places, and then moving on to the next one.
His "Niche Marketing on Crack" may have an odd title, but it's a very good read. It's a concise, how-to report, using low-cost and no-cost methods.
If you're impatient for results and like the idea of owning one-page sites which get results, try this...
http://www.AssociatePrograms.com/niches-on-crack
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5. Six affiliate marketing success stories
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In a new article for AssociatePrograms.com, Andy Lax tells us six affiliate marketing success stories.
"By examining those who have been successful in the affiliate marketing field, we can better find our own pathway towards affiliate marketing success," Andy says.
Included is an interview with prominent affiliate marketer Shawn Collins.
This is not a detailed "step-by-step, how-to" article. The article describes a variety of different ways you can be successful with affiliate programs. It's food for thought.
Affiliate-marketing-success-stories
http://www.AssociatePrograms.com/articles/568/1/Affiliate-marketing-success-stories
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6. Thought for today: Making good use of your time
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"If you want to make good use of your time, you've got to know what's most important and then give it all you've got." - Lee Iacocca.
All the best
Allan Gardyne
