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JuggleNow Update, December 2008 
What's new with me? Well, I'm in a very enjoyable predicament... My most exciting news is that I'm NOT working on my jugglenow site! OK, that's not completely true. I'll add a new page here and there and process Content 2.0 submissions (SBI!'s "mini-combination" of Wikipedia, MySpace and Flickr). But for the most part... My site is on "auto-pilot"! Jugglenow.com has such a strong base that the traffic keeps coming (and growing!) without me having to do much work. Oh sure, I still have to pack and ship orders every day, but the hard part of building a business -- pulling in and converting targeted traffic -- is in place, thanks to SBI!. I was a bit worried about the economy's downhill turn, but as I get into my busiest time of the year, the upcoming seasonal holidays, traffic stats are better than last year, as are sales. Of course, I would have liked more growth, but even in these tight times, it looks like people are still finding me and they are still willing to spend their money on my site. My AdSense income is also WAY up from what it's been in the past. Of the new pages that I have added, most have been about Cirque du Soleil. Juggling is always featured in their shows, so it's a fun way to expand my site's content. Plus, THE best part is that over the past year, A'Lona and I got to see 6 Cirque shows in 4 different locations - Montreal, Cincinnati, Columbus, and Las Vegas. And the fun doesn't stop...With several great keywords related to the shows still waiting for me to write about, and a bunch of shows that we haven't seen yet, the Cirque du Soleil will be an ongoing source of content. One thing I've noticed this past year is the big growth in traffic that I'm getting through image searches! For example, I took lots of pictures while I was at the Cirque shows (including a backstage tour in Las Vegas) and integrated them into the site. Of course, I make it a point to name each image with the most appropriate keyword. I love checking out SBI!'s Keyword Image Searches Report to see which images brought me visitors in the past 90 days. 
As I think about 2008... I realize that having an (almost) self-running jugglenow site frees up my time to do other things. SBI! continues to be something that A'Lona and I can share, so I still help her with her sites. We even brought SBI! with us on a trip to New York City. We were able to wear our site-branded shirts during a taping session for Good Morning America TV. (And we got to meet the two hosts afterwards.) I also have a new site in the works called PuppetsNow.com (part of my branding strategy). My next update will include details about its development. Paying It ForwardI saved my best "free time" news to the last... I've been teaching SiteSell Education's SBI! course at Thomas More College (where I continue to teach full-time). I have another class starting after the holidays and I am looking forward to helping my students (all ages, with different experiences too) build their new e-businesses. It's so exciting and rewarding to witness others as they follow the process and discover the power of SBI!, something that I was lucky enough to have found 7 years ago. So thanks Ken and SiteSell for helping me NOT worry about a declining economy! And for making my business sites never feel like "work"! Best wishes, |
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