Selling Hard Goods
JuggleNow Update 2009
For much of the time since my last update, my sites were mostly on auto-pilot and my job was to simply fill orders. But since attending the SBI! Cincinnati Conference last fall, I've been re-discovering the joy of building out my sites, from brainstorming to page creation.
Thanks to lots of tips, advice and encouragement from the attendees, I returned home with some concrete goals for site development, one of which was to set aside time each week just to work on my sites. And while my renewed efforts have been great for boosting traffic and sales, it's been doubly fun to "get back to basics." Ongoing growth really does start with "Content."
Some of my attention is directed at expanding my older sites, JuggleNow.com and ParrotsNow, but the bulk of my energy is focused on my recent site acquisitions:
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Free-Venison-Recipes.com has gone from about 100-200 uniques daily to 2000-3000 daily during peak months. And I've been getting a nice AdSense check from that site every month now.
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UnicycleToday.com has climbed from 20-30 uniques a day to almost 100 daily. I haven't yet started to monetize with it, but it's a great fit with JuggleNow, which already sells unicycles.
All in all in 2009...
The Recession Just Grazed My Business
My 9th Christmas season (usually the busiest time for JuggleNow) produced results that were on par with the previous year. Normally that would have been quite worrisome, but the 2009 economy had hurt so many businesses much harder so I'm happy that my growth was at least stable. I didn't lose any ground.
As the country slowly comes out of the recession, I know that if I work on my sites now, I'll have the biggest season yet next year. (Of course, everyday sales keep me motivated to write more content pages too!)
On the Personal Side
Two main highlights come to mind:
1) I taught another SBI! course in my local college last year and I plan to do one this coming spring.
2) Alona and I didn't travel as much, but my favorite get-away was to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where I grew up.
Alona and I found time to do and see things we really wanted to do, including lots of beach time (my sister joined us!) and a visit to Fayette, a restored mining ghost town nearby. And of course, Alona got a lot more pictures for her SBI! site about the Upper Peninsula.
We also got to spend time with family at my uncle and aunt's summer home and to see visiting relatives from elsewhere.
I always have to thank my SBI! sites for helping to finance those vacations!
Retirement is Creeping Closer
When I was first starting with SBI!, I joked that it was going to allow me to retire comfortably. With that time getting closer, it's no longer any kind of joke. I'm still not ready to retire, but my sites will certainly help me to do that within the next few years.
So once again, thanks Ken, for helping me realize a dream!
Best wishes,
Jim Nelson
http://www.jugglenow.com/
http://www.parrotsnow.com/
http://www.free-venison-recipes.com/
http://www.unicycletoday.com/
