In my recent post, Now I can get going!, I mentioned as my next step is to create an affiliate marketing site. The first question that comes to mind is, “How do I do that?” I have subscribed to a newsletter from Dr. Andy Williams called ezSEO. I always liked Dr. Andy’s detailed and methodical approach to doing things and remembered that he had a course for creating fat affiliate sites in WordPress.  Since I build all my sites using WordPress, I thought I would check out Andy’s course to see if it could teach me how to create profitable affiliate sites.

His course is called WordPress for Affiliate Sites.  It is a subscription course that costs $47 per month and runs for about five months.  It does have an option to purchase the entire course at once, but there are a couple reasons to subscribe monthly.

• Course modules are presented on a schedule of about one a week.  This is the right pace if you are doing this course on a part-time basis.
• There is a 14-day money back guarantee offered with the monthly option.  This is not available if you purchase the whole course.

On the flip side, if you are able to focus and do this full time, then purchasing the whole course might be right for you.

Each lesson comes with a PDF guide, video, and action plan.  Some lessons also come with a mind map. I just finished the first lesson. The PDF is 18 pages long, so it was easy to read in a short setting. The video is just short of 37 minutes long.  You can complete the first step on the action plan in about an hour. I did this today, Saturday, and then planned the remaining activities for the rest of the week.  Following this approach, I can make progress toward my goal every week!

I also want to mention that the quality of the materials is very good. You can definitely tell the skill, knowledge, and experience that Andy applied in making this course.  If you are wanting to setup quality affiliate sites, I definitely recommend that you give WordPress for Affiliate Sites a try for the 14 day guarantee period.  I am going to see it through to completion.

A couple weeks ago I laid out some steps I am taking with my on-line business.  The first one was to update the look and feel of this website.  I am happy to announce that the major work is done!  I used the DynaBlue WordPress theme designed by WebDesignLessons.com.  I must say that I am really pleased with this theme.   Here are some of my favorite features:

• Google Adsense integration
• Ready for Twitter
• Nice graphics for RSS and Twitter
• Configurable ads in sidebar and header
• Contact form
• Featured post carousel
• Big text
• My daughter said it looks professional!

One upgrade I wanted to accomplish was to add polish to my email opt-in form.  I always felt that the standard forms from Aweber didn’t look too good.  I really liked Lynn Terry’s form, so I started poking around the SSWT forum looking for clues.  Well, she pointed me to where she got the graphic! (I didn’t intend on picking the same color that she did, but blue is what matched the new theme.)

I want to share with you where I got the custom email opt-in form.  It is part of a great offer containing 120 Squeeze Page Designs.  When you follow this link, you will have the opportunity to get 2 free squeeze page templates.  One is an email opt-in form and the other is an optimized squeeze page.  Here’s where it gets good.  For only $37 you can have the full 120 Squeeze Page Templates.  You could not even get the email opt-in form completed by a web designer for that price!  I think it is a great deal.  (Of course, I bought it!) It is so important to have a good, Web 2.0, look to your web pages in order to increase opt-in rates.  This package will definitely help you with that!

All in all, I am glad that this step toward building on-line income is complete.  It is time to move on to step 2 – launching my first affiliate marketing site.  I’ll keep you updated along the way.

My thanks to Robert Plank for his comment last night to my post called When can you quit your day job?.  At the close of that post I said, “I’m not quite ready to answer these questions yet. I will start thinking about them.” Robert replied, ““Start” thinking about them? Why not just answer them?” He is exactly right.  It was a push when I needed one. How will I ever accomplish anything unless I do something.  You have to be a “doer!”

Robert is a great example.  He is a high-energy “doer.”  Robert has published a great resource called Time Management on Crack.  It’s all about becoming productive and getting the right things done, right now.  This package includes a 22 page report (packed with information), four videos, and some exceptional bonus content.

Everyone is busy.  You can either decide to work more, or decide to get more done in the time you have.  Time Management on Crack gives you the knowledge, techniques, and motivation to do just that.