An interesting lesson today.  I have been developing a number of sites using phpBAY Pro as an alternative to BANS.  This morning I noticed none of the sites were displaying auctions.  I assumed a problem with the feed from eBay but no, BANS sites are all up and running.

I thought a visit to the phpBay forum may shed some light but, interestingly, this is offline as well.  My conclusion at this stage is that Wade’s server has gone down and as a result the phpBay license is not validating and therefore returning no listings.

This is a cautionary note and I will investigate further but I really don’t like the thought that this plugin is validated via a third party before pulling the feed of a different third party.  As things stand I cannot generate any revenue from my phpBAY sites at the busiest time of the year and I cannot find out what is going on.  Another eventful day in the life of an internet marketer.

With the now well documented EPN problems I decided I ought to sign up to Pepperjam – just in case!  That was two months ago.  I chased Pepperjam today only to be advised that they wouldn’t be reviewing applications until Q1.  Presumably this is because they have been deluged with applicants that eBay couldn’t/wouldn’t accept.  What a mess and a bit of a reputation damage for Pepperjam to boot.

Anybody having similar issues?

Well well well who’d have believed it.  Back in August I wrote a post bemoaning the effort I had put forth for a minimal return.  For anyone new reading this blog I had spent 5 months working 60 hours plus per week and was generating just $600 per month.  My sites had started being dropped by Google at a pace which quickened month on month leaving me with just 5.  Google traffic died and I couldn’t get ranked in MSN Live for love nor money.   Things were not looking good.

Yahoo appeared my only savior so I put forth a little effort and a month or so later my Yahoo rankings started to improve.  Now come the end of November Yahoo accounts for 90% of the traffic to my sites and my earnings for November have been a phenomenal $3,750.  Yep, you read that right month on month my earnings have risen and this month my traffic doubled in the last 10 days of November resulting in a record day (I think there were actually 4 this month).    Yesterday my sites generated $360 which was a great performance.

The odds were stacked in my favor this month the holiday season being in full flow and November comprising 5 weekends so I reckon I’ll struggle to top these figures for the next couple of months but heck I’m still going to celebrate.  Do I qualify as an expert now?  You most be joking.  I am however very proud to have reached the level where I can start living again.  I knew nothing about internet marketing as of Jan 2008 and started to dabble at the end of that month.  I made next to nothing for 3 months discovering BANS in the middle of March.

The funny thing is that had I realized the work involved in BANS I’d probably never have bought it.  I didn’t know where to start and it was Mark Hansen over at thenichestorebuilder.com that taught me what I needed to know and got me through it.  I’ve bought him a couple of beers but I think I owe him a crate.  Mark you are a superstar and I can’t thank you enough.

So what next? Is it just a case of keeping on doing what’s working and getting better and better results?  Well that’s not as easy a question to answer as it might sound.  I am acutely aware that the web evolves at a frightening speed.  What works today can easily stop working tomorrow and watching the majority of your websites get thrown out of the index by Google is pretty unsettling.

I fully intend to diversify next year.  I am able to outsource more work now and in addition to my super sites which use phpBay pro I will continue to build BANS sits for Yahoo and move in to a couple of new areas.  I good do with selling a few Clickbank products as I’ve got about $800 tied up with them that they won’t release so maybe a bit of PPC is in order.  Who knows?  I’ll leave that until January though.

So if anyone doubts you can make money online don’t.  If anyone thinks you can do it quickly stop deluding yourself.  I had no choice.  I’d lost my job and couldn’t get another without relocating.  My wife had a good job herself and wanted to stick with it.  As a result I had to make this work.  Todays result is a culmination of 9 months of 60 hour weeks.  This time next year I hope to report that figure is $10,000 per month but I also have to prepared for the fact it might be $1000 or less.

On a separate note I’ve learnt that much now about SEO & SEM that I even have my first paying client for consulting services.  Wish me luck.

If anyone has any questions then please leave a comment and I promise I’ll reply in person.