Just in case you haven't seen my link below...here is an official invitation to come and visit my blog...Lionmom's Musings Follow my posts on revamping some of my sites. Progress is slow, but it is progressing.

Come and enjoy!! So, what are you waiting for? Come - leave a comment!

Also see my Victorian Antiques site and Blog at: Victorian Antique Shop Blog Come on over!

And check out my Twitter page: Follow Me On Twitter

I am Shamelessly putting this information anywhere I can. I am selling my house in Olympia, WA (a Really Beautiful City) and moving to Salem, OR. My House Info

If you are moving in this direction, consider Olympia. If you are considering Olympia, consider my house. It is a really nice 2 story - 3br 2 1/2ba home with family room, formal dining room and covered patio. It is perfect for gardeners and has raised beds in our Zone 8 climate (yes, you read that right) Check out our house information on my blog with links to the complete broker information. My House Info (MLS #28157458)

Come visit my lens here:

My Beautiful Olympia WA House Is For Sale The house is really nice and open with a good size yard and gardens. I am working through a broker, but hey, if I can do something to help the sale along, I will do it. So come on over, send a friend or just wish me luck. A funny thing happened as my housemate found mention of a tradition of burying a statue of St. Joseph in the ground for luck in selling a house. So, she sent for the statue which arrived today. I'll have to wait for her to bury it, since it would not be seemly for a nice Jewish girl to do it. I'll keep you posted how that goes.

BANS - Build a Niche Store is an easy Niche Store builder for EBay. It is easily customizable; and best of all, you can earn commissions on EBay products and Not Stock Them Yourself I have been a member for a short time and have already seen increasing sales from my stores (5 sales in three days in the end of December and increasing. By February and I had made more this month than all my previous months put together. By early March I had hit the first payout level from Commission Junction. Before we migrated to EBay's own Affiliate program I had tripled that amount in one month. In the first week of the EBay Affiliate program, I made almost that much in just one week. By the end of the second month of the EBay Affiliate program, and I have made as much in lastthis one month as in all of the previous months put together (9mos)(We are still working on this month, which looks good as well.) This last month I made the most I have ever made in one month. It just keeps getting better. Even with the current economic downturn, I am still making money. I am very happy!!

One of the best things I have found is the incredible bulletin board. It is a vibrant community and people on the board are very helpful in answering questions about building your site and in providing support. There are also several very good blogs by members with good info and community.

One of the best things is, I'm having fun!

***ANNOUNCEMENT: BANS Version 3.0 is Here!!!***

There are a whole set of new features, including the ability to set the maximum and minimum prices of items to display, several new templates, expanded markets into new countries and even local markets, automatic sitemap generation and more. In case you didn't know, updates to the software are always free! A few glitches in the latest version, but those kinks have pretty much gotten worked out.

I now have All of my websites updated to Version 3.0 . This version is really great. I love being able to set the minimum price item that can display, and I love the fact that the product links to the sellers are masked in this new version.

Well, if you are already using BANS, you know that the Affiliate program has migrated from Commission Junction to EBay's own Affiliate program. So far so good. The interface is easier to use than CJ and the reports seem to come in faster. I think I like it! I seem to be capturing stats faster and in greater numbers. The commissions seem to be up as well.

Well, a new alternative to Ebay Partner Network EPN now exists --- Pepperjam. Some of the folks on the BANS Forum are happy with it. I haven't tried it yet, but plan to run a test, and migrate several sites over to Pepperjam and see what happens. I just applied for it today and got accepted to the program. I will try setting up at least one of my stores tomorrow. Still working on getting my store set up for PJ. -- trouble with the computer. Looks better now, but too late to work on it.

Check out this great product!



Have you heard all the hoopla about Pepperjam? Looks like EBay made an agreement with Pepperjam to allow us the option of having our stores tracked through Pepperjam. (ie. Independent tracking) A lot of people think this is really a great idea. So, I decided to run a site or two under Pepperjam. I downloaded the updated software and loaded it. After a rocky start, (and probably some errors of my own), it is finally working correctly. So far, I have noticed little difference in the number of impressions or clicks (not that I really expect to). What is different is the report itself. Some aspects of it seem less detailed, while others more detailed (ie. which links are getting clicked on). I do like it so far, but we will see.

Well, here it is almost the end of the month and I am finding that this has been the best commission month ever!! Looks like EPN is doing a better job of tracking, because my stats are up--Wayyy Up!!!This is getting better and better.

So just what are the steps to setting up a BANS site?

1. Purchase the Software BANS-Build a NicheStore($97.00)
2. Get a Domain (Go Daddy has inexpensive domains. The control panel is easy to work with too. It is easier to change the DNS settings.)
3. Select a Niche (Mark Hansen describes how he selects a Niche and sets up a store on his blog)
4. Set up a Web Hosting Account
(See Hostgator- BANS moderators provide some support for Hostgator when you are stuck)
5. Set up and account with EBay Partner Network
You not longer set up Commission Junction Account as the affiliate program has migrated to EBay. CJ. will still function until the end of April, but signups should be through EBay. I would Still sign up for Commission Junction, though, in case you want to monitize your site with other programs.
6. Install BANS (The software package comes with a tutorial that takes you step-by-step, and the online community provides support if you have problems.)
7. Customize your BANS Site (Change colors, add graphics, integrate into some blog sites, use ready made templates.....the list goes on)
8. Promote your Bans Site - Use social networking sites like Digg (I got registered with Google really fast after going onto Digg)
9. Earn Commissions - It has taken about nine months, but I am now earning some fairly regular commissions, and they are increasing in amount.
10. Build More BANS Sites (I now have fourteen sites and am optimizing four of them)
11. Become BANS Addicted (I already am!!)(I now have 14 stores and am working on an 15th...Check them out below)
12) Promote your stores even more through starting your own blog. I finally did, though the site is still very much in its infancy. Check it out at lionmom100.com This is something I am just learning.
13) Attach a blog to your niche stores to provide constantly updating content. I also now have a blog attached to one of my stores Victorian Antique Shop



So why not join BANS-Build A Niche Store as an affiliate and get BANS addicted. And make money selling other people's stuff!

The new trend for BANS is to combine the BANS store with a Wordpress Blog for constantly fresh content. I have done this with one of my stores and have seen some increased traffic. (So far, this is a work in progress.)

So far, I have twelve stores. Please feel free to visit them and leave comments or even purchase something.

My new project is not yet even a store yet. If you don't know Mark Hansen, get to know him. His blog The Niche Store Builder is a wealth of information about finding niches and developing niche stores. Mark is starting a new series on thoroughly developing a niche and niche store from reseach to finished and optimized store over the course of a month. I plan to follow the series. At the end of the month (or maybe before) you will see another new store listed here. His series is getting to be interesting and focuses on setting up stores and combinging them with a Wordpress blog. I have done this with one of my store and have seen a slight increase in traffic. With more practice, I hope to get more. The series is providng to be very interesting. I don't have my new store developed yet, but stay tuned.......

My Victorian Antique's site now has a blog. For a chance to see opinion and discussions about Victorian antiques see" Victorian Antique Shop Blog

Stay tuned, I am also adding a blog to my Elvis Collectible Store. So far, not much is there, but I am working on that.

I just started a blog too! (As if Squidoo doesn't act as one.)

See Lionmom's Musings for my take on everything from BANS to Gardening. This is quite a challenge. Finding plugins I like, is rather fun. And I am having fun.!! I finally got my Feedburner set up, so you can now subscribe to my feed if you like the site. So come by and say Hi! (Oh, and did I say it is a "Do Follow Blog" - but please don't spam me.) So, come on over and say Hi! or comment on a posting!

Madonna Collectible Store is one of my newest stores. Yes, it has Madonna collectibles and even Concert Tickets for current concerts!

Beatles Collectible Store This is my newest store. It features Beatles memorabilia and all things Beatles from the Fab Four.

Elvis Collectible Store The Elvis Collectible Store features Elvis memorabilia and all things Elvis. (I never know there was so much Elvis stuff!) "Elvis Lives!"

Victorian Antique Shop is my Victorian antique store. There are Victorian antique lamps, furniture, jewelry--all things Victorian antique. It is getting faster and faster to get them up. I got the basic design and links put up today.

Art Deco Antique Seller is my eighth store. (Wow! It only took me a week to get another one up) This store features Art Deco Antiques. I love Art Deco.

Antique Lamp Seller This store features antique lamps for sale. You can find lamps from many different periods including Roman, Art Deco and American historical. Find that antique lamp you want!

Antique Clock Seller This is a place to find antique grandfather clocks or beautiful mantle clocks or antique wall clocks. Come on over and check out the selection. This is the First site I built with the new BANS version 3.0. BANS 3.0 is really great and versatile.

Antique Sterling Emporium It features beautiful sterling silver items, including flatware, bowls, plates, candelabras, jewelry and more. If you are looking for silver antiques come and check out my store.

The Dead Sea Spa Products is my beauty products store. It features beauty products made with Dead Sea salts. Use the beauty treatments used by the likes of the Queen of Sheba to make your skin silky smooth.

Hybrid Car Shoppe features a variety of hybrid cars. Are you looking for a hybrid car?? Come on over and see ours. This site now has RSS news feed.

Tea For Two Parlor is my store for a wide variety of teas and tea service. Come on over and satisfy your desire for a beautiful tea set or some aromatic flavored teas. This site now has RSS news feed.

Safe Child Store is my store for child safety products. This site now has RSS news feed.

Mark Hansen at The Niche Store Builder just did a paid review of my above BANS store. I think this review will be helpful to me in learning how to use BANS and SEO optimization.

Keep checking out my store (Safe Child Store) as I make some of the changes he recommended. So far, I have expanded the search categories (by quite a bit and moved around some of the content. I have seen some increase in hits so far and my site has been reindexed by Google to reflect some of the changes. This is getting interesting. I think I am actually starting to understand some of this SEO stuff.

Just a note about combinging a Wordpress Blog with BANS. The trend seems to be going this way. You have fresh content from your own postings and those of people who comment. And when you develop a following, you also have the potential for repeat business. This is a little more labor intensive, but you are also developing a better quality website with more potential. I have already started by converting one of my sites to BANS Plus a Wordpress Blog. Mark Hansen has a whole series on doing this. Check him out!!

Got to Love 30 Minute Backlinks

30 Minute Backlinks - Automated Link Building Tutorial This is a great program for building backlinks. I started with it around the last week in May and already I am seeing results in the number of backlinks I have. I have added toolbars to all of my websites already and have had an increase in backlinks. Now, about three weeks after adding the toolbars, I have noticed a fairly sizeable increase in backlinks. I hope this trend to continue, because it has the possibility of increasing my page ranking and genrating increased traffic. In the one month that I set up the toolbars for each of my sites, I have noticed a large increase in backlinks (about 50-70 per site.) I'm Very Excited about it. Go and check it out for yourself!! I'm still getting links added.

Check out Nichebot

Hey folks, I just discovered this really cool set of tools for doing SEO research. It has Wordtracker and a slew of other tools included in it for a fraction of the price. I am still trying to learn the basics of SEO, and Nichebot has some wonderful tutorials as well as wonderful tools. I am starting to use it and think I am starting to get the hang of it. Try it for a $1.00 introductory fee and then the rates are very reasonable after that.



Use USFreeads For More Traffic

Advertise your site. Ads are free. There is a modest fee for premium membership to US Free Ads. I'm using USFreeAds for all of my sites and have been getting traffic from them. I just paid a very modest price for a "Featured Listing" and increased my exposure even more. I have gotten really good traffic for my recent lens about my house for sale.

Get Unlimited Hosting on Hostgator

For Web Hosting BANS moderators recommend Host Gator and give some techie help referencing them. I use them because I am able to have unlimited websites in one hosting package (as sub-domains) I stopped using them however, to purchase domain names, because Go Daddy is easier to get the DNS server to pointed correctly toward Hostgator. (Even easier than through Hostgator itself.)

Really Cheap Domain Registration on GoDaddy


Purchase Inexpensive Domain Names Here This is Go Daddy least expensive rate. Such a deal! I now use Go Daddy as the choice domain registration service. I have had no problems in doing it and in pointing the DNS servers to where I have my hosting done.
Find current Go-Daddy Discount Codes here.

Education

A basic knowledge of HTML or CSS helps, but there is a WSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor provided to help you customize your website. The following links will help.

. HTML Tutorials
. CSS Tutorials
. Virtual University (vu.org) almost always has really cheap ($18 for 4 classes) online courses in both HTML and CSS (and other stuff, including Paint Shop Pro) Fall classes will begin in November. It's not too late to register.

General Web Tools

. Link Diagnosis is a site I learned about from Mark Hansen. You can find out what other sites are linked to yours. I played around with it for awhile and really like it. There are some other things you can do with it too. Check it out!
. SEO Quake Plugin for Firefox This is a really cool plugin that gives you PR-page rank info of a site, Alexa rating, site age, Whois information and more. I am Loving it!
. Twitter For a micro-blog. Check this out. Say what you have to say to someone in 140 characters or less. Everybody is doing it.
. Instant Article Wizard helps you create articles by utilizing phrases captured from the Web, reorganize them, spiff them up and publish. Do a search on it, read they hype and the detractors and then decide whether it is worth springing for a few bucks. I got it and like it and have written some articles for my websites. (No this is not an affiliate link for them -but I might change my mind later)
. Privacy Policy Generator The search engines like these.
. Try this easy Sitemap Generator This is a fairly easy sitemap generator to work with and does both xml and html sitemaps. It is, however, a static sitemap and not dynamic. (Even though we now have BANS v.3.0 which includes a sitemap generator, it is useful for older versions.)
. Find out where those IP addresses in your stats are from at WHOIS Search
.Google Analytics You will need to sign in and click on Analytics to set it up. It is a wonderful way to track traffic and a bunch of other stuff to your website. All you have to do is copy a piece of html and paste it into your site and Google does the rest.

Graphics

. I just found a REALLY great tool for selecting colors for your BANS sites. Just check out Color My BANS. The tool lets you see the colors you are picking for your site superimposed on a mockup of the template you will use. Then it generates a *.css file for you. It takes awhile to set all the colors, but you can see the results as you go along. I played with it for awhile and WOW!! I use this all the time to get the code for the colors I want. I Love the site!!
.Free color planner to help select your site colors. I have been looking into some information on the psychology of color and what are the best colors to use in websites. I will post more later. It is pretty interesting stuff.

Promoting Your Site

. Caffeinated Content Wordpress Plugin costs a few bucks, but is useful to find information about a subject of interest. It is best to use the information to write your own article, although the plugin can be used to merely insert the quote into your site (not recommended to use it this way for many reasons).
. Wordpress is a blog software. You can download the software and put it on your software. There are all kinds of plugins to customize how your blog runs and templates to govern how it looks. Making your site interactive is a great way to generate traffic for your Niche Stores. I finally broke down and set up a blog on my server. Wordpress has an online, version, but my understanding is that they don't really like you developing commercial sites on their server. You ned to use your own. Also,Google seems to like blogs. They are an excellent way of building content for your site. In fact, some of the current discussion is that we will almost Need blogs attached to our sites or imbedded in our sites to reduce the likelihood that we would be the next victim of another EPN "site dropping" event.
. Comment Kahuna is a piece of software that helps you find high quality "do follow" blogs. I found it very easy to use and best of all, it is free! Posting to high quality "do follow" blogs helps build backlinks for your websites. Enjoy!
. Get Quality Backlinks at Quassia. Promote your site, get credit for intel, learn new things. I have read all kinds of interesting stuff in the Intel evaluation section. (I am getting quite a few hits on my websites through Qassia.)(You get credit for doing this) Join Now!
. Use US Freeads to buy, sell or advertise anything!
.BANS Promo Guide is a useful page written by Getagrip. It has a range of info on submissions to search engines and generating traffic to your BANS stores.

SEO Stuff

. Again, I Really like Nichebot for reasonably priced SEO analysis. I continue to like this resource and use them for my SEO research.
. WEB CEO is a little hard to use, but gives SEO analysis of your website.

Working With BANS Stuff

. The Niche Store Builder is a great site for useful information on using the BANS software and optimizing your BANS websites.
.Check out The Niche Store Builder. Mark Hansen is doing a 12 week class on Building Your Niche Store Empire in 12 Weeks on his blog. If you don't know it already, he is a wealth of knowledge. I know I am following it! Now into about half of the series and I have two new websites, one of which gave me my best commission ever!
.Niche Store Strategies is a site specifically for BANS users and gives a Lot of "How Tos" on different techniques for BANS.
. BANS Toolbar installs right in your browser to help you build your BANS site.
. The last link I took down because the author did. However the information was about finding good niches which I would like to pass on. I really learned from it and will pass this on to you.
a) Go to Ebay Pulse Click on the Category List to find a general category you are interested in. Then click on the actual category in the list. You will find the "hot items" in that category.
b)Do a Google search for that category to find out how much competition there is for the term. The lower the better (less than a million is OK, less than 500,000 is good and less than 100,000 is very good)
c) Now combine your "search term" (with) + "powered by Build a Niche Store" to find out how much competition you have in BANS.
This gives you a rough idea of whether a niche is good or not without using Wordtracker.
d) Now if you like what you see, use Wordtracker or other program to flesh out the niche and go set up your store. Just don't compete with mine (Big grin!)