Well this seems to be the tradition at this time of the year to look back at your “best of” posts of the previous year. In fact its not a bad idea because internal linking is really a good idea – and hey some of your visitors may even find some benefit.
To (mis)-quote Dickens it was the best of times, it was the worst of times…
My optimistic 2009 goals are a fairly embarassing example of now NOT to goal set – they are too vague, not tied to abig picture aim really – but at least I had some. I did at least realise that yes, you can make $1000/month with Adsense
This post was pretty much when I hit rock bottom with my hopes for making passive income online – I figured out that all the options were worse than bad – and oddly enough once I understood that if I didn’t believe in my business no one else would things really turned a corner – mainly because of one my worst written posts ever!
May was the month of the infamous 100 hubs challenge and although I boosted my hubpage earnings significanty. They have since dropped quite a lot – not without first making me quite a few thousand dollars though! I intend to revive some of my formerly successful hubs – possibly as mini-sites or on Infobarrel
As the year progress I slowly realised that I had to more and more treat this online adventure as an online business (one of my better posts I think). I’d even worked out that I could build a legitimate online business and sell stuff online without feeling like I needed a shower!
By the end of September I actually had some online income which needed management! By October I had written my first e-book on buying and selling websites
At the end of the day – Ican’t imagine a better lifestyle than the one I have now – it is definitly worth trying to make an income online.
Good ideas I still use
Keyword Academy – I still use their prinicpals for keyword research – in general – I am not totally convinced on their backlink startegy but if that program had been available a year earlier it would have saved me a year of heartache and made me a lot more than the cost of membership!
An Alternative to WordPress – anyone who has more than 2 or 3 blogs will no that WordPress needs constant updating – not the content the bloody software – Mystarterblog is ideal for easy to maintain, niche blogs
If you can’t be bothered reading all of Grizz’s blog (allow a week) – then Janet has summarised his methods in her Nomad’s Guide to Make Money Online
Online Backup – this really does work seamlessly – after the initial setup – any file I add or modify is backed up the next time I’m online – for free!
Not such good ideas from 2009
Entrecard destroys your search traffic
So have you done a year summary for your blog? If so feel free to leave a link in the comments below!
27 replies on “Passive Income Online: Best Posts of 2009”
Lissie,
As you look back you may not always get the same feelings that you felt at the time and that is just growth. I have always enjoyed reading your posts and hearing your comments.
You sure have helped me grow in knowledge and action over 2009 and I know that you will get where you want to be just for the fact that you take action and get it done.
That one component is the secret that everyone want’s to know and it is obvious but then who pays attention nowadays?
Wishing you a prosperous 2010 and beyond!
Happy New Year,
Dirk
It’s really great for your online business. I am just a new one to start this business, i don’t really know how to get started with a successful plan. Would you mind to let me know some tips, so that we can succeed together?
Read the blog “bestboy” – follow some of the recommendations -the only person that can let you succeed is yourself
Happy New Year Lissie.
I have always enjoyed reading your blog and know that you will continue to have great success.
Now that your move is complete, I hope you are happy in your new home and I wish you all the money making success for 2010.
I hope that this time next year I too will be reaping in £1,000s rather than £100s per month.
Happy new Decade!!!
TTC
That is quite the list and thankfully I remember most of the posts. Some were a good refresher. Congrats on the success you had over the last year and to more continued success in twenty-ten. It is a lot of fun to look back over the last year or two and see how much we’ve learned and grown. I laugh when I read my first few blog posts. ha. Cheers.
Hey Lissie! Happy new year and all that stuff. Great to read your year in review and to go back to some of last year’s posts. You’ve come a long way! I, unfortunately, am heading in the wrong direction but given the amount of internet work I have been doing I can’t really complain.
All the best for 2010!
That’s quite a year you had for 2009. I totally agree with your post about the need to believe in your own business, because no one else will. So many people miss that simple fact, and look for things to just be easy and fall in their lap, without knowing it’s really all up to them.
Hey Lissie –
You said that you’re not totally sold on TKA’s backlink strategy. Do you have another strategy/method that you use? I’d love to hear more about it. Always looking for more ideas!
Grats on the move and good luck to you in 2010.
I don’t like blogroll exchanges – I don’t like revealing my niches and I don’t believe that they are worth much in terms of link value. Also their core system emphasies Unique Article Wizard as the preferred an article distribution program, but I don’t think its any better or worse than several others (but it does pay a good commission). Also they claim to be very “white hat” – but article distribution isn’t so they are confusing newbies on that point somewhat.
The biggest issue is that EVERYONE following the TKA method word for word is creating a similar link profile – that’s risk full stop. Google is in all out war against those of us who it thinks is “gaming the system”. In fact there is an interesting recent patent by them which talks about how it identifies artifical link profiles (its an extremely heavy read but worth it)
Too fool an algorithm – you need to act like a human – you need to act random … mix it up is the best advice I have for linking strategies, and remember taht you competitors can only analysis your site’s first 1000 links – so confuse them as well 🙂
I think all your stuff is “best” because you are a real person learning and growing online just like me. I think that is why this passive income blog and your entire business in general is flourishing. So, for me, the best part of 2009 was working with people like you Lis.
happy new year!
AL
Ah shucks Allyn – you know if I start having the gazillions rolling in you are going to have to show me the “windy city” (can’t be as windy as my windy city) and some 1/2 decent American beers LOL
Hi Lis,
my first visit to your blog but certainly not my last!
Why was it you felt your post on SBI was your worst ever? I’m a bit of an on-line novice and nearly got sucked in by their claims myself a few months ago. Luckily I asked a few questions which they were clearly reluctant to answer so I steered well clear. Myself, I think that post is both valuable and honest.
I usually don’t make factual errors (regarding whether or not you own your actual domain name) – which I did in the first version of the post (you – – also it was riddled with typos which I corrected subsequently LOL
Frankly I expected it to be read by the usual 2.5 people who came to the blog at the time – instead quite a few more found it 🙂
Hi Lis! What an awesome site you have here. Your site led me to Grizz’s site, which led me to his other 2 blogs, which led me to, etc. etc. You get the idea. Needless to say, I’m a bit overwhelmed at this point with information overload. I’ve been researching, but need to get to the doing phase. I can handle all the tech stuff (I’m in IT), but I’m getting lost in all the marketing (finding niches, getting backlinks, writing articles, not duplicating content, not angering google, etc.).
I know this is something I can pickup fast and excell at. I’m just totally overwhlemed at this point. There seems to be so much information. I’m trying to figure out the workflow – the process of rinse and repeat until that niche is found. Please help!
@Jim yeah the tech has never scared me either – trust me the marketing stuff is a whiole lot harder – on account of it dealing with people – electrons are easy to corral in the right direction! I recommend the keyword academy because it offers a step by step – finding the right keywords is key – if you don’t do that it s like buiding a system based on the wrong set of business requirements – and you know how badly that turns out!
For a dollar I suppose it can’t hurt! That’s definitely where I’m at right now. I’m trying to figure out how to evaulate various keywords. The Google keyword tool has been a great help in this, but I’m still working it out. Do you recommend any tools to help with this process? That keyword elite looks neat, but I don’t have the cash right now. I shot an email off to Griz about this as well.
I still find it hard to believe that there are decent people out there willing to help others get started. Many thanks.
Keyword Academy is definitely worth the money! I am still on the $1 trial version, but I have learned so much that I think it was worth 4 more zeros behind it. Good luck in 2010!
Hi Lis,
I have visited your site the first time and I find your blog and your success story very interesting. I wish you a great year in 2010 too and hope to learn from your success story more. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Liz,
Stumbled here quite accidentally (your blog showed up on my equivalent of keyword academy as a top ten blog for one of the keywords I am fighting for …lol…)
Cool stuff … I think I am today where you were at this time last year! …. so there is hope, and yes, I spent some time on Griz’ blog 🙂
Wishing your continued success in 2010 and beyond!
best………….valentina
ps … yes, I did a review of my 2009
http://www.blogincomelife.com/reflections-on-2009-and-on-things-yet-to-come/
not sure if its kosher to put the link in the comment section – of course if I transgress and trespass I understand if this post is not approved 🙂 🙁
best…………valentina
Welcome Valentina – no problem with the link I’m slightly surprised I haven’t had more 🙂
Hi Lis,
I found your comment on Hospitalera’s blog and decided to visit yours.
It looks like you had quite a successful 2009. I enjoyed reading this post and will follow some of the links to read your other posts.
You are helpful in your answers to comments. I appreciate your emphasis on keyword research.
I’ll be visiting again.
Have a very prosperous 2010
Vance
Welcome Vance – nice example of a comment that gets approved 🙂
I have to say, you supplied some great links. I went through the Keyword Academy a while ago; I think I need a refresher – I want to re-review their link building techniques (yeah, I trust your word).
Congrats on you online income that needs management! I hope to be there soon…thanks to your posts.
It was a nice read and I guess you had a great year of 2009.I have followed your links and that’s why leaving this comment to say thanks to you !
Lissie, thanks so much for eing honest and upfront about meeting and not meeting some goals. It is incredibly supportive to know there are people out there with talent and perseverance and with posts like these I trust what they’re saying is real! I look forward to reading more. Cheers! GM
Awesome collection Lis, going to read a few I’ve missed now!
Will keep on reading in 2010 as I need to take passive income seriously now my savings have gone!
Happy new year!