As we enter the final weeks of 2005, you are undoubtedly hunting for gifts. While these are obvious year end considerations, you should also be reviewing your business strategy for 2006.

Business Strategy – 2005

Whether your fiscal year ends in December or doesn’t, the end of the month is a good time to take stock of how things went in 2005. While the old saying is “time flies”, it is particularly true for businesses. Business owners tend to be fixated on two to three month time periods. As a result, they can fail to see developments over longer periods of time.

After you’ve taken care of all your holiday gift purchases, you should have some down time in the last two weeks of the month. Business tends to slow down as people deal with the holidays, travel to see family and so on. This is the perfect time to go back and consider the business year. Specifically, you should focus on where your business was in January 2005. What were your goals at that time? Did you meet them during the year? If not, why? You will almost always be surprised when you realize how the business developed over the last year. This global view can give you a better perspective and evaluation of how things are going.

Many people sign up for affiliate programs with the hopes of  making some serious money.  They advertise a few places and then wait for the money to start pouring in.  When it doesn’t, they blame it on the program and quit.

I am convinced the only way to make money online is to have a consistent Advertising plan.  A plan you are willing to work hard on and commit to for a selected period of time. When making this plan, you  need to do two things.   First, you should pick a few affiliate programs that are of interest to you.  Second,  you need to decide how long you want to work these programs.  Once you decide on a time period (I recommend 6 months to a year), you must make a promise to yourself that you will not stop advertising until that time period is up.  This is perhaps the most important factor in your success.

Next, you need to consider your advertising options: traffic exchanges, classified ads, e-mail campaigns, ezine articles, posting to forums or message boards, chatting with others who are interested in what you have to offer, and posting flyers around your town.  Now you see the many possible advertising avenues you can choose from.  I recommend doing all of them.  It may sound like a lot of work, but when broken down into a plan, it is not.