It has been almost eight months since my wife and I signed up my little daughter for her first swimming lesson. And even though I’ve witnessed her triumphs and her struggles every step of the way, I’m still shocked and amazed that my baby girl is now practically swimming on her own. After all, she’s only 3 years old and it’s crazy how far she has come in just a short period of time.

If you saw her in a swimming pool today, you would think that she always loved the water and that swimming came naturally to her, but it was actually the complete opposite.

I still remember the first time I stepped into the swimming pool with her when she was scared to death and shivering with fright. Every splash of water that touched her caused her to scream as if acid was burning her skin. …

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Ever since I posted my article on Why Etsy Stores Are At A Disadvantage Compared To Online Stores That Own Their Domain, I’ve been meaning to show everyone how easy it is to install a free open source shopping cart.

These days, there are many open source shopping carts out there that are completely free and very feature rich.

You simply have to sign up for a web host, download and install the free shopping cart and you are almost ready to go.

So today, I thought that I’d give a mini tutorial on how to install Open Cart which is one of the open source shopping carts I recommend in my free 6 day mini course on how to create a niche online store.

Open Cart is an incredible shopping cart that is easy to use and has an elegant back end interface with which to manage your orders and products. Did …

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When I first started my online store, I had a master search engine optimization plan that I believed was fundamentally sound. The plan was to buy my search engine traffic using Google Adwords for my main keyword terms while simultaneously improving my organic search rankings through link building.

Then, once I managed to organically rank on the front page of search, I would gradually cut back on my Adwords spend and eventually rely solely on organic search to bring customers in the door. Not a bad strategy right?

While my plan sounded great on paper, when I looked at my Google Analytics statistics coupled with my search results, I knew this strategy wasn’t going to cut it if I wanted to maximize the profits of my online store. Please allow me to explain.

The photo below is a search for a keyword term that my store currently ranks …

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As part of my weekly regimen, I like to read and participate in various small business forums and one of my favorites is the Etsy forum. For all of you who have never heard of Etsy, Etsy is a marketplace for do it yourself and handmade goods. Similar to Ebay, Etsy provides an easy way for talented crafters and artists to sell the fruits of their labor.

The reason I like reading the Etsy forums is because most if not all Etsy users are casual shopowners who have a strong desire to make some extra money on the side.

Many Etsy users would eventually like to quit their day jobs. Many Etsy users have the desire to launch their own full blown online stores but are afraid of the technical and marketing challenges in doing so.

Anyways, I was reading the forums the other day and noticed more complaints …

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This is a guest post by James McLaughlin. James is a New Jersey based ecommerce marketing expert that helps small businesses achieve big results online. James has worked at Fortune 500 companies developing ecommerce marketing strategies that drive well above average growth. You can contact James at James@SupremeROI.com or find him on Linkedin by clicking here.

One of the biggest challenges in starting your online store is advancing through the ever-evolving landscape of building a website that converts sales and attracts visitors to the site to purchase.

Knowledge is power in this sense, but testing your knowledge in the real world and learning from others who have done it are much more valuable. You need the mind-set to learn it, and follow through with blind enthusiasm.

Luckily we have resources like Steve at MyWifeQuitHerJob.com to share his experience and insight on how to create a profitable online store that supports a family …

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Every year, my wife and I hire a professional photographer to take pictures of the kids and the family. While this is not cheap, it’s something we like to do because the kids are growing up so fast and we want to have photos for every stage of their development.

What’s funny is that hiring a photographer is only a small portion of the overall cost. Buying all new matching outfits for the kids and my wife is what tears a hole in my pocketbook and gives me heartburn.

For all of you who know me well, I’m pretty cheap and seeing the clothing costs for these photo shoots makes me want to faint. In fact, I don’t even bother checking the credit card bills during this time because I’m that terrified.

The other day, my wife was shopping online at a kids clothing “boutique” and probably spent a …

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My wife just closed the books on our mid year numbers(January – June) and profits are up in the double digits again. I say this every year but my wife and I are constantly amazed by how our little business continues to grow and expand.

Seriously folks, there’s nothing particularly exciting about our online store on the surface. We sell wedding hankies and linen napkins primarily to the wedding and event planning industry. Nothing big! Our niche is very small but it happens to be a part of a very large and lucrative market that is insensitive to price.

Part of the reason why my wife and I are always surprised with our numbers is because these yearly increases are compounded annually.

If we have a great year like last year where we grew 44%, then it’s that much harder the following year to show similar growth.

At …

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Last week, I received an email from Amazon.com informing me that they just cancelled their affiliate program in California effective immediately. They provided very little notice and in just one day, my Amazon affiliate account became worthless. Now I make a decent amount money with affiliate marketing for various business services, but what if I relied entirely on Amazon.com as my primary income source? I’d be screwed.

After running MyWifeQuitHerJob.com for several years now, I’ve fielded many questions about how to open an online store and how to put up niche affiliate sites. And whenever someone asks me for advice, I almost always advocate creating an online store as opposed to going down the path of making a pure affiliate website.

The problem is that most people are attracted to the prospect of creating a niche affiliate site due to the passive nature of the …

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