Mr Beach Bum.com

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. The holiday season is always a busy one, even for a beach bum. I was recently talking to some fellow bloggers and it amazed me that a lot of them have no idea what Cyber Monday is. Many of them are familiar with Black Friday but not the other.

For those of you who are not familiar with either one, let me tell you. In the U.S. we celebrate Thanksgiving tomorrow. Now most Americans get tomorrow off as a paid holiday. Some of the lucky ones get both Thursday and Friday off (paid)  but many still will take a day off Friday regardless. I don’t know how long this tradition has been around but for as long as I can remember the day after Thanksgiving (always falling on a Friday) has been known as Black Friday.

The reason it’s called Black Friday is because it is a day that retailers consider their busiest - thus they are typically “in the black” as opposed to being in the red to use accounting slang. Basically the retailers see their biggest profits that day. This has resulted in fierce competition between retailers and what amounts to an even bigger tradition for the day which involves offering up huge discounts on items (loss leaders, if you will) to get people to come to your store instead of others.

One more big tradition for Black Friday is to get up extremely early and wait in line for the stores to open. The stores typically open early on Black Friday. Most as early as 6 AM but I have seen ads for some claiming to open at 4 AM. Sheesh! You can expect huge crowds of people and fights over the last of the big sale items before they run out, etc.

Given all that, if you’re like me, you try to stay away from that scene. I like to shop online anyway. Which is where Cyber Monday comes in… In recent years it has become a tradition for online retailers to offer up some big savings and incentives to get people to shop online on the Monday after Thanksgiving. Cyber Monday is November 26. Still plenty of time to get your packages shipped in time for Christmas and a great way to get online shoppers to place mega orders on one huge online shopping day. So where do you come in?

Well, if you’re an affiliate marketer than you are already ready for Cyber Monday. Right?… RIGHT?!!?!??

If not, you’d better get crackin’ and get some of those Cyber Monday deals posted on your websites ASAP!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone and thanks for being a loyal reader!

Do you know how many days there are until Christmas? If you do, then you likely are keenly aware of exactly how little time you have to get all of your affiliate links ready for the holidays. If you’re lucky, you’ve maybe got one or two weekends left to overhaul your site in time for Christmas. Halloween sales are already starting to slow down and the retailers will be putting up their Christmas goodies any day now - you should be doing the same.

I make most of my affiliate dollars during this time of year so if you haven’t seen a post on here in awhile it’s because that keeps me very busy. Many of my sites are just about ready so let this be a reminder to you if you need to be doing the same. Don’t miss out on the Christmas rush, especially if this is your first holiday season as an affiliate marketer. Also be ready with the after Christmas specials when the time comes and you’ll probably see some serious profits!

If you’re an affiliate marketer, or especially if you’re new to the game, now is the prime time for you to get ready for the big wave. It may not be on everyone’s mind yet, but the Christmas season is coming sooner than you think. This means that Christmas shopping is just around the corner and now is the time for you to plan your strategies.

I’ve personally found November to be the biggest month overall but even the late shoppers in December are quite helpful to the bottom line. But why not be ready for the early birds too? When do you start shopping? Did you ever wonder why brick and mortar retailers already have their halloween stuff out now? Shouldn’t you offer up some Halloween related links too?

These are just some things to hopefully get you to start your engines now and get ready for the big race! It’s coming and now that summer is just about done it will be here soon - so be ready for it and it will pay off big time for you!

Some of you may notice that we now have a tag at the end of our posts that says “If you liked this post, buy me a Mai Tai”. Yes it may seem a bit cheesy but it is actually a bit of a test. This happens to be a WordPress plugin called “buy me a beer” which I have slightly altered. I really just find it comical but many blogs swear by it. So if you have a WordPress blog, go ahead and check it out. The plugin is free (unless you want to buy the author a beer) and you can set it up for coffee as well if you like-or completely alter like I have, but the Mai Tai is my idea! Have fun and see if it works well for you. Go to WordPress or click here to download the plugin for your blog. Now, buy me a Mai Tai. I’m thirsty!

Myspace is one of the newest forms of marketing available on the web - so why not make it work for you? Here is a great program to check out if you want to learn how to utilize Myspace in your online business strategy. And feel free to comment if you are already using Myspace in your strategy - I’d like to hear your success stories.

P.S. - I always like it when they show people relaxing on the beach. That is the goal people!