The dream of making lots of money online. Fact or myth ?

[Hock Ng]

[sugarrae]

[Lynn Terry]

[geepgeep]

[netadventures]

[chewbacca]

Hock,

Thanks for asking. Yeah, I'm still alive and kicking. And thanks for the great advise, probably the best advise I received so far.

My main obstacle at the moment is finding time to get started I guess,
with my busy day job and all. And I quote Rae : "this is a full time job and it must be treated as such, especially in the beginning".

I'd like to begin by making content sites with Adsense as you suggested, but building a good content site takes a whole lot of time, even when I'm a professional webdesigner.

Anyway, they say "no pain no gain", I guess that's accurate when starting out with an online business and combining it with you day job.

Greetz,
Alex.

[Hock Ng]

[Lynn Terry]

[chewbacca]

[WAHumor]

[random]

Hi,

Rosalind provides very good information that many wouldn't know otherwise at the time her book came out. There are many people coming online who need guide(s) like hers. I like her ebook because it has a lot of resources. It is useful. Now, as far as making money, sure, marketers promote their own stuff as a way to make even more money. One thing to keep in mind is that these folks were already making money before they decided to share their ideas and expertise. Sharing and selling ebooks is an extension of their marketing and it is also a great way to develop name recognition. If you get to a point where you've solidified your name online, then huge profits can and often follow. I guess they make money both ways, with their own personal marketing plans/programs and with their own ebooks, seminars, videos, etc.

One little secret that many people haven't figured out yet: www
You know that stands for world wide web. Well, a secret to making a lot of money online is by turning your aggregate group of programs into a "web" of income streams. It's not just this or that program but rather several programs. I, for example, run over 65 websites now and dozens of programs, each producing a little money, some better than others. When you add it all up, it keeps me comfortably working at home. Today I took a break from my computer and strolled to the park with my 3-year-old daughter. It's very unusual to see a guy at 2pm pushing his little girl on the swing set when many other guys are busting their butts somewhere for some ungrateful boss. I have been fortunate I haven't had a boss in 13 years now. Choose a selection of the best money-producing programs and work them daily, with passion.
One day, most of these programs will be generating income for you on autopilot, day or night. I know a guy making $18,000 a month with AdSense alone plus who knows what else he makes with his other stuff.

[affiliatemax.com]

Wow, great thread!

Alex - yes it is possible to earn a good income from affiliate programs, but as you have probably gathered by now - it takes time and effort. And yes, there are some people who seem to make money only by selling e-books on how to make money - but there are also a few people already mentioned in this thread, who 'walked the walk' before they 'talked the talk'. Then there are also plenty of people who quietly get on with earning a good income from affiliate programs without ever having the urge to churn out an ebook revealing their 'secrets'. And while it is possible (though certainly not common!) to earn $450,000 a year in commissions this figure may not take into account high pay per click costs, for example - if you pay $10k a month in ppc advertising cost and earn $12000 a month in commissions, yes you are earning an impressive $12k a month in commission checks, but your 'real' earnings (ie:profit) is only $2k a month... And you need not measure 'success' in money alone - earning enough from affiliate marketing to provide a full time income means you can work from home with no boss to answer too, take time off when you want to, live in the city (or even country!) of your choice - and all the other benefits of escaping from the wage slave rat race and working for yourself!

Of course you have to be a certain type of person too- prepared to work hard, to be self motivated, etc - ie a 'self-starter' - but then anybody who is at Self-starters weekly tips probably falls into that category already. Affiliate Marketing is becoming more competitive though - you have to work both harder and smarter, but you have found a great resource in this forum.

First tip - I would say avoid any saturated and highly competitive market like internet marketing. Find a less competitive niche and you have a greater chance of doing well. Choose a subject which at least interests you - or even better - one which you are passionate about! That way you will not only be far more motivated to write web and newsletter content for your site but your enthusiasm for the subject will show through in your words and your content will be the better for it. You will also know your 'market' better and what products are likely to enthuse them. A good way to find new information on a subject and keep up to date is to use Google news alerts and web alerts - http://www.google.com/alerts - just enter your relevant keywords and you will get e-mailed news stories and/or web updates on that subject. This is a great way to get ideas for content for a newsletter or website - obviously you can't copy it, but you can rewrite it in your own words, or give your opinions on it, or summarise stories with a link to the full article.

To become a high earning or 'super' affiliate you will need to do a few things - first of all do something: take action - almost any action is better than doing nothing. You can buy all the e-books and software in the world, but you will only earn money once you get some pages on the web (or some ads on adwords) and start getting traffic. If you have an idea - test it - if it works you learn something (ie; this works!) and if it doesn't you learn something (ie: this doesn't work, I'll try something else..) Affiliate managers/merchants will tell you that something like 90 to 98% of their affiliate sales come from just 5% of their affiliates. The majority of people signing up to an affiliate program either don't even bother putting up any links, or they just whack up a banner and expect the money to come rolling in. So by doing something more than that you are already ahead of the game! It sounds like you have already 'done something' though, so you are on your way.

As for finding programs - the networks (Commission Junction and some of the good smaller ones) will list merchants by category and provide an EPC [average earnings per 100 clicks sent to that merchant] to help you locate appropriate merchants and also to give you a rough idea of what that merchant is like and how well their site converts your clicks into sales. You can also search on google for merchants by using keywords and the word affiliate to find suitable merchants and independent (in-house) programs. (Eg: do a search on the words 'vitamins' and 'affiliate' / 'affiliate program' on google to find merchants who sell vitamin products. And for areas where you can't find a decent merchant, there is always adsense.

Next step is to check out sites like bizrate and epinions to see what positive and negative experiences customers of that merchant had when shopping with them, also check out the merchants site - is it easy to find products, does the site look professional and inspire confidence, do they have big 'order by phone' telephone numbers plastered everywhere which could lose you commissions, etc..... Ideally, also try and order something from that merchant - [ie do what you want your visitors to do] - that way you will have personal experience of both the product/service you are buying as well as of the whole shopping experience of ordering from that merchant, from how easy it was to order to how fast they were to deliver.

A few more tips for maximising your affiliate income:
Track and tweak everything - from conversion rates, to where your visitors come from, and compare merchants who sell the same products to find the most profitable. eg: if you send 100 clicks to merchant A and earn $20 and 100 clicks to merchant B and earn $30 - then merchants B looks like they have more potential. Send a decent amount of traffic (say 1000 clicks) before giving up on a merchant though.

Consider building an opt-in e-mail list and writing an e-zine / newsletter which will (over time) give you the opportunity to sell to people more than once (or more than one opportunity to sell to someone) rather than the one off chance you get by just sending them to the merchant.

Add value - become 'the place to go' for your chosen subject, the 'site of choice' on a topic by providing interesting and relevant content. If you do this, then people will: bookmark you (giving you repeat visitors); link to you (giving you more traffic and a search engine ranking boost); recommend/forward your newsletter/site url to others (free word of mouth advertising - the best kind!) etc. Once the snowball gets rolling, over time it will grow.... Other ways to 'add value' are by providing an extra incentive/bonus for people buying through your link (a free report or e-book, cashback, a coupon discount or something else 'of value'). Perhaps build a community (eg: this site [SSWT] is a great 'community' so people will remember it, bookmark it and return to it time and again). Make your site easier to use than competing sites (or perhaps even easier to find products on than the merchants site!) or add product reviews (or let your visitors add reviews [and therefore free, useful content!] to your site. Then weave affiliate links into some of your content. Make sure you include 'calls to action' within your content - yes, you want people to read and enjoy your content and come back for more -but you also want them to click through to the merchant so you get the cookie and the sale. A 'call to action' might be something like 'buy.com are doing 10% and free shipping on this digital camera but only until the 1st of March, click here for more information on this great deal'. And focus on the benefits of a product, as many merchants only focus on the features (ie: this new small business accounting software will save you a bunch of time - so you can spend the weekend with your kids rather than spending it doing your accounts..)

As for the time problem - yes, adding quality content takes time - but a journey of 1000 miles starts with a single step and all that......add a little bit more whenever you get a chance [a page a day as Hock suggested, or a page a week or whatever..] and you will be suprised how quickly it adds up. You could also consider asking other people or businesses for an article in exchange for a link to their site and/or author credit or their business info at the end of the article.

It's also worth trying to develop a good relationship with your merchants - once you start bringing in decent sales volume they may offer you a higher commission (and if they don't you can always ask!) Affiliate program managers can often give you helpful advice on what works well and tips on how best to promote them on their site, as well as what products are selling particularly well, so that you can focus on those. Some merchants will be willing to take a look at your site and make suggestions which could boost your sales. If you can phone them (or get them to phone you) this is usually more efficient than e-mailing them. Make sure that you use and promote any money off coupons, sales promotions, free shipping or other promos offered by the merchant.

Give visitors to your website a good reason to visit your site before visiting the merchants site to make their purchase - eg: reviews and other helpful product information not offered on the merchants site, compare prices on the same product from different merchants, offer coupons etc. If people have a reason to come back to your site by adding value you will build a relationship with your visitors, which creates trust and adds weight to your recommendations. (ie: if so and so says this is a good product, then it must be). Helpful, useful, interesting content and information is one of the best ways to get repeat visitors, get good reciprocal links from other sites (which helps you rank well in google) and to build a newsletter/ezine list which you can email with targetted offers.

Blimey - I have rambled on a bit here, but hopefully there is something useful for you there! Do let us know how you get on and that first check (or cheque as we say over here!) shouldn't be far away - and your first check/cheque is a great motivator too.

Good luck!

Mark.

[netadventures]

[Jodi]

I agree with what Hock said... one page a day (or some other well designed goal). I am a single mom with three children and have been "messing around" with IM since 1995. I quit my job in 1997 and I've never looked back. I manage four sites. STRICTLY affiliate products, I produce nothing of my own... rather like a convenience store I guess! But my success has been with information about chosen topics... newsletters and consistent follow up with my visitors/ subscribers.

Don't you have at least one newsletter that comes and you actually get excited to see it? Because you KNOW it is full of good helpful ( to you) content? That has been my goal, to BE that newsletter in what I guess you'd call my niche (sustainable organic gardening/ healthy eating) and it works.

Specifically what I agree with Hock about is doing something constructive (not reading and researching) every single day (for an information site it is critical...) you have to research for that information no doubt, but if you do turn out ONE page a day, wow... that is real progress. And working full time, that can be an average! I may turn out four on Saturday night and NONE on Monday, you know?

I LIKE . Go there and check on your products. I also use . I do NOT like CJ... but that's just me! Good thing about being an affiliate (I prefer associate! ) YOU decide, You are actually the customer. I like that position better.

Take a look see at Alan's site, you'll find MANY programs and MUCH information there. He's been around forEVER online and his newsletter is informative, well researched, and on target.