The internet seems full of scams, they may be real scams or it may be our own fear! Intitially I would say don't invest any money, spend some time and effort doing reading online, there's loads of free information out there. Find some blogs that you feel comfortable with and read them. You don't have to reinvent the wheel...find a simple form of affiliate marketing, that is already succeeding, and a sprinkle of your personality....loads of hard work....take ACTION! As you learn then you will know where to invest in further learning, maybe a mentoring club,or a course from someone you have already become comfortable with.
Affiliate marketing is a good online option if you can get to know the site well, know how to sell the product/service and most importantly know the owner of the affiliate marketing program you want to get involved with. I know all of the this with TWRPS and am extremely confident that long term I will financially benefit from it. If you feel this way about a program I believe that you will succeed. Good luck!
It sounds a little funny, but you'd be surprised how many ideas and resources you find on Traffic Exchanges. That where there is a ton of people advertising for free.
Legitimate affiliate marketing (like you find at Shareasale or Commission Junction) is not a scam. But it is not easy! Personally, I do more information marketing and use contextual advertising as it fits in better with my regular job (hands off). To do affiliate marketing right, you need to: -Offer regular deals and coupons (as allowed by your merchant) and keep them fresh. -Get a mailing list to send those deals out. An opt-in list, not a spam list. -Keep products up to date. A datafeed can do that. -Get natural search rankings. Google HATES "thin" sites. You need to add a lot of content that relates to the product - enough to offset Google's thin (as in minimal original content) penalties. -Try to make pay per click work. Again, Google will price you out of this world if your site is "thin". Others like Yahoo might be an option. Still, you must make more than you spend. Do you have something that can keep repeat customers? Tough! All of this can be done, and is done by those that know what to do and work their butts off doing it. And they are not writing the cheezy ebooks telling the world. No, they are pretty tight-lipped about what they do - it is a competitive art.
I find people assume making money online is easier than in the brick and mortar world. My experience is that it takes a lot of work, just like anything worth doing. It's not necassarly hard, it just takes time and dedication.
Affiliate marketing is stupid, I bought the "Golden Backdoor" from this dumb company in Florida and have not made any money... not with Commission Blueprint V.2 The book I purchased from the "dumb" company basically taught to place a 1'' display ad in a magazine and to cloak your affiliate link with godaddy.com
To participate in the affiliate marketing is easy. However, to success in the affiliate marketing required tonnes of effort. Making money online is not as easy as blown up by many internet marketers. Learning is essential if you are serious about your online business.
Interesting...in 2008 I joined this forum looking for some answers on how to work online, and at home. I have not given up on affiliate marketing, just run out of steam for the time being. These days I am a SEO and Social Media Coach for a large real estate firm. I am not working from home, but I am an independent contractor and I have work that pays well in a depressed economy. My advice to anyone trying to earn a living online...just keep at it, it will become very apparent after a while where you fit in.
cherie27 Yes, I agree with this. I have an online Affiliate business, and I really love what I do. I spent months looking for an honest online business, and put in time to check out the business I am now doing. I am very impressed with the service I am receiving, the support is great, and I even had a web site set up for me. I would say take your time, and check everything out before you invest your hard earned money. You can make a very good income online, if you perservere. It take time and effort but the rewards are well worth it. [Link removed - Admin]
I think everyone here who shares my belief that it is best to not invest in -crazy gimmick products ("that increase traffic in 5 clicks") -products that will make you a millionaire over night should really get lost in affiliate marketing but go down the path of article marketing. It worked for me for no cost, and finally when I was earning enough to try out other paid methods like PPC I had the capital to start off. If you want to make money at home and you've got a computer, affiliate marketing is your number one choice. But be prepared to work hard and commit. Also be patient. It is a virtue. cheers, Craig.
Hi Laurus, Commission Junction is great, but in my experience you have to really have a lot of traffic to promote to in order to make regular commissions and keep your account active. When I first started using CJ, I was only beginning my first site and I just wasn't making many sales. I actually had to make a purchase through one of my links to keep my account "active" because CJ will close your account if it goes for several months without any sales activity - at least they did in those days. I assume they still do. However, let me give you hope. I continued building and growing my chocolate site (my first site) and have since built a few more. These days rarely a day goes by without a commission being earned in CJ. During the recent holiday season there were usually several sales per day (which put a nice smile on my face). So, don't give up hope. In SBI they teach us to follow the CTPM process. That stands for Content-Traffic-Presell-Monetize. You have to devote yourself to building content and getting traffic FIRST. The monetization is the last step in the process (although we ALL wish it was first). Build yourself a solid foundation and it will pay off in the end. Blessings, Angie
Hi, new member here. I agree with almost everything already discussed on this thread, no such thing as an easy buck these days!! After having my fingers toasted on a few occassions there are 2 major areas now for me........ 1. If it looks too good and too easy to make $100's of dollars a day then take my word for it...give it a miss, it's another affiliate trying to flog a dead horse. 2. Find yourself a sensible program and work hard to get your rewards I am fortunate that I still work as an engineering manager and have a good salary but can still knock out around $700 vacation money a month with affiliate programs Good luck to you all Jimmy Hunter
Hi Jimmy, Pleased to meet you. Good for you for doing so well with affiliate programs. These days, $700 a month extra would really come in handy for most people. What type of affiliate marketing are you doing? Do you have your own website? Do article marketing? Build a list? We each tend to lean one way or another, but some of us diversify and do a bit of each. I always enjoy hearing what other people have had success with in their online efforts. I hope you'll enjoy the forum and make yourself at home. Blessings, Angie
Hi Angie, I basically work with around 5 affilate programmes, I use Adcenter Pay Per Click (less expensive than Google) and forums/blogs to promote my sites. Hope this helps
Hi Jimmy, Thanks for that. Good for you for finding something that is working for you. I don't really use paid advertising, although I know there is money to be made if you learn how to do it correctly. I know doing it well involves a lot of testing, tweaking, testing, tweaking, etc., and I think the whole idea tires me out. Some people find that fun and exciting, but I must not be one of them. I seem to be more of a laid back tortoise who just plods along faithfully at building content rich websites. It suits me, I think. I don't have to monitor everything daily (unless I want to). I can go for weeks without doing anything on my websites and they still run along faithfully doing what they're supposed to do and aging like a nice cheese and becoming better and better. (What an analogy!) Anyway, I hope you continue on your successful ways and get better and better with time, too. Thanks again for taking the time to let me know what you're up to. Blessings, Angie
Hi Everyone! Yes, I definately think Affiliate Marketing is a great option for making money at home, but you want to only promote those things you really beilieve in or you will lose credibility. Then you have to get traffic to your affiliate link and that's the tough part!!
