Category Archives: Affiliates

Every Penny Counts Approach to Making Money Online

One of the mistakes I see most bloggers making early on is trying to stick to things that give them the biggest pay out. Unfortunately, certain referral and affiliate programs might have high rates, but horrible conversion, and widening your net to include smaller paying programs might get more conversions and end up making you more money in the end.

Darren Rowse recently covered this on his blog where a reader asks why he linked to a product using an affiliate link when the money made on each sale was to be less than five dollars.

What we, as readers, quickly realize is simple: every penny counts.

Darren was able to make over two hundred dollars in one day, from a variety of affiliate programs and product referrals that each paid out small amounts, but together, made a real difference in his earnings. If he was able to replicate that result, each and every day, pushing a fair number of sales to a large number of less expensive products, he would make six thousand dollars in a month.

It was counter-intuitive to how I thought of making money online, but his site is proof positive that just because a product only pays you a few dollars per conversion, doesn’t mean it is worthless, as it could convert quite well.

Originally posted on December 14, 2007 @ 1:20 am

Online Affiliate Referral Scum

6 Replies

So lately I have been getting more contacts through my contact page on this site, and they are all directed at me to try out this new cool system.

The first guy, Cam, sent me a link to try out but it was via the tinyURL service, so I told him I don’t click on such links, and he sent me a link that included an affiliate ID. Never click on tinyURL links or any odd looking links, unless you know who they come from.

His e-mail is [email protected], if you want to help sign the dirtbag up for spam.

The second person to contact me, Steve Walters, wanted me to sign up for a service as well, where I would make tiny bits of income on huge ad deals, that would most likely never happen, and in reality would only make the original ad company huge amounts of money.

His e-mail address is [email protected], again, feel free to sign him up for spam.

The third person was Curtis Fullmer, who didn’t even try to hide that the link he was sending was a referral link. Even worse, he didn’t send it correctly, meaning if I did click on it, he would not have gotten the referral from me.

He said how excited he was for this new program, and when I called him no being a spammer and sending me junk, he said sorry, and said he was new to the blogging world. Two seconds later on Google, what do I find?

Curtis Fullmer
Director of Affiliate Marketing
Fillnet
AIM – CJFullmer
646-442-5512

His e-mail addresses are [email protected] and [email protected]. He deserves some extra helpings of spam.

In his last e-mail to me, he said that he jumped to fast in e-mailing me, and I hope that this post, and any spam he receives will be a constant reminder for him.

None of these people tried to build relationships with me, they didn’t give me the option to sign up without using their referral ID, and they are just plain old spammers in my book.

Hopefully, none of you will be tricked by these people, and think twice before sending me any more of such spams. I am a friendly person, and I love new programs, but if you try to profit off me, and you aren’t a friend and disclosing that fact, then you shouldn’t be allowed on the Internet.

Originally posted on December 8, 2007 @ 10:54 pm

How to Build a Business Empire by Selling on Amazon

Choose a selling plan

Amazon offers two plans: Individual and professional. The individual plan allows you to sell 40 items or less and charges only $0.99 per sale while the professional one will enable you to sell more than 40 items but costs $39.99 per month. Both can incur other selling fees as well.

If you’re new to this, it’s probably best to pick the individual plan at first and decide whether you’re ready to the next level.

Pick your product well

The type of product you’ll choose will determine if you will be successful in this venture.

First, search for a product you’re looking to sell.

Is someone already selling it?

If no one is selling it yet, do you think people will buy it?

There’s a ton of things you’ll have to think long and hard to come to a final decision.

Here’s a step-by-step guide to choosing the perfect items for your store.

Price it competitively

When pricing your items, you need to search for competitors who currently have your products on sale. Pricing is really up to you. However, there are risks involved.

If you want to price it higher than others, make sure you have an edge against them. But if you don’t have anything up your sleeves, try to price it slightly lower than your competitors.

Handle inventory and shipping

Since you are reselling items, you’ll need to have an inventory. It could be your room or an empty basement.

Fret not. If you don’t have space at home and wants to be in this business, make sure to check out Fulfillment by Amazon.

Final thoughts

Selling your very first item could be a truly memorable experience. This could get you going and inspire you to continue and finally expand. If you need more information on starting your Amazon journey, check out this guide from Shopify.

Scaling your brand could be a matter of finding the right niche and knowing how to market correctly. It will take time, but as long as you stick with it, you’ll soon achieve significant growth. Good luck on your new journey!

Originally posted on November 15, 2017 @ 10:06 pm

5 Reasons You Are Not Earning Squat with Your Affiliate Marketing

1. Insufficient Keyword Research

Choosing the wrong keywords or not researching well enough is one of the biggest mistakes that can jeopardize the profitability of your site before you even begin. While the biggest competitors may have access to the financial resources needed for the most saturated and in-demand keywords, the same cannot be said for startups and SMEs with not-so-deep pockets.

If you consider yourself to be a small-medium competitor in your niche, you need to perform deeper research on low-competition keywords that are still profitable. If you are yet to adopt low-hanging keywords in your strategy, then you need to learn how to with the help of the best keyword research tool in the business – SEMrush.

2. No Competitor Research and Analysis

Another critical aspect of online marketing is learning how your top competitors manage to stay ahead everyone else. This is why, as an affiliate marketer, you need to acquire the ability to find, observe, and gauge your competitors. Figure out the formula for their best content, study their keyword targeting and do everything you can to extract whatever tactic that you can duplicate or refine. You can use the tools featured here to help you master the art of competitor research and analysis.

3. Content for the Purpose of Making a Sale

Online marketing has evolved to a point where you need to be consumer-centric to be relevant. Keep in mind that people do not use the internet to look for products, they look for answers and will gravitate to the resource that will give them the fastest and most convenient solutions. This is how the online audience determines the value of a website.

Furthermore, the online audience can quickly detect when things become too salesy, which is why focusing too much on the good side of a product for the sake of closing sales is a grave mistake. As affiliate marketers, remember that you need to offer legitimate solutions to establish yourself as a credible authority in your niche. Present the product from all angles and don’t be afraid to expose some of its weaknesses. Take this review of Bluehost at Colorlib for example.

4. Failure to Establish Email Marketing

Email marketing remains one of the strongest and most effective communication channels between any brand and their target audience. It establishes a much closer connection that fosters trust and helps keep your name in your readers’ minds. Moreover, if you are still not paying attention to your mailing list, then you are missing out on a lot.

Keep in mind that trust fuels every sale that was ever made online. However, trust takes the time to build. It may also take a long time to get your leads into a buying mode, so you should develop a way to maintain awareness of your site, preferably by using emails as the primary medium. You can read this post for more information.

5. Look at Your Readers as People

In the end, it is all about building rapport with your target audience. Appeal to them not as a seller, but as a genuine person who can understand and relate to their problems. At the same time, recommend courses of action and offer some free tips to gain their trust. You can do this by focusing on writing highly informative content and communicating with them consistently (through emails or social media updates).

Additionally, you should also aim to build your network as a professional marketer in your particular industry. Remember that relationship building not only works between you and your potential customers. It also works with you and potential partners, bloggers, thought leaders, and industry experts that can help you further your online endeavors. You can take a cue from this post to learn more.

Conclusion

Earning with an affiliate website takes a tremendous amount of effort. It also requires persistence and the willingness to try new things and embrace changes that will optimize your site for the better. Hopefully, knowing your keywords, tracking your competitors, building your mailing list, and improving your content will get you the results you need. Just remember that there are no finish lines in business – there will always be new things to learn and improvements to make.

Originally posted on June 2, 2016 @ 9:26 pm

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