I love Affiliate Marketing

if you love affiliate marketing, try CPA networks, much easier to make money off of

 

"i feel like saying i am owner of 4 taxi cabs..and partnered with one offline money exchange business..

earning varies..

but i am happy with small stablishment and its a regular business.. "

Then let me make a lot of fun of you! HAHAHAHAHA

I went yesterday for a walk with a friend and seen a guy who also somewhat taxi cab...in local park, he drives from one end of the park to another on his cab (it's not car) so...we can call that a business too. lol

I still don't get how selling other peoples REAL good and REAL services can't be a business.

You also invest money you get return, and the same as in offline world you can fail with investments. Probably in online risks are bigger. The reward as well. As I said really BIG don't do it cause it may not be big money for them, but for a lot of people possibility to make few time of $10k a month really success in life.

And nobody stops you be aff network after that. Rewards even more. After that even own products can go, cause you are the one who knows all that markets like your 2 hands!!!

I reguralry see big corporation in my country who regulraly buys quality websites. Does it say something ? And they are VERY BIG business. Anyone who knows something about word business in my country knows them!

About respect and telling that you are in business. After I said them about all that like you say "scheme" more than half wanted to try this.

You also said about some questionable promotion methods...well if all you depends on is 1st page in digg or 1 time PPC campaign or some spammy way... then yes.. you are in big trouble and this will not sustain, everyone will agree with this. Same applies in offline. Try well known seo tactics and you will be ok.

One more about saying other that you do internet marketing etc. At first yes, they may laugh and so on, but as soon as you (if you wish) to go to details, people become very interested and very jealous..just like you!!! LOL

 

sorry to hear that.. my intension was not to attack you or others anyway

truth is harder to digest my friend..

always remember life ends with a negetive sign (death)


all the positivity comes to a negetivity and ends..


yes internet affiliate marketing has some plus side and big positive sides


1. no startup cost/minimum cost to do business
2. easy to put up or buy some articles designs scripts and decorate a page
3. easy to do seo/ppc advertising or hire services..
4. easy to increase visitors by working more and more with it..
5. easy to replicate or duplicate the success



and there is the joy that turns anyone on 16 to 30 years of age to work full time on internet

even it turned me once.. 50K was lot of money for me that time..

but again..

life isnt that easy.. and business and job ofcourse not.. it isnt childs play..

responsibility will come down to your shoulders once you start growing and managing family..

internet is 2nd life.. webmasting is more an art (not business)


yes internet is business for the bigger boys like google or cj or rapidshare

but for smaller boys and girls..

its gambling.. or game..


film tv radio etc you wont even qualify for a job or to produce a program for.. they dont accept any wannabe there.. they have highest level of interview process and strict team of selectors to judge anyone..



but hey thats an opinion

who am i to give opinion right..


on that sad note..

forget everything and enjoy life.. do what you like

what happens tomorrow who knows..

may be some day adsense cj clickbank etc will give us health medical and retirement security

may be some day webmastering will be the most rewarding occupation to be..

yaa lets think positive about it.. work at home fantasy..

 

I'd love to call it "a risk" rather than "gambling"

risk is a known term in commerce and you have to take risks all the time. every business has it's own percentage of risk and even any ordinary decision in your life has a percentage of risk.

in business, the more risk you take the more profits you can get . but only if you take the right decision and this is called "calculated risk"

 

Have been following this thread and would like to put forward my opinion.

Affiliate marketing is a business model.
There are many business models both offline and offline.

Affiliate marketing is basically sales, you sell something and get a commission in return.

Note: I work full-time and am taking a masters part-time therefore I do not depend on affiliate marketing but have fun doing it as a hobby.

Let us take a "serious business".
An importer of goods or supermarket.

What does it do. It buys good at a price and sells it at an even higher price to cover costs and make a profit.
So the formula of a supermarket or importer is to:

Get a lot of clients in supermarket (traffic) + make them buy things in supermarket (conversion) = revenue (CPC/CPA).

In brackets is the Internet affiliate way. Isn't it the same? I see it as the same.

Next:

You say "internet is risky".
You think people who work at a company are "safer". Say that to these people.
springfieldnewssun.com/hp/content/oh/story/news/local/2008/04/19/sns042008chjohnson.html
bizjournals.com/kansascity/stories/2008/04/14/daily31.html
I just searched in Google News for layoffs.

Next you mention, that you have something to show.
You are forgetting one thing.
An Affiliate marketer can register as a company and say I own these websites.

According to Wikipedia
"Limited liability is a concept whereby a person's financial liability is limited to a fixed sum, most commonly the value of a person's investment in a company or partnership with limited liability."

I have read a number of threads here and in other forums where they have registered companies. It makes sense as once you exceed a certain income, and it goes bad you are limited to the amount you put in the business.

Advice: Since some ppl are earning a living, i recommend you consider the above paragraph if you did not already do it.

My impression is that unless you have a physical product, you do not consider it to be a business. In my country Malta (in Europe), we depend mostly on tourism and services, finance, gaming, tourism, I.T. etc.

Therefore since we do not produce a lot of "goods", we do not have an industry?

 

Thanks SecureWebDev, I do check the availability of the products before I'm going to start a website. But you can almost find any product to promote these days.

 

well..
info note has a big point..

------------------
yes your country have good service related industry... its nothing to do with affiliate marketing

============================

gambling is also a business or industry.. and a billion dollar industry.. and ppl are full time engaged in this business/job.. ppl risk money time and luck to make big bucks out of it.. even 200% 400% overnight..

so is betting .. and some other business models.. low investment big big real big return..

=====================================

selling products and services and making a commission or lets say profit out of it is a good business model..

infact this is the business model that even the deparmental stores are following the medicine shops are following etc etc.. making commission on someone elses product or services


but when it comes to affiliate marketing..


its turning out to be a complete gamble scheme.. yes for the webmasters

====================================

a medicine shop opens and once in a break even.. and started to produce some good income.. it continous like that unless a tornado happens.. it has a daily sales and the owner feels happy about what he owns.. every jack ass see he is a medicine shop owner.. he can retire like that..

what happens to a webmaster or affiliate marketer is (that happend to everyone including me)


he brainstorm and generate a webpage that converts real good..
he does massive seo and say good ppc campaign...
now lets say he is generating good amount of visitors and started to make sales.
lets say he made 2000% return in very short span of time..

some jack ass webmaster takes his position in search engine
some jack ass takes his ppc campaign keywords bidding higher then him
eventually his products and webpage looses demand on its own..
visitors also starts to dry up

he again start another venture with another product with another idea.. with another will power do something better then this..

next time it dont covert like before

again start another

it made some profit

again start another

it does something good

again start another..

its a flop one..

and like this continous until he analyzez he is just gambling with time money and health

and have nothing for him.. but the ppls who utlized him are laughing to the bank and staying in cj for ever

 

the point i arised is for newbies.. who risk their job and real businesses for online venture..

making some killer ebooks or promoting them isnt going to cover your day job or real business..

same stand for other affiliate marketing ..


it might for the time being..

its nothing to do with ppl who already risked their life and are very successful in this kind of business..

remember what was possible in 1995 isnt possible now.. what was possible in 2005 isnt possible now..

what is possible now.. wont be possible in 2010..

the internet is like that.. its not a job or business.. until unless you have some solid product or service team management investment etc to survive in the long run..

thats why i said seo services is a business plan
so is hosting business(if can sustain and have both domestic and international client)

but affiliate marketing isnt a good venture to keep your legs for long

 

Surf4fun I understund your point however, you assume that the medicine shop's external environment will never change.

In many countries (including Malta) big supermarkets have taken over the small grocershops. Some still exist but they are decreasing.

Why? Because of social/cultural changes. Due to the fact that both parents work, they only have Saturday to go shopping. So they go to a big supermarket once a week and buy for the next week once.

Now, the same applies to the medicine shop. A tornado does not have to happen to change a business plan. Look at horses as transporation in the 1900's. Automative industry came and destroyed the horse transporation industry.

A recent example, GM is currently losing tons of money because they did not forecast correctly the price of oil. They bought (I think) Hummer, while Toyota (it's direct competitor), invested in Hybrids.

Now we are talking about a Billion dollar industry cars (not Affiliate marketing),

Don't believe me, look at GM's change in marketing. detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080417/AUTO01/804170354

Anyone who goes to a marketing class will learn the following.
1) Look at the organisation's internal factors SWOT analysis
2) Look at the external environment PEST analysis. (Political, economic, social and technological).

Your arguments are due to the fact that the external environment is not steady. Well, if you look at the industry you can see that nothing is safe.
If you think that the medicine shop down the road is safe, then forget it.

Another thing I want to point out is position. You mention position. If a site has a better search position than you.

Well if a medicine shop decides to open in a petter place, near a supermarket, the medicine shop down your shop will fail also. You see there is no difference.

Just another small marketing lesson (I am far from being an expert). In Marketing there is the 4P's.

Product
Place
Price
Promotion and 3 more for services.

You are focusing on place. For me a "real-business" is actually a bigger risk. With Affiliate marketing, the only thing you lose is a domain and hosting at most.

With a "real-business", you have the loan to pay to the bank, the stock you have in your inventory and employees etc.

If it goes bad, in a real-life business you will lose A LOT.

Just a last example. Let us say the medicine shop is in a town. The town has a Toyota factory.

If the Toyota factory decides to shut down, you know all businesses in that area will suffer right. The employees will leave.
In other words, the medicine shop might not close but will suffer a lot.

In Business there is a calculated risk. In Affiliate marketing it is the same.
I would always recommend someone to continue studies until college level.
Now, if after college he/she decides to use affiliate marketing then so be it.

It should be encouraged not discouraged. In the worst case he/she can always go and work in a company since the person has certifications.

That's it otherwise I won't stop.

 

you are a great inspiration Nabs

 

hmm..

then can you tell me

why ppl laugh when i say i am a web master..

rather then a doctor engineer pilot navy army industrialist real estate biz man system analyst etc

even the IT professional who are working in respected software companies seo firm etc said dont go into gambling.. there is no future in that.. even the google employees or share holders directors etc laugh(joking)..about it..

some banks also laugh when they hear about online businesses.. and once in a time accused me as hacker.. i remember.. at that time..

no bank wants to finance web business model

as there is no production capacity no daily sales etc.. no assets nothing good to show them other then the damm screenshots.. and earning proof in bank balance..


while other business models are quiet satisfying and sustaining and i see a great future in them..

why does this affiliate marketing looks so shady to me..


in my area there was 4 medicine shops 10-15 years ago.. even though population increased 10 times more then that.. but medicine shop is only 7 now..as there is no place available to open more shops here.. and old ones still doing great business and daily sales. but where are the internet marketers who where here 10-15 years ago.. i think there search engine ranking changes every few days..


but lets say what ever keyword you target.. you see over saturated content/sites already available by some other jack ass in google..

and even if you are racing to out past them for the time being

few months later they climb on you.. and you are again strugling with some thing new..

my cousin who was in a truck business man 10 years ago.. now an owner of a garments industry with daily capacity of 25000+ t-shirts which sales for min 2$ in USA. bank respect him.. he got house cars(lots of cars) he travels world wide.. and he really said me a gambler when is said i do affiliate marketing 2 and half years ago.. now when i meet him.. i say i do money exchange business and have 4 taxi cab.. and he say well done atleast you come out cheesy businesses...

 

Who cares if people laugh? You worry about what other people think too much, when the opinions of ignorant people really don't make any difference.

People laughed at Thomas Edison.

People thought Bill Gates was crazy when he dropped out of college to build computers.

You need to ask yourself, am I in this business to make money or am I in this business to earn the respect of other people?

But really, taking the opinions of people who know nothing about affiliate marketing is silly.

And people get loans from internet marketing revenue all the time, especially Adsense.

 

thanks for the info, im starting to think of a product im sure will be sought after by thousands of people ;D and I've already found a couple of CJ affiliates. Now just gotta sign up and make sure.
p.s. can everyone get back on subject please... Its getting hard to learn when the thread is spammed with posts such as surf4fun's... please stop or go open your own thread.

 

I agree let's keep to the subject we started on.

 

all the stuff thatr people use on a daily basis

 

What are you talking about Patchkaa? I read the thread and thought it was pretty informative. I'm working with long term search engine strategy and building lots of fresh content; I found the posters tips to be both pretty amazing and also very helpful.

To the OP - Thank you for the informative thread, I enjoyed it and appreciate being able to hear about your success.

 

Surf4Fun,

I am new to this forum and this thread but I can't help but to disagree with you when it comes to Affiliate Marketing...Just like any other business, it is indeed a gamble, BUT...thats where the brain power comes in...you say that eventually the money that people make from this will disappear, but thats not true if you know where to put it...From what I understand, what you call a success is pretty much what other people perceive you to be(real estate, industrialist etc) But whats wrong with saying "I make a living off of promoting products online" You are saying that a bank will not recognize that as a business, but in actuality they don't have to...going back to being smart with your money, if you're going to the bank for any reason, be it a loan, or whatever, they just have to see that you are making money...You show them a substantial proof, and they as well as anyone else will accept you as a businessman

How can you say that its a waste of time and a gamble???

Nabs, is a perfect example of why its not a waste of time...he worked hard and produced results (30k/month) do you really think that with that kind of income, hes not doing anything to make sure that that income doesn't disappear...Point is....it is a gamble, but it is a business, and it is a sufficient business model, here is why:

Just like any entrepreneur, you have to invest money + time to make your business successful
Once you archive that success, you make use of your money to invest in other areas to make sure that in case something happens, and that source of income is gone, that you still have money coming in, whether it's be interest or other ventures.

Affiliate Marketing is simply an entrepreneurial venture that requires no "cool" titles like senior analyst of whatever, thats not where the success lies....A person can have a successful businessman when the income is good, it does not have to be continuous, thats the essence of the entrapenur, to make sure that the income is continuous

Affiliate Marketing is a differnt way of producing income, it is reinvented way of promoting products online, instead of in the street, magazine, tv etc.

It's all up to the person to make sure that affiliate marketing remains a business and not a waste of time, you are making a mistake by discouraging people from getting into this business, because let me tell you, this is a darn good business and it's only getting better and bigger...you have to agree with me when I say that Internet is the future

And when people laugh at you for being a web master, just laugh right back....who are they to judge you for what u do? Just because a senior analyst of so and so company laughs at you when you say you're a web master, it doesnt mean that he is a better person or better businessman than you, all it means is that he decided to take another way to make money, and if he laughs at you, then hes straight ignorant, and if you let that kind of stuff get to you, then you just care too much of what people think and you shouldnt

 

Wowww congratsss!!! im newbie here and impressed on how much u can gain from affiliate inet marketing
simply WOW!!!

 

Surf4fun, affiliate marketing has never been better. Combine that with rice hoarding and you'll make a nice income soon.

 

I just checked and it is available for you, go to https://signup.cj.com/member/publisherSignUp.do