It’s a risk only to newbies with delusions they can drop everything and start an online venture and expect to make a living online quickly (PPC doesn’t count, newbies should learn of the basics before attempting to drop cash into advertising). With that said, don’t assume that newbies are willing to quit their day jobs to pursue this, most people who get into this business do it in conjunction with their day jobs. I agree that what was possible in 1995 is no longer possible, or rather harder to materialize for today. That is the nature of the beast, it’s constantly evolving and unless you are willing to change with it you will inevitably fail. But that also applies to these “businesses†you highly decorate so much, no business is immune to change I don’t care what field you’re in. This statement sort of ticks me off, only because I am so passionate in what I do. “but affiliate marketing isn’t a good venture to keep your legs for long.†I’ve been in the affiliate game for 2 years, but have been making money online for 5 years, granted that isn’t a very “long†time, I have seen continual growth in my income every year with no signs of slowing down. However, I’m not stupid I’ve invested the money I have made to create a safety net for myself, in the event I “lose my legs.†I’d also like to reiterate that any business such as SEO services and web hosting, is subject to losing it’s legs in a short time span, not just affiliate marketing. For every successful SEO service/ web hosting company there are probably 2x as much failures. Regarding SEO services, they might be losing their legs sometime in the near future, or at least change their “business model†since the Big G is looking to further implement user influenced search results via a rating system. I live in the metropolitan area of Detroit, MI. I’m probably more aware of layoffs because I know plenty of people who have been laid off thanks to the auto industry. I don’t really believe in job security, it’s nice of you to warn the newbies of the pitfalls of affiliate marketing, but steering them to think a traditional business aka brick and mortar is better is ridiculous. I know this much, I never planned to be 5 years in the hold starting up an online property unlike someone I know who is planning to turn a profit after the initial 5 years of his business, that’s if it stays aloft that long, and I hope it does for his sake . Sorry for the long winded post, I sort of jumped into this convo late, I don’t frequent these forums as I use to.
aside from the onsite content and posting schedule....what are the best offsite techniques? I have always done this very simple: 1) blog commenting 2) paid directory submissions 3) Yahoo Directory Submission for $299. Personally...this simple technique can bring a brand new website up to a PR of 3 or 4 within 6 months. What do you suggest?
I would look at social bookmarking submissions aswell. But not 30 articles to Digg. Say 1 article to around 20 different social bookmarking sites.
This IM or internet marketing thing has come full circle for me. I use to think that the trick was to follow some Black-Hat technique and look for some crazy technique that would drive thousands of visitors to my site in one day. What I have found out, is that the simpler more organized approach wins in the long run. Anyone reading this thread needs to know that making money online takes time, I think about 6 months to 1 year before you see ANY real results. This is good, because it weeds out all the pretenders! I think Google knows this! Don't cheat, just build up your site and follow a few very basic promotional techniques and you will win. Many of you will ask win WHAT? I can't predict how much money you will make, and no one can, you should be striving to be on the first page of Google for your chosen niche. Then move on. There is only so much money that can be taken out of a niche...move on...build more.
Solid advice Canadian, I agree with your points. Is the Yahoo directory submission really worth the $300? Perhaps the money could be better spent on article marketing or social bookmarking for backlinks. That seems like an awful lot.
So far what im doing is promoting surveys, home loans through PPC. What im not doing is selling direct products. Which i want to. Like $999 for a television. I want to get into this. But the commission seems so low on CJ, like 3%. I need some advice guys. What should i do next. I have adwords at my disposal!
when you say blog commenting, do you only choose blogs that don't use "nofollow"? Or do you not care about that? Thanks.
Lots of good advice, but at times the amount of traffic from a nofollow blog link, can exceed the value of a dofollow blog link..... Stop looking at selling price and look at commission that can be earned, clickbank products which sell for under $100.00 will typically offer commissions that match the 3% on a $1,000.00 TV via CJ Also nobody in their right mind is going to drop a new 52" plasma lcd tv in a shopping cart at some second rate website...Bestbuy.com perhaps joesbargainoutlet.com No Way!!!! Most people looking at high end products online are comparison or price shopping.... and then heading to the big box store or known retailer near where they live to buy the product. People will spend $60.00 or $70.00 on a digital product without much fight.... Hope it helps~
Nabs, you said you use wordpress as a CMS. Do you use a plugin to easily add products to each wp site?
Hi...just wondering what do you mean by number of links on a page. I always justed linked to the affiliate item/page that i was promoting. Are you suggesting that I should be linking to other sites as well. How would that work and how would it benefit my site?
I don't really think the number of outbound links have anything with do with ranking for the most part. However, I do use link condoms, and block those link condoms with robots.txt. Using this, I am able to technically have no outbound links on my sites.
Never heard that terminology before (link condom) ... Do you mean using a separate page / directory with index for your link and then a meta-refresh or php / frame re-direct? or am I missing some grand scheme I never though of? Cheers
Google wants sites built for users so linking to other sites of authority certainly helps. Of course you could believe someone who uses a made up term, probably has no clue what Google Quality Guidelines are, and is ranking for terms with little competition.