is affiliate marketing worth it?

Hi guys, got another question for you

as ive said before, im new to the online marketing. ATM im digging through this site to get some ideas of where to start, ive attempted online marketing (i call it "Mass affiliate marketing" because i had no clue what i was doing lol) and saw minute results (a random check after xmas for 130 bucks after having stopped for 6 months due to lack of time, obviously a fluke) and im curious about where to start


any suggestions for a newbie to the E-market? ive been considering multiple things

1. what are your views on Affiliate marketing with no upfront cost? IE creating articles via ezines, hubpages, etc etc. Is it worth trying? do you think its able to get my foot in the door or should i not waste my time and save some investment money to createa website for specific items for sale?

2. is it better to work with 1 item at a time, or multiple? ive noticed you guys seem to say "im currently working on a product" and its involving a site dedicated to that one item. so is it best to spend a month/few months on one item and really make it rock vs. trying to push multiple items at once?

3. if your answer to my first question was "yeah, it doesnt hurt and can get you some cash to do different methods" then do you have any recommendations as far as sites to use, tools to use, etc?



just an idea, what ive done in the past was article writing for products, i saw a few sales around xmas but that was it, granted, it was only about 2-3 weeks of research (mostly learning how to even do this, not the product research itself) with a few hours of research on the product and a quick throwdown of an article, i wasnt expecting to get money at all, it was more to learn how to target keywords and whatnot

also, any tips to a newbie besides these? ill appriciate everything/anything you can tell me.


Also....im interested in possibly hiring someone to teach me how to do this, im not interested in ebooks from someone that claims to be a pro, id like to find someone i could get some 1 on 1 time with, guide me through the ropes (not do it for me. i want to learn this.) i wouldnt be able to pay instantly (of corse we might be able to work out a deal, after i go on my own i give X amount of my profit for x amount of time or something), id have to wait a few months before i could "Hire" someone, but if anyones interested in being a tutor, has some free time, and can prove there own results to me, please let me know...and keep in mind im not a millionare >.>

 

I am pretty new to this myself. But in my experience so far it will be worth it if you keep working hard.

You can definitely make good money by submitting articles and creating content for your websites. You just need to be consistent and be willing to work.

This isn't as easy as some make out but there are plenty of resources available online to help, this forum for one..

 

Affiliate marketing is definitely worth it for me. It's been my job for the last 3 years (yes, my only job.)

To answer your 3 questions directly:

1. Article marketing and the like is fine as long as you are linking back to your own domains. Do not link directly to affiliate products. You will have some people who tell you otherwise but I think that it's a real waste to not be building up back links when you are doing that kind of work. That's what will pay off in the long haul to help you with SEO.

2. One project vs. Multiple... My strategy is sort of a combination. I try to come up with a lot of ideas and I get the basics of them started (buy the domains get a page up, start it aging) but then I try to work on one project at a time. The reason I do this is because Google (and the other search engines) have a real love for older domains. I think it's important to (when you have an idea) buy the domain as soon as possible and get something up there (and get it indexed)... Domains are cheap and if you can host many of them on one cheap web host. Easily worth the investment in my view.

3. There are a ton of different affiliate programs/systems... Clickbank & CJ.com are two of the biggest to get started with. You can find almost any type of product/website you want to promote there.

 

i highly suggest for clickbank affiliate program than Cj.com...

p/s: just my 2cent.

 

hey wow, thanks for the info (im surprised, i made a thread before and got 0, thought this forum wasnt friendly to newcomers)


i have another question:

on average, lets say i work with one product, make a website for it, make it popular, do everything right

now when i finally start showing income with it, should i expect it to be a fairly steady income for a long time? or should i expect it to grow, hit a peak, and then slowly drop down and eventually not make anything?

 

I just want to add that I've had some success with article marketing, AKA "bum marketing," but it takes time. You MUST come up with original articles and I've found EzineArticles is the best directory to submit to. But--Boy!--are they touchy. Definitely no direct linking with them.

 

yeah, during my learning phase with BM, i figured that out as well lol

 

It depends on how you are making that income somewhat. But regardless, there are always factors that can make affiliate income fluctuate wildly. Whether you are relying on SEO or PPC. Basically what I'm saying is that in my experience affiliate income is not particularly steady which is why I like to have multiple income streams. Some times one website is clicking and another is not, and then of course visa versa.

If you are in it for the long haul though that last thing should not happen. If you are building up SEO'd money making websites/pages then in the long term you should build up more and more income over time. That's what I have experienced.

I really try not to get caught up too much in how much I make day to day. I try to look at it as a month by month thing. Because if you get too caught up in the fluctuations day to day it can make you a bit crazy I've found. For example I've had days in the same month where I make $900 one day and $25 another day.

 

I really think direct linking (to affiliate products) is an awful idea anyway.

This is why you should link to your own domains' landing pages:

1. Long term SEO results. Why do all of that work just for a few direct sales when you could end up making a *lot* more with SERPS in the long run?

2. What if the product you were linking to goes down or no longer runs an affiliate program? All of your work is wasted. If you are linking to your own pages you can find another way to monetize if this happens.

3. More conversions. I've personally had much more success when preselling products than when I just send them directly to a product. You could look at the article as preselling them already, but often the articles are more generally informational (as to not appear too commercial and not be accepted) so you need your presell page to really sell the product.