Sick of Affiliate Marketing

[figleaf007]

From the photos, they look like they will make a lovely couple, though the kids might turn out a bit 'cartoony'

 

[Marcoose]

Pre penguin I was making a killing in IM, luckily most of my stuff was on rev share so I still have a fair income rolling in. It isn't going to last forever though so am developing some new sites and being much more stringent with my link building.

As far as I am concerned it is all about niche. If you're stuck for ideas and don't have a day job, try temping. Learn the basics about different industries - there are a load of untapped niches to be taken advantage of.

My main earner (up until recently) was spread betting. I would never have gotten my killer domain (somehow on a catch) if it wasn't for a failed job interview that introduced me to the market. Get yourself out there and get some inspiration. This will definitely be the first thing I do when I get back to the UK - job interviews and temping. Not for the money, just for ideas.

I don't believe IM is dead.

 

[JMOT]

You have to be willing to keep on failing and try again.

You have to be willing to spend your last £1 on something if you are committed.

A lot of folks here have been spanked hard by Google this year. Websites that deliver a quality user experience and are genuinely useful have been thrown in the toilet as far as SEO goes. LOL the pain... the trauma

You find a niche, build something good, start making money, think you've cracked it then get kicked in the balls. Therein lies the problem of reliance on one traffic source.

So not only do you need to find a niche, you need to find a niche that you can get traffic from that isnt just SEO. You must be able to do PPC. It must be interesting enough to make social media/word of mouth work. You must grow an email list and re-engage your users with interesting valuable to them stuff. You must re-target users with display etc. Basically a real business.

If you cant do most/all of the above its a bad business to be in for the long term and you are liable to wake up one day and find your music has stopped.

I had one of the UK's largest personal injury networks until March/April. It was 100% SEO. I lost basically 100% of my traffic and 100% of my revenue. I couldnt compete on PPC as I wasnt the end lawyer/top of chain CMC. Cant email them your latest exciting news and special offer. Wrong audience. Cant run display...way too small a niche of traffic to attract traffic. Add on its govt regulated so a whole heap of bullshit and compliance...

A bad business to rely on. Be careful of the niche you decide to get into

I'll never rely on SEO ever again. Blah Blah lessons learned etc etc

 

[belovedAunt]

I think you have managed to sum up everything I have been doing wrong in one post. My idea of affiliate marketing before today was:

Buy an inferior domain name on an inferior extension
Write some poor drivel and try and pass it off as useful content
Sign up to the first aff program I came across
Chuck up product links
Pay no attention to design or calls to action
Sit back and expect people to spend money

Ha, sounds familiar, if you're anything like me then your strongest skill is procrastination - I can easily skim read forums for an hour looking for new ideas rather than spend that time productively writing 3 or 4 pages of quality content for my sites. I'm brilliant at starting new projects - but I get bored and don't finish half of them.

I took a break for a couple of months and now I'm going to try and invest my efforts into one site that I would actually be proud to put on my CV or promote on my own Facebook page!

Don't beat yourself up about not selling any tents during the wettest summer ever - some things are out of our control. Agree about the Amazon thing - in many ways it's not worth selling products worth over £150 through them as you're capped at £7 per item anyway.

I have no advice to offer other than 'good luck' - seems like there's plenty voices of experience here so I'll hopefully learn from them too.

Right, must. stop. procrastinating. and. write. something. about. ride.on.suitcases. Arghh it's just so boring though...

Ben

 

[Marcoose]

Agree about the Amazon thing - in many ways it's not worth selling products worth over £150 through them as you're capped at £7 per item anyway.


Ben

Rrrrrrreealy. There goes my next project out of the window then! I'm such a noob when it comes to Ecom.

 

[belovedAunt]

Rrrrrrreealy. There goes my next project out of the window then! I'm such a noob when it comes to Ecom.

Yep, for the Amazon UK programme them's the rules. I don't think the US one has a cap on the commission per product sale though.

 

[Marcoose]

Yep, for the Amazon UK programme them's the rules. I don't think the US one has a cap on the commission per product sale though.

That's a joke. Trust me for picking high ticket/low volume products to base my site around. Would love to hear the reasoning behind that especially if the US is uncapped.

 

[rob]

When they introduced the cap thats when I stopped with amazon.

Sell a scuba diving james bond esque item for £1.2k and get under a tenner? No ta.


What is interesting is how google whims are affecting resale values. Take a rough example above, say you have a network earning £50k pa and want to sell, previously you may get £100-150-200k .

Now, if its search only traffic... £30k-£50k or a deal based on earnings! That type of change, or change of awareness of risk, can make a massive difference depending on exit or long term aims.

Of course, people have strategies and are not just chucking stuff at google to see what sticks Arent you?

 

[Marcoose]

Of course, people have strategies and are not just chucking stuff at google to see what sticks Arent you?

That is a p take of a comm for that. Is amazon capping the commission they earn from merchants on there too?!!

Of course, people have strategies and are not just chucking stuff at google to see what sticks Arent you?

Put it this way my two month old site would before of had 500-1000 links by now. Now It's not even got 70! Thing is though, it's ranking like a frickin demon - nearly on page one for a 300k, high competition search term!

 

[Adem]

I feel the same. I have targeted low competition niches and have been doing okay out of them but there is no room for development and I'm never going to make huge amounts due to the amount of search traffic.

I need to concentrate on a couple of site with real potential rather than chucking out another site and hoping it clicks. I know with a large site it won't be an instant win and may take lots of effort before getting clicks and sales, but in the long run I would be better off.

I really should be proactive on the BIG site but whilst the smaller site are still earning I know I'm going to put it off which is the wrong attitude when I really should start the work right now.

 

[Sussexite]

I need to concentrate on a couple of site with real potential rather than chucking out another site and hoping it clicks.

It's a lot easier to get another 1,000 page views a day on a big site already getting lots of traffic than it is to get 1,000 page views a day on a site that doesn't yet exist.

 

[Adem]

If you build it they will come (hopefully!)

 

[boxfish]

The above are not where my focus is, I want to develop:

disabled friendly co/uk to cover accommodation, holidays, leisure etc....

disabilty-aids com for aids, adaptions etc...

Hi Aiden,

How are things going since starting this thread. Have you managed to focus and improve things or are you still in the same cycle?

IMO building out disabledfriendly would make a brilliant, legitimate site and be quite easy to get natural authoritative backlinks and user-generated content - the key parts of a decent site.

 

[Aiden Roberts]

Hi Aiden,

How are things going since starting this thread. Have you managed to focus and improve things or are you still in the same cycle?

IMO building out disabledfriendly would make a brilliant, legitimate site and be quite easy to get natural authoritative backlinks and user-generated content - the key parts of a decent site.

Hi boxfish

Glad you asked the question because it has forced me to review my earlier comments and look at where I am now?

In answer to "am I focused" I would have to say no not completely. I have narrowed down the sites I want to work on and started putting them together but I am still juggling too many at present.

In your quote I said I wasn't focusing on inflatable tents as well as others but I just don't want to let it go because it has maintained it's top 3 position on G made a couple of quid in adsense and getting 600-700 uniques a month. I had some very good advice in the thread and by PM so will be implementing it on the said site to see if that encourages sales but time will tell! I added inflatable today for a more generic site for all things inflatables

I cannot stop myself buying domain names and I would like to think my purchases are better than I had, I know it's subjective but each name I have bought I am happy I can add value to them.

I agree about disabled friendly and it is one of the sites I will be spending time and money on in fact it is second in my list, I am mainly focused on the disability niche as I have a good few names and understand it.

I have got over my affiliate hang up after getting some good pointers not least focusing on authority sites. I still have a long way to go and am much further on; possibly more focused than I was but not there yet.

 

[Deltrus]

The thing about AM is that it is exactly that, Marketing.

The affiliate part is easy, and just involves filling in a form. Getting eyeballs on the page and acquiring clicks requires effort and time. So those who focus on the marketing aspect profit but those that just stick up a lot of affiliate links up on multiple sites and treat it like adsense will wonder why they are not making anything.

Maybe it used to work in the past but now you have to create sites of real depth and value. So it's not impossible to make a living from it but it's not easy either.

 

[retired_member33]

Stop buying names and start focusing on a few sites.

Or stop focusing on start buying good names.

Start doing one of the two mentioned above.

Send me PM if you want to talk about affiliate marketing, know feck all about domains, not my expertise.

 

[storebuilder]

Build one site, make it big and keep adding to it. Don't expect to make money for the first twelve months - if you do it's a bonus. Aim to build a 1000 page site to start with.

Pick a niche where commissions are high - gambling, health & beauty for example. Look at the top sites and aim to build a better one.

Don't get suckered by 30 day cookies, 5% commissions. Find someone who is successful on the forum in that niche and offer to sign up under their aff link for info & mentoring.

Be patient and be consistent at adding content, Put the money you make back into better scripts, better content, better logos and design.

Learn how to write good content, learn how to produce strong CTA's, beg an affiliate manager to show you his/her best performing site in your niche so you know you are following a successful model.

The effort you put in to an affiliate site will seem like a time draining suck on your life but after twelve months it lives for itself and you can start to see your hard work bear fruit. 95% of affiliates give up after three months. If you are serious you can do it - it just takes commitment and time - which most people aren't able to give.

The top sites make all the money and that is where you need to be. A top site can make you 100k+ per year but it's effort, commitment - stuff most people are not prepared to do.

Get yourself a joomla template from rockettheme.com for a headstart like this celebrityfab.com. Work sixteen hour days, uninstall skype, IM's and facebook. Concentrate on adding content.

Put pictures up on your wall of your motorhome you want. Constantly ask yourself "What is the best use of my time right now?" Set Goals. Do the boring stuff first and get it out of the way.

No half hearted half assed half measures will make you successful. Work hard at it. Get up at 5am when you have that content idea and implement. Follow through, be committed.

It takes hard work to build a successful affiliate business but just think in two years from now you can be earning money whilst you sleep, whilst your content writer does his thing you can be living the life.

The rewards are worth it and all that hard work will seem like nothing when you have to turn off the "new sale notice" emails because you get so many of them.

It's not easy, but the rewards are better than any average Joe could ever hope for.

 

[rharper83]

Build one site, make it big and keep adding to it. Don't expect to make money for the first twelve months - if you do it's a bonus. Aim to build a 1000 page site to start with.

Pick a niche where commissions are high - gambling, health & beauty for example. Look at the top sites and aim to build a better one.

Don't get suckered by 30 day cookies, 5% commissions. Find someone who is successful on the forum in that niche and offer to sign up under their aff link for info & mentoring.

Be patient and be consistent at adding content, Put the money you make back into better scripts, better content, better logos and design.

Learn how to write good content, learn how to produce strong CTA's, beg an affiliate manager to show you his/her best performing site in your niche so you know you are following a successful model.

The effort you put in to an affiliate site will seem like a time draining suck on your life but after twelve months it lives for itself and you can start to see your hard work bear fruit. 95% of affiliates give up after three months. If you are serious you can do it - it just takes commitment and time - which most people aren't able to give.

The top sites make all the money and that is where you need to be. A top site can make you 100k+ per year but it's effort, commitment - stuff most people are not prepared to do.

Get yourself a joomla template from rockettheme.com for a headstart like this celebrityfab.com. Work sixteen hour days, uninstall skype, IM's and facebook. Concentrate on adding content.

Put pictures up on your wall of your motorhome you want. Constantly ask yourself "What is the best use of my time right now?" Set Goals. Do the boring stuff first and get it out of the way.

No half hearted half assed half measures will make you successful. Work hard at it. Get up at 5am when you have that content idea and implement. Follow through, be committed.

It takes hard work to build a successful affiliate business but just think in two years from now you can be earning money whilst you sleep, whilst your content writer does his thing you can be living the life.

The rewards are worth it and all that hard work will seem like nothing when you have to turn off the "new sale notice" emails because you get so many of them.

It's not easy, but the rewards are better than any average Joe could ever hope for.

Not much to say to this, other than it's so true! Just the journey along the way is hard, and I've fallen by the wayside so many times. Just on the path again!

 

[cc976a]

Build one site, make it big and keep adding to it. Don't expect to make money for the first twelve months - if you do it's a bonus. Aim to build a 1000 page site to start with.

Pick a niche where commissions are high - gambling, health & beauty for example. Look at the top sites and aim to build a better one.

Don't get suckered by 30 day cookies, 5% commissions. Find someone who is successful on the forum in that niche and offer to sign up under their aff link for info & mentoring.

Be patient and be consistent at adding content, Put the money you make back into better scripts, better content, better logos and design.

Learn how to write good content, learn how to produce strong CTA's, beg an affiliate manager to show you his/her best performing site in your niche so you know you are following a successful model.

The effort you put in to an affiliate site will seem like a time draining suck on your life but after twelve months it lives for itself and you can start to see your hard work bear fruit. 95% of affiliates give up after three months. If you are serious you can do it - it just takes commitment and time - which most people aren't able to give.

The top sites make all the money and that is where you need to be. A top site can make you 100k+ per year but it's effort, commitment - stuff most people are not prepared to do.

Get yourself a joomla template from rockettheme.com for a headstart like this celebrityfab.com. Work sixteen hour days, uninstall skype, IM's and facebook. Concentrate on adding content.

Put pictures up on your wall of your motorhome you want. Constantly ask yourself "What is the best use of my time right now?" Set Goals. Do the boring stuff first and get it out of the way.

No half hearted half assed half measures will make you successful. Work hard at it. Get up at 5am when you have that content idea and implement. Follow through, be committed.

It takes hard work to build a successful affiliate business but just think in two years from now you can be earning money whilst you sleep, whilst your content writer does his thing you can be living the life.

The rewards are worth it and all that hard work will seem like nothing when you have to turn off the "new sale notice" emails because you get so many of them.

It's not easy, but the rewards are better than any average Joe could ever hope for.

Then the big G slam-dunks your site as it's just realized the £100k a year will just about cover the champers at the shareholders night of frolics and fun and want in.....

.....whilst your awake all night weeping over every line of code in your site looking for where you've tripped the filters.

It's not a dig at the advice. What you speak of is key to building any business - our your doing this for pocket change then go sub (sub sub) niche where G and filters don't care to look at you can build and earn.

If you're looking for big £100k a year revenue sites just look at marketing as a big part of the growth - rather than organic search engine traffic. Marketing and gaining revenue from PR, social sites, advertising, viral campaigns, PPC should now feature on any site builders to do list.

 

[doodlebug]

Here's my only tip - don't rely on SEO, get some paid for ads and test different methods of marketing.

Good luck to all 8)