I just made my first ever ClickBank affiliate sale this week!
It was only a few days ago that I included a link on this blog to the ebook I was very impressed with, Honest Riches, by Holly Mann...and just like that I earned an affiliate commission from it the same week. That's pretty cool, since I really haven't even started to promote this blog much at all yet. I have a free TrafficSwarm ad running, and it brings just a few glancing visitors each day. But looking at my StatCounter data, I found out that the sale actually came as a result of a comment I posted on another blog. (At that time it was the ONLY blog comment I had posted, too!) Hmmm...seems like I should be doing more comment posting, huh?!
So far, I still have yet to spend even a penny on advertising this blog, but I've actually made a sale. It's not much, but it's a start. If nothing else it assures me that this affiliate marketing really does work. I guess until I actually received word of a sale, I always had that little doubt deep inside that made we wonder if you ever really get credited for sales that you referred, so this proves it.
The funny thing is, I never really intended to make any money directly from this blog anyway. This is more or less just to document my progress as I begin this business, so anything I earn from this is just a bonus. (The AdSense ads earnings are currently up to about $4.00 now too, with practically no promotion.) I just figured I would record my progress here until I get my main website set up, and then only occasionally add to it after that. But I'm getting so many ideas that I'm anxious to get started with now, I'm going to have to choose a few things to start out promoting and see what happens.
At the top of my list right now is an offer I stumbled on the other day called Survey Scout. The sales page is so convincing, I find myself wondering why I'm even going through all this trouble of affiliate marketing. Maybe I'd rather just quit all this and be one of the ones getting paid to fill out online surveys for companies. (At home in my pajamas, as their ad says!) This company gives their members all the details on how to get started doing just that, and they claim up to $150 per hour is realistically possible to earn. Not quit-your-job-and-buy-a-new-mansion kind of money, but definitely something worth looking into for most people.
Since this ties in well with my "Making Money With Your Computer & The Internet" theme, it seems like a great offer to feature in my upcoming website. Until that happens, I figure I'll throw an ad or two on TrafficSwarm and some other free ad sites, and maybe even buy a few inexpensive banner ads, etc., and see how it works out. They're claiming to have some affiliates seeing 15% to 30% sales conversions, so it must be a pretty hot deal right now. It's still new, too...I think it's only been around for 3 or 4 months. Hopefully it'll STAY hot for awhile and give ME a chance to get in on the fun! I certainly wouldn't mind getting in on something early for a change!
John
Sunday, October 29, 2006
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
“Free” Services – Not Always Good or Bad
I’m always on the lookout for free things on the internet – especially ways to save on business expenses. And thanks to the nature of the internet, there’s plenty to be found.
I’ve noticed that most “experts” don’t recommend the use of the various free services available, and they’ll give you many reasons why. But the truth is, the main reason they don’t usually recommend them is that there’s no money to be made by referring you to them. They’d much rather give you their affiliate referral link to whatever they promote so they can earn a commission.
That’s to be expected - it’s just how business works. But I’m interested finding ways to save money wherever I can, and I’m sure you are too. So just be aware of this fact and realize that, because of this, you won’t see nearly as many glowing reviews of free services, even though they can often be excellent. Or they can just be a waste of time, so you need to try them to find out for yourself which ones are which.
Here’s one example of each…
StatCounter.com is a free web tracking service I’ve been trying out. This thing has so many impressive features it’s amazing, yet as of this writing it’s totally free to use. The only limit being once you start getting hundreds of thousands of hits per day, you’re then asked to upgrade to the pay version. Beginners don’t need to worry about this anyway. (I certainly don’t, for one!) So I followed the instructions and set it up on this very site to see what I might find out.
Meanwhile, another thing I’ve been trying is called TrafficSwarm.com. It’s a free advertising site that displays your ad in exchange for viewing the other ads they have listed...unless you want to pay a fee to bypass having to view ads. I suspected that most people just click on the ads to earn their credits, without paying any real attention to the web sites they’re shown...and I was right.
Thanks to StatCounter, I was able to know that after about a week on TrafficSwarm, they sent me only about 20 visitors...all of whom stayed for only 5 seconds or less! Meaning not only did VERY little traffic result from that ad, but the people who did click through to this site didn’t even take more than a glance. (If that!)
So I’m starting to think TrafficSwarm is really more like “WastedTimeSwarm”. Maybe with just the right product offer and just the right ad you could accomplish something with it, but otherwise it doesn’t look worthwhile to me. But it IS free. Even if it sent more traffic though, visitors who don’t stay for more than five seconds are worthless anyway. Oh well, at least now I know spending any money for more exposure on it wouldn’t exactly be a good idea.
“Free” products and services are usually advertisement supported in some form or another, but not always. Ads are usually what makes the whole thing possible, since most companies don’t keep websites up and running, etc., just out of the goodness of their hearts – they need to make money somewhere along the line just like everyone else. I use a free email reader called Eudora, and it’s only ads are in a small square in the lower left corner of the screen – they don’t bother me a bit. If there’s no advertising, there’s usually some other ulterior motive somewhere, if only the hope of upgrading you or selling something to you in the future.
One exception is free web hosting services. You probably do want to avoid using them for business web sites, since the ads could possibly distract your readers from your own message. (Or worse, even conflict with your message.) For personal websites though, they could work out fine if the advertising doesn’t bother you. Plus, blog sites like this one (Blogger.com) are also free to use. So in my own case, by the way...yes, I CAN afford to offer the information in this blog out of the goodness of my heart! I hope this helps you out in your own efforts to start your own computer internet marketing business!
John
I’ve noticed that most “experts” don’t recommend the use of the various free services available, and they’ll give you many reasons why. But the truth is, the main reason they don’t usually recommend them is that there’s no money to be made by referring you to them. They’d much rather give you their affiliate referral link to whatever they promote so they can earn a commission.
That’s to be expected - it’s just how business works. But I’m interested finding ways to save money wherever I can, and I’m sure you are too. So just be aware of this fact and realize that, because of this, you won’t see nearly as many glowing reviews of free services, even though they can often be excellent. Or they can just be a waste of time, so you need to try them to find out for yourself which ones are which.
Here’s one example of each…
StatCounter.com is a free web tracking service I’ve been trying out. This thing has so many impressive features it’s amazing, yet as of this writing it’s totally free to use. The only limit being once you start getting hundreds of thousands of hits per day, you’re then asked to upgrade to the pay version. Beginners don’t need to worry about this anyway. (I certainly don’t, for one!) So I followed the instructions and set it up on this very site to see what I might find out.
Meanwhile, another thing I’ve been trying is called TrafficSwarm.com. It’s a free advertising site that displays your ad in exchange for viewing the other ads they have listed...unless you want to pay a fee to bypass having to view ads. I suspected that most people just click on the ads to earn their credits, without paying any real attention to the web sites they’re shown...and I was right.
Thanks to StatCounter, I was able to know that after about a week on TrafficSwarm, they sent me only about 20 visitors...all of whom stayed for only 5 seconds or less! Meaning not only did VERY little traffic result from that ad, but the people who did click through to this site didn’t even take more than a glance. (If that!)
So I’m starting to think TrafficSwarm is really more like “WastedTimeSwarm”. Maybe with just the right product offer and just the right ad you could accomplish something with it, but otherwise it doesn’t look worthwhile to me. But it IS free. Even if it sent more traffic though, visitors who don’t stay for more than five seconds are worthless anyway. Oh well, at least now I know spending any money for more exposure on it wouldn’t exactly be a good idea.
“Free” products and services are usually advertisement supported in some form or another, but not always. Ads are usually what makes the whole thing possible, since most companies don’t keep websites up and running, etc., just out of the goodness of their hearts – they need to make money somewhere along the line just like everyone else. I use a free email reader called Eudora, and it’s only ads are in a small square in the lower left corner of the screen – they don’t bother me a bit. If there’s no advertising, there’s usually some other ulterior motive somewhere, if only the hope of upgrading you or selling something to you in the future.
One exception is free web hosting services. You probably do want to avoid using them for business web sites, since the ads could possibly distract your readers from your own message. (Or worse, even conflict with your message.) For personal websites though, they could work out fine if the advertising doesn’t bother you. Plus, blog sites like this one (Blogger.com) are also free to use. So in my own case, by the way...yes, I CAN afford to offer the information in this blog out of the goodness of my heart! I hope this helps you out in your own efforts to start your own computer internet marketing business!
John
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Deciding What To Sell (Or Promote)
The possibilities are endless. Sometimes I feel like just closing my eyes and pointing at something to decide on exactly what I should sell to make money on the internet. It's turning out to be a lot more challenging than I expected just to decide what to promote. Plus, there's the decision of selling physical products, downloadable products, or affiliate marketing referrals. I've never been a very fast decision maker in the first place, so as you can see, I'm still working on this one!
I just read a comment I received as a result of this blog in my email. It was from Ally in Scotland. (Which I thought was pretty neat, since I'm in Delaware in the U.S.!) She just checked in to say hi and that she's just started a new internet business too. She sells health improvement products on 4u-net.com, and it made me think it's nice to see someone actually selling PRODUCTS rather than just advice or money making schemes. Good luck with that, Ally! :)
There are SO MANY people on the internet shouting (virtually) that they are incredibly wealthy and can teach you to become that way by following their instructions. I've seen many lately, needless to say, while researching this whole idea of computer income from the internet. What I find myself trying to do is figure out who are really the ones that have been around for awhile, and who are just students (or copycats!) of the true experts. It can be hard to tell because most all of them are pretty convincing in their own ways.
The money making information/business opportunity category of products is obviously one of the most profitable to promote. Maybe even THE MOST profitable. (Although, porn and gambling are right up there I'm sure...but not the kinds of things I want to build my business around.) So it's no coincidence there are so many sellers jumping on the bandwagon to become the latest "guru" and offer their own version of the rags to riches story.
But I'm wondering, do I really want to take part in this whole game too, parading as an expert and selling the same old information to people who hope to find an honest way to make some money? I've already purchased the domain name, "computer-income.com", so it seems like I'm starting down that path whether I meant to or not. Problem is, I'm not rich, (yet?!) so I can't say to learn from me because I've already made a fortune. So I'm thinking that my selling point needs to be my honesty and willingness to help others succeed in their own business...but would that be enough?
I've bought several different gurus' ebooks in the last few months, and you do start seeing the same ideas repeated. Plus, most of them encourage you to turn around and begin selling more copies of their ebook, as their affiliate. About the only one I'd be willing to do that with is called Honest Riches, by Holly Mann. She's taken the type of approach I would like to take, although she's also got the enormous income to fall back on...so I doubt I could compete against her. But hers is a great little ebook that gets right to the point on how you really can make money in affiliate marketing with your computer and the internet. And the author seems very accessible, with her own discussion forum, etc., which is a big difference from most of the others. I'm not going to make a habit of recommending other peoples' money making courses here, but I do highly recommend that one. I'll put a link to her website on this blog shortly.
So there you go, there's my first ever (good) product review! :) But after getting slightly off my intended subject...I still don't know what to sell yet! (Oh well, I'll settle on something pretty soon!)
John
I just read a comment I received as a result of this blog in my email. It was from Ally in Scotland. (Which I thought was pretty neat, since I'm in Delaware in the U.S.!) She just checked in to say hi and that she's just started a new internet business too. She sells health improvement products on 4u-net.com, and it made me think it's nice to see someone actually selling PRODUCTS rather than just advice or money making schemes. Good luck with that, Ally! :)
There are SO MANY people on the internet shouting (virtually) that they are incredibly wealthy and can teach you to become that way by following their instructions. I've seen many lately, needless to say, while researching this whole idea of computer income from the internet. What I find myself trying to do is figure out who are really the ones that have been around for awhile, and who are just students (or copycats!) of the true experts. It can be hard to tell because most all of them are pretty convincing in their own ways.
The money making information/business opportunity category of products is obviously one of the most profitable to promote. Maybe even THE MOST profitable. (Although, porn and gambling are right up there I'm sure...but not the kinds of things I want to build my business around.) So it's no coincidence there are so many sellers jumping on the bandwagon to become the latest "guru" and offer their own version of the rags to riches story.
But I'm wondering, do I really want to take part in this whole game too, parading as an expert and selling the same old information to people who hope to find an honest way to make some money? I've already purchased the domain name, "computer-income.com", so it seems like I'm starting down that path whether I meant to or not. Problem is, I'm not rich, (yet?!) so I can't say to learn from me because I've already made a fortune. So I'm thinking that my selling point needs to be my honesty and willingness to help others succeed in their own business...but would that be enough?
I've bought several different gurus' ebooks in the last few months, and you do start seeing the same ideas repeated. Plus, most of them encourage you to turn around and begin selling more copies of their ebook, as their affiliate. About the only one I'd be willing to do that with is called Honest Riches, by Holly Mann. She's taken the type of approach I would like to take, although she's also got the enormous income to fall back on...so I doubt I could compete against her. But hers is a great little ebook that gets right to the point on how you really can make money in affiliate marketing with your computer and the internet. And the author seems very accessible, with her own discussion forum, etc., which is a big difference from most of the others. I'm not going to make a habit of recommending other peoples' money making courses here, but I do highly recommend that one. I'll put a link to her website on this blog shortly.
So there you go, there's my first ever (good) product review! :) But after getting slightly off my intended subject...I still don't know what to sell yet! (Oh well, I'll settle on something pretty soon!)
John
Saturday, October 14, 2006
Be Careful Who You Trust
It's hard to know who to believe on the internet, especially when it comes to money making advice. Everyone seems to have their own ulterior motives. (Usually being their plans to make money off of you!) I like to say there are no secrets on the internet, but sometimes it's hard to find the truth. I'm convinced it's even purposely hidden in many cases.
Example:
The WarriorForum.com forum site appears to be a good place to exchange ideas about internet marketing. It's the official forum community for the Plug-In-Profit site run by internet marketing guru, Stone Evans. That's the program I quit shortly after joining, as I mentioned in a previous post on this blog, when I realized it's just a recruiting tool to build Mr. Evans' downlines in his favorite MLM programs. It's not really just affiliate marketing help he offers by setting up free websites for anyone who wants one, which is what the sales page leads you to believe. There's a major ulterior motive.
Anyway, pretty much proving my point, he just recently changed the program to require yet another expensive program to be joined to qualify for the free website, and even asked his members' opinions of it. I noticed only a few negative responses about it, so I entered my own response to one of those and simply stated that I agreed, and listed some of the many free or cheaper options there are to choose from.
My post was deleted within minutes! (And so was the one I responded to.)
As an experiment, I immediately entered another post that simply said I think everything sounds great and that I'm excited to get started in affiliate marketing. Wouldn't you know it? It was still there last I checked! Of course, I also invited the readers to come and see this blog to follow my progress. (Sneaky, aren't I?!) I'm sure if anyone from the site comes here and reads this they'll delete that post too, but I can't do anything about that.
My point is, that forum appears to be an impartial community to discuss ideas on how to run your internet marketing business...but it's not. It's edited to make sure nobody reveals what a rip-off the Plug-In-Profit deal actually is. For totally new beginners who haven't researched much of anything else yet, it sounds like a great deal because of the "free" website they set up for you, but there's much more to it than that. (Hey, I fell for it myself!) :)
So you have to be careful who you trust, and what forums you place your trust in. The main tip-off that you should beware of someone's advice is when they start trying to SELL you anything - especially stuff that's grossly overpriced. There is SO MUCH marketing you can do that's either free or very cheap. No one needs to be joining expensive multi-level marketing deals that make you pay monthly fees or make monthly purchases in order to be a member, sales rep, affiliate - whatever you want to call it. In future posts I plan to list helpful forums as I find them that seem to be honest and impartial with their advice, but I certainly won't be recommending the Warrior Forum.
John
Example:
The WarriorForum.com forum site appears to be a good place to exchange ideas about internet marketing. It's the official forum community for the Plug-In-Profit site run by internet marketing guru, Stone Evans. That's the program I quit shortly after joining, as I mentioned in a previous post on this blog, when I realized it's just a recruiting tool to build Mr. Evans' downlines in his favorite MLM programs. It's not really just affiliate marketing help he offers by setting up free websites for anyone who wants one, which is what the sales page leads you to believe. There's a major ulterior motive.
Anyway, pretty much proving my point, he just recently changed the program to require yet another expensive program to be joined to qualify for the free website, and even asked his members' opinions of it. I noticed only a few negative responses about it, so I entered my own response to one of those and simply stated that I agreed, and listed some of the many free or cheaper options there are to choose from.
My post was deleted within minutes! (And so was the one I responded to.)
As an experiment, I immediately entered another post that simply said I think everything sounds great and that I'm excited to get started in affiliate marketing. Wouldn't you know it? It was still there last I checked! Of course, I also invited the readers to come and see this blog to follow my progress. (Sneaky, aren't I?!) I'm sure if anyone from the site comes here and reads this they'll delete that post too, but I can't do anything about that.
My point is, that forum appears to be an impartial community to discuss ideas on how to run your internet marketing business...but it's not. It's edited to make sure nobody reveals what a rip-off the Plug-In-Profit deal actually is. For totally new beginners who haven't researched much of anything else yet, it sounds like a great deal because of the "free" website they set up for you, but there's much more to it than that. (Hey, I fell for it myself!) :)
So you have to be careful who you trust, and what forums you place your trust in. The main tip-off that you should beware of someone's advice is when they start trying to SELL you anything - especially stuff that's grossly overpriced. There is SO MUCH marketing you can do that's either free or very cheap. No one needs to be joining expensive multi-level marketing deals that make you pay monthly fees or make monthly purchases in order to be a member, sales rep, affiliate - whatever you want to call it. In future posts I plan to list helpful forums as I find them that seem to be honest and impartial with their advice, but I certainly won't be recommending the Warrior Forum.
John
Friday, October 13, 2006
Starting To Make Sense
I'm finally back online after some major computer troubles. It SEEMED like a great idea to finally upgrade to Windows XP...but let's just say it didn't go very smoothly. I bought it for about half price (after a mail-in rebate) so it was a great chance to upgrade at last to the new version. (I felt like I was the last person still using Windows 98.) The last couple of computers I bought were "bare bones" generic units from computer shows, with no operating system installed. (You can really get a great new computer really cheap this way though!) But it resulted in my old version of Windows 98 being the hand-me-down to the new computer each time for the last several years.
For some reason this Windows XP upgrade just wouldn't install completely over my old version, and eventually even ruined my system to the point that it couldn't even start up anymore. I had to reinstall Windows 98 and back up ALL of my own data. (Not a small project - I probably have a few hundred eBooks I've bought in several lots that I've never even read yet!) Then I had to reformat the hard drive, install Windows 98 (again!?)...and finally install the XP upgrade. (I'm exhausted!) I've just started restoring my software and saved data, etc. It's all working smooth and sweet now though, so I GUESS it was all worth it!? Everything really seems to snap right along much quicker with XP, so it is quite an improvement. But I guess my lesson for you on this subject is...
BACK UP YOUR FILES BEFORE UPGRADING!
On a happier note, I just logged in to my Google AdSense account today, and lo and behold...I finally got my first ever click-through earnings! OK...now it was only 86 cents for 2 clicks yesterday, for the little ads at the top of this blog...but it's a start! Kind of cool considering that I haven't even begun to promote this blog site at all yet, so to get anything is pretty neat. You've got to realize...with just a little bit of exposure, that 86 cents could be every day, and after 365 days that becomes over $300 a year...for doing absolutely nothing!
I thought of the AdSense ads as a nice way to supplement your website profits, but I guess they could actually turn out to be a real income producer themselves. Imagine having about 40 websites all earning that modest 86 cents a day. Suddenly you're making over $1000 a month just from those ads! (Whether you ever actually sell anything or not!) I think that's a pretty exciting possibility, myself!
I think I'll print out those mighty .86 in earnings and maybe frame it to display as my first ever AdSense earnings. Hey, why not? People often save their first dollar earned, or their first check received, etc.
You might even say...I've finally made some SENSE here for the first time ever!
John
P.S.- Thanks to whoever it was who clicked on those Google ads of mine yesterday! :)
For some reason this Windows XP upgrade just wouldn't install completely over my old version, and eventually even ruined my system to the point that it couldn't even start up anymore. I had to reinstall Windows 98 and back up ALL of my own data. (Not a small project - I probably have a few hundred eBooks I've bought in several lots that I've never even read yet!) Then I had to reformat the hard drive, install Windows 98 (again!?)...and finally install the XP upgrade. (I'm exhausted!) I've just started restoring my software and saved data, etc. It's all working smooth and sweet now though, so I GUESS it was all worth it!? Everything really seems to snap right along much quicker with XP, so it is quite an improvement. But I guess my lesson for you on this subject is...
BACK UP YOUR FILES BEFORE UPGRADING!
On a happier note, I just logged in to my Google AdSense account today, and lo and behold...I finally got my first ever click-through earnings! OK...now it was only 86 cents for 2 clicks yesterday, for the little ads at the top of this blog...but it's a start! Kind of cool considering that I haven't even begun to promote this blog site at all yet, so to get anything is pretty neat. You've got to realize...with just a little bit of exposure, that 86 cents could be every day, and after 365 days that becomes over $300 a year...for doing absolutely nothing!
I thought of the AdSense ads as a nice way to supplement your website profits, but I guess they could actually turn out to be a real income producer themselves. Imagine having about 40 websites all earning that modest 86 cents a day. Suddenly you're making over $1000 a month just from those ads! (Whether you ever actually sell anything or not!) I think that's a pretty exciting possibility, myself!
I think I'll print out those mighty .86 in earnings and maybe frame it to display as my first ever AdSense earnings. Hey, why not? People often save their first dollar earned, or their first check received, etc.
You might even say...I've finally made some SENSE here for the first time ever!
John
P.S.- Thanks to whoever it was who clicked on those Google ads of mine yesterday! :)
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