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
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