Focus, Focus, Focus
If you’re a person with an above average IQ, you probably have several amazing ideas each day. On the one hand, it’s a huge advantage but on the other hand, it’s also something that can work against you if you’re not careful.
No matter how successful or well organized you are, a day still won’t have more than 24 hours and your budget will probably never be limitless either. Yes, it’s true that you need to diversify but that doesn’t mean that you should go overboard. Spreading yourself too thin is just as bad as keeping all of your eggs in one basket.
In Case You Forgot: Focus, Focus, Focus
Most people get really excited about a project at the beginning but end up being distracted at one point or another. The brainstorming process is almost always a lot of fun but when you start implementing everything, things tend to get a bit boring. It’s like that for everyone and it’s perfectly understandable.
While it is understandable, that doesn’t mean that you have to start finding excuses. So you have great ideas? Well, what good will it do if they don’t materialize? Writing stuff on a board or on a piece of paper is great and everything but making money would be kinda-sorta nice too, wouldn’t it? If you always jump from one idea to another, you’ll end up with a lot of “concepts” but no money in the bank. So, what’s the solution?
You’ve Guessed It: Focus, Focus, Focus
Keep your eyes on the prize and be sure to set goals. Reaching a goal always gives you a nice little boost, probably more than enough in order to make it to the next one and so on. Don’t forget to reward yourself, keep it fun!
Ok, so focusing is important. But does this mean that you should let ideas with a lot of potential go to waste? Of course not, be ready to always write a great idea down. Be organized, you’ll thank yourself later on. Notepad is your friend, seriously! Why complicate things? Create a folder, call it “ideas” or something and whenever you think that you’ve discovered the best thing since sliced bread, open notepad or an editor of choice for a moment and let your imagination run wild. Then get back to work, rinse and repeat. That’s really all there is to it.
Read the rest
The Comfort Zone = One of Your Biggest Enemies
Here’s the thing: you don’t have to be a rocket scientist in order to make $200 – $300 per day online. Anyone with half a brain can pull it off and even if you’re a complete beginner, you’ll probably be able to start making $6k – $9k monthly without working all that hard fairly soon.
Starting out is always hard but once things are on the right track, you’ll have your first “hey, I’m making some decent cash by only working a couple of hours/day” moment. You’ll be able to start taking advantage of all the free time you have at your disposal and that can be extremely dangerous.
Oh Really? Why?
Three words: the comfort zone, the place which keeps most people from tapping their true potential. Human nature at its best! After all, why hustle and hustle and hustle when you can make enough money to live a comfortable life without working all that hard? Time to take your foot off the pedal, right? Wrong!
While it may be true that you’ll feel “content” at the beginning, it’s only a matter of time until regret starts kicking in. Sure, your life is fairly comfortable but what will happen when you find out that the guy you’ve been talking to on AIM back when both of you were beginners is now banking $3,000 per day while you’re still stuck at the $250 level?
Why Sacrifice the Future for a Comfortable Present?
The opportunities you have now will not stay around forever. Maybe you’ll come across better ones but you probably won’t. That’s why the ability to make the most of what you have is ultimately what separates winners from losers. If you can make $500 per day, make $500 per day. Even if it means not hanging out with friends as often watching less TV! Guess what: your friends will never pay your bills and neither will your favorite TV host.
Never make the mistake of letting the comfort zone hold you back. It’s easy to let the thought of making money without working all that much seduce you, especially after you’ve invested a lot of time in a certain project and think that you’ve had enough. Once you make one compromise, others will follow and it’s only a matter of time until things get out of hand. Is being content really enough for you? It definitely shouldn’t be!
Read the rest
The Art of Creating an Attractive Ad which Appeals to the “Right” Audience
Did you think that if your ads have an impressive CTR, the campaign(s) will automatically end up being profitable? Wrong! Think about it: the most important thing is convincing the people who click to perform a certain action. Maybe you’re selling something, maybe you want them to sign up for something.
Even if you have a brilliant landing page, convincing the “wrong” audience to perform the action(s) in question is so hard that it’s just not worth it. Most people think that it’s your job as an affiliate marketer to convince as many people as possible to click on an ad. Well, it’s not.
Do You Want Lots of “Curious Clickers”?
Here’s the thing: even a complete beginner can come up with an ad which is so “different” (weird, interesting, maybe even shocking) that lots and lots of people end up clicking. But there’s just one problem: most of them would be “curious clickers” who have no interest whatsoever in what you’re offering. They would click that shiny ad of yours, drop by and then leave.
In other words, you’d practically be throwing money away. While it is true that you will get cheaper clicks if your CTR is high (after all, networks display ads based on how much money they make from each of them – they make more money from people with low bids but a huge CTR than from people who are willing to pay a lot more per click but have an ad which nobody wants to check out), it still just won’t be worth it in most cases.
Exact Science + Art = $$$
Affiliate marketing is an exact science as well as an art and in this case, you have to find the right balance between creating an attractive ad and not making it appealing to the wrong crowd. It sounds complicated but it really isn’t. If you have at least some basic understanding of marketing, you’ll be fine.
All you have to do is make the ad “different” but still make it perfectly clear what you’re offering. The potential visitors need to know exactly what they’d end up finding if they choose to drop by. Show them what your site is all about in a unique way. Tweak, tweak and tweak some more. Find something that works, scale. Rinse and repeat. Have fun!
Read the rest
Taking a Loss Again and Again… and Again?
It’s no secret that as an affiliate marketer, you need to risk money to make money. There’s just no other way. Test and see what sticks, that’s pretty much all there is to it concept-wise.
In theory, you could even sell used toothpicks if you spend lots of time and money in order to find people who would actually be willing to buy something like that. And since we’re looking at 10 figures when it comes to the number of Internet users, you’re bound to find at least one demographic that converts.
But Is Every Campaign Worth It?
Of course not! Yes, you could even sell used toothpicks if you were to test and test until you find people who are willing to buy them but we’re talking about so few potential customers and so much hassle that it just wouldn’t be worth it.
The time required to turn such a campaign into something profitable is always better spent working on campaigns with potential which can actually be scaled. But if you’re interested in becoming a professional time waster sure, go for it.
What If I’m Not Bill Gates?
Leaving campaigns which don’t have any potential whatsoever aside, there are lots which do have potential but are extremely “tricky”. In other words, campaigns which are definitely scalable but which practically devour a small budget just like that.
Just how much can you afford to pay for data? If you get carried away, there’s always the risk of being stuck with an “almost there” campaign and a depleted budget. You need to be realistic, painfully realistic. Your financial situation is what it is, end of story. Once you have more money to work with, you can afford to play the game on a different level but for now, focus on making the most out of your current situation.
Where Do You Draw the Line?
As an affiliate marketer, you need to know when to say no and move on. Analyze the data you have at your disposal and rationally determine if tweaking the campaign is worth it or not.
Let the numbers do all of the talking and based on your financial situation, decide what the best approach is. Don’t let your ego get the best of you and don’t take the “test, test and test some more ‘till something sticks” concept too far. Seriously, don’t!
Read the rest
New Networks – The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
A lot of people complain about the fact that the most popular networks out there are no longer offering the support that made them famous and, naturally, start shopping around for alternatives. Given the fact that you’ll be facing a lot of competition as an affiliate marketer, everything counts and your relationship with the network(s) you’re working with makes no exception.
Are new networks the best solution out there? Will they end up representing the breath of fresh air you so desperately need? Let’s find out.
The Good
Let’s start by analyzing the role networks have in the ecosystem. Here’s how things work: most affiliate marketers don’t have a huge budget at their disposal and most advertisers are not willing to do things like pay on a weekly basis. The need for a middle man arises. Networks are, in theory, here to help you keep your campaign active by paying you more often, even before they receive the money from an advertiser.
They receive a cut, you get to keep your campaign(s) active and the advertiser takes advantage of your traffic. Everyone’s happy, right? Not always. As with everything else in this world, there’s a certain degree of risk involved. Unfortunately, not all advertisers are reasonable and as a result, it’s not at all uncommon for networks not to be paid.
New networks have to offer weekly wires to stand out. Otherwise, people will simply look the other way. Let’s leave the fact that some owners start out with shady intentions aside and assume that most of them want to start a legitimate business. Let’s also assume that they have a 5 figure budget at their disposal, are really excited and offer weekly wires as well as outstanding support via phone, email and AIM. While everything may seem great on paper, problems are bound to occur at one point or another.
The Bad
Most people who start a network assume that advertisers will always pay them. Huge mistake! If that were the case then yes, everything would run extremely smoothly. But unfortunately for them and for the affiliate marketers they’re doing business with, that’s just not how things work.
All it takes is one shady advertiser and bam… it’s all downhill from there. That 5 figure budget of theirs starts seeming less and less impressive while the people who expected fast payments start becoming less and less thrilled about the business relationship!
The Ugly
So, what then? Well, they start becoming desperate. People are no longer willing to push volume through their network and they’ll probably be stuck with a handful of affiliate marketers who send shady traffic and are only willing to work with the network in question because everyone else already banned them.
Naturally, the traffic doesn’t convert and advertisers start reacting. Some will issue a first and final warning, others will cut them out and a few will even refuse to pay them. End of story.
Don’t risk it, just don’t. Wait until a network has a bit of history before jumping in because otherwise, you’re going to probably end up losing a lot of time and money. The only exceptions are represented by networks such as C2M and A4D, which are ran by people who had a lot of “street cred” before becoming network owners. As far as those two are concerned, trust was never an issue but those are just exceptions. In most cases, the pros just don’t outweigh the cons, so do the reasonable thing and stay away.
Read the rest
Latest Comments