New Affiliate Discoveries

Hey, a special thanks to those who signed up for the Wealthy Affiliate this week.  I’ve emailed each of you personally AND sent your rebate via PayPal.  I consider you guys my special group of affiliates and want to do everything I can to help you succeed, so feel free to email me or leave a comment here anytime at all.

For those of you who didn’t sign up this week, it’s not too late…Wealthy Affiliate DID raise their prices this week, but not by much.  It is now $39 per month, still a bargain for all the information that is on the site.

I know my previous post must have sounded like a “hard sell” for Wealthy Affiliate, but I am SO convinced that this is where you will actually learn the information you need to succeed in affiliate marketing.  Sure, you can read my blog (and learn a bunch of stuff), but these guys have really spent a lot of time, money & resources building a site full of information and tools to use for marketing.

Still want in at the old price ($29/month)?  It’s still possible if you sign up for a year’s subscription at once…

Anyway, no more hard sells here.  Just keep reading and you can follow my own successes.  In the past week, I’ve earned about $180 with the marketing skills I’ve learned on the site, now I’m trying to refine that campaign and reduce expenses to make my profits soar.

So stay tuned, and thanks for stopping by.

Popularity: 74% [?]

My latest project from wealthy affiliate, (I’ve got about 3 going on right now), is a combination of affiliate marketing with list building using PPC advertising.

I am following a video course that goes over the marketing skils, landing pages and specific features of each autoresponder email to send out to your list after they sign up on  a squeeze page.

So far, I’ve got 3 signups to the list, and 2 autoresponders.  As more folks sign up, I”ll keep adding the follow up messages according ot the program.

Email one was fun & I told a story about myself, and acheived a 100% CTR on the link supplied

The second email is a mini-article that I threw together after work here.   Hmm…only 2 messages so far.  For the amount of time I’ve spent at the computer tonight, you’d think ‘d have more done than that!

Popularity: 79% [?]

I started to keep a blog over on the Wealthy Affiliate Forums, but I get more traffic over here, and I wanted everyone to be able to see exactly what I was doing and follow along with the results.  Recently I wrote two articles for one of my Build a Niche Stores, based on good (low competition) keyword phrases that I identified by using WordTracker (there is both a free and paid version).

The folks over at Ezine articles suggested submitting articles in pairs to increase visibility of your 2nd article.  When your first article is viewed, immediately below is a list of recently published artic les. If you submit 2 at the same time, it’s likely that your 2nd article will be listed below your first, increasing the odds of another viewing of one of your articles.

So today I submitted 2 ezine articles and created a squidoo lens of the same name.  I pointed the ezine article to my Build a Niche Store in the bio box.  And am using the squidoo lens to point to both the ezine article, when it gets published as well as pulling the RSS feed from my Build a Niche Store .  So both the squidoo and ezine articles will point to my Build a Niche Store , and the squidoo points to the ezine article as well (it will when it’s published).

While writing, I quickly banged out a “How TO” article as well. I didn’t do any keyword research on it, but it’s an article I’ve been wanting to write for awhile, so I just did it. I can write a better version of it for the Build a Niche Store site as a landing page as well.  I havn’t submitted it yet because it needs to be cleaned up, but while I”m on a roll writing I figure I might as well keep going.

Don’t forget about the Wealthy Affiliate Price Increase coming on May 6th.  Sign up now under my link and get your first month free, no strings attached!

Popularity: 79% [?]

Update: 5/10/8:  I had 5 affliliates join through this promotion, and all seem to be satisfied so far. (If you’re not, please email me, and I’ll help you through whatever you need help with).  Wealthy Affilaite raised their price to $39/month, still a great deal.  But you can LOCK IN the $29.99/month price by signing up for 1 Year in advance.  I’ve been a member there for 2 full months now, and you can read my regular updates on this blog about it. 

Now on with the post… 

I just found out from the Wealthy Affiliate Forums that the monthly price will increase on May 6th! To lock in on the current price of $29.99/ month, simply join before May 6th.

In fact, if you join for a full month at the current price of $29.99, I will PAY for your first month! Here’s the deal. I will paypal you $15 immediately once you join, just send me your receipt number (use the contact form above). You MUST use the links on this page to join in order to get the free one month offer! Once your membership is running for a full 30 days, I will pay you the remaining $14.99.

Lock in Your Monthly Rate

The best part is that your $29.99/month rate is locked in as long as you join BEFORE May 6th.

You know what? Even if you decide to cancel before the first 30 days, I’m so confident that you will LOVE what you find at wealthy affiliate, that you can keep the $15 that I’ll send you for your first month.

What You’ll Find at Wealthy Affiliate

I know I haven’t posted much yet about Wealthy Affiliate, the messages are actually queued up here for posting. But Here’s what you’ll find there…I want you to get in while the rate is cheap just like I have. I have already (in less than a month), earned back my first few months of membership with what I’ve learned there.

• Members Only Forum
• Linux Web Hosting
• Online Ajax Website Builder
• Keyword Research Software
• Website Templates
• Product Reasearch Tools
• Competition Spy Tool
• Keyword Lists
• Personal 1 on 1 Mentoring

Seriously, it’s all there and it’s all real. You can’t lose, just sign up and see if you don’t think it’s worth sticking around for a few months. I’m using the information I’m learning at Wealthy Affiliate and through its members Travis and Todd to help improve traffic to my Build a Niche Store websites. This is really a killer combination!

Success Stories on Wealthy Affiliate Forums

Here is a recent screenshot I took of the success forum on Wealthy Affiliate. Note the dates posted and the subject lines. Each one of these threads is filled with inspiration, tips and advice on how to achieve the same.

Integrating Wealthy Affiliate with Other Affiliate Marketing Tools

But I’m learning new and other techniques as well besides Build a Niche Store, which up until now, was the only affiliate program that helped me make sales. I’ve now earned commissions on not only Build a Niche Store, but also Aweber autoresponder Service, US Free Ads, Clickbank products and Wealthy Affiliate itself.

What’s even cooler? Once you join wealthy affiliate, you can send potential visitors to the site (they can even be your family), and if they sign up, presto, you get a commission. As of May 6th, the commission for Wealthy Affiliate is going up to $175! Crazy, I know it. But Kyle & Carson, the owners are pretty savvy about what they’re doing, so I’m confident it will be good.

How to Take Advantage of the Offer

OK, you know you want to check it out by now. Just click on the Wealthy Affiliate Link and sign up for one month. Send me your receipt number (use the contact form above), and I will immediately PayPal you $15. Once your first 30 days has passed, I’ll send you the remaining $14.99 that will cover your first month of Wealthy Affiliate.

Because this is such an incredible opportunity to try Wealthy Affiliate at a low (can you say FREE) price for the first month, as well as lock in the rate before May 6th, I’m going to need to limit it to the first 20 people that contact me. Remember, you MUST use the links on this page, or I cannot reimburse you for your first month. I’ve already been emailing a friend about it who took me up on my offer, so only 19 spots (see below!) left. I’ll keep the post updated on how many more I’ll be doing.

May 2, 2008 Update: Only 4 days left to lock in the price, and I’ve got 4 spots taken up already, 16 left to go! Each person who has joined under me so far is getting personal feedback to help them get started as well.

Popularity: 96% [?]

One of the first things you’ll read about at Wealthy Affiliate is proper keyword research.  I have several existing websites, and I decided to see if I could use Wealthy Affiliate techniques to bring more traffic to my Build a Niche Store websites!  So I used one of my keyword tools last night and came up with a handful of good keyword phrases (low competition, reasonable daily searches).

Next I’ll use those keyword phrases and create several articles that I can use to draw the attention of search engines to my blog posts, online article databases and free web 2.0 properties like Squidoo.

Today is a travel day, and I’m a bit embarassed to say that I jumped at the chance to be bumped from my flight and spend the night in a hotel so that I could work on some internet marketing stuff.  While waiting for the flight in Philly, I started some new squidoo lenses using the keywords I researched last night.

But oh my goodness, this can get confusing!  How do I tie in my keyword with a monetizing product?  Suppose my keyword is something like, “the best dirt tracks in Kentucky for Horse Racing”, but there are no products  on Horse Racing Dirt Tracks…but there are products on Beginner tips for horseriding, 101 Ways to be a better Horseman, etc…  Is the lens still relevant if I divert my visitor from Race Tracks towards How to Ride?

Should I be sending them to a general landing site (like a blog with forums, news, store links), or a very specific landing page for one product?

Oh my.  I’m trying!  Stay tuned and see what I decide to do.

Popularity: 81% [?]

The other day I was reviewing my Squidoo mail, and the “make money” edition contained several gems. The Long Tail Treasure caught my eye, and after reading his lens, I was hooked. I immediately signed up for his free email course, “How I made $7000 in 60 days” using techniques he learned at The Wealthy Affiliate.

It sounds like a stretch, doesn’t it? I was skeptical as well. But I had heard about the Wealthy Affiliate from other blogger’s sites. I didn’t necessarily think it was a scam, but who wants to spend $29/ month if they don’t have to?

Between Todd Allen’s Long Tail Treasure endorsement of WA (Wealthy Affiliate) and talking to a real live person I met through my accountant who also just signed up for Wealthy Affiliate, I decided to give it a shot and join.

So far I’ve been a member for about three weeks and I am learning some really valuable stuff. Is it worth it? So far, the $29 for month one has been well worth the incredible amount of information available to site members for no additional cost. In terms of time savings, it’s worth far more than the $29.

My next several posts will detail what new steps I’m taking on existing sites based on what I’m learning at Wealthy Affiliates. So if I am endorsing the site here, it’s because I am actually using it.

Take a look at the homepage and all the benefits they offer: The Wealthy Affiliates

Popularity: 97% [?]

Time for my monthly update.  I’m pleased with how I did, considering I was fairly distracted this month from being able to promote an market my Build a Niche Store Websites, letting them run on whatever organic juice they already had.

I did begin a few new projects this month, look for upcoming posts that discuss new ways of creating traffic and how I learned a few new tricks!

Here are the numbers:

Build a Niche Store: $188.55

AdSense: $5.09

TextLinkAds: $54.15

Total:   $247.79

Again, you can see that AdSense doesn’t add up to many cents.  Or much sense at all. It’s just there.  And while I can’t retuire on $247.79, it’s more than I made last month, and it’s more than you’re making if you’re not getting your feet wet at all!

I have several new projects that I”m working on, and I’d like all of you to be able to watch some of the details.  I recently took a serious step forward in my internet marketing education.  I’ll fill you in on all the little secrets soon!

How did you do this month?

Popularity: 96% [?]

If you are like me, you’ve got dozens of different ideas in your head at one time.  It’s hard to focus on just one topic to make a blog post, let alone to set up an entire campaign.  I’ve read a lot about affiliate marketing and feel that I’ve got a decent understanding of it, but as you’ll note from my monthly earnings reports, I’ve still got a long ways to go in order to quit my day job!

One common theme has come up in the past few days of my reading online.  And that is, “Just do something!”.  You can read for hours and days on end, but until you go out and Do Something with your affiliate marketing efforts, you’ve got nothing to show for your investment and no possibility of earning any money.

My problem is that I’m so distractable, I have a hard time completing even one thing before I get that next “great idea” and move on to a new website,  or new niche.

A second common theme that has entered the forefront of my thinking is process mapping.  Not just diagrams of your advertising campaigns, but an actual flow diagram of where the target is, where the funnels are and how you expect your visitors to get from one point to the other.

Process maps can be simple or complex, they can be created by hand or by computer software, and they can help guide you toward success or keep you mired in failure!

Are you interested in learning the difference between the two?  Let me know and I’ll post part two!

Popularity: 100% [?]

PLR stands for Private Label Rights.  Why should you be intersted in it?  When you purchase a PLR product, you are purchasing the right to put your own name on the product, to brand it as your own.  If you don’t have expertise in a certain field, or would like to sell or give away a software product or ebook that you don’t have the knowledge to create, PLR content can be just the ticket to get you into the door of affiliate marketing.

I recently purchased my first PLR content, actually 2 in one day.  I paid for them out of my profits from Text Link Ads, since it goes directly into my PayPal account, so it’s (kind of) like Free Money.

I found the items by googleing “My Niche” + PLR and searching throug the first page of returned sites.  Many were simply articles much like this one talking about PLR.  But several of them were selling PLR content.  For this current project I’m working on, I need a big dose of new content that I didn’t have time to write.

When purchasign PLR content, you need to be careful however.  You are not purchasing the copyright to the articles, only the right to brand it with your name.  in most cases, the original author will be selling the PLR product to a number of interested buyers.  Scrupulous sellers will limite the number of buyers so that the content remains (somewhat) original.

But keep in mind that Google can add a page to it’s supplemental index, or even remove it entirely if it sees duplicate content.  SO I’ve been spending my evenings “Spinning” or re-writing the PLR articles just enough to be unique, then posting them on my new site, and trying to get some Social Love with Digg, Stumble, Squidoo, etc.

So if you are anxious to get a project off the ground, and dont have the time, expertise or the patience to write the content yourself, consider a PLR product.

Popularity: 100% [?]

I had a decent month in February, largely thanks to an established PR 4 blogs from which I’ve sold 5 text link ads.  I am also seeing my BANS stores increase in income.  Adsense is still there, but mostly because I’m too lazy to do much to optimize it.

Here are the numbers:

Text Link Ads:  $52.26

Build a Niche Store:  $93.30

AdSense:  $3.28

Total: $148.84

Total for the year:  $243.31

I admit that my expenses are absent.  The TLA money gets deposited into my paypal account, which I then use to buy domain names when the thought strikes me.  i’m still paying for private registration, which eventually I’d like to stop, but I am waiting to start a formal business (an LLC for example), until I prove to myself that this is not a hobby, but a business.

Popularity: 100% [?]