I wanted to share some things with you based strictly on my experience. I really needed to see this kind of posts 4 years ago when started to spin the wheels and hopefully most of you will read this before making the same mistakes.
This post will talk about the nature of things and approaches, a very important factor, widely ignored by most of us. This will save you a lot of money and working hours!
!My English may not be impeccable, but my intentions are. :banana_sml:
1. Decisions...Decisions....Decisions.
If you decided to go full time in the affiliate marketing, then you are that 1% with a lot of chances to succeed. You need to be fully aware of each affiliate method and niche available to make money ( from SEO to PPC, from teeth whitening to penny auctions). Read everything about everything related to this business before jumping into any conclusions.
" Wait Ghost, did you said teeth whitening? You're so outdated man!" - Why is that? Are people starting to replace their teeth with red iron bars?
Don't presume, don't judge before you really know everything about a niche, product and market. Think yourself as a sponge, absorbing any information there is, before giving any advices.
When you think you're full of it, read everything again!
When finally you understand the ups and downs of every method, decide which one you like and feel it as "your thing".
"But shouldn't I go for the one that makes me more money?" - Which one is making more money? I've tried a lot of stuff during the years to understand that there's no such thing as good or bad method. How YOU do it, makes all the difference in the world. Can you tell for sure that teeth whitening on SEO is not putting tons of cash in pockets today? Or payday loans on PPC is not filling some guy accounts in this very moment?
.... go with the method you like, simply because you feel it, because you love doing it and only this way, you'll be the best at it.
Your different now from those 9 o'clock walking suits, so start acting accordingly!
2. My Business
Affiliate marketing is a business. Read that again, I will use the 'business' term a lot so it will sink deep down. If you think at it as a side act or anything else, you will most likely fail. Set your mind to business, talk business, learn business. This business is your business now, so start thinking towards -business.
Make a budget for your business, create scenarios ( best case, worst case - always go with the worst case and see any turnaround as a bonus!), start thinking strategically, make back up plans, marketing plans, think in short-long terms, create achievable goals etc.
If you know nothing about business, there are a lot of old books better than anything you can find these days. Search for Dale Carnegie, Brand Builders, Stephen Covey. Learn what a business relies to.
This will pay off big time and will turn your world around!
3. Sacrifice
I've spoke with many affiliates in person or online and I've listen to a lot of good stuff and bullshit. To sum this up, here is one thing I really hate:
" I've spent already $500 and made no conversion, this is shit. I really don't have any money to put in and I believe is my aff network fault!"
" Paid this guy $100 for backlinks and my site has disappear from google. I've put so much effort in this and now it's all gone. Damn!"
The only person you should blame is you. Blame yourself in such a way that will make you pay more attention next time, open your eyes and set higher standards. Do you believe that anyone will work for you as you do? Do you really think that an aff network (no matter what you read in the "about us" section) cares about your loss or personal problems?
Always hire a person to do the things that you don't have time for, not things that you have no idea of.
Sacrifice everything in order to succeed. Don't think about how you will spend $1 million but how to make it first.
4. Theory VS Practice
Well, many affiliates wont agree with me on this specific point because I've seen everyone is giving this advice: "Less reading, more testing!"
Testing is good and will help you gather precious data to make your campaigns more successful, to make a better targeting and hit a higher ROI or to increase your EPC's. But what to do with all of this data, if you have no clue what I'm talking about?
Read till your eyes bleed and then read some more, that reading alone will save you a lot of money. Why loosing 100 bucks just to press that "Start" button on adwords when you know nothing about negative keywords, quality score, tracking, ROI and so on.
I'm not saying to "lose" time reading, but to learn the basics and to know most of the steps. Only when you feel ready and 99% sure you know what to do, start spending some money.
Do your homework to know what questions to ask your AM and forums, if you need some help.
You'll see this very often: " Damn google shut down my adwords account and I did nothing wrong! Fuck google!" ...but I'm sure that this aff has no clue that the T&C of google might hold the answer on what he likes or not.
It can be everything from bridge pages, false claims, no proper disclaimer, selling page, aggressive ads and so on, and that will lead to one thing only: " no proper homework, man!"
5. Affiliate Networks
Now, this section might upset some AM's but as I have no interest in promoting or denigrate any of the networks, I will say only the truth and what I believe about affiliate networks.
NEVER TAKE WORDS FOR FACT!!! No matter if your AM is Bill Gates or a close cousin!
Test network claims before sending all the traffic to them. Don't keep all of your apples in one basket man, that is good logic right here. Always stick with two or three networks. Ask your AM about specific offers, EPC's of the offer and what he suggest is better before sending any clicks.
Never forget that the AM is not your boss, you don't have one, you don't need one, that is why you're here! Your AM is a hired person that knows the game and is there to help you make money so that he could pay the bills if your work is successful ( no offense to any of the AM's).
There are many types of AM's and there are many types of networks. Most of them do shovel your leads, that is just how things are. If you find one that says it won't, trust me, the all say the same. The important thing is to find those ones who won't shovel too deep.
And for any hater out there, I was there when eadvertising has closed the doors, when epic burned in flames, when neverblue was bought and EWA paid on time, and made some nice bucks with each of them.
Back to the subject, always search for the best offers and networks, ask for informations about what they are offering, payout bumps and PAYMENT!
Test everything: If they say they will pay weekly after $500 -$1k, make only that money, wait for the cash and re-start sending traffic only when you'll see the money in your account. There are too many threads with that or that network scammed people and don't believe for a second that all of them are "competition", that is bull shit. Many of them are legit aff with very good knowledge.
The only mistake was believing their AM's that the money will come with some delay and they've continued to push traffic based on words only. Never trust no one, after all, you don't know most of the people you are working with!
Oh and don't believe that this will happen only in shady small networks, big fishes like the ones I've told you about have failed to pay thousands of legit affiliates and many continue to do so.
The bottom line is: do your research before joining a network, search in the damn google about payment issues and delays and never trust their claims. Your business partner should earn your trust!
Your are the only one responsible for failure or success! All the weapons you need could be found in this forum alone. Stick to the plan, no matter what and dedicate all your energy to this very business!
To flawless victory,
Ghosteye
This post will talk about the nature of things and approaches, a very important factor, widely ignored by most of us. This will save you a lot of money and working hours!
!My English may not be impeccable, but my intentions are. :banana_sml:
1. Decisions...Decisions....Decisions.
If you decided to go full time in the affiliate marketing, then you are that 1% with a lot of chances to succeed. You need to be fully aware of each affiliate method and niche available to make money ( from SEO to PPC, from teeth whitening to penny auctions). Read everything about everything related to this business before jumping into any conclusions.
" Wait Ghost, did you said teeth whitening? You're so outdated man!" - Why is that? Are people starting to replace their teeth with red iron bars?
Don't presume, don't judge before you really know everything about a niche, product and market. Think yourself as a sponge, absorbing any information there is, before giving any advices.
When you think you're full of it, read everything again!
When finally you understand the ups and downs of every method, decide which one you like and feel it as "your thing".
"But shouldn't I go for the one that makes me more money?" - Which one is making more money? I've tried a lot of stuff during the years to understand that there's no such thing as good or bad method. How YOU do it, makes all the difference in the world. Can you tell for sure that teeth whitening on SEO is not putting tons of cash in pockets today? Or payday loans on PPC is not filling some guy accounts in this very moment?
.... go with the method you like, simply because you feel it, because you love doing it and only this way, you'll be the best at it.
Your different now from those 9 o'clock walking suits, so start acting accordingly!
2. My Business
Affiliate marketing is a business. Read that again, I will use the 'business' term a lot so it will sink deep down. If you think at it as a side act or anything else, you will most likely fail. Set your mind to business, talk business, learn business. This business is your business now, so start thinking towards -business.
Make a budget for your business, create scenarios ( best case, worst case - always go with the worst case and see any turnaround as a bonus!), start thinking strategically, make back up plans, marketing plans, think in short-long terms, create achievable goals etc.
If you know nothing about business, there are a lot of old books better than anything you can find these days. Search for Dale Carnegie, Brand Builders, Stephen Covey. Learn what a business relies to.
This will pay off big time and will turn your world around!
3. Sacrifice
I've spoke with many affiliates in person or online and I've listen to a lot of good stuff and bullshit. To sum this up, here is one thing I really hate:
" I've spent already $500 and made no conversion, this is shit. I really don't have any money to put in and I believe is my aff network fault!"
" Paid this guy $100 for backlinks and my site has disappear from google. I've put so much effort in this and now it's all gone. Damn!"
The only person you should blame is you. Blame yourself in such a way that will make you pay more attention next time, open your eyes and set higher standards. Do you believe that anyone will work for you as you do? Do you really think that an aff network (no matter what you read in the "about us" section) cares about your loss or personal problems?
Always hire a person to do the things that you don't have time for, not things that you have no idea of.
Sacrifice everything in order to succeed. Don't think about how you will spend $1 million but how to make it first.
4. Theory VS Practice
Well, many affiliates wont agree with me on this specific point because I've seen everyone is giving this advice: "Less reading, more testing!"
Testing is good and will help you gather precious data to make your campaigns more successful, to make a better targeting and hit a higher ROI or to increase your EPC's. But what to do with all of this data, if you have no clue what I'm talking about?
Read till your eyes bleed and then read some more, that reading alone will save you a lot of money. Why loosing 100 bucks just to press that "Start" button on adwords when you know nothing about negative keywords, quality score, tracking, ROI and so on.
I'm not saying to "lose" time reading, but to learn the basics and to know most of the steps. Only when you feel ready and 99% sure you know what to do, start spending some money.
Do your homework to know what questions to ask your AM and forums, if you need some help.
You'll see this very often: " Damn google shut down my adwords account and I did nothing wrong! Fuck google!" ...but I'm sure that this aff has no clue that the T&C of google might hold the answer on what he likes or not.
It can be everything from bridge pages, false claims, no proper disclaimer, selling page, aggressive ads and so on, and that will lead to one thing only: " no proper homework, man!"
5. Affiliate Networks
Now, this section might upset some AM's but as I have no interest in promoting or denigrate any of the networks, I will say only the truth and what I believe about affiliate networks.
NEVER TAKE WORDS FOR FACT!!! No matter if your AM is Bill Gates or a close cousin!
Test network claims before sending all the traffic to them. Don't keep all of your apples in one basket man, that is good logic right here. Always stick with two or three networks. Ask your AM about specific offers, EPC's of the offer and what he suggest is better before sending any clicks.
Never forget that the AM is not your boss, you don't have one, you don't need one, that is why you're here! Your AM is a hired person that knows the game and is there to help you make money so that he could pay the bills if your work is successful ( no offense to any of the AM's).
There are many types of AM's and there are many types of networks. Most of them do shovel your leads, that is just how things are. If you find one that says it won't, trust me, the all say the same. The important thing is to find those ones who won't shovel too deep.
And for any hater out there, I was there when eadvertising has closed the doors, when epic burned in flames, when neverblue was bought and EWA paid on time, and made some nice bucks with each of them.
Back to the subject, always search for the best offers and networks, ask for informations about what they are offering, payout bumps and PAYMENT!
Test everything: If they say they will pay weekly after $500 -$1k, make only that money, wait for the cash and re-start sending traffic only when you'll see the money in your account. There are too many threads with that or that network scammed people and don't believe for a second that all of them are "competition", that is bull shit. Many of them are legit aff with very good knowledge.
The only mistake was believing their AM's that the money will come with some delay and they've continued to push traffic based on words only. Never trust no one, after all, you don't know most of the people you are working with!
Oh and don't believe that this will happen only in shady small networks, big fishes like the ones I've told you about have failed to pay thousands of legit affiliates and many continue to do so.
The bottom line is: do your research before joining a network, search in the damn google about payment issues and delays and never trust their claims. Your business partner should earn your trust!
Your are the only one responsible for failure or success! All the weapons you need could be found in this forum alone. Stick to the plan, no matter what and dedicate all your energy to this very business!
To flawless victory,
Ghosteye
)) @crackp0t should I say thank you or delete the post? The wine speaks for itself, just wanted to give some back. Maybe is not for you as you are at a different level. My bad 
