I've read a bit of WiredNiko's journal, and it seems to be a pretty decent way to catalog your own progress/thoughts. I'm about a week or two into my own adventures of internet marketing, more specifically, Affiliate Marketing through Facebook advertising.
For starters, I guess I'll introduce myself to any brave souls willing to wade through all of my newbness and read along. My name is George, 21, and I'm from the Chicago-area (random suburb 5 minutes outside of it.) Like a lot of kids my age, I was basically raised by the internet. Got my first computer at 5... obsessively online posting/browsing/gaming ever since. Past couple of years I've been utterly confused as to what I want to do with my life. Even though I knew I loved the internet, I was pretty clueless as to how people make a living off of it. The extent of my knowledge of making money off the internet was : Think of some godly, kick-ass idea that no one else has, make a website out of it, SIT BACK AND WATCH THE CA$$$$$HHHHH ROLL IN!!!!
Sure, a few people have done that, but as we all know now - there are millions of other ways to make money online. I was in school for Political Science, but I'm taking a break this semester to do a bit of "soul searching."
Once I discovered Affiliate Marketing/Internet Marketing in general via Nickycake's newbie guide (luv u nicky ~~~<3), it felt like the entire world opened up to me. I love the internet, and being able to make a living off of something involving the internet was a gigantic dream to me (and it still is.) The one thing I have always had going for me is my obsessive desire for success, no matter what it is. If I want to complete something, or if I set some goal for something - I can't think about anything else until I do it. Sports (GO FUTBOL), work, gaming, you name it. To give an example that all basement-dwelling nerds such as myself can identify with - anyone play Starcraft 2? When it first released, I was a complete scrub. Played a bit of SC1 on dial-up back when I was 12 years old, got raped by some Korean, and quit... for a very long time. As soon as SC2 released, I decided that I wanted to get good at it. I started out as bottom of the barrel bronze, not knowing what the fuck I was doing. 2 months later of 10-hours-a-day gaming? High-level Diamond (back when Masters/GM didn't exist.) This type of extreme fervor basically applies to every single aspect of my life. I try, try, and try, until I do. I realize I'm rambling along a bit, and I don't want to seem too much like a pre-teen spilling their guts on their livejournal, so I'll try and cut this short.
Basically, I've chosen Facebook as my "learning" platform for affiliate marketing. My girlfriend and I are working on this together, although she's a bit busy with work/school, so she just tries to help when she can. I was told by my AM that the easiest newb-friendly vertical is dating, so that's what I've chosen. I plan on going pretty in-depth with my day-by-day strategy because :
1. It seems like it would be smart to be able to try and track my thought process as the days go along, and
2. I'm pretty lost at the moment. My girlfriend (we'll call her Grievette... okay, maybe not) and I are pretty much scratching our heads at this point wondering what else we can do. We've got decent conversion rates, decent epc, but we can't get our CPC down to profitable levels for the life of us. CTR is a bitch.
If anyone has gotten this far into my first post - thanks. I really appreciate it, and I appreciate anyone that posts with some constructive criticism. I can't sleep, eat, or work without thinking about marketing, CTR, and CPC. I've spent months reading, researching, and learning this business, and as of 8/28,11, I finally sacked up and started doing it. I want to make this work more than anything else I've ever done in my life. Thanks for reading.
For starters, I guess I'll introduce myself to any brave souls willing to wade through all of my newbness and read along. My name is George, 21, and I'm from the Chicago-area (random suburb 5 minutes outside of it.) Like a lot of kids my age, I was basically raised by the internet. Got my first computer at 5... obsessively online posting/browsing/gaming ever since. Past couple of years I've been utterly confused as to what I want to do with my life. Even though I knew I loved the internet, I was pretty clueless as to how people make a living off of it. The extent of my knowledge of making money off the internet was : Think of some godly, kick-ass idea that no one else has, make a website out of it, SIT BACK AND WATCH THE CA$$$$$HHHHH ROLL IN!!!!
Sure, a few people have done that, but as we all know now - there are millions of other ways to make money online. I was in school for Political Science, but I'm taking a break this semester to do a bit of "soul searching."
Once I discovered Affiliate Marketing/Internet Marketing in general via Nickycake's newbie guide (luv u nicky ~~~<3), it felt like the entire world opened up to me. I love the internet, and being able to make a living off of something involving the internet was a gigantic dream to me (and it still is.) The one thing I have always had going for me is my obsessive desire for success, no matter what it is. If I want to complete something, or if I set some goal for something - I can't think about anything else until I do it. Sports (GO FUTBOL), work, gaming, you name it. To give an example that all basement-dwelling nerds such as myself can identify with - anyone play Starcraft 2? When it first released, I was a complete scrub. Played a bit of SC1 on dial-up back when I was 12 years old, got raped by some Korean, and quit... for a very long time. As soon as SC2 released, I decided that I wanted to get good at it. I started out as bottom of the barrel bronze, not knowing what the fuck I was doing. 2 months later of 10-hours-a-day gaming? High-level Diamond (back when Masters/GM didn't exist.) This type of extreme fervor basically applies to every single aspect of my life. I try, try, and try, until I do. I realize I'm rambling along a bit, and I don't want to seem too much like a pre-teen spilling their guts on their livejournal, so I'll try and cut this short.
Basically, I've chosen Facebook as my "learning" platform for affiliate marketing. My girlfriend and I are working on this together, although she's a bit busy with work/school, so she just tries to help when she can. I was told by my AM that the easiest newb-friendly vertical is dating, so that's what I've chosen. I plan on going pretty in-depth with my day-by-day strategy because :
1. It seems like it would be smart to be able to try and track my thought process as the days go along, and
2. I'm pretty lost at the moment. My girlfriend (we'll call her Grievette... okay, maybe not) and I are pretty much scratching our heads at this point wondering what else we can do. We've got decent conversion rates, decent epc, but we can't get our CPC down to profitable levels for the life of us. CTR is a bitch.
If anyone has gotten this far into my first post - thanks. I really appreciate it, and I appreciate anyone that posts with some constructive criticism. I can't sleep, eat, or work without thinking about marketing, CTR, and CPC. I've spent months reading, researching, and learning this business, and as of 8/28,11, I finally sacked up and started doing it. I want to make this work more than anything else I've ever done in my life. Thanks for reading.