I need help. Searched, aff for 7 months $-550.xx

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wtfpenguin

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Jul 8, 2008
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My friend makes over 100k a year. I know this because I see the way he spends money. The car he drives, and everything, and he's only 20.

He told me "affiliate marketing"

Knowing nothing about setting up a website/hosting/ftp anything I managed to set up a wordpress site. LAPTOPWARS.COM
My friend said this market for this item is too competitive and not to bother.

Never once got a sale from there, so I was looking at high payout affiliates, so that if I did get a sale it would be worthwhile. So I started a site from everything I learned how to make money online, and put it into my own words. How to set up a website I even advertised this on celebrity blogs (-$200) I was getting 2k visitors a month. 2 says over 6 months for a domain name.

So my friend told me to do a niche type thing, and selling adult niche types is easy. So I came up with emoxgirls.com I had suicide girls affiliate on there, jaymancash ..liz vicious pac sun clothing, pal talk. I didn't get anything, I was updating it daily, 20 new pics a day. I'd get 500+ clicks a month to suicide girls, and not one sale. getting around 2k hits a month, and peaked at 10k hits/month. Not a single sale. I was getting my traffic from youtube, and google. Offtopic: under google webmaster tools it says my keywords include penis enlargement and a few others that I have no idea where they came from or how to get rid of them. I looked threw the theme editor stuff can't find anything, I'll check the ftp folders, not sure where to look.

I then tried going for hot keywords. 34,xxx people search for fake doctor notes everyday, so I made a site doctordoctoronline.com and pitched the idea they should set up their own website to make money. 7-10 visits a day no sales.

I started a blog because my friend thinks I should write a book, and some how I got a PR 3 on this page. insidebrian.net no one would even dig my story.

I noticed pick up artist stuff was getting popular so I made a site, pickupreport.com. Haven't made a sale with over 1000 views from pick up artist forums, and google adwords.

So I thought cut the middle man out, offer webcams threw google adwords, at this point I was ready to give up so I didn't care if my google adwords got shut down. I made one sale and got $35 and spent $80 to get that one sale.

I get maybe 1 or 2 free sign ups on emoxgirls.com for the webcam shit, but that's only $1 or $2 and maybe $0.02 from adsense.

I dont know what I'm doing wrong, I read as much as I can, and I just don't know how to get targetted traffic. I even go to the top websites from google searches, go to whois.sc and email the person to see if they will sell me a place on their site. Have yet to get a response.

Cliffs:
I suck at aff marketing
I spend atleast 6 hours a day trying to figure this stuff out for the past 6 months.
Emoxgirls.com shows under google webmaster section that I have all these keywords like penis enlargement, how can I get rid of those?
Thanks
 


Keep moving forward. nuff said.

The key here is you're learning hard lessons, I'm in the same boat.

My first business was wildly successful and continues to be, my aff business is taking it's slow time to built, but it's building.

Do you do a realistic analysis of the niches you're entering? I know I didn't. I thought that since it was a big ticket item and a high payout that it'd be easy big bucks. Not so.

On a constructive criticism note, it looks like you put no more than 2 hours into laptop wars. It's pretty untargeted.
 
I had the same problem when I started out. Jumped into niches I didn't know anything about (air guns, fine art reprints). I also spent a ton of time picking out the car I was going to buy with all teh interwebs monies that would sure start to make soon. My $.02:

Selling laptops is not something I tried but I would think that people either drive to best buy and pick up a laptop or they research down to the specific model, read reviews and then go to the manufacturers website or comparison shop online for the best price.

Why did you advertise your "how to set up a website" site on celebrity blogs? I'm all for testing but celebrity website visitors might not be the best demographic for this topic.

This is what worked for me:

1. Go to Google or Yahoo.
2. Do a search on keywords for a niche that you are thinking about promoting.
3. Look at the ads and the landing pages to see what others are doing. (Be nice and copy and paste the display url instead of clicking on the ad!)
4. This will give you a good idea about what works.
5. Build something similar, but unique.
6. Profit

Good luck!
 
wtfpenguin, your post reminds me of a joke.

A couple walk into a fertility doctor and say "Doctor, we've tried everything, loose pants, We eat healthy, took up yoga...But we just can't get pregnant"
And the doctor says "Have you tried having sex?"

I think the trick with affiliate marketing is the niche.
You seem to have come up with a good method to get traffic, that's an important part of ANY kind of website (regardless of what it's selling)

Now look try different niches.

I truely believe you can take any of the BEST affiliates out there. Put them down in your seat. Tell them they can't use anything they did own or had access to before, and couldn't use the niche they know works... and even with all their skills they'd fail several times before they finally figured out and optimized a campaign and niche that worked.

I guarantee you. Everyone here making money has "FAILED" in the niche that they're making bank on right now. (Failed in the sense that they weren't making money until a couple of weeks AFTER they started, but they could see that they could improve it until they where profitable)
 
Everyone hates shoemoney. (Hi is a dick...and a fat one at that)

But he had an interesting two articles that you may find useful (it's a quick 2 minute read)

Code: 
http://www.shoemoney.com/2006/04/08/the-1000000-experiment-with-ppc-part-1/
http://www.shoemoney.com/2006/04/13/10k-ppc-experiment-part2/
 
Look, apparently you have two sites already getting traffic or that you have driven traffic too. What do you traffic logs tell you ? Which keywords brought visitors to your page ? You said, "penis enlargement", great, make a landing page for one of those penis enlargement pills, there are a ton of offers for those. Continue analyzing what drives your customers to your site and the type of products that would convert, don't just throw shit there and hope. You need to track, everything. For example, the adwords campaign that you had running that got you one sale, $35, for the $80 spend. Well, that's great, now look @ what keyword in your campaign converted and refocus your Ads based on that. Add more related keywords and strip out the keywords that didn't result in a conversion. While doing this, try multiple landing pages and optimize for quality score to bring your CPC down, try to funnel your visitors to the offer.
 
you sound dumb as hell, but so was i, your on the right track, but stop complaining and just stick to one thing.
 
You're an idiot
You're friend is obviously fucking with you
Theres only 2 pictures of emo girls on that site
 
I think the problem is for alot of it you did an organic type site and just "hoped" the traffic would find you. Like when you did the doctors site. What did you do to target keywords? Did you deep link? any back link building? social site submissions? article submissions? Keyword anchors in a good amount of content?

If your just starting out, SEO is a bitch. Hell I've been doing this a year and SEO is still kicking my ass, but it's slowly coming around. I'm still learning(alot) of new stuff everyday. If I hadn't found other AM methods to sustain my income, I might have given up along time ago.

So you just have to decide if you want to quit now or keep going. No shame in quiting. It's just up to you.
 
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wtfpenguin said:
Knowing nothing about setting up a website/hosting/ftp anything I managed to set up a wordpress site. LAPTOPWARS.COM

I was looking at high payout affiliates, so that if I did get a sale it would be worthwhile. So I started a site from everything I learned how to make money online, and put it into my own words. How to set up a website

I even advertised this on celebrity blogs (-$200) I was getting 2k visitors a month.

I came up with emoxgirls.com I had suicide girls affiliate on there, jaymancash ..liz vicious pac sun clothing, pal talk. I didn't get anything, I was updating it daily, 20 new pics a day.

I'd get 500+ clicks a month to suicide girls, and not one sale. getting around 2k hits a month, and peaked at 10k hits/month. Not a single sale. I was getting my traffic from youtube, and google.

I then tried going for hot keywords. 34,xxx people search for fake doctor notes everyday, so I made a site doctordoctoronline.com and pitched the idea they should set up their own website to make money. 7-10 visits a day no sales.

I started a blog because my friend thinks I should write a book, and some how I got a PR 3 on this page.

I noticed pick up artist stuff was getting popular so I made a site, pickupreport.com.

So I thought cut the middle man out, offer webcams threw google adwords, I made one sale and got $35 and spent $80 to get that one sale.

I get maybe 1 or 2 free sign ups on emoxgirls.com for the webcam shit

I read as much as I can, I spend atleast 6 hours a day trying to figure this stuff out for the past 6 months.
Click to expand...

i know it doesn't look like it from an immediate financial point of view, but dude. you are light years ahead of just about everyone else getting started.

you're doing just about everything right.
you're testing offers, playing with ideas, and actually getting some to convert.

you're doing stuff.
you've started from zero knowledge of the industry,
zero knowledge of web development itself,
and made something happen.

that alone sets you apart from 90% of everyone else jumping into affiliate marketing.

it may suck to be a few hundred in the hole, but don't let that extremely minor detail make you blind to one of the most awesome successes you've had so far -- you've kept trying for 7 months.

now you just need to try harder.
damn harder.

seriously, grab what you want by the hips and thrust like you're going to war tomorrow.

there is no such thing as a 'too competitive' niche.
there are harder and easier niches, sure.
but competition equals money.

and your friend was probably just being nice.

it was his way of saying 'ok, you're obviously not putting enough content on laptopwars.com to see any real progress, so try something else where laziness might pay off'.

you call it 'the latest info on cutting edge technology'. cutting edge does not make a half assed effort to post every few days, once every two weeks, once every MONTH, sporadically and irregularly and each time taking 5 minutes to throw up some weak ass copy/pasted call to action like this:

This powerful laptop’s built-in Web cam and integrated Intel PRO/Wireless 4965AGN network connection are housed within a consumer-designed HP Imprint-finished case that is stylish and unique.Windows Vista Home Premium with SP1 preloadedWhich Windows Vista edition is right for you? Compare.Learn more about the Intel Brains processor technology rating.Information provided by Intel.Learn more about LightScribe technology.Take a product tour. (Flash demo)Not only will you be turning heads with this one of a kind design you’ll also have an extremely powerful laptop

(Buy button)
Click to expand...
emphasis mine, let's break it down:

1) extraneous 'windows vista' and 'lightscribe' bullshit ripped from bestbuy. the selling point on this laptop is the design. not the specs, not what fuckin wireless card it has, the design is what you want your readers to click on. bestbuy has the specs and all the details they'll need. your job is to fuel the fire that makes them want to buy. more in a sec.

2) product tour/flash demo -- would be awesome to have. but you don't. copy/pasting is OK to a point. copy/pasting shit that doesn't do anything, isn't.

3) here's where you've barely, softly, delicately and absolutely failed to follow through on the one thing that would've made this a dynamite post: Not only will you be turning heads with this one of a kind design, you'll also have an extremely powerful laptop.

if you're not gonna go apeshit on content production, then you'll need something to convert the traffic you do get into buyers:

In our most recent trip to our technology research productivity center (aka: Starbucks) everyone here at LaptopWars.com were absolutely blown away by what some yuppy douche was sipping his latte over.

A laptop so intriguing, so visually arousing, and so damn better looking than mine that I couldn't help but stare in awe at the seductive curves and mesmerizing spiral designs that undoubtedly made him feel superior to me and my tough-as-nails, but not-so-beautifully-designed, Toughbook.

The notebook itself is the HP Artist Edition Pavilion Laptop, and this is one of the most hip designs I've ever witnessed on a mobile PC:

[pics]

Powered by the blazing fast Centrino processor and loaded with everything you'd ever want in a modern notebook, this one-of-a-kind Artist Edition Pavilion by HP will have you turning heads wherever you go.

Want it? You better get yours quick -- this is a limited edition production run and there's no telling how long this incredible piece of art will be made available to the general public. We've done some shopping around and found you the best deal at, where else? Best Buy.

Check it out for yourself now and see if it's the perfect match for you.

[link to buy] [link to specs] [link to flash/3d toy/whatever] +afflink

LaptopWars.com rated: Weapon of Mass Distraction

-----------------------------------------------------
Breathtaking and awe-inspiring design not your thing?
Check out these other great deals on HP Pavilion notebooks:

[3-4 ad blocks w/picture+specs]
Click to expand...
might be beyond what you're willing to do with the site but the elements for a successful pre-sell are there, and more -- a halfway decent storytelling sales job to 1) give your blog a unique voice, 2) paint a picture of how the consumer would benefit from buying the notebook. 3) a geeky/cheesy/witty 'rating' where you can tie in a war/weapon reference to reaffirm the benefits of the laptop in a few words and give laptopwars.com a 'hook', 4) options to buy if they're not interested in peacocking their computers.

the extra effort isn't necessary, but putting more into it will keep your readers engaged, interested, and much more likely to actually buy whatever you're writing about.

but you shouldn't expect much traffic at all unless you put a significant amount of content out there consistently, then link to it elsewhere or make it worth linking to. as it is, you're more likely to get a link from someone calling it a spam blog.

far as traffic goes -- any decent SEO/link building campaign can work like gangbusters for dirt cheap, even no cost if you're up to doing the work yourself. but don't expect it overnight.

and if you're gonna buy traffic, make sure you're getting your money's worth by doing everything you can to make that traffic convert. this includes learning how to optimize costs when buying itself, and creating compelling content.

get comfortable with the 'search' function up top, and you'll find all the information you'll need to work wonders.

it's gonna take a lot of effort to get to where your friend is.
it'll take more to get beyond.
are you up to it?

serious question. everyone wants to be. not everyone is.
be honest with yourself.

and for the love of all that is holy, don't write an ebook.
if you can't sell laptops or tits, chances are good you won't be able to sell pay-me-but-free-elsewhere content either.
 
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Why would you pitch the idea for them to set up their own site for your doctor notes thing? If someone is looking for doctor's notes they definitely aren't looking for information on how to set up a website.

It sounds to me like you are advertising for apples and selling oranges.
 
i know laptopwars.com sucks, and outsidebrian.com sucks.

But here's what my idea was to contact my local newspaper telling them that with the slowing of the economy the website business is so much more immune to changes. I lived in a small town so I thought they would bite. My idea was to tell them I made enough from laptopwars to buy a macbook pro. Newspaper didnt bite. I called 7 other newspapers and they all declined.

So here's my latest ideas, I set up a site/blog diywebpage.net, I have business cards made. I'm cold calling businesses tomorrow to attend a FREE class im offering at the community center locally, going to offer a little marketing package too, with the ability to tap into the blue tooth community.

Ideas on that?
 
Augh christ this thread gives me a headache.

Penguin, it's great you're motivated and you're sticking with it. But holy shit I don't follow your logic with some of this.

wtfpenguin said:
But here's what my idea was to contact my local newspaper telling them that with the slowing of the economy the website business is so much more immune to changes. I lived in a small town so I thought they would bite. My idea was to tell them I made enough from laptopwars to buy a macbook pro. Newspaper didnt bite. I called 7 other newspapers and they all declined.
Click to expand...

Declined what? What the hell were you pitching? Were you even pitching anything, or were you hoping to make the front page because you claim you sold a couple of laptops on the internet (falsely)?

These threads are stickied for a reason:

http://www.wickedfire.com/affiliate-marketing/16559-easy-way-make-100k-year.html

http://www.wickedfire.com/affiliate-marketing/21700-recipe-200k-per-year-job.html

http://www.wickedfire.com/affiliate...-trove-2008-articles-posts-you-need-read.html

READ THEM.
 
Guarrenteed profit (although small)... just target one product, that nobody else is targeting... I make an average of 50 dollars a month, not much but it's a start
 
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