What I’ve learned after 60 days of affiliate marketing. (6-22-08)

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bb_wolfe

Medicinal KFC
Jan 1, 2008
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Let me preface this by saying I still haven’t profited shit, but I’m not hemorrhaging cash like I was 3 weeks after I started. Right now I’m just a hair under break-even.


1.CPM and Content networks are not for newbies.

2.Facebook/Social sites are not for newbies.

3.Don’t throw out 15 different homemade LPs for 15 different offers, all in one day, and expect them to convert. Stick to 1 or 2 sites, develop them, and control your costs. This may take 2-3 weeks or more.

4.Learn SEO by reading reading reading and testing testing testing. Avoid getting all your SEO advice from a single source. If you didn’t prove it to yourself with a test, don’t expect it to work out of the box.

5.Live and die by the numbers. Really analyze and understand what the CTR percentages and everything else mean. Have patience and let the campaigns you create run for a week or two without making major changes to your ads/keywords.

6.Google Analytics is your friend. Use it from the start.

7.Just because you have a 5% CTR after 30 impressions does NOT mean you crank up the bid. Let the campaign aggregate 2 weeks of data before making major decisions.

8.LANDING PAGES CONVERT. Don’t throw up some shitpile graphics and expect the end user to click through and buy. Hire a pro for the first few LP’s you do. Once I started using professional LPs, the conversions shot way up.

9.Get the Photoshop/Source files for anything you buy. Code, Graphics, Spiders, etc. If you do your homework and find out what things cost to have done custom, you’ll get the same product for a fraction of what some dude charging for a generic $200/LP will charge you. Get the source code even if the developer sends you the textfile/database. If you can’t get source, find someone else.

10.Have a ‘sources’ directory on your local development PC with Drupal, Wordpress, BANS, PHPBay, McJiffy, or any other off the shelf software you wish to use. This is simply an unmodified (or modified config file to simplify future deployments) version of the software. You drag/drop these files for each new domain/subdomain. Makes versioning a piece of cake.

11. Make sure any plugins or themes you download are copied to the appropriate package in (#10) ‘sources’ so you don’t miss them or fuck something up later when you FTP your new site up to your host.

12.Back up your files, nuff said. Backup your database too with phpMyAdmin if necessary.

13.Read WickedFire for about 30 hours before you execute any campaign. Write out a roadmap of where you expect your site to be in 6 months and document a strategy to get there based on WickedFire posts/examples.a

The #1 thing I have to add is this: Keep a notebook with you at all times. You never know when an idea or a weird niche presents itself.

And of course, maintain a pretty amazing stock of your favorite alcohol/drug. It’s never work if you love what you do. Hopefully my 120 day update will have a lot more successes.

So far I've spent about $1000 and have $965 in earnings, so I'm catching up. Just wish I had studied more before I began.
 


Nice fucking job with the $1000 and $965. No doubt you'll be making some profit soon. Now I disagree with #13 unless you were being sarcastic about 30 hours. I find that trying shit teaches me a lot more than reading about it. But I haven't made any money, so maybe I'm wrong. But nevertheless, keep it up and you'll be earning soon.
 
Some very nice advice. I had a few PPC disasters at the start and as you quite rightly point out its a numbers game. Give it time before you start to adjust bids etc.

Dave
 
Nice fucking job with the $1000 and $965. No doubt you'll be making some profit soon. Now I disagree with #13 unless you were being sarcastic about 30 hours. I find that trying shit teaches me a lot more than reading about it. But I haven't made any money, so maybe I'm wrong. But nevertheless, keep it up and you'll be earning soon.

It was kind of 1/2 and 1/2. I think there's a lot of historical data that you can pull from WF (2006-2007 trends that no longer work, etc.) but you're right, 30 hours may be been a bullshit statement! My bad!
 
Great post. I especially like the backup often and keep a notebook with you. I've come up with my last phpbay site with a notebook. 20+ hours later I've got a site I'm proud of .... 100 hours later I have a site that's making money. sweet!

+rep
 
Good Post bb. And you really don't sound like a n00b, you really seem to know what you're doing even if you are new to AM. I know you'll do well.

And you're fine to spend 30, 60, 1000 hours on wf. I feel like at least 80% of my success so far is from this site. Sometimes just being logged into wf is like osmosis, I swear. Just stay out of the lynching, politics and boob threads and you'll be fine. :D
 
Good Post bb. And you really don't sound like a n00b, you really seem to know what you're doing even if you are new to AM. I know you'll do well.

And you're fine to spend 30, 60, 1000 hours on wf. I feel like at least 80% of my success so far is from this site. Sometimes just being logged into wf is like osmosis, I swear. Just stay out of the lynching, politics and boob threads and you'll be fine. :D


Thanks for tha... Wait, what? No boob threads? I'm a sad panda!
 
So far I've spent about $1000 and have $965 in earnings, so I'm catching up. Just wish I had studied more before I began.

Funny thing is, even if you studied more before you began, you probably would have interpreted everything you read differently. I know I never completely understood people's emphasis on tracking your campaigns religiously or bidding high for CTR purposes or split testing ad copy until I started bleeding my first few hundred dollars. I personally think you went about it the right way, getting your feet wet and learning while you're there.

Cheers and congrats!
 
Good stuff, wolfe. I'm on the same boat, I started at around the same time. I agree with most of your points but I have to say that content network has treated me much better than search network. I've been slapped too many times on search while I'm enjoying a rather easy ride on content.

I put a lot of effort to understand the content network inside out. This guy's articles are golden.

Keep it up! We'll get there soon ;)
 
wolfe excellent. I started 4 months ago and I agree with you on pretty much everything. I have done everything, read everything, texted everything, spent 100+ hours on WF and I think it will pay off soon. I learned a lot bymyself too.

the best thing to do for a newbie is: STOP reading and start testing and triyng things by yourself

Im just struggling with SEO. Can't seem to find the "formula" for this :(
 
wolfe excellent. I started 4 months ago and I agree with you on pretty much everything. I have done everything, read everything, texted everything, spent 100+ hours on WF and I think it will pay off soon. I learned a lot bymyself too.

the best thing to do for a newbie is: STOP reading and start testing and triyng things by yourself

Im just struggling with SEO. Can't seem to find the "formula" for this :(

Well today's your lucky day... Here's my formula so far:

2 parts vodka
5 parts orange juice
Mix well and enjoy multiple times throughout the day.



No seriously. Up to now, my only real success in getting indexed is on Google using Sitemaps. MSN and Yahoo are not really finding me.
 
good post and information. I like the one concept here that you do not seem to mention but you are incorporating. Patients is KEY, GO SLOW, TAKE YOUR TIME.

This is not get rich overnight stuff and the time can be extreme. While the payoff can be low at the start. Read and test as much as you can no matter what. Keep track of everything like you said. 1% + ROI can make a huge difference in everything you do.

One thing not mentioned in here is affiliate networks and offers. I would like to add do your research get the best payouts you can. However, some offers do convert well on other networks so always having the highest payout may not always be the best place to get the offer.

Make friends with people and do not try to be an ass. People think they can come in here act like they are gods. One thing I admire about WF even though some are some cocky assholes. They will call you out. The name of this forum says it all.
 
Nice post.
You are getting there I would think.
You seem to have a level of analysis running that allows you to test and tweak.
So...
test and tweak.

::emp::
 
Whiskey and beer!

Aside from that, I agree with your post. I need to test more effectively. Anybody used Prosper202?

Thanks!
 
Why not add this:
14. Make sure you have the correct aff link on there, and it goes to the right landing page.
 
But I haven't made any money, so maybe I'm wrong. But nevertheless, keep it up and you'll be earning soon.

761 posts and you havn't made $? we need to ban you from this place ;) What is stopping you from getting started? I'll take the answer in a PM if you don't want to dicuss it in front of everyone.
 
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