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By Sean On May 26, 2009No Comments
For those of you who are newer to affiliate marketing this is probably going to be more relevant to you. When people think about affiliate marketing a lot of people think of a few major things that really scare them to death. Every day there are “Make Money Online” gurus who are talking about new strategies and this can really get into some peoples minds and confuse them. Here are my views on the biggest fears of “making money Online.”
1. Fear that you don’t know enough
So my guess is that everyone who is interested in starting to make money online decides the best way to begin is to start to learn as much as you possibly can and then go from there. Well that is what I did. I got started very small and then I ready everything I could get my eyes on. Well the biggest problem that a lot of people have is that people feel that they don’t know enough to actually put there own money to work.
What people need to understand is that you can start be successful without knowing everything. I started a very successful business without knowing even close to the amount that I know today.
2. Fear of Failure
In my own personal opinion the biggest fear of people when it comes to affiliate marketing it is the fear of failing. I started out by doing SEO based affiliate marketing so my fear in this was a little less because I had less invested, but when I got started in PPC I can personally say that I was a little scared that I was going to fail. I like to think of affiliate marketing as I would any sport I compete in. The mental aspects mean everything and you can’t let your emotions get the better of you. Just have confidence in what you know and everything will work out. If things don’t work out just learn from your mistakes and apply them to your next campaign.
3. Fear of Losing Money
I think the biggest fear of most people who are looking at starting affiliate marketing is the fear of losing money. Obviously in our society today with a poor economy, money is a very delicate situation. What I find funny is that people can go out and get a student loan that is worth $50,000 and it is perfectly fine but when you think about spending $200 or $400 to test out a campaign online we tend to shrug our shoulders and ask why.
The thing is when you spend money to test an offer you are spending money to add to your knowledge base. Yes you might not end up making money on a campaign, but the chances are you are going to learn a little bit to help you maker money the next time around. When I started in affiliate marketing I lost money right off the bat. I am not one of the lucky ones who could get started in this business and make a profit right away. I lost money and I learned from it.
The biggest think you need to think about it you can’t make money without spending money. That is relevant with any business you decide to start.
Conclusion:
There is no magic formula of how to overcome these fears but these biggest thing I try and think about is always think of the glass half full. Even if you fail there is always something good to take out of it. Even if you lose money they is always a lesson you have learned so you can make money the next time.
Recent Posts
By Sean On March 16, 2009
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So when I first started in affiliate marketing I was really conscious about money and advertising. I would run all of my advertising expenses directly through my bank account so I made sure I never over did it. Well after a few months I said to myself,
“What the hell am I doing not earning money on my money”
So what I decided to do was take out a rewards credit card and get the limit bumped way up on it. Now making that choice has paid off as I am heading to Europe next month and the flight for my wife and I are not costing us a dime.
One important thing I always make sure do is I pay down all my expenses every week. This saves me from having to pay the finance charges by carrying over a balance from statement to statement.
I use a Bank of America American Express, but there are a lot of them out there. Some of them offer you points that you can redeem for items, cash or travel. There are others that offer you a flat 2%-5% cash back on every dollar that you spend.
By Sean On March 14, 2009
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For those of you who are not new to PPC marketing this might not be news to you. For those of you who are newbies, this will be helpful and maybe even help save you money. I was recent;y readying another super affiliates blog, Jonathan Volk, and he found a good post on a forum. These are just a few popular FAQ about quality score and what it means for your PPC campaigns. I have included my answers
1. Am I correct that, Quality Score = Relevant to Keyword (for Ad & landing page) + CTR?
Yes this is the main idea behind the concept. Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft all have their own algorithm, but the main idea for a good quality score is that both the landing page and the text on the ad need to be focused towards the keyword you are bidding on. The other main component it your Click Through Rate (CTR). This is how often your ad gets clicked on compared to the number of times it is displayed.
2. Is Quality Score sticked to Account, Campaign, AdGroup, Ad or Keywords?
From what I have learned your quality score can affect you on a keyword level and also on a adgroup level. This is where having tight targeted adgroups comes in handy.
3. Where can I check the Quality Score?
In Google Adwords these is a button next to each keyword and they have assigned a score from 1-10. In my opinion if you are below 7 you have real work to do.
4. If I had a AdGroup with Low Quality Score, will it affect another AdGroup in the same Campaign?
From what I have experienced, no. I have had campaigns with some low quality scores but others have done just fine.
5. What should I do if my Quality score is dropped to very LOW? Should I delete the AdGroup and create another?
Well you can try reworking the landing page to be more optimized but I have found that it can take google awhile to readjust your quality score. My suggestion is to set up and new domain name and just copy your improved landing page to that domain and then create a new ad campaign. It will be must faster than waiting for Google to get around to re-evaluating.
So these are just a few of the major FAQ on quality score. I hope this has given you a little better idea on how to advance.
By Sean On March 12, 2009
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When it comes to Affiliate Marketing I do a lot more of my work via SEO than I do PPC. The work I do with PPC I am a big fan of Yahoo Search Marketing, also known as “YSM.” I know this is not what a lot of other affiliates talk about but this is my own personal opinion. Do I use Google Adwords? Of course I do. I just prefer Yahoo.
So you’re probably wondering why I like Yahoo so much. Well even though it is only the #2 search engine behind Google I still seem to get a lot of targeted traffic. I also get 100% of that traffic for much less on a cost per click basis than I receive from google. I am always looking for ways to increase my margins.
A couple of things that you need to know when starting a campaign with Yahoo are that you need to make sure you set up highly targeted ad groups. Instead of adding all of your keywords into a few different ad groups, create a whole bunch of ad groups with a few keywords in each. I find this a lot easier to do when it comes to scaling the profitable keywords and getting rid of ones that don’t convert.
The second thing to remember when setting up a campaign is that you always want to start bidding high and then bring it back after time. The reason why you want to start out bidding high is because that will let you get in the door with yahoo for the campaign and let you get shown on the front page. This will give them time to assign you a quality score and then you can start bring your bids back down. When I start running a campaign I rarely ever turn a profit right off the start. My goal is to be able to break even at a higher bid. Then once I have brought the bid back down a little after I have attained a good quality score then I need to start seeing a profit to keep running the offer.
By Sean On March 6, 2009
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Hey everyone, I am back from my vacation in Florida and it’s good to be home. One of the biggest keys to being a successful affiliate marketer is you need to let you visitors trust what you are placing on your landing page. If they don’t believe what you are saying they are just going to click the back button and will go on to the next site.
Tip #1: Quote Credible Sources
All you need to do for this is take a logo from a major source such as a major newspaper or magazine and find a quote in which that publication actually talks about your product. What this will do is make visitors believe that a publication such as USA Today is actually reviewing your site and not just the general product.
Tip #2: Add a SSL Certificate
One of the best way to have your visitors trust you is to add a SSL certificate to the site. This will let your readers believe that your site is secure. By adding a SSL to your landing page your visitors will be more at ease that they can add their credit card information and know it is safe. These can cost a little extra cash but it will increase your margins and will easily make up for the cost. I use them on all of my sites.
These are two of the best ways increase the trust for your visitors so they are more likely to convert into a sale.
By Sean On February 26, 2009
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So I am a firm believer in always giving yourself a vacation from whatever you do. You can be a working professional or just a student. You always need a break. Thats why I am out of Chicago right now and in warm and sunny Florida for a weeks vacation.
I Know for myself I work so many hours and I put so much pressure on myself that I need to take some time off every once in awhile. It could just be a day off but it needs to be something. I just happen to be taking a full week now but I am still doing a little bit of work while I am down here.
I will be heading off to Europe for a month to go backpacking with my lovely wife here in the middle of March so my work will be a little less then. Just going to have things on autopilot and do the basic updating as need be. Tomorrow I will write a more informative post for you all but until then I am going to go enjoy the rest of the days sun and another Corona 
