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ChipT
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Posted: Thu Dec 11, 2003 3:34 pm
Post subject: There's Just NO Darn Way ...
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Hey to all -
I'm a bit confused and a little bit flabbergasted.
There seems to be a real sense of helplessness among the majority of folks who sign up as affiliates for various products ... but then generate zero traffic (and therefore zero sales and money for themselves.)
The marketplace-wide stats prove that a serious problem exists, and I truly believe that there is just no way that so many people would sign up for programs because they have nothing better to do.
What happens between the moment you put your email address into a subscriber box to join ... and the events that next (do or don't) transpire?
So ... please clue me in ... if you could summarize all your challenges, fears, issues, confusion, lack of direction, etc. into one question about affiliate marketing - what would your one single most important question be about being a successful affiliate?
For this question, it's not really important what the program you signed up for is. What's important is "What Stops You From Success?".
If you'll be so kind as to reply to this post, perhaps we as vendors can assist you to overcome that hurdle and help you succeed. This is a win-win for everyone if you have enough interest and motivation to answer the question.
Ummm ... and if you don't have answer it ... perhaps your silence is the answer ...  ...
This is a real-life challenge we all face together. Want to be part of the solution? And if you prefer privacy in this matter, please feel free to email me privately at Chip @ FirstContactSecrets .com.
God Bless you, and Happy Holidays -
Chip Tarver
<><
Author, ?First Contact Secrets ? Insider Tips Reveal How to Successfully Connect With the World?s Master Marketers? www.FirstContactSecrets.com (Very informative free eCourse is on the exit pop on the site if you?d like to check it out) |
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robertb
Joined:
09 Aug 2003
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1837
Location:
Columbus, OH
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Posted: Thu Dec 11, 2003 5:54 pm
Post subject: Re: There's Just NO Darn Way ...
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| ChipT wrote: | | What's important is "What Stops You From Success?" |
That's a very good question. Well im 18 now and back in the day when I was a youngin, 16 or so , I had a search engine portal style of site. I received publicity in some local papers, columbus dispatch, etc, but at that time I did most everything for shear enjoyment. I pushed Sitesell products from that site, but only received a few sales here and there. My error?
My site was too general. People were coming to my site for other reasons than to find internet marketing material.
The key is to find a niche and develop a relationship your users. Share advice with them, give them tips that you won't profit from. Keep in contact on a regular basis with them via email newsletter.
The money is to be made with relationships and niches. Hope that helps!
_________________
Robert
Instant Site Comments - Allow Visitors to Comment On Your Content!
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edburdo
Joined:
14 Jul 2003
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1760
Location:
Bangor, Maine
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Posted: Thu Dec 11, 2003 7:49 pm
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Many people think that affiliate marketing means you can make money doing nothing. So they sign up with a bunch of affiliates, toss up some banners and links, and sit back waiting for the money...
It doesn't happen that way. Affiliate marketing is like any other job. It requires work.
The nice thing about affiliate marketing, is that you are your own boss... you control how much time and effort you put in. You control (via the time and effort) your income... And after everything is built, you can relax some and still earn money...
_________________
Eric D. Burdo
They Made $6,513 a day With Clickbank Doing This... |
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Guest
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Posted: Thu Dec 11, 2003 11:05 pm
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A lot of people (myself included), start with grand ideas about all the wonderful articles they're going to write and how they're going to build *the* site for their chosen niche.
After signing up for affiliate programs, reality sets in. It takes time and effort to write those articles. You write a couple, maybe half a dozen. But then other priorities in your life take over, and your enthusiasm wanes.
Your site still isn't developed enough to attract much traffic, and you haven't proved to yourself that this affiliate thing works yet, so you're not willing to pay for traffic. Besides, you don't really have enough content to offer visitors yet; you don't want to disappoint them when they arrive, so you tell yourself you'll work on building traffic once you've got more content up.
But without traffic, you're not getting much (if any) sales. Without your own proof of the possibility of significant income, you don't have much motivation to get more content written and posted.
It's a vicious cycle, and pretty soon you stop updating your site and just leave it sitting there. You didn't intend to abandon it, it's just that other things keep taking priority and you never seem to get back to it.
So how do you stop this from happening? I'm not sure.
I think people who get a few lucky sales early in the piece, or who start getting tons of traffic early on through a couple of very fortuitous links, tend to see the possibilities for themselves and maintain their motivation long enough to break through the barrier.
In a nutshell, the initial motivation/optimism is a temporary situation. You've got to get some sort of success or sense of progress to boost it before it wanes.
I don't know how you can help your affiliates do that, though. Obviously good statistics are important, so they can see how many people they're sending to your site. It's exciting just to see your numbers change at first. Maybe offering some sort of bonus for their 5th or 10th sale would keep them going long enough for actual results to take over as a source of motivation.
Interesting topic to think about, though! |
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thepoolroom
Joined:
11 Dec 2003
Posts:
89
Location:
Australia
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Posted: Thu Dec 11, 2003 11:12 pm
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Sorry, I forgot to log in before posting that response. Anyway, it was me talking  .
_________________
http://www.OneStopUnder.com - serious reading for serious photographers. |
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guest
Guest
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Posted: Thu Dec 11, 2003 11:27 pm
Post subject: its a lot of things
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I think the above replies touch on some good points. Let me preface this by saying I don't run an affiliate program or do much in the way of advertising. Just some some insights that I've gained from working with people/groups attempting to create these types of programs.
I think that most people hope for the I'll put up some banners and wait for the cash to come in. I've never tried it but I imagine there's a bunch of people who have tried that and been really dissappointed.
The truth of the matter is you need a fairly diverse skill set to be successful. I'd imagine you could substitute any of these skills with a paid proffesional but that would start costing you a lot real quick. You need to be able to write at a professional level, you need to be a decent designer, some marketing and sales skills, etc. etc.
The good news is that most people can learn through trial and error, and become a great designer and writer, etc. But that's the barrier that was mentioned above. I hate to say that it is hard work, but I would definitely say that it takes dedication and patience.
The bad new is most of the affiliates I see promote products that people trying to build affiliate programs would buy. Basically, it seems that affiliates sort of sell to each other. |
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DatabaseDesigner
Joined:
17 Nov 2003
Posts:
665
Location:
Norway
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Posted: Thu Dec 11, 2003 11:59 pm
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| Anonymous wrote: | But without traffic, you're not getting much (if any) sales. Without your own proof of the possibility of significant income, you don't have much motivation to get more content written and posted.
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Very interesting, this ! Are you making a site just to earn money, or are you engaged in the subject?
My impression is that most affiliate marketing sites are aiming to sell to each other (or outsell each other). The content I see, looks very much like from site to site.
I believe those sites that are built on genuine interest in a niche will have a fairly good survival rate. Well, I can only speak for myself;
I have wanted to write down my experiences for years! But now, I can combine it with worldwide publishing; If I should earn some money; great, but that's not my driving force.
BUT: If I go into a competition for a contract in my field, I don't think sending the possible customer to my WWW site would exactly hurt me, if you know what I mean, and if I can grab a consulting job worth 25.000 USD/month based on the content of my website; well I can live with that. I think Mr. Evoy is right here, build with passion. 
_________________
DatabaseDesigner
The complete guide to eBooks!
http://www.databasedeasign-resource.com |
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Guest
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Posted: Fri Dec 12, 2003 12:00 am
Post subject:
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| I think most people sign up with the best of intentions, but, when they realize they actually have to work to become successful, they move on to the next best thing. This is why people buy ebook after ebook without ever taking action: they are looking for the one that tells them how to make money for doing nothiing. |
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DatabaseDesigner
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Norway
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thepoolroom
Joined:
11 Dec 2003
Posts:
89
Location:
Australia
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Posted: Fri Dec 12, 2003 12:51 am
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Yeah, the affiliate marketing field definitely attracts its fair share of dreamers that want to get rich doing nothing.
I don't think passion about a topic is everything you need. You need to want to share your passion with others.
Someone is passionate about motorbikes, say, so they feel they could start a web site about motorbikes. But the reality is that they're passionate about reading about motorbikes and riding motorbikes. They're not terribly passionate about maintaining a web site about motorbikes, taking/editing/posting photographs of motorbikes, or regularly writing high-quality, interesting material about motorbikes.
So they end up spending their time riding motorbikes and reading motorbike magazines, and let their web site atrophy.
_________________
http://www.OneStopUnder.com - serious reading for serious photographers. |
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Rezan
Joined:
28 Nov 2003
Posts:
7
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Posted: Fri Dec 12, 2003 4:02 am
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I started out unconvinced but my boss had me do this site. I did it because he was paying me, I don't know heads or tails about the subject but we expanded it and it became a catalog site, selling some 1900+ items. It doesnt have articles, tips and other useful info but we are earning nicely.
Im starting a new one right now and I might be doing the same steps I did for our first site. Its a bit like posting all the products and sitting back and let the money come in. Im thinking of making a newsletter when people started to email me for specific items that the site don't carry. But as what the others said, make your site about as limited in diversity as possible and expand it.
Its a lot of work, but the work is done in the mind mostly. Let the creative juices flowing and thinking of strategies to make what you did 'just a little bit better'. |
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ChipT
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Posted: Fri Dec 12, 2003 1:04 pm
Post subject: UPDATE ...
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Hey to all -
Thank you so much for your great responses. So I can tally and summarize your thoughtful responses into the article I promised you (and I'll give you in return if you want it) ...
I'll use the posts that are contributed before midnight tonight (December 12, 2003). It will take me at least a few days to pull this article together for you, and I'll let you know when it's ready if you want a copy.
Blessings and Happiest Holidays to all -
Chip Tarver
<><
Author, "First Contact Secrets"
Chip AT First Contact Secrets DOT com |
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Jewel
Joined:
09 Nov 2003
Posts:
267
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Posted: Fri Dec 12, 2003 2:02 pm
Post subject: Re: UPDATE ...
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I think some folks choose a niche based on how profitable it appears, rather than on how much of a passion they have for the topic. It's a thousand times harder to do all the work of building and monetizing a site if you don't know or really care too much about the topic you chose.
But if you pick a niche you LOVE and can talk about from dawn till dusk, then all the work is really play. And with a niche you love, you probably are already connected to a lot of people who want the info you're providing, and who will start visiting your site as soon as you tell them about it--so your traffic builds quickly and you stay psyched about your new project!
And I agree 200% that for maximum success, many affiliate marketers need to get creative and dig way beyond the usual (and ubiquitous) affiliate ebooks and products, and find something new to represent. |
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Guest
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Posted: Sun Dec 14, 2003 3:25 am
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Just my opinion but I feel that too many top internet marketers are trying to help new people as they come online but in reality they are really just making it much more confusing for them.
Too many new affiliates rush to purchase their domain names and start their sites, get discouraged and overwhelmed.
My suggestion to the uninexperienced is to slow down. Spend lots of time researching, watch the trends, collect successful sites, yes, collect successful sites and watch what they are doing to be successful.
Experts are saying to build very niche sites but my research says build a large site with a single domain with mini-sites within, rather than having lots of sites.
Here it is directly from Google...
Speaker Marissa Mayer, the Director of Consumer Web Products at Google, said during one of her speeches...
"Have unique useful content. Have sitemaps. Make your site easy to reach with a text-based browser. Give your site a hierarchal structure. Have a single domain with mini-sites within, rather than having lots of sites." Read more...
http://www.webproworld.com/viewtopic.php?t=9884
Just my thoughts
All the best
Phil |
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Debs
Joined:
16 Aug 2003
Posts:
4296
Location:
NY
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Posted: Sun Dec 14, 2003 3:30 am
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I read the article, and would say it includes large content sites in a niche as well. The trick is content
Debs
_________________
Learn how to turn keyphrases into quality, well-targeted articles your visitors and SE's will love with Gary Antosh's new ebook "Web Content Made Easy!" |
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