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This is all new to me. Where would one begin?
Thanks in advance.
Where would one begin?
I'm assuming here you want to make your living with search engine marketing and affiliate programs.
Many people seem to asking this. I think the most important thing is this (this is my personal opinion and experience, ymmv):
Choose the industry to promote wisely, and be prepared to promote several.
Before you even start to look for affiliate programs, you have to find some topics, some industries you think you can crank out a whole lot of content (see Drastics resources). In order to make a living, you will have to crank out lots of content, be prepared to do it. This is essential.
Don't expect any decent income before 1 year of hard work is done (but not over!). On the one hand don't quit your day-time job, on the other hand be prepared to work a lot on your new business, it will be more work than your day-time job.
The industry you choose should have a big international market. You have to make a lot of sales in order to make a living by it, so choose products that will be bought. They should be high in demand. But even those industries may not be enough, so be prepared to promote several industries. Diversify (not at the beginning, but with time). All said for one industry applies for the other ones you have to choose, too.
*Sometimes* it pays off to choose an industry that has some problems or is in a depression. If you can promote their products well and for a good price (the merchant of an affiliate always gets a very good price, since he only pays commission on sales), you can earn a lot.
I would always opt for a Type B site (with some decent unique content). Because there is one thing not to forget:
You've got to be number one (of course, for the right keywords).
Of course, you can always be #3 and still earn enough, but you get the point. You won't make substantial revenue as #12, it'll be only some drops (in most cases). Target #1,#2 or #3. How to get #1 is a different thing, all covered on WW. Btw, look for Bretts stairway to Google heaven (10k in one year). This really applies.
This alone could easily take a year in some industries with high competition. Be prepared. But once you got it, there is always a possibility to earn money with that, even if you don't find the right affiliate programs.
Target the revenue keywords.
Sometimes it's easy to be on top for a keyword, and then you realize that only few people search for it. It's no wonder it was easy. Find out the money making keywords, these are keywords that decently qualify the searcher as a customer (e.g., don't expect the phrase "free widgets" to earn you money). And of course your targeted keywords should be punched in on a regular base (numbers vary wildly) by searchers. If it's not massive forget it (ok, except maybe for a Ferrari affiliate programe :)). Why massive? Because there is a thing called conversion rate, which is influenced by how much you know about marketing in general, especially why people buy (this is another post for itself).
Sorry for typos and grammar :) Feedback welcome!
It's a numbers game.
My friends ask me: "How do you make your money on the internet?"
Answer: I have alot of deals that make me a little bit of money.
Doesn't seem like much at first, but once you get a few of those - like fifty or a hundred or more deals that make you a "little bit of money" every day-- you are kickin' it.
Some of the stuff I have done gets a ton of well targetted se visitors, but it took me a long time to figure out how to make $ with them. Many times it is not what you first thought that ends up making you the $.
Figuring out what converts into those nickels, dimes, $5, $10, and $20+ dollar bills is much harder than building web sites and/or spamming se's to get visitors.
1. Make a plan.
2. Build a site with appropriate affiliates, etc..
3. Get it out on the net
3. Forget about it for a few months
4. Go back to step 1
Repeat this sequence several times before revisiting the first site. Once the few months has passed, tweak, tweak, tweak, and tweak some more until you attain positive cash flow with all of the sites.
Keep your head down and grind it out.
There is light at the end of the tunnel.
I can almost f@%$*&! see it... just a little further...
