Is it still possible?

[etrader]

Hi, I have been awoken to the benefits of affiliates by a colleague, i'm sure this has been asked before.

Is it still possible to turn a profit in this field in 2004?

Is it better to target a specific area ie travel or shotgun a number if areas.

I am keen to take this idea further, I have plenty of money to spend if needed and am not afraid of work - is it a viable idea though or is the market saturated?

cheers
etrader

[jasonlambert]

Is it still possible to turn a profit in this field in 2004?
Yes.

Is it better to target a specific area ie travel or shotgun a number if areas.
>> Insert sentance about all eggs + one basket :)

I am keen to take this idea further, I have plenty of money to spend if needed and am not afraid of work - is it a viable idea though or is the market saturated?
There are a lot of people in the industry and many people thinking of joining perceive it as "free money", which generally is not the case. A lot of people do make money, you seem to have the right attitude so give it a go and see where it takes you :)

[coconubuck]

Too many people think it's free money. I'm not saying that's what you're thinking, but you have to look at it as though it's a job, at least to some extent. To answer your question, it is absolutely possible to make money in affiliate marketing. In my opinion, I'd suggest targeting specific areas and offering content most of your competition doesn't have.

[growingdigital]

Hi Etrader.

I started doing Affiliate Marketing over a year ago. Initially I started out with just one advertiser. Within 6 months I was making about twice as much from this Advertiser than I was at my full-time job.

I think by focusing on 1 advertiser, I was able to maximize my campaigns and ROI much better than if I had tried to get 100 advertisers going at once.

Once I felt I had maximized that opportunity I decided to move on to new advertisers.

3 Advertisers make up 90% of my income, which is scary, but I don't think I would have been as successful if I had tried to promote more programs initially.

I agree that you shouldn't put all your eggs in one basket, but it's also important not to spread yourself too thin.

[ganderla]

I also am very new at affiliate marketing, though I get all my traffic from my sites. I have tried using adwords to drive traffic to the affiliates and it worked well, though it was alot of work.

At this point in time, I am going to just use my site traffic for now and maybe in the future go back to adwords.

[trees]

Hello growingdigital.

In no way do we criticize your experience, however the numbers you allude to over a comparatively short 26 week interval are both impressive and unusual in any web-based market.

Please elaborate on the industry type, financial commitment, time commitment, and actual sale / commission / quantity averages related to your experience.

Also any negative discoveries / occurances during the same interval you may be willing to share.

I started doing Affiliate Marketing over a year ago. Initially I started out with just one advertiser. Within 6 months I was making about twice as much from this Advertiser than I was at my full-time job.

I think by focusing on 1 advertiser, I was able to maximize my campaigns and ROI much better than if I had tried to get 100 advertisers going at once.

Once I felt I had maximized that opportunity I decided to move on to new advertisers.

3 Advertisers make up 90% of my income, which is scary, but I don't think I would have been as successful if I had tried to promote more programs initially.

I agree that you shouldn't put all your eggs in one basket, but it's also important not to spread yourself too thin.

[growingdigital]

Please elaborate on the industry type, financial commitment, time commitment, and actual sale / commission / quantity averages related to your experience.

I will give interested readers general information becase nobody in their right mind would show all their cards on a public web forum.

Industry Type
The industries I compete in are considered some of the most competitive in the affiliate business - No I don't do PPC (Porn, Pills, or Casino).

Why do I compete in crowded fields? Because that's where the money is. Why do you think it's competitive? However, keep in mind that there are plenty of affiliates out there making money in little niche categories that are not as competitive.

My methods for selecting an advertiser/industry are quite simple. I login to Commission Junction and select the advertisers that have the highest EPC(earnings/per 100 clicks) in their category.

Financial Commitment
I reinvested a significant amount of profits each month back into site advertising. My initial start up investment was a few thousand dollars.

Time Committment
My time committment to affiliate marketing was over 40 hours a week while I worked at my full-time job. A lot of late nights, and busy weekends. It taxed my family, and I put on some weight, but I knew there was a light at the end of the tunnel. My work schedule is much more comfortable now that I do this full-time from my basement.

Actual sale/commission/quantity averages
I don't think it's polite to mention specific numbers, but let's just say enough to support a wife and 2 kids.

Also any negative discoveries / occurances during the same interval you may be willing to share.

Pitfalls to Avoid
- Not tracking where website traffic is coming from (use Hitbox, WebTrends or some other stat tracker)
- Not effectively managing pay per click campaigns (remember to put campaign tracking in the URL)
- Not tracking where sales are coming from (most affiliate programs offer some kind of tracking field in their affiliate links. Use this to put the campaign, date and any other relavant info)
- Trying to get into fields you know nothing about just because they are lucrative
- Not waiting until a site is completely finished before starting another one (do everything you can to make site A as profitable as possible before starting on site B)

I have been a professional web developer for 5 years, and an affiliate marketer for just over 1 year. So I think I had a huge advantage over many newbies. I have experience with design, coding, e-commerce and a number of other related fields. So jumping into affiliate marketing was not a huge leap for me like it is for some. I think that's what mostly contributed to my atypical growth.

I would say it's reasonable for anybody who has built a website before, and knows web marketing basics to succeed. Add to that a good work ethic, reading/studying, and caffeine and you have everything you need to be a successful affiliate marketer ;)

[spike2131]

Thanks, growingdigital. Those of us who are still in the early stages appreciate the encouragement of hearing from people who've made it.

[webmastertexas]

What growingdigital says is SO true. When I started I had 4 movie affiliates (I run a movie site), but in the past 3 months I decided to cut the fat, and just concentrated on promoting two, although I only REALLY promote 1 (the other 1 is just there, because I want to give readers some option). But since I've knocked off the other two competition, my af earnings have jumped by abour 500-600%. No one was more shock than I when the numbers rolled in just a month after I made this switch.