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Journey to succeed in Affiliate Marketing

from 0$ to at least 100$/month

         

Builder

12:47 pm on May 22, 2005 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Hi,

I am a student and I have been reading this forum for months now. And I have had so many ideas and so much inspiration. I decided to start doing AM. As I said I am a student right now and I don’t have a job. Not much time for it anyway.
But now summer starts and I have time to do this. I can get a measly job for summer but It wont pay more than 300-400$ a month. So I decided to invest that time to AM and make more in the future.
I know I have a long way to go, but once I succeed I'll even write a book about it.
So far I have many ideas. But I picked one of them and already bought a domain name. At this moment I am building the site. I have experience in php/html/mysql etc. I used to build and code web pages for fun. But nothing big. Now I can code, learn and make money at the same time. I decided to go with Adsense at the beginning.Since I don’t know any other good trustworthy affiliates that support marketers from Europe.

The reason I started this thread is to finally show if it is possible to make money from nothing. Also so that I can’t quit now.
So far I have invested money only to the domain. I’ve decided to host the web page in my home box until it gets more visitors and traffic. Then I’ll move it to a hosting company.

Whole status at the moment is: Website system is about 60% done. Design needs some fixing (design is my weakest spot). And the most important thing - content - has not been done yet. It will come along the way.

The way I see it I have nothing to loose. Only gain experiences. But I do have goals to make money this way and I hope all the good people from WW will support and help the newbie who has a plan.

dave741

1:11 pm on May 22, 2005 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Hi Builder,
welcome to WebmasterWorld and good luck!

I am at very similar stage like you (maybe a few steps further) - I just started my new project this week.

It seems you are european (as me). So maybe you have also this experience - I did some pages in our nice local language earlier, but it drives me crazy only to realize how large audience one can get with english pages. So I decided to start my first english project (totaly new) and with the help of corrector I did.

My plan to get traffic for this project counts mainly with SEO and I hope, but to get of the ground I am investing a little bit into AdWords. So, we will see.

I have also another plan, that counts with PPC as a main traffic source - one has to diversify - as we read here :-) But it will take some time to start it.

Once more - good luck! And keep posted here.

Builder

1:20 pm on May 22, 2005 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Thank you for the support.
True think is that it is almost impossible to succeed in something that is in my native language. So yes I also went with English project. At first I relay on SEO traffic mainly and other sites that may link me.

sirkei

4:23 pm on May 25, 2005 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Hi Builder,

Welcome welcome to the world of AM. for your information, i am also a student studying in one uni. STarted my frist site approximately one eyar ago and now am actually earning more than $100/month but less than 1k. :<

I just wana share you my experience. I started my site with basically no knowledge of html/php/mysql. I purchased an ebook called how to make money from google, something like googlecash. That is how i considered myself invovled in AM.

After few months, i found out that the tactic is not working with that so-called ebook of making fast cash from the internet. I decided to go the slow way of making one simple website hosted in bravenet, basically just an bio of myself.

And now, after almost one year, i own 1 main site and 3 small websites which brings me enough money for beers. Well, i guess it's more than enough for beers, covers up my rent also.

Anyway, good luck. i guess you can be success in this field since you have knowledge in coding. I am still a newbie who use macromedia creating static html pages. :>

ska_demon

4:39 pm on May 25, 2005 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Sounds like a plan. I would take into account the google sandbox. You may have to wait a long time if your site gets hit. Google is in the middle of a big update right now and probably will not update again for 3 months. I would get something up as quick as possible as googlebot is out and about getting pages.

You will need to consider the amount of traffic you may get.

Will it be enough to earn the $100 per month you need from adsense alone?

I would think (based on my adsense experience) that you will need around 100 unique visitors per day to make over $100 per month. That will depend entirely on your site theme of course.

It is more than possible to achieve your goals and more.

Best of luck

Ska

Builder

6:11 pm on May 25, 2005 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



sirkei:
Thanks for the support. Yet again you are a proof that it is possible for me to succeed in this. Even if I make a little beer money? Why not. It's as good as free beer. Isn't it?

ska_demon:
Thanks a lot for the tip(s) nad for the support.
I'm doing as fast as possbile, but at the moment I have exams so I dont have much time until next week. Adsense is my first main pick. Alltho I picked somewhat popular subject so I guess I can find some affiliates that I can benefit from.

Thanks again!

sirkei

7:00 pm on May 25, 2005 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Alltho I picked somewhat popular subject so I guess I can find some affiliates that I can benefit from.

Erm, based on my experience, do not get invovled into popular subjects. Get into something you are expert in. For example, i like playing the game Warcraft III. Therefore i write articles about this game. Although there are not much people searching for this keyword, but the traffic is good quality. Visitors stay at your site and they will keep returning.

If you do your site based on the "M" field, you will soon become lack of motive for building the site. Especially when you compared with those big guys out there. No fight at all is what i feel. I have posted a thread before about my spudity of starting the high paying keywords sites but to no success.

Or IMHO, those fields are not for amateurs like us. There are for sure people who succeed in that but i guess just a little amount.

Anyway, it is your own choice. The internet is so big and even if you focus on popular subjects, you might get a share. I am sure there are thousands of searches for those fields. And new sites keep coming up. So who knows what will happen. :>

Builder

5:40 am on May 26, 2005 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



It's more like a very specific area of that field that I chose. Lets say there are all kinds of blue widgets, but I picked only small light-blue widgets with red circles on them.

ska_demon

10:11 am on May 26, 2005 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



I started out in a highly competetive area and found reasonable success. It is possible to compete in these areas if you do your research first. Try to avoid spammy techniques and in time your site will gain rankings. Just watch as the spammy sites in your niche disappear after each update and how your site increases in popularity. It takes time, effort, more time and a hell of a lot of patience.

Ska

David Bowley

11:19 am on May 27, 2005 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Hey Builder, you're not alone in your journey. I'm also a student attempting to succeed with AM, been doing it a little while but going serious very soon.

In order to make it work, you really do need to stick at something you enjoy or know about. I've found that writing about a subject I know nothing about is not only boring, it's loads more work doing the research.

Everyone has interests with which to make something of, that's why AM works so well for so many people. Wish you luck and hope we're both telling of how we managed to go from £0 to many a month.

Builder

5:03 pm on May 27, 2005 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



ska_demon
Thanks for the motivation to go againts the "big boys"

David Bowley
Thank you. I wish you all the same and some more.
I picked to subject that was easy for me to write about and I enjoy it.

Website status: System is 100% done. Only design needs a little makeover. I'll start writing content today. And I hope I can fully start the page on monday. This means I will feed it to search engines and I'll apply for adsense.

Builder

7:53 pm on Jun 6, 2005 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



The site has been up for a week now. I have about 10 articles. I have about 40 uniques per day. But Adsense still has'nt send me an approval email. I have waited for a week now.

Kuyler

11:48 pm on Jun 15, 2005 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Any updates Builder? Doesn't sound a bad start, 40 uniques a day?

dave741

8:49 am on Jun 16, 2005 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



But Adsense still has'nt send me an approval email. I have waited for a week now.

This is strange. I received it much faster.

PumpkinHead

10:08 am on Jun 16, 2005 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



How do you manage to get 40 uniques a day so fast?! My site has been live around 2 weeks and I only have 45 so far?!

Builder

10:34 am on Jun 16, 2005 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Hi,

I was away for over a week, but now I'm back. So I sent a email to google and told them my problem, they said that they were sorry and I got accepted. So adsense has been up about 2 days now.

I dont get that much visits anymore. Now its about 15 per day. I probably got that many in the first few days (45-80) because it posted it to various places to get noticed.

Now I'm back to write content and get this thing rolling.

Builder

9:47 pm on Jul 5, 2005 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



I think that I have failed. Or I just haven't had enough time for it. One of my closest person got very sick and I have taken care of her. And now when money is very crucial I need to get back and be very serious in this game.

I have added about 2 articles every week and the site has about 10 unique visitors every day. I have earned only few bucks with it.

I think I have made a bad choice on what I made the site about. So now I'm pretty much looking for new ideas on how to help this situation and be successful in AM.

I haven't given up!

Thanks.

CannonFodder

11:25 pm on Jul 5, 2005 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Builder,

Don't give up. Try an align yourself with similar sites. Try and draw traffic from them. You can search the newsgroups for a topic dealing with your website. Post there with answers to other's problems. Use a signature that includes your site. Find forums on other sites that will allow you to post with your signature. Post to topics relating to yours.

Find a site that may put a link to your site. Offer something in return. Perhaps an article, moderate a forum, anything that will get them to link to you.

Keep adding the content. Content is king.

Good luck.

Dan

dkin

7:58 am on Jul 6, 2005 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



dont give up, I am in the exact same spot, just make sure your entire site is mod rewritten for search engines and that you are optimizing your content, then when your site gets a deep crawl youll be fine. :D

Need any help let me know.

Dylan

khunia

2:06 am on Jul 7, 2005 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Hi guys I have been reading this post with alot of interest and have picked up alot of pointers. Im a father of four married and have worked since young and am now sick of my 5day shift 12 hours per day. I have been messing around with web design for a couple months and since coming to this forum have only just started making progress. Are there simple affiliate programs to latch onto? Or what is a good affiliate program?

AffiliateDreamer

2:41 am on Jul 7, 2005 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



khunia,

sign up with cj.com

in the meantime, read forum20 from beginning to end.