Return to Archive
Welcome to the first edition of Internet Marketing for Novices. Before we get to today's post, I want to explain who this newsletter is for so I don't waste your time.
Don't Let Me Waste Your Time
If you're brand new to internet marketing and things like how to choose products, how to design simple websites, how to set up payment processing systems and internet marketing terminology confuse, confound and frustrate you, then this newsletter is for you.
If you're more advanced, you won't find much helpful info here -- so chime in and help us newbies learn (yes, guest posts are definitely accepted!). Follow me on Twitter to get updates about internet marketing at http://Twitter.com/IM4Novices.
Replace Your $35,000 to $75,000 Per Year Job with Affiliate & Internet Marketing Income
One more thing, this newsletter is particularly geared for those who are not looking to "get rich", but who want to make extra income that can grow into a solid full-time income (ie, replace a job where you're currently making $35,000 to $75,000 per year).
Why this amount?
Because this newsletter will be written from first-hand experience (mine), I can' t tell you how to make six figures in internet and affiliate marketing - because I haven't done it. You'll learn with me, test with me and hopefully outgrow me - and move on to others who can teach you more.
My Affiliate Earnings
Since January of 2009, I've made exactly $84,358.24 in affiliate sales (see graphic below). This doesn't include earnings from all of my products and of course, no earnings from my freelance writing clients. This is just in affiliate and internet marketing sales.
Now, I do this only part-time, as the greatest amount of my time is spent on client projects. These part-time earnings equate to full-time salaries for many. And this is why I'm so anxious to transition to affiliate and internet marketing full time. I simply can't wait to be able to pour 8 or 10 hours a day, 5 days a week into this!
How This Newsletter Can Help You
In all of my endeavors online (and off), I strive to be truthful, straightforward and honest. So I'm not going to pretend that I make John Chow [JohnChow.com] or Zac Johnson-like money [ZacJohnson.com], because I don't, obviously.
I can help you get your internet marketing career off the ground though, give you some foundational building blocks and dispense what I learn - honestly and without trying to shove products down your throat -- which is what a lot of internet marketers do.
Now that we've gotten that out of the way, on to today's issue?
Should I Build a Website for Every Product I Promote? If So, How?
This first newsletter was inspired by a question (several questions) I received from an affiliate of the Free Classified Ads ebook I wrote (found at http://FreeAdsSell.info). She emailed me asking:
QUESTION
I set up a really great (I think anyways) Amazon store (the a store) full of perfect items for a niche that I've written about. [SHE NAMED THE NICHE] - it's actually very common but not too over the top for competition. I have a kickin article about it as well. I made a Squidoo page for it - which I found I don't like Squidoo.
My question for you is that how do you go about getting websites for each niche or product you're affiliated with? Don't you have to purchase them? (emphasis added)
The word press sites won't allow any links to any affiliates - because I have a wordpress and tried it . . . I did purchase my [SHE CITED HER DOMAIN NAME] for the main reason of being able to advertise some freelancing books - but I've gotten zip for hits. Any suggestions? If not, thank you either way and thank you for sending me the ebook again.
MY ANSWER
This is a lot to answer, so I'm going to break it into two parts and answer the second question tomorrow.
The first thing is, wordpress doesn't allow affiliate links - and they have a lot of other restrictions as well, which is why I stopped using them.
I discuss this in detail in the hub, Creating a Blog: Should Register Your Own Domain Name or Use a Free Blogging Platform? [http://bit.ly/9kQ92W]
Why You Should Always Register Your Own Domain Names
The moral of this though is to always, always, always get your own domain name because even if free blogging platforms like wordpress do allow things like affiliate links, what's to say their policies won't change, or they take you offline for violating apolicy you didn't even know was in place.
A Personal Story to Illustrate How Detrimental Using Free Blogging Platforms Can Be
This happened to a colleague of mine recently. She had a very popular blog on blogger. She was making a couple of hundred bucks per month in passive Google Adsense "minisite" income. [http://bit.ly/9UxnmI] She had over 200 pages on her site, as well as articles in article directories and other sites that linked back to this blog.
She said she'd noticed a precipitous dip in questions from readers, as well as sales. She started to investigate what was going on and guess what - it took her about an hour to find out that her site had been taken down by Google (which owns blogger).
There went over two years of posts, marketing and not to mention a couple of hundred bucks per month in passive income.
To this day, she's still trying to get back to where she was - ie, migrating all of her content over to her new site, going back and changing all of those links in the posts she wrote, building her passive income back to where it was (and getting it to grow even more).
I had warned her, begged her and told her to switch, switch, switch. If I had a penny for every time she told me that she wished she would've listened - well, let's just say rent on my Jamaica apartment would be paid for at least a year.
Free Gift for Being a Subscriber That Can Help You With Getting a Website/Blog
If you don't understand what's involved in getting a website, send me an email and I'll send you a FREE copy of How to Get Your Biz on the Web Quickly & Affordably: An Easy-to-Follow Guide in Plain English for Those New to Internet Terminology & Web Technology .
This ebook outlines my travails in getting InkwellEditorial.com online back in 1999. The information is still very relevant, as it describes exactly what a host company is, what a domain name is, how to choose an effective one, how much you should be paying --- and a host of other factors. This ebook will answer the question:
. . . how do you go about getting websites for each niche or product you're affiliated with?
Following these instructions exactly to get it: (i) Send email to Contact(at)FreeAdsSell.info. Of course change "(a)" to @. Put "How to Get Your Biz on the Web Quickly Ebook" in subject line. I get a ton of email, so be sure to respond like this so I can quickly and easily get the ebook out to you.
Note: you must be a subscriber to be eligible for this offer, so send me the email address you subscribed to this newsletter with. You can subscribe at the bottom of this page, http://FreeAdsSell.info).
Takeaway Lesson from This Issue
I guess you could say this is Lesson #1 in internet marketing - stay away from free website and blogging platforms.
Tomorrow's Newsletter
In tomorrow's newsletter, I'll answer the following:
Don't you have to purchase them (websites)?
How to start getting traffic to your affiliate sites?
We'll Set Up Your Affiliate Site for You
If you're promoting the Free Classified Ads ebook on http://FreeAdsSell.info and you want the exact website you see there, my designer can do it for you.
The Whole Shebang Set Up in Just a Few Days!
You'll get:
(i) The website you see at http://FreeAdsSell.info (minus all references to me and my companies);
(ii) Your own domain name (we'll choose a relevant one for you);
(iii) Free hosting for a year; and
(iv) Your e-junkie account set up.
This way, you can start marketing almost right away, without worrying about any of the technical, behind-the-scenes stuff. Note: We will need you to give us your PayPal email address.
We can handle it for you - all in 3-4 days (probably sooner). It's $38.95. Simply send via PayPal to payment@InkwellEditorial.com. Put "Free Ads Website Setup" in the Subject Line. [Again, this is extremely important; so please don't forget].
Note: At some point, I do advise that you learn how to design simple websites and learn what hosting, URL, domain name registration, etc. is all about. Be sure to sign up to the Internet Marketing for Novices newsletter to find out about stuff like this.
If you're a regular reader of my sites (http://InkwellEditorial.com, http://SeoWritingJobs.com), you know that I tend to be extremely detailed, and this newsletter is designed to explain - in painstaking detail and plain language - concepts just like this. I also give free gifts from time to time.J
To sign up, simply go to http://FreeAdsSell.info and scroll down to the very bottom of the page. You'll see the signup box there. Be sure to read the first issue (sent out on 9/23/2010) to see exactly what you can expect from this helpful newsletter.
P.S.: Don't forget to follow me on twitter to get updates about internet marketing for novices at https://twitter.com/IM4Novices