Affiliate managers not a great help

[pzelf]

I realise that im not making myself popular with this title, in my first post on this forum. Its not my intention to insult anyone with this post, but i am quite frustrated with "affiliate managers" from several large networks that everyone knows. ( i wont mention their names here)

I am an experianced internet marketeer, and have been involved in SEO for the past 13 years. Until recently SEO has been a hobby for me that i did next to my daytime job ( working as an architect)
I have always promoted other peoples sites, and later on when i got more experaince working on SEO for larger companies. I managed to get sites / keywords ranking #1 in google with 45 million competing sites optimised for that keyword. Seo wise im an expert, very driven, and i love the challenge of improving rankings.

Since things on my daytime job are looking bad ( the company where i work fulltime is downsizing heavily) im looking for ways to secure my future. I never had any sites for myself, but i did have some accounts on big affiliate networks where i signed up in the past. So i decided to Email several account managers, telling them my story, and asking them if they can help to point me in the right direction. 2 of them didnt even reply to my email. Another one send me a one-liner: Maybe you can try some of our CPA offers.

Great! Just the advise that i need!
I always thought it was in the affiliate managers interest to get results.
Im here to deliver results. All i need is to be pointed in the right direction, but it seems thats not a part of an affiliate managers task list.

As said, im new to affiliate marketing, but i learn quick, i know my way around the web very well, im more then willing and motivated to work hard and seriosly ( i see this as a business) and im confident that i can rank my site for almost any keyword, and im experianced with almost all marketing techniques exept PPC.

Part of me even wonders if there is enough money to be made in affiliate marketing to make a decent living. ( a meeting with my accountant has learned me that i would need to make 80K yearly to have a normal living ( 42% goes to taxes here).

If affiliate managers cannot point me in the right direction, then who can?

 

[Ron Bechdolt]

Peter,

I moved your post here to the General Discussions section as the one you had put it in was more for affiliate managers to ask questions and help each other. Your question does involve affiliate managers, but this section may get you more responses and is a more appropriate place for your question.

As an affiliate manager myself I can try to respond to your post and hopefully others will to, both affiliates and managers.

First, just like when people ask very general questions here on the forum, it is frankly a bit difficult to respond with help. Generally, people here on the forum and affiliate managers, when asked, can better respond to specific questions regarding their products. For example, you might ask them what are their top products right now or what new products they have, then use your skill set to promote them.

But, if I understand your question to them, it sounds like you want to know how to start your own web site. Boy, that is a big question and their are hundreds of answers. My suggestion would be to skim through the Newbies forums here as that is asked a lot and also us the search box here to ask specific questions and see if they have already been answered.

Oh, another thing. Many programs only accept affiliates from the US. If they do and they see you are from Amsterdam, they may just ignore you. Yeah, a polite email back would have been more appropriate.

Hope that helps you get started.

 

[gcaine]

I hope you aren't in a big hurry to make 80k in a year from affiliate marketing.

To get to that kind of level you will need to put in a lot of hard work and you will need a bit of luck on your side.

I'm not trying to be discouraging here.

Since you have experience at SEO you have a good jump on most people that start out.

This is a very simplified explanation of what I would recommend.

First you need to find a niche for your website(s)

There's at 4 main things to look for when choosing a niche.

1. How many people are searching for the niche topic?
2. How much SEO competition is there for it.
3. Most importantly, are the people searching for free information or are they willing to pay for it.
4. Can you find some quality products to market?

Once you have a niche and at least one product to promote then you can go ahead and build a website and hopefully get some search engine traffic to it.

There are other ways to get traffic as well.

Writing articles with links can produce good traffic if your article happens to get in the top 10 of the search result.

Also guest articles on related blogs or websites is good, especially if you can get it featured in their newsletter.

There are plenty more ways to drive traffic to your site besides those that I mentioned. Read the forums and you will get some ideas.

Something you should consider is building an email list from your site.

If you keep it mostly informative and then sprinkle in some ads they can be a good source of both returning visitors and customers.

You can succeed with affiliate marketing as long as you treat it as a business and don't expect overnight riches.

Good luck.

 

[yanamk]

80K a year is a nice sum, but not sure that it should be an agenda for a beginner. After all, it takes about 6 months to start earning, meaning that you want to make 80K in 6 months. That is pretty stressful plan.

Enjoy the beginning of it all, learn from each experience and with lots of hard work and determination, you will make your first 80K, but maybe not in the first year.

 

[john43]

Peter40, congratulations on your first post. Why would you need a $80,000 salary? Even less than that is acceptable. Good luck with the pay per click programs. The advantage of using pay per click or pay per impression programs is that they don't count conversions. Therefore, you can still get paid for click even if you don't get any sales. However, some companies pay per click or pay per impression only if a certain amount of sales is achieved.

 

[EmpyreAndrea]

I'm glad to hear that you're interested in this field, but keep in mind what you are getting yourself into. As others have mentioned, its very unlikely that you will make 80K a year in your first year, and its gonna take a lot of really hard work to make it later on. The fact that you have SEO experience is a huge plus, and it will definitely make a big difference for you, but you can't get into this business expecting to make big money right off the bat. Most people who come in with that thought end up frustrated and angry, and eventually just give up. Instead, just enjoy the experience, learn as much as you can, and take it all in stride.

 

[jumar112]

I am an experianced internet marketeer, and have been involved in SEO for the past 13 years. Until recently SEO has been a hobby for me that i did next to my daytime job ( working as an architect)
I have always promoted other peoples sites, and later on when i got more experaince working on SEO for larger companies. I managed to get sites / keywords ranking #1 in google with 45 million competing sites optimised for that keyword. Seo wise im an expert, very driven, and i love the challenge of improving rankings.

Build a website around helping others promote their site to earn money instead of being an affiliate.

Once you get going set up your own affiliate program.

 

[jointaldc]

Peter,

I moved your post here to the General Discussions section as the one you had put it in was more for affiliate managers to ask questions and help each other. Your question does involve affiliate managers, but this section may get you more responses and is a more appropriate place for your question.

As an affiliate manager myself I can try to respond to your post and hopefully others will to, both affiliates and managers.

First, just like when people ask very general questions here on the forum, it is frankly a bit difficult to respond with help. Generally, people here on the forum and affiliate managers, when asked, can better respond to specific questions regarding their products. For example, you might ask them what are their top products right now or what new products they have, then use your skill set to promote them.

But, if I understand your question to them, it sounds like you want to know how to start your own web site. Boy, that is a big question and their are hundreds of answers. My suggestion would be to skim through the Newbies forums here as that is asked a lot and also us the search box here to ask specific questions and see if they have already been answered.

Oh, another thing. Many programs only accept affiliates from the US. If they do and they see you are from Amsterdam, they may just ignore you. Yeah, a polite email back would have been more appropriate.

Hope that helps you get started.

I agree, your questions was a bit too broad, though I don't think that was reason enough not to respond. There are a lot of AMs that don't respond in a timely manner, or at all. I know from experience when I was an affiliate, that's why now, that I am on the other side, I try to respond to every single person that I'm assigned to. It's hard work, but who else is going to respond?

 

[pzelf]

Thanks for your replies.
I understand it will not be possible to make that amount from scratch, or likely even in the first year. What i need is a niche that can take me to that level, but it seems that affiliate managers do not want to share wich niche works well. I think i can make it if someone can recommend a niche that will work well.

As said, i have 13 years experiance in SEO and online marketing, not to brag, but im one of the best SEO guys out there. Im able to rank for almost any phrase and believe me i know that it takes hard hard work, dedication, money, creativity and experaince. I know how to build websites, i know how to make them convert, i know where and how to get traffic, do kw research ect. ect. Im not a newbie, i have simply always been working for others.
I have a lot to offer to the right affiliate manager. Really i expected affiliate managers to be enthausiastic that im willing to give them my effords and dedication wich will bring success to everyone. But it turns out that affiliate managers do not want to share what niche works, and wich doesnt work.

And i simply cannot afford to pick a niche myself, promote the hell out of it for 6 months to find out that the niche doesnt deliver what i need. I can do this only once or twice, so i need the reassurance that im not pushing all my energy in something that simply doesnt bring money to the table.

If any serios affiliate manager out here wants to know what i can offer: send me a pm and i will give you some examples of sites in highly competitive niches wich i have been able top 3 in google. And like everyone knows: If you have traffic, you make sales. If you optimize your landing pages you make more sales, if you build a list you will have additional sales..
Im offering 15 years online experiance to the right affiliate manager, wich i will be dedicated to work with. What i need from you are numbers: what can i make IF i do well.

Perhaps this is a lot to ask, but again, i have a lot to offer.
Im not trying to be arrogant here, im a realist. I cant simply start pushing some niche and invest in the wrong one.