Lost in the weeds - what's the BIG PICTURE?

[Bourne]

I read a lot of PPC and affiliate strategies that are regurgitation of the same stale method. But why are 'affiliate gurus' spending their waking hours maintaining blogs, responding to posts, and generating seo tools etc.??
Surely their time would be better spent make more sites and generating ad revenue. Ok - that's the lost in the weeds part.

Big Picture Question: It sounds like, correct me if I'm off, the real money is in subscriptions (seo/sem site subscriptions) (some are $19 for 6 months) since this is where so many SEO/SEM gurus spend their time. Is this the big plan - the real golden ring to reach for?

 

[Linda Buquet]

I know what you mean. I know some super affiliate PPC bloggers who say they are making $200K a month and I think, what are you doing blogging. But I'm sure some of them like helping others and some like the super affiliate power status so want to be out in the limelight.

I think it depends on who you are talking about. Some SEO types are selling memberships and some of those can be pretty lucrative. I imagine the guys at Wealthy affiliate do pretty well at $30 a month as popular as that site is. (But most sales come through affiliates I imagine so they would only clear $15.)

Others spend time blogging and putting out tools as a way to build up their list, then make money on back end sales. Yet others really are building up readership and followers because they are planning on coming out with a guru training course or mentor program.

 

[Bourne]

I am thinking about Aaron Wahl (seobook) and Jeremy Shoemaker (shoemoney) -great guys who share their ideas, but it would seem blogging and videos etc. is much more time consuming that SEM/SEO. Possibly that stuff is technical and boring and they enjoy interacting with people (a following), and teaching, which can also be lucrative. It just triggers my suspicion button

My goal is to develop an affiliate site(s) that grow slow and steady over the next decade - kind of a retirement plan and a hobby. No overnight riches dreams here.

 

[James Spinosa]

By responding to blog posts, forum posts, etc. internet marketers continuously get their name out there. Name recognition is everything in this business and using tools such as blogs they can easily push products. Not to mention Jeremy Shoemaker makes thousands per paid review on his blog.

 

[Anomaly]

No overnight riches dreams here.

you are coming into affiliate marketing with the right frame of mind ... it is good to see you are well grounded ...

the problem with instant riches is they can disapper instantly ... but build a solid reliable money making tool and the money will keep on flowing

 

[genuwine4532]

you are coming into affiliate marketing with the right frame of mind ... it is good to see you are well grounded ...

the problem with instant riches is they can disapper instantly ... but build a solid reliable money making tool and the money will keep on flowing

Well said, the reality is that AM is no easy biz and those guys are able to charge in because they have built a name for themselves, all though Shoemoney's blog is a complete joke now, he writes 3 sentence posts that take no time and mostly regurgated Tech Crunch posts and so believe me he spends most of his time with his company making money online and by the amount of readers and visitors to his blog that just shows that name is everything as well as that picture of him and his adsense check that causes some awe about him, though he really gives little concrete steps to how he got it. The truth is he's been in it for a while and he does NOT work alone like many of us do, he has a fully staffed company.

Aaron Wall is one of the original SEO's and so he is trusted and I know for a fact that he has several sites besides the blog and SEO school he runs, but that name allows him to get those subscription fees.

I think if SEO is your passion that maybe the golden ring to reach for, or in any niche for that matter where a sub fee is applicable can be charged if you earn some status and get people to sign up.

 

[Joseph Ratliff]

In my opinion, it's all about the credibility...and you have to invest some time communicating with your customer base (through blogs, forums etc...) to maintain that credibility.