Wow, this site looks oh so promising :)

[rohitiyer10]

Well just have to say i've downloaded a couple of the free e-books, and have been interested with making money this way. I've just recently become broke through a combination of giving a grand to a charity for kids in Nepal that my sister did an Indian classical dance for to raise money, school started again, bad car accident which is gonna be $6k+ to repair.

So now that my classes are so spread apart, a job is out of the question for the semester. I would really love to get this working and start working at home for now, and then having this allow me to acquire a nice income so that i don't need to get a job and so i can go back to volunteering at the children's hospital.

Any tips or pointers because I have 0 clue as to how to go about this (ya ya i know, read the material... don't worry I'm getting my rear in gear to start the books... ). Are there many (if any) start up fee's, or can i go with a more free and financially efficient route for now until i get my feet well planted?

Thanks a lot for the awesome site people !

sincerely,
Rohit Iyer

 

[Niche48]

Hi and welcome

They say the greatest people are those who turn a disadvantage or knock down to an advantage

Affiliate marketing is a great opportunity

You won't turn profits immediately but in the long run, you can build a thriving business

Good luck

 

[Linda Buquet]

Hi Rohit,

Welcome to 5 Star. What I'd recommend is to read all the stickies in our newbie forum. They will give you a good overview and suggestions about what works and what does not work.

I don't know which ebooks you have, but you need to be aware that some are just trying to sell you something, some are giving get rich quick advice - not real advice and some while they may be good are just teaching one specific method - while there are many ways to get started.

As far as $ goes - ALL bonafide affiliate programs are free to start. If there is a fee it's a biz opp or MLM usually. If you can invest a little in a domain, hosting and marketing, you'll get off to a faster, stronger start. But there are ways to start with no $ investment at all. You'll start learning some of those options as you read the forum.

Most important thing, after some reading and basic learning is to pick the right niche - one that's not too over saturated. You'll find good info about that in the newbie stickies and then more detailed tips and tools in our niche marketing forum.

Feel free to ask more specific questions after you read the newbie stickies. We're here to help and we don't allow anyone to try to sell you anything. So the advice you get here will be genuine.

 

[Joseph Ratliff]

Rohit,

This is an AWESOME business model.

My tip for you, is to avoid the "hype", the junk, and the "IM niche" style of affiliate marketing.

This needs to be a real business for you, so stay focused if you continue to pursue it...and treat it like a business...where many treat it like a hobby.

And...follow Linda's suggestions...any of them...there is "gold in them thar hills" if you choose to listen to her.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Awww, thanks Joseph! Appreciate the kind words and vote of confidence.

 

[Joseph Ratliff]

You deserve it Linda

You're the reason I focused on my affiliate marketing business. With real focus, came a real income (finally), and quite honestly, I can't think of a better way to straight up make money online overall.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Awesome Joseph, that is SO great to hear!
Keep up the good work!

 

[rohitiyer10]

wow, thank you guys for all the replies.

Guess i've got another question for ya. I read something on here about clickbank not being the best for someone of my status (super noob), but paydotcom.com was supposed to be better? Can any light be shed on that?

edit: k another question, is there an area on this site/forum where people talk about their successes? I'd just like to see what niche they used and how it turned out for them.

edit 2: lol k i'm getting very excited about all of this, and yes, i know it takes time and patience for my little seed to grow into my own fruit-bearing tree....but could you make a site where you promote a couple of different products like anywhere from 2-6 or 7? Not saying i'd do that much, but i have a couple of different interests in mind.

 

[Linda Buquet]

clickbank or paydotcom? pros and cons to each. IMHO CB is just very competitive and more prone to cookie stuffing and other type of commission stealing. The biggest thing to stay away from if you go with either network above from when you're new is the Internet Marketing, Make Money Online niche. It's filled with sharks that try to capitalize on newbies dreams of striking it rich online. If you're a newbie trying to sell to other newbies it's like the blind trying to lead the blind and just doesn't work.

You'll find some success stories here. <a href="http://affiliate-marketing-forums.5staraffiliateprograms.com/i-m-affiliate-inspiration-motivation/">A.I.M. Affiliate Inspiration & Motivation</a> However be aware that smart affiliates never share their niches as it creates competition for them or people try to learn how they did it and copy their sites or steal their ideas. You can maybe get some ideas about some broad general markets.

"but could you make a site where you promote a couple of different products like anywhere from 2-6 or 7? Not saying i'd do that much, but i have a couple of different interests in mind."

Yes - different products in same very narrow niche - NOT ADVISED to different products from different niches on the same site - not when you are new. Also it's not good for search engine traffic.

If you have a site called greenwidgets.com and it's all about green widgets then it's easier to get targeted traffic for (if it's not too competitive.) then all your energy is focused on researching and writing great content about green widgets. To the search engines - name of site is "green widgets", content is all about "green widgets" you are likely to get better ranking for green widgets than a mall site that carries 200 products but only has one page about green widgets. Importantly too, you appear to visitors to specialize in green widgets which if done well can help to inspire more trust and confidence, which improves your chance of making sales.

You could have a review of 3 - 5 ROUND green widgets and feature 3-5 products in that article. You could have how to article and feature the 3 top books to learn about using green widgets on another page. You could end up with lots of products on the site but everything has to do with green widgets.

If you try to do a site about green widgets, golfing and dog training - it's much harder for YOU to focus, search engines may not rank you as high because your content is scattered, your efforts are scattered, etc.

Now AFTER you get your green widgets site running, figure out how to market it, start generating good traffic and revenue - then you could maybe take what you learned, apply what worked and start a 2nd site on another topic.

But in the very beginning it's easiest and best to focus on one topic. Could be more than one product - but all focused on the same niche.

 

[clawson44]

Hi and welcome. Are you going to promote a product or offer a service?

 

[tiger325]

the fastest way to turn a profit is ppc. Find a high converting program that pays well and if you have the funds go with ppc if not yahoo answers and forum marketing are fast as well for seeing results.

 

[rohitiyer10]

again, thanks for the replies, i've been trying to get as much information from as many possible places as i can, and i think i'd like to start out using wordpress cuz it's free hosting and domain name, then i'll move up from there to my own site once i get some moola.

but that's as far as i've gotten with this whole thing. It seems like so much to do, i feel a bit overwhelmed. I'm not sure how to start the blog, how to promote products w/ WP, how to even become an affiliate of a site or a product or whatever. Reading eBooks, and How-to's are kinda hard for me because they seem to vague, or i just might not be looking hard enough to find the right one's. I'm also wondering how to use plugins and things like adsense or adwords or whatever. I found these sites so far regarding plugins/tools:

Bookmark Tools ? SuperAff.com

WordPress › WP-Affiliate ? WordPress Plugins

18 WordPress Plugins For Affiliate Marketers ? SuperAff.com


i wish i could matrix this whole thing and just upload all the info i need to get started into my head..... man that'd be just dandy now wouldn't it.

edit:OMG shaners is a beast: http://affiliate-marketing-forums.5...-get-traffic-2-your-blog-7-ways.html#post3924

 

[jazzguy]

Hi rohitiyer10. You are embarking on a possible life changing journey and as such, each aspect of it must be taken one step at a time. What I did originally was to focus on one topic of interest that I figured would also be of interest to many others. Then I sketched out a short business plan of what my mandate was, what my mission statement would be, and how could I get to where I wanted to be in a year. The mission statement proved quite useful because it allowed me to focus, and at times, regain my focus on what I wanted to accomplish.

Once I had this in my hands I then worked on the mechanical side of things. I needed a domain name, a website which included a simple yet surfer friendly design alongside immediate branding, and content geared towards what I was offering/sharing with my "public".

I then broke this list down even further and concentrated on each issue separately. First the domain name, one that hopefully was short and sweet...this actually took me longer than I thought but it was worth it in the end.

Then I worked on the website, since I was already a web designer this wasn't a problem and I realize that I was lucky in this regard.

I then realized that the site had to be hosted so I found affordable, but reliable hosting (after doing a lot of Googling to see if the host I was interested in had a bad reputation or not).

Then the fun part came as I wrote content for the site. Just a little at first to get something up and running. I understood that the worst thing I could do was to not do anything and wait until I had everything "perfect". Having the site up and looking a little bare was really motivating to keep at it.

Once this was done, I then looked at all the similar sites in my particular niche to see how they were monetizing their sites and I just followed their affiliate links, joined the program and added products/services to my site.

Four years later I am very proud of what I have done and I still use this same template when creating new sites. I understand that it can seem daunting at the beginning, but if you take it day by day, issue by issue, you will eventually find yourself with a site on the Web that could be as big or as small as you want it to be, dependent on how much work you put into it.

I wish you all the best and I can almost feel your excitement. That's the one, amongst many other, cool thing about this industry, it never gets boring and each new site brings about the same new excitement. Not many careers can say that truthfully. Take care.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Thanks Lyle, great advice and feedback! It always helps to hear how someone else got started so really appreciate you sharing your story.

 

[jazzguy]

Thank you Linda, it's my pleasure. That's why I started the site in my signature...to show others that the greatest achievements came from a small idea or dream and that, apart from certain talents, the greatest people in the world started off just like you and I...relatively speaking. Besides what else am I going to do on a Friday night?... Take care and all the best.