Flipping IM Myths Pt. 2: You Need a Website To Make Money Online

By Jay on November 29, 2009

webbuilders“But I don’t have a website; I don’t even know how to build one.”

This is one of the most common concerns expressed by people who want to make money online. Its understandable that people would think this way because the internet is made up of networks of websites. How to go about owning a piece of virtual real estate is the issue at the core of this myth.

Myth: You Need A Website To Make Money Online

One of the key points that attracted me to internet marketing initially was the fact that I didn’t need a website in order to make money.

I was like, “Really?”

I then learned about a method called “direct linking”. This was around 2005 when Google Cash was big and Adwords was easy.

It doesn’t work as well now but I can remember getting my first sale using “direct linking” which is where you link directly to the merchant website from your Adwords ad.

This is what proved to me that you didn’t need a website to make money online.

Then I learned about bum marketing.

What is Bum Marketing and Why You Don’t Need a Website

bum-using-laptopThe concept of BumMarketing is that you could take a bum off the streets and give him a computer and internet connection, show him a few steps and he could make money.

It requires no start up capital and no website since we won’t expect a bum to have either. Its really article marketing for people who don’t already have money for advertising or their own resources such as hosting.

Instead of having your own site, you can submit articles or build pages on sites that allow you to create an account and submit content.

For example, you can sign up with Blogger and create a blog which you can use as a website. You can sign up for user generate content sites like Squidoo and Hubpages and build pages where you can promote affiliate sites and make money in the process.

There are other ways you can make money online without having to create webpages such as writing articles for other people, designing graphics, proofreading and other freelance work.

The Truth

Most people who want to make money online usually want to do so for the long term. The truth is, if you’re serious about running an online business, at some point you’re going to need to have your own website.

There is no buts about it.

While its not necessary to have a website when starting out, its not a wise idea to rely on other people’s web properties to do your business. rules

To rely on others means giving up control over your content and putting a restrictive ceiling on your earnings. Rules change from time to time on these sites and you may one day find that your whole business has collapsed just because you aren’t in compliance.

As an example, Squidoo changed a few rules last July and some people I know found themselves back at square one because all their marketing efforts revolved around Squidoo.

With your own website, you make your own rules and do whatever you like for as long as you like.

My advice is if you’re now starting out, use free sites and build up some income, then reinvest that money back into your business by getting your own hosted website. It will only cost you less than $10 for a domain name and you can get $0.01 a month reliable hosting with HostGator.

Install WordPress and you’re in business.

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Flipping IM Myths Pt 1: Making Money Online Is Easy

By Jay on November 14, 2009

easy-money-onlineYou know the saying, there’s always three sides – my side, your side and the truth?

I was reading DiTesco’s Making Money Online Sucks miniseries today and realized that some myths actually have some truth to them.

So which should you believe?

In this series, I’m going to touch on each of these common misconceptions and show you why they are and why they aren’t misconceptions.

Myth: Making Money Online Is Easy

With infomercials like Jeff Paul’s Shortcuts to Internet Millions and the Facebook bombardment of Google Money System ads just to name a few, the promise of fast, easy money flowing into your bank account while you sleep has created an audience of dreamers.

So, armed with false hope and a determination to make money on autopilot overnight, you set out to do just that and soon realize that you’re missing something.

Seems all of a sudden that making money online isn’t so easy after all.

2009-porsche

Oh well, maybe next year.

Then you get a little know how and find out there is much more to making money online than sitting at the beach with your laptop computer, working two hours each day while generating huge sums of money. Suddenly that Porsche you were thinking of buying next month with the money you were going to make would have to wait a bit longer.

Because now you gotta write articles and monitor and tweak your PPC ads, you have to do niche research and keyword research, write blog posts and autoresponder follow ups. You have to keep putting in work to get traffic to your offers in order to make substantial amounts of money online.

Making money online isn’t as easy as the gurus would want you to believe. There is a lot of work involved and you have to know what you’re doing by learning how to put together different aspects of your promotional campaigns.

Whoever told you that you can just set it up in a few clicks and let it run on autopilot to make thousands online was flat out lying to you.

There are no shortcuts but then again consider the other side of the coin…

Myth: Making Money Online Aint Easy

If you believe this myth, then you’ve probably had a bit of experience trying to make money online. This is probably your realization after believing the first myth, that making money online was easy.

Hold on, I know what you’re thinking…I just debunked that myth and said that making money online was in fact not easy.

Thing is, the audience that believes these two myths are different.

So let me explain why making money online is easy.

Affiliate marketing is probably the only business I know that you can start:

  • without having to get a loan from the bank
  • without having to purchase stock
  • without having to employ workers
  • without any specialized knowledge

You can learn how to make money without having to go to college for 4 years to get a degree before you enter the field. In fact, you can earn money as you go, while learning different techniques.

What about if you choose a niche and fail? You won’t have lost much compared to if you’d gone into an offline venture and that had failed. All you would have to do is choose another niche and try to make money with it.

The Truth

successfailureA huge percentage of people that start out trying to make money online quit even before they’ve made their first sale.

Motivation and determination to succeed plays a major part in whether you quit or you try to find a way to succeed. Don’t be afraid to fail over and over again. Failure only paves the way for you to succeed.

I’ve failed before and so have many of the most successful internet marketers. The reason why they became successful is because they were determined to make money online and learned from their failures.

Once you learn the ins and outs of making money online without the unrealistic expectations and are prepared to do some work then making money online can indeed be one of the easiest ways to generate a full time income.

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8 Tips To Getting Accepted By Any Affiliate Network

By Jay on October 3, 2009

approved

There are many affiliate networks that will approve your sign up application automatically like Clickbank and Commission Junction. But there are also affiliate networks that only want serious affiliates who are willing to put in the work so in order to weed out tire kicking under performers, they require that your application go through an approval system.

Getting approved to these networks, mainly CPA networks, can be a pain for the up and coming affiliate marketer and they usually have to deal with rejection. Knowing what the affiliate manager looks for can help ease the pain.

Here are some tips you can try to help get that application approved.

1. Have a good looking website or blog with a real domain name.

Your blogspot blog may be fine if the network approves you automatically but some networks frown on free setups. Doesn’t mean you won’t get accepted if you have a free blog but a real hosted website can go a long way to convincing an affiliate manager that you mean business.

2. An email address attached to your domain works best.

Seriously, applying with a free yahoo address makes you look like a spammer. If you have a domain, which you should, then you should use an email address such as myemail@mydomain.com on your application. This lets them know that you own the domain and website.

3. Fill out as much of the application as possible

Even the optional fields. The more experienced you appear, the better your chances of getting approved. However, don’t make up stuff, just to look good.

4. Know the Lingo.

If you’re just getting started and don’t know the meaning of traffic for example then this is going to damage your chances. Be versed on industry terminology so that when you’re talking to the affiliate manager on the phone you sound like you know what you’re doing.

5. Prepare to Answer the Phone

You’ll need to submit a phone number so that the networks call you. Not all the networks will call (nearly all CPA ones do), but you have to be prepared to answer the phone. It would be a good idea to get a separate phone to use just for phonebusiness. If not, answer the phone in a professional manner and please make sure that your voicemail message isn’t some crass recording designed to amuse your friends.

6. Better Yet, Call Them!

Speaking of the phone, soon after you submit your application, instead of waiting on the call, pick up the phone and call the affiliate network. This shows initiative and that you’re serious about getting approved. Tell them that you just submitted your application and can’t wait to get started.

7. Your main source of traffic.

If you’re not in the US or Canada your chances of getting approved are less simply because many networks want US traffic mostly. where the majority of your traffic comes from is one of the questions you are likely to be asked in the interview with your affiliate manager. If they mention your location during the interview, let them know that yes you’re from such and such place but you get mainly US traffic. I had an affiliate manager approve me right away when I did this and told him that “according to my Google Analytics stats, 89% of my websites traffic is from the United States and Canada.”

8. Incentivized or Not?

They’ll ask if you have incentivized traffic. The answer to this question is always a “no”. Incentivized traffic is usually a source of bad leads so this isn’t of much use to the majority of advertisers although some are ok with it.

I’ve used these tips myself to get approved by CPA affiliate networks. Not only do they work with CPA affiliate networks but they also work with individual advertisers who may decline your application for whatever reason.

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Wealthy Affiliate Platinum $1 Trial

By Jay on September 15, 2009

What if there was a legitimate program that could teach you how to make thousands of dollars online (obviously not overnight), allow you to quit your boring and stressful job and work from the comfort oplatinumdash1f your own home?

How much would you pay?

Wealthy Affiliate is one such program and its about to get better.

They’re set to open the doors of Wealthy Affiliate Platinum, which is their 3rd major upgrade in 4 years. This upgrade brings a whole new system with better tools and better training.

And here’s the best thing about it…

From September 15th (12pm EST) until September 29th, you can access the entire site for only $1.

$1 for 7 days at Wealthy Affiliate Platinum

Maybe you’ve been scammed before. Or simply mislead.

Whatever happened you really can’t blame yourself because you couldn’t possibly know what was in store for you.

You may not be totally sure about Wealthy Affiliate Platinum or if its for you. This is your chance to try the system because there is no risk at all.

You try it and don’t like it? Just cancel before your trial period has ended.

I’m pretty sure you’re not going to do that anyways.

You see, your trial isn’t limited to a few areas of the site…you get everything a regular member has access to. You can set up a profile, participate on the forum, access all the tutorials and training, create websites and even get a free hosting account.

This could be the best $1 you’ve ever spent. I’ll let you know more about Wealthy Affiliate Platinum when it launches.

Are you coming?

Click here to try Wealthy Affiliate Platinum for just $1

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Fastest Way to Get Blocked on Twitter

By Jay on August 10, 2009

Talk about bad Twitter etiquette (can we say Twittiquette?)

Block Request?

Block Request?

So this shows up in my tweets mentioning @kpfingaz. This is a good way to get my attention because I would check here to see who’s talking to me. I’m sure most other people do check these as well.

But when exploited this way, it becomes an annoyance for several reasons and the last thing you want to do is annoy your followers.

I got 4 of these back to back and to make the situation even worse, the persons tweeting aren’t even following me.

Ok, if you’re thinking of doing this or don’t really know how to use Twitter effectively, then please don’t try the above. It might look like it would work but this is like telemarketing. No one likes telemarketers.

Twitter is all about building relationships. If you’re serious about earning money online and building a business then the best thing to do is to learn how to use Twitter effectively to market your business and yourself.

Doing it the wrong way is the fastest way to get ignored and possibly blocked.

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The Clickbank Code Rips off Commission Blueprint?

By Jay on August 7, 2009

I thought it was suspect when I saw the overview of the contents from The Clickbank Code. They looked very similar to Commission Blueprint which is a good PPC course that I own.

Then I saw this video.

Well we know someone got a lot of value out of Commission Blueprint. So much so that he decided to do a course just like it.

Not ever similar to it but to do the exact course. Maybe he was reading from the slides that came with the Commission Blueprint course. Its one thing to rehash, I don’t buy IM stuff much anyway. Its another thing to rip off someones work and call it yours.

If you were considering the Clickbank Code, pass on it and try Commission Blueprint instead. You can read my review of the Commission Blueprint at my Wealthy Affiliate Insider blog.

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Embed Your Affiliate Link In Youtube Videos

By Jay on July 5, 2009

Just found something cool and would like to share it with you.

It’s called Linkedtube and what it does is, it lets you add a button with live link to an embedded Youtube video. Its incredibly easy to use. All you do is put your info into the widget creator and save and grab the code. You’ll then have a video with your affiliate link always displayed as your visitors watch.

Here’s how it looks. I shamelessly put my Wealthy Affiliate link into this video review to demonstrate.

See the gray button in the right hand corner with the caption?

Now hover over it. Click it :)

Beats watermarking those long affiliate links.

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So What Do You Do?

By Jay on June 30, 2009

Since I quit my job in March, people have been “hearing stuff” and basically they are shocked, puzzled, concerned and want to know what I do.

If only it was easy telling them without them being all doubtful but I could understand their fear of the unknown and their concerns basically means that they care to an extent (maybe its just the curiosity.)

“Oh, I hear you stop work.”
“Yeah, I done with dat.”
“So, what you doing?”

At this point, I hesitate about telling them what it is that I do.

“Well, I’m doing my own thing. Got my own business and stuff.”

Some leave it at that. Some press on for more info.

There’s only a handful of people that know what I really do and for good reason. Those are my real supporters.

In my early days of trying to make it, I didn’t tell anyone because people are dream killers. Too much skepticism and doubt. I didn’t want anyone trying to talk me out of doing something that I’ve since grown to love. Most people where I’m from don’t think there’s much opportunity in the country. They would think that what I’m doing could only work if you live in the States.

Young people like myself are encouraged to go to university…which I have no problem with. The problem I have with the university thing is that most young people really don’t know what they want to do. They take the scholarship and they go away for 4 years, get their degrees and come back to look for a job. Then they basically end up slaving away for their employers, “catching their asses”, and eventually trying to seek a better way.

Me? I got my mind made up about what I want to do. Going to university to get a degree in something that compliments what I’m doing isn’t out of the picture. At least I know now what I want which is better than if I had went 9 years ago when I’d just finished Community College.

So how do I explain what I do?

I Have My Own Online Business.

The responses to this go something like:

Do you make money?
Is it profitable?
Couldn’t you have done this as a side job?
Doing what?

Haha…side job. Thing is…the government work was the side job for about two years. I was growing tired of that and it showed in my punctuality mostly. So why would I have an online business as a side job? As for making money, I don’t think I would have given up a job that was paying a measly $1700/month if my internet business wasn’t profitable.

Online Marketing

I guess people are too confused by this answer to even bother asking. Or they’re silently thinking:

“Huh? What an idiot!?”

Don’t think that’s too far fetched of a response. One former coworker thought I made a stupid move by quitting my job.

I like the bank people though. They ask questions but I guess you know why? ;)

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Join Wealthy Affiliate for $1

By Jay on June 3, 2009

wa1dollar

Two years ago and 5 months, when I joined Wealthy Affiliate, I took a chance and gave Kyle and Carson $29.99. I had no idea what the site was going to be like, if they would teach a struggling affiliate marketer what I needed to know about making money online or even if it was a total scam.

I took the plunge because there was only one way to find out.

There were a lot of factors stacked against me. I had maxed out my credit card buying all the latest Clickbank ebooks thinking they could help, I was from a small island in the Caribbean where many people think making money online is only for Americans and my girlfriend thought I was wasting my time.

Two years later on March 2nd, I quit my day job all thanks to the teachings of Wealthy Affiliate. I had learned not just how to make money online but to build an online business right from picking a niche topic, doing market research and implementing both free and paid techniques.

The $29.99 I had closed my eyes and paid just to check out if Wealthy Affiliate was the real deal back in 2007 was the best investment I had ever made resulting in a 6 figure yearly income and freedom from ‘the man’.

Wealthy Affiliate for One Dollar?

This week, June 1st to June 8th (ending at midday), you can get even luckier than I did and join Wealthy Affiliate for only $1. That’s 4 quarts.

This offer is just amazing as it removes all the risk. You get to see the inside of Wealthy Affiliate for 7 days for only a dollar plus:

  • full access to all the tutorials,
  • downloads of some of the best marketing secrets of successful members,
  • one on one support from two of the internets best marketers – Kyle and Carson (the owners)
  • Niche Q system – hottest money making topics already researched with keywords, websites etc.
  • Access to the world famous Wealthy Affiliate forum where you can get help with any questions you have.
  • Site Rubix website builder and a free webhosting account.
  • access to one of the most lucrative and exclusive affiliate programs + extensive training material and support.
  • Research tools for finding keywords and hottest Clickbank products
  • Many more that are too much to mention.

When I had joined Wealthy Affiliate over 2 years ago there weren’t many of these features but the site is always growing and evolving. It almost isn’t fair that you should get access for only $1 but I aint complaining because I love telling people about the site that is responsible for me quiting my job.

I know Wealthy Affiliate can help as there are so many success stories on the forum as well as a lot of 6 and 7 figure marketers including some big names you may know. Currently, Wealthy Affiliate has helped over 25,000 people and counting, worldwide.

So far more than 1000 people have taken advantage of the Wealthy Affiliate for $1 trial offer and I hope you join as well. You can find me on the forums; with over 1500 forum posts, I’m quite easy to find. Just let me know and I’ll send you some bonuses to get you soaked in with Wealthy Affiliate.

Click here to check out Wealthy Affiliate for only $1.

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604 Blog Post Ideas For When You’re Stuck

By Jay on May 31, 2009

"What to write?"

"What to write?"

Ever been stuck for ideas for your next blog post?

I’m sure we’ve all been there from time to time. I’ve done some searching for ideas and found some lists which you will find useful for generating ideas for your next blog post.

Combined there are 604 ideas which is almost 2 years worth of blog posts. I hope they keep you busy and you never get stuck again.

Here’s my list of 604 blog post ideas for when you’re stuck.

1. 50 Blog Post Ideas for Business Blogging

This post was written by Tad Chef and the ideas can be used on any blog in any industry if you’re doing it for the purpose of making money as opposed to personal blogging.

2. 100 Blog Topics I Hope You Write

Chris Brogan hopes you write about these 100 blog topics like “How I Use Facebook” & “Could I Quit My Day Job?”

3. 101 Great Posting Ideas That Will Make Your Blog Sizzle

I found this to be one of the better posts with the best ideas on the list written by Phillip Liu.

4. 23 Great Ideas for Blog Posts

Can you find inspiration in Pat Doyle’s suggestions for these 23 great blog post ideas?

5. 37 Viral Post Ideas You Can Use Today

Wanna give your blog a viral boost? Skelliwag.org has some very creative suggestions which you must try if you want your blog out there.

6. 31 Blog Post Ideas for Small Businesses

Mark Hayward’s months supply of blog post ideas was done for small businesses but you can adopt and tailor these to your niche.

7. 111 instant Blog Post Ideas

The author of this list promises you that these are ‘instant’ post ideas. Just add a little water, shake a few times and serve chilled with ice.

8. 50 Blog Ideas To Help You Keep Your Blog Fresh

Wendy Wood for Marluck Marketing knows that the hardest thing to do in blogging is come up with fresh new content on a regular basis. So these 50 suggestions are her contribution to beat that beast.

9. 101 Blog Posting Ideas

Another big post with some unique ideas for you to try.

Thats it…604 blog post ideas to keep you busy with your blogging. I hope you like all the suggestions and you do use them to grow your blog.

Please share this post with your readers or your twitter followers because they might be looking for ideas as well.

Photo credit: Mike Licht

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