Work From Home-An Online Business In 3 Easy Steps
No cost to get started. This is not a Get-Rich-Quick scheme. It's about affiliate marketing. If you are looking for a way to make tons of cash, what I have to say won't interest you. This article is about making money, but I can't tell you how much. That depends on the effort you put into it. And every step I give you will not cost you a dime. I know, this sounds crazy but it's a fact. I am an article marketer. I write articles, like this one, and post them on article directories, like this one. It is the basis for my home business.
I am going to rattle off the basic steps you need to get up and running as an affiliate marketer. And just so you know I'm not blowing a lot of smoke, I'll let you in on what I went through to get started—so hopefully you won't screw up like I did.
I decided, after exhaustive research, that I wanted to be involved in Internet Marketing. I read one success story after another. Every article I read, every website I visited had very similar stories. Most of these Internet Gurus displayed screen shots of their earnings—some blew me away. Either they were honest-to-goodness successes, or they were highly skilled with PhotoShop.
Most of them hinted that they made a few mistakes until they discovered the SECRET of making piles of money on the web. And out of overwhelming generosity on their part, they will share the secret with you for just $97 or $77 or $47, or $29.95. I went for cheap, I bought the $29.95 deal (or so I thought). Seems I missed some of the fine print—it turned out to be $29.95 per month. I shut down that scam when they zapped my credit card a second time.
Well, I'm not going to show you any screen shots, but I will confess how I really screwed up time after time. If there really is a secret—it eluded me. That's right, I am not making a fortune. There, I said it. But I am making some real money—and what a thrill it has been.
I began taking the first few baby steps in October, 2009—so I'm still a newbie. Two months after starting I celebrated the 33rd anniversary of my 40th birthday. Here I was, laptop in my lap spending every available moment working my business. I should have been relaxing in a rocking chair enjoying the evening breeze. But I do have a work ethic, and I am too young to retire. This ole codger had a new purpose in life—to prove to my wife that I wasn't just wasting my time, "with that Internet crap."
No secret stuff my friends—this is what I've been doing, and I'll keep doing it because it works. I "tweak" it every so often as I am one who learns from his mistakes, eventually.
Step 1. Go to ClickBank.com and register as an affiliate. Fill out the contact form (no salesman will call) and give them a nickname. That was my first screw-up. I wanted to use the name "Brandywine." But it was taken. I finally settled on "Treefern." You'll see why the nickname is needed in the next step. There is No Charge to register with ClickBank.
Step 2. After registering, click on "Marketplace." This is where you will find the digital products you want to sell. The advantage with selling digital stuff in the beginning is that ClickBank takes the buyer's credit card info and confirms it. Once this is complete, the buyer downloads the product. Digital products are electronic books (ebooks) and computer programs, so you never touch or even see a product. There are no cardboard boxes filled with plastic peanuts, no shipping charges or noisy brown trucks, and you never have to deal with the customer. Cool deal, isn't.
Give some serious thought to what products you want to sell. I am a commercial photographer (among other things) so I signed up as an affiliate for an ebook on digital photography. I also signed up for an ebook on natural cures for high blood pressure (because I have it). Think about what interests you. Are you a dog lover, bass fisherman, health nut, or exotic dancer? Use the little search window and see what comes up. Click on the title of the product or the pitch page and you'll be treated to a view of the vendor's product. When you make a decision, click on the "Promote" button. Enter your nickname and ClickBank will give you a "Hop Link." Actually they'll give you two. Copy and paste the top link into a blank page (MS Word, Notepad, etc.) and save it. The bottom one is an HTML link that may just confuse you at this point, but you'll learn how to use them in good time. There is No Charge to register as an affiliate.
(Note: I suggest you use ClickBank for starters because they are top drawer in my humble opinion and so easy to deal with. There are hundreds of other businesses that encourage affiliates like Sony, Dell Gateway, The Gap, Amazon and many more.)
Step 3. Write and post articles, like this one. This is the most challenging part of the process, at least it was for me. I am a freelance writer (in addition to a picture taker). I work part time writing technical information booklets for a major manufacturer of criminal investigation equipment, so I thought article writing would be a snap. It was not. I had a bunch of mine rejected until I paid more attention to the article site's "Guidelines." I currently have over 30 articles working for me on a half dozen article sites. It doesn't take long for you to realize whether you did a good job because most sites tell you how many "hits" on each article you are getting.
After three weeks and no sales I wondered what was going on. I couldn't log into ClickBank to find out Oh, God. I had used "Brandywine" in all of my affiliate signups. My ClickBank nickname was Treefern. So I quickly changed all of my hop links. A senior moment? Good night Brandywine, whom ever you are!
After several rejections and low performing articles I knew I needed help. More on that later. My best performing article sites, are EzineArticles, GoArticles and HubPages. Visit them and type my name into the search box. Take a first-hand look at my work. I don't expect a Pulitzer Prize for any of them but I have the satisfaction of knowing that people all over the world are reading my words. By the way, there is No Charge to register and post articles. Some sites actually pay you to post articles too.
After writing and posting articles you can relax and wait for the checks to roll in. If you believe that, contact me personally. I have a good deal on a bridge up in New York. I spend on average about 20 hours a week on Affiliate Marketing. I need to spend more time until the cash streams become consistent. But I'm a "seasoned citizen" that needs a little sleep once in a while. I can foresee a day in the not-too-distant future when an hour a day will keep things running smoothly.
OK, a few words of caution from the ole codger:
- Let the buyer beware! I'm embarrassed to tell you how much money I poured down the toilet on Internet Crap. Whenever someone makes you a fantastic, sure-fire, gold plated, offer—take three steps back, take a deep breath, and then think about it. If it sounds too good to be true—it probably is. Remember that old saying, "There's a sucker born every minute." I hope that isn't you!
- I am always leery of someone who says, "Trust me!" Or "This is the truth!." But that's just me. Maybe those expressions don't turn you off.
- Another old trick is to create a sense of urgency in the prospective buyer. "This special price expires tonight at midnight." Never fear, the same price will be there tomorrow at midnight. And then you will find those hustlers who tell you that only a limited number of ebooks remain so order now. Bull***t, they aren't selling printed books, they're PDF files on a computer hard drive, so how can they run out? That's an insult to our intelligence!
Look, I hope this article put your brain in gear. This is very basic information and you probably have a hundred questions that are still unanswered. After really making so many false starts I decided I needed some one-on-one mentoring. After all, I wanted to see a measure of success before my arthritic hands couldn't punch the keys any more. OK, so I took a short cut—but only to save time. If you are in no hurry, then put my 3-step plan to work for you. If you are pressed for time, then I suggest you enlist the help of the "Queen of Affiliate Marketing." I have looked into dozens of How-To-Do-It manuals and so far I found only one that takes you by the hand and leads you step-by-step through the whole process.
Check out the Affiliate Marketing Handbook.
About the Author
Author Don Penven is a freelance writer and photographer. He and his wife Margie have homes in Raleigh and Morehead City, NC.
Discussion about Photography - Trusting Digital News Images (recorded with Nokia N8)
digital photography book pdf5
digital photography book pdf5
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