Looking back, I’ve taking some big risks to make it to where I’m at today – $285 a day. That’s almost $150,000 a year from my internet marketing work. Hey, it’s nothing to mock, there are a lot of you who are hoping to get to where I’m at. Is it a million? Not yet, but it sure does keep the steaks on the grill and gas in the new car.
I remember spending money on almost every product that came across my email inbox, day after day, working like a coal miner and wondering when the mining shaft was going to cave in on me, or if I would wake up and find diamonds in all those IM courses. Unfortunately, many of them ended up collecting dust on my hard drive, and leaving a big hole in my wallet. Guys I was lucky to have made $1.00 with any strategy or technique I tried. Ten years later I’m happy to say I am finally making money online.
Here is what I have learned.
There was no one internet marketing product that actually made me the money I desired or that was promised.
Finding My Yellow Brick Road
Today, I am currently making about $285 in ClickBank sales a day, from one blog. Now I know that $285 is not a big deal to a lot of people. However, when you have spent as much money as I have over a ten year period, that is a massive accomplishment for me, and a major step in the right direction. I’m hoping this is a goal that you find to be reasonable and something you can relate with.
I’m making money in a way that is often overlooked. No, I don’t have some hot new bot creating social media accounts, posting to Yahoo Answers, no magic “Google loophole”, and believe it or not, it’s not even the result of having a large subscriber list. I am making money by simply being REAL with my visitors. The best part is, I’m having a blast doing it.
Up until this year I did not even know what it felt like to get a good nights sleep. I was working around the clock. Yet, I wasn’t getting anywhere, I was losing money and was not breaking even. The worst part, I was having to sacrifice family time so that I could make my dreams come true.
It was then I realized that my approach just wasn’t working. I needed to get away from all the hype and fluff and find the real people that were actually succeeding online. I checked out people like John Chow, Zac Johnson, and other famous bloggers.
I then realized, what making money online was all about. Listen closely…. it’s about quality, building a relationship, gaining your readers trust and most importantly being passionate with whatever it is you are doing. This was a massive wake up call for me. From that point on, I decided I wasn’t going to purchase another product. I even unsubscribed to all the marketers email lists.
I decided I was going to be focused, and give it 110%. I had a site registered since 2009 but never really did anything with it. I then created my main blog which is focused on Making Money Online. This blog was born again less than 6 months ago. It is in one of the most competitive niches on the internet.
Today it makes money on the front end. More money then I ever dreamed possible, however my approach has been different then most of the blogs on the internet today. You know what the cool thing is though guys, I’m having a ball!
I’m going to share with you just how easy it can be.
Before I tell you what has worked for me, Let me tell you what led to pure failure, and threw me in a massive debt.
- Never be dishonest, your readers will see through this. Yes, I understand all the hype and fluff involved in the IM world, but remember you need to become an authority figure in your niche. Treat your website like a business. Treat your viewers as you would like to be treated.
- Never promote something that you wouldn’t buy or use yourself. Along the same lines if you tell your readers that you have experience with a product, then make sure that is the case. Your readers will learn to trust you, and they will come to you for advice time and time again.
- Don’t take someone else’s content and sales letter and use it for your own. I know that sounds crazy. It is against everything the IM world stands for. It’s a very common practice to sign up as an affiliate and be provided sales letters, blog posts, and even swipe emails.I don’t use these, it might be the most effective sales letter ever written, however I prefer to write my own review. I also like having 100% original content on my site.
- Don’t hire article writers. I know you can hire article writers for about $4.00 an article. I’ve done it myself. Here is the downside to that. Your readers will adapt to your style of writing. They will recognize your posts by your personality, sense of humor, sarcasm, or whatever else you bring to your readers. When somebody else tries to take your place, it will very obvious, and you will loose your position as an authority figure. The one exception is allowing others to write guest posts for you.
Tecnhiques that have made me daily sales, and left me feeling like a million bucks, Literally!
- Find products that are related to your site. It is one of the most critical parts of this whole process. If I were to try to promote a Forex product on my site, it would not do very well. Instead I’m able to focus on Internet Marketing, SEO, Traffic Generation, and making money online.
- Don’t pitch your products. People are used to the fluff and hype. They relate those two things to failure. It’s what they know. Instead be real with them. Speak to them as if you were talking to your best friend. Your goal has to be to help them first. Trust me: if you want to build up a trust and make sale after sale then find a solution to their problem.
- When reviewing products, always let the reader know what the strengths and weaknesses are of the product. If the product has a downfall then be honest about that. I have found over time your readers will believe what you tell them.
- If the product is good, you should promote it time and time again. You can promote products in a very discreet manner. I’ve got certain products that have been promoted on over 30 pages of my site. However, you would never know the promotion was even happening. You see I have become very familiar with the products I promote. I know their usefulness and I know when to apply them. Once you have the knowledge you would be surprised how easy it is to throw them into a post, without having to sell them.
For instance, I’ve got one course that teaches you about keyword research, SEO Strategies, WordPress optimization, plugins, and so much more. Now if I’m writing a post teaching people how to get ranked with YouTube, I can very easily say:
“Oh by the way… I started using this program that taught me gave me a ‘fresh’ perspective on keyword research. and threw my rankings through the roof. You can check out the link below.â€
That’s it guys. I don’t have to say anymore. I don’t even need to get into details about the product. I’ve got some pages that have got three or 4 different recommendations that all lead to products I promote. Now the link that I redirect them to. Is it the sales page? Absolutely not. Instead I will link them to one of my own reviews for that product. The purpose of that page is to pre-sell them, before they get to the sales page.
You can do this time and time again. It will happen naturally. I find that I’m writing a post I will almost always talk about a problem or a struggle. All I need to do is provide an answer to that problem, and if my solution is a product I am promoting, then I’m getting paid, and being somebody’s hero all in the same breath.
This has worked out perfectly. My sales are going through the roof, and the best part I am becoming an authority figure for my website.
The sales just keep on coming!
Much to my surprise, when you become a trusted authority figure, you don’t even have to work for the sales. I have people that email saying how much they appreciate my brutal honesty, and then in the same sentence ask if I have an affiliate link for another product they are interested in buying.
I receive emails from people all the time. People ask me if I would be willing to do a product review, if I have banner space for sale, JV partnerships, and so many more opportunities I never thought could happen to me.
After failing time and time again, I came across John Chow, and he inspired me. John’s “Ultimate Blog Profit Model” was a life changing event for me. I suddenly realized, the reason I failed all these years was because I had “Gold Fever”, and was an easy target for every new technique, program and strategy.
I decided to take John’s advice. Instead of creating blogs for money, I decided to blog about something I was extremely passionate about, and have fun doing it. Much to my surprise he was right, and success just fell into my lap. It gets better every day.
The same can happen to you to, if you just put your nose to the grind stone and give it your all. Stay focused, be honest, build up trust with your readers, and most importantly be compassionate with your writings. Cheers!
This post was guest blogged by Chad Nicely.