Check out this months featured money maker.
Happy 4th of July! 
Today is a great day to take some time off from the business and busyness of life and spend some time being thankful for being able to live in a free America... That is, if you live in America. 
I wish everyone a happy 4th of July! Enjoy the food, friends and fireworks!
Often the natural progression for successful affiliates is to begin to run their own affiliate network. Although many have failed but a lot of really amazing affiliate networks have stemmed from this progression.
Some networks like Convert2media, Ads4dough, Eagle web assets, etc have been started by some super affiliates.
Normally starting an affiliate network costs tens of thousands of dollars and then you need the capital to be able to pay your affiliates. All in all, you should expect a network to cost you 6 figures or more in startup capital before you see a paycheck.
Direct track, one of the more popular affiliate network software packages out, cost (unconfirmed) $10,000 to start and around $1,000 per month.
Thankfully there is some good news now!! If you are looking for a way to create your own affiliate network, HasOffers is a good choice. It reduces the cost of starting a network and provides unbelievably good software.
First of all, the basic version is free. You get a subdomain.hasoffers.com and up to 250,000 clicks! Most people will want to run on their own domain which only costs 99 bucks a month and you get up to 500,000 clicks!! Sick! I almost think it's a bit under priced for everything you get. Here are some of the features that you get.
The design is very intuitive and logically set up, making for extreme ease of navigation even for those completely unfamiliar with setting up their own affiliate network. And even for those who are familiar with other similar sites, HasOffers is still definitely worth the time to look into as you will likely find it improves upon any other system you're using in several different ways.
Seriously, if you're wondering if it has a certain feature, it probably does plus more. So many that I'm not even going to try to list them. Instead, check out the site.
I've actually signed up for hasoffers to see how it works out a while ago after seeing it mentioned on Shoemoney.com's site. I've since considered using it for a couple offers that I am promoting locally to allow friends to promote the offers.
It's very customizable so just check it out. It's set up in a way so that you can easily customize the color design, upload your own logo, and choose how to setup your offers and accept new affiliate accounts, amongst so much else.
HasOffers has made creating your own affiliate network easier than ever before. You can go create an account now while it is still free. It's a decision you will not regret, especially at this price of FREE!
Many times people think going direct to advertisers is where you "arrive" at a new level of the Marketing totem pole. For those who don't know, going direct to an advertiser means that you go directly to the website that you're promoting through an affiliate network and essentially bypass the affiliate network.
I've been there, done it a few times now and here are some of the reasons why I think it's not a good idea and should be done with caution.
First, You can get burned a LOT easier. I am actually owed over $8,000 from a campaign I ran direct back in February, 2009. The company had some issues with their payment processor and because they had the issues... Guess who is having trouble getting paid?! Now almost 5 months later, I am working on everything needed to get paid. Boo. Apparently this same company owes some affiliates over $600,000. I know that if that were my business, I would be extremely crippled from not being paid $600,000 for that much time.
With an affiliate network, they almost always will still pay you because they want to keep you as a publisher. They will pay you and fight for the money from the advertiser very aggressively. Makes sense.
Next, The payouts generally are not much better. These advertisers generally know what the affiliate networks are paying. So unless you're a huge advertiser, chances are, you're not going to get a much better payout that you could get at a network. Every time I have run an offer directly through the advertiser, the payout really has not been different enough that I couldn't ask for an increase from the network or could justify the risk.
Finally, Payout terms are generally a lot harder to negotiate. Advertisers, in my experience, are more about numbers and less about working with you. So payment terms are very strict unless again you're one of their top publishers.
All in all, I don't recommend going direct as an affiliate with an advertiser. It's just not worth the trouble and risk.
It can be very hard at times to stay current with the latest and greatest websites.
It seems like just yesterday myspace came online and became popular. I remember asking a friend, "Are you on this new site, Myspace? It's kinda like Xanga..."
Now, there is facebook and twitter.
Twitter is all the rage today and as an internet marketer, it is your job to take full advantage of the latest crazes; it's your job to stay current. Traffic source never matters in internet marketing. It's all about whether or not it makes you cash or not!
After reading reports on Shoemoney and other countless sites about twitter being their second biggest traffic source, it would make ZERO sense for you to NOT be on twitter and using it as a marketing / traffic source.
No matter what topic, there is such a huge user base that you will be able to garner some traffic from it, free traffic.
When the next big website comes out, I encourage you to sign up for that as well! Utilize every traffic source possible!
This is a guest post written by Dennis Yu.
Later today, Google is releasing a free voice service that ties all your numbers together, has free domestic calling and discounted international calling, voicemail transcription, phone routing, call forwarding, conference calling, call recording, and more. You get one phone number to control all your phones. Make all your phones ring at once or just one phone. If it's someone you don't like, you can even play them a wrong number message or opt to send them to voicemail, which you can listen in on as they're talking.
In exchange for this free service, you must trust Google with your data. Most of us already are run our businesses on Google products-- Gmail, Adwords, Analytics, Calendar, Chat, Local Business Center, Maps, and so forth. Soon, Google Wave will tie these services together. Watch this 80 minute demo that will blow your mind if you haven't already seen it. Are you worried yet?
As an affiliate, you can use Google voice to do local lead gen. In other words, if you're selling voice leads to insurance companies, cosmetic surgeons, roofers, or other professional services, you can get your free number and have it route to the client's regular number. The call tracking will allow you to measure how many calls you generated from your campaigns, plus even listen in. No need to build your own Asterisk server and rent local phone numbers from icall or whatever service you use-- it's now "free".
Just use AdWords to drive the traffic, Analytics to measure it, and Google Voice to handle the calls. Local lead gen in a box. That's going to put a lot of software companies out of business. But at the same time, the barrier to entry to do local lead gen has never been lower. The yellow pages are going out of business slowly, and it's time for affiliates to jump in for the kill. If you missed the panel on local lead gen at Affiliate Convention-- and all of the panelists in the final super session agreed that local and social were the next big thing, ping me for the slides.
You know, it's funny. Many people think they would love the lifestyle of a person who owns a business and works from home.
The perks are amazing, I love it so much. Many people say how they wish they could do what I do for work, etc.
The downside most people never see is while I am away on a trip, on vacation, or trying to relax.
If you want a full time, make money online career, be prepared for the following:
So after reading this, are you thinking? I still want to pursue working from home / affiliate marketing? Great! Now get to work!
So this past week, John, the creator of Full Auto PPC sent me a message talking about how he had created a piece of software for PPC and how he thought it might be something I was interested in.
I get a TON of messages like these so naturally, I blew it off at first. Most PPC Software products I don't like or don't support.
Anyways, John contacted me via AIM and began to explain a little bit about what his software does... I became increasingly more interested.
John knew one of the many secrets I use for my PPC Marketing campaigns. Most newbie PPC Affiliate marketers don't know about this trick and so I began to realize that John was ACTUALLY onto something that could make some good money, fairly quickly.
There are groups of keywords that MOST people fail to bid on. Most people never even think of these groups as keywords and as such there is very little competition.
I'm not talking about anything illegal or trademarked terms.
These keywords have been some of the more profitable campaign keywords that I have had and I bet if you track your campaigns profitability and bid on these type of keywords, you could say the same.
John has created an automated system that helps you to build entire campaigns around these keyword groups. Essentially all you need is your affiliate link and your ad copy. After that it builds the entire campaign, ready to be uploaded into Google Adwords Editor.
After I come back from a quick mini vacation (this next week), I will be seriously sitting down and building campaigns with it.
Ok, I'll admit I was being a bit ambiguous when talking about what type of keyword group this is and for good reason.
John has created a video which you can access for FREE telling you what type of keywords these are. After that, it's up to you to purchase the software which will help you build them.
Either way you think of it, it IS worth checking out because at least you get to find out what keyword groups I am talking about.
If you have not been following me for long, I have been doing a Weight Loss Challenge with Tyler Cruz. I was actually a bit depressed when I had originally weighed myself back in April and saw I had reached 194 lbs. I started to work out and eventually got down to 189lbs when I was approached by Tyler Cruz. He wanted to lose weight as well and as motivation proposed a weight loss challenge.
The challenge to him and I was that we had to lose 10 lbs in around 10 weeks. This seemed easy enough (and was not). Those who did not meet the 10lb goal would need to pay $500 to the people who estimated they would lose. For me, only one person thought I would lose, Jay from Datmoney.com.
On the morning of the 17th, I was actually 2lbs away from my 10lb loss goal, so naturally I was pretty worried that I would not be able to make it. I worked out a few times, ate a lot less, and tried my best to try to get down. I jumped roped for 10 minutes at a time, multiple times, sprinted back and forth, and nearly threw up because of it. I pushed myself hard.
I'm sure Jay from DatMoney.com, who has a blog about internet marketing as well, would be happy if I did not lose the pounds, but I didn't want to give the satisfaction of missing my goals. I'm very goal oriented and as such try whatever I can to meet those goals!
YES! I can't believe I have pulled this off!!! I was soo excited that I met this goal!!! I got to celebrate by doing the final walk through on my home Maria and I just purchased (which was literally RIGHT after I took this video).
Thanks to Tyler Cruz for taking the time to create this contest and push me to lose even more weight.
Finally, thanks to Shawn Collins for getting in on the action and also encouraging other affiliates to progress towards a healthier, happier life style!
So it's finally official, Maria and I purchased a new home now that our Wedding is getting closer.
It's a nice 2950 Square Ft home just about 30 minutes outside of San Francisco, California on a 28,000 sq foot lot. We liked it because it was brand new (which are becoming harder to find now that the market has slowed down), is big enough for us to grow into, is green certified, and finally, we love it!
We will be getting the keys in just about a week and I will move in shortly after. After we are married, Maria will move in.
Today, I just have some exterior photos but I will follow up with a video tour once I am moved in for the sake of following in John Chow's footsteps.
Anyways, we are very excited! Thanks to AzoogleAds for pretty much being the main source of income to allow me to buy this house! I HIGHLY recommend signing up with them if you have not already!
Thanks to all the other companies I work with who have helped me achieve the level of success that has enabled me to buy this house as well.
Facebook is a advertising system that I have hated for a while. The number of campaigns I have tried on it are huge while the number of successes are so dismal. To advertise on Facebook really takes a certain type of person and understanding of marketing.
First off, if you're a big Search Engine Pay per click person such as myself, you have to completely change how you think of structuring campaigns.
With most search pay per click advertisements you are paying for advertisements on things people are actively looking for. With facebook however you're trying to get peoples attention on something they may or may not be looking for.
Instead of aiming your search keywords at a particular thing people are looking for, you now have to dive deep into the mindset of a person who you are wanting to buy from you. Who are the people who GENERALLY buy this product? Who are the people who have general interest in the product you are trying to sell.
The great part about facebook is that you can target your campaigns VERY well. You can make campaigns to 27 year old females in California who like the show family guy. It's all about who you are trying to sell to.
Now that you are thinking in the terms of what your target demographic, it all comes down to ads. Ads are really the most important thing with Facebook.
If you have a good Ad, then you can really make a good chunk of change. Your Ad's click through rate is almost directly proportional to the amount of traffic you will receive. Ads with a CTR of 0.1% and below are a lot less likely to be shown.
If your ads have less than that, chances are you're going to have to pay a nice chunk of change to supplement that low CTR.
One of the single biggest things you can do to increase your ad CTR is to change the image. The image is what is going to catch the eyes of your viewers and thus has one of the biggest impacts on your CTR.
The next is obviously the headline.
Overall facebook can result in nice profits but it really does take a good amount of work to discover which ads work. You have to target the right people, test a TON of ads, get the high CTR, and overall probably have your ad copied after a few days.
That being said, I wouldn't consider facebook a long term campaign money maker. It's a short term campaign system unless you either own the offer you are promoting such as a service or store or have an exclusive affiliate campaign that is limited to a few people.
Any more experienced facebook advertisers feel free to chime in here if they have been able to make it a more long term system.
My name is Jonathan Volk. Each month I make hundreds of thousands of dollars via online marketing. I specialize in the following methods ranking from most used to least used: PPC Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Media buying, Search Engine Optimization, and finally, Article Marketing. Many of the techniques I learn I have written about on this blog as both a way to remember myself and also to teach others. My goal is to create the ability for many to learn how to market online so that they too may be able to make money online.
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© Jonathan Volk 2009 - All Posts May Not Be Used Without Written Permission.
