One Last Attempt At Affiliate Marketing

[GrupoWayseer]

you read as much as you need to get a real grasp of what you need to do
but 1 thing is for sure on CPA, you need to spend money to make money
treat it like a real bussines

 

[LosPollos]

Reading those paid guides is great if it builds your confidence, but lots of guides are just direct offers at the end of the day. At some point you'll have to throw something at the wall and see if it sticks. Where in Canada are you? There are a lot of affiliate marketers here. Best of luck!

 

[lafredet]

Reading those paid guides is great if it builds your confidence, but lots of guides are just direct offers at the end of the day. At some point you'll have to throw something at the wall and see if it sticks. Where in Canada are you? There are a lot of affiliate marketers here. Best of luck!

I'm actually following Charles Ngo's free Ultimate Guide to Affiliate Marketing Start Here - CharlesNgo.com. It has been incredibly informative and helpful. I'm also really glad I came across AffiliateFix, because the feedback and guides on here have been Awesome!

Once I'm done Charles Ngo's guide I'm going to dive in head first!

I live in Calgary, but for the next 6 months I'll be in Bucerias Mexico. I'm a computer programmer and am lucky enough to be able to work from anywhere with an internet connection. My wife, however, doesn't have that luxury. She's a teacher. But, we managed to get her on a 6 month sabbatical, so we could do this trip and experience Mexico.

 

[John_Vianny]

Why are you strugglin?

It's definately a proccess of stickin to the plan and rinse and repeat, and of course get constantly update.

Identify a niche and build your list with solo ads, so you choose the easiest way: go to clickonomy or udimi and rely on selleers with good reviews and buyers in the list (customer report in the reviews if there are some item sold)

study the proccess of email marketing and apply it. dedicate all yourself.

 

[Anthony.]

Hey man any updates on your progress, hows it going?

 

[lafredet]

Hey man any updates on your progress, hows it going?

Well, it's actually been pretty crazy with my regular job. We recently got a new and large Australian client, and I've been working ridiculous hours on new features for them. Things are just getting back to normal now.

I'm really itching to get back at this within the next couple of days!

 

[lafredet]

Ok, time to get back at it! The next 2 chapters I read were Hosting and Tracking. The big thing about hosting is to make sure you've something that can load your landing pages fast. Charles recommends a VPS (virtual private server), but for most beginners that's likely too expensive. Other than that he recommends BlueHost as a much, much cheaper shared hosting solution.

You also need a domain name, and for that he recommended NameCheap. I've heard that name being thrown around quite a bit, so it seems popular at least. He goes into details about registering a domain name, setting up DNS on your hosting provider to use your domain name, and using FTP to upload your landing pages. I'm not going to go into any of that.

When it comes to tracking Charles Ngo, and many other affiliate marketers by the sounds of it, are all about Voluum. It's pricey though. I did a bit of poking around and came across AdsBridge and TrackingDesk. Both have free trial options, and Tracking Desk actually has a non-expiring free account for up to 10k views / mo. Could anyone tell me what kind of numbers I should be expecting in the beginning?

Key takeaways for these 2 chapters:

• There are tons of hosting options, speed is the main concern.
• Voluum seems to be the leader in tracking.
• An awesome quote, "Without tracking software you're fighting in the dark.

The next chapter is called Launching. So I'm getting close to getting my hands dirty! I'm nervous, but I can't wait!

 

[lafredet]

Wow, another week has gone by. Ok, this is my final chapter before I actually launch my first campaign. This chapter is aptly named Launching. There are a couple more chapters after this in Charles Ngo's Guide to Affiliate Marketing, namely Optimizing and Newbie Strategy. I'll post something in here regarding those 2 chapters, but my next post will definitely be my launch. I need to get going on this!

The "Launching" chapter was basically a review, and it breaks down something like this:

1. Pick a traffic source - there is no best, pick something proven to convert in order to eliminate a variable
2. Pick offers - test multiple similar offers, test different affiliate networks, think low CPA to start
3. Research - use spy tools so you're not advertising in the dark
4. Get creative - don't just use what you found with spy tools, make the ads and landing pages your own, think of different angles
5. Backend - setup hosting for landing pages, must load fast; setup your tracking software
6. Launch

• best to pre-segment traffic at the source so you can pause segments on the fly, choose segments relative to your campaign: age, gender, location device, etc.
• start with a low budget to make sure everything is working
• bid slightly higher than minimum bid for better quality placements

7. Double Check Campaign

• is everything tracking: Traffic Source >> Tracker >> Landing Page >> Affiliate Network
• ask affiliate manager to fire a "test conversion"

Alright! That's pretty much it. Then comes optimization of course.

See you on the other side!

 

[Lucian BitterStrawberry]

Wow, another week has gone by. Ok, this is my final chapter before I actually launch my first campaign. This chapter is aptly named Launching. There are a couple more chapters after this in Charles Ngo's Guide to Affiliate Marketing, namely Optimizing and Newbie Strategy. I'll post something in here regarding those 2 chapters, but my next post will definitely be my launch. I need to get going on this!

The "Launching" chapter was basically a review, and it breaks down something like this:

1. Pick a traffic source - there is no best, pick something proven to convert in order to eliminate a variable
2. Pick offers - test multiple similar offers, test different affiliate networks, think low CPA to start
3. Research - use spy tools so you're not advertising in the dark
4. Get creative - don't just use what you found with spy tools, make the ads and landing pages your own, think of different angles
5. Backend - setup hosting for landing pages, must load fast; setup your tracking software
6. Launch

• best to pre-segment traffic at the source so you can pause segments on the fly, choose segments relative to your campaign: age, gender, location device, etc.
• start with a low budget to make sure everything is working
• bid slightly higher than minimum bid for better quality placements

7. Double Check Campaign

• is everything tracking: Traffic Source >> Tracker >> Landing Page >> Affiliate Network
• ask affiliate manager to fire a "test conversion"

Alright! That's pretty much it. Then comes optimization of course.

See you on the other side!

I am inspired by this thread and by the fact that you came forward to confess what you feel (which is what 99% of the people in the affiliate business feel until they reach their first consistent results). I am following it to see your progress and recommend the thread as inspiration to newbie affiliates I know. Good luck

 

[lafredet]

I am inspired by this thread and by the fact that you came forward to confess what you feel (which is what 99% of the people in the affiliate business feel until they reach their first consistent results). I am following it to see your progress and recommend the thread as inspiration to newbie affiliates I know. Good luck

That's awesome! Thanks for your post! It definitely gives me a bit more motivation

 

[affiliatelk]

Glad you landed on Charles Ngo, he's a good one.
Anyway, pick just a single traffic source, a single product, yep

Quotes: "3) in the beginning, I need to focus on only 1 traffic source, 1 affiliate network, and 1 product vertical"

That gives you a better picture what you're doing. If you're afraid of losing money, do it in a small scale.

Hey bro, Why did you block your skype ?

 

[lafredet]

Hey bro, Why did you block your skype ?

I haven't actually blocked Skype. I just haven't entered any messenger details into my AffliateFix account. For the moment at least, I'd prefer to just do all affiliate marketing communication through AffiliateFix itself. I currently only use Skype for my regular job.

 

[Anthony.]

Hey man, just checking to see how you are getting on? Haven't seen you update recently and I know you were getting closer to launching!

 

[Oviri Onobrakpeya]

Wow, another week has gone by. Ok, this is my final chapter before I actually launch my first campaign. This chapter is aptly named Launching. There are a couple more chapters after this in Charles Ngo's Guide to Affiliate Marketing, namely Optimizing and Newbie Strategy. I'll post something in here regarding those 2 chapters, but my next post will definitely be my launch. I need to get going on this!

Yea man, you need to, you've been reading for quite awhile now, the book isn't that long, you would learn more by doing but also strategically, have you chosen a traffic source, geo you would like to test? How about your network? Talk to your AM about offers there and if you have the money for a spy tool see whats converting best there.... after that take some action.... Can't wait to hear your result, get this going.

 

[powerme]

Any updates on the journey ? How are things going now ?

 

[AndrewRxP]

I am also anxious to learn of your progress in your online journey!

 

[lafredet]

Sorry. Ya, I know this is taking me a long time. I've definitely discovered something about myself while trying to launch a campaign. I really tend to flounder about A LOT when I'm doing something new. Especially something I'm not all that confident in.

Just putting together images for ads has been a major task for me. It always seems like I've got a million questions for every little thing. What's the minimum resolution? What's the max? What dimension should I use? Do I need different dimensions for different devices? Should I have a border? Should the background be transparent? etc. etc. etc.

Unfortunately it's been like that for every little step so far. I'm getting there, and I'm sure this would get better over time. I think part of it is that I want to do this right the first time, even though I know that's a ridiculous expectation.

Anyway, I'll keep at it until I'm done

 

[lafredet]

Well, still not launched. I'm going to blame it on all the visitors from Canada we've been having down here in Mexico, because that's an easy excuse I have made some good progress though, and I'm very much on the verge of launching.

My first campaign:
For better or worse I've settled on doing a T-Shirt campaign on Facebook for my first go. From what I've heard it's a little easier than CPA and eliminates the need for landing pages. I'm using a Facebook page as the "landing page". Then, I should be able to focus pretty much on advertising, testing and optimization.

I've discovered that Facebook ads are not all that simple or straight forward - there are just so many types and options! Although, I definitely like the many ways you can exclude people from targeting, and I was curious if anybody else is doing something similar:

 

[harry1211]

Does working from home feel like you are working?

 

[lafredet]

Does working from home feel like you are working?

That's an awesome question. Personally, I'd have to say it feels like semi-retirement. In my opinion, it's the only way to work!

I'm a bit of an introvert though, so it's enough for me to get my "people time" thought my wife and daughter, or when I go shopping or to the gym. A lot of my friends say they could never do it because they like to interact with people throughout the day, or they require more structure.​