Internet Marketing is a Strange Bird Indeed – More on Affiliate Marketing
Now so far I really haven’t went into the really strange stuff, we get into some of that here. If you have been in this niche for any length of time, you have already been indoctrinated into what I call the ‘Club’. It is a slow process; you know that you can make money on the Internet, but you need to know how – this is where it starts.
When you start in this crazy thing called Internet Marketing, you are introduced to a world of people who have big houses, fancy cars, take vacations all the time, and make a bazillion dollars a year. We believe these people at their word and the process sounds reasonable – so we give it a go. It ‘almost’ works. We get some results but not the tremendous cash we had hoped to get or were promised.
So since it did almost work we try again – either the same program or one that ‘sounds’ more likely to work. Sometimes we purchase more items from this ‘guru’ and each time maybe things seem to work better. Sound familiar?
Now most popular opportunities in the ‘Make Money from Home’ niche are mostly affiliate marketing opportunities.
I have mentioned some things in the last part about affiliate marketing and will go into more here. Now with affiliate marketing you can make a lot of money. I know a few who make 6 figures a year doing affiliate marketing. They use the same method outlined in a previous post I had about making $10,000 a month. They are very secretive about what niches they are in; to the point of using assumed names so no one can search for their name and see what they are doing.
They assume whatever identity they need for whatever niche they are using. This sometimes goes to the point of a whole different identity. It is all calculated to get the maximum in traffic and money. They build an empire that once it is completed will provide them money for years from each niche as they have set up the markets, gotten the traffic, and did the groundwork for making this happen.
So that hot girl (or guy) trying to get you to that daing site may be a balding 45 year old fat guy doing CPA marketing in his underwear and will make money just for you signing up.
Now, to some, this doesn’t sound quite honest as you become whoever is needed to produce the most money. The fact is that not everyone will get to this level or want to do things in this manner. To get in the large money it seems to be necessary as once your golden goose is revealed it is fair game for everyone. So the big time affiliate marketers will hide their niche and guard it with their lives.
Like a fisherman with a good fishing spot; they never reveal it to anyone. They want to milk it out themselves and make the best of it. When it peters out, then they might tell someone. Hey, I will write a course on making a million in this niche as I have done it! What a great idea…people will buy it and some may even make some money. I won’t tell them I have already bled it dry. I have bought those products; haven’t you?
The big problem with the products sold by affiliates is that they are usually not unique and if they are popular, there is already hundreds of people trying to cash in on them. The competition is ferocious on most of the popular things. A newbie is usually chewed up and spit out pretty quickly. Now common sense will tell you to really sell a lot of something is to make sure that you are selling something that EVERYONE will want or use and you are the only source.
This is not always possible but a great thing to shoot for. From what I have gathered from talking to several people is that the best bang for the buck is using PPC – if you know what you are doing. You can go bankrupt if you don’t and will sometimes spend $10,000 to make $15,000. I have also heard that some have spent $10,000 to make $10,000…this looks good on screenshots of the account balance. So does renting a big fancy house and fancy car to film a video.
So to recap a little; the big money affiliate marketer have many secret niches that they make money in and assume other identities to do this. They can also show great screenshots and videos; even though they all might not be ‘real’. If someone will assume another identity, what stops them from ‘faking’ other things to get your money?
So if you haven’t made a single dime doing affiliate marketing, hopefully you can see why this has happened. You have been initiated into the ‘Club’ and been brainwashed to a degree. “All you need to do is go to Clickbank, pick a product, build a website, write some articles, and you will be in the money in no time.” – BULL!
Now when they tell you not to be discouraged and to keep trying (continue paying the monthly fees or upgrade to the ‘real’ course), you really need to evaluate what you are doing. Do they have your best interest in mind? People who are truly trying to help you do no charge you. Are you really cut out for affiliate marketing?
Do not despair as there are many other ways to make money on the Internet that have nothing to do with affiliate marketing. I will be sharing them in future installments as I continue my adventure in Internet Marketing!
Until next time!
