12 month Journey From Losing Money to my first $100k + Month - What I Changed And Why It Worked.

134 replies
I write this story not only because I am proud of what I have done, but in the hope I can help to inspire others find the right path to success too.

This Month completes an amazing 12 month transformation for me . Though I had been trying Internet marketing for 14 months before joining this forum last year, I had never managed to make any money online.

I had spent money on various courses, tried to apply the information, and always came up short, If only I had know then what I know now, and that is the reason for writing this.

Between September 2009 and the end of December 2009 I was able to generate sufficient revenue that I made the big step to quit my Job and go full time from January this year. The 8 months since have been intense but rewarding, and July was my first 100k+ Month and while I won't hit that in August (35k of that revenue was from a new product launch from a company I promote ) I know that what i am doing will only continue to improve.

I want to show others what I have learnt to be important and to highlight the path I would have taken with the benefit of hindsight.

If you are new to I.M, then I want to save you time and more importantly, money and the pain and frustrations I went through. I wish I could have read this post a couple of years ago. If I can stop even one of you making the mistakes that I made, then this post will have been worth the time.

So let's get to the nitty gritty

Firstly : Check my number of forum posts - in one year , not many, why ? because you don't make money sitting on here, you make make money taking action and getting things done, if you spend all your time on forums looking for what you should do, you will never get anywhere. I limit my time on here. I schedule my work time, and usually only visit this site at the end of the week. Even if I need to reply to this thread, I will still only do it at the weekend, when I visit. NOTHING will get in my way of working, including coming here to reply to questions. I will reply but it will be once a week. The rest of the time my focus is on my business.

This post is not exactly short, so let me set out right here, the ONE main thing that took me from losing money to making money.

I started to build a list. - Yes ,the reason for a 100k month in July is because for a year my focus is about the list.

The hardest thing in this industry is to get yourself to start doing, and stop reading,but with that said, let me first tell you what you should read.

First go read this thread... it's OK I'll wait...
http://www.warriorforum.com/ad-netwo...ase-study.html

Written over a year ago now, It's about time it got a bump and still the best thing I have read on here. It actually got me to sign up on the W.F. after lurking for more than 12 months, I signed up simply because I wanted to get in touch.

Be sure to read not only the post but the thread too, as there is some excellent replies to questions, and the best thing is that info is right there for free.

And you know something else ? this week Filsaime and Farrel launched affiliate 2.0 for $1997 as if it is some magic new way of working, and you can read the same thing in the thread I just sent you to from a year ago. There is no secret to list building and building a relationship with a list.

OK, so what else should you invest in ?

Here are 2 books to buy

1 Cashvertising by Drew Eric Whitman ( google it ). This book explains the life force 8. In effect how we, as humans are hard wired to react to certain things. This book has helped me target how I write campaigns. When I started to apply the life force 8 rules my sales and conversions increased by over 30%. It's also a key factor in how I do well with facebook.

2 Ultimate Sales Letter - Dan Kennedy. will cost you around 10 bucks, and is all you need. Just solid straight forward advice in how to craft your pages to make you money.

those 2 books willl probably cost you less than 20 dollars, and are better than any goo roo course you will buy. They will help get you where you want to go.

Use these books to learn to think for yourself.

I spent 5 days this week, free writing my thoughts on what else I think is important, so after editing them into a form that makes sense to more than just me, here they are.. I hope they are of use to you too.

Asking for the details about same niche someone is making money in, or same traffic source as someone doing well makes no difference, it won't help you make money just by trying to copy what someone else does.

It's rather like 2 chefs making the same recipe with same ingredients and same recipe instructions, you won't get two identical dishes. each will have the character of the person making it. One will have a better palate for taste than the other, and it will be reflected in the dish. Marketing is no different. You need your own secret sauce.

I can tell you that Facebook makes me good money, and that all my facebook traffic is first sent to a page to get them to be a subscriber. You should take that information and then build your own mousetrap, that fits YOUR MARKET and YOUR IDEAS.

making mistakes doesn't matter , I make mistakes every day, just about every new campaign I try fails, but I know its process of elimination, you only fail when you quit.

doing cpa offers ? , build a list , build a list, build a list. It Was My Game Changer

email submits are a waste of time - if you are going to spend your time trying to get people to submit their emails, then at least do it for your own benefit. The companies who do these offers scrub like hell, so your better of capturing the details for yourself , but overall, its just a lame way to try and make money. Easier and bigger fish to catch out there.

There is only so much time in a day use it productively. Since going full time, I find I do have to fight with myself to keep from wandering, but I have learnt what I am good at and where I am best utilising my time and skills.

learn a market and find where you can fit in to the market, every market has its own language, its own rhythm. If you research a market, you know the prices of the products, the costs of clicks, the pain of the market.

As an example, look at this place. the language = cpa, ppc, bum marketing, seo, IM. cpa networks, squeeze pages, landing pages. ppv etc

product prices go from $7 up to $1997, with avg of $67- $97.

you know the guru names,Kern, Walker, Deiss,Jenkins, and the names of their products.You know if you look at ppc for the keywords for internet marketing and make money online, you will see the ppc market is expensive. From that you would learn what an optin will cost. And reading this forum, you can learn about the pain in the market.

Which webshost ? is wordpress good ? which theme should I use, I can't make money, google slapped me.. no sales, no traffic.. do backlinks work etc

You see ?

This is how markets are, and I don't even sell stuff in the make money market. My point is , that if you do want to make money in a market, you better understand it a little more than just grabbing the html banner from neverblue and sticking it on a blog page.

Google ppc for search is tough , quality scores are a big problem now we have reached the point that even for paid traffic you have to build sites that google likes, many keywords are also too expensive to compete on now for small marketers.

You better be sure the time your going to spend doing internet marketing is going to be bring you profits, so research your markets properly.

I have certain markets now where I spend for the long term development on SEO as I can't afford to buy the clicks, but I know the niche is profitable. I don't expect to see results for 7- 12 months.

I would advise you to choose a market with a back end potential what i mean by that is choose a market that you can sell to more than once. You can't make much money trying to sell a clickbank ebook for acne anymore because keywords with volume are too expensive to buy for selling a one off book. For those who were doing this 6 years ago, when the keywords were 5 cents, then of course fortunes were made, but those words are not 5 cents anymore. If your paying 35 cents + a click, you better have a decent back end.

look to build a business. I am now investing in domain strategy and the SEO process for the long term. That means I am building websites in the niches I have had success with.

You have to commit time and effort so don't be afraid to make mistakes as I said earlier most campaigns fail. The important thing is to be measuring it.

Your budget determines how you can do this.
I may spend $200 for a 100 clicks on one main target word to see if it has potential.

when I started I spent $20. and went for 40 cent clicks, but I still had a system to measure if it would work. But to put it into perspective for you, I would often need to do 20 trials to get a winner. That means you need to be prepared to lose money. Those 20 trials would still be in one market, not 20 different offers, just so we are clear on that.

Now I am fortunate I can afford to lose bigger.

I lose money testing new things, but most people don't understand keywords that make people buy.It does not matter if it's SEO or PPC , you need to understand this rule. Most people fail because they simply do not understand how to identify buying keywords

marketing knowledge is the most important skill to acquire . anything else you can learn fairly easily.

my advice is to spend time learning about marketing. learn about people, their emotions, what makes them act. learn the language of communicating with your marketplace.

learn what you need to understand to get people to take action. Thomas Watson Sr of IBM said it best when he said "nothing happens until something is sold " That is the same for what we do. CPA networks do not exist unless somewhere something is sold. If everyone sends the network crap leads, then the offer will go away. Send good leads, that a company can convert, and everyone wins.

CPA marketing does not mean you have to sell crap. plenty of good companies and offers are out there for you to work with.

I don't follow the crowd
I have got to a point of making my own lead gen deals.I always sell a back end, for example capturing an auto loan lead, or a payday loan lead, I will follow up with the free credit report trial. A large amount of the applicants would be declined, so you have a good chance to let them find out why, and what they can do about it. Same would go for mortgage leads. This is an easy way to make more sales from the same user, think of some that would work for your market.

It is easier to work in markets you have an interest in or know about. What do you know ? what do you like ?

finance is probably the exception to that rule. you don't need to be passionate about insurance to sell it, but you do need good content. make a guide for people, not everyone will click through at the time to fill out the offer, so offering a guide enables you to get their email details the more names you capture, the more money you will make long term.

It is simply a numbers game if you capture some of those customers, you have a chance to still make money of them. You have worked hard to get them to your site, the least you can do is try and get their details while they are there.

So what is the take home message from this rather long post ?

Build a list and approach this as a business if you want to quit your job somewhere down the line.
Why build a list ?

Look at every goo roo launch, every single one get's you on a list, so why do you think that is ? They may be selling you some fancy scheme, but their own marketing efforts will tell you far more about what you need to do to succeed, than the product they are pushing at you. I would not have done the revenue I did in July without a list.


What helped me go from losing money to making money ?


Here are some resources that I have used.

I did have money to invest in doing paid marketing when I started, but I realise many people don't, so here is my tips there.

Paid can get you there quicker, but the model is the same, it just will take longer with free, but plenty of people do well without spending on paid traffic.

No matter if you use free or paid methods, if you get your initial research wrong, you won't make any money with either method.

For example to get sites ranking in the search engines,you are most likely looking at 4 months on average. If you understand that, and are on the right keywords, then you will still make money, it's just not an overnight thing. The problem is most people quit after a few weeks or a couple of months because they think it's not working.

Building sites to rank TAKES TIME. If you keep the mindset of 4 months and not 4 weeks, you have a chance of success. If you thinks there is a fast short cut, chances are you won't be around here next year.

If your wanting to do CPA, but don't have money to buy traffic, then check out Kensters rags to riches guide . He gives you some great ideas of how to start with free methods.

http://www.warriorforum.com/warrior-...qPnnKfnw6ZQwT6

Need to understand SEO for getting free traffic without paying $2000 on guru launches ? then get Daniel Tan's WSO's on this forum. and if you are using wordpress, use his seopressor plugin for your on page SEO optimisation. All his stuff is great value.

http://www.warriorforum.com/warrior-...ml#post2081902

And finally If you have money to invest , then my advice is get a coach. I hired Dave Ward after reading his thread, and I still use him as my mentor today. What I have paid him, in relation to what I have made, makes it a no brainer for me.

The simple way I looked at it was, what is better for me ? $2000 on a guru product launch, or 2 months of personal mentoring with Dave who has 15 years internet marketing experience working on MY business, and MY problems with real solutions for MY circumstances ?. The answer was simple, but we are all different and you have to get what works for you. You and your Mentor have to be a good fit. In my case I needed someone to help me cut through the noise of this business. Only once I did that did I really move forward.

So that about covers it for now. As I say I will be happy to reply to questions, but don't expect them before next weekend.

I just want to end with A final thank you to Kenster for the inspiration to do this post.

I hope it is of use to some of you.

Kev

Update Sept 4TH 2010

First let me say I appreciate all the Thank You messages. I am also pleased that so many of you have felt it has helped you with your own continued journey.

Second, to those of you who have pm'd me about coaching, sorry but I don't do coaching or mentoring, and have no intention of starting, so please don't ask me. I am still building my own business. I did mention above that I still have my own mentor, but as I said you need to have money to invest if you want to apply for his inner circle coaching, so don't waste your time or his by applying otherwise.

If you are new the market selection is the most important area to spend your time on.

Have a great week.

Kev.

Update Dec 11th 2010

Coming up to the end of my first year as a full time marketer, December is currently looking to be my best yet, but it is still early days. Facebook is proving more a pain since Mr Greens FB ads software I used was banjaxed ( right after poor Mr Green bought it ) Other than that everything else I wrote about in August remains the same.

Also nice to see my post has at least got one guy on the right road, well done Stian !

http://www.warriorforum.com/ad-netwo...ml#post2874352


Update Feb 5th 2011.

Replied in the thread to some great questions from Trevor, you can find the questions and answers here http://www.warriorforum.com/ad-netwo...ml#post3311125

Update Nov 5th 2011

Replied to list building question.

Update June 9th 2012

replied on list building question in main thread.

Wrote this post almost 2 years ago now. How many of you are actually building a list ? Staying in this business long term DOES require one. Build a business.
#$100k #changed #journey #losing #money #month #worked
  • Profile picture of the author Kenster
    Hi Kev, thats an amazing post my friend.

    There is nothing I like to see more than a post by somebody who worked their butts off and came out in the winners circle. The truth is that a lot of Imers dont make it to the big money for a multitude of reasons including...


    Dont Want It Enough: Many people just dont want to be successful or make money bad enough to go through the sacrifices and work involved in reaching the reality of making money. Many times its a roller coaster of emotions and the sacrifices are great. You need to want it as bad as you wanted it.

    Don't Have The Right Resources: Although I personally think if you want to succeed bad enough you can and will find the right resources, sometimes people go into IM and start building campaigns without the base of knowledge needed to make it. Places like the Warrior Forum, some of the guides out there are invaluable in helping cut out expensive and time consuming mistakes.

    Lose Money: As you mentioned, PPC can be tough. People are making it big with PPC but unless you know what you are doing, you will likely lose a lot of money before you turn profitable. In fact, I still lose money on most campaigns I start. Testing and optimizing costs money and time. Many people jump into paid traffic right from the start, get burned and then lost faith, confidence, and motivation to continue on to make it in their IM business.

    Mindset: Many people dont have the right mindset to make it and be successful in CPA or IM. CPA is not rocket science, its literally taking the basic principles of internet marketing and putting them to work in creative ways. You dont need to have special tools, software, or relationships to make it big, you just need to understand the basics and implement them in a creative way. You need the right mindset to achieve this. The right mindset will get you over the many hurdles that you will inevitably face.



    Because of the aforementioned reasons along with many more, a lot of people jump into CPA and quit 3 days later, so its very nice to see this success story post.

    So thank you for sharing your story and sharing some helpful tips to other warriors.

    Hopefully I and other warriors played at least a small part in your success and I hope you will share other ideas, things that worked and didnt work to help this wonderful community!

    ~Ken
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    • Profile picture of the author safe as houses
      Brilliant and inspirational, many thanks, Mick.
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  • Profile picture of the author ChadH
    Great post kev.... I fully agree, choosing the market an monetizing the market is a better play than building based on just offers.

    I just wanted to add a couple things.

    Beginners to more advanced marketers would be smart to heed Kev's advice here.

    Now, one thing that should be kept in mind for CPA marketers if they're entire market is based on rebills is that the compliance of rebills can end up affecting conversion rates dramatically. The good news, however, is that if your market is responsive to you, you could end up building your own offer, and as Kev said, brokering your own deals.

    The money is in the list as they say, but at the same time, it doesn't have to be your list. Gary Halbert talks about it in the Boron Letters, and Mike Geary from Truth About Abs among others has shared the same sentiment that the best list to build or purchase is a list of buyers who have purchased one of YOUR previous products. Everyone else can funnel their freebie list into your offers while you build your buyers list. Quite a few of the top end Clickbank merchants doing 7 figures don't actively promote freebies on their page. But they build a hell of a buyers list.

    If you're a pure affiliate and not interested in creating your own offers or products (as most on this sub forum probably are), then what Kev has laid out here is the way to go, it always has been. My aweber account still gets me my best roi

    For those interested in creating their own offers and products, the ability to create high converting offers within your market and your ability to sell via copywriting are the 2 best skills to have in this game. Create something that sells within a specific market and people will fall over themselves to promote it once you can show proven numbers.

    If I could add 1 more resource.... it's free and will help you understand markets and sales writing. They are Gary Halberts Boron Letters. They are written to his son, so the tone is a bit casual. The good stuff starts around the 4th letter... light reading. Go here and scroll about halfway down the page to find the 1st letter:

    http://www.thegaryhalbertletter.com/...r-archives.htm

    Going after a market is similar to choosing the traffic source first (like one large site in a specific market) and finding a way to monetize it. It's demographic based and it's what good marketers do.

    Once again great post, hope it helps many here.
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    • Profile picture of the author KevScarb
      Originally Posted by ChadH View Post

      Great post kev.... I fully agree, choosing the market an monetizing the market is a better play than building based on just offers.

      I just wanted to add a couple things.

      Beginners to more advanced marketers would be smart to heed Kev's advice here.

      Now, one thing that should be kept in mind for CPA marketers if they're entire market is based on rebills is that the compliance of rebills can end up affecting conversion rates dramatically. The good news, however, is that if your market is responsive to you, you could end up building your own offer, and as Kev said, brokering your own deals.

      The money is in the list as they say, but at the same time, it doesn't have to be your list. Gary Halbert talks about it in the Boron Letters, and Mike Geary from Truth About Abs among others has shared the same sentiment that the best list to build or purchase is a list of buyers who have purchased one of YOUR previous products. Everyone else can funnel their freebie list into your offers while you build your buyers list. Quite a few of the top end Clickbank merchants doing 7 figures don't actively promote freebies on their page. But they build a hell of a buyers list.

      If you're a pure affiliate and not interested in creating your own offers or products (as most on this sub forum probably are), then what Kev has laid out here is the way to go, it always has been. My aweber account still gets me my best roi

      For those interested in creating their own offers and products, the ability to create high converting offers within your market and your ability to sell via copywriting are the 2 best skills to have in this game. Create something that sells within a specific market and people will fall over themselves to promote it once you can show proven numbers.

      If I could add 1 more resource.... it's free and will help you understand markets and sales writing. They are Gary Halberts Boron Letters. They are written to his son, so the tone is a bit casual. The good stuff starts around the 4th letter... light reading. Go here and scroll about halfway down the page to find the 1st letter:

      Halbert Newsletter Archives

      Going after a market is similar to choosing the traffic source first (like one large site in a specific market) and finding a way to monetize it. It's demographic based and it's what good marketers do.

      Once again great post, hope it helps many here.

      Hey Chad, great to see you commenting on this for me, I see it even made your blog !

      Gary Halbert is a copy writing legend, and anyone reading this should make use of Chad linking to this.

      Remember learning about how to sell is the most important thing we can do. It is internet marketing after all

      Here is that link again http://www.thegaryhalbertletter.com/...r-archives.htm
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  • Profile picture of the author Rukshan
    Perfect! I really happy to see a person who share his successes stories.
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  • Profile picture of the author ocd
    On those two books, go to Alibris.com and type them in.

    Cashvertising starts at $13.49 and Ultimate Sales Letter starts at .99.

    What an excellent thread! Thanks Kev
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    The link of great joy and happiness...but this one? This is the one that all window cleaning companies in the free world are inspired by. Hey, where did the sarcasm font go?
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  • Profile picture of the author jonat2005
    I enjoyed every bit of this piece KeyScarb. I had to save it on my desktop so that i can go through it again
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  • Profile picture of the author BryanC
    Thanks for the post. As someone new to internet marketing who has been absorbing as much information as possible on this website for some time, resulting in an information overload and no clear direction, I'm starting to open my eyes to CPA with list building. Maybe more importantly, it is also becoming apparent that taking care of the consumer and providing them a fulfilling buying experience is vital - something that is often overlooked in this business.
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    • Profile picture of the author TE2
      Excellent post!

      Those who are struggling... Re-read and internalize it's message

      And I also share this quote in support of your quest for success...

      "For things to thange for you, you have to change" - Jim Rohn

      Regards,

      John
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  • Profile picture of the author Carlsbadd
    Cashvertising is a awesome book.

    Nice post, everyone starts somewhere and at some point you need to focus on a long term business plan.

    I have been moving more and more to long term SEO and buying websites in niches where others have failed to have a decent plan in place.

    Many here know that I am mostly a bum marketer, while we have had many a debate on PPC versus SEO it depends on your mindset.

    So here is my two cents on BUM marketing what works for me and what I have failed at. I hope this might help some of those starting out.

    First , SPY on your competitors , look at how others are structuring their articles and what keywords they are using. Use google wonder wheel and other keyword tools and try to rank for long tails first and then work your way to the more competitive keywords.

    Take what I said above and apply it to your own websites, if you are thinking about a long term plan. Remember that the article directories own your content so it's better to have your own website, don't worry about duplicate content, it's a myth. Take your longer articles and build web 2.0 websites with links to your money site squidoo, hub pages and so on.

    I don't "shot gun" articles, use spinners and all that stuff. Sure it will build you lots of backlinks but a lot of those will be lost over time. It's better for me to backlink the ezine articles and web 2.0 properties on a massive level and drive that traffic to your money page. If you are using SEO nuke , or Blog farm evolution you can build backlinks at a astounding rate, but you protect your money page from being sandboxed. The only issue it that I have web 2.0 properties out ranking my money site, that's OK since it has links to my offer anyway. Hire out some decent social bookmarker and learn to take your backlinks and RSS them for indexing. Yes that's correct RSS your backlinks I won't explain how but it is not that hard.
    One quick thing, ezine has a Tweet feature so you can use it to tweet your articles , this is a blessing in one way and a curse in another, your articles get indexed very quickly but you will notice that you will gain a lot of followers in your niche. I prefer to take the RSS feed of the articles and add them to my yahoo account to get some yahoo love and then to RSS directories. I am not sure that I will continue to use the tweet feature.

    I hope this contributes to this thread.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kenster
    Jonats comment above made me think of something i do that may help others...


    I did this when i first started out in Internet marketing but i do this same thing whenever trying to achieve a goal such as when i was studying for taking the GMATs

    print out success stories of people who have 'made it' in whatever you are trying to achieve. So if you find this post inspirational, literally print the post out and tape it to your desk along with any other success stories on this forum. When i was studying for the GMATs i printed out posts from a GMAT forum of people who scored 750 or above, and taped them to the desk that i studied at

    These success stories are great motivation and may help keep you focused and on track to achieve the same success. Especially with internet marketing its very easy to lose focus and concentration so having these printed right in front of you as you work and it may help

    Maybe this won't apply to you but it's a practice i do that helps a lot

    Best of luck CPAing all!
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  • Profile picture of the author williamrs
    Excellent post!!

    I agree with the vast majority of what you said. I did (and still do) a couple things differently, but, as you said "You need your own secret sauce".

    IMO the most important lessons in this post are:

    1. No one builds a real and solid online business without focus and persistence.

    2. It's necessary to be willing to lose while learning in order to succeed in the long-term. (It's not only about money, people dealing with free traffic need to be willing to spend time)

    I think that if every beginner who reads your post understands at least these 2 things they will certainly be able to tell us their own success stories in the near future.

    Another thing that I would like to add is the importance of the relationships.

    Do not only read ebooks and watch videos, talk to people! Talk to other marketers and talk to your affiliate managers. I struggled for 2 years to earn my first commission selling Clickbank products, because I was always reading ebooks and watching videos but never actually talked to people to learn what they were doing. After a few months I got started with CPA and earned my first commission in 2 days. And, no, it was not because I had money to invest (I used free traffic!), but because I had an affiliate manager!

    When I was working with CB products I needed to figure out what were the best converting products by myself, but when I started working with CPA I could simply ask to my aff manager!

    So don't try to figure out everything by yourself, don't be afraid of emailing or calling people to ask for recommendations. Good relationships are much more important than anything else in this business!


    William
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    • Profile picture of the author iharry
      So true William! Nothing is as powerful as personal relationships... To have a good relationship with a person that achieved what you're trying to achieve...
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      • Profile picture of the author Kenster
        Originally Posted by iharry View Post

        So true William! Nothing is as powerful as personal relationships... To have a good relationship with a person that achieved what you're trying to achieve...

        Relationships are ginormously (gigantic+enormous) important when it comes to building and GROWING your business.


        One piece of advice somebody told me as I started out and I will pass on to your guys here is that its much easier to learn from somebody who was just in your place not too long ago.

        So if you are not making any money yet, build a relationship with somebody who is making a measily $30 a day. These people will be much more willing to talk and explain things in a simplified form plus they will simply be more willing to talk to you than somebody making $1000 a day.

        When you get to the $30 a day level, now start speaking with somebody making $75 or $100 a day. And continue to work your way up.


        Too many newbies only try and build relationships with the biggest and best in the industry and this normally leads them nowhere. Write Mike Filsaime an email asking him what the best way to start out in IM is or ask Yanik Silver how to write a good sales letter and I can almost guarantee they wont respond back, will send you an automated reply, or will send you an affiliate link.

        My point is this...

        There is value to establishing relationships with the biggest and best, but there is JUST AS MUCH value in establishing relationships with everyday folks who are just a little bit ahead of where you are in the journey!

        ~ken
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  • Profile picture of the author Charleskidd
    Man great motivational story. I feel like quitting when I lose money but I always come back to read stories like this, that's help me keep my eye on the prize.
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    Does internet marketing seem to hard? Click here and you will see how much you learn.

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  • Profile picture of the author Carlsbadd
    So don't try to figure out everything by yourself, don't be afraid of emailing or calling people to ask for recommendations. Good relationships are much more important than anything else in this business!

    So true William..... Listen everyone, make friends with those who are successful, William and I meet on this forum and I learned a lot from him, even though I do things differently. When I am ready to branch out, I know not only will he help me, but I might be able to hire him to build a LP or he might be able to ask me to write some content.

    Not everything is a secret and basic concepts remain.

    The best way to to be a success is offering to help some else be successful , yea it sounds simple but it will come back to you.
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  • You could have written an ebook with that info! lol cheers Jason
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  • Profile picture of the author Michael Anderson
    Excellent points William....

    KevScarb, thank you for an honest account. It's fun to read success stories like this one.

    Kenster, just finished your WSO this morning, yep I got 3 more read throughs to go... I highly recommend "Rags To Riches" to anyone. Solid, straightforward account. Thank you. ALso your music video on entrepreneur valley dot com is dope!
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    • Profile picture of the author Kenster
      Originally Posted by Carlsbadd View Post

      So true William..... Listen everyone, make friends with those who are successful, William and I meet on this forum and I learned a lot from him, even though I do things differently. When I am ready to branch out, I know not only will he help me, but I might be able to hire him to build a LP or he might be able to ask me to write some content.

      Not everything is a secret and basic concepts remain.

      The best way to to be a success is offering to help some else be successful , yea it sounds simple but it will come back to you.


      Even before I started doing well online, I had a fascination for successful people and entrepreneurs in particular. One thing I noticed that was pretty consistent among all the rich people I had ever talked to was...

      -Provide Value: One of the pillars to my business today is based on this and it is the core of every venture I ever get into. Unless significant value is being provided, I dont want to even be part of it.

      -Help Other Succeed: Almost every rich person I talked to told me that no matter what your current situation is, if you can help 5 people become millionaires, then you will become a millionaire yourself. The point is that helping others succeed can only help yourelf succeed. We all know that making money becomes tremendously more easy if you know the right people. If you help others succeed, this is the best way to create a powerful and influential network. Not only are you respected by the person you helped, but also by his whole network!


      Your second point about the secret sauce is also very correct. CPA is about understanding the fundamentals and using creativity to use the basics in new ways. Master the core marketing and direct marketing principles, and you have just learned the bulk of any CPA campaign there is!



      Originally Posted by Michael Anderson View Post

      Excellent points William....

      KevScarb, thank you for an honest account. It's fun to read success stories like this one.

      Kenster, just finished your WSO this morning, yep I got 3 more read throughs to go... I highly recommend "Rags To Riches" to anyone. Solid, straightforward account. Thank you. ALso your music video on entrepreneur valley dot com is dope!

      Yep 4 times buddy! Let me know if you need anything.

      In the coming few weeks I will get back to that site. Created it one day and sort of just left it be. I thought the videos were more cheesy than dope, but thats just me, haha.

      Be good and good luck CPAing!
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      • Profile picture of the author BILLSBILLION
        Excellent Post!!
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        "Life begins at the end of your comfort zone." True, or true?!
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  • Profile picture of the author redfrick
    Wow. Amazing post.

    I have made a little money in IM and have been getting very frustrated with not knowing why I can't take it to the next level. Know I think I might have an idea.

    I understand the technicalities of IM, of how to do things. I need to understand the thinking behind the madness, the thought process a successful marketer goes through.

    It's as if you've pointed out something that is so glaringly obvious that it's rather embarrassing really. I realize now that not understanding the basic principles of marketing is like taking a knife to gunfight.

    Before I just threw everything against the wall hoping for something to stick. I need to rethink everything now. Thank you.
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  • Profile picture of the author martymmitcham
    Thank you for the post. For someone who less than a year into IM, seeing that I am not the only one riding the roller coaster is helpful. Reading your post is inspiring at the very least. I hope to do as well someday. Keep up the good work.
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  • Profile picture of the author Michael Anderson
    ChadH,

    The Boron Letters are GOLD. Thanks for sharing.
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  • Profile picture of the author Cash37
    Really tired of these preachy, vague, "I went from $1 to $1,000,000" posts. Seems to be a new one every two weeks...
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    • Profile picture of the author Barry Unruh
      Originally Posted by Cash37 View Post

      Really tired of these preachy, vague, "I went from $1 to $1,000,000" posts. Seems to be a new one every two weeks...
      $1,000,000 is a little different than $100,000.

      It is also possible every two weeks someone has finished busting their butt for an entire year and created their own success, just like Kev or Kenster.

      I do not find anything vague about their posts but find them to be solid information giving us guidance in the right direction, maybe not a moment to moment template, but solid information which is actionable.

      It seems odd someone who is promoting getting rich through Fiverr in their own WSO would be bashing success stories, instead of telling their own.

      By the way, Kenster, Kev, William, Carl, and Chad... You guys piss me off. Damn it! My Google Documents is getting full of notes!! Thank you!!
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      • Profile picture of the author Cash37
        Originally Posted by KansasDragon View Post

        $1,000,000 is a little different than $100,000.

        It is also possible every two weeks someone has finished busting their butt for an entire year and created their own success, just like Kev or Kenster.

        I do not find anything vague about their posts but find them to be solid information giving us guidance in the right direction, maybe not a moment to moment template, but solid information which is actionable.

        It seems odd someone who is promoting getting rich through Fiverr in their own WSO would be bashing success stories, instead of telling their own.

        By the way, Kenster, Kev, William, Carl, and Chad... You guys piss me off. Damn it! My Google Documents is getting full of notes!! Thank you!!
        Bashing? Really? All these threads are the same.

        "Hey guys I couldn't make the monies online. Then I got a positive attitude, then I made the monies online, but no I can't share any strategy on it."

        All these threads are remixes of each other and provide no value.
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        • Profile picture of the author ukJoe
          Originally Posted by Cash37 View Post

          Bashing? Really? All these threads are the same.

          "Hey guys I couldn't make the monies online. Then I got a positive attitude, then I made the monies online, but no I can't share any strategy on it."

          All these threads are remixes of each other and provide no value.
          Yes your bashing.

          No Value really ?

          Let me see if I can help you out, as it seems it's a bit too vague for you.

          He says

          1 Build a list

          2 Don't jump from offer to offer,find a market and spend time to understand it.

          3 Don't waste money on expensive Guru product launches, you don't need them, and he learnt that the hard way and is passing it on.

          4 Getting the right keywords is critical to making money. Choose the wrong ones and you will fail, no matter if you use paid or free methods

          5 Treat this as a business, not a hobby if you want to make real money.

          6 Learn to understand the triggers that make people buy ( Here he suggests buying Cashvertising)

          I am sure there are more. And I also got good information from others posting advice and links in this thread.

          Chad posted the The Gary Halbert links which are awesome.

          I ordered cashvertising tonight from Amazon, I wonder which has more value for me long term ? cashvertising for $10 or your fiverr secrets exposed for $47
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      • Profile picture of the author Kenster
        Originally Posted by KansasDragon View Post

        $1,000,000 is a little different than $100,000.

        It is also possible every two weeks someone has finished busting their butt for an entire year and created their own success, just like Kev or Kenster.

        I do not find anything vague about their posts but find them to be solid information giving us guidance in the right direction, maybe not a moment to moment template, but solid information which is actionable.

        It seems odd someone who is promoting getting rich through Fiverr in their own WSO would be bashing success stories, instead of telling their own.

        By the way, Kenster, Kev, William, Carl, and Chad... You guys piss me off. Damn it! My Google Documents is getting full of notes!! Thank you!!




        I think the thing to keep in mind is that the value derived from a certain post or certain types of posts are different for every visitor. I may get value out of a post or thread that you might not get any value out of.

        I can tell you that inspirational "I made it" type threads dont give me any personal value of any significance these days, but when I was starting they helped tremendously. I would literally print out success stories and tape them to my desk and reminders of the potential and as reminders of optimism. I have told the story before, but when I was taking my GMATs I did the same thing. I taped stories of people who had scored 750 or better (a great score) on the desk I studied at.

        This works for me.

        A lot of beginner marketers have big dreams but lose faith very quickly when they hit the first few inevitable obstacles trying to make money online. Many people give up when they lose faith, but having reminders of the potential and having success stories helps a lot of people keep faith, keep plugging along, and ultimately helping them stay at it long enough to make it big-time themselves.


        With that said, congrats to Kev and good luck to everybody else who hasn't reached their goals yet. The finish line is closer than you may think...just put your mind in overdrive and get 'it' done!
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        • Profile picture of the author williamrs
          Originally Posted by Kenster View Post

          I think the thing to keep in mind is that the value derived from a certain post or certain types of posts are different for every visitor. I may get value out of a post or thread that you might not get any value out of.

          I can tell you that inspirational "I made it" type threads dont give me any personal value of any significance these days, but when I was starting they helped tremendously. I would literally print out success stories and tape them to my desk and reminders of the potential and as reminders of optimism. I have told the story before, but when I was taking my GMATs I did the same thing. I taped stories of people who had scored 750 or better (a great score) on the desk I studied at.

          This works for me.

          A lot of beginner marketers have big dreams but lose faith very quickly when they hit the first few inevitable obstacles trying to make money online. Many people give up when they lose faith, but having reminders of the potential and having success stories helps a lot of people keep faith, keep plugging along, and ultimately helping them stay at it long enough to make it big-time themselves.


          With that said, congrats to Kev and good luck to everybody else who hasn't reached their goals yet. The finish line is closer than you may think...just put your mind in overdrive and get 'it' done!
          I agree 100%.

          I also would like to add one more thing. Besides motivation, Kev has also offered valuable advices. Most people are always looking for step-by-step instructions such as go to network A, pick offer B and create a campaign on platform C. This type of thing is very important, but it's a mistake to think that it's everything.

          The fact is that there are many important... no, essential things in this business that can't be laid out in a step-by-step manner.

          Kev talks about the importance of building a list. Now I ask beginners, who is adding new subscribers to their autoresponder everyday?

          Kev talks about watching gurus instead of buying their products (brilliant advice, btw). Who has read and analyzed the last 3 emails from 5 of the top gurus in the IM niche? I can bet my fingers that there are beginners who have even unsubscribed from their lists!

          I don't want to repost everything here again, but he gives many other important advices that I would pay $100 to learn when I was just strating, and I doubt that most people are following at least 4 or 5 of them.

          So I do consider this type of post extremely useful for people who are just starting and I highly recommend any beginner to read Kev's post at least 3 or 4 times in order to make sure that they get all the gems he is offering.


          William
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    • Profile picture of the author ukJoe
      Originally Posted by Cash37 View Post

      Really tired of these preachy, vague, "I went from $1 to $1,000,000" posts. Seems to be a new one every two weeks...
      Oh yes great contribution, but at least you got your sig file in there.

      As someone new to this, I certainly got value, and your first impression on me has hardly got me scrambling to your WSO.

      Notice that the guy posting this thread has no sig at all ? He just offered advice and value, and I did not feel I was " preached ". You clearly have a different view of vague than I do.
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  • Profile picture of the author Univee
    Freakin awesome!

    Sane, wise, grown up, true approach.

    "Do or do not. There is no try"
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  • Profile picture of the author janice98
    wow! well said...very inspirational

    i'm new to IM, and got struck with so much gurus trying to sell you this and that grrrr..stuff. too aweful for newbies me alike trying to seek genuine info about the real score to making the best out of IM.

    I'm glad I landed to this forum, where genuine advices from "real" people with their ultimate success stories and how they made it to the top are rendered for FREE...

    thanks guys and keep it up!
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  • Profile picture of the author bestbuddy1986
    I am also looking for some Mentor.
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  • Profile picture of the author Seantrepreneur
    Very good post. I LOVE reading stories like these. I actually wish there were posts like this every week instead of two weeks .

    It doesn't matter to me if the numbers are bloated I just like hearing about ppl being successful after they work hard for it.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kenster
    William, you are absolutely correct.

    I have a seperate email account where I follow exactly what other marketers are doing. Not only do I look at what they are selling, but I look at how they are selling, how often they are selling, what language and tone they use and try and gather as much as I can. The big gurus, like them or not, know what they are doing when it comes to promos.

    The guys with 100k+ lists have done testing and know what sells. Instead of testing yourself with your list, why not just follow what they are doing!



    Listbuilding is one of many strategies to pursue online...each having their own limitations and benefits. What I like about the listbuilding strategy is...

    -Long Term Play - you are dependent on SEO rankings that may drop or about a certain traffic source like PPV becoming ocer-competitive or dieing out. You can market to your list for years to come and make boatloads of money with very very little work!

    -Passive Income - Although writing emails isnt pure passivity, its pretty darn simple to come up with a series of email promotions and make a ton of money. Build a list of 50k loyal subcribers and you can easily make 6 figures with an hour a week of working!


    Of course listbuilding isnt the end all, be all. Its tough to build a list and just like any other strategy you need to learn how to get traffic to your site or squeeze. Instead of building a list with the goal of monetizing in the future, you can monetize that traffic right away with other strategies.


    At the end of the day, its about maximizing the lifetime value of the prospect. If that means building a list, then go for it. If that means selling up front and not worrying about upselling in the far future, go for it. If that means a hybrid of both strategies, then go for that.

    ~ken
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  • Profile picture of the author Eliteworks
    Wow... what a great post!
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    • Profile picture of the author kyraline
      Kev, I "accidentally" stumbled upon your post, allthough I believe there are no accidents:rolleyes:. I will probably re-read it more than once because it will help me to stay focussed. Thank you very much for this enlightening contribution and cheers to you!
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      • Profile picture of the author zoeguy
        I really am not sure what the motivation behind this post was, but coming from someone who has lost everything literally, including wife, home, hope, with no job, no income whatsoever. I see tremendous value here and more than that, great HOPE, inspiration, and direction.
        Kev, your post WAS worth the time. THANK YOU...

        I think Kenster was right, it really depends on your viewpoint...

        also KansasDragon's comment was priceless:

        Originally Posted by KansasDragon View Post

        "It seems odd someone who is promoting getting rich through Fiverr in their own WSO would be bashing success stories, instead of telling their own"
        Signature
        My two rules for success: 1. Never tell everything you know.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kenster
    Zoeguy ~ I hear many stories of great success that rise from people in the toughest of situations. When things get tight and hope is beginning to fade, thats when the body and mind are able to achieve the most. Thats when motivation is greatest. I am sorry to hear about the hardships you are currently facing and wish you much success. Things will get better and you will come out stronger.

    Hope is a powerful motivator so take all the hope you have and channel it into your IM business. I have a funny feeling you will be one of the great success stories.

    ~ken
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    • Profile picture of the author KevScarb
      Originally Posted by rr1958 View Post

      great story! would love to follow your footsteps.
      You can. There is no reason why not.

      I am not special. I don't have any unique talents. What I do have is the desire and dedication to put my ideas in to action.

      Even though I have suggested books and resources in this thread. At the end of the day, for everyone reading this, only YOU can make it happen. But if you want to follow, you can.

      All I did was finally focus in on one main ( building a list ). After that everything was easier because with everything I do I can always question " is this helping me build my list "

      Not is cpv traffic going to make me a fortune, but " can cpv traffic build my list in my market "

      Not, " will article marketing make money " but will article marketing improve links to my money sites and in turn help build my list "

      You have to have a clear idea of what you want, because then it is so much easier to go and get it.

      Looking back, that was my main mistake in my first 18 months.
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  • Profile picture of the author Viper X
    Amazing. How many of us will realize that the more quality free stuff we give away, the more trust we build and the more money we make.......Seriously.
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    • Profile picture of the author Kenster
      Originally Posted by Viper X View Post

      Amazing. How many of us will realize that the more quality free stuff we give away, the more trust we build and the more money we make.......Seriously.

      I realize it!!!

      Building a successful business is almost always about providing incredible value. If you focus on value addition, success and prosperity will normally result!

      Too many people have a short term focus and only care about making as much sales today instead of providing as much value today to maximize the lifetime value of the customer.

      Its about providing value
      Its about maximizing the lifetime value of the customer
      Basic concepts yet uber powerful in building a business!


      ~ken
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  • Profile picture of the author Mr.S
    Hello All
    I think the biggest problem at least in my case was distraction from all gurus. Don't get me wrong information they were giving was great, but when you looked at it the core message was the same. Another thing was jumping from one thing to another as you get new email offerings. I learnt from it, but still temptation is there. Congratulation Kev
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  • Profile picture of the author Chris Q
    Banned
    Originally Posted by KevScarb View Post

    I write this story not only because I am proud of what I have done, but in the hope I can help to inspire others find the right path to success too.

    This Month completes an amazing 12 month transformation for me . Though I had been trying Internet marketing for 14 months before joining this forum last year, I had never managed to make any money online.

    I had spent money on various courses, tried to apply the information, and always came up short, If only I had know then what I know now, and that is the reason for writing this.

    Between September 2009 and the end of December 2009 I was able to generate sufficient revenue that I made the big step to quit my Job and go full time from January this year. The 8 months since have been intense but rewarding, and July was my first 100k+ Month and while I won't hit that in August (35k of that revenue was from a new product launch from a company I promote ) I know that what i am doing will only continue to improve.

    I want to show others what I have learnt to be important and to highlight the path I would have taken with the benefit of hindsight.

    If you are new to I.M, then I want to save you time and more importantly, money and the pain and frustrations I went through. I wish I could have read this post a couple of years ago. If I can stop even one of you making the mistakes that I made, then this post will have been worth the time.

    So let's get to the nitty gritty

    Firstly : Check my number of forum posts - in one year , not many, why ? because you don't make money sitting on here, you make make money taking action and getting things done, if you spend all your time on forums looking for what you should do, you will never get anywhere. I limit my time on here. I schedule my work time, and usually only visit this site at the end of the week. Even if I need to reply to this thread, I will still only do it at the weekend, when I visit. NOTHING will get in my way of working, including coming here to reply to questions. I will reply but it will be once a week. The rest of the time my focus is on my business.

    This post is not exactly short, so let me set out right here, the ONE main thing that took me from losing money to making money.

    I started to build a list. - Yes ,the reason for a 100k month in July is because for a year my focus is about the list.

    The hardest thing in this industry is to get yourself to start doing, and stop reading,but with that said, let me first tell you what you should read.

    First go read this thread... it's OK I'll wait...
    http://www.warriorforum.com/ad-netwo...ase-study.html

    Written over a year ago now, It's about time it got a bump and still the best thing I have read on here. It actually got me to sign up on the W.F. after lurking for more than 12 months, I signed up simply because I wanted to get in touch.

    Be sure to read not only the post but the thread too, as there is some excellent replies to questions, and the best thing is that info is right there for free.

    And you know something else ? this week Filsaime and Farrel launched affiliate 2.0 for $1997 as if it is some magic new way of working, and you can read the same thing in the thread I just sent you to from a year ago. There is no secret to list building and building a relationship with a list.

    OK, so what else should you invest in ?

    Here are 2 books to buy

    1 Cashvertising by Drew Eric Whitman ( google it ). This book explains the life force 8. In effect how we, as humans are hard wired to react to certain things. This book has helped me target how I write campaigns. When I started to apply the life force 8 rules my sales and conversions increased by over 30%. It's also a key factor in how I do well with facebook.

    2 Ultimate Sales Letter - Dan Kennedy. will cost you around 10 bucks, and is all you need. Just solid straight forward advice in how to craft your pages to make you money.

    those 2 books willl probably cost you less than 20 dollars, and are better than any goo roo course you will buy. They will help get you where you want to go.

    Use these books to learn to think for yourself.

    I spent 5 days this week, free writing my thoughts on what else I think is important, so after editing them into a form that makes sense to more than just me, here they are.. I hope they are of use to you too.

    Asking for the details about same niche someone is making money in, or same traffic source as someone doing well makes no difference, it won't help you make money just by trying to copy what someone else does.

    It's rather like 2 chefs making the same recipe with same ingredients and same recipe instructions, you won't get two identical dishes. each will have the character of the person making it. One will have a better palate for taste than the other, and it will be reflected in the dish. Marketing is no different. You need your own secret sauce.

    I can tell you that Facebook makes me good money, and that all my facebook traffic is first sent to a page to get them to be a subscriber. You should take that information and then build your own mousetrap, that fits YOUR MARKET and YOUR IDEAS.

    making mistakes doesn't matter , I make mistakes every day, just about every new campaign I try fails, but I know its process of elimination, you only fail when you quit.

    doing cpa offers ? , build a list , build a list, build a list. It Was My Game Changer

    email submits are a waste of time - if you are going to spend your time trying to get people to submit their emails, then at least do it for your own benefit. The companies who do these offers scrub like hell, so your better of capturing the details for yourself , but overall, its just a lame way to try and make money. Easier and bigger fish to catch out there.

    There is only so much time in a day use it productively. Since going full time, I find I do have to fight with myself to keep from wandering, but I have learnt what I am good at and where I am best utilising my time and skills.

    learn a market and find where you can fit in to the market, every market has its own language, its own rhythm. If you research a market, you know the prices of the products, the costs of clicks, the pain of the market.

    As an example, look at this place. the language = cpa, ppc, bum marketing, seo, IM. cpa networks, squeeze pages, landing pages. ppv etc

    product prices go from $7 up to $1997, with avg of $67- $97.

    you know the guru names,Kern, Walker, Deiss,Jenkins, and the names of their products.You know if you look at ppc for the keywords for internet marketing and make money online, you will see the ppc market is expensive. From that you would learn what an optin will cost. And reading this forum, you can learn about the pain in the market.

    Which webshost ? is wordpress good ? which theme should I use, I can't make money, google slapped me.. no sales, no traffic.. do backlinks work etc

    You see ?

    This is how markets are, and I don't even sell stuff in the make money market. My point is , that if you do want to make money in a market, you better understand it a little more than just grabbing the html banner from neverblue and sticking it on a blog page.

    Google ppc for search is tough , quality scores are a big problem now we have reached the point that even for paid traffic you have to build sites that google likes, many keywords are also too expensive to compete on now for small marketers.

    You better be sure the time your going to spend doing internet marketing is going to be bring you profits, so research your markets properly.

    I have certain markets now where I spend for the long term development on SEO as I can't afford to buy the clicks, but I know the niche is profitable. I don't expect to see results for 7- 12 months.

    I would advise you to choose a market with a back end potential what i mean by that is choose a market that you can sell to more than once. You can't make much money trying to sell a clickbank ebook for acne anymore because keywords with volume are too expensive to buy for selling a one off book. For those who were doing this 6 years ago, when the keywords were 5 cents, then of course fortunes were made, but those words are not 5 cents anymore. If your paying 35 cents + a click, you better have a decent back end.

    look to build a business. I am now investing in domain strategy and the SEO process for the long term. That means I am building websites in the niches I have had success with.

    You have to commit time and effort so don't be afraid to make mistakes as I said earlier most campaigns fail. The important thing is to be measuring it.

    Your budget determines how you can do this.
    I may spend $200 for a 100 clicks on one main target word to see if it has potential.

    when I started I spent $20. and went for 40 cent clicks, but I still had a system to measure if it would work. But to put it into perspective for you, I would often need to do 20 trials to get a winner. That means you need to be prepared to lose money. Those 20 trials would still be in one market, not 20 different offers, just so we are clear on that.

    Now I am fortunate I can afford to lose bigger.

    I lose money testing new things, but most people don't understand keywords that make people buy.It does not matter if it's SEO or PPC , you need to understand this rule. Most people fail because they simply do not understand how to identify buying keywords

    marketing knowledge is the most important skill to acquire . anything else you can learn fairly easily.

    my advice is to spend time learning about marketing. learn about people, their emotions, what makes them act. learn the language of communicating with your marketplace.

    learn what you need to understand to get people to take action. Thomas Watson Sr of IBM said it best when he said "nothing happens until something is sold " That is the same for what we do. CPA networks do not exist unless somewhere something is sold. If everyone sends the network crap leads, then the offer will go away. Send good leads, that a company can convert, and everyone wins.

    CPA marketing does not mean you have to sell crap. plenty of good companies and offers are out there for you to work with.

    I don't follow the crowd
    I have got to a point of making my own lead gen deals.I always sell a back end, for example capturing an auto loan lead, or a payday loan lead, I will follow up with the free credit report trial. A large amount of the applicants would be declined, so you have a good chance to let them find out why, and what they can do about it. Same would go for mortgage leads. This is an easy way to make more sales from the same user, think of some that would work for your market.

    It is easier to work in markets you have an interest in or know about. What do you know ? what do you like ?

    finance is probably the exception to that rule. you don't need to be passionate about insurance to sell it, but you do need good content. make a guide for people, not everyone will click through at the time to fill out the offer, so offering a guide enables you to get their email details the more names you capture, the more money you will make long term.

    It is simply a numbers game if you capture some of those customers, you have a chance to still make money of them. You have worked hard to get them to your site, the least you can do is try and get their details while they are there.

    So what is the take home message from this rather long post ?

    Build a list and approach this as a business if you want to quit your job somewhere down the line.
    Why build a list ?

    Look at every goo roo launch, every single one get's you on a list, so why do you think that is ? They may be selling you some fancy scheme, but their own marketing efforts will tell you far more about what you need to do to succeed, than the product they are pushing at you. I would not have done the revenue I did in July without a list.


    What helped me go from losing money to making money ?


    Here are some resources that I have used.

    I did have money to invest in doing paid marketing when I started, but I realise many people don't, so here is my tips there.

    Paid can get you there quicker, but the model is the same, it just will take longer with free, but plenty of people do well without spending on paid traffic.

    No matter if you use free or paid methods, if you get your initial research wrong, you won't make any money with either method.

    For example to get sites ranking in the search engines,you are most likely looking at 4 months on average. If you understand that, and are on the right keywords, then you will still make money, it's just not an overnight thing. The problem is most people quit after a few weeks or a couple of months because they think it's not working.

    Building sites to rank TAKES TIME. If you keep the mindset of 4 months and not 4 weeks, you have a chance of success. If you thinks there is a fast short cut, chances are you won't be around here next year.

    If your wanting to do CPA, but don't have money to buy traffic, then check out Kensters rags to riches guide . He gives you some great ideas of how to start with free methods.

    http://www.warriorforum.com/warrior-...qPnnKfnw6ZQwT6

    Need to understand SEO for getting free traffic without paying $2000 on guru launches ? then get Daniel Tan's WSO's on this forum. and if you are using wordpress, use his seopressor plugin for your on page SEO optimisation. All his stuff is great value.

    http://www.warriorforum.com/warrior-...ml#post2081902

    And finally If you have money to invest , then my advice is get a coach. I hired Dave Ward after reading his thread, and I still use him as my mentor today. What I have paid him, in relation to what I have made, makes it a no brainer for me.

    The simple way I looked at it was, what is better for me ? $2000 on a guru product launch, or 2 months of personal mentoring with Dave who has 15 years internet marketing experience working on MY business, and MY problems with real solutions for MY circumstances ?. The answer was simple, but we are all different and you have to get what works for you. You and your Mentor have to be a good fit. In my case I needed someone to help me cut through the noise of this business. Only once I did that did I really move forward.

    So that about covers it for now. As I say I will be happy to reply to questions, but don't expect them before next weekend.

    I just want to end with A final thank you to Kenster for the inspiration to do this post.

    I hope it is of use to some of you.

    Kev

    Update Sept 4TH 2010

    First let me say I appreciate all the Thank You messages. I am also pleased that so many of you have felt it has helped you with your own continued journey.

    Second, to those of you who have pm'd me about coaching, sorry but I don't do coaching or mentoring, and have no intention of starting, so please don't ask me. I am still building my own business. I did mention above that I still have my own mentor, but as I said you need to have money to invest if you want to apply for his inner circle coaching, so don't waste your time or his by applying otherwise.

    If you are new the market selection is the most important area to spend your time on.

    Have a great week.

    Kev.
    Hi Kev,

    I am getting touch with your success story. You were right about building our own opt-in list. I was once doubtful on using Aweber as my main e-mail autoresponder because I thought that it is only useless for me. In my previous months, I only thought about money, not about helping other people and that's how I realized that I don't have good readers in my old blog. Now that I have a new professional blog and signed up with Aweber, I'm happy for it.

    Money is on the list you know, and right now I'm getting few subscribers daily to my blog slowly but surely. Soon it goes up and it keeps on coming. I lost money on purchasing useless domains that don't make me money through my ads, because I have lack of learning about the real attitude of an affiliate marketer. But now, I'm truly changed my way of marketing the products as an affiliate marketer, and I think with opt-in autoresponder like Aweber, I won't be disappointed. I'll just work hard on it to get my ROI in no time.

    Jeff
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  • Profile picture of the author mtmjohn
    Freaking AWESOME post! Thank you so much for sharing your story and sharing some great tips with us.
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  • Profile picture of the author David Bleidt
    great post. thank you for sharing your thoughts. I am starting my own IM business and I am thankful for every tip I can get. Just keep on doing.

    Reptor
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    • Profile picture of the author prahna1
      Thanks for taking the time to write this. It's like a free coaching session, which is probably why people want to hire you.

      I've tried affiliate marketing and cpa marketing and it's tough if you don't know how to drive traffic. Building a list is the best way because you are generating a lead. If you don't build the list you are letting someone else profit off of your efforts and you only get a one time shot at a sale, which stats show is not likely to happen.

      I find the problem with building a list is how to maintain it and keep up with content and offers and finding the right balance and list segregation. It can get pretty overwhelming.

      Here's what I tell people. Don't focus on the initial sale that's only about 10% of your traffic. Instead focus on those that don't buy - you have a 90% larger pool to market to. Just makes sense to me especially since it's proven that it takes the average person about 7-10 points of contact before they actually are ready to buy.

      Thanks,

      Preston

      ------------------------------------------------------------------------
      Preston Rahn is founder of VideoSalesLeads.com. Visit to get 2 free reports on using social media, seo, and video marketing to generate more traffic, leads, and sales.
      -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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  • Profile picture of the author macchiavelli
    I remember making my first $1000 day on CPA and I only spent $100 in ads to reach that.
    It was a wonderfull feeling and that campaign still makes me money to this day.

    Its weird campaigns that seem strange that make me the most money these days.

    Like 250 business card type offers, I mean I advertise that stuff via google on the weirdest sites out there and make bank!
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    • Profile picture of the author Kenster
      Originally Posted by Mr.S View Post

      Hello All
      I think the biggest problem at least in my case was distraction from all gurus. Don't get me wrong information they were giving was great, but when you looked at it the core message was the same. Another thing was jumping from one thing to another as you get new email offerings. I learnt from it, but still temptation is there. Congratulation Kev


      Guru information is great but they typically giev you the tip of the iceberg to get you emotionally heightened and then leave out critical pieces to their concept or strategy and then in some way shape or form, make you pay for the complete pieces.


      This is what I always say about Gurus...

      - Create a seperate email account and joing their lists to keep up with what is going on and to eat up the bits and pieces of information they offer as teasers. Its still often times very valuable info, so take it.

      -Tell yourself BEFORE opening an email, you wont become emotionally attached to any product or service offered on the upsell. You are reading the video to get tidbits or information ONLY...and convince yourself you dont need any more products because YOU DONT.


      Originally Posted by macchiavelli View Post

      I remember making my first $1000 day on CPA and I only spent $100 in ads to reach that.
      It was a wonderfull feeling and that campaign still makes me money to this day.

      Its weird campaigns that seem strange that make me the most money these days.

      Like 250 business card type offers, I mean I advertise that stuff via google on the weirdest sites out there and make bank!
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      • Profile picture of the author ianbong
        Originally Posted by Kenster View Post

        Guru information is great but they typically giev you the tip of the iceberg to get you emotionally heightened and then leave out critical pieces to their concept or strategy and then in some way shape or form, make you pay for the complete pieces.

        This is what I always say about Gurus...

        - Create a seperate email account and joing their lists to keep up with what is going on and to eat up the bits and pieces of information they offer as teasers. Its still often times very valuable info, so take it.

        -Tell yourself BEFORE opening an email, you wont become emotionally attached to any product or service offered on the upsell. You are reading the video to get tidbits or information ONLY...and convince yourself you dont need any more products because YOU DONT.
        Which is what I did, and after that I stopped wasting money on new products because I realized they're actually all the same.
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        • Profile picture of the author Kenster
          Originally Posted by ianbong View Post

          Which is what I did, and after that I stopped wasting money on new products because I realized they're actually all the same.


          They may be similar and in my opinion, most of the big products are actually really really good. The problem is that either people are expecting too much (like a paint by numbers to a million bucks) or more problematic is that people go over a product and don't do a lick of action.


          I truly believe if you took the work, hours, dedication that somebody puts into a year at a University and replicated that with a good IM product, the results would be amazing and many many many six figure incomes would be born. Perhaps the products make it sound too simple, but if you want it enough, its well within reach.
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      • Profile picture of the author Kenster
        Originally Posted by Tofran View Post

        What a great thread. I lost money on my first try at CPA marketing, but
        will try again with some better ideas.

        What was your first try?

        Normally it takes many tries or tests before you find a winner...no matter what experience level you are. Its essential to be able to wash your hands and move onto the test!
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      • Profile picture of the author stianris
        A BIG thanks for writing this post KevScarb! It really opened my eyes and took my business to the next level.

        I went from losing money on a daily basis, to averaging $200+ rofit per day (best days in the $400+ mark) in about a 2 months period and it's just growing!

        The reason? Very hard work, and the best investement I have ever done in my life, hired Dave Ward as my personal coach and mentor! Can't thank him enough for what he's helped me acheive so far!! Thanks for referring me to him KevScarb

        On another note, I did have money to invest. And if you can afford the coaching I would definitively recommend it, but you will need to have a budget for it.

        - Stian
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        • Profile picture of the author CrhisD
          Originally Posted by stianris View Post

          The reason? Very hard work
          More evidence that if you have a good system put your mind to it and work really hard, you can make it work.
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        • Profile picture of the author Kenster
          Originally Posted by stianris View Post

          A BIG thanks for writing this post KevScarb! It really opened my eyes and took my business to the next level.

          I went from losing money on a daily basis, to averaging $200+ rofit per day (best days in the $400+ mark) in about a 2 months period and it's just growing!

          The reason? Very hard work, and the best investement I have ever done in my life, hired Dave Ward as my personal coach and mentor! Can't thank him enough for what he's helped me acheive so far!! Thanks for referring me to him KevScarb

          On another note, I did have money to invest. And if you can afford the coaching I would definitively recommend it, but you will need to have a budget for it.

          - Stian


          Awesome man...consistent $200 net in 2 months! Keep scaling and looking for other income streams to build your income!
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        • Profile picture of the author KevScarb
          Originally Posted by stianris View Post

          A BIG thanks for writing this post KevScarb! It really opened my eyes and took my business to the next level.

          I went from losing money on a daily basis, to averaging $200+ rofit per day (best days in the $400+ mark) in about a 2 months period and it's just growing!

          The reason? Very hard work, and the best investement I have ever done in my life, hired Dave Ward as my personal coach and mentor! Can't thank him enough for what he's helped me acheive so far!! Thanks for referring me to him KevScarb

          On another note, I did have money to invest. And if you can afford the coaching I would definitively recommend it, but you will need to have a budget for it.

          - Stian
          Hey Stain,

          that is great to hear, and I am so pleased that my post and the referral to Dave has helped turn things around for you too. Your success alone makes doing the post worthwhile.

          By the sound of it, with Dave as your mentor, It won't be long before I am sure I will be reading about your 100k month before 2011 is out !

          All the best for next year , just keep growing. There are always ups and downs, the road is not easy, and can be frustrating at time, but now you have seen you can make money, it does get easier.

          Kev.
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      • Profile picture of the author smartdoctor
        If I was to vote for a thread I would give this #1
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      • Profile picture of the author danz G
        very very HOT Thread,
        thanks you for great share kev,it save me times and money.
        this is invaluable share.

        if i have succeed with this method i promise i'll share in this forum again.

        now i more belief that i can get my first $100,000 online.

        best share

        Danz G
        Signature

        Failure is not a choice

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      • Profile picture of the author HAWTs
        @prashanth502
        using facebook , twister, Youtube, G+ and more social site . pretty work for me
        you can search by KW on each Social site , you'll see many Aff or Cpa offer link
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  • Profile picture of the author millionairenewbie
    Banned
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    • Profile picture of the author Budas286
      Thanks, for this story,..im very inspirated,..
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  • Profile picture of the author Kenster
    Originally Posted by Mr.S View Post

    Hello All
    I think the biggest problem at least in my case was distraction from all gurus. Don't get me wrong information they were giving was great, but when you looked at it the core message was the same. Another thing was jumping from one thing to another as you get new email offerings. I learnt from it, but still temptation is there. Congratulation Kev


    Guru information is great but they typically giev you the tip of the iceberg to get you emotionally heightened and then leave out critical pieces to their concept or strategy and then in some way shape or form, make you pay for the complete pieces.


    This is what I always say about Gurus...

    - Create a seperate email account and joing their lists to keep up with what is going on and to eat up the bits and pieces of information they offer as teasers. Its still often times very valuable info, so take it.

    -Tell yourself BEFORE opening an email, you wont become emotionally attached to any product or service offered on the upsell. You are reading the video to get tidbits or information ONLY...and convince yourself you dont need any more products because YOU DONT. At the end of the day, you probably have more than enough information already to make a good living online, you just need to implement. Most everything revolves around the basic foundamentals of IM..the basics...despite what the gurus try and convince you otherwise before a sales pitch.

    -Be sure to analyze what gurus are sending, how often they are sending, how they are writing, their style, their length and tone, etc. You should be doing the same as you promote



    At the end of the day like I was just saying, CPA marketing revolves around very basic concepts. I personally was making great money without having any insider information, without knowing people in the industry and having relationships, without being technical at all. Just remember core concepts, be a tad bit creative and work your butt off at implementing.

    Wishing you the best on your journey my friend!



    Originally Posted by macchiavelli View Post

    I remember making my first $1000 day on CPA and I only spent $100 in ads to reach that.
    It was a wonderfull feeling and that campaign still makes me money to this day.

    Its weird campaigns that seem strange that make me the most money these days.

    Like 250 business card type offers, I mean I advertise that stuff via google on the weirdest sites out there and make bank!
    My first $1000 net day was one of my most proud moments, I can honestly say. It was that moment when I really internalized how much potential there is online. Until then, I acted like I believed it but there was still a shadow of doubt that big numbers can be achieved by "everyday people".
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  • Profile picture of the author ukJoe
    Originally Posted by KevScarb View Post

    Cashvertising by Drew Eric Whitman ( google it ). This book explains the life force 8. In effect how we, as humans are hard wired to react to certain things. This book has helped me target how I write campaigns. When I started to apply the life force 8 rules my sales and conversions increased by over 30%. It's also a key factor in how I do well with facebook.
    Kev,
    I just finished reading this book. could not put it down. Awesome. I can't thank you enough for recommending it.

    I just wrote a new article using the stuff he talks about in the book

    thanks again.
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    • Profile picture of the author KevScarb
      Originally Posted by ukJoe View Post

      Kev,
      I just finished reading this book. could not put it down. Awesome. I can't thank you enough for recommending it.

      I just wrote a new article using the stuff he talks about in the book

      thanks again.
      Glad you found it a help Joe.
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      • Profile picture of the author ukJoe
        Originally Posted by KevScarb View Post

        Glad you found it a help Joe.
        Picked up the Dan Kennedy one this week too
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  • Profile picture of the author Jetmir
    Thank you so much for posting this. It's really useful.
    Signature

    ATTENTION: Do you wanna make up to 100$ a DAY with 20 minutes of super-easy work?

    It's never been easier. Send me a Private Message for details.
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  • Profile picture of the author KingNacho
    Great information in this thread! The Cashvertising book was a great read. I tweaked a few of my landing pages using some of that info and saw immediate improvement in my ads.
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  • Profile picture of the author cashmagnet
    Fantastic guide most of what you said is great points that anyone should take on or reflect on
    Signature

    If your looking for fast success with low failure get a coach/consultation, DM for skyp bookings.

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  • Profile picture of the author Armin
    Banned
    [DELETED]
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    • Profile picture of the author Kenster
      Originally Posted by Armin View Post

      Well, you gotta invest some money in order to make money.

      Generally yes and admittedly, it will help speed things up.

      But the awesome thing is that you can do things for little to no monetary risk online. Its pretty incredible!


      But yes, guides, WSOs, ebooks, coaches, courses, memberships, mentors, seminars can all help as well. Certainly not necessary though!


      ~ken
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    • Profile picture of the author jeffrey73
      Originally Posted by Armin View Post

      Well, you gotta invest some money in order to make money.
      Absolutely farthest from the truth in this business. You could literally use Blogger, Weebly, Squidoo or Hubpages to build a site ( 100% FREE ) and purely market using articles, free press releases, videos, blogging and Craigslist and build your way from nothing to quite a lot!

      It's not the preferred route to go, but nevertheless, if you're completely broke it could work.
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      • Profile picture of the author Kenster
        Originally Posted by jeffrey73 View Post

        Absolutely farthest from the truth in this business. You could literally use Blogger, Weebly, Squidoo or Hubpages to build a site ( 100% FREE ) and purely market using articles, free press releases, videos, blogging and Craigslist and build your way from nothing to quite a lot!

        It's not the preferred route to go, but nevertheless, if you're completely broke it could work.

        Jeff, how absolutely amazing is that!!


        Set up a free blog. Do some bum marketing at chat rooms, forums, calssified sites, maybe do some article marketing or video marketing using free software etc to get traffic to your free blog which will have CPA offers on them.

        Now you have a free web property, you are using free traffic, theres only upside (assuming you arent calculating your time as a cost). As you earn a few bucks doing that, then invest in your own domain, your own hosting, and keep expanding from there without ever riskign a penny!
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  • Profile picture of the author internetsweetie
    awesome - thank you.
    Signature

    Internet Sweetie
    ---

    Freedom from the 9 to 5 can be so sweet.

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  • Profile picture of the author tjm2788
    You mention that one of the reasons people fail is because they dont understand how to identify buying keywords. Does anyone have any advice or resources that discuss finding buying keywords?
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    • Profile picture of the author Kenster
      Originally Posted by tjm2788 View Post

      You mention that one of the reasons people fail is because they dont understand how to identify buying keywords. Does anyone have any advice or resources that discuss finding buying keywords?

      I dont have a resource to point you to but just think about the keyword and what the user is thinking as they type it in. For example, the keyword 'iphone screen protector' is probably a bad keyword for a free iphone offer because the person most likely already has an iphone if they are looking for a screen protector, whereas the keyword 'cheapest iphone store' probably suggests the person is looking for an iphone to buy, thus a free iphone offer would convert better here.

      Same is true for the keyword 'Epson Printer' versus an exact model number like 'Epson ES983 Printer'

      ~ken
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    • Profile picture of the author KevScarb
      Originally Posted by tjm2788 View Post

      You mention that one of the reasons people fail is because they dont understand how to identify buying keywords. Does anyone have any advice or resources that discuss finding buying keywords?

      You can check commercial intent here Detecting Online Commercial Intention: Audience Intelligence: adCenter Labs

      The other thing I would advise is, just look how you search yourself.

      But terms like, " best " " buy " " compare " " price " are good indicators, as are product specifics.

      For example " leather case for iphone 4" As you can see you could ad any of the other words I mention above to this phrase and it would be stronger still.

      You can also use a tool like Market Samurai to help with this.
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  • Profile picture of the author Your Lover
    Excellent Post!! Thank You.
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  • Profile picture of the author mocapital
    One of the best posts,I have read at the forum...Thanks
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  • Profile picture of the author drcrdc
    Hi Ken
    I used to do PPC but I got banned by Adwords few months ago just like others. I'm now focusing on SEO for long term but it seems FB is alternate way to go. What you recommend for FB ?
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  • Profile picture of the author Kenster
    Hey! Not sure what you are asking in terms of what I recommend as far as Facebook advertising is concerned. I dont personally focus on Facebook but perhaps I can steer you in the right direction if you give me a more specific question!!

    And yeah, a bunch of affiliates got the Google whip. Just rebound and carve out some success again!

    ~Ken
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  • Profile picture of the author Zach Crawford
    This is by far one of the best post's I have read. Between you and Kenster I now have enough motivation, and a direction to start venturing into IM. I think most people quit because they are looking for a quick buck, and not a real business model. With anything you do in life it takes hard work. I don't care if takes 3 years to build a legit business it will be worth it down the road. Thank you guys for your contributions to this forum. Kenster I'm buying your wos tonight. Look for my success story in the future. I have never failed at any venture I started and I don't plan on it now ; )
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    • Profile picture of the author Kenster
      Originally Posted by 88crxsi View Post

      This is by far one of the best post's I have read. Between you and Kenster I now have enough motivation, and a direction to start venturing into IM. I think most people quit because they are looking for a quick buck, and not a real business model. With anything you do in life it takes hard work. I don't care if takes 3 years to build a legit business it will be worth it down the road. Thank you guys for your contributions to this forum. Kenster I'm buying your wos tonight. Look for my success story in the future. I have never failed at any venture I started and I don't plan on it now ; )

      Awesome man, this is one you certainly dont want to fail at!

      The phenomenal thing about internet marketing is that you can build income streams that will earn you money into the future. This isnt just a pipedream, its real and people of all ages do it every day. Some people dont want to make a career out of it and that is completely fine. You can work your butt off now to create systems that will earn you money as you work in whatever career you want. For example, you want to be a pilot. You can build a list of 75k and then make a a good solid 6 figure supplemental income while being a pilot and only workign a few hours a week incubating and writing copy for your list. Its pretty amazing.

      Best of luck!

      ~ken
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  • Profile picture of the author Kenster
    You are right Kevin!


    And its a bit trickier when doing this for CPA because normally you arent promoting an actual product as much as an idea or a more generalized service. Thus its a little trickier or at least a bit different to find less competitive buying keywords for a best buy gift card than if you were just an affiliate for a certain type of camera best buy had. Its a bit broader and trickier but I guess that leaves you with more room for creativity which is always nice.

    ~ken
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  • Profile picture of the author anwar001
    Very inspirational. You have linked to some very good resources and other wf threads in your post. Thanks!
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  • Profile picture of the author Naveen Kapur
    hmm! Gr8 Post! This post already has plenty of points for the next email promotion of "Get Rich Quick"
    Now lets see ;
    1) Training (Program)
    2) Methodology (Books)
    3) Writing Great Material (Service)
    4) A Good Product, not very expensive (Crux of the story)

    Result:
    Success with not less than 40 hrs of good hard labor a week

    See, it's easy!
    Tell me if I missed something. I am already getting trained here.....
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  • Profile picture of the author Kenster
    Naveen, not sure I'm following you here. Maybe I'm just slow today :rolleyes:
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  • Profile picture of the author Naveen Kapur
    Just thanking you for great tips on my Next Mailer. I believe I picked plenty of points here. Gr8 post. Thank you. I could not think of a better strategy for convincing my readers.
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    • Profile picture of the author Kenster
      Originally Posted by Naveen Kapur View Post

      Just thanking you for great tips on my Next Mailer. I believe I picked plenty of points here. Gr8 post. Thank you. I could not think of a better strategy for convincing my readers.

      Gotcha...thanking KevScarb not me though!

      See you around :p
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  • Profile picture of the author blog
    I just got The Cashvertising book after some recommendation from this thread......
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  • Profile picture of the author Mr.S
    congratulation good job. I have passed the 2 month mark going strong
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    • Profile picture of the author Kenster
      Originally Posted by Mr.S View Post

      congratulation good job. I have passed the 2 month mark going strong

      Mr. S must stend for Mr. Strong huh!! :p
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  • Profile picture of the author Mr.S
    Thanks Kenster. I am trying to build a business rather than quick income. From There I can do anything CPA, sell info etc.

    Thanks
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    • Profile picture of the author KevScarb
      Originally Posted by Mr.S View Post

      Thanks Kenster. I am trying to build a business rather than quick income. From There I can do anything CPA, sell info etc.

      Thanks
      That is the right way to approach it. Good for you Mr S
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  • Profile picture of the author liftedjesse
    Great post with awesome pointers! Thx!
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  • Profile picture of the author SRF
    Amazing post and this one is my favorite line

    Firstly : Check my number of forum posts - in one year , not many, why ? because you don't make money sitting on here, you make make money taking action and getting things done
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    • Profile picture of the author KevScarb
      Originally Posted by SRF View Post

      Amazing post and this one is my favorite line

      Firstly : Check my number of forum posts - in one year , not many, why ? because you don't make money sitting on here, you make make money taking action and getting things done

      Yes and I stick by it.

      This is my first day on the forum in well over a month, Trying to get stuff done, and get ready for the big holiday push , does not give me time to hang out here, even when I would like to. Finally some light at the end of the tunnel this week though !

      Kev
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  • Profile picture of the author Trevor
    I would like to thank you for this great post - I think I now know what to do and where to aim my efforts...

    I have a few noob questions though. I would greatly appreciate if you replied to them.

    1. Do you engage in just one market or do you expand your business to more markets/niches after "dominating" one? Is it even possible to fully conquer a market?

    2. Also, in one market, are you creating just one list or more of them, each for a more narrowed selection (e.g. in weight loss niche, one list for men and one for women)?

    3. Do you build smaller sites, each dedicated to one product or a couple of products in the chosen market? Or do you create larger sites? I am not sure If I grasp the way you do it.

    Thank you again and good luck,
    Trevor
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    • Profile picture of the author Abdi Shakur
      Originally Posted by Tekamolo View Post

      I would like to thank you for this great post - I think I now know what to do and where to aim my efforts...

      I have a few noob questions though. I would greatly appreciate if you replied to them.

      1. Do you engage in just one market or do you expand your business to more markets/niches after "dominating" one? Is it even possible to fully conquer a market?

      2. Also, in one market, are you creating just one list or more of them, each for a more narrowed selection (e.g. in weight loss niche, one list for men and one for women)?

      3. Do you build smaller sites, each dedicated to one product or a couple of products in the chosen market? Or do you create larger sites? I am not sure If I grasp the way you do it.

      Thank you again and good luck,
      Trevor
      I have got the same question as Tekamolo here when creating your website is it wiser to promote one offer in that particular niche or is it possible to promote different related offers on that niche on one website. Also Thank You Very much Kev and Kenstar really appreciate all this great knowledge you guys are giving to us just starting out.
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      • Profile picture of the author Kenster
        Originally Posted by Hopeful Warrior View Post

        I have got the same question as Tekamolo here when creating your website is it wiser to promote one offer in that particular niche or is it possible to promote different related offers on that niche on one website. Also Thank You Very much Kev and Kenstar really appreciate all this great knowledge you guys are giving to us just starting out.

        You can certainly promote more than one offer on a site. Sometimes it's better to promote more than one and sometimes its good to focus, it really depends on what kinds of lander you are looking to build.

        In fact, sometimes combining or bunching offers in a system is a good way to substantially increase your bottom line. For example, in the weight loss vertical, many publishers have set up systems (some more ethical than others) where they tell visitors there are multiple steps in the process of weight loss. Step 1 is a colon cleanse CPA offer, Step 2 is an **** berry CPA offer etc.

        Other marketers have just suggested visitors try two trial offers at once. There copy will say, try these TWO teeth whitener trials and see which one works best for you.

        They are thus bundling offers to try and maximize the average commission per visitor.


        And of course some people have more "directory" style sites where they list dozens or hundreds of CPA offers.

        So the short answer is YES, you can promote more than one offer at once
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        • Profile picture of the author Abdi Shakur
          Thanks for the reply Kenster i was thinking of creating a landing page in a blog review style give the basic info that the customers require and then let them choose which offer suits thier needs best. But certainly wasn't thinking about or interested in building a list, i found this thread at the perfect time. now i will be definetly be also concentrating on building a list as well as getting traffic to my site. And i will also be trying to Add Value as Kenster always says

          thanks for the response Kenster

          And again a huge thanks to Kev for this very informative thread.
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          • Profile picture of the author Kenster
            Originally Posted by Hopeful Warrior View Post

            Thanks for the reply Kenster i was thinking of creating a landing page in a blog review style give the basic info that the customers require and then let them choose which offer suits thier needs best. But certainly wasn't thinking about or interested in building a list, i found this thread at the perfect time. now i will be definetly be also concentrating on building a list as well as getting traffic to my site. And i will also be trying to Add Value as Kenster always says

            thanks for the response Kenster

            And again a huge thanks to Kev for this very informative thread.

            Good stuff!

            The one thing I would point out is that normally you need to direct your visitor at least a little bit. Believe it or not, consumers would rather be told what is best and what to do rather than make the decision completely on their own...that's why they are on the net trying to get information on what others think.

            And that is why review style works well when you rank offers. Blog styles where you tell visitors exactly what to do like Step 1, Step 2 often work even better.

            So I dont know exactly what your plan was, but I would at least have some direction for your visitors instead of just listing offers.

            Just my two cents!!

            Best of luck!
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      • Profile picture of the author KevScarb
        Originally Posted by Hopeful Warrior View Post

        I have got the same question as Tekamolo here when creating your website is it wiser to promote one offer in that particular niche or is it possible to promote different related offers on that niche on one website. Also Thank You Very much Kev and Kenstar really appreciate all this great knowledge you guys are giving to us just starting out.
        It does depend a little if you are doing paid traffic, or building for organic traffic. Paid I will always send to one offer, though I will test different pages to see which does best.

        I always make my own landers, I never use the companies , though I may base mine on theirs, I control everything. it is the only way to track what works.

        Organic traffic I will make a site with a tight theme, but with variations.
        An examaple would be..

        Payday loans
        24hr loans
        logbook loans

        Payday Loans no credit check.

        Google keyword tool on exact match will give you the terms you need to target. Build a site around those terms.
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    • Profile picture of the author KevScarb
      Originally Posted by Tekamolo View Post

      I would like to thank you for this great post - I think I now know what to do and where to aim my efforts...

      I have a few noob questions though. I would greatly appreciate if you replied to them.

      1. Do you engage in just one market or do you expand your business to more markets/niches after "dominating" one? Is it even possible to fully conquer a market?

      2. Also, in one market, are you creating just one list or more of them, each for a more narrowed selection (e.g. in weight loss niche, one list for men and one for women)?

      3. Do you build smaller sites, each dedicated to one product or a couple of products in the chosen market? Or do you create larger sites? I am not sure If I grasp the way you do it.

      Thank you again and good luck,
      Trevor
      Hi Trevor,
      first sorry for the late reply,but as I have said before I tend to spend most of my time on the campaigns rather than on the forum, saying that it does help if, when I do log in I check replies in my own thread

      These are great question, so let me reply.


      Re Question 1 When I started, or rather I should say once I started getting coaching, my focus was on one market only. Now I am full time for over a year I am of course entering new markets, but the process is the same. So my answer would be dominate one first. The reason for this is you need benchmark numbers. You need to now how a market performs. Let's say I am promoting Grants 360, which most networks have as a high performer, If I just focus on that one doing landers for grants, and getting those names onto my list I can see which traffic source , delivers. In only a short I can see if Traffic Vance, Lead Impact, Media Traffic, or any other media, perform well for that page. If it does well on T.V. and sucks on M.T I know its MT that is the problem not my page.


      Question 2 - More than one list, just as you describe.


      Question 3

      Smaller sites , so like in your example, I may have a site on weight loss pills, but also one on the product itself, say proactol. Selling face cream ? site on face creams, but also one on Hydroxatone. I hope that gives you the idea.

      For paid traffic, I always focus just on one product and one offer, you don't want to confuse the buyer.
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      • Profile picture of the author Kenster
        Originally Posted by KevScarb View Post

        Hi Trevor,
        first sorry for the late reply,but as I have said before I tend to spend most of my time on the campaigns rather than on the forum, saying that it does help if, when I do log in I check replies in my own thread

        These are great question, so let me reply.


        Re Question 1 When I started, or rather I should say once I started getting coaching, my focus was on one market only. Now I am full time for over a year I am of course entering new markets, but the process is the same. So my answer would be dominate one first. The reason for this is you need benchmark numbers. You need to now how a market performs. Let's say I am promoting Grants 360, which most networks have as a high performer, If I just focus on that one doing landers for grants, and getting those names onto my list I can see which traffic source , delivers. In only a short I can see if Traffic Vance, Lead Impact, Media Traffic, or any other media, perform well for that page. If it does well on T.V. and sucks on M.T I know its MT that is the problem not my page.


        Question 2 - More than one list, just as you describe.


        Question 3

        Smaller sites , so like in your example, I may have a site on weight loss pills, but also one on the product itself, say proactol. Selling face cream ? site on face creams, but also one on Hydroxatone. I hope that gives you the idea.

        For paid traffic, I always focus just on one product and one offer, you don't want to confuse the buyer.

        Great comments.

        When building a list, you are generally faced with the following dilemma. If you lump all your lists into one massive subscriber list covering multiple niches and groups of prospects, then it's hard to market to the whole list effectively at once.

        Thus, creating much smaller, more distinct lists is much more effective because you can create unique sales messages for each specific targeted group and increase conversions substantially.

        BUT, the more targeted you go, the more work there is an creating email campaigns, so you don't always want to segregate your lists too much because then it can be a full time job just doing the email marketing (like if you had 100 different lists).

        So you must find that balance of grouping prospects adequately enough to build unique sales messages that convert, but not too much where it becomes too confusing and too much work to market to those lists.
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  • Profile picture of the author Zeid Makkawi
    Thanks for KevScarb for making this thread,
    It's really great to hear other people journal and grats for your success mate.

    Honestly, your post just teach me how stay focused and discipline. Theres tons of valuable lesson for me, and i can't thank you enough for you mate.

    Also thanks for stianrist post for making such statement, it just show how stuff can be done if they have the right mindset and plan.

    Cheers,
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  • Profile picture of the author CarlosG
    Wow, Is all I can say congratulations.
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  • Profile picture of the author tcmite
    nothing but guru's here
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    • Profile picture of the author KevScarb
      Originally Posted by tcmite View Post

      nothing but guru's here

      I'm no Guru pal, or should that be goo roo, nothing for sale in my sig. I just do what works and drop what doesn't.
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  • Profile picture of the author foulmouth
    Thanks so much for taking the time to write out your path to success. It would be a good idea for anyone who is interested in CPA to take the time to read through this.
    Signature
    Steal Your Life Back! - Helping Budding Entrepreneurs Navigate Their Way to a Solid Passive Income
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  • Profile picture of the author Tallguy83
    Hey Kev,

    Congrats on your achievement!!

    Do you build micro niche sites or more of an authority type sites(like health)?
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    • Amazing story. Congrats on your success!
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      • Profile picture of the author Chris215
        awesome post!

        Could someone explain, in what terms does creating a list mean? Like for organization purpose, to-do list, or list of keywords?
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        • Profile picture of the author MeelisM
          Originally Posted by Chris215 View Post

          awesome post!

          Could someone explain, in what terms does creating a list mean? Like for organization purpose, to-do list, or list of keywords?
          It's an e-mail list. You collect people's emails and then send them information e-mails and e-mails with affiliate or cpa links. Thus you will be making money.
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  • Profile picture of the author mrhenzy
    Banned
    [DELETED]
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    • Profile picture of the author Kenster
      Originally Posted by mrhenzy View Post

      I started to build a list. - Yes ,the reason for a 100k month in July is because for a year my focus is about the list.

      The hardest thing in this industry is to get yourself to start doing, and stop reading,but with that said, let me first tell you what you should read.

      nice Tips ,hope you can share more tips!


      ACTION BABY, that's what its about. I was up at 6:30am this morning throwing together a quick test campaign that I thought of overnight. It's Sunday morning by the way. It's action that makes money.

      Supplement the action with learning and reading of course, but make sure its the supplement and not the focus.



      Who else has taken action before coming on to the forums here????
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  • Profile picture of the author echin
    Hi Kev,

    What a great post. Very down to earth and very true what you have said. You are spot on. I have to discover some of those the hard way too. Thanks for your contribution.
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  • Profile picture of the author KeepFaith
    I just love this thread! The books you recommend are the STUFF! Read them a while ago! :-)
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  • Profile picture of the author justin482000
    hey stianris, can you tell what my budget should be to be able to hire Dave Ward?

    Thank you!
    Signature

    There's a famous saying, "Entrepreneurship is about living a few years of your life like most won’t, so that you can live the rest of your life like most can’t."

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    • Profile picture of the author stianris
      Originally Posted by justin482000 View Post

      hey stianris, can you tell what my budget should be to be able to hire Dave Ward?

      Thank you!
      Hello Justin

      Dave charges $997 per month, which in my opinion is nothing compared to what you get in return. What he teaches you is pure gold, nothing you will ever find online or in any gooroo ebook! If you apply, it doesn't mean he will take you in tho, as he is very selective with his clients. His focus with the one on one coaching is building a real business.

      Hope that helped

      Regards,

      Stian
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      • Profile picture of the author JTzor
        This is the best thread ever!

        Keep rocking it you guys! All of you - learn it, use it, prosper!

        That sounds like the formula.

        - JT
        Signature
        "The Path to success is not a straight line but a jagged, broken road which we must piece together & make our own."

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  • Profile picture of the author VictorVorrison
    Thanks Kev.

    Really awesome post. This thread is inspiring.I honestly think that you should write an ebook or start a coaching program.I really really meant it.I would definitely buy it in a heartbeat.

    Victor
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    • Profile picture of the author KevScarb
      Originally Posted by VictorVorrison View Post

      Thanks Kev.

      Really awesome post. This thread is inspiring.I honestly think that you should write an ebook or start a coaching program.I really really meant it.I would definitely buy it in a heartbeat.

      Victor
      Glad you find the post inspiring Victor, but sorry no ebooks or coaching from me.I have no interest in making money online telling people how to make money online !. When I can pass on advice, I will do it, but not by selling courses. Enough doing that already.
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      • Profile picture of the author Kenster
        Originally Posted by KevScarb View Post

        Glad you find the post inspiring Victor, but sorry no ebooks or coaching from me.I have no interest in making money online telling people how to make money online !. When I can pass on advice, I will do it, but not by selling courses. Enough doing that already.

        Respect!

        A true warrior providing plenty of value on this forum. Congrats Kev
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  • Profile picture of the author panduari
    wow What an excellent thread!

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    GUARANTEEE $3000/month, i made it in 2 months.
    just Check This Out before you late
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  • Profile picture of the author ukJoe
    Kev, thanks for the heads up to Dave. Though I could not afford his fees for coaching, he did me a personal plan last Augustm, and I just had my first $1500 month, all from non paid traffic. Still some way to go to catch you though.
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  • Profile picture of the author ayahanda
    Wow! Wow! Wow! Thank you for sharing this valuable information with us.

    I am now focusing with Mobile CPA. So far so gooood!

    Hope I too can write a post like you did here before March 2012.
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    A mobile commerce entrepreneur and mobile website developer. Visit my blog

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  • Profile picture of the author zlc000190
    Thank you for your share
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  • Profile picture of the author sloanjim
    so what exacly are you using to tempt people onto your mailing list? Free report/book? Lates quotes? And do you have to spend time sending good info. to them via email or just the latest offers?
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    • Profile picture of the author KevScarb
      Originally Posted by sloanjim View Post

      so what exacly are you using to tempt people onto your mailing list? Free report/book? Lates quotes? And do you have to spend time sending good info. to them via email or just the latest offers?
      Yes , some form of information that fits the offer. If it was for a debt offer, then a something like a quick save guide" 5 easy ways to keep more money in your pocket " that kind of thing.

      And yes I spend time sending good info. It cost money to build that list, so I always try to send information that has value.
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      • Profile picture of the author webtails
        Originally Posted by KevScarb View Post

        Yes , some form of information that fits the offer. If it was for a debt offer, then a something like a quick save guide" 5 easy ways to keep more money in your pocket " that kind of thing.

        And yes I spend time sending good info. It cost money to build that list, so I always try to send information that has value.
        Sorry, this is a newbie question, but when you're building the list the same time as the offer, are you asking them to do two actions (sign up for newsletter, and do offer separately), or are you bundling it all up into one?
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        • Profile picture of the author KevScarb
          Originally Posted by webtails View Post

          Sorry, this is a newbie question, but when you're building the list the same time as the offer, are you asking them to do two actions (sign up for newsletter, and do offer separately), or are you bundling it all up into one?
          If I am getting traffic to a particular page, then my focus is just on getting them on the list. So in this case " the offer " is just something that gives them enough reason to give me their details in return for extra information that is of value to them.

          oh and sorry I took 6 months to reply, I don't come on here so much these days.
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  • Profile picture of the author perfectlovehere
    Wow that's pretty impressive! It's definitely inspirational to hear about others succeeding in making money online. A great strategy seems to be to "TAKE ACTION". Without action it may be a lot less likely for anyone to hit a target.
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  • Profile picture of the author HAWTs
    Thanks so much for sharing.
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  • Profile picture of the author prashanth502
    I dont know how to promote my products and from where to promote and also plz give me info which sites i use.Any examples u r product sites or blogs for a look and how to market that.

    plz pm
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  • Profile picture of the author BILLSBILLION
    Brilliant stuff!!!
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    "Life begins at the end of your comfort zone." True, or true?!
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