Two and A Half Years to make $30 / Week... Feeling Hopeless.

Hello,
it is all about just finding the ONE THING that works, there are so many internet marketers working on ten things at one time and net getting the ONE THING right.

Hi Brandon,

I feel your pain, I've been there as have a lot of people on this forum. At some point you do need to ask yourself if you could be earning more by investing those hours offline doing overtime or what have you.

Having said that - $30/week is great if it's consistent income. You have something golden whether you realize it or not. You have data on what is actually selling. What you need to do is really analyse where that $30\week is coming from. What is making the $30 and what is time spent with no return. Then, at the risk of using a cliche you'll see in nearly every thread on this board. Rinse and repeat.

Just make sure you are putting your time into what you already know is converting to cash and not into what is sucking up time because people tell you it SHOULD work. you have the data of what IS working for you. Now use it.

Good Luck.

You have had more success than many wannabe noobs on here. Don't be so hard on yourself. Why don't you take a break from what you're doing? Step back and look at the big picture. Maybe even write a short report on how you got your sites to number one and infused with traffic. WSO maybe?

Hey Brandon!

Don't give up. If you are able to get 5,000+ visits per month, you should be able getting 10 times more. Just learn how to drive targeted traffic, and you'll see much better results.

If you believe this stuff doesn't work for you, why not to try something else? Domain/website flipping, or building FB pages for offline businesses, or creating mobile websites. Or maybe you can build a membership website. Or offer some services. What can you do?

Both ways are good, and both work. I've always found smaller niche sites to be the easier option (they're certainly a faster way to make money), but there's alot to be said for having an authority site and building a list too.

If you're getting 5000 visitors a month you're more than half way there. Alot of people do everything 'just right' but can't get traffic. You've obviously got some good SEO skills to get page 1 rankings.

I would imagine your problem is in the way you're preselling, or in your product/niche choices. Are you targetting any 'desperate' niches? How well do you know your markets? You need to really be in touch with your market so that you can provide exactly what they want.

Hey Brandon,

Just keep at it. Try tweaking a few things. How are you driving to your site? I agree with Charlotte Jay, take a little break. Let your mind relax for a few days. And writing a WSO is a great idea. Trust me, a lot of people would love to know how you got your sites to the #1 spots. You could easily make a couple hundred or even thousand in a few days with a WSO containing that type of info.

WTH man... most people are lucky to get 100 visitors a day (if that).

If you're getting 5000 targeted hits, you need to be collecting those emails and funneling them to a sales page (with the backend in place).

... if it's conversions that are the problem, hit up the copywriting forum or get some books!

Ansar

Yes it can be frustrating. It sounds like you've followed the "mainstream" strategies. The Internet is so big and so inundated by people who are looking for the golden nuggets that they lose sight of some tinier gems. I think the key is to find niches with strong demand and low competition.

That is an easy blanket statement for sure but my suggestion is to keep an eye out for narrowly focused markets which are relatively unknown but which still generate interest. The other thing I've found is that there is still great demand for well written content. With all the websites and blogs out there, people are screaming for content to populate these sites which are relevant, informative and well written. Many people simply don't know how to do this and are seeking folks who have the experience and expertise to do it for them. So you might want to check out these kinds of personal services more seriously. I think the days of simple websites selling oodles of affiliate ebooks are long gone. In any case good luck with it.

you shouldn't,that is great your making consistent income online!

Thanks guys, I guess for me I have offered SEO services etc before but I REALLY have always wanted my main focus to be affiliate sites.

I guess my biggest problem is WHAT exactly a visitor should see when they first hit my site. Do they see an informative article with non-pushy links? Do they get a selly resource box at the end? Should they hit a product review right away? And I don't know how to choose the right one.

A lot of web dev tasks can be simplified and/or automated. It sounds like you have been doing everything by hand, which is taking up lots and lots of time. Think about using Wordpress as a platform, and the hundreds of tools built around that. This gives you way more time to try many different things at the same time and see which catches.

Although, I usually recommend finding one thing getting it consistent and then moving on to another, rather than trying everything at once. Different things work for different people though.

Offer a free report/product/idea
Build a list
Send that list some affiliate offers

Alternatively:

Build a blog, about your IM plight.
Get followers.
Send those followers affiliate offers.

I can go on and on and on, and this is only with affiliate marketing.

Hope it works out for you man!

Have you considered using your skills to help local businesses get more sales/clients/leads etc?

Looks like you have the necessary skills for this, having achieved numerous number 1 ranking sites and and getting thousands of visitors every month.

If you can get a site with 5000 visitors a month, that is fantastic!

Have you ever considered AdSense as an alternative to affiliate marketing? If you have a few sites getting decent traffic, thats a start.

If you are tired of doing CB products then switch ur pages to small niche AdSense sites and see how they do.

Just my 2 cents.

30 bucks a week isnt bad at all by the way!

How long does it typically take you to create a website and reach 5k visitors per month? I don't have much experience in this personally, but you could consider domain flipping - creating websites, gaining traffic, and selling them to other marketers. If you find getting to #1 for niche terms fairly easy - consider reaching out to local businesses to help them establish an online presence - there's many options to consider. Affiliate marketing may not be your niche!

I would kill for $30 a month! Then I would double whatever was making the $30. eventually there comes a time when you may need to divert your attention to your other interests, and move past IM. If you choose to do so, please let me know the secret to making $30.

Hi Brandon!

I definitely feel your pain!

Many years ago when I started in IM, I read a lot about bum marketing revolving around clickbank products and was sold on it. I spent hundreds of hours every month doing it and had an unimpressive little bit to show for it.....As it turns out, I wasn't testing and tweaking what I could do to improve my conversions which is key AND I personally was not in love with the whole thing and was going through the motions and it showed.....

Now I don't do it anymore and now I am focused in affiliate marketing with Wordpress sites which I truly love and finding success instead of with bum marketing.

So let me suggest that you ask yourself 2 questions....

1) What in your business model can be tested and tweaked to improve overall results?....It all boils down to traffic and conversion....It sounds like your traffic is excellent, so what can you test and tweak in terms of conversions. Take some time and research some great posts on here and other sub-forums that focus on improving your conversions...They're out there!

2) Do you honestly love what you do? I know it's hard to love something that doesn't yield you any results in the short term but think about your business model and all of the steps involved. Do a little soul searching....If there's any aspect of it that you don't like, think about delegating/outsourcing what you don't like (if possible) or reengineer the process so that you like it more by setting up more steps that are more enjoyable.

With any endeavor, I always keep the above 2 questions in mind after I take the plunge.

I wish for you great success no matter what you decide to pursue!

I agree with Ansar, add an opt-in form to your sites. Its hard to tell why your not making more without seeing your sites (and you shouldn't reveal them), but capturing their email allows you another chance to sell to them. Create a freebie or get hold of some good PLR related to your niche and start building a list. Good luck!


Michelle

I have to agree with Michelle. Definitely get an autoresponder service like aweber and get those visitors to sign up to your "newsletter" with a free product related to your niche sites. Then sent them affiliate offers from clickbank or your own stuff you can create. Adsense is also another choice, but don't clutter your site if you have no ads at the moment. It may turn off returning visitors (if that applys to your site).

Hey Bran

I'm guessing you have tried a variety of products, not just eBooks...

Would you care to share most details to enlighten the rest of us (without giving away your niches) I'm sure more details as to the number of visitors you get to earn those $30, what actual conversion rates you experience and just how many niches you have tried.

This forum may be a bit biased toward keeping it positive but there certainly a benefit from hearing others bad beat stories without having to go through all of it first hand.

Some of the biggest earning tales I have heard were from people driving CPA with paid media in it's golden year, I suppose the word has gotten out and saturated that area since then .

At this point, I'm fine revealing niches I'd just like any help I can get with my sites. One of the main disappointments to me has been "Why Am I Always Tired?" - Free Resource For Ending Tiredness - Why Am I Always Tired? - Free Course For Ending Tiredness

I used to have an opt in on there but it didn't work so for now it's just sat in its current (and not very good) incarnation for some time while I try to figure out how to correct it. It currently ranks highly for 'always feeling tired', 'why am i always tired?' and 'why am i so tired?'

If you have any advice on how to better layout/monetize the site please do let me know!

Another is Caring for Betta Fish 101 - Betta Fish Care For Beginners - Caring For Betta Fish - A Beginner's Guide though this isn't ranked for all of it's keywords yet so I can't be sure how it will perform, though right now conversions seem pretty lackluster. (currently ranked for 'caring for betta fish' working on 'betta fish care')

You've got skills, so the last 2+ years hasn't been a total waste of time. You know where and how to get traffic, which is usually the hardest task for most.

Keep experimenting around and try other affiliate programs and networks other than CB.

You could also offer your own services or even sell some of your sites. Don't give up, you've acquired to much knowledge and experience to give up now. The money could be just right around the corner!

You could be 3 feet from gold man and not even know it.

But then...

If you don't have the drive to keep on keepin on, and you can walk away without regret or thinking 'what if' then maybe you should call it a day and hang up the mouse once and for all.

And if you do decide to do that it's not the end of the world mate - just find and follow your passion, and it will lead you to a place of awesome - which just so happens to be next door to hugh heffners place

Oh btw - i forgot this other gem...

The more you get it wrong (if you are paying attention) the closer you will be to getting it right.

Personally, I think it's possibly an issue of poor choice in products to promote.

You have a decent site going with the "tiredness" one - good number of searches in total for the keywords you rank for (but you should push them higher). The problem is that I'm not so sure that someone who is suffering from that issue would want to buy an ebook on it, you know what I mean?

Take my advice with a grain of salt, but you might be better off looking for something related to that issue that might be more beneficial to the user (and would make them pull out their credit card). I say "take it with a grain of salt" because I didn't really look at the product/ebook at all, admittedly. I haven't done much in the way of Clickbank promoting, so maybe I'm wrong and people do actually buy these kinds of things.

Just some advice from someone that has actually suffered from that problem before.

Hey
dont give up man i know how you feel!!!

have you thouht of using adsense, CPA,ebay,groupon might help,I think dont just use Clickbank some people now use clickbank as a public libarey

I think you need better squeeze page on your sites send me PM i got some free templetes i can email you might help

how sofware do you use to build your web sites??? have you thought of switching to wordpress with good adsense theme????

keep at it it will work

Start reading some copywriting and marketing books. I mean actual physical books from Amazon, not ebooks. Read the old-school classics and focus on books written around the principles of direct response. You need to learn the fundamentals.

I honestly think this is the smartest thing any aspiring marketer can do.

There are far too many great books to list here, but there's a huge list here:

http://www.warriorforum.com/copywrit...ooks-ever.html

If you want to start tonight, start with
Scientific Advertising (pdf)

and
My life in advertising - Google Books

Two of the first books ever written on the subject and are pretty much required reading. Best of all, they're in public domain!

IMHO the first few chapters of Breakthrough Advertising by Eugene Schwarts is about the most awesome thing ever written (the rest rocks too)... but if you're new to this kind of education you may need to read it a few times before it really sinks in, don't feel bad.

Anyway, I won't list any more because I could fill this whole page with books LOL.

Read read read read for the next few weeks/months and things will start to make more sense.

find out what make you earn money and what not. focus on what make you earn money.

I know what you mean by that, I was stuck in that scenario a couple of years ago and decided to invest in a mentor and never look back, i did a lot of research before I chose who to use but if you can work along side someone on a one to one basis who has proven methods and is already successful I found you get to the point you want to be a lot quicker and when your getting frustrated you've got someone to help.

H Branlan.

I took a quick look around your site. Did you write the copy?

Here's my penny's worth for what it's worth mate. The secret of sales, online and off, is in the copy. There are times in the copy of the 'Tiredness' site that it flips from personal to third party and this is confusing.

The font is way too small too. I would recommend that when (or of) you're writing this you think and write like you were 12 years old. Don't used fluff in your copy, just keep it simple, to the point and break the paragraphs up to no more than 3 line tops. Break the copy into small chunks.

Use a font like 'Times Roman' size 12 or 14. Many people have spent years slogging away at template 're-branding' and have obviously written their own copy and 99.9 fail because they have simply not studied copywriting. It's simples! I do think that your site is pretty neat, clean and useful. (I am always tired). The issue here my friend is that you can sell plastic dog shi* on the internet by the million IF and ONLY if the copy on your pages earn their keep. Every word you type must do a job and if it's doesn't cut it out.

With the fish site, again dear to my heart (I keep fighting fish) it is a great little site and good idea. This website will sell but you must work out the objective you want to achieve. I'd suggest you turn it into a specialist membership site and sell memberships for $12 a year. It may sound like chicken feed, but trust me those fees soon add up and are recurring year on year.
Here's what I'd advise my friend. Speak to your customers who have 'problems' and have empathy and then offer a solution. Use AIDA in your sales copy (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action). It's all in the copy. Many people blame their product for non sales and then quit and find another product to promote and then they're in a circle of confusion. The ONE common denominator is in poor copy on every non performing website. This is why copywriters get paid thousands of dollars for one page. They have the ability to sell on paper (and the web).
Go and buy a book on Amazon ( Words that sell by Andy Maslan) or David Ogilvy's book Ogilvy On Advertising. You won't sleep at night with all the great ideas they will give you. Take a year out and learn copywriting...it's the best advice you'll ever get. Once you've mastered copywriting you'll wonder why people have a problem selling online and off..it's because the copy on the page is not personal, is padded out with filler words that have no place being there, and here's the killer...most people are tuned into radio WIIFM (What's in it for me). Answer that for them and they'll be whipping out their credit cards faster than a Senator can claim expenses )
Print out your copy, get a pen and kill any words off that don't help solve a personal problem or spark an interest, and most importantly, make someone take action BUT you must tell them to order NOW (or they won't).

Hope this help my friend. Get good at copywriting, buy real books not Pdf ones, and study them and burn some midnight oil!! It'll repay you ten fold. Don't give up!!
Brgs

Thank you so much guys I do appreciate this. If I might ask, as well, HOW do I structure a landing page for one of these keywords that's promoting a CB product. I guess one of my hting besides copy is that I don't know how I should be laying my sites out. Do they start with a review right away? An informative article with no blatant selling? etc.

Maybe adsense is an idea ! If you can get traffic then you can make money with adsense

Hey Branlan...

Since you know how to build sites to get 5000+ visitors a month... why not focus on building such sites... getting them ranked... then selling them here or on SitePoint?

Every week you could pick a niche or 2 where sites are selling (research on sitepoint)... build the site (or better, plan it and outsource for $3/hr on https://www.odesk.com)... get it ranked (again outsourse backlinks/forum posts on odesk)... and 3-4 weeks later post it for sale.

You can then check back on the site a few months later to see how it's working (perhaps an experienced marketer bought it) to get your ideas for better affiliate marketing down the line.

Some excellent advise here. I'd just add that, for the tiredness site, one of the clues about why it doesn't sell is in your page title - "freeresource for ending tiredness". You've promised me that I'm getting a freebie before the page has even loaded.

Hi,

A few things to note:

1) I have no idea what betta fish are, so that wouldn't do anything for me but make me click out of curiosity, not buy. Maybe it's not what people are looking for once they arrive at the site. I've said this more than once: page rank isn't everything. Rank 1 = so what? If people go there and it's nothing they want, the Rank 1 is meaningless.

2) Instead of selling "why am I tired" focus on the benefits: increase your energy and output without medication...something like that. People need to know what's in it for them, same with #1 above. What exactly is the benefit of caring for betta fish? Do you eat these? If so, recipes and cookbooks sell better than fish guides. Are they pets in an aquarium and this lowers your stress levels and heart rate? The health care niche is more popular over "being tired"....that's too general of a focus.

3) As has been suggestions above, package your own services and be a service provider or offer services of others as an affiliate. Selling your products then becomes secondary. Buyers are more interested in long-term relationships today, not just click-n-buy. If nothing else, build services around those two sites - -like add health care affiliate services and fish affiliate services (search for these). And wrap social networking into the mix, inviting photo sharing with contest each month, discussions, etc. See what your competition is doing - and compete.

Example: I just "Liked" a Facebook page recently because of some neighbors who'd won a free yogurt coupon there just for "Liking" the page, and were telling everyone just in casual conversation. Then a week or so later, we all drove to this local yogurt shop to get some yogurt. The little cafe was too cute - -a self-service yogurt place where you pay my the pound., Fill up your container with any types for combination of flavors, add toppings of all types and they weight it on a scale @ $7.20 a pound, I think it was. Awesome flavor selections, even fat free, and tasty toppings of all types. Yum!


Now who's sharing news about your Facebook promo? Who's finally gotten more energy or more done? Asking yourself questions like this can help with growth. It's not just all about putting up a Clickbank page today and driving traffic there. It's about a relationship today.

I wonder why no one has mentioned this - is there money being spent in the market segment you're targeting?

Your sites may rank well for your chosen keywords. Those keywords may get a lot of searches. But is anyone buying anything?

One of the quick, off-the-cuff, indicators I pay attention to are search results ads. If advertisers are there, odds are that the niche is paying well in some form or another. If not, ...

This may be the boat you're in. Of the keywords you listed, search results pages showed 3 ads. TOTAL. Which means, to me at least, that there probably isn't any money attached to those keywords.

After I get the Betta site ranked I'll evaluate and ad Adsense for sure. Also, as for the CB products I AM promoting, which of these sales pages do you like best?

Betta Fish Care Ebook: Betta Fish Facts & Secrets, Keeping Betta Fish Healthy, How To Breed Bettas - This is a newer product that, while I haven't tried it yet, looks much more polished and professional than the others.

Guide to Betta Fish and Beta Fish Care - Another one that I have tried, though payout is smallest.

Betta Fish - Learn How to Give Your Betta a Great Life! - Highest payout and another option, though may be a tougher sell.

You just little awkward bits in your copy like "Dear Fellow Betta Fish Lover" - " Betta fish Filtration secrets[/FONT] - just team up with somebody who can go over minor stuff like that with you.

But hey, you're doing great stuff overall, and as many people here have said, you seem more like you need to tweak your work rather than throw in the towel altogether.

I'd say the first one (betta-fish-expert.com) is easily the best.

It grabs your a attention at the begining because of the nice graphic header it has.

This makes a solid fist impression which makes the reader want to sroll down and see what else is there. The other two just seem boring at the begining and nothing is very grabbing which makes it easy to want to click out of that page.

I hope this helps!

You're definitely hitting on an issue that stumps a lot of people. The two sites you shared, one about chronic fatigue and the other about betta fish, are definitely niche sites. Which is fine, I'm sure.

But I would like to know if there are a LOT of buyers out there in these two niches. My kids have some betta fish. We feed them every few days. Is there something I'm missing? And while there may be ample monthly searches for chronic fatigue, I also question if it's a place where people are looking to actually purchase something. (No offense to those with chronic fatigue, but sounds like a "complainers" niche.)

If you're going down the affiliate marketing route, I encourage you to do some more market research, as well as focus on buying keywords rather than general phrases like "always tired." Do this and you can worry less about SEO and produce more sites.

And I second a lot of the comments in this thread: Congrats on actually making some money!! It's a big deal, whether you believe it or not. It's not covering your Aweber and hosting costs yet, but just RAMP UP!

All best,
Bill

I made the mistake of starting a Betta care blog, added a site, wrote 40 articles, posted to EZA, dripped them to my blog and site, gave away a free report like you did, and currently rank for 17 keywords on the first page of Google that are medium to high search quantity.

So, what is the problem?

Betta Fish people spend zero money!!!!!!!!

I sell about one course a month that I am promoting, so it is all free money at this point, but it is just a nowhere journey money-wise.

I used to mail my list, even set up an auto-responder series, and these people simply DO NOT spend money.

I think your site is fine, but it is not something people are passionate enough to spend money on, especially when they can get free advice and "how to" info at the place they buy their Bettas locally.

I just yanked my aff. links and added adsense, and have seen a better return there.

If I were you, I would do that, and forget about the site, let it trickle in low-paying adsense clicks.

Then start in a more profitable niche ... I hear the Internet Marketing niche is MASSIVE, and draws many more people in every day.

After all, that is how u and I got started making Betta Fish sites!

Cheers,

Patrick

Hi Brandon,

OK, I have a challenge for you!

I pick the niche for you and the keywords - you write 2 articles a day on the keywords I give you and submit them where I tell you too.

If you provide proof of articles written and submitted and send me the URL of the live articles.

If you do this every day without fail 2 articles a day I will send you $50 if you don't make a sale in 15 days.

I will trust you to tell the truth but I am SO sure that you pick the right niche and keep on going you WILL make money.

It should not take 2 and a half years let's sort this out....

Chris

And thank you for all of the support guys, kind of given me a second wind on the whole thing and a new perspective ; )

This is why one has to have stable offline income first...IM is really a trial and error system more than any other type of business...you just really can not tell...

But don't get too hard on yourself...remove the clutter and do things one at a time...and yes...don't give up . GOOD LUCK

Dependent on the niche as you have found out even if you rank number one it could take several months, which is always a good idea to target relatively low competitive keywords with a high CPC