Question From a 65 Year Old Man Who Failed Affiliate Marketing 8 Years Ago and Trying Once Again

If they do everything for you but the marketing, you pay them money but you gain a lot of time.


The cons of option 1: you need to do the marketing.
The cons of option 2: you need to do the marketing and you need to learn how to create everything and make it work.


If you have the money to pay someone to make you a website that actually converts and set up your autoresponder and do your onpage SEO, you gain a lot of time.


Trick is, you need to pick someone who can do that... There are many who can create a site that work... not so many who know how to create one that converts well.


As to your objection (I don't get to learn on my own, make mistakes), you do not need to know how to do everything.


Most people in this world can drive a car yet cannot tell you how to make a tire let alone build the whole car.


You need to know what pieces you need, what they do in the system. Then you can play to improve conversions and traffic growth.


Were I to start at the beginning and had the money to pay other people to build the site, create a logo, set up autorsponder, etc., I'd do it.


Doing all by yourself is expensive, moreso than hiring others.


Not in dollars out but in time and lack of dollars in.

You need to know enough to know WHO and HOW to hire people to do some of the work for you....


WHY did you fail at affiliate marketing 10 years ago? Lack of money or lack of effort or what? It's important for YOU to look clearly at that period and have a grasp of what went wrong....or what didn't go right. To learn from your mistakes (or avoid making them again) you need to know what the mistakes were.

You're 65.

Affiliate marketing is absolutely f****g brutal at the best of times.

This would be the last thing on earth I'd do at your age.

If you failed 10 years ago, you won't do it now.

10 Years ago was the "hey day", the Wild west.

I mean ffs...

Back then if you consistently posted 1 article per day to Ezine Articles pointed at some bag of S*** Clickbank product, you'd still bank $3K a month.

I'm talking back in the day when you could run facebook Ads for $5 bucks a day directly to an email submit CPA offer and bank.

You could rank on Google using nothing but GSA and bunch of Linkwheels on fiverr.

IT WAS EASY.

Today, being bluntly honest, it's a tough gig.

I'm an affiliate in the bodybuilding market and it's brutal..I mean proper BRUTAL.

HOWEVER, I'm half your age.

It's much harder now than it ever was 10 years ago.

If I knew back then what I know NOW, I'd be a millionaire several times over...easily.

Why just two? There are many ways to earn as an affiliate. Like any marketing, it comes down to attracting enough targeted traffic. You begin with finding an existing market and a method of getting those prospects in front of your offer.

From what you describe, option 1 is actually a business model for the service provider in which you're the customer. In those situations, it's usually only one party who ends up making money.

Option 2 depends on what you bring to the table. Like Kay says, we don't know why you failed before, so we can't advise you on that. But you still mention following a course, so it sounds like you don't have much confidence in what you've learned up to now.

Have you ever seen anyone on the Warrior Forum that talks about how they went this route, and made money? Neither have I. Why? Because if you go this route, you aren't the marketer, you're the buyer.


This is the only way I've ever heard of anyone being successful with internet marketing.

Why affiliate marketing? Will you be choosing something that interests you, or just has a good commission? Are there payouts beyond the first sale?

Are you just going to build a website? How are you going to find the people that will be likely to buy your offer? Are you going to use videos to market? Are you going to have a blog? Are you going to use PPC ads?

My advice, if you are going to sell an affiliate product....

Find a group that is easily reached, that already buys something.

Find a way to reach that group, maybe multiple ways.

THEN find the products and services to offer them.

And then pick offers that are natural upsells to the fist offer, for the same buyer. This is where all the money is made.

One sure way I know to waste money is to;
Pick a product. Just one.
Build a website.
Then try to get random people to go to your site, hoping they will buy.

By the way, it's good that you know the technical stuff. I sure don't. But any of that can be hired out. The marketing is the business, not the technology.


Added 09/28/2020;

I tried, honest to God I did.

First, we have limited info about why you failed, so all advice is the best we have with not knowing more, fair enough?

Second, as Frank D. points out, you have more than an either/or choice, even in affiliate marketing, which I think at your age is probably the wrong approach.

Are you frustrated with your efforts to make money online? And why do you think selling digital products (information) is right for you? As someone who has sold digital information for almost 33 years now, with limited involvement in affiliate programs, I have to wonder why you would choose this again, if you failed at it already?

Some say the hey day of IM is over, but fact is, information is always going to be bought and sold, and you can either CREATE or ACQUIRE it. You are choosing the acquisition route. You could think of this as a sort or type or arbitrage, or as a middleman, you standing between the creator/mfgr and the end user.

This adds an extra layer to the transaction.

You've heard all the nuggets before, you need BUYERS, or targeted traffic, and once you have eyeballs, you need to convert them to buyers.

So, it makes sense that if you choose an information product to sell, you have asked the question, who is buying this kind of info?

Where will you find those people who would be most interested in this information? How do you meet (or intersect) with them, and what do you say or how do you offer this information to them to buy?

An old golf story, the golfer went fishing and attached a golf ball to the hook. He didn't catch anything. His friend, the fisherman went to the golf course and took his rod and reel. Pretty silly on both parts, eh?

But that is akin to what you have experienced, you had a golf ball on your hook 10 years ago, otherwise you would have succeeded. So I have to get very basic for you and for any FRUSTRATED Warrior who has been at it for a while and doesn't have the results they thought they would be getting. WHY?

Honestly, almost ALL failure comes down to doing the thing that doesn't work, or maybe worked for one person who did it at the right time (it was a fluke) and just got lucky. You'll find many of these types of IM courses and HOW TO, look no further than the WSO section.

And there are fast tracks, shortcuts, ways to expedite results. The first is with money.

Not always, especially at upper levels where we talk of millions of dollars, but for the small guy who wants to work out of his home and make a full time income, of say 100 thousand dollars a year...one of the fastest shortcuts

is to spend money and have the mundane tasks done for you. So, if your pockets allow, by all means, at your age, expedite it.

The problem for most, the catch ... for most...is they don't have the money to throw at the problem. They need to make the money.

So, that fast track is out for most people. Another one is to leverage other people; their skills, talents, even lists of buyers. Pretty simple thing, to create or acquire information that someone's list might buy...and there is the fastest track to affiliate marketing.

Find a successful Affiliate Marketer, create or acquire info for his/her list and offer a joint venture. It is pretty much the de facto MO for WarriorPlus, JVZoo, etc. It is also the default of Launch gurus. Launch a product for 2k, give half to those with lists and they promote for you...so that is also a way to expedite or fast track your income.

The biggest mistake, and maybe it was one you made 10 years ago, is finding the THING to sell, rather than finding the BUYER first.

Any given day here at the WF we'll see people getting into affiliate marketing and they spend tons of time, energy, even money trying to promote, trying to presell, trying to warm up, trying to find someone to sell their thing to...

But if you want to fast track your next venture, whatever it is, affiliate or blogs, or podcasts, or YouTube or whatever...start at the end of the transaction..

WHO is going to pay you for it?
WHERE are they now and how do you communicate with them, WHEN AND HOW?

What do you bring to their tables? It is like sweet Aunt Dorothy who always bought a big can of peas to Thanksgiving dinner, and when all was said and done, I sent her home with a container of leftovers, and a lot of peas.

See, what is it, of VALUE, do you bring to the Internet? Start with that, with knowing who you are, what you want and why, then making a plan which best suits you and matches your skills and strengths, and honestly, it doesn't sound like affiliate marketing is a good suit for you to put on again, but I could be wrong.

As to advice, go with #1, let THEM do it all for you, concentrate on reinvesting even the smallest profits into creating or acquiring info people pay for.

GordonJ

A common misconception is: "The past=the future."

Sometimes People will say that just a because you didn't succeed before, you won't succeed again.

Many of the most famous and accomplished Entrepreneurs didn't succeed until after many years of trying and several "failures". Sometimes it's just part of the "game". I honestly think that if anyone is determined enough they can make a good income with "Internet Marketing".

It's been said probably over a hundred times however ... You have to choose something that really interests you -- something that your passionate about.
Why? Because that's what will keep you going through the "tough" times to reach your goal(s) and ultimately will bring you more satisfaction.

Following Claude and Gordon's advice ― most of the time -- you have to find a Market first before creating a Product. And that's great because you can create or provide something that really connects with them and helps them.

HTH.

I recomment option 2. It may cost you an arm and aleg in terms of time and money to go for training but it is the best thing to do. If you will be trained by a professional, it will help you understand what you will be doing. And again, it will allow to see your mistake as you grow.

You should pay attention to Claude's response. He is on the money. I strongly advise against option 1.

Check out this thread (nothing to buy or sign up for) where I outline a simple process to make money with affiliate marketing:

https://www.warriorforum.com/main-in...g-success.html

Cheers,
Dave

1) Get a solution to a problem

2) Align with an offer

3) Show offer to those that need it.

You can reverse engineer a what already works. Think of some marketers that
you look up to. Take note of the funnel/process. No need to re-invent the wheel.

Why affiliate marketing? Will you be choosing something that interests you, or just has a good commission? Are there payouts beyond the first sale?

"Come on people"? Feel free to post the info/product/training etc that led YOU to financial success.

You are reinforcing the newbie idea that 'someone somewhere' can tell them 'how to' make money and that's all they need. The 'rah rah' stuff doesn't work for someone who doesn't know where to start....ends up being 'rah rah splat'.


For the OP I suggest reading the 3 threads below - to get an idea of how much WORK goes into creating profit online.

https://www.warriorforum.com/warrior...days-ebay.html

https://www.warriorforum.com/warrior...24-months.html

https://www.warriorforum.com/warrior...m-nothing.html

The first link above is something almost anyone can do if they do the work.

If you want to walk fast, you walk alone, and if you want to go FAR, you need a mentor. You need both choices, they are intertwined. Learn what you can on your own, and seek a mentor, someone who's done it all to put you through what you don't know.
No man is an island, and learning is a continuous process. Goodluck....

I honestly would not try it again. There are several reasons. First, it seems to me that you have to first really understand all the ins and outs, all the little intricate details of why you failed before taking it up again. Otherwise, it is simply not a wise decision. Second, affiliate marketing may work for some people but would not work for others. Perhaps it was not the right business model for you. Perhaps it does not match your skills set. One other thing to know about affiliate marketing, is that you are essentially doing a lot of heavy lifting in order to sell someone's products.

Now, if you have a really great system that you can Leverage and scale, then it would turn out a highly profitable business. At the point, you would not really care about the hundreds of thousands of dollars in sales that you are generating for someone else. The bottom line is that in order to be successful in affiliate marketing, you need to really have a strong system and highly effective tools to really leverage the business and scale it, otherwise it won't work.

Hope this helps.

From what I read I guess I can add another thought here.


In my opinion there is nothing wrong in choosing option 1 and using a doneforyou service.
However what nobody mentioned here, you need to be absolutely sure that this service is from someone you trust completely AND that you see other people already succeeding the same way. You need to see results!! Current results!!



If you see testimonials of different people using this service and making money, for gods sake go for it and do it. When others can make money with it, you can do it too!


This is what you should really look at when you make a decision. If you only have such an offer but not a lot of proof, simply don't waste your money and do it on your own with option 2.


Apart from that I can also recommend to you to get clarity about how everything works and what you need to know and do in affiliate marketing in general. Never forget the mindset part, because if you get something wrong in your head you will fail no matter which option you choose.

No 1 ) is a good approach. You don't really need to have all the skills. This whole internet marketing is like building a house. There are people who are good at what they do. The key is knowing where are these people and do they have skillsets for what i'm looking. If you do some research you should be able to find them. You find the marketers who can get the pieces together.... you are all good.
Selling is matching needs of the people with right offers. That's it. I don't need to be a product owner/ e-mail marketing expert/or know how to build a squeeze page. The way I look at it is " you have a small brick and mortar business and you've hired few staff to get the systems running. All your energy should be to get more customers and make it profitable. Once you all the selling systems in place. Your job should be to master traffic because that's where all the money is. So; to recap- you don't need to know everything .
But I do say , find a mentor who knows everything inside out and ask for guidance if and when needed.

Good afternoon,

I am in your age group, and totally get what you are saying.

I have been working online since 2009, never making any money to speak of. I maxed out several credit cards over the years joining this one and that one. All was not wasted because I learned what NOT TO DO.

My big EPIPHANY came a couple of years ago when I found several mentors that had already reached the level of documented success I had been looking for.

I basically started with no money whatsoever recommending OPP (Other People's Products) There are also tons of resources online where you can earn money as early as tonight while you are learning the "tricks of the trade", and the how too's from some of the top earners with documented proof of their income.

I hope this helps. I would be happy to share any info that could help you.

To Your Success!

Hey Edwin,

I received your message in my email.

I am new on the forum, and I have to have 5 replies before I can answer you. I have 3

As soon as I can, I will reply to you

Why am I not surprised that some of the top marketers (online earners) joined this discussion and offered real-world advise and the Original Poster sends a Private Mail to a new member that speaks of credit cards and how to make money today?

Alrighty then.

Please feel free to share any useful info in this thread. Other members may also benefit.

Edwin, you've had lots of advice and helpful suggestions in this thread, but if I were you, I wouldn't encourage private messages - not everyone will have your best interests at the top of their agenda. To be clear, I'm not casting aspersions on any member in particular - just making a general point.

There is already plenty of good advice here so I'll put a couple of points here just for you to think about.

Time is not always a factor. I'm 45 and I've been at online marketing for a little more than 22 years I think. I made ALL the mistakes I can think of. I've had spans where I earned great and then there were tough times because I tried to play whatever new hotness was trending at a particular time. You can do this but a personal inventory is very important to your chances for success this time out.

Done for you can work great but you have to be VERY wary and very careful.

I have about a 70/30 hit ratio when it comes to actually making the income but it takes long hours and total commitment that regardless of failure, you will not quit.

Biggest piece of advice if you're gonna do any of it yourself (and you should), is to do your best to learn advertising, regardless of platform as well as learning or leveraging a hot service you can provide...heck you can carefully white label and make good revenue, I sometimes do.

For me, learning ads from the get go combined with leveraging freelance services offered has had the highest success. I'd recommend that path to anyone, as I recommend you consider it for you because you have knowledge to leverage.

Hope this helps a bit.

Best wishes,

Jay

You have to test things out yourself, you will never find someone who is good with everything related to affiliate marketing and will even make list for you. I mean everyone would have hired that person and most important why the person who is so good with everything will for you or anyone else. So to be frank that is not practical and will bring lot of frustration with no lessons learned.

When you do things yourself then yes there will be frustration but you will learn with those frustrations. Your attitute with it has to be good as no 1 reason why people left is they get frustrated so fast. Affiliate marketing is super hard if you want to make good amount of money regularly. I am not gonna lie that it is easy you just gotta try but I believe your life experience will be helpful to you and you most likely will have way high tolerance towards failures than most of us.

They have lot of ideas to generate a lot of sale

Hey Edwin, I think it's great that you're trying again! Personally, I don't think you should let someone else do everything for you because as you said; you won't gain the experience and knowledge that comes with doing everything yourself. Not to mention that you'll have the pressure of worrying about essentially the control of your business in someone else's hands.

You said that you're comfortable with technology right? Well, that's half of the battle already won in my opinion, I'll bet my best horse that there are younger people than yourself that have far less knowledge of tech than you. So, if you think about it you already have an unfair advantage; it's about the mindset you have and how much you believe in the skills you already own.

You said that you failed online and then had a ten-year break; on that, I'll just say that you're not alone and that there are many others that have had the same experience, including myself. I kept falling in my first two of trying to get a breakthrough online and I got so sick of it, I quit for three years and then returned to it and I'm glad that I did.

In conclusion, I strongly urge you to not outsource your business, instead, I think you should roll your sleeves up and get your hands dirty. I hope this helps!