Starting over

Other than, perhaps, making sure that your site is mobile friendly and adding schema markup, nothing has really changed since 2016.

Links that were bad then are still bad now other than they are now generally ignored rather than penalized by Google (unless there is a massive pattern of bad linking behavior).

I also believe that content is more important now than it has ever been and Google appears to be favoring sites that have better user behavior (time on page/on site, pages viewed, etc.).

Only thing noo is 2022 people are weird.

Back in 2016, shopping for zucchini was straight-down-the-line as you please.

You selected from the abundant, zeppelin-like selection ... you paid up ... an' you exited the store, jugglin' the 5 most bulbous specimens like you was born in a circus.

Today?

There is only suspicion.

Guy takin' your cash narrows his eyes an' says, "what you want half a dozen zucchinis for, you goddamn crazy witch?"

Natchrlly, I would wanna make with a witty response, sumthin' like hey bcs I gonna juggle 5 as I leave the store an' do sumthin' real speshl with the one left ovah, like mebbe a noo take on goolash -- but evrywan so paranoid now.

What is cool tho is how we always startin' ovah.

Evry beamin' noo morn prompts glories an' miraculature from our beatin' hearts -- even if we goober enough to trust only to autopilot.

*hmm*

*yeah*

*K, Princess ...*

Yanno what?

Next time I in the store I purchasin' ONE WHOLE DOZEN zucchini.

An' ima juggle 5 as I flippityboopsy to the checkout.

An' when the guy says "what you want a dozen zucchinis for, you goddamn crazy witch?" I will reveal from my secret undahflaps THE LOUSIEST LOOKIN' TOMATO IN THE STORE an' squish it in the fkr's face.

Yeah, bcs this is 2022, right?

Tellya, you gotta walk out into this most immodest of vacuums like you really mean it ...

WOW! Now, this is crazy... I am in the exact same situation, and so I decided to visit the forum and the very first thread I see is this one! If that isn't the universe telling me something, then I'm not sure what is!

As for things that have changed, over the past few days, I've been doing a little bit of research. A LOT has changed... First, I was big into solo ads. I built a huge list (around 32,000 subs) with them and I made a LOT of money with those lists. Seems like in 2022 solo ads are dead, and even if you do use them the open and CTR rates are hideous and conversion rates are even worse. So there's that...

Another thing I've noticed is that it is pretty much mandatory to either have a blog, podcast, or both. I'm not talking about a blog that you post an article or two a month on, either. I'm talking about a blog where you put out EPIC content like 2-3 times a week. Content curation is key. It has to be done right, but when it is, it can draw massive amounts of social media traffic, and eventually, search engine traffic.

Next is video marketing. It's mandatory. You need to have a YouTube presence. You need to be posting video reviews of all of the newly launched products. If you can get your video ranked early on and hopefully before the launch date, you can draw quite a bit of traffic which you would want to convert into opt-ins. For instance, you get your review video up 7-10 days before the launch and you funnel all of the traffic to an opt-in page to build your list. You would want to add these subs to a list specifically built for that product launch. On launch day, you blast out emails to the list you built, and you change the link in your video description to go to your BONUS page instead of your opt-in page.

That brings me to my next major change. Bonus pages. EVERYONE who is ANYONE in affiliate marketing uses them. The way it works is simple. It's like a bribe. You build a page offering any number of products (usually related to the one you are promoting) as bonuses, which the potential buyer will receive upon purchasing through your affiliate link. It sounds confusing, but it's really not. There are loads of software products out there that can help you with your bonus pages. This step cannot be skipped, because I've quickly learned that the marketer with the best bonuses usually wins!

SEO has changed big time. I'm the last person to ask about SEO, but it's changed to the point that I have no idea what I'm doing. I was never great at it to begin with, but now I'm completely lost.

Let me just finish up by saying that chances are whatever worked for you in 2016 is not going to work the same way for you in 2022. I'm guessing that's not what you want to hear, but it's the truth. I've been doing loads of research and I can honestly say that I've been finding lots of good advice for free on YouTube. Before you go off and spend hundreds of dollars trying to find out what is working, do your own research.

Pick a good niche with a hungry audience that has money and doesn't mind spending it. Build your email list and social media following. Create a decent amount of unique, outstanding content.

Master 1 or 2 platforms, rather than try to do all at once, i.e. Facebook, blog, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc. Promote products and offers you can earn $50 to $100 MINIMUM per sale. That would be my best suggestions.

Look ... anyone here's advice may or not be spot-on because you have not provided any details about what your website is about, what kind of site it is, whether it is eCommerce and if so, whether it is dropship, stock and ship or if you are working with the affiliate model. Or, is it a bog where your revenue model is based upon ad banner sales? Those things matter!

The best course of action is also dependent upon those things, whether it it SEO related or how you advertise and market the site. Can you imagine having to implement the "stellar" advice about must-have video with a site that sells pencils?

A lot of the answers are total B.S., based upon junk people have read somewhere and never implemented or had success with, themselves, such as this wonderful tidbit ...

(In other words, the blackhat, lazy crap that temporarily worked for me has me buried to where my site can no longer even be found or, the blog and forum posting spam that people told me would work, doesn't.)


My answer was 100% about SEO, which hasn't changed at all since 2016 in any major way.

There is no 1 size shoe fits all .What works for me might not work for you ,different audiences and different needs .

Let the market give you feed back and the only to do that is to test and ask questions like you are doing now .

As much as things "Change" they remain the same... the fundamental core of affiliate marketing has not changed since say 2000 or so. Get traffic sell the offer.

What someone might say has changed in recent years is the addition of social media. Solo ads and banner ads and the like from back in the day have transitioned to ads and content on Social Media... same function, different form is all.

In terms of SEO... I literally use pretty much the same strategies I did last year, 5 years ago, 10 years ago... and even 20 years ago. The only caveat of a change would be Local SEO - that has become a thing - something one can leverage to make the overall SEO efforts work quicker and easier.

Joel Young,

Proven fundamentals still work. We sell. They buy. And the goal is for us to do this, at least in a sustainable way, and at max a scalable way ...

And as you well know, techniques and tactics change.
Though in this industry, that's mainly because of, let's say, a lot of stuff.
And these may be significantly due to your target audience's:

• Attention
• Interest
• Desire
• Habits

So it circles back to fundamentals.
• Know your ideal customers; and
• Understand why they buy things relevant to what you're pitching ...

Joel, in the last six years, HOW HAVE YOU CHANGED? Well, we know you've gotten older and joined the ranks of pensioners, so your retirement has done what to/for you?

My advice, the penny's worth, is the same as it would have been 6 years ago, CHOOSE something which bets suits your talents, abilities, interests and TIME.

Start with time. Very UNREALISTIC to say one has all the time in the world.

Maybe you have all that work time, which you used to spend to make a check...but how much time do you WANT to spend with this venture?

When you were working, what hobbies did you have, or leisure pursuits? If you have kids, they are six years older, a high schooler then, may be a college grad now.

One big problem as you see in the thread, OPTIONS. Too many choices. Sure, affiliate marketing is at the ready and will probably/maybe be the least time on learning curve and maintenance too. Get it up and then gently tend to it.

The idea of "buckling down" or really going all in, sounds like a chore to someone who isn't in the work force at this time.

As Max V, stated very well...WE sell People Buy. That is the basic jist of any and all online marketing efforts. Selling your own products is great, but there is a time to create factor. Selling others stuff, even if the other is Google, Amazon or Joe Warrior all need to have customers, which is gotten via traffic to an offer.

You sell something. Someone buys something.

Take your time, create a big PRO CON list and throw every IM thing you can think of on it and try to get a feel for:

First. How much TIME WILL it take to get up and running and then
Second. How much slop and mess is involved...that is how many steps are there between you and your buyer.

The artist on the WF, can sell her paintings from the front porch, but if she lives in the country they may sit there til the cows come home.

Putting her art in a consignment shop downtown is one option, have several shops or an art dealer...or she could etsy, eBay, Amazon, etc. but there is a certain amount of time to take to set all that up efficiently.

In your case, do a time to dollars survey of YOU, how many hours really do you want to work and how many dollars.

If you were to work 15 hours a week, and bring in 1,000 dollars, or about a 67 dollar an hour pay, is that good enough?

So, take a few hours, search the affiliate sites for a 66 dollar commission, and then ask yourself how you can make 15 sales of that per week? The pros/cons list and the dollar per hour value of your time, are just TOOLS, to help you clarify your thinking and get you to a better solution for the very good problem for you to have.

One Warrior, savidge4, is known for saying, document your process...so, how is it going now that you are retired?...THAT whole scenario could be the basis of a product you own and get others to sell for you.

Good luck, and leave time to do nothing, I find it my favorite retirement activity.

GordonJ

All the feedback here is much appreciated.


I wanted to know what's changed in marketing since 2016, and I got a few answers, but I also got a good dose of reminders/refreshers.


Thanks to all so far, and to all who come in later with their thoughts!

Welcome back ,in this moment its more about adding value to people if you want to succed .The days when you use spam to make money are more and more harder

The best way is to try to compete with yourself, especially in local life needs (edit by mod)

A great book I would suggest reading (super easy to digest but absolutely fantastic) is 'The Million-Dollar, One-Person Business: Make Great Money. Work the Way You Like. Have the Life You Want' by Elaine Pofeldt.

I had a friend who was like that - always wondered why her husband put up with it.

Smart woman would have either called the plumber or fixed the leak herself...and not mentioned it again.


Edit: As for SEO - start doing what you KNEW back then and adjust as you go...it's pretty much the same but more exacting perhaps and more platforms that need attention.

Are you referring to your website, Joel or social media channels, forums?

Something else perhaps?

Martin