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I am almost a noob... critique my business plan please

by Jack25
11 replies
So, I have decided that I am going to make 2010 the year I succeed. I have just graduated from college, and I need to make some money from affiliate marketing.

I am not a complete noob, as I made around $4,000 last year with clickbank. My strategy last year consisted of submitting a lot of articles, directing them to a blogger blog with a product review, and hoping the person would buy the affiliate product I am promoting. The extra 4K was nice while I was in school, but now I need to make a full-time income or get a job (I really do not want to get a 9-5 job).

My short term goal is to make around $100-$150 a day, so I can begin to outsource some work and dive into some paid traffic methods, and maybe buy a coaching program from someone who is actually making a nice living from affiliate marketing.

However, since funds are low right now, and I already feel that I am a pretty good article writer, This is my new plan for 2010:

1. Write 15 articles per day Mon-Fri. I have already picked a niche that I know a lot about, and I know that I can make sales in this niche, because about $2,000 of my sales in 2009 was from this one product. The market is big enough to make me a full time income.

2. I plan on submitting these 15 articles to ezinearticles, goarticles, and articlesbase. I have found that these 3 directories have given me good results, although I am open to more suggestions.

3. I have already written a free report to give to potential subscribers in exchange for a name and email address. I feel that building a list is important. I have not done this in the past, and I feel that I have really missed out on some profits because I have not built a list. I just created an account with aweber, and have written and loaded 8 autoresponder messages, so I am ready to get started.

4. I plan on emailing my subscribers 2-3 times per week, NOT sending them an offer each time. I would like some people who have lists in the non IM niches how often they sell to people, and how they go about this (hard selling, low pressure recommendation, etc.)

I know this plan is not complete, but right now I need to write the articles myself, since I cannot yet afford to outsource. I also may incorporate some forum marketing to build my list by participating in forums within my niche market. Basically, I need to keep it to free methods at this point.

Any suggestions or feeback would be greatly appreciated!

thanks,
Jack
#affiliate marketing #business #critique #newbie #noob #plan
  • Profile picture of the author matrix1989
    great questions, i'd be really interested to hear the answer to #4 as it's something im curious about myself. Good luck
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  • Profile picture of the author FredFarnes
    Personally, I would burn out writing that many articles, but it's great if you can do it.

    Yes building a list is excellent.

    You should probably include some SEO techniques. If you are not doing that already. SEO can have a dramatic effect on how you manage your article campaign, and on the results.

    Good luck with your plans!
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    So, you want to sell me another way to easily make "X" dollars in "X" days? ROFL too funny! IM success requires hard work and lots of time. Most newbies do not survive the steep learning curve. Anyone who says otherwise is probably selling you a fantasy.

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  • Profile picture of the author Hanz
    Sounds like a very solid and well laid out plan. Good idea on step 4 about not selling to your subscribers every single time. I'm a subscriber to dozens of newsletters and I get bombarded with offers daily from the same marketers. It's crazy! I had to unsubscribe to a lot of them because they only had their own selfish interests at heart from my perspective.
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  • Profile picture of the author JMPruitt
    sounds like a good plan. Just follow through and you can do it. The answer to #4 is I have 5 sites, only 1 in the IM niche.

    I do a soft sell in about half my emails. In other words, it is usually an article with a related affiliate product. I have links to my site, other blogs, and free information in the others. This gets people in the habit of clicking on your links.
    I recommend doing a hard sell promotion 1/10 of your emails. The rest of your emails focus on giving value to your readers. build a relationship with them. set up a separate email address for them to be able to reply to you. Ask questions. A lot of my articles come from requests from my readers.

    On day 7 and once every 3 months, I send out an email asking for questions or feedback. This shows them that I am concerned with helping them get what they need.
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    follow my relationship marketing blog for tips on building more traffic without relying on Google's whims.
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  • Profile picture of the author Toby Lewis
    Awesome plan and congrats on making a few $$$$ already! The auto responder is a great move. Here's my 2 cents:

    1. Continue with the blog, but expand and make more in different niches promoting a range of products. If one site is particularly profitable, give it a bit more attention.

    2. Learn about SEO and keyword research then apply it to every new site you do. If you are writing that many articles you'll have plenty of traffic, lots of backlinks, and good site content so the google love should come pretty easily.

    3. Capture subscribers on every site. Make sure you recommend a product in the first email while you still have their attention, then alternate between free/promotional emails.

    You can't spend you're whole life doing the above. After getting a few established blogs branch out into creating products for each of the niches you're in then promoting them with your blogs. Your subscribers will come in very handy for launching each site. Do one site at a time as you'll improve with each one you do.

    Keep hanging out on the forums, don't listen to everything everyone says all the time, and by the time you get to product creation you'll have a pretty darn good idea about where you're heading

    Good luck, these are exciting times!
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  • Profile picture of the author jficarro
    Originally Posted by Jack25 View Post

    .

    4. I plan on emailing my subscribers 2-3 times per week, NOT sending them an offer each time. I would like some people who have lists in the non IM niches how often they sell to people, and how they go about this (hard selling, low pressure recommendation, etc.)
    I don't consider myself an expert on handling email lists and there is much debate about this, but as a consumer, I get anoyed if I get too many emails from a list I subscribed to.

    There are a few people (mostly warriors) that do it so well that I actually get happy to get an email from them. Most of their emails are nicely written tips on improving business (offline marketing), and every once in a while they try to "sell" me something.

    But, like I said, there is a lot of debate about this and it depends on the niche too. Just treat them with care.

    Other than that. Sounds like a good plan. Don't forget video marketing though.

    James
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    • Profile picture of the author jficarro
      Just remembered one of the names that stands out and makes me actually happy to get the email - Shaun O'Reilly. He's into the "offline market" niche - e.g. developing sites and services for off line businesses, but does his list so well. It would probably be worth it to sign up for his list to see how he does it.

      There was someone else that was really good too and one day I accidentally unsubscribed - I actually sent an email to get back on the list, but I guess he never got it.

      In both cases, I find the emails very useful and rarely trying to sell something (although I know that's the point and has to be included at some interval).

      I do unsubscribe to lists when I feel they are just using me to be a source of traffic (very often). Even some of the people I like would send emails highly endorsing products that I know are just crap and only serve to make their pocket fatter. I don't have any ill feeling toward them, but I unsubscribe because it causes me to loose trust and it's also anoying.


      Good luck.

      James
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  • Profile picture of the author seobro
    I have found that unlike a job where you get a certain amount per year, well, with IM you are not sure. I mean you do not know how much you will make per month even. It goes up, then it drops, so it is a good idea to have another job until you are making enough.

    Typically, certain niches are great around Christmas, whereas other are great in the summer. Plan to spend a lot more.
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    http://www.seobro.com
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  • Profile picture of the author AnnaHamer
    If you are writing that many articles a day. It might be useful to buy a few PLR articles; to spin, leak to your blog or for your to send as email. You will get burned out fast writing that much content, trust me. Also maybe do some web 2.0 sites and link them together to give some power and extra traffic to your main blog. They are really easy to create, especially if you have some quality PLR articles to use as content.

    Repeat your success and do the same thing with a different product and double your money. There are some great up and coming products out there that aren't to saturated.
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    • Profile picture of the author sal64
      Update your blog with articles and then email notifying the list of the latest post. That kills 2 birds with one article.

      Also consider adding a multiple opt-in page for your niche which targets different demographics. For example, you niche might be dogs, so you can give visitors an option of 3 dog products... or sub-niches. they decide and click thru to the appropriate opt in form which is highly targeted.

      This would mean that you create 3 reorts.
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      Internet Marketing: 20% Internet - 80% Marketing!
      You Won't See The Light Until You Open Your Eyes.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jack25
    Thanks for the input everyone. I already see a few things that I want to incorporate into my plan. I can type really fast, and I know the niche so well that writing is just second nature. I know that I can follow this plan, and I am going to make it work.

    If anyone has any other suggestions, please post them here!
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