I Quit - IM sucks

You need to blaze your own path, and not follow what someone has already done.

Use those guides that you bought as a template, but shape the final product into something unique to yourself.

In many niches, we are just now looking over the horizon at
when 90% of sales will be made. They will be made starting
around November 25th - the first week of January.

If you target products that are frequently given as gifts,
then you are positioning perfectly for the holiday season...
so do look at the seasonality of your site.

Willie

be different or be the best. Otherwise, why would anyone pick you?

I'd suggest you not to put all your eggs in one basket. Apart from Amazon, you should also try your hand at monetizing using adsense and CPA. There are still many niches which are not tapped by competitors .. do your keyword research well.

The guest post I wrote this week for Yaro Starak's blog might be of some help

Why Some People Succeed Against All Odds - Entrepreneurs-Journey.com by Yaro Starak

All success
Dr.Mani

Why everybody are following goooorooos??? Who are they anyway?

People should understand that they are after your money. If they promise you tons of money, super fast and easily...and with 1 click...how come people are still struggling...?

Is Amazon only place where you can make money? Clickbank, PayDotCom, CJ, ShareASale...
Offline marketing (offer services to local business and hire guys here in WF - quick profit). Even MLM... Why Amazon?

I remember some other guy here who said that Chris Farell told him to buy 200 domains and he did it. Then he asked how to sell them... He bought 200 domains, because Chris Farell is a Guru and makes tons of money...

Don't listen and follow those Guru dudes anymore. You made $1000 alone...you did it. Do it again... Don't focus on money..focus on work and getting things done. If you don't like what you are doing...you can't do it. If you put "love" into your work...you will see results (money). If you put frustration into your work...your sites will look crap and will not convert...simple..


"Quitters Never Win and Winners Never Quit"

There's a difference between trying hard and doing the right thing...

Test, test, test and find something that works then master it.

Cheers,

~Gary

you say you have made $1000 in total right? Well look how you were able to generate that turn that into your formula. it seems your skipping the part where you analyze. Instead of looking at what you did wrong, see what you did right and do it again. Your doing better than most if you were able to make $1000 online seriously.

If I quit everything that wasn't profitable after only a year of trying I'd probably be living under a bridge or in a dumpster. You've hardly even gotten your feet wet.

I hate when I see people get down like this.

First......stop buying courses on the same stuff that isn't working for you.

All you have to do is find something that WORKS FOR YOU.

Me for example.....I can make killer marketing funnels, but can't write a sales-page to save my life. (If I would have done nothing but try and learn how to write sales letters then I never would succeeed)

Success isn't confusing. Find something that makes YOU money that is repeatable. Tweak it til you can get the highest conversion. Repeat.

-don

That's not a rant. This is simply a real concern of yours. And anyone would be frustrated in this situation.

You took action, followed to the letter what you were led to believe and it hasn't worked out. This is your pain - your frustration.

But... it doesn't mean that it's not possible to achieve your goal in Internet marketing, perhaps just a change of direction is in order? A change of strategy with different tactics perhaps?

Question... PM me this info if you wish to Zimbizee rather than answering below (your choice)...

What is your #1 passion in life?

What do you know a great deal about?

Is it a very common interest shared by many or something more obscure?

Tell me, share with me what that is.

A few more questions to think about...

What makes you most happy? Which / what activity puts the biggest smile on your face? What do you know within this subject area that not many other people in this niche know about?

If you want to pm me for a positive boot in the right direction...

Write me now...

http://www.warriorforum.com/private....newpm&u=304533

Best,


Pete Walker

Don't give up! You have already proved you can make money online. Now it is just about repeating and scaling your efforts.

You made $1,000 didn't you? That's far better than most people, who give up before they make a single $.

Now, take what's working for you and try to scale up your efforts. This is NOT the time to give up and start looking for other methods, as the one you're using clearly works (or you wouldn't have made any money).

Think about how you can get the best results from the method you're using. If you're ranking well, getting traffic but not making much sales, then maybe you're targeting poor keywords or poor products? No way to know except try other keywords and products. Maybe few of your visitors click through to Amazon via your affiliate link? Experiment with position and wording to drive as much traffic as you can to Amazon.

I wouldn't give up quite yet. I'm not sure what niches you are targeting but are you targeting your products at the right time of the year? Back to school is NOW; Halloween stuff should be ramping up; holiday stuff will start in September and get really strong in November. Start working towards those goals and decide which sites need more attention at different times of the year.

Also, product reviews aren't the end-all-be-all. If you're not giving your readers any value they won't buy from you. Try adding more educational/informative stuff on your site. I can read the review of a product on Amazon itself. What I can't find is a unique way to use that product. Think out of the box.

You know what? That puts you ahead of MOST small businesses, who don't see a profit for years after startup.

WOW

I'm taken back by the number of positive replies here. Thanks for all the support.

Any more pearls of wisdom, feel free to contribute.

Cheers

You can try Google Adsense. What are are you good at? Perhaps you can start your own service, and charge people what ever you want, as long as it's reasonable. Think about what you can do to help others, and get paid for it at the same time.

How many sites did you build exactly?

When you say you got your sites to page 1 and 2, is that just for their main keywords? Did you get most of your review keywords ranked high also?

Your call to action may need improving. Are you using images linked to Amazon, buy now buttons, in-text links, etc.. to maximize CTR.

You should not quit IM, you can earn money you CAN .... But success comes after failures remember this.

B*ll****.

I failed for a good 2 and a half years before making anything I could live off. And I bet you theres plenty more here that have been in the trenches a lot longer, and have lost a lot more.

If what you are doing isnt working - CHANGE WHAT YOU ARE DOING.

Zimbizee,

You're just thinking of quitting because you're frustrated. If you really were quitting you would have just done it and not posted here. If you're looking for reassurance, you're going to get a lot of it because there are a lot of part time and full time IMers in this forum who can bust out some knowledge that should point you in the right direction. You're also going to get some tough love from this crowd (including me).

Just realize that the frustration you're feeling now is nothing compared to the potential future obstacles you're going to face. As a business person you're going to face a lot of them. So eliminate the word "quit" from your lexicon. I would take a step back, take a break, and then come and reasses what you're doing. Remember, this is a process and as such it is going to take time to learn the ropes.

First off, sorry to hear about losing your job. That is a tough experience to go through. When you say you've been doing this "full time", do you mean at least 40 hours a week?

I'm personally not a fan of Amazon review websites; though I know there are people that do well with them, I don't like them for a variety of reasons (I don't view them as a real, long-term sustainable business). If you continue to pursue this, make sure you are not relying on only one income stream, meaning you should also find other revenue streams.

You're asking "so where's the money?". Well, that's not how it works. What exactly and specifically are you doing to get targeted traffic to your websites? This is a process and it will take some time. You've made $1,000 so far, so that is still definitely a positive. Are you able to track and find out where you've made that $1,000? That's important, because that will tell you what's working.

You've stated you've done article marketing, rss feed submission, blogging, etc. However, how often are you doing this? Are you only submitting articles to directories? Are you posting them on your own sites? How many articles are you submitting and writing? How are you getting them distributed?

Send me a private message with a link to one of your review websites and I will critique it for you (don't post it here as it might come off as too self-promotional). If you cannot send a PM e-mail it to me at thedatepro at gmail dot com (make sure you contact me soon as I am going to delete my e-mail address in a day or so).

The "logic" in building more sites is simple: if one site is making you $1,000 a year, wouldn't ten such sites make you $10,000 a year?

Herein lies part of the problem; you are thinking, falsely, that 99% of the people who try IM as a living fail. What are your references to support this? Even the IRS couldn't give you a definitive answer to that. Secondly, people who make a living at this are not the exception. Thirdly, you cannot possibly know how hard others have worked compared to you, quit the victim mentality, it's very counter productive and will only cause your negative thoughts to down spiral. Success in any business is 95% to 99% mind set, and so far I can tell you with 100% certainty that your mindset needs a tune up before you continue with this endeavor.

Working hard at this is not enough. You have to focus on the things that will make you money, and it sounds like what you've been doing has not been partially working for you.

Everyone is not saying that's the way to go. Somehow you've conveniently left out all the marketers who say that creating your own products and building a list is the way to go. What about all the affiliate marketers who market 20, 30, or even 100s of products that have nothing to do with Amazon? There are hundreds of affiliate networks out there and Amazon is just one retailer.

What about all the CPA marketers who are killing it? Smart marketers have several sources of income. Though they generally focus on one income stream first, get it profitable, and then scale it up and/or move onto the next income stream. Then they wash, rinse, and repeat for greater profits.

Based on what you've written here, it seems to me that you're too focused on Amazon review websites and that it's time to reasses what you're doing. They might still work for you and they might not. I don't know, only you can truly decide that.

Quitting is easy. Millions of people quit every single day so don't be one of them. You can do this, but you need to take a step back and revaluate what you're doing.

Though you might need to find a job first before you continue with this.

RoD

Do what you've always done... get what you've always got!

IM does not suck, most any of the other "M's" do not suck, its just that "anyone can do it", or "if you can type, you can earn 238,423.23$ in half a second" things that get most people in the wrong field!

No offense to you though, but my point is, it takes does not take "more" than what you did, you did do a lot... but one actually sees the $$$ ONLY doing the right things at the right time.

If you want a steady income in this field, be prepared to fall, fall hard, fall harder, and then fall even more... but then get up and prepare for the prestige!


-AMOD

man, you're not going to quit, you've made money online! you are at the precipice of success. Just a little more...

No one has asked this yet. How much traffic are you getting?

Giving Advice is the easiest thing. I do easy stuff

Hey Man - Appreciate your hard work. That's something NOT many do !

Try selling all your websites on flippa -- and see if that model suites you. When you make money take a holiday You deserve it.

Just leverage on the skills you developed and why don't you think doing something for the people you meet in your city ?

I personally use this forum as a tool to upgrade my skills - Many of my projects are offline which does require an online presence.

Think about it - Try to pick something you love to do and offer - Build your site for your products/service than constantly promoting someone else's for a small commission. This way you make money faster and you develop skills too to serve better.

How many sites do you have? I dont remember seeing that, but I think its important.

How much traffic are you getting?

Are these buyers keywords?

Do you have decent pre-sell copy?

What niches have you made the most money from?

Have you tried different types of traffic (SEO, articles, Facebook, press releases, etc.)?

Remember that you're running a business. You have to look at what's working and what isn't working. Trim the fat. Build up what's working.

Plus, remember that IM isn't just about affiliate marketing. I think the easiest way to MMO by FAR is through services.

Writing, backlinks, graphics, website design- whatever.

With a year of IM, you have more than enough knowledge to easily make $50-$100 for a few hours a day selling services, then use the rest of your time on more passive income streams (like Amazon sites).

Then you have already failed. Why ask for any more advice?

If you REALLY want to succeed, step back and start with your attitude about success and failure. That 1% that you spoke of are not the exception to the rule. They are the ones who were persistent and had the right attitude about their failures... and you can bet they had a lot of failures.

Who am I but someone you have never met. Take a little inspiration from a few people you might have heard of. What would have happened if these guys quit after they didn't get what they expected after 1 measly year?...

"I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over in my life. And that is why I succeed"
Michael Jordon

"I have not failed, not once. I have discovered ten thousand ways that do not work."
Thomas Edison

"Whether you think that you can, or that you can't, you are right"
Henry Ford

"It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer."
Albert Einstein

Did you develop your own list?

Did you do Email marketing?

PPC and Facebook ads?

ANSWER: Ok, let's do some numbers first. 4000 exact searches per month. On this number the amount of traffic you get form a page 2 listing is negligible, as is probably most of the traffic form positions 6 and below, if only because 4000 is not a massive number to begin with ( bear with me on this one).

There are all sorts of figures out there about the traffic you get from positions 1 to 5 in the SERPS. One of them estimates 42% for the first position and a little below half for the second ( can´t recall where i got the numbers from so let's play educated guess.

slot 1 in SERPS for 4k searches = 1680 Clicks

slot 2 " " " " " = 840 Clicks


Now I'm going to make a big assumption: ALL of these people are looking to purchase the product you have to offer. This is usually plain wrong. We all have heard of freebie seekers and people that just plain look for information on the net to make a purchase offline, or people that are researching but not ready to buy yet ( this is one of th ebig reasons to build a list of prospects, something you haven't mentioned having done so far, but that´s ok, at least for now).

If all these people are contemplating buying what you sell either form you or someone else, the quality of your review will make all the difference. If you are outsourcing some of those reviews, you better be testing how they convert compared to your reviews. If you don't you could be leaving money on the table.

So let's talk about conversions. You don't mention any specific figures so we have to work on guessing again. One of the big Marketers (again my memory fails) put a standard ok conversion for sales letters between 0.5% and 2%. Of course we have all heard form higher conversions but a figure is needed to start running some numbers, so let's go all out and give you a current 2% conv. figure, just like that.

Now we need to know the price point of the products you are promoting. you could be doing $10 books or sevruga caviar at over $13k a can. without some figures it's hard to know. Let me make yet another assumption and average your product range at another two points: $50 a unit and $150 a unit.

Lastly your commission. Now this is one of the caveats of promoting for Amazon, their commissions aren't the best out there. Sure you get brand recognition and their salesmanship to back you up, but you need to be conservative when accounting for those things. im going to run the assumptions on a 4% (the flat one for electronics) and 8.5% which seems to be the highest for +3131 items sold.

So with these in mind let's start.

Scenario 1

1640 clicks at 2%conv = 32.8 sales at $150 = $4920 gross of which you get 8.5% = $418.2 in commission for you from this one site. If you have 10 sites performing like this you ar elooking at $4182 a month before your expenses come in. Not bad, $50184 a year before your costs come in.

Scenario 2

840 clicks converting 0.5%= 4.2 sales at $50 = $210 gross of which your commission at a 4% is $8.4 from this one site. 10 sites like this make you $84 a month or $1008 a year before your costs.

quite different scenarios don't you think?

So what can you do about it? thankfully, lots of things.

1.- Review the products you are promoting. Price points, whether they sell well or not, do some research and see if you can find some figures.

2.- Your commissions. There is not much you can do form the point of view of Amazon. They have set figures for set targets, either you reach them or you don't. On the other hand you can sell things from other people aside form Amazon. See if you can find other sellers of those products with better commissions, try and find upsells and cross sells. Be open to the possibility of other revenue means form your sites ( butbe careful, if done wrong it could ruin what you already have).

3.- Your conversions. You need to start tweaking your reviews, looking for better ways to convey the benefits of the products. Work with your reviews as you would with a sales letter in the way you craft it (beware of course that you can write a review that sounds do hypey no one will buy from reading it).

4.- Your traffic. There's life beyond Google. I recently got a document form Ryan Deiss explaining some of the ways he used to get traffic. I'm sure there were more than 15 different ways. Explore them. some of them ar emore responsive than others.

5.- Email lists. YOu could do worse than getting your readers addresses so you can contact them again with any news about the product they were searching for. If everyone says the money is in the list there must be a reason.

6.- Your own product. Some of the products you are reviewing might be info products ( coming from Amazon perhaps some How-to guides). You could try and create your own product in that category. I´m sure I don't need to explain to you the consequences tha could have.


Believe it or not, you ar ein a great position. You have done all the ground work already, setting up the sites, putting up some content, outsourcing things. You have learnt a lot and ar enow in a position to move a notch up by reconverting what you already have. Most people are yet to get started.

Grab the numbers i gave you above and fill in the blanks with your own figures, you will soon see where the weaknesses are and how to correct them. Good luck

PS: I´m not even gonna bother editing this one, I can't spell, type too fast and english ain't my language. My apologies to grammar and spelling freaks all ove rthe world .

Just a curious question:

Have you ever had a single thought in your mind once... that Internet Marketing is different from offline Marketing?

Then you've gotten the big money the wrong way around.

Just a hint.

Well, don't mean to sound harsh, but definitely IM is not for everyone. In the end this is probably a good thing for you, maybe you'll find a totally different and profitable business. Who knows? Good luck mate.

Your first mistake was buying into guru hype.
Your second mistake was thinking that you've tried harder than everyone else.
Your third mistake is giving up.

Clearly the strategy you're using isn't working. You need to come up with more creative ideas that actually bring value to people. That's how real money is made online.

Business Ideas For Young Entrepreneurs | Toilet Paper Entrepreneur

check this out my friend, and get a business offline, as I think online sucks big time too many cowboys in this field and too many of them out to scam rather than show you the way to make money.

Befreeca

hope you stick at it - but it is important that you keep educating yourself - look at the offer Pete made - nothing in it for him oyher than to give you a steer. Occurs to me that if you are regularly able to rank your sites first page - maybe you are chasing the wrong goal. Lot of businesses would pay for your insights.

Well here is the thing you have to make your own way or there is no way. All these e books tell you a bunch of crap that might not work. You want to twit things to your own likings and see how it works out. Your building links is a good thing but why stop there you can do youtube vids and create many other web 2.0 sites linking back to your main website. That's called marketing layer of defense. Do about each web 2.0 on a different keyword and since your selling use buyer keywords look that up on google buyer keywords will get people that are actually looking to buy and have a credit card in there hands waiting to purchase. Tell me if someone searches buy lipozene. Why search for that if that person wasn't gonna buy the product. Buyer keywords make a big difference i promise you that. You mde $1000 online then your real good you should invest some of it back in pay per clicks those really do work.

Have you tried monetizing your sites with eBay instead of Amazon?

Most publishers that have tried both, report earning more with eBay than with Amazon.

What about AdSense? You might find it to be more profitable than Amazon.

Just a couple of suggestions.

Hang in there!

I do have a question: Have you built a list of subscribers based on your niche?

From what I read in your post, I gather the answer to that question is NO. I'm not trying to criticize you in any way. But if you haven't heard of list building yet, look into it.

It seems that what I hear from the "gurus" is they all have a new system that no one has ever heard of that makes a ton of money. You know the mantra. But what is interesting to me is that the same "gurus" are building lists of subscribers they can send emails to. Why? Because that is where the money is!

So please, before you quit entirely, look into building a list.

I also agree with some of the other replies that if you've made $1000 already (BTW that's still pretty awesome) repeat what you did to make that money.

And in the undying words of Cmdr. Peter Quincy Taggart (Galaxy Quest): "Never give up! Never surrender!"

James

bold statement. I've been building a business since 2006 (MLM) and 2009 (IM).... I'm pretty sure I've tried harder than you. If you get more than 6 hours of sleep a night your just not trying hard enough.

Am I full time? no. Do I regret leaving a cush engineering gig.. no. Do I wish I could consistently pull in 10k per month profit.. sure, but crap happens (google slap, youtube slap, panda update).

Don't assume only 1% make great money... and don't get stuck in the idea that 1 year is enough.

It took me 4 years to graduate college (hookem) and only make 50k coming out. What makes you think you can replace 50k profit in 1 year WHILE your learning?

It sounds like you are getting traffic but your conversions are not to good.

Start split testing your site to see how you can increase sales.. Trust me it can make a Huge difference to your bottom line.

Google website optimiser is free and really good.

The courses are for fundamental knowledge and ideas. You still have to use your imagination to build your business.

hey man i understand what you r going thru, i started about 2 years ago and i am starting to really grasp everything now. i followed the "gurus" as well, DONT! you probable already know enough to to make money, u just dont know it yet. i had my website all over the internet and wasn't seeing anything then one day i started to focus on just 3 site and drive every bit of traffic i could get to those 3 sites and everything is starting to work out. it gets better i promise dont be a statistic bro,dont give up! if you fail its because you didn't try hard enough!

Very well said! I some what agree People sale you false hope to making money doing this really IM is just one side of the puzzle you need to also learn business (if you want to make some serious money) Start your own and watch it grow ...

Its like ice cream and IM is just the cone you need to add your own stuff on the inside or you just get the cone..

This makes me think of someone who wants a baby, gets 6 months into the pregnancy and says, "I'm never going to have a baby. I give up!"

Um, it takes 9 months. End it all in 6 months and you were nearly there and won't get a baby.

Doh.

I like how all the people that are stating; "Stop following gurus!" are selling similar WSO's.

Anyways, keep trying, don't give up. Try different business models.


regZ

You've made money so you're obviously doing some things right. Now, which parts of your system can be improved?

Have you looked for ways to take what you were taught and to make it better? How about the way you research products to promote? Are you just picking things that interest you, or are you researching them to see which ones are searched for the most often? Are you researching all the search terms related to the products you promote so you target the best ones? Are you researching the competition?

There are many areas you might be able to improve based on your own experience and thinking that will take you beyond what you were taught.

Think of formulas, methods, and courses as templates to help you get started. What they teach are not infallible absolutes -- they are simply one person's way of doing things as best as he or she is able to teach it. Not everyone who is successful is a capable teacher.

Those who succeed most analyze their systems and results so they can improve, adapt, adjust, and climb to higher levels of success.

You are unique. In all the world there is no one just like you. Don't expect someone else's formula for success to be your perfect model. Make it your own. Experiment. Test. Track. Adjust. Keep learning ... but also learn from yourself. You have unique lessons to learn from your own experiences that no one else can teach you.

I think one of the greatest contributors to the lack of success in IM is that people want to do, do, do and they want to be shown what to do so they don't have to think. Not enough people stop, take a deep breath, and look backward to see what they can learn from their experiences. That's the missing step in many people's growth as a marketer.

I'm not saying that applies to you because I don't know you. Just food for thought.

You answered your own question. You said you followed what the so called gurus were doing...

You had it all wrong buddy. You must not rely on anyone but yourself if you are to succeed in IM. No guru will tell you how he or she does it unless they get paid really well for it and then again.

Or perhaps its not your field at all. If you got into IM for the sole purpose of earning money, then "Forget about It"!

Come back once you have a better purpose, such as but not limited to helping people resolve problems.

Bernard St-Pierre

Offer something unique and of value in anything you do. Get readers to think "wow, that was good. I appreciate that." They'll click your links.

I've spent days or even a full week on 1 review. It pays off more than cranking out 2 reviews a day. If possible use the product. Research it. Read the manual. Know it well. Then you'll be able to provide the insight that Amazon and other vendors can't and don't provide.

Great reviews can rank well and when you over-deliver on info, can make a ton of money. I've published great reviews, decent reviews, and poor reviews in my IM history. The great ones make all the money. They end up ranking #1 or in the top 3 spots. People email me saying it was helpful and they're going to buy from my aff link.

But those reviews took a LONG time to write, including using and testing the product.

Once you have 1 killer review, write articles that drive traffic to the review.

That's just the review model. There are so many other models listed in this thread.

$1,000 bucks is nothing to sneer at. You're making money. You can do it. When you hit on a formula that works, your income will grow quickly. Think quality and offer value. Help people in some way. It works. It takes effort, but quality works every time.

I've tried shortcuts of all kinds, and they simply don't work. Sure, you might get a random sale, but quality info can generate consistent sales daily.

gotta love these post

1) I bought everything under the sun and got distracted

2) I never saw results

3) I need to go on the warrior forum and whine about my failure.

Dude, get a clue, you are not gunna get sympathy in here. You have no one else to blame but your self.

Next time stick to one thing, and build a list. If you do this properly, its impossible to fail. But....I think I am wasting my breath. So good luck in your endeavours.

It is just like any other business. Find out what people want and then supply it. Ideally it is also something which has minimal competition. It sounds like you've been focusing on what everyone else does when they first get into IM. There are many other niches and options to pursue. Definately stay away for the "Make Money Online" niche and I'd avoid Clickbank type products as well. Leaves you with many other options though. Good luck!

You have to find your own path. That sounds awful but its the truth. Put it this way, I jettisoned most of my online sites and products earlier this year and made over $15k just selling the stuff I did not want. I spent time learning and finding a unique angle, and then producing unique sites. ONce they serve their prupose they get sold.

If you think cut and paste and cookie cutter will make you money in this climate then best go and get a Just Over Broke. YOu need to have knowledge, and produce something unique.

Well, this scares the crap out of me. I'm dying to hear you answer some of these questions because I'm starting out on the same path.

I've been testing with 2 sites and have been relatively successful with the little I've done. I'm looking to scale up, too. I've combined strategies from a few courses, so we'll see!

Well that's definitely not true. Just because the search engines change their algorithms or another aspect of how they work, doesn't mean its the end of the world. People simply need to adapt to the changes - no type of marketing is ever green online.

Plus for some reason most of the people who say don't rely on Google for your traffic are those who use article marketing, offline marketing or forum marketing and the likes. Not sure why

its more profitable to have adsense instead of amazon most of the time. its easier to flip an adsense site then an amazon site. amazon commissions are low.

amazon in general is a turn off me. i know it makes money but still 4% starting and then 8% after. i know some people a decent amount, but clickbank makes you way more.

IM Niche is the easiest to make money, despite the competition. despite what people say, people in im buy way more products and expensive ones too. 100$ products, 200$ products, 100$ courses.

Best method to make money online, is to see for your self what people are doing, rather then following a book. a course/book is just idea.


Dont give up man. you will make it. make few changes in what you are doing. test and tweak, test and tweak, test and tweak, test and tweak, test and tweak

Hey zim,

You need to get your sites to at least top 3 of the search for your keywords to see any significant change in income and traffic. Focus on ranking for a couple of easy keywords and taking them to the TOP. 30 backlinks is not enough to get to number 1 for even the easiest keywords.

Invest some money in build my rank or article link tools, and use them sparingly over a couple of months. Focus is the key my friend.

I just want to make sure you're not making this mistake - are you logged into your Gmail account when you check the rank on your site?

... It may not be on page 1 or 2 like you think - Google organizes your results from the "popular" sites you visit regularly. I'd recommend first checking if you're ranked where you think you are from a different computer.

2nd of all... are you tracking your results? How much traffic are you getting to your site? If you're getting a decent amount of traffic, you need to work on conversions... if traffic is low, work on getting traffic.

And lastly, Don't give up.

Internet marketing is a molehill... when everyone makes it seem like a mountain. The best part is, you can easily figure out where you're going wrong, it might just be something obvious you're overlooking right now.

All in good time!

Best,
Ansar

Do keep me posted if you receive any good and valid suggestions.

Have you tried using email marketing? There are some good mailer softwares that would help you out and possibly improve your success rate.

I used to cringe every time I heard the word 'offline', but you have me thinking I should be looking into it. Thanks, Chris.

John

Zimbizee,
I'm speaking strictly as a consumer here, so no offense meant to you or anyone else who builds Amazon sites. If I'm looking for a product, I'll use the search term Gaz Cooper uses in his free course, since it's not a secret, 'best cheap headphones.'

If you search on that term, Amazon comes up above the fold. Where do you think I'm gonna click? Maybe this post isn't much help, but I just wanted to give you a buyer's perspective.

I do not believe I can add that much more than some of the great comments above, but I have to try. If you are about to quit that means you either have to learn how to quit the rest of your life or adjust and succeed. I have changed industries. I understand the idea of this is not for me.

I did it when I was worn out and beyond lost any passion that I had for the business. If you are at that point then drop and find something you are better at. If you are just complaining about money, my advice is to go to Toys R Us, buy a game of monopoly, throw the money in the air like it just does not matter, and then go back to solving people's problems.

It is the biggest challenges that bring about your greatest victories.

Andy

Hi mate, i understand your problem. Im is difficult because of alot of systems That Aint working. I would reccommend list building. THE money is in THE list!

Alex.

"If not Amazon then what else?"

There are TONS of ways to make money online... I
don't even know why you think you would have to
rely on Amazon as the main source.

I've been online for over 5 years and I'm only now
seeing signs of success.

You believe you worked hard... But you are ready
to quit...

Why are you embracing failure when you have
already achieved success?

You have made $1000 from these sites, even
though it took you 12 months, most newbies will
never earn more than $100 online.

Maybe you are picking your markets wrong. But
if I was you I'd start exploring other models OUTSIDE
of Amazon.

Have you ever considered doing a product launch?
This will open you up to JV contacts and you'll learn
internet marketing is much larger than Amazon, Google,
and Clickbank.

I hope you re-consider your choice...

Truly,
Raiel Schwartz

Failure is part of the game. I've failed many times but the key to success is to never quit!! I have been doing internet marketing, affiliate marketing, network marketing or whatever you want to call it for about 5yrs now. I'm just now seeing the success I always wanted. I'm not a millionaire or a 6 figure earner yet but I make a full time income. I will never punch the clock again. All I can say is find something you like and are comfortable with. Stay with it and eventually you will get to where you want to be. NEVER EVER QUIT!!!

You have already made $1000 like you said. Some marketers don't make $10 in a years time. So you are on the right path. Keep at it.

Whatever OR however you made around $1000 "FOCUS ON THAT"... Because THAT Is YOUR Winning formular... The rest WAS waisted time and effort... So NOW just concentrate ON WHAT WORKED FOR YOU... Then Simply REPEAT and EXPAND on What Has ACTUALLY Worked!!

In Summary: Forget the Rest and Work PURELY On YOUR Best!

I.e Work On What YOU KNOW WORKS!!!

IM is hard, thats why most people that do IM have a job or go to college. Its an opportunity that can bank you money if you work properly. Its a thing that you do aside or part time.

The OP has left the building.

I notice this thread is still going and the OP hasn't been back.

I do not think this is a real job, I think this is a good part time job. You can make money with IM but you need to find out the rule and update it. Internet, Google change every day, and we have a lot of competitors, if we do not find the best way to make money we will lose.

I noticed you did not say anything about an email list. Why haven't you started to build one? That alone can really increase your earnings.

Before one learns how to walk..one must fall plenty of times before learning how to walk and then run...trust me I was defeated and kept writing on this forum like a person over the edge and then BOOM! Something happened and it was simple...I mean I actually earn like $$$ per day...six months ago I was just about to have a nervous break down because so many pending bills,loans etc and now my situation cant get better. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE dont give up please..there is light at the end of the tunnel...come on get up and try to walk again!!! Just a moment away till you start brisk walking ..

All the best...good luck

My suggestion to you is quite simple...."find out what people want....and, give it to them"......it won't be easy but, if you find a niche that has good traffic and less than average competition - that's your first step.
Good Luck,
DM

There's a user named Chucky who posted a thread in another section that had a video showing his amazon earnings on black friday (about $2,400) and on a regular day ($66), and in the months of november and december, he made about $40,000, so A LOT of the income from amazon comes during those 2 months. For the other months, use Commission Junction (this is actually Chucky's biggest earner for a regular month).

Have you attempted to mastermind with other marketers? Put one together on skype or attend a meetup202. The power of working with others, whether locally, a private community, or skype is EXTREMELY powerful. Don't take this lightly!

Quitter.... !

IM is different than offline marketing, but one thing is the same. If you don't have something truly different, unique, extraordinary to offer that delivers real value to real people - either in product form or info product, then your chances of succeeding went from slim to slim/none.

Dude,

No reason to quit! You've gone farther than 90% of other IM newbies. You got started!

I would focus on JV PARTNERS in your niche. Now you can't obviously JV with WalMart, etc. you can look for smaller players with decent traffic levels and just PICK UP THE PHONE and call them or just send an e-mail.

JV's are the best way to get traffic. You need to "borrow" that traffic, put those folks on a list and keep building from there. I don't care what others are saying on this forum. The money IS in the list.

This kind of traffic is not sexy but I'd rather contact 100 possible JV partners and get turned down by 99 of them than work my tail off to rank for a keyword.

Although search engine ranking is important I would not bet my whole business on traffic. Especially Google!

Good luck,
Dennis

Listen friend, I've been analysing this issue for quite sometime now and I sympathize with the way you feel. You're not alone and almost everybody in the forum can attest to having spent more money on solutions than they care even to speak of. I have learned that sometimes you got to step back and see the pieces you got on the table. Start looking for a thread, a connection within yourself! What are YOUR strengths! What do YOU have because that IS what WILL make the DIFFERENCE!

Trying to do what everyone else does and be what anyone else is is a grave mistake. Even if you achieve a sense of success - you will never achieve your fullest success that way. You need to be yourself! By doing this, you will connect with the things, actions, products (create your own), market, promote, etc., with your unique voice and signature - you will touch others with YOUR message.

I recommend that if you are seeking to immediately start turning your situation around, you need my book and you need to take my words to heart. And I'll tell you something else...The Internet is the NOW and the FUTURE! Don't give up on it! Keep forging forward and onward to your destiny - do so naturally (being YOU) and you WILL achieve the greatest success ever.

Well if you are ranked number 1 for your keywords, you could try some ogther advertisers like Adsense, sometimes it's good to mix the advertisers as certain traffic are more suited to a type of advertising than others

I know how you feel man. Some days you feel like throwing in the towel on IM and riding off into the sunset. But you need to focus on other income streams in IM. Try CPA or creating a IM Product for a hungry market or making Amazon websites for resale. Use the $1000 profit to sow the seeds for other IM streams. People are making a good living in IM. It's all about trying, learning, testing, focusing, taking action and then scaling it up.

This might be true actually. For every success story in IM there are tons of people who didn't make it.

At first my internet marketing efforts did not produce the results I expected. I got a degree and got a job, but while doing this I still paid attention to what was happening on the internet and tried to use any opportunities I saw to make money online. Now I have income from a stable job + from my internet marketing ventures. I'm happy and keep improving.

I am not following any courses. Following a course and working hard usually is not the real answer to making money online. If it was, everyone would be rich. Do you really think someone is going to sell you ways to make thousands of dollars on auto pilot for $50 or so?

You might be pushed in the right direction, but you have to put your own spin on everything. There are so many people trying to set up an internet business these days that you can't just follow a predefined plan and expect to succeed. You have to BRAINSTORM of your own methods and ways.

My advice - get a job.

Maybe I'm too late for you, but things are ever changing, although one thing always remains the same YOU.

That's why if you manage to brand your self properly you will without doubt succeed, people but from people and so if you have just focused on the products you will always struggle to stay in this industry long term.

Brand yourself successfully and they will come.

Please don't pack in, the money might just be around the corner and you will have missed out. I know it is easier said than done. Try something new, get a part time job to tied things over, don't spend too long every day on your business because it can get very fustrating.

I don't mean not to take it seriously, take it very serious, but just take regular breaks, I have been at it for some 3 years, I eve had a 6 - 8 month break last year and thought that was it, but I found Chris Farrell and that got me motivated again.

The main thing is manage your time and spend it on only things that can increase and grow your business, I know you know this, I don't mean to be patronising, but this business can be hard going sometimes.

I hope you don't give up

Take Care

I know it is frustrating...

However I believe that success is an individual achievement!

FACT: There are people making money online!

FACT: There are people working harder than you.

FACT: There are people making hundreds of $$$'s per day with Amazon.

However...

You need the ability to adapt...

If you feel that one thing is not working - don't JUST follow someone else to the letter...

Use any resource as a guide and inject some of your personality into your work.

If you have a site that is advertising Amazon products - think how you can get your site in front of those people.

Not just online, place an ad in the paper etc...

Just because you are number 1 on Google does not mean in itself that you will make money.

If you want I am quite happy to look at your sites and see if I can improve - not saying I can but the offer is there.

Keep going until you get that first sale and then access the effort you put in and what you got out.

Most of all don't give up...

You CAN do it!

Just take a deep breath, take a day or two off and do not give up!

Here is something that helps me out when I feel down:


Felix Dennis knows a thing or 2 about making money!

Don't give up mate!

Chris

Honestly, as soon as I read your post I thought to myself "This guy should write an eBook on what not to do in IM." If you convey your experiences to people and tell them what worked and what didn't work from a truthful standpoint then people will definitely want to read it, especially those that are just starting out. Also, wherever you made that $1000, go back there and do it again (unless it was just a culmination of money from all your different ventures). It doesn't take much to turn $1000 into $5000 and then maybe even $10 000 and beyond. Don't give up.

The profit you have made should go towards 2 things to really scale it up.

1) Join the paid membership area of WF. The advice you will get is priceless.

2) Invest in a top quality coaching program worth $500. Do your research to find the best one and even ask former students.

Apply these 2 principles, take action and focus. This time next year or sooner, you could be earning a 6 figure income per month.

Steven, Well spoken !

Never stop ! you are already make so money with one year ..It took my 2,5 year just to make some money..not even much. But failure was not a option ,so I didn't quit.

So suck it up and keep going forward

You don't need to do exactly what others tell you to do ~ that's the name of the game you need it badly. Don't blame me if you make mistakes that DON'T make a difference to you and others without HARD WORK. Seriously you need a doctor if you're looking to quit IM lol

You can't give up so soon, IM is a battle I know. But life itself itself is a battle. Pick yourself up and dust yourself off and TRY AGAIN Nothing is going to be easy. Stick with the methods that has worked for you and scale them up.

Hello

If you message me, I may be willing to buy your domains.

Thanks.

It's important to choose an untapped niche and make yourself stand out from your competition. All the best.

Better than I did my first year!

Maybe it is time to try something that is not promoting Amazon Products. I have heard that it can take months or even years to make good money with Amazon products. I have a few sites I developed for Amazon and they made me very little. When I switched to Google Adsense on them they at least made me some money, but I don't promote Amazon products anymore because of this.

You are somewhat correct. It is more like 95% fail, but that is neither here nor there. Those that are successful never give up and when one thing doesn't work they move on to trying another form of IM. Maybe Amazon is not right for you and maybe it is time to build a blog or a website that promotes something else.

Also, you may have tried hard and I am not going to take any of that away from you, but those of us that are working from home have tried much harder than just putting a year in. I put in almost 7 years before I went full time from home. It takes time, but you can get there if you keep working at it.

Article Marketing, Blogging, SEO - build blogs, post a ton of content, and promote either affiliate products from places like Commission Junction, CPA networks, or even ClickBank. You could also put Google Adsense on your site.

I would leave your Amazon sites alone and move on to trying something else. You never know they could start making you money sooner or later and if they are already making you $1,000 a year that is something. I have had sited that I didn't make a dime from, then a few years later they started making me money for some reason.

Get a few free guides and spend the $47 to join the war room. These are the only things you should use to find your new method and start working towards something new. Don't buy any more guides AT ALL.....use the war room and any free guides to help you.

Benjamin Ehinger

"No one has tried harder than me."

I read this and just laughed and laughed.

What you might be missing is the trust value. People don't buy from sites that only sell to them. No matter how hard you try at this approach, you will only get minimal success. There is too much competition in that arena. You need to take a hard look at your sites and ask yourself are you offering a solution to people's problems? Or are you simply putting up 25 to 40 posts of minimal information and hoping for gold? Are you truly making an effort to provide good solid no cost information that can solve a problem for someone? Turn your sites into authority sites and watch your income start to climb. My sites top out at 200 to 400 articles. Combined good solid authority site information, with a solid approach to research and testing to take your business to the next level. There is no one guru that can tell you exactly what to do, you need to build your own business and create a system around things that do work and remove those things that do not work. Any business is hard, there is no easy path to success. It may take you one year or many years to see success, but giving up is not the answer. Give yourself at a minimum 2 to five years to see the growth you are expecting. Keep at it, you will eventually reach what your goals.

I am not really into these sorts of posts.

Instead of your title..... I Quit - IM sucks

I will rewrite it for you

I did not take action, and love to blame everyone else but myself.

Like I said these posts come up often.

I failed for 2 years before I started taking action and built a real business by sticking to these things...

1) Get in a good niche.

2) Find out what they want

3) give it to them.

4) Build a big ass list in the meantime and help them and offer them stuff.

The funny thing is, that about 1% of people who ever start online ever do this stuff. I was one of them, but then woke up and decided to cross over the line. I now earn about 8 times what I did in my crappy 9 to 5 job.

its all about how serious you want to get and how much action you take.

Think thomas edison. he did not find 1 way to invent a lightbulb....no ....no ....no.

This guy has the patience of a saint.....and found 1000 ways not to invent the lightbulb. Process of elimination for him, till one day....he hit the major JACKPOT! Changed history for ever.

So you have to ask, how willing are you prepared to work to change your history? Simple as that.

I don't mean to be rude, but if you've been doing this full time for a year then everyone who has done this full time for at least a year and one day have tried harder on you.

I can tell simply by the fact that you WROTE this post that the problem isn't how hard you try, it's your negative mindset. People who succeed don't write things like this. Maybe IM isn't for you. A normal day job might make you happier.

Whatever path you end up following I wish you all the success.

-Steve

This guys seems to have gained a lot of exposures, experience and have gone miles. If you can make $1, 000 a year you can certainly make times ten of that if you sit down and re-strategize. I don't think you should go away completely, instead take some time out and come back, do some experimentation, try to diversify your business model. Fortunately, most businesses online require some form of marketing, you can be very fortunate to do much better in a different field thou ruling your current area of specialization out.

We all faced similar situation at one time or the other. In the past, i have given up over ten times and each times i come back i feel stronger, wiser, and smarter.

You can do better!

When I first started trying to make my brick-and-mortar business my full-time income, I had close to $500k in the bank.

Three years later, I had about $30k in the bank, and we were not making any money. "Ooh," I said. "I'd better do something different."

The next year, my business grossed seven figures.

You have not made any money because you did not need to make any money.

So you did not give a crap about making money, because it didn't matter.

Now it matters. Go make money.

This is where the rubber meets the road, dude. You're either going forward or going home, but pick one.

I know, as many others, exactly how you feel right now. I took my three years to get to a full-time income level and even when I did it was hairy as I quit my job to pursue it.

This industry can provide you with a fantastic way of life is you just PERSIST. Man, countless times I've nearly burnt out but I just KEPT GOING because I wouldn't allow myself to live the 'average' life.

My advise to you:

1) Pick 1 business model (be it list building, Amazon Associates, Adsense, CPA)
2) Have a system in place
3) FOCUS on working the system HARD without buying ANYTHING else or luring yourself to some shiny banner ad that tells you about the latest and greatest.
4) Monitor your results and scale up accordingly

If you follow the above 4 steps you WILL succeed. So many people try to juggle 100 different systems and methods only to fail miserably because they aren't dedicating enough time to one specific path.

Once one business model is working you can move on to other things but to me (don't take it personally) it sounds like you need to focus more on ONE thing.

Maybe you have been doing that but clearly something isn't clicking and that's not your fault.

I wish you all the best man, and keep plugging away because you'll kick yourself in 5 years time that you didn't persist and wish you had.

~Russ

I think you shouldn't quit.. just take break and review all things you've done.

Pick one and focus on it! Leave the rest and start doing 1 thing instead of 100S!!

Quit trying so hard. Forcing never works.
Success in this biz is like anything else you do. The rules are the same, so if you don't make it here you are probably really good at quitting and will never make it anywhere. Besides it takes years to build a proper business, all the Gurus have been at this for over 10 years. So stop comparing and keep planting your seeds. Every single day do more of the correct work (advertising, list building etc) than wasted work (facebook messaging, youtube video viewing) and over time this has to result in business.
You should read a book called 3 Feet from Gold. Because it sounds like you're going to make it soon, but you will probably give up at the time it all comes together - have faith.

Think strategically about the paradigm you have been following

In Jay Abraham's dialogues he said strategy was the number 1 thing that any business can implement for supercharged results

Following the herd and making yet another totally online or totally 'make money online' focus i think is way overdone

There are TONS of opportunities to combine IM with offline money making. Its LITERALLY a gold mine where you can sometimes make $1500 in one day ( in my experience )

A lot of people would kill to be at $85/month passive (about 1k/year)...just saying, it's a start.

You should take that passive income and pay someone here to do your SEO.

Even if this gets me hate or even banned from this forum:
The stuff sold here is 100% crap. All (!) of it. There I said it

I certainly feel your pain. Starting something from scratch and making it profitable is truly extraordinary. I would never recommend that someone put all their focus towards one endeavor. At the end of the day, you still have to pay the bills. So find gainful employment, whatever that may be, and keep IM as a side gig until you figure out how to capitalize on your niche. And while it's been stated repeatedly here, just keep at it. Learn as you go, and adjust your strategy to find those resources and methods that produce the best results.

How about focussing on building your own brand rather than affiliate sales?

I have to agree you've done better than most if you've made $1k profit in a year, I wouldn't see it as a failure and throwing your toys out of the pram now only harms you.

Maybe it would be better not to rely on anyone else's suggestions and to follow your own path, I understand how you feel as I've been at this a lot longer than a year but I haven't quit.

I think sticking with Amazon would be a good idea but it may be easier for you if you focus on a niche you're passionate about, if someone suggests a method you decide to follow and you see no success you will only feel resentment, especially if you pour on more hard work and see little results.

At this stage I'd say you've gathered enough knowledge to make money, now it's just a question of what you focus on and how much better you do the job than the competition.

Best Of Luck

It seems to me that in the IM business everyone has to find their own path to success. Just blindly following the gurus is not a business plan...

With that attitude maybe it's not for you. I don't care if it takes me 5 years to hit $50 a day, I am going to do it on the side. I have been into it very part time for 6 months, and just got my first click bank sale this last Friday. SEO and traffic take time, way to much time, but you get those figured out, and you have a very good chance of succeeding. You only fail if you quit in this business. Maybe your problem was listening to sales happy moron gurus that just want your money. I was just thinking of that today, you have to develop your own style and system and sites, and test, and polish, and improve all the time! That site I made the sale on, has gone through like 3 sites, and 3 different sets of keyword research. Just a few gurus programs isn't the answer, working and creating yourself is. Yes things work for them, but just take the advice, and info and mold your own plan. I started with Mass Money Makers, and then Rapid Profit Formula, that's all I have seen and used, and both systems sites and squeeze pages blow. I do awesome looking websites on my own that are 10x better. Most people struggle with SEO and the sites and the back end know how, get those down, and it will come. I was a computer, website, already had hosting, SEO hungry person coming in, and I am way ahead of the curve. I learn things every week, and I know the only way I will fail, is if i quit, it's that simple.

When I first started making about five bucks a month with adsense my husband thought i had lost my marbles to be so excited, but I KNEW if I could make five bucks, I could make five hundred a month... now, three years later I am at $500 a month, so now my sights are set on five grand. And you betcha boots I will do it! It may take me another three years but I WILL get there. So I don't give a hoot what anyone says, hard work ( and a lot of mistakes!) will get you there, just as in anything else in life.

I hope you keep your sites up through the holidays for sure - Amazon is great for that. I doubt that you want to think about another product, but Easy Paycheck Formula but is about Amazon marketing and it is great. A stay at home mom of seven kids who has grown a six or seven figure business up, and she will support you until you get sales. There are other Warrior Special Offer about Amazon that seem impressive as well.
If your sites are making any profit at all you usually can sell them for 6-12 times a monthly earning on Flippa. Just doing that could make you a bit of change. I agree that you have a lot of skills and could sell them on Fiverr or something. - By the way Befreeca, I didn't know what a WSO is either, and I get irritated when people act as if there is an in crowd that can't give a polite answer to newbies. - it is a Warrior Special Offer. Basically, we are all at some level of newbie here - I don't see Ryan Deiss or Gauher Chadrey lurking the forums.

Remember Amazon has a very low commission, to make $100 per day you need to sell 100 products per day (well, not really, but it's a tough site to try and make decent money from)

Try and find affiliate programs which aren't too expensive and give you recurring commissions. That's the way to go if you want to do this full-time.

Also, have you tried creating your own product? Even better! Focus more on what YOU are good at rather than trying to make sales with other people's products on Amazon.

Stick to one niche, you're absolutely right, you dont need 1000 sites to make money, only one!

Don't quit, I know its not always easy to stay motivated, but KNOW that it will work out and it will.

"Trying is having the intention to fail. Say you're gonna do it, and you will"

All the best

The entire world is about marketing and for the most part, selling something that is mostly useless to someone else. IM is no different than anything else, you just may have a place to got to work and a role to help that business sell their product. IM you have to do on your own. The only things humans actually need are food, water, shelter, love and air to breathe, everything else is something you are taught to want (through marketing)!

Go to an adult site and find out who their newest and best model is.

Signup for their partnership program (hopefully it's $35 per sale...)

Buy the .com, .net or .org of that model's name and build a gallery of them on it.

Submit it to link lists/ adult search engines using their name as the anchor text.

If they hit it big, so have you. If not - you might make a couple of $35 sales a month

with free traffic from Google.

OR JUST QUIT THIS TOUGH, IRRITATING AND STUPID ONLINE MARKETING GIMMICK.

Bro have you tried finding a trusting partner to share the burden and costs and also then you've both got some1 to motivate, encourage and egg you on in times of procrastination or difficulty...

have thought about flipping them on...with searches and seo you've already done on them...and the age i assume over 6-7 months old...i'd say you'd be unlucky not to make $350-1000 per site...

enough to keep you going and find a viable project of your own...

hope it helps...

also see my thread on here for an in depth look at why you failed...

R ALL MARKETERS CON-ARTISTS

How about taking this amount and invest it into outsourcing all tasks. This way you can up your income and get to a place where the daily tasks get manageable.

Not only that, you´d be able to scale your busines up and finally to get to a place where you will genuinely make a living from IM.

Well OP, you got 4 pages of advice now. It is up to you on guiding your fate. Stick with IM, or get out the game. Personally, I wish you well on either decision. Either way, if you need or want to sell me your sites, just PM me the details . Good luck.

Well, you've made $1000. That's more than a lot of people have made in their first year. What does that tell you? That you CAN make money. That fact alone should be enough to motivate you. It means that you either need to do more of what you have already done, or find a way to do it better.

No one can say WHY you aren't making more. You have not provided any analytics about traffic, click-through rates, sales conversion, analysis of where your traffic is coming from, keywords used to find your site, etc... A lot of people have speculated about seasonal issues, but a quick look at your analytics should clear a lot of it up. Going through your site analytics should give you a pretty go idea of where the problem lies.

Money comes from traffic and conversion (whether search or email list). If you aren't getting traffic, you need to figure out why. Bad keyword research, bad on-page SEO, bad product choice, whatever. Poor conversion once they get to your site could indicate bad copy, or generally not providing what your visitors are looking for. Maybe your sites just suck. Look at your site and ask yourself if that is what you would want to see if doing a search. If it isn't, there is a good starting point to fixing it.

I'm not sure who "everyone" is, that said Amazon is "the way to go". Amazon has a lot of stuff, they are reliable, and they offer a lot of tools to help you, but commissions are low. On the other hand, fake review sites can turn a lot of people off. If you are providing nothing to the visitor but a list of Amazon links, you'll probably get a lot of people hitting their back button. Not saying you are, but I have seen a lot of horrible review sites.

It doesn't matter how many sites you have built, or that they are in different niches. If you built the sites all in the same way, they could all have the same problem. You need to analyze what that problem is, and see what you can do to fix it.

Ok, that comment is "100% crap". If for no other reason than there is no way that you could have purchased and implemented every single WSO. Not more than a small fraction of them, actually. Granted, there is a lot of junk WSO's here, but there are also some really good ones that are worth far more than their purchase price.

There are plenty of other routes you could take. Don't ever give up. Perhaps you should take a break from IM. I heard this famous speaker named Joe Vitale say that the law of detachment is very important if you ever want to obtain anything in your life. I'm not saying your obsessed with money or anything, but I am saying that people who aren't obsessed with the end result for an outcome they desire usually get what they want. Remember, there are different pathways to the same dollar. You could always try share-a-sale, commission junction, CPA networks and many other methods and programs to make money online. So good luck and hold onto your dream.

There s a great saying "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result."

Don't give up, you can do it!

To be honest IM world or running any kind of business is not for everyone. You need to have a good reasons and dedication to push your luck to succeed.

Basically you don't have any problems with building up your review website, just having a hard time with monetizing. So if you know how to build up those websites, why don't you flip them and sell to someone who knows how to monetize.

Hi. First I would like to say that I am sorry you are losing your job. Secondly, two things that you said you were doing really suck out to me.

1. You said you a promoting Amazon products. The down side to promoting Amazon products is that you earn really low commissions because when promoting Amazon (or other physical products), the affiliate is the last one to get paid, so there is less money to go around.

2. You said your articles are about 800 words long. That is too long. In actually, they should be about half that (400-450 words). This will increase your conversion rates. When people buy, especially from Amazon, they don't need to read an essay. There is built-in trust and desperation to buy - usually can't get it locally.

Because you are promoting physical products, you are going to need to pull in a lot more traffic in comparison to say, a digital-info product that pays out more per sale. You might want to consider promoting digital-Info products (don't all suck) in addition to what you are doing now. You might also consider becoming a service provider.

Good luck,
Joey

Did I miss it? Has anyone asked to see these websites?

It seems to me that it's futile to provide feedback and advice without having any real information...

Here's the information needed to make valuable suggestions:

1. A few examples of your websites
2. How much traffic you're getting
3. What keywords people are using to find your site
4. Exactly what people are doing on your site (if you don't know this, you need to install Google Analytics)

Hey Zimbezee, at least you got to make sites and had a go mate! Sorry you didn't get what you wanted. Look at the knowledge you have gained. Some of us are still staring at the keyboards 5 years later! Nothing left but Filsaime now!

Speaking from personal experience, I wanted to give up so many times and if I had done it I would have had no idea how close I was to success. It is always lurking around a corner, and is within reach. All you need to do is recollect yourself and push even harder and you can reach it!

Hi, I am in the same boat! My wife wants me to stop because I have been doing internet marketing for two years. Some, well most of my problem is I am a procrastinator. I can see from videos I have seen it will work. So in short I had better get of my ... and start doing something.

For me IM, is something where you spend a few buck and wait around. You're not going to make a living off it. Very few people do that. But I do make about $100 a month extra. I do a little here and a little there, and it ads up. but full time IM, you can't make too much. Very few make over 5k,month.

So, you failed to quit your job in one year! IT, not you is the failure. Failure is the EVENT, not the PERSON.

BTW, it is often repeated hear that only 5% of people getting in this business will ever earn a single dollar. You know what that means?

WELCOME TO THE TOP FIVE PERCENT OF ONLINE MARKETERS!

Want to hear a list of the Biggest Failures?
Thomas Edison
Henry Ford
Stephen Spielburg
Donald Trump
Warren Buffet
Zig Ziglar
Robert Kiosaki
and the mighty
Mike Filsaime!

I'd rather keep company with this list of failures than most of the people around me.

So, neither of us quit our jobs when we had hoped. However, the hardest part is behind us -- We have turned a profit! We have learned from our mistakes and we are moving on to the greatest level of success we have ever known to date!

BTW, I shifted my business model from blogging/autoblogging to go back to the basics. It's the only real foundation I have found for growing your business for the long term.

Focus on building your list and building your business around it. That's my agenda now.

Your work is producing results. Christmas is coming, so let them do their job. I have a 5 or 6 year old blog that took off like gangbusters this past February. It went from 20-60 visitors a month to over 8000, with over 3000 uniques not counting bots! It was monetized with Amazon before Amazon left NC.

Focus on your own success story and not the failures of others. You aren't in competition with them, you are in competition with you. Improve what you have done and eventually, you'll understand what works and what doesn't.

Now, pick yourself up. Dust yourself off, and lets get going again!

I've found my revenue to come from doing internet marketing projects for brick and mortar businesses.

Look for partners in your local area to work with.