What To Do When Times Are Desperate

15 replies
When you're desperate and hanging on by your last limb, there is one route that I advise you take. And that is the route of an affiliate marketer.

Because you see, affiliate marketing is simple to do, and requires a small amount of time to profit in, as compared to creating your own products. However I do recommend that you jump on the product creation wagon once you've got some skin in the game kiddo.

Affiliate marketing is basically you marketing someone else's product in order to receive a percentage of the sale. It's very simple and I won't over complicate it.

Now here is a kick-butt strategy that you can use to start making money with affiliate marketing if you are completely new.

First thing to do is select a niche that you want to start marketing in. Make sure you choose something that you actually enjoy talking about, and something that has money being spent in it.

Next you will have to set up a squeeze page and an email marketing auto-responder service like aweber($1 trial for 30 days), or getresponse(free for first 30 days), or even mailchimp (mailchimp is free).

Next go and select an offer that is in your niche that is converting well. By that I mean, an offer that people are actually buying and spending money on.

To find products you can go to clickbank.com, clicksure.com, click2sell.eu, warriorplus.com, and jvzoo.com for example.

Once you select your product, you can then put the affiliate offer on the thank you page after people optin to your squeeze page.

Now you build a list of subscribers and then you also hit them with the affiliate offer as soon as they opt into your list.

You'll make money by sending more and more people to your squeeze page. Remember, the more traffic you get the more money you make.
I hope this simple lucrative strategy helps. Please let me know if you have any questions.

To prosperity,
Michael
#affiliate marketing #contest #desperate #times
  • Profile picture of the author Alan Ashwood
    Originally Posted by Thesecret2marketing View Post


    Next you will have to set up a squeeze page and an email marketing auto-responder service like aweber($1 trial for 30 days), or getresponse(free for first 30 days), or even mailchimp (mailchimp is free).

    To prosperity,
    Michael
    Great brief outline of the affiliate marketing route . . .

    However, just one point . . .

    Whatever you do, if you're in affiliate marketing DO NOT USE MAILCHIMP.

    Their terms strictly ban affilliate marketing, and if you do, your account will be shut down, losing all your subscribers.

    If you want a free auto responder, try ListWire. It's a bit fiddly for Wordpress, but it does work well.

    Other than that, excellent post, thanks.
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    • Alan,

      Hey thanks for letting me know that
      about mailchimp. I guess since I have
      not used them personally I woulnd't
      know. However it is a free option for
      the person reading this who has no
      money to invest in an auto-responder
      software.

      But you can grab a 30 day free trial
      from Getresponse which is a service
      used by a large amount of big time
      internet marketers!

      I've never checked out listwire, I'll be
      sure to check it out. Is that a plugin?

      To prosperity,

      Michael

      Originally Posted by Alan Ashwood View Post

      Great brief outline of the affiliate marketing route . . .

      However, just one point . . .

      Whatever you do, if you're in affiliate marketing DO NOT USE MAILCHIMP.

      Their terms strictly ban affilliate marketing, and if you do, your account will be shut down, losing all your subscribers.

      If you want a free auto responder, try ListWire. It's a bit fiddly for Wordpress, but it does work well.

      Other than that, excellent post, thanks.
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      • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
        Banned
        Originally Posted by Thesecret2marketing View Post

        However it is a free option for the person reading this who has no money to invest in an auto-responder software.
        Not if they're planning to do any affiliate marketing, it isn't ... and not if they're planning to do any of the other (very many!) prohibited things listed in Mailchimp's terms of service.

        Originally Posted by Thesecret2marketing View Post

        I've never checked out listwire, I'll be
        sure to check it out.
        That's up to you, Michael.

        These posts/threads may help you a lot ...
        Here's the reality: nobody actually "needs" a free autoresponder.

        People only imagine that they do, and that there'll be some long-term benefit to starting that way, and that in some meaningful sense it'll be better than not having one at all.

        Aweber charges $1 for the first month and $19 per month thereafter. GetResponse gives a month free (or is it for $1? No, I think it's free) and then charges $15 per month. If you're not covering $15/$20 in two months, the reality is that you don't have a business at all, and that's not something that using a free autoresponder is somehow, magically, going to correct.

        In my opinion, using a free autoresponder is one of the very most ill-advised and misguided things one can do, in internet marketing.

        Few people are more keen on list-building than I am, but I think for most people it's better to start without an autoresponder, temporarily, than it is to use a free one. And (unlike the situation with regard to free hosting), with autoresponders it IS specifically the fact they're free that causes the potential disasters/risks, in my view.

        The question you have to ask yourself is whether it can possibly be wise to entrust the safe-keeping and security of your business's greatest, most important and least replaceable asset (your list) to a company whose business model is that of being a free autoresponder. I think that it's generally right at the start of their internet marketing careers, when people understandably have the least judgement about such situations, and the least awareness of the facts and realities involved, that such mistakes tend to be made.

        I suspect that people imagine something along the lines of "Well, I can always start with a free autoresponder until I've made some money, and then make the switch to a better one". Usually, one can't easily do that. Moving established lists from one autoresponder company to another is typically hugely difficult, and very commonly results in all one's subscribers needing - at best - to opt in all over again. Many Warriors have commented here that they've lost between two-thirds and three-quarters of their lists, this way!

        Some people just shrug and say "Well, you can always back it up regularly, can't you?". Easily said. What are you going to do with it, after you've "backed it up"? How are you going to import it elsewhere? Who's going to allow you to import it elsewhere, and under what conditions? (People don't always think about these problems. But the experience of Warriors who have actually had to try to do this seems to me to point to its being something of a nightmare and a disaster).

        In the case of Mailchimp, obviously enough, the situation's very clear to anyone willing to make the effort to read their Terms of Service. In the case of other "free autoresponders" (of which there are several), it's usually very much less clear, unfortunately. Typically, those recommending one, in my opinion, are only recent list-builders themselves and may not yet be aware of some of the longer-term pitfalls.

        Some of these companies even attach to every email their customers send out to their lists a clickable link advertising their own free service! :p It's literally the autoresponder equivalent of having a little website advising people about <whatever> sitting at Yola, with a big clickable link at the bottom of the page advertising "Get your free website here with Yola".

        You'll find it hard to believe, I know, but some even send their own email, with their own promotional links to some kind of "business opportunity", to your customers/subscribers!!

        How professional does that look?!

        Take care. Take the time to do your research and see how other Warriors are saying it looked to their subscribers/customers and why they'll never use a free autoresponder again.

        Some of these companies also don't yet have a very well established business model. Who really knows if they're still going to be there 3 years later? But if they're not, that can be an absolute disaster to your business!

        On previous occasions when I've made that point, someone with a financial interest in a "free autoresponder" business has replied, mentioning that I don't know that Aweber or GetResponse will still be there in 3 years' time, either. I honestly think this a pretty silly argument, because it should be clear to all of us that the odds are stacked in one's favour if one uses Aweber (for example) and against one if one uses a "free autoresponder".

        If necessary, I'd make a sale or two without having a list, and then start with Aweber or GetResponse.

        The set-up costs even for internet marketing businesses which do everything professionally, right from the start, are absolutely minuscule ...

        My perspective only - there are others who disagree, of course. One or two of them are owners of free autoresponder businesses.

        And some others, I think, are pretty inexperienced and have maybe not yet encountered any problems - in contrast to others here whose warning-posts can readily be found with the search function, by those willing to look.
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  • Profile picture of the author Marhelper
    You pray and find a job.
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  • Profile picture of the author HeySal
    I've got to wonder about this. I've been in desperate times and so have others I know. Waiting 30 to 90 days is not an option when you are actually in desperation mode. For true desperation, I'd advise, that while starting an affiliate program is great for the long haul - or even next month or 6 months down the road, the immediate concern should be met terra rather than cyber.

    Get to a temp agency or day labor - temp is one week to get paid and day labor is min wage - scrubby work, but it's daily pay and it can save your butt in a REAL jam -- and after work you can set up your affiliate stuff. Not saying don't do it - just saying put it on top of something with more immediate cash flow. If you can find an affiliate situation that offers immediate, that's kewl - but don't forget to put the sure thing under you while you are betting on the come.
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  • Profile picture of the author RogueOne
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    Get Off The Warrior Forum Now & Don't Come Back If You Want To Succeed!
    All The Real Marketers Are Gone. There's Nothing Left But Weak, Sniveling Wanna-Bees!
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  • Profile picture of the author GailTrahd
    I think that's the 3rd or so time I've seen that 2009 thread pop up again in the past couple of days. Quality never dies. . . like Alexa's posts
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    • Profile picture of the author salegurus
      Originally Posted by Thesecret2marketing View Post

      When you're desperate and hanging on by your last limb, there is one route that I advise you take. And that is the route of an affiliate marketer.

      Because you see, affiliate marketing is simple to do, and requires a small amount of time to profit in...
      To prosperity,
      Michael
      Sorry but i have to disagree.
      If you are on your last legs the best thing to do is find something that's going to pay now not maybe next month or the month after that. And that may mean doing whatever to survive, even flipping burgers at Mickey Dee's, at least it's guaranteed.

      I don't think affiliate marketing is simple or that it requires a short time to see any profit. There may be a few rags to overnight riches stories but they are not the norm.
      There are people who have been at it for months, years and still don't generate any worthwhile income. It's not the same for everyone, you might have made it but that does not mean the next person will, just too many variables.

      If you don't know where your next meal or rent check is coming from i suggest you grab whatever paying job you can find... Once you are stable again, yes by all means build your own online business...
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  • Profile picture of the author Des Lau
    ^agreed. Affiliate marketing and list building takes ALOT of trial and error, failure, time, patience and upkeep. It's not as simple as people make it and there is a lot of uncertainty when you hit the 'go' button for the first time as a newbie.

    The other thing not mentioned Michael, is what you are offering on the squeeze page and what will make them want to sign up. That is probably the most crucial part..
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  • Profile picture of the author gabbydeb
    Besides an off line job and paycheck, skills online can give you quick pay. Here on the Warrior Forum, Warriors are looking for people of many different skill sets. A person can find that under Warrior Special Offers and then Warriors looking to hire you, or something like that.

    If you are pretty savvy at online marketing and setting up blogs or mobile pages, and social media promotion, you can help and show a small biz offline, how to do those things, for a consulting fee. There are lots of everyday people who take their desktop or laptop computers into a store to get them fixed, because something is happening while they are using their computer, that is making them crazy, and it could be something very simple, but they are going to pay a computer tech out the wazoo, to fix it, when it could be something as simple as doing a defrag. I know my Step Dad has done this, when he could have just asked us to look at it, and saved himself the high tech bill. LOL

    Perhaps, someone need an ebook created, and don't know how, and would gladly pay someone to do it. The ideas are endless.

    Regards,
    Debbie
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  • Profile picture of the author wonderfullife
    Nice post. That can be very helpful to affiliate marketing beginners. For a good start, they need choose the suitable tool. I agree with @Des Lau. The next step is to attract visitors to sign up in the list. It is a very important step too. They can provide some incentives to the subscribers.
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  • Profile picture of the author brettb
    Yeah, mailchimp is rubbish if you want to monetise your list, avoid at all costs!!!

    And I'd disagree with OP. Affiliate markeing is a waste of time if you're desperate. Go out and get a job.

    Why? Because I have a lot of traffic to my sites and yet I've not sold a single ClickBank product in the last 2 months. That's not gonna put food on the table.
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  • Profile picture of the author blueclcl
    This strategy does work, but you need to offer a good free product first in order to get people to sign up to your list.

    Take one of the bullets from the affiliate product sales page and build a short report focusing on that bullet to give away free in exchange for there email address.

    Another solution is to build an authority site that sells lots of related products to a broad niche your in. This will take longer, but writing good post and review post everyday will work great afer a few months.

    Hard work but worth it in the end.
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  • Profile picture of the author napoleonfirst
    There is no such a thing as "free", and you need to pay for quality if you want to get results in the affiliate marketing world. You should also buy solo ads from reputable sellers here at the Classified Section of this forum, Getsubscribers.com will help you build your list faster as well.
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