Returning Newbie - Is Affiliate Marketing Dead?

82 replies
Around 2 years ago I set up around 10 micro-niche sites and I was only making around £100.00/$150.00 - I'm from England.

A number of people told me to stop working on lots of small sites and build one large site based on a variety of products. Around this time Google started to play with its Algorithms and UK based affiliate sites people began to proclaim that affiliate marketing was dead.

So I decided to go college and along with a full time job I dropped affiliate marketing. However I am now looking to return to it but when I Google the key terms 99% of the sites are merchant sites and the UK based affiliate site is now dead and only gets 1 or 2 posts a day.

So my question is, is affiliate marketing dead and should I focus on drop-shipping from sites such as Amazon and eBay?
#affiliate #dead #marketing #newbie #returning
  • Profile picture of the author World Marketing
    Affiliate marketing is absolutely not dead....In fact many people on here are making a full-time living doing affiliate marketing...It's all about finding the right strategy...Lately I have been successful with YouTube....Find something that works for you and stick with it...
    Signature

    I make $5,000+ a month online [CLICK HERE] to see how you can do the same starting today!

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8257647].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Jeff Schuman
    Affiliate Marketing is NOT dead, but you may want to consider how you do it especailly in regards to Google and SEO. Here is a very interesting article affiliate marketers should read....

    Is it Still Possible with SEO?
    Signature
    Jeff Schuman - SEO Blog Writer For Hire! Buy affordable, SEO, quality, MMO niche blog articles. Fast turnaround.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8257649].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author MOAZBUTT
      Originally Posted by Jeff Schuman View Post

      Affiliate Marketing is NOT dead, but you may want to consider how you do it especailly in regards to Google and SEO. Here is a very interesting article affiliate marketers should read....

      Is it Still Possible with SEO?
      SEO will remain alive uptill 2030 with news technologies get embed in it.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8284513].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author justlukeyou
    Thanks guys,

    What has killed me for the last 3 years of looking into affiliate is the concept of link building. Lets say I built a site around plumber supplies. Who in the heck would want to a site about plumbing.

    Also lets say I wrote some really good content based on plumbing. For example, "How 3D Printing Is Changing The World of Plumbing" how can I get it in front of anyone who would event consider linking to it.

    I did locate around 50 blogs based on my sector and 99% of them were dead or had no contact details or any other guests posts.

    Simply put, how can I get the all necessary backlinks to my site?
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8257662].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author salegurus
    Yip, dead as a Dodo.
    Sorry for the sarcasm but you're asking on a forum where a significant proportion
    are still making money from affiliate marketing... All you had to do was look around...

    Originally Posted by justlukeyou View Post

    Thanks guys,
    Simply put, how can I get the all necessary backlinks to my site?
    That's a question for the SEO forum here: http://www.warriorforum.com/adsense-...cussion-forum/

    Like i said have a look around...
    Signature
    Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.

    ― George Carlin
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8257675].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author justlukeyou
      Thanks,

      So the concept of me building a large site is now a waste of time? I did read this through but I still dont understand the detail of what it is portraying. Is he saying I should find a niche, set up a crappy site with a few pages of content and profit from the initial bounce of the new site or is he just selling linkitpro.com ?

      Is it Still Possible with SEO?
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8257722].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author sree94
        Originally Posted by justlukeyou View Post

        Thanks,

        So the concept of me building a large site is now a waste of time? I did read this through but I still dont understand the detail of what it is portraying. Is he saying I should find a niche, set up a crappy site with a few pages of content and profit from the initial bounce of the new site or is he just selling linkitpro.com ?

        Is it Still Possible with SEO?
        I recently put up a five page site (with four of the pages containing content I have on other sites) and that site went to number one in Google in about four weeks

        As others have stated: affiliate marketing is alive and well!!!!
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8415237].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author GtGatsby
    Done properly AM is not dead. However, the majority of affiliate marketers are not doing it properly. They're still stuck in a '90s mentality, i.e. search a few keywords, write 10 articles, tweak for SEO, upload and make thousands a month... Puh-lease.

    People who think they can just spin a few articles and set up some watery sites are in for a nasty shock. (Google's kung-fu-Panda'd that idea once and for all). (Many successful affiliate marketing sites have 1,000+ pages of meaningful content).

    AM is hard work. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. You have to create top-notch content, attract traffic, convert that traffic to your mailing list, build your mailing list to several thousand subscribers, build trust then sell. It's downright boring at times and it requires a lot of perseverance. If you're not prepared to put in this initial graft, AM is probably not for you. Look at other alternatives, e.g. creating your own products.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8257726].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author justlukeyou
      Originally Posted by GtGatsby View Post

      Done properly AM is not dead. However, the majority of affiliate marketers are not doing it properly. They're still stuck in a '90s mentality, i.e. search a few keywords, write 10 articles, tweak for SEO, upload and make thousands a month... Puh-lease.

      People who think they can just spin a few articles and set up some watery sites are in for a nasty shock. (Google's kung-fu-Panda'd that idea once and for all). (Many successful affiliate marketing sites have 1,000+ pages of meaningful content).

      AM is hard work. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. You have to create top-notch content, attract traffic, convert that traffic to your mailing list, build your mailing list to several thousand subscribers, build trust then sell. It's downright boring at times and it requires a lot of perseverance. If you're not prepared to put in this initial graft, AM is probably not for you. Look at other alternatives, e.g. creating your own products.
      Thanks,

      Im ready for the hard work. I learnt PHP and HTML to build the site myself. But I just dont know how to attract traffic and honestly I dont know what top-notch content is. Do you have any examples of high quality content.

      I've set up on Pinterest, Twitter and Facebook.

      I'm also trying to give drop shipping a go however I signed up with ebay and listed two products but then it told me I reached my value limit of £600.00 which I was very surprised about.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8257737].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Ken Houck
    Affiliate marketing is not dead. it is alive and going well. you just may have to adjust to the new algorithms
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8257728].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author justlukeyou
    Also 1000+ pages of content could take 18 months to produce just for once site. Does drop shipping provide the benefits of not having to build your own site?
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8257760].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author aarthielumalai
    Originally Posted by justlukeyou View Post

    Around 2 years ago I set up around 10 micro-niche sites and I was only making around £100.00/$150.00 - I'm from England.

    A number of people told me to stop working on lots of small sites and build one large site based on a variety of products. Around this time Google started to play with its Algorithms and UK based affiliate sites people began to proclaim that affiliate marketing was dead.

    So I decided to go college and along with a full time job I dropped affiliate marketing. However I am now looking to return to it but when I Google the key terms 99% of the sites are merchant sites and the UK based affiliate site is now dead and only gets 1 or 2 posts a day.

    So my question is, is affiliate marketing dead and should I focus on drop-shipping from sites such as Amazon and eBay?
    Drop-shipping is good, but I'm pretty sure affiliate marketing is NOT dead. I guess people just found different ways to get traffic to their sites, and they've finally realized that putting all your eggs on a single basket is a recipe for disaster.

    So, yeah, make search engine traffic a part of your traffic plan, but don't focus on that alone.

    As for micro niche sites, ya, spammy looking sites with hardly 1 or 2 articles don't work anymore. Frequently updated sites do well with readers anyway. If they know you'll keep providing them with fresh and useful content, they'll keep coming back to your site, and return readers and customers are a key to make a website work.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8258207].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author hango
    I know that my affiliates make around $50-$100 a month from my product. I also make $50-$100 a month through web host affiliates on another site. Just depends on how quality your sites are.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8258212].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Mogly
    Of course not... no method really dies out... ever. You just need to spin it.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8258345].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author PaidAllDay
    I will tell you EXACTLY why you hear you should skip the micro sites and go for a big authority website. The people telling you this are more than likely trying to sell you on some type of program to build an authority website. The reason for this is it takes time and the longer it takes the more you pay them. Also, if you eventually give up, you will just assume it was your fault because you didn't put in the effort required.

    Microsites do just fine in fact you can make a lot of money by just building a landing page and not even having a website. Especially if you send paid traffic to it and continuously work on split testing elements and increasing your conversions. In fact, it's much easier to split test a landing page or squeeze page than it is to tweak every last element of your monster site until you see a sale.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8258396].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author shane_k
      Originally Posted by justlukeyou View Post

      A number of people told me to stop working on lots of small sites and build one large site based on a variety of products.

      Around this time Google started to play with its Algorithms and UK based affiliate sites people began to proclaim that affiliate marketing was dead.

      This is funny if you think about it.

      It is like going into a McDonald's and telling the CEO that they might as well close up shop because the City of New York has decided that it is no longer going to allow McDonald's to advertise on any of it's subways or buses.

      These people who you were talking to should have remembered that Google is only one traffic stream (out of hundreds)


      Originally Posted by justlukeyou View Post

      Thanks,

      honestly I dont know what top-notch content is. Do you have any examples of high quality content.

      It's not that you need "top-notch content" or even "high quality content"

      What you should focus on is "Relevant Content"

      You have to remember that Google is in the business of satisfying the "search requests" of their customers.

      The better they are at this the more people will use their search engine. The worse they are, the more people will look for another service provider.

      And Google has different ways to determine if a site is what someone is looking for or not.

      One of the ways is through Relevancy.

      The more relevant your content is to the search terms entered, the better.

      Or in other words, the more relevant your content is, to what Google's customer is searching for and wants to find, the better.

      A lot of IMers focus on "gaming the system" and "tricking" google.

      But for me I look at it like this...

      Google will reward you with higher rankings, the better you can help them give their customers what they want.



      Originally Posted by PaidAllDay View Post

      I will tell you EXACTLY why you hear you should skip the micro sites and go for a big authority website. The people telling you this are more than likely trying to sell you on some type of program to build an authority website.

      I think this is a part of it.

      But I also think that a lot of IMers saw their "small" or "micro" sites tank and disappear and in their panic they just assumed that "Small = bad" and that must mean then that "big = good"

      So they started buildig larger and larger sites assuming once again that the "size" is what Google was looking for.

      But again, relevancy is more important.

      The proof of this is in the many IMers who you can find on the WF who still have "micro-sites" that are only 1-5 pages but are still ranking high and/or haven't been affected.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8258802].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author PaidAllDay
        Originally Posted by shane_k View Post

        I think this is a part of it.

        But I also think that a lot of IMers saw their "small" or "micro" sites tank and disappear and in their panic they just assumed that "Small = bad" and that must mean then that "big = good"

        So they started buildig larger and larger sites assuming once again that the "size" is what Google was looking for.

        But again, relevancy is more important.

        The proof of this is in the many IMers who you can find on the WF who still have "micro-sites" that are only 1-5 pages but are still ranking high and/or haven't been affected.
        Exactly, you have pinpointed the issue here. Relevancy is what matters. That is why I am able to rank websites with just one link on them and no other content on page one of Google for a given keyword (usually in one of the top 3 spots). I heard this was also revealed in SEO Omega, but the fact is w/ high quality backlinks it's an effective strategy. That tells me the exact opposite of a big heavy authority site is the most effective.
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8259250].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author CatherineMay
        Originally Posted by shane_k View Post

        This is funny if you think about it.

        It is like going into a McDonald's and telling the CEO that they might as well close up shop because the City of New York has decided that it is no longer going to allow McDonald's to advertise on any of it's subways or buses.

        These people who you were talking to should have remembered that Google is only one traffic stream (out of hundreds)





        It's not that you need "top-notch content" or even "high quality content"

        What you should focus on is "Relevant Content"

        You have to remember that Google is in the business of satisfying the "search requests" of their customers.

        The better they are at this the more people will use their search engine. The worse they are, the more people will look for another service provider.

        And Google has different ways to determine if a site is what someone is looking for or not.

        One of the ways is through Relevancy.

        The more relevant your content is to the search terms entered, the better.

        Or in other words, the more relevant your content is, to what Google's customer is searching for and wants to find, the better.

        A lot of IMers focus on "gaming the system" and "tricking" google.

        But for me I look at it like this...

        Google will reward you with higher rankings, the better you can help them give their customers what they want.






        I think this is a part of it.

        But I also think that a lot of IMers saw their "small" or "micro" sites tank and disappear and in their panic they just assumed that "Small = bad" and that must mean then that "big = good"

        So they started buildig larger and larger sites assuming once again that the "size" is what Google was looking for.

        But again, relevancy is more important.

        The proof of this is in the many IMers who you can find on the WF who still have "micro-sites" that are only 1-5 pages but are still ranking high and/or haven't been affected.
        Is there a best way to determine what google wants; what google considers "relevant?" It seems like the importance of keywords is being downgraded; some people even say don't bother anymore with the google keyword tool.

        I would love some guidance as to how to really make small affiliate sites that really work.
        Signature

        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8271891].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author jasondinner
    Affiliate marketing gave me my freedom from a job and it supports me, my wife, and my 4 kids.

    I'd say it's alive and well.
    Signature

    "Human thoughts have the tendency to transform themselves into their physical equivalent." Earl Nightingale

    Super Affiliates Hang Out Here

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8259444].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author zeroaffiliate
    Is Affiliate Marketing Dead?
    No. if you know how to play with it.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8259470].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author curationsoft
    Affiliate marketing is still alive! it's is one of the best way to earn money on the internet. you should continue doing it if you wan to return in online marketing world.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8259484].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author cititoru
    It's not dead, but it might be dead to you if you don't know how to use it to your gain.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8259735].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author RogueOne
    It's not even ill.
    Signature
    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!
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8259770].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author digitalsapien
    Affiliate marketing is not dead. It's still one of the best ways to earn your online income!!
    Signature

    Discover what every Internet marketer needs to know about building a profitable online business only at Entrepreneurs Wealth League.

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8260066].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author calumson
    Methods can die and for sure change, so have do have to keep up with the times.
    What I can say for sure is that the Mobile Market is hot like red hot...
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8260078].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author joaquin112
    Affiliate marketing will always exist. As long as there are products, people will be willing to promote them for a split of the revenue.

    What changes is the strategies to promote said products.
    Signature

    Publish your digital course at Accomplisher.com. We create the video sales letter, drive affiliate traffic and split the profits with you. If you want to start making money by teaching online, submit your application here.

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8260081].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author justlukeyou
    Thanks guys.

    If you had to start over again what steps would you take.

    I started micro sites but was only making small amounts of money.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8260786].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Wendell
      Originally Posted by justlukeyou View Post

      Thanks guys.

      If you had to start over again what steps would you take.

      I started micro sites but was only making small amounts of money.

      Affiliate Marketing has not so much died as it has evolved. Several factors could have given you the impression that Affiliate Marketing is dead

      1. 40% of Internet Marketers don't make any money online at all. For them, affilate marketing is indeed dead. Conversely, however, 60% of IM-ers do make at least some money, and 5-6% have made US$100, 000 or more (according to one survey) in total. Note that that these are simply those who have stuck to it and applied a consistent approach (for 18 months or more).
      2. Many affiliate marketers (up to 80% or more) put up spammy sites that Google naturally doesn't like. The sites populate search engine listings known to SEO pros as immature neighbourhoods, which Google periodically tries to clean up (hence Panda, Penguin and the like).
      3. Because of this, the term Affiliate Marketing has fallen somewhat out of favour and is avoided by savvy markerters and merchants.
      4. Successful affiliate marketers have mostly, by now, built responsive email lists so that they rely less on the Search Engines for their traffic than they once did, which means they can funtion outside of the Google orbit.
      5. You will note that minisites and landing pages lend themselves best to traffic from paid searches than from natural searches. To be successful with paid searches, you need time, patience, practise and money and there is a lot of trial and error. Savvy marketers use paid searches to build email lists, since you can rarely sell a product to someone from a single visit.
      6. Google does prefer larger, so-called authority sites for its natural search listings, but you need to be consistent in building them page by page, day by day or Google will eventually relegate you to obscurity. If you are consistent and build relevant content (not simply keyword rich but relevant - there's a difference), your rankings *will* improve.
      7. In the past, many (digital) affiliate products were in the form of ebook programs that have now morphed into so-called info-products, as Kindle and others have pretty much swallowed up the ebook market and made straigntfoward ebook sales via affiliates sales difficult and unprofitable. Info-products need a lot more promotion than mere ebooks did with the addition of multiple bonuses such as videos, audio files and the like so as to add perceived value.
      8. As someone here mentioned, to rank well in the search engines, relevancy is important, but so is (domain and page) popularity. These are the two main metrics whereby the SEs determine how highly your site should be ranked. Popularity calls for backlinks from popular sites (sites with lots of traffic etc., not just high pagerank sites).
      Social media and other cutting edge linking strategies (such as blog commenting and video marketing) has lowered reliance purely on search engine traffic.

      Note that If you have a responsive email list, you WILL have sales. That has always been the case, and it isn't going to change anytime soon. For example when you were earning 100 pounds a month, with a decent email list you would have earned up to 10 times more.

      You have correctly surmised however that the real issue is traffic and ask how you can get more. The more targetted traffic you have, the more easily you will be able to build an email list.

      If you learn the art of good SEO (read all you can about it), you WILL eventually see the fruits of your labour. SEO from natural searches is still the most solid (but not the only) source of decent traffic.

      Below is a list of all possible traffict sources. Choose 4-5 that you feel most comfortable with. Perfect one before you move on to the other and don't let any source exceed more than 20-25% of total traffic. Those (not just myself) who follow that guideline faithfully claim to have great results!

      SEO (don't ignore, this is the A of traffic sources)
      Blog Commenting
      Gues Posting
      You Tube ( and video marketing in general)
      Podcasting
      Craigslist
      Slideshare
      Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.)
      Forums
      Squidoo
      Yahoo Answers
      Article Submission
      Paid Ads
      RSS feed (and other forms of) Syndication [Submit your RSS feed to as many RSS aggregators around the web and your content is bound to get picked up and syndicated all across the web - generating unlimited backlinks for you]

      The traffic sources listed below also help with SEO by creating high quality back links for your site naturally:
      Article Submission
      3 way link exchanges
      Guest Blogging
      Social Bookmarking
      Quality Directory Submission
      Classified Ad posting
      Forum Discussions
      Question & Answering (eg: Yahoo Answers)
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8276045].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author humbledmarket
        Banned
        Originally Posted by Wendell View Post

        Affiliate Marketing has not so much died as it has evolved. Several factors could have given you the impression that Affiliate Marketing is dead

        1. 40% of Internet Marketers don't make any money online at all. For them, affilate marketing is indeed dead. Conversely, however, 60% of IM-ers do make at least some money, and 5-6% have made US$100, 000 or more (according to one survey) in total. Note that that these are simply those who have stuck to it and applied a consistent approach (for 18 months or more).
        2. Many affiliate marketers (up to 80% or more) put up spammy sites that Google naturally doesn't like. The sites populate search engine listings known to SEO pros as immature neighbourhoods, which Google periodically tries to clean up (hence Panda, Penguin and the like).
        3. Because of this, the term Affiliate Marketing has fallen somewhat out of favour and is avoided by savvy markerters and merchants.
        4. Successful affiliate marketers have mostly, by now, built responsive email lists so that they rely less on the Search Engines for their traffic than they once did, which means they can funtion outside of the Google orbit.
        5. You will note that minisites and landing pages lend themselves best to traffic from paid searches than from natural searches. To be successful with paid searches, you need time, patience, practise and money and there is a lot of trial and error. Savvy marketers use paid searches to build email lists, since you can rarely sell a product to someone from a single visit.
        6. Google does prefer larger, so-called authority sites for its natural search listings, but you need to be consistent in building them page by page, day by day or Google will eventually relegate you to obscurity. If you are consistent and build relevant content (not simply keyword rich but relevant - there's a difference), your rankings *will* improve.
        7. In the past, many (digital) affiliate products were in the form of ebook programs that have now morphed into so-called info-products, as Kindle and others have pretty much swallowed up the ebook market and made straigntfoward ebook sales via affiliates sales difficult and unprofitable. Info-products need a lot more promotion than mere ebooks did with the addition of multiple bonuses such as videos, audio files and the like so as to add perceived value.
        8. As someone here mentioned, to rank well in the search engines, relevancy is important, but so is (domain and page) popularity. These are the two main metrics whereby the SEs determine how highly your site should be ranked. Popularity calls for backlinks from popular sites (sites with lots of traffic etc., not just high pagerank sites).
        Social media and other cutting edge linking strategies (such as blog commenting and video marketing) has lowered reliance purely on search engine traffic.

        Note that If you have a responsive email list, you WILL have sales. That has always been the case, and it isn't going to change anytime soon. For example when you were earning 100 pounds a month, with a decent email list you would have earned up to 10 times more.

        You have correctly surmised however that the real issue is traffic and ask how you can get more. The more targetted traffic you have, the more easily you will be able to build an email list.

        If you learn the art of good SEO (read all you can about it), you WILL eventually see the fruits of your labour. SEO from natural searches is still the most solid (but not the only) source of decent traffic.

        Below is a list of all possible traffict sources. Choose 4-5 that you feel most comfortable with. Perfect one before you move on to the other and don't let any source exceed more than 20-25% of total traffic. Those (not just myself) who follow that guideline faithfully claim to have great results!

        SEO (don't ignore, this is the A of traffic sources)
        Blog Commenting
        Gues Posting
        You Tube ( and video marketing in general)
        Podcasting
        Craigslist
        Slideshare
        Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.)
        Forums
        Squidoo
        Yahoo Answers
        Article Submission
        Paid Ads
        RSS feed (and other forms of) Syndication [Submit your RSS feed to as many RSS aggregators around the web and your content is bound to get picked up and syndicated all across the web - generating unlimited backlinks for you]

        The traffic sources listed below also help with SEO by creating high quality back links for your site naturally:
        Article Submission
        3 way link exchanges
        Guest Blogging
        Social Bookmarking
        Quality Directory Submission
        Classified Ad posting
        Forum Discussions
        Question & Answering (eg: Yahoo Answers)
        OP pay attention to this post^.

        Can't believe you haven't got more thanks!

        On a side note, try to stay focused on what you want to pursue; it can be tempting to take on quite a few tasks though it would more advisable to zoom in on one or two things (such as developing your site) and getting some trickle of income (and incentive) before pursuing other things.

        Also when you're starting back in the same it can be good to forgo the email list (for now) and then use it later once you get some consistent traffic source. The reason I say this:
        - In the past we tried to do some wide web development
        - Email list is profitable but it's also another area to learn
        - We find trying to do an email list while developing the site wasn't too productive; it's more maintainence when the traffic wasn't there yet so overall became a distraction that didn't pay off only to take time from the original task.

        No doubt email list are profitable and advisable though use it once later on to save you another learning curve.

        How's your micro sites doing now? There are also other options to affiliate marketinb esdi
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8277069].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author Wendell
          Originally Posted by humbledmarket View Post

          OP pay attention to this post^.

          Can't believe you haven't got more thanks!

          On a side note, try to stay focused on what you want to pursue; it can be tempting to take on quite a few tasks though it would more advisable to zoom in on one or two things (such as developing your site) and getting some trickle of income (and incentive) before pursuing other things.

          Also when you're starting back in the same it can be good to forgo the email list (for now) and then use it later once you get some consistent traffic source. The reason I say this:
          - In the past we tried to do some wide web development
          - Email list is profitable but it's also another area to learn
          - We find trying to do an email list while developing the site wasn't too productive; it's more maintainence when the traffic wasn't there yet so overall became a distraction that didn't pay off only to take time from the original task.

          No doubt email list are profitable and advisable though use it once later on to save you another learning curve.

          How's your micro sites doing now? There are also other options to affiliate marketinb esdi


          Absolutely Humbledmarket, spot on!
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8277098].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Geri Richmond
    Hi,
    I just saw a video on how to make money with PLR and YouTube. Really pretty simple. Drive traffic to your site through YouTube.
    Affiliate Marketing is definitely not dead. There are millions of niches out there.

    Good luck with your endeavors!!
    http://geririchmond.com
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8261524].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author JoeMack
    Seriously, these threads are a joke. They are nothing more than someone with a lack of confidence trying yet another stall tactic.

    Yes!!!

    Affiliate marketing is dead.
    Adsense is dead.
    Article marketing is dead.
    Blogging is dead.
    List building is dead.
    Video marketing is dead.
    Making money is dead.
    Breathing is dead.
    Dying is dead.

    Ludicrous, right? I loathe all of these whining threads about something obviously NOT dead being questioned simply because the poster hasn't had success with it.

    I so dislike the "I failed at something so it must be dead" threads.

    Of all the things that SHOULD be dead, these types of threads belong in that category.

    Much Success,

    JoeMack
    Signature
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8263842].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Daniel Evans
      Originally Posted by JoeMack View Post


      Affiliate marketing is dead.
      Adsense is dead.
      Article marketing is dead.
      Blogging is dead.
      List building is dead.
      Video marketing is dead.
      Making money is dead.
      Breathing is dead.
      Dying is dead.
      You missed Zed.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8264359].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author ClearSolution
        Originally Posted by Daniel Evans View Post

        You missed Zed.
        Zed is dead, haha. Puts the icing on the cake of hopeless pessimism.
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8271731].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author justlukeyou
      Originally Posted by JoeMack View Post

      Seriously, these threads are a joke. They are nothing more than someone with a lack of confidence trying yet another stall tactic.

      Yes!!!

      Affiliate marketing is dead.
      Adsense is dead.
      Article marketing is dead.
      Blogging is dead.
      List building is dead.
      Video marketing is dead.
      Making money is dead.
      Breathing is dead.
      Dying is dead.

      Ludicrous, right? I loathe all of these whining threads about something obviously NOT dead being questioned simply because the poster hasn't had success with it.

      I so dislike the "I failed at something so it must be dead" threads.

      Of all the things that SHOULD be dead, these types of threads belong in that category.

      Much Success,

      JoeMack
      Thanks Joe,

      The thing is before I joined college a year ago many people on a UK based affiliate marketing site were saying that affiliate marketing was dead and they wanted to get it selling on eBay and Amazon. So when I finished college 2 weeks ago I wanted to research if affiliate marketing was dead and clearly it isn't.

      The thing I struggle with so much is...the conflicting message.

      21 people will say "start small 5 page sites and target a micro niche" and 19 people will say "focus on one large site that has 1000+ pages of content".

      Also when I Google the key terms I wish to target no affiliate sites appear. They are all merchants or drop shippers. Thats what made me think that affiliate marketers who link to merchants are dead.

      Was does come up are Amazon and eBay which makes me think I should pursue drop shopping instead of affiliate marketing with my own site.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8271948].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Hrkjds
    Affiliate Marketing is not dead and won't be. Now-a-days, it is the best method to get a huge income if you use in the right way. I am also using affiliate marketing in my websites and earning great.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8264024].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author katherineolga
    So, I just wanted to say that I understand your predicament. I am actually not a newbie in the technical sense - I've been involved in IM for quite a time. But, I stopped doing it for several years (long story) and when I returned I found things to be much different than they were - largely due to google's changes but also, many of the resources that I used to use don't even exist any longer!

    At its most basic sense, the principals are still the same but the manner of executing the principals has changed. So, I am a newbie with prior experience, I guess. :-) I am indebted to this forum for helping sort through the changes so that I can make myself even more successful than ever!
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8264326].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author webrankingseoservices2000
    Banned
    Affiliate marketing has become younger, So you are unable to identify him in this new look. Change your spectacles, the world is still in need of Affiliate Marketing
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8271559].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author ClearSolution
    affiliate marketing is not dead, its just that the game has changed considerable in the last 2 years, and will change again in the next 6 months, and again and again.
    You can consider the world of marketing like a "metropolitan" niche, its always changing.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8271728].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Teravel
    Justlukeyou,

    I don't think you understand what "Affiliate Marketing" is... Walmart is an Affiliate that sells products from thousands of suppliers. Non-Service Local Businesses sell products they don't create, which makes them an Affiliate.

    Yes, it's different offline because you have to purchase the products up front and have space to store and display them. But the concept is the same, they are selling other peoples products in order to take a cut of the profits.

    People always complain that Amazon doesn't give a high enough cut of the sales at only 4%. What most people don't realize about Amazon is that it's "Affiliates" aren't actually affiliates at all... They are Sub-Affiliates. The only actual product line that Amazon has is the Kindle series. Other than the Kindle, they are selling OTHER PEOPLES PRODUCTS. Whoa, Amazon's an Affiliate! Who would have guessed.

    So, No. Affiliate Marketing is not dead.
    Signature

    "Failure is feedback. Feedback is the breakfast of champions." -Fortune Cookie

    PLR Packages - WSO

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8272770].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author justlukeyou
    Hi,

    But why is there some people saying build small 5 pages sites and others are saying build 1 large site with 1500+ pages?
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8272779].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Rod Cortez
      Originally Posted by justlukeyou View Post

      Hi,

      But why is there some people saying build small 5 pages sites and others are saying build 1 large site with 1500+ pages?
      I can think of 2 main reasons:

      1. Marketer's bias - They've succeeded doing that very thing so they believe it's the best way to go. It's all they really know so they impart their own marketing bias onto you. Or they "tried" the other thing and it didn't work for them (which doesn't necessarily mean anything).

      2. They are selling you a system or some monthly membership or software that ties in with their "authority" website view.

      In reality, BOTH work. It's NOT about 5 pages versus authority sites, it's about serving a market or niche and then getting eyeballs to your virtual real estate and then converting that traffic so it makes you a profit.

      RoD
      Signature
      "Your personal philosophy is the greatest determining factor in how your life works out."
      - Jim Rohn
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8272825].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author justlukeyou
        Originally Posted by Rod Cortez View Post

        Good for you, most people don't even get around to doing that much.

        I'm wondering what their motivation is for telling you this. I have plenty of one-page, 3-page, and 10-page websites that do extremely well, mostly because they don't depend on SEO for their traffic.

        You can setup a webpage or blog and buy traffic to it, spend a few days / weeks (or even months) working on increasing your conversions; but most people either don't know to do this or they are too risk adverse.

        Authority websites are great too, they also work, it all depends on how these sites are set up, how you get the traffic, and how you convert the traffic.

        Remember, the term affiliate marketing is a HUGE umbrella that covers thousands upon thousands of ways of making money online. So anyone who says it's "dead" would be the equivalent of saying "online paid advertising" is dead. It's too general of a term to be true.

        Affiliate marketing, or making affiliate commisions by marketing other people's products and services, is alive and well. If anything, it's actually grown in the past few years, so it's here to stay.

        When I first got knee-deep into affiliate marketing, I was testing an average of 2 to 3 offers a month along with ad campaigns. After about 6 months I was testing anywhere from 10 to 20 offers in any given month!!!

        And let me tell you, I learned more about marketing, advertising, conversions, etc. in those 6 months by testing different offers and marketing funnels, then I ever did reading some ebook or some DVD course. Yes, I lost money in the beginning, but eventually I had some winners and I was able to use the knowledge that I learned from all the testing and applied it to other niches.

        Many people fall for the hyperbole, the new shiny object syndrome, the lastest gimmick, fad, or software, but in reality this is a business and it's going to take time, money, knowledge, and the ability to keep on going when you face the inevitable obstacles. Can you do all this without money? Sure, people have done it, but it's a lot easier if you're willing to invest some funds into your own business.

        There are plenty of places that have tons of tools and members to help you find your way. There are places like PPC-Coach.com, Wealthy Affiliate, The Online Business Insiders, etc. There are some good WSOs right now that will show you how make money (no, I'm not going to mention them here). It's just a matter of what you really want to focus on and then rolling your sleeves and getting to work.

        In your specific instance, you probably need someone to coach you to show you how to do all this.

        RoD
        Originally Posted by Rod Cortez View Post

        I can think of 2 main reasons:

        1. Marketer's bias - They've succeeded doing that very thing so they believe it's the best way to go. It's all they really know so they impart their own marketing bias onto you. Or they "tried" the other thing and it didn't work for them (which doesn't necessarily mean anything).

        2. They are selling you a system or some monthly membership or software that ties in with their "authority" website view.

        In reality, BOTH work. It's NOT about 5 pages versus authority sites, it's about serving a market or niche and then getting eyeballs to your virtual real estate and then converting that traffic so it makes you a profit.

        RoD
        Thanks,

        I want to focus on furniture. Thats what I was doing before but only making $100 a month. How can I purchase traffic. I tried Google ads but I couldn't make it profitable as I was making 5p per hit to the merchant and 5p wasn't getting me any clicks on Google.

        Im also trying my hand drop shipping furnture through Amazon and eBay.

        Im also working on a big site covering all furnture items. I am 98% complete, just getting stuck on the code to populate my site from a data feed.

        But how can I purchase traffic by still make it profitable?
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8272845].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Rod Cortez
    Originally Posted by justlukeyou View Post

    Around 2 years ago I set up around 10 micro-niche sites and I was only making around £100.00/$150.00 - I'm from England.
    Good for you, most people don't even get around to doing that much.

    A number of people told me to stop working on lots of small sites and build one large site based on a variety of products. Around this time Google started to play with its Algorithms and UK based affiliate sites people began to proclaim that affiliate marketing was dead.
    I'm wondering what their motivation is for telling you this. I have plenty of one-page, 3-page, and 10-page websites that do extremely well, mostly because they don't depend on SEO for their traffic.

    You can setup a webpage or blog and buy traffic to it, spend a few days / weeks (or even months) working on increasing your conversions; but most people either don't know to do this or they are too risk adverse.

    Authority websites are great too, they also work, it all depends on how these sites are set up, how you get the traffic, and how you convert the traffic.

    So I decided to go college and along with a full time job I dropped affiliate marketing. However I am now looking to return to it but when I Google the key terms 99% of the sites are merchant sites and the UK based affiliate site is now dead and only gets 1 or 2 posts a day.

    So my question is, is affiliate marketing dead and should I focus on drop-shipping from sites such as Amazon and eBay?
    Remember, the term "affiliate marketing" is a HUGE umbrella that covers thousands upon thousands of ways of making money online. So anyone who says it's "dead" would be the equivalent of saying "online paid advertising" is dead. It's too general of a term to be true.

    Affiliate marketing, or making affiliate commisions by marketing other people's products and services, is alive and well. If anything, it's actually grown in the past few years, so it's here to stay.

    When I first got knee-deep into affiliate marketing, I was testing an average of 2 to 3 offers a month along with ad campaigns. After about 6 months I was testing anywhere from 10 to 20 offers in any given month!!!

    And let me tell you, I learned more about marketing, advertising, conversions, etc. in those 6 months by testing different offers and marketing funnels, then I ever did reading some ebook or some DVD course. Yes, I lost money in the beginning, but eventually I had some winners and I was able to use the knowledge that I learned from all the testing and applied it to other niches.

    Many people fall for the hyperbole, the new shiny object syndrome, the lastest gimmick, fad, or software, but in reality this is a business and it's going to take time, money, knowledge, and the ability to keep on going when you face the inevitable obstacles. Can you do all this without money? Sure, people have done it, but it's a lot easier if you're willing to invest some funds into your own business.

    There are plenty of places that have tons of tools and members to help you find your way. There are places like PPC-Coach.com, Wealthy Affiliate, The Online Business Insiders, etc. There are some good WSOs right now that will show you how make money (no, I'm not going to mention them here). It's just a matter of what you really want to focus on and then rolling your sleeves and getting to work.

    In your specific instance, you probably need someone to coach you to show you how to do all this.

    RoD
    Signature
    "Your personal philosophy is the greatest determining factor in how your life works out."
    - Jim Rohn
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8272809].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Teravel
    But why is there some people saying build small 5 pages sites and others are saying build 1 large site
    Lets say you chose the Mental Health market (I really dislike Dog Training, so work with me).

    You set up a "Small Niche Site" with 5 content pages about General Anxiety.
    Then, you set up a "Small Niche Site" with 5 content pages about Social Anxiety.
    Then, you set up a "Small Niche Site" with 5 content pages about Depression.

    So far you've spent $30+ on Domains alone, and you haven't even started advertising yet.
    So lets start our Advertising. We're going to want some Social Marketing, so we need to create a Facebook fanpage for each of our websites. Then Digg, Reddit, Pinterest, and whatever other social networks you like...

    Do you see the problem yet?

    Instead of creating 3+ small websites, you could create 1 large website. This costs you 1 Domain, requires less Social and Advertising accounts, and lets you focus on your content and your readers.

    So lets say you get a visitor to your small General Anxiety website. But, the reader doesn't feel that they have General Anxiety, and instead they go searching for a website about Social Anxiety. What are the chances that they are going to find your other small niche website?

    If you target a Market, and discuss many Niches within that Market, you'll be able to keep those readers on your website. This gives you more time to build trust, and turn them into buyers instead of lookers.
    Signature

    "Failure is feedback. Feedback is the breakfast of champions." -Fortune Cookie

    PLR Packages - WSO

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8272843].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Teravel
    @Rod

    "affiliate marketing" is a HUGE umbrella that covers thousands upon thousands of ways of making money online.
    I do believe you are talking about "Internet Marketing". Affiliate Marketing is a very simple concept, "Selling products that are not yours, in order to take a cut of the profits."
    Signature

    "Failure is feedback. Feedback is the breakfast of champions." -Fortune Cookie

    PLR Packages - WSO

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8272851].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Rod Cortez
      Originally Posted by Teravel View Post

      @Rod



      I do believe you are talking about "Internet Marketing". Affiliate Marketing is a very simple concept, "Selling products that are not yours, in order to take a cut of the profits."
      No, I meant what I wrote. Affiliate marketing is a simple concept, but there are thousands of different ways to make money at it.

      Take an affiliate marketing funnel as just one example, there are almost a nearless endless of permutations. None of my marketing funnels are exactly alike because after extensive testing they get modified.

      RoD
      Signature
      "Your personal philosophy is the greatest determining factor in how your life works out."
      - Jim Rohn
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8286581].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author justlukeyou
        Originally Posted by Rod Cortez View Post

        No, I meant what I wrote. Affiliate marketing is a simple concept, but there are thousands of different ways to make money at it.

        Take an affiliate marketing funnel as just one example, there are almost a nearless endless of permutations. None of my marketing funnels are exactly alike because after extensive testing they get modified.

        RoD
        Thanks,

        But what is an "affiliate marketing funnel" exactly?
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8286599].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author Rod Cortez
          Originally Posted by justlukeyou View Post

          Thanks,

          But what is an "affiliate marketing funnel" exactly?
          I could write a whole book on the topic

          In a nutshell, it's simply sending someone through process whereby they become a lead and are put through either a preselling and/or prequalifying process.

          There are dozens upon dozens of examples of this, let me give you one:

          Example #1: You decide to jump into the dating / seduction niche because there's a lot of competition which means people are making money in it and there are also TONS of potential JV partners (the latter being if you decide to create your own product or service).

          You don't want to just jump into buying traffic so you educate yourself by investing in Jonathan Mizel's Traffic Evolution 4.0 and you also learn PPC from PPC-Coach.com.

          You do some extensive research and you find 18 products to promote (easy to do in this niche as there are hundreds of them).

          You set up a landing page that will capture people's e-mail addresses.

          You set up a 2 to 3 minute video explaining all the benefits on why people should opt-in to your newsletter (maybe you wrote a 10 to 20 page free report or created more videos that teaches men how to successful open any woman in nearly any kind of situation).

          So you begin buying traffic in small amounts based on what you learned from the two resources I just gave you. You must realize that you might have to test several campaigns before you find one that makes money. The whole point of this specific landing page is to get the opt-in.

          Once that person opts into your autoresponder series, they have just begun your marketing funnel.

          You set up over 50 autoresponder messages to go out over a period of one year, mixing quality content and making offers, mixing up your offers between those 18 products.

          Each product solves a specific problem or issue. So if you are promoting a product that teaches men how to get women interested in them by texting, then you would write an article / content about that topic and then, and ONLY then, would you provide the affiliate link for that specific product.

          Again, this is only one example and I've over-simplified it to illustrate what one might look like.

          RoD
          Signature
          "Your personal philosophy is the greatest determining factor in how your life works out."
          - Jim Rohn
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8286686].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author justlukeyou
    Hi,

    Yes, if I built a large site focussed on all furnture what should I do with it? How can I purchase visitor?
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8272855].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author EPoltrack77
    Great to meet you friend. Fantastic question! No Way is affiliate marketing dead. I believe we are going to see a huge rise within the next few years. The internet is getting a lot more traffic these days as well as people looking to supplement their income. The problem is most people are not going to do the steps that are involved in order to be successful. With that said you will have a lot more people telling you it does not work I feel. Affiliate marketing will always be around I feel. supply and demand. Have a great day
    Signature
    Working to achieve higher results...
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8272874].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author justlukeyou
    Hi,

    The problem is I dont know what the steps are. I dont know what works and what doesn't.

    I found a service which exchanges blog content for links but I haven't read that this strategy no longer works.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8272946].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author derekwong28
    My affiliate income is now better than it ever is because I have surrendered completely to Google. Just do what Google really wants and you be fine. I am now using Google Adwords.
    Signature

    Do not get between a wombat and a chocolate biscuit; you will regret it dearly!

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8273988].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author justlukeyou
      Originally Posted by derekwong28 View Post

      My affiliate income is now better than it ever is because I have surrendered completely to Google. Just do what Google really wants and you be fine. I am now using Google Adwords.
      Thanks Derek,

      I did try Adwords myself but I couldn't make it profitable. I have read many people say that Adwords isn't profitable for affiliates as the average margin is only 7%.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8274656].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author derekwong28
        Originally Posted by justlukeyou View Post

        Thanks Derek,

        I did try Adwords myself but I couldn't make it profitable. I have read many people say that Adwords isn't profitable for affiliates as the average margin is only 7%.
        PPC is extremely difficult, it took me more than 10 years on and off to get some results. You may have to try more than 100 merchants in order to find one that is profitable. If I had not been a merchant before, I would not have been able to make it work. Because as a merchant, you could track exactly which keywords convert and which keywords does not.

        So being a merchant would allow you to achieve a full time income much more quickly. Besides SEO, you can also use PPC for traffic. That is because you have got more margin with PPC and that the tracking is much better.

        Matt Cutts of Google have said before "would you prefer to be directly taken to the merchant's site or through an affiliate?". That is why there is an obvious bias against affiliate sites. That is why it is generally recommended that affiliate links be cloaked.

        Google has also taken action against sites built from merchant product datafeeds since the MayDay update. What seems to have happened recently is that besides lowering their rankings, Google is actively de-indexing such sites as they did with eBay and Amazon affiliate sites.
        Signature

        Do not get between a wombat and a chocolate biscuit; you will regret it dearly!

        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8285399].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author weeble
        Originally Posted by justlukeyou View Post

        Hi,

        Was does this mean exactly. Not sure I understand.


        He means that the only people that make the money are the ones that sell the pick axe instead of the ones digging the gold. As in the only people that make anything reasonable are those that get other people to do the hard work. If you still don't get it, then he's trying to say that the only people that make money with affiliate networks are the ones that refer other people to join them instead of promoting the offers themselves.





        Originally Posted by justlukeyou View Post

        Thanks Derek,

        I did try Adwords myself but I couldn't make it profitable. I have read many people say that Adwords isn't profitable for affiliates as the average margin is only 7%.
        Yeah a ton of people here tell you it's all about testing. Well I'm sorry, testing won't help. In the amount of time it would take to properly optimize a campaign, you'd be out of a ton of money. And since most offers don't tend to last long if they leave the network, all that hard work is gone. Even if the offer lasts, chances are pretty good that you'll only make $1-$2 per completion unless doing credit card or insurance.

        And then you have to work around the fact that most of the offer landing pages suck something fierce. So no matter how great your landing page is, all that matters is the actual offer landing page...

        I just don't get how or why people advertise CPA... For all the work you have to do to make someone else money, why wouldn't you just go all the way and advertise your own product?

        Google hates anyone pitching affiliate products, just take the hint and start building your own products. You'll be 2000 times better off. Not to mention build something that you can call your own and keep making money with for years to come.

        The thing I find funny is that most people that say they make a killing don't take taxes into consideration. If they were all telling the truth then Uncle Sam is slipping in his old age
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9228103].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Randall Magwood
    Affiliate marketing definitely does work. Ebay is cool... i personally wouldn't mess with Amazon. Doesn't matter what you sell online, it all comes down to marketing. If you're that distressed over affiliate marketing, create your own product and promote it on your own site. Control is good right?
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8274272].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Rbtmarshall
    I think the majority of people who make a living in the affiliate market, are providing services to publishers trying to promote products for vendors.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8274296].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author justlukeyou
      Originally Posted by Rbtmarshall View Post

      I think the majority of people who make a living in the affiliate market, are providing services to publishers trying to promote products for vendors.
      Hi,

      Was does this mean exactly. Not sure I understand.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8274648].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author hsbinmarket
        I think u are very industrious.
        Everywhere you have success.

        Affiliate marketing is on.
        Your success in eBay is just excellent !

        I have just to say : "Carry on".
        Signature

        Do not put the links to a malware-infected site back in your signature

        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8274683].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author Rbtmarshall
        Originally Posted by justlukeyou View Post

        Hi,

        Was does this mean exactly. Not sure I understand.
        What I was trying to say was that there is more money to be made on average providing services to the affiliate marketeer, than there is to be an affiliate marketeer.

        mentor or coach
        affiliate marketing courses/ebooks/WSO's
        Premium themes to a free CMS (wordpress)
        Copywriting.
        Software
        software as services
        advertising
        etc... I know I've missed allot, but I hope you get the idea.

        Everybody is out for your money, because you a target in the make money online niche.

        If you have a business solely as an affiliate marketeer your margin is going to be very slim if profitable at all. Taxes, memberships & subscriptions, equipment, paying yourself, being scammed, etc.
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8277058].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author justlukeyou
    Thanks,

    But this is the point I am really stuggling to understand...when I Google the key terms I plan to target they are dominated by merchants or sites with drop shipping. I would say only 0.5% are sites which link to other sites for a sale to made.

    Can I also use eBay as a source of traffic?
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8276073].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Wendell
    Okay, I'm starting to get a picture of what you really mean.

    I think you mentioned that your niche was furniture among maybe other household items. If that's the case, the market for goods of that kind has been swamped with eCommerce vendors based in China and elsewhere, who use eBay among other marketing portals to offload their goods.

    The advice you may be getting about building larger sites as opposed to smaller ones may be valid only for eCommerce. For example Wayfair used to consist of 100s of niche sites, but have now amalgamated them all into a single massive site (Wayfair.com). But this works for the really really big guys like them. The rest of us still need to be focused on niches and microniches (from the outset at least). That's how Wayfair started themselves.

    Online purchases used to be dominated by the sales of digital products, but more and more internet users are buying hard products, too, which means drop-shipping has become more popular with Internet Marketers than it used to be and with eCommerce set to go on booming, there's no sign that the trend will change anytime soon.

    However, far from killing off affiliate marketing, this actually opesn up more AM opportunities for AMers, but increasingly you need to think outside the box, just as you're doing with Amazon datafeeds, for example.

    Why not approach reputable eCommerce vendors who have no affialiate programs to propose doing affiliate sales for them, especially for higher value items (in the range $200-$1000 to ensure you make decent commissions) and negotiate fair commissions? Have you tried Commission Junction, too, to test possible markets and ascertain which products to target in this way, then approach non CJ vendors who don't have tons of affiliates competing with you? CJ are still going strong last time I checked.

    Then again, I see a lot of AMers making money reselling one thing or the other, or selling tickets to concerts of sporting events and so on. The opportunities are endless, but if you become too one track-minded about what products you want to sell, you'll only make life harder for yourself.

    You can certainly use eBay as a traffic source, but with vendors prepared to cut their margins to almost nothing there these days, I wouldn't put all of my eggs in that basket.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8277032].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Calum Jones
    I hope not, as I just set up a minisite in the relationships niche!
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8277842].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author justlukeyou
    Hi,

    What im struggling to understand is that when I Google various terms only merchants and dropshippers come up. Its as if Google has completely killed off an affiliate marketing.

    It seems to be a paradox between people ssying affiliate marketing existing and there being no affiliate sites in Google rankings.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8285067].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author justlukeyou
    Hi,

    Wouldnt it take vasts sums of money to set up as a merchant? Does it count the same for dropshippers?

    Do you mean Google is penalising affiliates from organic searches?
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8285416].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author derekwong28
      Originally Posted by justlukeyou View Post

      Hi,

      Wouldnt it take vasts sums of money to set up as a merchant? Does it count the same for dropshippers?

      Do you mean Google is penalising affiliates from organic searches?
      The actual requirements varies with different dropshippers. Some may require you to put down a deposit while others don't. The quality of dropshippers vary enormously and you could end up losing money if you are not careful. It is best you ask in e-commerce / dropshipping forum here for advice.

      Google does prefer actual merchants' sites. But you can still get a good ranking, or even outrank the actual merchant's site if you have lot of quality content and is not seen as a "made for affiliate" site. Affiliate sites made from product datafeeds often have thousands of pages. When Google sees a suddenly expanding site, it is immediately suspicious.
      Signature

      Do not get between a wombat and a chocolate biscuit; you will regret it dearly!

      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8285432].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author justlukeyou
    Thanks,

    I have found one good dropshipper who supply a major retailer.

    What does a "not made for affiliate" site look like. The only tip I have heard is not to have products on your homepage.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8285486].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author derekwong28
    Made for advertising sites, whether made for adsense or made for affiliate are very difficult to define. It is completely up to Google. Basically, the site should be seen to provide good information and good user experience rather than just to sell products. If a site is flagged by Google for manual review, then it is really up to the individual reviewer.
    Signature

    Do not get between a wombat and a chocolate biscuit; you will regret it dearly!

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8285519].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author DFTskillz
    Not dead , just 100% harder when it comes to SEO, with all the google updates spam sites in the google's eyes are quickly put on the blacklist. If you find a legit way to use SEO for your site then you won't have a problem.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8285536].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author justlukeyou
    Thanks,

    What is the legit way?

    I have become heavily bogged down in technical problems with completing my site. Could take months to complete.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8285614].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author archie79
    Affiliate marketing isn't dead, but personally I would avoid the "SEO" trap. I'd look into social marketing. The key with all of it is to understand your niche, create some value that they want, appeal to their pain or desires and offer the affiliate product as the solution.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8286566].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author hbhanot
    It's not dead and will never be. You just need to find the good niches. To do this you need to get a good tool. Don't just promote anything mate.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8286755].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author justlukeyou
      Originally Posted by hbhanot View Post

      It's not dead and will never be. You just need to find the good niches. To do this you need to get a good tool. Don't just promote anything mate.
      Thanks,

      What will the tool show me, how can I use it to find opportunities?

      Many people have said that I should focus on something I am passionate about and solve problems.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8286764].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author affilorama-portal
    It took a while before I made my first sale. But then the key is to never give up and search for the missing formula. I always believe that there are different paths to success. I agree with the comments that affiliate marketing is not dead. You may want to review what you've been doing and perhaps conduct more research on the best practices and techniques to do AM. Good luck!
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8287651].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author justlukeyou
    Thanks,

    When I first had a go at affiliate marketing I made a sale within 3 days but couldn't scale it up. Then Google started to change its algorhytms and many people were saying that it would kill off affiliate marketing.

    I now want to give it another go. Im just scared that I am going to waster alot of time.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8287667].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Moneymaker2012
    I am doing good in Affiliate Marketing, It's my full time business. It's just another thread to defame AM and decourage the newbies looking to join AM.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8290244].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author himanuzo
    Affiliate marketing is NOT dead. I am still making money with affiliate programs.

    You must find one technique which you can use to make money with affiliate programs and even make good living with it.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8291413].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author justlukeyou
      Originally Posted by himanuzo View Post

      Affiliate marketing is NOT dead. I am still making money with affiliate programs.

      You must find one technique which you can use to make money with affiliate programs and even make good living with it.
      Thanks himanuzo,

      What is your top tip for finding that one technique. I am trying to focus on something I am passioniate about.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8291450].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Jtraits
    Dead ? Not a chance. Wrong strategy , wrong tools? Yes.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9230035].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author wessj
    its not dead its booming! nowdays even granmothers are online. Only thing i would say thogh is porn marketing is dead and not worth the effort anymore thanks to free sites like porn hub and such
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9230812].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Marked09
    Affiliate Marketing is not dead, it has evolved just as other warriors is saying. Gone are the days where things are very simple people are making money just by spamming and making Hype Sales letter and making millions out of it! Those are good old days where you slap your ads make false promises and make a tons of money easily. Building small nice sites and making money through adsense.

    When the Internet has evolved on what they called the Web 2.0 where a lot of social sites such facebook, twitter, pinterest etc appeared. And the Google Updates where websites who produces more social interactions ranks better and not by the amount of articles you have.

    People on the internet became more social they shared their experiences from different products in just a couple of minutes. This is the time when Affiliate marketing changes, it has now evolved and worked just like the businesses in the offline world.

    People are now more expected to interact with their customers, you got to build relationship with them before you get some sales. People are now more aware of their metrics and tends to pay for traffic just like any other businesses do.

    Things are evolving very fast here in the internet and you got to adapt to it. Those people who are telling you that Affiliate Marketing is dead are the people who failed to adapt.

    Internet has become very competitive and Complex today. You got to continuously learn the ropes and be the first one to adapt to changes if you want to get ahead.

    I posted this not to discourage you but for you to stay away from those push button and shiny object business. It will only delay your success. Treat your Internet Business just like your doing business Offline.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9230918].message }}

Trending Topics