where the heck do I start?!

[laik timu]

hey y name is Laik, I'm a single father to a 7 yr old boy and i work full time.

Been trying to get into this affiliate marketing buzz for the past 6 months and i've brought a couple of programs, which we're good, they got me started but i have made so far only one sale for $26.87

I know there is alot more to it than 'PPC marketing, but i've been watching the training videos over and over trying to make sense of them and it's like they are talking gibberish! I also know that the money is not gonna happen over night and it will take alot of hard work which is fine with me, but where the heck do i start?? I have a clickbank account. check. i have an adwords account. check. I have a list of products that I would like to look into once i get the hang of it but I have got 1 now that I have researched as much as I can ( google keyword tool and idevaffiliate ) and my ads are running? that's all the program told me to do.

Hell if i could design a program to break down all the techno jargen into lamens terms to show people hat way, or if there is already one in circulation... hmmm... maybe I could? how do i get traffic? how do i make sales? how do I build a list as an affiliate marketer? where would i need to be to start my own affiliate program?? any help would be appreciated thanks alot guys and al the best

[Torres]

Hey Laik,

Amazing, I just found someone in my exact same position. Let me know if you actually learn something.
By the way, you ca e-mail me if you want to: ftorres.arq@gmail.com

Thanks,

Fernando

[citrus]

Hey Laik,

To be honest, the best place to start would be the Warrior Forum. To answer all your questions would take a 1000-page ebook and a dozen hour-long coaching calls :)

Instead of suffering through that, you should probably head over to the WF because every question you can possibly think of right now will have been answered a bazillion times over there (just use the search function).

Sorry I couldn't be more helpful lol...

Curtis

[GlennGrundberg]

Hey Laik-

Yeah, I gotta second Curtis's motion, baby...

This is where you come when you already know most of that stuff and you're ready to take it to the next level. You and Fernando both need to start with the WF and when you're ready, head back here!

You'll know when that is... ;)

Peace,

Gman

[Linda Brown]

I also agree - the best way is to start learning.
Use WF and digitalpoint forums for that.
Then you need to make a decision - to be affiliate or to create your own product.
I prefer second one.

[Lovina]

Hi Laik,

6 months should enough to make more than 1 sale in my opinion :)


how do i get traffic? how do i make sales? how do I build a list as an affiliate marketer? where would i need to be to start my own affiliate program?

Those are the same questions I have when I just starting out too.

I agree that WF is a good place to start. The WSO also bring me more ideas.

The first IM product that make me money is NMOC, I hope you knew it, just Google it.

It answers your questions that I quoted above.

Thanks

[Todd Lamb]

Hey Laik,

It is all very confusing at first and it is important to focus your efforts. The bottom line is traffic plain and simple.
The most certain tried and true method is to develop a list. Spend your time doing these activities.

There are some effective tactics to do this. In one of my niches we give away content like it is going out of style via youtube and direct them back to our site...this has resulted in 7642 opt ins in the past 8 months (as I type this but it generally grows by 40 a day)

The next thing I did was create a product...now there are two schools of thought here. One is you can go about it on your own and then try to get JV's or you can become part of a mentoring group which will allow you create some connections.. often this means spending some money on your part but it has the ability to laser focus your efforts.

I developed a product which I sell but also give a "lite" access and my list grows daily. So when it comes to this particular niche I always have fresh prospects.

So to converge this discussion... focus your energy on building a list and creating a product....Don't know what to create? Well one of the most successful online marketers encourages doing what has already been done...most here will know who this is and I apologize for being cryptic in this respect but I don't want to be viewed as supporting any one person in particular.

bottom line...list list list

[Justinw]

Warrior Forum is awesome, as funnily enough is Gabor Olah's PLR Wholesaler. Lots of products there that although may be dated have enough nuggets in them to make them worth reading.

One of the things I have started banging on about on my website recently has been planning and I am about to start a few articles on goal setting.

It is crucial to have a plan in place and it is crucial to know what your goals are.

The most succesful of my family members has a $100m+ business and he admits to having a five year plan for the company but I know he has longer term ones hidden away somewhere too.

So plan, Set goals and most importantly act. It is all too easy to sit there buying product after product in the hope that the next one will give you the kick up your backside we all need. Hell we have probably all, or at least most of us been there!

[Rob Toth]

The best place to start is to register as a subscriber of mine... ;) ... because I'm just finishing up a 2 part email on the topic of 60-day getting started plan . And it's about to go out.

Or just get in touch and I'll forward the same content to you.

My contact info is at the bottom of RobToth.com


A point re: forums ... I have a love/hate relationship with them. Some aren't good differentiating work time from shop-talk socializing. Forums (though not WF) are where I learned a lot from, landed my first leads, got my first sales, met my first partners etc. I used forums a lot to get questions answers (just like you did here).

However, I then fell into a trap for a while... the same trap that many are still stuck in... and that was "hanging out" in forums. Work didn't get done. Just a bunch of shop talk.

One of my clients is an established local "dating bootcamp" service provider. I've been to their workshops and it's filled with guys who talk about "picking up chicks" and all things related but they don't take an ounce of a step in the right direction. It's a big social, pat each other on the back network.

Forums quickly become the same thing. A group of peers who understand you. So you bond with them. The problem is... many who CONTINUE to hang out in forums really aren't the action takers. That's not a hard rule. Again, the only point is to make sure you are aware of when you're socializing/networking (like I'm doing now) vs. when you're actively working on immediate action steps for your business.

anyways... this 60-day email combo I mentioned could be useful to you. Shoot me a note if you like and I'll FWD them. (or I might post them to my blog as well so maybe check RobTheGenieToth.com first).

regardless, welcome.

Get organized. Stay focused. And take it one bite at a time. Too many pieces and you'll just choke ... so don't try to be a hero by mastering everyting.

PS. the internet marketing niche is NOT the only place to market products to. I already have a sense that you're brainstorming products to sell to this group. It's actually a very tough entry point. If you want faster cashflow, start with a different market... once that's spitting money at you regardless of what you do, then you can decide to join the HOARDES who sell in this space.

[Megan McCormick]

Hi Laik,

I'm a 4 month old newbie and also work full time. You have the added challenge of being a single dad. I've learned a lot in 4 months and you will too.

My advice to you is start with the end in mind. To do this you'll need to do some research about all the ways there are to make money online.

There are four main business models,

1. eCommerce where you have a site that sells products and these sites are usually "drop ship" sites or eBay or Squidoo or something like that.
2. Information marketing which means you have your own information product and you sell it online with the help of affiliates.
3. Affiliate marketing where you help sell other people's information products and
4. Consulting/freelancing about internet, marketing, techie stuff or a service you provide.

Then when you've learned about those business models and researched how people do them you'll find the best fit for you.

Other topics you will need to learn at least the basics about are

1. How to generate targeted traffic that you can offer something to so they will sign up for your list (watch out for AdWords when you're a rookie, you can waste a lot of money. Check out how to drive traffic to a capture page via video marketing)
2. How to build a relationship with your followers. Learn everything about Social Media and there's a great book called Socialnomics you can read to help you understand marketing in the Social Media space. There is a lot of etiquette to social media and you don't want to screw that up.
3. How to write copy (emails, autoresponder series, video scripts) so you can communicate effectively.
4. Outsourcing
5. Keyword research and niche markets

So all of these topics can be found on the Warrior's Forum. You can use some of that site for free but I recommend paying the one time fee of $37. It's a screaming good price for membership in that forum.

Speaking of fees, set yourself a realistic monthly budget for building your business (so you don't end up buying all these courses and going in debt) and take the time to draft a business plan to keep you on track.

Happy studying and taking action and good luck to you.

Megan
http://careerfive.com My under-construction first website!

[thinkbig]

One important note if you're getting started--always keep learning but start DOING too. I see so many people trying to learn everything and THEN get started. You'll never stop learning and never start if you do that. Set simple goals--setup your first website, get your first list subscriber, make your 1st dollar. Then build from there...

-Brett

[laik timu]

WOW! I came to the right place for info! thanks alot all of you, i'll meet you at the top.

all the best

Laik

[philayres]

Laik, I think that the WF is great. But, I think the importance of actually having a knowledge base cannot be played down. i think the answer to your question greatly depends on what your niche is. Is it internet marketing? If so, what is your skill set? I would get deep into blogs, news sites, and news that is relevant to those topics. To be a subject matter expert, you need to be tracking the feeds in your feed reader of all the top blogs and sites in your niche.

Seems like newbies are in such a big hurry to "sell something" that they lack the knowledge to sell from. If you are already the subject matter expert - great - then, work on your marketing piece of the puzzle. Until then, I would work on the knowledge. Don't sell something until you actually have something marketable to sell.

Best of luck to you.

[Brittany Lynch]

If you have specific PPC questions, maybe I can be of assistance. I used to work at Google as an account strategist on the AdWords team..now I consult for small to mid sized companies nad have a few products of my own.

What sort of trouble are you having with PPC? Its pretty easy once you break it down into an actionable system :)

britt

[John Ellis]

Yes, you should read the Warrior Forum, but I've seen more than 3 people I personally know get sucked into that "paralysis by analysis" mode, where you learn, learn, learn and take no action whatsoever, and if you do take action... you take a year or more to create your first product or promotion.

Instead of I say learn a little, jump in and work, work, work.

Fail as fast and as hard as you can and ironically you will end up succeeding.

[Simon Shawcross]

Good point about information overload.

1) Decide what you ultimately want to achieve
2) Research how to get there and what you'll need for the journey
3) Start doing- you can read about it forever and never have as much useful information as someone who researched for one month then dove in and started swimming.
4) Be adaptable on route
5) Warrior Forum is a great starting point.

[Martin R Butler]

Don't sign up to every Tom, Dick or harry's course either. Become a leader and not a follower, Find a mentor and do what he does (if he is successful) Don't aim too high too soon.

A thousand mile journey can be completed in the dark with just enough vision from your headlights as long as you are heading in the right direction.

[Kunj K]

I would avoid the Warrior Forum if I were you. I've seen many, many people get sidetracked there.

Find a course by a credible marketer and follow that process, and only that process until you're successful.

[betmomma]

I would avoid the Warrior Forum if I were you. I've seen many, many people get sidetracked there.

Find a course by a credible marketer and follow that process, and only that process until you're successful.


As a fellow newb, I can understand where you are coming from. The WF is awesome but it can be a huge time waster, one thing that can help is to narrow down before you go what you need answers on, use search, find appropriate threads and then subscribe to them. Read along as they develop and set yourself a time limit for achieving even very small goals.

Also, I have no personal experience with it, but I've heard a few different people recommending the 30daychallenge .com

As to finding a "credible marketer" to follow, well when you've figured that one out let me know. They are after all, marketing their marketing product to you!

Best of Luck and Persistence to you!

Kelly

[Orlando Cassara]

Kunj K,

I recommend the warrior forum, when I was in that same position of not knowing where to go and had so many questions I was told to go to WF, and the help and feed back that I got was amazing there are so many people willing to help, you just have to put a little effort into finding them.

Hope this helps!

[Garland Coulson]

PPC is an awful place for a rookie to start as there is a LOT to learn.

For newbies, here are my recommended steps.

1. Stop buying ANYTHING online! This just uses up money you will need later.

2. Identify a niche target audience with a serious problem they are hungry for.

3. Research to find out if there are products you can become an affiliate of (try Clickbank) or create that will solve their problems.

4. Put together a useful free report/ebook or video that provides some useful help with this problem and offer it on a lead capture page to build your list.

5. Put ad tracking in place that tracks your lead capture page conversions so you can tell where you advertised that worked.

6. Build your list through marketing techniques like advertising and ad swaps. As your list builds, you can do bigger and bigger swaps.

7. Offer your list additional products that solve more of their problems. These products can be affiliate products from places like Clickbank or ones you develop yourself.

8. Outsource all the work so that you earn money without tying up your time.

9. Pick a new niche and start over

I have a number of free webinars I have done for my members. The free training videos can be accessed here.
http://ebusinesstutor.com/blog/videos/

(no signup required to view them)

[Paul Teague]

I agree with a lot of what's been said here, but there's one way that really rockets your progress and that's getting a mentor.

I'm new to the idea of getting a mentor ... I've been making websites since 2001, have no trouble with the teccie bits, but my recent discovery is that even the really successful marketers get mentoring from people who are a stage above them.

It cuts through all the wasted time, dead ends and wild goose chases and makes sure you focus only on what matters.

I've been taking coaching recently and it just moves things on so much faster.

One of the things I ask people is what's they're one tip for success and making a breakthrough and constantly the word 'focus' comes up, concentrate on just one strategy.

There are so many distractions in IM, I reckon that's great advice.

Easier said than done of course :)