Answering A Common Question: What Should I Promote?

I'm starting a series of emails to help some of you guys launch your Affiliate Marketing adventure together with me. These emails will be included in my blog from now on for you guys to easily refer to in the future :)

Hey all, how's your weekend been so far?

The weather is hot everytime I'm at home - I hate that. I always prefer a gloomy or windy afternoons so I can feel more comfortable working on my PC/laptop.

Ok, let's do a progress check here. Some of you have done good, signing up for accounts with Squidoo, EzineArticles, and Clickbank. Some have even gone a step further by exploring how to create their virgin Squidoo lens. Kudos!

I like it when you take action :)

For those who have not done so, I know it's a weekend and you'd want to spend your time in leisure. But take just a few minutes to sign up first.

Now, some of you posted some questions and the most common one being "What should I promote?"

Clickbank, as you may already know, only holds products that are digital in format. Software, eBooks, subscriptions. So what if you are looking to promote physical products?

One other popular affiliate marketplace would be Commission Junction at www.cj.com. You'll see the major players with affiliate programs ready for your use. If you can't find what you are looking for, do this on Google:

Search for the product you want to promote, and add this to the back of the search phrase: +affiliate program

Eg, if you're searching for affiliate programs for weight loss formula, search for weight loss formula +affiliate program.

Right, now on to the next part. Remember I told you to do something you are comfortable with? I need to add on something - find something that people are looking for too. Not everything will sell just like that. People have varying degrees of needs and wants, and this will affect the urgency of them buying the products through you.

Take some time to think about it. Read up the newspapers and look at the current issues facing Man. Off the top of my head, I can think of 3 groups of people:

People with a serious life problems:
These include people with life-threatening diseases, serious credit problems, divorce issues, etc. They will tend to look for more professional help than getting one through the net.

People facing some sort of discomfort/concern:
Examples include those who are vain about their skin beauty, keeping their health on check, taking care of their beloved family or pets, etc. Most from this group will do a search for solutions from the net. This is your most profitable group of people.

People with a need for luxury:
People who are looking for products that would enhance their lives, like buying a new LCD tv, or clothes. They are not ready to spend their cash.

Feel free to discuss with me what you have elected to work on as your Affiliate Marketing campaign. I'll be happy to advise however well I can :)

Hurrah, My First $100 Day

What a wonderful surprise I got just now! I just had to rush and post it on my blog!

This morning when I was getting ready for work, I did a quick check on my Clickbank account and saw that I made a sale yesterday - which was on Friday 13th.

I just did another quick check on my Clickbank account and woohoo, I suddenly see $100+ credited on the same day (Friday 13th)!

Talk about superstitions and bad luck!

Here's a screenshot of my Clickbank account so far:

















You can see I did not get any sales in early June because I was taking a break and did not do any marketing up to 10 June. But I still made a sale on Sunday from a website that I had long abandoned :)

I hope to have more such Friday 13th, and I should be well on my way towards reaching my financial targets for 2008.

C'mon guys, you can achieve what I have too.. or even greater than me!

I'm rooting for you :)

Oil Prices Are Going Nuts!

And the sheikhs are getting richer, aren't they?

Don't you sometimes wish you live above an underground reservoir of oil..

Got My First Cheque

Hey, how's everyone hangin'?

I got a pleasant surprise in my mailbox tonite. My first Clickbank cheque has arrived. Here are some photos to show you:







There are a few items that I purposely black out from the pictures, due to security reasons.

The amount you see is for the first half of May. Clickbank cuts $2.50 for postage handling, and 10% of the earning as reserve in case of product refunds.

So $203.22 is quite OK for me for half a month. See, this proves Affiliate Marketing works.

You can start earning passively too. You just need the commitment, will, dedication, and belief that you can achieve.

I can't wait for my next cheque which should be mailed out in a few days or weeks time.

Remember, if you want to learn more about Affiliate Marketing, you can write your comments and I'll try to help you get started :)

Closing Account for May 2008

Hey hey hey,

So the month of May has just ended a few hours ago (I go by US time). I just did a quick check on my Clickbank account, and here's how my Affiliate Marketing venture stands:

My earnings just fell short of 400 bucks for May. Not that great, but hey not too bad either. That's S$540 based on current exchange rates. Damn the weak dollar.. could've been more :P

June is here, and I'm gonna press on further. I've been taking a short breather the last few days, and that should do me good. Gotta take care not to burn out too, you see.

I'll keep posting from now on. I'm hoping to see an uphill trend on my online earnings for the next months.

If you are interested to know how to earn too, let me know. I'm happy to share what I know :)

Take care all,

Herwin

Another One Comes In

I just checked my Clickbank account, and yet another sale.

This is awesome.

Inching Closer To My Target

Hey there,

How's everyone doing?

It's been a rollercoaster ride for me and my affiliate marketing adventure (was going to coin it my Affventure, but that's the nickname of my fellow Wealthy Affiliate member heh).

But hey hey, I'm slowly but surely reaching my target for this month. It's a wonderful feeling when you suddenly see that Clickbank bar growing - it means another kind person has bought a product through my advice.

All these moments usually happen out of the blue.. when I'm just nonchalantly playing Winning Eleven on my PC, or just surfing YouTube for some nostalgic music videos. Can you imagine the feeling? Earning money while doing the above?

No doubt it's been a rough start. But like me, once you've got the right thing going on, you just go with the flow and never stop. It gets easier.

I'm still perfecting my methods, and more importantly my discipline.

If only I can cut down on my TV watching and games playing, I could be generating more leads to my website and increasing the conversion rate of my sales link.

I need someone to watch over me. Maybe with a whip. Ok, forget the whip. Just someone to remind me to just reserve 1 hour every evening to write more articles (more leads to my website).

Think about it. I've only 5 articles and 4 squidoo lens pointing to my website now. If only I could churn out at least 1 article a day, that'll be 30 articles by month's end. That means, more visitors to my website and a higher conversion rate possibly.

And I'm only promoting a single niche (or product). I'm already having ideas of what other products I'm gonna work on next month on.

At this rate, I'm feeling closer to realizing my ambition to quit my job by year end.

Pleasant Is The Word

It's been a pleasant week. Umm.. my mind can't think of much to say now. Yeap, pleasant is the right word to use. Moderate and enough.

It was just so pleasant.

Work has been hectic - physically and mentally hectic.

But it has been a pleasant week though. I can't help smiling every time I look back.

This seldom happens to me.

Here I go again, smiling to myself. I look so loony, I should get out of your view. It's embarrassing!

I'll just be with myself this long weekend, and let the pleasant-ness linger.

A Glimmer Of Hope

Things have been looking slightly brighter over the weekend. I guess good things come to those who are patient enough to persevere.

I'm known to be someone who jinxes himself, so I won't go into detail as to what's my success rate like yet. All I can say is my subscription for my Wealthy Affiliate membership has been paid for :)

I'll keep you guys updated.

ps, it's a matter of survival, so come on cheer me on! :P

I'm Gonna Win

Times are tough for me. Since my dad's been unhealthy and out of job, I'm working to put food on my table now while my salary has been cut.

But like always, I rely on my faith to pull through. I'm gonna win.

Take care all,

Herwin