It’s weird to me that it’s been almost a year since I was semi actively posting here, but I guess that is how things go. I suppose it is somewhat gratifying that I’ve managed to keep posting to this ‘blog’ since 2006 even if there has been some down time here and there. One of my first posts was about starting some company, which I can tell you never went through. That is a problem I’ve had thus far in my life, actually following through all the way on a business idea to the point that the income is residual.
This is where affiliate marketing comes in. For those of you that do not know what it is, let me explain very briefly.
Affiliate Marketing is at its least, sales. Being an ‘affiliate’ means selling someone elses product. This can be physical or digital products, for this example lets use digital products only.
Say someone writes an ebook called How To Fly Kites. This person sets up a website to act as a sale page to try and sell their ebook. There are several websites that would allow them to post up their product, so that other people, the affiliates, can access the information, and in turn, set up their own websites that will ‘upsell’ the ebook, and drive traffic to the authors website.
When someone clicks on a link that appears on the affiliates website, which goes to the authors website, the authors website knows where that traffic came from…which is the affiliate site. If the person decides to buy the ebook, the author then knows that the affiliate who’s page the purchaser came, deserves commission.
Sounds a bit confusing, but really it is not. The part I am attempting to play in that whole equation is the affiliate. I am working with all digital content for now as the commissions are extremely high(75%), and I can get paid from one source.
I already have two websites online that I build myself from scratch, with some banner design help from my good friend Dave over at www.ArtIsMyMiddleName.net. These sites, as far as affiliate sites goes, are rather small, but they are still making sales which is VERY exciting. I plan to beef them up a good bit more here in the near future, but first I am working on a brand new site.
I’ve just started going through an affiliate marketing program, which is basically a crash course series of videos, audio, and pdfs, giving lessons on everything you need to know in order to build affiliate websites and make affiliate sales.
It is by far the most comprehensive course on the internet right now and has been scaled so that even someone that knows nothing about design, coding, selling, researching, or anything, can get started fast. I’ve already learned a lot of basics and have a strong background working with all aspects of the internet, so I am blasting through the lessons, but I am learning many things at the same time.
Anyways, which me luck so that I can actually keep this ball rolling. I’ll keep you posted on my outcomes.
