I've made millions online - ask me anything!

[Gsuz]

I find myself coming back to this post and this thread in general over and over again, as I’m procrastinating quite heavily for the last few days.

The network shut down the offer I was pushing recently. It’s related to downloads which makes it hard to flip the script and create my own offer, especially with all the borderline legal stuff in that area to put it nicely.

Instead of hopping onto the next offer, I decided to take the next step and create my own offer. I also thought a lot about the sellable asset part and found that I prefer my current lifestyle, waking up, working, workout whenever I want to, all in my underwear, for the time being.

So, basically I’m starting from zero. And I have to admit that it’s a bit frightening, venturing into the unknown. One of my problems is, that despite having a bit of cash saved up, I blew a bit too much on relatively expensive things like useless tech gadgets, clothes etc. (100% my fault) It’s not like I can take a year off to figure out what I want to do next.

I’m not huge on the idea part, so for now I’ll have to take something that’s already out there and working and improve it/add my own spin to it. Being from Germany I’m thinking about taking a male weight loss product from Clickbank, study it inside out and then create my own version for the German market, of course have upsells and all that good stuff. The market is smaller in size, but still should be decent enough + less competition.

I also had a closer look at existing membership solutions, payment gatement integration etc and that’s the part I don’t have too many problems with, I think.

What’s more problematic to me is that I’ve never been a huge content guy, because I don’t enjoy creating content, also my style of wording seems to be more on the analytic side which is suboptimal when trying to evoke emotions etc.

When you created your info products: How did you come up with the “best” content and how did you form a system of that content that appears coherent to the buyer? Did you write your own copy for your (video) sales letter?


Would be great to get your input on this, as I’m finding myself highly motivated waking up at 6am, but not really knowing what to do.

Great post. I've thought about these things as well. If you really enjoy what you're doing, perhaps you can focus on lead gen, systematize the entire thing, and turn it into a "real" business. A site like Home Advisor (used to be Service Magic) is really "just" a lead gen middleman and they do over $250MM/year.

Personally, I can only work on one big project at a time. I would never be comfortable operating multiple "big" sites at the same time. My brain would be on constant overdrive and I'd never be able to sleep! Same for operating in multiple completely separate niches at the same time. Doesn't work for me.

There is nothing "small" about affiliate marketing as long as you stick to the huge, evergreen niches that are primarily health, wealth, financial and relationships. I know people who are "just" affiliates that make millions a year in each of these niches. There's nothing small about that.

My other suggestion is to consider what is normally the next step for people like you, which is to simply create your own product in whatever niche you're currently successful at as an affiliate. Flip the script and let other people promote your stuff.

The idea of building a sellable asset is quite romantic. For me personally I've found it easier said than done. A lot of it has to do with me, my lifestyle choices, and my personality.

For example, there's almost nothing that would get me to open a "real" office, hire a bunch of people, have to drive to work every day, etc. I wouldn't do this even if it meant a guaranteed $100MM sale in 10 years. It's just not me.

Don't underestimate what you can do as an affiliate at home in your underwear. If you do it right there can be some "fastlane" components to it, and unless you dream of building a big biz and being a CEO it might be all you need.

I have no desire to do that, and I have no desire to be so wealthy that I own 3 houses, a private plane, a yacht, and all that other crap, so even if all I ever did was make a nice high-6 to 7 figure income online as an affiliate for the rest of my life I'd be just fine.

With that being said, I'm still looking for something new and exciting as well, because unlike you, I'm not even sure I really enjoy this "stuff" any more.

 

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[darrenc]

Superb info! I recently wanted to focus a little more on CPA to find out how it works. In fact, I'm so serious that I went out and spent $9k on a website, and it turned out the seller was fraudulent. Anyway, that's water under the bridge. I found this thread during my research, and immediately signed up to the forum so that I can participate, share, take, and contribute. Just dropping by to say hi!

 

[darrenc]

Oh, and I do have some questions. How does the affiliate network setup payment? Do you need to have your own merchant account or will they provide one? How about using common gateways like Paypal? will networks accept that?

 

[Liz]

I am with Peerfly and here are the options you have: Bank Wire - $25, instant, PayPal - 2% ($20 max) on NET payments, instant, Payoneer - Free, instant, Postal Check - $5, 1-2 weeks

 

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[Quila]

Hello,

I am new here. A while ago I was looking for a topic like this but never really found one that caught my attention. As for now, I am reading this topic and several others. Thus I am really completely new to the affliate marketing. I have a master degree in financial services and had some course in marketing. Of programming I know just the basics of visual basic.

My question marks are the following;

1) I know a lot of money is made in this business years ago. Do you think it is still worth investing time, effort and money in the whole proces? Is there still money to be made like it used to be?

2) What are the basic skills I should have before getting in to it?

3) Can you provide me with a short list of things I need to get started?

4) How much money do you spend before being profitable? I know this depends from person to person but you Can take a guess

5) Do I need any programming skills (now or in the future).

6) Can you link affliate marketing with financial advisory services/audit/selling insurances?

Thans you for your time and have a nice day.


Verzonden vanaf mijn iPhone met behulp van Tapatalk

 

[ÉlyAna]

Hey limitup,

I have read everything thanks a lot for sharing seriously, it's always motivating to read people's success story! And I understand what it takes to answer every questions like you did...

Congratulation for you commitment to this "job" for all years, you're an example!

I was wondering if the kids came after you establish your system or at the same time..? I was wondering because my husband and I are working online too, full time, and we have a two girls (two years old and a 3 months old newborn ) but it's really hard to work as much as we wanted because of the kids!!... We want to work more to be able to make this work even more and take the business further but it's so hard when you have little children's! If by any chance you have any recommendation and tips to make this work I'll be glad how was it for you with your wife, working 80 hours a week?

Wish you the best for the next challenge! (You're probably already on it now)

 

[jarecki]

Hey limitup, hey All

I've developed an info product on getting out of debt. I've made a research before on that niche and I found out it may be pretty profitable. But my conversion rates are pretty low, of course crappy website and lame copy can be blamed but I'm not really convinced if my product fits the market.

Could you shine some light on the case?


PS If you want to know some more on anything I do, please tell. I'm happy to describe all of it, just to improve it and even build a case for others.

 

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[100k]

Jarecki, what is your offer?

 

[JimClark]

I've developed an info product on getting out of debt.

Selling to people with no money? You are brave!

 

[jarecki]

I've tested only as a free report - this is my actual product but I'm giving it away as a free ebook in exchange for some informations - lead gen. I was thinking about selling an $25-50 ebook first, then a $300-500 video course based on the ebook + extended material + online coaching as an exclusive.

 

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[NicoleMarie]

Selling to people with no money? You are brave!

LOL! I don't know why but this is funny. -bank on sidewalkers-

 

[YelmisPravida]

I'm going to start sounding like a broken record but really you just need to focus on creating an incredible OFFER. The offer is 10x more important than the actual product.

Hi limitup, thanks for this amazing thread and all the answers you are providing.

Can you please explain what you mean by "offer"? Is the actual web copy, the landing page, the offer to affiliates, or what is it exactly that you mean by this, could you break it down?

 

[100k]

Hi limitup, thanks for this amazing thread and all the answers you are providing.

Can you please explain what you mean by "offer"? Is the actual web copy, the landing page, the offer to affiliates, or what is it exactly that you mean by this, could you break it down?

Go through all of his posts in this thread.... you will find good examples and explanations of what a great offer is.

 

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[teabag]

Thanks for this thread. I'm new to internet marketing, and I just browsed through the CB market place.

Majority of the products being sold have really dodgy looking landing pages... Seriously, do people really buy from these sites?

 

[AllenCrawley]

I'm going to start sounding like a broken record but really you just need to focus on creating an incredible OFFER. The offer is 10x more important than the actual product.

For a viable long term fastlane business that doesn't rely on constant PUSH marketing I'd suggest a product centered (product focused) business vs an offer centered/focused business as @MJ DeMarco suggests. I'm really starting to understand the power of the product centered business. As MJ has stated before, your product should be the FIRE and your marketing the GAS. Not the other way around.

The following are quotes from this thread and are a must read..

Hypothetically imagine for a moment that you had the cure to cancer. Ultimately, you would need to sell the solution. You would need to know how to market. Sell. Convince. Persuade. After the initial momentum builds of sales, the product will do the rest through word of mouth, social media, referrals, and recommendations. Copywriting, marketing, and sales accelerates the momentum. To put it analogous, your product should be the FIRE, your marketing the GAS.

In my mind it becomes manipulation when your copy is slick and persuasive, but the product behind the slick and persuasive is just an illusion of that copy, a paper tiger, a mere surrogate to "stand in" for your manipulation. When I hear people around here say "printing money" it makes my stomach turn because that to me is not a product focus, (a pull) but a money focus (push). A push focus, 100% marketing 0% product makes you no different than any other money chaser trying to make a fast buck. The product becomes irrelevant.

In Jason's thread he mentions being product agnostic where you don't care what the product is. I agree with that -- as long as your product kicks a$$ and you know it. I'm aware of @JasonR 's product and frankly, I think it kicks a$$.

But being product agnostic with garbage for the sake of running copy to "print your money? "

I'll take the zero.

Great copy can sell skateboards to the elderly. Ice to eskimoes. Sand to Arabs. But at the end of the day, this makes you a great pusher and great manipulator, not someone who is solving problems. And if anyone is questioning it, yes, great pushers and manipulators can make great fortunes. A lot of them also end up in jail or indicted for fraud. For example, I haven't seen the Jordan Belfort movie... but my initial impression of what I've heard is that this guy is not a Fastlaner, but a great pusher and a great manipulator. The guy in my avatar as well.

 

[sandyman123]

@limitup

I've had several #1 products on Clickbank bank in the day when I promoted crappy biz opps and that kind of stuff. Probably the easiest money I ever made, but I was young, dumb and desperate at the time. I sure felt "dirty" doing it though. I wasn't scamming anyone, but I wasn't exactly providing tons of value either.

what is the best way to find a good idea? What websites are you looking to find ideas?

I have my offers on lots of affiliate networks. Some times I'd give one network an exclusive, some times I'd let them broker it out to just a few other networks, and some times I'd have an offer on as many as 25+ different networks at the same time. As always there are pros and cons of each.

Which affiliate network is best to sell my products? Which do your use?

The only time I ever struggled to stay motivated and productive is when I was making more money in a week than most people make in a year.

What were your most successful products?

 

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[MMatt]

@limitup







What were your most successful products?

They wouldn't be successful if it was that easy.

 

[CZ_Voyager]

Thank you for an excellent thread and sharing your experience!

I’ve been trying to make it in affiliate marketing for 3 years but I failed hard. I completely lost all my money and motivation. I needed to take few months break but I’m not going to give up! I’m using this break to replenish money (by freelancing, it makes me only about $1-$2,000 a month), learning from my mistakes, learning from other people (I want to focus on PPC and media buys). I’m ready to work my a$$ off to become successful!

Mistakes I’ve made:

· Jumping from one thing to another (FB, PoF, PPC, PPV, solo ads, media buys…) – trying everything for a short time and changing things if it wasn’t profitable immediately

· Information overload – reading too much, trying to learn everything from copywriting to programming, web design, marketing…

· Going after highly competitive niches (adult dating, weight loss, payday loans)

· Risking too much – for example a $2,000 direct media buy without proven offer, landing pages, ads…

Things I’ve learnt and I’m good at:

· Technical, analytical person – I worked as a programmer, database specialist, IT admin… I’m good with numbers, details, finding mistakes and things to improve…

· I’m good with a technical part of affiliate marketing – using software (iMobiTrax, Tracking202), tracking and split testing, basic of web design and programming

· Experience from hundreds of paid traffic campaigns

· I’ve been working recently on inner game of wealth creation – identifying and eliminating limiting beliefs, meditation, overcoming reactivity on external circumstances…

What would you do in my situation? There may be other people in similar situation like me. I’d really appreciate your honest reply. I’m basically back to square one. I have little money and I’m not sure what to focus on. I want to do media buys but I must start small. Is there anything I could do for you? I don’t mind working for someone in exchange for mentoring.

Thank you a lot, mate!

 

[s168]

As @JimClark said, this is a non starter. I considered this market years ago and immediately dismissed it on the basis that one of my rules for making money is to go to where the money is. People in debt desperately trying to get out of debt, and being told to pay for information and courses with money they don't have is just a bad bad bad idea on so many levels. Yes there is a need, but there is also a solution for the most needy in this group of people... they simply go bankrupt or seek free advice, example being here in the UK you get Citizens Advice Bureau, not to mention countless free information on websites and forums galore.

The only way you may stand a chance of making money here is referrals to financial products such as low to 0% rate credit cards and loans etc. But these players don't touch small fries, and there are a host of legislation to get round before you can promote these anyway. Not to mention that people with big debts tend to have poor credit anyway, so will probably not convert for those deals anyway, well certainly not as easily as it was pre-credit crunch.

As for testing with a free ebook etc. Anyone can give away freebies, but freebie chasers aren't awesome qualified leads either. I have friends who have over 1.5m people on their various freebie lists and the response rate on that list is abysmal. And these guys are smart people with their own multiple Fastlane businesses.

I've tested only as a free report - this is my actual product but I'm giving it away as a free ebook in exchange for some informations - lead gen. I was thinking about selling an $25-50 ebook first, then a $300-500 video course based on the ebook + extended material + online coaching as an exclusive.

 

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[Deleted20833]

1. What is your online marketing strategy for the upcoming years
2. What is your monetizing strategy for the upcoming years

 

[debitandcredit]

Great thread. I am a software engineer of 10 yrs experience. I developed a dropship order managment program webbased (asp.net, mssql) inhouse in a ecommerce company which was in inc 500, do about 20 to 30 million volume, used by about 300 vendors and 20 customer service. I was vp in tech there once and I developed everything myself, it took about 3 years. I left the company and I now have 2 clients each paying about $1200 a month under my name. Recently, The company I worked for was sold to a Canadian company where it uses bigger ERP, they are 100 mil company. so my app retired after 8 years. (long ride) The owner and I are good friend, there is no legal issue on the software. He gave me a blessing. he was paying me about 80k a year, but the software will be unused without a big client, now i am freed and i want to distribute the software to other ecommerces.

I was getting a pretty god salary past 8 years so I didn't really put too much effort on taking this service as a company. but now I am thinking I could take this, or i am thinkng I could make the same money as selling other people's sass system as well... I am a burned out programmer... I have a website you can take a look as well.

Do you think you can take a look at my demo? All my 3 clients are multi million ecommerce companies. so yes, this works and automates customer service, purchase order, rma accounting etc. I am just lacking marketing part of it. Please pm me if interested.

 

[Wuz]

Thanks for the great insights

it really open my eyes and come down to earth.

 

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[GuestUser116]

If you were 17 right now what would you do to make $$$?

 

[CreateLiving]

Where do you see the internet marketing industry in 10 years?

 

[FortyTwo]

Assumed you own a portfolio of 1,000 premium domain names. The estimated value of this package is about 15 million USD.

What would you do if you want to sell this complete package to an investor? Someone who sells this package gets a 10% commission.

Thanks and regards.

 

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[CreateLiving]

Assumed you own a portfolio of 1,000 premium domain names. The estimated value of this package is about 15 million USD.

What would you do if you want to sell this complete package to an investor? Someone who sells this package gets a 10% commission.

Thanks and regards.

Granted I haven't made millions, but I would find out as much about that investor as possible and tailor a customized presentation that they couldn't turn down. Add a compelling value proposition and create a ton of urgency.

 

[FortyTwo]

... I would find out as much about that investor as possible and tailor ...

Sorry, I expressed myself incorrectly. I haven't found an investor yet. How to find an investor/investors is part of my question too.

Thanks and best regards

 

[CreateLiving]

Sorry, I expressed myself incorrectly. I haven't found an investor yet. How to find an investor/investors is part of my question too.

Thanks and best regards

Oh ok, I understand. I would do some Google research on prior transactions that are similar. Find out how they went down, and what channels were used to track down an investor. As long as you can show clear and concise value, there is always someone out there trying to double their money or leech off of a passive income.

 

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[FortyTwo]

I would do some Google research on prior transactions that are similar.

To sell a $15 million domain names portfolio is such a special business – there is nothing like this on Google.

You may have a look here: http://www.thedomains.com/2014/07/0...tellos-be-the-1st-to-sell-for-over-1-billion/

... there is always someone out there trying to double their money or leech off of a passive income.

Yes, you're right. But how to find them?

 

[CZ_Voyager]

Has anyone heard about Bonadza? Or any other good ad network for media buys for affiliate offers?

I’m learning media buys and was told it’s a great ad network. However they are blocking many affiliate offers.

Anyway, I was talking with them and in a few weeks they’re launching a new traffic source with 3x the current volume and most importantly it should be more affiliate friendly! I’m pretty excited. I’ve been struggling with media buys and need a good traffic source.