I can't discuss the numbers.

 

Thanks.

Actually did consider it but it's really a much different business. The question I asked was do I keep doing what we are doing or should I lock in those gains and start a new business? I obviously chose the latter.

Based upon the competition SEO for this space is much much harder than when I started. With now companies like The Wire Cutter and The Motley Fool entering this space. Plus with the company acquired Investor Junkie owning first, second and third position search position, it is becoming increasingly harder to compete. SEM, push notifications, social media (including messaging) are the way to go. Though for affiliate marketing in most cases SEO is a cheaper alternative. Otherwise with paid ads you are playing an arbitrage game. Though on the plus side it's easy to turn on and turn off and know immediate results if you are hanging your ladder on the right wall.

I also regret not building my personal brand at the same time. I built Investor Junkie as a brand because I did not want to have myself tied to it so it could be sold. In retrospect, I should have built my personal brand in parallel. It's hard with some mediums you have no choice but need a personal voice (ie video, email, podcast, social media, etc..) Unfortunately starting from scratch in my new ventures even if it's not in the same space it would be nice to have built that up and some of my raving fans would have come with me to my new businesses.

Focused on user experience and adding value for the reader.

Thanks!

 

Still in a transition with the website. Still planning out what's next.

Though did rent a new office space starting Jan 1st. I needed a view that was inspiring and got a window with a view. I know I want to do videos with the new business so I also wanted something more than a white background.

 

Ok starting to build my personal brand.

Want to learn more about me? I'm of course in the VERY early stages of creating my site but plan on at least starting to do consulting for others with affiliate marketing.

I list some of the tools I've used over the years. I also plan on discussing tricks/tips on affiliate marketing.

Plus plan on some courses in the future.

Signup to my mailing list and I'll let you know when new stuff becomes available.

This is at least one of my possible sources of future revenue, among others. Going the multiple streams of income route.

Visit: Larry Ludwig

 

Yup.

 

Hey MJ,

Can you give me an example? I'm not sure I understand the question.

You mean the redirection page on my site? That says "Now redirecting you to offer X..." I assume you know what the purpose of that page is for?

As that's actually a good question to ask and can go into that question.

Intermediary page you mean?

-L

 

Ah ok, completely different than what I was thinking.

Yea Investing Channel is the company that popularized this email signup. I forget the terminology though.

I disliked this technique as I felt it was too spammy. Plus HATED Investing Channel as a service but that's a whole other story.

No, I did not do this but considered it. That was popular a few years ago, but I haven't seen anyone do this recently in mass. There was much more money to be made than that way.

Emails, in general, I had an issue to monetize.

Unlike other niches, investing readers had a very limited lifetime. It was not uncommon for me to completely refresh the list within one year. Meaning an email subscriber lasted no longer than a year, if that. Meaning they would get the information they needed and be gone. Sure they may have and did come back for other topics but it was to satisfy other specific needs than long-term general education. People just don't have the patience to invest for the long-term and the habits I saw from readers confirmed it as well.

A side note it was very common for individuals to test out two robo-advisors and would pick the winner (in total returns) after six months!!

 

Zero Hedge has an example on their site since they use Investing Channel.

 

Yup I couldn't think of the name either.

 

Stay away! Stay far away from hosting. There is more money (profit) to be made using a hosting provider's affiliate program than doing hosting yourself.

 

Ok getting to the intermediary page since that wasn't MJ's question, but it is something I think it's important to understand what the purpose of it is for.

It's a temporary page that is seen before going to the vendor's website after clicking on a cloaked affiliate link (ie investorjunkie.com/go/fidelity ).

It serves multiple purposes.

1. Makes the visitor aware you are low leaving your site and going to the vendor's site. There is a clear distinction of when the reader is leaving your site. Even then people still asked me about services as if they were ours.
2. Ad tracking services like Facebook's pixel can be placed on this page so you at least have the "add to cart" signal to help with conversions. Could be used on the "onclick" but the Javascript may not fire properly so this is more reliable.
3. To SEO it can be seen as an additional step before going officially offsite.
4. Can be used to pass and convert cookied info as HTTP GET parameters to the vendor for tracking purposes. Most affiliate systems use at least the HTTP protocol for conversion tracking as it's the most reliable.