Affiliate marketing does still work, > $100/day in under 2 months

LightHouse · Mar 11, 2010

So there has been a lot of talk on here about not getting into affiliate marketing. While that is gray area, for those of you that are getting into it my advice is to diversify your merchants, use tools to automate and scale your business, and move the money in to more sustainable long term investments.

I started affiliate marketing to gain some passive income to throw into my E-commerce business. I started Jan 12th, and have slowly been gaining daily. Yesterday was at $250 for the day in affiliate income, the goal is about $1k-$1250/day. There is still plenty of money to be made and if like any other investment you diversify, it just becomes a numbers game. You may get cut from one merchant or have an issue but it shouldn't be an issue.

I will not answer the question of what do i do, and this post isnt really to gloat more so to give some motivation of 'yes it does work' for those of you that have been building affiliate business' around here and caught that 'it's a bad idea' vibe.

kwerner · Mar 11, 2010

Re: Affiliate marketing does still work, > $100/day in under 2 mo

LightHouse said:
I started Jan 12th, and have slowly been gaining daily. Yesterday was at $250 for the day in affiliate income, the goal is about $1k-$1250/day.

Holy crap! That's awesome!

I have a question though, are the majority of your earnings coming from being "top tier", as in selling your own product, or is it through marketing others' products?

Either way, it's amazing. Good luck with your progress!

LightHouse · Mar 11, 2010

Re: Affiliate marketing does still work, > $100/day in under 2 mo

Nope, the affiliate marketing is all others products. Keep in mind i have a couple of e-commerce stores and other stuff going on. But this is just the affiliate marketing of others tangible products. I don't do digital products at all, not to say they aren't profitable if done right.

kwerner · Mar 11, 2010

Re: Affiliate marketing does still work, > $100/day in under 2 mo

Wow!

That is incredible! My jaw is on the floor.

I had no idea that people were still able to do so well in affiliate marketing. I guess I just thought that the market's been saturated and people were having more difficulty making money with it now.

Congrats and good luck with reaching your goal!

kurtyordy · Mar 11, 2010

Re: Affiliate marketing does still work, > $100/day in under 2 mo

umm, ok, now I feel like an ignorant bum. clearly I have much to learn. I hope you are saying you started jan 2009, but I am sure that is not the case.

LightHouse · Mar 11, 2010

Re: Affiliate marketing does still work, > $100/day in under 2 mo

kwerner said:
Wow!

That is incredible! My jaw is on the floor.

I had no idea that people were still able to do so well in affiliate marketing. I guess I just thought that the market's been saturated and people were having more difficulty making money with it now.

Congrats and good luck with reaching your goal!

To me, the market is like any other. Saturated with people thinking too small and not out side of the box. Everyone takes what one person says and copies it... That isnt going to work for everyone. If y want to make money you have to get your creativity flowing, and stop following what others do.

Later I am going to post a nugget in this thread on learning SEO the right way that i saw over on webmaster world a few weeks ago when caffeine was rolling in and out.

LightHouse · Mar 11, 2010

Re: Affiliate marketing does still work, > $100/day in under 2 mo

kurtyordy said:
umm, ok, now I feel like an ignorant bum. clearly I have much to learn. I hope you are saying you started jan 2009, but I am sure that is not the case.

Jan 12, 2010. Your not an ignorant bum Kurt. you are actively working towards your goal. Don't fret, you are doing a great job so far.

mtnman · Mar 11, 2010

Re: Affiliate marketing does still work, > $100/day in under 2 mo

I feel like I have to say something here, as I'm one of the ones who is cynical in this area.

I see from Kwerner's response alone that perhaps my negativity toward my own experiences may be discouraging... I don't like that. And, if that's ultimately the only thing that comes across from me, I apologize... the last thing I want to be is discouraging.

By all means getting into affiliate marketing has changed my life, business, and current + future skill sets. It's also opened many doors that would have stayed closed had I not made numerous mistakes in this game. I just like to save others some grief as they have done for me.

I've always said affiliate stuff is an excellent tool/step to learning web business, and I would not change anything I have done, as the education can not be purchased.

That said, wait till you're doing about 400-600/day and someone else decides you should be cut off... kinda leaves a bad taste in your mouth if you know what I mean.

Sure, you can shuffle offers/merchants/payouts but that shit gets old after a while, especially when you've been working feverishly to build out assets one way and you have no choice but to change things up because something changed that is out of your control.

In closing, I know I'm extremely private about the details of what I do (or did LOL), but you CAN build a decent income from affiliate marketing. Expecting a lasting business with fulfillment and without pursuit from affiliate marketing is a bit naive...

P.S.- Awesome update Lighthouse! Sorry if this was a bit of a hijack, keep it up!

LightHouse · Mar 11, 2010

Re: Affiliate marketing does still work, > $100/day in under 2 mo

mtnman said:
I feel like I have to say something here, as I'm one of the ones who is cynical in this area.

I see from Kwerner's response alone that perhaps my negativity toward my own experiences may be discouraging... I don't like that. And, if that's ultimately the only thing that came across from me, I apologize... the last thing I want to be is discouraging.

By all means getting into affiliate marketing has changed my life, business, and current + future skill sets. It's also opened many doors that would have stayed closed had I not made numerous mistakes in this game. I just like to save others some grief as they have done for me.

I've always said affiliate stuff is an excellent tool/step to learning web business, and I would not change anything I have done, as the education can not be purchased.

That said, wait till you're doing about 400-600/day and someone else decides you should be cut off... kinda leaves a bad taste in your mouth if you know what I mean.

Sure, you can shuffle offers/merchants/payouts but that shit gets old after a while, especially when you've been working feverishly to build out assets one way and you have no choice but to change things up because something changed that is out of your control.

I hear you, it can certainly be a pain in the side, but i think your example serves purpose for my main points, diversify your merchants, and move that money towards a sustainable investment. All of affiliate marketing isn't going to be around forever with politics and FTC guidelines and everything else already starting in, so putting loads of money back into it, is just plain bad business tactics. (not to say this is or is not what you doing, i am speaking in generalities here)

On the shifting merchants/offers side, while i don't do CPA/offers type stuff either, i can shift my traffic from one merchant to the next most relevant with a few clicks. So if someone should go down/under/BK, i can make sure that traffic is flowing towards something else that monetizes it.

A lot of it is the way you build what you are doing, but that all gets very very complex as well.

This is probably an appropriate time to thank you matt and all the other affiliate guys for constantly posting, i take bits and pieces of advice that is put on this board for ideas and testing purposes, so to say you all are part of what i am doing is about right. And I thank you all for doing so!

Phantom309 · Mar 11, 2010

Re: Affiliate marketing does still work, > $100/day in under 2 mo

Thank you Lighthouse for posting this. As this is one thing I've been reading up on trying to figure out my way. I'm glad to see that it can be done and is a viable way to make some passive income. Glad to hear your doing good in your venture lots of luck and good luck!

LightHouse · Mar 11, 2010

Re: Affiliate marketing does still work, > $100/day in under 2 mo

Here is the bit about SEO

http://www.thefastlanetomillions.co...tion-3-months-whiteknight-wmw.html#post123790

LightHouse · Mar 11, 2010

Re: Affiliate marketing does still work, > $100/day in under 2 mo

Phantom309 said:
Thank you Lighthouse for posting this. As this is one thing I've been reading up on trying to figure out my way. I'm glad to see that it can be done and is a viable way to make some passive income. Glad to hear your doing good in your venture lots of luck and good luck!

Thank you, yes viable but not long term sustainable, either way it can be done!

Sparlin · Mar 11, 2010

Re: Affiliate marketing does still work, > $100/day in under 2 mo

Thankyou LightHouse for posting this info. For that matter I would like to thank Matt and Jon as well. I spent the afternoon learning about some first tier affiliate software. It was referenced in another thread by Jon.

Here is the link:

Post Affiliate Pro - Affiliate Tracking Software - Affiliate Program Software

Fastlane Thread:

http://www.thefastlanetomillions.com/your-goals-your-fastlane-plan/8239-affiliate-marketing.html

CMCarlin · Mar 11, 2010

Re: Affiliate marketing does still work, > $100/day in under 2 mo

Thanks for posting this LH, this is sure to be an overall encouraging thread.
I view AM like any other business model: it is all in your execution. There are drawbacks and challenges like anything but there IS money to be made. Yes some markets are saturated but what I've been learning over the last few months is that there are still viable markets out there.

Right now I am working solely in physical products and while I do need to diversify the merchants that I work with I have a clear set plan of action. I've built my 1st site in JAN and am making sales so that is encouraging. I currently own 22 domains. Right now my goal is to hit the 6% @ amazon on a consistent basis and then start diversifying my merchants. I also use adsense.

Great work so far LH, I think that you may have a leg up on some of us because you already own an e-commerce site. I've been teaching myself everything from scratch but I have a great mentor that I am working with that is showing me the ropes and he has been in IM since 2000 and makes a killing at it.

I've seen some of the posts here putting down AM and while I recognize the drawbacks, again, it's all in the execution. It does take hard work and patience, but with the right plan of action, you can make decent monthly income.

Thanks for the SEO tips

andviv · Mar 11, 2010

Re: Affiliate marketing does still work, > $100/day in under 2 mo

I've seen first hand how much effort, time and money this guy has put into his business. The term 'passive' probably means it is not a 9-5 work, but I do know that lots of effort have been put in place.

Every penny this guy makes has been very well deserved.

I want to be like lighthouse when I grow up.

bflbob · Mar 11, 2010

Re: Affiliate marketing does still work, > $100/day in under 2 mo

Holy crap! I've been working on this stuff since the 2009 B&P and I'm no where near this success! Outstanding!

I'm heading through VA at the end of the month, on my way to Martinsville. Wish I could stop and visit, but I'm riding with a group.

LightHouse · Mar 11, 2010

Re: Affiliate marketing does still work, > $100/day in under 2 mo

Sparlin said:
Thankyou LightHouse for posting this info. For that matter I would like to thank Matt and Jon as well. I spent the afternoon learning about some first tier affiliate software. It was referenced in another thread by Jon.

Here is the link:

Post Affiliate Pro - Affiliate Tracking Software - Affiliate Program Software

Fastlane Thread:

http://www.thefastlanetomillions.com/your-goals-your-fastlane-plan/8239-affiliate-marketing.html

You are welcome, and I haven't seen that software before, there is also idevaffiliate that i know of. That is one of my goals for my stores is to offer an affiliate program, but i need to be better positioned to give my affiliates the tools they need.

CMCarlin said:
Thanks for posting this LH, this is sure to be an overall encouraging thread.
I view AM like any other business model: it is all in your execution. There are drawbacks and challenges like anything but there IS money to be made. Yes some markets are saturated but what I've been learning over the last few months is that there are still viable markets out there.

Right now I am working solely in physical products and while I do need to diversify the merchants that I work with I have a clear set plan of action. I've built my 1st site in JAN and am making sales so that is encouraging. I currently own 22 domains. Right now my goal is to hit the 6% @ amazon on a consistent basis and then start diversifying my merchants. I also use adsense.

Great work so far LH, I think that you may have a leg up on some of us because you already own an e-commerce site. I've been teaching myself everything from scratch but I have a great mentor that I am working with that is showing me the ropes and he has been in IM since 2000 and makes a killing at it.

I've seen some of the posts here putting down AM and while I recognize the drawbacks, again, it's all in the execution. It does take hard work and patience, but with the right plan of action, you can make decent monthly income.

Thanks for the SEO tips

You are welcome and keep at it, not sure what the limit is for 6% but im sure you could get there pretty consistently without too much effort. Learn as much from your mentor as possible, i learned a lot of what i know on both ends from talking to people and be of value to them and its usually mutual. My past experience does help with some of it but the ability and the drive to learn has really helped accelerate things.

andviv said:
I've seen first hand how much effort, time and money this guy has put into his business. The term 'passive' probably means it is not a 9-5 work, but I do know that lots of effort have been put in place.

Every penny this guy makes has been very well deserved.

I want to be like lighthouse when I grow up.

Yes not totally passive like mutual funds or treasuries, but can take a day/week off and not worry too much.

bflbob said:
Holy crap! I've been working on this stuff since the 2009 B&P and I'm no where near this success! Outstanding!

I'm heading through VA at the end of the month, on my way to Martinsville. Wish I could stop and visit, but I'm riding with a group.

Geez, Bob never has time for andres and I.....:fryingpan:

No worries Bob, We would like to get together and have a mini East Coast B&P sometime though.

biophase · Mar 12, 2010

Re: Affiliate marketing does still work, > $100/day in under 2 mo

Lighthouse, What do you do? :notworthy:

Mtnman, you know I was actually thinking about you today... maybe it's your rugged good looks or lack of understanding flight schedules... :smxB:

Anyway, I really was thinking about you and Chris and Jonlee Hacker... and this is something that Snowbank and I have talked about for a while. With our skill sets we are still making money for other people. Not to say this is bad.

But, back during the start up BFP days we would email these SEOs and interview a bunch to hire. They would say stuff like, for $5000 I can get you to #1 google probably in 3 months and based on google searches you'd get 2000 visitors a day. First, let's just believe them for a sec.

If you had the skills to get any keyword to #1 for a mere $5000, why do you do it for other people's websites? Why don't you do it for your own? The ROI for yourself is massive.

So back to Mtnman, today I am in the midst of placing a large order from China. I haven't pulled the trigger yet. It's damn hard to. Do I take the risk, thousands of dollars sent overseas??? Create my own product, become the driver in the fastlane??

Well, I have the skills to SEO my product. I certainly know how to sell online. I know how to market. I got skillz. But still I it's hard to pull the trigger and start my own product line!!!

But like Bill said, it's risky to not take the risk. What's my risk? I get a container full of crap for $5k-10k. What's the upside? The beginning of my own imported product. Gaining experience in importing? What if I do nothing? Well I'll still be selling other people's products next year.

Oops got sidetracked. Mtnman, you got the skillz to market ice to eskimos. Use them on your own product. Then get affiliates to sell for you. Then cut them off!! Just kidding on the last part.

LightHouse · Mar 12, 2010

Re: Affiliate marketing does still work, > $100/day in under 2 mo

biophase said:
Lighthouse, What do you do?

Mtnman, you know I was actually thinking about you today... maybe it's your rugged go looks or lack of understanding flight schedules... :smxB:

Anyway, I really was thinking about you and Chris and Jonlee Hacker... and this is something that Snowbank and I have talked about for a while. With our skill sets we are still making money for other people. Not to say this is bad.

But, back during the start up BFP days we would email these SEOs and interview a bunch to hire. They would say stuff like, for $5000 I can get you to #1 google probably in 3 months and based on google searches you'd get 2000 visitors a day. First, let's just believe them for a sec.

If you had the skills to get any keyword to #1 for a mere $5000, why do you do it for other people's websites? Why don't you do it for your own? The ROI for yourself is massive.

So back to Mtnman, today I am in the midst of placing a large order from China. I haven't pulled the trigger yet. It's damn hard to. Do I take the risk, thousands of dollars sent overseas??? Create my own product, become the driver in the fastlane??

Well, I have the skills to SEO my product. I certainly know how to sell online. I know how to market. I got skillz. But still I it's hard to pull the trigger and start my own product line!!!

But like Bill said, it's risky to not take the risk. What's my risk? I get a container full of crap for $5k-10k. What's the upside? The beginning of my own imported product. Gaining experience in importing? What if I do nothing? Well I'll still be selling other people's products next year.

Oops got sidetracked. Mtnman, you got the skillz to market ice to eskimos. Use them on your own product. Then get affiliates to sell for you. Then cut them off!! Just kidding on the last part.

You are right, like Bill says its risky to not be risky. On the SEO bit, I've had a lot of B&M type ask to hire me for SEO and whatnot. I've told them all i do not do work for hire. It's not worth it to me at all. But you right we have the know how, despite the fact that SEO constantly changes.

The reason i got into affiliate marketing is because i wanted a base of money that i didn't have to process orders and respond to emails for. Plus i wanted a bit of cash to completely strip down and rebuild a new back end for and start a few new stores.

That is coming later this year, and I am hoping to raise the barriers by getting private contracts rather then mainstream/semi mainstream providers.

I can't wait to hear of your success with importing!

MJ DeMarco · Mar 12, 2010

Re: Affiliate marketing does still work, > $100/day in under 2 mo

biophase said:
Lighthouse, What do you do?

Mtnman, you know I was actually thinking about you today... maybe it's your rugged go looks or lack of understanding flight schedules... :smxB:

Anyway, I really was thinking about you and Chris and Jonlee Hacker... and this is something that Snowbank and I have talked about for a while. With our skill sets we are still making money for other people. Not to say this is bad.

But, back during the start up BFP days we would email these SEOs and interview a bunch to hire. They would say stuff like, for $5000 I can get you to #1 google probably in 3 months and based on google searches you'd get 2000 visitors a day. First, let's just believe them for a sec.

If you had the skills to get any keyword to #1 for a mere $5000, why do you do it for other people's websites? Why don't you do it for your own? The ROI for yourself is massive.

So back to Mtnman, today I am in the midst of placing a large order from China. I haven't pulled the trigger yet. It's damn hard to. Do I take the risk, thousands of dollars sent overseas??? Create my own product, become the driver in the fastlane??

Well, I have the skills to SEO my product. I certainly know how to sell online. I know how to market. I got skillz. But still I it's hard to pull the trigger and start my own product line!!!

But like Bill said, it's risky to not take the risk. What's my risk? I get a container full of crap for $5k-10k. What's the upside? The beginning of my own imported product. Gaining experience in importing? What if I do nothing? Well I'll still be selling other people's products next year.

Oops got sidetracked. Mtnman, you got the skillz to market ice to eskimos. Use them on your own product. Then get affiliates to sell for you. Then cut them off!! Just kidding on the last part.

Thx Kenric ... if anyone here gets the vibe that I believe (or the theme here) is "affiliate marketing doesn't work" then the message is being misconstrued.

AM is a great venue, it just isn't a pure Fastlane. (Purity isn't required to earn the big $$!) The skills you are learning to build your income are priceless and you deserve (and earn) a big congratulations on that. The point of mentioning this is this: If you can earn $10K/mo doing AM, how much money would you earn if you OWNED the construct? 50K/mo? $100K/mo? 200K/mo?

I can't recall the LARGEST check I paid my top affiliate but I think it was in the neighborhood of $56K for ONE MONTH. Imagine what I earned that month?!

You are getting paid some great cash to learn some million-dollar skills. A big congrats to you because exploding your income (in any construct) is incredibly exciting!!!!! Please keep us updated !!!! :icon_super:

LightHouse · Mar 12, 2010

Re: Affiliate marketing does still work, > $100/day in under 2 mo

PhxMJ said:
Thx Kenric ... if anyone here gets the vibe that I believe (or the theme here) is "affiliate marketing doesn't work" then the message is being misconstrued.

AM is a great venue, it just isn't a pure Fastlane. (Purity isn't required to earn the big $$!) The skills you are learning to build your income are priceless and you deserve (and earn) a big congratulations on that. The point of mentioning this is this: If you can earn $10K/mo doing AM, how much money would you earn if you OWNED the construct? 50K/mo? $100K/mo? 200K/mo?

I can't recall the LARGEST check I paid my top affiliate but I think it was in the neighborhood of $56K for ONE MONTH. Imagine what I earned that month?!

You are getting paid some great cash to learn some million-dollar skills. A big congrats to you because exploding your income (in any construct) is incredibly exciting!!!!! Please keep us updated !!!! :icon_super:

Thanks MJ, you serve a valid point for me getting into AM along side my e-commerce stores. While the e-com business is a good bit of driving, I simply can't cover the amount of products people are buying. Sure with that same traffic i could be making 10-20x what i am, but it would be impossible for me to compete at that level by myself.

So in turn i take a lower cut to not have the workload. The funds from AM will roll into expanding my sustainable e-commerce business and growing their brands independently.

The speed of the return is also another major contributing factor, I am leveraging the merchants years of testing and branding at the expense of a lower cut, so there is certainly a short term tradeoff. Should i develop a store with any of the products that i promote, i can shift that traffic with a click and start 5x-10x'ing(??) the revenues from it.

Sparlin · Mar 30, 2010

Re: Affiliate marketing does still work, > $100/day in under 2 mo

Bump for progress check

LightHouse · Mar 30, 2010

Re: Affiliate marketing does still work, > $100/day in under 2 mo

Still rolling, constantly working on and in the system. Constantly getting new ideas to move things forward faster and more efficiently.

Also started working on a new e-commerce system yesterday. By working on i meant i downloaded a few new software packages and i will be testing and messing with them over the next few weeks to get those plans together. It's all about systems, and the more i create them, the more I see the value in them.

onto the $1k/day passive income. then to the $3-10k/day non passive e-commerce business. Which i will also probably try to automate and hire out for to make it semi-passive.

sswift · Mar 30, 2010

Re: Affiliate marketing does still work, > $100/day in under 2 mo

what do you do? I may be a potential customer

LightHouse · Mar 30, 2010

Re: Affiliate marketing does still work, > $100/day in under 2 mo

sswift said:
what do you do? I may be a potential customer

I answered this in the first post, unless you mean what do i sell in e-commerce?

eTyler19 · Apr 5, 2010

Re: Affiliate marketing does still work, > $100/day in under 2 mo

Who do you recommend for affiliate program? Someone like ClickBank or commission junction????

LightHouse · Apr 5, 2010

Re: Affiliate marketing does still work, > $100/day in under 2 mo

eTyler, I only do tangible products, so i can not speak for clickbank or any of the rest of the info product marketplaces. I have a few CPA accounts as well, but i don't run anything through those either.

I would suggest getting hooked up on as many programs as possible and diversifying your merchants. Since it is a 'passenger' type deal you want to reduce the risk of losing your income on any one merchant or network.

MJ DeMarco · Apr 6, 2010

Re: Affiliate marketing does still work, > $100/day in under 2 mo

I gotta PM about AM and I just wanted to bump up this thread.

eTyler19 · Apr 6, 2010

Re: Affiliate marketing does still work, > $100/day in under 2 mo

Can we start a resource of affiliate programs in this thread that people can research?

Commission Junction
Amazon Affiliates
ClickBank
ShareAsale
Google Affiliate program

What are some others that anyone would recommend?

LightHouse · Apr 7, 2010

Re: Affiliate marketing does still work, > $100/day in under 2 mo

eTyler19 said:
Can we start a resource of affiliate programs in this thread that people can research?

Commission Junction
Amazon Affiliates
ClickBank
ShareAsale
Google Affiliate program

What are some others that anyone would recommend?

Linkshare
ebay partner network
shopzilla/bizrate
pepperjam

These are all the 'major' ones. There are still a ton of Independant programs out there as well.

Welcome to the only entrepreneur forum dedicated to building life-changing wealth.

Build a Fastlane business. Earn real financial freedom. Join free.

Affiliate marketing does still work, > $100/day in under 2 months

Legendary Contributor

Bronze Contributor

Legendary Contributor

Bronze Contributor

Bronze Contributor

Legendary Contributor

Legendary Contributor

Bronze Contributor

Legendary Contributor

Contributor

Legendary Contributor

Legendary Contributor

Bronze Contributor

Contributor

Gold Contributor

Bronze Contributor

Legendary Contributor

Legendary Contributor

Legendary Contributor

I followed the science; all I found was money.

Legendary Contributor

Bronze Contributor

Legendary Contributor

New Contributor

Legendary Contributor

New Contributor

Legendary Contributor

I followed the science; all I found was money.

New Contributor

Legendary Contributor

Sponsored Resources: Jumpstart Your Fastlane

Post New Topic

Fastlane Insiders