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(31) Comments... Have Your Say! ~ May 13th, 2008Most of the time when we evaluate ourselves, we ask “What is keeping me from making that $100/day?” Why can somebody else make $1,000 per day and I’m struggling just getting to $100? There are a few common reasons that I can think of, and maybe some of them apply to you.
Reason #1 : Fear
Probably the most common reason people don’t succeed, is because of fear. They don’t believe that a person can make $1,000/day online, and don’t want to risk their hard earned salary in taking a chance to do the impossible. How many times have I said on this blog that you can’t be afraid? Many. You need to stock up some cash, and just go for it. Go all out, bid high, test keywords, test ad copy, test landing pages; and see what works. That’s the hard part, after that you just take what works and keep optimizing it to be more profitable, it’s all gravy baby.
Reason #2 : Cash Flow
I see this a lot in e-mails or on forums, a complaint is “I keep running out of money so I have to pause my PPC campaigns.” I always say the same thing to people…CREDIT CARDS! Get the most simple Amex, something like a Blue Cash (that was my first card), and if you can’t get approved with Amex try and get a MasterCard or something with a decent limit. This way you can spend money and not have to pay until the end of the month. Just make sure you either have enough money in the bank to cover it, or are profiting with the campaign.
Step 2 to this equation is getting better payment terms from your affiliate networks. Just explain to them that your cash flow is tight, and in order to continue the campaign with them you need to be on bi-weekly payments at least. As long as you’re making more than $5/day, they should be able to help you out because they want your business.
Reason #3 : Payout Problems
Many times the thing keeping your campaigns from profiting is the payout on the offer. Networks take a lot (20% on average) of the commission that you’re earning for them, they ALWAYS have room to increase your payout when you first start an offer. Negotiate and explain to them how much more you need per lead to be profitable and keep the campaign running, and you’d be surprised at how much they “can do for you.”
Reason #4 : Improper/Lazy Tracking
I’m even subject to this a lot, I start a campaign and I’m either too impatient or too lazy to set up proper tracking. I just let it rip and lose $1,000 and don’t even know what keywords converted and what ones didn’t. Don’t be lazy in getting your campaign set up, take your time and make sure you’re tracking everything. The “successful affiliate marketing formula” is really pretty simple, launch a test, track which keywords and ad copy convert, and get rid of the crap ones while optimizing the profit/breaking-even ones. So make sure before you launch a campaign that all your pixels are placed and other tracking things are in line.
Reason #5 : Distractions Distractions
I’m not gonna lie, right now you’re being distracted from directly working on your campaigns and making money. Things like reading blogs, visiting forums, blah blah. All these things can take up a lot of time, time that you could be spending making more money. I’m not going to write a story about this one, because I’ve said it a million times along with everybody else out that that’s ever given advice. Keep the distractions to a minimum and just focus on testing, tracking, and pulling out the trends.
Are you victim to any of these things?
May 13th, 2008 at 8:28 am
Good article. I’d say that #5 (Distractions) is my biggest problem. Social networking is a big part of that. Sometimes I also try to work on too many things at once and end up losing focus on projects that could have done better.
May 14th, 2008 at 9:43 am
I coulnt agree more!!
May 13th, 2008 at 8:31 am
I needed that this morning. Spent 1 hour playing poker instead of finding out which keywords converted yesterday.
Great post.
May 13th, 2008 at 8:46 am
I agree with all your reasons. Keep up your advice. I can’t tell you enough how much sense all your blogs make and what great ideas I take away from them. Thanks.
May 13th, 2008 at 8:55 am
Great post, Paul.
@#2 - If you dont have the cash flow you better start thinking of some really creative ways of driving traffic. Viral and gorilla marketing are the first that come to mind.
@#4 - Tracking is SOOOO important. I dont know how people expect to succeed without tracking everything down to the keyword. I personally use XtremeConversion to track my campaigns and find it to work very well.
May 13th, 2008 at 8:57 am
Great post! I’m at the stage now where I’m finally going to be able to apply what I’ve learned from your blog. Keep up the great work!
May 13th, 2008 at 9:21 am
I’d say good article. ALSO
#6 - Time: Most of use in affiliate marketing are still working our career job or maybe you’re a student in school. Time is what you make of it. If the only time you have is from 7pm-bedtime, make the most of it. Have a set schedule for that small amount of time and do your work. Don’t forget #5 in Paul’s list (no blogs/forums) if you have minimal time.
May 13th, 2008 at 11:16 am
Yeah, if it weren’t for Rock Band, I’d probably be making twice as much. And if it weren’t for stumbleupon, I’d be retired.
May 13th, 2008 at 11:28 am
Nice little reminder about staying focused. Holly S&^T I dont even know why i am making a post I need to go make some money. Bye Bye…
May 13th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
good post. The no-fear mindset is something that needs confidence building like seeing PROFITS!
May 13th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
I’m not sure about reading blogs/forums part. I find that reading blogs and forums are my main source of learning.
May 13th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
I’ve asked this before but nobody has answered yet, so here i go again, what is the google pixel??
thanks
May 13th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
Another thing called “paralysis analysis” - that’s what keeps many people from doing anything - they keep researching, reading, educating themselves until they know everything (at least they think so) but something keeps them from applying their knowledge and they just keep digging.. It’s like running away from reality, where in your head you are already rich - you know so much… Damn, just start already! (note to myself)
May 13th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
Man this comment is so right on… hehe…
May 13th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
No. 4 : Lazy is a real humanitarian man disease. most Difficult thing is take care of the thing that can protected. Its(the problems was the many works to make a living online if only done by one just while we are knowing that this work requires others help
May 13th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
I would say that you have got the right pulse of the affiliate marketing business.
START–>TRACK–>TEST–>COMMUNICATE–>FOCUS
Now I know what are the pulses of my business and Give Business a Nice Healthy Shot.
Vijay
May 13th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
Yeah, you are spot on, especially the no.5.
tragically really how i cant just focus on any of my websites for a longer period of time.
May 13th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
Like most other people I have a problem with reason #5. Good post.
May 13th, 2008 at 4:52 pm
bah, reason number 1 and 5 hit me
May 13th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
whats my reason? (Call of Duty 4 of course)….
May 14th, 2008 at 4:40 am
I totally agree with you haha!
May 13th, 2008 at 7:08 pm
distractions is my biggest issues! I need to figure out a way to stay away from distractions
May 13th, 2008 at 7:28 pm
yep, no.5 - my biggest problem, i get easily distracted, constantly reading, reading, researching..
May 14th, 2008 at 7:56 am
Number 5 for sure. I read to many blogs to keep up to date :D But its a blessing in disguise I guess. When I read them I learn valuable info, and it helps me profit on the other end.
May 14th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
Hey Ian (previous poster).. To stay away from distractions– here’s what you do:
Get a parental filtering software. Then put in all the sites that distract you into the filter so you can’t access them. Then put in a really long random number as the code. Write the code down but then put it in a safe somewhere not accessible.
This way you’ll be blocked any time you try to go to the site.. I know this sounds crazy, but sometimes you have to result to drastic measures to get work done! :)
May 14th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
Yea dude the greatest distraction i always have is this your damned bloody blog…fuck me!
May 15th, 2008 at 7:45 pm
I’m very guilty of #5. I find that being distracted is the hardest thing to get under control. Specially since there are… look, a squirrel!
Rafael’s internet marketing and technology blog
May 16th, 2008 at 3:54 am
[...] The source of the above reasons come from UberAffiliate. [...]
May 18th, 2008 at 9:41 am
I have been subject to fear. I don’t like putting money on things that aren’t sure. Coming from someone who does not believe in credit cards, it makes it kind of hard for me to gamble too much with my money.
Shudogg Dot Com - Make Money Online Blogging
May 22nd, 2008 at 8:59 am
Can you still make money at lower levels though? Like a couple hundred bucks a day? I just don’t have $1000 / day to mess around with :( although it would be really nice if I did.
May 29th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
Bleh. I really need to get a credit card. :/