Let’s Chat
Although I don’t feel like I have to be explaining myself, I don’t want this with this article series to be misinterpreted. My last post has been getting a decent amount of negative feedback, and I want to address some of the issues presented.
First off, I said “no offense” in the post, although many of you did in fact take offense to it. I understand that, but I won’t be a shoulder to cry on. I am being very blunt and honest in this series, and even if you don’t like it, it’s the best way to write. I’m in a position where I get asked a ton of questions every day by all sorts of people, so I know what it’s like and I know how to evaluate my time. I do in fact talk to a lot of the people that IM me, because they just do it right. I wrote that article so you can network with other affiliates and actually gain useful information from them. You may message a super affiliate and maybe they’ll say what’s up, but I’m telling you if you start pounding them with questions they’re not going to give you ANYTHING.
Second off, I’ve already been accused of just having a “showoff” blog because I posted a revenue screenshot. This is actually what pisses me off the most. If you’ll go through and actually read all my posts, you can learn A LOT of valuable information. I have put many hours into writing this blog, compiling articles, answering questions, etc, all for what? Certainly not me. Monetarily speaking, I’m actually operating at a loss on this blog I believe. So it’s obvious I’m not in it for the money. I do like helping people and I try to do it with this blog. A few people have said “well maybe you should start answering these questions in your posts instead of showing off, and then people won’t email you with them.” Am I Blogmaster Flex or something? Unless you want me to blog every hour every single day, it’s going to take some time to get through all the questions I’m asked.
If it weren’t thanks to the people who actually appreciate this blog and use the information to their benefit, I’d actually consider shutting it down. Seriously guys, sorry for putting it bluntly, but just think if you were in my position. Maybe you’ll be there one day and you’ll be able to relate. I simply do not have time to give personal attention to everyone that asks me a question without sacrificing my own personal income. But I am telling you that I will do my best to get through all the questions I’m asked – in my blog posts. In my blog, you guys come first. In my living, I do.
So if I say anything in any of my future posts with nothing but honesty, don’t take offense and get pissed at me. I apologize if I offended anybody that considers themself a “noob”, and if that’s you – just take my advice and learn how to network better. Although I used myself for a lot of the examples, this post is for your benefit. Knowing how to network can make you millions…literally.
that’s just the envious people if you ask me. anyone who actually reads the blog rather than looking at account screenshots knows the information is valuable. At least i gain from it and am thankful for that.
I don’t mind looking at your ‘screenshot’ on the money you made..
It just reinforced my believes that there a huge money to be made :)
I just wish to know what are your methods to make this kind of money…
Its weird how some people think the world owes them. This has probably been the most content rich blog about affiliate marketing I have stumbled across, and I can see alot of effort has been put into it. Heck it doesn’t even use a WordPress theme.
And yet people seem to think there is ‘more to it than meets the eye’. As if there is some secret to affiliate marketing. They simply don’t understand that this is it. And that it all boils down to 1) Offer Selection 2) Keyword Research 3) Landing Page 4) Testing/Tracking 5) Repeat.
Probably too much work for them, and isn’t their idea of the ideal Internet Lifestyle.
Paul, you should not have to apologize to anyone. All your forthcoming feedback is greatly appreciated.
Happy Holidays!
Fuck you you arrogant condescending asshole. Who do you think you are 19 year old kiddo?
Alex is right. Ignore the whiners there are plenty of us who appreciate what you are doing, and we think honesty is refreshing.
Paul, it’s your blog, you can do what you want with it.
I’ve gotten a lot out of reading about your experiences and hope you continue to share. Thanks for all the time you put into it.
Btw, are you going to be at Affiliate Summit West? I just booked my hotel today, it would be cool to say thanks in person :)
Hi Paul,
First, you have a terrific blog with lots of useful information. Your readership will grow substantially with time I believe. You will clearly never be able to satisfy all of your readers.
I have noticed, however, that a substantial number of readers are seeking to learn more about landing pages. I also noticed that you only have one entry on this topic. You may be able to address some of the complaints by writing more on this subject.
Nevertheless, you have a great blog and I wouldn’t bother responding to readers who are looking to be spoonfed if I were you.
Keep on doing what you’re doing, not a lot of people understand how valuable the insight into a successful person’s mind is.
Much respect for keepin’ it real. I’m looking forward to your next post.
Ok, seem like I pissed you off the most, maybe i should say sorry, lol
Yeah some people are just plain stupid, this blog has been great and giving me inspiration to get into aff marketing, seeing as your same age as me and what you can do. It really opens my eyes.
So i for one say thanks from your buddy down under :)
Hey Paul,
I for one made my first sale last week and had my first profitable day yesterday.
Guess what probably helped me the most?
You uber affiliate guide.
So yes, people who want to find value and make use of what you teach will be grateful.
Bitter people will be bitter.
And whiners will whine.
Just focus on the green and don’t react to the looters, as Ayn Rand would put it. Many of us are looking forward to your posts every day.
I sort of went through this phase (on a smaller scale reader wise) and actually closed my blog for a few months. I don’t need to prove what we make, because it is not anyone else’s business. My banker, wife, and partners at the IRS all seem to be pretty happy with my contributions.
I also don’t have the ego that lots of bloggers do. I could share a check and get 100k visitors overnight, I just don’t see the need to impress people I don’t care about impressing.
I also have been forced to go dark on IM recently, too many people wanting just 5 minutes of my time.
Paul – ask yourself what is the purpose of the blog? Mine was to make contacts at a high level to have others spending 6-8 figures a month that I could ping to see if problems are isolated or widespread.
What do you get from the blog you would miss if you shut it down? I am pretty much at the stage where my blog might go away any day, I achieved what I wanted, now I just do it for fun. Once it is not fun or becomes work, I will delete it from wordpress.
Seriously, dont take the negative feedback personally. Every successful person in the world gets it.
The main trick is to react well to it and not turn off your supporters.
I remember John Chow getting flamed so so so badly, banned from Digg, getting abusive comments, the whole lot. He didnt care at all, in fact he LIKED it, as controversy brings traffic, which brings money.
Ignore the haterz and keep on with what you do, in time this blog will grow into a real money earner for you.
I’ve supported you by buying an ad, feel free to click through to it people =).
Hi Paul, don´t care about those lazy guys who would like to become rich within one night. It doesn´t work like this.
I really appreciate information you give all of us on your blog. And inspite of being newbie in affil, I don´t expect you should tell us the exact steps. Not all newbies are so stupid and naive ;)
Paul, sounds like you’re not really dealing with all that comes with ‘fame’ on the internet because it’s pretty new to you. Here’s a tip from someone looking from the outside:
1. No one expects you to answer all your emails – especially when they come from total strangers. Organise your emails well, have your friends lists, your maybe I’ll answer list, and your maybe if I have time list.
2. when making a post, you should think about what is your goal for that post? If it was to stop ppl emailing stupid questions to you, then guess what? – it won’t work. The simple fact that you have a publicly accessible blog means you will get every sort of ppl emailing you every sort of question.
3. Maturity comes when you know what not to say just as much as to know what to say. Some things should be better left unsaid. Some things, like saying you’re not going to give out every specific detail, almost goes without saying. Those that don’t understand this don’t deserve to read your blog. However, by coming out said explicitly saying it in a post has opened you up for scrutiny and ppl calling you a ‘show-off’, not looking after the ‘little ones’, etc., etc.,
That should be:
However, by coming out and explicitly saying it in a post has opened you up for scrutiny and ppl calling you a ’show-off’, not looking after the ‘little ones’, etc., etc., So was it worth it?
4. A lot of ppl will hate you, a lot of ppl will love you. You should try and not let this affect you. But then again, at 19 yrs, I can understand how self conscious ppl your age can be.
5. Again, re-evaluate why you have this blog. If it’s no longer what you want then by all means close it down. However, many of us would love for you to keep going as it has proved quite inspirational for many of your readers including myself.
Just wanted to say I appreciate your blog and love when it pops up in my feed reader. Don’t let the jerks get to you. Some people will diss you no matter what you do.
If anyone is a showoff blog it’s Amit’s. Every other post is a picture of him at some vacation or a diamond ring or “we tried to see who could buy the most expensive item”.
You made one post, his is every other almost.
I can certainly relate to your post, although my experience was more like Diorex’s above. A lot of people want a piece of you and the whole thing turns into a big time drain.
Just think about what you really want to accomplish with the blog. If you really want to share your experiences, then just move past the whole screen shot thing and keep posting useful information.
I just want to ditto what most of these comments already say. I usually just appreciate your information and never take the time to say thanks. The majority of your readers probably do the same. So don’t let the few negative replies bother you too much. There are plenty of us out there who appreciate your blunt honesty. It’s actually the only reason I keep reading.
Instead of bitching, prove yourself. You need to swap in my referral code to your landing pages for atleast a week. That way I can see for myself that you actually do make it and I can see how you do it. This is probably the only way to prove it.
On the real though I enjoy the info in the blog. I feel it is much better than most other blog sites out there. Once I finish with my flip I want to concentrate more on web related hustles. Your blog is one of the places I will start. I don’t mind working 90+ hours a week starting out, but want to have a direction to head.
^ in the above I had sarcasm tags around the first paragraph… They got deleted… So imagine the quotes around the first paragraph.
Who cares what people think! Keep on blogging.
Paul,
I’ve learned a lot from your blog and really appreciate the effort.
There is an old direct marketing saying: “Sell the foxes and ignore the dogs.”
My wife use to do consulting and trainings and out of 100 feedback forms, 3 would come back negative and she would totally focus on the 3% that didn’t like her presentation, totally looking over the 97% that gave her high marks. When I finally got her to realize how futile that was, life became much easier for her.
Bro, be yourself, and if people don’t like it, they can always go elsewhere, right? Not everyone is going to like you no matter what. The net/world is filled with complainers who will gripe no matter what you do.
Paul,
Just wanted to let you know that whenever I open my RSS reader, the first blog I read is that of you.
I’m finally getting serious about Internet marketing and I’m using your uber affiliate marketing guide as a key resource.
Oh, and I don’t think you are a show-off by posting a revenue screenshot. You’re not trying to sell a high-priced course on marketing so you don’t need to impress anyone. It’s more about inspiring people.
I, for one, am definitely inspired.
Thank you for being so generous with your knowledge.
Amit Solomon
I have just started reading your blog yesterday, and have been reading through many archive posts and have learned that without a doubt this blog has very useful and valuable information.
I definitely appreciate your time and effort put into this blog.
People who have negative things to say are most often the only ones who respond to post. Let them be critical. Just realize you’re helping and inspiring a lot of people who tend not to post.
Either way, there’s no such thing as bad publicity. The more flak you take, the more attention your blog will get.
I appreciate what you’re doing here. I’ve been successful with affiliate marketing so far (clickbank/cj), and I’m just getting into CPA, and your blog has been a great resource.
Joe
Take your AIM and MSN off your site if you don’t want tons of people contacting you.
You haven’t been doing this long (from what I remember in your first about post in the very beginning of your blog), so you can remember when you were starting out. Everyone who is new ONLY sees numbers and $ signs, most likely they are failing and will bother everyone and anyone for help. You should write a post saying “Guess what, try it for yourself”.
Just another case of you can’t please everyone . I stumbled across your blog while visiting shoemoneys and the info on here is great . i run a popular blog in my niche and i get alot of hate emails/posts everyday so i know how it is . the funny part is the ppl that hate are the most always you most loyal readers/ customers
Blunt is good. Thanks for the posts, I find them quite useful.
Paul, I have enjoyed your posts thus far. As you just said I think people need to understand that you can’t tell people every little thing about what you do. I say keep the posts coming and let the haters hate. After all you won’t be able to please everyone. I am very interested in the Affiliate game, and I have you and John Chow to thank! If all goes well I’ll meet you at a convention one day to thank you in person.
Hey buddy keep doing ya thing! Your blog inspires me so dont mind the haterz! Keep on doing the good job.
Hey Paul,
I know exactly how you feel. I’ve become a fairly well known/respected member of the Honda community because of some of the projects I have done to my car, and i get Emails/IMs every 10 minutes asking how to install this, or replace that. Its a pain in the ass! Sometimes i just want to be rude and tell people to screw off, but i refrain and usually just ignore them, as im sure you do.
Now if only my Hobbie was affiliate marketing and not working on cars…i might be making money instead of spending it!
keep posting, there are a lot of us eager to learn, no matter what your age.
Ignore the whiners. I’m in awe of guys like you and those that you say make what you do in a month every day.
I just wish I knew how to break into that club. I’ve been earning a living online for 5 years but it takes me a year to do what you manage in a month.
Best,
Vic
Paul,
There’s a fine line between being brutally honest and being tactful. Do you see how much our “brutal honesty” has affected you? You even admitted you felt like quitting your own blog. Not a good feeling right? Likewise I think, if people were truly offended, they felt like not coming back.
In many ways, the fact that you had a big surge of negative feedback is actually a good thing. It means people care enough to tell you what they don’t like. Instead of treating them like “Bah you don’t know what you’re talking about”. Listen to what they have to say. If they didn’t care they’d just move on to the next webpage. I’m not saying give away the keys to your store. All I’m saying is try to accommodate what your readers are asking you for without jeopardizing your business and your readership will grow because you can give readers what they want.
I like the fact you post your earnings. I work a lot with graphics, I haven’t analyzed your pic to see if its been faked. I really don’t care to. I’m taking it on good faith that you are making what you say you are making. So, I don’t have a problem with your pics and I do like to see them.
I still believe your blog is very valuable resource. I’m looking forward to reading that landing page article you’ve been working on.
This was my general impression of the GMOOG Part II post. If I don’t have something to give you (information) than you don’t have anything to give me. My point being if I was where you are I wouldn’t need to ask you the questions you seem reluctant to tolerate. With any blog that I frequent I do so because it has something for me to learn or enjoy. Isn’t that the point of reading anything? I certainly don’t read John Grisham so that he can buy another car or teach him about the law. Blogs are about ego, not philanthropy.
Marvin,
However much I hate the whiners, and love Paul’s blog; this is a great reply. Well thought out. Why aren’t there more people like you using their keyboard??? :-D
Keep up the great work Paul. Your blog is the most content rich blog out there right now. 40 comments per post that is great! Some blogs with over 600k RSS subscribers don’t even get that many comments on a post, so I’d say you’re doing something right!
I don’t understand why you are so sensitive about negative feedbacks. It just means that your blog is growing and now it has larger audiences. This is your blog and it’s your place to share your opinion. there are bound to be some people who will have different point of view and express their “honest opinions” as well. You should take your own advice and take no offense to that.
I never doubted your screenshot of earning report at the first time I saw it, but now that you’re going out of your ways to defend it, I am not so sure any more. I am also a full time affiliate marketer. I know it is possible to achieve the earning I saw from your screenshot because I make much more than that. How many people do you think actually believe me when I tell them how much I make online? Almost no one. I am used to people doubting receiving that level of income from affiliate marketing. If you’re really pulling that type of income, you should be used to it too. Don’t be so arrogant and call everyone noob and be grateful that people took time to visit your blog. Whether they like you or not, they are giving you traffic and that will help you make more money.
Paul,
The information you provide is priceless. Again, I haven’t started yet, and maybe never will, but one question that used to go unanswered is “how much can someone make doing this?”. You took the time to answer that question.
Success will bring out the worst in people who envy it, so I simply want to thank you for posting and being candid.
I have learned a lot since I’ve found your blog and as you can see from the vast majority of the comments, most of us appreciate it.
Mike
Hey Paul,
I too love the site. I couldn’t care less if you fake your screenshots or not. I’m here for good data, and it happens that you’re helping me make money with the data you write. It’s greatly appreciated. Keep up the great work!
Ignore the fools who criticize your screenshots. You’re f’ed either way. You put up screenshots and you’re a fraud or Photoshop guru or braggart. If you don’t put up screenshots, people think you’re a 12 year old writing from your parent’s basement.
Paul,
You spend enough time on the blog doing “free” work that you shouldn’t have to waste any more time addressing negative people. They’ll always be around – and probably more so as you become more successful. Thanks for the good posts and candid (but not stupid) info. Most of us appreciate it :)
I honestly don’t understand the mentality of these people who pester successful affiliates. They can’t do the work for you. Like Ghostface said: “get your own s***, and be original”. If any cry babies don’t like what you say I wouldn’t worry, I for one appreciate your posts.
Don’t sweat it, there will always be haters, screw them though. You should be proud, hell post your monthly stats every month, it’s your sandbox, not theirs. The people who doubt your numbers do so because they cannot fathom someone making that much money. The ones who say “congrats” are the ones who know it’s possible.
So congrats!
:)
No worries, man. Don’t let these peeps get you down.
Just keep on keeping on.