This is the 2nd part of our affiliate marketing rockstar that is one of the more up coming series that will guide all, in affiliate marketing. This is an ongoing case study and a guide. Some techniques used in this site are tested and has worked for me and it may or may not work for you. Do it at your own risk.

Howdy Partner

By now, you should already have picked your niche. If you haven’t done so, please read the previous post on how to do a niche research.

After looking for the niche that we want to delve into, we now have to find a partner that we have to promote to get affiliate income. Searching for partners comes the 2nd part of the entire research because we might want to design the site according to the main web site of our partner so the visitors won’t suspect that we are affiliate of the merchant.

I am using Pepper Jam Network to look for partners that is in line with my chosen niche from part 1 which is web hosting. If you are not yet a member of pepperjam, you might want to join, they are the fastest growing affiliate marketing company today. The tracking system is way better than CJ. And to make you even more happy, peppejam is giving away $10 if you got accepted as a sign on bonus for new affiliates. Only if you click on the special banner on the right side of my page or this link.

Then on the Find Partners page, I will search for web hosting companies that I can be an affiliate of.

After that, you’ll be presented with a list of merchants that want to be promoted. I will pick the highest paying merchant as shown below and join its program.

Once You Joined

There are two things you want to do.

1. Read the terms and condition about the company by clicking on their logo.
2. Talk to the manager and know more about the company and their affiliate program.

Some merchant will approve your application manually. Sometimes, it is automatic. Just wait for them. And when you are accepted, you’ll be given affiliate links, banners and pepper jam ads that you can put on your site to get commission.

I’ll be stopping here for now so we can wait for my application to get accepted and hopefully people can follow along. If you have questions just post in the comments.

I had an idea of a new affiliate marketing technique that I would like to try out. After the success of my previous campaign with pepperjam network, I thought that its a good time to experiment with new, better and more risky type of affiliate marketing strategy. Since I have now the money to reinvest in this venture, I would also want to help the newbies out there and hopefully follow along as I uncover the new fields in affiliate marketing.

This Will Be A Series Of Post

About my development and updates about the affiliate marketing technique that I’m testing out. Hopefully some people can follow along or if not, give me some advice in case my campaign fuck up.

We All Have A Dream

My dream for now is to be an affiliate marketing rockstar!

Its ok to dream, its ok to wish but its a sin if that’s the only thing you can do. So, what the fuck have you done lately?

Ken McArthur of Top Affiliate Challenge brought up a very good point that will probably decide on what path you want to take in life. He stressed the question, “How do you want to spend your day?. It made me think of the things I’ve done for the couple of months, the trials and errors, and would it be this way that I want to spend the rest of my life.

People have different ideas of their dream life. Some people would treat as talking to people or working for a big company a dream life for them. There’s nothing we can do about it. It’s what they want. If you’re an introvert living in the basement, working in a computer 24 hrs a dream life for you, well there’s nothing wrong. It’s a DNA game. People would always compare you to somebody that you’re not. That’s exactly the point, no two people are similar. How you want to spend your day would, be the determining factor on how enjoyable would be life for you.

As for me, I have experienced working in a small and big web design company, no matter what company I’m in, I couldn’t find the “thing” that could make my working days enjoyable. I never really like answering for a boss, waking up early in the morning, traffic jam, having a job but broke we all have the same experiences but people might find that enjoyable for them than having to work for themselves.

If you’re about to watch a video about your life is this the kind of movie that you’ll be just proud? Would you even tell people about this movie, how you live your life and how you succeed?

I just received this email this morning and I’m excited to let you guys know that PJN is going to pay $10 to new affiliates and bloggers just by signing up with them. Also, bloggers may earn with each post they write about pepperjam. Here is the email.

Pepperjam Network

Publisher Referral Program News

Pepperjam Network Publisher Referral Program Increases Payout, Offers $10 Sign-up
Bonus for New Affiliates, and Introduces Blogger Incentive Program

(1) Commission Payout Increase - For the entire month of July the Pepperjam Network Publisher Referral Program will pay publishers (aka, affiliates) a flat $7 for every new publisher referral. That’s a 40% increase from our baseline payout!

(2) $10 New Publisher Sign-Up Bonus - To assist you with recruiting new publishers to Pepperjam Network we are going to allow you to provide them with a $10 Sign-Up Bonus. This means that any new publisher that you refer will be eligible for a $10 bonus just for signing-up for Pepperjam Network. Keep in mind, in order for your referrals to get the sign-up bonus they must become an approved PJN publisher, not have an existing PJN account (spamming will not be tolerated*), and click-through one of the special “$10 Bonus” banners or text links provided to you within the generate links section of the PJN Publisher Referral Program. Referrals sent in from any links other than the special PJN $10 Bonus banners or text links will not be given the bonus.

(3) Blogger Incentive Program - Bloggers are the lifeblood of the PJN Publisher Referral program and tend to be our biggest supporters and closet friends. As a result, we thought we’d create a sort of “Pay Per
Post” incentive program where any PJN publisher / blogger will receive $10 for each post you make (up to 5 per month) that promotes Pepperjam Network or any Pepperjam Network tool.  If you are looking for
blog ideas check out the Pepperjam Network blog - www.pepperjamnetwork.com/blog. So that our team can track your efforts and eliminate spam please e-mail bloggers@pepperjamnetwork.com
prior to making your post to gain approval of the topic (i.e. I want to write about Pepperjam Chat or the launch of the PJN Blogger Incentive Program, etc.). BTW - of course you can use your PJN Referral
Program affiliate links and make even more money every time you post about Pepperjam Network!

If you are not an existing Pepperjam Network Publisher Referral Program affiliate and want to participate in any of the above promotions you’ll need to join the program by selecting “Pepperjam Network” from the advertiser drop-down menu under “Find Partners” within the PJN interface.

Best of luck!

Kris Jones
President & CEO,
Pepperjam Network

$10 Sign up Bonus Link

It kind of suck because I’m already an affiliate before this offer came out. But oh well. Make sure to sign up because its a limited time and we don’t know when it will last.

Top Affiliate Challenge is a reality show for affiliate marketers. Where they have to earn as much money as possible by affiliate marketing. The GURUS that will lead each team are :

John Chow “The Black Hat” - Leading Team XY7.com

Ken McArthur “The White Hat” - Leading Team PepperJam

ShoeMoney “The PPC Guy” - Leading Team Tool Barn
Continue Reading

Is Pepperjam A Reputable Affiliate Program?

To those of you who were following this blog. You know that I’m testing out affiliate marketing since April. My affiliate marketing results are as follows:

April : $22

May : $426

June : $1215

Given these values. I have come to a conclusion that affiliate marketing is profitable to anyone who wish to learn. I have no clue on how to do affiliate marketing on my first month (I even lost 10,000 pesos in ppc), yet I made profit on my 3rd.

So You Know It Works, Now What?

First of all, I am not into posting earnings. Earning $1200 a month is nothing to brag about once you know that the big players are earning ten times as much per day. Since I made a commitment to try affiliate marketing for 3 months with PepperJam (I switched to pepperjam in June because eBay’s affiliate system is still wacked) and I was doing the $1000 in 3 months challenge from pinoy money talk by myself, I posted this earnings as the result of my challenge. And I won’t be posting anymore earnings after this. Why? I don’t see the need to. I’m here to tell everyone who stumbled upon my blog and maybe, trying to learn affiliate marketing. I say to you, do not give up and that it is possible to be profitable in affiliate marketing. Well, it depends on how much you are willing to learn.

Some people have emailed me about what products to promote and what ad network I use. The answer is, I’m an affiliate of CJ. But CJ can be very intimidating at first will all advertisers in there. And also, it’s kind of hard to get accepted. I’m with pepperjam network and I can say, they are by far, the easiest to get into and the affiliate managers are friendly. They will help you to boost your earnings.

So to cut things short, there are the results of my $1000 in 3 months challenge and see you guys around.

If you still don’t trust pepperjam if its a refutable affiliate program, here’s a quote from Inc Magazine Announcing Peppergam to be #70 on Inc. 500’s fastest growing companies for 4 consecutive years:

WILKES-BARRE, Pa., Aug 20, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — Pepperjam, an industry-leading full-service interactive marketing agency and affiliate network, announced today that it ranks within the top 100 businesses on Inc. Magazine’s 2008 list of fastest growing privately-held companies in the United States. This is Pepperjam’s third consecutive year on the list. Pepperjam’s 2008 Inc. 500 ranking is #70 with four-year revenue growth of 2,447.5%.

    According to the 2008 Inc. 500 list Pepperjam ranks as:
-- one of the top 100 fastest growing companies in the United States
-- the #2 fastest growing company within the State of Pennsylvania
-- the #1 fastest growing full-service internet marketing agency
-- the #1 fastest growing interactive marketing agency
-- the #1 fastest growing affiliate marketing network
-- the #1 fastest growing search-engine marketing firm

– the #1 fastest growing “advertising / marketing” company within the State of Pennsylvania (#5 in the United States)

“We are absolutely elated to be listed on Inc. Magazine’s list of fastest growing companies for a third straight year. Our ranking is a testament to the dedication of our staff, our excellent service and technology offering, and our continued innovation,” said Kristopher B. Jones, President & CEO of Pepperjam.

“When Kris and I hired our first employee nearly five years ago I knew that we embarked on something big, very big — I just didn’t know how big. The irony of Pepperjam’s success is that from those first days to the present day our team comes into the office everyday with the attitude that we’ve only just gotten started,” said Michael C. Jones, COO of Pepperjam.

About Pepperjam:

Pepperjam offers a full range of professional marketing management services in the areas of pay-per-click, search-engine optimization, affiliate marketing, and online media planning and buying. Since 1999 Pepperjam has developed a reputation for being one of the most innovative, aggressive, and effective internet marketing agencies in the business. Learn more at www.pepperjam.com

About Pepperjam Network:

Pepperjam Network is a next generation affiliate marketing network that provides advertisers and publishers with industry leading pay-for-performance tracking, reporting, communication, and payment solutions. Pepperjam Network is a division of Pepperjam, a full-service internet marketing agency recognized by Inc. Magazine for the last two consecutive years as one of the fastest growing businesses in the United States. Learn more at www.pepperjamnetwork.com

Available Topic Expert(s): For information on the listed expert(s), click
appropriate link.
Kristopher B. Jones

Full story here.

If you’re still here and reading, you are missing out. Join Pepperjam’s Affiliate Program now and you’ll get $10 Sign up bonus as well.

Selecting your niche in affiliate marketing is the make or break phase and will depend the campaign as a whole if it will be profitable for you. Get into the wrong niche at the wrong time is devastating and may ruin your self motivation to work on it and in worst case scenario, quit and find a full time job instead.

The Fugly Girl Scenario - Low Competition Niche

Fat or ugly girls are almost all the time NOT taken. This is where I compare to a niche that is not competitive. It only means that it is not that profitable for the big gamers to spend in their time. BUT, is a good training spot for newbies.

Like ugly girls, low competition niches require not too much effort to get into, and the return of your time is not that rewarding. You’ll soon realize that you need to hit that hot niche someday.

Do you have the guts to stay with an ugly girl?

The Hot Girl Scenario - High Competition Niche

Always remember that a hot girl is always taken. If she isn’t taken, there’s something wrong or she’s lying. Same goes for a niche, a hot and profitable niche is always competitive (or taken) its up to you if you want a piece of nice ass.

The same mentality is needed to take on a competitive niche like hitting on a hot woman with a boy friend. It’s all about the confidence in yourself that you’re man enough to take on the challenge. Never be afraid to take on competitive niche. Having a niche with tons of competition only means that its profitable!

Do you have the guts to hit on a hot girl?

Ms. Right - The Jackpot Niche

The jackpot niche is the niche in which less competition but highly profitable. These are like women that you know are beautiful but doesn’t dress right or not groomed well or she (really) has no boyfriend. You know they have beauty and having them as your girl is a true jackpot. You know that sooner or later other guys will hit on her, so be sure to get to her first and give a good fight with the competitors. Just like in a niche, you want to be the first and demolish competition before they get the largest share of the profit.

Do you have the guts to keep a hot girl?

Affiliate marketing is a competitive field, playing safe in this industry will not do you any good return. Always remember that a highly competitive niche is where the money’s at. That’s why there are lots of people there. Don’t be afraid to take on competitive niche.

Being a full time web designer for a company would mean 9 hrs of your day dedicated to your comapny, and around 3 - 5 hrs more for your side business (freelance). Freelancing is a business and it will take you more than just do this, and do that kind of thing to get it going. You have to do the accounting, invoice writing and the dreaded customer support. You know you can’t go forever with this kind of set up, juggling full time work and your freelance web design business. You’ll soon realize that you have to pick. Full time  web designer or full time freelance web designer?

Full Time Web Design Job

People loves security, no doubt, we want a better and safe future. That is why sometimes having a full time job is the best way to go. I think this is one of the best reason why people can’t quit their job. It’s for the security. Being a web designer, you know that you only need to design sites for the company, day after day. And wait till the end of the month to get paid. The only thing is, you’ll always hope to have an increase of maybe after a year? The good thing is you only have to work 9 hours a day for the pay check.

Freelance Web Design

Freelance web designers are entreprenuers at heart. They depend on their skills not only in design but people management and social skills. Maybe some business skills but the basics are all there, you can research the internet for that. Now, the advantage of this is that, the more you work, the more you earn. And time is flexible. BUT, the draw back is that, you are not sure of your income. It may decline or rise. There are income fluctuations, just like in real business.

Things to Remeber If You Want To Become A Freelance Web Designer

There are a couple of things I always think about before I took the plunge and quit my full time job. They are:

1. Do You have money to pay your expenses? If you quit your full time job, you have no more income source. Do you have the money to pay the bills without working? What I did was to set aside money to pay my bills for 6 months. Secure that money and quit to become a full time freelance web designer.
2. Do You feel limited, bored at work and think that work is getting in your way of improving? I always felt that doing routine work can bore the hell out of people. And the hardest part is that, you’re like a robot that does things over and over and over again, without consciously thinking about it. This will stop improvement in your skills and, come on people, its plain boring, if that hits you, you know there’s something wrong with your life or you’re better of doing business yourself than browsing youtube in the office.
3. Do You have a good number of clients and works to sustain your freelance web design business? If you are doing freelance web design jobs while having a full time job, it is best to have and keep clients that trusts you and those that have more work for you. When I quit my full time web design job, I have no rock solid client base, I only depended on contests to hopefully feed me. So, if you have the guts to go and try what I did, this I say to you, don’t you dare, or your family will think you’re stupid. Build a list of clients first and think if these clients will come back to you for more work and hopefully sustain your business.
4. Do You have a strong control of your emotions? Believe me, this one is a biggie, most people will think you’re stupid to quit a high paying web designer job. Do you have the guts to control the urge to get angry? If you don’t mind what other people think, you are on your way. Always remember that:“An entrepreneur stands tall against the tide of popular belief”.
5. Have you prepared yourself for the worst and planned for the best? Freelance web design is a business. In business, there are no certainty. We are all at risks. Business will come and go, are you prepared to accept that fact? No one will give you pay check, you are in command of how much you could earn now. Make plans for expansion, harness your skills. Learn more skill set. These are the traits that a full time job won’t teach you.
6. Don’t Be Afraid To Fail! If you never failed, you never lived.

If you follow this pointers, it will help you get started in the freelance web design industry. Always remember that freelancers are entreprenuers, selling their skills, it takes a lot of confidence to sell their skills to people. If you got these trait of an entreprenuer, making money by freelance web design will be easy for you.

Search engine optimization is a competitive field and more and more keywords are being generated by the second. As an internet marketer that wants to make money online, what keyword shall we focus to get the most out of the “buying traffic”, traffic that clicks, sells and most of all, pays.

It is not enough for us to know which keywords get the most searches everyday. This is only one part of the monetization process. We should also know which keywords gives the most money. To minimize our costs (hosting, bandwidth etc), we focus only on keywords that buys not keywords that are being searched only for information.

Most likely, if we’re going to take the place of a college student that wants to BUY an iPod online, he would most likely type in:

• buy ipod 30gig
• discount ipod 30 gig
• ipod 30gig 3g price

Compared to a person who would only want information about an ipod, in which case, his search process would most likely be:

• ipod 30gig
• ipod
• ipod 3g review

Did you notice the difference? The first one is ready to buy. We want that kind of traffic. To make money, maybe we could get an affiliate site for ipod resellers and the like. We get commission on each person we refer.

“Buying Keywords” are most of the time, LONG TAILS

Long tail keywords like the buying keyword above, is more likely to be less competitive and targeted. In researching for long tail keywords, we should also think like the buyer. If I’m going to buy an Ipod, maybe, I could search something like, ipod 3g black 30gig, you noticed that its very targeted and specific. Buyers that are looking to buy stuff on the internet, seems to search for a specific product mainly because they are ready to buy. Unlike people who were just wondering around to get the latest review or details about ipods and may buy later or not. Either way, we want to get paid NOW and so we attract and get the traffic of paying keywords.

The most important part of SEO and making money online is in the research. Get as many long tail keywords as possible on your niche to get the best money possible. The key is keyword research.

Definition of terms:

Buying Keywords - Keywords that are used by buying searchers

Long Tail Keywords - Keywords that are long, targeted and specific

I believe in the saying “The best investment you can never go wrong is YOURSELF”. I have been messing around for this past week with paid search internet marketing (PPC) and so far I have wasted $250 (Php10,000) worth of clicks and got no sale.

If my parents found out I wasted this kind of money I know they’ll be angry, but hey, this is extra money, money I earned and I’m willing to spend to learn a few things. We still can eat for months even if this money is gone.

I’ve bought tons of ebooks on affiliate marketing before and all of them really are thrash and you can’t learn anything from them, so I’ll just use my own money to learn my way. Self study to say the least. Scary, yes. But its just, well… money. “Take risk while your young” kind of thing.

After this epic crash and burn in PPC Affiliate Marketing, are you still willing to give another shot? Of course, though, I’ll stay away for a while to focus on my ebay affiliate sites so I can make money and leverage that money to PPC internet marketing.