I’ve been studying how to make money on the web on the web for twelve years, then I found affiliate marketing. What started as an adventure selling on eBay soon turned into five years of self directed learning. While learning affiliate marketing, I got sucked into web graphic design, search engine optimization, article marketing, which for some reason led me to some interesting posts on the psychology of color, market demographics, psychographics, key word research, more affiliate training programs, the best website builders, the latest greatest tools, pinging, rss feeds; and then mass confusion and disillusion.
Learned a lot, yes I did, but how to put it all together and then focus, turned out to be a problem. Building a site with WordPress was easy, how do you connect all the marketing dots to get to the first page of Google? Differing advice of ”how to make money on the internet” failed me. Lacking focus, I fell back to consulting others how to sell on eBay. Making use of the knowledge learned, I volunteered for webmaster duties at organizations I was active in; this act itself fine tuned by skills. Three years ago, I discovered Ed Dale’s Free 30 Day Challenge, which changed my focus to affiliate marketing, streamlined my confusion, and got me moving in the direction of internet affiliate marketing. A lot has changed on the web since my initial research eight years ago, but the bottom line remains the same, focus and take action.
My lack of focus brought me interesting reads. I found relevant material that an affiliate/web designer/seo novice might want to know after they get a handle on the affiliate marketing process. Did you know that you should never use the color blue to promote a food item? News to me, promoting food on a blue color schemed template will curb your appetite, not a persuasive selling point for gourmet food, groceries or the like. There may be some exceptions to the rule, but it’s pretty clear to me that the psychology of color is something an affiliate marketer might want to be familiar with, as consumer shopping decisions are influenced first by visual appeal, then color, with sound, smell and texture last. Relevant? Maybe.
A Facebook ad lesson brought me to the topic of demographics. I got lost when it started on “psychographics”; even my dictionary app didn’t have a definition. Basically, it’s a companion to sociographics and demographics, psychographics focus on characteristics grouped by buying patterns (the “how and why” customers buy), values, beliefs, type of person [are you a belonger, follower, leader, etc], perceptions, lifestyle choices, fitness, travel, hobbies, type of bill payer, goth or punk, and the categories go on infinitely. In earlier decades, psychographics were difficult to measure or even gather; Facebook seemed to conquer this problem, albeit sneaky. We, the Facebook public, help accumulate psychographic categories every time we ”like” or enter an “interests” in our profile. Without realization to this fact, we check boxes, add likes and apps. We are giving advertisers exactly what they want.
So what? I must be getting old, I value my privacy. Younger consumers, like my kids, who post every time they sneeze or check in at the pub, are comfortable with no privacy, no matter how much I grumble. Oh well, hope it doesn’t come back to smack ‘em in the… But it is great for marketing. At least you get targeted ads instead of ads that don’t apply or interest you, right? In the last few years, Facebook has come under fire; some users consider the information the platform gathers to be an invasion of their privacy, others refuse to be labeled, or like me, find it a bit creepy. Ever feel like those ads in Facebook seem to reading your mind? Ok, you can call me paranoid Pam. The real point here is, marketers are leaving demographics behind for the newly available data of psychographics. Once you have the whole affiliate marketing thing under control, you can check out psychographics; grasp your niche markets’ individual characteristics and you’ll write targeted content.
Are You an Affiliate Marketing Beginner?
I need you. Does that sound desperate? Well, at least it’s honest! Now, I know there are more than a million blogs for affiliate marketing for beginners, but everyone has a story we can learn from. I hope affiliate marketing beginners want to share it here.
There are lots of informative affiliate marketing sites for newbies, but not many places where you can let your frustrations roll, ask dumb questions, get feedback and support one another without getting abused. The Challenge has a fantastic forum, but they are pretty focused on their product and training, not enough room for obscure questions. Have you ever asked a question in a forum as a last resort because you couldn’t find an answer? I have, even after Googling the forum itself. More times than I care to count, someone will come back and tell me to search the forum or Google it. And sometimes they ain’t so nice.
Have You Found an Affiliate Marketing Blueprint for Success?
Blueprints for affiliate marketing are plentiful, but which one puts you on the path to long term success? Reaching the first page of Google for my keyword twice, I still need direction. I credit the free lessons from the Challenge with getting me on the right track, and I admit, I have yet to complete the program. It’s not that I lost interest, I just got sidetracked -3 times! Do you see a pattern with me yet? Do you do the same thing? Oh well, like grandma says, if at first you don’t succeed….. Two sites I started during the Challenge are in positions 4 and 5 on Google, but I achieved that with a combination of methods, not exclusively learnt through the Challenge.
Much of the Challenge training consists of extended trial offers of complimentary tools (SEO, keyword tools, plugins). The tools are truly useful for affiliate marketing, and as expected, the Challenge has affiliate relationships with these markets. My problem, at this juncture, is that I can’t afford the cost of these efficient tools. Finding free alternatives in the mean time, I admit, they are labor intensive.
Let me be clear, I have no quibbles with any affiliate program pitching their wares, that’s the whole point. But when you’re just starting out, on a tight budget, you do what works. Can you afford all the bells and whistles while learning? Go for it, you’ll definitly get there before me if you hang in there. The Challenge provides THE BEST free affiliate marketing training I’ve found, you don’t have to take my word for it, just check out the forums. I look forward to my sites producing reliable income, and in the meantime, I’ll finish the Challenge so I can continue on course to Ed Dale’s other products.
The Challenge can be started at any time, a work at your own pace program, the Challenge urges it’s members to join a group which is available in the forum. Meant to keep participants focused, Challenge groups vary in effectiveness. In my experience, groups were either too big or the other extreme, too small; the moderators suggest groups of six. Of the three groups I joined: one lost focus as a whole, the second, members dropped out weekly, and the last, the leader had an agenda. In the later, the leader wasn’t interested in the Challenge at all; proven when he steered us to another popular affiliate training program. That said, I know there are successful groups launched at the Challenge forum, in fact some of those members have gone on to be JV partners and very successful to boot. Like I said earlier, joining a group is optional.
You might be surprised to learn that the Challenge is publicly sold on the stock exchange, irreverent but interesting tidbit. I told you I’d give you the bad with the good, but the free Challenge is a great investment of time when it comes to learning the basics for making money on the internet.
Look, if we wind up only supporting one another by twits, stumbles and commenting; to get each others sites or content off the ground, that would be beneficial in itself. A network of newbies helping each other succeed, sounds good to me. What do ya think? I’m open to ideas. If your’re the shy type, this is the perfect place to get your game on. If you just want someone to critique your idea or page or …….this is the place. It might not be super professional, but at least you’ll get feedback from people trying to accomplish the same thing as you-like minded. I know for me, I have a hard time getting just my family to look at my stuff, not wanting to offend me, they tell me what I want to hear, which isn’t always a good thing. Once we get a few affiliate marketing beginners who become regulars, we will start a forum.
Yes, those are affiliate links above, but I promise to only promote items that I use or have used – good, bad or indifferent. Just kidding, I wouldn’t promote bad products. Frugalvoice is about earning and learning affiliate marketing on a shoestring, sharing experiences and motivation.
