These 5 simple ideas are essential reading for any aspiring affiliate marketeer who is stuck at £300 a month in commission.
When I last posted on here, I was earning next to nothing and just couldn’t seem to cross the £600.00 a month mark in affiliate commission.
Now, just over 6 months later, I’m comfortably earning over £1800.00 a month in passive income.
Read below to find out exactly how I did it…
In February, I had a lifechanging experience. I told myself then that I was going to get my head down and do this affiliate marketing thing for real.
Like so many affiliates out there, I felt like I had been slogging away at this forever without much gain. My affiliate sites were wide and varied from Bar Stools to Rings of Death. I felt like I’d tried it all to little avail.
Of course, I hadn’t.
As the weeks past and D-Day drew closer, I started to fret. I was going to be a dad in about 23 weeks and I wanted to be earning real money by that time. I lost a bit of faith in Affiliate Marketing around this time and started to think about other things.
That’s when I stumbled upon the start of a journey that changed everything forever.
1. Not Every Answer Needs to be Found in Google
I turned to that old forgotten source of all knowledge, the trusty old book, to find my way.
I wanted to be wealthy.
I’m not ashamed to admit that and if I was going to get real inspiration, I felt like I needed to take myself out of the internet marketing box altogether. During this ‘pilgrimage‘, I came across 3 books that fundamentally changed my perception of everything; especially wealth and how to get it.
If you want to make real wealth in any field, not just Affiliate Marketing, you need to read these books! I swear I’m not just flogging these to get commission – the amount I’d earn is pitiful compared to the amounts I’m now earning as a result of reading them.
- The Richest Man in Babylon – George S. Clason
This book explains how anyone with a source of income can turn their resources towards making more money. The concept is pretty simple, really, and when you read it you’ll find yourself nodding along with the author as he unravels the mystery of real wealth and how to go about getting it. - Rich Dad, Poor Dad – Robert Kiyosaki
The first time I read this book, I found myself dumbstruck looking at the pages and thinking to myself; why on earth didn’t I think of that sooner? or how come I didn’t realise that before now? - Think and Grow Rich – Napolean Hil
This book, for me, was the thread that hangs all the ideas in the other books together and forms the backbone of everything. When I read it, I found it a fascinating tale of men who really knew how to make wealth and the steps they took to achieve it. The underpinning idea is strong and potent, and if you can follow its rules, I truly believe there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow!
After I’d finished reading these books, I felt like I was truly starting to think about where my wealth was going to come from.
2. Appreciate that Real Wealth has Many Forms, Not Just Affiliate Websites
Following the principles in Rich Dad, Poor Dad and Richest Man in Babylon, I started to save up a portion of my earnings every month.
I didn’t really quite know what I was going to do with the savings yet, but knew I needed to invest it somewhere so that my money would start working for me.
I had lots of ideas at around this time including stocks and shares, bonds, gambling, renting houses out, renting vehicles out, doing freelance work, buying a business, lending money out and even buying and selling gold.
Then out of nowhere really, I had a major lightbulb moment which when I look back now, sounds completely obvious.
I had been doing online marketing for more than 10 years; SEO, PPC, Direct Mail and Affiliate Marketing. Armed with my new knowledge and outlook gained from the books above, I started to wonder if I could be a better Affiliate.
Turns out, I could.
3. Find A Good Affiliate Program
In the past, I’d spent most of my previous affiliate marketing years (since 2009 when I ‘officially’ started doing it) trying to promote consumer retail products.
I’d always managed to bring in a few hundred quid here, a few hundred there, but never really managed to break through the £600 a month mark.
I always seemed to hit the same barriers:
- I was bored by what I was selling
- I couldn’t figure out how to turn a consumer retail product into an ‘authority’ website
- Product changes moved so fast that my lack of programming skills prevented me from keeping up (affiliate marketing was supposed to be PASSIVE, right?!)
- I felt like I was working my arse off to get a sale, and when I did, the commission would just about buy me fish and chips on a Friday
What I needed was a merchant whose products didn’t change every day so that when I found the time to update my website with the latest information, it would be useful for YEARS to come, rather than weeks or months.
This meant that I could write a product review, and it would be just as relevant in 24 months time as it would be in 2 weeks’ time. In reality, this means that the time I spend writing these reviews and initially building these sites, will pay me back for years to come.
When I had this straight in my head, I started looking for the right network. Then I came across MoreNiche.
MoreNiche is an affiliate network that prides itself on promoting merchants who deliver excellent commissions and plenty of resources to support sales.
It was only after I started working with MoreNiche that I started to untap my own potential (wohoo! finally!).
I used my savings to get a site built using a product from the MoreNiche network.
I sold my first product within weeks of joining up and made a staggering £45.00 commission – off of one sale that I hardly put any work in to achieve. This really inspired me to start working on more.
Here’s a screenshot of one day last week (I am WhiteKnight):
That worked out at about £175.00 for the day from MoreNiche alone. Some of my older sites made £10-£15.00, taking my earnings for that day over £200.00!
This affiliate stuff really could work, afterall!
4. Find a Way to Trade Your Time for Money
Now that I’d found a good way to make decent commission, I wanted to try and reduce the amount of time that I was putting into creating these sites.
I started to think about reinvesting the money I was making into an outsource team who could basically take over all the work that I was putting into them.
I set myself a budget that commanded that 50% of my earnings each month would go directly back into building the sites out by paying an outsource team.
With 50% of my first months earnings, I was able to employ a content writer for the second month. The content writer proved an excellent investment because not only was I adding a new piece of content every 2 days to the site, I was also building up a library of articles that could be spun into more articles at a later date.
The addition of new content to my sites seemed to have a positive effect on my SERPs too and I saw my site increase its rank to top 5 position.
Two months later, I was able to invest my 50% in an SEO specialist.
Now I had a semi-automatic revenue generating asset.
5. Rinse and Repeat
It didn’t take me long to realise that the more money I put back into the business in terms of employing outsourcers, the more I was getting out of it in terms of commission.
After 5 months of continual growth, I was working with 4 outsourcers.
In the 6th month, I decided to repeat the whole process for a new site.
Now, 8 months on, I am finally earning more than £1800.00 a month in affiliate commissions and I can finally see a path forward that is scalable and manageable.
I intend to quit my job in the new year and come into the business full time, when my earnings, after paying my team, will surpass my current full time job.
Did I find the holy grail I was searching for?!
If not, I’m pretty damn close.
November 22nd, 2011 at 11:52 pm
Well done! I’m genuinely glad to hear that you’re finally getting somewhere. Hope the new year brings further success and you get yourself in a position to go full time. One day I’ll see the light and be doing the same!
November 23rd, 2011 at 1:43 am
Great news
I signed up to Morenice ages ago and have been meaning to start a new campaign on there, I have always liked moreniche and hope to make some sales myself soon!
Keep up the good work,
Steve
November 23rd, 2011 at 7:51 am
Brilliant! Well done. I should do a similar post ’5 Bad Ideas that Turned £1800 a month into £1000 a month’ as that is the way I am heading this month.
What products are you promoting on more niche? I did a small teeth bleaching site and it did make a few sales but nothing like yours did.
When is the baby due? Sounds like you are ready to take on your new role!
November 23rd, 2011 at 12:42 pm
Nice post. I’ve heard so many times to reinvest your profits. Good luck with achieving your goals and going full time.
November 25th, 2011 at 1:37 am
I’m actually feeling quite jealous reading this, £600 has been my sticking point too – excluding some cracking Xmas months – been Panda slapped into near obscurity recently though. Would love to give moreniche a go, you got my email, drop me a line anytime.
November 27th, 2011 at 4:37 pm
@Dave,Steve – Cheers!! And good luck. It is possible.
@Gary – Reinvesting is key I think. Once you have something that works, the rest is kind of easy as long as you commit to reinvest some (or all in the early stages) of your money back into growth.
@Joe – Baby is here already! He’s 3 months old now! Wife and son are in excellent health, thanks!
I don’t want to go into too much detail about what products I’m promoting because I’ve found there are people out there who try and hunt your sites down and do stuff to them
But in general, ones that pay good commission!
Like I said in my post, I want to invest time NOW in campaigns that will run for years, so high paying commission products that wont really change too much over the coming years (gels, pills, patches).
@E – Mailed you!
November 27th, 2011 at 5:00 pm
Congratulations! Our daughter is 7 months now. Hoping I can increase my earnings to keep her in formula and nappies without having to go back to work.
December 3rd, 2011 at 1:30 pm
Excellent stuff, good work! Think i’ll download those books onto the Ipad and read them over Christmas, hope things continue the way they have been for you!
December 8th, 2011 at 3:58 pm
@Joe – Congratulations! I really hope you get the motivation you need to NEVER go back to work for someone else again. Don’t do it, mate. I know having a little one wipes out quite a lot of your time, but really discipline yourself and stick to the AM. You don’t EVER want to be working for someone else again!
@ Darren – cheers, bud, yes, absolutely recommend those books. Start with Rich Dad, Poor Dad – it’s a short book but I am confident you’ll take an eye-opening lesson from it. Then do Richest Man in Babylon which puts things in a different perspective but again makes your penny drop a little further…
Let me know if you do read them and what you thought.
January 4th, 2012 at 10:59 am
Welcome back WK. I was worried you had given up with it all and moved on when I hadn’t seen your blog updated in such a long time, it’s great to hear you’re on the up though and it proves once again what Calvin Coolidge once said about persistence.
I’m at a pretty rough point in my AM journey and since I started 2 years ago have only really made a couple hundred quid at most a month (due to wrong ideas and lack of effort), however it’s still something I really want to do I’m not chucking it in yet.
I’ve just bought Think and Grow Rich (through your link) with the intention of it being my motivational bible that will see me through a full year of working hard on my AM. Who knows, maybe in 2013 I can leave work
January 5th, 2012 at 11:04 am
@Dan – Thanks and I believe you’ll find Calvin Coolidge’s comments echoed throughout the book you just bought!
I’d seriously recommend the other two books too if you’re interested in building wealth from a modest wstarting point (like me!). They help us poor folk get on the right track
At least you know youve put in not as much effort as you’d like. That’s always a good place to start increasing your revenue but I found that this is easier said than done. The only way Ive been able to focus myself to put more time in is to have a plan. A real, specific plan. eg. Pick the site that’s earning you the most money and try and increase traffic to it.
I saw your sale come up in amazon today. Thanks for the 23p
January 5th, 2012 at 1:21 pm
@WK – I did look into the other two books and I can see myself buying Richest Man in Babylon, but I have my reservations about Rich Dad, Poor Dad. Seems like the guy is pretty ruthless, whose only goal in life is to make money which just isn’t me, so worried it won’t resonate with me. Please correct me if I’m wrong.
I’ve only really got one site that makes any money at the moment, but it’s not really something you can turn into a credible site (think bar stools), however I have got a site I’ve had in the pipe line that I believe can come good, with opportunities for multiple revenue streams and different marketing methods, not just AM. Trouble is I’m stuck at the start line but the guns not going off, but I’m hoping this book will be able to sort that out.
I do try and write weekly To-Do lists, but these are always short term so it’s hard to see where it’s going. Maybe it’s worth sitting down and writing a full on ‘site plan’, even if it doesn’t go that way at least I’ll have a direction.
January 5th, 2012 at 1:25 pm
@Dan – Yeah, probably right about Robert Kiyosaki but there is one very relevant eye opening lesson in his book which could be condensed down to about 3 pages.
Actually…send me an email and I’ll loan you an audio version of the book
January 8th, 2012 at 6:30 am
Did you earnings continue over the next month?
I got a kindle for xmas so if anyone has any of the kindle versions of these books lying around let me know!
January 9th, 2012 at 2:04 pm
@Joe – Earnings were surprisingly good for December, with a slight increase.
January so far is completely dead though. Started to pick up in the last 48 hours but a long way to go I think.
I have a HTC phone and have both Richest Man in Babylon and Think and Grow Rich on the Kindle App…will try and figure out how I can lend them to you!
January 9th, 2012 at 2:26 pm
That’s good to hear re December. My Jan has been dead so far too but I guess it makes sense.
I’m still undecided about what to do for 2012 as I want to hit £2000 per month by the middle preferably or end of the year but am not sure how to proceed: new sites or try and make something of my older ones?
That would be great if you could sort those books out.
January 9th, 2012 at 5:55 pm
I recommend Think and Grow Rich Joe. It won’t give you ideas of how to succeed in affiliate marketing (though for a 70 odd year old book it’s uncanny how many principles apply to AM), but if you have an open mind it will change your mentality about what you can achieve if you apply yourself in the correct way.
I’m about half way through but I already have a different outlook on where not only my AM future is going, but also my life in general. It’s pretty powerful stuff.
Also listened to Rich Dad Poor Dad have very much enjoyed that. Only really found the first two thirds to hit chords with me, but glad I listened to it and will again.