Here’s how this came up:

A few months ago three people decided to create an affiliate business online.

Each had their own reason.

One was about to retire and wanted to secure an income after retirement. One wanted to stay home with her kids. And one wanted to get away from a hated job.

The reasons don’t matter. What matters is that all 3 had high hopes for their business and looked forward to creating websites that will bring them a steady income and free them to do what they wanted.

Recently all three contacted me, asking for help with their sites.

Their stories were very much alike.

All three worked hard on their sites. All three were ranking well on Google and getting traffic.

But there was a major difference.

The difference was in the amount of sales and income they were generating.

One was doing well, and was about to reach $1,000/month from just one site (imagine how well they will do with a few of those!).

One was making a few sales here and there.

And one was not making any sales from their site.

What made the difference?

Well, it wasn’t how well they were ranking on Google – the one who ranked the highest was making just a few sales.

And it wasn’t the price point of the product they were promoting – the one promoting the most expensive product wasn’t making sales at all.

The difference lied in the niche they picked.

And that’s something that I’ve been saying for a long time.

You have to pick a good niche.

Picking the right niche is crucial – it will save you so much time in the future, and allow you to profit so much more from the work you put in.

Here’s a great report on how to pick a good niche.

(Warning: this might go offline fairly soon)

I’ve said this before, and I am saying it again: It’s very important that you educate yourself on how to do this right.

If you have any comments, or a similar experience to share, please let me know in the comments below.

And if you agree that picking a niche is really important, click the “like” button for this post!

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I’m not referring to the de-indexing of BMR (BuildMyRank.com) and other blog networks. A lot has been said about that, and I might blog about it later.

In this post I want to talk about how you need to avoid over-optimization with your link-building. This concept is very important to understand if you want your sites to rank well.

I’ll explain.

Google is working harder and harder to detect whether your link profile looks natural.

Why is Google doing that?

Because they want to rank sites that are good quality sites, and therefore get links naturally.

That is why Google became so popular in the first place. Because their search results are relevant and good (or at least better than their competition).

And they want to continue that. In fact, they want to improve it.

So when you search for something, they want you to see high-quality listings in the top results.

In order to detect high-quality sites, they are now looking closer at backlinking patterns. If a site has a good linking pattern (I’ll explain what that means in a minute), it means that people like it and want to link to it. In other words, it’s a high quality site.

It wasn’t always this way.

In the past, you could stuff a webpage with multiple instances of a specific keyword, then get a lot of links to it using that keyword, and you were set. As long as the competition wasn’t too high, you’d be able to rank for it. A lot of spammy sites were doing that.

However, things have changed and this is no longer the case. Things have been different for quite a while.

For a while people who practice SEO have seen that you can’t do that anymore. You have to be careful not to stuff your site with keywords, and not to use the same anchor text for our backlinks 100% of the time.

And now, after the latest Google updates, we need to work harder to make sure our backlinks are indeed varied.

And that’s what I want to talk about today.

So…

To get straight to the point, there are 3 things you need to do from now on, if you are not doing them already:

#1: Vary your anchor text

For those who don’t know what anchor text means, here’s a quick explanation:

If I have the following link:

Wikipedia Online

then the text – in this case Wikipedia Online – is called the anchor text, and the place it takes me – in this case http://wikipedia.org – is called the url.

So the anchor text is the text that you see when you view a link.

And when you get backlinks to your site, you need to vary that anchor text.

Until now, you could use your keyword as your anchor text 60%, 70% or 80% of the time (depending on who you asked). Today you want it to be much lower.

And you want the variety to be much wider.

So if my keyword is canon camera a590, I’ll want to use that exact keyword a portion of the time, and the rest of the time I’ll want to use:

• Variations of the keyword, such as canon a590, a590 camera, canon camera a590 sale, buy canon camera a590
• Other keywords I’d like to rank for (it’s always nice when you rank for more than 1 keyword per page because you get more traffic)
• My brand or site name, such as Best Digital Cameras – if that is the name of my site
• The url of the page I’m linking to. For example: http://bestdigitalcameras.com/canon/canon-a590
• Generic keywords. For example, ‘click here’, ‘read more’, etc

(All the examples above are made up and do not actually exist on any of my sites)

#2: Get links to a variety of pages on your site

In the past you could just link to one page on your site (most people would link mostly or only to their home page), and that would work well. Now you need to get links to a variety of pages on your site at once.

#3: Get links from a wide variety of sources

There are a lot of ways to get links. It’s actually a topic for another post, because there’s a lot to talk about and explain. But if you search online a little, you’ll see a lot of options.

You want to make sure to get links from a variety of places.

#4 Make your sites link-worthy

As I said, Google is working harder and harder to make sure that your link profile looks natural.

So even though your goal is to make money from your sites, do make an effort to have good quality content that is useful to people. This will only help you in the long run, as Google’s algorithm gets better and better in filtering out bad sites.

Got any questions? Anything to add? Please post in the comments below.

And if you think (like me) that everyone should know about it, please like, share, and tweet it as well.

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Actually, all affiliates should read this.

If you are in a hurry, and don’t want to read the entire post, the moral of this story is to make sure you use the required affiliate disclsure statement on all your sites.

If not, you may face trouble with the FTC, and (IMO more likely) you may lose your Amazon account (and perhaps other affiliate accounts as well).

That’s the main point of this post.

But I do recommend that you read the whole correspondence between myself and Amazon so you understand exactly what is allowed and what is not. I’m about to cover acceptable anchor text, link cloaking, and – of course – affiliate disclosure statements.

So here’s the whole story:

Hope, a student of mine, has been banned from being an Amazon affiliate.

Her account has been closed. And Amazon said they will not pay her commissions (right now she has 2 months’ worth in her account).

The reason given by Amazon (the bolding is mine):

“Dear Associate,

While reviewing your account, we have noticed that your website contains links to Amazon that are not properly labeled, which makes it unclear that you are sending customers to the Amazon website.

The Associates Program Operating Agreement that governs your participation in the Associates Program requires that links to an Amazon Site must not be confusing or misleading, and must be clear that they link to an Amazon Site. For more information, please review the Participation Requirements and Linking Requirements found here:

http://affiliate-program.amazon.com/gp/associates/help/operating/participation

https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/gp/associates/help/operating/linking

We insist that you cease this activity and remove all Amazon content from your site(s) immediately. Moreover, because you are using the Associates Program in violation of the Associates Program Operating Agreement, your account has been closed and you will not receive further payment. Any other accounts you may have or may open in the future which are found in violation of the Operating Agreement may be closed and advertising fees withheld without notification.

Best regards,
Hanna
http://www.amazon.com”

Now, that was kind of unclear.

We really weren’t sure – what exactly does the bolded part mean?

How do we properly label links?

And how do we make clear the links are going to Amazon?

Do we now have to specifically have the word ‘Amazon’ on all our links so they are labeled as Amazon links? Has anything changed in Amazon’s rules?

That wasn’t clear.

In addition, a family member of Hope suggested that Amazon was referring to the fact that she was ‘cloaking’ her links.

In case you don’t know what cloaking means. Here’s a quick explanation:

Hope was using a wordpress plugin called ‘Pretty Link’ that turns affiliate links into pretty links.

So, for example, if she would link to the Crayola Crayons page on Amazon, instead of using the long and cryptic affiliate link given by Amazon, she would use something like http://hopesdomain.com/crayola which would redirect to Amazon.

So we thought perhaps that was the problem, since there have been rumors going on that Amazon does not approve of this kind of cloaking.

As I said – it really wasn’t clear.

I felt this was a good opportunity to clarify some myths and rumors that are circulating in the affiliate community, so just to clarify what Amazon wants from us, I sent them a letter as follows:

“In order to make sure I comply with your rules, I have some question about your linking requirements.

Let’s say I have a paragraph on my site that mentions a specific product, let’s say Crayola crayons.

Here are my questions:

1. Am I allowed to link the name of the product to that product on Amazon (ie the words ‘Crayola Crayons’ would link to Crayola crayons on Amazon)?

2. Am I allowed to use the following words as anchor text: ‘Buy Crayola Crayons Here’?

3. Am I allowed to use the following words as anchor text: ‘Get a Great Deal on Crayola Crayons Here’?

4. Am I allowed to use statistics software on my site that ends up masking the link? For example, the link would look like ‘mydomain.com/go/crayola’. This would go to a script that logs the click (for my own records) and then auto-forwards to Amazon.

Thanks in advance for your reply. I just want to make sure I do everything right, and I wasn’t sure from reading your guidelines.”

The reply from Amazon (again, bolding is mine):

The answer to your first 3 questions is yes, you are welcome to use names in your links. The only time where we look at trademarks is in the URL of your website. You are fine using the text link “Crayola Crayons” to link to a Crayola product on Amazon.com. You are also welcome to say “Buy Crayola Crayons Here” or “Get a Great Deal on Crayola Crayons Here.”

In regards to the 4th question, the Associates Program Operating Agreement doesn’t prohibit the use of link cloaking or shortening services provided that the service doesn’t use methods which violate the Associates Program Operating Agreement, such as framing the Amazon site or automatically tagging sessions with your Associates ID.

You must clearly state that the link in question will take the user to the Amazon site when clicked and ensure that the site on which you are posting the links includes the required statement to identify yourself as an Associate. You must also be able to provide detailed information about the site(s) on which your links have been posted if we request it. Please review the complete Operating Agreement, including Participation Requirements, for more details:

https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/gp/associates/agreement

I hope this information is helpful to you.

Ok. So now I know that nothing has changed about linking requirements, and also that cloaking is not a problem.

To sum it up:

1. Amazon said it’s ok to have links to their site which do not specifically include the word ‘Amazon’ in them. Anchor text such as “Crayola Crayons”, “Buy Crayola Crayons Here” or “Get a Great Deal on Crayola Crayons Here”, all linking to Crayola crayons on Amazon, are ok.

2. Amazon implied it’s not ok to have a registered trademark in your domain name.

3. Cloaking your affiliate links with software such as pretty link is ok with Amazon, as long as you don’t do anything malicious, such as framing the Amazon site or automatically tagging sessions with your Associates ID (also known as cookie stuffing).

However, Hope did not have the “required statement” on her site to identify herself as an associate.

And that is probably why she was banned.

But… wait a second!

Amazon also said we must clearly state that the link will take the user to the Amazon site when clicked.

So what do they mean by that?

I sent them another query:

“You said: ‘You must clearly state that the link in question will take the user to the Amazon site when clicked’ , and my question is – where do I state this? Is it good enough if my site has the required statement to identify myself as an associate?”

The response:

“We do require Associates to identify themselves as members of the Associates Program.

You need to clearly state the following on your site(s): “X is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to (“your website name” (amazon.com, or endless.com, MYHABIT.com, SmallParts.com, or AmazonWireless.com).”

You can read our full Operating Agreement here:

http://affiliate-program.amazon.com/gp/associates/help/operating “

Looks like the “required statement” is really what Amazon is looking for.

So first of all, I recommended to Hope that she put the “required statement” on all of her pages.

Then I suggested she contact Amazon, apologize, and ask for her account to be reinstated. I’ve had other students of mine have their account reinstated after being closed for other reasons.

So Hope does have hope

Of course, she can always promote other merchants and link networks on her sites. So even if Amazon doesn’t reinstate her, all is not lost and she can continue to make money from her sites.

But…

Now I have a request from you.

If you have an affiliate site with no disclosure statement, please take a few moments and update it.

I really don’t want you losing your Amazon account as well.

The statement you need to have is:

X is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to (“your website name” (amazon.com, or endless.com, MYHABIT.com, SmallParts.com, or AmazonWireless.com).

Of course, replace X with your name, or site name.

I recommend you have this on every page.

Now, just to cover myself as well, I’m going to remind you that I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice. It’s just my opinion based on my understanding of what Amazon said to me.

Let me know your thoughts, please. And please spread the word on this. Share this post on Facebook, email your friends, and do whatever it takes to help prevent others from having their Amazon accounts closed as well.

UPDATE (April 19):

1. Hope just got her account re-instated. That’s great news!

2. Check out this plugin that will take care of your disclosure statement for you. A lot of people have been asking me for one, so I thought I should share it with you.

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It’s actually been ready for a while, but I’ve been busy working behind the scenes of my coaching program.

I’m very committed to that program, and spend a lot of time on it. However, it’s important that I post on this blog as well so I can help others who haven’t been able to join.

It’s a great way for me to communicate with my subscribers, and have an influence on many more people.

So here I am – writing here.

Please let me know – how do you like the new design?

The service I used for the design is 99designs.

The concept of this service is cool. You post your requirements, and get a whole bunch of designs from different people.

You get to pick the design you want, and until you pick the winning design, you can ask for as many modifications as you’d like.

I can’t say I got any stunning designs out of it, but I did get a bunch that were pretty good.

Including this one

One nice feature was the poll feature. I was able to create a poll, and ask my most valued customers for feedback on which design they liked.

This was really great, because I care about what my customers think. I know they’ll be coming here, and I want them to enjoy their stay.

And – well – this is the one they picked.

And I like it too.

How about you?

Actually, feel free to click the ‘like’ button below if you like it…

Expect new posts here about affiliate marketing. Actually, I think I’ll post one real soon.

If you have anything else you’d like me to cover here, just let me know.

I’m listening!

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Of course you do .  Because you must have traffic coming to your site in order to make any money online.

I personally get most of my traffic from Google and the other search engines.  

In order to do that I:

1. Pick a keyword (search phrase) with not-too-much competition

2. Create a webpage for the keyword, and 

3. Create backlinks to the page in order to get it to rank

It's pretty straight-forward, and you can do it too.

Of course, there are other ways to get traffic as well.  

In the video below I'd give you a peek into a new service that will help you get traffic from Google by providing you with content you can post online in order to get lots of backlinks.  You can try it out for less than $5.

There are other things you can use the service for – writing articles, creating reports and mp3's, and a lot more.

Stay tuned until the end of the video to find out what bonuses I've been able to negotiate for you – just for trying it out.  These bonuses include $197 training that will help you get traffic from Facebook, YouTube, and more (yours free).

That way you get even more traffic – not limited to just Google.

This is most definitely worth it.

Enjoy!

In order to get all the bonuses, you must order Instant Content Robot through the link below.

Make sure the checkout page says [affiliateid = approved10] at the bottom.

When you have completed your order, submit the clickbank receipt at my help desk and the bonuses will be yours.

Step #1: Click Here to Join Instant Content Robot

Step #2: Click Here to Claim Your Bonuses

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But not everyone knows how to pick the kind of product that will really make a big difference to your bottom line.

Of course you can always look around you, listen to the news, and check out forums to see what's hot.  

But what if you need more ideas?  Or what if you don't want to promote the same products everyone else is promoting, but still want to pick winning ones?

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Pay attention, especially if you are making less than $1,000/month online.

Because this post will help you get from less than $100/month to $1,000/month and more.

I decided to write about this after talking to Jen.

Jen is a student of mine in a program called Insiders Profit Club.

You might not have heard about this program because I haven’t publicized it.  I opened it up in May – just to members of my mailing list, and it filled up within a few days.  Then I allowed a few more people in in June, and it filled up again – pretty much right away.

I haven’t had a need to publicize it yet.

So that’s why you may not have heard about it.

In short, this program teaches you how to create small affiliate sites that make you a consistent income month after month.

One thing I offer in this program is personal one-on-one help until you are making $1,000/month.

This is very important because a lot of people start working with money-making courses and programs, make a few sales, and then stop.

And that’s too bad.  Because what most people don’t realize is that once you are making a few sales, you are very close to making $1,000/month.

And that’s what I want to talk about today – what you need to do to get from less than $100/month to $1,000 or more – no matter what method you are following.

And that’s what I was talking to Jen about.

Jen asked me:

“I have about 100 sites promoting affiliate products.  Some are making a few sales here and there.  Some are not making money at all.  And some make money during a particular season.  What do I need to do to get to $1,000 as soon as possible?”

Now, 100 sites is a lot.  And most people reading this will not have anything close to that (neither do I, actually, and I’m not recommending you do that at all).

But a lot of people reading this will have tried different methods for making money online.

Some of these methods have not made them any money at all, and some have made them a few sales before they gave up.

And that is similar to the position Jen is in.

So – what do you need to do when you are in that situation?  You’ve tried a few methods, made some money here and there, but don’t have a high-enough consistent income stream.

The answer is – focus, tweak, and expand on what is working for you already.  And duplicate it.

Take what is working – what has made you some money – and ask yourself:

Can I duplicate this enough times to get to $1,000/month?  Can I improve on this to make more money?  Can I tweak the system to make it more lucrative?

I’ll give you an example.

Jen has one site – a site she’s developed while following IPC (my group coaching program).  That site has made her a few sales – just a bit of money.

She can decide to give up on the site because it is only making a little bit of money.  Or she can focus on it and expand it to make her more.

Now, that site happens to be in a niche that I’m in, and it happens to promote a product that I’ve been promoting for about 3 years now.

And I know that that product sells well.  I also know that a site for that product alone can bring Jen $1,000/month.  I know because I’ve done it.

But all Jen knows is that this site has made her a little bit of cash.

And she has all those other sites to maintain as well…

So what should she do?

I told Jen to stop working on the sites that are not making her any money.  And she should spend her time tweaking the sites that are making sales – one at a time – so that each one of them is making her more and more money.

For example, this particular site that I just mentioned.

Right now that site is ranking for one keyword and has made a small number of sales.

Here are things Jen can do to increase the number of sales from that site:

* Rank for more keywords related to this product

* Promote similar products on her site

* Test different online merchants to see which brings her the most money

* Read a related online forum to understand what people want and offer that on her site (in this case the forum will tell her that people are looking for the lowest price)

I can’t go too much into detail in this post on how to do each one of those things, but Jen knows how to do it because it’s all explained in IPC.

So as I said: focus, tweak and expand on that site to cause it to generate more money.

If she does that properly she will get herself a nice income.

And that’s what I want you to do as well.

Do you have a site that is making you some money?  What can you do today to tweak this site and make more money out of it?  Or to duplicate it and create another site just like that – so you’re earnings are doubled?

It will take you less energy to do this than to learn a new method and start from scratch.

If you don’t have any sites of your own, do you have a web 2.0 property that is making you money – the way I teach people in Easy Paycheck Formula?  If you do, here are a few things you can do:

* Create more properties for similar keywords

* Promote similar products

* Create your own site for that niche – this will increase your earning potential

Not following Easy Paycheck Formula either?  It doesn’t matter – this is true, no matter what you do.

It’s always easier and more lucrative to focus on improving something that is already working for you, rather than starting something new.

And that – in one sentence – sums up what I wanted to say today.

Or in 5 words: Focus, tweak, expand, and duplicate.

If you like this post, click on the Like button below.

And – let me know in the comments below – do you have something that is making you some money already?  What can you do today to increase that amount in the near future?

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Sounds familiar?

When asked for their biggest challenge in Internet Marketing, my subscribers listed this as the number one challenge.

How about you?

Do you have time-constraints that are stopping you from making money online?

Actually, me too…

I also don’t have time to spare.

As a (very tired) mom of 6 kids, who is currently expecting another child, I’m also quite low on time.

Yet I have managed to find the time to make money online from my own affiliate sites (and free web 2.0 properties).

I also own an online course that I promote and for which I provide support (In fact, I just spent a lot of time updating my course so that the information is completely up to date).

And I’m now putting the finishing touches on a new program that will take people by the hand, coach them, and “force” them to succeed (I put a lot into this and am very proud of how it’s turning out).

I’m not telling you all this to brag. I just want it to be clear that I know what I’m talking about and am pretty qualified to give you advice on how to make money even if you have little time.

So – what’s the trick?

Well, the idea is to use whatever time you do have wisely and accomplish with a little bit of your time what others take longer to do.

Tip #1: Create a Plan for Success

If your goal is to make money as fast and as much as possible, ask yourself this question:

What is my surest, easiest, and fastest path to cash?

If you are like me, you can’t afford to spend time on things that don’t work, or that only work sometimes, or that would take too long to learn or implement.

You have to focus on a plan that works.

Don’t waste your time on things that just sound like they may work.  You need to be convinced that your plan is most likely to get you there.

And as I’ve said in the past, there are different options you can take.

Pick one, and base your plan around it.

Now, let’s say you decide that creating affiliate niche sites would be a good choice for you.  These are sites that are focused on a tight niche and rank well on Google.

So what you need to do is learn the minimum steps required to make money with niche sites and just go for it.  You can always get more information on how to improve and do better later.

So if you’re going for affiliate niche sites, you need to focus on:

• Learning how to pick products and keywords that sell
• Learning how to create sites that sell
• Creating sites based on those products and keywords
• and getting traffic to those sites

That is it.

You don’t need to watch videos on copywriting.

You don’t need to learn how to create pretty graphics.

You don’t need to read dozens of emails on the latest guru launch.

Stay away from these things.

You just need to follow the plan you mapped out.

Too many times I see people who do not have a clear path in mind.  They focus on the wrong things in their efforts, and are too scattered to succeed.  Don’t be like them.

If you keep your goal in mind and a general path to get to that goal, you are much more likely to succeed even with very little time.

Tip #2: A Daily List

Now that you have a goal, and a way to reach your goal, you need to take it day by day.

Every day (or the night before) make a list of the most important things you need to do that day to reach your goal.

And when it’s time to work on your business start tackling your list.

Make your list very specific.  And in order of priority.

For example:

• Find 3 high-volume, low-competition keywords
• Write an article for each of my keywords
• Set up my blog

Then focus on the items on your list and cross them off one by one.

Do the most important task first, then the next, and then the next.

Don’t allow yourself to be distracted by anything else.

If you do this, you will get to your goal much faster than if you don’t.

Tip #3: Divide and Conquer

You don’t have to work full time on your business to succeed.

What you need to do is figure out how much time you have and what you can do with that time.

Even if you just have 1/2 hour to work at a time, cut your tasks up into small pieces and see what you can do in that 1/2 hour.

For example:

• Research products on Amazon
• Find a good keyword to target
• Write an article (or perhaps just a draft)
• Buy a domain and set up a blog

Then, every time you have a 1/2 hour, just pick one of the items on your list and do it.

You will see that these chunks of time add up and soon enough you will have income coming in.

Tip #4: Get Things Done

It’s very important to get things done, even if they are not done perfectly.

It’s ok if your site doesn’t look good.  In fact, many of my ugly sites do very well.

It’s ok if your content is not perfect – you can always change it later.

It’s ok if one method of backlinking is not working well for you – you can always use others.

But it’s not ok to get stuck.

Just get things done and move on.

It’s those who get things done – even if not perfectly – who succeed in the end.

Getting things done is what counts.  Remember that.

These things make a difference

I mentioned before that I am working on a group coaching program that will take people by the hand and make them succeed.

One thing I kept in mind as I designed the program was this time problem.

That’s why I came up with a very focused plan, with daily steps and checklists that will ensure that you are sticking to the right path.

And best of all – feedback from me or my assistant to make sure that the work done will indeed bring results.

I’m also going to allow those who participate in my coaching program to use my outsourcers so they don’t have to do certain time-consuming (and boring) tasks such as bookmarking and certain other types of backlink building.

Because making the most of your time is extremely important!

So – what do you think?

How do you handle this challenge of not having enough time?

Are you allowing it to stop you? Or do you have your own way of handling this problem?

Have any tips to share?

Please let me know by leaving a comment.

And, if you like this post – please hit the (new) Facebook like button on this page

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Today I’d like to talk about what to buy if you are already making some money.

If you are making money online, then it’s time to have a plan based on what you are doing that works for you.

At this point, you probably have a system that you can replicate again and again – to make more income.

So your plan should basically be a list of activities that your system requires.

For example, if you are promoting physical products as an affiliate, your plan can be:

• do keyword research
• create blogs (or sites) for the products you are promoting
• drive traffic to those blogs with articles
• promote the blogs and articles with baclinks

This kind of list is important to have because it will keep you focused and stop you from getting sidetracked by other methods.

And it will help you make wise buying decisions.

I want you to realize that at this point buying and following certain products can sidetrack you and take you away from your money-making system.

But buying other products can multiply your results and make you a lot more money.

So you need to be able to tell the difference and understand what to buy in order to keep making more and more money.

Since you already have a system that works for you, the type of product you want to get now is something that will enhance what you are already doing.

For example, you might want to get a good keyword research tool.

Or a course that teaches how to get more traffic to your blogs.

Or a tactic that will improve what you are doing or add to it.

Just make sure that it will help you with what you are doing right now.

So when you come across a new course, the question to ask yourself is:

Will this help me make more money online with what I am already doing?

And do I have the time and resources to put this into practice?

Get it if the answer to both questions is yes.

(of course you also want to make sure it has good recommendations and reviews, and a money back guarantee)

I have bought several products where the answer to these questions was yes, and the tools and training that I’ve received were certainly worth the price. Even when the price was high – and I’m talking about thousands of dollars here – most of the time it was completely worth it, and I’ve received my investment back manyfold.

If the answer to one of the questions above is no – then don’t get the product.

So – back to our physical product affiliate example – if you come across a course that teaches how to create adsense sites, or how to write good sales pages – understand that this is not right for you right now.

But if you come across a keyword tool that will save you time, or a way to get more high-quality traffic to your site, then go for it.

Now, there will come a time when you feel that you have maximized results from what you are already doing, or that you would rather concentrate on another income stream.

That’s ok.  There’s nothing wrong with that.

In fact, I’ve done it many times.   I mean, adapting to change and learning new things is the name of the game in internet marketing…

So if you are sure you want to change directions, then go back to my previous post and make sure the new system you are looking at is what you want and should be doing right now.

Pay attention to the comments on my post as well. Especially what Rob said:

“Learning new methods can only improve your ability to adapt to changing conditions and maybe create another income stream, … But, I hope you can see the difference between chasing after every latest product-launch and mastering a method, replicating it and getting runs on the board, and then learning another method.”

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Should I buy this?

Is this for me?

Should I trust the person who is selling this?

Why are you recommending something that is in competition with your course?

So I’ve decided to publicly answer these questions on my blog.

Today I’m going to address just one specific topic – what to buy if you are new to internet marketing or not making money online.

Please feel free to comment below or ask questions, and we can take it from there in future blog posts.

So let’s start from the beginning and address a different question first:

Should you buy anything in the first place?  Do you have to do that to succeed?

So – I think the answer is no, you don’t have to buy an IM product to succeed,….

But it sure helps!

The fact is, you don’t HAVE to buy anything.  There is a lot of free information available in forums and other places online.  And you can learn a lot that way.

But buying a good course or coaching program has the potential to really accelerate your success.

As long as you buy the right thing, it can be a really wise investment.

So what are the options?

If you are new and not yet making money online, you need to have a system you can follow that will show you how to make money online.

That is the type of product you should buy: a course or coaching program that teaches a proven system you can replicate.

There are many such systems.  Here are some examples:

• affiliate marketing of info products
• affiliate marketing of physical products
• drop shipping physical products
• building websites and selling them
• buying websites and selling them (flipping)
• building websites and putting ads on them (adsense)
• creating your own products (either info-products or software)
• offering services such as article writing, link building, etc
• offline marketing – helping businesses get online

These are all legitimate ways of making money online.  They are all proven and I personally know people making good money with all of them.

They all have their advantages and disadvantages and each is appropriate for different people at different times.

One does not exclude the other, and I know people who make money from more than one.  I do too.

And by the way, none of them are “dead” as others who are selling one specific type of system will lead you to believe.

Now, even within these methods, there are various ways to get things done.

For example, many of these methods require that you get traffic to your sites for them to be successful.

So there are different ways to get traffic, such as:

• article marketing
• SEO
• video marketing
• social media
• blogging
• and more

They are all valid ways to get traffic.  Some work better than others – depending on what you are trying to accomplish.

The point is – there are so many ways to make money online, and so many directions you can take.  And what you need to do is pick one way that you think is right for you.

There isn’t just one right way.

Different courses are right for different people at different times

Let’s compare affiliate marketing and having your own product.

These are the two that I spend most of my time on these days, so it’s easy for me to compare.

• with affiliate marketing – (if done right) you can start making money right away even if you are a newbie
• affiliate marketing requires little time
• affiliate marketing requires little investment
• there are none of the headaches associated with attending a help desk, communicating with customers.
• you are not commited to anything, and can basically work whenever you want and as much as you want

Having your own product, though, is different.

It requires more work, and some investment (for me it was mostly spent on graphics and copywriting, but for others it could include programming as well).

You don’t see results right away because you have to set up your product and site before you make a cent, and you also risk not seeing results at all with your first product.

But – for many reasons – the profit potential for having your own product is much bigger than affiliate marketing.

And if you believe in your product and if it helps people – the satisfaction you get is also much bigger.

So 2 years ago – when I was home with 6 kids, one of them being a baby and home with me 24 hours a day – I had very little time.

The best I could do was work ½ hour to an hour at a time when the baby was sleeping and the other kids weren’t around.  Sometimes, in the evenings, I could work more.

At the time, the right thing for me to do was affiliate marketing for physical products.  With affiliate marketing I could work short chunks of time and still make money.  In ½ an hour I could write an article, create a webpage, research products and prices, or think of ways to improve a campaign.  I had no obligations to customers or anyone in particular, and could go weeks or even months without working, if I wanted to, and still make money.

When my youngest child started going out in the mornings, I had the morning to myself.  Now the time was right for me to have my own product.  I had something valuable to give over (my own affiliate marketing method), and I was able to commit more time, and didn’t mind having to log in every day and answer questions for help.  So now it was time to add another type of system to what I was doing.

Had I tried having my own product 2 years ago – I would have failed.

Had I stuck to doing only affiliate marketing this year – I would have made much less money.

So you need to pick for yourself the right system at the right time.

And that’s how to make your decision

When you come across a new course, coaching program, or training product, ask yourself if the system taught in this course is what you want to be doing right now.  And is it appropriate for your skill-set, and the time and money you have to invest.

In other words – is this the right thing for me right now?

If it is, you need to check a few more things before you buy.

Is it step-by-step and easy to follow?

Does it include everything you need to know from start to finish?

Is the person selling this someone you can trust?  Was he or she recommended by another trusted marketer or in reliable forums online?

Does it have a money-back guarantee?

If the answers to all these questions is yes – then get the course.

If not – don’t.  You will always be able to get it or something similar at a later time.

Here’s what to do when I recommend a course

If I recommend a course to you, you can rest assured that the product is good and the seller can be trusted.  But only you can decide if it is the right thing for you right now.

Ask yourself if this is something you want to be doing right now and get it only if it is right for you.

What do you think?

Did this post help you?  Do you have any questions about this?  Let me know in your comments below!

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