***The Official Affiliate Marketing/Make Money Online Thread Part 9***

[DatCaliTho]

if anyone wants an honest no sugarcoated review pm me
[img]amazon/gp/product/B002RL8FCU/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creat iveASIN=B002RL8FCU&linkCode=as2&tag=trackingid_99-20&linkId=CPFJEJZTPAUYRT4Q[/img]

^strong cookie stuffing!

[Parkerscott]

Should I use shopify, and wordpress together or should I just use shopify alone?

[marcFE]

Any LLC bros? I just now figured out it costs 300$ to file one, and thats 300$ too much. Am I able to file for just one llc and run several businesses under one llc or just one business per?

but why?

I have 3 LLC's but you can get by with 1 and use a DBA. Main reason to get more is if you want to segment liability or you just don't want to have a conglomerate setup down the road since unwinding it can be a pain.

The main reasons to have an LLC are:

a) Cover/protect liability
b) Add some credibility (you're out $500-1500 depending on how paperwork savvy you are)
c) Advertising/registering in some of the more heavily regulated industries
d) Looks better on a business card

Many people check their emails daily.

Regular emails = opportunities to establish a relationship and trust with customers.

The universal advice is (unless you are planning on high volume spam) not to try to sell straight away, but to spend a number of emails offering information and/or products for free that add value. Apparently once your offer, service or product comes are far more willing to spend.

I can't provide too many details on this but I'll be blunt to all of you email dudes: be ****ing careful.

I get asked a lot on what to do/not do in the affiliate world and monetizing email is the one I'd absolutely steer clear of if you are uneducated or even remotely crossing into the grey/black hat area. FTC has 10x more regulations for emailers than any other form of online media and you WILL regret it if you do something deceptive for a quick buck.

Email is also the tough since inboxing is an art in itself is an art that requires inside industry knowledge. Primary reason the list is worth a lot is that the lifetime value is about $1/record if you can isolate the demographic and intent. Even more than that if it's in a high value industry like insurance/credit/professional services or you've had some type of interaction to prove it's a valid email.

[Snowman24]

I have 3 LLC's but you can get by with 1 and use a DBA. Main reason to get more is if you want to segment liability or you just don't want to have a conglomerate setup down the road since unwinding it can be a pain.

The main reasons to have an LLC are:

a) Cover/protect liability
b) Add some credibility (you're out $500-1500 depending on how paperwork savvy you are)
c) Advertising/registering in some of the more heavily regulated industries
d) Looks better on a business card



I can't provide too many details on this but I'll be blunt to all of you email dudes: be ****ing careful.

I get asked a lot on what to do/not do in the affiliate world and monetizing email is the one I'd absolutely steer clear of if you are uneducated or even remotely crossing into the grey/black hat area. FTC has 10x more regulations for emailers than any other form of online media and you WILL regret it if you do something deceptive for a quick buck.

Email is also the tough since inboxing is an art in itself is an art that requires inside industry knowledge. Primary reason the list is worth a lot is that the lifetime value is about $1/record if you can isolate the demographic and intent. Even more than that if it's in a high value industry like insurance/credit/professional services or you've had some type of interaction to prove it's a valid email.

one of the more quality posts ive seen in a while. lol i dont fux with emails at all. as warren buffet says "stick to your small circle of confidence" master one game of IM and youll be killing it i promise lol too many people get sidetracked trying to do 20 things at once

[MetroBrah]

thanks for the tips on email marketing guys. I havent really thought about it like that. Seems like everyhing I reads and listening to tells me to keep an email list and do strong email marketing over time. My current process doesn't involve email marketing though, I like that. Stay within your circle of competence I suppose, well at least it is one less thing to worry about

[AlainnNeart]

Hey guys, recently started a site. Having a bit of trouble with a theme on WordPress. I downloaded this theme ---> http://demo.colorlabsproject.com/lensa/

I really like it, inserted my photos into the slideshow which shows up as "Photographs" in the WordPress menu. Although its doing its job I want to change it. When you click on the title in the slideshow on the homepage, it takes you to a page where it shows the EXIF data of the photo, since it is a theme about Photography. Is there anyway I can change this to redirect it to go to a blog post? For example, I would have a picture of a set of Rogue Olympic Rings then the title "Rogue Olympic Ring Review" -- then if they click it, it would redirect them to the blog post/review.

Any suggestions?

[Snowman24]

FUARKKKKKK making 2015 my fuking b.itch brahs. were all gonna make it.

[marcFE]

thanks for the tips on email marketing guys. I havent really thought about it like that. Seems like everyhing I reads and listening to tells me to keep an email list and do strong email marketing over time. My current process doesn't involve email marketing though, I like that. Stay within your circle of competence I suppose, well at least it is one less thing to worry about

I'd absolutely advise collecting email records from all users you can and starting to research ways to use the information. There is value in the information and it's still one of most effective ways to interact with users.


I wrote that post advising an extremely conservative approach to email because most people approach affiliate marketing with a wild west attitude and that bleeds over. Given how little regulation exists for most online media you aren't going to get a cease and desist or formal filing with the FTC over some deceptive organic language or a download block for a fake mobile hack. If you send out 1,000 emails deceptively promising something all it takes is 3-5 complaints to get a formal filing with the FTC at which time you're screwed. There's nothing wrong or inherently dangerous with a basic newsletter or finding ways to monetize email I just think it's a big step going from SEO/CPA to email that most small time affiliate marketers aren't ready to take.

The best way to transition would be to acquire a large enough list and contract with a large affiliate network to mail on their advertisers behalf. You basically become an advertising publisher and they will walk you through all the rules/regulations you need to abide by since the advertiser will provide the creative.

[Parkerscott]

I'd absolutely advise collecting email records from all users you can and starting to research ways to use the information. There is value in the information and it's still one of most effective ways to interact with users.


I wrote that post advising an extremely conservative approach to email because most people approach affiliate marketing with a wild west attitude and that bleeds over. Given how little regulation exists for most online media you aren't going to get a cease and desist or formal filing with the FTC over some deceptive organic language or a download block for a fake mobile hack. If you send out 1,000 emails deceptively promising something all it takes is 3-5 complaints to get a formal filing with the FTC at which time you're screwed. There's nothing wrong or inherently dangerous with a basic newsletter or finding ways to monetize email I just think it's a big step going from SEO/CPA to email that most small time affiliate marketers aren't ready to take.

The best way to transition would be to acquire a large enough list and contract with a large affiliate network to mail on their advertisers behalf. You basically become an advertising publisher and they will walk you through all the rules/regulations you need to abide by since the advertiser will provide the creative.

So what you are getting at is to basically know your list, and who you are selling too? Basically saying to not go out, and buy a random list, and then spam their inbox?

I don't see anything wrong with having someone knowingly sign up for your mailing list with an opt out box, and sending them relevant content periodically. If you acquired the list deceptively though or bought it, and then sent out a bunch of emails that are not very relevant to make a quick buck I could see how that would be a problem.

I don't have any experience with email lists, but if done properly with good intent I imagine it would work very well as a return path.

[MetroBrah]

Anyone have a high traffic site or social media profile in the fitness niche? Preferrably weight loss. Looking to purchase banner/solo ads

[marcFE]

So what you are getting at is to basically know your list, and who you are selling too? Basically saying to not go out, and buy a random list, and then spam their inbox?

I don't see anything wrong with having someone knowingly sign up for your mailing list with an opt out box, and sending them relevant content periodically. If you acquired the list deceptively though or bought it, and then sent out a bunch of emails that are not very relevant to make a quick buck I could see how that would be a problem.

I don't have any experience with email lists, but if done properly with good intent I imagine it would work very well as a return path.

At the most basic level - yes.

Two flaws to this are:

a) You have to find a way to monetize users while still keeping them under the umbrella that they opted in under. If you are running a site on how to increase SEO and send users some top tier SEO eBook affiliate links then you are probably going to be fine. If you start branching off into sending them credit card offers then it's a little more grey. Technically you can make some ironclad language that covers you to send users almost anything but point b tends to deter that.

b) Legally speaking you need to have a valid unsubscribe and real business address in the footer of the email. There is no workaround for this and even putting something like a forwarding mail box is illegal. In other countries the rules are even more strict but a lot of people in the affiliate world love being anonymous. There is no legal workaround for email sending under current federal law unless you intend to use your home address in the footer.


Both these points are meant to be deterrents from sending emails that prioritize monetization over user experience. If you intend to play by the books with offers you believe are relevant to your consumer base and properly abide by CAN-SPAM and unsubscribe rules (or the rules of your country) then you're fine. A minor note is that when sending to global lists you are being held to the jurisdiction of the country you are mailing to along with your own. I.e. the US allows for users to subscribe on a 3rd party site while Canadian law requires you to explicitly subscribe through an email confirmation link. If you cut corners on the explicit unsubscribe you're in violation and they'd have a case against you (assuming someone is bored enough to pursue it).

[Parkerscott]

At the most basic level - yes.

Two flaws to this are:

a) You have to find a way to monetize users while still keeping them under the umbrella that they opted in under. If you are running a site on how to increase SEO and send users some top tier SEO eBook affiliate links then you are probably going to be fine. If you start branching off into sending them credit card offers then it's a little more grey. Technically you can make some ironclad language that covers you to send users almost anything but point b tends to deter that.

b) Legally speaking you need to have a valid unsubscribe and real business address in the footer of the email. There is no workaround for this and even putting something like a forwarding mail box is illegal. In other countries the rules are even more strict but a lot of people in the affiliate world love being anonymous. There is no legal workaround for email sending under current federal law unless you intend to use your home address in the footer.


Both these points are meant to be deterrents from sending emails that prioritize monetization over user experience. If you intend to play by the books with offers you believe are relevant to your consumer base and properly abide by CAN-SPAM and unsubscribe rules (or the rules of your country) then you're fine. A minor note is that when sending to global lists you are being held to the jurisdiction of the country you are mailing to along with your own. I.e. the US allows for users to subscribe on a 3rd party site while Canadian law requires you to explicitly subscribe through an email confirmation link. If you cut corners on the explicit unsubscribe you're in violation and they'd have a case against you (assuming someone is bored enough to pursue it).

Ok thats basically what I was assuming. I have no interest in spamming an email list, and doing shady chit.

[Motocross18]

Have any of you guys ever wrote an ebook and launched it on warrior forum, clickbank or jvzoo? If so send me a PM

[BetaAsPhuck]

Have any of you guys ever wrote an ebook and launched it on warrior forum, clickbank or jvzoo? If so send me a PM

Please don't rip people off to make money.

I hope you write about a method that actually can make people a decent income.

[Motocross18]

Please don't rip people off to make money.

I hope you write about a method that actually can make people a decent income.

It's a legit method pal

[Interact]

Have any of you guys ever wrote an ebook and launched it on warrior forum, clickbank or jvzoo? If so send me a PM

Having your own product is a good way to go. Also look into having a membership site, or a premium forum or something. Having an existing authority platform (like a blog) means you can launch multiple related products more easily.

[MetroBrah]

What are you guys opinions on banner ads paying per 1000 impressions vs Search engine PPC campaign? This is for the fitness niche

[Parkerscott]

What are you guys opinions on banner ads paying per 1000 impressions vs Search engine PPC campaign? This is for the fitness niche

Depends. Competition is fierce in the fitness niche so you are going to have to bid a lot more money per click. With banner ads you are going to pay less, and you may get a larger reach, but at the same time the traffic may not be as targeted as ppc. Lets say you pay 3$ per 1k impressions and you pay 5$ per click. That click may be a sale. If its a high ticket item like a workout machine 5$ a click is a drop in the hat. Lets say that you are paying 3$ for a banner ad though. Out of those 1000 people 3 or 4 may click or none at all. If you are selling the exact same workout equipment though its a drop in the hat again, and you made more sales. Now look at it this way. For those 3 clicks you got on the banner ad you will also have another 997 people that have seen the ad, and may remember your product the next time they go to buy your workout equipment.

Really it all depends.

edit: Holy quote "people are rewarded in public for what they have practiced for years privately"

[MetroBrah]

Depends. Competition is fierce in the fitness niche so you are going to have to bid a lot more money per click. With banner ads you are going to pay less, and you may get a larger reach, but at the same time the traffic may not be as targeted as ppc. Lets say you pay 3$ per 1k impressions and you pay 5$ per click. That click may be a sale. If its a high ticket item like a workout machine 5$ a click is a drop in the hat. Lets say that you are paying 3$ for a banner ad though. Out of those 1000 people 3 or 4 may click or none at all. If you are selling the exact same workout equipment though its a drop in the hat again, and you made more sales. Now look at it this way. For those 3 clicks you got on the banner ad you will also have another 997 people that have seen the ad, and may remember your product the next time they go to buy your workout equipment.

Really it all depends.

Great way to look at it. I'm sure I will more than likely end up testing a variety of both methods. To your point about people seeing the ad even if not clicking I was thinking about making sure to include my url domain somewhere on it so that if someone saw it, they may remember to look it up later if they think about it

[Parkerscott]

Depends. Competition is fierce in the fitness niche so you are going to have to bid a lot more money per click. With banner ads you are going to pay less, and you may get a larger reach, but at the same time the traffic may not be as targeted as ppc. Lets say you pay 3$ per 1k impressions and you pay 5$ per click. That click may be a sale. If its a high ticket item like a workout machine 5$ a click is a drop in the hat. Lets say that you are paying 3$ for a banner ad though. Out of those 1000 people 3 or 4 may click or none at all. If you are selling the exact same workout equipment though its a drop in the hat again, and you made more sales. Now look at it this way. For those 3 clicks you got on the banner ad you will also have another 997 people that have seen the ad, and may remember your product the next time they go to buy your workout equipment.

Really it all depends.

edit: Holy quote "people are rewarded in public for what they have practiced for years privately"

Great way to look at it. I'm sure I will more than likely end up testing a variety of both methods. To your point about people seeing the ad even if not clicking I was thinking about making sure to include my url domain somewhere on it so that if someone saw it, they may remember to look it up later if they think about it

It really is all about testing. Do a split test and see what works the best. Its not odd to run 10 to 15 of the same ads with different copy, and colors to see which one is the winner. ******** automatically does this for you if you want to run a beta test for like 10$ each ad. It will pick out which one works best.

[ScrillaVilla]

Shoutout to snowman69 for that twitter anayltics link/info he posted I think last month. My impressions then was like 55k, now it's 90k and rising everyday. All while only tweeting 1-2 times a day.

[halotalo]

Shoutout to snowman69 for that twitter anayltics link/info he posted I think last month. My impressions then was like 55k, now it's 90k and rising everyday. All while only tweeting 1-2 times a day.

link?

[ScrillaVilla]

link?

http://analytics.twitter.com/

[Parkerscott]

There hasnt been much activity here lately

[Knockx]

That means people are busy making their goals happen. A good thing, just wish I had some direction. Only thing I can keep doing is reading til something sparks my interest.

[Parkerscott]

That means people are busy making their goals happen. A good thing, just wish I had some direction. Only thing I can keep doing is reading til something sparks my interest.

Not always. I come here to talk to like minded people. It only takes a few seconds or minutes out of my day. If I find the slightest bit of wisdom or help someone that time spent was worth it.

Anyone use microsoft office suite? I have only used word and powerpoint before. I never used excel and I played around with it at work the other day, and it is a pretty powerful tool. Its only like 7$ a month for all the tools so i think i may just buy it.

[Cruzader510]

Not always. I come here to talk to like minded people. It only takes a few seconds or minutes out of my day. If I find the slightest bit of wisdom or help someone that time spent was worth it.

Anyone use microsoft office suite? I have only used word and powerpoint before. I never used excel and I played around with it at work the other day, and it is a pretty powerful tool. Its only like 7$ a month for all the tools so i think i may just buy it.

It's free with a .edu email address.

Also seconding people are busy.

Sites been moving, been developing more content for my site, takes sooo much time though. Especially as a one man team.

[PrivateNumber]

Not always. I come here to talk to like minded people. It only takes a few seconds or minutes out of my day. If I find the slightest bit of wisdom or help someone that time spent was worth it.

Anyone use microsoft office suite? I have only used word and powerpoint before. I never used excel and I played around with it at work the other day, and it is a pretty powerful tool. Its only like 7$ a month for all the tools so i think i may just buy it.

I got it from my friend for free but I've used Excel a fair bit. Great to document/keep track of my sales.

New site is up and running. I'm currently coding up a few widgets that should help convert and increase sales on my new website. Content hasn't started moving yet but I have topics/titles of articles so they will get a move on this week. I've also gotten a few pre orders for products so that's pretty awesome.

[Parkerscott]

It's free with a .edu email address.

Also seconding people are busy.

Sites been moving, been developing more content for my site, takes sooo much time though. Especially as a one man team.

I got it from my friend for free but I've used Excel a fair bit. Great to document/keep track of my sales.

New site is up and running. I'm currently coding up a few widgets that should help convert and increase sales on my new website. Content hasn't started moving yet but I have topics/titles of articles so they will get a move on this week. I've also gotten a few pre orders for products so that's pretty awesome.

Its great to hear that men. Today I took the first steps on my website. I also outsourced some more design work, and im currently adding more people to my team. I am also raising the capital I need while keeping a very lean approach. I think I have enough knowledge in place, and have learned from a lot of my mistakes, and now the only way to go is forward. These next few months are going to be super busy. I will make sure to check in from time to time though. I have learned some great things in this group as well as taught some great things. So much better to come here and exchange ideas instead of exchanging them with friends who wont do anything with them.

[Smegmalion]

It has been kind of slow lately. In my case that's due to a weird stagnation I've been experiencing since the beginning of the year. I've been staying steady and hitting most my daily/weekly goals and began a whole site redesign to make it more mobile-friendly, since roughly 80% of my traffic is mobile.

Mobile has created an interesting obstacle to overcome. I run a content/blog site in the fitness niche. Naturally I'm interested in monetizing by using affiliate programs for online supplement stores. But here's what I think is killing me: how many of you would make a purchase on your phone, vs. on your desktop? For myself, I find myself always placing orders using a desktop. AT MOST I would browse on my phone just to see what I wanted to buy, and THEN get on the desktop and place the order. I may need to figure out a different way to make money from this site.

Also, anybody sending traffic to their site using Twitter use cards FFS.