Going Fulll Time

[KamikzMX]

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Hi all,

My first post, but I have been browsing here for quite a while, so first a quick introduction.

I'm Carl, 25, live in Bournemouth and have worked as a Games Programmer and for the last couple of years worked as a developer at a more traditional software company (the money and hours are much better, the work...isn't).

Anyway, been fed up with my job for quite some time and have been looking at loads of ways of starting up my own biz....then somehow stumbled upon a post by Kieron showing his bank statement, and then onto this forum, spent days reading posts and eventually got a couple of small sites up, the first was a bit of a flop (although is now slowly getting organic search results and sales), the 2nd site has now made me about £250 for 2-3 weeks of sales this month (I'm using PPC, spent about £450, got about £700 commission), so its looking good....

Now, I handed in my 2 months notice exactly 2 months ago, so today is my last day in employment, I had planned on going into web development (already got a couple of contracts when handed in my notice), but now I'm wondering if I should spend all my time getting the affiliate marketing going.....

So, I have enough money to survive 4-5 months without bringing any/much money in, at the end of that I must be earning as I have a baby due in 5 months (but if it looks all doom and gloom then another job as an employee should be easy enough to find). I am currently taking home £1500 a month, so I need to be taking home more than that within the next 5 months to make this work.

So do you guys think its possible for me to start making good money at this fairly quickly, I would like to be making £1k per month within 2 months or so, is this realistic? I am able to spend a reasonable budget on PPC, probably up to about £1k - £2k per month. I have good web and database development skills, and am happy to spend some money on design work (although my own design work isn't too bad)

Basically, my current plan is to create a site or 2 that are likely to make good money without using PPC, but may take some time to get going, then to add more PPC landing pages like my existing profitable one.

In my head the numbers work, but I'm a bit worried that my current site may have made considerably more just because it was december (and therefore the xmas rush), is december massively better for sales than the rest of the year?

Really I'm just looking for some words from the wise to tell me if I'm a fool and should do this part time until its earning money or if you think that doing it full time will really be able to make it work quickly.

And one last thing, anyone doing PPC, do you turn off your campaigns over this couple of weeks between now and new year, do people actually buy stuff over christmas? Not sure if I'll just be throwing money away by keeping it running for the next few days, and if you do turn it off, when do you turn them back on?

Many thanks

[LateRooms.com]

Good luck, sounds like you have some big stuff lying ahead.

Making the revenue you suggest is entirely possible, it depends how far you want to burn the candle at both ends, ultimately if you do it right then what you get out tends to correlate from how much you are prepared to put in time and work-wise. I'd say you have set a high initial target, that said, ambition isn't a bad thing, but good luck!!

In order to get instant return, I'd say you need to be organised, and know exactly what you are doing and when you need to do it. For your method to work, you need to hit the ground running, but you need to have done some walking first so that you have a good plan to follow!

It depends on the products. Some products with promotion will continue to sell strongly in January, whereas some will die a death having peaked in Dec during the Christmas rush.

Hotels for instance see a peak in Jan. But we remain busy over the entire festive period due to the very nature of what we do.

Have a good Christmas and good luck again!

Duncan

[zinc]

Welcome!

I think the only way to start making money quickly is to go down the PPC route. With a budget like 1-2k per month like you have I think you will be fine.

On another note - please can you PM me details of your game development experience. I am starting up my own agency shortly Zinc(Zn) and may be able to chuck some flash/shockwave game development your way in the near future and maybe traditional game development in the future.

Cheers
Ben

[ian]

Diversity will see you through!

Google, Yahoo et al throw too many curve balls to be able to say you can do the affiliate game 100% of the time. I'd keep the contract side of the business going for now, and work on your own sites as well. Put aside x days a week for contracts, and the rest for your own.

As you build up a nice wedge of cash, you can be more picky about your contract work and take what you want, putting more effort into your own sites.

Good luck, and don't rule anything out, especially if it pays well!

[hpops]

You sound like an ideal candidate for someone who's going to be successful, remain level headed, focus on your goals and you should be fine. I'm sure there'll be hiccups along the way but 5 months is possible to reach a sustainable level of profit

[pricethat]

One thing you didnt factor into your equations there was your partner, with a baby coming in 5 months she is going to be wanting to see some security around the place. Whilst you might have 5 months "most" ladies that i ever knew of would want to start seeing some noticeable results in 1! and noticeable results does not mean pretty balances in your tradedoubler account.

2k a month may sound a lot but your calculations can not be based on decembers rates, conversion rates a higher and traffic levels. Look at the business you do today compared with last week. Yes do affiliate marketing but i would suggest get one or two projects on a "will be completed in a 3 week period or longer" type flexible arrangement just to cover ya ugly ass as well, then it makes it less stressing. A good programmer ought to be able to make enough in 10 hours to cover the whole week working for others anyway.

I am fortunate that i don't have to take on customers for private programming work any more but i still do it, just because its extra "safe" money and in part it helps me learn or build up code bases that i can use in other stuff down the road. I always try and design the code so that its flexible enough to use in other things which of course is for all intents and purposes getting paid to do your own stuff

[OnlineMerchants]

Hi,

Good luck with the move and hope that it goes well! Obviously
it can be a bit daunting at first but you are in the right place
to learn through others experiences. As the poster above mentions
you will probably need to be flexible and a little diverse with the work
initially. Eventually though you can become more picky and select only
work that you really want to do. From my own experiences it didn't all
come together overnight and trial and error played a big part at the
start. I wouldn't get too despondant if you didn't hit your target for
commissions in the first few months though. I have found this forum
invaluable for getting ideas and learning and whilst not in the same league
as some of the posters here it certainly gives you a foot up the ladder.

HTH

Cheers

Steve

[Supercod]

Diversity will see you through!

Fully agree with that, you need to have many different things on the go, so if you take hits in different places you can keep going. I have 2 "main" sites that have worked over the years but I know only too well that you can be at the top and the fall to the bottom quickly on a site.

UK Internet Sites spent much of 2006 building lots of new sites and 2007 we be working on making each the best in its sector. 2006 was a bit like when we started many years ago, a development year (kind of taking stock and re-investing in your self). We also worked on a few projects that can use Affiliate Marketing but will be hitting different rotes of income again just to diversify a little. Also considering taking in some investment for a project that I would like to see become the biggest in it’s area for the UK, but need to think about that as investment means when it makes money you have to share with others but then as the old saying goes 100% of nothing is nothing

We are also taking charge in 2007 making merchants work for us, if they want on our sites they will have to be up to the job. Some sites are new but we have a proven track record in making things work in the long term but if we don't get the support us in the building stage, then I will bomb these merchants out when we are at the top of these sectors. Support your friends and people who help you, avoid the money grabbers

Also taken the decision to have a stress free life, so won't be using new merchants from 2 networks that act like they couldn’t give a crap about Affiliates with there actions towards me and many other fellow Affiliates, you know who they are and I would recommend you also avoid them. Every other network I will be promoting them and I have changed my list of what Networks to support first, 2006 was an eye opener as to how some people act once your not there big earner on something

I am looking forward to a very different 2007 it be more like the original more enjoyable days of Affiliate Marketing for me, at least that’s the plan Will let you know by the end of 2007 if that worked out.