help and advice for newbies and people who need a kick up the backside in 2009

[Seamaster]

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Are you saying that someone on the first page of Google searches can make nothing?

I'm sure your post was tounge-in-cheek but it is easy to be on page one of google and not make any sales. I managed it for a couple of weeks with a few sites.

Things to consider:

• Who else is on page (above and below you) I had what I thought was a good niche but it turned out there werent many merchants selling the items so everyone on the first page, those above and below me had good prodcuts they were selling direct and I didnt.
• Is it easy to buy products via your site? If it is not clear how to 'buy' the product from your site or it looks cheap/crap/etc people won't click links. If you are linking to a merchant who looks a bit dodgy - as a lot of them do - then people won't buy from them.

I have had sites on the bottom half of page one and they get very little hits compared to the number quoted by google keyword search (exact). From what I can tell you really have to get to the top of the page to get clicks and then have a really good site to get click throughs to the merchants. Not mentioning that your traffic is quality, targetted and ready to buy....

God knows what it takes to get a site to the top of page 1 in Google!

[mikeb222]

It wasn't tongue in cheek at all.
I am really shocked that that could happen.
Just not what I expected.
I just always assumed that everyone on the first page of a google search was making very good money.
I was probably thinking £1000s per month.
I understand its all about demand though!

What was your market?
Just so I can keep out of that one!

[mikeb222]

I'm sure your post was tounge-in-cheek but it is easy to be on page one of google and not make any sales. I managed it for a couple of weeks with a few sites.

Things to consider:

• Who else is on page (above and below you) I had what I thought was a good niche but it turned out there werent many merchants selling the items so everyone on the first page, those above and below me had good prodcuts they were selling direct and I didnt.
• Is it easy to buy products via your site? If it is not clear how to 'buy' the product from your site or it looks cheap/crap/etc people won't click links. If you are linking to a merchant who looks a bit dodgy - as a lot of them do - then people won't buy from them.

I have had sites on the bottom half of page one and they get very little hits compared to the number quoted by google keyword search (exact). From what I can tell you really have to get to the top of the page to get clicks and then have a really good site to get click throughs to the merchants. Not mentioning that your traffic is quality, targetted and ready to buy....

God knows what it takes to get a site to the top of page 1 in Google!

Blimey, I'm starting to think this is all beyond my capabilities!
If you guys aint making no money, what chance me, a complete novice?

[Seamaster]

What was your market?
Just so I can keep out of that one!

It was mixed martial arts equipment, they are a few merchants with affiliate programmes out there but a lot of sites with really good gear that arent doing affiliates.

I couldnt really see a way of competing so am trying out other niches.

[karenlb]

Hello! Time for a reality check here!

No-one on this thread has ever suggested it's going to be easy. I think most people on this forum will say that AM is no way to make a quick buck or that it is the path to immediate riches. The only ways I know of achieving that is with either a successful PPC campaign - and if you don't know what you're doing there you could just as easily be pouring money down the drain, or you are really lucky and happen to stumble upon the "next big thing".

I have just been back 100 pages (100 pages! lol) and this is what smingle said about the domains in his very first post:

the research will have already been done to see if it is feasable to make money

He said feasable - he didn't say dead cert!

This thread might help:

5 Reasons Why People Fail in Affiliate Marketing

or read Kirsty's blog post 13 reasons you will fail at affiliate marketing in 2009

Don't mean to come across as though I'm lecturing! I have made about £10 from this in the three months I have had sites live - and I'[ve been working on it full time - but am guilty of doing all of the 13 things in Kirsty's post.

Do they have a clinic I could check into to cure myself of forum addiction!:scared

[sabian1982]

Blimey, I'm starting to think this is all beyond my capabilities!
If you guys aint making no money, what chance me, a complete novice?

Welcome to the novice club im getting the tshirts printed this weekend

[Seamaster]

Blimey, I'm starting to think this is all beyond my capabilities!
If you guys aint making no money, what chance me, a complete novice?

I am a novice too. I joined up years ago but never did anything. Only came back in 2009 and only had my first sites up shortly after that.

I have made about £25 so far :blush but I'm going to keep going.

I am going out to Thailand in six months and if I am not making a few hundered quid a month by then then I will have to re-evaluate things but for now I'm going to keep going.

[paul_ap]

Hi,

As people may have seen I have posted that myself and a colleague are new to this as well. We have been reading this post with interest and finally have our first niche site up and running at Power Plates. We hope this does well but being our first site we will not be too disheartened if it doesn't.

We are doing this in our spare time at the moment and are encouraged by the learning we have already achieved and will keep doing this. Hopefully we can get better and better.

Any feedback on our sites would be much appreciated as we would welcome advice from those who have been doing this before.

Paul

[Seamaster]

Hi,

As people may have seen I have posted that myself and a colleague are new to this as well. We have been reading this post with interest and finally have our first niche site up and running at Power Plates. We hope this does well but being our first site we will not be too disheartened if it doesn't.

Nice niche, nice site!

[mikeb222]

Hi Karen,

I didn't mind the lecture at all.
It's the reality check I didnt like!

Does anyone make any money from this?
I hope so, because I'm well into it now, lol!

Anyway, been doing some research and reviewing some past success stories.
This guy made a mint from his web site-the idea just came to him and he bought the site. Next he did a small course on SEO and Bingo, 2000 hits per day.
I can't tell you the name of the site because it's now getting 200,000 hits per month (apparently-didn't know they went that high) and it's my idea to do a similar one.

However, the .com version is his.
The .co.uk has gone
But the .org.uk version is avaiable as is .uk.com, .eu, .net, .org, .info, .biz
I noticed that Smingle used .org.uk in his offers earlier in the thread so my question is, is this the best of the bunch and why does he use that particular one?
What difference does it make as most people will surely just google in a phrase like "where to buy parrotts in devon" rather than type in a URL like www.parrottsindevon.com
Do you see what i'm getting at?
I think I am probably missing something here but i'm sure you guys will put me right, lol.

[karenlb]

There are plenty of people who make money from this. Some make some pocket money, some make a decent living, and others make a really good living. There are loads of posts asking how much people make - have a search for some.

If you read the blogs of some of the more high-profile affiliate marketers you will notice one thing they all have in common. They've been doing it a long time - not since the start of this thread!

You want to do it to get out of your full-time job. In my opinion there's probably no better reason - I'd like to be joining you! Just dont expect to be handing in your notice any time soon!

I'm not sure I can answer your domain question. With that volume of traffic it sounds like the market might be quite competitive but I can ony guess. As others on here have proved, getting to number 1 isn't just about having a domain name that matches the search term - it depends on a whole heap of factors. Having a domain name match will help but isn't the be all and end all.

[fizzbird]

I think I am probably missing something here but i'm sure you guys will put me right, lol.

You're not missing anything no. If the .or.uk is available then snap it up. Don't bother with the others though.

A keyword domain gives you a big advantage but your point about search terms is equally valid.

[mikeb222]

There are plenty of people who make money from this. Some make some pocket money, some make a decent living, and others make a really good living. There are loads of posts asking how much people make - have a search for some.

If you read the blogs of some of the more high-profile affiliate marketers you will notice one thing they all have in common. They've been doing it a long time - not since the start of this thread!

You want to do it to get out of your full-time job. In my opinion there's probably no better reason - I'd like to be joining you! Just dont expect to be handing in your notice any time soon!

I'm not sure I can answer your domain question. With that volume of traffic it sounds like the market might be quite competitive but I can ony guess. As others on here have proved, getting to number 1 isn't just about having a domain name that matches the search term - it depends on a whole heap of factors. Having a domain name match will help but isn't the be all and end all.

Blimey, reality check number 2, er, thanks, I think!

Your not painting a very rosy picture on all this.
You haven't got a lucrative little niche going that you don't want me or any other newbie to find out about have you?

Seriously though, I get what your saying. I am looking for overnight riches. Silly aint it, so I will try to lower my expectations. Least till tomorrow!

[mikeb222]

Can't believe nobodys got www.parrottsindevon.com has a name. Have I spelt parrotts wrong?
Lol

[aaclapham]

In the first full year that I did AM I only made £2500 - of course there was no threads like these :tup

A year later with the same sites traffic and sales had picked up and I was making enough to confidently go full time.

You have to be patient and keep adding content to the sites. :tup