affiliate marketing blog  

(This is the first in a series of blogposts describing one of many methods of establishing a business in Affiliate Marketing.  Consider this an instructional foray into an example that hopes to deliver value no matter what approach you may take with your own Affiliate Marketing business.)

So you think you can be successful in Affiliate Marketing?  You think you can make a living at it?  Some side cash?  A little extra cushion each month?  Well, yes you can…  IF

The big IF is if you can organize yourself, work hard, work smart, not confuse twittering with work, etc.  Lots of people (a whole lot of people) make a good living at Affiliate Marketing.  And there’s no reason you can’t IF you can take care of the big IF.  This is the first of a series that hopes to give you some actionable information and tools so that you can get rid of IF and take Action.

The first thing you need to do is understand the economics of affiliate marketing and the dynamics of the Web.  A website that makes $100,000/yr is rare.  Very, very, on the endangered species list rare.  If you think your going to just jump in and make 100 large well, I have an e-book I’d like to sell you…  Because if you think that then you need some serious education in Affiliate Marketing.

How about we get realistic?  What if we set an attainable goal..  $30,000/yr.  Lets see if theres a way to make (after expenses) $30,000/yr with a little work and alot of smarts.  And lets not put all your eggs in a single basket either.  There are alot of niches out there.  Let’s spread the risk in ways that will let you research niches by trying them out.  Successful ones you scale up, unsuccessful ones you replace with successful ones.  Let’s do it all with minisites that are focused at local markets!

Now, how many minisites will this take?  That depends on how much your minisites can be expected to make.  So lets do a little math.  $30,000/yr / 12 = 2500/month.  And lets just say we can build a minisite that will make $100/month after expenses.  Then you’ll need 25 minisites (everything is averaged here, one sites gonna tank, another will do more, less, etc).  in order to reach your goals at this rate.

25 minisites X $100/month = $2500/month

Cost to host + domain registration = $500/month = Gross Revenue Required $3,000/month

Now, do you think you can build a minisite that will earn $3.00 per day?  If you find a niche that you can go local with and it proves to bring in a minimum of $3.00/day do you think you can replicate that minisite for another local target (city)?  25 times?  Well, yes you can.  With planning, organization, and good recordkeeping a single individual can easy keep track of about 100 minisites.  (btw.  100 minisites x $3.00/day = $300/day x 365 days = $109,000.00/yr).

Here’s how we’re going to do this.  We’re going to hit a functional area every day til you’ve got a resource you can use.  We’re going to cover discovering niches, finding offers, necessary tools, elements of minisite design, tracking performance, testing for success, and replicating success.  We’re going to cover it all.

Today’s Lesson…  25 sites for $3,000/month is realistic.  We’ll continue tomorrow.