November 2010 has probably been the best month ever for me in terms of online marketing activities for a number of reasons.
1) AdSense income, although still comparatively small, was the second best month I've had in the 5 years that I've had an AdSense account. It took me over 4 years to get my first payment from Google, but at the current rate of income, the next payment will arrive in less than a year. Bear in mind that I don't put a huge amount of importance on AdSense ads - it's just an easy way of earning a few extra pounds every month.
2) Residual income is one of the best parts of marketing. Basically, you sell something that requires a regular payment from the customer. As an affiliate marketer, you get a commission payment every month. This month I sold one such item. It was an account at Aweber, the popular autoresponder service. Commission payments are 30%, and a basic account costs $19 per month, making the monthly income from this a respectable $5.70. It might not sound like much, but imagine selling 10 accounts. Or 50. It is actually better to have a lot of small income streams than a few large ones.
3) After my hosting account was hacked and all my domains were dropped by Google, I am happy to report that they have all started to come back again. In fact, I appear to be getting more traffic than I did before the hack occurred.
4) For the last few months, I've been working in conjunction with one of my friends on a new piece of software aimed at online marketers who are finding it difficult to build a list. It may seem a little strange that I'm not mentioning and promoting it here, but the whole point of this blog is to describe the techniques that I am using to try to increase my online income.
As we are both based in the UK, we made the mistake of launching the software the day before Thanksgiving in the USA. We don't have Thanksgiving in the UK, so the date didn't really mean anything to us. Anyway, we think that as many of our potential customers and affiliate marketers are based in the USA, it probably affected the sales somewhat. And Black Friday followed Thanksgiving, closely followed by Cyber Monday.
All the same, sales were not bad, and we made a fairly decent amount of money.
The software was very well received and we're already working on making the next version a lot more powerful and easier to use.
Another important part of selling this software is that we have now built a list of buying customers. Additionally, we gave away a free demo version and have built a list of prospects from that. And as any online market knows; the money is in the list.
My friend and I are very positive about what we have achieved and feel we are ending this year on a high. We know we can't rest on our laurels - we have to maintain the momentum. But after years of trying, it is so good to feel that we are now on our way to some serious income.
By the way, my affiliate link for Aweber was embedded in the software, so the sale that I made was actually off the back of the software sale. This proves that if you get your marketing right, you can get multiple sales from just one item.
Saturday, December 04, 2010
Monday, November 01, 2010
Progress Report
I can't believe another month has gone by since my last post on this blog. And of course, my last post was a progress report on my attempts to make money online. So what has happened in that last month?
Google Slapped!
Every single one of my websites was Google-slapped, and it was through no fault of my own. My hosting account was hacked and a software robot was then used to seek and edit every file on my hosting account that was named index.html or index.php.
The effect of the changes was to add an IFrame to the page which linked to a site containing malware.
Not surprisingly, when GoogleBot found these links, it dropped my sites like a hot brick. Fortunately, I found the changes within less than 2 days of it happening and restored the original files. Unfortunately, the GoogleBots got there before me.
After the clean-up, I submitted a reconsideration request to Google and they reinstated my sites to their previous positions in the search engine results. The whole episode took about 9 days, which made quite a dent in my hit counts as the majority of my traffic comes from Google.
Overall though, the number of hits my main site gets on a daily basis is increasing slowly. It is up about 300% on the traffic I was getting 6 months ago.
Sales
With more traffic to my main site, I've had more sales. It's obvious - the more people who see your product, the more will buy it. The sales have been of affiliated Clickbank products, but at 75% commission, the actual revenue has been very good.
Product Launch
I have been working on an important new feature for E-Power-Wrap, which is just about to be released as version 2. This new feature is User Registration. Basically, when you create an application with E-Power-Wrap 2, you have the option to force the users to register it the first time they run it.
So what is the benefit of User Registration? It might sound like a fairly trivial development to E-Power-Wrap, but the benefits are pretty huge. You see the Registration system links directly with your Aweber account, which means that anyone who wants to use your application has to add themselves to your list. (And we all know that "the money is in the list", don't we?)
Imagine this situation: You create an application with E-Power-Wrap 2 and then you give it away from your web-site or from any of the hundreds of download sites on the Internet. Each person who downloads it will have to join your list to use it.
Now, how about giving it away with Giveaway rights? Suddenly the whole thing becomes viral and the potential for building your list becomes massive.
E-Power-Wrap 2 will be available very soon, and you can even download a FREE trial.
Training Course
You've probably heard at least one of those "rags to riches" stories about some guy who comes from the poorest-of-the-poor backgrounds, works his way up, and eventually becomes a multi-millionaire. A prime example of this is UK multi-millionaire Sir Alan Sugar, who started off selling beetroot on a market stall and then electrical goods from the back of a van he bought for 100 pounds.
The question is, what makes him different from the other other kids he was at school with? They had similar backgrounds and exactly the same opportunities, but they are not all millionaires. In fact, the chances are that none of them are.
The difference is that even at the age of 16, Alan Sugar thought the same way a millionaire thinks. He saw business opportunities and grasped them. He had the same entrepreneurial spirit that millionaires have.
When you run a business, whether online, offline, or both, you could plod along making a comfortable living, go out of business, or take your business up to such a level that like Alan Sugar, you become a millionaire.
Since I read the Millionaire Stealth Secrets course, and the numerous free gifts that come with it, I feel that my eyes have been opened and I now see a future where my online activities will bring me a lot of money. Already my main site has increased its traffic by 300%, and I have new products on sale. My confidence in my online abilities is much higher, and I have been able to set myself some challenging goals.
My main goal is to earn £100,000 (about $160,000) online before the end of 2011.
A few months ago, that was just a dream, but after reading Millionaire Stealth Secrets, I KNOW it is possible.
The amazing thing about the course is that it boosted my confidence in my online business so much that I had made back the purchase price of £97 by the end of the first week.
Google Slapped!
Every single one of my websites was Google-slapped, and it was through no fault of my own. My hosting account was hacked and a software robot was then used to seek and edit every file on my hosting account that was named index.html or index.php.
The effect of the changes was to add an IFrame to the page which linked to a site containing malware.
Not surprisingly, when GoogleBot found these links, it dropped my sites like a hot brick. Fortunately, I found the changes within less than 2 days of it happening and restored the original files. Unfortunately, the GoogleBots got there before me.
After the clean-up, I submitted a reconsideration request to Google and they reinstated my sites to their previous positions in the search engine results. The whole episode took about 9 days, which made quite a dent in my hit counts as the majority of my traffic comes from Google.
Overall though, the number of hits my main site gets on a daily basis is increasing slowly. It is up about 300% on the traffic I was getting 6 months ago.
Sales
With more traffic to my main site, I've had more sales. It's obvious - the more people who see your product, the more will buy it. The sales have been of affiliated Clickbank products, but at 75% commission, the actual revenue has been very good.
Product Launch
I have been working on an important new feature for E-Power-Wrap, which is just about to be released as version 2. This new feature is User Registration. Basically, when you create an application with E-Power-Wrap 2, you have the option to force the users to register it the first time they run it.
So what is the benefit of User Registration? It might sound like a fairly trivial development to E-Power-Wrap, but the benefits are pretty huge. You see the Registration system links directly with your Aweber account, which means that anyone who wants to use your application has to add themselves to your list. (And we all know that "the money is in the list", don't we?)
Imagine this situation: You create an application with E-Power-Wrap 2 and then you give it away from your web-site or from any of the hundreds of download sites on the Internet. Each person who downloads it will have to join your list to use it.
Now, how about giving it away with Giveaway rights? Suddenly the whole thing becomes viral and the potential for building your list becomes massive.
E-Power-Wrap 2 will be available very soon, and you can even download a FREE trial.
Training Course
You've probably heard at least one of those "rags to riches" stories about some guy who comes from the poorest-of-the-poor backgrounds, works his way up, and eventually becomes a multi-millionaire. A prime example of this is UK multi-millionaire Sir Alan Sugar, who started off selling beetroot on a market stall and then electrical goods from the back of a van he bought for 100 pounds.
The question is, what makes him different from the other other kids he was at school with? They had similar backgrounds and exactly the same opportunities, but they are not all millionaires. In fact, the chances are that none of them are.
The difference is that even at the age of 16, Alan Sugar thought the same way a millionaire thinks. He saw business opportunities and grasped them. He had the same entrepreneurial spirit that millionaires have.
When you run a business, whether online, offline, or both, you could plod along making a comfortable living, go out of business, or take your business up to such a level that like Alan Sugar, you become a millionaire.
Since I read the Millionaire Stealth Secrets course, and the numerous free gifts that come with it, I feel that my eyes have been opened and I now see a future where my online activities will bring me a lot of money. Already my main site has increased its traffic by 300%, and I have new products on sale. My confidence in my online abilities is much higher, and I have been able to set myself some challenging goals.
My main goal is to earn £100,000 (about $160,000) online before the end of 2011.
A few months ago, that was just a dream, but after reading Millionaire Stealth Secrets, I KNOW it is possible.
The amazing thing about the course is that it boosted my confidence in my online business so much that I had made back the purchase price of £97 by the end of the first week.
Friday, October 01, 2010
Progress Report
Blogging works as a marketing tool. Or at least I think it does.
Recently I have been putting a little more effort into my marketing and this includes writing more on my blog about Clickbank and other affiliate marketing programs.
As a result, I have seen a marked increase in the number of visitors I get to the site. When I let the site go slightly stagnant, I found that the maximum number of visitors in a day never exceeded 15. The minimum number of visitors in a day was often 0.
By actively posting on the site just once or twice a week, I find that the minimum number of visitors hasn't gone below 15 (my previous maximum) and it now regularly gets as high as 30.
Now this might not sound like very much to any seasoned online marketer, but don't forget that you were a beginner once.
More importantly though, the number of "hops" I get to affiliated Clickbank pages has increased. I used to go for weeks without getting any. In the last 2 weeks, it has averaged just over 9 hops per day and the trend is that it is increasing.
Even more importantly, I am getting a lot more sales of Clickbank products. It's still not many, but as I work harder on posting useful information to the site, it will increase even more.
Best of all, I have finally made a sale of a product with a recurring income. By that I mean a product for which the purchaser makes a regular monthly payment, and for each month that they remain a member, I get a commission. Again, it's not much, but better than nothing.
A few hundred of those and I'll be able to give up the day job!
Recently I have been putting a little more effort into my marketing and this includes writing more on my blog about Clickbank and other affiliate marketing programs.
As a result, I have seen a marked increase in the number of visitors I get to the site. When I let the site go slightly stagnant, I found that the maximum number of visitors in a day never exceeded 15. The minimum number of visitors in a day was often 0.
By actively posting on the site just once or twice a week, I find that the minimum number of visitors hasn't gone below 15 (my previous maximum) and it now regularly gets as high as 30.
Now this might not sound like very much to any seasoned online marketer, but don't forget that you were a beginner once.
More importantly though, the number of "hops" I get to affiliated Clickbank pages has increased. I used to go for weeks without getting any. In the last 2 weeks, it has averaged just over 9 hops per day and the trend is that it is increasing.
Even more importantly, I am getting a lot more sales of Clickbank products. It's still not many, but as I work harder on posting useful information to the site, it will increase even more.
Best of all, I have finally made a sale of a product with a recurring income. By that I mean a product for which the purchaser makes a regular monthly payment, and for each month that they remain a member, I get a commission. Again, it's not much, but better than nothing.
A few hundred of those and I'll be able to give up the day job!
Friday, September 24, 2010
Aim High, But Also Aim Low
Aim both high and low? What on earth am I talking about?
I'm talking about setting goals for your online marketing efforts.
It has often been said that too many people are scared of making money! It sounds bizarre, but it's true. They have been brought up to believe that if you work hard at school, you will get a good job, and if you work hard in your job, you will earn a good salary. This is so deeply engrained into peoples' minds that if they find a way of making a lot more money with less effort, they don't believe that they deserve it. This creates a feeling of guilt and as a result, they don't put in the required effort and they fail. They go back to their day job, thinking that they have proved that they can't do it and that it's not for them.
I have a different view of all this. I know I can succeed online. My problem is that I do have a day-job, and I have a family. These both put demands on me and I find it difficult to find the time or energy to concentrate on my online businesses.
So that I don't lose faith and interest in what I am doing, I set myself some goals. I have long-term, medium-term and short-term goals. Here are some examples:
Long-term goal: To become financially independent within 3 years.
Medium-term goal: To match the salary I get from my day-job in online earnings within 2 years.
Short-term goal: To earn £10 per day online.
My long-term and medium-term goals sometimes look hard to achieve, but if I aim lower, I'll be depriving myself of my true desires.
My short-term goal is a lot more modest. I could earn £10 (about $15) per day just by selling one item every day, or a higher priced item every 2 days etc. That sounds relatively easy to achieve, so that is what I am working on.
Multiple Goals
You don't have to have just one short-term, one medium-term and one long-term goal. Here are some more of my goals (in no particular order):
Short-term: To buy a better car before the end of the year.
Medium-term: To be driving a new, top-of-the-range Alfa Romeo before the end of next year.
Long-term: To pay off my mortgage.
Medium-term: To cover my mortgage payments entirely by income from Google AdSense. (Don't you just love the idea of Ads by Google paying your mortgage?)
Another View
I live a long way from my place of work, and it costs me about £10 per day in petrol (gasoline) to drive to and from work. So if I can earn £10 per day online, that has paid for my travel expenses. (Ok, if I factor in the tax that must pay on my £10 per day earnings, it's not enough to cover my costs, but in general terms it is a lot easier to think of it as covering it).
Some time ago I sat down and worked out how much I need to earn each day to cover various expenses, such as car insurance, utility bills, local taxes. It's easy. Just take your bills for 1 year, add them up and divide by 365. Then you can think of your online income as covering that bill, or more than one of them.
Reaching a Goal
When checking to see whether a goal has been achieved, you have to be careful. Just because you earned £10 every day for a week, it doesn't mean you've reached the goal. The next week, you might not make any sales. On the other hand, the week after, you might make £30 per day.
Furthermore, sales are NOT going to be that regular. I might sell 3 items on day 1, not sell anything for 5 days, and then sell 4 more items. The point is that you know when you have reached the goal when the amount averages out to your target figure.
Updated Goals
Once you have reached a goal, there's no point in resting on your laurels. Remember you have more ambitious longer-term goals to achieve. You use the short-term goals as way-points or milestones towards achieving those longer-term goals.
So as soon as you are confident that you have reached your short-term goal, aim at a new, higher goal. But don't just change it to "Earn £20 per day online". Now that you have experience and know how to earn that original £10 per day, you should be able to do much better by duplicating what you have done several times over. So make your next goal considerably higher. How about £50 per day? One that I like to use is a factor of 7. Why? Because I like the idea that I can earn the same amount in 1 day that I used to earn in one week.
Setbacks
Everyone gets setbacks in their online marketing efforts, especially beginners. Modify your goals accordingly if you really think they are too ambitious. Go down to £1 per day, but keep the higher goals in the back of your mind.
Basically, what I am saying is that you need to have real goals otherwise you'll end up bumbling along or giving up. Write down your goals and stick them on the wall over your PC screen. Paste photos of things you desire onto the paper. What do you want? An Aston Martin car? Set a goal and stick a picture up to remind you. A vintage 1962 Fender guitar? Set a goal and stick a picture of it up to remind you. That house with the expansive garden you drive past every day? Set a goal and stick a picture of it up to remind you.
Build Up To It
Yes, you want the money and the fancy lifestyle as soon as possible, but in reality, you're not going to achieve most of it this year, next year or the year after. It takes time to become financially independent, and the journey there is actually more important. If you won millions on the lottery, you wouldn't know what to do with it. The majority of big lottery winners end up blowing the lot and after a few years of decadence, they're back where they were before they started. Sometimes they end up worse off; their homes and cars are repossesed, they end up in debt, and all their friends have disappeared.
By building up your income gradually, you ease yourself into the higher lifestyle bit-by-bit. You appreciate the value of your efforts and the value of the money that you've made, and you're less likely to squander it.
By setting goals, I now have a vision of where I might be in 1, 2 or 3 years time, and a route map of how to get there. There may be several diversions along the way, but I'll get there eventually.
If you follow this blog, you'll see if I'm achieving those goals as I report on my progress.
For now, my short-term goals are:
- To release 2 sellable products by the end of 2010. (I'll be releasing my first soon)
- To earn at least £10 ($15) per day.
Now, go away, sit down in a quiet place, take stock of your life, decide what you want and what you need to get it, break it down into manageable chunks and set some goals. You'll be glad you did. It makes planning your online marketing strategies a lot easier.
I'm talking about setting goals for your online marketing efforts.
It has often been said that too many people are scared of making money! It sounds bizarre, but it's true. They have been brought up to believe that if you work hard at school, you will get a good job, and if you work hard in your job, you will earn a good salary. This is so deeply engrained into peoples' minds that if they find a way of making a lot more money with less effort, they don't believe that they deserve it. This creates a feeling of guilt and as a result, they don't put in the required effort and they fail. They go back to their day job, thinking that they have proved that they can't do it and that it's not for them.
I have a different view of all this. I know I can succeed online. My problem is that I do have a day-job, and I have a family. These both put demands on me and I find it difficult to find the time or energy to concentrate on my online businesses.
So that I don't lose faith and interest in what I am doing, I set myself some goals. I have long-term, medium-term and short-term goals. Here are some examples:
Long-term goal: To become financially independent within 3 years.
Medium-term goal: To match the salary I get from my day-job in online earnings within 2 years.
Short-term goal: To earn £10 per day online.
My long-term and medium-term goals sometimes look hard to achieve, but if I aim lower, I'll be depriving myself of my true desires.
My short-term goal is a lot more modest. I could earn £10 (about $15) per day just by selling one item every day, or a higher priced item every 2 days etc. That sounds relatively easy to achieve, so that is what I am working on.
Multiple Goals
You don't have to have just one short-term, one medium-term and one long-term goal. Here are some more of my goals (in no particular order):
Short-term: To buy a better car before the end of the year.
Medium-term: To be driving a new, top-of-the-range Alfa Romeo before the end of next year.
Long-term: To pay off my mortgage.
Medium-term: To cover my mortgage payments entirely by income from Google AdSense. (Don't you just love the idea of Ads by Google paying your mortgage?)
Another View
I live a long way from my place of work, and it costs me about £10 per day in petrol (gasoline) to drive to and from work. So if I can earn £10 per day online, that has paid for my travel expenses. (Ok, if I factor in the tax that must pay on my £10 per day earnings, it's not enough to cover my costs, but in general terms it is a lot easier to think of it as covering it).
Some time ago I sat down and worked out how much I need to earn each day to cover various expenses, such as car insurance, utility bills, local taxes. It's easy. Just take your bills for 1 year, add them up and divide by 365. Then you can think of your online income as covering that bill, or more than one of them.
Reaching a Goal
When checking to see whether a goal has been achieved, you have to be careful. Just because you earned £10 every day for a week, it doesn't mean you've reached the goal. The next week, you might not make any sales. On the other hand, the week after, you might make £30 per day.
Furthermore, sales are NOT going to be that regular. I might sell 3 items on day 1, not sell anything for 5 days, and then sell 4 more items. The point is that you know when you have reached the goal when the amount averages out to your target figure.
Updated Goals
Once you have reached a goal, there's no point in resting on your laurels. Remember you have more ambitious longer-term goals to achieve. You use the short-term goals as way-points or milestones towards achieving those longer-term goals.
So as soon as you are confident that you have reached your short-term goal, aim at a new, higher goal. But don't just change it to "Earn £20 per day online". Now that you have experience and know how to earn that original £10 per day, you should be able to do much better by duplicating what you have done several times over. So make your next goal considerably higher. How about £50 per day? One that I like to use is a factor of 7. Why? Because I like the idea that I can earn the same amount in 1 day that I used to earn in one week.
Setbacks
Everyone gets setbacks in their online marketing efforts, especially beginners. Modify your goals accordingly if you really think they are too ambitious. Go down to £1 per day, but keep the higher goals in the back of your mind.
Basically, what I am saying is that you need to have real goals otherwise you'll end up bumbling along or giving up. Write down your goals and stick them on the wall over your PC screen. Paste photos of things you desire onto the paper. What do you want? An Aston Martin car? Set a goal and stick a picture up to remind you. A vintage 1962 Fender guitar? Set a goal and stick a picture of it up to remind you. That house with the expansive garden you drive past every day? Set a goal and stick a picture of it up to remind you.
Build Up To It
Yes, you want the money and the fancy lifestyle as soon as possible, but in reality, you're not going to achieve most of it this year, next year or the year after. It takes time to become financially independent, and the journey there is actually more important. If you won millions on the lottery, you wouldn't know what to do with it. The majority of big lottery winners end up blowing the lot and after a few years of decadence, they're back where they were before they started. Sometimes they end up worse off; their homes and cars are repossesed, they end up in debt, and all their friends have disappeared.
By building up your income gradually, you ease yourself into the higher lifestyle bit-by-bit. You appreciate the value of your efforts and the value of the money that you've made, and you're less likely to squander it.
By setting goals, I now have a vision of where I might be in 1, 2 or 3 years time, and a route map of how to get there. There may be several diversions along the way, but I'll get there eventually.
If you follow this blog, you'll see if I'm achieving those goals as I report on my progress.
For now, my short-term goals are:
- To release 2 sellable products by the end of 2010. (I'll be releasing my first soon)
- To earn at least £10 ($15) per day.
Now, go away, sit down in a quiet place, take stock of your life, decide what you want and what you need to get it, break it down into manageable chunks and set some goals. You'll be glad you did. It makes planning your online marketing strategies a lot easier.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Put Some Effort Into Your Online Marketing
It's been quite some time since I last posted on here, and I'm going to try to get back into doing so on a more regular basis.
Anyone who has been following this blog since the beginning will know that I started out a few years ago with the intention of making money online. I've tried various things, but never really put a great deal of effort into it, which has had a fairly predictable result - i.e. very little in the way of online income.
This doesn't mean that it's not possible to make a lot of money online, but it does go to show that there is no "magic bullet". No "set-it-and-forget-it" method of making money. The bottom line is, just like any job, if you want to make money online, you have to put some effort into it.
Unfortunately, my day-job and family life have tended to get in the way of my online marketing efforts. I seem to have very little free time nowadays, and when I do, I'm generally so tired, that I really don't want to be working on what is effectively a second job. Consequently, I haven't made any real progress towards my goal of being able to give up the day job.
Ironically, if I was able to give up my day-job, I would have the time and energy to concentrate on my online marketing, but until I'm earning enough from my online activities, I cannot give up the day job. Catch 22. I imagine that there are many other people in the same situation.
Regardless of this, I have now decided to ramp up my efforts as much as possible in order to achieve this. I expect it to be many months, or a year or two before I can get to that point. In the meantime, I hope to be building up a steadily increasing income, and that extra cash will be very welcome.
Update
So, what has happened since my last set of semi-regular posts to this blog? Here's a quick summary. I shall probably post a summary like this every 6 months from now on - or more often if things go really well.
Products
In conjunction with another online marketer, I have developed a software product for which we have seen a few sales. We are currently working on version 2 of the software, which we think will sell much better as it contains a new list-building feature. More on that product in a future post when we release version 2.
Advertising Revenue
I got my first payment from Google AdSense. What a great feeling that was. It had been a long time in the making - I had displayed Google Ads on various sites on and off for about 4.5 years and earned the odd few cents here and there. The majority of the income was earned in the last 6 months after I had started to make some more popular websites.
Now, those sites are earning from AdSense a lot more quickly. At the current rate, they should earn about the same amount of money in under a year, but with a lot more effort on my part, I hope to start receiving payments at least monthly.
Affiliate Marketing
I've been a member of Clickbank for about 5 years, and I have still yet to receive any money from them. This is because I have not met the terms of their CDR (Customer Distribution Requirement). They will not release any money until those terms have been satisfied. Additionally, my account has also fallen foul of their Dormant Account Policy, in which accounts that are not active for extended periods are subject to various charges.
Recently, however, I have started to make a few sales, which keeps my account from becoming dormant while I try to meet the terms of the CDR.
The CDR is frustrating - it requires at least 5 different credit cards and 2 different payment methods. If everyone pays with PayPal rather than credit cards, it's difficult to meet this requirement when sales numbers are relatively low.
If you're in the same position, stick at it - you'll get there eventually.
I have joined various other affiliate programs and promote my links wherever possible, but again, this needs a lot more effort on my part. Some of the programs are for monthly services, so I should receive a monthly income from them. I see that as a key part of setting up an online income - build a nice core of monthly income streams that almost guarantee a minimum monthly income. I would love to get to the point where my mortgage is paid entirely from monthly affiliate income. (Of course, I would prefer to pay off my mortgage entirely, but one step at a time!)
In summary, I can see that had I put in a lot more effort into my online marketing over the last year or two, I would be in a much better financial situation. it's too easy to give up, or put things off because you're too tired.
Having started to see some money coming in, I am more enthusiastic about progressing things further.
Hopefully, my next summary report in 6 months time will show a marked change in my status.
Anyone who has been following this blog since the beginning will know that I started out a few years ago with the intention of making money online. I've tried various things, but never really put a great deal of effort into it, which has had a fairly predictable result - i.e. very little in the way of online income.
This doesn't mean that it's not possible to make a lot of money online, but it does go to show that there is no "magic bullet". No "set-it-and-forget-it" method of making money. The bottom line is, just like any job, if you want to make money online, you have to put some effort into it.
Unfortunately, my day-job and family life have tended to get in the way of my online marketing efforts. I seem to have very little free time nowadays, and when I do, I'm generally so tired, that I really don't want to be working on what is effectively a second job. Consequently, I haven't made any real progress towards my goal of being able to give up the day job.
Ironically, if I was able to give up my day-job, I would have the time and energy to concentrate on my online marketing, but until I'm earning enough from my online activities, I cannot give up the day job. Catch 22. I imagine that there are many other people in the same situation.
Regardless of this, I have now decided to ramp up my efforts as much as possible in order to achieve this. I expect it to be many months, or a year or two before I can get to that point. In the meantime, I hope to be building up a steadily increasing income, and that extra cash will be very welcome.
Update
So, what has happened since my last set of semi-regular posts to this blog? Here's a quick summary. I shall probably post a summary like this every 6 months from now on - or more often if things go really well.
Products
In conjunction with another online marketer, I have developed a software product for which we have seen a few sales. We are currently working on version 2 of the software, which we think will sell much better as it contains a new list-building feature. More on that product in a future post when we release version 2.
Advertising Revenue
I got my first payment from Google AdSense. What a great feeling that was. It had been a long time in the making - I had displayed Google Ads on various sites on and off for about 4.5 years and earned the odd few cents here and there. The majority of the income was earned in the last 6 months after I had started to make some more popular websites.
Now, those sites are earning from AdSense a lot more quickly. At the current rate, they should earn about the same amount of money in under a year, but with a lot more effort on my part, I hope to start receiving payments at least monthly.
Affiliate Marketing
I've been a member of Clickbank for about 5 years, and I have still yet to receive any money from them. This is because I have not met the terms of their CDR (Customer Distribution Requirement). They will not release any money until those terms have been satisfied. Additionally, my account has also fallen foul of their Dormant Account Policy, in which accounts that are not active for extended periods are subject to various charges.
Recently, however, I have started to make a few sales, which keeps my account from becoming dormant while I try to meet the terms of the CDR.
The CDR is frustrating - it requires at least 5 different credit cards and 2 different payment methods. If everyone pays with PayPal rather than credit cards, it's difficult to meet this requirement when sales numbers are relatively low.
If you're in the same position, stick at it - you'll get there eventually.
I have joined various other affiliate programs and promote my links wherever possible, but again, this needs a lot more effort on my part. Some of the programs are for monthly services, so I should receive a monthly income from them. I see that as a key part of setting up an online income - build a nice core of monthly income streams that almost guarantee a minimum monthly income. I would love to get to the point where my mortgage is paid entirely from monthly affiliate income. (Of course, I would prefer to pay off my mortgage entirely, but one step at a time!)
In summary, I can see that had I put in a lot more effort into my online marketing over the last year or two, I would be in a much better financial situation. it's too easy to give up, or put things off because you're too tired.
Having started to see some money coming in, I am more enthusiastic about progressing things further.
Hopefully, my next summary report in 6 months time will show a marked change in my status.
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