About 2 years ago I had the bright idea that I could multitask by managing or launching 5 different businesses. I had just come off an affiliate management gig, so I figured that it was the right time to work on 3 online businesses and 2 offline ones.

Bad idea.

This blog is the only survivor out of the lot. The victims included a half-completed (more…)

• bizhacking
• 13 Comments

One of the biggest obstacles for some with getting started with making money online, specifically affiliate marketing, is the idea of paying for training.

I agree that with many free blogs, free forums and other free resource sites, having to pay something like $67 per month for affiliate marketing training at AffPlaybook seems silly.

It is, until you factor in that 90% of stuff posted online is based on “theory” and/or by people who don’t know what they’re talking about.

So, yes, there are free sites where you can “learn” stuff. Take note that you will be paying with your time, especially if the ratio of quality to junk is low (ie: more junk than quality), and you ultimately will be paying with your money, if you read up on bad advice and try to follow it.

While I had been an affiliate manager before, I encountered affiliates who learnt blackhat (more…)

• affiliate marketing
• 15 Comments

Every entrepreneur and every business will hit this point.

Facing something that hits you like a punch to the heart.

It could be getting your websites indexed, go dark, invisible off the face of Google.

It could be seeing your Bing PPC quality scores drop to 1/10 for your keywords.

It could be Facebook suspending your Facebook Ads or Facebook profile (also cutting off access to your ads account).

Recently I was following developments in (more…)

• Internet Marketing
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If you look across the board, it looks like blogs are generally showing lower traffic numbers, compared to about 5 years ago.

Part of it is due to the emergence of micro blogging platforms like Twitter and social media networks like Facebook.

I’m also part of the group that finds it easier to (more…)

• blogging
• 6 Comments

Whether you own your own product or be an affiliate, the principle of having a sales funnel and optimizing it applies equally to you.

What is a sales funnel?

It’s a process where you introduce your leads (also known as prospects) to your marketing message, with the aim of hitting your conversion goal, either a sale, collecting the prospect’s information or some other action.

Most marketers will aim for a single goal – the sale. If the lead doesn’t buy, then there’s no followup on the action. This can be considered arbitrage, especially if you have a single opportunity to get the sale.

To make arbitrage work, the following factors will help

1. Buying traffic at a low price
2. Buying high quality traffic that converts
3. Getting a high payout for the offer

Note that the above goals are usually mutually exclusive. That means you probably can’t buy high quality traffic at a low price, and you won’t be able to convert low quality traffic for an offer with a high payout. If you are able to find an offer that is brand new and hasn’t been picked up by many affiliates, or if you find a traffic source that few affiliates and marketers are using, you’d have the opportunity to capitalize on the market gap (at least until other affiliates start saturating your market advantage).

For your strategy to work, you’d also need to ensure that you have enough (more…)

• affiliate marketing
• 0 comment

Here’s something interesting I’ve noticed.
People who perform regular athletic activity tend to outperform those who don’t.
There might not be a lot of sports professionals in Internet marketing, but the ones who were on a college team or played a sport (including competitive poker) competitively might have an edge.

Here are some reasons why:

• Discipline: Athletes are used to structured training schedules. College-level swimmers might do a round of training from 5am to 7am, head to classes, then get back into the pool and do a second training session from 4pm to 6pm. This goes on for 5-6 days a week, with a rest day. This is in the midst of having to attend classes too. I remember following this schedule for about a quarter till I dropped out of swimming. The effort-reward didn’t agree with me, especially since the women were regularly swimming faster than me. The discipline factor comes in because training is always a priority, unless you had a serious illness, you’d still continue with training. This same attitude also applies to building an Internet business, especially at the early stages. If you slacken, take a week off or take your eye off the target, you’re likely to crash and burn.

(more…)

• lifehacking
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