What affiliates are working best for you? | Bloggers Lair | Yakezie Forums

justheather said:

I get declined a lot too, but I usually just go into the CJ mail system, send the merchant a message and ask why. I'll say something like, "If you could let me know what you're looking for in an affiliate, I would love to reapply when we meet your requirements." Typically, they approve me right then.

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That is great advice! I get declined a lot as well, but I never write to find out why. I'm going to use your approach from now on.

I wrote an ebook in another niche that I'm part of. The ebook did really well the first month (thousands of dollars) then less then next and less and now about half a year later it's a slow stream of a sales each month (income of a couple hundred dollars a month). The ebook was about 60 pages, created in Open Office then converted to a PDF. I did EVERYTHING myself including graphics and technical stuff. It took me about two month to write and completely create, but it's been the best thing I did all year. The ebook has been a consistent money maker for me and gave me a ton of experience regarding the creation and launch of ebooks. Here's a tip: the launch is IMPORTANT. That is where you will earn most of your money and the thing you need to focus on.

If you have any more questions about ebooks let me know! I'm not an expert but I do have firsthand experience. :)

The geek of an ebook is easy.    Write it in word, or whatever you want.  Then get a free pdf converter like CutePDF.  Once you have the pdf, open an e-Junkie account.   Done.

 

Picking up a freelance designer for the cover and layout can help but aren't absolutely necessary.

Thanks so much for all of the info!  This is great advice.

Melissa, Aloysa, and Others,

 

Using some affiliate links to balance out your whole monetization strategy is a great idea.  It’s good to have a mix of revenue streams and not be tied to any one thing in particular (like Adsense).  Especially if a particular advertiser stops their program… or for some inexplicable reason your account gets closed (like Khaleef’s Adsense account). 

 

Along the same vein, a friend of mine here in Philly started a company last summer that makes affiliate linking a heck of a lot easier.  She’s created a free WordPress plugin that automatically suggests affiliate links to insert into your post (but you have total control over the links).  This is nice because you don’t have to write a post tailored towards a specific affiliate, instead the plugin detects what your content is about and suggests links (similar to how adsense works, but for affiliates instead of basic ads).

 

Her company is a “superaffiliate” at Commision Junction and has approved accounts with hundreds of CJ advertisers.   So rather than applying to programs at Commission Junction one by one (and hoping you get accepted), you can use her plugin and run affiliate links from many different advertisers without any application process.

 

If you’re interested, her site is 123Linkit (and yes that is my affiliate link if you want to throw me a bone).  I hope this doesn’t sound to salesy, but I really like what she’s put together.

 

…oh, and creating your own ebook is not a bad idea either!

Post edited 2:10 am – December 15, 2010 by Fig (Figuring Money Out)

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 Aloysa said:

Fig (Figuring Money Out) said:

I wrote an ebook in another niche that I'm part of. The ebook did really well the first month (thousands of dollars) then less then next and less and now about half a year later it's a slow stream of a sales each month (income of a couple hundred dollars a month). The ebook was about 60 pages, created in Open Office then converted to a PDF. I did EVERYTHING myself including graphics and technical stuff. It took me about two month to write and completely create, but it's been the best thing I did all year. The ebook has been a consistent money maker for me and gave me a ton of experience regarding the creation and launch of ebooks. Here's a tip: the launch is IMPORTANT. That is where you will earn most of your money and the thing you need to focus on.

If you have any more questions about ebooks let me know! I'm not an expert but I do have firsthand experience. :)

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How did you price it? Meaning how did you know what you want to sell it for… Also, 60 pages double space?

 

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I sold it initially for $27. It's now on "sale" for $17.  I really didn't know how much I wanted to sell it for in the beginning. I asked a few people in the niche what they would pay, stuck a price on it and hoped it worked.  It did since the launch was successful and it is still selling copies at the current price without any promotion at all.

 

It was 60 pages single spaced, but with some photos and a couple pages that were mostly blank. It was a lot of info. It was 65 pages including the cover, contents, thank you, etc.

Kevin @ Financially Poor said:

Melissa said:

Thanks for the details about CJ.  I have applied there but have not used it much.  I should look into it again. 

Regarding the e-book, I have two ides in mind, but I am a bit intimidated by the whole process, specifically the technological side.  Like the others who have mentioned it, if anyone has published an e-book and would like to expand on the process, I would love to hear about it.  Thanks!

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When I made my ebook I referenced this a lot http://www.smartpassiveincome……smart-way/ It's pretty much start to finish of creating an ebook

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Whoops–I didn't see that Kevin had posted Pat Flynn's link first. See–it's really a great tool!

Melissa said:

 Geoff,

Great tip!  Can you explain a bit more about this?  Is there a cost to it?  I saw that the plug in automatically makes the links; can you choose whether you want to use them or not?  Also, what if you are not a member of the advertising group?   Say it links to a company that advertises with commission junction, but you are not a member of commission junction?  How do you make money with this?

I love the idea of this but want to know more before I add this plug-in.  Thanks.

 

Melissa 

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Second on this!

Melissa/Aloysa, Here are some answers about 123Linkit.   

• There is no cost to use the plugin
• You don’t have to sign-up for an account with Commission Junction, just sign-up with 123linkit.  When you register, fill out the payment information and they’ll pay you after your reach $25 in commissions.  Whether you are a member of CJ or not, it doesn’t matter, this is outside of their system. 
• You make money everytime someone clicks through one of your affiliate links and make a purchase (or lead in some cases).  This is just like a typical affiliate program.  The difference being that they aggregate hundreds of advertisers for you and make linking easier with the plugin. 
• Yes, you have total control over which links you want to use (if any). 

Also, they have a  few more details in their FAQs and it shouldn't hurt anything to download the plugin and play around.

Hope that helps!