I made $604.38 in August

[willkriski]

I agree - I just use wordpress so it's a quick install. What is key is really knowing your market and in my opinion using video to pre-sell the product and provide extra info. Articles are great for many markets but for guitar lessons I feel video is much better. You can use the keyword tool as suggested. I haven't used samurai as much as I probably should.

Some exciting news: I just did a video today using my webcam offering a free bonus if people buy the affiliate product via my link. The bonus is some of my own digital guitar lesson products. I tell them to send me an email after they purchase and I will send them the link to my bonus product.

I broadcast the video to many sites using tubemogul. You have to join each video site but after that it's a breeze. I also email my list but I put a screenshot of my video in the email and make it a hyperlink. I use snagit to capture the video image.

Drumroll - I got 3 sales today (one just a few minutes ago) - each one is over $55US each. And the great news for all of us is that the content we create each day will be around each and every day so you can get sales years from now from the initial effort. I think it's important to find a product that sells first before expanding too much into extra content, articles, etc.

I'm also tracking sales each month for motivation and to hopefully increase the monthly revenue over time. All I can say is for you to persist even if you haven't made sales. I've had no sales for the majority of my online efforts. It's an emotional roller coaster as you eventually make a sale, and then nothing else happens for weeks. You have to believe it will happen and it will build over time, otherwise you think it won't work and you'll get more of that. So stay positive!

[Isha]

Congrats Will and thanks for the tips - you are an inspiration!

[Christopher Greenhough]

Originally Posted by willkriski

I've had no sales for the majority of my online efforts. You have to believe it will happen and it will build over time, otherwise you think it won't work and you'll get more of that. So stay positive!

Yes. And my experience has parallels with yours. So I just wanted to add this as a footnote.

I started dabbling with Internet Marketing many years ago, then I decided to get serious with it, and for a long time I did, working at it almost non-stop. Unfortunately, I went the wrong route, and followed the wrong people, spending a fortune on stupid biz-ops and MLMs. Eventually I had no choice but to leave it behind as I was spending way more than I was making back (although I did make some sales), mostly down to always jumping right in to the latest supposedly guaranteed killer opportunity in the hopes of being in on the ground floor and... Well, you know the rest. Diminishing returns.

I think I learned a lot during that time, and it was hugely flattering to see some seasoned marketers pick up on some of my ideas and use them, even made improvements to established products based on my suggestions, but I couldn't afford to maintain the outlay and wait for possible reward...

Sorely disillusioned, I went back to my day job. But here's the interesting part. For the past several years, one of my long-forgotten affiliate links (don't even ask me where it was) has been paying me $10-$20 a month in commissions. No, it's not lot of money, but remember I have not done anything with this in a long time. So this is true residual income from work I did years ago. So let's say I'm averaging $15 a month, over (being conservative) 3 years... That's $180 a year or $540 all told. Holy Cow. And come to think of it, it's probably been more like 5 years, not 3. No, it's not enough to live on, but adds up to at least some compensation for all the money I shelled out like a dumb*ss for so long.

So my point is this. Well, two things.

One, 30DC does not ask you to shell out wads of cash upfront, but makes it as near to zero cost as can be feasible, and if you really apply yourself it could well be self-financing by the time those 40 day trial periods elapse. And with none of the recruiting downlines or upgrade to our other way more expensive product to learn the real secrets or any of the other stupid BS that many self-appointed gurus foist upon the unwary (myself included, I'm afraid). There is no get-rich-quick button you can press. But 30DC is the real deal. It really does teach what you need to know, and arm you with the tools. What you have to put in is your time and effort, for which there is no replacement. You have to be realistic about that. Anyone who tells you otherwise is just not being straight with you.

And two, affiliate marketing is the way to go, to get your foot on the ladder. You can try out any market, any niche you like, with products that someone else has already done all the R&D for. Your outlay and risk are minimal, or nothing at all in some cases. You don't even need to buy advertising, so long as you buckle up and get to grips with the fact that only your blood, sweat and tears will get you where you want to go. It takes time, and it takes effort. But look at it this way. If I had been more clued up, if I was receiving that drip-drip-drip of commissions from 10 products, not 1, at $15 a pop, I'd be feeling pretty happy right now, considering it's residual income. That's the numbers game.

So, in the words of Karl Moore, I'm going to stop feeling sorry for myself ;-)

Seriously, guys (and non-guys), roll up your shirt sleeves and give it a go, follow the advice in all the tutorials, and it can be done. I wish I had been part of the 30DC from the beginning, but for me the light bulb has finally clicked on (and my 30DC site is climbing the Google ladder).

Thanks for the info and inspiration, @willkriski.

Note to self: instead of all this forum gossip you could been typing up a piece of keyword themed unique content. Doh!

[totville]

Thank you for sharing the tools you use -- ie, snagit -- as video is my weak area, and I need to learn much, much more about it.