Here is a snippet of an e-mail I got today.
……”I was looking at your website and it looks great.
I have to ask man…do you have any recommendations for a internet marketing ‘starter’? I’m sure you get asked that alot but I really really want to do something online, just a little lost on direction.
Any advice would be sooo helpful…….”
Here is a copy of my e-mail response to him. I realized he’s right, and this is what I generally tell folks that ask me where to get started.
“Hi [removed],
I’m sure it might sound evasive, but you’ll need to find something that fits your personality and resources. There are infinite ways to make money online. Also, by resources I mean not only money but skills and time, etc. By personality I’m thinking risk tolerance and interests.
Digitalpoint forums and Warrior forum are good resources for beginners. Abestweb is nice. Blackhatworld is good too. Wickedfire forum is pretty harsh. If you go there, only lurk for several weeks. They tend to be hard on newbies.
I would advise you to keep your money and avoid buying e-books, etc. All the information you can buy is available for free elsewhere. When I was getting started, I stumbled upon something that let me make enough to scrape by and spent about 3 months reading Digitalpoint forums. Like 14 hours per day….7 days per week. Now, I spend almost no time in forums. I just do the shit I know how to do to make money. But if my shit quits working, I go back to the forums.
Good luck bro!
Danger
P.S. When you’re ready to start building money making websites, get some good hosting and sign up for some affiliate networks.”
Now, I’m sure he just wanted me to tell him to do exactly this and that and cash in, but I’ve come to believe advice like that isn’t really practical. You gotta find something that fits you, that you will enjoy doing. Also, the internet is ever-changing and to be successful long-term requires broad enough knowledge that you can reinvent your business models often.
There is a lot of buzz about Revolution202. They are calling themselves a ‘Partner Network’ with good reason. Their mission is basically to provide value to affiliates and let their own profitability take care of itself. They like to think of themselves as your partner rather than your network. I know Wes and Roland personally and can vouch for their integrity.
I knew they were planning on eventually merging Tracking202 and Tracking202 Pro with a network, but had no idea it would be so soon.
I am a big supporter of everything 202. I use Prosper202 myself and I promise you it’s worth any learning curve involved in getting things set up right. They provide all sorts of features but my favorite two are:
1. I can see every search keyword which has ever converted for my offers.
2. I can see what times of day my conversions occur which assists me in adjusting my bids throughout the day.
If you don’t know how to host things on your own server and stuff like that, just use Tracking202 free or paid Tracking202Pro. Prosper202 was released as open source software to quell any concerns that the 202 guys might be interested in peaking at your data.
Some nervous types were concerned about it, so 202 put their money where their mouth was and gave it away for free. It worked. Prosper and Tracking202 are wildly popular among successful affiliates. Their users are a virtual who’s who of affiliate marketing. Is’nt that a club you want to be part of?
What is your favorite feature in any of the 202 products?
Just a quick interesting tale here of how I went in the eyes of a large affiliate network from being unworthy to highly desirable. One of the larger networks (you’ve heard of them) initially denied me. I had been planning on moving into affiliate marketing, but hadn’t done anything yet. Hey, you have to have something to promote before you can make money right?
I applied to several networks and most approved me, but 2 didn’t approve me. Whatever….I moved forward and started promoting Hydra offers and making some money. Less than 4 weeks after starting my rise to affiliate affluence, I got a phone call from an account executive at a big network. It went something like this.
Danger: “hello?”
AM: “Hi, I just saw your landing page xxxx.com and noticed you’re running some xxxxxxx offers. I looked in our system and saw that you had applied to our network already. I’d like to offer you a higher payout on some exclusive offers we have in your niche and I can approve your account while we’re on the phone so you can log in right now if you want.
What is significant about this conversation is that they had denied me already. I had a denial e-mail from them. Further, they were looking at the same landing page I had submitted as one of my websites. The only thing that had changed is that they noticed my ad came up for a keyword on one of their higher performing niches.
To be very clear, what happened is the AM did a search for some keyword in my niche on Google and one of my ads came up on the first page of search results. I was automatically in even after having been denied by them. The people they want in their network are those who are already experienced affiliate marketers.
I of course do not recommend this as a specific strategy to get accepted to a network. I do think that this real-life example is very revealing as to how affiliate networks really think and what they really want to see in those applying to their network.
What we’ve learned:
1. Tell them that you are going to do something, and maybe they’ll approve you.
2. Tell them(honestly and believably) that you are already doing something, and they’ll approve you for sure.
Note that this is not the only call I’ve received like this. This scenario has started to repeat itself. Once you are a successful affiliate the roles become reversed. You no longer need them, they are the ones who need you.
I’m soon going to be doing a more in depth post about how to get accepted to a network. You don’t have to wait for that though. Check out these affiliate network signup links.
I’m getting a lot of people asking me what networks I am using. These are my networks and my referral links to them. If you have ever visited the site before, and want me to get credit for your referral, you need to clear your cookies before clicking through.
If you hate me and want my 4 children to starve, then don’t click my links at all. Note that I’m more likely to care about helping you one on one if you are one of my referrals.
Market Leverage Great network! If you haven’t signed on with them, you are missing something. If you hit $1K/week you can get weekly wire payments which will explode your cash flow if you’re a PPC’er. It’s like putting your cash flow on cocaine! If you know what you’re doing, you can reinvest all your money+profits 3-4 times per month.
Features of Market Leverage:
1. piles of offers I haven’t seen elsewhere
2. a beautiful website that’s intuitive and useful
3. a great 5% lifetime referral program
4. Will put you on weekly payments if you hit $1000/week and ask.
Revolution202 The guys from legendary Tracking202 and Prosper202 (both free), and Tracking 202 Pro (paid with added features) have what they call a partner network. It really is their mindset to provide you with whatever you need to succeed. Tracking202 users are a virtual who’s who of affiliate marketers. I use the free Prosper202 version of their tracking software and it has helped me increase sales. I know Wes and Roland personally and vouch for their integrity. Revolution202 is only a few days old at the time of this writing, but I plan to send about 50% of my traffic there. I trust them.
XY7.com If you are tired of working with affiliate managers that don’t know anything, give XY7 a try. Many of their AM’s run their own campaigns on the side. This gives them the knowledge to assist you in your campaigns. That being said, even though I like and trust my affiliate manager there, I cloak my traffic using Prosper202. You don’t want a smart affiliate manager having full access to your keyword and landing page information. Just a matter of principle to keep that stuff secret.
MarketHealth.com Most of their offers are in house and very stable. If you do article marketing or SEO and don’t want to promote something only to have it disappear. Then I would strongly suggest these guys. Also, most of their payouts also have a residual so you get paid again on re-orders. They tend not to have any ‘scammy’ offers, so some of their offers don’t convert as well as scammy ones found elsewhere, but you might be able to sleep better at night working with MarketHealth. I think these guys are ahead of the curve with FTC compliance so I feel more secure sometimes working with them.
XorClicks
A great network. Lots of the offers you want to be pushing. Also, I think they are easier to get approved to than a lot of other networks. That seems to be an issue for a lot of folks.
Clickbooth A pretty good, pretty large network. No reason I haven’t sent much traffic here. Just not enough hours in the day. They have lots of offers in just about every category.
Neverblue Network I’m running about 10% of my traffic here. I like their interface. Easily search their whole network for EPC (earning per click), network earnings and such. I always take a look here when researching new offers. Their interface is one of the best, and most intuitive. Very good for newbies. I also like being able to ad tracking pixels directly from my login.
MoreNiche These guys have an aggressive referral program which pays out $20/per signup +5% for life. Not a lot of offers though, but this network is pretty easy to get accepted to. If you have been denied anywhere, you should try applying to MoreNiche.
CX Digital Media A pretty good, pretty large network. No reason I haven’t sent much traffic here. Just not enough hours in the day. I haven’t even looked at everything they’ve got.
COPEAC These guys are on the ball. Call them and they pick up the phone. Today I called 20 minutes after my affiliate manager was supposed to go home. Did he let it go to voicemail? Nope, he walked me through something for 10 minutes and acted like there was nothing he’d rather do. Also, they have built landing pages for me. You can outsource landing page design to them for free which gives you more time to focus on building campaigns. Hey, anytime I can get a free and unique landing page I might as well at least split test it against my own layout.
CPALead These folks have a lot of surveys and such. Good for e-mail or Facebook apps or something like that. But not the kind of offers I’m into. If you have an e-mail list you’ve built, you should be looking at CPALead
Pepperjam Good network, great service, but they only pay a $.50/lead on referrals. I’d rather have the lifetime percentage. This is a big network, but I’ve had higher payouts on the same offers from Hydra. So far, I haven’t had a good enough reason to promote Pepperjam’s offers. But of course, they are a good, big network, and it’s always good to have as many options as possible.
Motive Interactive Nice smaller outfit. Getting accepted takes much longer if you don’t go through a referral link like mine. Mostly they take new affiliates by invite only. I met up with an AM (affiliate manager) on Twitter. They have been very pleasant.
EDIT: Luke from motive stopped by to say “Motive will do Paypal and wires – Motive will also do weekly payments as well and give higher than street payouts. You will have to talk with your AM at Motive Interactive CPA Network for approval on these.”
I do plan to do more business with them in the future. I’ve only heard good things about Motive from several sources.
Affiliate.com formerly CPAEmpire. They don’t have many of the sort of offers I promote. Also, their referral program is pretty terrible. It’s terms are designed to not pay you. I don’t expect to ever make any money from it. Today they have 282 campaigns, only 6 of them exclusive, and the ones I’m familiar with have higher payouts elsewhere. I know a lot of people do still use them. Maybe you’ll find something wonderful. Or maybe you have different strategies from me.
AzoogleAds.com These guys are real big. Lots of offers. I have gotten a higher payout with Hydra though so I haven’t run any of Azoogle’s offers, but it’s nice to have the option. Their referral program pays 2% only for 6 months after a signup, and only if you personally do over $1000/mo in conversions, so it’s basically worthless. I don’t expect to make anything off the referral program, but it is overall a pretty good CPA network and I would recommend signing up with them.
AVG – Affiliate Venture Group Good people with lots of offers. The network owners are solid. They are lenders and advertisers for lending offers. So they are not going anywhere. I had a blast hanging out with Ricky and Cathy from AVG out at Affiliate Convention Denver. I have some experience with lending traffic and will be running some payday loans business to these folks. I just need more hours in the day to get all my projects done.
LeadingEdgeCash They have the sort of offers that will always be making money. “male enlargement” type products. If you feel comfortable in this arena, the money can be huge too. (note the pun) Bad humor is free around here.
WorldNiche Worldniche is owned by the same folks as LeadingEdgeCash. If you are signing up to one, you should sign up to the other. It is similar products to leading edge cash. (male and female sexual enhancement) But they are branded with different names and so forth. If you want to do review type pages, you can find these types of offers at Moreniche and MarketHealth as well.
Monetizeit/Filinet/MediaWhiz: A good network with lots to offer.
TriFoxMedia These guys are a small outfit and want to grow. If you have been denied to other networks because you’re a newbie, apply to and call these guys on the phone. They’ll give you a chance because they are hungry for new affiliates. Don’t get the idea that their newbies. Todd the owner started out as an affiliate and knows what he’s doing. They are still small enough to really care about you and give you one on one help from someone who has walked in your shoes.
Hydra Network Hydra is OK. They are real big and have lots of offers, but I felt pretty let down when they cancelled the referral program. I felt like it was a breach of contract. I am not currently running any traffic to Hydra.
I’ve got 4 kids and my two in-laws living on my property. If you want to help a brother out and sign up through my links to any of these networks, I’ll be your best friend. Your mentor if you need one, and your collaborator. Contact me through @dangerbrown on Twitter. Most of these networks won’t pay me a dime unless you make money, so I will go out of my way to help you succeed. It’s a win, win for both of us. So get started applying to these guys now! Carpe diem!! (Seize the Day!!)
If you do want my insider secrets and want to sign up through one of these links, please clear your cookies first. I sure would appreciate it.
Have a nice day,
Danger
I’m here to help you make money with internet marketing. What’s the catch? There’s got to be a catch right? Yes there is, but it won’t cost you anything. The catch is that I’m going to encourage you to sign up for some of the major affiliate networks through my link to their website. If I get you to sign up, I can receive 2% to 5% of the money you make with affiliate marketing. It doesn’t come out of your pocket. It is an incentive many networks offer to get new affiliates (people like you) on their network.
I can’t make money from this plan unless you are successful. So I really am here to help you succeed. I want you to make lots of money. I’ll be exploring various techniques, sharing my own strategies and am happy to answer questions you may have.
If you become my sub-affiliate with any network, I’ll share really specific info I wouldn’t share with my mother. Things like exactly what offers I’m promoting, keywords and negative keywords, ad scheduling, and more. If you are wanting to sign up to any network not listed here, but still want a mentor, let me know. I am probably a member and can send you a sign up link. If you e-mail me. danger@dangerbrown.com
I’m a member of several networks, but these are my three favorites:
Join Hydra Network, The Leading Performance-Based Advertising Network, Today!
Sign up for Neverblue, a great company with high standards.
Sign up for MarketHealth, they own about 90% of their campaigns. Their campaigns are not fly-by-night. Good if you want long term profitablility in a PPC campaign.
