Welcome to EffectiveAffiliateMarketing.com!
My name is Mike. Before I get into who I am, I would like to answer a few questions right off the bat!
WHO IS THIS SITE FOR?
This blog is for individuals that are looking for a legitimate and effective way to supplement their income. It is for individuals that are looking for financial security beyond their 9 to 5 job. Specifically, it is geared towards earning money through affiliate marketing.
If you work a 9 to 5 and feel like you do not have control over your life, this site is geared to you. If you find it difficult to accept that your life and the financial fate of your family is controlled by someone else, this site is for you.
You want to pay off some bills, pad your savings or just build an emergency savings account.
You work at a mind-numbing job where you feel like you are wasting your time and missing out on your true potential.
For those that are tired of always feeling at risk of getting laid off. This site will give you the tools to earn money through affiliate marketing in order to gain some peace of mind.
If you want your earning potential to depend solely on you and the hard work you put in and not on some boss or company, this blog is for you.
For the few that are looking even beyond earning a substantial side income and are hoping to ultimately be their own bosses, this site is also for you!
HOW WILL I HELP YOU?
In order to provide the most relevant help, I will focus 100% on affiliate marketing. I find that the easiest way to do this is by doing the following:
- Honest Reviews: There are tons of SCAMs out there. Too many aspiring affiliate marketers get ripped off on a daily basis. I know I did! I went from one program to the next hoping to learn the latest techniques in order to help me earn some money online. Unfortunately, the make money niche is full of hucksters looking to make a quick buck. They have no shame playing on your dreams of becoming financially free. If you are like me, you have neither the time nor the money to waste on B.S.
I plan on reviewing Affiliate Marketing programs and launches and I promise to give you my honest opinion based on my experiences and on objective research.
- Providing Relevant and Actionable content: I will cover affiliate marketing topics in depth. I assume that a varied mix of affiliate marketers will read this blog. My content will cover topics like finding niches, the importance of SEO, email marketing and all the relevant facets of AM. I hope that over time, you will find this site to be a resource that you can come back to over and over!
- Technical Step-by-Steps: These tutorials will help you complete tasks needed to succeed in affiliate marketing. I am talking about tutorials on how to sign up for hosting, how to optimize blog posts and things of that nature.
- Finally, I hope that you will engage with me in the comments sections of my posts. Ask me questions and I will do my best to answer them. If I do not know the answer, I will find it and get back with you. I will use your comments and questions to create more relevant content and hopefully add even more value to you.
WHO AM I?
As stated in the first line of this About page, my name is Mike. I have a job that I love and that pays me well. However, I hate the idea that my family’s fate is almost solely dependent on the whims of my boss, my org and ultimately the company that employs me.
Since the dot bomb on the early 2000’s, I have worked at companies where layoff were, and still are, a constant occurrence. I see the lives of men and women shattered in the blink of an eye. These are people that have been loyal hard workers for years.
Many of them had families. Some had complex medical conditions. A few had special needs kids they were taking care of, or elderly parents they supported.
None of that matters when you work for a company. Sure, you can do an excellent job and get ranked higher on the list. This might help you if the bottom performers are picked for layoffs (I bet the people selected as bottom performers will not agree with that designation).
However, merit is not always the measure by which companies decide to layoff. Job titles can be eliminated. Geographic locations can be targeted. None of these have to do with merit or how hard you work.
I have 4 wonderful children and I decided a long time ago that I would make sure that we would be ok if I got laid off. This led me on a search for a side gig. I landed on affiliate marketing. I will explain how in a bit. My goal has been to learn and master affiliate marketing to generate a consistent monthly income that I can count on.
I know that if I can consistently generate $500, or $1000, it will mean that I can scale to higher amounts. My intent is not to quit my job, although I might decide to do so in the future. Would it not be nice to make that decision on my own terms, knowing that I have the PROVEN skills to do it?
HOW DID I LAND ON AFFILIATE MARKETING?
In 2006, before having my 4th child, my wife and I were talking about getting her a job from home. She was taking care of our three other little kids, so working outside of the home was not possible.
I did a search on the internet for job opportunities and came across an advertisement touting “Data Entry” opportunities where you could make thousands of dollar entering data for big companies like Coca Cola. Remember that at this time I knew nothing about the internet, or affiliate marketing.
So I excitedly paid the $27 and downloaded the course, which I thought was weird because my wife and I were looking for job, not a course.
Anyhow, I downloaded it and it turned out to be step by step instructions on how to complete an adwords PPC campaign. I followed the instructions and quickly lost over $100 on two short campaigns.
I was pissed, but I was also intrigued. I dove into the world of making money online. The next course I bought was the “Adwords Miracle”. I lost some more money. By this time I was honing in what I wanted to do.
After a while I decided that affiliate marketing was going to be the vehicle by which I reached my financial independence.
Over the next 4 or five years, I chased after every get-rich-quick scheme out there. I am embarrassed to say that I never really learned my lesson. I kept looking for something that was not there. I was looking to make money without doing the work.
By the end of 2010 I had about 10 sites. Some were amazon sites, others were adsense sites and the rest were “traditional” sites promoting digital products. I was earning a few hundred dollars from each site, but not consistently. I was still spending all my earning on the latest tools and secret techniques.
One day in 2011 , Google implemented and update called Panda. That is when all of my shortcuts came to bite me in the behind. Every single one of my sites was penalized. They were basically wiped out!
You see, over the years of following get-rich-quick schemes, I had exposed my sites to be slapped by Google. And they did. Boy did they ever!
After that I quit. I could not bear the idea that all my work was gone. I blamed Google for destroying years of hard work! It is interesting that I never stopped to think that I was really the one to blame.
So I refocused on my 9 to 5. I got promoted and got paid a little bit more. But I never grew complacent. I was still looking for a side hustle that would provide me with financial security should I lose my job.
I started selling on EBay and Amazon. It was successful but I had very little time to source products. I also did not enjoy it that much.
So a few years later, I decided to give Affiliate Marketing another shot. Here I am now, and I am glad.
As soon as I dove back into it, I realized that I had gained some very valuable skills prior to Panda beating me down. I decided to use those skills differently than I had in the past. I definitely learned my lesson.
I decided to treat affiliate marketing as a business. I was in this for the long haul. No more get-rich-quick schemes. I committed to patience and constant incremental effort and hard work.
Ultimately, I realized that just like any other business, affiliate marketing takes time. It takes effort, and lots of it.
Today I have two sites that I am focusing on. I wake up at 0430 – 0500 and put in a couple of hours of work each and every day. I don’t expect miracles but I know from past experience that Affiliate Marketing works! I am proof of it.
If you are willing to be patient and to put in the hard work, why don’t you join me in this great endeavor of earning our financial freedom through Affiliate Marketing?
Please leave any questions or comments below. I will get back to you as soon as I can.
Sincerely,
Mike
EFFECTIVEAFFILIATEMARKETING.COM