I have been, or can be if you click on a link and make a purchase, compensated via a cash payment, gift, or something else of value for writing this post. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.
A lot of people ask me what I do, and I tell them I build websites. Jason says, “my Dad builds the Internet.” I’ve been using that answer lately, too.
But it’s all a lie.
Well, maybe not all a lie, but I don’t build websites. I work on certain parts of websites, but I don’t do it all. And, to further complicate things, I’m getting rid of all my clients.
So, how do I run a website business, without building websites, and without having clients? Simple: I’ve shifted my efforts into affiliate marketing.
Affiliate Marketing isn’t hard to understand: it’s a commission-based sales position. My job is to sell things for other people. When I do, they pay me.
So let’s say I decided there was an opportunity selling pet medications online. I’d partner up with 1-800-PetMeds
There are lots of people that do this as their sole source of income. I’m the “techie” for one of these guys (Paul, ShopperUK.com) so I manage the projects as they’re implemented. Paul does the marketing and idea generation.
So these days, 10% of my time is spent on clients whose projects I’m wrapping up, 5% spent on my own affiliate marketing, and the rest on ShopperUK.
So there – now you know what I do. Steve wanted me to write about some affiliate marketing tips, which I’ll soon start. The first one will be about a little feature in Google AdWords, which I found to really screw up your ROI. I was getting like 130% ROI on a project, then activated this “feature” and dropped to 30%. OUCH! So much for technology… I’m going back to the old-fashioned way to do things… I switched things up yesterday, and am heading back up, with an 85% ROI yesterday.
Stay tuned…