milliondollarmaybe - the blog

Since my last post, and with a healthy dollop of fresh enthusiasm courtesy of Kirst McCubbin (www.affiliatestuff.co.uk), I have set to work on building a site template to start off my new affiliate marketing empire.  And rather than using the content management software (CMS) that I normally use, I thought I’d have a bash at adapting Wordpress to turn it into a CMS.  After all everyone who’s anyone in the IM field will tell you how important blogs are to search engines etc.

I was so inspired by those clever folks over at www.revolutiontheme.com that I set to work in earnest on Monday just gone.  Two days later I’m still no where near finished my ’theme’ but I’ve learnt so much about how Wordpress actually works (…I’ve still got loads more to learn).

From ‘widgets’ to ‘themes’ to ‘plugins’ I was amazed at how much stuff this platform has to offer, and how much free info there is out there. My plan is to get a template up and running and then adapt it for different sites for different products…nothing to do with IM of course!

I am fortunate in as far as I have some web developement skills but even if I didn’t have, Wordpress is really simple to use and even if you were a total beginner, with just a little bit of learning, you can have your own website up and running in no time. Now I know this will be old news to many but to anyone who has never put up a site before this software is a must.

As for me, when the sites are up I shall post the URL’s on this blog to show what can be achieved.

As anyone who has seen milliondollarmaybe from the beginning, you will know that the only way I made any consistant money was from Google Adsense, and even that wasn’t a fortune. With the odd affiliate sale here and the occasional Clickbank cheque there, for an eBook that’s out in the ether somewhere I certainly couldn’t call myself a ‘Guru’ (nor would I want to even if I was one of course)!

However I constantly read about these super affiliates and have always believed there must be a way to crack it…but never have!!!

Oh yes on several occasions have I tried and on even fewer occasions has it worked for me. Either my Adwords ad bids are too low it seems or my keyword targeting is off somewhere, I don’t know. Whatever I tried I came to the conclusion it doesn’t work unless you go to a sh** loads of trouble to follow the procedures set out in products in the world famous Affilaite Project X (in fact I had never made a single affiliate sale until I read APX).

Don’t ever let them kid you it’s easy, ‘coz it certainly ain’t!

However I believe I’ve recently had my eyes opened to what affiliate marketing should be about and although it still requires a sh** load of work, I reckon it’s going to be enjoyable.

The problem is that most ‘newb’ affiliate marketers try to go for the ‘make money’ niche, which although is highly lucrative, if you’ve never actually done it, without proof of how fantastic you are, you’re never going to earn your fortune from it now are you?

But then I came across KirstyMcCubbins site www.affiliatestuff.co.uk a few days ago and to be honest I was hooked on the info that I got from her.

Herself and others seem to be making  a sh** load of money from other niches where the punters aren’t even aware of things like affiliate commssions etc.  Because of this they are much more likely to follow links and buy…because they don’t believe they are being SOLD to!   Get it?

It’s just so obvious to me now why, although I have only been recommending what I consider to be decent products, I haven’t been making the sales.  I think it’s because very often people THINK they are being SOLD to.

It should be said that I never recommend products if I don’t believe in them but I can see why many prospects might not necessarily believe that! So what do I do about it?

Try the markets where the prospects don’t know what’s going on! I’m not trying to be deceiptful here but I can see now that this is what serious affiliate marketers do.

For me it was a light bulb moment and I’ve decided to update some of my other sites and concentrate on being an affiliate for other niches. And guess what? I’m fired up about it, because I am starting to believe again!

Yesterday I wrote about a great blog interview with Kirsty McCubbin of the www.affiliatestuff.co.uk. It was like a breath of fresh air to see how someone is actually doing their affiliate sales rather than trying to sell ‘how to do it’.

If you want to see what she’s doing you can see her latest baby here at www.lingeriebrands.co.uk.

I think the site looks really good and decided to look into it further. It turns out that she bought a template from www.revolutiontheme.com and then adapted it. These themes are based aroung Wordpress which makes them highly user and search engine friendly.

For anyone who wants to have a really professional looking website without the huge bill then you’ve gotta check out www.revolutiontheme.com. The templates are lovely and really profesional looking so if your web design skills aren’t up to scratch then this could well be your way forward.

I’ve just read an interview with Kirst McCubbin, an affiliate marketer who makes her full time living even while she is backpacking round the world. To my mind this is the whole ethos behind the internet marketing game, making good money even when you’re not working.

If you need inspiration or have failed to make any money yet as an affiliate you can read the interview here.

She even gives a real example of one of her sites and it doesn’t cost anything to look.  Not often you get some good info for nothing.

Read the interview and learn from it, that’s what I say!

Many people tend to think that internet marketing is all about selling information on the internet. In fact the internet should be considered as nothing more than a tool to provide information and if this information enables you to sell stuff…great.

GENUINE WHOLESALE ONLY!

The thing is though it can and also should be used to sell stuff in the real world rather than just the virtual one.

Whether you sell on eBay or from your online store, physical products are still very much in demand and many of us wannabe internet market forget this.

Well I’ve just been listening to a couple of CD’s featuring Chris Malta of Worldwide Brands fame, with a view to start dropshipping. I was actually quite surprised at how many scams there were out there on the subject, particularly on eBay. In fact it is really difficult to find genuine wholesalers at all.  Most are purely middle men claiming to be wholesalers, who obviously take a cut before you  get the goods. This of course drastically reduces your profits.

Looking into it further it seems that genuine wholesalers do not advertise their services online because they don’t want to attract the small time business opportunity seeker. They of course want the big boys who buy thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of products at a time.

However back in 2004 Chris Malta set up the Dropship Source Directory at www.worldwidebrands.com which enabled the smaller trader to find genuine wholesale suppliers and dropshippers, even for those who only do small volumes in sales.

It was obviously a godsend for many marketers and the directory has gone from strength to strength.

As it took off it has now evolved into the Onesource Directory and is now widely considered to be the largest and most genuine list of true wholesalers available. And it’s updated daily.

For a one time fee there are over 3,000,000 million products and over 9,000 suppliers to choose from plus you get access to product research tools that are second to none (see my review here for more detailed information).

It seems that anyone who wants to seriously consider dropshipping then as usual should be advised to do proper research and not just go to eBay. It seems that there is no better tool than the Onesource directory for this. You can take a free tour here:-

TAKE A FREE TOUR

The South coast of England has been hit by a severe storm today, one of the worst for a few years. Waves were huge at Shoreham beach and many of our local roads were closed .

And I missed it!

As usual I’ve spent most of my day glued to the pc and now as I sit watching the local news on the goggle box I am thinking that I should get out more! Apparently the waves and the beach were a fantastic sight at high tide and I didn’t get to see them!

It’s made me think that although I love what I do, there is another life away from my computer.

The whole reason I gave up my traditional business was because I didn’t want to be tied to it. Now, although it’s through choice, I seem to be tied to my online business.

Dedication and perseverance are of course admirable with any venture but I think we all need to give ourselves a break sometimes. I’m also sure that productivity is increased when you step back from time to time.

So there you have it -my thoughts today- don’t work so hard!

The milliondollarmaybe H2O report is now ready for downloading.

For anyone who is trying to break into the IM niche this is a MUST read. There is just so much crap on this subject and I feel so many people are getting a bum deal.

As someone who has come from a ‘proper’ business background it will spill the beans on what I consider the 5 main deceipts that are all around you when you start.

For some reason people just don’t see this stuff when they dip their hand in their pockets for the old credt card to get  the next’ latest, greatest…’ that’s going to make them rich.

This report I hope will put anyone straight and stop them wasting their money unless something is truly worthwhile. I genuinely hope it helps.

It’s free to anyone who signs up to receive the milliondollarmaybe newsletter. You can check it out here www.miiliondollarmaybe.com/H2O_Report.

It’s Sunday morning, again I’m at my PC and now writing this post. Whereas I should be out and about, especially living here on Shoreham Beach, instead I’m sitting where I usually am.

Why?

Because I love this stuff. Friends and collegues can’t understand why I spend so much time at my desk because when I gave up my ‘bricks and morter’ business I always said I wanted to work less! The truth the matter is I now ‘work’ much more than I ever did but, the key is, I love it!

I’ve always said it’s not work if you enjoy it and I think that’s what sets apart the ‘big boys’ from mr.average…they love what they do and if you love it, you can usually make money from it (if of course you want to).

The majority of people spend their weekends not even thinking about work because they want to get away from what they ‘hate’ during the week. I can honestly say that I don’t feel this way because I love what I do even during the week.

Now that’s not to say I’m satisfied with what I’m getting out of it, on the contrary I want more…but the difference is I am always looking for new ways to get it. And this has almost become a hobby!

Why do most people accept their lot even if they secretly dream of bigger better things?

As for me I may or may not end up a rich man but I’m gonna have a damn good go at it!

Personally I don’t bother doing the lottery. But it always amazes me when I go into my local corner shop how many people spend at least £5.00 (roughly $10.00 US) per week doing it, in the remote hope that it will change their lives forever. It seems to me that this money accumilated over time could be far better spent on something which is much more likely  to make them better off in the future, maybe a great marketing program for example!

However a mate of mine Martin from www.mecoit.com has decided to promote a program based around the Euro lottery. The concept is simple, if you can get five people to join the program under you, you effectively get five lines of the lottery for free, at least that’s my understanding.

 Apparently the system gives you equivalent to 88 lottery entries per week which cost a fiver and you get someone else to pay for it!

For those people who spend at least a fiver on the lottery they could massively increase their odds and also get a slice of a much larger pie by using this system.

Anyone who’s interested in this concept can find out more by following this link  http://www.v-w-d.com/178392ME.

By the way that is not my affiliate link. I don’t get anything fromn this but I thought it would be handy for somebody!

Anyone in the biz-opps scene can’t fail to have seen the new offering from Neil Shearing, the’10 Day Cash Secret’.

I have to say, with his latest roll out the stats look really impressive as he seems to have made a fair few thousand dollars within a very short space of time. Momentarily I was tempted to get it (and still may do) but then after a little more thought, for now, I’ve decided not to.

His new program involves developing auto-generated websites to produce affiliate sales.

Now it should be said that I still have a few auto-generated sites that were produced by ‘Traffic Equaliser’ a few years ago, and they still bring me in a little income, although nothing like they used to.

Although Neil’s system is slightly different in as far as his sites will regularly auto-update with content that is continuously being fed by other sites, if I’m honest I feel these type of sites are polluting the inernet (sorry Neil)! How often do you do a search only to come up with a junk site that doesn’t give you the info you are looking for, but instead gives you a load of adsense or affiliate links to other websites. I’d rather have got to those in the first place.

You can see why Google and the like are getting more critical with their algorithms to hopefully make your searches more relevant, and therefore better for the user, rather than the opportunist internet marketer.

I feel the long term internet marketer really should be thinking more along the lines of quality, authority sites with valuable content for long term success.

The point is I have started to take my internet marketing strategies a bit more seriously and any website that gives a ’shortcut’ to cash generation, I can’t help feeling it’s days are numbered.

Having said that if the ‘The 10 Day Cash Secret’ program stands the test of time and people start reporting great results with it, then as long as I’m not fleecing anyone else, I will forget my morals, happily ‘pimp’ myself and invest in it later!!!

If the lazy way is your thing then you can get Neil’s program at www.10daycashsecret.com.