YOUR Free Copy of “Affiliate Marketing without the B.S.”

54 thoughts on “YOUR Free Copy of “Affiliate Marketing without the B.S.””

1. Hi Steve,

   Your new product sounds awesome. I can’t wait to get my hands on it. I am still reading Affiliate Marketing without the B.S. over and over again, and it’s the best course I’ve ever bought.

   My goal is to have massive success in 2012, that’s why I’m hustling to understand everything there is to understand about earning money online.

   • Thanks Jens,

     I am excited by the new project. Now I just have to take the time to get it all done.

     Thanks for the great comment to start off this comment section. What a wonderful testimonoal! I appreciate it man!

2. Steve,

   Glad to hear you’re putting out a new product. Here is my answer to the three questions:
   1) How to pick out profitable niches and do keyword research… I still feel like this gets glazed over a lot. Especially the picking out profitable niches part.

   2) Information overload from having to visit different sites and buying different products to knowledge gaps… would love to have all the info needed to get up and running successfully in one place. (Maybe your next product!)

   3) I enjoy making niche-authority sites. Gives a broad range of topics and keywords you can target. Also gives you flexibility for affiliate products and the freedom to create your own stuff.

   Cheers,

   Chris

   • Chris,

     These ones definitely ring true to me. Finding just the right keyword/niches and information overload is something I think EVERY person who has tried to make money online has expereinced.

3. Hi Steve,

   New product sounds great.

   Here are my answers:

   1. I wish I knew that it Internet marketing, particuarly on niche sites, is a numbers game. It can often seem that all you need to do is build a site, get it ranked etc and that is it. However what very few gurus or courses seem to tell you is that you are unlikely to make a fortune from one site only. In fact I’ve only recently discovered that some of the top guys who post 6 figure earnings sometimes have na network of nearly 200 plus sites!

   2. My biggest difficulty has been in time management. Not just juggling a day job with the amount of time it takes to build those 200 sites. But also how long it takes for most niche sites to really take off and make money. I’ve found a minimum of 90 days if you are relying on seo.

   3. My favourite way to make money on the Internet currently os with adsense sites. There are so many untapped niches out there that just dot have the competitiveness of say click bank products.

   • Thanks for some great comments.

     1. It might be possible to build around a single authority site with your own products etc.(but definitely not a single niche site), but you are just exchanging TIME for multitude of sites. Not matter what it takes time and patience to slowly build up to to success. No one goes asleep and wakes up a success in this biz. SO great point!

     2. I like this one a lot too since time management is something I worry and work on A LOT myself

     3. Adsense is one area where I am a little weak. I have made some moeny from them but I have always done better with products (either affiliate or my own) regardless definetly a good idea and in SOME niches adsense just does work the best. I think an important part of success is knowing WHAT niches adsense, your own products, affiliate products or amazon/major retailer products are the best sell.

4. Hi Steve, best of luck with your new product.

   I aim to create more products in 2012 and want to complete at least 3 of my own. 2 of which i already have in my head as I have one in production at the moment.

   In answer to your questions:

   1, That i could find nearly all the information I needed to learn about by getting out there and start visiting blogs. When I first started online I sat in my own little bubble and tried doing everything myself. I know Steve, silly wasn’t I

   2, Myself and my self doubt. Thinking, whilst in my little bubble, that I’d never get to grips with this and using that as my excuse for not pushing myself as i should’ve been doing.

   3, To be honest i don’t make loads of money online but am seeing some come in from a few streams. My favourite way….. I bought a product and worked though it, applying it as I went, and writing a review of it. Whilst testing the product i also got in touch with the creator and asked a few silly questions that’re covered in the product. That way i test the both the product and creator’s willingness to help. After that I got in touch and told them that I was reviewing their product and asked for a discount for my subscribers and readers. This worked well and I’m finding it has been paying off financially 🙂

   Now when I review products I’ll do exactly the same thing 😉

   If I don’t catch you before have a fantastic Christmas and A Happy New Year 🙂

   Take care, Barry

   • Thanks for a great comment Barry.

     3 Products for 2012 is a great goal. I am thinking maybe 2 myself. But I also plan to do a large series of “small” products. So it proabably breaks down to 3-4 full products worth of writing. SO I am about in the same boat goal wise.

     There is a lot to be learned from your lessons. Particularly number 3. I have always been a fan of testing and using well before promoting. Really it is the only way to go. I see some people promoting everything, which I guess is okay if you rely SOLELY on internet traffic, but if you want to develop any sort of following it is important to be discerning.

     Thanks for a great comment and have a wonderful holiday season!

5. What is the one thing you wish you knew before starting online? How to generate and convert traffic

   What is the biggest obstacle you’ve had to overcome? Transitioning my mindset from monetizing a travel blog to various types of internet marketing.

   What is your favorite way to make money on the Internet (and why)? I’m new to internet marketing and have only made money selling ads, but I would like to find success in affiliate marketing and selling my own books.

   • Thanks for the comment April.

     It is good that you are branching out somewhat. I think that a lot of making money online is modular. You learn thing A. You learn thing B. Both have their places…but then you learn how to use A to make B better and vice versa and your really start cooking with gas! Going from a travel blog to more IM base can do that for ya.

     Love the idea that you are looking ahead to making your own products. Whether these are freebies used as lead magnets to build an email list or pure “for sale” types I do believe these are an important piece of an authority blog.

6. Hi Steve:

   First off, thank you for all of the great content on your website and thank you for the opportunity to receive your new course at no cost. Here are my responses:

   1. What is the one thing you wish you knew before starting online?
   I wish I knew that there was going to be a lot of “noise” and how to get through all of the nonsense. I would have liked to have found Steve’s site much sooner!

   2. What is the biggest obstacle you’ve had to overcome?
   Information overload and the corresponding inaccurate, misleading and outright false information about how to make a living online!

   3 . What is your favorite way to make money on the Internet (and why)?
   I have yet to make money on the Internet however I am beginning to apply the principles learned from Steve’s site. I am beginning with ebooks and then I will add affiliate marketing.

   Best regards and Happy Holidays!
   Bill

   • Bill,

     Thanks for a great comment. OF course I love the #1 and #3 tips for reading here 😉 #2 is definitely something that I think most people out there have experienced. There is so much BS and garbage out there it can be hard to navigate through it all. What works for one person may not work for another…and that is fine… but some people really do put out information that is patently untrue to make sales. Really sad.

     Thanks for a great comment!

7. What is the one thing you wish you knew before starting online?
   There’s lots of little things, its not easy to think of one big thing. The best I can do is the importance of keyword research. For years and years I was just writing articles that I thought would be popular. Spending a bit of time with the Google Keyword Tool (and checking the Exact Match checkbox) can make a huge difference when creating post titles as well as choosing niches.

   What is the biggest obstacle you’ve had to overcome?
   Lack of time. Particularly social media has eaten into my time. It’s important to engage with Twitter, G+ and Facebook but it can also take hours and hours that could be better spend doing something else. I’ve got this more under control recently.

   What is your favorite way to make money on the Internet (and why)?
   My favorite way would be by selling my own products. But closely followed by selling other people’s products (affiliate sales). My least favorite is by doing client work which, although I’m grateful for it, is active income and just isn’t as sexy as passive income!

   Great idea for an offer, Steve.

   • Rob,

     Wonderful comment and points.

     #1. Agree for sure. NO way can you overestimate the importance of keyword research done right.
     #2 I am still struggling with this myself, but a little bit from the other side. I am so strict with my time, I still feel I am not enough of a “real guy” on these networks. I make the attempt, but I don’t spend much time on social media. SOmewhere there is a “perfect” balance I am striving to achieve.
     #3 Your favorites are mine too. And I would say your three ways are probably a good order for ‘potential’ earnings…but of course it inverts with ‘earning now!’ I just subsititute writing for my -other- niche site for client work. For me that is the money in the bank, that I do not necessarily enjoy anymore.

8. What is the one thing you wish you knew before starting online?

   The number one thing I wish I would have known is you don’t have to know everything about making money online to be successful. I wanted to study every angle and attempted to do so. I finally figured out through trial and error the best approach is to get good at one or two ways to present great content online, one solid way to drive traffic to a website, one or two ways to monetize my site. Once I focused on one way to help my customer solve their problem I started to make progress.

   What is the biggest obstacle you’ve had to overcome?

   This goes with question number one, I allowed myself to get overwelmed with the different ways to earn money online. Instead of being lazer focused, I attempted to apply a shot gun approach and didn’t get anywhere. Also, I focused on the idea of making money and would get frustrated when I didn’t see the results I wanted. Once, I changed my focus on helping others and providing solutions to peoples problems my income slowly began to increase.

   What is your favorite way to make money on the Internet (and why)?

   My favorite way to make money online is simply to find a very targeted group of people that I can help solve their problem. Either create a product that solves a very specific problem or locate an affiliate program that will trully help my audience. I prefer to build a relationship with my customer rather than try to sell them something. Once they see I have their best interest in heart it is only a matter of offering solutions.

   • Ralph,

     Great points here! It is too easy to bite off more than you can chew. I have always thought that the people who wait until they know EVERYTHING will be waiting forever. Because there is just too much to know and things are also constantly changing.

     I like what you have to say about laser focus too. I think it is important to hone in and learn the things that MATTER. I have always thought of this as “on time” learning. Learn it when you need it and not before. FOcus in learning, products, niches etc. is a big part of the success package. Thanks for sharing!!

9. Hey Steve,

   What an amazing deal my man!

   I’m glad you decided to put together that new “How to Create a Six-Figure Internet Business” course, as I know that “Affiliate Marketing Without the B.S.” was almost like a piece of art!

   Starting a business from scratch… gee, I think I’m always starting businesses from scratch but they never actually turn into businesses! LOL

   To answer your questions:

   1.- What is the one thing you wish you knew before starting online?

   R1. A list of everything that didn’t work and why (ptc’s, traffic exchanges, matrixes, bizops, monetized social networks, etc)

   R2. Not focusing the time on productive tasks (changing the wp theme endlessly, customizing it and tweaking it forever instead of creating content, spending too much time on the social platforms without having anything to offer on the main site, etc)

   2.- What is the biggest obstacle you’ve had to overcome?

   R1. Recording myself on video, sticking to a publishing/posting frequency, establishing detailed schedules for productive activities.

   3.- What is your favorite way to make money on the Internet (and why)?

   R1. The million dollar question… I don’t have a ‘favorite’ way because I stopped promoting stuff some time ago but I liked when I made some affiliate sales from recommending a few services on my previous site and then I got some sales from reviews at Amazon.

   R2. Instead of trying to “win the sale” or to compete to the whole internet, I’m already focusing on doing my own products, that way I’m my own competence in some way.

   Having said that, I need to start creating these funnel sales sites and I already bought my first niche based domain for the 2012, so to answer the question in shorter words: making my own products.

   Hope that helps in gathering some feedback for your new training course man.

   Have you ever considered putting up a training site or mentoring?

   It’s getting more and more popular and I know you could benefit greatly from that although that takes a lot of time too and not everyone likes that.

   Anyway, have a great weekend Steve and looking forward for your next articles! 😉

   Sergio

   PS. Completely forgot to rewrite a review from your latest product on my new site, going to do that and send some readers over here to see if they want to get a chance at winning AMWTB.

   • Thanks Sergio I appreciate the great NO BS AM testimonial! 🙂

     Great list of answers too! It all definitely helps for the new book. Very well thought out!

     You asked if I thought about about setting up training/mentoring. I have. But I am not quite sure about it. On one hand I would like to; but on the other my time is pretty valuable to me so i would have to charge enough to make it worth my while, yet I would feel awkward saying I consult at $50, $75 or $100 an hour.

     So for now, I don’t mind helping some people (where I can) for free and included the couple quickie consults as part of the upsell for the product. But maybe someday I can put a figure on my time and make an official consult/mentoring plan. Still something I am only “thinking” about at this point, though.

10. Thanks for this awesome opportunity Steve!
    1) What is the one thing you wish you knew before starting online?
    It would have been nice to know some of the processes for getting traffic to our site in a way that wasn’t so time- or budget- expensive.

    2) What is the biggest obstacle you’ve had to overcome?
    Like referenced in the first question’s answer, the biggest obstacle has been getting traffic – that and beating out competitors.

    3)What is your favorite way to make money on the Internet (and why)?
    Currently we’re just using the internet to direct people to our ‘product’ (in other words the homes that we sell).

    • Daniel,
      Thanks for the comment.

      1) I am honestly not sure there is a way build traffic honestly that does not involve time/budget. I would say the best you can do is be as efficient as possible with time/budget. But of course THAT is important.

      As for your very specific needs in traffic. Have you heard about Build My Rank. It is really good at specifically targeting pages. Here is a review I did not too long ago:
      http://www.stevescottsite.com/build-my-rank-review
      I am not 100% sure it would work for your local real estate biz. But I think It could help a lot. Anyway there is a free trial for 10 articles. You should pick one keyphrase on one page, try it out and see if it works for you. I think it could help you.

      If you check it out, let me know the results, I think it could be good for local business, but since i don’t HAVE a local biz, I can’t test it myself.

11. Steve,

    Great idea! You’re going to have 1000s of subscribers!

    Here’s my answers.

    1. For a newcomer, the number of online marketing options are bewildering, and not many of them work. It would be helpful to someone starting out to separate the hype from reality.

    2. The biggest obstacle I’ve had is getting started. Picking a niche, establishing a plan, sticking to it.

    3. I haven’t made much money online directly, but I’ve been able to generate some income via consulting. You could show me how it is done!

    Thanks, and Happy Holidays!
    JW

    • Thanks Justin,

      I hope you are right! (about the thousands of subscribers 🙂 )

      The plethora of niche options, sticking with one idea and separating hype from reality are definitely recurring themes.

      Thanks for a great comment and have a wonderful holiday season yourself!

12. 1/ I wish I had a solid system to follow that was robust, uncomplicated, proven to work and not expensive ie: a one off payment of under $50-00. (when I first started, I chose Google Sniper by George Brown as it seemed the easiest, cheapest, proven method..but a year down the track, Panda ate it up)

    2/ The biggest obstacle I have had to overcome would be understanding keyword research and choosing the right keywords to base my sites on. It took me ages and many wasted websites before I got that light bulb moment. That is in my opinion the most important part of internet marketing for money sites and one needs to “get it” fully if he is to have any success down the road.

    3/ My favorite way to make money is with out a doubt “adsense” as it requires all the normal work of affiliate sites, traffic building, keyword research etc…but you don’t have to worry about selling anything or dealing with customers or lists or anything like that. So it cuts all the work of internet marketing in half making it much easier to focus and learn the fundamentals of SEO without distraction. Once you master adsense sites the world is your oyster.

    • Thanks for the comment.

      Not sure if 1 really exists. There may be some things under 50 (1 off) that are worth to “help” the process, but I think most systems these days might not work as well as advertised in the wake of the Panda.

      #2 is huge. I think a ton of people have this difficulty of finding just the right keyword. Some of that has to come with experience. Like you said I think there is a “light bulb moment” that once you get it it becomes a lot easier. But there are ways to hopefully help people get those light bulbs quicker and easier.

      Thanks for the comment and have a wonderful holiday season!

13. I have been getting a lot of free ebooks from the blobs that I am subscribed to. If I am going to read and learn from all of them, I am going to have to stop surfing the internet for the next six months.

    ;p

    Thank you for your generosity. Merry christmas!

    • Jim,

      haha! Definetly better to take action, even if it means you don’t read my ebook. Knowledge is great but it should be regulated to a percentage (perhaps 15-20% of your action taking time)

14. 1. What is the one thing you wish you knew before starting online?
    I wish I had known where exactly to begin. Since Internet Marketing is such a big field, it can be overwhelming on where to jump in. Information products are great but I feel like that can be tough to decide which ones are more than just hype. I also think it’s important to understand that you are going to have to *think* and *work* in this field. Even a step-by-step guide will require that you understand your niche and build quality sites.

    2. What is the biggest obstacle you’ve had to overcome?
    I recently left a six-figure job in web technology after the birth of my daughter. Fear and uncertainty are without a doubt the biggest obstacles and continue to be. But the opportunity of spending every day with her and my wife is worth trying to figure out how to make a living online.

    3. What is your favorite way to make money on the Internet (and why)?
    Since I come from a web background I am really enjoying niche site building. And the added benefit of building sites that are uniquely mine is appealing. I would eventually like to add an authority blog as well. I really believe that you should have an interest in the method you are trying to make money, otherwise it’s a job right? 🙂

    • Dave,

      1. Bravo! I do agree! There is information overload out there…no doubt about it, and regardless of what or how much you learn all the best training can (or should) do is give you a frame and point you in the right direction. It is not a step-by-step construction but something that varies from niche to niche.

      2. Definitely a monumental hurdle you are having to face. But at least you do have the web based background, so it is not as foriegn to you as many others starting out.

      3. “otherwise it’s a job right?” It is a job! That in itself is an important fact. Hopefully it is a job that you enjoy and love. But I do think it is important that it be viewed as a job.

      but I think I am getting a little bit off topic here…. 😉 Thanks for a great comment.

      Good Luck and happy holidays to you and your family.

      Steve

15. What is the one thing you wish you knew before starting online?

    That most people trying to sell you products or sevices are making their money by selling you the products or services, and not from ‘genuine’ long-term and sustainable business.

    What is the biggest obstacle you’ve had to overcome?

    Not buying every shiny new object that appears in my inbox daily, and eventually realising that focus and taking regular massive action can outperform a shiny new object any day.

    What is your favorite way to make money on the Internet (and why)?

    Adsense and affiliate marketing, indeed any way that doesn’t involve dealing with customers and providing customer support. Because I’d rather concentrate on writing more content than be bogged down by providing support. A few people can take up a disproportionate amount of time in support that could be better spent writing more content for your site or for backlinking purposes.

    Keep up the good work Steve, from a fellow Steve (in the UK).

    • Thanks for the great comment UK Steve 🙂

      I am definitely seeing some recurring themes in these comments. I appreciate your additions. Have a wonderful holiday season!

16. I’ve started out in backlinking. Now I know I need to tap my marketing skills and I don’t know what to do next. Hope to get additional information.

17. I really appreciate your kindness by sharing what you have. I expect to learn a lot from this and maybe one day, I’ll be just as good as you. thanks again for this and I’ll keep in touch on my progress.

18. Steve

    Interesting post….be emailing you about this!!!

    1. The thing that I wished I’d known when I started out is that people won’t buy from you just because you’ve provided great quality free information. You’ve got to learn how to sell.

    2. The biggest obstacle I’ve had to overcome is the ‘lack of perceived authority’ because I’m not a musician who’s recorded with famous people.

    3. My favourite way to generate revenue is to create an information product that truly helps the people who implement the information and take action. That’s a ‘Win Win’ proposition for both me and for the clients.

    Paul

    Paul

    • Thanks Paul,

      and thanks for the email!

      I can see where #2 would be HUGE if you are trying to market yourself as an authority. You just have to get out there and prove it …and prove it again and again (as I know you have done). And I also think we are in complete agreement on the basic concept of number three, perhaps just differing on the execution. 😉

      But there is nothing better than info products that are filled with actionable steps.

19. Hey Steve,

    Yeah Man 6 Figures! Woo Hoo, I can’t wait!

    #1 – Thing I wish I knew: How to get some traffic, because without traffic as we all know there can be no conversions…

    #2 – What I had to overcome: Fear of risk, because you’ve gotta take calculated risks to make money.

    #3 – Favorite way to make money: I love ’em all 😉

    • Thanks Curt! I appreciate your additions to the list! Have a great holiday season!

20. Hey Steve,

    Enjoyed reading the responses so far, so here’s my contribution 🙂

    What is the one thing you wish you knew before starting online?
    I think the most important thing I learned along the way is just how important testing is, whether it’s split testing or simply changing an advert for a week to see the results.

    When I started testing and retesting ideas on my websites, I saw my profits jump dramatically.

    As an example, I had a website that was number 1 in it’s niche and sold a Clickbank info product. I was getting a little more than 1 sale per month at $20. I removed the affiliate link to the info product and replaced it with a link to a similar physical product on Amazon and began to earn around $50 per month instead. I then added Adsense as well and started to earn an extra $100 per month on top of the Amazon commissions.

    Of course, I tried other methods of monetization that weren’t so successful but that’s part of the testing process. Getting lots of visitors is one thing but turning those visits into money is a totally different ballgame and testing monetization methods is, in my opinion, one of the most valuable skills a newbie IM can learn.

    What is the biggest obstacle you’ve had to overcome?
    Hmmmm. If I’m honest, I think the biggest obstacle for me was an ethical one when I was making websites about stuff I wasn’t really an expert in. I felt bad about publishing stuff that was written by what I considered to be an amateur in the niches.

    I disdain dishonesty and although I didn’t feel I was outright lying, I felt that I was perhaps pulling the wool over people’s eyes a bit by setting myself up as a self-proclaimed expert in the field.

    I overcame this with a change of mindset and by only publishing stuff that had been very very thoroughly researched. Because of all the research into a niche I had done, I considered that I could now call myself an ‘expert’ in it without feeling as though I was being dishonest. After all, I knew more about the subject than perhaps 80-90% of my visitors. I also made sure I was honest about my credentials on the ‘about’ pages of my websites so that there could be no confusion over my qualifications.

    The extra research I was doing also made my content higher quality resulting in better search engine rankings 🙂

    What is your favorite way to make money on the Internet (and why)?
    For me, the best way of making money is from websites that require little or no maintenance. My favourite websites are the ones that pull in cash each and every month without me having to do anything apart from an occasional tweak now and then.

    I get an enormous amount of satisfaction when, at the end of the day, I look at my accounts and see that I’ve earned money while I’ve been playing football with the kids or catching up with friends at the pub 🙂

    Daniel

    • Daniel,

      Thanks for a great write up. You had some wonderful additions here that were not used elsewhere. Specifically split testing. I love your example. testing is something I do all the time… you are so right when you point out the specific way that you were able to fairly drastically increase your results. This is what makes testing so great!

21. Hi Scott,

    I love reading your blog and all the freebies you give away. Thank you! I’m still starting out in online marketing and have yet to make my first dollar, but I have limited time and I am starting to learn where I’m making mistakes through reading your advice.

    Here’s my input:

    1. One thing I wish I knew before I got started:

    How to set up a sales page compelling enough to get people to subscribe to my email list. I still need to revamp my current page.

    2. What fear I had to overcome:

    Knowing that I have to spend a little money to make a lot – and making sound decisions about where I’m spending that money. It came to a point I was afraid to spend any money at all, because I had spent so much buying tons of worthless products from internet marketing gurus when I would have been better off spending money testing products, getting traffic, etc.

    3. My favorite way to make money online:

    I haven’t made money so far (working a 45 hour week at a day job, and I only recently stumbled on your site so I’m in the process of re-educating myself). But, my favorite ways to try making money are blogging and writing to my email list. This is because not only do I love writing, but also because I learn a lot about my niche through researching and writing about it, and I chose a niche that I’m interested in learning more about. I also look forward to writing an ebook in my niche.

    • Thanks for a great list Lindsay. I appreciate your taking the time to share your ideas here!!

      I really liked your #2. Of course there are courses out there that can give you a leg up….but I agree, for limited budget they are not always worth it. On limited budget it is certainly important to spend your funds on things that really work.

22. Fair trade Steve 😉

    Although I’m now $13 away from my first $100 with Amazon Associate, I still consider myself as a newbie lol! And I will help you out with this project. Here are the things I have for your 3 questions drawn from almost 1 year of going online.

    1) The thing I wish I knew before starting is that there are DOZENS of ways to make money online. If I had known about that fact, I would have made a better choice rather than wasting almost 6 months of reading and doing the wrong things.

    2) The biggest obstacle is definitely INFORMATION OVERLOAD! And it comes as a result of the first problem (too many ways that all lead to Rome). My advice to newbies is to make a deep investigation. Pick out only ONE model to build your online business and go with is. Ignore the rest!

    3) My favorite style at the moment is creating niche sites and get them ranked with SEO. The keyword here is “PASSIVE INCOME.” Although my first niche site is still struggling its way to the first page of Google, I know I will push it to the place it deserves no matter what!

    4) One more thing I just want to add is the importance of having the correct mindset. We’re doing business not a hobby. Although I usually fool myself that I’m making money for free, it cost me almost 9 months and hundreds of dollars to reach that point of JUST KNOWING how to make money for free lol! It’s time to invest your time or money or both into this business. And please DO NOT quit before the magic happen!

    That’s what I have today Steve, hope my own experience help you with this project. You’re always on the spotlight. I wish I had known you right at the beginning 😀

    All the best!

    • Duy,

      Thanks for spending your time and giving me a great list.

      Your “all roads lead to Rome” quote is so true and something that people starting out should know. There are many ways to get it done and none of them are “right”. It is important to just get out there and take actions. Time, successes and failures will clear up some of what works for you and your niche.

23. Merry Christmas, Steve, to you and yours.

    I admire your Affiliate Marketing without the BS. I only wish I could afford it. I’ve read some great reviews about it. Perhaps someday soon, I can afford it. Congratulations to whomever is given a free copy.

24. Steve,
    Thanks for the directions. Got delayed reading.Great to read all those comments. You’ve all done very, very well.
    I’m here because at age 60 I found myself needing a new career. (like millions of others). Having no luck with the traditional “job’ market I thought ‘internet’. So I started looking and reading. After solid week of this I decided that Affiliate Marketing is the way to go. Immediately I encountered my first problem and it is still a HUGE one for me.
    So the one thing I wish I knew before starting was: How do you actually physically build and monetize an Affiliate Website??? There are countless articles and ebooks but no set of instructions for a techno-idiot like me to follow. I need it step by step. Clear, concise and explicit.

    The biggest obstacle I have encountered is the plethora of guru tools out there. Who do you trust? Who ya gonna call?According to all of them all ya gotta do is buy their ‘secret traffic program’ go to sleep and you do wake up a success. What absolute BS. Steve you are the only one who says it takes hard work and a plan. And TIME.
    At the moment my favorite way to make money online is; Any way that gets me a check.But am still keen to give this affiliate marketing a ‘red hot go’. It works!!!!!!!!!!!!
    MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE. MAY OUR NEW YEAR BE HAPPY, FUN FILLED AND PROSPEROUS.
    Stuart Adelaide, South Australia.

    • Stuart,

      First of all, I hope you have a wonderful Christmas too!

      Lets see… An exact template for building a niche website. Interesting idea. Perhaps I will include some of those ideas…or do a post that gives a little guidance at some point soon.

      I have done a very basic site building guide here http://www.stevescottsite.com/how-to-start-your-first-website

      But I suspect you want something more along the lines of steps following that. Some of the problem with that is that there too many options. For instance anyone who is building a niche site to sell mainly amazon affiliate products may be best served by one theme/framework while someone who is promoting a very specific info product may be best served by yet another.

      Perhaps I could make some sort of conditional list to give a little form to the chaos.

      I think your biggest reaction is one that many people have had…and one i had myself starting out. So many people are starting online today and immediately applying what they know to “teach others to make money online”

      This means that there is a lot of (at best) derivative and at worst completely misleading junk out there.

      As you stated: it takes Time, a plan and hard work to really accomplish anything. The earlier people wrap their heads around that…the better.

      Anyway…thanks for a great comment, I appreciate it!

      Again, have a wonderful Christmas and New Years

25. What is the one thing you wish you knew before starting online?

    Niche selection

    What is the biggest obstacle you’ve had to overcome?

    Traffic generation

    What is your favorite way to make money on the Internet (and why)?

    Affiliate marketing, because of the ease-of-use (although I do have my own product(s)

26. good luck with the product mate, is just the thing for anyone who wants a massive success in 2012 with their business

27. Hi Steve,
    I’m a blogger who has one year experience. I wish I had known about creating a niche and sticking to it. I was all over the place in the beginning. Not really sure what I wanted to focus on. I wrote boring content without really putting in a good effort.

    I’m an artist so my products are my paintings, prints and cards. I now focus on art, oil painting and learning new techniques.

    I think the biggest obstacle was finding my target audience. I now know about forums and social media.

    I don’t make money off the internet but I would like to learn. I have an Etsy shop which is a joke, really a waste of time.

28. OK, I am answering the questions but not entering the contest 🙂 I was smart enough to grab this baby the very first day, lol
    1. wish I knew more about affiliate marketing, and not learn it along the way cause it took me more to earn some nice income this way
    2. putting the affiliate links in front of people instead of “hiding them”. apparently the more they are into face the better they work!
    3. I would say coaching, cause I love working with people.

29. You got that right. I have seen all the B.S. that comes with a lot of stuff right now and they’re supposed to help me. I like my stuff straight up.

30. the information which you have provided is great, lots of people don’t provide such a great information, i am gonna tell all my friends to bookmark this site, hope you update your site regularly by providing such useful information to the visitors you have. thanks will keep in touch with your posts.

31. Hey Steve,

    Just ran across your website and the timing couldn’t be better. I’ve been making money online since 1999 and have been doing it full time for the last 8 years. I created a pretty wacky network of websites and was making a good 6 figure income from cashing in on AdSense. Of course my house of cards crumbled with the Panda update. I’m not blaming anyone but myself.

    But now I’m ready to take new track because I love working from home and I have a huge passion for making money online. I’ve never purchased a course or book series on anything but I think yours looks interesting. Not sure I’m ready to break my record of purchasing one so I thought I could possibly win one.

    I’ve looked at a few of the other guru’s and they are full of bull#$@#. I’ve been online long enough to know when people are blowing smoke up someones ass and a large portion of them are doing just that. I can usually tell when someone is just trying to line their own pockets and not really help others.

    Anyway here are my answers:

    What is the one thing you wish you knew before starting online? I wish I had known that you cannot rely on one source of traffic and that you MUST build a following and mailing list. I’ve lost out on 8 years of time that I could have been collecting valuable contacts.

    What is the biggest obstacle you’ve had to overcome? Freakin Google! I relied on Google for my traffic and for my residual income. Now, overnight they have taken it away without warning and without recourse. I’ve lost traffic to my cartooning websites and lost a great portion of my AdSense income.

    What is your favorite way to make money on the Internet (and why)? My favorite way is selling and reselling my own clipart and cartoon characters. They are digital files and I can repeatedly sell them over and over again. I once was in love with AdSense but the rules have changed and I believe it will be much tougher making money with AdSense in the future. I’m looking to find new niches and build websites around them.

    Thanks Steve!

    • Curtis,

      I feel your pain with Google. I go out of my way to try to make my sites quality..and still get dinged by them now and again. They are the source of most of the traffic and they can also kill you. Sometimes understandably, sometimes not. The worst part about it is that they won’t even tell you what is wrong (so you can correct it) Anyway enough of a Google rant… Thanks for leaving a great comment with lots of good insights of its own! 🙂

      Have a great holiday!

32. This is a great contest. Heres my answers:

    1. I wish I knew about search engine optimization before I started.

    2. My biggest obsticle would be learning SEO.

    3. My favorite way is MLM or affiliate marketing for the ongoing residual income.

    Michael Burns

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