How We Finally Started Making Big Money Online
We’ve been working online for a number of years now and for most of that time we really weren’t making all that much money….definitely not enough for us to give up our day jobs. If we were like most people we would have given up years ago but for some reason we stuck at it…but that’s another story.
Since we were seemingly stagnating and not moving anywhere, we started to wonder why and of course we tried to rationalize it with all sorts of theories like:
- the only people that make money online are those that tell other people how to make money online
- maybe this is all just a scam
- maybe we aren’t working hard enough
- maybe what we are doing is all wrong
- maybe we need to try something else
Fortunately we didn’t dwell too much on this type of thinking as somehow in the back of our minds, we knew it would all work out eventually. But we couldn’t just sit back and wait for it to all fall into our laps. We realized that we really had to do something differently and we needed to do it fast.
One of the first things we did was to start focusing on just one website. We have more than 20 including our money making blog and we were working on almost all of them at the same time. Of course we were spreading ourselves way too thin – and understandably it just wasn’t working. However, once we started to focus on just the one niche website things really started to move forward. Traffic increased dramatically to that website and then of course the sales followed.
Working on just one website meant that we were able to focus all of our time and resources on making it work and it really paid off.
Even so, we really weren’t converting very well compared to the amount of traffic we were getting. We tried different merchants but nothing seemed to make any difference. One of the last merchants we tried was Amazon and in fact at the time we were debating whether to add them at all as the commission is so low (or so we thought). But we did it anyway as we wanted to make our site as helpful as possible by providing our readers with the ability to compare prices.
We were amazed when a few days later we noticed that we were getting around 10 sales a day. At the time, we were making maybe 3 or 4 sales in a week if we were lucky. We also realized that Amazon pays up to 8.25% if you sell enough items. To this day we use Amazon on all of our product review sites and it makes us thousands of dollars each month….but I’m getting ahead of myself here.
Another thing we decided to do was start adding massive amounts of content to this site. We had read how others have had success when they added lots of content so we gave it a go. Our goal was to add 8 posts a day, and if I remember rightly we did it for about 2 or 3 months. Let me tell you it was hard work as we did all of the articles ourselves but it paid off. It increased the traffic to that blog dramatically and to this day we still maintain that amount of traffic despite the fact that we no longer add anywhere near as much content.
This isn’t something I would necessarily do again as we have moved away from this type of technique which leads me into the next action we took which was to start adding quality content. This was yet another huge change for us and yet it was so simple.
We had been adding massive amounts of content but really when it comes down to it you really can’t write amazing quality when you have to write that many articles a day. It brought us plenty of traffic but when the readers arrived they just weren’t getting the quality they were expecting.
Time to stop and assess things once more and when we stopped and had a think about it we knew that we needed to once again change our focus. We started with one page on one of our sites and wrote a really good review of a product. We’re talking over 1000 words with enough detail to help the reader decide whether or not the product is right for them. We didn’t just copy of content from Amazon to do this like a lot of other affiliates. We wrote the review from scratch with our own views and thoughts.
The difference when we added that one review was amazing. The sales increased dramatically. What we didn’t realize at the time was what we were really doing was finally focusing on our readers first instead of the money.
We’ve really learned a lot over the years but one of the most important things we have learned is that if you want to make a success of working online, then you need to provide quality in whatever it is you do. If you can do this then you will beat 90%, hands down, any other internet marketers out there
So what are the results of all this work?
It has resulted in us going from making just a few sales here and there to regularly making thousands of dollars in commissions every month. In fact, we average around $10,000 a month in Amazon sales alone. Amazon has made a significant difference without doubt.
Can we do better?….yes, definitely! This is only the beginning for us. Now that we know what works we can just “rinse and repeat”.
Paula and Wanda are the creators of Affiliate Blog Online – a resource for others trying to make money online. They also run over 20 niche websites and blogs with a focus on Adsense and Amazon products using natural organic search.
Many of the “testimonials” you post keep me motivated to keep trying.
This is another one that has spoken to me though. Recently, I’ve been asking myself the exact same questions that Paula and Wanda asked themselves.
So it is good to know that there are others out there asking the same questions and persevering.
I guess I just have to get back to it and keep trying.
Thanks for the post.
Jeffrey
Glad you liked our post and I agree this is a great blog. I am yet to read all of the posts but so far the ones I’ve read have had some great nuggets of information so I’ll be back for more.
Thanks for the story, but I was expecting them to give us some ideas on how to pick successful products, where to look for niche product ideas, etc rather than just talk about their money journey.
Thanks though!
Here are some tips Al:
- choose products in Amazon that are over $150 – in this way you will get a good commission
- choose products that have really good reviews on Amazon
- the niche doesn’t particularly matter – it’s more about the product so you need to do the usual keyword research and determine competition when choosing a product in Amazon.
- don’t use Amazon widgets or anything fancy – we’ve found they just don’t work – use text links instead.
- ultimately it comes down to writing a really good review. I’ve seen Amazon focused sites and most have hundreds of reviews with very little substance. Go with quality and not quantity. You only need a handful of reviews to make a full time income but they have to be top-notch and as helpful as possible to the potential buyer.
Thanks Paula, now thats some nice info. Thank you.
I started a general blog last year, writing out my thoughts and experiences during my life. I just turned 63 and have been a wheelchair user since age 10. The blog has been cathartic and a joy to me as I connect with family and friends around the world.
I’ve recently begun to think about the possibility of earning some extra income from my internet activities. Your site has given me encouragement and ideas.
Thanks for the great posts… please keep it up!
Great post.. nice to see hard work, and doing what YOU know works instead of what Others tell you works.
Thanks for the comment John Paul. As you say, its a matter of seeing what works for you. We’ve been doing this for a number of years now and going from one technique to another. I guess what we know today is a mix of everything we’ve learned to create our own individual method.
Al, I guess you have some high expectations from a free success story…
Inspiring story for me, I’ve always wondered in the back of my mind if focusing on just one website was worth it or not…Sounds like it is. I also feel spread thin as I have several sites, I have already been focusing on Amazon and Adsense and have made a few pennies but definitely not 1000′s a month which is my dream.
I suppose one thing to do would be focus on one site until it’s successful, then keep adding new sites slowly while building them with lots of love and quality attention. (the rinse and repeat part)
It’s definitely worth focusing on just one site. You will notice a difference because all of your efforts are very focused.
Not really codrut. Just few hints.
Wow, what an amazing story. I too am focusing on one site because I used to manage more than one at a time and it just wasn’t working.
When you talk about writing 8 articles per day, do you publish them all the same day as well?
Yes, that’s what we did. We had 8 articles going up per day. It was quite intense but it worked.
Hi,
The first point in the list is that the only people that make money online are the ones that tell people how to make money online. So I’m assuming that this post was meant to dispell that myth.
Then there is a link to their blog that tells people how to make money online.
It’s kind of a contradiction, don’t you think?
Those thoughts were what we felt at the time when we weren’t making any money online or not much anyway. We just assumed that the only people who did make money were those who told others how to.
We now know differently as we have proven that you can do it without having to teach people how to make money.
Thank you for the review. You are certainly correct about it doesn’t matter what the niche and that consistent great content really makes a difference.
Also a nice change to hear that someone successful online has not been ‘starving on the streets somewhere’, like it seems a lot of our top notch IMers were
Wishing you continued success
Anne
Yea, LOL, those “IMers went hungry” for their sales letters to click. Fraudsters.
Hello Wanda and Paula,
Thank you so much for the excellent content. I have been blogging for about 3-4 months. I add my own unique content to my men’s health blog on a weekly basis. When not adding new content I am answering questions on a few forums to build my name and website as an authority in my niche.
I have also used advise from Affilorama and a few other super affiliates. Including making some changes to my website. Overnight I got 5 new comments. I also bought or already use the products I endorse.
The main point here, your article reinforced to me that I am doing the right things and just stuck with it, and the money will flow in time.
Thank you and blessings for your continued success,
Ken Weiss
http://www.menshealthcures.com
p.s. I signed up on your blog as well.
Thanks for your comments Ken. I have just responded to your comment on my blog.
I think you are definitely on the right track. Just keep working on getting traffic – that is so important but often neglected.
Hi Ladies,
Hope you don’t mimd me commenting here because, I’m about to launch a product explaining to folks exactly what you have highlighted here.I wanted to mention that in case you thought there may be a conflict of interest.
You are so right in what you say, I also wanted to help others who may well be missing the vital keys to success on line.
Having been an IM for many years and wasted thousands of dollars buying rubbish then, I would really urge people to follow you!
Kind regards,
Gordon.
I look at your website listed above and didn’t see any Amazon links. Do you only sell to people that subscribe to your newsletter?
Sandra
The website above is our affiliate marketing blog. We don’t really use Amazon much on that blog. We have a series of niche blogs and that is where we use the Amazon links.
Great article, I urge people to have the same mindset when starting a blog about helping others.
That’s right Vitaly. It’s all about provide quality to your readers.