As our regular readers know, we have been at this business for a lot of years now and for most of that time we weren’t making much money. Which is why in November 2009, when we made an astounding $14k in one month we were so excited that we felt like sharing it with everyone. Which was amazing really because both of us were brought up to never tell anyone how much you earned so it’s actually not something we really feel comfortable doing.
So even though we wanted to share the news, in some ways we were reluctant to do so. But in the end we bit the bullet and did it and up went the post. The results were amazing really and to this day that post is still the most popular one on this blog.
It’s quite amazing how a success story grabs people’s attention. I know the feeling completely because when we were struggling during those first few years we would try to grab any tiny nugget of information to help us on the way. We were desperately trying to fathom why we weren’t making it and why others were. What was the elusive thing we were missing that these successful people had? We know now that for us it was a lack of focus and value that kept us where we were. In other words, working on too much at once and providing little value to our readers.
So as many of you know now, we adapted our methods and that resulted in a big change for us. We realized the struggle was no longer an issue when we received that $14k check in the mail. It made the hard work and frustration all worth while in the end.
So a year rolls around and it is the anniversary of when we first posted our earnings and we are ready to make the decision again about whether we are going to reveal our November income for 2010. After much deliberation we again decide to do it and up it goes. Again it gets a lot of attention and everyone gets excited about building their own businesses to achieve the same result.
I can see why, money is a great motivational tool – people love seeing that other people have made it in this business. But it’s not only the money…it’s the freedom that money can give you. I think that most people are looking for that – the money is simply a means to an end and for us that means total freedom….the freedom to be able to start work when we want, to make our own decisions without someone telling us what to do, to take vacations whenever we like without getting permission first and having enough money to do it, and to be able to plan our days as we please. It’s a wonderful life that this business can give you and it can happen for anyone.
The problem with the money however, is that it can get in the way of a good thing. It starts to stir things up in people. First of all there are those that just can’t believe it’s possible. If they haven’t achieved it then as far as they are concerned nobody else can, so if that’s the case then we must be making it up. We know there are people out there that believe this of us.
There is even a whole website dedicated to stating that we are obviously scammers because someone from Amazon told them that no affiliates earn that much and we must have photoshopped our earnings.
All I know is that I couldn’t even consider in my wildest dreams making up a story like this. Why would I, the only person I would be fooling would be myself. Plus it doesn’t sit well with me at all…I just couldn’t do it. I was brought up to be honest and do what’s right and that is how I live my life. I also believe that there is some sort of karmic action going on here so I am all for doing the right thing. I also know that ultimately being false just doesn’t work in this business because you get found out in the end and what would be the point?
It would have been a lot easier if this person simply contacted us – we could have provided proof in an instant. We even left a long comment on their blog some time back but it is yet to be published. I can see that he thinks he is doing the right thing by warning people but unfortunately he didn’t think to contact us first to verify any of the details.
But that’s the price you pay for revealing your income when you are promoting a product at the same time. Because we have said that we average $10k a month AND are selling an ebook on how we did it, some people think we can’t be trusted. After all why would we reveal how we make money, wouldn’t we want to keep it a closely guarded secret. In some peoples minds, the two just can’t go together – if someone is claiming they are making a big income and are also promoting a product about it then they are obviously scammers.
Another reason why money seems to generate the wrong signals in this business is that there are a lot of people who think that making money online is a simple process. It’s like the old gold rush days where people poured in to find that elusive gold and then realized that it was a lot harder than they thought it was going to be. The same applies to this business. It is a lot harder than it looks on the surface and one person’s success may not necessarily mirror another person’s success.
There are thousands of people making money with the Amazon affiliate program and each is making a different amount. In other words, income levels are not typical. If you were looking at becoming a doctor or a lawyer or a secretary or a marine biologist or even just working at McDonalds you would pretty much know what your typical income will be. With internet marketing you really have no idea.
So if someone comes along and says that they are making $10k a month from Amazon or $100k from Adsense or $50k a month from Clickbank it means nothing to you really because none of that is typical and it never will be. There is no ‘typical’ in this business – by doing the same thing you could end up making nothing or you could end up making ten times as much…nobody can positively say what you will make. It depends on so many variables (too many to mention) and the time and effort that you are prepared to put into your business which will determine what you will end up making.
What I am getting at is that the money can get in the way for some people – it gets in the way because those trying to succeed tend to focus on it before anything else. They either can’t believe that certain income levels are possible and therefore never really try or they focus on the money so much that it affects how they develop their business. This was our thinking and it doesn’t really work – it results in creating short poorly written articles just to get people to click through to the merchant or promoting products that you wouldn’t purchase yourself.
Sure, we all have to make a buck in order to survive…none of us are here simply to give it all away for nothing but there has to be a balance and believe me the benefits of providing value definitely outweigh the benefits of providing little value to your readers.
It’s time to let the income go…
So ultimately what this post is all about is we think it’s time to let go of the income. I don’t think we need to prove anything and it seems to be getting in the way for some. So this will be our last post where we reveal actual amounts. If we mention our income in the future then it will be a generalization more than anything else and we won’t get into specific numbers anymore.
So for our final post about how much we make and for those that need proof we have provided a video of us opening our latest Amazon check (or cheque as we spell it here). This was for our December earnings. We receive the checks two months after the end of a month of sales so December sales checks arrive in March.
And as for January and February of this year – we made just over $14,500 in January and for February we made just under $10k…it’s a short month.
All figures were better than last year for those months so we are improving and we hope to get even better. There is no limit to what can be made when you work online.
[flashvideo file=VIDEOS/December-Amazon-Cheque-1/December-Amazon-Cheque-1.mp4 /]
Hello Wanda and Paula!
Thank you for sharing your income earnings from Amazon for the past couple of years. I’ve been following you quite sometimes although I don’t participate in Amazon affiliate like I should or want to – just don’t have enough hours in the day. Anyone who are thinking of getting into affiliate marketing should know that it takes a great deal of focus and determination to succeed! It requires hours and hours away from personal and family life. The job does not end when the hour hand strikes midnight. It’s taken us a few years to where we are today but I must stay every minute we spend working are all worth it when the checks arrive in the mail. We used to share our success with friends and family but after a while we began to wonder if they’re genuinely happy for us. My point is that continue with your success and leave the naysayers in the dust! The more time they spend complaining, the more steps you can get ahead with your plans…
Oh boy, you are so right Allison, it takes time and some sacrifices to make it in an online business. I remember back to the early days when I would go to bed after midnight, get up at 5am do a couple of hours work and then head to my full time day job. I had hardly any social life. But that was also in the days when we were trying everything possible to get the business going, and making all the mistakes under the sun.
A lot of my family could not appreciate what I was trying to accomplish, and looked on IM as a fad that I was going through. They finally realise that this is a business like any other and the rewards are there for those who stick at it. Good luck with your continued success.
Hi, Wanda & Paula,
I have been following your blog for quite a while and therefore I know both of you are really making good money from Amazon. :-P
In fact, I am using some of the free tips both of you share here. I must say that the free tips are very useful and I finally understand why I don’t make much from Amazon.
If people who are new to your blog will just spend a bit of time reading the blog posts here or follow your blog for quite a while, they really don’t need to see any proof in order to believe that you gals are really making money from the program.
Let go of the income proof thing and stay focused and keep making money from Amazon. ^.^
Thank you Vedis. I am so glad that you have found our blog posts helpful. I am quite happy that we have decided to do away with the income thing so that we can now concentrate on giving more sound advice to help others make it with their online businesses.
More power to you!
I used to feel badly for those naysayers but not anymore. Your posts have always ever been helpful. You go out of your way to give life changing information for free here. All you did with your APP was to package it up in a more convenient way and charge a fair price for the convenience.
There will always be the cranks and gripes, trolls, if you will, that aren’t willing to put forth the effort to do what you have done and will try to justify themselves by making you look bad.
I, for one, thank you for publishing the amounts and the video. I have already gone forth and seen the power of your plan in action. I sort of giggle when I read “scam” reports about something when I know the truth. Poor souls…
“You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free!”
I guess everyone is different in this world and some people want to see the positives and some the negatives. You can’t help but feel bad for the negative types – what an awful life they must lead. I personally just want to be surrounded by the ones who are positive.
Amen, Paula!
I agree with you about those negative types – and in my heart I really do feel badly for them (know too many of them personally). I have learned the hard way that it’s not our job to “fix” them but just to keep on keeping on and, for our own sake, gathering with those of similar mindset.
And that’s why I am here ;)
This is my first comment here, but I’ve been lurking for a while. I just want to say I’ve always found your income posts extremely inspiring. I can understand why people are sceptical of income claims in this game, since there are so many scammers around, but it’s obvious (to me anyhow) that you’re genuine. I’m sure the people who really understand the potential of your method and have put it into practice themselves do also. Still, I can totally understand why you want to keep your income details private from now on.
Nice to hear from you Cat. Thank you for your supportive comment. I tend to be a bit of a lurker myself, I like to read what others have to say but am a bit shy when it comes to leaving comments myself. I feel so grateful that we have been able to help others with their online businesses, and we love hearing about their success stories.
Awesome! I saw some comments where people were saying that the money you ladies made was impossible. I just rolled my eyes..so silly. Great video – just shut the mouths of the unbelievers lol!
I really do not think you or I or anyone making money online should feel pressured into proving what they make online.
This is why I am not going to reveal my income on my blog like I was going to do. Just because I make a certain amount doesn’t mean that others couldn’t make more or less. The amount one makes is determined by how much effort they put into it!
Hi Lisa,
Well I think that will be my one and only video performance, an actress I am not. It was a bit of a shock to have a website totally trash us, I guess I wasn’t expecting anything like that to happen. Of course that shows my naiviety. Still I am over it now and feel we have fully addressed the situation. I am equally blown away by the overwhelming support that we have received from our readers both with the comments on the blog and their emails.
You are so right about the amount a person can make being determined by the amount of effort they are prepared to put in.
I believe you, and I am SOOOO inspired!
Excellent Amy. Hopefully the video will inspire a lot of people and show that making that sort of money is possible.
Holy S##t !! lol 34k ?! You guys are kicking major butt! Paula , Wanda… You guys I truly look up as models. Some people because they don’t earn a single a dollar online have the idea that because they didn’t do it no one else can. Keep doing what your doing. No need to prove anything. You live for yourself and your family.
That’s so true Steven and I know that’s true because we used to think the same way. We weren’t making much and we’d often think that the only ones making money were the ones selling products telling other people how to make money online.
Positive thinking is my option, I do trust many income reports that google search gave to me. Its truly motivated us who want to learn how to make money online and sometime screenshot equal to thousand words. If you can and so do I. The video is great and I hope I’ll be there very soon. Keep focus and persistence.
Thanks for sharing.
You’ve got it right Alam, focus and persistence are a key component to making this work.
Congratulations to you two! I can´t believe there are people out there using their time to scream around that others are scammers. When people are jealous they usually try to think it isn´t possible. And I think for many people it is not – they just start a half-hearted blog, with no more than a couple of entries on a theme they just learned about. They never start with passion nor do they provide value to their readers and end up screaming that others can´t make it.
You two have proven in more than one way that this is possible, I also don´t think you need to show anything or proof anything – nobody in business usually does. But I must say I greatly appreciate that because I´ve never made so much money in just one month and many many people make it over the whole year – so for me this is encouraging. I see though – through hard work making money online is possible but just with love, dedication, passion and the ability to recover from mistakes and failures. Good luck to you in future – who cares what such a person has to say will never get his own earnings into the top level as he spends his time talking bad about others.
I think that most people like to see what other people are making in this business – like you say, it’s encouraging and it motivates people. It motivated us when we were in those struggling days. We used to listen to an audio from James Martell interviewing a lady by the name of Bronwyn Bamber who was making around $30k a month. Funnily enough, she provided no proof whatsoever but we didn’t doubt her for a second. Instead we took on what she said and worked at emulating her. Still not there yet but we hope to get to a regular $30k a month eventually.
I love it! I think I know which site you are talking about. It’s a blogspot blog who claims to have actually spoke to an Amazon representative.
It’s a shame you have to actually “prove” your earnings but I’m glad you did for all those negative nellies out there!
For the record, I never doubted yall for a second!
Thanks Cathy…much appreciated. We love having you here as one of our regular readers by the way.
Thanks! You made my day :)
Thanks so much for the video and the final post on your income. I am very happy that this will the the LAST mention of your income. I believe that you need not reveal your income. Everything in this world of affiliate marketing comes down to a certain level of trust and common sense.
I would have purchased your eBook “The Amazonian Profit Plan” if you had never mentioned one word about your income. The reason being is that the info you provide on your blog is enough to convince me that you guys know what you are doing. The things you state just make good sense from a business stand-point. Everything that you say to do I try it out and test it. So far everything has worked. If someone reading your blog can’t read between the lines and see that then I believe they should not be in this business. Get out of the way and let the rest of earn a great living online.
Personally, your ebook helped increase my income, and I thank you for that. I am very grateful for that. Very grateful However, I was doing fine before just following the recommendations you make in this newsletter/blog. That is what a good course and a good teacher does, IT takes what the students is doing already and helps them to improve. Thank you for all you do for us. And thanks for NOT sending your income out anymore. Those of us who are making a full-time income from your methods don’t need the proof. We are living it everyday. Thank you both.
Thanks Charles, I really appreciate your comments. We love hearing that our ebook has helped increase someone’s income.
And thanks for reinforcing that it’s time to let go of the income. As you say this business comes down to ‘a certain level of trust and common sense’…money shouldn’t be an issue.
Nice ladies, I’ve always thought you were telling the truth. 34k is a bit mind blowing though, especially compared to my $1,132 for December. I just quit my full time job a few weeks ago and I’m giving it everything I can to make a full time living online. I really enjoy your site guys, thanks.
It is definitely mind blowing even to us. That’s why we only ever revealed our November income and not the December income because that was even difficult for some to believe.
And congrats on making $1132 over Christmas – just imagine what next December will bring you!
It is important to see other people’s earnings to some extent, but you’re so right about the complications of doing so. Of course if you’re selling something then people are more adamant that they must have proof that you know what you’re talking about. And it isn’t always easy to trust people online. But some people will never be happy, and you can only do so much (if people don’t believe your video they won’t believe anything!) Totally respect your decision, and actually think it’s a good idea.
The video shows such an unpolished performance that I am sure it will convince anyone watching that it’s actual, factual and in no way contrived.
I agree with you Ruth,seeing what someone is earning is inspirational. When we were starting out, our inspiration was a coffee talk that James Martell had with Bronwyn Bamber who at the time was earning $30,000 a month. This was an unheard of amount of money back then and it certainly kept on track whenever the going got tough or we started to lose focus.
I love how you open it with a letter opener! I just rip into it!
My feeling is that you have already been more open and honest about things – including earnings – than many. No need to keep displaying earnings. I think the pages that you already have up about earnings should be suffice to satisfy those who need to know these details.
Yes, it is very encouraging to see what can be achieved and I often tell my hubby tales about the “two Aussie ladies”. But I understand your reluctance to keep doing it and, as I said, the info is already there for those who need it.
LOL, so does Paula, using a letter opener is just one of my little quirks.
Thank you for your comments Dawn, its nice to hear from a lady from across the ditch. I am also a former kiwi having resided in Australia since 1981, but I’m still a kiwi at heart when the All Black play.
As you say, we have a couple of posts about our income now for anyone who is interested. A number of people find the posts about our income to be inspiring but others feel uncomfortable about it and that is one of the reasons that we have decided that enough is enough.
Yep, I must admit I do rip open the envelope. Wanda is always a little more refined than I am when it comes to these things.
Wanda & Paula,
I appreciate your transparency. I have felt your honesty from the fist time I read your blog about a month ago. I’m so sorry that people have said nasty things and would rather believe that a person can’t succeed rather than to believe that they can.
I probably would not have attempted affiliate marketing if I had not seen a post where you had made $14,000 in one month. I feel very grateful for finding this opportunity as we need to supplement our monthly income.
I’ve been working very hard on my site. You and many others are right – this is hard work! I have hopes that if I’m not as successful as you two I can at least attain a moderate level of success.
I just wanted to let you know, I fully support you two in your decision but what if you sent out a little email now and then to those who purchased your ebook? Just to give us who may have slowed down some encouragement.
What about offering a 1 time paid consultation where you look at an affiliate site we are building, read a few reviews and let us know if you think we’re approaching things correctly? I know I would be very happy to hear your opinion on my site.
Sorry for the long comment.
Elisabeth
Interesting post Elizabeth. I’ve thought about the same thing regarding a critique of our sites on a pay basis. I am trying to follow the APP plan but sometimes wonder if I could do better with some pointers from the creators. I would gladly pay the ladies to take a peek at my site and get helpful feedback. I think it would be money well spent.
I must say I do find your income figures very inspiring but do also understand why you would no longer want to make them public.
As we mentioned to Elisabeth, you don’t have to pay us Jerry. Just send us through your website details and we’ll take a look.
Thanks Elisabeth, we’ll consider sending an email to the group every now and then regarding our income but you have to also remember that oftentimes people think you are gloating when you tell them how much you make or what exciting things you are doing with your money. We’ve learnt that money is a sensitive issue for many so we have to be a little subtle about it – hence another reason for us no longer wanting to reveal our income. It’s a never ending balancing act to try to please everyone but of course that’s never possible. So it’s easier not to say anything at all.
You don’t have to pay us Elisabeth to review your site. If you’ve bought the book we will review your site for nothing. Just send the details through to us via the contact form above.
Money, money in a rich “woman’s” world. It certainly has it’s pros and cons. If your program didn’t make enough money to be outstanding, it would not catch our attention. Proof is in the pudding, as they say. On the other hand, good pudding makes people feel inadequate and then they attack (with disbelief or criticism)the thing or people they feel inadequate around. So it is with human nature.
I like to hear about earnings as an incentive and a hope to attach my wagon to. Another person’s experience is not replicable, but it can certainly provide direction and a sense of possibility. That I appreciate.
Buck
Well Buck I have to say that I hadn’t thought of it in that light – If your program didn’t make enough money to be outstanding, it would not catch our attention – but I guess that’s true. After all who wants to hitch their wagon to a dead horse – no performance incentive there.
Thank you so much for your comments.
Awesome work ladies. Very true, you are more likely to get where you want in life if your goal is to help others rather than only yourself.
Jay.
Definitely Jay, and I like how you say ‘rather than only yourself’. Most people would simply say that it is better to help other people and thus exclude themselves. It’s so important to help yourself as well. By helping yourself you are always in a better position to help others.
Certainly! Afterall the majority of us have started IM in search of freedom. I’ve just had it said to me so many times that helping others is a sure way to bettering your own life, and what do you know, turns out those people were correct :D
I’ve only just recently added Amazon as an income stream. I’m so conscious of what people think of my reviews that the majority of my reviews are over the 1400 words mark. Not only that but I plan to buy every product once the money is made back to give people an alternative to written reviews, with me in the video.
I have noticed one downside to writing huge reviews. If you forget to save the document as you go along, you can say goodbye to that 1200 word Article you just wrote.
Happened to me last night. Got towards the end, remembered I should save it. Click on file to go save and the thing crashes. It didn’t even get backed up or recovered so that’s 2 hours of my time gone! I think I’m going to just do it in wordpress from now on, incase I forget; as wordpress automatically saves now and again.
Question if you don’t mind though. I’m interested in your average conversion rates from users who visit your website/page to those who click onto Amazon.
So I’m not interested in knowing the clicks to sales conversions, but rather the visitors to Amazon conversion.
Currently mine sits at around 25-40% among my sites/pages.
How do yours do?
We really don’t spend much time on working out conversion rates so I don’t know the answer to that as a whole. Also the conversion rates can differ greatly between pages.
But here are a few examples for a few different pages on our sites covering Mar 1 to Mar 15:
Page 1:
Unique Page Views – 975
Click thru to Amazon – 527
Page 2:
Unique Page Views – 2808
Click thru to Amazon – 617
Page 3:
Unique Page Views – 754
Click thru to Amazon – 336
Page 4:
Unique Page Views – 329
Click thrus to Amazon – 58
Increasing our conversion rate is something we really need to focus on. We have a lot of poor quality pages on our sites that are getting traffic and could generate some nice sales.
Ohmigod, I have the self same problem, I don’t know how many times I have written a long review only to lose it because I have neglected to save it. I am so much more conscious of saving regularly now but there are still times I forget. Frustration plus.
@Paula
Thanks for the info. I also manage to get a response from Jan Roos and he said his average is 60-65 percent. That’s huge! I see there that some of your pages are achieving that amount, whilst others are experiencing 10-20 percent.
Could be the niche. Definitely looks like I’m going to have to work to improve my numbers.
@Wanda
Very much so! First and last time I use any type of word document. I’ve now started doing it in wordpress. My latest review was over 1800 words. Now imagine if I had lost that one.
Don’t think I’d have a keyboard to type on, a monitor to look at or a mouse to click with lol
Thanks for the answers ladies. Getting use of a Theme I had made for my personal blog ages ago that I never ended up using it and detailing my case study with Amazon on there.
If its like any of my other income streams, this should go in the forward direction rather than down lol!! (hopefully)
Jay, be careful about typing your reviews directly into WordPress. I’ve lost work that way after the save function failed for some reason. Make sure you copy it over to your own machine into a Word or text document before pressing ‘Save’ in WordPress!
Hey Wanda & Paula ,
Because success is a journey not a destination you’ve just reached another level in your business. It’s understandable that you don’t feel necessary anymore to reveal your earnings. As long as what’s said is true I don’t see anything wrong about revealing his income .
I think you are spot on there Alexis – we are definitely at a different level in our business. It’s time to move on.
Great and inspiring job. Be careful though, in the last millisecond of the video you can see the check # (if it matters).
David
Thanks David. I’ve fixed it now. I am still learning how to use Camtasia as you can probably tell from the video.
Hey Ladies,,
Very impressive and inspirational, so thanks for posting it as it does indeed help those of us trying to get to your level.
I remember reading a comment at the warrior forum about the guy who apparently spoke to someone at amazon and he was told that no affiliates earn that kind of money! I was a bit taken back by that and pretty gutted about it, but I shrugged it off as just another wannabee who cant make it work and is ruining it for everyone else.
That is why blogs and videos of yours are important, they prove amazon sites work for regular people (I mean that in a nice way) and life changing money is being made.
Thanks guys your an inspiration.
Thank you Andy. I am so glad you weren’t sidetracked by the views of others. Promoting Amazon products can be very profitable for us regular people :)
Paula and Wanda,
I have read your blog and the WF thread and would still like to purchase APP. My limited retirement income hasn’t allowed that to happen just yet.
I started writing a response to your post, but when it reached 1,000 words I decided it would be better to send it to you on your contact page rather than clutter your responses. If it is something you think should be shared, you can cut and paste to your heart’s desire.
If someone makes a claim on a sales page, then I want them to be able to back up that claim with solid proof and not the trickery that goes on with many sites. You don’t need to prove it to me 20 times over with bold read arrows and circles. Income alone, is not what is going to sway me.
I think you have a group of followers that are interested in your success and showing your income is one way to do that. Reporting % increase does the same thing but not as dramatically.
There has to be times when you wonder, “They bought what?” when looking at your reports. Sharing some of the unusual things from time to time might be interesting.
Keep up the good work. Eventually, I will be able to enjoy the actual APP. Perhaps consider a membership forum type site in the future for exchanging ideas.
Just my thoughts.
I like your idea about sharing some of the ‘unusual things’. We’ll keep that in mind for a future blog post or for those on our email list.
As for the forum, we have considered that but we also realize that it will take a lot of work to maintain…and our goal is to reduce the amount of work we do not increase it.
And thanks for your email Wendell. We’ve already read it and will respond to it as soon as possible.
I love your site, your book, and enjoy your earnings updates. Nothing but inspiration. Do people really still visit the warrior forum? Wow.
Don’t let the losers of the world bother you. Not worth the time or energy.
Thanks Todd. I appreciate your comments.
As for Warrior Forum, I still visit it. Not as much as I use to as we are all for staying focused and forums just get us sidetracked…me particularly. I’ve always liked the Warrior Forum – hey it’s not perfect but then it’s difficult to maintain a perfect forum when you have such a diverse range of people visiting.
I, as well, have liked WF. But the time for it being useful has now far outweighed it’s timeliness. It’s over. Time for a new truth when it comes to IM. Like your blog. :)
Wow ! 34K in a month is mind-blowing. Would be good to know if this comes from one site or more. Also perhaps to inspire struggling IMs like me, you should continue to disclose your earnings, not monthly but maybe quarterly?
It does come from more than one site. When we first started making the bigger dollars it was because we only focused on one site so most of our money at that time came from that one site. Last year we tried to diversify a bit more so that we wouldn’t only rely on just that one site anymore. This seems to be starting to take affect as we are seeing more sales coming from those other sites now.
So the majority of that money for December came from two sites and the remainder came from small sales from each of those other sites we have (we have over 20 websites).
Great work Gals! I never had a doubt it was real – very inspirational!
Thank you Dan.
Hi Paula and Wanda
I want to thank you for posting your November 2010 income on this website.
I started ‘playing’ with affiliate marketing late last year and spread myself across various affiliate networks and even more merchants, but after stumbling across your post about what you earnt from Amazon in just one month – and seeing proof of this income – I was sold!
And for the last two months I have concentrated on trying to build an Amazon income in my part time. I have a high stress, long hours job which means I don’t have the time I would like to have to focus on this, but your blog post about your November 2010 income is all I need to keep motivated, and I use it as a constant reminder that I too can eventually make it in the internet marketing world.
Thank you
Richard
Thanks Richard – glad it has helped to motivate. We both were in busy full-time jobs and working on this business at the same time. It can be a strain but the effort is worth it in the end especially when you walk out the door of your regular job for the last time.
Hello,
I’m from Germany and want to ask you if your Amazonian profit plan is also good for people who live in Germany (as we can obtain maximum 10 Euro per sale from Amazon)?
Thank you for answering!
Elli
Good question Elli, and I too would be interested in your answer please Paula/Wanda.
I just discovered this morning that Amazon.co.uk have a £7.00 cap per item on the commission paid and from my research it appears that Amazon.com also have a cap, but this is US$25 (or more than double what the UK site has).
I am thinking that I should move my focus to Amazon.com before I get too involved with Amazon.co.uk.
I have also discovered that the tiered commission struction is actually more favourable at Amazon.com than .co.uk as well in that you don’t have to sell anywhere near as many products to move up through the commission rates.
Do you have any thoughts on whether I would be better off to continue focusing on the Amazon.co.uk market or change to Amazon.com?
As for the $25 cap on US sales, it is only electronic goods like laptops, computers etc that have the $25 cap.
And I can’t really tell you whether to move to Amazon US or stay with Amazon UK because we really don’t have any experience with the UK market and whether it is worthwhile or not.
As I mentioned to Elli you can often rank a lot easier in countries other than the US so that can be a benefit. But you really need to do your research on this one.
We live in Australia and we make money through Amazon via their US site. We create websites marketed to towards US buyers using .com sites.
In other words, we have never had any experience with other Amazon country sites.
Often it is easier to rank in other countries because the competition is not that great but then your sales are going to be less especially if they cap the sale to only 10 Euro. That means you are going to have to sell more to make a decent income.
The concepts in the book will still work for you because it is all about how to choose products that convert, how to write the review and how to get traffic. The only thing different really is that you won’t make as much.
Thank you for answering Paula,
This is true, that it is easier to rank in Germany than in the US for the same keyword, but to get 5 times less money is not that good. So I will think about changing to Amazon.com.
I want also to say, that your site is great and you are helping a lot of people, especially beginners like me.
Best wishes
Elli
Sorry to hear that you won’t be sharing your financial results anymore; I am sure a lot of people including myself found it very motivational.
Thank you for showing that video, although I never had any doubt about the money you were making. Enjoy the money well earned!
Thanks Daisy, I know how motivational these things can be but we just felt that it’s time to move on.
I also never doubted your income reports. But it does happen I’m afraid. I know of one example where the blog pull in just over 2,000 hits amonths and the owner is claiming he earns $3,000 a month with Adsense from it.
Well that is technically possible if he is going for some of the really high priced Adsense terms. Some of them can pay up to $30 per click or more.
But yes, I know a lot of people are making things up in order to sell their products. It’s not worth it.
Sadly, there are a lot of these kinds of claims in the IM world but I have no reason to doubt Paula and Wanda. They’ve always come across as being very genuine and honest. I even sent them an email a week or two ago asking for some advice and Paula was very helpful.
Earning reports or not, I’ll still be following your success closely and consider you both role models for a while to come.
Thanks Ben, much appreciated.
I Love your blog and Amazon Profit Plan. I have read all the post in your blog and check almost daily for new post. You guys really motivate beginners like me and a lot more people out there. Your income for the month of Dec’ 2010 is really mind blowing. Keep the good news coming!
It was mind blowing for us as well Joel. Would be nice if we could do that every month but that is the goal now.
Great stuff, I dont think revealing your income is required. You don’t have to reveal it but you can make an estimation to people.
That’s probably what we’ll be doing in the future Fazal. We’ll just be making generalizations and not providing specifics.
Hey Wanda and Paula,
You guys are doing an awesome job! It’s good to see hard work payoff like that. Very happy for you both. As for the haters let them be your motivators!
To your success!
Thanks Samuel…I appreciate your comments.
Bravo Ladies,
This post is a hoot I’m so glad I stopped by.
Thank you for being so candid.
You’re such an inspiration.
When will you be updating APP?
Just out of curiosity – what in APP needs to be?
The methods all work, they were thorough and sound to begin with (I can’t see what needs to be updated at all). Not trying to pick an argument with you, but really: what they wrote has a very long shelf life since it was all whitehat, and sound.
James is right – nothing much has really changed. In terms of the recent Google update the APP already met their requirements.
However, we do know that Yahoo Site Explorer will be discontinued soon so the ebook will need a small update to cover that.
Well it looks like we won’t need to update the ebook after all. Yahoo is not getting rid of Yahoo Site Explorer just yet. It is only the API that is going so only developers of software who use Yahoo data will be affected.
This was confirmed via email to me from a Yahoo representative.
Oh, great! Now you tell me…I just posted some misinformation on YSE.
The sad reality of the internet: things change so fast and Yahoo! didn’t tell me in advance before the post. Scoundrels! :)
Actually it’s good to hear, and Market Samurai is now integrating with Majestic SEO and YSE, so they’re already set for the change.
I was really happy to hear that!
I know! isn’t it just so mean of Yahoo not to give us any warning.
Paula was in a right tizz looking for a product that can be used in place of Yahoo Site Explorer. Real panic stations.
But the kind people at Yahoo have confirmed that YSE will stay until the end of the year. Whew – pressure off. By then someone, maybe Bing, will surely have something in place.
I don’t believe it. You mailed the check (cheque) to yourselves from a fake account. Obviously. Postmarks can be faked….
No, really – it’s a sad state of affairs that you even had to feel compelled to do the video – but it was worth it to hear those ACCENTS!!
I love Aussie accents – now I KNOW you’re real. (Before I just thought you were a pair of friendly computer viruses who emailed me personally and sent me those encouraging and life-changing messages. You know, like viruses do?)
:)
Wow, must be sarcasm Thursday for me – anyway: I’ve never doubted your success, just for the record – anyone who does just hasn’t followed through or actually written something of value.
That may sound harsh – but the FACT is that this business is NOT for everyone. Not everyone can write well. Not everyone can rank well. Not everyone will do the work to make it work…
And sometimes, demands in the market just change. Or Amazon does something like give everyone an Amazon toolbar – so they can circumvent any middle man (have you seen it?).
There are a lot of variables in this game – but your honesty hasn’t been one of them. Keep up the good work – and I was heading this direction anyway. You’ve just settled my mind on it.
LOL, thanks for your comments James. And I had read on your site that you were thinking of no longer revealing your income. I guess we all have to come to that decision at some point.
There is one more time I plan to do so – at the end of the year when I see if I met my goal of $10k or so a month in passive income.
Knock on wood – what you two taught is really ensuring I’m on track. So: thanks for laying it all out, without being gimmicky.
Ok Paula, but when you reach the $100,000 a month mark, you gotta tell us!
James, you are a riot! I bet you keep your wife and kids laughing all the time!
Ok Cathy, it’s a deal.
What’s this about the Yahoo Site Explorer being discontinued?
That and the Analysis function of Market Samurai were in my opinion, extremely important for judging my competition.
I know other services exist, such as Majestic SEO – But I just don’t want to change *sobs* ;(
Looks like it’s time to do my Market Research for the foreseeable future – Possibly in the space of a week!
And when I say future, I mean indefinitely! hihi *sniggles*
Btw quick question, based off my results from my latest blog post. I recently done a 1800 word review, top quality (I hope, had a few people commend me on it). On average those who read my Article spent 8 minutes on my site before heading to Amazon. Those who continued browsing stayed for a further 13 minutes before leaving.
In your books, how would you interpret those stats in-terms of Amazon and sales?
Jay.
That’s excellent that they stay on average 8 minutes. That’s extremely good in my opinion. It shows that you are providing value. Why would they bother staying if they didn’t enjoy what you had to say.
In terms of sales, that’s always hard to say. It depends on too many variables like the product you chose for instance. But for people to stay that long means that they are showing a semblance of trust and that is a good thing if you are wanting to make sales.
I emailed Yahoo yesterday about Yahoo Site Explorer and they responded today (yes within 24 hours believe it or not!). They confirmed that only the API is being discontinued from the end of March. In other words if you use programs like Market Samurai for instance no longer will they be able to use Yahoo data (which is why they recently updated Market Samurai to use Majestic SEO data instead).
So Yahoo Site Explorer will still remain for the time being but there is talk of it disappearing at the end of this year.
It’s nice to see that you are succesfuland and that a lot of money can be made from Amazon. However I am following you avidly for any new information and techniques that I don’t know. It is the information that you provide us that is the proof of your reputation. Thank you very much
We’ll do our best to provide more tips and techniques.
After reading your post, curiosity got the better of me and I went looking for the other blog to find out why this person would think that you two are scamming anyone. When you see it, it’s actually rather pathetic, isn’t it? Wanker is an Australian slang term, right? I think you know what I’m getting at. Four or five posts, all posted on the same day, anonymously and on a free platform. He (or she) doesn’t say anything about having purchased the plan or having implemented any of the strategies, despite saying in the header of the blog that it’s a review of the plan. Just a bunch of pathetic calculations based on suppositions. They have no idea what items you’re promoting, no idea what keyword phrases you’re targeting, how much traffic you’re getting, or anything. They also state that it’s a known fact that no one spends more that $100.00 at a time with Amazon. A known fact? Could we get a citation on that one. Then to also show their purported conversation with Amazon (U.S. and Australian). It’s laughable, really. I can see where it’s troubling, though, because people using the internet have such varied levels of education and experience, that there will no doubt be some who read that and think that maybe it’s true. They just don’t know any better.
Choosing not to continue to show your earnings may be a good decision. You have nothing to prove. I think your readers know that the main reason you released an ebook was in the hope of showing others how to achieve some level of the success that you’ve seen. I wonder if it would be a good idea for you to do a post here on your blog and take this person head on and pick apart each element of his bogus blog? Cut him off at the knees. It just seems that there’s nothing substantial on the blog and it even looks as though it’s been abandoned. I doubt that your comment there will ever be approved. By the way, congratulations on the February check! If I made a video of me opening a check of that size, it would end with someone slapping me in the face to bring me back from passing out. Much continued success to you both.
You know what’s interesting Anthony? After Wanda and Paula put out their video opening their check, I went to that blog and asked the blogger, if it’s a scam, how did they manage that trick of opening the check? Surprise, surprise, my comment wasn’t approved. Hmmm, wonder why?
As for not spending more than $100 at Amazon, obviously, he/she is an idiot! I spent a lot more than that at Christmas time and I bet a lot of other people did too.
We are not ones for creating arguments…it’s kind of a waste of energy so I don’t think we’ll be doing a blog post on it. I’d rather focus on our business and move forward rather than focus on what other people have said about us. That’s the unfortunate side effect when you sell an ebook online – there will always be someone who doesn’t believe it or puts you down because of it.
No one spends more than $100 on Amazon? I guess I need to request somehow that Amazon refunds the customers I sent them that spent over that amount! LOL!
Have you noticed a significant drop in traffic from the latest Google update? I noticed you stated that February was under $10K, less than 1/3 of Dec. and you attributed that to a shorter month, but it’s only shorter by three days. I wouldn’t expect a $4-5K drop from January over three days?
In any case, I want to thank you for posting your stats all those times you did. Very inspiring, and informational, but you ladies definitely don’t have to prove anything to anyone! Thanks!
We stayed fairly static with our traffic. We didn’t lose any traffic but we didn’t gain either.
For some reason we’ve found that February is a slow month. Maybe everyone is paying off their credit cards from Christmas. Although we did do better compared to last year for that month.
March is doing much better. We’ve already made the same amount this month than we did for the entire month of March last year.
Hi Paula and Wanda
When I read your post I thought ‘Sour Grapes” but fortunately we know different! I know how hard you have both worked and as I’ve mentioned on this blog previously I recall when you first started having sales on Amazon (the tire).
When you released the information about you income I was really pleased to hear how well you are doing both for you but also for those of us that are still working to get there. I for one really appreciate hearing about your sales and I also know it was not as a boast but for encouragement to those of us that have been following you for some time.
From here on I don’t blame you at all for not sharing your income, most would not have done it. We know you are doing well and deserve it and Good for you! As far as those that want to put a damper on your great information and sharing- shame on them!
Thanks Shirley…I really appreciate your comments. I had to think what you were talking about regarding ‘the tire’ but it all came back to me. That seems like such a long time ago now.
I am waiting for the day when you come here and leave a comment telling us how well you are going. You deserve to make it in this business more than just about anyone.
Wow, a friend sent me a link to this post – I now see why. You ladies rock! I think I might finally bite the bullet and get your resources.
Also take a look at some of the following blog posts Helen which might help.
http://www.affiliateblogonline.com/2010/11/05/you-only-need-one-page-to-make-money-online/
http://www.affiliateblogonline.com/2009/12/17/how-to-write-product-reviews-that-convert/
http://www.affiliateblogonline.com/2010/07/10/how-to-weave-a-story-into-your-product-reviews/
http://www.affiliateblogonline.com/2010/06/22/how-to-write-a-product-review-when-you-dont-own-the-product/
I bought the Amazonian Profit Plan and, being a newbie and quite slow, had to read it 3 times before I started looking for products to promote. I’ll get there, though. Just the way it’s written has given me a boost in confidence.
One of the nicest things about it is that there’s no upsell…I’m so fed up with deciding to buy something, and having to click through several upsells before I can complete the purchase. At that point, I always think twice about the purchase…after all, if it’s so good, why are the upsells necessary?
To me, they’re just money-grabbers.
Another thing: unlike other products to make money online, I haven’t received an email from you telling me about some other ‘magical’ way you’ve just discovered that I really should buy. Instead, I received a lovely email giving me even more information on the A.P.P.
You two are the ‘real deal’, and I’m afraid so many others might not be. I looked around a lot and have read a lot over the past 18 months. Now, I’m actually going to put into practice what the A.P.P. teaches.
And yes, I’m embarrassed to admit, a big part of my difficulty has been to focus completely on one system.
Thank you for everything you’ve shared, both here on your blog, and in the A.P.P.
I also realize that it will only work if I work it, and that’s my intention.
Thanks again.
I don’t think you should be embarrassed to admit that Bea. We all do the same thing. You’d be hard pressed trying to find an individual working online who has only ever focused on one money making method. Making money online isn’t as easy as it seems but we all want it to be quick and easy so we keep thinking that the next best thing will work.
All I know is when we focused on one thing only and were patient with it, things began to change for us.
how may sites do you use to make that much money. Did you keep adding more sites since your last earning report or did you just concentrate on improving conversions?
I’ve answered this one in Jimm’s comment above so will just copy and paste it here:
“the majority of that money for December came from two sites and the remainder came from small sales from each of those other sites we have (we have over 20 websites)”
We don’t build new sites anymore. We simply work on the ones we have. We find pages on those sites that have the potential to make money based on our criteria for products and competition etc and rework those pages into our longer review format.
Wow… That’s amazing! really inspired! :)
Btw, I want to ask a question. Do you build list on your affiliate sites?
Thanks!
We haven’t really done much of that for our product sites for a couple of reasons.
Firstly it takes time to maintain a list and we don’t want to create work for ourselves.
Secondly, I’m not sure how well a list like this would work for a product site. If we are selling shoes for instance, would anyone really sign up to our list on a long term basis and what would we write about in our newsletter to keep them interested?
Thanks for the answer Paula.
So the main traffic is coming from search engine – how well we optimize certain keywords to get high rank in search engine.
Well, the second question :)
How about social media traffic (Facebook, Twitter, etc)? are they converting well? or you don’t enter to?
Thanks before!
We don’t really spend too much time on social sites. We haven’t found them to generate much traffic for us. I know some people have had a lot of success though so it can work. I guess you have to know what you are doing and we don’t have enough knowledge in that area.
Like you said, if it’s something about shoes why would they sign-up at social media sites etc, unless they are shoe fanatics.
They just aren’t going to be interested in participating on a community about a shoe they might have bought, you wear them, you don’t go ahead and join a community to talk to other people about it. You’ve got Amazon reviews for that.
But in-terms of a list, some people have used them successfully.
Few ways are:
Offer a buyers guide to that product if they opt-in.
Offer updates when the best deals are about or products go down in price (usually works on holidays)
Ask for an opt-in so they can receive an update when you have coupons to give out.
Those 3 usually work, not as good as creating a list in something where people “learn” to do something, but it still does.
For example I think it would do well on your food website that has a blog, you know which one I mean ;)
I wont disclose it though.
I made $34.00 last month! Haha great post ladies.
That’s excellent Kelly. Any earnings are great earnings. Just think, there are lots and lots of people who wouldn’t have made anything at all.
Things can only get better for you from here, after all by making sales you have shown that you have what it takes to succeed and that you are on the right track.
Hello, glad to see you’re making a success out of Amazon.
But I’ve got a question.
I’m into computers and I’m in the process of making a computer-related review website.
I was told that there was a $25 cap on Amazon products.
if that’s true, does that mean that if I sell a computer for $1000, I’ll only get $25 ?
Thanks.
That’s correct. This is what Amazon have to say about it:
“Qualifying Product units that are personal computers (including without limitation desktops, laptops, and notebooks) are limited to a maximum of $25 per unit, regardless of the Qualifying Revenues derived from the sale of any such unit. The classification of any Qualifying Products unit as a personal computer will be determined by us in our sole discretion. “
Thanks for your response.
Does this mean that you sell computer-related products – or do you steer clear from them and focus on other products instead?
Thanks.
No we don’t have a site for computers. We consider it a little too competitive and products tend to get outdated too quickly meaning you continuall have to be abreast of what is happening in the field.
We have enough of that with one of our sites and as we have over 20 it is too time consuming to keep up with products that constantly change. We prefer to choose products that are stable and don’t change very often.
As Paula says the $25.00 cap only applies to computers. However, there is also a 4% cap on cameras and some larger electrical items.
Having said that, we recently received a $40 commission on a tv and a $30 commission on a camera, both of which have the 4% cap, so don’t be deterred by the 4% cap.
Another thing to keep in mind is that when you promote Amazon products you will generally sell lots of items totally unrelated to your niche. When people click through to Amazon on your links you receive commission on every one of those unrelated sales. Neither of the products I have mentioned above are related to any of our niches.
Thanks for the info Wanda.
I was thinking of using “Buy.com” affiliate program. Have you ever used them?
Here’s what their affiliate program says:
3% – Base Commission Rate.
5% – For Office Supplies.
6% – For Video Games, Bags, Books, Home & Outdoor, Baby & Toy, Music, Wine.
8% – For Sports, Musical Instruments, Clothing & Shoes, Jewelry, Movies, Pet Supplies.
9% – For Health & Beauty.
11% – For Everything Else.
What do you think, love to hear your opinion on this.
Thanks.
No we haven’t used ‘Buy.com’. We find that Amazon has the best prices for the products we promote.
I just bought your book – I’ve been struggling with internet marketing for years – and I made up my mind that this year – I SHALL STRUGGLE NO MORE :)
We struggled for about 5 years before we finally managed to make a decent living from this so we know exactly how you feel.
Changing your mindset is the best thing you can do so that’s excellent that you have made it a conscious decision to no longer struggle with it all.
$14,000 in a month?! At this point, I’d settle for making a tenth of that amount. (Actually, my first goal for making money online is $800 for a month. First things first…)
Well Sonny you are on the right track to success. By setting a goal you will stay focused because you know what you want.
When we first started we didn’t set a goal we were just happy with any money we earned. But once we got serious and realized that working online can be very lucrative we sat down and actually set some real goals. As there are two of us working in the business, we set our first goal at earning $300 a day. Once we reached that we upped the ante to $500 per day. And we just reset a new goal as the last one is reached. $800 a month is a great goal to set and we wish you every success.
Thank you. And, FYI, if I was around back then to see all the good tips and advice you were dispensing, I wouldn’t have questioned your income at all…
Hi Paula & Wanda, what do you think about video marketing and its potential?
I’ve read a lot of people suggest to use video marketing (youtube, etc). But we need knowledge and skills to create an attractive videos, or we must have the product on the video so we can demonstrate the product.
I think if we created a video review with poor of quality, then it’s going to convert bad. Isn’t it?
We’ve never really gotten into video marketing. There are plenty of people doing it however so I am sure it can work. You only have to look at Youtube to see that.
I don’t think you need to make professional looking videos. In terms of product reviews, I would think that most people would want to just see regular people using the product and they would trust that rather than some slick and fancy video.
If you don’t have the product to video then you can still make a video but it would probably be something like a Powerpoint presentation where you use a lot of photos of the product.
Hey Guys,
Congrats on all the success!
I’ve been at this for a couple of years now and am just starting to make some decent money. Your story is a great inspiration that helps me keep going. I know that within a year or two I’ll be making a really good income with this, so I just keep plugging away. The biggest key is to persevere and not give up … even when that’s all you want to do sometimes!
TJ
In the early days I had some doubts at time as to whether this was going to work.(not that I would ever tell Paula that) I worked so hard for very little reward. But every little success we had, no matter how small, made me realize the potential of affiliate marketing. I love working on my computer so it is more of a game than work for me. And as you say perseverence plays a major role in succeeding. Its good to hear that you are already making decent money, that will certainly help to keep you on track.
I dusted off your 7 Traffic Methods report this morning & it inspired me into something that was actually pretty easy to do. It’s at:
http://rocketrider.net/my-new-found-best-friend-blog
Bruce
Yes I can see you have definitely being reading our 7 Traffic Methods ebook and have put it into practice. Excellent!! I think I’ll go in and Tweet your post and Wanda will Facebook it. See how well that works?
I have to make a decision about whether to accept a job that makes $22k per year, or to no accept the job and completely focus on making money using your methods. I have to convince my husband that I can make more in one year than the job will make me. He works full time so I could stay at home and do this. Am I being unrealistic? If I work hard and apply your methods, can I make more than $22k in the first year? Thanks so much. Great blog.
That’s an impossible one to answer Tammy. Most people naturally want some sort of security, like knowing how much they will make before they start, but this isn’t the type of business for that. It is definitely doable to make $22k in your first year but it is also just as doable to end up making nothing.
There are no typical incomes in this business. It is a big risk going into a business like this. You have to be prepared for the ups and downs and you have to be prepared to stick at it no matter what happens. (Just read JamestheJusts story here to get an idea of the hard work involved and being prepared to stick with it – http://www.affiliateblogonline.com/2011/03/03/easy-money-is-a-tough-road-and-a-real-gamble-a-success-story/ )
I’m sorry I can’t give you anything more concrete but I don’t want to lie to you and tell you it’s easy to make money online because it isn’t. It takes focus and determination. Our ebook was written to help anyone with a website and who is struggling to make a decent income – to make money promoting Amazon products. Internet Marketing can be highly successful but it depends on so many variables that it is impossible to say how much you will end up making in a year.
Thank you so much for answering my question. Here is my plan. I have made the decision to put all my efforts into my Amazon Affiliate program. I won’t give up, ever! Hopefully this time next year I will come back and post a pic of my rather large Amazon check as well!
As someone in her 50’s I am encouraged that age doesn’t matter! Thanks again ladies.
This is my first visit here — after reading Tiffany Dow’s review of your Amazonian Profit Plan (in progress) I had to visit this blog and so far I have been here a couple of hours.
What a treat to find your blog and you. I have learned a lot already and just wanted to thank you for sharing.
Joanne
Thanks for visiting Joanne and so glad you are enjoying the blog.
Hi Wanda and Paula,
Thank you for your blog and the wonderful info you give us. We have a question concerning Guest Blogging and the backlink keyword within the contents of the article.
When you create a back link back to your review page within the content of the article, do you use the same keyword variation or do you diversify the keyword anchor link?
For example, if you had a review page on the “WackyTacky 6578 Treadmill”, would you use “WackyTacky 6578 treadmill” as your backlink keyword in all of your guest posts? Or would you use many other different keywords to back link back to your treadmill review page?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers
We generally focus on a few keywords at a time until they rank. In your guest articles you wouldn’t only add just one backlink. You would try to get 2 to 3 in there which means you can include 2 or three keywords for each guest article.
Wow! You guys must have been earning some great money over the past year to get people all riled up. The video made me laugh, but then I realized how much grief you must have received to feel the need to go to that extent to prove your earnings.
I’m sad to say that I haven’t frequented your site much during the past year as I’ve launched various blogs focusing more towards other topics. I always learned quite a bit from your posts, and your original amazon earnings report was an inspiration to me. You’ve never once struck me as someone who would make any of it up. What would be the point?
Having read your ebook, I know your secret is a lot of work, dedication, and consistency. Yes, of course, there’s the tips and tricks you’ve learned along the way. It’s well worth the paltry sum you’ve asked for it.
I look forward to reconnecting with you this year, and to catching up on the posts I’ve missed.
Keep up the good work!
Good to hear from you again Brad…it’s been a while. I am just reading a few of your posts at your Big Feet Marketing website….great stuff!
You and Wanda have been so helpful to people like myself, that it is ashame anyone would think you would make things up. After all your APP is a blueprint of what you do. Only someone who has both succeeded and has good intentions would simply give out a blueprint of what they do to earn their living. So in truth you do not have to report anything to anyone but when you have, it has been an inspiration to both myself and many other IM people out there.
Thanks for your thoughts Charles and glad we can be of help.
It’s not that I didn’t trust you on earnings. But it’s always nice to see those insane numbers. My motivation level goes sky high thanks to you!
There is nothing like seeing someone else’s success to keep you motivated. Back before we were making much money from this we would listen to an interview James Martell had with one of his students at the time called Bronwyn Bamber. She was making $30,000 a month. I loved listening to that interview because it gave me hope and kept us going when we felt like giving up.
You can also read success stories on our Staying Motivated page here:
http://www.affiliateblogonline.com/staying-motivated/
Thank you for the video. It is inspiring. At the same time, I fully understand why this will be the last (and most convincing) proof you will provide. Spending your time trying to convince people who don’t want to be convinced is a waste, time better spent building up to that $30 thousand on a regular basis.
I have learned a great deal from you both, and appreciate all your efforts to help those of us who are trying to earn a living online. I am not earning as much as I would like to, but thanks in great part to what I learn here, I am starting to see an improvement.
“…time better spent building up to that $30 thousand on a regular basis.”
That’s so true and yes we’ve learned to focus more on those that want to learn and succeed rather than those who just want to complain about it all.
Wow! I wish I had found this blog sooner! The last 2 years, I have been following countless Internet Marketing blogs and gurus, trying to find a way into this career field. Most of their content is very vague and once I purchase their subscription or ebook, I realize their business model is not for me – and that wastes so much of my time.
This is why your blog is so refreshing. In less than 1 week of finding this blog, I’ve learned so much already, and now I have found exactly what I want to do thanks to you two! The content here is so outstanding and honest. Even your comments reveal so much information that I will surely put to use as I begin my affiliate career. Thank you! That Amazonian Profit Plan is going on my Christmas Wish List. lol.
Thank you for the kind comments Bob. We try to be as helpful as possible and as you have noticed, a lot of great information can be picked up from our helpful readers. All the best with your future internet marketing endeavours.
At one time, I was easily making over $2,000 a month writing online articles and getting paid upfronts plus page view income. And I only worked 20 hours a week.
Of course, nobody on the sites I worked at believed me, for the simple reason that THEY couldn’t do it. So if THEY couldn’t then I couldn’t either :)
Yeah. Whatever….. :)
Great info on your site, btw.
Some people just have to see it before they can believe it. Even one of my brothers had a hard time believing that Internet marketing could work until I logged in and showed him our earnings on Amazon.
U ppl R our guide in this slow economy…Keep it up and teach us :D
Thnx a lot
We’ll do our best Sourav.
I just discovered your site and this is exactly the kind of post I was looking for…
Posts like these are extremely inspiring and are proof to other internet marketers out there of the endless possibilities and potential that truly exist.
All it takes is the social proof that someone else accomplished something to make it believable, and therefore possible, for everyone else.
Just take a good look at what Roger Bannister did on May 6, 1954 when he broke the 4 min. mile. He proved that running a sub 4 minute mile wasn’t humanly impossible like medical professionals once assured.
Not long after Bannister’s miraculous feat, several others matched this once thought impossible achievement.
So a BIG “Thank You” for the inspiration and proof of what is possible for us all.
Best Wishes,
Anthony
P.S. I have one question for you though. How many active sites did it take to earn the Amazon income mentioned here on this post?
These are the sorts of posts we loved reading ourselves when we first started out. We liked seeing real people make it.
As for how many active sites it took to make the income. In all we have around 20 to 25 sites up on the net. At one point we were working on all of them at the one time. It didn’t work. So we decided to work on just one. We found that even that was a lot of work so eventually we just focused on just a few pages and just constantly backlinked to those pages. When we did that we noticed a big increase in traffic to the site. But even then we didn’t convert very well. What made the difference was when we started writing longer more detailed reviews.
Now we just rework pages on our sites – so they could be pages on any of our sites – and get baclinks to those pages.
You only need a handful of good quality reviews to make a full time income.
Hi Paula. First of all thanks for the great post about your success on Amazon. I’m also one of those online newbies who is trying to make a penny online from Amazon but still faild.
I have made a blog on WordPress on specific niche to promote amazon product between my blog posts, but I do not know how to set it and get visitors. I have very few traffic who never bought anything from my affiliate ID on Amazon!
Can you show me one of your wordpress blog from which you are making money on Amazon and in which you are promoting amazon products?
Take a look at our FAQs Ehsan. That will answer most of your questions.
http://www.affiliateblogonline.com/contact/
Money is definately a motivator, and lets other see what is possible – but your reasons to NOT “kiss ‘n tell” are perfectly valid. Few believe that those types of numbers are possible. It’s one reason why we’ve never shown or provided our numbers or if we do they are provided in very general terms and no post specific for it.
Well it took us a while but we finally caught on that it’s not a good idea to tell people how much you make.