Do you remember when you were young and your mum or dad (or other significant person in your life at the time) would tell you something extremely wise and life changing but it totally went in one ear and out the other? Today you might think back on it and say, “I wish I’d listened to them; my life would be a whole lot different now”.
Unfortunately, this is how most of us function when it comes to making money online. We want all the answers but we aren’t always prepared to take them on when we hear them. I know that in the early days, we learned the ins and outs of making money online from James Martell but did we really listen to what he had to say?…no not really. We took what we wanted from it all and played around with the sites and added content and tweaked the themes but when it came down to it, we didn’t really follow what he had to say. Why?…well looking back on it now it was mostly because we just weren’t patient enough and not being patient enough results in a cascade of problems. Believe me we kick ourselves now because had we followed James’ method right from the beginning we would have succeeded a lot sooner than we did.
When you aren’t patient enough you get to a point where you don’t quite believe in the process. And if you don’t believe in the process, you are either going to stop putting it into practice or you will start to tweak it a little putting your own spin on it until eventually it becomes nothing like the original method.
So for us, instead of writing long detailed posts, which is what James recommended, we went ahead and wrote hundreds of poor quality short unhelpful articles. And instead of focusing on just one website, which is again what James recommended, we kept building more and more sites. And instead of backlinking we spent time tweaking the sites. As a result, it took us a lot longer to get anywhere.
This is what happens to a good majority of people. We still get emails today from people who have purchased our Amazonian Profit Plan who have obviously not really taken it all in. For instance, we recommend working on only 5 product reviews at any one time. But instead we get emails from people saying they have added 20 or 30 reviews to their site and wonder why they aren’t making any money. They wonder if adding more will help. Of course it won’t because if none of the first 5 are making any money then why will adding another lot of reviews make any difference?
I know I am rambling on a bit here but what I am trying to get at is that in order to make a good income online you have to first of all be patient and second of all follow through on the process. It’s almost like baking a loaf of bread. If you follow the recipe exactly you get a better loaf. If you start tweaking by adding a bit more flour or a bit more yeast you might still get a decent loaf but if you start experimenting by omitting or changing some of the ingredients then it is pot luck as to whether it is going to turn out or not. You might get there eventually if you experiment enough but it will take you a lot longer than if you just stuck to the recipe.
There are plenty of recipes for making money online but in terms of affiliate marketing and the product review concept there are 3 critical ingredients you need to follow in order to succeed:
- Choose a quality products
- Write quality reviews
- Get quality backlinks
Notice the one word that keeps repeating itself?…that word is QUALITY but most people making money online do everything but provide quality. It’s always more about QUANTITY for most people and it was for us also – hence why we built website after website. Fortunately we stopped at around 20 or so but a lot of people just keep going.
I know we have spoken many times about ‘Quality vs Quantity’ on this site but it’s something that needs to be repeated constantly because a lot of people just don’t get it. You really have to make quality your main focus and now more than ever because it is the direction that Google is taking. Google want to have quality sites ranking in their search engine. They don’t want to see poor quality spammy sites in the top 10 for any of their search results.
Even if we put Google aside for a minute, then it is still obvious that quality is important. It’s important because when anyone comes to your site they are doing so because they want answers. If you have a product review site they want you to tell them why they should buy the product. They don’t want to see a site full of ads, pop-ups and a short unhelpful review.
If you don’t focus on quality then you will really struggle with making money online. You have to make quality your number one priority if you want to succeed.
Let’s take a look in more detail:
1. Choose a Quality Product
When most people build websites they immediately start thinking about what niche they should pick. This is a big mistake in our opinion. There is this concept that some niches are better than others but nothing could be further from the truth. It has nothing to do with the niche because in reality every niche has both good products AND bad products.
People think that the secret to our success are the niches we have chosen so they go searching for our sites and try to replicate it all. But it has nothing to do with the niches because we make money from all sorts of niches. There isn’t one niche that does better than any other because it’s not about the niches…it’s about the quality products we have chosen within those niches.
Your readers don’t want to buy poor quality items. They want the best they can get for their money and your job is to find the best quality products and write about them. It’s simple really but a lot people don’t want to take the extra effort it requires to do that sort of research. They want to make money online but they don’t want to work for it.
2. Write Quality Reviews
Once you have chosen a quality product you then need to write a quality review. This is really a critical factor if you want your reviews to convert. It’s not just about getting your readers to the merchant and letting the merchant do the rest. Believe us when we say that because we thought the same thing. We wrote 300 word reviews for a long time thinking that the shorter the review the better as the reader would simply click over to Amazon for more info. Most didn’t stay on the page long enough to do that. They immediately saw the short review and clicked the back button. Those who stayed and clicked through to Amazon didn’t buy. Why?…because we gave them no reason to buy.
To ‘give someone a reason to buy’ means telling them why the product is going to benefit them in some way and/or why it is the best available compared to other similar products. If they have the benefits in their head, by the time they reach Amazon they are more likely to buy.
But it’s not just about slapping a few benefits on the page and hey presto you will make sales. It takes more than that. It means thoroughly researching the product until you know it inside and out because in most cases you won’t actually own the product. This means spending time on Amazon reading customer reviews and searching the manufacturers site for detailed information about the product and scouring the net for what others have to say about it.
It also means writing long detailed reviews that are around 1000 words or more. Our longest review now sits on our Affiliate Reviews HQ site and is over 4000 words long and we could have written much more. Remember that the person reading your review doesn’t have the product in front of them so they will want to know everything they can before buying. Don’t be afraid to add even the smallest of details.
The only way you are ever going to write really good quality reviews is to forget about the search engines because if you think about what the search engines want to see in the review then you are thinking about the money first and your readers second. So instead of worrying about the search engines, worry about your readers and what they would like to see in the review. If you do that you will always end up with well written helpful reviews.
3. Get Quality Backlinks
The final step in the process is getting quality traffic. This is where most people fail. They can often choose quality products and write quality reviews but the traffic part eludes them. The reason for that is that they are not patient enough. They start out all keen and send out some guest articles and maybe write a press release and do a bit of social networking/bookmarking and leave a few blog comments but because they don’t see anything happen straight away they lose focus. Their interest starts to wane and before they know it they are building another website because ‘the next website will be the one that makes it’ or so they think.
Or worse yet, they might pay someone $20 to get 1000 backlinks to their site. It just doesn’t work. We know this from experience, because like almost everyone else we too have tried this method in the past. You need QUALITY backlinks if you want to rank well in Google or any of the search engines for that matter, and the best quality backlinks you can get come from guest blogging. Yes, it takes time but it works. You can choose to continue to ignore backlinking or get someone else to add hundreds of spammy backlinks to your site or you can do it the right way and only focus on quality backlinks.
Just keep in mind that one good quality backlink is often better than thousands of poor quality ones.
The Final Ingredient
So what is the final ingredient? The final ingredient is you and whether you are patient enough to stick with the plan. Just remember that:
- If you have chosen quality products then they will sell.
- If you have written a quality review then it will convert.
All you need is the traffic but it can take a year before you really start to see some real action with backlinking. Are you prepared to stick at it for that long? You really have to answer that question because if you aren’t prepared for that then this isn’t the business for you and you will only find yourself in what we call the Affiliate Marketers Cycle of Doom. Sure you might have success in a month or two – lots of people have – but if it doesn’t happen in a month or two are you willing to keep at it until you do or will you just be off to build yet another website?
Dear Paula and Wanda,
The line in your excellent post that jumped out at me was this: “They want to make money online but they don’t want to work for it.”
So true! People who are new to all of this seem to think you can push a button or install some software and the money will come pouring in.
That’s not how it works – you simply have to put in the work.
I was looking over a few of my sites this past week and I noticed something very interesting. Most of my income (over 70%) comes from just a handful of pages, out of hundreds of pages.
Looking closer at this, I realized that the money pages are the ones that I wrote personally and put in a little extra effort and added tender loving care. Many of the pages created by outsourced writers do not perform, don’t convert well and some don’t get much traffic at all!
Bottom line: Making money online is simple. You just have to do the actual work. (Note: Simple doesn’t mean easy.)
“I was looking over a few of my sites this past week and I noticed something very interesting. Most of my income (over 70%) comes from just a handful of pages, out of hundreds of pages.”
This is the case with most people but they just don’t see it. They focus on their sites but fail to see that it is only a few pages that make the money. So there is really no need to add more and more reviews. Just focus on a few at a time and life becomes a lot easier.
And, then, there are those who pay others to create the content (articles, reviews, graphics, site design) that makes money, and pay others to fetch the links for ranking and for making more money. Real moneymaking is hands-on business. I used to work as an SEO writer for an Australian affiliate marketer, but realized too soon that I could leverage my own writing skills instead of have some offshore employer pay me crumbs. Right now, I’m just earning crumbs. But, at least I’m my own boss now and the I’m enjoying those crumbs (for now)–instead of some other employer.
“Real moneymaking is hands-on business”. This is very true Erich. When you are starting at this business I really believe that you need to do the work yourself. Without that initial hands on work you never really know what this business is all about. I don’t see a problem with outsourcing once you know your business inside and out. Outsourcing can get you to your goal a whole lot sooner.
Hi Paula and Wanda,
You have such a skill for getting to the bottom line in internet marketing. Google is a business and they succeed or fail with the success of their search engine. If they send people to crappy sites, then they probably lose customers to their competitors. It’s so simple but we can all lose direction by the lure of “Get Rick Quick” niche sites, etc. Thanks for all you do and the Amazonian Profit Plan.
Jerry
It’s so easy to be lured. I don’t know how many ebooks we have purchased over the years – everybody seemed to have a new way of making money and of course we bought into it all because we were so desperate to make it. We’re over that now. I can’t remember the last time we purchased an ebook.
Greetings Paula( and Wanda)
It’s nice to not have to purchase a ebook. I love NOT going to marketing forums. I still have a full time job but everyday I spend 5 hours working on my business.
100% of that time is spent on traffic generation. I update the main review blog once a week, the rest of my time is spent on blacklinks and traffic generation.
I have a traffic plan that consists of 7 different methods. I apply the 7 methods every single day.
I’m so glad to be off of that hamster wheel. I’ve never felt more productive. I know with out a doubt I’ll be earning $10K/month from my efforts.
As long as I keep applying my 7 traffic methods everyday, I will succeed. All this time(since 2008) I knew this would work but for some reason I fell for the over hyped sales pages and just hopped from one thing to the next. No more.
I don’t even have a desire to go to marketing forums anymore. I feel great about my productivity.
No more chasing my tail :0)
Have a good one.
Ron Hitson
Excellent Ron!…You must be one of the very few people who spend all of their time on traffic generation. Most people don’t want to do it because it can be boring after a while but it is the key to success. You will definitely be making $10k with that attitude.
Undoubtedly, this is one of the best posts that you have ever written. I was one of those people who continually changed my business plan every time Google tweaked the algorithm (the first Panda update hit my sites hard), or every time some new product caught my eye, and quite frankly, it doesn’t work.
So, I decided to avoid all of those “the sky is falling” type of articles/posts/threads in various places, and return to my original plan of action. It is slow going, since I changed everything multiple times, but my business is growing. I just have to have the patience to stay the course I have set for myself, and this time, the growth will not be dependent on algorithm changes, but on quality content and products.
Thanks for a highly motivational article.
Excellent Tammie! You have just reached the point of no return. We hit it too just before we finally started making it online. We gave up worrying about getting just the right amount of keywords on a page and checking our stats every 5 minutes and spending hours on forums trying to follow other peoples tips and tricks. When we just relaxed and focused on quality things started to change for us.
On your review site you review the plugin, “SEO Pressor”. Do you still feel this is worthwhile to get since the whole idea of the plugin is to write your articles around certain keywords?
I was hoping to hear your answer, Paula and Wanda but thought you maybe accidentally overlooked my comment.
Sorry Elisabeth,
We did miss your comment. Paula is answering it right at this very moment.
SEOPressor is simply a tool to help you with SEO and it’s not there to tell us how to write our reviews. So the way to use SEOPressor is to write your reviews first without thinking about keywords and SEO. Only after the review is written should you use SEOPressor to tell you how you went. You can then tweak the review based on what SEO Pressor recommends BUI only if it sounds natural and not full of spammy keywords.
I love posts like these, Paula and Wanda, because they really capture what people (myself included) think and area great at refocusing our priorities.
I like to see results right away. I get discouraged if it doesn’t happen quickly, so hearing these words are like a shot in the arm. Sorry if you have to keep propping people like me up, but I really appreciate it! :)
I like ‘propping’ people up because I want to see everyone as successful as we are. This is a great business and it does work and there is plenty of room for everyone to make it.
It can be difficult for people working at a home business especially when you don’t have anyone around you supporting what you do. At least if you come online there are people in the same boat and we have been through it all and still remember how it felt when we were struggling to make it all work.
I know we tend to repeat some of the information on this blog but I think that it’s needed because it is so easy to slip back into old ways. We just hope it gets people focused again and back on track.
Another great reminder of what we really have to do and keep doing. You are right when you don’t see results for your efforts its so easy to think it doesn’t work and move on to something else. You do need a lot of patience and persistence in this business. It pays to keep checking back on your really important content such as reviews I think each time you read it you see room for improvement.
I agree about checking back on your content. I just checked a review recently that I had written and I don’t like it. I have to be in the zone when I write reviews and I knew I wasn’t when I wrote that one so I will be reworking it. Funnily enough it still converts making just under $800 in the past 30 days but I know it can do better with a bit of tweaking.
Hi Shirley,
I’ve learned that FOCUS is my best friend. I’ve learned much about myself as a result of going through the process of finally focusing on my 1 review page. I use to question my own ability to succeed. Once I put my plan in place, I’ve not looked back.
Good luck Shirley.
Im guessing every person have their own reason to build many websites, like i did couple years ago. It is making money, several bucks, and im so happy with it but after several months and years later, i got bored, and the result isnt that good, lol
Now im trying to stick on 1 or 2 website, although it is (still) a hard thing to do, since “shiny new toys” are very easy to find everywhere, especially forums.
Thanks for reminding me !
I love how you phrase that…it is definitely like “shiny new toys”. This business if full of them.
Very well said Paula. It’s true that choosing quality backlinks is a critical factor in your online business. I do believe that guest posting is one way to get quality backlinks and the blogs that you post your article should have good reputation with Google.
Exactly Veronica…quality backlinks are key! We signed up to a number of blogging networks in the past but we found that our articles were being posted on poor quality sites. It really had no benefit at all in the end so we wasted both time and money.
Ladies,
I am a failure. Why? Because I stopped listening to you and kept looking for greener grass. Although I have been online “working” all of 2011 I have not made a dime. I started out with the Amazonian Profit Plan and once again I fell victim to “shiny things” Now , I just feel lost to be honest. I listened to people who paniced due to “Google Panda”. I paniced along with them and chased after their “newer” ideas. At least I thought they were. I felt I had to make changes and more changes to keep up. Today I decide to start over with your plan. My feet are firmly planted. I’m starting over.
Thank you. I hope the result will be a different story down the road because “I GET IT NOW”. I’ll keep in touch and get back to you ladies and I hope my report and my outlook are much better when I write to you again.Thank you.
You are by no means a failure Fran. This is not an easy business but you have shown that you have the perseverance and the good sense to recognize what you need to do. Looking forward to hearing your success story in the future.
I think just about everyone has gone through what you have experienced Fran so don’t consider yourself a failure. Think of it instead as a learning experience. We all make mistakes but the mistakes are sometimes the best way to learn.
Paula & Wanda,
I was fairly disciplined and kept my focus. However, when I did start to achieve some success, I started to worry about having “all my eggs in one basket” – so I did diversify a little.
At first I went into totally different areas, but it was too hard to do all the research required. In the end, I now have just a few different blogs and sites – all in very closely related niches. It’s the only way that I can produce decent quality content and not spread myself too thin.
However, when starting out, I think that you should keep a really tight focus.
It’s only when you do achieve some sort of success that you need to diversify so you did the right thing. Most people however diversify way too soon. If the first thing isn’t making money then there is no point diversifying.
Do you guys use CommentLuv on your Amazon affiliate sites?
If so, what guidelines do you recommend?
For example:
Do you enable it on your review pages or just general content/posts?
Do you only allow comments from non-competitors?
etc.
Not really because we tend to not get a lot of comments on our product based blogs. We have even removed comments completely from some of our product based blogs because of that.
Ok makes sense. How about header graphics? Do you notice a difference in conversions with or without them?
Hi Paula and Wanda,
This is really an inspiring post. I did exactly what you did: I put my own spin on the method, and sat and wondered why I wasn’t earning much money. For years! I could kick myself. Hard!
I have to say that following the APP for a year has really changed my life. I can really take a lot of time off the business and know that a certain amount of money is likely to be earned by my pages without my attention to them.
One question: Are there any other sources of backlinks that you’d recommend these days, other than Guest Blogging?
Thanks for this post:)
Not really Ellen. Guest blogging for us is the most powerful method for getting backlinks. Of course you want to mix up the backlinks a little to keep Google happy so you might comment on blogs, do a bit of social networking/bookmarking. Maybe add your own Youtube videos or write and submit a couple of press releases.
But in our opinion the main focus should be guest articles.
You are right Paula, guest blogging seems to be the way to go when it comes to quality backlinks. However, I find it extremely hard to find websites that accept articles that link back to my product reviews pages. Most webmasters don’t want anything that smells “selling”, even if it’s just a link back to a review page. So what do you suggest? Do you link back directly to your product reviews pages? doesn’t it look “commercial” ?
James,
I use a site called “My Blog Guest” for doing my guest articles. It really works well. You write your article and make it available for members who are looking for guest articles. You can then look at their site and their PR and either accept or reject their offer. The longest It’s taken for me to have someone want my articles is 2 days.
The worst PR I’ve accepted so far is a 1 and I’ve gotten 5 PR-4 sites to take my articles along with many PR-2 and 3 sites. The last article I wrote was accepted by a PR-6 site. This is something Google has to like as there is nothing fake about it. It’s $20 a month to make article offers and free for those webmasters who come looking for articles. Check it out.
Jerry
We are also using ‘My Blog Guest’ both to submit articles and take articles for a couple of our sites. I have been very pleased with the quality of articles that I have received and we have had our articles put on quality sites with good PR. So it is a win-win situation. This is just one of methods we use for getting backlinks.
Thanks for the answers. My Blog Guest is a great option, but the monthly fee.. I just can’t right now. I’ll stick with our old good friend Google :DD I think i’ll just have to stick at it and hopefully find cool webmasters. Although sometimes I really get discouraged…
Patience in the main game in order to get success in online money making. A lot of people earning their living through their home PC, but they didn’t get on to that state overnight. Hard work of day after night and patience is the secret of their success. This was a very informative post for the newbies. Thank you for sharing.
I think a lot of people don’t see this as a business. They just want to make a quick buck but it doesn’t work that way. Like any business you have to work at it to make it a success. It doesn’t happen overnight.
What about 20:80 pareto law? do you see it make money online. i think why they add more than 5 reviews to increase the chance.
I’m not sure what you’re actually asking in terms of the pareto law. I guess we apply it without even knowing it. We try to focus on quality in our business rather than quantity so I assume that means applying the pareto law.
I think you’re right about why people add more reviews. There is always the fear that the first lot aren’t going to work but the problem is that most people never really give them a chance to work. It’s a bit of a catch-22.
What a timely article. I have noticed over the last couple of days that my mood has sunk into a gloom over the couple of websites I have built.
In October I began to make some money on my bread making review site and added another review site on food mixers. My mood was high!
But November for me has proved to be a bit of a disaster. As you mentioned in your article about back links, I thought if I could get my bread maker site ranked better I would make more money.
So I want ahead and bought a few Fiverr gigs to add hundreds of back links to my site.
What was the result?
Well it actually went down in the rankings. I guess Google looked at it and thought the links did not look natural and so pushed my pages down the rankings.
So the result is that the site is hardly making any sales whatsoever, which considering we are hurtling up towards Christmas is certainly not what I wanted to see. No wonder I was feeling so glum.
And then I read this article and the gloom disappears. Its obvious really just go back to basics.
I´ve never liked the back linking side of this business but I think I will certainly have to try the guest article method.
To be optimistic about the back linking, I have tried the Fiverr method and proved to myself it doesn´t work.
So onwards and upwards.
Thanks ladies for and uplifting and inspiring article.
You are a good example of someone who has learned by his mistakes. You could have easily tossed it all in but instead you are moving “onwards and upwards”…great to hear!
We have never used Fiverr. You get what you pay for so you aren’t going to get much for five bucks.
Good advice Paula & Wanda. So many would be internet marketers get easily distracted in the beginning with all the stuff they get bombarded with that they never stick with one thing long enough to find success. It’s good to have a mentor if you can and follow a proven system. Then it’s a matter of testing and tweaking all the time to get the best results.
It’s worse these days than when we started. There are so many different methods for making money online and so many different people out there selling ebooks and membership sites. As a newbie it’s almost impossible to pick out the good from the bad.
I’ve spent so long looking for just the right opportunity. I’ve read tons of ebooks, joined memberships, etc. but just never found the right method for making money online.
Last month I started a new blog with the help of an outsourcer I hired from the Philippines. I had an idea and he has taken it and run with it. I’m amazed at what he has done.
I know you ladies advocate guest blogging as your main backlink strategy but based on many, many reviews and case studies I’ve read online, Build My Rank is a really great source for backlinks.
Many other backlink services rely on “spinning” articles to achieve lots of backlinks. Build My Rank allows only unique content in their network plus they review every article for spelling and grammar errors.
My blog is just one month old and I’ve already got 7 of my targeted keywords on the first 4 pages of Google. One of my keywords is on the first page.
Of course, I did choose low competition keywords but I believe that Build My Rank is another major factor in achieving high rankings so quickly.
Also, based on some experiments I’ve done, it is quite possible to build a WordPress site with an exact match domain using proper on-page SEO and ranking on page one within days with no backlinks. I’ve done it. My problem is not SEO. My problem is I can’t sell hot chocolate to an Eskimo. :)
Anyways, I want to thank you ladies for your blog and for the encouragement you give people like me. You make a lot more sense than a lot of gurus. And you’re prettier. :P
We’ve tried a lot of those types of sites but never had much success. I thought we had tried Build My Rank but I can’t find any record of it and Wanda tells me she can’t remember us using it.
So I think we might give it a go and review it on our Affiliate Reviews HQ site.
Let me tell you this… If you want to be successful online via affiliate marketing! These two fantastic women are the real deal!! I love You Guys!! It so good to see your success booming!! Love and Respect… Sean xx
Thanks for the lovely comments Sean.
Thank you for your kind sharing. There are too much info about how to make money online. also makes this kind of earning money more and more popular, so it also brings more and more challenge and difficulty. I like you blog and provides many good advice in detail. “Get quality backlinks” this step is what I maybe pay a less attention on.
Yes Sophia, there is a huge amount of information available on how to make money online. Unfortunately, not all of it is good advice. We only advocate the things that we have had success with. Good quality ‘Backlinking’ and long informative reviews are the key to success.
Besides electronics, is it possible that there is already so much out there on a particular product (even though it meets all of the APP criteria)? I’m not asking you to name any I just wondered what your thoughts were on that.
Thank you.
As long as a product meets the APP criteria and you follow the directions then you have the best chance of being successful regardless of how much competition there is. There are just so many great products available that meet the criteria – exercise equipment for one. Follow the plan – write great reviews and be diligent with your backlinking.
Thanks for the encouraging article! As a newbie, patience is the hardest part. I have gotten frustrated at times but I keep plugging away at it. Thanks to your wealth of knowledge and helpful tips, I’m finally starting to generate sales on some of my sites. It’s great having this forum were I can piggy back off others that are responding to your articles. Keep up the great work!
That is good news, we love it when our people start to see results for all their hard effort. One thing I really love about our site is how our readers are so willing to share their knowledge to help others, it makes life a whole lot easier for all of us. It’s amazing how much helpful information you can pick up from the comments area. Keep at it, be patient, even though it is hard, and you will succeed. Success comes to those with the grit and determination to see it through. And the rewards make it all worthwhile.
Hi Paula and Wanda!
I’ve almost went through your whole blog and I’ve seen in many posts and comments where you mention most of your income comes from only a few pages. Are all these pages product review pages? Do you also make sales on informative posts supplemented with text links to amazon? Sorta like how some people do on Squidoo.
I’m trying to start a sporting blog where I would list out necessary equipment and gear required to participate in the sport.
Most people don’t realize that most of their online income will only come from a few pages. When we realized this our whole focused changed. That was when we started to focus on pages instead of websites.
Most of our income would come from product reviews but we have a number of pages that are just informative pages that also make money.
I think your approach would work well. If I were interested in a particularly sport I would want to know what gear I would need but I would also want to know which is the best. So make sure you focus on only really good quality products.
great blog…..personally i do think there is far too much info about how to make money online. i do realise thoughthat it`the in way to make money but can be confusing…. your blog provides good detailed advice “Get quality backlinks” is the next step forward that i need to take
Yes it can certainly be daunting trying to decide which method will work. The main thing is to decide on one method and stick with it. Good luck with your backlinking campaign it is the most critical part to online success. Good luck.
Amazing explanation of how to choose the right direction and how to take the right decision on how to really make money online.
What we wright can make a huge different in our sales.
I’m not sure if I already follow you on twitter, BUT if I dont, I’m your newest follower.
Success Paula.
I’ve just followed you back Luis.
Great advice! I’m not that great at doing guest posts, but that’s because I haven’t done that many. Guess maybe it’s time I jumped in with both feet and gave it a try.
It definitely gets easier the more you do it Mikayla. At the start we struggled with guest posting too but once we got in the flow with it all it was amazing how easy it all became.
You did a great job simplifying things. The great thing about good products is they don’t require that much effort to sell. I have found numerous good backlinks and I am working to make good use of them. Thank you. Your tips are really easy to remember.
“The great thing about good products is they don’t require that much effort to sell.”
That’s exactly right James. And if you back that quality product up with a well written review then converting becomes easy.
Hi Paula,
OK, it should be really obvious that patience is required in order to make sales. However, I have to say you have just described everything I do. I, like the webmasters in the email you mentioned, wonder why none of my sites were making any money.I’m due to start a new project this coming week, so I’m going to do it on writing successful product reviews. I’ll come back and tell you how it worked out.
I think most people go through a stage of wondering why they aren’t making money. We did the same thing. I even remember us sending an email to James Martell (our mentor at the time) asking him if we were doing something wrong.
Of course we were doing plenty of things wrong as we mentioned above but more than anything we just weren’t being patient enough.
So true and something I need to keep reminding myself about.. I need more focus and even after almost 3 years at this I still suffer from shiny object syndrome (I think someone needs to make a 12 step program for this).
I know that I could be making a lot more if I would focus on my winners instead of pursuing every niche I come across. But for some reason I feel like I am leaving money on the table if I don’t pursue the new niche I find. When actually it is the complete opposite as I am leaving a ton of money on the table by not finishing what I started and getting my reviews that are ranking already ranking better.
*Thanks for the reminder especially as we enter into the New Year and start making goals for 2012!
I know the feeling exactly Tiffany. We went from one niche to the next in the early days. I must admit I liked the building part…I loved building new sites and still do. That was my downfall because that’s all I focused on.
i completely agree with you. one more, make a lot of traffic
VERY INFORMATIVE POST. I have been reading your posts for a while now and this one is the best I think. But I have a question, since i’m still a student I spend most of my time at the university, is this business adequate for me? I think I can only spare 2 hours per day, maybe 3 hours. I have already written very long and informative reviews on 3 good products from Amazon, now I have to face the backlinking/guest posting part. Do you think 2 hours/day is enough time to make it online ,knowing that I can’t afford outsourcing yet?
Some people on warrior forum recommend CPA instead of Amazon in terms of the numbers of hours needed a day. What do you think?
Thanks :)
If you can spare two hours a day then you will have plenty of time to work on your online business. We both used to work full time and still managed to find time and we didn’t outsource anything at the time either. We did it all ourselves.
I’m not sure about the CPA thing. CPA stands for Cost Per Action and is what we do anyway. A Cost Per Action can be a purchase and that is what happens with Amazon marketing.
So when you say CPA perhaps you are talking about your readers filling out a form or similar type of action. If that’s the case then the time needed for Amazon marketing and CPA is still the same. You still have to generate traffic to your site and write content for your site so both will require the same amount of work.
Thanks for your answer Paula :)
Yes, it’s true, the same amount of work would be required for both models indeed. But Don’t you think CPA can be easier to convert ? Which one do you personally recommend ? I stumbled upon a thread in a forum which really confused me whether I should choose physical products or CPA offers to promote.
On another note, some people claim they make tons of money promoting CPA offers on Youtube using “trending” topics such as music, movie trailers, funny videos or even tv bloopers which do not need SEO (I’m a bit scared of SEO by the way :D), I honestly feel attracted to this method because it doesn’t involve SEO so there is a chance I can make money really soon. What is your advice on this ? This confusion makes me very unproductive :(
Go with your gut Ellen. You obviously want to give CPA offers a go so do it. You will enjoy the process more and if you enjoy it you will do well at it.
We’ve never tried it ourselves so can’t tell you whether they convert better or not but a lot of money can be made from CPA offers if you do it right so go for it.
Hi Paula and Wanda, thanks for another great article. In the Amazonian Profit Plan, one topic I didn’t see addressed on making money is the number of links that should be put in the review to the product being reviewed. I have read there should be no less than two and no more than 5 to 6 links. More than 6 looks spammy and Google may punish you. Do you agree?
Thanks, Ken
It’s so hard to know what Google thinks and whenever someone tells you that “Google may punish you” it’s all just speculation really.
But I agree you shouldn’t have too many affiliate links on a page although we have some pages that have 8 or so and we haven’t been penalized.
I would keep it around 4 to 6 for a 1000 word review.
I’ve fallen into all the traps you talk about. I’m writing longer posts now and slimming down my inventory of websites. Focus is a hard thing to master though as this industry seems to move so fast and change is the only constant it seems. What’s your rule of thumb for dealing with change without losing your focus on the important things ? I guess in the end it’s about knowing and sticking with your business model and constantly improving on that…if you are at the top of the game it should future proof you against any changes in the industry like panda updates for example. Also maybe knowing who you can trust and take advice from ?
This business does change rapidly but when you think about it, the three critical things we spoke about above don’t really change. There may be a lot of new and fancy ways of getting those three things done but essentially they still stay the same.
Google wants quality so as long as you make that your primary goal then success can be achieved and you should be able to survive those Google updates.
On that point, would you ever consider doing video reviews of products alongside your written reviews ? Or maybe you already do. Chris Guthrie was saying that he asks manufacturers for the products so that he can review them. And I’ve also heard that if you have an influential website in a certain niche, manufacturers would even send products to you…wouldn’t that be nice !
Video reviews are a good way of grabbing traffic. But make sure you also add text to your page for those who don’t want to watch a video and to keep Google happy.
And yes, you can ask manufacturers for products to review. We have done that in the past and it works sometimes. Some of our sites are strong enough that they approach us first so we have had quite a few freebies sent to us to review.
As far as quality products are concerned, once you find a profitable niche that’s already selling, it’s not that hard to find quality products your customers will buy. As far as reviews, I guess, the reviews can also be found on the website that you get your products. Backlinks are KING and must be taken seriously.
Backlinks are definitely KING…it’s the only way to get traffic if you are going to rely on organic search.
One of my suggestion is: Pick a product that you use and confident about…Share tips which help others to use it..
For ex: If I pick a SEO software ..Share tips on how to use it effectively and soft promotion always helps in long run…
It is always better if you own the product. That’s not always possible however. We have written hundreds (maybe thousands) of reviews where we don’t own the product. What we usually do is if the review starts to make us money we go out and buy the product. We can then write an even better review and add our own images.