Get Wealthy Affiliate for $1 on Black Friday

Hey there, Max here. If you've been struggling to make money through affiliate marketing for some time now, and you're feeling very alone, there is help.

Wealthy Affiliate, the online "college" for internet marketers, provides all the tools you need to get started in IM, and also a very supportive community. It is run by two people I personally know and trust, and it's probably the only truly safe place you can find affiliate training online.

It's also going to cost $1, starting on Black Friday.

Read about that more here:

Black Friday - Get Wealthy Affiliate for $1

Download the Internet Wealth Guide 2.0 - Free Report Jam Packed With Rich Affiliate Tips

My friends Kyle and Carson over at Wealthy Affiliate recently put together a free guide that's jam packed full of rich information on how to make a living online.

This guide is great for newcomers but also old-time affiliates can pick up some nuggets here, especially about traffic building. The last several pages of the guide are dedicated to a solid strategy, broken down by day, that you can use to make money online.

The great part about Kyle and Carson's strategy to build traffic is that:

a) it's free

b) it focuses on delivering value to readers

c) it shows you how to solve problems for people while turning a profit

If you've been an affiliate for any length of time, you know how crucial it is to focus on delivering value you to your readers, and to NOT focus on making money. Tough to wrap your head around at first I know (it took me several years to figure that part out). But it is a key, perhaps THE key, that will make the difference between success and failure in your online ventures.

Another great part of this guide, which you can see in the Social Value chapter, is how to use Twitter and Facebook to promote the articles you'll write in their traffic building strategy.

Most people get social media wrong. In reality you should be focusing less on building a huge friends list or list of followers, and more simply on slowly attracting people to your facebook page.

Why good content is so critical to succeeding in internet marketing

One other thing they say in this guide that I think is crucial is that you should write all your content with the intent of it being shared. Boring, rehashed content that doesn't say anything will just turn your readers off.

Write with passion. Don't waste your time on topics you don't care about. Pick hobbies and niches you love, and have interest in, and monetize accordingly. (This might mean using Adsense instead of Clickbank, but the key is that you can STAY in that niche and CONNECT with your readers.)

Another thing I like about this guide is that it is actionable. They show you, through the step-by-step daily plan, how to get your articles out there where they'll be seen and read, and how to drive traffic to your money-making site with these articles. Even if you have no startup income, you can set up a free blogger blog to drive traffic to.

Here's the free report if you'd like to read it. Internet Wealth Guide 2.0

How to Start Enjoying Internet Marketing

Internet marketing is a little like getting married after you've been dating for a while. Suddenly, the wonderful person you fell in love with starts to show their flaws, and you wonder... did I make a mistake?

But when you stick with this "marriage" and focus on a few key aspects, you can really start to enjoy it. Here's what I learned.

1. Don't come into Internet Marketing with a desperate mindset.

You absolutely CANNOT start your online business efforts with a desperate mindset. If you're struggling to pay the bills, get a real job, even if it's a basic 9-5 at the local fast food place. If you already have a job, KEEP IT. I cannot stress this enough.

Desperation will be the #1 killer of all your online marketing efforts, so don't come into it that way.

The ideal way to start internet marketing is with a steady source of income that will gradually allow you to transition to a full-time online business.

2. Have a clear idea of what you want to do.

Many people (myself included) get started in IM by googling "make money online." There are about as many ways to make money online as there are in the real world; some are ethical, and others not.

And many are scams, so be VERY careful before investing in any "training" to teach you how to make money online.

The most stable ways to make money are by:

1. Offering your own digital products (info products such as self-help books that solve problems for a reader)

2. Selling someone else's digital products (as an affiliate, such as through Clickbank.com)

3. Offering or selling physical products (affiliate or vendor with Commission Junction, Ebay, or Amazon)

Of those 3, my favorite are the first two, selling info products through Clickbank. It's the simplest way - BUT there is a steep learning curve involved, and you must be prepared to get to know your readers.

If you prefer "cold selling" or basically just selling to people without making an emotional connection, the third option is best.

To make an emotional connection with your readers with a free method of getting started online, check out my post about article marketing the right way.

3. Be prepared to fail.

One of my favorite IM heroes, PotPieGirl, used the phrase "Hurry Up - Fail Faster!" in one of her blog posts. I bookmarked this and kept it on my Chrome bookmarks bar where I could see it every day.

In the internet marketing world, you've got to be prepared to fail. But you should realize that these so called "failures" are actually successes.

Every time you fail, you learn something new. So retrain yourself to think of your failures as "aha" moments, where you learn what works and what doesn't.

And you must really, seriously think about what caused you to fail so you can avoid doing it in the future.

Avoid old mistakes, make new ones, and don't expect instant money overnight. IM is, again, like a marriage. It has its challenges, but the greatest reward - being in control of your financial destiny - is the payoff.

If you're willing to work for it, and persevere even when you feel like you're never going to get it, then you will get there.

Always remember the old Chinese proverb when you're feeling like giving up on IM: "The temptation to quit will be greatest just before you are about to succeed."

Here's a great blueprint for success if you are a struggling affiliate.

How to Do Article Marketing The Right Way

Article marketing is one of the best and cheapest ways to build links to a website and get your blog ranked in Google. With article marketing, you can avoid the costs of PPC and deliver great content to your readers.

Here are some keys to doing article marketing the right way.

1. Have great content.

Always strive to get to know your readers. Use forums and discussion boards for your niche of choice. Take note of the most widely read topics, and see which answers seem to be the most valuable in each thread.

If you focus on what your readers want rather than what you THINK they might want, you'll rank better, have more odds of getting your articles shared, and increase your conversion rates.

2. Write in your own voice.

Don't try to sound academic or fancy when you write articles. Just write in a conversational tone as though you were talking to the reader. It helps to read your articles out loud. Then you can see how well they translate in terms of readability.

If you have writer's block, just imagine that you're writing to a friend. If you were typing out an email to someone, how would you write it? What questions would they ask you? Think about how you would answer them in your own unique voice.

3. Submit to good directories for building traffic.

Some article directories like the lower ranking ones (Goarticles.com and Articlesbase.com) are less choosy about the content they allow. Thus, these article directories are better for building backlinks for SEO, and less good for getting direct traffic to your blog.

Streetarticles.com is the best article directory out there right now to submit readable articles to, as they are much more careful about what content is allowed in their directory.

If you need ideas for content, simply watch a few youtube videos on your topic. Take notes of what the best videos are saying. For example in the article marketing niche, you'd search youtube for videos about article marketing. Then you'd find the most viewed, highest rated ones, and take notes on key points that you could turn into a new blog post - or your own article.

I hope these tips have helped you. They're based on my own experience in article marketing and what works, and what doesn't.

Want to know how to use article marketing for backlinks? Check out this post here on how to use article marketing to build daily backlinks: Daily Link Building