How to Sell a Leer Jet With Affiliate Advertising

I failed at Internet Marketing.

Six months ago, I started my first "commercial" website. I had a cool idea, so I registered a domain, then I spent a couple of weeks working on the layout of the site, making sure it looked "just right." I probably had a dozen different banner graphics that I made. I'd drop one into the site, then tweak the colors in the stylesheet. Then I'd switch banners and start over with the colors.

I knew HTML, but had no idea of how to build a site using css when I started, so I had to learn that as well. I spent hours going back and forth between online tutorials and my stylesheet trying to get everything just perfect.

I'd heard that the only way to have a profitable online venture today was through content, so after the site's look was right, I started writing. For weeks I wrote articles. I filled in all the sections and subsections of my site with all of the information that i knew people would want to read. Researching and writing, writing and researching.

Finally, I was satisfied.

I knew I had to let people know about this website I'd built. I felt certain that once a few people found it, the word would spread (I'd heard the term "viral marketing" somewhere), and I'd be set. I manually entered my site into as many different directories as I could find. Every spare evening I spent finding directories and filling out their submission forms. Fortunately I'd installed a stats package when I built the site. Well, it's easy to use the word "fortunately" today, but let me tell you, back then when I first saw the numbers, I was feeling pretty low.

I was getting no traffic.

Not actually zero - I'd get a hit every three or four days.

Around this point, I signed up with Adsense. Today I realize how silly that sounds. Back then I was grasping at straws trying to make any kind of profit.

I started logging into forums related to my content and making relevant posts with links to my site in my signature. I think right around then was when I first heard the term, "backlinks." These posts actually did drive traffic to my site. The traffic peaked at around five hits per day, and once I gave up on it, it tapered back down to 2-3 hits per week that it had until I shut the site down.

During the time that the site was live with Adsense, I had three Adsense clickthroughs. They averaged 18 cents each.

I probably should do the math to show you how poorly my first site did once the costs were subtracted from the "sales," but I'd rather not think about it, and besides, I hate math.

The Internet is exactly like a swimming pool.

If you jump in with both feet, all you'll get is wet.

I didn't even consider doing any online business again until a few months ago. Around that time, my brother, who lives across the country, introduced me to the Build a Niche Site software package. I was slightly intrigued. He was excited.

This $97 software installs on your web host, and very easily builds a website for you using product categories that you select off of eBay. Once you sign up as an affiliate with them, and once your site is up, any time one of your visitors buys an item on eBay, you get a commission. Any item. Not just the items you're advertising. Not just right then, either. Unless they have cookies turned off, you get a commission on anything they buy for the next seven days! If they sign up as a new eBay user, you also get a nice commission for that.

Around the same time, I found a great web host, Host Gator, who for $9.95 a month will let you run unlimited domains with 100GB of storage and 1 Terabyte of bandwidth each month. Their package sounded perfect for my brother's plans.

My brother jumped right in (pool), and started building sites with BANS. He registered domains left and right and built several niche stores. He wasn't getting any traffic, and wasn't making any money.

Just about the time he started believing that I was right (about the pool), he found a technique that started driving traffic to his site. No, I didn't say "trick," I said technique. This method is very effective, and it costs nothing. Zero. It's also very white-hat for those who are concerned with Internet ethics (if you're not, please hit your "back" button - no spammers beyond this point).

I took a different route.

I found an awesome course on online marketing, and started from the correct beginning. You see, there are steps that you should take an any business to insure that you're successful:

1. Market - If there isn't a market for your product, it doesn't matter how cool it is, it won't sell.
2. Traffic - After you know there's a market, you use certain techniques to build traffic.
3. Conversion - Once you have the traffic, you have to make sure that they'll buy.
4. Product - After the first three are solid, you can and should develop your own product to sell.

This isn't my information; it's what Ed Dale taught me during the Thirty Day Challenge online marketing course. I highly recommend that you look it up and go through the free lessons. The lessons are worth more than probably any course or eBook you'd be tempted to buy, and they cost nothing.

What's all of this have to do with selling a personal jet?

Patience, Grasshopper.

Using the Thirty Day Challenge techniques, I built some sites which quickly got highly ranked on Google. This led to traffic, which I was supposed to test with a niche-related affiliate program to test the conversion process.

At this point, I jumped back in. Not over my head, just the first couple of steps. Instead of using a true affiliate, I got a domain and hosting and purchased my own copy of Build a Niche Store. I then pointed my highly-ranked and very targeted sites to my niche store that had products perfectly suited for this niche.

Just like clockwork, once my aggregate traffic reached a certain point, the sales started coming in. Not quickly, but it matched what I expected with the traffic I had. I've been working on building my network of sites and my traffic since then, and my sales have increased with my traffic - except for one blip.

On one day, I had a commission that was really out of line with the numbers of customers. I did the math (even though I hate math) and realized that someone who had entered eBay through my site made a big purchase. A really big purchase. I don't know if it was a jet, but the price tag sounds about right. All because of a cookie.

Remember that anyone who clicks through your site to look at your widgets will give you a commission on anything they buy for the next seven days. Even a jet.

Back to my brother...

I called my brother to tell him about the "jet" (yes, I know it probably wasn't a jet, but let me have my fantasies). He then told me that his sales were averaging $221.72 per day. I chuckled, then my brain started catching up and doing the math (did I mention that I hate math?). $221.72 per day is $1,552.04 per week, $6,651.60 per month, and $80,927.80 per year. I know that we've all seen stories of people who are making $10K per week, or even $40K per week with their online businesses, but this wasn't "some guy." This was my own brother, making really substantial money with his online business. And he hasn't even quit his day job.

(Note that as of 10/22 his daily average is very nearly $300)

So far, my best niche site is pulling in $97.72 per day (7-day average - see screenshot below for the very first 7 days of this niche store). My niche isn't as strong as his, but it's still well worth the time and effort I've put into it. I'm very sure that there are hundreds of niches that will make more than mine, and even more than my brother's. The cool thing is that once you have the software and a hosting account that lets you run multiple domains, the only cost to try a new niche is a domain name and a bit of set-up time.

So how does this help you?

Once you've identified a potentially profitable niche, Build a Niche Store is an excellent tool for quickly testing that niche. If the niche turns out to be a dud, it's pretty trivial to move on to the next idea with almost no cost or effort. If it's a winner, BANS is a great platform to build upon with traditional traffic-building methods.

If you're intrested in more information, head to the Build a Niche Store website and look at their sample sites. You're also welcome to check out one of my niche stores at SingularAutos.com. It should give you a good idea of how the final product can work for you.

I highly recommend Build a Niche Store to anyone who is interested in selling products to a niche.

-Moleskin Planner

Wealth Catapult