Hey hey guys… yet another of the Ask Kirsty questions I’ve been trying to catch up with! Mike recently sent me a question about promoting make money online e-books as a first niche option. I thought it was a really interesting question because these kinds of programmes are the first things a lot of would be affiliates hear about when they try to find out how to make money at this game.

Hello Kirsty

Best regards
Mike

Hello Mike.

Now, I think what you are asking here is a really good question. The reason being, a lot of would-be affiliates get drawn into this area when the start out. This is because the first time they tend to search for something like “make money at affiliate marketing” they have hundreds of e-books thrown at them as examples of how to make money online.

What these schemes basically want you to do is sell their product to other people in exactly the same position you are in right now. Now, ask yourself this… how many e-books have you bought? I bet its not many! E-books are actually very difficult products to market (affiliates are also least likely to buy via an affiliate link).

I have many, many doubts about the ethics of a lot of e-books and make money products. Now, don’t get me wrong there are guys out there selling bonafide useful information, but there are also a lot of products which make promises that are basically lies. Promises such as “6 figure is easy” and “fully automated” are just there to milk the unwary of their money. They actually make my blood boil, so if you did choose to market e-books I would hope you’d only promote genuinely useful tools. I believe It’s important for every new affiliate to know and accept that they have alot of hard work in front of them.

I think it would be far better to go down the product related route. Make money products are hugely competitive and you would most likely struggle with making SEO and PPC work(if you dared open your wallet!). If you find a niche without a great deal of competition you are much more likely to have some success and also to hone your skills as an affiliate.

Here are some previous Ask Kirsty’s about finding a niche and setting up your first site that might help you out: -

http://www.affiliatestuff.co.uk/getting-started-as-an-affiliate/ask-kirsty-how-do-i-find-my-first-affiliate-niche/

http://www.affiliatestuff.co.uk/getting-started-as-an-affiliate/what-size-of-affiliate-site-effective-content-ask-kirsty/

Take care

Well, time for me to go back to work guys. If anyone out there is awaiting a response to an “Ask Kirsty”, I have saved all the mails and am working through them… don’t worry I still appreciate y’all!

I’d a really pertinent question from Dan a few days ago. I’ve answered it in various different posts, but I really thought it was worth publishing it all as one question to give a really coherent, cohesive guide.

Here is Dan’s question!

Hey Hey, Love your site. Lots of good information all over. I have a few questions for your “Ask Kirsty” series.

Cheers!
Dan

Hi Dan,

OK, here we go…. when you send PPC traffic to your site it is very important to send them to the page that is most relevant to what they are searching for. For example, if you are buying the keyword “frilly thongs” that had better be the first thing the user sees when they hit your landing page, because if they don’t… they will leave immediately! So on the Lingerie Brands site, i have set up a page for each brand and direct traffic related to those brands there.

As the site develops I will create sections related to different categories of lingerie products to direct more generic lingerie traffic
to. So there will be a “frilly thongs” section etc (well, probably not but it’s a decent example).

As for how to work out those keywords… I tend to employ a slow build technique with a new campaign. First I concentrate on the cheap longtails, and as I get a feel for how profitable my earnings per click are I gradually expand the scope of my keyword to include more general “short tail” terms. That way, I can get a feel for how different sets of keywords are performing and I know what direction I should be developing my activity in. Here are another couple of Ask Kirsty’s related to this topic: -

This one is about how many keywords you should put in your first PPC campaign

http://www.affiliatestuff.co.uk/getting-started-as-an-affiliate/ask-kirsty-how-many-keywords-for-my-first-campaign/

And this details how I go about actually researching my keywords… sort of!

http://www.affiliatestuff.co.uk/getting-started-as-an-affiliate/my-keyword-research-techniques-are-just-a-dream/

As for your question regarding cookies, I’m not sure what you are asking there. Cookie tracking is looked after by the network. I think over a third of my sales take place out of session. You can see what keyword was used by using any network’s in-house keyword tracking system. These work by allowing you to pass a unique variable through your link which will help you identify where your sale originated.

I hope all this helps!

Greetings from sunny Maroochydore on Queensland’s gorgeous Sunshine Coast! We are currently staking out the caravan park in Cotton Tree….

I’ve got to admit, right now the furthest thing in the world from my mind is affiliate marketing. I know y’all probably want me to say what a great time we are having, but err…. I have to say I’ve been feeling very uninspired recently both in terms of trying to get work done and also in thinking of things to blog about. Why? Well, until the middle of last week we were up to our behinds looking for a place to rent.

Its A House We Want… Not MI5 Security Clearance…
Would you ever believe how stressful it is to get a bloody place to live over here? Tenants compete to prove how good they are, and landlords pick their best option. Suddenly, Duncan and I were both incredibly stressed by the atmosphere of competitiveness and urgency to rush down to the letting agency and ram a big fat application down the throat of an unsuspecting realtor. Fortunately for us, we found a really cool realtor (yes, they DO exist) called Michael and we charmed him with our tales of world travel (as luck would have it he is a reformed global wanderer)… and then we surprised the hell out of him when we submitted our proof of income, lol.

I don’t enjoy shouting about my income. But I’d be a big fat liar if I said that when I’ve got to tell folks such as banks and letting agents how much I earn… that I don’t get a kick out of the look on their face that says “YOU, earn THIS?”. Must be the way I dress or something.

So after our application was accepted (after 6 nailbiting days) I am pleased to announce my glorious new affiliate HQ, which we will be moving into on the 26th of March. And guys.. she’s a total beauty. 40m from the beach, private rooftop terrace with sea views, pool in complex, and my very, very favourite… an ENSUITE BATHROOM!! No more 3am hikes in the dark to the camping site loos!

Check this out…

Not a bad wee stopgap till we find somewhere to buy!

So once that was all sorted… back to work… right?

Umm… no, after all the effort involved in getting our pad sorted I’ve just not gotten into the swing again. At the same time, I feel too damned guilty about not working to get out and do anything fun.

I’m in Affiliate Limbo guys…. Help help!!

I’ve had quite an interesting from Rich. It is yet another question regarding the selection of niches, but with a twist… is it really OK to try to compete where there is already one or more established sites within the same niche.

Here’s his question: -

Kirsty, first of all, some brownnosing – I love your blog and the help that it gives people like me who are newish to affiliate marketing. Instead of “chest beating” you give some really helpful advice and I remember voting for your blog in the A4U awards last year, you should have won!

Rich

Well Rich,

Wonderful compliments, thanks… I must get you to drop me a line the next time I’m feeling sorry for myself!

Of course, I don’t know which particular niche you are talking about. Lets face it, you don’t want me publishing that info or you’ll have 100 shiny new competitors by this time next week! Therefore I’m going to have to generalise and cover a few bases with this.

So long as what you have identified really is a niche I don’t really see any issue with you going up against an already established site. However, if you have chosen a “genre” instead of a niche then think twice about setting yourself up for a huuuuugggeeee task. To clarify for anyone who thinks I’ve gone barking mad, a “genre” would be something like shopping, whereas a site such as my Lingerie Brands site is a niche within that area. Geddit?

As you rightly point out with your voucher code sites example, Affiliate Marketing is an industry defined by its competitiveness. So long as nobody is ripping off anyone else’s site or content, it is all fair game. Any affiliate with a shred of common sense has no problem with this. It is the competition in this game that makes us all push on to achieve greater and bigger things every year.

You are an individual. As such you will probably find you deal with your subject matter differently to the owner of this other site, and create something with your own distinct touch to it.

If I were you, I’d sit down and try to actively think of ways to differentiate your site. Get a notepad out and have a real old brainstorm. First off, sit down and write out all the features you can see on the existing site that you think are really working. Once you’re really familiar with it, you will find all sorts of ideas to improve on their offering popping into your head. If, as you say, it is an area you are interested in you should find this happens really naturally (which is why I’m always harping on to people about following their interests in this game).

You might think you can’t do this right now… but seriously… you will surprise yourself. This will have the added bonus of giving you different avenues from which to extract search engine traffic

To close, the best thing for you to do next is a bit of advice I’ve heard loads of bloggers give to new affiliates: - You KNOW what you want to do. Stop thinking!!

Do it Now!

G’day, G’day folks (sorry, just practising). Just a wee note for those of you who may not have read it… after my “Real Affiliates” Series, the lovely Chris Frost asked me to answer my own questions and has published them on his blog.

You can read my interview here.

In his intro, Chris has kindly referred to me as a “Haggis Chaser”, this is very upsetting. As a devout Scot I don’t chase the buggers… I eat ‘em. I should therefore like to point out to Chris that my proper title is “Haggis Muncher”. I’m a well off affiliate - I pay other people to chase them!

I could make many, many jokes about Kappa tracksuits and black curly wigs… but in the spirit of affiliate relations I shall refrain (I love him really!)

Hope youse enjoy the interview, it was a great idea and it was good of him to suggest it.

Well, here is number 3 in my “Real Affiliates” series and I can’t think of anyone better to finish off with than Chris Frost, my erstwhile dancing partner and Scouse Shimmy expert. Chris is another chap who works as an affiliate in his spare time (and does extremely well at it). There’s a rather nice picture of Chris below, which I have nicked off his Blog, Which You Can Read Here.

How did you first hear about affiliate marketing? When did you decide to try it out?
I first heard about affiliate marketing after I’d created a website that had been up and running for about 3 months. I stumbled across a newsgroup, the name I forget now, and the newsgroup in turn introduced me to A4U forum many moons ago.

I first learned about affiliate links when I was browsing an A4U members website. On it I noticed a banner whereby anyone could apply for a free BT Mobile sim card. As my very first website was geared towards freebies, I decided to dig a little deeper. First thing I noticed was that the URL, when the mouse hovered over it, didn’t point you to BT’s website, so being curious and careful I thought I would checkout when it was going to send me. It turned out to be a CJ link and that’s when the penny dropped!

What was your first ever revenue making idea? How did it work out for you?
If I am to be completely honest, the idea that got me started in this industry wasn’t actually a revenue making idea. I’d just received news about being made redundant from Cadburys and so started looking around, not for ways to make money, but ways to help keep costs down whilst I was making the most of gardening leave.

Obviously when I was aware money could be made, I had no idea how easy it was, especially if you already had a large number of visitors. It was simply a case of monetising an existing website.

How long did it take you to make that first commission?
Within a day of adding an affiliate link, I made commission and within the first calendar month I had generated close to £500. Not bad for 2001 when most of my time was spent outside making the most of my gardening leave :o)

What sectors do you work in?
Up until 2 years ago, I tended to focus on one area only. Since then I’ve realised money is to be made elsewhere and so now my sites cover a mixture of sectors. I’ve just updated a Broadband website which although 4 years old, has been sat there for 1 year, out of date, and doing nothing at all. Already I am seeing the benfits. Not great, but definitely worth the couple of hours effort it required.

I also dabble in seasonal websites such as Valentines and Chrismtas and in the past had a quick (lazy) dabble at gaming. I soon gave up after seeing no return and found it to be a market I don’t think I will crack, or attempt to in the near future.

The most influential factor that decides which sector to tackle, is the interest of it to me personally. If it’s a subject I have no interest in, I find it very hard to develop content, lose patience and end up with half finished websites dotted around doing nothing. Promises of huge commissions that can be seen in the gaming industry, isn’t enough to drive me. It has to be something I have a passion for.

Want to share one / some of your sites with us?
If it means I will get a free link then hell yeah! How many do you want me to rattle off?
broadband-providers.co.uk
shoppingdiscount.co.uk
home-tests.co.uk
adoptananimal.org.uk

How do you generate your traffic?
Different sites different methods. Naturally, PPC is a good fix to generate initial traffic, however if you can generate the same numbers through SEO or word of mouth, then obviously your profit margins can rise substantially.

I started an experiment towards the end of last year, creating a Wordpress website and I was determined not to spend a penny on advertising. It now gets googled within 10 minutes of an update, gets around 800 uniques per day, has a facebook group following of over 300 people and generates a few quid here and there.

It was Lee McCoy’s session at the A4U Expo that got me looking into the possibilities of social networks as a source of traffic. As yet the results arent fantastic, but I see it growing month on month.

How much time do you currently devote to affiliate marketing?
I am famous for saying in Frasers podcast not so long ago, that I spend no more than 4 hours per week, however since saying that I’m finding I have less and less time on my hands due to work commitments (yes I work fulltime still!).

All said and done, I’m somehow finding myself finishing websites and churning new ones out quicker than in the past. I can only presume I’m just missing out on sleep in order to fit everything in!

I would say an average week is now up to 10 hours, which still isn’t bad I guess.

Will that change in the next year?
If I keep getting asked to take part in podcasts and interviews, yeah it will go up ;o)

I think this year, I am more determined than ever. Occasionally I do get bored of the internet as a whole, but still try to plod on. I have a number of sites that are well overdue for a re-design. I also have a few ideas for some niche websites that will require a proper developer to create as my skills and time are limited.

Initially the time I spend will go up considerably this year, however come August/September time, I hope to be in a position where I can start cutting back again for a few months recovery time.

What has the money that affiliate marketing brings done for your lifestyle?
It’s got me out of a lot of trouble. Having gone from being £17k in debt (credit cards alone – I wasn’t even a student!), purchasing stuff like cars, TV’s, washing machines etc on loans or interest free options, I am now in a position where I have no debts (other than UK mortgage) and an Amex card – and that gets paid off every month!

Being in debt taught me a valuable lesson, and I’ve gone from being a spender to a saver. I wanted a new car last year but this time, I waited until I had the reddies and then bought it in cash. I now panic if my bank account even gets close to being overdrawn as I don’t trust myself, and don’t want to be where I was 5 years ago.

As for lifestyle, its given me opportunities to do things I probably wouldn’t have had before. I don’t think its changed me as a person, or at least hope it hasn’t – you’ll have to ask others. I’ve managed to go to some amazing places such as Newcastle, Bristol, London… OK seriously, Las Vegas for the Summit was fun, and I am tempted to head over to Miami later this year.

The biggest change, and most important one to me personally, is the meeting of new people. There’s some fantastic peeps in this industry some whom I consider close friends. I’m always welcome in Newcastle (Kieron), been on the pop in Sheffield (Shane) and of course London always means you will find some network, agency or merchant willing to go out for a few jars. Next on my list, as you know, is Australia for some serious diving!

What’s your definition of a super affiliate? D’you reckon you are one?
A super affiliate to me doesn’t exist! A Key Performing Affiliate, however does!

I consider a Key Performing Affiliate to be one that is a Non Brand Bidding affiliate that generates large volumes whilst adhering to the guidelines and restrictions in place by the merchant. I don’t consider someone who has brand bidding rights, or someone who flaunts the rules of a network or merchant and gets away with it, as a super affiliate.

Am I one? No, I enjoy being an OK Affiliate that sticks to the rules, generates sales without the use of Brand Bidding, and is happy to offer new affiliates advice.

Last year I generated £1.8m in sales for merchants, this year I expect it to be closer to £3m however compare me to the likes of Duncan Jennings and you will soon realise I am small fry. What merchants should remember is that a few of us small fry can do just as much business as 1 big fry. I have ambitions like everyone else, but its equally important to be realistic in life – therefore, being an OK affiliate is just fine by me.

Lots of people will want to know how well you do in terms of income. You don’t have to mention figures.. but do you feel like giving us a clue?
Enough! Let’s just say it’s a great deal more than what I make in my fulltime role and that aint bad!

My fulltime job pays for my daily life. I have always ensured that the two never cross and therefore I never rely on money generated by my websites. It means that an money from affiliate marketing pays for the extras in life. The things that would normally have to be paid over longer terms such as cars, or things I would never dream of owning, like a second home.

How do you motivate yourself and keep your passion for Affiliate Marketing going?
I get motivation from others. Whether it be networks, merchants, agencies or fellow affiliates. Its always good to see a new introduction in terms of Affiliate Marketing and also nice to see network reinvent themselves when they know they have gone down the wrong route.

There are some individuals that really inspire me, and they are the ones with a love for the industry rather than a love for the money it generates.

Tell us one thing that’s REALLY worked out well for you in the last year…
Networking!

Previously I saw affiliate Get2Gethers as nothing more than drinks with friends in an industry I enjoyed. Now I actually talk shop, and Im more than happy to visit networks to discuss current issues affecting the industry and planning how they can be tackled in the future.

Where will you be as an affiliate in 12 months time?
In what respect?
I still want to be a fulltime employee and plan to continue until the day comes where I no longer enjoy it. To me, enjoying your work is something that money can’t compensate for. With that in mind, I expect to still be in the UK.

In terms of markets – then Australia is the region I would like to look at tackling next.

Size? Well I have no intentions of becoming an £85m generating affiliate, so I will continue to be an OK affiliate.

What achievement in your life as an affiliate are you most proud of?
Two things…

I remember the very first time that a website of mine was featured in the Sunday Times. It was a moment where I was actually quite proud of something I had created out of nothing – to think they were writing about my website…

I guess more recently, being in a position to purchase a holiday home outright all thanks to affiliate marketing.

Whats the best bit of advice you can give to an aspiring affiliate?
When developing a website, don’t choose a sector that bears no interest to you whatsoever. When it comes to building a website, everyone knows CONTENT IS KING and if you choose a sector that you have no interest in, you will struggle to complete it, and find it even harder to have the drive to update it on a regular basis.

Choose a subject you enjoy and go from there.

As promised, here’s the second of my three interviews with real affiliates. Now, Ray Theakston has mentioned his luck has been on the decline since he spoke to me but I can assure all my readers (and my remaining interviewees) that it’s just a coincidence and that there’s no “Kirsty’s Curse”.

Next up on the affiliate podium is Max Bramwell. Max is just 19 years old and a university student. He has been involved in affiliate marketing for two years and run a number of affiliate sites in a range of different sectors. He manages to hold down his Uni work while pushing thousands of pounds of sales to merchants a month. We can safely assume there will be no red-eye shifts at Burger King for this young chap!

His blog can be found here: AffiliateStudent.co.uk

How did you first hear about affiliate marketing? When did you decide to try it out?
I was chatting to someone who I had online from a mobile phone forum, and he told me about a white label mobile phone site where you earn money per contract sold, I investigated it and signed up and PhoneCompare.co.uk was born, and from then I created more and more sites and moved away from white label to using my own links.

What was your first ever revenue making idea? How did it work out for you?
Apart from the white label I made a site listing offers which I advertised in my signature on forums, it made a few sales nothing major but it opened my eyes to the possibilities.

How long did it take you to make that first commission?
For me to make my first commission that wasn’t a family member or friend going through me was at the end of 2 weeks if I remember correctly. What a brilliant feeling it as too.

What sectors do you work in?
I work in many sectors such as mobile phones (my first and still large area for me), travel, freebies and general shopping. I will never exclude the possibility of pushing a merchant because of the sector it’s in.

Want to share one / some of your sites with us?
A few of my smaller sites are DiscountHotels.org.uk, CompareFreeBets.co.uk, and onlinewineoffers.co.uk. I as many don’t disclose my larger sites. As well as sites I also do quite a lot of Direct PPC to merchant sites.

How do you generate your traffic?
I’d say I currently have a ratio of 65% PPC and 35% SEO, I’m working on increasing the balance.

How much time do you currently devote to affiliate marketing?
Due to University work and the fact that I also love socialising (drinking) I don’t have any where near as much time as I’d like for affiliate marketing. I currently spend around 30mins a day updating sites, checking stats and editing advertising campaigns. However I also spend a part of my evenings when I’m in on the affiliates4u forum.

Will that change in the next year?
I’m not sure what the 2nd year of university will bring me, be it more or less work. However my aim is to spend more time on my sites though, I’m going to make myself have set hours to do work which I believe may make me more productive.

What has the money that affiliate marketing brings done for your lifestyle?
It’s really had a great effect on me, aged 17 it allowed me to buy my own car and pay for the insurance (which isn’t cheap as a 17 year old male) something my parent’s wouldn’t do due to several reasons. It’s also allowed me to go on several holidays over the past two years. Also the smaller things such as being able to buy my family nicer presents for birthdays really makes me happy.
Finally it’s allowed me to indulge in my love for clothes more than ever, I end up going to Selfridges, River Island and other shops in gaps between lectures nearly every week.

What’s your definition of a super affiliate? D’you reckon you are one?
I don’t have a set definition of a super affiliate; I think it really depends on everyone’s own ideas. However I’d say that a large affiliate pushing profits of near £10k onwards would be classed as a super affiliate in my eyes. From my definition I’m not a super affiliate yet.

Lots of people will want to know how well you do in terms of income. You don’t have to mention figures … but do you feel like giving us a clue?
I worked out last November that I would need to work 18 hours a day every day for the whole month including weekends to make what I did that month. Let’s just say University will be costing me £18,000 over my degree (3 years x £3k fees + £3k accommodation) and it will be paid off and my bank won’t be empty  at the end of this business year for me.

How do you motivate yourself and keep your passion for Affiliate Marketing going?
Affiliate Marketing for me is something I really enjoy, I don’t come in and think “argh I can’t be bothered to check emails, update site, check A4U etc” I come in and that’s one of the first things I do. I think the main things that keep my passion alive are the people in the industry, the excitement of it and the rewards you can get out of it.

Tell us one thing that’s REALLY worked out well for you in the last year…
Reading up on PPC and getting my head more around it has vastly improved my campaigns meaning I have a lower CPC and get better positions overall leading to a much better return on investment.

Where will you be as an affiliate in 12 months time?
Hopefully I will be pushing more and more sales and making a higher profit than I’ve ever done before. Another aim for me is to focus on one of my sites and get it to be in the top 3 affiliate sites in that area.

What achievement in your life as an affiliate are you most proud of?
I think my personal achievement that I’m most proud of was passing the £50k turnover mark while passing my A levels and successfully getting into and starting University.

What’s the best bit of advice you can give to an aspiring affiliate?
Keep at it!

Very simply don’t give up, keep going and you will find out how rewarding affiliate marketing can be and at the same time what an amazing industry it is. If I’d have given up when I first started and sales were slow then I wouldn’t be in the position I am today. It’s well worth the hard work 

I’ve been wanting to do some interviews with other affiliates for some time now. Many people publish interviews with massive super affiliates who are very inspiring and whom we all look up to. But I wanted to do something a little different. We all know I think it’s more than OK to be a Pretty Good Affiliate or even Just Good Enough… so I wanted to give a bit more insight into the life of a more “typical” affiliate. Now don’t get me wrong… a “typical” affiliate can still be pretty bloody extraordinary and have an enviable lifestyle.

With that in mind… I’d like to introduce Y’all to Ray Theakston, the first in my series of 3 “Pretty Good” affiliates who I think are just as inspiring as those multi-millionaire affiliate megastars.

As you can see, Ray loves his affiliate cash so much he’s more than happy to pose with every individual note!

Here’s Ray’s responses to those burning questions every affiliate gets asked! Ray’s Affiliate Blog is Here if you’d like to subscribe.

How did you first hear about affiliate marketing? When did you decide
to try it out?
I used to work with DoubleClick DART in my day job, updating the
website so knew of web advertising. I always wondered how small sites
could display advertising and in 2000 I found and signed up to TradeDoubler.

I added DatingDirect and Figleaves to my Befuddle site in 2002 and made
£314 commission that year.

What was your first ever revenue making idea? How did it work out for you?
My first site Befuddle had pages of hundreds of celebrities drunk and I
didn’t launch it or operate it to make money. But in Autumn 2003 that
changed quickly when a certain Paris Hilton had a video published on
the Internet.

I was the number one result in Google for the search term “Paris
Hilton” and from day one I had emails from advertisers how they could
get promoted from my site.

I cheekily said they could have a single text link on the main Paris
Hilton page for $500 a day. Surprisingly they were happy to pay that.
Within a few days I had several advertisers competing for top positions.

At the time I was attracting 125,000 visitors daily and being on free
hosting I had to serve my images on a different domain. I had to pay
£100 a day just to keep my site up and running.

I learned two very important lessons during this period …

i) Don’t trust anybody in business. I agreed to do a revenue share with
one man and he didn’t pay out, so I lost $2000.
ii) Don’t base a business model on the assumption you’ll remain Number
One on Google. I didn’t stay there long and as soon as the traffic
disappeared, the advertisers pulled out.

How long did it take you to make that first commission?
My first recorded commission was 25th October 2000 in TradeDoubler for
PriceRunner. They paid per click and it was likely my click!

In 2003 my TradeDoubler commission was a healthy £12,000 and this is
the year that I took ‘making money’ seriously.

What sectors do you work in?
The site that I maintain day-to-day is ShopCodes and this includes any
shops or services that offer promotional codes.

I’ve made a lot of money in the past from Pay-Per-Click advertising. I
used to promote Domino’s Pizza heavily at the weekends and brand bid
for other merchants well before it was restricted.

Want to share one / some of your sites with us?
ShopCodes.co.uk is now two years old. I’ve acquired the ShopCodes.com
and ShopCodes.mobi domains and I am looking to build on its current
success this year.

How do you generate your traffic?
All my traffic is from SEO. No matter how much I spend on Pay-Per-Click
I don’t receive a reasonable return of investment. All my traffic
arrives free and it converts well, so I don’t need to buy and traffic.
I also have 500 subscribers to my RSS and newsletter which is good
armoury to have if the traffic drops.

How much time do you currently devote to affiliate marketing?
All of my time. Even if it’s just reading my emails or monitoring my statistics.

Will that change in the next year?
A lot is changing this year but I am not committing myself just yet.
Firstly I’ve invested in the ShopCodes.com domain to really see how far
reach I can attain. If the revenue is right and the workload is too
much to manage then I may have to leave my day job.

Leaving my day job wouldn’t be a small ask. It pays very well. I may
have the option of taking an unpaid sabbattical from 3 to 9 months.

If accepted this would allow me to work at home on my business and see
how far I can push it. If say the revenue didn’t increase exponentially
or if I couldn’t handle working at home and not having interaction then
I could return to my day job.

This seems a likely option for me.

What has the money that affiliate marketing brings done for your lifestyle?
For the past few years I’ve been abroad 3 or 4 times a year on holiday.
That spending money is from affiliate marketing.

This year I met with my accountant and bank to arrange to pay off all
my personal debt.

So this year I should be able to have a comfortable lifestyle with my
day-job salary whilst any money made for my business will just make the
company bank account even larger.

*You can read all about Ray Paying off his Debts in a year on his blog here*

What’s your definition of a super affiliate? D’you reckon you are one?
My definition of a super affiliate is one who has built up their large
business or revenue from a tiny acorn and not started with an
investment, whether it be launching a site on free hosting or
depositing just £100 into an Adwords account.

I’d like to think I tick most of the boxes to be considered a super affiliate.

I use ethical tactics.
I am more than happy to share my experiences.
I am able to turn a ‘hobby’ site into a profitable one.

However, my turnover is not above VAT threshold so there’s probably a
financial benchmark to be considered one.

Last year I generated £1.25 million worth of sales. Other affiliates
can shout higher figures but I can say that it was free traffic served
on a website that offers free hosting too. So I’m on about 90% profit margins.


Lots of people will want to know how well you do in terms of income.
You don’t have to mention figures.. but do you feel like giving us a clue?
I’ve been hovering just below the VAT threshold level for the last two
years. This year I think I may have to be registered. With my day-job
salary combined I’ll be bringing in approximately £100,000.

How do you motivate yourself and keep your passion for Affiliate
Marketing going?
Google keeps me on my toes. There is a direct correlation with the time
spent on my site and the traffic I receive from Google. If I go on
holiday or even date for a week then traffic drops.

I am a believer in myself though. ShopCodes wasn’t born from scratch.
It’s predecessor was also two years old and didn’t make money. It was
the same content and same design - just the domain name was completely
wrong. Acquiring the domain ShopCodes.co.uk was single handedly the
best possible thing I could have done.

Tell us one thing that’s REALLY worked out well for you in the last year…
Since October I just can’t believe how lucky I’ve been. I’ve been
rewarded with free gifts worth over £1,000 from incentive competitions
and a trip to San Francisco. I won’t be expecting those gifts next
Christmas, as that will mean I’ve had a few lean Autumn months.

Where will you be as an affiliate in 12 months time?
Operating ShopCodes for multiple countries on multiple platforms. All
still from my bedroom with my ‘Publisher of the Year’ award sat proudly
on top of the tv

What achievement in your life as an affiliate are you most proud of?
I’m really proud to have acquired ShopCodes.com. It could really set me
up. I already know Google like the domain as they started linking to it
at the expense of my current site.
That domain wasn’t cheap and so to even think about buying it, shows
how far I have come.

If I can get a version of my site on a mobile portal, that will single
handedly be my biggest achievement to date.

Whats the best bit of advice you can give to an aspiring affiliate?
If you don’t have the correct domain name for a site you could end up
flogging a dead horse. I spent a day reading a dictionary to find the
right phrase before I found and fell in love with “Befuddle”. One week
later my “wonderfully titled” drinking site was named as a Yahoo! Pick
of the Week.

Similarly for ShopCodes it does what it says on the tin and Google
loved it from day one.

Hey hey everyone, and greetings from beautiful Coffs Harbour, NSW. I am currently answering Ask Kirstys from the back of my smashing wee camper van over a nice beer at the end of a days driving.

Now, the above title isn’t the only question I was asked for this particular ask Kirsty, but I’ve decided to feature them together as they are all related to that time when you are choosing your very first niche and working out what offers you should feature, and how you should present them.

Now, I must apologise to Nick H who asked these questions. It’s taken me over two weeks to get around to answering. Sorry Nick, but I got there in the end

Hi Kirsty,

Nick H

OK, I will answer these in turn!

When do you decide to call it quits on an offer or niche?
Generally speaking, I tend to give a niche 500 clicks to cut the mustard. However, that depends on how much I am paying per click and whether or not any sales are being generated at all. If there’s been absolutely nothing after a couple of hundred clicks (and where I’m convinced I’m covering all bases) I tend to call it quits. I do imagine this is much more cautious than a lot of affiliates… but its never done me any harm.

If some sales are happening, but you aren’t making a profit, it’s important to analyse what has been selling.

One thing I do always say to would be affiliates is that it is VERY important to track which keywords are converting when trialling a new niche. I don’t think I have ever found more than 4 or 5 niche areas where SOMETHING didn’t make me a profit. Sometimes a single search term can convert and provide a good EPC whilst the rest of the campaign, possibly hundreds of key terms, is a dodgy load of old poop.

It seems like you promote most of your offers through bigger sites with plenty
of content and several pages, is that right?

Hmmm…. yes you do need a reasonable amount of content to create a site that Adwords will like. However, that does not necessarily mean you need to spend huge amounts of time creating a site that really works. I’ve created sites in a single day around a small range of products (or even a single product) which are perfectly acceptable for Adwords and bring in a decent EPC.

I would recommend that a newbie try to identify a single product that they feel would convert well and creates a mini site around it. An old site of mine http://www.vaginaldilator.co.uk converts really well, has a decent amount of info and works fine for adwords. It was quick to make, ranks well in search engines giving me free traffic, and didn’t take much longer to create than a single page Yahoo effort.

Admittedly Yahoo can be a reasonable way to test things. However, I rarely do this and I think you’d end up spending a lot of time working for very little traffic. I’d recommend spending a wee while extra on your content to get a few hundred percent more visitors from Adwords. I’ve also found that not all niches convert well on Yahoo, probably due to their slightly different keyword matching techniques.

Do you find that the EPC that the Networks report is accurate enough to base
your max bids on?

Gah… no, not really. EPC is an average, and like all averages can be skewed by many factors. EPC can be artificially inflated by heavy presence of discount code and cashback sites. Also, if the merchant is allowing brand name bidding that can also make things look healthier than they will be when you give their products a whirl.

Similarly, the EPC can be lowered by the presence of one or two low quality affiliates who are sending less relevant traffic in high volumes to your target merchant.

As you are likely to be looking at promoting a small group of merchant products the EPC data won’t be terribly accurate. The best thing to do is follow these steps: -

- Work out what you think the average basket size for your product grouping would be.
- Ask the affiliate manager for a rough idea of the conversion rate. If this isn’t forthcoming… sit down and ask yourself if you think the EPC data you are seeing really is accurate. If it seems to good to be true - it might be.

What I think I’m getting around to here is…. yes, there is an element of “finger in the air” with this one. Unfortunately the only thing that will help you with this is trial and error and the application of some common sense. Eventually, you will get a “feel” for what is going to work and which sites will convert.

The most important question to ask yourself is “Would I Buy From Here?” If it’s a no - stay away!

I hope this helps…. good luck!!