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.

OK, that’s been a month off… it’s long enough… time to get back to the internet coalface, and resume a little bit of the work that makes sure my Duncan can continue to live in the style to which he has become accustomed (oh, and me as well!). We had an absolutely lovely time in Auckland, and even had our very first wedding present bought for us by Duncan’s family. They suggested an artist, Helena Blair, they thought was pretty damned good and let us commission a painting to remind Duncan of NZ.

Here’s one that his folks actually bought and upon which we partly based our commission (excuse the image, it really doesn’t do justice).

So, anyhoo… I’m having my usual “rusty” start to work. I have totally lost sight of where I am up to with things and there are a lot of campaigns I’ve simply switched off because I couldn’t keep enough of an eye of them. Now THAT is the sign of a truly good holiday.

However, it’s definately time to get back into things. The Lingerie site I’ve been talking about so much recently needs lots of TLC in its formative months. I need to add content like the very blazes in the early stages to keep that lovely free traffic coming in!

I’m feeling really bad about not having had much of a chance to post to this blog… so I will be trying to make up for my slackness during March. There will no doubt be the odd real estate agent related rant slipping into things as we are both about to spend a lot of time dealing with them.

http://www.realestate.com.au - my new bible!

More from me soon

Hello. Remember Me? Kirsty? Yeah, I know there’s been the odd bit of tumbleweed floating around this blog recently but as the title suggests I’ve been taking a wee step back and having a bit of a break.

See, what a lot of people tend to forget once they really get into the cut and thrust of affiliate marketing, is how this really is a wonderfully flexible way to make a living. Remember when you first heard about affiliate marketing? “Oh man… that’d be brilliant. No more working for the man. No more of the 9 to 5 grind, I could do anything…” Scroll on a year or 3 and….

How many full timers d’you reckon actually find that time to have a break, kick back, and let things take care of themselves for 3 or 4 weeks? Not many! There’s too much of an obsession with being a “super” affiliate and not enough on being “just good enough”

Right now, I’m feeling like all the effort I’ve put in during the last 4 months has been just that. “Just good enough”. In the last 6 weeks I’ve earned what used to be 12 months salary, selling just short of £400,000 worth of holidays to Brits desperate to know they have something to look forward to once the winter doom and gloom has receeded. I’d fully intended to keep up the pressure during this bit of my trip… working a few hours a day and keeping things rolling. However, after all the stress of leaving the UK I’ve pretty much flopped out and decided to enjoy a bit of the sun here in Auckland. Right now, we are at Duncan’s home having a jolly nice time meeting all my future in-laws and generally touristing about the joint.

Unfortunately, this has meant I’ve neglected the old blog. For this, I apologise unreservedly. Even now when the guilt has gotten too much I can’t think of much affiliate related stuff to be pontificating about. Except how I feel. Right now my feeling about affiliate marketing is that “it’s time to kick back and enjoy waiting to be paid!”.

Normal service will be resumed shortly. In the meantime, why not take my Affiliate Quiz and see if you need to kick back as well? While you’re doing that, I’ll be spending a lot of time here in New Zealand doing stuff like this….

*That’s the back of my future mummy in law’s head on the right!

It’s a great old feeling when you can relax and enjoy the fruits of your labours.

PS. If anyone has any Ask Kirsty questions now would be a great time to get them answered… I’m not really doing much else! Contact Me via my form if you’ve got a question you just can’t get around!

Well, I’m sitting in my office here at Affiliate Stuff towers gazing out of the window at 12.20pm on an absolutely miserable Scottish day. The heating is up full pelt, and I am sat in my favourite pair of pyjamas (the blue ones with yellow stars on) and my big fluffy red dressing gown (yep, you’ve guessed it… there are stars on it!).

There really is no finer feeling than watching all the normal folks struggle on past the window in the cold on a day like this. People with “real” jobs, not ones living in affiliate fantasyland like I seem to be!

I think the only thing that could make me feel better would be if I were able to buy some nice personalised affiliate jim jams. I’ve been keeping an eye out for personalised adult pyjamas for years. I’d dearly love a set of flannel jim jams for winter and a cotton set for summer emblazoned with this…

In my opinion, there’s no better way to spend a day than in your jim jams. The fact that I also get to make a topping income and travel (alas not in my jim jams), makes my days spent in my favourite mode of attire just perfect!!

Well, here I am sat sitting here in my affiliate jimmy jams contemplating yet another year that has simply flown past. Kieron , Ray and Nadeem (in Two Parts) have already published fine overviews of their year. I could reflect in the same organised way they have… but to be honest 2007 was an absolute blur and much of it involved me visiting some of the most exciting places in the world.

So I can encapsulate my year thus. I ran my affiliate business at the same time as travelling the world. During my 2007 tax year I achieved a 400% increase in turnover working 3 days a week and visited Thailand, Australia, and New Zealand for a total of 10 and-a-half glorious months before heading home on a 6 week jolly via Fiji, Hawaii, San Francisco, Las Vegas, The Grand Canyon, and finally New York.

My highlights from the trip would have to be: -
Railey Beach in Thailand, a spookily beautiful place with towering limestone cliffs surrounding it. I also met up with an old friend from uni there and we spent a quality week with him. It was just like when we were young and irresponsible again!

Wai U Tapu Thermal Park - Rotorua NZ - I’ve always been fascinated by volcanoes and their wily ways. I felt just like David Attenborough!

Spending my 30th birthday drinking Bollinger in a spa bath looking out over a tropical rain forest in Australia… Nuff said

Seeing a piece of art with a hefty price tag that absolutely took my breath away in Katherine, Australia and being able to say “What the hell, I’m having that!” without thinking of it. Actually, I wish I’d taken a picture of the gallery owners face when two scabby looking young backpacker types wandered in and spent $4,300 without blinking. Now THAT was a work of art folks!

Sailing around the islands of Fiji on a beautiful old boat, visiting all the famous film locations where they filmed movies such as “Castaway” and “Blue Lagoon”, sipping Fijian beer and generally making remarks such as “wow” and “this is the life, isn’t it?”

That’s me in the green dress!

Driving out to the Hoover Dam and Grand Canyon when we were visiting Vegas. Truly amazing places I never thought in a million years that a wee lassie fae Colmonell in Ayrshire would ever get to visit!

Is this a God Dam?

Visting the Empire State Building in New York… and also getting to be very rude to New Yorkers. Those people really know how to let you know their feelings on any issue (which generally seems to be that you’re an idiot and must do things their way). However, they forget they learnt it all from their Scottish / Irish roots so I had a great time abusing everyone right back… from casual street hustlers to tour guides, bellhops, taxi drivers, and finally innocent passers by, everyone in New York caught it in the neck from a short, irate Scottish girl. I think they secretly enjoyed it

I’ve no idea how Duncan managed to take this picture… there were about 2,000 other people in that foyer!

Finally, the best bit of this year has been getting home and doing 3 months solid work at the job I truly love. I have had so many ideas when we have been away and so little time to develop them. It’s a real pleasure to now be able to work on them and really strengthen my revenue streams. I already know what I’m doing in 2008… I hope y’all have made your plans to make the best of what is likely to be a challenging year for the industry.

Bring it on I say. My resolution? To be innovative, keep ahead of the game, and to represent the affiliate industry as a good example of professionalism and ethics. I hope we can all do the same this year.

Thanks to everyone who’s subscribed and read my blog this year. It’s always a real pleasure talking to you all!

Happy New Year!!!

Oh, I’ve also realised I’m getting married this year. AARRGGGHHH!!!!!!!

Phew!! Well, that was the Christmas rush and what a silly season it has been for me. I’ve spent so much time watching other people buy their Christmas pressies I’m very nearly sick of them!

I’m sure many of you will have been frustrated this year trying to work out exactly where all this Christmas money everyone has been screaming about was being spent. I’ve chatted to a fair few people recently who seem to be at a bit of a loss. It’s not easy to work this stuff out when you are “out in the affiliate cold”. If you’ve no idea, the best bit of advice I can give you for next year is to try out lots of direct to merchant PPC using their feeds to generate the search terms during the early part of the season.

I used this technique this year and found many surprising items that the punters just loved. I can now use this information going forward into 2008 for all the remaining gift seasons and feed the data into my strategy for next years campaigns.

Also, check out what is being advertised a lot on television, and pay attention to what the press are raving on about. This publicity will feed back into internet searches (but can be disasterous if you pick an item merchants can’t keep in stock!!).

Finally, my best bit of advice has to be not to copy what you see others doing or have them talking about. A certain someone who may or may not be reading this article right now has lifted a niche I spoke about wholesale. I can see from looking at his site that he’s basically read my work and re-hashed it into a new format. The similarities are blinding.

OK, I knew that would happen guys (hoped it would not out of respect for the free information I give) but the reason I give away the urls of my sites is so you can see how the affiliate mindset works… not so you can copy what I am doing.

Don’t worry though, I won’t stop sharing this kind of info. However, I do reserve the right to bankrupt the next person I see doing this by inflating their CPCs to a ridiculous amount. In fact, I might still do this to the current offender just to create a valuable lesson about the dangers of pissing off affiliates with deeper pockets than you… You know who you are, and you’ve been warned!!

I previously talked about how copying someone does not automatically mean you can duplicate their success and become a super affiliate. I’d like to re-iterate that now. Make your new years resolution to come up with something unique that you can build on and make your own. That really is the hallmark of a successful affiliate.

Merry Christmas Everyone, I’m off to roast chestnuts on the fire and drink the 18 bottles of really posh booze I treated myself to. Hurahh!!!!!

Well, things have been quiet on this blog recently.. mainly because it’s Christmas and I’m working furiously either checking my campaigns or quickly creating new bits and pieces for areas that are performing well. I’m also well into my prep for the January travel season. I’m feeling a bit lost for inspiration as I’m writing loads of unique content for a new lingerie site… I’ve been working for about 16 hours most days (and loving it) but it does mean the time I usually spend chatting to my blog readers is taken up with either working or collapsing on the sofa with a massive glass of wine.

With that in mind, I thought I’d go off looking for all the various inspirational tales of how much money your hard work can create in this game. Part of my reason for looking for these stories is to motivate myself on to greater things in 2008. I wanted to find verifiable stories of success. After all, anyone can SAY they earn a squillion quid a month!

All Aboard For The Affiliate Inspiration Train!

First stop has to be Kieron’s Sitepoint Forum post which gained him notoriety on both sides of the pond. A while back, he posted a single page of his bank statement and showed off an extremely healthy affiliate business!

(Click For Bigger Image)

Naturally, we also have to make a quick stop at ShoeMoney Central and salivate over his massive bloody Google Adense cheque…
(Click For Bigger Image)

Next Up, something less about capitalism and more about lifestyle. The chap who runs Alex’s Coupons is supporting his entire family and paying for medical bills for his daughter’s fight against Leukaemia. Inspired by an increasingly frightening level of debt as a result of his daughter’s need for treatment, and the near collapse of his business after 9/11, he created a coupon site that has gotten the family out of debt and continues to pay for his beautiful daughter’s medical treatment.

There’s a news item about this affiliate success story below…

There’s also my erstwhile affiliate drinking chum Ray, who posted a while back about having gone from £25k in debt to having £50k in the bank within just one year. And he was working on his web business PART TIME!

Finally, if you’ve got an affiliate inspiration story (regardless of size), why not send it on over to me. I’m thinking of setting up an “inspiration” category where I’ll post a good story about someone’s affiliate marketing journey every now and again and give their blog / affiliate site a little bit of link love. Contact Me with your story if you want to share it with other affiliates!