Comments on: Smart Thinking is More Profitable Than The Hard Yards in Affiliate Marketing!

By: Rich

Rich — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 20:29:37 +0000

love your blog Kirsty. Been reading for a while now but havn’t commented.

Have to say i loved the interviews you did and then a follow up down the line… one of the most interesting affiliate-related things I’ve ever read. (certainly beats reading up on back links and seo anyway )

1 thing I would like to see though… more posts!!!

By: Paul

Paul — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 21:39:20 +0000

Great post and great inspiration Kirsty. We are working hard here and have actually seen a small reward from one purchase on our first niche site. We have only been going 2 months and have learnt so much already but seeing the reward, albeit a very small one, is a start and very encouraging for us and we are already spending time going over what we have done and how we can improve it. We are going to the A4u meetup in London on Thursday so hope ot meet some like minded people for more inspiration!

By: Jason

Jason — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 09:12:10 +0000

Great post; very well-written and inspiring as always. Would be nice to get a few more Eureka moments every week, no? (lol, if you can figure that out, please let me know too )

By: Kirsty

Kirsty — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 10:11:53 +0000

@ Adam, yep couldn’t agree more with your point that 3 hours is probably not the “real” amount of time to develop that site. It was the product of a lot of slog over 2 years in that particular niche before the light bulb came on. And you’re also right about the most important point of the post – you still have to do the hard yards for it all to work.

@ Elaine – Booze will suffice!

By: Elaine

Elaine — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 07:37:39 +0000

just pop over willya and give me a 2 day intensive course on working smarter and quicker – will provide plastic spiders if required.

By: Adam

Adam — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 00:26:17 +0000

Great post Kirsty, it is good to step back and reflect on what you’ve built once in a while, to try and see it for new again, then that really obvious stuff you could improve just seems to leap out at you.

I think the problem with affiliate marketing, is that people read those little anecdotes about the person who makes 15,000 a year from a site that took just three hours, and think that sounds pretty wonderful and they’ll do the same. The problem is, that site didn’t take you three hours, it probably took you closer to 3,000hrs (possibly not, I’m just guessing), testing, trying, reading, failing, restarting, accumulating all the experience that allowed you to have that Eureka moment. As with any skill at the beginning you work extremely hard for just about no return, then as your skills and experience increase the balance shifts, to the point when you are doing very little work, for a very nice return. The hard yards are inevitable and necessary, just down tools every once in a while and take stock of what you’ve learnt and how it might be better applied to optimize what you’re working so hard on.

By: Darrell Freeman

Darrell Freeman — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 17:57:46 +0000

I think outsourcing is a great way to work smarter. Maybe banning the use of Facebook during work hours aswell

By: Karl Foxley

Karl Foxley — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 20:59:50 +0000

This is a great post. I find one of the things that really helps me is to leave the computer alone for a while and go and talk to people who know nothing about online marketing and affiliate marketing. It’s surprising how many ideas you can come up with that would make ‘computer newbies’ lives a richer experience when using the net than if you just spoke to those that know all about link cloaking and php redirects.

It certainly is about taking action on those ideas that you are not sure will work, testing and failing fast is better than taking the slow option or worse, not taking any action at all.

Keep up the great work,

Karl

By: WY

WY — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 16:36:53 +0000

I’ve been following your blog for a short while now and really love reading your posts and ideas. It’s inspired me to work a little differently as I try and get my head around all the things that I need to do to make things work for me in terms of affiliate marketing. Keep the good stuff coming!