Rosalind Gardner was the one to introduce me to internet affiliate marketing through her book the Super Affiliate Handbook.  Rosalind has been recording a video at the beginning of each year predicting what the year would be like for internet affiliate marketing.  I though it would be fun to see what has happened so far in 2010 and see how correct she is.  Watch the video below.

Rosalind makes some great predictions.  Let me tell you what I think.  I have always been a fan of frugality.  If you know me personally I have used coupons to buy things for year.  I carry a coupon binder to the store and last week I even got about fifteen items for FREE!  Yes for FREE!  I am one of those people that hold up the grocery story line with a stack of coupons. Rosalind was completely correct when she discussed saving money.  Right now a lot of people are looking for coupon codes on the internet, they are looking for ways to be frugal and a lot of it is out of necessity!

She also mentions social media and video marketing!  Within this year I have noticed a huge increase of companies offering coupons, sample and free full sized products if you become a fan of theirs on Facebook!  Big companies are really using social media to benefit them.  I have also noticed if I have any kind of bad experience with a company and mention it on Twitter, I get a message from the company asking what they can do to help!  Rosalind is right on the mark!

Video marketing has become huge.  The very few courses I have paid for this year have been on video marketing.  It is a way to not only bring traffic to a website but it is a way to get noticed.  This week I finished reading the book Crush It by Gary Vaynerchuk.  He got noticed because of his video marketing on Wine Library TV!  I believe videos make things personal for people.  In a world of electronics we want to be able to see you and know we can trust you!

Lastly, Rosalind tells us about Forrester’s report that they predict that affiliate marketing will experience double digit growth!  Companies will also be putting more money into affiliate programs.  That is fantastic for us as affiliate marketers!  So what do we need to take advantage of this?  What do  you think?  I would love to hear your thoughts on the matter!

Until Next time!

Remember back in January when I told you about the 52 week Amazon Lens Challenge?  Right after I wrote this I went to NAMS 3 and I honestly have not done any Squidoo lenses since.  Even though I have not continued I have made money on the lenses I have.  Yay, right?!  Well yes and no.  I need to get back on the bandwagon!  Why am I telling you this?  I want you to learn from my mistake.  If you are making money somewhere then continue doing what you are doing and get better at it!

So what is Squidoo?

Squidoo is really where you can create a mini-website for free!  You can enjoy the benefits of making money and not have to spend money!  I am all for that.  The thing about Squidoo is that  you can create a Squidoo lens (your mini-website) on anything you would like.  So for my purpose I want to create genealogy Squidoo lenses!  I can create Squidoo lenses on software, books, how-to, etc.

Why use Squidoo?

Squidoo is a great way to build links to your site.  This is the first thing Squidoo is really good for.  The next is search engine ranking!  When you use Squidoo as a mini-website you will get the benefit of Squidoo’s high ranking in Google.  You can build a brand and reputation off of your Squidoo lenses.  One of the best advantages of Squidoo is it is so quick!  You can get a lens up and going in an hour or less!  You will also be supplementing your income with affiliate marketing on your Squidoo lenses.

If you haven’t opened an account with Squidoo go do it now!

PS. If you haven’t used Squidoo ever or need a guide as to how you should build a lens I would recommend Tiffany Dow’s ebook Social Networking on Squidoo!

In the next few weeks I am going to cover some basics of affiliate marketing. Today, I am going to give you a bit of a history about me and share with you my favorite affiliate marketing ebook: Super Affiliate Handbook! This is the book that changed everything for me in business online and it happened over six years ago.

Super Affiliate Handbook, the affiliate marketing ebook!

I have always had the entrepreneurial bug!  I was never great in school and I didn’t finish college but I always felt like their were great things ahead for me.  I got married and had my first two children in the first two years of being married.  All along I was always thinking “What can I do to make money?”.  In 2003 I started an eBay business.  I made money but it was a lot of work! Work that I didn’t enjoy.  After that I found my first affiliate marketing ebook by Rosalind Gardner.  I had no idea what affiliate marketing was.  I was really clueless that anyone did such a thing.  I thought it was great that you could get paid when people clicked through a link on your website and bought something.  I also thought it wasn’t going to be a lot of work.  Boy, was I wrong (it is work I love though)!

When I purchased the Super Affiliate Handbook, I learned how to set up a affiliate marketing business, step by step.  To be honest this is one of the first ebooks I had read all the way through!  Not only did I read it all the way through but I made my husband read it too!  We were on board.  I purchased a domain and I used site build-it to create the website.  We created a few pages and then we did nothing more.  I am not sure what happened maybe self-doubt set in, but in 2003 that was then end of affiliate marketing for me.

Super Affiliate Handbook was always in the back of my mind.

After my experience with my first try at affiliate marketing I went onto some other businesses.  Ebay again and a company called Melaleuca (I still get a check from them each month).  Last year I got the bug again.  I decided I am not going to try to make money fast.  I want to make money consistently and have a business to last forever.  My mind immediately went back to affiliate marketing and the Super Affiliate Handbook!  That is when I started this blog and I started looking over the ebook again.  I still had that copy from 2003 on a CD.  I decided to go ahead and purchase it again to get the latest version.  Rosalind Gardner is the author and she has done a fabulous job of keeping it up-to-date and covering all the bases!

Once again I began to learn all about affiliate marketing and all the changes!  I also found Lynn Terry and the Elite group to answer questions I have had. Since last year I have made some money.  I am not making nearly as much as I would like but I am learning so much as I go.  I also know that this business is a snowball business.  It will grow and pick up speed!

Affiliate Marketing is a business that will last.

I have felt from the first time I read the Super Affiliate Handbook that affiliate marketing is a business that I would enjoy and that would last.  Just like all businesses you must stay on top of the changes in the industry but it is possible to make consistent money, pay-off debts and save for the future.  This is why I have chosen this business to focus on!

If you are not so sure about what affiliate marketing is, how to do it or whether it is for you keep following this blog for my blog series on affiliate marketing.  I am not an expert but I do know a lot.  If you want a comprehensive view of affiliate marketing get the Super Affiliate Handbook by Rosalind Gardner!

Until next time,

PS. My last two post I have written about the Niche Affiliate Marketing System workshop.  This workshop was focused on how to run an affiliate marketing business.  You can still purchase a flash drive with power point presentations and audio of the speakers here.

Wouldn’t you love sitting on your back porch and enjoy watching your kids play in the backyard, while you make money?  Yeah, me too! I remember when I had my coupon clipping service on ebay and I didn’t have much time to watch my kids play.  I only had time to for coupon clipping, shipping and listing on ebay. During these hours  I dreamed of having an ebook business that I could automate.  I collected a bunch of ebooks to sell.  I bought them with full resell rights.  I was so excited to get started!  I even wrote an ebook about how to run a coupon clipping service on ebay (that disappeared with my crashed hard drive). I was literally about to list my ebook and ebay changed their policies.  This was about a year and a half ago.  They decided to not allow sellers to auction off digital products!  With much disappointment I left it alone. I was moving and I was pregnant.  I didn’t have the energy at that moment to burn Cd’s or come up with another way to automate my business! Read more »