Welcome to our discussions and thanks for your comment.

I agree. I think most of us can spend at least part of our time more wisely and effectively, if we take the time to really analyze our goals and see what’s working – or not working – for us.

Act on your dream!

JD

For several years, I’ve depended upon affiliate marketing to pay the bills and put food on the table. I think that gives me a very different perspective on it than most of my readers and most people who are involved in online marketing.

If I had another business that paid all the bills, or if I had a job that did it, then I’d be pretty happy with the income I’m receiving from my online marketing efforts and I appreciate you helping me to see things from your perspective.

If this were a sideline – especially one that I enjoyed – then I would have a different view on the ratio of profits to effort. Even picking up an extra hundred dollars a month, in profit, would be nice.

I know that some of the people who make a lot of money online are sharks, and I agree, I’m not going that way either.

However, there are a lot of clever people who are providing real value to real people and are making a nice living through online marketing as a result.

That’s what I’m trying to identify.

If I can find a niche where I can recommend products and services that I am proud to use, and which I would recommend to my friends and family even if I weren’t getting paid to do it, that would be perfect for me.

Thanks for the input, Sire.

Act on your dream!

JD

Although over the last few months I’ve been around the $200 mark I can’t see myself sustaining that especially now that I haven’t been pursuing the paid post route.

Seeing as how I do have a normal job I am quite happy to take anything that comes my way, especially as it costs me very little of my time. This is because blogging for me is more of a pastime and as most of my posts don’t actively promote a product as such, and all it involves is the pasting of some code, a lot of which is automated, in the posts.

I know that there are people that do quite well at making money online, but I think a lot of them are sharks and I ain’t going that route.
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Thank you for your comment.

I almost did something very uncharacteristic of me. I nearly posted a smart-ass reply about passive income – but I caught myself in time.

That means that there is something about “passive income” that triggered such a response. I don’t think it has anything to do with what you said.

So, why did I have such a response?

I keep hearing about “passive income” as it relates to online marketing, but I’ve actually seen precious little of it.

Maybe I’m hanging out with the wrong people, or haven’t been exposed to the right ones, but I don’t know anyone who has achieved passive income – unless they either inherited it or worked many long years and invested their savings.

Many of those people lost a large amount of their investments last year, even the cautious ones. Some of them no longer have passive income from their investments and have had to turn to other ways to make a living.

I hear of people in MLM talking about passive income, and I’m willing to bet that less than half of one percent of all the people doing it have achieved that goal. The percentage may be even lower than that.

I don’t know anyone in affiliate marketing who has achieved it.

Things change all the time and we have to adjust. That means work.

If I were still physically able to hold down a full-time job, I’d leave affiliate marketing and go do it. The hours are better, the pay is better, the benefits are better.

But, I’m not able to do that – at least, not right now. And, if I wanted a job, I’d have to leave where I live, because there are precious few of them around here.

The truth is that I love being self-employed and working at home, but none of that is passive.

It takes a lot of time and effort to build websites and actively market anything.

If you have achieved passive income and don’t actually have to work to get the dough, I want to hear your story!

I’ll bet there are others here who would love to listen, too.

Act on your dream!

JD

Yes, I’ve watched you test things as you try to identify something that works for you and is desired by your audience.

For those of us without a clearly defined audience, it’s hard to determine the products and services that will help them solve a problem or scratch an itch.

I hope you keep on working on it until you find something that works well for you.

Act on your dream!

JD

I’m happy to hear that you have one affiliate program that is doing well for you. I agree; promote it far and wide and see if it will do even better.

I used to think $100 a day was a pretty easy goal, but now I’m not so sure. Still working on it, however.

Act on your dream!

JD

I’ve stuck with CJ and Google Affiliate Networks for a long time because each offers the opportunity to find other products I might be able to market. But I can’t say I’ve had great success with them. But they give me what I need when I need them, so those I’m staying with.

Anyone else,… well, it’s always up in the air. Truthfully, I think it’s more something wrong with me than with them for the most part.
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Yes, $100 a day is a reasonable and I think, do-able goal. I am far from there, but I do think as I continue to learn and tweak my work, I will arrive there! Thank you for a super post!
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