What is your favorite and most profitable affiliate program?

November 27, 2010 by John Dilbeck · 20 Comments
Filed under: Affiliate Marketing 

This has been a difficult year-and-a-half for me and my affiliate marketing business.

It’s a statement of fact, not a complaint and I’m not going to whine about it.

For several years, I was getting sicker and sicker. In March 2010, I was diagnosed with Stage 4 Colon Cancer and it could very well have been terminal if I had not been treated by some very talented and experienced doctors and surgeons. I was also very lucky in several ways.

Now, I’m about two months from completing my chemotherapy and kicking this cancer’s butt.

I’m getting stronger every month.

I’m still not thinking too clearly and I’m sure this is a result of the cancer pumping its poisons into me for who knows how long, and from the chemo drugs.

I’m looking forward to completing chemo and being able to think better, faster, and more clearly as the drugs get out of my system.

I’m a very, very lucky boy. I intend to win this battle and be back to nearly full speed in a few more months.

The other thing that affected my business was when the North Carolina legislature passed its new tax laws in July 2009 and I was immediately dropped by Amazon.com and several other large retailers. I’d been an affiliate with Amazon for just over 13 years when I was dropped — through no fault of mine.

I wallowed in self-pity for awhile, but grabbed my bootstraps and started pulling myself into a new direction.

So, one of my very profitable websites went from a comfortable income to just enough to pay its own way and make a tiny profit. I still have not found a good way to re-monetize it, but I will.

I changed my direction and started promoting small, locally-owned local businesses in Murphy, NC. I love living here in the mountains of western North Carolina and I like promoting people I trust and enjoy doing business with.

As soon as I get healthy enough to get out and talk to the owners, I intend to do a lot with Murphy Gold. It will become my primary money maker and will have little to do with affiliate marketing, but there are a few places I’ll use affiliate links on pages that don’t compete with our local businesses.

Most of my other sites are being mothballed or deleted. As I’ve said before, I’m shutting down most of my blogs. I’ll probably keep John Dilbeck And Friends and this one, but the others are not producing a profit, and that’s the bottom line. I run a business. I don’t blog just for the fun of it, or to earn a few dollars here and there.

If a site or blog isn’t pulling its own weight and making a nice profit, there’s no point in putting more energy into it.

With all that said, I’ll be turning my attention to affiliate marketing to help monetize some of my remaining sites, and it will play a large part in a new site that’s on the drawing board right now.

I love working at home and running my marketing business. I’ve done well over the last ten years and I plan to continue for the next ten, even though there are a few challenges here and there to overcome.

As I look at all the affiliate programs I’ve promoted in the past, it’s easy to see that Sitesell’s 5 Pillar Affiliate Program is my favorite. I love lifetime commissions and getting paid when other SBI users I’ve referred renew each year. At this moment, I’m showing that ten people have renewed their SBI subscriptions for another year. That’s ten people who are satisfied clients. They’re not the only ones. Those are ten people who have renewed since my last check, not ten people for the entire year. There will be many more renewals over the coming months.

The great majority of the people I’ve referred to SBI renew every year. Why? Because they’re making a profit and they’re happy with the procedures and tools that are provided with an SBI subscription.

As I’ve said many times, I’m a satisfied client and a happy affiliate. I use SBI for two of my sites and have plans for a couple more that I’ll add in the next year or two.

I’m tired of traditional hosting and the security holes and constant updates.

I’m tired of updating WordPress and the plug-ins I use all the time.

Out of the dozen or more blogs I’ve tested, none of them have been profitable. This one earns a tiny percentage of my monthly income, but I’ll probably keep it alive because I like to write about affiliate marketing and some of the things I’ve learned over the years.

And, I like hearing your thoughts and opinions when you write comments.

This brings me to the question I posed in the title of this post.

What is your favorite and most profitable affiliate program?

That may be one that is both your favorite and most profitable, or it may be two different programs. It’s possible to really like a program, but to make more money with another one.

Some things I will not promote

Over the years, I’ve tested lots of things, and I’ve decided that there are a number of things (some of them quite profitable) that I won’t promote.

I lived in credit card hell for decades, until I became totally debt free in the early 1990s. I’ll never go into debt again and I won’t be part of luring anyone else into such a lifestyle. For that reason, I do not promote any credit card companies or offers.

I spent a few years on the Internet Marketing treadmill to nowhere. I learned that there is a huge difference between “busy-ness” and “business.”

While some of the systems and businesses and people in the IM niche are good and honest, most of them are ineffective and keep you running on a treadmill to nowhere.

I earned a nice profit when I was promoting traffic exchanges and a couple of MLM businesses, but not nearly what I should have earned for the time, effort, and money I invested in them.

Therefore, last year, I made the decision that I will not promote any MLMs, traffic exchanges, downline builders, or similar “profit building” systems.

Perhaps they may work for you, but I don’t want to lure anyone else into this busyness treadmill. I’ve learned my lesson. When I was promoting them, I believed in them and their effectiveness. I no longer have that opinion.

I won’t promote anything that uses fear and dissatisfaction to lure customers.

I won’t promote anything that I won’t use myself. There are some gray areas to this, however. I may promote a book on a topic that others are very happy with, even though I’m not a customer for that particular book. However, since I’m no longer an Amazon affiliate, I’ll probably just link to the book with no plans for earning anything from the referral.

I know this limits my opportunities for more income, but I’d rather have peace of mind and be proud of what I’m doing rather than make more money promoting things I would not buy and use for myself.

What are your thoughts on this?

Other than the products that show up in Adsense ads on my sites, I now consider everything I promote to be a personal recommendation. I stand behind what I link to. If I won’t use it myself, or if I won’t recommend it to my brother, daughter, or best friend, I won’t recommend it to you.

That’s why I promote SBI so much. It’s a product I use and from which I profit, both from my own websites and from affiliate payments. The affiliate income from Sitesell has always been welcome, but was never a high percentage of my income, until I was dropped last year by other programs.

Still, I expect to earn a lot more from my websites that are powered by SBI than I do from their affiliate program. I won’t discuss actual dollar figures. That’s between me and the IRS.

What about you?

Do you consider your affiliate links to be a personal recommendation?

Do you limit what you’ll promote?

Why?

I’d really like to hear from you about your thoughts about affiliate marketing and where it’s headed in the coming year.

Whatcha think?

JD

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Sitesell lengthens SBI money back guarantee from 30 to 90 days

November 25, 2010 by John Dilbeck · 2 Comments
Filed under: Sitesell and Site Build It 

For a decade (more or less), Sitesell has offered a 30-day money back guarantee to anyone who wants to use SBI to build an online business.

Recently, however, Sitesell has lengthened this to a 90-day money back guarantee.

Recognizing that it takes time to do the research that is a part of the SBI process and to get started building an online business, they decided to give subscribers a longer period to learn and start using the SBI system, risk free.

This 90-day period is not a permanent offer. They’re testing it for now, and it may become permanent.

So, you can choose to pay $299 for an annual subscription or $29.95 per month, and the first 90 days are completely risk free. If you decide it isn’t for you, all you have to do is contact support, tell them you want to cancel your subscription and ask for your refund.

I’ve never wanted a refund from them. In fact, I wish I felt better so I could spend more time building my sites, and starting new ones in the future.

If you’ve been considering using SBI, now you have an additional two months to use and evaluate it before deciding if you want to cancel and get a refund.

It’s easy to get started, here’s a link to the SBI order page.

I’m happy I found SBI and I’m happy to recommend it to you.

Act on your dream!

JD

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First ever live Q and A session with Ken Evoy and the whole Sitesell team

November 20, 2010 by John Dilbeck · 1 Comment
Filed under: Affiliate Marketing, Facebook, Sitesell and Site Build It, Social Networking 

The entire Sitesell Team is making their Facebook page a great place to ask questions, learn new things, and meet the people behind the scenes at Sitesell, the folks who make SBI what it is.

There are a lot of urban myths about SBI that have already been addressed on a new page on the Sitesell website, and this is our chance to ask questions and get the answers from the team that makes SBI so great.

On Wednesday, 24th of November, 2010, at 12 noon ET, Ken Evoy and his entire team will be live on Facebook answering your questions about SBI (Site Build It), Sitesell, and how to build a successful online business.

This note on the Sitesell Facebook page explains it in more depth.

I’ve set my alarm so I’ll be sure to be there.

Next Wednesday at noon, USA Eastern Time.

Act on your dream!

JD

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The Beatles are now on iTunes

November 17, 2010 by John Dilbeck · 2 Comments
Filed under: Affiliate Marketing, Apple Computer, Music 

After fighting for decades over the “Apple” name, Apple Computer and Apple Records came to an agreement that was announced on Tuesday, November 16, 2010. Now, you can purchase songs by The Beatles on iTunes, and I’ll be buying some and adding others to my wish list.

Whether you want to buy the complete boxed set (for less than $200) or want to pick and choose your favorites (at $1.29 each), there’s something there for just about every music lover.

iTunes & App Store

I was looking through their albums this morning and remembered that I never bought an album from The Beatles where I liked every song, but some of the songs I love (like Rocky Racoon) aren’t very well known.

Now, I can go to iTunes and buy one song or several, when the mood strikes me. Over time, I can build a library of my favorites without having to pay for the songs I don’t like.

However, I may buy a couple of albums, even when they include some songs I don’t like, because the cost of buying the whole album is less than buying just the songs I like.

That’s the beauty of this deal. Now we can buy our favorite songs by The Beatles in just the way we want: by song, by album, or get the entire collection.

There’s going to be a new playlist on my iPod when I get around to doing it.

What are you waiting for? Check it out as soon as you can.
The Beatles. The band that changed everything, now on iTunes!

(By the way, if you’re an affiliate marketer, iTunes and the App store are available on LinkShare. You can earn commissions by promoting hundreds of outstanding businesses if you join LinkShare. You’ll have to be approved by the individual businesses, of course.)

LinkShare_125x125ButtonV1

(Click the button to learn more and to sign up as a LinkShare affiliate.)

And, while we’re thinking of The Beatles, there are several excellent posters of them available from art.com:

I was listening to songs this morning that I haven’t heard in decades. I really enjoy some of their music.

The Beatles — welcome to iTunes!

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How do you manage your email marketing lists?

November 3, 2010 by John Dilbeck · 9 Comments
Filed under: Advertising and Marketing, Aweber Autoresponders, MailChimp, Social Networking, email marketing 

I’ve had an account at Aweber for a long time, but I’m almost embarrassed to say how little I use it.

Recently, I learned of MailChimp and I’ve been reading their PDF books and watching their videos.

One thing I really like about MailChimp is that they really understand and use social networking and provide a lot of tools that are not available with Aweber.

I’m going to make a concerted effort in 2011 to greatly improve my email marketing and help my consulting clients do better with their efforts, or teach them how to get started.

MailChimp has increased the numbers of subscribers and total emails you can send every month on their free account and I think that is a good thing. Let people learn how to use the system for free, and when they start reaching the limits of the free account, then — if the email marketing is producing profits — it’s an easy choice to upgrade to one of the paid plans.

Small businesses can easily run several campaigns and lists in the free account before they start hitting the limits.

Have you used either Aweber or MailChimp?

Which do you prefer? Why?

Or do you use a service that you like better? Why?

Act on your dream!

JD

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Why hide who you are?

November 1, 2010 by John Dilbeck · 12 Comments
Filed under: Advertising and Marketing, Affiliate Marketing, Blogging 

I’ve been noticing something for awhile and this morning seemed like a good time to comment on it.

Why do so many blogs have posts from “Admin” rather than a real person?

How can we tell if “Admin” is a person or a robot?

I was reading a blog this morning, and I’m pretty sure that it was written by a real person, but I could find no information on who that person might be. No name, no “About Us” page, no nothing.

So, instead of subscribing to the RSS feed (as I was about to do), I moved along and probably won’t go back.

If you’re putting so much effort into blogging or building a website, why don’t you put some effort into sharing who you are and what you’re all about?

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