Search specific

Successful affiliate marketing is all about a targeted audience and very specific keywords and search terms. If you don't have all the right keywords in your advertising campaign, someone may not see your sight even though it is relevant to their search. The key is getting into the brain of the searcher, put yourself in their shoes and think of any and all keywords they may search for.

For example, if someone were looking for a lawyer, they would have to be very specific since it is such a broad subject. A key phrase like "medical malpractice attorney New York" would bring back much more targeted results than just "New York attorney". When the search is this specific, the user will find exactly what they are looking for and will be more likely to patronize the sites within the results they get from their search.

A formula for happiness

We are plugging away with our affiliate marketing sites and they are becoming more profitable by the month. We received our second commission check and were very pleased. We are still living on savings a bit, but not completely - so we are headed in the right direction!

The other side of the coin is that we are trying as hard as we can to live on less each month. I cover this in detail on my other blog at Blogletting.com. We've been out of debt for about 5 years, but some of our monthly expenses (like the grocery bill) can still be lowered. I am currently reading "Living your Life for Half the Price" by Mary Hunt for inspiration. I read her older book "Debt-Proof Living" a few years ago and it changed my life.

It is a slow process and we just have to be patient. The internet "formula" depends so much on popularity and word-of-mouth, it just takes time before a site can be very profitable. But we are on our way and we are happy.

First big commission check - woohoo!

We got our first substantial check ($250) from the affiliate marketing websites that have been in place for a few months now. The reason it takes so long to get paid is that since you are dealing with stores, even if you provide sales leads to their site and someone buys something, they have to wait 30-60 days to make sure the item doesn't get returned before they will release your commissions.

Now that the initial waiting period is over, we should get the checks regularly now without waiting. We are expecting an even bigger check this month and hopefully sales will increase with each month until we can live comfortably without digging into our savings. My husband ordered business cards that will arrive this week, so he can get the word out about his web and logo design skills to hopefully bring in some local business here too.

Affiliate marketing

Our biggest money-making venture on the internet so far has been affiliate programs. My husband has put together several websites geared to niche markets with products listed from several stores. When the shopper clicks on one of the items, they are taken to the website of the store and if they buy anything there, we get commission. Most affiliate programs pay between 10% and 20%. Another neat feature of the affiliate programs is that some of them have a "cookie" system that logs the users IP address, and even if they don't buy anything the first time they come to the store through your link, if they go back to the store and buy anything within 30 days, you still get the commission.

One market that we hadn't thought of affiliate marketing with is cell phones. The Inphonic affiliate program through LinkShare is just that. You can promote your favorite cell phone on any website, and if anyone clicks on your ad and buys a phone, you get commission. According to their website, "On average, users are replacing their cell phones every one to two years. That translates into tremendous growth for the wireless industry." It doesn't cost anything to put the ad on your website, so you really don't have anything to lose.

Evaluate Goals

We've been living the "life of our dreams" for six months now, so I thought it would be a good time to re-evaluate our goals and see how far we've come. The town is great, we are very happy and know we made the right decision to move here. It looks like we'll be able to make it, but we will still have to dip into our savings a bit for a few more months.

The affiliate marketing websites are doing fairly well, along with the paid blogging which we are both doing on a daily basis. I am also going to start offering after school child care which will bring in some cash monthly as well. I plan to start selling paintings in the spring, which may bring in a little extra too. My husband has some other website ideas in the works (as always), which will hopefully prove profitable also. We just don't want to "put all our eggs in one basket," so to speak, just in case one of these other companies fail. So we'll keep plugging away with our ideas in the hopes of avoiding "regular" jobs forever...