Really enjoyed reading your article – thanks for your honesty and not showering us with a gazillion affiliate links.

I share your feelings about working for someone else – being your own boss is challenging, but so much more rewarding.

The last 8 months have been a roller coaster ride in SEO, but I’m not sure I like playing a game where the rules change all the time. The theory behind PPC seems pretty straight-forward, but as you say – there’s still a load of learning to be done!

Thanks again for your insights and advice.

Olly

Keep with it. You’ll get it. It does take risk, time, and definitely a thick skin and ability to face failure over and over again. One successful campaign could definitely pay for all the unsuccessful ones and so much more.

As for trying Affiliate Marketing through SEO – sure, I’ve tried it. I put about $15k into an SEO project (redesign and development mostly) which has failed miserably. I also do some AM SEO with this site on certain pages/posts and have had some other successful campaigns using SEO. So, it can go either way, just like PPC/PPV. The difference with PPC/PPV is that you learn faster, and that’s really the key. You still have to learn with SEO, but you’re learning something different, and it takes way more time than paid traffic. So, if you’re the kind of person who does well with long projects (like a year or more), and you have the time but not the money to go do SEO, go for it. Otherwise, I’d suggest trying your hand at PPC/PPV first, but start small and slow. Your objective is to learn, not to make profit. Once you’ve learned, then you will make profit. If your objective right out of the gate is to make a ton of money, you’ll probably just end up spending and wasting all your hard earned cash. Be smart about it and learn.

Is there anyway that i’m able to IM you?

I appreciate your honest response! Thank You so much Nate!

Fortunately/unfortunately there’s no real basic set of tools you need to begin. Anyone who tells you otherwise is probably selling something, and I mean that literally. While you learn AM, you have to realize that nobody in the AM game cares if you succeed or fail. So, if you’re buying advice (through an e-book, course, forum, or whatever), you’re probably just playing into another marketer’s pocketbook.

The reason I say there’s no standard necessary tools is that the people making the most money are doing so creatively. They use all kinds of different tools. And honestly, the tools don’t matter one bit. What matters is understanding the psychology behind why people buy, click, or give their information. If you understand that, then you’re a marketer. If you don’t, then regardless of what tools you have, you won’t be successful.

So, don’t worry about the tools. Don’t look for a step by step process. Just find a product or service you know enough about to understand the psychology behind why people want it, and once you have that, test it out. There’s a million different ways to test things out and many of them don’t have anything to do with learning a new tool. Find a way to use an old tool you know or if you think you absolutely must have it done using new stuff, then pay someone to do it.

That’s the best advice I have for you Mary. It’s probably not the push you were looking for, but it’s probably the most honest advice you’re going to get from another affiliate marketer.

I’m glad I found your site! I’ve been researching the PPC Affiliate Marketing for the last 3 weeks, I’ve read some books, I’ve read other sites and blog’s. But I have not started the PPC AM online business….I guess, what I’m not told is the standard necessary tools you need to began. What do I need to start the process? I have all of this book knowlegde and still I don’t know what the first step’s are……do you have a Step 1,2,3…process I can get my head wrapped around?…..I know, I know….I’m such a Nubie! Sorry, but I just need a little push……

Mary

Thanks for your reply.

Congratulations on such a solid 2009! I’ve been unable to commit so much time to IM last year and early this year as I had been building a virtual world and consulting online campaigns for several companies. I’m quite eager to get back to my own IM efforts again. Looking forward to seeing your site. Would love to correspond more and perhaps collaborate sometimes.

Kind regards,
Aldric