I'm SICK of The Money Making Secrets!

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Don't get me wrong. There are some very good affiliate marketing manuals and ebooks out there that offer valuable information and strategies.

However, we live in an age where digital product creation is as convenient as ever, and the market is flooded with eBooks that promise to reveal these so-called "secrets" that will turn you into a super affiliate overnight. Sometimes it's hard to decipher which ones (if any) are worth your time.

SIDEBAR:  If you don't know what an affiliate is, it's basically a person that makes money by referring people to buy other products and they earn a commission for each sale.  It's how I earn money online.

The sales pages of these products are usually brilliantly written and sometimes laced with the author's scanned check images and screenshots of their affiliate revenue.

I won't deny that some of their techniques are savvy and do work, but I wouldn't go as far as calling them "secrets." Particularly since it only takes about 10-20 people to buy the book and then go reveal the "secret" techniques in their favorite forums. Pretty soon everyone is writing about it.

So much for the secrets, huh?

For the past two years, I've earned a six figure income online, but I don't have any secrets to share. I just build sites with quality content and join affiliate programs that relate to my site's themes. And if I want to learn something new, I just pop into my favorite forums and wait for other affiliates to share what "secrets" they've learned in the latest eBook phenomenon. :-)

While there are some unique techniques super affiliates use to boost their revenue, the bottom line is, if you want success, it boils down to these basics...

1. Stay Away From Internet Marketing!

Most affiliates try to make their first dollar by pushing another Internet marketing or money making product. My first site reviewed affiliate marketing books and offered tips and strategies on how to market online.

It failed.

I look back on that and chuckle because here I was with a site that tells people how to become a successful affiliate, yet I hadn't made much money myself.

It's so tempting to start your affiliate business by promoting other products that help people market on the Net. The first problem with that is the niche is too crowded. You'll get smothered by all the other gurus and beginner affiliates with the same goals.

Second, the key to succeding as an affiliate is to build credibility. What do you have to say that will make your audience believe that YOU really can help them make money on the web?

How can YOU differentiate yourself from the other 800,000 people with sites just like yours? If you plan to just throw up a website with the same ole' recycled marketing tips then you're wasting your time.

Trust me. I've been there.

I always suggest that you pick a hobby or topic you are passionate about. First of all, it's much easier to build a lot of content (search engines LOVE big sites), and the competition probably won't be nearly as thick as it would be if you created a site about how to make money online or Net marketing.

2. Build Quality, Unique Content

People are lazy. It really benefits those of us who work hard because it keeps competition down. :-) What I mean is that most people want to MAKE money, but they don't want to take the TIME to build their own unique, quality content rich website.

Some will just steal articles of successful sites and soon realize that goes nowhere because of the duplication content filters imposed by the search engines. Others will just give up after a few pages because the traffic and sales are not coming soon enough. These are two of the reasons we have that staggering statistic of a 98% failure rate for affiliates.

Whatever topic you choose for your site, make sure you are the content KING (or queen) in your niche. It could be bowling, cats, golf, sewing, you name it. Make it THE best and differentiate your site from your competitors, and you'll soon develop a following. Keep updating the content frequently and be sure your pages are optimized for the search engines.

3. Don't Try So Hard To Sell

Your site should NEVER appear as though you are just trying to sell other people's products. It should look like you are trying to help by offering useful content relevant to your target audience. This builds credibility.

Start with a goal of at least 30 pages, and prepare to keep adding to that number. After you have a good amount of content, gently sprinkle your affiliate links within RELEVANT articles.

Writing reviews is also a good strategy, especially when you don't recommend every product you write about. I always get suspicious when I see a webmaster recommending every single product they review. Telling your audience NOT to buy something actually builds your credibility a lot more than telling people to buy everything.

4. Never Give Up

If you've chosen the right topic, build good content, have patience and enjoy yourself, there's almost no way you can lose out here. I can't say how much money you will make but you WILL make something in due time. With affiliate programs like Adsense, any topic can generate revenue online these days.

It may take a few months before you start seeing search engine traffic and making sales, but as long as you keep building and follow the basic search engine optimization rules you'll eventually start getting some visits. How much depends on how hard you work.

Keep your eye out for new affiliate techniques, but don't get bogged down in the latest "secrets". Most of it's just hype and the techniques will be revealed online sooner or later anyway. :-) There's no secret to affiliate success. It's called HARD WORK and DEDICATION.

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