Welcome to Day 1!
If you're reading Day 1 of my Affiliate Marketing Email Course, then you have taken the crucial first step to starting your online business.
Today, we'll do basic introduction stuff, and in the next couple days we'll dig into the details.
It's perfect for newbies!
If it's too slow, you can always start building your website right now.
What we'll cover in the this week
- What is affiliate marketing
- How to make money with affiliate programs
- Choosing a topic for your new business
- Setting up your first website
- How to get traffic to your website
- Popular business models
- Hype vs reality
After this week, you'll continue to get daily emails on topics like growing traffic, increasing conversions, and avoiding newbie mistakes.
The main goal is to help you make money online (and how to make lots of it).
Many newbies to online marketing expect a “done for you” system that will allow them to profit in just a few days. Let's get that idea out of your head right now. I'll show you how to make loads of money, but it's going to take some time, and plenty of patience.
My first sale was only $5 commission, but within 18 months I was earning over $10,000 per month online.
The concepts of “how” to repeat my success are pretty simple. It's not a big secret like lots of people think. They are easy enough to understand that a normal type dude without a college education like myself can figure it out.
Doing them correctly and consistently will take some practice. Don't worry though, you'll have myself and a bunch of other successful people help you do what you need to do.
I will also have three small tasks for you to complete each day. These tasks are to get you to taking action. Taking action is super important. If you don't take action, everything is just an idea. You can't buy anything with ideas. We need that cash money baby!
About Me & Affiliate Marketing
My name is Roderick, but on the internet I usually go by my middle name, “Nathaniell”. When I built my first website, I was very skeptical of this whole thing, so I chose a pen name to build my brand. I've been an internet marketer for about 9 years now, so I'm sticking to that branding LOL!
Affiliate marketing has changed my life. I started out as an English teacher in China making just $1,000 USD per month.
Now, I live in the US and have plenty of time to enjoy my many hobbies like motorcycles, diving, traveling, sailing, reading, and more! I want to teach you how to do the same thing.
This email course is not just about making money online, it's about crafting a kind of life for yourself that you have always wanted.
The good news is that I've already taken this path before, and will help you navigate your way to earning your first dollar. It's kind of like following a tour guide when you travel. Follow along, and learn how to make money online!
How Do I Earn Money With Affiliate Marketing?
Earning money with affiliate marketing is a 4-step process. You can watch this process explained step by step in this video, or keep reading below.
In this email course, and within the training community you will learn each step of this process, broken down into mini steps. For example, “build a website” seems pretty hard right now, but you'll watch as Kyle (the trainer and owner at Wealthy Affiliate) will show you in a video how to pick a name for your website and launch it live on the web.
Then, with the “create content” portion of the training, you'll learn how to discover what people are looking for online (keyword research), then how to write an article and publish it to your website.
Writing articles is the main way that you'll get traffic to your website, but if you aren't a good writer right now, don't stress. I have some custom tutorials for writing I'll send to you, plus you'll get lots of practice as you go through the training.
Lastly, we'll start monetizing that traffic. You can do that with affiliate links, and earn anywhere from $1 to $6,000 for each sale, or you can use something simpler like Google Adsense to put ads on your website.
(Notice how the “make money” step is last? It's important to focus on building a strong foundation to your business before you start earning money. This is why the training I recommend has produced so many success stories over the years.)
What About You?
The lessons here are for complete newbies and intermediate affiliate website owners.
If you're already earning a full time income, you'll probably be bored with these lessons.
My suggestion would be to email me, or contact me privately inside Wealthy Affiliate to see if I can help you with something specific.
The concepts covered and tasks required in this course are pretty basic, but are essential to getting into the right mind-set to begin building the foundations of a successful, long-lasting, legitimate business.
Even if you have a bit of experience under your belt, it only takes a few minutes to skim down the page and look for nuggets of wisdom.
Many gurus out there teach garbage because it sounds cool, but it doesn't work.
You do not need to be an expert in anything to be able to benefit from this course, or from affiliate marketing.
I started out knowing absolutely nothing about computers, business, or marketing, and now I am a successful internet marketer. Keep reading my emails and I'll tell you plenty of stories about how I screwed things up on my website, and how you can learn from my mistakes.
You definitely do not need to be a genius to make money online, and I'm proof of that!
Top 3 Tips For Newbies
I was in your same spot nine years ago. I had no idea what I was going to “sell” online, or what the process looked like.
Based on my experiences as a newbie, here are some tips to keep in mind over the next few days.
1. Take It Slow. One of the biggest reasons people to quit in the beginning is that they feel overwhelmed. There's a lot of information to take in, and for a while, it will seem like everyone has a ‘head start' on you. Don't worry. This is YOUR journey. It's not a competition.
2. Balance Quality & Quantity. I used to chase the money, and it lead me to taking shortcuts which hurt me later on. Focus on doing quality work now, and you'll save yourself a bunch of time later. A the same time, nothing is going to be perfect. Waiting for everything to be “perfect' means you'll be waiting for a looooooong time to get to the next step.
Finding the balance of doing things well, but not perfect is what you want to aim for.
3. Take Action Daily. The one thing you will hear me hammer into your head over and over again is to take action. DO something every day — don't just read about it. Even if you feel silly or stupid, try to do everything in the lessons. If you get stuck, ask for help.
You are going to make mistakes along the way. There's no way around it. Embrace the mistakes and move forward.
Final Thoughts!
Building an online business is going to be challenging, but fun. If you put in the work now, you will see results in the future.
Tomorrow we're going to look at specific steps towards building an affiliate business including picking a topic, choosing a domain name, and building your website! Don't forget to look for [OM2C] in your inbox for your course material.
Tasks For Today
Task #1: Create a Free Account at the WA Online Business Community
If you haven't created your account yet, you can do it here. (No credit card or personal info needed right now)
Task #2: Add a Profile Pic & Short Bio
I know it seems silly, but as you progress through your Online Entrepreneur Certification course there, a completed profile will help you connect with the community. Other members want to connect with a real, human entrepreneur!
Please say hello on my profile to let me know you've signed up for my course. I ALWAYS help people that that sign up to WA through my course. You now have a 1-on-1 mentor to help you start your online business.
Task #3: Think about what you hope to accomplish by starting your own business.
Do you want more money? Do you want more time? Do you simply hate having a boss? It's different for everyone!
When you are clear about what your goals are, you will be able to focus more on the work that needs to be done.
Task 4 (Optional): Read about me
I was once in the same position as you, so, I am proof that this really works. I knew nothing when I got started, and now I do this full time.
Ruthie
Hi Nathaniell,
How are you. I hope I joined through your website because that’s how I found out WA from your blog :). Please confirm if I did. Thank you and best wishes, Ruthie
Nathaniell
Thanks Ruthie! I’ll have to check your username to make sure that you are registered as my referral. Send me a message in WA and I can double check for you!
Cristina Lipp
Hi Nathaniel. I joined your course One More Cup of Coffee where you ask your students to join WA free. I can’t do that since I was at WA for 2 years. Didn’t do much cause (like you mentioned in your lesson) I became overwhelmed and just quit. How can I join WA as a paying member and still be your referral ? Please let me know what steps I need to take to do that. I’m looking forward to looking you up for help when I join WA again. That’s the only way I think I can succeed. Thanks
Nathaniell
Unfortunately, if you already have an account, you cannot re-join under me. You can, however still join as a regular member, and take advantage of the community support available to every member!
Lucy
Cristina, use a different email address.
Joy
Two main things that i hope to accomplish by starting my own business:
To have more freedom, and to have more control of my own life. (apart from making money, of course! :-P)
Nathaniell
You can absolutely achieve those things! Having more control and freedom is something that everyone wants, and creating an online business is one of the best ways to get them. Looking forward to working with you Judy!
Linda
Hey there, Nathaniell!
It has been said that doing lessons over will help to anchor new concepts. I was in a whirlwind financially and with family when I signed up thru your One More Cup of Coffee site over two years ago. I have had, as you may remember, a couple of major stalls (family members cancer and another’s suicidal depressed state) but never let go of my hope and desire to make this work, indeed determined to do so.
This year, a little glitch with getting my annual membership paid cause a 3 minute loss of membership logging back in so I could pay for my membership with my PayPal account. And now I get to come back to the very beginning with you. With access to your training and resources. BONUS!
I have always appreciated your clear communication within the WA community and now I’m looking forward to these next five days. REALLY COOL! I expect some of what you will share, I know, but I’ll tell you what, I’m going to treat it like I don’t know a thing and make sure I really understand.
Last week I received my very first $3.13 check as compensation/commission from my website. From everything I have seen and read, that is just the beginning of good things to come!
Thanks for ALL you do.
Linda
Nathaniell
A tiny first check is the way everyone experiences their first taste of online earnings. Mine was a $5 sale that came as a huge surprise back in 2010, and it’s been onward and upward since then!
Kenneth Kokata
Hi Nathaniell,
Today’s Date is> Tuesday, December 8,2015
Today is My Lucky Day in the Episode of Affiliate Marketing Tutorials!!!!
I FOUND You on the Internet Quite by Accident and Am Very Happy That I Did!
Since 2008, I have invested thousands of dollars trying to learn internet affiliate marketing and
until today, just before accidently finding you on the internet, I was actually becoming very frustrated and discouraged with all those “so-called” pieces of training I wasted my money on.
The large tinvestments I’ve made so far are all lost causes for me and a very hard lesson for me to know that I was “scammed” by so many so -called “experts of internet affiliate marketing mentors and trainers!”
After reading over your website and getting to know you, I made the decision to follow you and hence, I joined from your Wealthy Affiliate link and …
Viola!!!…. HERE I AM!
I have to admit, it has been my fourth time returning to WA … !!! UGH! How Embarrassing!
But now, after all, that I have experienced and wasted money on, I am here TO STAY simply because
You will be around to assist me in learning all there is to learn on this subject.
Now I can look forward to a better end result of learning how to be an internet affiliate marketer!
Thanks to you!
BTW … I decided in 2008 to end my 34-year career in Network Marketing …and will be selling all of
them when my New Business in Affiliate Marketing replaces the total sum of residual incomes from each of those businesses.
So I will be very dedicated and committed to this entire association of Wealthy Affiliate and You!
Thanks for being there when I needed to re-establish my belief in Internet Affiliate Marketing!
Boy, am I looking forward to all this with you!
With the greatest appreciation, I shall remain,
Kenneth
Kenneth
Nathaniell
Wow, thanks for the awesome message Kenneth, and I’m glad to see you are excited to get started. I think you’ll find a HUGE difference between affiliate marketing and network marketing in that you are not dependent on one particular company, and do not have to rely on team performance to get paid. YOU do the work, and YOU earn the income.
Looking forward to working with you!