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.
Dino Koubaroulis
Hi My goal is to help others as well as myself to have a real opportunity to make a online business really work, but what i found that it’s hard for the beginners as we don’t have a clue where to start.
WA is the best place to start i have found to date but i see there is still a lot of implementation on behalf of the individual, right?
So what i would like to ask you is an idea i’ve thought out to build a web page for the interested party at a small cost through WA to show them they can achieve an online business with the right help..
Can you help me/us/WA to achieve that Goal?
Nathaniell
You can absolutely build a website that teaches beginners how to navigate the murky world of online business. That’s pretty much what I’ve done here on my site. WA has a great training program for this. I got your email and will respond with a few more comments and ideas for you!
Paul vanOosten
Are the videos an YouTube? China blocks YT, unfortunately. Here’s the msg I get…
The connection was reset
The connection to the server was reset while the page was loading.
The site could be temporarily unavailable or too busy. Try again in a few moments.
If you are unable to load any pages, check your computer’s network connection.
If your computer or network is protected by a firewall or proxy, make sure that Firefox is permitted
Nathaniell
Yes, the videos are on YouTube. You can use a VPN to unblock YouTube in China. I lived there for many years and VPNs have always worked.
Paul vanOosten
Thanks for the promise of your mentoring. I have signed up for internet-business-building programs in the past which did not ‘pan-out’… all hype and no ‘baby-steps’. That’s what I need and it looks like I’ll get that at WA.
I’m really looking forward to doing this, but I’m concerned about the time constraints. I have a full-time job teaching five different science and math subjects to six different classes in an ESL environment, 30 classes per week, in a small international school in China. I’ll probably have to ‘take it slow’, so I don’t get buried in stress from my day-job.
Nathaniell
30 classes per week is pretty busy, especially working for an international school. I would plan on dedicating at least 1 hour per day, 2-3 if possible. The main thing is consistent effort, so I do not recommend do-nothing all week, then 12 hours on the weekend.
john
I have tried my luck in internet marketing but failed miserably, now I am bitter, and can’t trust anybody. We should we trust you Nathaniel? Aren’t you earning of us, whilst there is no chance of us your subscribersvp landing in success?
Nathaniell
Yes John, I earn commissions from WA sales. But I also spend a lot of time answering questions and helping people get their sites set up and profitable. How can you trust me? Test me out. Leave a message on my WA profile (nathaniell) and ask me something. See if I really follow through with the support I promise. Take the free courses in WA and see if they really teach you something. Follow my course (+ watch the videos) and use your own judgement to see if what I’m telling you is a load of BS or sounds like a legit way to start your first online business. I’ll be watching for your comments John, and interested to see your progress!
Craig Morrison
Hey Nathianiell, I already have an account at WA. I must of had it from a while back. It says I joined back in April 2013. So I don’t know if this is going to be a problem. Should I open a new account or can we work with this.
Thanks
Craig
Nathaniell
Hi Craig,
If you already have an account, you can re-activate the account and carry on. Unfortunately, you will not be my referral and will not be enrolled for the extra bonuses I offer, but you will still have the same awesome training and support that WA provides! If you wish to create a new account, you will have to use a new email address. The choice is yours. Either way, enjoy the courses (mine and WA’s) 🙂