To follow up on Nicole Dean's question about how I make money online, I thought I'd give you an inside look at some of my recent affiliate promotions, and online income sources.
So far this month (just over 2 weeks), 32% of my gross income has come from product sales, and 68% has come from affiliate commissions. Product sales include products I developed, products I have rights to, and virtual products (such as memberships and advertising).
Some months it will be opposite, with the product sales bringing in the majority of the income. It all depends on what I am working on, of course.
Would you like to see some specific examples, along with screen shots? Okay...
I'll start with an affiliate program that I dont actively promote. Its a passive-earner. The way that I promote the program is through one web page. That page ranks well in the major search engines for a variety of keyword phrases related to the product I promote there.
I cant remember exactly when I put that web page online, but I believe it was around 2 years ago. It has been a consistent earner ever since, earning on average around $10/day:
The screen shot above shows my sales on that one product for the last 90 days. Keep in mind that I spent 30 minutes creating that web page about 2 years ago, and havent touched it since. So 30 minutes of time invested = approx $300/month in continuous revenue.
Passive Income is my favorite type 😀 I have an upcoming guide on the topic, for those interested. Its been a long time in development, but there were some major changes since I first started writing it, so I have it on the back burner for a major re-write. You can get on the list if you want to get notification when it's released.
Let's see... Remember the recent blog post (Oct 13th) where I addressed Rosalind Gardner with a personal note? I hyperlinked the mention of her Super Affiliate guide within that post, though there was no direct promotion at all. I earned $56.46 in commissions:
Accidental Commissions are nice. (I dont have a guide coming out on that topic)
That actually goes towards the tips I shared in the recent Super Affiliate Blogging interview. Being "real" and not always pushing the "hard sale" tends to work well. Another tip I mentioned is doing product reviews, and I've had great conversions with reviews over the years...
Two recent examples include Impact Web Audio and Optin Designs. If you click those links you will see my actual reviews. Both included product details and working examples.
Impact Web Audio was offered as a daily special through DealDotCom at only $5. The commission for DDC affiliates is 35% on the first tier and 15% on the 2nd tier. So I only stood to earn $1.75 on each direct sale, 75c on 2nd tier sales.
I put the blog post together in under 10 minutes, and then spent 2 minutes creating the working example. So we'll say 15 minutes tops - and total earnings on that were $69.58 (plus a lot of happy readers).
Optin Design is another product I am using myself, and also an affiliate for. The commission structure is 1-tier at 60% of the sale. I have earned $111.00 so far for that review. I expect that amount will continue to rise - I recruited over 100 people into the site so far, with 5 converting to buyers. Once they use the 2 free templates, that conversion rate should go up. It's an awesome product.
While $50-$100 per blog post might not sound like much to you, you have to keep in mind that I blog anywhere from 2-6x a day. Promotions go fast, and blog posts move off the main page and into the archives fairly quickly.
Obviously more traffic would equal more income, as is always the case. My blog is barely a year and a half old and has just recently reached the 10-digit traffic mark (with 10-12,000 unique visitors per month).
Still, you'd be hard-pressed to earn a minimum $50-$100 per blog post any other way. And those are just 2 examples - some promotions do better than others, of course.
Want to see bigger numbers? No problem. Most of my affiliate commissions come from such a wide variety of sources that individually they dont seem like much - though they total nice numbers at the end of the month.
For bigger numbers "per promotion", we'll look at some recent product sales (sales of my own products)...
I recently ran a WSO, which is a Warrior Special Offer on the Warrior Forum. My special offer was for an exclusive report that I wrote, and I practically gave it away at only $5 per copy. I sold 103 copies, for a total of $515.00 in sales.
That report is a lead generator, and also resulted in backend sales on two higher priced products. Total time invested: less than one hour. Cost to run WSO: $20. Total income generated: still being calculated (promotion still in progress).
Another pre-launch fire-sale for an Info Product that I ran on the Warrior Forum (as a WSO), resulted in 204 sales at $10 per sale for a total of $2,040.00 in product sales. I ran a Special Offer myself and with a few hand-selected JV partners on that same product, bringing the grand total (to date) to just over $4,000.
If you include backend sales, that total is over $6k. Yes, during PRE-launch. If you like that idea, you should read my Fast Cash Strategy 😉
Let's see... I've earned $4,913.10 in the last 2 weeks for an affiliate promotion. This particular promotion was not a passive income model. And no, I dont have a guide on Active Income Business Models either. That would take all of 4 letters: W-O-R-K. I'm not beyond working for pay, as bad as that 4-letter word sounds coming out of my mouth...
And FYI, that particular promotion has been hard work...
I couldnt get the entire list in one screen shot, but you get the idea. And the total I gave you is my net income in commissions. I actually earned over $7,000 but I didnt include refunds in my earnings.
I'm trying to be honest here, ya know 🙂
Okay, one more - and this one is another of my "passive income models". Again, a one-pager that I put up a couple of years ago that is a consistent monthly earner. It promotes an affiliate program and they pay commissions every 2 weeks, which is nice.
I earn a commission per-lead, and also a percentage per sale. Its a generous program that converts well. My rankings for this one arent that great, but good enough to generate several hundred dollars per month in profits. Again, low investment (I spent 10 or 15 minutes putting this together awhile back) and nice return:
The column to the far right is my overall earnings with that company, which is almost $7,000 total. Its been online around 2 years (no maintenance - love it!) and earns close to $300/month as a consistent passive stream of income.
Do not let these numbers inspire you. I could do far better, and so can you. In fact, I have a 10x Goal that I am starting during the New Year (for 2008) that you'll hear about over the next few months. The gist of the 10x Goal is to increase my numbers and results across the board by 10.
If I can do $300/month in sales for one product, I can do $3,000. If I can get 10,000 unique visitors per month on one of my sites, I can get 100,000. If I can sell 50 copies of one product, I can sell 500. Its all about duplication... and having a good VA on board, of course 😉
Best,
P.S. If you would like for me to help you earn a substantial amount of money online, become an Elite Member by joining my Private Brainstorming Group where you can download all of my products for free... and get personal help with your business idea or business model. It is the ONLY place that I offer personal mentoring or one-on-one consultations. Its a small but active group of serious entrepreneurs, and you'll get a lot of 'bang' for your buck... get details
About Lynn Terry
Thank you Lynn for sharing this information with us. It has motivated me heaps. I don't earn anywhere near that...But just to know that its possible is enough to get me going harder in this industry. Thanks
Sandy
Lynn thanks for directing me to come here for the second post. Just what I want to see and learn from
Really, I don't much to say but you really ROCKS with this one.
Thanks for the generous sharing...
Lynn,
Thank you for the details ... which are both motivating and inspiring. I appreciate it.
Regards,
Judith
Hey-
I'm on the list for you passive income guide Lynn, can't wait tell it's finished!
What a wonderfully detailed post! Thanks so much. I really liked your comment "I could do far better, and so can you." You're absolutely right.
I'm glad this post was well-received. Thank you for your comments (keep them coming!). I have never posted income details or screen shots before, because I know the skepticism out there and because I dont think its necessarily relevant.
I do earn a good living working from home full time, and I also enjoy a very flexible schedule. There are times I'm less concerned with income levels, and more happy to work 5-10 hours a week doing "maintenance" and otherwise just enjoying life. And then there are times (like now) that I work full time hours (and then some) and enjoy every minute of it!
Lynn, this is awesome. Way to go, and thank you for sharing, it is quite inspiring :).
I do wonder though, regarding your WSOs and JVs, if a lesser-known IM person would be able to achieve similar results with good product(s).
In other words, how much positive impact do you think your name & reputation have on these results? Quite a bit I would think, and well deserved. Keep up the great work!
Hi Darrell,
Last month I helped someone with a *great* product but no "name recognition" launch 2 info products with GREAT success. This was using my Fast Cash Strategy (mentioned above). We're actually recording the success story as a case study later this week, so you'll be hearing more about that soon 😉
Lynn - This is amazing, inspiring, but a bit confusing for a novice like me. Any suggestions as to where the best place to start learning more about these? I'm not sure which guide(s) might be best. Thanks.
Hi Lori,
Are you most interested in learning the latest in Affiliate Marketing, or in making money with your own products... or perhaps both?
Perhaps both. I'm very interested in working for myself from home. Have a decent background in business, but am a bit clueless when it comes to creating a website, etc. and not sure where to start.
Yes, I do both. I think just starting out I would recommend blogging, affiliate marketing, and small products - like reports perhaps. I have a review of the latest Affiliate Marketing guide that I can highly recommend, and you'll find that review here:
http://www.clicknewz.com/440/affiliate-marketing-guide-review/
Also, for the next 48 hours you can still get my Fast Cash Strategy for only $10. Those two resources alone will put you on the fast track 😉
Lynn,
Some questions here:
1. Do you mean you put those single 'passive income' pages up for 2 years and NEVER have to add to contents, no promotion whatsoever and making sales?
2.Do you mean after putting up the page (a single page) you only add relevant keywords, submit to Google and leave it?
3) Once thing is very clear to me - that is that some of these 'passive income earners' are SINGLE PAGES... and getting traffic from search engines. What exactly do you think will make a single (without updating with fresh contents) designed for about 2 years still be relevant on search engines?
Please share this with me.
Are you curious why I am asking these questions:
I have some blogs I set up when I was starting out several months ago. So, upon reading your post, I am thinking if I can get some ideas that I use to apply to them.
Thanks.
Hi Lynn,
I really love your courage to overcome all odds and become successful online.
I presently want to get a domain and kick start my own online business but is faced with a challenge of not having access to certain payment system and commission site becuse of my present location.
I am not discouraged and believe in achieving my aim from the available resources at my disposal.
Thanks for creating this blog site; it is really helpful.
Hi Vivian,
Take a look at this story:
http://www.ericstips.com/tips/ladan-lashkari/
Ladan is a memeber at the SSWT Forum too, by the way 😉
Hi Patrick,
I dont actually submit pages OR sites to Google - or to any other search engine. I add my pages to existing websites and link them properly, and the search engines index those pages on their own. All it takes is relevant inbound links to a web page to get it indexed and to affect its ranking position.
Some things are relevant regardless of how much time goes by. If you were selling hosting service for example, or Netflix service, or maybe treadmills. Some products are timeless - or at least good for a solid amount of time.
I seek out fresh links to those pages now and then, and I might update them if necessary, but for the most part they are simply aged and established - and relevant to the searches they come up for.
I hope that helps.
Thanks for taking time out to answer my question. But one thing isn't clear yet.
You said the site(s) is single page. I understand this to mean ONE PAGE from inception and remain ONE PAGE till today.
Am I saying the real thing?
If so, how then do you update ONE PAGE site? By tweaking the keywords or editing to add new ideas in the body of the article on the page?
Will appreciate your answer once again 🙂
Actually I said the affiliate program is promoted through a single web page. Its one web page added to an existing website. Sometimes I tweak the copy, add new links, change the offer a little bit - but for the most part I leave it as-is.
Lynn,
The accidental commissions are just great! I love the feeling when i get a cheque and still can't figure out what i did to earn that money, haha.
Rgds Fione
http://www.eOneNet.com
Now I remember reading on Allan Gardyne's newsletter sometime ago. It was rumored serioulsy that Google is out banning websites that accept 'post for payment' arrangement.
What do you think about this? You know recently I thought of this post - where you shown us how you're making at least 50D a day reviewing other's sites for a fee.
Do you think sites like yours will be punish for doing this? 🙁
Hi Patrick,
What I was discussing in this post was commissions earned from affiliate programs that were promoted within blog posts - not paid reviews or "pay per post" type blog posts...
Accept my apology Lynn 🙂
But I still want to know your opinion.
I honestly dont know. I've heard the same about using Text Link Ads too... I havent looked into it enough myself to tell how much of it is fact, and how much is just speculation.
Wow Lynn..
I admire your achievements so much.
Congratulations!!
I just finished my 2nd ebook and planned to sell it
at WSO.Don't know whether it will be great successful like your WSO or not.hehe. Gotta try it out to know it.
I love your post here.It make me inspired. Totally inspired. Thanks! Can't wait to start my first WSO.You know, it is very hard to break the ice.Since I found your blog here, I know that you had been offering several WSO.But me, I don't start any WSO yet.haha.This time, it is my turn.Give me support ok.And also if you want to give me testimonial, I will send you my ebook.hehe.
Azim
Thank you Abdul. Wishing you great success with your WSO! Also, get involved there at the Warrior Forum. Its a great community and a terrific resource 😉
Hi again Lynn,
I am interested in these one web page earners you speak of. It sounds like something I just recently bumped into called, "Niche Marketing On Crack." Are you familiar with this product? If so, any feedback about it? As always, thanks!
Hi Amanda,
I have heard of it, but I havent reviewed it at all - so I know nothing about it. I simply create pages on existing sites to promote specific products, and then optimize them to rank well so that they get in front of a highly targeted market.
So these one page promotions are these basically pre-sales pages, reviews of the products, etc.? Did you write the copy yourself for these pages?
Yes, and yes - though its a mix of affiliate promotional material I get from the merchant and my own copy.
I'm very interested in the one page sites as well.
So do you host these one page sites all on one domain? on separate subdomains? or are they all individual domains?
And the content of these one page sites. To make sure I understand, you basically take the sales page for the product and write it in your own words and then link to that product. Is there anything else you include or do with these sites?
Do you have any tips on creating these sites? Do they look like sales pages? or a letter to a friend? What approach do you take when writing these? I'm trying to picture one of these sites in my head and the only thing I'm seeing are the long/short sales pages.
~Shannon
p.s. sorry if not clear, written in a rush. 🙂
Hi Shannon,
The misunderstanding is that these are one-page SITES. They are not - they are single web pages that are part of a larger site on the same topic.
Similar to a single blog post as part of the whole blog. The main objective of those single pages is to convert visitors into buyers - so its a very focused content page with a strong call to action. That's it 😀
Ahhh... That makes sense.
Approximately how many pages are in this larger site? Are we talking about a huge site with with thousands of pages, or just a few pages?
~Shannon
p.s. Thanks BTW.
You're welcome - I certainly didnt mean to be misleading or make it confusing. I can do that sometimes 🙂
A lot of my sites are on the larger end of the scale with smaller sites being 20+ pages, and larger sites being 200+. In the end, it doesnt matter.
The best scenario is a tightly themed site (whether its all about"cars" or all about a certain kind of car - but not also about teddy bears).
This is one of the examples I mentioned above:
http://www.clicknewz.com/1086/high-converting-opt-in-design-proof/
It is basically a review / write-up on one specific product, and the main objective is to encourage readers to check it out.
What do you use to manage your sites? Are they blogs? Or do you use a content management system?
Thanks again for the help, the information is really really appreciated!
~Shannon
I have a combination of site types, simply because I've been doing this for more than a decade.
I have static websites I create and manage with html editors (like dreamweaver). I have blogs powered by WordPress. I have my new site developed with BANS. Etc.
How you create it, or what kind of CMS you use, is less important than what you put on it, and how focused your call-to-action is 😉
Yeah, content is king. Well.. good content is king.
There are a lot of good systems and some really that are really junk. Just curious on what you liked and used. I'm enjoying BANS too. Very easy to use and powerful.
Thanks for the info, this is awesome. Now if I could just focus and get some work done, I'll be all set! 🙂 lol
Speaking of content, you'll find this helpful I think: http://www.clicknewz.com/608/writing-content/ 😉
As for focus, I use an egg timer. Silly as that sounds, it works like a charm. I make a task list, prioritize it in order of things that are most important, set the timer and GET IT DONE.
An egg timer sounds like the sort of unconventional idea that's so crazy it may just work. Self discipline is what holds a lot of people on the web back from realising their full potential. I'm struggling with it as well at times.
Great post, thanks for the suggestion
Great tips as always I enjoy your blog
Lynn,
Thanks for the inside look. I'm tring some of the same things myself, but I obviously need a little more experience all around (choosing products, writing copy that converts to sales, etc).
I also saw you on the BANS forums, I'm "AdventureBear" there. Good luck with your new projects!
Thank you, Suzanne! If there is anything I can help you with, be sure to post your questions on the sswt discussion forum and we can work on it together:
http://www.selfstartersweeklytips.com/forum/
Awesome post! Don't forget the old adage, "it takes money to make money". Profits are affected by fees from SEO's, Adwords campaigns and other expenses. Especially if you use a VA. (That could be $100 an hour!)
Just wanted to let you know that I appreciate seeing your numbers. It does inspire me. It's taken a while for the reality to sink in that I can actually make it happen, but I am believing it now. Sure I've see onzees and twozees here and there, but nothing consistent. 2008 is the year of consistent income for me. I like your idea of 10x, and I look forward to seeing your updates.
Hi...
I found your site through SU. I am trying to make money online and found your page very honest and refreshing. If I wanted to duplicate what you are doing, where do I start?
Thanks,
Dave
Hi Dave,
The first thing I would suggest is that you start blogging. Its very inexpensive to set up and is the fastest, easiest way to get a presence online (in any niche).
You dont want to jump headfirst into the "make money" market, but instead pick a topic you enjoy or that you're specifically knowledgeable and/or passionate about.
From there you can learn as you go, create your own info products, start promoting products through affiliate programs, grow to the point of accepting paid advertising from sponsors, etc. And of course you can add websites and other blogs as you go once you get some experience and 'focus' under your belt.
Just pick your topic, and then pick a domain name. You can register your domain name with GoDaddy.com (but just get the domain name - I dont recommend you use their addon services).
Next get a hosting account with HostGator. You can host unlimited domains/sites on the one hosting account for 9.95/mo, so you can easily grow without adding expenses. You can get your first month free by using this coupon code.
After that you can install WordPress (which is what I'm using here) from within your control panel at HostGator. Just look for the Fantastico button and follow the steps from there.
And that's it - you're up & running and ready to start blogging in under an hour!
You'll likely have questions along the way of course - so be sure to check out the Blogging section of my discussion forum and feel free to post your questions there:
http://www.selfstartersweeklytips.com/forum/
Best,
Lynn Terry
Wow! its very great things i hop that i can also do all this in my business.
Revero
Making money with blog
Wow,
Really great value added. Gonna come back and spend a few hours reading up! Cheers!
Thank you Matt 😀 Welcome to ClickNewz!
Hi Lynn,
I just found your blog. This is a fantasticly informative article. It is nice to see good examples of what can be accomplished. I look forward to seeing other great posts.
Beau Hooks