Six Figure Affiliate Blogging

139 Pages·2010·5.54 MB·English

Six Figure Blogging
Table of Contents
Introduction to Six Figure Affiliate Blogging .............. 4
About the Author & Six Figure Affiliate Blogging
My 12 Month Case Study to Profits
The Concept of “Six Figure Affiliate Blogging”
Introduction to Affiliate Marketing ........................... 8
What is Affiliate Marketing?
How Affiliate Marketing Works
Understanding Affiliate Pay Structures
Using Affiliate Networks to Make Money
Blogging Game Plan .............................................14
Choosing Your Blog Topic?
How to Find a Profitable Blog Topic
Going Live With Your Blog ......................................20
Setting Up Your First Blog & Web Hosting
Why You Need a Custom Blog Theme
Standing Out from the Crowd
Proven Methods for Free Traffic Generation
Proven Methods for Paid Traffic Generation
Killer Content is Still King
Making Your Blog Profitable ..................................35
How Bloggers Make Money from Blogging
Top Earning Blogs
Real Life Blogging Examples
Finding Advertisers for Your Blog
Breakdown of a Profitable Niche Blog
How AsSeenOnTV-Products.net was Redesigned
Using Wordpress for Lead Generation
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Six Figure Blogging
Blog Monetization Tips .........................................53
Understanding How Readers View Your Blog
Convert New Readers into a Mailing List
Improve Ad Sales with a Blog Media Kit
Grow a Twitter Following While You Sleep
Taking Your Blog to the Next Level ..........................58
Replicating the Process
Outsourcing Your Blog Content
Creating Your Own Product
Buying and Selling Established Blogs
BONUS: Six Figure Blogging Interviews ...................64
JEREMY SCHOEMAKER of SHOEMONEY.COM JONATHAN VOLK OF JONATHANVOLK.COM
GARY VAYNERCHUK of WINELIBRARY.COM IAN FERNANDO OF IANFERNANDO.COM
DANIEL SCOCCO of DAILYBLOGTIPS.COM DAN SCHAWBEL OF PERSONALBRANDING.COM
JOHN CHOW of JOHNCHOW.COM JIM KUKRAL OF JIMKUKRAL.COM
ADII PIENAAR of WOOTHEMES.COM MARKO SARIC OF HOWTOMAKEMYBLOG.COM
JOSH MULLINEAUX of UNIQUEBLOGDESIGNS.COM SYED BALKHI OF WPBEGINNER.COM
BRIAN CLARK of COPYBLOGGER.COM MURRAY NEWLANDS OF MURRAY NEWLANDS.COM
TIMOTHY SYKES of TIMOTHYSYKES.COM GIDEON SHALWICK OF GIDEONSHALWICK.COM
AL CALRTON of COOLEST-GADGETS.COM YARO STARAK OF ENTREPRENEURS-JOURNEY.COM
DAVID KLEIN of PURPOSEINC.COM DAVID RISLEY OF DAVIDRISLEY.COM
JOEL COMM OF JOELCOMM.COM CARL OCAB OF CARLOCAB.COM
NEIL PATEL OF QUICKSPROUT.COM MICHAEL DUNLOP OF RETIREAT21.COM
SHAWN COLLINS OF AFFILIATETIP.COM
BONUS: Resource Directory ................................. 135
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Six Figure Blogging
Introduction to Six Figure Affiliate Blogging
Introduction
i
to Six Figure
Affiliate
Blogging
Zac Johnson
Six Figure Blogging
About the Author & Six Figure Affiliate
Blogging
My name is Zac Johnson and I’ve been an affiliate marketer for
nearly 15 years. I first started when I was in high school, pushing
traffic and sales to Amazon.com, and quickly found myself in
the affiliate marketing industry. There are a lot of affiliate guides
floating around, so I decided to create a guide with a different
perspective, using affiliate marketing in conjunction with a blog to
generate over $100,000 a year in sales and commissions.
While I’ve been making a living for almost 15 years as an internet
marketer, I started blogging less than 3 years ago. I started my own
blog at ZacJohnson.com to share my stories, spread awareness and
talk about what I love doing... making money online and teaching
Author, Zac Johnson others to do the same. This “How to be the Next Six Figure Affiliate
Blogger” guide isn’t about creating a blog on affiliate marketing, or
Years Online: 15 getting lost in the “make money online” get rich schemes. Instead,
it’s about finding a blogging niche and using affiliate marketing to
Years Blogging: 3 generate revenue from that blog.
Let’s talk some numbers. When I first started ZacJohnson.com, I
Blogging Income: >$100k
never planned for it to explode and become another six figure
a year project, but with massive work, branding and dedication
WWW: ZacJohnson.com
to the site, it became just that. My bread and butter is still in the
affiliate marketing game. Through this free guide, I hope to inform
you about both affiliate marketing and blogging... taking them both
to the next level and give you a winning business model.
If you are to walk away with anything from this guide, you must
understand that if your business is online, you can work virtually
anywhere in the world as long as you have a computer and internet
connection. No longer are you limited to hourly wages and a 5 day
work week. With the winning combination of affiliate marketing
and a successful blog, you can be earning money 365 days a year.
Remember, it only takes $273.97 per day to make an extra $100,000
per year. Don’t quit your day job just yet... but how hard would it be
for you to invest your time and efforts to make an extra $28 a day
($10,000 extra a year)... while building up a small business on the
side?
Get ready... I’m about to walk you through the process of how I
brought ZacJohnson.com from a blank page domain name sitting
around for a while, to a six figure a year blog… and how you can do
the same.
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Six Figure Blogging
My 12 Month Case Study to Profits
When I first went live with my blog at ZacJohnson.com, I decided to go with a very clean design
and had no on site advertising. The beginning months of your blog are important for building up
readership and focusing on content. For the first few months, there wasn’t much traffic to the blog,
so there was no point in trying to find advertisers for the site. Instead I concentrated on building
up readership, authority and my branding.
The blog went live in March 2007, but I didn’t start trying to make a profit with the site until
December 2007. It was in Dec 07, when I decided to launch a 12 month case study on the blog’s
revenue performance. The first month, in which the blog went profitable, it earned $1,261.81.
Before the end of the 12 month case study, the blog was already topping over $6,000 a month and
is now earning over six figures a year today.
A full break down of revenue earned during that 12 month case study is shown below. From
December 2007 through November 2008, the blog made over $48,000 in profit and I had spent
less than a few hundred dollars on small ad testing to bring in new traffic. Web hosting costs also
weren’t an issue, as I was hosting several of my other sites on the same server.
The main sources of revenue for the blog were from on site advertising and network referrals. You
can view each month’s full report and breakdown in my “Blog Earnings” section on ZacJohnson.
com.
ZacJohnson.com 12 Month Case Study Report
December 2007 - November 2008
Total Earnings: $48,759.78
$7,000.00
$6,000.00
$5,000.00
$4,000.00
$3,000.00
$2,000.00
$1,000.00
$-
Dec-07 Jan-08 Feb-08 Mar-08 Apr-08 May-08 Jun-08 Jul-08 Aug-08 Sep-08 Oct-08 Nov-08
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Six Figure Blogging
The Concept of “Six Figure Affiliate
Blogging”
Everyone wants to live the American dream, and become a
millionaire! That’s how it used to be… now people are just looking
for a job and want some financial stability. I created this guide
book not only to help newbie bloggers, affiliate marketers, and
you will learn everything
Through this guide, from
how to
setup your own blog, to putting your established
a new revenue stream
blog on autopilot and creating
that brings in money month after month.
established entrepreneurs, but also for anyone who never fully
understood the power of blogging and how to many money online.
Through this guide, you will learn everything from how to setup
your own blog, to putting your established blog on autopilot and
creating a new revenue stream that brings in money month after
month. I will also be covering the basics of affiliate marketing,
which will be the backbone to your blog’s revenue.
When you see read the title of this guide and see “Six Figure”
mentioned, this may blow some of you away and think it would
never be possible for you. Instead of looking at the big number,
break this down. There are 365 days in a year, and your blog will be
working for you every day of the year. This means your blog would
only need to generate $273.97 per day to be making $100,000 a
year.
Depending on where you are currently at, becoming a six
figure blogger isn’t you’re your immediate goal should be. Yes,
it is possible to make a few extra hundred dollars a month, or
even create a new six figure revenue source… but not without
immediate action and dedication! Blogging is one of the slowest
and hardest methods for generating money online, but at the same
time it also has very low start up costs and if built correctly, can
become of the most stable business methods around.
Whether you are a newbie, or experiences online marketer, this
guide has something for everyone… and hopefully inspires you to
become the next Six Figure Affiliate Blogger!
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Six Figure Blogging
1
Introduction
Introduction to Affiliate Marketing
to
Affiliate
Marketing
Zac Johnson
Six Figure Blogging
What is Affiliate Marketing?
Without affiliate marketing, my blogging success would not have
been possible. When I first started making money online, it was
through earning commissions on Amazon.com and sending
new visitors to their site. Back in the day, when I referred a
customer to Amazon and they made a purchase, I would then
earn a commission on that sale. Jump ahead to 2010 and affiliate
marketing has expanded like crazy and is making more people
more money than ever.
With over a decade of experience, stories of success/failures
and a passion for affiliate marketing, that became my gateway
into starting my own blog. Without the passion and interest for
writing about my blog topic, I would have had a much harder time
becoming a prominent voice in this industry, and the blog would
have probably failed.
affiliate marketing is the backbone
In short, of
many successful blogs
how and
businesses make money online.
In short, affiliate marketing is the backbone of how many
successful blogs and businesses make money online. This guide
was created for the use of both blogging and affiliate marketing.
Before jumping into creating your own blog, you must first
understand the basics of affiliate marketing.
How Affiliate Marketing Works
In the past how did companies measure return on investment for
their advertising methods, such as billboard advertising and TV
commercials? It wasn’t easy. No longer are companies putting all
of their advertising dollars towards billboards, print and television
and just hoping for results. Companies have now been turning
their advertising budget towards affiliate marketing and the
internet. With affiliate marketing everything is tracked, companies
can tell exactly what the return on their advertising investment is.
Who bought what… when, where, how and sometimes even why.
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Six Figure Blogging
The diagram shown below explains how affiliate marketing works among the customer, affiliate
and seller (often referred to as “merchant”).
Let’s use a popular online book store’s affiliate program as an example. As a blog owner, I write
a review about a wonderful book I just read. I can either place a link in my review directly linking
someone to the book seller, in which case they (the book seller) receives full credit for the sale,
or I could join their affiliate program (if they have one) and become an affiliate of the book seller.
As an affiliate, you would earn a commission on all referred sales or actions taking place on the
merchant’s site.
Once approved by the merchant, I can now log into my affiliate area and generate an affiliate
link to any product on their site. Instead of direct linking to the online book store, if someone
visits my site, clicks on my affiliate and makes a purchase, I would earn a commission on that
sale.
With affiliate marketing, you never have to handle any orders, deal with customer support or
billing, and most importantly there is no inventory. Everything is tracked online and as an affiliate,
you are paid weekly or monthly depending on your preferred affiliate program or network.
While maybe over simplified a bit, this is why affiliate marketing is one of the best ways to run a
business and how anyone can start making money online without needing to spend thousands
of dollars on staff, inventory or even an office.
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