Just joined the forum today. Read through some posts for a couple of hours and I must say, there are some very unique thinkers on this site. Very cool bunch of people.
Obviously I am new to making money on the interent and AM, but I have been developing websites for a couple of years now and have some education in scripting and basic programming.
Now I've never been the type of person to think that anything good comes easy, but Im 24 now and would like to believe that I can make a living without having to work my ass off FOR SOMEONE ELSE. My father owned a couple of businesses and always admired him for being able to make a living on his own. I never wanted to ride on someone else's coat tails either and have always been good with computers, so once I found out about AM I jumped in head first.
Here is what I have been able to accomplish in the past couple of months: (while trying to finish fucking college, working a full time job as an Asst.General Manager for a Best Western Hotel, and writing music/playing percussion for the Hard Rock/Metal band Sixty Miles Down)......I can barely find time to....nevermind......I'll stop rambling.
In about a month beginning in February, I built a coupon site in my spare time. Just found out about wordpress when reading through some threads, and something tells me I could have saved a boatload of time if I knew about it beforehand. Instead of installing some scripts I wrote some of my own in php to post blogs, input coupons, update banners...basically maintain the site.
I have joined the following affiliate programs : Linkshare, Commission Junction, Amazon, and ConnectCommerce. I currently have over 400 online merchants that I can promote.
Messed around with Google adwords and probably made $40 from $200. Not a good ROI in my eyes at all. The analytics are great though. In the past couple of months I have stopped my ad campaigns and basically used adwords simply for the analytics.
My girlfriend works for an SEO company, and I have done quite a bit of reading on it....so much that I don't even think I've retained it all. I understand that the only way to make some decent cash off this site it to get a steady stream of organic visitors, atleast that is what my reading has told me.
In mid April I landed a top spot on Yahoo for the phrase "1-800 petmeds." First result page and maybe four spots from the top. This only lasted for about 3 or 4 days, and during those days my unique visits spiked, I generated four sales, and made around $100 bucks. I thought, ok...this is cool. Then I lost the spot and it I was back to "normal".....shit.
None of my friends or anyone I know for that matter knows jack about affiliate marketing, so I don't really have anyone to share ideas with.
If you can spare the time, please take a look at my site : ValueBucket.com - Coupon Codes, Discounts, Sales, Promo Codes, Brand Names!
Here are some questions I have about the site and AM:
-DeLL
(no relation to the computer company, it's been a nickname since long before the company even existed...)
Obviously I am new to making money on the interent and AM, but I have been developing websites for a couple of years now and have some education in scripting and basic programming.
Now I've never been the type of person to think that anything good comes easy, but Im 24 now and would like to believe that I can make a living without having to work my ass off FOR SOMEONE ELSE. My father owned a couple of businesses and always admired him for being able to make a living on his own. I never wanted to ride on someone else's coat tails either and have always been good with computers, so once I found out about AM I jumped in head first.
Here is what I have been able to accomplish in the past couple of months: (while trying to finish fucking college, working a full time job as an Asst.General Manager for a Best Western Hotel, and writing music/playing percussion for the Hard Rock/Metal band Sixty Miles Down)......I can barely find time to....nevermind......I'll stop rambling.
In about a month beginning in February, I built a coupon site in my spare time. Just found out about wordpress when reading through some threads, and something tells me I could have saved a boatload of time if I knew about it beforehand. Instead of installing some scripts I wrote some of my own in php to post blogs, input coupons, update banners...basically maintain the site.
I have joined the following affiliate programs : Linkshare, Commission Junction, Amazon, and ConnectCommerce. I currently have over 400 online merchants that I can promote.
Messed around with Google adwords and probably made $40 from $200. Not a good ROI in my eyes at all. The analytics are great though. In the past couple of months I have stopped my ad campaigns and basically used adwords simply for the analytics.
My girlfriend works for an SEO company, and I have done quite a bit of reading on it....so much that I don't even think I've retained it all. I understand that the only way to make some decent cash off this site it to get a steady stream of organic visitors, atleast that is what my reading has told me.
In mid April I landed a top spot on Yahoo for the phrase "1-800 petmeds." First result page and maybe four spots from the top. This only lasted for about 3 or 4 days, and during those days my unique visits spiked, I generated four sales, and made around $100 bucks. I thought, ok...this is cool. Then I lost the spot and it I was back to "normal".....shit.
None of my friends or anyone I know for that matter knows jack about affiliate marketing, so I don't really have anyone to share ideas with.
If you can spare the time, please take a look at my site : ValueBucket.com - Coupon Codes, Discounts, Sales, Promo Codes, Brand Names!
Here are some questions I have about the site and AM:
In regard to the site and SEO:
In regard to AM:
Thank you for taking the time to read this. Hopefully in a couple of years I will be the one helping out the n00b. I look forward to reading more of everyone's posts, but it's almost 4:30 in the morning and I'm about to get some sleep.1. Do you think I'm overdoing it with the keyword and keyword phrases?
2. Check out how I did the meta tags and page titles for each store and category. Am I atleast on the right track?
3. Is the structure of the site good for bots and SEO?
4. What else can I do to generate more traffic?
In regard to AM:
1. I know it is possible to make a decent living with AM and I know it takes time for things to happen, but am I going in the right direction? Any pointers?
-DeLL
(no relation to the computer company, it's been a nickname since long before the company even existed...)