So I downloaded the updated ebook, dug out my copy of the Super Affiliate Handbook, and read them both from cover to cover.

Now I will go through them again, this time taking action at each stage in the lessons. Since I’m in the early stages I’ll be relying on the Super Affiliate Handbook to get the ball rolling since it goes into topics like market research, keyword selection, and planning.

This is also where I admit to having a tiny advantage–and I do mean tiny. I intend to use a domain name that I’ve had for 5-ish years. It’s not in a researched niche, though, so tiny. I also have a hosting account through HostGator, so I’ll just be adding on the domain there rather than incur an additional monthly expense.

And that’s where I’m at.

Tomorrow I’ll start tackling the market research and keyword selection so I start planning the site.

Build my affiliate business up properly.

Years ago, I invested in two products designed to help me build a proper affiliate business. The books were the WordPress Affiliate Guide and the Super Affiliate Handbook.

Both of these books are fantastic in my opinion, but the proof is in the pudding, as the euphemism goes. Unfortunately, I got all my ingredients to make one helluva pudding, but never mixed them up. They sat on the counter and spoiled.

It’s time to try again.

For the next several months, I will write about my experiences as an affiliate marketer starting with a super-strict budget. This case study will ultimately double as a review for the products I mentioned earlier, too.

I plan to disclose everything–except maybe my niches and my websites–as I go along. I’ll disclose the methods I use, my web stats, my income and expenses, all of it. Consider it a crash course in affiliate marketing.

This time around, I can’t afford to let my ingredients spoil.

The product claims to help someone build an affiliate website using WordPress and does it ever deliver. I had no problems buying this product because I’ve purchased products from Teli in the past and never had a problem. In fact, it’s always been a pleasure. My questions get answered, even the stupid ones.

Since I’ve been using WordPress for a while, some of the beginning information was basic to me. (It goes over how to install WordPress and some basic locations for settings and stuff, which I already knew.) But where it shined for me was the little nuggets like how to remove the word ‘category’ from the links when someone’s viewing a product category. Yea, you can find that kind of info online for free, but for someone who doesn’t even know to look for it, that’s a damn good tip.

It also had a nice step by step blueprint to follow from start to finish. A complete checklist that you can print off and follow as you go along. I didn’t even need to watch the videos (I’m not a big fan of videos personally) to understand what she was saying. I just printed the ebook and had it next to me while I worked.

And since it’s now officially been 31 days, I happily downloaded all the bonus items she has up and some of them are kickass. Not too long ago, the Simple Link Manager plugin (it’s a light version, but it still more than gets the job done) and the WordPress Datafeed Import script (again, a light version, but still great) were both uploaded.

Another great thing about the WordPress Affiliate Guide is that it’s flexible. It doesn’t lock you into one click here, click there formula. When you feel comfortable enough, it teaches you enough to start experimenting and playing around with different styles of affiliate sites.

For only $35, it’s definitely worth the money. You get a lot more information than some of these reports selling for $97.

Now I gotta get on my review of the Simple Link Manager plugin, which I’m totally in love with, too. I already have the full script that I use for my static sites, but the plugin is awesome for my WordPress powered sites.

Because I’d been away from the blog for so long, the spam comments accumulated in my moderation queue — there were nearly 2,000. Instead of scanning through every one of them, I decided to delete it from the database.

Well, since WP marks the comments it thinks are spam as spam, I tried that first, but only a few were nuked. So, I got the brilliant idea just to delete all the comments…it didn’t occur to me while the query was running that I should only be deleting all the un-approved comments.

Needless to say, that was a really stupid move.

If you’re in the same boat, make sure you reconsider your database query before you hit that ‘Go’ button.

…my results aren’t typical. I ain’t promising anyone a damn thing. I’m just showing you what’s working for me.

and, this one comes in a close second:

Here’s my vision of retirement. I’m on a beach someplace warm and sunny. A nubile young nymph brings me a drink.

I should mention, both of these sentences are taken out of context, but they’re just as funny in context.

I didn’t think it was an absolute literary masterpiece, but it was certainly well written. That’s when I got another newsletter, and one paragraph stuck out like a sore thumb:

But what you may not know is that he’s getting
married. Not only that, but he and his bride-to-be
have a lot more in common than most couples.

I thought to myself…hmmm…that looks extremely familiar, come to find out it was the same newsletter that Joe had sent out — verbatim.

This morning, again I find myself receiving the same damn sales letter from yet another marketer…at least thing one included his own introductory paragraph which made it a little more difficult to spot.

I have but one thing left to say about all the hype that’s floating around: it sucks. Chances are this program they’re all promoting is no better than the programs you already have collecting dust on your bookshelf.

It’s very apparent that the only reason most gurus even run a newsletter anymore is just so they can shove “the next best thing, end all, be all, you’re nothing if you don’t have it” product in their subscribers’ faces. It really is sickening.

While I respect Joe and the other newsletters I subscribe to, if they can’t even write up their own personal endorsement for the product, I don’t see myself purchasing it and I really don’t see any reason to continue as a subscriber.

So, before you go throwing money at someone because the guru in your inbox told you so…stop…take a deep breath and investigate whether it’s a true product endorsement or if they’re just trying to earn a commission off of you.

I had a toothache. Not just any toothache. I had a throbbing, painful, so bad that I stayed in bed and cried toothache. I got no work done, not even for my clients.

I’ve scheduled an appointment with my dentist, but because it’s “not an emergency” I will have to wait – in pain, and to make matters worse – I ran out of Advil (and I don’t have any other pain killers in my home).

When I’m in pain, it’s hard for me to stay conscious (literally). It’s definitely hard to drive when you can’t stay conscious.

It’s evening now and this is the first time I have been able to sit at my computer without screaming out in pain all day. I’m hoping that I can stay conscious long enough to go to the store and get some pain killers.

Since I work for myself there was no work done today – sucky. And since I am my sole source of income, days like this definitely hinder the flight to financial freedom…gosh I hope tomorrow is better.

I’ll be meditating on it.

<sidenote>
When starting an online business, it’s a good idea to budget for business expenses such as learning materials, domain registration, hosting, and marketing costs.
</sidenote>

I mentioned earlier that I purchased Google Adsense Secrets Revealed: What Google Never Told You About Earning Money With AdSense and I highly recommend it.

I am very glad I own this book because it will help me in structuring my three content sites. A full review has been placed on my “neverending” to-do list.

I’ve also purchased James Martell’s 2005 Affiliate Marketer’s Handbook and I will be structuring my main content site based on it’s instruction.

It’s a fairly thick book and something I probably won’t get through in the next day or two, but I feel it will definitely help me in the long run. It’s one of those “long term business” plan type books (and it’s definitely good to have a long term business plan). I’ve also added a full review on my “neverending” to-do list.

Total business expense for learning materials so far: $246 (it may even be tax deductible – please consult your accountant because I’m not one).

Both of these books were pricey to me (if you haven’t already picked up on it, I’m very cheap). I did my research to see if I could get by without these two sources, I asked trusted friends and did some research on the authors. I weighed the pros and cons and realized, I will probably earn more and faster with these books than without.

While most of the information in these book can be found online with a lot (and I do mean a lot) of research, tracking, notation, & trial and error, I don’t have that kind of time.

My best advice, do what’s best for you to get you where you need to be. If you cannot afford the outlay for instruction right now, you’re going to have to roll up your sleeves and work a little harder.

My final education purchase will be regarding traffic generation. In order for the AdSense revenue to come pouring in, I will need quality traffic and quality rankings.

That’s all for now. I’ll update when I’ve found a suitable program for getting traffic.

The first thing I tell my clients when they approach me is that they will be held accountable for their portion of the project. I will not do their projects for them, I will do their projects with them.

They will receive a to do list, I will receive a to do list, and we each receive a time line. Under no circumstance will the other person be liable if one of us does not get a task done properly or on time. We both need to deal with the consequences of our own actions.

I should note that accountability and consequences are two different things and consequences are not necessarily bad.

If we both complete our portions of the project as outlined, the consequence is having a wonderfully completed project (good). If one of us does not complete our portion of the project, the consequence can be a delay in the project (bad).

Having accountability means that if there is a hiccup, we can look through what needed to be done, but wasn’t – then correct it.

If a client is unwilling to be held accountable for their own actions, then that is a client you do not need or want. It’s usually the indicator of a person who doesn’t want to do anything for himself and wants someone else to run his life for him.

If a person shows that they do not want to be responsible for their own actions – then that person has another think coming and it’s someone you should disassociate from ASAP. You may just find yourself being blamed for something you had no control over.

With that said – remember that you are only in control of yourself. Control over anything else is an illusion. Live your life to the best of your ability. Say what you mean, do what you say, and mean what you do because you are responsible for it.

I got a lot of work done for my affiliate site and also found some inspiration for future affiliate sites.

I initially set my goal to get at least 5 inbound links to my affiliate site. Somehow, I found myself on a linking hayday and by the time I finished I had requested (manually by emailing webmasters) 5 link exchanges and submitted my URL to 20 website directories. Yep, 25 inbound links (20 are confirmed).

I found a good number of link partners simply by doing a Google search and submitting URLs to the first 2-3 pages of results. The search term I used was allintitle: keywords directory (substitute keywords with your website’s keywords or niche).

Another good thing is it really didn’t take me all that long – it was an hour of my time well spent. I also got some more good news when I checked my stats and I see that Googlebot finally decided to make his way to my site. He crawled most of the pages and he was the last of the three big boys to get there.

And before I close up this post for the evening. I finally broke down and applied to another affiliate because I have not heard any word from the initial company I applied to. I think their affiliate manager is asleep at the wheel. The only problem with the new company is that I cannot link directly to specific products, so I am still holding out for the first affiliate company.

The website is almost done and I will be adding the search script tomorrow and I will be promoting my website’s directory so that I will obtain even more link partners.

Oh yea, one more thing – I’m finally due to get my first check from Google this month and I am extremely excited. Since I cannot disclose actual numbers, suffice it to say that it’s a larger payout than I expected.

That’s the business update.