Affiliates - How did you get into this business?

[Linda Buquet]

Just thought this would be a good topic and am curious about how everyone got into the biz.

What were you doing before you got started doing affiliate marketing? Did you have a J.O.B. and quit to do this full-time? Do you still have a J.O.B? Do you do AM from home or have an office?

So, how about you???

[jawn_tech]

I work in the marketing dept for a technology manufacturing company who puts components in space, defense, and telecommunications. I'm responsible for graphic art in print, as well as the website and promoting on the internet and search engines (what you and I call 'SEO').

My interest in making websites started out as a hobby long ago, as a way to promote my music (I write & record), and art. One day I stumbled upon a site of interest that had an ad on it for Ebay. The site wasn't very well constructed, nor popular, and I was wondering why Ebay would bother wasting ad dollars on such a simple site. I just thought ads on the internet were like tv -- they pay for the space. Also, while searching for free content such as daily newsfeeds and counters, I ran across ads that said "get paid per click", or things like "make money with your site", etc. I put 2 and 2 together and realized what was going on with the Ebay ad on the simple site. I later learned this was called "affiliate" advertising. I researched Ebay's site and it led me to Commission Junction. Since then I became aware of many other affiliate programs.

To make a long story short, after trial and error I'm setting up a new site soon to give it another whirl. This however will be my own site, after punching out from my 9-5 job (and making dinner, time with wife and kid, etc.) So it will be a slow process.

[StephenR.]

Hey there,

I work for the US Air Force in Operations Security (OPSEC). Basically we monitor all communications such as telephone, pager, cellular, e-mail, IRIDIUM, radio, etc. to make sure friendly forces are not unknowingly divulging sensitive information to our adversaries via non-secure mediums. Don't worry we only monitor Department of Defense personnel :)

About 1.5 years ago I was looking for ideas for a home based business and I came across affiliate marketing. Eureka! Here's something that has
-No production costs
-Very low start-up costs
-No employees
-No inventory
-No order processing
-No shipping
-No customer service
-Very limited risk
Sweet I thought. However I started affiliate marketing the wrong way. I created Web sites with a gazillion affiliate programs thrown at potential prospects. While I was looking for a new Web host one day I found Ken Evoy's SiteSell. I read through his site on SiteBuildit and purchased an account so I could sell satellite systems. I created www.get-satellite-dish.com which now get's about 8K unique hits a month....but it doesn't sell. I have to revise that one and will probably now only push RapidSatellite because of their affiliate support. I then created www.manual-credit-card-machines.com, which pulls in a paltry $100 a month even with top search engine ranking in Yahoo for the category....guess I need to revamp that one a little too. Now I'm working on Top-affiliate.com, a 1 and 2 tier affiliate programs directory. Directories usually fair well and I'll soon have an IPB forum and affiliate chat area. We'll see. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated on any of the 3 sites. Thanks for asking.

P.S. Still working but I have 4 years left on my enlistment anyway. The goal is to have enough income from affiliate marketing to support a hosting business I would like to begin with www.Alabanza.com in the near future.