How to Earn Money as an Affiliate Marketer

There are so many ways to earn money online from your writing that sometimes it can be hard to choose which one. Or if you're like me, you do quite a few.

One of the ways to earn money is from affiliate marketing. This means selling other people's products for commission.

The fastest way is to join an affiliate network rather than an individual affiliate program for just one product or one company.

The reason for this is because from a network, you can advertise multiple products from multiple companies all from one account so that  your income accrues faster.

But to be successful it takes more than just putting up a few banners and images on your webpages.

To be earn a good income from affiliate marketing, the best way to do it is through article marketing.

This means writing information-packed articles on the subject of whichever product you're trying to sell at the time and using your writing skills to increase the readers desire to click on your affiliate link and buy the product.

But how many sales to you need to make?

Well, look at it this way...if you're selling an ebook or similar product for which you'll receive $20 per sale, then you'd need to sell 10 products  a day to earn $200, which, over 5 days a week will provide an income of $1,000 ($200 a day for 5 days).

On the other hand, if you're selling a higher-priced product and receiving $50 a sale, then you only need to sell 4 a day to earn the same amount of money.

So if you're advertising and selling multiple products all the time, then you can see how it isn't difficult to make several sales a day - if you're working hard and constantly promoting the products.

I have several different websites online and I work across 3 different and unrelated niches. This gives me ample opportunity to promote affiliate products as well as my own products.

From this I earn  a pretty decent income. And by pretty decent, I mean great.

But I work hard at what I do. I am always thinking of different ways to promote the products I sell as well as researching other suitable products, watching the online markets to see what's selling and what's not, and writing my own books and ebooks.

I prefer to sell my own products because I have better control over them. But the affiliate products I sell bring in plenty of income as well.

Just a few weeks ago I found a new product to promote that pays $66 a sale. I now sell an average of 2 of these a week. I also began promoting another product in a different niche that pays $50 a sale and I now sell around 3 of these every week. This product is also part of a funnel where the customers are offered other products as well and these up-sells also bring me more income.

So just from these 2 products alone I'm earning well over $300 a week. But I know that it won't last long. Products don't always sell well because once people have bought them they no longer need to buy them, so I'm always looking for the next great product to promote.

And it's not only article marketing that helps bring in sales. I use several other methods as well.

So if you want to raise your writing income, find a few great affiliate products to promote.

If you want to earn higher commissions take a look at http://www.highpayingaffiliateprograms.com. Their programs pay up to $1,000 a sale, but I think you'd have to have quite a swanky website to attract such high paying customers.

Or you could try my affiliate page at http://cheritonhousepublishing.com/affiliates.html where you'll not only find out about my affiliate program, but I've also listed some others that are good to use as well.

My Writing Day

Being a writer is one thing, but knowing how to structure your writing day is another.

In the end it all comes down to what's best for you and how much time you have.

Structuring your writing day depends on many factors including how much time you have to write every day, family responsibilities (school runs, young children, meals to prepare, etc) and wether or not you already have another job.

Personally I transitioned gradually into becoming a full-time writer. I went from full time work to part time work to writing full-time.

I also changed the way I live by moving from a large house in a city suburb to a small house in a small, coastal town. Doing this gave me more time to do the things I want to do because I now spend less time cleaning and maintaining the house.

Working as a writer has also changed over the years. I used to write for magazines and clients but now I work exclusively online, writing for my websites and writing ebooks. This means spending time updating social media accounts almost daily as well as doing constant online marketing. This is not how being a writer used to be.

At the moment, as I've mentioned before, I'm currently updating all my websites to make them mobile responsive. Not an easy task but it has to be done. It's extremely repetitive and boring because I'm mainly copying and pasting web page content onto the new responsive pages. Yawn!

Normally, I work the same way every day, although this varies depending on several factors. But on average my writing week goes something like this:

I cannot sit down and write until chores are done. This is for two reasons. Firstly, it nags my crazy, monkey-like mind if I have things to do which makes it difficult for me to sit down and concentrate. And secondly because once I start work I often don't want to stop and so the chores never get done.

So my days always start out by doing the things that are necessary like, cleaning the house, doing the washing, doing the dishes, cleaning out and setting up the fire (if it's winter) or opening up the windows (if it's summer). If I need to shop, which I only do once a week because I hate (and I don't like using such a strong, negative word) shopping - any kind of shopping whether it's clothes shopping, buying appliances, gift buying or grocery shopping. Yuck! Even online shopping is my kind of hell.

Anyway, whatever jobs need to be done, I always do them first. Some days there is very little to do so I get to work early. But whether or not there's a lot to do or only a little, I still sit down to work somewhere between the hours of 7am and 10am.

I then work through until around 2 or 3 pm, with a break for coffee and sometimes (but not always) a break for lunch. Some days I don't eat lunch until after I've finished work. And on days when I start work at 7am, I'm done by lunch time.

Usually I can get straight to work without giving much thought about what to do because at the end of each working day I write in my diary the things I have to do the next day, which includes anything I didn't get done that day. I also list them in the order they need to be completed. I usually list the small things to be done first, just so that I feel like I'm accomplishing things as I work.

I check my emails before I start work and also look through my RSS feeds. I only allow myself 30 minutes maximum to do these two tasks. Sometimes, I leave these things till coffee-break just so that I can get straight to work when I sit down, without being distracted by getting sucked into clicking on interesting links in emails or browsing articles in my RSS feeds.

I have a Mac computer and I use an app called RSS Menu, created by Jesus De Meyer, which sits in my menu bar and announces audibly whenever I get a new article in one of my feeds. It doesn't have to be audible but I've set it up that way.

I also have a little app called Mindful Mynah which chimes every 25 minutes to bring me back to mindfulness. I also have my computer clock set to audibly tell me the time every 30 minutes. All these things keep me on track.

And they're not the only things I listen to while I work. I also listen to MP3 audios.

One of my favourite ones is Brain Salon which has the "Razor Sharp Focus" track and "Creative Spark" track. I've set them up one after the other so that I get a whole hour of great brain entrainment while I write. You can download a free sample at the website.

I also listen to music, particularly (and almost only) The Celtic Collection by Adrian Von Ziegler which I downloaded from CD Baby. His music is very haunting and perfect to listen to while I write. I can really zone out while listening to his music.

I'm thinking of buying another couple of his albums. And by the way, that link to his CD Baby page is NOT an affiliate link. I'm just a fan of his music. You can click on the link and listen to a preview of all his tracks on his albums.

Listening to audios as I work is a must. It not only helps me to stay focused and keep writing but it also blocks out other noises.

But not all my working days are the same.

Sometimes, if I'm busy working on a huge project, I'll just keep going all day and won't stop. Sometimes I even forget to drink and have headache by the end of the day, and I don't use the toilet until my bladder's so full I can't sit still. I really have to watch these bad habits sometimes.

Also, if I'm in a huge window of inspiration then I'll just keep working and won't stop at my usual times, because these are golden opportunities and they don't happen every day.

Some days I don't feel nearly as inspired as others, and on those days I'll do more technical work or do research or something else first. But sooner or later I'll get back into my usual state of inspiration and then I can get back to writing. It's just that some days it's a little bit harder to get going. But just starting is a wonderful thing because once I sit down and start working, I keep going and get better.

And that is how I work just about every day.

But like I say, some days are different, depending on what else I have to do.

And it's different for everyone. No one person works the same.

But one thing is for sure, it takes a lot of self discipline to actually sit down and write every day.

It's different when you're at work and you have a boss to answer to and you have jobs that are your responsibility and you have to get them done by the end of the day or else you'll get fired.

At home, there is no boss or anyone to force you to get things done "or else!" So instead you have to rely on yourself to sit down and get to work every day, which is so different in so many ways.

It's such a solitary way to work, but I love it and I wouldn't want to have to go back to a 9 - 5 job ever again.

Working from home as a writer gives me the freedom that most people only dream about.

:)

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When you eat right you get better sleep, feel more energised and are more creative.

It's time you discovered the truth about food and how making the right choices will not only change your life but will also help the animals and the environment.

I've already signed up.

Won't you join me?

The 2015 Food Revolution Summit

My Affiliate Program is Back

A few months ago I did away with my affiliate program for my products.

Why?

Because too many people were signing up and only using their affiliate link to buy products for themselves.

This is annoying because not only are they looking to get something half price (my affiliate program pays 50% commission) but also because they weren't promoting my products to others, which is the whole point of the program.

I always offer my new products at really low prices to subscribers. I do it all the time, so there's no need for anyone to try and get a 50% discount because my reduced prices for subscribers are way better than that.

So I stopped allowing affiliates to sell my products.

The problem though, was that more people wanted to sign up, but couldn't.

I gave it much thought and in the end I decided to start my affiliate program again but this time with a difference - affiliates won't get paid for purchases through their own affiliate links.

There are plenty of other affiliate programs that don't allow this practice. Even the mighty ClickBank, with well over 150,000 affiliates doesn't allow them to make purchases through their own affiliate links.

And now I don't either.

I've updated the new affiliate information at http://cheritonhousepublishing.com/affiliates.html and added the new info about not paying out for affiliates own purchases.

So there it is.

If you were already signed up as one of my affiliates, your links will still work. I haven't changed anything, I've simply re-instated it again.

And it's worth joining because affiliate marketing is a great way to earn money from writing. It's something I do all the time.

I regularly promote other people's products as an affiliate. Not all products that I recommend are through affiliate links. But many are.

And I NEVER promote products that I don't believe are great because I don't want to upset anyone and make them not trust me.

So if you've ever wanted to make more money from your writing but you've never tried affiliate marketing, you could be leaving a lot of money on the proverbial table.

Just recently I began promoting a product (in another niche) that paid out $66 per sale. I wrote 3 short articles to promote it and made 2 sales in the first week! How great is that?

I'm often asked what's the secret of making money through affiliate marketing, and I honestly don't know. But I do know that it works as long as you're not too "salesy."

When I made the quick sales on the $66 product, the articles were only loosely based around subject of the product. They were information articles that I uploaded to EzineArticles.com one at a time. It was that easy.

But I'm not saying it's always that easy, but sometimes it is.

And when it is, it's great.

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The Food Revolution Summit 2015

Sign up  now. It's free.

Find out how our diet is causing heart disease, cancer, diabetes and more.

When you eat right you get better sleep, feel more energised and are more creative.

It's time you discovered the truth about food and how making the right choices will not only change your life but will also help the animals and the environment.

I've already signed up.

Won't you join me?

The 2015 Food Revolution Summit

New Great Offers for Writers to Help You Finally Get Your Projects Started AND Finished

Today I have several new offers for you from Writers' Store and Writers' Digest.

Their products are already helping thousands of writers all over the world and really are great to own and to use.

If you've been promising yourself that there's a novel you're going to write or a screenplay your going to finish or any other writing project that you just can't seem to get around to completing, then download (or buy and have shipped) any of these (or other) writing resources and FINALLY get things started and finished.


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I Feel Like I'm Working For Google

For the past few days (well, a week really) I've been busy working away making all my websites "mobile responsive."

This means that they have to be flexible, and morph into shape to fit any screen size from mobile phone to desktop computer.

I have several websites so it's taking me quite some time to do it. So far I've already completed half of my sites (phew! She wipes the virtual sweat from her brow) but it's taking a lot of work and a lot of working out.

The reason I'm doing it is because Google says I have to.

On 21st April 2015 they are bringing in new rules about search results and say that they won't include  non-mobile-responsive websites in their mobile results.

The reason I want keep my rankings in the Google search results, is that for several keywords I'm on page one of search results and for one, at least, I'm number one. (Yay! Go me!)

So this past week of working flat out, and with the pressure from Google, who keep emailing me about my website problems, I feel like I'm working for them. And they are bad payers because I'm not earning more money for all my extra effort and I'm not getting my own work done either.

On the other hand, making my websites mobile responsive is something that I've been thinking about for a while now. Thinking, but not doing anything about it.

But now the pressure is on. I have to get things finished in less than 2 weeks - or else.

And it's not just mobile responsiveness that Google is looking at. They are also concerned about sites with too many broken links amongst other things.

You can read more about Google's new rules at http://www.webpronews.com/things-to-avoid-for-googles-mobile-friendly-update-2015-03.

And if you have websites, or just one website, and you want people with mobile phones to be able to find your site using the search engines, then you'd better make sure it's fluid and that all your pages are completely up-to-date with no issues.

If you have a WordPress site, you need to make sure that you're using a theme that is mobile responsive.

If you're like me and you use HTML static web design, then you need to redesign your site to make it change layout for different media (screen size).

I use Adobe DreamWeaver for all my website designing, except for this blog because it's owned by Google and so they keep the design up to date for me so that they don't break their own rules.

DreamWeaver has built-in "fluid grid" web page software which basically means that when I build a webpage for mobile viewing, the design automatically filters though to the other 2 screen sizes - desktop and tablet. So all I have to do is a bit of tweaking here and there to get my web pages exactly how I want them on all 3 screen sizes, and it can all be done without coding.

But in the meantime, I'm missing being a writer because although web page designing is something I can do (although this type of designing has been quite a bit of a learning curve), it's not my favourite job. That's why I count myself fortunate to be able to use Adobe DreamWeaver software to make the task quicker and easier.

And speaking of which, it's time for me to get back to work and make my web page designs really sing.

Good luck with your own websites.

:)

Google Demands Responsive Websites or Sites Won't be Indexed

Google is currently pushing all website owners to make their websites responsive (or fluid) so that they can be viewed on all Smart Phones.

What Google considers a Smart Phone is any phone running on Android, iPhone, or Windows Phone operating systems with web browsers that work similar to desktop computer browsers and are able to display webpages that conform to HTML5 specifications. In other words, most modern phones.

They will also penalise websites that have what Google considers to be "common mistakes" which includes slow-loading mobile pages and making Flash video the majority of a page’s content.


But they do provide a page where you can test your website to see if it comes up to their new standards at.

https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/

The biggest push of all is that the deadline for getting websites up-to-date and Smart Phone responsive, is 21st April 2015.

So that's less than 3 weeks from now.

And what is it that they plan to do to hurt websites owners without responsive websites?

They won't include your website in their mobile search results.

My problem with all this, is that only one of my websites is responsive. And that's this one.

So now my challenge is to redesign all my websites (and I have several) by 21st April.

Google keeps emailing me and listing all the problems with my current websites (thanks Google).

And I don't want to lose my spots in the search results because for many keywords and key phrases, I'm on the first page of Google results, and for one I'm actually at the number one spot.

Which means, that to stay afloat in the crazy ever-changing online world, I have to knuckle down and work hard to bring my websites kicking and screaming into responsive design.

Sadly, the only way to do this is to let all my other work slide for the time being while I crack on with this.

Hopefully, I'll have it done in one week (ha, ha, ha...I'm so damn funny sometimes) so if you don't get any emails from me or blog updates in the near future, that's why.

Damn you Google!!!!

But I guess it was only a matter of time until this all caught up with me because I really should have taken care of this problem months/years ago. I've been thinking about it for a while now. But that's all I've been doing. Thinking.

And as they say, a goal without action is simply a dream.

So now here I go with my first of many website redesigns.

See you on the flip side.

You can read more about this Google Push at

http://insideout.com/blog/2015/03/24/google-mobile-friendly-algorithm-is-your-website-ready/

And if you have any websites that aren't mobile responsive, now would be a good time to change that.