I received a few emails after posting about affiliate marketing being my primary source of income. A lot of the emails asked how they can take a dive into affiliate marketing, and is it worth it.

Let me answer the second question first – yes, it was worth it. I started affiliate marketing back in 2006, and while it was turbulent and challenging, it is rewarding me now with a stable income.

As for the first question, I found this post by a Super Affiliate Marketer Jonathan Volk. Check out the PPC Affiliate Marketing 101 in Jonathan’s blog. It lays down the ground work step by step for you to get started in affiliate marketing.

Bear in mind that just like any other business, there is money involved and time to be put in for affiliate marketing. It’s not just throwing $100 into the biz and expect for it to return back to you tenfold.

Good Luck!

Affiliate Marketing – This is How I Make Mon...

Posted by Mr. Cuz on Oct 8, 2009 in Affiliate Marketing | View Comments

It is hard when you meet friends & family, and they ask you “What do you do now?” or “What type of business are you running?” When I give them a single answer – “I have an online business, it’s called affiliate marketing”, most of them would give me ‘the look’, and then starts talking about how cloudy (or sunny) the sky is.

No, it's not this easy, but I wished it was

You see in Malaysia, working online or working at home is a pretty new concept, and you’re a champion and the most eligible bachelor if people see you up at 7am, dressed in a workshirt and a tie, warming up your car to head to your regular 9-5 jobs. If neighbors were to see you at home during work hours, they would come to a conclusion that you are up to no good.

To add salt to the wound, especially if you’re married, your wife drives out to work in the morning, and you’re at home (presumably doing nothing at all). “Blasted husband! Wife goes out to work while you are uselessly getting fat at home…”

Now, the real story is, I do work from home, and my income is earned (mainly) through affiliate marketing. This is the Wiki on affiliate marketing

Affiliate Marketing is an Internet-based marketing practice in which a business rewards one or more affiliates for each visitor or customer brought about by the affiliate’s marketing efforts. It is an application of crowdsourcing.

Sounds catchy and exciting doesn’t it. My definition is much much more informal and downright dumb.

Affiliate Marketing is when I promote other people’s products online and get a commission for every sale.

I dunno. I guess that’s why I get weird stares when I tell them that is what I do

There are 2 types of affiliate marketing:

Cost Per Action (CPA) – You get paid when the customer “does something” that the advertiser wants. Example email, subscribes to service, signup for offers etc. Also known as Pay Per Action (PPA)
Cost Per Sale (CPS) – Revenue sharing. Advertiser pays you a certain percentage when you refer people to buy from them (or their website). Example, you refer a customer from your blog or website to nike.com, and they buy a pair of sneakers. You get a percentage from the sale of that sneaker.

My business model is mainly on CPS. The offers pay more, and I guess being the fact that I love sports and I do know how to promote sneakers, that’s why I’m converting better on CPS offers compared to CPA.

How do I promote my websites? Aha, that’s a story for another day.

I hope that now people know what I do