Curious About Timescales

[Avocet]

Hi There

Taking my first steps in the affilate marketing journey, I've been reading different posts and on the blog and in the forum. Some people seem to have done very well while others haven't made a sale after a few months. I appreciate that it's not an easy road, and there are lots of factors, but I would like some honest advice on these questions, just so I am aware of what lies ahead:

1) How long does it take for your first website to make $50 a day?

2) How many websites do you need to create and/or how long does it take before you can give up your day job and work at affiliate marketing full time?

I look forward to hearing from you.

Best wishes

Mike

[cterao]

1.) I've been doing this for almost a year, and I still don't earn $50 / day from one single website on a regular basis. If you can afford to outsource you can get results much faster.

2.) This really depends on you. I graduated from school and couldn't get a full-time job, so I just started working full-time at it right from the get-go. If you have a very high standard of living, though it might take quite some time and effort to get your income to the point where you can replace your job.

[Avocet]

Hi Clayton

Thanks for the reply. It helps me keep things in perspective and not expect too much too soon. I don't have a particularly high standard of living, so perhaps giving up the day job might come a bit sooner! Although I am going to have to write my own articles for a while, so this will slow things down, maybe.

I wish you every success in your affiliate marketing future and that you reap the rewards of your efforts soon.

Best wishes

Michael

[jmpruitt]

It also depends.... build relationships with people in your niche. if you cant afford to do an email list right now, then you will have to work harder for it.For example, I dont have a huge list in the IM niche, however I still have made and plan to make more sales of ajp in the coming week, not because i had the best bonuses, but because i built relationships with people through forums, social community sites, social networks, and other sites. I ddont have all these people in one nice place on a list( although with jetpack I am fixing that) but i still got out on all the social sites helping people, and doing things the way mark taught me, low key promotion but loaded with valuable content.

This works in any niche. i have done it in IM, Dating, Get your ex back, Self improvement, and other niches as well. This is what relationship marketing is about. most people who fail at social marketing and say that it doesnt convert have failied in the relationship side of the marketing.

I also spent months building those relationships and giving of myself before i ever asked for a sale. but once i started asking for that sale people trusted me enough to take my recommendations.

[sonitin]

@Avocet

I think your questions will have no clear answers.. I was hitting $50 a day in less than 3 months. In 6 months time i was able to setup my own office and business with full time staff - all thanks to affiliate marketing and I had only one site till that time.

However, in three years of affiliate marketing I have met a lot of people. I have met guys who have not been able to do the same in three years and I have met guys who are doing 300K plus a year in same time.

The difference is mainly in the approach each person took, energy put into the mission (don't confuse with number of hours per month) , aggression and mindset. Systemization, risk taking and leverage are the other things I found that made the difference. A lot will depend on your timings too..e.g. I found a service early on that gave my websites a big jump in rankings. Call it luck or call it risk taking. I was paying 300 dollar for that service while I was making only 600-700 dollars (and I had no other income source!). Similarly when I was setting my staff it was to eat on 70% of my revenues and I was putting almost all my money into infrastructure.. but after two months of loss it gave me the needed leverage!

Also, its important to find out what works for you, James find it better with social networking, I find it better with SEO and referral traffic, I know of a guy who does PPC only..

My point being you need to understand that its you who is going to determine your success and the speed of achieving it. So, if you are still thinking and on the verge of jumping in then its time to collect your full energy and just do it!

[chris72]

Hey Mike

Just adding to what Sonitin said, it also depends on how much you are having to learn along the way. Obviously if you are starting from knowing nothing, then it will take a lot longer. But if you allocate so much time a week to learning and so much to doing then you will begin to see results too.

Plan for the long haul, stick to it, give it your best shot for a year and you will definitely see results.

They probably won't be remarkable and life changing financially, but they will be enough to make you keep going for another year.....and the next....

[Avocet]

HI Guys

Thanks very much for the replies and the sound advice, they've been very helpful.

I think that when I first started out I imagined that the whole venture would succeed very quickly, but I think that what you've said is very sensible and realistic.

I shall start working hard now and be prepared for the long haul!

Best wishes

Mike