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[cterao]

My name is Clayton and I have been doing AffiloBlueprint for one year.

Not to copy Jackson's post from about 2 weeks ago (I've actually been planning to post this for about 2 months), but I just wanted to share with you guys, especially since I've been busy lately and haven't had much time to pop in over here.

I started the AffiloBlueprint program on August 26, 2009 and I've been working on it full-time (more or less) for the past 12 months.

At the time I started, I had recently graduated with a masters degree in architecture. Due to the economy, I didn't stand a chance of getting an architecture job (my old company laid off over 50% of it's staff and other offices had a similar trend) and I am too "over educated" to get any other kind of job.

I had plenty of free time on my hands to work tirelessly at AffiloBlueprint.

Now, I was poor and didn't have much money when I started (thanks a lot, grad school), so I opted out of the PPC part of the course and relied for the most part on pure SEO.

In the first 3 months, I built 4 websites and made only 1 sale from SEO.

Then near the end of November I started to make about 1 sale a week and things slowly started to improve.

All in all, I made 6 websites over the past year (and helped my girlfriend make one of her own as well). I probably could have made many more, but I chose to add extra content to my existing sites and turn them into authority sites.

I was chronically depressed and frustrated for a good portion of the past year. SEO is slow and results don't seem to come as fast as you want them to. I was struggling financially and could barely cover rent and a few bills with my earnings. I racked up some hefty credit card debt buying groceries, other essentials, and making ends meet. I used to lay awake at night dreading the thought of running out of money and praying that this whole internet marketing thing would work out.

Now, one year later, I'm making just shy of $2000 a month from niche sites.

This isn't as much as other people have made in much less time using AffiloBlueprint, but I'm happy with it. I'm not going to be buying a Ferrari any time soon, but I make more money than I spend and most of the work is outsourced or automated now. I achieved my goal of being free from having to work a tedious soul-crushing full-time job.

I'm very happy about that.

I probably could have seen better results faster if I had more money for outsourcing or PPC, or a job to give me at least some income. When you start out with internet marketing, people have time and money. It's best to leverage whichever you have the most of to start your online empire. I had pretty much no money and more than enough time.

If anyone out there is thinking of jumping on board with AffiloBlueprint, I'd strongly recommend that you give it a shot.

I'm not particularly bright myself (a masters degree in architecture requires a high tolerance for suffering, not smarts), and if I can do this pretty much anyone can.

Anyway, I documented most of my journey with AffiloBlueprint on my blog:

http://www.journeyofmyown.com/website-building-update-week-52/

It has a lot of lessons I've learned over the past 12 months, some shortcuts, and some of the biggest bonehead mistakes I made while I was slaving away.

I wanted to thank everyone here at Affilorama for helping me.

Thank you, Mark Ling and Aletta for putting the course together.

Thank you, Sean Morrissy, Adrian, Jem008, Jmpruitt, DigiBlue, Renato, and Jackson for inspiring me and helping me believe that I could actually make a full-time living online.

Thank you, Corrado, Amanda, Keith, Dennis, Huddson, Vincent, Javier, Dennis, Justin, and everyone else that was down in the trenches with me for your advice and camaraderie.

As for me and my girlfriend, she's quitting her job, and the two of us are going to travel through Thailand in October for two months. Then we'll be spending our time alternating between affiliate marketing and traveling the world.

Thank you again, Mark. You've truly changed my life for the better, and I hope I get the opportunity to meet you in person when I inevitably travel to New Zealand some day. You've shown me how to make a living when it seemed like other opportunities were scarce.

AffiloBlueprint is the real deal. It is, without any exaggeration, the single best purchase I've ever made.

Take care everyone and good luck with your affiliate adventures!

Talk to you soon

-Clayton

 

[nelsencaleb]

Hey Clayton,

My name is Caleb, and I'm sort of in the same boat you are *were* in, your rich now (2k a month is rich for me imo), congrats!. I'm unemployed, but I'm still in high school. I plan on going to college first to try being an Engineer. Probably Aerospace if I end up making it. What takes a normal person 3 times takes me 10 to understand math so that is why I like it, because I no matter how hard it is I keep coming back to it.

I just recently bought AB myself this week I think, I don't remember ha but I just finished writing my first article and whipping up 10 news letters that I think are pretty decent quality, but I'll have to find out first, I could be wrong though as many newbies make many mistakes ha.

AB I'm hoping within a year or so will my secret to not having a job in college lol.

I'm very happy for you and your success and with you more success. I can't believe someone wouldn't hire someone with a masters in architecture. Could you tell me the difference please in having a masters in architecture and a having a bachelors in architecture as I'm very interested in the educational difference.

Once again, I'd like to say I'm glad you've succeeded in AB and there should only be more success to come for you.

Sincerely,

Caleb

 

[jacksonlin]

Clayton!

You copycat poster you!

Haha, just kidding!

It's good to see that you are doing well, and about to be a gazzillionaire.

SEO takes a LONG TIME.

And it hurts waiting for your sites to rank.

It's actually more painful than watching grass grow, because grass always grows in one direction - SEO on the other hand sometimes goes up and down and up then down.

But Affiloblueprint does work.

Mark rules.

Affilorama rocks.

I love Affiloblueprint.

But, remember for the people reading this - Clayton wouldn't be posting about this if he gave up and stopped taking action.

PERSISTENCE and believing in the system that works is the key!

 

[jcdean]

Seems like the grass is growing slower all the time, bout to make me nuts.

 

[namllets]

Clayton,

No worries dude glad to be in touch with you. Keep going and going man. Just imagine how much you'll be making each month a year from today.

Okay I'm supposed to be working...

 

[EvoBilly]

great stories glad you guys come back to the forum and post these so many people that start earning good don't come back as there just far to busy moving on and up.

great work keep it up everyone

 

[cterao]

Sorry I haven't had a chance to respond here yet. I'm busy moving this weekend...

@Claeb, Good job taking action. That's really the key difference between success and not. Even if you can just do one thing a day you're at least moving forward. If you do nothing, then you basically just doom tomorrow to being no better than today.

(Most states in the US won't let you get an architecture license with a 4 year bachelor degree. These days you need a masters degree. There's a 5 year professional bachelor degree too, but I won't get into that since I'm already off topic...)

@Jackson, Yeah you're right SEO takes a really long time. That's one of the reasons why I have so many sites. I can just let the "SEO Juju" work while I focus on another site. Otherwise I'd obsess over it and probably throw in the towel thinking "This doesn't work!"

@JCDean, Yeah, and it sucks if you're impatient like me :)

@Justin, I think probably 95% of all the posts I do on this forum are just things I write when I should be working. Just spinning articles can be so boring...

@Billy, Thanks. I'll definitely be back here when I'm back from Thailand. I'm not very bright and there's a lot I still have to learn...

 

[Aletta]

$2000/month! Yeah!
Thailand! Yeah!
If you can keep that coming while you're away, that's a good scene.

Off-topic: If you're looking for a nice (quiet, romanticish) island to hang out on, check out the Ting Rai Bay Resort on Koh Phu. A really nice place to stay in Bangkok is "Cozy Bangkok Place" near the train station. Eat the street food everywhere, it's awesome. Banana pancakes especially.

Awesome work!

 

[cterao]

Thanks for the tip Aletta. I'll check it out. I'm glad you've finally come out of hiding after the past few months. How was your trip to the US (or are you still over here)?

 

[gradyp]

SHE LIVES!!!

Nice to see you, Aletta :D

 

[carlmasure]

I just started the blueprint. It's quite good. And, Aletta's voice is like ambrosia. Just sayin'.

 

[esolutions]

Hi Clayton,

That's great and I have enjoyed reading your blog. $2,000 a month is just the start, the more you make, the more you can put back in and create a snowball effect. Traveling and enjoying life is what it's all about though. Good for you!

 

[cterao]

@esolutions, Thanks. Yeah, I've noticed that this just keeps getting easier and more stream-lined the more I do this.

In May I decided to double my first 5 sites from 30 to 60 pages (essentially making 5 more sites as far as content goes) and it only took about a month and a half.

 

[Cronus]

Awesome story Clayton.

I picked up AB about a month ago, and I've gotten three articles written and now ready to build a site, but due to some unforeseen occurrences I skirted bankruptcy about three weeks ago and have had to slowly get back on my feet. Now that the clouds have settled, I'm gonna hit this thing hard and since I have a little more financial freedom, I'm paying lower rent at a different place, I want to outsource as much as I can.

I only wish I had known about this a year ago when I was unemployed. I'd saved up a boat load of money, it was almost like I saw the crash coming, and then I had to ride the storm out with it. I've always said that if I wont the lottery, that money was going to work, now I just need to do it.

 

[jmpruitt]

Nice to see you again Aletta, hope you are enjoying being away from the office during product launch. We miss your wit and charm.

Hey Clayton, you are doing a great job at it. enjoy your vacation, you deserve it. I am taking a week off next month for my first vacation in like 3 years. going to go to disney and universal, since I live in Orlando and have never been to any of the tourist traps.

 

[corrado]

Hi Clayton, I don't make congratulations to you because I've yet done it in your great blog..if you meant to thanks me, I really appreciate it, but my name is CorrAdo not Corrodo :D :D (in italian language, Corrodo means corrode, rust :D :D )

 

[Tonyguitar]

Hi Clayton. Awesome work. I have been following you on your blog for a while you are really doing a good job and I have learned two things from your blog. Concentration and Consistency. That's what make people successful.

 

[cterao]

@Cronus, yeah being unemployed these days is tough. If I hadn't been so hell-bent on starting an online business after graduating, I hate to think what would have happened to me.

Originally I thought I'd get an office job and just outsource all the work with my salary, but after I literally sent my resume to EVERY architecture firm in Seattle without so much as a single call-back or interview, I realized I was barking up the wrong tree and just decided to start my business anyway.

@James, I've never been to Disney World, but I went to Disney Land in California when I was 5. Good times... Have fun on your vacation. You've earned it too.

@Corrado, Mi dispiace! Sometimes I type faster than I can think and makes stupid mistakes. I have a weird last name and it's a pet peeve of mine when people mess it up. I feel bad that I made the same mistake.

@Tony, Thanks. I still feel like I've got a long way to go, but I'm excited about the future!

 

[Vincelog]

Great job Clayton! You stick to it and got the results. Affiloblueprint does work and I'm working hard on it too. Have fun in Thailand!

Cheers,
Vincent

 

[cterao]

Thanks Vincent! Keep working hard!

It looks like I'll be coming to Singapore too in the beginning of November. Maybe we can meet up?

 

[mark8691]

Clayton is a great example for us all, it shows what can be done when we apply what we know. Congrats again Clayton.

Be sure to send us a postcard! :)

I need to check in here more often..2 posts! :(

 

[cterao]

Thanks Mark. I'm leaving in 1 week and I'm starting to get nervous... It's a good nervous though :)

 

[nbguy]

Hello everyone,

I have only been at this for about 4 months now. And I have made 5 sales so far.So it's not much, but at least I can say that it's better than I have made since I started looking for ways to make extra incomes over the internet - which was a big ZERO until I have fell on this Affilorama site and apply for Affiloblueprint.

But I must confess to you that I sometimes get discouraged and don't always know what to do next. It's not going fast enough for me I guess. The first site that I've built have some pages that rank well in first page of Google, Yahoo or Bing but I'm far from having 100 visitors a day. It's good if I can have 8 or 9. But again, I never thought I could built a site where they would be real people visiting it. So it's a big improvement. But I know that it's still not enough to be profitable.

So that's where I am today. I don't post here often. But I just read a few posts like the one on top of this page, and I felt the need to share my story too.

I wish all a good day and thank you for being there!

Guy

 

[jmpruitt]

hey guy, you seem to be doing great. took me over 6 months to start seeing that many sales, so you are doing pretty well. just keep working at it and you will improve. it can take over 6 months just for the search engines to trust a new site anyway.

 

[cterao]

Guy,

Yeah, I agree with James. I know that it can often seem like you still have so far to go to reach your goals, but don't lose sight of how far you've actually come.

It took me 3 months to make my first sale (not counting PPC, which ended up costing more than I earned...).

And it took me nearly 7 or 8 months before I really even knew I could make decent money and pay my rent with affiliate earnings.

As long as you do at least one thing every day to move yourself even just one tiny step forward, you'll eventually reach your goal. That was basically the only thought that kept me going during those early dark days.

Best of luck, and don't be shy to ask for help. There are some great people on this forum who have helped me out on more than one occasion :)

 

[nbguy]

Thank you guys I really appreciate the support

 

[cterao]

No worries, Guy. There are a few "old dogs" on this forum who still come here because we remember what it was like to be a confused beginner and we really want to help others along on their journey :)

 

[aditd]

No worries, Guy. There are a few "old dogs" on this forum who still come here because we remember what it was like to be a confused beginner and we really want to help others along on their journey :)

That is very good that you that ... and more important that you have a serious background to help others.
I read you story ... congrats that you managed to have the patience to wait for results.
Many don't have such a thing!

 

[SamB]

Hi folks.,

Just caught up with this thread.

I noticed:

"I'm making just shy of $2000 a month from niche sites."

You also mentioned that you were pretty fully time on this. So is this figure turnover ie all monies received from customer (ie Clickbank or wherever). Being totally accurate one would be interested in the profit figure instead of turnover since this factors in time spent and other costs.

So lets assume that full time is 30. That would mean 120 hours a month. Lets assume $10/hr for wages then that would be $1200 per months leaving $800 profit per month. A big difference. So is your $2000 figure a turnover figure.

So often you hear about affiliates acquiring 1000s in commissions etc. However we rarely get the full picture of lots of hours creating content, SEO and other Office stuff.Profit would be a better metric in my opinion.

Just thoughts,

Sam

 

[cterao]

Sam, when I wrote this, almost a year ago, I was earning a gross revenue of $2000 or so per month and spending about $300 or so per month on AMA, UAW, and a writer in the Philippines (AMA was cheaper back then than it is now).

So, when I wrote this I was making about $1700 or so in profit.

I'm easily distractable. I probably only put in a solid 3 hours of work each day, which would work out to 15 hours per week, or 60 hours per month.

I hope that gives you a better picture.

These days I make more money :)

 

[mario3173]

Hi Clayton,

First congrats.... even though it has been a year or so! I'd like to ask you if you would still recommend AMA? I know from reading your blog that it was a vital ingredient to your marketing efforts.

Now that a year has gone by and SEO seems to get harder to do... Do you still think AMA if effective?

Is AMA and UAW still your main tools in distributing articles, besides submitting to article directories?

Do you still believe the methods you used on your niche sites, as mentioned on your case studies, still work? I am really trying to get better with my marketing efforts so any tips would be great!

Mario

 

[cterao]

Hi Mario,

I still use AMA, but I honestly cannot recommend it to anyone. Their service is pretty bad.

A few of my experiences with AMA:

- Unable to access my account on several occasions without warning or any sort of apology.
- They set several "draft" articles to "live" without warning (articles were not ready to be published).
- They have ignored several support tickets.
- They canceled my account without warning after about one year. I can only assume that this is a way to screw over their affiliates so that they only have to pay them for one year's worth of commissions. Or perhaps it was because they were raising the price of their service and wanted to make sure that no one was grandfathered in under the lower rate.[/list]

I use AMA, UAW, and SEOLV. It can't really tell how much AMA delivers though because I'm using it in conjunction with other services.

Only use it if you have the patience for poor customer service.

I still believe that the overall SEO principles work, but you have to keep building links continuously or else your rankings may start to sink again.

I hope this helps.

 

[mario3173]

Thanks Clayton for the reply.

 

[Speed]

Fantastic, and inspiring thread. Would be very interested Clayton if you have time to provide us with an update on occasion of how things are going for your websites profit-wise.

 

[cterao]

Hi Speed, I don't really like to talk about money too much these days. I guess it made sense back when I was doing the one year challenge, especially in the beginning when I didn't know if it would lead anywhere. But these days it just feels like bragging or some kind of ego trip, which really isn't my style.

I'm not doing 100% affiliate marketing either anymore, so that kind of makes things complicated.

But I make enough to pay the bills with enough left over to get a few beers :)

In the end, I don't think it really matters how much someone makes as long as they are doing well for themselves and they are living the life that they want. Just know that affiliate marketing does indeed work and that it can really change your life if you stick with it.

I hope this helps.