On New Year’s Eve 1998 I celebrated with a group of friends in a small pub. All of us were on looking to make some money on this new thing called the Internet. At the time it seemed that with some effort within a year we should all be making $3000 to $5000 per month. And the consensus was that If we weren’t… We must be sleeping. It was a time when it seemed like everybody was making money online.
Actually that assessment was very close to being accurate because back then the internet was the wild, wild West and there were any number of ways to make money fairly quickly if you were willing to adapt to a “new normal.” For example my first promotion was for a company in the United States and conventional thinking at the time said Canadians shouldn’t be doing business with someone in another country particularly if they had never met. Quite frankly I had my concerns but when that first check cleared the bank all of those concerns went out the window.
Fast forward 12 years and that original goal of $3000 a month or $100 a day is a tad tougher to hit for a number of reasons.
Consumers Are Discriminating:
Back in the bad old days the general public was terrified when it came to using credit cards on the internet but that obstacle to conversion was overcome by the fact that there was very little competition and any old keyword stuffed page would rank high in the search engines.
Today of course, the internet is an integral part of consumer’s everyday lives and they turn to it like your parents turned to the Yellow Pages and the direct mail circulars that would arrive at the house. When your parents wanted information on Medifast coupon codes they had to rely on print or TV. You of course just have to Google. And the returns you get on the first page will be relevant, high quality content. There has been an incredible increase in the number and quality of competing sites.
That means that today’s consumers have far more access to not only comprehensive information about a given product or service, but they can also determine what others whom they trust think of the product or service.
In short, selling to today’s consumers and hitting that $100 a day mark is going to take more than a well written landing page. You’re going to have to appeal to what the consumer is looking for and you are going to have to convince them that others find what you are offering as having value.
OK that’s the challenge. Now let’s look at ways that you can meet those challenges and hit your dollar target.
How Much Traffic Do You Need?
It’s one thing to say “I want to make $100 a day” and quite another to know just what you need to do to get it. Let’s start with traffic.
I recently had a conversation with a very talented Affiliate Program Manager named Karen Garcia and we were discussing one of the products she manages which happens to be a do it yourself beer brewing kit. If you’re a beer drinker this kit has a lot going for it over the competition. I know because I have one at home.
So how many of these DIY brewing kits would you have to sell to make $100 a day? Let’s take a look at how we could calculate that.
- The kit sells @ $116 each and the commission is 15% or roughly $17 for each sale.
- $100 divided by $17 commission means you need 6 sales a day to hit your $100 a day goal.
- Karen advised that the average conversion rate is 2%. Now Karen is good and I trust her but there are some other program managers that might inflate the conversion rate just to get your traffic. However, let’s use Karen’s 2% which means you need 300 visitors a day to net 6 sales.
Now 300 visitors a day may seem like an astronomical number if you’re just starting out but if you stick at it and think in terms outside of organic search you’ll be surprised just how fast those numbers will roll in.
The Importance Of Social Proof
How many pitches have you seen that say “But don’t take my word for it” followed by a string of endorsements? Endorsements or reviews are vital to selling credibility. But not all endorsements are created equal.
For example which would impress you more; a glowing recommendation from Bob K. in IL or the same recommendation from someone you follow on Twitter or who you are friends with on Facebook?
Social media has become the new “word of mouth” referral and word of mouth is the social proof that buyers are looking for to validate their buying decisions. Yes, you need to do all the on page and off page optimization for ranking, but you cannot overlook the incredible effectiveness that traffic from social media can have.
We’re talking beer kits here but it doesn’t matter if you’re promoting walk-in bathtubs, health and beauty products or the Nutrisystem weight loss program reviews the concept is the same. What this means is you have to remain engaged with the website. In order to get social media traffic you have to be…well…social. Carefully crafted Tweets and regular updates on FaceBook have to be part of your marketing plan.
If you’re struggling to make $100 a day and have a story to share, or if you have broken the barrier and would like to tell us how, please leave a comment in the box below.
Citations:
- This article about “Breaking the Barrier – Understanding the Secret to Making $100 a Day” was written by James Martell.
Author Byline: James Martell is the host of the “Affiliate Marketers BootCamp”, and host the “Affiliate Buzz”, the 1st ever and longest running podcast for affiliate marketers. Subscribe to his weekly podcast and you’ll receive directly from James Martell receive actionable tips, strategies and *money making* advice. A sought-after speaker, James has spoken at CJU, Digital River Lab, Affiliate Summit, The System Seminar, Pubcon, Affcon, and more.
