Step 1 : Pick a name that dictates you from the start.

You want people’s first impression of you to be that of a self-proclaimed badass, chances are they’ll believe it. Examples :

UBERaffiliate.com
shoeMONEY.com
SUPERAFFILIATEmindset.com
CASHtactics.net

In the least, include something like “I Make Money Online By Telling People How I Make Money Online” in the title of your blog. All people want from your blog (in most cases) is to learn how to make money. Remember…you don’t actually have to be an uber affiliate, you just need people to think you are.

Step 2 : Regurgitate some already known tips.

Go to my affiliate marketing guide, or visit other affiliate marketing blogs around the web. Read all the content that’s been talked about a billion times (like how to track with php, why more content on your site gives you a better quality score, how to write adcopy, etc). Use words like “laser-targeted” and “server side tracking”. You don’t even have to know what you mean by that, it just makes you sound pro.

Step 3 : B/s current events.

Bring up some fancy Google Trends swine flu graph :

And talk about the huge spike in the graph, and that you should be capitalizing on selling immune system rebill products. Now people will think you’re keeping up with current events, and they can check back on your blog for more current events. Even though you pointed out an obvious fact and just pulled a Google Trends graph. Case in point. Not many comments on that post but that’s because it was one of the first. It did it’s job.

Step 4 : Land a big guest post somewhere to explode your readership.

By this point, you have a name like DancingWithTheSuperAffiliates.com and a tagline like “Ex-Blackhat Conman” to give people the impression that you’re straight out of a Clint Eastwood movie. You also have a small reserve of posts that are going to make you look like you know what you’re talking about, and that you keep up with the industry. It’s time to get your readers.

This could be one of the most difficult steps, because you actually have to write something that’s worth a guest post somewhere. For me, I had to sacrifice breaking Facebook ads on Shoemoney to get my readers. It was a great article though and I think I had over 1,000 readers a week later. Once you have a kick-start like that, your readers will start linking to your future posts, about regurgitated tips and common sense current events.

Step 5 : The Earnings Screenshot

This one is absolutely necessary if you want a following that will pause their campaigns at your will/recommendation.

As demonstrated by previous heroes of our past, you can completely fake the screenshot. If you’re then caught doing so (which you have to be really stupid), just come back and say “EDIT : This edit came in before people called me out. That check isn’t mine, I only posted the picture for entertainment purposes. I did make that money though…”

Step 6 : Linkbait and Commotion

Any decent blogger can be good at writing link bait. Have you noticed the hundred links in this post already? Also I don’t mean it’s required that you get a ton of links back to your article, starting a good fuss in the comments section usually does the trick as well. You want to keep people engaged in your blog, and also entertain them. I think people like when I post something they don’t agree with, because they get to speak up against me.

Step 7 : Ads, Review Posts, etc

Things like ads and review posts can add a sense of legitimacy I think in a blog. If people are buying ad spots and review posts, the blog must be worth something. Keep in mind, nobody actually has to buy a review post/ad spot for it to look like they have. Put in some affiliate network ads and review posts (that they didn’t ask you to do) and pop in your referral link.

…

Follow all these steps and you may actually turn yourself into the super affiliate you’re claiming to be. You’ll make money from the ads to put into PPC, and have networks begging you for your traffic that doesn’t exist.

Cool people (and friends) mentioned in this post :

Me
Shoemoney
John Chow
Chad (CDF)
Kris (Cash Tactics)
Cakes

It seemed like my entire childhood education was built upon finally going out to college, learning a trade, and getting a job with the degree I would earn. At least in high school that’s all I heard from teachers…”You think this is hard, just wait until college.”…”We’re doing this to better prepare you for college,”, etc. Throughout our high school years is when our parents encourage us to save up for college, and even set up college funds for us with their money.

So what did I put in? Two years, roughly $15,000 (including all tuitions, books, room/board, etc), and a lot of my time. What did I end up with? College certainly didn’t pay me for my time, so that’s -$15,000. Looking back, I really didn’t learn anything useful other than the fact that if you really really want to find a way to get around the system…you can. I did have some great times with great people, but this post is only talking about the education/degree factor. So I ended up with nothing but the lesson that college just isn’t necessary for some people. If I put more into it, would I have learned something and gotten a degree? Yeah, not denying that one bit. But college simply isn’t for me, and might not be for you either.

I’ll talk briefly about my college experience now for those that are interested and may be going through similar things.

Pre-college : In high school I was the kid who did nothing and got by. I hated homework, maybe just for the fact that I didn’t like the idea of having to do something I didn’t want to do. I took the test and did the big projects, but I usually avoided most small homeworks - because they could be avoided. If you really really want to find a way around the system…you can. And you don’t have to be a genius to figure it out, just take a step back and look at where you’re really going. If you know you want to go to a community college out of high school, do you really need an A? If you like working hard at things just for the sake of working hard, more power to you. But if not (like me), don’t feel like a failure because you just don’t see the point in it.

During College : I didn’t really know what direction I wanted to go in, I just figured I’d be good at business or law. But I certainly wasn’t going through all the work and hell to get through law school - life really is too short to waste 7-8 years of my life wanting to kill myself. So I chose business, and took on the easy schedule. I learned about online marketing while just starting my freshman year at school. By the start of the second semester, I knew I would be dropping out after that year. I saw the potential in the industry and had already made a few thousand bucks, it was worth it. You can always go back to college if you really need to. I started working on my business and stopped doing school work. College did indeed prove to be a bit harder than high school. Here homework usually wasn’t required, it all came down to the tests. Unfortunately those required hours of reading, so I usually read the cliff notes, or read the test of the girl in the row in front of me (she got a C on the economics exam). Once more now, if you really really want to find a way around the system…you can.

Transition Time : I resigned from college that year to work on affiliate marketing full time. I was learning 10x as much by getting out there and testing things for myself. I could either pay $20,000-100,000 (depending on what school you go to) to get a degree that will teach me how to manage my business assets. Or I could spend $1,000 testing Google Adwords to find the customers that want to buy what I have to sell. My first years in affiliate marketing, even now, have taught me an incredible amount…and I didn’t have to sacrifice a dime for it. But while I was building my business, I started to feel like I missed out on the college years of my life. So I went back…

Back to School : Last month I started school at SUNY Geneseo. It’s actually a very selective school now and they rejected my application at first. My grades weren’t even close to being good enough to get in (perhaps like trying to get a job interview with a low GPA?). So I drove down to the school, talked to the admissions officer, and told him why he should let me attend their school. All together now: if you really really want to find a way around the system, you can. After a month of taking classes that I just took out of interest (computer science, physics, and geology), working on this new product simply took up all my time. I didn’t have nearly enough time to study, and it was the best business move to just cut my losses and move back home.

Was the point of that whole story to either a) bore you, or b) lead you to believe I’m an egomaniac? No, this is for kids my age who may feel the same way about school. If you really feel that college isn’t for you, and if you really feel like you don’t need college to earn a good living, you have no reason to waste your money even trying. Why spend thousands of dollars on college, and THEN go out and try something that wouldn’t make use of your paper degree? If you’re in college now or any type of school, start working on something in your free time. Brainstorm ways to make money and put them to action. Don’t listen to anybody that tells you that you need college to be successful in “this day in age”.

Some points I want to make :

1) I am certainly not trying to encourage anybody to completely avoid college. If you want to be a doctor or nutritionist, college is completely necessary and will absolutely be helpful. I’m just making the point that many times something like college can be an individual case. Not everybody needs to be a part of the “system” in order to find their way. This is for those people, those cases…not everyone. I’m not talking about the fools with no college degree that peddle drugs, con people, or just sit and collect unemployment/welfare. Please don’t come at me with stats on college dropouts, because this article is not about that.

2) I go back to the “if you really really want to find a way around the system…you can.” quite a few times, and wanted to clarify that as it may raise some flags. Getting around the “system” is one of the things that my college experience showed me. It’s helped me to realize that if I really want to get somewhere or do something but have no direction, I know it’s possible that I’ll find a way to get where I want. Just knowing I can get there helps me stay motivated and fixated on whatever goal I have. BUT, you have to think of this in relative terms. I’m not saying beating the system means doing anything harmful, illegal, or highly unethical. In this article’s example I mention not doing homework, cheating on a college exam, and persuading the admissions director to accept me. Using an example of cheating on a test is probably inappropriate and slightly unethical…but it didn’t harm anybody and it helps to prove my point. Proving my point is more important than my personal reputation, the goal here is to be honest with others going through the same things as I am in regards to school. Hopefully it helps or at least reassures a few people out there.

Think about this :

You want to be a marketing manager when you grow up. Now you’ve looked at job descriptions and even called ahead to employers and asked them what a marketing manager does. You learn that once you’ve been hired, you’ll be trained on everything the company does. You’ll receive information to digest, and then receive your first task. Now it’s time for college. I’d say for that job position, easily more than half of your classes will serve you little to no purpose. Will learning the war heroes of the American Revolution help you sell toothbrushes? How about doing an advanced integral in calculus? The school system thinks you need these classes for your development/work ethic/blah blah. That’s why they make them required for any degree…for a lot of people that’s just simply wrong. It’s wasting their time and money to teach them something that will have little to no effect on their end-game (a career). I couldn’t help the fact that I simply couldn’t pay attention in classes I had no interest in. I know people that have paid to have somebody go and sit through all their classes and take their exams so they could work on their business instead…I say bravo. Beat that system boii.

3) Something to keep in mind : I’m writing this post as I’ve said for college kids in the same position. Same position meaning school just isn’t right for some people, and with some smart thinking and work you can make things work just fine on your own. Smart thinking, and work. If your idea for selling diet pills is to give out samples to marathon runners, you should strongly consider going to college or learning a trade. Being smart about things is 100% necessary for anything I’m talking about right now.

4) I sound like a slacker with my “do as little as possible to get by” philosophy. Most people resent that way of living…I embrace it. Why should I have to do homework that don’t have to do? If I’m doing well enough on the tests I obviously know the material, so I see no point unless I enjoy it. Should you go to lecture if you can learn all the material from the reading? Hell no, you should go play basketball with your friends instead. Instead of looking at it like a “do as little as possible to get by” approach, I look at is as : “accomplish your goals while enjoying as much of it as you possibly can.”

5) I am in no way saying to drop what you’re currently doing now. If you’re in college - stay in college. If you have a full time job - stay in that job. If you’re planning on going to college next year - go to college next year. But there is time in the “meantime” that you can start to explore career options that don’t require a degree. I know firsthand how much work college can be, especially if you actually plan on doing the work/studying. I have physics major friends who stay up all night many nights every week doing homework and studying. But they also have time to play a lot of Xbox and party on the weekends. Which if you’re going to school like that you need those breaks, but not if you want more. You have to want it badly enough. I started getting into internet marketing while I was going to school. I still did all my projects and went to my part-time job, but whenever I had free time I was reading about affiliate marketing. Once I started to see results from that (and only once I saw results), I started to cut back on school.

Anyway, bit of an off-topic post. But seeing as I’m just coming off of my second college run, the thoughts are flowing freshly. Keep in mind I like to stir the pot just for the sake of stirring, so don’t take any of this too offensively.

Always remember…be smart about it.

I actually went to Miami to visit the Opes HQ before ASE this summer, and it was pretty sweet. They have an awesome office and everything is setup really nicely. I got to sneak a peak at the back end of the system, see their offers, landing pages, etc. Basically by the time I had left, I was excited for their launch not so I can tell everyone here, but so I could run some of their offers myself ;). They have some offers converting pretty well actually that I’m going to give a shot (if you do any rebill stuff now, definitely check these guys out).

Opes is tops with its professional layout, and seamless interface. Signing up is easy and doesn’t require a lot of time. And once you get going, you know you are getting the real deal. They have their own proprietary network that utilizes server-side tracking, and everything is totally customizable. They have some pretty rad looking offers that are worth checking out. Plus they have exclusive advertisers too, so offers should convert pretty well.

One nice thing was the account managers which can be iffy for many other networks. Their account managers knew their stuff and were always available, which is nice because when problems come up it’s good to have help waiting. Also, they got flexible payment options that help with cash flow needs. Basically, it is a network that knows what you need to do well, but whether or not you do well is up to you.

Check them out, it’s worth a signup at least. I’m not getting paid for this post nor does Opes even have a referral program, so there’s no incentives for me. Just something you should check out.

Advertiser update: many long days and 6am nights aside, everything is starting to come together. Hopefully a couple more weeks and all the heavy work will be finished.

My hope is that when I emerge from this muck, profitable or not I’ll be able to share the obstacles I went through. Right now it’s been cramming 1 Excel spreadsheet for hours trying to make the numbers work. There is a lot to it people.

So if you’re an affiliate chilling on $1-10k+/day and you’re happy…stay happy for a while and consider what you’ll be getting yourself into. It’s not “Affiliates are making $40 they’re the middle man, step it up to be an advertiser and everything will be the same, only you’ll make $80/month instead of $40!”

Any guru that says, preaches, or teaches that -including myself because I’m sure I’ve said it before in the past- is a…ermm…gutard? This wasn’t really meant to be a post, just an update that wouldn’t appropriately fit on Twitter. It may take a while, but hopefully I’ll have an article series about all this soon.

Goober affiliate the goober gutard.

How My Operation Started

I started ~3 years ago on my own, just a solo affiliate trying to learn the business. I had my own campaigns that did well, but after going to some events and talking with industry friends I realized I was small potatoes. Most of my affiliate friends were solo as well, so I pretty much stuck with that route for a while. I had a few partnerships along the way, but that’s an entire post on it’s own (hmm perhaps the next post then?).

After a while of working on my own and building out my skills, I took a step back and looked at what was happening. I was making pretty good money but I was doing everything myself. That’s when I went golfing with Matt and he jokingly suggested that I hire him. That day I thought about it a lot and it actually seemed to make sense. I’d pay him hourly (more than he was making at his current job) to work on things for me. The more work I gave him, the more free time I had to work on things myself, start new ideas, and network a lot more. And play Call of Duty here and there ;).

So I went through with that idea and it proved to be beneficial. Now a few months later I see that my plan was still very flawed. I thought about things and what I was good at, and what I was training Matt for. I was good at coming up with ideas, setting up a decent landing page, and driving traffic to it. I pretty much spent months teaching Matt the same thing. WRONGGGGGGGGG.

Instead of initially looking for someone to compliment my skills, I should have been looking for someone to supplement them. Meaning instead of training someone to do what I’m already good at, I should have been looking for someone to work in the areas that I’m weaker in; primarily programming and design. Now that I realized that small roadblock I made for myself, how could I take it to the next level? By…

Building a Team

If I could break it down into a step-by-step process, I’d go something like this.

Step 1 : Making sure you’re in the proper mindset.

Building a team is serious stuff, and for it you have to be serious. That means not only will you have to take a risk in paying all these employees that may not make you anything more than you are now, but you also risk them being counterproductive to what you’re already doing. These risks can be minimized by simply hiring the right people. You have to be prepared and ready to accept a potential loss, it’s all a part of the game.

Step 2 : Asses the strengths/weaknesses in your company/yourself.

In my own case, I mentioned that the strengths in my company from myself were traffic generation and ideas. My ideas come to life, but not at their greatest potential. If I were to take things seriously, I would want employees that would specialize in :

• design
• content creation
• programming
• accounting/legal/bookkeeping

Now that you know what you have and what you don’t have, it’s time to actually make it happen.

Step 3 : Set up your game plan.

There’s actually a few ways you can hire and manage the team you’re going to build. I’ll list a couple of them:

1. Hiring an outsourced team. I’d suggest hitting up a place like Odesk.com or even a design/writing forum or some sort of internet forum. Post up a job and take resumes and portfolios. Take all the info, look it over, and then choose your team to hire over the internet. Communicate via email, phone, and IM.

Pros : Can find much cheaper work, it’s faster, you can communicate anywhere, cutting someone is no hassle, you have the opportunity to just hire on a per project basis and not hourly/salary.

Cons : Everything that comes with hiring a remote staff. They may not pick up your calls or take a while to respond, time zone differences, quality of work may be lower because you’re not there, and things are generally easier to explain in person.

2. Hiring an in-house team from scratch. I’d say the younger the better, so if you were to build a team from scratch I’d try and find some students fresh out of college. Post listings at local colleges and design schools, in English buildings and computer buildings.

Pros : We just made the change to in-house, meaning you have a constant watch over everybody, communication is easier, and teamwork is a lot better. Simply put in-house is just much more effective. They’re fresh out of college and are ready to learn and work. They know nothing about the industry and with your proper guidance will never know enough to quit the company and go off on their own. Just make sure that you really specialize what they’re doing and not tell them anymore (i.e. don’t show a designer affiliate network stats, traffic stats, revenue, or anything).

Cons : Training. Depending on your current skills, this can take either a long time or a really really long time. Matt still has a ton to learn and he’s been with me approaching a year now learning everything that I know. Also you run the risk of them just not working out and not learning well. If you’re going this route make sure you have an extensive interview process. Also costs. You’re going to want to get some office space, equipment, and then the employees will most likely be more expensive.

3. Collaborating with and poaching existing industry folk. Say you have a really good friend and he’s bomb at programming or something. You two decide to team up and hire a team. Someone will have to move, but you both get together and build the company together. You can either hire fresh students, or you can hire existing industry affiliates and affiliate managers. I’ve known more than one instance where I’ve seen an affiliate manager be poached by a private affiliate.

Pros : Most members already know the industry. Training is kept to a minimum, ideas flow much better, you have everybody’s connections combined, and it’s all just much faster.

Cons : Already being in this industry, employees like affiliate managers will want a decent salary or some sort of revshare. You’ll already be splitting the company with a partner (if you choose), so that means you get even less of a cut.

Step 4 : Take the plan to action.

Now it’s time to put the game plan into action. Go out and find your employees whichever way you choose. Hit up colleges with flyers, talk to professors, talk to your industry friends, etc. This is where 95% of you reading this will just stop. You’ll get psyched about the money you could make with a full team, plan on actually doing it, and then never following through. Maybe the campaign your working on now takes up too much of you’re time, or maybe you’re just a baby and don’t want to take a risk. There’s nothing I can say that will change your mind or reveal anything to you, so I guess that where it’ll end. Either do it or not.

I’m probably going to cut the article off here for now, because that’s pretty much what I can report on. I have multiple friends that employ teams EXACTLY the way I just described to you, and they’re raping it. Right now I’ve started taking some steps to outsource a little work, and partner up with some industry friends for single project revshare deals. Next year I plan on getting out of Buffalo and moving somewhere nicer. Once I do that I’d like to get an office and just start hiring in-house.

So while I can’t give many tips on managing a full team yet, hopefully it’ll make for a decent post next month.

See ya’ll in NYC in a couple days.

EDIT: I think comments are back and working.