Affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing is a type of performance-based marketing in which a business rewards one or more affiliates for each visitor or customer brought by the affiliate's own marketing efforts. The industry has four core players: the merchant (also known as 'retailer' or 'brand'), the network (that contains offers for the affiliate to choose from and also takes care of the payments), the publisher (also known as 'the affiliate'), and the customer. The market has grown in complexity, resulting in the emergence of a secondary tier of players, including affiliate management agencies, super-affiliates and specialized third party vendors.

Affiliate marketing overlaps with other Internet marketing methods to some degree, because affiliates often use regular advertising methods. Those methods include organic search engine optimization (SEO), paid search engine marketing (PPC - Pay Per Click), e-mail marketing, content marketing and in some sense display advertising. On the other hand, affiliates sometimes use less orthodox techniques, such as publishing reviews of products or services offered by a partner.

Affiliate marketing is commonly confused with referral marketing, as both forms of marketing use third parties to drive sales to the retailer. However, both are distinct forms of marketing and the main difference between them is that affiliate marketing relies purely on financial motivations to drive sales while referral marketing relies on trust and personal relationships to drive sales.

Affiliate marketing is frequently overlooked by advertisers. While search engines, e-mail, and website syndication capture much of the attention of online retailers, affiliate marketing carries a much lower profile. Still, affiliates continue to play a significant role in e-retailers'marketing strategies.

Is Inbox Dollars and Similar Sites A Scam?

So this is gonna be a quick review of InboxDollars (Similar scam sites: Toluna, Swagbucks.com, InboxPounds and PaidOffers), mostly because I don’t believe that this program will make you much money online in the long run.

Notice I said – not much money.

Which means that you will make money (or should I say pennies) if you persist with it – but frankly there’s a lot better ways of making money as I show you here.

Anyway …

First off, in my opinion, InboxDollars should rephrase it’s name and call themselves InboxPennies, because that’s about what you’ll make from them.

Delivering papers will probably pay more.

Okay, so I wasn’t intending on dissing them, but look, if you get paid $0.20 for completing a 20 minute survey then – sumthin ain’t right.

So there has been a lot of people recent getting involved in these get-paid-to-read-email scams, and a lot of these programs (on the surface) seem like a cool way to make money, but the reality is –  they’re just time suckers.

They take up all your valuable time for a one off payment.

These programs usually pay peanuts as far as your time and effort is concerned, so keep that in mind when assessing them yourself.

Yes, you can make money completing surveys, but that’s if – and ONLY if you qualify for them, which is where InboxDollars falls short for the vast majority of it’s members.

My Wealthy Affiliate Review

f you’ve come across Wealthy Affiliate anywhere on the internet recently, you may be hearing a lot of positive things about it. You’re probably desperately trying to search around, expecting to find those negative reviews exposing it for the scam it really is. You’re asking, “Is Wealthy Affiliate too good to be true?”

If you’re wondering if Wealthy Affiliate is a scam, I can tell you it’s certainly far, far from it. My name is Wendy (known as WendyJane within WA), and I’ve been a member of the community for about 3 years. I started a COMPLETE newbie, but took the training and built my own online business. The amazing part is that unlike every other “make money online” program out there, WA actually includes everything you need to create a business online –  from the support, help, training, tools AND web hosting! There’s no upsells or hidden costs, period.

It’s by far the most helpful, interactive community for online business on the market today, so you definitely don’t want to miss out on your chance to experience it for 100% free.

So, what exactly is Wealthy Affiliate?

Wealthy Affiliate is a training program that can teach anyone how to start their own online business. The training ranges anywhere from teaching beginners to start up their own niche marketing website to training existing business owners how to put themselves online and use local marketing strategies to grow their existing business.

The great thing about Wealthy Affiliate is that you’re encouraged to start a business from your passions, interests or hobbies, not choose from a list of pre-selected “profitable” niches like other marketing programs will have you do. Starting a business based on your interests makes it more exciting and more likely that you’ll succeed. In fact, I believe it to be the most beneficial training program available on the market today for those wanting to venture into online entrepreneurship.

What makes Wealthy Affiliate Unique?

Wealthy Affiliate is so much MORE than a product. Unlike other online training programs, it isn’t just some downloadable guide or series of video tutorials. It’s essentially like a university for online business entrepreneurs. It provides all aspects anyone seeking out income online will need – training, tools, community and support! You won’t find that within any other “product” available.

The thing about online marketing is the system changes fast, what worked last year may not work today. I’ve seen things change a lot even in the few years I’ve been marketing online! However, the owners, Kyle and Carson, are very knowledgeable and stay on top of game. Their training and advice is never outdated!

Kyle and Carson are ready and willing to help YOU out!

And they’re very active within the community.They sincerely care about helping others become successful online.

In addition to the help and support of Kyle and Carson, there’s an entire community of 10,000+ members that are willing to help you too! These are people from all walks of life, who have varying degrees of experience with internet marketing–some are extremely successful and others just starting out, but they’re all willing to help.  There’s no other online marketing “product” you’ll find with that sort of support and community.

Let’s compare Wealthy Affiliate to college…

You would easily pay thousands of dollars for just ONE course, and how much for an entire degree? Some people pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for degrees, and many times more and more these days are left with massive debt and undesirable jobs. Wealthy Affiliate lets you join on the premium level for less than $1 per day, and teaches you everything you would ever need to know about online business. I myself went to college, but I got more benefit out of 6 months of training there than any college class I took, ever. It’s simply a way better value for your money.

 Put away your credit card…

Try It Risk Free Today (ZERO $$)

 So what exactly does “building an online business” mean?

This term tends to confuse a lot of people, but really an online business is just that, a business that is built online. Only instead of a physical piece of property, your business is built upon a website. What type of business you conduct on your website is up to you, but the beginner training within WA focusing specifically around something called affiliate marketing.

Basically it’s like this – 2 billion people now have access to the internet and are searching in Google and other search engines constantly. Think about all the times you used a search engine trying to find information, advice or even when you wanted to buy something online. You probably clicked on some of the results and found what you needed within the first page, right?

This is where the training at Wealthy Affiliate comes into play. They show you how to create a website around helping people out who are searching for stuff online. You’re taught how to find the terms people are actually searching for online right now, write helpful content around it, and rank on the 1st page of Google and other search engines so people will find and click on your website.

If you build a site focused on a particular niche (a narrow area of interest) and can rank for lots of these key terms people are searching for on a daily basis, you’ll have a lot of traffic being funneled to your site.

In the terms of online business, traffic = potential customers. Once you have established traffic, the training will teach you how to properly monetize it.

And it doesn’t stop there, either. The training encompasses so much more it can virtually be for anyone who is interested in building an online business, no matter what they want to do.

Access to fully managed WordPress hosting for up to 25 domains you own (premium members)

Websites are the real estate of the online business world. Owning a domain name is one thing, but without hosting, simply having a domain name does you very little good.

The hosting provided by Wealthy Affiliate is hands down worth the $47 monthly membership alone. It can be a pretty pricey business expense if you start looking into the higher quality options, and even very basic hosting can run you over $100/year alone.

Considering they offer fully managed WordPress hosting for up to 25 domains (which if you purchase through companies like Pagely or WPEngine is extremely expensive on its own) and considering you would be paying this as an extra expense somewhere else if you weren’t a member here, you’re getting an amazing deal.

Pros vs Cons

Let’s take a look at the PROS of WA:

• You can sign up for free, for LIFE. It’s not a 7 day, 30 or 60 day trial offer
• NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY! You don’t need a background in web design or marketing to get started here. The training and tools are designed for anyone to use regardless of prior knowledge.
• Superior, up to date training, they never fall behind the times
• TONS of additional training uploaded by members of the community, that’s right–anyone can upload their own training materials! It gives the community a unique aspect as the training is not all provided by the same person. People with all different types of experiences share what works for them!
• 24/7 help and support from a community of 10,000+ members, ready to guide you along the way
• Personal one-on-one support and coaching from the owners, Kyle and Carson themselves
• Web hosting on up to 25 domains you own + 25 free Siterubix websites (50 in total!) for premium members, 2 free Siterubix websites available to starter members!
• Unlimited Use of the WA Keyword Tool for premium members (Same database as Jaaxy (the paid keyword tool) but with limited features
• Not a MLM (Multi-level-Marketing) scheme, nor a “get rich quick” program
• A sincerely honest approach, there’s absolutely nothing “sleazy” about it
• You are provided with your own blog to write about your marketing adventures! You can read everyone else’s blog posts too–a lot of times they can be quite inspiring and helpful
• Live video training every Friday-and you can go back and watch them whenever you want! There are so many past videos available to watch, and they provide a ton of useful info. I always learn something new whenever I watch them.
• Best of all you don’t have to go through the process alone, there’s LOTS OF SUPPORT from the community. There’s always people willing to help you out whenever you have questions!

Cons:

• The 24/7 live chat isn’t always the best place for help. Because there’s often times many people in there chatting, people ask questions that get thrown to the bottom and nobody will see them. If that ever happens, simply ask again and most likely someone will see it the second time around. It’s more of a place for easy, quick questions. The more in depth questions are best left for the interactive classrooms or PMs.

•  Because Wealthy Affiliate is a highly interactive community, it’s really easy to get caught up in the social aspect (much like Facebook) and spend too much time chatting and not enough time actually working on your business!

• There’s really not much negatives about WA! It’s probably the most engaged, helpful online business community out there! But, I’ve written an in depth blog that addresses thecommon complaints people have about Wealthy Affiliate, so give it a read if you want to find out the negatives other people have to say (and my rebuttals, of course).

Who is it for?

• People who can’t find jobs, are underemployed, or just simply hate their job.
• People who hate working for someone else.
• People who want the freedom to earn their own money, make more money, or earn a passive income.
• It’s for those who want to earn some extra money to help pay bills
• High school drop outs, college drop outs (and those that hold degrees too)
• It’s for people who want to go about an honest way of making money online.
• Those looking for quality WordPress hosting (fully managed)
• Essentially, anyone and everyone.

Price

Starter Lifetime Membership: $0, yes ZERO dollars – Sign up for a free membership here.

Premium membership: $47 if you pay month by month, $359 per year (which works out to just $29 per month) It’s not much if you consider everything that’s included.

My closing thoughts + a special BONUS offer for you!

The truth is, there is nothing else like Wealthy Affiliate out there. They started back in 2005 as just a basic keyword tool, but it has evolved into a thriving, interative community over the past 9 years. In terms of internet programs, 9 years is an eternity.It gives you a pretty good idea that these guys know a thing or two about online business.

They even let you join for free just so you’ll have an “in” on what exactly goes down within the community before you put your money down. They provide you with 2 free websites, free starter training and tons of additional training resources and blogs. You’ll have the ability to ask any questions you wish plus you can get your hands on the 24/7 live chat access for your first 7 days (note: after the first 7 days, your membership isn’t deactivated, just limited).

We all are familiar with the saying, “If something is too good to be true, it probably is.” I believe W.A. is the exception to that. Wealthy Affiliate is simply not a scam.

Join Wealthy Affiliate Free Here

Seriously, it’s $0. There’s NO credit card required.

HOW TO CLAIM YOUR BONUS OFFER

It’s simple! In fact, when you join with a free starter account, I will offer you a special bonus if you decide to become a premium member within the first 7 days. I will be getting in touch with you personally to say hello, point you in the right direction, and give you more details on your special bonuses! (This includes a 59% discount on your first payment– that works out to just $19 your first month!)

If you end up not liking it or deciding it’s not for you, well then, there’s no pressure to stay. And with no membership fee required, you seriously have NOTHING TO LOSE! But I truly think you will like it within the community, it has so much to offer you.

*INSTRUCTIONS FOR AFTER YOU SIGN UP*

1. Click the green “get started here” training located on the left side of your Wealthy Affiliate dashboard.

2. Follow through the first 10 lessons, it will get you rolling in the right direction.

3. Make sure you take a few minutes to fill out your profile and add an image (doesn’t even have to be a picture of yourself if you don’t want), but you will see better engagement within the community if people feel as though they can connect with you in some way.

I will also get in touch with you within the first hour to say hello and give you a bit more details. If you need additional clarification or help with anything (seriously, anything at all), drop me a message on my profile page. I am more than willing to lend a hand!

Best Way To Make Money Online

Endless confusion envelops the subject of the 'best way to make money online'. Trying to explain this through a simple definition is not as simple as it may sound. This is due to the SHEER AMOUNT of varying ways that you could make extra money online, as with the offline world.

Asking this question could be considered as vague as asking "how do I make money?". As there is so many different paths that you could follow. So, if you follow through the next few paragraphs, I am going to define the process which you will want to follow in order to build a solid starting point to success online. Sound fair?

Cool....

So out of the gates, the core of your foundation...

(1) The Core Of Your Foundation To Online Success - Your Website

If you want success online, without me beating around the bush, you absolutely need your own WEBSITE. Often, people (myself included, in the beginning) slap together an online business without a website and end up jumping on the path to a very short lived online career. Grinding advertising on Facebook and other social networks, simply will not give you the results you require. You need a foundation for success online - YOU NEED A WEBSITE.

It is like being a race car driver, and expecting to get somewhere without wheels on your race car. It doesn't matter how good you are, how experienced you are, and it definitely doesn't matter how big your engine is, or how much gas you give your engine. You will never get off of the start line without wheels.

Now, it doesn't help you slap on any set of wheels, because a little way down the line, those wheels are going to break or the tires will blow and you will be back to square one. So spend time getting your research done to build your website. Don't try and rush this, as this core foundation will ultimately determine how far you get on your path to being successful online.

(2) Adding An Engine To Drive Your Wheels - The Content

Great, so we have a website, what's next? Creating content. Yip, content is what is going to drive a great deal of traffic to your website. It is going to get the wheels turning.

Content will drive traffic through SEO. It will grow your relationships with your visitors. And it will build YOUR BRAND, allowing for a long term online business.

What exactly do I mean by content? Well, this could be several things, from text, to discussions/ comments on your pages, to videos and audio files. Both search engines and PEOPLE are attracted to content rich websites.

Invest time in the quality of your content and buyers will naturally come.

(3) Where Do You Find The Best Information To Build Your Core Foundation - Website And Content?

Well, I am part of a community with over 300k people just like you and me. There are around the clock discussions, Q&A's, classrooms and video's that have assisted me in my steps to online success.

It's 100% FREE to join. You will have instant access and also receive 2 FREE WEBSITE's of your own to get you started on your journey to online success. There is a premium membership that you may want to look at later, but it just gives you so MUCH MORE.

To join, or for more info, please visit my website here.

Yeah, in my opinion, if it's not free, or free to try, I walk away, because it's most likely a SCAM. Keep this in mind through your online journey, It's saved me a lot of money and time.

(4) Lastly. Please - Do Not Push Yourself To A Point Of Information Overload!

I have done it before and I have seen it with friends. Take my word for it, THERE IS NO INSTANT ONLINE SUCCESS. What ever you do, it's going to take a bit of time. Rushing through it is only going to set you up for failure.

So I ask you... Please, take your time as you are starting your online business. Learn, understand and apply at a pace that is comfortable for you. And if you are not sure, ASK QUESTIONS. Don't struggle for hours on your own. Communities are here for support. We all have asked questions, and I can guarantee you that by asking those questions, it has sped up our process 10 fold.

In closing,

You will find far more detail on my website if you click here.

Thank you for reading my article and I look forward to hearing from you in the comments, Facebook, or on the community.

Cheers,