The Super Affiliate Journal

Shopzilla Stomps on My Affiliate Plans – So What!

After looking at many affiliate programs over the last couple of years, I decided to try to sign up one of my new top-level buyers guides sites for the Shopzilla affiliate program. Since eBay Partners and Amazon Affiliate programs approved me instantly, I thought this was a no-brainer for them.

Then, I received a slightly crushing email from Shopzilla saying that my site did not fit their profile in terms of traffic and content. Well, duh! There IS no traffic yet for this site. I don’t even have a Google PageRank for the site yet. In fact, Google doesn’t even know this site exists. Oh well.

I am sure this won’t be the last rejection that I experience in life – this is similar to asking a girl to a dance in Jr. High and being rejected It is actually a good thing, as I see I have a long way to go in regards to building traffic and content. Sometimes it takes a slap to let you know you are on this great process to becoming a super affiliates. If it happened overnight, it wouldn’t be super, now would it? They would have to call it “Instant Affiliate” instead.

In your face rejection can be a great wake-up call to show you that you are on the great path to Super Affiliateness – and that this path takes a long while and tons of work. I have been reminded to settle in and enjoy the journey!

So what has this taught me? First thing is to stick to the easy affiliate programs like Amazon, Google, and eBay (and whatever else is easy to set up) when getting started with a new Web site. Take the time to build the content, SEO optimization and inbound links before approaching the larger, more important affiliates.

Second, savor the fact that as one little person in a huge world, we get to directly play ball with huge companies like eBay, Amazon, and even Shopzilla. Without the Internet and our power to leverage technology, these companies would not even take our phone call. This is true power to the people on a vast scale. Exciting!

Site5 Web Hosting Has Been Fantastic!

I wanted to make a whole-hearted recommendation for Site5 Hosting if you want to host Joomla sites or any other site for that matter. I have been using them for about two years to host my Joomla and Wordpress sites with absolute success.

These guys actually make customer service a priority in deed, as opposed to just claiming to have excellent customer service. I have dealt with their representatives via email and over the phone for a couple of issues in the past and have always felt that warm fuzzy feeling…knowing my precious websites are being taken care of very well.

Another thing I like about them is that they keep promoting new ridiculous hosting deals on a regular basis on their site (Click here for Site5.com).

What is cool is they allow you to migrate easily to the next deal and will refund you the difference at any point in you contract. I have upgraded twice now and pay essentially nothing for huge bandwidth (something like 15 Terabytes per month) and 1TB of storage. I wish I needed so much bandwidth…hopefully in the future!

Choosing your Web hosting is critical, as this is the foundation of performance and reliability for your entire affiliate marketing business! Take care here.

They are big on replacing their servers on a regular basis to make sure we have the latest processors and disk drives for performance and reliability. I have heard that some companies use old junker servers for as long as they can – which probably causes more outages and interruptions to your service.

I also like the Fantastico script installer that makes my installations quite easy…not to mention keeping track of all of them and the software versions for me.

As an affiliate marketer, I think where you host your money machines is vital to your success. I signed up for Site5 Hosting based on the recommendations of the Joomla community forums and am happy to recommend them to you. Check out their site and features…I think you will like them!

~Brad

This is my first post for this new Blog site and I am jazzed to chronicle my experience on the road to becoming a Super Affiliate Internet Marketer. I want to bring you along, because you can learn from my detailed experiences. Perhaps we will be reading about your successes (and failures) in the near future. So, stay tuned and enjoy the unfolding of this process.

A little background

In 2006, I was sitting in my programming job wondering how I could create an income engine to allow me to be sitting in the mountains by a stream instead of my little office cube. Nothing against programming as a living – it is “good” money and pleasant work. Actually, I like going into the office and working on new projects. Where I get into trouble is after the daily “thrill” wears off at about 1PM and I want to go home…or go to a movie…or go somewhere else than where I am supposed to be (work).

So I searched the Web (like we all do when goofing off at work) and found a bunch of “pushy” sales sites telling me I could make thousands by sitting on my ass eating bon bons watching Oprah. Naturally, I had to investigate these claims and did so.

Making Technology Work Hard For Me

Being a programmer, engineer, former Coast Guard Officer, and a few other things, I have this “inspiration” to put technology to work to make my life easier and more profitable. I am getting fed up with exchanging my precious time for dollars, and looking for a better way to make a living.

My fantasy is to have this vast network of Web sites, churning and burning 24×7 to make cash for me – all the while I see myself doing what I want to on a daily basis. How does that sound?

This is the desire that started it all. This Blog will chronicle the entire process that I went through (and am currently experiencing) for your benefit. Enjoy!