Is Organo Gold A Scam?
There has been lot of talk about Organo Gold online as one of the great opportunities to build a legitimate home based business. Organo Gold is mainly coffee made with some ingredient called Ganoderma that come from some special mushrooms.
They also produce hot chocolate and herbal supplement products. But the coffee is what is used to grab your attention and pull you into the business. They have a slick sales line….. everyone drinks coffee right? (I don’t! Yuk. lol) Their business model is an MLM. If you read my recent review of SkinnyBodyCare you already know my thoughts on MLMs. But it’s probably worth mentioning some things again. For an MLM to work successful it has to be centered around a real product line people ACTUALLY want and desire. There isn’t a huge demand for fancy tooth paste or vitamins made from some magic twig. But coffee is a whole other ball game. Coffee is literally a drug that a lot of people can’t live without and is a billion dollar industry. So on paper a coffee product line makes “cents”, literally! But let’s dig deeper.
How does the Organo Gold business work?
You join under another member and they are your sponsor. There are all kinds of video to watch and training material to read, and even face to face meeting scheduled all over the place. Then you buy the product starter pack at wholesale pricing. By the way, if you recruit others (which is obviously encouraged) you can receive a $20 bonus when someone you sign up buys a starter pack.
In any event, once you have received your starter pack you can get out there and start selling the coffee at retails prices to companies and individuals. At the time of this review they do not allow you to mark up the prices higher than 50%. So if you paid $20 for a bag of coffee you can’t sell it for more than $30. So that is your first step to profit the old fashioned way. You want to build a customer base and get these folks coming back to you again and again for their coffee needs. Then eventually you may try to sell them on the herbal supplements. That’s probably a lot harder than the coffee but it could be another source of revenue if you can manage it.
Okay that portion of the compenation plan is pretty straight forward. But of course like most home based sales businesses using a MLM model there are other ways to make money that are a bit more convoluted to simple simons like myself. Bear with me as I try to explain it. First the basic MLM model has a binary structure, which is two teams under you, like having a right and a left leg. I am not sure how many people are on a team, but commissions are paid based on the % of the total volume of monthly sales from each team. Only thing is, they take the two totals of each team and pay you the LOWER %. So if you have a get up an go team and a lazy slow team, you lose out. You get referrals mostly on your own, but your supervisor can add people to your teams to help build their downline and it helps you out too.
Over all there are seven different ways to earn: Fast start commissions, retail profits, dual team bonuses (mentioned above), uni-level bonus’s, uni-level matching bonus, generational bonus, and the companies global bonus pool. Of course they make it vague until you get on the band wagon, but you can read more about the seven levels here. I think the commissions from the down line would be the most common, but the others look more like bonus money for sales volume or signing new people up or when they order a started pack.
How much will it cost to get started?
At the time of this review, It is $49 to join and then you have three choices of starter packs to buy, $199 for Bronze, $499 for silver and Gold for $1,295. This may change by the time you read this or they may have specials.
How much can I earn with Organo Gold?
Most websites we found sell the main coffees for $25 for 30 packs. They do have brewed filter packs for about $50 where you get 10. So if it is 50% mark up your profit would be about $8. Herbal green teas are $32 for 25 packs ($11 profit) and Hot Chocolate is $29 for 15 packs ($9 profit). I’m not very strong at math so I could be off with my numbers. But just keep in mind the 50% mark up limit that is imposed so whatever you buy it for you can sell at mark up no greater than 50%.
When you recruit others into the business and depending on the package they choose, you obviously get a bonus. For the bronze package you earn $20, for the Silver you get $80 and for the Gold you receive $150.
Some would argue to make a living from this, there is more profit from bringing people in and getting them to buy those starter packs than selling the coffee which doesn’t make you a lot of money initially. But people that drink coffee tend to do so for life, so if the coffee is really that good to your customers you have them for life which can amount to a lot of money especially if you have a lot of these customers. So it’s feasible.
How do you get paid?
I honestly could not find anything, even in the forums that talked about that, but from previous experience with home based businesses, I can figure it will probably be a monthly check. If you're a member feel free to fill in the rest of the blanks like when, etc.
How do you join?
You have to join through a distributor, the main website does not have any links for Join Now. But before you do that, you really need to keep reading, as I have some serious reservations about this opportunity for the reasons I go into below.
Cons
I don’t care what they say, it’s COFFEE and coffee can be bought everywhere. The grocery store, Walmart will meet your daily caffeine need. And if you’re fancy huh, walking by the local coffees shops can get you the gourmet flavors you just gotta have. So why the hell would anyone want to go to a coffee home party or listen to a spiel about “herbal” coffee that costs a whole lot more than what you can get with little or no effort on your own? Maybe their marketing and training addresses this but from my perspective this would be the biggest hurdle to over come!
$25 for 30 cups of INSTANT COFFEE with MUSHROOM herbs?????? The ground filters, you get 10 of them but they only make half a pot so it is really 5 pots of coffee. I did some quick math in my head. Ok let me stop fronting, I used the calculator on my computer. It looks like it would cost someone about $10 a DAY for this coffee. Now that might not make you bat an eye if you buy a lot of gourmet coffee from Starbucks on a daily basis. $10 may be a bargain. But for others they can buy a bag of coffee from their super market that can last them for weeks and gets the job done. So the math may not add up to the people you’re trying to target.
During our research we discovered several complaints that the coffee had a weird odor and bad taste. Hopefully they were isolated issues and not the norm. But if they are real concern it’s going to be rough getting repeat customers especially when you couple the whole higher price stuff.
The investment aspect is something that may give you pause. But that’s not unique to this business. Any business there is an inherit risk that you’ll lose money and time. It comes with the territory. If that scares you, you’re not built for this business or any business for that matter. The problem with this opportunity is that you may have unsold product in your home that you better be okay consuming yourself especially at $200 at the lowest starter pack.
Why would you hook supplements to coffee as a marketing plan? Honestly how many people do you know that are religious about vitamins or actual take them? I would dare to say you probably don’t know a lot of people. And again if you do, most of us buy our vitamins from places like your supermarket, Target, CVS, Amazon, etc. (I personally love my gummy Adult multivitamins from Target. Yes they have gummy ones for adults. Don’t judge me! LOL) So this is basically the same argument that we have about people being able to readily buy coffee anywhere at lower prices. I applaud them for trying to have a diverse product line which is the hallmark of a good MLM. But herbal supplements? Really, Organo? Really?
Be brutally honest with yourself! To be successful at this or any business, training and your attitude will have be up to snuff. Without these two things you’re dead in the water! Trying to start and run any business is extremely hard work! Initially there are many long hours with no guaranteed profits and you need to be comfortable with that. There is a level of delayed gratification that is required that most of us don’t have because we have an employee mentality or quite frankly just have bills to pay right away. This means you need money sooner than later so you don’t really have the luxury to invest the time and energy necessary to make your business successful. If that’s you, then this business or any business isn’t for you. You need to focus on a work at home job (We list them there daily.) or some of my other non-traditional sources of income at home.
Furthermore with this type of business you need to LIKE going out in public and interacting with folks so you can get a sale. And you need to be good at it. It’s not like affiliate marketing where because of the Training I received, NOW I can literally write an article and make money in the comfort of my boxers without ever having to see anyone. Granted now I’ve learned how to reach thousands of people on my sites because of training. But with an MLM you really need to hit those streets to make this work for you. I know myself very well. I’ve been with me for 30+ years. I’m not really one for chit chatting with strangers in person. It’s The Bronx in me. lol But I have no problems interacting with folks online via email, video or an article. Affiliate marketing isn’t easy especially when you lack training but it’s EASIER than being out on the streets convincing people to buy coffee or herbal supplements they could probably get locally.
With all that said, let’s be clear. If you are an outgoing person and assuming they have very good training it might be a feasible business even with the other cons I mentioned above. But you just have to be honest with yourself and determine if you’re the right fit for this type of business.
So is Organo Coffee a legit?
I don’t think the company is a scam! But I read a lot about people expecting it to go belly up since the market is saturated and new people have a hard time getting customers while the originals reap in the benefits. I can’t say one way or another but from what I know of coffee drinkers they tend to stick to the brands they know and love. I liken it to cola. I can drink a Pepsi or Coca Cola provided you add some Jack to it. lol But my wife is a die hard Pepsi person. You try to give her a Coke and she may spit it back in your face. (Just saying.) Some people are like that with their coffee. So you have to keep that in mind. Again I’m not saying it’s impossible to convert people. It is and there seem to be reps that are doing it. However it’s going to be tough but every business is. So what does that say?
Anyway, I know you Organo Gold folks might have something to add to this review, and may-be I missed something you can enlighten me about, so lets talk about it! I’m always willing to learn something new. But keep it professional. Sometimes reps of companies get in a hissy fit if you point out some cons as if doing so makes the company totally bad which it doesn’t. So please keep that in mind before you decide to get all sensitive on me. Bad mouthing me isn’t going to help your cause. Just state your own experience and facts. Thanks in advance. =)
In any event, if starting a business isn’t really your cup of coffee (pun intended.) we list traditional jobs daily here If you want to know when new jobs are posted, interested in avoiding scams or just want to know when I review another company that may make you money, be sure to sign up as a subscriber It’s totally free and I guarantee you’ll either make money because of it or avoid losing it. Either way you’re “Sheening”, Winning!
Take care guys, hey be sure to check me out on my fanpage as well!
Sponsored Listings For ...
Did you know Eddy earns 5 figures monthly at home w/o a job?
All this, just by giving helpful solutions to hundreds of people.
You can too, with the right guidance. How?
Click here to find out...
BBB Listed Work At Home Company
Get Paid To Type Your Opinions.
No Fees, No Scams. Start Today!
Get Paid To Search The Web!
No Fees! No Scams! No Hype!
Start & Earn Today!
Weekly Work At Home Recap 12-09-2011
Hello all, Enjoy this week's job leads below. Good luck!
Shout out to your folks who have taken action on one of the best paid survey sites I've seen in a while PaidViewPoint.com. Hopefully you're all on your way to your first cash out with them!
As always if you'd like to be emailed when new jobs have been posted on this site, be sure you become a subscriber by clicking here! It's free and it may help you land a job, find a new way to make money online legitimately or avoid a scam! So become a subscriber today!
Monday 12/05/2011
- Business Media Company Seeks Developer
- Editor
- Senior Programmer with HL-7 Experience
- Bilingual Editor with Solid Experience in Journalis
Tuesday 12/06/2011
- Carnival Fashion Designer Wanted
- Spanish/French/German/English Proofreading
- Senior Systems Administrator
Wednesday 12/07/2011
- Learning and Development Project Manager
- Fundraising Consultants Needed
- Sales
- Sustainable Agriculture Bloggers
Thursday 12/08/2011
- Windows System Administrator/Field Technician
- Social Media/Adwords Specialist
- Software Technical Writer – Technical Features
Recommended Instant Work At Home Opportunities
Online Poll Takers
Get Paid To Be Green
Get Paid To Search The Web (SwagBucks)
Data Entry, Typing, & More
More Job Leads HomeJobStop.com (Membership based site)
Sponsored Listings For ...
Did you know Eddy earns 5 figures monthly at home w/o a job?
All this, just by giving helpful solutions to hundreds of people.
You can too, with the right guidance. How?
Click here to find out...
BBB Listed Work At Home Company
Get Paid To Type Your Opinions.
No Fees, No Scams. Start Today!
Get Paid To Search The Web!
No Fees! No Scams! No Hype!
Start & Earn Today!
Is PaidViewPoint.com A Scam?
So if you've been in this industry long enough you may eventually hear buzz about making money with paid online surveys. Now here's the thing, depending on your experience and your mindset you either love paid surveys or think they're a total waste of time or scam!
I can totally sympathize with the latter group. Let's face it, too often many market research companies will have you spending nearly 5 or more minutes on screener questions only to discover that you didn't qualify for the survey! Now ain't that a bitch! I just lost minutes of my life that I could have used to earn guarantee money on some place like Amazon Mechanical Turk, Clixsense or Swagbucks! Of course that doesn't sit well with people and they start to resent these market research companies.
Another common beef is not getting any surveys at all. You spend all that time filling out demographic information about yourself and then you wait for those survey opportunities to come. But they never do! That sucks! You end up feeling one of two things; rejected or pissed! I understand the sentiments either way but just keep in mind that market research is based on supply and demand. Some demographics are more valuable to certain companies than others. If you don't fit that demographic then you're ass out. I know, understanding the reason doesn't make it feel better! Sigh….
Reading this you can't help but feel getting paid to take surveys isn't all that appealing. Well before you go ahead and write them off, you may want to reconsider your position. Finally there is a market research company that seems to have heard our complaints and has created a paid online survey company with us in mind!
The company I'm referring to is PaidViewPoint.com. You may remember them from my first look on them a few weeks ago. Well I'm ready to give my full review.
Who is PaidViewPoint.com?
PaidViewPoint.com is basically a sister company of an already established and legitimate work at home opportunity we all love here, InstantCashSweepstakes.com. Like most market research companies they're in the business of gathering information from folks like you and I. They report their findings to businesses so in turn they can make better products, services, websites, advertisements, etc. All of which adds to a company's bottom line and why they are willing to pay us for our feedback.
What makes PaidViewPoint.com different?
I think they pretty much summed it up best in their own words:
"PaidViewpoint is the market research survey site built upon 4 principles:
- We pay cash for every completed market research survey.
- We never screen you out once you've been invited into a survey.
- We've cracked the code that takes "boring" out of the survey answering experience.
- Privacy – we never ask you to register your real name or complete physical address."
Notice how they hit some of the major complaints that we survey takers have expressed! It makes me wonder if they surveyed users at InstantCashSweepStakes.com or elsewhere to create the answer to a common problem?
Either way these are the traits I love about this company! Can you imagine if every survey company worked like this?
So how does it work?
Like most survey companies you'll usually get an email when there is a survey ready for you. At the time of this review, I usually get a paid survey from them every day! This may or may not be the case for you. Another thing to note is that many times their survey invitation emails end up in my spam folder. Fortunately I'm already in the habit of checking that folder every day because so many of my WANTED emails end up there. So just keep that in mind if you don't receive any invitations for a survey.
In any event, once you get an email, you just log in and answer a series of short questions. They are very short multiple choice questions. If you've taken InstantCashSweepStakes.com polls, they're exactly like that. So they're nice and short like a leprechaun. Usually after answering 10 questions you are then awarded some money, guaranteed!
How much money can you make?
Well at the time of this review I earn about $.10 per completed survey which usually consist of 10 short questions. There are times when they send higher paying surveys that can pay anywhere from .30 up to $2. Those surveys are usually limited time offers so you need to respond as quickly as you get them to qualify for the larger amounts. But it seems like $.10 per survey is the average. Again it could be different for you. What I do know for certain is you're paid for every survey which is a refreshing change!
Now you may think to yourself a measly dime is nothing! No, not making anything is nothing! That's what happens when a lot of folks are working with other survey companies. Those folks put you through non-paying screener questions or surveys! So it's all about perspective with this opportunity like many of the ones I've introduced you to in the past. You'd be surprised how fast .$10 per day can add up and considering it takes you less than 2-5 minutes to complete the surveys, why not!
You waste that amount of time on Facebook, Twitter, surfing the web, tv, etc. It's a no brainer when you consider this.
When do you get paid and how do you get paid?
Currently there is payment threshold of $15 that you must reach before you can get paid! It could be more or less by the time you read this. Hopefully the latter. But once you reach the payment threshold you can cash out by paypal.com only! When I did it I was paid within a few hours which was sweet.
How to make more money!
Well like your wife or girlfriend, trust is a big deal with PaidViewPoint.com. Let's face it, if you've joined a lot of survey companies just to earn a buck, your responses may not be of the highest quality! Keep in mind the whole reason these business are hiring companies like PaidViewPoint.com is so they can get an insight on how we think so they can better market to us and thus give us products we want to buy and make these companies money.
So if everyone is just putting crappy answers for these survey questions, these companies actually lose money because it won't really lead to more money for them. So PaidViewPoint.com understands this and has a trust factor built into their surveys. Again if you've used InstantCashSweepstakes you might be familiar with this concept. On ICS if you respond to the same question the same way, they reward you for it. Well sort of the same thing happens with PVP. Your trust score goes up as you answer the same trait questions in the same way.
But they really mix up the way the questions are asked to confirm that you are really consistent! So be honest! If you are, then your trust score goes up and allegedly once it reaches the highest level you'll earn a lot more money on the surveys. My trust score is getting up there. So we'll see if this is true or not but it takes a lot of time which I guess makes sense.
The next way you can earn more money is with referrals! What a shocker! Not. As with most of my favorite recommendations you can get paid for sharing this company with others as I am doing with you. If someone you refer takes 6 or more business surveys you earn $1. Initially it sounded pretty sweet. But read the previous sentence again. The users need to be active to get paid! I'll discuss later how that hampers the potential referral income even for a trained affiliate like me who reaches thousands of people every day that trust me!
That's it in a nutshell, if you didn't really understand some points above watch the video walk through I've created below:
Okay so this may all sound good but if you "watched this show" before, you know I have to discuss the ugly stuff! So here we go!
Cons.
1. Payment experience.
I'm not found of the payment threshold being so high when you consider that most of the surveys you're taking are only worth a few cents. I think they should have followed their sister company model and kept it at something easily attainable which is $2. I think psychological people are more inclined to keep taking the surveys on the site if they continue to see they're getting paid out over and over again so easily. At $15 some folks may get discouraged and give up on this opportunity.
Another issue is that in their attempt to combat fraud and cheating they make you do some crazy phone or text verification before you can request your payment via paypal. Don't worry it's pretty easy to complete but it seems a bit excessive. But at the same time it's probably necessary because there are always some a-holes out there gaming the system and messing it up for the rest of us!
Folks may also take issue with the fact there aren't any other payment options besides paypal. If you don't have a paypal account then you're not getting paid since they don't issue checks. Furthermore paypal isn't available in every country, so if you live in one of the unsupported countries you're out of luck too.
2. Referral program.
As a trained affiliate marketer, ya'll already know I love me some companies with a referral program! Because I know how to reach several thousand people per day with my sites and you guys trust me I usually make a killing on referrals alone. Referral programs tend to be straightforward.
The parent company pays you for when someone sign ups for a free account or if a person buys something. PaidViewPoint.com's referral program is different than many other survey programs I promote. Instead of just earning a flat fee for referring a new member, they require that the member actually take a certain number of surveys! I know from experience there are a lot of "Deadbeat" members to any program I recommend. These folks sign up but never actually take action! Now obviously for the company that pays me, this is a bad thing. However for me it's a great thing because I still get paid for the introduction. But again from the company's point of view, they're not getting any value from members that aren't doing anything.
With that in mind, I can understand PaidViewPoint.com's logic. But just because I understand it doesn't mean I have to like it! Personally I think a happier medium is to initially pay something for the sign up and then pay a bonus for the members that turn active. This way we all win! So right now I'm not a huge fan of their referral program. I have a few active members that make me some money (hopefully that will be you. lol) but for the most part many of them are just dead weight and haven't added value. So that sucks!
3. Show me more money!
Right now it seems like PaidViewPoint.com is still growing. I think they probably have way more survey participants than they do have paying businesses that want to tap into our opinions. As a result there aren't as many business surveys which are the ones that earn you more money and tie into the referral income one can earn! So although you're getting paid for every survey you earn, it's not as much as you could make if they had more clients.
But I've always argued that surveys aren't really a consistent source of income you depend on. They're just a nice occasional one off to add to your multiple streams of income. The exception to this is when you have a large referral base like I do which guarantees me money from many survey companies every month! Again affiliate marketing keeps paying the bills folks! 
4. Consistency is a must!
I don't know about you but sometimes I have a change a heart on certain topics or things change in my life. Well with this company that can hurt you on the survey questions. Your trust score can go down with inconsistent answers and thus lowering your chances of making the bigger bucks. Again I understand why the trust score is in place. I just wish it had a bit more wiggle room depending on the nature of the question. One of my facebook fans summed it well. She said it feels like you're being accused of lying when you mess up a question. lol I have to agree.
So Is PaidViewPoint.com Legitimate?
At the time of this review and based on my own personal experience it appears to be the real deal. I have cashed out a payment already and will be doing another one soon. So I feel confident recommending this company because the same folks that are behind InstantCashSweepStakes.com are behind this company.
Hopefully this company will just get better as time goes on (not that it's bad right now). I just really want to see that payment threshold lowered or an increased number of business surveys that pay more. I would also love to see a revised referral program that still rewards us for the initial introduction. Other than that I don't really have a lot gripes with this company and it will be one of my daily activities I take online to earn me some easy money. Couple this with many of my other recommendations and it will add up. But don't expect to earn a living off this!
If this doesn't really appeal to you, that's cool. Not everyone can appreciate the philosophy a penny earned is a penny saved. A traditional work at home job may be more of your cup of tea. Well we have you covered there too. Just visit our jobs page which is updated daily. Or if you want to be emailed every week when we post new jobs or articles like this sign up to be a subscriber here.
Anyway, let me know what you guys think of this opportunity. I know many you have already plunged in before my review was completed. I'd like to hear from you early adopters and everyone else. What are your thoughts about the company?
Weekly Work At Home Recap 12-02-2011
Hello all, Enjoy this week's job leads below. Good luck!
As always if you'd like to be emailed when new jobs have been posted on this site, be sure you become a subscriber by clicking here! It's free and it may help you land a job, find a new way to make money online legitimately or avoid a scam! So become a subscriber today!
Monday 11/28/2011
- Writer
- Need Help Retouching Fashion/Beauty Photos
- Illustrator/Image Specialist
Tuesday 11/29/2011
- Virtual Customer Service Rep
- USDA Grant Proposal Writers Needed
- Cloud Systems Implementation Consultant
Wednesday 11/30/2011
- Microsoft Access Programing Work
- Online Coach for Weight Loss/Wellness Company
Thursday 12/01/2011
- Tech Writer with Industry Experience
- Academic Freelance Writers Needed
- Travel Agent ARC/IATA Certified Specialist
- Customer Service Rep/Sales Rep
- Foreign Financial Tax Consultant
- Customer Service/Call Center
- English Subject Matter Experts/Writers
Recommended Instant Work At Home Opportunities
Online Poll Takers
Get Paid To Be Green
Get Paid To Search The Web (SwagBucks)
Data Entry, Typing, & More
More Job Leads HomeJobStop.com (Membership based site)
Top 5 Reasons Folks Fail At Affiliate Marketing & How To Avoid It!
.jpg)
In the last couple of years since I've mentioned I'm an affiliate marketer there is a lot of interest from my visitors to follow the same path. I have to say I'm very surprised and proud of many of you. I know I've purposely made it very clear that affiliate marketing isn't sweet. But despite this many of you have tried your hands at it. So I applaud you!
However how folks are going about it has been troubling. So I decided to share some insight that will help you avoid a lot of mistakes I see folks making!
1. Having a website doesn't mean jack!
When I was coming up, (yes I know I'm sounding very old right now.) building a website was a lot more difficult than it is now. You really had to grasp HTML and such. But now if you just "Google" free website builders (preferably using SwagBucks or Irazoo so you can make some money doing it. You'll find tons of companies that will help you build a website in literally 5 minutes. If you know how to use a word-processing software you'll probably know how to use many of the free website builders out there.
But here's the thing, this isn't like the movie "Field of Dreams" . If you build it, THEY WON'T NECCESSARILY COME! There is this misconception that just having a website will make you money! No it won't. Your new website is now one of the millions out there. Now how will anyone find it? Well most of us use Google to find what we're looking for. Guess what? If your website isn't showing up when I type a keyword chances are I'm not going to find your site and neither are the millions of web surfers out there. That's a lot of potential money you're now missing! Obviously you won't reach everyone out there but you're still missing a fraction of those folks who can make you a boat load of money!
How do you solve this issue?
Learn about internet marketing, keyword research and Search engine optimization (SEO). Let's say your niche is about "Self Help"! It doesn't make sense to have people who are interested in Porn visiting your website. Ideally what you want is folks that have raised their hands telling you they want information about self help. Well on the web the way folks raise their hand is by going to Google and typing in "self help". If your training is in order then your website will be one of the first 10 in the results that come up. If you lack the training your website won't even be in the first 100 and that means you're dead in the water.
You basically created a website that no one knows about. So you need more than just having a website. You better learn the skills to have droves of targeted people coming to your site that already want what you have to offer. It's a lot easier to make money that way then it is to chase after people!
2. Your content or lack of it sucks!
I know that's harsh but that's real talk. I can say this lovingly to you because I was in your shoes. Granted, my content still isn't the greatest either. But I know enough to be dangerous and have you reading this. Too often I visit new would be affiliate websites and all I see is banners and advertisements slapped all over the site. Look, you already know I'm all about making money and seeing you guys do the same. So I don't really have a problem with ads all over a site. Make your money boo boo! My issue is that there isn't any value being provided to the user in addition to the ads. Sites like that are like a selfish kid that doesn't want to share. It's all about them and receiving.
I don't know about you but I don't really like spending a lot of time with selfish people. They're taking more than they give. Well that's what happens when people visit a site that doesn't have any real content. They clearly see you're just about your interest and not helping them with their problems. So guess what? Folks leave your site and don't come back. So even if your site is covered in banners and ads, you're probably not going to make consistent money long term.
How do you solve this issue?
Start writing content that you would want to read! Or think about your articles like giving advice to your mom or close friend. If your mom was asking your advice on a given movie or product, what would you tell her? Would you just say, hey just buy it! Or would you give her some real feedback and tell her the things you liked and disliked about the product or movie she's planning to buy? If you don't have any mommy issues, chances are you would provide her balanced information so she can make an informed decision.
You know what happens when you do this? People begin to trust you. They think to themselves this person is a straight shooter, I need to keep coming back to them for more information. Don't believe me? Most of you reading this site are return visitors. That ain't by chance folks! So when you're writing content on your website, think about a friend or someone you love and the conversation you would have with them. If your content doesn't sound like that conversation, then you've failed and no one is really going to enjoy reading your stuff.
And here's another powerful tip! Be about it and don't just talk about it! In the work at home niche there is a lot of folks out there that want you to sign up for stuff under them. Obviously it's because it makes them money. Again I ain't mad at that! You should make money if you introduce me to a great product, service or company that helps me achieve something! Where folks are messing up is that they're running around making ridiculous claims about a company but have never tried the company! They're just saying that stuff to get a check! Don't be that person! I've discovered I get far more people taking action on stuff I recommend when I show them that I've actually worked with the company. And if you really want to get people taking action under you, you show proof via video or screenshot!
Psychologically people get excited when they see someone like themselves achieving some success. They can't help but feel that hey if this babbling idiot (that's me) can do it, why can't I? So folks are more prone to join what you recommend. That's why with many of my recommendations, I'll wait a few weeks or even months before I post an article. Why? Because I want to show proof something works. Sure it may delay me from making some money with that program for a while. However it doesn't matter because I will make it up once I write an article with proof. That article will now be there longer than the weeks or so I waited to launch it. It will continue to make me money for many moons to come provided I apply the right internet marketing techniques to stay in front of the people that would be interested in it!
So the take away from this is write content as if you were writing to a friend or someone you care about! If you do this people will connect with you and follow whatever you recommend and won't mind that you're making money because you're helping them solve a problem. Stop just haphazardly slapping banners and links on your website and thinking that's affiliate marketing, it's not and your results will make this clear if you don't believe me.
3. Picking the wrong niche!
So a lot of times after people read my simple simon blog and hear how much money I make, folks can't help but feel that they can do the same thing. I mean the exact same thing! I can't even hate on that. After all I'm the one preaching that you can! But here's the problem. I live and breath this work at home industry (aka niche). It's something I've always had a passion for even before I had two popular work at home websites. I literally get a rush from finding new ways to make money at home. Even if I didn't have these sites I would still be hunting for that next work at home fix. I'm what some might refer to as a work at home junkie. As such, my passion comes through in my writings in particular on this blog. Folks that actually take the time to read my body of work usually can tell that I literally walk the walk and talk the talk. Then there are some people that just get into this particular niche because they know it can make them a lot of money. And you know what? That selfish motivation tends to wreak in their content or lack of content (see point number 2 if you skimmed over it). As a result, they don't see anywhere near the success I have been blessed to experience with this niche.
How do you solve this issue?
Create a website that you actually have a strong passion for or a lot of experience with! For instance another passion of mine is technology! If I were to start all over again or if I had more time, I would create a blog on various technology topics. I literally live and breath technology. In my circle of friends and family, I'm the go to guy when folks need advice about gadgets or computer issues. (Trust me that's not always fun!) I buy all the latest gadgets and I read technology sites religiously probably more than I read about work at home stuff (Shame on me, I know!) So technology would be a good fit for me because I already spend a lot of time in this niche for fun! That's a perfect compliment when starting a business. The reason is because, in most cases when you first start a business you aren't really seeing a lot of profits if at all. If you pick a niche you're aren't really passionate about, how likely are you to stick with it when you aren't seeing money? Be honest with yourself, I'll wait…..
Well if you were being real, most of you would agree that you would give up pretty easily. So why get started on the wrong foot by picking a niche that you aren't really passionate about. You are more likely to succeed if your business is already in line with something you love and do for fun. So with the technology niche example, even if I don't see money right away, I don't really care because I would still be reading about new technology or buying new gadgets for fun. Eventually as I stick with the business I will see some type of ROI assuming this niche is one where money can be made. So ultimately don't just pick a niche because someone else tells you it's hot or you see others doing well with it. Chances are you won't do as great because you don't have the same passion they do. Focus on what your passion or expertise is and work around that. And by the way, everyone has a passion or expertise. You just may not have thought of it that way. If you know how to stretch a dollar with coupons and other methods, then you're an expert at money saving and could create a whole site about this. Then find affiliate programs about coupons, or price comparison shopping, or discount clothes, electronics, etc. If you love dogs, you can create a site about a specific breed of dog and discuss what you love about them and what you don't. Then you can probably promote products related to that niche like organic pet food, obedience courses, clothes, etc.
The key here is focus on something you already love or know a lot about that you might just do for fun. Then just apply affiliate marketing to it and see if you can turn that passion or expertise into dollars. Chances are if you stick with it and you will because it's something you love, you will eventually find success!
4. Giving up too quickly!
It amazes me how many people will tell me hey I tried affiliate marketing for a month and I didn't make a dime so I'm giving up. Really folks? Can you imagine how life would be if everyone gave up because they hit some obstacles? Children would never learn how to walk, talk or ride a bike. You would never be able to keep a job because you couldn't figure some problem at work. Folks would drop out of elementary school because they failed a test.
Tony Robbins said something very interesting about failure. He argued there is no such thing as failures, there are only results. Granted some of the results aren't desired but ultimately they are just outcomes based on actions. Once you get a result, it's simply a matter of making some adjustments until you get a different set of results. You continue to do this until you get the results you want. That's the difference between people that are successful and those that aren't. Like most of us they don't like the idea of "Failure" either but that doesn't stop them from taking action and continuing to do so until they succeed!
When I first got into the work at home industry, I tried various ways of reaching people; Flyers, business cards, advertising on my car, classifieds,etc. Some worked well and others didn't. I just kept on adjusting based on the feedback I was getting from my efforts. But for the most part I never gave up until I got the desired result which was to work at home full time. It took me longer than it should have because I was stubborn and never invested in myself in terms of training. But can you imagine if I would have given up after a month or so? A lot of you would have missed out on the various ways I have showed you how to make money or worst still some of you would be victims of scams! And on my end I would have missed out on seeing every moment of 3 year old's childhood.
How do you solve this issue?
Look, no one likes to fail. But you have to change your mindset about failure. Most successful people were serial failures! This includes Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Donald Trump, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and many other folks! So If you've run into some failures then you're in good company. It's just a matter of pushing through the pain. And as I said earlier, if you pick a niche you're passionate about or love, you're less inclined to give up when you do run into a brick wall. Are you starting to see the method to my madness? I'm not just pulling this out the air folks!
5. Lack of Training!
As I alluded to before one of my biggest mistakes as a budding affiliate marketer was trying to learn everything on my own! Boy, was that stupid! I probably wasted years of mistakes that could have been profitable if I would have just invested in some good training material from folks that are already knew what they were doing. No, but my stubborn and cheap ass wanted to try to learn everything on my own for free. After all you can find damn near anything on the internet for free if you know how to look and do it long enough. However I later realized how much time I wasted and the many mistakes I made because of this type of mentality. Although I've been in this industry for a decade or more, I didn't really see a turning point until my last 3-4 years in the business. You know what the difference was? I started taking part of the money I earned at my regular 9-5 and my own half ass way of doing affiliate marketing and investing in tons of internet marketing courses. I think I literally spent several thousand dollars during that time.
That in itself was a huge mistake as well because I fell for the big internet marketing guru product launches that were big back in the day. These guys would literally charge several thousand dollars for out of date interviews, seminar presentations, tons of dvds or poorly recorded audio. Don't get me wrong, I'm the type of person that has trained myself to always find a gem in a pile of crap. It may be a small gem but I tend to be able to make that gem work really well for me especially when I couple it with other gems I may find a long the way. But the fact of the matter was I was over paying for training especially when most of the material required that you buy more stuff to apply the crap that they were teaching you.
I've learned from that experience as well! Don't be an internet marketing course whore. That's a syndrome where you keep buying the latest shinny thing that you think will be the magic bullet to all your financial woes! There aren't any magic bullets or push button solutions! Like anything good in life, your ass is going to have to work to achieve the success you want. But here's the thing, don't work harder! That's right, you read that correctly! I want you to work smarter than I did!
How do you do this?
Learn from the mistakes of others. If I told you that you shouldn't go into that dark alley because you might get hurt, would you do it anyway? If you have any sense you would say probably not. Well that's what a lot of you are doing when you decide to create a website and just slap some banners and links on it and call it affiliate marketing. Fortunately when you do that you won't get mugged but you won't really make any money or be successful either. And isn't that the whole point of why you decided to get into this business? If that's the case, then learn from my mistake. Don't spend months or the years I did bumbling around the web trying to learn this stuff on your own. Seek out the help you need so that you can avoid a lot of the pitfalls I encountered and thus find success a lot faster than I did!
So what's next?
Right now Wealthy Affiliate is having a Black Friday sale or I guess we should call it a Cyber Monday sale where you can get access to the training I have used for years to make this blog as successful as it is. You can get a whole month of training for only $1. I know that's crazy when you think you can barely buy something to drink with that nowadays. But for today only you can get an education that might change your life forever as it has for me. Look I'm not going to sit here and make it seem like within 30 days you're going to make 5 figures per month like yours truly (I say that humbly, by the way). However I know within that 30 days you'll probably pick up some gems that will help you avoid a lot of the reasons why people fail at this business! Isn't that alone worth the $1 investment? Aren't you and your goals worth that amount of money? I'm pretty certain that it is. But ultimately you have to make that decision!
If you agree with me then click here to get more information and to sign up for your No Obligation 1 month trial!
That means, you can cancel at anytime! No one is going to do any forced continuity "shenanigans" where they will keep charging your credit card even after you've cancelled! Once you cancel, that's it you're done. But the hope is after you see all the value at your disposal for those 30 days you'll stay on. At the very least you'll know if this affiliate marketing business is really for you or not!
At the end of the day even if you don't take action on this great offer, I hope you picked up some jewels in this article. These observations I have laid out are real and aren't just my Jeidi Mind Trick affiliate marketing mobo jumbo. I'm confident if you make adjustments based on the stuff I laid out earlier, you'll be in a way better place than most people trying to succeed in this business. Or feel free to ignore it and continue to get more of what you have been. You're in control either way.
Alright enough of the babbling! Hope you found this article useful. If so, let me know below. If not that's cool too. Speak to you soon!
Weekly Work At Home Recap 11-25-2011 & Happy Black Friday!
Hello all, Happy Black Friday!
Well it’s the day after Thanksgiving! Hopefully you spent the day with people you love and you did actually take the time to count your many blessings in between stuffing your face and watching football! lol
Today is Black Friday! And I’m sure many of you will be off shopping for your holiday gifts. Well in the spirit of that I would like you to consider adding something else to your shopping list and it’s probably the cheapest thing you’ll buy and could be one of the greatest gifts you’ll ever get!
Unlike many of the gifts that are short term, this gift is one that can continue to give you and your family a whole new life for years to come. It’s basically a gift of financial freedom via running your own business.
I’m happy to say that I’m celebrating my 4th year of financial freedom. That’s right, this year will make my 4th year working at home full time! It’s been a great experience that has given myself and family freedom and experiences I would have never experienced working for the man the rest of my life.
If you want to make a step towards your own freedom, then you might want to take advantage of Wealthy Affiliate University $1 trial! From Nov 25th to the 28th you’ll be able to become a member of WA for a whole month for only $1. (By the way you can read my review of WA here, so you know the good and bad!)
If you want to see what you’ll get during your full month at WA, click here now!
Now with that all said, I want to keep it real with you. Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither will your successful affiliate marketing business won’t be built in a month. Don’t believe the hype if someone tells you differently. But during those 30 days I’m confident you’ll learn more than you have or will trying to go it alone which many are doing and I totally DON’T recommend.
At the very least you’ll walk away with a better knowledge of how to approach affiliate marketing properly to be successful. That alone is worth way more than the $1 they’re charging! If after that full month you don’t see the value, then canceling is easy “peasy” and you won’t be charged again.
So what do you have to lose? You’re probably going to spend 50 to 100 times more on gifts that won’t provide anywhere near the value that learning a successful business would give you. How about putting aside a fraction of that for yourself? Aren’t you and your family worth it?
If so, Click Here to get your $1 WA full month trial! Trust me when I say it’s probably the best dollar you’ll spend if you’ve ever considered getting involved in this business!
In any event enjoy your “Black” Friday and the leads below either way!
Sorry there aren’t a lot of leads this week. It’s a holiday and shortened week and you know damn well you are not in the work mindset either. lol
Monday 11/21/2011
- Web Application Project Manager
- Experienced Executive Assistant
Tuesday 11/22/2011
- Account Executive for Care Management Services
- Checkpoint Firewall Engineer
- Academic Instructional Designers
- Marketing Coordinator for IT Company
- Real Estate Website Tester Needed
Wednesday 11/23/2011
- WordPress Theme Customization Project
- Magazine Layout Designer Wanted
