I found Wealthy Affiliate!

byMunatrends

158 followers

5 years ago

The Goldmine – The exploits for discovery

"The internet is a goldmine for making money," the saying goes. I've seen lots of people make many posts online either on blogs or personal websites. Sometimes I try to connect the dots, yet it doesn't seem to make any sense to me how it can be a real source for making money.

The stigma that goes with internet scammers is common knowledge. The scam involves having to feign selling something online, subsequently collecting money and failing to deliver. Or the common romantic scam where a man who pretends to be a woman appeals for large sums of money from the unsuspecting suitors. It sometimes happens the other way around where the sugar mummy is looking for a yuppie boy who is equally looking for a sugar mummy. The supposed young man continues to milk the sugar mummy who sends lots of money to the "baby boy" who turned out to be a scam. The variation is endless.

In the early 1990s, many young guys came up with this idea that you could make lots of money from the internet. For instance, through affiliate marketing, selling online books, advertising other people's products online, and so and so forth. These guys themselves had a faint idea of the worth of the goldmine on the internet. In a way, some believed that by selling things they could not fully explain very well they were exploiting people. They arranged boot camps, told people about how to make millions, and how they could also become millionaires just like they did. They charge for the training and provide kits. Very few of those students get to proceed to achieve the desired results. The trainers did not have a full understanding of the subject. Neither could they simplify the topic enough for their students to appreciate better. The teaching methods were also mechanical. You would need to memorize formulas and codes. More results can be achieved nowadays with a mere click of a button as a result of significant advances in automation. Then, more than an ordinary days' effort was required for any student from those classes to have made any considerable market for developing something that would be sustainable self-employment or business.

Many paid for those training courses and had to abandon them. It was frustrating, and the guys who anchored those training saw the light and pursued it. Many of those followed them are millionaires in the real sense of the word today.

It's some 30 years, and you may be surprised to note that the internet goldmine is getting discovered to be more profound than we ever imagined.

Practically all our lives today revolve around having to procure one service or the other using the internet.

The internet is no longer a tool for business. It's an enabler, it's a platform, and indeed it's the channel and mirror for seeing things and for getting things done.

Exploration and Shockers

In the quest to see more into the goldmine, I started reading some materials on how to set up a convenient online business a short while ago.

I read articles, watched videos on YouTube, googled both the imaginable and things that I could not fathom.

One idea struck me significantly as being a viable option, having to drop-ship items by intermediating between a buyer of a product and the seller without holding the stock and without any significant upfront investment. It appeared so viable and simplistic. I decided to try this out. There's no harm in trying, especially when there's no significant investment according to the sellers of this product.

But after starting, I soon realized that that people tend to portray that things are simpler than they genuinely are. They gloss over the details about the downside. Now I know that the caveat, buyer beware, is not something to overlook.

I soon realized that I was spending my meager funds on advertising. Besides, credibility was a significant issue for most customers who see the product advertised on Facebook or Instagram. They love the product and the way it's packaged. But one question apparently in customer's mind is "who is the person behind this?", "Can he be trusted?". Then it dawned on me that building a business is not based on using simple mathematical equations. The soft issues in business are very subtle and so compelling that they define the success or failure of a company. There are so many things not made known ab-initio. Even with the best of intentions unless you get someone who is an excellent mentor who has done the same business to handhold you and walks your way through to stardom. Such individuals are rare to find. Few people succeed on their own when starting a business. Most follow proven script or what you call a blueprint with proper guidance.

Facebook ads

The Facebook advertorial cost was a significant back breaker for me. Worse to it is that Facebook does not send you any advance notice for the charge. The charge hits your account the same time the invoice hits your e-mail address. You are expected to check the panel on your Fb manager that you are within limits.

The Fb adverts keep running, and all you get is chat messages on the live chat box with questions from customers about products without any demand. At a point when I realized that I had spent Euro2,000 without any sales worth the spending, I decided to put a permanent full stop to any further Facebook advert.

That is not to say that Facebook advert is not good. It's swift and efficient as it places the product right there in front of the customer. (Some complex Facebook algorithms determine this placement by scanning through searches carried out by customers on related products.) The fact is that big names with more money for adverts seem to carry the day. Because of their reputable brand, they have cultivated trust, the soul, the thrust of the digital business — the crux of the small businesses' nightmare.

I also tried at a point in time to send out advisory articles hoping that this will create some level of customer loyalty. The advisory mails also required some funds to put it in front of people to turn their attention to your website to see what products you have in stock.

The power of the YouTube

What about the use of YouTube to advertise and the need for a YouTube channel? YouTube is another very efficient way to promote and leave a lasting impression on the customer. Our present world is now a visual world. Many things are competing for space in people's minds, and the one that leaves a lasting picture image is more dominant. I used YouTube to advertise a couple of products. But it did not drive any traffic significant enough to generate sales. Because the big boys are doing the same and you need to have done this on a sustainable basis with more products to register the right level of impressions on people's minds. Mind you that it's like a bid process. The stronger and higher you pay, the more likely that you will get the right kind of audience attention.

Payment Systems

At a point in time, I had a challenge with the payment platform. PayPal requires customers in certain countries to provide customer information where they do not already have a PayPal account. Most customers would instead abandon the transaction rather than go through this process. Customers want to buy and just checkout. I then tried Stripe as a second alternative as this is a smarter payment window than PayPal. Also, customers who don't have PayPal would necessarily require another payment platform.

Many found the Stripe option more convenient. But unfortunately, within a week, in one-night Stripe wrote that the company would stop receiving payments for my website. I wrote a series of e-mails trying to find out why and to explain the nature of business. They stated that the site was not secure enough. The worst nightmare was when Stripe returned funds that have not cleared into the account to the buyers whose goods had been shipped out. I wrote to appeal this decision that since the customers did not complain, they should credit me with the funds. They ignored me with no courtesy of a response. Their conclusion was finality! Sounds insane! I felt like everything had crumbled. It's like a bitter pill forced down my throat as it were.

How could the company be so mean? They just refused to listen because they are risk averse. Next is damage control. I wrote to the buyers who got the returned funds. Only a few made effort to remit the money back to me. Having to ask the customers to resend the funds for the products they received was a significant burden on their own. It smacks of lack of capacity from the perspective of any reasonable third party. It was a disaster. Would they at another time want to visit this same website? Most likely, no. The only thing that sustained my hope at this low point in time was the belief that there is no real success without pains and sacrifice. And so, I added this to my cost of set up, painful though it was.

I later tried another payment system provider. They replied to me that my business risk profile is too high, and they disconnected my website. I believe these are the frustrations that so many small-scale entrepreneurs go through.

Trusted websites and their emperor-like power

Back to the issue of Facebook, since the cost of Facebook ads is breath-taking, I decided to try eBay. I listed some products, 15 precisely, as a seller having registered with PayPal as the payment provider. After three weeks of no sales, then came the ban; account suspended. I called eBay to find out the cause. The outcome to my understanding indicated a nonchalant standpoint as if to say, "we do not owe you any explanation on why you cannot use our platform."

Amazon, to me, is a no-go area. Because of my start-up status. I have read about private labels, and I'm not attracted to it. Neither do I want to buy and stock products at this stage for fear of expensive storage fees, should the products not be moving fast enough. I explored Bonanza and then realized that I could only import from eBay or Amazon or any Shopify store. I don't have a running Shopify store. So, in a nutshell, it's a case of "road closed."

Which way forward

With the know-how that I have acquired from my drop-shipping store, I will still love to do it. But you need money to make money in this business. But I must find the real way to the goldmine to be able to do the business the way I want it.

To get free traffic is also possible through e-mails. But of course, there is a lot of stuff to do before you can acquire the e-mail addresses legally. You need to invest a lot of time and effort in the right direction during the right thing if you cannot afford to pay for Fb ads.

This article up is not to state that drop-shipping is a "no-go" area. But instead, that it is not true that you don't need much capital to drop-ship. The alternative to a big advert budget is that you must invest quality time and consistency in many different facets of growing the business. For example, SEO for organic traffic, building up your e-mail list, blogging, and so on. Even when you are fortunate to meet an excellent mentor to recommend the winning products and the right target market, you still need a reasonable budget for adverts. You need a lot of doggedness, time, and effort to invest in doing lots of stuff.

I found Wealthy Affiliate

I recalled coming across marketing Affiliate many times. But because of the careful manner with which I have always treated the internet business in the past, I never gave it a shot until I listened to a YouTube video by ODi Productions.

I decided to read more about it.

I have also been receiving Facebook messenger and voice note links where the presenter at the climax of the training will start bidding down from thousands of dollars to US 997 dollars. And I tell myself that if indeed these guys want to help and honestly believe in what they are selling, then they should not be in a hurry to charge so much at a go. There should be a sustainable and test-able way of making more money rather than asking for such outrageous fees to be paid upfront.

It was this principle that ignited my quest to search for an affiliate program not just targeted at using a link but one with some robust profile.

I used it for the trial period, and I could see that it has good depth and coverage.

I'm still exploring this time around within the WA resources to tap the goldmine.

What strikes me about WA is that unlike most other affiliate programs that quote bogus figures in a short period, there are no such gimmicks here. You've got to do the work. It's not a get rich quick scheme. And as you make progress, you can see the building blocks coming together to form a whole body of the result. It's like the saying goes that little drops of water make a mighty ocean in time.

I am on level 2 of the course now. I am struggling with how to develop content for the niche area that I have chosen.

loseexcessfat101.com, my first website on WA is intended to provide a platform for helping people contending with excess fat and to assist those who have the propensity to be proactive about it.

The website is intended to communicate in straightforward diction, minimizing the use of technical jargon as much as possible. This simplicity is to ensure that everyone can relate to the subject matter in discuss. The goal is for people to be able to use these tips and derive benefit.

I will recommend some dietary programs as well as fitness activities. I will provide information to empower you. With the determination and right mindset, you can apply the tips. You can transit from fat to fit.

I believe I am on the right course to finding the treasure in the goldmine!

Regardless of how far the journey may be, the obstacles, the tough tirades, terrains, and encounters, there's no stopping a determined soul from reaching the goal.