My Experience from Toying to Business
Feels like my birthday into adulthood.
I first stumbled upon internet marketing as a concept when I was still in film school trying to fund my independent film projects. I never found it as complicated as most people seem to think - but that's mainly due to my ability to keep things from overwhelming me.
I remember it took me about a week to make my first sale online. I didn't even have a website - just used Clickbank, Youtube and Facebook. I had chosen this Photography ebook that I had previously bought myself from Clickbank and really liked and recommended it via affiliate link on a relevant Youtube video and my own Facebook Photography page. Next day, I wake up to find I had made $200 in sales from that single Youtube and Facebook comment. Mind you, I hadn't just mindlessly spammed my affiliate link. My comments were pretty genuine - I really liked the ebook, and I guess that showed.
Ever since then the power of internet marketing has been pretty clear to me. Nothing will ever feel more fulfilling than waking up to find you have made a couple hundred bucks in your sleep. Unfortunately, with my film school schedule and all the ridiculous amount of time and projects that entailed, I couldn't properly pursue internet marketing just yet. And so it went - with me making what I needed (a few hundred here and there) whenever I found some time, which luckily summed up quite nicely and allowed me to fund my projects (without ever having set up a website or an online presence as an affiliate). The beauty of internet marketing is that when you set it up 'properly' - it makes you revenue for months ahead even after you've forgotten about it. For instance I kept making a bunch of sales from that (improperly set up) Youtube/Facebook comment about that Photography ebook for about a good 4 months (without ever re-commenting or updating or putting any time into re-promoting the ebook at all).
I then came across the SFI Affiliate Center - which basically promotes products from TripleClicks which, in my opinion, is a random, average market - nothing special. What makes it special is SFI's affiliate referral system, similar to the pyramid method which makes it so that you earn a percentage of what every affiliate you referred is earning. Since I was already making some money from my previous online marketing attempts, I decided to take some of the extra I had and invest it into a solo ad for SFI and managed to refer a little following of decent affiliates which got me some pretty lucrative months (about $2,000 each). However, this was short-lived as I had still not graduated then and so couldn't find the time to maintain it. SFI still pulls in some revenue for me each month without me having to do anything (I got lucky with the affiliates I referred) however it's about ten times less than what I was making when I was actually giving it the time.
Now that I have finally graduated and thus have the time to officially pursue internet marketing, I decided to learn all I can first and foremost. And so I spent a lot of time doing tedious research for the perfect training and, although SFI offers good training material, it is too hectic and disorganised to be efficient. I have, without a doubt, found that nothing compares to Wealthy Affiliate. And this is an assessment stemmed from over a month of research. Having every single resource in arm's length and such an intricately crafted step-by-step training system that is second to none is a gem of a find. Not to mention this groundbreaking 24/7 support system that is evident of the care and expertise found within the community. I highly salute the makers of WA (and the members!) for a flawless job, and have proudly and confidently just signed up for Premium - and written this, my first blog, as a howdy to all my WA fellow marketers out there. It is an utmost pleasure to be among you.
I hope you have found my experience worth the read, preferably even beneficial! My next step on this journey is to prioritise marketing Wealthy Affiliate (after/while I complete the training) and probably to rekindle SFI in parallel as a separate niche. In fact why not start now!
If you're interested in checking out SFI for yourself and joining my group of affiliates, you can sign up through here http://www.sfi4.com/12393720/FREE
If you're interested in checking out SFI but not in having me as your sponsor, then this is the link to the official website http://www.sfimg.com
Can't wait to read more about you guys and your own experiences. And your success stories or soon-to-be success stories. Even with my very limited experience and I can promise you it is very doable.
I hope to meet you all in Vegas one day! :)
The very best to you all!
Ramy
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Very nice & inspiring blog. It got me really excited about starting an online business. BTW: We share the same first name: Ramy!
I am Lebanese, living in Beirut. I am considering joining WF and becoming a premium member. However, I am really concerned about the same issue you were concerned about. Which is Making payments For Wealthy affiliates & getting paid back my earnings.
Would you be kind and explain how you found a solution for adding Lebanon to the list of countries for payment methods? Also , what are the best options to receive my earnings while living in Beirut?
I would appreciate if it you can guide me.
Thank you
Ramy