I affiliate with a book publisher. I send traffic and get a commission, he stocks the books and ships them out. I don't have to bother with shipping, credit card merchant accounts, charge backs, packaging, etc.

Affiliates don't have to worry about many hassles that the main company does. A healthy affiliate program benefits the buyers, affiliates and the main company.

Enigma Valdez

Maybe it could have been said in gentler words, but I think what that advice was really saying is that if you create websites for the the end user and focus your energies on them and the theme of the site in combination ... of course, you have to get the word out about the site ... but if you do that, then the income will follow.

I don't think those commends were meant as a personal comment on you , but more as a comment of the mindset of most newer affiliates. They think this is quick easy cash and it isn't. It's a lot of long hours creating a solid website for your visitors to benefit from ... and yes, it's true that help sites are very popular and can earn a decent income.

I wouldn't take it personally Light.

The last thing I need when I'm trying to focus on creative ideas is someone telling me that "oh I'm trying to make millions"

Everyone is not a newbie at everything. When I first came to the US 6 years ago, I saw this Ad on TV that said - Make Millions with my Kit - I got curious and I bought it for $40.

That kit contained nothing but bogus scam advertisment schemes. That was my first and last experience and I *never* fell into scams again.

How did I discover affiliate marketing? Not through someone's promise of millions or whatever crap. I am smart enough to know what it takes to make millions.

I have been through MLMs, I have worked for 5 years on programming jobs with pays well above 70 grand.

I only gave affiliate marketing a try after looking at 1000s of coupon sites out there.

It was my own initiative.

I didn't go out there to make millions. It's ABSURD of someone to just assume that newbies are here to make millions.

I have every right to fight back someone who just ASSUMES something about what I'm saying. I don't take shit and crap anymore. I don't let people put me down.

After having worked 5 years in the programming industry I know, building a quality site is IMPORTANT , otherwise it's just a waste or time no one will come to my site and I know that.

So I went ahead to build what I considered a a quality coupon site, but Google has DIFFERENT EXPECTATIONS.

It took me 6 months to learn what GOOGLE really wants.

So I've been struggling all along okay.

And for all the efforts I've put in I haven't made a decent cent.

The money is just going away in hosting costs. And that is what I was saying in my previous post if he read it closely he wouldn't ASSUME.

My reply was for having multiple domains - when starting as a newbie, it costs quite a bit on hosting because search engines take a while before they index the site. Unless one is ready to try PPC advertising which is also tricky for affiliates with AdWords.

Recently 2 pages from one of my sites got 2000 page views for 6 days from Digg. If you know Digg, people on it are *hard to please*. So you can imagine, how good those pages must be for people to come to the site.

But just building quality stuff is not ENOUGH for money to flow, because out of those 2000 page views I only got 12 AdSense clicks amounting to a total of $2 and some change.

So it's not about making millions at all. So, assuming something like that about a newbie is absurd.

If he really wanted to help, he would offer genuine and detailed advise about how long it takes, what it takes and would do it POLITELY, and not start bashing people and accusing them that they're trying to make millions and that they're not doing anything to build something of quality for people.

I guess a group hug is out of the question?!

Your points are well taken Light

It's ok Bobbie.

I remember being in one other Affiliate Forum, were there were a bunch of
so-called experts targeting newbies and instead of genuinely offering help they would simply haze the newbies, and the hazing was fully supported by the forum administrators there just because those hazers would kiss the administrators a**.

I was continuously hazed in multiple threads that's why I'm on the offensive and defensive all the time.

But this forum is very different and much better. Everyone is on their own here and everyone marks their own destiny.

And when in doubt use the ignore button. If you or anyone doesn't like moi or my posts, you might as well ignore me.

I'd like to think there would never need to be a reason to ignore someone. I can't tell you how many times I've gotten in virtual over fights because I misinterpreted some simple A-Z letters on my screen. Before I know it, my blood's boiling and I've got a 3 page rant just waiting for me to his send, lol.

I love my wife to death and we seem to have such fights from time to time. I'll say the most innocuous of things and then next thing I know she's steamed at me; she's mad and I'm left scratching my head. I can laugh about it as it's always a misunderstanding.

Even though ajstocco didn't put his words delicately, I think his true intention was to point you on course, Light. That is, to point you in the right direction if you need it. I agree his words could have been gentler, but I think you are being defensive against someone that means you no harm.

I've owned affiliate programs and I've been an affiliate myself. Both sides have their ups and downs and it all comes down to what type of responsibilities you want. Affiliate programs are usually giving out a large share of small margins to the reseller. I doubt they are making as much money off your hard work as you might think. Program owners also have the headaches of administering a site, managing fraud, designing ads, creating/storing inventory, and maintaining staff.

Affiliate marketing is not exactly easy, either. You have to buy advertising, manage campaigns, crunch statistics, worry about SEO... the list goes on and on.

I recommend you dip your feet in both waters so you can understand from an experienced perspective.

Having run my own businesses for a few years now, I recommend that you always take time out to reward yourself. If you make a few dollars, set aside a small portion to reward yourself for your hard work. You're not being wasteful because a motivated person will always work harder than a boat with no steam. It wasn't until I learned to do this for myself that I started being successful.

As your get more experience on the internet, you'll learn to cut corners. I've paid $20,000 a month for hosting and purchased hundreds of thousands of dollars in servers. In reflection, I could have paid far less if I knew what I know now. But that's my point. You might not be making money, but you're smarter and more experienced this month than you were last. Let your rollercoaster work it's slow way up the first slope, then enjoy the thrilling (and profitable) ride down the other side.

I just replied to this, and my message didn't get posted.

Anyway, I'll try again. My previous post was much longer but, I just want to say that I replied to adjs... the way I did because I did feel hurt by his abrupt reply to me following a conversation with him on a previous thread where he was almost overlooking/ignoring what I said.

Anyway, I'll forgive adj... for now, and lets move on.

Hey Light, I just wanted you to know that I really enjoy you here on the RS forum and I do read your posts. I can't imagine ignoring you because I've walked in your shoes many times, and I'm sure I will again.

I want to make it perfectly clear that this IS NOT that other board. We've all been flamed on other boards before for saying something sincere. It's a shock when it happens. I'd like to think that negative boards will eventually loose their quality membership to boards like us.

Figuratively speaking ... we love you Light and are glad you're here. I'm glad to see everyone here who walks in the door with the intention of developing a nice online community, learning and sharing... spammers and flamers, not so much!

I really dig and respect your web knowledge. It's what I like about RS. Here I found peers to have real conversations with. I count you amoung that group.

I find myself specifically looking for threads that you've participated in Light because I know it will make for a healthy conversation/debate. Your input here is always respected.

Thanks Bobbie for the nice words.

Just so that everyone knows, about 6 to 8 months ago when I was really a newbie to Aff Marketing, and I was at this other fourm I asked a question to everyone " Is Affiliate Marketing really worth all the effort? Is it too saturated? "

I received a ton of responses some good, some bad, some even mean an rude.

But, back then I ignored the mean an rude posts because they were like that only *once*. Not on multiple threads by the same person.

Someone even said "Many people get into affiliate marketing thinking it's a get rich quick scheme, and it takes a lot of hard work and effort.... and so on".

I didn't flame at that person, instead I corrected them and said "Hey you know I'm aware that this is not a get-rich-quick scheme, and I'm not here to get-rich-quick. I told them all I wanted was to make my *first sale*"

After 3 months of working on the site and doing everything good on the site, I didn't see anyone visiting it nor buying anything. Does that mean my site wasn't good. NO. It just means that search engines take a while to index the site and I didn't know how long they took to index it because that was my *first site*.

I don't get mad easily, but if someone behaves differently towards me than to others and they do it more than 3 to 10 times, then my intuition kicks in and tells me there's something wrong and that's whey I become defensive that's because of the many bad experiences I've had of people walking all over me and taking advantage of me.

Sometimes it's best to simply ignore something when I don't like it I guess.