So I recieved an email from a friend the other day recommending I should start blogging about something relevant and useful, and I came up with nothing. Then he suggested paying me to write something useful, at which point I also refused… Finally he said that I should check out blog marketing because they will pay me to actually write content that doesnt even have to be useful, to which i scoffed. Could it be true? Was there actually a system in which I could be paid to write something people will find no use in whatsoever? SIGN ME UP BILLY!

Anyway to make a long gregarious story short, I signed up and this was my first assigned task once my blog was approved. (Yes they actually screen your blog for PR and Alexa rank) So now that I am a new “postie” as they call me, I get to talk about what i love best about PPP (PayPerPost), or triple P’s as I like to call it.

Well lets start off with the positives, I like triple P’s opportunity to make money. Did I mention that getting paid is nice? There are actually some crazies that blog so much they have earned over $20,000 with triple P… impressive. The system is easy enough, you just pick whatever niche you wanna talk about and you get anywhere from $5 to $50 per post, which may or may not be worth your time, but hey does it look like I care?

Either way, if you want to squeeze some juice out of your blog and write about stuff that may or may not be relevant to your readers, check out PPP, you may or may not be disappointed. I guess that really depends on how you look at it.

Heres the neat little disclosure button they get you to include in your posts, isn’t it cute?

Myspace Apps.. who knew?

Yes ladies and gentlemen, Myspace is trying to claw back at Facebook, with none other than their own version of applications in which you can soup up your profile with even more knick-knacks and paddy-wacks. This comes as great news for anyone (??) who still uses Myspace.

Now would be a good time to think about creating/outsourcing the development of your very own Myspace App(s) and take advantage of these viral applications.

Check out the Myspace Developer Platform & you might want to take a peek into Google’s OpenSocial API Specifications.

Also be sure to check out the current Myspace Apps that are being pumped out as we speak…dont miss this opportunity to create and monetize a Myspace App, we all have seen the viral power of Facebook Apps, and a lot of people (for some wierd reason) still use Myspace…prime real estate, so go get your own street sign.

So you want to be the next super affiliate and make uber amounts of cash online… great… grand.. fantastic. There’s no magic formula that is going to get you rich quick, so if thats what your looking you need to go beg your boss to give you your job back. What you need to do is understand exactly what your getting into, and what affiliate marketing really is. I get asked on a daily basis what it is I do, and how I can help other people make money online, so I figured I would help you all out a little bit.

What is Affiliate Marketing?

First of all to get into affiliate marketing you need to break down exactly what it is. The first thing is obviously the affiliate, a company in which you will promote their offers for cold hard cash. Depending on the offer you will either get paid per click, per lead (signup), or per impression. There is undoubtedly greater detail for each but we will keep it simple here. Next there is the marketing aspect in which you will need to market those affiliates’ offers and try to get other people to do one of those aforementioned things. (click/lead/impression)

Which Affiliate Companies are Best?

Now you are probably wondering what to look for when you go to signup for an affiliate company. One of the most important things to look for is the quality of the customer service and of course the reputation of the company. I would suggest reading around some affiliate related forums to give you some insight. There are literally tons of affiliates out there depending on what you are trying to sell. If it takes longer than a week to approve you for their program or there has been no contact from an AM (affiliate manager) then its more than likely not the best bet. If however when you signup you are greeted by a friendly email and are given numerous methods of contact, then you may be on the right track.

The Marketing Aspect

So great you’ve decided upon one of the numerous affiliate companies out there, now what? Well you need to start pushing those offers and try to get some leads. What is the best way to do this you may ask? SPAM! No just kidding, the truth is the vast majority of affiliate marketers don’t really make that much money. Around 10% make 90% of the money, and thats just the way it is. They’ve built monopolies on certain market segments and it is extremely hard to topple some of those strangleholds. However don’t give up all hope yet!

The secret to affiliate marketing lies within the niche you choose to market. If you look through your affiliate companies campaign listing, you will see there is pretty much an offer for any type of product you can think of. And if its not there, then you can bet there is another affiliate company or program somewhere out there to cater to your specific needs. An example of this is a hip hop forum that I was running and wasn’t getting that many leads for the offers my affiliate company was offering. I switched over to an affiliate program for the clothing supplier DrJays.com and started to make some nice dough off of actual sales. Affiliate marketing is all about tweaking and testing your offers until you hit a home run, and then once you find that golden gem, you need to drive it into the ground until the wheels fall off.

Putting it all together

There are other ways to earn money through affiliate marketing without the need for a website, although you will need a landing page. But Lorne I am slow, what the hell is a landing page?! A landing page is the page that appears when a potential customer clicks on an advertisement or a search-engine result link, taking them to your offer and hopefully getting them to signup, and getting you a conversion. An example of this would be facebook ads, where you can simply setup an offer through their developer network and pay per click. The premise here being that if you pay for example .20 cents a click, and your offer pays out $1 per lead then you would need 1 signup for every 5 clicks to break even. Obviously no one wants to break even, you want a positive return on your investment (ROI).

So on a very basic level I hope I have given you some insight as to exactly what affiliate marketing is, so that next time when one of you donkeys goes to ask me exactly what it is, I can simply direct you to this article

Well it has been a long time coming, and most of the people I know got out of the game ages ago when the “Myspace Marketing” fad was growing near its saturation point. Today I received an email from Millnic Media which is basically putting the nail in the proverbial Myspace spam coffin. (Although I’m sure there are still other viable affiliate networks for Myspace Marketing)

Hello Lorne,

This is the second very serious email I have written in two weeks. It’s so not like us, but into every CPA Network a little hammer must fall.

All drollery aside, MillNic Media does not tolerate or condone Myspace traffic. Some of our affiliates have been running offers there, so we wanted to remind everyone of the Terms of Service. The Terms of Service is the list of rules and conditions you agree to when you sign up with the network. If you break these conditions, “you will forfeit your entire commission for all programs and your account will be terminated”. Although this warning is redundant, it’s still what happens when you run MillNic Offers on Myspace (for posterity: you don’t get paid, and your account gets shut down now and forever)Great. It’s all very clear now so there wont be any confusion. If you have questions as to the rules and regulations that govern the network please have a chat with your affiliate manager.

Sincerely,

MillNic Media
www.millnicmedia.com www.bestcpanetwork.com

http://millnicmedia.com

So if that doesn’t speak loud and clear, then maybe you deserve to get your affiliate account shut down and never receive any of your “free iphone” or “ringtone” money. Either way if you are still in the Myspace game for whatever reason, it may be time to start looking into new social networks for your marketing purposes. (Facebook Marketing anyone?)