Web Affiliate Marketing Blog

The Wee Bonnie Lass, otherwise known as Kirsty McCubbin, over the past 2 weeks has run a series of interviews with 3 affiliates, myself included. Firstly I would like to thank Kirsty for the interview, and more importantly for NOT using the doctored photograph that Shane did a couple of weeks ago.

Whilst completing my interview, I asked Kirsty whether she would like to answer her own questions which I would then publish on my blog, giving us all an insight into the haggis chaser. I thought it would be interesting to hear Kirsty’s responses giving us an insight and a chance to know the free spirited travelling hillbilly (council tax evader) a little better So here goes…

How did you first hear about affiliate marketing? When did you decide to try it out?
Affiliate marketing is something I discovered through my former job.  I worked for an SEO consultancy and they gave me an affiliate programme to manage one fine day in late 2003.  I’d never heard of affiliate marketing before but I was immediately interested in how people were using it to make money.

Back then, I was a “pretty good” SEO (getting a theme about me at all?!) and the reason I ended up trying AM for myself was because I wanted to experience things from the affiliate point of view.  So I went off and created a spammy site (ah, those heady pre Florida update days) to drive traffic to my merchant.  I’d no idea how well it would do, and to my own surprise I was the programme’s top performing affiliate by the end of the following week. That was nothing compared to how surprised the merchant was, cos I’d neglected to get his permission to promote them.

What was your first ever revenue making idea?  How did it work out for you?
The first thing I ever did to make money for me independently of anything related to the programmes I was managing was creating a spammy (yes another one!) site to promote lingerie merchants.  I made £350 in my first month, and I was hooked.

How long did it take you to make that first commission?
About 3 days!  Back then, you could push out any load of old nonsense, stick up thousands of doorway pages and wait for all the lovely traffic to arrive.  After 5 months I’d equalled my salary and bogged off to Australia for a lovely year of backpacking and boozing (2003 / 2004).

What sectors do you work in?
Lingerie, Cosmetics, Perfume, Fashion, Holidays, and a teeny tiny bit of naughty adult toys (which gives you a bloody good laugh at times).

Want to share one / some of your sites with us?
Don’t I always?  http://www.lingeriebrands.co.uk is my baby at the moment.  But just about everyone with eyes who has been to my blog will know that.  I just can’t seem to stop talking about it!

How do you generate your traffic?
Despite my SEO skills I’m about 90% PPC and 10% organic at the moment.  It was totally unintentional, but I got hooked into spending all my time setting up PPC campaigns after I got back from my first trip to Australia.  My cash reserves were low, I’d done no bloody work for a year and I needed money – quick.  It’s taken me this long to get myself out of that cycle.  I’m proud to say that the 10% is the result of just a few weeks work, so I expect that I shall end the year 70% PPC 30% SEO or better.

How much time do you currently devote to affiliate marketing?
Although I’m a full time affiliate, I don’t actually work full time.  I’ve just spent a year travelling the world and frequently went 6 weeks or more doing nothing interspersed with periods where I worked 3 to 4 hours a day.

I guess I’m a “sporadic” full time affiliate now?!  I worked like buggery for 4 months in the UK when I returned from my round the world jaunt, and I’ve just spent 6 weeks in NZ and Australia.  In a month or so I will spend a while working like buggery again.

I think I’m trying to say I don’t know!

Will that change in the next year?
I’m going to be a lot more settled and consistent in my application of my skills.  Inside my head, this is “My” year to really set some strong foundations, build my earning power, and insulate myself against the whims of the great G-meister (Google).

That said, I’ve already got two big-ish trips lined up.  One for Duncan and I to get married back in Scotland, and to attend the A4U Expo of course!  Then there will be a honeymoon on our way back to Australia.  Very restrained this time mind you, just the 4 weeks ;)  A few months after that, we will be travelling back to Ireland for a very good friends wedding.  No doubt we will come up with some exciting way to waste 6 weeks and a few grand on the way there / back.

So Urrrr…. No, I still wont know!

What has the money that affiliate marketing brings done for your lifestyle?
Well, see above!  I never in my wildest dreams imagined that I would be able to live the way I do.  Wandering the planet without a care in the world and being able to do almost anything without worrying about where the cash is coming from is one of the most liberating and joyful things I have ever done. 

Its also wonderful to be able to give some nice things to my parents.  My mother and father gave me a lot of financial support during a relatively unfortunate period in my life when I needed bailing out after a relationship went a bit Pete Tong, and I was left in a bit of a bad way financially. I have recently been able to help them enjoy one or two of the finer things in life, and that is a great feeling.

What’s your definition of a super affiliate?  D’you reckon you are one?
I’ve no idea.  I have come to the conclusion that much like beauty, the super affiliate is in the eye of the beholder.  There are so many different definitions.

I guess they are just people who make shedloads of cash!

Am I one?  No, I am merely “pretty good” and simply make bucketloads of cash

Lots of people will want to know how well you do in terms of income.  You don’t have to mention figures.. but do you feel like giving us a clue?
Enough to do whatever Duncan and I want, go wherever we like, and not worry about anything.  We’ve done so much in the last year, and we still earned more than we could spend. 

Whenever I feel down, I simply log into the old business bank account and stare lovingly at the fruits of my labours.  I currently have enough money in there for Duncan and I to live a nice lifestyle for 3 years. 

How do you motivate yourself and keep your passion for Affiliate Marketing going?
I don’t need much motivating.  I always loved generating website traffic and working out how people behave when they are looking for products and services online.  To be able to do this for my own sites and to make money for myself is all the motivation I need.  I often wake up in the night with new ideas for sites and businesses.  I can’t even begin to explain the profound connection I feel to my line of work… so the passion just happens all on its own. 

Tell us one thing that’s REALLY worked out well for you in the last year…
Sorry to keep harping on about it, but the best thing I’ve done this year is my new Lingerie Brands site.  This month so far I have made a really healthy 4 figure sum from it, and it’s only 3 months old.  I can’t think of a better example of something that’s really worked!

Where will you be as an affiliate in 12 months time?
I will have created around 5 large content sites and these will become the focus of 80% of my income.  I’ll also be generating 60% of my traffic via SEO.  My income will be more stable.  It shoots up and down like the proverbial hookers’ knickers at the minute.

What achievement in your life as an affiliate are you most proud of?
Two things:

1. Being able to do what I want, when I want and not working for anyone else. There are no more hassles with the boss and no office politics. Yah boo sucks to them!
2. The fact that up till now I have been able to deal with every setback Google or anyone else have thrown at me and come back bigger and stronger than ever.  It’s not always an easy or pleasant experience, but it has always been positive.  There’s something truly empowering about that.  It makes me feel that I am doing what I’m supposed to in life, cos If I wasn’t I’d have bombed out by now like so many others.

Whats the best bit of advice you can give to an aspiring affiliate?
A few things!

1. Read every forum and free resource in sight.
2. Don’t give those spammy e-book scum your hard earned money.  If the title is full of $$$ & !!!  - keep the credit card holstered.
3. For god sake, don’t make your first site a general shopping directory and expect to dominate the internet shopping scene within 6 weeks.
4. There are no shortcuts.  It’s hard work you need to do to make it as an affiliate… so do that NOW and stop looking for the easy money.  It’s a mirage created by those rotters I talked about in point 2.
5. Content really is king.  If you simply build it,  they won’t come… but like all tourists they will come if you give them something to see!
6. Loans and Gambling are a REALLY bad idea to build your first site around.

You can read Kirsty’s blog at http://www.affiliatestuff.co.uk/