Interested in affiliate marketing but how do you go about doing it?  What is the best way?

The truth is that there are many ways to be an affiliate and how you go about doing it depends on a few things:

1. The niche

2. The strategy

First of all lets talk about the niche.  You see, the approach to marketing will differ depending on the niche or the target customer you are aiming for.  For example, in the internet marketing niche, the most successful affiliates mail their list and offer a good bonus to encourage people to buy using their link.

But if you are in a niche such as skincare/beauty products, a more effective method is may be to have a blog about skincare etc and introducing the product that way.

Of course there are going to be a lot of overlaps and similarities in how to affiliate market, but you need to be aware that some ways of marketing work better for some niches than others.  There isn’t a one size fits all approach.

2.  The strategy is crucial in your success.  The are different avenues to go down all with their pros and cons.  For example, one strategy is to use PPC campaigns.  Very easy to do, fast results, lots of traffic but also requires cost in money too.

Another strategy is blogging.  Very low cost (even free) but consumes time in terms of writing posts and articles.

Choosing a strategy and sticking to it is very important and this is where a lot of beginners fall down on.  They simply go from one thing to another depending on which guru is selling the “next big thing”.  So be smart and don’t get caught in the trap.  Stick to one strategy, get the results THEN you can try out another strategy.  If you want some help in this area, the you should read the affiliate marketing how report.

This is a very common question I get asked all the time.  So lets have a chat about it!

When people ask me how they can make money on the internet, I reply with this question:  Do you want some fast money or do you want to build a business?

Then people realize that making money on the internet is not just something you can do without commitment and thousands of dollars just fall on your lap.  You see, the biggest problem we have nowadays (which is also fuelled by the IM gurus) is that people are lead to believe that making money on the internet is a fast cash thing, that by following some “system” that you are going to be a millionaire!

REALITY CHECK*****

It ain’t going to happen.

Do you know why?  It’s because making money on the internet is still a real business.  It’s no different to a bricks and mortar business.

Somehow, a lot of people approach the internet as a side game and dream of making thousands of dollars without having to do anything, but they are deluded.

In order to make decent money, you need to approach it as a real business:  You need a business plan, a strategy, the right training, the right contacts.  Please don’t be those people who float around buying up empty promises of riches every time a “guru” sells you the next big thing is here at a discounted $997!  Only 3 places left……..etc you know what I mean.

The people who buy these promises are clueless.  They are going after one thing to another.  Have a decent plan and stick to it.

I know in the beginning it’s easy to be lead many different ways.  I guess that’s because you’re still figuring out what works or not!  If you’re still figuring it out, I advise that you read about how to make money on the internet the report.

Don’t be a headless chicken.  Learn the best strategy for you and stick to it.  Easy.

Good luck.

Some straight advice for anybody thinking or even considering joining them.  Stay Well Away.

The system is set up as a cash gifting system.  This looks and sounds nice.  So what does it mean?

The sales pitch is that it isn’t a normal business and since money is processed as a “gift”, legally it won’t be as a normal business and no products need to be bought or sold.

How it works is pretty simple.  It is a hidden Ponzi Scheme.  If you don’t know what one is, there is a good site that explains it all:

http://www.cashgiftingwatchdog.com/basics/what-is-cash-gifting/

If you put your money in the “system”, the person at the top of the pyramid ends up with all the money, whilst the people who join at the bottom get left with little or nothing as they need a vast number of recruits to get their pay.

If you want to make money online, then stay away from these scammers who make making money easy.  They are out to catch greedy or desperate people who want to make money fast.  There is no such thing as quick money unless you won the lottery or played gambling.

If you want to produce a real income online, you need to understand how the processes work and what is involved.  This free report explains it all.

If anybody has fallen foul of any scams please let me know so we can expose these people and help one another make money the real way and build a real business for our futures.

Stay safe.  Learn to avoid the scams.

This site comes under various names such as vinittipartner.com, vinitticashflowsystem.info

Latest update 4/6/09

I received some comments from Jacob Clement the owner of Vinitti.com

He has assured me that the system is not a scam and he can also be contacted by telephone.

“Anyone wants to talk to me directly you can reach me at (801) 529-8785.

Im available mon-fri 11 am to 7 pm mtn standard time.”

Since he has the decency to speak up and defend his company I think he deserves the benefit of the doubt.

Therefore if you have had any positive experiences with Vinitti, please post your comments.

On the other hand, if you believe this to be a scam, please also post your comments so others can know.

Simply put, it can be any type of business that makes money without the need for an office or official shop.

With the recession and redundancies taking a grip on the economy, people are looking at alternative ways of making money.  Home based business can be a very useful option especially for those who have children or time commitments that don’t allow them to work normal full time hours.

A home based business can come in the form of franchises, direct mail, local services or internet based.

Personally I believe that making money using the internet is the most effective way of making money quickly but also allows a passive income too.

There are two main hurdles when it comes to a home based business:

1)  It takes a lot of self motivation, as there is no boss breathing down your neck.  The money you make is in direct proportion to how well you use your time.

2)  There are a lot of scams that advertise themselves as home based business but instead of helping you make money, they end up making money out of you.  These scams are usually quite easy to identify, especially when you notice some kind of pyramid scheme or talk of having to “recruit” other people to boost your income.

Assuming you deal with the two hurdles, the third step is to make sure that the home based business actually works and your effort in making money is not wasted by an underachieving system.  I know of some catalouge distributors who work their butts off for minimal commissions.

Without sounding too biased, I think making money with the internet is the most time effective and low risk method.  BUT do be aware of the scams that promise that you can make $10000 in 2 days by just filling our surveys etc.

Here’s the story on how I got started in making my first $2000 online.

I did get scammed but I also learnt my lesson.

During this time of recession, more and more people fall for the make money fast scams as they try to find ways supplement their income.

It could be that someone has just been made redundant or fallen ill.  Some people may be in a situation where they are struggling to pay the rent and for food.

Whatever the situation, scam artists are taking advantage of these people’s situations and are trying to make money fast for THEMSELVES.

What we need to do is to educate the public in keeping their heads screwed on and don’t fall for the emotional hard sell by the scammers.

If you see websites with headlines such as “make $2000 a day with only 1 hour work” as attractive as that may seem, it’s most likely a scam.  Of course most of you would be smart enough to avoid them and know that money does not grow on trees, however, some desperate people in need of some money fast can sometimes fall victim to these sites.

So can you actually make money fast?  The short answer is no, but it is sort of possible.  And we’re not talking about winning the lottery here.

Internet marketing is one of the ways you can make money fast.  In fast, I mean make a full time income in the space of a few months.

A lot of bloggers and affiliate marketers have done it including myself.  Now by no means is it easy.  It’s hard work and you need a lot of focus.  BUT if you want to make money fast (compared to making $7 an hour working at Burger King) then it is possible.

Whatever you do though, don’t get caught up in the make money fast scams promoted by those who want to make a quick buck out of you!

Learn how I made it.

If you have any comments or advice you want, be sure to leave one below!

This site claims to review ways to make money online and shows you the real deal from the scams.

If you noticed the  web design, it does look rather amateurish.

Well lets not judge a book by it’s cover.  Lets continue to see what it has to offer.

The first recommendation is a gambling system.  Here we go again.  Online roulette double or quits method that every other casino affiliate seems to promote.

If you have not come across this yet, it’s basically a bait that is an explanation of how you can “beat the system” in online casinos to make money.  Play on roulette and double up everytime you lose then stop once you make your money back (and the initial bet).

By explaining this, people get enticed into playing this online casino cheat and join up to the recommended online casinos.  The webmaster then gets an affiliate commission for getting someone to sign up.

Is this your idea of making money online?

Another recommendation is for a product called Highestpaysurveys.com

This costs $49 and let me tell you now - DO NOT BUY.  For $49 all you basically get is a list of survey sites.  Not only that, some of them don’t even pay!  You could get this list free or for about $5.

On their sales page it says: “Some of our members participate in surveys to make an extra $100-$500 a month to cover the cost of a vacation or new car payment. Other people spend more time and earn enough to generate a full time income.”

I’m going to tell you now that it is very unlikely you are going to get anywhere close to $500 per month nevermind a full time income.

So this is the conclusion.  Reviewthemarket.net is dressed up as a “review” site yet the products they recommend are dubious.  It’s more likely that this site was simply put together by a person and simply added some affiliate products they could promote without even really testing any of the products first.

This so called review site is not what I call a useful site.  I would be very careful about purchasing any of the recommended products.

If you don’t want to get scammed and find out how the experts are making real incomes, read here.

I won’t explixitly mention the name of the ad except it contains some long sales pages with some videos.

Why the long sales pages?  Because it takes a lot of effort to convince people to join this company and they are trying to sell you the dream of financial freedom etc.

Is this a scam?  The company legally speaking in itself most probably is legit.  But why does it attract so many complaints?

Here are a couple of things I found.

A common complaint is made against a guy named Jim Rivas.  You can read the full report if you’re particularly interested in the details.

http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/278/RipOff0278036.htm

The situation is that this company claims it is not a MLM, but the way it operates have similarities to a MLM.  i.e. the more people you recruit, you then get a share of the profits that your recruits make.  i.e the “compensation plan”.

In this instance, Jim Rivas was one of the people higher up in the chain or was a “sponsor” but unfortunately just ripped people off instead, keeping the best performers to himself etc etc.  So it means that when you join Lifepath Unlimited, you could get burnt if you get a dodgy person who recruited you.

The second point I’d like to make is the content and price of the products.

What this company is selling is essentially self help books, CDs, DVDs and seminars.  e.g. Law of attraction, wealth mastery etc

All fair and well, but have you seen the prices?  One of their premium products:  A five day conference with meals and board included $15,000!

Seriously, even Tony Robbins ain’t near that scale.

So let me conclude.  If you want to join lifeplan unlimited, you need have a start up budget of $2000.  This was what was recommended by Shultzlpu’s blog.

After that, assuming your sponsor isn’t a scam artist (cos you never know who it could be right?)  you need to start selling stuff like crazy to make any money and recuit more people.

I don’t know about you but I think there are much more better ways to make money online without associating yourself with these types of companies.

If you want to make money in a way that you can be comfortable with and is truly a simple method i.e don’t need to recruit people etc, try not to fall for the scams.  Learn more here.

It is run by a guy with the name Michael Vincent.  I’ve already mentioned this scam on a previous post in passing but thought it needed it’s own post.

I’ve seen the phoney reviews but I’ve also come across the many victims of the underground cash secret program.

Latest figures from Quantcast show approx 137, ooo visitors a month to the site.  That is already the lower end of the scale.  In November 2008 that figure was more like 500,000 a month.  Yes half a million visitors.  Even if you assume a conversion rate of 1%, that means thousands of people have paid for this.  Paid and got scammed.

So what’s the problem?
First of all, they sell you the product itself, then after wards, they try to sell you some more things which they say you need for you to make money.  If you follow me.  When you try to click away, they reduce the price etc etc.  I’m not going into the details as you can see the experiences of other people on forums etc.

Ok, fair enough, they do some “back door” selling, so whats so bad about that?

Here comes the real scam.  They actually call people up after wards!

Yes they call you up and sweet talk you or hard sell (however you want to put it) and promise you they will help you set up your system and that they will even pay to help you set the system up………..

Of course then all they need is to take your credit card details to take a “deposit”.  There has been an incident lately of a guy who just lost $5000 to them.  No joke.  It’s been reported by a guy from Singapore.  He hasn’t been able to get his money back or contact with anyone.

Can you believe these kind of things are still happening in this day and age.

If someone calls you up promising to show you how you can make money, run a mile.  There is no such thing as a free lunch.

Stay safe, learn how to avoid the scams.

We review scamxposer and see if it is a scam reviewing scams if you know what I mean.

This site gets about 9 to 10k of traffic per month and has been around for a few years now, so it’s doing well in terms of visibility.  It’s also a PR3 site, so not bad for a scam review site.

I checked to see how good the reviews were and I actually did find some reviews in there.  Not all sites listed are reviewed but some are.

During my time before I “made it”, I did get scammed by a program called “Currency Exhange Profits”.  I invested over $500 into the scheme and have never seen that money again, let alone any profits.  Scamxposer has a review on this scam and has told people to stay away.  So thumbs up for helping others out there.

This site obviously lists the scams to avoid but also recommends some programs.  The comment I want to make is even though programs are recommended, you still need to keep your head on.  Don’t spend money you can’t afford and make sure it seems realistic enough.  After all, the scamxposer.com website makes money as a “recommender” of products by being an affiliate, so could there be some bias when recommending programs?  I’ll let you think for yourself.

All in all, I find the site is useful with the list of scams to avoid.  If anyone has had any bad experiences with this site, please leave a comment and share with others.

If you want to avoid the scams and learn how the experts make money read here.