Hello Everyone!

I have been reading a lot here for a while, so I finally decided to join so that I can learn more lol. I have a general idea of what I plan to do....I am NOT going to jump impulsively to start. I want to make sure that I can start right the first time. I might ask a few questions (hopefully not dumb ones)...but not overload you guys.

I have a past history of affiliate marketing (which failed), so I want to do something sustainable and growable.

Thank you to everyone here for everything I have learned so far, and I hope to get really involved in this thriving comnunity

Hello,

Welcome to the forum!

I wish you every success in your future endeavors, you'll find vast amounts of information here.
If you get a chance, you may want to skim through the rules www.blackhatworld.com/help/terms. You will also find beginner friendly posts pinned to the top of most sections.

Enjoy your Stay!

TAD

Hello! Im a newbie here too

Thank you for the welcome TheAlmightyDada, I appreciate it. Hi ZRL, glad you are here. We will learn together.

Welcome to BHW. I wish you well in your endeavors.

Welcome to the forum BloodHawke. Mind sharing what went wrong with your affiliate marketing stint? We can learn from each other's mistakes to make 2018 a successful year.

No, I don't mind sharing. I started back when CJ, Linkshare, Clickbank, and Shareasale were new. I was enthusiastic and "pumped" on the concept, so I joined all of them. I started signing up for as many merchants as I could get accepted for.

I didn't read or study ANYTHING about AF before doing this....just read all the hype back then about all the money people were making. I bought a domain and hosting, set up my website, created a logo, and proceded to create a "store" out of AF product links and pictures with product descriptions.

Problem was....I didn't know anything about SEO, I read a little about it, but it wasn't jelling in my mind. Long story short, I never got any traffic to the store, and made no sales. That was back when a big competitor..."eBates" started, using almost the same idea, but offered part of their affiliate commissions back to customers as a rebate. Now they have gone legit with real products lol.

I wound up quitting AF and hadn't picked it up since. I kept reading about it online....when google kept changing its algorithm to drop spammy AF link farms, when there started to be a flood of banner farms, etc.

I am reseaeching it now because I am getting closer to retirement, and I want to start a business....but it is cost prohibative for me to do that. I like the idea of working hard from home. I wasn't sure how to do that with AF now, so I have also been reading up on dropshipping as well.

I am a little concerned for AF now, because of the new FTC ruling about putting a "declaration" on your link pages...whether that has been cutting into anyones affilate income.