Yes, it’s true. I’m a failure and it hurts! Don’t worry, this isn’t some post about my life, or work or some other stupid thing like that. I’m talking about my quest to make money online. A month and a half in and I’ve had my first big fat failure. 
As you probably know, if you’re serious about making money online, you need to be experimenting with lots of different things. Posting away on one blog everyday might bring in some pocket change, but it isn’t going to get you that big beach house in the Bahamas is it? Or is it? If you know the secret and have some evidence to back it up? I’ll happily take out a bank loan pay you a six figure sum of your choice. 
Anyway, funk13 isn’t the only blog/project I’m working on. I have at least 5 projects on the go at the moment. The one I’m going to discuss here with you is the one that has failed.
The Master Plan
Not actually a master plan. More of a, lets try this and see how it works. I wanted to experiment with eBay and affiliates. I created a website intended to drive people to eBay and certain products/items. If someone purchased one of the products/items shown on my site, I would receive a commission fee. Sounds simple enough, but it isn’t. To make these types of websites work, you’ve really got to know your stuff. I thought reading a couple of eBooks on Google Adwords would make me a marketing mogul. How wrong was I? These so called eBooks that promise you endless riches are complete and utter crap. The techniques in these eBooks are old and overused. I wish I hadn’t been so naive.
Two more reasons why I failed are cost and knowledge. I was competing with guys who have been into marketing for many many years. They’ve made lots of money already. They have the funds and the the know how when it comes down to marketing an affiliate site. I think putting all my eggs in to one basket (Google) didn’t help either. I could have tried advertising on Yahoo as well.
What I’ve learned
- You must research the products you’re trying to sell. For a beginner, trying to sell something that’s hugely popular is very risky. It will probably end in failure.
- The affiliate site or product you’re working on really needs %100 of your attention. Trying to run a few blogs and an affiliate site wasn’t the best idea for a beginner.
- Never expect to succeed. Because if you fail, not only will you be a lot more disappointed, it might put you off trying again.
Final Thoughts
I will be most definitely be trying affiliate marketing again. Although I lost a few ££ promoting my products, I’ve gained a lot of valuable knowledge. I wont be writing my own eBook anytime soon, but on my next attempt, I might actually make a small amount of profit.
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March 28th, 2008 at 12:45 pm
March 28th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
I don’t really agree with this:
“Never expect to succeed. Because if you fail, not only will you be a lot more disappointed but it might put you off trying again.”
If you’re not expecting to succeed at an endeavour, you shouldn’t be doing it. Entrepreneurs are not risk-takers, they are risk-mitigators- that’s why you’ll meet very few entrepreneurs who actually gamble. They’d rather keep the US$10 rather than spend it on lottery tickets because in that game, yes, don’t expect to succeed.
March 28th, 2008 at 2:49 pm
Hey Entrepreneur
I really do think affiliate marketing is a gamble. Marketing a certain product isn’t necessarily going to guarantee you a huge pay day.
You have to pick the rite product, then you have to compete with other people. Then you need timing. Certain types of products can only be sold at certain times. An example would be Christmas time. You might start selling your product to early, people don’t want your product yet. So, you’re likely to have wasted a fair bit of money marketing a product that isn’t selling . You might start selling to late, when the market is already flooded and nobody is interested anymore. Seems risky to me.
I put as much effort as I could in to the things I was selling, I really thought I would do well, but I didn’t. That’s why I was disappointed. And from now on, I’ll never start a new project thinking/knowing that I’m going to make money ever again.
March 28th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
Hi, that was a nice post, the title sure got my attention. I also think you should not start of with not expecting to succeed, you must KNOW you will succeed, eventually. Taking any low performing proyect as a calculated risk won´t get you down, but encourage you even more to improve, good luck to you!
March 28th, 2008 at 9:33 pm
Thank you MirJam
on my next affiliate project, I’m definitely going to use a low risk product. And Maybe you guys are rite. Thinking negative rite from the start probably isn’t a good idea.
One thing I definitely know I wont be doing again, is taking advice from an eBook.
March 29th, 2008 at 4:45 am
Failing is the best way to learn something in my opinion. You come out the other end with a better knowledge of the market you entered, you end up knowing the to-dos and not-to-dos, you work out how things work and interact, you should have worked out where you went wrong, people you should have spoken to and deals you should have done.
After you fail you realise every area where you went wrong, and you should sit down and really think about it all, it’ll only better equip you for when you do it again, or something similar.
Starting projects or businesses isn’t just a ‘keep trying and one will eventually work’ situation, it’s more of a learning process, you do a few, fail, learn from it all, keep doing it and failing until your in a position to have a good go at something, a real opportunity will present itself and when it does, you’ll have the knowledge and experience from before to make you some what of an expert in the area.
That’s my opinion anyway!
March 29th, 2008 at 4:58 am
Thanks for your opinion Todd. After my first attempt I would say I’ve picked up some valuable knowledge. When I try it again, I’m going to go in to a less competitive area. Well, that’s if there is one. I’m also going to take my time and give the project 100% of my attention.
The problem I had before was I was just reading from a script, a silly old eBook. O.k, I did find out a few new things about adwords but nothing that I couldn’t have found on a forum somewhere, I could have asked for advice too.
It was my first attempt so I’m not to disappointed. Yes, I failed miserably, but I enjoyed it and I’m eager to get going again.
March 29th, 2008 at 6:03 am
Yeah, I’ve only ever found 1 ebook that was worthwile. what it was i forget but i do remember finding one, the rest are full of crap and useless information, just used as a gimmick to attract visitors.
April 2nd, 2008 at 5:58 am
Refreshing Post*
I think the fact U TRIED something is the Strong Point here* 99.9% of
those people who Buy all those eBooks never bother to actually put it into practice (myself included).
+ plus U learned something so it was worthwhile from that aspect*
Good Luck down the Road + if U do hear of the Big One!! lemme know too!!
;)) Peace*
April 2nd, 2008 at 10:44 pm
Thanks for the kind comments Billy.
Lol, I f I do find the out the secret, I’d probably turn it in to an eBook lol.