For the last 10 years I’ve been a Data Analyst at one of the nation’s largest banks. But I have finally cut back my hours to 20 per week, since my “hobby” of making money online is earning me enough to do so.

It’s not as satisfying as quitting altogether. But, I like what I do at the bank, the pay is good, and the benefits are phenomenal. Ie: I still have my and my family’s health care benefits paid for from the bank…that’s almost worth working 20 hours per week for anyway.

I know I’m one of the “few” lucky ones. My wife does not work. Scratch that…my wife is a stay-at-home mom (so she works ALOT…she just doesn’t get paid for it). My kids have me around a lot now, which is especially good during the summer. There’s nothing like stepping away from the computer for a bit in the afternoon to play with my 8-year-old son!

I love the freedom. And I know many of you who read this blog are looking for the same thing.

So here are my pieces of advice of how to get here:

1. Diversify. The expression “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket” is especially true in the world of Internet Marketing. Google changes it’s search algorithms, and it’s Adsense and Adwords policies which might make it harder on IMers. eBay is notorious for making on-the-fly changes to its affiliate program. Other affiliate programs change, products change, niches change. I’d rather have a little income from each of these than all my income from one.

2. Work. If you treat Internet Marketing like a part-time hobby, it will treat you the same. If you treat it like a business, it can be a business for you. People think that IM is EASY (mostly because all of the people trying to sell internet marketing products are trying to convince you this is true). But, the few who actually make enough from it to earn a living will all tell you the same thing: it takes work, like any other job. (Unless they’re trying to sell you something.)

3. Go Offline. Once you get your feet wet and start making some money on the internet for yourself, find a way to help other people in real life do the same. The education you give yourself by building your own websites, doing your own SEO, etc., puts you WAY AHEAD of the average business owner. And those folks are willing to pay you a premium to help them do what you have been doing.

4. Plug the holes. Find the things you are really good at, and things you really aren’t good at. Be honest. Then find a way to plug the holes…to get the things done that you aren’t good at. It might mean being willing to pay someone (outsourcing anyone?), but if a little out of your pocket keeps you productive on the things you are good at, it’s worth it.

5. Test and Measure…EVERYTHING. Test ad copy on your sales page. (Split test with Google Web Optimizer.) Test your Adwords ads. Measure conversion rates. When you pick a product to target, pick several in the same niche and horse-race them. You can get a huge increase by focusing 80% of your effort on the 20% of the products that are the most profitable.

6. Have a Supportive Spouse. Not much more I can say about that!

Well, those are a few pearls of wisdom from someone who has been in the trenches. I hope it helps those of you starting out on this journey.

The strategy:

Use a plugin called KB Linker to automatically link certain keywords in your blog to eBay (using your affiliate ID, of course!).

KB Linker lets you create pairs of keywords and links. You create a list of these pairs in the plugin’s configuration panel. Then every time that keyword appears anywhere in your blog, it will be hyperlinked to the URL you have designated.

For example, in the configuration panel you can set it up like: google->http://www.google.com
wordpress->http://www.wordpress.com
make money->http://www.how-to-make-online-money.com
Digital Point Forum->http://forums.digitalpoint.com

etc.

With the configuration above, any time the word ‘wordpress’ appears in a post, it will be hyperlinked to WordPress.com. Any time the phrase “Digital Point Forum” appears in your blog, it would be linked to those forums.

You can understand how this would be useful for making money, once you start tying keywords in your blog to your affiliate links.

The difficulty with eBay is that its links are so long and convoluted.

The tool:

So, I used Microsoft Excel to create a tool that allows me to input my Campaign ID, keywords I want linked, and phrases for eBay to search, and the tool creates the right output to paste into KB Linker.

For example, I want the word “wristwatch” to be linked to an ebay search for “rolex watch” everywhere in my blog, or the word “Canon” to be linked to the ebay search for “digital camera -battery”.

You can grab the tool (an Excel file) from:

eBay KB Linker Tool

http://www.how-to-make-online-money….aykblinker.xls

Summary:

• Install KB Linker plugin in your WordPress Blog.
• Grab the free copy of the excel tool (donations welcome)
• Use the tool to create a long list of keyword/link combos.
• Copy/Paste the list into KB Linker.
• Enjoy the new traffic coming to eBay from your Blog!

It all depends on your perspective.  First, if you have your own eBook, an eBook cover will help sales.  Studies show that having an image of something tangible will boost your sales significantly.  Actually, the qualifier on that is that the image has to look good.  If it looks like garbage, it can hurt sales.  So the first way to profit is if you have your own eBook and you add a cover graphic to your sales page.

The second way is to refer people to my new eBook!    I have recently created an eBook that gives step-by-step instructions on how to create an eBook cover using FREE software.  (Most of the programs out there that make covers require Photoshop, which costs $300…and the programs themselves cost an additional $50 to $100.)  So we compiled a detailed walkthrough on how to use GIMP (free open source graphics software) to create those cool-looking covers.  You can see some examples here: Make eBook Covers.

So how does that help you profit?  Simple!  You can refer people to a product that has its own niche.  (It’s much cheaper than any other solution to get the professional-looking quality.)  And you DON’T need an affiliate account with Clickbank or anywhere else.  All you need is a PayPal address.  Then you can refer people who could use this kind of book to:

http://www.makeebookcovers.com/?e=NAME@PAYPALADDRESS.COM

…only you replace the NAME@PAYPALADDRESS.COM with the email address that you use to receive PayPal payments.  That essentially is your affiliate ID.

I give you 50% of the sales from your affiliate ID. The way it works is this:  For the first purchase made from your ID, you get 100% of the sale.  I get 100% of the second, you get the third, I get the fourth, etc.

There is NO WAITING.  When someone you refer clicks the button to buy, the system determines which of us gets that payment, and it goes directly into your PayPal account when it’s your turn.  No accumulation of sales to a minimum amount and then waiting for a check.    You get the payment right away.

The third way to profit from eBook covers is to design and sell them.  There are lists of folks who are looking for eBook covers who can’t do it themselves and will pay someone else to do it for them.  If you enjoy getting creative with graphics, learn how to make the covers and start selling them.  (Of course, there’s a chapter in the eBook with resources of where to find buyers and sell to them safely.)

So, depending on what your circumstances are, hopefully you can use one of the ways listed above to profit with eBook covers!

Short version (for the details behind it, keep reading after the outline):

1. Become eBay affiliate. (Free)
2. Keyword Research on Hot Niches
3. Create Squidoo Lens for your Niched Keyword Phrase. (Also Free)
4. Add an RSS module to the Squidoo lens with the product.
5. Normal traffic-driving methods for the lens.
6. Profit!

First, become an eBay affiliate. eBay wants traffic, and if you drive traffic to their site, they give you a part of their profit (fees) on the completion of any sale. AND they pay $25 for people who signup for eBay if they came from you. Signup for the affiliate program at: http://www.ebaypartnernetwork.com

Next, research a product. Ebay itself can be a great resource for this. Visit the Pulse section of eBay at http://pulse.ebay.com to sift through most popular searches in a given category. Then use the Keyword Research tools like SEOPro and Google from the Tools section of this website to find related keyword phrases with high searches and low competition.  For example, Pulse shows that “webkinz” is a popular search term.  Entering “webkinz sale” into Google’s tool (without synonyms) shows how many searches there are…then hop over to Google for a given phrase (like “webkinz for sale cheap”) to find out how much competition there is for that phrase.  I like to have a thousand searches or more per month, with under 10,000 competition for exact match.

Go over to Squidoo and create a lens with the name of the lens being the keyword phrase.  Use dashes or underscores between words.  Choose “do your own thing” for the type of lens, and use some hot related keywords to start with when asked, based on the research you did.  When setting up your Squidoo lens, haven an Intro paragraph.  Do a quick Google Image search for a picture of what it is your lens is about, save the image to your computer, and upload it to your lens.  Then add a ‘My Favorite Link’ module (with the big arrows), and an RSS module, and a YouTube video module.  Go to eBay’s Partner Network site, login, and use their tools to generate a link for the ‘My Favorite Link’, and the RSS generator to create a feed to display in the RSS module (include all the details).  Have the YouTube module pick a video related to your keyword (helps with visitor likability, Squidoo ranking, and bulks up your content with related keywords).

Do your normal traffic driving methods (social bookmarking, forum posts, blog comments, even other squidoo comments, comments on social bookmarking sites, etc.).  Squidoo gets indexed quickly with Google.  If you have other blogs, etc., make sure you link to your new lens.

Squidoo has built-in traffic tools, so no need for Google Analytics.  (I wish I could, though…GA is better…but still, at least you can do SOME tracking!)  Watch visitors hit the site…then those visitors go to eBay and eventually bid/buy/subscribe, and you get a check from eBay (or direct deposit into your PayPal account).

I know this tutorial was very ‘light’ as far as the details, but I’m thinking that you’ll be able to figure it out from here.  Try it out on a few lenses.  Soon you’ll be able to throw a lens together in about 10 minutes or less, and you can try multiple ones.

I’m all about cheap…this could be one of the methods you use to generate some cash without having to lay any money out.

Note: for an example of what a squidoo lens should look like when you’re done: Webkinz Polar Bear
. Admittedly I could have done better on the keywords (like gone for “Buy Webkinz Polar Bear”), but I only did this while I was typing up the post to provide an example, so I didn’t do all the research I would normally do.

If you’re like me, you login to Clickbank many times a day, checking in on new sales, since you don’t have any way of knowing automatically when you sell something.

In early 2008, Clickbank introduced code that can be used to get email notifications instantly, but it’s a bit tricky.  There’s a tiny bit of ‘coding’ involved.

The functionality is called Instant Notification.  Fortunately, they provide sample code which can be modified to suit your needs.  Here’s how to do it:

First copy the script, insert your Secret Key (an Uppercase letters and numbers string you will enter into your clickbank account in step 8 below) and Email Address to your own in the script, and upload it to your web server, I called mine cb-notification.php. Then

1. Log into your account
2. Click the “Account Settings” tab
3. Click “My Site” in the sub nav
4. Click the small ‘Edit’ link in the upper right of the box with the Security Key and Instant Notification
5. Locate the “Instant Notification” field and click the “Click HERE to request access” hyper link
6. Fill out the form and thoroughly review the terms of use
7. Click the “Submit” button at the bottom of the form
8. Enter a Secret Key (Uppercase letters and numbers only) into the “My Site” Screen
9. Enter the URL of the file you uploaded to your site into the Instant Notification Box
10. Hit Save Changes
11. Click on Test next to the address you entered, and you should get a test email!
    php code:

<?php

function cbValid() {
$key=’YOUR SECURITY CODE HERE’;
$ccustname = $_REQUEST['ccustname'];
$ccustemail = $_REQUEST['ccustemail'];
$ccustcc = $_REQUEST['ccustcc'];
$ccuststate = $_REQUEST['ccuststate'];
$ctransreceipt = $_REQUEST['ctransreceipt'];
$cproditem = $_REQUEST['cproditem'];
$ctransaction = $_REQUEST['ctransaction'];
$ctransaffiliate = $_REQUEST['ctransaffiliate'];
$ctranspublisher = $_REQUEST['ctranspublisher'];
$cprodtype = $_REQUEST['cprodtype'];
$cprodtitle = $_REQUEST['cprodtitle'];
$ctranspaymentmethod = $_REQUEST['ctranspaymentmethod'];
$ctransamount = $_REQUEST['ctransamount'];
$caffitid = $_REQUEST['caffitid'];
$cvendthru = $_REQUEST['cvendthru'];
$cbpop = $_REQUEST['cverify'];

$xxpop = sha1(“$ccustname|$ccustemail|$ccustcc|$ccuststate|$ctransreceipt|$cproditem|$ctransaction|”
.”$ctransaffiliate|$ctranspublisher|$cprodtype|$cprodtitle|$ctranspaymentmethod|$ctransamount|$caffitid|$cvendthru|$key”);
$xxpop=strtoupper(substr($xxpop,0,8));
if ($cbpop==$xxpop) return 1;
else return 0;
}
if (cbValid())
mail(“YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS HERE”, “ClickBank – ” . $_REQUEST['ctransaction'],”Product: ” . $_REQUEST['cprodtitle'] . “\nPublisher: ” . $_REQUEST['ctranspublisher'] . “\nAffiliate: ” . $_REQUEST['ctransaffiliate'] . “\nTransaction: ” . $_REQUEST['ctransaction'] . “\nAmount: ” . $_REQUEST['ctransamount']);
?>

If this is too technical for you, get a friend to help. Make sure, as you copy and paste the code, that you don’t end up with ‘curly quotes’ (PHP can’t read that).

You can use this code exactly as it appears, or you can modify what is sent in the email.

I hope this helps you…hopefully you won’t need to be logging into Clickbank all day long now. Just check your email!

When starting out with paid traffic, one question that arises is, “Do I direct link to the affiliate page or create my own landing page?”

To create a Google ad, you have to put in both a “destination URL” and a “display URL”. The display URL is the one that shows on the ad. The destination URL is the link that the click will actually follow. Google’s Terms of Use state that the domain on which the visitor ultimately sees after clicking should match the display URL. So, for example,

Direct linking is when the URL that your Google Ad points to is the one that belongs to the affiliate themselves. For example, if I were creating an add for the “Top Secret Magic Code” product at Clickbank, I can create the ad with a destination URL of http://makewowg.magiccode.hop.clickbank.net/?tid=MAGAD, but I MUST set the display URL to www.topsecretmagiccode.com, since that’s where the person clicking ends up. This is called direct linking. I’m using my ad to drive traffic directly to the affiliate page.

The main advantage of direct linking is that you don’t need any programming experience to build your own landing page, and don’t need to take the time or invest the cost in creating your own page. For some folks, it’s just easier to create a bunch of ads pointing directly to the affiliate page and let it go.

However, there are three disadvantages of direct linking:

1. ad rotation
2. direct traffic
3. some affiliate products restrict direct linking

Google rotates ads that point to the same display URL. If you and 99 other folks are advertising a specific affiliate product, and are all using direct link, you dilute the number of times your ad will be seen. Google will only return one ad per display URL when a search is performed.

Also, a good number of web users will type in the display URL directly to their browser rather than click an ad. (I have two case studies I’ll talk about in another article that prove this.) I’m not sure all the reasons why they do this, but some users are wary of ads. They figure that if the site is legitimate, typing the URL directly will take them there. That means you’re losing revenue by sending folks directly to the affiliate without ever having your tracking cookie planted.

Lastly, you need to check with the terms for your specific affiliate product. Some don’t let you direct link at all, and others restrict the keywords on which you can bid.

With those factors in mind, Direct Linking is already at a disadvantage over pointing clicks to a landing page of your own. There are several other advantages of using your own landing page which I’ll discuss in another article.

1. Advertising.  Someone pays you to use some screen space at your site.  There are various types, which I’ll cover in another article.  Some pay you for clicks, some for the number of times their ad is seen.
2. Selling someone else’s product/service. This is known as ‘affiliate marketing’.  You become an ‘affiliate’ of some company, and then when you refer a visitor to that site and they take action (like buying something or subscribing to a service), the company pays you.
3. Selling your own product/service. Eventually you will want to develop your own product to sell.  It’s nicer when you get the full cut, not just part, and it gives you focus.  Rather than casting your seed to the wind and hoping something takes root, it gives you a singular purpose.

There are many people making money from each of these three ways, and I will explain how to do each here on this site.