I remember getting my first check in the mail from Amazon over ten years ago. I still remember the check. It was for about $51, and at first I couldn’t figure out why Amazon sent it to me. I quickly realized that the check was because I had, on a whim, added some of their books with my affiliate code to my one of my more popular websites at the time. This was the beginning my career as an affiliate marketer.

The first check was an amazing feeling that every affiliate marketer remembers. The concept of being able to earn money from recommending things was astonishing, and the ability to create Web content and use the power of the search engines to drive traffic made it even better.

Over the past ten years, I have earned a majority of my income from affiliate commissions or from the affiliate industry in some way or another. It’s been life-changing for me and my family, to say the least, and I’m grateful.

So here we are in mid-2012, over ten years later, and I am having the same feeling that I had way back then, as my checks started to roll in from Amazon. But this time, it’s not from affiliate commissions, but rather commissions from my self-published books.

This time, the check is a bit bigger; $497 from one month of commissions from my self-published books. Not life-changing money for me today, but neither was the $51 way back when, and look what that led to years later as it grew and grew every month.

Make no mistake; the publishing world has experienced an earthquake of epic proportions, directly caused by Amazon themselves. To call it a game-changer is an understatement. With Amazon’s Kindle Direct Platform, now anyone can upload a book to Amazon and become a published author in 24-hours or less for free.

No longer do you need an agent or a publisher to get published. The retail bookstores are on the way out, and digital books are on the rise. Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, has said they sell 180 digital books for every 100 print books they sell.

Imagine what that stat is going to be in one, two or three years from now. Imagine what that stat will be when there are as many eReaders as there are MP3 players. Wow.

Authors can now earn up to 70% from their digital book sales, rather than the 17.5% that most authors get from a traditional publisher deal. This has helped authors, who were never able to get a publishing deal, to earn a living with their writing. Some writers are making millions.

Sound familiar? Amazon has done it again. First leading the way with affiliate marketing; now changing the world for authors. This author couldn’t be happier. Let’s check back in ten years and see where that $497 led, shall we?

Jim F. Kukral is the CEO of a book marketing agency called Digital Book Launch.

Download the entire FeedFront issue 18 here – http://issuu.com/affiliatesummit/docs/feedfront-18

FeedFront issue 18 articles can be found here as well: http://feedfront.com/archives/article00date/2012/4

Sure it does. It happens all the time.

For instance, a town in Israel is claiming a mermaid shows up at night to frolic in the sea for all those that want to watch. Local officials are now offering a cash prize of $1 million for the first tourist to take a photograph of the mermaid. Look, we all know there is no mermaid, so nobody is going to make the million bucks. But, it likely drives a lot of tourists, and tourists spend money on food, beverages, lodging and merchandise. Attention equals revenue.

Think about how many millions of people have visited Loch Ness in Scotland to try and catch a glimpse legendary Nessie, the Loch Ness Monster? Or, the money made off of tracking down Bigfoot, or the lost city of Atlantis? How many historical societies have claimed ghost hauntings to get more people through the doors? How many people have traveled to Area 51 in Roswell, NV to see for themselves if aliens do in fact exist?

The answer? A lot. More than you can count, and they’re all customers.

There’s no reason you can’t make something up to get attention for your business. Your customers might even like a nice ghost story. The point is that making things up sometimes just works. Consider a made up idea to be marketing, because that’s part of what good marketing is… telling stories.

All marketers do this in some way or another. The difference between the good marketers and the bad ones is that the good marketers embellish and create and entertain to help convince you of a need for their product or service offers, and the bad ones are just trying to deceive you.

Your potential customer is looking for something from you that they can latch onto, and telling a story is a great way to give it to them. I’m not talking about having a robust “about page” on your Web site (which is important to have, yes). I’m talking about creating a story out of your brand. What is unique or different or fun or sad or amazing about how your business or career came about? Tell that story, and if you don’t have one, make something up.

Storytelling is an art in many ways, but it can be learned. Successful copywriters are master storytellers. They are able to tap into the emotions of their readers, engaging them and leading them to an eventual ending. In the world of marketing, that is the call to action, and until you have a strong call to action, you’re never going to be able to turn attention into revenue.

The preceding is an excerpt from Jim Kukral’s book Attention! This Book Will Make You Money, which will be in bookstores in August 2010.

Download the entire FeedFront issue 10 here – http://www.scribd.com/doc/29057000/FeedFront-Magazine-Issue-10
FeedFront issue 10 articles can be found here as well: http://feedfront.com/archives/article00date/2010/04

I wish someone would have told me all this stuff when I first started in the Web business world over 10-years ago. Knowing these insights would have saved me thousands and thousands of dollars and years of wasted work, tears and stress.

These five tips are for you; the Web business builder just starting out who wants to make a few (or more) bucks; or the experienced Web guru who has built a strong reputation online yet doesn’t know how to make money with it.

1 – Lose the Ego
Is your ego getting in the way of you making money online? It probably is. Ask yourself these questions.
1. Is the thought of producing a one-page sales letter enough to make you throw up?

2. Do you believe that in order to be respected you cannot sell?
You may imagine yourself as someone who’s “above” being a marketer. The truth is that while you may think being self-promotional is spammy and annoying, many people who trust you already are VERY interested in what you have to say and what kind of things you have to offer.

2 – Don’t Skimp on the Basics

When you’re starting out, it’s easy to go cheap on the basics. But if you’re serious about wanting to make money online, the sooner you invest a little bit of money into your efforts, the better.
I’m talking about things like Web hosting, Web design, domain names and third-party solutions like Aweber for email or Membergate for membership sites. These are the types of mission-critical items that every Web business person must have a solid solution for.

3 – Don’t Wait to Try & Get Out of the Cubicle
My favorite quote from a famous person is this one from Wayne Gretzky. “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”

Here’s what I know now. Of the shots I did take, not all of them panned out. In fact, more have failed than not, but the rest of them scored small to BIG for me, allowing me to be in a position today of owning my own Web business and working for myself.

Take your shot, or stay in the cubicle.

4 – The Time to Work Hard is Now… or for the Rest of Your Life
There are riches to be made being a successful Web entrepreneur. But you have to want it and you have to give up some of the luxuries in your life for the moment. Sure, it’s a hard fact to face, but the reality is that every single successful person you know got where they are from sacrifices and hard work, not from video games and lots of TV.

5 – Solving People’s Problems = Making Money
If you solve people’s problems, you can make money. Look around at the successful businesses around you. Each one solves a specific problem for a targeted niche. If you can focus only on that, you will win.

You can find out more about Jim Kukral by visiting TheWebCoach.biz.

Download the entire FeedFront issue 6 here – http://feedfront.com/feedfront-issue5.pdf
FeedFront issue 6 articles can be found here as well: http://feedfront.com/archives/article00date/2009/06

I was recently reading a post that my business partner, Shawn Collins had up on his blog, AffiliateTip.com, entitled “Cynical Marketing.”

In the post, Shawn talks about how there are some marketers out there that simply don’t get the fact that not everything they do has to revolve around making money. They forget that sometimes, it’s more important to just give back.

The content of his post was dead on and the timing in which I read it, couldn’t be more ironic.

You see, earlier that day, I was approached by a marketer who read a post on my blog, MissyWard.com, that discussed me coming out of affiliate management retirement to help support breast cancer research and treatment – a cause that is very close to my heart.

This marketer had the chutzpah to ask me “what my angle was and why on earth would I bust my a** to grow someone else’s company when there was absolutely nothing at stake for me”.

Rather than chastising him for his ludicrous implications, I simply told him how I felt.

Giving is in my DNA and since affiliate marketing is what I do best, it seemed like a natural fit.

He followed up with a “you’re nuts.”

You know what, Mr. Cynical Marketer? Maybe I am.

But I keep very good company.

Aside from the folks that Shawn mentioned in his post that give back to the online marketing community without ever asking for a thing back (Haiko de Poel, Jr. of ABestWeb.com, Scott Jangro of Jangro.com, Jim Kukral of JimKukral.com, Melanie Seery of NYAffiliateVoice.com and Kellie Stevens of AffiliateFairPlay.com), I can think of dozens of marketers, including Shawn, who neglected to name himself) who do the same.

Chris Brogan who takes the time to answer every single questions he’s asked on Twitter; Brian Clark who provides amazing free content on CopyBlogger.com everyday; Brian Littleton of ShareASale who takes the time to educate his merchants and affiliate marketers to both make the affiliate marketing industry better and push it forward.

Also, all of the folks that walked 60 miles with me to raise money for breast cancer research on behalf of AffiliateMarketersGiveBack.com ; Jeremy Schoemaker who provides dozens of case studies and tips to marketers to grow their businesses — the list goes on and on.

Now, it’s not to say that I’m averse to making money. I think I do a pretty good job at it. So do all of the people that I’ve mentioned above.

Maybe I’m just an idealist, but I believe that when one does well, there is an inherent responsibility to give back to the industries that have helped us get to where we are today and to help the less fortunate.

So, to all of the other idealists out there that give so much, with no strings attached – I salute you. Please keep doing what you’re doing. You ARE making a difference.

Luke 12:48 “From everyone who has been given much, much will be required, and from the one who has been entrusted with much, even more will be asked.

Missy Ward is a Co-founder of Affiliate Summit and Co-Editor-in-Chief of FeedFront Magazine. She also manages the ThesisAffiliates.com program in which all of her management fees are donated to the National Breast Cancer Foundation.

Download the entire FeedFront issue 5 here – http://feedfront.com/feedfront-issue5.pdf
FeedFront issue 5 articles can be found here as well: http://feedfront.com/archives/article00category/issue-5

Issue 5 of FeedFront Magazine came in the mail to me yesterday.

My kids broke out the wine in honor of the cover story, “Vintage Gary Vaynerchuk, where his keynote from Affiliate Summit West 2009 is excerpted.

They actually had some boxed wine, but I let them hold bottles for the picture.

Here are the articles for this issue:

• The Sweet Science of Landing Pages – Jeremy Schoemaker
• Can Brand and Direct Response Marketers Coexist? – Michael Sprouse
• A Look at the Very Profitable Membership Site Business – Tim Kerber
• Datafeed Do’s and Don’ts – Scott Jangro
• Gary Vaynerchuk Keynote at Affiliate Summit West 2009
• Using Video to Sell Online – Ken Price
• Legal Issues Surrounding Sweepstakes and Games of Skill – David O. Klein
• Affiliate Summit West 2009 Brings the Thunder – Amy Rodriguez
• How Do You Talk About Yourself? – Chris Brogan
• 15 Five Minutes with Kellie Stevens – Shawn Collins and Kellie Stevens
• Leveraging LinkedIn to Expand Your Brand – Wade Sisson
• Tips for Taking Pictures for Your Web Site – Deborah Carney
• Coming Soon: MLM / Affiliate Marketing Convergence? – Debbi A. Ballard
• Five Affiliate Challenges for Long Term Success – Andrew Wee
• Affiliate Marketing 101: Setting the Stage for Your Success – Chantelle S. White
• Autopilot Affiliate Program Management—A Recipe for Failure – Geno Prussakov
• Are You a Loser, or a Failure? – Jim Kukral
• Bamboo Laptops and Man Caves at CES – Shawn Collins
• Advertiser Liability for Affiliate Spam – Anne Mitchell
• Take a Hike, Mr. Cynical Marketer – Missy Ward
• Three Effective Communication Tactics for Affiliate Marketing – Brian Clark

The issue mailed this past Monday, so it should hit mailboxes all over the U.S. in the coming weeks. It will also be available at ad:tech San Francisco in April.

If you can’t wait to see your copy (or you’re not currently a subscriber), you can download issue 5 of FeedFront.

Free subscription to U.S. addresses at http://feedfront.com/free-subscription.

The fifth issue of FeedFront, the official magazine of Affiliate Summit, is at the printer and it will be hitting mailboxes in April 2009.

Issue five will also be distributed at ad-tech in San Francisco next month.

The cover features Gary Vaynerchuk and Jim Kukral as they kicked off Affiliate Summit West 2009 this past January, and the issue includes some highlights from Gary’s keynote address.

There are also articles on landing pages, a profile of affiliate marketing legend Kellie Stevens, effective communication tactics, legal issues with sweepstakes, and more.

Issue 5 can now be downloaded in PDF format, as well as on Scribd.

Get the FeedFront RSS if you’d like to get all of the articles as they are published to the feed.

If you haven’t subscribed, you can get the magazine for free at http://feedfront.com/free-subscription/.

Also, become a fan of FeedFront on Facebook to see past issues, covers, etc.

It’s rough out there right now, I know. You’re losing your cool in this tough economic market. You’re trying to make ends meet, while at the same time, you’re trying to push ahead and be successful as an entrepreneur. You’re working your a#* off and it’s getting you by, but not getting you ahead.
I know how you’re feeling.

I know what it’s like to be spending more than you make. I know what it’s like to have your wife give you that look when you tell her you need to spend another $1,000 or more to start a new project. I know how it feels to be so frustrated that you haven’t “made it” yet that you want to give up and go get that “real job” you said you would never take.

I know how you’re feeling.

I know what it’s like to see millionaire friends not worry about money. I know what it’s like to see your associates who have already “hit their home run” not worry about the economy because they’ve got money coming in consistently every month. I know what it’s like to wake up every day and wonder if today is going to be the big day you get an idea to turn it all around.

Welcome to being a struggling entrepreneur. It’s a rough life.

But there’s good news too.

If you’re struggling there is hope. There is a reason to carry on. You can make it work, if you carry on.

Remember that every single great success story started with one of the following…
1. I failed 1,000 times before I succeeded…
2. We had no money left in our bank account…
3. I was on the verge of giving up…

Sound familiar? Being an entrepreneur has its ups and downs. Yes, there is going to be struggle through the tough times, and yes, it could possibly drain your bank account and damage your marriage, and yes, it could drive you to want to give up.

But that’s when your passion comes through to save you. That’s when you stop pitying yourself and turn towards the sun and give it another go. That’s when you work even harder to get what you wanted.
Don’t give up. Keep taking your shots. Keep innovating. Keep pushing new ideas and supporting old ones. Keep on keeping on.

It will happen. You can succeed. You can hit that home run. You may look back at these days, years from now and remember about how tough it was, but then be proud of yourself for persevering.
The entrepreneur inside you knows you can do it. Now, just do it.

You can find out more about Jim Kukral by visiting TheWebCoach.biz.

Download the entire FeedFront issue 4 here – http://feedfront.com/feedfront-issue4.pdf
FeedFront issue 4 articles can be found here as well: http://feedfront.com/archives/category/issue-4/

More than ever, there is often something missing in affiliate marketing–the marketing!

Value-driven information about the product is the secret ingredient that helps some affiliates deliver quality results and bigger commissions. By forging the link between the consumer and the product, smart affiliates help create long-term value and profitable partnerships.

How can you use marketing to increase your profits? Follow the examples of super-affiliates who put marketing back into affiliate marketing.

Jim Kukral – the Flip Monger.

Jim is a great example. Featured in the first issue of FeedFront Magazine, he leads the way in using video to provide content that actually “markets” Flip cameras to the world.

I don’t own a Flip. But if and when I do, I’ll certainly credit that purchase to one man: Jim. Now here is an example of a true affiliate MARKETER.

He has created many sites such as thedailyflip.com and onlinevideotoolkit.com, written hundreds of posts, and posted tons of videos all about the Flip camera.

He is marketing their product because he either really believes in it – or does a very good job pretending that he does.

Real Stories Versus Spam.

I recently took a trip to Hawaii. I stayed at the Hilton Hawaiian Village on Waikiki, enjoyed local restaurants, and visited nearby attractions.

My family loved it. We were crazy about Waimea Bay and the cliff we all jumped off, the perfect sand, awesome views, and the sea turtle that swam along side of us. Great family fun!

Now, I’m fired up to do affiliate marketing based on my experience–blogging, photo galleries, videos, articles, and reviews.

See, marketing isn’t hard–you simply promote things, places, services you love, need, or seek (or you do a really good job of pretending).

Giving Marketing Back it’s Groove

Building valuable content that drives results takes effort. Don’t waste effort on shallow sites that waste visitors’ time. Instead, take the time to convey your passion about a subject.

Make the site look great, include pictures of your own use of the product, and don’t forget to write, write, and write some more about it.

Google loves finding real content, and will reward you with traffic when it sees lots of unique valuable information.

Google can be an affiliate’s best, or worst, friend. Help the consumer imagine themselves using the product. Go crazy, the possibilities are endless.

As Kevin Webster of 72kilowatts.com recently wrote in a related ABestWeb Forum post, “What have YOU done to put value into a click today?”

Remember, the way to put marketing back into affiliate marketing is to be great at creating relevant content that actually sells the products you feature. It’s the smartest way to become a part of the super affiliate elite.

You’ll have passion about what you do, and be justified earning all those big commission checks many companies are dying to send you!

Mark Olsen is the Senior Affiliate Manager at SchoolClick.com

Download issue 2 of FeedFront at http://feedfront.com/feedfront-issue2.pdf
Articles from issue 2 of FeedFront will also be posted at http://feedfront.com/archives/category/issue-2/

Five tips to getting started

1. Get over yourself. You look how you look. The rest of the world sees you as you are, and you look no different on camera. Quit worrying about how you look and start filming yourself. Nobody is going to criticize you.
2. Smile. Nobody wants to see a grumpy person on camera. Be pleasant and inviting. Make your viewers feel welcome.
3. Solve problems. People want to watch videos that can help them. Consider making “how to” videos where you show people how to do things you might be an expert at.
4. Don’t sweat the equipment. Anyone can make high-quality videos with inexpensive video cameras and lights.
5. Just do it! The ONLY way to get started is to just do it. Your first videos will not be perfect, but remember, nobody is doing perfect videos right now. Remember too, your competitors are either going to beat you to it, or envy you a year from now. It’s your choice.

Jim Kukral is a video marketer and veteran online marketing expert. You can read more about Jim at www.jimkukral.com. Or learn more about how to make videos at www.onlinevideotoolkit.com.

Download issue 1 of FeedFront at http://feedfront.com/feedfront-issue1.pdf.