Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Lessons I Learned Earning $119,725.45 from Amazon Associates Program

problogger.net

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 46 posts

Re: Lessons I Learned Earning $119,725.45 from Amazon Associates Program

#11

Post by greyman »

antonovka wrote: post #6
run4yourlives wrote: post #3

Not enough examination on monetization strategies on this site (HN) in my opinion. As much as these "get rich on the interweb" bloggers get a bad rap, they can teach us a lot; both overtly and by observation of their methods about how to create financial success. I'd love to see more like this discussed on Hacker News, in place of a good chunk of the VC capital obsession. This is real money, this is what startups sho…

My parents taught me to not disclose the amount of money I make, and to not trust people who do -- they have every incentive to lie, be it due to ego or simply a desire to leverage an appearance of success into actual (but usually much diminished) success. A 'professional blogger' is blogging about how to make money blogging. What does that tell you? It tells me that what makes this blogger his money (however much he…

Hi You might be somehow right in general sense, but this particular critique is uninformed. Darren is a well-known and successful blogger, and he also runs other blogs like Digital Photography School or Twitip. I think the reason he discloses the amount of money he makes is because it is relevant to do in Problogger. In his other blogs he doesn't do that.

Re: Lessons I Learned Earning $119,725.45 from Amazon Associates Program

#12

Post by antonovka »

greyman wrote: post #11
antonovka wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My parents taught me to not disclose the amount of money I make, and to not trust people who do -- they have every incentive to lie, be it due to ego or simply a desire to leverage an appearance of success into actual (but usually much diminished) success. A 'professional blogger' is blogging about how to make money blogging. What does that tell you? It tells me that what makes this blogger his money (however much he…

Hi You might be somehow right in general sense, but this particular critique is uninformed. Darren is a well-known and successful blogger, and he also runs other blogs like Digital Photography School or Twitip. I think the reason he discloses the amount of money he makes is because it is relevant to do in Problogger. In his other blogs he doesn't do that.

http://www.twitip.com/the-proper-way-to-pitch-on-twitter/

"I don’t want to make 4,000 [dollars] per month with Twitter (I do this fine on my own thank you)"

These sorts of hucksters survive by selling you on an ideal that you reinforce by buying into it. Like any multi-level marketing scheme, you are the target market, not consumers.

Re: Lessons I Learned Earning $119,725.45 from Amazon Associates Program

#13

Post by [deleted] »

JacobAldridge wrote: post #7
antonovka wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My parents taught me to not disclose the amount of money I make, and to not trust people who do -- they have every incentive to lie, be it due to ego or simply a desire to leverage an appearance of success into actual (but usually much diminished) success. A 'professional blogger' is blogging about how to make money blogging. What does that tell you? It tells me that what makes this blogger his money (however much he…

My parents taught me to learn from other people's experiences - it's a lot more scalable than only learning from my own. But absolutely read everything with a skeptical eye. People lie, people are mistaken, and every one of us is unique so what works for others won't necessarily work for you.

[deleted]

Re: Lessons I Learned Earning $119,725.45 from Amazon Associates Program

#14

Post by run4yourlives »

antonovka wrote: post #6
run4yourlives wrote: post #3

Not enough examination on monetization strategies on this site (HN) in my opinion. As much as these "get rich on the interweb" bloggers get a bad rap, they can teach us a lot; both overtly and by observation of their methods about how to create financial success. I'd love to see more like this discussed on Hacker News, in place of a good chunk of the VC capital obsession. This is real money, this is what startups sho…

My parents taught me to not disclose the amount of money I make, and to not trust people who do -- they have every incentive to lie, be it due to ego or simply a desire to leverage an appearance of success into actual (but usually much diminished) success. A 'professional blogger' is blogging about how to make money blogging. What does that tell you? It tells me that what makes this blogger his money (however much he…

My parents taught me to not disclose the amount of money I make,

Yet we spend hours bickering over the perceived value of facebook and twitter and how if we follow their examples, we too can have success. That's why this industry exploded the first time - real value is only measured in real dollars.

A 'professional blogger' is blogging about how to make money blogging. What does that tell you?

What it tells me is that he's been able to monetize something that seems unmonitizable, and that regardless of how much he makes, he probably has a lot of insights regarding the motivation of his customers, and their behaviour.

In fact, he probably has better insights into what works and what doesn't that most VC's.

Thus, the blogger has every incentive to inflate the numbers, or simply lie outright about the expected return.

He has bigger incentive to describe methods that work for others, actually. As with any business, creating value for the customer is the main driver. This guy has been around for a while, and I'd like to think that's because some or all of the things he's done are working for others as well, and his reputation has grown because of that.

Re: Lessons I Learned Earning $119,725.45 from Amazon Associates Program

#15

Post by antonovka »

run4yourlives wrote: post #14
antonovka wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My parents taught me to not disclose the amount of money I make, and to not trust people who do -- they have every incentive to lie, be it due to ego or simply a desire to leverage an appearance of success into actual (but usually much diminished) success. A 'professional blogger' is blogging about how to make money blogging. What does that tell you? It tells me that what makes this blogger his money (however much he…

My parents taught me to not disclose the amount of money I make, Yet we spend hours bickering over the perceived value of facebook and twitter and how if we follow their examples, we too can have success. That's why this industry exploded the first time - real value is only measured in real dollars. A 'professional blogger' is blogging about how to make money blogging. What does that tell you? What it tells me is tha…

This guy has been around for a while ...

This business strategy has been around a long time. Here are some other large modern examples:

Amway was founded in 1959.

[The FTC ordered] Amway to stop retail price fixing and allocating customers among distributors and prohibited the company from misrepresenting the amount of profit, earnings or sales its distributors are likely to achieve with the business. Amway was ordered to accompany any such statements with the actual averages per distributor, pointing out that more than half of the distributors do not make any money, with the average distributor making less than $100 per month. The order was violated with a 1986 ad campaign, resulting in a $100,000 fine.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amway#FTC_Investigation

Herbalife was founded in 1980.

A 2004 settlement resolved a class action suit on behalf of 8700 former and current distributors that accused the company and distributors of "essentially running a pyramid scheme." A total of $6 million was to be paid out, with defendants not admitting guilt.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbalife#Controversies

Re: Lessons I Learned Earning $119,725.45 from Amazon Associates Program

#16

Post by run4yourlives »

antonovka wrote: post #15
run4yourlives wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My parents taught me to not disclose the amount of money I make, Yet we spend hours bickering over the perceived value of facebook and twitter and how if we follow their examples, we too can have success. That's why this industry exploded the first time - real value is only measured in real dollars. A 'professional blogger' is blogging about how to make money blogging. What does that tell you? What it tells me is tha…

This guy has been around for a while ... This business strategy has been around a long time. Here are some other large modern examples: Amway was founded in 1959. [The FTC ordered] Amway to stop retail price fixing and allocating customers among distributors and prohibited the company from misrepresenting the amount of profit, earnings or sales its distributors are likely to achieve with the business. Amway was order…

And both offer extremely informative insight on how to create a successful and profitable business.

Let's just say both of those examples are much better businesses than 90% of the tech that's been released on the web to date.

I'm concerned about the psychology of monetizing a product - because it's the same regardless - not the fact that their particular product isn't appealing to you. If you want to discount an entire examination of how people are convinced to give money to companies so be it. Given that I'm trying to accomplish that exact thing however, I'd like to understand as much about it as I can.

Re: Lessons I Learned Earning $119,725.45 from Amazon Associates Program

#17

Post by antonovka »

run4yourlives wrote: post #16
antonovka wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This guy has been around for a while ... This business strategy has been around a long time. Here are some other large modern examples: Amway was founded in 1959. [The FTC ordered] Amway to stop retail price fixing and allocating customers among distributors and prohibited the company from misrepresenting the amount of profit, earnings or sales its distributors are likely to achieve with the business. Amway was order…

And both offer extremely informative insight on how to create a successful and profitable business. Let's just say both of those examples are much better businesses than 90% of the tech that's been released on the web to date. I'm concerned about the psychology of monetizing a product - because it's the same regardless - not the fact that their particular product isn't appealing to you. If you want to discount an ent…

And both offer extremely informative insight on how to create a successful and profitable business.

Only if the business you're building is swindling individuals trying to build their own business.

Re: Lessons I Learned Earning $119,725.45 from Amazon Associates Program

#18

Post by run4yourlives »

antonovka wrote: post #17
run4yourlives wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And both offer extremely informative insight on how to create a successful and profitable business. Let's just say both of those examples are much better businesses than 90% of the tech that's been released on the web to date. I'm concerned about the psychology of monetizing a product - because it's the same regardless - not the fact that their particular product isn't appealing to you. If you want to discount an ent…

And both offer extremely informative insight on how to create a successful and profitable business. Only if the business you're building is swindling individuals trying to build their own business.

Yet both business still exist and are extremely profitable. Like I said, if you choose to discount the entire industry as unethical, believing it can teach you nothing, so be it.

I however would like to examine what and how they continue to be successful, with the thinking that these people - ethical or not - have clearly captured a way to monetize their customers that has been very effective. These principles can no doubt be applied in much broader strokes to varying degrees.

Re: Lessons I Learned Earning $119,725.45 from Amazon Associates Program

#19

Post by antonovka »

run4yourlives wrote: post #18
antonovka wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And both offer extremely informative insight on how to create a successful and profitable business. Only if the business you're building is swindling individuals trying to build their own business.

Yet both business still exist and are extremely profitable. Like I said, if you choose to discount the entire industry as unethical, believing it can teach you nothing, so be it. I however would like to examine what and how they continue to be successful, with the thinking that these people - ethical or not - have clearly captured a way to monetize their customers that has been very effective. These principles can no…

Yet both business still exist and are extremely profitable. Like I said, if you choose to discount the entire industry as unethical, believing it can teach you nothing, so be it.

I'm curious what you think people who sell other people on selling people on selling people have to actually teach someone that owns a company that survives by creating?

Other than how to sell the Brooklyn Bridge, that is.

Re: Lessons I Learned Earning $119,725.45 from Amazon Associates Program

#20

Post by vijayr »

antonovka wrote: post #6
run4yourlives wrote: post #3

Not enough examination on monetization strategies on this site (HN) in my opinion. As much as these "get rich on the interweb" bloggers get a bad rap, they can teach us a lot; both overtly and by observation of their methods about how to create financial success. I'd love to see more like this discussed on Hacker News, in place of a good chunk of the VC capital obsession. This is real money, this is what startups sho…

My parents taught me to not disclose the amount of money I make, and to not trust people who do -- they have every incentive to lie, be it due to ego or simply a desire to leverage an appearance of success into actual (but usually much diminished) success. A 'professional blogger' is blogging about how to make money blogging. What does that tell you? It tells me that what makes this blogger his money (however much he…

http://www.johnchow.com/

That is the most annoying blog I've come across, in the 'internet marketing' niche.

Problogger on the other hand, seems trustworthy, of course its good to be skeptical with such posts.

Post reply on HN