Lessons I Learned Earning $119,725.45 from Amazon Associates Program • Hacker News Board

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

#31

Post by run4yourlives » Wed, Aug 19, 2009, 12:26 AM UTC

antonovka wrote: post #30

run4yourlives wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If that's they way you want to look at it. I don't do business with that kind of person, That is reality my friend. The customer and market determine the value, not the creator. You can choose to ignore this, but if you compare successful and unsuccessful startups, it usually comes down to the fact that the customer believes that the creation adds value, nothing more.

If you sell an individual on a perceived value that's higher than what you know they'll actually receive, that's dishonest, no matter how you try and dress it up. How you couch that reality doesn't change what it is, and that's why I won't do business with that kind of person.

Where did I suggest doing that? And where does Problogger do that?

I'm suggesting that just because you think your creation is worth 19.99, doesn't mean it is. Often it means it is less, but just as often you'll find that the market thinks it's worth much more.

If you don't price it right, it could be detrimental to your business.

For whatever reason you seem to be fixated on this Amway/Herbalife deal. All I'm saying is that both those companies are obviously showing value to somebody, because otherwise they wouldn't be around. How they manage to do that is worth studying.

Suggesting that everyone that doesn't see things your way - including myself, and pretty much 80% of major corporations - is unethical is rather immature, to be frank.

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

#32

Post by knightinblue » Wed, Aug 19, 2009, 12:29 AM UTC

vijayr wrote: post #20

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…

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.

Annoying is putting it mildly. Downright useless is the way I'd describe it. Virtually every single post is a 'paid review' where, in return for $500, John will shill anything you want him to. Literally. There is no screening process whatsoever. You pay him to talk about flaming dogpoop and as long as your money gets deposited, he will talk about it.

He has basically made it clear that his only goal is to drive readers to subscribe to his newsletter (so that if they stop coming to his blog, he can still chase after them in their inboxes) and through the newsletter, get them to sign up for some of the most useless crap under the sun and collect commissions.

Darren Rowse aka Problogger on the other hand, seems to genuinely want to offer info that can help ppl generate money online. What sets him apart from the rest of the 'me-too' probloggers is his standards. He rarely has any aff links in his posts and when he does, it's usually for something that he's personally used and wants to recommend.

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

#33

Post by antonovka » Wed, Aug 19, 2009, 12:34 AM UTC

run4yourlives wrote: post #31

antonovka wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you sell an individual on a perceived value that's higher than what you know they'll actually receive, that's dishonest, no matter how you try and dress it up. How you couch that reality doesn't change what it is, and that's why I won't do business with that kind of person.

Where did I suggest doing that? And where does Problogger do that? I'm suggesting that just because you think your creation is worth 19.99, doesn't mean it is. Often it means it is less, but just as often you'll find that the market thinks it's worth much more. If you don't price it right, it could be detrimental to your business. For whatever reason you seem to be fixated on this Amway/Herbalife deal. All I'm saying…

Where did I suggest doing that? And where does Problogger do that?

Problogger/TwiTips are entirely predicated on selling you on the idea that you too can make money on your blog -- for evidence, just look at Problogger, which makes money selling you on making money on your blog.

At least the recursion is fantastic.

Suggesting that everyone that doesn't see things your way - including myself - is unethical is rather immature, to be frank.

Well, I doubt we'll agree. That's OK, but I don't think that there's anything immature about pointing out what I see as inherently dishonest behavior.

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

#34

Post by Mz » Wed, Aug 19, 2009, 12:53 AM UTC

ProBlogger wrote: post #26

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 there - I actually welcome your skepticism on this one - there's a lot of people claiming a lot of things online these days. The reason I actually revealed the amount I've made with Amazon in this post was simply that I constantly get people telling me that Amazon is impossible to make good money with because it's just lots of tiny tiny commissions (ie 5% of a book sale isn't much). In terms of what makes me my mo…

Not that it's any of my business, but I've found that putting too much effort into rebutting naysayers tends to just make me come across as combative and hurts my credibility. I address them at times, but I try to keep it to a minimum.

Anyway, would love to hear your thoughts (or links to anything already on your site that might be relevant) on trying to monetize a site that's primarily a grass roots movement and which is targeted at an audience somewhat predisposed to say "If you are trying to make money off me, you are a snake oil salesman and can't be trusted!" I've made it clear to people that I have no plans to cut my own throat for their benefit and this (and other stuff) has helped some with public relations. I know I still have major issues in terms of not yet having a steady pace of updates. But even if I did, I know of sites with tons of traffic that aren't well monetized. I want to avoid that fate. I know a few webmasters who are rather bitter about the time and effort they have put into a "labor of love" and the lack of money and lack of (official) recognition it has gotten them.

Anyway, sorry if this is kind of rambling. Thanks in advance if you bother to reply at all. :-)

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

#35

Post by tjmc » Wed, Aug 19, 2009, 2:00 AM UTC

colortone wrote: post #27

funny that none of the comments here or on the post talk about how the FTC is going to regulate disclosure of this income verrrrrry soon

Not relevant to the OP as he lives in Melbourne, Australia. The ATO (our IRS) already requires that this income is declared.

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

#36

Post by pyre » Wed, Aug 19, 2009, 2:15 AM UTC

tjmc wrote: post #35

colortone wrote: post #27

funny that none of the comments here or on the post talk about how the FTC is going to regulate disclosure of this income verrrrrry soon

Not relevant to the OP as he lives in Melbourne, Australia. The ATO (our IRS) already requires that this income is declared.

He's not talking about disclosure to the IRS. He's talking about disclosure to readers. It isn't an issue of hiding income from the government in this case, it's about hiding 'who gives me money' from your readers so they can have an informed opinion on what you write (including any potential conflicts of interest).

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

#37

Post by pyre » Wed, Aug 19, 2009, 2:37 AM UTC

paulshort wrote: post #22

antonovka wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Hucksters? Cocky, maybe. But huckster? No. Darren Rowse is one of the most successful bloggers out there when it comes to monetizing his sites and he discloses the details of how and why he earns money on his problogger.net site. In addition to several of his own successful blogs, he's also one of the co-founders of b5media which has gotten (approximately) 8 million in funding since it's launch in 2005. Darren's expe…

> By the way, that huckster is also the minister of a small youth oriented church in his city.

At this point in your argument you've driven entirely off course and closing in resorting to personal attacks instead arguing the point on merits.

The BTK Killer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Rader) was also a 'family man' and 'community leader.' Being a minister does nothing to disprove one of being a huckster. Just look at all of the priests accused of child molestation/rape.

I know my examples are fairly extreme, but the world comes in shades of grey. It's possible to be a minister, community leader and huckster all at the same time. You can't use one of those roles as evidence to disprove the existence of another.

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

#38

Post by whatusername » Wed, Aug 19, 2009, 5:25 AM UTC

ProBlogger wrote: post #26

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 there - I actually welcome your skepticism on this one - there's a lot of people claiming a lot of things online these days. The reason I actually revealed the amount I've made with Amazon in this post was simply that I constantly get people telling me that Amazon is impossible to make good money with because it's just lots of tiny tiny commissions (ie 5% of a book sale isn't much). In terms of what makes me my mo…

I'll put my hand up as a Melbournite if someone is desperate to check up on Darren. Let me know if anyone is actually interested in some HN confirmation.

(for my behalf - I think Darren looks pretty legit - he makes money on stuff like photography & the olympics - and gets famous writing about blogging)

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

#39

Post by andrewtj » Wed, Aug 19, 2009, 7:12 AM UTC

ProBlogger wrote: post #26

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 there - I actually welcome your skepticism on this one - there's a lot of people claiming a lot of things online these days. The reason I actually revealed the amount I've made with Amazon in this post was simply that I constantly get people telling me that Amazon is impossible to make good money with because it's just lots of tiny tiny commissions (ie 5% of a book sale isn't much). In terms of what makes me my mo…

Have you ever found being Au-based a limitation on your online efforts?

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

#40

Post by leviathant » Wed, Aug 19, 2009, 1:43 PM UTC

Tip #12: Blog about something that costs a lot of money. In other words, this guy's running a website about digital cameras. I run a site about a band. While the occasional album release will net me a couple thousand dollars, what used to be a month-to-month income of $20-$50 in random CD shopping has all but disappeared in the last couple of years.

Luckily, t-shirt sales through another site and eBay affiliate links keep my site afloat & earn a little fun-money too - although I typically turn that cash around and invest it in the site, whether it's better hosting, or funding contests to keep the readers on their toes.