How I Bank over $120,000/Year from Affiliate Marketing

How To Make Money With Affiliate Marketing In 2022: I’ve Been Hitting $150k/Year And Want To Show You How

I never thought this would happen to me.

In 2 years I went from making $20k to $80k, and am now hitting about $150k/yr (see PayPal report). I did this by dropping all my clients and tried making money with affiliate marketing.

So what do I do? My about page has my whole story, but here’s the gist:

I write tutorials on WordPress speed optimization and how core web vitals are a ranking factor in Google. Speeding up your website involves hosting, cache plugins, CDNs, lightweight themes, and other services that happen to offer affiliate programs. I show people how to speed up their website (with very detailed guides), then they buy stuff through my affiliate links. It’s a win-win.

But there’s one big problem. Affiliate marketing has gotten more competitive. And the amount of bloggers/YouTubers creating affiliate content is insane (people have also become skeptical). So how do you stand out? How do you get people to trust you? I’ll explain all of this.

This guide includes a comprehensive list of 50+ affiliate programs.

$150,000/year did not happen overnight. I was broke for a couple years while creating content. But it literally changed my life… I moved out of my parent’s house into a nice apartment in downtown Denver, bought my first car (a Mercedes c300), adopted 2 kitties, and my credit raised 45 points. I also donated $6k to GoFundMe campaigns and 6k to my parents. I’m a humble dude but in affiliate marketing, the numbers do the talking. Now I have 0 clients and 100% freedom. There’s a lot of BS out there on affiliate marketing – which is why I wrote this.

How to make legit money with affiliate marketing

Find your niche

Start a blog or YouTube channel

Sign up for affiliate programs

Be careful with Amazon

Learn how affiliate programs work

Add affiliate links to content

Be a “how to start a blog” YouTuber

Use coupon codes

Get traffic before sales

Master SEO

Create the perfect pitch

Get involved in Facebook Groups

Bookmark affiliate statistics in your browser

Set up email alerts when a sale is made

Build your community

Avoid Google penalties

Monitor conversion rates

Use an affiliate disclaimer

Mistakes I Made

Donate to charity

Share your story

Promote Black Friday deals

2021 PayPal report

About My Blog

I write about website speed (and some SEO/affiliate marketing).

I spend a lot of time in Facebook Groups learning about my industry.

I try to publish original content and not regurgitated crap like a lot of blogs.

I have about 3,000 visitors/day, 90% is from Google (I’ll show you some SEO tips).

It took blogging full-time for several months with minimal income to see results. I’ll bet you 90% of people don’t start because they’re scared their work won’t pay off. Just do it!

Tom with monkey

Affiliate marketing has given me the time/money to travel and be financially comfortable

How Does Affiliate Marketing Work?

You partner with a company selling products/services you would like to recommend to your audience. If they buy something using your affiliate link, you get a commission from the sale. There are other types of affiliate programs, but this is the most common and is also what I do.

 

1. Find Your Niche

My career journey went like this: online marketing > web design > WordPress web design > WordPress SEO > WordPress speed optimization. Now I’m focusing on WordPress hosting.

While I was doing WordPress speed optimization I noticed lots of people needed it, but very few people supplied it (there were a lack of services and tutorials when I researched Google). I also knew hosting was the #1 factor of website speed and hosting companies paid up to $200/sale. Hosting is a competitive space but the commissions and lack of supply enticed me.

I expanded my SEO blog and started writing about hosting, cache plugins, and other relevant topics… while recommending Rocket.net in many guides. I added proof like Facebook threads and performance benchmarks. Each tutorial was super detailed (like this one) and tons of people found them helpful – many get 100+ visitors/day since great content = higher rankings.

Once I found my niche (WordPress speed optimization), a solid hosting company with a high commission affiliate program (Rocket.net) and created tutorials around topics people in my niche would find helpful (and might want to change their host), that’s what got me to $150k.

Once you find a niche with high demand, little supply (do your Google research), and a reputable affiliate with high commissions… and you have patience to wait for financial results while creating your assets (I’m talking about content), you should take the leap!

 

2. Start A Blog Or YouTube Channel

A blog and YouTube channel are completely different, not just because one is writing and one is shooting videos. But each of them are different in terms of SEO, conversions, time, and the cost.

Blogging vs. YouTube Videos

Competition – the SEO competition in YouTube is often less than Google.

Ownership – you own your blog, you don’t own YouTube (or their policies).

SEO Traffic – it takes longer to get SEO traffic to a blog than YouTube.

Cost – YouTube is free, blogs require domain, hosting, development costs, etc.

Content Updates – it’s easier to update a blog post than to remake a video.

Coupon Codes – YouTube is great if your affiliates let you use coupon codes.

Time – it takes longer to set up a blog, but starter templates have made this easier.

Expectations – in your niche, do people prefer watching videos or reading articles?

Start A WordPress Blog

Domain – GoDaddy or Namecheap.

Hosting – Rocket.net, Cloudways, or NameHero for the win.

WordPress – what I recommend building your website/blog on.

Themes – GeneratePress and Blocksy are solid choices. They use the Block Editor (Gutenberg) which is much more lightweight than Elementor, Divi, and other page builders, yet still easy when you use GenerateBlocks. I built my site in the GeneratePress “Search” theme and am very pleased. Kadence theme is good too but also very expensive.

Have A Developer On Hand – I’ve been working with the same overseas freelancer since 2011 who has saved me a lot of time when I can’t do things. Here’s his freelancer profile if you need help setting up your website. His name is Pronaya and he’s from Bangladesh.

Generatepress website library

I use GeneratePress for my WordPress theme

 

3. Sign Up For Affiliate Programs

Hosting, Amazon, and affiliate programs related to “making websites” are very popular.

Websites – if you’re in the “how to make a website/blog” industry, I’ve accumulated a list of affiliate programs for WordPress, hosting, themes, plugins, SEO, email, CDNs, and services. Remember that to get approved, some companies require you to be somewhat established.

Affiliate Program Category Commission Recurring 2 Tier

A2 Hosting Hosting $55 – $125 x ✓

All In One SEO Pro SEO 20% x x

Astra Themes 30% x x

Asset CleanUp Pro Plugins 20% x x

AWeber Email 30% ✓ x

Beaver Builder Themes 25% ✓ x

Blocksy Themes 30% x x

Bluehost Hosting $65+ x x

BunnyCDN CDN $20 credit x x

Cloudways Hosting $50 – $150+ ✓ ✓

Convert Pro Plugins 50% x x

Constant Contact Email $105 x x

Divi Themes 50% x x

Elementor Themes 50% x x

FlyingPress Cache Plugin 20% ✓ x

GeneratePress Themes 30% x x

GoDaddy Hosting 15% x x

GreenGeeks Hosting $50 – $100+ x x

GridPane Hosting 1 free month x x

Kadence Theme 20% x x

Hello You Designs Themes 20% x x

Hostinger Hosting 60% x x

HostGator Hosting $65 – $125+ x x

JohnnyVPS Hosting 2x monthly price x x

KeyCDN CDN 100% of 1st payment x x

Kinsta Hosting $50 – $500 ✓ x

LearnDash Plugins 35% x x

Long Tail Pro SEO 30% ✓ x

MailChimp Email $30 credit x x

NameCheap Hosting 35% x x

NameHero Hosting $50 – $125+ x x

Ninja Tables Plugins 20% x x

NitroPack Plugins 20% ✓ x

OceanWP Theme 30% x x

OptiMonster Plugins 20% x x

Perfmatters Plugins 20% ✓ x

Pretty Links Affiliate 25% x x

Rank Math SEO 30% x x

Refer WordPress Other 20% x x

Restored 316 Designs Themes 20% x x

Rocket.net Hosting $150 x x

Scala Hosting Hosting $50 – $200 x x

Schema Pro SEO 30% x x

SEMrush Analytics $200 x x

ShortPixel Plugins 30% ✓ x

ServerPilot Control Panel $25 x x

SEOPress SEO 20% x x

SiteGround Hosting $50 – $100+ x x

SpinupWP Control Panel $25 credit x x

StackPath CDN $20+ x x

StudioPress Themes 35% x x

ThemeForest Themes 30% of 1st payment x x

Themeisle Themes 55% x x

Thirsty Affiliates Affiliate 30% x x

TubeBuddy Other 30% – 50% ✓ x

UpCloud Hosting $50 credit x x

Whitespark SEO 20% x x

WP Coupons Affiliate 40% x x

WP Engine Hosting $200 x ✓

WP Johnny Other 25% x x

WPX Hosting $70 – $100+ x x

WP Rocket Plugins 20% x x

Affiliate Marketplaces – these have hundreds of merchants to choose from. It’s nice to login to 1 place and check the performance of multiple affiliates without going to each individual portal on their site. Many programs aren’t part of a marketplace though. I use ShareASale and Impact.

Affiliate Marketplace Number Of Brands Popular Brands

ShareASale 15,200+ Hewlett Packard, Sears, LovePop, Grammarly, Daily Harvest, NameCheap, WP Rocket, WP Engine, Envira Gallery

CJ Affiliate 3,800+ Overstock, GoDaddy, Zappos, Walgreens, TurboTax, QVC, Newegg, Hotels.com, HelloFresh, TeamViewer, Guitar Center

Impact 800+ Airbnb, AppSumo, Constant Contact, Envato Market, HostGator, InMotion, Lending Club, Levi’s, Squarespace

Rakuten Marketing 50,000+ Udemy, Walmart, Macy’s, StubHub, Hulu

Favorite affiliate network

Source: Anil from Bloggers Passion Facebook Group

Other Online Retailers

Ebay – 5 – 7% (roughly) based on categories, only 24 hour cookie tracking.

Etsy – 4 – 8%.

Target – 4% in most categories.

Walmart – 4% in most categories.

Aliexpress – 3% for electronics, 7-9% for everything else.

Newegg – 0.5 – 1%.

Overstock – up to 6%.

Do the math – to make $300 in a day, I would need to refer about 2 people to hosting, 10 people to themes, or 30 people to plugins. Before deciding on a program, ask yourself a few questions. I personally have roughly 3,000 readers/day and make about 2-3 sales per day at $150 per sale.

What commission will you get?

How many sales will you need per day?

How much traffic will you need to get those sales (roughly)?

 

4. Be Careful With Amazon

Amazon’s commissions are based on categories and you’re only making 0-5% unless you’re referring people to Amazon games, Luxury Beauty, or Amazon Explore. Otherwise you will need a lot of sales to actually make a living and will likely need to refer people to big ticket items (video equipment on YouTube is a big one especially if you’re into cameras, lenses, lights, etc).

Amazon affiliate commission rates

But be careful with Amazon’s affiliate program.

They have a long history of reducing commissions and writing content that competes with affiliates (and most people go directly to Amazon). I don’t recommend being an affiliate for any monopoly. You could very well end up getting trampled on, like most Amazon affiliates have. However, if you get lots of views, many affiliates are making “how to do something” YouTube videos and listing their equipment in the video description. A million views can make it worth it.

Amazon decreases affiliate commission rates

Examples of people making money with Amazon:

How he makes money – at 1m26s he focuses on his video equipment. The video description includes links to geniuslink.com. This is a website that showcases different stores (e.g. Amazon) where people can buy the equipment (using his affiliate links). Genuinely helpful video though.

How she makes money – at 40s you will see the video is sponsored by Skillshare and she also uses an affiliate link in the video description, as well as affiliate links to Amazon for the video equipment she uses. Another person recommending video equipment (that’s a hint for you).

How he makes money – he found a keyword on YouTube “best gadgets on Amazon” which has a lot of searches. People are searching this on YouTube (not Google or Amazon) which means they’re looking for a video review of the best gadgets, otherwise they would have gone directly to Amazon. His Amazon affiliate links to each of the gadgets are found in the video description.

Conclusion: a lot of people are making money by referring people to video equipment they use.

 

5. Learn How Affiliate Programs Work

One Tier – get a commission when a sale is generated from your affiliate link.

Two Tier – get a commission when you refer other affiliates and they start making sales (think multilevel marketing). An example is WP Engine’s program where I tell my readers about their WordPress hosting, they start making sales, and I earn $50/sale from each sale they generate.

Climbing Tiers – increased commissions as you get more sales.

Siteground affiliate program tiers

Recurring Commissions – usually happens with subscription services… you continuously receive commissions as long as people are signed up. AWeber and SEMrush are examples.

Sitewide Commissions – get a commission no matter what people buy on the affiliate’s website. Amazon’s affiliate program does this.

Pay Per Lead – get a commission based on the number of leads (e.g. contact form fill-outs) you send to a business. Be sure to set up your analytics to track this and have a solid, written agreement with your affiliate. You don’t want to spend tons of time and get burned like I have.

Cookies – amount of time after people click your affiliate link you will receive a commission if a sale is generated. Usually 30-90 days but shouldn’t be a deal breaker when choosing affiliates.

Individual Affiliate Programs – affiliate programs that are located on their website.

Individual affiliate programs

 

6. Add Affiliate Links To Content

Step 1: Sign up and get approved. You usually need a decent amount of traffic (or a history of sales) before getting approved. If you have a large following somewhere else (i.e. YouTube), you may be able to convince affiliates to approve you. Otherwise, you need to generate traffic first.

Step 2: Get your affiliate links. Login to your affiliate dashboard and grab your affiliate links. With most individual affiliate programs, they assign you an affiliate ID which you can add to any URL on their website to turn it into an affiliate link. In affiliate marketplaces like ShareASale, they preassign affiliate links but also have a custom link generator. Use these to add deep links.

Cloudways affiliate link

Add your affiliate ID (mine is ?id=262128) to any URL on their website to create an affiliate link

Impact affiliate link

Custom link generators are found in some affiliate programs/marketplaces like ShareASale

Step 3: For blogs, install an affiliate link management plugin (I use Thirsty Affiliates) and add your affiliate links here. This lets you organize, track, cloak, nofollow, and add affiliate links.

Affiliate links

Import your affiliate links into the Thirsty Affiliates plugin

Step 4: Configure the Thirsty Affiliate plugin settings.

Choose a link prefix (I use /go/)

Enable statistics in the “Modules” setting

Use nofollow + sponsored (recommended by Google)

Consider Thirsty Affiliates Pro if you want automatic keyword linking

Thirstyaffiliates settings

Configure the Thirsty Affiliate settings

Step 5: Add affiliate links to posts. If you’re using the classic editor like me, use the Thirsty Affiliates button to add affiliate links. When you do it this way, all the attributes you configured in the settings (cloaking, nofollow, sponsored, etc) are automatically added to the affiliate link.

Add affiliate link to content

Use the Thirsty Affiliates button to add affiliate links

Amazon video affiliate links

Or add them to YouTube video descriptions

Step 6: Use your affiliate dashboard to track sales, statistics, and get to know your affiliate dashboard because it can be very helpful (especially when trying to increase conversion rates).

Cloudways affiliate commissions

Take advantage of features/statistics in your affiliate dashboard

Banners – banners don’t work well. They’re easy to throw up, but distracting and probably won’t get great results. If you try them, be sure to show specific sidebar banners based on the type of content people are reading on your blog (for posts that fall under my SEO category I would show a banner related to SEO, and for posts under my website speed category I would show a different banner). You can control sidebar banners using a plugin like Widget Logic.

AdSense – It’s easy to throw up AdSense on your blog, but good luck making decent income. It is NOT personalized whereas affiliate links involve people taking YOUR recommendation on very specific things. AdSense makes your site slower than a turtle. Not good for monetization.

 

7. Be A “How To Start A Blog” YouTuber

Want to know why this topic is so popular?

Refer people to hosting = $$$

Refer people to WordPress theme = $

Refer people to Elementor products = $

Total income if one person signs up for all three: $200+

The bad news: the industry and keywords are super competitive.

The good news: the amount of people looking to start a blog is enormous. You just need a slice. Many hosting companies pay up to $150/sale once you start generating a good amount of sales.

People are also searching for how to start a food, fashion, travel, and lifestyle blog. You don’t have to limit yourself to 1 single keyword. Learn about hosting, self-hosted WordPress, and Starter Sites. I could literally start a WordPress blog in 10 minutes. Show people how to do that.

Youtube seo keywords

Let’s take a look at some examples:

How he makes money – at 66s, you can see they created their own domain search on their website. When people search, it’s followed by a “get hosting” button which leads to GoDaddy.

How he makes money – he begins his hosting pitch at 4m34s, but at 9m31s he presents his HostGator coupon code which not only saves viewers money, but it credits him for the sale (without people even having to click any affiliate link). That’s why coupon codes are so powerful for YouTubers. Don’t use HostGator though; they’re cheap but a slow/terrible hosting company.

How she makes money – she begins her hosting pitch at 4m48s for Bluehost, but only uses an affiliate link in the video description (no coupon code, no domain search on her website, and no timestamps to help people navigate the video). She could probably increase sales if she did one of these, but Bluehost doesn’t let affiliates create coupon codes so an affiliate link is necessary.

 

8. Use Coupon Codes

It’s a huge bonus if your affiliate lets you create coupon codes.

Since your coupon code is attached to your affiliate account, you will get credit for the sale if anyone uses it. So in YouTube videos, people don’t even need to click your affiliate link – just give them your coupon code to save them money, and you will get your affiliate commission.

Coupon-code

 

9. Get Traffic Before Sales

One of the biggest mistakes bloggers make is focusing on money first.

This is bad for a few of reasons:

No traffic = no sales

Most affiliates require you to have some traffic

Your authenticity is ruined if you’re too salesy from the start

But it definitely helps to have money in mind when you start. That way, once you get traffic and are approved by affiliates, you can easily add affiliate links to blog posts where you already mention your affiliate products/services. Don’t focus on money first, but have it in your plan.

Blogging affiliate marketing mistakes

Source: Blogging Newbs Facebook Group

 

10. Master SEO

Most affiliate marketers get most of their traffic from SEO (or Pinterest which I’ll admit to knowing nothing about). But I do know SEO is a more popular way to get consistent traffic.

The key steps to SEO are:

Researching a keyword, its search volume, and competition.

Creating in-depth content that is better than whoever’s in the top results.

Making content user-friendly (YouTube chapters, table of contents on blog).

Using your keyword in the right places (title, description, content, video file name).

Increasing click-through rates (titles, custom thumbnails, Google’s featured snippets).

Researching A Keyword – find a keyword in YouTube’s autocomplete dropdown (or Google Autocomplete for blog posts). You can use the underline character _ to fill-in-the-blank. Broad keywords have more searches but are more competitive. The best keywords are broad (lots of volume) with weak content in the top results. vidIQ helps you learn a keyword’s competition in YouTube and MozBar helps you learn competition in Google. I find the competition in YouTube is much less than Google, so choose broad keywords for videos and specific keywords for blogs.

Review Keyword Examples

Apple MacBook Pro 16 review

What is the best WordPress hosting

SiteGround WordPress Hosting review

Solution Keyword Examples

How to do yoga at home (recommend a yoga mat)

Why is my website slow (recommended faster hosting)

How to connect laptop to TV (recommend an HDMI cable)

Youtube amazon seo keywords

Creating In-Depth Content Around Your Keyword – 10+ minutes for YouTube videos and 1,500+ words for blog posts depending on how extensive the topic is. Extensive yet concise! If your content is long, make sure to include timestamps in your video descriptions or create an HTML table of contents for blog posts so viewers can jump to specific sections of your content.

Long content word count

Making Content User-Friendly – the two easiest ways are to use timestamps in video descriptions and an HTML table of contents in blog posts (see below). Get a good camera, invest in good hosting to make your site faster (for blogs), and design nice, crisp graphics using Canva.

Use Your Keyword In The Right Places

For YouTube videos, use your keyword in the:

File name (before uploading)

Video title (find a balance between using the keyword and making it catchy)

Video description (about 2-3 times), the description should be decently long

For blog posts, use your keyword in the:

Post title

Permalink

SEO title (in your SEO plugin)

Meta description (in your SEO plugin)

Content body (about 2-3 times, once in the first couple sentences)

Increase Click-Through Rates – for YouTube videos, it’s all about catchy titles and thumbnails. For blog posts, it’s all about a catchy SEO title and meta description (in your SEO plugin), getting in Google’s featured snippets (photo below), and using rich snippets like review stars and FAQs.

Featured snippets can be achieved by answering a question keyword in a very concise way (usually with a paragraph or list from the content). Lists are usually pulled from your table of contents or h3 subheadings. To get a featured snippet for my keyword “how to make money with affiliate marketing” Google will likely use my TOC or maybe (let’s see), this paragraph:

To make money with affiliate marketing, set up a blog or YouTube channel and find relevant products/services to refer your readers to. Sign up for affiliate programs, create affiliate links to products, and add them to your content. Most affiliates rely on SEO or Pinterest to get traffic.

Designing a nice image with your exact keyword helps too!

Featured snippets

List featured snippets

How To Rank YouTube Videos:

YouTube SEO relies heavily on engagement signals.

Find a keyword in YouTube autocomplete with good search volume.

Research the keyword’s competition by looking at videos’ number of views, likes, comments, and other signals top videos have (vidIQ Chrome extension is great for this).

Cover the topic extensively – aim for 10 minutes and be concise (scripts/editing)!

Label the video file (on your computer) as your keyword, and upload it to YouTube.

Craft a nice title that entices people to click your video, with your keyword in front.

Write a long description with timestamps, links, and use keyword in first sentence.

Review the transcript automatically generated by YouTube, then make corrections.

Upload a custom thumbnail (1280px by 720px) that gets people clicking the video.

Always respond to comments, and embed the video on your blog if you have one.

Incorporate your video in your blog, email, social media, other marketing channels.

How To Rank WordPress Blogs:

Use Rank Math Pro and learn how to use it for schema.

Use SSL from the start, most hosts have free Let’s Encrypt SSL.

Choose a fast host + WordPress themes (I like Rocket.net + GeneratePress).

Use post name permalink structure in WordPress under Settings > Permalinks.

Create content around keywords from tools like Google Autocomplete.

Learn about image optimization, internal links, lightweight plugins, OG images.

Add publish dates to blog articles to make content look fresh and increase CTRs.

Use multimedia – whether it be videos, infographics, or audio clips – people love them.

Set up Google Search Console and use it to track rankings, CTR, impressions, etc.

Make your WordPress site load fast (FlyingPress + Perfmatters are both solid plugins).

 

11. Create The Perfect Pitch

Back in the day, I created a pitch recommending a host, then copy/pasted the same pitch to multiple articles where it made sense to talk about.

This is fine if you don’t want to spend a lot of time on it. However, I’ve recently been trying to make it more personalized (since it’s the most important part of your site for making money). Now I have about 5 different variations of my pitch depending on what the article is about (general speed optimization, reducing CPU usage, WooCommerce, speeding up WP admin, etc).

It looks something like this:

Most hosting recommendations are garbage and I suggest joining the WP Speed Matters Facebook Group to get unbiased feedback on hosting and site speed. SiteGround has a slow TTFB, GoDaddy is a big NO, Bluehost is also very slow, and I would stay away from Hostinger.

Rocket.net – look at their specs and have a conversation with Ben Gabler (that’s all it took for me). They average a <100ms global TTFB which you can measure in KeyCDN. Their free Cloudflare Enterprise is superior than Cloudways/Kinsta with full page caching, smart purging, and built their data centers in the same ones as Cloudflare (Ben was StackPath’s Chief Product Officer so that makes sense). Just to give you an idea, their plans start at $25/mo with 32 CPU cores + 128GB RAM + NVMe SSDs + Redis. No PHP worker limits because only about 10% of traffic actually hits your origin. Everything is free (no paid add-ons) and their powerful stack makes scaling affordable with plenty of resources. I asked Ben to create a coupon OMM1 to make your first month $1. Compared to Kinsta, they use about 16x more RAM, 32x more cores on staging sites, and up to 25x more monthly visits. Top performer on wphostingbenchmarks.com with a 4.9/5 TrustPilot rating too? Take 5 minutes to compare specs and see for yourself or see my Rocket.net review.

Keycdn performance test cloudflare 1

Cloudflare free (no full page caching)

Rocket. Net keycdn performance test 1

Rocket.net Cloudflare Enterprise + full page caching

Rocket. Net top tier wordpress hosting benchmarks

Top performer on wphostingbenchmarks.com by Kevin Ohashi

Rocket. Net ben gabler testimonial

Spend 5 minutes talking with Ben Gabler

…something like that!

 

12. Get Involved In Facebook Groups

My conversion rate went from 2.5% to 8% just by including Facebook polls where Cloudways was rated #1, along with a few Twitter screenshots of migration results and conversations from Facebook Groups. Whether it’s Amazon reviews or Facebook polls, you NEED to include unbiased reviews. That’s why I don’t like collecting reviews on my website – they look biased.

People want evidence, not opinions.

There’s a Facebook Group for everything. For me, I mainly use the WordPress Hosting, WP Speed Matters, and WP Speed Up Facebook Groups to keep track of the web hosting industry.

Search facebook groups

 

13. Bookmark Affiliate Statistics In Your Browser

Go to your affiliate dashboard(s) and bookmark the “statistic” page so it saves to your browser. This saves time especially if you’re someone who likes to constantly check sales/performance.

Bookmark affiliate pages

 

14. Set Up Email Alerts When A Sale Is Made

This only works if the affiliate sends you an email when a sale is generated. Any time I make a hosting sale, I get a custom notification on my phone. It is very ENCOURAGING to get these.

Create custom alerts on your phone for affiliate sales – if you use Gmail, go to your settings and create a filter so all emails with “SiteGround Affiliate Sale Generated” in the subject line go into their own folder (tweak the subject line to match whatever email notification your affiliate sends you). Then set up a custom alert on your phone using the Gmail app so whenever you generate a sale, you get a custom alert (here’s a tutorial for Android and here’s one for Apple). I have different notifications for Rocket.net, Cloudways, others. It makes your day a little better :)

Custom gmail filter

 

15. Build Your Community

Respond To Comments – some of my articles have 400+ comments. It’s hard to keep up sometimes but this is a key part of building a community and allowing readers to ask you questions and leave their feedback. You should especially respond to YouTube comments because they are a ranking factor and encourage even more people to leave more comments.

Respond to comments

Build That Newsletter – I use Mailchimp and can’t stress how important it is to build your email list from the start (it’s free until you reach 2,000 subscribers). Once you create an account, add an email sidebar on your blog or create a dedicated newsletter page where people can sign up.

Be Open, Not Salesy – I hold back zero information on my blog, don’t recommend anything I don’t truly believe will help my readers, and try my best not to recommend hosting on every single post I write (only where it makes sense). Valuable information first, affiliate sales after.

 

16. Avoid Google Penalties

Follow Google’s guidelines for affiliate marketing.

Avoid short, thin pages that offer little value to readers.

Don’t always list affiliate products first – Google knows!

Don’t overuse affiliate links in your posts, drop them where it counts.

Avoid too many “list posts” where you just list a bunch of affiliate products.

Write an affiliate disclaimer (you’ll see mine at the very bottom of my blog).

Consider writing a review of your affiliate’s product/service and linking to that post (instead of using an affiliate link) to reduce the amount of affiliate links on your site.

Google affiliate guidelines

 

17. Monitor Conversion Rates

The way you endorse a product or service and the social proof behind it (Facebook polls or maybe reviews from other customers) are the main reason I was able to go from 2% to 8%+. If you don’t see these in your affiliate dashboard, use Thirsty Affiliate’s pro version to see them.

This is from 2017 when I started hitting it hard. Look at that CR (conversation rate) increase!

Siteground conversion report

19. Mistakes I Made

In my Google Analytics graph you’ll see a sudden drop in traffic followed by a long flatline in 2015/2016. These were pretty tough years for me and I hope I can save you from making a few bad mistakes I made, which resulted in years of financial hardship. Here are a few simple tips.

Don’t hire a sketchy link builder to boost rankings.

Get links from great content or hire someone who knows what they’re doing.

Don’t skimp on a free WordPress theme, cheap hosting, or use bloated plugins.

Don’t set a goal to write 3 blog posts a day… set a goal to write 1 blog post a week and make that post super helpful, long, and filled with information that is so valuable you will say “yeah, people will link to that.” 90% of my traffic/affiliate income comes from just 20 tutorials, many of which are 5 years old, but I constantly update content to make it better.

Do this and you should see consistent “small spikes” in your Google Analytics.

 

20. Donate To Charity

Once you’re financially stable, I hope you start giving back. It feels good and people like the idea of supporting a good cause (they will be more likely to click your affiliate link). This also means you don’t have to use as many links in your content. In total, I have given $6,000 to GoFundMe campaigns and $6,000 to my parents who let me live in their house while I worked on my blog.

21. Share Your Story

This is now the #1 visited post on my blog! I knew I could outrank all the fakes.

How to make money with affiliate marketing top page

Many companies have Black Friday + Cyber Monday deals (usually for about 2 weeks) and you can easily make 3x your normal sales during this time if you promote it right. I’ve made $2,000 in a single day during Black Friday season. You can make a “Deals” page but what I like to do is use the Better Search Replace plugin to bulk update all pricing screenshots to a screenshot of each company’s new Black Friday prices. Then when Black Friday is done, I just run another search/replace to change the screenshots back. Doesn’t take much time, but it’s very effective.

What is affiliate marketing?

Affiliate marketing is when you refer people to products or services from a merchant who agrees to give you a commission when a sale is made through your unique affiliate link.

How do I make money with affiliate marketing?

The most common ways are to set up a blog or YouTube channel, grow your audience, then sign up for affiliate programs that make sense to refer your viewers to.

How fast can you make money with affiliate marketing?

It can take anywhere from a couple months to several years to make consistent money with affiliate marketing. It depends on your ability to drive traffic, build trust, and successfully promote your affiliates.

What are the highest paying affiliate programs?

Web hosting programs like Rocket.net, Cloudways, WP Engine, and Bluehost typically pay $150/sale once you start making a lot of sales. That's why the space is so competitive.

Is affiliate marketing passive income?

Affiliate marketing income is not 100% passive income. You still need to create content, keep content current, and adapt to your industry while monitoring sales and conversions.

How much money can you make with affiliate marketing?

Some affiliates make a couple hundred dollars per month while other super affiliates make $10,000+ per month. You will get there quicker if you make it your full-time job and create awesome content on a consistent basis.

How do you get paid in affiliate marketing?

Most affiliates get paid through PayPal or directly to their bank account. Typical affiliate programs make payouts each month or once you reach a specific amount in commissions.

How can beginners make money with affiliate marketing?

If you're a beginner, you can make money with affiliate marketing by setting up a YouTube channel and teaching people how to start a blog while referring your audience to hosting. This is the most popular way beginners start making money.

What are the best affiliate programs to make money?

Amazon and hosting companies are two of the best affiliate programs to make money. Amazon is the most popular online retailer, and hosting affiliate programs offer some of the highest commissions. Bluehost, SiteGround, and HostGator are a few examples.

How do I make money with affiliate marketing without a website?

Setting up a YouTube channel is the easiest way to make money with affiliate marketing without a website. It's free, easy, and you can start creating videos instantly. Once you grow your audience, sign up for affiliate programs and promote products on your channel.

Is affiliate marketing worth it?

Yes, affiliate marketing can be well worth your time. But you need to have a plan on where you will promote products, which companies and products you will promote, and a strategy for getting traffic. Traffic is where most affiliate marketers fail.

How do YouTubers make money with affiliate marketing?

Most YouTubers add affiliate links in the video description or mention promo codes in their video which credit them the sale.

Final thought: It’s A Long-Term Investment

Simple Ways to Make $5k Every Month on Amazon

If you’re worried that you’ve missed the e-commerce boat, don’t worry. It’s just getting moving.

While several ecommerce companies like Ebay, Shopify, Walmart, and Etsy can make selling products online easy, in my experience, the best way to make money online is with Amazon.

Amazon is a huge opportunity for those who want to join the world of e-commerce. In 2020, Amazon raked in $386 billion in revenue — over half of which was fueled by third-party sales. 

But what can you do to get a piece of the Amazon pie?

There are tons of great ways to earn cash on Amazon, so to help you find what method might work best for you, this article dives into the top ways to make money on Amazon in 2022.

Let’s get to it!

 

1. Sell your own private label products on Amazon

The best way to make money on Amazon in 2022 is still through private label sales using Amazon’s Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) network. Around 67% of all Amazon sellers run their business using the private label method. 

Private label is a process of manufacturing a pre-existing item (preferably, with product improvements), putting your branding and logos on it, and selling it to consumers. Sometimes it is referred to as white labeling or brand creation. (The process has been around for years and is common in countless retail stores; Target’s Mainstays brand and Walmart’s Great Value are two examples of private label brands.)

Thanks to FBA, Amazon is able to deliver your products (typically in two days or fewer — what you likely know as Amazon Prime). This is how e-commerce business owners —l ike you and me — can list goods on Amazon and make money from the sales.

How much money can I make selling private label products on Amazon?

Approximately $625 to $1,875 per month per product.

Over half (56%) of private-label sellers earn $5,000 or more in monthly sales, and nearly two-thirds (59%) have profit margins over 16%. Among private-label sellers who have more than a year of selling experience, 20% have earned over $10,000 in lifetime profits.

Note: To learn more about how much Amazon private label sellers spent to get up and running, how long it took them to become profitable, and what categories they’re selling in, check out Jungle Scout’s The State of the Amazon Seller Report.

 

2. Publish your own books on Kindle Direct Publishing

Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) allows you to publish your own books on Amazon.

In addition to digital format, you can print actual copies of your book too. 

The only catch with this option is that you usually need to write somewhat prolifically in order to find success. Though it is possible to publish one or two wildly popular books, volume is the true name of the publishing game.

The more you write, the more you make.

How much money can I make writing for KDP?

Up to $40,000 per month.

I’ve heard that some authors make as much as $40,000 per month. These writers, however, tend to be prolific and write topically to gain notice.

Once you write the material, you don’t have to write it again! Nor do you have to worry about inventory.

How can I learn how to make money on Amazon with KDP?

While I don’t know of any specific course I trust for teaching this particular method, I do trust Tim Ferriss.

And, coincidentally, the serial entrepreneur wrote an interesting article on how to become a Kindle millionaire.

It’s definitely worth a read if you want to make money on Amazon with KDP: How to make $1,000,000 selling e-books tactics and case studies.

 

3. Sell wholesale goods on Amazon

Similar to Private Label, selling wholesale involves purchasing bulk quantities of product to sell using Amazon’s FBA network.

The primary difference, however, is that you are selling other companies’ products. Therefore, you don’t have to worry about manufacturing and branding the products.

For a lot of sellers, it’s one of the most popular ways to make money on Amazon.

How much money can I make selling wholesale goods on Amazon?

Up to $3,000 – $4,000 per month.

While wholesaling on Amazon has become notoriously more difficult in the last few years, it’s still a great way to earn money.

Note that it is a lot more competitive than the private-label market — since you’ll likely be sharing the Buy Box with other resellers. So it can sometimes be a “race to the bottom” on prices where the only “lever” sellers have to compete with each other is through lowering their price relative to their competitors.

Plus, the profit is all in the buy. If you can’t buy your goods for a low enough price, you won’t make money.

Still, 61% of wholesale sellers on Amazon make $5,000 or more in monthly sales — which is nothing to sniff at.

How can I learn to make money on Amazon selling wholesale goods?

Check out our guide to selling wholesale on Amazon. Once you’ve learned the basics, you can use Jungle Scout’s Product Database to sort and find worthwhile products to sell.

 

4. Deliver goods for Amazon

By now, you probably know that Amazon has its own delivery service. But did you know that you can join Amazon’s delivery fleet as a driver?

Amazon’s Flex program allows you to do just that. All you have to do is answer a quick questionnaire, download their app, and if you’re accepted, you start making money.

Think of it as Uber, but for Amazon deliveries.

How much money can I make on Amazon working as a Flex driver?

Approximately $100+ per day.

According to Flex’s homepage, Amazon pays drivers between $18 – $25 per hour, and the shifts are typically five hours long.

I’ve also read stories that even if drivers finish their shifts early, they still get compensated for the entire five hours.

Not a bad deal for $100+ per day.

How can I learn to make money on Amazon as a Flex driver?

Naturally, the best way to learn how to succeed with Flex is through their site: Amazon Flex.

 

5. Become a blogger

Ever wanted to start a lifestyle blog, publish how-to videos or recipes, or otherwise get your thoughts and ideas published? You can make money from Amazon while doing that! 

Picture this. You find a cool product on Amazon, send your friends the link, and – if they buy it – you get paid a commission. On your blog (or social media page or even in email), that link goes out to quite a few more folks, so you can make quite a bit more money in commissions. 

That’s how Amazon’s Associates program works.

Amazon Associates is an affiliate program where you sign up to get special links that only you can share.

Once you share the link and a purchase is made, you earn a percentage of the sale.

How much money can I make as an Amazon affiliate?

This money-making method varies greatly in its returns.

The Amazon Associates program is probably the most popular affiliate program on the internet.

While the commission percentages aren’t particularly high – usually only 3-5% – the conversion rates and volume you receive from sharing those links make up for it.

The downside is that you need to be an internet influencer. If you don’t have a decent social media following (or blog), making a lot in sales commissions will be difficult.

How can I learn to make money on Amazon as an Amazon affiliate?

Check out our comprehensive guide on How to Make Money as an Amazon Affiliate.

This guide will teach you everything you need to know about the Amazon Associates program and how you can get started making money promoting Amazon products.

  

6. Flip store-bought products with retail arbitrage

If you used to watch the U.S. version of “The Office,” you might remember the episode where Dwight bought up all the Princess Unicorn dolls around Christmas time. His plan was to sell them for $200 (or more) to last-minute shoppers.

And that, in a nutshell, is how retail arbitrage works.

For arbitrage, you go to a retail store like Walmart, Target, Barnes & Noble, etc. to find and buy discounted products. Then, you resell those items on Amazon at a mark-up.

How much money can I make doing retail arbitrage on Amazon?

The earning potential for this method varies.

Retail arbitrage can be competitive and difficult to scale but is still a fast and low-cost way to start making money on Amazon  You can make as much or as little as you want with retail arbitrage. 

Though to be an arbitrage seller, you need to have patience. Many times, sellers can spend the better part of a day or weekend searching retail stores for products only to come up empty-handed.

But don’t let that deter you—A lot of people start their Amazon selling journey using this method.

How can I learn how to make money on Amazon with retail arbitrage?

Frank Wealth has a great guide on selling retail arbitrage that goes over how to get started finding great products to flip on Amazon.

 

7. Flip online retail store products using online arbitrage

With online arbitrage, you’re buying products to flip on Amazon from other e-commerce stores, versus buying products in-store as you would with retail arbitrage. 

With retail arbitrage, you’re limited to physical stores in your area but with online arbitrage, the possibilities for purchasing inventory are nearly endless. There are opportunities to flip products from many online retailers such as eBay, Walmart, Target, CVS, Home Depot, and so on.  

How much money can I make on Amazon with online arbitrage?

The earning potential for this method varies.

The amount you can make with online arbitrage really depends on how much effort you put into the business. If you have trouble finding products online that will return a profit, you obviously won’t make any money. 

There are profitable deals out there, you just have to go find them!

 

8. Work from home as an Amazon rep

Make money on Amazon while working from home.

Amazon is quickly becoming one of the largest employers in the world. Following their purchase of Whole Foods in 2017, Amazon now has approximately 650,000 employees.

Naturally, not all of those employees work at Amazon’s headquarters in Seattle, Washington.

In fact, many of Amazon’s employees are remote employees who work from the comfort of their own home.

How much money can I make on Amazon as a work-from-home employee?

Around $30,000 per year, as a full-time rep.

The income you make as a work-from-home employee with Amazon depends on the position.

Doing a quick look on Google, it looks like most of the jobs offered are in data entry and customer service. 

Furthermore, Amazon established a $15 minimum wage in 2018. So, at the very least, you could make $30,000 per year as a full-time, work-from-home Amazon rep.

How can I learn how to make money on Amazon as a work-from-home employee?

A Google search will help you find Amazon jobs. But, if you prefer, you can also go straight to the source: Amazon jobs

 

9. Join the Mechanical Turk program

Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) is a crowdsourcing marketplace.

Amazon has a little program with a funny name called Mechanical Turk (MTurk). Whether it’s data validation, research, or participating in surveys, Mechanical Turk works as a hub for outsourced tasks.

While the name might imply artificial intelligence, Mechanical Turk is actually the combined efforts of hundreds (and thousands) of remote workers like you.

How much money can I make on Amazon with the Mechanical Turk program?

Approximately $120 – $200 for a 20 hour workweek.

Mechanical Turk is a little more low-maintenance than some of Amazon’s work programs, so it pays a little less.

Nonetheless, online reports say that Mechanical Turk workers can still expect to make between $6 to $10 per hour.

How can I learn to make money on Amazon with the Mechanical Turk program?

Just like their jobs and Flex program, the best place to learn more about Amazon’s Mechanical Turk program is through Amazon itself: Amazon Mechanical Turk.

 

10. Handcraft your own items to sell on Amazon through Amazon Handmade

If you’re creative, Amazon Handmade may be the spot for you!

By invitation only, Amazon Handmade allows artisans to craft and sell their own goods using Amazon’s platform.

Obviously, this method takes a bit more work to stay on top of your orders, since you would be producing them yourself. But, the exposure Amazon offers your brand is massive.

Amazon Handmade can really help a large audience discover your unique products.

How much money can I make selling handmade products on Amazon?

Upwards of $30 per day.

63% of Handmade artisans earn over $1,000 per month in sales, though with Amazon’s massive audience to market to, your earning potential with Amazon Handmade is limitless.

Even with Amazon’s fees, Handmade sellers are profitable. 33% of Handmade sellers have seen profit margins above 20%.

How can I learn how to make money on Amazon with Amazon Handmade?

Jungle Scout has a great article on this topic. We go over in-depth on how to get started selling on Amazon Handmade, along with the best categories to sell in.

 

11. Sell your own shirts, hats, coffee mugs, and more through Merch by Amazon

Have a clever idea for a shirt or coffee mug, but don’t want to spend the money to create hundreds of them?

Then Merch by Amazon is for you.

Merch is a print-on-demand service that allows you to upload designs into Amazon’s database. Then, those designs can appear on shirts, tote bags, coffee mugs, hats–whatever you want!

When a sale is made, Amazon creates the item for you, ships it, and you make money.

How much money can I make on Amazon through Merch by Amazon?

This money-making method varies greatly in its returns.

When you sell an item with Merch by Amazon, Amazon will pay you a royalty fee on that sale. The royalty you earn will be anywhere from 13% to 37%—depending on the product’s price. Basically, the higher the sold price, the higher the royalty you earn. 

You can see Amazon’s full schedule of Merch royalties by viewing the Royalties resource page. 

How can I learn how to make money on Amazon through Amazon Merch?

To learn more about how you can get started selling Merch on Amazon, check out our in-depth guide: What is Merch by Amazon? A Step-by-Step Guide.

 

12. Sell items without owning any inventory by dropshipping 

If you don’t have much money to start with but want a way to earn money with Amazon, dropshipping may be that way! 

Dropshipping allows you to list products for sale without ever taking ownership of the inventory. Meaning, you simply list products for sale and once a customer places an order, you buy the product from your supplier at a lower price and have them ship the order to your customer. 

You as the seller earn money without ever touching or seeing the product! Your supplier will handle all of the logistics for you. 

How much money can I make on Amazon through dropshipping?

This money-making method varies greatly in its returns.

The trick with dropshipping is finding a reliable supplier. Without one, it will be difficult to consistently make money with dropshipping though it is possible.

How can I learn how to make money on Amazon through dropshipping?

To learn more about dropshipping and how you can get started, check out our Dropshipping on Amazon in 2022 guide. 

 

13. Offer your services through Amazon Services

Amazon isn’t just a platform for e-commerce. They’re jumping on board the gig economy, too.

Essentially, Amazon Services allows entrepreneurs to sell their services online.

So, if you’re a plumber, a lawn care specialist, a dog walker, or a piano teacher, Amazon Services can help connect you to people who want your help.

How much can I make through Amazon Services?

This money-making method varies greatly in its returns.

The sky is the limit! What you make is what you ask for, if the market is willing to pay it.

Yes, it is competitive. But with the right attitude and determination, you can scale your service-based business quickly using the Amazon services platform.

To learn how to make money with Amazon Services, check out their homepage.

It gives you the information you need to get started, as well as all the requisite application forms: Selling your professional services on Amazon.

 

14. Do seasonal work for Amazon with CamperForce

Did you know that Amazon has a force of full-time RVers who help with seasonal rushes?

It’s called CamperForce, and it brings together a community of enthusiastic RV-ers. Long story short, you can drive around the country, work a quick job in an Amazon warehouse, get paid, and then head to your next RV vacation destination.

As a CamperForce associate, you’ll be able to choose your assignments based on your availability, and from a variety of locations. As for responsibilities, they fall into the categories of picking, packing, stowing, and receiving.

How much money can I make as an Amazon CamperForce associate?

Around $600 per week, as a full-time seasonal associate.

All of Amazon’s warehouse associates earn a minimum of $15 per hour. But for CamperForce workers, Amazon also pays for RV campsites.

And because they are Amazon employees, CamperForce associates benefit from Amazon’s 401k, health insurance, and other bonuses, too.

How can I learn to make money on Amazon as a CamperForce associate?

Amazon’s CamperForce homepage tells you everything you need to know about the program: Amazon CamperForce.

 

15. Work in one of Amazon’s fulfillment/distribution centers

Finally, this is one that’s been in the news a lot lately: working in one of Amazon’s massive fulfillment centers.

Amazon associates pick, pack, store, and ship products for Amazon and its first- and third-party sellers.

How much money can I make working in an Amazon fulfillment center?

Around $30,000 per year, as a full-time associate.

Amazon’s warehouse associates earn a minimum of $15 per hour. They also receive benefits from the company.

How can I get a job as an Amazon warehouse associate?

You can learn more about becoming an Amazon warehouse associate and apply on their jobs page: Amazon jobs

 

Make that money this year!

So there you have it. Fifteen fantastic ways to make money on Amazon.

I’d go as far to say that there are probably even more ways than the 15 I have listed (for example, dropshipping might be more your style), but for now, this list should get you started on the right path.

If you know of additional ways to make money on Amazon, be sure to let us know in the comments below. Good luck!

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How to Make Extra $2,000 from Tiktok every month

At the end of this answer, i will show you how you can get 20,000 TikTok Followers, so make sure to follow with me till the end!

TikTok has grown dramatically over the past few years, crossing one billion monthly active users in 2021.

Along the way, it's created a new generation of digital stars like Charli D'Amelio and Addison Rae Easterling who converted their TikTok fame into lucrative business empires.

But you don't need to have millions of fans to start making money on TikTok. There are myriad ways that users of the app can get paid, from using built-in monetization features to joining promotional campaigns for brands and music marketers.

For example, TikToker Lucy Davis, who has around 578,000 followers, told Insider she earns between $20 and $300 each time she livestreams on the app. (Read more about how much Davis earns.)

Making money directly from TikTok

TikTok offers built-in monetization tools for influencers, including a creator fund, a tipping feature, a subscription feature for streamers, and a virtual "gifts" product that allows users to send gifts to a creator which can then be converted into a real-world currency.

TikTok requires that creators have a certain number of followers and views to access these features:To join TikTok's creator fund: a creator must be 18 years or older, have at least 10,000 followers, and have achieved at least 100,000 video views in a 30-day period.
To receive virtual "gifts" during a livestream: a creator must be 18 years or older and have at least 1,000 followers.
To receive "gifts" on other videos: a creator must be at least 18 years old and have at least 100,000 followers.
To receive "tips": a creator must be at least 18 years old and have at least 100,000 followers.

The amount that an influencer can earn from each feature is unpredictable.

For payments from TikTok's creator fund, the company takes into account a variety of factors, such as video views, video engagement, the location in which a video was seen, and total participants in its program.

Some creators who have disclosed their TikTok creator fund earnings, including Hank Green, said they were paid a few cents for every one thousand views they generated on the app.

"When I saw such a low amount of money generated, it really made me feel less about myself," TikTok creator Kevin Yatsushiro told Insider. "It was a huge blow to my mental health ... it made me not want to create content anymore."

When asked about creators' concerns around low fund payouts, a TikTok spokesperson said the company understood "how important it is that our creators are appreciated for their work and look to our creator community for valuable feedback to better serve their needs." They pointed to other monetization features like live subscriptions that are available to users.

Making money by working with brands, marketers, and tech platforms

TikTok creators with just a few thousand followers can also make money by working directly with brands.

Jalyn Baiden, an Instagram and TikTok influencer with around 19,000 followers on TikTok, told Insider that she's earned over $26,000 from sponsorships, commissioned content for brands, and affiliate marketing.

Making money through sponsored song challenges

Other TikTok influencers can earn money by participating in sponsored challenges, an advertising strategy that's been particularly popular among music marketers. Challenges allow record labels, artists, or brands to post contests on platforms like Pearpop, Preffy, and TikTok itself that ask users to make a video featuring a product or using a particular song.

Preffy and Pearpop pay users on a sliding scale based on the number of views and "likes" they drive to a video featuring a song or brand, rather than offering an upfront flat fee to a single influencer. TikTok has been testing its own version of challenges that it's dubbed "Branded Missions." The company told Insider it's experimenting with different payment models and that "boosted traffic" will also be considered a form of compensation.

"The initial way influencer marketing would work would be you would go and pay a few people with big followings, but it would be like throwing a few big logs onto a non-existent fire," Pearpop's cofounder Cole Mason told Insider. "With challenges, there's a way to actually start the fire."

8 Practical Ways to Escape Poverty

 

Are you concerned about breaking the chains of poverty? If yes, then this article is for you.

Let’s begin 8 Practical Things You Must Do To Escape Poverty

1.     Stop being Entitled

It’s not circumstances that keep us where we are; it is what we think and say about ourselves. But seeing yourself as deserving success is one thing; getting other people to see you that way is another. You may feel you deserve to be handed a job because you spent five years of hard work studying at the university. But for other people, you are just another millennial that has a lot to learn.

You may think you deserve special treatment because you have suffered abuse and extreme poverty in the past; but most people are too busy dealing with their own problem.

People only respect previous results. That is why success continues to beget more success. If you are searching on “How to build a parachute” online and two videos show up; one has 415 views, the other has 1.5 million views, which are you going to choose? That’s it. You’ll choose the more successful one. It is why Samsung phones and iPhone continues to outsell the new phone companies. People unconsciously value sacrifice and result. They expect you to pay your dues.

If you haven’t done anything worthy of accolades, and you go about making demands, you are just being entitled. Get to work building your profile. Go out and start doing that thing you believe is beneath you. Learn that handiwork. Take up that job you believe is below your qualification. No one is going to lay that foundation for you; you have to do it yourself.

2.     Remove Yourself from the statistic of the Poor

The first step to help the poor is to not be one of the poor. With the limitless knowledge and resources available today, it will be too selfish of you to remain poor. Here is why.

By using the resources within your disposal to get out of poverty, you mathematically reduce the number of poor people in the world, not just by one but by many. That knowledge; that idea; that skill you have, can help take care of two, three or more people. It will be unfair if you don’t develop it.

Another important reason to remove yourself from the poor is that – If you want to get what you don’t have, you have to do what you have never done. Poverty comes with a lot of mental baggage. You can’t become a person of success while still identifying yourself as poor. Eliminate all those labels associated with poverty from your lips. Stop referring yourself as among “the poor masses”. Start surrounding yourself with progressive people.

3.     Stop caring what other people think, unless they are buying from you

Little minded people are like crabs. You’ve probably heard about crabs, haven’t you? If you put, let’s say 47 crabs inside a bucket without covering the lead, none of them will be able to get out. In reality, they could simply climb on each other and find their way out; but not these creatures. They will rather pull down anyone of them that tries to find their way out. In their mind, “we all die here”. Little minds who don’t have the courage to work themselves out of their below average life, are often fond of talking down on people who want to try. These people will rarely support or patronize what you offer. But they’ll be the first to tell you why this is not for you.

If your strategy in life is to end up pleasing everyone, you will end up miserable; trapped in the same mess. So, you must train yourself to ignore crab minded people. Let them keep their opinion while you keep your dream alive.

4.     Start seeing ‘yourself’ in Successful people

We are all humans; and we have the natural tendencies to be selfish. Even religions depend on “What’s in it for the convert” like eternal life and prosperity. Poor people see these attribute of selfishness as belonging to the rich, so they portray this false humility to mask their true desire. The truth is that you can’t become what you hate. If you continue to see progressive people as antagonists, you’ll never understand what it’ll take to make progress.

 No doubt, some people take their greed and selfishness to the extreme and only live to oppress other people. But the magic is to understand this inherent human nature, that everyone you meet is first and foremost more interest in “what’s in it for them”. People are always thinking about themselves. With this knowledge, start focusing more on what people want and what you can offer them. Jim Rohn puts it clearly, “you can have all you want in life if you can help as much people get what they want”. Turn the focus of your life towards identifying and providing what other people want and you will be on your way to getting what you want.

5.     Learn a skill and get good at it

On a deeper level, the problem of poverty is not lack of money but lack of skill. The best strategy to escape poverty is to learn a skill people want to pay for. Interestingly, there is an avalanche of free resources to help you develop and brush up your skills; from programming, design to marketing skills. There is also carpentry, shoe making, car mechanic and other handwork. This is where you need to keep your entitlement mindset to check. As long as you are doing decent work, and earning a living off it, you should be confident and proud of what you do.

6.     Move your service from intermediate to professional

Listen attentively to this. People do not hire you or patronize your business or service because they want to help you get out of poverty. They do so because they need to solve a problem. Many people get trapped in the circle of poverty and mediocrity by offering poor and nonchalant services. They go about their work like hunting; every encounter is hunt and kill. They leave each prospect bitter and vowing never to patronize them again.

Don’t toll this path. Instead, keep in mind that people are inherently selfish; they want to be treated well; they want good result. Focus on helping them get what they want, so that you can get what you want. Instead of treating your work as hunting, decide to treat it as gardening. If you are in business, you need repeat patronage; in the professional world, you need referrals and recommendations. Don’t go about burning your bridges. Start cultivating positive relationships around your work.

7.     Learn to sell

What do you think is the highest paid profession in the world? It’s not medical doctors or engineers. The highest paid profession in the world is sales. The richest people are the best at selling; whether it’s selling their vision, their product and service or their skills. They are masters at selling.

The ability to sell is not reserved for a few set of people. Anyone can learn this skill. The problem is that most people spend too much time on the product and too little on selling what they have. If you want to escape poverty, the ability to sell can get you out faster than any other skill. There is no best-written author, but best-selling author.

8.     Take Back Control of Your mind

Most of your opinions are not original. They were adopted from your environment into your mind. Each time you turn on the TV, go on social media, listen to people around, your mind is getting suggestions on opinions to hold or to let go.

Here is an example. Do you know that mega supermarkets are designed to make you buy more than what you had in mind to buy? You walk in to get a deal on one item and you walk out buying a cart full of items; some of which you don’t need. How would you explain that almost everyone in Africa seems to fanatically support a football club in England or Spain? Or that millions of people lost their money in a ponzi scheme that promised 30 percent interest every month.

If you take the time to ponder, you will realize that you are not as in control of your mind as you think. You will realize that some of the things you spend time, energy and money on are actually not worth much. Your mind is your most valuable asset. Take back control of it by deciding what you let into it. Read books and stories that inspire you to dream and take productive action. Invest in yourself.

This is where we wrap it up. Let us know your thoughts in the comment section. Also thumb up and share this video with your friends. If you are yet to subscribe to After School Africa, now is a good time to subscribe. Until next time YOUR SUCCESS MATTERS!

16 Ways to Get Paid to Code Online

Are you a programmer trying to make money online? Well, congrats! You’ve clicked the right link. Keep scrolling for 16 ways to get paid to code online.

Are you a programmer trying to make money online? Well, congrats! You’ve clicked the right link. Keep scrolling for 16 ways to get paid to code online.

How to Make Money Programming


If you’re a programming geek and not making any money online, you are missing out BIG. Anyone (read: you) that’s familiar with languages such as C++, HTML, Python, NET, Java, and PHP, can get paid to code online.

This means you can finally combine your love of programming with your love of cold hard cash.

Pretty gnarly, right?

Technology is only becoming more and more a part of everyday life. I mean, even my grandma knows what TikTok is. This means the value of programming skills is only increasing, too.

And the best part about all this is that sweet thing we call the World Wide Web has opened up new possibilities for programmers to find work. You don’t have to go into the office anymore to find programming work.

There are many incredible ways to make money online with programming skills.

(And it's even possible for you to get paid to learn code online…but more on that in a bit.)

If you learn various coding languages and programs, then you can offer your skills online and start generating cash fast.

The key is that you need to learn and know the latest code to appeal to your clients. By doing that, you can charge more for your services.

I recommend CodeAcademy to stay up-to-date with code and programming languages. You'll get 50% off an annual membership.

That's the beauty of it too. If you have no idea how to code but want to learn to make money. Use CodeAcademy to get started.

CodeAcademyOffer:

50% OFF Annual PlanCodeAcademy is one of the top ways to improve and learn better coding. You learn from top professionals in the industry. Staying up-to date on the latest trends in code and programming means you can charge your clients more. Join for 50% off.GET 50% OFF


List of Proven Ways to Make Money from Coding Online

Here are sixteen ways to make money online with your coding skills. (cha-ching)
1. Blogging

Now I know everyone and their mom tries to get you to start a blog. But hear me out!

If you’re a programmer, you can always make money through a blog in the programming niche.

And there are many ways to monetize a blog as a programmer:offering coding skills online
charging for premium content
earning through affiliate links

In the last few years, I’ve made over $250,000 from blogging and I know with an in-demand skill such as yours, you can start a blog and make money, too.

Quick tip for starting your programming blog:

Write SEO-friendly content with relevant keywords to rank your page in the search engines. Make sure you go for both on-page and off-page SEO optimization for the best results.

This will help with traffic to your site. And the more eyeballs on your site, the more potential clients and customers.

Second quick tip:

Create lead magnets where you can turn prospective readers into customers. Learn how to do that right here.

The coolest thing about starting a blog for cash? Low start-up costs.

Start your blog today for less than ten bucks, my friend. I recommend starting with an easy hosting provider like Bluehost. It's super easy to get started and you'll get a FREE domain name when you sign up.

BluehostPrice:

Only $2.95/monthBluehost is the ultimate hosting platform that will allow you to start a blog or website in a matter of minutes. You'll get a FREE domain name when you sign up with my link It's never been easier to build a brand.START A BLOG


2. Freelancing

Freelancing. Not just for dirty hippies who don’t want to get a job anymore.

The gig economy has seriously changed the game for lots of skilled workers, including you and your genius programming brain.

Just offer your programming services to clients online.

Check out a few freelancing platforms and find the one that works best for you. (see below)

The best by far for coding is TopTal. Freelancers earn an average of $60-$115 per hour working with some of the most reputable brands around the world.

TopTalOffer:

FreeTopTal short for Top Talent is the best in breed place for freelancers to find jobs with some of the most reputable and top paying clients from around the world. In order to join, you'll need to showcase your valuable skills in order to get accepted. It's worth it as freelancers earn anywhere from $60-$115 per hour. Do you have what it takes?JOIN FREE



The coolest thing about freelance work is that you can create your own work schedule AND you have the freedom of working from anywhere.

As you take on more jobs and earn fan-tabulous reviews on freelancing platforms, you'll be able to raise your income levels…aka charge top dollar.

Some of the other best freelancing platforms include FlexJobs, Freelancer and Fiverr. On these sites, you have the opportunity to bid for different projects.

Check out FlexJobs to get freelance gigs right away.

You can also find programming gigs through job boards and social media platforms such as ZipRecruiter. Pitching directly to clients that need a programmer on their team is an awesome way to find high-paying clients.

If you’re ready to start freelancing, I’m ready to teach you, my friend.

Sign up for my Increase Your Income course where I’ll go over the best places to freelance, top-paying jobs, and teach you the exact steps I took to start making over $5k/month. Use the form below to get started.
3. Develop Apps

Was there ever a time without apps?

Unfortunately for boomers, yes.

Fortunately for you and me, we’ve got lots of apps and they aren’t going anywhere.

Take advantage of your programming skills by developing an app and monetizing it.

If you are familiar with Objective-C or Swift, you can create an essential iOS app in just a few hours. Then launch it on the App Store. After that, you can sell it to the public through different kinds of media.

If you’ve got a really good and marketable app idea, it’s easy for you to make money by creating it yourself for free. Check out Upwork, Apache Cordova, Appcelerator, and more for awesome ideas.

Once you've developed your app, you can sell it on Flippa for cash through an auction process or a classified listing.

I’ve personally done this a few times. Flippa is great because it has the largest marketplace out there to buy and sell apps.

They seriously make it so easy to sell your app
4. Make A Plugin Or Theme For WordPress

Nearly 25% of all websites out there on the internet use WordPress. If you create useful WordPress plugins and themes, you can make some sweet cash.

WordPress plugins are in high demand, my friend. Seriously. This is a great way to make money to code online. You can do this bydeveloping mass apps for WordPress
developing small modules such as plugins and themes.

To monetize the plugin, you can make it premium and charge users directly… or you can make it free and earn through ads and donations.
5. Become An Online Educator And Sell Courses Online

The online education industry is HUGE. It’s expected to reach 132 billion dollars by 2023.

Yes, billion. That’s not a typo.

Take advantage of this. Lots of people want to learn how to code. Why shouldn’t you be the one to teach them…online?

Create courses online using different learning management systems such as Udemy and Coursera. Then sell them to budding coders who want to learn.

The best way to reach potential customers is to create a blog (see above) and put up some free tutorials to build your authority and to build traffic. Then upsell them to your course.

If creating your own blog or platform isn’t your thing, I’ve got you covered.

You can get paid to teach coding if you position yourself as a computer science instructor.

Here are a few places that hire online coding and computer science instructors:universities
online coding tutoring platforms
coding bootcamps

You can also use these platforms and their existing students to teach coding and Python:Udemy: Join now and get started making money with coding
Coursera: Join to get the best coding experience and make money from your learning
CodeAcademy: Learn and teach how to become a full-stack web developer
6. Join Coding Competitions

If you’re like me, you prefer your competition to be on TV.

But aside from watching sports, I also like making money from doing stuff I’m good at.

I bet you do, too.

So I present to you coding contests, my new programmer friend!

Coding contests are a great way to get paid good money with your coding skills. Most contests offer substantial cash prizes to the winners.

Some of the most popular coding contests include Topcoder, CodeChef, HTML5Contest, and CallingAllInnovators…but there are definitely more out there.

There are 3 competition areas:Design
Development
Data science

Top coders handle real-life problems for 2,000 global customers, competing in single-round tournaments where both skills and fun are emphasized.

Why not jump into a contest or two and try your luck?

Just like boxing, you get paid ($$$) for emerging victorious.

And aside from a sweet cash injection to your bank account, competitions like Topcoder offer online programs where networking is key.

So not only do you get to compete and win big…you get to learn from other top participants by seeing their code, AND you get to mingle with big companies searching for the top talent in coding.

It’s basically like professional sports. Except less running and more typing.
7. Start A Personal Website

A personal website is like a giant billboard to show off your coding skills.

Your website design should be sleek enough to reflect your skills and identity. It’s a way of branding yourself. You can also use it to share your portfolio as a coding expert.

On your website, share your wicked smart programming tips to showcase your authority in the niche. Create your own website with a blog section to share coding-related content to your website visitors.

Don’t forget to reply to comments and answer visitor questions regularly. This kind of interaction makes you accessible in the coding circle. It also helps you gain trust, which will bring you income and clients.

Once you’ve established your personal brand, trust, and authority you’ll have more clients to offer your online services, charging hourly rates…or better, big project rates.

With a website, you can also earn from Google Adsense, advertisements, sponsored ads, affiliate marketing and other monetization strategies.

You can get started for only $3.95/month with Bluehost.
8. Develop Games

With coding skills, you can develop games for cash. Game development can be seriously lucrative. Develop Android and iOS games and sell them.

You can use platforms such as Fupa, a great platform for selling your games online.

The FGL app management portal is also pretty sweet. It manages apps and makes them grow and succeed, so you can continue to make money developing games.
9. Become A Python Developer

While most people reading this might think this is a snake breeder type-a-thing, you and I both know a Python developer is one of the highest-paying jobs today.

For someone with expert Python knowledge, it’s possible to make up to $100k per year as a developer.

Some of the jobs available includebuilding websites
implementing security and data protection procedures
optimizing data algorithms
solving data analytics challenges
creating reusable, efficient, and testable codes

Companies all over the world are searching for people with Python developing skills. Some of these companies include Randstad, lyft, ADP, and more.

So if this is you, what are you waiting for? Get out there and start earning!

See Related: Freelance Rate Calculator
10. Find A Job As A Product Manager

This is another lucrative job for people with coding skills.

A product manager in the field of coding involves identifying a need in the marketplace
researching new features
showing why specific products ought to be developed.

Companies look for product managers with Python knowledge to come up with data that helps them in decision making.

Python skills help with automation, analysis, and reporting; therefore, a product manager can help the organization in analytics without hiring an additional expert.

Some of the companies recruiting product managers who possess Python skills include Snapchat and Crunchbase.
11. Become A Data Analyst

Python programming language is applied in machine learning and is used by data analysts.

Several companies, such as Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center as well as Bloomberg, are continually searching for AI and data analysts who possess Python expertise to help them sift through massive amounts of data.

Python libraries such as Scipy and Pandas come in handy when you want to accomplish such tasks.

See Related: How to Make Money with Machine Learning
12. Apply For Quantitative Analyst Jobs at a Bank

It’s a digital age and we’re living in a digital world.

That means some bank analysts are now required to know Python.

Banks want employees who can code so they can cut costs and increase their bottom dollar. If you are a coding expert, you can become a quantitative analyst for financial data.

You'll also make some pretty good money along the way.

See Related: Get Paid to Selfie? Make Money Selling Photos of Yourself
13. Engage in Data Journalism

People love stories. And if you can tell a good story backed by data and statistics?

It’s a gold mine, my friend.

A coding expert with Python knowledge is in high demand. You can sort through vast amounts of data, analyze it, and visualize your findings.

In a world where news travels as fast as speech, it’s no wonder we need more data journalists.

Some of the software libraries that work with Python include pandas, which you can use to sort and process information as well as identify trends; matplotlib, which helps create charts; and BeautifulSoup, which is meant for screen scraping.

(Side note: you can create a blog and tell those fact-based stories to the world, just so you know. Hint hint. Wink wink.)
14. Advertise In Business Directories

Sometimes you just gotta get back to basics.

List your profile as a java programmer or a PHP programmer in a business directory. Include your skills on your profile to get enquiries from clients for work.

Some directories to consider include Quickr, Indiamart, and Justdial.
15. Create A YouTube Channel

YouTube is where it’s at!

First, it’s only of the most visited websites in the entire world. Second, you can definitely earn some cash from a YouTube channel by growing your subscriber base.

Create videos showing people tips on coding, and be consistent. The more subscribers you have, the more views you'll get… and the more you will earn.

Find a YouTube partner program that will allow you to earn a percentage of the money generated from ads that run alongside your videos.

See Related: How to Become a Content Creator
16. Write And Sell An Ebook

You can also make a few bucks selling ebooks with coding tips. After writing your ebook, publish and sell it on social media, your website, or Amazon.

Publishing an ebook is easy, and you can take advantage of free publishing platforms such as Kindle Publishing…aka Amazon.
Conclusion on Getting Paid to Code Online

There are sooo many ways to make money online as a programmer. You can create a full-time income with any of these methods that help you get paid to code.

But I’ve got to be honest: just like in any other job, you need to put in some effort, figure out what you like, and make them work for you.

Good luck to all programmers who are trying to make some money online.