There, did you see that? I just provided you with a very good piece of information. Was it an ad? Sort of, but I believe in the service and I firmly believe that you will be better off by using it. Isn't that what you really want anyway? When a friend of yours tells you a movie he just saw is really great - is that not better than seeing the trailer on tv and wondering if it's worth your hard earned dollars? That is the whole idea here folks. Use my methods in your own site content and you will most likely succeed at affiliate marketing!
So back to the question at hand. What do you do with the checks when they start rolling in? Well obviously you will need to cash them of course. But what do you do with the cash? Do you stash it in a checking or savings account? Maybe a money market account? What if you start making enough that you can quit your job, should you just live off of the checks every month and save what you can and have fun?
I cannot answer all of these questions for you. Some of them will depend, of course, on your own situation and how much you can afford to use for investing. But what I can do is give you a scenario based on what I do. From that, hopefully you'll see the value in some of the solutions and tailor them to your own scenario. We'll also look at some programs that you might consider using to make your affiliate dollars work even harder for you. That is the key to true wealth!
Let's keep things simple and say that you're bringing in $1,000.00 a month via your affiliate website. You have an LLC and a business checking account with the local bank under that LLC and all checks are made payable to that LLC with you and your spouse or partner as authorized signatures for checks deposited into that account. You can also use that account for direct deposits from affiliates who are capable of ACH or direct deposits. A good idea at first is to sit on it all for a few months. You want to maintain your minimum balance in the account so that you don't get charged a fee from your bank for going below the minimum. And I know the temptation is there to go out and buy that car you've always wanted, a Beach Bummer perhaps, but try to hold off for a bit - it will pay off. The first thing you need to be aware of here is that this money coming in has NOT had the taxes withheld for you! It is NOT like a paycheck you get from your employer. This may seem obvious but I want to remind everyone of this at this time so that you don't go and spend your money only to discover, at tax time, that you owe a lot to the IRS! This is why you want to let the money to sit for a little bit. If your bank will do a money market business checking then I do recommend it. But only if you aren't going to be below their minimum balance. It would also be very risky to tell you to take this money and invest it all in something because, again, you still owe taxes on it. This is where you'll really need to do some good bookkeeping and ensure that you are saving back the money that you need to cover your taxes. However, this is also where being able to deduct business expenses can be very helpful if you start a business. After all, it was not free to get you to the point where money was coming in was it? If you've followed these guides completely then you've purchased a domain name, a web host provider, possibly a template and some software. You registered a business, perhaps even purchased some accounting software or maybe even a new computer and some office supplies, etc. Make sure you're adding all of those up as you go along and keep receipts! Many,if not all, of those could be tax deductible depending on the type of business you opened.
Now let's pretend that 6 months have passed, just to keep things simple again, and you now have about $6,000.00 in that business checking account. You intend to keep about half of it in there, or at least enough to cover the taxes you will owe at tax time and use the leftover to invest in something that will make that money grow for you.
Again, the temptation is there to use this money for some of those things that you have wanted for a long time. If you need this money to pay down some debt or get yourself out of a bad financial situation then I'm not going to argue with you on that. It is your money, use it as you see fit. But if you are in a position where this money is free and clear of any other expenses you have then my recommendation is to leverage this money and make it work even further for you by investing it properly. The idea being that if this money is going to come in fairly regularly and it is money you would not have had otherwise then you won't miss the fact that it is being reinvested into a program or programs that make it an even larger sum of money.
I am certainly no financial advisor, as I've mentioned before, so I do recommend that you speak to a few good ones for their advice. But what I will do is list a few programs that you can use to turn some of your money into even more money. If you ever plan to get to the point where you can quit your job or work from home then this is going to be a crucial step because you want to ensure that you have multiple streams of income from varied sources. This will protect you if any one of your income streams should fail or have a period of weakness.
And a very good piece of advice I will give you up front...look into a self-directed IRA. Many of the investment types below, yes even the real estate programs, can be invested in via your self-directed IRA which can have some huge benefits for your retirement plans. If you even consider doing this then I recommend a new book that was just released. Here is the Amazon link for it. I own this book and am learning a great deal from it already!
So back to the question at hand. What do you do with the checks when they start rolling in? Well obviously you will need to cash them of course. But what do you do with the cash? Do you stash it in a checking or savings account? Maybe a money market account? What if you start making enough that you can quit your job, should you just live off of the checks every month and save what you can and have fun?
I cannot answer all of these questions for you. Some of them will depend, of course, on your own situation and how much you can afford to use for investing. But what I can do is give you a scenario based on what I do. From that, hopefully you'll see the value in some of the solutions and tailor them to your own scenario. We'll also look at some programs that you might consider using to make your affiliate dollars work even harder for you. That is the key to true wealth!
Let's keep things simple and say that you're bringing in $1,000.00 a month via your affiliate website. You have an LLC and a business checking account with the local bank under that LLC and all checks are made payable to that LLC with you and your spouse or partner as authorized signatures for checks deposited into that account. You can also use that account for direct deposits from affiliates who are capable of ACH or direct deposits. A good idea at first is to sit on it all for a few months. You want to maintain your minimum balance in the account so that you don't get charged a fee from your bank for going below the minimum. And I know the temptation is there to go out and buy that car you've always wanted, a Beach Bummer perhaps, but try to hold off for a bit - it will pay off. The first thing you need to be aware of here is that this money coming in has NOT had the taxes withheld for you! It is NOT like a paycheck you get from your employer. This may seem obvious but I want to remind everyone of this at this time so that you don't go and spend your money only to discover, at tax time, that you owe a lot to the IRS! This is why you want to let the money to sit for a little bit. If your bank will do a money market business checking then I do recommend it. But only if you aren't going to be below their minimum balance. It would also be very risky to tell you to take this money and invest it all in something because, again, you still owe taxes on it. This is where you'll really need to do some good bookkeeping and ensure that you are saving back the money that you need to cover your taxes. However, this is also where being able to deduct business expenses can be very helpful if you start a business. After all, it was not free to get you to the point where money was coming in was it? If you've followed these guides completely then you've purchased a domain name, a web host provider, possibly a template and some software. You registered a business, perhaps even purchased some accounting software or maybe even a new computer and some office supplies, etc. Make sure you're adding all of those up as you go along and keep receipts! Many,if not all, of those could be tax deductible depending on the type of business you opened.
Now let's pretend that 6 months have passed, just to keep things simple again, and you now have about $6,000.00 in that business checking account. You intend to keep about half of it in there, or at least enough to cover the taxes you will owe at tax time and use the leftover to invest in something that will make that money grow for you.
Again, the temptation is there to use this money for some of those things that you have wanted for a long time. If you need this money to pay down some debt or get yourself out of a bad financial situation then I'm not going to argue with you on that. It is your money, use it as you see fit. But if you are in a position where this money is free and clear of any other expenses you have then my recommendation is to leverage this money and make it work even further for you by investing it properly. The idea being that if this money is going to come in fairly regularly and it is money you would not have had otherwise then you won't miss the fact that it is being reinvested into a program or programs that make it an even larger sum of money.
I am certainly no financial advisor, as I've mentioned before, so I do recommend that you speak to a few good ones for their advice. But what I will do is list a few programs that you can use to turn some of your money into even more money. If you ever plan to get to the point where you can quit your job or work from home then this is going to be a crucial step because you want to ensure that you have multiple streams of income from varied sources. This will protect you if any one of your income streams should fail or have a period of weakness.
And a very good piece of advice I will give you up front...look into a self-directed IRA. Many of the investment types below, yes even the real estate programs, can be invested in via your self-directed IRA which can have some huge benefits for your retirement plans. If you even consider doing this then I recommend a new book that was just released. Here is the Amazon link for it. I own this book and am learning a great deal from it already!
Beach Bum Guide #4
Wealth Building Programs & Tips
Wealth Building Programs & Tips
If you've read through all of the guides so far then this one should really help you to put it all together. I even considered calling this guide that but I also wanted each guide to stand alone somewhat. If you haven't read all four of the guides yet, I do recommend it. But since you're here, I will do a quick recap so you'll know what got us to this point - putting it all together.
In the first guide we talked about finding your niche market, selecting a domain name and finding a good web-hosting provider. Next, we talked about the design of your site and how to get started even if you don't have any html knowledge. In the affiliates guide we covered the general workings of affiliate programs and offered you a selection of good programs to partner with in several categories as well as "top tier" programs that let you pick and choose from a wide selection of partners.
So let's put this all together now, shall we? And if you're still somewhat unclear up to this point, don't worry. If I do what I intend to do in the next few paragraphs, you should have a clear understanding of exactly what you'll need to do to start your own profitable website. But it doesn't stop there, this guide will also help you decide what to do once that money starts rolling in!
Imagine this scenario. You have gone through the previous guides and came up with a niche market that ties in with a hobby you have. Let's use a scenario as an example. Let's say you own a car, the Beach Bummer. It is a classic automobile that many enthusiasts around the world own and love to show off at car shows, etc. You've researched a bit and found that there are very few, if any, websites about the car that really offer a complete source of information for fellow enthusiasts. Perfect! This is exactly what you want. So you get the domain for your site, hosting services and you build a website complete with pictures of your car and articles about how you got your car to the pristine condition it is in now. You have a blog that keeps visitors updated about little tweaks you make here and there with the car. Your forum is available so that others can share their experiences, and maybe wanna-be enthusiasts get to ask what it's like to drive a Beach Bummer. Got me so far? So where do all these affiliates come in? Well you could do ads. I am sure that you've seen the ads on this site by now. How many ads did you click on? Do you think you'll make a lot of money just from the ads? Answer is, maybe. But the real trick is to use that wonderful content that your site has and tie it in nicely with your affiliates!
Want an example? Okay, we'll stick with the Beach Bummer car website scenario. Let's say you write a series of articles about how you got the car originally from a junk dealer, found a great parts dealer online, restored the car to it's current luster and now you keep it nice by using this special car wax. Don't concern yourself up front with how you're going to tie in affiliates. It's better just to tell your story first. The most important thing for your website is content and you want people to trust that your content is genuine and comes from your true experience as a Beach Bummer owner. But chances are that you needed some good partners along the way who helped you turn that car from a piece of junk to a show car and that is the key! Start looking through your list of partners and see if any of them offer an affiliate program. This particular step is what will change the way you look at websites from now on. You'll soon find yourself looking for the "affiliate" or "associate" link on just about every website you visit. It's a good thing too, because if you use a product or service yourself, then others will be more inclined to trust your advice and use those products and services as well. Especially after reading about them in your site content. This works better than any passive ad ever could, because it's virtual word of mouth advertising. Just so you know, those "turnkey" websites that people will build for you that have built-in ads and canned content, etc., those could never stand up against a site you build yourself, from the heart with content that you, as an expert, provide! Trust me on that one! In some ways, even a winning site design doesn't matter as much as the content you have in it. Think about it, I'm sure you've been to some sites that were less than perfect but you still went back because they had information you needed and trusted.
So where were we? Oh yeah, you wrote up a nice article about how you got the car at a junk yard, found an online parts dealer. Wait, let's stop there. Look back at the website for that parts dealer you used. Check maybe towards the bottom of the page or maybe in one of the last few links on their site navigation links. Ahh, there it is, an affiliate link! Click on it! Wow, looks like the parts dealer you used has an affiliate program where they'll pay you a commission on every part sold and all you have to do is provide a link to to their website from within your article. Does it make sense now? Or maybe that car wax you use all the time that you swear by has an affiliate program whereby you'll make $5.00 for every sale of their wax products referred from your site.
In the first guide we talked about finding your niche market, selecting a domain name and finding a good web-hosting provider. Next, we talked about the design of your site and how to get started even if you don't have any html knowledge. In the affiliates guide we covered the general workings of affiliate programs and offered you a selection of good programs to partner with in several categories as well as "top tier" programs that let you pick and choose from a wide selection of partners.
So let's put this all together now, shall we? And if you're still somewhat unclear up to this point, don't worry. If I do what I intend to do in the next few paragraphs, you should have a clear understanding of exactly what you'll need to do to start your own profitable website. But it doesn't stop there, this guide will also help you decide what to do once that money starts rolling in!
Imagine this scenario. You have gone through the previous guides and came up with a niche market that ties in with a hobby you have. Let's use a scenario as an example. Let's say you own a car, the Beach Bummer. It is a classic automobile that many enthusiasts around the world own and love to show off at car shows, etc. You've researched a bit and found that there are very few, if any, websites about the car that really offer a complete source of information for fellow enthusiasts. Perfect! This is exactly what you want. So you get the domain for your site, hosting services and you build a website complete with pictures of your car and articles about how you got your car to the pristine condition it is in now. You have a blog that keeps visitors updated about little tweaks you make here and there with the car. Your forum is available so that others can share their experiences, and maybe wanna-be enthusiasts get to ask what it's like to drive a Beach Bummer. Got me so far? So where do all these affiliates come in? Well you could do ads. I am sure that you've seen the ads on this site by now. How many ads did you click on? Do you think you'll make a lot of money just from the ads? Answer is, maybe. But the real trick is to use that wonderful content that your site has and tie it in nicely with your affiliates!
Want an example? Okay, we'll stick with the Beach Bummer car website scenario. Let's say you write a series of articles about how you got the car originally from a junk dealer, found a great parts dealer online, restored the car to it's current luster and now you keep it nice by using this special car wax. Don't concern yourself up front with how you're going to tie in affiliates. It's better just to tell your story first. The most important thing for your website is content and you want people to trust that your content is genuine and comes from your true experience as a Beach Bummer owner. But chances are that you needed some good partners along the way who helped you turn that car from a piece of junk to a show car and that is the key! Start looking through your list of partners and see if any of them offer an affiliate program. This particular step is what will change the way you look at websites from now on. You'll soon find yourself looking for the "affiliate" or "associate" link on just about every website you visit. It's a good thing too, because if you use a product or service yourself, then others will be more inclined to trust your advice and use those products and services as well. Especially after reading about them in your site content. This works better than any passive ad ever could, because it's virtual word of mouth advertising. Just so you know, those "turnkey" websites that people will build for you that have built-in ads and canned content, etc., those could never stand up against a site you build yourself, from the heart with content that you, as an expert, provide! Trust me on that one! In some ways, even a winning site design doesn't matter as much as the content you have in it. Think about it, I'm sure you've been to some sites that were less than perfect but you still went back because they had information you needed and trusted.
So where were we? Oh yeah, you wrote up a nice article about how you got the car at a junk yard, found an online parts dealer. Wait, let's stop there. Look back at the website for that parts dealer you used. Check maybe towards the bottom of the page or maybe in one of the last few links on their site navigation links. Ahh, there it is, an affiliate link! Click on it! Wow, looks like the parts dealer you used has an affiliate program where they'll pay you a commission on every part sold and all you have to do is provide a link to to their website from within your article. Does it make sense now? Or maybe that car wax you use all the time that you swear by has an affiliate program whereby you'll make $5.00 for every sale of their wax products referred from your site.
All financial advice in any of the pages contained within Mr. Beach Bum.com should not be substituted for financial guidance from licensed financial advisors. Mr. Beach Bum.com and any affiliates are not held liable for advice given within the content of this site.
All site contents are © Copyright 2006 Platt Productions, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Graphics created by Tony Neidiffer.
Do you see now how you can make money online? It's not just the ads. Those are helpful too but the real money is in the content and how you tie it in with an affiliate program. It boggles my mind how many affiliate programs don't get this particular part completely either. You'll see what I mean once you join a few, but basically they typically provide you with banner ads and the like. What you really need is just a good text link to use so that you can build it right into your article. Use the banner ads too because they are still relevant and they might work for those lazy visitors who don't like to read. The bottom line, in my opinion of course, is that you could place an ad for the same wax next to the article and nine times out of ten the article is going to sell the wax better than that ad is. The reason? Well I am no marketing guru but my theory on this subject is that there are just too darn many ads in the first place. We tend to see them in our subconscious and not really pay close attention to them. Meanwhile, we're reading an article that is telling us steps we need to take to get our own Beach Bummer to shine like it was just made yesterday and suddenly we are given this link to the very wax that the writer uses to make his own Beach Bummer look show quality - and his pictures prove it because he posts them on his site all the time and they are real pictures, not professionally engineered pictures from the wax company! It also helps, in a niche like our scenario deals with, for that person to see their own car using that product, so it makes it that much easier for them to make the connection that this wax is going to do for them what it does for you. You have to assume that your readers are a bit envious of the way your car looks and, therefore, will try to copy from you. Now this doesn't help you much if you're trying to win a car show I suppose, but it will help you if you want money from your site!
This is a win-win situation folks. Actually you could consider it a win-win-win situation. You win because they clicked on your link, bought the wax and you get commission. The wax company wins because they made a sale and didn't have to pay for the advertising up front - so they're paying for advertising that actually performed for them in this case. And last, but most certainly not least, the customer wins because they are buying wax that they know is going to work great for them because you've used it and can attest to the quality of it, etc.
If you apply this basic principle to the way you provide your content and tie in affiliates you know and trust then I just don't see how you can go wrong. If you do it right, you can make a lot of money! What you have to do now is look closely at your own site and plan your strategy using some of the affiliates I listed in the previous guide. If you don't find anything there yet, keep coming back to Mr Beach Bum.com and read the blogs and forums for more affiliates than you can shake a stick at in the future. Eventually we'll have a complete database. But for now, I didn't want you to be overwhelmed with more affiliates than you can handle up front. Truth be told, you are probably going to be better off joining a few top tier programs first so you can get your feet wet, then start to work on the more direct affiliates.
Whew! A lot of material covered now huh? Well now the real fun begins. At this point you have to ask yourself what you're going to do with the checks that start rolling in. And, while there are no guarantees, you should also have full faith in the fact that they will roll in because you've taken the steps necessary to ensure that they roll in. So what do you do with them? Well keep in mind that this guide is no substitute for professional legal or financial advice. But there are some things you definitely need to consider, possibly before you even cash that first check!
I have mentioned opening an LLC or other business type in the past. An LLC is what I've used but you might want to consider your options. Here are some links to articles on each business type so that you can decide for yourself what will fit nicely with you. Perhaps you want to have a partnership with someone so you can double your efforts. Or maybe you want to someday sell stock in your new web company. It makes good sense to figure out now what your real dream is for your business and choose the appropriate business type now.
Do you need to open a business? Not necessarily. If you never plan to sell a real product but just do affiliate links and ads and aren't concerned about tax deductions for your business then maybe you don't. This is entirely up to you. I will say that it has worked very well for me and that is why I mention it here.
Once you decide on your business type then you will want to get it registered quickly. I recommend Bizfilings for this unless you know how to register yourself. One very important thing to realize about having a business is that you want to maintain what is known as the "corporate veil". Essentially this "veil" is what can protect your personal assets from any business liability that might arise. Maintaining a "corporate veil" involves adhering to the proper steps that you must take depending on the business type in order to properly keep up with business records, meetings, etc. Bizfilings actually helps you with this after you register your business by providing you with an online system that keeps your records organized properly, reminds you when meetings need to be held to meet state/federal standards and even has a library of files that you can utilize which is a must have. Best of all you can maintain this service annually for a very low price - check their site for current prices. I cannot stress enough the importance of proper record keeping. Just ask any attorney about this and you'll be convinced if you aren't already and even if you already have your own company, the bizfiling service is still a must have. It is so affordable it pays for itself in the peace of mind you'll gain from using it!
This is a win-win situation folks. Actually you could consider it a win-win-win situation. You win because they clicked on your link, bought the wax and you get commission. The wax company wins because they made a sale and didn't have to pay for the advertising up front - so they're paying for advertising that actually performed for them in this case. And last, but most certainly not least, the customer wins because they are buying wax that they know is going to work great for them because you've used it and can attest to the quality of it, etc.
If you apply this basic principle to the way you provide your content and tie in affiliates you know and trust then I just don't see how you can go wrong. If you do it right, you can make a lot of money! What you have to do now is look closely at your own site and plan your strategy using some of the affiliates I listed in the previous guide. If you don't find anything there yet, keep coming back to Mr Beach Bum.com and read the blogs and forums for more affiliates than you can shake a stick at in the future. Eventually we'll have a complete database. But for now, I didn't want you to be overwhelmed with more affiliates than you can handle up front. Truth be told, you are probably going to be better off joining a few top tier programs first so you can get your feet wet, then start to work on the more direct affiliates.
Whew! A lot of material covered now huh? Well now the real fun begins. At this point you have to ask yourself what you're going to do with the checks that start rolling in. And, while there are no guarantees, you should also have full faith in the fact that they will roll in because you've taken the steps necessary to ensure that they roll in. So what do you do with them? Well keep in mind that this guide is no substitute for professional legal or financial advice. But there are some things you definitely need to consider, possibly before you even cash that first check!
I have mentioned opening an LLC or other business type in the past. An LLC is what I've used but you might want to consider your options. Here are some links to articles on each business type so that you can decide for yourself what will fit nicely with you. Perhaps you want to have a partnership with someone so you can double your efforts. Or maybe you want to someday sell stock in your new web company. It makes good sense to figure out now what your real dream is for your business and choose the appropriate business type now.
Do you need to open a business? Not necessarily. If you never plan to sell a real product but just do affiliate links and ads and aren't concerned about tax deductions for your business then maybe you don't. This is entirely up to you. I will say that it has worked very well for me and that is why I mention it here.
Once you decide on your business type then you will want to get it registered quickly. I recommend Bizfilings for this unless you know how to register yourself. One very important thing to realize about having a business is that you want to maintain what is known as the "corporate veil". Essentially this "veil" is what can protect your personal assets from any business liability that might arise. Maintaining a "corporate veil" involves adhering to the proper steps that you must take depending on the business type in order to properly keep up with business records, meetings, etc. Bizfilings actually helps you with this after you register your business by providing you with an online system that keeps your records organized properly, reminds you when meetings need to be held to meet state/federal standards and even has a library of files that you can utilize which is a must have. Best of all you can maintain this service annually for a very low price - check their site for current prices. I cannot stress enough the importance of proper record keeping. Just ask any attorney about this and you'll be convinced if you aren't already and even if you already have your own company, the bizfiling service is still a must have. It is so affordable it pays for itself in the peace of mind you'll gain from using it!
