How I made online passive income work.

It was a slow start, but I got there after about six months. Actually, what I did, could be done in a matter of days if you don't have to go through the learning process that I did.

We're all looking for passive income. What could be better than money coming into your life without you having to work for it? Certainly there are plenty of ways of making money online but just taking part in an online money making program (like Affiliate Junktion) is not going to put money in your pockets you need to actually make it work.

I use Affiliate Junktion simply because one day it caught my eye and I decided if ever I was going to give something a go, this might as well be it. But it didn't start off well. I lost money in the beginning. Not wanting to loose much, I stopped trying and thought Affiliate Junktion is a scam.

Later I found out that if you want to bring people to your affiliate site then there is something you absolutely must buy: A keyword tool. Without a keyword tool your online advertising would be like driving without a steering wheel. It simply is a must.

The reality is that by spending an hour a day for weeks I managed to get Affiliate Junktion to payout about €10 a day. Then I bought keyword elite and overnight (literally) my income went from €10 to €110 and it really only took me a few minutes to create top notch keywords.

Without going on and on over the same point, if you can't yet afford Keyword Elite, then use the google keyword tool to get yourself going and then as soon as you can get Keyword Elite, it really is worth the money.

One last little note, you can use all the money you save when you lower the bid amount using a keyword list created by Keyword Elite to pay for Keyword Elite (over and over). If you want to make money online with Affiliate Marketing, Keyword Elite is a must.

Opps, I accidentally started making money online

<<<<< EDIT: my latest blog on this subject is here - it is far more up to date >>>>>>

We'll it just crept up on me over the last few months.

Almost by accident, I started making money online with affiliate marketing.

The Affiliate program I started a few months ago (and the one I failed miserably with in the beginning) just started to make money for me.

Almost overnight, my account started to fill up, first with €10 a day and then a bit more and then more....

After being inspired, I purchase this keyword tool and a day later my income turned into over €100 a day. I so hope this is real, I don't want more, I just want it to be true. I'm still not so sure it is real, I had dreamed making money could be this easy, but could it really be possible? will it last? I don't really know the answer to these questions yet (I'm not due to be paid until about 16.07.08).

I'm so scared right now, I really hope its true and that it just carries on the way its going.

For those interested this is the affiliate program I'm using. Please note the following:
The information is free (as is a money making website), but you will have to pay to use their chosen web host. You will also almost definitely need to splash out and buy this keyword tool to make it work (best thing I ever did).

In the meantime, I don't know what to feel. I have such mixed emotions. The next month of waiting for my first payment will be excruciating, I'll continue to blog my thoughts, feeling and successes (or failures) here. Take a look at some of my old post to see the rocky road to riches i have experienced with Affiliate Junktion, then get the free information to see if its right for you.

Affiliate Junktion Scam test Re-loaded

<<<<< EDIT: my latest blog on Affiliate Junktion is here - You can find more up to date inforamtion on Affiliate Junktion here.>>>>>>

Welcome to the definitive blog on weather or not Affiliate Junktion is a scam. When people look for “Affiliate Junktion Scam” many people find my blog because it tells my own real story which didn't start off that well.

I suggest if you really want to know if Affiliate Junktion is a scam, you read this whole post as it is a culmination of my entire experience so far with Affiliate Junktion and weather or not Affiliate Junktion is a scam. During this post I will answer the most common Affiliate Junktion related questions.

The most important thing people want to know is not “is Affiliate Junktion a scam?” it is actually “is Affiliate Junktion going to steal from me, cheat me, sell my email address or worse”. The answer is no. They really do offer you free information on their money making program. So then you want to know “wheres the catch?”, there is no catch, but yes you will need to spend some money (very little, which you will get back). To understand it all go and visit omnis (it used to be ipwer). They offer good value web hosting. It's this hosting service that you will need to run Affiliate Junktions free website and use the Affiliate Junktion system.

You will also then need to generate traffic to bring to your promotional website, this can be done with online advertising rather cheaply. The downside is, it will take a month of advertising to bring in daily clicks before they pay you. In the mean time you have to bear the cost and the risk. You don't have to, but to really make Affiliate Junktion work, you should bite the bullet and splash out for a proper keyword tool. This tool turned my Affiliate Junktion income from €10 a day to €80 (and counting) - well worth it.

The good thing is you after you signup for the free Affiliate Junktion information you are under no pressurer to take part. I recommend you check out omnis and also get the free Affiliate Junktion information here (opens in new tab). One thing I can guarantee you, is that you can do all of this without obligation/risk. I always recommend researching anything before you get into it, so take a look at all the information that Affiliate Junktion gives you. By joining up (it's safe) you can see what they offer and decide for yourself if you want to take part.

Also check my other Affiliate Junktion blogs. Here is a post purely as a directory of my Affiliate Junction posts. When I first stared the program I made a loss, and didn't really understand Affiliate Junktion, but I managed to turn that around (now I'm making about €100 a day with affiliate Junktion - proof here). DO read what I've written to see if its the right program for you, but also get the free info from Affiliate Junktion (click here) it will help you understand more.

I am doing my absolute best with this blog to provide you with independent accurate information on Affiliate Junktion, so you can decide for yourself if Affiliate Junktion is for you.

Though Affiliate Junktion had not been successful for me at first, I tried again (the third attempt). I did so because I learned two things: That Affiliate Junktion paid out per referral not per conversion (how did I miss that - stupid), which means that people don't have to take part in order for you to get paid. I also learned some more things about advertising with Google adwords to help me make a better Affiliate Junktion campaign.

Lets start by answering the most common questions about Affiliate Junktion.

Q1) Will Affiliate Junktion actually pay me?

A) You can find dozens of websites on the Internet saying “I got paid by Affiliate Junktion” but most people say that from the time they join up thinking they need to do so to create interest in the Affiliate Junktion program (or at least to show Affiliate Junktion isn't a scam to help entice people). Often people will out and out lie thinkin it might help them make money with Affiliate Junktion, me, I don't care. Take a look at my Affiliate Junktion payment proof and if you feel you want to get monthly cheques in the mail like me then click here and take a look. You decide.

Q2) How do I know if Affiliate Junktion isn't going to use my credit card and steal my money.

A) Because Affiliate Junktion never asks for your credit card number, nor does Affiliate Junktion ever ask for any payment from you whatsoever. The information they give you really is totally free.

Q3) Is Affiliate Junktion legitimate?

A) Affiliate Junktion is legitimate in the sense that it does not try to defraud you of money. I have debunked (explained) Affiliate Junction in this post. It's easy to see how it works simply with the information Affiliate Junktion gives you.

Q4) If the information is free how does Affiliate Junktion make money? (Affiliate Junktion is trying to make money isn't it?)

A) It's easy to see how Affiliate Junktion makes it's money. Affiliate Junktion gets a commission from either omnis or ipower. Once you receive you free information the process is explained. You can check it all out here.

Q5) Does Affiliate Junktion really pay the $75 joining bonus?

A) Yes, the $75 joining bonus has been in my Affiliate Junktion account from day one. Please note that is NZ$75, you can check daily currency conversions here.

Q6) Why should we trust what you say about Affiliate Junktion?

A) Just because something is written doesn't mean it is true, (the same goes for the newspapers). You have to decide yourself how honest my explanation of Affiliate Junction is. You can see this blog is about other things of interest too me, and that my experiences with Affiliate Junction aren't all happy ones (I din't work it out in the beginning, - all these post still exist in Nov/Dec 2007). Also seven months has past since I joined Affiliate Junktion so I'm happy that one can see how genuine it is.

Q7) Whats does “ Affiliate Junktion pays out per referral not per conversion” mean?

A) It means Affiliate Junktion pays you NZ$2 every time somebody makes an enquirery , people don't have to join for you to get paid a commission (unlike other Affiliate programs).

Now lets talk about my new experiences with Affiliate Junktion as of late.

Since learning a bit more about Affiliate Junktion and advertising with Google Adsense I decided to give Affiliate Junktion another shot.

I started a new advertising campaign for Affiliate Junktion and here are the results:

1st month = €10 per day profit

2nd month = €110 per day profit (the change is solely because of this tool)

The two most important things are:

Months of successful activity with Affiliate Junktion - 3 --- Daily (yes daily) income currently €110

My income increase came from the use of this keyword tool.

Affiliate Junktion is now making me a decent profit. One can't help wondering how much my negative comments in the past have an affect on my own current Affiliate Junktion campaign. I took my wifes advice and decided to keep everything truthful and not inflate or exaggerate my results to try and improve them. In other words, I'm not going to falsify my experience to make it attractive for others interested in Affiliate Junktion.

Affiliate Junktion Summary (so far):

I can't say if Affiliate Junktion will work for all. It's not a scam in the sense it's not trying to steal from you, but you may not be able to get it working right straight away (I couldn't until I discovered this). If you are prepared to spend a little time learning abou how to get it working or if you have other sources of Internet traffic you can direct to the Affiliate Junktion program, than Affiliate Junktion might just be what you are looking for. One thing is absolutely sure, it cost you nothing to find out about it, I wholeheartedly encourage you to empower yourself with the information to help you make an informed decision and you can get the best information on Affiliate Junkiton from the source (here).

Aftermath of an online 'opportunity ' experiment (Affiliate Junktion, one month later).

I recently found myself interested in an online affiliate marketing opportunity called Affiliate Junktion.

<<<<< EDIT: my latest blog on Affiliate Junktion is here - You can find more up to date inforamtion on Affiliate Junktion here.>>>>>>

Deciding I should at least once in my life take the chance to see if they work, (and after confirming to the best of my ability that it was no scam) I decided to give it a go.

What convinced me were two factors:
1) An immediate $75 signing bonus
2) A guarantee (something like, if your not earning $150 a day, in three weeks, they would pay the $150 per day until you were)

So finally I gave in and decided to give it a whirl (feel free to read my previous blog entries on this topic after finishing this one)

The first thing worth noting at this stage is that all Affiliate Junktion payouts are in New Zealand Dollars (where Affiliate Junktion operates). So while you pay US$90+ to get you web hosting, Affiliate Junktion will theoretically refund you only US$57.95 (todays rate). After over a month, my NZ$75 signing refund is still showing in my Affiliate Junktion control panel as "pending".

The second thing is the NZ$150 per day guarantee. Over one month later, where is that? I new at sign up that Affiliate Junction's terms and conditions have provision to deny anyone this guarantee and make it impossible for people to take legal action against Affiliate Junktion regarding this, so I'm not that surprised. Maybe they bank on people apathy.

After signing up I followed their instructions and advertised the site they had given me. What I learnt over this time was:
1) Costs of getting traffic to Affiliate Junktion are far higher than Affiliate Junktion states. This is mainly because people followed the links to my site and never clicked through to Affiliate Junktion. Probably combine with increased competition for clicks which affiliat programs like theirs help fuel.
2) Conversion rate (when customers take action and become buyers) is not as high as Affiliat Junktion promised.
3) The commission is also in New Zealand dollars.

But I, persevered, Affiliate Junktion emailed me and did help with setting up my google adwords campaign, helping me to lower the click cost and get more traffic. I also realised I could send customers directly to Affiliate Junktion through adwords using my affiliate ID. This is a common practice, it solved the problem of people only clicking on my advertising and not getting through to Affiliate Junktion, so I immediately started to see clicks registering in the Affiliate Junkion control panel. The trouble was customers had not been warmed up (a process copywriters use, using persuasive, emotive language to improve the chances of making a sale) and so conversion rates weren't good.

So what was the end result? I spent €35 (NZ$66.65) to get NZ$16.00 in commission. It was a no brainer, I pulled the plug. ((EDIT, luckily I tried three time and on the last try nailed it. I now make €100 per day with Affiliate Junktion, the most important lesson learned is "if at first you don't succeed...")

I'm sure some people who find thier way to this page still want to believe, as I do, that is is possible, that I could have done something to improve things. Actually I'm sure I could have done better, but how long would it have taken? How much better could I have done? To make a profit I would have needed a conversion more than twenty time higher than I got.

Worth noting, Affiliate Junktion made 8 new sign ups from me. If they only duplicate my experience, then that will become 64 and so on... So its clear then even if their affiliates aren't successfully, than Affiliate Junktion (and google advertising) will be.

I hope this helps people make an informed decision regarding Affiliate Junktion. Maybe some day I workout how to promote the program cheap enough, at the moment, it's beyond me.

What makes Affiliate Junktion (and others like it) tick?

Ever wondered exactly how Affiliate marking programs work? Especially the ones without a product?

In response to reader comments I wanted to continue the theme of affiliate marketing and this time look at how such schemes are constructed.

As an example, it was pretty easy to find out how Affiliate Junktion makes most of its money, by getting a commission from the web hosting company either omnis or ipower. when people sign up to host the web site that the Affiliate company supplies their members. Many of the more techno savvy (my name ain't tekno_boy for nothing) can see that it wouldn't be too hard to construct such a scheme yourself.

Lets take a look at the pieces of the puzzle shall we?

First, any successful Affiliate program will need to get your email address to send you their "important" information. They present you with an 'opt in' form which is attached to an autoresponder (like the one from aweber). In layman's terms they get you to choose to subscribe to emails which they periodically and automatically send. The first of these simply confirms you were the one asking for the information (in case someone else put your email in without your consent).

After you've confirmed that, your affiliate program will send you further instructions.

This is all done automatically through services like (and this is the service Affiliate Junktion uses) aweber's autoresponder service.

After you've joined the Affiliate marketing service's subscription. They will entice you to take some kind of action that generates income for them.

In the case of Affiliate Junktion, they offer a free web site and require you to join a hosting service (ipower) for which they will get a commission. Once you've signed up (and they've confirmed this) they send you a website with an affiliate link which allows Affiliate Junktion (or you Affiliate marketing program of choice) to recognize when visitors arrive at their site through your links. If these visitors sign up, you get a commission.

The system many use (like Affiliate Junktion) is Post Affiliate Pro. Post Affiliate Pro is a php driven affiliate marketing system, allowing your affiliates to track commission sales manage their affiliate accounts. Post Affiliate Pro is not just for money making affiliate schemes like Affiliate Junktion, its also a useful tool for promotion of all sorts of products online.

Those are the basic three ingredients of money making Affiliate programs. Again here is a summary:

• An autoresonder for aweber allows people to “opt-in” to your subscriptions service.

• The first email to all subscribers tells them to sign up at either omnis or ipower and forward thet welcome email for confirmation (the commission rate -at time of writing- at ipower is US$100 per signup).

• Post Affiliate Pro, allows the affiliate web site to track its customer commissions and lets affiliates manage their accounts.

With a little knowledge it seems reasonable that one could use these tools to build a site and “own” the Affiliate program not just join it.

Unfortunately It's not all that easy to do in reality, but for those who are willing to take the time to learn it's definitely not a rocket science.

One such example of this is www.utukan.com which uses those elements to offer people instructions on how to do it themselves. The difference is, they show people how to get the full commission from omnis/ipower and not just a couple of dollars (please also note that Affiliate Junktion advertises all payouts in NZ$ which makes it appear more attractive than it really is). The trade off for them (www.utukan.com), is they can't offer any guarantees or cash back, as they make no further income from those who sign up under their affiliates, nor will they get more money from future customers who sign up from an affiliate. Also because the instructions they offer 'give the game away' they are also a little more complicated and require a bit more time to complete. Affiliate Junktion has a simple system but the payouts are much much smaller.

The people at Affiliate Junktion and the like aren't silly. If you discovery the parts that make up their system and follow their links in order to make such a scheme yourself, they will get a commission on that as well.

Hope that help your understanding of how Affiliate schemes work. I certainly am enjoying the learning exercise and (although I have yet to break even) expect that this knowledge will ultimately serve me well.

The best advice I can offer people is to be very careful, take a look at affiliate marketing's programs, but don't be too quick to sign on the dotted line. Always be skeptical an do your research, only join when your sure you've gotten good independent advice and understand not only how you will make money, but also how the Affiliate marketing program makes money from you.

More on Affiliate Junktion...

<<<<< EDIT: my latest blog on Affiliate Junktion is here - You can find more up to date information on Affiliate Junktion here.>>>>>>

One of the things to watch, is that because they are in New Zealand, all payouts are in NZ$. If you check out www.ipower.com you will see they are making $100US per sign up. Not only that but a recent email to me suggested their lowest payout rate is NZ$1.50 (US$1.15). (At time of writing, I thought Affiliate Junktion paid per conversion, they don't, Affiliate Junktion pays per lead. Only Affiliate Junktion themselves know how many leads end up signing up)

If you put that together with the increase in people using keywords like "make money" through Yahoo or Google adwords resulting in a hight cost per click, its easy to see there is plenty of money for them, hardly any for you. (since writing that I have got my cost per click down to €0.03 for Affiliate Junktion ads)

Really the only ones making the money are Affiliate Junktion (maybe Affiliate Junktion isn't making money, see my latest Affiliate Junktion blog here) .

Maybe the occasional member who's experienced with online advertising is lucky enough to target his/her Affiliate Junktion ads effectively and cheaply, but for every member who does, there are no doubt plenty who signup and go nowhere. (that may still be true, but I suggest you get the free information here and then decide for yourself if Affiliate Junktion will work for you)

Day three. Affiliate Junkion, scam or truth a real test.

<<<<< EDIT: my latest blog on Affiliate Junktion is here - You can find more up to date information on Affiliate Junktion here.>>>>>>


After finding out that Affiliate Junction was a legitimate endeavor (see my other posts) I evaluated it as A kind of multilevel marketing program with relatively low payouts (mainly benefiting those running the affiliate program).

I the past day I have considered what it would take to run such a program oneself and its a bit more involved than you think. Maybe the fact that this is a real program, well thought out and simply executed (with importantly easy to follow step) could be of use to some.

To be fair, I decided to say that if your not really comfortable with making your own affiliate related site with content and advertising (possibly including customer log ins, keeping track of income and providing members with reports) than maybe I shouldn't be so harsh.

While I openly admit I personally am exploring other avenues, if your not so web savvy and want to give it a go (knowing that although you might get money from it, the person really makes the mega bucks is the one who brought the program to fruition), then I can say, at the very least you will end up with some very good web hosting for your money.

A comment made on one of my posts made me think that some people just want to make sure its not scam and are keen to give it a go. I can vouch for that at least. Maybe you'll get something more than you pay back, only time will tell. I genuinely think that the system is well executed and if you can't do it yourself, then Affiliate Junktion might be as good as any you'll come across.

Ironicaly I must be making some admission that the Affiliate Junction program has some merit because I'm about to post the link.

If you don't feel you've got what it takes to do better and were just looking make sure you wouldn't be scammed so you can go ahead, then here's the link. Please remember just one thing, most multilevel marketing programs (which parallel Affiliate Junktion) are not much more then pyramid schemes using products to stop the pyramid from collapsing. When the market gets saturated, then it might be hard to get the returns advertised.

Be informed and then make your own decision.
Affiliate Junktion

Day two. Affiliate Junkion, scam or truth a real test.

<<<<< EDIT: my latest blog on Affiliate Junktion is here - You can find more up to date information on Affiliate Junktion here.>>>>>>

This morning (about 12 hours after signing up) I received a conformation email from Affiliate Junktion saying my membership had been approved and to login to the control panel at Affiliate Junktion, a link was provided.

As yet, I have been unable to view this page. I simply get the error:
The server at www.affiliatejunktion.com is taking too long to respond.
Could it be that the Affiliate Junction program is really popular, or something more sinister? We shall see.

I have been trying now for about half an hour, I'll keep you posted.

After another hour the page came up, must just have been some kind of server problems (maybe unexpectedly large traffic).

Heres a screen shot of the control panel ((Edit Affiliate Junktion now uses a slightly different system)):

The getting started page in the Affiliate Junktion control panel tells you to download and install winzip (for those who don't have it), download you free websites a search and replace tool and free ftp software. Pretty obvious stuff. You meant to upload the site you received to you new domain (which you paid for) after replacing the appropriate referral links with your own.

It then simply goes on to explain how to market your new affiliate website using Yahoo and Google Adwords. Nothing here alot of us don't already know.

If you going to advertise a site, then why not make a nice site with information and some good affiliate links (perhaps including the joining the ipower affiliate scheme that Affiliate Junktion uses), this way you'd make a higher return on your investment ((Edit: Boy was I wrong)).

Conclusion:
Athough Affiliate Junktion is not a scam, don't expect to make any money from it ((Edit: Did I say that??? I'm now making over €100 per day!)). (read my post about my personal Affiliate Junktion experience) Affiliate Junktion is more or less a web base multi level marketing system using web hosting membership to give the bottom level something for the money they lose.

Also although you can join Affiliate Junction for free you are going to have to spend real money (first with web hosting and then with advertising through Yahoo and Google) and at $2,00 per sign up the only one who is going to make real money is the owner of Affiliate Junktion. ((Edit: again, boy was I WRONG!))

For a complete novice who can't get it together themselves I guess some money is better than none and you may be assured to know that Affiliate Junktion is not going to rip you off. You may just end up spending quite a bit for uncertain returns.

I for one will spend my advertising dollars on bringing people to more lucrative (for me) Affiliate programs than the one offered by Affiliate Junktion. I'm no longer just weary of scams, now I'll watch out for scam-like schemes similar to Affiliate Junktion.

I'll keep you posted to see if I get my $75 back!! -[edit] as of almost three months later, the $75 is still "pending" (not yet "approved"). ((EDIT: Yes, I got it back, here's my Affiliate Junktion payment proof)

Affiliate Junkion, scam or truth. A real test - day one.

<<<<< EDIT: my latest blog on Affiliate Junktion is here - You can find more up to date information on Affiliate Junktion here.>>>>>>

There are allot of Affiliate programs these days, and most good bloggers are affiliate savvy as are readers. I decide to take the plunge and check out one thats surfaced recently.

The site is Affiliate Junktion. Affiliate Junktion reads too good to be true. It guarantees to make you $150 a day, free to join and free website. We all know that affiliate plans can never 'guarantee' anything. In an effort to find out if Affiliate Junktion is a fraud, I did a bit of research:

I found (from forums/blogs) that after you join with Affiliate Junktion, sure you might get a free website (more on that later), but you have to host it with the service provider in their scheme. For that you have to pay for a years hosting, anything from US$5 to $10 a month (depending on time of year specials - currently only $4.95). Thats US$60-$100. So much for free (although the do promise to re-reimburse you $75 to cover that)

Looking at the site it appears to be New Zealand based. A quick whois check show Affiliate Junktion is hosted by bluehost.com in the US but (care of their domain privacy). OK so its hosted in the US that doesn't tell us anything. I had a look at the affiliate program at bluehost.com and they pay out $65.00 per signup to affiliates. That looks like where Affiliate Junktion is making their money.

So I thought lets see what happen when I sign up and registered my details. I immediately received an instruction email showing that I would have to sign up at ipower.com. Something smelt rather fishy. Why host with bluehost.com and direct people to ipower.com to sign up? So I check out their site, seams legit and a quick look at their affiliate program might hold a clue as to how Affiliate Junktion makes money. ipower.com pays out US$100 per sign up, enough to cover the promised $75 reimbursement and $2 sign up fee Affiliate Junktion pays its members (as I understand it).

About the guarantee to make $150 a day, we'll I check out Affiliate Junktions terms and conditions and it has a waiver that basically says that Affiliate Junktion is not liable for the validity or truth in the content of its site. That way Affiliate Junktion can guarantee and promise all they like it doesn't mean anything. You should know that.

I decided to carry on with the sign up. Hey I could use a years hosting even if the Affiliate Junktion turned out to be a scheme.

Therein I think lies the secret. Affiliate Junktion gets you to sign up for web hosting. This is how it avoids being a pyramid scheme, because at the bottom level there is someone getting a product, and one that most people who are likely to come across Affiliate Junktion (those searching for affiliate schemes) can use.

There are other schemes like that. They are called multi-level marketing. Basically a pyramid scheme which make sure the bottom level never 'breaks down' leaving people with nothing to show for thier money, by providing a product or service. They then encourage their members to duplicate the process and find more members. They even have a name for it, it's called "the cycle of duplication".

Whatever the outcome, I've paid my money to Affiliate Junktion so time will tell if they suckered me. If it is real, ones things for sure, Affiliate Junktion is set to make a bundle and at some stage there will be allot of people saying "I've got my hosting, now what?"

The last thing I did today ways to send my sign up proof to Affiliate Junktion. They are supposed to respond and upload the 'magical' website which will make me $150 per day to my host account. In any case I'll post tomorrow with more... if your thinking about joining Affiliate Junktion, maybe hold off a few days, we'll soon see if Affiliate Junktion is truth or fraud.