New Monthly Net Income Record: $23,349.91
February 3, 2013 Posted by Tyler CruzIt is now February and so I thought I’d provide you guys with an income report on how my affiliate marketing campaigns fared during the first month of the year.
My last monthly income report on my campaigns was posted 2 months ago, for the month of November 2012, in which I ended up generating a net profit of $11,027.09. I didn’t mention it in that post, and I’m not sure if it’s correct or not, but I believe that was my best net profit month for affiliate marketing to date. If not the best, then definitely one of the best.
Due to posting so frequently with other posts lately (enjoying that?), I actually never posted an income report on my campaigns for December, although I did do a recap of the month.
However, I just finished calculating the totals for December (always a pain in the ass), and it ended up netting a profit of only $5,388.43, at an ROI of 20%.
December was bad for a number of reasons, as I explained in the link above, such as it being the end of the year and all the big brand advertisers trying to fill their quotas and allocated advertising budgets, as well as my trying a bunch of new traffic sources and campaigns.
Nevertheless, since I now consider $5,000/month net profit from my campaigns to be a bad month, I think that is actually a good thing. 2 years ago I would have been ecstatic with that.
The Results: January 2013
January was a fantastic month for me, and it really only started to skyrocket during the 2nd half of the month, which bodes well for February.
I ended up setting 5 new personal records: 3 new daily gross records, and 2 new daily net profit records.
I’ve really grown tremendously over the past year. To put it into perspective, one year ago, in January 2012, my total gross for the month was only $2,817.45.
Fast forward 1 year and…
January 2013 Affiliate Campaign Income:
$74,277.30
Ka-pow! It ended up being my 2nd highest grossing month to date. The highest was back in July 2012 which brought in $75,577.
So, I was just $1,300 away from hitting a new monthly gross record… d’oh!
But that is gross. I had to pay for traffic, of course, which came out to:
Expenses:
$50,927.39
While it sounds like a lot, I actually spent $70,000 during July.
This is one record I’m not aiming in breaking 
Net Profit:
$23,349.91
Now that is definitely a new monthly net profit record for me.
That works out to a monthly ROI of 46%.
It also average out to $753 net profit per day.
February Predictions and the Future
As I’ve mentioned on my blog before, one of the main reasons I got into affiliate marketing in the first place was from seeing super affiliates post screenshots of their stats, earning $100,000 and up per month.
It would therefore be very rewarding if I could finally reach the 6-figure month. A type of validation, if you will. Even though it’d be gross numbers, it’s still a good indicator of how perseverance can pay off, and besides, those screenshots were all gross numbers too!
Now, being that it’s February, I have that working against me since it only has 28 days. That being said, I’m still currently on pace to comfortably hit that 6-figure month milestone despite the month being a couple days short.
However, affiliate marketing being as volatile as it is, I could just as easily struggle to make $25,000 let alone $100,000 for who knows what reason. After all, I only did around $33,000 in December.
Then again, February has so far, been rather extraordinary. You’ll hear about it in another 48 hours when I do my next blog post
I’ve scaled my current campaigns as far as I can really take them though. I’m still doing a tiny bit of adjustments here and there, and really trying to peak the maximum amount of net profit from them as I can, but I’m probably at about 90% of what they can get up to.
So, that’s actually bad news, because it means that I’ve hit a ceiling. There’s a new campaign that I’m going to be launching (I already started doing some basic research on it and wrote out a ‘todo’ list for it) over the next day or three, and I really want it to work because it’ll give me another boost in my income and hopefully help me average the $10,000 day.
Dr. Ngo and Richard Bonner, two affiliates who both eclipse me and make me look pitiful, have both told me to "make it work". That basically, I shouldn’t give up on a campaign until I make it profitable, and that virtually any campaign can be turned profitable if you just stick with it long enough.
I’m going to take that mentality with me on this next campaign. It will be hard for me though, as I really do give up on a campaign quite easily. If it shows no immediate potential with horrible ROI’s after several angles, I’ll ditch it. So, this will be a good experiment for me to see how long I can stick with a losing campaign. I just hope I’m not flushing good money down the toilet!
One upside is that I know this offer is working. My affiliate manager told me that several guys are doing well with it on Facebook, and so I know that it IS doable, I just have to figure out how. The downside is that I have already tried this on Facebook several times now, with extremely poor results…
I think I just need to suck it up and sit down and work hard on it.
Anyhow, here’s hoping that I’m writing about breaking this new monthly net profit record in the not-too-distant future.
A Beginner’s Introduction to Affiliate Marketing
February 1, 2013 Posted by Tyler CruzSince I’ve been doing better in affiliate marketing lately, I’ve been getting a lot of comments, e-mails, and tweets from readers asking for information on how they can learn about affiliate marketing and get started.
And so last night I recorded a 30-minute screencast video which does exactly this. I had to do a lot of preparation before recording, and actually ended up re-recording a new video after starting over halfway through my first take, as there is so much to cover and keep track of.
I’m happy with how it came out though – I think it’s a really good reference for people who want to get started in affiliate marketing, but really don’t know where to start or how it works. I’ll definitely be linking to and referencing this video for years to come whenever somebody asks me how they can get started.
Below is the screencast video. You may want to watch in HD and view full-screen:
(Note: You may need to visit the post directly at TylerCruz.com if you’re reading this via e-mail or RSS in order to see it.)
Links and References
Below are the links referenced in the video (yes, most of them are my referral links):
Affiliate Networks:
- PeerFly
- Clickbooth
Traffic Networks:
Tracking Software:
- CPVLab (Paid, but highly recommended)
- Tracking202 (Free, good if you’re on a tight budget)
Affiliate Marketing Blogs and Forums:
- Affposts (Not referenced in the video, but a good aggregator of affiliate marketing blogs)
- IMGrind
New Affiliate Marketing Record: $5,915 in 1 Day!
January 29, 2013 Posted by Tyler CruzIt was just 48 hours ago when I announced that I had set another new personal record on my affiliate marketing campaigns by bringing in a total of $5,800 in one day.
It was a big increase over my previous record, made just 5 days prior, and it was also a big increase over my previous daily net profit record as well.
And so, I’ve been cringing having to publish this post, as it will be my 3rd "new record" post in a row. It almost seems fake, and while it’s great news for me personally, it doesn’t really provide much in the way of actual information for you guys.
Anyhow, 2 days ago, on January 27th, 2013, I set yet another record on my affiliate campaigns by bringing in a total of:
$5,915 for the day!
While not as big of an increase over my previous record as last time, it’s still an increase of $115.
$11,719 in 48 Hours
During the two days from January 26th, 2013 to January 27th, 2013, my campaigns brought in a total of $11,719.
During the 9-day span from January 19th, 2013 to January 27th, my campaigns brought in a total of $34,697.
Another New Daily Net Profit Record!
Not only did I set another new daily gross record, but I also set a new daily net profit record as well!
My previous daily net profit record was $2,383.09, made just 3 days ago.
My new daily net profit record, set on January 27th, 2013, came out to:
$2,883.89 for the day!
That’s an increase of almost exactly $500! Crazy.
The ROI was very substantial as well, ending up at 95%.
What an insane day.
The Bad News
And now, the bad news.
Being the never-ending rollercoaster ride that affiliate marketing is, I was hit with some bad news yesterday evening.
I don’t want to get into the details of it, but basically I’m going to be taking a hit on my current top converting campaigns. To give an idea of how much of a hit it will be, if you assume that February performs the same as all of January did (with no increase), then I’ll be out around $4,600.
Considering the numbers I’ve been pushing lately, this actually is not crippling or anything, but it is a hit. I’d compare it along the lines of taking a good blow to the stomach as opposed to a knock-out hit.
However, there’s more bad news. Today, so far, has been doing extremely poorly. It’s only 9:07am as I write this, but I don’t like what I’m seeing.
Hopefully things turn around and the day finishes well and this turns out to be nothing, but I’m a little apprehensive.
It’s one of the downfalls of constantly checking your stats – you waste your time and energy on stuff like this. However, on campaigns that you’re trying to scale, and with growing volume like what I’m starting to push now, I still think it’s wise to keep a close eye on how your campaigns are doing.
Lastly, I launched some new campaigns last night with less-than-stellar results. There’s so much I need to work on and test, but I only have so much time.
No New Record For a Long Time
While my last 3 posts have all been about setting new records, I’m pretty confident that you won’t see a new one from me for quite a while. If I had to guess, I’d say at least 2-3 months, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it took an entire year.
Hopefully I’m wrong, but it’s not exactly easy to hit these numbers.
That being said, I’m going to definitely try my best to hit a new record daily high. If I work hard enough, I know I can do it. It’s just a matter of focus and desire.
New Affiliate Marketing Record: $5,800 in 1 Day!
January 27, 2013 Posted by Tyler CruzIf you read my blog post yesterday, you’ll know that I set a new personal record on my affiliate marketing campaigns by bringing in $4,120 in a single day.
At the end of the post, the very last paragraph finished with:
"Now the question is, when will I break that record? It took 7-months to break my previous one, but I’m hoping it won’t take that long to break this one. I’m thinking that I might break it within 2 months, but we’ll have to wait and see."
Well, it turns out that it only took 5 days, as yesterday I completely SMASHED my previous record by bringing in a total of:
$5,800 for the day!
Unbelievable.
The Nosebleed
Yesterday morning, my campaigns were doing well and I worked on them for a few hours before taking a gaming and TV break (I just started watching The Wire for the first time… currently on S01E06).
I was then ready for a nap, so I went to bed and had my 2-hour nap. When I woke up, as I started to get up, a giant clot of blood exploded out of my left nostril and right onto my nice brand new white duvet. I couldn’t believe how much blood came out.
I was pretty upset as the duvet was only a month old and was really helping me to sleep. Anyhow, I worked the stain and put it in the washer and went to my office to get back to work. The first thing I did was refresh my stats, and during the 2 hours that I had been napping, my campaigns had generated another $1,500.
Wow, what a shock!
Needless to say, I was then refreshing my stats even more often than usual in the hopes that I would set a new record.
I Made $10,000 During the Past 48 Hours
Over the past 2 days, my campaigns generated a total of $9,740, just shy of $10,000.
Crazy.
Over the past 8 days, they generated $28,780, which works out to an average of $3,597 per day.
Assuming that average remains the same during the next month, in February I will hit the 6-figure mark, bringing in $100,000 – and February only has 28 days!
3-4 years ago, when I used to read about super affiliates pushing $100,000 a month, I would look at those screenshots in envy and complete awe. It was always a dream to one day get to that level, even though it seemed impossible.
And now, I’m right on the cusp of getting there next month.
We’ll have to see what happens. As you well know by now, this industry is one long roller-coaster ride and my campaigns could all tank at any second, so I’m taking things one day at a time.
New Daily Net Profit Record!
Not only did I set a new daily gross record, but I also set a new daily net profit record!
My previous daily net profit record was $1,778.56, made 7 months ago back on June_8th, 2012.
My new daily net profit record, set yesterday, came out to:
$2,383.09 for the day!
That’s an increase of $600! Awesome.
The ROI worked out to 70%.
If I wanted to be completely unreasonable and jump the gun and assume I averaged that for an entire year, that would work out to $870,000 net profit per year.
But again, my campaigns could just as easily flop tomorrow 
Inspirational Shifts
While I still have yet to hit $100,000 in a single month, I am close to getting there.
The interesting thing is, things have kind of shifted in terms of inspiration and motivation.
It used to be that the $100,000/month milestone was the carrot-on-a-stick for me, but now the big affiliates are taking that to another level and actually doing that per day. PER DAY. $100,000 per day.
I repeat, $100,000 per day. Even if "only" $20,000 of that is profit, we’re still talking about $600,000 a month profit here. 7.2 million a year.
As I reach the upper echelons of the 5-figure month and get ever nearer the 100K milestone, my new inspiration and motivation is to start pushing 5 figures per day.
I already have it in my sights to start pushing $10,000 per day.
If I work hard and with a bit of luck (a lot of luck would be even better), I think I can get there.
Now, with all that being said, watch all my campaigns die tomorrow and have me go broke
