Never giving up attitude can take people places. This is the story of our Affiliate of the Month for April. The award goes to Carnation! Congratulations and very well done. MN Team is extremely proud of you.
Carnation got our attention by constantly being motivated, ready to follow suggestions and give some of his own, along with consistently performing well past few months. Last month he has seen great success, making great conversions. His eagerness to learn and improve has been really appreciated by the MN Team. It is highly recommended that you read his inspirational success story. Good Job and enjoy your AOTM prizes
Congratulations, how do you feel about winning AOTM?
It comes as a surprise to me, I didn’t expect it. In fact when I first joined MN, I thought that I want to someday see myself with this prize, but never really believed it would happen. Sales are wonderful, but being recognized for your efforts really matters more than the biggest commission!
I feel great, I feel more motivated than ever. I know that there are no impossible things if you put some efforts into it.
Tell us a little about yourself, where are you from, what’s your background?
I’m 26, from Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Recently I graduated from high school and started a job, so that I’m really busy, both offline and online. I joined MoreNiche about a year ago, looking for job opportunities. I have taxes to pay and I can’t earn enough from my current job position.
I knew that there are guys living entirely from online businesses, but I’ve never thought I could do it too. Anyway, working 2-3 hours a day from home is far better than having a second job. So I joined MN and started to look around.
At the beginning I wasn’t sure if I could handle all this online marketing stuff, everything looked so far from me, difficult and time consuming. The only experience I had with Internet before was to search for information. I was very good at this.
I didn’t rush in it. I’m not such a person. I’m easily distracted and tend to start several things simultaneously. Some form of Attention Deficit Disorder, ha-ha. So I took all the time I needed to read and implement new stuff. At the beginning it was hard, but I kept going.
It took me 5 months to make and launch my first website. I cannot say it was difficult, I just wasn’t working enough, tested too many ideas at the same time, without having one clear idea how I want it to look. However, at the end I just took a template from MN, made some changes, rewrote the content and launched it.
After 2-3 months my first website started to show at search engines and a month or two later - I started selling.
What were the key factors to get you here today?
Honestly, some of the key factors are key persons:
My girlfriend - She is so strict and organised person, enough to counteract on my slow nature.
Paul - his advices are priceless for me. Not just that he showed me some mistakes, but he gave me focus (I suffer from ADD, remember?)
Grand - I have never met or talked to him, but when I joined MN, first I read his AOTM testimonials. His story is inspiration for me and every time I read it, it motivates me.
But all this wouldn’t happen if there was no MN with all the great products, resources and guides that are available.
How long did it take you to make your 1st sale?
My first sale was hard - at the end of January 2009. It took me almost a year to sell something. Soon came the second, and the third…
I’m not sure if the time taken to make my first sale is short or long but I believe it is short. After all I didn’t work so hard before. But definitely it is possible to make your first sale in a month from joining MN, even for a complete newbie.
What products do you promote?
As I work in the health field I feel very comfortable with health supplements, so hence Proactol was the first product I promoted. Now, after UniqueHoodia was launched, it became the main product I promote.
What support have you received from MN?
Everything I asked for! MN support is more than excellent and not to just ask for help, more often it’s my mistake.
We noticed that you have been working one2one with one of our Brand Portfolio Managers? How did that help?
I’m here because of him, although he is too unostentatious to admit it. At first he did quite an honest review of my site, pointing some weak sides, also gave me ideas how to improve it. Since then he is always there to give me new ideas, answer my questions and motivate me.
Thank you, Paul!
Is there anything you could suggest us to improve?
Well, every time I think of something that needs improvement you guys are already working on it!
But there is something I could suggest - why you guys don’t organise a party, where staff and affiliates can meet up and get drunk together? You’d still call it conference, if you are confused on what to explain to your sponsors :).
Come on now, share some of your methods with others, what works for you?
No big secrets here - read the MN guides, if there is something unclear research and then ask (99% someone asked before you). Then make your first website, put it online and start promoting it.
What I use is pure SEO. All the basics are covered in the MN guides, and if one doesn’t have success with affiliate marketing should read them again. But not just read - implement what is written there.
I’m not an uber affiliate, I have no big money earning secrets, no secret weapons here. The only secret I have found is that there is no quick get-rich scheme.
In your opinion, what makes a great affiliate program?
Great products with great support, that gives great resources. MN stuff managed to make the affiliates feel in a community, that is something big. The products are bestsellers, and the promotion materials are more than I have ever seen in any other affiliate community. Not to mention that there added more and more.
Sometimes I look around other affiliate programs for products to promote. I always ask myself “ How could I promote this? What keywords to use? Who will buy it? etc. At MN this very basic questions are answered at the very beginning and for us affiliates. There is only one thing left - to promote it.
What are the most important factors to succeed in affiliate marketing?
There are some qualities you must have or cultivate in yourself. The same will help you succeed no matter what you are doing. Persistency in working, be curious about new stuff, no matter it is your area or not and think what you are doing. Being lazy or afraid to make something will never bring you success.
Another important thing is always try to make things better than they were done before. It is unlikely to achieve this goal, but this attitude can really help, at least it is helpful for me.
Staying focused is another important factor to reach your goals. When trying to do something just keep doing it. Take a time to rest, to think about it, whatever, but don’t start doing something else. It is really to start doing something and end up doing something else.
Many newbie’s generally give up at the very beginning. I never gave up, even at times I thought I’m totally wasting my time. Just took rest and started working again.
Do you have any tips for new affiliates?
Don’t just look around guys, do something. But before you do, carry out a thorough research. I think that half of my success is because I researched carefully the niche, then comes the work and just for taste - little luck.
Whether promoting your website with SEO or PPC, don’t start a campaign without really knowing what you are about to do, what is the competition, what keywords you are targeting? I believe that researching the niche is the most important factor and half the job.
Ok, what are your further plans with affiliate business and MN?
I’m just at the very beginning of affiliate marketing and I have so much more to learn and achieve. My plans for the near future are to improve conversion of my website, then to start a second one. Maybe later I’d expand and try the penis enlargement niche.
What I can say for sure is I’ll keep working until one day I see myself in Top Performers. Then will keep working to stay there for long.