So I’ve probably spent over $1,000 during the last three months purchasing domains names, hosting, eBooks, and teaching videos. I’ve really been trying to absorb as much information as I can about affiliate marketing, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), internet marketing, monetizing your blog, and pretty much anything that has to do with building websites and making money online. On one particular website, I ran into a product called The Black Ink Project.

Now, before you see this as a sales pitch, I’m not going to be providing any links in this entire article. So I’m not trying to sell you anything. I’m not affiliated with the product, and you will see no affiliate links here. So read this knowing that I’m not trying to sell you anything. As I said, I’ve spent a lot of money on different things over the last three months. When I find something that was actually worth paying for, I figure I’ll share it with everyone else.

The Black Ink Project is a course comprised of 15 hands-on training sessions. They deal with a variety of topics including, but not limited to: How to Test Your Niche, Develop A Successful Business Plan, Content Planning, Creating a Site Blueprint, Professional Web Design, How to Design an Attractive Site, Building a Professional Site, Installing a WordPress Blog, Customizing a WordPress Blog, Outsourcing Web Projects, Finding Profitable Keywords, Setting Up and Optimizing Pay Per Click Campaigns, How to Build High Converting Landing Pages, and Tracking Your Success.

Each of the training sessions comes in Windows Media Files, Movie Files for Apple, or an iPod download. There are also written portions that go with many of the lessons. And, you receive a copy of PPC Classroom 1.0 and access to The Black Ink Project forums where users discuss the training.

The first video I watched, I honestly was a little bit disappointed that I had bought the program. The video was well done and easy to follow, but honestly a lot of the information that was presented was stuff I had already read or experienced. There were a few tidbits that were new to me, but honestly I was feeling like I had wasted my money.

Then I watched the second video. Okay, I was significantly more impressed. The teacher, Jeremy Palmer, not only knew a little about the internet, but he obviously had some business skills as well. I felt like I was back in college going through one of my business classes, only this one was fun and contained stuff I could actually use.

Videos three and four started to really blow me away. A lot of the information was stuff I had never run into. I started having to turn the video back a few minutes every once in a while just so I could reabsorb some of the information. By this time I was not only sold on the methods I was being taught, but I was eagerly waiting to try all of the different things I had learned.

Currently I just finished the seventh video in the series of fifteen. Jeremy Palmer is getting even more into depth with his strategies on how to make money online. He is attacking it from a very professional, business-oriented way. His style should work for people who are very computer savvy, but not business savvy. And also for people who are very business savvy, but not computer savvy. He approaches it from both directions so anyone can benefit.

If you’re interested in a very good video series about how to make money online, I recommend checking out The Black Ink Project. Like I said, I’m not affiliate marketing it. Just go Google it if you’re interested and you’ll find it. The whole project is about $97, which turns out to be about $7 - $8 per lesson, which is pretty darn reasonable considering the content.

I highly recommend this program if you are a beginner level or even intermediate level internet marketer. I’ve gotten halfway through the course in about a day and what I’ve learned has been phenomenal. I encourage you to research what other people are saying about it on the internet, and if it seems interesting to you go buy it. I believe you will be happy with the purchase, I am.

We’ll start with the bad news. The bad news is that I was denied by my second affiliate program, Google Ads. They sent a generic denial letter within twenty four hours of my application. So I don’t really know why I was denied from them, as I never received a phone call and their e-mail doesn’t really give you any specific answers.

Then the good news, I was accepted by Market Leverage and Pepperjam Network. First off, Market Leverage called me over the phone. I talked with one of their staff (I think Mark) who was extremely professional. He asked me a few questions about my experiences with affiliate marketing, what other companies I work with, what my methods were for marketing, and then verified some information. After a few minutes of talking, he told me over the phone that I was accepted and I had the e-mail waiting when I got home. I received a phone call from my Affiliate Manager today, but was unable to call her back yet because I received the message late.

I’ve looked at some of Market Leverage’s offers, and I’m very impressed. Their payouts are very good and they have a good amount and variety. I signed up under Tyler Cruz so I’ll be able to participate in his Market Leverage contests down the road when I really get into affiliate marketing.

As I stated, I was also accepted by the Pepperjam Network. After applying via e-mail, I actually just received an acceptance e-mail within twenty four hours of the application. I checked out some of their offers, and Pepperjam Network is set up very differently than Amped Media or Market Leverage. I am very impressed at the variety of companies they work with. I actually found two companies that I can market on my roleplaying blog, which is freakin’ awesome. It has been very difficult for me to really monetize that blog but with Pepperjam Network I think I will be able to.

Now that I have Amped Media, Market Leverage, and Pepperjam Network in my affiliate tool belt, I think I’m going to be able to start building some targeted campaigns with everything I have to offer. It is actually a great mix and I can’t wait to get some good campaigns going.

When I woke up today I went to check on my websites and e-mail. I logged in and had a curious e-mail from Amped Media. I had made my first sale!

The sale was from the third campaign that I had created. I had actually created this campaign the night before, and honestly put it together a little more hastily than the first two. I focused a little bit less on perfecting the profit portion of it, and more on just selling the product.

It really helped actually that I had a very broad keyword for this particular campaign. It allowed me to get over 30,000 hits off that one keyword, of which I received quite a bit more clicks than my other two campaigns. Of those two clicks, one actually converted into a sale.

So, I took away a few things from this experience:

- Large amounts of traffic is key
- Use more keywords, some broad and some targeted
- More testing
- More campaigns

It feels good that less than a week after I was rejected by one affiliate program, I made my first affiliate sale in another program. Persistence…

Wow, what a first day in affiliate marketing. What a ton of information to absorb and put into action. I spent probably over eight hours today reading articles related to affiliate marketing, offers from my affiliate programs, and advertising options. My number one problem that I ran into was not one I expected to – an ethical dilemma.

I will say this; it honestly was a little difficult just to choose a particular product to market. There were a few products that I picked out initially. Upon researching them, I found them to be less than reputable products. That really disheartened me, as I personally have an ethical issue with pushing a garbage product. So I searched, and searched, and eventually found a good product, with solid potential, that I personally would buy and recommend to anyone. I also had a lot of keyword ideas for this particular product too, so it actually was an easy item for me to build my first campaign for.

I went ahead and deposited some money with Google AdWords and created my campaign. It took a few hours to pour through the different research words and get the campaign setup. I learned a ton just from trial and error on what I could do and couldn’t do. I didn’t realize there were so many restrictions on how you could advertise from your affiliate network and the network you advertise on. Hopefully, I didn’t violate any rules with my campaign.

I’m looking forward to how the campaign goes over the next week. I will post what happens with the campaign, good or bad!

My entrance into affiliate marketing was marked first by rejection and then acceptance. After my rejection from Neverblue, I had also applied to Amped Media and Clickbooth. I received an e-mail from Clickbooth the following day stating that I had been accepted as a network publisher. I did not talk to anyone; I simply applied online and received an approval e-mail several hours later. So that was easy enough.

I also applied with Amped Media last week in order to participate in the Inspired Affiliate Marketing Challenge #2. They immediately called me back the next day, but because of my strange work schedule I was unable to get a hold of them until today. I talked to Edward over the phone and was very impressed. He was very courteous and respectful of the fact that I am a new affiliate with not a lot of knowledge but a bunch of questions. After talking with him, he told me over the phone that I was approved for the program.

I really like my interaction with Amped Media so far. I’ve viewed some of the offers and tools they have at their website an honestly, I can’t wait to dive in. I haven’t talked to my assigned affiliate manager yet, but hopefully in the next day or two I will be able to get a lot of my questions answered.