What Works For One, Does Not Necessarily Mean It Will For The Other
OK, the title may not say much, but the idea here is to give you an example (s) of why trial and error, testing, or experimenting with just about everything you want to venture at online, is of utmost importance for you. While this is true in life, the specific objective of this post, is to show you that not everything is black and white when it comes to making money online.
As you well know, there are numerous ways to make money online. From AdSense, to selling your own products or services, selling ad spaces, writing jobs, affiliate marketing, text links, sponsored reviews/tweets, in-text links, in-image ads, etc.. the list can go on.
A recent article from Justin of dragonblogger.com prompted me to write this article as I believe that it is a great “case study” to learn from. Just to let you know, Justin and I have mutual respect for each other and this story is for you to learn, hopefully, something from it.
The Story:
Not so long ago, Justin wrote an article about backlinks.com. I commented on it and mentioned about another network called Intellilinks. Since, he signed up for the network and started to experiment what kind of opportunity he can get from them. Sadly, his experience from them was not so good as he has not received any opps for over 30 days. My experience with Intellilinks is not that good either but I do have a small recurring income from them (for other sites), and actually just got paid.
Read Justin’s recent article about Intelillinks
In the comment section of the same article (about Intellilinks), Suresh mentioned Teliad. Teliad is very similar to Intellilinks as they also, among other things, sell text links to advertisers. Well my experience with Teliad after a year of being with them is absolutely disappointing, zero. Why? Maybe the advertisers base of Teliad appeals more on different topics that mine, or, I just did not give it enough effort. More detailed info about Teliad can be read over at Suresh’s blog.
Following the same comment thread, Tuan of Tek3D mentioned that his experience with Teliad is very good compared to that of Intellilinks ($100 / $0). Note the response from Justin.
Another recent article from Justin, mentions about going PRO on Sponsored Tweets (ST). I was not too convinced about it, because the PRO status is a paid service. Anyway, since it was on trial for $1 for 30 days, and until he told me that he got an offer within the hour of upgrading to PRO, I did not think twice. Excited, I upgraded to PRO and 120 hours later, no opps for me (yet). In contrast and within the same time period, I got three offers from BSA. Will I quit on ST, not quite.. Just updated my “profile”, “tags” and “pricing” to see if that is one of the problems. We’ll see. Trial and error.
So, what does this all mean?
First, a wonderful experience about “sharing” and “learning” from each others personal experience. This is by far one of the most interesting part of this story.
Second, and if you came this far reading this article, I guess you would know that the message I am trying to get across is that, you don’t know, what you don’t know and what works for one, does not have to necessarily work for the other. Just because you read “somewhere” that “someone” was successful on “something”, you will never know how it will work for you unless you take action on it. Justin, regardless of the outcome, decided to take action, he gave it a decent period of time to see how it goes for him, and then drew his own conclusions. What does that tell you? That he is a doer for one, and a bonafide “action man” :).
Lastly, and another interesting thing that could be learned from this case is that this all started with a comment. Also, did you just noticed what happened here? Link Luv for everyone :). So, in case you are still not convinced that “commenting” is powerful for a lot of things, let this be one example for you.
That’s it. Have you had any similar experience like this before. Did you have any startup ideas that you took action upon? When you say that “you will”, does that actually translate into taking action? I would love to know what you draw from this.
Jane | Find All Answers
OK DiTesco you got me. This is a wonderful share; not just the content of the post but the message(s) you are trying to get across. Simply wonderful.
I know life is all about trial and error and making money is no exception. I am going to check out the opportunities you have listed here. Well it is so wonderful that we take lead, take action, learn, share and grow together as bloggers. That feels so great to be in the community.
Kudos to you, Justin, Suresh and Tuan.
Cheers,
Jane.
Thanks Jane. And it is indeed wonderful that once in a while we are able to share “other people’s experiences”. Being a doer is what matters as this is the only way we can figure out how things can or can not work for us. thanks for stopping by and good luck, should you decide to try one of those networks mentioned above.
TrafficColeman
The whole world of bloggin and marketing is trial and error if you don’t have mentors..this is why I suggest people to have people to work with them one on one.
“Black Seo Guy “Signing Off”
Hi there. Most of the time, the only reason why people do not get things done is because they procrastinate too much. Even though they decide to have “other” people helping them, is no reason to do so as I believe that they will always be in a better position to discuss with “anyone” what they want achieved. plus it gives them a “negotiation” leverage, lol thanks for stopping by.
brian speer
You can’t learn if you don’t fail a few times. I find I learn more from faliure than success.
You are right Brian. learning from our mistakes is definitely one way to get things right. Although it should be avoided at all possible, not doing it in my view is far worst π thanks
Suresh Khanal@bivori
Well Fransisco, talking about Telliad, the good think I noticed is that they evaluate everything manually. The approved some of my offers (ad spaces) and now they are listed waiting for advertisers. And rejected the offers to sponsored posts with reason – the site is not yet cashed in Google and the Info: search did not return results. I need to fix the issues and apply again.
Thought those offers are rejected, I’m happy as it increased the genuineness of the service. Now I can much rely on them. The advertisers there are not crappy spammers and the crappy sites can’t enter the arena.
I don’t know if I’ll get opps sooner or not (will update any progress), but I feel good about them.
Hi Suresh. For some reason I have abandoned Teliad a long time ago and as I said, did not really give it much of an effort. I think it is also because other networks are working well for me and thought that it was no longer worth the shot. Maybe, I will give it another go. Thanks for your input on this.
Dennis Edell@ Direct Sales Marketing
I’m little confused, which if any do you recommend now?
LOL, Dennis. the intention here was not really to recommend any specific network but rather to get a message across that what can work for one, does not mean it can work for the other..
In any event, and to answer your question, with the exception of Teliad (which I don’t have many experience with) all others, BSA, Intelillinks and ST have given me some money and all paid in accordance with their established TOS. You can try anyone of those and see how it works for you, including Teliad which appears to work well for Tuan π
Dennis Edell@ Direct Sales Marketing
Oh dear, my bad. I did not see that at all. (Kinda took the scenic route, no?)
Knowing that, i’ll give it another read, it should make more sense.. And thanks for the recommendations! π
Lye Kuek Hin
Hi DiTesco,
I get the point loud and clear. To find out whether any tool works is to dig in and test it out ourselves. Not only of the few resources that you have mentioned here but in other aspects of blogging as well.
Thanks for sharing.
Lye
My thoughts exactly Lye. Everything in about “trial and error” and the only way to find out is to dig in and see how it goes. Excellent point!
This was just a bit of “real case” scenario that I managed to compile well in time.
Dave Doolin
Lye, too few people get this point, they just want to know what the magic procedure is. If there’s any magic, it’s in the process of trial and error.
BeltwayBoy
I happen to agree with you because we are all different and you never know if you don’t try!
Hi there. Welcome to my blog. And many thanks for sharing your opinion.. it is so true.. all of us are different and the only way we can know for sure is to try, well, try but actually taking action on it, not tomorrow, next week, but right away (ASAP) π
Terje Sannarnes@entrepreneur
Having made a lot of attempts to make money online I concluded that the best way to check if business idea works or not, it is just to try to realize it in practice. Only acting in such a way it is possible to get the right answer to the main question. I have managed to succeed in many online businesses only for the reason I have tried to do something new. That’s why, I have become a successful online entrepreneur π
Hi Terje. And that is the spirit.. Keep it up. Success can only be achieved if you put your ideas in practice, try something new and innovative, and see how it goes. The good thing about doing business online it is that if it does not work, there is always a plan B, right?
Gera@Sweets Foods Blog
Hi Fransisco,
Apartof seeing a great post with very useful information from those services (I only tried ST with not much success), I’m feeling the invaluable power of social networking – in terms of comments and their genuine experiences!
As all in life, all must be proactive and not just only listening and reading π
I’ll try some of them, to explore the results.
Cheers,
Gera
Hi Gera. You touched the “sweet spot” of the message I wanted to get across here. This all started with a simple comment and look where it lead to. In today’s “online” world, it is quite difficult to succeed alone and networking is something that should not be neglected. Thanks for stopping by and all the best
Brankica
Hey Francisco, I am one of those that love to try and hope not to make too many errors, lol. I tried to register for Text link ads but they didn’t accept me. They say I don’t have enough traffic, well I don’t know how much is enough for them, but they are past for me.
I will check out the others you mention here. It is funny to compare things like this, for example Chitika and Adsense are compatible, yet, on a site I make several hundreds $ with Adsense a month, I made like $5 with Chitika in a year! Infolinks, same site $5 in a year!
So definitely testing is a must if you plan to monetize it. As I said I will be checking out these services and maybe report some more stuff after I do π
Hi Brankica, como vai você π
Like you, I also have the same attitude, try and hope that I do not make many mistakes within the process. Obviously, it does not have to be that way. Sometimes, if properly planned and executed, things can turn out right.
Chitika has been a “nickle and dime” experience for me. Never got it to pay “big bucks”, haha. AdSense is good and like you, my best performers are not here but on other niche sites. Tried and failed several times, until I found a niche that seems to be working well. Hopefully it will stay that way π Thanks for your input and all the best.
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Brilliant point of view you discussed here. I truly believe that all things do not work for all people so be different and unique.
Trial and errors teach you that how to work but if you have guidance then you will not take as much time.
Hi. That’s the idea.. Making mistakes is part of human nature. Not listening and learning from others experience is just being “hard headed”, and a big mistake, lol
Terry Conti
Hi DiTesco,
You’re so right, what works for one may not work for others. Some people pay to get traffic. Some people work at it and get free traffic.
There are many different free traffic generating methods and what works for one may not work for another.
The only way to find out is to take action and see what works for you. As you know it isn’t only with traffic generating methods but many other marketing strategies as well.
The point is action must be taken and never give up it’s the only way to go.
Terry Conti
Hi Terry. Exactly! The whole point here is “taking action”. Nothing will happen if you don’t do it, simple. I am not against paid traffic (never did it), but I sincerely believe that if people take just a few moments and implement some simple strategies, traffic comes along.
And now, if I interpreted you correctly, what is the point of just having traffic? We need conversion right? So unless action is taken, it stays exactly the same. Wasting time, money and effort.. go figure
Dave Doolin
The word is “fail fast,” but precious few people are willing to share exactly what did and didn’t work in the detail you’re sharing here, Francisco. All anyone sees is the success!
I’m going to have a lot to share at some point, probably starting about 6 months from now.
Hi Dave. I hear you, and that is probably why there are people that “fail” and stay that way. Little do they know that knowing and admitting it is already in itself a sign of potential success. Go figure– Anyway, nice to see you drop by.. Al the best
James Pruitt
Hey DiTesco, this is really great and so perfectly true. I learn as much from comments in a post as I do from reading the post itself. I also totally agree with testing everything. You won’t know what works for you until you try it. I have had people tell me that some of the tactics I use will NEVER make money, yet I have done it time and again.
What works will vary by your personal style, target market, and a lot of different factors, so TEST TEST TEST, and once you are done testing, test some more…
Hi James. Need I say more π You hit that dead on, test, test, and more test, haha. While there might be some sort of a “universal” approach, there is still the matter of putting in your personal touch and that is the main ingredient for uniqueness.
And as you said, there are a lot to be learned just from reading comments. The interesting thing is that I don’t really think that many people do. In a way they are leaving comments for other purposes and sometimes don’t realize that there can be some “buried” treasure in there π Thanks for stopping by and all the best.
Every blog, every niche and every advertisement agencies are different. What works for one , can disappoints other…The best way is to discover things by yourself. And yes, sharing is one of the most important thing to explore
Amanda Gordon
I absolutely couldn’t agree more! Trial and error is necessary everywhere and even more so in the online area. Try, try and try and something might actually workout.
I had setup more than 40 sites before stumbling onto something that works and made money. Where the 40 sites a failure – yes and no. Yes in the sense that they failed on their intended purpose and No in the sense that they had something to contribute in choosing my successful site.
Also, I absolutely couldn’t agree more with you on something working for someone else but not for you! I have had more than my fair share of experience on this. I was trying out a course that was big on article marketing. I initially wrote the articles myself but did not get the impact that other were getting (or at least claiming to get). Wanting to make sure that the mistake was not in my understanding, I doubled the amount of articles written (ie. twice what was recommended by the program). I still did not get the results. Wanting to make sure that I was not doing anything wrong, I outsourced the creation of articles and submitted another 2X the number of articles (totally 4 times now). I still did not get the results. Finally I did one more round of articles (making it 5x now) before giving up on the scheme.
But there were others that were getting great results following a path that was pretty similar to mine.
Hi Amanda. Wow, that’s pretty amazing how much effort you put in on article marketing. Sorry to hear that it did not produce the results you were looking for. Perhaps if you pumped those articles into your own website, the results would have been better. Who knows, right? Nothing but, try, try and try again… Eventually you will find something that works and once that happens, stick to it.. Good to hear that your efforts paid off though.
I really like the way you put things on perspective. Admitting that you have failed is, to me, a positive effect. Using that experience to your advantage is in itself part of the learning curve. Thanks for stopping by