“If someone’s criticism is completely unfounded on data, then I don’t want to hear it. It doesn’t hold up to scrutiny.”

– Tim Ferriss

Back when I started 30 Days To X I bought a 27 dollar eBook about making money online. The entire “guide” was roughly 13 pages and I didn’t learn a single thing. All the information could have been easily found with a quick Google search.

On several other occasions I’ve tried listening to the advice of various online gurus. A lot of the time their information has either not worked, or fallen disappointingly short. Eventually I wrote off internet marketers and put them in the same general category as body building magazines and pick up artists. All three made outlandish claims that typically yielded poor results. 20 set split days, wearing fuzzy hats to nightclubs, and making some cheesy one page website aren’t going to work for most people.

However, there is a silver lining to most of this advice.

In defense of internet marketers

I originally got into fitness after watching an old video about the late bodybuilder Zyzz. As a teenager I read The Game and decided that I should go out and talk to girls. The 4-Hour Workweek perked my interest towards making money online.

When I tried to do the lifting routines of professional bodybuilders I saw almost zero gains. However, once I switched to doing Super Squats, which was way less flashy, I bulked up. When I wore a bandana and sunglasses, I was 18 and thought it looked cool, to clubs and threw down “negs” I looked like a dork. Once I put down The Game and bought some better clothes, got a tan, and picked up an actual book about conversations, which was way less flashy, my success with girls went through the roof. When I tried to make a bunch of money through various “passive income” streams, I ended up earning next to nothing and getting frustrated. Instead, I switched to freelancing and was able quit my job two months later.

While it’s easy to look back at some of these things and dismiss them as being flashy ineffective cheese, they were what originally got me interest. If someone had handed me a book called Make Money Writing About Toasters I would have thrown it in the trash. I needed that flash and pzazz to hook me in.

Additionally, there is some valuable information to be learned from internet marketers, and other people like them. While I wouldn’t recommend ever buying one of their over priced courses or eBooks, 25 to 30 dollars is my personal cap on these types of books, they do drop some knowledge on their blogs or free YouTube videos.

While I don’t think anyone should rush out to buy some 5,000 dollar online marketing DVD seminar, I also don’t think that the entire world of internet marketing should be written off as fraudulent and a scam. Even if stuff like The 4-Hour Workweek is impractical, it can at least get people’s attention and open their eyes to new business ideas.

“Get-rich-quick schemes are for the lazy and unambitious. Respect your dreams enough to pay the full price for them.”

– Steve Maraboli

Today is officially the first day that you can pre-order How To Make thirty-One Cents A Day From Blogging. It’s a comprehensive 50 page PDF eBook with an accompanying 20 minute DVD. Thanks to a special offer, I’m letting readers get a discount for today only. By using the special coupon code: RUBE each copy can be had for a measly $97.99. Within less than a year the whole book will pay for itself and then some. What a bargain!

In all seriousness, this month’s challenge actually is about affiliate marketing. As some of you may know, I was running a very lucrative Reddit hustle that was on its way to making me an extra $500 a month. However, you were probably unaware that I suck at regular online marketing and affiliate blog stuff. As I’ll discuss later in the month, I’ve taken all kinds of bullsh*t advice from “experts” and their eBooks and it’s actually hurt me. I accidentally ran one of my sites into the dirt by purchasing backlinks like a guru on a forum had suggested, I also make almost nothing off of 30 Days To X. While this isn’t a big deal, it did create a very limiting belief for me. Until recently, I hadn’t tried to do a whole lot with affiliate marketing.

However, last month two things happened. I noticed that most of my Amazon earnings were coming from sites other than this one, and I discovered that 30 Days To X is somehow worth over $10,000. This reignited my interest in blogging for profit and I started asking around to find out how much different affiliate sites made. I was pretty surprised and decided to put some serious effort into making a new blog.

On March 18th I began working on Amazon For A Penny. It was a spin off of one of my deceased subreddits. During the month of March, I wrote a total of five posts. At the time of writing, I’ve already earned over seven dollars off my hustle. That’s more than I made in my entire first month of blogging.

For my challenge I plan on developing my affiliate site, growing traffic, and making a modest $30 off it. I also intend on sharing the process on here. I think that there’s a huge deficit in quality information about making money online, and I want to provide some honest insights. Additionally, I’m hoping that by sharing my work I can get some actual discussion going about how to make a profitable blog or website. While a lot of people have opinions and “advice,” most of them are selling get-rich-quick schemes.

Expect posts on content creation, building traffic, SEO, profitability, blogging pitfalls, site selling, commenting, finding niches, and a whole lot more. I’m definitely excited for this challenge and I think it’s going to be a fun month.