After all. many of my readers here are retirees.  Perhaps retired from the US military and now looking for a way to supplement that retirement annuity without having to search out and hold down another regular J*O*B. (My shorthand for “Just Over Broke” by the way.)

I also have many senior citizen readers … welcome, I am one myself you know .. who want to empower their retirement and not live, heart in mouth, in breathless anticipation of what the “benevolent government” is going to do next to try to balance the budget on the backs of the elderly.

Or perhaps you are any age but unsatisfied with how your life is going and wishing there was something better out there.

Maybe you are a person living in one country, say the US or the UK or Australia, who dearly wants to move to another country, perhaps the Philippines, because you want to completely change your lifestyle … but you have no idea how you would support yourself there.

They say to always write blog posts for your readers … how can I write an article of interest to all those different folks? 

Let me take a shot at finding some common thread that pretty much applies to all of you .. Making Money.

They say money can’t buy happiness, and perhaps they may have a point, but having been broke in the past and very much ‘not so broke’ now, I can assure you that it is one hell of a lot easier to be happy if you have money in the bank.

How do most of you figure that you will ever put money in the bank?

Well, if you are like the majority, you have been brainwashed for the last couple hundred years that you go into debt to go to college, then “sell yourself” to some faceless company who “owns you” for the next 40 years or so, and then if you are lucky enough to live that long, spits you out the door at the age of 60-something or 70-something with a mediocre pension that can be taken away in the blink of an eye.

Notice how government pensions didn’t get a Cost Of Living (COLA) increase this current year?  What do you think is coming next?  Notice how many people who were once sitting pretty with their income from Money market Funds and IRA’s (Individual retirement Accounts) now have to scrimp and save just to deal with semi-important things, like keeping the electricity turned on?

What if there were a better way?  A way that is not based on the generosity or management skills of the government?  Or how much a corporation like BP decides to dole out each year (I’m sure glad I don’t have a J*O*B with those sons-of-bitches at the moment.)

What if there was a legal, sustainable way to be sure you didn’t have to go without getting your teeth fixed because the “bright young star” manger of your investment fund lost everyone but him billions last year by buying insanely stupid mortgage derivatives that an imbecile on the street is smart enough to know are phony?

Well, forget the what if’s … there is a way.  This is not the only way, for sure, but it is something I can recommend and still sleep well at night.  It’s called Affiliate Marketing and I know it works, because I have the deposits in my bank accounts and the paid income tax receipts that prove it works.

I’m not talking any investment at all .. except perhaps a how to do it manual which I’ll talk about in a minute … with absolutely zero risk.

I’m not talking any sort of investment, like sticks or chasing pips in the Forex game

I’m not even talking “putting up a web site”:, although many affiliate marketers do, there are proven ways to make good money with no web site at all.

I’m not talking building mailing lists or pestering relatives and friends with those stupid multilevel marketing programs … you need never email or speak with a single stranger.

I’m certainly not talking sales .. that’s totally the job of the folks you affiliate with.

And I am certainly not talking blogging .. because although I love what I am doing, making money with a blog is really a long-term investment of a lot of time and more than little effort .. and 99% of the bogs you see out there never make one thin dime.

A word or two about what affiliate marketing is:

… In a nutshell, affiliate marketing is an arrangement between an online merchant and affiliate (you), in which the affiliate earns a commission for generating sales, leads and/or clicks for the merchant’s web site.

For example, many credit card companies will pay you between $5 and $20 in commission for each visitor that you send to their site who completes a credit card application, and up to $55 for those whose applications are approved.

That’s a great commission, and although many companies pay less, there are also many companies that pay much MORE!

Here’s another example.

If you promote this Elite TR6633 Treadmill which sells for $6,495.00 as an affiliate of MegaFitness, they will pay you a 10% commission… or $649.50!

"Fantastic!", you say.

You’re absolutely right!

How much you will earn depends in part on the products you choose to sell, and in the Super Affiliate Handbook I show you exactly how to find the best companies and products to promote. …

Sounds pretty simple Dave, so with all this lead-in, where is this going?

Fair question. 

If you want to learn how to make money with affiliate marketing, I suggest that rather than spend months or years putzing around, you get a simple course from a real expert, study it AND APPLY IT (no course is worth a hoot if you don’t take action).

Seems sensible, Dave, but there are seemingly millions of people out there selling information on Affiliate marketing .. how do we know your recommendation (or anyone else’s for that matter) is worth reading?

Again, fair question.  Let me answer with a little story from real-life, pre-Internet days:

Years ago, long before the Internet came along my mom worked for a fellow with a really cute little work at home business.  He literally worked from home … his one car garage was filled with printed products, mailing supplies and my mom’s desk. 

She would sit and open mail for a couple hours in the morning, writing names on address labels and putting checks and cash (yes people used to send cash in the mail) into neat piles for bank deposits, and then she spent the afternoon stuffing the product into envelopes and applying the address labels and stamps. 

On her way home she went to the post office to drop off the outbound mail and through the drive-through window of her employer’s bank to make deposit of the checks and cash that had come in that day.

The product?  Simply a little 12 or 14 page manual about how to fix hydraulic jacks that, well, wouldn’t jack any more.  It’s something the business owner had learned in a couple years working for a repair company who paid him a pittance to repair jacks. 

When he lost that job, instead of schlepping around to find another dirty, low-level job fixing other people’s jacks and making at least three times his salary in profit for a new employer, he tried something different.  He just took what he learned and wrote down the simple parts, and had a little mini-booklet printed and set out to sell it.

Now how did he sell it?  Well that’s the interesting part.  With no Internet (this was years ago, mind you .. in the 1960’s) and no chance of making mass market media like TV or radio spots work, he looked at special interest magazines … “Popular Science” was one of his best advertising venues .. world-wide circulation and not too high a price for a little classified add in the back.

But could you start a business from a classified ad?  How would you know if it would work? 

Well my mom’s boss explained his secret to me, and it was dirt-simple.  Read magazines you think your prospects might also read.  Look at the ads to see if one of yours would ‘fit’.  Then go to the library and look up issues of that magazine from 5 or more years ago, noting who was advertising then who still is advertising today … if you see many ‘familiar faces’, bingo … ads in that magazine produce, since people have been paying for them for years and years.

Today, the Internet is my “Popular Science”.  But the same key ways of deciding what is worthwhile hold true.  At least 5 years ago I started making money online, and one of the ‘regulars’ I came across was a lady name of Rosalind Gardner.  And she’s still here today as a leader in the field, and still selling a very popular “repair manual” after 5 or more years.  There HAS to be something to it, no?  Or hoe could she even afford to run a scam that long.  I can assure you this is no scam.  Here’s a little excerpt of her journey….

This is the amazing true story of how a woman with NO business experience became a Super Affiliate earning $500,000+ (*) per year selling other people’s stuff online .

July 23, 2009

Dear Aspiring Affiliate Marketer,

Although I hate the term and don’t own a tiara, my colleagues call me the "Affiliate Marketing Queen". A January 2009 trade magazine pegs me as the female affiliate marketer (since 1998) with the most experience.

Over the years, thousands of ‘regular, non-technical folks’ (just like you — and me) have learned how to start and run their own successful affiliate marketing businesses using the methods I teach in the Super Affiliate Handbook (and as an industry expert speaker, magazine columnist and consultant) and YOU can learn them too!

I teach by example – using  my own affiliate sites. From blog installation, to design, content creation and all methods of marketing – I STILL do it all. (Note: Many other affiliate training packages use MY affiliate sites as examples without my permission. That’s because those so-called ‘trainers’ don’t have affiliate sites. They pretend to be working affiliates to take your money, but they don’t have any real experience.)

So, if you’re tired of bogus claims and hype and want to learn how affiliate marketing really works, keep reading … here’s a lady who has been succeeding at this game more than 5 years now … she has staying power, her methods work, and they can work for you, if you chose to actually stop "searching" and start "doing".

As Rosalind says, your search can end here, just the way my mom’s employer built a whole successful work at home business out of a simple magazine ad … merely by leveraging knowledge and common sense he already had.  Well you leverage yours? This is a fork in your road, as Yogi once said, “Take It”.

I saw one of the AdSense ads showing that proudly proclaimed Affiliates: $537 per day – Quit your job with ClickBank.

Whoa, hold on there. If you thought that it would be great to go and quit your job to become an affiliate marketer I strongly recommend against it. Heres why:

* Affiliate marketing is volatile – You have no way of knowing where the market is going to go in six months, a year, or five years. Just because you managed to make $5,000 last month does not mean that its going to stay that way. Websites fluctuate in traffic, popularity, and relevance all the time- Ive had sites that were making $200 a day drop to less than $10 a day for seemingly no reason. It will take work, patience, persistence, and a bit of ingenuity to ensure that your income continues to grow. Until youve got $10,000 in a bank account and all of your expenses paid, do not quit your day job. Why throw away a solid income for hopes and dreams?

* Everybody is in Affiliate Marketing. This is a business that you won’t even be able to tell your family or friends the names of your websites for fear of competition. Mention of your business could accidentally lead to loss of income, especially if you are spending money to make money, Pay Per Click for example, it could really eat into your profits. Your job can only be done in your area but Affiliate Marketing can be done by anyone anywhere in the world. You may be competing with people on the other side of the world or in the other hemisphere. Anywhere there is internet connectivity. If you can’t compete in this arena then don’t quit your day job.

* You’ve never seen anything as fast moving as Affiliate Marketing. Once you click GO, traffic may start rolling in and you may be making money or not. You don’t have time to wait around, take a nap or kick back and loaf. This business runs 24 hours a day – good or bad!

Having said all that, I need to fess up that I am a full time Affiliate Marketer myself I’ll give you some reasons why I took up Affiliate Marketing full time:

1. It is Lucrative. No other business start-up allows you to make $500 the day you start. I’ve seen programs bring in over $10,000 in less than four months from a dinky little website with a few pages and images. Should you find a way to get people to buy from you then you could end up making unlimited profits.

2. Affiliate Marketing changes daily. It is a new game from day to day. The challenge of trying out new things and seeing what works or doesn’t means Affiliate Marketing can be an exciting business. Once you see how much sales methods and marketing techinques change on a day to day basis you may become hooked. And you could end up running away from the competition.

3. Talk about FUN! It is hard not to get a thrill out of Affiliate Marketing. I get up, go work out, come home, work on my marketing, check my bank account and grin all the way to the bank. All the while knowing I’m being paid to sleep or go to the park which really makes my life.

The reality is that an offline job is a reliable, steady income. If you are making some money as an affiliate, why not continue to supplement your offline income and grow your online income? Until it comes down to the day where youre making $8,000 or more a month online, stick to your day job.

Table of contents for Make Money With No Website

1. Make Money Online Without a Website — Part 1
2. Make Money Online Without a Website — Part 2
3. Make Money Online Without a Website — Part 3
4. Make Money Online Without a Website — Part 4

I started to just make a couple quick posts about making money with a website, and making money without a website.  In researching I quickly found way, way to much for just one web post each, so I’m going to do a little ‘mini-series or two.  I’m first going to focus on making money without a web site because even though I think having a web site is trivially easy and extremely cheap, even free, I find that the very prospect of having to buy, build, maintain, be responsible for a website if extremely intimidating to many of my target audience … seniors and retirees making money online.

So no problem.  You don’t want a website?  You don’t need a website.  Don’t need one now or in the future.  You can still make money online, with no special skills, no investment and no effort at all (oh, I lied about the "no effort", that’s called an attention step, just seeing if you were paying attention).

Everything I am going to show you requires some work and some effort and some persistence in making a plan and sticking to it … anyone who offers you some method without work is a damn liar, ignore him.

But nothing down, nothing per month and actual profits in your bank account?  Can do, partner, can do, if you are willing to expend a little effort.  Today’s lesson?

Do You Squidoo?

Whatever is a Squid Lens, why would I ever want one and you really can’t make money with that web 2.0 nonsense, can you?

Well please take a look at this lens, by Janet 21.  It is currently the number one lens (page) on Squidoo and Janet is a real person who will tell you the real story about making money on Squidoo and how much she makes,

Wait, so what’s a lens? A lens is…

• An insanely easy-to-build, single page online.
• Your signpost about something that matters to you.
• A place to recommend your favorite stuff.
• A popular way to get found more on the web.
• A free (yes, free) way to earn a royalty. For you or for charity.
• Word of mouth at your fingertips.
• Squiddylicious.
• Something you should have if you care about getting the word out,
  about selling something, about changing minds, about sharing info,
  or if you just love to create, express yourself, and play.

Top Five Steps to Make a Squidoo Lens:

Step 1: Focus
Step 2: Make it clear
Step 3: Build your lenses
Step 4: Link to the blogosphere
Step 5: Repeat

As you saw, Janet is making an income that won’t give Donald Trump any nightmares, but she is doing it consistently, reliably, honestly and she did not have to buy into any program, badger her friends to change their brand of soap, trudge through he neighborhood and hand catalogs on doors or any of the other ‘easy as pie’ ways that are touted for making money.

There are others on Squidoo making as much or more as Janet.  Some are WAHMs, some are WHADs, (Work At Home Moms and Work At Home Dads), many are retirees and seniors looking to supplement and empower their retirement.  You can too, no investment, no server, honest potential to earn.