Who are you and what are you currently working on?
My name is Matthew Allen and I’m currently working on building out the best damn Amazon affiliate WordPress plugin that ever existed! I also have an internet marketing blog and I still have a few niche websites floating around in the interwebs.
How did you get started in affiliate marketing? What keeps you excited about it?
After spending some time in the personal finance blogging space – I was introduced to the world of niche websites. I pivoted and started a brand new affiliate marketing blog – https://dumbpassiveincome.com – and I started to chronicle my journey to building out passive income online with affiliate marketing and niche websites. What’s not to get excited about when you figure out that you can create assets online that quite literally allow you to ‘make money while you sleep’!
What is one piece of advice you’d give to a newbie affiliate marketer? And what is one piece of advice they should ignore?
One thing I would tell all newbies… focus on only ONE thing! Shiny object syndrome has been my biggest hurdle to overcome as an internet marketer. It’s always easy and exciting to jump into a new project before seeing other projects to the end and fulfilling their full potential. Stick with one project, one website, and give it 100% focus until it reaches your goals.
Ignore people who tell you that you have to follow all of Google’s ‘rules’. People act like Google is the policing agency of the entire internet and they base so much of what they do (or don’t do) on their own websites based on Google’s so-called ‘rules’. Just build out your sites and interact with other marketers and do whatever comes naturally. Don’t worry – you won’t be sent to any sort of ‘search engine jail’ if you break any of the rules!
What has been your favorite mistake? A mistake that in retrospect led to a great lesson and progress in your affiliate marketing?
I would say that one of my biggest mistakes was something that I did very early on in my blogging days – before I knew any better. I would previously write content without doing any keyword research whatsoever. I just wrote what I wanted and hoped that other people would magically find my content. After I was introduced to the world of niche websites – I finally learned about and understood the importance of doing good keyword research. After that – I figured out how to create content designed around terms and phrases that people were actually searching for and this led to major progress in my affiliate marketing journey!
What is one piece of software or a web service (besides Geniuslink) that allows you to be more effective as an affiliate marketer?
As the co-founder of the best damn Amazon affiliate WordPress plugin that ever existed – I would be foolish to not mention AmaLinks Pro here. AmaLinks Pro makes inserting Amazon affiliate links so fast and easy (without ever leaving WordPress), and it also provides options to insert beautiful and engaging link types. Our Showcase Boxes (product information boxes) and state-of-the-art Product Comparison Tables are unlike anything else you can build with other plugins. Oh! – and did I mention that AmaLinks Pro is fully compatible with Geniuslink and they work amazingly well in conjunction with each other?
How do you continue to educate yourself as an affiliate marketer? What are some of your favorite resources for learning?
I mostly listen to internet marketing podcasts. There are too many to list… And I sometimes read some of the internet marketing blogs – but not as much. I prefer to spend my time online creating as much content as I can and less time consuming content. Listening to podcasts enables me to continuously learn while I am doing other things (like driving).
If people wanted to connect with you, where should we point them to?
You can check me out on my Dumb Passive Income blog – although I’m not as active there these days as I’m trying to stay as focused as possible on AmaLinks Pro. Check out some of my recent blog content over there – https://amalinkspro.com/blog