Dealer Dan, pictured here with WWE Superstar Mick Foley, has been in internet marketing since 1996. He likes hugs, long walks on the beach, and making money while wearing his jammy jams. For more information, you can read all 
There’s nothing greater for an affiliate than the very first paycheck. After weeks, or more likely months of working on your website(s), it pays off and you manage to get a player at a poker room, earning you the cash. You receive your first check….and just like that, you’ve earned your first money as an affiliate. But now what do you do? Do you put it in your savings account? Invest it? Frame it and hang it above your mantelpiece?
No, I’ll tell you what you do…..
You spend it.
Lets say for the sake of simplicity, your first earnings are $100-$200. I want you to get dressed up in a nice suit, and I want you to go out to dinner at a classy restaurant in town, or a higher end steakhouse. I want you to order the biggest steak on the menu, have some drinks and don’t leave until you’ve spent almost all of your first paycheck on a meal for yourself. Save just enough money for a nice celebratory cigar, then I want you go relax on a park bench or on a balcony somewhere and smoke that cigar.
Why? Because you’ve earned it. You worked your ass off on your website or whatever other affiliate outlet you are utilizing, and you are now reaping the rewards. I want you to treat yourself, I want you to enjoy it, and realize there’s a lot more where this comes from. Remember this moment and never forget it, because it’s the beginning of what is hopefully a long, lucrative journey.
Congratulations. You’re on your way to being a success.
Now that basking in the glory of your hard work is out of the way, what about future paychecks? Hopefully the moneys going to be coming in on a regular basis from now on, so what to do from here on out? Make that money work for you. Put it back into your work, and use that money to make more.
When I first started out as an affiliate, I would take 100% of all earnings, and put it into things like advertising. This can range from banner ad campaigns to buying a bunch of high pagerank links for a select keyword. I recommend doing this for either six months, or when your monthly earns meet a particular goal($1000 per month would be one example).
Once you’ve reached that target, you should pick a percentage of your earnings each month, and make that your marketing budget. That’s one thing a lot of people don’t think of – that they should have a set marketing budget, which each month they have to spend on various methods of marketing. As being a poker affiliate was just something I did on the side while working my real job, I put 50% of my monthly earnings into the marketing budget.
Remember – you have to set a percentage, not a dollar amount, because you don’t receive a set income – it fluctuates each month. Setting a percentage makes things simpler for yourself, and by having a marketing budget it forces you to not think of that money as “yours” – and makes it a lot easier to spend on text links on webpages etc.
Unless you NEED the money right away, I’d recommend setting a marketing budget of 50%, and setting a new goal to reach, that when you hit you can drop it to 25%. I really recommend not going below that, regardless of income, because I can’t say enough about how much more profitable things will be when you advertise more. Be strict about the budget, and make sure you spend every penny every month, because it will reap rewards in the future.
But for now, lets focus on the steak and cigar, and remember how this night came about: it came down you…it came down to you….and all of your hard work. Remember that, and use it to help motivate you in the future.
Now go enjoy that steak. You earned it.
This article was written on June 10, 2007 however all articles are looked at on a monthly basis and updated to keep them relevant.
If you need to contact Graeme, please see his Contact Page. If you are an affiliate manager wanting promoted please see this page.
