Zac Johnson has 17 years of experience as an affiliate marketer. Let's learn the tricks of the trade from him.

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2. Zac
Johnson
Introduction
Zac is a name synonymous with the
affiliate marketing world. One of his sites
made him $860,538 in 4 months!
He lives in NJ, USA and has spent the
last 17 years making money online and
helping other achieve success.
Zac has also been featured on ABC and
FOX News, and is a published author on
Amazon.
His Websites
ZacJohnson.com
BloggingTips.com

3.  From creating $1 website banners to earning
$860,538 in 4 months (WOW!), how was the journey?
I’ll say it’s definitely been quite the journey but it’s been extremely fun along the way. I’ve
really been all over the place.
As exciting as these days are, I really did enjoy discovering new ways to make money when I
was a teenager and building out my own sites for Amazon.com and making 5-15% on all
referred sales… it was just so new and exciting back then.
These days it’s more of a process and figuring out what’s next and continuing to grow my
brand and audience.
From when I first started making banners for a dollar each, to creating my killer MySpace
site, to running my blog and everything else today – well, there’s a ton of stuff in between, so
I will share some stories on the two you mentioned.

4.  Creating banners for $1 each…Really?
Yes!
This was the first way I discovered how to make money online and it was around 1995-96 I’m
guessing when it all started.
I was in the AOL chat room called the Web Diner and everyone in the room had their own
free sites on Geocities, AOL and Angel Fire.
None of them really knew how to make 468x60 banners and I was pretty good at it.
I became well known in the chat room for creating banners for people for $1 each and they
would have to send it through the mail since PayPal or any other online payment methods
didn’t exist.
A bunch of them never sent the dollar!

5.  Zac’s Million Dollar Site  $800K in 120 Days!!!
MySpace was getting pretty huge and no one was really talking about Facebook yet.
I had already been making money online with affiliate marketing for several years now
and I knew there was a way to make money off all this social media traffic, but I just had
to find out.
Eventually, I created a MySpace resource site that would allow people to post pictures to
their site by copying code from my site. The image would get posted to their MySpace
page along with a link back to my site.
It eventually became a huge resource site. Hosting costs were over $10,000 a month, but
the site did go on to make $800K in profit in just four months.

6.  Affiliate Marketing = Zac Johnson | What
makes him different from other affiliate
marketers?
I’ve been making money online for over 15 years and blogging since 2007.
I travelled across the country with dad to attend my first IM conference at Commission
Junction University in 2000. Later, I spoke at Affiliate Force in 2001. Since then, I’ve
attended many conferences and have spoken all around the world.
I have kind of been all over the place over the years and I’ve met with a ton of people. 15
years of experience in the world of online marketing world is like an eternity.
When I launched my blog in 2007, I wanted to make sure that I did it the right way and
created a well known identity and brand to grow my name and reach.
In addition to putting my name and content out there, I always make sure that I lend a helping
hand and advice to anyone that needs it. I don’t care how advanced or new you are, what
country you are from or how old you are; I’m all about helping others succeed.
It looks like it’s working out quite well! 

7.  Growth of Affiliate Industry & Its Future
From when I first started, it’s grown amazingly!
I remember there were just a handful of networks out there, but now they are all over the
place. Amazon.com was one of the first affiliate programs I used and WebSponsors.com
was one of the first ad networks I used to promote free stuff offers.
Now anyone can start an ad network if they wanted to. While this may seem like a good
thing, it can also be pretty bad. In short, not everyone should have an ad network, it’s
serious business and you are dealing with a lot of money.
Affiliate marketing is also getting a bad name lately as there are so many unethical ways to
make money, such as the rebill offers that hurt so many customers, and the fake testimonial
pages to sell stuff.
It all works extremely well and a lot of people made millions but then lawyers and the FTC
got involved…lots of ugly stuff.
On the flip side, affiliate marketing is now everywhere and it seems like every web site and
business has some form of affiliate program of their own. It’s not going anywhere any time
soon and I’m excited for what the future holds.

8.  97% of Affiliates Fail, Why?
It all depends on the product affiliate marketers are trying to push and how they are going
to do it.
When I was pushing six figures in sales for Amazon.com it was kind of easy because I was
getting ranked very well in the search engines and everyone knows the Amazon name, so
it wasn’t hard to gain the trust from the customer.
This is exactly what affiliate marketers need to do. They need to create quality web sites,
blogs and services that people can trust…
….then it won’t be so hard to gain their trust and make sales.

9.  5 Skills of an Affiliate
 Time
 Effort
 Mindset
 Patience
 Dedication
You will notice that MONEY is NOT on the list.
You don’t need a lot of money to get started in the world of online marketing.
Times are a lot different now, but I didn’t put any money into my online business for the first
two years of making money online.

10.  Recommended Affiliate Networks
As mentioned, there are a ton of networks out there now and only a few that should be
trusted.
You can’t go wrong with any of the big players like Share A Sale, Commission Junction and
Google… but there are some other great affiliate networks out there as well.

11.  Pre-Requisites of an Affiliate Business
Starting an online business is nothing like starting a local or retail business.
You need to know who your target audience is, building the right web sites and ad
campaigns and manage your money.
On top of all that you need to know what you are promoting and how to make it profitable.
It’s way too easy to lose money in the world of affiliate marketing and you can blow through
your initial budget really fast if you aren’t careful.
Don’t spend a lifetime trying to learn how to make money, the best method is to actually get
started and do it.
Don’t be afraid to fail.

12.  Role of Blogging in Affiliate Marketing
Blogging is an excellent way to build and promote affiliate related products.
Since blogs are completely based around content, that should be the main focus when trying
to create an affiliate niche site.
Choose a specific niche or product, then create as much content around it as possible.
Focus on long tail keywords and rank for as much related content as possible.
The best way to get conversions is by answering and solving problems that people might be
searching for in the search results.
Also try creating review sites, as these works well for many products and services as well.

13.  Affiliate Marketing Tools
There are tons of tools and services out there and most are garbage.
There is nothing I would say everyone needs, as plenty of them are free, such as Google
Keyword Tool.
There is also so much free information, tutorials and videos out there as well, so it’s not
always necessary for you to pull out a credit card to find success and training.

14.  Building a Brand
Branding is all about creating an identity that people can relate to and go to for information.
Before you can build a brand, you need to become a resource that people find value in.
When I created ZacJohnson.com, I made sure I launched with a unique blog design and a
mascot (logo) that people would remember.
Years later and it’s one of the most recognized logos in the affiliate marketing space. Create
content that goes viral, provide case studies and free tutorials.
These quick tips will help you grow your brand.

15.  Being an Affiliate vs. Developing Own Product
Unless you already have something established, start by promoting other products and
affiliate programs to see if you can make money.
This will allow you to test the market without needing to actually create your own product,
site, creative and ad campaigns.
Once you find success, you can expand into your own products and services.

16.  If Not a Marketer, What Would Zac Be?
I often wonder what it would be like if the internet hadn’t existed.
When I first got into online marketing I was still in high school, so it came at a perfect time.
I’ve always had a business mindset and knew I would work for myself or run a business, but
never knew exactly what it was…
….good thing I never had to find out!

17.  Rapid Fire 
 Website Visited Daily – Drudge Report (best news site)
 Best SEO Tool – Long Tail Pro (best tool for finding niche long tail keywords)
 Best Startup Tip – Get used to failing to find success.
 Preferred Social Media Site – Facebook (less busy and easier to manage)
 Your Inspiration – Always to do better and enjoy life.
~ Zac Johnson

18. Your Host
I am a freelancing consultant, blog content manager, blogger and content strategist, a
published Amazon editor and social media geek.
~ Chitraparna Sinha ~
SocialVani.com