Shoemoney System Review & Overview

Sunday 31st January, 2010

In this video Jeremy gives Jamie a brief rundown on affiliate marketing and CPA (Cost Per Action). He explains how it works, how to identify affiliate marketing — in real life as well as on websites (what Jeremy says about Vegas is particularly enlightening). Jeremy talks about the importance of being “natural” when it comes to affiliate marketing, and how it’s not good to force things down people’s throats or come off as being spammy.

He also explains just how he got into affiliate marketing in the first place with AzoogleAds, and gives a rundown on the kinds of products that he’s made good money on in the past (and even today). Jeremy also gives out some tips on how to find various marketing opportunities, affiliate programs and networks.

It was a good video and I enjoy the conversational nature of it between Jeremy and Jamie. I learnt a few things, which surprised me a bit as it was only an introduction to affiliate marketing rather than an “in depth” view. I’ve been marketing online for a few years now but I’ve not diversified much at all, so some of the things Jeremy mentioned I hadn’t personally come across in my own experience. My niches are “very niche” and specialised so learning about more mainstream stuff was really good, and Jeremy’s annecdotes were both informative and entertaining.

Of course there’s plenty that I haven’t divulged here and I won’t get into specifics at all on this blog. That’s not my aim at all. If you want to know more then you’ll just have to sign up for yourself when the opportunity arrises. I hope that, through my writing about it, you’ll be able to make a more informed choice about whether the Shoemoney System is right for you. So far, although I’ve yet to make any money from it (it’s only the 3rd day after all), I would have to say that I’m impressed — and we haven’t even got started yet!!

Till tomorrow…

Saturday 30th January, 2010

Formally known as the Shoemoney System Live Chat Number 1.

I managed to miss the live chat as it happened the other day (too busy with offline stuff) but luckily Jeremy made a video about it. I think I’m going to have to be doubly careful with what I write in regards to the chats/webinars on here as I would expect that this is probably where the more direct methods of the Shoemoney System and its inner workings will be revealed. Having said that I hope that people will still gain some benefit from my writing about them. I think what I might have to do is state some of the questions asked but not necessarily give away any of the answers to them on here at all, and just comment by saying whether Jeremy was able to provide an answer or a possible solution to the questions raised.

Jeremy opened up the webinar by introducing us to Jeannie (Jeanne??), who is a virtual spokesperson and who is going through the Shoemoney System herself. He gave a brief overview on the System Dashboard and what to expect when you login for the first time, adding that they kept the System simple at the beginning for a reason, and that is to not overpower and bombard the new members with too much information at the start of the course. He did say, however, that there was still plenty of stuff in there to look at (and I agree). He also said that the webinars will happen every fortnight, time permitting, and that there was plenty of great content, and guests, lined up over the coming weeks and months.

The first question really gets to the point — “How long will it take for the member to make $2000 a month using the Shoemoney System?”, and Jeremy basically says that it’s up to the individual person and how they apply the core training to their particular situation. Some people will make money quickly and some not so quickly which, of course, is a fair enough statement.

There were questions on PPC (Pay Per Click) networks, making money without a website and whether the Shoemoney System is a step-by-step system or more of a general concepts overview. Jeremy stated categorically that it was in every way a step-by-step system covering many aspects of making money online.

One of the more interesting questions, from my point of view anyway, had nothing to do with the Shoemoney System at all, but rather where did Jeremy see internet marketing in 5 years time? The answer from Jeremy was equally interesting and thought provoking.

There were questions on being able to create a stable income, dealing with a banned AdSense account, whether or not the System will incorporate a members forum, CPA (Cost Per Action) advertising, Arbitrage and selling on eBay — all answered quite satisfactory by Jeremy.

The webinar finished with Jeremy saying that he and the Shoemoney System guys were there to help and answer questions at any time, and if anyone wanted to know something, or had a particular guest in mind who would be good to have on a future Q&A, to just contact them through the contact form and let them know.

Friday 29th January, 2010

Yesterday I only managed to post the first couple of methods from the “Ways To Make Money Online” video because of time constraints. Here now is Part Two….

Method 3: Contextual Ads — Jeremy gave a brief synopsis on contextual ads, such as those shown by Google AdSense and Yahoo Ads, and how they blend in with your site’s content. The ads are targeted to your actual content so if your site is about cars then the ads will relate to cars as well.

Jeremy went on to give the pros and cons of contextual advertising as he sees it. He explains how it’s quick and easy to set up and the results are almost instantaneous — at least it is if you have enough visitors to your site, otherwise you’ll have to wait a while until someone comes and clicks on your ads.

I should add here that you should NEVER UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE click on your own ads (the ones showing on your site I mean). In fact don’t even tell your friends or family that you even have a website in case they feel like “helping you out” by clicking on your ads. The opportunities for making a large amount of money with contextual ads are too great and, if you click on your own ads, then you run the very real risk of being banned from the ad networks and not make another dime! I’ve seen enough people complaining about being banned on DigitalPoint and other webmaster forums and it’s just not worth the risk. This could be the start of a life-changing situation for you so you don’t, in any way, shape or form, want to jeopardise it!

OK, end of rant. Now back to Jeremy and Jamie. Jeremy suggested that contextual ads were a good way for people to start making money online but added that there were also downsides to it. For one you had limited control on what ads were shown on your site. You have a lack of editorial control. For instance, you might have a great site about jewelry but you’re showing ads for all of your competitors. Instead of buying something from your own site your visitors may end up going to another site and buy from there instead. Sure, you’ll pick up a few cents here and there from their clicks but you’ll be down on profit overall. Not a good thing!

Method 4: Affiliate Marketing — Jeremy explained that when he started to get a lot of money through contextual ads he decided to look further into it to see just why he was doing so well. He quickly realized that what he was effectively doing was driving people away from his site and to hist competitors sites instead. He was only getting, for example, a dollar where his competitors were getting $12 to $20 for every successful signup. It was then that Jeremy decided to replace the majority of his contextual ads to affiliate links so that he would get more money, pro-rata, for each successful click/sale. Before too long his profits increased threefold and, in some months, more.

Method 5: Direct Ad Sales — One of the more lucrative ways to make money online but also one of the hardest. It only works if you have a lot of traffic going to your site (in which case the advertisers start coming to you!) Jeremy explained how each of the major players in the mobile industry started coming to him asking for ad space on his site, and added that it’s often for the brand exposure rather than the clicks or sales.

Method 6: Selling A Product — The final method that Jeremy talked about was direct sales, adding that at one stage he was selling mobile phone accesories directly from his site.

In concluding, Jeremy said to start off with contextual advertising and then move on to the other methods of generating income as soon as you’re able to. He added that you could even do all the methods at once, as he has done in the past, and constantly test the waters as you go. He also said to make the most of your site statistics to work out why people were coming to your site, what they were doing while they were there, and where they went to when they left. Very sound advice!

Thursday 28th January, 2010

In this video Jeremy explains all the different ways to make money online. It’s basically just an overview for both the System students and Jamie (who we learn is an aspiring pop singer) and it’s essentially the same “teaser video” that Jeremy had posted online a week or two before the launch of the Shoemoney System. I’d already seen it but I thought it would be a good idea to take another look.

As this video has already been posted online to the general public I will write a bit more in depth.

Method 1: Donations — The first way to make money online that Jeremy talks about is through donations (and if I do decide to change my mind about making money with this site then this is the ONLY method I will use). He explains to Jamie that one way of donating is through an Amazon Wish List, where the site owner can pick out products that he, or she, is interested in and then compile an Amazon Wish List together, along with a link to that list. Your website visitors can click on the link and get taken to Amazon.com. If they like what they see or read on your site then they have the opportunity to purchase one, or more, items from your wish list and those items will automatically be sent to your address. Jeremy also added that it wasn’t just Amazon that had wish lists, as a lot of online businesses have them (Jamie mentioned that Victoria’s Secret has wish lists as well). He also said to not be afread to have larger ticket items on your list as, for all you know, a CEO of a multi-billion dollar company might end up on your site and want to buy you something.

Jeremy added that you could also set up some sort of “tip jar” like a PayPal button, in which people could just pay you a couple of dollars or more via PayPal. Simple yet effective.

Method 2: Subscriptions — Jeremy explained how he set up a special member’s area on his forums in 2005 in which people would pay $19.95 for 6 months and have exclusive access to that area. Within a year or two he had 70,000 paid up members!

Jeremy also suggested other premium content, such as releasing a video every week or, as Jamie mentioned, a newsletter email to paying customers. It’s certainly something that I’ve thought about over the years but I’ve yet to figure out exactly what to offer to people so I’ve always put it on the back burner. Now is the chance to finally get cracking on it.

I’m going to have to leave it there for today as I need to go and do a few things. If I get back to the computer in time then I’ll finish this post, otherwise I’ll have to do Part Two tomorrow. In the meantime though I’ll post this now in case there’s a slight chance that anyone is reading it.

Wednesday 27th January, 2010

Yesterday I wrote about the welcome video and it’s walkthough of the various sections in the Shoemoney System. Today I’m going to briefly talk about the first video. I did think about writing about the second video that was up there from day one, but I think I’ll leave that until tomorrow. After all it’s only a couple of videos a week, so I need to pad things out a little. Ease into it a bit. Plus I think a few of the things that are going to be talked about in the videos are things I’ve done already, I have plenty of time to dip in here and there at the beginning.

So on to the first video….

The opening video (kinda) introduces you to Jamie who, as it turns out, is a total noob when it comes to internet marketing and making money online (she’s also easy on the eyes I have to add :)). After Jeremy gives a brief rundown on Google and how it got into the email game with Gmail — initially starting off in the best viral marketing tradition by only allowing “invite-only” signups (I remember dozens of people asking “Have you got a Gmail account?”, “Can you get me an invite?” at the time).

Jeremy also tells us that he now uses Gmail for everything nowadays as it’s great on spam and can be accessed from anywhere. What follows is a step-by-step video account on setting up Gmail, complete with screen shots and commentary. It’s very straight forward and easy to follow, and Jeremy suggests to Jamie, and us, to approach it from a professional or business perspective and to not use a silly username.

After Jamie successfully creates her account, Jeremy takes her through some of the features of Gmail. He talks about the different folders, or “Labels” as Gmail calls them, and how you can set them up for various things — business, friends, family etc., along with signatures and filters that can be set up. After about another 30 seconds or so the video fades out and is over. Easy stuff I know, but if you’re new to the internet then it’s good to have a straightforward video like this explaining everything for you.

I have to say that I never bothered to sign up for a Gmail account in the past because I do all of my email on my own computer. I have to add that I pretty much have every single email that has ever been sent to me in the past 12 years or so – minus the spam of course. I think it runs to about 120,000 emails but they take up so little space on my hard drive that I never bothered about deleting them. Plus I sometimes need to go back and check a email from years ago. I’m glad Eudora has such a good search facility!

I probably will set up a Gmail account now, because I’ve heard elsewhere that it’s a pretty good thing to do anyway when it comes to marketing. Another level of security for instance. However I’ll think about it over the next week or two before I do so. I’m not in any hurry as such.

Anyhow, more Shoemoney System stuff tomorrow. Stay tuned…

Tuesday 26th January, 2010

… And after thinking about it for the past month or so I almost entirely forget about it, as offline life is rather complicated today. To exacerbate the matter I overslept in the first place but as soon as I awoke I was basically forced to other things and the launch of the Shoemoney System totally skips my mind. Sheese!! I would’ve kicked myself if I had missed it!

As it turns out I almost DID miss it. I KNOW I was higher than the 450th person to sign up but, fortunately, I made it within the first 500. Now $197.00 lighter in the hip pocket I look forward to seeing just what is on offer.

I login to my account and am initially a little disappointed. Only TWO videos! Still, thinking back on it, it’s probably more than enough to start with — especially for a noobie (of which I’m not I have to say). The dashboard — and I do mean dashboard as I discover (through a source view) that the site is run by WordPress — is well set out. I watch the introductory video and familiarise myself with the layout by clicking the various sections.

And there’s some great stuff here. I’ll do a quick rundown on the different sections on the menu bar at the left:

First up there’s the ShoeMoney System Core Training section, under which is the link to the “Welcome” page, “Recent Videos” and the “Video Library”. Seems pretty straight forward — It’s the main section with all the videos… even if there’s only two for the time being. By the end of the year it’ll be up around the 100 videos mark, I’m sure.

The next section is marked “Webinars”. There’s nothing here at the moment but I would assume that this is where the question and answer sessions will be. I don’t know if it will be video or a podcast (maybe both) but it looks promising.

Next up is the “Resources” section. I have to say that it’s truly inspirational. Tons of helpful links and resources, each broken up into different groups — affiliate & CPA networks, contextual advertising companies, online spying tools, graphic design tools, online help desk software, web hosting solutions, keyword research software and tools, lead generation sources, live chat software, media buying sources, membership site management, market research tools, outsourcing networks, paid press release services, free press release services, shopping cart services, survey and polling software, web analytic tools and video submission sites. There are A COUPLE OF HUNDRED OR SO links here! No really secret stuff at all. It’s stuff that you could easily compile yourself if you had A TON of spare time, but just getting it all researched and compiled is almost worth the $197.00 bucks that I’ve just paid out. Truly great stuff, and Jeremy and his crew should be congratulated just for this alone.

Also under the “Resources” section is “Niche Ideas”, which is pretty much self explanatory. Once again there is a ton of great ideas here.

The next section is “Shoemoney Podcasts” — a list of downloadable podcasts that Jeremy has done over the years. I think I probably have most, if not all, of these already in my iTunes but it’s good to know that they’re all here ready to check out again when needed.

Another link in the “Shoemoney Podcasts” section is “Expert Interviews”. These seem to be videos rather than podcasts but none of them are active at this stage. The industry experts include Ted Murphy (founder & CEO of IZEA), Jonathan Volk, Dr. David Klein, Chris Hedgecock and Alex Barbara (founder of EasyTweets).

The next section is “Advertising Coupons”. Now Jeremy did say prior to launching the Shoemoney System that he had stitched up some deals with some of the major players, and here are the coupons. They’re not active yet, but there are coupons for Facebook, Google and SponsoredTweets.

The next section is “User Profile”. Basically the default WordPress User Profile page.

Just under that is the “Contact Shoemoney” section which leads to an online contact form. I assume you’ll be able to talk to Jeremy directly through this. Sweet!

The last section is simply “Logout”. Enough said!

OK, I’m going to leave the wrap up there for today and get stuck into the first video tomorrow. I want to stress again that I won’t give too much away, but I will give a brief overview of the system and what I’m doing with it each day (unless I’m busy doing other stuff) so stay tuned.

Until tomorrow!

More about my background can be found here but I’ll tell you right off the bat —

I will try to keep my identity private.

I will try to keep my websites private (as in not reveal them on this blog) and only give a brief outline on them.

I will attempt not to give too much away in regards to the Shoemoney System. After all if I think it’s good enough, or if you read this blog and decide if it can work for you, then you should go ahead and sign up for it as soon as vacancies open up again.

I will try not to put any links, logos or branding on this site, other than that which I deem necessary to illustrate the system and how it works. For instance, if I’m writing about eBay then I will name the site in question. Likewise for Google AdSense or Commission Junction or any other affiliate company or service. If you want to know more about them then feel free to do a Google search.

I am not, repeat AM NOT, benefitting financially from this blog AT ALL. Unlike other blogs and websites relating to the Shoemoney System I will NOT post affiliate links or show AdSense or affiliate marketing on this site. I do not get kickbacks in any shape or form from Jeremy Shoemaker or any other individual. My only aim is to give as much of an unbiased view of the Shoemoney System as possible and illustrate how it relates to me as I progress through this course over the next year. I WILL post how much money I have spent throughout the course, as well as how much money I have made by using the methods shown.

I have bought and paid for access to this system with my own money. For those interested it is costing me $197.00 a month for 12 months. I obviously feel confident that I will make this money back and then some. How much exactly I cannot tell you.

I do hope to let Jeremy know about this blog after I’ve worked a bit with the system. If anything I would want him to feel confident that I won’t let any trade secrets escape. I cannot be sure that I will follow everything suggested in the Shoemoney System down to a tee, but I will at least give it a shot and see what happens. I feel strongly about certain things, such as building an email list and creating sites with genuine and informative content, that I cannot make promises on what I will or will not do. I will not make “thin” sites without content purely for the sake of making money. Like everything you need to tailor a system that’s right for you, and I will endeavour to do this for myself as well.