Name The Top Five Website "Mainstream" Moneymakers

[The Porn Nerd]

Those of you who are in "mainstream": What the fuck is "mainstream"?

I see many on this board posting about "now being in mainstream and it's great, there's so much opportunity in mainstream..." Awesome! Now what (exactly) are you fucking talking about? I'm not talking about people who got J-O-B-S (ever notice how "bs" is part of the word "jobs"?). I'm talking about this:

You have a website. You are a Webmaster. You run a website. This website has nothing to do with porn or adult but instead sells.....what? Provides information? Are you an affiliate? Are you an owner of a company with a web presence?

I ask because "mainstream" is such a vague term and I often wonder if my adult webmastering/design skills could be applied there. You know, sell shoes instead of porn. So go ahead, mainstream Gurus, please list the top 5 (via a website) "mainstream" moneymakers.

[Webmaster Advertising]

Ebooks and recurring memberships is where the $$$ is at

People are stupid and will buy anything on a recurring billing model if you market it correctly :D

[arock10]

Teeth whitening scams

[mineistaken]

What you promote is less significant than how do you rank well.. People say its more easy to rank/get seo traffic in mainstream, but for me is the opposite.
And its easy to sell, but traffic is difficult for me

[The Porn Nerd]

Interesting - but recurring memberships but what kind?

Ebooks always amaze me that people buy them. LOL

[Dankasaur]

[Jman]

Nutra.....

[mineistaken]

Originally Posted by MisterPeabody

Interesting - but recurring memberships but what kind?

Ebooks always amaze me that people buy them. LOL

most of the time when you speak about recurring sales in mainstream affiliate world its almost a scam, I mean not technically, but ethically.

[bean-aid]

Hosting would be considered a recurring mainstrean avenue.

That being said, my gateway has been fucked since the 2nd and I have a suspicion I am losing my rebills and a portion of my overall members.

Quantun gateway.... ugh. Happy 4th because I am stressing the fuck out right now.

[Adam_M]

Check out the forum wickedfire.com for some ideas

[The Porn Nerd]

Originally Posted by mineistaken

most of the time when you speak about recurring sales in mainstream affiliate world its almost a scam, I mean not technically, but ethically.

That's what I thought, too, but then did some research and found podcasts fall under that category, as in radio personalities or online radio stations, etc. Don't know if affiliates push that tho, I've only seen it on actual radio personalities websites.

Originally Posted by beaner

Hosting would be considered a recurring mainstrean avenue.

That being said, my gateway has been fucked since the 2nd and I have a suspicion I am losing my rebills and a portion of my overall members.

Quantun gateway.... ugh. Happy 4th because I am stressing the fuck out right now.

I got a virus on my entire network on memorial Day Weekend. LOL Freaked out cause it took 3 days to fix (thanks the mighty Woj!) and by then some security software and Google had indexed the sites. Shit happens but it SUCKS man. Do your best, breathe, eat a hot dog (or taco). LOL

[fuzebox]

Weight loss, iphone/android game installs, make money online, dating, credit repair, payday loans...

[JohnnyPearl]

sell stuff chicks would buy cause they are too dumb to download it for free.

[bean-aid]

Originally Posted by MisterPeabody

That's what I thought, too, but then did some research and found podcasts fall under that category, as in radio personalities or online radio stations, etc. Don't know if affiliates push that tho, I've only seen it on actual radio personalities websites.




I got a virus on my entire network on memorial Day Weekend. LOL Freaked out cause it took 3 days to fix (thanks the mighty Woj!) and by then some security software and Google had indexed the sites. Shit happens but it SUCKS man. Do your best, breathe, eat a hot dog (or taco). LOL

Got the same awhile back. Google removed malware warning in like 1 day, bing to fucking 30 days after request. Bunch of cocksuckers.

But I have a suspicion I am losing my fucking rebills. 1/30 first day, 1/15 second, tomorrow we will be at 1/10. 90 percent of my income on that server is rebills. The fucking gateway has been fucked now for almost 72 hours.

I think they lost their entire database and are trying to restore a backup. At a minimun a couple grand down, but I have a feeling it is going to be much, much worse.

[$5 submissions]

Here's what I do.

I build blogs.

My blogs have a lightbox popup that recruits my TEMPORARY TRAFFIC (many will never be back) to join my PERMANENT LIST (well, semi-permanent until they unsubscribe)

I send scheduled updates to my list members which help them with problems they need solved in their lives.

Included in the updates are UPSELLS to digital products or AFFILIATE PROGRAMS. I even make money from people buying SOLO ADS to be sent to my list (I don't try to take too many of these orders though-don't want to wear out my list with too many ads). I mostly use upsell ads instead of running solo ads. Upsell ads = part of your list content.

I use social media to promote my blogs as well as pushing my list members to get their friends and family members to join the list.


Sorry, I can't be more specific and can't spell out my NICHES since I need more competition as much as I need a bullet through my brain... But I've given you enough details above for you to understand hour mainstream OPTIN list building and marketing works.

The money is in the list. Serious talk.

[pornmasta]

mac donald
walmart
pizza hut
burger king
KFC
starbucks

[AmeliaG]

I find "mainstream" affiliate commissions to be such low percentages that they are not worthwhile. For example, looking at recent stats, we only sent Amazon a few hundred clicks, but they converted at 1:31 for a couple dozen sales. Which would be nice, except I'm not sure what that $8.04 (seriously!) is going to cover. To put this in perspective, that same number of sales would be $250 in adult on a revshare program with no rebilling.

I think the best option is to create sites about subjects you are passionate about and monetize mostly via banner sales and AdSense, and maybe toss a remainder network at the end of your chain.

[$5 submissions]

The key is to FOCUS on 1 and just nail it to the ground. The main reason people FAIL in mainstream is they try to chase so many things at once.

Watch this video

[globofun]

Tried blogging about things I like......FAILED!

[fuzebox]

Originally Posted by $5 submissions

The money is in the list. Serious talk.

QFT

[JD]

leads.

8chars

[Some Guy]

A good example would be all of those stupid credit report sites.

[24/7 Blogging Crew]

1.cams
2.porn
3.porn
4.porn
5.porn
6.porn
7.porn
8.porn

[The Porn Nerd]

Originally Posted by pornmasta

mac donald
walmart
pizza hut
burger king
KFC
starbucks

Sorry, I didn't ask you to name your daily eating habits. :D

[Robbie]

I did mainstream stuff back in 2000. Had an online clothing store.

The percentages were TINY. 5% on average. And then then minute you made your first sale, the companies would send the customers you sent an email full of "deals" that would take them out of your affiliate code.

So I gave that up.

Tried to get back in the mainstream game the last couple of years.

I've had every application for every program I tried to join turned down.

I would buy domains, get some cheap non-porn hosting on Go Daddy and build sites specifically for the product (most recently cell phones and vegas hotel reservations)...I'm turned down by the affiliate program every time.

[Spunky]

Lots of great ones listed,well done people

[The Porn Nerd]

Originally Posted by Robbie

I did mainstream stuff back in 2000. Had an online clothing store.

The percentages were TINY. 5% on average. And then then minute you made your first sale, the companies would send the customers you sent an email full of "deals" that would take them out of your affiliate code.

So I gave that up.

Tried to get back in the mainstream game the last couple of years.

I've had every application for every program I tried to join turned down.

I would buy domains, get some cheap non-porn hosting on Go Daddy and build sites specifically for the product (most recently cell phones and vegas hotel reservations)...I'm turned down by the affiliate program every time.

Wow that's odd, being turned down. LOL Your rep proceeds you?
Maybe your Tax ID sets it off....doesn't seem fair to be turned down every single time. You're a fine upstanding member of the community dammit!!

[Robbie]

Originally Posted by MisterPeabody

Wow that's odd, being turned down. LOL Your rep proceeds you?
Maybe your Tax ID sets it off....doesn't seem fair to be turned down every single time. You're a fine upstanding member of the community dammit!!

Well...I only went for ones that are biggies. Like trying to sell verizon phones. Apparently they aren't interested unless you are already in the phone selling business and have a track record.

Since I fooled with "mainstream" over the last couple of years I haven't tried any of the little stuff that I see mentioned here. I wanted to go for premium stuff that I feel I could sell really well.

I'm sure I could apply to sell e-books and get accepted. I just have zero interest in that.

[The Porn Nerd]

Originally Posted by Robbie

Well...I only went for ones that are biggies. Like trying to sell verizon phones. Apparently they aren't interested unless you are already in the phone selling business and have a track record.

Since I fooled with "mainstream" over the last couple of years I haven't tried any of the little stuff that I see mentioned here. I wanted to go for premium stuff that I feel I could sell really well.

I'm sure I could apply to sell e-books and get accepted. I just have zero interest in that.

That's kind of my thing, too - trying 'big things' or going premium, as you put it. All my mainstream ideas are big ideas, like travel sites and music sites and things that are information-heavy more than product-selling. That's mostly what I use "mainstrea" sites for, for information, so I think of them as that rather than a place to sell ebooks. LOL

Still, a lot of 'little things' can add up to some big things. Food for thought.

[Webmaster Advertising]

Therein lays the problem...

Do not rely on other mainstream products to make money, create your own

By creating your own mainstream product, whether its an ebook, online store, or a service, you get to keep the full revenue generated, yes, generating a reliable traffic and revenue stream takes time, but the rewards more than justify the additional work required in the long-run.

Everyone has knowledge about something, eating junk food, cars, booking vacations online, even how to avoid getting scammed, put that knowledge to use for your business. Turn what might be a hobby for you into a thriving business (Just like Baddog and his juicing shit).

[mineistaken]

Originally Posted by AmeliaG

I find "mainstream" affiliate commissions to be such low percentages that they are not worthwhile. For example, looking at recent stats, we only sent Amazon a few hundred clicks, but they converted at 1:31 for a couple dozen sales. Which would be nice, except I'm not sure what that $8.04 (seriously!) is going to cover. To put this in perspective, that same number of sales would be $250 in adult on a revshare program with no rebilling.

You can not compare that with adult because you would not get 24 sales from few hundred clicks in adult. Maybe 1 sale?

That being said if you sent 400 clicks and got 8$ its 2cents/click. Adsense would probably pay more.

[Barefootsies]

Originally Posted by Robbie

Since I fooled with "mainstream" over the last couple of years I haven't tried any of the little stuff that I see mentioned here. I wanted to go for premium stuff that I feel I could sell really well.

Someone like you should really get into mainstream email marketing, as you would make a killing.

[shimmy2]

ok who wants to partner with me in selling blue pills on our own pharma site? good prices here

[mopek1]

Originally Posted by $5 submissions

Here's what I do.

I build blogs.

My blogs have a lightbox popup that recruits my TEMPORARY TRAFFIC (many will never be back) to join my PERMANENT LIST (well, semi-permanent until they unsubscribe)

I send scheduled updates to my list members which help them with problems they need solved in their lives.

Included in the updates are UPSELLS to digital products or AFFILIATE PROGRAMS. I even make money from people buying SOLO ADS to be sent to my list (I don't try to take too many of these orders though-don't want to wear out my list with too many ads). I mostly use upsell ads instead of running solo ads. Upsell ads = part of your list content.

I use social media to promote my blogs as well as pushing my list members to get their friends and family members to join the list.


Sorry, I can't be more specific and can't spell out my NICHES since I need more competition as much as I need a bullet through my brain... But I've given you enough details above for you to understand hour mainstream OPTIN list building and marketing works.

The money is in the list. Serious talk.

Thanks for sharing. Much appreciated.

[mopek1]

Originally Posted by AmeliaG

I find "mainstream" affiliate commissions to be such low percentages that they are not worthwhile.

That's part of the problem as I see it. Unless you are selling snake oil like many seem to be then you get 5% on tangible goods which don't add up much.

[bigluv]

Originally Posted by Robbie

Well...I only went for ones that are biggies. Like trying to sell verizon phones. Apparently they aren't interested unless you are already in the phone selling business and have a track record.

Since I fooled with "mainstream" over the last couple of years I haven't tried any of the little stuff that I see mentioned here. I wanted to go for premium stuff that I feel I could sell really well.

I'm sure I could apply to sell e-books and get accepted. I just have zero interest in that.

It's been a little while, but I find that the vast vast majority of available affiliate programs are basically scam products or so nearly scam products that it doesn't make a difference.

Ebooks? How to make money? Bullshit herbals? Come on. And the rest is tiny percentage real world goods similar to Amazon. Is anyone "in mainstream" an affiliate for an actual product you would not be embarassed to tell your neighbour about?

[Webmaster Advertising]

Originally Posted by bigluv

It's been a little while, but I find that the vast vast majority of available affiliate programs are basically scam products or so nearly scam products that it doesn't make a difference.

Ebooks? How to make money? Bullshit herbals? Come on. And the rest is tiny percentage real world goods similar to Amazon. Is anyone "in mainstream" an affiliate for an actual product you would not be embarassed to tell your neighbour about?

Really?

http://www.buildingachickencoop.com

There are plenty of ebook products like that, you just have to search for them...

[The Porn Nerd]

Originally Posted by Webmaster Advertising

Really?

http://www.buildingachickencoop.com

There are plenty of ebook products like that, you just have to search for them...

LOL Yes but I wouldn't tell my neighbors I sell chicken coops online. LOL

[bigluv]

Originally Posted by Webmaster Advertising

Really?

http://www.buildingachickencoop.com

There are plenty of ebook products like that, you just have to search for them...

That chicken coop thing is "plans for" and clickbank used to (or maybe still does) have free energy generator plans too.

I'm familiar with clickbank products. They aren't (necessarily) scams but I don't know how you could feel good about selling them either.

Here's a tip. You might be selling a low quality, somewhat scammy product if:

i) you use long form sales letter one page sales pages
ii) you use videos that cant be rewound or fast forwarded
iii) you use shitty WF sales techniques like "limited time promotion ends in XX minutes!!" only to be reset immediately.
iv) from what I can see, its never actual content that isn't freely available elsewhere, its rehashed phillipino written bullshit that no one could feel good about buying.

You tell me. If you sell clickbank stuff, and your father was "in the market" would you recommend he buy?

[Webmaster Advertising]

Originally Posted by bigluv

That chicken coop thing is "plans for" and clickbank used to (or maybe still does) have free energy generator plans too.

I'm familiar with clickbank products. They aren't (necessarily) scams but I don't know how you could feel good about selling them either.

Here's a tip. You might be selling a low quality, somewhat scammy product if:

i) you use long form sales letter one page sales pages
ii) you use videos that cant be rewound or fast forwarded
iii) you use shitty WF sales techniques like "limited time promotion ends in XX minutes!!" only to be reset immediately.
iv) from what I can see, its never actual content that isn't freely available elsewhere, its rehashed phillipino written bullshit that no one could feel good about buying.

You tell me. If you sell clickbank stuff, and your father was "in the market" would you recommend he buy?

We just built a chicken coop for 5 hens we purchased a few weeks ago.

Had we not built the chicken coop ourselves, it would have cost us over $650.

We purchased the plans from a similar sites offerings, including the materials it cost us $200.

I would hardly call that a 'scam' it did exactly what it said it would, save us money.

Now, lets take 'ebook' and swap it for 'porn membership' for a second...

Everything you described above fits perfectly for the adult industries primary offerings, paysites offer up stuff that can be found for free anywhere, they use shitty quality videos and images to get the member to join for more, they use 'exclusive' and 'millions' and other sales verbiage to get a person to purchase a membership, how is that any different than any of thousands of ebooks, except that its 'porn' being sold, which has no intrinsic monetary value to it other than to the producer/affiliate?

Oh yeah and the chances are, when searching for porn, a surfers machine is going to be infected with Trojans, virus and there is a good possibility their credit card will get banged by one of the unscrupulous site owners in the industry... I have never had my card banged in mainstream... Ever.

[Robbie]

Originally Posted by Webmaster Advertising

I have never had my card banged in mainstream... Ever.

That's a great anecdotal story. Reality is that "mainstream" invented xsells (or "banging" or whatever terminology is popular with surfers these days).

"Mainstream" was doing pre-checked x-sells since the 1990's. Not so much anymore...but neither do porn sites very much anymore. We ALL work under the same Visa/MC rules.

Also...just curious...here is my anecdotal story: I've never had my machine infected with a virus or a trojan when "searching" for porn...ever. And since I ran TGP sites and had to review hundreds of thousands of galleries by hand, that's a pretty big statement. I'm sure that it happens sometimes. Just wondering how do you go to google to search for porn in 2013 and get a virus or a trojan from searching for porn?

[The Porn Nerd]

Originally Posted by Webmaster Advertising

We just built a chicken coop for 5 hens we purchased a few weeks ago.

Had we not built the chicken coop ourselves, it would have cost us over $650.

We purchased the plans from a similar sites offerings, including the materials it cost us $200.

I would hardly call that a 'scam' it did exactly what it said it would, save us money.

Now, lets take 'ebook' and swap it for 'porn membership' for a second...

Everything you described above fits perfectly for the adult industries primary offerings, paysites offer up stuff that can be found for free anywhere, they use shitty quality videos and images to get the member to join for more, they use 'exclusive' and 'millions' and other sales verbiage to get a person to purchase a membership, how is that any different than any of thousands of ebooks, except that its 'porn' being sold, which has no intrinsic monetary value to it other than to the producer/affiliate?

Oh yeah and the chances are, when searching for porn, a surfers machine is going to be infected with Trojans, virus and there is a good possibility their credit card will get banged by one of the unscrupulous site owners in the industry... I have never had my card banged in mainstream... Ever.

Because the barrier to entry is so low when it comes to selling ANYthing on the Internet there's always, always going to be 'scam sites' and shitty this or that. The Internet is its own VAST Universe so you can find an example for almost anything and be right (to some extent).

If you're in the market for ckicken coops I bet there are unscrupulous chicken coop websites out there promising you free chicken for life if you buy from them.

No one ever went broke underestimatng the stupidity of the general buying public.

So it comes down to WHAT you feel comfortable selling, be it porn, chicken coops, ebooks or vacation packages to Tahiti. Just do this and you'll be successful:

1. Focus
2. Have a Plan
3. Work that Plan every singe day
4. Check to see if you're getting closer to your Goals every few weeks/months; if yes, keep going, if no then change your approach
5. Never give up

Insert whatever product you want and you will be successful if you do the above and never, ever stop.

[Webmaster Advertising]

Originally Posted by MisterPeabody

So it comes down to WHAT you feel comfortable selling, be it porn, chicken coops, ebooks or vacation packages to Tahiti.

Agreed 100%

[bigluv]

Originally Posted by Webmaster Advertising

We just built a chicken coop for 5 hens we purchased a few weeks ago.

Had we not built the chicken coop ourselves, it would have cost us over $650.

We purchased the plans from a similar sites offerings, including the materials it cost us $200.

I would hardly call that a 'scam' it did exactly what it said it would, save us money.

Now, lets take 'ebook' and swap it for 'porn membership' for a second...

Everything you described above fits perfectly for the adult industries primary offerings, paysites offer up stuff that can be found for free anywhere, they use shitty quality videos and images to get the member to join for more, they use 'exclusive' and 'millions' and other sales verbiage to get a person to purchase a membership, how is that any different than any of thousands of ebooks, except that its 'porn' being sold, which has no intrinsic monetary value to it other than to the producer/affiliate?

Oh yeah and the chances are, when searching for porn, a surfers machine is going to be infected with Trojans, virus and there is a good possibility their credit card will get banged by one of the unscrupulous site owners in the industry... I have never had my card banged in mainstream... Ever.

Actually porn is actually more respectable and less scammy than ebooks IMO.

In your example you are comparing buying a chicken coop to building one, but the plans dont really figure into that equation. And when I say "freely available" I don't mean "stolenly available".

The whole porn == viruses is for the most part a myth as Robbie attested.

Will you also justify the free energy or magnet generator plans that used to be on clickbank and had to move to .. plimus? I think. One is zero value and one is very low value. While there are porn sites that might aspire to being that low quality my personal feeling is, most are better than that.

EDIT: Please anyone else not engaged in selling ebooks please feel free to weigh in on if you feel there are any clickbank products that you would feel OK with recommending to a family member to purchase.

[Webmaster Advertising]

Originally Posted by bigluv

my personal feeling is

Ultimately, that is all that matters. On both sides of the debate.

We bought the plans, didn't feel scammed, I am certain there are others who potentially did.

[The Porn Nerd]

Originally Posted by bigluv

EDIT: Please anyone else not engaged in selling ebooks please feel free to weigh in on if you feel there are any clickbank products that you would feel OK with recommending to a family member to purchase.

When i first began doing anything online I signed up for a clickbank account (and a couple others, too, whch I no longer recall). I was writing a sexy non-porn blog at the time (about relationships more than sex) and I wanted something to promote in my sidebar. So I tried a few ebooks and, back then, some motivational tapes and some vitamins. Other than that everything else I saw on clickbank I wouldn't even try to sell. Yuck!

Sold a couple books, sold a couple bottles of vitamins but nothing great. LOL

Commision Junction, just remembered one. Saw crap there, too.

[signupdamnit]

I am just entering mainstream more again recently but to be honest this is mostly what I see as the top moneymakers when people brag about being in mainstream:

1. Gambling
2. Payday loans
3. Weight loss (shady scam like stuff not things which work)
4. Teeth whitening
5. other Health related scams

It's mostly canned scams that you see typical mainstream IM doing. That shit isn't for me and I won't do it.

But otoh "mainstream" is huge and could mean anything. It can also mean drop shipping a physical product like a craft or specially made T-shirts with custom designs. It can mean things like repairing dead ipads or iphones for people. It can mean buying products for cheap from China and reselling them domestically for more. I have a step-brother for instance who is an affiliate for a cruise line. There is no limit to what is out there.

[The Porn Nerd]

Originally Posted by signupdamnit

I am just entering mainstream more again recently but to be honest this is mostly what I see as the top moneymakers when people brag about being in mainstream:

1. Gambling
2. Payday loans
3. Weight loss (shady scam like stuff not things which work)
4. Teeth whitening
5. other Health related scams

It's mostly canned scams that you see typical mainstream IM doing. That shit isn't for me and I won't do it.

But otoh "mainstream" is huge and could mean anything. It can also mean drop shipping a physical product like a craft or specially made T-shirts with custom designs. It can mean things like repairing dead ipads or iphones for people. It can mean buying products for cheap from China and reselling them domestically for more. I have a step-brother for instance who is an affiliate for a cruise line. There is no limit to what is out there.

Very true - "mainstream" is (seemingly) limitless. LOL It's a shame tho that 'scams' (or really, shitty deals) seem to be the biggest moneymakers.

(This shouldn't surprise me, of course.)

[bigluv]

Originally Posted by MisterPeabody

Very true - "mainstream" is (seemingly) limitless. LOL It's a shame tho that 'scams' (or really, shitty deals) seem to be the biggest moneymakers.

(This shouldn't surprise me, of course.)

The quality products that are accessible as affiliates that I've tried to represent (as a 'nobody' in mainstream) much like Robbie's experience, is that they rejected me.
Even when it was a personal favorite product that I believed in, used myself, etcetera, and would've loved to build a whole site around.

[brassmonkey]

hit me up dogg