This morning, as I usually do, I was going through my RSS feeds. I love this ritual of finding out what other people have been up to the day before and what they’ve been doing to make their affiliate marketing “dreams” a reality.
But really, there is nothing more irritating to me than to see people writing in their blogs that they made X amount of dollars and X amount of signups and X amount of PayPal buying over the weekend - goals met - and all that, without just a little explaination of how they worked themselved up to that point.
I’m not looking for hand-holding. But the vagueness drives me crazy! It’s such a situation where no you don’t want to give up all the dirt, but a little would be nice. So I’m not left guessing about most of the reasons that person reached X amount of dollars.
Maybe I’m just in a mood - I will admit I’ve had a constant battle with myself over how much to reveal… how far do you go…. do you reveal your strategies? I don’t think there’s any harm in revealing a strategy or two, and follow it through to see if it really worked and share it with others out there that are on the same road. No problem at all. New ideas, revamped ideas, it’s a good thing.
But it drives me nuts I suppose to see “everyone” around me making good money… or rather some money - when I’m sitting here in neutral, spinning my wheels - thinking of different ways to try to jumpstart some of my sites… thinking of how I can monotize things… start making $3.33 a day on Google - so I can see a paycheque. Maybe I’ve gone into panic mode. Maybe I should stop thinking so damn much and just let things happen. Maybe I should stop comparing myself to others.
… it’s just so damn hard to let it go.
Um, yes. I’m done now 
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May 29th, 2006 at 9:49 am
Don’t torture yourself just imagine your there one day earning as much as you want to earn that sort of thinking will make you frustrated. Just focus on what your doing and your efforts ignorance is bliss as they say.
May 29th, 2006 at 9:51 am
You aren’t the only one.
We aren’t asking for a web address just a little insight that gives some inspiration and a little direction.
May 29th, 2006 at 10:48 am
Thanks Mark, I’m starting to think the whole ignorance is bliss thing - would be most excellent
May 29th, 2006 at 11:31 am
Different people are comfortable with sharing different information. Some don’t even like to share what they make from Adsense - someone could get jealous, find one of their sites and click the ads hundreds of times.
If you found a winning Adsense formula, would you want everyone else finding out, copying it, selling ebooks about it etc?
You shouldn’t worry about how they got X signups, X Paypal payments, X subscribers etc - you should worry about how you’re going to beat them
May 29th, 2006 at 11:00 pm
I think I definitely need to put on a different mindset when it comes to charting my own personal success with Affiliate Marketing. It’s just sometimes hard to feel super cool about how things are going during those rough patches of lagging sales, slow clicks, poor performance. Do I change things up - or ride it out.
It’s so hard to decide.
Civ… I’m definitely going to start thinking more like you said…
“how you’re going to beat them”.
I don’t mind doing a little ass kicking… and that’s a positive way of looking at it
May 30th, 2006 at 3:12 am
This has been one of the key reasons behind Brighton Vibes. It is a money making diary. I have tried to detail everything, and anything not voered in the blog / diary gets covered in the forums.
Anyone and everyone is welcome to ask questions on either and I answer them in full details. I disclose all my domain names, coding, project ideas, etc even my “special ones”.
Why?
Because most people don’t have the “get up and go” to actually copy me, and if they do they often put their own twist or develop their own idea. At the end of the day, if they do it better, I didn’t, end of story
So, if there is anything you want to know, ask me, or any of the guys in the forums, of whom I am sure you recognise a few names
This may read like an advertisement, but it is actually an answer to your question as well as an opening to you to ask more questions and get real answers
Dave
May 30th, 2006 at 3:28 am
Personally, I don’t like revealing my techniques.
I believe that if I reveal what I do, and that others copy it, then the technique will become useless. Like so many other techniques have become after the years as soon as they “went public”.
Remember Adwords? Almost no one was using it a little over a year ago. Now, you have a hard time breaking even on it if you don’t know all the secrets to using it.
So many people are coming online to do business. Having any type of advantage could make or break your business.
That’s my .02$…Yeah, I know, I sound like a jerk
May 30th, 2006 at 5:57 am
I have been reading your blog for awhile, and to a large degree your style of blog, and others like yours, has inspired me to start my own in the coming month. That said when I create my blog I can’t really see me sharing my secrets as much as I will be sharing my attitudes towards making money online.
Sure it’s nice to share the common knowledge in the industry and give “little” incites but at the end of the day unless you are an innovator coming up with new software, programs or ideas that put you ahead of the pack you are more than likely just going to be someone that is out to compete and the way to win when competing is to be better than the rest. Unfortunately only 2.8% of business people are considered innovators, 13.5% are considered early adopters (the ones that apply the new innovations first) and rest sadly are those that never get ahead. If you want to win at this game I think you really need to try and be in the 15% and if you are there you definitely don’t want to be letting your secrets become public because the sooner they are the sooner they are back to average again.
… I know, I know I’m one of those people you hate but that’s the way to winning in this online game.
May 31st, 2006 at 3:11 am
I know exactly what you mean. I guess what we have to keep in mind is not to compare our progress to the progress of other people. I’ve had to deal with this as well with my inconsistant success. It will happen eventually though.
May 31st, 2006 at 3:54 am
[...] I just came across a post at Building My Empire which exactly summed up how I’ve been feeling about a particular issue for a while. But really, there is nothing more irritating to me than to see people writing in their blogs that they made X amount of dollars and X amount of signups and X amount of PayPal buying over the weekend - goals met - and all that, without just a little explaination of how they worked themselved up to that point. [...]
May 31st, 2006 at 4:15 am
I’m with you, Empress. I understand why a lot of people don’t feel comfortable giving away their ’secrets’, letting people know their domains, etc. but at the same time I can’t help but think if they’re success can be so easily copied by anybody who finds out what they’re doing, then they’re in a precarious position, anyway. Like Dave G said, if it isn’t absolutely dead-easy, most people can’t be bothered trying to copy it, even if you give ‘em step-by-step instructions! But I guess it’s not just about people ’stealing your secrets.’ There’s also things like sabotage, harassment, etc. that can come after the wrong person decides to make trouble for you. It sucks, but it definitely happens.
The other thing that irritates me, though, is the people who not only won’t share any info about their successes, but also won’t talk about their failures! After all, knowing what not to do can be helpful when you’re trying to figure things out. Do they think if they don’t talk about their screw-ups everybody will think they don’t make them? Yeah, right! I guess that’s why I like to read blogs written by people who aren’t afraid or ashamed to admit it when they do something that doesn’t work out. Or who aren’t afraid to admit they don’t know everything, and ask for help. Who share their frustrations and doubts and aren’t afraid to rant a little bit. People who aren’t afraid to let us know they’re human.
Cheers,
Wil
May 31st, 2006 at 7:49 am
I totally love the feedback everyone! I have had this internal debate - do I share, don’t I share… what the hell I’ll share. Then get bit in the butt by it (but did I really? The controversy was wonderful for the stats!) I think once you’ve put a site out there on the Internet - it’s available for anyone to see.
I have to agree with Dave G. most people are a bit lazy when it comes to doing projects online. Most have a method to their madness anyway - and to change it up to try something different - may not ever happen. We are creatures of habit.
I also really appreciate the comments from Chris and Jean-Rene. Totally valid points. We are all out to make some money online - do we really want to give up our methods right away… not so much. We’re human after all.
Like Wil, I want to see how people are doing - the good, bad and ugly. We can totally learn from failure - and make the next venture better, or try something a little more off the wall.
So thanks everyone!
June 1st, 2006 at 2:15 am
[...] After reading Empress’s post on sharing information and Tom’s post, and related comments I figured that I’d explain about an actual experiment I’ve got underway, regardless of whether the outcome is good or bad. I think with the blog I tend to think that I should only post up about stuff if it works, not if it fails, but of course something failing helps others realise that it may fail for them too. [...]