Honest Affiliate Marketing Programs for Beginners

If you're looking for an ethical affiliate marketing program, stay away from the offers that want a lot of money upfront. That's because stories abound of people who've been ripped off.

After a couple of years of moderate success, I knew I needed some intensive help. But what kind? Nearly everything I read smacked of those bold print used-car-salesman scam offers. In the end, I only found two sources of help that seemed legitimate and doable. One program was offered by a Mommy blogger who'd had great success with Share-A-Sale. At the time, I wasn't doing much with this network, although I am now.

The other was Pajama Affiliates, run by a woman named Robin Cockrell, also known as "Carolina Robin." (Robin lives in South Carolina and has charming Southern drawl.)  She is a real person and her story is a true rags-to-riches tale. A few years ago, she was broke. I think I read somewhere on her site that she was nearly destitute and subsisting on "beanies and weenies."

Somehow, she raised the money she needed and spent thousands of dollars on affiliate training. (Trust me, if you're new, you won't get far without it.) Then, her sales started to grow. She now supports herself and seems to be living the good life. Many days, she posts from the side of a pool. Or, she's at the beach.

She has a number of affiliate sites of her own, and now runs her own affiliate training program, using the tools she learned about in her own training, back when she was broke. The nice thing about Robin's program is that she charges newbies just a nominal fee to learn the tricks that cost her thousands of dollars.

What drew me to Pajama Affiliates is the common sense advice. Nearly all of the marketing gurus I ran into on Warrior Forum (an affiliate marketing site) pushed list building. Some claimed it was the only way to succeed. However, as Robin pointed out, you can't build a list until you have traffic.

Traffic is what she helps you find. In fact, she tells you exactly how to get ranked on the first page of Google. It's really no mystery. For the most part, you need to find low-competition keywords and use them. She tells you just how to do this. (I did find a third person who also offered ethical affiliate marketing help. But this program was much more expensive and difficult to use.)

What I liked so much about Robin's training is that she actually visited my site (on a Weebly platform), and she and some of the more experienced marketers held my hand as I built my own Wordpress site. Although revenue-share platforms such as this are good for beginners, eventually you'll want your own sites, if you're serious about affiliate marketing.

Robin covers everything in her workshops and the training is lifelong. If I have another question, I simply ask and she answers promptly.

Unlike other programs, where you can easily pay lots of money and then expect another "upsell," once you pay for a program at Pajama Affiliates, you get what you paid for. Although new courses become available, on a regular basis, you're under no obligation to buy them.

One of the most popular courses seems to be the Amazon Masterclass. You get expert guidance by Lesley Stevens. She has definitely cracked the code, and she's willing to share her secrets. Lesley supports her family of five, with her affiliate sales. Recently, we learned she's buying a house with her earnings.

If you'd like to learn more about Pajama Affiliates, simply click on the picture below, and you'll be taken right to Robin's website, which is filled with free information on how to succeed in affiliate marketing. She appears to be a very generous person who gives away a lot of free advice. She always encourages her members to share and to have what she calls an "abundance mentality." This, i part, means not being afraid to invest in yourself and to believe that you will succeed.

There are different levels of courses you can purchase. Because I had been writing and publishing for a couple of years and I had learned some things (the hard way, of course), I didn't need to buy everything. Some aspects of Internet marketingI had already mastered (through sheer luck). Good keyword research was a mystery to me. But not anymore.

I feel so blessed that I found this low-cost honest and ethical marketing program, in which Robin and her other associates don't take your money and run. Instead, they develop a relationship with you. They want you to succeed.

This is also probably a good time to mention one other Pajama Affiliates bonus. At some point in time, Robin paired up with Lesley Stephens, an affiliate marketing expert in her own right. She is a homeschooling Mom who supports her family (husband and three children) with her affiliate sales.

Because this business is so multi-faceted, two or more minds are definitely better than one. So, in addition to Robin's expert advice, you have Lesley's input. Each of them approaches things from a slightly different angle, although they both give the exact same advice on keyword research.

Is there anything I don't like about Pajama Affiliates? Not much. The only minor complaint I have is maybe the new courses are a little hyped. But this is a very minor problem. Once you buy one of these very reasonably priced offerings, which, right now, range from $22 to $149, you get the help you need for as long as you want.

• First Update - It's mid-October of 2015 and it's been six weeks since I first wrote about my experience with Pajama Affiliates. I have learned so much. I'm beginning to see the results. Up until now, I suspected that some sales were happening because of this course. Now, I know they are. On one of my relatively new sites, I noticed I was getting search engine traffic or a specific keyword phrase. I noticed I had four views, because of this specific term. Apparently, someone clicked and purchased, because one of my affiliate accounts showed a sale for an item featured on that post. Robin will show you exactly how to find "buyer keywords" that draw people to your site.
• It's now mid-December of 2015. I have a lot to share with you. I'll be posting this information soon. Stay tuned.
• Sorry this has taken so long. It is now mid March. My online earnings are improving, even though I suffered a setback. I was making about $160 a month combined on two revenue-share sites. When they began running distasteful ads, I started pulling my work off of them. Moving my articles to my own sites has been very time consuming. But it's something I had to do. I know my income will more than rebound from this move.
• My own sites are starting to generate income. I now have four of my own domains. The one with the most traffic made more than $200 last month. This is a combination of advertising revenue and affiliate sales. I'm a big believer in diversity and having multiple income streams.

None of this would have been possible without the help of Pajama Affiliates. Robin "held my hand" as I built my first Wordpress site.

I'm sorry the screen shot below of my Paypal account is small. You can enlarge it a bit by clicking on it. This represents part of my online earnings.