Cam over at Web Cite has posted a nice article with some Hitwise graphs showing the drop off in traffic from Squidoo since the start of July. These graphs seem to back up the theory that the lenses were filtered by Google.

A similar pattern also emerges when you check the url at Alexa too.

It’s fair to note here that Hitwise’s data is usually much more accurate than Alexa (since it monitors data at the ISP Level rather than with toolbar installs) however both graphs show the same bleak pattern.

Although this brings up another question. I’ve had this happen to similar sites of my own over the past few months.

Almost like a 50% filter hits & the breadth of keywords you rank for drops significantly, check out this Google Analytics data for example:

This site is slowly recovering, but the drop is so instant that it makes you wonder why the filter kicks in, or even what the filter IS. Regardless of how many new relevant backlinks I generate, this site just can’t seem to shake the filter (which has been in place since February). It’s almost certain that Squidoo are suffering from something similar to this.

Anyone else noticed anything similar on any of their sites?

No responses yet

The title of this post says it all really. That is the sole number 1 reason I got into Affiliate Marketing. Not to quit my job, but instead to create an entirely separate stream of passive income that I could rely upon in many different circumstances.

Many Affiliate Marketers decide to leave their boss behind relatively early on in the game, perhaps when they’re making $150/day, or $200/day. I read a lot of these types of posts on forums. I have also (unfortunately) see a lot of horror stories. Like Adsense smart pricing for example. I knew a guy who easily was making $1,000/day consistently for about 6 months with Adsense. Life for him was good, that was until Google introduced their Smart Pricing algorithm & his earnings took a nosedive. Now he was left with little more than $100/day & all his eggs in one basket. He now runs a much more diverse range of Affiliate Programs like Textlinkads, Auctionads & Private Advertising.

For me, the thought of doing this was always too risky for me, I like the idea of having security at work yet still having the additional security that I’m making just as much online too. I also find that I work better in the evenings after work than if I was left to my own devices during the day.

It wasn’t easy though, from both angles. I worked hard to build up a stable online income & I also worked hard to get a solid SEO related job that would continually push me & help me learn in parallel with my own projects.

Ask yourself this question. If you’ve given up your Job for Affiliate marketing, start making some good money & then for one reason or another it all goes belly up. Where does that leave you?

Whilst a good Affiliate Marketer will learn to evolve with the times, not everyone is going to find the going that easy.

This is why I think that Affiliate Marketing is the perfect compliment to anyones normal income stream, allowing you to save more money & increase your wealth through various savings schemes, budgeting & smart investing. You could invest your Passive Income in savings accounts, or perhaps even shares or property. In Australia, if you have roughly around $50,000 saved in a normal savings account you’ll pocket $300/month alone in interest. Which is yet another income stream you can rely on.

So next time you think you earn enough to kick your boss out of his own office, step back & think about whether you’re really in the right job first. Secondly, take some time to evaluate how rock solid your affiliate programs are. If most of your income comes from Textlinkads think to yourself:

If Textlinkads went out of business tomorrow, could I still make enough money to survive?