First of all, I would like to thank MarketLeverage once again for their generosity in sponsoring this contest with a great prize. And a special shout out to Dina for helping me put this together and continue being a great contact as well as a great part of the ML team. Though, I’m going to have to apologize because I was the basic holdup on the second drawing. So, sorry everyone and sorry Dina!

Now, before we get to the winner who was chosen for submitting the best affiliate tip/secret, in my eyes, I’m going to ramble on for a couple of paragraphs.

This contest didn’t get as much publicity as most of my other contests simply because I didn’t have as much time to promote it like I have with some of my others. There were a few reasons behind this; but most of it surrounded the lack of time in December as well as the fact that I was having problems with my computer, internet as well as e-mails.

In addition, there seemed to be a lack of entries because some people mentioned they didn’t know too much about affiliate marketing so they felt as though they couldn’t enter because they lacked the knowledge.

Of course, since some didn’t enter because they were just starting out in affiliate marketing and they didn’t have much to contribute as a secret, others benefited from it because they had less competition.

Less competition = better chance to win.

You guys should all keep that in mind when it comes to making money online. Because you’ll soon find out that you always want to find things with less competition so you can benefit from it.

A few instances that would be good with less competition would be, but not restricted to, keyword research, affiliate marketing, building traffic, selecting a niche (get out of the make money online niche while you can!) and so on.

Okay, I’m getting sidetracked a little bit here…

So, there were a total of 14 entries that were submitted in various ways. Some people decided to comment with their affiliate tip on the contest post, some were dedicated enough to write an entire post and lastly, some took the time to e-mail me directly so their secret actually remained a secret. Well, for the most part.

Although, there were only 14 entries, it was still hard for me to choose one winner. Everyone had good tips, some had similar secrets and I had to do my best to pick only one.

There will be only one… (okay, if you’ve seen the movie Zack and Miri Makes A Porno, then you’ll get that line)

Again, it was hard as hell to pick one winner. Matter of fact, I was talking with Dina and asked for her opinion on how to choose one. Some of you guys went into step-by-step details, others wrote an overview on the what’s and how’s while the remaining wrote a simple paragraph or two.

Well, I went with a basic tip and one that would work with affiliate marketing and with any business strategy you go with.

Anyways, the winner is…

Dave Hughes for his entry:

I’ve barely dipped a toe into affiliate marketing, but there’s one thing I’ve
found that it has in common with the concept of blogging…have a plan. “I’m
going to make $100 per day” and “I’m going to make money with affiliate
marketing by driving traffic to the great offers I’ve found!” are NOT
plans…they’re goals, which take a plan to accomplish.

Get a legal pad and list exactly what you’re going to do to achieve your goals,
step-by-step, in as much detail as possible.

Then follow it.

And no plan is perfect; each one should have testing of new offers, ideas and
traffic strategies built in. It may not seem smart to switch from an offer that
has a conversion rate twice what your next-highest offer is bringing in, but
guess what? With a different placement, marketing or even an entirely different
offer, it could be delivering much more revenue than it already is…a fact
you’ll never know unless you’re not afraid to change it to find out.

Your plan should be detailed, have frequent testing built in (what are you
going to change, when are you going to change it, how long will you leave it
that way, and how are you going to track the results), and should be written
down.

If you don’t have a plan, you don’t have a business.

A big congratulation goes to Dave for having the best affiliate marketing tip! I am forwarding your info over to ML so you should hear from them. Make sure you let them know your choice in prize. (Flip Mino HD or iPod Nano – I’d go with the Flip…)

Also, since you were selected as the winner, you’ll also be automatically entered into another Marketleverage drawing for a chance to win an Amazon Kindle, a ML Rewards Card or an iTunes Card. I think the drawing will be today since I’m extra late!

Again, thank you to MarketLeverage for sponsoring, thank you to all the contestants and congratulations to Dave!