I entered into the world of affiliate marketing through VMC Satellite.  My job was to give away Dish Network satellite TV systems. It doesn’t seem too hard. Everyone watches TV. Satellite is a great choice. Like I said before, I was given a website that is exactly like thousands of others, with a different affiliate extension on the end of the URL.

I followed the instructions – written for a newbie like me – the best I could with limited knowledge of internet marketing. I expected my site to turn up in Google in no time. Well, that didn’t happen.

I was able to draw a good amount of traffic from the traffic exchange site TrafficSwarm. It’s a very simple idea. You get 1-5 credits for viewing other websites for 20 seconds each. Those credits are used to show other people your website. As a free member, you get credits just for opening the home page. It’s a great concept with instant results. Not only did I drive traffic to my site, I was able to see all the other affiliate sites out there, as well as get a taste of the marketing tools that were available. That is when I started to get the real picture of internet marketing.

I then read that I should promote Dish Network on my website. Well, I didn’t have a website. I was in college at the time working on science degree. So, I thought that I could create a website to help other college students in my particular field. I started a free website with very limited content and put up a banner for my Dish Network site. I eventually purchased a domain name and added a little more to my website. I still didn’t get any results.

For about six months or so, I visited TrafficSwarm on a regular basis to keep my credits up. I got a nice amount of hits, but no sales. At that point, I kinda got bored of the whole thing, and pretty much forgot about it. A couple years later, the quest would be revived.