My first peek at online income came with a promise of huge earnings in only 12 days.  Yes I am talking about the famous Ponzi scheme 12dailypro.  A small group of kids from my high school had stumbled upon this website soon after it had launched, and they continued to sign everyone they knew up... including me.  I was a little late however.  The site was closed and deemed illegal just a month after I had signed up.  So much for making a fortune like my classmates.

Now I was hooked.  Just the thought of being able to make money with a website made my mouth water.  I had just quit my job as a valet to come to school.  It was obvious that there was no way I was going to make the money I was making parking cars at college.  I decided to take some of the money I had saved and devote it to creating my online empire.

My next step was affiliate marketing.  I read tons of articles and blogs about making money with affiliate programs with pay per click advertising.  After doing some research I decided to take the plunge and start a few ad campaigns with Google's Adwords.  I ended up losing a little money, but nothing like any of the horror stories you read about online.

One day out of the blue I decided to start an ad campaign on overture.  I set it up, set a budget, and forgot about it.  That is until the next day when I checked to see if there were any sales.  Over $200 dollars in sales for the day!  What a feeling.  After my advertising expenses I had profited about $100 for the day.  I was ecstatic.  This went on for a month or so until the product I was selling became popular with other affiliates and the price per click went up to the point where I could no longer make a profit.  Fun while it lasted.

It was right around this time when I began getting involved with poker affiliate programs.  I had been reading tons of blogs and articles about the top affiliates who were making $20,000 or more per month, and I was ready to do this myself.

Just like any other newbie would do, I dove in head first.  Party Poker was the first room I decided to promote.  I looked to the third tier search engines that allowed gambling content so I could start an ad campaign.  I bought a domain name and spent about $350 in a week with over 50 play money signups.  Sadly, only three converted into real money sign ups, two of which were on the mgr plan and one on a cpa plan.  So I was busted, and I could not afford to lose any more money to PPC advertising.   With no more drive, I soon lost focus.

I let the poker affiliate programs drift away into the back of my mind.  From here I went back and forth between marketing informational products and playing online poker.  Neither of which was I any good at.  My funds were dwindling and I was forced to work at a hell hole of a restaurant called Locos.  I delivered food for $4.50 an hour plus tips.

Fast forward nine months.  Luckily the two players that I had signed up on the mgr plan had been playing like crazy.  Although it took a while to recover the initial loss of $350 I had suffered to acquire these players, I was eventually out of the red.  This was enough to take the sting off and spark my interest again.  I decided to try again.

I had now learned that my new friend who lived across the hall, Brent, could design attractive websites.  One 30 pack of Keystone Light and I had a decent website to work with.  Done deal.

I decided to give PPC advertising the middle finger and go for a content driven web site that gets organic traffic from search engines.  This is much easier said than done.  Luckily the domain I had purchased earlier in the year had a little age on it.  I was amazed to learn about how much competition there is for poker and casino affiliates.  I knew that it was going to take tons of work to make any progress.  There was no way I could ever be successful at this by myself.

I would have to guess that around this time is when I discovered Poker Affiliate World.  I read through their forums everyday trying to pick up on what the successful affiliates were doing.  Some people had started huge portals, others had started poker leagues, some started local based sites and promoted them in their college towns.  What separated these guys from the rest is that they were all so willing to help each other.  Although it would be months before I registered and made a post, I had found my resource for help.

Present day:  I currently have two poker related websites and two more in the making.  My earnings are nothing spectacular, but enough to keep me wanting more. 

I had to leave the rural town where I was in college to come back and work in the big city.  There is only so much dishwashing one can take before throwing in the towel (pardon the pun).  I currently work as a valet at night and a poker affiliate during the day.  I think it's a good balance.  Just enough hard work at night to make me want to become successful enough to quit work as a valet.

If there is any advice I could give to anyone before getting started in this industry is to do your homework.  Don't listen to the hype about the fortune you will make.  Read this article about the mistakes new affiliates make. It will help. When your done reading that read 3 Tips for New Poker Affiliates or Publishers.  

Come chat with some of the most successful poker affiliates in the world in our affiliate marketing forum.