Interview: Nick Throlson

Since we didn't post one on Christmas, this is last week's Friday Affiliate Interview, even though today is Tuesday. Below is an interview with affiliate marketer Nick Throlson of NickThrolson.com. We'll also be uploading another interview this Friday as well and on every Friday from here on out until we run out of interviews!

Tell us a little background info about yourself. Where are you from? How old are you? How long have you been working in this industry?
I am Nick Throlson, 21 year old affiliate marketer born and raised in Southern California. I have been doing affiliate marketing for about 6 years. I found Shoemoney’s website by doing a search on Adsense and the rest is history.

What accomplishments so far are you the most proud of?
My proudest accomplishment is my personal vanity website www.NickThrolson.com. On my site, I try to give as much helpful information to my readers. I give them a way to contact me and try to answer as many questions of newbies trying to learn the ropes of affiliate marketing.

When did you first realize the full potential in affiliate marketing? When did you first “hit the big time?”
I first realized the potential of affiliate marketing when my money from the internet was much more than the money I was earning as a manager at McDonald’s. I “hit the big time” when I began setting up domains and attracting thousands and thousands of visitors to my websites.

What have been your biggest failures and frustrations?
My biggest failures have been when I started a social network www.yourcribsite.com and I had thousands of members. I did not back up the website and cancelled my hosting and deleted my database. I lost all the information from the website. It was very difficult and frustrating for me but it taught me the importance of paying attention to details.

What is the single toughest problem you've had to face, and how did you get through it?
My single toughest problem has been my writing skills. I often find difficulty with expressing my thoughts and ideas on my sites. I got through this by taking English classes and learning to tackle my weaknesses.

What’s the best advice you could give to someone starting out in Internet marketing? Any pro tips you feel like disclosing?
The best advice I can give to somebody starting new in affiliate marketing is to quickly put to action what you read. Many times people get stuck in the habit of buying ebooks and spending too much time and money. Instead, as you read you must at the same time put to action what you read about. If you have an idea, come up with a plan and tackle it. Furthermore, be imaginative and creative. Affiliate marketing requires thinking outside the box and being innovative. This is what attracted me to this industry. It rewards creativity and gives you freedom to approach a task in any way that you may desire.

What is the future of marketing?
The future of marketing I believe is going to be more and more competition. There are new people entering the space everyday and the piece of the pie gets divided more and more. Therefore, it is only going to get more difficult. However, this means that marketers must get more creative and innovative in their ideas.
I also see more stringent laws from government agencies such as the FTC. Due to the bombardment of flogs and farticles, the industry will need to adapt and make changes as the mainstream is becoming aware of some of the dark sides of affiliate marketing.

If it’s possible for you to share, are there any particular niches that you currently favor? Or that you aren’t necessarily in right now but that you would recommend?
A niche that I am finding success is education offers. The key to affiliate marketing is to be with the trends. In this difficult recession, education is what people jump to for safety. Therefore, entering a niche such as education makes sense as the pool of interested people has increased dramatically over the last year or two.

What are your greatest strengths?
My strength is my ability to test, test, and test. Every marketer needs to learn this. There is always going to be a better way to do something. Do not get satisfied and even if you think you have come up with the best ad, you haven't and there is always going to be even a better way to do it. What I love about this industry is that everything is limitless and you can become a multi millionaire very quickly.

Do you have any role models or people that you look up to?
My biggest role model is my grandfather who sparked my interest in computers. Another person who has impacted my career is Dr. Rajan Chopra who is my best friend. He taught me the strength of teamwork and the vision of staying determined and focused on my goals.

What are some of your long-term goals?
My current goals are as follows:
• Learn new methods of advertisement besides SEO and PPC. I am in the process of learning PPV and media buys.
• Bring fresh content to my readers on my various websites covering several different niches.
• Increase traffic to websites and consequently increase revenue by at least 50% in comparison to last year.
• Give my readers new content and share ideas to help generate online revenue.