Posted on December 03, 2009 by Tim Schroeder

I was reading a guest post by Jonathan Volk titled “How I Made Over $1,500,000 Using A Free CSS Template” over on the ShoeMoney blog and some of the comments are pretty ridiculous.

Yes, the post title shouldn’t have included the word “HOW” and it was short on substance but Jonathan was simply trying to make a point that you don’t need to be a design expert or programming guru to make a ton of money online.

Really the actual sites visual design plays a very small part in how much you can earn. It’s more about what you say than any type of flashy design. But that’s not what this post is really about. It’s about some of the comments left on the post.

Here are a few snippets from some anonymous repliers:

The only way he could get anyone to read his blog or have any level of credibility is to constantly flash those gross numbers. If anyone knew what the real profits were I doubt he would have much of a reader base. As his main campaigns are now defunct he is leveraging his blog by doing paid reviews, guests posts, etc.

and

You are a joke. Everyone who matters knows this. When you post shit like this it just makes you look worse. For those who are interested, his profit margins were close to 5-10% and all his numbers are gross.

Notice how volk always speaks of his PAST numbers. This is because he currently makes close to zero and has been for many months now.

He is a person who got lucky with one method, did not once change or adapt his strategies, and as a result is now a complete loser and a total washout.

and

Anybody can show off a few numbers.

My question to these people would be if THEY have Made 1 Million+ Dollars Lately? EVER?

If so, then congrats! Six figures in a year? Still, Congrats! The measly 3 figures a month you probably make a month?

Here is what the haters say (and there is a LOT of them):

1. He is only posting Gross numbers!

Gross or Net, who cares! Even at 10% net that’s still a nice $150,000 profit which is far more than most affiliates make gross revenue in a year. His actual net was a lot higher than 10% so I suspect his profits were $300,000+

How much did you make lately? If a whole lot more than that then that’s great but don’t be jealous because he gets attention for it and you don’t. Otherwise start a blog.

2. Anybody can show off a few numbers.

That’s far from true. Let’s see your revenue numbers? A lot of big affiliates choose not to share their revenue numbers but a lot of affiliates have nothing real to show if they wanted.

3. He got lucky or He Made a bunch of money once but doesn’t make shit now.

I love luck. And regardless of if Jonathan is still making 7-figures or 6-figures he has still reached a ton of revenue goals many affiliates can only dream of. Affiliate Marketing is a roller coaster. I’ve gone from $350,000+ revenue in one month to like $30,000 the next and everywhere in between in other months. Today things suck for me. Tomorrow could be huge. You define what your own success is anyway.

4. All he does is post paid reviews or push affiliate links.

The answer to this is simple. Unsubscribe and don’t read the blog if you don’t like it. They won’t miss you and while you bash them, you are probably still a subscriber. There is a difference if you are blogging to just express your thoughts or blogging as a source of income for your business. Examples: John Chow and Zac Johnson. You might not like what they post half the time but what they are doing works and it makes them a nice amount of money. It’s business. If you don’t like it then just don’t read it.

Quit all the hating and jealousy. It doesn’t make you look cool. Get to work and make some money.