I've been solidifying my coop idea and looking at the logistics.  I've also started putting the idea out to people outside of WA.  Here is the latest...

About three months ago I joined Wealthy Affiliate University because I wanted to learn how to make money on the Internet through affiliate marketing.  I have learned all about article marketing, pay per click campaigns, the importance of landing pages and other related Internet marketing must knows through my Wealthy Affiliate membership.  I have also found the other members to be extremely friendly and helpful.  It's been a great networking group.

Internet marketing is like any other worthwhile pursuit.  It takes training, knowledge and steady effort to make it pay off.  It also costs money.  You have to buy domains, buy website hosting, buy email autoresponder services.  Many of the Internet marketing training programs, such as Wealthy Affiliate, are not free either.  Once you are on a roll and making sales, these costs become a drop in a bucket, but initially they add up quickly.

I started learning through other Wealthy Affiliate members and my own online research that there are free sites which will pay their members small amounts of money for performing actions on those websites.  Those actions include completing offers, filling out surveys, social networking, playing games, and reading emails, to name just a few.  The payouts are small, you can reasonably expect to make around a dollar a day on each site.  However, the actions don't take long and day after a day, that dollar can add up to fund an email autoresponder subscription, buy a domain, pay for hosting or fund membership in an Internet marketing training program such as Wealthy Affiliate. 

One thing I noticed about many of the programs is that while you could make a few dollars a day poking around on the sites, you had the potential to make even more money by referring other people to the sites and earning a commission off the actions they take.  These sites tended to have multi-tiered affiliate programs, meaning you not only earn a commission off your referrals but you also earn commissions off their referrals and that could go down to four or even six levels.

This brought me back to the need to learn all that great Internet marketing stuff that gets traffic to your site then converts that traffic into buyers.  But of course, first you have to invest time and money so that you can learn how to do those things properly.  Then you get to make money if you do it right and get lucky.

A lot of people who come into Internet marketing, myself included, really, really need to make money and we don't have the deep pockets to mess around.  We need to make money and quickly, or at least within a reasonable amount of time.  If we can make some money before spending a bunch of money, that's even better.

This gave me the idea of starting a tiered affiliate coop.  The goal is to build my own downlines in the free programs I join and to help my members also build their downlines.  In this way all of us can quickly benefit from the residual income that comes from having referrals.

I'm starting the coop with the following two programs:  PeopleString and Varolo.  The reason for PeopleString, beyond the money you can make there, is the fact that it's a social networking site.  I'm going to administer this coop through a PeopleString group I've created.  This will allow us to keep in touch and cooperate on building our downlines.  While all the other programs I decide to promote will be optional to coop members (you only join the ones you are interested in), it will be mandatory to join PeopleString through the appropriate affiliate links to participate in the coop.

Here's what you need to do to participate in my tiered affiliate coop:

1.  Register for a free PeopleString account by going through any of the PeopleString hyperlinks on this page.  PeopleString does have a paid option you can upgrade to, but for my coop you only need the free account.

2.  Through PeopleString, search for me (I'm Fernanda Powers) and send me a friend request.  Once we're friends I can invite you to the coop group I created to communicate with members.

3.  Send me an email message with "Tiered Affiliate Coop" in the subject line to anmatt at peoplestring dot com.  Include in the email your username (so I can confirm that you did sign up under my link), your full name, and your PeopleString affiliate link which is automatically assigned to you.  This is also important, as it will allow me to distinguish between coop-related signups and signups that come in from other sources.  My goal is to get each coop member both kinds of signups, so if you signed up to join the coop, definitely don't skip this step.

4.  To learn how to make the most of PeopleString--you get paid by being active--you will find this program by Jay Kanic helpful.  He has figured out a system for making lots of money through PeopleString which you are welcome to pursue if you are interested.  For the coop purposes, my primary interest in Jay Kanic's program is the first few videos which go over how to take profitable actions on PeopleString.

5.  Log into your PeopleString account at least once a day and perform as many of the following actions as you can:
a.  check your PeopleString email account
b.  do a google search
c.  look in the mailbox-cashbox
d.  play the games--they only take a minute and are fun and can win you points (which get converted into money)
e.  when you shop online, do it through PeopleString
f.  participate in the social networking aspects of PeopleString, such as the tiered affiliate coop group.

6.  Register for a free membership to Varolo using any of the Varolo hyperlinks on this page.  This part is optional.  Varolo is the first program I'm promoting through the coop, so if it's not something you're interested in, then by all means wait until I promote a program you are interested in.  Varolo is a website which pays its members for their recruits watching TV ads.  The members have to claim their downline earnings by watching TV ads.  Varolo is in prelaunch so you won't make any money on in yet, but you can start building your downline.  I chose it because out of a large number of websites I've looked at (and believe me I've seen a lot), I found Varolo does hands down the best job of explaining exactly what the program is, how it will benefit you and what's expected of you as a member.  The reason they haven't launched yet is they want to make sure the launch is successful.  I highly recommend this program.  Once you complete your Varolo registration, please send me an email through PeopleString with your name, Varolo username and automatically assigned Varolo affiliate link.

Once you have taken all these steps, you are a member of my tiered affiliate coop.  For each of the programs I choose to promote, starting with PeopleString and Varolo, once I get twenty-five new members signing up through my affiliate link I will begin substituting members' affiliate links on this post and possibly other online articles I write to promote the coop.  The goal is to help all members benefit from the residual income that comes from having recruits in the easiest possible way.  I am not guaranteeing anything, and I reserve the right to accept or reject members or to discontinue memberships or the entire coop at any time.