Affiliate Marketing Tips
I saw this on sitepoint and liked it so much, decided to post it here.
Affiliate marketing usually includes the following expenses…
- PPC
- Other advertising costs
- Outsourcing costs
- Refunds
Despite that, you can still generate 5 figure a month revenues if you do things right.
Starting From Zero.
The following strategy took 9 months… from completely nothing (absolutely no starting investment – no websites, no brand, no lists, no affiliates, no knowledge in any kind of niche, nothing).
However, the technique is a time-tested one, at least a decade old now(all of which was learned from various forums, webmasters, and blogs). It’s not like this is some ‘magic formula’ that no one knows about.
Have The Right Attitude.
Before starting, let’s remember something VERY important – your mental attitude.
Your Mental Attitude Is Very Important to Your Success Online – NO BS!
My past experience on the web has shown me that the time you put in will pay off. That knowledge gave me the assurance to try this. Many new guys and gals fail because they don’t have that assurance.
They don’t know there is a learning curve. There is a lag between when you put in the work and when you start seeing results. So, they give up when they don’t see money after a measly week or two.
So, when you start, try to keep a positive attitude.
It’s not a question of ‘if’ you will make money…but when.
For the doubters and you know who you are, I’ve heard all the excuses…
- ‘This will never work…’ (aka I’m too lazy to try)
- ‘It’s too saturated now…’
- ‘I don’t have anything worthwhile to provide’
It’s all BS!
Believe this, if you start with the attitude of ‘this will never work’, there’s a good chance you’ll get your wish. You expect failure, so you’ll get failure.
Why?
You half-ass everything. You don’t follow through. You already believe it won’t work, so why put your heart into it. You won’t create the right content because you killed your willpower because you expect to fail.
Too bad…no money for you. If this is you, get over yourself and get to work.
Don’t Worry About the Competition.
Second, if one more person says ‘It’s too saturated…’, I am going to puke on myself. This is the most tired excuse you could ever give.
NOTHING is too saturated on the web. There is always someone who will hustle harder and longer than the next. Your mental attitude will have you chugging along.
I’ll let you in on a little secret… 90% of the money I have ever made online has been in so-called ‘oversaturated’ niches.
Alright, enough mind warrior stuff, let’s get to the technique.
Understand the Technique.
My First 4-figure month With Affiliate Marketing
My first thousands a month were earned using age-old techniques that haven’t really changed since 2000.
I like affiliate for the following reasons:
- It’s easy
- You can build up your seed capital
- You will learn important techniques like pre-selling, list building, traffic generation, etc.
- There is hardly any risk involved
- It’s the first step to something greater.
Affiliate marketing is more than find a niche, find an offer, build a website, and start driving traffic.
The problem is, there are so many ways to do that, it confuses people.
For many, they took the advice of some “guru” out there and started with the notorious Clickbank affiliate network.
That would be fine and dandy…if this were 2005.
I’m not saying Clickbank doesn’t make money. I still get Clickbank checks. It’s just that nowadays, unless you really know what you are doing, you will get eaten alive.
So for the newbies out there, I recommend staying away from clickbank for a few months. You first need to learn some basic skills.
Amazon Affiliate Program.
Start with an easier, less crowded affiliate network like Amazon.com.
Amazon is much easier to start making a quick and stable income.
Use Amazon to build your confidence. You can build a base level income for future expansion.
Clickbank.
After Amazon, then you can go to Clickbank.
After improving your affiliate marketing skills with Amazon for a few months, it’s time to use a more advanced form of affiliate marketing.
To me, mailing lists work well for clickbank related products.
In my experience, it is hard to sell an ebook by simply writing a 300-word article and slapping an affiliate link in it. The days of easy sells like that are over because so many already do it.
Instead, for CB promotions, this is what I do…
Articles (blog or article directory) —-> Squeeze Page —-> Mailing list follow up —> Product review page(this is where your affiliate links are) —-> Social proof —> freebie —-> social proof —> additional informative freebie articles.
It may look crazy, so let me give you a visual:
This works better because it’s hard to convert people right from an article. This gives you more opportunities to build trust and follow-up with the offer again and again.
Your Offer.
*An important note on freebies*
For my current offers, I create two freebies rather than one. The first tempts for an opt-in. The second (usually a video) builds trust and authority and gives you another chance to present the offer in a high converting manner.
The key to this technique is to create GOOD freebies. A good freebie is something you would be willing to buy.
It is not some piece of crap you threw together in an hour just to fulfill one of your freebie offers.
You want genuinely valuable content. Sorry to break it to you, but it’s 100% required.
Why is this important?
It lets you do bigger and greater things. You can use this technique when you progress to more advanced techniques like product creation.
My First Mistake.
Mistake Number 1: Dropping Affiliate Sites Too Early
A big mistake YOU WILL MAKE is to stop building affiliate sites to early. You may get bored with creating an affiliate site and move onto more interesting things (like product creation). But you have to keep the right attitude! When you build that affiliate site properly, it will pay off in the long-run.
Pace Yourself.
This is not to say it won’t get boring or tedious…trust me. But looking back, you may regret not having done that affiliate site properly.
Of course, don’t burn yourself out. That defeats the whole purpose of the technique.
Creating a Product.
The Next Level: Product Creation
Once you become a Clickbank master affiliate, it’s time for bigger and better things…
product creation.
Product creation pushed me from 4 figures a month to 5 figures!
The reason product creation is so potent is three reasons:
- Affiliates build your assets (I’m not a pro, yet).
- You get all the money, so you can advertise in places regular old affiliates cannot afford.
- You get to build a list of buyers
When you start, I HIGHLY recommend creating products in niches that genuinely interest you or that you know.
You also need to be sure people are interested in your topic.
Do What You Like.
For your first product, I recommend finding something that works for someone else. If you try some never tested ‘big’ idea you have, chances are it will either fail, or take forever to finish.
Be Sure Someone Wants It.
Mistake Number 2: Make a Product No One Wants
The very first product I created not only took forever, it made the least amount of money. I wanted to create a product no one else had done before.
Big mistake.
What I didn’t do was check to see if people wanted it.
Oops.
So how do you know if people want your product?
Look at what currently sells, and copy it!
Proven Winners.
Certain niches I call ’super niches’ with proven buyers that are prime candidates for new products:
- Dog training
- MMO
- Forex
- Dating
- MMA
- Internet Marketing
- Cooking
- Wine
- Music
- Language
- Etc.
You won’t get rich if you are totally clueless about the above niches. But, you will probably see better results since they are proven to be buyer oriented.
Let’s Use Dog Training As An Example
Dog training is a massive niche with tons and tons of products created around it.
You know what works? Create yet another product on dog training!
The key is having your own spin on it. Position your product differently than the rest. Then, get your offer in front of as many eyes as possible before they see an offer for a similar product.
It doesn’t matter if your product teaches the same thing as someone else’s. It just needs to get in front of the customer’s eyes first. Then, make the sale.
So, how do you put your own spin on it?
With dog training, you could make our product about basic dog training. Usually, these products are positioned as ‘Learn dog training from a 30 year dog trainer’.
Instead, your product could be, ‘Watch as this person who knows nothing about dogs, trains his dog to follow his every command in less than 30 minutes!’
The spin is the product is more newbie-friendly than it would be from the guy who made the same product with 30 years of dog-training experience.
With a finished product, make your sales page and tie it to your payment processor.
Building Sales.
Now we’re at the fun part… getting the customers.
Forget About Getting Affiliates To Sell Your First Product
Everyone says ‘Make a product, put it on an affiliate network, and start recruiting affiliates’ as the best way to make money with this method.
To me, this is complete and utter BS.
Your 1st Priority.
FORGET ABOUT RECRUITING AFFILIATES FOR YOUR FIRST PRODUCT
You will only waste time.
Who wants to promote no-name joe’s $19.95 ebook when there are more well-known offers with customer value in the $200+ range?
Think about it. Which looks better?
‘Hello, I got a $19.95 book that I am launching on how to train dogs. Will you promote it for me? I will give you 50% commission.’
OR
‘Hello, I am launching a $19.95 ebook with a $29.95/m continuity program as well as an additional $69.95 upsell, all of which gets you 50% commission. Oh, and did I forget to mention that I’d be willing to send your offer to my list of 10,000 customers in return?’
Instead of focusing on getting affiliates when you start, focus on driving your own sales to bring you income. Create complimentary products, while building your own personal list of customers which you can use to leverage affiliates later.
The Sales Start To Trickle In…Now It’s Expansion Time
Instead of wasting time looking for that one affiliate who *may* change your life, you promoted your product on your own without anyone’s help.
You now have your list of 100 buyers.
Time for the easy part.
Now, all you have to do is listen.
They WIll Tell You What They Want.
Listen to the questions customers ask you.
Let’s say you launched your $19.95 dog training ebook. Say 40% of the questions asked were about ‘How to get your dog ready for dog shows?’.
Hmmmm…..
What does that tell you?
People want to know about training dogs for dog shows.
Do you think if you created a product on dog training for dog shows and marketed it to your list of 100 customers it would sell well?
Definitely!
You can also assume people who aren’t yet customers, will probably want to know how to train dogs for dog shows.
Listen to your customers, because they will tell you exactly what they want.
Quick sales to your current customer base isn’t the only advantage of creating a complimentary product either.
You can simultaneously market your 2nd product to other people while you market your original ebook. These 2 lead generation products will double the rate at which you build your buyers list.
Not only that, but you have just increased the overall customer value of someone who buys your $19.95 book, because you have a 2nd product to offer them during the upsell process and back end.
You are now looking more favorable to potential affiliates and JV partners.
With all this in place, you can seriously start recruiting affiliates.
Just remember, this doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time and consistent effort.
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