Affiliate marketing is one of the most effective ways for anyone to earn money online. This is a quick and passive method to earn cash that is highly scalable, and that is easy to set up. No technical skill is required, and if you choose the right products and connect with the right market, you can stand to make hundreds of even thousands of dollars in a short space of time.
But let’s back up for just a moment. First: what precisely is affiliate marketing? How does it work? And what makes it so much more effective than other money-making strategies for internet entrepreneurs?
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HOW TO SUCCEED IN AFFILIATE MARKETING
Essentially, affiliate marketing means selling a product that is not yours for a commission. You then get to earn money for each sale you make, meaning that all you need to do is to connect that product with an audience that will appreciate it.
When selling affiliate products such as eBooks, you will often find that you get to keep 70% or more of the profit! Choose the right product, and you can earn just as much money as someone who built a product themselves.
In this book, you will learn the benefits of affiliate marketing, as well as how to get started quickly and efficiently in order to begin making money. With smart product selection, a primed audience, and just a little bit of good fortune, this could genuinely change your life.
For those that are already selling affiliate products, this book should serve to provide you with the additional skills and tips you need to really take your business to the next level. This includes the tools being used by top brands in order to sell HUGE ticket items like MBA courses and $5,000+ powerhouse laptops.
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Chapter 1: Why Affiliate Marketing is the Best Way to Make Money for Beginners
Affiliate marketing is a concept that eludes many people. How can you make money from selling something you didn’t make?
How can earning money online really be that simple.
The simplest way to explain it is that it is essentially sales. You are acting as a seller and earning commission on any sales you make.
In that way, you are just like the door-to-door salesmen who come around to sell you broadband.
The difference is that you aren’t going door to door. The internet is your door and this is a door that gives you access to everyone 6
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on the planet. That right away gives you a huge advantage – and especially when you learn how you can get the visitors to come to you.
The other difference here is that the commission scheme is going to be highly different. Regular salesmen will normally get a small cut of whatever they sell: perhaps 5-10%. As mentioned, the difference with affiliate marketing, is that you’re going to get as much as 70-80% of the proceeds. That’s right: often as an affiliate marketer you are actually going to earn more than the creator of the product!
This is what makes affiliate marketing so hugely appealing: because it means that you can start earning just as though you were selling your own product, but without having to invest lots of money to create something from scratch.
What’s more, is that because you’ll be selling a product that is already out there, you can choose something that is already selling in big numbers. When you create your own product to sell, there is always a small risk that you’ll build something that no one wants.
When you simply market something that is highly popular, that becomes much less likely!
Another huge benefit of affiliate marketing is just how scalable it is. If you create a single web page selling the merits of an affiliate product, then you can start profiting from it within hours. In that 7
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case then, what is to stop you from making another page to sell another product? And another page to sell another product?
How Affiliate Marketing Works
So, let’s get a little more technical, shall we? How precisely does affiliate marketing work and why would a creator ever be happy to give away so much of their own profits?
First, let’s consider the type of content you are going to be selling.
To many marketers, affiliate products will be digital products.
There are plenty more options, which we will explore in this book later. But for now, that’s what we’ll focus on. That means things like eBooks, like online courses and like presentations.
Digital products are immediately a good choice for selling online because they have zero overheads and no ‘COGs’ (this is a business term meaning ‘Cost Of Goods Sold’. That means that the creator doesn’t have to pay out at all for each sale and they can instead just make profit and share that profit. It also means they never had to invest large amounts of money upfront and they don’t have to handle delivery either.
So, the creator likely made this digital product themselves using Word or a camera, or perhaps they outsourced the creation to someone else. Either way, they will have built this ebook or course with the intention of selling it for profit.
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Then the creator will probably have begun selling said product from their website or from a random page online. They’ll try to drive as much traffic as they possibly can to their website in order to encourage people to buy from them and thus they’l have their own passive income stream.
But there’s only so much promotion that one person can do and eventually their well is going to run dry. That is when a creator might start looking for affiliates to work with to help them promote their products.
The product creator is thus willing to offer affiliates like us 70%
and above because they want to incentivize us to sell their products. They also want to encourage us to sell their products rather than the products that other creators are offering affiliate programs for.
While the creator will now only make 30% on their sales, this is still 30% more than they would have made on those sales otherwise – because they wouldn’t have exited.
And if that seller can attract thousands of people to their books with a legion of online marketers, they’l be making gigantic profits and much more than they could on their own.
In short, this is a win/win situation. The creator gets a thousand more sales by encouraging marketers to work with them and 9
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affiliate get to sell a product as though it were their own and keep most of the profits! They can make just as much money as they would from their own eBook or course, but without having to develop one and take that huge gamble.
Specifically, the way this process actually works is via the use of
‘affiliate links’ which in turn work via cookies.
When you find an affiliate product you want to promote, you will be given an affiliate link and this is what you need to include on your sales page and in your blog posts.
When a buyer clicks on your affiliate link, they will first be redirected to another page on the web. Here, a cookie will be stored on their computer which will identify them as having come from you. Now, when they buy something from that store, they will be recorded as being ‘one of yours’ and the commission will be added to your total for you to withdraw at some point in the future.
For you it’s simple: promote the product and provide the link. That’s all there is to it!
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Chapter 2: How to Find and Sell Affiliate Products
Okay, that’s enough hypothetical talk… how do you actually get started and become an affiliate marketer?
Well, first you’re going to need a product. In order to get this, you are going need to head over to a website such as Clickbank or Commission Junction. Another good one is JVZoo.
Here, you’ll be able to see a large selection of different products that have affiliate programs. Just scroll through and look for the ones you’re interested in. You’ll find that you can see some information regarding the different products, so try to look for 11
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things that are selling for a decent price and offer a good commission.
Some sites will let you see a rough number of sales, in which case you of course want to look for the items that are selling well.
Once you’ve identified the product you would like to promote, you then need to contact the owner. If you are successful, they’l provide you with your link and you’ll be free to use that as you choose.
Something else to keep in mind here though, is that many affiliate products will include marketing materials along with them.
Remember: if you are doing well, that means that the creator is doing well. They have every reason to want to see you succeed and as such, they will provide things like emails, a sales page, banner ads and other materials in many cases.
If you’re someone who is completely new to the world of marketing, then I highly recommend that you choose a product that offers these kinds of bonuses. This way, you can get up and running almost instantly by simply copying and pasting the materials you’ve got.
You should then see yourself sell in the same numbers: it’s the same product and the same marketing spiel… so there’s no reason that it shouldn’t work just as well.
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Like I said before: this is literally a ‘copy and paste’ business model. Someone else already has the product selling well with a set system, all you are doing is copying the same system but making sure it’s your bank account that will receive the income.
Selling Physical Products and Services
While selling eBooks through platforms like JVZoo is an excellent way to ensure that you can keep the maximum profit, it also has its limitations. Despite what some other marketers might tell you, the most popular type of product online is still of the physical variety.
And this makes sense if you really think about it. How many people do you know who buy physical products? Pretty much everyone right? But then how many people do you know who would buy an ebook? Your Grandma might not (unless it’s through Kindle) because she doesn’t know how to use a PDF file. Likewise, your friend who doesn’t like reading probably wouldn’t either!
And that basically leaves you with a much smaller cut of the market.
So how do we go about selling physical products as an affiliate marketer? The most popular option is to become an Amazon Associate.
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Amazon’s associate scheme is their version of an affiliate program and it’s a very tempting option for many marketers.
If you look up information on affiliate marketing, then you’ll likely find that the vast majority of it focusses on selling digital products through the likes of JVZoo, ClickBank and Commission Junction.
On Amazon, things are different. Amazon is already splitting the profits with the manufacturer, they have to pay for storage, shipping and postage and generally they can’t afford to offer you more than 4% or maybe 8% at a push.
This means you’ll have to sell a lot more items at much higher prices in order to turn a proper profit.
But does that mean you should rule Amazon Associates out? Not at all.
For starters, selling physical products is often much more profitable than selling digital products. Think about it: are you more likely to spend lots of money on something you can hold in your hands and show to friends, or something you have to read on a computer screen?
Better yet, Amazon is a recognized brand and a company people trust. That means they’re much more likely to buy from them – and they can buy with one click!
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Amazon has a massive roster of products you can sell and that means there will be something relevant to go with nearly every article.
And finally, if someone clicks on your URL but ends up buying something else from Amazon… you stil get paid! This can potentially result in a lot of earnings if someone were to – for example – buy a new computer and you were to get 8% of that.
Even if you didn’t promote the product directly, as long as you sent the buyer to Amazon in the first place, you would earn that commission.
So, the best thing to do? Use both types of affiliate marketing! But just don’t leave Amazon out of the equation or you’ll be missing out!
In future chapters, you’ll discover how to promote Amazon products slightly differently, in order to get the most from them.
(Note: One limitation of Amazon Associates is that you can’t earn cash if you don’t live in the same country. In other words, if you are based in the UK, then you will need to send your customers to Amazon UK. You can still make sales through Amazon.com, but you’ll only be able to collect vouchers in exchange.)
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Other Options for Selling Physical Products
Amazon is of course not the be-all and end-all when it comes to selling physical products. There are countless physical stores out there, as well as many manufacturers that will offer affiliate programs direct to marketers.
You might find that if you take the time to look around for other products, you’re able to find something that is much more directly relevant to the topic of your site (and thereby more likely to sell).
To find these affiliate programs, just try typing in your niche and then “affiliate program” when searching on Google. You can also find plenty of lists online for the best affiliate programs in each industry.
Another option is to direct a manufacturer or seller that doesn’t offer an affiliate program… and then to ask them if they would consider creating one for you. If you manage to do this successfully, you can strike up an exclusive deal and potentially get a large commission too.
Of course, for this to work, you need to be able to demonstrate that you have the reach and the influence to make it worth their while.
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Selling Services
Another option is to try selling a service or a SAS (Software As a Service). This option is potentially the most lucrative!
The reason for this, is that many services will offer you a recurring commission. Let’s say that you manage to get someone to sign up to a gambling website. Some gambling sites will offer commission on all earnings from that customer for their lifetime with the brand!
Likewise, if you can convince someone to sign up with a hosting account, or to otherwise join a recurring service, then you will often find that you are offered a commission that is paid to you every month that they remain with that hosting company.
Of course, this might start as a small amount of commission. BUT
it can then add up to a large amount of time. In a few years, you might have hundreds or even thousands of conversions, which will then earn you recurring income even if your site were to close down!
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Chapter 3: How to Choose Affiliate Products Wisely
While affiliate marketing is an incredibly simple and effective way to make money online, it is not completely foolproof. That is to say that if you choose the wrong product, or market it in the wrong way, you might not see the immediate kind of success you were hoping for.
A lot of your success then will ride on your ability to choose the right product. Here’s what you need to know.
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What Not to Sell
Most people when choosing a product to sell will load up their affiliate network of choice (ClickBank, JVZoo, WSOPro) and then look for the items that have the most sales and the best commission.
This is a good move because those figures suggest that other people are earning a lot of money and so should you be able to.
In fact, you can literally ‘copy and paste’ their business model!
But if that’s all you’re doing then you’re making a mistake. 99% of the products at the top of the listing are going to be on the same precise things: making money online, dating or fitness.
If you start promoting one of those books, you’re now competing with all the other people selling the same book and all the people selling similar books. Most people who have used the internet for more than a day are already sick of being sold ‘make money from home programs’.
What’s more is that these are the most competitive niches on the web. If you don’t already have a massively successful website/mailing list, then getting to the number one spot on Google for ‘Make Money Online eBook’ or ‘Build Muscle’ is going to be nigh impossible. You’re setting yourself up to fail.
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Alternative Strategies
Instead then, consider picking something in a smaller niche. Let’s say you find an eBook aimed at a specific industry or job – maybe something telling people how to make money from flower arranging. It seems less exciting and the audience is smaller but your product is now unique.
What’s more is that you can easily reach those flower arrangers by posting on a few flower blogs. And you can probably get your sales page to the top of Google for ‘flower arranging eBook’ much more easily. It has a clear USP as well, which makes it very easy to sell.
Better yet though, is to look at the routes to market you already have. What contacts can you leverage? Where can you reach a lot of people? What are those people interested in?
Think about how you’ll sell the product and where you’ll reach your target demographic before you pick the product. That is how you succeed and it’s a strategy you can repeat over and over again.
If you already have a successful website with a huge audience, then of course it makes sense for you to choose a product that will appeal to that audience.
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Multiple Products
Remember as well that you have the option of selling lots of products. This is another one of the big advantages of selling digital products: you can quickly add or remove products from your site without needing to spend days writing and formatting!
There are pros and cons to selling multiple products. Selling multiple products is great if you have a big site and you’re using soft-sale techniques (see the next chapter). This also allows you to offer a range of prices for different types of customer.
That said, focussing on one product at a time will allow you to create more buzz and excitement around that one specific product, and to create a more streamlined website that directs customers all to a single page: the buy page.
Choosing Physical Products
Choosing physical products is a slightly different process. Again, the strategy here should be to pick things that are relevant to your content, and to the typical reader of your website.
At the same time, they should also be items that are good quality, and that fulfil a real need.
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The good news is that there is no reason to make a big upfront investment and take a risk by buying lots of items in bulk. You aren’t going to be looking at a situation where you have a warehouse full of fidget spinners!
That means that you can follow trends, and generally throw everything at the wall to see what sticks.
I do recommend though that you have a range of different products at different price points, in order to cater to every kind of buyer.
BUT also remember that you make commission on anything that is bought after the user visits Amazon. That means that the main priority should be to get the person to click the link and to visit the page – perhaps more so than selling that specific item!
***
Get yourself a web host and create your site. Make one new page and place the sales page copy you got on there, along with your affiliate link. You now have everything in place in order to start selling and start making profit! We’ll take a look at this next step in the following chapter.
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