Affiliate Marketing A Simple Step by Step Guide Smart Passive Income

Affiliate Marketing — A Simple Step by Step Guide

All you need to know about affiliate marketing, such as how to start affiliate marketing, various methods, and precautions. Let's get started

Affiliate Marketing is the easiest way to earn online. You don't have to make your own product (it takes time) and you don't have to sell something.

All you need is a method of recommending something, and if you have recommended something, you already know how to do it.

I have been involved in affiliate marketing since launching the first website GreenExamacademy. com in 2009. On the website of architectural education, I advertised the test software.

And that's just one of the dozens of products that I have recommended for many companies. In combination, it has created more than $ 3 million since 2009. This is not the total sales, but the total of the commission that remains at my hand.

When you hear that, it sounds like ridiculous and you may think it's too much. You can't earn millions of dollars overnight. It takes time to learn what works and what doesn't work. But I am here to help you speed up the process and ultimately gain momentum in your way.

In this guide, I will tell you how to start, even if you have just started, and how to find a product that suits the viewer.

Instead of worrying about confusing or annoying the audience in promotion, we will introduce how to advertise the product in a way that the audience spent to make a decision and effort to make a decision.

We will also teach you great opportunities with companies that support promotions and special offers and promotions gained for yourself and viewers through such relationships.

It's a guide I wish I had when I started an affiliate marketing trip in 2009.

Are you excited? Let's introduce what is there:

What is affiliate marketing?
Affiliate marketing mechanism
Affiliate marketing mechanism
What is your affiliate income?
What kind of affiliate marketing strategies do merchant use?
How to start an affiliate for beginners
Affiliate marketing case
Affiliate Marketing Case: SPI + ConvertKit
8 best affiliate programs and networks
Tips for affiliate marketing for beginners
Affiliate marketing failure example
The best resource for affiliate beginners: Affiliate Marketing Cheat Sheet

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What is affiliate marketing in simple terms?

Affiliate marketing is the process of earning commissions by promoting other people's (or companies') products. Find a product you like, promote it to your audience, and get a cut of the profits for every sale you make.

It's similar to how a salesperson earns commission, but you don't work for the company. Instead, you get paid for driving new customers to the company.

In other words, if you help another company make a sale, you get paid!

The best part is that you don't have to spend time and money creating the product yourself, because someone else has already done the hard work.

You can start earning as an affiliate right away, as long as you have a website you own, a podcast you've started, social media, or anywhere else you can recommend products.

So, all you have to do is send traffic through the link to the product and everything else is yours. Right?

There is a lot more involved in affiliate marketing to make it work.

I want to see amazing, transformative results from affiliate marketing.

There are two ways to get involved in affiliate marketing: as a product owner/affiliate marketing program creator and as an affiliate marketer.

In this article, we will focus on how to do online affiliate marketing from an affiliate marketer's perspective.

Affiliate marketing is one of the most powerful ways to earn online income. No matter your niche, the possibilities are endless with affiliate marketing if you do it the right way!

One of the attractions of affiliate marketing, especially for beginners, is that you don't have to invest time in creating a product that will be useful to your readers.

Because such a product already exists.

This makes affiliate marketing an opportunity that you can take advantage of and it's easy to get started with.

Examples of affiliate marketing are all around us – and you’ve probably been doing it without even realising it!

If you have clicked on a link to products and services provided on other websites from blog posts, the owner of the website you clicked on the link will receive a commission from your purchase. It is highly likely.

Yes, affiliate marketing is everywhere.

In fact, I believe that affiliate marketing is the world's most unpropulated resource to earn passive income!

I believe that affiliate marketing is the world's most untoppmed resource to earn passive income! Affiliate Marketing is a beautiful process that has not been completely used, and I am excited to tell exactly how it works.

Who is a good fit for affiliate marketing?

Affiliate Marketing is a great option for everyone who has an online entrepreneur, a blogger, a website and wants to create an audience that can provide real services.

If you apply to you, if you have a product that the people in the market you target will already buy, and if you can be a resource to recommend those products, you will get a commission as a result. You can.

Affiliate marketing is a particularly good option if you are not ready to create your own products or services.

Online Affiliate Marketing is suitable for a wide range of people because various marketing methods can be applied to advertise affiliate products and services.

Contains the same marketing methods that have already been used, such as search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM), email marketing, content marketing, and display ads.

In addition, it is possible to use a competent method for selling products, such as product reviews and open videos.

For example, this YouTube video I made has reviewed and demonstrated three USB pod casting microfones.

Finally, it is important to remember that affiliate marketing works most effectively when you are honest and confident in the product you are advertising.

The same is true for affiliate marketing. If you look rich, you will not be impressed by the results.

How does affiliate marketing work?

Let's explain in detail the mechanism of affiliate marketing. Affiliate Marketing has three protagonists:

You and your website, that is, "affiliate".
Affiliate company (or network). With a simpler affiliate setting, you work directly with a company to promote one or more products. There are also more complicated affiliate networks that provide opportunities to earn affiliate income with various products, such as Amazon, IMPACT, and SHAREASALE.
customer. This is a member of your viewer who uses your affiliate links to buy products from affiliate companies or networks.

Companies that provide affiliate marketing programs may call them by different name s-these programs are also called affiliate programs or referral programs.

Let's take a look at what benefits each party can with with affiliate marketing:

By recommending you, the audience can know about products, courses and tools that are useful for them.
With your recommendation, a company that sells its products, courses, and tools will acquire new customers who may not have been found in other ways.
As a result of your sales to your viewer, the company will pay you a commission.

If you do it in the right way, the affiliate marketing will be Win-Win-Win.

However, one of the center is the trust of your audience.

All three in the affiliate marketing relationship can ultimately make a profit.

Many people are worried about affiliate marketing.

That's why one of the missions is to teach affiliate marketing to be Win-Win.

What are the biggest elements to succeed in affiliate marketing?

First, gain the trust of viewers. And recommend only affiliate products that you have used and know that viewers will benefit.

And do you know?

Many people are affiliates in the wrong way.

These people impose and promote appropriate products without providing the real value to the viewers.

For this reason, affiliate marketing has a really bad reputation, and many actors have been wary of affiliate marketing.

Fortunately, you can do it correctly, maintain the trust of the audience, and thank you for your recommendation.

Benefits of affiliate marketing (and drawbacks)

In any case, affiliate marketing has advantages and weaknesses.

In the latter half of this guide, we will tell you the guidance you need to wisely make affiliate marketing.

The main advantages and disadvantages of affiliate marketing are as follows:

Affiliate marketing pros

Low entry barriers. Affiliates are easy to start and cost little. Most affiliate programs can participate for free and do not need to set up, store, and transfer products.
Low risk. It doesn't own a product, so you won't lose anything without purchasing a customer.
Possibility of passive income. Affiliates can have a passive income.
More free. If you get passive income, you can work anytime, anywhere as long as you have an environment where you can access the Internet.

Affiliate marketing cons

There is no immediate effect. It takes time to build the amount of traffic you need to earn a lot of income.
Control is difficult. You do not control the quality and customer experience because you do not own or manage the products and services you recommend.
Competition and customer fatigue. An attractive affiliate program means that it may compete with other affiliate programs.
Providing fatigue. If your advertising is too much, your audience can cause "offer fatigue".
Not all affiliate programs are the same. Most companies that provide affiliate rewards are solid and ethical, but some are suspicious. It is important to do preliminary research well.
Risk of taking over affiliates. You may take over your affiliate links, called click jacking, and take your reward.

How much do affiliate marketers make?

The attraction of affiliate marketing is that you do not need to spend time and effort to create products to be sold.

If you have a platform to sell, you can immediately start selling something as an affiliate. In this way, affiliates are a great way to earn extra income without any hassle or cost.

However, it is not a way to get rich.

Like other passive income ideas, it takes time and effort to create a proper source of income.

There was a time when affiliate marketing was my first source of income, but it took a long time to build a close relationship with partner companies.

In the first month (December 2008) when I started affiliate marketing, I earned $ 163 and 1633:

Here’s how I was doing in December 2009, my first full year as an affiliate marketer:

And here’s what my affiliate income looked like in December 2017, the last month for which I provided an income report:

As you can see, I’ve been doing very well with affiliate marketing for the last 10 years. But it took a lot of time and hard work to get to this point.

So how much can you make when you get started with affiliate marketing?

That depends a lot on how much time, energy, and focus you can put into making affiliate marketing a success. It also depends on a few other factors:

The percentage of commission you receive for each sale of your affiliate product or service.
The size of your audience.
How appealing you are to that product or service.
Typical commission percentages vary depending on the affiliate company you work with and the type of product or service you promote.

Digital products and services generally offer higher margins due to lower production and fulfillment costs, including raw materials, production, shelf space, and transportation.

This margin can be as high as 50%.

On the other hand, due to the costs mentioned above, margins on physical goods tend to be lower, sometimes even in the single digits.

The good news is that there is no limit to how much you can make as an affiliate marketer.

Affiliate marketing is a great way to augment your existing income, and it can even become your main source of income if you're willing to commit.

But in either case, if you want long-term success with affiliate marketing, you need to approach it the right way.

What affiliate marketing strategies do marketers use to promote their partners?

There are tons of tactics you can use to promote affiliate products online.

Here's a starter list of 10 to get your affiliate brain chewing and remixing:

1. Create an epic post

One of my favorite things to do when promoting a product is to create an epic post about it.

What is an epic post? Don’t just think of it as a review of the product, but a one-stop-shop resource for the product that could be a complete introduction, how-to, FAQs, best practices, and troubleshooting resource for people who have purchased the product.

If you can show this much information before they buy, they’re more likely to actually buy.

At the same time, an epic post will be a highly shareable article and one that has the ability to rank high on Google for that particular keyword product.

In this epic post, I will go all out.

You should embed these videos in your epic post.

2. Create multiple YouTube videos about the product

Since YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world, this is an important affiliate marketing strategy. Your affiliate links on YouTube will bring in a lot of traffic, and the video itself can also rank on Google.

In addition, you can increase your SEO opportunities even further by filming multiple videos about a particular product.

Your affiliate links should ideally be in the very first part of the video description, so they can be seen without having to click on "Show More" or "Read more".

What should you cover in these videos?

I recommend recording yourself from start to finish and breaking it up into segments. This works to your advantage because people love to watch short videos, and you have plenty of opportunities to screen for different keywords related to this product.

If it's a digital product, start with the moment of purchase and guide people through the entire process. Also, if it’s a physical product, consider an unboxing video.

One way to take your affiliate product promotion to the next level is to host a webinar about it.

3. Host a webinar

Webinars are a very powerful way to share your message with your audience. They’re respectful, lively, and can be treated like a real event. This way, your promotion goes a lot further than just dropping a regular affiliate link into a post.

Combine this method with TIP15 below and you can provide valuable product information and even answer questions directly in the webinar.

If you record your live webinar, you can embed it on your website as a replay for people who didn’t watch the live webinar or for people who watched it but want to refresh the information.

4. Publish a webinar replay

To be honest, more people will watch it as a replay from live.

I recommend recording it using screen capture software like Camtasia Studio or Screen Stream.

Below is an example of a blog post on my site that includes a webinar replay: This was recorded with Clay Collins of LeadPages, of which I am an affiliate:

Webinar Replay Page with Clay Collins

Finally, make sure you provide multiple opportunities for people to click on your affiliate link in articles where you have embedded the webinar or replay.

This is probably one of the most underused tips I have to share with you today, but it's probably one of the most powerful.

5. Give away a bonus

In addition to promoting your affiliate product, give a bonus to everyone who purchases the product through your link as a thank you.

Since you are most likely not the only person promoting this product, give a bonus only to those who purchase through your link to encourage them to buy from you and not someone else.

Just ask your audience to email you their receipt and reply with their bonus and how to access it.

So what is this bonus?

Maybe it's a special webinar that shows how to use your product, with a Q& A session at the end. A session at the end. Imagine buying a product, getting familiar with it, and then having access to a webinar a few days later that shows you exactly how to use it and has the opportunity to ask any questions you have about it. How awesome would that be?

Maybe the bonus is another product or software that complements your affiliate product.

Maybe it’s a discount that you work with the product owner to incentivize them to buy from you.

Maybe it’s a coupon code or discount for another product you own or are connected to.

Maybe it’s a quick start PDF guide with instructions and best practices for that product, or access to a video website with the same guidance.

Add value to the purchase by making the buyer feel at ease and going from “I’m not sure if this is for me” to “This is exactly what I need and more.”

While your website will be the core of your affiliate marketing strategy, social media (Figbook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc.) can also play an important role in your affiliate marketing strategy.

6. Promote your products indirectly on social media

The thing about social media, at least in my experience and the experience of many others I know, is that promoting directly on social media platforms does not get a good response.

People on social media are usually there to be social, not to sell.

So instead of linking directly to your affiliate links on Facebook, Twitter, or any other platform, link to a video, an epic blog post, a registration link to a webinar, or anything else of value that contains your affiliate links.

Rather than linking directly to your affiliate links, link to a resource that will attract people, build their trust, and show them what your product is like before they click on your affiliate link.

Yes, one of the cardinal rules of online marketing was that the fewer portals and clicks people had to go through to get to the "buy" button, the better.

But I think we're now getting closer to the fact that the less information you give them, the less likely it is to lead to a sale.

The more you can earn their trust up front, the more likely people are to buy from you.

You don't need to make them click 100 times to get to the point you want, but a few clicks is fine as long as you give them enough information up front to make a decision.

Social proof is the idea that people are naturally drawn to what the crowds do. For example, let's say you're at a shopping mall and you see a large crowd of people gathered around a store.

7. Run a giveaway to take advantage of “social proof”

They can't help but want to know what's going on. Everyone else is there for a reason, and they want to know what that reason is.

Online, this translates to getting others to do the marketing for you, but in this case through metrics like subscribers, likes, tags, and comments.

Let's look at how this strategy works in the real world.

If you're going to promote a product as an affiliate, work with the owner of that product to get a few copies to give away for free to your readers.

Maybe you can even offer it to your readers at a discounted price for a limited time. This isn't always possible, but it never hurts to ask.

Introduce this product in a blog post. It could be an epic post, or just a mention at the end of a regular post.

Let them know that you're giving away 2-3 copies of the product for free, and that to win one of them, they need to leave a comment about how they use the product and why it's useful to them.

From your affiliate link, first ask what the product is, then return to your blog and leave that opinion as a comment.

By doing so, many people leave a comment that proves the splendor of the product as a social evidence.

There is nothing more powerful than the recommendation of others, and in this case, it is the recommendation of others for the product that you advertise as an affiliate.

In addition, you can follow those who have commented on the post but have not been able to acquire them, share a limite d-time transaction, share emails saying thank you for entering, and teach your affiliate links again.

I recommend that you try this strategy to advertise many products in the past.

The email list is indispensable for affiliate marketing campaigns. If you don't have it, you need to start making yesterday! E-mail is very powerful in marketing, and many people say "The Money is in the List".

8. Promote products indirectly via your email list

Like social media, I recommend advertising indirectly to an email list. I do not advertise anything directly to the email list. If my email has a link, it usually refers to links to other content on my blog, such as Epic post, video, and webinar.

E-mail should provide as valuable content as possible, not directly sold. In fact, some affiliate programs like Amazon do not even allow affiliate links in email. For more information about Amazon, see Amazon's Affiliate Marketing Guide.

Pay close attention to the email list and don't be too aggressive. In particular, indirect marketing is a much better way, especially if you focus on building trust with readers.

This is also a case where indirect links are your ally.

9. Promote products indirectly on other people’s sites

If you are interviewed by another person's blog or ask for a guest post, you can put an affiliate link to the content on your site.

Like social media and emails, they don't want to hit people's heads with link s-and in most cases, if you try to link directly to affiliate products through other people's sites, they don't allow it anyway.

Another strategy is to compare different types of different products. Compare and give your recommendation to make your recommendation link.

10. Review and compare different products of the same type

The reason that works is that people want to shop, but also prefer convenience. Therefore, instead of searching on the web here and there, you have to stay on your site and see various products in one place.

If you could make a Trust Audience well, a wel l-written review, comparing the same kind of different products, would be a great way to promote affiliate purchases.

This can also be a magnificent post with a video and special offer just for your viewers.

Many affiliate marketing articles propose a series of steps similar to this:

How to start: Affiliate marketing for beginners

Find the company and products you want to advertise.

Register as an affiliate.
Get your own affiliate link and add it to your website.
A visitor to your site clicks a link and moves to a third party page.
If a visitor purchases, you will receive a commission according to the amount of the purchased product.
In order to make money with affiliate marketing, you must first find the product to be advertised!

But the most important thing is that you should not first do affiliate marketing without building trust with your audience. Viewer first, always.

Therefore, my methodology for successful affiliate marketing online is as follows:

First, build a relationship with the audience.

Next, we identify products that meet the needs of the audience.
Then, use it yourself to test yourself whether the product is really worthwhile to recommend it to your audience.
Show the viewers on your website or YouTube channel, through blog posts and case studies, that the product works as promised.
Then, start a product promotion to the viewer, and if it goes well, the viewer will earn affiliate income when purchasing the product.
This approach puts your viewer's needs and focus at the center of success in affiliate marketing.

This YouTube video features a dialogue with my partner online course creation platform, TEACHABLE, and several online course creators.

I introduced my TEACHABLE affiliate link in the program notebook, but the main purpose of this video was to provide viewers and not to advertise links.

Thanks to affiliate marketing, I get more than $ 60, 000 more than $ 60, 000 a month. My affiliate income has increased because I follow two important rules:

Put your audience first (build trust)

I only recommend products that I know well, preferably ones that I have used in the past and that have helped me achieve something. If I don't believe in a product and don't think it will help people, I don't promote it.

I never tell someone to buy a product directly. I always recommend products based on my experience, in the context of what I have done or what I am doing.
What does following these two rules accomplish?

By doing these two things, my audience knows that I want them to buy only the tools they need, when they need them.

They know that I actually use and trust the products I recommend.

And they know that there is no pressure because I only have their best interests in mind.

Many marketing affiliates don't follow these rules. We can do better. So, I urge you to follow these rules with me.

Every marketing affiliate needs to understand the importance of building and maintaining trust with their audience before they start affiliate marketing.

Luckily, my startup system has been trusted through this process. Let's dive in! My approach to affiliate marketing is based on what I call the Soft Pitch Pipeline.

The Soft Pitch Pipeline

This approach is designed to do two main things: build trust and reduce the amount of "hard sell" needed to promote your affiliate products (hence the "soft pitch" part).

Imagine a set of pipes. This pipe represents the experience or "flow" people go through when they visit your website or are introduced to you or your brand.

At one end is the traffic that goes into the pipeline, and at the other end that "goes out" of the pipeline are the sales or conversions.

Between these two points, there are five segments that make up your entire brand experience:

Your relationship with your audience

The products you decide to promote
Your experience with those products
The evidence you share that these products work
The promotion that "sells" those products to your audience
These segments can vary in strength and size.

For example, if you have a great relationship with someone, it doesn't take much to get that person to do something.

In this case, the relationship part is so long that the tone part doesn't need to be long at all.

For example, suppose your wife is pregnant. At 2 o'clock in the middle of the night, your wife wants you to buy Debbie's Fudge Brownie. Well, you will probably go to the store to buy Debbie's Fudge Brownie.

Think of the other extreme example.

You have nothing to do with that company, so the company has to work even more to draw you into the charm of the company, that is, to try to try that company. Probably.

And many companies are really aggressively fighting, but they also backfires, making people uncomfortable or irritated.

This is exactly what we are trying to avoid with a soft pitch pipeline.

The pitch stage is shorter by focusing on the first four portions of the pipeline, the building, the product to be advertised, the experience of those products, and the product that can work with the audience. , It can be something that is not more aggressive.

If you set the first four sections of the pipeline in the correct way, you will have almost no steps required to have the audience click the affiliate link and have them purchased.

Let's explain each section!

All relationships

Segment 1: Relationships

Having a relationship with the audience is the basis of trust. You can also understand their needs and pain points by knowing the audience deeply.

That way, you can identify potential products that help meet those needs and pain points.

Until a while ago, many people find products that offer attractive fees to do affiliate marketing, build a site around it, and guide traffic using Facebook ads and Google AdWars. Was sold.

The tactics used to go well before, but Google and Facebook have become more difficult to delete these advertisements.

But more importantly, if you are interested in building a permanent business at a strategic level, it is not just the right way. Rather, it is necessary to take a lon g-term approach, that is, an approach focusing on building human relationships.

What is it?

First, it is necessary to identify the target audience with specific pain, tasks, issues, and goals.

By focusing on this target market and accurately understanding what the situation they are, you can discover ways to support their goals and overcoming issues.

The important thing is not to find an affiliate product, but to know your readers and find a solution that they use.

Start with pain, not a product.

How can you know the needs of readers?

You need to visit your website and make friends with people who interact with you on social media. Without that relationship, the possibility of important transactions will be much lower.

An important transaction is not just a sales transaction, but a subscription, comment, click, "likes,", follo w-up, share, and retweet.

The difficult thing is that it takes time to build a relationship.

Fortunately, there is a way to speed up the process of building relationships with audience without reducing the quality of the relationship.

So how can we connect with the viewer faster? Let's introduce three methods:

Do you want to buy a product that you didn't make, especially from a stranger?

1. Be Personable

Whether it's a blog post, an episode of a podcast, or a personal presentation at a major conference, many of my content share my personality and personal life.

As a result, most of my viewers are still working towards the goal of getting a family feeling, returning to the future, and reaching the basketball height setting lip. I know a lot about me, such as .......

In other words, the audience knows me as a real person and the same person as themselves.

They can report me. As a result, they are much more intimate with me than I spend time on strategies and tactics for successful online businesses.

Is my child or my favorite movie something related to affiliate marketing? At least there is nothing directly.

But are they something to do with my brand? The construction of a brand is equivalent to the construction of human relationships.

A person is connected to a person, and the more it appears in the viewer's eyes, the easier the viewer is connected with you.

People are programmed to love the story.

2. Tell Stories

Remember when you are absorbed in someone's story around the dining table, or when you watch a movie or read a book.

If you tell the story, the audience can easily find yourself in the story. The story gives things a context and makes them think. The story is an easy and gentle way to have a relationship with the audience.

There is no need to spend the entire articles in an indefinite story to create meaningful ties.

Instead, let's show your creativity and share a little anecdote and examples here and there to explain the concepts related to the message you are trying to convey.

By doing so, you can convey the information and at the same time build an important relationship with the audience.

Raok stands for "Random Acts of Kindness", one of my favorite things.

3. Practice ROAK

If you do something generous for someone for someone, you can get a great impression.

You can just reply to blogs and social media comments. By doing so, I can get people to know that I am a real person.

If someone is asking a question, I will answer it. By doing so, you can save time and get to know who I am.

Sometimes I go one step further and leave a comment on the blog of the person who left a comment in my article.

Such trivial things can quickly build a deep relationship with the reader.

And you can do the same!

So let's ask yourself. What kind of RAOK can I do for the audience? What unexpected favors can I give you a positive and sustainable relationship with them?

Once you create an audience and start building a relationship with them, you will find out what the audience needs.

Segment 2: Products

The next step is to identify the products you recommend to meet the needs of the audience and help them on their journey.

First of all, remember that the product can earn affiliate income, or not.

Don't put products and commissions in mind from the beginning. Start with the problem and find a solution to it.

And if the best solution to a specific problem is not an affiliate product, that's what you should sell to the audience. Don't forget that trust and relationship are the first.

With this in mind, once you know your audience, their needs and pain points, how do you choose a specific product?

Imagine a new visitor who first visited your site to get the right perspective here.

It may be difficult to answer this question, but you need to know what you want visitors to do.

Your copy needs to be precise and targeted so your visitors get what they need from you to achieve their goals.

Once you know what you want to help your new visitors achieve, it's time to think about how to get them there.

What is your roadmap to success? By clarifying the steps on that path, you can determine exactly what types of products can help your visitors at different points on that path.

Then you need to think about products that will help your audience along that path.

One of the best places to start identifying such products is through products you yourself have used. Whatever your niche, take the time to make a list of the tools and services you use.

What you used to achieve your goals should help your readers achieve theirs too. Almost any product or service can work, including:

Courses

Books
Books Books Books Books Books
Software
Software, Books, Books, Software, Software Products
Often you'll need to look beyond the products and services you already know and use to find the right fit for your audience! Luckily, there are a lot of great places and resources to find new affiliate products:

Google

Word of mouth – Mastermind, Facebook, etc., your professional networks.

Amazon – look for books and products.
Remember: Don’t start with the product. Start with your audience’s goals and pain points. Then find products that will help them get where they want to be.
It’s also important to realize that you are holding your audience back by not promoting products and services that will help them get on their “success path.”

Your knowledge and relationship with your audience will help them find the right solutions through the noise.

Finally, it goes without saying, but if the product doesn’t make sense to promote – if it’s not part of your audience’s success path – then you shouldn’t promote it, no matter how generous the affiliate commission is.

Okay. You’ve found a product that will help your audience achieve their goals. Now, what do you do? Start promoting it with your affiliate link right away?

Not yet. The next key factor to reducing the amount you have to fight is the experience you have with these products.

Segment 3: Experience

You have two words: experience speaks.

On Amazon, we make purchasing decisions by reading reviews from other people (people we've never met).

This is powerful, and imagine how much more powerful it is when your actual experience with a particular product is combined with the relationship you already have with someone in your audience.

This is why you need to know the product inside and out before you start promoting it to your audience.

Affiliate marketing works best when you treat the product you're promoting as your own. You need to know first-hand the experience your customers have using the product.

Of course, there's no point promoting it to your audience if it turns out to be a dud!

And if the product is great, there's no question your audience will find it useful.

As a result, I strongly recommend using and thoroughly testing any product before promoting it:

Whatever product you're going to promote, you need to understand what it's like to use it.

Everything you promote, whether it's your product or someone else's, reflects directly on you and your brand. If you promote it, your reputation is on the line.

1. For your protection

By using and experiencing the product, you can answer specific questions about it and become a valuable resource for interested potential buyers in your audience.

By showing your audience exactly how your product is used, they can imagine using it themselves.

2. To become a resource

By making the product familiar, your audience can easily imagine buying it and benefiting from it.

3. (Most importantly) To get rid of the mystery

So how exactly do you show your audience how to use your product?

The key is to show them using the product in real life - to show them using it naturally.

Why is this important?

Scientifically, we have little things in our brains called mirror neurons.

Mirror neurons are special brain cells that react when we watch someone else do something, so by watching someone else do something, we can understand what it feels like to do it.

For example, take a look at the "unzip" video on YouTube. It's a video of someone buying something like an iPad, unwrapping it in plastic, taking out all the parts, and then exploding it!

Here's an example of three podcasting microphones that cost under $75:

People like to see what they are trying to buy accurately, so open the box, which is advertised as an affiliate for yourself and your audience.

Write a wide range of blog posts about everything you need to know about the product and its products. Record videos and pod cast sessions with product owners, and ask questions about general questions about products.

You can also hold a live webinar with the actual questions from the viewers on the product.

So let's show how it looks, how you use it, and how to use it. Share good points, bad points, hints, tips, everything. Make sure you can easily imagine what you are using.

In any case, honestly, thoroughly. Give the audience to the audience to make appropriate decisions to see if the product suits you.

Next is evidence.

People want to know how their products use their goals. What I'm saying is the actual evidence, that is, the unmistakable results that can be felt, tasted, smelled, and touched.

Segment 4: Proof

Don't just say it's useful for the audience.

The proof is similar to the experience, but it focuses on positive results using products. Experience is to see the product actually moving, and proof is to see it works.

A few years ago, I saw a documentary "FAT, Sick & Amp; Amp? Neatly Dead". It was about Joe Cross, a man who had a difficult time: he was really overweight, had a lot of skin problems, and had something caused by the food he had eaten. Ta.

The documentary followed his journey to keep drinking juice for 90 days. Yes, only juice said he spoke for 90 days.

His transformation was remarkable and could see it in the documentary. By the end of 90 days, he was happy, healthy and thin, without taking medicine, had no rough skin.

Just 30 minutes after seeing this documentary, my new Breville Juicer receipt arrived from Amazon to my reception tray.

Everything is thanks to Joe Cross. His documentary showed his amazing changes in a bold and personal way.

This documentary is an almost perfect example of a proof that it shows the surprising results of the audience.

Fat, chic & amplifier? After watching Nearly Dead, I didn't have to hear a lot. Proving Joe Cross's transformation did everything for me.

If there had been a partner link at the end of this documentary, I would have been more than happy to take advantage of it. I was initially hesitant to purchase, but showing me this proof sealed the deal and moved me firmly into the "buyer" camp.

If you can show the success you've had with your product, your audience should be excited about the possibility of having that same success.

The documentary was Joe's platform to show that proof.

Whatever it is, show your audience concrete evidence - data and proof - that the product you're promoting can change their lives for the better.

The last part of the pipeline before conversion or sale is the actual offer or sale.

Because as we've said in this guide, trust is key. You shouldn't start directly promoting your product until you've earned your audience's trust and know it will be beneficial to them.

Segment 5: Pitch

Here's the great thing: if you've done it right up to this point, the pitch stage should be the shortest and least aggressive part of your pipeline.

The more you focus on building a relationship with your audience, suggesting products that are in line with their success path, sharing your experience with that product, and concretely demonstrating the benefits of that product, the less important it becomes to actually pitch your product directly.

Yes, by focusing on the first four stages of the pipeline, you can reduce the amount of selling you do.

But at the very least, you need to make it possible to sell. You need to enable people to click on your affiliate link and buy your product!

That means creating a point of sale where you put one or more calls to action (CTAs) to get them to click on your affiliate link and buy your product. There are many options for where to place these links and CTAs:

Emails

Blog posts

Emails
Podcasts
Webinars
Social media posts
So, is it enough to just add your affiliate links to emails and blog posts?
Here are some important tips when adding affiliate links to your points of sale:

When providing a link, always make it clear that it is an affiliate link and that you will earn a commission on each sale.

In fact, if you follow through on everything that leads to this point, people will want to give back for all that you've done for them.

1. Be honest

Some people may not know about affiliate links or affiliate commissions, and may end up opening a new window to purchase the product.

By being honest and upfront about using affiliate links, you help ensure that you are getting all the affiliate commission you deserve.

Not only do you mention that it's an affiliate link, but also offer to answer questions and provide support if needed.

This is a great way to show your audience that there is someone there to help them out when they need it, at the point of sale.

2. Offer support

But you've already tested the product and learned how to use it, so you shouldn't have a problem with taking on that responsibility.

Give people multiple chances to click on your affiliate link.

Let's take blog posts as an example, as one of the most common ways to share affiliate links. Often, business owners just link to the first mention of the affiliate product.

3. Provide multiple opportunities

If a reader misses the link or forgets to scroll back when they meant to keep scrolling, they'll lose out on a great commission.

Instead, add links near the beginning, middle, or end of your posts.

And remember that there are plenty of ways and places to share your affiliate links outside of blog posts:

YouTube videos

Emails

Podcasts
Emails
Offering a bonus along with your affiliate product is a great way to make sure people are coming through your link and not someone else's.
Lots of people use the bonus technique, but many don't use it to its full potential.

4. Offer a bonus

They'll just throw in random stuff that's not what the potential buyer needs. If you really want to hit the bonus jackpot, make it something that really complements the product you're promoting.

This could be something like:

A quick start PDF guide on how to use your product

Access to something you have that complements your product - if you're selling a juicer, you could offer a recipe guide that goes with it.

Coupon codes or discounts for related products or services
Finally, remember why you started affiliate marketing in the first place.
Not for the commission. To help your readers achieve something.

5. Remember why

Now that you have a platform and an audience that trusts you, your responsibility is to provide them with the products they need to succeed.

Your commissions are ultimately a by-product of how helpful you are to your audience. So, be amazingly helpful and you’ll earn more in the long run.

You’ll be most successful if you approach affiliate marketing in a way that keeps people around you engaged and don’t rely on the ring but rather on what’s in front of you: relationships, products, experience, and proof.

Remember: use affiliate marketing as a tool to help your readers and the rewards will come!

What is affiliate marketing? If you’ve visited my website, you may have seen my Tools page.

Editor’s Note: This screenshot is from an earlier version.

Affiliate marketing examples

This page contains a list of recommended resources, including products, services, apps, etc., to help my readers launch their own online businesses.

Many of the links on this page are affiliate links, meaning I receive a commission if someone clicks on a link and purchases the product or service I link to.

Here’s what you see when you click on an affiliate link for Bluehost, a web hosting company I use and recommend:

And here’s what you see when you click on an affiliate link for ConvertKit, an email service provider I happily recommend:

You can also earn affiliate commissions by signing up with affiliate networks, which I’ll explain later. One of the most popular is the Amazon Associates Program.

There are plenty of other affiliate marketing examples out there.

For example, Create a Pro Website is an affiliate marketing website and YouTube channel.

They do a good job of providing value through product demonstrations while making their affiliate links meaningful (this is a great affiliate marketing strategy that you can see in the case study below).

Freelancing. school is a particularly good example that focuses on building relationships with the public first, and then offers additional elements like a community of like-minded people and free courses to help you succeed in your freelancing career.

These days, even established news outlets like the New York Times are becoming affiliate marketing websites!

The NYT Wirecutter section is an example, which offers product reviews and tutorials, from the correct cleaning method of the toilet to what you need to make a pot at home.

Affiliate marketing is basically shared affiliate links, on the website, on social media such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, or e-mail to the mailing list. Choose to share!

Next, let's introduce a case study that introduces what an effective affiliate marketing is on site.

This case study is based on a lon g-recommended product that I have become one of the biggest guides for affiliate income.

Affiliate marketing case study: SPI + ConvertKit

From 2015 to 2017, it brought an affiliate income of $ 315. 000.

ConvertKit is an example of a product that I promote as part of a lon g-term strategy.

This is a great example of affiliate resources that I advertise to the audience, and it can be a lon g-term profit, and at the same time gaining healthy affiliate income.

I myself love and love Convertkit (and Convertkit's founder Nathan Barry is my best friend), but the purpose of this corner is not to advertise Convertkit.

Instead, I will show you how I have advertised Convertkit.

D-O-I-I-N-G ". This strategy helped me to succeed when I advertise Convertkit as an affiliate.

These characters are supported:

Product demonstration

Provide audience answers about products

Interview with the founder of the product
I do not recommend two or more products of the same type.
Show the product to your subordinates
Before entering the D-O-I-N-G approach, I will explain a little about how I started promotion of ConvertKit as an affiliate.
Convertkit was not my first email service provider.

It was the first use in 2010.

Aweber was wonderful as an entr y-level email tool, and I also advertised as an affiliate and temporarily achieved $ 2, 000 a month.

And even though I no longer advertise the product, the person I introduced paid regularly every month every month, so the income comes in every month.

However, in the end, an eas y-t o-use email service with more advanced functions was needed.

For a while, I rely on another tool called InfusionSoft.

Shortly after I started using Infusionsoft, my friend Nathan Barry asked me how I was using his new tool.

Nathan had recently launched a new email service provider, ConvertKit.

A few weeks later, we met for coffee in downtown San Diego.

After a bit of personal stuff, we moved to business.

Nathan asked me lots of questions about my needs, experience, and aspirations as a blogger, podcaster, and digital marketer.

He didn't really try hard to promote his new tool, except at the end of our conversation he said: "If Infusionsoft doesn't work for you, I'll teach you how to use ConvertKit."

I didn't believe his offer for a while.

But as time went on, I started to feel more and more frustrated with Infusionsoft.

So I reached out to Nathan and asked him how he was using Convertkit.

I wasn't surprised to hear that it continues to grow month after month.

New features are added regularly, and after talking a bit with other users, I was happy to hear very positive reviews.

So I asked Nathan to give me a demo of my current software over Skype and I was blown away.

I liked the intuitive user interface, as well as the segmentation and automation features of the tool.

After seeing what the tool could do, I decided to switch from Infusionsoft, and Nathan's team helped me migrate my email list.

I've been using Convertkit ever since and really love it.

This positive experience is also reflected in my affiliate income from Convertkit.

I was happy with my affiliate income from AWEBER, but after switching to Convertkit, I reached a new level of affiliate income and success.

Part of the reason is because Convertkit is a great tool, but a lot of it has to do with my D-O-I-N-G approach to advertising.

So let's learn all about it!

Affiliate marketing is technically easy.

All you have to do is get your affiliate link and start sharing it with your audience. It's easy to stop there and think that's enough.

D: Demo the product

But if you've been with us from the beginning of this article, you know that a key practice in affiliate marketing is to treat products that aren't yours as if they were yours.

If you're selling your own product, you'd show people what they're getting before they get it, right?

But most affiliate marketers just share a link and a few words and are happy with it.

Instead, as I said above, you need to show your product in action. That's where demos come in.

People are more likely to buy if they know exactly what they're getting and how it will help them.

The best way to do this is with a video demo that shows people two main things: 1) how they can benefit from the tool and 2) how to use it.

In 2015, I created a demo of Convertkit on YouTube.

In the video, I talk about the benefits and features that made me fall in love with ConvertKit: ease of use and setup, beautiful design, powerful statistical analysis, hashing and tagging, and more.

I also show screenshots of ConvertKit so you can see how you can do different things with the tool.

If you search "Convertkit Demo" or "Convertkit Tutorial" on YouTube or Google, my demos usually come up at the top.

This has been viewed 30. 000 times and has driven tons of traffic both back to my site and through the affiliate links listed in the video description.

When you're thinking about creating your own demo, you want to show not only the features and benefits of the tool, but also have fun with it and show your personality.

In the Demo Convertkit video, you don't see much of me (just my voice in a screenflow video), but it still shows my personality.

I could have made a stiff, mechanical demo that only conveys the relevant information, and I could have made it shorter.

Instead, I relaxed and shared my honest opinion, using words like "cool" and "powerful" (yes, "cool"!) to convey my excitement about Convertkit's features, and I hope that the audience shares that excitement.

You want to create a thoughtful demo that shows you're interested in creating informative content, while also engaging your audience and getting them excited about trying the tool.

And of course, make sure to include a call to action to go through your affiliate link and disclose your affiliate relationship with the company.

But you don’t want to bombard your viewers with these CTAs, and if you’ve provided enough valuable and compelling content in your demo, you shouldn’t include more than one or two.

In the Convertkit demo video, I only mention my affiliate link and status very briefly twice at the end:

"Smartpassiveincome. com/convertkit, and I'm looking forward to using it. As I said, ConvertKit will make our lives easier and others in the future. I'm going to announce this. I am rewarded as a consultant and partner.

In other types of content like a blog post, I may share a little more frequent, for example, the first, middle, and last of an article.

However, whether it is a video demonstration or a blog post, in any case, the content itself does the "powerful work" of people who want to try that product, so my affiliate link is the audience. You don't have to hit your head.

The next step is to provide answers to people's questions.

If someone asks a product, he should already be interested in the product.

O: Offer answers

If you can answer their questions, you can give them the last piece to make a purchase while knowing that there are people who can provide product support when they need it.

Therefore, I always provide support for ConvertKit and other affiliate products.

When I get a question, I will answer immediately. Because I want you to be relieved for the idea of spending money on what I advertise.

The combination of demonstrations and answers is powerful.

If you create a thorough and useful demo, you will be able to answer many questions in the demonstration.

But even if your demonstration covers all the basses you can think of, you still need to provide them to answer people's questions.

Even if they don't have anything, only the fact that you provide that help, people feel more comfortable and want to buy products through your link. Don't forget that you want people to trust you and invest with peace of mind.

Would you like an example that can provide support in this way? At the end of the DEMO CONVERTKIT video introduced in the previous section, this is what I am talking about:

"I will answer your questions. If you are watching on YouTube, please ask from the following. We will answer as much as possible. If you are watching the SPI blog, please ask the question in the comments. Or I really believe this product.

I also provide answers to people about my affiliate products through other channels, such as email and social media.

Twitter is easy to reply immediately, so I often get contact on Twitter.

Also, there is a limited number of characters, which helps both sides to communicate the key points.

Also, by offering an answer to the question, you can give you a sense of security that you will answer even if you have a question later when you come across the product.

This is especially important if the product you advertise is highly technical.

In this way, by providing support, people will buy more peace of mind through your affiliate links.

When advertising affiliate products, having others talk about the product and the story in the background is a powerful way to excite people about the product.

The great way to do this is to interview the founder of the product in one of the episodes, including podcasts.

I: Interview

Nathan Barry, the founder of Convertkit, interviewed me in the episode 244 of Smart Passive Inn Podcast 244.

But the important thing here is that we didn't talk much about the product itself!

We talked about his story and how he sold and succeeded.

He talked about how I met him, built him and his company, and eventually became an advisor for a converted kit.

The product itself, and the affiliate relationship between me and the converted kit was not the focus of the interview, so the listeners could focus on how much attention and quality of Nathan were to create products and corporate culture.

As a result, I was able to start building a relationship with him.

I only touched on my affiliate links, almost naturally concluded in this episode.

Interview with the founder of the product you are advertising to increase affiliate marketing initiatives is a major reason for a podcast.

Despite Nathan and I recorded this episode in 2016, people still download and listen to this episode.

I often mention this episode when I mention CONVERTKIT, which is an aggressive resource to promote affiliate relations.

So, if you're planning to advertise a new affiliate product, try to see if the founder of the product can appear in your podcast.

If you can't access the founder for a pod cast interview, consider an email interview or a video interview with Skype or Zoom.

If you can't secure the founder, look for a representative person at a high level.

If that is not possible, aim for those who have used the product, if possible, those who know and respect the viewer if possible.

In the start of the above affiliate, we will advertise the product, how much you know, you like it, and use the product to get a wonderful result, that is, the importance of showing evidence. I did it.

If only one person is appealing to the product, there is always the risk of being denied that your efforts are too advertised.

On the other hand, as the episode of Nathan Barry Podcast shows, interviews are powerful because most indirect sales are mostly.

Next, multiple solutions should not be proposed for a specific type problem.

This is a very important rule and has many discussions.

N: Never recommend more than one of the same kind of product

There are exceptions, but let's talk about it later.

Before that, what does it mean that you don't recommend two or more products of the same type?

If I recommend ConvertKit and recommend other email solutions like Aweber and MailChimp, my main recommendations will be persuasive.

Otherwise, people will be confused.

I have recommended some similar products before, but it didn't work.

People said: "Wait, I thought you were recommending this, but this time this story? What is it? How is it good?"

You do not want more questions about products that people are convinced.

That's why you first came to you!

Yes, I made my decision and the only e-mail service provider that I recommend to people is ConvertKit.

Now, do you recommend multiple products with the same type of solution?

If so, you will reduce your affiliate marketing efforts and reduce your earning income. Yes, sometimes it's great to give people a choice, but it can be disadvantageous for you.

Let's say someone said this now. I know you recommend ConvertKit, but what other solutions do you have? "If you are told, of course, I will tell you what other options you have.

I'm sorry, Dave. There are no other great options. "

That's a lie. There are other wonderful e-mail service providers.

But what I use, recommend, and trust exist to help my audience become a converted kit.

And everything has an exception.

In this case, a specific type of site does not make sense to recommend it.

For example, if you operate a vacuum vacuum cleaner review site, advertising only one product will be against the whole purpose of the site.

Certainly, you can tag products and recommended products to different categories. But if people are looking for a useful comparison of similar products, the rules of N will probably not be applied.

As you may have remembered, let me introduce another example of my affiliate promotional materials.

In my YouTube video, I review three different pod casting microphones.

This is the point: These products are very similar (all are microphones), but I use the review opportunities to differentiate them depending on the best use, and which microphone for each scenario. We recommend specifically whether to use.

For example, this video recommends that a microphone is not used for pod casting. My affiliate links are posted on each microphone because I differentiate it for viewers.

This is a great thing, which represents a change in thinking in recent years.

In many cases, people become timid when they come out before the audience.

G: Get the product in front of your people

If it is your own product or affiliate product, if it applies to you, you should shift your mindset. < SPAN> If so, it will reduce affiliate marketing efforts and reduce earning income. Yes, sometimes it's great to give people options, but it can be disadvantageous for you.