One of those being that you aren’t passionate (or even remotely interested in) your niche. If that’s the case, don’t feel bad – you’re not alone.

Countless people have chosen niches based on things like assumed profit potential, market research strategies they were taught, etc.

You’ll know, without a shadow of a doubt, if you chose the wrong niche or the right one. And there is no right or wrong outside of what is right or wrong for YOU. Given a bit of market research combined with a bit of common sense, of course.

Considering all the potential topics, niches and markets there are… it makes no sense to work in a niche you don’t truly ENJOY. There are entirely too many options. Why even start a business that isn’t profitable and enjoyable?

“It won’t be hard if you’re doing what you love more than anything else. I don’t care if your passion is rehabilitating abandoned ferrets; if you learn to tap into everything the digital world has to offer, you can turn water into wine – you can transform what you love into a legacy-building business that makes a crapload of money, and still be true to yourself.”
-Gary Vaynerchuk, Crush It!

How do you know if you chose the right niche?

You’re having FUN. Period.

If you’re struggling to create content, get engaged with your market via Social Media channels, get traffic, or dread working on your site/blog… you probably chose the wrong niche. And I don’t mean struggling as in figuring out what to do and how, but struggling as in you dread it worse than a root canal and procrastinate constantly just to avoid doing it.

Working in a niche you love means you actually LIKE the market, you probably *are* your target market, you consume content from the Market Leaders, and you truly enjoy talking about the subject.

(It’s incredibly difficult to serve a market you can’t really relate to or connect with.)

“I’m convinced that if something is your true passion you can find 500 things – 500 *interesting* things – to say about it. Most people talk themselves out of success before they even start. Their passion is stickers, but they think, “There’s no way I can make a hundred grand talking about stickers.” That’s why you’re going to crush it – because you’re the type who’s going to say, “Stickers? Hell yes, stickers!” -Gary Vaynerchuk, Crush It!

Now What?

I don’t need to get long-winded about this topic. You know in your gut whether you’re working on a business you LOVE, or whether you’re selling yourself short.

And let’s be honest. You’re not just selling yourself short if you’re in the wrong niche. You’re selling your market short. Both of them actually – the one you’re trying to target, and the one you’re ignoring too.

Your DNA dictates your passion – whatever it is you were born to do; being authentic, and being perceived as such by your audience, relies on your ability to ensure that every decision you make when it comes to your business is rooted in being true to yourself.” -Gary Vaynerchuk, Crush It!

Are you being true to yourself and your values in the online business you started? Are you an asset to your market? Do you wake up every day thinking about, and ultimately talking about, something related to your niche?

Just to clarify, learning the technical stuff and having the occasional bout of writer’s block isn’t a sign that you’re in the wrong niche. You KNOW if you are or not. Some telltale signs might include: you wouldn’t discuss it with your mother, the topic *never* comes up in casual conversation, or it feels even slightly “slimy” or “spammy”.

If you did choose the wrong niche, no big deal. Jump ship, sell the site on Flippa.com, and start working on something you look forward to every day!

Starting your own business should be liberating and fun, even when the hours are long. In the right niche, you can work 18 hours a day and love every minute of it!

Consider this your free ticket out of Niche Hell.

It’s never too late to start over and do it right.

Best,

p.s. I shared several quotes from Crush It! by Gary Vaynerchuk. AWESOME book. It’s full of niche ideas, success stories, inspiration & how-to. I highly recommend you grab a copy if you haven’t read it already!

Also See: How to Choose a Niche

Susanne has been doing Affiliate Marketing for 7 years, and earning a full-time income for more than 5 years.

The purpose of Daily Affiliate Task is to allow you to watch over her shoulder and see exactly what she does and how she does it.

Knowing that we all do things differently, I was interested to check out Susanne’s checklists and methods myself.

I’m always studying other marketer’s strategies and examples for new ideas to test. When I saw that she was practically giving it away for only $10/month, I thought I’d share this with you – along with a detailed review…

The main goal behind DAT (Daily Affiliate Tasks) is to help you consistently work on your business at least 30 minutes a day. And as I’ve discussed recently, this type of consistency in your online business is KEY.

DAT is for people that already have a website/blog up & running, and preferably a mailing list, but she does give you a bonus PDF in Week 4 on how to set one up.

Daily Affiliate Tasks – What To Expect

Each week, starting on the day you sign up, you receive a PDF File for that week’s daily tasks. The weekly task lists are given in an order that makes sense, working from one step to the next with each week’s new tasks.

For example, Week One was about content creation ideas and came with a checklist and planning sheet. Week Two is about promoting that content, telling you how and giving you daily tasks to get it done. In each download she gives you creative ideas, the WHY behind what she does, and also resources she uses herself.

So far I have found Susanne’s Daily Affiliate Task to be a great product for those who need help staying on task with their affiliate marketing. And it’s super affordable! Like I said, each week comes with a task list so you can stay on track.

The key is to download the file she sends you each week, and commit to the simple checklist provided. You’ll get to follow the exact same steps Susanne has followed (and still uses) that helped her make a full time income online in Affiliate Marketing for the last 5 years.

There’s nothing complicated about it. There’s no rocket science to anything that Susanne does, or that I do myself, to make our websites profitable and successful. It’s all in consistency, and in doing a few simple things that *every* blogger or website owner should be doing.

Unfortunately most people quit at “a little of this” and “a little of that” and blame their lack of success on anything from scams to bad niche selection.

If you want something to follow, something to keep you accountable to becoming consistent with your site growth & marketing strategy, Daily Affiliate Task is for you.

I’ve enjoyed watching over Susanne’s shoulder and seeing the different ways she works on her affiliate sites. Like I said, we all do things differently, so it’s cool to pick up tips & ideas from others that are doing well online too.

You simply drive referrals and earn an income.

When I discovered affiliate marketing, I got excited, to say the least.

My introduction to promoting digital products was e-books. In time, I discovered that there are much more than e-books to promote as an affiliate. Once I realized that this affiliate marketing gig presents opportunities to promote and sell pretty much every kind of product, I became dizzy about the potential of this business model…

Don’t get me wrong, E-books and other digital products can be great earners. But there is much, much more out there you can promote as an affiliate.

The following are 5 types of products you can promote as an affiliate, and the pros and cons of each.

1. Digital Products

Many affiliate marketers get started by promoting digital products such as E-books, video courses, etc. Some sell very well and the commissions can be excellent.

Pros

• The only place to buy the product is online which increases the chance you’ll gain the commission.
• High commission percent resulting in robust commissions.
• Many digital product vendors include upsells which can result in more commissions.
• Some digital product vendors offer lifetime commissions which means your referrals can generate commissions for you for years.
• Huge diversity of products to choose from.
• Often long cookie tracking duration; in some cases lifetime cookie tracking.

Cons

• High level of affiliate competition for popular digital products.
• Affiliate commission leakage in the internet marketing niches if sold on ClickBank. The problem here is that referrals buy through their own affiliate link so you don’t earn the commission. Frankly, I’m of the view that ClickBank should prohibit affiliates from buying through their own links. This is a very common complaint.
• Lower conversion rates (generally).

2. Physical Products

I like promoting physical products because they sell well, especially recognized brands or from recognized online retailers such as Amazon. Sure, the commissions are a lower percentage than digital products and services, but this is offset by higher conversion rates.

Pros

• Excellent conversion rate for many physical products (relative to digital products).
• If you send a referral to a large online retailer, the referral may buy more than just the physical product you promote.
• Easy keyword research opportunities simply by targeting a product’s name.
• Huge variety of products to choose from.

Cons

• High level of affiliate competition in many product-lines.
• May lose the sale by customer buying it offline.
• Lower commissions.
• Orders may be taken by telephone which may result in a lost commission.
• Some vendors’ and online retailers have very short cookie tracking duration.

Tip: Provide affiliate links to several online buying sources. For example, if a product is sold on the vendor’s website and Amazon, provide links to both.

3. Services

Services are under-promoted in my view which means they are a terrific opportunity for affiliate marketers.

As the internet grows in popularity worldwide, more and more businesses are offering web-based services. The savvy service providers have affiliate programs to promote their services.

Examples of web-based services include SEO services and online legal services.

Pros

• Decent conversion rate.
• Relatively low affiliate competition (compared to digital and physical products).
• Decent commission percentage.
• In some cases, you can find services offering lifetime commissions and/or recurring commissions.
• Often can only buy online which means customers can’t go to a physical location which increases the chance you earn the commission.

Cons

• May lose sales if orders are processed by telephone.
• Some consumers may not quite trust online services which can hurt conversion rates.
• Not the variety to choose from that you have with digital and physical products. You have to hunt around a little to find decent web-based services to promote.

4. Membership Websites

Membership Websites can be an excellent product to promote as an affiliate because many membership websites offer recurring commissions.

Pros

• Potential for recurring commissions.
• Can’t buy offline.
• Generally few in a particular niche so a referral has little choice and it improves the chance they will join if they’re set on joining a particular membership website.
• If a membership site offers lifetime commissions on other products sold to members, you can earn for years from a single referral.

Cons

• Lower conversion rate (generally) due to people not wishing to commit to a monthly expense.
• The intangible nature of a membership site can also result in lower commissions.

5. Software with Recurring Subscriptions

I place software separately from digital products because software with recurring subscriptions often means recurring commissions for affiliates. Recurring commissions are one of my favorite commission types because they truly generate passive income.

Pros

• Free trial offers can help conversions.
• Some software vendors offer commissions for leads (i.e. free trial offers).
• Decent conversion rate.
• Potential for recurring commissions.

Con

• Some software applications have extremely high competition among affiliates. For example, e-mail software is extremely competitive.

Can you promote different types of products on a single website?

Absolutely. I do. As long as the different types of products are related, then there’s no reason not to promote any or all the above different types of products on a single website.

The key is you never really know what will sell the best on your site. Don’t get upset if you promote a dud. Affiliate marketing is largely a numbers game. When you hit upon a hot product, you can generate an excellent income. Add to that several products, and you can quickly establish a healthy monthly income.

One way to effectively promote all types of products as an affiliate is by writing reviews or building review websites.

About the Guest Author: Peter Lawlor is a contributing author to the free Definitive Guide to Affiliate Review Websites and the blog B2Web.

You can start writing your evaluation about the product and be ready to promote by the end of the day today!

Lynn has some really great examples right here at Clicknewz that you can model. I strongly recommend checking out her post on How to Write a Product Review. It’s one of my favorites, and I refer to it often when writing my own product reviews…

Let’s go ahead and get right into some simple things that can help you increase your affiliate commissions while using product reviews….

Blogging, Blogging, and more Blogging

If you want traffic to increase to your site, you need to optimize your content for the search engines. One of the best ways you can do this is to write about the product(s) you recommend. You can do this by either doing the work on your own or hiring ghost writers to do the job for you. The former is naturally more time-consuming on your part while the latter is more expensive. The choice is all up to you.

The most important thing is that you get more clicks when you post something new on your site. The rule of thumb is to put up more content (80%) than promotional write-ups (20% only). It’s that good old 80/20 rule. That would mean that you can post your promotional content once you have posted 3 or 4 other pieces.

I agree with that, but it depends. 80/20 is a great guideline, tried and true, but it’s not the law. Sometimes you’ll have more to say about something than other times. I say go with your gut. If you know your niche and you know your readers, then you know what is going to be acceptable for them. Just stay true to that!

Another Option: Consider Private Label Rights (PLR)

As I mentioned earlier, hiring someone to write blog posts for you can get a bit pricey. Most of the ghost writers I know are quite good at what they do, so I’m not at all surprised at their rates for services. However, for someone just getting started with their first niche site, or maybe someone getting into a new niche with a smaller budget, it’s just not in the cards to hire a ghost writer.

If you don’t think hiring a writer to work for you is within your project budget or you just want additional options, you might want to consider getting PLR – or Private Label Rights articles & product reviews. There is a better chance for you to increase your affiliate sales with PLR because you are getting really good ready-made, ready to use content.

The downside is that you won’t have 100% unique content right of the box.

You generally have two options with PLR content: you can use it as-is, or you can edit it to make it your own. I strongly recommend adding a bit of your own voice to your PLR content, even if it’s just one line or a new title. That little tweak only takes a few minutes and it makes a huge difference.

By using PLR reviews and articles you’ll add value to your website, blog or newsletter. It doesn’t take you a long time to research or write, and it won’t cut too deeply into your project budget.

Link It Up & Get Social

This is one of the best things you can do if you want your online business to succeed. If you are visible on other sites that people visit, chances are these people will want to visit your site too. And if you allow big websites to advertise on your page, you can earn from that. The important thing here is that people keep clicking.

I know you’re sitting there saying, ‘Loretta I thought we were talking about product reviews here.’ And we are. But they aren’t going to do you any good if no one sees them. Get some links, even if it’s just a few social bookmarking links – actually, that’s a great place to start in this case…

Social media and product reviews go hand in hand.

Think about your Twitter stream or your Facebook news feed for a second. I’m sure that within the last 24 hours you’ve seen someone mention somewhere something they bought that they either liked or disliked. Chances are they told you where they bought it and why the liked it or didn’t like it.

That’s a product review in action in real time. Often people see these and pass the information on to other people they know that might like – or want to avoid – the same products. And sharing means even more potential links!

Be Real and Involve the Masses

One of the things people want to see in product reviews is honesty. When they read all positive raves, they will immediately be suspicious. If you want to increase your affiliate sales, you need to catch the reader’s attention and build trust with every paragraph you write.

Let other consumers post reviews on your site too. This can be risky and involve some work. If a particular product review attracts a lot of attention, the lurkers and trolls will come. If a discussion gets out of hand you always have the option of closing comments on it, particularly if you think the conversation has peaked.

Remember, as a blogger or reviewer, your number one goal is not to close the sale. That is the responsibility of the merchant! (Something Lynn teaches us and reminds us about in our weekly Clicknewz Elite Brainstorming Hour often.)

You should focus on reviewing the product, recommending it to the prospective client, praising it, reviewing pros and cons, and describing it in the most honest manner possible…

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Thank you to Lynn for allowing us to guest post here on Clicknewz. Click here to check out
The Big Bundle Sale at Product Review PLR.

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I didn’t even so much as research the niche first. A double-niche actually. No keyword research. No market research. Nada.

Sometimes you just have to go for it!

Today I’m going to reveal that domain name, and the niche, and give you some insight into my decision to skip any research upfront.

I’ll also walk you through the initial set-up so you can see firsthand just how cheap & easy it is to get your own niche site or blog up and running – fast…

The Niche I Chose, And Why…

You may or may not have noticed that I put on 20 pounds in the last couple of years. Blame age, blame the rough spell I went through, or whatever, but I finally reached my breaking point around March 1st.

Exercise alone wasn’t cutting it. I continued to gain weight. Finally, around mid-April, I changed my eating habits dramatically. I cut down to less than 20 net carbs a day. I immediately lost 15 pounds in the first month or so!

While I was having lunch at the beach on Saturday, my friend Tracy commented how impressed she was I was sticking to my “diet” – and how most people would skip it while on vacation. I laughed and said, “Yeah, but I’m on perpetual vacation! That would never work.”

And that’s when the idea for the domain came to me:

www.TravelingLowCarb.com

A place to share all the things I’ve figured out for eating low-carb on the go, through airports and at restaurants, while camping, and even my fun & easy meals at home.

My vision was a simple blog with mostly photos and quick tips. A place where people can follow my travels, my progress, and my weird eating habits (lol)…

Getting The Niche Blog Online – Fast!

As I mentioned, the first thing I did was register the domain name. I am quite good at choosing domain names out of thin air, if I do say so myself .

Luckily the first one that came to mind was available at GoDaddy. It only took a few seconds to add it to my account, which I did between flights at the Atlanta airport.

From there, I followed the steps outlined at How To Start A WordPress Blog. Since I already have hosting set up, I simply created an add-on domain in my current hosting account (there’s no charge for additional domains/sites with HostGator!).

When you log in to cPanel, scroll down to the domains section and click on Addon Domains (see screenshot above). That will take you to a simple form where you add the domain and other details:

Next, I logged in to GoDaddy and updated my nameservers. You’ll get those when you sign up for a hosting account, or you can log in to your current hosting account and get the Nameservers if you are doing an add-on domain.

After that I installed WordPress through my cPanel (easy peasy!), I went to Google to hunt for a free WordPress theme to use. I found a really cool, brand new travel-related theme that was just released on June 11th. That just happened to be the exact day I thought up the domain & blog idea… so it seemed like a perfect fit!

I downloaded the theme, uploaded it to my server, and activated it.

All said and done, here’s what I have online so far:

Obviously I still have a few simple customizations to do, and a few basic tweaks, then it’s on with the content & marketing!

I registered the domain name on Sunday, between flights. I sat down on Tuesday night and set up the add-on domain with my host and installed WordPress. Then I grabbed a free theme. This all happened in less than 90 minutes – and that’s only because I browsed through themes for awhile!

It didn’t take me days, or weeks, or months. It took MINUTES…

No Research?! Are You Crazy??

I think this may be the most shocking part of this Case Study – the fact that I put absolutely no research into it upfront. But honestly, it just wasn’t necessary.

I know that both travel and diet/weight loss are huge markets. The “low carb” topic is very trendy right now too. Obviously there is no concern about whether there is a market, or whether it is a buying market.

When it comes to optimization, I’ll be targeting long-tail (very specific) keyword phrases on individual pages and blog posts. THAT is when I’ll do my keyword research – on the micro level.

There was really no sense drudging over details when I could just dig in and get started. I know it’s a hot topic, a buying market, and broad enough to give me plenty of market depth.

The Total Cost

Another reason I didn’t stress over research upfront is the insanely low investment of setting up this site. The only thing it cost me was around $10 for a domain name.

If I didn’t already have a hosting account, I would have used a coupon code to get my first month free anyway – so no additional cost there for setup.

I told you it was cheap & easy!

Next Steps For A Brand New Niche Blog

My next steps will be to: flesh out the About page, choose and create my Categories, and start creating content based on my keyword research. I’m basically just following the exact steps on my WordPress Checklist.

I’ll also burn my feed through FeedBurner.com (so I have RSS stats), redirect my default feed to the new one, and set up a mailing list in my Aweber account so that readers can subscribe for email updates via the Blog Broadcast feature.

I’ll be continuing this Case Study in the Private Brainstorming Forum. You’ve seen how quickly and easily I set it up, now you can follow along & watch to learn how I market & monetize it. All you have to do is register on the ClickNewz Forum, then upgrade to Elite Member to access the private forum areas.

Note to Elite Members: the live case study thread is now live in the private forum at: http://www.clicknewz.com/members/showthread.php?7274

Best,

p.s. I’m traveling again at the end of the week, through the end of next week – this time on a personal trip! While I’m away, I have success stories lined up for you about other niche sites and blogs. Be sure to stop by and check those out…

I’m sure you’ll enjoy them!

“I have made the decision to study and learn online affiliate marketing. Is there any great outlay in the beginning whilst am learning and building this from dot? This would be my only dilemma as am living day to day at present but am determined to be a success one day. I am so inspired by you, you can be my role model.
Thank you Lynn. Regards, Sharon”

Hi Sharon! You can actually get started for around $10 a month. That cost is simply for your hosting account, which will host your affiliate site. I wouldn’t recommend you invest in anything else upfront, or spend any money on products or services until you know exactly what you need and why.

And in most cases, you’ll honestly need very little to operate online. Affiliate Marketing is a great method for making money online, as long as you know some of the basics upfront…

Fortunately I’ve been blogging about this topic for years, so you can learn just about everything you need to know to get started… right here at ClickNewz, for free!

I’m also a Super Affiliate myself, so I’m going to shoot straight with you. Everything I share here is from personal experience as someone who has been successfully working online for more than a decade…

Since upfront cost is your primary concern, I’ll explain the $10 first.

To start a successful blog or affiliate site you’ll need a hosting account and a domain name. I use GoDaddy to register my domain names, and HostGator for hosting. See current HostGator coupon codes. A domain name is ~ten bucks, and hosting is ~$10/month – but using the coupon code you can get both for around $10.

Of course, you want to choose your topic before you register a domain name, but from there you’re all set. You’ll have everything you need to get started. You can install WordPress from within your hosting account, and use it to create either a blog or a traditional looking website. See:

How To Start A WordPress Blog (checklist)

I recommend you start here:

How to Make Money Online For Beginners
In this post I share a 10-step Checklist for getting started with Affiliate Marketing, with each step linking to a specific how-to tutorial for more help & ideas.

The checklist starts at the very beginning – choosing a topic.

Top 10 Problems Most People Have With Affiliate Marketing
These are issues brought up by other affiliates, some new to affiliate marketing just like you and others seasoned affiliates. I address each of the issues, and link to posts & tutorials that cover those topics. A great reference to keep handy (you can get that post in PDF format to download/print as well).

Don’t Overwhelm Yourself!

Spending too much money – or too much time – upfront is what holds most people back when they first get started online. Affiliate Marketing is something that will always be changing, and is easiest learned by doing. You’ll serve yourself best by digging in and learning as you go.

Never invest in anything you’re not sure you need.

Only buy what you need, when you need it, to accomplish a specific objective. Too many people spend entirely too much money on things they’re not even sure they need (or need yet). Don’t make that mistake. Start with $10 and dive in – everything else can be figured out as you go.

If you have questions along the way, there are tons of communities where you can get help or advice. We even have one right here on ClickNewz! Click here to join our forum. We would love to see you there.

Best,

p.s. I have a book coming out on Niche Affiliate Marketing that will teach you everything you need to know, step by step. It is due out in August 2011. To get on the priority notification list – to be the first to know when the book is available on Amazon – simply register at www.AffiliateStarterGuide.com.

You can also subscribe below to get email notification of new posts and tutorials here at ClickNewz. Simply enter your first name and email address:

“What is your biggest challenge with Affiliate Marketing?

Do you struggle with creating links, getting traffic, making sales… ?

Get specific – I’d love to know what frustrates you most!”

There were just over 20 responses, and they were all legitimate frustrations.
I narrowed it down to 10 main issues most people have with affiliate marketing…

Top 10 Problems With Affiliate Marketing

There were replies from all levels of affiliates, including Jerry West – an SEO expert and Super Affiliate. The top 10 topics cover everything from beginning (technical how-to) to advanced affiliate issues…

I should warn you upfront, this is a rather long post. I have turned it into a PDF File which you can download and read offline on your favorite mobile device if you like. See the end of the post for download instructions.

Here we go!

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1. Choosing a Profitable Niche

@R.K. Castillo: “I think choosing a profitable niche that we can take from start to profit. So we can have a good idea it will be worth the time it takes to do just that.”

I have a quick exercise for choosing a niche that is worth revisiting. My advice is to consider your niche carefully. So much of your time and energy will be devoted to your career, so you want to choose something you’re going to enjoy doing.

This may be different than some teachings which will have you starting multiple sites in multiple niches just to “make money online”. It’s far better to build a profitable business, and to focus on that business exclusively. Which means choosing a niche where you can start a business with personal branding.

Now, more than ever, the niche you choose has the potential to shape your life. It can be used to create your ideal lifestyle. Think about the options and opportunities you wish you had. What would you do if you weren’t stuck working all the time? What would you do if money was not an issue?

The answers to these questions should be explored as potential niches.

Most people struggle with research and really get hung up on the numbers. How many searches is enough? What search volume am I looking for exactly? What IS a “good niche”? See: Frustrated With Market Research & Finding Niches?

.

2. Working with Affiliate Links and HTML Code

The technical side of creating affiliate links, or working with HTML code, is a hurdle for many people when they first get into Affiliate Marketing.

Most merchants make it easy by giving you copy & paste code to work with, but there are times that you want to make changes to that code for a nicer end result. It’s really not that difficult!

In Anatomy of an Affiliate Link, Part 1 I give you the HTML basics and a walk-through video of using affiliate links from Commission Junction.

In Anatomy of an Affiliate Link, Part 2 I continue with a tutorial on breaking out of the (ugly) default affiliate code from Amazon.com to create great looking promotions and product reviews – complete with live examples.

If you struggle with affiliate linking, or if your links are ugly (don’t feel bad – it’s common), go through both of those tutorials and try the suggestions out for yourself. You’ll be impressed with the results!

.

3. Getting Traffic

@DeAnna Troupe: “Getting qualified traffic is what I struggle with.”

Traffic alone is not enough. You definitely want qualified traffic. Meaning that the visitors are targeted, and that you have a strong message-to-market match between your offer and your visitor (and more specifically: their intention).

The most obvious source of traffic is search engines. You want to be right there, front and center, when your market is searching for what you’re offering. I always refer people to SEO Fast Start, which is a free SEO guide by Dan Thies.

Also see: Web Page Optimization (Checklist)

Optimizing your pages, and getting them to rank well in the major search engines is not enough, though. You want to qualify your visitors through the keyword phrases you target: Using Keyword Modifiers to Qualify Visitors

When it comes to traffic, always remember that quality beats quantity. You want to target as specifically as you possibly can. This will often result in fewer unique visitors, but higher conversion rates – and mean a higher number of sales than more unique visitors and a drastically lower conversion rate.

There are other sources for targeted traffic as well, of course. Once you have optimized your pages to rank well, you’ll want to work on these other sources while you wait for your site to become established in the major search engines. Most of these sources will contribute to your overall SEO strategy, but they’ll also bring in their own traffic while you’re waiting for your pages to rank well.

Other traffic sources include:

• Niche Communities
• Social Media
• Guest Blogging
• Off-Site Content Marketing
• Advertising

Guest Blogging is one of the best ways to get in front of your target market. You’ll also want to publish content off-site in other places such as article directories, squidoo, hubspot, wikis, etc. Niche Communities are a great place to find your market as well, and include: forums, discussion groups, and Facebook groups. In all of these cases, including Social Media, your goal is to become known and provide value to the conversation in your market.

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4. Making Sales

A lack of commissions boils down to one of two problems: traffic or conversions. Make sure you know which of the two is the actual issue, and work from there.

More often than not, when people say they’re having trouble making sales… the real issue is lack of traffic, or poor targeting.

You need at least 1,000 unique visitors to a specific offer, and highly targeted visitors of course, to determine the true conversion rate. If you have less than that, or your traffic is less than targeted, go back to work on traffic first.

See: How to Make MORE Money & Get MORE Traffic

Another major issue I see often is in the message-to-market-match, or the keyword targeting. It’s important to consider the intent of the search with each keyword phrase, and deliver exactly what they’re searching for. You don’t want to serve information to someone who is ready to make a purchase, or try to sell products to someone searching for information…

See: Using Keyword Phrases That Make Sales!

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5. Writing Content

@Keith Bush: “My major hangup is article writing. It’s the one area I really hate.”

Writing content is an issue for a lot of people. You’re not alone. It helps to look at it from another angle, rather than just a mundane marketing task. Instead, consider it part of “a conversation”.

You start by choosing a keyword phrase to target, or write about, and then you sit there with a blank screen and try to come up with an article or a blog post for that topic. It can be daunting.

Instead, imagine the person on the other end – the person typing in that keyword phrase. They are basically asking a question. Figure out what they are asking, and then imagine someone asking you that same question in person or on the phone. How would you answer it? Start writing…

Your content is a response to their search. You’re simply entering a discussion. Done right, you’ll satisfy their need and lead them to the next best click.

For more help on writing content, see:

• The Secret To Writing Great Content
• Simple Sources for Finding Topics
  (when you’re at a loss for what to write or blog about!)
• How to Write a Product Review
• How to Write a Blog Post (that brings readers and makes sales)

And hey, don’t be too hard on yourself. I still struggle with writing from time to time. In fact, I refer back to those ^ posts all the time myself!

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6. Writing Sales Copy

@Nick Garcia: “COPY! Writing copy for my sites is the bane of my existence.

That being said I’ve improved a bit but I still wish I could find some way to improve the flow of my copy. I think I just need to keep practicing. Hmm…”

The biggest key to writing copy is to focus on the benefits, not the features. We tend to write from our own perspective, and often describe the product or features. A good example of this is opt-in copy that says “Sign up for my mailing list”. That describes the product and leaves the reader asking… why?? The goal of sales copy is to answer the why, not to make them ask it.

While you will need to have some basic copywriting skills as an affiliate marketer, your primary focus will be on the pre-sell – not on making sales. It’s the merchant’s job to close the sale. The affiliate simply sends qualified (ideally, pre-sold) leads.

See: Five Easy Tips for Successful Pre-Selling

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7. Motivation & Time Management

@Keith Bush: “I struggle the most with getting off my backside and actually doing everything that I’ve learned. I’ve learned enough so that I should be making $100 a day in sales. My daily income is directly proportionate to what I’ve lazily accomplished, ZERO.”

Becoming (successfully) self-employed requires self-discipline and self-motivation. And in the beginning, sacrificing what we consider our “free time”. It’s hard work.

That, and working from home is not necessarily easy for everyone. It sounds great as a concept, but there are many home & family distractions to work around. Not to mention a lack of concrete direction and standard operations that we’re used to from working at a traditional job.

See: Get Your Focus! How to Beat Distraction

Keith brought up a good point, too – about spending more time learning than implementing. It’s important to strike a balance between consuming content and creating content. Otherwise you’ll become a successful student, instead of a successful business owner.

@Scott Milford: “Getting traffic. I’m working a 40-hour/week job and I’m disorganized (but I’m working on that). So spending time commenting on other blogs, doing guest posts, or article marketing takes too much time. And I just don’t have the interest in doing those things right now.

So how do you get more traffic when you have so little time?”

You only have two options: do the work yourself, or outsource the work. If you’re in a position to outsource tasks, that could prove very helpful when on limited time. If not, you’ll want to set aside a block of solid work time on a regular basis and work through the tasks yourself.

The key is to work smart so that you get more results for the time invested. If I were limited on time, I would focus on: SEO, link building & guest blogging. They all three go hand in hand, with the guest blog posts serving as quality (permanent) inbound links, and those links helping your pages to rank better in the search engines. Investing your time in organic (white hat) SEO offers a great long term return, while the guest blogging brings in immediate qualified traffic.

@Oliver Olsen: “It takes time!”

You’re right, Oliver – it does! But man is it ever worth it.

I have confessed a number of times that I used to work 14-18 hours/day, 7 days a week, back when I was getting started. Looking back from where I am now, I can honestly say I have NO regrets. None.

@Terry Loving: “Focus. Pick one or two and do it well rather than my shotgun- what is before me – approach. Planning would be good. Keeping records easily accessible. I think its called a system…. lol”

@Sharyn Sheldon: “Mine is prioritization. So much I need to do and I can’t do it all, so I have to figure out which things are most important and do those first. I always set goals each day of what I want to achieve and never manage to do it all. Need more systems and processes that are realistic!”

I was flying by the seat of my pants for the first decade in my own business. And I did well, mind you. I never really reached full potential, or max profit potential, but business was good – and all was well. Of course, I was actively working towards a goal at any given time, and doing the tasks to achieve those goals. I was just never super organized about it.

I’ll tell you what worked for me, and it’s very simple really.

I do what’s called a Brain Dump (see pages 6-8. everything else in the document is outdated). Basically you take everything out of your head, and put it on paper – or on the screen – in front of you. From there you organize and prioritize all of the thoughts and ideas, and create a schedule & task list.

I’ve always done this on the computer, then keep a notepad on my desk with the 3-5 tasks that I need to complete that day. I do those tasks first before anything else. Those 3-5 tasks come from the top of the Brain Dump list, which was already prioritized.

I’ve since found a software (sorry, for Mac/iPad only) called Things that I truly love. I can do my Brain Dump in the program, then create projects and scheduling with the items. It’s very simple, which is what I love most about it!

See: Are You Doing Things In Logical Order?
(and watch the video at the end of that post – it’s an excellent illustration by Gideon Shalwick of how to create a flowchart and properly plan out your business, or individual promotions)

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8. Working with Affiliate Program Managers / Merchants

@Jerry West: “My biggest issue is changing terms by the merchant. Very frustrating, and the high turnover of affiliate managers.”

This falls at the top of my list as well. I used to do a lot of work with CPA offers, but the high turnover rate with those offers kept me running in circles. I ultimately chose to go with more evergreen products & promotions. Still, terms change and programs close and linking code changes, and yada yada yada. It’s a pain, for sure.

One thing I do now that saves me a lot of time and trouble, is to create affiliate redirects for products I promote. That way if the program closes or the linking structure changes, I only have one file/link to update – instead of dead links out there all over the web.

@Rodney Brown: “Getting paid for the traffic/sales sent and un-responsive managers.”

In the 14+ years that I’ve been doing referral & affiliate marketing, with hundreds of merchants, there were only FOUR times where getting payment became an issue. In all four cases, I *did* get paid.

That’s something I refuse to just let go, and am happy to jump through hoops over. To the point of finding and using a personal phone number as many times as it takes to get a response. Or going public with the issue. Whatever it takes.

In my opinion, it’s not just about my one affiliate check – but going to bat for every other affiliate out there for that person or company. They have to be held to a proper standard. Period. Luckily, like I said, it’s been a rare issue for me.

On that note, the affiliate agreement that you have to “sign” in order to become an affiliate for any given program or merchant, is usually very one-sided. In one case I took the agreement to a lawyer, and she was unable to help – she stated that the agreement (which was pretty much a standard affiliate agreement) was written entirely in favor of the merchant.

So when it comes to lack of payment, late payment, lack of response, etc – I take matters into my own hands. Call me the Squeaky Wheel.

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9. Link Building

@Loretta Oliver: “Quality backlink building is my biggest struggle for sure. Content and creative bits, walk in the park – but getting those darn incoming links makes me crazy most days.”

Since content comes easy for you, you have the hardest part nailed.

Content Marketing is the absolute best way to build quality, relevant inbound links to your site. I said “site”, but you actually want to get inbound links to individual internal pages of your site – not just to your home page.

You start by having a strong internal linking structure, linking relevant pages and leading your visitors to and through (and even off) your website strategically. You then get quality links to your core pages – your Pillar Content or Money Pages – and let your internal linking do the rest.

When it comes to content marketing, Guest Blogging is one of the best methods you can use. It allows you to control the topic, angle, title, keywords, call-to-action, outbound links and anchor text. It also puts you in front of an active readership in your market – so you get both immediate results, and the permanent inbound link.

You also want to submit your domain to niche directories, and blog & RSS directories if you have a blog. You can submit content to article directories, wikis, online magazines, newsletters that are archived online, squidoo, hubspot, relevant websites, etc.

See: 7 Simple One Way Link Building Strategies

Speaking of link-building, see this study on getting a new domain ranked with nothing but Facebook Likes and Tweets. Very interesting: Can You Get a New Domain Ranking Using Just Facebook Likes & Tweets?

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10. Building a Responsive Mailing List

@Kathy Pop: “building a RESPONSIVE list”

I often get asked if I bother building an email list in all of my affiliate niches. I haven’t always, but you really should. The key to building a list as an affiliate is to target the informational keyword phrases in your niche. Use the “free”, “how to”, “help” etc keyword phrases to offer a solution. That may be a comparison sheet, a tip sheet, a tutorial – whatever they’re searching for.

Answer those keyword queries with a page that basically says “Yes, I have the answer – where can I send that to you?”

Use your commercial keyword phrases to target buyers, then use your informational keyword phrases to target the rest of your market. Send them what you promised, then follow up with them 3 days later to make sure that answered their questions. The key to keeping subscribers engaged and responsive is to stay in touch with them with relevant (useful!) information.

See the example follow-up section in this post.

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MY Biggest Challenge with Affiliate Marketing

@Nick Garcia: “Lynn, what is YOUR biggest challenge with Affiliate Marketing? I’m sure plenty of people are curious about frustrations at that level”

I can relate to all 10 of the challenges listed above. But the one that wasn’t mentioned that drives me mad… is working with datafeeds. There is no real industry standard on datafeeds, and so they are all formatted differently. Add in the fact that all the software & plugin options work differently, and you usually end up having to edit the stupid datafeed by hand to make it work the way you want it to.

And after all that, the merchant updates the datafeed – and it doesn’t always update automatically on your site. So you have to go back through the process all over again. If you have a solution for this (that isn’t a royal pain!), let me know…

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I told you this was a long post -lol. It weighed in at 3,403 words. Wowsa! Now you see why I answered the questions here instead of replying individually on Facebook.

As promised, I have created a PDF version of this post for those of you that prefer to download and read this post offline or on your favorite mobile device.

There is a tiny catch. You’ll need to opt-in so I can send it to your email. This is not a marketing list, so you don’t have to worry about getting blasted with offers. It’s simply a notification list for my upcoming guide on affiliate marketing.

Request the PDF version here:
www.AffiliateStarterGuide.com

Thanks for all the awesome comments & questions! Feel free to add your own in the comment section below, and we’ll let the discussion continue!

Best,

p.s. My goal is to publish the Affiliate Starter Guide by August 2011. The notification list is simply that – to notify you when the guide is available, and where. I plan to publish Amazon & Kindle versions first, with other formats becoming available later. Yes, I am FINALLY going to publish a how-to guide with all the steps in order… all in one place, in an easy to read (and implement!) format.

She’s a very successful and long-term affiliate, and author of the Super Affiliate Handbook – which was actually the very first ebook I ever purchased online.

I think we all know how that story turned out. One of the better choices I’ve made in my online business over the years, for sure!

Meeting Rosalind was definitely one of the top highlights of the event. She’s even more pleasant in person than she is online. Very upbeat, down to earth, and an all around fun person to hang out with. She’s also a foodie & sushi-lover, and can scout out the best restaurants in range like a pro!

I got to hear her “getting started” story, where she simply clicked a banner ad – and the rest is history!

We talked lifestyle design, affiliate war stories, and I also got to meet her partner at Affiliate Blogger Pro – Justin Parr. (right)

Justin is very bright and super talented, and I can see why Rosalind chose him as a partner for the project.

He’s from the South too, and in fact lives just a few hours from me – in Atlanta.

Affiliate Summit was also their first time to meet up in person since working together on the ABP site, and you could tell they had great partner chemistry.

Rosalind had a round table at the Ask The Experts session, which turned out to be one of my favorite sessions. And in my opinion, one of the most productive.

She lead it very much like a group brainstorming session, and the variety of resources & input from the group was incredible. Not to mention the expert advice from Rosalind herself on various affiliate methods & strategies.

Rosalind introduced me to the group as one of her top affiliates, and later in her blog post as one of her most enthusiastic affiliates. A high compliment for sure, coming from someone I consider a mentor.

There’s a reason I recommend her guide and membership site to everyone I meet, of course.

I’ve actually been doing Affiliate Marketing for well over a decade (I’m about to start my 15th year in business), but it was Rosalind’s Super Affiliate Handbook that turned me into a Super Affiliate and turned me on to the concept of passive income.

And just like her banner ad story, the rest is history.

She’s one of the few people I know that practices what she teaches, and actually makes her living as a niche affiliate.

She has also been actively serving the market, and helping others achieve the same, for many years now.

She consistently updates the Super Affiliate Handbook and continues to provide resources and ideas as things evolve – definitely not your usual fly by night “guru”.

I have more photos and videos to share with you, and I’ll also give you a recap of some of the other sessions I attended at ASW11 in my next post. But as I sat down here to share details of the event with you, I couldn’t help but devote a post to the woman who played such a big part in helping me get where I am today…

Best,

Note: If you subscribe to ClickNewz below, you’ll get access to the transcript of a very candid and exclusive interview I did with Rosalind Gardner. Enjoy!

Free and low-cost reports are a big part of my affiliate business model, whether I’m promoting physical products or info-products. Reports are also a great addition to your model if you have your own products. People get online for information, and it’s that information that ultimately converts them into buyers.

As an affiliate marketer, there are several ways you can use brandable ebooks to earn more affiliate commissions. And one of the very best (ie easiest!) ways doesn’t even require you to create an ebook yourself…

Free Brandable Ebooks

Not only can you skip the whole “create a quality info-product” nightmare (or that’s how most people feel about it -lol), but on top of that you get access to ebooks & reports that you can give away – at no cost to you!

You can find free brandable ebooks on almost any topic. Simply do a search on Google, or click that link to see some of Nicole Dean’s downloads including ebooks on: outsourcing, link building, how to use PLR for profit, how to start a weight loss/fitness blog, and even exclusive interviews. She’s constantly adding new free titles to that page, so you may want to bookmark it.

Using Free Brandable Ebooks to Earn Affiliate Commissions

A brandable – sometimes referred to as rebrandable – ebook allows you to change out a direct link to a product or service for your affiliate link. As a marketing strategy, this helps the product creator get more exposure. And if the affiliate program is theirs, it helps them make more sales when you refer new customers and earn commissions.

This works out great for you! All you have to do is download the ebook and the rebranding software (also free), and change out the links for your own. Then you can simply give away that ebook and earn commissions on any sales that are made.

You can set up a squeeze page for the free ebook and build a targeted mailing list. If you already have a mailing list, you can simply give it away as a valuable freebie to your subscribers. You can also give the rebranded ebook away as a bonus to your own products.

This is a great strategy to use – everyone loves a free download!

As an affiliate, you can also consider creating your own rebrandable ebooks. This works particularly well for 2-tier affiliate programs, or to get exposure to your blog or website. And of course if you create info products to sell, it’s a great way to get affiliates on board and promoting your products for you.

Have questions on using free brandable ebooks? Leave a comment below. Nicole and I will keep an eye out for your ideas, comments & questions!

Best,

p.s. The Friday Feature is a weekly spotlight on people, websites, products & services. If you are interested in getting mentioned in an upcoming Friday Feature post, read this and then contact me for details.

Outside of a few mentions, I haven’t really talked much about it. I’ve been meaning to write a review and just hadn’t done it yet. But after I mentioned it again in that post, Isobel asked me for some insider details…

Isobel asks: Lynn, can you give a bit more info about Affiliate Blogger Pro please? Only a small part of the sales page is about the product itself. Is it delivered all at once or on a weekly/monthly basis? Does it focus on paid or free traffic etc?

I should probably start by telling you why I joined Rosalind’s new site. I am not a member of many forums or groups anymore, and am very selective about my memberships. I like to belong only to things where I can justify the investment of time, and that are in line with my personal goals.

And let me just say, if you can’t make it to live events and workshops like I mentioned in the last post, this is the kind of training and home study you need.
At only $27/month, it’s a no-brainer for any affiliate marketer… ( details)

As you know, I am already a successful super affiliate and I originally learned the niche affiliate marketing methods that I use from Rosalind Garder. Her
Super Affiliate Handbook was the very first info product I ever purchased online. It completely changed my business, and dramatically improved my income.

I joined Affiliate Blogger Pro because I want to stay on top of the ever changing affiliate landscape, and also because I am a huge fan of anything that Rosalind Gardner offers. I study her Super Affiliate Handbook at least once a year, every year since I originally purchased it, but this new site gives me direct access to what she’s doing right now – and to Rosalind Gardner herself!

As an example, here’s a screen shot from the member forum inside ABP:

Is the training delivered all at once or on a weekly/monthly basis?

The affiliate training inside Affiliate Blogger Pro is all available, to every member, all the time. There is no drip format, or waiting for the next lesson. This gives everyone the opportunity to start wherever they are – whether a new affiliate marketer or a seasoned affiliate professional.

It’s actually very cool on the inside. The layout is really clean so it makes it super easy to navigate everything available. Here’s a screenshot of today’s dashboard inside the ABP members area:

From that main screen you’ll find access to:

• Beginner Basic Tutorials
• WordPress In A Day Videos
• Entire 10-part Business Blueprint
• Q&A Forums (where you can talk to Rosalind & other members)
• Latest Industry News

And as you can see in the screenshot above – much more. In usual Rosalind style, she uses live affiliate site examples and goes into great detail about the models and methods that she uses on her own affiliate sites.

To give you an inside look, the screenshot to the right shows a 10 minute video where she walks through the Anatomy Of An Affiliate Blog, which goes along with her tutorial and live example of the “hybrid blog/ affiliate site example”.

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Does Affiliate Blogger Pro focus on paid or free traffic, etc?

There is no specific focus on traffic-types. She covers a wide variety of free methods for getting traffic to your blog or affiliate site.

In the screenshot below, you can see the actual Traffic section. This is just the intro page – there are detailed tutorials and links to more in-depth training on each of those topics, in each of those sections:

She teaches you how to get traffic from Flickr, gives you a HUGE list of social networking & bookmarking sites – broken down by category/niche, even!, has RSS and Email Marketing lessons, etc. She even has specific how-to videos in the traffic section to show you how to set up feedburner, add a subscription form to your blog, set up a sitemap and blog broadcasts…

It’s very well done, and as you can see from the screenshots I shared from my account – there’s tons of content on the inside. The community forum is probably my personal favorite – where you can ask questions, learn from other members, and even get help & answers from Rosalind Gardner herself.

Like I said above, at only $27/month, Affiliate Blogger Pro is a no-brainer for any affiliate marketer. I hope you’ll join Rosalind and I there, and get a jump start on your niche affiliate sites for the New Year!

Best,

p.s. I heard rumor (um, straight from the horse’s mouth, so to speak) that the price is going up in January. So if you’re on the fence, you’d be smart to get in at the low $27 rate… while you still can. Join us at Affiliate Blogger Pro!

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I attend and teach at the NAMS workshop twice a year, in January and August. But this will be my first year attending Affiliate Summit, and I am really looking forward to it!

Meet Me at Affiliate Summit West 2011

Most of you are already familiar with the NAMS event, and I’ll have more news on that coming later this week, so I’ll focus on sharing the details about Affiliate Summit – and why I’m attending in January (finally!)…

Affiliate Summit originally started in 2003, co-founded by Shawn Collins and Missy Ward. The January event in Vegas will be the 16th Affiliate Summit conference. Attendance has grown steadily every year, starting with just a few hundred in the beginning – to several thousand attendees at current events.

Speakers for Affiliate Summit West 2011 include: Brian Clark (Copyblogger), Chris Brogan, Rae Hoffman (Sugarrae), John Chow, Rosalind Gardner, Jim Kukral, Kim Rowley, Dave Taylor… and many others.

This will be my first opportunity to meet Rosalind Gardner and Kim Rowley in person (both a long time coming!), and a chance to catch up with my old friend Rae Hoffman (um, not that she’s old *lol* but that we’ve known each other for ages).

I’ll be covering the event with updates at both Twitter & Facebook, taking lots of photos & videos, and of course sharing highlights in blog posts here at ClickNewz.

I recently joined Rosalind Gardner’s newest site, an online hands-on affiliate training & membership site at http://www.affiliatebloggingpro.com, and am attending Affiliate Summit, both for the same reason: I am reviving some of my older niche affiliate sites in the New Year and also starting some brand new niche affiliate projects. Rosalind’s site is a great way for me to learn some of the newer strategies and platforms (from the very person I learned my niche affiliate strategies from in the first place, years ago) – and Affiliate Summit is the perfect place to meet up with merchants I may want to work with in the New Year.

I was just looking over the sessions and speakers earlier this week. It’s going to be an incredible event to learn new trends, get creative ideas, network & brainstorm, and study new affiliate marketing strategies. I am very much looking forward to it.

When you know your goals, and know exactly what you want to accomplish, you choose the training and the events that help you reach those goals. And for me, Affiliate Marketing is my life!

Affiliate Summit is THE event for affiliates & merchants to attend…

Meet Me at Affiliate Summit West 2011

Act fast and book now if you want to attend. Jan 9th is just around the corner…

Planning to be at Affiliate Summit in January? Let me know!
I would love to meet up with you there.

Best,

p.s. I am an affiliate for both NAMS and Affiliate Summit, and am involved as an instructor with both the NAMS event and the pre-NAMS online training. I earn commission on ticket sales to both events, which I use toward travel expenses.

Using my referral links for events and products mentioned here on ClickNewz is a great way to give back to the community, and is what allows me to keep tutorials and how-to information free for everyone year after year.

While the referral links do not affect the price you pay (and you’ll often find exclusive coupon codes and discounts here) it really makes a difference in keeping ClickNewz running as a valuable resource to the IM community.

Thank you for your support!

But when I first met Rae she was a one-woman show, running a very successful affiliate-based business from home while raising her three children.

What follows is a very candid and detailed conversation between Rae and I about this evolution of her business, and what her lifestyle is like as a successful Super Affiliate…

Me: Rae, I’m curious what prompted you to make the switch from solo entrepreneur & home office, to consulting and starting two companies?
Was this something you aspired to do from the start?

Rae: It was a tough decision. I first went “corporate punk” with MFE Interactive. About four years or so ago I had an idea for a site that was a bit out of my technical ability to create. I decided to do the site as a cooperative venture with a good friend of mine and the site ended up having a lot of success.

The success of that site, the combination of my site development skills and online marketing skills merged with his technical abilities and business sense led us to decide we should probably make more sites together. So we started MFE. But I was still working solo from an office at home.

As we built more sites and had more success, it became apparent that the only thing “holding us back” was my ability to only work so many hours in a day. My partner suggested we get an office and start hiring.

And honestly? That terrified me.

I liked “answering to no one”, the initial startup fees were going to mean a pay cut for a bit and I’d never managed a company. But, my partner told me he wanted me to read the E-Myth and “think about it.” That book changed my business life.

After I read it, my partner (who owns multiple successful companies) looked at me and said, “Do you want to work 16 hours a day for the rest of your life or do you want to build a company that will eventually allow you to work when you want to and have more success in the long run?”

So I bit the bullet and decided to do it. And I’m glad I did. MFE just celebrated it’s third birthday of being a full fledge business with a staffed office earlier this month. We’ve got about five million page views a month across our network of sites and we continue building new affiliate brands.

I didn’t start Outspoken Media until a few years after MFE went “real world business.” I kind of fell into Outspoken, LOL. My partners in that company, Rhea Drysdale and Lisa Barone, decided they wanted to start and Internet marketing firm but neither had experience building a company from the ground up or the strength I did in SEO and link building (Rhea is an ORM goddess and Lisa is the branding, social media and community building queen).

They came to me hoping I would be who could fill those proverbial holes. After my experience in running MFE, I approached starting Outspoken in a much different manner and with much more confidence. Outspoken was a business curve ball – I didn’t expect it, but once I saw it coming, I decided I was going to swing the hell out of the bat and aim for the stands.

With MFE I was thrown into the water. With Outspoken, I jumped in.

Me: I actually started opposite you. I had a successful web development company with offices and employees back in the 90′s. I shut it all down to work from home full time on my own.

I have to admit, I haven’t missed the office at all. I’m curious – what one thing do you enjoy most about running your companies?

Rae: LOL, I’m torn a lot of the time. I love the efficiency and how much I can get done for the companies having a fully staffed office. That said, I still prefer working from home personally. I recently wrote an article on managing employees virtually – but to be honest, most of my virtual management is done due to ME being virtual while the employees are in the office.

I love having physical offices for the companies, and feel they – and the in house staff in them – are needed heavily, but I still feel like I work best – personally – from home. But I also know I’m “needed” in the office, so while I spend a lot of time working from home during the summer when the kids are out of school, during the school year, I like to make it into the office at least three days a week.

Me: Surely there are things you loved about working solo, from home. Looking back at those days, is there anything at all that you miss?

Rae: I miss working “when I feel like it” most. Having a staffed affiliate marketing company means I have people that need things from me in order to get their own jobs done, so I do have people to “answer to” even though I’m “the boss”.

And with Outspoken, clients come with deadlines, which means I have to work at times that might be inconvenient for me. For instance, I had major cosmetic dental surgery last week (27 crowns) and I’ve been in a lot of pain. Back in the day, I simply wouldn’t have worked until I felt better. But, with MFE re-branding and re-launching a new site (Android Geeks) and Outspoken’s biggest problem being more demand for our work than we can fulfill at the moment (we’re hiring more employees AND opening a new office in Troy, NY simultaneously at the moment), that simply isn’t an option. I’ve built the companies so that I can be absent occasionally, but not “non-existent” if that makes sense.

However, the plus side of having to go into an office means I actually get dressed several days a week… something it’s easy to forget to do when you’re a “bathrober” LOL.

Me: You influenced and inspired me in many ways through our friendship, especially early on when I first took an interest in Affiliate Marketing. It was often in the way of random comments from various conversations that simply stuck with me. If you could pass on “something that sticks” to other aspiring affiliate marketers, what one thing would that be?

Rae: You have to work for it. It’s easy when you hear folks discussing “passive income” to think that means “no work.” But what a lot of people don’t realize is that myself, and many other successful affiliate marketers, put in years and years of sixteen hour days to get to the point of generating significant “passive income” that allow us to work flexible schedules and work our own hours.

Me: On the topic of Affiliate Marketing, you have a few great blog posts I’d love to share with my readers:

How to Survive the Affiliate Revolution

Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda Had Success With Affiliate Marketing

Creating A Small Niche Affiliate Site

Are there any other posts or tutorials you’d recommend from your archives?

Rae: If someone is interested in affiliate marketing, I’d recommend reading everything in my affiliate marketing category. I try not to write unless I actually have something to say. LOL.

Aside from that, I’m a big evangelist for the Thesis WordPress theme and wish it had existed when I first started with affiliate marketing. I’ve got several tutorials on how to utilize it for affiliate sites. I’m also a big believer in Raven Tools in regards to organizing link development efforts for affiliate sites.

That said, the Affiliate Evolution post you referenced above is probably the post I’m most proud of that I’ve written. Like the Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda post showed, if you follow it, you really can achieve success in affiliate marketing.

Me: In your post almost 3 years ago, about Surviving The Affiliate Evolution, you recommended that serious affiliate marketers incorporate their business and hire in-house staff. What are the main benefits to going this route, versus working from a home office and outsourcing to virtual assistants as necessary?

Rae: I think I get a lot more done in regards to building sites and building revenue. I also think full time employees are a bit more dedicated than freelancers. I think when you work solo, with occasional assistants and freelancers you are limited as far as scale. By opening an office, hiring employees and training them to do things “your way,” I think you open yourself up to a lot more freedom as far as your time once you have everything in place and working smoothly.

I also think competition is getting heavier, and in order to produce sites that will become “brands” you need to arm yourself with the resources to compete. And that means having more than “just me” in my arsenal.

Me: Thanks a million, Rae! One last question: Are you podcasting? And if not, do you plan to in the near future??

Rae: LOL. I don’t think I have the “voice” for podcasting. However, I am toying with the idea of doing more video work on my blog. I’ve always been a bit self conscious about being on video because I’ve never been happy with my smile. But within the next month, that should change and I think some video blogging may be just the way to celebrate it.

Me: Awesome – I look forward to your upcoming videos! I’m off to check out your Android Geeks site – I’ve gone almost completely mobile thanks to my Droid, and I’m always looking for new tips & apps.

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I hope you enjoyed this interview/conversation with Rae. I know I did! Check out some of the links and tutorials shared throughout this post – there’s a goldmine of help if you dig into Rae’s archives…

Best,

p.s. Are you subscribed to ClickNewz? Make sure you get the email notification every Monday with the latest Internet Marketing tutorials & interviews by putting your first name & best email address in the form below:

I’m not sure how they got tucked away, but since they’re sitting here on my desk now… I thought we’d discuss the subject.

To the left you see an example taken from one of Rosalind Gardner’s affiliate blogs where she promotes physical products. Rosalind Gardner is THE super affiliate, and author of the well- known Super Affiliate Handbook.

Rosalind gives live affiliate site examples throughout SAH, just like the one you see to the left, that you can click through for yourself page by page. It’s what inspired my first affiliate site for physical products, vs services & digital products (ebooks, membership sites, etc). That was quite a few years ago, and of course the first of many more since…

Q&A: How To Promote Physical Products

There were some great questions on the topic of promoting physical products as an affiliate, so we’ll just dive right into those. If any of these topics raise more questions, or you have additional questions about promoting physical products, be sure to leave those below in the comment section.

Here goes – (and forgive me for not giving credit to the author of each question – many of them asked to remain anonymous)…

Ellen says: Lynn, I’ve done lots of promoting of physical products, but I end up with 5% of the revenue that I get from selling the same amount of info products. ie- if I sell 100 ebooks at $27, I get 50% commission, = about $1,350. On the other hand, if I sell 100 books on amazon, I’ll earn about .30 per book, = $30! Thus, it seems to take a LOT MORE (maybe 100 times as much traffic!) to earn via physical products (at least earn more than a cup of coffee per day!) then to earn via info products.

The commisson rate for physical products IS lower, but they convert at a higher rate than digital products. Imagine trying to explain an ebook or info-product to someone who is not online as much as we are, or not familiar with them.

One of the reasons that physical products convert higher, outside of the obvious: familiarity, is because traditional media is doing much of the pre-selling for you.

Consider the book “Eat, Pray, Love” which has hit bestseller charts again with the new movie out starring Julia Roberts. It’s being heavily promoted and basically pre-sold by offline traditional media, and should be converting very well for anyone promoting it online right now.

I am on a tiered structure with Amazon. I believe there are multiple structures, so that’s something you may want to look into. The more you sell, the more you earn. So far this month I am only earning 6.5%, so a physical book at $12.95 earns me 84 cents in commission. That’s almost 3 times what you said you were earning.

Considering it would only take 15 minutes, half hour at the most, to write a review – why would you not invest that time to make ~$1 sale? If you sold 100 copies, putting you in a higher earning tier, and earned $100 for that 15-30 minutes, is it not worth it?

I know what you’re thinking: 100 copies of a $27 ebook would equal $1,350 in commission (gross, before payment processing fees). But let’s consider the EPL example above, and the fact that the book is literally flying off the shelves at the moment with little to no sales work. It’s MUCH harder to sell an “ebook”, requiring more time on sales copy and resulting in a lower conversion rate. Meaning it also requires more traffic, and more marketing to get that traffic.

Try selling an “ebook” to that exact same market: women looking to enrich their lives, find deeper meaning and more fulfillment.

Keep in mind that the market is growing and evolving, and more people are shopping online than ever before. Those numbers will only continue to rise. You can now buy physical products from your mobile device! In fact, my daughter recently bought a pair of shoes from my smartphone while we were on our way to the grocery store… Time is short, people are busy, and convenience will win over.

Sidenote: A high commission rate for physical products would be 10-12%. You’ll generally find 5-8% the norm.

“I would like to know how to create affiliate sites for physical products. I guess we could create articles around each product but if we’re selling shoes, there are like a million shoes and I didn’t know exactly how to write content for those million pairs of shoes. That’s why we used Datafeedr. But I would love to hear (or see) how you go about creating content for a physical product affiliate site?”

I recently signed up for Datafeedr myself, and look forward to testing it out on one of my affiliate sites. I’ve heard great things about it. Expect my review on that soon.

To answer your question, I’ll address the “million pairs of shoes” part first. You’d do well (read: better) to focus on a specific niche such as athletic shoes, women’s designer shoes, basketball shoes, childrens shoes, etc.

It’s hard to become a market leader in your niche when you can’t define your ideal visitor very specifically.

You asked about writing content for physical products. You can easily get by with proper on-page optimization and a strong link building strategy. For even more ideas, including content solutions, see: How to Optimize an Ecommerce Site

How do you write product reviews without buying every product?”

You don’t. And you won’t necessarily need a product review to sell every type of product. You can do your research though and share that data with your visitors. For example, where they can get the best deal or free shipping on that product. You can compare specs between two similar products and point out the strengths and weaknesses of each. You can share a general analysis of consumer reviews.

You can also elicit reviews from consumers and even host contests. Off-site, you can ask on sites like Yahoo! Answers and MyLot.com and request permission to reprint their responses.

Of course personal reviews and case studies are going to convert better, but they aren’t always practical. Particularly in the case of a site that features “a million pair of shoes”. Read: How to Write a Product Review

“Is it okay to promote products from more than one affiliate in one blog post?”

Outside of a side-by-side comparison type review, no. Each page (or post) needs one specific call-to-action. Options create confusion, and your job as the affiliate is to make a strong recommendation. Know why you recommend one product or merchant over the other, and convey that to your visitors. They visit your page because they need help with their buying decision. Don’t let them down!

“What is the best promotion tactic… build your own e-store like wp-amazon? reviews? or any others? Also, what is the best traffic method – paid? seo?”

There are a variety of affiliate site options, from ecommerce style to blogging to squeeze pages. They all work. Which type you use depends on your product, your market, and the best way to reach them. I have examples of these in a recent post on Affiliate Site Examples.

Also see Affiliate Site Options for a more detailed explanation of the different types, and their best uses.

———–

My own buying habits are what prompted me to promote physical products online. I purchase just as many, if not more, physical products than digital products. Do you shop online?? And if so, what were your last 3 purchases?

My last 3:
- a thank you gift (physical product)
- a baby shower gift (physical product)
- clothes (physical products)

And… I recently bought a video camera, ordered various cables & cases for my gadgets, and have another book order in queue!

Best,

p.s. Also read: How to Sell Products Online (as an affiliate).

The question came up again on my recent post titled HTML Tips: Anatomy of an Affiliate Link. Carlos asked:

Hi Lynn, I just got my domain name and hosting account and I plan to use this site to promote affiliate products. The question is about CJ.com … they asked me for my website on the affiliate application, but at the moment my site is empty. Will CJ approve my application anyway – or not? If not, what do I have to do first? What is the process if my website is only to promote things?

When you create your first affiliate site, or a new affiliate site that requires new affiliate relationships, it’s best to set the site up first.

The big concern that most people have is wasting time setting up an affiliate site, without knowing for sure if they will get approved to the affiliate program or affiliate network they want to work with.

The fact is, to get good favor with both Affiliate Networks – and with Google, your website needs to offer value. Meaning if you don’t monetize it at all, or your strip out all the promotions, it still offers valuable content to human visitors.

See: Warning: “Thin Affiliate Sites”

You have a few options…

If your affiliate site is ecommerce-style, meaning it looks like an online store and each product you feature simply deep links to the merchant’s product detail page, you can go ahead and create the entire site in good faith that the merchant (or network they work with) will approve your affiliate application.

You can start with direct links to the the merchant’s products and change them to affiliate links later, or leave out the links and add them in later.

Personally I don’t recommend relying on only one merchant as an Affiliate Marketer. I usually create an affiliate site with at least 3 merchants in mind. A primary merchant (the one I most want to work with or promote), a secondary merchant (as back-up, or for additional options to offer my market), and a third merchant is just good measure. When I can’t find a 3rd merchant, Amazon.com usually makes a good back-up option.

The reason is because sometimes merchants close up shop, discontinue their affiliate program, or make other changes that make you want to stop working with them. Never create an affiliate site around ONE merchant or ONE product.

So go ahead and create your affiliate site, and populate it with content and/or products. Fill out your affiliate applications, include the URL to your affiliate site, and include a note in the comments section of the application if they offer one on the form. Mention that this is a new site, and you look forward to working with XYZ merchant. Include your name and telephone number with the comment for good measure.

Another option is to create a related blog. This blog can be used to write content that leads into a specific recommendation, linking to specific products on your affiliate site, so you can funnel traffic from the search engines to your specific product pages. Populate the blog with good content, use it in your affiliate applications, and then add in the recommendations later once you are approved.

Getting Declined by Merchants or Affiliate Networks

This is going to happen. It even happens to me, and I’m a Super Affiliate. In fact, just yesterday I was declined by Priceline in the CJ Network. I had signed up to be their affiliate, with plans to promote them on my new GeekTrax website.

Often you’ll get declined because of something in your profile at the network, or because your website is unfinished or unrelated. In my case, the website(s) in my CJ profile were not related to travel, and so Priceline denied my request to be their affiliate.

In a case like this, I always write back to the merchant with a request for reconsideration. CJ (Commission Junction) has it’s own messaging system, so I simply wrote a short reply to them directly through the network, and explained who I am and what I do – and how/where I plan to promote their program.

Affiliate Managers get a large number of requests every day, but they ARE looking for quality affiliates that will promote their offers. Go the extra step in letting them know why they should approve your application.

And like I said, have back-up merchants in the wings in the case that your preferred merchant doesn’t approve you. You can always come back later and apply again once your affiliate site is more established.

Affiliate Networks vs Independent Affiliate Merchants

Apply for the Affiliate Networks in the beginning, but if you don’t get approved right away then seek out independent affiliate merchants. There are many affiliate programs outside of the major networks that offer instant approval.

Just go to Google and type in your main keyword and the word “affiliate” or “commission”. So you might type in “baby bedding affiliate” or “baby bedding commission” (without quotes) and look for independent merchants. You can also search ClickBank or $7 Offers for relevant info-products to recommend – these don’t require approval and are open to anyone.

Final Note…

If you’re really passionate about your topic and your business model, invest the time to set it up and get it established – even without a monetization strategy to start. Set up social media profiles and make a name for yourself in the niche. Build a readership and a following, and the merchants will be coming to you.

You can always use Google Adsense, or sell advertising, in the meantime. But don’t let the concern of declined affiliate applications deter you from starting the online business you want.

Best,

Also See:
Best Cheap Web Hosting
How to Start a WordPress Blog (Checklist)
How to Sell Products Online as an Affiliate
Affiliate Site Options & Examples

Lynn,
I read your wonderful post about the life of a super affiliate – It was great and I know you put in long hours and hard work to get to this stage.

Lynn, I am a newbie and would like to know when you promote affiliate products from LinkShare and Commission Junction – Do you build a landing/sales page and market it by writing articles with a link back to the landing page? I am trying to understand the best way to get started marketing physical products.

Thank you,
Ralph

Hi Ralph,

The process of selling anything online as an Affiliate is pretty simple. People get online to search for products, information, deals, to get help with their buying decision, etc. Your job as an Affiliate is to add value to that process.

First you have to figure out what your buyers are searching for, and where they are searching. Are they the type to ask peer groups for recommendations? Do they search on Google? Are they on Facebook or Twitter?

What are they asking and talking about online? The first place to start is with traditional search. You find out which keyword phrases your market is using, and you target those keyword phrases with your product recommendations.

How to Sell Products Online

What you’re asking is how you frame those recommendations, and how you set up the pages that have your affiliate link to the product(s) you want to sell.

The key is to look at each keyword phrase you are targeting, and come up with a strong message to market match for that search. Consider what they are really searching for, and how you can offer them the ideal solution. Are they looking for information, a specific solution to a problem, reviews/comparisons, pricing or deals?

Whatever they are searching for, specifically, that’s what you want to deliver.

It’s easiest to just ignore all the internet marketing terminology (landing page, mini site, authority site, flycatcher page, etc) and instead consider how you can best serve that market. This concept is easily lost if you get sidetracked by all of the buzz words and trends, but it’s the key to good conversion rates.

In the Affiliate Site Options post I shared some specific examples of various types of affiliate sites. Look those over to get a better idea of ways you can serve your market. Some of them are ecommerce-style sites that look more like an online store, but send the visitor to the merchant (via an affiliate link) to checkout and purchase the featured product. Others are blogs or informational sites that answer questions and lead into a call-to-action.

To answer your question more specifically, I don’t generally create a one-page promotion as an affiliate. I create a blog or website around a market or topic, and use that to recommend products. I never create an affiliate site around a specific product, but around the topic.

For example, instead creating an affiliate site around “brinkman grills” or “weber grills”, I might create an affiliate site like GrillDominator.com – which is currently available, by the way – that includes all grill types (gas, smoker, charcoal), reviews and comparisons, instructions & products needed to build your own grill, etc.

I prefer to build an authority site on a topic, and then make recommendations on the keyword level. Meaning each page of the site serves it’s own purpose, and leads the visitor into a specific call-to-action that matches the search that brought them there.

Article Marketing is something that I use for inbound links, often to specific pages on my affiliate site – which is called deep linking. It’s very effective, but it is just one of my marketing strategies in the overall marketing plan.

In the GrillDominator.com example I gave above, I would use grill recipes that get searched frequently as content for my articles. They are informational searches (vs commercial searches) but highly relevant to the site topic… and so great for a source of quality inbound links.

The more we talk about it, the more complicated it sounds. But it really just boils down to common sense marketing, and figuring out how you can best serve your market. Get in the shoes of your ideal visitor every time you analyze a keyword phrase. Consider what you would be looking for if you were searching that phrase yourself – and create that. Your market will thank you for it. Everyone is sick of wading through junk to get to the results they’re actually looking for…

I hope this answers your question. If not, or you have more questions, feel free to ask below. That goes for anyone reading along, of course.

Best,