I read a great blog post by Jason Parker at proIMer.com on advanced affiliate marketing strategies that I wanted to share with you, and expand on.
A few weeks ago Nicole Dean shared some great email marketing tips with us here during her guest blog tour. Nicole's methods work great for anyone, whether you're promoting your own products or offers, or promoting products as an affiliate.
I wanted to share Jason's post, and his strategy, with you as a follow-up to Nicole's series on email marketing...
Awhile back I mentioned that I'm not a big fan of the squeeze page method. I went on to clarify that I do build lists on my niche affiliate sites, but for further clarification I should say that I'm not a big fan of squeeze pages that add zero value to the process. You know the types of pages I'm talking about: the offer is so lame, or even non-existent, to the point that they are forced to BUY clicks just to get anyone to look at it.
Not all squeeze pages are bad, and the strategy is actually sound if you use it as a means to add value to the buying process - and to serve your market.
That's exactly what Nicole shared with us in her series, and Jason Parker went into some advanced detail in his post about how to build a list - and why you would want to do that as an affiliate marketer.
The Way Of The Advanced Affiliate – Automated Email List Building
He also offers a free recording on Ultimate List-Building Secrets right there in the sidebar, which I hope to listen to as soon as I get some free time.
My point is that none of this is rocket science, and if you look around you have everything laid out for you. Both in blueprints and tutorials, and in live examples. All you have to do is take action.
I've been doing that more myself lately, and like I said in a previous post - it's really paying off. And not just in upfront or immediate sales/income, but in long-term passive revenue as well.
Think about it: you put in the work upfront to create a product - maybe an audio or a short report, or use PLR or Resell Rights - and you set up an opt-in page and an autoresponder series. Like I said, not rocket science, just work. And not even hard work. Just a matter of putting the elements together in order. Period.
Once you do that, it will continue to work for you on auto-pilot month after month, year after year.
If you don't yet have a list-building strategy in place with your online business model, now is the time to do that. Look over Nicole's series. Look over Jason's post. And of course if you have any questions, leave them in the comments section below.
Best,
p.s. If you are just starting your first mailing list or autoresponder, you'll need an account with Aweber. You can use this link to get a free trial to start. Aweber is the industry leader, and is hands-down the best mailing list manager out there. If you think you might start out somewhere else and then move to Aweber later... don't. A lot of us made that mistake, and you'll end up losing ~90% of your list in the process. If you're going to build a list, make it count!
About Lynn Terry
Hi Lynn, thank you for your post. I completely agree with what you've said and have to admit I am an offender in this regard. I have a squeeze page but haven't yet set up anything to send to add value to it and my bonuses need some work. Still I've been building my list and I plan to send everyone on it massive value for free until I have my book written. Then maybe they'll buy a copy of that, but if not at least they might be willing to recommend it to a friend. Or if they're true tire kickers and don't buy anything, at least they'll be better educated given the assumption that they actually opened the emails and read a little bit.
Love your blog. Keep up the good work!
Take one hour out and tweak your opt-in process & follow-up series. Just that small investment could result in a HUGE return... long-term!
Hi Lynn. Thanks for the encouragement. I've updated the site with lots of new bonuses and even written 15 pages, 3000 words to update my eBook gift for opting in.
Sometimes just a little bit of encouragement is all that's needed. Thank you.
Next mission, setting up those follow up series of emails. Luckily I've got some good templates to work from Shaune Clarke's presentation at World Internet Summit. And of course all the ones I get in my inbox everyday. Thanks again 🙂
Lynn,
First off, great blog but I have to stop visiting, I just spend tooo much time here when I do!!
There's 3 great articles in this post and they all compliment each other very well. I was also guilty in my first few years about creating a list and not wanting to do the extra work. But being part Nicole's and Jason's list for a while, I started collecting subscribers and it's just a whole different world.
When I first started, I just asked for the email in exchange for information. Since, I was fortunate with the proper guidance to start offering a sweet gift with a low priced upsell and a lower priced downsell and everything changed.
It is a bit of work to setup but once it's done the sequence runs in the background and the rewards are amazing, with relashionships and income.
Thanks again for a great post!
Keep it coming,
Neil
Great point Neil - just putting that work in upfront can make all the difference. I have nice passive streams of income using this model. Projects I spent an hour or two tweaking more than 2 years ago are still paying every single month. 😉
Truer words never spoke:
"Just a matter of putting the elements in order. Period."
There's my prob in a nutshell!
Think it's a peanut shell...
Dan
P.S. Here's my p.s. vouching for your p.s. I had a "free" list service once, and when I finally made the move to Aweber...hooboy, what a hassle! I suggest no one make ANYthing difficult on purpose.
It's not rocket science. And thank goodness for that! 😀
Lynn,
Thanks for the linkback 🙂
Warmest Regards,
Jason
Most welcome, Jason - great article!
Lynn, I think it is 'The Biggest IM Secret' - you have to work to succeed! Too many looking for get rich quick options and I still quote you on defining what is rich and how quick is quick 🙂 loved it
Yeah - define rich, and define quick! 😀
It's a running theme with me lately, about taking action - and about how it's the small details people are overlooking while looking for "the next big thing" (shiny object syndrome!).
I made the comment on a recent @IMTW Podcast episode that the secret was in actually DOING the work, while everyone else is busy trying to figure out a way out of the work!
I have tons of e-books from affiliate sites I belong to, and I have read about using blogs to promote and sell them on. My problem is that the information I have is to set up WordPress to do this and to use the affiliate store that belongs to the auther of this information. My question is this: How can I use Blogspot to do this, and how do I set it up? Can you help me?
It's best to promote specific products with your own affiliate links. The Super Affiliate Handbook would be a good start for you. You can see an overview of it here: http://www.clicknewz.com/2074/super-affiliate-handbook-review/