Affiliate Products on a Budget – Blog

OK, forget everything you know about affiliate marketing. Everything you’ve been taught is simply out of date. If you play by the old rules, you will lose this game.

You’ve been duped

You’ve been told it’s easy to get started as an affiliate. And it is – sort of. It’s far easier that developing, selling and supporting your own product. But “easier” doesn’t mean “easy”.

Here’s the ugly truth

And to make matters worse, you’ve taught to do it the hard way. You’ve been told to find quality products. Next to look for easy keywords to target. Then to use keyword-based advertising to send visitors to the product. And finally get a fat check for all the sales. But, it’s all wrong.

Keywords are dead

This method worked a couple years ago. But the competition has shot the price of keywords through the roof. It’s time for a paradigm shift.

A better way

There is a light at the end of the tunnel. Follow this method and win again…

• Do CPA marketing instead of product promotion
• Instead of researching keywords, research demographics
• Do image ad marketing

Do CPA marketing instead of product promotion

CPA means Cost Per Action. It’s much better than promoting a product. Because it doesn’t involve payment. You get paid when they take an “action”. Such as filling in a form. And it’s much easier to get them to do that.

Instead of researching keywords, research demographics

You’re not even going to use keywords (explained below.) Invest your research time into demographics. First you select your CPA offer. Then go to a site like Quantcast.com. And discover the exact demographics of your ideal prospect.

Use image ads

So you know what your promoting and you know who will be interested. You can advertise directly to them on display networks. And let images do the work. No keywords required. And you’ll save a fortune. Display networks charge a fraction for image ad clicks vs. keyword ads.

In closing

This is powerful method to make money online. Because you can start CPA marketing for free. It’s much cheaper to do image ads than keyword ads. You can use demographics to target your ideal prospect. And getting them to take an action is much easier than making a sale.

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Think about this: What is the number one reason people get online everyday? Simple. To get information. Google alone serves up 400 million searches per day! Why should you care? This quest for information is an opportunity for you to fill a need. And to earn some cash for doing it!

Info marketing 101

First of all, an info business is the least complex business possible. You develop a product that is nothing more than information. And other people buy this product to get the info. It couldn’t get much simpler.

But how does it all work?

OK, the concept is simple. In order to be successful people need to want the information you’re providing. So step one is to discover what kind of info people want. How do you do that?

One easy way to figure it out is with a simple search. Just go to Yahoo! answers or ask.com and you’ll get a good idea of the kinds of things people need help with. You’re looking for popular questions or common themes. For things that are causing people discomfort. Then just give them the answer in your ebook.

Think about this:

If you’re concerned about information product development Consider this: An ebook is just a series of articles. So instead of sitting down to write the whole thing. Just try to write one or two articles a day. And when you have a collection, flesh them out, add to them and voila! You’ve got an ebook.

Why info products? Funny you should ask . . . Here are the seven reasons

1. Ease

Once it’s built it runs pretty much on it’s own. And your customers need very little support. So it’s nearly a 100% hands-free business. You’re building a completely automated business.

You have no physical inventory. You don’t have to ship anything. It’s digital.

2. Repackaging

After you’ve created a few ebooks. You can put together bigger more expensive information products. It’s very easy to package multiple ebooks together as one new one. And your new product will be able to carry a much higher sticker price. There’s greater perceived value in a single big course. Versus multiple smaller ones.

3. Resellers

Since it’s your product, you can offer other people the resale rights. Recently, resell rights have become extremely popular, because most people simply don’t have the time, money and effort it takes to create their own products. Plus, you’re selling the same product . . . but for 3 times the price for the rights!

4. Leverage

It’s your content, so you can use it in as many different ways as you want. Take parts of your info product and turn it into a email training series. And build an email list that you can sell other products to.

5. More leverage

Utilize your content in as many ways as you can – like creating a few reports from parts of the ebook. These reports can then become lead generators for your ebook. You can give them away or even charge a small amount for them. And you’re creating targeted leads for your main product all along. You can even make these viral by allowing your affiliates to give them away. Affiliate, you say? Yes!

6. An affiliate army

This is one of the biggest reasons of all. If you’ve got products you own. Other people can become your affiliates. How would you like to have an army of affiliates selling your products? Well, you *need* your own product to get affiliates.

7. Joint Ventures

OK, this is by far the biggest reason why. Setting up joint ventures is the fastest way to gain success. Period. That makes this is the biggest reason for creating your own info products. No products of your own = no way to do joint ventures.

Summing it up

If you don’t want to sell digital products by now, then you’ve probably been sleeping. You’ll be the master of your destiny. Because it’s your business and you control it. So, don’t waste any more time:

• Go to answers.yahoo.com
• Discover what questions are being asked
• Write about the answers

Don’t make info product creation any more complicated than that. Before you know it, you’ll have your own info product.

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It’s undeniable that if you add audio to websites it will increase your results. In fact, not using audio is a big mistake. It will boost your opt-in rate. It boosts sales, too.

What makes it so effective?

There’s no real mystery. The web is mostly silent. It adds a human touch to your site. It also makes your site feel more real. Basically, audio brings your site to life. Which fascinates greater interaction from your visitors.

Some more benefits

You’ll receive two immediate benefits to your bottom line when you employ the use of audio. First, you’ll make more sales. And second you’ll save money on the sales letter. You see, you’ll be able to skip the expensive copywriter. Just record some audio and add it to your site. Your visitors will respond better to a heart-felt message from you than some fancy copywriting.

You’ll also get better conversions on your list opt-ins. People need to be told exactly what to do. Just add a short audio message saying: Fill in your name and email and click submit. That alone can increase opt-in rates up to 310%!

Some web audio ideas

Add a welcome to my site message on your main page. Most people abandon a website within just a few seconds. This could be all it takes to get your visitor to decide to stay.

Lead them by the had. Just like in the opt-in example. You just explain what to do first, then next, etc. That includes filling in your order form!

Get testimonials for your services and products. Written testimonials are good. But what’s even better are audio testimonials. It’s pretty easy to fake a written testimonial. Audio adds a level of higher believability. And that increases your results.

Power tip

Did you ever think of making a product just by recording some audio? This is by far the easiest content to produce. And your customers will be very happy with the product. Podcasts are still popular, so this is a great format. And you can get someone to transcribe them for very little money. This much easier than writing the eBook yourself!

Is it hard to add audio?

It’s not hard at all. You can find a lot of programs that create audio buttons for you. The software does all the work. The program records and then converts the recording and generates an audio button. Just paste the code you copy from the software. There’s nothing to worry about.

In closing

Let’s take another look at the benefits. Setting up some web audio will do wonders for all your results. You’ll get more sales. And your opt-in rate will increase. And don’t forget that you can easily create sales pages and products in a flash. You’ll be one of the few you use these strategies. So you’ll be one of the few reaping the rewards. Don’t be lazy! Add some audio today.

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Yes affiliate marketing rocks, but it’s really hard to get started. This is because there are already a lot of people doing it. The challenge is to try and outdo other affiliates and think of ways to do a better job promoting. It’s also hard to figure out what to do because there’s a lot of information out there. Well, here’s on simple thing you can do that will put you ahead of the game.

Marketing with video

The power of video is undeniable. People love watching videos and that’s why they’re everywhere. About the only thing that keeps people’s attention anymore is video. So using it in your affiliate promotions is a no-brainer!

Here are a few ideas for creating affiliate videos:

• Do a testimonial video
• Walk-throughs
• Record the order process
• Record a preview of the members area

Do a testimonial video

It doesn’t get any easier than this. Simply turn on your recorder and talk. It doesn’t have to be professional or polished. Just seeing another real person endorsing a product helps your viewers decide to buy. And honestly, if you mess up it just makes it seem more authentic. So serious, just turn on the camera and talk. Use one of the other ideas if you’re feeling shy.

Do a video walk-through

This technique works slightly more subconsciously. Basically you’re doing a tutorial on how to use the product. And in the process you’re actually selling the product. If it’s useful, then what you’re teaching just makes people want it. So just make sure you’re demoing a good product.

Do an ordering video

This one is killer! Record a video of yourself actually buying the product. Watching you make a live purchase will inspire your viewer like nothing else. First, it’s social proof. People will feel more comfortable buying after seeing you do it. This also makes your viewers trust you. People believe you’re giving them good advice if you take that advice yourself. And finally, it creates envy. It’s simple – you have it. Now they want it. You can add additional juice to this one with: You’re gonna have to place your own order if you want to see the members area.

Sneak peak

This one is perfect for building up the value of what you’re promoting. You do a tour of the members area. You show them the entire contents of what they get. This one also helps to remove the skepticism. It’s much easier to trust they’re getting something if they actually seen it.

You can do this!

No special skills are required. There are simple software programs that make it easy to create videos. Really, the software does all the work. So you don’t have to worry about the technical part of this at all. Remain focused on the benefits:

• Increase sales You will increase your affiliate sales when you start using videos. Start using videos because people love them.
• Reduce refunds You’ll lose less of the commission your earn. Now they know what they get before they purchase. So less of them will ask for refunds.
• Rise above the competition! This is a really easy thing to do. But only a very small percentage do it. This puts you out in front of the rest.

Get started right now and take your affiliate marketing to the next level. Not using video is detrimental to you business. So do it!

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You need a list. That’s a given. It’s the number one key to opening the success floodgates. Once you have a list built, you can market to it again and again. It’s a resource you can tap at any time and generate income.

So, how do you build a list?

Here are the three components of list building:

• Your Opt-in Page
• The Incentive
• The Thank You Page

Your Opt-in Page – The squeeze page is the first thing your visitor is going to see. It’s the page where you ask them for their email address. This page needs to look professional. And have an easy to understand opt-in form. You’ve also got to make a strong “close”.

The biggest mistake you can make is not having a clear call to action. This “close” tells your visitors what you want them to do. And if you don’t include it, they won’t opt in. Oddly, if you don’t make it clear, people will be confused and end up doing nothing.

One way to really spice up your squeeze page is to add a compelling video to the page. You only have a few second to get your visitors attention – video helps! Plus it give you a chance to tell them to opt in multiple times. Then at the end of the video you can print “sign up now” on the video.

Now, don’t worry if you have no idea how to make videos. You can hire freelancers to do this for you for a few hundred dollars. There are also list building systems that have everything pre-built for you.

The Bribe – The second component is the reason they are opting into your list. People need a good reason to part with their email address. Email privacy is very important to most people. So you have to give them a good reason to do it.

The only way to make this work is to provide real value. It has to be something that people actually want. And something from which they can derive a benefit. Here’s some examples:

• An eBook
• Software
• A video
• An email training series

Basically, you just need some content. It’s got to be something helpful for your new subscribers. It goes without saying it must be free. But to get the email, it’s got to be a good offer.

If you’re worried about creating this content, don’t be. Here again, you can hire freelancers to create this for you. Simply tell them what the topic is and they can write the content. One easy and effective bribe is a 5-part email training series. And you can get emails ghost written for about $20 – $25 each. So, you’ll get the whole series written for under $150.

You can also get email list building tools that include the premium. There are two important things about the email series. The first thing is that it delivers value to your subscribers. It also has to generate revenue for you! One very easy way to make some money from your list is with affiliate marketing. This allows you to get started with no products of your own. And you can earn some commissions immediately from your emails.

The Thank You Page – The “thank you” page is the final piece of the puzzle. After subscribing to your list, your visitor is redirected to this page. It’s a great idea to give them some valuable information right on the thank you page. This helps them feel they’ve made the right decision giving you their email. It also helps to build the relationship. It also makes them more likely to open your emails.

Again, a simple solution to this is to get an email marketing package that includes everything. Or you can do it yourself. And do your own writing for this content. Or hire ghost writers to write them for you.

Summary

It doesn’t matter if you do all of this yourself. Or pay a freelancer to write produce it all for you. Or go with a complete package. It’s just important that you start today building your opt-in list. Because once its built… You’ve got a license to print money!

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