Make Money with Affiliate Marketing

Part 2 of the Jimmy D. Brown Series – Ten Ways To Make Money Online

The second way Jimmy's free report talks about making money is with affiliate marketing.

The affiliate marketing business model can be used to promote all kinds of products and services, however for making the most money, Jimmy suggests promoting digital products through the use of a squeeze page.

He likes this method because digital products typically pay more in commissions. Commissions on things like ebooks, ecourses or online videos, can be as much as 70% or more, even 100% commissions, and it's worth noting that digital products sell very well online.

If you're not familiar with a squeeze page, it's a webpage designed specifically to capture your reader's email address so that you can provide information and promote to them directly through email.

As much as I like and have used the squeeze page method it's only one of two methods I prefer. I also teach and recommend promoting affiliate products by creating full blown informational websites. Regardless of the commission rate, a quality informational website in a good niche can do very well whether promoting digital or physical products.

Both methods suggest promoting products or services by providing information first as opposed to sending visitors directly to an affiliate link, both also suggest creating an opt-in email list. The squeeze page method uses email exclusively to provide information while an informational website uses both email and a website to deliver information. Both methods have the potential for lots of sales.

If you're considering the squeeze page method, Opt-in design has 2 free professional squeeze page templates that will get you started, plus they have some great ideas on how to optimize your squeeze page to get the most subscribers.

If you are more interested in creating an informational website you can grab my free guide "How to start an internet business when you have no experience and little time & money to spare."

Regardless of what method you choose, Jimmy is dead on with his tips for how to first find products or services, find traffic and make lots of sales. Here's a run down of how to get started making the most money…

Find products that people are already buying
Don't find a product and then hope people will buy it, that's backwards. Find out what's hot right now.

For example, iphones are popular but with a little research you might find out that iphone accessories sell even better with a lot less completion. Look around, find out what's selling on eBay. Here's a Nichefinder guide I put together that will help you find not just products and niches but those that are most profitable online.

Don't promote junk
Jimmy sums it up by saying you should find 'suitable' products. That really means find 'quality' products that deliver what the user needs.

For example, affiliate marketers love ClickBank and so do I, they have lots of great products in various niches but you can also find junk there as well.

So how do you know what to promote?

Don't select a product based on its high commission payout, you could be disappointed. Instead try buying the product yourself and checking it out. Look at it as an investment in your business. If it's less than adequate take notes and return it. Keep looking until you find a product that impresses you. Write a review, compare notes on both products and write a review that your readers can appreciate. All this information will also help you with creating your follow-up autoresponder emails.

Make sure you understand the needs of the user, then verify if the product meets those needs. As affiliate marketers we all want high commission payouts but if the product is poor and gets returned your commissions will be returned as well and your readers will no longer value your opinion.

The quality of the product and the best interest of your audience should be your primary concern. Your goal is to save them time and research by helping them find quality products. If you come through for them they will continue to follow you.

Set up a lead capture page
This is good internet marketing regardless if you use a squeeze page or building an informational website. Capturing your visitor's email gives you an edge on promotion. With squeeze pages you are using email as your primary promotional tool however capturing visitor information on your informational website gives you a double promotional advantage.

Capturing your visitor's email address requires using an email autoresponder. I use Aweber to handle all the email automation, they make it super simple, you can even get a free trial here. To promote sign-ups try offering a free guide, e-book or something of value that your viewer will be willing to give you their email for. Here's a site I use to get free ebooks and guides.
www.homenotion.com/surefirewealth

Getting Traffic
No matter what your online business, you need traffic. Squeeze pages are a little harder to get natural search engine traffic to because the squeeze page itself is not offering much information; it's only requesting a signup. For that reason writing articles, ezine advertising, link exchanges and pay per click advertising are a must. Also creating free informational PDF guides on your topic and distributing them to other marketers in your niche also work very well for generating sign-ups.

BTW, if you're interested in promoting through Google Adwords, I highly suggest Brad Callens free guide "Adwords Made Easy". Adwords is too risky without it.