If you’ve ever wondered what is online affiliate marketing about, or niche affiliate marketing as it is often called, it is the next great frontier for the small business entrepreneur to flourish and gain an incredible standard of living way beyond that achievable by traditional employee/worker roles, or running a traditional business.
Out in the real world of the bricks and mortar business small traders continually struggle on a day to day basis to compete against the giant international corporations of the world.
Small independent retailers and business owners are often locked into expensive rental agreement for their high street premises and incurr many other expenses such as utility bills, business rates, insurances, wages, staff benefits, and stock purchases that can quickly lose popularity or go out of date.
And this is before they’ve even taken a single penny through the till.
Fortunately the Internet has evened the odds for small entrepreneurs by creating a real equal opportunity for those who are willing to use it, and it’s called online affiliate marketing.
So how does this work and what is online affiliate marketing all about?
So going back to the traditional way of running a retail business. Typically the store owner or market trader would have a think about what products in his shop might sell well over the comings months, usually influenced by the seasons or holiday season (winter, spring, summer, autumn, Christmas, Easter, public holidays etc).
He or she would then order and pay for a quantity of stock (if this happens to be clothing or footwear there will be different sizes involved). Then hope the right decision has been made and the stock sells before the season runs out, it goes out of fashion, or reaches an expiry date.
In reality though the typical scenario is that there is a flurry of early seasonal sales, the flurry then dries up as the people in the locality have purchased what they want, the retailer is then forced to reach a wider audience by expensive advertising, and in the end forced to slash prices by holding a sale and selling the stock at little profit or even a loss to generate some cash flow just to start the whole process over again.
Breaking it down like that, it makes independent high street retailing look like a game for crazy people. It’s no wonder our high streets are dominated by coffee shops and fast food outlets as this type of business model caters to our cravings and everyday desires rather than popularity or seasonal demands, plus it’s constant repeat business.
The online affiliate marketing method is different and can be applied to all sectors of business.
The definition of an affiliate marketer is “somebody who chooses a product or service to market to other people and earns a piece of the profit for each sale that is made.”
There are a number of obvious advantages to this.
There is no upfront stock or inventory to purchase.
There is no retail premises to run or fund.
This business model can be operated from home or anywhere you choose.
There is no staff to directly employ. As your business grows you can use the services of others to outsource certain work to.
There is no limit to the number of affiliate programs and products or services to promote. In theory you could promote an inventory as large as Walmart without purchasing or stocking a single item.
So what is required to get started?
Assuming you know what you want to promote (and at this stage it’s totally OK if you don’t), you are going to need some basics.
1) You need to have a web site. Either build one yourself or have somebody do it for you.
2) You need a place to host your website. It needs to be reliable and fast. People just aren’t prepared to wait around for a slow loading website any more. They’ll just go somewhere else, and in any case, Google’s algorythms favour fast loading websites for their customer user experience.
3) You need to be able to write compelling content for your website. Either written by yourself or a professional writer. Which ever way it has to be interesting enough to hold the reader’s attention and it needs to answer a question or provide a solution to whatever the visitor is searching for.
This is the core of creating an online affiliate marketing business.
Now at this point you may be going into a flat spin thinking you don’t know any of this. But again, don’t worry. In fact just roll with it for the moment because all this stuff is learnable and has been learned by each and every one of the marketers out there making a great living.
Remember, nobody was born knowing this stuff, but shortly I’m going to explain how you can learn this stuff, and FAST!
So what can I sell?
The short answer is that you can promote virtually anything you want to online.
You’re not just restricted to physical products. The world of “how to” is immense.
So by that I’m talking about information products – for example:
How to survive a pandemic? (Very popular at the time of writing)
How to cure gout
How to beat alcoholism.
How to stop gambling.
How to build a chicken run.
How to homestead.
You get the idea. I could go on and on.
In fact on this very site is a FREE ebook called Niche Intelligence. It explains exactly what a niche is and lists 30 or so high converting niches to get involved in.
So if you’re stuck for ideas on what to promote and build your money site around then I suggest you grab a copy.
Everybody wants information, and fast…
The world is going crazy for information and it will never stop. We live in an age where answers to questions are available at the touch of a keyboard.
The funny thing is though that people are lazy.
Even though this information is available at high speed, people still can’t be bothered fully researching something, so this is where information publishers make their killing.
The information publisher gathers the relevant information that is freely available on line and puts it together in a package such as an e-book or video series.
However, we are digressing into online publishing and product creation which is another very lucrative online business.
A common myth is there are limited products sell…
So keeping on the focus of information, training and affiliate marketing, there are literally thousands, if not millions of products out there in any niche that you can think of.
A quick trip to CLICKBANK.COM reveals an unbelievable array of “how to” products to promote to an audience with an insatiable appetite for knowledge.
And this is just one vendor out there. Other popular ones include Commission Junction and JVZoo .
But as you will see, Clickbank lay it all out in categories, and within these categories are hundreds of sub-categories.
Within these sub-categories are thousands of “How To” products.
You could technically just live within ClickBank and work your way through their products. That would last you a lifetime!
However, you don’t have to focus on “How To” informational products, you could focus on consumer goods, which could include anything from clothing, to tech, to luxury products.
In fact affiliate marketing in luxury goods is booming, and I’m talking high ticket items such as designer jewellery , Rolex watches, power boats, cars and even yachts!
Even food and wine has a booming affiliate market.
Then there are services that you can promote. Booking car parking spaces in city centres is a crazy one but it’s there for the taking, as is rodent and pest control services.
So you can see that whatever your interest or whatever you can think of there’s money to be made by promoting it and taking a commission rather than have the expense of being the product or service provider.
It’s so much easier to be an affiliate and far less riskier.
The next step
Once you have your website set up, and for that you may need some online training, you need to decide what you are going to promote in order to monetize your site. It may be that the theme of your site is how to build an online business. Then you should look for affiliate programs where people can earn money as they train to set up an online business, making you a healthy profit in return.
There are two key things that all of these methods require to be a success.
1.The topic must be one that helps people solve a problem. In other words makes them healthier, wealthier or happier, and provides them with information that they want or need, and gives instant access.
2.The content of the website, no matter the topic, must be relevant, timely and interesting to the people who are reading it, and the website must be easily navigated.
Using these points as your cornerstone, you will be 95% of the way to creating a successful online niche business.
The Mature Preneur
Become a part of The Mature Preneur band of like-minded entrepreneurs making a massive difference to how older people enjoy semi-retirement. Not sat around in a chair wondering whether to switch the heating on, but actively generating income that changes their lives.
If you’re wondering where to start, I have written a guide that will open your eyes to the possibilities out there to start a side hustle for a bit of extra cash, or a full blown business.
It’s called NICHE INTELLIGENCE, and a copy is waiting for you totally free of charge.
Grab Your Copy Now and Get Started
Any questions? I’d love to hear from you.
Please get in touch with your comments, thoughts or questions HERE
Good Luck and Enjoy!
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