Category Archives for Affiliate Marketing
5 Secret Pinterest Hacks to Make You Money Quickly
In the spirit of full transparency, know that this post on Pinterest hacks contains affiliate links. This means if you make a purchase through these links, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. In fact, you may receive a discount or some money for free! Click here to read my full disclosure policy.
You probably know the main challenge for new bloggers is to get traffic to their blog.
Now you may think all you need to do is pin more on Pinterest and you will start seeing traffic role in. In fact, by learning some expert pinner’s secrets you can become much smarter with your efforts and even completely automate the process with a few hours of work a month.
This article (with video) will show you the top 5 Pinterest hacks to start driving crazy traffic to your blog.
Why Use Pinterest?
Now, I can almost hear your mind saying… I’ve already got an account with Facebook and Twitter, why should I bother with Pinterest?
This is the exact question I had been asking for about 2 years before taking the plunge!
I’m definitely not the Don on Facebook or Twitter or Instagram. However, I do use all of them and have a bit of a following (over 2 thousand) on each.
All of them have taken time to grow and to be honest I had been putting off starting another social media platform because of that.
However…
Pinterest beats all of these for one simple fact…
All of the other social media platforms are designed to keep the users on their platform.
Simply put, the best traffic drivers are:
- Pinterest = user to content (awesome)
- Google = user to content (awesome)
- Facebook = user to user (good)
- Twitter = user to user (good)
- Instagram = user to user (average at best)
People literally use Pinterest to find valuable content. It is like using Google.
I HAD NO IDEA!!!!!
In 2018, after hearing this, I felt like I had been wasting all of my efforts on social media.
I thought Pinterest was for pretty wedding photos, flowers and basically… I thought it was for girls!
As it turns out, my stupid bias judgemental mind had been holding my website traffic back.
… Onwards and upwards…
So rather than dive into it full steam ahead, I went out of my way to find out some of the best Pinterest hacks to drive traffic to my blog.
Tip 1- Create Killer Content
Well Duh!! This is more important than water is to a fish.
I thought you said these were gonna be top secret tips?!
Well actually it may not be top secret but this one is ALWAYS the top priority. If you can genuinely help to solve someone’s problems then this person is likely to become an avid fan and share, pin, tweet (whatever!) your content. Always ask yourself…
Am I actually helping to solve someone’s problems?
It’s so important that your content is easy to read.
Let’s face it people on the internet are in a hurry. Think about the last time you read an article. Chances are very high that you skimmed it and tried to take in something useful without wasting your time reading it!?
So a very valuable tip is to create content that is EASY to read.
Help people skim read it if they want.
Remember, the main focus should be providing the reader with valuable information that helps THEM.
Solving other people’s problems and helping them builds trust. This means they are more likely to read more of your stuff and come back.
Tips for making blogs easy to read:
- White Spaces –
Do not leave a wall of text. Use Line breaks and mix up your paragraph lengths… When writing ONLINE a paragraph should NEVER be more than 3 lines of writing.
- Images –
Use images to convey your message.
- Don’t use $10 words! –
Yes, you may think you sound clever. But these LOOOONG words make reading harder. If you can keep it simple people will keep reading.
- Get to the point –
Don’t use 20 words if it can be said in 4. After writing a post CUT it down!! I’ve heard as a good rule of thumb to delete the entire first & last paragraph and remove every 6th sentence! Seriously… cut it down, don’t get attached to your words, you will thank yourself in the future!
- Use Stories/ similies/ metaphors
People find it easy to remember a story. They often come to their own conclusion and form their own opinions from them. It is much more powerful when we learn something ourselves than when we are told something.
Tip 2- Create Awesome Images
The way your pins look is IMPORTANT.
In fact, this is maybe the most important of the Pinterest hacks.
How can you make Pins that stand out?
Pins need to:
- Stand out – BOLD and bright text
- Grab attention – Eye grabbing picture
- Entice people to click – A title that makes you want to know more
Here is one of the pins from the Pinterest kings Jeff and Ben at Dollarsprout.
What’s the perfect pin size?
People seem to recommend different sizes all the time. There is no perfect pin size.
Currently in November 2018, from what I have found many are using or recommend 600px wide by 900-1,250px tall.
This is something I was terrible at when I started. It wasn’t until I took Jeff and Ben’s $9 “Perfect Pin” course that I really saw traction from Pinterest.
Check it out here, it can save sooooo much wasted time! As you read on you will find out more about Jeff and Ben from Dollarsprout (spoiler alert they now make over $240k/ month)
Tip 3- Use descriptions wisely
This can make a big difference in 2 ways:
- People finding your pin
- People clicking on the link
To help more people do both of these things your pin descriptions need to:
- Includes keywords (helps people find it)
- Have WIIFM (what’s in it for me?)
- 200-300 characters
- Has CTA (call to action – tell them what to do)
There’s not much more to it than that.
The aim of the description is to get people clicking on that link! Try out different descriptions for pins leading to the same post to make the most of these Pinterest hacks.
Tip 4- Make a Clean and Branded Profile
Your business profile needs to come across well for your niche.
People just want to know what you do… So tell them
To get your Profile looking “Pinterest Pretty” you need to do the following things:
- Use similar colours in your pins
- Neat design (don’t make it too busy/ too many words!)
- Ensure your description and your business name uses keywords
- Your description gets to the point.
- Tell people what you do.
To be honest with you… there is too much to explain in one blog post about how to set up your Pinterest account and explain how Pinterest works.
If you’re keen to see the same results as some of the most successful bloggers that make 6 figures a month then check out the best book I have found that explains everything you need to know about Pinterest. Including:
- How to set your profile up for best results (with checklist)
- The secret manual Pinning strategy to make pins go viral
- How to only spend 1-2 hours a month setting up your pins
- How to use Pinterest for affiliate marketing
All of this is great but there’s actually one last BIG tip to getting more engagement on Pinterest.
The answer lies in Group Boards…
Tip 5 + Bonus Tip- The Group Boards Secret
Driving traffic from Pinterest is a game of applying to as many group boards as you can, and pinning bright, bold, click-bait pins to them repeatedly!
However, something that I have found hard to find anywhere else is…
How do I apply for group boards?
You basically have to find other people’s boards that you would like to join. You need to message the owner and ask if you can become a “collaborator” of the board.
Type in a keyword into the search tab on Pinterest and look at the group boards for this.
Group Boards are amazing and different from any other social media platform because…
If you only have 50 followers and “collaborate” on a board with 10,000 followers, then all of these people can now see your pins.
You could spend hours applying to loads of boards… However, some group boards are better to apply to. The BEST ones need to have the following:
- Less than 20 collaborators
- A very specific topic (not affiliate marketing… but affiliate marketing on Pinterest for beginners)
Realistically you won’t know what boards are good until you join them. SO you need to hustle here and ask around. Once you’re on the board you can check out what the best boards are by watching this short video…
Read the podcast chat show notes with Jeff and Ben from Dollarsprout.
You can message the owner of a board on a pin to ask to join a group board as a “collaborator”.
If you’d like a step by step 6-day guide to using Pinterest from setting up your account to finding group boards then get this sent to you for free right now…
Plus get your bonus email template to join the best group boards…
But I have nothing to offer!
You can’t name drop because you know nobody… you have no followers… you are just starting a blog…
So what can you do?
Comment and engage on their stuff!
Find where they hang out and contribute to their work regularly.
Is it easy to comment? Yes!
Can it be time-consuming? Yes!
Does everyone do this? Hell no!
There’s always a way for you to stand out. You just have to be willing to go the extra mile!
Last little nugget before you go…
Use tailwind to automate your pins like clockwork… simples.
I just spent 3 hours setting up my pins (30+ a day) for the next 3 months. That’s 3000 pins going out at THE best times of the day!!
Pinterest Hacks Summary
These Pinterest hacks really can drive more traffic to your website than rush hour on the M25 (that’s British humour… Google the M25 if you don’t know what I’m chatting about).
Use these 5 tips and find the best group boards to pin onto and you will have visitors pouring onto your site just like Jeff and Ben did in 2016. Check out how they went from not making any money from their blog for 13 months to now earn $240k per month.
Keep changing for the better,
Mike
P.S. It’s so important to have your account set up the right way to get the best results from these Pinterest hacks. Make sure your account is set up right by getting the free course below…
Be sure to pin this page to come back to it later and share the secrets…
Does Affiliate Marketing Online Work? The Truth Revealed
In the spirit of full transparency, know that this post answering does affiliate marketing online work contains affiliate links. This means if you make a purchase through these links, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. In fact, you may receive a discount or some money for free! Click here to read my full disclosure policy.
You probably agree that most people dream of making money whilst they sleep.
And most people struggle to find ways of creating passive income without investing large sums of money. However, affiliate marketing has generated a passive income stream for thousands of people. Plus, it is possible to get started without needing any money.
This post will answer the question “does affiliate marketing online work?” and help you decide if it’s a good fit for you.
What is Affiliate Marketing?
Pat Flynn’s Smart Passive Income possibly has the best definition of what affiliate marketing is:
Affiliate marketing is the process of earning a commission by promoting other people’s (or company’s) products. You find a product you like, promote it to others and earn a piece of the profit for each sale that you make.
If you’re like me then you probably will find this diagram super helpful…
STOP! Now study that again. When you understand this diagram, affiliate marketing really starts to make sense.
Here are the 4 main roles in affiliate marketing as defined by Neil Patel:
Merchant:
This is the person or company that creates the product.
It could be an online course or a physical product such as a child’s toy or super cool hoverboards!
Affiliate:
This is an individual or company that is also known as the publisher.
They will normally receive a commission of anything between 4-75% for each sale made through their special link.
Consumer:
The customer, or consumer, is what makes affiliate marketing go ’round.
Without sales, there would be no commission or any products being sold. If you have ever bought anything then you were a consumer at that time, hence we are all consumers!
The Network:
A network works as the “middle-man” between the merchant and the affiliate.
It is possible to set up a direct revenue share with someone that created a product. But almost all affiliate marketing online will be through a network such as ClickBank or Commission Junction.
Master Blogging goes into a lot more detail about the terminology in affiliate marketing too.
Does Affiliate Marketing Online Work in 2019?
Does Pamela Anderson have trouble seeing her belly button?
The more you read each word in this post, the more you realise that companies and individuals who have created products want to get their babies in front of as many people as possible.
Let me ask you this…
Would you rather pay someone else 0% of $100 profits… or 50% of $1,000 profit?
Simply put affiliate marketing is a win-win.
The owner of the product doesn’t have to do all the marketing or advertising themselves. And the person recommending the product (the affiliate marketer) doesn’t have to spend all their time creating products.
Benefits for the Merchant:
- Cost-effective
- Better ROI as you only pay when sales have been made (no upfront cost to advertising)
- Increases traffic to your website
- Can be tracked and analysed (see the success of each affiliate)
- Save time as you don’t have to market it yourself
- Instant results
- Long lasting results
Benefits for an Affiliate:
- You don’t have to spend ages creating products
- There is no cost to marketing it (use your own channels i.e. social media/ website/ email)
- No limits to how much you can earn
- If you create a “funnel” that works you can scale it quickly by paying for traffic
- Possible to make money for free
- Builds relationships with the merchant
There are literally thousands of income reports that exist now. If you’re still doubting whether affiliate marketing can genuinely work then see for yourself…
Real Life Examples:
There are loads of really impressive ones like Pat and Michelle who have been in this game a lot longer. But just take a look at the success of people starting out with affiliate marketing in more recent years!
How I Made Over $1,500,000 in 2018 – Michelle-Schroeder Gardner who started in 2011
$213,000 Month November 2017 – Pat Flynn who started in 2007
How I Made My First $25,000 From Blogging July 2018 – The She Approach started in September 2016
How I Made $3,878 in 3 months of blogging part time – Gathering Dreams – started in 2017
What do you think?
Does affiliate marketing online work even in 2019?
Is Affiliate Marketing Online Easy?
Is the Pope Jewish?
You’re smart enough to know that nothing worthwhile in life is easy.
Just because it’s not easy does it mean it’s not worth doing?
However, there are really only a couple of things you will need to do to be successful with affiliate marketing:
- Review products (Youtube channel or a website aka blog)
- Build an audience (you can be successful using a social media channel but an email list has been proven to be far better)
So let’s break it down a bit eh?
1. Review Products
This doesn’t mean all you will do is leave reviews on products.
In fact, it’s highly recommended that you do not do that!
But product reviews are proven to be a great way to make affiliate sales. Just think about it for a minute… if someone helps you understand what a product does and why you need a product, do you think you’re more or less likely to buy it?
Also, if someone finds your website by typing in “GoPro Hero 7 Review” do you think they may already be interested in buying a GoPro? You will be attracting the right people to your website.
Of course, you’ve seen those review videos on Youtube right?
Well, you can also leave reviews on a website.
Just think about it… when you’re considering to buy a product what do you do?
BINGO… Google it!
You are likely led straight to someone’s website (aka a blog!)
So the really successful affiliate marketers will have their own website.
With today’s technology, building a website doesn’t have to be hard and can be done with a few clicks (no you don’t need to be able to code!) You can learn how to do this for free here “How to Build a Website the Easy Way“.
2. How to Build Your Audience.
You will be able to collect email addresses much easier with your own website than anywhere else. This way you can provide value to your readers and then provide some sort of upgrade to help them… for free! Find out “Why do People Create Blogs? These 28 Bloggers Explain Their Story“
The key here is to provide your email list with quality information regularly.
You are not going to try and sell anything and everything to them. If you do your job right you will only attract people onto your email list that you can genuinely help.
At the end of the day, that is what affiliate marketing is…
Helping put a product in front of someone that would benefit from it!
Email marketing has been proven to be more successful than any other type of marketing. Just see some of the stats below…
An example of a content upgrade is an email course.
You can provide your audience with some of your best knowledge about a topic that you have formed over weeks, months or years of hard work. This way you not only start to build a relationship with them as they can personally email you back with any questions, but you can genuinely start to really help them and build trust.
The days of the hard selling are long gone (maybe they never really existed or worked!) The most successful businesses provide real value and trust with their customers.
Finding the best online tools to set these systems up can be time-consuming and seem daunting, so find out how to “Save Hours of Time with these Resources“
Is Affiliate Marketing Genuinely Passive Income?
A job as a waitress where you get paid $10 an hour is trading time for money.
You probably know that passive income is something that you put the time in once and it pays you again and again… use time today and reap the rewards in the future.
However, it is important to understand that passive income is not something that you just put in a bit of work and never have to do anything to it again.
Yes, there are ways to earn passive income without having to do much work at all. But to do this you will need to invest money that you have already earnt. You can read more about this method in “The Ultimate Strategy to Earn Passive Income“.
4 Asset Classes for Passive Income
The four main asset classes that can earn you passive income are:
- Property (rent out houses)
- Stocks or bonds (dividends or the ultimate passive income strategy with index funds)
- Businesses (online or offline! Hint… affiliate marketing is an online business!)
- Commodities (owning oil rigs/ gold mines can earn passive income)
So you may have to keep an eye on your affiliate links and help them get in front of your audience i.e. improve SEO, build your email list, send emails or use social media to get eyes on your website.
Now I can almost hear your mind saying… “does affiliate marketing online work?” Just check out my podcast chat with Jeff and Ben from Dollarsprout who make over $240k a month (in May 2019) to find the answer.
The more you read this article the more you get excited at the possibility of putting work in today to keep paying you over and over again.
So imagine you are sitting on a beach with your family.
The fresh sea air smells good.
White sand between your toes.
There are children laughing and playing, whilst you’re sitting with your partner sipping on a refreshing beverage.
When you get up to go to the restroom you check your phone.
You see this…
Imagine what your life would be like if you achieve this for a few hours of sitting on a beach…
What Affiliate Marketing Products do People Sell?
There are two main types of products that people would be an affiliate for:
- Physical
- Digital
Typically, digital products would have higher commissions than physical products. Even often over 50% (yes, sometimes over half of the profit!)
The main reason for this is that there is no cost of replication from the creator of the product i.e. an online course only needs to be created once and can be easily sent to 5 people or 5 million people for the same “shipping” cost ($0).
If you want to see more affiliate products as examples then check out “Save Hours of Time with these Resources“
Physical products can also work well for some affiliates.
For example, if you type in “children’s toys reviews” into YouTube you can see Ryan Toys Review has over 18 million subscribers!!
I won’t subject you to a video of his reviews here… they are painful to watch (but they obviously work!)
As Pat Flynn points out, affiliate marketers do much better when they test out a product and genuinely use the product themselves as they can relate to it. So they are the consumer!
This is called “involved affiliate marketing”.
Maybe that’s why Ryan does so well!?
How do I Become an Affiliate Marketer Then?
There are 2 main ways that people can become affiliates for different products:
- Affiliate networks
- Individual merchants (a company or an individual that produces the product)
Affiliate networks include:
- Amazon Associates
- ClickBank
- Commission Junction
There are so many networks that you can use and if you want more information and specific networks you can use in your niche check out “How does Blogging Make Money?“
Sometimes this is the only way to promote a product. This is the case if the merchant manages their affiliate program on that network.
Amazon Associates is a great one to get started with because you can become an affiliate of almost anything. However, the commission is typically quite small (around 4%) so the products you promote would need to be quite high-value items (or you’d need to sell a lot!)
Simply search for a product and add a link to the product to your website, social media channel or emails.
If someone purchases through this link you will receive a commission.
Note that if they went on to buy something else you weren’t promoting on Amazon you may be rewarded a commission for that if they do so within 24 hours of clicking your link (this is because of these tasty “cookies” that your computer has… but we won’t go into that here)
If you’ve used a product that you particularly love and you can’t find a way that you can become an affiliate of it, you can personally reach out to the merchant (creator of the product).
It’s important to let them know how you will help them and how you will promote their product.
Don’t panic though, chances are there will be a way already to become an affiliate of the product… especially if it is in digital form!
It Sounds Like a Lot of Hard Work…
It’s important to realise it’s not easy.
This is where your “why” becomes so important. Find out “How to write a personal mission statement in 3 steps” to help you dive deeper into your “why”.
These are some questions you really need to consider:
- Would you like to make money whilst you sleep?
- Would you like to be rewarded over and over again for the work that you put in today?
- Do you know what your ideal day looks like? Would affiliate marketing help you to live this life?
By working out your ideal day it’s possible to reverse engineer your life and work to fit that lifestyle. People are often a lot closer to living this perfect day every day than they may realise. Grant Sabatier talks more about this concept in our podcast “How to earn $50,000 in 4 days and reach financial freedom“.
So does affiliate marketing online work?
As you absorb this information you’ll form the answer yourself.
No credit card details required
Does Affiliate Marketing Online Work? Summary
The more you review this page the more you begin to find yourself excited at the opportunity and lifestyle that affiliate marketing online can give you.
It 100% is not super easy to do and it definitely is NOT a get rich quick scheme.
But it’s clear to see there are hundreds of people that use affiliate marketing to create a lifestyle that they want to live.
Let me know in the comments below what your opinions are on affiliate marketing and pin this page so you can come back to it later.
Keep changing for the better,
Mike
P.S. If you are interested in making money through affiliate marketing to free up your time, get this free course to get you set up to start making passive income.
How to Use Online Marketing for Small Businesses w/ Riaz Shah
MTO9- There may be affiliate links in this article on how to use online marketing for small businesses, read the full disclaimer here.
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You probably know that businesses today need to use online marketing to grow and scale.
Whilst your business is growing it can be really hard to even think about how your website looks or what SEO stands for… let alone learning and implementing this. Well, Riaz Shah found a way that he was able to learn about online marketing and then implement this into his offline small business in events management.
This podcast shows how to use online marketing for small businesses and some of Riaz’s top tips for those looking to learn more.
Background
2 mins
Riaz started his online business about 5 years ago way back in 2014. Do you remember those days?
- The World Cup was held in the mighty Brazil
- The Ebola epidemic gripped the world
- And how can we forget Ben Haenow (who?!) winning the UK X factor?
In this part of the podcast Riaz talks about:
- What he knew about internet marketing when he first started (he had hardly heard of Google… so no you don’t need to be a techie!)
- How he started in internet marketing
- Being scammed by certain online programs
- The program he joined to really learn his online marketing knowledge
- How the program helps to use these skills to grow any existing business
The more you listen to this podcast the more you realise how online marketing skills are transferable to any kind of business.
Understanding Google Sandboxing
5 mins
What on earth is Google sandboxing?
No, it’s nothing to do with sand!
Riaz talks about:
- What Google sandboxing is
- How long this “probation” period typically lasts
- The number of websites created every day (spoiler alert… it’s a lot!)
- How long it took him to get an article onto the almighty Google’s page one!
Little by little you begin to realise why so many people give up with online marketing. As you keep reading through this article, you’re starting to understand what you can do to learn more about this.
Making Money Using These Skills
6 mins
So Riaz eventually started writing articles for his own bricks and mortar business in events management.
This made his website stand out like a Christmas tree in July.
Let me ask you this… if you were another business owner seeing the success of this website, what would you do?
That’s right!
Other businesses saw this and asked Riaz to help them grow their websites too.
Are you beginning to see how learning these online marketing skills can be a valuable money-making asset?
Related content:
Neil Patel Strategies to Grow Offline Businesses
8 mins
In case you didn’t know… Neil Patel is kind of a big deal!
- Forbes calls him one of the top 10 influencers on the web
- He has over 1 million monthly page views to his website
- And he is a New York Times bestselling author
Simply put:
He really knows his stuff.
Check out some of the stats he produced in a tweet below…
Some exciting #digitalmarketing stats from @neilpatel–like that #socialmedia budgets will double in 5 years. pic.twitter.com/e2Bt9OUGVV
— Garrigan Lyman (@GarriganLyman) September 9, 2016
Riaz related to him a lot because of his knowledge in offline sales and business.
Riaz talks about a lot of goodies during this section including:
- How you can get offline sales using your online marketing skills
- How Riaz has got a closing rate of around 20% of the calls he receives!
- The advantage of getting people contacting you
- Using email “split testing” to improve results
- The best email autoresponder’s to use
Some of the autoresponders he mentions are:
- Mailerlite (free for first 1,000 subscribers)
- MailChimp (free for first 2,000 subs)
- Aweber (paid but more features, needed if you’re in the make money online niche)
- GetResponse (paid but more features, needed if you’re in the make money online niche)
- Convertkit (what I personally use and recommend… if you are a blogger or online marketer it’s just so easy to use and genuinely really helps to grow your business!)
There are so many online tools that you can use with your online marketing. So to really separate the wheat from the chaff check out how to “Save Hours of Time with these Resources“.
How Riaz Monetised His Websites
16 mins
This is probably the juicy section for people starting out with online marketing. In this part of the podcast you will find out:
- The one way Riaz made money online at the start
- How Riaz made money online from Uber
- When the best stage is to promote affiliate links
- The benefits of affiliate marketing compared to creating your own products
- How it’s possible to monetise any niche website
Are you beginning to notice that Riaz is speaking from experience? He’s not just guessing with what he is saying he has been there, done that, got the T-shirt. Find out more about this in “How does Blogging Make Money“.
Riaz’s Reflections
22 mins
Riaz made no mistakes about the reason why he started his website My Internet Quest. He knew he wanted to learn more about internet marketing and he knew the best way to do that was to create a website and learn.
Why not make money at the same time eh?
How many hobbies do you have that generates passive income?
Riaz knows his memory isn’t great and so he found that writing about his learning straight away helped to remember more, but also he could go back to things that he’s written to help himself! Clever lad isn’t he!
He has a pretty big goal:
To automate everything, so he can spend more time doing what he wants to do.
He is teaching people in his team how to do the things he knows how to do which means it can grow exponentially and free up his time.
Just picture what that would be like for a moment…
This is the exact reason why this website exists, you can read more about it in “Why Make Time Online? Financial Independence Retire Early Blog“
Top Tips from Riaz
24 mins
So I asked Riaz a simple question here.
“What tips would you give to yourself before you started the online business?”
His top tips were:
1. Get your mindset right – it was easy to get scammed at first due to the courses that “seem so real” to make money overnight.
But success is not overnight. Do not jump on these shiny objects that promise to make you money instantly for not doing anything… it doesn’t exist!
It may take you a month or a few months but it certainly won’t happen instantly.
Be aware of this fact and your whole online marketing experience will be much better.
2. Consistency – to achieve success, you must be consistent.
Your statistics may not go up straight away and you may find it hard to get on page one of Google due to the competition. But you never know what post may reach page one of search engines.
Be consistent and it will happen.
Are you beginning to notice the importance of using the right program and getting the right training? If you’re consistently putting out poor quality content that will not help you, your business or (maybe more importantly) your readers.
Knowledge is power
So make sure you get the right knowledge!
Links
27 mins
If you’d like to contact Riaz then do so on any of the below links and email addresses:
riaz@myinternetquest.com
riaz_90@hotmail.com
Twitter @riazshah90
Action
29 mins
Keep reading 10 pages of self-development books every day. This will really help to make sure you have a positive mindset, which is a must for starting any business.
My top recommendations for improving your mindset are:
- The Happiness Advantage– The science behind success and happiness
- The Miracle Morning– Learn how to use the 6 habits of high-performance people before anyone else wakes up
- Rich Dad Poor Dad– Learn how to think about money in a healthy way
- The Millionaire Fastlane– Find out what will happen if you follow the usual advice
- Financial Freedom– Discover the best way to retire early and optimise your life right now
- The Chimp Paradox– Find out why you sometimes don’t think logically and how to control your “chimp”
You can find out “What I’ve Learnt from Reading Over 100 Books in the Last 3 Years” to see some of the big takeaways from these kinds of books.
How to Use Online Marketing for Small Businesses Summary
The more you listen to this podcast the more you will see how it’s possible to use online marketing skills to help small businesses grow.
There are 2 crucial things to seeing success in the online world:
- Mindset
- Consistency
What main takeaways did you take from this podcast? Is there anything you would like to know more details about?
Keep changing for the better,
Mike
P.S. FYI I spoke to Riaz at 12 am Malaysian time after he had been at work all day in his bricks and mortar business! So hats off to a genuinely great guy who is a real friend and continues to be a great help to me!
P.P.S. If you are interested in making money online to free up your time, check out this 1-minute video to see more information about my #1 recommended program…
This is actually how I first contacted Riaz and also the program he started using in 2014! Compliment this with the free email course below to set your online business up for success…
11 Unusual Ways to Improve Your Copywriting Skills Quickly
There may be affiliate links in this article on how to improve your copywriting skills, read the full disclaimer here.
Rare thinking people like you already know that you need to improve your copywriting skills if you are producing content online.
Most people will just keep staying busy and working hard rather than taking the time to improve these skills. I would like to tell you that if you just keep practising your writing you will get better in time. The truth is, it can actually just take a writing cheatsheet to see a huge improvement.
This blog post will show you different ways to improve your copywriting skills quickly.
#1 Imitate Writers you Admire
“Whoa! Are you saying that I should copy other people’s work?
I’m all for unusual ways but that’s just plagiarism!!”
No pumpkin! I’m just saying start looking out for great copy! If you read something and it makes you want to buy it then keep hold of it.
Better yet, if you notice a family member or friend that has bought something due to an advert… KEEP THAT COPY!
Start a Copywriting Collection.
- Use a physical box for the stuff that you find physically (leaflets/ magazines/ newspapers etc.)
- Use Evernote (your digital brain… and it’s free) to “clip” or save articles you find online.
When you need some inspiration simply check out your collection and imitate your favourite copy. Books are a great way to learn more about copywriting and find some of the best copywriters that you would like to imitate.
#2 Write in the Morning
That heading was almost “write when you are most productive”.
But do you know what? I am yet to hear someone say that they tried to be productive first thing in the morning but found that they couldn’t!
Yes, it’s hard to get out of bed earlier.
Yes, you want to listen to your procrastination monkey.
But speaking from experience (and other people that have tried this), I guarantee you will boost your productivity and write better. It may take a few days to get used to it if you like your lay-ins. However, these are the basic steps to write better and more efficiently:
- Set your alarm 1 hour earlier
- Go to bed 1 hour earlier
- Write the template for your post the night before (if you’ve already written it then re-read the template before going to sleep)
- Force yourself to wake up when the alarm goes off
- Get some water (and a coffee if you must!)
- Write!
Now, there is some sort of magic that goes on overnight. I can’t explain the neuroscience behind it, but with practice, your brain will magically have formed what you want to write.
This is one of the simplest ways to improve your copywriting skills.
CHEESE! Yes, that’s me writing this post early doors.
#3 Spend More Time Editing Than Writing
This is the author of Hypnotic Writing, Joe Vitale’s, secret!
Related Article:
Hypnotic Writing Review- How to Persuade and Seduce Customers with Only Your Words
He spends much more time editing and rewriting his work than he does actually writing it.
There are 3 reasons for this:
- He researches and plans his work before writing it.
- When he writes he uses a blank page and lets his subconscious mind take over.
- Only after he’s finished writing does he go back through his work with his cheat sheet.
Note, he even admits that his cheat sheet is his secret weapon and crutch.
Let’s see if we can write that sentence more hypnotically…
You don’t realise it yet, but the best copywriters admit that a cheat sheet is their secret weapon and crutch.
Let’s see if we can make it more active now…
You don’t realise it yet, but Joe Vitale reveals, “my cheat sheet is my secret weapon and crutch.”
Without this cheatsheet or some sort of swipe file, writing to persuade and influence people’s decisions would be so much harder. When you have the cheat sheet you just look for places to add in hypnotic phrases.
You probably know this already but using the Grammarly extension (free) helps to correct spelling and grammar mistakes as you write online. It’s a MUST HAVE!
You can find out some of the other resources that all digital marketers need to save time and make money.
Related content:
#4 Use a Hypnotic Writing Cheatsheet
This is the easiest way to improve your copywriting skills.
Have you ever read someone’s work and been amazed at how easily it flows?
Did it make you wonder how you ended up scrolling through a super long web page for the past 10 minutes? Even though you knew it was clearly trying to sell you something!
Well, my amigo, that is hypnotic writing.
It occurs in books that you can’t put down and it exists online.
Are you beginning to realise that there are words and phrases that are scientifically proven to grab your readers attention and persuade them to buy something?
Drift back to a time when you bought something online. What was it that made you make the purchase? Chances are that the copy you read used hypnotic words and phrases whether the writer realised it or not.
Now, wouldn’t it be amazing if you could get a hypnotic cheatsheet for free right now?
#5 Entertain! Use an Analogy or Simile Book
Going overboard with humour when you are trying to sell something is as welcome as a french kiss at a family reunion.
But let’s face it…
People want to be entertained.
Plus if you can make your point through a metaphor or analogy people can come to the conclusion themselves! This is much more powerful than spelling something out to them.
Which sentence do you think is more effective?…
- Buy this course to get more traffic from Pinterest.
- Imagine what you could do if you could double your traffic by spending 1 hour a month on your marketing…
#6 Tell Stories to Sell in Stealth Mode
Hey buddy! Why don’t you buy this top of the range course that I’m about to sell to you in just a moment?
I’ll tell you what it has…
- How to drive traffic from SEO
- Training that will smash other stuff out of the park
- How to make a killing from Facebook ads
- A ready-made website that will make you $3,789 a day for doing nothing!
Right, be honest now… How many times have you seen something like this before?
And what did you do after you read it?
Too right! You clicked that fat red cross in the top left and never went back to this spammy website!
NOBODY likes to be sold to! However, everyone likes to buy things 😉
This means it’s your job as a copywriter to persuade someone to make a decision that will help them, without forcing a sale down their throat.
Three Feet From Gold
Let me tell you the story of Napolean Hill’s “Three feet from gold”…
R.U. Darby was caught by the gold fever in the gold-rush days. He spent weeks digging and using his pickaxe plus machinery to discover a shining ore. His family and some of his neighbours helped him dig along the gold vein thinking they were sure to find gold at the end of it.
And then one day, they lost the vein.
Darby panicked. They drilled hopelessly trying to find the vein again, but it was gone.
Eventually, they quit.
They sold all the machinery they had bought to some junk man and set off back home.
However, this junk man had also heard of the gold rush. So he hired a mining engineer to do a bit of calculating. The engineer told the junk man that he thought the tunnel already created was only 3 feet away from the vein.
The junk man took millions of dollars in ore from the mine.
Well, let me tell you something else. Wouldn’t it be great if you could get blogging experts knowledge, some of whom are making over $100,000 per month from their blog?
These experts courses have been condensed into 11 days worth of knowledge that can be dripped into your inbox, with simple actionable steps each day.
If you feel like you have been digging for gold for a long time, this may well be your engineer…
#7 Recommending Something Great… to the Right Person
This is a bit of a no brainer but you would be surprised how often this one gets overlooked!
Let me ask you this.
If you knew someone that loved football and you managed to get tickets to the World Cup final for £100 do you think they would be interested?
Well Duh!
Now, let me ask you this…
Do you think you could sell those tickets to an introverted music lover who can’t stand being in big crowds?
I think you get the point… NEXT!
#8 Get Out of Your Ego
What you want doesn’t matter. You must write to your readers wants.
Simply put:
Don’t write what you want them to do… write what will benefit them!
Personally, I find it really time-consuming marketing and getting my blog posts in front of people. So I’ve spent a lot of time researching how to use Pinterest to make my blog marketing more automated. I’ve managed to double my traffic within one month of using these Pinterest strategies.
Related content:
The Top 4 Secret Pinterest Hacks
How to Use Pinterest for Beginners
That previous paragraph is irrelevant!! You don’t care!! Let’s see if we can rewrite that paragraph by getting out of my ego…
Of course, you’ve heard that Pinterest is by far the best social media platform to drive traffic to your website. But do you know why?
People use Pinterest to find information in a similar way as to how they use Google. You can use keywords in your titles and descriptions of your pins. Plus, it’s possible for people to find a pin from a couple of years ago, unlike a tweet. Other forms of social media are primarily to interact or see what other people are up to. Simply put:
- Google = User to content
- Pinterest = User to content
- Facebook = User to user
- Twitter = User to user
Are you beginning to see how Pinterest can help you to get a constant stream of traffic to your blog posts?
STOP and picture what you could do if you could automate this traffic from Pinterest.
#9 Use Short Sentences & Paragraphs
Why?
They are easier to read of course.
It helps to keep your readers attention.
The more they read, the more engaged they are in your writing!
Plus, it’s a proven fact that people skim a lot more when reading things online…
How do people read online #content? You'll be surprised: #infographic #contentmarketing pic.twitter.com/Rg831PBr92
— Boost The News (@BoostTheNews) June 15, 2016
So you want to make it easy to read… but don’t overdo it! It can make the text look too choppy and even make it harder to get a sense of the flow of ideas.
If you want to see some excellent use of short paragraphs and sentences online then check out the book review of Kelvin Dorsey’s book below.
Related Article:
Book Review 81 Days to Becoming on Online Sales Machine
#10 Create Excitement and Curiosity
Here’s a fact for you:
You can create excitement and curiosity by placing mental images into peoples heads.
Here are some ways to inflame curiosity:
- Questions
- Riddles
- Unknown resolutions
- Violated expectations
- Access to information known by others
- Weird and wacky
If you can do any of these things you’re much more likely to get clicks on your links.
Related content:
Experts explain how to persuade and seduce customers with only your words.
#11 Write Damn Good Headlines!
You probably know that the title is more important than the post itself.
If you can’t get people to start reading your copy then is there any point in writing it?! That is why you want your headline to grab attention and push peoples emotions so that they want to read your writing.
The one job of your headline is to get people reading the first line.
The only job of the first sentence is to make people read the second sentence. I think you see where this is going…
There are so many proven headline templates that you could use. It would be too much to write about in this post, but here are a few examples:
- Promise a benefit i.e. Free from backache in 10 minutes!
- Offer something free i.e. Free Book on Car Repairs
- Use how-to headlines i.e. How to Win Friends and Influence People
You can find 13 headline templates plus the best emotional and eye-grabbing words to use within your headlines in the Hypnotic Cheatsheet freebie above.
Once you have thought of a few different headlines, run them through these 2 headline tools:
- Coscheduler– Great to get a quick rough idea
- Aminstitute– More accurate at giving an emotional score
Wondering how to write better #headlines? Here's a quick #infographic just for you!#contentmarketing #blog #writing pic.twitter.com/TOhDUVkX74
— Andreea Dutescu (@andreea_dutescu) March 30, 2018
If you are writing copy online and you want it to be found on search engines then the keyword you use is so important. That’s why using a keyword research tool can help to show you what keywords get the most searches per month and what keywords have the least competition (other websites using the keyword).
It’s a great way to reach the low hanging fruit that exists!
Related content:
#12 BONUS- Use the Word “Secret”
Why does the word “secret” entice people in so much?
- People are innately fat and lazy! “Secret” implies doing less work
- People are curious creatures
- Most people feel like everyone else is in on something that they aren’t
- People are competitive (have you ever looked for a car park space in a full car park?…)
- “Secret” implies you’ll gain an advantage over others
If you want to get more clicks on your work, then use this secret!
Improve Your Copywriting Skills Summary
So there you have it!
It doesn’t have to be a really long and tedious task to learn how to improve your copywriting skills. Have you noticed yet that there are so many ways to see an improvement quickly?
Imagine what it would be like if you could help reach more people to live a life that they dream of.
Your copywriting skills may just be the one thing that will help you to be able to help them.
Keep changing for the better,
Mike
P.S. If you have any questions or thoughts please feel free to drop a comment below… or send me a message on WA here
8 Ways to Spot an Online Marketing SCAM
So you want to make money online do ya? But how do you know the best ways to spot an online marketing scam?
Let me ask you a personal question…
Have you looked into getting some training or using an online course to help learn from the best and minimise the mistakes you make?
If you have then CONGRATS!
Some people think they can just “figure it out” themselves.
Everyone knows that 99% of the time these people that are still in the same spot 10 years down the line.
Ask any successful person how they got to where they are today and they will tell you 2 things:
- “I’ve learnt a lot (and continue to learn)”
- “I have mentors or a support team
As you pay close attention to this page, remember that most of these people will have paid for both of these things at some stage in their journey.
Of course you’ve heard that 90% of people that buy a product related to internet marketing feel they were “ripped off” at some point.
The further on you read you’ll begin to understand the best 8 ways to spot an online marketing SCAM!!
#1 Video ONLY Sales Page
Now, let me ask you this… Have you ever been forced to sit through a video before you even see any other information? i.e. what the product does, the cost etc.
Well do you see the red cross in the top corner of your screen?
If you are asked to wait for the video to finish before you see what to do next…
- Click that cross and continue with your life!
Any respectable program will provide you with the information you WANT and NEED from the start.
Let’s face the harsh reality that we are more likely to invest in something if we have spent time on it. This is exactly WHY some programs will force you to watch a 15-30 minute video FIRST!
This leads onto the next point to look out for…
#2 Upsell, Upsell, Upsell
PROVEN FACT!!
If you invest some money in something, you are likely to spend MORE money on it.
Now, let me ask you another question…
Have you ever seen an internet marketing product offered for under $10? Maybe even some random number like $6.87?
That’s because the people selling the product know the fact above. Once you dip your hand into your pocket (or PayPal account) you are more likely to do it again.
This is another key ways to spot an online marketing SCAM!
This is why they make it look like it’s a very cheap product but then have an upsell straight away ranging from $30-$1,000’s.
Have you ever seen an upsell for $97?
You click “no thanks”
The next page is the same product for $47 at a ONE TIME offer!
Chances are this is a SCAM!
Any legit product will offer you a “try before you buy” free trial or it will just be a ONE-TIME payment.
If you see upsell after upsell it’ll be likely the company won’t be honest and up-front with you in the future.
Note there are definitely legitimate products that don’t offer a free trial. Some products may actually give you certain things that they can’t guarantee they can get back (such as a download).
#3 No Contact Details
If you can’t even find a way to contact the company do you really think they have nothing to hide?
If something goes wrong with the product or you are not happy about something there will be no way to actually fix this.
AVOID it like the plague as it’s a ways to spot an online marketing SCAM!
#4 Way to Spot an Online Marketing SCAM- Terrible Support
Now imagine you’ve just forked out some dollar for a course. You have a technical issue with it, so you send an email. How would you feel if you don’t hear back from them for 3 days?
Your feeling of frustration and disappointment only grows when their response doesn’t really answer your question.
It’s another sign of things to come if they can’t even support you at the start.
A legit training program will have different ways of contact and often has a platform you can ask questions to the community and the existing members.
#5 Pay $27 Today for an instant $357 a day Online ATM Machine
Have you ever seen an outrageous claim like this before?
Of course you have!
You probably know there may be some people who do really well using this program. But to get these kind’ve results these people will almost definately have one or more of the following:
- TIME (to spend working on it all day)
- MONEY (to spend driving traffic or buying the upsells)
- TRAFFIC (already have a large following)
If they are using a rediculous overnight success story or $10,000’s of income in the first month, you need to understand one thing:
This is NOT possible… so they are lying.
It’s another way to spot an online marketing SCAM!!
NEXT!
#6 Some Guy in a Lamboghini & Mansion
If you see the owner of a product in a picture of his
Just think… it’s possible to test drive a car, visit a national trust mansion and get a friend to take a photo on their phone. This proves NOTHING!
It’s a classic case of short man syndrome!
They are usually show boating and flaunting these things because they know their product lacks credibility or any actual quality.
#7 Run for the Hills if there are Hundreds of Complaints
If you’re like me you like to find out about a company before buying. There are a few ways to check whether a company recieves a lot of complaints but here are my favourite 2:
- Mention (a social media tracking keywords website)
- BBB (Better Business Bureau
It’s important to remember that a lot of GOOD companies will receive some complaints. In fact the better the company, the more customers it will have, the more likely someone will have a compaint.
For instance, someone may be annoyed that their product was delivered late, or maybe they didn’t use it how it was intended to be used.
However, if a company is receiving hundreds of complaints then your “
#8 Training from when Dinosaurs were Alive
In the online world using updated techniques can be the difference between doing something illegal and making a bigger difference that Nelson Mandela.
Tinternet (in Peter Kay’s Northern accent) changes all the time.
Google, Facebook, Twitter all have these weird techie things called algorithms. If you are like me you have no idea (or really care) how these work. But what is important, if you’re serious about your online business, is what these changes means to YOU.
For example, some old school backlinking techniques (a link to your website) are banned from Google and won’t let your website rank at all now. Some older training programs may still tell you to do this!
Make sure the program you want to use gets updated more than Lady Gaga!
Make Time Online Summary
As this page ends you have realised that finding ways to spot an online marketing scam are easy like Sunday morning.
If you see any one of these 8 ways then…
STOP!
You really should consider whether the program will be honest and reliable.
Use the tools in #7 to see what other people have said about the product as this will help you know what to expect.
Keep changing for the better
Mike
p.s. If you are interested in making money online to free up your time, have a look at my #1 recommended program here, which I am currently using.
p.p.s. If you have any questions or thoughts please feel free to drop a comment below… or send me a message on WA here
9 Lucrative Affiliate Marketing Tips for Beginners
There are affiliate links in this article on lucrative affiliate marketing tips for beginners, which means if you make a purchase through these links, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Read the full disclaimer here.
You probably already know there are hundreds of posts with a title just like this one.
“9 Lucrative Affiliate Marketing Tips for Beginners” is just another one of those pages where some guy reckons he’s better than us at doing what we are all trying to do… make money online.
Well this is going to be different…
Here’s how:
I’m not going to pretend I know it all.
In fact, I would imagine a lot of people reading this will know more about the topic than I do.
The further and further you read into this website the more you will realise I only offer “ready to use” tips that I have learnt from my own experience.
So shall we?…
#1 Be More Honest Than a Dude on Truth Serem
Call a sale a sale!
Tell your beautiful readers that you will get a commission if they buy from your link. Obviously, explain that it doesn’t affect the price of what they are buying but be HONEST that it will benefit you.
The same goes if you’ve tried or not tried the product. Explain your reasons why you are writing about it or promoting it.
In my “starry-eyed” former non-Internet-marketing days I used to believe the best way to sell was to slip a sale in without the customer noticing.
Drift back to a time when you ended up spending more money than you planned. You know like when the checkout guy at McDonald’s offers you the large portion without telling you it’s extra money…
In actual fact, this is maybe the worst way to do it!
People are NOT stupid!
After you hand over your money in McDonald’s you realise… “eurgh I fell for it again!”
And do you notice how the distrust makes you feel?
However, can you recall a time when a friend found an awesome deal and told you about it? Or a great film they saw at the cinema? They didn’t sell anything to you they genuinely tried to help. Because when people trust you it’s not selling, it’s just like letting a friend know about an awesome deal.
Are you beginning to see how HONESTY sells?
Affiliate marketing should be a long game about helping people… not trying to make a quick buck.
#2 Create VALUE… for FREE
Do people really want freebies?
…Is a frogs ass watertight?
Wouldn’t it be amazing if someone could solve YOUR problems?
If you create value that someone really wants then people will TRUST you.
How can you create freebies?
- Blog post
- Youtube video
- Podcast
- Infographics
If you really solve someone’s problems you can create a freebie in exchange for their email address such as:
- Cheatsheet
- e-book
- Email course (a great way to start for newbies)
- Something packaged in a different way i.e. blog post come video/ audio
- A “giveaway”
Focus on adding REAL value to people for FREE as much as you possibly can. That way your readers will keep coming back and… you guessed it… TRUST you!
#3 START with a Free Autoresponder
Have you heard that ConvertKit is the best autoresponder? Yeah, so have I from everyone that uses ConvertKit… guess what people who use Aweber recommend? BINGO… Aweber!
I have tried and tested the following autoresponders (there are loads more):
- Mailchimp
- Getresponse
- MailerLite
- ConvertKit
- Aweber
Do you know how many email subscribers I had when I tried these out?… 3 (one was me, and one was Sarah, my wife)
The truth is it doesn’t matter which one you START with… so DON’T throw your money away!!
Use a FREE one:
- MailerLite
- MailChimp
Both of these are completely FREE every month until you get over 1,000 email addresses (MailChimp is now 2,000!) And then it’s easy to export your email addresses to another autoresponder if you outgrow this.
Guess what…
It is hard to get 1,000 email addresses!!
I personally use ConvertKit (this is an affiliate link) as it offers so much more and is far easier to use than the free programs. But until you have a sizeable email list don’t convert (see what I did there!)
These “email marketing gurus” who tell you how easy it is to get email addresses using their FREE 2-page e-book… are lying!
As you absorb this information you’ll notice that adding REAL VALUE wins at affiliate marketing!… 100% of the time.
As you can imagine, getting the first 1,000 is the hardest part and it gets easier after that.
#4 Find Out What People Say About Your Product in Minutes
What if you have found a product you can be an affiliate for, but you’re still not sure if people will like it?
Use mention to literally see what others are saying about it!
Mention is a social media monitoring website that you can use for FREE.
This is what people are saying about Wealthy Affiliate…
Learn the positive honest lifestyle of earning for life.
And this is what people are saying about Banners Broker…
Selling unregistered securities at best, and outright fraud at worst.
A quick 2-minute search on “mention” shows me which product I would be happy being an affiliate of and what product I would steer clear of!
#5 Make Sure Your Links WORK
Do you remember a time at school when you got all excited about a school trip, only to find out it’s been cancelled?
That is the feeling you will give your readers if your link doesn’t work.
Don’t worry though! I have found another SIMPLE way to make sure your links are as good as gold…
Use the check my links extension on Chrome to find any broken links on your website (yes it’s free).
Find out how this works in more detail here.
Are you beginning to notice how these affiliate marketing tips for beginners could help you?
#6 Get More Traffic with a Keyword Research Tool
“Eh hum… what the frick is a Keyword?”
Oh, I’m so glad you asked!
A Keyword is a particular word or a phrase that helps search engines match a particular search to a website…
Complex stuff right?
No, not really! It basically means your title, subtitles and tags on that page form your keyword(s)… Simples!
Of course, you’ve heard that “you shouldn’t even think about SEO until you’ve blogged for 6 months!”
This is baloney!
You may have heard the jargon “sandboxing” before. It simply means Google won’t promote your website until it’s about 6 months old.
Yes, Google only ranks your website higher after 6 months of existence because thousands of websites are being created (and abandoned) every day. They are trying to separate the wheat from the chaff you see!
However, if you can spend time finding less competitive keywords now, you can potentially get loadsa traffic in the future.
And guess what?…
Keyword research tools are a massive TIME SAVER.
Hold on a minute… what is SEO?
Sorry, my bad! This means Search Engine Optimisation… basically, it means making your website easier to find on search engines.
Here’s WHY this is important:
Read “How to Find Keywords for your Website” to learn some of the best tips and tricks for getting your content ranked.
You can do keyword research manually on Google but I use the Jaaxy Keyword Research for free with my membership at Wealthy Affiliate.
#7 Improve Your Rankings for FREE with Moz
Moz shows the domain authority of a website.
What’s the domain authority (DA)?
It’s a search engine ranking score that predicts how well a website will rank on a search engine’s results page.
Simply put…
Imagine someone types in “how to make money online” into Google.
A website with a DA of 97 will be more likely to be on page 1 of the search results than a website with a DA of 13.
So if you type in your Keyword into Google check what the general score is of the competing websites. If this is similar to your websites DA then you should be good to compete for page 1… If you’re way off, I would recommend finding another Keyword to use.
This is a search for make money online…
This is a search for make money online with affiliate marketing…
As you can see the websites DA that you are competing with are much lower when your keyword is more specific.
Notice that there is a website with a DA of 21 in the first screenshot. If you make a GREAT post with specific keywords that people are searching for then it is possible to get your website on page 1 of Google with a lower DA.
#8 Choose Amazing Products to Sell
This is the last but not least for affiliate marketing tips for beginners…
Picture yourself five years from now… You are the best copywriter (person who writes to sell) in the world. You have an amazing website and your audience really trusts you.
Now imagine you try to sell them a dog poo in a paper bag…
The point is… don’t sell s#*!
If you are promoting something, I do believe you should try it out, or at least trust someone that has.
Make sure you are completely happy with the product and you are clear on what value it adds.
However, if you’re writing a review about something that you would not recommend, by all means, be HONEST and state why you’re writing that review!
#9 Pitfalls to Avoid when Starting Affiliate Marketing
When does affiliate marketing fail?
- Bombarding your followers with requests to try the product
- Promote products in irrelevant groups and forums
- Emailing and messaging your audience multiple times a day
- Missing opportunities e.g. holiday seasons to promote Christmas cards
- Not researching the right target audience for the product or service
- Failing to provide all the information needed to buy the product
- Not enough social presence
- Give up too soon
Don’t believe me? Give any of these a try and see how well they go down.
Affiliate Marketing Tips for Beginners Summary
Affiliate marketing is NOT a get rich quick scheme.
It is a business.
You probably already know that there are ways you can fast track your progress in any business.
As this article ends, you have learned that using a training program is a must if you want to save time and learn from people who have a proven track record.
Each and every day that you go without using a training program is going to be time wasted in getting your online business running properly.
Just remember, the key to success is to provide value.
Chuck a comment below about what your favourite tip is or if you have your tips please share them too! Or you can message me directly here.
Keep changing for the better,
Mike
P.S. Click here to learn about how real people have used affiliate marketing to earn over $2,000 a month from home.
How to Create Your Own Business Logo… Better Than Professional Designers!
Imagine what it would be like if you could create a beautifully designed logo better than professionals.
If you have a website, a business or a brand you probably have already either thought about designing a logo or created one already.
By the time you finish reading this page, you will have learned the common pitfalls of logo making and how to get an awesome logo for your brand.
Why Make a Logo?
To make your brand stand out like Shaquille O’Neil at a midget convention obviously!
The further on you read, the more you’ll begin to understand how a logo can make your business look professional and prove authority straight away.
You probably know who these logos belong to…
Are you beginning to see that a logo creates your own brand and helps people recognise it straight away?
Ways to Make a Logo
Now, let me ask you this, are you willing to spend money on your logo design?
Your answer to this question will help you decide which option is right for you…
1. Designed by a professional
This is a step that I would only recommend to a company that already is making a profit each month.
Why?
Because you will typically pay $100-$500 for this service.
It’s not always worth doing this in the early stages of your website or business because it’s not cheap. Plus just look at how Apple has changed its logo over the years (the logo you choose now doesn’t have to be forever!)
If you’re thinking “Where will I find these “professionals” though?” then I would recommend asking on a private Facebook group such as “Virtual Assistant Savvies Group” because recommendations are important here.
Then do a background check of the designer. Find previous projects and speak to previous clients.
2. Purchase a Pre-Made Logo
If you don’t have any desire to waste your own time or if you have the artistic skills of a Kindergartener, then this is what I would recommend for you!
This is different to step one because other people will use a “template” logo for you, which may well get used again by another company.
Basically, they are not designing a logo exclusively for you.
If you are thinking, “Wouldn’t it be amazing if you could just pay someone a few dollars to get a logo designed for you” then there are numerous websites that you can get this kind of service starting from $5:
- Fiverr
- PeoplePerHour
- Etsy
We used Fiverr for a logo for our property company last year. The process is very painless and simple:
Here is what we were sent from the graphic designer:
We went back to him and decided we wanted a maroon/ dark red in our logo and he produced this…
Simples…
3. Design the Logo by Yourself
If you’re relatively new in your business journey and you like to be a bit creative, this is the step I’d recommend for you!
It’s basically what step 2 is apart from you’re not paying someone else to do it. You probably know that some virtual assistants will use much better software and be more skilled, but it’s effectively the same thing.
You can use a number of different FREE websites to get this done. Plus it’s a bit of fun ain’t it!
I’m only going to list 2 because they are great and I don’t see the point in even being aware of any more:
- Canva– Free and loads of options
- Snappa– Limited free account (enough for a logo though!) but it has better background options and is more user-friendly than Canva
How to Create Your Own Business Logo- Design Tips
Since you’re still here I’m going to assume that you want to know how to create your own business logo.
So here are some top tips:
- KISS- Keep It Simple Stupid– Just have a picture and text
- No Gradients– Such as going from black to white and fading
- No Shadows
- Use a Primary and Secondary Colour– not loads of colours
- Brand Name in Logo
- Horizontal, not Vertical- Looks better
- Reversible– can go on a dark/ white background
Have you noticed that these tips will make the logo “sharp” and “clean”?
This is really important if you ever want to get your logo printed i.e. T-shirts, banners, on a sign, cards etc.
You’ve got to wonder whether it’s possible to print if your logo has gradients and shadows and lots of colours.
Many studies have already proven that different colours produce a certain psychological response from people. Here are some of the basic examples:
- Red- Loud, playful, warmth, energy, love
- White- Clean, hygiene, pure, youth
- Blue- Wisdom, calm, trust, loyal, spiritual, respectable, sophisticated
- Green- Calm, nature, health, wealth, tranquillity, harmony
- Yellow- Happiness, energy, friendly,
- Orange- Energy, change, warmth, playful
- Purple- Spiritual, luxury, truthful, high quality
- Brown- Nature, reliable, serious
- Black- Power, strength, intelligence, glamour
- Grey- Practical, efficient, timeless
- Pink- Physical, warmth, romance, feminity, love
You be the judge of how accurate this is!
#1 Tip
If you’re like me it will really annoy you that you can’t put your logo over certain documents because the background is white rather than transparent.
What if you could get a transparent background for FREE?!!
Websites such as Canva use the transparent background feature as a big selling point for upgrading to the paid version.
But you can use websites such as onlinepngtools to make your logo have a transparent background for free.
Check out my little clock icon in the browser tab… You’re welcome!
Common Pitfalls
Using these tips will help you to avoid:
1. Making logo’s too “busy”
Simplicity rules here. If you don’t believe me check out the “famous logos” up this page.
2. Too many colours
The colour of your brand should have a theme and you only really want 2 colours in your logo otherwise it makes it look “busy” again.
3. Hard to read
There are some very fancy font’s out there. You can also come up with some very clever ways to make your logo fit together.
The issue with these fonts and creative designs is that it becomes a challenge to read the logo or to know what the brand actually does.
4. Paying for an expensive logo on day 1.
I know what you’re thinking… Surely it’s better to have a great logo straight away then I never need to think about it again.
Yes, I agree.
However, if you are making a website or online business it’s a great idea to actually get it started and see whether you are going to stick with it.
Your logo will not drive traffic to your website or provide value to your audience, which leads onto…
The Secret – How to Create Your Own Business Logo That is Recognised Like Apple
Ok, I’ve saved the best tip until the end…
Come a bit closer so you can hear me because I’m only going to whisper…
The secret is…
Content is King
You know what I mean, don’t you? We don’t recognise Apple’s logo because it is an amazing logo. To be honest it’s a pretty average logo.
We recognise it because their products are simple, user-friendly and they have created things that their users want.
It is the same for any business whether it’s online or a brick and mortar oneIf you can solve people’s problems, entertain them and just give killer value your logo will be recognised by people.
Period.
How to Create Your Own Business Logo Summary
Have you noticed yet that there are different ways to design a logo like a boss?
You can pay someone else to design one for you or you can easily do one yourself.
The best part about doing it yourself is that logos are often better when they are simple (and of course it’s FREE!)
Now imagine you want to print and produce the logo on different backgrounds.
Make sure the logo to be clean and sharp!
As you come to the end of this page you will have learned that it is important to make a logo that is not too fancy or busy.
And as always do not forget the golden rule to making sure your logo is recognised…
Add value to others.
Keep changing for the better,
Mike
p.s. If you are interested in making money online to free up your time, have a look at my #1 recommended program here, which I am currently using.
p.p.s. If you have any questions or thoughts please feel free to drop a comment below… or send me a message on WA here
How to Build a Website the Easy Way… in Under 30 Seconds
There may be affiliate links in this article on how to build a website the easy way, read the full disclaimer here.
You must be joking mate…
In under 30 seconds?
… Is a frogs arse watertight?
We’ve already established that creating a website on WordPress is a must.
But this can still be time-consuming and it’s easy to set it up in a way that doesn’t optimise your website’s speed and searchability.
This genuinely is how to build a website the easy way… for FREE… plus it will be set up in a great way to make money.
Come on Then Spill it… How do You Build a Website the Easy Way?
Still sounds too good to be true right?
Well, all you have to do is watch the short video above to see how it is possible… or read on if you just wanna get to it!
Step 1- Name Your Website
OK I’m about to show you how to build a website the easy way
You will end up on a page like this…
Put in a domain name that you want your website to be called.
It’s important to note that the name doesn’t matter too much right now. It is very easy to transfer the domain name later on if you change your mind!
In fact, I started out with maketimeonline.siterubrix.com and then decided I wanted my own domain name later.
It literally took a few minutes to transfer (plus there’s another walkthrough video on Wealthy Affiliate that shows you how to do this!)
Step 2- Register Your FREE Account
Easy peasy lemon squeezy… just fill out your:
- Name
- Email address
- Password
- Username
There’s nothing more to it. It’s a completely free account for as long as you want it to be.
No credit card details required.
Get on it like a fat kid on cake!
Step 3- Choose How Your Website Looks
There are literally thousands of themes to choose from on WordPress. Just take a butcher’s at the screenshot.
Fun fact- take a butcher’s refers to a butcher’s hook (Cockney rhyming slang for “look”)
Again, don’t pussyfoot around here you can change your theme with a click of the button at a later date.
Click a theme and then…
Step 4- GO!
Click the “I’m ready, build my website now” button and…
Voilà…
You have a website up and running and now you just sit back and watch the dough roll in (if you believe that you’re more gullible than Jess from “New Girl”… no, just me that watches it? Ok moving on…)
Your website will be set up in a way that stands out like an honest man in the White House…
in a good way…
Why is the Website with Wealthy Affiliate so Good?
Here are some JAW-DROPPING benefits of using a Wealthy Affiliate website:
- Hosting Speed- Amazon c3.large (fast)
- Website Space- 5GB (30GB on premium- both more than enough)
- Bandwidth- 500k visitors per month (if you get more than this then hit me up and show me!)
- Data Transfer- 2GB (unlimited on premium- that’s good!)
- Spam Blocker- (Defend from hackers)
- SiteSSL- Site protection (on premium membership)
Yeah But… What Does This Gibberish Mean in English?
The hosting is powerful and on some of the fastest servers available in the world.
This means your website can rank better on Google (or other search engines) meaning your website can be found by people easier. Simply put…
Quicker website = more traffic = more clicks on affiliate links = more sales = more dollar in your pocket
As a premium member, you get access to a level of managed WordPress hosting that others are paying $250 plus a month for.
I Still Don’t Believe it’s That Good… Prove it
How did I know you were going to say that!
Well, luckily enough I have some proof from a fellow Wealthy Affiliate.
“DomW” managed to get over 4,000 clicks to his website in a single month!… All from natural traffic (search engines) and all on his FREE siterubrix.com website.
Click here to read Dom’s Story
It can be daunting getting started, so sign up below to get ALL of the tips I wish I knew when I started.
They are dripped to your inbox over the next 11 days as taking small consistent actions each day is much more beneficial than trying to learn everything in one go!
How to Build a Website the Easy Way Summary
If you are trying to figure out how to build your website the easy way, then look no further.
It really is a pain-free process and you don’t need ANY techie skills to do it.
Just follow the steps and your website will miraculously appear.
Imagine if you could get a well-designed FREE website created in under 30 seconds.
Think of all the time you could save and spend on creating that content that you have brewing up inside.
It does make you wonder… why would anyone not give it a go?
If you have any questions about this, please drop them below or message me directly on WA here.
Keep changing for the better,
Mike
p.s. If you are interested in making money online to free up your time, check out this 1-minute video to see more information about my #1 recommended program…
2019 Jaaxy Review- Best SEO Keyword Research Tool
Can you imagine getting FREE traffic to your website whilst sleeping? Well, finding the best SEO keyword research tool will certainly help you do this.
Simply perform a search below to start your research.
After you read this short article, you will feel a sense of relief that it’s possible to get this FREE traffic.
So settle in amigo and read on to find out!
Jaaxy- The Overview and Rankings
- Name: Jaaxy
- Owners: Kyle and Carson- 95 out of 100
- Website URL: jaaxy.com
- Support: 95 out of 100
- Training: 90 out of 100
- Ease of use: 88 out of 100
- Price: Free/ Pro version $19 per month/ Enterprise version $49 per month
- Maketimeonline.com Rating: 92 out of 100
First… What is a Keyword?
A keyword is the word OR phrase typed into Google or another search engine (i.e. Bing or Yahoo etc.)
So why does this matter to you?
Because if you know what people are typing into Google you can create more content that people are searching for.
Therefore people will naturally visit your website for free!
Second… What is SEO?
Search Engine Optimisation.
Simply put it is making your website easier to find on search engines such as Google, Bing or Yahoo etc.
Monkey simple… Next!
What is Keyword Research?
Let me ask you this.
What is the capital of Tuvalu?*
Not sure… well go and work it out then come back and read some more.
I bet if you actually did that you went into Google and found the answer within seconds.
Did you see it on the Wikipedia page at the top? But if you were to scroll down you will probably see a load of random peoples websites.
These websites have got onto page 1 on a Google search because of a number of reasons:
- The page has a keyword that matches what was typed into Google (i.e. “What is the capital of Tuvalu”)
- The web page has relevant content to what was typed in
- They provide valuable content to their audience regularly.
However, the most important factor here is number 1.
If you create specific content for a keyword that fits EXACTLY you’ve got a higher chance of being ranked on page one of Google!
Here’s a fact for you:
Google’s entire business model is built on MATCHING the right content to their users intent
Now read that again.
Now if you’re like me you’re probably thinking…
“Will many people even be typing that into Google?”
Well, does the Pope wear a funny hat?
181 people type this into Google PER MONTH! (see the screenshot above)
The fact is that the websites on page one of Google will receive regular visitors to their website every month from people typing in the keyword “what is the capital of Tuvalu”…
Now imagine you had 10 or 100 or 1,000 posts that are on the top page of Google.
Are you beginning to see how you can get free traffic?
Wouldn’t it be amazing if you could find certain keywords that people search for every month and have hardly any competition from other websites?
Hence, the keywords you put onto your website’s pages you can increase the chance of receiving FREE traffic every month to your site.
In Affiliate marketing, MORE traffic means MORE sales and more sales means more money.
So if you can get traffic for free, it is effectively more money for free!
This is a big step in the right direction for you to create more TIME, which is the whole purpose of this website!
Little by little you begin to see why keyword research is pretty important…
Who is Jaaxy for?
Imagine what you could do if you could get free traffic to your website EVERY month.
Are you still looking for the best SEO keyword research tool?
And have you noticed yet that Jaaxy can help you to find keywords that have little competition, so it’s more likely that you can reach the desired page 1 of Google?
This is what the online world calls SEO (Search Engine Optimisation). It is a method of bringing people to your website every month for free.
It’s another great way to decide on a specific niche if you’re just starting out.
Click here to read more about how to find your niche.
If you are currently using affiliate marketing or thinking about starting to use affiliate marketing, then the best SEO keyword research tool is a must!
Here is a list of people that may use Jaaxy:
- Anyone with a business
- Niche pursuers
- Article marketers
- Freelance writers
- Professional bloggers
- Domain flippers
- Site flippers
- Online / Pay Per Click advertisers
- YouTube marketers
- SEO companies
- People who want to ‘spy’ on their competitors
- Viral-news website owners looking for new trends to leverage
- Internet marketers wanting to know how high their sites and posts are ranking on the SERPs
- Local marketers
- Local businesses
- Affiliate marketers
- Email marketers wanting to find hot topics to discuss with their subscribers.
Jaaxy- How to determine a “Quality” Keyword?
Here are the MAIN features of using Jaaxy explained:
Monthly Searches (Avg)
This is the total number of searches that the keyword produces on search engines each month.
The HIGHER this number the more people will visit your website.
So look for over 50!
Traffic
If you achieve 1st-page rankings this is the estimated amount of visitors you will receive to your account.
Just think about it…
Will you receive many visitors if you do not rank on the search engines first page? (think back to the earlier example of Tuvalu, did you even consider clicking onto page 2 of the results?)
Again the HIGHER the number the better!
And do you being to notice that the monthly searches column is more important because traffic is an estimation?
Quoted Search Results (QSR)
This is the BEST indicator for you to look at.
This shows you the number of competing websites ranked on Google for the keyword.
The lower the number the more chance you have to rank on Googles page-1.
Ideally, the number should be below 100.
Keyword Quality Index (KQI)
Shows how likely it is you will reach page-one on Google.
This is a quick way to determine whether the keyword will be a good marketing campaign for you to use.
If it is green and says Great then it may be a good option
If it says normal and is orange then you should probably look for another campaign to start.
Red= don’t even bother
SEO Power
This is a score for the keyword based on traffic and how much competition.
If your keyword has <10 monthly searches then you will not receive any traffic (as nobody cares!)
If there are hundreds of competing websites then it’s less likely yours will feature on page 1 of a Google search!
You want this number to be HIGH and ideally over 90.
Alphabet Soup
If you type in your keyword into Google it will pop up some common searches beneath.
For example, a common headline for articles starts with “how to become…”
Beneath it brings up some ideas for what people search for on Google:
If we go one step further and click on “how to become rich…” we end up with more results appearing below:
In a moment, you’ll see how the alphabet soup function in Jaaxy really saves you TIME.
Once you have your post idea you just type the letters of the alphabet one at a time to come up with hundreds of ideas that people are already searching for
For example, type in “how to become rich a…” “how to become rich b…” “how to become rich c…” etc.
If you are struggling for content ideas this is a super simple way of generating hundreds if not thousands of ideas.
Have you noticed yet that you know other people are already searching for these ideas?
The best thing about Jaaxy is that it does this all for you.
And gives you the option to then do your own research in more detail or add to your brainstorm queue so you can see these keywords together.
Saved Lists
Wouldn’t it be amazing if you could put all of your ideas in one place and then compare them against each other?
Enter “saved lists”!
Remember the main goal of keyword research is:
Get as many monthly visits to your website by reaching the top page of a search engine for your keyword.
This walkthrough for how to use Jaaxy shows you how I can find a good key phrase to write a blog post or YouTube video for.
Top tip: Find your keyword before writing the post (this gives you the focus throughout!)
Is it Worth it?
Do you remember that my promise is to always be completely honest with you?
Now, I can almost hear your mind saying “as a relative newbie to the affiliate marketing world, are there other things that I should be spending my time and money on?”
100% YES!
So here are 2 things that you will NEED to pay for before this:
- Hosting
- Affiliate marketing training
If you are just starting out and are not creating useful and engaging content already, then spending $49 a month on a Keyword Research Tool would be more silly than electing Donald Trump as the US president!
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- Earn Passive Income- Ray Dalio and Warren Buffet Reveal the Secret
- Save Hours of Time With These Recommended Resources!
- 8 Lucrative Affiliate Marketing Tips for Beginners
- How To Find Your Online Niche
Now, let me ask you this “Would you pay for a service that provides regular visitors to your website EVERY month?”
If you would then getting the best SEO keyword research tool will help your website stand out like Shaquille O’Neil at a midgets convention!
Are you beginning to see how important the best SEO keyword research tool is?
As you read each word on this page you will see why people who upgrade their Jaaxy account say it is easily worth $99 per month to them.
Imagine what it would be like if your research on one post helps you get an extra $99 each time… hence, it pays for itself and some!
Wouldn’t it be amazing if you could get your SiteRank worked out for you and tracked?
The Pro version tracks up to 2,000 websites and the Enterprise version tracks up to 10,000 websites for a specific search.
Can you see how useful it would be to see how your website is progressing and improving over time?
My Recommendation
Try it out for free!
What do you have to lose?
Type in a search below to start your keyword research
Jaaxy Pro version is a no brainer if you already have your website going and you have had some affiliate marketing training (through a legitimate course!)
Just picture this for a moment… You are already making some decent money each month and you are looking to scale your online business…
Therefore, the enterprise version will help you do just that!
STOP!!
- Are you still relatively new to affiliate marketing?
- Have you been trying to make money online for a while now but you’re NOT seeing the results you were hoping for?
In the next 2 minutes, you’ll find out how I get to use Jaaxy.
I don’t pay separately for average hosting.
I don’t pay separately for my training.
And I don’t pay additionally for Jaaxy.
Because I get all of these things (and more) as part of my Wealthy Affiliate membership.
Here are some things included in the Wealthy Affiliate membership:
- Hosting (people pay over $200 per month just for this type of hosting- you can easily move your existing website here to benefit from this hosting)
- Site Rubrix (helps build a great website in 30 seconds, then helps to track and add content to your website)
- Community Support (hundreds of thousands of people- there is ALWAYS someone on there to help)
- Affiliate marketing training (AMAZING CONTENT- constantly updated)
You also get the “lite” version of Jaaxy, which has pretty much everything the pro version has (see video above).
So you effectively get the best SEO keyword research tool for free!
Click here to join Wealthy Affiliate for free!
Make Time Online Summary- Best SEO Keyword Research Tool
The closer and closer you get to the end of this article the more you realise that Jaaxy is the best SEO keyword research tool.
And as you are thinking about using the alphabet soup function, you become excited at the idea of getting content ideas on tap!
Earlier on, I asked you the question
Have you been trying to make money online for a while now but you’re NOT seeing the results you were hoping for?
If you want different results, do not do the same things.
Albert Einstein
You’ve got to wonder what you could do if you were able to receive FREE traffic so that your website can become more and more like a business instead of a job.
Keep changing for the better,
Mike
p.s. If you have any questions and I mean ANY questions about Jaaxy, please leave them below. Also, if you have used Jaaxy or another keyword tool before then please also add your opinions below.
p.p.s Are you serious about making money online to free up your time? I would advise you to check out my #1 recommended program here
*The capital of Tuvalu is Funafuti (CONGRATS!)
Why You Should Make Money Online Part Time
Is it really hard to make money online part time? It certainly is not going to be really easy, but is anything worthwhile really easy?
Here’s a list of things that are very easy to do vs something that requires more effort:
- Ordering a takeaway pizza vs cooking a tasty healthy meal
- Watching football on the TV vs working out
- Reading a novel vs writing a book
- Playing computer games vs creating a computer game
- Browsing Facebook vs making real connections with people that are “crushing it” on Facebook
I’m going to let you decide which ones are worthwhile and which ones suck time away from us.
How Can I Make Money Online?
A quick Google search of this sub-heading will bring up hundreds of blogs with people telling you hundreds of ways you can make money online. From filling out surveys to selling domain names to selling your services on platforms such as Fiverr and Peopleperhour.
These are all legitimate ways of making money online and they may be a great way to earn some side income whilst you are getting started online (providing you have the time to do this).
However, what I am mainly talking about in this blog is affiliate marketing and creating your own online business.
Primarily through writing useful content and providing links to other peoples products or services through “affiliate links” (click here to read more about how to use affiliate links). The goal is to eventually create your own products or services and set up an online business that provides an income without you having trade your time for money.
What are the Benefits of Making Money Online?
Make money while you sleep
Without a doubt, the biggest benefit of making money online is that we can spend time today to pay us over and over again in the future. Jobs require us to trade our time for money. If we have a long-term sickness or do not turn up to work, we cannot make money.
The internet has changed this old fashioned way of thinking about work. We can work in the day and get paid whilst we sleep at night.
Most people get paid based on the number of hours they work each day. Making money online allows you to get paid by the second for 365 days of the year.
Unlimited potential
Therefore, there is unlimited potential to how much money you can earn online. There are no pay scales and no promotions on the internet. There are just billions of people online with unlimited amounts of money to spend (if you understand the financial system today with quantitative easing [printing money] you will know how true this is).
Small upfront costs compared to most businesses
Making money online should be treated just like starting a business. Most businesses require you to put up a lot of cash to get started, such as renting office space, hiring staff, purchasing goods and stock etc.
Getting started with your online business can be completely free.
There are some things that you will need to put in place if you are serious such as website hosting, a domain name (your website URL- e.g. maketimeonline.com) or an autoresponder (a website that collects email addresses and automatically sends emails out for you). However, the costs of these are very minimal compared to most businesses.
No staff required
You literally do not need to rely on hiring, paying and managing staff. This is quite often what businesses will rely on to make them work effectively. You may have a super idea, a great product and vision, but you will always be relying on staff to carry your vision out for you in the majority of businesses (as you can’t be everywhere all the time).
Getting started online requires only one person. YOURSELF.
You literally get all of the benefits of the work that you put in and you don’t need to worry about training, providing benefits or managing staff.
Start Part Time
You can start part-time by putting in an hour a day or a few hours a week.
You don’t have to quit your job to start an online business.
You can work on it at any time as you don’t need to wait for opening hours and you can write on a word document if you haven’t got an internet connection.
Easy to scale
This is a huge benefit of an online business! There are systems and things that you can do online to make your business go from reaching a handful of people to reaching hundreds of thousands, without changing what you do. Over 3 billion people all over the world currently use the internet.
Autoresponders can send an email to 2 people or 2 million people.
There is nothing you need to change to do this, you still just write one email and the autoresponder does the rest for you.
Even though you do not need to hire staff, you can still outsource work that you do. For example, I am currently writing all of my own content, responding to all comments and advertising my own work all by myself. However, using websites such as Fiverr and Peopleperhour these tasks can be easily outsourced to professionals on an hourly paid bases.
The above screenshot is the outline of my post, which I do before writing anything. This could be sent to a virtual assistant to expand and write the content for me.
You can pay people to reply to comments that you receive and you can pay for adverts to promote your website and “drive traffic” (bring visitors) to your website.
This is when you know you have created a business and not only created another job.
There is a big difference and being aware of this difference is what separates the most successful business people to someone that tried and gave up (I bet you’ve heard that 7 out of 10 businesses fail within the first 10 years before… this is a big reason why)
Why Isn’t Everyone Doing This?
It is not taught in schools
Our current education system teaches very little about starting businesses.
There is pretty much zero good financial education within our schools.
However, the internet has really changed the business game. Teenagers can start an online business due to it requiring such little funds. You don’t have to be an expert in anything, anyone can write/ record whatever they like and publish it online.
The challenge is getting visitors to look at your work. This is a big reason why so many people try to “become famous” or use TV shows to “put their face on the map” (those people that go on Love Island [a British reality TV show in case you didn’t know] each year are not as stupid as you may think!!)
Most people don’t know it’s possible
Most people finish their education without knowing what they really want to do. The vast majority of these people are completely unaware that they have permission to create a business let alone actually try to create one.
Making money online is still seen as a “strange thing to do”. Older generations generally have no idea this is even possible so why would they want their children or grandchildren to pass up on their education or “secure job” to spend time on something they do not understand?
It’s easy to get disheartened
The results are not instant. There are programs offering amazing results overnight. They will promote their success stories of someone who earnt $10,000 in their first month of an online business. What they won’t tell you is that this person already had 100,000 active followers on Twitter, a bank full of money to advertise and they worked on it for 14 hours a day solid for a month.
So when the normal working mum with 3 kids puts in an hour a day for a month without paying for any adverts and doesn’t earn a penny she thinks, “Why should I bother!?”
Actually, an hour a day for a month is 30 hours, which is not even one full working week. Yet people expect to replace their full-time income straight away. To be in this game we need realistic expectations.
But It Sounds Too Hard
What is your Why?
I want to tell you a quick story about what I have seen since moving abroad in 2015.
In the first summer holidays when we started teaching in Qatar, Sarah and I went back to England and I dragged her to a free property investment seminar. I sold it to her on the basis that we are starting to earn more money and we should start thinking about what we are going to do with it. I’d read “Rich Dad Poor Dad” a few years before and I had become more and more obsessed with property.
It was during the three day course that we ended up signing up to that I came across this question for the first time. What is your why?… strike 1. I had never even thought about this before.
I had never even considered why I get up in the morning and go to work. What was my motivation?
We were told to really think about it that night and we ended up writing something vague such as for our future selves (LAME!!!!)
Anyway, the next year I went on a course with work and the PE team in Bangkok. When we walked into the first workshop, the screen on the slideshow said:
A man with a why can cope with any how.
The underlying theme throughout the 3-day workshop was to think about your story and what your WHY was… Strike 2.
We then went back to work in our next year and the whole staff training was based on thinking about your WHY using your passion and bringing out the children’s passions… strike 3!
Finding a “why” is so important in anything that we do because when it gets hard, it helps us to continue. It helps us to know that what we are doing has a purpose and there is a reason for doing it.
Be realistic
Starting any business is hard. There is no way around this fact. If we can only dedicate half an hour a day to it when the kids go to bed then that’s what it will have to be to start with. However, doing this for 3 months is the equivalent of one week of full-time work. So we should expect to see one weeks worth of results, not 3 months worth!!
Make it a habit
The most important thing here is doing it every day because momentum is so important. If we want to do 7 hours a week, it is much better to do an hour a day (at the same time) than to do 7 hours on a Saturday and nothing for the rest of the week.
If we have 6 days away from it we will forget what we were doing previously. We will not be productive for all 7 hours as that is too long to work for in one go. So that 7 hours will probably be the same as about 4-5 hours of productive work.
There’s always something that comes up! So making it a habit means you can choose a time when you know you haven’t got anything else going on each day and it makes the workload more manageable.
Set small targets that are not financial
Rather than focusing on how much money you want to come in, you can set goals such as a number of words to write in a month or visitors to get to your website. You have more control of this and this can help you to ensure you are doing the key tasks each day instead of fretting about the big fat $0 in your affiliate account.
Use support
It can be a lonely process starting an online business. Whilst one of the benefits is that you don’t have to manage anybody else, you also don’t get to bounce ideas off your colleagues or employees like you would in most businesses.
This is the main reason that I would recommend starting with a program such as Wealthy Affiliates. You can speak to like-minded people and get insights into what works for others doing the same thing.
And as the saying goes…
“If it was easy, everyone would be doing it”
But I Don’t Have a Passion
I have written a post all about how to choose a profitable online niche. The most important part to remember here is that if you don’t have a really strong passion for ONE thing in life, just choose one that works for you.
You do have to be interested in it as you will have to spend time thinking about it and learning more about it. However, an interest is enough to get started.
It will actually work more like this…
Find a profitable interest… make money online… it becomes a passion.
Don’t worry if it’s not a passion right now, get started and it’s almost guaranteed to become one.
You don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Choose something that you can see working online and maybe choose a sub-niche that you can start writing about.
You don’t have to be an expert right now. Let the internet follow your journey and if you stay consistent with it, you will become an expert.
MakeTimeOnline Summary
To sum up, it’s important to remember that making money through affiliate marketing is still a business. It’s not going to be super easy, but as long as you have a reason why you are doing it, then it will be easier to keep going when it becomes hard.
You will never “find the time” to do anything, you have to make time. Set a time each day where you know you will be able to work on your online business. Maybe you can get up an hour earlier, or maybe when you get home from work. It doesn’t matter when as long as you can be productive during this time.
Look at the benefits again for creating an online business. Making money when you sleep, the small upfront costs and the unlimited potential outweigh any negatives of an online business for me.
Remember, that if you are not sure what your niche should be, choose one and start. You can always change or retweak what you are doing to work better for you in the future.
Keep changing for the better
Mike
If you would like to see how I started my online business and what training I am currently using to grow it click here.