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Chapter 1: Introduction

Becoming an affiliate marketer is in many ways the perfect business model. Here’s a way to earn money online, while you sleep, without even having to build a product!

This is the method that is most commonly promoted by internet marketing gurus, and that has reportedly helped them to live the lifestyles of their dreams, to buy their own private jets, and to generally enjoy the kind of lifestyle that was once the sole reserve of famous celebrities and extremely successful CEOs.

You may be wondering if this is all too good to be true. Can you really earn that much money while you sleep? By selling someone else’s product?

If that’s true, then why aren’t more people online billionaires?

Here’s the truth: it absolutely is possible to earn a huge amount of money online as an affiliate marketer. Plenty of people genuinely have made a huge amount of money by selling affiliate products online.

The problem? The methods that they share very often don’t reflect the best strategies that you should employ. Why? This often comes down to one of two things:

1. They don’t want you to know the techniques they are actually using to get rich (newsflash:

it’s selling those books to you!)

2. They actually aren’t that successful. That’s because a large proportion of the people who are successful are already living on a sunny island somewhere and no longer need to sell eBooks!

The other thing to keep in mind, is that this is by no means a “sure thing.” There are no sure things when it comes to business, and there’s never a guarantee that any strategy you use will be effective. But with all of that said, the intention of this book is to cut through the noise. To do away with the distracting nonsense and to instead focus on just what actually works. In other words: this book will explain to you how you actually sell a product successfully. That means teaching you the very strategies that were probably used to sell you this book!

That’s not a bad thing by the way: the very fact that you have been a customer means that you will have a great idea of what it is that appeals to someone when buying an ebook. You can get inside the minds of your customers.

What you’re really going to learn then is a set of tools and strategies: a number of different methods and concepts that you can apply when selling anything, that will help you to be highly successful. You’ll still need to choose the right products and you will still need some luck. But you’ll also find that by applying these ideas, you’ll be able to increase your likelihood of selling anything.

In fact, you can consider the skills you will learn in this book to be what is known in business as a “force multiplier.” A force multiplier is anything that amplifies or exaggerates the success or the output that you might otherwise have achieved.

So, lets say you have a product that would normally shift 1,000 units. By applying the principles in this book, you will be able to sell 100,000 units… or maybe 500,000.

The key though, is to then find that product that would sell itself. That one breakthrough product that could sell hundreds of thousands of copies on its own. Then you apply these same principles and you sell millions of copies. That’s how you will succeed.

This comes down partly to luck, but you know what they say: you make your own luck!

That is to say, that by continuously trying and by setting yourself up to succeed, you will drastically increase your chances of success. If you start selling 30 products and use these principles on all of them… then either one of those products is going to be the huge breakthrough that you’re looking for, or the cumulative success of all 30 is going to help you to break through and succeed. Either way… you’re on to a winner!

You’ll learn these principles and concepts but, on top of that, you can also think of this book as being a place where you can find all the basic how-tos and practical advice you need to get started as an affiliate marketer. Plus you’ll learn how to leverage the inherent advantages of this type of business model, and how to avoid the potential downfalls that come from selling a product that is not your own.

Ready to start making some huge sales? Want to get rich from a product without even having to own a product to sell?

Then keep reading. You’re going to learn to do all those things.

I hope you’re excited, because this could be the start of something AWESOME.

Chapter 2: Affiliate Marketing Explained

Before we look at advanced concepts and strategies, it first makes sense to go over what we mean by affiliate marketing exactly. What is affiliate marketing and why is it such a popular option for those looking to earn money online?

Essentially, affiliate marketing means selling for commission. This works online in just the same way as it does for a door-to-door salesman. That is to say that you will be selling a product that you did not create and do not own the rights to, but in return, you will get to keep some commission.

This is a powerful option for those who want to earn money online but don’t necessarily have the skills or the resources to build an ebook, an online course, or something else from scratch.

The big difference between being an affiliate marketer and a door-to-door salesman of course, is that the affiliate is someone who will be able to sell their products to the entire world. Thanks to the web, it’s possible to reach pretty much anyone, right in the comfort of their home! This makes affiliate marketing endlessly scalable – and with the right product and the right pitch, you can make a HUGE killing.

Online affiliate marketing can generally be split into two categories:

- Affiliate marketing for digital products (such as eBooks and online courses)

- Affiliate marketing for physical products (anything you might buy in a store)

We will talk about option number 2 toward the end of this book. But suffice to say that the majority of people who get into affiliate marketing will be focused on the first option.

Selling digital products has a huge number of impressive advantages after all! Firstly, selling digital products means that there is no storage and no delivery. That in turn means that a much bigger cut of the revenue will be split between you and the owner of the product!

Another advantage, is that when you sell a digital product, there are no supplies and no materials. Moreover, the entire transaction is automated.

It’s for these reasons, that affiliates can often stand to earn 70% or even 90% from promoting digital products!

You might at this point be wondering why anyone would be willing to give away such a large cut – the lion’s share – of their profits!

The answer is simple: if you’re an ebook owner and you are selling copies of your book to a wide audience, then the more copies you manage to shift, the more money you make. You are probably doing everything you can to try and convince people to find your book (and to help them find it in the first place). As such, you have likely saturated your current market.

Now here’s the thing: if you decide to also let affiliates sell your product, then you will be inviting those people to make you extra sales. This doesn’t detract at all from the sales you make – it’s all additional. So if you’re making $2,000 per month from your sales and you get an extra 10% of that, then this is an extra $200. It might not be a lot, but it’s effectively free money. With the ebook created, you no longer have to lift a finger!

What’s more, is that if you can attract the attention of 20 affiliates, then suddenly you’re earning an additional $4,000 per month! And if one of those affiliates is a superstar marketer, then you might be earning a whole lot more than that!

By offering higher commission on their products, product owners can attract more people to help them sell them. Thus, it is in their best interest to give away a big cut. This is a rare instance of a genuinely win/win scenario!

Advantages of Becoming an Affiliate Marketer

And it really can be a WIN with a capital W!

That’s because affiliate marketing removes many of the challenges and obstacles that you face when trying to sell something online. Some of these are obvious, others are not.

First of all, selling an affiliate product means you don’t need to create something new. This means that you can start earning money immediately. As soon as you are accepted as an affiliate, you can start making cash.

This is also very beneficial for anyone that is simply unable to make a product. Perhaps you have no idea how to make a course or an ebook, or maybe you just don’t have any valuable information to share. In this scenario, you could alternatively commission someone to make you a product, but that would potentially cost hundreds of dollars and months of waiting!

Of course, you would then get to keep 100% of the profit… but that wouldn’t necessarily translate to more cash! Why? Because when you keep 100% of $100, it’s less than keeping 90% of $150. In other words, you can simply find a product with a price and affiliate deal that suits your goals.

These benefits also mean that you could start promoting 20 different affiliate products in the time it would take you to sell just one of yours. The scalability is huge then, and this is something you really need to keep in mind when calculating the best business move.

But perhaps what’s even more beneficial about selling affiliate products, is that it allows you to sell products that have been proven. In other words, you can look and see which affiliate products are selling the best: how much have they made so far? How are they rated?

This way, you can now choose a product that is almost guaranteed to be a hit for you. You at least know that it has the potential to be a hit for you!

This is called “verifying the market” and it’s one of the best things you can do in ANY business.

Otherwise, you are effectively taking a punt on an idea that may or may not resonate with your audience. Imagine spending hundreds of dollars and months of your life to create a digital product, only to then find that no one wants it!

Shortcomings to Overcome With all that said…

It is not my job to try and sell you on affiliate marketing. You’re already reading this book, so my only goal now is to give you the honest and practical advice that can genuinely help you to make a killing.

Rather than continuing to tell you how amazing affiliate marketing is then, I’m instead going to do something far more helpful and tell you about the downsides – so you can understand how best to mitigate and avoid them.

The biggest issue is that this is not your product. For all that affiliate marketing has amazing benefits, you ultimately are selling someone else’s creation. And unlike selling a “PLR” package (private label rights), you won’t have the opportunity to change it or to make edits as you see fit.

This means that you will be selling something that isn’t necessarily a reflection or extension of your own personality, views or styles. This is then significantly more difficult to sell.

This might sound vague, but as we will learn over the course of this post, your ability to sell often comes down to your ability to speak to the value proposition – to build trust and authority with your audience and to establish yourself as a thought leader. That’s significantly easier to do when you believe in the product 1,000,000% and when you actually created the product. This way, people will want to buy the product because they want more of what you have to offer. This is one of the biggest hurdles that you will need to overcome if you’re going to be successful as an affiliate.

And of course, it’s something we’re going to discuss in depth in this book.

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Chapter 1: Introduction

In 2021, if you have a product that you want to launch on the internet—because that’s where it is all happening today—this is the skeleton of the plan you need to build.

When Jeff Bezos started Amazon, they were dealing only with books.

Bezos and a small team were packing and delivering books from a garage. It’s a classic rags to riches story. It didn’t work out right away and many of the products the company tried to branch into over the next few years did not take off right away. In fact, they were branded as flops. Today, Amazon has surpassed Walmart to be the world’s largest retailer.

Let’s not forget the Macintosh. The story of Steve Jobs and Apple computers and the promise of selling a million units in the first 90 days. That most definitely did not happen and things went south to a point where Jobs clashed with the CEO he brought on board, John Scully, and got kicked out of his own company.

We’ve read the books and seen the movies. His dream came true only when he returned to the company fold years later and the iMac was launched. Today, anyone who has used an Apple product cannot even dream of going back to whatever it was they were using before that.

Jobs is often said to have had ideas before the world was ready for them. And he knew it too. But it never stopped him from dreaming and preparing for the opportune moment.

Today, the world is a lot smaller thanks to the internet. People and the market are a lot more receptive to new ideas. Otherwise, Facebook would’ve never happened as quickly as it did. Forget its many transgressions and you will see that the company was able to take off because it understood the pulse of the people and pitched exactly what it needed to and proceeded with excellent strategy.

So dig deep and find your inner Bob Dylan because:

If your time to you is worth savin'
And you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'

Whether it is the growth of technology or the pandemic speeding things up, more and more things are being accessed on the internet. Ecommerce has become more accessible and is providing exciting business opportunities. And every industry is spawning individuals who want to be their own bosses, decide their own working hours or just want to take advantage of this internet explosion.

Some are smart and some are inspired. Whichever category you fall into, you will be competing with all of them. Because make no mistake, they are all on the internet trying to get the guy on the street to buy their product. So, how do you make yourself unique? How do you rise above the white noise?

Now, it’s one thing to know what you want to sell but it’s a whole other thing to know how to launch and market the product successfully. And then, of course, you certainly want to make money out of the endeavor, don’t you? There is a lot to go through and in the coming nine chapters we will go through the journey of sifting through all your options and getting the job done from start to finish.

We will create a plan for the product launch. We will go through how to do it. We will go through each step in detail. And we will discuss the tools you will need to get your product to the finish line. The idea is to create a plan of action that will help you identify, locate and utilize your resources in the best possible way as you keep planning the next steps of your online business.

Part of that last step is going to be about marketing techniques that will help you source your product right to the point of running a store virtually and maybe physically if that’s on the cards. Let’s start by understanding the importance of a product launch.

Chapter 2: Why a Product Launch Works So Well

Before we jump into how to make a product launch successful, if you weren’t convinced already, let’s take a look at why these things work wonders.

There are many reasons to do a big bang product launch. The first one, of course, is to let your customers know that there is something up for grabs in the market. You also get to make some waves in the industry and get a little recognition for your brand.

Apart from that, prepping for a product launch also gives your organization a little structure to work around. And after the launch, of course, you get valuable information and feedback from the early users of the product. But there’s more to it. Let’s talk about that for a minute.

The idea of a product launch is not to nail it 100 percent. I mean, good if you can. But there will always be last minute changes that will topple the plan from just a little bit to entirely gone to the dumpster. The idea for you as a leader is to make sure that you get as close to the perfect launch as possible because this is a test of your organization’s ability to execute a plan.

Your launch tells you how well you can stick to a plan and the dynamic changes that happen in real time. It tests the flexibility and the adaptability of your team. Because sometimes, even though you have a great idea, the right technology and market conditions that back you up, the quality of execution of a plan can make or break the deal.

A product launch is a process where most, if not all, the departments in the organization will have to put their heads together. Sometimes, teams will differ on the fundamental ideas. The other times, you will see clashes on design specifications, organizing and investing ideas.

Now, for a launch to be successful you need a lot more than help your customers locate the product and the ‘Buy Now’ button under it.

It is a massive undertaking for the entire organization. It requires planning, effort and coordination. You also need time. You need to make sure that all the departments are on the same page. You need marketing, sales and support staff to have multiple run throughs.

And they must all be successful.

When those run throughs are successful, you increase your chances of having a successful product launch. Now that increases the chances of having a successful product in the market. It gives you momentum in a way that it resonates with the customers and announces to the industry that you have indeed arrived.

It is clear that a product launch is a key event because it gets your attention, right? How do you get started on that?

You need a press release with all the dates and details of the event.

You need to advertise it on your website and social media channels.

You need all these channels to come back to the landing page where everyone who is interested in the event, not just the product, can learn about the event and the product.

A product launch is also a great place for influencers and first users to try the product out. It’s an exclusive and must be pitched as one. It also helps you build trust and creates a discussion in the online community organically. In marketing terms, it is called the word-ofmouth strategy. Putting yourself out there also shows that you are confident of the quality of your product. That’s a big boost and makes for a good product launch story for anyone covering the event.

Influencers—this is a very 21st century concept and it’s a great one.

Make a list of those who are relevant to the marketing of your product and get them talking. For that, you need to make them entertaining. For that, you need to learn what captivates your target audience.

It is also important to understand the right timing for the launch. You don’t want it clashing with events that are more attractive to your target audience or influencers, unless, of course, you are Apple computers.

A product launch works because it gets your product noticed and creates a buzz about your brand in the industry. Make the event interactive since that keeps the audience engaged. Offering free samples is a textbook way of getting the influencers and the public interested. Keep the entertainment unlimited and the refreshment stands stocked.

Product launches are, without a doubt, a great way to expand your business because you fundamentally put yourself on the map. When you attract the attention of industry titans, you offer yourself up for tie-ups and joint ventures. This creates opportunity for future growth.

Now, some brands like to keep a little mystery alive. You’ve seen this with big brands that keep the actual product itself a secret. You know nothing about it till the actual launch. Now, that’s not always an easy thing to pull off and is a tricky decision. We all remember how the iPhone 4 leak story went. It also doesn’t always work for all products.

So, make a decision on that early on.

If you choose to go that way, you must tell the people as little as possible about the product before the release. The idea is for the mystery to drive interest. A lot of times, tech bloggers and websites like to make their own predictions. Make it interesting. Ask them to submit scenarios and give a reward for anyone who is able to get a detail right. And a bonus if they can work up a mock design, when it is applicable.

Now, all this sounds quite fun but it won’t be if you don’t plan it well.

And be original throughout because copycats don’t always succeed.

Although sometimes they do remarkably well.

So, if you are not good at copying an idea and tweaking it enough to make it look like your own (and even if you are), you need to plan out every single detail of these optional activities too. Plan the information you want to release carefully. Put a lid on the number of people who have the information and give the details out strategically.

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Introduction

You’re reading this because you have two passions in life. First, you love taking photos. You probably carry your camera everywhere with you, just waiting for a chance to snap a candid shot that tells a little story. That’s the art of photography and, if you’re reading this, you have a passion for that art.

But then there’s your passion for money. Don’t worry, you’re not being judged. It’s good to be motivated by money. It’s what makes the world go ‘round, right? Or is that love? Point is, money may not bring happiness, but it sure makes life a whole lot easier to get through.

And anyone knows that the best way to make money is to take what you love and turn it into a business. Well, congratulations. You have taken the first step towards making money doing what you love: Taking digital photos.

Not many people know that you can make a good living just by selling photos over the Internet. But once you become aware of just how many photos we’re exposed to on a daily basis, the realization that you can make money taking great photos should be a no-brainer.

Photographs Everywhere You Look

You would have to live in a shack out in the woods like the Unabomber to not be exposed to literally hundreds of photographs per day. Think about your daily life. If you ate breakfast this morning, there was probably a picture of someone on the cereal box. If you made coffee, there might be a picture on the can, and that’s just in your kitchen.

There are photos on the billboards as you drive to work. There are photos in the magazines when you sit in your dentist’s waiting room, and you are bombarded with photos galore the moment you turn on your computer and start browsing the Internet.

The point is, every industry needs photographs. And while there are many experts out there who get paid very handsomely for the photographs they churn out (think major magazine photographers), amateurs are able to make great money doing what they love, too! That’s right. You don’t have to be a professional. You can go out right now, pick up a digital camera and you can theoretically start making money off of those photographs. And I’m going to show you how.

First, however, before you rush out thinking you’re the next Annie Leibovitz, you need to consider if you have what it takes to make money from your photos.

That can be a hard thing to ascertain, especially when you have a passion for something. Because the truth is, you could enthusiastically take loads and loads of pictures but there’s no guarantee that any of them will sell.

To fail at something you love to do can hurt deep down in your core. But you must remember that just because your photo doesn’t sell, doesn’t mean you’re no good. It could be for a number of reasons.

The point is to have patience, and make sure you learn how it’s done before you start selling your photos for money.

Once you’re done reading this, you’ll have all the tools you need to get started. Only then will you truly see the potential for making money that’s eluded you all this time because you never took the time to wonder where all the photos you’re surrounded with daily actually come from.

Do You Have What it Takes?

If you think it’s easy to sell digital photos online, you’re mistaken. Show me one person who’s made it big selling photos, and I’ll show you ten more just like him/her that don’t make squat. They could even be taking pictures of the same things. The difference between them is that the person who made it put time and effort into his/her photo business. So ask yourself, do you have what it takes to sell your digital photos online?

If you said yes, then you must commit yourself if you hope to make it.

Go back and read that sentence again. That’s the most important aspect of making money through digital photography. You must put in the required time and you must remain passionate about what you’re doing because that passion, or lack of it, will come out in your photos. And finally, you must be able to have patience until you’ve learned enough to actually know which photos will sell, and which ones won’t.

Time

The amount of money you make with your photos depends on how much time you invest in your business. On average, you should expect to work at least four hours per week, and more if you’re really ambitious. Four hours is nothing and it’s worth it when you consider you’re doing what you love.

Are You Creative?

This is a huge one. You can take a thousand pictures of your cat and it’s likely not one of them will sell for even a penny. That’s because cats have been done. You need to step out of your immediate surroundings, get out of your comfort zone, and you need to think outside the box. Carry your camera with you wherever you go and be on the lookout for an image that just screams, “Take my picture!”. This could be a shard of ice hanging from a lighthouse bridge. It could be a neighborhood dog catching a Frisbee, or it could be the way the sunset splashes vivid colors across the darkened sky.

Equipment

Obviously, if you’re going to sell digital photos, you’re going to need a digital camera. But to increase your chances of making a sale, you might want to invest in a few other things, as well.

The camera is number one. You must have a digital camera. There are many on the market these days and most of them produce excellent quality photographs. The prices are dropping on them all the time, so you should be able to get a decent one for cheap.

But what about editing software? Have you considered that you may want to doctor your photos so that they come out absolutely perfect? Do you know how to use that editing software to its fullest potential? Finally, do you even know how to take good photos?

These are all questions you really need to consider before you try your hand at this lucrative but competitive business.

There is a lot of money to be made, but there’s also beautiful photography to be made, as well. It really is a great way to earn a living. It’s fun, and there’s just something fulfilling knowing that others are willing to pay for the photos you’ve taken. However, you must also be ready to deal with rejection - because that can be the most difficult part of this whole business.

Rejection

You may find that you’re in love with your photos, but that you’re the only one who feels that way. It’s kind of like when someone brings along their dog and they go on and on about how cute and loveable their dog is, but everyone else doesn’t feel that way. Some people may be allergic to dogs. The dog may be lovable but that doesn’t mean they want to risk touching it so they’ll blow up like a balloon.

The point is, you can’t please everybody. If you take a beautiful photograph and nobody likes it, don’t let it get you down. Those people just don’t have good taste, that’s all. Or they don’t need that photograph for any particular reason.

See, most people buy photos because they’re looking for a particular one. They may need a butterfly photo for a website, or a doctor photo for a brochure. Part of this business is making sure your photos get seen by the right people, but we’ll get into that later.

You must be able to deal with rejection or else you’ll never make it in the photography business. If you don’t make any sales, just keep doing what you’re doing and give it time. You must have patience until your efforts begin to pay off.

Work day by day, little by little, and before you know it you’ll know what it takes to sell photos online and you’ll have done it from pure knowledge and hard work.

So if by now you’ve decided that you have what it takes to sell your digital photos online, let’s get started.

Choosing a Camera

If you don’t already have a camera, you know you need one. But you’re likely going to find a lot of choices out there. There are so many different types of cameras, brands and accessories that it can seem almost overwhelming. However, picking out a good camera isn’t that difficult at all.

Simply get online and start researching the cameras you come across based on a few criteria. You’ll want to be focused on the amount of megapixels the camera has, as well as the quality of the sensor. But of course price is going to be an issue, as well. So your job is to find a camera that offers the most for the least amount of money. That sounds obvious, but it’s not easy when you’re bombarded by so many different types of digital cameras.

However, there are a couple ways you can go about getting a camera that’s of good enough quality to take excellent photographs.

Experts

If you want to know something about a subject, you turn to an expert, right? In keeping with that same thinking, camera experts are who you should turn to when you’re trying to find the perfect camera for you. You can find experts online on consumer report websites, or you can read reviews by experts that are posted online. You can also ask clerks that work in the camera sections of your favorite stores. These employees spend all day looking at, talking about, and learning about digital cameras. Ask them plenty of questions and tell them what you’re trying to do.