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Chapter 1: Why Build an Email List

An email list is like a handy list of subscribers. It is a list of email IDs that you have gathered from people, usually over time. These are people who have seen what you have to offer and have allowed you to send information whether in the form of updates or promotions for a service that you offer directly to their inbox. And you need not be running a business to have an email list.

For example, many bloggers maintain email lists. So, every time they post a new piece on their blog, the content of that post goes straight to the inbox of their subscribers which saves the receiver the hassle of having to check the blog for updates. It is also used by those who send out newsletters. It is basically a database of email IDs that can be tapped to send bulk updates. This is used as a strategy for businesses to build a relationship with their customers and is a part of email marketing.

For those of you who understand numbers better, here is a figure. According to Direct Marketing Association, for businesses in the USA alone, this strategy results in 4,300 percent ROI or return on investment.

Now, we live in a world of bots and paid advertising. There are many avenues out there where you can shop for email lists. There is a price for it, of course, but it results in an instant group of subscribers. This is a very attractive deal for a lot of businesses and services. But here’s the catch. When you build an email list from scratch, you get a list of people who have seen what you have to offer and subscribed to it out of genuine interest.

On the other hand, when you buy a list, you are likely reaching out to individuals who have no interest whatsoever in your product or service. That makes them more likely to redirect your email into the spam folder. So, if you want to buy a list, you may very well go ahead with it but don’t be looking at that 4,300 percent return. When you get authentic subscribers in your list, your chances of turning them into paying customers is also highly likely. And isn’t that the whole point?

Now, it is important for the uninitiated to know that the benefits of an email list are criminally underrated.

1. For starters, emails are a very personal means to communicate with your consumer. You get to take your product or service directly into their inbox. While there is a ranking system with a chance of priority email blocking your way, you still get to be on top of the rest of the emails. And if you build a loyal base, you might even be segregated into a folder that grabs your consumer’s attention right away.

2. When you build an email list from scratch instead of buying a database, your consumer goes through a simple process of filling up a form to sign up for your emails. In this case, they are clearly interested in your product or service. That makes them more open to your communication. It means they are reading and willing to invest time in what you have to offer. That is the first step towards getting someone to put their money where their mouth is.

3. When you depend on social media giants like Google and Facebook, you need to stay on top of their strategy. In fact, you are at the mercy of their prioritizing techniques. This means every time they change their algorithms, you have to change your SEO tactics to be on top of their lists. Through email lists, you can bypass that whole thing and get your message to your consumer irrespective of a third-party’s strategy. You won’t be at their mercy which is a huge bonus.

4. With email lists, over time, you know your audience well. That gives you insights into what is working for your brand. Based on that information, you can make your content more specific to the consumers who are interested in your product or service.

When you decide to level up and give them offers, you will know exactly what kind of discounts and coupons will appeal to them. This way, you can build on an existing relationship in the future. That is an asset in every business. This process is called segmentation.

5. Since you will not be advertising publicly and arbitrarily, what makes it to the inbox often becomes a personal message to the specific consumer. This gives you room to make interactives in the future. And since it is not on a social media timeline or newsfeed, you get to give and receive information with some level of privacy. In a world where trust is difficult to build, you already have one thing in your favor. That allows you to build a genuine connection as a brand.

6. There are people who stay off social media but there is no internet user without an email account. So, while other businesses talk about Facebook and Twitter followers, you have a broader audience to target. The other advantage is the fact that Facebook likes and retweets don’t always mean that they are going through the communique let alone endorse your product or service. That’s why we are increasingly seeing official accounts state in their bio that RTs are not endorsements. Big brands understand this better than anyone else. That is why many businesses have an email list at the heart of its outreach strategies. In fact, you might have also seen campaigns on social media that encourage you to sign up for specific brand information. So, even if many brands start talking about themselves on social media, the ultimate aim is to get into your inbox.

As a business, it is important to understand that people subscribe more easily that they unsubscribe. So as long as you are giving them valuable content in the inbox, you will stay right there where you belong.

Chapter 2: How to Build an Email List

Now let’s move on to the tools you need to build an email list. The name of the game is email marketing and it’s a great way to build loyal consumers, right? So, you put out an ad on a social media platform and it’s getting a good level of engagement. You’re happy with it. A lot of e-commerce businesses use sign-up forms that are created by experienced marketers to get them started. It usually starts either with a pop-up ad or a Facebook ad to get the consumer going.

But how do you convert that momentary interest into lasting loyalty? You get them to a place where they will get more of what they just saw. From promotional offers to showcasing products and services or telling personal stories that have them hooked to your narrative, there are a lot of things you can do to get consumers to stay with you and in time, pay for what you’re offering.

But sometimes, the steps from clicking on a pop-up to signing up for an email list can be a long one. People don’t like to fill out long forms that ask too many questions. So, you need to start by making it easy for them. Let’s go through the process of building an email list that’s easy for you and the consumer.

The first step is to have a landing page with a unique/strong domain name. When your consumer clicks on the pop-up ad, they need to go to a place that gives them more of what they just saw. This is one of the most useful ways to build an email list. Treat this like running a website that has multiple pages.

For instance, if you have a website that offers 10 different services, you could have a different pop-up ad for each of them, right? Make sure that when your consumer clicks on an ad, they are taken to a landing page with details relevant to that ad.

Now, remember that every website has a domain name and often, it is this name that consumers remember whether they remember the specific page or not. Even if they forget where exactly they saw the product or service that they wanted to sign up for, they will try Googling your domain name and a couple of words relevant to the product or service they wanted to access. So, make sure you have a strong domain name that is easy to recollect.

Oftentimes, when people see that they have to fill out a form, they want to shut that tab and go right back to browsing the internet. To avoid that, you may want to take advantage of the interest they have shown in the content on the pop-up ad and offer them a goodie.

Depending on the service you run, it could be a voucher, an instructional video guide or a free ebook that is exclusively for those who sign up for the email list. This is referred to as a content upgrade.

It’s kind of like offering candy to a kid. While that has a morbid kidnapper-y vibe to it, when it comes to attracting customers, freebies can work wonders. Those who give you their email ID get to unlock the goodies.

A lot of businesses like to put this upfront on their main page. This is usually the page that gets the most visitors because it is the front of your business. It’s a great place to ask visitors to sign up. Sometimes, it also works to your advantage in a way that they get to see your services or products only if they sign up. This is an interesting way to build an audience while they are still curious about your business.

Creating a smart bar is another way of grabbing your visitors’ eyeballs. A smart bar is a bar at the top of the website that doesn’t go away even when the visitor scrolls down. It is kind of like priority notifications on your phone. No matter what else happens, this thing stays on top. Put it in a color that pops on the background of your landing page and announce boldly asking your visitors to “Sign Up For The Newsletter Here”.

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Introduction

What’s it that makes some people richer and richer and others poorer and poorer? Who has decreed that this divide should exist in our world? Is there any way in which the line can be crossed, and the have-nots can make their place among the privileged haves?

Can you make the jump from being the person who has to think about paying the next electricity bill to being the person who thinks about owning the electricity grid for the state?

Yes you can.

The answer lies in the mind.

The answer lies in unleashing the financial giant that resides within the mind of each and every one of us.

Chapter 1:

Mastering the Game of Wealth

Summary

Earning money is a game. The only thing is that some people hold the strings while others are the puppets. The fun part is that you can decide which side of the game you want to be on – the puppeteer or the puppet.

Mastering the Game of Wealth

No one on this planet was born lucky. Everyone ‘lucky’ that you can think of – the richest people on the planet probably – weren’t born lucky. Agreed that some of these people were born to rich families and in rich homes, but we all know that that is not enough to make things happen.

The fact is that these people have mastered the game of wealth later on in their lives. They may or may not have been born with the money, but they have learnt how to play the money game.

People speak a lot about the game of wealth without really knowing what it means. In life, we need to put in something to get something. Even with money it is like that. If you want to make money, you need to put in something. This may be a financial investment or it could be some other kind of investment such as an investment of time or effort or a particular talent or intelligence, etc. But the fact is that something needs to be invested.

However, there is a lot of difference in what people invest. Some people might invest a lot but receive very little, while there are also people who invest almost nothing but get a lot. These people know how to make the most of what they have. They know how to put in almost nothing and get what most people in the world would be in awe of. These are the people who have mastered the game of wealth.

The best thing is that the game of wealth is not inaccessible and nor is it unattainable. Anyone can attune him- or herself to become a master at this game. Whatever their current situation is, they can veer their lives in the direction of big money. You can do it too. What you need is the right mindset, the right approach and a few other things. This is where you begin.

Summary

The knowledge of becoming rich comes on later in life. This is how you can acquire your education in this area.

No One is born with the Knowledge of Becoming Rich

We have already stated how people are never born with their richness. They might be born into richness, but this richness is not theirs. If they have to make it their own, they have to work for it.

It is a fact that a rich man will be just as concerned about his son as a poor man would be. They would both think how their sons would manage things when they grew older. The bottom line here is – Every man has to work towards richness. They are not born with the knowledge.

Think about one of the richest men of our times – Bill Gates. The son of a humble attorney and a schoolteacher today has a net worth of 40 billion dollars, making him the richest businessman in the world. All his wealth has come from a single source – Microsoft – which in itself is one of the most influential companies of the world in any age and period.

Do you think Bill Gates was educated differently from the rest of us? Was he a brighter kid than all the rest? In fact, no. Yes, he did become a student at Harvard, but he left his education midway in order to pursue his business (which became Microsoft). Actually, he was once challenged by his teacher for his lackadaisical nature, when he retorted that he would earn his first million before he hit 20 years of age. Well, Bill Gates earned his first billion before he reached 21 years of age.

So what set him apart? One of the things that made him different at that time was that he knew what he wanted to do. He did not allow the razzle-dazzle of his big-name university faze him. He kept his focus on what drove him. He liaised with the right people; people who he knew could take him forward and who he could take forward in the process too. He remained truthful to himself about his financial position and he promised to himself to do better.

But, most importantly, Bill Gates did not actively think about money!

He instead thought about the quality of his product. He asked himself repeatedly, “Is what I am providing going to do anything for the world?” That is what set him apart. We usually think, “Will this make a profit for me?”, while the people who attain richness think, “Will this profit the world?”

And this knowledge does not come at birth. You learn this as you grow, just as you learn various other things. You learn that richness does not come by thinking about money; in fact, that has the opposite effect.

The thing to remember here is that no one is born with the knowledge of becoming rich. You learn that as you grow, in the same manner as you learn so many other things. But what really makes you rich is implementing this knowledge at the right moment in your life.

Chapter 3: The Mindset of the Rich

Summary

The rich mind does think differently than the middleclass mind. Yes, it is true that richness dwells in the mind and not in the bank balance.

The Mindset of the Rich

It is quite true that the rich mind thinks differently. They have a much different way of thinking from the so-called middleclass and the poor person’s mind. We have already taken a glimpse into that. The rich person’s mind thinks more about providing quality than about earning their own profit. They think about how their products benefit society. This is what makes people believe in what they give and buy those things. Making people buy their product is one of the least things in the rich person’s mind.

There are other traits that typify the rich person’s mind. One of these is the leadership qualities that they have. Look around – all rich men and women of the world today are leaders in some way or the other. Most of them are heads of state or hold some other such position of power. A lot of them are businessmen and businesswomen who command about a hundred people each day. Several of them are celebrities in the world of movies and sport; even these people are leaders in their own right because they rule the world to which they belong.

The other quality is charisma. Without that, richness does not befit a person. The person must be able to carry his or her richness. They must be able to exude the confidence from being rich. They need to have a positive attitude. What is the purpose of being rich if you are worried about your finances anyway?

Rich people also think about benevolence and charity. Every person that is rich is involved with a lot of different causes; most of them have set up NGOs and other such organizations to benefit the masses. This shows their social streak. After all, all rich men and women arise from an innate desire to do good for the society, whether that is through their commercial products or through their charitable deeds.

To be a rich person, you need to begin thinking like one. This is where you have to begin changing your personality. Read biographies of the top rich people of the world (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_billionaires_%282009%29) and see what you can take from this study.

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Chapter 1: Introduction:

Inside Digital Product School you will learn exactly how to create and sell your very own profitable products online.

Having your own digital products gives you the ability to generate a 6-figure online business from the comfort of your own home. Your digital products will sell for you online 24/7, 365 days a year on autopilot, when set up correctly. Bringing in passive income for years to come.

Isn’t that the dream? Passive income.

Look let’s be honest this is not going to happen by doing nothing.

You will have to take action on this guide and implement what you learn, only then can you live the laptop lifestyle.

Selling information products are not only cheap to produce, they are also very easy to produce. Once you have done it once, you can literally rinse and repeat the same process. So, it’s definitely a skill worth learning. Also, digital information products can be sold at scale, as what your selling is a digital download and not something you need to physically send to the customer. This provides you with massive advantages.

Selling information products online is a way to start your own business with very little to NO overheads.

Also, Information products are very flexible.

You can sell them at a profit, give them away as an incentive to get people to sign up for your list, sell them at a low price to showcase your skills and then offer higher priced products...There’s a whole world of ways to use information products to build an online business.

So what do we mean when we say information products?

Any product that gives people information, usually a solution to some sort of problem. People pay to get out of the hole they just fell in – not how to avoid holes. Solutions to problems always sell well.

For instance a product could tell people how to train a dog, lose weight, design a website, cure bad breath, meet members of the opposite sex, put up shelves, apply makeup, or paint a portrait using oil paintings.

An information product can be made in video form, as an ebook, or as an audio recording. Some types of information products lend them-selves better to one form than another. For instance if you are telling people how to apply makeup you definitely need visuals, so a video would be best. An audio recording wouldn’t do the trick in this case and an ebook would need to have a lot of screenshots.

If you want to tell someone how to meet members of the opposite sex, however, an ebook or an audio recording would work well. And if you want to tell someone how to train a dog, an ebook with screen shots, or a video, would work equally well. Find your subject, then decide on the best way to present it – ebook, audio, video etc.

It's Easier Than You Think…

Most people who are new to the Internet, or even some who have been around for a while, believe that they can't create their own ebooks (or CD’s, videos, etc.) because they can't write.

There are also a lot of 'so-called' gurus who will have you believe that it's more difficult than it actually is.

What I'd like to show you through this special guide is that you CAN create your own ebooks and other products. And you can do it fast!

Even if you've never written a word in your life! (If you’re new to the field, your main challenge may be getting recognized as an expert.

But creating your own products will be easy once you learn the shortcuts and tips here!)

You see, it’s all about 'perspective.' The first time you see someone riding a bicycle, you immediately say “That’s not possible” or “I can’t do that.” And, maybe you’re right to some extent. You can’t ride a bicycle yet. But, that doesn’t mean you can’t ride a bicycle ever.

You just have to get on it, stumble a few times and before you know it, you’re balancing a metal frame on two wheels! Something that seemed impossible just a few days ago.

It’s the same with writing an ebook. In fact, it’s much easier than learning how to ride a bicycle.

The trick really is to just get started. Just start writing and let you thoughts flow. Don’t worry about spelling or grammar or sentence structure or formatting or any of that. Just get the information out of you. You can edit it later. If you edit while you write, you interrupt the flow of ideas.

You can also use a tape recorder and just talk freely into it. Imagine you’re talking to a friend and you’re giving her advice about X (where “X” is the subject you want to write about.) When you’re done, you can type it all out into your computer, or get someone to transcribe it.

What people should to realize is that you don’t need to be an English major to write an ebook. Just write the way you talk to a friend. Then, have someone read it out loud and see if either of you can find any areas that sounds choppy or confusing. You can also get a college student to edit it for you, if you’re not comfortable doing your own editing. (Although, personally, I prefer to read an ebook that seems like the author is “talking to me” (it seems more interactive) instead

of an ebook that uses perfect grammar, and structure but ends up being boring.

If it still seems like a daunting task to write the book, just break the ebook up into sections or chapters, and knock them out one at a time… kinda like writing short reports. (Break the task up into smaller pieces and tackle it that way.)

Anyone can write an ebook or create a digital information product.

Once you have the content, you can turn that into different digital formats like audio’s, video’s and written text.

YOU can do this!

Change your mindset, and say to yourself, I can do this! Ever heard of this quote:

IF YOU THINK YOU CAN’T WRITE A BOOK, YOU’RE RIGHT!

IF YOU THINK YOU CAN WRITE A BOOK, YOU’RE RIGHT, TOO!

It all comes down to you.

The point here is, what’s the WORST thing that could happen if you wrote a book and it wasn’t absolutely perfect?

It’s an eye-opening experience to look at some of the e-books that are selling…right now…on the Internet. All you have to do is find one that, after you read it, you say, “MAN! Even I could do better than that!” But that book’s selling and yours isn’t because you’re waiting to get it perfect! Don’t get it perfect…get it out there!

Start saying to yourself, in your head…unless you want people to think you’re really crazy…I CAN write a book! I KNOW I can!

Know that your brain is already writing books for you each day. All you have to do is figure out how to get it down on paper…and that’s what this book is all about!

Get over that perfectionist stuff. It ain’t never gonna be perfect…just like that grammar, but it gets the point across, doesn’t it? Get your book as good as you can at the time, get it out there, see what happens and then test and tweak it until it sells. It’s NEVER going to be completely perfect, but it can be profitable!

Chapter 2: Solving Problems Is Profitable

One of the biggest hurdles new internet marketers face is choosing what type of information product to create.

Since you most likely want to make a profit off of this, you need to create an information product that solves a problem or tells people how to do something.

Solving problems is profitable.

Also, you want to make sure that there’s a decent sized audience for this product, and you want to make sure that they have money to spend.

So you wouldn’t want to create an information product that solves a really obscure problem that is only faced by a tiny group of people.

And you wouldn’t want to create an information product that appeals to a crowd that has no money to spend, such as young teenagers or children.

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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.