Where The Money Is In Affiliate Marketing - Long Post

byCraigKnight

662 followers

Updated 6 years ago

I am not allowed to do training modules here, I am still within my first 3 months. So I have to just write it out.

Like a lot of you, I study a lot. I study people, businesses, websites, Wealthy Affiliate member blogs, and mostly any and all quality marketing and financial information I can get my hands on. Over time (23 years), I have picked up little tidbits of knowledge from various successful marketers that I believe really meshes together to make what I believe to be a successful plan.

I have used this strategy to market what turned into a couple of successful businesses. Not Amazon or Wal-Mart sized businesses. Just small businesses that will support a family of 4 plus retirement and college for 3 of the 4.

When I found WA and started the premium membership training, I could tell that Kyle and Carson know what they are talking about, and they know more about it than me. But as I went course to course, lesson to lesson, I could see how their teaching dove tailed into what I was already doing. It worked hand in hand with my previous strategies. It made my strategy far better.

There are some here that are pushing long posts (2,500-5,000+ words). I trust them to know what they are talking about. It only makes sense that Google would like high quality informative posts over short and sweet posts.

The teachings here also teach not to add many affiliate links into one post, because Google could punish you for it. The teaching goes on by others to say you should have a minimum of 250-300 words for each affiliate product link, minimum. That also makes sense. It is also told that the best way to do this is with reviews. So this fits right into my strategy.

So I am going to tell you part of my plan that will help everyone here. This is actually a version of what I am launching, on a smaller scale.

Disclaimer- What I am about to tell you is not tested. Testing will begin on 3/1/2018. I am not suggesting to start this until I am able to give legitimate feedback on the success or shortcomings of my strategy, which I will do beginning on 3/01/2018.

How I Believe Affiliate Marketing Should Be Done To Maximize Sales and Repeat Business

I believe when you decide on a topic for your post, It should include what has been taught by members here in the threads. (I looked for the origin but couldn't find it. This person(s) needs to be acknowledged, because it is the perfect advice).

• Figure Out The Problem
• Find The Solution
• Define How The Reader Will Benefit
• Tell Them What To Do (Call To Action)
  

This is brilliant information that needs to be performed in each post you make. But where I differ, it should split into two separate parts. You should have:

1. Review on products/items needed to solve the problem. This needs to define the problem and it needs to include everything you will need to resolve the issue your readers are having. The bulk of the article will be the review of the products, but you will also need to define how the reader will benefit by doing what you will be telling them to do, later. This review needs to be a minimum of 2,000 words ending with a call to action to #2. The more words, the better, as long as it is a quality review. No fluff.
   
2. Private Instructional Guide on how to do it. Using PowerPoint, Microsoft Word, and video, you can present to the reader an in depth instructional guide on how to fix the problem using the products/items you reviewed in your previous post. This is your hook. It serves multiple purposes. I will explain.

#1 is the review post on your site that will be keyword rich that will rank for your site. It is no different than what WA teaches you. It is a review for multiple items that will be used to fix the problem, or the solution to the problem you have identified them having.

It will go into detail how the readers will benefit from the use of the products/items to solve their issue and how you recommend them to be used to obtain the best results. So you have written a great review on a series of products needed to reach a solution to their problems. You have told them how they will benefit from using these products/items.

Now you finish with a call to action. Most believe that this is where you should tell them to click the links to order the products. You can do that here too. But my main goal is always to:

• Obtain their contact information.
• Keep them on my site longer.
• Supply them with more information.
• Set up my instruction page to reach maximum sales.
  

So throughout the review, you can tell them to "click here" on each product to order the product. That is a no-brainer. But what I want them to do is CLICK HERE FOR A FREE INSTRUCTIONAL GUIDE THAT WILL SHOW YOU HOW TO TACKLE THIS JOB WITH THE PRODUCTS LISTED.

That click will lead them to a sign up page to gather their name and email. When they fill out that form it will take them to a private page on your site that will have the instructional guide. I have found that ebooks don't work as well as instructional guides that are within your site. So you have collected their info and sent them to a new private page on your site that will give them the information you promised.

This page is set to "noindex" so Google won't pay attention to it. It can be password protected (if you want) and that password can be sent automatically within the email after they fill out the form. That is up to you.

Here is what I like about using this method. When the page is private and not indexed, it will not be penalized by Google for not complying with it's rules. So you can write it in any way you want. I write it just as I am telling someone how to fix the problem. A step by step guide. I will have all the links to the products/items again listed all in a row and tell them to order them now.

Then I will list out the step by step process of resolving their problem with the tools I have lead them to.

For example:

Say you have an Around The House Do It Yourself niche. The problem you have identified and will be teaching others is washing and waxing their car to do a better job cheaper for DIY'ers.

You will do reviews (all in same review post) on:

• The best soap to use to wash the car.
• The best bucket to use to hold the water and soap.
• The best bug remover to remove baked on bugs on the grill.
• The best wheel cleaner.
• The best tire cleaner
• The best shop rags
• The best sponge to use to wash the car.
• The best chamois to use to dry the car.
• The best buffer to apply wax to the car.
• The best wax to use with that buffer.
• The best lint free towels to use to remove the wax.
• The best interior cleaner.
• The best interior protectants.
• The best window cleaner.
• The best tire protectants.
• The best tire sponge/brush.
• The best water hose.
• The best hose nozzle.

You get the idea.

Do you notice why this is so great? You have a captive audience that wants to save money washing and waxing their own car. You have done a review for them on everything you need to buy to get the job done right. You aren't doing a review on one product, you are doing a review on 18 products minimum. If they are serious about washing their car, they will go down the list and buy each thing you recommend. 18 things, plus whatever else they throw in their cart.

Within the initial post, your review, you will tell them what each one does and why it is beneficial to use them.

In the instructional guide, you will tell them how to use them and in what order. You will have to do some research if you haven't ever washed and waxed your own car. But that is what you are doing, helping others do something they haven't done before or just offering them your take on how it should be done. Basically, you are going over and beyond the call of duty, and they eat it up.

Within the instructional guide you say, "order this now so you will have it in a couple of days so you can save money washing your car yourself. The products last a long time and will only have to be purchased once a season, at most, saving you hundreds of dollars per year in fees to have it done by someone else." The products are listed out in a row and they just click and add to their cart.

They have a one stop place to order all their products.

But again, the best thing is now you have their contact info. In doing so, you can email them each and every time you add a post, or once weekly with all your posts, if you prefer.

You are building their trust. They will know you. Once you have a few hundred email subscribers, it is like money in the bank. Those people will read your blog and you don't have to rely on SEO to get them to come take a look. So every time you blog, you will have a portion of your subscribers that will get the email and read your latest work.

If you get 50 email subscribers per month, in a year you will have 600. In two years you will have 1,200. In three years, $1,800. It is the snowball effect and your site becomes wildly popular and these are people that are interested in what you have to say. For those that put their fingers in their ears when it comes to email marketing, it is time to open your minds to something that is the cheapest form of advertising and engagement with potential customers.

Your email list is the key to long term success. Here is a great article that explains it better than I can. https://blog.justuno.com/value-email-address-email-signup-po...

The perks of the two part post (review post and private instructional guide post).

• Keyword rich Review Post for SEO
• Long Review Post allows more affiliate links
• Google likes long articles
  
• Captures their name and email address
• Builds email marketing list to qualified customers
• Instructional guide can violate Googles wishes because it isn't indexed
• Instructional guide is the hook to get them to sign up to your email list
• You are offering a better service than a short, article with just affiliate links
• You establish yourself as an authority while earning trust and followers
• Email list is like money in the bank. The ROI is the highest of any marketing strategy

Anyway, I just felt the need to share this. As I said, I will be testing it on a big scale come March of this year. Coming up soon. I will keep you updated.