MUST READ! How to Increase the Value of Your Message

byIthamar

552 followers

Updated 11 years ago

WARNING! This is a lengthy post! But I believe that every word is necessary and after you read it, you will not look at this business the same. If you want to make SERIOUS money with affiliate marketing, then you must keep reading.

Still reading? Then let’s begin!

Affiliate marketing is a great way to earn a living online, as it not only gives you products to sell without the overhead and inventory, but it is also a great way to learn how to market effectively.

However, if you want to really make money, then you will eventually want to create and sell your own products. In order to sell your own products, you need to increase the value of your message.

When we first start out in affiliate marketing, the majority of us have a message that’s not worth much, simply because we don’t know much. So increasing the value of your message begins with a decision to increase your knowledge. In your chosen niche, your goal is to be THE EXPERT. Being an expert is no longer good enough because competition increases exponentially on a daily basis. You must commit to learning as much as you can on a daily basis.You must also realize that you will have this habit for the rest of your life.

You can start out by reading other blogs in your niche, or watching YouTube videos.However, eventually you are going to have to pay for resources such as books from Amazon, or courses related to your niche. Consider it overhead or paying your dues because you are only going to get out of this business what you put into it.

Once you’ve incorporated that mindset, then it’s now a matter of taking your business to the next level – literally! Increasing the value of your message consists of different levels, with each level representing steps you have taken to increase your knowledge base and how you approach helping people. The higher you go, the more money-making potential you create for yourself.

However, as you work your way up through the levels, the barriers to entry also become higher, creation becomes more difficult, and more time, energy, capital, and resources are required.

Oh, you’re still here? OK, let’s move on then to the different levels to increasing the value of your message!

Providing Information

As the name implies, you simply provide people with a ton of information, and let them dig through it.

This is the most basic level, thus its value is the lowest. I mean, you went and researched a topic, then reported your findings, but there’s nothing special about it.You are simply an online encyclopedia.

There was a time when information was king.If you used this level twenty years ago, you would be rich today. The encyclopedia model was the boss model back then.

In today’s age however, with the rise of Google, Yahoo, Bing, and Wikipedia, information is instantly available at the click of a mouse, so the value of just providing information is quickly declining. That’s why it’s no longer good enough to just be an expert. All it is now is a good first step.

It also makes you an easy target for duplicate content thieves who rip off your e-books, information products, or even your site content word-for-word.

If you continue at this level, you will fall by the wayside.

Being a Resource

At this level, being a resource consists of providing information that is presented to solve problems.

Resources have more value not only because they’re designed to solve problems, but because it shows that they’ve been curated.

Instead of giving someone a mountain of information that covers the entire subject, you’re now providing the top few pieces of information, along with two or three action steps your readers should take in order solve their problem or accomplish their goal.

Example – Which provides more value, an article entitled, “What is Email Marketing?” or “The Top 5 Ways to Create an Effective Email Marketing Campaign?”

Being a resource is part providing information and part curation of content. The value of your resource is increased the moment you become an “editor”, and start separating the good information from the bad, making it easier for your readers to find the information they need in order to achieve their goals.

Create a Framework

Now we are stepping in the big boy arena. Frameworks are what separate the leaders from the followers. While resources help people solve a specific problem, frameworks provide a way for people to think about a concept, a topic, or multiple ideas, in a systematic way.

With frameworks, you take information to the next level, because you create a resource that changes the way a person thinks about and approaches things. The key to frameworks is that a person can apply the framework to more than one concept or life application.

This post is a framework because the goal is for you to be able to look at this post, reflect on it, then apply this type of thinking to your blog, product, or business.

I told you that the levels will start to get harder and here is where you will encounter your first barrier. Frameworks are difficult to produce because they require original thought. This trait is a very rare commodity and that’s why creators are recognized in the WA ranking system. You will not get away with the copy/paste method when trying to create a framework. This is where most of the 99% that fail in this business start to fall away. It is also the reason the value of frameworks increase exponentially.

If you learn and master the art of creating frameworks in your posts, this is where you will establish yourself as the expert in your niche, and you will begin to build a platform in which you will be able to launch your own products.

When teaching people how to dig better holes, don’t forget to recommend the tools

If you have followed me here at WA, I am always preaching that the purpose of your blog is not to sell shovels, but to teach people how to dig better holes. If they happen to buy a shovel you recommend so they can dig that hole, consider it an added bonus.

It is at this level where my sermon will make sense.

The first three levels are designed to establish yourself as the go-to-guru in your niche because you have been teaching people how to dig better holes. How fast you can establish yourself depends on your marketing efforts. Of course, if you have the money to invest in paid traffic, you should do so, as this produces faster results. However, the organic methods, while slower, are just as effective.

So you’ve established yourself as a guru and you now have massive traffic coming to your site.Now it’s time to recommend some tools!

You will not make the HUGE BUCKS unless you create your own products.While you are getting your name out there, you should also be thinking about your brand, what it represents, and how you are going to be the difference maker in your given niche.The products you create are going to be the tools your readers use to make that difference.

Tools are simply the products you recommend on your site that help make your readers accomplish ideas & projects more efficiently. They also can help you operate within frameworks more effectively or help to utilize and process resources faster.

In the beginning, these tools can be in the form of affiliate products you are promoting from Clickbank, Commission Junction, or any other affiliate network. But this really should be a temporary measure until you create your own products, whether they are books, audios, videos, or an app.You can even incorporate all of them into a high value mega product that you can charge whatever you wish.

Most of the time, unless you’re a technical guy, or you already have the skills to build an app, you’re much better off starting on one of the three lower levels of value in order to prove and understand your market. But your goal will always be to get to this level.

Creating your own tools will take time, money & energy. Tools don’t necessarily dig your holes for you, but they help you dig faster or more efficiently. They’re a “shovel” for whatever hole you’re trying to dig. It’s ok if you don’t have the skills to make your own tools. There are a variety of outsourcing methods you can utilize to produce you own products.Some of them include:

·Hiring a freelancer on sites such as elance.com, guru.com, or fiverr.com

·Getting friends or family involved that have the skills to create your products.

·Hiring a local college kid to develop an app or write for you.This method is saving me thousands of dollars, believe me!

I will post future articles where I break this down in more detail. Ha-ha, now you have a reason to come back!

Providing Done-for-You Services

It never fails that every time I give a workshop on building an online business, someone comes up to me after the workshop and asks, “Can’t I just pay you and you set it all up for me?”

This is why service sites are at the top of the food chain. Providing services offer a much higher level of value because they help customers get things done – usually by doing something for them.

This level is so valued by people that you can often write your own ticket to success.This is where you see people charging thousands of dollars for a course or product.The more services you provide, the more you can charge.

In other words – they just want it done for them. They don’t want to have to think. They just want it done & they’re willing to pay for it.

Wealthy Affiliate is an excellent example of a service site.They provide hosting, they install the Wordpress framework, provide a host of auxiliary services like Jaaxy and Street Articles, and step-by-step lessons, all at a great monthly price. People don’t have to search all over the internet to get this stuff done, it’s all done for them right here. A service site goes beyond helping you to do something more efficiently - they actually do it for you.

So if you want to increase the value of your message, then you need to master each of these levels and charge accordingly.