Top Affiliate Marketing Ideas To Start Making Money Online.
Affiliate marketing is one of the easiest and most hassle-free ways to make money online. You do not have to create your own product and hence, you do have to worry about handling, storage, shipping, customer service and so on. Also, the commissions are often very healthy (up to 75% for some digital products) and this can translate into a lot of quick cash in a relatively small time-frame. Here are some affiliate marketing ideas to help kick-start your campaign.
Which is the best niche for affiliate marketing?
If you want to create a website or blog that is even remotely valuable and lucrative, it is highly recommended that you choose a niche that you know a lot about and/or are highly passionate about. Do not simply choose a niche because you think it is profitable. If you do this, be prepared to learn a lot about this niche. Remember that in order for you to make money, people need to perceive you as an authority in your niche. This means that people will email you with complex questions. They will ask questions during webinars and interviews. So even if you plan on outsourcing the creation of content; still, you need to have a solid understand about your niche. Here is an example: Say your niche is baseball – you do not need to be a pro baseball player for creating valuable content. However, you do need to love baseball to bits. You need to know about the important players, legends, teams, arch-rivalries, key competitions etc. for your content to be relevant and impactful. Think baseball reporter rather than pro baseball player. Get it?
Having said all that, the three evergreen niches in affiliate marketing are health, money and love. People will always be concerned about these 3 topics as they fall among the most important things in life. Other popular niches include technology, hobbies, entertainment and sports.
How to dominate a highly competitive niche?
Ordinary people just do not have the resources to create the next BIG thing on the internet. The next big thing would have to be bigger than facebook and youtube – do you have the knowledge and money to create it? Probably not! Which is why you should focus on the next BETTER thing. For example: Say your niche is health. The BIG players in your niche are webmd and mayoclinic. How can you deal with such stiff competition? Simple – be better than them. How can you be better than these two humongous websites? By being more original and engaging. These sites feature content that is generic and boring. They are full of numbers and statistics. You can make your content more interesting by writing with an actual voice and performing in depth research. You can put your own spin and provide your own perspective. Do not hesitate to bring up controversial topics in your niche. For example: The consumption of carbs and saturated fats is a highly debatable issue in the health niche. The government and doctors advocate carb consumption and as a result, the USA has become the most obese nation on the planet! Webmd and Mayoclinic do not talk about this!
Which products to recommend?
Always recommend products that are reliable or else your reputation will become tainted and you will lose the trust of your subscribers. Amazon has an excellent affiliate program but the commissions are not very high. Contact people in the real world and propose to promote their products and services. Clickbank has high commissions but choose your products carefully as many of them are quite dodgy and gimmicky. Websites like Commission Junction and Maxbounty are good platforms for affiliate marketers. Understand that niches such as insurance, forex etc. enable you to earn recurring commissions.
Always be on the lookout for new, undiscovered niches. Train your brain to think creatively and soon, you will be churning out affiliate marketing ideas like a machine!
It’s always advisable to learn from a mentor who has proven success in the subject you want to know more about. With affiliate marketing, there are so many so-called ‘gurus’ who haven’t really been successful and don’t really know what they are doing but are willing to take your money to ‘teach you’ everything they know (which is nothing). We have been marketing online for over 5 years and as a result, we have come across some really bad ‘coaches’ but also some fantastic ones. Check out our top 5 affiliate programs reviewed here.
138
