How to Start a Successful Affiliate Business in 7 Steps

by · May 18, 2017

It’s exciting to think about how much money you can make online. But if you’re new to online marketing, it can also be overwhelming to try to figure out which business model is right for you.

The solution? Keep it simple.

Just follow these seven surefire steps to online profits…

Step 1: Choose a Market

But don’t just choose any market – instead, choose a HUNGRY market. That means you’re looking for a market that is actively seeking paid solutions to their problems.

Here’s how:

Search marketplaces like Amazon.com and Clickbank.com to see what types of niches attract eager, proven buyers.
Use a keyword tool like Wordtracker.com or the free Google Keyword Suggestion Tool to find out what people are searching for. You can enter your proposed niche keywords (like “dog training”) to see if there is a demand, or enter a broad keyword (like “secrets” or “how to”) to uncover new niches.
Go to eZineArticles.com and browse the top articles to see which niches are popular.

Step 2: Get Your Tools In Place

Once you find a niche that spends money, your next step is to gather your tools. These include:

A domain name, which you can get at PushButtonHosting.com.
Hosting, which you can secure at com.
An autoresponder, which you can have a free trial with through Aweber.com.

Step 3: Select an Offer to Promote

Next, you need to find an affiliate offer that you can promote to your hungry niche. The best way to do that is to find out what they’re already buying… and choose a similar offer.

Simply go to Clickbank.com and browse the relevant niche category. Those products appearing at the top of the catalog are your best sellers – you should choose a product near the top of the list.

Just be sure to buy, read and use the product to ensure that it is, indeed, a good product.

Step 4: Write and Upload a Mini eCourse

Your next step is to create an autoresponder series around the topic of your product so that you can promote your offer. Your autoresponder series should be at least 7-12 messages long.

For example:

You’re selling a copywriting product. You can create a seven-part eCourse on how to write a sales letter. Then promote the copywriting product in every message.
You’re selling a diet recipe book. You can create a 10-part weight loss course that pitches the recipe book in every message.
You’re selling a dog training video. You can create a seven part course that teaches the basic obedience lessons such as sit, down and stay. In every message you refer your prospects to the paid video for more information.

Here’s the key: Do NOT solve your prospect’s problems 100%. You want to provide useful but incomplete information, so that your prospects need to purchase your affiliate offer in order to fully solve their problems.

Step 5: Create a Squeeze page

Next, you need to persuade your prospects to subscribe to your eCourse. You do this by creating a mini sales page (AKA squeeze page). This page should include:

A headline that touts your course’s major benefit (e.g., “FREE: How to housetrain your puppy in just three easy steps!”).
A list of the other benefits of your course (e.g., “You’ll discover the secrets of turning an unruly, rambunctious puppy into a perfect houseguest!”).
And a call to action (e.g., “Just enter your name and email address in the form below now, click join and you’ll get instant access to this eye-opening report!”).

You may also provide proof of your claims, such as testimonials, videos, screenshots, pictures and similar evidence.

Step 6: Drive Traffic to the Squeeze Page

Next, you need to drive targeted traffic to your squeeze page so that you can quickly build your list. You can do this by:

Starting a blog and posting articles that are optimized for the search engines.
Trading links with other high traffic sites in your niche.
Being a guest blogger on other peoples’ blogs.
Co-promoting with other marketers in your niche (e.g., endorsing each other in your newsletters).
Submitting articles to EzineArticles.com and other article directories.
Using social media sites like Squidoo.com, Yahoo! Answers, and Facebook.com.
Participating on niche forums on in niche blog discussions.

Step 7: Add Messages to Your Autoresponder Series

Once you’re getting traffic, building your list and making a profit, you can start adding even more messages to your autoresponder – anywhere from a couple month’s worth of messages to a year or more.

That way you’ll make money virtually on autopilot – all you have to do is build your list and let your autoresponder do all the work!

Summary

Making money online doesn’t have to be complicated, not when you follow these seven easy steps!