Since my previous post about affiliate marketing as a revenue source for websites, I have received questions from readers about a variety of scenarios. In each case, specific details were asked about the set up for affiliates and the mix of technical and marketing aspects involved. I’d like to share these case studies with you.
Scenario 1:
You have an online information website or business, with no downloadable products for sale. You wish to compliment your site with relevant affiliate eBooks or other downloadable products, so that you can earn affiliate commissions on sales.Suggestion: Investigate a suitable affiliate network such as Clickbank, Linkshare or Amazon. Limit your selection to just one network. Check the affiliate network for quality of downloadable products, commission payments you are entitled to earn, and the experience your website visitors will have when they purchase one of these affiliate products from your website.
Level of interaction required from you for each sale (after set up): nil
Will visitors leave your website when they purchase the downloadable product?: yes
Scenario 2:
You have your own downloadable information product(s) available to sell from your website, and wish to promote the sales to a larger network of affiliate resellers who will display your product for sale on their website or blog. Suggestion: Select an affiliate network that has an appropriate list of resellers who will promote your product online. Some affiliate networks such as Clickbank come complete with payment gateway and console that displays your hits and sales performance.
Level of interaction required from you for each sale (after set up): nil
Will visitors leave your website when they purchase the downloadable product?: yes
Scenario 3:
You have a downloadable eBook or information product and want to attract more visitors and buyers to your website where this product is made available. Suggestion: Set up your own affiliate management area on your website, where potential affiliates can apply to join as a reseller of your product(s). You then have the advantage of managing and motivating your affiliates and sharing resources and tools, to help them sell more of your products.
Setting up an affiliate management centre on your website sounds a lot more complex than it really is and is a worthwhile option when you have more than one product/service for sale on your website. You also have the option of adding drop shipped products to your online store.
Level of interaction required from you for each sale (after set up): nil for downloadable products, dispatch for tangible products and delivery confirmation for drop ship products.
Will visitors leave your website when they purchase the downloadable product?: no
Each of these scenarios have been set up and operated successfully by our clients.
This expands the opportunities available to us, to enter global markets whilst living on the beautiful Sunshine Coast.
Imagine this – you have an information product that you believe the whole world should see and desire. You want minimal to nil production and advertising costs and you don’t want to wait until you draw a crowd to your website.
Pure and simply, Affiliate Marketing is a way to achieve this. If you have a downloadable product that has valuable, desirable and unique content, there are many website/blog owners who enjoy selling your product for a commission. Converting your service or product to a downloadable resource will require some creative thought, however is worthwhile if well researched. When I explain this to clients I get some very standard questions:
Q: What can I sell in the affiliate marketplace?
A: You can sell information. In most cases the information you sell would be closely tied to your profession, expertise or passion and this would be something you have researched and experienced well enough to be able to offer valuable information about. This information can then be converted into a downloadable e-book.
Q: Do people really read e-books?
A: Recently Apple sold its one millionth iPad, just 28 days after the device was introduced. Amazon stocks over one million eBook titles and offer the Kindle e-reader, while Barnes and Noble have an emerging eBook section and promote the Nook e-reader. Short answers – yes.
Q: How do I find affiliates to sell my eBooks?
A: You can recruit your own affiliates by researching potential resellers based on a criteria defined by their traffic, existing content, who they are targeting and whether they have complimentary products on their site. Alternatively you can join an Affiliate Marketplace. This is where Affiliates (the resellers) meet the Vendors with the product that they believe the whole world should see and desire.
After many questions from clients and audiences about affiliate marketing, I will cover various scenarios of affiliate marketing.
Let’s look at Scenario 1 - You have an information business that is online, with no downloadable products for sale.
Converting your information to a downloadable product of value to potential customers can take several forms, and needs to consider your target audience. Currently in the lead as favourite downloads globally are eBooks and audios. Amazon currently lists over 677,000 eBook titles. To support this new style of reading are over a dozen models of eBook reading devices that have WiFi capabilities. This does not include smart phones with similar on-screen capabilities. “Now more than ever before, you have the ability to sell your knowledge or story to a global market that can gain instant download access to your eBook.”
What information will you convert to an eBook?
While you are most likely an expert in your area and have great information to share, what do readers really want to read? I recommend using the larger international online booksellers as an indicator. If your expertise is corporate fitness training for example, let’s look at what sells best online on Amazon or Barnes and Noble in this area, and isolate your niche. A moderate number of results, combined with research into what is not being covered by books currently in this market space, is a good starting point.
Where will you sell your eBook?
You can sell your eBook on your existing website, if the content is relevant. Sales activity will increase website ranking. Create a dedicated page for the eBook.
OR
You can create a blog with relevant content – a simple process involving domain name, hosting, a blog content management system such as the free Wordpress, and your content that pitches you as an expert in your area. Also create a dedicated page for the eBook.
Join an affiliate reseller network such as Clickbank.com (around $50 fee to join as an author). Submit your eBook for sale in this marketplace and decide on a price and commission you would like to offer resellers. To this point your focus would be to make the eBook attractive for the end user. Here however, you are wanting to attract resellers to display your eBook on their site. The resellers are looking for creative, fresh content, and of course nice commission rates. They will list your eBook on their site and buyers then links to your website or blog page. This is a good search engine optimization strategy.
How will I make the eBook?
The most commonly supported files used by eBook readers are .pdf, .txt, .epub and .html. If you intend to narrate your eBook to make it available as an audio book, then .mp3 is most widely supported.Using publishing guidelines similar to print books, your eBook can be developed in Word format, including images and diagrams, then converted to .pdf.
Once set up, your eBook has the potential to provide you with passive revenue, no printing, postage or handling. You will most likely want to repeat the process with more titles, using the same research and development approach.
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