Last month in Part 1 we looked at how many of us have already acted as Affiliate Marketers although unknowingly and without being paid for it. We also looked at how Affiliate Marketing as a profession enables the affiliate to earn a commission for marketing another person’s or company’s products. The affiliate simply searches for a product they enjoy, then promotes that product and earns a piece of the profit from each sale they make.
This month in Part 2 we consider How Do Affiliate Marketers Get Paid?
Depending on the affiliate program, the consumer doesn’t always need to buy a product for the affiliate to receive a commission, and some programmes even pay affiliates more than the consumer paid for their product/service in the interest of repeat sales, so the seller will determine how the affiliate gets paid from a number of ways:
1. Pay per sale.
This is the standard affiliate marketing structure. In this program, the seller pays the affiliate a percentage of the sale price of the product after the consumer purchases the product as a result of the affiliate’s marketing strategies. In other words, the affiliate must actually get the buyer/investor to buy/invest in the product before they are compensated.
2. Pay per lead.
A more complex system, pay per lead affiliate programs compensates the affiliate based on the conversion of leads. The affiliate must persuade the consumer to visit the seller’s website and complete the desired action — whether it’s filling out a contact form, signing up for a trial of a product, subscribing to a newsletter, or downloading software or files.
3. Pay per click.
This program focuses on incentivizing the affiliate to redirect consumers from their marketing platform to the seller’s website. This means the affiliate must engage the consumer to the extent that they will move from the affiliate’s site to the seller’s site. The affiliate is paid based on the increase in web traffic on the seller’s site.
Why Be an Affiliate Marketer?
So, what are the reasons to become an affiliate marketer?
Coming from a rural area there’s an interesting saying here; “A farmer’s work is a good one, it carries on when he sleeps”
There is effort for a farmer in preparing the ground, and outlay in buying the right seed, but once the seed is in the ground, it grows and develops without the farmer, even while he sleeps. In other words, there is a start up effort, but the growth is passive 24/7 thereafter until the harvest.
Likewise with Affiliate Marketing, there is a start up effort, but thereafter growth is passive with the automated system working 24/7 for you. In fact our experience with people from around the world accessing our system is most of our growth/sales have occurred while we’ve been sleeping.
Ruth & Stephen’s Dad harvesting potatoes
In summary, these are some of the key reasons why we recommend the Affiliate model:
1. Passive income.
While any “regular” job requires you to be at work to make money, affiliate marketing offers you the ability to make money while you sleep. By investing an initial amount of time and money into a campaign, you will see continuous returns on that investment as consumers purchase the product over the following days and weeks. You receive money for your work long after you’ve finished it. Even when you’re not in front of your computer, your marketing skills will be earning you a steady flow of income.
2. No customer support outlay.
Individual sellers and companies offering products or services have to deal with their consumers and ensure they are satisfied with what they have purchased. In the UK, we have the Competition & Marketing Authority to regulate this, and you’ll have a similar body in your country.
However, thanks to the affiliate marketing structure, you’ll never have to be directly concerned with customer support or customer satisfaction. The entire job of the affiliate marketer is to link the seller with the consumer. The seller then deals with any consumer queries, support questions or returns after you receive your commission from the sale.
3. Choose where you work from.
If you’re someone who sees commuting to the office as tiring unproductive time and cost, then affiliate marketing is the perfect solution. You’ll be able to launch campaigns and receive revenue from the products that sellers create while working from anywhere that has Wi-Fi; the comfort of your own home, your local coffee shop, or a coffee shop the other side of the world.
4. Cost-effective.
Most businesses require huge startup fees as well as a cash flow to finance the products being sold, so many people never get started. However, affiliate marketing can be done at a low cost, meaning you can get started quickly and without the hassle of starting a traditional bricks and mortar business. This is a cost effective and relatively straightforward way to get started in the online world.
5. Convenient and flexible.
Since you’re essentially becoming a freelancer, you get ultimate independence in setting your own goals, redirecting your path when you feel so inclined, choosing the products that interest you, and even determining your own hours. This convenience means you can diversify your portfolio if you like or focus solely on simple and straightforward campaigns. You’ll also be free from traditional company restrictions and regulations as well as ill-performing teams.
6. Performance-Based rewards.
With other jobs, you could work an 80-hour week and still earn the same salary. Affiliate marketing is purely based on your performance. You’ll get from it what you put into it. Honing your reviewing skills and writing engaging campaigns will translate to direct improvements in your revenue. Even if a campaign fails, you take that as feedback and optimise your next campaign for better results. You’ll finally get paid for the outstanding work you do!
Are you interested in learning the skills to develop as an Affiliate Marketer?
Then we invite you to explore the same programme we used to get started from scratch.
Please click this link and Enter Your Details to Get FREE Access to the “System for Selling Online”
So imagine you’re in town with a friend one lunch time and you notice a ‘buy one get one free’ offer at Zest Cafe. You take advantage of the offer then head home. Later that afternoon you’re chatting with another friend who’s looking for somewhere to dine and so you share with them about the buy on get one free offer at Zest.
Your friend thanks you for letting them know and head’s off to Zest with their partner to take advantage of the offer.
You’re happy because you’ve helped a friend, your friend’s happy because they’ve saved 50% on a meal and Zest cafe are happy because your referral resulted in a new customer and income for them.
Does this sound a familiar story to you?
Maybe you’ve even shared about such offers with your friends?
If so, you’ve effectively been acting as an affiliate marketer, albeit in a voluntary sense. So if you can do it in a voluntary sense, when not get paid for it?
If you’re interested, read on…
Affiliate marketing is an increasingly popular option to generate significant online revenue.
The option provides benefits to both brands who engage the affiliate marketers and affiliate marketers themselves, In fact:
• 81% of brands and 84% of publishers leverage the power of affiliate marketing, a statistic that will continue to increase as affiliate marketing spending increases every year in the United States.
• There is a 10.1% increase in affiliate marketing spending in the United States each year, meaning that by 2020, that number will reach $6.8 billion.
• In 2018, content marketing costs were gauged to be 62% of traditional marketing schemes while simultaneously generating three times the leads of traditional methods. In fact, 16% of all orders made online can be attributed to the impact of affiliate marketing.
• In March of 2017, Amazon’s affiliate structure changed, offering rates of 1-10% of product revenue for creators, providing the opportunity for affiliates to dramatically increase their passive income based on the vertical they’re selling on.
• The affiliate marketing of Jason Stone, otherwise known as Millionaire Mentor, was responsible for as much as $7 million in retailer sales just in the months of June and July in 2017.
So, What Is Affiliate Marketing?
Affiliate marketing is the process by which an affiliate earns a commission for marketing another person’s or company’s products or services. The affiliate simply searches for a product they enjoy, then promotes that product and earns a piece of the profit from each sale they make. The sales are tracked via affiliate links from one website to another.
l How Does Affiliate Marketing Work?
Because affiliate marketing works by spreading the responsibilities of product marketing and creation across parties, it manages to leverage the abilities of a variety of individuals for a more effective marketing strategy while providing contributors with a share of the profit. To make this work, three different parties must be involved:
. The Brand / Seller and product creators.
. The affiliate or advertiser.
. The consumer.
Let’s look at these three relationships in more detail below:
1. The Brand / Seller and product creators.
The seller (like Zest Cafe in our leading example), whether a solo entrepreneur or large enterprise, is a vendor, merchant, product creator, or retailer with a product to market. The product can be a physical object, like household goods, or a service like internet provision.
Also known as the brand, the seller does not need to be actively involved in the marketing, but they may also be the advertiser and profit from the revenue sharing associated with affiliate marketing.
For example, the seller could be an e-commerce merchant that started a drop-shipping business and wants to reach a new audience by paying affiliate websites to promote their products.
2. The affiliate or publisher.
Also known as a publisher, the affiliate can be either an individual or a company that markets the seller’s product in an engaging way to potential consumers. In other words, the affiliate promotes the product to the right consumers to enable a purchase to take place. If the consumer does make a purchase, the affiliate receives a portion of the revenue made.
Affiliates often have a very specific audience to whom they market, generally adhering to that audience’s interests. This creates a defined niche or personal brand that helps the affiliate attract consumers who will be most likely to act on the promotion.
3. The consumer.
Whether the consumer knows it or not, they (and their purchases) are the drivers of affiliate marketing. Affiliates share these products with them on social media, blogs, and websites.
When consumers buy the product, the seller and the affiliate share the profits. Sometimes the affiliate will choose to be upfront with the consumer by disclosing that they are receiving commission for the sales they make. Other times the consumer may be completely oblivious to the affiliate marketing infrastructure behind their purchase.
Either way, they will rarely pay more for the product purchased through affiliate marketing; the affiliate’s share of the profit is included in the retail price. The consumer will complete the purchase process and receive the product as normal, unaffected by the affiliate marketing system in which they are a significant part.
So we hope that gives you a taste of what affiliate marketing is and how it works. In our next blog, What is Affiliate Marketing Part 2, we’ll share how Affiliate Marketers can get paid.
As the UK officially enters recession today, other data sources reveal how COVID-19 has redefined global consumption patterns, patterns which are here to stay.
People are living differently, buying differently and, in many ways, thinking differently. The habits formed now will endure beyond this crisis.
In this short video, I share some of these trends from the latest Accenture Consumer Research Report which reveals the profound impact of COVID-19 on consumer goods. The pandemic has accelerated long-term trends, forcing companies to rapidly adapt as demand for certain products and services outstrips supply.
Of particular interest is the 160% increase in eCommerce during the pandemic, with 52% of new online buyers stating they will continue to favour eCommerce over traditional purchases even after the pandemic is over.
As businesses move forward, they must consider how to better understand consumers based not on gut feel only, but on what the hard facts are telling us:
You can see a summary of the key trends from the report below:
You can access the full report here.
In this time of dramatic change, people, businesses and institutions have an opportunity to reset and renew. It’s time to seize this opportunity to reinvent your business and begin to outmaneuver uncertainty.
If you haven’t already signed up for our free workshops that show how you can create and launch recession proof income streams from scratch, then we invite you to do so by clicking here.
COVID-19 has massively accelerated the growth of e-commerce, according to an Adobe Digital Economy Index (DEI) report released today.
Adobe’s DEI is a global economic measure for the 21st century that more
quickly, comprehensively, and internationally measures the increasing buying power of digital consumers — with greater detail than any other data source available. You can download the full report here.
Highlighting that total online spending in May hit $82.5 billion, up 77% year-over-year, the report states: “It would’ve taken between 4 and 6 years to get to the levels that we saw in May if the growth continued at the same levels it was at for the past few years.”
Report highlights:
E-commerce: jumped $52 billion
Memorial Day sales: jumped 75% from $2 billion last year to $3.5 billion this year
Mobile’s share of e-commerce: grew from January but not much, up just 10%
BOPIS: buy online, pick up in-store grew 195% in May
Travel: flight bookings tripled from early April to late May
Higher rates of e-commerce and BOPIS (buy online, pick up in-store) may be the new abnormal, Adobe data indicates.
“We are seeing signs that online purchasing trends formed during the pandemic may see permanent adoption,” Taylor Schreiner, Director, Adobe Digital Insights, said in a statement. “While BOPIS was a niche delivery option pre-pandemic, it is fast becoming the delivery method of choice as consumers become more familiar with the ease, convenience and experience.”
Adobe’s DEI analyzes over one trillion online transactions across 100 million product SKUs, the company says.
What people are buying is changing too, perhaps returning more to relatively normal consumption patterns. Electronics and apparel purchases were up 11% and 12%, respectively: we’re working at home, but we haven’t bought new clothes in a while. Pricing is changing though: grocery prices were up 4% in May compared to 2019.
The data is telling us that COVID-19 has simply accelerated the trend of growth in the digital economy that has already been happening for many years. I share more in this short video below:
So if you’re serious about your business, you need to listen to what the data is telling you and be agile enough to act/respond accordingly.
Many people see the advantage of an online business but fail to get started because they simply don’t know where to start, or have a fear of failure. That’s exactly the position we were in which held us back for so long until we found the right education and support network to help us get started from scratch. If you’re ready to explore proven steps with a support network that you can take right now to take advantage of the growth in the digital economy, then Click Here to learn more.
You know, many people talk about ‘thinking big’ in business and in life to succeed, and I get that, but this week I want to encourage you to simply think small, in both your business and personal life.
In the video below I share two examples of people who are making a big difference in this world not by thinking big, but by thinking small, one of whom is a 16 year old girl who through small acts is making a huge difference…
Finally, as we all think about ways to generate wealth to make a difference in this world, I want to leave you with some of the last words Steve Jobs shared before he passed away at the age of 56 from pancreatic cancer:
“At this moment, lying on the bed, sick and remembering all my life, I realize that all my recognition and wealth that I have is meaningless in the face of imminent death.
You can hire someone to drive a car for you, make money for you – but you cannot hire someone to carry the disease for you.
One can find material things, but there is one thing that can not be found when it is lost – “LIFE”. So, love the people God sent you, one day he’ll need them back…”
May we all make a big difference in the week ahead by thinking small.
So, what does heading off into the Mountains and starting an Online Business have in Common?
In this video I share how you need the wisdom of navigational skills to safely guide you from A to B in both a mountain and digital landscape.
Click here or on the image below to watch this week’s video:
Finding Your Path…
If you don’t have the necessary navigational skills, then you could be at risk of getting lost, injured or worse in both landscapes.
Jordan Romero was on 13 when he climbed Everest.
Take Mount Everest as an example, did you realise the youngest person to climb Everest, Jordan Romero was only 13 years old when he reached the top?
That doesn’t mean of course, any 13 year old can just take themselves up Mount Everest, Jordan was closely guided.
Everyone will climb Mount Everest differently, and how you plan your climb will broadly come down to to the three factors of Time, Cost, and Experience.
For example, if you already have the Time for planning, and past mountaineering Experience, you could plan your own route and complete the expedition yourself for a relatively low Cost financial budget. However, if you don’t have the past Experience, it would take you years in Time to plan the trip by yourself. In such a case you’d be better paying for a Mountain Guide who’s already walked the trail and knows the exact path and weather conditions to walk with you. That will involve more financial Cost, but involve less Time cost and Experience cost for you. Either way, there’s a cost to getting up and down Mount Everest safely, and each climber has to decide the best option for them.
Navigating The Digital Landscape
Likewise in the online business world, it’s a Mountainous landscape where some people don’t reach it to their summit, but at the same time, we have people like 10 year old Hannah Grace running a successful online business.
Hannah was challenged by her father to create the same products she loved from her favourite health and beauty stores, Hannah Grace started what would become her own bath bomb business called BeYOUtiful.
Hannah donates 20% of every purchase to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund, as she was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when she was an infant.
Hannah Grace was 10 years old when she started her online business
Did Hannah start her online business by walking off into the digital landscape by herself?
No, she had guides and mentors to help her navigate to a destination that was aligned to her purpose, combining that which she loved, with that which the world needed, along with that which the world would pay for.
At Digi Life Enabled, we call that a business that’s aligned to your purpose and the reason why we established Digi Life Enabled was to enable people like you who were wanting to start off in the digital landscape, but didn’t know where to start, or didn’t know how to get to where you wanted to, to have the best chance possible of reaching your summit with the help of guides. Specifically, guides who’ve already walked the path you are about to walk.
Here to walk the path with you
So, If you’re interested in creating a business aligned to your purpose, consider the Time, Cost and Experience paradigm, and let that inform you how much you can do yourself from your own reserves, and how much external investment you need.
And, if you’d like the benefit of starting your digital journey with a proven map and a guide, then why not try our complimentary video training series that people all around the world are using to start and grow profitable online businesses aligned to their purpose.
Finally, in the week ahead, as you consider the next best step for you and your loved ones in every path you walk, let wisdom be your guide.
What has Horse Riding and words of Wisdom from Dr Martin Luther King have to do with learning to start something new?
I share some fundamental principles from both in relation to starting an online business you’re passionate about in this Sunday’s thought for the week.
Please click here or on the picture below to watch this Sunday’s thought for the week.
I also introduce one of our latest ImportsXperts business mentors to you, Jay Bansal:
Our ImportXperts team are all about helping and guiding you to build an eCommerce business which is relevant for you. And by that, we mean helping you sell products based on your interests. There are tons of reasons why this is so useful:
- You’ll understand what your audience wants
- You’ll be able to answer your customers’ questions better
- There’s more chance you’ll have the passion to stick at it, even if you come across a few hurdles
- You’ll have pride in your business
- And there’ll be more chance of long-term success
Jay will be heading up the new training curriculum in our ImportXperts academy, and to summarise:
- He’s a very successful entrepreneur having sold multiple products on Amazon and Shopify over the past 5+ years.
- He’s mastered the art of design and knows how to create the most premium products. He made $25,000 in one day serving just 23 customers!
- He’s worked with both small and big budgets and has a passion for supporting others to create amazing products that they can be proud of.
In our email broadcast last week we shared with our subscribers the testimony of one of our students, Yavonne, who had developed a successful eCommerce business on Amazon around her passion for photography using our Imports Xperts Academy.
What was interesting was Yavonne’s perspective on the word FAIL.
This week I share some thoughts on the word FOCUS with you in relation to starting any new venture online in a short 3 min video:
PLEASE CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO
I shot it from our home on the edge of the English Lake District. When you see the video you’ll understand why we have so many lakes here!
If you would like to access our free video training series on starting a business venture online and receive our email broadcasts, then click here to subscribe.
Marketing Mastery
Ready to get more customers and sales for your business?
Well you’re in the right place.
Here’s a fact for you:
MOST businesses fail
60% + in the first five years
91% by the years five to year nine
97% won’t make it past ten years
Though these statistics are scary, it’s important to focus on the fact that 3 out of 100 people will make it past that 10-year milestone and reach a level of true sustainability and security that allows them to take care of themselves and their families for life.
And the good news is, you absolutely can be one of the 3 businesses out of 100, if you get the RIGHT education and learn the RIGHT skills.
When you speak with the owners of failed businesses and ask them why theirs didn’t make it, you’ll nearly always get the same answer:
“I didn’t have enough customers.”
This is another way of saying, “I didn’t know how to GET more customers.”
That’s why learning the fundamental skills and gaining the support and guidance you need is crucial to making your business secure and sustainable, by attracting the RIGHT customers.
And that’s what marketing is: The “attracting of customers” (and therefore sales) for your business.
Yes, marketing as a definition can mean a lot of things, but its CORE objective is to grow your customer base and increase your sales for your business.
This means that:
Marketing Is The #1 Money Maker In Your Business
There are countless components that make a business successful, but marketing is one of the (if not the ONLY) parts that generates customers and sales, and therefore: money.
By investing in yourself, your training, and your education, you’ll gain the confidence in going forward with your marketing, and doing it properly and as a result, you’ll increase your profitability. There’s nothing more to it. Getting the right knowledge, support, and guidance in learning effective marketing is the single most profitable investment you can make in your business.
It’s that simple…
If you don’t know marketing and you don’t know how to get customers, then you don’t have security or stability in your business.
Alternatively, if you DO know marketing and you DO have the ability to proactively go out, find, convert, and sell to customers, you have the ability to cultivate the success, power, and influence that you want in your business.
And that’s why we are excited to introduce you to…
Where you’ll gain all the marketing mindsets, strategies, tactics, and certification to grow your customer base and increase your sales.
The Digital Experts Academy (DEA) Marketing Mastery Certification is a 2-year roadmap that can be completed sooner depending on how quickly you complete the following requirements.
Once you’ve reviewed and mastered these steps, you’ll be an official Marketing Mastery Digital Marketing Professional.
Here’s just a little more about what each step entails…
An Immersive Experience at our Marketing Mastery Summit
Like the whole digital space, marketing is continually changing and growing. It evolves fast. We’ve seen how quickly technological advances are moving and changing the way we generate and sell to customers all the time.
That’s why as a DEA Marketing Mastery member it’s essential that you attend our Annual Marketing Mastery Summit where you’ll learn how to put the foundations for your marketing in place and keep your messaging relevant in the ever-changing digital marketing space. Through LIVE, immersive training from some of the world’s top marketers, you’ll gain world-class, digital marketing expertise, and network with other business owners and entrepreneurs.
Exclusive DEA Access to the Digital Marketer Annual Traffic and Conversion Summit
Join fellow DEA Marketing Mastery students at the biggest digital marketing event held in North America. This summit is where the rubber hits the road with the marketing mindsets and strategies you’ll learn at our Marketing Mastery Summit and throughout your Marketing Mastery Certification. The Traffic and Conversion Summit is the event to attend to remain on the cutting edge in the ever-evolving digital space. You’ll learn the tactics needed to implement what you’ve learned and walk away with actionable steps and strategies that you can apply as soon as you get back to your computer.
With over 5,000 attendees to network with, more than 100 sessions to attend, and 70+ expert speakers to gain insights from, this summit is a crucial and value-packed feature of the Marketing Mastery Certification.
Scale and Optimize Your Business with 1-2-1 Mentoring
We know that generating customers and sales is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to marketing mastery. Once your campaigns are running you’ll need to learn how to optimize and scale those campaigns to maximize your profit margins.
That’s why, as a Marketing Mastery Member, we support your marketing progress with private, one-on-one mentoring from our DEA certified mentors, who’ll help you decode your campaign data so you can effectively optimize and scale your business to significantly boost your ROI.
All you have to do, is log in to your DEA account and select a mentor that meets your specific needs.
Meet Your Mentors
Greg and Fiona Scott
We’re excited to have Greg and Fiona on board as founding members of DEA, having joined in November 2010. With Project Management and Accountancy backgrounds they have translated those skills into building several successful digital businesses. What they realized is that people starting an online business needed honest, expert guidance. This inspired them to write their best-selling book, Living a Laptop Lifestyle, which is available on Amazon.
Stuart selected Greg and Fiona to mentor his inner circle students, and they’ve been heavily involved in delivering DEA training calls. They’re thrilled to deepen that contribution by sharing their experience in your One-on-One Marketing Mastery mentoring calls, and their aim is to help you build an outstanding digital business.
If you’re looking to refine your message to the market, or need support with YouTube, Facebook, and/or Bing ads, Greg & Fiona can offer you specialized guidance.
Amy Taylor
Amy Taylor joined the SFM/DEA in 2013 after a wake-up call of losing a family member left her wanting to live an “above average” life while she was young enough to enjoy it!
Building a successful affiliate business enabled Amy to leave her career in Corporate Travel Sales and pursue life as a “Digital Nomad” within 18 months. Along the way, she also used the knowledge and experience gained to consult with business owners, helping them grow and connect with their audience online.
Amy’s strength is in helping you discover your unique and authentic marketing message – whatever your business may be. Her paid advertising experience lies mostly within Facebook and Google/YouTube.
CLICK HERE to gain instant access to our Digital Business System and student training series such as
Marketing Mastery
11 Digital Marketer Certifications and Growing…
At DEA, we know how tough it is to master something new. That’s because we’ve been there. We’ve been through the highs and battled through the lows – just like you. And we know that having the right support network in place can make all the difference, and fast-track your progress.
That’s why we’ve teamed up with digital marketing experts at DMHQ (Digital Marketer HQ) to bring you the very best online education – breaking down the 11 core disciplines that’ll help you become the best at what you do.
Digital Marketer HQ
With Digital Marketer HQ, you’ll get access to the highest quality training programs including:
Copywriting Mastery
Write to persuade with punchy copy that attracts leads, converts sales, and builds trust with your customers.
Content Marketing Mastery
Create authority by providing value to your audience, crafting your content to generate sales and cultivate trust.
Paid Traffic and Customer Acquisition Mastery
Turn strangers into prospective customers using platforms like Google, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter, without flushing money down the toilet.
Social & Community Mastery
Build brand awareness by enhancing your social media presence.
Conversion Funnel Mastery
Move customers through a strategic journey to optimize conversions and increase the lifetime value of your offering.
Search Marketing Mastery
Be everywhere at once by committing your brand to search engines like Google, Yahoo, Amazon, and Yelp.
Email Marketing Mastery
Get the most traction from your email campaigns by creating engaging and compelling communications.
Analytics & Data Mastery
Understand how to create actionable and personalized strategies from data, analytics and audience insights.
Testing and Conversion Rate Optimization
Get answers, make educated decisions based on data, and implement change that drives results.
E-Commerce Marketing Mastery
Learn the ins and outs of marketing and selling physical products from an online shop.
Community Management Mastery
Create an online audience that builds awareness, cultivates positive reviews and generates peer lead promotion.
NOTE content and courses are subject to change in keeping with the fast evolving trends and technology of the digital arena.
CLICK HERE to gain instant access to our Digital Business System and student training series such as
Marketing Mastery