If you’re not going to be relying on adverts, then what other options do you have for monetization? One of the most profitable and easiest to get into is affiliate marketing.
Affiliate marketing (as you probably know) means selling products that you did not create and do not own. For instance then, if someone created an eBook or an online course, you could then promote that product using a link and get paid a percentage of the profit every time that someone bought it. Sometimes this percentage can be anything up to 60% of the price!
How can the creators afford to pay out so much? Simple: they want your help promoting the product and anything you help them sell is going to be extra on top of what they would have managed on their own. In other words, even if they only got 10%, that would still be 10% more than they’d get without your help. They are willing to offer a high percentage then because it’s all extra and because this will then encourage people to promote their products instead of different ones. The great thing about digital products like eBooks is that they have zero overheads – they don’t require any materials to create, they don’t need storage and delivery is free!
Selling digital products as an affiliate is a brilliant way to make money then because you get a large chunk of cash for selling something that you didn’t have to make. This means you don’t need to waste time creating a product that might not sell (when you choose your affiliate product you can ensure you pick something that has already been shown to sell well!) and you don’t need to spend money outsourcing, or have a technical skill of your own. It’s an entirely risk free business model with zero overheads and no skill set required.
Finding a Niche for Digital Affiliate Products
So the question then becomes, which niches are best for selling a digital product as an affiliate?
If you consider that digital products are mainly information products, this means that you need to pick an area where information is at a premium. In other words, you need a subject where people are very eager to learn and will pay for that information.
This writes off a number of different niches. For instance, it writes off the ‘fan’ niche, seeing as most people probably wouldn’t be willing to pay much to hear your opinion on a new film or comic. Likewise, it writes off smaller niches, or niches where lots of information is freely available.
Again, the heavy hitters are things like fitness, business, dating and other areas where you can teach someone a skill that will improve their lives in a profound way. Ask yourself this: if you had to create a piece of text that would promote and sell a book in this niche, how would you go about making it sound like something people would have to buy?
If it was a fitness book, you might start with something like this:
Hey you! Are you tired of training programs that don’t work? Are you tired of feeling TIRED, FLABBY and UNATTRACTIVE? What if I told you there was a way you could get a shredded mid-section and strong arms in just 5 WEEKS?
Likewise, if you were trying to sell an e-book about making money, you might start it something like this:
If you’ve been dreaming of escaping the rat race and finally earning the sort of money you feel you deserve, then keep reading. There is a way that ANYONE can make money online and it’s surprisingly simple. Now, this isn’t a get rich quick scheme, it’s just a smart business model that happens to be…
Sounds good right? On both counts? We all want abs and we all want money and so these are easy ‘value propositions’ (remember that phrase?) to sell.
On the other hand, if you have a book on Neuroscience, you might find that this is a topic that’s a little harder to sell products in. So one test to see if your niche is good for affiliate marketing is just to think: how would you go about pitching a book in this subject? If you can’t think of a strong opener, then perhaps you should look elsewhere…
Skills and Hobbies
Note that there is another way to make an eBook ‘must have’, which is to sell something that a select group will need. For instance, if you happen to know how to set up a restaurant like the back of your hand, then you can find an eBook on this and make it a ‘must have’ for chefs who want to set up their own business. If you can find a book on stage lighting, then there will be a lot of stage lighters out there who will potentially be interested in buying.
Remember again though all the things we talked about regarding what makes a great demographic. Do stage lighters have lots of disposable income? Are they likely to spend lots of time online? To read eBooks? This is something that’s worth researching.
Of course if you pick a smaller niche like this, then you have a smaller potential audience – but you also have more marketing opportunities and less competition. Another challenge as an affiliate marketer though is going to be finding products to sell. If you want to go this route, then you might want to consider creating your own product. We’ll be looking at this in the last chapter, so keep reading.
Meanwhile, you can get the best of both worlds by finding a way to introduce one demographic to products from a broader niche. Sometimes it’s a matter of finding a group with easy routes to market and then convincing them that they need something they perhaps didn’t realize.
For instance, you can take that Neuroscience eBook and you can introduce it to a group interested in ‘self-help’. Likewise, you can take a fitness book and introduce it to bloggers…
Big Affiliate Networks
Another way to know whether a niche works for selling digital products as an affiliate, is to research what’s currently on offer and to look at the ‘big three’ affiliate networks. If you find a niche that has a lot of products available, then you’ll be able to choose the best ones that you think will sell most easily and you’ll be able to keep a steady stream of new products coming.
Because keep in mind, you don’t just want to sell to each of your fans once. Ideally, you’ll be aiming to create a large list of fans on your e-mail list so that you can message them with new products on a regular basis. (This also means you need to pick the best products you can find to ensure you maintain that trust!)
The most popular affiliate networks are:
ClickBank (www.clickbank.com)
This is one of the oldest and largest affiliate networks. It has higher fees than some others and a somewhat untidy interface but it also has a lot to offer in terms of the range of products available.
JVZoo (www.jvzoo.com)
JVZoo is one of the most popular affiliate networks currently. It has a lot of products, a slick and simple interface and low fees (though not as low as Warrior Forum). Tip: Think about bonuses you can offer for your buyers!
Warrior Forum (http://www.warriorforum.com/warrior-special-offers/)
Warrior Special Offers or ‘WSO’ is a section of the popular ‘Warrior Forum’, itself a community for digital marketers and bloggers. This section allows you to sell or find digital products and you can normally get a pretty good idea of the niche just by reading the heading (a lot in here is in the ‘make money’ niche).
Take a look at all three of these affiliate networks and browse by niche. You should quickly get a good idea of where the action is!
