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Tip #11 - Multiple Streams of Income / Affiliate Programs
- Greetings from Moscow, Idaho!
- This is Stephen Beck with Family Entrepreneurs.
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- A special “Howdy” to all our new subscribers from the Indianapolis
Homeschool Conference. You haven’t lived until you have driven a 15
passenger van from Idaho to Indianapolis straight through! On
the way back we stopped at Mt. Rushmore, a wooly mammoth dig and the
town of Deadwood, South Dakota. I even got my picture taken at Wild
Bill Hickok’s grave. I can now die a happy man!
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- Before we get started:
- The “How to Start Your Own Business…For
Families and Teens!” Workshop on DVD is
finally here! Eight information-packed hours covering all you need to
know to start your own business. Check out all the details here:
- How to Start Your Own Business…For
Families and Teens!
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- Remember, the best Internet Marketing Seminar is just around the
corner on April 8, 9 and 10. See details on the BIG
SEMINAR here.
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- Visit our new website:
- http://www.familyebiz.com
Biblia:
So far we have been exploring ways to glorify God
while working in a conventional manner, but there are some alternatives,
if you are creative. Consider starting a small family business. What
better way to train your children than by having them work alongside
you? It does not have to replace your existing job, but who knows where
it might lead? As of this date, I am still working full-time as a
remodeling contractor, but we have started a curriculum store for
homeschoolers that is open two afternoons a week. The children are
responsible for unpacking the arriving shipments (checking the contents
against the packing slip), finding the code and price on our computer,
writing and affixing the appropriate tag on the books, and then placing
them on the bookshelf in their appointed place. They help our customers
find what they need, check them out on the computer, take their money
(making change when paid in cash), and swipe credit cards on the
machine. When we travel to book fairs, they are indispensable in packing
the books, loading the trailer, unpacking the books, placing them on the
shelf, and doing it all over again when it is time to go home. Although
it is hard work, they have a blast doing it! They are learning business
skills and identifying good books at the same time. More importantly,
they are building bonds with us and each other. Bonds that will last a
lifetime and have far reaching effects in the generations to come.
Practica:
If you
have been following my newsletters, you known that I am a big fan of
affiliate products. These are products that someone else has created,
but you are allowed to profit from. Of course, this is not a new
concept. People have been buying products from wholesalers and selling
to others for thousands of years. But the idea of getting paid for
recommending a product on a website or email loop is a relatively new
phenomenon.
One of
the draw-backs to owning a retail business is inventory. It is expensive
to buy products in large quantities, then store them and finally ship
them to customers. Well, what if you could sell a product that you did
not have to keep in inventory? And what if you let someone else write a
compelling sales letter for you…say, the creator of the product (the one
who knows it best)? And what if you let someone else collect the money
and ship the product? All you would do is tell people about the product
and get a healthy commission for doing so. That would be a great deal
right?
Well,
welcome to the world of affiliate marketing. Here is how it works. You
find a product that you can recommend heartily…preferably something you
have first-hand experience with and have used yourself. You then sign up
as an affiliate for that product. The owner of the product will give you
a link that you can put on your website or recommend to your Yahoo group
or email loop. That link has a code, called a “cookie”, that tells the
owner of the product that the potential customer came from you. The link
takes your potential customer to a website that describes all the
benefits of the product (usually written by the owner of the product)
and when your potential customer buys the product, you get the credit
and a healthy commission.
Think about that for a minute. You can make money on the internet without having a product of your own. You do not need to write a
sales letter, buy any inventory or even have a website. All you need to
do is write a compelling email recommending the product and include your
link to the product’s sales letter and when people buy, you get paid.
Think of all the possibilities here: your own website, people you send
emails to, email loops, newsgroups, yahoo groups, homeschool lists…the
possibilities are endless. What makes affiliate marketing so successful
is that you can reach your circle of influence much better than the
owner of the product can. He is relying on you to help him market his
product and paying you for your effort.
Now, let’s take this to the next level. I have
already told you about ClickBank (click
here to see my article). ClickBank
is a website that matches people who have created a downloadable product
with people who want to advertise that product on their website for a
commission. While I love ClickBank and generate monthly affiliate
commissions through some of their products, it is very competitive. Many
people are trying to sell the exact same thing that you are. So,
what is the solution? You need to find a product that people in your
circle of influence want and need!
If you are on an email loop that discusses dogs, you will want to
recommend an affiliate product having to do with dogs. If you have an
interest in quilting and even have a website dedicated to that subject,
you would want to put a link and a personal endorsement of a quilting
affiliate product on your website. You could then check your stats and
find out how many people clicked on that link and bought that product as
a result of your recommendation. At the end of the month, you would
receive a commission check for the amount of quilting products people
bought as a result of your recommendation.
An Affiliate Program
For You
You can do this with any product in any niche, but I want to make this
easy for you. In fact, I want you to become an affiliate for my new
workshop on DVD entitled, “How to Start Your Own Business…For Families
and Teens!” Let’s face it. Many Christians want to start their own
business, but there are no hands-on, biblically-based seminars out there
today. And judging from the way these DVD workshops sold at our first
homeschool book fair of the year in Indianapolis, we have a real winner
on our hands!
We want to share our success with you. Every time someone buys our
product as a result of your recommendation, you will get a commission of
$30! That’s right. Each time you send someone to our website and they
purchase this popular DVD workshop, you will get a check for $30. It is
that easy! Think about it. You will be recommending a product that has
high demand and relatively no competition. With this DVD workshop, you
will be recommending a very popular product that not many people are
trying to sell…yet! To get more information on the actual DVD workshop,
click here: How to Start Your Own Business…For Families
and Teens!
I expect a high demand for this affiliate program and I want my
newsletters subscribers to be the first to benefit. To get more
information on becoming an affiliate for the “How to Start Your
Business…For Families and Teens!” workshop on DVD, click here: http://familyebiz.com/affiliates.htm
We have step-by-step instructions on how to sign up, how to get the
links with your code in them and how to paste them onto your website. We
even have a way to give you credit for recommending a customer if you do not have a website and want to post the link and a personal
endorsement to your Yahoo group, homeschool email loop, newsgroup or
anyone else you might think of.
I hope you have learned a little about affiliate marketing through this
article. Be discerning when choosing an affiliate product. You want one
that you really believe in. If you own the product, so much the better.
It makes your recommendation that much more believable. You also want an
affiliate product that pays well. If your affiliate product only pays $5
per sale, it may not be worth your time. You also want a high quality
product that you will not be embarrassed to recommend to your circle of
influence.
While affiliate products may not be your only source of income on the
internet, it should be a part of your arsenal. And it is a great way to
generate some income until you write your own product and then find
others (like me!) to become your affiliates!
Warmly in
Christ,
- Stephen Beck
- www.familyebiz.com
- www.curriculumconnection.net
- email: steve@familyebiz.com
Click Here for Tip #12
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