Setting Up the Foundations of Your Affiliate Business
Long-term business success is not coincidental or based on luck. It is a product of effort, planning, and strategy. Proper planning is necessary for gaining a sense of direction in securing funds. Use resources at your fingertips by building a small business around the skills you already have at hand to sell a service or product that people need rather than want.
Think about a free subscription (Opt-In) which with a little advertising can become a need for information to learn from for your customers. However, the creation of too much information content can be a waste of time if you’re not careful. My training will cover the Five-Offer Funnel to make sure your business successful if marketed correctly and you’re not wasting valuable time with too much material when the object is to get started as quickly as possible with great content.
If you’re thinking about a business to have lots of videos and eBooks to get customers started with an online business, make sure your system is working beforehand and that your online payment system is structured 100% correctly and your automated email system is working in order of emails that go out for your marketing to succeed.
I know that my personal work with eBooks for customers is important because I want to motivate and connect with customers by creating my Opt-In for free which is part of the foundations of my business, to launch the whole business starting with a free opt-in so that I can offer much more later after the Opt-In.
The next step for an offer after the Opt-In is called the Micro-Offer which is the second offer of the Five Offer Funnel Marketing strategy and is based around getting some money back from advertising you may already have spent from your Opt-In adverts. More about that later……
I always ask customers to navigate to my shopping cart via landing pages to download the Opt-In where no payments are needed because it’s the foundation of my business at the start of the marketing process in a system that works.
It’s something I needed to do business-wise, to disable payment options for credit cards in PayPal and let customer just place email addresses into the cart payments and then download the Opt-In for free so customers can grab the training and get started and for me to collect emails for future campaigns.
As mentioned above, your other option is when you have decided on your business content and product or training information for customers you may want to advertise it with a landing page which is easy and takes a couple of hours to reach perfection.
You can collect emails with as little as a subscription form with a little about what your selling and then hitting the live button and placing a few Facebook ads out to get opt-ins as fast as possible via your landing page to your niche audience that could be your customers if your send out a good Facebook ad.
You can also build your foundations by tapping into information online about starting a business for no money or at least a little and follow a path that you can afford even if it’s a struggle, to begin with.
After a few sales you will soon be able to invest more into your business so remember its always possible to source information about starting a business online for free. You can think about cheap deals such as Mailchimp for your email campaigns and landing pages and Big Commerce for your shopping cart both with excellent live chat for customer support and both start at a reasonably affordable price from beginner to advanced.
If it’s an affiliate based page you’ll be having attractive landing pages for your content and reviews so the customer can click through to a more in-depth review and learn more about what you selling. In Wealthy Affiliate, there are some fantastic ideas from members so get on over there and get involved with some comments and earn points to have your website commented on.
Getting things Done For Free
You can source any equipment you may need from a friend or family member such as webcams, microphones, and software that might be needed. Do virtually all the work yourself and be independent to learn, implement and complete your business.
Read as much as you can about starting a business and making money. Think about a website as a starter website to enter your product content into until you have links to add, pictures or any other content that you need to explain and deliver your niche online business and learn how to grow each and every day.
As my businesses grow, my technique to learn is to study my niche and read as many books about marketing and online business creation as I can. These days it’s much cheaper with Amazon to find second-hand books at an affordable price, even new books are cheaper than they were before Amazon.
Of course, having people to work with is great and there will be plenty of time when you start your Facebook community to reach out for more people to join in with your success and learn from you. That’s right you can become an online mentor too.
Interact with Your Customers
You can become your customer’s mentor and charge them for training when your foundations and businesses are all completed. You can build a rapport with people in your Facebook group and even advertise to them, offering training and you could even design competition such as a free eBook for your members that help your community.
Offer advice to members that get lot’s more members into the community and start a great team for learning and marketing and all that comes with a positive attitude to learning about business creation online.
Think about the foundations as I have built by implementing a competition for a free online shopping cart and a teacher recruitment website previous to my new projects at Wealthy Affiliate for the best Facebook member who continuously posts good material, advice, and information about learning and shows positivity in being a part of a community that searches for entrepreneurship.
Remember that hard work is the best method to stay ahead of the game when building the foundations of your business as much as you can with the basics of reading as many books as time allows you. I’ll mention the books I want you to read in my Facebook group so if you’re not a member yet please think about joining as soon as possible to get more free training but please think about the books that I will show you to read and get ahead of the game as soon as you can.
The foundations I built for my business began by a positive attitude to learning and a true-life read about my travels to South East Asia and how I managed to work in marketing in Sydney, Australia and how I managed to travel to over 80 cities and 33 countries worldwide over the years. I’ve worked on several other online businesses that I’ll share with you in the Facebook group.
Think about the basics of what you need to start your business such as a niche you choose with, time, effort and knowledge of building a business. When you’re working on your business think about praising yourself for the good work you’re doing and if your lacking motivation then you should think about branching out from the people you speak about your business with. When your foundations are implemented show your friends and family and share your story.
Take time off when you’re tired and begin working again when you’re feeling motivated but above all never give up. I know many people that gave up some years ago and now have nothing so stay motivated about it because it can take more than two or three attempts before you make any money. Of course, my business is to make sure you get it right on the first attempt.
Expanding Your Affiliate Business For Success
Add a continuous stream of products to your business such as eBooks, presentations, videos, and course content. You can sell more services to your current customers and offer them more with the niche you are teaching them to be it a language development business or digital service or physical drop shipping.
You can easily complete this action by implementing more email campaigns to your product launches with Mailchimp from where you can add new landing pages to collect emails from your new products or services that you may want to sell online using the training I have given you.
Create new funnels for marketing to sell your new products or services so that you can have a system in your business that sells for you. The five Offer Funnel is great for launches due to it being a system that completes most of your marketing needs for you. You can also offer down priced products after your first campaign if you’re thinking about working on a new niche.
Make videos for marketing as much as you can, continuously and try to keep ahead of your game so that you don’t have to create 20 videos in one weekend. I make videos for campaigns that I have already in place just in case I want to add to training for customers that want more information and I can use my videos for marketing later for other products or services.
If you’re interested in building continuity into your Five Offer Funnel you can make the videos that are sent out at say 8 videos a month for a set price with an eBook that explains the videos. Your continuity, the last step in your marketing funnel is good for creating a monthly subscription where members of your Facebook group and your mailing list that are already customers can pay monthly for training from you.
Basically, you’ll need to make a continuous number of videos to save you time in the long run and if you already have a business plan work from that, so you understand how many videos are needed for the complete training course. Write something like this I’m writing to you to explain to others about your goals and how well you can help others because it acts as a lesson plan, business report or even a business plan.
To expand your business more try targeting other markets to get an idea of what other niches need as far as buyers. You can study a market that you want to connect to and expand your business as much as you can. For example, if your teaching a language online try selling courses and then you could create kids’ books or handouts that are visually attractive to the eye and fun.
You can draw up a thousand ideas when you are in the mood and choose the ones that you think are needed, fun to do, interesting to teach and take less time to complete. Become a complete professional at what you want to achieve so others can learn from you and allow you to run an excellent lucrative business.
Find out what other marketers are doing that already own a business and work on ideas that can achieve more with your hard work in making the ideas even better for your own customers. Don’t copy content but make it better so that your business gets ahead of its competitors.
Read lots of books that relate to the business you are creating and get used to learning from the books. One of my favorite books to date is Jeff Walkers, ‘The Launch’ that builds you up to your first launch by using an authoritative calculation to writing content on your website’s content pages and your email campaigns.
Think about outsourcing your work and getting various content written for you by professional writers. This might sound expensive, but you can find freelancers on Fiverr who are more than willing to write for you for a price.
Don’t work too much alone and find time for relaxing so that you don’t burn yourself out with work. It’s easier to do work on your business when your active and refreshed and ready to place some valuable time into it. I take breaks quite often especially when I’m struggling to place sentences together and nine times out of ten if I relax, I often can write an in-depth eBook as an excellent resource for starting an online business.
I’m always on the lookout for new personal and business development books. I’ve never heard of the one you mentioned – The Launch by Jeff Walker – and will definitely check it out.
You packed a lot of info in this article and plenty of it was new to me. I know videos are so important – not sure why I am resisting doing them so much!
Hi Katie,
Yes that book I mentioned really opens you up to new ideas and gives motivation to succeed so go and read it it’s called The Launch by Jeff Walker as explained there are some other books that you can read from this link. Books for affiliate marketing so I hope you can find time to read them to get you in the right frame of mind. Thanks for commenting on my post and video. I love making a video but have to close the door and get right into it so no one thinks I’m talking to myself lol.
In Friendship
Stephen
Especially when the Covid-19 is spreading everywhere, a lot of countries have locked down. And this situation makes it clear that first of all, we need to protect ourselves from this virus and start trying some other way to earn money. Obviously, making money online will be the choice of many of us. And affiliate marketing is the best way to do it. Really thank you for giving advice on how to build our own affiliate business. It is really helpful.
Hi Yaiqun,
Yes, it’s worrying times at the moment at my job we have 111 dial department where people dial and tell us if they think they have the virus it really is quite distressing, to say the least. Yes, there will be an explosion of online businesses but we are ahead of our game so there is no need to worry.
In Friendship
Stephen
finding a good article does not come by easily so i must commend your effort in creating such a beautiful website and bringing up an article to help others with good information like this. i am happy because from knowing nothing about affiliate marketing, i have learnt so much. thank you for this.
Hi Benny,
Thanks for the comment and I’m happy for you to use my website as a resource for information if you so wish. I’m here to help as many people as I can especially anyone that is a member of Wealthy Affiliate or those that come across Freedom to Roam that want to join. Thanks once again.
In Friendship
Stephen
The fact that i have come to learn something tangible from this post is satisfying. The make of your website is nice and the simplicity of the color selection makes it beautiful. now in recent times, it is becoming difficult to tap into business information tools. thank you for this awesome article
Hi Smoochi,
Thanks for your kind words about the theme of my website and also the comment. If your struggling to find resources please revert to the book collection that I have utilized to get some great information about business automation and monetization.
In Friendship
Stephen
Hi Stephan! Wow I am so impressed with your affiliate marketing website here. I am also an affiliate marketer and I just so happened to come across your website while I was scanning the internet, stuck in quarantine at home lol. 🙂 I can’t agree with you more that affiliate marketing takes alot of effort and work. I know at times it can be very overwhelming too when first starting out so what you are doing for people right now by offering your help is a great idea!
Hi Nice,
I’m working on making my website a gateway for affiliate marketers especially for those that want to be in a community around 2 million entrepreneurs, 2 free hosted websites to build your business and a training course for entrepreneurship. You can join me in the community by signing up for your week trial below. Thanks for getting in touch and commenting it means a lot and I hope fo your not already part of our training that you can join us.
The free trial to Wealthy Affiliate
In Friendship
Stephen
This is very timely as a lot of people are currently looking for new ways to earn additional income (or even to replace their main income). Online options are ideal as they allow for people to follow #socialdistancing protocols while still following and sharing their passions with the world (from the comfort of their home).
I also think that a lot of people will be attracted to the low-risk nature of affiliate marketing! Thanks for sharing.
Hi Aly.
Additional income is what we all love and to do that we need automated and monetized income as a stream for financial freedom to do the things we really want as up and coming entrepreneurs. It’s not easy and I have expressed that in many of my posts. It’s essential to love what you do and come up with new exciting ideas all the time however to make us more motivated for success.
In Friendship
Stephen
Ensuring your system works before telling customers about it is an absolute must. Not only is it the ethical thing to do, but for those who wish to remain in business long-term have to take this approach. Sure, it’s the long approach, and it’s one where you may not put your system up for sale quickly, but it will build your credibility and with such credibility comes more customers, testimonials, and business growth.
Hi Tod,
Yes, it’s important to launch our businesses to reach an automated phase where all of our business systems like email campaigns and subscription forms, landing pages, etc work together to find success for us to find more momentum to reach out for more and more customers with SEO.
In Friendship
Stephen
I have been an affiliate marketer for awhile and I find that this is one of the most complete articles on general advice for the beginner. I was particularly struck by the fact that you have suggested that once money begins to roll in, it be reinvested in the online business. You article is very practical yet totally emphasizes ways to continue to build business as the business grows. Coming right out and saying that its okay to borrow hardware from family and friends so as not to go in debt when starting up is genius. I am going to bookmark your article and go back to it from time to time. Thanks.
Hi Anastazja,
Yes as business owners we should think about not getting into too much debt especially with internet marketing with ads. That’s why I love SEO so much when your good at it you can get high ranking and get free traffic. I used to use Facebook ads but spent too much on them so only use them from time to time. Thanks for your comment.
In Friendship
Stephen
This is very helpful information for potential successful affiliate marketers. I think the most important point is to interact with your potential and current customers. It is not easy especially if you have lots of things that need to be done. But, you want them to buy and pay for your offerings. If you are able to build relationships and trust, they will be willing to buy what you are selling.
Hi Lee,
If you set up your autoresponders for email marketing campaigns you should be fine making your business work from the foundations upwards. Once you have the whole process set up your business can run itself if your products have no shelf date and can be sold all of the time not just over a week or two like Christmas and Easter
In Friendship
Stephen.
For every business to thrive and also stand the test of time it must have a very good foundation. Starting up an affiliate marketing business sounds like a very thing to do but what matters is how to set it up.
I have been on the wealthy affiliate platform and I must tell you this is the best platform that would give you the right information that you need to set up the right foundation
Regards,
David.
Hi David,
Setting up the foundation of our businesses does really reflect on how well we do showing great content and creating an authoritative and monetized income is what we should all be looking for our future. Wealthy affiliate has some great training that I have utilized to drive my business. Thanks for commenting on my post and good luck for your business and it’s future.
In Friendship
Stephen
hello there,thanks for sharing….this is a very vital info you have given on this article Affiliate marketing is a popular tactic to drive sales and generate significant online revenue. Extremely beneficial to both brands and affiliate marketers, the new push towards less traditional marketing tactics has paid off.but as affiliate marketers one has to put in more wok which must be on a very steady affiliate marketing foundation.
Hi Juliet,
Indeed article driven affiliate traffic can be fantastic if we stick to making our businesses both authoritative and monetized. SEO marketing is for the best method of advertising and due to the fact I used to hate writing, I now love to place effort and time into my content. Creating a steady income isn’t easy but can be done if we are patient and willing to give it some time.
In Friendship
Stephen
this is a great and amazing article. i sincerely your effort creating time to write on such an informative article which has taught me a lot more on freedom on of roam marketing. affiliate marketing is this best business i recognize right now because i have earned a lot since when i started this business. thanks for sharing this amazing article
Hi Perryline,
Thanks for commenting and I’m really happy that your doing well from affiliate marketing. I’m writing a post this evening about the 12 best most lucrative affiliate programs for people to climb on board and promote their products and services and it will help you choose a program.
In Friendship
Stephen
Great post!
I have a question, how do you keep in touch with your customers, especially if they end up buying the product for your service or product provider?
Because, from what I understand as an affiliate marketer you are just a middle man without direct contact to your customers. And they give all their contacts where they purchase the product or service
Thanks
Hi Adyns68
It all depends on your email automation system if you read a book called the Invisible Selling Machine you can learn a lot about email marketing and dealing with customers. I normally have a funnel system for marketing which is a system my customers have to go through to buy from me. If you want to read some books please choose from my list above.
In Friendship
Stephen
You are absolutely right in saying that success doesn’t happen by chance. Chance is the domain of lotteries. In these days with so much options available to create an online business it can be so confusing. I like how you take the guesswork out of the process by recommending those who want to build an online business get trained correctly.
I notice the business building platform you recommend is Wealthy Affiliate. I am a member and can validate what you say with total confidence. Everything you need is at one place. And being able to check it all out for free is an amazing bonus.
I wish you much success in your affiliate marketing business.
Edwin
Hi Edwin,
Nothing comes for free and we do have to work hard at it even though most can be done without money we have to pay for our email autoresponders and email campaigns etc. I do a lot of adverting for wealthy affiliate of course but will be moving into other areas and programs too.
In Friendship
Stephen
Informative topic Stephan!!.. Your explanation about the Wealthy affiliate was really interesting.
There are many ways an industrious individual can make money online. Countless people have turned to the World-Wide-Web trying to find the honest money-making opportunities they will accomplish from the comfort of their house. It may seem daunting initially but you’ll make money online if you learn, duplicate and most significantly have the determination to only start.
Hi Janu,
I agree with you about duplicating what you have done before but with new content so that was well mentioned by you. What has succeeded once with planning and learning then implementation will happen again if we stick to training of ourselves and in my for others to learn from me.
In Friendship
Stephen
Hi Stephen, I Just finished reading. I’ve read a few of your posts now. Some very good information and inspiring advice. I am in the process myself of creating my own websites so I understand how hard it can be. The video part I think is something I need to overcome personally. There is so much to learn for myself so definitely enjoy reading your posts. I think you need to sort your issue out with your sidebar see it is underneath the comments. Also your menu you should reorder. These are important issues to look at I think.
Hi Alex,
Thanks for you advice on the sidebar and the menu later this evening. Can you let me know what you mean about the sidebar please so I can make the changes as soon as I get home tonight. Videos are fun to do its just remembering all the footage and what needs to be said that’s the hard part. Thanks for commenting.
Stephen
Hi, I love your article, it is motivating me to work more on my website. I am struggling though to get an active facebook group , are their videos on the internet that explain how to get known on social media with your website ? Youtube maybe ? I still need to learn a lot as a beginner, just started. Your site looks great, what a nice theme you have ! I am pretty sure you know what you are doing, and it is so true: first one needs to learn and read and read and watch videos 😉 Keep it up, I am bookmarking your site !
Hi Lizzy
My Facebook group isn’t that busy either but then again I spend little time on it at the moment. It’s a time game we play with SEO especially with Google ranking. With Bing and Yahoo my posts are really picking up and getting ranked which is good. The more people I can help the better for me and my business so I’m always working hard trying to automate it and monetizing it.
Steve