Introduction 1
About This Book 1
Foolish Assumptions 2
Icons Used in This Book 2
Beyond the Book 3
Where to Go from Here 3
Part 1: Getting Started with Affiliate Marketing 5
Chapter 1: What Is Affiliate Marketing? 7
Getting a Handle on How Affiliate Marketing Works 7
Profiting from Internet Promotion 8
Multiplying opportunities 9
Automating the money flow 9
Distinguishing affiliate marketing from other internet businesses 11
Preparing to Start Your Affiliate Marketing Business 12
Setting expectations 12
Laying the groundwork 13
Walking through the process 14
Chapter 2: Why Should You Be an Affiliate? 17
Surveying the Requirements of Starting a Traditional Business 18
Assessing the Advantages of Affiliate Marketing 19
You can start your business instantly 20
You can choose your own path and lifestyle 20
You can offer a diverse range of products 21
You have no product development and fulfillment 21
You don’t have to be a technical genius 22
Payment and accounting are automated 23
You get company-supplied marketing materials 24
You can take advantage of tax deductions 24
Setting Expectations 24
Chapter 3: Pitfalls and Risks for Beginners 27
Looking Out for Personal Pitfalls 27
Lacking focus 28
Managing time poorly 29
Making few (if any) content updates 32
Avoiding Internet Risks 32
Stay away from instant businesses 33
Don’t fall for the next bright shiny object 34
Don’t follow others too closely 34
Chapter 4: Steps to Take Before Becoming an Affiliate 37
Setting Your Goals 38
Assessing the Skills You Have and Need 38
Where are you now? 39
How do you move ahead? 40
Strengthening Your Ability to Focus 40
Deciding what is (and isn’t) important 40
Setting your priorities 41
Seeing the magic of massive action 43
Making time to play 43
Ridding yourself of time wasters 44
Chapter 5: Surveying the Affiliate Landscape: Programs and Networks 49
Digging into Affiliate Programs 49
Assessing the advantages of affiliate programs 50
Finding and evaluating affiliate programs 51
Joining an affiliate program 54
Looking at Affiliate Networks 56
Checking out the advantages of affiliate networks 56
Finding and evaluating affiliate networks 57
Joining an affiliate network 58
Understanding the Dangers of Getting Banned 59
Part 2: Building on the Basics 61
Chapter 6: Keyword Research and Product Selection 63
Combining Passion and Profit 64
Analyzing Product Keywords 65
Looking at long tail keywords 66
Golden keywords 70
Sifting through Keyword Analysis Tools 71
Market Samurai 72
KeywordRevealer 74
Google Keyword Planner 75
Examining Markets 76
Focusing on evergreen markets 77
Sizing up seasonal markets 77
Chapter 7: Using a Website for Affiliate Marketing 79
Beginning with the Benefits of a Website for the Affiliate Marketer 80
Establishing a Domain Name for Your Website 81
Choosing a name 81
Using a registrar 82
Checking out the aftermarket 83
Comparing Self-Hosting to Free Hosting 84
Self-hosting 85
Free hosting 87
Going with WordPress Software 88
Installation 89
Themes 90
Plug-ins 91
Monitoring Your Website 94
Totaling the Costs of Starting and Running an Affiliate Marketing Website 95
Asking a Few Important Questions about Websites 96
Chapter 8: Niche Marketing 97
Understanding the Basics of Niche Marketing 97
Finding Your Niche 99
Following the head and the heart 100
Considering market size and competition 100
Reviewing Keyword Analysis Tools for Niche Marketing 101
Market Samurai 102
KeywordRevealer 103
Google tools 104
Keywords Everywhere 104
Spying on the Competition 105
Surveying Seasonal Niches 107
Chapter 9: Affiliate Marketing Without a Website 109
Getting Started When You Have Followers (And When You Don’t) 110
Leveraging the followers you already have 110
Taking action when you have no social media presence 112
Surveying Strategies for Different Social Media Platforms 113
Facebook 114
LinkedIn 115
YouTube 115
Instagram 116
Reddit 117
Quora 117
Guest blogs 118
Checking Out the Cons of Affiliate Marketing Without a Website 119
Your web presence is limited 119
You’re not building asset value 120
You don’t own the ground you’re building your business on 120
Your content doesn’t last long in front of your followers 121
You’re always fighting the competition 121
You have to adjust your approach for a different audience 122
You must keep on top of social media limitations and restrictions 122
Social media isn’t necessarily less complicated than having a website 123
Having a website isn’t as expensive as you may think 124
Chapter 10: SEO: Search Engine Optimization 125
Taking Care of Some Issues Before You Focus on SEO 126
Selecting the right niche 126
Understanding the elephant in the room: Google 127
Distinguishing On-Page and Off-Page SEO Factors 130
On-page SEO factors 131
Off-page SEO factors 138
Setting Up Your Site to Be SEO Friendly 139
Tags and categories 140
Posts and pages 140
Building a silo 143
Trying Out SEO Tools 144
Yoast 144
Market Samurai 144
Google Webmasters 145
Chapter 11: Email Marketing 147
Assessing the Advantages of Email Marketing 148
Building Your List with Different Types of Email 149
Marketing emails 149
Autoresponders 149
Transactional emails 150
Email campaigns 151
Hosting Your Own Emails 152
The pros of hosting 152
The cons of hosting 154
Playing by the Rules 156
Can-spam 156
The opt-in 158
The double opt-in 158
Unsubscribing 159
Understanding Email Screening 159
Soft bounces and hard bounces 161
Beware of buying a list of emails 161
A risk of probation if email addresses aren’t checked 161
Email throttling 163
Considering Different Email Senders 163
Sendinblue 164
Amazon SES 164
SendGrid 165
Mailchimp 165
Constant Contact 166
Part 3: Advanced Affiliate Strategies 167
Chapter 12: Multitier, Passive, and Other Offbeat Commissions 169
Getting a Handle on Multitier Affiliate Marketing 170
Trying two-tier marketing 170
Watching out for the third tier and beyond 171
Finding affiliates for your multitier program 172
Picking Out Passive Income Opportunities 174
Profiting Even When No Sale Is Made 175
Cost per action/pay per lead 175
Cost per click 176
Cost per view 177
Chapter 13: Affiliate Platforms, Directories, and More 179
Assessing Affiliate Platforms 179
JVZoo 180
ClickBank 181
CJ Affiliate 183
Amazon Associates 184
Digging into Affiliate Directories 185
Checking Out CPA Networks 186
Looking at Advertising Networks 187
Chapter 14: Opt-In and Landing Pages 189
Examining the Elements of an Opt-In Page 190
Videos versus text 190
The layout 192
Other considerations for success 192
Checking Out the Elements of a Landing Page 193
The visuals: Colors and images 193
The headline and the subheadline 193
Ad/sales copy 194
Testimonials 196
Bonuses 197
The “what’s inside” element 197
The bio 198
Payment buttons 198
Guarantees 198
Frequently asked questions (FAQs) 199
Legal notices and disclaimers 200
Focusing on Other Factors for Success 200
Testing with the A-B split 200
Considering SEO 201
Using an exit pop-up 201
Benefiting from others’ wisdom 202
Trying landing page templates and software 202
Judging results 202
Chapter 15: Sales Funnel Strategies 203
Selling Your Prospect on Multiple Offers 203
Starting with the front end 204
Moving to the main or core offer 206
Continuing with the back-end offer 207
Using upsells and downsells 207
Putting everything together 208
Setting Up Your Sequence of Offers 210
Looking at the tools you need 210
Modeling a merchant funnel 211
Assessing an affiliate funnel 212
Building a structure for passive income 213
Part 4: Going Professional 217
Chapter 16: The Legal Stuff 219
Following the Federal Trade Commission 220
Knowing the main guideline 220
Avoiding unrealistic claims 220
Retaining records about testimonials 221
Watching your language 222
Keeping your pricing consistent 222
Having a clear refund policy 222
Being aware of the rules about business opportunities 223
Getting the Scoop on the General Data Protection Regulation 224
Safely Using Images and Other Content 225
Getting permission in writing 225
Understanding special content rights 226
Addressing Legal Matters on Websites 227
A privacy policy 227
Disclaimers 228
Terms of service 228
Other sites’ rules 229
Chapter 17: The Merchant Side of Affiliate Marketing 231
Knowing Whether You’re Ready to Be a Merchant 232
Is your product conducive to an affiliate marketing program? 233
Is your compensation plan attractive? 235
Can you service affiliates? 236
Becoming an “undercover affiliate” 236
Choosing Your Technology 237
Considering an in-house affiliate program 237
Using an external affiliate platform 238
Outsourcing 239
Recruiting and Working with Affiliates 239
Knowing where to find affiliates 239
Making offers they can’t resist 240
Providing affiliate tools 240
Chapter 18: Taxes for the Affiliate Marketer 245
Setting Up Your Business for Taxes 245
The simplest business structure: You! 246
The second simplest business structure: The DBA 246
The next level: LLCs, corporations, and partnerships 247
Handling Taxes on Affiliate Marketing Commissions 247
Federal income taxes 248
Federal self-employment taxes 248
State and local taxes 249
Sales tax 249
Digging into Powerful Tax Deductions 250
Deducting home office expenses 250
Looking at the most common affiliate deductions 251
Checking out other common business deductions 252
Keeping Good Records 253
Researching Pension Tax Benefits 253
Reviewing Resources to Help You with Your Taxes 254
Part 5: the Part of Tens 255
Chapter 19: Ten (Or So) of the Biggest Pitfalls for Affiliate Marketers 257
Looking to the Next Bright Shiny Object 257
Battling a Lack of Focus 258
Not Investing in Yourself and Your Education 259
Making the Transition from Content Consumer to Content Producer 260
Having Unrealistic Expectations 260
Spreading Yourself Too Thin 261
Not Sticking It Out Until You Achieve Success 261
Not Spending Money to Save Time 262
Not Protecting Your Trust Flow and Reputation 262
Chapter 20: The Ten Best Free Tools for Affiliate Marketers 267
WordPress 268
Elementor 268
Yoast 269
Keywords Everywhere 270
SpyFu 270
Blog Ideas Generator 270
Market Samurai 271
GTmetrix 271
SimilarWeb 272
Buffer 273
Chapter 21: The Ten Best Paid Tools for Affiliate Marketers 275
Market Samurai 276
Keyword Revealer 276
SpyFu 277
Elementor, Astra Pro Theme, and Ultimate Addons 277
Content Samurai 278
WP Robot 280
CleanTalk 280
Sendinblue 281
Amazon SES 281
Mailster 282
Chapter 22: The Ten Best Marketing Strategies for Affiliates 285
Guest Blogging 285
SEO Strategies 286
Social Media Marketing 286
YouTube Marketing 287
Email Marketing 288
Content Marketing 289
E-book Publishing 289
Joint Ventures 290
Media Interviews 290
Smartphone Apps 291
Appendix: Tools and Resources for Affiliates 293
Index 307
