Raise your hand if you could use a little extra cash in your business right now!

In the first few years of building my business I certainly could have used some extra money, and had I known what I know today, I would have done something entirely different that would have brought in a nice flow of revenue during those tight times: affiliate marketing.

If you don’t have affiliate marketing as a revenue generator in your business, I want that to change for you today.

My guest today, Pat Flynn, is going to share his proven system for earning money through affiliate marketing. Why did I choose Pat to be our guide today? Because he has earned three million dollars through affiliate marketing commissions since he started this business! He knows his stuff!

AFFILIATE MARKETING IS A GAME-CHANGER!

If you’re new to the idea of affiliate marketing, Pat simply defines it as the process of earning a commission by promoting another person or another company’s product.

The great thing about affiliate marketing is that if you love a product or service and have a platform that you’re able to share why you love it with your audience, you can earn a commission from that recommendation at no cost to your audience.

Pat shared how he promoted one of his favorite products through a banner ad on his website and was being paid $1,000 per month, but he contacted them and asked about trying out an affiliate relationship instead. They did and he went from earning $1,000/month to $8,000 the next month!

PAT’S TOP TWO TIPS ON HOW TO BE SUCCESSFUL IN AFFILIATE MARKETING:

• Be authentic. Don’t be an affiliate for a product you don’t believe in. Think about the things you would recommend to a friend, this is how you should think when you’re deciding what products to be an affiliate for.
• Treat the product you are promoting as if it were your own. Tell your audience why you love it, how it has helped you, and how it can help them. It’s extra helpful if you can take them behind-the-scenes and show how you use it.

TWO TYPES OF AFFILIATE MARKETING TO CONSIDER: PASSIVE & ACTIVE

An example of a PASSIVE way of affiliate marketing is when you include links to products on your website, like my Tools of the Trade page here. This is considered PASSIVE because once you set it up, it’s there and as people come to your website or are linked to it in an email, they can click on the links to make a purchase. Another example is by including a link just like this link right here in the show notes in which I’m sharing my affiliate link to Pat’s 123 Affiliate Marketing program.

An example of an ACTIVE format of affiliate marketing would be it Pat and I decided to do a special webinar with a launch sequence where we were actively promoting and selling the product to our audiences and we even offer a special deal that’s only available during a specified time period.

A prime example of this is when I promote B-School each year in February. I go all out in promoting Marie’s program because I 1000% stand behind her program, and because of this I promote the program as if it were my own. Being an affiliate for this program has been a game-changer for my business and I definitely use the strategies that Pat teaches in his program.

Either way, always be upfront with your audience that you are an affiliate. This is being transparent with your audience, but also protects you legally.

JUST GETTING STARTED IN AFFILIATE MARKETING?

Pat is clear that you do need to have an audience to be successful in affiliate marketing, otherwise who would use your links or join your webinars? However, I love that he talks about planting seeds now for people that may come across your content down the road. You may not make much money when your audience is small, but everything will be in place for you to earn affiliate commissions as you grow.

This is also a great way to begin monetizing because that trust you gain by recommending other people’s products can then lead to you selling your own products down the road.

HOW TO AUDIT YOUR EXISTING AFFILIATE MARKETING STRATEGY

Maybe you’re already an affiliate, but you want to do an audit to see what’s working and what’s not, Pat suggests looking at your Google Analytics and see what’s doing well and optimize for those. Here are a few of the optimizing ideas he shared:

• Include more links in your blog archive
• Interview the founder on your show or on your blog
• Create a demo video for the product you are recommending
• After you’ve generated lots of leads for an affiliate you are then in a good position to contact the company to discuss other ways to promote your affiliate link beyond the traditional methods (Pat gives some good personal examples in the episode)
• Create offers or bonuses as an incentive to go through your affiliate link
• Add links to your resource page
• Do a review of the product

PAT’S #1 NINJA AFFILIATE MARKETING TRICK!

Create a demo video!

Pat says creating a demo video is one of the most underused but HIGHLY effective techniques to take your affiliate marketing to a whole new level.

Pat includes the in-depth how-to create a killer demo video that converts as a bonus to my audience if you purchase his 123 Affiliate Marketing program through my affiliate link, but he also shares a few tips right here!

• You don’t need to share every little feature or process for the product you’re recommending. Your demo video should show just enough to excite someone, but not bore them. It’s not a tutorial, it should be a overview that shows the viewer what the product is and how it can help them.
• Pick three features to share in your demo video, but make sure to understand how to share why these features exist and why this product is unique.
• Show your viewer how easy it is to use the product. If you do, they will want to get started using the product right away!

TOP MISTAKES TO AVOID IN AFFILIATE MARKETING

1. Promoting the wrong product. Make sure your are promoting relevant products that you have experience with and that WILL help your audience.
2. Not pushing hard enough. Of course you don’t want to be annoying or too pushy, but when you know you’ve got a product that will solve that person’s problem or help them to achieve a certain goal they have, then you can and should push harder.

Alright, you’ve got ninja tricks, some mistakes to avoid, and hopefully a plan to either begin earning money through affiliate marketing, or a plan to give your existing affiliate strategy a boost

Take a listen to this short one-minute video where Pat tells you a little bit more about how you can earn money through affiliate marketing.