1. Selling Products On eBay Or Amazon
2. Selling Products From Your Own Website
3. Selling Services That Can Be Provided Online
4. Becoming An Affiliate Marketer
5. Selling Information Products (e-Books)
Last week I covered Solution #3 – Selling Services That Can Be Provided Online. If you missed that post – click here, and then come back and read this one.
Today I’m covering an online business strategy that many of you may not even be aware of – but in fact is a great way to get started with very little money:
#4 Becoming An Affiliate Marketer.
But what is affiliate marketing, and why is it such an attractive option for someone who is just getting started?
Being an affiliate marketer simply means that you base your business on referring specific products (most likely by placing ads and links on your website).
The minute you become an affiliate for the product or company you want to promote, you are eligible to receive a commission – in exchange for causing the action for which you have agreed to be paid.
There are basically (3) types of “actions” that you could focus on which could bring you some nice commissions: bringing a company a lead, generating a click from an ad or link, or providing an ad or link that results in a sale.
1. Pay Per Lead. This could be as simple as getting someone to sign up for more information about a specific product or service. Find a company who is working with affiliates by using the “pay per lead” model, and all you have do is bring a “lead” (that is, a potential customer) to the merchant. When you do, you will be paid a commission for that lead.
2. Pay Per Click. This one is popular and actually very easy to understand – plus it is probably under your nose more than you realize. Take a look at the very top and the right side of Google after you’ve performed a search. You’ll likely see a group of advertisements. Well, an ad is an ad – right? Right. But sometimes it is an affiliate ad.
So if you were working as an affiliate for Google – then you could place ads on your website (for free of course) and be paid each time someone clicks on one of those ads.
3. Pay Per Sale. My favorite! Every time someone clicks an affiliate link or ad on your website and the end result is that someone pays the merchant for a product or service – then you have just helped that business make a sale. You will be compensated with a nice commission when that sale is made!
My guess is that you’re starting to see why affiliate marketing is often considered one of the best ways to start an online business.
To me, the very best part about this model is that you do not have to worry about selling and shipping products or providing services. All you are really “selling” is the referral. Once that referral has been made – you get paid a commission.
Your challenges? Figuring out what products or services you want to promote, finding merchants that will agree to pay your commissions, and building a website to promote those products or services.
Next week, I’m going to tell you about another way you can easily set up an online business: Selling Information Products.
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