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9 Ideas For Your Next Twitter List

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Twitter List Ideas

Just a few years ago, many people created Twitter accounts for the first time. Now, Twitter is nine years old and is now the most reliable source for real-time news. Businesses have utilized the platform to make more connections, expand their audiences, and get more sales. Even though Twitter is nine years old, there is still a powerful feature that few people use. This powerful feature has been hidden from most people because it’s something easy to skip over, and not everyone talks about it.

The hidden feature is Twitter lists. Not only are Twitter lists the hidden feature on Twitter, but most of the people who use them only have 1-3 lists. I’m not asking for you to create thousands of Twitter lists, but with well over 200 million monthly active users using the platform, we can do better than 1-3 lists. My recommendation is to have close to 10 specific lists on Twitter so you can find the specific content you are looking for whenever you desire. Creating lists and putting specific users on that list is more effective than using Twitter’s search engine because all of the tweets that appear on your Twitter lists will be from people you know (whether you learned about them online or in real life). In honor of Twitter turning 9 years old last March, these are 9 different lists that you should have on your Twitter account.

 

#1: Prospects

If someone you interact with on Twitter shows interest in reading your content or buying one of your products, put that user on your prospects list. That way, you know which individuals you must strengthen your relationship with. This list should be private.

 

#2: Motivational tweeters

There is no such thing as having too much motivation. The more motivated you are, the more you will get accomplished. Each time you come across a motivational tweeter who you enjoy, put that tweeter on your list. Then, look at the list every day you need motivation. It won’t take long for a good motivational quote to show up.

 

#3: Journalists

If you want to get published in the popular newspapers and websites, you need to have a remarkable story, expertise in something, and a journalist who writes for popular newspapers and websites. You can include journalists on your list and then go the extra mile to find their email addresses. Remember, the more concise your message is, the more likely a journalist is to read it and get back to you.

[tweetthis twitter_handles=”@MarcGuberti” url=”http://bit.ly/1CY6qzQ”]The more concise your message is, the more likely a journalist is to get back to you.[/tweetthis]

#4: Funny accounts

We all need a good laugh multiple times every day, and what better way to have a laugh than have a Twitter list filled with comedians and funny accounts? Laughing has been known to lower blood pressure, strengthen abs, and improve the immune system. Start reading those funny tweets now.

 

#5: Random facts

I understand that many of the facts are irrelevant and random “wow” moments, but some of the facts will be relevant to your niche. Regardless of how many facts you read that are related to your niche or that become useful in the future, you’ll be amazed by some of the facts that get posted. For some reason, I still remember that elephants are the only animals with four knees. Again, this isn’t life changing knowledge for my niche, but it’s something cool to know. My recommendation would be to look at this list once per week.

 

#6: Your friends

As you follow more people, your Twitter home feed will get more crowded with other people’s tweets. If you still want to see your friends’ tweets, and you don’t want to use Twitter’s search engines, then fear not. All you have to do is put your friends’ Twitter accounts on a list together. Going to that list will allow you to see a custom feed that only contains your friends’ tweets.

 

#7: Influencers in your niche

The top people in your niche are the ones who you need to learn more from. No matter how successful you become, you must always learn new things about your niche to provide your customers and followers with a better overall experience. Each time you see an account posting content that applies to your niche, add that account to one of your Twitter lists. Then, after you have enough accounts on this list, you could scroll through the list, click on the links that interest you, and learn more about your niche.

[tweetthis twitter_handles=”@MarcGuberti” url=”http://bit.ly/1CY6qzQ”]No matter how successful you become, your quest for more knowledge about your niche must never end.[/tweetthis]

#8: People who you want to connect with

When you come across someone on Twitter who you want to connect with and build a relationship with, put them on this list. Please note that this is a different list from the list of journalists. These are the types fop people who you want to do joint ventures with, promote each other on social media, or anything else of that nature.

 

#9: People who you find interesting

With a Twitter list, you can create a custom feed specifically filled with people who you find really interesting. Doing this will make their tweets easier for you to find, and easier for you to get interested by.

 

In Conclusion

Twitter lists are valuable and under-utilized. However, it is important to not abuse this power either. I was tempted to write a blog post containing 50 different ideas for a Twitter list, but I stopped at nine. The main reason I stopped at nine is because I knew some people would create all 50 Twitter lists and go through them each day. If you have dozens of Twitter lists, then you will spend too much time reading other people’s content. You should only be reading other people’s tweets for five minutes every day and reading other people’s articles for at most 30 minutes in a given day.

Twitter lists allow you to create filtered feeds that only show the users who you want to see. However, if you spend too much time going through your new lists, you won’t have as much time to create products and market them.

Which Twitter lists do you plan on creating? Do you have any additional Twitter list ideas that you would like to recommend? Sound off in the comments section below.

25 Motivational Quotes To Keep By Your Desk

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motivational quotes

Motivation does not last forever. We need it day by day to build upon the momentum that we already have. I like to leave motivational quotes and messages by my desk so I can look at them when I feel discouraged. Here are 25 motivational quotes that are all worthy of some space on your desk. Maybe one day, one of these motivational quotes will land on Forbes’ inspirational quotes page.

#1: Critics are the people who say bad things about other people. Champions are the ones who rise above that criticism and prove the critics wrong.

#2: Instead of wishing to be someone else, strive to turn yourself into someone who others would wish to be.

#3: Our lives are temporary, but our legacies are permanent.

#4: Anything we post on social media stays up there forever. Anything we do becomes a part of who we are forever.

#5: Anyone can do anything.

#6: Leaders always emerge to the front of the stage from behind the scenes.

#7: There are no barriers to success except the ones that we create.

#8: When you find a passion that you want to pursue, then don’t let anything hold you back. You know what you want, so go after it!

#9: Entrepreneurs don’t get power by focusing on it.

#10: The only thing worth putting in effort towards are the projects you want to put effort in.

#11: Success and failure are both temporary.

#12: Everything happens for a reason.

#13: Some denials are good denials.

#14: The winners in life are the ones who sincerely believe they can win every single day.

#15: No matter where you are now, you can always get better.

#16: You are too important to stay on the sidelines.

#17: There is no output without an input.

#18: You are in full control over everything that you do.

#19: You can live the normal course of life, but it is much better to live the way you want to live.

#20: Success isn’t a sprint. That’s been established. But success is more than a marathon. It is a marathon of hustling.

#21: Life is too short to not be the person you were meant to be.

#22: Your live is an adventure and you write the story.

#23: You can’t expect to get helped unless you are willing to help others.

#24: No one dictates your life unless you let them.

#25: Doing something for a good reason is better than doing something just for the sake of doing it.

Which motivational quote did you like the most? Did any of them receive a special place on your desk? Do you have any other motivational quotes for us? Please share your thoughts and motivational quotes below.

8 Pinterest Marketing Tips To Boost Your Visibility

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Pinterest Marketing Tips

Pinterest is a growing social network that can no longer be overlooked, and more brands are recognizing that. Several brands such as Nordstrom and Buzz Feed use Pinterest to get more exposure. Buzz Feed said that compared to the other social networks, Pinterest was its second best traffic referrer. Although Buzz Feed has over 300,000 Pinterest followers, it also has over 600,000 Google+ followers, two million Twitter followers, 4.5 million Facebook likes, and five million YouTube subscribers. With all of those numbers, Pinterest ended up getting the second most traffic amongst all of those social networks.

How does a business owner get the same results? How does an author use Pinterest to boost sales? How does Pinterest lead to more blog traffic? Success on Pinterest comes down to effective marketing, and if you want to effectively market yourself on Pinterest to boost your visibility, follow these eight tips:

 

#1: Longer, Optimized Descriptions

On Pinterest, you have a maximum of 500 characters. Although you shouldn’t use all 500 of those characters (using all of them would make a pin really long, and people don’t like reading long stuff on Pinterest), your pin descriptions should consist of more characters than a tweet. 200-250 characters is the sweet spot for getting more repins.

When you write a description, also make a point to optimize that description by fitting it with keywords, 1-2 hashtags, and a call-to-action (i.e. click on the picture to get led to the article). Including the keywords and hashtags makes it easier for Pinterest users to find your content through Pinterest’s search engine. Making your content easy to find on Pinterest’s search engine will lead to more exposure for yourself and your brand as a whole.

 

#2: Create Group Boards

One of the most underrated ways to market yourself on Pinterest is by creating group boards. Group boards get updated by you and the contributors that you choose. If you have enough contributors who are active on Pinterest, you could systematically grow your audience and get more pins on your board at the same time.

The group boards on Pinterest provide unparalleled capabilities that you won’t find on other social networks. Imagine thousands of people adding relevant content to your social networks for free, and when you promote a product or pin something from your blog, that pin reaches a larger audience.

 

#3: Be A Part Of Group Boards

Do you want to interact with tens of thousands of followers without putting in a massive amount of work to grow those numbers. What if you could be given a platform in which you could promote your content to tens of thousands of people? What if this platform was given to you overnight? What if you got the platform now?

Group boards thrive and get popular as more people contribute. The reason is that when people contribute to a group board, the group board appears in their profile. When a new follower clicks “Follow All,” that new follower follows every board on the profile—even the group boards. That’s why it is easy to get accepted to group boards with tens of thousands of followers. The people who created the group boards want more exposure, and more contributors means more exposure. They both go hand-in-hand.

When you become a part of group boards, you add a variety of boards to your profile that constantly get updated. This will make your profile look more appealing to a potential follower, and when you put a pin on the group board, you are putting that pin on a board with a new audience. Pinning on the group board often allows you to tap into that audience and get more people who follow all of your boards. If followers like the content you pin on someone else’s group board, they may follow you.

[tweetthis url=”http://bit.ly/1O88Sty”]Joining a popular group board on #Pinterest is the easiest way to grow a large audience overnight.[/tweetthis]

#4: Pin Your Blog Posts

On social media, it is necessary to have an end-goal. Where do you want your visitors to go and what actions do you want your visitors to perform? One thing you must do is build the relationship between you and your visitors, and relationships get built as visitors read more of your content. I know who my repeat customers are, and I remember the seeds that led to strong relationships months down the road.

When you pin your blog posts, schedule them in advance. I typically schedule three pins every day for optimal times throughout the day (2 pm, 4 pm, and 8 pm are the three most popular times to pin something on Pinterest. This is notably different from most of the other social networks. For most social networks, it is good to post something at around 6-10 am eastern time.

 

#5: Repin The Most Successful Stuff

If something succeeded once, then why can’t it succeed again? You have pins that are doing better than others. That is true for every individual. There are also pins that are hot on Pinterest and getting attention. If you got one of those pins on one of your boards, then it would get attention.

Repinning the most successful stuff will lead to more repins. These pins may not necessarily promote your blog posts or anything of that nature, but if your followers get into a pattern of repinning your pins and returning to your profile, they will eventually repin your pins about your blog posts. This may seem like a time consuming way to get a few repins, but if you stick with this method over the long-term, and hundreds of people get comfortable with repinning your pins, then imagine how much extra exposure your blog posts would get each time you pinned them.

 

#6: Lead People To Your Landing Pages

If you want to make a full-time income on the web, then you must have an email list. There is no way around it, and having hundreds of thousands of social media followers won’t do any good unless you get those followers to subscribe. One of the most effective ways to get your social media followers on your email list is to lead them to your landing pages.

Every other day, you should pin a picture of the free incentive you offer on your landing page and then urge people to click and enter their email in the pin’s description. That way, you have your call-to-action which will boost the amount of conversions you get from Pinterest. Remember, you have up to 500 characters to describe the free incentive, why your followers would want it, and how they would get it.

[tweetthis url=”http://bit.ly/1O88Sty”]Using #Pinterest to lead people to your landing pages allows you to build strong relationships with your followers.[/tweetthis]

#7: Go Beyond Your Niche

Pinterest is a different social network because you can go beyond your niche. Pinterest provides its users with capabilities that allow profession and hobbies to seamlessly coexist on the same profile page. Going beyond your niche and into your hobbies allows your followers to paint a better picture of who you are as a person.

Many individuals are only known for their professional background, but one of the best ways for relationships to build is by creating some boards that are based on your hobbies. I also mention some of my hobbies and personality traits in my bio. I mention that I am a dog lover, and I can’t tell you how many conversations I have had with other social media users about dogs. Dogs have nothing to do with my niche, but being a dog lover allows me to interact with people who I would have never interacted with if I didn’t mention “dog lover” in my bio.

 

#8: Pictures Are Key

The picture is the most important part of the entire pin. If your picture is unappealing, then people won’t take the time to read the description or click on the picture and be led to another webpage (i.e. one of your blog posts). Even if you wrote the best description on the web, and the blog post you promote is of top value, Pinterest users will skip over it if the picture is unappealing.

When I create my pictures for my blog posts, I always use Canva. Canva is a great tool that allows you to customize pictures and add text to them. In all of my blog posts from this year and a bunch of them from last year, I used Canva, and that allowed me to add the title of my blog posts within each picture. Now, when people view the picture on Pinterest, they already know what the article will be about before they even click on it or read the description.

 

In Conclusion

With 70 million users as of late 2013 (more than a year ago), Pinterest is continuing to grow, and it shows no signs of stopping. If you have not taken Pinterest seriously, it is time for you to start. If you have been on Pinterest for a while, now you know how to get more visibility. In the end, these methods will only have as big of an impact as you make them have on your Pinterest audience.

Which of these methods was your favorite? Do you have any other methods for growing a Pinterest audience? Please share your thoughts and advice below.

10 Ways To Get More Google+ Followers

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How To Get More Google+ Followers

Google+ is the second largest social network on the web, but not everyone understands how they can utilize the social network behemoth for their brands. Not only is Google+ the second largest social network on the web, but it is owned by Google. Google has made it clear that a +1 share from Google+ has more impact on SEO than any other social share. In addition to providing an advantage in SEO, Google+ is also a great place to grow your audience. There are hundreds of millions of people who could potentially read your Google+ posts which means at least a million people on the platform are a part of your target audience.

At this point, you may be wondering how you would reach your target audience and get more Google+ followers so your content can spread, get more Google+ traffic, and reap the SEO benefits. If you want to get more Google+ followers, follow these 10 tips:

 

#1: Post Often

Posting often is a great way to get more exposure on Google+. Posting often on Google+ creates the possibility of your current followers sharing your content with their audiences and coming back for more of your content. Posting often also makes your account look more attractive because it is active. If your last post was from a month ago, you won’t get as many followers because not posting in over a month shows inactivity. However, if you are posting four times every day, people can expect to see you in their feeds when they follow you.

 

#2: Post Spreadable Content

When you publish Google+ posts, you must publish spreadable content. This is the type of content that people in your targeted audience would want to share with their followers. Getting more +1’s for your content serves many benefits. The first benefit is SEO. You will get more blog traffic from Google if your followers share your blog posts on Google+. The second benefit is that more people see your content as your followers share your content with their audiences. The third benefit is that your account now looks more attractive to potential followers. If all of your Google+ posts are getting +1’s and comments, that social proof will tell a potential follower that a lot of people like what you have to offer. As a result, more potential followers will follow you.

 

#3: Schedule Your Posts

Scheduling your posts on Google+ is important because your content gets put in front of an international audience. Of course, any person with a Google+ account is able to follow you, regardless of which continent that person is on. However, someone following you and someone seeing your posts are two different things. Many people only schedule posts to their timezone convenience. Many people schedule their posts in the morning and the afternoon, but few would think to schedule a post at 2 am.

The argument is that everyone would be asleep at that time, but that only applies to the people in your timezone. 2 am in California means 10 am in London. Sure, people in California are sleeping at 2 am, but at that same time, people in London are waking up (and some check their Google+ accounts right when they wake up). You can schedule a Google+ Page’s posts with HootSuite, and DoShare is great for scheduling Google+ on your personal account.

[tweetthis url=”http://bit.ly/1ylaUEE”]Scheduling your #SocialMedia posts in advance allows you to communicate with an international audience in real-time.[/tweetthis]

#4: Follow Other People

One of the easiest ways to get someone to notice you on Google+ is to follow them. Of course, if you follow someone with 1 million followers, you may not get noticed because those people get hundreds of new followers every day. However, if you follow someone who has a few hundred followers, that person will probably notice you. Many of these people still choose to receive an email each time they get a new follower. These are the people who are likely to follow back.

When you follow other people, make sure you are following people who are following other people in your niche. These are the targeted followers—the group of people who would appreciate your content more than any other group of people. A targeted audience is the best type of audience you could possibly have.

 

#5: Do More Google+ Hangouts

Google+ Hangouts are cool. You get to interview people and then immediately publish the video to YouTube. The transition is easy to make, and when you post the Google+ Hangout to your Google+ account, your followers will take a look at your hangout. You can also broadcast a live Google+ Hangout and respond to questions as people ask them through their comments.

 

#6: Be Active On YouTube

Google+ has an entire tab dedicated to your YouTube channel. If you go to my Google+ account, you will see a YouTube tab, that when clicked on, will show you some of my videos. The more YouTube videos you publish and add to this tab, the more valuable it becomes. You want to give your followers a variety of options so when they go to that tab, one of your YouTube videos is bound to get their attention. Being active on YouTube also helps you tap into a new audience.

[tweetthis url=”http://bit.ly/1ylaUEE”]Being active on #YouTube adds value to your #Google+ account and allows you to tap into a new audience.[/tweetthis]

#7: Interact With Your Own Audience

Strengthening the connections you have on Google+ is critical to getting people to share your content often. By engaging with the people who engage with your content, people who engaged with your content in the past will be encouraged to engage with your content in the future. Few people take the time to interact with the people in their audience. When you interact with one of your followers, that follower is more likely to remember who you are and what you do. These people will continue following you and let their friends know about you.

 

#8: Comment On Other People’s Posts

When you leave a comment on another Google+ user’s post, that’s more exposure for you. If you comment on dozens of Google+ posts every day, you could get numerous followers in a given month from this one strategy. If you want to get noticed on a social network, then you have to be social. If you don’t have the audience to interact with yet, you can interact with other people and their audiences.

 

#9: Have An Effective Bio

Many potential followers read your bio before they decide whether to follow you or not. For many of your potential followers, your bio is the decisive factor. You only have a sentence or two to explain who you are and what you do. The best bios are the ones that list your expertise, hobbies, and awards one after the other. Here is an example of a good bio that I use:

17 Year Old Entrepreneur, Author, Blogger, Digital Marketing Expert, Instructor, Speaker, @HootSuite Ambassador, Runner, Dog Lover

Although I don’t have a period at the end of the sentence and this is a sentence fragment, it is a bio that lets my followers know a lot of things about me in a short amount of time. Effective bios lead to more followers.

 

#10: Avatar And Background Pictures On Point

Using the default avatar and background pictures won’t get you noticed. You must use a professional picture of yourself as the avatar and use a relevant background picture that showcases one of your products, lets people see what you do, or promote an upcoming event. The most successful people on Google+ are not using the default pictures. They use their own pictures. If you want to easily create a Google+ background for free, then look no further than Canva.

 

In Conclusion

Google+ is a powerful platform to promote your content on and reach a larger audience. Not only will you get traffic straight from Google+, but all of the traffic you generate from the social network will have a big impact on the amount of search engine traffic your blog generates. Just like any other social network, it takes time to master Google+, but when you master Google+, your content will spread and reach more people.

Are you on Google+? Which tip was your favorite? Do you have any additional tips to get more Google+ followers? Please share your thoughts and advice below.

7 Ways To Connect With Successful Bloggers

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Connect with successful bloggers

Connecting with successful bloggers and building relationships with those bloggers can lead to long-term benefits. Some of these bloggers may decide to go on a joint venture with you that allows your products and ideas to be seen by more people. Others may leave a testimonial for your product. Testimonials from successful bloggers boost the credibility of you and your product.

How do these connections happen? How do successful bloggers connect with other successful bloggers? How do up-and-rising bloggers make connections with the top bloggers? First off, you should only try to connect with successful bloggers in your niche. The successful bloggers in your niche would be the most open to promoting your products and sharing your expertise with other people. With that established, here are the seven ways to connect with successful bloggers.

 

#1: Go To Business Events That They Are Speaking At

Going to businesses events that successful bloggers speak at is the easiest way to start connecting with those bloggers. At the end of the blogger’s presentation, you can interact with that person and start the connection. Hand the blogger your business card. Don’t ask for a joint venture or for the blogger to promote you right away. Relationships need to build before they reach that point.

 

#2: Email Them

If you saw these bloggers at speaking events, email them to continue the relationship. If you decide to email a successful blogger who you did not see at a speaking event first, then go for it. Send the email. The worst thing that can happen is that the blogger does not respond. When you email successful bloggers, make the emails human. You can thank the blogger for providing valuable content instead of doing a product pitch.

 

#3: Interact With Them On Social Media

Successful bloggers have a few things in common. One of the things they all share is ownership of their own social media accounts. Many of these bloggers use Twitter to promote their content and interact with their audiences. If you see a successful blogger interacting with his/her followers, then that successful blogger is someone who would probably interact with you if you take the initiative to start a conversation.

You can interact with a successful blogger by thanking them for writing a particular article or asking them a good question related to the niche you both are in. I would start a social media conversation with a successful blogger once every week, and as the blogger responds to more of your conversations over a period of a month, have one conversation every five days. Every month, increase the frequency of conversations you have with this blogger until you eventually have one conversation with this blogger on social media every other day. The time it will take for a blogger to respond to you is dependent on how active this person is on social media, so choose to implement this method with the bloggers who are on social media often.

 

#4: Know More People

Our world is more connected than ever, but it is also smaller than we realize. Some people you interact with may be friends with the successful blogger you are trying to interact with. It is a small world after all, and you never know who knows who. It is entirely possible that the person you recently talked to on social media knows a successful blogger in your niche and can arrange for you to have a quick conversation with that blogger. I use social media to reach out to more people. You never know what types of opportunities will come your way.

 

#5: Subscribe To Their Email Lists

When you subscribe to a successful blogger’s email list, you get all of their latest emails. Plenty of those emails will contain valuable content that can help you get better at your niche. One thing few people know is that you can reply to most of the emails a blogger sends, and that blogger will see your email. I use iContact to send emails to my subscribers, and if a subscriber respond to an email I send, I get to see the response. I also have the ability to reply to an email that a subscriber sends me. Many services are set up in this manner. If a blogger sees you in her inbox often, that blogger may respond to you, but only if you send emails to the blogger in the same manner you would have an in-person conversation with your friend.

 

#6: Talk About Them On The Web

Some bloggers choose to get notified every time they get promoted on someone else’s website. Other bloggers check their notifications tab to see who mentioned them on social media. There are also a handful of bloggers who do both. By linking to these bloggers’ blogs and mentioning them on social media as you share their content, these bloggers will notice. Some may reply to you.

[tweetthis twitter_handles=”@MarcGuberti” url=”http://bit.ly/1b36yrn”]Promoting successful bloggers on social media may lead to you getting a response.[/tweetthis]

#7: Comment On Their Blog Posts

Some bloggers make it a point to respond to every comment their blogs get. If you go through the comments section for my blog posts, you will see that I respond to everyone’s comment. It’s simply the right thing to do. If you leave a meaningful comment on a blogger’s blog post, that blogger may respond to you. You should leave a comment regardless of whether the blogger responds or not, but if you want to know the chances of getting a response, look at the blogger’s past blog post comments and see how many comments the blogger responded to.

 

In Conclusion

Building a strong relationship between you and a successful blogger starts with the first interaction. This is your first appearance—the only thing a blogger knows you for during your first encounter. Once the first interaction is done, you must continue interacting with that blogger, but only in a meaningful way. Remember that successful bloggers are people with emotions just as we are. They want to be treated respectfully, and starting a conversation just to ask for more exposure doesn’t fit in that category. Promote the blogger’s content and social media posts. Ask good questions and leave thoughtful comments on the blogger’s blog posts.

Which of these tips was your favorite? Do you have any additional tips for interacting with successful bloggers? Please share your thoughts and advice below.

5 Tips For Affiliate Marketing On Your Blog

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Affiliate Marketing On Your Blog

One type of marketing people under-utilize and take for granted is affiliate marketing. Most affiliate marketers only get a few dollars from their efforts which isn’t enough to generate a full-time income. After analyzing other affiliate marketers who make six-figure incomes from promoting other people’s products, I came up with five tips for affiliate marketing that you need to implement in your blogging strategy.

 

#1: Search For The Higher Commissions

The successful affiliate marketers I analyzed like to promote other people’s training courses and products to get a higher commission. Some people who create training courses will give affiliates 50% of the commission each time a customer buys the training course through the affiliate link. Plenty of training courses get sold for $100 which means you would make $50 per affiliate sale. Udemy offers an excellent affiliate program where you get to make about half of the profit per sale…by promoting training courses that you did not create. It is practically impossible to find a reasonably priced product that you could make $50 per sale through the Amazon Associates program. Udemy currently uses LinkShare for its affiliate program.

[tweetthis url=”http://bit.ly/1EB73p3″]Look for affiliate opportunities that give you a high percentage of the commission. LinkShare is a good one.[/tweetthis]

#2: Only Promote Products Related To Your Niche

When you promote other people’s products, you must only promote products related to your niche. If you promote too many products that are too different from each other, your visitors won’t understand the meaning of your brand. When it comes to affiliate marketing, it is better to offer specific products than a wide range of products. A brand that is not specific has a vague meaning. Getting specific allows you to develop a clearer identity for your brand and offer more products that your visitors are more likely to buy. You may wonder if you could possibly find affiliate links of enough of your products if you get really specific, but in reality, there are thousands of products (if not millions) that you could promote as affiliate links. Running out of products to promote won’t be a problem that you come across. If you do come across that problem, then you need to use more affiliate platforms. You could also start creating products to fill in the gap.

 

#3: Don’t Over Promote Affiliate Links

Your blog is a place for people to read your content and develop a greater appreciation for what you stand for. If you primarily think of a blog as a money-making platform, then your blog is not going to generate money. Success on the web starts with your desire to empower others, and as you learn new techniques, money becomes the by-product. It took me several years and mistakes before I finally thrived on the web.

If your blog is filled with affiliate links, then you will ruin your readers’ experiences on your blog. The best readers are the ones who will come back to your blog and read your content often. These readers don’t stick around because you have a bunch of affiliate links on your blog’s sidebar. They stick around because they appreciate your content.

[tweetthis twitter_handles=”@MarcGuberti” url=”http://bit.ly/1EB73p3″]Visitors will only stick around if they appreciate your content, not because of affiliate links.[/tweetthis]

#4: Don’t Rely On Affiliate Marketing

One of the most common mistakes I see affiliate marketers make is that they rely on affiliate marketing for their income. Some affiliate marketers are successful with this method and make six-figure incomes. However, the revenue affiliate marketers generate is dependent on products being available at desirable rates. If one affiliate generates half of your revenue, and that affiliate suddenly no longer becomes an option, then you lost half of your revenue just like that. If an affiliate decides to reduce the commission rate, then you lose more revenue. Although this is true for any marketer (even if the marketer creates his own products), these types of changes have a stronger financial impact on the people who rely on affiliate marketing to make sales.

Affiliate marketing is wonderful, but you must also create your own products. I promote other people’s products, but I also have over a dozen books on Amazon and a few training courses on Udemy. These products account for the bulk of my revenue because I get the best rates on my own products and I get to control the product creation rate.

Having your own products serves as a way to give you more options. You can still promote a fellow entrepreneur’s Kindle book and make 4% of the commission, but once you write your own Kindle book, you can promote that Kindle book and get up to a 70% commission per sale (KDP’s standard commission rate for a book priced between $2.99 and $9.99. You’ll make a little more by using your own affiliate link). Other affiliate marketers may decide to promote your products, and then you will get more sales in the short-term and the long-term. When affiliates promote your products, more people see them. More people seeing your products may lead to returning customers and word of mouth marketing. As you get more customers, you will build an authority on the web that will be impossible for others to ignore.

 

#5: Promote Products With Different Price Ranges

When you become an affiliate marketer, you need to promote three types of products: low-priced, mid-priced, and high-priced products. These three different price points depend on your niche, but some of the products you promote need to be priced at over $100. The more expensive products typically lead to greater commissions per sale but a lower volume of sales while the less expensive products attract a greater volume of sales but lower commissions per sale. Offering the perfect mix of these products will ensure that you get more sales and revenue when potential customers see your affiliate marketing in action.

 

In Conclusion

Affiliate marketing is a powerful type of marketing in which you don’t have to put in any work to create a product, but you can make revenue by promoting other people’s products to your audience. However, affiliate marketing only leads to a full-time income if you use it effectively. Moreover, affiliate marketing is by no means the right basket to put all of your eggs into. That’s too risky, and your earnings are dependent on affiliate platforms sticking around and keeping their commission rates at the same values. Affiliate marketing combined with product creation is one of the most effective ways to make money in today’s era.

What are your thoughts on affiliate marketing? Which tip was your favorite? Do you have any affiliate marketing tips for us? Please share your thoughts and advice below.