Are you looking for a “biz op” – business opportunity you can start from anywhere? There’s a few reasons why an online based business might be right for you. The positives are that you can work from anywhere; all you need is a laptop and internet connection. You can build your income around other work commitments and eventually replace an existing income from your online business.
However, on the downside, building an internet based business isn’t easy. You’ll need to commit to the journey for several months or even years before you can reap the rewards. Despite what some online “guru’s” suggest, the “easy money push button system” is a myth! You need to work to build an online business. However, more so now than ever, there are softwares and systems to make your life easier if you’re just venturing into entrepreneurialism for the first time.
You don’t need to be a coding expert to start with an online business. 20 years ago you needed a lot more know-how than you do today. So if you’re passionate about building an income from your laptop, it can be done by anyone; providing they are motivated enough to overcome the associated difficulties involved.
Biz Op – Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing offers one of the simplest models of business opportunity around today. Anyone can become an affiliate just by joining an affiliate program and learning how to promote their affiliate links. Amazon, for example, is one of the best known and most popular affiliate programs.
By joining any affiliate program, you get access to your unique affiliate link which you can use to earn affiliate commissions. This is done through a number of different marketing strategies such as:
- PPC – pay per click advertising
- Email marketing
- Blogging and v’logging – video blogging
- Social media marketing
- etc.
There’s many ways to promote affiliate products but product promotion is key to making your own affiliate efforts viable as a long term and profitable business. As an affiliate this is your responsibility.
Biz Op – Different Affiliate Programs
There’s thousands of different business models available within the affiliate marketing business model itself, too! According to your choice in the various affiliate marketing business models, you can find it more or less difficult to make your business profitable.
For example, some products will only pay a very low level of commission. So when you refer a product you’ll find you only receive as little as 2% of the product’s value. Physical products tend to pay the least, while digital products pay much, much more; from 30-40% and even more in some cases.
Then there are subscription affiliate programs which pay recurring income on sales you have generated. These are a good idea for referral partners because each sale adds up to your overall monthly income. As you make more and more sales, you monthly income grows continually.
So, if you’re going to learn how to become an affiliate marketer, it’s worth investing in your education. Them more you understand about the business, the better able you are to use it to your benefit.
High ticket affiliate products offer much higher commissions too. With a high ticket product, you will typically earn $500+ on a single sale. Compared to a product valued at $100 on Amazon which only pays you 2% commission and you’ll see it pays to focus on promoting the higher valued affiliate products. See high ticket affiliate marketing products.
Biz Op – Affiliate Skills & Mindsets
As I said, anyone can become an affiliate just by joining an affiliate program. However, not all affiliates are successful and make their businesses profitable. In fact there’s a high drop out rate in this business. There’s several reasons for this:
- Affiliate marketing is incredibly easy to start – ease of access means anyone can literally “give it a go”
- Compared to brinks and mortar businesses affiliate marketing is super cheap – no products of your own needed, no staff or premises means you only need a laptop and internet connection to do it.
- Most people have a laptop and internet connection
- It looks like a good idea for most people – most people are dissatisfied with their lifestyle and/or job, so there’s a massive need for lifestyle change
However, most people aren’t entrepreneurial. Most are employees and this means they will bring their employee mindset with them to their affiliate businesses. Thinking entrepreneurially requires a different mindset to most people. The skills required for affiliate marketing success can be learned but it can take some time to break through and start seeing sales.
During the learning phase is where many affiliates quit. See affiliate marketing success rate.
Promotion Methods
There’s many ways to become successful at affiliate marketing but your two most important decisions are the products you promote and the marketing method/s you choose.
Blogging, email marketing, paid advertising, niche website building, social media marketing etc. are all methods of product promotion which affiliates use to get their message in front of prospective customers.
Some of these methods are faster than others. Paid marketing, for example is the faster method of marketing. If you’re busy, use paid marketing. Cheaper methods such as blogging and video blogging are much slower and more time consuming. So if you’re time rich, use content marketing. If you’re time poor use paid marketing. If you’re busy, use paid, if you’re poor: hustle!
However you choose to promote affiliate products, it’s important to keep learning and growing. You can access a video training series here which will explain some of the different types of products to sell and promotion methods you can use to start generating income online.
