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2
INTRODUCTION
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WHY I WROTE THIS BOOK INTRODUCTION
And they may not listen to what I say as much as I’d like them to.
And they need a way to earn money without slaving to make someone else’s
dreams come true.
I want them to have the blueprint that I used to go from ex-homeless, high-school
dropout…
….to earning millions of dollars and building a small empire for myself.
So instead of writing this information and locking it away for only my children to
see...
In hopes that you too can get your hands on a legitimate money-making blueprint
that doesn’t require you to have significant education, degrees or experience.
The only thing required is hard work, perseverance and the willingness to develop
some skills.
If you’re looking for a get-rich-quick kind of thing, this ain’t gonna work, I’ll tell you
that right up front.
But if you’re willing to put in the effort to learn the art and science of marketing…
...and apply it to a simple business model that requires little to no overhead and
has lots of upside potential….
I think some authors get-off on reading their own words and seeing the girth of
their books. As if “bigger is better”.
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WHY I WROTE THIS BOOK INTRODUCTION
I’m also including a 15-Day Online Business Builder Challenge with this book that
you can take online.
Throughout the Challenge, I’ll help you understand the concepts inside the book
by giving you video visuals and examples…
….plus I’ll help you develop a business plan you can follow.
I have Business Plan Advisors who work inside my company who you can choose
to receive their help. When you log and begin the Challenge you’ll see that option.
That’s smart of you, although unfortunately, I can’t start making huge claims and
showing big ol’ examples of the money my top students have earned because the
government agencies who protect consumers call that making deceptive income
claims.
Because they want consumers to know what the average person should expect to
earn.
Do you want to know what the average person should expect to earn?
Nothing.
All businesses, including this one, entail risk and massive and consistent effort and
action. If you’re not willing to accept that, this business or book ain’t for you.
However…
If you are willing to accept the highs and lows of being in business…
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WHY I WROTE THIS BOOK INTRODUCTION
If you’d like to travel more and work from wherever you want….
And if you’d like to learn a business and skill no one can ever take away from
you…
...that gives you the freedom you’ve always known you deserve….
...read this book from cover to cover and don’t leave it out of your sight until you’re
done.
What’s hidden inside this book isn’t magic, but it will feel like magic when you
begin to use it.
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7
CHAPTER 1
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WHY AFFILIATE MARKETING BEATS THE REST CHAPTER 1
I’ve launched huge social media campaigns, coached thousands of clients and
have done seminars for over 6,000 attendees.
I would build an Affiliate Marketing Business selling other people’s products and
services.
...and nothing trumps Affiliate Marketing when it comes to the returns it provides
and the speed of getting the business off the ground.
Not only is setting up an Affiliate business quick, but it also generates real financial
results...
…and because the business is so quick to get off the ground, those results can
happen very quickly.
First of all, you don’t need your own products. You just promote other products as
an affiliate.
There’s minimal risk. Just a few low-to-no cost tools that help automate a lot of the
marketing for you… and you can start with free marketing strategies or test as little
as $5/day in paid ads to start generating traffic.
You’re not spending months building a team, writing sales copy, getting merchant
accounts and hiring people.
You can literally take any of the 25,000+ products out there and start making
commissions instantly.
You get to make 40% to 80% commission just for referring a website click and
what happens beyond that is not your responsibility.
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WHY AFFILIATE MARKETING BEATS THE REST CHAPTER 1
Fast execution.
Quick returns.
In the past, to start a business you had to make a huge upfront investment of
money and time. Today the internet has made that so much easier. And Affiliate
Marketing has staggering advantages over other online business models.
But just as important as what this business is, it’s also important what this business
isn’t.
First of all, this isn’t an overnight get rich scheme. Money won’t magically fall from
the sky without doing any work. Work is required, so if that’s going to be an issue
for you this won’t be a good fit for you.
This is also not a business built around “adding friends” on social media or
pitching your friends and family.
You’re not Wal-Mart or Amazon, and you’re not going to try and compete with
them. You’re going to work smart and create a system that works for you… not a
system that forces you to work as an employee.
This is not a business on some third party platform like eBay that you could lose
any day without warning. You need to have control over your business.
You won’t be doing any manufacturing or shipping, and you won’t need to buy or
hold any inventory.
You won’t need to hire anyone, have an office or any fancy equipment. This
entire business can be run from any laptop, on any decent wifi connection, from
anywhere in the world.
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WHY AFFILIATE MARKETING BEATS THE REST CHAPTER 1
You will simply find products that there’s already a demand for and market them
in front of the people already in the market for them.
Best of all, you can start right now with no experience and leverage simple
technology and automation that anyone can implement and benefit from.
There are thousands of companies right now selling products and services online
who are dying to partner with you.
They’ll happily pay you a commission for sending them customers they don’t have
to market to find.
Most companies want to focus on delivering their product or service and not have
to stress over finding customers. This is where you and I come in.
Even better… you will be building a database of email addresses over time filled
with people hungry for the information and offers you send them. Then each
day, you’ll send them an email or two promoting an offer… and that’s the ongoing
maintenance of the business that creates long term passive income.
The email list I began building nearly a decade ago is still my #1 source of passive
cash flow today.
Let me say that again… The email list I began building nearly a decade ago is still
my #1 source of passive cash flow today.
Because once you have a visitor’s email address, you will always have it, unless
they unsubscribe (which some of them will).
But for those who stay on your list, it’s basically free-traffic for you, and you’ll
market to that list without ever having to pay a penny more for that traffic.
So once you build that email list you will have free traffic for life. Do you know how
huge that is? It’s the holy grail of marketing.
There’s a benefit to being the middleman. To not having the huge responsibility
and overwhelming duty of creating products, delivering on those products, hiring,
firing and doing customer service.
Keep reading and see just how exciting this huge opportunity that’s sitting right
under your nose really is...
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CHAPTER 2
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PROOF BEING THE MIDDLEMAN REALLY PAYS CHAPTER 2
You subscribe to their email list and they send you daily deals near your city or
online.
They didn’t create any products… they just did the marketing and played the
middleman between the customer and the company.
By the end of March 2015, Groupon served more than 500 cities worldwide with
nearly 48.1 million active customers...
They built an app that connected people who needed rides with people who were
willing to give them rides in cars the drivers already owned.
Uber didn’t own any cars nor did they ever interact with any customers. It’s
totally up to the driver to provide a great ride experience in a clean car and if the
customer rates them badly the driver will get assigned fewer rides.
Uber completely disrupted the taxi industry by becoming the middleman to cars
and riders…
….instead of trying to do the marketing, own and maintain all the cars and manage
all the employees.
As of 2019, Uber is estimated to have 110 million worldwide users a 69% market
share in the United States for passenger transport…
They built an app that connects people looking for lodging with those who are
looking to rent out their homes.
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PROOF BEING THE MIDDLEMAN REALLY PAYS CHAPTER 2
Similar to Uber, they don’t own any homes or hotels, they simply do the marketing
and play the middleman.
By October 2019, two million people were staying with Airbnb each night.
Entrepreneurs have started to realize the power of playing the middleman instead
of trying to do it all themselves.
And companies have started to realize the power of using a middleman to help
them get customers.
Amazon, Wal-mart, and millions of companies smaller than those two behemoths.
Usually, you can just scroll to the bottom of the website and see a small link that
says “Affiliates”.
Most affiliates programs are free to join but some require a fee or an approval
process.
The problem most affiliate marketers have is finding good, solid companies they
can partner with…
That’s why in the next chapter I’m going to reveal what to look for in an affiliate
program.
The difference between choosing right and wrong could mean your financial
results and your reputation.
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CHAPTER 3
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HOW TO FIND THE BEST PRODUCTS TO PROMOTE CHAPTER 3
“If done right” are the three keywords. Picking the right affiliate program can make
all the difference in the world. Staying away from the bad apples and knowing
what to look for is key.
The reason people do affiliate marketing is that they get to use a pre-built system,
similar to a franchise business.
The reason people buy into franchises (sometimes to the tune of 7-figures) is
because the entire business is pre-built and systematized.
With affiliate marketing, similar to a franchise system, you will know what products
you’re going to sell, who you’re going to sell them to and how much you’re going
to earn from each sale.
When you join (or are accepted into) an affiliate program, you will be given unique
links that track every hit, lead and sale that happens from your efforts.
You’ll drive traffic to the company’s website or sales funnel, and when someone
converts from a website visitor into a paying customer, you’ll earn a commission.
Most companies have a back office area where your stats are posted to view.
You’ll be able to see how many sales you’ve made and how much you’re going to
get paid.
But all affiliate programs aren’t created equal. Picking an affiliate program for your
online business can be as important as finding the right piece of real estate if
you’re an investor.
There are 5 things I suggest reviewing when you’re looking to join an affiliate
program and promote their products.
PRODUCT VALUE: Does the product have value and do people want to buy
it? If not, people are going to be underwhelmed and refund, and that’s going
to be a major drag if you do a bunch of sales and they all want refunds.
MARGINS: Are there high enough profit-margins from a sale (or multiple
sales from the same customer) that you can make significant income without
needing to sell hundreds or thousands of products each month? Or, do
they at least have upsells that they offer customers that could increase your
earnings? You can’t beat math. If there’s not enough
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HOW TO FIND THE BEST PRODUCTS TO PROMOTE CHAPTER 3
profit to cover the cost of your advertising and leave a profit at the end, you’ll
go broke faster than a kid in Chuck E. Cheese.
TRACKING: Does the affiliate program have (a) solid tracking links and (b)
how long are they good for? (a) This means once you refer a customer do you
get paid from everything they ever buy, or just the first purchase? Companies
make lots of money from repeat customers buying products over and
over again, and if you’re the affiliate who referred them, you need to know
whether you’re going to get paid on all sales the customer purchases, or just
on the initial sale. Also, (b) how long are the tracking links good for? We call
these website cookies. They are used by most all major advertising platforms
to track a visitors activity. Are they good for 30 days? 60 days? 1 year? This
matters because if you refer a click you want the tracking cookie to be good
for at least 90 days in case the company retargets them via Facebook or
Google ads. If the cookie lasts over 90 days and is not overruled by the
company link, you’ll get the sale. If it is overruled, the company could easily
make a sale that you initially referred and you won’t get credit for it.
INTEGRITY: Does the company have a good reputation, treat people right
and pay people on time? Integrity is everything. Unfortunately, everyone
doesn’t have your best interests in mind, so you have to be very careful who
you partner with and promote because if you choose the wrong partner you
could lose a lot of time and money you might not get back.
When all these elements are in place you can really focus and feel safe…
As I said, there are many places to find affiliate products to promote. There’s
Amazon, Wal-Mart, and affiliate platforms like Clickbank and JVZoo. These are just
a sliver of what you have to choose from.
It’s sort of like real estate. There’s thousands of houses to choose from, and you
make money when you buy at a great price, not necessary when you sell it.
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HOW TO FIND THE BEST PRODUCTS TO PROMOTE CHAPTER 3
The same goes for affiliate marketing. Many people do weeks or months of
research to find the right companies to partner with. They research the five
categories I mentioned above and make sure what they’re going to promote is
going to give them the best opportunity to make money with the least amount of
effort.
I know what to look for as an affiliate because I have been an affiliate for the past
ten-years.
I also have an affiliate program and hundreds of affiliate partners who help me find
customers for my books, courses, services and events every day.
Affiliate marketing is a great way to start or scale an online business, and it’s also
great to add as an additional stream of income if you’re building another business.
Sometimes you just want to refer someone to a product you love… and when you
are an affiliate of the company you get paid when your referral buys.
How many times have you talked about something you like to a friend--and they
went and bought the product--but you didn’t make squat from sending them
there?
As an affiliate marketer, you can make a living--a great living--from just putting
products in front of people who are already in the market for them!
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CHAPTER 4
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HOW TO FIND A HOT NICHE WITH PROVEN BUYERS CHAPTER 4
Choosing the wrong niche is like trying to sell snow shovels to people who live in
Florida - not going to be a successful business!
There are three questions you need to answer to determine whether a niche will
be successful you or not...
1. Are customers in this niche known to buy or are they mostly freebie
seekers?
2. Can you sell one-time, recurring and high-ticket offers to customers in
this niche?
3. Do you actually like this niche and understand the target customers
fears, needs and desires?
Because obviously it’s much more enjoyable to work in a niche you are
passionate about.
And it’s much more profitable to work in a niche where you can connect to the
fears, needs and desires of the target customer.
“I don’t know the fears, needs and desires of any customer in any niche” - don’t go
getting cynical on me so quick!
You likely know more than you’re giving yourself credit for.
Most people who’ve been in a consumer mindset (only buying things) and then
transition to a creator mindset (selling things) feel this frustration.
You’ve done a good job at navigating life so far, getting what you want and saying
what you need to get your needs met.
They want the fastest, easiest solution with the most value for the least amount of
work.
...and they’re often times willing to pay handsomely for that quality and
convenience.
The rest of what you need to learn about a specific type of customer in a niche
can be found by doing research.
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HOW TO FIND A HOT NICHE WITH PROVEN BUYERS CHAPTER 4
Here’s one of the biggest mistakes people make when choosing a niche:
They pick a noncompetitive niche because they think that since nobody is there
it’s an untapped gold mine and it will be much easier to succeed there.
That’s a myth.
Because there are no new ideas. Countless people before you, even in the
relatively short time since the internet has existed, have experimented with
different niches and figured out what works and what doesn’t.
You don’t need to reinvent the wheel--that will likely end in failure.
That’s why the single smartest thing you could do is find products that people are
already buying and get in front of those red hot buyers.
That’s the shortcut. Write that down if you need to. That’s how you avoid one of
the biggest pitfalls that most newbies fall into.
There are niches that have been proven to work over and over again, and there
are niches that simply aren’t worth pursuing.
Three that are proven over and over again to be the most profitable are Health,
Wealth, and Relationships.
For example, in the health niche you can find products in the...
These are all hot seller subcategories inside the health niche that people are
spending billions of dollars every month in!
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HOW TO FIND A HOT NICHE WITH PROVEN BUYERS CHAPTER 4
If just a small piece of that can be yours it can give you the financial freedom
you’ve been searching for.
I’ve always favored the Wealth niche--where I show people how to make money or
grow their business--because it fits Jay Abrahams theory so perfectly, which is…
First, you can get more customers. That’s pretty self explanatory.
Second, you can increase the average transaction of each customer, which means
you’re getting each customer to spend more every time they do business with
you.
And third, you can increase the frequency at which your customers buy from you.
So basically you’re getting each customer to buy more often, like a subscription.
Since these are the only 3 ways you can grow your business...
You have to ask yourself if the niche you’re choosing is going to bring in revenue
those three ways - or at least two of them.
You must be intentional how you design your business so it creates the specific
results you want. Picking a niche is part of that process.
Knowing what you want out of your business, and out of your customer, helps you
structure your promotions in such a way that you get your desired results.
You can’t leave the humanity out of your marketing. Marketing is all about people.
So when choosing a niche, you’re choosing the type of person you will be
marketing to.
Complete my Customer Clarity Process below for any niche you’re considering to
see how much you know about the target customer…
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HOW TO FIND A HOT NICHE WITH PROVEN BUYERS CHAPTER 4
2. What do you know about their age, race, sexual identity, religion, lack of
religion, personal habits, career paths, education, etc. that you can use to connect
more deeply with them?
4. What are the top 3 most painful things in their lives or business that you want to
solve?
7. What are their top 3 unvoiced skepticisms and objections to buying from you?
8. What are the alternatives to investing in your product or service? What will they
most likely continue to do?
9. What do they need to know about your product or service right now in order to
buy? And what is their dream scenario if you were able to offer it to them?
10. What can you offer them no other affiliate can? (your story, experience,
bonuses, etc.)
You know their likes, dislikes, hates, loves, passions, deepest fears--you get the
point?
Bring some humanity into the niche you choose and you’ll dominate your
competitors who choose to avoid this research.
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HOW TO FIND A HOT NICHE WITH PROVEN BUYERS CHAPTER 4
So once you’ve picked your niche you need to pick the right affiliate products to
promote to that niche of people.
The weird thing is… the offers you think would never crush are often the ones
raking in the sales.
Low-ticket offers are generally offers that cost between $1 and $97. In some
niches this range might vary, but most marketers consider this range to be a low-
ticket purchase.
Mid-ticket offers are offers that range between $197 and $2,000.
Affiliate offers are everywhere. You can find many of them on affiliate networks,
such as ClickBank.coom, JVzoo.com, or even on Google by typing in your niche
and the word “affiliate program”.
A word of warning: if you’re having a hard time finding an affiliate program for the
niche you chose, there’s a good chance it’s not a very popular niche and no one’s
interested, and you need to choose another one.
Not only do you want to research the product to make sure it has value and
people aren’t going to refund and complain, but you also want to research the
marketing of the product owner (or company).
Since you’re going to be using their sales pages and marketing material to turn
your clicks into commissions you should review their site and sales material and
ask yourself “does this make me want to buy?”
Subscribe to their email list and read their emails for a couple of weeks. The
biggest thing to remember is that they need to have great sales material to go
along with the product.
One of the major advantages to affiliate marketing is that they handle all the sales
material for you, and even the delivery of the product or service.
So you need to make sure they have solid marketing in place to convert your
clicks into commissions. If they have an affiliate program you can usually be sure
they’re on top of that.
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HOW TO FIND A HOT NICHE WITH PROVEN BUYERS CHAPTER 4
One last thing to do is ask or research their site to see if they’ve had other
affiliates make money with their offers. They should have a proven track record of
helping their affiliates make money promoting their products.
At the end of the day you need to test the offer… and then re-test to get accurate
results. If it’s not converting for you, but it’s converting for others, it’s not the offer
that’s the problem, it’s you.
Also, know this: no amount of copying other affiliates is going to guarantee your
success.
That’s why I have a few tricks up my sleeve that will help you separate yourself
from the pack.
Any product can be sold if there’s a buying audience and an irresistible offer.
So let me show you how to do better than average with your promotions in the
next chapter…
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CHAPTER 5
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WHERE TO GET HIGH-QUALITY EVERGREEN TRAFFIC CHAPTER 5
I’ve worked with over 100,000 affiliates and helped create countless 6 and
7-figure success stories...
....and as importantly, I’ve helped thousands of people earn their first commission
ever online.
I’ve also done some of the largest promotions of other people’s products as an
affiliate myself….
This experience has given me a unique angle into the lens of affiliate marketing.
I’ve now been able to see patterns, and here’s why patterns are so important to
you right now…
It’s called...
The third step is to point them to an offer that is perfectly matched to the results
they want. We call this a perfect market to message match.
At our company, we sell books, courses, and events on the topic of online
marketing…
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WHERE TO GET HIGH-QUALITY EVERGREEN TRAFFIC CHAPTER 5
...and we also offer agency style services like copywriting, sales funnel building
and video production.
Some call it “biz op”...not because it’s an MLM or a franchise, but because the
reason people are buying our education is because they want to learn to how to
build a business and make money. They’re business opportunity seekers.
We have some affiliates who send traffic to our sales funnels via many sources.
Because every day there are millions of searches online from people trying to
learn how to make money online.
And YouTube has become a place where people go for guides and tutorials.
They often subscribe to a channel and watch videos from that person over and
over again. They develop a relationship with the content creator.
And when that person (the content creator) recommends a product or service they
will click and check it out.
The “YouTuber” will simply give a call-to-action to “check out the link in the
description” to learn more.
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WHERE TO GET HIGH-QUALITY EVERGREEN TRAFFIC CHAPTER 5
The reason Youtube works so well for evergreen affiliate campaigns is that you
create the content once and it continues to get views for days, months, and
years to come.
..because when you stop paying for the ads the traffic stops.
It’s perpetual.
It’s ongoing and never-ending because you create the content once and it lives
and grows over time…
….generating you more and more views and link-clicks each and every day.
Are you going to get rich overnight posting videos on YouTube and recommending
products you’re an affiliate of?
Nope.
But if you make the commitment to post a video everyday for 1 year you will begin
to see major momentum picking up.
But after about a year of posting every day, his channel started to pick up.
Youtube started recommending his videos on the site more and more, which
exploded his views.
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WHERE TO GET HIGH-QUALITY EVERGREEN TRAFFIC CHAPTER 5
He then became an affiliate of mine and started sending all his traffic to our sales
funnels.
His youtube grew to upwards of 100,000 subscribers and they were all hungry to
learn different ways to start a business and make money online….
….and my products do a great job at teaching that in a simple, ethical and results-
oriented way.
This is not a guarantee you will get those same results. You could make more, less
or the same. You could also make nothing at all, which is what the average person
who tries to any type of business earns. (I need to give this disclosure to stay
compliant with government regulations, but I also believe you’re smart enough to
know this and I’m not trying to insult your intelligence).
You should pick a domain and use that one domain everywhere you place your
link.
That way you don’t have a thousand links you have to keep track of, and in the
tragic case the product you’re promoting is no longer available, or the company
changes the domain to their sales funnel…
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WHERE TO GET HIGH-QUALITY EVERGREEN TRAFFIC CHAPTER 5
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WHERE TO GET HIGH-QUALITY EVERGREEN TRAFFIC CHAPTER 5
Now you’re going to market your domain name instead of whatever link the
company provided you. This is another way to stand out from the crowd and
dominate.
Now that you have your evergreen traffic source and you know how to get a
domain name and forward it…
Let me show you how to get leads and build your email list.
Because your email list will be another source of evergreen traffic that will make
you money for years to come...
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CHAPTER 6
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THE 2-PAGE MIRACLE SITE THAT SUCKS IN LEADS CHAPTER 6
You don’t need a big fancy website in order to make money as an affiliate.
It bridges you (the referring affiliate) to the product you’re referring people to.
The sole purpose of an opt-in page is to entice people to give you their email
address. This way you can follow up with them later.
Most websites look “nice” and have great functionality, yet the overwhelming
majority of people visit and never come back… and the website owner doesn’t
have any way to follow-up with them.
If you have an opt-in page, it drives people to provide you with their email address
and ensures continued communication with people who visit your site.
An opt-in page is simple, yet the few important parts of the page are important to
get right.
The first part of an opt-in page is the opt-in box. This is where your visitor enters
their email address.
An opt-in page is not a long, drawn-out page full of text or long-winded videos.
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THE 2-PAGE MIRACLE SITE THAT SUCKS IN LEADS CHAPTER 6
The third part of your opt-in page is the bullet points that describe what they’re
getting when they opt-in.
The fourth part of your opt-in page is a description (text or image) of your “bait”.
You need to choose the marketing bait (ie: free gift) you’re going to give
away on your opt-in page.
Your free gift is what they’ll get for opting-in and giving you their email address.
It can be a free video, a webinar, a PDF… or simply what they’re going to learn on
the next page once they opt-in ... which might just be the sales page.
The bottom line is you need to offer something of value in exchange for
someone’s email address. If you offer a free gift with great value, your conversion
rates will skyrocket and your list will grow exponentially.
For most niches, a free PDF report is a good option, but for something like the
make money online niche, a free PDF report about “10 ways to make $1,000
online” might be good.
For the weight loss niche, a free PDF report about “10 foods to avoid to lose belly
fat” would be a good idea.
The free gift needs to be relevant to the topic they’re originally interested in and
also align with what you’re going to pitch them on the next page.
In the mall, when you walk through the food court and the Asian fast-food
restaurants offer you their bourbon chicken on a toothpick, their ultimate goal is to
sell you a whole plate of bourbon chicken. The same goes here. You want to give
them a taste of what you’re going to sell them (or recommend that they buy) on
the next page.
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THE 2-PAGE MIRACLE SITE THAT SUCKS IN LEADS CHAPTER 6
It’s not necessary, but if you do choose to offer a free report, the process of writing
your own free PDF report doesn’t have to be difficult. You can do it yourself, or
hire someone else from the many freelance sites out there.
This might cost you between $20 and $100 or so (maybe more), but the value it
will provide to your subscribers will be invaluable immediately...and in the long
term…and drastically increase your lead flow.
You can find freelancers to write for you at sites like upwork.com, fiverr.com, guru.
com, freelancer.com, and iwriter.com.
You can also hire a copywriter from any of these sites to write copy for your opt-in
page or emails.
Now I’m going to show you how to bridge the gap between you and the affiliate
product you’re recommending.
...because it is.
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CHAPTER 7
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THE MOST IMPORTANT RULE TO MAKING SALES CHAPTER 7
...and it might just be the most important rule in marketing that exists.
You can get almost everything else wrong except this--so what is it?
The bottom line is that stories sell and facts only tell.
When you’re recommending that someone buys something, you’re trying to make
a point. The point is that they need your product for “xyz” reasons. Right?
Maybe it will make some part of their life easier. Or remove financial stress. Or
help them attract more attention from the fellas or the ladies.
And you can spit facts and figures, scientific data and studies...
...and go over the features and benefits until you’re blue in the face…
...but whoever can tantalize the brain and infiltrate the heart of their prospects will
win everytime.
Regardless of who you are or what century you were born in, there’s nothing more
powerful than story.
Just a casual look at the great religions, history’s great leaders, even the best
salespeople--they’ve all shared and sold through the power of story.
Show me any great leader and I’ll show you a great story teller.
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THE MOST IMPORTANT RULE TO MAKING SALES CHAPTER 7
If you’re trying to sell, but are lacking the ability to tell a compelling story, you’re
missing that crucial emotional component…
Emotion is the currency. Stories convey emotion. It’s a power I didn’t understand
when I first started out as an affiliate marketer.
My story is one that lots of people would rather bury under the rug.
A street hustler…
I’ve been in long-term recovery now for over a decade, clean and sober…
…but at the beginning of my affiliate marketing career I’d get on videos for
marketing campaigns and try to portray something that I wasn’t.
I knew that my business wasn’t growing as fast as I wanted it to. But I didn’t quite
see how I wasn’t giving my customers that emotional connection and authentic
look into who I really am. I was just trying to put on a facade.
I believe we have built-in bullshit detectors that let us know when someone isn’t
being real.
Well, my lack of sales and momentum was enough to let me know I needed to do
something different with my marketing--and I was ready--I just didn’t know what to
do.
I was inspired by watching someone connect their story to their product and
something clicked in me. My emotional center was activated. Soon after I hosted a
webinar for my business and
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THE MOST IMPORTANT RULE TO MAKING SALES CHAPTER 7
told part of my story as part of my pitch; how I went from broke and broken,
homeless and hopeless, to having an entrepreneurial vision. I was honest and
authentic.
When the webinar was over, it was the biggest exhale of my life. I was terrified. I
thought people would judge me, disengage, unsubscribe.
In fact, I made more sales in that one webinar than I had made in the entirety of
my business up until that point.
I was blown away that me being vulnerable made people actually want to buy. I
was only just beginning to understand the power of story in video and copywriting.
Over the next two or three years, I focused on learning how to use story in a more
powerful way.
To be clear, I’m not suggesting you just throw all your dirty laundry out into the
open with no regard. You could end up causing more harm than good. Approach
this with some common sense.
This is about using story in your marketing more than it’s about telling your story.
People connect much more to each other’s challenges. In talking about your
struggles and pain, it’s almost like you’re giving people a license to connect with
their own.
Some of the best storytellers in the world are the ones who aren’t trying, the
ones who are simply speaking from their heart. A vast majority of what you
communicate will not be so much about what you say, but rather how you say it.
They’ll remember very few of the details, but they’ll remember how you made
them feel.
Here’s a Story Selling Formula I used in all my videos and emails when I first got
started and is simple to understand and implement.
-----
I was working long days, for a boss I hated, living paycheck to paycheck to make
his dreams come true while me and family suffered.
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THE MOST IMPORTANT RULE TO MAKING SALES CHAPTER 7
3. What I did about it. (I bought a course, started a business, hired a coach)
So I did something I would have never done before because I was too proud;
I bought a course from an ad I saw about how to start an online business and
started taking action to create a better, more stable future for myself.
Since getting involved with “xyz” and taking their course I am making an extra
$500 per month in passive income. It’s not a lot, but finally for the first time I feel a
sense of hope and freedom I’ve not felt in a long time!
Maybe you’re like me and you’re sick of the 40, 50 hour workweek. If so, I want to
share with you a video on the next page when you click the link below...
-----
Part of the brain controls logic, and part of the brain controls emotion.
Since most marketers only talk about data, features and functions--the logical side
is the only part of the brain their marketing stimulates…
...and 9 times out of 10 someone can find a logical reason not to buy.
There’s a million logical reasons not to spend $100,000 on a car that’s $60,000-
$80,000 more expensive than other good cars.
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THE MOST IMPORTANT RULE TO MAKING SALES CHAPTER 7
People could give their money to starving children who haven’t eaten a full meal in
months, but they’d rather feel important and safe and spend their money in a nice
suit or purse.
I’m not trying to make anyone feel bad for buying nice things with their hard
earned money… I’m just making a point.
People are sold on the story of who they’ll be if they possess that thing…
...and that they will feel better, sexier, happier, more powerful, and life will be
overall easier and more enjoyable if they have it.
There’s no way that same $100,000 car would get sold by talking about the
materials that were used to make it.
When I hear someone talk about alloy wheels, titanium, hardened steel…
...“you’re a sexy man I want you to have another baby with you”...
...I end up at the dealership and drive away in that $100,000 benz.
True story :)
When we hear a powerful story that moves us emotionally our brain cells begin to
communicate with each other via a process called neuronal firing.
Logic is overruled....
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THE MOST IMPORTANT RULE TO MAKING SALES CHAPTER 7
...and studies prove that when someone hears a captivating story their brain is not
able to tell the difference between real and fantasy.
People actually experience a story exactly the same way as if it’s happening in real
life.
Humans listen to a story and experience it just it’s like their own.
And that’s why it’s so powerful to include story when you explain why you’re
recommending a product on your bridge page.
Because it creates an attachment between you and the reader much deeper than
anything else you can say or do.
And once you’re done telling your story you transition to giving them a call to
action to click the link below your video (or below your text)...
Or, “Maybe you’re like me and you’re sick of the 40, 50 hour workweek. If so, I
want to share with you a video on the next page when you click the link below...”
Or, “If you can relate to any of that and would like to learn what I have done to
change ‘xyz’ about my future, I’m going to introduce you to someone on the next
page and he’s going to help turn things around for you. And then you can quit
worrying, stressing, and freaking out about the future. Thanks for watching and
listening to my story, now go ahead and click the link below...”
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THE MOST IMPORTANT RULE TO MAKING SALES CHAPTER 7
And here’s an example of a thank-you page with a video (where the story is told
that makes the connection to why the affiliate is recommending the product) and
gives the call-to-action for them to click to continue onto the affiliate offer…
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THE MOST IMPORTANT RULE TO MAKING SALES CHAPTER 7
I’m also going to give you a script to use in your video (or text) on you’re
bridge page.
This example is for the make money online niche, because that’s a niche I’ve
worked in for years. But you can easily see how it can be tweaked and customized
for other niches.
The important thing to notice is the structure of where the story is inserted and
how to use a transition statement to give them a call-to-action to click the link and
continue on to view the offer you’re recommending as an affiliate.
It’s funny, but if you think about it, most people in the world just sort of suffer in
silence. They work a job they hate and they sort of go on and live life as if there’s
no other alternative, ya know what I mean?
But a small number of people in the world actually do make a change. They hit
a point where enough is enough, and they decide to do something about it, and
they take their life back.
Well, just a few short months/weeks ago, I did just this. I was sick of *insert your
painful story or experience (get specific and tell people your story)*, and I
decided it was time for me to take back control of my life.
I’ve never been so challenged and pushed in my life, but it’s been an incredible
process, one that has changed me forever… and I want to share that with you right
now.
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THE MOST IMPORTANT RULE TO MAKING SALES CHAPTER 7
So here’s what I have for you: On the next page, you’re going to watch a short
video with a guy named *insert the name of whoever is on the sales page they
will see when they click the link below*, and he’s going to share with you a little
bit about the solution I discovered and am sharing with you.
It’s brand new, unlike anything else you’ve ever seen, and I think you’re absolutely
going to love it. He’ll share with you a few of his own strategies that have helped
*him/her* and others.
I know you’re skeptical because there’s so much crap online, but this is real, it’s
proven and I know you’re going to love what *he/she’s* got to share with you.
Look, I don’t know where you’re at… if you’re nearing retirement and you’re bored
or looking for a side-hustle. Or maybe you’re sick of working 40, 50 or 60-hour
work-weeks “for the man”. Or maybe you’re a stay at home mom who’s got a
little extra time on your hands and you’d like to help contribute to the household
financially.
No matter where you’re at… imagine what it would feel like to learn how to create,
from scratch, an online business, to empower yourself to take your life back, and
to finally… actually... enjoy what you do!
I’m not saying this is easy, because truthfully, it’s not. But if you’re willing to put in
the work, we’ll hand you the blueprints.
So if you’d like to see this short video I told you about that explains everything
in great detail, click the button directly beneath this video and you will be sent
immediately over to the site. Be sure to take immediate action on what you learn
and I can’t wait to walk alongside you towards more freedom.
Also, watch out for my emails in your inbox. I’ll be sharing with you a little more
about my story and how this has so drastically changed my life, and how it can
change yours as well.
Again my name is *insert your name here* and I look forward to meeting you
soon. Click the button below and let’s rock and roll.
Now, you might be wondering how to set-up these little bridge pages, and if
so…
I’ve also included my 15-Day Online Business Builder Challenge with this book.
Throughout the Challenge, I’ll help you understand the concepts inside the book
by giving you video visuals and examples…
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THE MOST IMPORTANT RULE TO MAKING SALES CHAPTER 7
I have Business Plan Advisors who work for me and will help you clarify your plan,
and help guide you along and answer any questions you have. When you log in to
begin the Challenge you’ll see the option to work with an advisor at no additional
charge.
Just click the big banner at the end of this chapter and log in to get started!
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CHAPTER 8
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THE SECRET TO SCALE YOUR AFFILIATE BUSINESS CHAPTER 8
“Ok Dave, is it really possible to scale this, and if so, how do I really ramp this up
into the thousands-of-dollars, or tens-of-thousands of dollars in commissions?”
The answer is yes, but it depends on what affiliate offers you’re promoting.
If you’re promoting affiliate offers where they only sell one product, or they sell
more products and you only get paid on the initial purchase, you’re not going to
be able to scale.
If you’re promoting affiliate offers where the company uses awesome, high-
converting sales funnels and has a great value-ladder where you get paid paid on
lot’s of different products, at lots of different price points, than you can drastically
increase your commissions.
Especially if you’re only responsible for sending traffic and the company will take
care of the responsibility for converting sales and even doing follow-up to convert
the customer into more products they offer…
I offer that sort of affiliate partnership program to my affiliates and it gives them
the mutual respect they deserve for going out and doing the hard work of
marketing, promoting, and creating content.
...and then we’ll move into talking about what a value-ladder is so you can pick the
best products to promote that will allow you to really scale…
...and dominate.
Since the beginning of the internet, when you talk about your business people
always ask “do you have a website”. And it’s really awesome to have a website so
you can take orders if someone is ready to buy.
The problem is, most people don’t come to your website ready to buy. They need
to be sold on why your product is the best solution for their problem and why they
need to take action and buy it right now.
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John has an awesome secret family-recipe BBQ sauce that he wants to sell. Now
normally, John would pay thousands of dollars to have a website built, and usually,
after someone like John has his beautiful website built, he ends up sitting around
wondering why his website, that he paid thousands of dollars for, isn’t converting
any sales. And the answer is because websites aren’t designed for making
sales, but sales funnels are :)
So John runs into some smart marketers online who teach him about sales
funnels, and he sets one up.
The first page of his sales funnel is an opt in page, where John offers the visitor a
free gift in exchange for their email address. Something like a short 2-page PDF
called “5 secret BBQ recipes that will make your taste buds explode”.
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Now... John can follow up via email even if the person doesn’t buy anything
from him right away - and this is smart - since email will top three billion users
worldwide by 2020, and studies report for every $1 spent on email marketing, a
whopping $44 is made in return.
*source: https://www.radicati.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Email_Statistics_Report_2016-2020_Executive_Summary.pdf
*source: https://www.campaignmonitor.com/company/annual-report/2016/
Now, once they’ve opted in for John’s free gift, John emails them the free gift…
This is where he pitches them on all the ways they can transform their basic meat
into a southern treat with his secret family recipe BBQ sauce. In his sales video
he shows people how to prepare the meat, cook it, and even what the finished
product looks like.
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Another tip to make any sales page converting more sales, is that there should
be no other distractions on the page for the visitor to click around and get lost or
confused by, because a confused or distracted person will never buy.
Well, good news! Because John offered so much value upfront and such a clear
and compelling pitch to buy his BBQ sauce, his sales funnel is converting a good
percentage of people who come through it!
Now, most people would stop right there to celebrate, but smart marketers know
better. With advertising prices going up every year and competition getting
stiffer, marketing Legends like Dan Kennedy have prepared us to win in this exact
situation by teaching us that “whoever can pay the most to acquire a customer
wins”.
So, let’s say John makes $10 profit on every bottle after he covers his hard
costs to make and bottle the BBQ sauce. But he has to pay, on average, $20 on
advertising to generate each sale. Oh no! He’s upside down $10 on every bottle!
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John and thousands of other businesses like his would be out of business in no
time with these margins...
But that’s where having a sales funnel gets exciting. Because after the initial
purchase, we ask ourselves, “what would be the next obvious thing to offer a
customer who just bought our product? What would they need or want that would
make their purchase more complete or convenient, or add more value?”
In the case of John’s secret family recipe BBQ sauce business, the next obvious
offer to make an upsell with would be a discount for more buying multiple bottles.
Like buy 6 bottles and get one free!
Now for every 10 customers that came through, 3 of them bought the upsell and
John was able to collect around an extra $150 in profit...with no extra work!
So to get 10 customers….
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But 3 of his new customers took his upsell to buy 5 additional bottles and get one
free, so John made an additional $150 in profit!
Which took him from a $100 loss on those 10 customers ...to now profiting a
total of $50.
A sales funnel allows us to have the best possible chance to make money on a
new customer, or at the very least break even on their initial purchase after we
cover the cost of our ads.
So we’ve essentially generated a customer for free and now anything else that
customer purchases from us in the future is all profit.
The mistake most people make is they try to make all their money on the first
initial sale, when really the key is to have that initial sale just break-even on your
advertising costs. That way you know for a fact that you are able to generate
more and more customers for free, and then on the back end, you can focus on
maximizing your profits.
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So after a month, John emails his new customers and says “hey, I hope you loved
my BBQ sauce, and if you did and you want to set up on a subscription for me to
send you a new bottle every month you can sign up and do that right now”.
A percentage of people will want to do that and every dollar he makes at that
point is all profit.
All made possible because John utilized a sales funnel to make it all happen.
But sales funnels have been used all over the world by almost every successful
company you know.
And you planned to spend $1 on a hamburger and it turned into $10 ...and you’re
leaving with a full-blown belly ache!
Dentists do the same thing. They might advertise a free cleaning and then once
you come in they sell you braces, crowns, and teeth whitening, and you leave with
another check-up scheduled for 6 months from now :)
I think one of the best sales funnels of all time is Disney. You buy a ticket for a
reasonably affordable price, and not only does every single sip of water or bite of
a food cost you a premium, but after every ride you get shot out into a gift shop
where you and your kids are bombarded with an onslaught of toys, action figures,
and clothing items.
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You may not be used to noticing sales funnels all around you, all the time, but
they’re there and being cleverly used by the most successful companies in the
world. Only now you’re going to learn to profit from them instead of just being sold
by them!
As an affiliate, the best way to scale is to partner with companies who have
great sales funnels and will offer your leads plenty of high-value products
and multiple price points (from low to high).
A value ladder is a complicated and powerful sales strategy, but I’m going to make
it really simple for you to understand.
Remember when I said earlier that the goal of a sales funnel is to break even on
the front-end and you make all your profit on the back-end.
Think of your value ladder as your product line. The more value that one of your
products provide, the higher the price is.
Let’s take Apple for example. They’ve always sold computers, but Apple really
exploded in 2007 when Steve Jobs announced the release of the very first
iPhone.
Now, consumers had a lower-priced product they could enter Apple’s value ladder
of products at.
Because once they owned an iPhone, they realized they might want to switch over
from their other computer and get an Apple computer.
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Nowadays, Apple’s value ladder is much more complex, and probably the most
brilliant value ladders ever created.
Most people still start off with an iPhone, then slowly migrate up the value ladder
to buying an iPad, then they make the switch to getting all Mac laptops and iMac
desktop computers...and before they know they’re fully integrated into their entire
ecosystem with Apple TV, Apple Music, and Apple Pay.
By creating a lower price product at the bottom of their value ladder Apple
created a doorway for customers to buy all their other, high-ticket and subscription
services with less resistance..
When you partner as an affiliate with a company that uses the power of a good
sales funnel…
...with a great value ladder of products that offer more and more value at higher
ticket price points…
...you get something magical that’s truly the secret sauce for the average affiliate
to succeed online…
...and scale!
Now, in order to start and grow a business you need to know your numbers. I
know, I know, who wants to focus on tracking and data when there’s so much
more interesting stuff to execute on?
Here’s why: because your business will die and fast, miserable, and embarrassing
death if you don’t know how to stay on top of your numbers and what to track.
Because some numbers matter and some numbers don’t. But which ones?
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CHAPTER 9
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HOW TO PROPERLY TRACK YOUR KEY METRICS CHAPTER 9
I talked about getting free evergreen traffic from Youtube back in chapter 5,
because the quality of the lead was so good, it’s worth the investment of time to
create content there.
But posting videos on Youtube and getting organic evergreen traffic is clearly not
the only place to get traffic online.
You can run paid ads on Youtube, Facebook, Google, Bing and so on and
hundreds (or thousands) of other sites that allow you to run ads.
It’s important to always track your data if and when you can…
But especially if you’re running paid traffic you need to know your numbers.
Cost per Opt In = Marketing Dollars Spent divided by Number of Opt Ins
Revenue per Opt In = Total Revenue Generated divided by Number of Opt Ins
In order to find these key metrics you’ll need some simple data…
Number of Buyers
Key metrics should always be calculated over a set period of time (a week, a
month, etc) and for the sake of analyzing trends, that set period of time should
always remain the same (calculations are done every week or every month, etc).
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HOW TO PROPERLY TRACK YOUR KEY METRICS CHAPTER 9
I’ve included a template that you can use to track your key metrics for any free or
paid traffic campaign, along with instructions on how to use it at:
www.legendarymarketer.com/data-tracker
-----
------
Next…
Would you like to learn how I’ve had some of the largest affiliate “windfall”
paydays of my career?
But the principals I’ll teach you are not just applicable to product launches…
They can be used in any marketing campaign to drastically increase your sales…
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CHAPTER 10
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HOW TO RUN MASSIVE “WINDFALL” PROMOTIONS CHAPTER 10
Because they’re the closest thing to passive income I’ve ever encountered…
Some of my biggest paydays and business breakthroughs have been using the
Launch Domination strategy.
They get lots of affiliates to help promote and aim to do a huge sales campaign
over a short span of time—usually 1-2 weeks.
I also like to use Launch Domination every once in a while to create larger
windfalls of commissions in short periods of time.
Or to just keep my email list and audience on their toes and give them something
to get all riled up about.
It’s a good strategy to deploy when you’re trying to convert mid and high-ticket
priced products.
It can be deployed over periods of different time frames, but usually works
best with promotions no less than 4 days and no longer than 14.
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This is where you’re writing an email to your list and you’re posting something on
social media to announce the promotion. You want to create anticipation around
the value they’re going to get by paying attention to the promotion and the new
and unique opportunity they’re going to be presented with.
Ideally, as an affiliate, you’re driving your audience to the company’s sales page,
webinar (ie: “the funnel”) via your emails, paid ads, and social media posts.
To do this you’re going to send one email at the beginning of the day between
6 and 8 a.m. You’re going to send more email at night. Your promotion is now
officially live, public, and launched!
Say, for example, you’re running a five-day promotional cycle. The first day is all
about agitation. Then over the next three days, you reveal a new bonus each day.
As an affiliate, your unique advantage is that you can offer the buyer something no
other affiliate can offer them.
And you can also offer them more value then if they bought directly from the
company.
Anything you’re promoting should be able to sell without bonuses of course, but
adding bonuses will explode the conversion rates because it pushes people who
are on the edge...over it.
Most people are on the fence about buying, but never do. Most affiliates ignore
these people, but you shouldn’t--they can serve as a major category of your future
customer list.
Giving away bonuses also instills FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) into your audience.
FOMO is an important part of marketing (done ethically, of course).
The right bonuses can also improve upon the product. Good bonus packages
should increase the chances of success and decrease the risk of failure when
coupled with the product you’re promoting.
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HOW TO RUN MASSIVE “WINDFALL” PROMOTIONS CHAPTER 10
Other physical gifts that add value, but won’t break the bank
My favorite types of bonuses are ones where I have little-to-no out of pocket
expense for. Like digital courses I’ve made, or my top 5 marketing books I’ll ship to
your door after you buy through my link.
If the commission for a product is $500 I can stand to spend $50-$100 bucks or
so on some great bonuses.
You want to pile on heavy the day before you end the promotion because most of
your sales will happen the last day, which leads to stage 4….
This means that you introduce the fact that the promotion is ending and what
you’re offering, as far as bonuses (and maybe a reduced price by the company),
will end and not be available after the promotion is over.
I would introduce my time limiter letting them know there are only 48 more hours
for them to take advantage of this amazing deal, on the fourth day.
...and you must have urgency if you want to create a surge of sales.
You want to create urgency in your language, in your writing, in your videos and
have those time limiters in plain sight.
If you can put an actual countdown timer somewhere they can see, that’s really
useful. If I’m sending an email out 48 hours before the promotion ends, right in my
email subject line, I’m going to put...
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HOW TO RUN MASSIVE “WINDFALL” PROMOTIONS CHAPTER 10
Some of the reasons affiliates don’t create large surges of sales (or don’t get
sales, period) is because they don’t remind people of their pain enough. They
don’t hype things up enough. They don’t deliver enough value. They don’t create
an irresistible offer. Things are not urgent enough.
They just make things available forever and people don’t have a reason to take
action...now.
If you follow this formula correctly, you’re going to close your product even if the
product owner doesn’t close the shopping cart.
ON the last day, you’re going to send an email between 6am and 8am and then
another in the evening….
...and maybe one more right before midnight (or an hour or two before the
promotion ends), as one last reminder to them to “take action now or miss out.”
You’ve just run your first promotional cycle using Launch Domination!
Here’s what I recommend to totally dominate the leaderboards of any product you
want to promote, in any niche.
Follow the evergreen blueprint for getting traffic I laid out in Chapter 5 on an
ongoing basis…
...and once per month run a promotion using Launch Domination to generate
larger windfalls of commissions.
Your evergreen promotions will keep the lights on, and give you a consistent
stream of growing passive income…
...while using Launch Domination once per month will give you larger windfalls of
commissions and help you “stack up” success and income.
I’m going to attach graphics below that explain Launch Domination “at a glance”
so you can look back over at it whenever you need to :)
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HOW TO RUN MASSIVE “WINDFALL” PROMOTIONS CHAPTER 10
5 stages of a successful
Promotional Cycle
Stage 1: Agitate
Write an email to your list (check
swipe file)
Post on Facebook
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HOW TO RUN MASSIVE “WINDFALL” PROMOTIONS CHAPTER 10
Stage 2: Launch
Send at least 2 emails the first day
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HOW TO RUN MASSIVE “WINDFALL” PROMOTIONS CHAPTER 10
Stage 5: Close
Close YOUR promotion on time (even
if product owner doesn’t close cart)
70
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CHAPTER 11
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BLENDING COMPLIANCE AND CONVERSIONS CHAPTER 11
But it’s really important if you want to have a long term career as an affiliate
marketer.
When I first started in 2010, I didn’t have anyone who taught me this. The internet
was earlier in its stages of development and we didn’t really know where we stood
as online marketers. Sort of like the wild wild west.
Over the years Government regulators started popping up and shutting down
companies. Suing company owners and even top affiliates for using outlandish
income claims and deceptive marketing.
Large ad platforms like Google (starting in 2009) and Facebook (starting in 2016
after the Trump presidential victory and privacy scandal) start clamping down on
certain offers, in certain niches, and banning marketers’ ad accounts.
Like with all industries, in the beginning, it’s chaos and opportunity for all.
...until regulations and complaince start set-in and those who can’t adjust
get wiped out, and only those who can adjust and reinvent their offers (to be
compliant) survive.
It’s really hard to understand most online marketing and commerce laws because,
quite frankly, they’re confusing.
And most ad platforms hide their terms in fine-print...which we’re all so used to just
breezing through and never reading.
But imagine, your entire business relies on being able to post content on social
media platforms and advertise on those same sites…
...and you’ve cracked the code and are pumping out sales…
...and one day you suddenly start losing your accounts one-by-one because
they’re noncompliant.
Or worse, you get a knock on your door from a regular who suing you for claims or
deceptive marketing…
...which maybe you didn’t even know you were engaging in.
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So my goal in this chapter is to do for you....what no one did for me...and quite
frankly, what no one is doing right now in the industry as a whole...
...and that’s to teach you how to stay compliant while not sacrificing conversions.
But how?
Because most marketers use hyped up marketing, make huge claims, and tell
unbelievable product stories…
Here’s the problem with using huge claims from a marketing perspective…
You’re already battling skepticism from your audience. It’s the biggest obstacle
you have to overcome in most sales. So if you’re using huge testimonials and wild
claims to market your product, it actually works against you.
That’s why “watering down” your copy and claims, and giving the proper
disclosures will both ensure you stay legally compliant…
Therefore adding proper disclosures will help you stay out of trouble and breed
trust…
...and not making huge income (or health) claims helps breed trust with your
customers…
“Why would not showing my biggest, most audacious results help my success,
Dave?”
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Because as I said, most people can’t relate to the huge, unbelievable claims most
marketers make. So it immediately makes them skeptical.
Plus, regulators want you to show the average results people can expect to
experience using your product or service (or the one you’re recommending that
they buy).
I am not an attorney…
I also included scripts and disclosures to use in your marketing and on your pages.
Is it enough? Probably not.
That’s why I’m being crystal clear that I’m not an attorney and am not qualified to
give legal advice.
However, I have paid many attorneys over my career for their advice and currently
consult with a team of legal professionals on a regular basis…
...so I’m happy to pass along what they’ve shared with me in hopes of helping you
stay safe and prosperous.
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CHAPTER 12
THE 3 STAGES OF
ENTREPRENEURIAL GROWTH
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To get even more down and dirty details, overviews, and tutorials...
...please take advantage of the amazing bonus I included with this book, and …
I want to end with something that’s even more important than the mechanics.
The dynamics.
The dynamics are WHO you become throughout the process of building your
business.
Like when you hire someone and invest time and money into them and it doesn’t
work out.
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You’ll run into challenges and obstacles that will convince you--to the point where
you’ve never been more certain about anything in your life--that you should give
up on this dream because you aren’t cut out for this.
If you do have what it takes to keep charging forward, you’ll be rewarded. That I
can promise.
Stage 1 is...
You’re sick of your job; sick of being broke; sick of having to answer to a boss you
hate. Mingled with that are the material aspects that you want: the house, cars,
money, jewelry, traveling, freedom, etc.
In this stage, most people are still working a job, but they daydream about what
it would be like to work for themselves. They may have bought some books or
courses, but they have not taken consistent action to actually start and launch
their business.
The qualities “wantrepreneurs” need to possess to progress past this stage really
boil down to work ethic, commitment, discipline, and grit.
It’s also helpful to be ruthlessly honest with yourself about (1) where you are in
your life. For example, if you just quit your job to pursue entrepreneurship, what
kind of impact will that have on your family? Your marriage? How many people
will be affected by that decision? (2) decide that if you commit to this, you are
committed. You have to decide that going backward is not an option.
It’s not all about doing the reasonable, rational thing. The very spirit of an
entrepreneur is that he or she doesn’t fit in. Can’t fit in.. Doesn’t want to fit in... with
the rest of society.
Stage 2 is...
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Things are happening. You’ve put some skin in the game. You may still be working
at a job, but you’re taking consistent action daily, and are actually seeing some
results. Maybe not profits, but at least results. You’re having an effect.
To get to the next stage, the entrepreneur must be willing to work their asses off.
Maybe you’ll get a day off per week, maybe not, but this ain’t you’re regular 9-to-5.
It’s long hours doing everything from customer support, sales, marketing, cleaning
toilets--whatever it takes.
It’s a humbling stage, a crucible that separates the contenders from the
pretenders.
Stage 3 is...
You’ve gone from a leak to a full-scale break in the dam. You’re generating
significant revenue and beginning to make a profit. You’re looking for ways to
expand your reach. Now the goal is going from 5 and 6-figure profits to 6 and
7-figures, and beyond.
To move and grow through this stage, the entrepreneur must realize first and
foremost they can’t do everything or be everywhere. By now you must identify the
skill set you have that is the most profitable, and focus on that.
Outsource or hire key-players to execute other jobs and tasks within the business
that need to get done.
Saying no is more important than saying yes at this point. Focus is life.
It’s a mindset.
A way of being.
You have to be hell-bent on your mission to see your vision become reality.
Obstacles are opportunities.
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For us, there’s a blurred line between work and play. The reason I work so much is
because…
...you’re not.
Some go into it only to discover years later that it’s not for them. Or they go into it
with incredibly unrealistic expectations.
I’ve tried to layout as simply as possible what it’s like to be an entrepreneur, but at
the end of the day...
Are you are red-pill kind of person who knows that only experience will reveal the
truth?
Or a blue-pill person, who doesn’t want that kind of risk and responsibility?
Chances are that if you’re reading this, you’re ready for the ride.
You’ve come this far.
Keep going!
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But it’s much different to talk about football in the film room, reviewing plays…
… then it is to get on the field and get your ass knocked out by a 255lb linebacker.
Entrepreneurs who learn about business in school come out with all the
corporation structure, tax, and standard operating procedure knowledge…
...but can’t sell or market their way out of a wet paper bag.
Entrepreneurs who learn about business from starting businesses tend to have
more of a knack for sales and marketing (because they have to, or they starve)...
...but are more disorganized than a class of kindergartners playing a team sport.
So if you’re coming out of college right now and you’re trying to start a business
you’re probably overthinking a bunch of stuff and trying to get it all perfect. And
perfect doesn’t exist.
...getting all your project management processes in place and making sure your
desk and office are well organized.
And here’s what you need to focus on: you need to get down and dirty and start
writing ads and making offers and learning how to sell.
You need to stop overthinking things and learn how marketing works in the real
world...because it’s very different than in the classroom.
I’ve asked Masters Degree graduates to write me an ad, or a sales page, and they
have no clue where to even start.
Yet, the guy who’s been geeking out over copywriting, content production, and
sales funnels for the past 5 years…
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...has a Youtube channel and an email list he writes offers to every day...
...is running a $10,000/month affiliate marketing business from his laptop, while
traveling the world.
You’re probably geeking out and seriously curious and excited about the
opportunities and potential you’re seeing online.
You’re not afraid to take a risk and put yourself out there, but there are risks you
may not be aware of.
Therefore you need to be diligent about different things than the person with a
formal education who actually learned about how to pay their taxes.
Sticking with that example, I’ve seen countless entrepreneurs have a successful
year and not set money aside for taxes…
...then get a huge tax bill at the end of the year they didn’t prepare for.
They “live their best life” throughout the year, buying the car they’ve always
wanted and the watch they’ve had their eyes on…
...then get that tax bill at the end of the year and realize they’re now broker than
when they started!
They don’t even have the cash laying around to pay the taxes on the money they
made!
Then they spend years after that as a prisoner of their own success…
That’s what I call a landmine, and I’d like to help you avoid it.
It’s something I had to learn because I never had any formal business education
that taught me that.
Somehow I never had any tax issues and I’ve paid every red-cent I’ve owed in
taxes--on time--over my career.
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All your revenue/commissions should flow into one business checking account
throughout the month. We’ll call it an “operations account”.
At the end of each month, add in all your expenses and find out what your net
profit is for that month.
Then, depending on what your tax bracket is, set an estimate of what your tax
owed would be aside into a separate “tax bank account”.
After you moved your tax money into your tax account, pay yourself into your
personal account.
To be clear, you have (at least) three bank accounts for your business:
Now in order to have a business bank account, you need to set up a corporation.
I’ve always used LLC’s or S-Corps, but that’s been based on what state I live in and
other tax advice my CPA has given me.
Set up a corporation and run all your expenses through that corporation to
ensure you get all tax benefits you can.
The other reason to set up a corporation (and not do business in your personal
name) is for credit and personal liability purposes.
Don’t avoid consulting or hiring a CPA and attorney because you think
they’re too expensive.
Legal and tax professionals will take on all kinds of clients and enjoy working with
people trying to do the right thing with their business (even if they don’t have
much of a budget to afford services).
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Does that mean you need to pay $700/month… no! I’m paying that running a multi-
million dollar business! Hopefully, that gives you hope that these really important
tasks within your business are well worth it to do…
But they will cost you big time if you avoid them.
They are one of the biggest scams ever created, yet totally necessary to operate
in the world we live in.
By scams, let me tell you what I mean so you understand that I don’t just throw
words around flippantly.
Literally, the second you turn 18 years old in America you begin getting credit card
offers. Your brain is not even fully developed at this point to make decisions about
debt and credit, but that doesn’t stop them from sending the offers.
That’s why there are so many millions of Americans in debt from both credit cards
and student loans…
...because they were asked to make such huge and important decisions about
their financial future at a time in which their brain wasn’t fully developed to handle
such life-altering decisions.
I have two main credit card accounts (both with American Express).
I pay each of them off at the end of each month to avoid paying interest and so I
don’t get behind on payments.
When I started my first business I brorred $10,000 from my Mom to get it off the
ground.
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Only because I couldn’t get any credit cards due to insufficient credit.
But I paid her off in full and have many generous contributions to her life since
then. She also never pays for a meal when I’m with her ;)
I digress…
I collect reward points on my credit cards from the expenses from my life and
business...
...and my wife and I travel for free--first class, and in wonderful luxurious hotels--a
couple of times per year.
Lastly...get organized.
...to how cutting out 98% of people in life from having close access to my eyes,
ears and mind helped me find my true identity and grow self-esteem.
As an “ADD” entrepreneur type I was all over the place for years. I would start
something and then start something else next month…
I was a tornado.
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I made a commitment to use tools like dropbox and google drive and got really
organized with how I managed my time.
I now have a recurring monthly meeting every month with my CPA and we go over
my P&L so I make sure I set money aside for taxes.
I go through my closet every month and get rid of clothes I haven’t worn in 6
months.
Messy success is stressful and takes lots of hard work to maintain. Often results in
divorce and little to no time with your kids.
I went from constant calls all day long, doing fifty-things an hour and spiraling out
of control on my way to being successful in my first business…
...to earning more net profit with less stress in my next business. Taking my lunch
to my office (which is 5 minutes from my house) and being home for dinner every
day at 5:30 to spend the rest of the night with my family.
Using a calendar. Sticking to it. Not letting vampires suck my time away, because
everyone wants to know “if you got a minute?”
I run a 40 person team totally virtual, like a well-oiled machine and without endless
“calls and meetings” every week.
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And it all started with affiliate marketing, a business model I love and one I still
deploy to this day.
Put family first and build your business like you want to pass it on to them one day.
Be Legendary!
David Sharpe
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