Affiliate marketing has become a trending topic in the digital marketing community, and for good reason! This low-risk, high-reward opportunity is great for those who want to monetize their love of a product. Despite some claims, affiliate marketing won’t make you an overnight millionaire. But that doesn’t mean you can’t make a serious profit. Successful affiliates are advocates for the products they’re referring – and they’re reaping the rewards! Keep reading to find out if affiliate marketing is right for you – and tips on how you can become an affiliate all-star. What Is Affiliate Marketing? Think of affiliate marketers as the middlemen between clients and brands. Is there a product or service you don’t hesitate to recommend to family or friends? Partnering with these brands is a great way to get rewarded for your endorsement. Affiliate marketers earn commission by referring traffic and sales to a retailer’s website through their own promotional efforts. Prospective affiliates can join a program through a merchandiser directly or a network that manages multiple affiliate programs. What Are The Benefits Of Affiliate Marketing?
Low-Risk, High Reward: Becoming an affiliate usually doesn’t requires no start-up fees or investment.
Advanced Tracking Tools: A good affiliate program provides you with the tools to measure your campaign’s effectiveness.
No “Selling” Experience Required: It’s as simple as creating good content.
Not Your Average Job: Create a steady flow of income by promoting a company’s products and services.
Choosing A Niche When choosing an affiliate marketing program, first ask yourself a few questions:
Are you knowledgeable in the topic?
Is the content something people are searching for?
What problem are you trying to solve?
Is there room for growth? Can you add value to the content
Your answers will help you identify if a niche is right for you. How Do You Drive Traffic? When you sign up, you’ll receive a unique affiliate commissions code. This is used to track the visitors and sales that were directed from your efforts. But how do you drive traffic to a merchandiser’s website in the first place? Some common affiliate promotional strategies include:
Don’t be afraid to get creative in your approach! Blogs like Affiliate Tip, AM Navigator, ShareASale and ABestWeb are great resources for campaign inspiration. How Do You Build An Audience? There are a number of tracking tools that give you the power to track the reach of your campaigns. Some frequently used services include:
Google Analytics is a free service that lets you measure your advertising ROI, track your social reach and manage your applications. With its suite of features, you can analyze visitor traffic and ensure you’re getting the most out of your marketing efforts.
Page Insights provides information about user activity on your Facebook page. You can view metrics, identify your most engaging posts and gather information on your audience.
YouTube Analytics lets you monitor the performance of your channel, with up-to-date metrics and reports.
9 Ways To Be An Awesome Affiliate
What’s Next? Have a passion for email marketing? Consider using AWeber as your autoresponder to boost your affiliate marketing!.
So you’re a new mom, and of course you want to share every adorable baby photo and every precious anecdote about your little bundle of joy with all of your friends. But wait! Before you hit Facebook, there are a few simple rules that every parent should follow. Seriously, it will make the virtual world a much better place for the rest of us. Here are five common new mom Facebook fails: 1. Creating an account for your baby Not only does it violate Facebook’s terms of service – it’s super weird to see first person posts from a tiny human who is not yet old enough to talk, let alone type. 2. Graphic photos and status updates Please, please, spare us the gory details. We do not want to know what you did with your placenta and we are not interested in reading about your child’s bowel movements. Also, let’s talk about delivery room photos. By all means, show us an adorably swaddled photo of your newborn in your arms. But do not, DO NOT, show us a photo of you in the process of giving birth. Remember, keep your private parts private. 3. Paging Dr. Facebook It’s one thing to ask if anyone in your friend circle has experience dealing with croup, or to survey some opinions on how to handle teething. It’s quite another to treat your friend list like it’s the American Academy of Pediatrics. (Unless, of course, your friend list actually is The American Academy of Pediatrics.) Let’s repeat: Facebook doesn’t wear a white lab coat. Quite simply, if your baby has symptoms you’re concerned about, refer to a physician, not a wall post. 4. Too many posts Baby photos are almost always a hit, but no one wants their feed cluttered up with a thousand pictures of little Cameron sitting in her car seat. Think quality over quantity and save the extras to your “Baby’s First Year” external hard drive. 5. Privacy settings This last one is actually pretty serious – don’t forget to check your privacy settings. So many people are unaware of how much information they are sharing with the world. It’s one thing to let co-workers or strangers or strange co-workers creep on your life. But when your kids are involved, it becomes a safety issue. It’s not just you anymore– and what’s more important than keeping your little one safe? What are some of your pet peeves when it comes to Facebook? Source: http://www.modernmom.com/2b420888-3b4b-11e3-b6a4-bc764e04a41e.html
Overall, more women than men stay at home to raise children (at least for a short while). But why? By: Andrea Mara WHY IS IT that more women than men stay at home with children? In 98% of families with one parent at home, it’s a woman who takes that role. Assuming there isn’t a secret world where stay-at-home mothers get to loll about all day in spas sipping Pinot Grigio, there must be something behind it. Here are some theories (discussed here many times already, so you’re excused if you skip them):
Women are hardwired as caregivers and have a strong desire to be at home, therefore are more inclined than fathers to take the opportunity to do so if it’s financially possible
Some women seek flexibility in the workplace and have little option but to resign when they are told “no”
Some women are put on the mommy-track by employers, so are less motivated to stay in the workplace, if opportunities such as voluntary redundancy or obstacles such as childcare costs arise
Some women earn less than men, so if childcare becomes an unaffordable, it’s more likely that the mother in this scenario will give up work
Women grow up with in a society that sees more mothers than fathers at home with children, and therefore consciously or sub-consciously see it as the norm
Women experience guilt more than men do, and worry more about the effect on their children of having two working parents
Societal or familial expectations can put pressure on women to stay at home
Men feel pressure to be the breadwinner, to have a job, and are therefore less likely to stay at home.
Of course none of these is true for everyone but I think there’s an element of truth in all of them, and each one accounts for a proportion of the women who are at home. I wonder too if the fact that women take maternity leave and men don’t is a factor? Is maternity leave a taster of stay-at-home life, and does it ease women into the idea that we could potentially do it full-time? When everything changed In my early thirties, I went to the office every day, just like my husband. We worked similar hours in similar jobs, and travelled home together, talking about work stuff and what we’d do that weekend and who was thinking of buying an apartment in Bulgaria (it was the early noughties). I earned about the same as my husband did, and spent it on clothes and makeup and shoes and dinners and cocktails and holidays (again, it was the noughties). The arrival of a baby-bump didn’t change much in terms of work and money and day-to-day living, so – except for the cocktails – life went on pretty much as it always had done. Then my waters broke – in my office – and nothing was ever the same again. Well, of course it wasn’t the same – we had a beautiful little daughter, who completely took over our world from the moment she entered it. But day to day life changed utterly for me. And it did for my husband too, but not to the same extent. He still went to work every day – he just had nobody to chat to on the commute. I on the other hand swapped heels for flats, and coffee for decaf tea (at least until I saw sense). Work colleagues were replaced by a tiny girl who was my boss, my co-worker and my team all rolled into one. Instead of conference calls, I had fleeting attempts to reply to text messages while she sat in her chair for oh, at least five or six minutes before wanting to be up in my arms. Lunch from the deli was replaced by a thrown together sandwich at the kitchen counter, with a baby on the hip. The afternoon team meeting became coffee with friends or a less exciting trip to the supermarket. And home-time was not about my commute anymore but all about my husband’s – how soon could he get home to help me with our daughter, so I could start dinner and take a deep breath. Adjusting to the new role Our relationship changed too – the family dynamic changed. I remember my husband used to come home and tell me about something that happened at work – I’d reply with a story about something that had happened at home that day – something really interesting like how long the baby had slept or something funny the postman had said (who was after all, the only other adult I’d spoken to that day). My husband never once asked how I hadn’t found time to cook something or why the laundry was taking on Everest-like proportions on the dining room table, but I’m sure it must have crossed his mind to wonder what on earth I was doing all day. Actually, I still don’t know what I was doing, I just know it took all day. Two months in, I had figured out the baby stuff to some extent, I’d found a routine, and I’d even cooked dinners on two particularly great days. The realisation dawned: I was a housewife. The me who had lived a life similar in every way to that of my husband, could never have imagined being a housewife; working on dishes and laundry instead of spreadsheets and e-mails. And it wasn’t an overnight transformation – it was gradual, with the significant distraction of a delicious, all-consuming baby girl. But yes, I was a housewife. And six months later, I went back to work, and again there was a shift in the balance. I was working full-time like my husband, and we shared all childcare and housework evenly. No longer a housewife – a new title: working mother. It gets easier Two more maternity leaves meant two more stints at home, and I really started to find my way. Being at home was certainly hard work, but I loved it. Not so much the first time round, but the subsequent two maternity leaves were easier, more fun, less lonely. And now, if I imagine a situation where I’m at home again for any reason, for any duration, I know I can do it – it’s not a mystery, it’s something I’ve done before. For my husband, on the other hand, it would be a much bigger adjustment. One that he would embrace, one at which he would excel, but the psychological leap to house-parent would be far greater for him than for me. Which is why, all other things being equal, if one of us had to give up work for a period, I think it would be me, and I think it’s partly because I’ve been there for a test run and I know I can do it. It’s one common factor for most mothers – we have maternity leave, and our partners don’t. So maybe that’s part of the reason more mothers stay at home. Or maybe it’s all the other stuff – society and salary and employer inflexibility and guilt. Or maybe it’s just the innate desire to be there when they’re small – something that stems from carefully carrying them inside us for nine months before they see the world. Either way, I’ve had a taster, and if it came to it, I think I’d be just fine with second helpings. Source: http://www.thejournal.ie/readme/why-do-more-women-than-men-stay-at-home-with-children-1608613-Aug2014/
Ever since I started working from home my family live has changed dramatically, in a positive way. There are so many small and less important things that can be done while working from home which is just to much to mention. I will keep it simple and share the 5 benefits that had the most impact on my work-life balance. 1. Drop off & Pick up kids from school myself The smile my kids gave me when they realized mommy was going to do the school routine on a daily basis is priceless! Other then that it's nice that teachers know how mommy actually looks like. Not to mention the amount of activities I don't miss anymore, because the relevant letter was lost somewhere. 2. Not stressing out because one kid is sick Either hearing the phone ring to pick one up at school or just keep him/her at home all day isn't a problem. It's even quite nice to have some cuddle time with just one of them. Being sick also means a lot of sleep, so after a great cuddle and some mommy-time it's bedtime. I can still do my work and know my sick kid is well taken care of.
3. The cost of Childcare isn't a burden We as a family are Dutch and only live in the UK for about 2 years. This means we don't have grannies nearby who we can count on to take the kids of our hands for a day per week or so. To have 3 kids in breakfast club and after school club for 5 days a week has a financial impact. Not to mention these costs in the holidays and the list of inset days. We definitely noticed the difference at the end of the month! 4. When daddy comes home we instantly have family time The kids love to help mommy cook and as soon as dad walks in, it's dinner and really family time to chat or play all together. 5. Mommy just isn't stressed anymore While working away from home, in an office, I needed to behave like it. Behaving like an employee is exhausting! I can't say, dress or do what's really me. This isn't even the real problem, but by the time I got home I was so tired that I would get stressed out by each and everything my kids or partner would say or do. That wasn't fun for them either. Now I can really listen to school stories, my partner's work issues and be comfortable telling mine....without getting stessed! I understand I am in a privileged situation, but you can also have a great work life balance. For more information Please share your comments or questions I love to hear them!
This article is written for people who work too hard, too much or for too long, whether it's at home or in the workplace. These 10 tried and tested personal development suggestions are relevant to both work and home situations. If you're tired and overloaded with things to do, these tips can help you! When I started designing training programmes in the early 80s, Britain was coming out of the 70s slump, and all efforts were bent towards productivity and growth. Consequently, the aim of time management training was to help individuals to improve each shining hour - stuffing activity into every corner and pocket of their lives. There were skill-development tapes to listen to while travelling and even tapes to play during the night, so as to absorb the content subliminally while sleeping. Work was the focus. Efficiency was the watchword. The dried-out husks of burnout victims are testimony to this fevered approach. 20 or so years on, we've learned that balance and sustainability is important, although the trend will probably move in the direction of short-term productivity again in the wake of the recent downturn. Most of us are aware of the need to get the balance right, but find that doing so isn't always that easy. Forward-looking organisations and academic institutions are also aware of that need to have a work-life policy in place. Despite this, a British Labour Force Survey (LFS) conducted in 07/08 indicated that 13.5 million working days were lost because of work-related stress, depression or anxiety in that year. That makes it the most common reason for lost working time. According to new research conducted by American Express Insurance Services, 82% of working people neglect important things in their home lives every week. Do you? 1.Find your own balance There are no rules. Balance is an individual thing and everyone has to find their own equilibrium. It's up to you to prioritise, make adjustments and decide what you are and are not prepared to do. Don't tell yourself ‘I should be able to...' or ‘She/he can do it, so I ought to be able to.' And, most importantly, don't listen to anyone else telling you what you should or should not be able to do! Pay attention to your own needs and wellbeing. Stay in touch with how you are, physically and emotionally, and listen to your intuition. If you feel you're out of balance day in, day out, then you are! It's time to look at what's going on and re-evaluate. 2.Beware of - adrenaline addiction Adrenaline will keep you going, but it also keeps you in a state of readiness for danger, fight or flight. It's exciting and it's productive and it feels like energy, but it isn't. You can only run on it for a short time without experiencing its downside. Too much adrenaline for too long makes you stressed and tetchy - and wanting another high. If you continue to be in that state for long periods, it will eventually run out, leaving you with no energy, anxious, depressed or even ill. If adrenaline is your addiction, you may need some of it to get going. That's how it starts. Then it's too easy to keep pushing yourself, never giving yourself time to come down. Sooner or later you're running on empty, unable to relax, sleeping badly and on a short fuse. These are the warning signs. Cooling down time is as important after an adrenaline high as it is when you exercise. So do something soothing or undemanding in between the highs. Schedule some methodical, routine tasks after a big burst of work, a successful presentation or a period of strain or activity at home. Give yourself time to come down and feel tired. Don't worry if you feel depleted, low and twitchy for a while - it's the adrenaline draining away. Given time, it will pass. 3.Beware of - martyrdom addiction ‘I've got so much to do'. ‘I've got to do everything round here'. Do these sentences ring a bell? Do you feel put upon and resentful while at the same time hogging all the work? If so, martyrdom could become an addiction for you, pushing you to take on more, draining you physically and emotionally and raising your stress levels. And here's the hard word - it's ego inside out. The motivation for martyrdom, and the big payoff, is that it makes you feel important - a hero. And you think it makes you look busy and important. It doesn't. It's annoying and infuriating for people around you and it makes you look like... a martyr! Be alert to this if it's your weakness and let other people take the weight off your shoulders. 4.Ask for help Asking for help is so often the best way out of stressful situations and dilemmas. Sometimes all it needs is for you to stop hugging the problem to yourself and get it out in the open - talk to someone. It's not so hard to do, and on the whole, people like to be asked. That's what managers and colleagues are for! Common reasons for not asking for help are: •pride in your work and/or not wanting to look as if you can't manage on your own •not wanting to bother anyone, be a nuisance or make a fuss •perfectionism and lack of confidence: you're afraid to show something that isn't complete. The answer is firstly to recognise when you need help, and secondly, to understand why you don't ask for help. Don't leave it too long - the sooner you ask, the better 5.Choose ‘good enough' over ‘perfect When something needs to be done, ask yourself the question: is it important that the job is simply done, or that it's done perfectly? 9 times out of 10, the answer is that it needs to be done rather than done perfectly. A twist on this - which is about delegation - is to question whether the job has to be done and finished or done your way, by you. For example, Martha has always done the family laundry, and she's developed a system that works. However, now she's working full-time, she just can't handle that task in addition to everything else. She ignored her husband's offers of help because she didn't trust him to do it properly. Finally, after it had become a huge issue, she let it go. Her husband Ben shares it with her now. He doesn't do it her way, and she can still get irritated by the way he flings mangled baby t-shirts with their sleeves still inside out on the radiators, but she can turn a blind eye. Better that it's done each day than to have a mountain of laundry that takes all weekend. 6.Say NO This is not about saying no all the time or saying no to work within your job description! This is about the extra responsibilities you're asked to take on both at home and work. If you are someone who tends to say ‘yes' and thereby takes on too much and gets overloaded, here are a couple of techniques. First up: if someone asks you to do something extra, STALL. Say you'll get back to him or her in five minutes or when you're near your diary, then use that time to think clearly about whether to say yes or no. Second: If your answer is going to be NO, the Transactional Analysis technique of ‘broken record' is really useful. •Keep your eye on the goal - that of saying ‘no' •Actually say the word NO and keep saying it at every opportunity, every time another appeal is made to your good nature, your impeccable skills, etc. This is important. Don't justify your actions or give excuses. There's no need to be nasty or rude. Simply saying ‘No, I'm sorry. I don't have time', or variations on that idea, is enough. 7.Project in - project out If you want to say yes to taking on an extra responsibility or project and have no time for it (see the last suggestion), review your commitments and get rid of another project or task. If you're already overloaded, then in no time at all, even the most wonderful-looking project will become another chore. 8.Keep a weekend free Keep one weekend every 4-6 weeks free from any commitments, plans, work, activities etc. Spend it with your partner, your family or just dossing at home by yourself. This doesn't necessarily mean that you do nothing, but rather that you don't structure the time in advance and fill it with plans and ‘to do' lists. 9.Do something for yourself one evening a week This must be something you enjoy and look forward to. It doesn't apply to things you think will be good for you or things that your children or partner would enjoy. This is for you. Whatever it is - having a meal with someone, reading a novel in the bath or lolling on the sofa with a glass of wine, watching TV - make it non-negotiable. Turn off your mobile, don't check your emails, screen incoming calls and only ring back if it's an emergency. Stick to it and don't put it off. 10.Draw a line between home and work If you're rushed and overloaded, what can happen - and it's very common - is that while you're at work, you worry about things at home and when you're at home, you're preoccupied with work. Crazy, isn't it? Download the things on your mind before you leave work (or home). Write a note in your diary, on your PC, on your Blackberry or on a piece of paper and list the things you need to do when you come back. Keep your mind focused on the fact that this is the end of that activity, workday or tasks at home. Shut the diary, turn off your PC, save your message and LEAVE IT! Source: http://www.jobs.ac.uk/careers-advice/careers-advice/1339/top-10-tips-getting-a-work-life-balance
A couple years back, an article that claimed “precisely zero” women work in the affiliate marketing industry hit the internet, upsetting many female powerhouses who play a large role in the space to this day. Although the article was unfounded and written off of very little research, it brought to light that some people perceive affiliate marketing as an exclusively-male profession. Why? The reasons vary. Some believe that women stray due to the nature of industry-related events, such as a network luncheons taking place at a gentlemen’s club. Others speculate that women avoid technology-related occupations and, therefore, don’t take interest in the tech-oriented environment of performance marketing. Fortunately, cold hard facts debunk the perceptions people have about women in this space. For starters, women dominate the US labor force, holding more than 51% of all professional occupations and filling roughly 49% of marketing-related occupations. In the affiliate marketing realm, they hold over a third of the positions open to advertising professionals. Furthermore, women make up almost a third of tech-related occupations in the US. When comparing these statistics to numbers over the past decade and placing them up against their male counterparts, it reveals that not only is the number of female employees in the workplace growing steadily, but the female presence has increased proportionately across male-dominated fields as women are slowing taking over jobs traditionally held by men. Considering the numbers, people who speculate that women avoid affiliate marketing positions simply don’t know the facts. Beyond statistics, however, they also overlook something women bring to the space that their male peers may disregard. Biologically speaking, men focus on facts, numbers and the hierarchical structure of business. Women, however, are more likely to concentrate on experiences, relationships and the broader picture of a business opportunity. This quality is exceptionally useful in performance marketing, where sales are largely driven by consumer appeal. If an advertiser can perceive and fill the underlying needs of their consumer, the numbers will follow. That’s not to say men are incapable of having the same effect or of contributing in the same ways a woman can; it merely points out that women are just as capable of being successful in the affiliate world as men, even if their initial approach is entirely different. Fortunately, women working in affiliate marketing have received more recognition since the ill-advised article went live. Bloggers took to the internet in favor of female affiliate managers making big moves. The largest tradeshow in the industry hosted a speaking panel event during which four knowledgeable and credible women spoke about their satisfaction with their careers, their ability to move ahead despite their gender and the obvious reality that women have a place on all sides of an affiliate company, tech-related or not. Not surprisingly, the female presence continues to grow and mold the future of performance-based marketing. The best advice to women trying to break into affiliate marketing so far? Don’t make business partnerships and opportunities relevant to being male or female and gender roles won’t play a part in your success. Source: http://blog.madrivo.com/women-in-affiliate-marketing/
As you may or may not know, I am personally against any and all form of MLM (multilevel marketing), but proponents of it often ask what other opportunity is there to make money online besides through this method? The answer is affiliate marketing and in my honest opinion/experience, I feel this alternative is far better. What is affiliate marketing? Affiliate marketing is the process of promoting someone else’s product through your website/email/social network. With affiliate marketing, you are essentially a middleman. Here’s how this works in the most basic example: People look for things on the internet, often products/services. They hop onto places like Google and do a search for such things. If you own a website which appears to these people and they visit it, you can sell them something related to their interest. What you sell is a product/service and you act as an affiliate, meaning if they buy it through you, then you earn a commission. Example:
Someone looks for ways to stop their dog from barking, so they hop on Google.
Your site appears and they decide to visit it in hopes of finding an answer to their problem.
Your site shows them ways to help dogs stop barking, as well as promotes a book on disciplining dogs.
They like the information you have to offer and decide to buy the book you are promoting.
Once they buy the book from your site, you earn a commission.
Now take that person and multiply it by the hundreds, thousands and many more who also look for similar things on a weekly basis, then multiply the potential to earn money from these people and you have yourself the potential of a strong online business.
Here are some pros of affiliate marketing: You can sell pretty much ANYTHING as an affiliate. One of the most popular ways affiliates make money online is through product reviews. Since there’s millions of different products available online, there are also millions of different opportunities to promote them. Generally if you do things correctly, you don’t really have to sell much since people already know what they want. As an affiliate, you just make it easier for them to buy it, thus there’s no typical sales process necessary. Cons of affiliate marketing: 1. In 99.9% of cases, you need to have fundamental things in place before you become a successful internet marketing:
A niche.
A website.
Traffic (visitors).
This takes time to amass, but once you do, the rewards and profits can come in on autopilot. Get training on how to do this properly. What is multilevel marketing? Also known as MLM, this is a business model which in has similarities to affiliate marketing, but goes deeper and grey area territory as far as I’m concerned. MLM in general is a process of marketing in which you usually get people to sign up to a program you’re promoting. The more people you sign up, the more you can make in commissions. In that sense, it works exactly like affiliate marketing, but one key difference is this: If the people you refer start to refer others into the business, you can make money of those secondary referrals. Now on paper this may seem like a much more profitable opportunity than affiliate marketing, but as you’ll find out in the cons, theory and realism are 2 different things. The pros of multilevel marketing: 1. Considering you are either a VERY good salesman or have a large list of leads at your disposal, you can make a lot of money through referring people into an MLM. This is something most people lack and thus fail in the business (among other reasons). 2. You can potentially make a lot of money with an MLM vs affiliate marketing. The cons of multilevel marketing: 1. Generally, many MLM programs get a bad rep because often times they are accused of being pyramid schemes. mlm pyramid scheme 2. It is VERY difficult to sell an MLM program/product to someone. Unlike in affiliate marketing where people come to you, with MLM programs, generally you come to them and it is VERY rare that you can sell an idea to someone. Most of the time, people are sold on a business idea of how they can make a lot of money through an MLM, only to find out the hard way it’s just a dream. 3. Many MLM programs come and go (often because they are pyramid schemes) so it is very difficult to find stability. Even if you have a strong list of people who follow you everywhere you go, it’s difficult to keep hopping from one MLM to another and maintaining credibility within your list’s eyes, at least from my point of view. They are however people who keep doing this and make a very successful living doing so. I am personally not for that sort of business because I feel it is basically a wild goose chase for many. 4. There are a lot of MLM programs which have their own products to sell to others. They recruit people, sell them these products and allow them to re-sell it. Usually the process of re-selling is difficult in my experience because the products being sold have other competitors on the market, often times more popular, making it even more difficult to sell. Affiliate marketing vs MLM. And the winner is… I have to say affiliate marketing. I have tried MLM before and did not succeed. What I can absolutely say without a doubt is this: If you want to succeed in either industry, I suggest doing it online and if that’s the case to get proper training on doing so. Personally I advise against getting involved with MLM’s because I feel they are more difficult to sell to people, not to mention their business model can be VERY questionable. With affiliate marketing, there is massive potential to not only make a lot of money, but also genuinely help people as well as materialize a success online business which is built upon YOUR personal passion. I know I am a bit biased towards MLM programs, so if you agree/disagree with my position on this, let me know in the comments section below! Source: http://howtomakehonestmoneyonline.com/why-affiliate-marketing-is-superior-to-mlm
How to Create Additional Sources of Income in Your Home Business I first came across the concept of multiple streams of income in Barbara Winter’s book, Making a Living Without a Job, in which she recommends creating multiple profit centers. Robert Allen, the real estate entrepreneur, also wrote a couple books promoting the idea of multiple streams of income. Creating more than one income stream sounds overwhelming, after all, you already have one source of work, now you need to create more? The short answer is yes. The benefits of having of several sources of income include: 1. It’s easier to create several small income producing streams over one large one. For example, it’s easier to create three streams that earn $1,000 than one stream that earns $3,000. 2. It reduces the risk of being left without any income. If you’re laid off or one source of income drops, you have other sources to help you get by. Especially in home business, which has an ebb and flow, you can offset the ebbs through having more than one source of income. 3. It helps you avoid boredom in work by having different things to do every day. 4. You can create income streams based on your interests, talents and passions. Of course, there are a few challenges with multiple income streams including: 1. It’s difficult to keep on top of all tasks that need to be done for every income stream. 2. It’s a balancing act to give enough attention to each income stream to keep them growing and profitable. Barbara Winter likens it to plate spinning. 3. The start-up time for each income stream is time and energy consuming. Even with the challenges, I recommend developing more than one income stream. The easiest way to create multiple income streams is to build streams related to your home business. Here are tips to adding more income streams to your home business. 1. Take out a piece of paper and write your main business product or service in the middle to start a mindmap. If you’re a virtual assistant, you’d write VA in the middle of the paper. 2. Create four spokes titled “Products,” “Services,” “Advertising/Affiliate,” and “Other” off of your main product or service. 3. Create spokes off of each of these options with ideas on how you can make money at them. Earning sources include books, courses, merchandise, coaching, freelancing, speaking, training, selling advertising and affiliate marketing. For example, a virtual assistant can create tangible or digital products, such as books, courses, and videos that teach others how to be a virtual assistant in the “products” spoke. For services, she can offer additional services, coaching or speaking (i.e. How a Virtual Assistant Can Save Businesses Time and Money). Under other, she can expand her business by bringing on contract virtual assistants and become a manager of a VA company. Not all businesses will be able to come up with ideas for each spoke, but every business should be able to develop extra income streams from their home business idea. 4. Focus first on passive income streams that you create once but they continue to generate income. For example, writing a book is a passive income stream. You write it once and sell it over and over. The word passive is a little deceptive because you need to market the book. Nevertheless, compared to non-passive sources of income, which you need to do over and over to make money such as providing a service, passive income streams require less time once they’re created. Other forms of passive income include other written (i.e. courses), audio or video creations, affiliate marketing, licensing your idea, franchising or continuity programs (i.e. memberships). 5. Next, focus on income streams that can expand your business. For example, public speaking or teaching can create additional income, as well as generate new clients. 6. Wait until one income stream is up and running before starting the next. Putting your focus into many areas at once dilute your efforts and slow you down. 7. Drop an income stream if it isn’t working. You want to give your additional income streams the time and effort needed to get them running, but if they don’t start generating income or if you hate it, drop it. For example, I don’t like having appointments. While I enjoy coaching people, to do so requires appointments, so I don’t do much coaching. Although adding income streams takes time, creating them within your current business is faster and easier than starting completely new income streams from scratch. This method of generating extra sources of income works well for any size business in any industry. For example, Amazon.com started by selling books. Today it sells thousands of other products including its own product, the Kindle, and is a print and digital publisher. Originally, my website, Work-At-Home Success only provided information and resources about working from home. Today, through the site, I offer ecourses and print and digital books, and I speak in-person and via phone or web to groups all over the world. Plus I sell advertising and promote affiliate programs. With creativity, planning and focus, you create additional sources of income for your business, as well. Source: http://homebusiness.about.com/od/growing/fl/Making-Multiple-Streams-of-Income.htm
Do you want to continue working 50, 70, 100 hours a week the rest of your life? Good! Neither do I. Do you want to be able to take time off whenever you want to, without worrying about what's going to happen to your business? So do I! There's a saying in the corporate world: "Don't make yourself irreplaceable. If you can't be replaced, you can't be promoted." As an entrepreneur, this is still true in its own way. Let's think of "being promoted" as earning more and working less. You can raise your prices, but until you can remove yourself from being directly involved in doing the work that generates the income, there's always going to be a limit to how much you can earn, and it can only increase very slowly. Passive income, on the other hand, is income that does not require your direct involvement. Some kinds of passive income you may be familiar with include owning rental property, royalties on an invention or creative work, and network marketing. If you want to earn more, work less, and have a decent retirement, you're going to have to start creating income streams that do not require your direct involvement. Whether you're just starting your business, or you've been running it a while, the sooner you start thinking about how you are going to shift your business model to create more passive income, the sooner you can achieve personal and financial freedom. Let's look at two basic types of passive income, and a third type of income that, while technically not passive, is a key strategy for earning more and working less. Residual Income Residual income is revenue that occurs over time from work done one time. Some examples include:
An insurance agent who gets commission every year when a customer renews his policy
A network marketing or direct sales rep's income from her direct customers when they reorder product every month
An aerobics instructor who produces a video and sells it at the gyms where she teaches
A marketing consultant who creates a workbook and sells it in e-book format on the Internet
A photographer who makes his photos available through a stock photography clearinghouse and gets paid a royalty whenever someone buys one of his images
A restaurant or retail owner who has grown to the point of hiring a trustworthy manager
As you can see, there are many different ways to generate residual income across a wide variety of businesses. It may be recurring income from the same customers, or the sales of a product to new customers. It may require no personal involvement whatsoever, such as an e-book sold on a web site, or it may require some personal interaction, such as the insurance agent calling the customer to remind them about their renewal and ask them if they want to change any of their coverage. Often, it's something that you can delegate to an assistant. Note that this is different from merely recurring income. Recurring income may still require your involvement to earn the income, e.g., a coach or consultant on a monthly retainer, or a caterer who delivers lunch every Monday to the local school board. While this "active recurring income" offers welcome stability, it also tends to tie you down, and you still have limits on your earning capacity based on your own personal production capacity. Leveraged Income Leveraged income leverages the work of other people to create income for you. Some examples of leveraged income include:
An e-book author selling her e-book through affiliates who promote the product
A network marketer who builds a downline and receives commissions on the sales made by people in his downline
A general contractor who makes a profit margin on the work done by sub-contractors
Franchising your business model to other entrepreneurs (the ultimate leveraged income)
Again, there are many different models in many different businesses. The key is that you are making money off of other people's labor, rather than primarily your own. Note that leveraged income may or may not also be residual income. When you combine them, that's even better. Active Leveraged Income This is a term I use to describe income that requires your direct participation, but that you can make more money by having more people involved. This generally involves a one-time event, such as:
A seminar or class
A conference or convention
Concerts and dance recitals
Raves and other parties
Although these require your direct participation, your earning potential is much higher than if someone were just paying you a direct hourly rate. Fill a room with 1,000 people paying $50 each and you can cover your facility cost, promotional cost, and staffing fees and still have a nice chunk of change left over. Applying It Now is the time to think about how to apply this in your business. Can you create a product that people will buy over and over again? Can you engage others to sell your product? How could you make money off the work of others? The sooner you answer these questions, the sooner you'll have financial and personal freedom. Source: http://entrepreneurs.about.com/od/gettingstarted/a/passiveincome.htm
Are you interested in starting an email marketing company? Do you need a sample email marketing business plan template? If YES, then I advice you read on. According to Wikipedia, researchers estimated that about US$1.51 billion was spent on e-mail marketing campaigns by companies in the United States of America in 2011. This amount is also expected to grow to about $2.468 billion by 2016. This shows just how much e-mail marketing is gaining relevance in the business world today. E-mail marketing involves sending out promotional messages to clients/prospective clients through e-mails. Such messages could be advertisements, updates, brand awareness campaigns or requests. E-mail marketing seeks to build a relationship between a seller and his clients or to preserve an existing relationship and further build trust and loyalty between a seller and his clients. What are the types of e-mail marketing services?
Direct emails
Direct e-mails are sent to promote a particular product or sales offer. Companies who offer e-mail marketing services gather the e-mail addresses of people they wish to send such messages to by buying prospective leads from companies who offer lead generation services. Sometimes, an e-mail marketing company may offer both services.
Transactional e-mails
Transactional e-mails are sent to complete or confirm a transaction initiated by a client with the sending company. For instance, if a prospective client visits your sales website and fills a registration form asking for further details about a particular product, transactional e-mails would then be sent to such a client to further engage the customer and trigger his interest in the products. E-mail marketing service companies have become relevant over the years as many companies have discovered their effectiveness and how they can help to increase sales compared to other methods of advertisement. Most companies would rather outsource their e-mail marketing services to professionals who possess the necessary skills and expertise to achieve an effective e-mail marketing campaign. It would also allow the company focus on other aspects of the business. You can begin a career in e-mail marketing by starting your own e-mail marketing company. Below is a guide to help you get started. Starting an Email Marketing Company – Sample Business Plan Template
Write your business plan
The first step in setting your own e-mail marketing company is to draft your business plan. In your business plan, you should be able to identify your target customers and how you will reach them. You should also identify all the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the business.
Decide on the services you want to offer
You should also decide on the category of e-mail marketing services you would be offering. E-mail marketing involves several aspects. There are those who specialize in developing good e-mail marketing content that would help to sell products, there are also others who specialize in building e-mail lists and lead generation for their clients. Therefore, you have to decide on the services that you are willing and able to provide to your clients.
Observe your competitors
Going into a business like this requires that you carry out a thorough research on the business and those who have been in the business before you. This would help you understand the opportunities and challenges that exist in the e-mail marketing business. You would also be able to devise means of overcoming those challenges when you start your own business.
Purchase E-mail Marketing Software
To effectively run your e-mail marketing business, you would need to invest in a very good e-mail marketing software. E-mail marketing software are used to send bulk e-mails, build e-mail lists for your various clients, develop e-mail marketing content and to track the e-mails sent to see how many were opened and how many were converted to actual sales. E-mail marketing software makes the work faster and easier.
5. Determine your prices
The next thing to do is to figure out how much you should charge for your services. You have to take into consideration your business expenses as well as the time and efforts you will invest in your business before coming up with a competitive price that would justify your efforts and expenses.
Devise a sales and marketing strategy
This is a kind of business that needs effective and strategic marketing. You would need to carefully decide on how you want to promote your services and build a customer base.
Create a business website
As an e-mail marketer, you can hardly do much without a professionally designed business website. Your website would serve as your landing page where your own clients can check you out. You would also need a good internet service provider and host server that would be able to handle a large volume of data that you would most likely be dealing with. In conclusion, I want you to know that E-mail marketing is a smart business idea especially now that it is increasingly becoming popular among many companies. Over the next few years, the usage of e-mail marketing as a means of advertising is expected to rise and you can position your own company to take a large share of the market by starting your own e-mail marketing business now and offering your clients first class services with proven results that would keep them coming back and referring others.
