It was summer 2005 when I connected the dots between my offline business, a website and affiliate marketing.
I’m sure I squealed out loud when I realized that, not only could I earn income doing work for local customers, and from new customers my website attracted (via organic and free search), but also through people I’d never be able to service in person, due to proximity. These folks could learn how to DIY from my content and then have the opportunity to purchase helpful products directly from my affiliate links.
Joining affiliate programs and recommending products (some of which I was already recommending to my customers offline) and earning commissions at first felt like a ” too good to be true” discovery. Lo and behold a few months later I made my first $2.65 commission as an affiliate marketer. At that point, I realized this would be my ticket to personal freedom. It’s what I began to call “income leveraging.” And that realization became a mindset (rather than a day dream) toward achieving personal freedom.
Mindset: an established set of attitudes held by someone.
Dream: to contemplate the possibility of doing something.
The difference between dreaming about personal freedom and having a personal freedom mindset comes down to attitude and action. Of course, personal freedom looks different for every person. But in this post, let’s talk about it in the context of doing affiliate marketing to achieve it – or as a stepping stone toward that goal.
Much is written on what affiliate marketing is and how to do it. All you need to do is a Google search and you’ll find all kinds of how-to resources for getting started.
A niche site or blog where you incorporate affiliate marketing offers has the potential to propel you toward personal, financial and locational freedom that most people only dream about. Yep, there’s that dream word again. And yet it’s very achievable for anyone who is willing to learn and work hard at it.
From my experience, these are the essential tasks to get your affiliate business off the ground…
- Keyword research on a hobby or niche to determine interest, competition and potential
- Build a site or blog
- Drive traffic to it using proven strategies
- Research affiliate products related to your niche
- Create content and use contextually relevant affiliate links for your recommendations
- Build an email list
It’s going to be important to understand how to write content for your site/blog that will rank in the top search results at Google and how to strategically structure and place your affiliate links within that content. These skills can be learned by anyone and get easier with practice, like just about anything else.
In order to build your financial freedom, you’ll need to…
- Make time everyday to work on your goals
- Work every minute you can (while you ramp up)
- Learn, learn, learn (tons of free quality resources are available)
- Become a helper (in your niche)
- BELIEVE you’re going to achieve personal freedom
Some of the benefits of being an affiliate marketer include being able to work from anywhere, whenever you choose and on whatever you want. Just imagine. 🙂
In the ten years since I discovered affiliate marketing, it has grown to a multi-billion dollar industry and has experienced ripples and waves along the way. But, for those who persevere, there’s huge income opportunities. And having enough income is one of the key components to this whole personal freedom thing.
You have to learn how to use your time well, navigate your relationships with your audience and if you have a family, manage your personal time, health and wealth. Some characteristics to hone include…
- Being disciplined
- Staying dedicated
- Not expecting GRQ (“get rich quick”, a big myth spread in business)
- Working with your body clock
- Setting and keeping boundaries
- Managing distractions
Affiliate marketing can become a passive income source over time too. For example, let’s say you write an evergreen product review and link to the product with your affiliate link. You polish and publish your review a few times and it starts to convert. You test, improve and decide it’s maximally optimized. Once you have that review where you’re satisfied, earnings become “passive” as the work is complete while the review keeps on working (earning) for you.
Affiliate marketing can be done on the side around a full time job, taking care of family needs or in the midst of just about any life situation. Work on it part time, even few hours a week and, if you keep at it, it WILL build, possibly even into a full time income. Imagine the possibilities!
The best part of doing affiliate marketing isn’t just the money, it’s the personal freedom that follows. Soon you’ll start thinking about extended trips where you’ll vacation part of the time and work part of the time. Next thing you know, you’ll be buying one way tickets with open ended return times knowing that you can work wherever you are.
Many affiliate marketers later go on to creating their own products and starting their own affiliate programs. SiteSell will be focusing on monetization in the coming months so keep your eye on this blog for some great info about increasing your online earnings. That said, creating your own products is not for everyone and lots of affiliates prefer promoting affiliate programs rather than their own products for the simplicity and freedom.
So where do you stand? Will you keep on dreaming about personal freedom? Or will you forge ahead with a “take action” kind of mindset? With the right attitude and action steps, affiliate marketing can get your online business on the road to as much freedom as you choose.
Take action now by joining the SiteSell Affiliate Program and move closer to achieving your own personal freedom one day at a time.
Personal Freedom Series:
- Solopreneurship IS Personal Freedom
- Personal Freedom Quotes by Everyday Solopreneurs
- Personal Freedom – A Dream Or A Mindset?
- What Is The Real Meaning Of Personal Freedom To A Solopreneur?
Latest posts by SiteSell Affiliate Program (see all)
- Starting Your Own Affiliate Program - August 31, 2015
- Personal Freedom – A Dream Or A Mindset? - July 22, 2015
- Top Affiliate Marketing Tips - March 27, 2015
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