Build A  Reliable Retirement Income From Home With This Complete Guide To Affiliate Marketing!
1–2 Hours a Day Is All You Need To
Set Up A Passive Income Stream For  Retirement Freedom! 

For Retirees And Pre-Retirees Who Want Freedom, Flexibility, And Financial Security At Any Age. 

You'll Need A Website (Free!)

Get Started For FREE! Launch Your Stunning, Profit-Ready Website—In Seconds! 

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Following Is A Complete Step-By-Step Affiliate Marketing Course - FREE! (For Now)

Discover How To Develop A Fun Business From Home In Your Spare Time. 

Yes, there is some work involved in affiliate marketing, but it can be a lot of fun... And It Can Be Very Profitable! Once The Business Is Set Up It's Very Little Work!  Hundreds of thousands of people around the world are making a good living referring customers to businesses and getting paid commissions (This is known as "affiliate marketing"). 

What Work Do You Have To Do To Be Successful    

1. Pick a topic (niche) you enjoy.  

2. Select a handful of vendors that you believe in.

3. Write articles, create videos or podcasts... or all three...help people get what they want from the vendor you have selected for them...that will pay you a commission.    

4. Optional: If you have the budget, send traffic to your articles through advertising.  Advertising a quick way to start making money, but if you want true passive income, you will need to set up a system to attract free traffic. This will give you true freedom and higher profits as explained in the lessons below. 

Initially, you'll need to learn a few things and write 30+ quality articles (or create videos or podcasts).  Once you've got a bank of helpful articles that resonate with your audience (and a little bit of SEO), the search engines will send you FREE traffic that will buy what you recommend in your articles/videos/podcasts with very little ongoing effort on your part.  

NOTE: This Will Become A Paid Course Soon 

I will be charging at least $997 for this course soon. I am offering it for free for a little while to get feedback and testimonials.  Be sure to sign up for the email lessons.  The email training you are getting for free at this time will also be part of the course I will be selling. 

If you find this course helpful—or even if you don’t—I’d love to hear your feedback! Every comment, whether positive or negative, helps me improve the course to better serve you and others. I especially like negative feedback.  Negative feedback is usually based on life experiences...for me, this is gold!  I promise you won't hurt my feelings.  I will use your thoughts to help you and others even better. 

Master Affiliate Marketing Quickly!

The following course is designed to help you get profitable quickly. There's a lot of information on the Internet about affiliate marketing and so many affiliate marketing courses to choose from!  

I have distilled the key information you need to be successful in setting up an affiliate marketing business based on my experiences and from buying and applying tens of thousands of dollars worth of affiliate marketing courses. 

Grab a cup of coffee, bookmark this page, and dive into the comprehensive collection of insights and resources I've compiled for you. You'll discover invaluable nuggets of wisdom that will help you achieve your fondest dreams faster and more economically than you imagined. 

Affiliate Marketing Is Not Difficult.
It Takes Time To Get Going. But It's Worth It. Passive Income Is Real.
You Can Do It. Thousands Are Making A Good Living. So Can YOU!

This website and email course is dedicated to helping you make at least $10k per month on autopilot with affiliate marketing. You will get access to resources, tools, specialized courses, and guidance to help finance your dream lifestyle...some are paid, many are free!  

If you have questions, just fill out the contact form, and I will create an article or video to help you.  

If necessary, I will even be willing to get on the phone or do a video meeting with you... time permitting. At this time, there is no charge for this because I love working with people, the more personal the better...it's my thing.  

In addition, if you are on my email list, I will be doing online workshops and tutorials to help you achieve your goals. 

You have enough guidance right here so you can be as successful as you are willing to work for.   

(Important:  Please keep in mind that I run an affiliate marketing business.  If you click on a link and buy something, I am going to do my best to make sure I get a commission). 

Work Is NOT A Four Letter Word!

I know.  I know.  We are all supposed to hate work.  

But in reality, when you do affiliate marketing properly, you will love doing the "work" required to be successful. 

You will be working in a field you love, with people you love to be around, and you will interact with people in a way you really enjoy.   

More details on this coming up...  

What Is Affiliate Marketing?

Affiliate marketing is where you help someone's business to grow and get paid for helping them.  

Before the Internet, affiliate marketing was about selling or referring customers to a company.  You would network with your friends and family to promote products or services.  If you sold something or referred someone who became a customer, the company would give you a commission.  

It's a LOT easier now with online marketing.  

You don't even have to sell anything to get paid in many cases. 

Almost any company can potentially be an affiliate partner.  All you need to do is help a company in some way and you could have an affiliate partner that will pay you good money. 

Benefits Of Affiliate Marketing

1. You don't need to own any products or offer your services.  

2. You don't need to do any customer service or handle complaints about the product or service. 

3. You don't need to invest any money to set up a company, buy inventory, or hire people (unless you want to).

4. You can set up passive income systems that will have the money coming in for years...with minimal effort.

5. You can work from anywhere you want. 

6. You can grow your business as big as you want. 

7. You can pass your wealth down through the generations in your family, so the business you set up now can benefit your spouse, your kids, their kids, and grandkids if you want.  

Affiliate marketing is the easiest way to get started making money on the side or as a full-time business, working as much or as little as you want. 

There are many ways to find affiliate partners to promote depending on your preferences.  Here is some good information about selecting an affiliate program suitable for your personality and situation.  

How Quickly Can You Make Money With Affiliate Marketing?

If you already have a product or service you want to promote and you have access to an audience that wants to buy that product right away, you could potentially start making money within minutes.

I remember getting an email from a marketer I trusted.  He had invited a friend to go for dinner.  When he arrived, they got talking about the power of Internet marketing.  

A bet was made that the marketer could pay for their dinner with a single email, before they head out for the evening. 

He sent an email where he explained the situation to the people on his list.  Within half an hour he emailed again saying he had already made $1,100!  Another half an hour later he reported an income of $5,000.  He didn't email after that, but I bet the sales kept on coming...for days!  

It can be that simple. 

But let's look into what he had to do before he could send a single email and make $5,000 within an hour: 

1. He needed to know which type of product to offer - it could be his own product or an affiliate offer.

2. Next, he needed an offer...the product itself

3. Then he needed to find the right audience for that product

4. After that, he needed to create a sales page or some way to direct people to buy the product.

5. Then he needed a means of getting the message to the audience

...And there are a lot of steps and considerations in between.  

At the point he sent the email, all he needed was a good offer to send to people who already knew him, liked him, and trusted him.  

So, the "game" of affiliate marketing is to create the conditions where you have an audience that is excited every time you have something to offer them.

It took him two years before his business really took off.  So, depending on how you approach it, you can take months or years to get to that point, or you could get there almost immediately if you buy a program where all the preliminary steps are done for you.  

I will get into the details of each step on this website, but if you want to save yourself a lot of time and effort, and frankly money...since it's not always cheap to figure things out on your own, watch this video... maybe this would be a good fit for you.  

How Much Money Can You Make With Affiliate Marketing?

I'm sure you have seen ads where people claim they make millions with affiliate marketing.  

If you look into their story you will realize it took many years of trial and error before they got to the point of making the big bucks. 

So, what is realistic? 

Can an average person make millions with affiliate marketing? 

In reality, I would say yes. 

But will everyone put in the work and the learning to get to that point?  

I don't think so. 

Then the question is, what is a realistic expectation for the average person with low motivation, very little time and money, and very little skill... 

It's still very possible to make millions...eventually. 

A few hundred dollars a month is certainly very doable in my opinion, if you follow the instructions on this website.  

Once you get started making a few hundred a month passive income, given time you will have the knowledge and experience to make a few hundred more.  You just have to keep doing more of the same so you can keep adding to your income.  

That's the beauty of passive income. 

If you set up your business the way I recommend, your earnings will grow exponentially.  

You will keep earning more and more every month.  

You just have to do a few simple things.  

If you keep doing them, you will get better at it and your earnings will keep growing faster and faster. 

If we follow this logic, I can certainly see the average person making at least $10k per month in the foreseeable future. 

A LOT of people are successfully making a good living through affiliate marketing around the world. 

And, since affiliate marketing can fit into almost any business model, the potential for earnings will be there forever.  

Affiliate marketing will never end or get too saturated to make a darn good living.   

Here are some case studies that give you a realistic picture of what is possible.  They have summarized several case studies so if you click the link you will get an in-depth profile of what it took for these people to succeed.  It's not just an ad.  These are real stories of everyday people who make a good living with online marketing.  

Is It Really Possible To Have 100% Passive Income With Affiliate Marketing?

You'll see a lot of claims being made online about making money on autopilot...without you having to do anything.  

Is this really possible? 

Actually, yes.  

It is possible to set things up so you don't have to do anything and the money will keep rolling in.  

But you have to set everything up properly.  

There are two requirements to have money pouring in regularly without any effort... after you set everything up: 

1. Create a rich, content-based, SEO-optimized website or YouTube channel.

2. Promote membership programs or SAAS (software as a service) products where people pay monthly or annually and you get a commission every time someone pays. 

There are some memberships and SAAS products I have been paying for, for years.  The person who directed me to those programs has been getting commissions from my purchases for over a decade in some cases. 

Challenges In Creating 100% Passive Income

Challenge #1

While SEO is a great way to drive traffic to your affiliate offers, if you don't maintain your website or YouTube channel your traffic will gradually decline and eventually, you will get very little traffic and income. 

This is partially true.  

I have set up many websites where I built up the traffic to a good level but the competition eventually overtook my website and I lost almost all my rankings and traffic.  

But there is one website I set up in the year 2000 where the traffic went up and down, but I just checked my statistics and I am getting more traffic than ever.  

Believe me.  I have not touched that website for a good 15 years.  

I logged in now and then to see what was going on, but I have not updated or added any content for a loooong time! 

So, Yes it is possible to have "set and forget" passive income once you have put in the initial effort.

Challenge #2

So, the first problem is competition.  The second, related problem is that search engines like Google think new content is better than old content.  If you don't maintain your SEO-based website or YouTube channel Google will prefer fresh content rather than yours and they may stop sending you traffic. 

If you are relying on SAAS or membership renewals, gradually people will drop off.  No one stays with any program forever. 

Challenge #3

The technology of your website will get old. 

The Internet changes quickly.  If you don't keep updating your website it will become incompatible with the search engine technology and the Internet.  

In order to stay current with new technology, you have to update your website every two to three years.  If you are not doing that, you should know that you are losing a lot of potential traffic. 

If you are selling a SAAS product or membership program, you have to keep checking to see if that company is updating its product. 

Challenge #4

Security is a HUGE problem on the Internet. 

I have experienced the following problems over the years: 

1. Someone hacks into your website and embeds spyware or other harmful code on your website without your knowledge.  In this case, either Google  or your website hosting company will take down your website. 

2. Someone takes down your website.  Hackers deleted my website somehow.  No idea how they did it, but my entire website just disappeared...more than once. 

3. Someone steals your domain name.  I found out the hard way that hackers can break into your domain name account and transfer the website out from under you.  Once the website is out of your hands they may ask for a big amount of money to give it back to you...if they are nice.  Otherwise, you have absolutely no recourse to get your domain name back. 

4. Someone breaks into your website, that you have worked hard to get good rankings on the search engines and it is drawing a lot of traffic and redirects your website traffic to a criminal, pornographic site, or a website with malicious intent. 

5. Someone marks your website as a dangerous website or spam and your hosting company will just delete your website.  I don't really know why it happens, but this has happened several times to me.  I have to go to the hosting company and get them to do something in the background to get my website back.  This doesn't always work. 

Of course, there are unlimited ways for hackers to kill your business and they are paid big money by criminal elements to do their work.  

The point is, if you don't maintain your website, you could lose your income very easily. 

There is a solution to all of these problems, but they do require some effort on your part.  It is not likely that you will have a truly "set and forget" income. 

Why My Website Has Been Growing On 100% Autopilot For Over 20 Years

You have to understand that I am a really "smart" person. 

Back in 2000 I learned a system for building a website that worked really well...so well that it is still prospering today.  

Of course, like the "smart" person I am, I left that project and bought course after course after course, and all kinds of apps that promised "quick profits" and "millions" in record time...and I didn't stick with what was producing results. 

After spending well over a hundred thousand dollars over the past 20+ years, I still have not found anything better than what I discovered at the beginning of my online adventure. 

But it's not all bad.  

With the knowledge and experience I have now, I can take the original system that has performed so well for me for all these years and really ratchet it up for fast gains and bigger profits.  

Here's Why The Program I Signed Up For In The Year 2000 Has Continued To Do Well Over The Years (100% Autopilot): 

1. They have a training program that walks you through the steps for creating content, generating traffic, pre-selling the affiliate program you are offering, and then monetizing your website. 

2. When you start going through the training, they provide the tools you need to get superior results, all included.  You don't have to go looking for and buying other apps or training. It's all there in one place with summarized and detailed training...whatever you need to be effective. 

3. Based on their training and tools I targeted the right keywords and created a good keyword and content strategy. My pages are ranking well in the search engines because what I wrote back then is still relevant today.  

4. I am not sure how they do it, but whatever content I created on that website quickly got high rankings on Google and other search engines. Normally, I have to do quite a bit of SEO work to get rankings like that.  Of course, with what I know now, I can do better, but for the easy instructions they provide, the rankings are pretty impressive. 

5. This is important:  Based on their training I created valuable, evergreen content that will always be helpful and never becomes old. When people land on my website they often go to six or more pages...and THEY COME BACK over and over again to take advantage of the information I provided. 

6. They keep their technology up to date so the website stays current with the Internet as it continues to change.  

7. While I learned the hard way how hackers can destroy my business, the website I created with this program NEVER had any problems with security!  You may not appreciate it, but you don't know how heart-stopping it is to have all your hard work wiped out because a hacker broke into your website.  I am deeply grateful for the fact that I have never had to worry about security. 

8. If I ever need help, their customer support people are VERY helpful!  I am truly impressed.  But more than that, they have an active community where people who are trained in the same system as you are more than willing to help each other.  Solid, everyday people are willing to give you a hand no matter what challenges you are facing. 

9. Since then, they have added done-for-you services, so if you don't want to have to deal with making the website, they have people you can hire. 

I will get into many details later on this website, but if you want more information on the best training program and SAAS  that I truly believe in, check this out. 

How The Pros Make More Money Than Ever With Semi-Autopilot Affiliate Marketing

Now that we understand that 100% autopilot affiliate income is possible but there are challenges, let's say you are not totally lazy and are willing to put in a little bit of work from time to time...or you are willing to hire someone to do the work for you.  Here are some reliable ways to continue semi-passive income from your affiliate marketing business.   

4 Proven Ways To Keep Making A LOT Of Money Ongoingly With Affiliate Marketing

1. Email Marketing

Develop a relationship with people through email. Many of the most successful affiliate marketers say "you don't have a business if you don't have an email list." There are ways to make money online without an email list, but it sure is a lot easier to do it if you have one.  

The trick is to cultivate a good relationship where the people on your list want to hear from you and trust your recommendations.  

In order to earn their trust and keep earning it, you have to contribute to forwarding their life.  

This takes caring and sensitivity on your part.  You need to get to know your people, find out what they are struggling with, and help them when you can.  

Once you have a successful relationship with the people on your email list all you have to do is send out an email and money will come pouring in.  

Some say you can look after your list in as little as ten minutes a day.   Some spend hours on every email.  

In reality, the ability to connect and have a good relationship takes constant vigilance and participation in the niche that you are serving people in.  

Once you are tuned in to the lives and struggles of your people, THEN it only takes a few minutes a day.  

This is why you need to select your niche carefully.  In order to be successful in the long run, you will be spending a lot of time thinking about it and even participating in it.

2. Content Marketing

If your affiliate marketing business is based on SEO (search engine optimization) creating content is a foundational method of keeping the search engines interested in your website or YouTube channel.   

Creating content that your people are interested in takes a bit of effort.  If you are tuned in to their needs, wants, and struggles it can be pretty easy to write an article or create a video once or twice a month (or more).  

If you do this, you will keep the interest of those who already know, like and trust you...and buy from you, and you will keep gaining more and more "friends" in your niche. 

With this approach, your business will not only keep going, but gradually you will join the ranks of the super affiliates that earn millions.  

The trick is to help people with more and more with helpful content on your website.  

If you want passive income, select a niche where you can provide evergreen information that will always be applicable...like I am doing here...good relationships will always be the basis of a successful business.  

3. SEO Maintenance 

In order to keep getting more and more traffic to your website you have to keep up with the changes in search engine algorithms and make adjustments as needed. 

While this is true, it doesn't necessarily apply to an evergreen content-based website. 

With this type of website, in addition to creating quality written content regularly, you will need to stay abreast of the latest Internet technology by refreshing your website technically.  

In the case of video content, you will have to create videos compatible with the latest YouTube requirements.  I have had videos disappear from YouTube because they no longer support the technology that video was built on.

Updating your website technically can be pretty simple if you have built it with WordPress. You just have to log in and click the update button (you can even automate this to an extent).  The vast majority of marketing-oriented websites on the Internet are on WordPress, so there is lots of information available. 

From time to time, you may need to get a new website if the technology of your WordPress theme becomes outdated. Consider you may need to get a new website every two to three years if you are serious about getting the most from your business. 

Generally speaking, maintaining the SEO of your website can take a few minutes every month.  Creating content can take an hour or two a month if your intent is to just coast rather than grow your business.   

The advantage of the SEO approach is the more content you publish on a technically updated website, the more Google and other search engines will send you traffic and sales.  

Your business and income will continue growing as if by magic.  

4. Affiliate Program Maintenance

The Internet is constantly changing.  Your role is to be on top of things so you are always recommending the best product or service for your audience.  Your credibility depends on it.

Companies come and go - from time to time check up on your recommended company and make sure everything is ok.  

Affiliate partners change the terms for paying you -- often.  Make sure you are getting paid and you are getting paid enough...maybe another good company will pay you more. 

What often happens is a company will give you lifetime commissions in the beginning, but when they become successful they will do things to cut out the affiliates or reduce their commissions.   

Companies change.  Maybe they used to offer a good product or service, but not anymore.  Again, you need to know this...your reputation depends on it. 

Companies change the affiliate link without telling you so your link no longer attributes sales to you for commission.  With a little bit of effort, you can make sure your links continue to work for you, not just the affiliate partner. 

Maybe your affiliate partner is no longer worthy of the trust of your people...you should always strive to provide the best for the people who are trusting your recommendations.   

These and other scenarios are common.  

It takes a bit of effort to keep track of what affiliate partners are doing or not doing. 

By monitoring and keeping abreast of changes with your affiliate partners, you can take advantage of opportunities and prevent losses. 

It's a simple thing, but it does take a few minutes a month.  

With a little bit of effort, you will continue prospering with "semi-automatic" affiliate income.  

How To Make $10K Per Mo. Semi-Passive Income And Have A Great Time Doing It! 

Step 1 - Select A Profitable Niche That You Can Really Enjoy. 

First Make A Short-List Of Potential Niches

You can make good money in a lot of different ways.  But why waste your life doing something that you don't love?  

The beauty of an affiliate marketing business is you can choose which industry you want to be in.  

There is lots of money to go around in just about any niche. So, don't make your life only about money.  

Go out there and do some good for people.  Enjoy your life. 

If you have a hobby you love, great!  Consider doing something related to that niche.  

If you don't have a hobby, find something you are interested in and get involved in that niche. 

You will have the most fun AND you will make the most money doing something you really enjoy. "Work" won't exist.  You will enjoy giving and contributing to your friends and associates online or off.

The reason for this is, because of your interest, you will get to know that industry really well.  You will enjoy hanging out with people in that industry.  

By getting intimately involved with an industry you will get to know their pulse.  You will know what they love, what they hate, and what they struggle with, even if they don't talk much about it. 

You will learn their "special language" that they use only with the people closest to them when they are participating in that niche. 

This is really important!! (Yes, two exclamations worth!)

When you know people well, it is easy for you to communicate with them.  Impactful communication with your audience is the basis of an "effortless", easy, enjoyable... and profitable experience for you AND your audience. 

By knowing your audience you will know what products and services can make their lives easier, more enjoyable, and more productive.  

These are the things you can write about, make videos about, and even create in-person events (online or off) where you can get to know your people and they can get to know you. 

Marketing to people who know you and like you is easy!  You just have to show up with something they will like and they will eagerly buy it. 

Now, just to be clear, you don't HAVE to go into a niche where you can get involved.  It IS possible to get to know a lot about an industry and the people affected by it through research.  

But no matter how much research you do, you can never really know the pulse of a market unless you are a consumer in that industry. 

The greatest advertising copywriters do everything they can to get in the shoes of the people they are marketing to. 

When they write an ad, they use the exact language, slang, and way of speaking that people in their target audience use.  

This is not something "fake"!  Top advertising professionals get to know their audience so well that they spontaneously flow with the rhythm of the audience.  

Just think of the best actors in Hollywood.  They are able to touch your heartstrings with a simple glance, a wry smile, or a subtle change in posture. Star performers go out of their way to live the life of the hero or even the villain to bring out a performance that connects with the audience. 

In a best-case scenario, you won't be "acting".  You will become part of the audience you are targeting. You will suffer their pains and celebrate their wins. 

This is what you will write about.  This is what you will create videos about.  This is what you will create podcasts and events around. 

If the niche you have chosen is something you enjoy, you will have the time of your life and you will make a LOT of money. 

Again, if you don't want to or don't know which niche you will enjoy, you can still make a good dollar by getting to know your audience through research. 

You will be spending a lot of time in the niche you choose so it's better to be doing something you are really interested in.  

If you don't enjoy that niche you likely won't spend the time to get to know the people you are trying to market to.  

This will make everything more difficult.

So, think hard.  Consult your friends. Develop a new hobby.  Get involved in something you can enjoy.  THEN look into what products you can offer. 

How To Select The ONE Profitable Niche To Focus On For Affiliate Marketing 

The way to approach niche selection on a practical level is to select several potential niches, and then look into the types of products and services you can promote in each niche. 

From the point of view of generating a healthy passive income consider the following for each niche:

1. Look for at least one if not several different products or services that you can promote to get ongoing passive income. Passive income can be monthly or annually.  Monthly is better from a financial security point of view. 

2. Look for several items that can be sold quickly.  Once someone experiences that you make good suggestions, you can move them to a recurring payment service at a later date (if you have them on your email list). 

3. Look for several high-ticket products or services where you can make a bigger commission.  You may not get many of these sales initially, but over time you can promote suitable products through your email marketing. 
   It's difficult to make a lot of money with small dollar amount products, so having a few higher dollar products to sell will help your bottom line.

4.  Look for several items that can be sold on the back end through email marketing after the initial sale.

5. READ the sales page thoroughly and make sure you believe in what they are selling. In a best-case scenario, buy the product and experience their customer service.  Your reputation is at stake. 

6. STUDY THE SALES PAGE - This will be the source of all the content you will be producing that results in a sale.  If your affiliate partner has a solid sales page you will make more sales.  Your job as an affiliate marketer is to help people understand the value of the different features and benefits in THEIR LIFE.  

7. Now, compare the different niches and settle on ONE NICHE that you would enjoy being in for a long time. 

For the record, if you use the authority mini-site approach you can build a passive income stream in several niches.  You don't have to feel stuck in only one niche...but if you are really enjoying one niche, then why not stick with it?  

Step 2 - Find A Product Or Service You 'Believe In' 

Notice I used the term "believe in".  I didn't say to select something you think people will buy or something that you think will make you a lot of money.  

No.  Don't make that mistake. 

Why would it be a mistake to find a product that gives you a healthy profit that you think people will buy?? 

I didn't say that!  

What I said was to select a product or service you believe in. 

Of course, you should promote something you think people will love to buy.  Of course, you should select something that makes you a good profit.  

But if you don't believe in what you are promoting your heart won't be in it. 

The articles you write will be cold.  The videos you make will be lifeless.  

It will be as if you used AI and copied and pasted it.  

The consequences of lifeless content are low sales, more expensive ads, and a high turnover of clientele. 

When you believe in what you are promoting, your enthusiasm will come through.  People will be magnetically attracted to your article or ad.   They will be inspired by what they read and buy from your affiliate link. 

This is real.  

Don't believe me?  Go try convincing someone about something you don't believe in and then try to convince them of something you are really into.  The difference will be obvious. 

So many people try to just "make money".  Most of them fail miserably.  If they do succeed, their life becomes a misery because they are not having fun. 

Take the time to find a product you love, something you believe in, something that is proven to be a hot seller, and where you make a nice commission. 

Step 3 - Select The Right Affiliate Model And The Right Affiliate Company To Partner With

There are several ways to make money through affiliate marketing. Take time to review the different business models in your industry and pick something that helps you accomplish your goals. 

One problem I have run into is companies initially use affiliates to grow, then they change their program so it is less profitable.  

Sometimes they even eliminate the affiliate program and all your effort is wasted from your point of view, but remains a profitable asset for the partner company. 

Another problem is when a company goes out of business. This happens a lot. 

There are many good, well established companies that have been working with affiliates for a long time. 

Try to pick at least one company like that, especially in the beginning. 

A good affiliate partner will sometimes help you by creating promotions and giving you guidance on what will work and what won't.  

Unfortunately, this kind of assistance comes only after you have proven that you can bring them a substantial amount of business. 

So, do your best to find a good company, then throw all your energy behind their offers so you can get into their inner circle. 

I will provide more information about this in the product selection module. 

Step 4 - Select A 'Brandable' Domain Name

One lesson that beginners resist with all their might is the idea of creating a business for the long run. 

They need money now.  Not a year or five years from now.  "I'll build for the long run after I make some money." "I don't even know if this is going to work." "Who cares about the long run?  I just want to make some money as quickly as possible so I can do the things I want in my life." 

You'll hear this kind of reasoning in many variations.  

Unfortunately, this is the very reason most people are not successful. 

Business is about helping other people solve problems that are important to them. 

If they see that you are not looking after their interest or you don't care about them they will not buy from you. 

It doesn't have to be anything specific that you did.  If people get just a "feeling" that you don't really care about them they will avoid you, no matter what kind of psychological tricks you use. 

You may not believe me, but marketing is about people.  And people are smarter and more perceptive than you may realize.  

When you start a business think about servicing your niche for the long term. 

Over the long term, people will get to know you, like you, and trust you. 

This is called "branding." 

You will become a "brand" that people will recognize and trust.  

All your activities in your business should be about building trust with your customers and potential customers for the long run. 

A business where people buy from you once and never again is a very tough business. 

When you are setting up a business, think in terms of selling to the same people over and over again.  

You want to get a reputation in the market where people refer business to you.

That reputation is your "brand".   

A recognizable brand starts with a domain name and a company name.  

In SEO terms, some say there is an advantage if you have the main keyword for your niche in your company name... like "Denver Plumber".  You have the city name and you have the main keyword for your niche. 

There actually is some evidence that it helps get better rankings in Google.  

But! 

If you are thinking in terms of the long run, what you need is a unique company name and domain name that people will associate with your "brand"...over the long run. 

Over the long run, Google and the search engines will get to know who you are, regardless of the domain name or company name you choose.  So, you don't necessarily need to include your niche in the domain name or company name. Give a higher priority to a memorable name. 

What the search engines are looking for is to promote a reliable business in their listings.  

If they see people responding to the message on your website, interacting with you on social media, and generally responding well to your "brand", they will send you loads of traffic regardless of whether or not you have your niche keyword in your domain name and company name.  

And, because of effective branding...i.e. a recognizable name for Google as well as your audience, the traffic they send you will be the exact types of people that will like your message and buy from you.  

Believe it or not, Google wins when you win.  

If Google sends you traffic and the people they send love you, they will send you more and more people just like that.  

This is what happened with my website which not only survived but has been thriving on autopilot for over 20 years even though I haven't done any work on it.  

This is the power of branding.  

Plan to be successful and you will find it easier to succeed. You will succeed more quickly.  And you will find it easier and more enjoyable than by applying all the wiz-bang latest strategies insincerely.  

Step 5 - Select The Right Hosting Company For Your Website

A website host is where you place your website so it can be on the Internet. 

The location of your website plays a big role in your success. 

• Select a hosting company that has a good reputation on the Internet.  

• Make sure they use the latest technology to "serve" your website to the Internet.

• Make sure they have the technology to allow your website to load quickly, including images, videos, and any code you may be using. 

• Make sure they have very high security standards. 

This is make or break. 

You can't compromise on this.  

A fast-loading website on a secure website is more or less a requirement for Google and other search engines so they include you in their listings. 

This is the website hosting service I am recommending these days if all you want is hosting.  

But in my opinion, this is a better deal because you get a great hosting platform as well as all the tools you need to plan, establish, and maintain your business, not just your website. 

We will discuss this later on this website, but you will need some tools to help you research your niche, your competition, keywords, and more.  All these tools are included with the hosting instead of having to buy them separately or trying to run your business without the right tools. 

Step 6 - Create A Blog

A blog is a special-purpose website. 

If you are setting up strictly an affiliate marketing business, you just need a place to post your educational, entertaining, enlightening, engaging, and inspirational messages. 

You don't need a technology-heavy website for that.  

You just need a fast-loading website on a good host, loaded up with great content.

The website and hosting is pretty simple.  

Writing great content that moves people's lives forward is the challenge.  

Or maybe it's not so challenging if you are personally involved with the niche you are promoting your affiliate products. 

I recommend this platform to make it easy to achieve all your objectives on a blog-style website. 

Step 7 - Set Up Air-Tight Security For Your Website

I have talked about my horror stories regarding security in the "Challenges In Creating 100% Passive Income" section.  Please read that, for your own good.  These hackers are awful.  We need to do everything to protect ourselves from them.  

Unfortunately, whatever we do, they will take it as a challenge to get through our defenses.  But if you set things up in the following way you will avoid a lot of pain and anguish.  'WHEN' they do get through you will be able to get back on your feet almost instantly. 

1. Buy extra protection for your domain name so they can't steal it out from under you. 

2. Get SSL certification!  Make sure you have https:// at the front of your URL... Having an SSL is more than just a best practice for websites, it’s an industry standard. SSL certificates protect the data transmitted through your site and make sure you meet the requirements of search engines that flag unsecured sites. It is mandatory for e-commerce sites and those that gather user data. Depending on how you acquire SSL certification there may be renewal fees. Make sure you keep renewing it. 

3. Be sure to have a "smart web application firewall" - A "WAF" keeps track of application vulnerabilities and continuously patches against exploits in the most popular CMSs and their plugins.  

4. AI anti-bot system - Brute-force attacks by botnets are a serious global issue that very few companies can handle effectively. You need an extremely effective Artificial Intelligence solution that stops between 500,000 and 2 million brute-force attempts per hour across all servers before they have even reached your website. It prevents unauthorized access and saves your hosting resources.  

5. 24/7 server monitoring and administration - You need a lightweight program that checks the server status every 0.5 seconds.  It should detect current issues and fix them immediately. The system should also be programmed to foresee and prevent a multitude of problems automatically. 

6. Distributed & redundant backups - You should have a sophisticated strategy for creating and keeping backups to guarantee maximum data preservation and fast disaster recovery.  It should be backed up daily and multiple copies should be stored in a data center location different from the one hosting the live account. That improves the chances for saving your data and putting it back online, not only due to incidents such as human errors, malware, and hardware failures, but even in case of graver accidents such as fire, natural disaster, power outages, and others. 
   Ideally, backups should be distributed across different geographical locations. In case of a disaster, the system should be able to restore large amounts of data quickly to power your site, and if necessary, even on a server in a different continent.  

7. Specific Security Protocols For WordPress - If you are using WordPress for your website you need to take extra precautions.  Make sure you have an app that helps you protect your application against common malware, brute-force, and other security issues. It should allow you to enable 2-factor authentication, change the login URL, limit logins to certain IPs, delete the default readme.txt, hide your WP version, get a detailed activity login to pinpoint threats, and more. (I can't tell you how important this is!  I have been burned so many times through WP security loopholes!).

8. Malware Site-Scanner - You need a system that warns you about potential threats that might affect your website at an early stage, in a timely manner.  It's a detection system that regularly checks your website for domain blacklisting and other malicious software. If it identifies a threat, you should get notified by email which gives you enough time to react in case of any danger to your website security. You should also have tools that allow you to react and minimize the impact when your website is under attack. 

9. Automatic Plugin and WordPress Updates - If your website is on WordPress there are frequent updates to the platform itself and to all the plugins you use.  They need to be updated on your website as soon as possible when the technology updates.  If you don't update them, the hacker's 'bots' will find your website and sneak in through the security loophole of the plugin or WordPress itself.  Setting up automatic updates will save you a lot of headaches.  

I know it all sounds terribly technical and complicated, but don't worry!  

All the above security features are offered by the hosting company we recommend.  

If you are using our preferred website management bundle they take care of everything.  You don't even have to think about it.  I can swear by their service because they have been looking after my website problem-free for over 20 years, while many of my other websites have been hacked, damaged, and even stolen! 

Step 8 - Set Up Your Email Marketing Systems

It is impossible to get any kind of reliable income through affiliate marketing without email marketing. 

If you have done a good job of creating valuable evergreen content you will get a lot of traffic.  But how much of that traffic converts to sales will vary considerably as the Internet changes and as Google changes its algorithm.  

Think of it this way: if someone comes to your website, reads your recommendation, and buys something from your affiliate link, there is a lot of trust going on.  That person liked what you had to say and decided to take action.  

Consider how many people came to your website and were not impressed by your content.  

Think about how many people came to your website and liked your content, but did not take action. 

What if you had a list of a thousand, or ten thousand people who came to your website, liked your content, and took some sort of action... do you think they would trust your recommendation a second time?  Maybe a third time?  Maybe over and over again, as you continue to provide value?

Well, these people would certainly be more inclined to take your advice than all the people who came to your website and left without taking action!  

This is why you need an email list.  

An email list is made up of people who like you and trust you enough to give you their contact information so you can send them emails.  

These people are at the top of the list of people who are likely to buy from you. 

If you stay in touch with them and keep earning their trust, they will keep buying what you recommend.  

The way to stay in touch is with an autoresponder. 

What To Look For In A Good Autoresponder

A good autoresponder will allow you to: 

1. Pre-program your emails so you can do the work once... then forget about it... and the autoresponder will send out emails on schedule...and you will get sales on schedule. You can't reliably control the number of sales you get from cold Internet traffic to your website. But pre-programmed emails that result in sales is a passive income system that you can control. 

2. A good autoresponder allows you to send emails to all of your list if something special comes up that you want to tell them about. 

3. You can segment your list so that if your offer applies to some people but not others, the autoresponder will allow you to send emails only to the relevant people...automatically.   

4. Set up sequences of emails to educate selected people on a particular topic. 

5. Set up segmentation so you can send a series of emails to people who take a particular action, and then bring them back to the main email list or another list based on their action or inaction. 

The Right Autoresponder Can Make Your Life A Lot Easier

In addition to helping you manage messages to select audiences, your autoresponder should have other capabilities that help you craft messages and grow your list: 

1. Email capture forms with templates for various scenarios -  A good autoresponder will give you hundreds of templates to help you create the perfect email capture form for different types of campaigns.  Some even provide AI that will create a great opt-in form in seconds...it's so nice to not have to deal with tiny details when you are trying to build a campaign.

2. Landing page builder with templates - Every email campaign needs a landing page.  It is a big timesaver to have pre-designed templates to work with.  It can be even better when you can have an AI-generated landing page that you can edit and customize rather than having to build or customize from scratch. 
   There is a lot you can do on a landing page to make it convert.  Look for conversion optimization tools when selecting a landing page builder. 

3. Campaign and funnel builder - You might want to have three or four steps in your email funnel to help you figure out what kind of follow-up messages you need to send to connect with each audience. A funnel builder with pre-built templates is a huge time saver. 
   But what if you could fast-track your campaign by answering a few questions, and an AI program builds you a tailored landing page, welcome email, and newsletter, including content and design...in seconds?  And you can focus on adding finishing touches. It's like having a personal assistant who builds your campaign's structure.  

4. Workflow Automation - A workflow is a scenario you set up using conditions, actions, and filters. It lets you target your contacts based on their actions.  For example: 
   a) You can send a welcome email to a new subscriber. Follow up with a reminder, when they don't open an email. Send product recommendations to your customers. 
   b) - Recommend popular products - Automation learns your customers' preferences and triggers product recommendations based on each customer's purchase history. 
   c) Recover lost sales - Remind your customers about their abandoned order with a sequence of abandoned cart emails. 
   d) Use behavioral targeting - Track and rate customer actions on your website, landing pages, and emails to trigger relevant emails or assign them to segments. 
   e) Nurture new signups - Trigger welcome emails that start a conversation with your prospects. Thank them for signing up, share your story and special offers.

These are just a few of the capabilities you can use to automate and optimize your income using a good autoresponder.  This is the autoresponder I have been using after trying out many popular and lesser-known autoresponders over the years.  

Core Email Marketing Strategy To Generate Passive Income With Affiliate Marketing

It is impossible to have a successful business that generates passive income unless you have a customer base of people who are eager to buy from you over and over again. 

It is too expensive and not reliable to try to get new customers all the time.  

Returning customers will buy higher-priced items and will be happier with the decision to follow your recommendations...so they will keep buying what you recommend. 

The only reliable way to have repeat buyers is with an email marketing system.  

In order to have a healthy, consistent stream of passive income you need to cultivate a list of people who are eager to open, read, and take the actions you recommend in your emails...repeatedly! Forever! 

The trick to having people be eager to get your emails is for you to connect with their "emotional wants".  

You don't have to have a very large email list.  But you need to have a well-defined list of people who have the same, identifiable emotional wants (not needs).  

In reality, it is impossible to know exactly what everyone on your list wants at any given time. 

The way to figure out what the people on your list are interested in is to track their actions. 

The right autoresponder will provide triggers and reports for you to use the analyze, segment, and provide useful reports so you can craft your messages strategically. 

In addition to all the other things you do to stay in touch and get to know your audience, you need to use real data to help you write emails where you ask people to do things.  When they take an action, you need to be able to track who took which action. 

Based on the actions each person took, you need to group people who took similar actions and send them emails that are in line with their interests. 

By tracking actions you will be able to figure out what messages people are responding to or not responding to. 

If you depend on your ability to intuitively know what your audience wants you will leave a lot of money on the table and frankly, you will end up losing connection with your audience...they may not unsubscribe, but they will likely stop looking forward to your emails. 

Every email is an opportunity to win or lose

People get a lot of emails every day.  They skip most of them.  Your job is to get them to open your emails as often as possible. They won't open every email you send.  

With this in mind, you have to make every email count: 

• You have to get them to click on your email subject line.

• You have to get their attention and interest within the first few words of the email when they open it. 

• You have to get them to read through, or at least scan the important parts of your email so they get the main point for you sending the message. 

• After all of that, they have to not only feel it was worth their while but to look forward to future emails. 

If you fail to do this ONCE, they may get out of their "hypnotic" state and it will be very difficult (not impossible) to get them back as a regular reader of your emails.  

So, invest your time and creativity in every email.  Do your best.  You won't be perfect, but you will improve with time as your relationship with your readers deepens.  

I will be covering this topic in great detail in the email training that goes with this website.  

3 Proven Strategies To Spark Interest And Keep Audiences Hooked

1. Stories - This is a skill well worth practicing.  Think of your emails like a TV series or a movie you just can't get enough of. 

2. Quizzes and contests - This is a good way to see what people respond to.  With the right segmentation strategy, you can give people exactly what matters to them. 

3. Short courses - You can send informational emails with an invitation to get more information -- You get people to click on a link which sets them up to get a series of emails for a few days or weeks, then bring them back to the main list (or some version of this). 

I will be covering email marketing and content writing in detail in the email training that goes with this course.  Sign up here! 

How To Keep People Interested In Your Emails

This is a great article about different ways to get more engagement in email messages.  Here are some excerpts: 

What kind of emails are respondents most likely to open? 

We asked respondents to rank the emails they’re most likely to open, with the first choice being most likely to open and the last choice being the least likely to open. When the votes were tallied, this is how different types of emails scored:

1. Personal correspondence 

2. A promotional offer, sale, or discount from a familiar brand 

3. New products from a brand I love 

4. A newsletter that I anticipate every week 

5. A promotional offer, sale, or discount from an unfamiliar brand 

6. Content that feels created just for me 

7. Tips and tricks that will improve my life 

8. Emails with an interesting subject line 

9. Insider information about a product or industry I’m interested in 

10. Content from a blog I follow

What kind of emails are respondents most likely to open? 

The number one answer was personal correspondence.

Takeaways:

• Cultivating affection for your brand is a strong theme in the top ranked email types. This common thread shows that your contacts are most likely to open your emails when they’re familiar with your brand and even love what your company is all about.  

• A strong welcome series allows you to do just that. Introduce yourself and your mission, and take the time to get to know your subscribers in order to foster a strong relationship that feels personal.  

• It’s interesting to note that the second half of this list consists of types of content that performs well on blogs and websites. This ranking shows that rolling this content into a singular newsletter that subscribers can anticipate may lead to more engagement—rather than sending separate emails dedicated to each individual type of content. Especially when you remember that most people open less than half of the total emails in their inboxes.  

• It’s important to note that even though people said they’re likely to open emails from unfamiliar brands, you shouldn’t be emailing anyone who hasn’t explicitly given you permission. It’s illegal, unethical, and a good way to wind up on blacklists.

3. What are some reasons respondents choose to leave an email unopened?

We also asked our respondents for the reasons they choose to ignore an email. After the individual votes were tallied, this is the list from most common reasons to the least common:

1. I don’t recognize who the email is from.  

2. It’s not relevant to me.  

3. I receive too many emails.  

4. I initially signed up to a list for an offer and have already received the promised reward.  

5. I’m too busy.  

6. I don’t check my email often.

Takeaways:

• In an overly crowded inbox, people will prioritize emails from people they know, so it’s important that your from line clearly communicates who you are and where you’re from. You don’t want subscribers to mistake your email for a phishing attempt, or ignore it altogether because they don’t recognize it.  

• One great way to maintain a personalized approach to email marketing while keeping your role clear: Consider changing your from information to a person’s name and your company. 
  For instance, our friends at Buffer send emails from Brian. Every subscriber clearly sees “Brian from Buffer” in the from column and knows exactly what to expect from the email. 
  Having "Brian from Buffer" as the From name in this email course clearly communicates who is emailing the subscriber and why. 
  This transparency builds trust with your audience while maintaining that line between personal and professional.  

• This data also proves the importance of sending relevant content. Again, with all the emails in people’s inboxes, you won’t hold onto your subscribers if you send information they don’t care about.  

• This is the main point:  Dig deep into your data to create specific segments that allow personalized, targeted email content.

4. Why are respondents most likely to unsubscribe from an email list?

When we asked respondents to rank the reasons they’re most likely to unsubscribe from an email list, this is what they told us:

1. I didn’t sign up to receive emails from a sender.  

2. I’m receiving too many emails in general.  

3. The content is no longer relevant to me.  

4. I don’t know the sender.  

5. A specific company/person is sending me too many emails.  

6. The email content isn’t interesting.

Takeaways:

• Email marketers know that it’s unethical and often illegal to send emails to anyone who hasn’t signed up to receive emails from them. But that doesn’t mean that people always remember subscribing to your list.  

• That’s why it’s important to send a welcome email immediately upon a new subscriber opting in. Make an impression so they don’t forget being introduced to your list.  

• Similarly, try to maintain a consistent email send cadence. This protects your deliverability—meaning you’re more likely to consistently land in the inbox. And it also means that your subscribers don’t go long periods of time without hearing from you, increasing the chances that they’ll forget all about you and your list.  

• When you haven’t been sending consistently and then suddenly flood subscribers’ inboxes, it’s likely they’ve forgotten about you and assume you’re sending emails without their permission.

Step 9 - Find the right keywords

Keyword research is critical if you want a passive income from affiliate marketing. 

Passive income means you don't have to do anything (much) and the income keeps coming in. 

The basis of this is effective Search Engine Optimization (SEO). 

Effective SEO means when someone does a search for something where the product you are promoting is the solution, your website will come up in the list for people to click.  

In order to have your website show up in search engine results you have to have a website that the search engines consider relevant to the person doing the search. 

Since the person doing the search has to type in a word or sentence to look for something, that's the key criteria search engines use to gauge if your website would be appropriate to show. 

The word or short sentence someone uses to find your products or services are known as "keywords". 

Keyword Content Strategy For Effective SEO

In order for your article or website to show up, the search engines have to consider your website/page to be "topical authority" compared to all the other websites and pages out there. 

Effective SEO is when you are able to convince search engines that your website is the one they should feature prominently in their search results. 

In order to be seen as a "topical authority" you have to create content focused on a particular keyword and its related variations. 

When you have an article that addresses topics where the main keyword and related keywords are used often, the search engine knows what your page is about. 

After they know what your page is about they send you some traffic and see how people respond to your page. 

If they see that people are staying on your page for an extended time, clicking links and buttons, filling out forms, scrolling, engaging with your page in different ways, and visiting other pages on your website they know they succeeded in providing a valuable resource for the searcher. 

When the search engine sees that they have been successful they will send you more people that would likely be interested in your content. 

This is effective SEO. 

When you effectively use keywords in quality content that people love, search engines will continue sending you more and more traffic as long as people keep responding well to your website or page. 

This ongoing traffic is the basis of ongoing sales...passive income from your affiliate website. 

Keyword Research Strategy For High Rankings And More Traffic

Since the ability to create better content than the competition is the basis of effective SEO, success depends on your ability to find keywords where you are able to provide better value than others. 

In a competitive market there are a lot of people who are doing their best to capture the interest of search engines and people. 

The way to win in this competitive environment is to initially focus on low competition keywords and produce the best content using that small group of keywords. 

As we create more and more content that engages people, the search engines will gain confidence in our website and start showing it prominently for more and more competitive keywords. 

If we are able to continue successfully engaging people with our content search engines will show our website for the high traffic, highly competitive search results. 

This is where we want to be. 

How To Select The Right Keyword Tool

We have to build up our reputation with the search engines before they will show our page prominently for high traffic keywords. 

In order to figure out which keywords we should focus on first, second, third, etc. we need a good keyword research tool. 

A good keyword research tool will show different variations of the keywords people are using to find our products an services.  

They will do competitive research so we can figure out which keywords we should target in our content. 

Finding the right keywords to base our content around is the key to success in affiliate marketing. 

There are many keyword tools out there...and frankly, I have not been impressed with most of them.  

This is one of the keyword tools I like.  

The keyword research tool included in the "Brainstorming" section of our preferred website management bundle is also excellent.  

Step 10 - How To Create Content That Makes You Money

There is a lot of information out there about what kind of content to create.  

I am a bit mercenary about this.  

The goal is to create content that will:

1. Attract free traffic from the Internet using SEO principles.

2. Get people to buy from my affiliate link rather than someone else's link.

Of course, the content has to be helpful and useful.  If it's not, people won't buy what you recommend.  

But what exactly should you write about? 

Easy! 

Go to the sales page of the product you want to sell and look for the reasons THEY use to pitch the product.  

Write about those features, benefits, problems, issues, and solutions.  

I'm sure you could be writing about a thousand other things, but to generate sales, provide more information or background information about the selling points of the product you are presenting. 

The idea is to help people think through their problems and come to the realization that what you are recommending is going to solve their problem, or at least move them along the way.  

When people see that the sales page is saying the same thing you walked them through, it will give them confidence in their decision to go ahead and buy the item. 

Just do this and you will find people will respond to your articles and videos and you will make money from your affiliate marketing business. 

I will be covering several different strategies for writing and presenting to get sales in the email training, but this is the basic formula that works.  

Step 11 - Create Videos With The Right Strategy

Videos are great!  But articles will get you more sales. 

With this in mind, use videos to drive traffic to your articles to get more sales from the same, or similar content. 

A good way to get traffic to your article is to first write the article using the above strategy, then summarize the points to make a video, or better yet, a teaser video. 

Provide enough information in your video so the viewer learns something but leave the door open to get more detailed information in your article. 

Types of Affiliate Marketing Models

Affiliate marketing comes in various forms, and businesses can choose the type that aligns best with their goals and target audience. Here are some common types of affiliate marketing:

1. Pay-Per-Sale (PPS) or Cost-Per-Sale (CPS):  This is the most common type. Affiliates earn a commission when their referred traffic makes a purchase through the affiliate link. The commission is typically a percentage of the sale.  

2. Pay-Per-Click (PPC) or Cost-Per-Click (CPC):  Affiliates earn a fee based on the number of clicks generated by their referral, regardless of whether the referred user makes a purchase.  

3. Pay-Per-Lead (PPL) or Cost-Per-Lead (CPL):  Affiliates earn a commission when their referral takes a specific action, such as signing up for a trial, filling out a form, or providing contact information.  

4. Pay-Per-Call (PPCall):  Similar to PPL, affiliates earn a commission when their referral makes a phone call to the advertiser's business. This is common in industries where phone inquiries are valuable, such as insurance or local services.  

5. Two-Tier or Multi-Tier Affiliate Marketing:  Affiliates earn a commission not only for the sales or leads they generate directly but also for the actions of other affiliates they refer to the program.  

6. Loyalty or Cashback Affiliates:  Websites or apps that offer users cashback or other rewards for making purchases through affiliate links. Common in the e-commerce space.  

7. Coupon or Deal Sites:  Affiliates share coupons or deals with their audience, earning a commission for each sale made using their unique affiliate code.  

8. Content Affiliates:  Bloggers, vloggers, and content creators promote products or services within their content, incorporating affiliate links to earn commissions.  

9. Email Marketing Affiliates:  Affiliates build email lists and promote products or services to their subscribers, earning commissions for sales or leads generated through email campaigns.  

10. Social Media Affiliates:  Individuals leverage their social media platforms to promote products or services through affiliate links, earning commissions on sales generated from their social media presence.  

11. Influencer Affiliates:  High-profile influencers collaborate with brands to promote products or services through affiliate links, often on multiple platforms.  

The choice of affiliate marketing type depends on the goals of the business and the preferences of the affiliates involved. Additionally, a combination of these types may be used in a comprehensive affiliate marketing strategy.

Best Niches For Passive Income From Affiliate Marketing

Following are 100 idea starters to help you brainstorm the niche or niches for you.  

In order to flesh out a niche idea, take any idea you like and Google it.  Look at what others are saying and the keywords they are using in the title and description in the search results listings.  

The keywords, titles, and descriptions other people are ranking for will help you get the same type of targeted traffic to your articles.  

Write down anything that interests you...headlines, paragraphs, sections...these will come in handy when you start creating content. 

Look for a fairly competitive "market"... A good level of competition means there will likely be a lot of affiliate products and services to choose from.  A "market" is made up of several sub-niches.  

At some point, especially in the back-end promotions to your email list, you will want to address your market as a whole rather than just the niche.  Catering to a market gives you a longer-lasting, "evergreen" business.  

Click on the articles and look for ads and affiliate links.  

This will give you a more clear idea of the types of products you could promote. 

Record all the ideas for articles and products you are interested in. Follow the directions in the "Commit To One Niche" section above for the kinds of things you should look for and record. 

Review the "How to Create Content" section above for what to look for in terms of content...record it. 

Don't feel limited in your thinking about what niche you could focus on.  There are a LOT of choices.  

I have put together a comprehensive list of 10,000+ niches and hundreds of affiliate programs to help you monetize your interests.  Choose something that you are really curious about, or some problem you will feel good about helping people solve.   

Success Stories

You'll have fun with this.  Below you will find 136 of the thousands of people who have put in the time and effort to build a thriving side business for themselves and their families.  All of them have used the tools and proven processes we recommend.  

I find the variety of ideas they have come up with to be quite inspiring.  I think you will too. 

Being successful doesn't require you to have any technical skills but there is a good amount of thinking and work involved in setting everything up for passive income. 

...And, since they have tried to keep things very, very simple in the general course, they have skipped several strategies that can speed up your success significantly.  

With this in mind, I offer an Accelerated Affiliate Marketing email coaching service where I help people one-on-one with all the thinking and strategy that goes into setting up a successful business. 

Check out the following websites to see how everyday people are succeeding with the tools and training we provide: 

Creating Quality Content

Importance of High-Quality Content

"Quality content" depends on the person reading it (or watching it).  If the content resonates with your audience, it is considered quality.  If it doesn't, you could write the best article of your life and people won't respect it.  

Dan Kennedy, one of the greatest marketing minds of the century, wrote a book that was based on all his experience and learning about business.  It was a heartfelt expression of what he thought people should know about marketing.  This was after decades of providing consulting services, selling courses, and writing over 32 best-selling books... the one he wrote from his heart that he thought would really help people w.as a total flop! 

This was the one book where he didn't do the market research to find out what people wanted.  

Quality content takes people from what they want to what they need...THEN they will WANT something more.  That's when you can provide the information they really should have. 

Blogging, Video, and other Content Formats

In a best-case scenario, you should create content specifically for the platform you are going to post it on.  The content for a book won't work on a website, and vice-versa. 

If you have designed content for Facebook it won't work on Instagram or Pinterest. 

Having said that, on a practical level, create content for ONE platform for engagement and adapt it for other platforms without putting in a lot of time for the sake of SEO.  

Every piece of content has a value for the consumer and a separate value for the search engines. 

In the interests of conserving your time for high-value work, just focus on one medium for your best work and use the other platforms to drive traffic to that platform. 

SEO Best Practices for Affiliate Marketers

This topic is covered extensively in the tools and training section of this program if you decide to get it.  

Generally: 

• Your content should be focused on one main keyword and its related LSI keywords.  

• The keywords should be about 1-3% of the total of the article.  Be sure to use them once or twice in the headline, sub-headline,  and meta-title and meta-description.  

• Try to have 1-3 images on the page that are tagged with the main keywords you are targeting for that page. 

• Focus on ONE type of reader and provide great value for them.  

• Get your reader to scroll, spend time on the page, click links and fill out forms.  These are concrete actions that search engines look for.  

• If you can get engagement and a good amount of time spent on the page the search engines will reward you with a lot of traffic that will appreciate your content.  

Ten Types Of Quality Content

The definition of what "quality content" means also depends on the purpose of the content in the whole marketing matrix of your business.  

There are three main types of content you will need to write to set up a passive income affiliate marketing system: 

1. Content to attract readers (or viewers or listeners)

2. Content to get readers to take the action to buy what you recommend (conversion-focused content)

3. Content to attract traffic from search engines 

4.  Content to attract natural back-links from people who truly appreciate your content

5. Content to post on your manual back-linking properties.  

6. Email engagement content

7. Email educational content

8. Email conversion-focused content

9. Lead magnet content

10. Lead magnet content

I will be covering each of these topics in great detail in the email portion of this course.  You can sign up here. 

SEO Strategies For Passive Income Affiliate Marketing

The basis of passive income is the ability to get traffic to your affiliate marketing funnel automatically, without you having to do anything.  

Yes.  It is possible to set things up so you don't have to do much (or anything) to keep the traffic coming to your affiliate offers:  It's called SEO (search engine optimization). 

SEO can be done in many ways and it can get pretty sophisticated if you really want to get serious about maximizing the amount of traffic you get.  

I am only going to talk about the simple approach to getting traffic using SEO.  It's more than enough to get your business producing a good level of profits on a regular basis.  But if you do want more knowledge here is an article that references reliable sources to learn SEO in-depth.  

There are many courses online you can take for free, but I will be covering much more than those courses here and in the email portion of this course.  

Keyword Research for Affiliate Marketing 

Keyword research is the most important part of SEO.  

Here are some important considerations for affiliate marketing SEO:

1. Optimize For Affiliate Partner Name Keywords - In many cases the affiliate partner you are promoting has already done a lot of promotion of their product.  Most affiliate partners will not like it if you advertise using their company name or product name.  But they will like it if you create an article or an informative video. 
   Optimizing for the affiliate partner's company name or product name will get the search engines to send you people who are looking specifically for that product.  This increases your chances of getting the sale. 
   But keep in mind, many people specialize in promoting SEO content this way, so there is likely to be a lot of competition. 
   Do your competition research thoroughly so you can start to get good rankings for easy-to-win key words. 
   Traffic is the most important signals for search engines.  If your website is getting traffic and people are liking it, you will get more traffic and better rankings. 
   We know that website rankings at the top of the search results get significantly more traffic than further down the page.
   By optimizing for easy-to-rank keywords you will be able to get top-of-the-page rankings.  When your website starts getting a good amount of traffic from the easy-to-rank keywords the search engines will automatically test your website to see if it is appropriate for the higher traffic, high competition keywords.
   If you win in those tests, you will be able to beat well-established, well-funded websites. 
   It's like winning the lottery. 
   Likely you won't be able to keep your good rankings for the high-profit keywords unless you do some aggressive optimizing, quickly. 
   But once you get a taste of the big bucks from good rankings you will be motivated to do it again and again for more keywords. 

2. Optimize For The Same Keywords Your Affiliate Partner Is Using - Do a scan of the affiliate partner's website, articles, and sales page.  Find out which keywords they are optimizing for and optimize your content for the same keywords. 

3. Optimize For The Same Keywords Your Competitors Are Using - The top competitors who are promoting the same product as you will already have done their homework.  Figure out the keywords and SEO approach they are taking to rank their content. 
   Do the same as they are doing, but start with the easy-to-rank keywords, as explained above.  

If you just do these things you will get a nice stream of quality traffic that will be interested in buying the product you are recommending. 

Of course, you can do more, but this is a great start.  I will be talking more about affiliate marketing SEO in the free email training.  

There are lots of free and expensive keyword research tools out there.  This is the keyword tool I recommend.  It gives you deep insight and helps you create a practical strategy for getting good rankings and ready-to-buy traffic to your affiliate links. 

The platform I recommend for developing your affiliate business also provides a great tool for keyword research to help position your content in a competitive market. 

On-Page And Off-Page SEO Techniques 

It used to be enough to have content focused on one particular keyword, but what Google is looking for now is "topical relevance".  

While doing keyword research, in addition to the keywords, look for what topics your competitors are addressing in their content.  

Each topic will have a set of relevant keywords.  Make a note of them.  

When you write your article, try to use as many relevant keywords related to the whole topic, in addition to the keyword you are targeting for that page or video. 

On-Page SEO Factors 

On page SEO factors include the page title, the big heading at the top of the page, sub-headings and sub-sub-headings, in addition to the keyword you would naturally use in the body of the article.  

Be sure to organize your page in a natural way so the search engine understands that each sub-topic relates to the content just before and just after...and the whole page relates to the main heading at the top of the page. 

I can't emphasize how important this is.  How you organize the content on your page makes a huge difference in your rankings.  

Try to include at least one image and one video on the page.  Rich media content is very desirable and most people don't bother with it, so you will have an advantage over your competitors if you use it.  

Off-Page SEO Factors

If you read about an event in an article by someone you hadn't heard of before vs. information about the same event by someone you trusted implicitly, which one would you trust more?  

Obviously, you would trust the known person's views over the other, in most cases. 

Google and the search engines are just like that.  

They know which websites are getting a lot of traffic and engagement.  If they say your website is awesome, Google will believe them and start to think that your website is awesome too. 

Another example: 

Let's say you raise horses for a living and you have a website that features your expertise.  Lots of horse lovers come to your website for your opinions and advice.  You have established your credibility with people and search engines. 

One day, let's say you decided to write about brain surgery.  Would your readers trust your opinions?  No.  Right?  

It's the same way with search engines.  In addition to looking for references to your website from credible sites, they want to know that the credible website has earned a reputation in the field your website is about.  

Now we have two types of references that the search engines trust when they refer to your website:

1. A credible website.

2. A website that has topical relevancy with your website.  

References from other websites are called "back links".  

The more back links you have from the right websites, the more search engines will trust that your website is credible. 

If you have a credible website the search engines will send you more traffic. 

Another example:

If you are an expert on horses but you are recommending a website about brain surgery, of course your opinion doesn't mean much...but it does mean something.  

Think about it.  

If you trust someone, then likely you will listen carefully even if they are talking about something they are not an expert on.  It's not total trust, but you won't just dismiss it totally.  

Search engines are like that too.  

If a website has a lot of credibility on a subject not related to your website, a reference from their website will still help you get better rankings and more traffic.  It's not as good as getting a reference from a relevant website, but it's a lot better than a spammy, porn, or gambling website back links. 

If you have a few of these second-tier back links, your website will benefit.  The value of having a lot of these back links is questionable.  If you get too many of these, then Google will start questioning all of the back links and think that you are trying to scam their algorithm (which you likely are). 

Google's point of view is that your content should be so good that people are lining up to refer to you on their websites.  Unfortunately, that doesn't happen too often. 

So, we end up trying to get back links with our own efforts.  

Google is not too happy about that.  If they decide that your back links are not "natural", they may penalize your website and reduce the traffic they send you, or even take your website out of their listings.  

That's a problem.  

Whatever back links you get should appear to be "natural". And, as much as possible, try to get the best quality links you can, using the above understanding of quality. 

How Important Are Back Links?

Most amateurs think SEO is all about back links.  It's NOT. 

If you have done your keyword research properly and created valuable content and put it on a fast, up-to-date website with no technical issues, you will do very well.  

When you support that kind of website with high quality back links you will get very good results.  

If you don't have a viable keyword strategy, poor quality content, or a slow, out-dated website, no matter how many back links you have, you likely won't be able to get good rankings.  

If you do succeed in "tricking" Google, they will take away your rankings and traffic and may even ban your website from their listings.  

So, creating high-quality back links is the last step in the SEO process.  

You will be amazed how many times you won't even need back links to succeed.  

The need for backlinks decreases as the amount of quality content increases on your website.  

You will always need some backlinks, but it won't necessarily be a priority after your website gets established.  

It is a good idea to get a few good backlinks every month, forever.  

Back Linking Services And Free Backlinks

There are a lot of companies offering back linking services.  It's BIG business.  

Most back linking services will get you into trouble with the search engines.  Either they are selling links that are not "currently" in the good books of search engines, or they never were considered good links. 

Also, most backlinking services are not able to give you "in-context" backlinks on relevant websites.  

There are also many free ways to get backlinks.  Most of them will get you into trouble. 

The other problem with back links is the search engines often change their minds.  They may perceive a certain type of link to be good today, but a few months from now, or in a year or two, that same link would be considered spammy. 

This is why SEOs like to avoid manual backlinking as much as possible. 

Having said that, there are such things as good backlinks that continue to hold their value for many years.  

I show you several ways to get some great backlinks for free in the email coaching program.  I will also mention a few of them here.  

Getting high quality, free backlinks requires a bit of work.  This is not the place to go into that kind of detail.  

I will show some methods to the people on my email list.  

Maybe I'll create a detailed course about getting quality backlinks for free one day.  It really is a very effective way to get backlinks that get you great rankings in the search engines. 

How To Get Back Links

Manual Backlinks

What you need for a quality backlink is a highly respected website and relevant content.  

You can post quality content on the following sites and put a link back to your website: 

Buy Backlinks 

There are a lot of companies selling backlinks.  Be very careful.  The wrong backlinks can hurt your website, or even get it banned by Google and other search engines. 

It is clearly written in Google's guidelines that they do not like "buying or selling links for ranking purposes".  It would be good for you to get familiar with Google's spam policies.   

According to their policies, any attempts to manipulate rankings is a violation of their terms.  

This includes many SEO practices.  

In principle, Google (and other search engines) does not like SEO!  

But what are you going to do if you want traffic and Google is not giving you good exposure? 

The first thing to do is to make sure you have great quality content, relevant to the search people are making and put it on a fast, technically up-to-date website.  

Unfortunately, you will discover that is not enough in most cases. 

You will never be able to maximize your income if you depend strictly on quality content and a technically sound website.  It's a harsh reality.  

The strategies I have presented on this website are intended to manipulate Google search rankings so you get more traffic and more income from your affiliate marketing efforts. 

Now, there is a huge difference between "spam" and what SEO's consider "ethical" manipulation.  

The reason Google is so strict about spammy websites is because they are disliked by users...I remember when I used to do a search and there would be pages and pages of search results on Google that had gibberish on them...there was NO value in the websites.  

Google was losing tons of users because of what SEO's were doing.  

Since then, Google has been actively hunting down poor-quality websites and downgrading or de-listing them from their servers. 

So, "ethical SEO" is focused on providing high value to the end consumer...the person doing the search.  

While technically, any attempt at manipulating rankings is spam, according to Google, in practice, if we are providing a high quality experience for the end user, Google likes it.  

If Google sees that you are getting backlinks from quality websites featuring relevant, quality content, Google will not only overlook your violation of their policies, they will actually reward you for fulfilling the intent of the policy.  

High quality back links going to a high quality website that engages and rewards its audience is the best of all worlds, according to Google and other search engines. 

This is what you have to keep in mind when looking for or creating backlinks to get high rankings for your website. 

While there are many ways to get quality backlinks (which I will cover in the email training), the following are reliable ways of buying backlinks to give a substantial boost to your website rankings...resulting in higher income from your affiliate marketing efforts: 

Curated Links: 

Unlike other link building strategies, Curated Links don’t require you to create new content. Instead, through a process of manual and genuine outreach, we secure your links into pre-existing, highly relevant articles or blog posts that are on authoritative domains related to your niche.

This link-building service is extremely effective for building a strong and relevant link portfolio, driving value to target keywords, and delivering consistent, long-term SEO results for our clients.

Curated Links drive link authority and link equity because the content already exists. This means a curated link delivers more “link juice” than other link types – but the content relevancy isn’t as strong as Guest Posts

Curated Links are the most cost-effective link building method available.

It is easier to find website owners that accept links than it is to create and pitch brand new content.

It is possible to start seeing results as soon as the links are live and the pages have been re-indexed.

Guest Posting

Guest Posts are an extremely effective way of building authoritative backlinks for your website, increasing its online visibility and boosting your keyword rankings and site traffic.

Guest posts are the perfect addition to any ongoing link building campaign. A new, relevant guest post ensures your link appears natural and organic within the content. 

Placement of guest posts involves a genuine outreach process to ensure that you find the most suitable site for your post, taking into consideration the site’s existing content, relevance, authority, and DA score.

Premium guest posting will diversify your link portfolio and drive value to your site. 

By leveraging your industry expertise, you can identify the most effective guest post that matches your business goals.

Quality guest posts start with a process of manual outreach, followed by securing links on real websites, owned by real people. Look for an opportunity to provide at least 750 words of highly relevant content that drives strong contextual relevancy signals to Google.

In our search for the best guest post opportunities, be sure to analyze every site in detail – looking at their traffic profiles, site relevancy, authority, and other factors. 

The best strategy is to use guest posts to build strong topical relevancy signals for your site by combining them with curated Links to drive authority.

Curated links are considered the crème de la crème of driving authority and link power. However, guest posts drive much stronger topical relevancy signals due to the 750+ words of supplemental content that is directly relevant to your site’s niche. 

Content Control - Guest posting requires unique content to be created, meaning we have complete control over the content that surrounds your link.

Boost Industry Reputation - You can access high quality backlinks from authoritative websites relevant to your industry.  

High quality guest posts are designed to generate powerful backlinks and increase your website’s authority and, in time, traffic.

Private Blog Network (PBN)

A private blog network can be one of the most profitable assets you can own, if you do it right. 

Essentially, a PBN is a network of websites that you own.  

Since they are your websites you can put any content you want on them, any time you want.  You can also remove any content that does not serve your purposes anymore. 

Historically, SEOs have use PBNs to spam the search engines by putting quick-and-dirty, poor quality content on these websites to create backlinks.  

The strategy worked for a while, but when Google started to catch on to what these people were doing, they started to track websites to make sure they weren't part of a private blog network.  

In reality, the problem is not that you own a whole bunch of websites.  

The problem is that in order to save time, people put poor quality content on them and created a bad user experience.  

So, if you are willing to put in the effort to create several (maybe hundreds?) websites that link back to your main site, you could easily dominate the rankings and make a lot of money in the process. 

The trick is to have control over websites that have a good reputation with the search engines.  Then, you need to put good quality content on them.  

Putting good quality content is relatively easy nowadays because of AI based content writers.  If you put a little bit of effort into creating AI content, Google will be very happy with your website. 

The big problem is if your website doesn't have a high "domain authority" and if your page does not have a high "page authority" your quality content is not going to have any value from the point of view of backlinks. 

I will be talking about several strategies to create PBNs in the email training that accompanies this course, but for now, you can think about two main strategies that are quite well-established:  

1. Look up the Article Submission Sites and Wiki Sites mentioned in the backlinks section above.  Create several identities on each platform.  Each one of these platforms already has a high level of authority.  Any content you put on it will carry authority and transfer it to your website.  If you post several pieces of great content, each page will also start to have its own authority.  

2. Another good strategy is to buy expired domains that have a high authority.  The trick is to find domains that are in your niche.  All you have to do is create a quick website and add content and you will have a great backlink to your website.  

PBNs are very inexpensive once you have set them up.  

Since each PBN will only be good for one link to your website, you can sell links on your PBNs to other businesses as an extra income stream.  

It's not affiliate marketing, but selling access to a well-maintained, valuable private blog network is a solid, time-tested way to make a darn good living.  

Utilizing SEO Tools 

You can be much more effective with SEO content creation by using the right SEO tools.  

I will be adding and updating tools in this section as technology changes...and it changes often.  

This tool will help you research and create content to help you get good rankings in the search engines.  You will still need to find the right keywords and topics before this tool can help.  So, take your time finding the right keywords, then use this tool to refine your writing...DON'T use it to do all your writing!  Google won't like that.  First, use your knowledge and experience, and research, then use this tool.  

Using a good content research and writing tool sure beats guessing if you've got the right content to attract traffic.    

Mind you, I have been successful many times by using my judgement and creating knock-out content.  But to be honest, I have been able to do better in competitive situations by using quality SEO tools.  

There are so many people promising the moon in SEO you really have to be careful...so be careful.  

Try to get a free trial or try out a tool as cheaply as possible, then upgrade if you find it useful.  

Paid Traffic Strategies For Affiliate Marketing

SEO traffic is good, but paid traffic is much more focused.  

This means you can design your page to appeal to a specific type of buyer.  

If you don't know who you are selling to, it's not possible to have a great conversion rate. 

SEO traffic is focused to an extent, but since Google is always experimenting with sending traffic to you based on a variety of keywords it's impossible to get a reliable idea of who is visiting your website.  

Paid traffic allows you to test your headline, offer, design elements, forms, engagement elements, and anything else you think will help improve conversions on your website. 

You can certainly have those elements for SEO-based traffic, but good luck trying to pinpoint what exactly is working to get sales. 

Having said that, since you don't have to pay for SEO traffic, you will be working with a larger amount of traffic than paid traffic, so you can often get a lot more sales from your SEO efforts.    

But, paid traffic is the most reliable way to get traffic to your website. You can get as much traffic as you want, whenever you want it.  

The problem is, will your website convert enough of the traffic for you to make a healthy profit? Paid traffic that doesn't result in sales can get pretty expensive.  

I know some people really believe in paid traffic for affiliate marketing and they don't bother with "unreliable" SEO traffic.  But I have had quite a bit of success with SEO traffic, so I disagree with these people. 

I have had mixed success with paid traffic for affiliate marketing.  

Based on experiences these are my conclusions: 

1. If you are going to pay for traffic, do a LOT of testing.  Make sure the page you are sending traffic to converts well enough for you to make a profit.  Losing money is no fun. 

2. The best way to use paid traffic for affiliate marketing is to use the money to build your email list. If you do this, even if you lose money at the front end, you will likely end up making huge profits on the back end by looking after the people on your email list. 

3. Use paid traffic to boost SEO - It's a good idea to spend a little bit of money to send traffic to your website to help with SEO.  Since one of the biggest ranking factors in SEO is traffic that likes your website, if you create an engaging page and send paid traffic, the search engines will get a demonstration of how good your website is.  If you are getting a good conversion rate, the search engines will know who to send to your website.  You can stop the paid traffic once the SEO traffic kicks in.  

Social Media And Community Building

Social media marketing is a whole subject in itself.  I will create a whole page like this one about it at some point. 

In the context of SEO social media marketing can be very helpful.  

Many people think social media marketing has no effect on rankings in the search engines. This is partially true.  

While having a big presence on social media is no guarantee of getting good rankings, Google does notice the attention you are getting.  

They notice when your post is being liked and shared, and you are getting engagement.  

Engagement is a big ranking factor.  

When you create a new article or video, it is a good idea to post it on several social media...I usually stick to Facebook, Instagram, X, and maybe Pinterest... and YouTube if it is a video.   

Links on these platforms get noticed by Google right away.  Otherwise, it can take up to several months before they find out about your awesome content. 

So, from an SEO point of view, posting on social media gets your content noticed right away.  

If your social media content results in people going to your website and staying there, that is a powerful trigger for search engines.  

Community Building

This is where community building comes in.  

If you have a friendly relationship with people on your Facebook page or other social media feed, they will consume your content quickly.  Google will notice that.  When they see engagement happening two things will happen: 

1. They will index the page on your website and likely move it up in the rankings to see if their audience likes it. 

2. They will index the social media post page in their rankings also. 

If you have content that gets engagement, the success of increased Google rankings and social media page rankings will feed off of each other and really boost your content for several keywords in Google's algorithm. 

Let this sink in.  

The trick to cashing in on your social media posts, from an SEO point of view is engagement.  

An engaging post will rank well on Google, it will rank well in your social media, and your social media channel will get a boost. 

That's a job well done! 

Now, some posts are naturally engaging.  

But if you have a community of people who are hungry for your content, they will engage with your content even if it is not necessarily exciting for a general audience.  

And, if you have a good relationship with your audience you can go back and forth in a conversation and Google will consider it as engagement for the post.  

Do you see what I mean? 

Even if the post isn't inherently engaging, if you and your audience start talking about it, it looks like the post is engaging.  

This will help boost your post and your website where the content originates. 

It will take some persistence, but with practice, you will understand what kind of content to post on your website and share it on social media. 

If you have a good relationship with your community you will be able to get good rankings for some of your most important, profitable articles and videos in the search engines. 

I will be covering a lot more detail on this topic through email.  

Action Plan

Let's put all this together into a plan.  

1. The first thing to do is figure out which niche you want to build your business in.  Be sure you love the topic.  Don't just pick a topic.  Look at how much traffic and competition there is.  Pick a very competitive niche that has lots of products you can promote.  Your niche should have at least one product or service where you will get paid monthly, as long as the customer remains with that company.

2. Create a website.  You will need a brandable domain and a platform or other means of creating a website that will be easy to maintain and is hack-proof, as much as possible. 

3. Select a handful of affiliate partners you want to promote.  

4. Write articles that help people figure out the right action for their needs and wants, based on the products you are promoting based on evergreen SEO principles. 

5. Build back links to your article.  

6. Implement the YouTube free traffic formula.  Do this!  It really works. 

7. Set up your email marketing system.  You'll need to write a handful of emails to get started, then you can add more as you go.  All emails will be delivered automatically, on schedule.  You just have to do the work once. 

8. Consider kick-starting your SEO with paid traffic. 

9. Keep creating more content supporting your cornerstone article until you achieve your traffic and income goals.  If you are ranking in the top three spots for the keywords you are targeting, then write a supporting cornerstone article and do the process again.  It can be difficult to get higher than the top three in search listings... you may be better off promoting another affiliate product from your short-list of 5-10 you used for the main article.

10. Keep getting educated on how to write articles and emails that convert and write as many quality articles, as quickly as possible in the beginning (you'll get indexed faster in Google).  

What I Would Do

The above action plan is the basics.  It works.  It's solid.  Can't go wrong. 

But we can do better.  

Here's what I do: 

1. Pick a niche using the 10,000 niche selection system.
   Why would you pay for research on niches when you could do it yourself?  Here's why:  I looked up the most popular niches for affiliate marketing and started digging into them.  I was blown away.  There are so many exciting niches that I never would have thought of!  People are so cool! There is so much traffic for interesting hobbies and activities where people love to spend money. 
   When trying to figure out which niche to focus on, everyone including me, gets stuck in their own world of what's present for them at a particular time in their life.  They have forgotten all the dreams and exciting things they have been into over the span of their life. 
   This list of 10,000+ niches will open your mind and help you find a profitable niche that you will truly love to spend time in. 
   That's where the money is!  If you love what you are doing, it will show up in the content you create. Your enthusiasm will transfer to your audience and they will jump through hoops to buy what you are recommending...because they can feel your excitement! 

2. Create a website using this platform.  (Don't get the Word Press version, use their platform...trust me on this...I've done a lot of experimentation!) There are a LOT of website builders out there.  But when you want to set up a passive income system where you can create something and just forget about it and the money keeps rolling in without any effort... this is the "business-builder" I believe in.  I have tried so many methods of building a website over the years.  This is the only one that is truly hands-free from a technical perspective. 
   I don't have the patience to learn technology, but I have been forced into it time and again.  The platform I recommend has never failed me.  Everything else breaks down after a while or gets hacked.  If you want a worry-free business just go with this.  It's easy to learn and you won't have to bother with the technical side of the Internet, ever! (In my experience of over 20 years).  

3. Select 5-10 core affiliate programs that you really believe in, and focus on promoting them for the next year, at least. 

4. Write ONE Loooong article, like the one you are reading.  Build in the top 3-5 keywords related to each of the affiliate programs you want to promote and really help people.  This will build credibility and trust with your audience AND with the search engines.  You will get traffic and buyers to the page and you will make a difference in the world.  This is important!  You won't stick to anything long enough to be successful unless you feel like you are making a difference for people. 

5. "Promote" your long, cornerstone article by building a ton of backlinks.

6. Implement the 24 hour ranking system.  

7. Set up your email marketing system to help people achieve what they came to you for. Really help them get results.  No one does this!  So, if you care enough to continue helping people, they will know they can trust you and they will buy anything you ask them to.  But Remember!  People are naturally suspicious. If you break their trust even once by recommending something that doesn't help them get results, it will be very difficult to win them back. This is why you need to follow up and make sure they get the results they signed up for.  

8. Post your cornerstone article on Facebook and other social media with a teaser that leads to your website...then boost that post with a small advertising budget.  This will get the ball rolling quickly for getting traffic to your website. 

9. Keep creating more content supporting your cornerstone article until you achieve your traffic and income goals.  If you are ranking in the top three spots for the keywords you are targeting, then write a supporting cornerstone article and do the process again.  It can be difficult to get higher than the top three in search listings... you may be better off promoting another affiliate product from your short-list of 5-10 you used for the main article. 

10. Keep getting educated by signing up for the email training that supports this course.  It's free, and it will help you make more money, faster.  

Bonus

If you need money to pay your bills fast or just want to get some money in your bank account within the next month, watch this video and buy the DFY package. Then go back and do the above steps.  

Help Is Available! 

Sign up for the One-On-One Email Coaching program if you are serious about building a passive income affiliate marketing business. Of course, you could do it yourself...especially if you use the resources I have provided above... but there is a big difference between "knowing" what to do and actually doing it.  You will have questions along the way.  Instead of getting stuck, the coaching program will help you accomplish your goal quickly.  

Links:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1YkyOyL1SqkonENTy_ODQZiicrZHcSOadKfOSpBj7IwQ/edit?usp=sharing