#1 Asset of your business as an affiliate — the email database! really !? Anyway, I like the simplicity of Ewen’s message. Similar to my recreational stock picking, he strips away many “heavy” burdens. I believe there are many key ingredients he hasn’t mentioned in his 20-min presentation.

I like the long-term value of his method, but is it a realistic method?

The email database is valuable to a product merchant too, but possibly more valuable to an affiliate because she has more freedom to carry a wider range of products in the same market segment. The affiliate carries no stock and is more nimble.

Email is 40x more effective than Facebook + twitter combined. More personalized?

— which program? Ewen uses Clickbank, Amazon and ShareASale.com. He said most international programs uses USD.
He didn’t say anything about Shopee/Lazada but I feel he surely compared those against the U.S. programs

Amazon AMB pays low commission .. 4-10%. One of his students sold USD 66k but earned $2500+

clickbank specializes in digital products (incl. software). Clickbank snooper can help you find suitable products for you.

— One of the burdens is building segment expertise. I think Ewen didn’t become knowledgeable about all “segments” before making profits. Ewen said he is “in many niches”. Ewen sold aerobics without any expertise.

I have some experience with many segments, and I can possibly market them one by one.

Another burden is following news events. I don’t like them. I’m a slow builder of “museums”.

I feel a successful affiliate is not passionate about one product, becasue she needs to invest her energy into many markets. Without that passion, following the news and events feels like desparate and needy.

— landing page .. Show a teaser. immediately harvest the visitor’s email addresses before showing the real content. No content on the landing page. Show the product (with the AML) on the last  page, along with CallToAction.

Some shoppers buy within seconds. In total, up to 20% would buy.

Instead of the AML, we should put the landing page URL into all the radiators such as blog, youtube, social media…

Many /prospective/ buyers will need a few reminders, persuasions… Email database lets me (the affiliate) reach out to registered audience repeatedly, rather than waiting for them to “discover me”.

Auto-responder is the system to process the landing form. There are free versions online.

Online paid advertising can cost as little as $1/day, much cheaper than offline advertizing.

— A database for a good product segment or “theme” can include multiple products from multiple platforms, and can last decades:

• weight loss
• body building
• fitness equipment
• skin care
• hair loss
• phone accessories
• mosquito products
• spectacles
• yoga studios, classpass
• musical instruments
• dental products

a contact form is required if you want to build mailing list.

Can add it to my existing blogs.

Need to remember the product, so I can name the forms like f185/f872 for prodA/prodB

This design is my advantage, even though visual design is not.

— some advantages of affiliate marketing compare to traditional or other business models

• [p=personal advantages compared to the average affliate[
• 🙂 no /legwork/ setting up a company
• 🙂 no /legwork/ building a shop front, but some legwork building APS. This t$cost is a differentiator from the uncommitted players.
• 🙂 low $investment [APS], possibly $0. No worry about financial loss
• 🙂 no inventory required,
• 🙂 [p] As a decent writer, I can slowly build up a detailed “story” about a product.
• 🙂 [p] I have some inet tech skills compared to a lay person
• 🙂 [p] my son can help out.
• 🙂 [p] I have many advisors experienced in web tech or digital marketing
• 🙂 similar to recreational investment, this recreation can be sustainable rather than hurting my burn rate.

Big (economic) picture — Over the decades, more and more consumers are buying online (vs offline). ( XA.S said nothing but this in his response to me. ) Since mid 2010s, Lazada, Shopee etc have grown exponentially, reflecting the demand and consumer habit. Example — For a young mother, any way she would compare a few baby powders and choose one.

K.Hu’s opinion ?

— various roles you can play .. In the big picture, once you get a foothold in this (expanding) universe, you can potentially choose to play any of the multiple roles like shop owner, SEO consultant to local companies, online-marketing software salesman, WordPress consultant.

You can also help your family members grow an income, grow an economic skill. Contrast that to an “unprofitable” or solitary hobby like photography, golf, art…

See also

• [17]Uchicago: don’t turn it into a Whip
• UChicago ^ self-learn` @ math
• recreational AMB[def] .. compares MOETF recreation

Other j4:

• learning vacation .. better than a reading vacation
• wife, son .. at least I get some idea from trusted experts so I can take part (if not lead) in family discussions
• boy .. this recreation could help him overcome the fear of coding.
• .. Even without coding, it’s a great opportunity just to work on the computer and websites with boy.

---

— j4 wpress course ..

• The wpress course is heavy on page look-n-feel customization. I hate this aspect and would not make good progress without this course.
• I already spent real money on dhost. This is one way to leverage on that. I can set up multiple subdomains each for a landing page. My advantage over other newbies.
• I already spent huge effort learning wpress. this is one way to leverage on that.
• wpress has many books in library. Am good at learning from books.

== hidden barrier, the whip ..
the whip .. Remember the experience with tax preparation, with H1 application, with the search for a BGC local agent?

It is also similar to my yoga practice. Now I share my yoga story with so many friends, as inspiration

I think this is similar to CSY’s attitude on coding drill.

The AMB course got me started thinking hard about this recreation. I worry that if I take no further action for 6M, then I would consider myself a failure.

In each case there was an inertia to overcome. Need lots of sunshine (time and mental energy) and absorbency to overcome the initial learning curve.  Hidden barrier. The course is more effective than reading a few web pages for 10m. The hidden barrier and internal /roadblock/ (more visual than “resistance”) is strong and easily underestimated. Therefore am likely to give up.

— action .. The wpress course is “action”.
Q: How about blogging and discussing with family .. counted as “action”? Yes

affiliate commission rate: up to 15% Lazada or Shopee 2-10%. Clickbank can be 70%. Beauty products, baby products offer good commission rates (but there are strong affiliate players in those markets).

Facebook lets you set up a page free, where you can list the products. This page is the minimum if you don’t want a APS.

• mailchimp.com let’s you send “spam” free, up to 10,000 mails/month.
• constantContact.com free for 60D, up to 100 contacts

— trust and rapport with consumers.. Mostly strangers, but you still can build rapport by providing valuable and knowledgeable tips. Most people would appreciate by using your personal AML rather than bypassing it. Successful affiliates need to invest time and build an online presence. This is a labor or love.

Your APS or your blog needs a personality to be memorable, to build trust and rapport, to help you establish an online presence.

CallToAction prevents the consumer from bypassing your AML.

— product reviews .. can be included in your “Story”. About 70% of product reviews are genuine. A picture is worth 1000 words.
— the players: merchant || platform [Amazon/lazada] || social media || Affiliates [w@mm]

I feel affiliate model is based on w@mm [word-of-mouth marketing],  but automated via the platform’s AML.

1. In pre-internet, it’s merchant < consumer with w@mm affiliates earning commission iFF buyer mentions the referrer.
2. in web1.0 , it’s merchant < platform < consumer. Merchants use google or social media to reach consumers.
3. in affiliate model, the minimum set of players are merchant < platform < affiliate < consumer. The affiliates are an integral part of the platform, and help expand the platform’s /tentacles/.

^^^ In all of these models, advertising networks can play a role, but that role is often confusing. The role is distinct from the platform. In this blogpost, we basically ignore independent merchants unlinked from all platforms, merchants like classpass, which recruit classpass affiliates. In the most confusing structure, classpass can advertise on FB or recruit affiliates; classpass can have a merchant page on Amazon; Amazon affiliates can advertise on FB for classpass.

• merchant[shop owner] is the counterparty receiving payment from consumer
• advertiser .. Defined as whoever pays advertising fee. Advertiser on platform is a merchant. Advertiser in social media can be the affiliate or the merchant.
• — examples:
• Linkedin, youtube .. major social media
• twitter, wechat .. social media
• forums, discord .. social media
• email marketing .. comparable to social media

— APS [Affiliate Personal Site] .. Domain + hosting costs about $$250/Y. Is that cost necessary? I guess not strictly, but very important. On APS or a social media page, you can post a Story, followed by the AML [Affiliate Marketing Link]. Your APS is better because a social media property (FB, IG, Wechat…) belongs to the tech giant and can restrict your marketing.

*.co domains are very cheap, but trainer said not recommended. Only *.com *.com.sg *.sg are recommended.

To be effective, I think the Story had better be personal, and include photos, drawings, /testimonies/..