This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
Welcome to Side Hustle School. Hope you are doing well in these final days of the year. My name is Chris Guillebeau, so glad you're out there. Wherever you're tuning in from, however long you've been listening, we do this show every single day, seven days a week. So if you've dropped off for a while and you're just coming back, that's great. Welcome. If you're
brand new, welcome. If you have not missed a day, that's amazing. Let's talk today about the best affiliate strategy for the year ahead. So specifically, you know, in the world of affiliate marketing, a couple of days ago, we talked about cell phone plan reselling could be all kinds of affiliate options. Success lies in a blend of strategy and authenticity. So in today's episode,
specifically, we're joined by Lucas from Springfield, Missouri. Lucas is a dedicated listener dipping his toes into the world of affiliate marketing, intrigued by its potential, but he's looking for a way to be effective at it and to be profitable with it. Let's help him make some money. Let's help listeners make some money. Okay. How does one not only find and promote the right affiliate
programs, but also build a platform that authentically converts interest into sales. And how do you do that over the next year, right? Because, you know, new year's coming up. Let's explore this together. Best affiliate strategy for the year ahead. Lucas's question and my answer
coming right up. Hi, Chris, I'm Lucas from Springfield, Missouri. Your podcast, Side Hustle School has been a daily dose of motivation for me. I've been dabbling with affiliate marketing recently and I see a lot of potential. However, I'm unsure how to scale up and really succeed in this area. What are some effective strategies for finding and promoting the right affiliate
programs in 2024? Also, how can I build a trusted platform that converts visits into affiliate sales without coming off as too salesy? All right, scaling up in affiliate marketing is all about making smart choices and authenticity. And I love, again, that we were looking ahead to 2024. We talked about it a little bit yesterday. And I think it's always good to plan ahead. Now,
also, as I may have mentioned yesterday, I think, you know, thinking about trends is not as good as thinking about what are the skills I have that can be relevant in all kinds of markets so that, you know, a trend can come and go, but I want to build a business that's going to endure. Nevertheless, for affiliate promotions, you know, it is important to pay attention to momentum. So a couple of things that might help as we scale up in affiliate marketing, mostly it's about focused niche selection or niche. If you prefer, you want to concentrate on products that align with your interests and your audience's need. This focus is going to guide you to the right programs. And I
also think you want to find high value programs and high profit programs. There's a lot of affiliate programs that pay pretty small amounts in commission. That's not what you want. You're going to be doing a lot of work in referring people. So you actually want to make sure you're getting paid a good amount, both a good percentage, so like a relative amount and also a good absolute amount. You know, if you're selling a product that costs a couple of dollars, it doesn't help
if you get a 50% commission. That's good relatively, but in absolute sense, it's not very much money. So you want to be referring products that cost hundreds of dollars and you get maybe not always 50%, but you want to get a really good cut of that. Let's see, as you scale up, you want to create engaging relevant content that could be blog posts, videos, social media, whatever it is, your content should add value related to the products you're promoting and also drive traffic. Like don't be afraid to push it, push it a little bit while also adding value. That's kind of the
balance you want. You don't want to be so salesy and so promotional that people get turned off. You also don't want to neglect the sales and promotion because that's what affiliate marketing is about. Finally, you want to analyze and adapt. There's some good tools these days. A lot of
affiliate programs offer them. There's some independent ones as well to help you track which products and content is resonating. That allows you to refine your strategy and focus on what works. Mostly success in affiliate marketing comes from that genuine interest, the specific referral you make and choosing the right products in the first place. I'm going to have some specific case studies coming out in January and February of people who are doing this with great success, sometimes making a lot of money. I'm excited to share those with you. So that's coming up
in the new year. And of course, if you have a question or some feedback, sidehustleschool.com slash questions and much more to come. Hang in there through the holidays. New year is just around the corner. I hope you'll continue to listen going into the next year. For now,
my name is Chris Guillebeau. This is Side Hustle School. From the Onward Project.
