How to Make Money with Affiliate Marketing with Shannon Smith | Affiliate Marketing Academy

0:00 | hey everyone welcome to another episode

0:02 | of affiliate marketing Academy I’m

0:04 | Olivia your host and today’s a really

0:06 | cool episode because today we’re talking

0:07 | with Shannon Smith she’s an affiliate

0:10 | marketer primarily on Tick Tock and

0:12 | she’s had a lot of success so we’re

0:14 | gonna get a lot of tips and tricks on

0:17 | how to get started with affiliate

0:19 | marketing don’t forget to like And

0:20 | subscribe and without further ado

0:23 | let’s get into it and let’s meet Shannon

0:27 | thank you

0:30 | hi Shannon thanks so much for joining us

0:32 | today on affiliate marketing Academy and

0:35 | I know a little bit about you but you

0:37 | know the audience doesn’t know so much

0:38 | so if you can just give us a quick intro

0:40 | on who you are and how you started in

0:41 | affiliate marketing yeah for sure

0:44 | um so my name is Shannon um I started

0:47 | affiliate marketing about a year and a

0:50 | half ago

0:51 | um it was you know the middle of the

0:52 | pandemic

0:54 | um I wanted a way to be able to make

0:56 | money online when my online Fitness

0:58 | business had failed so I saw somebody on

1:02 | Tick Tock doing affiliate marketing and

1:04 | I was like okay that sounds like exactly

1:07 | what I wanted to do because I always

1:08 | wanted to work remote and be able to be

1:12 | my own boss you know and travel so I

1:15 | decided to try it and my business really

1:18 | took off at about two months online

1:21 | um all thanks to tick tock um my account

1:23 | blue up my business blew up and so ever

1:25 | since then

1:27 | um I have just been kind of growing and

1:29 | expanding it

1:30 | that’s so awesome so you’re mainly on

1:32 | Tick Tock right

1:33 | yeah so I’m mainly on Tick Tock um I’m

1:36 | starting to kind of Branch out into

1:38 | other platforms as well but Tick Tock is

1:41 | just such like a great source for

1:43 | anybody who wants to do online business

1:45 | because it’s so easy to get in front of

1:47 | like millions of people without having

1:49 | to have that big following

1:51 | yeah and and you don’t even have to pay

1:53 | to you know get viral and and promote

1:57 | offers so that’s that’s always something

1:58 | that I’ve liked about that yeah exactly

2:01 | you’re saving so much money by not

2:03 | having to spend a lot on running paid

2:05 | ads and stuff because the organic reach

2:07 | is just crazy yeah seriously

2:10 | um so heading into the questions for

2:13 | today I wanted to ask um so let’s say

2:15 | I’m a new affiliate and I’ve you know

2:17 | I’m just starting out in affiliate

2:18 | marketing what do you suggest would be

2:20 | my first few steps so that I can achieve

2:22 | success

2:23 | so first I always say get a mentor or

2:28 | get some form of education online just

2:30 | so that way you save yourself a lot of

2:32 | time and a lot of money

2:35 | um so that’s how I got started I did uh

2:37 | legendary marketers 15 day challenge

2:39 | which I really recommend for beginners

2:41 | um so first off definitely get some

2:44 | education so you know the foundations

2:47 | um and then I guess my three best tips

2:50 | for beginners starting out would be

2:52 | first find one high ticket product that

2:55 | pays out good commissions and really

2:58 | just go all in on marketing that really

3:01 | master that before you add in any other

3:03 | programs so that way you’re not casting

3:06 | a really wide net

3:07 | um and catching no fish so start with

3:10 | just one really good program master that

3:12 | then you can add on more down the line

3:15 | um another thing that I would say is

3:17 | develop a good posting strategy on

3:20 | social media because it is easy for your

3:23 | account accounts to get taken down like

3:25 | my main Tick Tock got banned at like a

3:28 | hundred thousand followers and wow that

3:31 | was my main source of income and I

3:32 | basically lost it overnight

3:34 | um because I relied so heavily on it

3:36 | um so have a posting strategy so that

3:39 | way if your account gets shut down you

3:41 | lose your business

3:42 | um you have a strategy so that way you

3:44 | can build up another account

3:46 | um and then lastly kind of going off of

3:49 | that I just don’t rely just on social

3:51 | media to run your business so you really

3:54 | want to focus on building up an email

3:56 | list

3:57 | um directing people to you know go

3:58 | follow you on Instagram go follow you on

4:00 | Pinterest really use like Tick Tock

4:04 | especially as a platform to get people

4:07 | in but then take them with you to other

4:09 | platforms so that way you’re not solely

4:11 | relying on just like one thing for your

4:14 | whole entire business and then you lose

4:15 | it like maybe

4:16 | that makes a lot of sense I think it’s

4:18 | good to focus on one platform at first

4:20 | right and then once you master that

4:22 | platform you can kind of Branch off into

4:24 | other platforms and like you said take

4:26 | other people to those other places so

4:28 | that’s really awesome yeah definitely so

4:30 | it’s like the same thing with like

4:31 | affiliate programs and social media

4:33 | platforms like you really want to focus

4:35 | on mastering one at a time instead of

4:37 | just kind of like putting in 50 effort

4:40 | into learning multiple

4:42 | um because it’s not you’re ever gonna

4:44 | you know be successful that way yeah and

4:46 | you might even burn out so I completely

4:48 | agree there

4:49 | yeah definitely

4:51 | so going off of that you you mentioned a

4:54 | few tips to start out

4:56 | um when you’re looking at different

4:57 | affiliate offers what metrics do you

4:58 | specifically look at uh do you look at

5:00 | like the sales page you look at aov I

5:03 | know you mentioned High ticket so so my

5:07 | main things that I look for when I’m

5:08 | looking for a new product to promote

5:11 | um definitely High commissions or a high

5:14 | like sales ladder in the background you

5:17 | definitely want to make sure that they

5:18 | have upsells

5:20 | um and there is a high ticket option

5:22 | because I always say that you’re going

5:23 | to spend the same amount of money uh

5:25 | marketing a product that pays you two

5:26 | dollars in commissions versus marketing

5:28 | a product that pays you two thousand

5:30 | dollars in commissions so find one that

5:32 | pays out good commissions

5:34 | um that’s number one thing that I look

5:35 | for another thing um there’s something

5:38 | called gravity and that just means the

5:40 | number of Affiliates that are actively

5:42 | promoting that product so if it has a

5:44 | high gravity you know that it’s a good

5:46 | product

5:47 | um so that’s another good thing to look

5:49 | for

5:50 | um also I always like to look at the

5:53 | reviews of the product and the company

5:56 | because if I start promoting something

5:59 | like it’s my reputation on the line

6:01 | basically and so I don’t want to be

6:03 | promoting a product and having these

6:05 | people spend all this money on it if

6:07 | it’s not going to be worth their wild if

6:09 | it’s not a good product

6:11 | um right so that’s another thing and

6:14 | then I always look for I guess two more

6:17 | things mainly one is if it has recurring

6:20 | subscriptions because that’s a really

6:22 | easy way to make money every month

6:25 | um so recurring subscriptions and then

6:28 | lastly is low refund rates because

6:31 | that’s like the same thing as like the

6:33 | rating like you want to make sure that

6:35 | people like the product that they aren’t

6:37 | returning it after they buy it right

6:39 | um yeah so yeah those are the main kind

6:41 | of things that I look for when I’m

6:42 | finding a new product

6:43 | cool I love that really good advice and

6:47 | in your experience what are the best

6:48 | niches uh for affiliate marketing

6:52 | so for affiliate marketing there are

6:54 | three that are always going to be in

6:57 | high demand no matter what so it’s going

6:58 | to be health so health and wellness so

7:01 | that’ll be fitness programs nutrition

7:03 | programs supplements like skin care so

7:06 | health and wellness is always on Trend

7:09 | um wealth so that’s what I do which is

7:12 | how to make money online so whether

7:14 | that’s side hustles whether that’s

7:15 | investing crypto financial literacy

7:19 | um wealth is always going to be in

7:21 | um and then dating and relationships so

7:24 | there’s a lot of like relationship

7:25 | coaching courses online

7:28 | um or like manifesting or perfect person

7:30 | like stuff like that so health wealth

7:33 | and relationships are always going to be

7:35 | the top three

7:36 | awesome yeah I completely agree there

7:38 | too and let’s say I’m a new affiliate

7:40 | that recently started promoting offers

7:41 | but I’m not seeing a lot of affiliate

7:44 | commissions come in what’s one piece of

7:46 | advice you would give me

7:48 | I would say

7:50 | um I have a few pieces of advice I guess

7:51 | first I would say don’t give up before

7:55 | you have a chance to blow up because I

7:57 | think that a lot of people quit before

7:59 | they have a chance to you know make it

8:02 | big so just stay consistent

8:05 | um and then another thing is really good

8:07 | to know who you’re trying to Target like

8:10 | get to know your target audience inside

8:12 | and out because I think a lot of people

8:14 | start promoting products and they start

8:17 | creating content from a place of almost

8:20 | selfishness like promoting products just

8:23 | to like hype themselves up hype up how

8:25 | much money they’re making how great

8:27 | their life is and it’s like nobody cares

8:29 | about you at the end of the day

8:30 | everybody cares about themselves and why

8:33 | is this product that you’re promoting

8:35 | gonna help them achieve you know some

8:37 | specific outcome so always create your

8:41 | content with your target audience in

8:43 | mind

8:44 | um and really just get to know them

8:45 | inside out because that’s how you’re

8:46 | gonna get the people in yeah absolutely

8:49 | yeah we we often get a lot of people who

8:51 | say they’re getting a lot of clicks but

8:53 | not really a lot of sales and um that’s

8:56 | always seems to to be an issue but

8:58 | um specifically for something like that

9:00 | do you have any tips for people like

9:02 | if you’re getting a lot of clicks but

9:04 | not a lot of sales right yeah

9:07 | I would say at that point

9:08 | um with your audience you really want to

9:10 | build that no like and Trust Factor

9:13 | um because I always say like nobody’s

9:15 | gonna buy like especially an expensive

9:18 | product from a stranger online just

9:19 | because they claim you can make like ten

9:21 | thousand dollars a month from it like

9:23 | nobody’s gonna buy that so you really

9:25 | want to you know build that no like and

9:26 | Trust Factor yeah with your audience so

9:29 | they know that this product is actually

9:30 | reputable and gonna help them and you’re

9:32 | not just trying to make a quick Buck

9:35 | um so always try to build that factor

9:37 | and then another thing is look through

9:40 | your sales funnel because if you’re not

9:42 | getting a lot of

9:44 | um conversions like people are clicking

9:46 | on your links but they’re not actually

9:47 | buying anything go through your sales

9:49 | funnel see if there’s anything that you

9:52 | can you know change up the wording make

9:54 | it shorter make it longer

9:56 | um do some different I guess kind of

9:58 | tests with your sales funnel just to see

10:00 | what works best and what people respond

10:02 | to

10:03 | yeah always got to keep testing

10:05 | um I feel like I feel like typically

10:07 | with this kind of stuff when you’re not

10:08 | getting a whole lot of sales it tends to

10:10 | be the copy you got to change it up so

10:12 | yeah I’m right there with you yeah

10:15 | exactly yeah

10:16 | and um why would you recommend

10:18 | Affiliates work with a big affiliate

10:20 | Network like to just store 24.

10:23 | I think that working with a big

10:25 | affiliate network is great because you

10:26 | guys have so many you know different

10:28 | options to choose from

10:30 | um a lot of them are rated really well

10:33 | and so it’s always good you know to have

10:35 | all of those options to fall back on um

10:38 | and then just be able to keep adding in

10:40 | different affiliate offers into like

10:43 | your email list rotation

10:44 | um or adding new ones into your social

10:47 | media platform

10:48 | um they’re easy to find it’s easier than

10:50 | like going on Google and having to

10:52 | search it all up like it’s nice having

10:54 | it all in one place yeah agreed it’s one

10:57 | centralized location

11:00 | um I know we already kind of talked a

11:02 | little bit about you know your preferred

11:04 | uh traffic sources to use because I know

11:06 | you use Tick Tock but I guess the the

11:09 | second one that you like the most after

11:11 | tick tock uh since you’ve been branching

11:13 | out so I am actually right now in the

11:17 | process of learning a lot more about

11:18 | email marketing

11:20 | um I actually did a podcast with a man

11:24 | named Igor kfetz and he is I think like

11:27 | the third highest earning affiliate in

11:29 | the online space and he doesn’t have any

11:31 | social media he does it all via email

11:33 | and so after I did that podcast I was

11:36 | like okay so I’m leaving so much money

11:40 | on the table by not optimizing my email

11:43 | list and doing all of that follow-up so

11:46 | right now I’m really trying to

11:47 | capitalize on email marketing on writing

11:50 | better copy

11:52 | um and just improving on the back end of

11:54 | things so you know should my social

11:57 | media Pages get shut down again I have

11:59 | that which isn’t going to be impacted by

12:01 | that yeah good good to always like build

12:03 | that email list that’s awesome

12:06 | and then um what advice do you wish you

12:09 | heard when you first started affiliate

12:11 | marketing

12:13 | oh I definitely have something for this

12:15 | I would say try to play the long game

12:18 | with it

12:20 | um because with me when I first started

12:23 | out granted I had a lot of success

12:25 | really early on my uh social media Pages

12:28 | grew you know my business took off but I

12:32 | when I first started out was just so

12:34 | focused on like getting a lot of

12:36 | followers right now getting a lot of

12:37 | money right now

12:38 | um which I did but then I think that’s

12:40 | ultimately why my account like got shut

12:43 | down I had to start over from zero

12:46 | um so I would say focus more on playing

12:49 | the long game like you don’t have to

12:51 | have your account or your business blow

12:53 | up right away

12:55 | um just focus more on you know building

12:57 | a community online

12:59 | um and building a really like good solid

13:02 | business instead of just like getting

13:04 | caught up when you’re first starting out

13:06 | and just trying to make it happen as

13:08 | quickly as possible yeah I feel like I

13:11 | feel like a lot of people go in super

13:13 | hard at first and then they they burn

13:15 | out and then they just give them so I

13:17 | think that’s really solid advice yeah

13:19 | definitely and another thing kind of

13:21 | going off of that

13:23 | um is consistency is really important

13:25 | because I know when I first started like

13:27 | it took off and my business is basically

13:29 | running itself and I just let it do that

13:32 | and so I would be really inconsistent

13:35 | like I would like shoot all my content

13:37 | in one day and then not work again for

13:39 | like two weeks until I ran out of

13:40 | content

13:42 | um and then when you’re not like you

13:44 | know being online every day seeing what

13:46 | the trends are um seeing what’s working

13:48 | for others and what you should be doing

13:49 | you kind of just fall behind

13:52 | um so even though your business runs

13:54 | itself 90 of the way you still want to

13:56 | be staying consistent staying up to date

13:58 | with everything

13:59 | um and always just learning more yeah

14:01 | absolutely

14:02 | um speaking about that are there like

14:04 | any tools that you recommend

14:07 | um for staying organized or just like in

14:08 | the affiliate marketing world

14:11 | um in the affiliate marketing world I

14:14 | think it’s all about you know automating

14:16 | as many things as you can to make it

14:18 | easier on you

14:19 | um so I use click funnels for my funnels

14:23 | just to have that all in one place I

14:25 | found it’s the most user friendly

14:27 | um I use aweber for my email sequences

14:31 | um canva to making it you know some like

14:33 | designs for my Instagram

14:37 | um and then a really great tool that I

14:39 | just found is called repurpose.io so if

14:42 | you are using tiktok it’ll download your

14:45 | videos without the watermark and

14:47 | automatically repost them to I think

14:49 | it’ll do upload it to your like Google

14:52 | Drive and then it’ll upload it to

14:54 | YouTube shorts Instagram Pinterest

14:56 | Facebook reels like which is gonna sell

14:58 | a ton of time and get so many more eyes

15:00 | on your products I’ve actually been

15:02 | trying to find something like that

15:03 | because you know Tick Tock it never

15:05 | allows you to download it without the

15:07 | watermark so that’s good to know yeah so

15:09 | it’s great because it’s just like such a

15:11 | Time Saver

15:12 | that’s awesome cool

15:15 | and then to close it off any final tips

15:18 | and insights you’d like to give our

15:19 | audience on getting started or you know

15:21 | just like continuing if they’ve already

15:23 | started

15:24 | I would just say

15:26 | um you know always keep learning always

15:29 | keep expanding your business and don’t

15:32 | get discouraged by the thought of like

15:35 | it being a saturated Market

15:37 | um or thinking that you’re like getting

15:39 | started and too late on it because there

15:41 | are literally thousands and thousands of

15:43 | products that you can promote so there’s

15:46 | always going to be a market for it I

15:48 | think it’s like something crazy like 85

15:49 | percent of companies have affiliate

15:51 | programs yeah I think it’s gone up

15:53 | actually since since that number yeah

15:55 | it’s crazy so don’t get discouraged if

15:58 | you’re wanting to start and you haven’t

15:59 | started yet and stay consistent because

16:02 | if you are consistent I promise you that

16:04 | the results will come yeah I agree on

16:07 | testing continue to test so yeah exactly

16:11 | always testing what’s working

16:13 | well thank you so much Shannon I really

16:14 | appreciate you joining us today and I

16:16 | think our audience is really going to

16:18 | get a lot from all the tips you gave us

16:20 | yeah thanks for having me on yeah thanks

16:23 | well that’s it guys I hope you enjoyed

16:25 | today’s episode and got a lot out of the

16:27 | conversation with Shannon Smith and I be

16:29 | sure to like And subscribe so that

16:31 | you’ll never miss any new episodes from

16:33 | affiliate marketing Academy thanks and

16:34 | see you next month

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