Advice for a Newcomer - Lead Gen / Best Products / Networks?

12 replies
TL;DR -- do folks have recommendations for products/affiliate networks that would be good for a beginner? I am esp. interested in lead generation.

Hello All -- I am hoping that the community would be willing to provide a bit of advice for a newcomer to affiliate marketing. I am working right now on putting together an ad funnel in Wordpress, and excited to start testing things out with a paid ad...but before I put in the time to setting it all up, I am hoping that the community might be willing to provide a bit of advice.

My challenges/goals/areas where I'm seeking guidance...please feel free to offer advice in any or all of these areas!

1) Choosing a product: I would love to promote an informational product or a software product because they offer good commissions for affiliates. My interests include outdoors, diy/repair, web design, personal finance, and related topics...and ideally it would be good to find a product that aligns with my interests.
2) Make sure it's going to work: There are a number of products out there that seem exciting to promote but that do not seem very accessible for new affiliates without existing email lists/blogs. So -- I will need to identify a product or products (or network) that would be able to offer value to customers while also offering me the opportunity to promote it as a total newcomer using a sales funnel and paid ads.
3) Optimize: If possible I would like to identify products, networks, niches etc. that I can promote with as much likelihood of success as possible when considering my interests...Is lead generation one such way to optimize? e.g. is it easier to generate leads than to make paid sales using a funnel? I am hoping that the community might be willing to provide advice and recommendations about steps that I should take or avoid in this realm so that I start out on the right path.

Thank you very much for your time, advice, and ideas...please feel free to message me directly if you might feel better about sharing ideas that way...I am at a stage right now where I am seeking as many ideas and as much feedback as I can.

Thank you!!
#advice #gen #lead #networks #newcomer #products
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  • Profile picture of the author Kay King
    You've clearly given this some thought - but you are asking for a full tutorial in a forum post. Many of the things you ask about have been discussed here recently and thoroughly.


    Use the 'advanced search' on this forum - use keywords and search for 'posts' (not threads) and you can find a lot of information on several of the topics you raised.



    I'm sure you'll get some help in this thread - but the more specific your questions, the more accurate the answers can be..
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    • Profile picture of the author uneven28
      Thanks Kay! So true!

      I am new to WF and I will keep exploring the forums and resources here. I have been devouring tutorials on YouTube and marketing blogs, and have been able to learn a great deal, but of course am not there yet (still a long way to go).

      Thanks for the tip on Advanced Search -- I'll keep roaming around to see what I can find that is already out there in these forums about these topics and making progress.

      Thank you again for your time.
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  • Profile picture of the author Monetize
    Originally Posted by uneven28 View Post

    TL;DR -- do folks have recommendations for products/affiliate networks that would be good for a beginner? I am esp. interested in lead generation.

    Hello All -- I am hoping that the community would be willing to provide a bit of advice for a newcomer to affiliate marketing. I am working right now on putting together an ad funnel in Wordpress, and excited to start testing things out with a paid ad...but before I put in the time to setting it all up, I am hoping that the community might be willing to provide a bit of advice.

    My challenges/goals/areas where I'm seeking guidance...please feel free to offer advice in any or all of these areas!

    1) Choosing a product: I would love to promote an informational product or a software product because they offer good commissions for affiliates. My interests include outdoors, diy/repair, web design, personal finance, and related topics...and ideally it would be good to find a product that aligns with my interests.
    2) Make sure it's going to work: There are a number of products out there that seem exciting to promote but that do not seem very accessible for new affiliates without existing email lists/blogs. So -- I will need to identify a product or products (or network) that would be able to offer value to customers while also offering me the opportunity to promote it as a total newcomer using a sales funnel and paid ads.
    3) Optimize: If possible I would like to identify products, networks, niches etc. that I can promote with as much likelihood of success as possible when considering my interests...Is lead generation one such way to optimize? e.g. is it easier to generate leads than to make paid sales using a funnel? I am hoping that the community might be willing to provide advice and recommendations about steps that I should take or avoid in this realm so that I start out on the right path.

    Thank you very much for your time, advice, and ideas...please feel free to message me directly if you might feel better about sharing ideas that way...I am at a stage right now where I am seeking as many ideas and as much feedback as I can.

    Thank you!!

    Please take my advice, take a step back and figure out
    what it is you want to do because based on your post
    you are all over the place.

    Narrow down your area of focus.

    If you want to do lead generation, you need to know
    what sorts of leads you are generating and for whom.
    Are you going to sell these leads, what are you going
    to do with the leads?

    You say that you would love to promote informational
    or software products as they offer good commissions.
    Everybody would love to do that.

    Your interests include outdoors, DIY/repair, web design,
    personal finance, etc. That's great. But if you plan on
    making money then you need to know what people
    are buying.

    There is no way to ensure anything is going to work.
    Maybe if you have witnessed it working for somebody
    else, but it still might not work. You need to try things
    yourself to know whether something is going to work.

    People could come on here and tell you two-hundred
    ways to make money but that doesn't mean anything.
    You're into web design, go develop some websites,
    design some WordPress themes, sell websites on
    Flippa or GoDaddy or wherever.

    Do you see what I mean?

    There's endless ways to make money. If you call me
    on the phone, I could talk to you all day long about
    ways to make money online.

    You seem intelligent and you possess several useful
    skills for making money online but I am at a loss about
    what to tell someone like you. I think that it would be
    advisable for you to focus, educate yourself, develop
    an action plan and start chipping away at it.
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    • Profile picture of the author uneven28
      Hi Monetize,

      Thank you for your time and your reply! It is helping me a lot just to have responses from live human beings because even though I have spent several months learning as much as I can, it is critical to be able to interact with real people in order to narrow my focus.

      *You mentioned in your reply about promoting software and informational products with high commissions that "everybody would love to do that." It's sometimes tough to read tone in a forum post, but it read to me like you were implying that, for most people, this was a strategy that wouldn't be feasible. Is that the case, and is there a reason why it would not be advisable for someone in my position to try to set up an affiliate funnel to promote informational products or software products? e.g. they are all too competitive, or something similar?

      *You mentioned that it would be advisable to know what people are buying...you identified one of my key weak points here. I have used indicators in ClickBank to identify performance of different products there and so on, but in general I do not have a process for product analysis--or search analysis to know what people are looking for in the first place--and would welcome any suggestions re: resources for developing processes and systems for this.

      *I see what you mean about there being a ton of ways to make money! I would be open to suggestions, although what I am most interested in is setting up a funnel in wordpress and promoting a product that aligns with my interests and then using paid ads to drive traffic to the funnel. While I recognize that there are hundreds of other ways to make money online, this is what I am most interested in right now.

      *I am not a developer, but have basic skills using page builders in Wordpress.

      *I *am* interested in knowing if folks believe that there might be advantages to pursuing a lead generation strategy based on my general interests.

      Thank you again for your time...interacting with you and others here is a really important step for me to be able to gain the focus necessary to be able to move forward, and so I really appreciate your time, more than you know.
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      • Profile picture of the author Monetize
        You're welcome. I'm taking time off from being
        productive. I love this forum and its people.

        Promoting software and information products is
        a feasible concept, you just have to find the right
        product and develop a system of selling it so that
        you can generate income. Or you can develop
        something of your own.

        I've made money with Clickbank 20+ years, it's
        great for beginners because there aren't many
        restrictions. As to their gravity ratings some say
        those indicators are useless. I go with my gut.
        Women's intuition. And actual research.

        You are ahead of the game with basic WordPress
        skills. That is pretty much all you need to setup an
        online business. You can always sell a WordPress
        or your services.

        Lead generation is a great industry but you should
        know the things I already mentioned.

        If you feel that you can generate income pursuing
        your interests then follow your heart. But if it doesn't
        work you need to be able to do something different
        and don't get hungup in your emotions.
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  • Profile picture of the author Samuel Wilson
    Ok, great initiative but usually, it's always more complicated than that. The king of all points is that you need a ready market for the product you're promoting.

    You want to promote informational products, the question is: in which niche? Seems like you have diverse interests but you'll have to choose and narrow down to something manageable.

    When you narrow down to niche X, the next step is to research for a loophole, a void where people are looking for help and you'll fill that void with your information product. Then the question will be, where do you get these products? Sounds like you want to promote affiliate products, this means you need to search for a network that has these products.

    Then you have to apply and see if you'll be accepted, which depends on several things such as the aff. network and how it operates, what their demands are about your source of traffic, your site and how it's set up, the weight of content you have on your site etc. Aff networks are different depending on your niche. Some really don't care about your traffic, like Clickbank (last time I checked).

    The sky is the limit here. All you need is a product that answers the needs of a hungry market! Take it step by step.

    Good luck.
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  • Profile picture of the author N1coleW
    You are asking for a full marketing strategy, nobody can't answer this except you. You have to research the market and identify it needs that will fits with your interests. Anyway, if you want an advice, ask some specific questions.
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  • Profile picture of the author marketerpaul73
    Hi if your looking to get into affiliate marketing I would look at high ticket affiliate marketing . People think that selling high ticket products is difficult but it is not the case you can earn bigger commissions for the same amount of work and with the correct training high ticket affiliate marketing can be made easy
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  • Profile picture of the author uneven28
    Thanks all for your advice and feedback -- I have successfully created a sales funnel using WordPress and AWeber to promote a product on ClickBank. Not sure if folks share the names of products they're promoting or what the etiquette is...? It's set up.
    I purchased a Google Ad to promote the first page of the funnel, and purchased at minimum ad spend ($1.65/day I believe). Right now I feel like I just want to start sprinting but like everything is moving in super slow motion. I have been waiting for Google Analytics to come online...for Google Ads to begin sending (tiny amounts of) traffic...and to start learning what's going on and to be able to identify what my next step is. A few things I *can* share:
    1) I am using a 30-minute VSL for the product itself as my lead magnet.
    2) The opt-in / squeeze page for my funnel is very barebones: "Free video reveals the secret to X...enter your email address to see the video!" type of thing.
    3) The Google Ad...I had no idea which words to use and so I just guessed...still have some learning to do obviously to identify better phrases and techniques here haha!
    4) Google Analytics...the interface was a bit confusing...I did some deleting/re-installing / disconnecting / reconnecting in WordPress...so I am watching tutorial videos now to gain confidence.

    Bearing in mind that I do not yet have any data available from Google Analytics (i.e. I do not know what my conversion rates are etc.)...are folks recognizing any immediate/major red flags, or obvious areas that I should prioritize for making things better here?

    Thank you all for your advice and input on this thread, I really appreciate your feedback in helping me to zero in on a task and focus.
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    • Profile picture of the author uneven28
      Should mention as well so folks understand -- this is the basic layout/format of the funnel:
      0) Google ad pointing to opt-in page: ad text mirrors text of opt-in page.
      1) Opt-in page "free video reveals secret to X" -- this is just a very basic form with some visual formatting and a colorful background to draw attention to specific areas/look fun...there are no videos or anything else though...just a form;
      2) ...when folks opt in, then receive email from AWeber;
      3) When folks confirm their subscription, this triggers an automated campaign (7 emails over 7 days) to promote the product.
      4) Also when they confirm this subscription, they go back to the website to a Thank You page;
      5) Thank You page has 30-min. video to promote the product; there is text above the video saying "Thank you for your interest, please enjoy this video" etc. and links to the affiliate offer above/below the video in large font.
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  • Profile picture of the author savidge4
    I am going to throw a bit of a twist into your path here.

    I have been working on this idea to help beginners by becoming a Home Depot affiliate. It only pays 1% but if you were to pick a very specific product like ( https://www.homedepot.com/p/Bosch-80...87357-23-12070 ) with a $4500.00 price tag that paid ad math might work out. OR you could try and sell all 4 pieces at $8686.00.

    What this does for you.. It absolutely narrows traffic keywords for the ad to next to nothing. On a product like this you can take advantage of the "Rebate offer" which many if not most will overlook. ( on the Home Depot page the link for the rebate is right below the price in tiny tiny little text )

    So an offer like this you can send a link to the rebate form in one of your follow up emails. You can run ads like "How to save up to $1500 when buying Bosch Kitchen Appliances"

    Trying something like this, and Yes i have done this to test the idea, and it works. As Monitize has suggested this Narrows down the focus a whole lot.

    Hope that Helps!
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  • Profile picture of the author DABK
    Savidge and Monetize have given you good, great, actually, advice.


    I want to add:
    lead generation:
    You could sell exclusive leads or shared; either way, you'll have to have a very robust system in place to track. And you'll have a hard time, in the beginning, finding the right clients... Many will buy from you, be unable to convert, blame your leads.


    Affiliate marketing: you're selling someone else's product, so you have less control. You might want to sell something you own. By less control, I mean: customer service, refunds, landing page leaks...


    Selling your own product: you have to create / own one; set up and maintain all the systems, not just marketing.


    My opinion, it is easier to start with affiliate marketing. Once you're set up well there, you can add the others too.


    Like Savidge said, commission % is irrelevant; dollars per sale - acquisition is what matters.


    Turn it around: is there any product (informational or otherwise) that you've used recently and are ecstatic about? Why not promote that?


    The seller does not have an affiliates set up? Propose it to them. Or go to the 2nd most ecstatic-y product you've used recently.


    Why am I suggesting this:
    1. Your target audience... You could go after people like you... which means people who's motivation for buying, concerns and way of talking you understand.
    2. You know what to say, you can use yourself as an example, you can make videos of you using the product, charts of your results, etc.
    3. You can say, I've been using this product for the past x months and I'm thrilled (which carries more weight than, I'm using this product because it's got high gravity on Clickbank and I've used it once so I can say I used it so you give me your hard-earned money 'coz I deserve to be rich.


    By the way, the reason I like what Monetize and Savidge said: focused activity, in my experience, produces better results.


    Or, put another way, I've seen too many people on this forum asking for help because, though they've been working hard for months and put up 200 blog posts and paid tons of money on ads, they just made $1,000 whose websites / funnels are all over the place: they confuse market and niche / sub-niches.


    One way to look at good niches is to go to big, successful websites and click on the categories, till you end to a product... the page before you get to the product is your niche... Also, notice that they give you sorting options, pay attention to those...


    Amazon.com
    Patio, Lawn & Garden
    has, among other sub-sections:
    Grills & Outoor Cooking,
    which has, among other sub-sections:
    Grills& Smokers (which can be further subdivided). But grills & smokers would be what you should concentrate, if you were interested in this type of thing, not Patio, Lawn & Garden and definitely not outdoor cooking or outdoor appliances, or cooking.
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