I first introduced you to Susanne Myers as one of my mentors. She’s since become a dear friend and I don't know what I'd do without her encouragement. You can find her sharing the things that are working for her and helping her make a full-time income by working online at Affiliate Treasure Chest.
Once I decided that I really wanted to increase my passive income through affiliate marketing, I turned to Susanne for her wisdom. Susanne is one of those people that genuinely likes helping people reach their full potential and will do anything she can to help. Through personal coaching & voraciously reading as well as implementing all of Susanne’s content & products, I was able to take all the pieces and parts I learned and transform them into a workable business plan with Susanne’s step-by-step instructions and advice.
I truly wouldn’t be in the position I am today without her guidance.
I asked Susanne if she would answer a few questions to give you the benefit of her experiences. Take a look at what she had to say.
1. What was your biggest “AHA” moment that helped you move from Newbie to becoming an expert in affiliate marketing?
One of my biggest “AHA” moments early on was realizing that I should not send visitors straight to my affiliate link. Instead my first priority now is to get them on some sort of a list. This could be a free newsletter or e-course, or it could even be a list of paying customers.
The point is that if you send them to your affiliate link first, many visitors will click, take a look but don’t end up buying. Once that happens they are lost forever. If you focus on building a list instead, you can continue to get in touch with your readers, build a relationship and end up selling them not one, but multiple products (both your own and affiliate products).
2. What was the driving force in helping you choose to create an online business vs. getting a traditional JOB?
My main reason to get started with this and work so hard to get my online business off the ground is my daughter. I started to look into things I could do from home while I was pregnant with her. It took me a while to find the right thing and to then get to the point where I was making enough money to quit my day job but it was well worth it. I quit when she was just a little over two years old and have been able to stay home with her since then.
Even though she’s in school now, I honestly couldn’t imagine going back to a regular 9-5 job. I love the flexibility and freedom working from home as an affiliate marketer and online entrepreneur gives me.
3. How did you choose your business model/niche?
Most of my niches sort of evolved over time. With each one I started with a topic I knew something about and had lots of good info to share about. Next, I took a look at how I could monetize a site build around that topic. Once I figured out those two, I started building my site.
As far as the business model goes, I knew from the get-go that I wanted something I could work on on my own time. Affiliate and Information marketing fit the bill perfectly. I don’t mind working hard and working long hours, but I wanted something where I would be able to be there for my family and take time off here and there as needed.
4. What one free tool can you not live without?
I can’t imagine living without the free WordPress blogging software. I use my own domains and hosting along with the free software. Using WordPress allows me to easily and quickly add more content and change things around on my sites. I’m not tied to a particular computer that has special software installed. As long as I have my logins, I can use any computer with Internet connection to work on my sites.
Wordpress also makes it easy to change the look, feel and layout of my entire site without having to go in and edit individual pages. Take a look and see if this is something that could work for you as well.
As an added bonus, I find that my WordPress sites rank better in the search engines and are more user-friendly than static html websites.
5. What tool would you invest in no matter the cost?
The tool I would invest in again in a heartbeat (and no matter how tight my budget) is Aweber. It’s a Autoresponder service that allows me to build lists and follow up with my subscribers regularly. Having these lists is the single most profitable thing in my business.
It allows me to bring readers back to my site on a regular basis (via newsletters and blog broadcasts) and helps me build a steady stream of income from both affiliate sales and sales of my own products. I just set up an autoresponder sequence that shares great information and the occasional offer. I share my strategy for doing just that in the Affiliate Shortcut Email Marketing report here:
https://www.affiliatenichepacks.com/reports/email
6. Would you please share one thing you wish you regret not doing sooner?
This goes hand in hand with the last question. It took me a while to get started with email marketing. For some reason I didn’t mind paying for web hosting, but refused to hand over $20 per month for Aweber. I didn’t start building my lists until I had been working online for over a year. I hate to think how much quicker my income could have grown to full-time volume if I had just jumped in and gotten started with list building and email marketing right away.
7. What are the 3 must read business books you'd recommend?
I read a lot of business books each year. It helps me stay motivated and get better at my “job”. Three favorites are:
• Influence by Robert B. Cialdini
• The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
• 10X Rule by Grant Cardone
If you’re not a big reader, try listening to business books on Audio via Audible.com
8. Would you mind sharing a bit about Daily Affiliate Tasks and how it might help a new online business owner create a plan to move forward?
Daily Affiliate Tasks focuses on some simple strategies that I'm using right now to make money online. Once you read the lesson, it only takes 30 to 45 minutes per day to finish your tasks or assignments.
Specifically, you’ll be working on …
- Creating new content for your sites that attracts both readers and search engines.
- Simple strategies to send more highly targeted traffic to your site.
- Reuse and repurpose everything you do as much as possible for more traffic and more sales.
- Stop leaking perfectly good traffic out into cyber space … instead, get your readers to take the actions you want (join your list, buy an affiliate product).
- How to continually grow your list and then effectively market to it.
- In other words, what to do when, where and how.
- Of course I'll also share my thoughts and more importantly my test results on any new product or technique I come across from here on out.
Susanne has offered YOU a rate of $7/mo for these income producing tasks. I personally use her information and checklists so I am never left asking myself what I need to do to make more money. I simply pull out a lesson that looks most fun to work on at the time and do it. There is never any time wasted because ALL of these tasks are designed to increase your passive income. Click HERE to access your special offer
9. Any last words of wisdom?
My biggest advice is to not give up too quickly. There were (and still are) plenty of days where I’m ready to throw in the towel and go look for a regular 9-5 job. Things break, work put into a project doesn’t pay off, but in the end it’s still all worth the effort. Pick a project and commit to working on it a little bit each day. Don’t give up too soon, keep at it and build it into a nice little stream of income. Rinse and repeat