A HUGE welcome to my article that reveals the 7 proven steps to six figure affiliate marketing!
When it comes to building a 6-figure affiliate Biz from scratch, there are two types of people.
First up are the unsuccessful get rich quick/shiny object chasers.
Not only are they led down the garden path – losing $100s -$1,000s to scammers for so-called “push button” systems…
But when they do stumble across legit systems, they hop from one ‘latest and greatest’ system to another…
Again, only to be out-of-pocket and lack of action taken due to info overload.
I’m sure you can relate, I sure as hell can!
And the second type invest in just ONE proven training course/system and take consistent action for however long it takes to attain financial freedom.
So, to be in the latter 6-figure club, you must stop bad habits and follow a proven 7-step plan, which I’m about to unveil.
Fasten up, young grasshopper! – Let’s gooo…
Blog Post Contents:
Step #1: Set Big Scary Goals
If there’s one important lesson I’ve learned when it comes to starting an affiliate Biz (which most mentors skip) – Is to set some goals before anything else.
Because goals are your “WHY” – you need powerful enough reasons to start and grow a side-hustle into a life-changing passive income.
Without targets to aim for, your hopes of online riches are dead in the water from the offset.
There are 3 stages of monetary goal setting:
- KNOW – how much you make on a monthly basis from your sucky day job
- THINK – how you can increase your income from stage #1
- DREAM – separate yourself from stages #1 & 2 by setting a BIG SCARY goal
But if your income goal doesn’t scare the pants off you, it’s not big enough.
So, first think about everything you and your family desire in life.
And pick a scary income figure (mine’s $50K a month!) to achieve all those life-changing desires.
In fact, create 3 goal cards – 2 for big non-monetary goals and 1 for your actual monetary goal.
Set a date to reach each goal, sign the cards to hold yourself accountable, and review the cards daily.
Because it imprints those goals onto your subconscious, which forces you to work your socks off for your dreams to come true.
Step #2: Adopt A Powerful Mindset
I wish somebody taught me this back in my late 1990s affiliate start-up days (lol)…
Building an online Biz is challenging (I won’t lie) – there are days you’re on top of the world, and others, you’re down in the dumps.
It’s those Debbie Downer days that make you want to throw in the towel and trash your computer.
Don’t get me wrong, your goals from step #1 certainly play a big part in moving you forward to success.
Bit tied in with those goals, it’s absolutely crucial to armour-plate your mind to smash through obstacles on your Frodo Baggins journey.
So, in addition to reviewing your goal cards on a daily basis…
I highly recommend you watch a dolly mixture of personal development YouTube videos multiple times a day.
Here’s a powerful bunch to start you off:
- The Strangest Secret by Earl Nightingale
- Keep Them Poor – What The Richest Don’t Want You to Know
- T. Harv Eker: Make The Mindshift to Create Wealth, Happiness & Success
- Gary Vaynerchuk: Work Hard & Be Patient
- Eric Thomas: How Bad do You Want it?
- Les Brown: It’s Not Over Until You Win!
Additionally, you should pick up some powerful wealth building and personal development books at your local bookstore or online.
For example, Secrets of The Millionaire Mind (a must-read!) Attitude Is Everything, Atomic Habits, Tools of Titans, and The Chimp Paradox, are some I have in my own library.
A bonus tip is to buy a ‘Gratitude Journal’ – spend at least 5 minutes a day writing in your journal.
Because doing those things combined not only put you in a better state of mind, but you’ll experience lots of long-term happiness and success.
For awesome in-depth video lessons on goal setting, mindset, and also creating a 6-figure affiliate empire from scratch (step-by-step)…
… See the Invincible Marketer course by Aaron Chen – You won’t regret it 😉
Step #3: Choose The Right Niche
In my early affiliate marketing days, I just promoted anything and everything to make a buck online…
From Home Biz opportunities to Star Wars Halloween costumes to artificial Christmas trees, you name it.
While some niches were fun to make bank with – especially during the Halloween and Christmas holidays…
The spark and commissions eventually fizzled out because I lost heart and shut up shop.
So, the best advice I can offer is NOT to choose a niche purely based on the money-making potential or fun factor.
Don’t get me wrong, building an online Biz should be super FUN. But at the same time, should revolve around a topic of interest.
So, find a niche that reflects a passion or hobby of yours.
Or at least a niche that relates to a skillset, past/present job or college/university course/degree – something you’re actually experienced in.
Also, it’s crucial your chosen niche consists of a “buying audience” – folks actively seeking products to solve their problems.
Otherwise, a “freeloader” audience (i.e., those searching for quotes/song lyrics) will unlikely yield monetary results.
Luckily, there are numerous free research tools to help figure out your niche:
- Google Trends
- Answer The Public
- And Statista to name a few.
So, get listing some potential niche ideas and carefully select the one that screams “pick me!” in your face.
Step #4: Pick ONE Perfect Core Product
In my experience, there’s way too much choice when it comes to affiliate products to promote.
Which brings me to getting caught up in “shiny object syndrome”.
I’ve personally promoted Wealthy Affiliate (and still do), PWA, My Online Startup, and many others in my niche.
Don’t get me wrong, those are some fab money-making products on the market.
But you just end up spreading yourself too thin – earning small commissions here n’ there.
Or sometimes, hardly any commissions at all – making your efforts a losing battle. Ugh.
So, my advice is to pick your ONE core affiliate offer when starting out – just one product alone can bring you 6 figures.
But also, be smart about your product choice to reach your goals much quicker.
Depending on your niche, pick a core offer based on some (or all) of the following criteria:
Is It a Good Product?
While the money-making aspect is important, so is being an ethical marketer at the end of the day.
Unfortunately, 95% of products in the ‘affiliate marketing’ niche are utter garbage, for example.
So, just because a product pays well in commissions, never automatically assume it’s a great product.
To help make your selection, I recommend researching “unbiased” reviews on Google/YouTube and ensure the sales page makes realistic claims.
You really must put yourself in your customers’ shoes – will the product transform their lives?…
Would you buy it yourself or sell it to your mom, dad or aunt Mable?
Trust me, rolling with the wrong product will destroy your credibility, reputation and overall success chances on the web.
Monthly Recurring Commissions
An affiliate program paying out monthly recurring commissions really is the best way to go.
Because your income can stack up month-in, month-out from customer subscriptions to a service like a membership or software tool.
It takes a lot of elbow grease to gain momentum at the beginning, but you’ll eventually reach a point that requires less effort to gain new customers.
Meaning, more time to enjoy life to its fullest.
But the real beauty of recurring passive income is that if the sh*t ever hit the fan (i.e. ill health)…
The commissions can still pour into your account for months (even years) down the line to keep you afloat.
High Ticket Commissions
What I love about high-ticket affiliate marketing is that big commissions can potentially rack up quickly with fewer sales required too.
For example, I made a killing promoting a $7 product called the Perfect Webinar Script (one of Russell Brunson’s products).
That’s because it’s a product with a deep sales funnel (aka ‘value ladder’) comprising numerous upsells that can generate $100s in commissions combined per sale.
But for the icing on the cake, I’ve earned recurring monthly commissions on the backend from ClickFunnels software subscriptions too.
Nothing beats both commission types hand-in-hand, I tell ya! 😉
And then there are much higher-priced products allowing you to make anywhere from a $500 – $1,000+ commission per sale.
Make a handful of those bad boys a month and you’ll be laughing.
Step #5: Create Your Passive Income System
Before choosing a “system” for building the foundations of your online Biz, here’s a word of warning:
Stay away from Done-For-You systems (i.e., 12 Minute Affiliate) because they produce very little success and leave you heavily out-of-pocket.
I’ve literally blown $1,000s combined on DFY systems over the years with nothing to show for it – only the creators reap the profits.
Instead, invest in a program like Invincible Marketer or better yet, the 3 Day Business Breakthrough Challenge (an easier newbie option).
Where, Johnathan Montoya shows you (step-by-step) how to build your own system (aka sales funnel) in just a few days.
Basically, you’ll set up a squeeze page and email list, so you’re fully equipped to start guiding your potential customers to your affiliate offer.
Once your system is set up, I highly recommend you upgrade to Jonathan Montoya’s flagship course – Freedom Breakthrough.
Which leads me to discuss the next step…
Step #6: Choose ONE Traffic Strategy
To actually become a 6-figure Super Affiliate, you need that thing called “targeted traffic” to flow through your system.
Because without traffic, your Biz is basically a flop from the get-go – nobody will see it. Simples.
But the great thing about affiliate marketing is that there’s no “one size fits all” when it comes to generating website visitors.
There are numerous ways to drive traffic (I’ve already tried a few like Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, to name some)…
But my absolute favourite traffic strategy is to start an affiliate niche website (aka WordPress blog) from scratch.
Not only is blogging as cheap as chips to get up and running, but the website is your own asset, AND…
When you tap into the planet’s #1 search engine (Google), the world’s your oyster – organic traffic will flow to your site on tap.
Check out Commission Academy for free step-by-step training on starting and growing your niche site.
Another option is to start a YouTube channel, which works along the same lines as blogging – you can build a sustainable empire for free.
And a third method could be TikTok (also free), which is blowing up like crazy (as I speak).
I’ve literally seen some affiliates easily rake in $1,000s in commissions from short form video content (some of which went viral).
So, choose your ONE strategy, consistently create high-quality content, and don’t deviate from it.
Step #7: Scale, Scale & Scale Some More!
Up to now, we’ve talked about goals, mindset, your core offer, the system, and your core traffic source.
Which, when combined, are definitely enough to earn you a 6-figure passive yearly income.
But what happens when you hit that milestone?
Scale up on all fronts, baby!
First of all, stack more affiliate offers (on top of your core one) to promote to your email subscribers.
Secondly, work another organic traffic generation strategy (or two) into your marketing plan.
And thirdly, it’s also wise to reinvest a chunk of your profits into your Biz via paid traffic sources like YouTube ads, Facebook ads, TikTok ads, etc.
Because you’ll scale your Biz like a desert dragster!
BONUS Steps to Becoming a MILLIONAIRE…
If you truly want to push past the 6-figure mark into “millionaire” territory with affiliate marketing, then think and act bigger than big.
For example, here are even more steps you can practice to really level up your game:
- Trust your ideas: Come up with an idea in your market that’s at least 10% new – how can you be more valuable than your competitors?
- Practice idealisation: Make a ‘dream goal list’ of everything you desire in life – it will put the ‘Law Of Attraction’ to work for you.
- There’s no such thing as failure, only feedback: Look for something good in every failure, you’ll eventually find your biggest gift for success.
- Develop a workaholic mentality: Did you know the average millionaire works at least 12 hours a day? It’s A LOT of time, but can pay dividends.
- Dedicate yourself to lifelong learning: Read in your field for 30 – 60 mins daily, take every course possible down the road, and listen to audio programs in your car.
- Develop resilience: Be like a bouncy ball – bounce back from knock downs by finding solutions to your Biz building problems.
- Develop courage, persistence and self-discipline: Always move forwards despite any fears and distractions you encounter, it’ll change your life.
To discover more steps and also gain much more of an insight into everything I just mentioned, I’ll let the Brian Tracy take it away:
Obviously, there will be a learning curve to everything within this article.
But if you follow and trust the whole process, I can see you raking in 6-figures per year (even monthly) in the next 12 – 18 months.
Followed by millionaire status in the coming years.
So, let’s get it!
Your buddy, Neil.
Got any questions or thoughts on any of the topics in this article? Please share away below…