Nine Secrets to Choosing Profitable Affiliate Products

There are many different types of online business models, but affiliate marketing is one of the simplest and cheapest ways to start. However, it’s crucial to understand that simple and easy are not at all the same thing. There is no magic bullet to affiliate marketing; there is no setting it and forgetting it one click solution. Yes, there are hundreds of sales pages that offer just that, but it is a pipe dream. To make this work, you need excellent training which is up to date and hard graft. But, and this is the kicker for me, affiliate marketing has fewer moving parts than almost any other online business. The key to success lies in choosing profitable affiliate products. Just because a product has a great sales page does not mean it is a great product. Understanding this is a crucial part of the affiliate marketing journey.

Some Housekeeping

There are only five points to get right as an affiliate marketer, but before we get to them, we must cover why you need to know your audience. This is non-negotiable. First, you have to choose an audience and then understand them. I didn’t make a penny from affiliate marketing for years because I tried to talk to everyone. It didn’t end well for me, and it won’t for you either. The training below put me on the right path.

The Best Internet Marketing Training.

Know Your Audience.

As an affiliate marketer, understanding your audience is crucial because it directly impacts your ability to connect with potential customers and drive conversions. The process of understanding your audience involves researching their needs, preferences, and, most of all, their pain points. This can be done through surveys, social media interactions, and analyzing your website’s analytics. When you know who your audience is, you can tailor your content, product recommendations, and marketing strategies to resonate with them on a deeper level.

This targeted approach has two advantages. First, it builds trust and credibility; people buy from people they know, like, and trust. Second, when you speak to the heart of your audience’s problem, they resonate with your content. Once they are truly engaged, they are more likely to buy through your affiliate link.

Once I truly understood this, my conversions went through the roof. Without this insight, your efforts will probably fail (sorry to be brutal). I am telling you this because I don’t want you to miss opportunities to make money. More and more sales are being made online, and everyone can do this.

The Five Crucial Points to Bring it All Together.

Get these five points right, and sales, aka commissions, will automatically follow. You know your audience. You know their pain points because you have spent hours on social media reading and listening to what questions they are asking and what problems need a solution. Now, it’s all about introducing them to products or services that not only benefit them but also give them the confidence and reassurance they need.

I hope you read the last sentence correctly. Promote products that genuinely benefit people, not products that make you the most money. I know that you want to make money; you would not be reading this if you didn’t. Promoting products that give you the most commission is a short-term and, frankly, wrong strategy. Let’s talk real money here. You can promote products with great sales pages but products that don’t deliver any credibility or value. Or, you can be authentic and accurate and promote products that genuinely help people. Remember, authenticity is not just a buzzword; it’s a guiding principle that can inspire the best affiliate marketers. However, with a bit of research, you can find profitable affiliate products that align with your goals. This applies to all profitable niches; it’s not restricted to the make-money online niche.

When I write an article like this, I imagine all my readers around the kitchen table (all five of you. I thank every one of you.) No, I imagine a big wooden table in a kitchen full of friends. We are all having a beer, and I am leaning against the kitchen door jam, listening to you all and jammin’. When I recommend something to you, I use it all the time. I have been a member of Wealthy Affiliate for 17 years since 2007. I watch at least three new training videos weekly and always learn something. So, I have no hesitancy in promoting it because it genuinely helps people build a sustainable online business. Start your free account here. As an aside, I always think of my readers as friends; if you think of them as strangers, you will not be able to address their problems. I have had the same issues as my readers over the years, so I know where they come from. I can offer the best solutions because I know all their pain points.

1. Choose Products that Solve Real World Problems.

Let’s imagine you have a splitting headache. You will reach for a painkiller rather than suffer your headache. That is because you know what to do, and you don’t have to read a long-form sales letter to achieve your ideal solution. You want to solve the problem with the least possible disruption to your life. If you have just gone through a traumatic and painful breakup, you may be looking at solutions to get your ex back. If you are still a lanky teenager you may well buy a 12 week training program that shows you how to build muscle in 12 weeks. Marketers struggling to get their pages seen by more people will investigate how to learn and use Search engine optimization.
What all of these examples have in common is the fact that people are in pain. The pain doesn’t have to be physical. Your job as a successful affiliate marketer is to show them products that ease their pain, and preferably, make them feel empowered and in control by providing easily accessible solutions.
This brings us succinctly to the next point………………

2. Match Products to Your Audience’s Needs

Promote products that resonate with your audience and are tailored specifically to their needs. For example, if your audience is interested in fitness, you could recommend high-quality protein supplements or workout gear. If someone suffers from a cold, you wouldn’t recommend a laxative to stop sneezing! Equally, if they are constipated, they don’t need tissues. At the same time, the product you recommend must provide real value. To go back to an earlier point, you don’t want to be one of those many sleazy, scuzzy affiliate marketers who promote products that under deliver.

Sure, promoting crap products will get lots of sales. I have never promoted a product just for money, so I can’t say this from personal experience, but I am sure the refund rate will be through the roof. What is the first thing you would do if you bought a shoddy product? I am certain you will try to get your money back. And I am pretty sure the second thing you would do is stop listening to the advice of the affiliate who promoted it. I have definitely done the second bit. I stop listening to affiliates who promote shoddy products. This damages your reputation and undermines your audience’s trust, which is the most valuable asset in affiliate marketing.

My Hard Line

This is a hard line for me: one strike, and you are out. I know marketers who steal other people’s products and then claim them as their own. In the Warrior Forum, people often take PLR (Private Label Rights) products, which are products that can be legally edited, modified, and published as your own, and sell the resale rights—even without a proper license to do so. Once this happens, I get off all their lists, and in effect, they go in my little black book. I never buy from them again. You may not have such a hard line, but it is up to you where you draw your line.

3.Pick Products That Are Hot and In Demand

The vast majority of wannabe affiliate marketers never get off the ground. Generally, they tend to be followers, believing in the latest and most popular trends. People often overlook older, proven methods and products, thinking newer is always better. They’re constantly chasing the next shiny object. The new shiny object may work, but people won’t spend the time trying to make it work. They want instant results and will never stay long enough to make it work.

A doctor, the eponymous Dr. Atkins, wrote itAs a senior affiliate marketer, let me give you a real-life example. The Atkins diet was all the rage back in the day and has been proven to get results—but no one mentions it these days. I can attest that as a teenager, this was my go-to diet. I lost fifty pounds with it. It was written by a doctor, the eponymous Dr. Atkins. It was strict, with lots of raw fruit and vegetables, but it worked.

Today all everyone talks about is keto diet and Dash Diet.

Stop digressing, Catherine, and get back to affiliate marketing. For years I thought that promoting these new shiny objects was a sleazy way of doing business, and I refused to do it. Nowadays, I realize I am not responsible for what people want to buy. So jump on the bandwagon and promote what the people want. Don’t try to ‘bring back’ products that have been forgotten. Justin Timberlake tried bringing sexy back and even he failed. Of course, point one and two stand. Choose Products that Solve Real World Problems and Match Products to Your Audience’s Needs
Promote what sells and make sure these are profitable affiliate products

An example of this in real terms back in the day I knew an affiliate marketer from the UK. His name was Ben Fletcher, to be fair, his name is still probably Ben Fletcher. Here is something from an old sales page I used to think promoting new shiny objects was morally wrong, it took me years to understand my mistake. Actually to be fair I think it was actually talking to this guy, that put me straight. There is no need for me, or you to make judgements on why people buy products, you just have to make sure they are profitable affiliate products, they align with your goals and they are reputable.

But here’s what I’ve come to realize…
Most people who buy this will do nothing with it—nothing, zilch, nada—even though the content is solid and I’ve emptied my soul into this “warts and all.” 
They’ll move on to the next ‘goo-roo pump & dump “answer to their prayers” piece of crap product and guess what, they’ll do nothing with that either…so no threat to me there!

Ben Fletcher.

. It teaches you so many methods to be a super affiliate. This is a link to one of Ben’s products that is still under $10. It is over three years old, but still as relevant today. It teaches you so many methods to be a super affiliate; he has more modern products, but this is still solid and relevant. Don’t get me wrong, all his products are relevant and all worth buying. Ben Fletcher I know this old product still works because I successfully use the methods today.

4. Sales Funnels Mean More Cash

If you’re an Amazon Associate, you know that Amazon is a selling machine. The guy who clicks on your Amazon affiliate link for a magnesium supplement might end up buying a pool table for his house. The entire Amazon site is a sales funnel. They always show you related products and tell you, “People who bought this also bought this?”
Oh really? Did they?

No one knows. But what we all know is that Amazon makes billions in sales.
As an affiliate marketer, you play a crucial role in this process. Similarly, if you’re promoting products from other vendors on platforms such as ClickBank, e-commerce stores, software sites, etc., you’ll want to check if they have a sales funnel with upsells and downsells. Your role is integral to the success of the sales funnel strategy.

When you promote products with a sales funnel, you’re not just selling a single item. You’re opening the door to a cascade of potential sales. If related and useful upgrades are in the funnel, a significant percentage of your leads will also buy these products. This means your commissions will increase considerably. So, it’s best to promote products with a sales funnel to maximize commission. This strategy is effective and can significantly increase your commissions.

What is A Sales Funnel?

A sales funnel is a strategic process that guides potential customers through a series of steps designed to lead them from initial awareness of a product or service to the final purchase. The funnel is USUALLY divided into stages: the top of the funnel (TOFU), where leads are generated, and awareness is built; the middle of the funnel (MOFU), where leads are nurtured through targeted content and engagement; and the bottom of the funnel (BOFU), where prospects are converted into paying customers.

Each stage of the funnel requires different strategies, such as content marketing, email campaigns, or personalized offers, to move prospects closer to making a purchase. However, it’s important to always keep the ultimate goal in mind: increasing conversion rates. By systematically addressing the needs and concerns of the target audience at each stage of their buying journey, you can stay focused and goal-oriented in your sales funnel strategy.

How Can you As an Affiliate evaluate a sales funnel

One way I do that is to promote products from people I know who ALWAYS make sterling products. Yes, they have fantastic sales pages. Here is one from one of my favorite Internet marketers, Kevin Fahey. He has a very heavy Cork Accent (Irish), but he knows his stuff. He is also an excellent PLR Seller; here is one of his best products for Email marketing. I have adapted that content to sound like me on this blog.

This targeted approach has two advantages. First, it builds trust and credibility, and people buy from people they know, like, and trust. Second, when you speak to the heart of your audience’s problem, they resonate with your content. Once they are truly engaged, they are more likely to buy through your affiliate link.

Once I truly understood this, my conversions went through the roof. Without this insight, your efforts will probably fail, (sorry to be brutal). I am telling you this because I don’t want you to miss opportunities to make money. More and more sales are being made online and everyone can do this.

5. Balance Low-Ticket and High-Ticket Items for Profit.

In the ‘make money online’ scene, there’s often a lot of talk about only promoting high-ticket products because the amount of effort required to promote these products is the same. TO BE FAIR THAT IS ABSOLUTELY TRUE.

Of course, there is a caveat. You often need to be told that most people can’t or won’t pay for costlier items. By neglecting the hordes with lower purchasing power, you’re leaving money on the table. However, by catering to both high-ticket and low-ticket buyers, you’re opening up new sales opportunities and potentially increasing your revenue.

The Past Is Not Now

I have recommended promoting high-ticket offers in the past, but the world is changing. We live in uncertain times, and many people think there will be another economic crash. Now, in 2024, I strongly suggest mixing low- and high-ticket products. This approach gives you the flexibility to adapt to changing market conditions and cater to a wider range of buyers, putting you in control of your marketing strategies.

For example, if you’re promoting a page-building tool to online marketers, you may promote Systeme.io, which has a $27 monthly plan. This will appeal to most newbies who are on a tight budget. By clicking the link, you can start your free account and see what I am talking about.

But you can mention that while Systeme.io’s page builder is decent, it comes nowhere close to OptimizePress’s awesome page builder, which creates pages that make people sit up and notice.

Currently, OptimizePress costs $199/year for one site. Their affiliate program pays 30% of every front-end sale, which is $82.80.

Pay Attention to what I am recommending here………

Your audience, who reads your recommendations, will now have a choice.

They can either go for a cheaper but still reliable Systeme.io – or they can go with the fantastic OptimizePress, which will create high-converting and aesthetically pleasing sales pages.

You are effectively targeting both types of buyers. Those who prefer spending less… and those who wish to spend more to get more. By doing so, you’re not only meeting the needs of a diverse audience but also potentially increasing your sales and revenue. One way or another, you’re making sales and getting paid, and the possibilities are exciting.

6. Partner with Well-Respected Vendors

When promoting products online, some products will be sterling, they offer great value. While others are so atrocious you would want to ask for a refund and send them back even if they were free.

In the ‘make money online’ niche, it’s crucial to always promote products from reputable vendors. Your reputation is directly tied to theirs, and by promoting their products, you’re not just selling, you’re endorsing a quality that your audience can trust.

If they’re selling rubbish products and you promote them unquestioningly, your customers will be upset, and you’ll get tarred with the same brush, meaning your reputation will suffer as well.
As an affiliate, building trust and credibility with your audience is crucial . Without that trust they will not follow up and buy. Always prioritize your audience’s needs over immediate profits. This may seem counterintuitive, but I assure you, in the long run, it is the most sustainable and rewarding strategy.

Promote solid, proven products that are delivered – from reputable vendors who provide good customer support. Once you have the reputation of someone promoting dodgy products, it does not matter how often you reinvent your image. Your past will haunt you. I have nearly three decades of successful affiliate marketing behind me, and I have seen this many times. Choosing profitable affiliate products is easier with this strategy. You can run, but you can’t hide. Nothing about your reputation goes away once it is out there. So protect your reputation at all costs.

7. Rely on Reviews to Ensure Quality.

Prior to endorsing any product or service, it’s crucial to invest time in comprehensive research. Delve deeper into online resources to unearth authentic customer feedback, often hidden in the later pages of Google search results. This review research provides a more accurate understanding of the product or service you’re considering for promotion.

It’s important to note that many top-ranked reviews are from affiliates who are actively promoting the product, often with fervent praise. While these reviews may appear reliable, it’s crucial to remember that affiliates are driven by sales. Therefore, it’s wise to read between the lines, maintain a healthy dose of skepticism, and not let these high-ranking, glowing reviews be the sole influence on your decision. Keep in mind that every affiliate, including myself, is driven by a sales agenda.

My advice is to be diligent and not to take page 1 or 2 reviews as the ultimate truth. Instead, dig deeper and seek out verified customer reviews. This principle holds true whether you’re on Amazon or any other platform. Your diligent research will yield significant benefits in the long run.

“We see our customers as invited guests to a party, and we are the hosts. It’s our job every day to make every important aspect of the customer experience a little bit better.”

jEFF Bezos

On Amazon, it’s easy to check a product’s stats. You can see the number of units sold and the star rating, which ideally should be around 4-5 stars… and there will be many customer reviews that you can go over.

With thorough research, you’ll determine whether a product is high-quality and  Promote it if it meets your criteria.

8. Focus on Evergreen Niches.

An evergreen niche does not have substantial seasonal changes. For instance, promoting Halloween costumes is a very niche area. It is profitable but only for about six weeks a year. Some examples of evergreen niches are weight loss, survival (prepper), making money online, reducing stress, holistic health, mindset, positive thinking, etc.
Focusing on an evergreen niche will ensure that you’ll always have an audience to market to. Be aware that over time, you will blog hundreds of articles. I use affilininja, a WP plugin. that allows you to change your links with one click if they change for any reason.

9. Negotiate a Discount With the Vendor.

I love using this strategy because few affiliate marketers use it. I’m not sure why; maybe they can’t be bothered to network and establish a relationship with a vendor. When you build a good relationship with a vendor, you’re both invested in each other’s success. As you drive more sales, the vendor benefits from increased revenue, and you benefit from higher commissions. This symbiotic relationship encourages both parties to work together towards a common goal: creating profitable affiliate products.

Vendors are more likely to provide affiliates they trust with exclusive deals, discounts, or early access to new products. These special offers, available only to a select few, can attract more customers and increase conversions, which in turn benefits both you and the vendor.

Real Life Example

For example, if a new make-money course sells for $97 a month, but you can get it for just $47 for a week or so, the special discount has the potential to significantly boost your sales if you promote it to your list or on your blog. People love getting a discount, which is one reason the AppSumo site is so popular. The special deals are a big draw.
Of course, you’ll need to network and ask the vendors if they’ll offer you a discount coupon or a special for your audience.

If you have a sizeable audience, most of the time, you’ll get a “Yes!” because it’s a win-win-win for all three parties involved—the vendor, the customer, and you! However, don’t try it if you are just starting out because, without an online presence and traffic, there is no incentive for the vendor.

Finally…

Affiliate marketing is all about connecting with your audience and offering real value. Remember, your audience is your most valuable asset, and providing them with genuine value is the key to your success.
Focusing on what genuinely matters to your readers and staying ahead of trends will build trust and make you stand out.
Nail these nine secrets, and your affiliate income will grow like never before.

Conclusion to Nine Secrets to Choosing Profitable Affiliate Products

Be very clear what your objectives are when choosing a product to promote. Be aware that every product you promote has the ability to make or break your reputation as an affiliate. Once your reputation is broken online it’s tough to repair it.By choosing profitable affiliate products is about more than just picking popular items. It requires a strategic approach that balances market demand, product quality, and personal alignment with the brand. By focusing on these nine secrets—from understanding your audience to building strong vendor relationships—you can maximize your chances of success in affiliate marketing. Remember, the key is to offer value to your audience while also ensuring that the products you promote are both trustworthy and lucrative. With careful selection and consistent effort, you can build a profitable affiliate marketing portfolio that benefits both you and your audience..

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