- One of the most asked questions I get is,
"Neil, how do I choose products to sell as an affiliate?
"I don't want to ruin my reputation selling things
"that my audience won't like."
Well, there's a framework to find the perfect
affiliate product, and if you follow it step by step,
you'll end up selling much more
than if you just copy and paste an Amazon affiliate code
on your website hoping that you're going to generate sales.
So you're probably wondering what it is, right?
Hey everyone, I'm Neil Patel, and today,
I'm going to break down how to find the perfect affiliate
product to sell to your audience that they'll love.
(gentle music)
Before we get started, make sure you subscribe.
If you're on YouTube, click the alert notification.
That way, when I go live, you'll get notified.
First, if you don't know what your audience's
main problems are, what their needs,
what their wants are, you need to start
by surveying them and talking to them.
Ask them questions like, "What is the biggest
"challenge that you're facing?
"What are your most burning questions
"that you want answered?
"What's not out there, what product, service, or tool,
would you like someone to create?
"What level of expertise do you have?
"Are you a beginner, intermediate, expert?
"What's your preferred method of learning?
"Is it reading, listening, watching, practicing?
"Do you pay for any subscriptions
"that can help you in your life, in your basketball journey,
"in your musician lessons?" I don't know,
whatever category you're in, but you get the point.
"Have you ever bought any products or services
"to improve your," and let them fill in the blank.
You can modify all of these questions to your audience.
You can always install live chat tools,
or use tools like Qualaroo or SurveyMonkey
to figure this out, or you could
just ask open-ended questions.
By figuring out what your audience needs,
what their problems are, if they've paid
for other products or services,
it'll tell you what you can sell to them,
and what you shouldn't waste your time with.
For example, if you're selling musician-related products,
or your blog or your website's about music,
and you find out that everyone's a expert,
and you decide to sell beginner-related products,
you're not going to get many conversions.
But if you find out that everyone's a beginner,
and you sell beginner-related products,
and then intermediate as people go up,
and then expert products as they go up even more,
you'll do much better.
That's why it's really important to figure out
what your audience is all about, the issues
and pain points they have.
That way you know what to sell them
from an affiliate standpoint, to generate the most income.
Second, you want to brainstorm all kinds of solutions,
the products, the services, that can help your audience out.
Create a blank document.
Jot down any ideas that cross your mind,
whether it is something that you've already seen,
or no one's invented yet.
There's no filter.
You can do whatever you want.
You can even browse other affiliate sites to see what's
out there, and this will give you ideas as well.
Third, look for products that fall into
any of these categories, and are
top sellers in their categories.
For example, if you go on Amazon,
they clearly show you what are top sellers in a category.
You can install Affilitizer's Chrome extension.
It'll tell you if there are any affiliate programs
for products or services that you come across on the Web.
It'll even give you a direct link
to affiliate programs so you can sign up.
Even when you're browsing content,
it'll let you know if you're looking at
a piece of information related to
an affiliate program out there.
Now if you want to sell retail, search for products
in any of the following programs.
Amazon Associates, eBay Partner Network,
Jet.com Affiliates, Target Affiliates,
Walmart Affiliate program.
If you're open to selling other kinds of products,
like educational-based, or even software,
check out ClickBank, JVZoo, OfferVault, Rakuten,
Warrior Plus, FlexOffers, ShareASale, Commission Junction,
Avangate, MaxBounty, and PeerFly.
And if you want to focus on educational products,
check out Udemy, Treehouse,
Coursera, QuickStart, and 360training.
Those sites should give you an idea of what could work,
and what won't work for you and your audience.
The fourth thing you need to consider is
whatever products or service you consider
selling as affiliates, here are the criteria
that they need to meet.
Because if they don't meet these criterias,
one, you won't do well, but two,
you're going to look bad to your audience.
So let's go over the criteria.
It needs to be directly connected
to the content that you write about.
So if you're writing about music stuff,
your offers, your products, services,
need to be about music.
If you start offering something else,
not only will you not make any money,
but people are going to be pissed off at you.
It also needs to help people out.
This is a huge criteria for me.
If something doesn't help out your audience,
then why would you sell it to them.
Sure, in the short run, you may make some money,
but in the long run, you're going to burn your reader base,
you're going to lose your trust,
and you won't do well in the long run.
Warren Buffet always has this philosophy:
If you have a choice between something that can
make you money in the short run,
or something that's going to burn your brand,
take the option of not making the money,
and protecting your brand.
Why?
Because it creates longevity.
So this is how I really figure out if this helps people out.
I look at my audience, and be like,
"All right, is this going to help them out
"in an educational way?
"Is this going to solve a nagging problem
"that they're facing in life?
"Is this something that removes friction
"from something that they experience on a daily basis?
"Is this something that speeds up a process
"in your audience's life?
"Is this something that makes things easier,
"cheaper, more effective, or even more elegant, right?
"Is it something that raises your status
"among your peers, your family, your friends?"
If it meets a lot of those criterias,
if it's something that you would use yourself,
if it's something that you would easily recommend
to your friend, then you have something
that's worth promoting.
The fifth thing that you need to do is
don't just put links and ads all over your website
to these products and services.
They need to play an active role in your content.
You've got to blend them in contextually.
That way, as people are reading,
they're getting education, they can also buy.
You need to teach people how they can accomplish
their goals using these products and services.
You need to put out tutorials,
in-depth reviews, product comparisons.
By doing those things, you're much more likely to get sales.
And when you're doing a product comparison,
you can also sing up as an affiliate
to the other product that you're promoting.
Sure, it may not perform as well as the main product
that you're focusing on, but hey, if someone
decides to sign up for that other product
that you don't think is that great, eh,
at least you're going to get an affiliate commission from it.
And subtly mention these products and services
within your content when there's other related topics.
And of course, make sure you include a call to action.
If you don't have a call to action
when you're promoting affiliate offers,
you're not going to do well.
Now if you're a company that needs help
getting more sales, whether it's through an affiliate
or just any form of digital marketing,
check out my ad agency, Neil Patel Digital.
Of course, if you enjoyed this video,
make sure you like, subscribe, comment, share.
I look forward to helping you out.