Money While You Sleep: Marketers Sit on a Goldmine

Promote the Products You Love for $$$$

As entrepreneurs, authors and coaches, we can all benefit from affiliate marketing, both as affiliates (aka publishers or partners) and as advertisers (aka merchants). Share reviews and lists of your favorites on a Resources page on your site for a new, passive income stream.

Many entrepreneurs, such as Pat Flynn and affiliate marketer Matt McWilliams, enjoy strong revenue streams from their Resources pages. Click To Tweet

Sometimes the payouts are a share of revenues; sometimes it’s credit towards more services from the company you are currently using or their swag. At any rate, there is no time like the present to start a campaign to make money while you sleep.

Let’s make it easy. I’ve identified a number of ad program genres that are already familiar to marketers. These are the lowest hanging fruit for success. Look at your peers and products for prospects.

When searching for the best affiliate programs, look at your peers and products for prospects. Click To Tweet

I’ve grouped these examples into: Affiliate networks, Marketing Peers (including Marketing Trailblazer community members*), Marketing (tools), Publishing, Shopping platforms, Retail, Travel and Hobbies.

As authors, we use publishing tools; as marketers we use lots of marketing services, including those from peers. Affiliate network and shopping platforms offer access to 1,000s of advertisers’ affiliate programs and ways to make passive income.

We all travel, have hobbies and consume lots of different products ourselves and for others. All these offer inspiration to share what we like about our choices.

Decide which ones to share with your audience. After you have signed up, grabbed your affiliate links and assets for these programs, create a Resources page on your site and write reviews about your favorites. Many entrepreneurs, such as Pat Flynn and affiliate marketer Matt McWilliams, enjoy significant revenue streams from their Resources pages. You can view my Resources page here for an example.

Affiliate networks are a one-stop source for multiple attractive programs. You’ll find that several of your chosen advertisers will ask you to sign up through any of these platforms (sign up links are in the download):

• ShareASale
• CJ Affiliate
• Awin
• Impact Radius
• ThriveCart

Start with Amazon. Payouts may seem small, but it is the gorilla, with more different kinds of products that you use or would recommend. Become an Amazon Influencer to create lists of products to promote, such as books, equipment, materials or gift ideas. Think of favorite books on business and marketing; think of your podcasting and video equipment.

Add Google Adsense to start collecting revenues from ads that run on your YouTube Channel (revenues start when you hit 1000 followers). Record short video reviews of your favorites. See one of mine for the Content Creators Planner for Trello here.

Consider the products and services that you use in your work and personally: your hosting, email, funnel and graphics programs. Then search the footer of the sites of those companies to sign up for their affiliate programs. When you do, you’ll grab those unique identifying links that give you credit for sales with the creative assets and links to use. Next, write reviews and post the links as you tell what you like about those services.

I’m including a list of 81 affiliate programs to give you some ideas that might interest and inspire you. Join up from the sign up links I shared and use the spreadsheet to keep your special links. I added a column to save the link to get assets and another for your unique affiliate tracking link. As you ponder the list, keep in mind that just about any product you use may well have an affiliate program.

You may also, as I do, recommend programs that you don’t personally use, for any number of reasons, but you have had past experience or you have it on good authority from peers or clients who use them.

Hopefully, you’ll find some that didn’t occur to you, such as Dish TV, or all the available courses. Notice ones such as DepositPhotos that offer recurring commissions.

*I’ve included some from members of the Marketing Trailblazers community of authors, entrepreneurs and coaches. If you are looking to join an active network of marketers helping marketers, you can join us at MarketingTrailblazers.co.

By the way, the commissions recorded do not include all of the options in payouts from these advertisers. Read each program’s description to learn more. Notes on cookie duration are included when readily available. The longer the cookie allotment, the better.

As you use new tools and services, always keep in mind to look for affiliate programs of ones that you’d tell a friend about. This new-found habit to chat up what you like in a review will become an easy source of extra bucks. Many entrepreneurs build this stream to be 10, 20 or even 30% of their income.

P.S. Always include affiliate disclosure language to be compliant with FTC blogger guidelines. It doesn’t have to be stuffy. Personally, I like:

P.S.S. With that said, if you purchase something after clicking on links from this page, I may get a spiff or credit. At any rate, you will never pay more through my links. I include a disclosure by the link (such as aff. link) and on my site Privacy and other notices page.