Monetizing Instructional Videos

December 19, 2012 by

Q: Is putting an instructional video on YouTube a form of affiliate marketing? I watch girls showing how to apply make-up then they feature the line and girls showing how to apply fake hair, some without featuring products. Is it better to have an instructional video on YouTube or to put the video on my site? YouTube gets alot of exposure.

Shawn CollinsA: Yes, YouTube does get a lot of exposure. It is the #2 search engine behind Google.

As far as whether the videos you are seeing are being monetized through affiliate marketing, it depends on the relationship the person in the video has with the advertiser.

In some cases, the advertiser will pay a flat fee to people to make videos.

If you see a video where the URL featured in the video or description that goes to a site other than the advertiser, then they are likely an affiliate.

When it comes to putting your videos on YouTube or your own site, I would encourage you to upload to YouTube, and then embed the videos from YouTube to your site, so you can optimize your exposure with YouTube and Google.

Also, check out the Video SEO Plugin for WordPress to get a greater impact in the Google results for your posts that include videos.

Video: Monetizing Instructional Videos

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Should I Hide My Affiliate Activity from My Boss?

September 5, 2012 by

Q: I work for big company who would not want me moonlighting but I want to start affiliate home business and eventually quit my job when (if) I can. Can I temporarily startup a biz using anonymous user name(s) (Facebook, twitter, Affiliate registration, etc)? Once I learn and get experience I can “start over” with my real name.

Shawn CollinsA: The thing there is when you join up with an advertiser or a network, you have to provide a name or company name when creating the account.

The commissions have to be made payable to some person or company, so you can’t fake that information.

I suppose the account could be in the name of a spouse or friend.

Has your company explicitly said it would be forbidden to become an affiliate on your own time? If so, don’t risk your job or get a different one.

As far as those various social media accounts and your domain, I would suggest getting the same name for all of them for consistency.

Those accounts won’t display your name, but rather the brand that you are creating.

But in the end, your name does have to be attached, so you can get paid.

Video: Should I Hide My Affiliate Activity from My Boss?

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Filed Under: Affiliate Managers, Ask Shawn Collins

Do People Really Make Money in Affiliate Marketing?

August 20, 2012 by

Q: Are there people actually making money with Affiliate marketing? Could you give reference websites. There are too many liars in this business.

Shawn CollinsA: As far as your first question, yes, there are people making money in affiliate marketing.

And also, I agree that there are too many liars in this business.

One example I will give you is my site, ExtraMoneyAnswer.com. Take a look there, because I tell my story about how I got started in affiliate marketing.

It was a pretty slow start. I went a few months without making a dime.

The new few months after that I made a little bit. My progress continued from there, as I testing things out and developed successful processes for my sites. This enabled me to scale up.

The majority of people are not making a lot of money in affiliate marketing.

However, if you put some time into it, you can certainly make $100 or $500 a month through affiliate marketing.

If you invest more time and money, you can scale it up. There are many folks making a nice living this way.

As far as reference websites, a couple of the bigger affiliate sites are Flamingo World and FatWallet in the coupon site area.

There are so many different types of affiliate sites out there.

Hopefully, that puts you a little at ease with how thing work.

When it comes to advice from affiliate marketers, take a look at the various forums to get a feel for which people are typically most respected and tend to give the best advice.

But take advice with a grain of salt, until you trust somebody, because they could be inflating their knowledge and experience.

There is definitely opportunity out there if you are willing to apply yourself.

Video: Do People Really Make Money in Affiliate Marketing?

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Should Affiliates Have a Dot Com?

July 26, 2012 by

Q: I’m just starting out, by the way great site, but my question is should I use or have to use a .com for my first domain or domains or does it really matter (versus .us, .org or .net, etc.)? Thanks.

Shawn CollinsA: It’s not mandatory for an affiliate to use a dot com domain name, but I would recommend that you do use one.

A dot com has more of a cachet with a typical visitor to your site, as that top level domain is the established norm versus some of the newer, hokey top level domains.

For me personally, unless you’re spelling out some word that ends in “us”, it doesn’t make sense to get a .us.

Even in that sort of case, I would say it looks gimmicky and not as much of a long term site and business.

Also, as an affiliate, your site has to pass the review of the various affiliate managers where you apply, and in my conversations with many affiliate managers, a dot com is expected.

I have something like 200 domains, and maybe a half dozen or so are non dot com’s.

Even though it’s harder to find the best name for a domain with a dot com, I think it’s the way to go.

Video: Should Affiliates Have a Dot Com?

Ask Shawn Collins your affiliate marketing question and it will be added on the affiliate blog.

Filed Under: Affiliate Managers, Ask Shawn Collins

Steps to Get Started in Affiliate Marketing

June 29, 2012 by

Q: I haven’t read so much since coming across your work 2 days ago. You provide great useful information.

Shawn CollinsMy Question: Virtually all of the “How Too” information on affiliate marketing that I have read has been written by people whose product is information about affiliate marketing. Their niche is selling information about affiliate marketing.

I have already decided on a group of related products, but need information on how to actually join an affiliate program. I am not looking to become a blogger or how to author, I am just looking to sell consumers products.

Are there any successful people out there, say selling stained glass products, without the how to information?

A: If you’re just trying to get started as an affiliate, I’ve created a free resource site called Extra Money Answer at http://www.extramoneyanswer.com/.

I take you through every step in getting started with an affiliate site.

The site details everything from getting a domain name and hosting to driving traffic and then monetizing the site.

Each section is meant to stand alone, so you can skip to whatever point you are in getting your site going.

Don’t pay anything for any system or program that promises secrets and success.

I created this site to provide an alternative to the bad, costly advice out there.

Video: Steps to Get Started in Affiliate Marketing

Ask Shawn Collins your affiliate marketing question and it will be added on the affiliate blog.

Filed Under: Ask Shawn Collins
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