Affiliate Summit Lessons Learned
Hi Everyone,
A few weeks ago I flew out to Las Vegas to attend Affiliate Summit.
I personally got a lot out of the event because I managed to meet more than 20 people who are making 7 to 8 figures a year online.
What I wanted to do in this particular blog post was simply to mention the top 3 takeaways that I got out of the event...
1. All the super affiliates that I met (7 and 8 figure affiliates) made over 80% of their income from just 1 or 2 niches. These niches varied across affiliates but the theme was the same, super affiliates got to know a niche extremely well and then promoted aggressively using several forms of paid advertising (google ppc, google content, yahoo ppc, yahoo content, msn, natural seo, media buys, pay per view and so forth). Not many did a lot of natural search engine optimization.
Examples of the niches they focussed on include: weight loss, muscle gain, make money online, forex, satellite tv on pc software, anti spyware/adware software, make money (general bizopp), and self help niches.
That's not to say that other affiliates weren't doing well in other niches, but those are the main niches that were mentioned to me by ones who were doing 7 to 8 figures a year.
2. Health and fitness is the biggest niche in virtually every single affiliate network. I spoke to senior staff at a lot of the various networks and most of them said that weight loss and other fitness related offers were the ones that were doing the best for them. The next closest niche was 'make money' market.
3. When done correctly video salescopy vastly outperforms long salescopy format, however it has the potential to backfire so this needs to be tested closely. I will be running my own tests soon (starting in the save marriage niche). Apparently not including a fast forward button on the video salescopy greatly increases sales (again I will need to test this). I'm interested in testing this kind of thing out with affiliate videos. You don't need to be in the video, most of these videos are voiced over with slides.
I hope you enjoy this post, I'm interested in your comments.
All the best,
Mark
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By Janic62 at 4:47 8 Feb 2010:
Can'twait to see how you get on with video salescopy sounds very intersesting
By JAHSUN29 at 4:54 8 Feb 2010:
I guess being a master of a couple of niches is more rewarding than being the jack of a handful. Great article Mark
By clarafaie at 15:04 8 Feb 2010:
But of course you will have to start from a handful to see what works for you and then work on mastering what works.
By alucard001 at 16:22 8 Feb 2010:
Personally I do not like video without fast forward button. But it is also very interesting when Mark said that video without forward button generates more sales.
I do not have so many traffic so hope that Mark can show us the test result on this and other parts.
By Linda at 16:26 8 Feb 2010:
Thanks, Mark
When are we going to have another webinar with great info?
You are one of my favorites!
By Arturo Arvizu at 16:30 8 Feb 2010:
Hi Mark how is it going?
Great tips...will wait for your testing to implement your suggestions
Best
By AcmePeopleSearch at 16:30 8 Feb 2010:
Nice tips. Video sales letters seem to be the wave of the future.
By guitarman at 16:32 8 Feb 2010:
Thanks for sharing this Mark. I think I will stick with just my one site for now as I am still learning new stuff every day. By the way, I think Affilo blueprint is great. I am seeing good results already.
Ed @ http://learnitguitar.com/
By Leon at 16:33 8 Feb 2010:
I don't see how anybody can be profitable in those niches with ppc without years of good account history
thanks for the post
By Surupa at 16:35 8 Feb 2010:
Thanks for the inspiring news letters, blogs and your lessons.
I am surprised to know that the affiliates are earning so much.
I am still struggling for the ways to work as an affiliate.
Which is the best way?
This week I'll submit 2 articles and I assure you that I'll do actively from now onwards.
By Ganti at 16:35 8 Feb 2010:
Thank you for the info. Can you suggest any software program that converts english words to speech. I want to have an accent free voice for my videos. Thank you for your help in advance
By CurtD at 16:36 8 Feb 2010:
Mark, we put a video out in the "Save marriage niche" a few months ago when the recesssion hit and we saw a surge in people wanting to get a divorce but couldn't afford to because of housing and stock market corrections. We study search demand/supply trends from around the world to find profitable niches and products, and the main problem with predictions is that no one looks at the "supply" side to these predictions. A niche, or hot predictions, is not just a demand side issue, but a supply/demand curve. If you predict IPHONE apps will take off, and there are already 100,000 aps, then you aren't going to hit that one. If you see that demand for cell phone radiation shields is going nuts and there are only two suppliers, then you can be pretty sure that it will be a good year for those 2 supplies. The software at www.TheInternetTimeMachine.com studies both the demand (search volume) and supply (think "results" in Google). The Google Phone is generating much more buzz right now then say the Apple Ipad.
Cheers,
Curt
Here is a video on what I mean.. http://bit.ly/SearchSurge
By jaff007 at 16:36 8 Feb 2010:
Good to know but hardly surprising that paid advertising when done right can be very rewarding financially. As a noob with extremely limited IM knowledge and budget, I would be interested to know how many make a full-time living using natural search engine optimization.
By Terry P Mielcarek at 16:39 8 Feb 2010:
Great article. Newbie just starting out and in info overload. Like to find my place in the affiliate market and willing to keep learning. Can't wait for your test results.
Terry
By ted at 16:40 8 Feb 2010:
very interesting post indeed, thx!
reg
ted
By Carl Willoughby at 16:42 8 Feb 2010:
Interesting observations and from my own personal experiences, quite true.
I've run about a dozen different websites in all kinds of niches but it seems only
one or two of them are profitable.
The lesson to be learned is to focus on just one or two niches
and not spread out too thinly.
Thank You
By Carlos Xuma at 16:45 8 Feb 2010:
My experience is similar with video sales letters. I'm seeing 20% conversion on videos as opposed to long-copy sales letters. However, this doesn't mean "stop using long copy..." It means "learn a good strategy to use both." If you're familiar with the different personality types out there, you need to target all of them, and the long-copy letter actually is preferred by detail-oriented thinkers.
By Steve2401 at 16:45 8 Feb 2010:
Very valuable information Mark. Thank you for sharing that with us. I was surprised that not many were using natural search. I can't wait to see what you come up with on your video testing.
By NEIL at 16:50 8 Feb 2010:
Yes Mark interesting about the play and fast forward buttons, and even the immediate play when the page loads I find that annoying sometimes and It does take choice away but as you say needs testing for conversion. Good report wish I had been there I met you at the London one a few tears ago you get about a bit you? Am glad you know what you talk about thanks again Mark.
Regards Neil...
By Rodderz at 16:53 8 Feb 2010:
Very interesting info, particularly the top performing ($$$) niches. I suppose once you have got SEO to an acceptable level, and started earning a few bucks, PPC is the way to really push things forward. Also, I think video will continue to become more important as time goes on.
Thanks for the update Mark, hope you had a good time out there.
By secondclick at 16:59 8 Feb 2010:
Great post indeed Mark! It would be nice to see and learn the outcome of your experimentation with videos.
By Bill Davis at 17:02 8 Feb 2010:
Good stuff to know. Guess I should learn PPC...dammit ;)
By cezare at 17:04 8 Feb 2010:
Thanks. I am a premium member and would be nice for you to teach us about these videos.
By John Caldwell at 17:04 8 Feb 2010:
Great article Mark, Thanks for the informative article. I appreciate your expertise.
By Lawrence at 17:09 8 Feb 2010:
Very interesting,
There is the notable absence of article marketing. In my own experience and that of others I've come across article marketing does not seem to be as effective any more - I would very interested in Marks take on this. I get most of my sign ups from squeeze pages with a You Tube video, that I have made, embedded in them.
Lawrence
By Brian at 17:15 8 Feb 2010:
Hey Mark,
Thanks for sharing. I think the key is lots of targeted, diverse traffic + conversion = $
Is there a chance we might see a new tool in the Premium members side of Affilorama that provides video sales letter templates?
Thanks again my friend. I greatly appreciate your willingness to openly share your discoveries. Imagine, meeting 7 and 8 figure earners. Next year at the Affiliate Summit, I want to hang out with you. : )
By Evans at 17:19 8 Feb 2010:
Most people rush into building a niche just by it mention some where by someone. Instead of concentrating on a particular niche and developing it ,they rush from niche to niche doing little or nothing at all to promote it.
It take time to develop a niche and one must do all to promote and establish one before taking another one.
This is an eye opener to us all. Am very grateful for sharing with us.
By Gordon at 17:24 8 Feb 2010:
Interesting, I would have thought no fast forward button would have reduced sales. I don't even bother with videos when I see there isn't one, I just close it down.
Good work
By Sean @ Rocketpianoreview.net at 17:27 8 Feb 2010:
Hey Mark,
Thanks for sharing...
I notice that the niches earning 7-8 figures a year are all digital/info products. Have you ever come across affiliates that were doing physical stuff earning 7-8 figures a year...
I'm sure you have...
fill me me on that..
Cheers,
Sean
By mack45 at 17:28 8 Feb 2010:
Hi great post I would have thought there would be more different topics to be involved in than the top five. But when you think how many of the marketers that quit before they get anywhere it is not surprising. The sad reality is they do not even think of the average student as competition. I still think as a student I will have to learn to do more variety but just later learn to focus more on learning one and doing it the best.
By Ben Bella at 17:41 8 Feb 2010:
I have seen most people do video sales copy this days. The most interesting thing to me about it is that, you can listen to it whiles you work or do other things. If presented well, it can generate more sale than that of the long sales copy.
I believe with time it will take over the long sales copy depending on the kind of voice behind the video
By Liz at 17:41 8 Feb 2010:
Interesting post. I'm curious -- are the super affiliates 'making' or 'netting' 7-8 figures?
By manifestor at 17:46 8 Feb 2010:
A focused investment of time and energy, with a substantial return on investment.
I couldn't agree more Mark.
By Chris at 18:00 8 Feb 2010:
Thanks for the great post Mark, very valuable information which will definitely help me when I "look for another niche". I guess the trick is to dig as deep as you can when you've found a niche which you can get a conversion in
Chris
By johndes at 18:17 8 Feb 2010:
Very interesting and kinda scary; to try and compete with these big hitters?
thanks, Johndes.
By tambrose445 at 18:36 8 Feb 2010:
Thank you for this insight. Truly appreciated.
By Deepak at 18:50 8 Feb 2010:
Hey Mark
You always share your knowledge and wisdom. It would be interesting to know and understand how you go ahead in the niche you have decided. Look forward to watching it closely...
Deepak
By Malcolm at 19:00 8 Feb 2010:
Video is O.K. but I personally prefer to have a choice as to whether to view the video or just read the sales copy. If I'm in a rush I can whiz down quickly with text so having only the video means I might leave the page.. Don't know if I'm typical though!
By Nick at 19:30 8 Feb 2010:
Specialisation in one or two niches makes learning about your customers wants & needs so much easier. Within no time you will soon become an authority. Thanks for the article Mark.
By larryslater at 19:42 8 Feb 2010:
The old 80/20 rule: eighty percent of the income comes from twenty percent of the niches.
Very helpful in giving us the "skinny" on all your long hours. THANKS!
By ksielski at 19:48 8 Feb 2010:
Thanks for these insights Mark! This is very helpful information. I've been focusing on SEO and have known I need to take the plunge and become a master at PPC and the content networks. Off to get started...
By Gordon at 20:16 8 Feb 2010:
Interesting. I would have thought no fast forward would have decreased sales as if i am send a video with no fast forward I just close the window. I for one have no time for no fast forward button.
good work
By Chris at 20:17 8 Feb 2010:
Mark, thanks for sharing this info. I'm very interested in hearing your results with the forward vs non-forward button on sales videos.
Personally, I hate it when I can't forward. I usually watch the videos the same way I read sales letters, randomly at first, then line by line if enough jumps out at me.
By Jess at 20:18 8 Feb 2010:
Thanks for sharing Mark.
By mint88 at 20:21 8 Feb 2010:
It's really interesting to see the niches that are the most popular and to see that these super affiliates concentrate on just one or two. This is really drilling deep rather than spreading wide. What are your thoughts Mark? Is this the way to go or would you still spread wide over many niches? Just interested to hear your opinion. Thanks!
By FlyingMom at 20:26 8 Feb 2010:
It's tragic, though expected, that the main money-making markets for the most successful affiliate marketers are the 'get a dream body, get rich' schemes. I almost typed 'scams' for 'schemes' there, which is probably some Freudian slip of the brain expressing my personal deep mistrust of anyone selling an impossible dream --- for nothing or very little.
Affiliate marketing is a great and fair way to make money while sharing knowledge online. Get paid for results and pay only for results. But the system is so open to '...and there's more, you too can be as rich as me...you must read on through this tedious drivel to find out the real single and only answer...don't expect any emails from me unless it's important, but I'll have something important to email you about every day for ever...' abuse, that most people distrust it. Not surprising really.
By AffiliatesTag at 20:54 8 Feb 2010:
Thanks for the sharing.. it's valuable information... really interesting to know the common factor in 7 and 8 figure affiliates marketers.
By Keith at 21:03 8 Feb 2010:
Re; forced videos
Personally, those who force you to watch the whole video to get their inevitable sales pitch are disrespectful of my time and anytime one is offered, in most cases I will immediately delete them and quite possibly unsubscribe as well. I hate those things, and too they often start out so slow and drone on. Just get to the point. Just say no to these types of videos. It may work at first, but the backlash will come.
While I am at it I will also say the same for anyone who uses 3-4 exit pop ups They're gone.
By Jesus at 21:29 8 Feb 2010:
It definitely makes sense. If you pay attention to 1- 2 niches you will be able to make those very productive.
There is also a misconception with video and you make a very important point. In order to make a good video you don't have to appear in it, a good slideshow with some very well explained bullet points will do!!
By stlramesh at 21:41 8 Feb 2010:
Health and fitness, Make money are the ever green Niches. These two seems to have made more millionaires then rest of combined. Good Article Mark.
By Ken at 21:56 8 Feb 2010:
Hey mark, Thanks for your insightful sharing. I guess the worthwhile thing to note, is that for every 20 people making 7 or 8 figures, there are hundreds more making probably 5 to 6 figures, which is encouraging for us just starting out. I'm so glad your site is not just another money sucking "training" site, what you put up here is extremely useful and relevant! Thanks so much, doing my week 3 classes now...
By tomp at 22:06 8 Feb 2010:
that is a fact......weight loss and fitness niches are doing the best.thank you for your article Mark
By Emi at 22:07 8 Feb 2010:
Hi Mark,
I know I am the average of the 5 people I spend time with the most. If I want to be doing well at internet marketing, I would need to spend time with other people who are doing well online. When attending these conferences, how do I go about finding people who are the ones who are doing well online like you did? I networked with many people, but did you go to Affiliate Summit knowing of these people beforehand to meet them at the at the conference? You said you met 20 people who were making 7-8 figure incomes at Affiliate Summit. How did you happen to meet them and how would you suggest one goes about meeting these people when attending conferences like this?
Emi
By Annie at 22:30 8 Feb 2010:
Video as a media is bound to be a force. It has to be used in an engaging manner and not as a long winded sales monologue. We can close down anyone who is boring and predictable. The long copy letter is long, that doesnt mean the video has to be long too. Some of the most effective videos I have watched are short and visionary.
By PandaMarketer at 22:33 8 Feb 2010:
I attended asw10 but did not get a chance to rub shoulders with higher income affiliates. Thanks for your take-aways.
Dave
aka PandaMarketer on twitter
By chandrasekaran rajamani at 23:27 8 Feb 2010:
Hello,
Your inputs are are very helpful.As for me I have a slow internet connection in which videos load slowly and it becomes a torture to watch videos so most of the time I hit the back button and do not watch the video.I am sure that there are many people out there who have a slow internet connection and feel the same.
chandrasekaran
By deanpeterson at 23:32 8 Feb 2010:
I hate the long video sales copy but I have to admit it makes me listen to it all - would rather skip to the offer and see the P.S. like in long sales copy though. Intersted to see how your tests work out! I am in the "make money" market - always fills the pipeline - never grows old! I really like Affilormama - the only monthly program I belong to as hate continiuty! Mark overdelivers!
By Ana at 0:18 9 Feb 2010:
I am not surprised especially the fitness and lose weight niches we all know that most people we know are experts on both of those subjects and are certainly interested in any topic relating to these so therefore why not internet marketing as a tool to market these. Yes good one. Thanks for that. http://www.needhelpwithdetoxing.com
By Made Suparta at 0:29 9 Feb 2010:
Hmmmmmm...............video sales letter..........new tactic?................look forward it from yours
By mikeg1 at 0:34 9 Feb 2010:
My opinion is that your market will tell you which type of video works best.
Test long versus short, salesy versusi nformative,male versus female.
in short, if you would supply us with your testing guidlines, i think that would, help us the most.
Also, maybe some resources for video production.
Thanks,
Mike
www,affiliatetraininghelp.com
By Jason at 1:15 9 Feb 2010:
Interesting to see that they all do well in PPC as opposed to organic listing. Probably the best tip that I've picked up!
By Bill at 2:30 9 Feb 2010:
This is VERY helpful and insightful information.
Thanks
By Rick Samara at 3:40 9 Feb 2010:
Thanks for this extremely valuable information. It's great to finally get information on Affiliate Summit West. Were these observations taken from the classes or on your personal meetings with super affiliates. I would also be interested in what trends emerged from the classes.
I was a little surprised that 'people search' was not mentioned as a niche. Seems to me that a whole 'cottage' industry has sprung up out of public information.
Again, many thanks for the quick insight!
Rick
By fransisco at 3:42 9 Feb 2010:
Can I come with you next time mark!!!
By Ricardo at 4:20 9 Feb 2010:
the video without any player buttons is very powerful... because you watch or you not watch only two options possible :-)... people loves audio over reading...
By Troy at 8:19 9 Feb 2010:
Thanks for the update Mark.
The only thing I have a bit of a problem with is videos with no forward button, It just eeks me...lol
Troy
By stargate66 at 8:32 9 Feb 2010:
Thanks for sharing. Interesting facts.
Two things come to mind. Firstly, like all business, start at the bottom with a low budget (natural ranking), make some money and plough back the money into your business. (PPC and more). I am willing to take a bet that these 8 figure earners' PPC expenses are all 6 or 7 figures, or am I wrong?
Secondly it makes sense that PPC gives them better results. Why would Google allow a natural ranker to make more money than one of their paying customers? Surely they have it sorted in their measurement and ranking criteria, or else PPC would have been long gone?
It will be interesting to see some feedback on your research and once again I got some insider information from Affilorama. Thanks Mark.
By Andrew H. (cherrytree) at 8:49 9 Feb 2010:
Hey thanks for letting us Know Which Niches are Going Strong With Top Earners Cherrytree
By glhyne at 10:02 9 Feb 2010:
Great post. It took me a while to figure out that the best markets to go into are the ones with the most listbuilders and the most products to cross promote. I know that videos without controls convert better but I'd like to knw how many potential buyers are driven away before this point. Conversion per click and not per view is the issue i think. From my own point of view, I don 't mind the lack of controls but I need to see the video duration in text.
By Bronnamdi at 10:05 9 Feb 2010:
Thanks for sharing this worthwhile information with us. I am in the process of mixing my traffic sources with organic search engine traffic and paid sources like ppc and others but no video at the moment.
Glad to know that even the gurus are also doing the same. In time, I hope that my income will be as large as theirs.
By Ming Jong at 13:10 9 Feb 2010:
Thanks for the info!
It is great to know that what are the successful affiliate marketer are doing/not doing.
Cheers,
Ming Jong
By mikeb1 at 14:10 9 Feb 2010:
I only use ppc sparingly,and then I look for a niche within a niche,seo is what you need to master when strating out,things like forex are for the big boys,they pay upwards of 10 bucks a click for this,so unless you are already rich forget it,the sharks eat the minnows every time.As for video marketing I like it,seo is easy if you have the right mentor,which thanks to a webinar with mark and a IM colleague I am begining to major in it.
By Viola at 17:08 9 Feb 2010:
So if everybody is in the weightloss niche, how does a newbie even stand a chance of getting started and making even a few hundred dollars?
My niche is weightloss and health for the over 40 crowd because of my background and because this is my struggle and focus personally so I thought I combine this with IM and see if I can actually make some money while I am improving my own health..
So far, sad to say, other then some nice comments left on my blog I haven't gotten anywhere. But I know this is just a start and I keep on going.
By dandeluca at 18:03 9 Feb 2010:
Thanks Mark, as usual lots of value here. I'll be ramping up my investigation of forex market, since I was thinking of a website for that. I like the idea of ongoing payments! Definitely want to hear how your video testing goes too!
By Graham in UK at 21:53 9 Feb 2010:
Hi Mark
Well it just confirms what we all know already doesn't it?
The big boys can afford to use PPC and make loads of money
The rest of us use SEO because we can't afford PPC!
The more advanced are using video which has got to be the way to go
the rest of us are trying to learn about video!
Everything is easy.... when you know how!
regards
Graham in UK
By A2ZAFFIL at 22:58 9 Feb 2010:
Thanks Mark for the insight. Excellent for newbies like myself.
By maxwellt at 5:18 10 Feb 2010:
Thanks for those enlightening tips. It proves that affiliate marketing is one of the best ways to earn if you understand the necessary techniques. Thanks Mark
Regards Max Australia
By NETFORCE10.COM at 14:26 10 Feb 2010:
Hi Mark,
Very interesting post, specially that they make all their money solely from 1 or 2 niches.
I am very interested in getting more info anout the video sales copy, because indeed it has a lot of viral potential. Also interesting is that they are hardly doing any SEO, but pure PPC...
While I have been working for 3 years on my own SEO program, called NETFORCE10, that will be finally ready by 01 of March 2010.
Hahaahahhaha. Life can be hard!
Thanks Mark!
Without any doubt, AFFILORAMA is the best Internet Marketing Information site on the web.
By drmcneil at 19:51 10 Feb 2010:
Great info man. Thanks
DrM
By idleme125 at 22:58 10 Feb 2010:
Really good info in the sense that these bighitters are making money in areas available to all. The key note here is the PPC mentioned by Mark. Eventually, you have to spend money on this business and that means advertising with PPC. No matter how these guys tune their marketing methods, it all comes down to spending $$ on PPC. Organic is fine if you want to wait and wait for results and making peanuts a month. I tried PPC last year, the results came fast and was able to fine tune where the money was but it gets expensive. The results are gold in learning where to put your energy in chasing those buyers.
By jimtsa at 1:08 11 Feb 2010:
I hate videos that cannot fast forward. It just turn people off.
I think readers are smarter than you think and they dont wish to waste their time to watch a video that doesn't give them the time duration.
By John at 10:55 11 Feb 2010:
Thanks for the info,I'd like to knw how many potential buyers are driven away before this point. you know how!
regards
John
Thanks
.............................
plr articles
By Dish Network Cleveland at 19:38 11 Feb 2010:
Ah, This is spot on! Clarifies
several contradictions I've heard
By john at 9:44 12 Feb 2010:
the sharks eat the minnows every time.As for video marketing I like it,seo is easy if you have the right mentor,which thanks to a webinar with mark and a IM colleague I am begining to major in it.
By Dish Network City of Industry at 17:36 12 Feb 2010:
Ah, This is exactly what I was looking for! Dispells
many contradictions I've read
By andyw at 11:04 15 Feb 2010:
After reading you blog, Your blog is very useful for me .I bookmarked your blog!
Wishes your valentine day to be joyful!
By johndes at 13:00 15 Feb 2010:
Mark;
AS a newbie i appreciate the articles. You tend to clarify my thinking.
Thanks, johndes
By Dish Network Salinas at 21:45 15 Feb 2010:
Ah, This is exactly what I was looking for! Puts to bed
many misnomers I've read