Courtney Speaks

Who are your online mentors?  Mine have changed over time but have included Kelly McCausey, Lynn Terry, and Jimmy D. Brown.

If you are undecided if you should start a work at home mom business or what type of online business then you need to follow Kelly.  WAHM Talk Radio is a great start.  Also check out her mastermind group, Mom Masterminds.  Kelly does a great job of helping you figure out where you want to go and how to get there.

If you to learn how to make money as an affiliate marketer, then Lynn Terry is your go-to gal.  Check out her blog ClickNewz and click over to her free forum, Self-Starters Weekly Tips.  If you want more one on one interaction, considering joining her Elite group.  I’m a member and just love it.

Jimmy D. Brown is more of an all around guy.  What drew me to Jimmy D. Brown in the first place was the fact that he was a Christian as well.  And he wasn’t afraid to share that fact within his online business.  He is the type of entrepreneur I strive to be.  Not to mention he has some great guides all on different topics.  You can find out more about him at his blog, Jimmy D. Brown.

When you need support, answers, and direction where do you go?

Affiliate Marketing Tip #1 – Keep Your Affiliate Links Organized

One of my biggest problems with affiliate marketing is keeping track of all of my affiliate links. Not only do I want to keep track of all my links, I also want to be able to cloak the links so others can not change out my affiliate link with another. Luckily there are some WordPress plugins that help keep all my affiliate links nice and organized.

The WordPress plugin I have chosen to help organize and cloak my affiliate links is MaxBlogPress Ninja Affiliate. The reason I chose this particular plugin is because I have used other MaxBlogPress plugins and have been very happy with them.

Take a look at the powerful features the power MaxBlogPress Ninja Affiliate plugin has as an affiliate blogging tool:

1. A link that looks original and distinct

With Ninja Affiliate, you can easily give each affiliate link an easy-to-remember name. Manage your affiliate links and make them look professional, original and vividly distinct too.

2. Manage Links by Groups

If you have too many affiliate links then Ninja Affiliate allows you to easily create different groups to manage your links. Group your affiliate links in an organized way.

3. Convert ordinary keywords into money making affiliate links

Automatically turn keywords in your blog to affiliate links. Ninja Affiliate has been designed not only to track and manage affiliate links but also to convert the keywords inside the blog posts to affiliate links.

4. Avoid commission theft

Cloak your affiliate links to prevent link theft and affiliate sabotage. No one will ever steal your hard-earned commissions again.

5. Insert Affiliate Links Directly

Add your affiliate links directly for your WordPress blog editor so that you’ll never have to hunt for links again. (This is my favorite feature! )

I know there are other similar WordPress plugins out there, but this is the one I use and recommend. How do you keep your affiliate links organized?

I know my updates on my progress on the Affiliatenaire membership have been none existence lately.  But I have a reason for that.  It is because I haven’t been following the program.  I never said it was a good reason.   In fact, I’m pretty upset with myself that I have let it slide.  I’m still receiving my lessons and downloading them, but they are just sitting on my hard drive collecting dust.

One of my goals for the month of January is to get back into the saddle, so to speak.  The Mom Mastermind’s Affiliantenaire accountability group changed it’s meeting time, so I am not longer able to meet with them.  That hurt me – not having that accountability.

So my new plan is to spend at least an hour a week working through the lessons.  I am actually going to schedule it in my calendar, along with all my other work.  I know the information that Jimmy D. Brown gives is good.   I know it works.  It is just a matter of me actually doing the work.

Is anyone else going through the Affiliatenaire membership program?  Looking for an accountability partner?

It’s time for another Affiliatenaire update although I don’t have much to update you on.  I must admit it – I have fallen off the bandwagon.  I’ve gotten behind in the lessons and haven’t even been reading them the last couple of weeks.  I could give you excuses, but they would be just that, excuses. I am a little  disappointed in myself because I had been going strong in keeping up with the lessons and implementing what was taught.

Since it’s a new month I have been trying to create a game plan for the month and define my goals.  One of my goals for the month of December is to get caught up-to-date with all past lessons from Affiliatenaire.  I’m paying for the course so I need to start acting on what I am learning and make the cost worthwhile.

Are you taking Jimmy D. Brown’s Affiliatenaire course?  If so, how are you coming along with it?

Lynn Terry recently posted a review of the The Supper Affiliate Handbook on her blog and it really got me thinking about purchasing the book since I have been really interested in affiliate marketing.

Lynn’s Super Affiliate Handbook Review was very detailed and thorough but I still had some questions about affiliate marketing in general and the book itself.  Luckily Lynn is awesome and agree to answer my questions in a short interview!

My Question: What is your favorite aspect of affiliate marketing?  Is there one part of it you love more than the others?

Lynn: Cashing checks certainly ranks right up there at the top LOL – income aside though, I really do enjoy affiliate marketing. I think my favorite part about it is connecting with the different markets and finding out what makes them tick – well, click in this case.

It can be a fun challenge to research a market inside and out, and get to know the human side of the need or want behind the purchases. And in markets where I’m a buyer myself, the conversations and networking – and even the research – are a lot of fun.

As an example, if you’re a foodie with an affiliate site or blog all about cool unique kitchen appliances… hanging out in food & cooking related forums is part of your job. It makes work fun!

My Question: In your review of The Super Affiliate Handbook you mentioned that “Rosalind gives you 6 ways to create content, a detailed example of a well-written Elance project proposal…” How does Elance play a part in affiliate marketing?  Isn’t it just for freelancers looking for jobs?

Lynn: Right, elance.com is a place where you go to find people to help you do odd jobs or work on projects. This is great if you need to hire someone to customize your affiliate blog theme, or create you a custom header graphic for your affiliate site.

You might also want to outsource things like content development, programming, link-building or other tasks that go along with creating and marketing your own affiliate site.

Obviously you can do all of these things yourself, and most things are easy enough to learn, but no guide would be complete without at least mentioning the option to outsource to make things go quicker for you.

I do a lot of outsourcing myself, as I have more than a dozen active sites at the moment. Sometimes links need to be updated, or mundane tasks need to be done – like submitting the site or blog to directories, for example. I’d rather focus on doing the thing I’m best at and outsource the rest.

My Question: You also mention a list of 20 Questions to ask before joining an affiliate program is included in the book.  Are there are any other questions you would add that to that list that you believe are also important?

Lynn: Rosalind covered the bases with that list in her Super Affiliate Handbook, and some of them I hadn’t thought of on my own. The most important thing to me is having a personal contact, or knowing who and how to get in touch if I have a question or want to discuss a certain aspect of their affiliate program.

I work with a large number of networks and merchants, and they all operate differently. Those that keep an open line of communication, are open to feedback, and go out of their way to help me make sales for them… are the merchants that get my loyalty. Those that treat their affiliates best, usually treat their customers better as well – and that goes a long way with me when choosing who and what to promote.

My Question: How do you decide what kind of site to setup for affiliate marketing?  A static site, mini-site, or full blog?

Lynn: That’s a great question. It depends on the product and the market, and on your specific objective. Sometimes you have to test and see what will work best – and sometimes the answer to that will surprise you.

I often do more than one for any given product or market. For example you can set up a blog to build a readership around your topic, and funnel that traffic into your product-based mini-site. Or you can set up a mini-site with an opt-in offer for a free report and funnel them into your static site or blog in the follow-up series.

There’s no one right way that will work best in every market, or for every product. My favorite method is to set up affiliate blogs around topics (I always create around topics, not products). This allows you to create a lot of content around keywords, and reach your market through the major search engines – and build a loyal readership.

Thank you Lynn for answering my questions!

Here is a little bit more about The Super Affiliate Handbook:

Read the amazing true story of how one woman, with no previous business experience, earns $435,000+ per year … selling other people’s stuff online!

In her down-to-earth, sincere and often humorous style, Rosalind Gardner guides you through the entire process of building an affiliate marketing business on the ‘Net. In 220+ pages, and more than 68,000 words, you’ll learn how to pick the best programs, negotiate a commission raise and save time, money and effort on everything from affiliate software to web hosting.

To learn exactly how she does it, Click Here.

I will be purchasing this book in the near future.  Lynn has totally sold me on it.   What about you?  If you want to get started in affiliate marketing The Super Affiliate Handbook sounds like a must have resource!

P.S. If you have been wanting to join the affiliate marketing world, I highly suggest you read Lynn’s ClickNewz blog and check out her forum, Self-Starters Weekly Tips.  There is all kinds of great information in both places.

It’s been a little while since I gave an update on how my training through the Affiliatenaire program is going.  For those who don’t know what I am talking about, Affiliatenaire is a membership program that teaches you have to make money online by becoming an affiliate marketer.  What does an affiliate marketer do, they sell other people’s products.   Affiliatenaire is a 52 week program that walks you through all the steps of setting up an affiliate site.

So on to my update.  I have gotten behind in the lessons but am at least staying up-to-date with my accountability group.  One thing I didn’t realize is how much writing it takes.  Wow – I feel like all I do is write one article after another.  While I don’t mind writing articles, it’s not something I love to do.  Of course I also have the option of using PLR and/or hiring a ghostwriter.

Jimmy D. Brown gives great information in his lessons and I love how down to earth he writes.  It not hard to follow along.  He makes it seem almost effortless and motivates you to get to work in each and every lesson.

I also missed my accountability group meeting this past week due to a sick son.  I missed having that chance to discuss everything with the other Mom Masterminds members also going through the Affiliatenaire program.  It’s a great chance to get ideas, ask questions, get feedback, and brainstorm together.

I still have a way to go, but I am looking forward to completely the program and increasing my online income.

I am always on the look for Christian and faith based affiliate programs.  They are not as easy as you would think to find.  However, I did run across a great list of 30 Christian affiliate programs.  Some of the programs included are ChristianShirts.net, Christianbook.com, and Family Christian Stores.

I also found a smaller list of Christian affiliate programs at ChristianAffiliatePrograms.info.  What is nice about this list is that the site owner actually created a table with relevant information on each affiliate program, including if the site is Christian owned and the commissions being offered.

Of course, I also offer an affiliate program for my products at Christian Mom PLR and Start A Christian Review Blog.

As I mentioned a few weeks ago I join Jimmy D. Brown’s membership program, Affiliatenaire.  I have completed three lessons so far and am enjoying it.  I didn’t have to do much with the first two lessons since they dealt primarily with setting up a blog, mailing list, and choosing a product to promote.  I have already done that but it was still good information.  The third lesson gave me some food for though though.  I just finished it reading it and am still processing what I read and how best to execute it.

Have you joined the Affiliatenaire program?  What are you thoughts so far?

P.S. If you a member of Mom Masterminds we have an accountability group to help encourage and support all of us that are going through the Affiliatenaire Membership.

I have mentioned a couple times how great the support and encouragement is over at Mom Masterminds.  The ladies in the group inspire me to succeed and the majority of them are also fellow Christians.  The group, also recently known as the Hungrey Women of Internet Marketing, is starting an accountability group for the Affiliatenaire membership program.

The Affiliatenaire program is a 12 month membership site by Jimmy D. Brown, another fellow Christian, that teaches you how to become a successful and profitable affiliate.  It is designed to help you find buyers.  It was created to help you promote your affiliate link.  Every week Jimmy will send you a 5-7 page lesson that explains in “beginner language” a way to find buyers. You follow the steps he lists.  You get clicks on your affiliate link.  You earn referral commissions.

A group of us at Mom Masterminds have all joined Affiliantenaire and will be meeting online once a week to track our progress and to make us accountable.  Of course at the same time we are hoping to make some money too.

If you have ever wanted to get started in affiliate marketing, I would highly suggest you join both Mom Masterminds and the Affiliantenaire program.  Not only will you be learning from the best, Jimmy D. Brown, but you will get support and encouragement from other women like you.  I can’t wait to get started!

I heard on Twitter today that DaySpring just started an affiliate program!  I have always associated DaySpring with greeting cards but found out that they offer a large array of products.  The affiliate program is being hosted through Commission Junction and it is easy to get signed up.

If you are already a member of Commission Junction then you just need to to apply to the program through Commission Junction’s site.  If you are not a Commission Junction member, it is quick to join.  Just fill out a form at DaySpring and you will get an account made quickly.

I’m always excited to find Christian based affiliates programs!