Content Marketing: How to Drive High Quality Traffic to Your Website

The internet is a great place to market products and services.  In this article, we will discuss about content marketing and why content marketing is an effective way to generate high quality traffic to your website. I will also provide some tips on how to drive high quality traffic to your products or services.

1. What is content marketing?

Content marketing is a powerful marketing strategy that allows you to create and distribute content that is relevant to your niche. The content can be about anything, but focuses mainly within your niche. The contents can be in the form of articles, videos, audio files, or any other type of media. With content marketing, you have the ability to build a large audience that is interested in what you have to say through written texts, audios, infographics and videos or a combination of these. The content will then be shared across social media platforms and other websites. This sharing will help drive traffic to your website or blog, channels and pages and ultimately to your products or services.

2. Why content marketing is effective

A lot of people are turning to content marketing specifically video marketing because it is one of the most effective way to generate traffic to their products or services. There are many different types of content marketing – it can be organic or paid. Why content marketing is effective? The most important thing to remember is that the goal of content marketing is to help people find solutions to their problems thus giving them value. Providing a solution like explaining in the “How to…” in a videos can be compelling. Even providing solution through infographics in a “Steps on how to…” can give audience a high-value creative and time-saving descriptive images through simplified content solution. Another content is through texts or articles.  Article marketing cannot be undermined because of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Quality articles drive great traffic to blogs and websites if these articles are SEO optimized at all angles – meta descriptions, alt texts, keywords on-page or off-page links, etc. Writing articles with a combination of other media like graphics, videos and audios will give a fantastic result. For example, people are searching video content for a certain niche, the videos in your content may show up in Facebook, Tiktok, Youtube, etc. When they are looking for audio, there is also a big chance that the podcast will be shown to your targeted audience. And when they are looking for graphics or illustrated content, your infographic content may be shown through Pinterest as well.

3. How to drive high quality traffic to your website

The best way to drive high quality traffic to your website is to put a lot of effort into your SEO. It would also be best if you put a lot of effort into your content like putting keywords into the right places – titles, tags, headlines, meta descriptions, etc. The content should be unique and not just copied from other websites. You should also put a few links to your best content pages where it makes sense. When you include your keywords in the web pages' title tags, posts and meta descriptions, be sure to use a combination of low competition and long tail keywords. This helps the search engines find your pages much more effortless. You should also include your keywords in the content images and video titles. Avoid too much links pointing outside your website if necessary. If you cannot avoid putting links for your affiliate products or services, make a pillar page or pillar post within your blog or website dedicated for this purpose, where you can use this page to put all the necessary links. Be sure to set to a  “nofollow” attribute for best result.

Share your contents to social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, etc. Use paid advertising if you would like to optimize and scale. I will make a separate post about paid advertising soon.

4. Conclusion.

The best way to drive high-quality traffic to your products and services is to create a blog, a page or pages, channels, boards or a combination of all of these. Then use them to promote your products and services. Once you have created your blog, pages, channels and boards, you should make sure that it is optimized for search engines. SEO optimized contents will surely find a “sweet spot” in the search engines' algorithms. So be sure to name your images, videos and audios with the right keywords. Contents with the right meta descriptions, titles and headlines will rank higher in the search engines. I hope this article helped you understand much better about content marketing and gave you solutions on how to drive high quality traffic to your products and services. If you apply these techniques, then you will surely find and see to yourself that content marketing is indeed, easy and not difficult at all.

"Work joyfully and peacefully, knowing that right thoughts and right efforts will inevitable bring about right results." - James Allen

"We go where our vision is." - Joseph Edward Murphy

 

Affiliate Marketing: The Online Education Niche

The Online Education Niche 

The Shift

The situation of the world where we are in right now (as of this time) allows many of us to adapt to so many changes – from traditional business stores to opening online shops; from commute lifestyle jobs to home-based jobs; from classroom set- up to home schooling; from mall shopping to online shopping, and the like. These shifts made many excited while these also made others anxious and bored. What about you? Life must go on… And, it must be in a deeper, higher and wider perspective no matter what. Now, learn to adapt and adjust. 

Online Education

Over the past three months, I was not able to write articles or blog posts for this site because we (my family) were busy in digital product creation for one of our online shops in the education niche. My husband and I are not teachers but while we are helping our child to understand some of her lessons, some Google ads are popping up while we search for subject areas related to the lessons which we hardly remember. This has led us to create digital product(s) that have now been posted in an online education digital platform where it is now making some few sales. I will post our online shop link in the “SHOP” page when we reach our 100^th product milestone.

The online education niche is rising these days especially in the South-East Asia. Entrepreneurs, designers, influencers, business owners specially the affiliate marketers and coaches are looking into the potential of online education platforms. For marketers, target audience is easy to identify and this makes marketing worthwhile products and services easy, as well.

Products and services you can promote:

1.       Educational Games

2.       E-books / Books

3.       Planners / Journals

4.       Courses

5.       Training

6.       Membership sites

7.       Tutoring sites

Micro niches:

1.       Instrumental Music

2.       Graphic Arts

3.       Music Composition

4.       Visual Arts

5.       Creative Writing

6.       Informational Texts

7.       Expository Writing

8.       Classroom Management

9.       Critical Thinking

10.   Life Skills

11.   All subjects – including but not limited to: English, Science, Math, etc.

Types of Products and Services:

1.       Physical Products

2.       Online Services

3.       Digital Products

4.       Combination of physical and digital products

The Need

Educational resources are almost everywhere. Yes, this is true. But you will see how many more quality materials and resources are so much needed this time. If you can find or create worthwhile educational resources or materials for learners, please do so and share. It will help a lot improve students’ engagement in learning and studying and inspiring other educators do the same.

21^st Century Educational Technology

With the help of advanced technology, dissemination of ideas and resources can now be made real-time in places where internet is available. Teachers or educators who are adapting and adjusting to this so called “technology-enriched environment” are clambering and scrambling to meet the demand.

Product Creation

You can share your knowledge and ideas in the educational environment even if you are not a teacher/tutor/educator by creating products and services for them to use in their teaching – whether teaching online or in a classroom setting. How to do that? Well, you can make resources which can be printed for distribution or resources that can be used digitally without the need for printing. You may give them for free or you can sell them in online marketplaces of educational materials.

Printable Products vs Digital Products

Not all learners and teachers are comfortable in using some applications available online. They need printed resources so they can focus and not disturbed with popping ads or not tempted in clicking almost every button to satisfy their curiosity. As a product creator, you can make both versions and make it compatible with what they need whether printable or digital materials.

Types of E-learning Platforms

1.       Student Management System (SMS)

2.       Assessment Software

3.       Virtual Classroom Software

4.       Video Conference Software

5.       Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC)

6.       Learning Management System (LMS)

7.       Online Tutoring Platforms

8.       Online Marketplaces

Think of how you can contribute to the online education community – it’s worthwhile, indeed!

“Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence.” -Abigail Adams

“Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal.” -Henry Ford 

Affiliate Marketing: Shopee Shops with Trending Products

Shopee Shops with Trending Products for Affiliate Marketers and Shoppers

If you are an affiliate marketer in the Philippines or Southeast Asia who is looking for an affiliate marketing programs and products to advertise, then continue reading. This article was written to give you an idea about the Top 10 evergreen niches that you can tap in the affiliate marketing world. And yes, these are Shopee shops with trending products.

So, here we go. This list is classified according to Product Category.

Shopee Shops: Food and Beverages 

Staple needs are now being prioritized by those who have kids and senior citizens in their houses and even those who are working and studying at home. The new normal compels most people to give priority and importance of having healthy food and beverages always available. This product category does not need heavy marketing at all because the products are very in demand yet consumable.

 

Shopee Shops: Vitamins and Minerals:

Vitamins and minerals make our bodies strong and these help boost our immune systems fight diseases. Today, there is a big demand on food supplements. People are now becoming more aware about the importance of healthy lifestyle and diet. While some are researching for healthy recipes to cook for their families and love ones including their selves, some people would like to supplement those lacking vitamins in their recipes with food supplements readily available anytime. Do not just promote, be sure to take your vitamins and minerals as well.

     Shopee Shops: Mobile Gadgets, Laptops, Computers

     The shift from commuting to and from offices to working at home have made more people set up their home offices and study areas for their children thereby increasing the demand for gadgets, laptops, computers, printers and the like. Some started blogging and vlogging in order to build their income streams. As an affiliate marketer, we must see to it that the products we promote are of high quality and durable. Aim to help customers find their needs or best suit their needs and solve their needs.

     Shopee Shops: Furniture 

     To complete the set of home offices and study rooms, the demand for furniture like office tables, office chairs, study tables, study chairs, file cabinets, etc. have also increased. Although furniture is hard to market before the pandemic started, the ease of marketing this category is now unfolding. I have seen some who are buying such products through my affiliate links without even marketing them. So I have included this category in this list.

     Shopee Shops: Home Appliances 

     Some people were laid off from their jobs (and if you are one of them, take heart!) while many have chosen to leave the city life and chose to resign from their jobs and moved to their provinces to start small businesses. Many have set up food business lines, food packaging, food delivery and franchises, etc. These have increased the demands for more freezers, refrigerators, cooking utensils, food storages and food packaging and the like. And if you are good in cooking and baking, why not plan to start this kind of business to add up to your income. As the saying goes, “Love what you do, do what you love.”

      Shopee Shops: Garments and Textiles

     Since the rise of online shopping in the Philippines, manufacturing and selling or reselling of “ready-to-wear” products have also increased since people from the corporate world also have shifted using casual wears instead of wearing their coats and ties. Garments and textiles industry is one of the largest categories where ages 0 to100s can be targeted as your market. If you choose this niche, or if you are in this niche, make sure to buy and try the products first or get some samples first before selling them. This way, you can figure out how to best describe them to your own customers if you are selling them online. But if you are selling them with some stocks on hand, you don’t need to.

     Shopee Shops: Farm Products

     Farm products are some of the untapped demand industry yet is now beginning to unfold especially in the Philippines. Today, people in the urban areas are now setting up their urban farms, vertical gardens, container gardens, etc. So, the demand for farm products like seeds, plant cuttings, animal feeds, plant containers, soil enhancers, fertilizers and other planting materials and farm inputs are now becoming popular. For me and my family, this is our favorite product category because it is very easy to identify the market and the market needs or market demand and so it is very easy to grow customers from anywhere in the Philippines.

   Shopee Shops: Digital Products 

     Do you know that online shoppers also look for discount vouchers for future use? Yes, digital products has unlimited potential and will write a separate article on this. 

    Shopee Shops: Pet products

     Nowadays, in order to fight boredom people get busy with pets just like being busy in their gardens. They like to have some pets with them – as their emotional challenger or they simply love taking care of pets. . The pet grooming products, dog foods, cat foods, etc. have increased with a huge percentage as compared few years ago.

      Shopee Shops: Educational products and office supplies 

     Do you wonder why the demand for office supplies has increased which is ironic with many offices closing temporarily? The shift from work commute to work at home lifestyle including online classes for students, have made the demand for papers, bond papers, pens, ball pens, coloring booklets, printing materials, etc. increased tremendously and that is one of the reason. Another is, most local stores buy office supplies on wholesale for them to sell these office supplies at retail. 

     BONUS

     Shopee Shops: Electronics

     You can browse anything and you will see electronic products pop up anywhere and anytime in your screen at any time.

The list above is the most trending product categories in evergreen niches. As an affiliate marketer you must identify your advertisers (affiliate marketing program owners) as well as know more of your target audience in order to be successful in the affiliate marketing world. If you will notice, these shops have a high credibility score as well as product ratings. Some are new while others have spring forth ages ago.

“A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds.” -Francis Bacon

“It's choice - not chance - that determines your destiny.” -Jean Nidetch

“Setting a goal is not the main thing. It is deciding how you will go about achieving it and staying with that plan.” -Tom Landry

 

 

 

Affiliate Marketing: Top Ten Shopee Mall Shops (Lazada Shops) to Promote

List of Top Ten Shopee and Lazada Mall Shops to Promote

This is a list of most recommended Shopee Mall Shops to promote. These shops have strong credibility and have gained customers’ trust over the past few months, years and decades.

So if you are an affiliate marketer in the Philippines looking for affiliate products to promote, check out these shops with their links to Shopee and Lazada:

1. The SM Store - The SM Store is owned by Mr Henry Sy, Sr., it started as a shoemart in Carriedo, Manila, Philippines in 1958 and expanded as store chain nationwide, now is one of the most successful businesses in the Philippines. It has expanded from shoe store to almost all lines of businesses – banking, investments, holdings, land development, etc.
   
   
2. Watsons – Watsons is a health care supply chain store in some parts of Asia and Europe. It has almost 8000 stores and 1500 pharmacies in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Macau, mainland China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Ukraine, Russia and Vietnam. Its headquarters is located in Hong Kong.  Watsons is one of the best choice to promote as an affiliate marketer because of its credibility.
   
   
3. Human Nature – Human Nature is a health and beauty product manufacturer.  Human Nature sells their products through membership and dealership packages. Its advocate is to promote Philippine natural products and aims to help the masses by selling their quality products at very affordable prices.  As an affiliate marketer, you have two options, you can promote their products displayed in Shopee or Lazada or become a dealer and have your own online dealer store.  Whichever you prefer, best results come by willingness to succeed – apply your talents and put extra efforts to reach your goals.
   
   
4. Belo Essentials –Belo Essentials is a very well known brand of beauty products. Belo Essentials is owned by Maria Victoria "Vicki" Gonzalez Belo-Kho, a Filipina dermatologist and television personality. She is the founder, CEO, and medical director of Belo Medical Group. Belo Essentials products are some of the most sought brands by Filipino men and women, as well as some foreign nationals who come to visit the Philippines.
   
   
5. Puritan’s Pride Philippines- Puritan’s Pride Philippines is a one of the most recommended brands of health and wellness products. Puritan’s Pride’s headquarter is located in New York, U.S.A. Puritan’s Pride carries lines of vitamins, minerals and food supplements for adults. Their products is very easy to market and promote because the company is trustworthy and has strong credibility not just in the Philippines but around the world.
   
   
6. Oppo – Oppo Philippines is one of the most trusted brands of mobile phones in the country. Their products are of high quality, user-friendly and budget-friendly. Aside from these, their products are trendy and very durable. Most millenials are using this brand because the features fit well in this digital age. If you are an affiliate marketer who is very picky in promoting products, this brand will not fail you.  Oppo Philippines has proven its worth in the country as well as across the globe.
   
   
7. Vivo – Vivo products are user friendly and budget-friendly just like Oppo. Vivo has taken the lead in their X, V, and Y series.  Their products have a very high market demand and most get easily sold out. So if you are the kind of an affiliate marketer who promotes and describes all details in your product promotion, try to shift to a better strategy of promoting the store as a whole than by promoting individual products. OR, try to promote individual products with a countdown timer just not to fail customers who wishes to take more time before purchasing the product(s). Vivo is an excellent brand for on-the-go customers.
   
   
8. Zeus ph  - Zeus ph offers the latest curations from Nike, Vans, New Balance, Puma and today's top sports brands sourced from their official Philippine partners of well known brands. ZeusPH caters high quality products and customers service with utmost level. Zeus ph is a booming avenue of various trusted brands known across the globe.
   
   
9. Unilever Home Care – Unilever Home Care is a company that carries different well known brands worldwide. The business give high value to their advocacies to raise standards of living, protect and regenerate nature, to promote positive nutrition, wellness and health, etc. Unilever Home Care brands are very easy to promote and advertise because the reputation of their brand partners have been proven ages ago until today. So, if you want to aim for a long-term customers keep promoting their products. Why? Their products are mostly consumables. When loyalty and trust of customers to the brands they carry have been established, it is very easy to earn commissions repeatedly.
   
   
10. Quaker Philippines – Buy and taste then advertise -it is included in my TOP TEN!

The Need to Plan Your Advertising Strategy

Affiliate marketers who would like to build their online presence, credibility and authority do not act in haste – they plan their strategies.  If you heard this: “A/B Testing”, that is commonly used in order to save time and costs, it is what I am emphasizing with much details. A/B tests are best recommended when you use paid advertising. It is good to analyze statistics or data in order for you to optimize your profits and minimize your costs to the lowest level possible. 

You may be asking why I have listed these top ten shopee mall shops for marketing and then in the last part of this article jumps to A/B testing? The reason is this: choosing products to promote is very easy, choosing the right audience is easy, choosing potential customers from your audience is never easy – so you have to test which ads will work best. I remember what my former professor said (or asked), “What is the difference between Chinese businessmen and Filipino businessmen?” There was silence in our class since more than half of our class are Filipino-Chinese, some are full-blooded Filipinos while more than one-fourth are full-blooded Chinese but are Filipino citizens! Then, the silence was broken when one of my classmates raise his hand and answered, "It depends, Miss." 

Now, whether you belong to the class or not, you must be in the right place to see the best perspective.

"In business, you don't get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate." - Chester L. Karrass

Publishing: Low Content and No Content Publishing Business

Low Content and No Content Books

No content and low content publishing at Amazon Bookstore is another great business idea that you can start anytime and continue to earn royalties as long as the e-books or books are available in the Kindle Bookstore.  So, what are no content and low content books?  No content and low content books are products categorized as books with minimal contents like coloring books, children’s books, journals and diaries, prayer guide journals, diaries, quotation books, etc. while no content books are products without any content at all like, notebooks, sketchpads, ruled notebooks, math notebooks and the like.

No Content and Low Content Books: How to publish

This article written previously will guide you how to create an account at KDP, "Earn Passive Income by Publishing E-books".  The simple steps are very easy to follow.  Then after account creation at Kindle Direct Publishing Platform,  you have to the following steps:

The No Content or Low Content Publishing Steps

Here let us focus on Low Content Publishing although the same steps are followed when publishing No Contents books. This list is my own procedure which you may follow if you wish or set this as a guide as a beginner in the KDP publishing world.

Low Content Publishing Step #1 Prepare the details of your low content book

You should have a clear title, sub-title and book descriptions ready. Why? This is where your basis on where to focus on working on the covers and interiors of your book. Amazon would like that the book front covers bear a word or phrases from your book title. When we (my family and I) first uploaded our first Low Content books, we did not know about this so the books were returned to “draft” mode for us to edit the covers and re-upload them.  So, if you would like your work to be smooth and avoid major edits, you should keep this in mind. Also, start to build your own brand which will give you a cutting edge in terms of advertising and product promotions.

Low Content Publishing Step #2 Research the keywords you will use and decide the categories of your Low Content books.

As a beginner, do not skip the keywords section because this is very important. Keywords are essential in finding your products across Search Engines as well as within Amazon.  If you do not know what exact keywords to use, go to the homepage of Amazon, choose books department then type in your niche in the search bar. You can see the search bar portion auto-filled with phrases while typing in – those are useful.  Now, decide what to use from there. Fill in all the 7 blank areas for keywords and make a research on what are the best keywords to use.

Then, decide two (2) categories for your books.  For me, this is essential to know at first before making the Low Content manuscripts and covers as these give me a clearer vision of the outcome of what the covers will look like. For example, on coloring books: you will decide if it is an adult coloring book, or kid’s coloring books. (these seats at different categories) diving deeper into niches, coloring book for adults – inspirational or motivational artworks and lettering. (these would again fall into another category) . Other publishers choose the categories after the manuscripts and covers of the books have been prepared. But, everyone has his own strategies how to manage things and make them work well with the right outcome.  Look and follow what will work best for you.

Low Content Publishing Step #3 Decide the size of the manuscripts

Since Low Content books fall under paperbacks, the size is definite. You should define what is the height and width and how many pages will there be. The minimum required number of pages for paperbacks in Amazon is 25 pages. I suggest that you make it a little bit higher.

TIP: Make an interior or manuscript that you can re-use even with just a little edits. Examples: Planners, Study Journals or any evergreen niches. With this strategy in mind and in place in your works, you  will save a lot of costs, effort and time which in the long run will make you more efficient and flexible.

Low Content Publishing Step #4. Work on your manuscripts and covers.

You can create your interiors or manuscripts yourself using Word document or Power point and export them to PDF. You may also hire somebody in Fiverr or Upwork to work on your manuscripts and covers. You may use Canva- free or pro in your interiors and covers, too. You can join Canva here

Design your covers according to your categories and titles. My family is helping me with these. My daughter, who is a grade schooler as o this writing, creates amazing cover designs in her free time when she is not doing her Lesson Modules or in her online class.  Most of her designs  have been uploaded to KDP and are now LIVE at the Amazon bookstore. She is so happy and my husband and I are so thankful  and glad as well.

Low Content Publishing Step #5. Publish your Low Content books

After the covers and manuscripts have been finalized, upload them to KDP, set pricing and publish.

Low Content Publishing Step #6. Advertise or Promote your Low Content books

To be found in amazon is neither easy nor hard especially if you have applied the best strategies and procedures but is the competition is very high especially these days, you need to step higher in order to be found. How do you do this? You advertise or promote your products. Social media platforms is one of the most effective way to advertise for free.

Resources and Tools

Here is a list of resources we personally use in our Low Content publishing business.

•        Microsoft Word - FREE
•        Microsoft Powerpoint - FREE
•        Microsoft Paint -FREE
•        Adobe Acrobat-FREE
•        Canva Pro
•        CreativeFabrica.

As a beginner, you may use all those resources mentioned to start building a passive income. Yes, there is a great passive income in Amazon. Here is a proof that building a strong foundation and clear goals for a business gives good results.

As of this writing, there are now over 200 Low and No Content books which are now LIVE at the KDP Amazon bookstore.  Some of these are already making income for us. Our goal is to add more low content books during the year and continue to add consistently in the next years to come.

"Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishments." -Jim Rohn

 

Affiliate Marketing: Promote Shopee and Lazada Products

Affiliate Marketing in the Philippines

Affiliate Marketing is one of the easiest and most convenient ways to start earning online. There is a vast affiliate marketing programs available internationally which are accessible in the internet today. These affiliate programs offer different categories from physical products, digital products as well as services. But in this article we will focus on Shopee and Lazada affiliate programs since most beginners in the affiliate marketing world need few guide on how to start in this journey.

The situation in the Philippines amidst Pandemic is not a joke as unemployment rates increase especially in the National Capital Region. Some people who were not given chances to retain their jobs moved to their provinces to start or re-start new lifestyle – in a sense a “new normal”. And if you are one of them, don’t get discouraged but take heart! This may be your chance to become a successful Affiliate Marketer!

Five Easy to Follow Steps on How to Promote Shopee and Lazada Products

Affiliate Marketing Step #1: Registration as a Publisher at Involve Asia – To register at Involve Asia, you need to at least have a “Property” where you can display the Advertisers’ products. The property can be a Facebook page, Facebook group, Pinterest Page, Instagram Business or Personal account, Youtube Channel, Twitter, Website, etc. Fill up the Registration Form with your details, submit and wait for the approval of your account as a Publisher.

Affiliate Marketing Step #2: Approved Account – Once your account is approved, you need to apply to different Advertisers in the Involve Asia platform. When your application is submitted, accepted and approved by the Advertiser, you can then promote any of the products of that Advertiser.

Affiliate Marketing Step #3 Choose a way to promote a product(s). You can promote different products through shoplinks, deeplinks, banners, vouchers, datafeed, etc. One of the most easiest and effective way to promote affiliate products of Shopee and affiliate products of Lazada is through deeplinks. My husband and I often use this method to promote affiliate products because in our experience, this marketing method works for us.

Affiliate Marketing Step #4 Be sure to target the right customers or group of people – correct audience matters! Why? Niche focus is compared to a Dart Board while Dart Pins are compared to your products. You must give or offer right products to the right audience. In other words, throw the pins to the board with precise move force and timing. Likewise, offer products which match the exact tastes, age groups, interests, etc. of your prospective customers.

Affiliate Marketing Step #5 Choose at least two or more properties or platforms to introduce, promote or advertise those affiliate products. We use usually use Pinterest and Facebook when marketing affiliate products.

Why are products from Shopee and Lazada easy to promote in the Philippines?

Most Affiliate Marketers choose to promote affiliate products from Shopee and Lazada because of the following reasons:

• Shopee App and Lazada App – Both applications are user-friendly for both buyers and sellers. The apps can easily be installed with only few clicks.
• Mode of Payments – The Cash-On-Delivery (COD) offer of Shopee and Lazada attracts buyers who are skeptical of payment first policy.  With COD, buyers can check out products without hassle.
• Mode of Shipment – Local suppliers or sellers have the option to choose what couriers to enable in at the seller center back office. Enabling two (2) or more courier providers is an advantage.
• Shopee and Lazada – are the two most popular buy and sell app for all ages in the Philippines.

5.  Trusted Brands and Sellers – There is no need for heavy advertising because most brands and sellers in both platforms are properly screened and verified. The advantage of this is that affiliate marketers that promote these affiliate products and or affiliate programs do not need to heavily boost their promotions or advertising efforts thereby making affiliate marketing an enjoyable business.

Five Tips in Affiliate Marketing – Promote Shopee Products

Affiliate Marketing Tip #1: Choose a trusted brand.  When promoting affiliate products, be sure to read the comments of the buyers and from their comments generate your catchy introduction or promotional text.  For example, you have read a comment saying the product is good, the size is perfect, the color of the items delivered is exactly the same color of the item ordered, etc. Here, you can make advertisement posts like: “This is one of the best sellers. See comments of satisfied customers, etc.”

Affiliate Marketing Tip #2: Be mindful of seasonal products.  For example, one or two months before an event or holiday, you should have planned what affiliate products to promote – Christmas Season products – ham, Christmas tree, gift ideas and e-gift cards, etc.

Affiliate Marketing Tip #3: Use a catchy image or picture when you promote affiliate products to social media platforms. Choose or create images that catch the attention of the audience.

Affiliate Marketing Tip #4. Use texts or put a short text and readable information in the product image – price, sale, unit or brand, etc.  My husband and I have proven that this affiliate marketing method is very effective.

Affiliate Marketing Tip #5.Put a call-to-action in your posts. “Shop now” Buy now” “Learn more”, “Click here”, are just some of the most popular CTAs that work well.

Affiliate Marketing as a Passive Income Stream

Once Affiliate Marketing Strategies are properly planned and set in place, the online business will thrive and will provide a long-term passive income stream. To conclude, affiliate marketing is one of the best and easiest ways to build an online business.  More so, there is no need to buy or manufacture products to sell and promote, no warehouse costs, no shipping costs, no inventory to maintain. Affiliate marketers just need to put advertising strategies, a little investment to promote if you plan to promote via paid advertisements, and of course, the ability to observe market behavior, trends, and courage to implement planned those affiliate marketing strategies you have in mind.

Something for you to think about:

Beginner (Affiliate Marketer 1) – develops new strategies on his own.

Beginner (Affiliate Marketer 2) – implements what is tried and proven strategies

Beginner (Affiliate Marketer 3) – combines new and tried affiliate marketing strategies

Beginner (Affiliate Marketer 4) – confused.

Expert: I think I have experienced 1-4!!! The difference is that I can easily shift and swift when it is needed!

"The first rule of focus is this: where ever you are be there". Unknown Author

"Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand. The sun's rays do not burn until brought to a focus". - Alexander Graham Bell

Research and the Six Things You Already Know

 Online Business : Apply Research and The Six Things You Already Know

For sure the word “Research” is not new to you and probably this is what you and me are always doing most of the time. If we are going to look its meaning, it suggests some careful thinking and in depth studies like examination, investigation or experimentation aimed at the discovery of certain information or facts.

Well, you may be asking how is research related to making money online or you may be telling yourself, is research really important for me to earn online or can I apply it to the affiliate programs I’ve joined? The answer is absolutely, yes.  And, we have already learned the other five important questions related to it, from grade school or so. These are the “4 Ws and H”.  Read on and I hope you will be able to apply what these simple reminders will effectively boost your strategies for you to earn online or make money online by applying them to the affiliate programs you have joined or you may just want to start your very own business with your own brand.

Online Business Tip No. 1: HOW does research boost credibility and authority?

Have you noticed that most of the products that already gained their credibility have something in common? Okey, let us try these. I am going to give the phrases here and try to answer as fast as you can. Do not worry because the answers are given at the bottom of this post.  Ready? Let us begin.

“Just do it”,
“I’m Loving It”
“Finger Lickin’ Good”
“Eat Fresh”
“Have a Break, Have a ______”
“Maybe She’s Born With It, Maybe It’s _______”
“Because You’re Worth It”
“A Diamond is Forever”
“It Keeps Going, and Going, and Going…”
“Ideas for Life”
“Don’t be Evil”
“Think Different”

These brands have built their credibility by making their slogans or mottos real. You may even be imagining their trademarks now, right? Well, in business, credibility is always attached to any or a combination of these – brand or brand name, company name, logo, slogans and seal.

Now, how about authority? Authority, as defined by Wikipedia, was derived from a Latin word, auctoritas, defined as, “a concept used to indicate the foundational right to exercise power…” Depending on usage, authority can be used in many categories like, domain authority, question authority, positional authority, brand authority and the like. For this post, we will just focus on brand authority and domain authority.  To explain further, I will list products commonly used or consumed by almost everyone, every day. Just give or mention the brand names.

Your favorite shampoo
The toothpaste your family always use
Battery charger
Your car
Your favorite jeans
The wristwatch you are wearing now
Beer you last tasted
Pizza you want to order
Burger and drinks you want to buy later
The laptop you are using now
Your favorite deodorant

To easily understand brand authority, just think about voting. The most numbers of brand name mentions or votes in our example have higher authority. In the definition, “… a concept used to indicate the foundational right to exercise power…”  The brands you have just mentioned or those logos you have in your mind by answering those listed above have authority because they have gained “power” through trust and credibility.  Just like domain authority or website authority, the higher it ranks, gets clicks, visits and impressions, the higher its authority is.

How then, does research boost credibility and authority? The answer is, first, through research, one is able to know exactly, what are the preferences of the potential clients and customers, as to their usage, durability, pricing, etc.  Second, by research, one can improve or develop products that are congruent to the lifestyles of the existing users and potential customers. Another is, research is the key to answer the needs of users.

For example, my county, the Philippines, is always stricken by typhoons. In the house, we store foods before the rainy seasons and we buy easy-open can foods and instant noodles in cups. Not all brands have easy-open cans and not all noodles are in cups. Since the company who introduced easy-open can products, is already an authority, the brand he used for that, easily gained trust and credibility, too.

So, boost your credibility, research and let your brand be known with authority.

Online Business Tip No. 2: WHAT can research do to your product offers?

If you are looking for a new cellphone and you are thorn between two choices with all other features being equal, which one would you prefer?

CHOICE A:  A new brand that gives product warranty up to 5 years with heavy marketing promotion (TV Ads, Billboards, News Ads, Broadcast Ads, etc.)  plus 20% discount
CHOICE B:  An already established brand with only one year warranty and currently do not have any marketing promo or discount.

So, what can research do to your product offers?

In the example above, both choices are good while there are factors to consider: new brand vs. established brand; discounted price vs. regular price; warranty period.  If you offer a product whether physical or digital product, research on what factors and features you would like to raise to get the attention of potential buyers to let them buy the product whether you are offering a new brand or an already established brand. `

Online Business Tip No. 3: WHEN does research mandatory to business?           

It is mandatory to do a research when your business is in line with providing services and products which directly affect the health or lives of customers.

A recent example is a case in my country.  A number of students in the public schools were given free anti-dengue vaccination where most lives were put at risk due to some factors not properly considered where, if thorough research should have been done, such loss of lives have been avoided.

It is mandatory to do a research when the products or services are governed by law.  Who wants to be sued just by collecting e-mails? The GDPR policy is an example. Do we really need research? Yes.  Even wordpress.org has developed a new plugin to help website owners comply with the policy.

It is mandatory to do a research when you want to leave a legacy to the next generation. Of course, if one would like to leave a legacy, he will make every effort and apply his skills and time to make it real.  The drawing or blueprint becomes standing structure or building. The idea and imagination comes to life.  The knowledge becomes an e-book or books, courses and training. The concepts become websites, live in the internet, and so on…

Online Business Tip No. 4: WHERE to conduct research?

There are lots of avenues where to conduct research. It could be one or a combination of these:
Printed materials - books, magazines, flyers, brochures, catalogues, newspapers and the like
Online resources – websites, blogs, forums, membership sites, advertisements
Audio and Video Files – recorded files, webinars, podcasts
Others – any reliable avenue of knowledge, facts, information
Online Business Tip No. 5: WHY is there a need for research?

The ultimate answer to this question is – PURPOSE. 

As promised, here are the brands which answer the guessing game in the first part of this article.

Nike
Mc Donalds
KFC
Subway
Kitkat
Maybelline
L’Oreal
De Beers
Energizer
Panasonic
Google
Apple

The brands listed above have purposes and their names speak them so. Now, you want to earn money online or offline? And, you want to build your brand, as well?  May I just joggle the slogans up there and leave these borrowed phrases for you to think about.  “Just do it” You have “Ideas for Life”. You can make money online because you are one of kind, you “Think Different”.  Let your ideas come to life “Because You’re Worth It”.  Research and find the purpose of your business. Make a legacy which is likened to a gem just like a diamond because, “A Diamond is Forever”.

Online Business Tip No. 6: Start a business  or continue what you have started.

Think… Think. Think!  Then, act and think again.

Here is something for you to think about:

“Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.”- Ralph Waldo Emerson