How to Build an Automated Income System in 30 Days or Less
The next time you see a product (information or software) that claims to get you thousands of visitors or make millions of dollars without lifting a finger, ask yourself this question…
If it works so well, why are they selling it?
The answer: because they make more money selling it than actually using it!
And there’s nothing wrong with that. The point is, selling information and software is the fastest way to go from zero to making thousands of dollars every month!
In this article, I’m going to show you how I made my first $5k on line and then how I ramped it up to make $30 – $50 per month selling information products and software.
The basic marketing formula is: Traffic + Conversion = Sales
There are hundreds of ways to get traffic. But only one method allows you to use all of them at once. I’ll talk about that in a minute. But first let’s talk about conversion.
The conversion rate is the percentage of people who visit a web page and take a specific action. That action could be joining your list, purchasing a product from you, or purchasing an affiliate product that you recommend. When you own the list and you sell a product, you have control over the conversion process.
- You can find out what people want and create a freebie to give away in exchange for an email address
- You can follow up, give valuable content, build relationships, and earn the trust of your subscribers
- When it comes time to sell something or promote an affiliate product, your conversion rates will be off the charts
Now let’s talk about traffic…
Everybody says that affiliate marketing is the easiest way to get started online. And that’s true to a point. I mean, how are you going to compete with some guru marketer who spends $20k to have a product created and gets all his JV buddies to promote it? It’s a lot easier to promote a product like that for a cut of the profits than trying to create one yourself.
But the problem is, how do you get the traffic?
Like I said, there are hundreds of ways to get traffic:
- Pay-Per Click Advertising
- Banner Advertising
- Ezine Advertising
- Social Marketing
- Article Marketing
- Video Marketing
- Blogging
- Press Releases
- Viral Marketing
- Webinars
- Teleseminars
Just to name a few…
But are you an expert at all those methods? I’m certainly not. My advice has always been to pick one method and make it work before you move on to the next. And that’s sound advice. But the problem is…
It takes a long time to learn, implement and be successful at any one of those methods. And most people give up before they ever make a sale.
But what is there were a way to get traffic from people who are already experts at those methods? And what if didn’t even have to pay anything up front to get that traffic?
How to Set Up Your Automated Income System
- Create or buy rights to an info product on a hot topic
- Build a conversion system (squeeze page, sales page, followups)
- Get other people to sell it and split the profits
That’s how I made my first $5k online and then it jumped to $30,000+ a month when I focused on step #3. In 2008, affiliates sent me over a million visitors that converted to $459, 000 in sales. And I did that with NO JV PARTNERS.
That’s the power of an affiliate program!
I run my entire business from home with the help of two part-time, virtual employees in who live in Canada. I can do this because most of my day-to-day operations are completely automated. I go into all the details about business automation in the Surefire Profit System.
What I want to talk about right now is creating your own basic info product and getting other people to sell it, so you can build a list and sell high-priced affiliate products to your subscribers.
Step #1: Create a Hot-Topic Product
The easiest way to get attention from affiliates is to create a short, focused report on a hot topic. For example, two years ago people were going nuts over JV Giveaways as a list building tactic.
So here’s what I did:
- I signed up for a new JV Giveaway and submitted my gift
- I documented everything I did and took screen shots of the process
- I wrote a 14-page report (including screen shots)
- I bought a graphics package for about $100
- I sold the report for $7, resell rights for $17, and branding rights for $27
- I paid affiliates 100% commission to promote it
That little report did over $10k in sales the first month and it’s still selling today! I also got thousands of new subscribers who bought other products from me and also became my affiliates.
The key to that success was creating a focused report on a hot topic. I didn’t list 50 theoretical tactic for building a list. I documented one proven method for getting hundreds of new subscribers. The 100% commission didn’t hurt either. 
A current example it social marketing. Everybody’s crazy about Twitter!
So here’s what I did:
- I created viral software to help people get more followers
- I bought resell rights to some Video Tutorials and set them up as an upsell
- I paid affiliates 100% to promote (customers only)
I set it up so only customers could get commission, so there was more incentive to upgrade. The videos are great, the software is great, people are making money, everybody wins.
Within 30 days, affiliates were (and still are) sending over 3,000 visitors per DAY to that site and I don’t even promoted it anymore. I sent a few initial emails to my list to get the ball rolling and affiliate inertia, the viral marketing affect, took over from there.
Those are just two examples of simple min-sites that got BIG results. I cover several different ways to quickly and easily create or acquire you own hot-topic products in the Surefire Profit System training guide.
Step #2: Build Your Conversion System
When you’re developing your plan, you need to factor in lead generation before anything else. How are you going to capture leads?
If you’re selling a low-cost report, it doesn’t always make sense to use a squeeze page and even if you’re paying 100%, you affiliate may not like it. But you can use an exit popup to offer a free report on a similar topic, with links back to the report you’re selling.
Personally, I like to use a squeeze page with an upsell. But that’s a little more work. One method I’ve used very successfully, is making the squeeze page appear to be a membership signup page. Affiliates give memberships away to their subscribers who have to create an account to download the freebie.
Once you have people on a list, you can follow up with great content, build relationships and increase conversions.
Once you decide how to capture leads, you need to write a sales page…
I’m not going to get into the art of copy writing here. But I do want to talk about your offer. If you follow step #1 and create a product on a HOT topic, you won’t need to do much convincing to get them to buy.
You just need to tell them:
- What you got
- What they get
- And how they can get it
Some of my shortest sales letters of out-pulled long copy because my potential customers were already aware of the benefits. They were already primed to buy from social buzz and the “follow the heard” mentality.
If your product is focused on a specific topic that people are already talking about, you don’t need to list a ton of features and benefits. Just tell ‘em how it works, what it will do for them, and how they can get it.
Step #3: Get People to Promote Your Product
If you have a hot product and the conversions are high, it will be easy to get affiliates to promote. And some of your best affiliates will be your customers.
I’ve already talked about paying 100% commission as an incentive for people to both buy and promote your product. In fact, many will buy a product just so they can promote it! But you need to make it easy.
You need to include information about your affiliate program in several places:
- On the sales page
- On the download page
- Inside the report
- In followup emails
Keep reminding your prospects and customers that they can make 100% commission without going through the hassle of setting everything up.
Give your affiliates tools and tell them what to do:
- Write solo ads and tell affiliates to send them to their list
- Write articles and tell affiliates to post them on their blog, Squidoo, and MySpace
- Get banners created and tell affiliates to add them to their blog or in HTML emails
- Create brandable reports and tell affiliates to give them away to subscribers
The more you give your affiliates, the more active they will be. Tell them what to do and show them how to do it.
Other ways to find affiliates:
- Get on the mailing lists of list owners and send JV proposals
- Join forums and make friends with list owners
- Link to your affiliate program in your signature for articles and emails
- Socialize on Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace
I cover all this and much, much more in the Surefire Profit System training manuals.
What I’ve given you here today, free of charge, is a step-by-step system for getting your Internet business up and running in the next 30 days.
It doesn’t have to be complicated. In fact, simple is better. I’ve already proven that point. You just need a product that focuses on a specific topic that people are already talking about and helps people achieve what they’re already trying to do.
The first time is the hardest. But it gets easier every time. The sooner you make the commitment to created your first Automated Income System, the sooner you can enjoy Internet lifestyle that everybody talks about.
Once you have a system in place, it runs almost completely on autopilot.
- Your affiliates drive traffic
- Your sales page converts traffic into buyers
- Your autoresponder follows up to increase conversions
- Sales are processed and affiliates are paid automatically
- Products are delivered automatically
That’s what I call an “Automated Income System!”
Instead of chasing shiny objects and buying into the latest fad, try building a REAL business based on evergreen marketing methods that have worked for decades.
This is the true path to the Internet lifestyle.
Are you coming?
Derrick Van Dyke
SurefireProfitSystem.com
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