Dave Hodgkinson's Guide

DIGITAL
MARKETING
(Affiliate Marketing)
101

15-Day Business Builder Challenge

Tips to get the ball rolling quicker
 WELCOME EVERYONE
My name is Dave and I do Digital Marketing (Affiliate Marketing) as one of my side hustles to receive passive income on
top of my full-time job. I’ve put together this E-book to work in conjunction with the 15-Day Business Builder challenge,
so if you have not yet joined it please make sure to CLICK HERE and get signed up. This book will make much more sense
as you begin the challenge and feel like you have questions that have not yet been answered. I created this book for a few
reasons. One was that when I went through the 15-day challenge I felt like I might not be understanding some of the
information. Not because it was difficult to understand, more because it was so simple that I thought I might be missing
something! Another reason I did the challenge was because after learning what Dave was teaching, I realized that I had
been doing affiliate marketing for quite a few years when I was sponsored in the Fitness Industry. I simply
didn’t know it because the phrase “affiliate marketer” wasn’t being used back then. When the light bulb went off I seriously
face palmed myself. I was making upwards of $10,000 a month working with a small amount of companies and an even
smaller amount of products to talk about. But I had no idea what I was truly doing, I just thought it all came with the
sponsors. How naive I was. Now I’m lucky enough to work with any company of my choosing,
highlighting whatever product I truly believe in. The possibilities are endless and the revenue streams you can make are
limitless.

BEFORE WE CONTINUE
- This is NOT a get-rich-quick scheme. Hard work, consistency, and patience are key in succeeding with this or any
other endeavor you choose to pursue in the field.
It doesn’t take hours upon hours to be able to do this, but don’t let that deter you from MAKING the time to build your
wealth of knowledge so you get the absolute best out of this business. Make no mistake about it, this IS a business and you
should treat it as such if you truly want to succeed.
I am no expert in affiliate marketing, but as I said before I was successfully making 5 figures a month doing this without
even realizing what it was! Imagine how much you can make once you learn the ins and outs of this business. The
strategies I go over are exactly the ones I used and still use today to create this passive income stream.
Affiliate Disclaimer: There are affiliate links included in this guide. That means if you decide to click on one of the links and
make a purchase, there’s a possibility I could earn a commission (at no additional cost to you). I only recommend products,
services, and resources that I use to run a successful affiliate marketing business.
 What is Affiliate Marketing?
Simply put, affiliate marketing is the process in which YOU (the affiliate) earn a commission for simply promoting

another company’s product or service. The affiliate will search for products or services they enjoy and then will

promote the product via one of their social media sources. When a customer makes a purchase via your affiliate

link for that product/service, you will get paid! Simple enough huh? Sales will be tracked using your affiliate link

and best part is there is no shipping, holding inventory, customer service, payment process, or selling of the

product you have to do! The 2 biggest things you need to focus on are 1) What companies you choose to be

affiliated with and 2) Getting people to show interest in the product or services you are already passionate about!

This is one of the great things that makes Affiliate Marketing such a successful side hustle. You get to work from

home, with minimum hours, talking about services and products that interest you.
 Step 1: Finding a Niche
This is quite possibly the most important step in the whole process of Affiliate Marketing. You should always pick a niche

you are passionate about. This will pay dividends with being able to speak about the companies, products, and services

you are trying to bring traffic to. I’m sure we’ve all seen those folks trying to tell us about a product they say is so

amazing, but we can see that 1) They have no idea what the product is
2) They have no passion or proof they even used the service/product or
3) One of my biggest peeves, they don’t respond to anyone who might have questions about what they are promoting!

People aren’t stupid, they can see fake from a mile away. So once again, pick a niche you truly feel you can talk about

and get behind. It will make all the difference int he world.

When choosing a niche consider the following:

Supply and Demand. What is a problem people are

having and how can I give them a solution.

Lets use an example:
Niche- I worked in the Health and Fitness industry.

Product- Protein Supplements I recommended when

creating meal plans

Audience- People trying to get stronger, lose weight,

or need help reaching macros within their meals.

Solution- When I sent out meal plans or created

fitness content, I was able to promote Protein

supplements as helpful tools to use on their journey.

 Step 2: Choosing an Affiliate Program

Product/Service

When choosing a company to work with you may think only the big dogs can be partnered with i.e. Amazon, Walmart,
etc. But you'd be surprised how many affiliate programs there are out there! Basically whatever product you can think of

more than likely has an affiliate program attached to it. Easiest way to find out is to simply google a product you'd like to

promote and put “affiliate program” after it. Example, dog products is a niche so you would google “dog food affiliate

programs” and all the available companies will show up.

IMPORTANT THINGS TO LOOK FOR IN AN AFFILIATE PROGRAM:
-Commission percentage per sale. Some companies will give you 4% per sale while others can give up to 80% so be
aware of this when choosing what to promote.
-The Cookie Length of the affiliate link. A cookie length of at least 30 days is something you want to look for. This
means that if a person clicks on your link on Day 1 but doesn’t buy anything have no worries. For the next 29 days, if

they come back and buy something and part of the affiliate item library than you will still get a commission since it falls
within the 30 day cookie window!
-See if the company already has marketing material specifically for their affiliates. This can be email templates or even
better, testimonials and reviews of the product/service.
-Once you find a company you’d like to promote, go to their website and see if they have an affiliate program to apply
for. Fill out the form which should also tell you how they'll pay you.
 Step 2 Cont.
Once you're accepted you'll be provided an affiliate link to use for said product/service. These are good sites to check

out if you don’t know where to start:

www.jvzoo.com
www.clickbank.com
www.shareasale.com
www.warriorplus.com
and of course google.

Step 3 Building a Sales Funnel and Autoresponder

The sales funnel will be the backbone of your entire operation. This will be tool among tools, without it you will fail. Not

because of work ethic, but because you're trying to build a house without first laying the foundation.
The #1 mistake most affiliate marketers make is sending their potential customers straight to the affiliate offer and wish for

the best. A smart and successful affiliate marketer will ALWAYS funnel them to the offer, making sure they get collect

emails and grow their email list. You do this because more times than not, the consumer is not yet ready to purchase
right away. By sending them via your sales funnel you are able to collect their email and follow-up with them in future

while also building trust through genuine communication. People are more likely to do business with someone they know

and trust. That is who you should aim to become.

So what is a sales funnel?
This is something Dave Sharpe will go over and over in detail during the challenge, but it’s still something I will include in

the book so you can quickly reference it when needed. A sales funnel is a two page website that introduces you and the

product/service you are promoting to your target audience. The first page will be how you get the email address, which

will then prompt you to the second page where you can talk about yourself as well as the product you’re promoting.
Lets take a look at how a Sales Funnel works…
TRAFFIC
Sources
 Step 3: Cont.
Traffic Sources: This is where you are going to post, promote, speak about the product or service to your target audience.
All these platforms are sources of FREE organic traffic. I recommend that if you are going to pay for advertisements you
wait until you are making enough money with the affiliate marketing and really understanding how everything works. Dave
will give you more insight on when and how you should go about paid advertising and if you
really even need it.

Opt-In Page: This is the first page of your funnel where you care going to collect your consumers email address (The
most valuable asset of an affiliate marketer) and add it to your email list. If for some reason your social medias get lost or
website gets shut down, you will always have your customer base thanks to the email list.

Bridge Page: The 2nd page in your funnel is where you will introduce yourself and build trust with the consumer. You can
put a pic of yourself or video detailing why the product/service you're providing is of value to them.

Your affiliate link will also go on this page: Ideally you want your consumer to take action and purchase the product/
service, but if they don’t that is perfectly fine. You have their email and your automated response system can follow-up and
close your conversion rate.

How to build your Sales Funnel: This can sound overwhelming, and can get worse when you actually go to one of the sites
to build it, but thanks to some pretty amazing companies this process is actually fairly simple and beginner friendly. The
companies will provide templates that require a simple click-and-drag approach to customize and integrate your pages. If
you join the 15-Day Challenge Dave and his team provide you with pre-made templates so all you have to do is make small
changes and BOOM it’s yours and yours alone!
The software I personally use is:
Clickfunnels: Easy use, large amount of user-friendly features, and is specially made for affiliate marketers. The only
downside is it is $97 a month, but like I said before. The Sales funnel is your backbone and without it you are left at sea
without a paddle.
 Step 3: Cont.

How to build an email Autoresponder

This is software you will use to build up your email list. It can easily be integrated with your ClickFunnel software. User-
friendly and easy to set up, this will be a vital tool with building a relationship with your consumers.
The software option I currently use is
AWeber- Extremely user friendly and they have a FREE plan which is always awesome for people just starting off.

Step 4: Driving Traffic

So now that you have everything up and running ready to go, now it’s time to promote the product/service that will solve

your target audience’s problem. You don’t need a large following to get traffic going. You simply need patience,

consistency, and belief in yourself and what you’re promoting. Use all your social medias (or the one you feel strongest

on) and post 2-3 times a day CONSISTENTLY. Consistency is KEY and it will be the reason why you succeed or fail.

Make sure your content correlates with your niche so you are genuine and honest with your audience. Tell your story and

people will see you’re not faking it. When you truly believe in something, you will find a way to get your message across

so everyone sees the value.

 Are you ready?
Everyone doubts themselves at some point in their life. It’s inevitable and frustrating. But the difference between winners
and losers is that losing INSPIRES winners, and DEFEATS losers. No one just knew how to ride a bike as soon as they
got on it. No, we fall, fall, and fall some more. The more we fall, the more we want to get it right! If affiliate marketing is new
to you, imagine it’s like riding a bike for the first time. You are probably not gonna start making $12,000 a month right off the
bat. But I promise you once you start seeing commissions add up, $50, $100, $200 a month. You’re gonna see light at the
end of the tunnel and it will ignite the fire within so hard you won’t ever want to turn back. You will be addicted to it, because
you are finally making money doing something that you’re passionate about!
I’m gonna leave you with one more tip that I truly hope you listen too. Take the 15-day challenge I’ve been speaking
about throughout this book. This is what changed my entire perspective on what affiliate marketing was as well as gave me
priceless education on how to work towards FINANCIAL FREEDOM. When you join PLEASE let me know how it goes.
I want to hear about your process as well as the ideas you have brewing once the light bulb goes off after listening to
Dave Sharpe and his team.

CLICK HERE TO JOIN THE BEST CHALLENGE FOR AFFILIATE MARKETER BEGINNERS

Feel free to reach out to me with any questions you might have at dave@sidehustlelegends.com

I also recommend that you check out one or ALL of these books, they are great investments when wanting to broaden
your financial education:

Rich Dad Poor Dad - Robert Kiyosaki

Think Rich and Grow Rich - Napoleon Hill

The 4 hour Work Week - Harmony

I wish you nothing but the best on your digital marketing journey and hope this E-Book was helpful!