It isn’t every day that you get an spam email in your inbox… that is actually useful. When I sift through my email inbox, I typically delete the random newsletter items that come in from the likes of Best Buy and Wal-mart. However, earlier this month I got one of the most clever inbox items from one company that DID have a good Christmas retail season… Amazon.com!

Is it possible to use a message to your advantage, that was only sent out to try and get you to buy something? I thought that it was pretty amusing that Amazon.com would put out a newsletter with the “Top New Year’s Resolutions.” Essentially, this was a top ten list that went out to get consumers to buy into the latest fads that will drive 2009. For affiliate marketers, this is a virtual gold mine of information from the people that know best. Now, we can use what was once a spam message to bring in tons of affiliate marketing cash down the road.

The Top Ten Consumer Trends of 2009

I want to take this post to offer examples of how you can use a “top ten” listing in your favor to predict trends and stay ahead of the curve in affiliate marketing. There are many ways to have success in the internet marketing realm, and having the most demanded product before anyone else is a great start. Here are some trends, as predicted by Amazon.com, that should drive the consumer sector over the next year. You can follow along with the actual excerpt on the left-hand side.

1. Lose Weight
Weight loss is going to continue to be a big trend over the next year or so (at minimum), so it wouldn’t be a bad idea to try out some offers here. The consumer brand is discouraging anything with sugar in it, so the fitness trend probably won’t be stopping any time soon. Try your hand at some offers in the “Diet” or “Weight Loss” niche.

2. Get Your Finances in Order
It’s tax season AND we are in a recession… sounds like a pretty good time for you to cash in on the financial services industry. I would suggest sticking to names like “Quicken” and “TaxCut” to rake in money from people filing taxes this spring. Also, you could look into the “Mortgage” or other loan niche for families looking for help online.

3. Go Greener
Many affiliate networks now have entire portions of their websites devoted to the “Green” theme that has hit the nation. You can promote products like green tea, or even the “health” realm. It’s easy to go green, and you can really promote this one many ways.

4. Curb Your Vices
Many people seek out “Self-Help” related products… looking for help to quit smoking, drinking, gambling or just bad habits. I would actually recommend using the Amazon Partner Network to promote their own self-help books, rather than using a standard affiliate network.

5. Get In Shape
Fitness and health are HUGE areas to be exploited now. Plus, many consumers have been drawn into the “Yoga” niche… and there are certainly a ton of products that can be used here. Additionally, the “Diet” area still applies to those looking to get in shape… since everyone is a sucker for a shortcut. Try making a fitness blog to promote these!

6. Relax More
This is a trend that I thought was surprising, but could definitely see picking up traction in a highly stressful world. You could use “Yoga” for this, but an even better idea might be to use actual products from the Amazon Partner Network or seek out some kind of “Music” store that specializes in classical, jazz or alternative songs.

7. Pursue a New Career
The job market is rough, so people are looking to improve themselves. You can actually create entire sites nowadays by using a “Job Board” on your website. An easier path might be to look into the “Financial” niche or try your hand at “Business Opportunities” (frequently “Biz Opps”).

8. Upgrade Your Technology
People like to have the latest gadgets and gizmos, so you can mark up a gain on this one by turning your focus to “Electronics,” “Entertainment” and even “Retail.” Cable networks like the Disk Network are hot right now, so look into that option!

9. Organize and Optimize
From file folders to feng shui, and everything in between… people love to feel organized and on top of their game. Again, this will tie into the “Tax services” niche very well right now, and “Home Related” might be the perfect fit for the more year-round trade.

10. Start a New Hobby
People always like to branch out and find a new hobby of their liking. In this area, it could be fun to tap into “Gardening”… as the barriers to entry are pretty low in my opinion. Additionally, “Travel” and “Sports” can be excellent hobbies that people will trend toward i ntheir spare time (which we have a lot of right now).

Bottom Line: When people “resolve” to do something, they will more than typically be planning on the long haul. Because of this, January through March is an excellent time to catch people that buy products to help them through their resolutions. After all, there’s nothing like having an expense on the books to motivate you to get going!

-Jimvesting

Do you write articles that tailor to what you feel are the best “keyword phrases” for your niche? Maybe you are into the school of thought that says smaller niche blogs make more money than broad-based websites. Maybe you are right, and maybe you are wrong. However, there is one time of the year that we can all capitalize off of a train of thought that exists in a majority of users on the internet and around the world. What am I talking about? People that look for things on the internet want the best, the top, the most used and well-regarded products and services available… and the new year is the perfect time to make serious money off of this trend.

One of the best ways to cash in on affiliate marketing trends is to nail those search terms that people are searching for right before making a purchase. Knowing that people nowadays never settle for second best, the start of a new year always presents a great time to cash in on new list… particularly ones that rank “top tens” or “best five” of 2009.

Is It Really That Easy?

In reality… this is actually very easy to accomplish. In fact, a post the I wrote when my blog was a virtual infant, early in 2008, is still getting me referrals to this date. While I was relatively inexperienced at the time I wrote it, and did absolutely no marketing for the keyword phrase, I am still on the top pages for terms like “top online brokers” and “top brokers 2008.” Yes, this post that I wrote on the” best” stock market brokers has gotten me great traffic, and awesome conversions to the service that I recommended as the “number one” online stock market broker, Scottrade.

Unfortunately for me, the service that I recommend (Scottrade) gives no cash for new referrals… instead lending “free trades” to my account. This is fine for me, because I like to trade stocks and they are normally $7 a trade. However, I am going to attempt this list again now that a new year has hit, and hope to target a better paying affiliate program. This is just one example that I have chosen to show you of many… and by devoting some posts in 2009 to making “top tens” or whatever you’d like to write about (with the intention of targetting affiliate offers, of course), you will find yourself in the money before you know it!

How Do I Know What To Write About?

Many internet marketers go into campaigns not exactly knowing what they will be looking for. Instead, you can simply open up an account you have somewhere, for example Commission Junction (one of my favorites, and one of the largest), and search through their offers until you find a particular niche that has some great offers. The thing is, you really only need one or two good offers. Why? Who in there right mind goes and reads an article about the “top ten widgets” and buys something that isn’t #1? That’s right… not too many people!

Step One:
First, we need to search out a niche that we think will be good all year round. For example, let’s try to do a list on online dating. Especially around Valentine’s Day, this seems to be a hot trend that has been picking up steam as we get more and more into the future. Perhaps this is a strong long-term trend that we could be targeting? Instead of thinking “online dating,” let’s give ourselves a better shot and try “online dating for women” in the title of our article. Who knows, you could still hit on Google for “online dating” with this strategy!

Step Two:
Now that we have searched around a bit and found some offers that we like… all we really need to do is to compare what the affiliate programs are offering. Additionally, I usually check out what I am looking at… just to make sure that the company isn’t a “rip off” to anyone reading. You always should aim to stay ethical in everything that you do! I like offers that give a fixed payment rather than a percentage (just a preference)… so let’s use the top offer “MatchMaker.com”.

I’ve checked things out, and this company is reputable as a dating website. So, I would form my list… perhaps name the article in WordPress “The Top Five Online Dating Websites for Women in 2009″ and put MatchMaker.com (with my affiliate link cleverly inserted) as the number one result! This should ring in some top placements from Google with a little luck, and bring in the cash for the new year!

Bottom Line: Don’t let 2009 go to waste… turn it into $2009! You really can capitalize on “best of 2009″ lists by using the method above as I have done successfully in the past. But remember, don’t turn into an article spammer and never recommend a bad product for the referral money. In the long run, stick true to your guns and recommend what you truly feel is the best product… and you will be a wealthier individual!

-Jimvesting

One of the biggest trends in the online marketing arena that I have not jumped in on has been the niche store business… until now! It’s true, making your own store online to sell affiliate products is a lucrative business.

Think about this: if you have a store that people go to, and simply redirect them to a more reputable reseller like Amazon, eBay or Overstock.com… you have one heck of a profit margin. Not only do you get a fat commission check every time somebody buys through you, but you don’t even have to worry about shipping! It’s making money in your sleep, and its a smart idea that can easily net you $100s every day without touching a button.

Until now, the go-to solutions for anything niche store related has been the systems called BANS (build-a-niche-store) and PopShops. I’ve found something better, and it’s a company that you can work with to make a ton of money with niche stores online, StoreStacker!

Why StoreStacker WORKS
A lot of the systems out there right now are over-cooked and require a lot of customization. With StoreStacker, you get a highly flexible package that is more SEO friendly and more effective. Essentially, what StoreStacker offers affiliates is a super easy (and fast) way to promote affiliate products online. Typically, when you think of affiliate marketing… you think about popping up sites optimized with targeted traffic and a lot of messy business. With niche stores, you simply make it and forget about it… there is really no need to buy up expensive traffic to try and lure a few hits.

I’ve used the other stores (BANS and PopShops), but I have to recommend that if you want to make money with niche online stores… you need to trust in StoreStacker. Why? Again, more content, better optimized and greater reliability. You can literally dump 1,000s of products onto your website, with articles and videos that are already SEO’d and ready to work for you, in minutes! Better yet, it’s the easiest system to customize that I have come across… so you don’t end up with a trashy-looking generated website.

OrderYoga.com – My First Niche Online Store!
This isn’t some over-hyped sponsored post, I’ve actually put StoreStacker to the test… and I love it. While I don’t have much experience with the search trends in Google, I know that Yoga has been increasingly hot, and should only increase with New Years coming up (new years resolutions = exercise-crazy adults). This store was just recently set up and I am still working on putting in ads and working in content. From start to finish, this has taken about 30 minutes to set up and customize so far.

The real pull of the StoreStacker system is how they literally let you “stack” your options together. Because they let you import/export all of your options, you can make multiple niche-related stores and compound your actions together to form a “super network” of sorts with you making all the profits. I’m definitely going to try and do this with OrderYoga.com, so check back if you’d like to see my progress. At this point in time, when I have a free minute I am going in and adding products… where there are literally thousands I can import.

Currently, you can fetch affiliate products (and thus, profits) from big chain people like eBay, OverStock.com, Amazon, YouTube, HotelClub and RegNow. It’s a great program, and I have spoken back and forth with the owner who has been nothing but helpful throughout the process… bouncing ideas off me and helping with the initial learning curve. I love good management, and this product has it. But to be honest, you don’t really need it as there are plenty of tutorial videos to help you along your way, step-by-step, and the whole system is automatic!

How Much Can You Make from Niche Stores?
Plenty. I feel like I under-weighted the whole idea of making money by having a “store” online. Basically, it feels like you aren’t making real money when you are getting it in 15% chunks over and over and over and over again. However, I now personally know several people that are making $100s online through these niche stores… a theme that is definitely played out. It might be a bit harder to see the spending we’d like to see in a down economy; but overall, the industry is still thriving.

If you are a smart cookie, you WILL make money in this business. By choosing the right niche and getting that organic search traffic by using SEO’d webpages like those that StoreStacker produces… you will be able to beat out the competition and steal away affiliate commission from others. One thing I’ve learned is to never underestimate your ability to make money online. With a pretty small investment, you can turn profits easily with a $8 domain name and a pre-packaged niche store.

Bottom Line: I love the idea of making money online with niche stores, and I feel like StoreStacker is the one I want to recommend for you to use. It’s the most cost-effective, and is honestly the best in show without much of a doubt. I’ll be reporting back on the success of OrderYoga.com (or any other stores I decide to go through with) and let you all know how this business has turned out in my trial run. If you put in the time, you’ll make the cash… guaranteed.

-Jimvesting

This is a sponsored review of the Motive Network. The ideas and recommendations in this post have not been swayed in any way by virtue of payment.

As a “make money online” blogger, I come across my fair share of affiliate networks. To be fair, pretty much every network around claims to be the best, the highest paying, the most exclusive and the cream of the crop. There are many popular names out there that serve their purpose just fine, but I have just recently come across what may just be my new favorite affiliate program around… and they are even available to all of you international entrepreneurs out there!

So which network am I talking about? Motive Interactive. For a company that hasn’t enjoyed a huge amount of success since their foundation in 2003, they have certainly come out strong in advertising and campaigning for growth as of late. Now, they have even been recognized by Entrepreneur magazine as one of the fastest growing online advertising companies in the United States. The bottom line is that Motive has the single best system that I have EVER seen. Period. With the rise of the new Advent 2.0 system… this is a network that you need to hear about. Let’s have a look!

A Quick Look into the Motive Network
I wanted to focus this review on the brand new (and quite sleek) Advent 2.0 system that was recently adopted by Motive… but let’s have a brief overview of the company before we do that. The Motive Network works primarily as a performance-based affiliate system for publishers looking to make some money online. However, they also have a pretty neat “Motive Media” service that focuses in display/media advertising.

Clearly, the pull of the Motive Network is their technological advantage over any other ad network. I have never seen such an organized, clean and efficient system as theirs… but there really are other reasons to join. With fast access to your personalized customer service rep at all times (very nice!) via phone, instant message or email, as well as some of the highest paying offers around… I have found some really unique offers through the Motive network that I had never seen before. What’s more… the payment schedule is very flexible and always on time, paying through PayPal, bank-wire and check.

Introducing Advent 2.0 – The Motive Network
Simply put, this is the best system of all time… and it has all the bells and whistles that you’d expect to find in the system that I give this ranking. AdventV2 is an advanced performance ad network that implements two functions critical to internet advertising: a publisher centric advertising network, and a direct lead generation network. As far as I can see, no other company can give you both. But that’s not it! You ALSO get a top-notch ad tracking function that allows you to fully analyze your ads and leads. This thing was designed by the professionals, and it’s all built right in to AdventV2.

In the affiliate realm, things are always changing… and I feel like the Advent system by the Motive Network is the only one that can fully handle future changes. I have had major concerns from the systems used by other networks (not going to name names here), and it seems like there is always something that you CAN’T do. However, I truly feel that the convenience and functionality in the Advent 2.0 interface is second to none.

Superior User Interface and Selection
So I’ve mentioned how much I love the Advent user system, but what exactly makes the thing tick? When you sign up as a publisher for the Motive Network, you are given access to their Advent 2.0 system. Essentially, it’s a clean system that allows you to get to the offers, creative, statistics and campaign information that you need quickly. Advent gives publishers the tools to measure important campaign performance metrics across all time periods, campaigns and payouts in multiple perspectives including ‘effective’ perspectives like eCPM and eCPL. By providing simple, but powerful, filtering capabilities for offers, campaigns and performance statistics… they have really streamlined the process for publishers.

My favorite feature of the Motive Affiliate back-end is the “My Offers” area. Unlike the typical system where all of the offers are simply listed in bulk form, the Advent 2.0 user interface allows you to scroll through the offers you like and move the ones you are (or are potentially) going to use into your personalized offer area. This creates a very nice distinction between the offers you don’t care so much about, and the ones you are focusing on monetizing for profit.

The Motive Network Referral System
Before I came across Motive Network, I had through that Market Leverage had one of the best referral systems with a fat 5% commission. But the Motive Network has surpassed even ML with a 5.5% payback for all of your referred clients, for life. You get reports sent each month direct to your inbox, and accounts typically get approved within hours.

The Motive Network Rewards System
While many other affiliate networks have monthly promotions to try to spur activity, the Motive Network likes to use their rewards system year-round in order to get you paid a little more for being a dedicated user. The reward system starts at 1% of earnings, then moves up to 2% on the second-tier. Below is the following rewards structure:

Commissions – Rewards
. $1,000 – $10
. $2,500 – $25
. $5,000 – $50
. $10,000 – $100
. $15,000 – $150
. $20,000 – $200
. $25,000 – $250
. $30,000 – $300
. $50,000 – $500
. $100,000 – $1,250
. $150,000 – $2,000
. $200,000 – $3,000
. $500,000 – $10,000
. $1,000,000 – $20,000
. $1,250,000 – $25,000

Bottom Line: I have been very impressed with the Motive Interactive Network to this point in time. I know that a lot of you readers are international, and needed a program that would work for you. Because of this, I recommend using the Motive system, with an all new Advent 2.0 user interface, if you are looking for a convenient and reliable affiliate network. They have all the bells and whistles that everyone else has, and have found a great way to incorporate everything together. A great service, with awesome representatives that will get you earning money online in no time.

-Jimvesting