When you finally start getting a list together of perspective people interested in what you are doing, you need to give them something.

Once they are opted in – giving them a free gift such as an audio book, ebook, video series, or access to premium content (limited of course) gives them an incentive to stay tuned to what you are doing next.

For example, in order to get people to opt in you could offer a free 10 step guide to starting your own internet business (if that is your niche) to get them to sign up to your newsletter.

Once there, that is when you start giving them away information for free. Don’t simply spam them with links to affiliate products. Create value for them.

If you are trying to sell a video series on outsourcing, a great lead in to that would be a video of yourself giving a quick overview of what the program offers, how much it costs, and some great things they will learn from doing it. Even give away the first 5 minutes of the first video for free.

Giving free content without commitment from the buyer is a great way to build social proof and trust. You can show them the quality of the offering without them having to worry before buying it what the content will be like.

There are many times I am interested in a video series or ebook but without a sample I will not purchase it — simply because I haven’t had a chance to see the quality. So give a sample in the email and let the people know what they are going to be getting into (in a great way).

Another thing is to space your affiliate or selling emails out. Maybe once every two to three times you email is a good idea to try (test it out to see how your list responds). That way, it doesn’t feel like you are trying to consistently push an idea or product on them, something that will deteriorate your relationship with them and cause them to be skeptical of your intentions.

In conclusion, provide value and gifts to your followers without asking for much in return. Give away plans, ideas, short ebooks, and videos. Without expectations. Create value for them, build trust, and when you finally decide to sell to them, you might just find they are more receptive to your offering.

One of the areas a lot of internet marketers overlook is creating their own product. Many think in one way: affiliate revenue.

Now, affiliate marketing is great, however you sometimes need more than one way to generate revenue, and creating your own products is one of the best ways to do it.

The content doesn’t necessarily have to be 100% unique either, sometimes rebranding some parts of master resale rights products along with some unique offerings of your own can build a great product for potential buyers.

Here is a hypothetical example. Imagine that you are a prolific SEO specialist that is great at giving speeches and presentations, but lack the attention span to do long form writing such as ebooks or reports for potential clients.

Creating a video series could be a great way to create some passive income for yourself as well as your affiliate revenue. But sometimes you need to have more than just a video series. Luckily, you have several options, including hiring a virtual assistant or contractor to create an ebook for you. You could have them create a unique offering for your, including all of the areas you touch on in the video series as well as other things you may have overlooked at the time of recording. Or you could have them write a supplemental ebook that gives different looks and case studies on different websites and proper SEO work in practice.

Building a package of content like this is very enticing for potential buyers, because it will give them more content for the same price. If you could buy one ebook that comes with an audio only version, or an ebook on the same subject with a video series, a free case study, and a follow up series giving tips and tricks for 3 months after your purchase, which would you choose (given the prices are in the same ballpark obviously).

Packaging different product types together is the best way to reach a broader audience, every person learns differently — so having different ways to reach them with the same consistent message is very important and essential to a great product launch. Make sure you diversify your offerings in order to reach the most people.