Although I shall be discussing the Affiliate Marketing business in this article, most of the strategies will apply to any online business. Here is a list of some critical areas that if followed can have a positive impact on your business. Here are 9 factors to get a winning edge in your online business.
Having any one of these may not do it for you. But when you have all 9 working in your arsenal, you will position yourself way ahead of your competition to get a winning edge!
Still, there is one factor that in my opinion is the most important above all the others. I am going to leave that to the end. You will see why when you get there.
Factor 1 – Website Content Management System
A content management system (CMS) is like content creation, editing and publishing capability rolled into one piece of software. Similar to Microsoft Word or Google Docs. They give you the tools to create your website without having to use code. Some of the most prominent ones are shown below.
They are all decent Content Management Systems, with their pros and cons. All but WordPress have one distinct disadvantage.
They may offer free reduced capability option, but you have to pay a monthly fee for the full featured versions. Only then can you access everything you really need to build a professional looking and functioning website. If all you require is a casual website, then the free versions may work for you.
WordPress is a cut above. It costs nothing to have the full featured version.
I am not going to discuss the details of these products except for the price range of their paid versions. You could end up paying as little as $12 a month to as much as $30. This fee does not include hosting. If you want more detailed information on all these Content Management Systems, including WordPress you can get more information online.
You may have guessed that WordPress should be the CMS of choice for your online business website. Why? I give you 10 excellent reasons below:
- About 30% of every website on the Internet is based on WordPress.
- It is open source, hence it is kept up to date
- It is free
- No-coding skills necessary
- It includes a content publisher
- There are thousands of free themes
- Thousands of free plugins too
- Built in analytic tools
- Built in SEO tools to ensure your site attracts the right audience
- Easy to use
With all of this working in your favor they will contribute to a winning edge for your online business.
Factor 2 – Keyword Research Tool
OK you have a great niche for your business based on a topic you are passionate about. You are excited to create great content for your website. This will require you to prepare a great many posts that are relevant to your audience. How are you going to get your audience to find your great articles?
The answer is to find out the kinds of questions and phrases your target market will be entering into the search engines when they are searching for what you have to offer. These are known as KEYWORDS. Whey they enter their search query, wouldn’t you like Google and the other search engines like Bing and Yahoo list your article on the first page that pops up? How about on the 1st line of that first page?
What you need are keywords that have reasonably high traffic in combination with the lowest competition to give you a winning edge. The one Keyword Research tool that will give you the keywords you need is Jaaxy. I wrote a review of Jaaxy that will give you all the details you need on how it works and how to get it too. It is called:
How To Get The Best Keyword Research Tool For Free!
Factor 3 – Content Creation and Editor
When I write content I make a great deal of mistakes. Such as spelling and grammatical errors. Wouldn’t you like a system that provides you with the corrections within the editor you use?
In the platform I use to create my content I have such an editor. After I complete my content I can click a button and have that transferred to WordPress for publishing on my website instantly.
Google not only uses the keyword to rank your content high. They and the other search engines are focused on directing content with high quality and relevancy to those who search. After all, they earn their revenue through ads. And they want to make sure that those who find these articles will linger and read them long enough to read the ads that appear around them.
It takes training to write compelling content.
Developing the skills to write captivating content combined with a terrific content editor will give you a winning edge. Here is my article about the platform that provides you with these benefits for you to check it out and decide if it is right for you.
The Best Training In Affiliate Marketing That Turns Beginners Into Pros!
Factor 4 – Image Library & Image Optimizer
When you create content for your online business what do you think is one of your greatest assets? Using the right pictures. This saying holds especially true in online marketing, “A Picture Tells The Story Of A Thousand Words!”
However, there is a dual edge sword here. Pictures can slow down the loading of your website into your customers computer screen. And this is even more likely to happen on a mobile device like a smart phone or tablet.
Where do you think most customers these days research what they want to buy and make their purchases? Most likely on their smart phones. They have these with them all the time and can use it from anywhere.
Hence, it is super critical that your images are optimized so that this process is a speedy one. You need to have a vast library of high quality pictures that are optimized for mobile delivery. And when you import pictures of your own, you need a build in image optimizer to do this work for you. Kraken is the most powerful and effective tool available for this purpose.
There is one platform that gives you both. A library of 1,000,000,000 pictures. Yes, ONE MILLION where the process of finding the right picture is automated for you. Plus, Kraken. To find out more about this platform, click the link below. You may notice it is the same link I gave you for the Content Editor.
The Best Training In Affiliate Marketing That Turns Beginners Into Pros!
Factor 5 – Affiliate Program Search Tool
When you decided to create an online business based on Affiliate Marketing, that was a wise decision for the following reasons:
- You do not have to own the products
- You send customers to the companies who sell these products
- When your customer makes a purchase, that company sends you a commission
- It costs nothing to become an affiliate of these companies’s
- You do not have to buy anything yourself to qualify for these commissions
There are many compelling reasons that follow. You do not have to maintain any inventory. The affiliate company takes care of the billing. They ship the product to your customer. They take care of the warranty and the return process if necessary. IF there are any complaints you are out of the loop. They deal directly with the company where they made their purchase.
How do you find company’s that offer products and services in your chosen niche?
You can do your own search on the Internet. But this is a time-consuming process. How do you do the research to find out how well they serve their affiliates? What is their track record?
There is one tool you can have that does all this work for you. It’s called The Affiliate Program Search Tool. And it is available as shown above in the company that provides The Best Training In Affiliate Marketing That Turns Beginners Into Pros!
Factor 6 – Site Feedback & Site Comments
I stated earlier that by using the right keyword and content you can have a winning edge. Wouldn’t it be great to have third parties provide you with feedback on your website where you can learn what they liked and what needed improvement? Better these individuals rather than customers who will click away from your website if it is not appealing.
Google tends to give more weight to content were visitors leave messages in the comments window below your posts. That shows engagement and says your site has value.
How can you get good feedback and comments? From other members of this training platform of course. They have a system where you can give feedback and make comments on the website and content of other members and earn credits that you can use to request for feedback and comments for your website.
What a great system to get a winning edge without having to wait for someone to land on your site organically. And when someone does land organically, it is reassuring to them to see there are others who have been there before you.
By now, you should have figured out where you can have this benefit. Click the link below.
The Best Training In Affiliate Marketing That Turns Beginners Into Pros!
Factor 7 – Website Security and Backup
No matter how and where you create your website it has to be hosted by someone. Whoever provides this service should also offer website 256-bit encrypted connections permitting the use of HTTPS instead of just HTTP for your URL’s.
Your website should be backed up every day. Plus have the option of backing it up manually whenever you want it.
The hosting service should include a built in spam blocker so that you need not’t have to install a plugin for that purpose. One less plugin helps your site speed stay high.
Yes, the training platform also provides hosting for your website with all of these features and benefits and more. Without a doubt this adds to your winning edge. From here on I am not going to show the link to the training platform review as this has been provided several times above.
Factor 8 – Site Manager
When you are totally dependent on your website to provide you with an income, the last thing you want to do is to personally manage your site for bad things that could happen. Even if you wanted to, it would be a tough task to do. Hence, having a site manager to do the following is a life saver:
- Database Monitoring
- Malware and virus monitoring
- File System Monitoring
- Hacking and intrusion monitoring
- Site performance monitoring
- Provides notification when last backup performed
- Lets you know when you last updated your website
- Keeps a log of how many pages and posts on your website
- Provides a running total of the number of comments you have approved
- Lets you know the version of WordPress that you are running
When problems are detected, action is taken immediately to protect your website. The peace of mind this provides you is hard to put a price on. If your website is currently hosted by another company, you should check to see if you have all these benefits in your paid subscription.
All of this and more is available in the training platform that I have provided links to. As you can see, this is much more than a training platform, It is a one stop shop for everything you need for your online business.
I definitely have a winning edge with all these essential site management services provided.
Factor 9 – Website Hosting
You have already seen many of the benefits of the website hosting provided by the training platform I am so happy to be using. Besides providing a hosting service, I can also purchase and renew my domain names on this platform.
I also have the use of the SiteRubix free domain name to test out website designs, including themes and plugins. In this way I do not have to mess with my working domains if I want to make a change. That can wait until I complete my tests and sure it will work the way I want it to. This is a great service to have.
I can also create a total of 10 domains, personal or business and have them hosted with no additional cost. This is all an amazing service. I now can reveal why this factor is the most critical for your business.
When you search for anything on the Internet, either on your PC or your smartphone, what is the one thing that will make you click out of the website that you select from the search engine list?
Have you figured out what that is? LONG LOADING TIMES!
If you do not see the website load within a fraction of a second the chances are you will move on to the next on the list. There are several factors that govern loading speeds. Assuming that the website and content are already optimized for speed, the loading can still be slow if:
- Your Internet Is Slow
- The Server Where The Website Resides Is Slow
Let me assume you already have a fast internet. If so, if there is a speed problem, that will originate at the website server.
I am happy to inform you that the server that my website resides on is the fastest available anywhere. It is a new server and some of the features are as follows:
- PHP 7 and The Very Latest Database Software
- Extremely fast servers that load websites in milli seconds, like a flash of an eye
- Top Tier Memory Management
- Extremely Strong Security
- Website efficiency is improved through proprietary technology
- SiteSpeed 2.0 that incorporates the latest caching technology
- Extremely solid server stability With A Backup Server
- SSL certificates default for all websites
- Kraken Image Optimization is included
- 100’s of other server optimizations
The biggest benefit of having your website hosted on this server is customer satisfaction. Anyone who clicks your website or post will be happy that it loads fast. And they are most likely to linger on your site. You get a winning edge towards getting a click on your affiliate link and most likely a sale and a commissions.
In fact, if other websites ahead of yours on the list are slow to load, the chances are your website will be selected instead.
It doesn’t matter how great a website you have if it is slow to load. It means that another person with a lesser website and content will win out over yours.
Why let that happen? The solution is easy. If you have a website based on WordPress, migrate to the platform I am on.
Let me give you a challenge. Go to your phone. Enter your website first. And see how much time it takes to appear. Then start to click the menus and see how fast the respective pages takes to load.
Repeat this with my website: Affiliate Marketing For Leaders!
Since you are already on it, you will need to enter it again. Or you could enter the URL on your phone if you are on your PC right now.
Then compare the loading speeds. If you can notice a difference, then it is high time you changed your hosting platform. If it is comparable, then look to the other factors to decide if they can provide you with a winning edge by moving. If anything you could be saving money!
Cost
What does it cost you now every month to have the benefits of the 9 factors I have discussed above? The chances are you will be paying more than $100 a month. And maybe not getting the benefits of every one of these 9 factors.
If I had to pay $300 a month to get this winning edge I would consider that an amazing deal.
Guess what I am actually paying?
$49 a month. That is it.
There are no additional charges involved. Ever. This is a bargain! And I am protected from any future price increases. This has been the monthly price for the past 15 years. I am not implying that this price is going to increase. But, annual subscriptions did see an increase earlier this year. From $359 to $495.
If you feel that I have given you 9 good reasons to give your business a winning edge, why not jump in right now? You don’t even have to pay anything to check it all out. All you need is a valid Email address to register as a starter member.
After a week if you like what you see, you have several options to upgrade:
- Pay $19 for the coming month, a huge discount, if you take this action within 7 days of registering
- After that first month you can continue on the $49 monthly plan
- At any time you can jump onto the annual plan for $495. This is like getting two months free
Once you select a plan from 2 or 3, that price is guaranteed for the life of your membership. No matter what price increases happen in the future.
Here is that link again that takes you to my article where I go into great detail about this training platform.
The Best Training In Affiliate Marketing That Turns Beginners Into Pros!
It was founded by Kyle Loudon and Carson Lim over 15 years ago. Their pictures are shown below. As you can see they are both family men. They and their team work very hard to help each and every one of us become successful online entrepreneurs.
Kyle Co-founder
Kyle spends time every day on the platform looking to see who he can help. He participates in the live chat and interacts with the members in real time. How cool is that where one of the co-founders of the company makes time available to help members? He is very busy behind the scenes working with his team on making this platform even better. All the training videos were created by Kyle. He blogs regularly with news about great things that are going to be introduced on the training platform.
Carson Co-founder
Carson is the techie behind the scenes. He leads the new stuff being developed to continue to give the members a winning edge. In August 2020, as the COVID-19 Pandemic rages, the whole platform is going to go through a major upgrade. This is a strategic time to join us to get the full benefit of what is in store for us.
Yours Truly, Edwin, your Coach
I am just a member. However, I work hard at helping others too. Being in the Top 25 I am ready and willing to guide you around the platform if you need help. As well as to answer any question you throw at me. If I don’t know the answer I will get it for you instead of taking a guess. I am OK admitting that there are probably more things I do not know than what I do know.
I am sure you noticed I did not mention the name of the company that provides all these incredible factors I listed above. Just wanted to keep you in suspense. The name of course is………DRUM ROLL PLEASE!
Wealthy Affiliate
Join Us By Clicking The Banner Below
Hi Edwin,
What an excellent blog about Wealthy Affiliate! No one will have a second thought joining Wealthy Affiliate. Excellent sales pitch with genuine facts. Providing all those important available resources to help someone make a decision to sign up and learn to become an affiliate marketer is very conveniently helpful! I will join in a heartbeat! Thank you for your excellent post.
Evelyn
Hi Evelyn,
Isn’t Wealthy Affiliate a blast? Glad you were encouraged to join. I look forward to seeing you there. You are in for the time of your life!
Cheers.
Edwin
Online has been becoming more and more important during the past years. But what can we say about this present stage with COVID-19?
I believe a business that doesn’t have an online presence is doomed to disappear. But there are so many aspects about the online world that I ignore. And frankly, I’m a bit afraid of them.
But I learn quite a few things through this post, such as keyword research and optimizing images.
Thanks!
Hello Ann,
Your perception of the online world is totally understandable. We have to know how to use the Internet to drive visitors to our website. And when they do get there, provide valuable content so that they can make a decision that is right for them. To purchase or not to purchase the product or service you are reviewing.
Wealthy Affiliate teaches us everything we need to know to operate successfully on the Internet. However, gaining this knowledge, and applying it, takes time and effort.
I am glad you were able to get an idea on the importance of Keyword Research and Image Optimization that influences the results of your website.
I wish you much success in your online business.
Cheers.
Edwin
Thank you so much for sharing with us a wonderful and informative article.
The main theme of this article is 9 Factors To Get A Winning Edge In Your Online Business. It is truly incredible that you have illustrated this topic so well in your article. I have learned a lot by reading your article and gained a lot of knowledge about it.
Of the points mentioned in your article, I like Website Security and Backup. The kind of websites we create for affiliate marketing, if they don’t have backups and security systems, all the hard work will be in vain if there is a problem. Hey, all the solutions can be found on the Wealthy Affiliate Platform where my own website is fully secure and backed up.
That’s why I would say that those who do affiliate marketing must join the Wealthy Affiliate Platform and all the benefits of these factors can be found there.
Thanks for your supportive comments. I hope anyone who reads your response will take note. I wish you much success in your affiliate marketing journey.
Cheers.
Edwin