Lynn Terry shares why passion in affiliate marketing trumps research every time.

1. Real Life Case Study:
Lifestyle & Biz By Design
With Affiliate Marketing
Lynn Terry
http://www.clicknewz.com
Vera Raposo
http://www.yourcreativebiz.com
Affiliate Marketing Case Study
Lynn Terry & Vera Raposo

2. About Vera Raposo
I have been an entrepreneur since the age of 20 (1995),
from owning 5 retail stores to discovering the beauty of
the internet in 2004. I sold/closed all 5 locations and
moved my biz completely online in 2007.
My life and biz was completely overhauled when my
daughter was diagnosed with cancer. After her 2 ½ year
battle (you can read more about it here) I sold my online
biz.
I then spent a couple of years with God, thinking,
praying and just being with Him and discovering who I am and what I
need to do in this world.
YourCreativeBiz.com was launched October 2012 with the goal to
discover the life and business of my own dreams. I hope to inspire many
women to do the same.
My motto in life is, “Life is good! Best wearing flip flops and living my
life for others.”
Hebrews 11:1 – Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain
of what we do not see.
Affiliate Marketing Case Study
Lynn Terry & Vera Raposo

3. Lifestyle & Biz By Design
With Affiliate Marketing:
Choosing Your Niche…
Without Research?!
Written by Lynn Terry
As Vera and I continue to discuss Affiliate Niche Ideas for her to dive into
Affiliate Marketing full-time, you may have noticed that "niche research"
or even keyword research haven't even come up yet. In fact, in her last
post,
Affiliate Marketing Case Study
Lynn Terry & Vera Raposo

4. Vera said:
"I think when many of us think about researching a niche our knee jerk
reaction is to start with keyword research. It’s sooooo refreshing that we
didn’t start that way and almost seems odd to me (lol!)"
In Part Two, Brainstorming Affiliate Niche Ideas, I talked about "the
reality check" of an affiliate business model, suggested another niche
brainstorming exercise, and shared an idea for her affiliate niche - based
on her personality, her passions, and her true mission in life.
If you missed any of the conversation so far, here's a quick link list:
● Vera: Affiliate Marketing: Intro & First Question
● Lynn (Me): Affiliate Niche Selection
● Vera: She Says To Dream Bigger!
● Lynn (Me): Brainstorming Affiliate Niche Ideas (Part 2)
● Vera: Taking A Deeper Look
In my last post I gave Vera this affiliate niche blogging idea:
This was not based on keyword research, or niche research, but was
Affiliate Marketing Case Study
Lynn Terry & Vera Raposo

5. based solely on Vera's personality and passions. It's a topic that would be
well-aligned with who she is as a person, and the people she truly wants
to serve in this world.
You may recall that I started a niche affiliate blog a couple years ago, also
with no research upfront, which you can read about here:
Case Study: Niche Site With NO Research?
Isn't Keyword Research Necessary?
It is. But not necessarily at this stage of the process. If you KNOW you
have a market, or that you have a message that will be well received - and
that it's a buying market - that's all you really need to know upfront. The
keyword research will come into play when you're ready to brainstorm
topic ideas & create content.
Suggested reading on this topic:
Frustrated With Market Research or Finding Niches?
Keyword Strategy: It’s Not Just Numbers!
There's so much more to a successful niche blog these days than just SEO.
While you need to target keyword phrases your market is using so they
can easily find you in the search results, there are many other (easy!)
ways to reach your market online now too.
I know this may be backwards from what you've heard or been taught by
others in the past. But you may have also heard that you should choose
your niche based on keyword research and competition analysis - and
pick a topic with high profit potential and low competition.
Affiliate Marketing Case Study
Lynn Terry & Vera Raposo

6. Which often leads you to choosing a niche for your online business that
you could care less about!
Passion Trumps Research.
Again, If you KNOW you have a market, or that you have a message
that will be well received - and that it's a buying market - that's all you
really need to know upfront.
With my low carb blog for example, I knew I had a unique angle in the
market. I don't cook. LOL. I'm constantly traveling or on-the-go, so I
share ways to eat low carb conveniently. I didn't bother with "niche
research" (upfront) because I knew "travel" and "weight loss" were both
obviously successful buying markets online. Duh.
In fact, buying market or not, this is truth: If you can build up a huge
audience, and a loyal readership (and social media following)... you can
monetize your affiliate blog. Period. The options will be endless if you
have an audience. Merchants and Advertisers will be coming to YOU
wanting to get exposure to your readers.
So there ya go.
Vera loved my Affiliate Niche suggestion! ...Now what?
Blogging as a "spiritual adventurist" is right up her alley. It's in line with
her mission in life, with her true passion, and with who she is as a person
- and the people she can best serve in this world. If you've been following
our conversation, I'm sure you would agree.
Affiliate Marketing Case Study
Lynn Terry & Vera Raposo

7. Once she got excited about the idea, and agreed it was a perfect choice
for her, we brainstormed available domain names. I happen to be pretty
good at this.
Note: You can get my Domain Name Brainstorming Guide as a free
bonus here.
SpiritualAdventurist.com was already taken, so I suggested one of these
three: BoldSpirituality.com, AdventurousHearts.com, or
FaithAdventurist.com - she liked the last one best.
The idea being that she can use this blog to discuss expanding your faith,
the journey to peace & joy through faith, discovering your calling,
stepping out in faith, her missions of course, and to motivate and inspire
people on a spiritual level.
If you know Vera, you know this is the very core of who she is as a
person.
That domain leaves her open to be "adventurous" too, which is one of the
things she said she really wanted and needed in her life: FUN. She can
travel, try new things, and take photos and share her experiences along
the way - tying them in with her inspiring messages, of course.
She took immediate action and registered FaithAdventurist.com.
In her last post, Vera said:
So here’s my next question to you Lynn…
Affiliate Marketing Case Study
Lynn Terry & Vera Raposo

8. When you say this, “helps people get way outside their mental comfort
zone and embrace life more fully” I actually start having a vision of
retreats as well, but for now I want to focus solely on affiliate marketing. I
need this peace in this time of my life, that’s why I don’t even want to
create products or do any coaching.
Do you think it’s unrealistic to not include product development and it’s
ok to focus just on affiliate marketing for this kind of venture?
Absolutely! You're putting the cart before the horse anyway.
Your initial goal is to create content and build a readership. Period.
Down the road you may very well want to include products and services,
as a means of serving your market even better, but to start you simply
want to get your message out there and start engaging your target
market with your topics.
This may seem backwards to you too! Usually when you think about
starting an online business, the initial research and brainstorming
includes... How am I going to make money with this blog? Right?
In my next post in this ongoing series, we'll walk through the actual
set-up of Vera's new niche affiliate blog. The nitty gritty details n stuff.
But let's fast forward for a second so you (and Vera!) can start to see the
potential here...
This is Vera's homework. And yours too!
Imagine your target market. Who are they? Who do you most want to
help, and how? What types of products and services do they use, or would
Affiliate Marketing Case Study
Lynn Terry & Vera Raposo

9. you recommend, relevant to your blog topic? Which merchants and
brands would interest them?
Don't let this exercise stump you! (It's really not that hard.)
Let's say you have an affiliate blog all about kitchen gadgets. How can you
serve THAT market?! Easy. They want the coolest gadgets, they want the
best deals, and they need help making an informed buying decision.
Ideally you are your own target market. That being the case, what do you
search for online? What products do you use and love? What
recommendations do you make to your friends or peers, or topical online
groups where you participate?
First, forget whether there's an affiliate program or not. Just brainstorm
freely about products, brands, merchants, services, etc.
I'll close there for now, and we'll see what Vera comes up with.
This is fun, don't you agree? I would love to hear your thoughts, so be
sure to leave a comment below if you have a question or want to add to
the discussion...
Affiliate Marketing Case Study
Lynn Terry & Vera Raposo