When I first got started promoting affiliate offers, people always told me to ‘think outside the box’ to make money.  They always said there is less competition and it’s much easier to see a return on investment.  While this seemed easy for them to say, I was always frustrated with what exactly they meant.

Now, looking back on my success over the past few years, I have come to realize what exactly they were talking about ‘thinking outside the box’.  Let me use a real-life example.  About two years ago it seemed like almost every affiliate marketer was pushing ringtones.  Every network I was a member of was pushing them hard and it seemed like anyone that was making a lot of cash via affiliate marketing had at least one profitable ringtone campaign.

The most obvious thing to do to begin pushing ringtones was to bid on keywords such as ‘50 Cent Ringtones’, ‘Eminem Ringtones’, ‘WWE Ringtones’, ‘American Idol Ringtones’, etc on every major search engine.  The problem with this method was the big fish with huge bank rolls were already perched up in the top 3-5 spots on every search engine and were willing to lose a considerable amount just to drive you out of business.  While there was definitely money to be made in these positions, this was thinking ‘inside the box’ and had a very high barrier of entry.

Thinking outside the box, I thought of other ways I could reach that same demographic, but for a lot cheaper.  I decided to go against the regular search campaigns, and setup campaigns on the content networks of Google, Yahoo, etc.  Instead of bidding on keywords like ‘50 cent ringtones’ I’d bid on terms such as ‘american idol news’, ‘hip hop news’, ‘50 cent girlfriend’, ‘kim mathers’, etc.  I’d then create a ’squeeze page’ that would push the traffic from these terms to ringtones.  I was hitting the same demographic, but for a lot cheaper.

This way I was not only able to make as much money as the ‘big guys’ bidding on 50 cent ringtones, I was able to do it without an intense bidding war.

Ryan’s Golden Tip: Affiliate marketers that ‘think outside the box’ are able to gain a considerable competitive advantage on other affiliates.  While, ‘thinking inside the box’ can still lead to a substantial income, it also comes with a lot more stress, slimmer margins, and higher-risk opticals.  Affiliates that succeed in thinking ‘outside the box’ are able to create more stable, more profitable, and more long-term campaigns that can lead to astronomical revenue.

When creating your next campaign, keep my image in mind (there’s more cash outside the box).  Good luck!