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How the Best Podcasters Do Their Work Faster

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How the Best Podcasters Do Their Work Faster

Best practices to help you create the highest quality podcasts in the least possible time.

My aim, right here, is to help you to create a podcast in the shortest time possible.

And I’m not just talking about any old podcast. I mean a great podcast. Your best possible podcast!

Because this is where so many people get caught out. It’s where shows go to die. The podcaster spends too much time making every episode. So much that it just doesn’t fit into their week or even their life. By that point, it just drains all the fun and value out of the entire show!

Of course, it’s worth noting that different types of shows take different amounts of time to produce (go ask an audio drama producer how much time they spend on dialogue editing alone!). And sometimes, spending more time on your show can improve the quality, or what you get out of it. But, that’s only if you spend that time on the right stuff. And I believe it’s possible to do those right things in far less time than you think.

So that’s what I’ll do in this article: show you the best of those “right things” and help you create the best possible product in the least possible time.

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Who I Am and What You’ll Learn

By way of a quick “who the heck’s this guy?”: my name is Colin Gray, and I’m a podcaster, writer, teacher, and general dogsbody at The Podcast Host. We create a network of our own shows and help thousands of others produce their own through our content.

Plus, we run a podcast maker tool called Alitu. The whole purpose behind Alitu is to offer recording, editing, and publishing tools that automate and simplify, making it far quicker and easier to create your show. And a lot of that is based on the “right ways” that I’ll talk about here.

Over the past ten years, I’ve gone from fitting a podcast around a completely different normal job (teaching teachers how to teach — meta, huh?), to trying to fit as many podcasts as possible into my current job and designing tools to help others do it quicker!

It was all about cutting out the cruft and figuring out what’s really worthwhile in creating a high-quality, successful show. I’ll talk about all those insights here, including:

  • How to plan content in the minimum time, and in a way that makes it easy to deliver
  • How to get the most from everything you do create
  • Recording & editing tricks to save time
  • How to find and learn the tools that cut down on processing time

So, let’s get into it. Time to apply a little lightning to your podcast!

Why Seasons are Rocketfuel for You and your Audience

Seasons-based podcasting is the most underrated workflow hack in the industry. And, even better, it’s a massive driver of listener success, loyalty, and audience growth, too.

How? Well, there are three reasons.

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Planning Nirvana

You know when you turn up at your desk for recording time and think: “Alrighty … podcast time. I’ve got an hour to get this baby recorded! Soooo … what shall I talk about … ”

An hour later, you’re still only halfway through planning the episode. Or even worse, you’re still staring at a blank screen, trying to think of an idea.

Well, here’s a new tack: take an hour of your life and think about your next season instead.

Take a question you often get from your listeners, or a topic you know you want to cover, and then break it down. One of the biggest mistakes we make as podcasters is trying to fit too much into an episode. We do it because we care. We want to give a lot of value, but actually, it’s shortchanging your listeners, often missing details, or giving them too much to think about all at once. Instead, break that topic down into its component parts.

I did a season on podcast equipment a while back. I could have easily covered it in one episode but it’s better to break it down. One episode on microphones, one on mixers, one on recording software, and one on editing software.

Normally I can work this out in less than ten minutes for a topic I know well. Maybe 20 to 30 if I need to do a bit of research. I’ll end up with a list of maybe six or seven episodes, sometimes up to 15 or 20.

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Then, I’ll take another 20 minutes to put some meat on them bones, and do a set of five to ten bullet points within each main topic, outlining what I’ll cover.

By the end of the hour (or less!) I’ve got a plan for an entire season’s worth of content, often two or three months long, maybe more.

So now, instead of the usual, “Oh no! What do I talk about this week!”, next time you open up that season plan, check out the next episode’s script and hit record. Easy!

And yes, this can still work for interview shows. Do all of the above, and only THEN start to think about guests. This makes for far better content. Instead of just picking out random pseudo-famous people in your niche, just for their name, choose based on expertise and knowledge.

Search around for blog posts covering the topics you have in your plan. Find people with interesting angles on those topics, and then invite them on the show. You’ll create far better, much more focused content as a result.

Better Batching

With a season plan, you can really easily take advantage of another huge timesaver: batch recording.

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Matthew is my co-host on our “how to podcast” show, Podcraft. It’s a seasons-based show, and we’ve long recorded it in batches. We co-host the podcast, so we can plan a season together, and then we’ll record two to three episodes at a time.

I know people who can do four episodes in one sitting, but we always find we hit a wall around three. Still, that means we only have to arrange recording time every two or three weeks, rather than every single week.

Editing can be batched, too. As anyone who has to do a lot of task switching knows, doing a few of them all together takes far less time than three separate editing sessions.

Listener-Powered Content

Every podcaster knows they should be getting their listeners more involved with their show. It drives engagement, loyalty, and huge listener growth. But, it’s a big time suck … monitoring emails, social media, and voicemails every single week can be draining.

Seasons put something brand new in your toolbox: a break!

At the end of the season, you say: “Okay, thanks for listening! We’ll be back in 6 weeks, on August 1st. During that time, though, here’s what I want you to do. We’re going to cover podcast equipment on the next season. Tell me, what gear are you using right now? What gear have you tried that was rubbish? What are your biggest struggles or questions with equipment that I can answer? Send me a tweet,or an email, or (best of all) leave a voicemail at ..”

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Then you take a well-earned break!

Towards the end of the break, you can batch-process all of this. Take an afternoon to collect it all together, collate the tweets and the emails, and process the audio recordings so it’s all ready for the new season. This is so much easier and more efficient than doing little drips and drabs every few days.

Even better, this can power the planning we mentioned above. The questions will direct your episodes, and you can plan ahead, including all the relevant questions in the right episode. In that way, you include and involve your listeners in the show and drive a huge amount of value and loyalty. Plus, you create better content because it’s based on the thoughts of real people.

Fly Solo (At Least a Little)

This one makes people a little nervous, at least for those that normally fly with a guest! Recording alone is one of the biggest time-saving moves you can make, particularly if you’re a regular interviewee on other shows.

If you’ve never tried it, imagine a world where you don’t have to coordinate calendars to find a time that suits everyone. Imagine planning the episode yourself, knowing that you don’t have to prompt your co-host or think of a few backup questions in case that interview goes awry. Imagine having 100 percent control over what’s said (because you’re doing the saying!), so there are no tangents, no fluff and no … editing? Imagine just deciding to record, off the cuff, and 20 minutes later, you have an episode in the bag.

All of that’s possible with solo recording, plus the added benefit of showcasing your own knowledge and talent for a change, rather than your guest (I’m talking about interview shows in particular).

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If you haven’t tried it, take one episode a month and fly solo. See how much time it saves you and how your listeners might like to hear what you think, for a change.

The Minimum Effective Editing Process

Okay, we’ve planned it out and we’ve recorded an episode. Now comes the most dangerous of potential time-eaters: editing.

I still come across so many people who spend 2x or 3x the length of their show in editing. For example, taking two or three hours to edit a one-hour recording. I even meet people who spend 5x to 10x the length of their show in production! It’s just unsustainable.

Part of that is dialogue editing, listening through the whole thing to find and eradicate their mistakes. Painful! We’ll tackle that in the next tactic.

The other part is audio engineering; namely audio cleanup, adding music or ads, layering tracks, and exporting the whole thing.

So, how do we make it easy? By adding constraints. You can do so much less by applying the right mindset to your editing. I’ve got two processes here for you to try.

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MEE (Minimum Effective Editing)

This is perfect for early-stage podcasters. I often recommend following this for your first 10 to 20 episodes, at a minimum. There’s so much you’re learning during those first months, and editing really is low on the impact list. There’s so much more value in working on your presentation and content design skills. (Really, you could extend this mindset to any podcaster at any stage.)

Simply cut editing down to two things, and two things only:

  1. Trim
  2. Normalize

Trim means trimming the start and the end only. Usually that means cutting out the silence and the paper rustling after you hit record and before you start speaking. Then, do the same for the end.

Normalize means leveling out the volume of your show. This is the one and only “audio engineering” task that’s essential. It means your show won’t be too quiet, and the volume of the different speakers should be relatively even so you don’t have your listeners reaching for their volume control every time the speaker changes.

Most editing tools have normalization features included, such as Audacity.

Notice that this doesn’t include dialogue editing at all. So, you can’t cut out mistakes! That’s a constraint that has a few benefits:

  • You can’t use editing as a crutch, so you learn to improve the way you speak, fast! Learn to drop the ums and ahs while you speak, not afterward.
  • You avoid this time-warp rabbit hole altogether because even a little “Oh I’ll just remove that one thing” can turn into an hour of editing.
  • You sound more human. “Oh, sorry, that’s not what I meant! <laugh> Let me say that again.” This is honest. Open. Relatable. People identify with you more closely.

Instead, record with a “live broadcast” mindset. Pretend you’re live on air, the show has to go on. There’s a chance you’ve done that very thing — Facebook, YouTube, Instagram — and survived! So take it into your podcasting, and reap the time-saving benefits. even if just for your first few episodes.

MEE-V2

Later in your podcasting career, you might decide you do want to add a bit more polish. Whether that’s episode 20 or 200, here’s the 2nd level: MEE-V2.

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  1. Trim
  2. Click Edit
  3. Noise Reduction
  4. Limit and Normalize
  5. Add Music
  6. Overlap and Fades

That polish comes mainly in the form of music: adding your own audio branding, and putting in some pro-sounding overlaps and fades.

MEE-V2 also includes an extra couple of audio engineering steps. A hard limit helps to improve your audio leveling, and noise reduction is a big help for most of us who are recording in bog-standard rooms rather than recording studios.

We’re not delving into a lot of the audio engineering that you’ll find around the podcasting web, such as EQ, compression, de-essing, or plosive removal. Those are useful in their place, sure, polish for your audio — but they’re non-essential.

Finally, you’ll notice the mention of a click edit. Yes, I hear you breathe a sigh of relief: now you can remove a few mistakes from your audio. But only the big ones that really can’t stay in! We still want to maintain that live-recording mindset to stay human, and we’ll use a click-edit process that slashes the time required to complete. You’ll see that in the next tactic.

MEE-V3?

Before we move on, I’ll mention another possibility here. You can automate a whole lot of MEE-2 and add even more polish using the right tools.

I came up with MEE years ago in an attempt to help our readers defeat the monster that is editing. But, even then, it was still a task that dragged shows under.

So, we built our own tool, Alitu, to automate MEE-2, and then to add a whole lot more polish and assistance on top.

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Alitu podcast editing software can be used to record solo episodes or call recorder to bring in a guest.

For example, inside Alitu you can record a solo episode, or use our call recorder to bring in a guest. That recording is then automatically cleaned up — noise reduction, limiting, normalization, EQ, de-essing, plosive removal, the whole nine yards. Then it’s popped into the episode builder, which adds your music, overlaps and fades automatically. You can add in any intros or outros required there, too, or any ads or inserts for the episode.

All that’s left is to use Alitu’s audio editor to search out your clicks with 2x speed control (more on this below), highlight the edits, and then hit publish. You can even publish to Alitu’s in-built hosting if you don’t have hosting set up yet, so it’s all in one place.

Alitu features in-built hosting to publish episodes.

Alitu offers a week-long free trial to test out the platform before purchasing.

Click Editing

Now, to click editing!

It’s a classic, but always worth including since it’s a revelation to anyone who hasn’t heard it. It tackles the dreaded task of combing through a podcast episode, minute by minute, to track down those mistakes that you know have to be removed.

Instead, with click editing, I would normally edit our 30-minute average Podcraft episode in less than 5 minutes. Here’s how it works:

When I make a mistake in my show, I create a visual marker in the waveform by clicking my tongue three times. You can also clap, or snap your fingers. They all work. The goal is to create something that’s really easy to see on the waveform when you get into your editing package.

You’re speaking. You make a mistake or trip over your tongue, or need to cough. So, you stop. You pause for a few seconds. Click. Click. Click. You pause for another few seconds. Then you start speaking again.

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This is very visible on the waveform, as shown highlighted in red.

Details of waveform in Alitu's editing feature.

That means, when you get to editing, you just get down to a reasonable zoom level and scan the waveform, looking for these signals.

Then you highlight the end of the sentence before the mistake, right through to the point before you restart, and delete. Mistake eradicated!

Pro Tip: You can quite easily get in the habit of remembering the start of the sentence before you made your mistake, and then restarting with the same first few words. This means that when I find a mistake in editing, I listen to the re-start first, and then go back a bit and find the same few words before the mistake. I know that’s where I have to start the edit. That saves another few seconds, every time!

Take Control of Errant Interviewees

Let’s finish up with a tactic that not only comes under the category of “time saver,” both in recording and editing, but also bleeds into “improved content.” It’s the simple concept of taking ownership of your show, and your content.

The thing is, interview shows are great when done well. But, they’re often not done well. That can lead to sub-par content, sure, but even worse, it leads to a whole lot of extra time in your process.

It takes more time to record because the guest goes off on tangents. Or they don’t stay on point and fail to answer questions. That all means more time editing, trying to cut the fluff, and elevating the quality.

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Instead, take control, and give some guidelines before you start. Here are a few of the things I might say:

  1. I’d love to share a few bits of guidance. I know my audience really well, and I’ve learned that these can help you come across in the best possible way with them.
  2. We like to keep this show really conversational. So, try to keep answers short and sharp, less than a minute, two at most.
  3. Don’t worry, we’ll get into detail, but I’ll ask about the parts I know my audience loves.
  4. Always feel free to ask me questions back, so we’re both involved, and it flows well.
  5. will interrupt you from time to time. Not because your content’s bad, but because I know what my audience wants and I’ll keep us tracking with that.

Keep emphasizing that this is in their best interests. This makes them look good! You know your audience, and if the guest wants to make a great impression, then you can help them do that. But, only if they work with you, and let you guide the conversation (#3).

That primarily means shorter answers (#2), and being prepared to be interrupted (#5 — and this is so much easier when you mention it before you start).

I’ve also found that #4 is a really interesting hack, for two reasons. First, conversations are much better when it’s two ways. And second, asking questions just puts people into conversation-mode rather than monologue-mode. (It also helps avoid the 5-minute solo tangents that are the bane of any interviewer’s life!)

How Will You Cut Your Production Time?

To me, there are two big ideas to this.

First, simple routines and purposeful tools. That means:

  • Keep your weekly routine as simple and as regular as possible.
  • Use seasons to simplify your planning.
  • Go solo to simplify the logistics.
  • Record as if you’re live and commit to really simple editing.

Make it your goal to find those routines that repeat so that you can fit the entire workflow easily into your week.

Secondly, it means using tools with real purpose. As podcasters, we can be guilty of adding in on-trend tools or tactics that take up more time, rather than save it. Instead, pick fewer, better tools, and go deep with them.

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The click trick is a tool, use it to save hours in editing. Alitu is a tool that works great alongside it, and adds more features to annihilate the time spent editing and engineering. If they don’t work for you, though, there are dozens of choices. Find just a few that fit you, personally, and go deep.

Above all, use these tactics to hone your personal routine, find the methods that work for you, and offer up all that extra time to the content itself. Use it to talk to your listeners. What do they like? What do they not like? Find out what they really want from you. That’s what makes the big difference. Not an extra pass of compression, or a jot of noise reduction. Instead, get simple, get tooled up, and then you can really start thriving as a podcaster.

The post How the Best Podcasters Do Their Work Faster appeared first on Smart Passive Income.

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AFFILIATE MARKETING

Common Affiliate Marketing Scams and How to Avoid Them

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Common Affiliate Marketing Scams and How to Avoid Them

At WPBeginner, we have been on both sides of affiliate marketing as affiliate marketers and as businesses running affiliate programs.

With over a decade of expertise, we have encountered all types of affiliate marketing scams and frauds.

While most folks in the affiliate business are honest, hardworking people, there are always people trying to make a quick buck at the expense of others.

Here, we’ll discuss some of the top affiliate marketing scams and how to avoid them. We’ll talk about it from both perspectives as a business owner and as an affiliate marketer.

Common affiliate marketing scams explained for beginners

How Do Affiliate Marketing Scams Affect Businesses?

Affiliate marketing scams try to steal from businesses by pretending to be affiliate marketers. Similarly, they may also defraud unsuspecting affiliate marketers by pretending to be a legitimate business.

Thousands of people make money online with affiliate marketing. It is a lucrative industry worth over $17 billion (Source).

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Due to the low barrier of entry, good payouts, and higher returns on invested time and resources, it attracts many businesses and marketers.

Affiliate marketing industryAffiliate marketing industry

However, this success also attracts many bad actors who want to profit by scamming and defrauding affiliate marketers and businesses running affiliate programs.

For these reasons, affiliate marketers and businesses may struggle to distinguish between legitimate opportunities and scams:

  • Financial loss – Affiliate marketing scams may use deceptive practices to hijack ads, change payment terms, or block payments, causing financial loss to marketers.
  • Reputational Damage – Some scammers create fake websites, advertisements, and landing pages pretending to be from a legitimate business. This causes harm to the business’s reputation.
  • Legal Damages – Some affiliate marketing scams may promote illegal products or fraudulent activities. This can lead to legal consequences and damage the affiliate’s personal and professional standing.
  • Increased Skepticism – Due to encountering scams, affiliate marketers may become more skeptical and hesitant to join new programs or promote certain products. This can limit their opportunities for legitimate partnerships and revenue generation. Similarly, businesses may find it difficult to trust affiliate marketers if they have been deceived by fraudulent actors in the industry.

However, this can be mitigated by carefully researching an affiliate program’s terms and conditions. Before signing up, you can also look for the common shady tactics scammers use.

Here are some of the most common affiliate marketing scams you should avoid.

Common Affiliate Marketing Scams Targeting Affiliate Marketers

Scammers often target affiliate marketers to promote illegal or dubious products with little to no payout in return.

Here are some of the most common scams targeted at affiliate marketers.

1. Get Rich Quick Schemes

Get rich quick scamsGet rich quick scams

Get-rich-quick schemes are perhaps the industry’s most common and longest-running affiliate marketing scam.

They promise affiliate marketers a much higher commission for promoting their products with dubious promises and big claims about earning potential.

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These scams can be harder to identify. Many niches in the affiliate industry offer higher incentives, and it is not uncommon to make big claims even by legitimate businesses.

These scams differ because they often sell questionable products with little to no value. These programs have their terms and conditions set up so that they end up paying nothing to the affiliate marketers.

How to Identify This Scam:

These businesses often make big promises of incredibly high earning potential. They are often selling dubious products with little to no value. Their affiliate program is not transparent, and terms and conditions are often vague or have hidden clauses to avoid any payment.

2. Fake Products

Another common scam targeting affiliate marketers is fake products. These scammers would sell a cheap (and often illegally obtained) copy of a legitimate product by a recognized brand.

However, often, they don’t even deliver the cheap copy and just steal money from the customers.

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Another variation of this scam involves digital products. After customers have paid up, there is no product to download or access, and the company’s customer support is non-existent.

On the other end of things, these scammers will also simply refuse to issue any payment to the affiliate marketers, meaning they get money for nothing.

How to Identify This Scam:

Fake products are often shown by copying an existing brand or business. Their pricing would be lower than the actual products to lure customers into believing they are getting a cheaper deal. Do your research about the product, search for real reviews, or dig into background information of the business.

3. Pyramid Schemes and Multi-level Marketing Programs

Pyramid schemes or they’re modern name, multi-level marketing (MLM) are scams dating back to pre-internet days. It is still effectively used to target innocent people.

They target affiliate marketers by asking them to recruit investors into often imaginary, fake, or shoddy products. Marketers are promised a commission on each new sign-up that their recruits or people they bring in make.

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Eventually, it becomes impossible to find new recruits, and the whole scheme fails. These scammers then go ahead and launch the scheme with different names.

Even if there is a real product being sold, a MLM company floods the market with affiliates, meaning no one makes any meaningful money and saturates the market.

How to Identify This Scam:

These scams often ask you to promote a fake business or product like a get-rich-quick scheme, dietary supplements, or cheaply made fake products. You will be promised higher payouts when people you bring in recruit more people. You may also be asked to deposit a joining fee, which they may label as an investment.

4. Pay to Join Affiliate Programs

Another common scam is to ask for you to pay a fee to join an affiliate program. These pay-to-join programs will claim that they run an exclusive affiliate partnership program, and in order to ensure that only serious marketers join their program, they need you to make a small payment.

Such programs will pretend to sell high-value items and promise to offer unrealistically high commissions.

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All genuine affiliate programs are free to join. It is possible that some affiliate programs may require you to demonstrate product knowledge or industry expertise, but they would never ask you to pay them in order to promote their products.

How to Identify This Scam:

The most obvious sign of this scam is that they will ask you to make a payment. Some may even want you to pay with Bitcoin so the transaction can’t be reversed or traced back. If you are asked to make any payment just to join an affiliate program, then it is most likely a scam.

5. Fake Gurus and Influencers

Social media influencerSocial media influencer

Another popular scam is when you are asked to promote a fake guru or social media influencer. These fake influencers or self-claimed gurus often pretend to be experts in something and typically sell courses and 1-on-1 training sessions.

You may be asked to bring in unsuspecting customers and will be promised a lucrative commission when they sign up for the course, follow the influencer on social media, or join an email list.

These scammers would then sell customers useless courses with little to no value. They would refuse to pay affiliate marketers by not recognizing any leads or conversions they bring.

On the other hand, there are legitimate experts in various industries selling online courses and mentorship programs. This makes it harder for affiliate marketers to distinguish between legitimate businesses and scammers.

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How to Identify This Scam:

These scammers usually have no track record of their supposed expertise. Their testimonials would sound phony and unverifiable. They would use pushy tactics to make sales, and most of their followers on social media profiles would be bot accounts.

6. Phishing Scams

Phishing scamsPhishing scams

Another way scammers target affiliate marketers is by using phishing tactics to steal sensitive information.

They create fake websites or emails that appear to be from legitimate affiliate programs, tricking affiliates into providing login credentials or personal information.

Besides fake websites and emails, scammers may also target affiliate marketers on social media websites and messaging apps. They may use brand images of popular affiliate platforms to deceive victims into believing that they are talking to an official account.

How to Identify This Scam:

Ensure that you are visiting a legitimate website. If you are unsure, then close your browser window and try to reach the actual website manually. Any email account asking you to visit a website should be sifted through. Don’t provide any login information to any fake website.

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Common Affiliate Marketing Scams Targeting Businesses

If you are a business running an affiliate program to generate more sales, then you may be targeted by scammers in a number of ways.

Here are some of those common scams to look out for:

1. Fraudulent Transactions

Transaction fraudTransaction fraud

Scammers may target a business by generating fake sales using stolen credit cards, dummy payment accounts, and other fraudulent techniques.

Once a sale is generated, they are qualified for commission. However, your business may pay a refund or chargeback on the fake transaction.

More sophisticated scammers may even attempt to manipulate your conversion tracking data to credit them for more sales.

How to Identify This Scam:

The easiest way to detect this scam is by monitoring your refund and chargeback requests. However, this could be due to customers being genuinely unsatisfied with their purchase.

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You can look for patterns to detect fraudulent activities causing higher refunds. Compare the refund rates of suspected affiliates with other affiliates to detect suspicious activity.

2. Cookie Stuffing

This is a sophisticated affiliate marketing scam targeting businesses that run an affiliate program.

Here is how it works, the scammers use phishing tactics, malware, and popups to install cookies with their affiliate tracking IDs on unsuspecting users. After that, when users visit the website and make a purchase, these marketers earn a commission.

These cookies are often set never to expire unless a user deletes all cookies in their browser. The user would have never interacted with the affiliates’ content and wouldn’t even be referred by their URL.

How to Identify This Scam:

This sort of scam is harder to identify. However, depending on your affiliate management program, it may automatically detect fraudulent activities. You also need to monitor your conversions in Google Analytics to find suspicious URLs and activities.

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Many affiliate programs only allow marketers to send traffic from a pre-approved list of websites, and any conversions not originating from their approved websites are discredited.

3. Google Ad Keyword Hijacking

Google Ad HijackingGoogle Ad Hijacking

Another problematic affiliate scam that affects businesses is Google Ad Keyword Hijacking.

Basically, the scammers sign up for an affiliate program and run Google ads on brand keywords or keywords where your business may already be advertising.

This increases your cost to bid on those keywords, and you end up paying additional commission to a source of traffic that you could have acquired yourself by running the ads.

An even more problematic situation arises when these scammers first redirect the users to their websites before sending them to yours. This makes it harder for you to detect fraudulent activity for a longer period of time.

How to Identify This Scam:

Monitor your top keywords for PPC ads on Google. The easiest way to do this is by using a search marketing tool like Semrush.

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Another way to identify this scam is to monitor your website traffic and look for unusually high-traffic sources. You can also carefully monitor affiliate activity to look out for unusually high conversions, sudden jumps in referral traffic, and other signs of suspicious activity.

4. Fake Leads

Fake leads can be a problematic affiliate scam for businesses paying affiliate marketers to bring in leads.

Scammers can generate fake leads using sophisticated techniques like stolen user data, unverified leads bought from third-party sources, or simply paying someone to create fake user accounts.

More sophisticated scammers may even send bot traffic from their legitimate-looking websites. These bots then fill in forms with fake user data to submit a lead.

How to Identify This Scam:

One way to thwart fake leads is by requiring customers to double opt-in. Another way to detect quality leads is by reaching out to customers.

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If more leads appear to be non-existent, you can dig deeper and find the affiliate accounts sending those leads.

Look for your affiliate reports to find patterns like a website sending a specific number of leads per day could be a sign of fake leads.

5. Click Frauds

Businesses running pay-per-click affiliate programs are vulnerable to click fraud. Scammers can use a wide variety of techniques to generate fake clicks and traffic.

Some of these techniques use automated bots to click on links. These bots may use IP spoofing and appear as legitimate traffic in your analytics or affiliate marketing reports.

Other scammers may use click farms, where scammers pay pennies to click farms where actual humans click on links as part of their job. These click farms may use hacked computers worldwide to generate those clicks.

How to Identify This Scam:

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Monitoring your Google Analytics reports can help you look for signs of click fraud. You can look for suspicious traffic sources, traffic coming from random places, low conversion rates than the industry average.

Keep track of IP addresses to look for signs of click fraud. Your affiliate management software may also provide tools to detect and prevent click fraud.

6. URL Hijacking

Another common scam targeting businesses is when an affiliate partner registers similar domain names or misspelled URLs.

For instance, if a business’s website is a stargardeningtools.com, the scammers may register stargardiningtools.com or similar domains.

This scam is also called domain squatting. It can be easily tracked by looking at referral domains in Google Analytics. However, some of these affiliates may set up dubious redirects to ensure that the squatted domain doesn’t appear as a referral domain.

How to Identify This Scam:

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You can track most such tactics by regularly monitoring the referral domains in Google Analytics. Also looking for traffic sources that look suspicious can be helpful. Sometimes, these traffic sources may not have any content promoting your products and services.

Avoiding Affiliate Marketing Scams Tips and Tricks

Following are some handy tips that will help you avoid common affiliate marketing scams both as a marketer and as a business.

1. Join Reputable Affiliate Platforms

Join the top affiliate networks and platforms to work with top businesses, best products, and legitimate affiliate marketers.

Platforms like ShareASale, Impact, and Amazon offer a large number of products and businesses to promote. They also help businesses partner up with the best marketers, handle payouts, and prevent fraud.

However, these programs cost money and may reduce the profitability of your business.

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Luckily, there are platforms like AffiliateWP. It is the best affiliate tracking and management software that runs on top of WordPress.

AffiliateWP comes with easy affiliate management, advanced fraud detection, easy payouts, and no middleman fees.

Another excellent alternative is EasyAffiliate. Similar to AffiliateWP, it runs on top of WordPress and allows you to manage and run your own affiliate program.

2. Monitor Your Website Traffic

Whether you are an affiliate marketer or an affiliate manager, monitoring your website traffic regularly helps you detect and prevent fraud and scams.

The easiest way to do this is by installing MonsterInsights. It is the best Google Analytics plugin for WordPress and helps you easily track your website traffic.

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MonsterInsightsMonsterInsights

MonsterInsights has features like eCommerce tracking, conversion tracking, outbound link tracking, and more. Plus, it helps you easily see where your traffic is coming from and what those users do while visiting your site.

3. Use Better Link Management Tools

As an affiliate marketer, you will need tools to manage all your affiliate links easily. This helps you insert links easily and increase your earnings, but it will also help you track link performance and detect your clicks.

This is where ThirstyAffiliates comes in. It is the best affiliate link management tool for WordPress and allows you to easily manage and track all your affiliate links.

ThirstyAffiliatesThirstyAffiliates

ThristyAffiliates helps you detect broken affiliate links, track link clicks, set up redirects, and cloak affiliate links.

Another excellent alternative is PrettyLinks. It is a link management tool for WordPress. It allows you to shorten affiliate links, cloak links, manage all your links, and easily insert them in your website.

Pretty Links Pro WebsitePretty Links Pro Website

For more on this topic, see our complete affiliate marketing guide for beginners.

Frequently Asked Questions Regarding Affiliate Marketing Scams

The following are some of the most commonly asked questions about affiliate marketing scams by our users.

1. Is affiliate marketing risky?

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Affiliate marketing is just as risky as other type of marketing strategies. Due to the increasing number of fraudulent activities and scams, it may give an impression of being risky. However, most of these affiliate marketing scams can be easily avoided. Affiliate marketing still provides excellent opportunities for publishers to make money online and businesses to promote their products and services.

2. Is affiliate marketing similar to pyramid schemes?

No, affiliate marketing is not similar to pyramid schemes. Unlike pyramid schemes, affiliate programs are free to join, and affiliate marketers are paid to bring in customers. However, some pyramid schemes may present themselves as an affiliate program in order to appear legitimate.

3. Is it possible to avoid affiliate marketing scams altogether?

Yes, it is possible to avoid affiliate marketing scams by joining reputable affiliate platforms and carefully selecting affiliate marketers, products, and businesses that you work with.

We hope this article helps you avoid common affiliate marketing scams. You may also want to explore these low online business ideas or take a look at these additional ways to make money online.

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If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.



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How Creators Make Money Is Changing

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In 2021, we reported on a survey that measured creators’ top sources of revenue. At that time, sponsorships with advertisers took the top spot by …

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The Ultimate Guide to Succeeding Alone in Business in 2024

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The Ultimate Guide to Succeeding Alone in Business in 2024

What is a solopreneur? And how do you become one?

Well, in this post, we’re diving into the world of solopreneurship to help you get started.

You’ll learn:

  • The difference between a solopreneur and an entrepreneur
  • Pros and cons of solopreneurship
  • A step-by-step guide to becoming a solopreneur
  • Plus, solopreneur business ideas you can start today.

Let’s get started.

What is a Solopreneur?

A solopreneur is a person who starts a business by themself, without a partner, and the need for hiring employees.

What is a Solopreneur?

Merriam-Webster defines it as:

One who organizes, manages, and assumes the risks of a business or enterprise without the help of a partner : a solo entrepreneur.

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They typically bootstrap their business using their own money and manage all aspects of the business needs to make a profit.

This might involve sales, marketing, product development, managing finances, and customer satisfaction.

Solopreneur vs Entrepreneur

Now, you might be asking, “What’s the difference between a solopreneur and an entrepreneur?”

Solopreneur vs EntrepreneurSolopreneur vs Entrepreneur

Here are the key distinctions between the two. Knowing these can also help you choose which one to pursue.

Purpose

A solopreneur and an entrepreneur have slightly different intentions when launching a business. The solopreneur starts a business so they can work for themselves, make extra money, and work on something they’re passionate about.

Solopreneurs often start a side hustle while working a regular job, hoping their business will take over their salary.

The entrepreneur generally starts a business for growth, scalability, and profit. They may also be driven by having an impact on a market.

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Entrepreneurs might start as solopreneurs in the beginning but with an aim to expand. They may also have an exit strategy in mind from the very beginning, whereas solopreneurs rarely start to sell the business.

Management

Solopreneurs don’t hire employees as they aim to manage all aspects of the business themselves. But, they might hire a freelancer, independent contractor, or virtual assistant for specific daily tasks.

The solopreneur doesn’t usually seek investments either, as their startups are self-funded.

Entrepreneurs will build a team of employees and seek investments so they can expand the business quickly.

Most entrepreneurs don’t want to be working in the business but rather focus on their vision and creative direction.

Focus

The focus of a solopreneur is primarily to create a lifestyle business. They might also want to achieve financial independence and work on things they love.

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Many solopreneurs are simply driven by their interests. For example, an artist might want to spend more time painting, so they research ways to monetize their work.

When their art business makes more money than their job, they can leave and focus on painting full-time. They’ve turned their hobby into a business.

Whereas the entrepreneur might have a passion for growth, innovation, impact, or for business itself. The businesses they start can be varied, and they don’t necessarily have to be passionate about their niche.

Pros and Cons of Solopreneurship

Like any venture, business model, or career choice, there are advantages and disadvantages.

Here’s what you need to know when becoming a solopreneur.

Solopreneurship Pros

  1. The introverts dream. Solopreneurship can be very appealing to introverts or those who like working alone.
  2. Total autonomy. You have complete control over business decisions, projects you work on, and the people you serve.
  3. Flexibility. It provides total freedom regarding the hours you work and your location.
  4. Low startup costs. Many solopreneurs can start with a social media account and free marketing tools like Substack.
  5. Passive income. There’s a lot of potential to earn passive income as a solopreneur. Here are some passive income ideas to look into.

Solopreneurship Cons

  1. Workload. Many roles are required to be a successful solopreneur. These include marketing, sales, accounting, and client satisfaction.
  2. Inconsistent income. Revenue can be slow and inconsistent in the beginning.
  3. Isolation. Running a business alone can get pretty lonely sometimes, even for introverts.
  4. Work-life imbalance. It can be hard to switch between work and play, especially when working from home.
  5. Financial responsibility. Financial management can be quite daunting for some people and may lead to failed startups when not managed well.

How to Become a Solopreneur

Here are 9 steps you can take to make the solopreneur journey a breeze.

1. Evaluate Your Skills

Solopreneurship is all about monetizing a skill or what you know. So, the first step is to know what you’re good at.

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This is harder than it seems because what we’re good at often comes naturally to us. Therefore, we don’t recognize our own talents.

It could be fixing your diet, graphic design, writing a novel, or dealing with stress.

Start by documenting your life and answering these questions:

  • What are you passionate about that you’ll never get bored with?
  • Have you achieved anything significant that came easy to you?
  • What do you spend the most money on?
  • What do your friends come to you for advice about?

Spend some time journalling or brainstorming things that come to you. Just try to keep it simple.

You don’t have to be an expert to be your own boss. Only a desire to help others who are a few steps behind you.

If you’re really stuck, you can choose one of the easiest online businesses to start to get you going.

2. Set Financial Goals

Next up is knowing how much income you want to make.

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Solopreneur financial goalsSolopreneur financial goals

Do you want to make a little extra on the side? Or do you want to replace your salary?

There’s no limit to how much you can make when starting an online business as a solopreneur.

But it’s still important to set business goals. Doing so will help you make better decisions and even choose a business model or product to sell.

You’ll want to establish short-term and long-term financial goals. That way, you’ll stay motivated and maintain focus.

3. Choose a Business Model

Your business model is how you deliver your products or services. Establishing one will give you clarity on the direction you can take.

It will also reveal how you’ll generate income, establish risk, and how you might scale if you want to.

We’ll take a deeper dive at specific business ideas later, but these are the main business models to choose from.

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  1. Service-based. Things like freelance writing or web design services.
  2. Content creator. Teaching through YouTube, blogs, or online courses.
  3. Coaching. Helping people achieve personal or professional goals.
  4. eCommerce. Selling physical or digital products.
  5. Developer. Launching web or mobile apps.

4. Identify Your Ideal Market

So you have an idea of what you’ll be offering and the business model to deliver it.

But now you need to find an audience who needs it. Skip this step, and you could sell something no one needs.

Market research validates what you have to sell and will help you clarify your offer.

It involves understanding the pain points of your target audience and crafting a compelling solution.

Here are some popular ways to perform market research today:

  1. Forums and communities: Join and engage in niche forums or communities like Facebook groups. Use Google to find these forums or the search feature on Facebook.
  2. Social media: Monitor conversations on social media sites like Twitter and Reddit. Search for niche-related tags to find the right people.
  3. Competitor analysis: Research your competitors to see what pain points they focus on. Analyze the copy on their website and social media channels to gather insights into your audience.
  4. Keyword research: Use tools like Google Keyword Planner or SEMRush to find out what your niche is searching for. This will help you understand what their needs and goals are.
  5. Start a community: Launch a free Facebook Group or community platform like Skool to get to know your audience on a deeper level.

Niching down will always help you find a more passionate audience, so try not to go too broad. You can also read our posts on the best niche markets to get some ideas.

5. Create a Business Plan

According to a study published in Small Business Economics, people who create a business plan are 152% more likely to launch their business .

Develop a business planDevelop a business plan

Another study revealed that companies that plan grow 30% faster than those that don’t plan.

The downfall when planning is that many solopreneurs can get caught up in all the details. However, it doesn’t have to take weeks or months or need to be perfect.

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What’s important is getting the fundamentals down on paper.

This notion template is a great place to start, or this Udemy course for a more comprehensive and guided approach.

6. Launch Your Brand

Now, you’ll want to define the identity of your brand. This includes the name, logo, and messaging to attract the right people to your business.

The easiest route is to use your name and start your business as a personal brand.

But if you intend on scaling your business or selling it as an entrepreneur, you might want to start a professional brand instead.

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Either way, start by brainstorming ideas and checking for domain availability and social media handles.

You might want to register your business legally at this point, too.

If you have design skills, a simple logo might be sufficient enough. You can also hire a designer on Upwork to design your logo and brand identity professionally.

Lastly, you’ll need to tailor your brand messaging to resonate with your audience. A great book on this subject is Building a StoryBrand by Donald Miller.

7. Establish an Online Presence

The next step to solopreneur success is forming a coherent online presence. These will be the places where you market yourself, publish content, and deliver your offerings.

Here are a few things you’ll need to set up:

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  1. A website: You can build a simple site using WordPress or Shopify if you sell products.
  2. Social media channels: Sign up and claim your social media handles on the main sites. These include Facebook, X, Instagram, Pinterest, Medium, and YouTube.
  3. Email list: Use ConvertKit or a newsletter service like Substack to start building an email list. The earlier you start this, the better.
  4. Blog: If you like writing, you can also start to publish articles that attract organic visitors through search engines.

You don’t have to be active on all these channels at once. Just set them up so no one else takes your username, then choose a channel your audience uses most.

As a solopreneur, it’s possible to grow your business by sticking to one channel.

8. Develop a Digital Marketing Strategy

Marketing is how you’ll raise awareness of the problems your niche experiences and how you can help solve them.

Solopreneur marketing strategySolopreneur marketing strategy

To do this effectively, you need a strategy.

You’ll want to decide which platform to spend most of your time on. As a solopreneur, there’s only you, so trying to juggle multiple channels will spread you thin.

The strategy is to publish content at each level of the funnel.

Using the AIDA formula is a good place to start:

A: Grab the audience’s Attention with well-crafted headlines
I: Create Interest by communicating pain points. This will help grow followers or subscribers.
D: Create Desire by emphasizing the desired state for potential customers.
A: Provide a call to Action to drive conversions and sales.

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You can check out the 1-Page Marketing Plan for this. It will help you define a comprehensive marketing strategy on a single page.

9. Never Stop Learning

Lastly, you’ll make your journey so much easier when you become a continuous learner and adopt a success mindset.

You can read the best audiobooks for business, take Udemy courses, or even join an online community.

Some great books for solopreneurs include The Lean Startup, Company of One, and Alex Hormozi’s books.

Solopreneur Business Ideas

There are tons of different types of businesses you can start as a solopreneur.

Choosing one will depend on your skills, passions, available resources, and market needs.

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Here’s a quick look at some one-person business ideas to give you some inspiration:

  • App developer: Creating mobile or web apps like habit trackers or even games.
  • Blogger: Publishing content on Medium, Quora, Twitter, or a WordPress blog.
  • Paid newsletter subscription: Sharing your insights and knowledge through a platform like Substack or Beehiiv.
  • Copywriter: Offering copywriting as a freelancer on Upwork on your website.
  • Digital products: Sell your knowledge in the form of digital products on Gumroad or Systeme.
  • eCommerce: Sell physical products through Amazon FBA, Etsy, or a Shopify store.
  • YouTuber: Share your knowledge and monetize with YouTube affiliate marketing and ads.
  • Start a community: Create a Skool community and charge a monthly subscription.

Solopreneur in Conclusion

Becoming a solopreneur has many advantages when starting a business. Unlike entrepreneurship, you get to work alone, choose your hours, and only work on things you love.

Don’t expect things to go perfectly, though. Achieving success in any business venture takes time and dedication.

If you want to connect with others on their solopreneur journey, consider joining the Niche Pursuits Community. You’ll get access to weekly calls from successful bloggers, YouTubers, and 7- and 8-figure digital business owners.



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