With Rick Magennis By now most of us are familiar with the concept of affiliate marketing. It is basically being paid to promote a product or service using your own network and influence. And yes, you do have influence being paid to promote something that you actually like to people who trust your recommendations is a pretty cool gig and many of the programs and products that you already use and love offer affiliate programs. Rick Magennis has been an affiliate marketing guru for nearly a decade, with most of that time managing affiliate programs for other brands. He believes in growing sales the right way for his clients. And Rick is the president and founder of Bearcat Media Media an affiliate marketing agency. They’re all about driving the right results for each client. He has recently run a whole event dedicated to affiliate management best practices for brands called affiliate management Expo. I am really looking forward to this conversation with Rick today and I think you’re about to learn a whole lot about affiliate marketing, whether you are running an affiliate marketing program yourself for your business, or if you’re thinking about being an affiliate as an individual. So let’s get started. In this episode, Rick talks about: How starting out as an affiliate inspired Rick to be the affiliate marketing expert that he is today. 2:04What is an affiliate marketer and how do you make money being one? 4:31Basic steps to getting started as an affiliate marketer. 6:58Protecting your own credibility by – promoting products and services that you actually stand behind. 8:53Getting started using affiliate marketing in your own business. 11:07Determining the right amount of commission for referrals. 13:09Affiliate management software to help you get off the ground and running. 16:14Affiliate marketing strategy, the do’s and don’ts. 21:44Quality over quantity, finding the best affiliates for the job and setting them up for success. 23:47The ethics of affiliate marking and how to implement ethical practices. 28:57 I love that we focused on the idea of promoting products that you truly use and love. Affiliate marketing has gotten a bad rap lately and there are a million examples of people using unethical practices to make a sale. You can tell when someone isn’t being sincere in their promotion and it certainly doesn’t help build the trust factor… run far away from those folks. But if you really do love something, earning a nice tip for sharing it is a great way to make a passive income. I know I trust people in my networks for recommendations over cold and undirected advertisements. Start today by making a list of products or services that you already use and see if they currently offer a program that you can join. When it is time to start your own affiliate marketing program in your business, be sure that your affiliates first of all truly love what you’re selling. And second of all, and this one is important. You want to double ensure that your affiliates values align with your values. Because remember, they are an extension of you and your brand. Honesty is the best policy here. Until next time workshop warrior. Thank you so much for spending part of your day with me today. I just love hanging out. So let’s do it again next week. Bye for now. Connect with Rick: Website: https://affiliateprogrammanagement.co/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-magennis/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bearcatmediaSEO/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bearcatmediallc/ Mentioned in this episode The Rick Magennis Podcast Affiliate marketing software: ShareASale, CJ Affiliate, Shopify, WooCommerce, Affiliatly What you need to know to start and affiliate program – Blog A note from our sponsors: So you bought a fancy camera or you’re