Part 1 explained how I created my company and my Blog (owned asset) online. As I mentioned, there are four primary parts to my company, JClouse Business: Product, Advertising/Marketing, Banking/Finance, and Legal/Taxes. Let’s continue.
There are a lot of Internet resources to teach you how to create and maintain a Blog. Use whatever you wish. Since I was already a Certified Partner and trusted Dean Holland, I joined his Beginner’s Advantage program and used his incredible Affiliate System and instructional webinars to design, create and manage my Blog.
In my first year of starting affiliate marketing, I tried and failed a couple of times. Programs I found on the Internet were too difficult to understand and not much support. When I saw Beginner’s Advantage, I found what I had been searching for. It is an all-in-one system that incorporates the Affiliate System, Affiliate Assistant and a Webinar system. Dean walks us through all of the training and explains everything quite well. While I chose the theme for my Blog and customized the entire layout and content, my blog is not static. It is evolving as I continually learn.
We are often afraid to take that first step and venture out in public because we may not be that good. I am a victim of this perfection mentality. I always strive for excellence so anything I do I want to do well. I wasted more time than I should creating my Blog and wanting it to be “just right” which is a code word for “perfect.” I learned from Sophie to not worry about it being perfect, but just get out there and publish content. With rare exception, everyone is terrible when they first begin something. Expertise and a professional look only comes with practice, experience and application of continual learning. I will sometimes update a prior published post to make it better. As I said, this is my voyage, so you can see the good and bad and learn from it.
My product is my Owned Asset – Blog, that is used to grow a targeted audience and connect with those people using my content. Through consumption of my content and exposure to me, it is hoped they will get to know, like, and in time, trust me. Well that sounds great, but how? To grow a targeted audience I need to generate external traffic to my Blog. Enter the next primary part of my business – marketing and advertising. In affiliate marketing that is called generating traffic.
So far I have been participating in the Beginner’s Advantage Saturday Share and getting internal traffic. This has been invaluable and I have learned a lot from my other members and also used some of their information to make my own Blog better. I continue to document my voyage on my Blog and engage with my Blog community. Glenn also gave a great class on Blog Hopping, which I am starting to apply. Now it’s time to start generating external traffic.
There are two types of traffic I can pursue – Free and Paid. Free traffic means just that; I am not spending any money to generate traffic, I am spending my time. Free traffic is also called Organic Traffic. Paid traffic is, you guessed it, using paid ads on social media to generate traffic. Since I am just starting out in my business, I will focus on Organic (Free) Traffic.
So where do the people I am focusing on (Retirees, Veterans and Gen-Xers close to retirement) hang out? Those are the people I most relate to, though affiliate marketing is ideal for anybody. They hang out on social media, discussion forums, blogs, websites, search engines, podcasts, and email inboxes. Right now, the hottest trend is short-form videos such as TikTok, Facebook (FB) Stories, Instagram (IG) Reels, YouTube Shorts and Snapchat.
That is a lot. I will narrow that big list down to P&S traffic. Primary platform and Secondary platforms. One thing to remember about traffic is that I do not create it. Traffic already exists. What I need to do is leverage relevant third party platforms (FB, IG, TikTok, etc) because they already created massive traffic. I decided my P&S traffic will be from social media. This will require building an audience with them first and then be able to send them where I want them.
My Primary platform will be Facebook. My Secondary platforms will be YouTube and Instagram. However, I will not do everything at once. I will do what the names say: I will work on my Primary platform first – Facebook, and then my secondary – YouTube and Instagram.
First, Facebook. I already have personal FB account, but I did not want to use that. This is my affiliate marketing business so I needed to create a separate account. I had two choices – create another personal account or create a business account, which is a FB Business Portfolio. Since I already have a FB Business Portfolio for my photography business, I decided to create a separate personal FB account. One of the reasons I chose to create another personal account is because this page will not just be about my business, but it will also be about enjoying life and inspiration. I enjoy traveling so I will post my adventures here to show what the goal is – to achieve my ideal life. I am enjoying life being retired, but I am nowhere near where I want to be. This is my voyage to achieve that.
I created my FB business account the same way I created my other personal account.
- Go to Facebook.com and select Create new account.
- Then click Get Started. Enter your real first and last name, demographic data and phone number. Next choose a password.
- It will then send a confirmation code to your phone number and viola, you now have your FB account.
- Now you start customizing your account.
- To add your business name, click on your picture icon at the top.
- Then select Settings and Privacy, and from there select Settings.
- Under Meta Accounts Center select the Accounts Center hyperlink, and from there select your profile name.
- This brings up your profile. Click Username and enter your business name. I entered my business name: JClouse Business.
- Click done and that’s it.
- Now when I log in to my FB page for my business, my home page shows my name – Jordan Clouse. However, when I select the URL (Internet) field at the top, it displays my FB site address, which is: https://www.facebook.com/JClouseBusiness/. Now I have my Primary platform business page.
My FB business page has a banner photo with an inspirational phrase that is central to my business mindset, plus a profile picture so people can see I am a person. It also has a short bio, photos and posts. In my bio, I give a little biographical detail, plus I have a hyperlink directly to my Voyage Blog. I also use it to connect to Certified Partners Private Community, which is an invaluable resource. My FB business page is a work in progress. I started out with the basic information and am building and getting better as I learn how to get better and apply it.
If this is your first business and you wish to create a FB Business account (FB Business Portfolio), this is a summary of the steps:
- You must have a personal FB account to begin with.
- Go to: business.facebook.com
- You will create a new account by signing up with FB.
- Enter your business portfolio name. This should match the public name of your business as it will be viewed across Meta.
- Next enter your name and business email. I used my jclousebiz@earthlink.net email for my business email since I am using it to run my business.
- Click “Submit” or “Create” to create your business portfolio.
- You’ll get an email asking to confirm your business email address.
- Now you have your FB business account, or in my case, my Meta Business Suite.
- Now you can add your business assets such as pages, an IG account and apps.
- If you want to see the step-by-step guide from Meta, which explains the above, click here: Create a Meta Business Portfolio.
So now I have created and published my Owned Asset – Voyage Blog, and I have created and published my third-party Primary platform – FB Business Page. My primary marketing and advertising tool to generate traffic. I will be creating and publishing content here in the form of videos (stories), pictures, life events and travels, and other content, as well as engaging with relevant groups. My initial goal is to fuel traffic to my Blog. Once I have traffic consuming content on my Blog, my primary goal is to convince them to join my email list. My email list is the key asset to my success.
I am currently learning all about creating FB Stories and have started to create some videos. That is a work in progress, well outside my comfort zone, but I am Just Getting Out There because success will not happen without action.
I have not yet started on creating a YouTube channel or an Instagram business account. I am starting with my Primary third-party platform first and then I will progress to my Secondary platforms. One step at a time to build my business. Remember, perseverance and dedication, plus quality time devoted to my business. As you can see, a lot to learn. However, again, you are benefitting from my months of learning and trial and error and seeing the final product so you don’t have to go through that. I look forward to continuing my voyage with you and exploring the other parts of my business.
Hi Jordan,
Great post and definitely a big plus in providing such great information to anyone who is starting off in Affiliate Marketing.
Can’t wait to see how well you’ll succeed in the future.
Wishing you all the best!
Thanks, Marc. That’s my goal for this Blog – help others that are starting in this business by explaining what I did, how I did it, and successes and failure I had so they could learn and do even better than me. A lot of trial and error that I hope I can help others avoid. Having a detailed post like this takes time, but I hope it provides good value to those following.
The journey of a thousand miles starts with the first step. Every day in every way we get better and better, especially with introspection, asking questions like- “How can I improve? How can I be of service? Did I add enough value?”
Keep going! That’s what Atif always says.
Thanks, Kate. Yes, Atif is my hero. He has done so well and I take inspiration from his success. He sets a high bar. I am definitely on my own pace and slowly making progress. Knowing it is not a competition, but a business that I am shaping and have the support of everyone in the Saturday share makes the Voyage so much nicer.
Hey, Jordan! Those are great directions for starting a Facebook business account. Best of luck to you starting with your primary platform. I’m sure you will become a master soon at Facebook since you’re focusing your attention on learning one thing first. That is the best way to go. Cheers to you!
Nakina
Thanks, Nakina. As I mentioned to Marc, my goals is to help others starting out to be even better than I was. These are things I wish I had known or could have found. Only through trial and error did I figure it out. If my posts provide value to new people starting out in their business then my posts are a success.
Jordan Thanks for outlining the steps necessary to creating a FB Business page, they were clear and precise. I can see by your list of things you want to post on the business page that you should have a very engaging group for those that follow you. Wishing you Great Success!
Thanks, Ken. That’s my purpose – to help other beginners have success is less time than it took me because I made so many mistakes and progressed through trial and error. As Dean says, people are only interested in my content if they see what’s in it for them.
Wow, great post-Jordan. Very well thought out and precise. You’re getting your ducks in a row and meticulously putting each one in the water as you become more experienced. Great job! Your content will surely help many others on this road who are struggling and wondering if everyone goes through these learning curves. So many marketers, especially on Instagram, can be a little intimidating because they present themselves as beginners who banked life-changing income in less than a year without any previous experience. It’s disheartening and complete nonsense, but unfortunately, many buy into it. There are actual heavy-weight marketing gurus who are teaching this approach, the “fake it til you make it,” and rather than just be honest about your journey to provide good, valuable content and training, they want to lure you into their business and teach you to do the same. It disgusts me. You and everyone in this group are such a breath of fresh air. Keep up the good work.
Thanks, Vanessa. Yes, there is so much dishonesty out there it is amazing. All these marketers showing shiny new objects and a way to make $1 Million in 6 months.I am more than happy progressing at my own pace and getting rich forever rather than rich right now. I may be a little slow but I am starting to pick up some steam. Every voyage begins with the first step and having people like you in this group is helping beyond measure.
Like you I have learned quite a bit from the Saturday shares. Looks like we all talk about keeping the mental attitude to keep moving on . Thank you for your inciteful post.
Thanks, Scott. The Saturday shares have helped more than I can describe. I get inspiration from others’ posts and successes. Keep up the learning!