Bryan McAnulty [00:00:00]:

Imagine getting paid every time somebody watches the videos that you post, even if you're not selling anything. That's exactly how Whitney Bonds built a six figure business using affiliate marketing. She started her channel as a stay at home mom with no audience, no product and no experience. But she figured out how to turn content into cash. Now, with almost 150,000 subscribers, she's helping others do the same.

Whitney Bonds [00:00:20]:

I read the article, they were making $100,000 a month. That's what made me say, okay, this, I could make money using their same business model with this angle. And that's what kind of gave me the confidence to go in all in on this. Because now I say that this is like my proven business model. You find someone who's doing what you want to do, study them, and then execute.

Bryan McAnulty [00:00:41]:

Today, Whitney's here with us to break down exactly how she did it. So if you've ever wondered how to make money on YouTube without being a massive influencer or selling products online, keep watching. Welcome to the Creator's Adventure, where we interview creators from around the world, hearing their stories about growing a business. Hey, everyone, I'm Brian McAnulty, the founder of Heights platform. Let's get into it. Hey, Whitney, welcome to the show.

Whitney Bonds [00:01:07]:

Hey, Brian. Thanks so much for having me.

Bryan McAnulty [00:01:09]:

Yeah, you're welcome. My first question for you today is, what would you say is the biggest thing either that you did or you are doing that has helped you to achieve the freedom to do what you enjoy?

Whitney Bonds [00:01:19]:

Yeah, definitely. Starting a YouTube channel like that has completely changed everything for me. I started out in this online world blogging, and I was getting traffic from Pinterest and Google and all that was doing really well until all those algorithms changed and I was getting like hundreds of thousand pages per month and that went down to nothing. So starting a YouTube channel was the best thing that I ever did to actually keep me going on this whole entrepreneur journey. So definitely a YouTube channel.

Bryan McAnulty [00:01:49]:

Great. And I'm curious, like, when that, when that all happened, did it like go to nothing and you like, what other platform can I try? Were you already starting to build on YouTube? Like, what gave you the idea to think, okay, well, I'm going to try YouTube now?

Whitney Bonds [00:02:02]:

Yeah, great, great question. It started with, I was first started to get traffic my blog from Pinterest and that was going really well. So then I just like naturally pivoted to learning SEO, which is completely Greek to me. I didn't want to do it, but I knew I needed more of a steady source of income. And there are the block these bloggers making a hundred thousand dollars a month. And I was trying to use their exact same business model to mine, and they were using Pinterest and Google. So I said, okay, well, let me learn this. So once I like Master Pinterest, I'll say, then I went to Google.

Whitney Bonds [00:02:36]:

And then when I started doing really well on Google Pinterest at the end of 2019, they changed their algorithm. And so that's when all I had was Google. And I didn't like the feeling of having, so what happens with if Google ever changes? So that's when I decided, okay, I'm going to start a YouTube channel. But what really encouraged me to start a YouTube channel was I interviewed this guy on my blog and he was making $30,000 a month in just ad revenue. And when he told me that, I'm like, okay, where's my camera? Because I told myself I am never going to start a YouTube channel. But I also, I didn't want to go back to my nine to five. So I'm like, I have to figure this out. Because, yes, my blog is doing well, but I'm only relying on Google.

Whitney Bonds [00:03:18]:

And. And so in 2020, I started my YouTube channel. And I'm so thankful because I was still getting good traffic from Google. And that's when I started my YouTube channel, talking about how I blog and make money through Google. But through that process, Google just last year changed their algorithm with this helpful content update, and I lost all my traffic from them. So I just kind of thank the Lord. I've been just, you know, moving, continuously moving, not putting all my eggs in one basket. And.

Whitney Bonds [00:03:46]:

And the one thing I say about YouTube is I don't see it going anywhere anytime soon. And I don't see it changing so much in the fact that I would lose everything. But I still don't feel comfortable. Like, this is my number one income source. I still don't. I don't like where I'm at right now, but I do see that this has more of a future than the other platforms that I was on. But that's how it kind of happened. I was just always.

Whitney Bonds [00:04:07]:

I was kind of one step ahead of the game before I completely was crushed.

Bryan McAnulty [00:04:12]:

Yeah, I think, like, there always is that platform risk of being dependent too much on one platform. So I think it's good you kept moving like that. But, like, even with YouTube, like, it's still, it's not your platform. So that's why it's always good to like, build the email list and start getting your own audience. But with YouTube, I think you have a good point because the big thing is that there's not really alternative to YouTube. Whereas like, yes, you could say in some ways there's not an alternative to Google because like Bing is just so much less popular. But like the idea is like people want to watch videos and like want to see a video of how to do something or learn about something. So if there is no YouTube, something else will come up.

Bryan McAnulty [00:04:54]:

And the fact that you've created those videos, like those are assets that you can go and put them on that next platform that comes out.

Whitney Bonds [00:05:01]:

Exactly. And even our behaviors have changed. Like people just don't like to read anymore, so people would rather watch a video. So it's not just the platforms have changed, but it's just our behaviors have changed. So that's why I would say like, you know, like go all in on video because I mean, you see our short form content is just blowing up too. It's just people rather watch than read. And that's just, I think that's the way this new generation is going.

Bryan McAnulty [00:05:25]:

Yeah, yeah, I think so too. So yeah, you, you quit your corporate job and became a stay at home mom and kind of went all in on this. Can you share like how you started learning affiliate marketing in the first place?

Whitney Bonds [00:05:39]:

Yeah, yeah. So like I was talking about those bloggers. Those were the bloggers that kind of gave me the confidence to say that I can actually do this because I didn't know any, like, who knows bloggers making money, like a full time income. And so I kind of just went on this like, well, really what happened? I was, I was looking on Google like every single day when I found out I was pregnant with my daughter. I like, the desire for climbing the corporate ladder just went away. So I'm on Google every day looking up like, how do you make money from home with kids? Like, I want to see actual success stories. And I could not find anything. It was just generic advice, just about like, oh, you can be a virtual assistant or you could do this, but okay, but how do you do it? And I wanted to see who's actually doing this, making money.

Whitney Bonds [00:06:23]:

So long story short, I started printing about my situation. I'm like, lord, I need to figure out what to do. And I'll never forget I woke up when I was four months pregnant with this idea to start a blog for moms like me looking for legitimate ways to make money from actual moms. And I'll never forget those bloggers that I was, I read the article they were making $100,000 a month. That's what made me say, okay, this. I could make money using their same business model with this angle. And that's what kind of gave me the confidence to go all in on this. Because now I say that this is, like, my proven business model.

Whitney Bonds [00:06:58]:

You find someone who's doing what you want to do, study them, and then execute. And I've done that now for blogging, and I've done that for YouTube. And I feel like you don't have to reinvent the wheel. Just find something that works and then make it your own. And it's been working really well for me just using that.

Bryan McAnulty [00:07:15]:

Yeah, I think that's such a good point to keep in mind, especially for any newer entrepreneurs listening to this, because it's so common for people to say, somebody's already doing that. I can't do it. Like, there's competition. And thinking about it, like, all the products and businesses that I've launched since 2009 have had competition. Like, there was. There was somebody doing basically that same thing. Like, yes, of course I had a different take on it or a different way, or I thought I could do it better. So it wasn't like just copying it.

Bryan McAnulty [00:07:46]:

But I wasn't the first at any of the things that I did. And I think that it's good for the competition to be there because it shows that this works. Like, there is money instead of you. Yeah, you want the competition. And the thing that I think people usually don't understand is sometimes we overestimate the opportunities for, like, something that never existed before. Like, oh, no one's done this. It could be worth, like, millions. But then we underestimate what's actually happening.

Bryan McAnulty [00:08:16]:

It's like, oh, somebody's doing this well, like, they don't have the whole entire market themselves. Like, there's so much potential, and there's room usually for not two, but, like, hundreds or thousands of competitors in that space.

Whitney Bonds [00:08:30]:

So. And I love to be creative, but, like, every time I try and do things in my own thoughts and ideas, they just never do well. Like, every time I go by something that actually is working, that's when it actually works, because there's proof of it. It's not just some idea. And I guess I would say I'm a creative. I like to think outside the box and do different things. And I still do, but when I look at the results of them, they just don't perform as well when I actually are. I'm looking at my competition, seeing what's Doing well and then using that for inspiration and building off of that foundation.

Whitney Bonds [00:09:02]:

That's already proven. So that's why I just kind of say I've been testing this stuff, and it's just like, just find something proven and make it your own from that.

Bryan McAnulty [00:09:11]:

Yeah, yeah, exactly. So when it comes to YouTube, your channel today has almost 150,000 subscribers. I see you've got the plaque there in the background. How long did it take you to get to that number?

Whitney Bonds [00:09:24]:

Yeah, I don't even know. Let me see. I started my channel in 2020, and I think I got the plaque in three years, because when I first started it, I started my channel about blogging. And then when I started it, I wasn't getting a lot of views. But then I realized that the blogging, the wave of blogging, the interest of it, it had went down by the time I started talking about on YouTube. So there just was not a lot of interest there. But it was working for me. Just not too many people were interested.

Whitney Bonds [00:09:55]:

So then I took a step back and said, okay, I'm doing all this content about blogging, and it's just not that many views. But it really, in reality, just people are not interested in blogging. So I said, okay, well, what can I do? I want the plaque. Like, that was something that I wanted. What can I do? And I was already talking about ways to make money on my blog. So I was like, okay, let me pivot to something that a lot of people are interested in, because in order to get the plaque, you got to do something that's going to be interesting to a lot of people. And that's when I pivoted and changed my channel to making money online. And I did that like a year after I started my.

Whitney Bonds [00:10:30]:

A year and a half after I started my YouTube channel. So when I pivoted and started focusing on just more broader topics that people were interested in, I think it took me maybe a year or something to get the plaque after that. But so a total of maybe two and a half years of just, you know, a video. And I was really consistent. At first. I was doing, like, a video once a week. So that's what I always say. If it's just one video a week, I can do that.

Whitney Bonds [00:10:55]:

And now I've got it down to, like, a system where it's not every video, but, like, typically it takes me five hours to do a YouTube video, and I only do one a week. So it comes down to just research, scripting it. I record the video in 30 minutes and I send it to my editor, and that's how I my process. So it's now it's pretty easy to do to me.

Bryan McAnulty [00:11:17]:

Yeah. So I want to break that process down for people who are curious, like, how much is scripted? How much is just kind of like more of an outline and like, what's the important things that you need to know before you can actually sit down and say, okay, I'm going to just record this.

Whitney Bonds [00:11:35]:

Yeah, great question. So everything is scripted. I read. So I write everything in a Google Doc, and then I have a teleprompter, prompter, and all my videos I'm literally reading. Because one of my things, when I started my YouTube channel, I was like, I can't stay on task. I might start rambling about something else. And I know that I need to be like, staying on topic. So I'm like, okay, how can I do this? And when I realized you could do a teleprompter, I'm like, okay.

Whitney Bonds [00:12:01]:

So I literally am reading everything I say. I'm like, I'm reading. I write how I talk in my script. So I'm reading and saying, in today's video, we're going to be talking about, blah, blah, blah, and I'm reading. And so that's how it's easy for me to do it in 30 minutes because I already know what I'm saying, and I'm just saying it conversationally. And. Yeah. So when it comes down to me doing a video, though, I'll come and the first thing I do is I'll do my research.

Whitney Bonds [00:12:28]:

And I say my research takes around two to three hours because I'm looking for a title and a thumbnail idea before I even start the video. Because if you don't have a good title and thumbnail, they're not going to click. So you can put all this time and energy into your video, but if no one clicks on it, no one will ever watch it. So you just waste all that time. So your title is so important. And once I come to a topic or a title that I know is going to do well based on my competition, I write the script out, I do my research, and I write the script out. And then I'll come down and literally just read from my teleprompter. It takes me 30 minutes, and then I'll send it to my editor, and it's an easier process for my editor because I literally write everything out.

Whitney Bonds [00:13:10]:

So the places that I want to insert, like a certain link or a picture, I'll put it there. So he'll know at what point in the video I want this shown. So it makes it for, like, kind of a seamless process.

Bryan McAnulty [00:13:21]:

Yeah, yeah, I agree. So my. My workflow, I have much smaller YouTube following than you, but it's kind of similar where for. For videos especially where you're teaching something, then I'll use a teleprompter with a script. Same kind of idea that it's set up for the editor that, like, okay, here's a link or here's whatever of, like, the visual. And then when it's, like, ready, then he can just go and put it together and make things look nice. And it's not like, oh, there's Brian rambling for two hours. I got to figure out what is actually important to put in here.

Whitney Bonds [00:13:55]:

Yeah.

Bryan McAnulty [00:13:56]:

And so it's quicker for me to record and it's quicker for him to edit, and I think that's helpful. For me personally, the one thing I found is I am not an enthusiastic person at all. And like, growing up in, like, elementary school, I remember my teachers would tell me, like, brian, you have, like, the best poker face. Like, I have no idea what you're thinking right now. And because I can just kind of be emotionless with things, so I'm not super excited to, like, just be all energetic on YouTube. And I found that if I'm trying to talk about a topic where it's more of like a story or something about myself, it's better to not have that scripted because otherwise, for me at least, I try to, like, read the teleprompter too much, and then I just get into not feeling as, like, natural and, like, excited about it. But so, yeah, for, like, teaching topics, the script makes it easier. For other stuff, I try to have more of, like, an outline.

Bryan McAnulty [00:14:52]:

Cause, like, you. You know, your own story anyway, I guess.

Whitney Bonds [00:14:54]:

Right, Exactly.

Bryan McAnulty [00:14:55]:

But, yeah, I think it helps definitely to concretely know what you're going to talk about so you don't just ramble on. The thing that I want to go back to that you said that I think is so important is the attention thing and, like, the titles and realizing what people want to watch. Because one of the things that I think everyone has to learn if you want to start on YouTube, it kind of applies to, like, almost everything you create online. But I think it's more important to understand for YouTube because you see some of these videos where somebody's got this cool story and it's like, wow, that was really interesting. I have a cool story. I think I want to go Tell everybody. But like nobody's looking for your story because there's not attention around you yet. Like those people with millions of subscribers, like they have, their name has attention.

Bryan McAnulty [00:15:41]:

There's people who want to just see and like learn about them. But when you're starting out, at least some of your content, probably more of it should be around topics that there is attention. Like there's this, there's a demand for information about a certain topic that there aren't enough videos for. And it doesn't have to be one video because like we talked about before, like people want to go and see other people's takes, they want to see more information. And so you could find like, especially like a lot of the YouTubers about like more like news oriented stuff. Like you want to be earlier to cover it. I guess so you can capture that attention. But like there's a lot of people will post about that same exact thing and, and all get like pretty decent views on it.

Whitney Bonds [00:16:25]:

Exactly. No, I've done that before. Like I remember in the pandemic the stimulus checks, that was like such a big deal on YouTube. Like anything you post about that would just kind of go viral. And so I did a video on that because I wasn't, it was a new channel at the time and it did pretty well. So I'm like this thing really does work. Just do anything about a trending topic and it could take off. So but when it comes to the intros too, I think that's so important.

Whitney Bonds [00:16:53]:

And honestly I've been doing ChatGPT so what I do is I write my natural hook that I think will make people interested and then I'll put it in CHAT GPT and say okay, refine this hook to make it seem like that something that they have to continue watching and make them make it a good hook and then I'll see what they say and then obviously it's not going to always be great. But like I always say use your brain on this stuff guys. Just like, like see what you think and ask yourself, like I'm my own avatar. Would I click on that? Would I want to keep watching that? And I ask myself those questions because it's all about just creating curiosity. Why should I keep watching your video? Why should I watch your video through your title and thumbnail? So if you're, you're curious enough, you want them so curious that they're going to click right now, not save for later, you want them to click now. So you just always want to think about curiosity. Are they curious enough to click. And if you can't answer that question, you shouldn't post the video.

Bryan McAnulty [00:17:51]:

Yeah, yeah, it's a great point. And my, my editor says the same thing of, like, we gotta figure out the hook and like, what's the, like the curiosity gap that we're creating there? Because you want to, like that that's the stuff that you have to do. The title, the thumbnail, and then the hook. And like, if you script the rest or not, it depends on, like, your workflow maybe. But like, as long as you're not. Like, as long as you're not misleading the person or there's just junk later on, like, you kind of can't go wrong. Yeah, but you have to show them, like after you've gotten them to click on it now, you have to show them that, like, there's a hint that the thing that they're interested in wanting to learn about, you're going to be talking about that. And, and in some way, like, I think, isn't it, I guess Mr.

Bryan McAnulty [00:18:32]:

Beast who said, like, you have to like, validate the thumbnail and like the first 10 seconds, like, prove that what they just clicked on, like, this is what you're going to talk about.

Whitney Bonds [00:18:40]:

Yeah, exactly. Because even, because even if you hover over a video too, you can see some of the video. So he. Mr. Beast talks about that, like, how important that even is. It's like when they see the video without even click on it first, just giving them a visual of what they're going to get and if they, if they think that's enough. But I do talking head videos, so they just going to see me talking at my desk just like this. But I mean, I think a lot of people expect that if they, if the title is something about, I don't know, five work from home jobs, they're going to expect me to just be talking to them.

Whitney Bonds [00:19:10]:

So it's not anything for these types of videos that you need to do anything extravagant about. Like, unlike Mr. Beast. But he gives really good advice, though. I think his advice is just really good. And it's just very simplistic. He's like, just focus on creating the best video out there. If you do that, you've done a good, great job.

Whitney Bonds [00:19:28]:

So that means the best title, best thumbnail, best intro, and it doesn't take much time to put that much thought into it. Once you do, the more and more you do it, the easier it becomes. So it's just kind of those, this is life's principle. Anything you do, you're gonna get better at it the more you do it.

Bryan McAnulty [00:19:44]:

Yeah, yeah, I think. And that's so important too because so many people say, like, oh, just practice for a little bit. Oh, I'll, I'll wait to, to be better before I really release a video. But you've just got to put it out there because no matter how long you spend practicing or trying, like, it's gonna be bad when you look at it a year from now.

Whitney Bonds [00:20:01]:

So, like some of even recent videos, I'm still like, cringe. I don't like watching my stuff, but I just, I just feel like what. I'm here to help people and make money, so it's not going to help me by not doing anything about it. And if I can do something and some people can resonate with it, then I've done my job. It doesn't have to be perfect.

Bryan McAnulty [00:20:21]:

Yeah, exactly. And, and I think as you get some content out there that becomes only more clear and something you can become more comfortable with because, like, you'll realize, like, I have videos that I made like four or five years ago and I think, like, wow, this is really bad. But like, people commented on it and like, they found it helpful. So, like, it, it did what it was supposed to do. I like, if I did it again today, maybe I could reach more people. Maybe I could help them better. Maybe I would feel better about it. But like, it did its job for what it was and if I didn't do it at all, then I'm not helping anybody.

Whitney Bonds [00:20:53]:

Exactly. So it's almost kind of like I feel like if you know something that could help somebody, you're always being selfish by not sharing that information. And I always say I started my blog not being an expert. I always say, you don't have to be an expert. You just need to be resourceful. So I started a blog about work from home jobs. I wasn't even working from home. I just asked other people who did and shared their stories and like on my YouTube channel, I don't know a lot of things, so I ask other people who know it and I just share their information.

Whitney Bonds [00:21:20]:

So you literally just get paid for sharing information. It's just, it's nothing like else like it where you can just share information and get paid for it. So I'm just like all. I'm like a huge advocate for YouTube.

Bryan McAnulty [00:21:34]:

Yeah. So I'm curious more about like affiliate marketing specifically because I think a lot of people worry that like, oh, affiliate marketing's so saturated or it's so complicated, or I must have Like a giant audience to even start out with this. And so I'm curious, like, your take on that and how it works and any advice you have. Because for me, like, I've made a little bit of money with affiliate marketing, but, like, I guess it's in, like the couple thousands of dollars range. It's not like a thing I ever did full time. It was just a supplement to, like, selling my own products and stuff. But I think there are a lot of people out there who would be interested either in it being their business model or making it like a much bigger portion of their business model than it is today.

Whitney Bonds [00:22:16]:

Yeah, I just feel like businesses are in business because they're solving a problem. So if they're solving a problem, you want to find out, okay, what is this product or service? What problem are they solving? And that's all affiliate marketing is. You're just finding a product out there that a company is saying, hey, I'll actually share a percentage of the sale with you. You can share this with more people. So I always look to first. The first thing I do actually, though, is I find out what people are searching for. And then I ask myself, once I find that, what product or service can I promote in this video that can help this person further? So I have a video that I did on. Well, this actually happened when I found out this girl had a course on how to make money selling dog treats.

Whitney Bonds [00:22:59]:

So then I asked myself, what would people be searching for for this product? So I found out that people are interested in how to make money selling dog treats. So I did a video on that. And I say it in the video, I have it on my thumbnail. And I say, talk about how to make money or thousands selling dog treats. And in the video, I do a very helpful video about, like, how you do that, how you can do this. But at the end, I talk about how this woman makes $4,000 a month doing this. And if you guys want to learn from her, you definitely check out her free workshop. And the free workshop leads you to her course.

Whitney Bonds [00:23:33]:

But I did that video like three years ago, and it's still the first one that you that shows up on YouTube. So just because when. And it's very intentional because people are looking for this thing, how to make money selling dog treats. They are at the point of purchasing decision, they want to learn how. And if I can tell them how and then show them something that can help them actually learn more, they're at the point where they're ready to buy. And that's Why I think affiliate marketing is so powerful is because I don't have to do everything. I don't have to create all these different products to, to help serve these people. I'll just find out what people are searching for and I'll create and I'll answer their questions by promoting different products and services.

Whitney Bonds [00:24:12]:

So that's really how I do it. And you can do it without a following because they don't care about me. I'm not an influencer. I'm just a person sharing helpful information. They don't care about me at all. They just want to know, okay, what, what's my. I answer their questions and they're, they're gone. But they, if they like my content, they definitely subscribe, obviously from the subscribers I have now.

Whitney Bonds [00:24:32]:

But that's the bulk of what I do. I just find out what people are searching for or interested in and I create content that's going to answer their question.

Bryan McAnulty [00:24:40]:

Yeah. So how about like building trust with the audience though? What would you say about like any advice specifically around that? Since I think some people could say, like, first of all, it's important to be a successful affiliate marketer. You don't want people to come to your video and say, I think she's just trying to sell me something. It seems like all her videos she's just trying to sell me something. And you, so you want your audience to trust you, but you also, I guess, like, yeah, what would you say about that? How can you.

Whitney Bonds [00:25:12]:

So I try and do it so naturally where they, it's not like I'm selling, I'm not selling. It's up to them to decide what they want to do. And I always say like, there's different ways to do it too. Like there are videos where I say, one of the tips that I give is you never say the product. So for example, because you need them to click, you don't want them just to Google it and go for themselves. So I'm not even being salesy, you can say, and there's this, for example, I say in one of my videos and I use this tool that was able to help me get understand this problem that I had. And I'll say something like, and I'll link in the description below. But anyway, blah, blah.

Whitney Bonds [00:25:50]:

So I'm just naturally talking and it's like planting a seed in their head, like, oh, I wonder what that tool is. So that makes them go and say, oh, let me check it out in her description. So if they click on it, feel like this could also help Them, then they make a purchase, I earn a commission. So there's ways to do it where you're not even selling anything. And most of the time I'm not selling anything. I'm just like, check it out. See if this is right for you. And.

Whitney Bonds [00:26:12]:

But trust in me is so huge, for I always have to give a credibility to why they. In the very beginning, I have to give credibility to why they should listen to me. So I've done videos on like, Instacart, DoorDash and Amazon Flex. And ask me, have I ever driven for those companies? No. But all I did in the beginning of my video, I said, if you want to learn how to make money with Instacart, you can actually make it a hundred dollars a day and three hours or something like that. And then I go into why they should listen to me. I asked someone who actually does this all the time, and I asked them everything that you want to know to see if this is right for you. So you guys ready to get into it? Let's go.

Whitney Bonds [00:26:51]:

So I'm like, I'm telling them I'm not the person, but I asked someone who did. So this is why they should listen to me. So, like, right in the beginning, I give them the reason, even though I'm not the expert. I tell them why they should listen to me and then they listen to me and then they watch the rest of the video. So that's kind of how I do it. But as far as trust, for sure, I definitely also try and do a mix too. Like, I, I'm very. I don't want my audience to think I'm just trying to sell everything, you know.

Whitney Bonds [00:27:15]:

So there's some videos that I might just do a good, helpful, valuable video and make money through ad revenue just for the sake of not trying to come off salesy.

Bryan McAnulty [00:27:25]:

Yeah, yeah. And I think as you mentioned, like, people can tell when you are just informing and reporting about something and like teaching them something versus saying like, hey, you should buy like X brand and like go look at this product. And I think as an affiliate, you're in a better position in a lot of ways than like somebody who's like, like some kind of like paid promotional content.

Whitney Bonds [00:27:47]:

Yeah, yeah.

Bryan McAnulty [00:27:48]:

Because when, when the brand actually is working with you and paying you, like, that's nice that you have a contract with the brand. But then like, you, you are actually selling it and like endorsing it in a way. Whereas as an affiliate you get to say everything that you want and you get to say like the Bad parts too. You can really give your honest opinion and say, like, so this thing is helpful for X, but like, I don't like this part about it, but it can maybe do this for you and you get to kind of teach your audience about that. So other than the point you mentioned before of looking for, like, what's the question people have? And, like, what's the problem that can solve that? What criteria do you have for, like, deciding what's a product to promote and, like, what's a beginner mistake to avoid around, like, picking the wrong product?

Whitney Bonds [00:28:34]:

Yeah, I say, like, look, one thing I do all the time, and I've talked about it earlier, is I look at my competition. So the people who talk about the very same type of content that I talk about, I look at their. What they're talking about, and you can easily see if they're promoting an affiliate program because you can go to their description and. And just by looking at the link, you can identify if it's an affiliate link. Now, though, three different ways that you can identify as an affiliate link is if it's their website or something like that, and it's like backslash and the name of a product, like, that's something called Pretty Links, where they're just like, cloaking the link to make it not look so spammy. But affiliate links also, they do look a little spammy. So if you do see a link that has, like, a lot of numbers behind it and stuff like that, so you can also say like, oh, that's an affiliate link. Or if you see this thing called Bitly, a lot of YouTubers use that to kind of like track links and things like that, that's typically an affiliate link too.

Whitney Bonds [00:29:28]:

So when I'm looking at my competition, I'm looking at their videos, I'm seeing, do they have any affiliate links that they're promoting? And then I ask myself, okay, that video did well. Would I want to do a content like this? I could see right now that I could get paid for it. Do I want to do this? I ask myself those questions, and if the answer is yes, and I'll just put that video in a spreadsheet to say, okay, that's something I could actually do. And I actually know that I could probably make money from this because I could promote this in my video as well. So that's the way that I kind of go through that, I think is a really good way to do, because it's a video that, you know, has done well. You know, it's. People have. Are receptive to it.

Whitney Bonds [00:30:05]:

But then you also do ask yourself, is this a good product? So I also do my research and look up reviews. Like, I don't want to be promoting something that's just trash. And then like, some people, that's my name on it. So I do my due diligence too. Whenever I'm promoting something, I'm going to do my research to make sure that it's like something legit. And honestly, when you get started, Once you get 10 good affiliate programs, those are going to be the ones that make you the most money anyway. I have like a ton of different affiliate programs that I'm a part of, but it's like, when I think about how much money there it's coming in, it's probably like 10 or less.

Bryan McAnulty [00:30:39]:

Yeah, that's a great point as well. So I'm curious. Then we talked about, like, the creation part of making the video. How much time would you say you spend? Or like, what's involved in like this ideation and research phase? Like, do you feel like right now you've got tons of ideas that you could just go through and make these videos, or do you kind of like go through and like, find the video and then make it right away after that? How's that work?

Whitney Bonds [00:31:03]:

Yeah, so once I find the idea, then what I do next is then I'll start going to my competition and look at the comment section because whatever question that they left out or people are still having a question on, I want to make sure I cover that in my video. So I do my research by basically just looking at the comment section. Sometimes I'll look at the videos that talked about the. What I want to talk about. I don't do it all the time because I don't want to seem like I'm just copying completely. But sometimes I'll still look at their videos, kind of see what did they say? And. And then I'm going to come up with my own unique something because I don't want it to be the exact same thing. But do my research by like, I'll Google some stuff.

Whitney Bonds [00:31:40]:

I'll do like looking. I like to do live research in forums because you get a lot of real, like, information from there. And I'll start creating the content that way and I just like, write it all out. And sometimes I'll use ChatGPT. Like, I'll write my whole script out and then I'll have ChatGPT refine it. I'll ask them, like, can you refine this a little bit to have a Better flow. But I always do the work first because I don't chatgpt. I like, I don't want it to spit out information that they just haven't done the research like I could do.

Bryan McAnulty [00:32:10]:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think that's a great point. And I think looking at the, the comments and things like that is super powerful because like I say that in, in so many places of business is that important for like your own products especially. You want to understand what are the problems that people have. And so I like to think kind of the same way. I try to avoid paying attention too much to either competition or like somebody else making content because I want to make sure it's like my own take on it. But I do want to make sure I understand, like, what are all the problems that people talk about or that they have or the questions because I want to make sure to address those. And what I personally think, like my own concerns or questions might not be the same as like, what's most popular among everybody else.

Whitney Bonds [00:32:57]:

Right. That's so good because yeah, what you might, what might be a problem or question for you is not the same for everyone. So that's why I think research is so important. And I feel like that's the one thing that separates me from a lot of people. It's just that I just take the time to do the research. Like, that's it. If people just took the time and just did look the stuff up, they could do it, have the exact same or even more success. Because I'm like, I feel like I'm not even operating at a high level.

Whitney Bonds [00:33:22]:

So I'm like, if I was just at 40%, I could be doing more, but I'm just at the like the lowest level right now. But I just feel like I'm a stay at home mom. I still want to be like, you know, intentional. The reason why I even started this so I could do more and be more. But I don't want to say I'm comfortable, but I'm just trying to get a good flow of like, how to make all this stuff work and have structure to my life too. So, you know, still trying to figure it all out.

Bryan McAnulty [00:33:50]:

Yeah, that's great. And that's a great point. And I can definitely think of like a couple videos I've come across where it's very clear that the person had the idea that there was a tension around that topic to make the video. But then whatever they said was just basically junk. Like they didn't really do any research or anything there. And if you can do the. The bare minimum, even then you will get more. More views and everything than they did.

Whitney Bonds [00:34:13]:

Yeah.

Bryan McAnulty [00:34:14]:

Yeah.

Whitney Bonds [00:34:15]:

All right.

Bryan McAnulty [00:34:15]:

Well, one of the things I like to do on the show is have every guest ask a question to the audience. So if you could ask our audience anything, whether it's something you're curious about or just want to get people thinking, what would that be?

Whitney Bonds [00:34:27]:

Yeah. So I think you may have a good idea of why YouTube is such a great platform to start on. And my question would be is why haven't you started one yet? Or why are you not as consistent as you could be when you could just be on a platform and make more and work less?

Bryan McAnulty [00:34:43]:

Yeah, that's a great question. And I would add to that that I think an exciting thing about deciding to start that today is I feel like in the past few years, like, everybody had really good, like, production setups and everything, but I feel like right now we're getting to the point that we're kind of over that, and people are going back to just, like, wanting to be authentic. And so it kind of doesn't matter. You don't have to look super fancy or anything with your. Your whole setup. Like, just go there and record. And actually, the more authentic, less, like, heavily edited is potentially actually better nowadays.

Whitney Bonds [00:35:21]:

Yeah.

Bryan McAnulty [00:35:21]:

And so it's a great time to get started.

Whitney Bonds [00:35:24]:

Exactly. No excuses at this point. Your smartphone. I always say if you have your smartphone, you have everything you need to start a YouTube channel.

Bryan McAnulty [00:35:32]:

Yep. All right, well, Whitney, thanks so much for coming on the show. Before we get going, where else can people find you online?

Whitney Bonds [00:35:38]:

Yeah, you can find me on my YouTube channel. So if you go to YouTube.com whitneybonds you can find me there. And I don't know if you have in the show notes, but I'll give you also a free guide to how I make money through affiliate marketing.

Bryan McAnulty [00:35:50]:

Awesome. Thanks, Whitney.

Whitney Bonds [00:35:51]:

Thank you.