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The Wellness Creator Podcast is your go-to source for expert insights and actionable tips in the evolving world of health, wellness, and spiritual-based business. Join us as we explore proven online growth strategies, chat about current trends, and interview fellow wellness creators who’ve managed to turn passion into profit by helping people live better, healthier lives.
Jeni Barcelos (00:01)
Welcome to the Wellness Creator Podcast. In today's episode, we are going to be discussing why you may or may not want to have a resources page with affiliate links as a way to make extra money as a side hustle.
Sandy Connery (00:17)
I love this idea, love this idea. And the reason we're talking about it is that our incredible designer, Danielle, just published on Marvelous a brand new page template so that you can create your own favorite things page. I think it's called my, it's called favorite tools and products page. and so we want to just tell you how to use it, why we're so excited about it. And I think maybe how we plan to use it.
Jeni Barcelos (00:44)
Yes. So I think this goes back to conversations we've had in the past, Sandy, about like when should you bother being an affiliate? Like when does it make sense? And I think for a lot of years early on in our business, like it was mostly software companies like SaaS products that had affiliate links. I mean, there's always Amazon, but beyond that, like there weren't a lot of options. And now I think we are at a place with influencer culture where everyone is a micro influencer or an influencer and basically every brand.
Sandy Connery (00:59)
Mm -hmm.
Mm
Jeni Barcelos (01:12)
has some kind of affiliate or ambassador program. So if you are a business owner in the wellness industry, you should certainly be taking advantage of these commissions because you obviously love and use things yourself, whether they're supplements or PEMF mats or red light devices or books that you love or props, yes, or marvelous software. Like you might as well make a buck by recommending it and sharing it. And I think,
Sandy Connery (01:32)
or marvelous software.
Jeni Barcelos (01:41)
as all of us know, as you develop in your career and you build an audience and you build your thought leadership online and you have a clientele in person, people are always asking you for recommendations. Like this is just normally how culture functions. So you might as well sign up for the programs of the things that you love so that you can share those links out, make it easy for your people to find them, and then also make a little money on the side.
Sandy Connery (01:54)
Mm
Yeah. And I don't think it has to be like in your niche, right? Like of course, and we're going to talk about some ideas in a second, but it can be like what you do for work, but it can also be like your favorite clothing brand that, you know, is local and cotton and not recycled plastics or whatever. Like you can, like people, if you have any sort of credibility with your audience, they're interested in what kind of type of vitamin C that you take or whatever. Like I just think, like think beyond what you do.
Jeni Barcelos (02:30)
Yes. Yes.
Sandy Connery (02:35)
day to day is what I'm trying to say.
Jeni Barcelos (02:36)
Yes, I agree. That's in fact a really good point. I think that we often, especially as women, think about sharing affiliate links as being salesy. And so part of this podcast episode, this conversation, is for those of you that feel that way, it makes you a little uncomfortable. Please twist that around and think about it 180 degrees differently. And think about how you're actually saving people a heck of a lot of time and energy. When I'm looking for a particular supplement,
Sandy Connery (02:47)
Mm -hmm.
Jeni Barcelos (03:04)
I really want a recommendation. I want my doctor to recommend it or you or another friend or someone I trust. Like I don't want to have to go pick from the 500 versions of that vitamin. I don't know. Just tell me what to buy. I don't have the time, the energy, the interest in going down a deep dive. And so I think like if you think about it that way, if someone is looking for the result that you have or the item that you have or whatever, you might as well save them the hassle of having to go figure it out themselves.
Sandy Connery (03:05)
Yeah, when there's a million choices. Yes. Yes.
Yeah, just tell me.
Yeah. And a lot of our clients, they, they do sell things too, right? Like essential oils or skincare lines. you know, and that's not necessarily affiliate, but it's like they're, you know, you're suggesting and selling something to them. So you could add that in. yeah, because, but then, you know, it's really hard to remember to like, you have this side hustle of a essential oils or whatever, and you forget to mention it, right? And nobody knows that you actually do it.
Jeni Barcelos (03:49)
Yeah, that's a great point.
Yeah.
Sandy Connery (04:03)
So I think this template that we now have inside Marvelous, like my favorite products and tools, you can just, it's all set up. All you need to do is like rename it. And then you just need to put like a little photo of whatever it is that you're the product or the service. And then just like, why do you love it? And then you add your link in. It's like your affiliate link so that when people click it, they will get it. But I think like you could divide this into sections where it is like,
Jeni Barcelos (04:23)
Yeah, your affiliate link if you have one. Yeah. Yes.
Sandy Connery (04:32)
things that you use in business or it could be like if you teach yoga, maybe it's like the things you recommend to set up your home yoga studio. If you're an Ayurvedic practitioner, maybe it's the things that you want them to have on hand, whatever, or like maybe it's all the supplements, maybe it's clothing and skincare. Like you can do it into sections and make it super, super interesting, I think. I think it's great.
Jeni Barcelos (04:58)
Yeah, I mean, I don't know if I'm just a weirdo, but like that's pretty much the first page on someone's website that I go to. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Resources, things I love, recommendations. Like I decide whether I'm going to follow that person based on that page. Like for me, I'm like, that's the credibility page is like, what kind of stuff are they recommending? And not everyone has that page. And that's always like a big wah -wah for me when I'm like finding someone new that I'm interested in learning from.
Sandy Connery (05:05)
Things you like, like things I love, page or whatever they call it.
Okay.
Jeni Barcelos (05:28)
But usually people at least have books. if I see the six books that they recommend, that tells me a lot about them and whether they're a good person for me to be paying attention to. And I think like, it's just like how we, I don't know, judge each other or understand each other.
Sandy Connery (05:31)
Yes, books.
Right. Yeah.
Or just see like, is this person compatible? Like, are we, do we think in the same, the same way? And that is a good, thought with the books because maybe on this, like, I, these are the things I love page. Maybe they're not all affiliate links because it's very hard unless you just do an Amazon thing. It's very hard to get a affiliate with, a bookstore as we found out.
Jeni Barcelos (05:47)
Yeah, yes, I really match.
Sandy Connery (06:08)
But maybe still it's like I recommend this book, right? Like it still sort of shows your personality, your belief in your values in like the books I'm reading now. Like I think that's fascinating to see. I always want to know what books people are reading.
Jeni Barcelos (06:17)
Yeah. Yeah.
So I've talked about RoCasa on the podcast before. We've gotten some comments about this. I love this brand. I just placed another order. Huge fan. Hashtag, I need to become an affiliate. I don't know if even have that program. But one of the things that I saw that they did, and this is just to build off of this page, Sandy, is in addition to all the free stuff and the stuff that they recommend for different things, they actually have their founder, it's like, I think $5. It's an opt -in. It's a paid $5 download where it's like,
that she recommends that for whatever reason she doesn't wanna put out publicly and she puts it behind a paywall. So I was like, of course I'm gonna go pay the $5 and see what's in this. But so like for her, it was like hair dye, it was like tanning, lotion recommendations. It was like stuff like that in there that for whatever reason they didn't daylight and make public on their site. And I thought that was also really interesting because people are always asking.
Sandy Connery (06:54)
Ohhhh
Hmm.
Jeni Barcelos (07:17)
that the founders of that company for recommendations for things that they don't make and sell themselves and their products for those of you who aren't aware of this brand, it's like all natural, like healthy skincare, basically essential oil kind of based stuff. they have like, I don't know so many products and consumables like cough syrups and all kinds of stuff. But there's some stuff they don't sell like hair color. And for people who are looking for that, they do have resource behind to pay well. So you could also, you know, if you're like,
Sandy Connery (07:24)
That's brilliant, yeah.
Mm
Mm
Yeah, that's your opt -in. Yeah.
Jeni Barcelos (07:46)
You could try that out as a paid download, right? Like you could say, okay, here's a bunch of my favorite things, but on this page I'm also gonna sell something that's maybe a little more in depth.
Sandy Connery (07:57)
Or it can even be simpler. doesn't have to be a download. It could just be this, page that we have in Marvelous. You just give out the link. You just give that link in an email.
Jeni Barcelos (08:05)
right, like still make the whole link or the whole page behind a paywall. Yes, you certainly could do that too. Yeah, I think you want to like weigh, you know, weigh what makes sense for you and your business. Like for some of you, you don't want all of your recommendations to be behind a paywall. And for some of you, maybe that makes sense and it's fine. So I think that's a good idea to think through. But you could also do a hybrid where you do both. You have a bunch of free stuff and maybe your books and your whatever else you're an affiliate for is free.
Sandy Connery (08:11)
Mm
Jeni Barcelos (08:33)
but then some other recommendations where maybe you're not an affiliate, that's behind a paywall.
Sandy Connery (08:39)
Yeah. Yeah. No, I think it's great. And I do want to talk to Jenny about like where, so you create this page. so let's just say you, this is public available to everybody. page of affiliate links. Where do you suggest people put that link? How do you promote it?
Jeni Barcelos (08:55)
So I recommend that folks who have a website put that just as like an item in the menu. And if you are operating with Marvelous as your only website, you can use that as one of your custom links in your Marvelous page. So it's like an external page. It's a Marvelous pages page. So it's like an external web page. And I would make it very visible. Like I said, like if not in the header, then in the footer of your site, I would make it so it's easy for someone.
who's coming to your site from social media to find it. So obviously put it in your Lincoln bio as well as your Marvelous bio. You could put that as one of your items in your bio. Put it everywhere because like it's no work once you make the page there and you want to help people as much as possible, like find these resources that have been really helpful for you. And you wanna make a little money on the backend and some affiliate programs pay really well.
Sandy Connery (09:38)
Yeah, it's there. It's there. Yeah.
Yeah, I would also add, if you are, know a lot of our clients are using Substack, that could be a tab in Substack. You can just link to an external page, to this page. I would also put it in every single newsletter. Like if you are doing a weekly newsletter, I would have it at the bottom under your signature or like, you know, like courses or membership and then, you know, recommendations, things like that. You could put it as like a little hyperlink that is always after your signature.
Jeni Barcelos (10:14)
favorites.
Sandy Connery (10:22)
or, and then even, you know, on your blog posts, you could be like, want more recommendations for me? So literally everywhere. And then I think there's work to be done to set the page up, like just gathering the links and stuff and like writing a little one -liner about why you love it. the other thing is podcasts. I think you can mention it in your podcast all the time. Show notes, YouTube notes. It could just be like one of those things that is shows up all the time, whether you talked about an item or not. It's just like, here's my, the things I love.
Jeni Barcelos (10:41)
Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. And I will just say, I go to, like, on YouTube, I go to people's, favorite page or, like, affiliate page or Amazon storefront or whatever it is all the time. Because if I'm going to sit there and watch a video about something and may be interested in trying it out, I want to go see the actual item, not just the video of the person talking about it. just like, again, it just makes it easier. It's actually a benefit to your audience and to your customers.
Sandy Connery (11:01)
Yeah, it's so valuable.
Jeni Barcelos (11:17)
The other thing I want to say is, and this is just backing up and thinking about our course, Visible, about like online visibility and marketing, Sandy. One of the best things that you can do is to take these favorite things and each one of them is like a different content idea. It's a different blog post idea. Like, you know, how I use my PEMF mat or my red light therapy. And like, that's an entire piece of content. It's a podcast. It's like a...
Sandy Connery (11:24)
Mm
Mm
Jeni Barcelos (11:44)
blog post, whatever, so you're gonna obviously in that individual blog post link to your affiliate link to the PEMF mat, but then you're also just gonna, like when they go to that affiliate link, you can send them to that page and they're gonna see all your other affiliate links, right? So it's just like, it's a content generator too. And it's not fluff. I mean, I wouldn't do this like every blog post be about a product, but certainly a lot of other folks in wellness have built large brands because they do this exact thing.
Sandy Connery (12:10)
Yeah, but like the story of how you discovered it, when you use it, why you use it, that is interesting. by the way, are going to like, Jenny's like throwing this pimp out. Both of us have one and we are going to, what does it stand for? Pulsed electromagnetic frequency. So we're going to be doing like our first ever product review on this podcast for our pimp maps. So that's why you're saying it.
Jeni Barcelos (12:14)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Magnetic frequency. Yeah.
Sandy Connery (12:37)
but, and I don't have an affiliate for where I bought mine, so I should line that up, but it's very valuable, right? Like you can tell the story about how, why, and when you use the product. How did you discover it? Yes. Yes. Easy to write. Easy to write.
Jeni Barcelos (12:44)
Yeah.
Yeah, I love it. I love this kind of content. Like lots of people love this content. So if you're like a no buy person and you're minimalism, like the minimalist wellness person is your vibe, this maybe is not for you, but for everybody else, like people buy stuff, right? Like you've got to buy food. Most of us buy vitamins or supplements who are in this industry. Like people have to buy stuff like to survive unless you are an off -grid homesteader, which like...
Sandy Connery (13:03)
Mm -hmm.
Yeah, consumables.
Jeni Barcelos (13:17)
Mad props to you. I love you. I love people like you You do you still buy? What chickens I don't know if you can get an affiliate link for like certain kinds of hens at the lake tractor supply Yeah, yes, you're right you could still recommend like which eggs to buy at the tractor supply that would still be useful to your audience You're right. You're right. So yes, even if it's not a money -making thing talking about your favorite thing or like
Sandy Connery (13:20)
Yeah, but you still have things like what chickens you like.
I know but it doesn't all have to be affiliate. You can talk about like the brown hens versus like you can wreck this is where. Yeah.
Right. Right.
Jeni Barcelos (13:46)
your favorite hand tools that you buy to build your cabin, like any of that. Your favorite stainless steel pan that you bought at the thrift store. Yeah, like yes, you're right. You're right. You can still do that.
Sandy Connery (13:54)
how do you fix your fence? Yeah. You're where you break, make your bread. Yeah. You can still make recommendations because you still use things and it's like a way that so many people want to live. So you can, yeah, I think.
Jeni Barcelos (14:05)
Yeah. And in fact, Sandy, lot of the, do watch a lot of minimalist content on YouTube because I don't know, I think I'm like a masochist. I'm like very much like a maximalist. And I watch all these like, I watch all these like minimalist channels, but like often they're like, these are the 15 things I own. And so even though they only own 15 things, they're still affiliate hawking them. So you're right. It doesn't matter.
Sandy Connery (14:18)
Yeah.
The 15 things. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. No, I think it's a, it's a great way to put a little bit more money in your pocket. I would not consider this a second business. We're always talking about one focus, one thing, one thing, one thing, one thing. I don't consider this a second business. This is like supports your existing business. And again, you just have to create it.
That's the work and then just put it everywhere. Just put it everywhere and then you're done. So it's not gonna divert your attention and your energy like having a whole other program to market.
Jeni Barcelos (14:56)
Yep, you're right.
Yes, this is like this used to be a kind of business like back in the early days of the internet when we were dinosaurs like This was like do you want to start a software company? Or do you want to start an affiliate business? Remember that sandy and there are these like sketchy websites where you could go and find like these curated links of all these Things to sell. my gosh. That is not what we're talking about
Sandy Connery (15:09)
Yeah. Yes. Yes.
my God.
Yeah. No, we know somebody, we had some past coaches who had courses and memberships and they were, they were great and they changed their business model to 100 % affiliate. So all they would do is like launch for other people. And we, you and I were like, that sounds like hell to us. Right. And it didn't last long. And I don't even know what they're doing now, but it, it's just not sustainable because everything is real.
Jeni Barcelos (15:40)
Mm -hmm. Yeah. my god.
off.
Sandy Connery (15:53)
you know, you have to rely on somebody else. So I know most of you have seen like Daniela Porte or Amy Porterfield or Marie Forleo launch and then everyone else is like, you know, yeah, yeah, like that was the entire business, which sounds awful. But
Jeni Barcelos (16:07)
in their programs. Yeah. Yeah.
Cause you're actually like having to send emails and launch and do webinars. Like that is not what we're talking about. That is a different conversation. In some cases that can be valuable, but that is not what we're talking about. We're talking about simply curating your favorite things, business or otherwise, like peppering them into your content, your marketing content, having them available as a list for people who ask you, hey, what is that XYZ that you're using? And then you just send them to the link.
Sandy Connery (16:16)
No.
Putting some links.
Mm -hmm. Yep.
Jeni Barcelos (16:38)
and you maybe make a little money on the backside and it's just like a little extra pocket change, it's a little extra side hustly income. You know, a lot of people do this for things like in the finance space, like we're obviously in wellness, but in the personal finance space, people like often have affiliate links for certain credit cards, like travel credit card reward points and stuff. Like this is no different than that.
Like, you don't pay any more when you buy through someone's affiliate link than otherwise. Like, there's no extra money to the person clicking the link and buying. It's just that the company takes a little bit of that marketing profit and shares it with the person who is their affiliate. Yeah.
Sandy Connery (17:05)
Mm Right.
Yeah, that's their marketing budget. Yeah, exactly. So again, I just want to remind all of the marvelous current marvelous clients, this page is built for you. You just need to go drop your links in and then start sharing it. If you're not a marvelous client, you'd have to do a little bit more work, you know, to build it in Squarespace or somewhere else, but totally possible or just become just come on board. Like we got these things already built for you. I don't know.
Jeni Barcelos (17:37)
Or just come on board. Come join the party. Yeah.
Sandy Connery (17:43)
Yeah, so I think it's an exciting update and it just makes sense for all of our clients to have their own favorite page, favorite things page.
Jeni Barcelos (17:52)
Yes. Yes, and I also will say all of you who are current Marvelous clients, you also already have a Marvelous affiliate link. So if you go into your Marvelous Teacher dashboard, there's like a Share and Earn tab on the left sidebar, and then that's where you're to go grab your affiliate link. So you also can be making money doing a revenue share with us when you promote our software and share with your friends and audience and family. just like win, win, win all around.
Sandy Connery (18:01)
Yes.
Absolutely. All right, Jenny, easy one. That was a good one.
Jeni Barcelos (18:23)
Alright folks, we'll see you next week.
Sandy Connery (18:25)
Bye.