How to become a digital nomad in affiliate marketing?

Having being myself a digital nomad for 7 years, working in affiliate marketing for nearly two years, it might always seems complicated to swim in the sea of the many digital affiliate marketing programs in order to make money online and live as a digital nomad freely.
How to become a digital nomad in affiliate marketing?


How to become a digital affiliate nomad?

Having being myself a  digital nomad   for 7 years, working in  Affiliate Marketing   for nearly two years, it might always seems complicated to swim in the sea of the many digital  Affiliate Marketing   programs in order to  make money online   and live as a  digital nomad   freely.

From  Starting a blog   to finding the right  Affiliate Marketing   programs that will work for your niche, it is a long way to be able to live off your digital income - and as most of the online community answered us, it is wiser to leave everything behing only after having set a steady income revenue to avoid any inconvenience and lead a sustainable lifestyle.

Our personal favorite affiliate programs are the  Interserver hosting   program for both an amazing blog hosting but also a great affiliate program, the Ezoic premium program that gets you 5 times more revenue than  AdSense rates   only,  TravelPayouts affiliate   for any and all travel related products,  PropellerAds native ads   for  push notifications   monetization, RusVPN service for digital nomadism securisation, and the Luxe Bikini program for summer fashion.

However, to share with you the best tips, we've asked the community of online nomads for their best tips to become a successful  digital nomad   with  Affiliate Marketing   - here are their answers.

Have you been living as a digital nomad yourself, have you considered it, or have you seen digital nomads succeed (or not)? What would be in your opinion the ONE best tip to become a successful digital nomad?

Manny Hernandez: you need to generate a passive income source

Becoming a  digital nomad   is now feasible and easier than it has ever been, but there are a few things that need to be prepared and taken care of in order to make the switch from being a 9 to 5er to the nomadic lifestyle. Firstly, this is not a lifestyle that is very suitable for someone in debt or recurring financial obligations that prohibit you from leaving the country long term because it will be really difficult or almost impossible to pay off your debt while you are on the road trying to build a successful  digital nomad   career. Don’t risk it, rather, pay off all outstanding debt first and then focus on cutting extraneous expenses from your life.

Secondly, you need to generate a passive income source in order to make life easier for yourself as a digital nomad. Some people often sell their property such as their cars or their home to obtain a significant sum of cash in order to fuel their nomadic lifestyle but I don't advise this. I think it's better to generate a passive income source or even get a job as a remote employee at a company you can trust. The key is to find something you can manage as you travel and enjoy the nomadic lifestyle. Be sure to leverage your skills and knowledge to work online as a freelancer, blogger, or anything you can do to generate a passive income. These are the 2 most important things to put into consideration for anyone moving to a  digital nomad   lifestyle.

Become a digital nomad by finding clients on Fiverr
Manny Hernandez is a CEO and the co-Founder of Wealth Growth Wisdom, LLC. He is a consummate marketer and information technology professional with over ten years of experience in the fast-evolving arena of direct response marketing. He absolutely loves to travel around the world and he's been living the work and travel lifestyle for the past decade.
Manny Hernandez is a CEO and the co-Founder of Wealth Growth Wisdom, LLC. He is a consummate marketer and information technology professional with over ten years of experience in the fast-evolving arena of direct response marketing. He absolutely loves to travel around the world and he's been living the work and travel lifestyle for the past decade.

Mike Stenhouse: have multiple income streams

The most important factor in being able to sustain our  digital nomad   lifestyle is having multiple income streams to provide diversity and stability. It is easy to sell your possessions and move to the other side of the world to live off the proceeds, but to make this a lasting experiment rather than an extended holiday you need to have dependable income that can weather economic cycles as well as things like the time of year.

To do this in our own lives we have created multiple sources of income across different industries to ensure that if one slows down or disappears we're not struggling to survive. We work across the real estate, media and marketing industries and have income from physical and digital products, services and affiliates, as well as consulting, and whilst the majority of our income is derived from our core real estate business, knowing we have the others as a backup has given us the freedom to explore the world as digital nomads.

Mike Stenhouse
Mike Stenhouse

Lora Georgieva: a customer portfolio is mandatory to start your new career path

I have considered being a  digital nomad   many times, as digitalization has let many people to be flexible in terms of their working hours, hence, income opportunities. Why I still haven't made that step? There are several factors why this hasn't happened yet. (Although, I would like to be one someday).

* Enough clients/projects to keep you busy throughout the day - As tempting as it might be to leave your regular 9 to 5 work, and just work from a co-working space, home or a coffee shop, a customer portfolio is mandatory to start your new career path. A digital marketer, or content/copy writer, IT specialist, etc. has to work on several projects in order to receive the needed payment that he/she had while working full time for a company. This is required in case one of the projects you work on drops, or your client decides to change the company strategy, or any other reason, that will lead to your eventual withdraw from the business. As you probably already thought so, it takes a lot of time and dedication to build portfolio that will bring you the needed profit. This first step might be most important one. (At least for me.)

* Online tools that help you with analysis - Most companies can afford online tools, that help digital marketers to receive needed information regarding competitors, forecasts for search terms, on and off site analysis, which under normal circumstances are hard to receive. If you are a  digital nomad   some of these tools might be quite expensive to afford on your own. (Some of them have a payment subscription of close to 100$ a month for business analytics.). If you are working on your own, this might be an impossible investment, at least for the first 6-8 months or more of your new career chose.

Lora Georgieva, Digital Marketing, ProExpo Services
Lora Georgieva, Digital Marketing, ProExpo Services

Petros Kantzos: network with other people who have the same lifestyle

I have tried the  digital nomad   lifestyle generating revenue from passive income streams (rental properties, dividend-paying stocks, p2p lending) and my websites. I have traveled to many places because of this location independent lifestyle but the place most helpful place that helped me was  to Bali.   I stayed there for a little over 6 months and I met many people who were digital nomads too. It was very helpful to me because they had more experience than me and they were giving me tips on how to build my websites better and how to implement my income strategies to convert better etc.

During the period I was located  in Bali   I had a membership to a co-working space that allowed me to network with other people and people who had the same lifestyle. We had the opportunity to bounce ideas to each other and make ourselves and our websites better. And, when that day was over, to hang out on the beach and go to parties together. Overall, it was an experience that helped me grow, both my revenue from my websites and my horizon.

Petros Kantzos
Petros Kantzos

Elle Meager: Use as many offline apps as you can

Use as many offline apps as you can. Depending on the locations you travel to, internet is going to be a major headache. The more work you can do offline, the better. The best apps let you work offline, then upload the whole lot in one go once the internet is available again. One of our favorites was Google Translate, which lets you download a language to use offline. Another is Ulysses, a blogging app that lets you create content offline. You can then schedule it to upload when internet is available.

You also need  a VPN.   You can’t be a  digital nomad   without this. Many websites you need to visit won’t work when you’re outside of your own country. We’re affiliate marketers, so we weren’t able to check products, prices, or access images for many businesses without  a VPN.   You might find you’re blocked from, for example, accessing your online bank account.

Elle is the founder of Outdoor Happens. She traveled the world for 14 months whilst writing content to help people create amazing backyards with gardening advice, DIY tutorials, outdoor cooking guides, and more.
Elle is the founder of Outdoor Happens. She traveled the world for 14 months whilst writing content to help people create amazing backyards with gardening advice, DIY tutorials, outdoor cooking guides, and more.

Simon Ensor: develop long lasting relationships

At Catchworks we believe that the agency model should shift towards modern working practices, including digital nomads. The digital marketing industry provides a great environment for these individuals, who often have sought after skillsets.

There are numerous benefits to being a digital nomad, but cashflow and forward booked work are perhaps some of the hardest to manage. They're also critical to providing the freedom that many digital nomads yearn for. As such, we would highly recommend developing strong relationships with agencies or third parties that have a consistent flow of work. Through these relationships you can often greatly reduce the amount of business development time that you need to devote to hunting project after project, which can increase stress and reduce the amount of time delivering work.

Also, it doesn't necessarily have to be with agencies or third parties. You can of course sell directly to customers, but again, look to develop that relationship into a longer term engagement. Not only will you be more secure from a financial perspective but it will also provide you with more time to deliver great results and foster referrals.

Simon Ensor have previously grown two marketing agencies and have recently started a new agency called Catchworks that predominantly taps into the digital nomad skillbase.
Simon Ensor have previously grown two marketing agencies and have recently started a new agency called Catchworks that predominantly taps into the digital nomad skillbase.

Mark Cesley: perfect specific expertise

If I had to give one essential tip to anyone who wishes to become a  digital nomad   - perfecting specific expertise would be it. Internet offers endless opportunities and it's tempting to spread in different directions. The downside is that unless you become an expert in your field and separate yourself from the crowd - you won't succeed. Using content writing as an example: you can go on Upwork and take every article you are offered, but it won't be something you can really count on.

On the other hand, if you become an expert in certain niche, whatever it might be (reviews, dating, financial analysis, seo, etc) - you can become the go to guy/girl in that field. The advantages here are numerous:

  • 1. Higher work demand - you are less dependent on arbitrary click on your Upwork profile.
  • 2. Higher earnings - as an expert in certain area you will be able to charge more per hour.
  • 3. Longtime business relations - most tasks, even online, are not one time events. By building your expertise you can develop long term business relations with one ore few companies that will cover all your available work time and more.

I quit my job in 2013. After checking few options I've decided to focus on  Affiliate Marketing   and that's what I've been doing since. It wasn't easy. I had zero understanding in programming, designing and pretty much every other area of affiliate marketing. On top of that English is not my mother tongue which made things even tougher. Few times I almost went back for job searching but eventually, after 10 months I made my first $1. A year later I was making five figures from my site.

My first site was https://www.slotmachinesonline.co/ . I loved playing slots since I was 21 and the idea was to use my knowledge and understanding in that area. It is extremely ugly and I've done 10,000 mistakes building it. But that's what showed me that it is possible. Plus, learning from these mistake helped me to get better and more efficient in my work today.

Mark Cesley
Mark Cesley

Katie Lamb: don't give up!

My name's Katie Lamb and I've been a  digital nomad   for the last 17 months. I'm currently in lockdown in El Nido, the Philippines. It's been an interesting journey taking me from Nepal,  to Thailand,   Malaysia, Cambodia, Thailand again and now the Philippines. My plan was to travel living on my freelance writing earnings and work on building another online business.

I've learned which online businesses are not right for me and I'm now working on building my blog. I've had many ups and downs but it's been an amazing year which I wouldn't change for the world. In my opinion, the one best tip to become a successful  digital nomad   is DON'T GIVE UP. We all want to be an overnight success but that's just not a reality. Not everything will go your way but if you see failure as a learning curve, you WILL succeed.

Katie Lamb, Freelance writer, Affiliate Marketer
Katie Lamb, Freelance writer, Affiliate Marketer

Sanket Abhay Desai: trust that this lifestyle works

In my opinion the one best tip to being a successful nomad is to Trust that this life-style works. Because this lifestyle is so uncommon, many people who want to pursue it, end up doubting it because they do not see an early result. But with patience and consistent effort results will come.

Well I am not a  digital nomad   but surely I have considered being one and I am working towards it. There are two books that are an inspiration to me. They are Vagabonding and 4 Hour Work Week. These books have profiles and tips on many successful digital nomads. One who is really interested in this lifestyle can get good guidance from these books. Currently following tips from these books I have managed to achieve financial independence. Besides my job I am doing following things.

  • 1) Running my blog and earning money through Google adsense (One can make minimum $100 per day depending on the blog niche and traffic)
  • 2) I am also earning money through BetterWorld Books Mturk (One can make atleast $100 per day) task listed on it need no special skills
  • 3) I also promote affiliate offers on Clickbank, and Maxbounty I promote offers freely using Facebook and Pinterest (its easy to make a minimum of $150 to $200 per day)
  • 4) I also have a profitable portfolio of stock investment and I use Robinhood app to manage my stock portfolio.

The best part of all the above platforms is, an easy way of application and all these platforms are very easy to use. Non of the side hustles I do need any prior experience. I will certainly stick with my side hustle projects even after things are back to normal

All of the listed activities above have helped me make decent money.

I am Sanket Abhay Desai, a former Digital Marketing Associate for JPMorgan Chase. I also run a blog, link to it is itsonlinemarketing.com
I am Sanket Abhay Desai, a former Digital Marketing Associate for JPMorgan Chase. I also run a blog, link to it is itsonlinemarketing.com

Syed Usman Hashmi: pursue what you have always wanted to

The current situation in the world is very overwhelming and you keep hearing news of employees getting laid off, as corporations are struggling to break even. So becoming a  digital nomad   for not only these days but in the future also can be beneficial in many scenarios. With crisis comes opportunity and being a part of the digital age, there are virtually no borders. Use the crisis as an opportunity to pursue what you have always wanted to and share your story with the world. Some of the Best remote jobs that fit for digital nomads to be successful are (Content marketing, Freelancing, or becoming an influencer).If you have the knowledge and possess skills to do these jobs, then no one can stop you from becoming a successful digital nomad,I have been working as an SEO and Digital Marketing Strategist for years but I also work as a freelancer on different projects, which helps me earn a sound living for my family and live a prosperous life, and yes I can say that I am a successful digital Nomad.Just stick with your Knowledge and start working on your goals.

Pursue your digital nomad dream on Fiverr
Syed Usman Hashmi loves to socialize, travel, read books, and occasionally writes to spread his knowledge via blogs and discussions. He also teaches individuals who are pursuing their future in Digital Marketing.
Syed Usman Hashmi loves to socialize, travel, read books, and occasionally writes to spread his knowledge via blogs and discussions. He also teaches individuals who are pursuing their future in Digital Marketing.

Joseph Tsaker: you need to aggessively educate yourself

To become a digital marketing professional of repute, you need to aggressively educate yourself by regularly attending webinars, learning from reputable industry individuals and blogs in addition to the courses you partake online. This is because digital marketing is a continually evolving niche.

Also, it is important to learn the other fields on the niche like social media marketing, SEO and copywriting to complement your knowledge of your key specification.

These are the methods that I follow myself too.

Joseph Tsaker is the owner of Nigeria's digital marketing agency, DeAnalyst.
Joseph Tsaker is the owner of Nigeria's digital marketing agency, DeAnalyst.

Yoann Bierling
About the author - Yoann Bierling
Yoann Bierling is a Web Publishing & Digital Consulting professional, making a global impact through expertise and innovation in technologies. Passionate about empowering individuals and organizations to thrive in the digital age, he is driven to deliver exceptional results and drive growth through educational content creation.



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