The TopRanked.io Weekly Digest: What’s Hot in Affiliate Marketing [Week 5]

We independently review products to bring you the best of the best. When you click one of our links, we may earn a small commission.

This week, we review the fast-growing Empire Flippers affiliate program (read further below).

By now, you’ve probably heard the biggest news item in affiliate marketing (and SEO in general) this week.

Ой, 44.71G yandex git sources утекло)https://t.co/wvITjk4hkI

— Dmitry Balakov (@dbalakov) January 25, 2023

As for those who haven’t seen it, here be the Yandex source code getting leaked.

Unfortunately, there isn’t anything worth getting too excited about just yet. The SEO implications so far are more “yeah, duh” than “omg omg, oh wow, I didn’t see that coming.”

But here’s something a little more enlightening — we also got a peek at just how much Putin really is a precious little snowflake.

Now, again, no big surprises here. Sure, the headline might claim to “reveal how Russia’s top tech company protects Putin’s image.” But we have known about the Russian “meme law” for almost a decade now.

But here’s what we didn’t know — the exact keywords that really got under Putin’s skin.

So here’s a pro tip. If you want the cheat code to make him flip out in the worst way possible, all it takes is muttering the phrase “strange creature waving his hand.”

Now, the astute reader might have noticed I said “flip out in the worst way possible.” And you might be wondering, “Is there a ‘best way possible way’ to flip out?”

Well, turns out there is.

In fact, between his trigger words leaking and that whole Ukraine thing not working out as expected, Putin himself might be looking at that little empire he’s got going on and wishing he could flip out of it right about now.

Curious about where I’m headed?

TopRanked.io Affiliate Partner Program of the Week (Empire Flippers affiliate program)

Question: Where does one turn when they’ve built an empire and decide it’s time to get out of it?

Answer: This week’s #1 pick from our affiliate marketing directory — Empire Flippers.

What is the Empire Flippers Affiliate Program all about?

There’s no point rewriting the book here, so I’m just gonna steal Empire Flippers Affiliate Program’s own ‘about’ headline here — Empire Flippers is “the #1 curated marketplace for buying and selling online businesses.”

Simple and to the point.

What Can I Flip on Empire Flippers?

If you’re curious about what you can flip on Empire Flippers, then take a moment to check out the current listings here.

Basically, there’s something for everyone here. Well… almost everyone.

The bad news is, if you’re a world leader named Vladimir and you’re reading this (Oh, Привет! Hope you like our newsletter!), you’re prolly gonna have a hard time flipping your empire here. Categories like “kickbacks from oligarchs” and “state-sponsored hacking activities” seem to be missing.

As for everyone else (from Amazon Associates to full-blown SaaS providers), the Empire Flippers Affiliate Program has you covered.

What’s in It for Affiliates?

Again, this one’s simple. You just gotta follow their two-step program:

• Step 1: You refer buyers or sellers to Empire Flippers.
• Step 2: The Empire Flippers Affiliate Program pays you money.

It doesn’t get better than this, does it?

Yeah, but How Much Will the Empire Flippers Affiliate Program Pay Me?

Okay, this is where things get complicated.

The Empire Flippers Affiliate Program will pay you a “commission on their commission.” This means you’d better be ready for some serious fourth-grader math if you wanna work this stuff out.

Are you ready?

Good. Here’s how to calculate your commissions earned as part of the Empire Flippers affiliate program

• Step 1: Head here to calculate Empire Flippers Affiliate Program commission on the transaction.
• Step 2: Calculate what 20% of that number is. That’s your Empire Flippers affiliate program commission.

Now for the Easy Way

If that all looks too complicated and ballpark figures are good enough, here are a few pre-calculated examples of Empire Flippers affiliate program commissions:

But Wait, It Only Gets Better with the Empire Flippers affiliate program

I know, I know. You’re probably thinking, “Hold on, peeps dun be makin’ 6-figure-plus transactions all the time. How the hell Ima gonna convert on this?”

Well, easy. Empire Flippers gives you a 2-year cookie. And no, that’s not a typo. That really is a 2-year cookie.

Basically, if you’ve any sort of audience where someone might buy or sell an online empire, then you’ve got a pretty good shot at making some serious moolah as an Empire Flippers affiliate program participant here.

Here’s Everything Else You Need to Know about the Empire Flippers affiliate program

Anything else you need to know? Here’s a few links to help you.

• Here’s our full in-depth Empire Flippers affiliate program review.
• Here are Empire Flippers’ contact details.
• And here’s where you can sign on the dotted line to become an Empire Flippers affiliate.

Affiliate News Takeaways

Trend Spotting

So, apparently cassette tapes are making a comeback to the tune of a 443% increase over the last seven years.

Takeaway

Alright, after this brief overview of the Empire Flippers affiliate program, let’s get straight into the takeaway, because I know you’re probably wondering what a cassette tape revival has to do with affiliate marketing.

So here it is:

1. Everything old eventually becomes new again (duh)
2. Revivals sometimes work in predictable cycles.

Of course, we all knew that first point. But the second point, maybe not so much. After all, if it was such an obvious truth, we wouldn’t have so much trouble predicting the next big thing, would we?

Now, before you go getting all excited about cassettes becoming the next vinyl, hold your horses for a second. There are no guarantees here — a 443% increase in seven years doesn’t equate to a whole lot when you’re coming up off a base of next-to-nothing.

But here’s what is worth getting excited over — identifying new micro-niche opportunities.

You see, if my theory here is correct, whenever something gets revived, there will always be at least a handful of other people who try to revive the thing that came after it.

In this case, it’s vinyl → cassettes.

Next step will probably be CDs and vintage iPods. And before you doubt my judgment, here’s one hipster over on Wired who’s already trying to make CDs a thing again.

You can’t make this stuff up.

So, to cut a long story short, here’s a way to spot micro niches.

• Step 1: Find something old that’s now hip again.
• Step 2: Identify the trend that followed the original trend.
• Step 3: Profit from your new-found micro niche.

And the best part is, micro niches usually come with low competition.

Oh. And here’s the nice bit. If you get lucky and that trend does take off, and you suddenly realize you don’t have enough specialty knowledge to compete, then you know what to do…

Yandex Leak

Of course, it would be remiss if we didn’t mention the Yandex leak here. But instead of detailing every little comment from the source code, let’s try and pull apart what some of the more cryptic messages mean.

Take this one, for example.

#5 Hard pessimization equal PR=0 pic.twitter.com/RRbhuJyZr1

— Alex Buraks (@alex_buraks) January 27, 2023

What in the hell is pessimization? Well, it’s the opposite of optimization. Get it? Optimist → Pessimist? Optimization → Pessimization.

So yeah. Basically, don’t do anything that will un-optimize your website. You know, like installing 20 different photo carousel plugins into your WordPress. But you already knew that, right?

Or how about this one.

#13 Percentage of direct traffic is a ranking factor.

If all your traffic came from Organic Search – it's suspicious + bad for rankings. pic.twitter.com/hjU7ws5uIo

— Alex Buraks (@alex_buraks) January 28, 2023

Okay, so this one might be self-explanatory. Basically, diverse traffic sources are a good thing. 

But what’s more of a mystery is how Yandex knows where all your traffic is coming from.

Wait, scratch that. Is it really such a mystery when you’re scratching Putin’s back?

Okay, just kidding.

The reality is they’re probably just like everyone else. That is, they probably just buy their data from the usual sources.

Takeaway

First, there are two points to make here.

1. For all the hubbub and excitement, no one has found anything revolutionary here. Even if you manage to crack the code on some of the more cryptic ranking factors, “yeah duh” is the usual end result.
2. If some top-secret fundamental ranking factor got leaked, it probably wouldn’t last long. I mean, what search engine’s gonna let working SERP cheat codes see the light of day?

In short, the takeaway is this — yes, this is a fun news item. But no, it’s not really worth spending too much time on. Really, you’re better off moving on and getting back to affiliate marketing. That is, unless you’re just genuinely curious and want to nerd out on n-grams and other things like that.

Closing Thought

Dopamine. It’s pretty harmless, right?

Wrong.

That video is none other than famed neuroscientist Andrew Huberman on the Jocko podcast. And boy, oh boy does he have some things to say about dopamine.

“It’s fair to say that high levels of dopamine achieved without effort will destroy a person. Whether or not that comes through a high-potency drug or a high-potency food, if it comes with an intensity and a frequency that doesn’t require effort, it will destroy a person.”

Now, I’m going to oversimplify here (so you really should listen to the whole podcast). But the takeaway here is pretty simple.

Chasing after low-effort dopamine will have you running around like a rat on a wheel.

Now, Andrew’s not completely against dopamine altogether. In fact, he even says some of it can be good.

To steal one of his examples, the dopamine you get from “eating a pizza after a long run” is probably not that bad. Capping off a high-effort activity with a little dopamine hit helps you to associate that activity with feeling good. This makes you hungry for more.

When it does get bad, however, is when you get that same dopamine hit from something unproductive involving little to no effort.

Now, that no-effort thing isn’t just about high-calorie foods and hard drugs. It can be something as simple as doom-scrolling through inspirational quotes or looking up dank memes (full disclosure, this newsletter is totally out to hook you into a low-effort dopamine loop).

Basically, if it makes you feel good and you don’t have to put in any effort to get it, then it’s probably going to destroy you.

Let that sink in. And don’t forget to join the Empire Flippers affiliate program.

__

(Featured image by SevenStorm JUHASZIMRUS via Pexels)

DISCLAIMER: This article was written by a third party contributor and does not reflect the opinion of Born2Invest, its management, staff or its associates. Please review our disclaimer for more information.

This article may include forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements generally are identified by the words “believe,” “project,” “estimate,” “become,” “plan,” “will,” and similar expressions, including with regards to potential earnings in the Empire Flippers affiliate program. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks as well as uncertainties, including those discussed in the following cautionary statements and elsewhere in this article and on this site. Although the Company may believe that its expectations are based on reasonable assumptions, the actual results that the Company may achieve may differ materially from any forward-looking statements, which reflect the opinions of the management of the Company only as of the date hereof. Additionally, please make sure to read these important disclosures.