In this edition of the Affiliate Buzz, host and Instructor of the Affiliate Marketers BootCamp, James Martell, is joined first by Kimberly Juchnowski and later by Matt McWilliams, President of Matt McWilliams Consulting and a 2010 Affiliate Manager of the Year at the Affiliate Summit Pinnacle Awards.

In this edition they will discuss a number of different topics including reminding listeners of Elance and how creating your own product can add an additional revenue stream from your blog traffic (tweet). James also gives a brief overview and his first thoughts on PostPlanner.com which he has been recommended by @ScottAyres from the Facebook AnswerMan podcast.

James starts however by talking about a recent email he received from a student. In the email the student inquires about coaching from James for his online business but first he wants to learn a series of tools including WordPress, graphic design and a host of others.

This method is something which James has always recommended against. He believes that you should “do what you do best and outsource the rest”. He points out there are many professionals on Elance who are willing to do the job for you at a reasonable price and far quicker.

Kimberly is then invited to speak about her work using Elance. Typically, James and Kimberly have three types of projects: graphics, writing and technical. Of these categories there can be anything from 8 to 30 projects open.

Kimberly states the essential component of Elance is team building. They go out and find writers who are good in their niche and give them related projects. Due to the style in which they hire freelancers some have been working with them for two or more years.

During this section of the podcast Kimberly and James give advice on the following:

• 
  
• Remembering that freelancers have other clients with deadlines.
  
• How you can ensure that your work remains a priority with the freelancers.
  
• How to get the best price and deals from freelancers.
  
• How a couple of projects James is working on at the moment, using OptinSkin, are to be supported by services acquired through Elance.
  

James has been experimenting with a new tool, which was recommended by the Facebook Answerman podcast with Scott Ayres. The promise of the site is that in just 10 minutes a day you can triple your engagement.

It seems to James that this could be possible. However, his first impressions of the tool were negative. When he clicked on a photo a popup appeared stating only ‘gurus’ could add photos. James followed the link provided and it took him to a signup page for a $29 per month subscription. James feels the instant up-sell is a poor strategy.

Instead James thinks that a strategy like BaseCamp where users get a free trial before adding in credit card details would work best.

Despite this, the tool has impressive functionality despite the continuous popup.

Matt joins the podcast later to talk about creating your own product. Matt is an award winning affiliate marketer who has talked about his awards in episode #253, “A Day in The Life of an Award Winning Affiliate Manager“.

Matt always introduces himself with the line: “Hi I’m Matt and I’m a world changerâ€. Before people think he is big headed he inserts that he believes everyone is a world changer. Matt goes on to talk about his history including building two businesses, being sacked four times and how he avoided a 42 year jail sentence when he was indicted by a grand jury for perjury.

During his time on this podcast, Matt explains the following:

• 
  
• How, when he participated in an affiliate marketing campaign for Michael Hyatt, he earned $1000 in sales from a mailing list of just 287 (tweet).
  
• What one minute activity helps him generate 10 new email list subscribers? (tweet)
  
• Why email is so important for new affiliate marketers. (tweet)
  
• Why creating your own product can be good for generating an extra income. (tweet)
  
• How 99designs helped Matt in creating his own product. (tweet)
  

For Matt, email marketing is an important part of affiliate marketing, this is a view now shared by Smart Passive Income and Social Triggers. In the past, before they had email marketing lists, when their sites went down they were unable to contact their readers. When Matt’s site was down he was able to inform all his audience and it helped to increase traffic.

James also talks about how a student, Eric Boyle owner of CentralPark.com, created his own product on his site. Eric Boyle has also been a guest on the Affiliate Buzz and you can listen to his interview with James about Skyrocketing Email Opt-ins here.

The extra income which can be achieved through creating your own product is evident as Matt sells two of his product during the time he is talking to James.

If you want to be successful, then this podcast is certainly an inspiration, so why not listen to it and then leave us your feedback.

Thanks @MattMcWilliams2 for sharing your story such great tips!