My Origin Story

Hey there! My name is Chris Fong and I was born and raised near San Francisco where I still live today.

I actually love my full-time job as a software engineer.

But I have also been doing affiliate marketing as a side hustle since 2009. 

It all started when I bought a cheap $7 ebook on the DigitalPoint forums that helped me earn my first $1 online.

I dabbled in a bunch of strategies, but my main success has always been in building websites.

Back in the day, it used to super easy to rank niche sites in Google using various grey and blackhat tactics. I was able to hit six-figures in affiliate commissions really easily, and life was great.

But then in 2011, things came crashing down with the infamous Google Panda update which took out most of my affiliate income overnight.

This made me realize that doing blackhat stuff wasn’t a sustainable strategy. So I focused my energy on creating an authority site and that’s how SmartBusinessTrends.com was born.

I started reviewing and writing about my favorite marketing tools and after a time, I was able to rank for various product related keywords very easily.

This led to real success promoting products like ActiveCampaign, ClickFunnels, Amazing Selling Machine, ConvertKit, Legendary Marketer and many other affiliate programs.

How have I succeeded?

I would like to say because I’m smart.

But honestly I’m not.

However, I’m just always reading, testing, and creating new assets that will help me grow my own affiliate business. I’ve also FAILED a lot too! 

While I used to keep everything I learned to myself, I recently started sharing what I’ve learned to my main FB group, my private Legendary Marketer group and others on my email list. This helped me discover that I get a lot of satisfaction from helping others grow their own business as well.

And I want to help you too.

Chris Fong AMA (Ask Myself Anything)

How Do I Get Started With Affiliate Marketing?

This is the most common question I get.

And it’s not easy to answer since there are so many ways you could get started.

But I’ve adapted this simple system from Spencer Mecham (the #1 ClickFunnels affiliate) that I think anybody can implement.

First you should decide what traffic source you would like to focus on. This will be based on your specific strengths and skills.

If you’re good at writing, then I would suggest blogging. If you’re comfortable making videos, I would go with Youtube. If you have some money and want quicker results, then you can try paid traffic like Adwords, Bing, Facebook Ads or Solo Ads.

Still not sure?  Then Facebook organic marketing is a really good platform for most new marketers.

Then you need to decide on your hook.

This will be some sort of lead magnet that will help you build your list. It needs to be targeted, actionable and easy to consume. (Nobody wants to read your 100 page PLR ebook!)

My main lead magnet is called the Six-Figure Affiliate Roadmap and the hook is that I want to show you how I would start from scratch and become a Super Affiliate in less than 100 Days.

Six Figure Affiliate Roadmap

Create a squeeze page that offers your lead magnet in exchange for an email address. When someone opts-in, promote a related offer on the thank you page. ClickFunnels is what I used to create my landing page.

Finally, the last step is to write your email sequence. You will want to write at least 10 emails, spaced over 30 days. But if you can write more, then write more.

In these emails, get personal, share your story, be entertaining and promote GOOD affiliate offers that will benefit your leads.

Now you have a working passive income affiliate funnel!

You're ready to send as many visitors to it as you can using your chosen traffic source.

You’ll build your email list and your email sequence will make you affiliate commissions on auto pilot.  As you get more successful, keep adding more and more offers into your sequence.

What’s a good lead magnet to use?

I’ve found that reports, checklists, videos and software work really well as lead magnets. If you use ClickFunnels, share funnels can also be very effective.

Here are a few lead magnets that have worked really well for me. You can use these as inspiration for your own.

CF Share Funnel Library
Ultimate List of Lifetime Recurring Affiliate Programs
Million Dollar Ad Swipe Library

What affiliate products should I promote in my email sequence?

I always suggest promoting affiliate products that you have used yourself.  If you are just starting out, Legendary Marketer is a great program to join because of it's impressive value ladder. 

I’ve also put together a great list of Lifetime Recurring Affiliate Programs that you can pick from as well.

==> The Ultimate List of Lifetime Recurring Affiliate Programs

Where’d you get those eBook covers designed?

I used Tim from the Funnel Rolodex. I highly recommend him.

I’m broke and I need money fast. Will this work for me?

Probably not. From my experience, there’s no totally free method that works that fast.

If you want to succeed with affiliate marketing, you going to have to invest some amount of money.

If you’re broke I would suggest trying to offer some services on some freelancing sites to earn some money.

I also recommend going through all of Spencer Mecham's free courses on his site. It will help you level up your knowledge without having to invest any money.

Do you offer any sort of coaching?

I offer free 1-1 FB messenger support for all of my ClickFunnels and Super Affiliate Accelerator affiliates. If you’re interested in this, check out my ClickFunnels bonus page or SAA review post.

I'm also running a Legendary Marketer case study inside a private FB group.  Here is where I'm sharing the exact strategies I'm using to promote this affiliate program which you will be able to learn a lot from.

What other bonuses do you offer?

I currently have bonuses for these products.

But if you want to buy some other product that I review on the site through my link, hit me up over email or chat and we can work something out.

Do you offer any free stuff?

Yup, check these free reports/guides I've made.

Which FB groups are you active on?

What’s are the best courses for learning Affiliate Marketing?

Affiliate Secrets 2.0 by Spencer Mecham is the best paid course I’ve opened my wallet for.  If you don't know him yet, Spencer is the top ClickFunnels affiliate with over $1 million in affiliate commissions.  

It's not cheap, but hey... you're learning from the best.

But, if you're not ready to invest money yet, he also has a great free affiliate marketing course as well.  It's a good way to see if you like Spencer's teaching style. 

I also really like Affiliate Triad by Jason Fladlien.  He's probably the top affiliate in the world who gets the #1 spot for any affiliate launch he participates in.  Affiliate Triad lets you leverage HIS own funnels, bonuses and connections to promote a monthly private affiliate offer.   And he conducts trainings to explain how everything works.

Affiliate Triad only opens up for a few days each month.  But it's worth waiting for your spot, if you are really serious about affiliate marketing.

Where can I learn SEO?

Read all the articles on these two sites:

If you’re in my 1-1 coaching then I’ll help you out as well.

If you want to learn how to create your own Authority Site, then I really recommend the Authority Site System course.

Where can I learn Google Adwords?

Not from me. My account is banned. But the best Adwords training I’ve taken is from Spencer’s Affiliate Secrets 2.0.

How can I learn to write better copy?

I like the Kopywriting Kourse blog by Neville Medhora.  He used to write all the copy for Appsumo.

The Copywriter's Playbook is also an excellent course from Legendary Marketer.  For only $1, you can't go wrong with taking a look

How do I get better at email marketing?

Visit bensettle.com and join Ben's email list. He’s the best.

What’s the best ClickFunnels training?

Hands down it's the One Funnel Away Challenge. It’s really good. And once you’ve gone through it, promote it yourself to earn your money back (100% commissions!)

Oh, and read both DotComSecrets and Expert Secrets.

How did you become a successful ClickFunnels affiliate?

Although I’ve been promoting CF for a long time, I wasn’t too successful until recently.

That’s when I put together an irresistible CF bonus offer, started participating more in the CF related FB groups and helping people out.

Bonus PowerPack

That finally got my little blue car moving in the right direction.

For a little more detail, I also wrote a short guide on how I won the ClickFunnels Dream Car.

What email service do you use?

I currently have paid accounts with ActiveCampaign, ConvertKit, Aweber, and Drip.

But I recommend ActiveCampaign in most cases. Unless you’re doing solo ads in which case I recommend Aweber so you can do affiliate promotions.

What web hosting do you use?

I use WPX Hosting for this site. It’s awesome.

What’s your favorite color?

Blue

Can I chat with you on FB?

Sure, I’m pretty friendly. Hit me up on Facebook messenger and I'd love to chat with you to see how I can help your affiliate business.

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