Job Counseling in Hard Times

With 136,000 contacts your clients are no longer simple job seekers. They are mass communicators. Big time. That can translate into cash.

If the article is any good, a common response will be, "Can you suggest some reference material?" Answering that question opens the door for a very legitimate stream of income.

You may not realize that offering book suggestions is a serious benefit for a book dealer. Attracting new buyers keeps their business healthy. Booksellers are more than willing to pay a commission for your referrals.

Basic Calculation

If the citations are linked to an online bookseller, your clients are entitled to a commission. Amazon.com, for example, offers a 15% commission on direct links to books purchased. (See Amazon's Affiliate program for details.)

Let's say ten references are cited in the article. Their average retail price is $35.

If someone is seriously interested in the topic, they should buy three books (some will buy them all). Take 15% of $35 times 3 books, and it comes to a commission of $15.75 per reader.

The Cash Number

Going back to the previous contact calculation, if half of the contacts buy a third of the references, that can generate $1,007,000 ($15.75 x 136,000 / 2) in commissions.

$1,000,000. From one article!

It is not crazy. It's the potential of the Internet.

When useful information combines with massive exposure and a commission, the results can be spectacular.

Obviously, your client's career is important. But $1,000,000 does open up the options.

Your Client Can't Lose

Even if the contacts only buy one book, that's $330,000. If your client contacts just a third of the people and gets zero buzz from the article, that's still $110,000.

So what if the first article only makes $100,000. Your client can improve on the second one. It may take five articles to get it right. So what. The potential return makes it a good investment of time.

At the very minimum, your clients will develop one heck of a job hunt network. They can't lose.

Additional Reading

Affiliate Selling: Building Revenue on the Web by Greg Helmstetter and Pamela Metivier. Wiley, 2000.
* Background and implementation suggestions. Practical instructions on how to weave the links into the Web site.

The Complete Guide to Associate & Affiliate Programs on the Net: Turning Clicks Into Cash by Daniel Gray. McGraw-Hill, 1999.
* More information on specific steps to set up your program.