Intro to Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate
Marketing has become a starting point for many
infopreneurial hopefuls looking to make it big online.
As
with MLM, Affiliate Marketing is referral marketing but
with some major differences.
For one, it is mostly made up of one tier and not multi
level.* And two,there are no distributors. You have no downline, infact you
don’t even
need to own a product. As
an affiliate you basically become a middle man
between consumers and merchants. You become a publisher (affiliate) for
companies / merchants you endorse.
For
example, you can endorse / promote just about anything, from
golf shoes to baby jewelry, from cookware to iPods. The possibilities
are
endless.
Affiliate
networks such as Clickbank and Commission Junction
give you all the marketing tools you need (banners ads, graphics, text links etc...). These will include your personal affiliate link to begin promoting products.
Some
of the top merchants who participate in affiliate
programs include…
Sony
Dell
Verizon Wireless
Staples
eBay
Amazon
AT&T
Apple Store
Commission
payouts can be as low as 5% and can go up to 60%.
This of course will vary from merchant to merchant.
Simply
refer people from your website/blog to your
merchant’s websites (using your affiliate’s
links/banners). If they purchase a
product you get paid a share of the profits (affiliate commission).
Sounds
simple enough right?
Well,
not exactly.
They
are millions of affiliate marketers online today who
commit fulltime to affiliate marketing but interesting enough, they are
only
about 5% who are really making money from it.
Read About Rosalind Gardner Who Earns $500,000 per Year With Affiliate Marketing
To ensure you get the best possible
results for your efforts make sure you have the following in place before getting started.
Your Niche
Market
Your
first step would be to choose a niche market you are
knowledge about. This can be arts and crafts or baby earings
(I'm sure you can
come up with a better one). The point is to take
what you know and love and
turn it into your own unique content - a website or blog.
Your
site will act a hub and direct all your traffic (visitors) to
the merchants you represent.
If
you love golf, Great! You can easily write a review on
your first PGA tour experience. You can even
talk about Tiger Wood's best game ever. You can see where this is going, but don't
create a blog about golf and then
promote products that don't relate with your theme. This will
only be viewed as
spam.
Relationship
Building
Having
an affiliate link that reads “buy me” simply
doesn’t
work. Ads are all over the internet by the millions. And yes, just like
you
everyone tends to ignore them. That is why taking the time to build
relationships with your visitors is very important. If your web content
is
filled with high quality value your conversion rates (visitors who turn
into
buyers) will tend to be way higher than those websites that are filled
with
pure banner ads and sales pitches.
The
reason is because they fail to build rapport. They fail
to educate. They fail to build trust with their visitors with thru
their web
content.
When
you build high quality value, you gain rapport and
credibility with your visitors. Your affiliate links are no longer ads
they
suddenly become recommendations from a trusted source.
A
visitor wants to know that you have their best interest in
mind, not their wallets.
As
an affiliate marketer you must take into consideration
that no one like to be sold but they love to buy. You don't
sell them anything.
You simply provide them with enough high quality information that your
visitors
will appreciate it and won’t hesitate in visiting your
merchant’s websites when
you make a recommendation.
If
you bluntly publish a sales copy /ad they will bluntly tell
you how they feel by leaving your site. Not only will they leave your
site but
I can almost guarantee they will never return. And that is not what you
want.
Instead
offer them quality content that they value and
respect because it is going to be the only thing that keeps them coming
back.
How you reach a visitor and
what you say to them will
dictate how well you convert them into buyers.
Happy
visitors turn into happy customers!
Your next task is simply to drive enough traffic (visitors)
to your merchant websites where they can purchase a product or service.
But
it is here, the
top
reason why such a huge number of affiliate marketers fail -
The
lack of quality traffic.
Traffic.
Where Do I
Get It From?
It’s
the biggest challenge for affiliate marketers. For many,
driving traffic to their blog/ website (content source) seems difficult
and
sometimes impossible.
You
can choose to pay for it using PPC (pay per click) such
as Google Adwords or invest in ezine (online magazines) advertising.
If
you’re on a tight budget or have none at all free traffic
generation methods such as article marketing or link exchanges work
very well. You
can also build traffic by participating in niche forums and social
networking
sites and including your link to your website or blog. Remember you
want the
traffic going to your website where you can better influence your
readers with
other content you provide.
This
will be the most important part in your affiliate
marketing business. Your income depends on the web traffic you
generate. So get
creative.
Once
you have a steady stream of traffic you can include
videos / articles reviews on certain topics and products and giving
your
personal recommendation – your promotional link.
In
The End How Does
Affiliate Marketing Hold Up?
Pros
- Free
to join
- Up
to 60% commissions (will vary)
- No
inventory or product to maintain
- Zero
to minimum investment
- No
advertising cost (unless you choose to)
- No
shipping cost
- 24/7
income source
- Short
learning curve
Cons
- Stiff
competition
- Can
be time consuming
Becoming
an affiliate marketer is a job you can do on either
a partime or fulltime basis. The only thing that will be required is a
fulltime
commitment.
If
affiliate marketing is
something you would like to pursue, consider taking the
Free 10 Day Affiliate Marketing Training Course.
It will guide you thru building your affiliate business on solid ground, step by step.
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