Rising to the Super Affiliate Level
7.1 What Constitutes a Super Affiliate
Most affiliate marketers have a goal to become known as a super affiliate. But what does the term mean, and what characteristics does a person have to exhibit in order to reach this lofty status? Here is some background on the super affiliate and what it takes to become one of the exalted few who can rightfully claim this title.
Essentially, a super affiliate is a marketing affiliate that has created a network that provides a high volume of traffic to affiliate products and a high percentage of completed sales from that traffic. The super affiliate is not one who reaches this level once, or even once in a great while.
Instead, the super affiliate reaches high sales volumes consistently over a long period of time, resulting in a steady flow of completed sales that never seems to drop off.
Being able to recognize a super affiliate from the rest of the pack may not be easy at first. After all, there are a number of affiliates who generate some steady income from one or a combination of affiliate programs, and in fact have some excellent skills.
However, there are attributes that will set the super affiliate apart from most other marketing people.
One of the most important attributes of a super affiliate is a capacity for recognizing opportunities that others can't or won't see. Super affiliates have to be visionaries, in that they often come up with new ways and places online to generate revenue opportunities for the products they wish to move.
Not content with going down tried and true paths, the super affiliate will brainstorm new variations on old themes, even while thinking in terms of some new territory that is ripe for the introduction of affiliate marketing. You will never hear a super affiliate say that everything has been done. The super affiliate knows there is one more road to travel; all it takes is the vision to find the road and start walking.
Creativity is another hallmark of a super affiliate. The ability to present the same old information is new ways will keep people interested. Super affiliates know how to look at products from a variety of different angles, determine a series of ways to present the product, and then go out and find an audience to match up with each one of those ways.
For the super affiliate, there is always one more way to draw attention to a product, and find a larger audience than ever before.
A third characteristic of a super affiliate is the desire and ability to master technology. This does not necessarily involve becoming an expert in information technology. But it does involve learning enough about existing technology to make good use of avenues already open on the Internet to promote products.
Not being scared off by having to submit reports, articles, and classified ads in different formats to different sites leads to a greater ability to spread the word about all the good things that can be obtained through those links and ads.
Super affiliates do not shrink back because it may take a little while to learn something new. Instead, they will relish the challenge and look forward to the day when they have mastered one more new bit of Internet savvy.
Last, the super affiliate often exhibits a large amount of patience. Using a logical thought process, the super affiliate is able to push aside the desire for instant results and do what it takes to create and nurture a secure affiliate network that will pick up steam and then never slow down again.
This does not mean that the super affiliate is against earning a quick dollar. What it does mean is that when a super affiliate sees an opportunity that may take a few weeks or months to fully develop and bear fruit, they will not pass it over.
Instead, the super affiliate will diversify their operating strategies to include affiliate opportunities that provide a quick turnaround while still devoting time to nurturing one that will require more time but will ultimately yield big results.
Super affiliates many be few in numbers, but the fact is that they can teach the rest of us a lot of things, if we will listen. In the end, they may trigger something that allows us to get on the path to super affiliate status, and become known by that title someday.
7.2 How to Build Influence in the Shoes of a Super Affiliate
One of the things about being a super affiliate is that your status allows you to gain a lot of recognition among other marketers, and sometimes will allow you to capture the attention of companies or individuals that would love to have you take part in their affiliate marketing programs.
Here are some tips on how your status as a super affiliate can be utilized to build your influence as well as bring you ever-greater profits.
Getting the most out of your status as a super affiliate can often begin with a very simple decision on your part to share the wealth of your experience. Because of your success with affiliate marketing, you can easily help persons that are new to the business avoid some of the more common mistakes.
With your guidance, they will not get caught up in some of the side roads that all too often are part of the learning process when it comes to becoming a competent affiliate marketer.
Having that bank of knowledge at your fingertips and being willing to share it with others will do nothing but enhance your reputation in the industry. You can also help to improve the image of the affiliate marketer, since way too many people still associate affiliate marketing with email spam. By pointing out ethical ways to market products and promote yourself, up to and including opt-in mailing lists that are qualified, you do the business in general a service, even as you make your presence even more visible.
Another advantage of your status as a super affiliate has to do with the ability to pick and choose various affiliate programs. As is true with any business community, word about success travels fast among marketers.
Once your name or the name of your affiliate marketing entity begins to make the rounds of the business world as a heavy hitter, you may find that your days of looking for affiliate marketing opportunities is over. Instead, companies come to you with solid offers and perks in an effort to entice you to represent them through an affiliate program.
This sort of recognition can be personally as well as professionally rewarding. It is one thing to be able to secure work whenever you go looking for it. It is quite another to have the work come looking for you.
For super affiliates that like to meet and greet people, you may find that you can pick up some additional income hitting the speaking circuit.
With the name value that your status as a super affiliate has generated, it is not outside the realm of possibility that you could make a handsome amount of money by making yourself available to speak at conferences and other gatherings devoted to affiliate marketers.
Holding workshops at these sorts of events is another way you could earn some extra cash. Because you would basically be helping to motivate other people to do what you have done so well, it would not take a great deal to prepare the materials and be ready to deliver a keynote speech at such an event.
As another perk, you may be able to have all the expenses paid, so you have no out of pocket expense.
Making the most of your status as a super affiliate means enjoying the opportunities that come to you through word of mouth; additionally, it means taking matters into your own hands and promoting your status in such a way that you increase your visibility.
Keep in mind that anything you do to promote yourself will not only open doors to new means of generating revenue, but it will probably also create additional traffic to those places that made you a super affiliate in the first place.
By maximizing your options, you can rest assured of having an excellent revenue stream for many years to come.
7.3 The Super Affiliate Marketing Tactics Exposed!
So what is it that allows a super affiliate to make hundreds or even thousands of sales when you struggle to make 5 sales of the same product? Why is that that super affiliates rake in the cash while you struggle to get by?
Think about this carefully: you’re both selling the exact same product. The only possible difference is the tactics you use to market it. Below, I’ve included a couple tactics that you should use to sell more like super affiliates. Try to incorporate them into your strategy.
Tactic #1: Play the Long Game
Without exception, super affiliates almost always have access to a very large, captive audience. Rather than scraping to find customers whenever a new product goes live, they usually have those customers well in advance; and they are pre-selling them the whole time leading up to the product launch.
In contrast, less successful affiliate marketers often use a sort of Google Cash approach to everything.
Whenever some new launch is coming up, they’ll throw together a promotional website; and try to direct traffic to it using pay per click search engine advertisements or solo ads.
But there’s a major flaw with this approach: almost without exception, people will purchase a “big launch” product from an Internet marketer they already know.
This is why you have to play the long game. Rather than focusing on each individual launch, prepare an approach that will work consistently for years. Start by building a list and sending ALL of your traffic there. This is exactly what super affiliates do; and this is what you should do, too, if you want to make more sales.
Tactic #2: Steal from Super Affiliates Whenever Possible
Many super affiliates are also big name Internet marketers. They have public personas that you can follow quite easily. You can find their userIDs on forums. You can scout out their blogs. You can join their mailing lists. You can find out which sites they own.
I encourage you to follow a handful of super affiliates carefully and steal every single lesson they offer unintentionally. Sign up for their mailing list and watch out they start to pre-sell products; or how they avoid pre-sales and then talk about the product several days after the launch.
There are dozens of different approaches that super affiliates take. None of these approaches is necessarily the “right” approach, but you can learn from each of them, since they are probably successful if a super affiliate is using them.
Tactic #3: Ignore Talk; Look for Revealed Preference
Talk is just that: talk. Many Internet marketers will talk about all sorts of different methods you can use to make money. They’ll tell you to advertise using Google Adwords or to build a list or to create viral reports.
While some of this information may be useful and legitimate, I would encourage you to ignore what they say and watch what they do. This is called “revealed preference.” If something works, they are likely to use it again and again, so look out for those things and ignore the babble.
Tactic #4: Make Friends with the Seller
Believe it or not, the seller wants you to be successful, too. So contact him ahead of time, make friends with him; and see if he has any particular advice for you on selling the product. Keep in mind that he talks to a lot of affiliates on a regular basis (especially around big launches) and has the best understanding of the tactics they actually use.
Conclusion
Super affiliates use a range of tactics in order to consistently outperform other affiliates. But one thing they always do is play the long game. They build lists, create forums, and secure a captive audience in advance of product releases.
7.4 Real Life Case Studies of Super Affiliate Marketing Success
One of the best ways to learn affiliate marketing is to follow those who have been extremely successful doing it. But rather than purchasing their products—which is also a good idea—you can look at what they actually do.
Below, I’ve included some brief case studies on two big name super affiliates. If you read these case studies and follow their actions closely, you should be able to pick up several tricks you can use the next time you decide to sell affiliate products.
Andrew Fox
If you’re not familiar with Andrew Fox – he’s someone to look out for and to follow closely. He will soon be one of the biggest names in Internet marketing. At the age of only 21 – and with only a high school education -- he was asked to speak at the Internet Super Conference
He was by far the youngest speaker to have ever accepted the honor. And yet, even at his age and even without an advanced degree, he was able to excel in his field. This should be a clear lesson to anyone who doubts his own qualifications: there’s nothing that says you have to be an expert in some field to be a successful affiliate marketer.
Andrew has created a number of large, successful businesses, some of which have nothing to do with Internet marketing. For instance, he created a dating and text messaging site for people in the UK.
In addition to selling his own products, Andrew also sells a lot of products as an affiliate. According to interviews with him, he has made as much as $46,000 in a single month from doing so; however, when he first started, he had to work as many as 16 to 18 hours each day—including holidays and weekends—just to get to where he is now. So if you want to attain the success that Andrew has, then you may have to work quite hard.
Ewen Chia
Today, Ewen Chia is an Internet marketing guru. But I didn’t need to tell you that. You’ve probably already heard of him. And, in fact, there’s a good chance you’ve purchased one of his many high-quality Internet marketing info products.
What you may not know about Ewen Chia is that he is also a wildly successful affiliate product marketer. In fact, according to many who follow Internet marketing, he is currently or was for many years the “world’s #1 affiliate marketer.”
Unlike many affiliate marketers, Ewen does not rely on run-of-the-mill, 5-year-old strategies. Instead, browse any salespage for his affiliate marketing products and you are likely to find tactics you have never seen previously.
For instance, one thing Ewen teaches readers in his affiliate marketing courses is how to get sites featured at places such as CNN, Google, Yahoo, and other high-traffic sites for no cost at all. He also teaches them how to generate traffic without using the normal methods, such as PPC, SEO, and Web 2.0 tricks.
Ewen also uses and teaches the following tactics for getting traffic that will purchase affiliate products:
1) using “ethical bribes” on Myspace; 2) placing products in hot marketplaces that 99% of marketers don’t know about; 3) getting people on Ebay to promote affiliate products for you unwittingly; and 4) using “lost sites” to generate traffic.
Ewen uses and espouses tactics that are far from boring or normal. There’s a good chance that you’ve never used the bulk of them. And, for this reason, I would recommend following him closely to learn more about affiliate marketing.
Conclusion
Both Ewen and Andrew are talented affiliate marketers with a history of success. If you, too, want to be successful as an affiliate marketer, you should follow their lead, master their tactics, and take action.
