Affiliate Marketing Survival by Pepinfo - HTML preview

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“Affiliate Marketing Survival”

 

The Art and Business of Affiliate Marketing

 

What is Affiliate Marketing?

Affiliate marketing is a type of marketing where an individual promotes another person’s product or service and makes a commission from each sale. The affiliate marketer has no responsibilities for the product quality, delivery or maintenance of product – other than the moral responsibility to their customers of promoting products of high value to them.
Why participate in Affiliate Marketing?

Affiliate marketing allows you the opportunity to work part-time or full time while building a generous residual income.

 

“Residual income (also called passive or recurring income) is income that continues to be generated after the initial effort is expended.” -Marty Foley Affiliate marketing is one of the easiest methods I know of to make money with little or no startup costs and very little technology knowledge needed. There are also effective low-to-no budget marketing methods available -- the product owner is doing the major marketing to gain product or service exposure. Affiliate marketing is something you can start immediately while you’re learning to create your own products and websites.

 

Affiliate marketing is a revenue-generating activity that you can do while you build your main Internet profit stream

 

Affiliate Promotion Process

Below you will see another flow chart I have put together for you that helps you to see the basic Affiliate Marketing flow process that you will be involved in during your Affiliate Marketing.

Common Ways to Promote Affiliate Products

At this point I am just going to list some great ways that I feel you could concentrate on to promote your affiliate products when you are just beginning your Affiliate Marketing venture. In the following pages we will go into more details on the ones that I feel would be best for a beginner to get started with.

List Promotions-By developing a relationship with your list, you can promote items that you feel would be valuable to them.

Blogging Blogging is another incredible way to promote affiliate products. Paid blogs, where you purchase and host your own domain, are the most effective. However, there are free alternatives that can also be effective.

Some sites where you can set up a free blog:
· Blogger Blog – http://www.blogger.com
· WordPress – http://www.wordpress.com
· Weebly – http://www.weebly.com
· Social Media Marketing
· HubPages – http://www.hubpages.com
· Squidoo – http://www.squidoo.com

Article Marketing · Ezine Articles http://www.ezinearticles.com · Go Articles http://www.goarticles.com/ · Article Dashboard – http://articledashboard.com · Easy Articles – http://www.easyarticles.com

Video Marketing (product reviews/benefits) · YouTube – http://www.youtube.com · Real People – http://www.realpeoplerealstuff.com · Revver – http://www.revver.com · MySpace Video http://vids.myspace.com/

Forum Marketing You need to perform a search for the niche forum that fits your marketing needs.

Classified Ads · CraigsList – http://www.craigslist.com · USFreeAds – http://www.usfreeads.com · Backpage – http://www.backpage.com · Kijiji – http://www.kijiji.com · Oodle – http://www.oodle.com

Social Networking Sites · Facebook – http://www.facebook.com · Twitter – http://www.twitter.com · Yahoo Groups – http://groups.yahoo.com · MySpace – http://www.myspace.com · Ning – http://www.ning.com

Pay Per Click Advertising · Google Adwords – http://adwords.google.com · Yahoo Search – http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com · Microsoft – http://advertising.microsoft.com

Sale, Lead or Click

 

Affiliate networks are designed to compensate their affiliates based on 3 different types of actions: pay per click (PPC), pay per lead (PPL), and pay per sale (PPS).

 

Pay Per Click Pay Per Click means when a visitor to a webpage clicks on an affiliate link, the affiliate earns a certain amount.

 

All the visitor has to do is click through and view the advertisement – it doesn't require any other type of action for the affiliate to get paid.

 

PPC is usually the lowest paying type of action, but the easiest to complete.

 

Pay Per Lead A visitor clicks on an affiliate link and fills out a form requesting more information, joining a newsletter or online group.

PPL usually doesn't require a cash transaction or credit card information. Pay Per Sale

Pay Per Sale is usually the highest paying type of action. It also is the hardest (generally) to complete.

 

In PPS, the visitor must complete a purchase or enter their credit card to participate in a product or trial offer.

 

The affiliate gets a percentage (commission) of the sale.

 

"Two-Tier" Affiliate Programs

 

Affiliate programs are two-tier programs that distribute commissions based on a referral network of sign-ups and sub-affiliates.

 

Example: Affiliate A signs up to an affiliate program and gets rewarded for a sale or lead by a visitor.

 

If Affiliate A attracts Affiliate B to sign up for the same program using his sign-up code (or affiliate code), Affiliate B becomes a sub-affiliate of Affiliate A. All future activities performed by Affiliate B will then result in additional commissions for Affiliate A.

 

Finding Products to Promote

 

When you are looking for products to promote there are some basic factors you should be taking into consideration when you are looking for products. Also take into consideration some of the following recommendations when you recommend a product to your list or as an Affiliate for any product.

 

· Be picky about what you promote, and take the time to be sure that everything you recommend is of legitimate value.

· Be HONEST when making your recommendations! Nothing will turn people away more quickly than a blatant attempt to fill them full of hype and hot air just so you can make a few quick bucks.

· Take time to go through the product ahead of time to know exactly what you are promoting and that it is actually worth the value you are trying to sell someone on. (Especially if it is a Marketer you do not know very well, and you are not familiar with the quality of product they deliver.)

· You shouldn’t be selling what you do not believe in and, the fact is that personal testimonials will do a lot to boost your sales.

 

Determining Factors of Affiliate Products Some of the common questions asked by affiliate marketers are these. “What product should I sell as an affiliate? What affiliate products are hot selling? Plain and simple: Research is the only solution here.

 

§ The Wants Wants are the determining dimensions among many choices.

 

§ The Need-Needs are the basic reasons a person is looking for the product or service.

§ The Value Driver Value Drivers are the values or intangibles associated with a product or service. They are actually part of “wants” but your value drivers will become extremely important when products or services are not differentiated from other similar products being offered.

The following are three excellent places to find products that you can become an affiliate for:

· http://www.clickbank.com
· http://www.paydotcom.com
· Commission Junction http://www.cj.com

Other places to consider reviewing: · http://www.click2sell.eu/ · http://www.shareasale.com/ · http://amazon.com

Factors to Consider When Choosing a Product to Promote

There are many factors to consider when selecting an affiliate program to promote. Here are just some of the features that you should be looking for when deciding on what affiliate products to promote.

· Relevance: Promote programs that complement the theme of your site or your Niche.

 

_o Visitors are already interested in the subject of our site, gives you the advantage of an easier sales conversion.

 

· Quality & Stability: There is a huge quantity of Affiliate Products, do not SETTLE for a program that is sloppy just to have a product to promote..

o Look for good reputable companies that are stable.
o Ask to speak to existing affiliates
_o Make sure that full contact details are provided.

· Commissions: As far as commission percentages go, look for products that you will earn a minimum commission of $20.

 

_o In order to achieve maximum profits, I recommend that you aim for commissions at the 50% -100% level.

 

o High end product will usually be lower commissions 25%-50% o Lifetime Commissions. (your customer you sent is cookied to you for life)

 

Residual Commission_o
o When are commissions paid · Affiliate Support: The best companies to work with provide plenty of support

o Promotional material available: sample ads, banners, logos o Advice about maximizing sales provided.

o Statistics on click through sales and earnings should be provided and updated regularly.

o Able to get your questions answered in a reasonable period of time – say, within 24 hours. Be reasonable. If a product owner is in a middle of a major launch his support will generally be heavier and they may be a little behind.

Sales Page or the Pitch Page

· View pitch page to help you learn more about the product and get ideas on how to promote it, such as what keywords people might search to find it, benefits you can highlight in your promotions, and more.

· Look for products with good sales page to market as an affiliate · Is there a good strong and Catchy headline
· Is sales page text or video sales page
· Is sales page clean and easy to navigate
· Good valid, solid, legitimate testimonials from real people!
· Is there a good strong clear call to action
· Does sales page have leaks that will rob your commissions

Warning - look for sales page "leaks“

As an affiliate you want the visitor to read through the sales page and hit that order button with you getting credit for the sale. There are a number of reasons why this does not happen. We call these leaks in the sales page.

§ Link to an affiliate sign up page. Your potential customer could simply become an affiliate and purchase (steal your commission) the product himself.

§ Product Owner offers multiple payment options so for example if you are using a ClickBank ID and ClickBank is not chosen you may not get the commission.

§ The product you are promoting is just one of many unrelated products on a page - a put-off for the potential customer.

 

§ There are many external links which distract the visitor from reaching the order page.

§ The product owner captures your commission. There are offers to join a mailing list or claim a free report: Most of the time you will get credited for any sale ensuing from these leads but on occasion you may run across a unscrupulous product owner that may follow up and make the sale via his own link.

Link Cloaking

 

One of the critical things to do as an affiliate marketer is to protect your income potential.

By masking or cloaking your link you can protect your Affiliate ID and your affiliate commissions.
Here are a few places you can check into to help you mask your affiliate link and help you protect your affiliate commissions.

· Bit.ly – http://www.bit.ly/ (My personal favorite)
· Power Link Generator (Mike Filsaime Product)
· Cli.gs http://www.cli.gs/
· Uforgot.me http://www.uforgot.me/
· BudURL http://budurl.com/
· tinyurl.com

So Many Affiliate Programs! Which One Do I Choose?

When you start out looking for the ultimate affiliate program to join you will find that you will be faced with hundreds of possibilities everywhere you look. Choosing the write Affiliate program can be a big part of the success you achieve as an Affiliate Marketer.

Here are some things you should be looking at to help you make the right decision.

· Will it cost you anything to join? Out of the hundreds and thousands of Affiliate programs available to you to choose from my recommendation is to steer clear of those asking you to pay. There are plenty of free programs for you to choose from that will give you good results.

· When do they issue the commission checks? Knowing when you will receive your commissions is always a good thing to find out. Some will pay you right away after a sale and others will wait 30 days or after refund periods are over to pay your commissions. Knowing this information will help you plan your own financial budgets.

· What are the conversion rates? Knowing the conversion rates for the products that you are promoting will help you to see if your results from the efforts are in line with others that have promoted. It will help you decide if the product is worth promoting in the first place.

If you are getting lower conversion rates compared to other marketers it may mean you need to step up the promotional efforts on your end. Use the conversions as a guide line to follow for your own efforts.

If you are getting considerable lower than most other affiliates you may want to ask the product owner what has worked for others in promoting their products.

· Does this program have plenty of tools and resources? Finding Affiliate programs that provide proper tools for promoting the product will be a big help to you in your promoting efforts.

Many times you may notice there are no tools available for you to use during your promotion. Do not be afraid to ask the product owner if they can provide these tools to help. Many times they just have been busy and forgot to get them loaded up to the tools pages. Many other times they just never thought of it but would be glad to at least provide you with some good swipe copy or banner ads to help you better promote their product.

· How are referrals from an affiliate’s site tracked and for how long do they remain in the system?

· What are the kinds of affiliate stats available? Many Affiliate programs will provide you with reports that you can track clicks on your links, sales you made and your conversion rate, etc. These are important to know so you can keep track of your promotional efforts and have a better understanding as to what is going on and make any changes needed to get better results.

· Does the affiliate program pay for the hits and impressions, besides the commissions on sales?

· Who are you doing business with? (Is it really a solid company?) By all means you should investigate any business you are about to become involved with as an Affiliate marketer. It is important to know who you are working with and what kind of reputation they have. Take the time to do your research ahead of time before you end up burnt by someone with a less than honorable reputation.

· Is the affiliate a one-tier or two-tier program? The difference between the one and two tier program is that the two tiers, you will get compensated for any commissions generated by other Affiliates that you refer to the Affiliate program.

· Is this a program that you like and have interest in? If it does not excite and interest you how will you be at successfully promoting the product? You need your target audience to feel your enthusiasm and interest over the product you promote in order for them to feel it is something of great importance to them as well.

· Is a good fit for your targeted audience? You will not be successful at promoting products that your target market is not interested in. I am sure this is a no-brainer for most reading this ebook J

· Lastly, what is the amount of commission paid? I think this one speaks for itself. Make sure you know what kind of commissions you are working hard for. My recommendation is to not get involved with commissions less than 50% unless it is for high ticket items.

Using Product Recommendations to Increase Your Bottom Line

 

Product recommendation is one of the most effective ways to promote an Affiliate product.

If customers trust you, they will trust your recommendations.
Recommend products that you have confidence in. Those that you are recommending products to will sense the confidence you have in any given product.

Give a good product review.

Do not be afraid to mention things that you do not like about products during your review. You need to be careful to not make the product sound like it is really a bad product. If the product really does have many bad things that you will include in your review I would stay clear of it.

Also be careful if you are doing a review as in not recommending a product. Be careful not to tear a product a part in a way to diminish the credibility of the product owner. There are more effective ways to beat your competition than to try and tear them down.

I have said this many times and I will say t once again, “Only promote products that match your target audience and fulfill the needs and wants they have.” KNOW YOUR CUSTOMERS.

Promote products that position well in your product funnel. It must make sense to the customer before they purchase. You may need to go back and read creating and positioning your irresistible offer if you are not sure as to what I am talking about right now.

Getting Yourself Noticed on the Affiliate Marketing Radar

 

One of the greatest things you can accomplish as an Affiliate marketer is to get yourself and your efforts noticed by the marketers that you are promoting for.

This opens up all sorts of opportunities to you that you may have had a hard time with before such as finding JV partners to help promote and grow your own business.
Below are the top 4 ways I feel you can go about getting noticed on the Affiliate radar.

1. Build your list. This is huge for you and your Affiliate growth in so many ways.

Not only does having a larger and more responsive list help you generate more sales as an Affiliate, but also once you have an established list that is working for you and growing you can leverage that list in getting others on your side to begin helping you. It does not remain a secret for very long who the marketers are with good responsive list.

2. Establish yourself as a Super-Affiliate. Go the extra mile in your Affiliate efforts to become noticed. Work hard a learning all you can to become one of the top Affiliates in your field.

Do not be afraid to put yourself out there to be seen. Make every effort to establish your presence in any way you can.

3. Create your own in-demand product. Creating your own in demand products give you the credibility you need to rise to the top of your Affiliate efforts.

Many people will get into Affiliate Marketing because they feel it keeps them away from having to create their own products.
I feel this is something that could not be further from the truth. If you are going to be recommending products it only stands to reason you have to have credibility and be seen as an expert in your Niche to gain the respect and trust from those you are recommending products to.

Creating your own products also gives you something to offer in return when the product owner of the Affiliate products you are promoting sees the great job you have been doing and asks you how he or she can help you.

Choose to not create your own products is nothing more than leaving piles of money on the table for other Affiliates and product owners to collect right out from under you.

4. Develop relationships with other marketers. Again this is putting your-self out there to be seen. Make every effort to build strong relationships and let others see you are looking to do a good job and willing to learn.

Show them you mean business and intend to stay for the long haul. It is hard to build relationships with someone only to have them drop off the planet after some time and not heard from again.

Affiliate Marketing the Monetization Equation

 

There is a certain order that has to be followed if you are truly going to