Profiting From Affiliate Marketing
If you are internet newbie and have no idea whatsoever what affiliate marketing is all about, here’s a brief overview.
According to Wikipedia, “Affiliate Marketing” is a web based marketing practice in which a business rewards one or more affiliates for each visitor or customer brought about by the affiliate’s marketing efforts. See diagram for better understanding.
Sounds pretty cool right? No worries if you don’t have a product to sell, just become an affiliate for another company’s product and wha-la you are in business.
Sometimes life isn’t all that simple. Don’t fall for the usual hype that affiliate marketing is the easiest way to make money online.
Bet you probably heard the phrase “Just join any affiliate program, slap their banner ads on your website, sit back and wait for the profits to start rolling!” Yeah right!
To set the record straight, Yes, it is true that some people have made tons of money from marketing other people’s products on the Internet, but No, affiliate marketing is definitely Not a shortcut to instant riches.
As with any business, offline or online, to be successful in affiliate marketing, we still need the basic building blocks and foundation modules like market research, business planning, financial budgeting and the most dreaded 4-letter word called “WORK”.
So if you’re thinking of using affiliate marketing as a jump start to your Internet business, there are many different views on how to it should be effectively carried out, but generally all strategies evolve around the following.
Search for the appropriate affiliate products that can help solve their problems and I’m sure you will have a much better success rate.
Strategy #1 : Finding Your Niche Market
Most people don’t bother to conduct market research even though they know it is the single most important aspect of any business venture.
They make the common mistake of choosing which affiliate products to promote based on the highest commission offered or ones that are vastly popular because many people are currently promoting them.
Don’t jump head first into the deep end of the pool, start off by evaluating and matching the following :
What are your interests?
What are your areas of expertise?
What kind of problems & solutions are people searching online that is within your areas of interest & expertise?
Who are your potential competitors and what are they offering to help solve these problems?
Conduct a search on Google and other major search engines to identify which group of people who are desperately trying to a solution to their problems online but without much success.
Strategy #2: Have A Specialized & Easy To Navigate Site
There is nothing worst than a site that is jammed packed with affiliate links promoting everything from car insurance to discount vacations and a whole lot of non related stuff in between and all from the same page too!
These “All On One” websites are a complete waste of time to any visitors who are actively looking for a solution to their problem, nothing frustrates visitors more if they have to navigate through countless links just to find what they need.
Make sure you have a specialized website catering for a particular niche market and that any products you chose to promote are closely related to your niche, and closely related to each other as well.
Otherwise, you’ll struggle to find targeted traffic to your site, and you’ll have an even tougher time writing a relevant sales copy that directly relates to your visitors’ needs.
Worse still, you’ll even risk damaging your credibility in the eyes of your potential customers
That’s because, rather than look like someone who has the interests of your visitors at heart, and really wants to help solve their problems, you’ll look like someone who is out to sell them a product just to make a quick sale.
Strategy #3: Establish An Opt-In List & Build A Lasting Relationships With Subscribers
We all know that email marketing plays a major role in any affiliate marketers ongoing promotion efforts. Having an auto-responder software that help automates this process is indispensable.
Ensure you have a strong opt-in offer containing useful information like a Free E-Book or Report that’s relevant to your visitors.
Then, over time, through periodic emails updates, continue to send your valued subscribers even more Free information to create a “Bond” so as to build up trust and rapport.
The more you can prove to your subscribers that you’re a reliable source of useful information, the more you can train your subscribers to look forward to hearing from you and ultimately the more successful you’ll be!
Not only will you be able to build a rapport with your subscribers, you’ll also establish yourself as an expert in your field, making it easy to recommend your products.
Take note that this may just be the single most important aspect in any affiliate markter’s career.
Strategy #4: Whatever You Recommend, Make Sure You Personally Use It First
In the offline world, if you were in the thinking of buying a new car, would you be more inclined to purchase a particular model because you saw an commercial for it on TV, or because a friend that you trusted recommended that you buy it?
It’s a no brainer right, you’d likely go with your friend’s recommendation, right? And most people would too.
And in the online world of affiliate marketing, we can go one up and personally use the affiliate product we are promoting and give your first hand experience on how using this product can help solve their problem by becoming a real-life testimonial.
And that is precisely why placing a whole bunch of affiliate banners or links on your website, and then hoping that someone will actually click on them and buy the product will never really work. How can you expect others to buy it if you have not even tried it before.
Remember, you must build a close relationship with your customers gradually over time so that they begin to trust you and regard you as an expert in that field and ultimately be subsceptable to your opinions and recommendations
If your subscribers perceive that you are genuine in helping them, they’ll actually appreciate the recommendations, and as a result, your conversion rates will soar!
Although affiliate marketing isn’t the shortcut to instant riches, it is possible to earn substantial profits promoting other peoples’ products if you know the correct techniques and accumulate the necessary experience.
Is The Internet Home Based Business Suitable For Everyone?
If you are new to the world of internet marketing, you may ask yourself this simple yet puzzling question, “How are people actually making money on the internet these days?” and I’m sure you wouldn’t be alone on this.
I reckon anyone who is sick of the 9 to 5 “Rat Race” wants to know the answer to this very same question too.
Everyday, there are thousands of people all around the world who make the decision to quit their day job just to try their luck at a shot at “Financial Freedom” through the internet because of the hype surrounding this phenomenon that has supposingly made tons of people overnight millionaires.
But the important question is, have you given serious thought to whether this path to internet riches is the right one for you?
Have you actually set up a comprehensive business plan as how you should kick start & develop your internet business?
What products or services should you be selling?
Who are your target niche market?
How can anyone really make a decent income simply by starting a home based business on the internet without the necessary knowledge and guidance?
Most people will agree with me that they get tons of spam in their inbox of fly-by-night operations that claim to be able to make you a millionaire by starting your own home based internet business.
The truth is that most of these work at home internet business opportunity make their profits by “Pushing” their products to you and then ultimately falling short in the success department.
A word of advice before you plunge head first into any online business opportunity is to always get the most complete information about these so-called “profitable” business opportunity before taking out the wallet.
Make sure that it is not a “Get Rich Quick” scam, or an illegal pyramid scheme that are quite rampant nowadays. Always do a search on Google, read the reviews people are saying, and do your homework or risk being disappointed if it fails to deliver.
On the flip side, starting an online business can be the way to go if your have accumulated the necessary online marketing experience. Continual learning and updated knowledge is the key to success in the world of internet marketing.
Some online business opportunities are indeed a great way to make a good income, but the bottom line is still boils down to the individual’s commitment to make it successful.
Are you willing to put in the dreaded 4 letter word call “WORK” to make your online business venture a fruitful one?
Most internet programs out there apparently seem to portray the fact that you only need to work a couple of hours a day and make thousands of dollar every month.
Seriously, do you think it’s plausible? You can if you are a marketing genius like Derek Gehl, Mike Filsaime, Yanik Silver and the rest of the top notch marketing gurus.
Mind you, these so called marketing experts did not achieve their “Guru” status overnight.
It probably took them years of “Hard Work”, grinding through “16 Hours A Day” work week before finally achieving the famed “16 Hours A Week” phrase that so many program tend to promote.
Maybe in the long run, after you have gained enough online marketing experience and have set up a well established business system to take care of the rigorous day to day operations of your business, you too can enjoy the freedom an internet home based business can bring.
By then, you may just be on the Marketing Guru list, who knows?