What is affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing in a nutshell is the selling of other people’s products for a commission. There are some real advantages to this type of business, such as low cost startup, no inventory and none of the hassles of a brick and mortar business.
How you make money in the affiliate game?
There are 3 basic ways an affiliate gets paid.
PPC (Pay-per-click) - Basically you place your unique affiliate link on your website. Then every time somebody clicks your link you get paid a predetermined amount of money.
While PPC is not as popular with advertisers as it used to be, there is still a lot of money to be made with this type of system. When I think of PPC I think Google Adsense, which is a nice program to build good residual income. I have even seen some sites that use Google Adsense as their primary source of revenue.
PPL (Pay-per-lead) - some affiliate programs pay you to send prospective buyers to their website. Pay-per-lead programs are not commonly used as a base for affiliate marketers as they generally don’t produce the revenue of PPC and PPS programs.
PPS (Pay-per-sale) – This is probably the most common of the 3 and is usually the foundation of any good Affiliate business. You get paid a predetermined commission on all sales through your affiliate links. Commissions vary from program to program so make sure you understand what your commission rate is before signing up.
Affiliate marketing made easy
Affiliate market has been streamlined making it easy for affiliate marketers to get involved in most programs.
In most cases it is as simple as going to the affiliate program website and filling out a short form. After you fill out the form you will get a unique affiliate link. Copy and paste the link on your website and your ready to go. There are even affiliate management sites like Click bank, Commission junction and
Click2Sell with searchable data bases allowing you to find and sign up for affiliate programs right from their website.
Do I need a web site?
Most Affiliates build websites to promote their affiliate business. However some Affiliates just post links in blogs or pay for advertising in ezines to earn commissions. Either way can work but personally I think a website is the best plan.
Don’t get overwhelmed!
Affiliate marketing can be overwhelming for anyone, but is especially tough on newcomers. The way to overcome this overwhelming feeling is to put together an organized action plan. An action plan doesn’t need to be some 50 page step by step guide, just lay out a simple plan and stick to it. The temptation to stray from your plan will often strike, but be focused and see it through. Once you have completed you have plenty of time to go back and make changes if you want.
Example Plan:
Day 1 - Finding my niche
Write down all the niche markets you are interested in promoting, then search them for competition and marketability.
Day 2 - Find a suitable webhost and tools for my website.
Laying out a plan will definitely keep you focused and save time while building your affiliate business.
Avoid falling into MLM schemes
The most common mistake an affiliate makes is getting caught up in the hype around mlm marketing schemes.
This mentally will teach you that the road to success is signing up more and more affiliates below you to make you money.
The problem with this is that if you focus solely on acquiring affiliates to sell for you, is that the affiliates you sign up will most likely follow your lead and so the same. This means nobody is selling the products so there are no commissions to be paid.
Pros of Affiliate Marketing
Pros - Work from home and make your own hours
Affiliate programs are generally free to join
Being your own Boss
Cons - Must learn to stay disciplined and focused to be successful
I have been doing affiliate marketing since 2000 and have thoroughly enjoyed it.
Just getting started?
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