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Archive for the ‘Affiliate Marketing’ Category

Before you read the grand finale on affiliate marketing, be sure to go back and read Parts 1-4, if you haven’t already.  They’ll help you tie up any loose ends about the common mistakes people make as well as the wonderful benefits and expert tips for affiliate marketing success.

Here are the two questions people ask me all the time:

“What is the best tip you can give me, Melanie, about affiliate marketing so I can start making some money?”  And “What’s the best way to start?”

The answer to both those questions is the same. You need to focus on finding the RIGHT people to promote and recommend to others.

GET TO KNOW potential affiliate partners first.  Follow them on Twitter, befriend them on Facebook, communicate through emails, attend some of their free teleseminars, opt in to their list, and read their blogs.  Observe what they are doing and how they conduct themselves to decide if you resonate with them or not.

Read the rest of this entry »

Affiliate marketing can be an excellent way to get started in business online or a powerful, profitable addition to a current business.

There are amazing and wonderful products to sell and wonderful product owners to partner with.

Being an affiliate marketer isn’t just about making money, it’s about promoting products that you believe in and are passionate about – this is key to becoming a successful affiliate.

But what if affiliate marketing doesn’t seem to be working for you?

Here are some of the common mistakes to avoid when you are starting out as an affiliate marketer:

1) There’s a disconnect with your visitors

No matter how interesting and informative the content of your site is, most of your visitors won’t stay and browse unless you have injected some of your personality into it.  Add some personal details, perhaps a photo or an about me page, and try to make the content sound as though you are actually talking to your visitors.  Write conversationally, as if you were speaking to your sister or your best friend.

2) All lookers and no buyers

This problem is generally caused by failure to really pre-sell the products you are promoting.  Anticipating the needs of your audience and convincing them that your affiliate product will address that need should increase your conversion rate.  A well designed site will have your customers prepared to buy the product before they even click on the link.

3) Not taking names

Don’t forget to ask your customers for their e-mail addresses, whether that is to receive a newsletter, e-book, audio, video, or a free report.  If you don’t, you are missing out on a great opportunity.  Very few people buy from a site on their first visit.  So capture their e-mail addresses in exchange for something of value so you can gain their trust and confidence and ensure you have future chances to sell to them.

4) Leaving out the human element

Human elements sell better than clever copy every time!  Don’t rely on advertising over testimonials.  Although banner ads in the sidebars on your webpage can lead to affiliate sales, they are not as effective as personal recommendations and endorsements.

Online customers are becoming immune to traditional advertising but the human element of a recommendation can still dramatically increase your sales.  Even though your customers are probably aware that you make a commission from recommending a product, they will reason that you would not endorse something you didn’t believe in because that would damage your reputation and credibility.

Do write a heartfelt enthusiastic endorsement.  It may take some practice, but it will be well worth the effort when the commissions begin to roll in.

5) Tell before you sell

Too much sales-y stuff and too little content turns people off.  Whether you are promoting affiliate products via a website or information products, your customers will want to learn something from you rather than reading a blatant sales pitch.

As a general rule, you should be aiming for 90% high quality informative content and 10% sales content on your site.

6) Repeating the same mistakes

Many affiliate marketers find they are only making a small profit from one product, so they decide to promote a large number of products in order to increase this income.  All you really achieve with this is repeating a formula that doesn’t work very effectively.

If you are not generating much income from your affiliate products, look at different ways to market them.  Having a few well-marketed products is always better than hundreds that get little exposure.  Don’t be afraid to try out some new marketing platforms and strategies.

See you for Part 5 – The Grand Finale!

In part one and part two of this series, you’ve learned about different business models, how to zero in on your affiliate marketing personality, and the cool advantages of becoming an affiliate marketer.

In Part 3,  I want to share some expert tips on how to be successful by promoting and recommending other people’s products, programs, and services.

Tip #1

Dip Your Toe In First

Trying to start up too many sites and affiliate programs when you first begin as an affiliate marketer can mean you won’t have enough quality time and energy to dedicate to each one.  Beginning with one website and a handful (3-5) of relevant affiliate products will give you a chance to learn the ropes.  Once you have found the winning formula, you can repeat it over and over again.

Tip #2

Believe In The Products You Promote

Make sure you purchase and test any product you intend to promote before you begin to sell it.  By recommending it to your target audience, you are putting your reputation on the line! So making sure the product does what it claims is just good business sense.

Check out the company selling the product you are promoting.  Is their customer service up to your standards?  Is their site professional and easy to navigate? Will they treat your customers as you would treat them yourself?

Tip #3

Let’s Talk Money

Check out the payment terms of each affiliate program you join.  What percentage can you expect to get from each sale or will it be a fixed dollar amount?  Will you be paid only for the sale, or will you get commission for each sales lead you generate?  If an affiliate program pays out less than 40% in commissions, I wouldn’t consider joining.  Most pay 50% and some as high as 75%.  Now we’re talking!

Tip #4

Use The Resources In Your Affiliate Members Area

When you join an affiliate program, check your affiliate back office to see what marketing materials have been created for you to use in your promotional and business-building efforts.  These may include email marketing messages, text links, articles, blog posts, graphics, banner ads, Facebook updates, and Tweets for social media marketing.

Some affiliate program owners choose to email you affiliate tips and marketing materials over a 30-day period after you join their program in lieu of having these items stored in the affiliate members area.  In that case, you’ll need to create a file to keep those items handy.

Tip #5

Grab Your Megaphone

You can have a great website promoting high quality affiliate products and fantastic sales copy that would convince the most skeptical visitor to buy, but if you don’t have any traffic to your site, you are not going to make any money.  Successful affiliates spend around 75% of their time and energy on marketing – through e-books, articles, social media venues, classified ads, free reports, tips booklets, and blogging (my favorite).

The beauty of affiliate marketing is that anyone can do it – exclusively or as an addendum to your existing business.

See you for Part 4!

Many people are making a living from affiliate marketing online – some are doing so well, they’re known as SUPER affiliates!

Here are seven really cool advantages to becoming an affiliate marketer by promoting products and/or programs you believe in and highly recommend:

Low Risk

You’re not ultimately responsible for the product you are promoting and you don’t have to spend your own money or time to create a product.

Proven Market

The products’ creators will already have researched the demand for their product and will have some idea of their target market.

Keep your cash in your wallet

You have very low start up costs.  All you really need to begin affiliate marketing is a website or blog.  You don’t necessarily have to set up a new site, you can use affiliate programs to optimize your income from sites you already have.

No need to become an expert copywriter

Many of the tools you need will be provided for you. The minimum you will be provided with is sales materials such as banner ads and product benefits.  Some affiliates are provided with sales copy, Tweets to post on Twitter, autoresponder emails, sales letters, blog posts, and  even website templates.

Save time and money on operating costs

Affiliate marketers have low overheads. By purely promoting someone else’s product rather than creating your own, you have no inventory to look after, no orders to process, and no customer service function to provide.

Passive income

One of the most enticing benefits of affiliate marketing is that you can earn passive income. This means you stop trading hours for dollars. You can review a product once, place the review on your website, and that review can potentially make you money over and over again. This is passive income and affiliate marketing is one of the best businesses to get into for anyone who likes the idea of passive income.

Flexibility

With affiliate marketing, you can work as little or as much as you’d like – you get back what you put into it. This means that your earnings aren’t limited. If you simply want to work a few hours a week and build a business that gives you extra spending money then you can do so. If you want to work a little more and build a long-term business that gives you complete financial freedom then you can do that as well.

There’s no denying that affiliate marketing offers many benefits!

The best part of affiliate marketing is that you can fit it into just about any niche or topic you’re interested in. If your passion is pets for example, you can create an affiliate website about pets and caring for pets. You can then earn money promoting products that pet owners want.

There’s something very appealing about making money doing something you’re passionate about.

See you for Part 3!

Although I’ve been a medical professional for many years, I’m not talking about medical emergencies here.  Let’s put all of those into the hands of the skilled and fine emergency room physicians.

However, I do want to talk about what you can do to put a band-aid on your business in case of a solo entrepreneur emergency.

If you’re brand new to the internet, you’ll want to keep a big box of these band-aids on hand.

You’ll need a smaller supply if you’re a seasoned solo professional and you experience only an occasional cut or scrape.

Whether you’ve been a solo pro for years or you’re just getting your internet biz off the ground …

You need affiliate marketing band-aids!

You’ve been a “promotion and recommendation” expert since kindergarten.

When you got a new toy for your birthday, you shared it and showed it off to your friends.  And when you put on a spiffy new pair of Keds sneakers, you instantly became a walking advertisement – literally and figuratively!

In this series, I’ll be talking about how you can rely on affiliate marketing to create streams of income or heal a drop in sales.

To begin this journey with me, grab a FREE copy of Affiliate Classroom Magazine and read the comparison of different affiliate marketing business models.  No, I am not an affiliate for this magazine.

Choose a business model that fits your goals and your personality.

See you for Part 2!

No, not the rain gutter on your house or the gutter at your local bowling alley!

I’m talking about the gutter/s on your website or blog – the left and/or right hand columns that flank your content.

What items with juicy benefits are you positioning in this prime time piece of real estate? Or are you ignoring this space or maybe just throwing any old stuff in your gutter you happen to have the html code for?

I constantly hear online marketers comment that buttons, badges, and banners in the gutter are insignificant and ineffective.  I don’t go along with that train of thought.  Whenever I land on a site, my eyes will definitely scan down the gutters and see if anything pops out at me.

I’ve met the neatest people, found the coolest resources, and grabbed a number of dynamite freebies by taking a few minutes to see what’s in someone’s gutter.

Take a few minutes today and take inventory of your gutter.  Maybe it’s time to do a little gutter clean up!

Can you see a need for using PLR as an integral part of your marketing strategy?   Nicole Dean offers the Best Original PLR on the planet.

Podcasters and Internet radio show hosts can use private label rights content in a variety of ways to help boost their listenership. PLR articles aren’t just for information sites and here are a few ways podcasters can put them to use on their own site.

1.) Use the articles to post to a blog or website in between shows to keep your show fresh in your listener’s mind.

2.) Use PLR to brainstorm future show topics.

3.) Make recordings of the articles and post them as bonus or mini-podcasts.

No matter how you choose to use your PLR articles to boost your podcast, it’s extremely important that you realize you need to rework the original content to make it your own. Add your own thoughts, rewrite the content to make it fit your audience, add your own personal research and data, etc.

Looking for more tips to give your subscribers about getting the most use out of their PLR? Check out the 9 Uses for PLR Articles.

I sent a Facebook message to Donna Kozik of “My Big Business Card” and “Write A Book In A Weekend” on Friday. She responded quickly. I wrote her again on Saturday. Got another reply. Sent her a note of thanks and appreciation. Received a warm, genuine compliment in return and a promise to send me some new, exciting affiliate promotional materials soon. Trust me, they’ll be in my mailbox in a jiffy pop!

Every single time I reach out to Connie Green of “Build An Online Empire With Connie Ragen Green”, I not only get a timely response, I get the most beautiful words of encouragement. Imagine that!? I don’t have to question Connie’s intentions, I know she sincerely gives a hoot about her affiliates.

I felt as proud as a peacock when Cathy Goodwin of “Copy Cat Copywriting” actually thanked me, publicly, for my loyalty on one of her Thursday copywriting Cat Chats. Does it get any better than that!?

Michael Katz of “Blue Penguin Development” and “E-Newsletter System” is another story. When I saw the exceptional value of what Michael had to offer (and his refreshing sense of humor), I went looking for his affiliate sign-up page. There was none. So I started sending him messages – pronto! He wrote back to tell me that he had turned off his affiliate program. Long story short. I gave him the proverbial “nudge” and he re-opened it again. He emailed me to say “thanks” for giving him the push to light it up again! He added a little compliment by saying that I was “convincing”.

Jessica Swanson of “Shoestring Marketing” makes me feel like I’m the most special Twitter follower in the whole wide world … the whole world wide web! Enough said.

I recall when I wanted to become an affiliate for blogger extraordinaire, Denise Wakeman, of “The Blog Squad”. At the time, she was re-vamping her affiliate program. But … she religiously followed up with me over a period of time and made certain that the sign-up process went smoothly. She checked, double-checked, and triple-checked in with me. Amazing.

I could go on and on …

However, are you seeing a pattern here? As an affiliate, HEARING from the online marketing experts you’ve aligned yourself with is a good sign that you’re promoting the right people.

If you’re looking for worthwhile affiliate programs and professionals that will treat you with dignity and respect (plus great follow up), go to the top of this page and click “Melanie Recommends”.