An affiliate marketing business really could be your key to financial freedom, but at the same time you could be taking on one massive headache if you don't ensure that you are doing the right things in a prompt fashion to make your efforts worthwhile and avoid wasting your time.
There are two sides to this industry, one is the absolute simplicity of it, you have a website that does all the selling for you.
The other is the promotion of that website of yours in order to generate profits, and depending on how you take action this can be easy or difficult.
Most of the time it is directly proportionate to the time you invest in promotion but only if you are doing the things that are proven successful by those people who are already doing them.
There are two sides to this industry, one is the absolute simplicity of it, you have a website that does all the selling for you.
The other is the promotion of that website of yours in order to generate profits, and depending on how you take action this can be easy or difficult.
Most of the time it is directly proportionate to the time you invest in promotion but only if you are doing the things that are proven successful by those people who are already doing them.
Step 1 For Affiliate Marketing Success:
Choose a direction
This may seem pretty obvious... your direction is affiliate marketing, right?
Wrong!
There are so many avenues to go down as an affiliate, that if you don't pick a definitive and proven successful strategy to go forward with, you could be stuck in a rut six months down the road with no profits and in a worse position than you were before.
Allow me to give you a few examples.
With just a few platforms you could find yourself in all manner of directions....
You can see from this small list that you could very soon be in a bit of a mess with distractions if you do not spend some time to make a definitive decision about how you wish to promote your products as an affiliate.
My personal recommendation for a fresh faced affiliate would be to go down the self hosted wordpress blogs route, if you don't have some capital to invest for domains and hosting etc, then go out and get a weekend job to support your business until you start making money. You will be thankful down the road that you had a solid foundation to build on.
Publishing your content solely on free platforms and third party hosting solutions is not a good idea, while platforms like squidoo, hubpages, blogger etc. do have their uses.. I would not recommend that you try to build a business from them. They are added tools and traffic builders, not foundations.
Choose a direction
This may seem pretty obvious... your direction is affiliate marketing, right?
Wrong!
There are so many avenues to go down as an affiliate, that if you don't pick a definitive and proven successful strategy to go forward with, you could be stuck in a rut six months down the road with no profits and in a worse position than you were before.
Allow me to give you a few examples.
With just a few platforms you could find yourself in all manner of directions....
Free Blogs like blogger.com for your promotion?
Free platforms like squidoo, hubpages etc for your promotion?
Self hosted wordpress blogs?
Mini-sites covering many topics in the same niche?
Article marketing?
You can see from this small list that you could very soon be in a bit of a mess with distractions if you do not spend some time to make a definitive decision about how you wish to promote your products as an affiliate.
My personal recommendation for a fresh faced affiliate would be to go down the self hosted wordpress blogs route, if you don't have some capital to invest for domains and hosting etc, then go out and get a weekend job to support your business until you start making money. You will be thankful down the road that you had a solid foundation to build on.
Publishing your content solely on free platforms and third party hosting solutions is not a good idea, while platforms like squidoo, hubpages, blogger etc. do have their uses.. I would not recommend that you try to build a business from them. They are added tools and traffic builders, not foundations.
The Conduit Method
If there is on strategy that I think is out of the box easy to make money with as an affiliate marketer, it would have to be Chris rempel's The Conduit Method.The strategy is so simple yet overlooked by most of the industry prior to Chris releasing it into the marketplace.
The whole idea behind the conduit method is to cleverly put your affiliate site in between an internet search and the final product. If the person searching is looking for a product and you can offer it at your site, you will intercept pretty much all the inevitable sales. You are simply focusing on low competition search phrases and engineering your site to cater for it.
This shows you how to do it in simple steps to have you in profit VERY fast.
Price: $14.95
The Conduit Method <- Buy Product
Step 2 For Affiliate Marketing Success:
Create Yourself a Plan of Action
Your plan of action can be defined from your chosen strategy, but it is NOT to be your chosen strategy.
A plan of action should involve your daily goals, weekly goals, monthly goals, income expectations and projections and everything else in between. You need to focus on what you have to do to get your business off the ground and what you aim to achieve from your actions.
Make a 6 month forecast plan for your business and then detail the daily steps required to get you there. If you are unsure about anything then be sure to consult with someone who can give you a better idea of what to expect.
do your research
This enables you to fully understand and appreciate what sort of returns you can expect from your investment of time or money. If you know where you are going and know the actions required to get you there, you will be 5 steps ahead of most fresh faced affiliate marketing folk.
Create Yourself a Plan of Action
Your plan of action can be defined from your chosen strategy, but it is NOT to be your chosen strategy.
A plan of action should involve your daily goals, weekly goals, monthly goals, income expectations and projections and everything else in between. You need to focus on what you have to do to get your business off the ground and what you aim to achieve from your actions.
Make a 6 month forecast plan for your business and then detail the daily steps required to get you there. If you are unsure about anything then be sure to consult with someone who can give you a better idea of what to expect.
do your research
This enables you to fully understand and appreciate what sort of returns you can expect from your investment of time or money. If you know where you are going and know the actions required to get you there, you will be 5 steps ahead of most fresh faced affiliate marketing folk.
Kevin Riley's How-To Book Business
If you need an A,B,C step by step guide to generating your very own business online selling products of all shapes, sizes and kinds.. then Kevin Riley's How-To Book Business is right up your alleyNot only will you have the power of a marketing genius in your hands, but you will have some really cool steps to success laid out for you. This guy really walks the walk when it comes to marketing online. It is your chance to get guidance from a man who is doing it ever day.
Price: $69.95
How-To Book Business <- Buy Product
Step 3 For Affiliate Marketing Success:
Learn the following in detail and adhere to it at all times:
The KEY to making massive success as an affiliate marketer is connecting people in any niche or market to the things that they need, want or desire.
It has long been said that if you find a hungry niche or market and then give them exactly what they want, you will have no trouble making sales. This is so very true when it comes to affiliate marketing.
Your goal should be to help people solve their problems, whether that be an actual problem or a problem like finding a new television or piece of equipment. You can sell products all day long if you focus on helping people with what they are looking for.
Millions of people come online all day long looking for things, hence the massive success of search engine's like Google. So if you focus on being in their path to help, you will profit as a result of the sales you make.
Learn the following in detail and adhere to it at all times:
The KEY to making massive success as an affiliate marketer is connecting people in any niche or market to the things that they need, want or desire.
It has long been said that if you find a hungry niche or market and then give them exactly what they want, you will have no trouble making sales. This is so very true when it comes to affiliate marketing.
Your goal should be to help people solve their problems, whether that be an actual problem or a problem like finding a new television or piece of equipment. You can sell products all day long if you focus on helping people with what they are looking for.
Millions of people come online all day long looking for things, hence the massive success of search engine's like Google. So if you focus on being in their path to help, you will profit as a result of the sales you make.
Step 4 For Affiliate Marketing Success:
Brand Yourself Right From The Beginning
As an affiliate marketer, it's extremely important that you brand yourself. Take a look at successful affiliate marketers that you know - most likely, you know about them because of successful branding.
They've promoted themselves as the best ghostwriter, resident SEO expert, or marketing genius, and you're aware of it. Therefore, when they recommend a product, you jump!
They've built a brand, and along with it, a following.
To truly be successful at affiliate marketing, you need to do the same. Take some time today to brainstorm what it is that makes you special.
Your goal is to establish yourself as an expert in your niche, as well as branding yourself in your readers' minds.
Graphics, logos, and even screen names can be an essential part of the branding process. Successful affiliate marketing depends on creating a coherent web presence.
So, once you decide on the aspects you want to use for your brand, be conscious of this.
Take the time to create an image that conveys the message you're aiming for.
Have a logo designed and use it on your various forum avatars,web pages, and social networking accounts.
Focus on branding yourself with the image you want to convey, and before you know it, you'll be one of the marketers that others recognize and, more importantly, whose recommendations they trust - a key to successful affiliate marketing.
This doesn't mean you have to share all your work with everyone, but be open and honest with the people you intend to sell to, regardless of the niche or how you go about it, be sure to brand yourself so you are a prominent figure in your niche(s).
Brand Yourself Right From The Beginning
As an affiliate marketer, it's extremely important that you brand yourself. Take a look at successful affiliate marketers that you know - most likely, you know about them because of successful branding.
They've promoted themselves as the best ghostwriter, resident SEO expert, or marketing genius, and you're aware of it. Therefore, when they recommend a product, you jump!
They've built a brand, and along with it, a following.
To truly be successful at affiliate marketing, you need to do the same. Take some time today to brainstorm what it is that makes you special.
What unique selling point do you bring to your readers?
What specific information do you have to offer your list that no one else does?
Your goal is to establish yourself as an expert in your niche, as well as branding yourself in your readers' minds.
Graphics, logos, and even screen names can be an essential part of the branding process. Successful affiliate marketing depends on creating a coherent web presence.
So, once you decide on the aspects you want to use for your brand, be conscious of this.
Take the time to create an image that conveys the message you're aiming for.
Have a logo designed and use it on your various forum avatars,web pages, and social networking accounts.
Focus on branding yourself with the image you want to convey, and before you know it, you'll be one of the marketers that others recognize and, more importantly, whose recommendations they trust - a key to successful affiliate marketing.
This doesn't mean you have to share all your work with everyone, but be open and honest with the people you intend to sell to, regardless of the niche or how you go about it, be sure to brand yourself so you are a prominent figure in your niche(s).
Marketing Goodies At Amazon
Guerrilla Marketing, 4th edition: Easy and Inexpensive Strategies for Making Big Profits from Your SmallBusiness
Amazon Price: $9.72 (as of 11/11/2009) 
Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking, Revised Edition
Amazon Price: $16.47 (as of 11/11/2009)
Duct Tape Marketing: The World's Most Practical Small Business Marketing Guide
Amazon Price: $10.19 (as of 11/11/2009)
Marketing
Amazon Price: $155.00 (as of 11/11/2009)
Say Hi... And Feedback?... ;-)
Joan4 wrote...
You are certainly adding to my affiliate marketing education. Thank you!
Posted January 19, 2009
by morewisdom
I am quickly approaching age 65 and I am looking to the internet for additional income. (more)
