AFFILIATE SUCCESS: How To Succeed With Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is essentially the act of marketing someone else's products or services for a portion, or commission, of each sale that you make. You are basically a "sales person" working on a commission basis. How good a sales person you are and how good your marketing or advertising is will directly influence your bottom line.

Some people do affiliate marketing as their full time jobs. That's it. That's all they do - they market other people's products or services, collect their commissions, and live their lives as they wish. They do not have to deal with customer service, shipping orders, or anything else. All they do is promote other people's products or services, everyday.

Other people use affiliate programs in conjunction with their own products or services, using affiliate programs as front end products, upsells, and back end products. For example, if you had an information product about weight loss, you might want to market exercise equipment, exercise clothing, vitamins, or other items or services that are related to weight loss along with your weight loss information product - to increase your revenue.

Obviously you would not want to create these items, so you would find these related products or services, and sign up for the affiliate programs, allowing you to promote them. Some people even use low cost information products, such as ebooks, in order to sell high ticket affiliate products or services. Alternately, some people just use inexpensive affiliate products to enhance their own high ticket products or continuity programs, such as membership sites.

Some people are confused about what affiliate marketing actually is. For instance, many people who have products and offer affiliate programs for those products might say that they sell their product through affiliate marketing. What they mean is that they have affiliates who sell the product for them, but they are actually merchants or affiliate managers, in affiliate marketing terms.

But basically, affiliate marketing is selling someone else's products or services through various means, for various reasons - either to earn an income, to enhance a product, or even to sell an additional product. In fact, many people use low end affiliate products as "lead-ins", or entry level products, for higher end affiliate products - never actually creating or promoting a product or service of their own.

Is money being made? You better believe there is! Right now, at this very moment, there are thousands of affiliate marketers that you have never even heard of quietly promoting affiliate products and collecting huge commission checks every month. Why haven't you heard of them? You haven't heard of them because they are not in the Internet Marketing products market. They are in other 'consumer' niches, such as weight loss, healthcare, sports, gambling, education, financial products, etc.

Affiliate marketing presents an all around win-win-win situation. The owner, merchant or maker of the product being sold is making money. The affiliate marketer is making money, and the customer is getting what they want or need. Everybody wins.

Getting started in affiliate marketing is really quite easy, but too often, many people mistakenly think it's a lot easier than it actually is. In most cases, the only thing you need to do to join an affiliate program is to fill out a form. That's the easiest part that there is. But there is still work to be done if you are to be successful.

The first objective is to find a profitable market or niche. This can easily be done in Google or by reading magazines. Let's start with Google. Do a search for any topic that interests you. Interest in what you hope to sell is important, and later, you will learn why. Make a list of things that interest you, and do a simple search in Google for each thing.

Pay close attention to the sponsored ads. This tells you that money is being spent in this market. Now, do a little logical thinking. As a business person, would you spend money on advertising that is not making you money? Absolutely not. So, if there are sponsored - paid - ads for a topic in Google, money is being spent in this market, which means that there is profit.

The same is true with magazines. Visit your library and look at the past three issues of a magazine that relates to your interest. Pay attention to the ads. Do the same ads keep appearing? If the answer is yes, this is a profitable market, and you are ready to move forward.

What about the competition? What about them? 90% of all people who sign up for an affiliate program will not do anything to market it at all. Of the 10% that will market the product, 90% of them will do it wrong, and won't make much money, if they make anything at all.

The competition just decreased in size by leaps and bounds. Don't worry about the competition. Concentrate on promoting your affiliate products and services to the best of your ability - let the competition worry about you.

Once you've chosen your market, or your niche, you are almost ready to get started, but there are several other things that you need to do before you can call yourself an affiliate marketer. First, you need to make sure you have the right tools. Then, you must find the programs, understand the terms of the programs, and finally understand how to choose the right programs.

You can't do any job successfully without having the tools you need to do the job. This is also true for affiliate marketing. Here is a list of the tools that you will most likely need to get the job done and become a successful affiliate marketer.

An email account - You want to appear as professional as possible. Do not use a free email account such as Yahoo or Hotmail as your business email account. If you have a website with a domain name, you should be able to set up an email account associated with that domain in Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express.

An Autoresponder - An autoresponder is web based software that sends out one email or a series of emails to people who sign up to the autoresponder. This can be used to manage your ezine, which will be discussed later. A good autoresponder will also give you the ability to send out broadcasts to your list. You can start with a free autoresponder, such as that offered at www.getresponse.com , but a paid service is recommended.

Keyword Research Tools - If you will be doing PPC campaigns, which are discussed later, you will want Keyword Research Tools. Google has free tools that you can use, but stand alone web based software, such as that found at www.wordtracker.com is also recommended.

A List of Resources - You will definitely need to start gathering a list of resources that includes a list of article directories, PPC search engines, affiliate program directories, and directories of ezines.

Word Processor - Word processing software is essential. You will use it to write articles, sales letters, ads, and newsletters. Microsoft Word is recommended, Microsoft Word Pad will do if you don't have Microsoft Word.

A Website and Domain for Each Niche or Market - Some affiliate programs will give you a replicated website. You will eventually send prospects to that website, but not sending them to your own website first is a mistake. You need a website for each niche with it's own domain name. The website should be full of content, with affiliate links worked into the content. Ideally, each website will also have a squeeze page, where you will collect the names and email addresses of your visitors as well, in order to build your lists.

Commission and Campaign Tracking Software - Keeping up with affiliate products, affiliate links, commissions earned, commissions paid, advertising campaigns, and affiliate tracking report sites, logins, and passwords can easily become a full time job without software to organize it all. Affiliate Organizer at www.affiliateorganizer.com is highly recommended.

There may be other tools that you find you need in the future, but all of these things will get you started. Some of them do cost money, but if you aren't prepared to pay for them, you can find suitable replacements that don't cost anything. Just be sure to upgrade at your first opportunity.

You may also find that you need web page building software, and an ftp client to upload webpages to your website. You will definitely need an up-to-date web browser, and you obviously need a good computer with an Internet connection.

You also need a filing system to keep records. While you can - and should - back up all of the information on your computer on a regular basis, you should also print information out in hard copy and file it away for future reference. This includes emails that contain your user and password information, notices of sales that have been made, and any other information that is pertinent to your affiliate marketing business. Quite a bit of this information, in hard copy, will be needed to file taxes.

Ideally, you should have a home office. This will not only give you the space and proper atmosphere for success, it will also give you a home office tax deduction. If you don't have the space for a home office, try to set your desk and computer up in a low-traffic area of your home, where you can work with fewer interruptions.

Now that you have the tools, and you know what type of products you want to promote, you need to find an affiliate partner with those products. Some places you might want to check are:

Commission Junction -- http://www.cj.com

Share-A-Sale -- http://www.shareasale.com

MaxBounty -- http://www.maxbounty.com

PepperJam -- http://www.pepperjam.com

These sites are affiliate networks (all of which I use), where many different affiliate programs are managed. This allows you to promote a large number of affiliate products and services, and to receive one check for all sales across the network.

As an alternative, you can use Google to search for products that you are interested in promoting, and visit those sites to see if they have affiliate programs. This is usually ideal for more specialized products. Also, if you don't see a link for an affiliate program on the site you are interested in promoting, use the contact email that is usually provided to inquire about the possibility of an affiliate program, or to create an affiliate arrangement with the company.

It is important to read the terms and conditions for affiliates. Sometimes, you will be presented with those terms before you sign up, and sometimes you will be presented with them after you sign up - but it is important that you read and understand all the facets of the program and abide by them.

It is also important that you understand what the following terms or abbreviations mean:

Affiliate Agreement - The agreement that usually lists the terms and conditions related to an affiliate program. In most cases, you will agree to the affiliate agreement by checking a box when you fill out an online form to join the program. Some affiliate programs, however, will require you to print out, sign, and fax the agreement. Make sure you read these agreements.

Affiliate Link - A URL or link that is assigned to you by the affiliate program. This is the link that you will promote, as it is used to track your clicks and sales.

Associate or Associate Program - This is the same as an affiliate program.

Banner Ad - A graphic that is placed on your website and linked with your affiliate link.

Charge Back - This will be an important term to you. This refers to when customers cancel their orders, or have their credit card companies reverse the charges. It basically means that you lose a sale. Some affiliate programs will hold money back each pay period to cover potential charge backs/refunds, and release that money to you after a specified period.

Co-Branding - Some affiliate programs offer co-branding options, where your company name or logo is placed on a reseller's website, or on the product itself.

Commission - The amount of money that you as an affiliate will receive per sale. Some companies will list this as a percentage, such as 50%, while others will list it as a dollar figure.

Contextual Link or Text Link - A contextual link is a link that looks like content, because it is all text. It may be several words long. A text link is a link such as www.link.com , as opposed to a banner ad.

Conversion Rate - This is the number of sales in relation to the number of clicks received. Usually portrayed as a percentage.

Cookies - A cookie is a piece of code that is written to the cookie file on a person's computer when they click on an affiliate link - or when they visit sites that use cookies, such as sites that require a login. The cookie does not harm your customer's computer at all, and is simply there to make sure that you get credit for the sale if they come back later to make a purchase.

CPA - Cost per action, or cost per acquisition. Basically, this means that you will pay each time an action is taken. The action may be a click, a sign up, or a sale. In fact, many affiliate programs also pay on a CPA basis, meaning that each time someone clicks on your link, or signs up to receive information through your link, you earn a little money. Google AdSense is an example of this.

CPC - Cost per click. This relates to how much it costs for each click an ad or link receives when advertising on a CPC basis. In other words, instead of paying a flat rate for the advertisement, you would pay a certain amount of money for each click the ad receives.

CPM - Cost per thousand. The amount of money you pay for every one thousand ad impressions.

CTR - Click Through Rate. This number is usually represented as a percentage, and it refers to the number of times your ad was clicked on, in relation to how often the ad was viewed.

Direct Mail - This refers to advertising that is done via postal mail. There are strict laws about direct mail, and many affiliate programs will have terms and conditions relating to direct mail to promote their product.

HTML or HTML Code - HTML stands for Hyper Text Markup Language. This is the programming language used to build webpages. HTML code generally refers to a small portion of HTML code, such as that needed to place affiliate links or banners on your webpages.

Joint Ventures - Joint ventures are similar to affiliate programs, but they operate a bit differently. The concept is the same - one person promotes another person's product for a commission. However, usually the commissions are bigger, and the person doing the promoting is working directly with the owner of the product.

Opt-In - This refers to ezine subscriptions, newsletter subscriptions, or email lists in general. Basically, it means that the subscribers on any email list have chosen to receive the information the list owner is sending. Typically, they have confirmed their email address and their request by clicking on a link in a confirmation email, which is known as double opt-in.

Partner Program - This is the same thing as an affiliate program.

PPC - Pay Per Click. This relates to CPC, where you pay for each click that your ad or link receives. Google AdWords is an example of Pay Per Click advertising.

Referral Link - The same as an affiliate link.

Revenue Sharing Program - This is the same thing as an affiliate program.

SPAM - Unsolicited Commercial Email. This term also refers to commercial posts on forums and blogs. Most affiliate programs will have strict anti-spam regulations that you must follow.

Super Affiliate - This refers to anyone who is making a lot of money in affiliate marketing, if you are an affiliate. However, if you have an affiliate program for your own product, this refers to your top affiliates - the ones who are making the most sales for you.

Tiers - If you are signing up for an affiliate program, directly through the company, you are first tier. If you are signing up under someone else, you are 2nd tier. However, when someone signs up under you, you are first tier, and they are your 2nd tier. Each tier gets a different commission rate for sales. In other words, when you sign up under someone else, when you make a sale, you get a full commission, and the person you signed up under gets a partial commission

Tracking - The method or software used to record sales, clicks, leads, and other information that has to do with your affiliate link.

URL - Uniform Relay Link, otherwise known as a link, or a website address.

If you come across other terms or abbreviations that you aren't sure of the meaning of, make sure that you stop and go find out what it means before agreeing to anything - or before doing anything. Not knowing can cause problems later on.

"How much money will I make?" That is always the burning question. Well, the sky is virtually the limit, but let's start by making sure that you get the best commission possible.

When you look at affiliate programs, this should be one of the first things you look at - the commission per sale. Again, this may be portrayed as a percentage, or as a dollar figure. If the commission is presented as a dollar figure, it is important to locate the sale price of the product, and figure the commission percentage.

Typically, you want to go with affiliate programs that offer a 50% commission. If the product is high priced, you may consider going as low as a 20% or 30% commission. But for lower priced products, don't accept anything less than 50% on the 1st tier.

You should also consider how many sales it will take to earn the income that you desire or require. 100.00 per sale may sound like a lot, but if you require 4000.00 a month to live, you will have to make forty sales each month. This is very realistic for some products, in some markets, and not realistic at all for other products in other markets. Consider what you are selling, and whom you are selling it to, and determine whether the number of sales needed to make the money you require is indeed realistic.

If the number of sales required is not realistic, you will need to either look for something different to sell, or look for additional products to sell. You could also start small - with smaller commissions - and work your way up. This is what many super affiliates do.

Super affiliates often show the product owner/affiliate manager that they have the ability to make a large number of sales each and every month, consistently, and then they negotiate directly with the product owner for a higher commission. They prove themselves by making those sales first, and then they are in a position to negotiate.

When looking at the commission, also consider what it will cost you to promote the product. You cannot afford to spend more on promotions than you are making in commissions - obviously. Know your numbers!

One of the best ways to get affiliate marketing leads is by using mailing lists. We're not talking about the mailings lists people used to use, where you purchased a list of 1000s of names for a price and then sent offers through the mail to each one of them. But opt-in email mailing lists. You don't have to buy names-people will give you their names, for free! Here's an example.

You have a simple website where you offer helpful information about how to train pet birds to behave well or talk. Through that site you promote one or more affiliate marketing programs. Maybe you link to a CD that helps teach birds to talk and you make profits (or hope to) from the sales your link generates through affiliate marketing. Or maybe you link to a pet shop that sells bird supplies and you get a small commission on each person that clicks through or registers on their website.

Whatever type of affiliate marketing you have in place, as long as you have visitors to your site looking for information, you can generate affiliate marketing leads by using your own mailing list. It's easy to get started.

There are many different software programs available online to help you manage a mailing list, from expensive programs with all the bells and whistles to free online programs. Choose one that fits your budget and your anticipated demand. You won't need to spend a lot of money when you're first starting out and if the operation expands dramatically you can always transfer your list to a higher-end provider later.

Once you have your mailing list software or service ready to go, it's time to get affiliate marketing leads to go into it. If your site is about birds, as mentioned above, then you're obviously providing information about birds to draw visitors there to click on your affiliate links. Simply ask people to register at your site, or to sign up for a mailing list or occasional mailings, with more of that great information. You can't just throw a register box in there and hope, you have to entice a person to want to sign up. Maybe when they do, you'll send them 10 tips on how to keep a bird from biting, or tips on the best way to make a quiet bird talk. Find something of value to your specific customers that you can offer to get them to sign up, or opt-in, to your list.

Once people opt-in, you have a ready-made audience for your affiliate marketing links. You no longer have to wait for them to visit your site. Write an article about birds or bird care, put together some tips, even just tell a bird story, include links to the programs you want to promote, and deliver it straight to their inboxes. This is an excellent way to generate affiliate marketing leads of people who are receptive to the products you're selling.

Here are some recommended resources to help you build and maintain a list on "autopilot"...

GetResponse: Feature rich paid professional autoresponder subscription service. Unlimited emails and lists. Reasonably priced and my personal favorite. Highly recommended.

Aweber: Another paid subscription favorite among Internet Marketers and widely used. Many features. Highly Recommended

Wordpress Autoresponder: Free and Pro versions for those of you using Wordpress. I use this on many of my WP sites. Great way to start for free with GREAT support. Highly Recommended