Making Money With Affiliate Marketing

Promoting your affiliate marketing product is the next step as you get your business off the ground.

Unfortunately for most of us, the budget is tight and you really can't afford to spend much to promote your new product.

Fortunately, there are many low-cost and some free marketing tools available to help you promote your fledgling business and get visitors (and customers!) visiting your website.

Many of the Social Marketing Tactics involve the use of free sites such as Squidoo and Hubpages. There are many other free resources available.

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Many newbies to this industry mistakenly believe that affiliate marketing is just some scam operation on the Internet.

They think you have to send out spam emails and annoy people or make false promises to make any considerable money.

That's untrue - and many marketers are establishing themselves with amazing reputations online for providing the average consumer with exactly what it is that they need.

Affiliate marketing is just a diffrent method of sale - like your brick and mortar local companies, only in a virtual setting.

You need to become familiar with permission marketing and SEO to feel comfortable with affiliate marketing if you have the mindset that it's a scam, because these two terms will explain why consumers are only being given what they ask for, and nothing more.

You're an affiliate marketer selling someone else's product, so why on earth are you going to be bothered by the quality? I mean, it's not as if you're making the product.

You should be very concerned with the quality of products as an affiliate marketer. In fact, as the poll here shows, if you're serious about making money with affiliate marketing, then you need to ensure the products you are promoting are high quality.

The reason is simple:

If the product is low quality, then what are your buyers going to do?

a) If you sent them direct to the merchant then they will ask for a refund, which will be taken from your affiliate commissions.

b) If you collected their email address and marketed to the buyer, then not only will they refund (which comes out of your commission) but your reputation will also be damaged.

It's vital for you to ensure the product you're marketing as an affiliate is good quality.

There's a simple way of doing this:

Ask for a review copy!

Make sure the product you are promoting is high quality and you will find your affiliate marketing commissions are much easier and your earnings are safe from being refunded.

Obviously it's hundreds and thousands of dollars :) but that's not always possible.

So what sort of commission should an affiliate manager be giving out?

It's a hard balance to strike really ... they need to pay enough for people to want to promote their product, but not enough that they can't put food on their own table!

Most affiliate marketers, particularly the good ones, won't get out of bed for a commission lower than $20. Which would you promote hardest? Something that earned you $10 a sale or $100 a sale?

Teh percentage you set depends on the price point of the product. If it's a low priced product, set the commission high - at least 50%.

If it's a high price-point, you can lower the commission percentage because the payout will be higher.

Some marketers offer 51% to their affiliates beause they think they're giving away the farm because they get more than them. The upside of this (for the owner) is he's the one building a list and selling a bankend product.

Some affiliate marketers won't deal with anyone not using PayPal to pay out commissions.

Waiting for a check is frustrating, plus you have the hassle of cashing them, them getting lost in the mail and so on. These days, there's little excuse not to directly pay via Paypal or even bank transfer.

In anything, and everything, you undertake your MINDSET is the key to success. If you're flying solo around the world, going into space or even just facing up to your boss, your mindset is your success.

And this applies particularly to affiliate marketing.

Read about any successful person and you'll find they have a mindset where they do not entertain not succeeding. In their mindset they are a success, regardless and their entire mental programming is tuned to success.

However, for the majority who are not successful, their mental programs are tuned to day time, trash TV and they, not surprisingly, never achieve the level of success they would like.

A Practical Guide to Affiliate Marketing:
Quick Reference for Affiliate Managers & Merchants

For you to succeed as an affiliate marketer, you need to have a mindset that screams "success." Get rid of all those fears, doubts, worries and let them go. The last thing you need is one of these to sabotage your efforts.

Next, you need to decide what success is for you. Is it earning an extra $100 a month? $1,000? More? When you know this, then you have something to focus on.

And then ... this is the big one ... the one reason 99.9999999999% of people who fail can't make it - taking action.

The majority of people will take action for a day, maybe two or three, or possibly even a week. Then, when they haven't got their results, they give up and sulk, claiming, "It doesn't work."

This really is the major difference between successful and unsuccessful people. The successful person doesn't EVER give up until they've succeeded.

The same applies for affiliate marketing. You're going for a long term result. You may see some money coming in quickly, but the main thing you're building is a long term passive income.

If you wrote just 1 article a day that earned you $10 a month in a year, you would have 365 articles earning you $10 a month ... and how nice would that be?

And this is the key to success as an affiliate marketer ... persistence. Keep pushing yourself forward, keep working, be patient and KNOW it will happen ... because it will!

"What?!?!?!??" You scream, "I'm losing commissions?????"

Relax ... most affiliate program owners and website visitors are honest people who are more than happy for you to have your commission on their sale or purchase.

But be aware, there is a small minority of lawbreakers who decide they're going to abuse the system and resent you having your commission.

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Make a Fortune using Search Marketing on Google and Beyond

Sadly, these are the ones you hear about the most. It won't happen very often, but you need to be aware of this and take action to ensure you don't lose sales.

Always check the web page you're sending people to when you are chosing an affiliate program. Click through on the links you're given and make sure you know where they go. Also, come back to them regularly in the future to make sure they're still active.

Also make sure there's just one payment button. Multiple payment buttons with multiple payment processors may mean you lose out on your commission.

If you send a potential buyer through to a ClickBank page that has other payment buttons on it and your potential buyer clicks on one of these alternative buttons, then you miss out on your commission.

Sometimes, the product owner doesn't realise this happens, in which case, if you contact them, they'll correct it. In other cases, this will be deliberate, in which case, walk away and find another affiliate program to promote.

So, you want to be an affiliate marketer ... now what?

Well, find a product to promote!

Hmmm .. how does one do that? Ur ... quick ... to Google!

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Before you head for the nearest search engine, think about what sort of topic you want to promote. If you're starting out, pick something you know a bit about and are comfortable writing about.

Once you're a bit more advanced and comfortable with affiliate marketing, feel free to pick other topicsthat might be outside your comfort zone.

NOW go to the search engines!

Search for something like KEYWORD AFFILIATE where "keyword" is the subject you're looking to promote, such as dog training affiliate. This will pull up a list of affiliate programs in your chosen niche - in this case, dog training.

You should also look at ClickBank and PayDotCom as well as searching for "affiliate program directory" in the search engines.

Both of these marketplaces are full of affiliate programs and you can find almost everything there. There are affiliate programs on almost every subject.

ClickBank is particularly good because you can promote multiple affiliate programs and get paid by a central body instead of waiting for lots of separate affiliate managers to pay you.

What is it that makes someone who visits a website click that buy button?

Simple ... they have a problem and the product you're promoting as an affiliate marketer is the answer.

However, if your sales letter or website doesn't communicate that you have this solution then they will click the back button and bye bye to your profit.

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According to some, people buy what they need. If that was the case, why do people on low incomes have Playstations and Satellite TV? They have it because they WANT it.

People rarely buy what they need but almost ALWAYS buy what they WANT. Think about it ... do you buy what you need or what you want?

Make sure you pitch your product as something they want, and then you will find they are more likely to buy. Make it something they HAVE TO HAVE and absolutely can't live without.

People buy to avoid pain. Think about Volvo. They aren't pretty cars and, until recently, weren't even very nicely appointed. However ... they are renowned for their safety. People buy a Volvo because they want to avoid the pain associated with a car accident and so they can keep their family safe.

Learn about your target market. What is their pain? What are their wants? And how can you provide the solution.

Do this and you'll see your affiliate marketing sales skyrocket!