Affiliates are an vital part of the Internet marketing world and having an affiliate marketing strategy is of utmost importance. If you don’t already know by now, they not only help drive traffic if you have your own products, but becoming an affiliate can be one of the easiest ways to get started making money by promoting other people’s products.
What is an affiliate?
An affiliate is an individual who sends traffic to a product creator’s website. They are given a special website URL, called an affiliate link, which tracks how much traffic they send to the product website. They receive a commission for each sale that is made for their affiliate link.
There are many types of affiliate programs available. As an affiliate you can find programs for physical products, digital information products and even for services and membership sites. Affiliate programs are listed in affiliate networks like Clickbank, Commission Junction and Paydotcom, among many others. I use all 3!
What are three keys to being a successful affiliate?
Affiliate marketing is one of the most profitable ways to make money online. You don’t have to worry about creating a product, paying for graphics, developing a sales letter or following up with buyers. You’re only in charge of driving traffic.
Here are three keys to being a successful affiliate.
1. Product.
Choosing the right product to promote as an affiliate is your first key step.
You have a wide range of products to choose from as an affiliate, but that doesn’t mean that all of them will make you money. Before you put your time and energy into creating a marketing campaign for affiliate program, you should do some niche research.
Is the niche popular?
Is there a lot of competition in the niche or will you be able to establish yourself pretty quickly?
How does the sales page for the product look?
Would you buy from the site?
Carefully evaluating the niche and the product will help you find a product that will actually sell.
I personally buy the product first to check that I would use it. If I am recommending a product I want to know it’s good.
2. Prospects.
Building YOUR own list of potential customers is an often overlooked part of affiliate marketing. Yet it is of paramount significance. Product creators will build lists from the people who buy from their sales letter.
As an affiliate, you should be building a list as well.
Before you direct your visitor to the sales page for the product, you should offer them something free in exchange for opting into your list. You can create a short report on the niche and give it away on a squeeze page before forwarding the visitor on to the sales page. By building a list, you can create a long term relationship with the visitor and offer them additional value and product offers.
3. Promotion.
Setting up your own blog is one of the best ways to promote affiliate programs due to the variety of ways you can use a blog. Smart affiliates know that their long term income comes from sales of multiple products in the same niche. One of the best ways to sell multiple products is to start a niche blog. Your blog can link to several different affiliate products so you have many opportunities to make money.
Check out my free guide “How to build your own profitable blog in 45 minutes”
Can you give me an example?
After doing some research, you discover that solar energy is a hot topic. You start a blog on do it yourself solar energy. On the blog, you can write articles related to solar energy and link to the several solar energy products available on Clickbank. You can also give away a “5 Tips to Smart Solar Energy” report on your blog to build your list.
Want to know more about Affiliate Marketing…then check out Jimmy Brown’s Affiliatenaire.
I wanted a stylish website that presented my original abstract art in a visually attractive way. Andrew came highly recommended to me as a "no nonsense" practitioner. He does exactly what he says he will do: I give him the parameters to work within and he provides a quick and precise service. You will receive nothing but the best from Andrew!
Andrew has extensive knowledge about internet marketing, SEO and building web sites/blogs. His course explained everything in an easy to understand way and I now have a web site that is generating me new clients and producing income from internet product sales.
I was impressed with the excellent service. 
Andrew was kind enough to offer up his own time as part of an initiative to make the world a better place, and I was one of the beneficiaries of that effort. He spent an hour with me working on improving my bounce rate; he suggested several helpful strategies. Most importantly, he helped me with some key processes to help speed up my site, which had bogged down considerably with overuse of graphics. Andrew helped me get set up with Rackspace, which helped so much. From a load time of almost 30 seconds, the site sped up to about a 6 second load. Thanks so much, Andrew!
I have been online since 1996 and in that time I have been involved in the development of almost 400 web sites for my clients. I have worked with a wide variety of vendors and I have to tell you that Andrew @ We Build Your Blog has far exceeded my expectations. In addition to his vast knowledge and expertise, he is a genuinely great guy, who always goes the extra mile. I highly recommend him, in fact I only recommend him now for web development.
I happened to stumble upon Andrew's website (WeBuildYourBlog.com) while searching for blogging services that would help me start my very own blog. I was a total newbie when it came to the blogging world. Fast forward 3 months and not only do I have my own awesome blog, but friends and family are actually asking me how to start their own blog and I am able to set their blogs up for them! In only 3 months under Andrew's guidance I went from total newbie to being sought after. Thanks Andrew!
The best blog builder, and the best blog maintenance, I've ever met is Andrew Rondeau. This fellow is an authentic professional in every sense of the word. He's lightning fast, knowledgeable, competent, a skilled listener. He goes the extra mile. He's able to share his passion for his work and products without being pushy. He as other great internet skills, too, but his most impressive attribute is mastery of website building.
I am very happy to provide a testimonial for Andrew Rondeau. All the parts of the process of working with Andrew were a pleasure. He clarified what I was wanting and he delivered it without fuss. He was courteous and prompt in all his dealings with me. I have no hesitation in recommending Andrew to anyone who wants work done on their blog.
Thank you Andrew for your patience in getting my website and on-line courses on-line and selling. You were fantastic in learning the delivery platform software that I had chosen and you were across the complexities quickly. Your detailed approach in setting guidelines and deliverables bought my focus back to where it should be and got the job done. Thank you for all your efforts it was a pleasure.
Andrew Rondeau is the genius behind http://www.webuildyourblog.com.
I was introduced to Andrew by a dear friend Corinne Edwards and Andrew as transformed by blog in ways that have reaped results. My membership has gone up and my blog always looks clean and easy to read. Whenever I send Andrew a request to check out - it's ALWAYS prompt and easy to understand. In my humble opinion he is the BEST when it comes to knowledge of the blogging world.
I approached Andrew in February 2010, because I needed to enhance the way I communicated my business.
The end result is a fantastic site that is attracting a lot more attention and visitors than my old one.
Without Andrew, I wouldn't even have a blog -- I would still just be sitting here, staring at my computer, feeling confused and helpless. With Andrew, I no longer fear confusion and it's impossible to feel helpless. He exerts any and all necessary efforts to resolve any problem or perplexity -- quickly, kindly, intelligently, up to and including IM exchanges in real time via skype. I would urge anyone at any level of expertise (or not) to make the most of his extraordinary talent.
Andrew is the real deal and he knows his stuff! His customer service is superb and he gets your work done FAST! You won't need to wait around for endless weeks to see results. Most importantly he works on the site as if it's his own, thus you are assured that you will get the best quality service. I now give Andrew all of my new and old sites to work on. Trust me; you cannot go wrong with this gentleman!
Having worked with Andrew on and off over the last year, I have found him to be very patient, helpful and easy to work with. He is also very knowledgeable, supportive and a true expert.
Andrew is an asset to our ongoing website and social media needs. He responds quickly, accurately, and cost effectively. Andrew plays a consultative role in many aspects to our online needs.
Andrew is highly knowledgeable about blogs, and you can get your blog up and running successfully and fast. Andrew has helped me immeasurably with my blog and he is patient and good natured and a wonderful teacher.
Andrew at WeBuildYourBlog.com is the most responsive and flexible person I've worked with.
I've spent insane amounts of money in the past with former webmasters until I discovered Andrew Rondeau.
I first connected with Andrew in early 2010 as I was looking to start a blog. I didn't do anything straight away as I could not decide what subject to write about. Every so often I contacted him with ideas and found him very honest and helpful. He gave me some great advice and I found him very inspiring because he makes you sit down and think about what it is you really want to do and whether it can work for you online. He gives you all the time you need and you never feel you are taking up too much of his time.
Andrew is highly knowledgeable about blogs and very customer service focused. I knew nothing about blogs and Andrew was very kind, patient, pleasant to work with, receptive and responsive. Work was delivered in timely manner and if I need anything done for blog again I would use Andrew. If you are looking for quality work, excellent customer service and someone that really gets YOU and your needs, I recommend Andrew!.
Hi, Andrew Rondeau here and this blog, my blog, will not lie to you. I will give it to you straight.This blog is about blogging, the Internet and sharing my experiences and advice on
It seems the toughest part is to find a product that has enough interest in it but not alot of competition
.-= David Stillwagon´s last blog ..Can you still swim if you have Meniere’s disease? =-.
My hardest problem about affiliate marketing is the list building – not so much the building part but what to do with the list once you got it, and not trying to spam people with emails
.-= sarah@diy solar panels´s last blog ..How Solar Ovens Work =-.
Twitter: andrewrondeau
Sarah,
Don’t bombard them with ‘sales’ type emails. Offer fee advice as well. For every 1 sales type email, send 4 advice type ones as well. You have to build your realtionship first before sending any sales type emails.
Andrew