Wednesday, August 20, 2008

How To Make Affiliate Marketing Work You

Those who want to carve an income through affiliate marketing must remember that choosing the right niche is important, you will not want to market a list of junk products that do not sell well on the internet so how can we find the right product to sell then? Are there any secrets to selling the the hottest product on the internet like what many guru's claim?

Yes you can find the right product to sell by doing your homework, but there are no hidden secrets like how the guru's claim they have on hand. With the right product and a well crafted presell page there is bound to be sales.

There are a number of sites that offer products which you will earn a certain percentage from promoting the products. A marketplace holds these products and you can use your userid to tag on the product to become one of the affiliates. I highly recommend these sites to do affiliate marketing with because there is thousands of potential products that are able to make money.

1. ClickBank
2. Commission Junction
3. Link Share
4. PayDotcom
5. Amazon

After you have applied and approved of using these marketplaces, do a research on the product that you would like to promote, let me use clickbank as an example to explain to you how you can look out for products that are selling like hot cakes!

I used Clickbank marketplace to search on the keyword "Google" and here you have list of the products. Notice those which i have underline in red. Those are the important facts that you need to know whether this product is worth promoting or not.

When you use the marketplace to search for a keyword, use either "High Gravity" or "Popularity" to source for the best product. After you have sourced for that, take note of the affiliate sales percentage which i have underlined as 75%.

High Gravity is nothing more than the amount of affiliates that are currently promoting the product, and is an indicator as to how popular that product is. Some affiliate marketers like to see a high gravity percentage, because it means many top affiliates are promoting that particular product.

Percentage in affiliate sales is what you will be earning from the final product sales. If the product sells at $100 and you have a 75% earning that means you earn $75 from promoting this product if it sells. Try to source for a high paying product, those that are below 60% are not worth promoting because you will not be able to earn much.

Once you have chosen the product that you want to promote then it is time for you to read on what are the benefits your buyers can gain from buying this product, it is always good that you purchase this product and show a little more insider of what they can get from this product. Learn more from my presell page article that i have written previously.

10 Affiliate Marketing Tips which should be on a sticky note
Whether you are new or experienced in this line, i am sure another advice to be successful in affiliate marketing will not be a harmful tip in your bank of great affiliate marketing tips.
  1. Being New in affiliate marketing is not going to hinder your sales because what you need is a product that you are able to promote with confidence. Promoting a product which you have knowledge on is the best way to make sales count.
  2. Promote single or multiple products on my website? Single product promotion gives the benefit of being able to devote more resources to one highly profitable affiliate program. By promoting only one product you are able to concentrate the keywords, keeping your site devoted to one idea. Chances are your traffic will be driven to the keyword you have choosen and there is a higher chance of making a sales directed to just one single product.
  3. Can i know which is the best Merchant program? I am so sure every forum which have a discussion on affiliate marketing will see this question asked and the common reply to it will be 'try this program, it worked well for me' and another person will say 'this does not work at all, it's a scam!' Now who should i believe? Not everyone will succeed on promoting that product always, so if you don't see results over the months, it is time you switch to another product to sell.
  4. Your Blog is the best place for affiliate marketing. Firstly blog are able to get on the SERP quickly and effectively, doing a review on a product that you are promoting is ideal because you have a gradual flow of traffic visiting your blog already, so why not promote a merchant program that you feel is suitable for your readers.
  5. Ebooks are dead, promote softwares. I am not sure how well ebooks and reports are selling for now but softwares that help webmaster and bloggers are actually doing very well. I will rather pay for a services which i can see results than a list of words which is some secrets that i can source over the net if i have the right keywords.
  6. Popular Trends in Affiliate Marketing. Doing your homework means having profitable sales, and i will suggest you look out for products that are hot for the season and also take note of the newest merchants that have been going around the market. Selling an upcoming product which have a great benefit to your customers is what you need to sort out for.
  7. Banners that don't make sense. If every affiliate marketer is to place a banner and expect cash to roll in automatically then everyone will be a millionaire in no time. Placing banners is one way to attract customers but too many cluttering on your website is not going to make any money and worst you might see a decline in traffic.
  8. Use a Newsletter System. Promoting on a newsletter system is one of the easiest way to get more potential customers. To attract subscribers to be on your opt-list, try to give out free ebooks on your site and slowly build your subscribers.
  9. Tracking Software. If you want an accurate sales report card, you should consider the type of tracking used by the merchant. This will allow you to account for all the sales made on your referral id.
  10. Being Innovation in cashing on Merchant Program. Promoting and doing a in depth review on a new program is another source of income which does not fall under affiliate marketing but it is another way that you can make additional cash from the program you are promoting, drop an email to the owner and give your resume and rankings of your site and offer them a deal which included a Review of the product and a banner space which is priced at an affordable fee. There is nothing to lose and everything to gain!

The game is research, improvement, innovation, listening to your customers, action your follow ups, staying on top and hard work. Is affiliate marketing easy at all like what those guru's have claimed? Some say yes and others say hell no! Focus on being successful and time will tell whether your efforts are worth it or not.

Source: etienneteo.com