This morning, when I came into the office, I found a white box sitting on my desk from Google Adwords. In it was a letter from Google and a book, Always Be Testing – “The Complete Guide to Google Website Optimizer”. It was a great surprise! Google is doing it’s best to remind advertisers and businesses to keep marketing, even during these uncertain times, as this has been shown to dramatically increase business. At first, it does seem odd to ramp up marketing efforts during a time of economic uncertainty, but Google is right! Now is the time that businesses have to maximize their advertising efforts and focus on conversion.

I can’t wait to get into this book and share the information with the readership here, at affiliate school house. As you may already know, your website/landing page content, layout, and graphical elements, all play key roles in coversion rates. Apparently, Google has endorsed the authors of this book , who will show us the best strategies for increasing coversions by utilizing the Google Website Optimizer Tool – a power users guide, if you will.

Watch the video below where I share with you the contents of the box and explain what it is that Google is doing for their advertisers. It’s nice to receive a surprise in the mail. We operate so much of our businesses online, that it is very easy to forget about snail mail. Nice thought on behalf of Google to reach out to their advertisers that are using their marketing product – Adwords.

1. DO NOT SPAM YOUR PRODUCT LINKS OR AFFILIATE LINKS

How many times have you seen someone on Twitter or Facebook spam links all day long about some $4.95 trial for Adwords Crusher or something like that. I know I have. Unfortunately it seems that many people in this space will do anything to make a quick buck, even if that means resorting to spamming. This annoying practice occurs daily, via email (as almost all of us know), Twitter, Myspace, Facebook, Forums, as well as many other places. I would fill up this entire post if I listed every way that marketers spam. These so-called internet marketers and affiliate marketers are not connecting with their audience and will ultimately never build a sustainable business. Don’t follow the advice of others if it includes this type of behavior. Be wary. Nobody, and I mean nobody, likes a spammer.

2. DO NOT ANNOY THE “BIG DOGS” – AUTHORITY VOICES

It’s smart to build relationships with the authority voices within your space, but do it the right way. Constantly emailing, or pinging these individuals for business advice, support, or begging them to promote your site, blog, links or products is a great way to burn a bridge. This will not help your business.

3. DO NOT LOOK FOR FAST MONEY

There is no get rich quick system out there that will earn you respect and build you a lasting business. Sure, you might make a few quick bucks but you will alienate alot of people, annoy others, and be left with nothing worthwhile. Think about it.

Internet and Affiliate Marketing Etiquette – Part 1 from Preston Taylor on Vimeo.

1. DO JOIN THE CONVERSATION ONLINE AND OFFLINE

Similar to spamming, nobody likes to be around people who only talk at them and not with them. What do I mean by this? It simply means that it’s important to engage in conversations, instead of always talking about what you do or what you are promoting.

2. DO BUILD RELATIONSHIPS WITH YOUR AUDIENCE, AUTHORITY VOICES, & AFFILIATE MANAGERS

This one is a no-brainer. If you build relationships you will be able to move your business to the next level.

3. JOIN THE BEST AFFILIATE NETWORKS

Always seek out the best affiliate networks, affiliate programs, and products to promote. Don’t try to join every program out there. You will just end up overwhelmed and confused. Speak to a representative at these networks and have them sell you on why you should promote their products.

4. PROTECT YOUR GOOD NAME

Word travels fast within the internet and affiliate marketing space. This means that you should strive to build the very best reputation that you can by forging quality relationships, by sharing quality content, and by helping others achieve their goals. Helping someone can open many different doors. It’s how I met one of my best friends on the internet and it has helped me tremendously.

**Authority Voice: I can’t stand the word guru or expert so I choose to use authority voice as a substitute.

Internet and Affiliate Marketing Etiquette – Part 2 from Preston Taylor on Vimeo.

So, what is the best method for getting on the right track from the very start?
There are several key factors that when combined will yield the best returns.I think the best way to illustrate this is by giving you a list of questions and statements that will help you make the right decisions in regards to what will work best for YOU and YOUR business.

Selecting Affiliate Programs:
It’s important at first that you select some items that you will have fun promoting. If you are interested in what you are promoting, you will work harder and put in the extra efforts because you have a genuine interest in the products. It will make the journey more tolerable when you come across bumps in the road and will make it that much sweeter when you taste success.

The Best Method/Approach For Selecting Great Affiliate Programs: A Quickstart Guide

1. Assuming you don’t have a blog or website – What things are you passionate about? (cooking, sports, fashion, toys, electronics, etc.)
2. Assuming you don’t have a blog or website – What items from your passions do you think you would have the most fun promoting? Select some niche products.
3. After selecting some niche items, use Google and other research tools to determine if there is a buyer’s market with good volume for those items.
4. If you currently have a blog or website, what is it about? Is there room to promote products within it? If so, select items that complement your site/blog.
5. Use sites like commissionjunction, sharasale, and linkshare to search for affiliate programs.
6. Use Google to search for your selected niche products. Review the results and try to locate products. Look for affiliate programs on those sites.
7. Get involved in the affiliate marketing communities and ask other people which affiliate clearinghouses/programs they like the best.
8. Sign Up for several affiliate programs/products. DON’T GO OVERBOARD!
9. This goes without saying, BUT, select the associated programs that have the most traffic and the best commission rate/structure.
10. Deploy your affiliate links via your website, blog, articles, forums, etc. <— more on this later.
11. Optimize your pages/articles for your related affiliate items with current SEO tactics
12. Review your traffic and conversions. Maky any necessary adjustments.
13. Rinse and Repeat…

How To Get Started in Affiliate Marketing – Part 1 from Preston Taylor on Vimeo.

Talk with ya soon,
Preston

Currently Being Studied at The Affiliate Schoolhouse:
Join the program by clicking the banner and join the Affiliate School House study group.

What is it? How Does it work?
The basic idea behind affiliate marketing is really quite simple. As a matter of fact, you have probably already witnessed a version of affiliate marketing in your daily life, but didn’t notice. In affiliate marketing you basically act as a salesman/saleswoman for Brand “X” by promoting their products using your own website, blog, newsletter or other marketing tool. In this example, let’s refer to Brand “X” as Amazon. Amazon.com, the company, wants affiliate marketers – YOU,  to drive quality traffic to their website in order to increase their POTENTIAL sales volume. As an affiliate marketer for Amazon.com,  if you drive visitors to Amazon’s website and they become an Amazon customer, by purchasing an item via your affiliate link, they credit your affiliate account with a commission – MONEY!

Affiliate Marketing Scenario:
Let’s say that you send visitors to Amazon.com from your affiliate link (aka: web link, hyperlink, affiliatelink) that is located on your website that focuses on iphone accessories. In this example, let’s say that you have a nice banner ad for iphone cases at the top of your website that has an affiliate link that goes to Amazon.com. If a visitor clicks that banner ad they will be sent to the product page for that item with your unique affiliate id recorded by Amazon. FYI(affiliate links can also be placed on blogs, newletters, forum signatures, classified ads, etc) At this point, it does not matter if the customer buys an iphone case or a DVD player, as long as they purchase something while they are at Amazon, having been sent there from your affiliate link, your affiliate account will be credited with a sale! Here are the three basic scenarios of affiliate marketing as they relate to our example:

• If the individual that landed on Amazon.com through your affiliate link DOES make a purchase while at Amazon, your affiliate account WILL receive a commission for that sale.
• If the individual that landed on Amazon.com through your affiliate link DOES NOT make a purchase, then, hopefully, a cookie with your unique affiliate id will reside on their internet browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, etc.) so that if they decide to make a purchase LATER, your affiliate account WILL receive a commission for that sale.
• If the individual that landed on Amazon.com through your affiliate link NEVER makes a purchase, then you WILL NOT receive a commission.

This is a basic video example of how affiliate marketing works:

Talk with ya soon,
Preston

Currently Being Studied at The Affiliate Schoolhouse:
Join the program by clicking the banner and join the Affiliate School House study group.