Affilliate School House - Affiliate Marketing Education And Internet Marketing News » @prestontaylor http://affiliateschoolhouse.com A No Nonsense Approach To Affiliate Marketing Education and News Tue, 15 Feb 2011 18:58:48 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.5 How To Select The Best Affiliate Programs and Products http://affiliateschoolhouse.com/affliate-marketing/how-to-get-started-in-affiliate-marketing/ http://affiliateschoolhouse.com/affliate-marketing/how-to-get-started-in-affiliate-marketing/#comments Mon, 02 Mar 2009 10:25:18 +0000 Preston Taylor http://affiliateschoolhouse.com/?p=56 The Beginning:
In order to get started in affiliate marketing, you have to find products to promote. The task of selecting affiliate programs can be a daunting task, but it doesn’t have to be. In this post we will discuss the best methods for selecting great affiliate programs that both complement your passions and have a buyer’s market, which is key (if there isn’t a buyer’s market, then you will not be making any sales). Typically, new affiliates feel the need to sign up with every big affiliate program company (cj, linkshare, etc.), corporate affiliate program, information product,  etc. that they can sign up for because they believe that being a member of more affiliate programs will yield more money. In most cases this is just not true.  Those of you who have done this, please raise your hand. I know I have. It’s ok, it happens. At first, the prospect of making money with affiliate programs fills the new affiliate marketer with hope and excitement. As a result, most new affiliates end up running around signing up for everything under the sun and end up gassing out before actually promoting any products or seeing any money come in. I have been there too.

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.

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]]> http://affiliateschoolhouse.com/affliate-marketing/how-to-get-started-in-affiliate-marketing/feed/ 0 What Is Affiliate Marketing? http://affiliateschoolhouse.com/affliate-marketing/what-is-affiliate-marketing/ http://affiliateschoolhouse.com/affliate-marketing/what-is-affiliate-marketing/#comments Sun, 01 Mar 2009 06:33:29 +0000 Preston Taylor http://www.affiliateschoolhouse.com/?p=16 A Breakdown of Affiliate Marketing:

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.

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