John Jantsch, author of Duct Tape Marketing, once gave the advice, “Bring the best of your authentic self to every opportunity.” It’s a great tip that especially holds true for budding affiliate marketers who are just starting out or maybe even just in the planning stages of their program.
Setting Standards and Opportunities
If you are planning to set up an affiliate marketing program, before you even begin to research know what your standards are.
Know what lengths you are willing to go to be a success, and where to draw the line – and then stick with them.
As time goes on you might find the lines in the sand being redrawn as you learn and grow as a marketer, and that’s okay.
Next, respond to every opportunity. That being said, there is no affiliate marketing rule that says you have to respond to every opportunity with a resounding YES! It’s okay to say no sometimes.
It’s even okay to say not right now, but thank you for the offer and please check back with me at a later time. But first you must get started.
Do Your Homework
Affiliate marketing can be a confusing industry to someone just coming on board. A good place to start is by creating an affiliate marketing strategy.
Any time you launch a new business, you want to launch a business plan so that you know where you’re going and if you have any hesitations later on you can go back and reference your original plan.
In an interview on the affiliate marketing program ‘Coffee Talk’ with host, and founder of www.theschoolofinternetmarketing.com,
James Martell, internet marketer Sarah Bundy remarked, “It’s amazing to me how many companies try and set up an affiliate marketing program and launch without doing any research on what their competitors are doing, understanding what their commission payouts and incentive structure should look like or what different types of affiliate groups they could be going after….”
Tips for Affiliate Success
Once your business plan is in place and you’ve aligned yourself with an affiliate marketing network, you’re ready to begin promoting products.
Knowing in advance what works and what doesn’t will give you an upper hand over the competition – and do not be surprised when you learn how stiff the competition is within this industry. Here are some other tips to help save you some time.
- Be Choosy – One common rookie mistake made by affiliate marketers is to choose too many products when starting out. They soon find themselves in over their heads and burned out before they have a chance to see any real profits from their efforts. Select just a few products at first to avoid getting overwhelmed.
- Use Multiple Traffic Sources – There’s nothing wrong with limiting yourself to putting up ads on your site and leaving it at that. However, there are plenty of other traffic sources that you can take advantage of to promote these products such as Google Adwords or social networking sites.
- Track Your Progress – Use different promotion techniques. Compare and contrast the results to see what works, and what you need to change. You’d be surprised at how tweaking something a little can produce big results in regards to your profit.
- Know Consumer Demands – Selling products that are low in demand is tough. Not only do you lack a lot of response from consumers, but you have all that competition from other affiliate marketers. If you do some research now to know what products are high in demand, then you can be sure that it will pay off later.
- Stay Up-to-Date – The competition in the affiliate marketing industry is fierce, and there are always new methods and techniques for catching the consumer’s eye. Falling behind current trends is a surefire way to fail.
- Selecting a Merchant – You aren’t just promoting a product. You are also promoting the company behind the product and the branding that represents it. If you think this product will make people unhappy, then it’s probably not something you want to promote. When in doubt, check the customer service reviews on the company’s website as a guide to whether or not the products are well liked by consumers.
Affiliate Marketing is for Everyone
There are so many benefits to affiliate marketing, why wouldn’t someone want to try it? You can also check this article here for more benefits.
You can reach people all over the world from your computer, whether you are at home or on the road.
Speaking of people, if a consumer has questions about an order, about paying with credit cards or personal checks, or shipping, all of those questions get sent straight to the merchant.
Affiliate marketing only requires you to be a middleman between the retailers and consumers. You don’t have to worry about keeping stock, taking inventory, or providing customer support.
The vast opportunity for passive income is appealing and it is a competitive field. Research everything, design an affiliate marketing plan, and stick with it. Soon you’ll be reaping the rewards of success that you have so rightly earned.
Shashi Suman is a blogger & affiliate marketer. He strated online home jobs in 2009 & making full time income from this. He likes to write about online jobs, make money ideas, affiliate marketing & blogging tips.