My objective of this article is to give you an overview of how to make money with affiliate marketing, so that you can make a better decision on how you want to kick start with affiliate marketing.
Generally, I can categorize the different ways of making money with affiliate marketing into 3 basic ways. Let’s discuss each of them……
1) First Way – Direct Promotion
The first way to make money with affiliate marketing is by promoting the affiliated product directly .
A popular idea that many beginners are taught is to find a good product from Clickbank, create an ad for it and advertise to get traffic and sales.
Or if it’s a business opportunity, one may simply advertise the affiliate link to get traffic and downlines.
This method of making money looks very attractive, especially among the newbies. Some marketers I’ve spoken to said that this is their preferred method because the money is fast and they don’t have to bother about customer service and site maintenance.
This may be the easiest way to start making money with affiliate marketing. But if you ask me for advice, I would suggest that you put in a bit more effort and move beyond this method.
Reason: If you’ve been reading my work, you’ll know that I don’t fancy quick money. My focus is always on ‘building’. For long term success, you need to spend your time building something, either build a list, a network, a website or a community. What I don’t like about this method is you’re sending your hard earned traffic away, without building anything for yourself.
2) Second Way – Build A List
A better alternative to the first approach is to build a list. Instead of sending the traffic directly to your affiliated site, you focus your marketing effort in building a list FIRST, promoting other affiliated products LATER.
There are many variations to this method.
The most common strategy is to create a squeeze page, give away some useful freebies, and entice people to opt-in.
Another smarter strategy is to create a product in your niche, design a big launch around it, get other marketers to promote it for you, and instantly build a huge list that you can use in the future.
It takes a lot more time to set up such a website as compared to the first approach. But you are building yourself a list and reputation in your industry. You can easily build upon any success you have established and earn more in the future.
But there is one important downside to this approach.
Other than your free gift or product, there is nothing much on your website. Once your visitors get what they want, they are not likely to go back to your website again. The only way you can build further relationship with them is probably through a newsletter.
3) Third Way – Build A Useful Website
The third way to make money with affiliate marketing is to build a useful website around your niche.
The easiest form would be a blog. You can build a list and then start a blog to update your list with useful tips, promoting other affiliated products at the same time.
Or you can create a service site that provides useful online tools that people in your niche can use. This will entice them to come back to your website again and again.
One of my personal preference is to create a content website that is full of useful articles in a particular niche. The articles will help me to attract free traffic from the search engines. The website will have several product recommendations from me and these are the products I am affiliated to.
The disadvantage of this approach is of course the time and effort required to create and (for some) to maintain the sites. But the benefit is obvious. Once the initial traffic is built, you are likely to see continuous traffic to your website and hence consistent affiliate commissions to your account.
Although this third way is my preferred way of making money with affiliate marketing, it may not be the best way for you. There are many success stories in each of these approaches. You need to try out the different methods and see which one you are most comfortable with. Hopefully my discussion above can help you kick start with your preferred method right away.
Choose those programs that you are comfortable with and fit with your desired target audience. Other than that, you may want to look into the initial investment to enroll yourself in the program. To avoid costly obstacles, choose the program that best suits your budget
your article is great,here I have good resources I got it while I was searching online money on net.Here is a site
http://greatmakemoney.blogspost.com/
Great post!!
Interested in business!
Find business opportunities at Business consultants.
I use blogs to build my list.
People interested are redirected to an opt in link.
I get an average of 3-5 opt in per blog per week.
Yes,it takes time and effort.But I think it worths it.
Hi Kenneth
Any one who read these piece of infos should considered priceless. So newbies must decide to choose and try on it to know what work and don’t. Give yourself a chance.
Yep. Thinking long term is the key. Building a site is the best because your site would always remain there. If you are using other network to promote a product, if the site closes then you are screwed. You have to redo every thing you did to promote your product again.
http://www.blogsnd.com
All great information Kenneth. You can also index yourself and your wep pages directly with Google (which cannot be bad) at:
http://www.google.com/profiles/GAPMARKETING
Kindest Regards – Graham.
Great advice, although it is slower.
I give a way a free entry into a competition to win a cash prize (provided by my affiliate company not me!) and I’ve had people be on my list for over 4 years before they actually buy.
Patience :-)
Joy
I like a number 2 1/2 approach, since I find squeeze pages are becoming less effective and article writing too much work. I do splash page that gives away a report, no strings attached. If they like what they read, they come and find me without being chased.
I like your idea, Warren. The FREE LINE has definitely been moved.
I too find that people don’t give up their email info before they know what they are getting anymore.
You either have to educate them or give them something for free, first.
Great blog. Preselling is the key to make money with affiliate marketing.
Again, another great article Ken. Very useful information here.
Hi Kenneth,
Contrary to popular belief, advertising an affiliate link is not quick money; it is not easy money, and it certainly is not guaranteed money. lol
Affiliate marketing is getting harder and harder for several reasons.
One of which is GOOGLE’s new plan that targets affiliates. (You can find more info by doing a search for (“Google Declares WAR on Affiliates”).
Other reasons are just as complicated and varied.
I would suggest one type of affiliate check that is very easy, in my opinion, to get. You can find all the reasons for that statement (and a check from Clickbank) by clicking on my name.
Sincerely,
Lynne Gordon
Good day to you,
The 3 ways mentioned by you was great. I personally go with the Build A Useful Website way as it will give the customer a much needed info that he or she is searching for.
Thats just my point of view.Thanks!
This article is absolutely great. Thanks for this!
Sound advice. It’s easy to stir up enough interest and excitement about your affiliate product to make people submit their email just to find out more…
I use blogspot to advertise my affiliates. I also us http://www.buildmydownlines.com to advertise all my affiliates and referal links.
I don’t think many new marketers don’t realize just how much their promotions and sales will start to skyrocket after they have built a responsive list!!
I will admit that it took me about a year into it to realize the value. I know some marketers that have been in this niche for a few years and have still, not built their list. They just don’t think it makes that much a of a difference…
I’m here to tell everyone… The LIST is what separates the BIG DOGS from the puppies!
Start building your list now, you will thank yourself later :)
Check out My Effective Online Marketing and Resource Blog
LOL, please just overlook that second “don’t” in the first sentence please :)
Another piece of wisdom for new marketers… Always proofread before posting :).
Heather
thanks for the info
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Great article..it helps me to learn more about affiliate marketing.
Hope I can share this to my team.
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