Beginning Affiliate Marketing Journey

[Graybeard]

I did find some very good products & high demand
Sent hundreds of very qualified clicks
But get poor sales, why?

Are we talking Amazon?

• SEO clicks are hi-quality only if they are true search engine referrals.
• There are tons of scraper bots out there and they will click on your links
  regardless of nofollow
  --did you know that?
  
• Many of these 'hostiles' are hosted on AWS and Google's user cloud
• --so the enemy is within
• --welcome to the innerwebs ...

JavaScript redirect your links --if that is 'allowed' within the Amazon Associates affiliation contract only ... redirection will be to your 'official' link. I use PHP (separate php file) to mask the URL from the webpage ...

But this will only defeat some~ B0ts: Your 'buddy' Google released the selenium code (Chrome Headless) and many B0ts are this variety.

• Sorry to pivot off topic here

 

[ericpmartin]

/\ This /\

There are many different avenues to follow with affiliate marketing, some might be considered slightly easier than others but all have a very steep learning curve.
You will without doubt hear lots of stories where people earn x amount of $ in just a few days, but the real world just isn't like that. Making money and making profit are two different things.
My first piece of advise would be don't underestimate the volume of work needed, it's enormous.
Second, spend 20% of your time researching, 80% doing.

@Strickland Thanks for the great advice. Spending 20% of my time researching means I'm right on track. Thank you.

 

[ericpmartin]

@Strickland 50% of the day is gone, which has been doing research. When you say 20%, how much time in terms of hours/days are we talking about?

 

[ericpmartin]

11/1/2020 1:22 P.M. C.S.T.

After viewing the qualifications of the first affiliate program of having to "invoice" them, I decided the subscription-based model was more attractive than a one sale product or service.

I applied for two programs thinking I could build content around it. It appears that these companies will only approve you if you have a built-in audience already. Does anyone with experience find this to be true?

 

[Graybeard]

I'm lost, what happened?
What does scraping mean?
What bot is clicking my Amazon links?

Welcome to the way the internet works ... What needs to Why

 

[ericpmartin]

11/1/2020 1:22 P.M. C.S.T.

Email response from affiliate marketing application

 

[ericpmartin]

11/2/2020 7:08 A.M. Day 3

I'm finding having spent an entire day searching for a product in this same place I was this morning.
I was approved for two affiliate programs that are software (SaaS). The problem that I have is the trial for one is only 1 week and then they charge a fee of 12 months in advance ($250.00) after the trial ends?

My question is how can an affiliate marketer write content on a product they know nothing about? Even if I sign up on for the trial, my content would be limited to 7 days of access.

This is how I see where I am at.

Point A

1. Find a software service (SaaS) that pays each month a customer is with the service.
2. Find an affiliate vendor that I can get approved for.

Point B

1. Find a free service that provides landing pages and an autoresponder
2. Develop a landing page with all the points to attract visitors to opt-in with their email addresses.
3. Study how to write great ad copy
4. Write ad copy

 

[ericpmartin]

That is what a customer would pay
free trial for 1 week then $250 annually --can they pay monthly or quarterly also --is that an option?

A $250 ticket is harder to sell, especially for someone just starting out.
SaaS platforms are also hard to target because you need a tightly niched audience.
I would suggest a smaller ticket with a wider audience/target buyer to start out
What you want is some initial success;

• so you can learn to scale advertising
• or to improve your SEO content

--whichever may be the case.

Yes, I understand that the customer would pay that amount. But as an affiliate, promoting the service with writing content or paying for advertising (taking a financial risk as a newbie), I don't have access to the software to continue to promote it.

The good news is, the dots are connecting for me this morning. Here is my morning epiphany.

1. I have a strong passion for learning.
2. Millions of people are out of jobs.
3. I could help some of those millions of people (like myself) if I were able to show them how they could develop a new skill set like affiliate marketing.
4. This forum (which I'm liking very much by the way with all the support), like other affiliate marketing forums, have an affiliate program.
5. What if I signed up for educational programs that charged monthly. If I was able to develop a new skill set to earn money, I could be confident in investing my time with content and later on investing money with paid advertising.

What do you think @Graybeard?

 

[ericpmartin]

Smaller tickets --with upsells or repeat purchases --or monthly payments are easier to convert.

Don't let your own self interests or predefined criterion over-influence your decisions --you may make lots of mistakes that way. It's very easy to do.

Why is it then that so many experienced affiliate marketers suggest you start with something you're passionate about?

The hardest person to get money from is the person with little to spend.

I love this quote! I'm going to keep this as part of my affiliate marketing journey to teach others. Very true indeed.

 

[Strickland]

@Strickland 50% of the day is gone, which has been doing research. When you say 20%, how much time in terms of hours/days are we talking about?

The 80 - 20 rule is just a guide really, it's easy to spend time researching but you will learn so much more actually doing. I do all my research in the evening for a couple of hours max.
Also for what it's worth I think choosing a product and then driving traffic is the wrong way around. I don't know where you plan to get your visitors from but understanding them is in my opinion the most important part of the puzzle. Once you understand them, it's much easier to find a product that fits and then make sales.
As an example, if I run a campaign using push traffic. I first decide on a traffic provider, I email them asking where they get their subscribers from. Generally they send me a list of websites and/or apps. I then visit all the sources and build a picture of the subscriber. How old they are, where they come from, what they might be visiting the site/app for. It's amazing how much info you can build up, and also how different traffic sources can be within the same traffic niche. When I'm happy I know enough I choose a product to promote.
Get to know the customer first, then offer them something they want.

 

[Graybeard]

they cannot track your traffic and further: mumble mumble excuses
move on

 

[ericpmartin]

Also for what it's worth I think choosing a product and then driving traffic is the wrong way around. I don't know where you plan to get your visitors from but understanding them is in my opinion the most important part of the puzzle. Once you understand them, it's much easier to find a product that fits and then make sales.

Get to know the customer first, then offer them something they want.

As an example, if I run a campaign using push traffic. I first decide on a traffic provider, I email them asking where they get their subscribers from.

@Strickland Thank you for such valuable advice. Being a newbie, I'm not at the stage where I'm comfortable selling products or services that I haven't used or am familiar with. I would much like to find a service that I can use myself, helps me, and teach others how that product or service would benefit them as well. In doing so, I can accomplish a few things.

1. Get the product or service for free by earning commissions recommending it.
2. If it's an educational product or service, I can learn a new skill.
3. If it's complicated, I can create enough content around it.

Using push traffic sounds like you're using paid traffic. As a newbie, I rather learn first to build enough confidence in knowing what I'm doing, rather than risking capital in this pandemic environment we all find ourselves in. There's no telling how it's going to affect the business world and economy. I just want to play it as safe as I can. One of the rules in Vegas and gambling is to be able to manage your risk capital.

 

[Mario Fernandez]

11/2/2020 7:08 A.M. Day 3

I'm finding having spent an entire day searching for a product in this same place I was this morning.
I was approved for two affiliate programs that are software (SaaS). The problem that I have is the trial for one is only 1 week and then they charge a fee of 12 months in advance ($250.00) after the trial ends?

My question is how can an affiliate marketer write content on a product they know nothing about? Even if I sign up on for the trial, my content would be limited to 7 days of access.

I had the same issue writing reviews and here's my approach:
Before sign up for a 1 week trial, I read lots of reviews and write down all about the product features trying to learn a lot. Make an extensive list about the product, pros and cons, and what features should I test.
Then I sign up and can write a good review.
If that is not enough time, I email them saying I am writing a review and usually get a pair of extra weeks to test the product.

 

[Graybeard]

That is what a customer would pay
free trial for 1 week then $250 annually --can they pay monthly or quarterly also --is that an option?

A $250 ticket is harder to sell, especially for someone just starting out.
SaaS platforms are also hard to target because you need a tightly niched audience.
I would suggest a smaller ticket with a wider audience/target buyer to start out
What you want is some initial success;

• so you can learn to scale advertising
• or to improve your SEO content

--whichever may be the case.

 

[Strickland]

How do build the personnas? Based on what data and how much is subjective?

Some of it is very subjective, but I think it's educated guessing
I recently learnt that my current traffic provider get all their native traffic from one app. When I researched the app I found out most of the traffic was from two countries. The app was a marketplace type setup so I downloaded it and looked up the top selling products in each country. It's obviously 100% mobile. With this info I can take a guess at a general age and wage. There's a few other things I can do to build a bigger profile but now I already have an idea of some verticals that won't work. I can ask my AM what are the best converting verticals in those two countries the app gets traffic from.
I believe this type of research cuts my testing budget and gives me a better chance of success.

Find the market then the product(s) can work too.

This is kinda what I'm suggesting, the OP seems to be looking for a product first, then the market, then the traffic.

I could help some of those millions of people (like myself) if I were able to show them how they could develop a new skill set like affiliate marketing.

Driving organic traffic to a product in the affiliate marketing niche is just about as hard as it gets. If you research the traffic needed to profit from a MMO product, you would likely not waste time looking for a MMO product.

Pick a niche, choose the traffic source, study the traffic, if all looks good pick a product that fits.

But as always it's just my opinion, there are no right or wrong ways, it's all a learning curve after all.

 

[ericpmartin]

Some of it is very subjective, but I think it's educated guessing
I recently learnt that my current traffic provider get all their native traffic from one app. When I researched the app I found out most of the traffic was from two countries. The app was a marketplace type setup so I downloaded it and looked up the top selling products in each country. It's obviously 100% mobile. With this info I can take a guess at a general age and wage. There's a few other things I can do to build a bigger profile but now I already have an idea of some verticals that won't work. I can ask my AM what are the best converting verticals in those two countries the app gets traffic from.
I believe this type of research cuts my testing budget and gives me a better chance of success.


This is kinda what I'm suggesting, the OP seems to be looking for a product first, then the market, then the traffic.



Driving organic traffic to a product in the affiliate marketing niche is just about as hard as it gets. If you research the traffic needed to profit from a MMO product, you would likely not waste time looking for a MMO product.

Pick a niche, choose the traffic source, study the traffic, if all looks good pick a product that fits.

But as always it's just my opinion, there are no right or wrong ways, it's all a learning curve after all.

@Strickland I'm a newbie. Does MMO mean money-making opportunity or massively multiplayer game?

 

[Graybeard]

Smaller tickets --with upsells or repeat purchases --or monthly payments are easier to convert.
Don't let your own self interests or predefined criterion over-influence your decisions --you may make lots of mistakes that way. It's very easy to do.
In the US the employment rate is 92% --those people are still spending money --that is the biggest pond.
The hardest person to get money from is the person with little to spend.

 

[Honeybadger]

Pick a niche, choose the traffic source, study the traffic, if all looks good pick a product that fits.

Perfect advice, agree with that order

1. niche
2. traffic source
3. customer
4. product

 

[ericpmartin]

Day 8 - 11/07/2020 10:11 a.m.

It's been an incredible week. Mainly researching. Sometime Tuesday, I decided to pull the trigger on two business opportunities. It was then that I was in the shoes of a business owner and I needed leads/customers for my business. Why not adopt an affiliate marketing approach to generating leads? And today, I signed up for another service that has an affiliate program that is attached to it. Now, I'm moving on to the next phase of my learning experience, how to capture leads.

The questions I have now are what tools am I going to use that is free to capture leads and start a marketing campaign to generate leads and a drip email system. Actually, with one business that I have, the company already has in place a very sophisticated marketing drip system that includes videos. I suppose this would fall under the category of a sales funnel because the end result is the lead converts into a membership subscription. The other part of this system can include follow-up phone calls or Zoom meetings.

 

[Graybeard]

I think you want to work with a product that you understand the:

• customer's buying motives
• have or can obtain a working knowledge of the product toward creating content or ad copy

"Passion" is and over used word IMHO --it's a plus but not a necessity in dealing with products ...

 

[Strickland]

Well done ericpmartin, glad to hear you're still getting things done. Keep that ball rolling

 

[Honeybadger]

free to capture leads

Good progress

Nothing is free, unless you don't value time
Record hours you work
Then what is ROI from your time?
End goal is work less & earn more

 

[Honeybadger]

How's lead gen going, did you have any tips to share?

 

[Graybeard]

Also for what it's worth I think choosing a product and then driving traffic is the wrong way around. I don't know where you plan to get your visitors from but understanding them is in my opinion the most important part of the puzzle. Once you understand them, it's much easier to find a product that fits and then make sales.

How do build the personnas? Based on what data and how much is subjective?
Find the market then the product(s) can work too.

 

[Socrates]

How you progress in affiliate marketing?