TopOffers
Well-Known Member
Affiliate marketing is a relatively new and very popular way of creating passive income. Who wouldn’t like to make money while they sleep, right? But while the prospects of having freedom and wealth at the same time are very tempting, the reality of becoming a successful affiliate marketer requires a lot of determination, hard work and patience.
This is a simple step by step guide to get you started in affiliate marketing and then become successful in what you do.
How to Get Started in Affiliate Marketing
Becoming an online affiliate marketer means you don’t need to invest money (of if you do, the investment is minimal), create a product, keep stock or work fixed hours. You will have the total freedom to set your own working day and earn money as a full or part-time business. But before you get there, here are the initial 6 steps to affiliate marketing you need to take.
1. Do your Research
As with any other venture, diving into affiliate marketing requires a thorough research beforehand, so that you know what you are getting yourself into and have realistic expectations. If you are looking for ways to become an online affiliate marketer simply to make a lot of money quickly, the reality will leave you disappointed. Establishing yourself as such professional takes time and your starting profit will be nothing more than a few dollars. You also need to know that there are a lot of people who are doing affiliate marketing and therefore, the competition is severe.
2. Choose a Niche
There is a way to fight heavy competition to an extent. The second step to becoming an online affiliate marketer is choosing a niche. Don’t pick something, just because it is very popular at the moment and people take a lot of interest in it. The best strategy is to choose a product, which also brings a value to you as an individual, so that your reviews would be honest and more persuasive. It will help you keep doing the job effectively for a long time. For example, if you love reading books, it could be a fantastic idea to write or record reviews on books. In the same way, if you use a lot of skincare products, this could be the right niche for your affiliate marketing.
3. Choose a Channel
After you’ve researched enough and found your niche, it’s time to choose a delivery channel, or how are you going to review the affiliate products. You have several options:
● Start a blog – write reviews and articles related to the niche industry you’ve picked
● Design a website – create a whole website for a variety of products and hot deals, all in the same niche
● Create a Facebook group or a Fan Page – you can promote the affiliate products there with options for direct interaction
● Create a YouTube channel – review products in a video, rather than in a blog. Some specific audiences may prefer watching to reading. Periscope and SnapChat can also make good affiliate marketing channels
● Join an Affiliate Marketing Network – some merchants/vendors would only want you to promote their products on a specific affiliate marketing network they’ve chosen. The most common choices are ClickBank, TopOffers and Commission Junction.
● Become an Amazon Associate – everyone can sign up and then create a custom link to Amazon Products if they are listed on the Marketplace. The affiliate links, showing up in blogs or on video descriptions have “ref” in the long-tail so it’s hard to miss them.
How to Be a Successful Affiliate Marketer
Getting started is only half of the journey to becoming an affiliate marketer, and a successful one at that. The next 3 steps show you what you need to do to maximize your profit and get more merchants to work with you.
4. Build Constant Audience through Data Collection
Even if you have a great blog with fantastic content, it’s not going to count for much if nobody or just a few people read it. You need to build your email list, so that you can easily keep in touch with the people you want to reach. Ideally, you would send them a weekly email, sometimes with a new review/blog post alert and sometimes as a direct sales copy. The good news is, to do affiliate marketing well, you probably don’t need more than 300-400 emails. There are at least 3 simple ways in which you can get people on your mailing list:
● Create a sidebar widget with an offer – it is important to keep your sidebar clean and not put too many distractors there. Create a nice ad and place it next to your newest or most read blog. Offer an incentive to make it natural for viewers to give you their email.
● Create a Hello Bar – You can also introduce a Hello Bar to your website (usually placed on top), featuring an offer, and ask your visitors to provide an email to take advantage.
● Create an Exit Gate – add a pop-up, triggered by movement of the mouse to the top (a motion associated with closing a window/tab). It can say something like “Before you go, give us your email, so we can keep in touch”.
5. Hold Webinars
Webinars are a winning strategy for successful affiliate marketers. It’s more entertaining for the viewers because it shows live action and also creates a sense of exclusivity. Promoting a webinar is easy – just use social media to list it as a free incentive. At the end of the webinar it will be very easy to push sales and collect more data to go on your mailing list.
6. Use PPC to Grow your Business
This is the last step into becoming a great affiliate marketer. It is important to only take it when you have already built some income stream, otherwise you may end up at a loss. Pay per Click ads are great for growing businesses because they maximize your reach. Whether you use Google ads or Facebook ads, it’s essential to use the behavioral metrics right, so you don’t waste money on the wrong audience, which is not going to lead to sales.
Being an affiliate marketer pays off in the long run if you have the time, talent and patience to grow your preferred channel. It’s not the right venture for everyone, but those who are diligent and persistent can achieve enviable results.
