Newbies: A Sure-Fire Method For Choosing Affiliate Products to Promote

[David Jackson]

Choosing products to promote is one of the most difficult things for newbies, when they decide to become affiliate marketers. Most newbies jump from product to product, trying to catch the proverbial "lightning in a bottle." That is a sure-fire recipe for failure. Allow me to share with you a better way.

When it comes to choosing affiliate products to promote, there are 3 iron-clad principles that I live by:

1. Promote products that you're passionate about.

2. Promote products that you believe in.

3. Promote products that have a commission structure compatible with the amount of traffic your website receives.

I'll briefly discuss each of the three principles, so that you fully understand what I'm talking about.

Let's begin by discussing the first two principles on the list: 1. Promote products that you're passionate about, and 2. Promote products that you believe in.

Whatever that one thing is that you go to bed and wake up thinking about...that's your passion, and you should always promote products that are closely related to your passion.

Once you find those types of products, dig deeper and investigate the companies and/or persons behind the product. Then ask yourself these two questions:

1. Do you like what they stand for?

2. Do you believe in their products?

For example, I'm passionate about marketing. So I only promote marketing-related products by proven companies and/or individuals that I truly believe in.

Why is this so important? Because in marketing as in life, you're invariably going to have your share of bad days.

There are going to be days when you just want to give up, pack it in, and quit! When you have those types of days, (and you will) it's your passion, and your belief in what you're selling that will keep you forging ahead, until brighter days arrive.

Okay, let's talk about the third and last item on the list: 3. Is the commission structure of the product compatible with the amount of traffic your website receives?

If you're website receives thousands of visitors a day like SiteProNews, WebProNews, PromotionWorld and many other authority sites, you can make a ton of money promoting products that have an initial payout of less than $10.

However, if you don't have those types of traffic numbers (and most of us don't), you need to promote products that offer a higher initial payout. For example, if you're website is receiving less than a hundred visitors per day, you should be promoting products that have an initial payout of at least $25 or higher.

That's called smart marketing, and it's working with what you've got. Otherwise, you're spinning your wheels and will not make any money as an affiliate marketer.

In closing, promote products that you're passionate about, that you believe in, that have commission structures compatible with the amount of traffic your website receives.

If you judiciously follow those three principles, and continually educate yourself on marketing and marketing techniques, you will make money as an affiliate marketer.

David Jackson

 

[kbhuffaker]

David,

Good advice. I've been doing IM for a almost two years now and I still find it difficult to find good products to promote. The rule I go for is 80 / 30,000. I want to have at least 80 broad match searches per month and no more than 30,000 competitors. I look for these numbers when starting out with a new niche.

 

[Joseph Ratliff]

Good primer for finding products David.

 

[David Jackson]

Thanks KB and Joe!

KB, that's an interesting method you use to choose affiliate products. If it works for you, stick with it. That's why I always tell my readers, when it comes to marketing, nothing is written in stone.

It's all about finding what works best for you!

David Jackson

 

[victorm]

nice approach, David - I'd go as far as calling it ethical.
but beggars can't be choosers, and if you don't want to risk delaying your ROI as a newbie, it is safer to look outside your comfort zone. watching what existing players are doing is a simple enough strategy - look at AdWords ads for particular keywords and build your campaign backwords (pun intended), from what the market requires to the product you promote.
I always find news services a goldmine - just learn to browse the new entries quickly and pick up growing trends - you can always force some content on any given topic if you know that you are after the conversions and indirectly, the money. just my 2c

 

[JackieLee]

Hey Vic,

While that may be true I bet 90% of beginners have no idea what you just said. I think it's pretty easy to forget what it was like when we came online and knew nothing. Just checking new services and pick up on growing trends are not something most newbies know how to do. David, I love your ideas and I think it's a great way to get started as a newbie.

The other thing I would add is to start promoting physical products. You might be amazed at how many people are actually searching for specific products ~ by name and model number. I find that beginners have a lot of luck actually ranking for physical products because there is a lot less competition a lot of the time. Making the first few sales, even if they are small gives them the confidence to know it can be done, and the motivation to keep going.

 

[victorm]

hi, JackieLee - thank you for the observation, I think you are right.
guess my post was talking more to David, I wasn't contributing much newbie information there. yet you made me think of something about starting an Internet Marketing "career" - there are newcomers that know nothing of marketing full stop, and there are others who come from a sales/marketing/business development environment and need just to adjust to a new game. I think I came from the second category, so my views are extremely biased - never worked with the true rookie that has just realized Google does not know anything for sure. Fair point, and thank you for mentioning it. If I find the time I will check the forum and start a thread on mining news services for new trends, if nobody did it so far.

 

[JackieLee]

Hey Vic. It's so easy to see things from our own perspectives ~ and while I've been doing this a while my readership is made up of a lot of super super beginners. It's been an interesting journey for me trying to explain things that I think I've already explained very "simply" even more simply because it's hard to get a handle on. It's definitely colored how I read forums ~ especially "newbie" forums. For the longest time I thought I was talking newbie and realized many times I was still talking intermediate lol. I'd love to learn more about using news services ~ not something I currently do. I can always translate it to newbie later.

 

[MattS]

I must say that I don't agree with the 3rd point. If the product is better, converts better I prefer selling the 10$ product and make 30$ from 3 sales then 1 sale of 25$. Is all about the quality of the product and conversion rate, not commission paid.

 

[TerryTurner]

First, you need to do some research on keywords and find out if there is a demand for your goods or service. You need to find out if there is a gigantic demand for what you are trading and very tiny supply.

 

[hemicuda]

First, you need to do some research on keywords and find out if there is a demand for your goods or service. You need to find out if there is a gigantic demand for what you are trading and very tiny supply.

I agree. Of course, promoting something you're passionate about is a great course, but you have to also consider demand for your product. Otherwise, your site will just be a hobby and not a business.