Affiliate marketing is attractive to so many people because it solves many business problems. You don’t need your own product, there’s no payment processing, and no product fulfillment. And the income potential is huge.
Put all those together and you have a highly competitive marketing environment.
But there are a lot of things you CAN do to increase your chances of success.
Perhaps the single most important initial activity is research. And what will you be researching?
Not all affiliate products, networks, like Commission Junction, or affiliate managers are created equal. The affiliate manager is the person on the product business side who manages their affiliates, payouts, compliance issues… everything.
So you’ll need to join the best affiliate networks you can find. Just a few include Clickbank for selling informational products, and Commission Junction for selling physical products, subscriptions, etc. There are others but those two are probably the most well known.
Some companies do not belong to affiliate networks. They have a link on their websites and manage everything in-house. If you’re ever considering joining a privately operated affiliate program, just be very sure to do your due diligence with them. They’re basically accountable to no one. And they do know that.
But even within established affiliate networks it’s very important to research potential affiliate partners. Usually information is provided to help make an intelligent choice. You can find data such as affiliate earnings per week, month, or quarter. The better networks provide valuable information like refund rate, info that will give you an idea of how saturated the market is, trend data about popularity, etc.
Simple research
One very simple research device is going to Google, Yahoo!, or MSN and searching for any negative comments about a particular company or product.
You can search for specific comments using quotes. Enter the product or business name and common, everyday descriptions even you would use if you tried the product and didn’t like it.
Try it! You’ll be surprised at what you can find.
If you’re serious, and you should be because it’s a serious business, try contacting the affiliate manager and just ask some good questions. What you’re looking for is response time and your feelings about the reply.
I’ve had experiences in which the email bounced because the affiliate manager’s inbox was full. And an unfortunate dark side to affiliate marketing is that some affiliate managers will be less than truthful. About what, you ask?
Oh, things like how well their program converts. Retention rates in the case of subscription sites. Things like that.
Hey… not trying to discourage you! But you need straight talk about this. You’re about to spend your valuable time and money. So you need to know the truth.
You’ll want to research the compensation plan, or payout. Lots of people love Clickbank because the payout on info products can be excellent. A good rule of thumb with info products is to shoot for $20 or more as your affiliate compensation per sale. There are other factors to consider such as how you’ll be marketing whether pay-per-click, by your own list, or other means.
These are the kinds of things you need to think about.
Don't pay
One important item is this… don’t EVER pay to join an affiliate program. Never! Most are free and you can literally find thousands that don’t require you to pay in order to join. There are some who won’t allow you to join if you’re not an established marketer. But don’t let that discourage you at all. Actually that “could” be a good indication that they’re very serious, have good products, and they treat their affiliates well.
Affiliate marketing can be extremely lucrative if you approach it properly. First, have an attitude that it’s a serious business. You should do that because it IS serious. And that will reflect in your efforts. Secondly, be patient… please. It’s NOT a get rich quick scheme! Approach it systematically and just put one foot in front of the other each day. If you focus, learn, and persist there really is no limit to what you can do… or earn.
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