Starting Out In Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate programs are everywhere online. These days you can
sell other people's stuff and keep anywhere from 5% to 75% of
the price as your commission. However, just because everyone and
their uncle has started an affiliate program doesn't mean you'll
get rich simply by signing up as their affiliate. You need to
devote a lot of time into your new venture. You're also going to
need to know how to attract visitors to your site, and how to
turn those visitors into buyers. Now a big part of the selling
is the merchant's responsibility. You'll want to research and
find out which merchants have good converison rates. Does their
sales page really entice people to buy the product, or does it
make them want to close their browser. If only 1 out of every
1000 visitors actually buys the product, you're going to have to
do a lot of promotion just to get that 1 sale. The higher the
conversion rate, the better. You should aim for anything that
converts at at least 1%, which would be 1 in every 100 visitors.
So what are the best ways to get visitors or traffic to your
affiliate link? This is where most of your time will be spent.
If you have money to spend on advertising, great. If you don't
that's ok too, but you have to realize that you're going to have
to spent a lot of time promoting any program, without an
advertising budget. There are dozens of free advertising
compainies, including traffic exchanges, classified ads, FFA,
free safelists, and others. Some work, some are a complete waste
of time, and all require a lot of your time. For the most part
people advertising at these places are trying to sell and
promote their own procuct or opportunity, and thereofre they may
not be interested in yours. Of course if you're selling
advertising or promotional tools, then you might attract the
attention of some of these people. On the other hand internet
marketing affiliate programs already have so many people
promoting them, that the market is nearly oversaturated. If you
really want to make money as an affiliate you need to find a
niche, and sell to that market.
Now, how do you pick a good niche market? First start by
thinking about your interests and go from there. Wouldn't it be
easier to promote something that you're knowledgeable about, and
interested in, than something that bores or confuses you? If you
hate math because you don't understand it, why would you try and
sell a math book? Where would you even begin to explain the
benefits of owning that book to potential customers, if you have
no clue what constitutes a good math book. On the other hand if
you love dogs, why not sell a book about training your dog. You
could draw on personal experience and how the book helped you
with your pet. This is just 1 idea. Sit down and start
brainstorming, and you'll have dozens of possible niches to
market to.
Now this article is only a starting point from where to grow
your new online business. If you want to be truly successful as
an affiliate you should check out the Affiliate Classroom. With
step by step training all the way, it's easy to succeed. Founded
by someone who's already made thousands online, and who wants to
help others do the same. You couldn't ask for a better teacher.
With a 14 day $1 trial that is refundable, you can't go wrong.