Affiliate Marketing
What's Affiliate Marketing?
There are many definitions by as many different sources but as an affiliate marketer, the most useful definition in my opinion is this:
"Affiliate marketing is the business of selling a person's or company's product (the Retailer) through the affiliate marketers (or Publisher's) Internet, email, or direct advertising campaign."
This method is attractive to the retailer because it is a pay for performance rather than a pay for advertising practice. That is to say, no money exchanges hands until a sale is made (called a "conversion"). In effect, you as the marketer front the advertising costs and the retailer pays you a commission when there is a sale of product.
As the marketer or publisher, you will use various methods to "get the word out" to your audience such as but not limited to:
1. Your website
—Here you can speak about your chosen retailer(s) and persuade the reader to buy from the market you are supporting. Usually there will be a direct textual link to buy, a retailer's advertising banner (a web page graphic leading to a pitch-page mini-website), or a supporting page to further explain and demonstrate the product.
2. Email
—One tool every marketer must use is the power of email advertising. No not SPAM email, but periodic value filled email to receptive opt-in members of your mailing list that you acquire from visitors to your web page.
3. Pay Per Click (PPC) Advertising
—Here you make a short, Classified like, advertisement, usually at Yahoo or Google Adwords, that is placed on relevant webpages across the Internet. When a reader clicks through to your page or the page of your retailer, your account is charged a fee (this fee depends on how much your keywords cost per click).
How is Conversion Accomplished?
Contrary to widely held opinion, conversion is not necessarily a sale. Based upon the requirements of your retailer, conversion can be based upon whether or not you drive targeted traffic to their site. But whether conversion is based upon driving customers to a site or actual purchases, your specific ID embedded within the link driving the customers to the site is the way your commission is generated.
When you become an affiliate of any particular retailer, you are given a unique code or ID. This code is attached to any advertisement on your site, whether it be an email link, a contextual link, or a banner or other type of graphic. This code is used by the retailer to track leads and sales originating from any particular affiliate.
This simple mechanism, linked to your company, is what puts the commission from sales or leads in our bank account. This success is what propels further expansion in to future affiliate opportunities.
How do You Expand into Other Markets?
Most affiliates start small. They run a blog or hobby website that they have an interest in. More often than not they stumble on a book or product that supports their readers. This is the beginning of adding value to the people who come to their site and it just so happens brings them a little cash.
After that, the step from "hobbyist" to affiliate professional happens in stages and not something that needs to happen overnight (nor likely can happen). Once you have the affiliate "bug," however, its just a matter of learning from people in the business, reading everything you can get your hands on, and, of course, from searching on the net and finding sites like this.
Most successful affiliates identify a "niche" or market that interests them, that has limited competition or is so large that it can sustain your marketing tactics along side other affiliates. As you find success in this niche you may find that your efforts can't be contained or represented by your original website.
This leads to establishing product centric sites known as "mini-sites" of one page, used to describe a product and "pitch" it for sale. These sites can be erected and taken down quickly as marketing strategy dictates. As you gain more products to sell and/or become an affiliate of multiple retailers, you may end up with multiple mini-sites, full-up websites, email campaigns, and other selling strategies.
If you are inclined to be creative, its arguable that the ultimate expansion of affiliate marketing is when you offer your own product. By this time you have become a force in the industry, maintain your own sizable email list, and manipulate your selling apparatus to market goods at need. At some point you decide to put all your hard earned knowledge to paper, or better yet, to software code, and sell your own BRAND! This leads to your own affiliates and becoming a Super Affiliate (We'll talk about this later).
Affiliate Marketing is about Relationships
To become successful, you must convince the visitors to your site that what you have to offer is honest, useful information. Above all, you must persuade people that you are there to provide a genuine relationship to foster success for both you AND them. Build trust, help others, and both you and your customer will have great success!
Continue to Be an affiliate Marketer
