Creating an online affiliate marketing system which produces
a monthly income is relatively easy. With one catch, you
have to know exactly what you're doing and how the whole
online marketing system works. Figuring out all the details
can take you years to learn.
What the beginning webmaster or marketer doesn't realize
building a solid online business takes time and patience.
It is not done overnight, despite what the latest marketing
gurus are trying to sell you, it simply takes time and
a lot of hard work to build a solid online business.
First, you must have a basic understanding of how the
Internet works and the future role you will play in it.
You must understand the net is basically an extension
of the real world: it is an enormous virtual playground
as well as a vast storehouse of the world's collective
knowledge. But you must also understand the web is a
global marketplace unlike anything that has been seen
before on this planet.
If you want to be an affiliate marketer you must place
yourself or your site into this whole online environment.
As an affiliate marketer you must play some sort of role
in the transfer of information within this complex structure.
How?
Simply give surfers what they're looking for: information.
Supplying valuable, needed information is your key to
online affiliate success.
Here are some proven affiliate marketing strategies or tips
to get you started on your affiliate marketing career. Each
is a brief summation of some of the factors to keep in mind
as you create your own complex, yet simple, online marketing
system.
1. Acquiring Knowledge
Your first step is to acquire the basic skills and
knowledge needed to run an online site or business.
When I started I had to learn how to write HTML from
scratch and go from there... today there are many online
site builders and WYSIWYG editors to get you started.
Plus, you now have whole online site building systems
you can use, Ken Evoy's SBI comes readily to mind.
No matter which route you follow, you must understand how
an online site works, how to use keywords, how to create
valuable content and how to tie in your affiliate links
with this content... all this basic knowledge you must
acquire.
2. Get The Big Picture: Your Role - Your Content
You must fully understand your role in the whole
online affiliate marketing process. Your content
must be valuable to the Internet user, it must
offer information, solve a problem or offer a
special deal. There must be some reason why the
surfer will use your site to find what they're
looking for on the web. They must benefit in some
way from using your site.
Again, offering valuable, helpful information will
spell online affiliate success for you.
3. Build Your Foundation
You must have your own domain or domains. You must
create your own piece of virtual real estate that
you can build and gradually add to as you proceed.
Be wary of free sites. Don't rent, own your real
estate outright. Your sites will become your valuable
properties you will continue to build for years
to come.
When picking a domain name try to get as close as you
can to the main keyword or keyword phrase represented
by your site's topic. Use hyphens if you have to but
choose a name that is short and can be easily remembered
and typed directly into a browser.
As for site design and layout -- a simple solution
is to use a blog format such as the free WordPress
software and host it on your own domain. Extremely
effective way of creating a full-powered content site
without having to worry about learning HTML code or
programing. You can have a website up and running
within minutes.
4. Know Your Partners & Their Products
As an affiliate marketer you will be selling other
people's stuff. You must get to know these future
partners and their marketing systems. Pick affiliate
products directly related to the topic of your site.
Something your visitors are interested in and would
likely purchase after you have supplied them with
valuable information about those products.
A good way to find potential products and partners is
to join the well established major affiliate networks
on the web. These networks represents most of the Top 500
Companies in the world. Affiliate networks like Commission
Junction, LinkShare, Amazon, ClickBank, Shareasale...
these networks have been around for years and offer
excellent payment structures and commission rates.
5. Long Tail Keyword Marketing
Develop content and high rankings for long tail keyword
phrases related to your site's topic. These are some of
the least competitive keywords yet they will also prove
to be the most lucrative for you. Find the long tail
keywords within your niche and exploit them. Using exact
brand names of the affiliate products you're promoting
make for effective long tail keywords.
Consistently use and develop this long tail keyword
strategy and you will succeed at affiliate marketing.
6. Build Your One-Way Links
Take a pro-active approach to link building. Don't sit
around waiting for links, instead go out and get them.
Use your keyword anchor links in the resource box of your
articles. Distribute these articles to all the major
article directories... make sure EzineArticles.com,
Goarticles.com, ArticleAlley.com... are on your list.
Recommend products that you use, make forum posts,
create viral videos, join social media sites, offer
a free newsletter and build your own subscriber base,
create follow-up autoresponder series on the major
products you promote... these are all ways of creating
traffic and customers.
7. Embrace Google But Don't Ignore the Others
Embrace Google as if your affiliate marketing life
depended on it -- chances are it will be!
Google is the search engine that you must optimize for
if you want your site to really succeed online. Don't
ignore the others, but Google has become the most
popular search engine in the world and even accounts
for 50% of all the searches made in the USA. (comScore)
So short of a brown-nose, do everything you can to please
Google. The rewards are worth it. Whether you're a Google
fan or not, Google has gained the trust and respect of
the majority of Internet users. Getting a top 10 placement
for your targeted keywords will often mean money in the bank.
8. Be Aware Of The Social Media Revolution
Be aware the Internet is constantly changing and in the
next few years everything will be turned topsy-turvy. We
are talking about the growing popularity of user-generated
content sites such as MySpace, FaceBook, YouTube, Digg,
Technorati...
Stay within the flow by making sure any site you create
has a blog and RSS feed attached to it. Make sure all
your content can be easily bookmarked in all these
different social bookmarking sites. One simple solution
is to use the easy bookmarking system supplied by
Addthis.com, place their code on your content pages
and let your visitors bookmark your content for you
in all these different media sites.
9. Model It
In art one of the best ways to learn is to model
or copy the masters. You learn by seeing how
someone else has approached and solved a problem
and then use their model or example. In affiliate
marketing, one of the best ways to learn is to
copy or model your business on one that has already
been proven to work.
This is NOT literal copying of a site or business
but simply modeling your own business on an existing
example that works. Same structure, same marketing
techniques, same principles... building your affiliate
business on an existing mold or model is a wise
route to take if you want to succeed.
10. Be Patient For Results
Building a viable online affiliate business takes some
time so be patient. If you're building a content rich
site and targeting specific keywords it can take months,
sometimes even years, before you obtain significant
results. So have long term goals in place and expect
plenty of hard work before you reap the real rewards.
Just remember becoming a full time online affiliate
marketer is well within anyone's reach. However, like
most things in life, the journey is always much more
enjoyable than your final destination. Many of you will
probably discover, like I did, that 'the reach is the
grasp'. Actually doing something is the main reward,
all those monthly affiliate checks are just pleasant
aftershocks. Very nice aftershocks that add up very
quickly into a healthy monthly online income!
