Maybe you are new to online marketing and you are looking for a place to start.
“Be an affiliate marketer,” someone says to you.
And you wonder, “How do I do that?”
It’s not difficult. There are some steps involved of course.
And between you and me, these steps tend to goof people up.
They think, “Oh, but I can’t do that. I’ve never done that. I wouldn’t know how to do that.”
Nonsense.
Anyone, and I really do mean anyone, can be an affiliate marketer.
Some will be better than others at it, but as you gain experience and knowledge you will sell more and more.
So already we have learned two things…
Anyone can be an affiliate if they know how to do it and they take action.
And practice makes for better results.
Don’t expect you’ll sell $100,000 of products your first week.
But if you sell just one – then you are on your way to a six-figure income if you stick with.
Ready to get started?
A Little Background to Get You on the Right Track
What exactly is this “affiliate marketing” you hear so much about?
Quite simply, it’s a relationship between 3 people:
The product owner – this is the person who, as the name implies, owns the product. They set up a system whereby a person such as yourself can sign up and become an affiliate to sell their product.
The affiliate – that’s you! When you join an affiliate program, you get your own affiliate link that tracks your referrals and sales. Every time you make a sale, you get a percentage of the sales price – usually between 50% and 100%.
The customer – this is the person you refer to the sales page of the product. They are the ones with the cash that will be split between you and the product owner.
But you should never think of the customers as ‘cash cows’ or ‘ATM machines’ or any such thing.
They are a real life people with hopes, fears, desires.
And they are depending on YOU to refer them to GOOD products. As an affiliate marketer, that is your job.
The more your customers like you and trust you, the more likely they are to act on your product recommendations. That’s why you always want to build and keep the trust of your customers.
Never try to sell them a product you don’t believe in. Always think of them first, and your wallet will fill itself.
Step 1: Pick a Niche
A niche is simply a broad category in which you’ll be working. For example, there’s the health niche, the relationship niche, the self-improvement niche, the make money online niche… you get the idea.
All of these niches are great places to start because they are large, there is a huge audience, and they’re willing to pay for products.
Once you’ve chosen a niche, it’s best to dig a little deeper and choose a sub-niche. After all, you can’t possibly cover every aspect of health for every person on the planet. But you can cover weight loss for women over 40, or diabetes, or body building for guys in their 20’s.
If possible, choose a niche and sub-niche that you have some interest in. It will make the rest of the process that much easier for you.
Step 2: Choose a Product
For your first product, choose something that is a proven seller. Something that converts well, that earns at least a dollar per click, and has rave reviews. Above all else, choose a product you are proud to promote.
The best products are those that solve a burning problem or fulfill a strong passion in your niche.
Step 3: Build an Online Campaign
This is where new marketers get lost.
“How do I sell a product? What goes into a profitable campaign? How do I handle the mechanics of it all?”
We’re going to try to make this so easy, you cannot fail.
In fact, your campaign will consist of only 5 parts:
- A squeeze page for gathering email addresses of your prospects
- A lead magnet which you will give away on your squeeze page in exchange for the email addresses
- A thank you page (or bridge page)
- An affiliate offer
- An autoresponder sequence
You might be wondering… “What if I direct link straight to the sales page and skip the whole squeeze page / list building scenario – wouldn’t that be easier?”
Absolutely it would be easier. And foolish as well, because you will make far fewer sales when you can’t follow up with your prospects.
Remember, anything worth doing is worth doing right.
So don’t even think about not capturing as many email addresses as you can in this process.
Now then… how do you build a squeeze page and a thank you page?
You can create these yourself using any good page builder, or use custom made software like Clickfunnels for this, though this can be expensive, or you can have someone create these on a site like Fiverr. Good affiliate offers will often provide ready made squeeze pages for you.
You’ve already chosen an affiliate offer.
That just leaves the lead magnet and the autoresponder sequence.
Your lead magnet can be a report, video, chart, cheat sheet, resource list or anything your target market would love to have.
If your lead magnet solves a burning problem, so much the better.
Your autoresponder sequence should do a good job of simultaneously educating your prospect on your topic and guiding them towards buying the program you’re selling.
For example, if your niche is traffic and your product is “10 Ways to Get Targeted Traffic for Free,” then naturally you will use your emails to guide them to that product.
Write about traffic methods in terms of what to do, but not how to do it. For that, they need the program.
Sell the reader on clicking over to the sales letter. You don’t need to actually sell them on the program – the sales letter will do that.
Just make it clear why you love the program and how it will benefit them.
Load your emails into your autoresponder. If you need guidance, every autoresponder provides step-by-step instructions.
Step 4: Set up Analytics
Do you know what makes the difference between a marketer who earns great commissions…
…and a marketer who is continually struggling?
In a word: Tracking.
If you’re not tracking your numbers, then you don’t know what’s working and what isn’t.
And if you don’t know what’s working, you don’t know what to do more of.
Here are the numbers to keep track of:
Cost per click [CPC] – How much each click costs on ads you are buying
Cost per Mille [CPM] – How much you are charged for every 1000 views generated on display ads
Click Through Rate [CTR] – The percentage of people who click your link. If your CTR is below 3%, then you need to change your ad. Try making the headline more specific to the audience, the image more appealing, etc.
The general rule is, if your CPC is low and your CTR is high, then you’re looking at a winning advertisement.
Step 5: Test, Traffic, Scale
Setting up a highly profitable campaign that gives you a 6-figure paycheck doesn’t happen by chance or accident.
It happens by testing, tweaking and testing some more.
You’ll want to test your squeeze page and find ways to make it convert higher.
Test your emails to see which ones are working.
Test all of your ads, tweak, test again and tweak.
It’s not magic and it doesn’t take any great skill. But it does take patience, persistence and diligence.
As hard as it might be to believe, given enough time and enough testing, you can in fact create a campaign that can provide you with a full time income.
And when you have a winning campaign, it’s time to scale it.
If sending $100 of traffic earns you $200, then sending $1000 will earn you $2000, and so forth.
And don’t forget – you’re building a list which will become your most valuable asset.
Continue to market other products to your list, and soon for every dollar you spend, you’ll be earning $3, $4, $5 and more over time.
Knowing what each person on your list is worth over the long haul will allow you to scale your operation even further, getting fresh traffic from new sources.
Yes, a six figure income truly is possible.
And it all starts with building your first profitable affiliate campaign.
Next Step…
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