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How to get started in affiliate marketing (5 steps to a successful business)

 

For most online income earners, affiliate marketing is a natural place to start. That is because affiliate marketing is a relatively easy way to start online business. And while it is really easy to start, it still requires hard work to become successful. I am going to show you the six basic steps, which are brief and quite simple, that are required to enter in this business. If you do not follow these steps you may not get your desired results.

 

 

Your first step to successful affiliate marketing must be to choose a market. Do this before you choose your product(s). Why? Clarity and definition. As the saying goes: "Begin with the end in mind." Part of your business plan should be centered around marketing your products (naturally, or you will not have success in selling), so it makes sense that if you are going to market and sell a product line, it is much easier to sell homogeneous products to a specific market niche.

 

That is not to say that you can't expand your markets in the future. But begin with one market and center your products around that market. When you find success in that market you can begin growing your product line(s) and your market(s).

 

Additionally, I suggest you choose a market which suits you. Something that interests you will be easier to talk about and sell than something that doesn't. Ultimately you will need to do a fair amount of research into your market to understand it and sell to it, and you will also need to know and understand your product(s) thoroughly. This knowledge will come much easier when it is of personal interest to you.

 

You must also obtain as detailed information as possible about your market. Don't attempt to blindly shoot at unmarked targets. When you have specific detailed information about your target market you will have much more success with your sales.

 

 

After you have chosen a specific market, now you can select a product, or several products. Your product line will expand over time, but in the beginning, just like your target market, it is advisable to begin with a narrowly focused approach - limit yourself to no more than three products to start. Do not give in to the temptation to add many, many products at the beginning; if you do you will likely find that you end up with a watered-down approach to your market that leaves them confused an unresponsive, which will not result in sales for you.

 

Where do you find your products? There are several opportunities where you can gain access to products which you can resell on the internet. Start with your search engine and type in affiliate marketing, or go to my web page for some ideas of where to find affiliate products.

 

Just as with your market(s), you start with a very focused approach, but as you begin to experience success with your products (and the get to an equilibrium with automated sales - the goal!) then you can add more products.

 

 

You might be wondering what an autoresponder is. Very simply put, it is an automated way of staying in touch with the people who have indicated an interest in what you have to offer. It allows you to create a series of e-mails and information one time, and continually broadcast it to everyone who clicks into your website. This is they key to successful internet marketing, and this is the single most important ingredient to creating free time for you!

 

So, to begin, you must choose an appropriate autoresponder. You can find recommendations to the best autoresponders on my website. Once you have chosen your autoresponder, then you must create a follow up series, which is also called an autoresponder series. This series must have all the relevant information about your product(s). As time goes on you can also use your autoresponder to cross-sell your customers to other related (or possibly unrelated) products that you offer.

 

In your autoresponder messages you can tell your prospects about all of the features and benefits of your product offering(s), and most importantly, you can tell them how to purchase your product(s). You can also add some advantages or the profiles of some high-profile industry experts in the world, provide links to appropriate related information on the internet, etc.

 

A key with the autoresponder series: get more and more creative as you build. It is observed that during the period of first few months affiliates do not get reasonable sales. But after six months, they expect to gain much better sales. This is because as they learn from experience they get more creative with their posts and sell more products.

 

 4. Build a Page to Capture Emails

 

Now you need to build out your website. A website is a necessity for any internet business. Just like a traditional business would likely need some sort of store front or office space, the internet businesses must have a website - this is your office. So, if you haven't done so already, go to a web hosting service and purchase a URL. This is a very inexpensive process, and should cost you no more than $10 - $20 per year.

 

As you begin to build out your website, be aware that the most important page of your website is going to be what we call a "capture" page. This is the page that allows you to "capture" the names and e-mail addresses of those people who have responded to your marketing, and is how you will get the information required to build your autoresponder lists.

 

The format of the "capture" page should be simple and direct. You need to speak to the pain of the market you are trying to attract. For example, if you want to teach people how to get a better score in golf you might speak to their pain of higher than average scores, having tried different clubs and accessories with little results, etc. Something has to motivate them to enter their name and address on your page, so get to their pain, and get to it quick. I have seen some capture pages that are very, very lengthy. I am usually lost by mid-way through, or less, and I do not have a lot of time to read on and on about something that I don't even know yet if I am interested in. Capture their attention in the first 5 seconds, and relate to their pain in the first 10 seconds or you will lose them.

 

Your autoresponder will allow you to build out a form for capturing their name and e-mail addresses. Insert this form on your capture page and you will be in the business of capturing leads. I do not recommend asking for a phone number on your capture page … most people will be reticent to leave a phone number when they do not know you yet, and as a result you will lose prospects.

 

As you grow your business you should grow out your web site as well. The more content rich the site is the more Google will like you, and the more value your customers will perceive from your offerings. Remember the old adage "Give First." People will appreciate what you have offered and will be more likely to join you when you have provided them value up front. But don't give away the store.

 

 

Once your website is up with your capture page running, you now need to generate some traffic to that website. There are numerous opportunities to do this on the internet, in fact, so many that they could never be listed in one article. Do the research online and begin looking at the opportunities available to you.

 

To begin, you will have to choose between free advertising and paid advertising. While free advertising is highly desired by most people, it is also less effective than paid advertising. Of all the paid advertising options online, Google is most likely going to be the most recognizable. It is also one of the most productive advertising opportunities on the internet. But Google can be a fickle service as well, and unless things are done just right on your website you run the risk of being forced out of Google advertising. With a little research you can easily build and run an effective Google advertising campaign, and some of my future articles will focus on this subject more specifically.

 

Like everything else we have talked about, you want to start with a focused approach. The key with online advertising is to test and split-test your advertising. This means that you build two or three advertising campaigns and run them simultaneously, testing which ones perform the best. This will allow you to focus on the best advertising approaches, those that work well and attract the market(s) you are looking for.

 

Future articles I will be posting will focus on this step extensively.

Once you have completed these 5 steps, you are now in business as an affiliate marketer. Continue to work and rework these steps as you perfect and grow your business. After about six months of working you should have a very productive site, and be generating plenty of sales from your site.

 

When you have started to make a good and reliable income with a single product, then you should add some new products to your products list. But you must carefully select new products to put them in the list. Make sure that they conform to the markets you have targeted.

 

Always start with a single, hot and demanding product to gain good results. Concentrate on this single product, make your website to display the product and capture the email addresses of visitors. Use these email addresses and your website to start a powerful advertisement campaign. Use the techniques to drive maximum traffic to your website. Once you have started earning with a single product, add more products and repeat the process.

 

Best of luck, I look forward to seeing your offering on the internet.