| Day 1 - What Are Affiliate Programs? | | | | Keywords |
| | | | |
| Welcome to the wide world of affiliate | | | | Successful affiliates are never satisfied |
| marketing! | | | | with the status quo. Even if you endured |
| | | | hours sweat producing research to find your |
| Affiliate marketing (sometimes called | | | | target keywords,keep on searching out new |
| referral marketing) is based business people. | | | | ones and adding them to your list. |
| | | | |
| So, what is an affiliate and what does he or | | | | #2: Become Obsessed with Testing and Tracking |
| she do? | | | | |
| | | | If you aren\'t testing and tracking |
| The affiliate marketer acts as a middle man | | | | absolutely everything - and I mean everything |
| between merchant and consumer, but without | | | | from your keywords, your ppc ads, your web |
| adding anything to the consumer\'s cost. | | | | site copy and anything else you can think of |
| | | | to test/track, the odds are stacked against |
| Affiliates do not mark up or resell products. | | | | you. |
| | | | |
| Instead, the affiliate educates and directs | | | | Successful affiliates are maniacal about |
| the consumer to a product, and he receives a | | | | testing and tracking every detail of their |
| percentage of the sale in commission from the | | | | campaigns. They are details oriented and use |
| merchant. | | | | all of their collected data to refine their |
| | | | entire system on a day to day basis. |
| The affiliate acts as an independent lead | | | | |
| generator for the merchant by bringing in new | | | | #3: Innovate and Update Constantly |
| customers. | | | | |
| | | | Keep your approach fresh by testing new |
| This is a win-win situation for both the | | | | conversion tactics. If you rely on PPC |
| affiliate and the merchant. | | | | engines for advertising, start throwing in |
| | | | e-zine advertising into the mix. If that |
| The affiliate can reap a full-time income | | | | doesn\'t produce the desired results, |
| marketing a whole suite of products that he | | | | investigate banner ads, classified ads, |
| does not own. He doesn\'t pay for product | | | | message boards, offline media and anything |
| creation, doesn\'t have to ship anything and | | | | else you can think of to get your message |
| doesn\'t deal with customer serviceissues or | | | | across. |
| returns. The merchant benefits from the | | | | |
| influx of new customers, the boatloads of | | | | Don\'t rely on one conversion channel. If you |
| cheap traffic and low cost advertising. | | | | send your prospects direct to the merchant, |
| Merchants gettheir product and their brand in | | | | change up your campaign and start sending |
| front of thousands of potential buyers | | | | leads to yourown web site and start |
| without paying a dime until someone makes a | | | | collecting email addresses. Experiment with |
| purchase. | | | | your content and your web copy. Try out |
| | | | different link headlines. Never settlefor the |
| It is truly a pay for performance | | | | familiar. Tweak everything until you\'ve |
| arrangement. | | | | squeezed the maximum conversion power out of |
| | | | it. |
| Day 2 - Choosing an Affiliate Program | | | | |
| | | | #4: Pay Attention to the Industry and |
| Before you begin your venture into affiliate | | | | Communicate with Other Affiliates |
| marketing, it is necessary to choose the | | | | |
| right program for you. There are almost as | | | | The world of affiliate marketing changes |
| many programs out there as there are | | | | every day. There is always a new tactic to |
| products! When you first start out, it\'s | | | | implement, a change in the rules at one |
| easy to go overboard signing up to as many | | | | advertising service or another, a serious |
| programs as possible, but this isn\'t the | | | | technology failure at one of your merchant\'s |
| right way to go about it. | | | | sites and so on. |
| | | | |
| First, you need to decide on a area of | | | | Even though affiliate marketers are rabidly |
| particular interest to you. What products do | | | | competitive group, they are also quite |
| you know the most about and think you could | | | | helpful and willing to trade information and |
| do the best job of selling? | | | | tips with one another. |
| | | | |
| Once you identify your specialty, you begin | | | | You should bookmark the following sites and |
| by sorting through the available merchants | | | | make a point of visiting them weekly if not |
| and examine the structure of their affiliate | | | | daily: |
| programs. | | | | |
| | | | Day 5 - The Importance of Building a List |
| Key areas to investigate: | | | | |
| | | | Out of all the possible approaches to |
| 1. When and how do you get paid? | | | | affiliate marketing, lead capture and list |
| | | | building represents the smartest and most |
| Find out whether the program pays you weekly, | | | | effective option. |
| bi-monthly, monthly, etc. Most programs have | | | | |
| a minimum payout amount, meaning that you | | | | Why? |
| don\'t receive your commissions until hitting | | | | |
| a minimum number of sales for the pay period. | | | | A lost visitor is a lost sale. A lost visitor |
| You\'ll also want to find out whether the | | | | is the loss of potential repeat sales. Think |
| programs pays you via check, direct deposit, | | | | of it this way: you\'re putting time and |
| Pay Pal or any combination of the three. With | | | | money into your advertising. If you aren\'t |
| our PushButtonHealthGuide.com, we are linked | | | | capturing your visitor\'s email |
| to clickbank.com, you will be rest assured | | | | addresses,you\'re basically throwing all of |
| that you will be paid accordingly twice a | | | | that traffic right down the drain. |
| month. | | | | |
| | | | When you capture your visitors to your list, |
| 2. How much do you make per sale? | | | | you open a whole new world of profit |
| | | | opportunities - not just for the short term, |
| Remember you\'ll be investing your own money | | | | but for the long term as well. |
| into advertising and other expenses to | | | | |
| promote these programs. Therefore, you should | | | | The Benefits of List Marketing |
| seek programs which reward their affiliates | | | | |
| well. You\'ll also want to seek out | | | | You can educate your prospects. This will |
| high-value products. A fifty to sixty percent | | | | increase your conversion rate by giving you |
| commission on a $100 product is very good, | | | | the opportunity to turn hesitant prospects |
| but it\'s not so hot if you\'re promoting a | | | | into enthusiastic customers. |
| $15 product. | | | | |
| | | | You can market to your prospects over and |
| At the time of writing, we offer 75% of | | | | over again. Your long term profit potential |
| commission to our affiliate, which is the | | | | exists in repeat sales. Never work for just |
| highest by the industry standard. | | | | one sale. |
| | | | |
| 3. Is the program managed well? Is this a | | | | You can double your return on investment |
| reputable company? Larger companies usually | | | | while lowering your advertising costs. Once |
| have affiliate managers devoted to | | | | you\'ve got a list in place, you don\'t have |
| maintaining contactwith their affiliates. | | | | to limit your offerings to just affiliate |
| Even if you go with a smaller outfit, they | | | | product. You can bring in any additional, |
| should at least offer clear contact | | | | related products of interest to your list and |
| information. You might want to try e-mailing | | | | make sales immediately without going through |
| them at their contact address to see how fast | | | | the same advertising process all over again. |
| they respond to you. Mismanaged programs are, | | | | |
| at best, a sign of disorganization and, at | | | | Can you see the benefits yet? Why spend money |
| worst, could indicate a company in trouble. | | | | over and over again sending people to the |
| | | | same page and hoping for a sale, when you can |
| The last thing you want is to be sitting on a | | | | capture them to your list and have full |
| grand worth of hard earned commissions and | | | | control over the conversion process? |
| see the merchant go out of business before | | | | |
| paying you. | | | | Any other approach leaves you at the mercy of |
| | | | the merchant\'s web copy and the customer\'s |
| Keeping these factors in mind, here are some | | | | mindset at first contact. You\'ve got to lure |
| great places to seek out products you can | | | | your prospects in and expose them your |
| promote: uses) | | | | message multiple times. This will save you so |
| | | | much time and money you\'ll wonder why you |
| Commission Junction (CJ) and Linkshare | | | | ever did it any other way. |
| provide affiliate hubs for major brand | | | | |
| corporations and mid-sized businesses. Their | | | | Day 6 - Advanced Topics |
| focus is generally on tangible products and | | | | |
| services. Clickbank is the leading source | | | | We\'ve come to the last day of the course, |
| online for affiliates of information products | | | | and it\'s time to tie up the loose ends and |
| like e-books, software and membership sites. | | | | cover some advanced topics. |
| | | | |
| Day 3 - Five Approaches to Affiliate | | | | As you know by now, affiliate marketing can |
| Marketing | | | | be incredibly rewarding when done properly. |
| | | | There are also a lot of pitfalls you need to |
| As a new affiliate, one of the first things | | | | watch out for as well. One of these is |
| you\'ll want to know where and how to promote | | | | merchant fraud. |
| your affiliate link. Today we\'ll cover | | | | |
| several options and discuss the merits of | | | | Merchant fraud, unfortunately, does happen. |
| each method. | | | | Merchants can use any number of clever |
| | | | tactics to cheat you out of your commission. |
| 1. Direct Links via PPC Advertising If you | | | | One of these methods is to offer multiple |
| use PPC advertising, you can embed your | | | | payment options to customers without linking |
| affiliate to thead and send the prospect | | | | each oneto their affiliate tracking software. |
| directly to the merchant\'s site. This is a | | | | For example, let\'s say that a merchant |
| really lazy to do things, though. You might | | | | offers credit payments, payment via Paypal |
| make a few sales, but it\'s far better to | | | | and payment via check to the customer. |
| approach the process as outlined in tactic | | | | |
| | | | The merchant tracks your affiliate ID up to |
| 2. Linking to Your Site via PPC Advertising | | | | the point of sale and credits you if the |
| | | | customer chooses to pay via credit card |
| Place ads for your target keywords and direct | | | | through the merchant\'s main payment gateway. |
| the prospects to greet them with an | | | | However, if the customer chooses Paypal or |
| invitation to subscribe to your newsletter. | | | | check, youraffiliate ID is immediately |
| Once you\'ve collected a prospect\'s email | | | | tossed. |
| address, they are yours to market to on a | | | | |
| repeat basis. | | | | The only way around this clever trick is an |
| | | | exercise of caution on your part. When you |
| 3. Build Content Focused Sites | | | | evaluate a potential affiliate program, check |
| | | | to see how many payment methods the merchant |
| This approach aims for long term traffic | | | | offers. Secondly, after you sign up for an |
| through search engine optimization. You\'ll | | | | account, examine you referral links. In fact, |
| need to publish content related to the type | | | | if you have the budget to spare, follow your |
| of product you\'re trying to sell. Searchers | | | | own link and choose one of the alternate |
| will be drawn in by informative articles. | | | | payment options and purchase a product. Did |
| You\'re affiliate links will be sprinkled | | | | you get credit for that sale? Great! If you |
| discreetly across the site. | | | | didn\'t receive credit, though, it\'s time to |
| | | | can that merchant and move on to more ethical |
| 4. Advertise in E-Zines | | | | waters. |
| | | | |
| This is a good method to use if you can find | | | | Here\'s another \'advanced\' tip to consider: |
| targeted lists for your product. E-zine ads | | | | use affiliate networks like |
| can be purchased in most cases, and in other | | | | |
| cases you can snatch them up for free by | | | | Commission Junction to evaluate potential |
| bartering with the list owner. | | | | merchants. Joining programs via a network is |
| | | | often a better choice than signing up at |
| 5. Purchase text link or banner advertising | | | | individual, non-networked sites. The reason |
| on high traffic sites. This type of | | | | is simple: membership in an affiliate network |
| advertising isn\'t quite as popular as it | | | | imposes stricterstandards on merchant |
| used to be. It is most effective when you can | | | | behavior. You also have access to a wealth of |
| find high traffic sites for smaller niche | | | | data on the overall performance of other |
| subjects. These sites tend to focus heavily | | | | affiliates in that merchant\'s program. |
| on content and runonly a handful of ads on | | | | |
| site. Space is limited and rates are likely | | | | Last but not least, you need to focus on |
| to be at a premium. | | | | building trust among potential customers. If |
| | | | your merchant site doesn\'t do a very good |
| Day 4 - Beating the Odds | | | | job of this, then send your visitors to your |
| | | | web site. Make it clear what products and/or |
| This will be a cold, hard dose of truth, but | | | | information you have to offer. |
| you need to know the facts. The majority of | | | | |
| people who go into affiliate marketing fail | | | | Also, be vigilant about posting your contact |
| to break even. Some people will earn | | | | information in a prominent place. Anonymity |
| thousands in this business, while others will | | | | might be fun in a chat room, but it turns off |
| struggle to generate even a few hundred in | | | | consumers very quickly. For an extra |
| sales per month. | | | | advantage, consider having your site |
| | | | evaluated net cop programs like the one at |
| Affiliate marketing is very competitive and | | | | and get your site listed in the online |
| cut-throat. You\'ve got to stay on your toes | | | | section of the Better Business Bureau\'s web |
| to win in this game. While I can\'t guarantee | | | | site. |
| your success, I can provide you with some | | | | |
| fundamental knowledge that just might help | | | | Day 7 - Let\'s Work On it! |
| you beat the odds. Get ready to learn how to | | | | |
| play hardball with the super affiliates. | | | | Now you are fully equipped, let\'s do some |
| | | | work today and rake in profits together! |
| #1: Never Stop Searching for Profitable | | | | |