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