The following represents hard earned experience. This is the stuff that the "experts" selling Affiliate Marketing won't tell you. I learned the hard way, through massive effort representing many, many hours of hard work and many thousands of dollars. I share what I've learned so that you may learn through my experience and not need to learn the hard way.
1) Keep your day job, if you have one. Have another source of income to pay the bills. Affiliate Marketing IS a viable way to earn a living for the long term. Affiliate Marketing is NOT a way to get rich quick, or even to pay the bills for the next few months. Like launching a rocket, or building any business, it takes massive, consistent effort over time to get it off the ground. For now, if you need to work, plan on working your business after your day job.
2) Choose your product. Choose one or two products carefully, with the following criteria:
- Choose something you believe in and use.
- Choose a product or service that is either essential to maintaining quality of life or is a store of value for investment purposes. Forget luxury items that might have worked before. They are not your best item for today's economy.
- Watch for affordability and repeat business. One of my hard earned lessons was taking the advice of an Internet Marketing "expert" and choosing a line of exercise equipment. It fulfilled all of the above except affordability and repeat business. The average price was $1000 with a 10% profit margin. Good deal, I thought, I just need to sell a handful in the entire world to make a living. Then, the credit crunch hit. I learned. Affordability and repeat business!!
- Find a distributor that offers you an instant, replicated website. I tend to avoid affiliate payment systems and prefer to order from and be paid by the distributor. Be careful selling digital products such as E-books. I find a lot of hype and not a lot of substance in most. Just my personal preference, I also tend to avoid high pressure website tactics, such as scripts that caution you not to click away, etc. Frankly, those websites give me reason enough NOT to buy their products. Look for a replicated website that offers you facts, rather than hype, and respects your innate intelligence rather than pressuring you to buy.
- Choose a backup product to eventually create more than one income stream and as insurance if your original product distributor is no longer available.
3) Purchase a Domain Name. Once you have the product and replicated website, research keywords, and purchase a top level domain name. Having your own top level Domain Name will help considerably in advertising. Most directories require a link to a top level Domain and do not allow links to second level or "inside' pages. Use your keywords in your Domain name; go with dot com if at all possible, and no more than four words in the Domain name. It is NOT true that all the good domain names are taken. Creativity and imagination is the key to finding a GREAT Domain Name. There are many reputable Domain Name Registrars. It's not necessary to pay more than $10/year for Domain Name Registration.
4) Get your website online and market it. Further research keywords; plan your page title, and keyword and description meta-tags. Create your index.html using notepad and simple html code with frames to place your replicated Affiliate website on your own domain. Once your site is online, spend some time every day marketing your site. Learn basic Search Engine Optimization, SEO, submit to search engines, submit to directories, use a link exchange program, and write articles that offer valuable information related to your opportunity. You want to create as many inbound links to your website as possible. Your primary focus will be on SEO with a secondary focus on traffic and banner exchange sites. Legitimate SEO takes at minimum several months and consistent effort. In the meantime, a lot of people use pay per click programs. That's fine, if you have the money, but whether you have starting capital or are working on a shoestring, your best traffic will be people who are searching for what you are offering. Do your Search Engine Optimization. Continue to research and refine keywords.
5) Build Relationships. Your best customers will be the people that trust you; the people who know you keep your word, and the people that you help succeed. Like any business or anything worthwhile in life, you attract what you are. Step into your customer's shoes and help them find the answers to their questions and needs. People may forget the product, but they will remember the service. BE the service they remember!
If any of the above resonates with you as a way of doing business, please feel free to check out my link below. I live the Five Secrets of Affiliate Marketing for Today's Economy and I would be honored to help you succeed.
Charlene, AKA star4love |
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