Affiliate Business Trends

Archive for the ‘Affiliate Marketing’ Category

Yesterday I talked about how blogging can be used as a tool for Internet Marketing.  Today, I’m going to talk about ways to expand your market through Blogging.

Blogging is becoming more popular than email to reach and expand your market.  Mainly because it is alot faster to click on a blog site than to log in and download your email.  But if you use your email marketing wisely it can be a great tool for bringing readers to your website.

Be sure to have an email capture on your blog.  To entice people to sign up, offer them something free.  Don’t make it junk!!  Offer something of value.  Then when you have permission to send them emails, use a short email to tease them into clicking to read more at your site.  Or offer worth while information in your email, possibly a short term free lessons.  Use your email signature to get them to your website if your email has to do with an unrelated subject.

You want to be sure that you use their email address’ responsibly.  No one likes a spammer, besides I think it’s illegal.

Conduct a survey.  That way you can get information right from your readers to help you to understand them, their profiles and advertising preferences.  If you want to know something, want feedback on a post, or a link or a subject that you talked about, ask!!  Let your readers know that you want their feedback.

Use RSS, it’s the fastest growing tecnology on the internet today.  RSS feeds to your blog can add interest to your site.

Use video, You Tube adds yet another dimension to your blog.

Bring in a guest blogger, that way you get a fresh idea and your readers stay interested with a different perspective.

You may even want to run a contest.  Have your readers leave comments and then randomly choose a winner.  it will certainly get people talking.

I hope this has sparked some ideas for you.  If you think of something I missed, leave a comment.     I love to hear from my readers.

I have been reading Nicole Dean’s blog now for several weeks.  Wow!  I am really learning a lot.  Nicole is doing a Rock Star Summer Tour.  She is guest blogging on 15 different blogs all summer long.

One of the blogs she will guest blogging on is Click Newz.  Click Newz is operated by Lynn Terry.  Nicole interviewed Lynn back in April.  The interview was very interesting.  So off I go to Click Newz to check it out. 

Lynn is a Super Affiliate, that means that she makes a darn good living online as an affiliate marketer.  Like Nicole, Lynn offers a lot of really good, useful information on her blog. 

I am learning so much from both of these women, but I feel like there is so much to learn that I will never learn it all.

More later.

After signing up for Jimmy D. Brown’s affiliate program, I met, (actually just spoke through emails) Nicole Dean.

Nicole is Jimmy’s affiliate manager, so she handles all of his affiliates and helps them to succeed, by pointing them in the direction of articles or emails that Jimmy has written for his affiliates to use.  But Nicole is much more than that.

Nicole is an affiliate marketer, but she is also a business woman.  She has many blogs and ebooks that she has written.  So as a result of Jimmy D. Brown, I have now come into contact with a woman I can learn from.  Someone who is doing it all, has a husband, children, and all that goes with that, but also is making a full time living online.  YIPEE!!  Someone like me, except for the online successful business.

So I started reading Nicole’s blog.  Nicole gives away a lot of really useful information, along with her ebooks that are for sale.  And she has an affiliate program also.  I cannot wait to see what I can learn about affiliate marketing from her.

More later.

Right now more and more individuals are finding themselves out of work.  Either because their job has been eliminated, their company is downsizing, or the company has closed completely due to a failing economy.

So there are more people than ever looking to the internet to either supplement their income or completely replace a lost income.  One of the areas of online work that people are looking to is Affiliate Marketing.

To succeed in affiliate marketing, there are certain qualities you must find in yourself.  This is a very competitive industry and to be able to rise above the rest, you need to posess the right stuff.

The first quality you need to possess is to be open to learning and have a willingness to be trained.  A know-it-all-attitude will just cause you to spin your wheels.  You must be willing to learn from those who have gone before.  They can give you an advantage with their knowledge.  So find a mentor to help you.

The second quality is the willingness to invest the time it takes to see results.  This is not a get rich quick scheme.  This is a business, it grows with time and effort.  You must possess the stick-to-it-ness to see the results of your labor.  It may and probably will take months.  Just keep at it!

The third quality is self determination.  If you want to be successful you must be a self motivator.  You need to be able to push yourself.

Which leads us to quality number four, discipline.  There will be no boss standing over you like a task master, saying “Get it done”.  So you must have the ability to set goals and time frames for your work.  Procrastinators need not apply.

Our fifth and final quality is optimism.  If you really have the desire to have your own Affiliate Business, you must disregard the nay sayers.  A negative attitude will never let you succeed.  It will only drag you down and discourage you.  However, if you feel that you can, down in your own heart, no one can keep you from achieving Greatness!

The tools you need to have a successful Affiliate Marketing Business are diverse and exponential.  However, if you have the drive, the integrity and the gumption to succeed, then you will.

The capacity to realize all your dreams lies within you.  Desire is the capacity.

Are you one of the thousands of americans or millions of people around this small world that would like to join the ranks of the work at home crowd?  If you are, then Affiliate Marketing may be just what you’re looking for.

What is Affiliate Marketing you might ask.  Basically, it is an agreement between an individual and a merchant.  The individual  or “affiliate” agrees to use their website or blog page to promote the merchants products by linking to the merchants website.  In which case the merchant pays the affiliate a commision on all sales created by that affiliates link.  Only when the customer purchases the product through the affiliates’ link does the affiliate get paid.

Affiliate Marketing can be a win-win situation for all persons involved, because of the pay per action plan.  All involved reap the benefits.  The merchant for sure, because he gets his product in front of more potential customers’ eyeballs.  The affiliate definately, because they have the potential to earn huge profits.  And yes even the customer, because they may find a product that’s a better fit for their need.

Affiliate Marketing is a great way to start earning money from home.  The start up costs are minimal, usually under $100.00, because most affiliate programs are free to join.  There are literally thousands of affiliate programs out there for all sorts of products and services.  Just pick something that is relevant to your website or blog.  Affiliates can earn anywhere from 5% to 50% or more,  depending on the product and the merchant.  So you want to shop around for a good return on your time and effort.  You don’t need any sales experience because most affiliate programs offer an excellent array of marketing materials. 

Because of the simplicity of the business model you can build a very lucrative affiliate marketing business right from your home, in your spare time.  You don’t have to worry about products, orders, customer service or shipping.  All those responsibilites lie with the merchant.  All you need to do is find customers that are looking for what your merchant is selling.

With the international appeal of the internet you can readily reach millions of perspective customers.  You can grow that potential by employing viral marketing technics.  That way, by attracting the maximum amount of prospects, you also grow your earning potential.  Another plus, is the almost non existant risk factor.  If the product you choose isn’t making you any money, stop promoting it and find a new product.  Unlike traditional businesses with inventory, you’re not struck with a non performer.

I’ve saved what I think is, in my opinion, the very best reason to start an affiliate business.  You can start seeing a profit in little or no time, even in your spare time, while you work your day job.  However, don’t get the idea that because of its ease and lowstart up cost, it’s not work.  Just like anything, you get out of it what you are willing to put into it.