IF YOU WANT TO BE REALLY SUCCESSFUL
There are a few fundamentals to affiliate marketing that are
necessary for success. Unfortunately, many people overlook them because they
don’t seem important, they take too much time, or they don’t feel there is any benefit
to the effort.
These fundamentals are the key to being really successful
with affiliate marketing.
– KNOW YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE –
Your target audience is not simply people who are interested
in buying your product. There’s a little more to it than that. Knowing exactly
who you are marketing to is critical to not only your success, but also
determines the amount of effort you’re going to have to put in.
It may be helpful to create an avatar of your ideal
customers. For example, if your blog is about sport fishing in Mexico and your
affiliate marketing is all products related to sport fishing in Mexico, then
you need to know who exactly is going sport fishing in Mexico.
You may do some research and find out that the people who
are sport fishing in Mexico are:
● Men
● Between
the ages of 45-60
● Married
● Outdoor
enthusiasts
● Middle-class
income
Once you have this information, you can write content that
this person would read and enjoy, post in social media groups where they might
hang out, and make an overall plan to convert them.
– BUILD AN EMAIL LIST –
Having an email list is a great way to keep in touch with
your customers, let them know what’s happening over at your site, and keep them
coming back to check it out.
Building an email list may seem daunting but it’s actually
quite easy. As we noted, the key is offering prospects value in exchange for
their email address.
The thing of value could be a newsletter that you send out
monthly or weekly, an ebook, or a webinar that has information that would be
valuable. All that matters is that it’s valuable to prospects to the point
where they’ll give you their email address in exchange for it.
The great thing is that even if you’re giving away an ebook
or webinar, you only have to create that content once and then you can give it
away over and over again. It’s very little effort in exchange for a lot of
email addresses.
– DON’T RELY SOLELY ON ORGANIC SEARCH TRAFFIC –
If you plan on relying solely on organic search traffic, you
may be disappointed with your results. At least in the beginning. It takes a
while to build up your rankings on search engines, and if you’re not putting
out quality content on a consistent basis, it can take even longer.
This is another reason building an email list can be a huge
help. It can really help get the ball rolling with traffic.
– ANALYTICS –
Learn how to use analytics to track your successes and
failures. It is incredibly helpful to know what’s working so you can make
adjustments and fine-tune your processes.
Everyone’s approach is a little different and what works for
someone else may not work for you when it comes to marketing. There is no one
size fits all.
Google Analytics is a great, free way to track your results
and there are a ton of resources online to teach you how to use it.
– HONOR YOUR BRAND –
You can’t promote every high commission affiliate you come
across. If you just choose affiliates based on the commission, you’re not going
to be perceived as authentic by your customers.
Authenticity is one of the huge keys to your success in
affiliate marketing. Honor your brand by choosing affiliates within your niche.
– DO THE WORK –
“I’m a great believer in luck and I find the harder I work,
the more of it I have.”
Thomas Jefferson
Affiliate marketing has grown into a seven billion dollar
industry world wide, but it is in no way an easy, get rich quick path. If it
was, everyone would be doing it. The truth is that it’s a lot of work, and in
the beginning there’s not a lot of return on your effort.
If you want to be successful in affiliate marketing don’t
try to take short cuts or ignore proven models. In the end, this will probably
end up costing you time and money.
So, what is the proven model?
● Know your
target audience and what their needs are
● Promote
products that satisfy the needs of your target audience
● Create a
content marketing funnel so you have a plan for success
● Optimize
your site for conversions
● Use
opt-ins, lead magnets, and auto responders
● Drive
traffic to your lead magnets with ads (if you have the budget for it)
● Use
analytics to make changes in your funnel as needed
If you’re consistent and follow some of the tips laid out
here, you will see results that will make it all worthwhile.
