Affiliate Marketing Beginners guide Blogpost 4 of 5

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.