Affiliate Marketing for the Beginner

My not-so-long term goal is to write and publish two e-books: One, a cookbook with my unique recipes, and two, a step-by-step guide to internet marketing. Actually, my desire to do the cookbook is what got me into internet marketing.

When I began to look into how to be a successful internet marketer, there was a common caveat which kept popping up from the "gurus" of internet marketing: "Don't put all of your eggs in one basket." In other words, don't depend totally on your own product or service for a profitable internet business. Diversify.

One of the most lucrative (and one of the easiest) ways to diversify in internet marketing is through affiliate marketing. In fact, affiliate marketing programs may be the very best means of earning an excellent income online.

What is affiliate marketing? For the internet marketer, affiliate marketing is simply earning commissions by marketing other peoples' products or services from your website, blog, or email publication. Commissions vary in percentage. Commissions for the products I market as an affiliate range from 6% to 75%. There are many products available to market at commissions in the 40-50% range.

What are the steps necessary to become an affiliate marketer? The most logical first step is to start your own website or blog. I am of the minority who prefers a blog to a website, probably because I love to write. If you're not a writer you will probably be better off with a website from which to market your affiliate products or services. There are some great blog hosts who offer easy to use templates and don't charge a thing. Free websites are available as well—just do a search on Google using the words "free website."

The next step is to search for products to market as an affiliate. (There are many, many available!) Obviously, the best products to market are the ones related to the things you like to write about on your blog or feature on your website. Your editorial and your products can go hand-in-hand quite nicely together. Do searches on Google, using key words that describe your areas of interest along with the word "affiliate" (for example, "guitar lessons affiliate" or "cookbook affiliate"). Many products will have a link for affiliates at the side or bottom of their seller's sales letter. Each will show you how to sign up and then how to create and use the affiliate link that will identify you when you bring people to their site.

Next, and of the utmost importance, you must direct traffic to your sites. There are a number of ways to do this: search engine ads, write and submit e-zine articles, advertise in various e-zines, do joint ventures, etc. These are all explained in detail in many books and e-books.

The most effective way to market on the internet, including affiliate marketing, is to build a list of prospects. The best way to do this is to offer a weekly email newsletter and capture contact information from targeted prospects who will subscribe to your newsletter via an opt-in form. Email your personalized newsletters automatically through an autoresponder. An autoresponder is basically an online robot that sends out predetermined email messages to everyone who has contacted it. An autoresponder will send out your e-zine, newsletter, or sales pitch every day, 24 hours a day, automatically, without fail. But a sequential autoresponder is a must for the internet marketer who seeks to build up relationships with his subscribers. With a sequential autoresponder you can upload a sequence of follow-up messages so that each one will be automatically sent at the time you have directed. A prospect could get your first sales letter immediately, then another one three days later, another one seven days later, and so on. This is valuable because it often takes seven or more messages before a prospect decides to buy your product or service. It is also valuable because the people who are interested in your initial product may well be interested in other products you sell. A sequential autoresponder allows you to have everything set up to keep informing your subscribers of the different things they may have a need for. The messages go out to them at the times you have predetermined. Talk about making money while doing nothing!

Next you'll want to just make sure your mail box is big enough to handle all of the commission checks. Just kidding, but give it time and it really does grow and grow! There are no short cuts, and it does require work—but the results can be phenomenal!

Keep adding affiliate products. Keep adding interesting content to your website(s) or blog(s). Diversify. Then when you are ready with your own product—your own creation, your own system of some kind, your own e-book, whatever—you will have a long list of prospects with whom you have built a relationship, ready to purchase your very own product from you. On the other hand, don't put yourself under any pressure to even come up with your own product, if it is not something you desire to do. Many people prosper on the internet by merely finding niche markets through which they sell the products of others, as affiliates.

Copyright © 2007 Lee Griffith. All rights reserved.