Getting Your Feet Wet in Affiliate Marketing
The cardinal principle for making a decent income online is to put in regular hours at whatever you are doing. If you are looking for easy quick ways to make money, then this is not the article for you. Though there are hundreds of ways to make a living or a fortune online, one of the best ways to get started is with affiliate marketing. Most people, who are thinking of starting up as an affiliate marketer, have absolutely no clue about where to begin. They are more like babes in the wood, wandering from product to product and finally throw up their hands in exasperation. Whereas if you follow a game plan, identify and latch on to some great marketable product and hang in there as long as it takes, nothing can stop you from making it big.
The big question is what is it that you should select for affiliate marketing and not give up halfway falling prey to every cash online quick schemes all over the Internet. Give people what they are looking for. Find a product that offers solutions to your customers’ needs and nets a sizeable number of online shoppers. It is best to start with smaller, specialized niches with less competition than to start with something with extremely high competition like the insurance or credit markets. However, choosing a niche that very few people would search for like, how to cook raw sewage would probably not have many interested visitors.
On the other hand if the product is so commonplace and every other affiliate marketer is promoting it online, then it is very likely to kill your spirit in just a few weeks. An example of a niche product would be something like “How to fix a healthy breakfast in minutes.” At the time of writing this article there was about 462,000 global searches a month on Google. This niche could appeal to hundreds of thousands of working class singles and also fulfills a great need. This could be a video recipe or an e-book that can be marketed very well.
Next, how do people know that your site exists and offers something they really need? For affiliate marketers the route maps leading to them are hot keywords or keyword phrases. Keywords and keyword phrases are the magic words that get you business and keep you in business. That is how online customers find your site in the online jungle. Keywords like: “breakfast in five minutes”, “quick breakfast” or “no time for breakfast”. Put yourself in the shoes of your potential customer and think what keywords they are most likely to use when looking for your products. Use those very keywords to pull in business.
Last but not least is to utilize many online marketing avenues like forums, bulletin boards, article directories, chat rooms, email lists, ezines and blogging to soft sell and announce your product. Remember that you need to use caution and follow the terms of use or service when using these marketing channels otherwise you might lose your account for spamming.
The majority of social media websites have their own set of rules that you must adhere to. It is your responsibility to carefully read through all the rules and guidelines. Some sites will be more understanding if you make a minor mistake and will simply explain what you need to correct. However, others might just close your account without any explanation.