6 Steps For Starting Out With Affiliate Marketing

By Jon Allo  

Affiliate marketing is the concept of promoting products and services that are owned or provided by others and getting paid a commission for any sales that you generate. Many successful online entrepreneurs have launched their internet businesses by getting started in affiliate marketing. So how did they do it?

1. What Are You Going To Promote?

The first choice you are probably going to make when you start in affiliate marketing is deciding what products or services you want to promote. You can select digital products, physical products or both. Digital products include information products, video programs and membership websites that can be used online or downloaded immediately to the customer's computer. A physical product is something that is actually delivered to the customer's address.

2. Who Do You Want To Sell To?

Making money with affiliate marketing is all about having a clearly defined target audience. Though you may feel like a salesperson, the truth is, you are merely leading buyers to the sales page of the products you are promoting. The product or service owner has likely spent a lot of time and money on their sales copy, so you should always leave the selling to them. All you need to do is provide your website visitors with the perfect solution to the problem.

3. Which Affiliate Program Will You Pick?

You can choose from many affiliate programs. Make a point to check that you are working with affiliate programs that pay good commissions and provide you with support. Also make sire you know how you'll get paid and what proof there is that the product actually sells. Some popular websites that affiliates use to find products and services to sell are: Amazon, CJAffiliate, ClickBank and JVZoo.

4. Build A Website.

Putting together a website is not as difficult as you may assume. The WordPress website building platform is an easy to use and affordable way to get professional affiliate marketing websites online quickly and easily. To begin with you'll need a domain name, which is the name of your website and some website hosting, which is the space you 'rent' on the internet.

5. How Will You Reach Your Potential Customers?

Generating customer traffic to your website and sales pages is often the most challenging aspect when getting started in affiliate marketing. When it comes to affiliate marketing traffic there are two main routes to take. You can use free marketing methods or paid marketing. Both have their advantages and disadvantageous and it is always advisable to use at least one of each method.

6. Start To Build A List.

List building is one of the most important elements not only when getting started in affiliate marketing but throughout your entire online business journey. Statistically, a prospect needs to see your message at least 7 times before they are ready to make a purchase and email is the most effective way to do this. Also, when a prospect is on your list, it gives you the opportunity to promote other related products or services to them at a later date.

Regardless of your age, education or technical skills there are no specific requirements for being successful with affiliate marketing. However you will be more successful if you have a solid business model to work from, clear direction and support.

Article Source:   Ezine Articles expert Jon Allo