Affiliate Marketing For Newbies
Before getting started there are a few things the Affiliate Marketing Newbie should think about and plan before you spend any time or money.
Most Affiliate Marketing Newbies just jump in and start working without a full understanding of where they want to go and what they want to accomplish.
Below I have listed some of those things you should think about plan and then do.
1.
Choose a Target Market When choosing a Target Market an Affiliate Marketing Newbie will do well to stick to something they have knowledge about for their first affiliate website.
It can be something you do everyday at your job or your home, something you studied before, or a hobby you love to participate in.
Almost everything people do or are interested in can be monetized in some way.
For instance lets say you love music and play the guitar.
If you have particular knowledge about the guitar and products used to play the guitar like guitar strings, tuners, or music.
You can find a Merchant that sells those items and sell them on your site for a commission.
Or perhaps you know how to repair guitars of refinish them and you can write about that an sell items needed for them to repair their own guitars.
The idea is to think about what your Target Market may need or need help with and sell those products.
2.
Start a Website Affiliate Marketing Newbies may need help setting up a website, but your best bet is to set one up with your own domain.
There are people everywhere on the internet and in your own community that can help you get started.
Once you have a domain name and hosted site, I suggest you set up a WordPress blog on it.
Once it is set up it is very easy to learn how to use it.
I still suggest that you spend some time however learning html.
3.
Write Some Posts to your New Blog Once the blog is up write two or three 300 to 500 word articles about your new website and about the market you are targeting.
This is important to have done before precedeing to the next step.
4.
Find a Merchant There are several places for the Affiliate Marketing Newbie to find a Merchant online these days.
Amazon.
com is a place to start.
Another place to find many merchants is CJ Commission it is a reputable place.
There are many more and you will need to do some research to determine what fits your target market best.
Every merchant gives a different commission.
Some have better selling materials than others.
For example some may only have text links, while some have banners in html and javascript.
The key is finding several that have both the same products to sell so you can review them for your customer and some with products none of the others offer.
Your job will be to pre-sell the product so your customer follows the link buys the part and you get a commission.
5.
Find a Product for Your Market As an Affiliate Marketing Newbie you must try to think like your Target Market.
What product might I be searching for to buy on the internet.
What is a popular product that all guitar players buy often? Music? Books on How to Do special sounds on a Guitar? Guitar Strings? This is why it helps for Affiliate Marketing Newbies to have some knowledge of the Target Market.
It makes it easier to know what products guitar players are searching for.
In some cases it may be better to do step 6 ahead of step 5 in order to identify products your Target Market is searching for.
When you have successfully identified some product.
6.
Research Keywords There are two main reasons why Affiliate Marketing Newbies should do keyword research.
One is to identify products that your Target Market is searching for and two is to identify keyword phrases that will drive traffic to your site.
There are several free keyword tools on the Internet you can use.
I mainly use Google Keyword Tool because for now it still is the top search engine and the engine I want to get the top search position on.
You can search for products and phrases at the same time.
For products you are looking for specific products that have a high volume of searches the higher the search the better.
If you use the specific product description say Johnny Walker Guitar Strings and that shows any volume it may be something to sell on your site obviously the more hits an item gets the more it is being searched for.
To search for phrases you are looking for long keywords that have more than 500 hits a month but very little competition.
This so you might be able to capture the first or second position on the search page.
7.
Writing and Posting Articles to Bring Traffic to your site.
The single hardest thing for all Affiliate Marketing Newbies and the main thing that determines success in affiliate marketing is traffic to your website.
One way to generate traffic is to post articles that you have a chance of getting published on the top of a search page.
In the previous step I spoke briefly about finding long keyword phrases that have volume but not much competition.
This is where you use these key word phrases.
You write some posts in order to get traffic to your site.
For instance lets say you found the phrase "how to read guitar music" got 500 hits a month and there was very few pages that wrote about that.
You would post an article that is 300 to 500 words long and title it with the keyword phrase or as close as you can get it an the use the key word in your post several time also.
Then link to your site from other places like forums and if you can get that post on top of a search page.
You may get 100 hits a month to your site.
If they like what they read they may find other things of interest on your site or possibly follow your link to a merchant and buy something.
8.
Writing Post to Pre-Sell Products All Affiliate Marketing Newbies must learn to post articles that pre-sell the products they are promoting on their sites.
This is a soft sell.
Do not push to sell your audience anything.
Review products.
If your merchants have several guitar tuners that are comparable review them against one another and rank them.
Post an article showing a picture of each and the pros and cons of each and a ranking of some kind.
Then provide a link to each and maybe they will follow it and buy something.
If you have personally used one of the products do a personal review and tell them how it helped you or what you wished your product has that it doesn't and point them to that product.
You will also want to write on forums and other places that you can link back to this post where it is correct to do so in order to drive more traffic to your site.
This is only one of many blueprint for Affiliate Marketing Newbies to follow, but it is probably the most successful way to get started.
You have to crawl before you can run.
Starting this way is like building the foundation for your business.
I have met some people that have made a fortune with just one website like this and others that have dozens of sites all bring them in money.
Dont be fooled though this is not easy at first.
It takes a lot of hours but the work not only gets easier as you go but there is less of it to do.
Most Affiliate Marketing Newbies just jump in and start working without a full understanding of where they want to go and what they want to accomplish.
Below I have listed some of those things you should think about plan and then do.
1.
Choose a Target Market When choosing a Target Market an Affiliate Marketing Newbie will do well to stick to something they have knowledge about for their first affiliate website.
It can be something you do everyday at your job or your home, something you studied before, or a hobby you love to participate in.
Almost everything people do or are interested in can be monetized in some way.
For instance lets say you love music and play the guitar.
If you have particular knowledge about the guitar and products used to play the guitar like guitar strings, tuners, or music.
You can find a Merchant that sells those items and sell them on your site for a commission.
Or perhaps you know how to repair guitars of refinish them and you can write about that an sell items needed for them to repair their own guitars.
The idea is to think about what your Target Market may need or need help with and sell those products.
2.
Start a Website Affiliate Marketing Newbies may need help setting up a website, but your best bet is to set one up with your own domain.
There are people everywhere on the internet and in your own community that can help you get started.
Once you have a domain name and hosted site, I suggest you set up a WordPress blog on it.
Once it is set up it is very easy to learn how to use it.
I still suggest that you spend some time however learning html.
3.
Write Some Posts to your New Blog Once the blog is up write two or three 300 to 500 word articles about your new website and about the market you are targeting.
This is important to have done before precedeing to the next step.
4.
Find a Merchant There are several places for the Affiliate Marketing Newbie to find a Merchant online these days.
Amazon.
com is a place to start.
Another place to find many merchants is CJ Commission it is a reputable place.
There are many more and you will need to do some research to determine what fits your target market best.
Every merchant gives a different commission.
Some have better selling materials than others.
For example some may only have text links, while some have banners in html and javascript.
The key is finding several that have both the same products to sell so you can review them for your customer and some with products none of the others offer.
Your job will be to pre-sell the product so your customer follows the link buys the part and you get a commission.
5.
Find a Product for Your Market As an Affiliate Marketing Newbie you must try to think like your Target Market.
What product might I be searching for to buy on the internet.
What is a popular product that all guitar players buy often? Music? Books on How to Do special sounds on a Guitar? Guitar Strings? This is why it helps for Affiliate Marketing Newbies to have some knowledge of the Target Market.
It makes it easier to know what products guitar players are searching for.
In some cases it may be better to do step 6 ahead of step 5 in order to identify products your Target Market is searching for.
When you have successfully identified some product.
6.
Research Keywords There are two main reasons why Affiliate Marketing Newbies should do keyword research.
One is to identify products that your Target Market is searching for and two is to identify keyword phrases that will drive traffic to your site.
There are several free keyword tools on the Internet you can use.
I mainly use Google Keyword Tool because for now it still is the top search engine and the engine I want to get the top search position on.
You can search for products and phrases at the same time.
For products you are looking for specific products that have a high volume of searches the higher the search the better.
If you use the specific product description say Johnny Walker Guitar Strings and that shows any volume it may be something to sell on your site obviously the more hits an item gets the more it is being searched for.
To search for phrases you are looking for long keywords that have more than 500 hits a month but very little competition.
This so you might be able to capture the first or second position on the search page.
7.
Writing and Posting Articles to Bring Traffic to your site.
The single hardest thing for all Affiliate Marketing Newbies and the main thing that determines success in affiliate marketing is traffic to your website.
One way to generate traffic is to post articles that you have a chance of getting published on the top of a search page.
In the previous step I spoke briefly about finding long keyword phrases that have volume but not much competition.
This is where you use these key word phrases.
You write some posts in order to get traffic to your site.
For instance lets say you found the phrase "how to read guitar music" got 500 hits a month and there was very few pages that wrote about that.
You would post an article that is 300 to 500 words long and title it with the keyword phrase or as close as you can get it an the use the key word in your post several time also.
Then link to your site from other places like forums and if you can get that post on top of a search page.
You may get 100 hits a month to your site.
If they like what they read they may find other things of interest on your site or possibly follow your link to a merchant and buy something.
8.
Writing Post to Pre-Sell Products All Affiliate Marketing Newbies must learn to post articles that pre-sell the products they are promoting on their sites.
This is a soft sell.
Do not push to sell your audience anything.
Review products.
If your merchants have several guitar tuners that are comparable review them against one another and rank them.
Post an article showing a picture of each and the pros and cons of each and a ranking of some kind.
Then provide a link to each and maybe they will follow it and buy something.
If you have personally used one of the products do a personal review and tell them how it helped you or what you wished your product has that it doesn't and point them to that product.
You will also want to write on forums and other places that you can link back to this post where it is correct to do so in order to drive more traffic to your site.
This is only one of many blueprint for Affiliate Marketing Newbies to follow, but it is probably the most successful way to get started.
You have to crawl before you can run.
Starting this way is like building the foundation for your business.
I have met some people that have made a fortune with just one website like this and others that have dozens of sites all bring them in money.
Dont be fooled though this is not easy at first.
It takes a lot of hours but the work not only gets easier as you go but there is less of it to do.
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