Affiliate Marketing is a dynamic industry. It is constantly evolving. As it evolves, it provides immense opportunities, for those who develop the proper know how, to take full advantage of such opportunities. Hence, the purpose of this blog,”Affiliate Marketing Tips And Strategies,” will provide you the tips and strategies that will help you to succeed in your online endeavor
What Is A Strategy
A strategy according to one dictionary definition, is “A plan of action resulting from the practice of strategy”.
So as we can see from the definition, a strategy involves plan of action.
Why Must You Have A Strategy?
Think of businesses both offline and online, they all have plan of actions. Such plans help them to achieve the goals and objectives of their respective organizations.Similarly, utilizing tips and strategies in your online business, will enable you to not only become a successful affiliate marketer, but be in a position to make good money online.
Now that we have determined why we must employ strategies in an online venture, we are now going to discuss briefly in this blog, “Affiliate Marketing Tips And Strategies,” some tips and strategies that may be of immense benefit to your online business.
Affiliate Marketing Tips And Strategy 1
Many people coming online, tend to do things backwardly. The first thing they do when starting an online business, is that they do what some gurus suggest. They join affiliate programs first and select a product or service that they will promote.
In my opinion, this is not the correct strategy. The first thing that should be done, is to choose your niche. Why choose a niche first? Because a niche gives direction, It sets the tone so to speak for your business.What affiliate programs to join, what products to promote, and what content to write are all dictated by your niche.
In view of what we have discussed so far, selecting or choosing a niche should come ahead of selecting an affiliate program, a product or any other strategies that you might have in mind. Doing other wise you will be putting the cart before the horse, and thus damage your chances for success.
It is very important that you choose your niche wisely. In my previous blogs, I wrote at length about selecting a niche. I am going to repeat some of the point covered in those blogs. In choosing a niche, select a niche or a topic that you are really interested in, something you are passionate about.
You must be an authority in the niche you have chosen. You don’t want that to scare you, you can always put yourself in a position to learn all that you need to know about your niche.
Very crucial also is that, you make sure that your niche is targeted, specific, segmented and not broad. For example, weight loss is very broad. But weight loss for men is segmented. It is a segment of the weight loss market.
Vital that you really get to know your targeted audience. Their needs, wants , desires, issues and even their motivation.
Affiliate Marketing Tips And Strategy 2
Now that you have selected your targeted niche, it is now time to select and join, affiliate programs. The easiest way that I find affiliate programs to join, is to do a Google search.
In the search bar as shown above, I simply type in that space, weight loss+ affiliate program, that is, if you are in the weight loss niche, and then you do your search. Based on your search result, you can choose a program to join.
You don’t want to join just any program. Join an affiliate program, that is reputable. If you join a company that is not reputable, and you promote it’s product, you could hurt your own reputation. So my advice, do your due diligence in finding the right program for you.
Consider The Benefits
What you should also take into consideration when selecting a program to join, is the benefit. I am here referring to the commission rate. When you join an affiliate program, you are paid commission on sales that you generate by means of your unique link.
The rate may vary from program to program. So shop around for the best commission rate. For example, if a company’s rate is 4%-5%, at that rate, you have to make a huge quantity of sales before you can make good money. I am not saying that you should not join programs that pay at 4%-5% rate,
In fact there are affiliates who are making good money promoting Amazon products. My suggestion is that, you shop for programs that offer the best commission rate, something that will be profitable to you.
Your strategy should also include taking into consideration, affiliate networks, such as Click Bank, J V Zoo, Warriors Plus etc. Some of these companies, sell digital products and they offer any where from 50%–1000% per sale.
You can find these networks by again doing a Google search.
Tips And Strategy 3-Product Selection
This is also very crucial for your online success. You don’t just want to choose any product to promote. Vital that you choose your product wisely. You have to promote things that are relevant.Things that people want to buy. It must also be legitimate. Why?
You could loose trust and credibility, if you promote products that are not legitimate or quality products. I have bought products online, that were worthless. They did not do what the seller indicated that the products will do. Those affiliates lost their credibility, I will never purchase from them any more.
So again what is the point? Wisely select products that you want to promote by so doing, you will keep your credibility in tact.
Tips And Strategy 4-Understanding Customer
Here are five key facts about customers in general, that you the affiliate must be aware of, if you are to be successful online:
- Customers rarely buy on first contact with product.
- They might see the product number of times(7) before making a purchase.
- Customers do not buy from people, they don,t trust.
- Customers are exchanging money, for something that will solve a problem or improve their lives.
- Most customers can recognize fakes, scammers and hypes.
So what is the point? The point I am trying to make, is that you as an affiliate must make every effort to really come to know your customers.
Buyers Today Are Sophisticated
It used to be, that people buy things instantly, without much thought going into the buying process. But not so with today’s buyers. Buyers today are sophisticated. Before they make any purchase, they have to research the product online.
They collect data, as to the price, quality, warranty, and relevance in terms of meeting their psychological, emotional and even physical needs.
Once they have armed themselves with the needed information, obtained through research online, they are now leaning to making a purchase decision.
What is your responsibility at this stage as an affiliate? Your responsibility as an enlightened affiliate, is to position yourself, where in you are able to help them complete, the decision making process. You can do so by way of product review on your website.
Again, the key is to understand who your customers are, and what they are really looking for. If not you will just be wasting your time and resources.
Tips And Strategy 5- Choose Profitable Keywords
It is also very important that you don,t choose just any keywords, but that you select, profitable keywords. What are profitable keywords? Are keywords that receive a good number of searches each month, but has less websites competing for that exact keyword.
A profitable keyword has a number, over 30 in the “AVG” column, and a number below 100 in the “QSR” column. See the example below.
Again in choosing keywords, select keywords that are profitable. Why? Because profitable keywords will improve your rankings in search engines, it helps you get more traffic, which in turn leads to making more money.
In my previous blog, ” A Step By Step Guide On How To Make Money With Affiliate Marketing”, I wrote extensively on content creation. I am going to revisit some of the points discussed, but also present fresh tips.
Affiliate Marketing Tips And Strategy-6
As you write your content, don’t come across as a sales person. If you do, you will not succeed online.Be yourself, genuine and sincere. Provide value in your content, have a desire to be helpful and it must be relevant. Important also, is that your content must inspire, appeal, motivate, connect with your audience, and it must build trust.
I again want to impress on you, the need to avoid writing poor quality content. Poor quality content will destroy your chances of online success. If you do the work, you will succeed.
Tips And Strategy 7 – Create Videos
For some, the idea of creating videos, terrifies them. If this is the case with you, you can have some one make your videos and pay them. I highly recommend that videos be included in your online strategies.
Videos do not have to be of a high quality production stuff. It must be brief,simple and to the point. I think people appreciate videos that are clear,concise and to the point, than videos that are lengthy.
People searching for product information, do a Google search, then You Tube search. So you have to make your online presence known by means of videos.
Videos are useful for visual tutorials and reaching audiences that prefer listening than reading. Your video must be relevant, helpful and must provide value.
Videos allow your audience to see the type of person you really are. Are you genuine? Sincere? Through your presentation, your audience will be able to determine what kind of person, you really are.
So, it is vital that you be yourself, and not try to be some one else. If you come across as honest, genuine and sincere, you will be able to build trust and a good relationship with your audience. Such qualities are crucial for online success.
Tips And Strategy 8- Product Review.
Product reviews, are very easy to do. Not only are they easy to do, it is the quickest way you can earn commission.
As mentioned in a previous paragraph, we stated that before people buy online, they first have to do research. Once they complete their research, they are now ready to move to the decision making stage. At this stage, they are leaning toward buying, but have not made the final decision yet. They are looking for the final input, that will convince them that they are making the right decision.
This is where, you as an affiliate can step in with a product review. In your review of a product, you have to present the facts about the product. In terms of quality, and in terms of usefulness. If you believe that it is a good product , then you can make the recommendation, to the buyer to purchase the product.
On the other hand, if you feel that the product or service is not a good one, or you feel that is a scam, then you can make the recommendation to the buyer by way of your review, not to purchase, and recommend an alternative, giving reasons why they should purchase the alternative.
Be Honest And Truth
It is worth emphasizing this point. You have to be absolutely honest and truthful in your reviews. If you are not honest, you could hurt people. You could cause them to loose their hard earned dollars. It will not reflect well on you.
You must also avoid being biased in your favor. You dishonestly discredit a competitors product, so that you could make a quick buck. Such actions can hurt your credibility and trust.
Product reviews are a great way to make money online very quickly. They are simple to do, and you will derive greater success from doing reviews. Why?
Because people that come to your reviews, will already be thinking about buying. Make sure that you select a product or service for review, that are related to your niche and add the review to your site.
Affiliate Marketing Tips And Strategy-9
Email marketing is very lucrative. You can easily create income on demand. Successful affiliates have email list. You have heard of the expression, the money is in the list. It is really true that the money is in the list. So why not build your own list. You can utilize email marketing, as one of your online strategies.
Once people buy from your site, you might not see them again, and might not be able to earn from them in the future. How do you solve such a problem? You have to leverage an email list. How do you leverage an email list? You can do so by adding “an-op-tin” form to your website.
This allows for visitors to put in their email address and subscribe to your list. See example below, of an opt-in form. 
And visitors can readily do so, if you give them an incentive for doing so. It could be a free gift, or just providing some thing of value, for example your content.
Having subscribed to your list, you can now from time to time promote product or services to them.However, we do not want to abuse this privileged. It is really a privilege.
Avoid Being Viewed As A Sales Person
In our previous discussion, we talked about the need to avoid being viewed as a sales person, always trying to sell them stuff. In the emails that you will be broadcasting to your list, make sure that it is relevant to their interest. You have to show interest in them as real people. Let them know and sense that you do care for them, and that you genuinely want to help them with solutions, to what ever issues that they are faced with.
Always strive to offer value, by so doing, you are able to build trust and good relationship, and hence they will be eager and willing to do business with you, for a long time to come.
As we have discussed, a mailing list is a must. It begins with you adding an opt-in form on your site. And aweber will help you do so. It will help you ad your opt-in form on your site, store all the information of your list and within aweber, you are able to broadcast to your list. You can open a free account with them.
Truly, the money is really in the list. If you are going to be a successful online affiliate, my advice to you, is that you should always be striving, to build your list through email marketing.
Conclusion
From the on set of this discussion in this blog, Affiliate Marketing Tips And Strategies,” we mentioned that the affiliate marketing industry, is a dynamic industry, that is always evolving.
We also mentioned that it provides immense opportunities, for those who develop the know how to take full advantage of such opportunities.
And we discussed 9 tips and strategies,that can be utilized, to help one to take full advantage of these opportunities. We said:
- Select a niche, and your niche must be targeted.
- Select and join affiliate programs, but only join those that are reputable, and profitable.
- Choose products to promote wisely, to avoid loosing your credibility.
- You must understand your customers, or else you will be wasting your own time and resources.
- Choose profitable keywords. Profitable keywords, will help your content to be ranked.
- Create content. It must be relevant, it must be helpful and it must provide value, and build trust.
- Create videos- Your videos must be brief and to the point.
- Do product reviews- very easy to do and the quickest way to earn. You must be honest and unbiased.
- Do email marketing- It is vital that you create a list, because with your list, you will make money over and over.
My Commendation
So my dear reader, what is next for you? I know you came to this site for a reason. Maybe, you are looking for ways to improve your life and the lives of your loved ones, by way of an online business. I honestly commend you.
And I hope that , you found something in this blog,”Affiliate Marketing Tips And Strategies,” that made sense to you, and will benefit you. I also hope that, you will make an earnest effort to apply in your business life, some of the points discussed in this blog.
And I have the full confidence in you dear reader, that if you work hard and are persistent, you will realize, your dreams, goals and aspiration, by means of your online business. I thank you so much, for giving me your undivided attention.
Sincerely
Sten