Marketing

What to Know About Affiliate Marketing

affiliate-marketingNo matter what market you are doing business in; you typically need a product or service. But what do you do if you have neither of them yet? Or maybe you need to expand your offerings, but don't have the time or budget to invest into new services or products.

Affiliate marketing could be the answer to your monetization problems.

What is Affiliate Marketing?

Affiliate marketing is the process of promoting products and services on behalf of other businesses. Commissions are earned for each paying customer you send through your online affiliate link.

Though, it doesn't always work based on such completed transactions as completed sales. Some affiliate systems pay out based on certain user actions; such as joining a mailing list, completing a survey or leaving contact details.

The Most Important Word in Affiliate Marketing

A successful marketer won't just throw up some affiliate links and hope it works out. People don't usually buy from strangers. Even fewer will take the advice of a stranger to make purchasing decisions. Have you figured out what that all important word is? Trust.

To get any real results from affiliate marketing you need to build trust with your existing audience.

Locating Products to Promote

There are many good sources of high quality products or services to promote. Some businesses might use an in-house affiliate program. You also have the option of many larger networks or third party systems. A few good places to begin looking for affiliate products or services to promote include:

  • Amazon Associates
  • eBay Partner Network
  • Commission Junction
  • Clickbank
  • Linkshare
  • DigiResults

Making Money with Affiliate Marketing

Finding products to promote is easy. Finding the right product to promote is much tougher. You need a highly relevant offer, which is also backed by a high quality product. Combine this with trust and you have a recipe for affiliate success.

Your end goal should be to create a win-win situation for everyone involved. The customer finds the exact solution they were looking for, the vendor increases their sales and you get a fair slice of the profits. Call it a win-win-win situation.

Marketing the Right Way

Affiliate marketing does carry some risks. Presenting your offer in the wrong way or promoting a bad product will leave your reputation in tatters. A few points that all affiliates should keep in mind are:

  • Respect your audience. Don't promote sites they don't want to hear about.
  • Never promote something you haven't bought or tried for yourself.
  • Affiliate marketing isn't a "hit and run" strategy. For it to pay off, you need discipline and consistency.
  • Honesty is the best policy. Don't skip mentioning any limitations or drawbacks of something you're promoting in hopes of making more sales.
  • The above point is even more important, when writing a review for an affiliate product. In such cases make it clear that you gain some form of compensation.

The key thing to remember is to establish a strong connection with your target audience. A good relationship will let you turn prospects into paying customers. Grow a loyal following and affiliate marketing can work wonders.

For further advice on how to be successful with affiliate marketing visit the full guide at http://www.becomeselfemployed.co.uk/affiliate-marketing/

If you have any questions, please ask below!