How to Start an Affiliate Marketing Business?
Becoming an affiliate marketer can be one of the quickest and easiest ways to start your own business.
Unlike many new enterprises, which have to worry about sourcing or creating products to sell, affiliate marketers simply promote existing products, and get paid a commission for each sale that results from their efforts.
You can even use free methods of promotion, so it doesn't cost a penny to start earning money.
Plus, with so many product owners realizing the power of having a large, "commission only" affiliate salesforce working for them, there are more and more affiliate programs to choose from; and commission rates that make it a very profitable, as well as easy, business to start.
Decide what products you want to promote One of the great things about affiliate marketing, is that there are so many different types of products you can promote.
From physical products, to digital products (ebooks, videos and software), and you can even get paid affiliate commissions just by getting people to sign up to mailing lists and free trials (called Cost Per Action or CPA).
With all this choice you need to decide what products are going to be the focus of your affiliate marketing business.
It helps to choose something you are either interested in or know a little bit about, so it's easier for you when it comes to actually promoting it.
With a new affiliate marketing business, you're best to start with one or two products.
That way you can make a few mistakes and learn from them, before you go on to promote more and different products.
Finding products to promote Once you've decided what market and products you'd like to focus on, you need to find programs that will pay you affiliate commissions for promoting those products.
There are a couple of ways most affiliates go about finding programs to sign up to.
First of all, you could join any of the big affiliate networks, which handle hundreds, even thousands of affiliate marketing opportunities on behalf of businesses with products to sell.
Clickbank is a large marketplace with digital products you can promote, and there are others where you can promote physical, digital and CPA offers, like Commission Junction, Neverblue and Pepperjam.
It can sometimes be hard to get accepted by these affiliate networks, particularly if you are just starting out, and you might have more luck trying the second option, which is to approach the product owners and retailers direct.
Many of the big, online retailers have schemes that reward you for referring customers to them, who then go on to make a purchase.
Amazon is one of the most obvious ones, and their Associates program for affiliates is very popular.
eBay also has an Affiliate Program you could join, and pays a commission when buyers purchase or win goods on the auction site, or even if they simply register to bid.
But it isn't just the largest online business that offer affiliates the opportunity to earn commissions.
Many smaller retailers use affiliate marketing as a relatively cheap way of getting online marketers to promote their products.
If there is a particular type of product you'd like to promote, which isn't included in the schemes run by the networks or the big retailers, simply search on Google for the product and the term "affiliate", and you should be able to a few find businesses that have schemes for that product which you can join.
Different ways to market your affiliate offers Once you've decided what you want to promote, and are signed up with a retailer's affiliate marketing program, you need to start marketing the product to generate sales, and your commissions.
To begin with, you might want to try the free promotion methods; like blogs on networks like Blogger and WordPress, or writing articles for directories like EzineArticles.
This way you're not spending lots of money on advertising for products that might not sell.
Once you've used the free methods for a while, you'll be able to see which schemes convert well, and focus any paid-for advertising on these, so you know you're going to get a good return on your investment.
There are a whole variety of ways affiliates can promote their products, and some will work better than others, depending on what you are marketing.
The important thing to remember is always track your promotions, and measure their success.
That way, you'll know what works and what doesn't; which products you should be spending more time and money promoting, and which ones you should walk away from.
This is the key to a successful affiliate marketing business, making sure you maximize the profit potential of everything you do.
Unlike many new enterprises, which have to worry about sourcing or creating products to sell, affiliate marketers simply promote existing products, and get paid a commission for each sale that results from their efforts.
You can even use free methods of promotion, so it doesn't cost a penny to start earning money.
Plus, with so many product owners realizing the power of having a large, "commission only" affiliate salesforce working for them, there are more and more affiliate programs to choose from; and commission rates that make it a very profitable, as well as easy, business to start.
Decide what products you want to promote One of the great things about affiliate marketing, is that there are so many different types of products you can promote.
From physical products, to digital products (ebooks, videos and software), and you can even get paid affiliate commissions just by getting people to sign up to mailing lists and free trials (called Cost Per Action or CPA).
With all this choice you need to decide what products are going to be the focus of your affiliate marketing business.
It helps to choose something you are either interested in or know a little bit about, so it's easier for you when it comes to actually promoting it.
With a new affiliate marketing business, you're best to start with one or two products.
That way you can make a few mistakes and learn from them, before you go on to promote more and different products.
Finding products to promote Once you've decided what market and products you'd like to focus on, you need to find programs that will pay you affiliate commissions for promoting those products.
There are a couple of ways most affiliates go about finding programs to sign up to.
First of all, you could join any of the big affiliate networks, which handle hundreds, even thousands of affiliate marketing opportunities on behalf of businesses with products to sell.
Clickbank is a large marketplace with digital products you can promote, and there are others where you can promote physical, digital and CPA offers, like Commission Junction, Neverblue and Pepperjam.
It can sometimes be hard to get accepted by these affiliate networks, particularly if you are just starting out, and you might have more luck trying the second option, which is to approach the product owners and retailers direct.
Many of the big, online retailers have schemes that reward you for referring customers to them, who then go on to make a purchase.
Amazon is one of the most obvious ones, and their Associates program for affiliates is very popular.
eBay also has an Affiliate Program you could join, and pays a commission when buyers purchase or win goods on the auction site, or even if they simply register to bid.
But it isn't just the largest online business that offer affiliates the opportunity to earn commissions.
Many smaller retailers use affiliate marketing as a relatively cheap way of getting online marketers to promote their products.
If there is a particular type of product you'd like to promote, which isn't included in the schemes run by the networks or the big retailers, simply search on Google for the product and the term "affiliate", and you should be able to a few find businesses that have schemes for that product which you can join.
Different ways to market your affiliate offers Once you've decided what you want to promote, and are signed up with a retailer's affiliate marketing program, you need to start marketing the product to generate sales, and your commissions.
To begin with, you might want to try the free promotion methods; like blogs on networks like Blogger and WordPress, or writing articles for directories like EzineArticles.
This way you're not spending lots of money on advertising for products that might not sell.
Once you've used the free methods for a while, you'll be able to see which schemes convert well, and focus any paid-for advertising on these, so you know you're going to get a good return on your investment.
There are a whole variety of ways affiliates can promote their products, and some will work better than others, depending on what you are marketing.
The important thing to remember is always track your promotions, and measure their success.
That way, you'll know what works and what doesn't; which products you should be spending more time and money promoting, and which ones you should walk away from.
This is the key to a successful affiliate marketing business, making sure you maximize the profit potential of everything you do.
