Posts Tagged ‘affiliates’
How Do You Explain, “What is Affiliate Marketing?”
Anyone who spends any amount of time in affiliate marketing will eventually have to answer the question, “What is affiliate marketing?” For those who aren’t highly computer literate, it can take a while to grasp the concept. For others, the field is synonymous with scammers and multi-level marketers who pollute otherwise enjoyable websites with their promotions. Either way, you’re likely to encounter both confusion and stereotypes when you venture out into the world of non-affiliates.
One of the best ways to explain affiliate marketing to strangers is to invoke examples of traditional sales reps or commissioned sales people. You can point out the examples of manufacturer’s reps who go to stores, or door-to-door salesmen who go around marketing their wares. They don’t earn the entire sale. Instead, they get paid a percentage of the total sales that come through them.
Of course, people will then wonder how anyone knows you sent the sales, not to mention how you do your promotions. You can explain that you have special web addresses (most people will glaze over if you start talking about URLs) that contain a piece of code that lets the original merchant know who you are. When people click on those links and end up making purchases, you make money.
And how do you get those clicks? Well, you make websites about related topics and build a following, or you purchase advertising through other sites that already have many visitors.
In most cases, this simplified explanation will eventually sink in. It may take a little longer with, say, your grandmother, but have patience – she’ll get it someday.
What is Affiliate Marketing Like as a Career?
A lot of new affiliates wonder, “What is affiliate marketing like as a career?” Although it may seem silly, that’s actually a really good question. If you spend much time around affiliates at meetups and conferences, you’ll notice something that’s very clear if you’re looking for it – Some affiliates are in it for the fun and they’re enjoying it while it lasts, but others are in it for a real career.
How can you tell the difference? Well, affiliates who are in it for the fun are usually more interested in the parties and free stuff instead of the amazing wealth of knowledge to be had when hanging out with large groups of professionals. They typically have a few successful campaigns (sometimes even just ONE), and they’re spending the money as fast as they make it. They’re not thinking about what happens when trends or policies shift and kill off a big percentage of their income. They may or may not stick around, depending on how hard things get and how low their bank accounts get. There aren’t many places outside of affiliate marketing where you’ll see 24-year-old kids making $90k in a month and promptly spending it on a watch (all the while, living in mom and dad’s basement).
So how are the pros different? They’re different in pretty much every way you can think of. These are the guys and girls who are getting to know anyone and everyone worth knowing. They’re out there working the floor and looking for new traffic sources or promotional ideas, then they’re spending dinner with other affiliates and sharing notes. These people have proper business structures, they pay their taxes, and they always save for a rainy day. They’re planning for their next big step before their current income streams disappear. They’ll do ANYTHING to avoid going back to a day job.
Which of these types are you? If you’re not counting yourself under the second category, you need to figure out a way to change things before your current strategies stop working for you.
Affiliate Marketing & SEO: How to Make it Work
All too often, you hear people complaining that affiliate marketing and SEO just don’t go together. They complain that they’ve made landing pages that do really well with PPC, but that they just don’t have what it takes to rank well organically speaking. Having looked at many of those pages, I know exactly why that is.
- Too little content. This is the number one reason that affiliate marketers doom their pages to rank poorly forever. You just can’t expect to compete with real, quality sites when your page is nothing more than a landing page and 3-4 junky articles. Add a real blog, write content that a human might actually want to read, and stop complaining that you can’t compete with people who have put in 500x more effort.
- No inbound links. Google doesn’t give first page rankings to sites with no inbound links. It just doesn’t happen. Not unless you want to rank for something ridiculously unpopular and rare as “purplish blue sweatshirt with rhinestones in the shape of a cat”. Because you could rank for that with no inbound links…but that’s about it.
- Poor quality inbound links. Some affiliates realize that they need to build links, but instead of actually making an effort, they do something silly like buy a $15 directory submission package and then sit back to wait for their riches. No competitive niche is going to be dominated with a low-quality site and $15 worth of automated directory submissions. You need to put in the time and effort to see out genuine, high-quality, relevant links if you want to really see results.
- Unhidden affiliate links. It’s not that Google hates affiliates. In fact, there are many affiliates that do extremely well in Google’s search rankings. What Google hates are affiliates who cheapen and tarnish the overall user experience. Unfortunately, that’s most of them, which means that it’s much safer to hide your affiliate links with a PHP or .htaccess redirect. Why give Google a reason to doubt your intentions?
If you take these four points to heart, your affiliate marketing and SEO efforts will undoubtedly be more successful in short order.
Conferences – Highly Effective Internet Marketing Tools
If you’ve never been to an affiliate conference, you probably don’t realize what effective internet marketing tools they can be. Shows like ad:tech, PubCon, LeadsCon, and Affiliate Summit draw thousands of attendees, all of which play some role in the internet marketing industry. In fact, it’s virtually impossible to find industry leaders who haven’t been to quite a few of these kinds of conferences.
Even if you’re not earning a lot just yet, it’s a good idea to get to a conference as soon as possible. Consider the benefits:
- You get to mingle with others who are in the position you want to be in.
- Networks host great parties.
- You find new tools and traffic sources before other affiliates.
- You get out of the house.
- You get inspired.
- You can ask for clarification on things that confused you before.
- People take you more seriously because they see you in person.
A lot of people look at conferences and they see the insanely high price tags of buying the top conference pass. Ignore that. Unless you have a lot of money to blow, you’re going to be better off with the free (or almost free) conference/expo pass that lets you get out onto the exhibit floor but not attend most of the sessions. The real value is going to be in your casual interactions, not the corporate-dominated speeches that people are paying for.
So next time you see a conference advertisement, consider going. Find out where the parties are being held, brush up on your social skills, and have a great time with it!
What is Affiliate Marketing Doing For You?
Have you ever stopped to ask yourself, “What is affiliate marketing doing for me?” In all likelihood, it’s probably given you a lot of frustration, a ton of gray hairs, and a new appreciation for a steady paycheck. If you’re successful, though, you’ve probably realized the amazing perks of doing well in this industry. Since it can be hard to stay motivated through the frustrating early months (or even years), consider all that you can get when you finally find success:
- Freedom – There’s nothing better than losing that Sunday night feeling of dread when the weekend is almost over.
- Income - When you’re working for a boss, you can give 50% or 300%, but you’re never going to get the full benefit of your efforts. If you bring your company an extra $1000, how much of that are you actually going to see personally? It’s nice to work for yourself and enjoy the full fruits of your labor (well, minus Uncle Sam’s cut, anyway).
- Swag – When successful affiliates go to conferences, networks shower them with silly gifts.
- Free Dinners - Decent affiliates can usually swing a free meal at an event like Affiliate Summit, or even just a trip into the hometown of a network they’ve worked with.
- Free Trips - The best affiliates don’t have to pay to get to conferences – their networks foot the bill.
- Contests – When you’re a top affiliate, you can enter network contests with confidence and walk away with huge bonuses to your normal commissions.
- Free Products – Physical products merchants are often very willing to send free review products or gift cards to their top affiliates.
Of course, any affiliate making a ton of money is probably beyond the silly financial rewards and swag – but it’s still fun to feel loved 
What kind of perks have you gotten from your affiliate efforts? Let us know in the comments!