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Five Things An Affiliate Should Have (But Many Don't) Affiliate marketing is the easiest way for the aspiring new marketer to make a few bucks and learn to generate profits. It eliminates (or at least pushes back) the need for your own product or service, and allows you to experience first hand a better way to make an honest buck. However, I'm seeing far too many people making the same mistakes. So let's take a minute here to go over five basic things you need if you're going to make affiliate marketing pay off. 1. Your Own Domain Name Face it. If you're using space on a free host, it just doesn't look very professional. If you're selling marketing products, it looks really bad. How good could the product be if YOU are using it and can't afford your own domain? Think about it. 2. Lead Capture & Followup Many affiliate programs try to tell you things like: "You don't need your own website. Just send traffic through your affiliate link and you will earn profits on sales." Although this is true to some degree, if you don't have your own domain you are leaving money on the table. It is possible to make sales by linking directly from your advertising to your affiliate partner. I know, I've done it. However, Most of the visitors don't buy. What about them? If you route your advertising through your own domain you can easily capture your visitor's contact information. This allows you the luxury of keeping your affiliate links in front of them for an extended period of time. That beats a one shot deal any day of the week. 3. A Niche Market A HUGE problem that I've seen (for way too long) is that a new guy/gal enters the arena and buys a marketing course or ebook. Once they reach the end of the book, the "guru" conveniently drops in a little info about making tons of cash promoting their products. At this point... it all goes sour. The naive young hopeful builds (you guessed it) ANOTHER marketing site. Look. The competition is extremely tough in this field. There are just too many sites to compete with. To make matters worse... you are going head to head with some of the best in the business. Find something different. Look first to your own interests. Check the market and explore related affiliate programs. Look around and see what others are doing. Don't copy their sites, content, etc. Just get a few ideas, and take notes. Then come up with... 4. Your Own Unique Angle Yes, you can sell the same ol' thing in the same ol' way that everyone else does. You can also mix in a little personality, make your site interesting and watch your sales skyrocket above the others. The web is an extremely interesting place. Millions of people rush home from work and turn on their PC as soon as they walk through the door. I'm reasonably sure they don't do this just to see the same thing they looked at yesterday. Dare to be different. Which brings us to... 5. Your Own Sales Material When you join an affiliate program, you are usually provided at least a little bit of advertising material. Program managers do this to get you started. It's an attempt to grow their own business by making it as easy as possible for you to make a buck or two. Many affiliate programs have thousands of affiliates. When you log into your affiliate area and find two solo ads, well, you have to wonder how many times they've been used. Ever open an email, read the first couple lines, say "seen it" and delete it? I have. Create your own unique ads and graphics for your affiliate links and step away from the crowd. Ok, the evidence is in. How do you plea? Guilty or not? I've made each and every one of these mistakes myself. It's OK. It happens to the best of us. Now that you know there's a better way. What are you going to do with it? 6. The Bonus Point You really should be tracking your ads. If you are not using an ad tracker you are losing money. Track all campaigns. Eliminate the ones that are not working and focus on the ones that put money in your pocket. About the author: As the internet's equivilent to the "Jack of all trades", Russ Moore is a net writer/publisher/techie with more than a few tricks up his sleeve. For a cool, fr.ee ad tracker just pay a quick visit to http://www.WizKlix.com ...
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