What sort of things do I mean? A strategy is not what you do day-to-day, but it is where those things are leading. Before you can have a strategy of any type, you need to have a goal of where you want to be, and what you want your business to be. For example, where do you see your business in five years time? And in one year's time? These are crucial things to brainstorm.
You might think that it is enough to try to make a reasonable income from affiliate marketing, but that is vague, and will not encourage to strive for your goals. Once you have set your goals, preferably one for one year, another for two years, and then one for three years, you are ready to think about strategies.
The strategies are what you get you to your goals, and you use tactics, like advertising and article writing to get there. Other tools you will probably use are autoresponders and websites, but they are only tools, not strategies.
Start with a goal then decide on your strategies
Let's say that your goal is to generate an income of $50,000 a year from affiliate marketing in two years. The first part of your strategy is to work out how many commissions you need to get to achieve that goal. You will soon find that it is quite a lot.
However, if you build a list of say, 1,000 people who respond to your offers, which can still be affiliate products, you will find it much easier to achieve that goal. For example, if 10 per cent of your list buy something through you every month, you could quite easily generate an extra $25,000 a year. Now, your direct earnings from affiliate income need be only half of what you would need without a list.
Once you realise that, you would probably decide that one of your strategies for achieving your goal would be to build a list. To do that, you would need an autoresponder, which would be the tool that helps you make that strategy work.
You might also decide that you would need to build not one but maybe ten websites to allow you to market in enough different market niches to achieve your goals. This, too, would be a strategic move because it is not essential for conventional affiliate marketing.
1.) Sending the potential customer directly to your Affiliate sales pageThis might seem strange to most new affiliate marketers. Youmay be thinking "why would I want to send my potential customerdirectly to the merchants sales page I am promoting?"There are a few very good reasons for this. That person couldclick through your affiliate link then five seconds later they mayleave that page forwhatever reason. This is not what you want tohappen! You have worked hard to get your affiliatelink in front of a potential customer interested in theproduct you are promoting and they left. The worst part isthat they couldreturn later by typing in the URL they saw on top of thepage leaving thepart that makes it your affiliate link out.This bring me to the next mistake which goes hand in hand with thismistake.
2.) Not having the proper tools (web hosting, domain name andautoresponder)My guess is 80% of the people who just read "web hosting and domainname" are now surfing YouTube. Do not be scared of having awebsite! You do not need to create your very own 100, 000page content site all you need is a simple 1-5 page website to collect"leads" to build your mailing list. By doing thisyou can first collect a "lead" (someone who is interested in the nicheyou are advertising for) and after they are subscribed to your list youcan promote various products in that niche to them over and over again.Anyone who isn’t serious enough to buy web hosting, a domain(.com name) and a membership to an autoresponder serviceisn’t likely to make it very far asan affiliate marketer anyways.Trust me, you will make back that small investment in no time.
3.) Not knowing enough about the product you are promotingAfter you get your web hosting, domain and auto responder make sure youstudy up on the product you are promoting. I see way to many peoplepromotingproducts that they have no idea what they are talking about! The people on your mailing list will think you are a joke not tomention if you recommend products that are garbage you are going tolose their trust. That is the last thing you are going towant to do for your affiliate marketing business.
4.) Signing up for too many affiliate programsNumber 4 is a no-brainer if it’s a bad idea promoting one badproduct that you know nothing about it not a good idea to promote 15bad products that youknow nothing about. Take number three seriously and buy theproducts you are promoting or at very least read the sales page a fewtimes to learn what this product is going to do you’re yourmailing list subscribers.
5.) Not using link cloaking/link redirectionPlease go to this link http://tinyurl.com/2k4bub No one wants to click that link. I mean no one. Noteven me.Spend less than ten dollars and get the scripts that allow you to useyour new beautiful domain and hosting to create a great looking linkthat everyonewill click (well that’s the idea) that looks something likethis: www.yourdomain.com/Recommends/ProductNameOr : www.yourdomain.com/ProductNameIt seems a lot more professional and is easier for people toremember. You can get the Affiliate Sales Booster from my website.
There you have it. Hopefully now you can go out and increaseyour affiliate commissions and put a boost your affiliate checks.
Both John Hartley & Matt Cook are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
John Hartley has sinced written about articles on various topics from Auto Insurance, Adwords and Aerobics. Get FREE reports and loads of information about affiliate marketing programs at - your source for guides and tips.. John Hartley's top article generates over 60500 views. to your Favourites.
Matt Cook has sinced written about articles on various topics from E Books, Internet Marketing and Your Online Business. Matthew Cook runs an Affiliate Marketer who reviews various products on his website:/. Matt Cook's top article generates over 8100 views. to your Favourites.