More Affiliate Marketing Tips

There are so many common mistakes people make when they’re new to affiliate marketing.  It all begins with making the wrong assumptions about what it takes to make it in the business.  Here are a few of the most common problems and their solutions.

Spending too Much Time Selling Products

While selling products is “technically” what you’re doing, selling the product without any authority on your part isn’t going to get you anywhere.  Few products are so awesome that they sell themselves.  Sell yourself, connect with your audience, and THEN pitch the product.

This is the formula of good sales copy.  The general idea is that you establish yourself as someone who has become a success in your niche: You had all the same problems that the visitor has encountered, and this product is the answer to the problem.  You spend a decent amount of effort establishing yourself, a lot of effort connecting with the viewer, and virtually mention “in passing” that the product fixes those problems.

In selling yourself, this should go beyond the sales copy.  You have to spend time on the blogs and social media to build your credibility.  When it comes to money, assume that people aren’t incredulous.  You have to be legitimately able to say, “You know me. I wouldn’t rip you off….”

Marketing “A” Product, Not Marketing Products

In affiliate marketing, if you market one or two products instead of marketing products en masse, you’ll be cutting your chances of success.  If any product isn’t awesome enough to sell itself, one product isn’t going to be enough to pay the bills.  Most successful marketers have several campaigns going simultaneously.

This brings up the question of whether you should market diverse products or if you should stay in one niche.  That largely depends on how many websites you want to build.  If you affiliate with three products that are in the same niche, you can usually get away with using one website.  Any more than that, or if you’re promoting in diverse niches, you should have multiple websites.  Keep your niches separate!

Not Listbuilding While You’re Affiliate Marketing

Listbuilding is an important part of affiliate marketing, especially in the long term.  Putting a simple opt-in field on your website will save you a lot of work getting traffic later.  You can also use your social media accounts this way.  The great thing about listbuilding on Facebook or Twitter is that your “friends” don’t realize that they’re part of a marketing list.

The point of building a list is that when you affiliate with a new product later, you can just notify your mailing list about the new product, rather than do all the traditional work of drawing traffic to your site.  This means traffic gets to your site quicker, and these people are already predisposed to buy from you.  Ever wonder how the big affiliates can afford to have vacations while you toil away?  This is the key element.