Basics of Affiliate Marketing

The concept of affiliate marketing is a variation on the outside sales position except that it all happens in cyber-space, and there is no door-to-door component.

Think of yourself as the salesman, one of many, for a specific product or service and you’ve mastered the basics of what is an affiliate.

People have all kinds of products and services that they want to sell online.

Part of the process to become successful is to have a large amount of traffic that is interested in what you have to offer. The way you can accomplish this is by having salesman or affiliate promote your products.

When a sale is made, you share the earnings with your affiliate/salesman through commissions.

Successful affiliates make a good living by promoting products and services of other vendors in order to make that commission.

For the purposes of this e-book, I will focus on one of the easiest affiliate networks to get started – Clickbank and list the others with a brief look at the larger networks. Once you learn how an affiliate network like Clickbank works, you will be able to expand that to other larger networks that have a myriad of different products and services that are commissionable.

Clickbank is one of the largest, oldest affiliate networks out there online. Clickbank sells only digital products, is extremely easy to learn how to use and has a ton of vendors just waiting to snap up a good affiliate.

There is no waiting time to become a part of the Clickbank affiliate family, and the commissions are much higher than the other networks, with some commissions going as high as 75%.

Clickbank is an affiliate network in that it is a whole bunch of vendors and affiliates all working under the umbrella organization called Clickbank.

Through Clickbank, products and services are bought and sold, accounting goes on within the network and commissions are calculated per product sold. Before we go any further, let’s look at what you can potentially earn from one product.

For example: You promote and sell on Clickbank product called Maverick Money Makers: Get Paid For Life!. It sounds like a pretty exciting product, right?

Well, it has the highest pay out of any Top 10 Clickbank Product and is the Top Converting product offer online. It pays out at a 50% commission level.

When you look at it’s pitch page, it is endorsed by some pretty heavy weight people including CNBC, As Seen On TV, Small Business Opportunities, Fox News, CBS News and Readers Digest.

As an affiliate, you will earn 50% of the $97 dollar price tag, and it’s repaid on a monthly basis.

So, that means that for every person who signs up through your affiliate link (which we will get in a minute), you will be paid $44 each month as long as that person stays signed up.

What do you think if you simply stuck with this affiliate program and reached their magical 100 referral mark. That’s $4400 per month for promoting only one product.

Are you beginning to see how lucrative affiliate marketing can be?

Think about how much you could make if you found 10 affiliate programs like this one? This is not only possible, but not that hard to accomplish if you know how.

Look on Clickbank and find 10 things that you think you might want to sell.

Make a list because as you learn more, you may want to revise it, and you may find that your choices are golden.

. INTRODUCTION TO AFFILIATE MARKETING

When it comes to going into business online, one of the easiest and most lucrative experience, no website and simple promotional techniques that will convert prospective buyers into  customer .  For the relative newcomer, affiliate marketing offers a planned method and blueprint to begin making sales online. There are a multitude of different opportunities, niches and markets to choose from. A person can become an affiliate for just about anything from digital products to flowers and everything in between.

In this e-book, we will cover the basics of affiliate marketing to give you an idea of where to start, how to get started and what websites are good to work with.

We will then move into how to become a profitable affiliate in 60 days or less, becoming an affiliate insider and some advanced techniques that if applied properly will take your earnings to the next level.

This e-book is not the end all in affiliate learning; instead, it is a good step-off point that will lead you to other e-books that will expand your horizons and earnings.

By the time you finish reading this e-book, you will be able to implement a concrete plan that will get you into earning money quickly and easily.

These techniques have worked for a long time, and they work consistently to earn money from affiliate marketing if followed.

If you are already familiar with affiliate marketing, this e-book will give you new techniques to add to your marketing arsenal so that you can increase your affiliate earnings and expand on the methods that you use in order to be successful.

So, without further ado, let’s get started on our journey to affiliate profitability!

A Highly Profitable Secret Web Page (only for your eyes)

This guy has been making money online, everyday for more than 10 years now.

And he has been quietly keeping his highly profitable "secret web page" to make money online on auto-pilot.

But right now...

He's going to let you clone his "secret web page" and his entire marketing system:

==> check it here - http://www.ritarecommend.com/optin

It'll take you less than 10 minutes to get started and you'll be in business!

P.S. Check this out to really believe it:

==> http://www.ritarecommend.com/optin

"Earn A Whopping 50% Commission Per Sale + Recurring Commission!"

Here's the REAL online passive income system for you to use...

This guy has been secretly making passive income with his highly profitable "secret webpage" online.

But today...

He wants to share this "secret webpage" with you!

Best of all? He's even going to SHARE the profits with you too!

It requires no selling and absolutely NO experience needed.

Even newbies are already making money with it:

Check it out today http://www.ritarecommend.com/optin

Don't miss out on this very rare opportunity.

Here is a shortcut to Making real money online

Almost everyone who is making money online has gone through months (or even years) of trial and error...

They've also spent thousands of dollars to test out the correct ways to make money online.

But ask yourself - do you REALLY want to go through of all these pain, expenses and frustrations?

Here's the shortcut for you to make real money online now:

http://www.ritarecommend.com/optin

If I had this opportunity when I first got started, I would definitely be making more passive income.

With this shortcut, you get to clone an internet millionaire's entire internet business.

http://www.ritarecommend.com/optin

7. Your Own Affiliate Program!

I promised that I’d save the best for last, and I sure did. I even hinted (not so subtly) throughout this report about my favorite method of traffic generation.

Let me lay it on the line here. I told you at the beginning of this report that I quickly came up with 26 methods of generating traffic off the top of my head. I’m sure, if I sat and thought a bit longer I could easily make that 100 or more.

Just a few ideas from my list… 

• Squidoo
• Stumble Upon
• Digg/Reddit/etc.
• Article Marketing
• Ezine Advertising
• Google AdWords
• Craigslist
• Offering Resale Rights
• Webinars • Teleseminars
• Offline Marketing
• Twitter
• Forums
• Joint Ventures
• Press Releases
• Creating Viral Software & Tools
• Pay Per Post
• Utterz
• Viral Free Reports
• Starting your Own Podcast
• Search Engine Optimization
• Blogging

Are you an expert in each of those things? No? Me, neither. I know quite a bit about each (more about some than others), but I wouldn’t consider myself an expert in every single one of those in any way, shape or form.

Do I have time to learn about and do each of those things on a regular basis? Not a chance. It would be insane to even try to do each of these things each day – or even every week.

This is where an affiliate program comes in handy.

My affiliates are experts in these areas. Where there is only one ME with only 24 hours each day, my affiliates are many.

• My affiliates have created Squidoo lenses to promote my products. 

• They’ve StumbledUpon pages with links to me.

• They’ve posted about my free reports on Craigslist. 

• They’ve set up Adwords campaigns.

• They’re blogging about my products. 

• They’re posting on forums with signature links promoting my products. 

• They are making graphics for my free reports, before I can even do it! 

Heck, I can’t keep up with everything they’re doing, but I know it’s a lot more than I could be doing alone. 

You can train your affiliates to do more in a day than you can do alone in a month’s time. 

You’ll get more done, and you’ll stay a lot saner in the process.
With a little effort and guidance, any group of affiliates can be turned loose onto the world with the tools to succeed.

I don’t know about you, but I did not start a business to work around the clock, making myself sick. I started it to have the FREEDOM to work when I wanted to.

A successful affiliate program can help you achieve that goal.
Wishing you much success, 

PS. If you’re serious about working less, this is not something you can skip over and still have success.

6. Create something buzz-worthy.

This is a very fun way to get some buzz about your website.

Create something fun and buzz-worthy.

1. Example of Using Graphics Creatively:  www.MarketingComics.com – 15 hilarious comics about Internet Marketing – some may hit a little close to home! ;)

2. Example of Using Video Creatively:  www.DinnerTimeVideo.com – a video to promote a family menu planning service.

If you’re not a very creative person, then you can certainly hire someone on elance.com to create an item for you. I’ve worked with illustrators on elance.com and I’ve had good luck so far. Just communicate your requirements clearly so there are no misunderstandings. In fact, after I write out my project requirements, I run the wording by two of my assistants and ask them to tell me what it says in their own words before posting it just to make sure it’s clear.

Once your project is completed, then spread the word. 

• Blog about it.

• Tell your lists. 

• If you’ve created a video, submit it to YouTube.com and Video.Google.com and all of the other video sites.

• Also submit it to Digg.com, Reddit.com, StumbleUpon.com and all of the other hot social networking sites for exposure.

• Of course, if you have an affiliate program, set it up so your affiliates can link to your creation, as well!

5. Jump into Social Networking.

Social Networking comes in many shapes and forms, but the good thing is that it’s easy to dabble in and I’ve, personally, seen great results with little effort.

It’s free to try, so there are no excuses.

Here’s how it works. You sign up for one or more of the programs below (all are free). 

• StumbleUpon.com • Digg.com • Reddit.com

(You can search google to find hundreds more. This is just for starters.)

Next, update your profile on each site you’ve joined, including your URL and photo. 

Then, the next time you post something of interest on your blog (or see something on a friend’s blog), you just submit it to the sites above.

Many of these Social Networking sites expect you to be an active participant. You’re expected to rate and comment on other people’s contributions. Just jump in and play with it and watch your stats to see what is and is not working. You’ll see the traffic start to trickle in if you play by the rules and share quality information. (Don’t be afraid to have an opinion and stand out!)

Along the same lines (but slightly different) is a Social Networking tool called Twitter.com 

Now, in the name of disclosure, I’m pretty new to Twitter, but I had to check it out after I realized that I was already getting traffic from other people Twittering about me.

Basically, Twitter is like a group Instant Messenger Chat. You can add as many friends as you’d like (which is called “following” people). Then, you just chat about what you’re up to.

For instance, when I’m done with this report, I’ll turn it into a pdf and load it on my site for my readers to enjoy. Then, I’ll Twitter the link to let my followers know what I’ve been up to today. Whenever I post on my blog, I quickly Twitter it. Not even a minute later, I get a nice little spike in traffic (and some comments) on my blog.

Hot Tip! Of course, you can make this even more viral by talking about your affiliate program on Twitter or on the Social Networking Sites above. That way, instead of getting one visitor to your website, you’re getting a person who can send you additional traffic. You’re tapping into their lists, their connections, and their traffic instead. Pretty smart, isn’t it?

4. Find membership sites and ebooks that are HOT and offer them content.

Ride the coat tails of others.

Let’s say you are an expert in Raw Food Nutrition. One thing you can easily do is contact every weight loss or fitness membership site you can find and offer to give them either an interview or a report.

Each of these membership sites is looking for ongoing value for their members. If you come through with a great interview or a quality report, you can bet they’ll add it to their members’ area, especially if it’s unique to their site.

Find one membership site each week and offer them great content. You’ll get your marketing message in front of a lot of very targeted eyeballs who are interested in your topic. 

Many membership sites archive their content. Be sure to check before you agree to do an exclusive interview to make sure that it’ll be getting exposure for a long, long time. 

You can make this offer even more appealing by allowing the membership site owners to use their affiliate link for your program in the report or alongside the interview.

How do you find these hot membership sites? Easy.

Search google.com for the following terms: • “keyword club” (example “dog owners club”) • “keyword month” (example “diabetic month”) • “keyword join” (example “divorce join”)

Of course, don’t fret if you find ebooks instead of membership sites. That works, too. Find hot ebooks in your niche that are just a little different than yours, but in the same field, and offer them a bonus for their customers. I recommend you search directly in the clickbank.com marketplace for those.

Once you set this up, each and every customer who buys the ebook of a competitor will receive a copy of your audio or report. If you set this up properly, you’ll turn your traffic on autopilot.

More google research ideas: • “keyword report” (example “fitness report”) • “keyword ebook” (example “recipe ebook”) • “keyword affiliate” (example “dog affiliate”)