Question: How can I be more effective in affiliate marketing?
A: Follow these 16 steps:
Step 1: Find Your Passion.
To find a product that you will be motivated to promote or market you must first find your passion. If you find your passion, you will be more likely to spend time on your business and want to do it. As Pud says, “Ask yourself, if you could do ANYTHING in the world, what would it be?”
Once you have your “WHAT” ask yourself “WHY.”
What are your underlying desires or goals? There may be various things, more tangible things, which can satisfy the “why.” Get your business journal out and write your “what” and “why.” Doing this may give you the product or service that is perfect for you. This is far more than a “touchy, feely” exercise. This can be the difference between success and failure for you.
Step 2: Find a Product.
After you have found your passion, if the product is not staring you in the face, you need to find a product that matches. For ideas, be sure to check out the following places:
a. Yahoo News – See what is trending with Yahoo!
c. Google News – The latest from Google News
d. eBay – They killed off eBay Pulse which was a great place to research. This is the next best thing.
e. Technorati Tag – This lists the most popular tags used on Technorati over the last month.
f. Amazon – With Amazon getting more and more market share, this list you should pay attention to.
g. ClickBank – While mainly informational products, they are listed top to bottom from what sells the best.
h. TeraPeak – Figure out what is selling online. Free trial available.
i. Other Recognized eCommerce Sites in the space
The above will help you gain some insight into what is hot right now and could uncover a market you didn’t think about previously.
Step 3: Survey.
Why would the consumer buy the product/service? What is their “headache” or the problem are they are looking to get rid of? Don’t guess. The merchant may have this data already available, call and talk to the affiliate manager. They could be willing to give you more information than you realize. This is, of course, assuming you already have a merchant in mind, if not, it is covered in Step 6.
Example: A company comes out with an amazing new toothpaste. After a test group uses the product for a number of days, a dentist examines them and finds that none of them have any dental problems. Amazing, right? So the product launches and flops completely. Why?
Company’s Guess: No cavities = less pain in the dentist chair.
Consumer’s Reality: I want something that tastes great. This one did not.
It is not enough to solve a problem, you have to solve THE problem(s). A survey is how you go about finding out what THE problem(s) is.
A survey takes a lot of time and effort to prepare, present and review. At this point you don’t want to invest a lot of time and money in a market you haven’t fully tested. So review other information, such as:
a. Forums and blogs having to do with your product/solution
b. Other informational websites about your product and services
The above are like forced surveys as you can quickly see the trend of the market through comments made and the focus of the informational sites. Don’t get caught into analysis paralysis, spend about 1-3 hours reviewing various sites and write your findings in your business journal.
Step 4: Quick Market Math.
Don’t get into a market without doing a little “quick math” and a few searches to determine if the market will be profitable. You can apply the following steps to any affiliate program or network.
1. Write down the industry and exact product.
2. Write down the commission per sale.
3. Based on a conversion ratio of 5% (yes, that is high, but you will be focused with your traffic), project revenue.
4. Determine the “break even” point for CPC.
5. Open the Keyword Tool in Google AdWords.
6. Enter “main keyword.”
7. Add all keywords.
8. Click “Estimate Traffic.”
9. Highlight Keywords in List.
10. Open the Traffic Estimator tool.
11. Sort by Estimated Clicks Per Day (highest first).
12. Look for keywords in the range of the “break even” point but have at least ten estimated clicks per day.
13. Verify that at least 100 clicks per day can be had for the “break even” CPC point.
14. Re-run “Traffic Estimator” and target the actual product name and the author’s name and look for traffic estimates of 10+ clicks.
Note: These are just “estimates” as you can get the CPC lower with a higher quality score.
Step 5: Test via PPC.
Once you have determined whether or not the market is profitable, you must test to see if it will be profitable for you. Take your keywords and the target problem(s) you found in the market and create a PPC campaign. My preference is Google AdWords. If your budget is tight, go with Bing, but understand that the traffic levels will be A LOT lower.
You may find that the market doesn’t convert well for you. That is okay, in fact, it is best to know that it is a dud and get out quickly.
Note: Google AdWords has changed their policy on allowing PPC ads to go direct from the ad to the Merchant’s site, as a result you will need to have a Landing Page. See Step 9.
Step 6: Find a Merchant/Provider.
Finding a merchant/provider may be as easy as deciding what Affiliate Network to join. You may also be able to go direct with a few merchants/providers and search out the best product with the best conversion rate.
Step 7: Sign Up as an Affiliate.
You may or may not have to wait for approval. If you need a Landing Page created to request approval, see Step Step Nine.
Once you are approved, you are ready to start promotion of the offer. There are a few things to remember about affiliate agreements with merchants:
- never sign a long-term deal unless you get significant cash up-front
- read the terms, understand what you are being paid for
- understand the restrictions, if any
- make sure there is not a “do not compete” clause
Never feel that you MUST do a deal with a company as the competition’s product is usually just as good. Also, go in with your eyes wide open that the deal with the merchant will probably get worse, not better, as time goes on. They will look for ways to pay you less for the same effort. This is the unfortunate reality of affiliate marketing in 2013.
Focus on building a relationship with the Affiliate Manager or Merchant. Whenever possible, pick up the phone and contact them. This will help them to trust you and also help you to stand out amongst their other affiliates and possibly gain better commission rates.
Step 8: Buy & Use the Product.
I am a big advocate of buying the product/service and using it before you begin to promote it. Doing so will not only give you intimate knowledge about the product and its points of difference, but it will also allow you to test the sales process and your affiliate link. Be sure that the sales process is smooth and you get credit for the sale. If you don’t, contact the merchant to fix the issues before continuing your promotion.
Some affiliates would ask the merchant for a free product to evaluate. As the merchant, I get asked for this quite often. In my experience, the affiliate who asks for the product free up front is looking for just that – free product. If they claim they are good and they are as good as they claim, buying the product, recording the checkout process (via Camtasia or ScreenFlow) and verifying that their affiliate code and cookie work are more vital than simply asking for free product. Plus, you are going to have a return policy, so they are going to test that too.
I would be wary of an affiliate asking for free product. That would be a red flag for me. However, if the affiliate has a good reputation, that might invite a relationship. Go with your gut feeling, it is usually right.
Step 9: Create a Landing Page.
The landing page is the weapon of choice for most affiliate marketers. It gives you more control over your client base and allows you to test and track what works and what doesn’t.
You will need to create a Landing Page that –
- is professional
- matches the intent of the buyer
- lures them further into the page with the use of headlines
- calls to action
- does not distract them.
My Kitchen Table Copy Method which shows you how to use your competition’s work and research for your gain is a good one to follow too.
When creating a landing page, it isn’t necessary to get the merchant’s approval. I had a merchant steal my copy once. My phone call was greeted with “That’s tough. It’s a free country.” He had a different attitude after the same copy was used to promote his biggest competitor. Don’t operate out of fear. Know that you are the better marketer and also realize the merchant is not the only game in town.
Note: There are a lot of “landing page creation” tools out there. We have tested ALL of them and they have severe enough flaws (some will not allow you to use the landers after you cancel your account) that we create them the old fashioned way – from scratch.
Step 10: Keyword Research.
Keywords are important in Affiliate Marketing, but doing “keyword research” is overrated. There are various tools available for Keyword Research. Whichever you use, always test keywords via PPC to see if they will convert. I use the Google AdWords Keyword Tool, SpyFu and SEMRush.
Step 11: Drive Traffic.
Be sure to drive traffic in a number of different ways so if you lose one, it isn’t the end of your business. Many business owners have had their websites completely disappear from Google due to a fluke in the index. Their entire business was jeopardized going under. Protect your business by being diverse.
A few ways to drive traffic to your sites are:
a. PPC: Create compelling ads that answer the demographics pain and send them to your Landing Page. If you are answering more than one pain, you may want to create more than one ad and Landing Page. (Google, Bing and Facebook)
b. SEO: Use SEO to bring organic qualified traffic to your site.
c. Email Marketing: To use this method, you must first have a list to mail to, or you have to rent a list. It takes a while to gain the trust of a consumer, email marketing or newsletters make it possible for you to keep in contact with the prospect to build the relationship of trust and get the customer to buy from you.
d. Blog/Social Media: Blogging and social media is an effective way to “frame the offer” and pass the visitor to another site for “more information.” Pay attention to make sure the “pass through” is smooth and fall-out is minimal.
Step 12. Test , Track and Tweak.
Be sure to use tracking code, including Google Analytics and/or Crazy Egg, to see where and how often people are clicking different areas of your pages.
Google’s Website Optimizer (GWO) is now included inside of Google Analytics as Content Experiments. It is a great testing and tracking tool for affiliate websites. It can test variations of your Landing Pages to see which headlines, graphics, colors, etc. are most appealing to your audience. You may be surprised at what is most effective. Make adjustments to your page based on the data you receive.
Helpful Hint: Keep a back-up in case you make a mistake and need to reload the old version of the page. Always look for ways to increase the flow of qualified traffic coming to your site. If you do this, then conversions may also increase.
Step 13. Monetize Your Site.
Need other forms of revenue? Add AdSense to your web pages to monetize the traffic that may click on your ads. AdSense? Really? Yeah, why not. There are worse things. Sure, it isn’t the money generator that it used to be but generally, you will earn about $27.00 for every 1000 visitors to your page. So to earn $2,700.00 you need roughly 100,000 visitors.
Translation: Focus first on driving qualified traffic to your site to purchase the products you promote and then add AdSense.
Tip: AdSense is a great way to know if your content is “on mark”. What ads appear on the page? Are they what you expected? If not, tweak your copy.
Step 14. Renegotiate Terms with Merchant.
This is where the relationship with the merchant that you started to build in Step 8 will come into play. The one constant truth in affiliate marketing is the affiliate who drives the most sales to a merchant’s site makes the rules. Merchants count on the revenue brought in by their affiliates and if you are a top affiliate, then you have more pull with the merchant, because they do not want to lose your sales.
Note: This only works if you are bringing in actual sales revenue and not a couponer. Merchants are starting to really dislike coupon only affiliates.
Once you have become a valuable asset to the merchant, call them up and ask them for a raise. Be respectful, but be firm. Remember, you are not only providing sales for them, you are also marketing their product which cuts their marketing costs. If they lose you as their highest performing affiliate, they not only lose sales but they are likely to have their marketing budget affected as well.
Merchants often tell you if you are their top seller. If they don’t, I ask. If they state “that is confidential” then assume you are the top seller and start negotiating for a better deal.
Note: Do NOT do this over email. Pick up the phone, call your merchant and let them know how many sales you are driving for their company and for how long. Tell them you want a raise in commission and if you can get to level X in the next three months, you want another raise.
Step 15. Get Other Affiliates to Work for You.
Very few take this step, but it is something that can greatly increase your EPC (Earnings Per Click). This way you can get them to run PPC and take your risk out and you can earn a 5% override on their commissions. Not bad for doing nothing.
Step 16. Lather, Rinse and Repeat.
Once you find what works for you as an affiliate marketer, follow the directions found on the back of your shampoo bottle: Lather, Rinse and Repeat.