A recent New York Times article examined how affiliate marketing is becoming more competitive and a more difficult online earning field to break into for several reasons. For one thing, more states are starting to require that taxes be paid for out of state affiliate marketing sales, and because of this hassle, many retailers are cutting back on the number of affiliates they allow to help sell their products. Despite this, though, affiliate marketing – when done correctly – can be a great way to make a bit of extra money online.
If you’re interested in getting started in affiliate marketing to have a bit of extra pocket money or even to pay the rent, it will take some time to get started. Successful affiliate marketers have value-added blogs or websites that draw lots of traffic, and it takes time to add that value and draw the traffic. Some affiliate marketers that are relatively new to the business, try their web designing skills by building free websites here. It will seem like breaking into affiliate marketing is difficult. However, taking time to go through these steps meticulously means that you’ll eventually have an affiliate marketing business that actually makes you some decent money.
Here are the first four basic steps to getting started with affiliate marketing:
1. Find your niche
You can sell just about any type of product or service through affiliate marketing, but you won’t make money on just anything. The first key to successful affiliate marketing is to choose the right niche. Chances are likely that you will advertise for several products or services in the same general niche area, but you need to find a niche that you’re interested in and that’s likely to make you money.
Google can be a really simple way to find a good niche for affiliate marketing. Google AdWords can help you find keywords that are popular but not super competitive. Keywords that lots of people search for but not many websites cover are the absolute best to get into, especially if you can get in on the beginning of a rising trend.
Your niche should not only be profitable, but it should also be something in which you’re interested. You’ll end up spending a lot of time promoting products in this niche, so it’s important that you choose wisely!
2. Find your program
There are tons of different affiliate programs out there. Sometimes you can be an affiliate for a lesser-known product directly, and others you can work through a large affiliate company like Amazon. Research several programs to find out that has a good rate of returns – both a high commission and a high demand for their products. It’s also a good idea to check out programs that offer free resources to allow you to track traffic, which can help you tailor your affiliate marketing to become more successful.
There are so many affiliate programs available these days that it can take some time to choose the right option for you. Talking to other affiliate marketers can be a good way to choose a program that has a great reputation and a decent commission payout. Take your time in choosing the right program, as the program you choose will have a serious effect on your returns later on.
3. Develop a website or blog
In order to promote products through an affiliate program, you’ll need to develop a website or blog based on your niche area. Affiliate marketers who put time and effort into making their website or blog more than just an advertisement for a couple of affiliate programs or products will do the best. When visitors can come to you to find out real information about your niche area and products available in that area, you’ll build a better reputation and be more likely to make sales, as people will come to trust your opinion.
For instance, if you’re in an affiliate program to market camping equipment sold through Amazon, you don’t want your blog to be just full of short ads for different types of gear. What you really want is to help people who are searching for camping gear find exactly what they need and get the information they need to make a decision on what products are best for them. In order to give your visitors this, you could write extensive reviews on different camping products you’ve used, and you could even make people want to visit your blog by writing out funny camping stories of your own. Finding a way to make yourself an authority on camping and camping products will draw more visitors to your site and make people more likely to buy the products you recommend.
4. Promote your affiliate products
Promoting your affiliate products can happen in a variety of ways. Obviously, your website or blog will be one of the primary ways to promote your products. However, you can also use social media and even pay per click marketing to advertise your website or blog, drawing more traffic and getting more people to click through to the sale.
If you want to make money online, it may be a good idea to check out the best business credit cards, and find one with low interest rates and excellent rewards programs. Sometimes promoting your affiliate products will cost money, though affiliate marketers – even those who are using affiliate marketing as their main source of income – don’t normally spend more than a few hundred dollars a month to keep their businesses running. A credit card can be a good option for giving you a flexible way to pay for your affiliate marketing business, especially as you need more money and have lower cash flow when you’re getting started.