Affiliate Marketing Tips

Don't try to apply all the tips at once. Choose the couple you like the most and apply them to specific projects. Once you have made them work or you are close to apply them on automatic pilot, come back and select one or two more tips to work on.

• It’s always easiest to promote products that you have used and like, so start there when venturing into affiliate marketing.
• A high commission percentage may be deceiving. Keep in mind the dollar amount per sale, conversion rates and even refund rates.
• Don’t search for the “best affiliate program”. Search for products that serve your audience’s needs.
• The best thing you can do as an affiliate marketer is to be honest. Products needn’t be perfect and aren’t suitable for everyone. Make sure you are transparent when talking about what products can and cannot do.
• If you’re an affiliate in a market that changes frequently (ex. new technology and ideas), make sure you stay up-to-date.
• As an affiliate, banners aren’t your best approach. Banners have their place, but you’ll make more by recommending products directly.
• Looking for popular affiliate networks? Some of the biggest are cj.com, clickbank.com, shareasale.com and linkshare.com.
• An affiliate marketer’s basic toolbox: content, search engine optimization, RSS feeds and email marketing.
• As an affiliate marketer, your job is to solve a problem for your readers. Whether they need help organizing their closets or want to learn more about XYZ closet organizers, you are there with solutions.
• Using Google Adsense? Use their channel tracking tools to see which websites and which sections of your website are performing best.
• Test different ad positions whenever displaying advertising on your page. Track conversion and use a service like crazyegg.com to see where the hot spots on your page are.
• Monetize your RSS feed. Add Google Adsense or other ads.
• Boost your Google Adsense earnings by allowing advertisers to directly bid on advertising on your site.
• Work with merchants to get special deals for your readers. You’ll probably earn more commissions.
• Always track your affiliate links. Track for clicks and sales, where possible. Adjust approaches accordingly.
• Entering a competitive niche? Make sure you differentiate yourself and pick a specific portion of that niche to target.
• Just because you’re an affiliate marketer doesn’t mean you can’t create your own product. Your audience would love to hear from you.
• Multiple streams of income don’t necessarily mean multiple niches. Keep your focus as you grow your affiliate marketing business and establish your presence in one niche before move onto another.
• A pay-per-sale affiliate program means you get paid for each sale you refer to the company. Most programs operate this way.
• A per-per-click affiliate program is when you get paid for each click you send. While these programs were more popular a decade ago, most of them are limited ad networks like Google Adsense, Chitika and programs like that.
• A pay-per-lead affiliate program means you get paid for each lead or free sign up you send to a company. Note that many pay-per-lead programs require more than just a simple form being filled out. Leads may have to fill out additional questionnaires or meet other requirements before you get paid, so read the fine print and review the lead process.
• As an affiliate, you can create all kinds of virtual property to reach your market. Think blogs, optimized content sites, squeeze pages, review websites and more.
• A well-written product review might include: the product’s purpose; features and highlight the best ones; some potential drawbacks and how they might be overcome; your experience and the experience of others; photos and videos.
• Don’t just review products; make your information even more useful (and boost commissions) by comparing some of the most popular products in each category.
• Need a commission boost? Search through your analytics and find the pages that get the most traffic and make sure you make a highly relevant offer on that page.
• A thank you or error page is the perfect place to make an affiliate offer. Go make one now.
• Recurring commissions are a great source of residual income. Think subscriptions, monthly services and memberships.
• As an affiliate, your job is to warm people up to the idea of buying a product. It’s the merchant’s job to close the deal.
• Test different affiliate offers to see what performs best. You might be surprised.
• If you sell your own products, you can boost your income dramatically by selling complimentary products as an affiliate.
• Make good use of the tools provided by quality affiliate programs. Whether it’s graphics, articles or reports, a lot of the work is done for you.