9 Tips Every Affiliate Marketer Should Know

Yogita Aggarwal Gupta

8 years ago

Affiliate marketing is the process of earning commission by promoting other people’s products. If you find a product you like and you are ready to promote it among others, then you affiliate yourself with those websites using affiliate programs. Now whenever something is sold through your reference, you get a share. People who restore to such selling use one of the affiliate program commission payment models like Cost per click, Cost per sale and Cost per Lead.

Though the word ‘marketing’ is attached to the phrase ‘affiliate marketing’, the basic job of an affiliate is not to sell, but to take the visitor or the referral to the merchant page in one of the many possible ways. Affiliate marketing is a way to make money online and if done in the right way it can become your main income stream.

Below are certain tips that every affiliate marketer should keep in mind to have success in this endeavour.

Play on Your Strength:

Don’t diverse on selling anything and everything. Niche contributes significantly to your success. Target a specific audience and stick to particular products. Slowly, you try to evolve around that and find products and services related to it to market rather than going haywire and getting into a different category altogether.

Research Your Audience and Then Promote:

If you are trying to promote the wrong products among your audience, then you are sure to fail. Suppose your key audience belongs to the ones who are looking for baby products and you start promoting websites that sell fishing rods then your failure is a sure shot. So, market research is the first step. You can’t build a niche without knowing what people want. You have to be attentive to the language that your target audience speaks when no one is watching them.

Choose the Right Affiliate:

There are a variety of affiliate services available. They all work in the same manner with a slight difference in their percentage commission. If, for example, you choose Amazon associates, they are so vast that whichever category of audience you cater to, they have everything. Once affiliated with them, you can also expand around your niche category without the need to go out and search for another affiliate. Some people like to cater to many affiliate services rather than sticking to one. So, based on your attitude and aptitude, select the one that you think is the best for you.

Be Patient, It Takes Time:

It is a slow process. Once you find the target audience, you need to market yourself to build a reputation, generate traffic and then the result follows. Affiliate marketing is all about trust. Do you give a damn when a stranger recommends anything? It’s only when a friend or a trusted source says something that you really listen.

So, build that trust among your audience. Be trustworthy and sincere in all that you recommend. This will lay a strong foundation for effective affiliate marketing.

Be an Unbiased Reviewer:

When we talk more like an unbiased reviewer rather than a high-pressure salesperson, there are better chances of making sales. Also, the trust you will acquire will make people come back for advice on other products too in future.

Recurring Affiliate Offers Are Better Than One Time:

The one-time offers are often more lucrative than recurring ones as they pay more. But, it is always wise to affiliate to a program that pays every month. Consider it as some other normal business model. Will you be looking only for one time profit if you were doing something else? The answer is No! Then, why are you looking for a shortcut here. Play smart and be in the business to last for long.

Aim for Targeted Traffic than Generic:

Your ultimate aim is to get paid when a sale is made. Work towards that ultimate goal. A website will make more sales if it has 100 visitors who are ready to buy rather than having 1000 unwilling visitors. If you intend to sell fishing rods, will getting 1000 visitors who are interested in boxing gloves get you any sales? So, find the right websites, audience, networks and run your campaign successfully keeping the end goal in focus.

Give a Comparison of Similar Products:

This is one of the best tactics, which is a win-win for both you and customers. When people are ready to buy, they normally narrow down to two or three choices and compare their pros and cons before going for the final kill. If you give them that comparison then it helps the customers to make their final choice. It builds their trust on you as you are not promoting any product, but giving them an honest opinion about two or three similar products.

Customers have better knowledge of similar products to make a decision and you, on the other hand, have three affiliate links instead of one. So, whatever choice they make, you have a win situation for sure.

Spread Your Net, You May Be Penalized:

Sometimes, it happens that you get penalized even if you have done nothing wrong. Some people do wrong by building spam links or building backlinks from any source and Google or any other search engine for that matter is always on the lookout. They ban such sites immediately, but sometimes they make a mistake.

This is a risk, which is always there. So, don’t get disheartened if something like this happens. Have full knowledge of running an online business as then you are less likely to make mistakes.

Affiliate marketing is a business that requires self-motivation and focus. Once you are aware of the mistakes that can cause a lack of profits and productivity, you will be better able to grow your business and be profitable in the long term.