April 1st, 2010

Three Rules Every Affiliate Marketer Should Know

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If done right, Affiliate Marketing is a great way to earn a living. You can work from home, wear a bathrobe to work, and make a great deal of money.  It’s essentially the pinnacle of the American Dream™. Unfortunately, countless people with dollar signs in their eyes jump in without any sort of game plan. And while some people do get lucky, you’re not likely to succeed in the long term without some sort of strategy. Although there are many tricks of the trade–perhaps too many to keep track of–I feel like a lot of people overlook the fundamentals. Some of those basic rules:

1. Make a list and check it twice. If you’re an email marketer, you’re going to need a big list. It’s also important to have some idea of who’s on that list, rather than spending a ton of money on a list of random emails. An excellent way to generate a list is to offer a free newsletter, in exchange for an email address. This allows you to dictate who signs up for your newsletter/blasts so that you can send offers that will speak to your audience.  Also important: To make sure that your audience is legitimately interested by implementing a double opt-in process. By sending out a confirmation email to your list and asking them to confirm their signup by clicking on a link, you’re not only filtering out bad addresses and dummy accounts, but you’re also complying with CAN-SPAM laws. This can save you a lot of headaches down the road.

2. Engage your audience. If you’re creating a website, invest in a domain name. It’s easy to use prefab platforms with site-building tools like Blogspot. but it’s also easy for search engines to gloss over long and complicated extensions associated with such sites. Figure out what you’re selling and who you’re selling to. Create the catchiest, shortest domain name that you can, and whenever possible, make sure it ends in “.com”. Another tip here is not to make your site a giant commercial. It’s important to have content on your site that will draw an audience and keep them coming back. A good way to think of this is Infomercial vs. TV Show. You’ll watch a TV show and put up with a commercial or two every so often. On the other hand, I don’t know anyone who has voluntarily sat through an entire infomercial. With repeat visitors, you can rotate offers and help to build a constant revenue stream.

3. Strategize with your Affiliate Manager. No matter how you’re driving traffic, take advantage of your Affiliate Manager. If you’re not sure which offers to run, ask which is converting better. Two offers that may look very similar on paper may be performing on completely different levels. Let your Affiliate Manager know what you’re doing, who your audience is, and what offers are performing the best for you. They can use this information to help determine which offers will make you the most money. That’s why you’re doing all this in the first place.

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