Affiliate marketing seems simple, and it is, sort of. The basics are easy to recite and understand, but that will only get you so far. To get to the point where you are making sales and getting commission checks, you have to know what you are going to sell and how you are going to do it.
When it comes to what to sell, let's keep the discussion to digital products. These give you the best commission rates, and they sell really well.
Now there is a decision you have to make. Why? Because, there are, in general, 2 methods you can use to get sales, and the way you do it will depend on which type of info product you choose.
The Product Launch
The first method is when you promote product launches. These are the types of products that you see on an almost daily basis arriving in your inbox.
These are the offers that have a launch time, where you can get the lowest price the faster you make the purchase. And the low price only lasts for a limited time. This can be a few days to a few weeks. After that, the price increases, at which point no one will be likely to buy it.
When you promote these types of product, you have to find out what is launching, and ask for an affiliate link. Then you have to come up with your promotion strategy.
If you have and email list, this will be the best source of traffic once the product launches.That can still be a challenge for you. Why?
Remember when I mentioned that every time a product launches, it appears in your inbox multiple times? (If you aren't on many lists, you may not have had this experience. Over time, you'll know just what I'm talking about).
On launch day you send out your email to get your subscribers to click on your link and buy the product. The only problem is that they have a few other emails offering the same product. Which one will they choose?
The one with the best bonus offer. That's right. If you're going to play in this area, you are competing with some very skilled marketers. And they know that to get the sale, they need to offer a bonus that will get them the click.
So you have to do the same thing to get any results. So in addition to creating your review pages and email messages, you have to come up with a stack of bonuses that are going to stun your audience so that they will click on YOUR affiliate link and make the purchase.
Once the launch is over, you have to start over again by looking for another product to promote, get approval for, and create your marketing campaign.
Evergreen Affiliate Products
The other type of digital affiliate product is what I call the evergreen product. These are products that are already online and for sale. These are the types of products that you will find on ClickBank.com.
These products have been around for awhile, they have been making sales all along, and you don't have to ask for an affiliate link. As a ClickBank.com member, you are approved for just about every offer on the site.
You don't get the same advantage with your email list in that you aren't announcing a launch date and an early adopter discount price. You can still make sales by mentioning it to your list, and adding a bonus and a deadline to get the bonus.
If you are setting up a review page, and are posting a few articles, the evergreen products give you time for the search engines to find your site and may end up in some free traffic to your offers.
The other advantage - and this is a big one - is that you can do the evergreen promotions over and over. What I mean is that you can set up a review page for a product, and then find another product, create another review site, and keep adding pages.
Over time you'll have a nice selection of products that can start getting you a stream of traffic, with no additional work from you. All you really need to do is to check the links every month or two to make sure that everything is working so you'll get your commissions.
There's no right or wrong way to be an affiliate. It makes sense to do both if you have the time. If time is short, pick one and get started.
Affiliate marketing is a great way to learn how to promote and create pre-sell pages and review articles. Even when you start selling your own info products, affiliate products can still be a welcome source of income.
To your success.
While you're learning about affiliate marketing, you can also get started by creating your own products. You can start small and offer them as a bonus, or you can sell them on your site. If you want to learn how to create products that your market is ready to pay for, take a look at Info Products That Sell. This 40+ page guide will show you how to discover what your market will buy BEFORE you even create it. Let Me Show You Here...