There are lots of ways to do affiliate marketing and there are a confusing amount of products out there to offer. The real question is what is the combination that will make money? The simple answer is, if you learn some basic principles and techniques you can find that out for yourself. So What we are going to do now is walk through some of the basics to give you that knowledge.
First let’s talk about methods people use.
1. Pay per click:
A. Direct linking: When Pay per click and affiliate marketing first met, direct linking worked very well. This method is now extremely limited by changes to Google policy and I think it worked for the good of search users, it is basically dead now as an affiliate. The process was you would right an Adwords ad and without a website you would link directly to the merchants site preferably the product you featured in the product. Now only one person can show a link to each individual domain so the actual website owner usually gets that link and you need to find another way to get your traffic to that site as an affiliate.
B. Landing pages: Many people find that purchasing a domain such as www.yourproduct.com and then creating a review of similar products or a nice sales copy page with there affiliate links added, they can direct Adwords traffic the merchant through there own simple landing page. You are more successful with this the more value you can add to the landing page. Also using tools provided by Google such as Google analytics, and Website optimizer you can test various changes to your landing page and increase sales which are called conversions, as well as clicks through your website to the merchant.
2. Writing articles:
Some have been very successful writing articles solving a problem in a platform such as squidoo that include their affiliate links.
3. Blogging:
A different approach is to write a blog that give important information, that helps solve a problem some might have and include an affiliate link in some of your posts that directs people to useful products and services that you have had experience with. I like this method myself and use it in this blog.
All of these methods have pros and cons. I have tried them all and have had measures of success with each one. You can also combine them such as use Pay per click to drive traffic to an affiliate blog post you have. If you plan on using Adwords that is a whole world unto itself. To get the help you need to be good at it, I highly recommend Free 5 Day email Course in Google Adwords, this will get you started. He also offers a more comprehensive course called The Definitive Guide to Google Adwords which I wouldn’t be without. It that is well worth the small price you pay, but you don’t need that just to get started, just start with the free email course. It is written by one of the most respected and successful people in internet marketing, Perry Marshall, and I know I couldn’t do it without the training and tips I learned from this course. If you plan to use Adwords you need this information it is that simple, plus it is FREE so how can you go wrong?
You can do this with nothing other than an affiliate account with clickbank and a free blog account. The key to successful blog affiliate marketing is to post good content and do it frequently. I would post every single day. If you can’t think of anything to write about try going to Yahoo answers and looking at the questions people are asking about your subject. Answer some of those questions on your blog and people will want to read about it. Then in a few of your posts simple include an affliliate link to a solid product that solves a related problem, you are on your way to some affiliate profits with no money output at all. This method works it just takes a lot longer and is slow to start off with.
