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Tips > SSWT 11/30/05 Successful Affiliate Marketing Models
If you have been studying Affiliate Marketing for any amount of time, then you have undoubtedly heard that "Content is King!". I am not going to disagree with that statement... but I am going to show you some additional options. Being an affiliate is much like taking a commission-based sales job. You get paid for every sale that you make, and *only* for the sales that you make. In other words, you get paid for results! Your job is to figure out what people are looking for, how they are looking for it online (and/or offline), and then put *that* directly in front of them. How do you know what people are looking for online? You *cannot* guess! You use WordTracker. They offer an unlimited-use free trial ;) (Offline it is a little trickier, but I would suggest that you use WordTracker to get an idea how your target market is searching online, and then test the same groups of keywords to get their attention in your offline promotions.) Before you build an affiliate site, you will need to choose a niche to target. If you are still struggling with this step, be sure to read this recent tutorial titled Finding Niche Markets on the main site. Content-based websites make sense because, as we all know, content is what attracts all of those search engine users! People get online to find information. Search engines organize and deliver that information... and it is our job to provide the information itself... and then to send the traffic on from there. Where you send that traffic is the key! You can lead your visitors to other websites with related information via Adsense or affiliate links, or even text links that are purchased by your 'sponsors'. Content-based websites can easily be promoted through Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Example: http://www.SelfStartersWeeklyTips.com Promo pages are simple one page websites that promote a single affiliate-based offer. These are very easy to create, and can be put together in a simple HTML Editor (free download: http://www.nvu.com). All of the content and images can be taken from the Affiliate Creative provided to you by the merchant you are affiliated with. Promo pages can be promoted via offline advertising (bulletin boards, newspaper ads, flyers, etc), online classifieds, search engine optimization, pay-per-click advertising, etc. Example 1: http://www.ShowMeDetails.com This particular example is used in offline advertising to alert local consumers that they can get better deals on this product by shopping online, than they can in the local stores. You can get a domain name for $2.99 right now, and create a simple one page site!
This second example is to simply add a one page promo to an existing website. Again, very simple! The Internet is the "Information Superhighway" and the majority of users use their connection to find information. But there are also a lot of users that come online specifically to find products. They are looking for a good deal, or they are searching for a particular item that they cannot find locally. With this in mind, we want to offer them *exactly* what they are looking (searching) for. You don't want to put content in front of the person that is specifically looking for a product! Consider this scenario: You are searching for a specific piece of hiking equipment. You do a search for it on Google. Clicking through the results, all you find are articles about hiking equipment. You don't need these details, because you already KNOW what you want... you just need to place an order! This is where the product-based affiliate sites come in. You can partner with name-brand merchants, or become an affiliate for rare or hard-to-find items. Either way, if your target market is searching for specific products... then you want to build a site that *makes sales*. "What about content?!", you ask? Simple: your product descriptions and any related information will serve as content on your web pages! You optimize your product-based pages the same way that you would content-based pages. Product-based websites can easily be promoted through Search Engine Optimization (SEO), or Pay-per-Click (PPC) advertising. You can also promote affiliate programs alongside your own products and/or services, to create additional streams of income. Many people use affiliate programs to make Back-end Sales. For example, let's say that you sell one product through your site: Blue Widgets. That is all you create, and that is all you sell - and you do very well with it. However, by becoming affiliated with the maker of Blue Widget Cleaners, or Blue Widget Organizers... or even Blue Widget Guides - now you can follow up with your list with this related offer and earn commission on every sale that is made. This gives you the opportunity to increase your income substantially! If you already have affiliate sites, perhaps this will give you some ideas for new websites you can develop. If you have any questions at all - about SEO, PPC, or other site design or marketing questions - join us at the Discussion Forum!
Best regards,
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