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Affiliate Marketing - How it Works
Before we go over the exact steps of how to start affiliate marketing, it's important to know what exactly is affiliate marketing??... and to understand in concept how it works.
The Affiliate Marketing concept really is quite simple... basically it's about earning a percentage commission whenever you make a sale of another person or companies product.
You do this by either running ads, or creating content that helps people make better buying decisions, but reviewing the product, or showing it in action, like showing the in's and out's of how it works.... or by teaching people how to get solutions.
If they then click on your affiliate link to to product, and end up making a purchase, you will get credited for that sale, and you will earn a commission.
Basically, the process is like this;
THE PROCESS
- You find a product or offer to promote
- You place Ads or create content that generates traffic (clicks)
- You send those visitors to a landing page that pre-frames your offer
- This then takes them to the product via your affiliate link, where they will make a purchase.
- You then earn a commission for that sale - (% depends on the affiliate program, can be 2-5%... perhaps 30%... sometimes even up to 75%)
MAKING IT ALL HAPPEN
So what does it all look like in reality... and how do you actually put all this together?
Well, that's what this tutorial is all about.
In the next section we will walk through each step to getting everything setup so that you can get started with affiliate marketing.
Pick Your Niche Market
The first step is to pick your Niche!
This is the topic you will decide to focus on, and will be the subject around which you will create most of your content.
So it's a good idea to choose a Niche that you enjoy, and that you have some knowledge about.
Don't worry if you pick something wrong, you can always create more websites of funnels later down the track.
Alternatively... you may decide to cover multiple topics, where your main business is to review products over different niche markets, rather than build a brand around one particular niche.
In this case, you can set yourself up as a "General" topic review business - or simply as an affiliate who runs small campaigns promoting any kind of product that you find interesting.
HEALTH
BUSINESS & FINANCE
CLOTHES & APPAREL
DATING
ELECTRONICS
HOME & LIFESTYLE
MONEY
HOBBIES
#2
Get A Domain Name
Next you want to get a Unique Domain Name for your website or funnel.
This is a unique web address you will use for your affiliate promotions and will look something like, www.YourWebsite.com.
www.YourWebsiteName.com
You may be creating a website based around your niche topic, in which case your domain might be more general, like... ketofitness.com
Or you might just be running affiliate promotions around one specific product or offer, in which case your domain might be more specific, like: 30DayFitnessBootcamp.com
Either way... you want to have a domain name that is catchy, easy to remember... and represents your brand or your offer.
STEP 3
CREATING YOUR AFFILIATE PROMOTIONS...
WEBSITE OR FUNNEL?
First Thing's First... which should I choose?
For affiliate marketing, When it comes to building your infrastructure online, there are really two different paths you can take.
You will either go down the path of running running your business on platforms like YouTube or Facebook... and then using a funnel to direct people to your affiliate promotions, using a simple two page affiliate marketing funnel...
Or you will build a full blog website on something like WordPress.... which will be your main hub around which you will build your business or your brand.
First, What's The Main Difference between a Blog or a Funnel?
A Website tends to be for people who are writing content based around one particular topic. It's a way to show your authority on a subject, and a place people can go to to learn about your business or brand. Typically there are many options for actions people can take, and people tend to browse around your website they way they would browse through a magazine.
A funnel tends to be more conversion focused, and is all centered around selling one particular product or promoting one single offer. Because it's more targeted, designed for people to make just one decision (i.e. to decide whether or not to make the purchase) you would expect to get higher conversions per visitor with a funnel.
Just remember, you can create your funnels using the WordPress Platform.... and you can create a Website using a funnel builder (not so much a Blog, but a website yes).
Ultimately, you don't need a full website to do affiliate marketing, all you need as a bare minimum.... is just two pages. A capture page to
- An offer to promote
- A platform to create content & get traffic - (Facebook / YouTube / Instagram all free & quick to set up)
- A simple 2 page affiliate funnel to capture leads and increase conversions
WEBSITE
A website is great for teaching people about your business and building a brand awareness.
It is also great for blogging, if you plan to write a lot of article or blogging content.
However building a full website takes a lot longer to get setup, as you really need to create the thing before you launch it... for example;
The downsides of a website are:
FUNNEL
For affiliate marketing, all your really need is two pages.
an Opt-in / Lead Capture Page - to be able to capture peoples' names and emails and build your list of email subscribers.
a Bridge Page - This is a page that explains about your offer, or promotes your product. Unlike a website, your bridge page is completely focused on the product or offer you're promoting... and so ultimately the reader only has one decision to make... "Is this offer right for me?"
** Important!! **
WHY NOT JUST SEND TRAFFIC STRAIGHT TO MY OFFER?
The purpose of a Bridge Page is to INCREASE the conversion rate of your offer, by adding additional value... and helping people to make better buying decisions
Example:
If you send traffic straight to your offer you might get a conversion rate of 0.5-1% (depending on the quality of your Ads and your Targeting).
This means that about 1 in 100 people you send to the product would be expected to make a purchase.
Using a Bridge Page... you would aim to increase the conversion rate to 10%, 15%, 25% or more... by adding value.
YOU ADD VALUE BY...
SO... WHICH TO CHOOSE?
THEN START WITH FUNNELS
+
Clickfunnels is $97/mo and GetResponse is $25/mo for basic package up to 2,500 subscribers
Price: $122/mo
$1,464 / year
OR
Builderall offers both Funnel Building and Email marketing all in one platform at $69.90/mo - While the Funnel Builder is not as good as CF, it's a lot more cost effective and better for those on a strict budget.
Price: $69.90/mo
$838.80 / year
STEP 3 - OPTION A
CREATING YOUR FUNNEL
The Quicker and Easier Option - To create simple promotions and run marketing campaigns, all you really need is a good Funnel
#3A
Building a Funnel
Building an affiliate marketing funnel really is quite simple. All you really need to 2 pages which perform very specific functions.
You want to have a way to capture people's names and email addresses, so you can build your list of email subscribers. This is usually done with an opt-in form, or what is otherwise known as a lead capture page.
The other page you need to build is one where you can add value and bridge over to your affiliate offer. The purpose of a bridge page is to INCREASE the conversion rate of your offer, by adding additional value.
Rather than sending your visitors directly to the product page, good marketers always provide added value in the way of a webinar, short video or advertorial... where they maybe show people how to use the product, how it can help them solve their problem, or just review the product or answer peoples questions to help people make better buying decisions.
FUNNEL BUILDING TOOLS
What You Will Need...
To build your marketing funnels, you will need a funnel building software. These are front-end drag & drop editors, that have a variety of template pages for you to choose from, and allow you to edit the look and feel of the pages super fast and in real time. More importantly, they are designed for funnel building, meaning that you can pick any kind of sales funnel you want, and the pages will already be connected in sequence and laid out for you ready to go.
Clickfunnels is a popular service, and their funnel builder it probably one of the best in the business. It's and great option for a beginners. The best thing about ClickFunnels is that it is designed specifically for building funnels, so the layout is streamlined, intuitive and easy to use. You would still require a 3rd party autoresponder (like GetResponse) to manage your emails.
Builderall is another good choice if you want a more cost effective option. While the page editor is a little less user friendly, it is the more cost effective option if budget is important. It also includes an email autoresponder service in it's package which is an advantage.
Unsure which is best for you?
STEP 3 - OPTION B
CREATING YOUR WEBSITE
Creating a full Blog / Website takes a little more time, and is best suited for those who want to Blog or Write articles... or have a services business.
#3B
Building a WordPress Website or Blog
Building a full website or blog is a great way to help you build your brand and to build authority in your niche.
Although a website is not as conversion focused as a funnel, and there is a lot more work and time required to create a full website (rather than creating funnels and promotions), it's still a great way to show who you are, what you do, and what products and services you offer.
While you don't need a full website to do Affiliate Marketing - We definitely recommend getting a website eventually as a long term goal.
WHAT YOU WILL NEED
STEP 3 - OPTION B
EMAIL, PRODUCTS & BRANDING
Creating a full Blog / Website takes a little more time, and is best suited for those who want to Blog or Write articles... or have a services business.
#4
Add Email Marketing
An Auto-Responder helps you manage your subscribers, and automate parts your business by being able to write pre-written emails that will go out to your leads automatically after they join through your opt-in page.
Your list of subscribers will become your greatest asset in your business, as it will be a source of completely warm, targeted source of traffic for you that you can tap into and engage with on an ongoing basis.
These are people who have already been in contact with your brand, and are familiar with you. Either they have already consumed your content, or perhaps even purchased from you before. This makes them highly qualified.
#5
Finding Products to Promote
There are really two main ways you can find good affiliate products to promote online.
1.) Join Affiliate Networks / Marketplaces - This is where you join a network that hosts thousands of affiliate products that you can choose from, over many different niche categories. These are a great option because you can search for products based on category and other criteria
2.) Join Individual Companies Directly - You can go directly to the website of an individual company, and scroll to the bottom of the page where they usually will have a link in the footer for "affiliates". Via this link you can apply to become an affiliate. ClickFunnels is an example of a great piece of software you can become an affiliate for. The benefit of this method, is you can find high ticket products this way, and easily sign up to become an affiliate.
AFFILIATE MARKETING NETWORKS
Here are some examples of some of the more popular and well known affiliate marketing networks.
ClickBank and JVZoo are the easiest to register with and the fastest to get started with. Some other affiliate programs are a little harder to get involved with, because they will ask for your website link (like Amazon Associates) and perhaps will ask to review your monthly traffic volumes before you get accepted.
Check out some of the Affiliate Networks listed here.
#6
Get Your Branding Done
Now you want to create some branding so that you can be recognizable to people to see your content. You will definitely want a logo, and then depending what platform you will be working on you may need some other images created:
You can either create these yourself or you can hire a professional freelancer to designer to create one for you.
STEP 7
GETTING TRAFFIC
The last two steps are all about Getting Traffic! This means getting people qualified to see your offers. This comes down to your ongoing content marketing strategy, and other Traffic Getting methods - (like running Paid Ads).
#7(A)
Figure Out Your Content Marketing Strategy
Next you want to plan out you content marketing strategy.
This is basically what kind of content you will be creating to get leads and visitors to your website. It may depend on your Niche, what audience you are creating for... or simply your personal preference.
So what kind of marketing do you want to be doing?
Once you know your Strategy, then you will need to determine "What things you will need to be doing daily"
"Figure out what do you need to be doing DAILY"
This will then give you direction and focus on what activities you should be prioritizing every day in order to consistently get traffic into your business - (i.e. to your funnel or website).
#7(B)
Getting Traffic to Your Website
There are 2 things every business needs in order to survive. Daily leads, and cashflow. To make the sales and get the cashflow, you need a constant stream of leads coming into your business every single day. And to get leads... you need to have daily traffic! - Traffic is just getting people ("eyeballs") to see your offer.
Traffic is the Life Blood of your Business!
All Success Online comes down to your ability to GET Traffic... and then your Ability to CONVERT That Traffic to Sales.
You can either pay for traffic, by placing and running ads, or you can use free traffic methods (usually by creating content or networking).
Traffic Getting Methods
BONUS TRAFFIC COURSE
Affiliate marketing is all about traffic & conversions. There's no doubt that your degree of success in affiliate marketing will be based on how well you can get traffic, and then how well you can convert that traffic into leads and sales.
While this page is all about getting you setup, the next major step is will be to learn and master at least one or 2 traffic methods. That's why we offer this Exclusive Bonus Traffic Course, free of charge when you make a qualified purchase from this website.
#8
Add Tracking to Your Campaigns
Link Tracking is also an important component of running marketing campaigns. It's a way to track all your clicks, where your traffic is coming from, and gives you the ability to see which kind of traffic is generating most of your sales and which ones are converting the best.
Having useful data will help you optimize your funnels and ads, and to help you to test & identify what pages, traffic sources, and content is profitable (and conversely, cut campaigns that are wasting money).
CONGRATULATIONS!
YOU HAVE NOW COMPLETED YOUR AFFILIATE MARKETING SETUP GUIDE
TAKING IT FURTHER
ADVANCED MARKETING STRATEGIES
The last two steps are all about Getting Traffic! This means getting people qualified to see your offers. This comes down to you ongoing content marketing strategy, and other Traffic Getting methods - (like running Paid Ads).
THE NEXT STEPS...
Now that you have everything setup and ready to go... if you need some further training about online marketing and how to actually make sales online...
... then we recommend some advanced training through the Black Ops Underground Marketing program to take your marketing skills to a higher level.
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... how to run promotions...
... how to get leads daily with zero Ad Spend and
... how to close those leads...
... how to actually sell affiliate products online
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