Quick Tips for Affiliate Marketers

The promise of earning high profits without really doing any work has temped many to 'have a go' at affiliate marketing, and will continue to do so 'till the cows come home.

It's a common misconception that all an affiliate has to do is place a merchant's advertisement on a website, and bingo! the checks start rolling in...

So if that's the case, why do so many people do just that and barely make enough for a decent cup of java?

Affiliate Marketing, just like other forms of marketing takes work. Period.

Successful affiliates don't just sit back and wait for the money to roll in, they promote their merchant's business and products, while consistently working on building lists of buyers and prospective buyers.

When promoting 'think outside the box'. Marketer's who think differently are often more successful than those who seem to be walking, talking and working on autopilot. Wouldn't you rather listen to someone who opened your eyes to a different angle? For example: You're selling an ebook about gardening, the sales letter talks about learning what soil to plant your begonias in and how to build your own decking. Now take another view, 'when you master the basics of gardening, sit back and enjoy homegrown veggies cooked on the bbq your just built, while relaxing on your new decking, etc...' See the new angle you've just introduced?

If you want to be successful in affiliate marketing and if you want to continually grow your affiliate checks, you've got to be prepared to put in the graft.

Here are a few tips to help you to continually grow your affiliate checks:

Know what you're talking about and become an expert on your chosen affiliate product
After all, how can you expect to sell something that you know nothing about? Purchase the affiliate product yourself and put it through it's paces.. Tell your customers the products good points and bad points from first-hand experience. Most importantly – do your research!

You need your own website
Or at the very least, a short, easily remembered domain name. Affiliate links are ugly things and so often hijacked and your commissions stolen. Cloak your links and setup separate directories on your server for each affiliate product you're promoting to make your links clean and easy to remember.

Write your own affiliate ads
Write a review, submit a testimonial – in your own words. Entice your prospects by giving your honest opinion, telling them why you think your affiliate product would benefit them. This way, you're not putting on any 'hard sell', and your prospects will be thanking you for selling to them!

Visit forums, discussion boards and social networks related to your product
This can be a huge drain on your time, so be careful not to spend too long chatting and reading. Simply adding a signature to your posts directing people to a free report, your opt-in form or even your sales page can prove to be very effective. (Care must be taken to read individual forum's terms and conditions of adding a signature).

Publish a free newsletter or ezine
The purpose of your online publication should be to inform people about your relevant subject, lightly scattering your affiliate links in appropriate places. Don't go overboard with links; this will undoubtedly annoy your subscribers – there's no quicker way to make them ex-subscribers! Don't forget to put an optin form for your publication on your website and blog.

Create a short report
On the same subject as your affiliate product and offer it to your prospects for subscribing to your free ezine or newsletter.

What's important is that you are able to attract more traffic to your site and stimulate visitors into clicking your affiliate links. If you can master this, then your affiliate marketing efforts should prove fruitful.