Why Building An Email List Is Vital To Affiliate Marketing Success And How To Get Started Today

I often hear many new affiliate marketers say that they don't have to build a list to make commissions

. That statement is inherently true. However, the level of success that one can achieve without a targeted opt-in list is minimal.

When I started out in affiliate marketing three years ago, one could easily make one-hundred dollars or more per day just from a few keyword optimized articles. Unfortunately, that just isn't the case today. Article Marketing, or "Bum Marketing", as it's often referred to, has lost much of it's effectiveness.

This is due in large part to the struggling economy. As the unemployment rate rises, more and more folks are turning to the internet to make ends meet. What does this mean? It means that more people are fighting for the same amount of affiliate commissions. Actually, studies have shown that revenue for digital products has dropped in recent years, so there are actually more people competing for less commission.

Another reason for the increase in competition is the technological advances of search engine technology. It's not as easy as it once was to rank articles high in the search results. Search engines now have systems in place to detect practices such as keyword stuffing and many other practices that would have been successful in the past.

The problem that remains is the quality of informational content that is out there about Bum Marketing. Most of the ebooks and video series' about this subject simply haven't changed with the times. Even today, new products are hitting the market that still preach old tactics and techniques. The cause and effect of this phenomenon is that many new marketers believe they can make a six-figure income by writing and submitting a few articles every day.

After a few weeks, they quickly come to realize that this technique just isn't going to work. Unfortunately, most get discouraged by this and simply give up. So what's the answer? The answer is list building. List building is the absolute best way to make a sustainable living as an affiliate marketer.

I'm quite stubborn, and so this is something that I took a long time to embrace. When I did, however, I never looked back. I don't regret my decision to dive head first into email marketing one bit. I think many affiliate marketers are hesitant because they think it will be a costly and complicated process. Fact is, it really isn't.

This is what you need to do:

1. Buy a domain and web hosting package.

This is not expensive. You can get a good domain for about ten dollars per year and a decent web hosting package will run you six or seven dollars a month.

2. Sign up with an autoresponder service.

This is very important. There are basically two kinds of autoresponders. Host based and web based. Host based is autoresponder software that you set up on your own web server and web based is a service that you can purchase that is set up on a private company's server. Personally, I think this is the way to go. They will provide you with all of the tools you need and show you how to protect yourself from spam complaints. The average for these services is about twenty dollars per month.

3. Set up your squeeze page.

A squeeze page is a simple one-page website that is used specifically to capture the information of subscribers, commonly referred to as "leads". These are easily built or you can buy a template for ten to twenty dollars. If you don't know anything about designing a simple web page, you can outsource the work at one of the many freelance sites on the internet.

4. Drive traffic to your offers.

Traffic is the "engine" of your email marketing campaign. Without it, you can't collect leads. Without leads, you can't promote your products. You can see where I'm going with this. When it comes to traffic, you want what's called "targeted traffic". The best way to generate targeted traffic is by writing and submitting quality articles that backlink to your squeeze pages.

5. Write a follow up series.

Once you have signed up a lead, you need to successfully market to them. That's where your follow up series comes in. This is a series of email messages designed to engage the subscriber enough that they eventually purchase a product that you are promoting. Bear in mind that your follow up series should be a consistent mix of informative content and promotional material. Don't just sell to your leads. Instead, provide them with useful content and action plans that they can implement right away to help them in their chosen niche. Earning their trust is key if you want them to buy what you are selling.

As you can see, starting an email marketing campaign is vital to achieving affiliate marketing success. However, you need to take action if you want results. One of the most common mistakes aspiring affiliate marketers make is to constantly take in information and not act on what they have learned. While learning is of great importance, acting on your knowledge is what will inevitably lead to your success.

by: Chris Mollo

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