subject: Starting An Affiliate Marketing Campaign [print this page] Joined an affiliate marketing program and don't know what to do next? Then this article is just for you!
After doing your research or being recommended to join an affiliate marketing program, there are several steps that you now need to take in order to make it a successful endeavor. Without following a system, it will become near impossible for you to make a decent amount of money every month as new affiliate marketers then face the overwhelm of trying to put a marketing program together.
Setting The System And Putting It To Work
The first thing that you need to do is set your objective and goals. Work out how much money you need to earn each month through your affiliate marketing efforts. If you are doing this part time and expect it to create part time money, then obviously you do not need to work as hard as someone who requires to make a full time income from their online enterprise. By the way, make sure you are prepared to put in a good 8-10 hours of focused work each day if you want your full time campaign to work for you.
If you have read any of my earlier articles, you would already have picked an affiliate program that suited your interests and is popular enough to make money from. You've looked at the merchant's history, you know roughly how many affiliates are promoting the product or service and you know what their opinions are of the merchant. You already know that it is easier to promote the products of a vendor who is an expert in his or her field and has a good reputation for honesty and integrity. Not only will this make your life easier if you have any questions or concerns, but your potential buyers will also feel comfortable buying from a reputable merchant through his representative i.e. you!
Now you know how much you want to earn, it is time to select the perfect product to kick off your affiliate marketing career. Your ultimate goal will want to be to add all of the products at the beginning but it is not advisable to do this right at the start as you could easily lose your focus - overwhelm and lack of focus is the ultimate downfall for new affiliate marketers. So, choose one product and really get that under your belt before moving on to the next one.
Fire up your very own site perfectly designed for your desired niche; make it look professional and not over loaded with flashing graphics and gaudy banners. Keep it simple and elegant using light colors with a small header to show your company name and theme. Keep the site easy to navigate and remember to use a sitemap for the benefit of your customers, you and the search engines. There is no need to get someone to make a website for you if you have some basic computer skills. There are some very easy templates that you can use and I have found WordPress to be easy, even for those of no previous experience.
Start writing some articles and publish them over the free article directories. You should embed your affiliate links within the text and if the content is useful and informative you can expect some good traffic to your affiliate links and that will ultimately result in more sales through your affiliate links.
