Affiliate Marketing – The Beginner’s Approach

g0429269Faced with starting an internet business, many of the new recruits are very likely to ask the question, “Where do I start with my online business?” Quite a few of the most successful internet marketers began their venture into the business through Affiliate Marketing and this is a very good place for anyone to begin. The basis of affiliate marketing is that merchants with great products but no expertise in marketing make their products available to people with marketing skills to sell their products for them. In exchange they pay the marketers a commission on the sales, usually a very generous commission. It is a WIN-WIN situation as far as both parties are concerned.

When the affiliate directs a potential customer to the merchant’s website he has done his part of the process. It is then down to the sales page of the merchant to convert that visitor into a customer. Each sale that results from the affiliates’ promotion brings with it an agreed percentage of the sale price. From a new internet marketer’s point of view this is an excellent way to earn as all the technical side of things has been done by the merchant who sets up the sales website and handles the actual transaction.

If you wish to develop your business around affiliate marketing, the first thing is to identify a niche. This niche might be a topic which is of particular interest to you, which is fine so long as it is of interest to plenty of other people too, or your business may have a relatively small marketplace. If you explore Clickbank (probably the most used source of products for affiliate marketing), Amazon, in fact, any online company which offers affiliate opportunities, you will find all kinds of products within your chosen niche.

Research the products available and choose the ones which offer the best commission and which rank highly in the lists of products. Have a careful look at the merchant’s sales website to assure yourself that it is likely to convert your referred visitor’s into customers. Check the resources offered by the merchant’s too. Some will offer a substantial package of material to help you with your marketing. These resources may include banner ads, articles, follow up emails, artwork, etc. There will also be information regarding the performance of each product in comparison to others. All these issues should be taken into consideration before you make your final choice.

At this point it will be necessary to set up a website, or, at the least, a webpage. This will not need to be anything fancy but must have content on it specifically designed to persuade your visitors to click through to the merchant’s sales page. If you feel unable to set up the site and/or provide the copywriting to go on your page, don’t worry. There are online companies such as “Fiverr” who will do the work for you at very little cost.  Your webpage will need a domain name and hosting which can be arranged for the cost of a couple of pints.

So far so good! Then comes the slightly tricky part; – getting people to visit your site. There are a number of ways to draw traffic to your webpage. Some of these are free whereas some will require some financial outlay. Don’t despair! Internet Marketing is such a cost-effective business that any expenditure will be small and can be recovered quite quickly. Do lots of research to find the way to promote your webpage in the way that suits you best.  To be successful in any form of online business takes persistence and commitment but it is well worth the effort in the end.

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