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If you want to generate a sustained online income with affiliate marketing, you'll need to automate both the front end and the back end processes. Following are a few tried and true secrets to ensure that you'll be easily making affiliate commissions while you sleep... 1. Research and select the best affiliate products and associated affiliate programs which best fit your targetted market and that will allow you to make the most amount of money for the least amount of work in the shortest amount of time. You want to make sure that the "affiliate vendor" (if they offer their own program) or the affiliate network (who manages a variety of affiliate vendor products) has a track record for paying affiliates within committed timeframes with an easy method for affiliates to register (get their affiliate ID/link), track their progress (clicks, sales, etc), and get paid (ie: direct deposit into a paypal account versus receiving a check). Select products or services that provide high commissions and that have a high quality sales page that gets high conversion rates (from lookers to buyers). Be sure to review the sales page to determine if it entices youto buy the product. If not, it probably won't excite others either. Keep in mind that downloadable products or services generate a much higher commission percentage than a physical product simply because they cost less for the product owner to create, market, inventory, and deliver. If you do chose a physical product, try mixing it with a related digital product to boost your overall commissions. An example would be selling a gardening device with an associated "how to grow the fattest, juiciest watermelons" digital report. And don't forget that an affiliate product or service with a monthly recurring fee (ie: a gardening club membership site) provides an ongoing steam of income for work you did once. For maximum income possibilities, you should have a mix of "one time cost" and "monthly recurring cost" products that relate to your targetted market. You should also plan to market additional products to those that have bought from you, be sure that the affiliate network you decided on has a variety of "complimentary" products you can sell. Since people usually purchase more than one product on a topic they are excited about, this will lock in a recurring stream of money from your initial marketing workd. Although you can transparently sell products to your market from a variety of affiliate networks simulatneously, it will be much easier on you and your ability to efficiently handle your affiliate activities if you have as few affiliate vendors and/or affiliate programs to deal with as possible. 2. Focus on ONE product or service at a time to avoid "activity overload". You need to know if your sales efforts for a specific product or service are making you money or if you are just wasting your efforts. You need to observe and tweak until you have a steady stream of income from your chosen product or service. If it doesn't happen, drop it and move on to another one. Get all marketing and upsell activities (ie: squeeze page, pre-sell page, free reports, autoresponder series, etc.) determined and ready to operate automatically before moving on to promoting a 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc. Automation of each affiliate product or service's process enables you to turn your efforts to developing additional streams of income without disrupting your previous affiliate income stream. 3. In the know affiliates ALWAYS capture prospects name/emails for maximuming income potential Since the affiliate vendor or affiliate program doesn't provide you with a prospect or buyer's name and/or email address, if you route your prospects right to the affiliate vendor's webpage, you have lost them forever (even if they purchase, you won't know who bought, only that you completed a sale). Therefore, you won't be able to capitalize on your initial promotional efforts by presenting other products or services to those who either expressed an interest or actually made a purchase. Therefore, prior to sending your prospects to the affiliate vendor's sale page, you first want to direct them to a page that you have set up to capture the prospects name and email address. This webpage is referred to as a "squeeze page" or "opt-in" page. On that page you'll need to give something for FREE (ie: a report, mini-ebook, software tool, newsletter subscription, etc.). Something with VALUE that will get them to give up the information you want. Since it is a common fact that most people won't purchase on their first introduction to an individual or product or service, you also need to follow up with the people that have downloaded your FREE item (your list). Since studies have proven that it usually takes 7 exposures before a prospect is comfortable enough to buy, you must have a process set up to make sure that you follow up in a timely manner. Setting up an autoresponder with a series of messages that are automatically delivered at set intervals, is the best way to do this. This email series should be structured so that it helps you to establish a relationship as well as establish you as a trusted advisor in your targeted marketplace. This will make it easier for your propsects to purchase from you. By continuing to provide FREE, valuable information to your prospects along with additional promotions built into your email series, it will ensure that your potential customers will continue to stay "subscribed". That they will want to open your messages and eventually buy one or more of your affiliate offers. 4. Get maximum exposure to your affiliate offer There are a number of ways to get exposure for your affiliate offer (both free and paid). In other words, traffic to your promotional offer. The maximum marketing effort is made upfront. After that, if done right, a "viral" effect takes place and your marketing efforts will take on a life of their own. Free ways: Article writing - Write associated articles and submit to article directories. Articles are then picked up by numerous website webmasters, ezine publishers, and others looking for online content. Your article's "resource box" should have a direct link to your promotional "squeeze or "opt-in" page (which can't be removed by the publisher). So, every time someone publishes your article, you'll get free traffic. Forum participation - look for related forums and particiapte in the discussions. Ask questions, offer answers from your experience/educaton (not a sales pitch). Just configure your "signature" to route to your promotional "squeeze page" and Let your "signature" do your marketing for you. Just make sure that the forum offers this type of signature (most do). Blogging - find related blogs and make comments, again with a link to your promotional "squeeze page" or "opt-in" page. Joint Ventures - locate like minded people in your target market that have "lists" that you can promote to and vice versa. If they introduce your promotional link to their list, you'll introduce their product in your autoresponder series to your list. Paid ways: Google Adwords PPC (or other PPC Services) - Write & publish PPC (pay per click) ads. Whenever someone clicks your ad, you are charged a certain fee. Keep in mind that you are charged this fee when they "click" your link, not if they "buy" the product. So, if you aren't managing your PPC budget closely, you may spend lots more money on "clicks" than you'll ever earn on affiliate commissions. Don't forget to read and understand the T&Cs of any PPC program before you attempt to use this promotional resource. If you are too busy or simply don't want to do these activities yourself, you can always/could easily outsource them to be done by others. But, make no mistake, they must be done. As usual, its a trade off of your time or your money. 5. Make more money than most affiliates promoting the same product or service Once you have established a solid track record as an affiliate who can close the sales, you can request a higher than normal commission from the merchant. Just contact the affiliate merchant and negotiate a larger percentage of the pie. Since the affiliate vendor doesn't pay you anything unless you make a sale, they have a no risk investment in you. If you have been a producer with them or can demonstrate your success with other affiliate promotions, many will work with you. Since less than 5% of their affiliates ever generate revenue for them, they surely don't want to lose an affiliate that does. Just be reasonable in your request. Use these guidelines and you'll soon experience a BIG increase in your affiliate earnings in no time flat.
Article Source: http://www.content.onlypunjab.com
Cleo Craig is the founder of Internet Marketing Scout, a research group dedicated to helping newbies find proven, low cost, and easy to implement stratagies for generating an online income. See her latest recommendation at www.internetmarketingscout.com
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