Make Online in 6 Easy Steps
Affiliate marketing involves
having your own site and sending your traffic to someone else's site to
buy their products or services. For every sale initiated by a link from
your site, you earn a percentage--an affiliate sales commission.
Affiliate marketing can be done on a part-time basis, and many are so successful that they've made it their full-time job. Equally exciting, you can get in the game in just a few hours. But how successful you are is based on the amount of time and effort you devote. Here is how you can make money online with these six tips:
You’ve come up with a great idea for a business, but you’re not ready to roll yet. Before you go any further, the next step is figuring out just who your market is.
There are two basic markets you can sell to: consumer and business. These divisions are fairly obvious. For example, if you're selling women’s clothing from a retail store, your target market is consumers; if you're selling office supplies, your target market is businesses (this is referred to as “B2B” sales). In some cases—for example, if you run a printing business—you may be marketing to both businesses and individuals.
No business—particularly a small one—can be all things to all people. The more narrowly you can define your target market, the better. This process is known as creating a niche and is key to success for even the biggest companies. Walmart and Tiffany are both retailers, but they have very different niches: Walmart caters to bargain-minded shoppers, while Tiffany appeals to upscale jewelry consumers.
“Many people talk about ‘finding’ a niche as if it were something under a rock or at the end of the rainbow, ready-made. That's nonsense,” says Lynda Falkenstein, author of Nichecraft: Using Your Specialness to Focus Your Business, Corner Your Market and Make Customers Seek You Out. Good niches don't just fall into your lap; they must be carefully crafted.
Rather than creating a niche, many entrepreneurs make the mistake of falling into the “all over the map” trap, claiming they can do many things and be good at all of them. These people quickly learn a tough lesson, Falkenstein warns: “Smaller is bigger in business, and smaller is not all over the map; it’s highly focused.”
Creating a good niche, Falkenstein advises, involves following a seven-step process:
These days, the trend is toward smaller niches. Targeting teenagers isn’t specific enough; targeting male, African American teenagers with family incomes of $40,000 and up is. Aiming at companies that sell software is too broad; aiming at Northern California-based companies that provide internet software sales and training and have sales of $15 million or more is a better goal.
To begin this focusing process, Falkenstein suggests using these techniques to help you:
There are four main ways to get more site exposure and attract more potential customers:
Affiliate marketing can be done on a part-time basis, and many are so successful that they've made it their full-time job. Equally exciting, you can get in the game in just a few hours. But how successful you are is based on the amount of time and effort you devote. Here is how you can make money online with these six tips:
1. Create a website or blog
To start as an affiliate marketer, you must have a site on which to place links to the products or services you recommend. There are many inexpensive website services such as Hostgator and GoDaddy. It's also easy to set up a free blog through services such as Google's Blogger blog network. I also use Namecheap for domains and Hostnine (get a reseller account) for hosting.
Create a free blog today and start
publishing your stories. Make your own website and share your hobbies
with others. You can build a free personal forum where you can interact
and be in contact with your friends and family. Add widgets, such as a
chat box, so you can talk live! Making a personal website is fast, free,
and fun.
Do you know how to make your own website easily? We do!
If you want to know how to make your own website for free, with no technical knowledge necessary, or if you want to create a free blog, you have come to the right place. With our online website builder, your website or blog is ready in a matter of minutes. All you need to do is to register, choose the right template for your web and fill in basic information. After these three easy steps, everything is ready to run. Changing the content is as easy as editing an email and you can upload images or texts in no time.
Do you know how to make your own website easily? We do!
If you want to know how to make your own website for free, with no technical knowledge necessary, or if you want to create a free blog, you have come to the right place. With our online website builder, your website or blog is ready in a matter of minutes. All you need to do is to register, choose the right template for your web and fill in basic information. After these three easy steps, everything is ready to run. Changing the content is as easy as editing an email and you can upload images or texts in no time.
2. Decide your product/service niche
Affiliate marketers help companies and entrepreneurs sell everything from jewelry and cell phones to website services and how-to e-books. Choose an area you're familiar with or one you're enthusiastic about learning. You'll be more likely to do the work and less likely to get bored before the money starts rolling in.You’ve come up with a great idea for a business, but you’re not ready to roll yet. Before you go any further, the next step is figuring out just who your market is.
There are two basic markets you can sell to: consumer and business. These divisions are fairly obvious. For example, if you're selling women’s clothing from a retail store, your target market is consumers; if you're selling office supplies, your target market is businesses (this is referred to as “B2B” sales). In some cases—for example, if you run a printing business—you may be marketing to both businesses and individuals.
No business—particularly a small one—can be all things to all people. The more narrowly you can define your target market, the better. This process is known as creating a niche and is key to success for even the biggest companies. Walmart and Tiffany are both retailers, but they have very different niches: Walmart caters to bargain-minded shoppers, while Tiffany appeals to upscale jewelry consumers.
“Many people talk about ‘finding’ a niche as if it were something under a rock or at the end of the rainbow, ready-made. That's nonsense,” says Lynda Falkenstein, author of Nichecraft: Using Your Specialness to Focus Your Business, Corner Your Market and Make Customers Seek You Out. Good niches don't just fall into your lap; they must be carefully crafted.
Rather than creating a niche, many entrepreneurs make the mistake of falling into the “all over the map” trap, claiming they can do many things and be good at all of them. These people quickly learn a tough lesson, Falkenstein warns: “Smaller is bigger in business, and smaller is not all over the map; it’s highly focused.”
Creating a good niche, Falkenstein advises, involves following a seven-step process:
i. Make a wish list.
With whom do you want to do business? Be as specific as you can. Identify the geographic range and the types of businesses or customers you want your business to target. If you don’t know whom you want to do business with, you can’t make contact. “You must recognize that you can’t do business with everybody,” Falkenstein cautions. Otherwise, you risk exhausting yourself and confusing your customers.These days, the trend is toward smaller niches. Targeting teenagers isn’t specific enough; targeting male, African American teenagers with family incomes of $40,000 and up is. Aiming at companies that sell software is too broad; aiming at Northern California-based companies that provide internet software sales and training and have sales of $15 million or more is a better goal.
ii. Focus.
Clarify what you want to sell, remembering that a) you can’t be all things to all people and b) smaller is bigger. Your niche isn't the same as the field in which you work. For example, a retail clothing business is not a niche but a field. A more specific niche may be “maternity clothes for executive women.”To begin this focusing process, Falkenstein suggests using these techniques to help you:
- Make a list of things you do best and the skills implicit in each of them.
- List your achievements.
- Identify the most important lessons you've learned in life.
- Look for patterns that reveal your style or approach to resolving problems.
iii. Describe the customer’s worldview.
A successful business uses what Falkenstein calls the Platinum Rule: “Do unto others as they would do unto themselves.” When you look at the world from your prospective customers’ perspective, you can identify their needs or wants. The best way to do this is to talk to prospective customers and identify their main concerns.iv. Synthesize.
At this stage, your niche should begin to take shape as your ideas and the client’s needs and wants coalesce to create something new. A good niche has five qualities:- It takes you where you want to go—in other words, it conforms to your long-term vision.
- Somebody else wants it—namely, customers.
- It’s carefully planned.
- It’s one-of-a-kind, the “only game in town.”
- It evolves, allowing you to develop different profit centers and still retain the core business, thus ensuring long-term success.
v. Evaluate.
Now it’s time to evaluate your proposed product or service against the five criteria in Step 4. Perhaps you’ll find that the niche you had in mind requires more business travel than you’re ready for. That means it doesn’t fulfill one of the above criteria—it won’t take you where you want to go. So scrap it, and move on to the next idea.vi. Test.
Once you have a match between niche and product, test-market it. “Give people an opportunity to buy your product or service—not just theoretically but actually putting it out there,” Falkenstein suggests. This can be done by offering samples, such as a free mini-seminar or a sample copy of your newsletter. The test shouldn’t cost you a lot of money: “If you spend huge amounts of money on the initial market test, you're probably doing it wrong,” she says.3. Find products and services to promote
Many affiliate networks exist to connect merchants with affiliate site publishers who can help sell their goods. Companies such as:- Clickbank, E-junkie and PayDotCom lead the pack in connecting the creators of e-books and software with affiliates to help sell their digital download products.
- Commission Junction is popular for those who want to sell more traditional wares ranging from travel services to janitorial franchises.
- Google AdSense,
which doesn't require your involvement to result in a sale. Your income
is realized on a pay-per-click basis, just for leading your traffic to
click to a merchant's site. PPC affiliate programs pay a lot less than
programs where your referral must result in a sale. Keep in mind that a
site peppered with ads and no authority or trust can look and feel like
spam, and you won't get good results.
How to Pick an Affiliate Offer
While there are many sources of potential affiliate offers, one of the best things you can do to avoid running into problems is to stick with the larger, well-established affiliate programs.
Some of these may be run in-house by the companies themselves (like Amazon), while some may be offered through a third party affiliate network (like CJ Affiliate). When assessing affiliate offers take the following into consideration:
- Does the company or affiliate network appear to be stable?
- Does the company or affiliate network have a history of affiliate payouts?
- Will you be able to comply with their terms and conditions?
4. Affiliate site content
There are two main approaches or business models to choose from when setting up an affiliate marketing site:- Resource Sites These sites are focused on offering lots of how-to articles and posts, and then provide affiliate links or banner ads to click for more details. Frequently adding fresh related content is vital because it gives people a reason to return to your site--and click some of your money-making links.
- Review Sites You've tried the products in
your niche, now you write them up and rate them to help your site
visitors decide what to buy. For each product you review, you provide a
link or banner ad that clicks through for sales on your merchant
partner's site. Less frequent content updates are necessary--just tweak
your site about once a week to let the search engines know your site's
still alive, and always try to build links.
5. Affiliate sites must attract lots of targeted traffic to succeed
Most people visiting your website or blog won't click your affiliate links. That's why it's crucial to employ a mix of marketing tactics to increase traffic--highly targeted traffic--to your site.There are four main ways to get more site exposure and attract more potential customers:
- Paid Advertising This is most effective when your ad copy headline, call-to-action message and graphics come together just right to compel people to click through and buy.
- Free Advertising Sites like Craigslist and US Free Ads are but two of many popular places that accept links and banner ads for free. These tend to be affiliate marketing sites themselves, earning the owner money whenever you click their ads.
- Article Marketing This popular marketing method offers several benefits. You're building credibility as a reliable source in your niche, gaining a higher search engine ranking by increasing the number of links leading to your site, and pulling traffic to your site. Work in an organic manner and don't spam using software engines. Ezinearticles is a great place to begin.
- E-mail Marketing Every visitor to your site is valuable, so capturing their names and e-mail addresses to stay in touch is important. Many people might not buy your affiliate products until the third or fourth time they hear from you. So it's crucial to place an opt-in subscription box on your site for people to start receiving a weekly or monthly newsletter from you. My personal favorite is aweber, but many quality ones exist.
6. Learn the ropes in forums
These are online communities of like minded people who exchange insights and ideas. Join at least one of these free affiliate marketing forums to benefit from advice shared by other newbies, intermediates and gurus alike:- Digital Point Huge, with about 25,000 active members. An excellent place to learn affiliate marketing tips, plus other techniques that impact your success such as link building and SEO.
- e Best Web One of the largest affiliate marketing forums, with nearly 100 sub-forums. Covers the broadest range of affiliate marketing-specific subjects, with heavy participation by numerous go-getter merchants and serious affiliates.
- Warrior Forum A killer networking forum for beginners and advanced alike. Set up a profile, start participating, ask questions and promote as well.
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