Dont Even Think About Affiliate Marketing Until Youve Read This - Part 1

You've probably heard some of the affiliate success stories from across the internet. You've also probably heard of the diverse benefits of affiliate marketing... Low start up costs, no products to deliver, no sales pitch to write, EASY! I was the same as you and it was these things that first got me into affiliate marketing. However, it took me a long time and several key distinctions to take my affiliate revenue from average to amazing.

In this article series I will attempt to highlight some of these distinctions in the hope of furthering your affiliate marketing knowledge and assisting in your success. I will attempt to give away as much information as possible without getting into trouble as a lot of what I am about to tell you, people are charging large fees to provide. Here are some of these distinctions.

1. Find A Good Product:
It seems so simple people often overlook this crucial aspect of affiliate marketing. If people are clicking through from your page to your merchants page and they are not being converted... You've got a problem. Most good affiliate programs will advertise their products conversion rates to entice potential affiliates. If they don't do this, ASK! Most affiliate experts recommend you purchase the product for which you wish to be an affiliate so you can sleep easy at night knowing its something you'd be confident to promote. Check your merchants page thoroughly looking at things like the general look and feel, and the perceived effectiveness? If your interested in this product? would YOU buy from this merchant?

2. Be a friend.
From a psychological perspective the reason someone buys something from an affiliate is that the opinion of someone who has used the product (ie already made the decision that the consumer is going to make) strongly confirms the pitch of the seller, and therefore the product is perceived to be more trustworthy. The affiliate should be presented as an average guy/girl who has used the product and knows the market and is different to the 'big company' (merchant) that is 'just out to make the sale'. If your page contains writing, it should introduce the affiliate personally, the tone should be friendly and informal (as you speak), and if possible could give an example of the success the affiliate has had using the product (or some other form of official confirmation of the products worthiness.)

3. Be an affiliate for more than one product BUT...
Obviously the more products you can be an affiliate for the better, but many new affiliates find it difficult to do this without compromising the effectiveness of their affiliate pitches. One great way to do this is to find a niche market that sellf more than one product. Let's take golf for example (hardly a niche market I know but go with it...) On one part of the site you could talk about the best putters (affiliate link) another part the best golf bags, another the best drivers and so forth. All your affiliate links are in AND if someone buys a putter you've recommended are they more or less likely to check out which driver you like too? You will notice however that this section did have a BUT...

Andrew Hansen is an experienced affiliate marketer and entrepreneur who specializes not only in online business but in other forms of investment also. He runs a website on revolutionizing your personal finances through affiliate marketing that provides best FREE information from across the web on afiliate marketing and contains steps to ensure success for the new affiliate marketer. Check it out at http://www.revolutionizeyourlife.net/affiliatemarketing.htm

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Adweek

Time Warner's Q2 Yields Mixed Results Adweek, NY - Aug 6, 2008 Ratings and CPM increases at the Turner nets and CNN helped boost ad sales by 11 percent, while affiliate revenue grew 10 percent. ...

CBS to sell 50 radio stations Variety, CA - Jul 31, 2008 Affiliate revenue rose 5% on rate increases and subscriber growth at Showtime. Moonves said the pay network, whose original programming has taken flight, ... Sale of Sundance Channel Lifts CBS in Quarter New York Times CBS posts higher profit on gain but cuts outlook guardian.co.uk all 177 news articles

CBS reports slim profit growth in 2Q The Associated Press - Jul 31, 2008 The company's billboard unit, international syndication sales and affiliate revenue also posted gains in revenue. Radio, long the sick-man of the company, ...

Second Issue of FeedFront Magazine Now Available AffiliateTip.com, NJ - Aug 5, 2008 Also, there are articles on conference networking, diversifying affiliate revenue, perils of white hat SEO, ten affiliate manager commandments, working with ...

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Pro-EbookTemplates.com Is Live Offering Quality eBook Templates Press Release 365 (press release), FL - Aug 5, 2008 He also enjoys creating software and has released a number of software products like Ziney Pro, Zip2profit and CB Affiliate Revenue. ...

News Corporation Reports Record Full Year Operating Income Of $5.4 ... broadcastbuyer.tv (press release), UK - Aug 6, 2008 ... primarily from increased affiliate rates driving affiliate revenue and advertising revenue gains resulting from increased pricing. For the full year, ...

SportsBusiness Daily (subscription)

Media Notes SportsBusiness Daily (subscription), NC - Aug 1, 2008 ... in part by 5% growth in [affiliate revenue] due to rate increases and sub growth at Showtime and CBS College Sports Network" (CABLEFAX DAILY, 8/1). ...