Introduction to affiliate network marketing by ericwelke

Articles from EricWelke.com Introduction to Affiliate Network Marketing by Eric Welke

What is Affiliate Network Marketing? It is a marketing channel that generates sales from leads referred by “affiliates”. These affiliates usually market the product actively only their website, blogs or social media profiles. It’s similar to the traditional commission system except that affiliate network marketing deals mainly with online leads. The affiliate’s site sort of acts as one of the vendor’s virtual kiosks. Affiliate network marketers may also have sites that are similar to online stores; however, they do not have any inventory and instead forward all purchases to the main seller. Products being sold through affiliate network marketing can be real world products like flowers and tour packages to virtual items like e-books and mp3s. How do you get started in Affiliate Network Marketing? First, you will need to have access to a usable amount of internet traffic. This traffic needs to be from a certain demographic or users looking for a specific type of product. An authoritative blog that deals with a fairly popular topic is ideal. The blog’s topic shouldn’t be too broad or too focused. It shouldn’t be just a passing fad. More importantly, the blog should rank well on its subject matter’s keywords. Second, is to choose the product you want to sell. There are several factors you should consider: The product should be closely related to your blog’s subject matter. A good example is a blog about gardening that has affiliate marketing network links to gardening supplies or e-books. It should be sellable to your niche. This is a no brainer. Don’t waste your time

trying to sell products that won’t appeal to your site visitors. The company selling the product should have a solid reputation. They should be able to deliver what they promised. This is especially critical when you’re marketing actual goods. Your commission income should be worth the time and effort you’ve invested on your site. Sellers are quite competitive with their commission rates but bear in mind that a bigger commission usually means a harder to move product. You can also opt to get products from networks that specialize in affiliate network marketing: Clickbank (www.clickbank.com), Commission Junction (www.cj.com), and ShareASale (www.shareasale.com) You can also contact the official websites of different companies and check if they run any affiliate programs of their own. Third, embed the affiliate links into your website. These should be strategically placed on the site to maximize selling opportunities. You will need to strike a balance on your approach. You can’t be too overt as this can turn off your potential leads and it can also lessen your traffic. You also have to make sure the link is accessible and noticeable to users on your site who want to check it out. Lastly, you need to have a way to get consistent traffic to your site. It is ideal to have a good amount of traffic first before you start marketing. No matter what technique you choose – organic SEO, pay-per-click advertising, purchased traffic, forum marketing, content marketing, etc., you will need to get people to visit your site so that they will see your affiliate marketing network links.

There are restrictions to affiliate network marketing on some sites like forums and social networks. You’re best option on those sites is to use them to drive traffic to the page where you have your affiliate links.