Affiliate Marketing For Beginners

 

Affiliate Marketing For Beginners explains how to drive traffic, collect leads, and convert them to sales. In simple terms, this is what affiliate marketing is all about. In this beginner’s guide, I explain exactly what you need to do to set up an affiliate marketing business. I explain the affiliate traffic sources, lead generation strategies, and email marketing strategies you should use to succeed. And finally, I explain why email marketing is such a powerful way to make money online. And how to turn your email list into your most valuable long-term digital real estate asset. Just pay close attention and read this to the end.

 

 

If you are wondering whether Affiliate Marketing is still a good way to make money online, check out my Is Affiliate Marketing Still Profitable?

 

 

 

Reach for the Stars

 

Affiliate Marketing Traffic

 

Traffic is the life blood of all businesses. For brick and mortar businesses such as Walmart, traffic means people walking into the store. And in case you haven’t noticed, you walk through a sales funnel, where you view various sales offers for products that they are pushing to increase revenue. The “essentials” that you really came for – the groceries, hardware, paper goods, etc. – are at the back of the store.

 

 

In the online space, traffic means sales prospects on a computer or mobile device, viewing your sales offers through a digital sales funnel. This is where you first introduce your sales offer in a way that arouses their curiosity. Then ask them for their email address, and thank them for providing it. Which in turn triggers the process of sending a welcome email and giving them their first opportunity to purchase your offer. I’ll come back to all this in a bit more detail shortly, but for now just remember that driving traffic is the first critical step in affiliate marketing lead generation.

Best Affiliate Traffic Sources

Traffic is generated in two ways. You pay for it, by purchasing Solo Ads, Google Ads, Facebook Ads, Bing Ads, and the like. Or you build it organically by creating digital content for a Blog or a You Tube Channel or a Social Media outlet (e.g., a Facebook Group). A place where you can attract viewers and they can get to know you. Then you advertise directly to them. In this case, your primary cost is the time it takes to generate high quality written and video content on a regular basis.

You can minimize the time it takes by learning to re-use the same content for more than one purpose. Learning to re-purpose your content is one of the keys to success with organic traffic. As a simple example, you can re-use your blog post as the content for a You Tube video. You simply record yourself reading a summary of one of your blog articles, and upload it to your You Tube channel.

 

 

 

Affiliate Marketing

 

 

Organic Traffic: Each Source A Digital Real Estate Asset

Ideally you should use both forms of traffic, but it’s a good idea to at least start building a blog and a You Tube channel right away. They complement each other, and over time each of them can become more and more valuable as a digital real estate asset. You have the ability to hold your audience’s attention for longer periods of time with a blog than with an ad. And likewise, with a You Tube channel. You get to know them better, and they get to know you better. And as they get to know you better, they become hotter sales prospects. Prospects who are much more likely to purchase your sales offer than one who just clicked on an ad.

Paid Traffic: Build Most Valuable Digital Real Estate Asset Faster

The advantage of paid traffic is that it allows you to collect emails faster. So, if you have the capital to pay for high quality traffic, it provides a faster way to build your email list. And your email list is your most valuable digital real estate asset in the long run. Thus, as usual, it’s a trade off. And you have to make the trade off that works best for you, given your resources and skill set. If you choose to start with paid traffic, I recommend Solo Ads as a good place to start, once you have your sales funnel in place.

All Traffic Should Be Driven To Your Sales Funnel

It is important for you to understand that all affiliate traffic sources, organic or paid, should be driven to your sales funnel. You may generate traffic by getting viewers to click on a call to action (CTA) in your blog, or to click on a paid ad. It doesn’t matter. All clicks should lead to your sales funnel. Why? Because your primary goal is to capture leads and build your email list, your most valuable long-term digital real estate asset.

Affiliate Marketing Sales Funnel

The affiliate marketing sales funnel is the second critical step in online lead generation strategies. The basic concept is a two part sales funnel, consisting first of a Landing page / Opt-in page / Capture page and second a Thank You page.

The Lead Capture Page

You first present your sales offer on the Landing page, the sole purpose which is to capture as many leads as possible. That is why we often refer to it as the Lead Capture page, or just Capture page for short. You describe your offer in a way that arouses the prospects curiosity, arousing it enough that they want to learn more. As a result, they agree to provide their name and email address. Once they agree to provide their name and email address, they become a subscriber to your email list and an active sales lead.consisting first of a Landing page / Opt-in page / Capture page and second a Thank You page.

The Thank You Page

The Thank You page is where you congratulate the subscriber for joining your list. You may do this through either a written sales message or a video. As a part your written or spoken message, let them know that a welcome email is on the way to their inbox. And then make your final front-end sales pitch, and ask them to click a button to learn more about how to do xyz. If they click, they will be taken to the sales video for your offer. And if they purchase your offer, you have what is called a front-end sale.

The Magic of the Email Autoresponder

Aweber is among the best email autoresponders for affiliate marketing beginners. It is easy to learn, and has great 24/7 chat support to help you with any issues. But there are many other great autoresponders with proven track records, such as GetResponse. And don’t hesitate to do your own research.

Email Marketing For Beginners

So how do you start monetizing the leads you’ve been capturing? You do it through email marketing, which is the third critical step in an online lead generation strategy. Email marketing is probably the most powerful way to make money online. The reason it’s so powerful is that the return on investment (ROI) can be up to 1000% over the lifetime of the customer.

This Email Marketing For Beginners section of Affiliate Marketing 101 is where we explain in detail why email marketing is the linchpin of affiliate marketing. We explain step-by-step how email marketing works, and the principles you need to apply to turn it into a powerful ROI machine. If you apply the principles, email marketing will fulfill its promise. It will indeed be your most valuable long-term digital real estate asset.

If you’ve heard rumors that email marketing is a thing of the past, perhaps even dead or dying, check out my Is Email Marketing Dying?

 

 

 

Email Marketing

 

 

The Fortune Is In The Follow Up

Don’t assume that you’ll get lots of sales on the front-end, from the Thank You page or the welcome email. Because you won’t. The normal range for front-end sales is 3-5%, 5% if you’re lucky. The fortune is in the follow up! Roughly 90% of sales happen as a result of follow up emails. And they typically don’t start until after the first 7 emails have been sent. It simply takes time for most subscribers to get to know you, and to warm up from cold to hot buyers.

Autoresponder Follow Up Series

An autoresponder follow up series should consist of at least 10 emails, sent every other day. The first – your welcome email – is triggered automatically from the Capture page, as discussed earlier. Once your welcome email is sent, the autoresponder will wait a day and then send the next in the series. And so forth, until your follow up series is complete

Your Welcome Email: Thanks for Subscribing!

As we all know, first impressions are important in any new relationship. And they are especially important in an email marketing relationship with new leads, new subscribers. This is your opportunity to introduce yourself and your business, and begin to create a long term relationship.

Share Your Background Story And Invite Them To Share Theirs

A good way to begin creating a long term relationship with subscribers is by telling them your background story. What did you do in the past? How did that lead to your desire to learn affiliate marketing? How did it lead to your desire to help others succeed in fulfilling their dreams? And finally, invite them to share their background story with you.

Share Your Sales Offer

You’ve shared your story. Now tell them how your sales offer will fulfill their true needs – their dreams for themselves and their families. Which may not match what they thought they wanted and needed. And then provide a link to the sales offer. You can in fact provide two links, but never more than two in any single email.

Make Sure They Know What To Expect Going Forward

Finally, make sure they know what to expect going forward, after the initial follow up series is complete. You need to let them know ahead of time that they will start receiving emails daily, or even more often. So as to set their expectations, and avoid any unpleasant surprises.

Aweber provides a nice template for a “Thanks for Subscribing!” email, which is the template that I use for welcome emails. Other autoresponders provide nice templates as well.

Your Follow Up Series: Deepening The Relationship

After the “Thanks for Subscribing!” email, you send a series of follow up emails designed to continue deepening the relationship. You shared your story in the welcome email, and invited them to share their story as well. You are gradually moving them along the path from cold to warm to hot. Once they are a hot prospect, they will start buying. How long that takes will vary, but experience shows that most sales happen after the 7th follow up. So be patient.

I pattern some of my follow up series emails after those used by other successful affiliates. I also make use of email swipe files for the particular offers that I’m promoting. You should learn to do the same, while also developing your own voice and your own writing style. Be authentic, and be absolutely committed to what you’re selling. Learn to give your subscribers ways of thinking differently about what you’re selling. Stretch their minds.

Assuming your follow up series consists of 10 emails, it will take 20 days to complete. You program the autoresponder to wait a day after each email is sent. And to then send the next email automatically, unless a purchase is made. You also program the autoresponder to tag any prospect who makes a purchase. And to then place them in a separate list reserved exclusively for buyers. In short, once a prospect completes the follow up series, or makes a purchase, they move to the next phase:

Email Segmentation Best Practices

Broadcast Campaign Emails At Least Once A Day

Whenever a subscriber completes their follow up series without making a purchase, you move them to a new list. You then send broadcast emails to each of the new lists at least once a day, perhaps more often. As already discussed, your welcome email should set their expectations ahead of time, so to avoid any unpleasant surprises.

Promote Complementary Offers To Your Buyers List

Broadcast Campaign Emails At Least Once A Day

As already discussed, once a subscriber makes a purchase, you move them to a list reserved exclusively for buyers. You then send broadcast emails to the buyers list, promoting offers that complement their previous purchase. With each additional purchase, they learn to trust you and your sales offers more. We love repeat buyers?, and so will you.

Proven List Segmentation Best Practices Can Increase ROI

Make the list segmentation as granular as you want, depending on your style and the number of broadcast lists that you’re able to deal with. Learning to apply email automation best practices can make this more manageable than it sounds at first. And the consistent application of best practices can lead to the level of ROI that makes email marketing so powerful.

Email List As Digital Real Estate Asset

Your Most Valuable Digital Marketing Asset

Don’t ever forget that your most valuable long-term digital real estate asset is your email list. The bigger your list, the more money you can make. The income potential is at least $1 per month per subscriber, so $4,000 per month for a list of 4,000, $10,000 per month for a list of 10,000, $100,000 per month for a list of 100,000. Experience shows that once your list reaches 4,000 subscribers, you can expect to start earning commissions on a daily basis. So, …, keep on growing your list?.

If you want a deeper understanding of digital assets, check out my Digital Real Estate Assets.

 

 

 

Email List

 

Other Types of Affiliate Marketing Programs

There are 3 main types of affiliate marketing programs. The first offers to pay you a set amount for a click through from your website (pay per click programs). A second pays a set amount for leads for their email list (pay per visitor affiliate programs). The third and most lucrative type, which is what we’re talking about, pays commissions. Typically they pay 50% for front-end sales. Some also pay commissions for the more lucrative back-end sales, as discussed below.

Best Affiliate Programs Offer Back-End Commissions

The best affiliate marketing programs offer commissions for both front-end and back-end sales. They typically pay 50% of the sales price for front-end sales, sometimes more. They remember each purchase using cookies. And as long as that cookie remains in your browser cache, you will be eligible for commissions from back-end sales. For some of the top affiliate marketing programs, your eligibility may last only 30 – 90 days. But the best affiliate programs provide cookies that last much longer, even for a lifetime.

In conclusion, you can make a huge amount of money in affiliate marketing. But, you have to find the best affiliate marketing programs. These programs pay good commissions for front-end sales. But more importantly, they pay lifetime commissions for the more lucrative back-end sales.