An Unfair Stigma
First I like to start with something that is unfair, but I can see why mostly because of the novice. Also there are people in this world that really are spammers. Out to ruin it for others, either knowingly or unknowingly.
I notice that Affiliate marketing seems to have an unfair stigma. What do I mean by unfair stigma? Some might call it a bad rap because they believe you’re just spamming people. But that couldn’t be any further from the truth.
These wrong believers don’t understand this business model. If you use a permission based email system, (and you definitely should) you are not a spammer. People entered their email to get more information from you.
Just build your list with opt-in pages, (some refer to as a squeeze page). Your subscribers gave you their email address giving you permission to receive your newsletter affiliate offers and even if only to update subscribers about something new, like a blog post or new product.
Early Problem With A Easy Fix
A funny story; I ran into a problem when I first started. My autoresponder shut down my account because I sent an affiliate offer that the CEO didn’t like. Imagine that! It took multiple emails to their support desk to get it back up and running. And believe or not, I had to promise not to promote this affiliate product system made by this particular person.
The easy way to avoid this kind of trouble is by using your own landing page, (the page people land on when they click a link) I understand the thought behind shutting down my account. They had beginners promoting the same course, but in a spammy way. Autoresponder companies share their IP address with other clients. Because of that they have to protect what’s known as IP reputation. If they don’t, it causes a delivery problem for everybody else. But the best way around having your account shut down is to use your own landing page that’s linked to your affiliates sales page.
I apologize for starting on a negative note. It is good information to know.
The Good Stuff
Affiliate marketing has a low barrier of entry. In other words, it’s easy to start an affiliate business. There are a few things you’ll need to get started. A great start is purchasing a domain name. A good starting point is to use your first and last name and with a dot com (.com). Dot com has been around since the beginning and is well known, especially when just starting. But of course feel free to use any name for the business.
In my opinion I found NameCheap the best for domain names. Easy to manage your domain.
Next you’ll need an autoresponder, also referred to as a mailing service or Email Service Provider, (ESP). Autoresponders are websites where you set up an account. Its only purpose is for building your email list, emailing to that list and setting up automations. It’s a must have. I’ve used and tested several autoresponders. I like Aweber, GetResponse and ActiveCampaign. The next thing you should look into is a hosting account. InterServer is a great hosting company and is the hosting company I use. Hosting is used for websites, writing blogs and even e-commerce.
Or you have another choice for hosting landing pages, which is a landing page builder site. A good one that I use along with other marketers is Leadpages. One of the best ways to start and learn affiliate marketing is to find a product system. You can think of a product system as a school for affiliate marketing. There are a few great products systems you can research. After you did your homework, sign up to the one you like best.
These product systems have a step by step video course. When you complete the video training, you will get the promotional material of all the products you promote for commissions using direct response marketing, email marketing. One company that I believe in and use is Internet Profits. Their support, live coaching is tremendous. There’s a daily ask me anything coaching, where you can ask any question whenever you’re stuck. The next day you attend a private zoom call answering the question. You’ll never be stuck struggling again. I signed up for a couple different product systems, but Internet Profits, my view is top of the line, honest, integrity and a great group of like minded individuals.
To Close And Summarize This Minimalist’s Guide:
As you can see by what I wrote above, affiliate marketing is not as difficult as you might think. You don’t want to have a push button mentality on how it all works.
Do you know what it’s like when a friend calls you and you swipe to answer, but you don’t hear anything. You frantically start pressing everything on the phone, trying to solve the problem. You’re screaming, hello–hello–hello. Then end up pressing end call. And call them back.
It is that type of frustration that comes up from time to time.
So it’s great when there is someone to help guide you through these situations. Great product systems are on your side. They help to learn the tricks of the trade. It’s so much easier and will save you tons of time. A product system usually starts with easy training that covers everything you need to know to succeed. You don’t even have to be technical or computer savvy. Product systems usually give domain knowledge, landing pages, mailing services – autoresponder or (ESP) are all synonymous.
Most product companies supply email swipes and Done-For-You options. Once you get going, your main job is driving traffic. There are plenty of ways to get traffic, (leads). There are two ways, Paid and organic. Paid obviously costs you money.
Some examples, Solo Ads, also known as email buys. Paid advertising, Google ads, Microsoft ads, Facebook lead ads to name a few.
Organic traffic is where you trade your time for money. Organic costs you your time by using social media, posting videos, and friending people. Once your list grows in size, you can trade with other marketers by mailing your list with their opt-in link, and they email their list with your opt-in link. Blogging is another way to help build an email list. If you have something to say, then blogging might work for you. List building is a subject or book in itself.
Luckily a good product system, (like mentioned above) covers all these topics in detail.
So there you have it, a Minimalist’s Guide to affiliate marketing:
- A Product system
- A Domain name
- An Autoresponder
- Landing page builder like Lead Pages or hosting service like Interserver if you want a website.
Your Focus should be:
- Lead Generation, (paid or organic or both)
- Capturing your leads, (Opt-in page & autoresponder)
- Email leads, (autoresponder)
- Sales, Affiliate Products Or Your Own Products, (Internet Profits)
If you’re interested in getting more detail, I recommend you get a printed copy of The Iceberg Effect–The Untold Secret Of Affiliate Marketing Success–(I wore-out my copy). The book is Free, just cover the shipping and handling.
What do you think? I hope I didn’t scare off anybody from this great business model known as affiliate marketing. I included some small issues to help you avoid and succeed.
Is there anything you might add?
Is any of this helpful and answer some of your questions? Leave a comment.
Look for more soon,
-Ken
Important disclosure: I’m a proud affiliate of some tools mentioned in this blog. If you click an affiliate link and subsequently make a purchase, I will earn a small commission without any cost to you (you pay nothing extra)