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Continuing in the affiliate marketing series this is a follow up to my post a few days ago – What is Affiliate Marketing? Today we are going to cover some of the advantages of affiliate marketing.  In other words the why?!  I have four kids and every one of them have gone through the “why?” stage.  It always drove me crazy and I often had the desire to say “Just because!”.  Just as with kids it is important to ask and answer Why?!

What are the Advantages of Affiliate Marketing for the companies?

Have you ever wondered about a new Mexican restaurant that you saw a commercial for?  The restaurant looks really good but how much does it cost?  Does the food taste just like Taco Bell or is it good traditional Mexican food? One day you are talking to the neighbor and she mentions that her family went to this restaurant last night.  You are so excited and you ask her all the questions.  It turns out it is a fabulous restaurant and even accommodate children really well!  So the next night you plan to take your family to the restaurant.

In this example the neighbor is not getting paid for her recommendation of the Mexican restaurant but she willingly gives it.  The restaurant benefits from this greatly!  Companies would rather have personal recommendations given they pay the high costs of advertising.  People look at commercials skeptically but when someone you know recommends it you are very likely to use a product or service.  As an encouragement companies will pay people to recommend their stuff! It ends up being a win-win situation. Read more »

If you have followed me in my journey to find a business I love you know that I have decided to focus on affiliate marketing. When I talk about it do you ever wonder, what in the heck is affiliate marketing?  Maybe you don’t but I want to help those that don’t get it.

In the last few months I have been talking to people that I know, but don’t know what I do.  When I tell them I work at home doing affiliate marketing I always, back that statement up by asking them if they know what that is.  Most of the time they say “No”.

What is Affiliate Marketing?

By definition from Websters Online Dictionary and affiliate is: “A subordinate or subsidiary associate; a person who is affiliated with another or with an organization.”  This is absolutely true an affiliate is someone who has associated with a retail company or someone selling a product.  Now affiliate marketing is marketing for that company or person.

You become an affiliate by applying to an affiliate program.  You can go to affiliate networks such as Commission Junction, Click bank or Pepper Jam Network. These networks have many companies and products that you can become affiliates for. In other words sell their products and get paid for it.  Each company and program will offer a different percentage of commission for products that are sold through your link. You can also find a company or product you want to be an affiliate for and contact them to see if they have an affiliate program. The Super Affiliate Handbook goes into great detail about this.

How do you market a product or program?

Okay, so you have picked out one product or service and are now their affiliate.  What do you do now? You can market a product or program in many, many different ways.  The key is to have someone to talk to that would be interested in what you have to offer.  A few ways you can promote a product is with a blog, a mailing (e-mail) list, forums, an e-book, all of these things and others!

How in the world do I get paid for affiliate marketing?

When you sign up for an affiliate program you are given your own unique URL or website link.  When you are promoting this product or service to your market you use that link in your blog post, Facebook message, Twitter message, etc.  For example say my niche is Barbie dolls.  I sign up for Mattel as an affiliate.  I have a link that looks like this: http://mattel.com/aid=12349.  Now that number at the end is my member identification or affiliate number.  When I am talking about Barbie dolls on my blog, the Barbie Doll Collector, I would hyper link an image and/or the word Barbie dolls to the my affiliate link: http://mattel.com/aid=12349.

So far, so good right? Now if someone clicks on that link and buys something from Mattel you will get the 4% commission on whatever they buy.  So if they buy a collectors doll for $100 you will get paid $4.

Get the idea?  Now if you have a list of moms who want to work at home or maybe want to have their own blog you can offer them a start up guide that is free and include links to GoDaddy for the domain, Hostgator for hosting, maybe Aweber for a list management system and maybe a mom mastermind forum like Mom Masterminds.

How do you make a lot of money doing this?

Great question!  You create multiple product pages or posts on your blog, reports, e-books, articles, Squidoo lenses.  Cover all of the social media sites with great content free and paid when you do, include your affiliate links.  Make sure you follow the rules on forums and other social media sites when you do this but there are so many things you can do with affiliate links!  At NAMS we talked about strategies for social marketing.  This is a great way to get yourself out there and also an opportunity to share your affiliate links.

I hope this answers the question: what is affiliate marketing. If you have any other questions let me know!  If you want to see someone who has been very successful in affiliate marketing check out this interview of Lynn Terry. This is a PDF transcript of an interview Nicole Dean did of Lynn Terry.  This was my very first introduction to Lynn and as you know I am a huge fan!

Best,

PS. If you are going to take a serious look at doing affiliate marketing as a business make sure you get the Super Affiliate Handbook by Rosalind Gardner.  She gives you a clear picture as to what it is affiliate marketing is and how to be successful!

photo credit: ElizabethHudy

I am back from NAMS3 and am ready to get to work and work my tail off!  If you recall last week I wrote about my goals for NAMS 3. I wanted to get certain things done and I learned most everything while I was there I wanted to.  What I wanted to do today is share the top four things I learned at NAMS3.  I learned a whole lot more then four but these were the top four!

Top 4 things I learned at NAMS3:

I was already on the right track

Not until the first day and I listened to Lynn Terry and Jeff Herring did I realize that I already knew what they were teaching and I was following a plan to get it done!  That was a great feeling.  Don’t you ever wonder if you are doing things the right way?  I do, ALL THE TIME!  So day one was very much review but it was also clarification that I need to focus on getting content out there on the internet and use long-tail keywords and so forth!

Affiliate Marketing is really so simple.

Now I didn’t say easy but it is simple.  If you choose a product, get a keyword, write a post and do link building “They will come”!  I make things complicated!  I get into information overload and don’t know where to start because I am looking at every one’s methods.  It is very basic!  Have a product, get long tail keyword, write a post and link build.  Simple, simple, simple!!

It is ALL about WORK.

Yes, I said work!  Those pictures of people sitting on the beach with their laptops can be true. What you don’t see in the hours and hours of work that they spent building a business.  Remember it is simple but affiliate marketing is work!  It is work that I love to do.  So if you are reading this thinking that working at home or working on the internet is easy, don’t fool yourself!  It is work!

Other people care about you succeeding in business.

I loved the hours I spent away from the workshop in the hotel.  These were hours spent mingling with the instructors, Elite members and others just trying to build a business online!  I have been to other “seminars” and found that those making all the money stayed away from the beginners.  This was not at all the case at NAMS!  Everyone was accessible.  I learned just as much “after hours” as I did the workshop itself!  One thing I never felt was that I wasn’t “good enough” or “not worth their time”.   Not only did the instructors care but there were others that helped out as well.  Erin aka NetKickStart helped me out with redirects which I have been having issues with for a very long time!  Traci Knoppe helped me figure out how to use the tweetdeck with multiple accounts. There was always someone to reach out to and get help from.

NAMS 3 was about action.  Making sure you applied everything you learned.  I am doing that now.  I have a plan and I am working it.  I have a schedule to keep with my blogs and I am taking action right now!  If you want to learn the details of NAMS don’t hesitate to purchase the NAMS 4 U jump drive.  I will tell you a little secret…this will be the last year that they will sell the information they used in NAMS1 & 2.  So get it while you can!

NAMS 4 will be coming up in August.  I plan on attending this event as well.  Keep watching and you will be able to sign up as well!

PS. If you want to learn from all the instructors from NAMS 1, 2 and 3 your can purchase a flash drive with audio, ebooks and power point presentations. Purchase the NAMS4U flash drive here.  One more thing.  This will be the last time you have the opportunity to get access to NAMS 1 & 2.  David Perdew is putting them in a vault!

I have been looking for ways to increase my traffic in the niches that I am working in.  I have learned a lot over the past few months year.  I have learned about bookmarking, link building, social media, press releases, article marketing but the one thing that has really brought income to me is Squidoo!  I first discovered it through a post by Tiffany Washko called Seasonal Affiliate Sales.  I purchased the Info Product Killer after reading her post.  Next that lead me to Tiffany Dow and Squidoo! Tiffany Dow has a fabulous book out called Social Networking on Squidoo and she uses Squidoo in combination with Info Product Killer (IPK).

Why am I telling you all of this?

I am sharing this with you because after I followed Tiffany’s advice on how to create Squidoo lenses with the IPK formula I made money!  It was so exciting because I would open up my Amazon account everyday and I would see more and more sales!

At the beginning of this month Tiffany started a 52 week Amazon Lens Challenge.  The challenge is to create Squidoo lenses every week based on a Amazon best seller! I have been doing this and having great fun.  We have a Facebook page that we keep track of each other and our lenses in.  Tiffany is there to offer encouragement and help!

Again why am I sharing this?

Sorry sometimes it takes me a minute to get to the point.  This year I wanted to share with you my journey through this challenge.  I will share with you how well the lenses are doing and I will share my new lenses with you.  Squidoo is really fun to work with and Tiffany Dow is just a gem!  She is not getting paid to do this but is doing it willingly! Read more »