toddie44
09-03-2008, 08:58 PM
You will find plenty of advice in the market on what to do for the promotion of your affiliate. Very few articles or experts stress upon what not to do. Often, knowing what to avoid can pave your way to success much faster than knowing what you should do. There are pitfalls and myths that can sabotage your success at every turn. As a beginner, it might not be easy for you to recognize all, but in time, you would be able to skirt most of them. The danger lies in false beliefs and wrong concepts. You want to be successful, observe the following don'ts and see the difference a change in perspective can make to your affiliate business.
(1) Don't use the free ads, emails, announcements that your affiliate offers you for the promotion of your affiliate. Most people would be surprised at this advice because copy writing, banners, emails, et al are expensive. For a beginner all these materials are like manna from heaven. Stop. Think. How many people are out there who are becoming affiliates as you are reading this? Think of a number: 100, 200, 1,000, 10,000 - how many?
All of them would receive the exact same set of materials; the only difference would be the code in the link attached to the end of the document/ ad/ banner/ article. Would that make you stand out enough to attract qualitative traffic for your affiliate, or would that make it look like it was a run of the mill fraud (even if it is a great and legitimate business). This is mainly because most of these advertisements talk about personal experiences and incidents, which when replicated verbatim by so many others sound ridiculous to say the least.
Use the material they send you for free for inspiration. Do your homework well and have your own material developed.
(2) Don't flock towards the most visible and highly sought product on the web. The general notion is that if this product or service is so much in demand, anyone can sell it. False. In order to make a sale you need to attract customers to your website. Can you, as a beginner, compete with high end veterans that are bidding alongside you? Common sense says you have not one chance in a million of years. You should rather find something that you understand and can promote personally in initial stages. Once your affiliate business picks up, and you understand Internet marketing strategy better, you would be able to take on more challenging products.
(3) Don't spend money on advertisements unless you know what you are doing. The common belief is that the more you pay the better quality you get. This is not always true. For example, beginners who jump into the fray with pay-per-click ads fizzle out even before they started. The reason is that unless you understand the way it works, you end up paying through your nose for next to nothing. Be conservative in your approach, but do not go for free ads either. There are plenty of midway ad avenues you should adopt such as bum marketing, word-of-mouth, viral marketing and the like. These methods cost relatively less, but can easily build your affiliate into a success.
(1) Don't use the free ads, emails, announcements that your affiliate offers you for the promotion of your affiliate. Most people would be surprised at this advice because copy writing, banners, emails, et al are expensive. For a beginner all these materials are like manna from heaven. Stop. Think. How many people are out there who are becoming affiliates as you are reading this? Think of a number: 100, 200, 1,000, 10,000 - how many?
All of them would receive the exact same set of materials; the only difference would be the code in the link attached to the end of the document/ ad/ banner/ article. Would that make you stand out enough to attract qualitative traffic for your affiliate, or would that make it look like it was a run of the mill fraud (even if it is a great and legitimate business). This is mainly because most of these advertisements talk about personal experiences and incidents, which when replicated verbatim by so many others sound ridiculous to say the least.
Use the material they send you for free for inspiration. Do your homework well and have your own material developed.
(2) Don't flock towards the most visible and highly sought product on the web. The general notion is that if this product or service is so much in demand, anyone can sell it. False. In order to make a sale you need to attract customers to your website. Can you, as a beginner, compete with high end veterans that are bidding alongside you? Common sense says you have not one chance in a million of years. You should rather find something that you understand and can promote personally in initial stages. Once your affiliate business picks up, and you understand Internet marketing strategy better, you would be able to take on more challenging products.
(3) Don't spend money on advertisements unless you know what you are doing. The common belief is that the more you pay the better quality you get. This is not always true. For example, beginners who jump into the fray with pay-per-click ads fizzle out even before they started. The reason is that unless you understand the way it works, you end up paying through your nose for next to nothing. Be conservative in your approach, but do not go for free ads either. There are plenty of midway ad avenues you should adopt such as bum marketing, word-of-mouth, viral marketing and the like. These methods cost relatively less, but can easily build your affiliate into a success.