Exciting Affiliate Marketing Ideas That Anyone Can Use

Selling and marketing someone else's service or product online is called Affiliate Marketing.

It can be difficult for novices to start with affiliate marketing, but useful advice is out there to help you get started and succeed.

Here are 16 tips to help you achieve success.

 

1. In order to increase your income, you must increase the number of subscribers to your site. Split testing is an effective way to determine best methods since it offers different web pages to different groups.

2. One way to improve the success of your affiliate marketing efforts is with a blog that you update on a regular basis. 

Blogging allows you a forum in which your customers can be informed about various products.

3. Use emphasis tools when you are creating text for your website. Emphasize a word by bolding or italicizing it. This can improve clarity and direct the focus of the reader.

4. Make several different links throughout a site, but then create a central hub. You should look to have a structured page that offers a good variety of products and services.

5. One interesting way of doing affiliate marketing for your site is taking advantage when it comes to image searches. 

Adding relevant images to your website can drive up interest in your content by exposing your website outside of text searches alone.

6. Find something that can serve as your niche and will give your site a unique quality. This detail should have the power to attract site visitors to your website in search of your products or services. 

The visitors then usually end up checking out other parts of your sites which eventually sends it up the search engine rankings.

7. Determine who comprises your intended audience, and how to most effectively entice them to visit your site. 

When you know your target audience, you can have an easier time gearing content specifically to drawing them in.

8. Deciding what direction to take your website and business can be a daunting task. Eliminate sites slowly until you are down to just one, which would be the one you go with. 

Before creating a website, find a niche that suits your business and personality. Marketing your website will be easier when you have a definite goal.

9. Any service or product benefits from catch phrases promising that it provides instant gratification. 

Highlight how easy it is to submit an order, how quickly the order will be shipped, or the short amount of time it will take to notice results from using the product or service you are offering.

10. The internet has made doing business an anonymous affair. This is an especially effective tool for small and independently owned businesses who rely on personal selling and relationship marketing to create customers for life.

11. Try adjusting content and content delivery so that customers feel like they’re in control. This is important today in a marketing world full of spam and unwanted opinions.

12. Add content in the form of a blog or forum to prevent your website from becoming boring or irrelevant. 

Feeding the search engines original content is key. Without it, your site will drop in the rankings. 

Adding a blog is an easy way to add fresh content consistently.

13. It is vital that you track your numbers closely. This could include website traffic, sales, refunds, conversion, referrals, and just about anything that could be measured. 

By keeping track of these vital statistics, you will be able to plan future changes and additions to your website based on past experience.

14. If it seems like a hassle to offer many different payment options, just remember that every one you set up is going to increase your number of sales.

It may seem acceptable to only accept credit cards, but it is smarter to allow people to use checking accounts and online systems like Paypal.

15. Incorporate a “chat” option within your website so that visitors can exchange information and interact together. This really allows you to play to the social context of the Internet.

16. To do well at Affiliate Marketing, a marketer has to do research and attack the situation with dedication. Choose a trustworthy admirable online mentor.

People who know how to effectively market on the Internet often provide free tips or online tutorials. You should thoroughly research your endeavour before deciding it is something you will stick with over the long haul.

It may start slowly, but it is definitely worth the time you put into it.

12 Top Tips For Affiliate Marketers

Affiliate marketing is a great way to make money online. It involves promoting products or services and getting a commission when a purchase is made via your referral. 

Here are 12 of my best affiliate marketing tips.

1.   Focus on relationships first

Affiliate marketing is all about trust. When a friend recommends a product to you, you listen. 

Not so much when just any old Joe does. In fact, if you’re like me, it makes you skeptical.

2.   Focus on building traffic next

More traffic means more eyeballs and therefore more people who will potentially buy the product(s) you promote. 

Make your traffic count by building trust first.

3.   Choose products that help your reader solve a problem or address a fear

These are excellent products to promote as readers are more likely to spend money on them.

4.   Promote wisely

Promote products you can genuinely recommend, preferably because you’ve used it yourself, or because you can confidently promote it based on solid evidence that it’s a good product.

5.   Promote products you are already using

When I started this blog, it was a no-brainer to sign up as an affiliate with Bluehost since that’s the hosting company I was already using myself.

Food blogger? What’s your favorite cookware? Write a post about it. 

Craft blogger? What’s your favorite crafting tool? Write a post about it.

6.   Review your old posts and look for affiliate opportunities

Have you ever mentioned a product, perhaps in passing, that you use? Maybe you didn’t even think about it at the time, but is there an affiliate program for it? 

Find out (just google “affiliate program [product/company]“) and update those posts with your affiliate links.

7.   Think of what your readers will realistically buy

You have to know your audience. If your blog is mainly about living frugally, they’re probably not going to buy luxury products.

8.   Think of how much your readers will realistically spend

When I was writing my ebook, I was stuck on pricing. I asked around for opinions.

Surprisingly, a number of people suggested I price my ebook at $47! The idea behind this was to price according to value, not size. But in my mind it was crazy.

My network was composed of a lot of stay-at-home mom bloggers, many deal bloggers and my collective audience was comprised mostly of people without a whole lot of disposable income.

I knew there was no way anyone was going to pay $47 for my 30-page ebook.

9.   Don’t just promote products that don’t cost a lot

If there is a truly useful product that’s on the pricier side, it can still be worth the promotion even if only a few people buy it.

If it’s a product of exceptional quality and a good investment (i.e. KitchenAid Mixer), or if it’s a product that’s unique, specialized or one-of-a-kind (and you’ve used it yourself), go for it.

10.   Think of when your readers will realistically buy

Maybe you should avoid holidays (when people are away from their computers, like July 4) or maybe you should target holidays (like the day after Thanksgiving), but know the difference.

11.   Promote products within a post, not just in your sidebar

Include your personal experience with the product. Your own photos of yourself using the product are excellent.

12.   Be honest

Talk about what you like a don’t like. Be fair and build trust. It will serve you well later.

Sarah Staar has a new video training course on affiliate marketing. She has given me permission to Give Away a complimentary copy to all my readers.

CLICK HERE to get your free copy

4 Ways to Use Twitter Lists

Whether you are using social media for business or for personal use, there is a need for organization.

Google Plus has circles. Facebook has Interest Lists. Pinterest has boards. Twitter has Twitter Lists.

There are many ways you can use Twitter Lists – it’s really the only way I can use the platform.

It doesn’t matter if you are following 100 or 10,000 people, using Twitter Lists will help you use the fast-moving platform. Here’s how -

1. You can segment who you are following.

Lists make it easy to know who you are following for what purpose. You can set up a list of your influencers so you don’t miss their tweets or you can set up a list for potential clients you are following to build that relationship.

These lists can be public or private, so if it’s competition you’re following, the world doesn’t have to know.

2. You can organize who you really want to follow.

When you add someone onto a list, you will see all of their tweets. I know there are some people you follow just to follow or you followed back out of obligation.

For example, I have a private list of people who I want to keep up with and never miss out on. People on this list are industry leaders, celebrities and friends.

Another example – I have a client who’s a professional athlete. We have lists set up to follow his college teammates and pro teammates along with one for media outlet.

Lists are a great way to keep up with the follows you love most.

3. You can use lists as a lead generation tool.

As I mentioned above, your lists can be public. If they are, other people can subscribe to them, meaning they can follow that list as well.

This is a GREAT opportunity to generate leads. Here is one way you could do this – create a list of industry-related people who put out quality content.

Share it with the message “Love my content? Subscribe to my _________ list & see who influences me!”

As people subscribe, add THEM to a private list of people who appreciate obviously appreciate your work and start communicating with them.

Build that relationship. Answer their questions. You’re generating a lead as you go.

4. You can keep up with people that you don’t necessarily want to follow.

Yes, that is right. You can add people to a list without actually following them.

Until you hit Twitter’s magic number (which is around 2,000 followers), you have to watch your follower/following ratio.

If it gets too out of whack, then Twitter will not let you follow anymore people until a certain number of people follow you back.

This is a great way to follow people who you know will not follow you back. 

For example, celebrities. I would LOVE for Jimmy Fallon or Aaron Murray to follow me, but I know they won’t.

There are on a list for me to keep up with but not actually follow.

You can get super creative with Twitter Lists. How are you using them?

Mandy Edwards

How to create headlines that would make Dr Evil proud...

Let me ask you a question... What was the last headline you clicked on?

It may have been an email title.

It may have been a blog post.

It may have been an article.

It may have been a Facebook share.

Now let me ask you — WHY did you click on this headline?

The answer is that there was something about the headline itself – that intrigued you.

Or made you laugh.

Or made you curious.

Or aroused curiosity inside you.

Being able to create zippy headlines to use in blog posts or marketing emails – is a very POWERFUL skill to have.

But now — it has suddenly become 1000 times easier.

Let Chris Farrell show you in this 3 minute video.

And to see the Portent’s Content Idea Generator for yourself (yes I know it’s a strange name) — click here

25 Habits Of Happy, Healthy, Successful People

Who among us doesn’t want to be a happy, healthy and successful human being? 

Still, it can be easy to lose your way, which is why I’ve compiled a list of habits you can use to help reach your goals.

So what is it about happy people that makes them the way they are?

Below are just some of the ways they separate themselves from the rest of the crowd.

1. They don’t hold grudges.

2. They think outside of the box.

3. They go by a routine and make exercise a part of it. It takes practice to develop healthy habits and stick with them. Once you do, your internal foundation will be strong.

4. They have a supportive tribe, thereby not wasting time with negative or toxic people.

5. They don’t care about what other people think. Does a tiger lose sleep over the opinion of sheep?

6. They don’t people please.

7. They see difficult and challenging situations as opportunities for personal growth.

8. They consider handling rejection a skill and are resilient.

9. They make time for themselves. Whether it’s getting eight hours of sleep every night, finding 15 minutes to read the newspaper in peace or an hour to go to the gym, they make it a priority — just like everything else. When you take care of yourself, you have a bigger impact on others.

10. They are spiritual. This doesn’t necessarily mean religious. It could mean setting aside time for reflection through yoga or meditation.

11. They practice deep breathing.

12. They know there isn’t such a thing as “having it all,” and they’re happy about that. Wouldn’t the world be a boring place for them otherwise?

13. Fear doesn’t hold them back. They’re ready to take risks.

14. They know how to say “NO,” and don’t hold back. These people have learned to set boundaries. Plenty of them.

15. They learned a great deal from other people whom they admire. Either they had a great mentor, or they took note of how those they aspired to be like handled various situations.

16. They follow their inner guidance. Not only do they have a vision, but they follow it.

17. They give without expecting anything in return.

18. They aren’t pretentious or conceited.

19. Passion is what drives them. They authentically believe in what they’re doing.

20. They don’t complain.

21. They live by their core values in both their professional and personal lives.

22. They’re happy to swim against the tide.

23. They finish what they start.

24. They don’t compare themselves to other people.

25. They want YOU to succeed, too.

Old School Marketing in a New Cyber World

The old school ways of marketing may have fallen to the side... However, those principles are still alive and kicking.

Marketing is the act of trying to persuade people to purchase goods or services from your particular business.

In the beginning, the channels of media that were used were print such as; catalogs and newspaper or magazine advertisements and in broadcast such as; radio or television advertisements.

This type of advertisement has been very effective in the past. However, now in a world of connectivity at your fingertips marketing has become a bit more complicated.

Now, advertisers are incorporating this effective old school way into the new world of cyber marketing.

Blogs, social media posts, videos, and websites have now replaced print and broadcast. 

However, even in a new cyber world, marketing is still basically the same principles.

The Four P’s of Old School Marketing

These “Four P’s” are as follows:

1. Price
2. Product
3. Placement
4. Promotion

Following these four P’s were very successful in the non-internet world of marketing.

They created a customized need for the product by emphasizing or deemphasizing certain portions of their product or service, making the customer feel like they, personally, needed to purchase the advertised item or service all while being company-centric.

That’s why some companies, such as Crisco, for example, do not have to spend any money on advertisement. 

They built a name for themselves long ago and are now trusted, which means they just coast on through. 

These four P’s have been replaced now that we are in the age of technology.

The Six C’s of Today’s Cyber Marketing

These “Six C’s” are as follows:

1. Consideration
2. Consumption
3. Contact
4. Conversation
5. Contact
6. Community

These six C’s are centered around the consumer. With the reaches of social media, it is easier than ever to establish contact with your consumer, communicate with them in a more personal way than could be done ever before and build a community around them.

Consumers want to feel valued and appreciated, especially for being loyal to a product or company.

Social media allows for both positive and negative conversation which can help with marketing (by consumers link sharing or leaving good reviews) or can help the company to maybe fix or change some things that will make their customers happier.

The whole reason behind all of this is to make loyal customers that are going to, essentially, sell your product or service for you by recommendations.

Modern Day “Permission” Marketing

Permission marketing is a simple way to allow consumers a choice as to whether or not they want to be advertised to.

If they have an interest in your product, they can come to you. This is a very effective way to market, not to mention, probably the most inexpensive.

Simply by requiring a consumer to like and share your social media pages or asking them to join your mail list before they can get full access to your site’s content, gives the consumer more control.

More choices. If a person is very much into what you are selling, they will have no problem completing these tasks. 

If they do not want to, they don’t have to, they just cannot receive an entry to your contest or giveaway or read all the valuable information posted on your website.

Consumers, these days, appreciate this approach to the alternative type of marketing.

Old School “Interruption” Marketing

Just as the name implies, interruption marketing is the act of interrupting the consumer to sell them your product.

Ways interruption marketing is used is through television and radio commercials, as well as, everyone’s favorite middle-of-dinner telemarketing call.

These tactics interrupt the consumer who is watching their favorite show, listening to their favorite music or eating a meal with their family.

Many times consumers have zero interest in what these advertisements are for and sometimes it even turn them off from a particular product or company.

Not to mention that studies have reported that for the amount of money spent on this type of marketing versus its effectiveness, it is considered a complete and total waste.

Push Marketing

Push marketing is also known as outbound marketing. This type of marketing includes telemarketing calls, advertisements via television, radio and print, as well as unsolicited junk mail, either e-mail or standard mail.

This goes hand in hand with interruption marketing. The modern consumer does not care for this old school form of marketing.

They do not have time for such things and they can begin to come too often and in too much of a volume that consumers begin to just ignore it all together.

It has become extremely ineffective and probably loses more customers than gains new ones.

Pull Marketing

Just like push marketing goes hand in hand with interruption marketing, pull marketing goes with permission marketing.

Companies with this consumer-centric approach simply make themselves and their products easy to located in an internet search and allow the consumer to come to them.

This is considered inbound marketing. Companies can utilize many avenues to achieve pull marketing such as; blogs, social media outlets (such as Facebook or Twitter) and of course an informative, helpful and well-designed website.

Conclusion

It’s obvious that a lot of the old school marketing tactics are now defunct and have no place in this modern world of technology and instant accessibility.

Companies need to shift their focus of the center of their marketing campaign from company-centric to consumer-centric.

Companies need to refocus their efforts to make a uniquely personalized experience in a community setting in order to reach and keep consumers.

Some companies, whom have been around for many years, find this change in marketing unsettling.

However, slowly most are coming around. Companies are beginning to realize that without some sort of internet presence, things may go down for them rather quickly and they are chancing the future of their company and products by not being available on the web.

With the rate that technology is advancing, the ways of advertisement and marketing are going to continue to change rapidly.

Keeping the good parts of old school marketing such as, authentic, interesting, helpful content on your website is still very effective.

However, using different channels on the web such as Facebook and blogs to get your information out, is going to be how to draw customers to you.

by Sean Donahoe

5 Cool Twitter Marketing Tips For Your Brand

Twitter and other social media platforms are great ways to keep in touch.

What started as a purely personal platform for people to re-connect with friends and family has today become a marketing tool for business, small and large.

Businesses are literally hustling up to get attention on social media platforms and leave their mark on people.

There is no doubt that Twitter is a great marketing tool for businesses and taking the right steps is the only way to get noticed.

But what are these right steps? In this article we will be looking at a few great ways to use Twitter for marketing.

1# Focusing on How To Use Search Results

Search function on Twitter works in a slightly different manner. For example when we type keywords in a search engine, we get any/all results related to the words used.

You would expect the same for Twitter however this isn’t the case. Twitter lists results when ‘all’ the keywords are present in a single tweet. Now, that’s not very helpful, isn’t it?

To avoid this you can use ‘the/or’ in between keywords while searching on Twitter. 

The use of these words tells Twitter that you are searching for one or the other term from the keywords.

2# Creating a ‘Special’ List of Followers

The idea of using Twitter for marketing is to follow certain kind of people/organizations. Similarly you would want that section of people to follow you who would add to your business in some way or the other.

Twitter allows you to group people based on similar characteristics, functions or interests. You can set these groups to be private or public.

With the help of the group, you can monitor your competitors, ideally on a private list, and flaunt your brand advocates on a public list.

There are other advantages of using groups – you can attract more people to your profile as your group listing can/will attract others.

You can also aim to become an authority in your field when your community starts trusting the information you tweet.

The twitter account of Moz, Unbounce, ChameleonJohn, Brandingly etc are living proof of this.

3# Images and Videos Should Never Be Neglected

Images and videos boost the chances of re-tweets. We are not merely saying it but we are quoting from a research done by Twitter which reveals that adding an image to a tweet boosts re-tweets up to 35% and adding a video boosts results by 28%.

The reason for this is quite simple. People get a sense of engagement when they see their pictures/videos getting appreciation in the form of re-tweets.

Twitter is integrated with video-sharing sites such as YouTube and Vine (owned by Twitter) which makes it easier to upload videos as tweets.

4# Communicate With People

There is a very popular saying about marketing – ‘people don’t talk to brands, they talk to people’. Twitter should not be seen as a medium to only give out information, in a top-down method.

Twitter should be seen as a channel to strike a conversation. Ask a question, incite your followers to reply, put across your opinion once they reply and make things personal.

Customers should feel that their favorite brands are listening to them too and not hammering them with information.

The advantage of using social media for marketing is that it helps brands connect to their customers in real-time, something that other mediums haven’t offered.

Use it wisely and communicate with people.

5# Use Analytics to Measure Engagement

It is one thing to follow the above mentioned tricks for marketing your brand on Twitter but it would be equally foolish to think your job is done.

Unless you keep a track on how your tweets are affecting your target audience, you wouldn’t really be making any progress with your marketing.

You need to measure the reach of your tweet. You can use the analytics feature which gives insightful statistics about your account.

However, the catch is that you have to sign up to Twitter Ads for accessing analytics. However analytics is free.

Social media, especially Twitter has had a huge impact on business and the above are tried and tested methods. 

Of course, there are many more tricks to use Twitter for marketing and the web is filled with resources for you to check.

There are several Twitter automation tools available nowadays CLICK HERE to discover the one that worked best in our testing.