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Todd is an Affiliate Strategist in the Email Marketing division at Clickbooth and has been with the company over 2 years. He comes from a marketing background, and specializes in direct marketing techniques.

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Affiliate Marketing: What’s the Secret?

Written on
Jun 15, 2009 
Author
Todd Armstrong  |
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Affiliate Marketing: What’s the Secret?

affiliate11.jpgADOTAS — Affiliate marketing has become one of the fastest growing industries in the world.

Over the past several years, many marketers have made small fortunes through email marketing, ppc marketing, and a variety of other methods. What makes these people so special? Is there some secret they know that has allowed them to achieve this level of success? If you could find out what they know, wouldn’t you be interested in getting started?

I’m here to tell you that there is no big secret. All of the knowledge and expertise required to become a super affiliate is right at your fingertips. The first, and maybe most important part of the process, is knowing where to get started. Remember that when you are new to marketing, just like anything else, the goal is to acquire as much information as possible, so you can make smart, profitable decisions when promoting your first campaign. Ideally you’ll want to spend several weeks/months researching and developing a greater understanding of the industry and what it takes to make money.

A simple Google search is a good place to start. Research whatever traffic type (email, ppc, contextual, etc..) you are interested in and you will find many different resources available, all offering something unique. This industry is evolving every day, which means that is extremely important that you always keep up on the latest trends, techniques, and industry news. You can find this information on industry blogs, trade magazines, and beginners books designed to give a basic understanding of all necessary terms, basic philosophies, and steps to get started. I highly suggest these resources as a great place to start when learning about the industry.

The next step would be to start getting involved with as many forums as possible. There are forums dedicated to all traffic types and the affiliates will range from new marketers, to the very experienced and successful. My recommendation would be to start out with the beginners and slowly work your way to the more advanced forums. There is no point trying to skip steps and ending up in a place where the discussions and information being presented is way over your head and of no use to you. After looking around and testing a few out, you’ll see that each forum has its own identity, so be sure to pick a few that match your personality, as well as meet your learning needs.

At this point you may also want to think about signing up for an affiliate network. Again, do your homework on this. You want to make sure you are paired up with a network that is new pub friendly, and a affiliate manager who is willing to take the time to explain not only what offers to run, but also why those offers are the best. In time, your AM should help you develop your understanding on what makes a campaign successful, and eventually you will become an expert at picking winners.

As you go through this process, you’re bound to make mistakes along the way, but the important thing is that you continue to improve. Affiliate Marketing is a lot of trial and error. The hope is that over time, the error will diminish and the profit will increase. If you are willing to put in the time and effort, and follow the steps I’ve laid out, you will become a super affiliate in no time!





Reader Comments.

sooooo….whats the secret?

Posted by dennis ricksham | 12:03 pm on June 12, 2009.

Tons of info…thanks.

Posted by dennis ricksham | 12:04 pm on June 12, 2009.

Todd – ur really cute but your article has zero information!

Posted by Samantha | 2:27 pm on June 12, 2009.

Samantha, I’m in agreement, I was excited to read this article but there is no real information here. I was hoping to get more detail on selecting an industry to focus on, and actual details on affiliate marketing tactics.

If you do have insight into the meat of affiliate marketing, please share.

Thanks

Posted by David | 1:17 pm on June 15, 2009.

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