6 Critical Aspects of Affiliate Marketing
- Cost
- Platform
- Training
- Niche
- Content
- Audience
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Every beginner should be familiar with these 6 crucial aspects of affiliate marketing. Survival in this arena depends upon it.
Although the world of affiliate marketing extends far beyond the scope of this article, these six aspects are the foundation.
Establishing a great foundation will prove essential to success in a market where thousands are literally joining the fray everyday.
This article will provide an inside look into each of these aspects and explain why each has a high level of importance.
What Is Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is a commission based program where a business pays an affiliate for referring new customers or visitors, primarily to their online store or other website.
Promoting products online similarly to traditional selling earns a commission. By either a purchase or a pay per click basis.
In some instances, affiliate marketers are given a unique web link to a merchant’s products.
There are four parties to affiliate marketing:
- The Product Creator/Merchant
- The Affiliate Network
- The Affiliate Marketer
- The Consumer
Each playing a specific role in the program process. The Product Creator/Merchant brings the product/service to market.
The affiliate network provides the space and support for the products/services. The affiliate marketer advertises the products/services to the masses.
The customer consumes the products/services offered through this chain of activities.
How Much Does It Cost To Become An Affiliate Marketer?
The cash outlay for entering the fray of becoming an affiliate marketer has more relevance than can be imagined. The cost often varies between affiliate marketing programs.
We are saying that ‘you will get what you pay for’ is no where near the truth when comparing the multitude of programs offered at every turn.
The Internet will toss around names like Russell Brunson, Jon Morrow, Neil Patel, Pat Flynn, and John Chow as experts to follow.
And that recommendation would be 100% right. Learn all that you can from sources that provide some FREE looks into the field before you jump.
A number of programs offer various types of packages that would include assorted features, training, and a community of peers.
A package can range from $500 upward to thousands of dollars for annual memberships.
Beginners can opt for monthly plans or full buy-ins for many of the offered programs.
Proof you can see!
Wealthy Affiliate, which I am a member of, offers monthly and annual payment programs. We will take more detailed look on them in the next section.
Diligent research is required when selecting and investing in a program. Remember, this is an investment and planning to protect an investment occurs before any cash outlay.
How much cash can you afford to throw away? None, I hope!
Yes, there are unethical actors in this field just like any other. Promises made are not always promises kept.
Always think as if you have a target on your back. There is no fault in being cautious or apprehensive about your business dealings.
It cannot be stressed enough, YOU are the only person interest or invested in protecting you.
Joining A Platform Has Multiple Benefits
A seasoned affiliate marketer may opt to ‘go it’ alone. However, this is not recommended for a beginner.
An affiliate marketing platform serves as a one-stop shop. These type platform provide everything needed in one central location.
Many platforms offer packages, as stated earlier, that make it simpler to receive training, build a website, get support, and/or congregate with a peer community for support.
Your best bet would be to find an affiliate platform that will allow a peak behind the curtain before you buy.
Interacting live on a platform helps in the decision making process. Having access to the platform allows a basic level of entry; however, purchasing a package will grant full access.
Search for excellent rated platforms based on cost, tools, training, and community. Very few platforms will tick every box on the checklist; therefore, pay close attention.
Finding the benefit
For example, Wealthy Affiliate, this platform offers a 7-Day Free Trial under the Starter membership title on their platform.
Look here at the WA Promotional Banner that provides a detailed breakdown of what comes with each membership level.
The previous banner does not include the Premium+ level, which is $99 per month; however, this level is feature rich beyond belief.
The Premium+ level maximizes the Premium level benefits.
Work within your budget and expand as you grow!
What Training Can Be Expected For Affiliate Marketing?
Training is a gift from the program founders. Program founders often put together material that they feel is relevant to their method of marketing.
The idea is to help beginners avoid common pitfalls in affiliate marketing. Most programs offer limited training via video, PDFs, live courses, and more.
All programs are NOT equal!
Do a little training homework on all programs of interest. An in-depth training regimen is required for beginners to fully understand and grasp the journey.
An effective training program is all encompassing, repetitive, and thorough. Yes, it should instruct on how, when, why, and where to cross the ‘i’s and dot the ‘t’s.
No part of the training should be guess work. Learning is essential to understanding how to effectively become an affiliate marketer.
Building a website, selecting a niche, and content creation are essential tools for the game. The training offered should reflect that importance.
Finding The Right Niche
“A niche is a segment of a larger market that can be defined by its own unique needs, preferences, or identity that makes it different from the market at large,” according to Alexandra Sheehan at Shopify.
The niche that you select should be refined enough to provide a clear picture of your intent. It should reflect topics that you are passionate about.
Why Choose a niche?
Choosing a niche allows you to drill down into a category to provide specific products and/or services to a select audience.
Having an exclusive niche is a bonus within its self; however, niches should provide answers and solutions to problem.
You want to address questions and concerns of your audience. The more questions you answer will lead to a greater audience response.
In addition, a niche should be your area of expertise. You need to spend time becoming an expert in the topics of your niche.
For example, if you want to sell ‘socks’ to athletes, you must bel all things socks. Know style, brand, and quality are great; however, you need to be well versed in why something will not work as well.
As an expert, your audience is depending on you to provide the most honest, up-to-date, and accurate information possible.
Choose your niche wisely!
Content Creation Should Offer Value To The Audience
Content creation is the most challenging part of affiliate marketing. When you create an article to post, it should enlighten the audience.
Your content should offer value to the audience. Writing about a product and/or service should give the audience a feeling of trustworthiness.
Your job to to gain the confidence of your audience within the body of your text. Make people talk about your topics with the family and friends.
You want to tell your audience stories revenant to your topic. Having an engaging audience can create a following within your niche.
Creating original content is essential to your success. Most creators regurgitate content from like-minded authors.
The primary idea is to become an authority for the subject matter that you choose to deliver content about.
In addition, linking your content to existing authorities increases your visibility across the internet.
After creating 40 – 60 article at 1K to 2K words on your website, you will begin to observe greater audience responses to your content.
As your content provides meaningful information, you can easily be classed as an expert in your respective niche.
The greater your credibility, the higher you move up the food-chain!
The Audience Is Your Validation
The final critical aspect of affiliate marketing is your audience. Without an active audience, your doors will close as fast as they opened.
The audience must see a benefit to commenting, liking, and sharing your content. When it comes to your audience, it is not about the sell – it is about the tell.
People do not mind following directions, especially if they find value in the content. However, pushing an audience to buy is not healthy for your brand, business, or future.
Trust is essential to your success; however, it takes time to earn that badge of honor. Your presence is a forever growing resume built on a never ending job interview.
Audience often want to know the Who, What, When, Why, where, and How of your chosen niche.
Give them something to talk about
Start communicating with you audience by listening to their concerns, answering their questions, and leading them towards mutual interests within your niche.
Without a large knowledge base around a subject, you must work 20x as hard to become an expert on the subject.
I try to take advantage of all the content that I absorb. Success is not going to find me, I must go out and grab it.
Finding the right audience can depend on your topic and its relevance. Undoubtably, we can find a audience for virtually anything.
Reaching people requires that you know who you are trying to reach. Research about these things, then come up with an appropriate strategy to drive traffic to your website with ease.
Remember that your audience is not a pay check, they are a validation of your worth!
To Sum I All Up
We started this article by identifying what is affiliate marketing. We have discussed the 6 crucial aspects of affiliate marketing.
Starting with cost, we saw information on seeking a quality program with the least cash outlay. Paying more the program is worth is the first mistake.
Conducting research to weigh your options only benefits you. The platform choice you make decides how much addition work you have to do.
Landing on the right platform can be the difference between success and failure. All platforms are not equal when it come to your benefits.
Training is an essential tool offered to aid in your success. Nonetheless, this training must be in-depth and all encompassing on the topic of affiliate marketing, website building, research, and content creation.
Your niche should be an indicator of your passion for a topic. Understanding the topic and all aspects, both good and bad, allows for expanded subject matter.
Your content creation is the honey for the bee. Your audience feeds off of your content. Offering value to the audience is your validation.
Growing your expertise, if your are not well versed, comes with time. Time in which, you should be building your knowledge base.
The audience that you build must be based in truth, trust, and ethical practices. People will come to you if they believe you have their best interest at heart.
Give your audience the quality and value that they require. In turn, they will give you the validation that you deserve.
Remember, my choice, Wealthy Affiliate, is not yours. It is a great place to start your research though.
And I close out by saying, we need what we need!
If we keep our minds right, we can keep our bodies tight!
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To your success and growth,
Canty
Founder of The Canty Effect
thecantyeffect.com
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