Top 5 Ground Rules about Affiliate Marketing

There are top 5 ground rules about affiliate marketing that you must know if you want to succeed in the industry. So, if you have been searching the internet for methods to increase your income or maybe start up your own business from home you will probably have come across the term “Affiliate Marketing”, but do you really know what that means?

Hmm... I heard about affiliate marketing in 2011, when I was searching for a part-time job to supplement by income at home. I began searching the internet for online jobs that I can do at home and guess what? I started reading about affiliate marketing and how successful people were in it.

So in a nutshell, affiliate marketing is one of the fastest growing industries on the Internet. Two of the prime reasons for its popularity are that you do not need to have a lot of technical knowledge and you can get started with a minimal budget.

Hence, affiliate marketing means selling products for merchants and getting paid a commission on your sales. Another way to describe it is to visualize your website as a promotion or advertising business. However, there are Top 5 Ground Rules you need to master if you want to be successful:

1. Your Website(s)

Your website is your storefront for the products you intent to promote, therefore it is important to make sure it is enticing to any shopper that drops in for a visit. Apparently you want them to buy whatever you are promoting.

When you are building your website, focus on making it user-friendly, professional and interesting, above all your promotions must be credible. If you find the thought of building a website daunting, you will find there are many companies and freelancers on the internet that can build one for you at a reasonable cost.

2.     Select Products or Service to Promote

Selecting the right products or services to promote is important, you need to find products that people are actually looking for and are ready to buy. It is well worthwhile doing a bit of research in places like Amazon, EBay if you are selling physical products or Clickbank or Commission Junction (CJ) if you are selling digital products.

3.     Testing and Tracking

One of the most overlooked tasks that affiliate marketers fall into is the trap of not testing and tracking their sales. Failure to do this can result in a waste of your time and money if you continue to promote something that is just not going to give you any big profits. Sometimes you need to cut your losses and move on to other more profitable products.

4.     Follow a Plan for Affiliate Marketing

"There is a saying that if you fail to plan, you plan to fail". All too often affiliate marketers jump into affiliate marketing business without really stopping and thinking about just how they are going to make that money they are dreaming about. You should set up your own action plan and allocate goals, objectives and time frames. You will find it a lot easier to keep on track when you are following a plan.

5.     Do not Buy all the Shiny Toys

Falling into this trap has cost many a marketer a fortune. Every day you will find emails landing in your inbox promising you a 6-figure income with just a few clicks of your mouse. You should not get sucked in. This is the fastest way to lose your money. There are no shortcuts in affiliate marketing, like any other legitimate business it takes hard work and patience to make money. However, if you are prepared to make effort and spend some time learning a few skills, you are well on the way to earning yourself a nice healthy income.

Also you must take note that by not being swayed by by fake promises, you already have a head start over many other newbie marketers. So, do not forget the old analogy – slow and steady always wins the race.

In short, I hope you learned something new about affiliate marketing today. It is always healthier to start slow, small and build up your career and income steadily.

What are some of the experiences and challenges you faced when you started out with affiliate marketing, leave a comment below and share it with us.