Start small with Affiliate Marketing or aim for big wins?

12 years ago

I suggest you take action. Start with either and don't keep thinking which would be better. You may face problems and frustrations but take that as learning curve. Think of out of the box ideas, find out how to find good keywords. You will soon find the tricks to succeed.

Don't expect results immediately, it may take few weeks or even months to get the desired result. You will find any friends here who will help you succeed.

The first step is TAKE ACTION

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Miguelito203

12 years ago

Originally Posted by davidkm590

I'm a bit new to all of this, and this question goes out to the more experienced members on this forum. This past summer, I started becoming interested in affiliate marketing but had to put that on hold due to my job search. After looking over these forums and several affiliate marketing products, I've come to the following options:

(1) Aiming for lower competition niches and products
-payouts might be lower, but competition generally would be lower as well
-higher chance of making a few dollars
-would have to go through the SEO process and learn how to drive process

or

(2) Aiming for affiliate programs/products that have a high payout/commission
-payouts are obviously higher, but competition would be a LOT fiercer
-might have to be more patient, endure more frustration, and higher chance of not feeling like I'm not getting anywhere
-would still have to go through the SEO process, and really work harder at this area as well.

My thought is since I'm going to have to spend time to find the right product/niche, and learn how to drive traffic to my site, I might as well go with a higher payout. On the other hand, there's a chance I might really go nowhere, get frustrated, and give up vs. starting small, making a few dollars, and having some momentum and motivation.

Your thoughts and any other extra advice you would give on how to start with affiliate marketing if you could go back in time? Any help is much appreciated.

The process is the same, so I would go for a more profitable niche. Profitable niches have more competition, but don't look at it as a bad thing. It just means there are more opportunities for you to get your foot in the door and more products to promote. Find a niche that is both profitable and one you enjoy.

I had someone PM me the other day asking if I could figure out why he wasn't making a lot of money with his site, and one of the main problems was that he was working in a smaller niche whose products just didn't get a lot of traffic. He was even ranked on the first page for some stuff, but that doesn't do any good if the traffic isn't there.

Good luck,
Joey

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Alexa Smith

Banned 12 years ago

Hi David,

Respectfully, I think some of your initial assumptions may not quite be accurate, here.

Originally Posted by davidkm590

(1) Aiming for lower competition niches and products
-payouts might be lower

They might be higher, too. And there might be more of them.

Originally Posted by davidkm590

-higher chance of making a few dollars

Might be a higher chance of making more dollars (that was what I found, by selecting products carefully).

Originally Posted by davidkm590

- would have to go through the SEO process and learn how to drive process

Only if you've already decided that you want a business model which is dependent on search engines for its traffic. (I wouldn't fancy that, myself: not a very secure way to build a business - if you depend on Google for your primary traffic, you're only ever going to be one algorithm-change away from a potential disaster, as so many Warriors found out, to their great cost, earlier this year, when Google suddenly produced the first of the so-called "Panda updates").

Originally Posted by davidkm590

(2) Aiming for affiliate programs/products that have a high payout/commission
-payouts are obviously higher

To me, that isn't "obvious" at all, and I'm curious why it is to you.

Originally Posted by davidkm590

My thought is since I'm going to have to spend time to find the right product/niche, and learn how to drive traffic to my site, I might as well go with a higher payout.

I don't disagree with that.

I've found many higher payouts (and more of them) among non-competitive and less-competitive niches, myself.

Thanks
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davidkm590

12 years ago

Originally Posted by Alexa Smith

Hi David,

Respectfully, I think some of your initial assumptions may not quite be accurate, here.

They might be higher, too. And there might be more of them.

Might be a higher chance of making more dollars (that was what I found, by selecting products carefully).

Only if you've already decided that you want a business model which is dependent on search engines for its traffic. (I wouldn't fancy that, myself: not a very secure way to build a business - if you depend on Google for your primary traffic, you're only ever going to be one algorithm-change away from a potential disaster, as so many Warriors found out, to their great cost, earlier this year, when Google suddenly produced the first of the so-called "Panda updates").

To me, that isn't "obvious" at all, and I'm curious why it is to you.

I don't disagree with that.

I've found many higher payouts (and more of them) among non-competitive and less-competitive niches, myself.

Thanks for the advice and information. How would your recommend finding higher payouts among less-competitive niches? And also, I definitely do not want to rely on Google's algorithm for traffic. What traffic methods would you suggest(i.e. list building, etc.)?

Thanks again.

Thanks
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Alexa Smith Banned 12 years ago

Originally Posted by davidkm590

Thanks for the advice and information. How would your recommend finding higher payouts among less-competitive niches?

I only know the answer to this for ClickBank, really - which is to use the "advanced search" function in ClickBank's marketplace, using low gravity and high earnings/sale among your search parameters, and not to look at "other sites" which purport to give analysis of "what's selling on ClickBank".

In case you are interested in ClickBank (though I realise this post is its first mention in the thread, and you may not be), my own product selection parameters, as an affiliate, are in this post. (Some of their underlying principles, as you'll see, do apply to "non-ClickBank products", too).

Originally Posted by davidkm590

What traffic methods would you suggest(i.e. list building, etc.)?

Well, "list building" isn't a traffic-generating method: it relates to something you do where you send/attract your traffic. And for affiliate sales, list-building is something you'll need to do however you generate the traffic: affiliate sales are typically made through relationship-building (people buy from/through you only because they trust you) and it's pretty difficult to do that without list-building.

I'm a writer, so I get most of mine through article syndication, i.e. drawing on other people's already-targeted traffic by offering them the content they want for their own sites/ezines. This has nothing intrinsically to do with search engines at all, though it's also true that some highly effective off-page SEO is a great side-benefit because sites that syndicate my articles are (by definition) relevant to my niches, and those are the most valuable backlinks you can get.

There are plenty of other, non-Google-dependent traffic sources, though, including blog-commenting (on relevant blogs, obviously), forum-posting (in relevant forums which allow you to have sig-file links), PPC advertising (which has a real learning-curve but is typically highly scalable once you've cracked it), traffic exchanges and safelists (don't listen to people telling you they're "untargeted", if you're promoting something which is itself targeted specifically at that sort of traffic) and so on. I've even had some targeted traffic and buyers from "Yahoo answers" (though that also has a learning curve).
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wowcolombia1

12 years ago

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JohnMcCabe 12 years ago

David, I'd suggest that part of your thought process on this should include where you are starting from.

> Are you a total newbie, one who thinks "turning on the computer" involves buying it drinks and telling it that it's cute?:p

If you still need to work on the mechanics of site building, product and market research, etc., go with the niche/product you perceive as easier.

> Do you already have some skills? (or is that 'skilz' now? :confused

If you already have the mechanics down, you may as well go for the big bucks and competition. Each niche/market requires its own nuances in approach. If you're at the stage that you just have to find those nuances for your chosen market, go with the one that turns you on...
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TopKat22

12 years ago

Go with both by building a list for a particular niche and offer them great content and then sign up for multiple affiliate products that can serve your clients, some that are high end and some that are low end.

Start by promoting the higher end product and then some time later (test to see what works for your niche and list) promote the lower end products.

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Daniel Wilson

12 years ago

I'd start with simple AdSense website. When you get a hang of it add opt-in to get a subscribers list.

That is the most proven and most profitable technique.

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davidkm590

12 years ago

Thanks again everyone for the advice

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dadamson

12 years ago

It all depends on you personally, your skills, devotion and time.

There is no way to know for sure what is best for you until you jump in.

As a newbie you need to find your feet in this world and own your niche or area.

The actual WAY you make money doesn't really matter, because everything can be scaled up through outsourcing. Just find something and take action.

Procrastination is a real killer for newbies.

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SiteSmarty

12 years ago

Does it matter what the payout is if the product doesn't convert?

Conversion should be your goal.

Find a product that converts, concentrate on that product.

Promote the product to more than 8500 niche categories on the net. All you need is one product that converts and you can make a hell of a good living.

Here's a tip: Find that one product. When you refer a dozen or so buyers, contact the product owner and ask that they raise your commission. So if you have a product that converts and they pay 35% ask for 50%. You'll get it.

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