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New To Affiliate Marketing

by shimpy
8 replies
OK Guys I am going to apologise in advance for the following post. I have been a member of this forum for some time but I haven't actually done any affiliate marketing, I have only sold my own services online for the past 2 years. Things seem to be drying up in my industry so I am looking to jump on board the wagon that is Affiliate Marketing.

I have so many questions and I have looked high and low for the answers and examples of what to do but I can't find anything. If someone could push me in the right direction to the following questions it would be appreciated.

First off I know what a landing page is etc but what I don't understand is what you put on these landing pages. Also, when you get some leads from that page - what kind of email do you send them? For example if I was to promote a clickbank product many people say you should make a landing page and use the emails you get to market to them but why not just send the traffic direct to the landing page of the affiliate? Doesn't making 2 landing pages make it twice as hard to sell? Should you disguise your landing page as the company you are trying to get commission from?

If you was to promote CPA offers, do you make your own site for these offers or just send traffic direct to the affiliate site? For example if you got paid for filling in an email form how would you go about setting that form up - would the affiliate have the code for this for you to implement on your own site?

I have tons more questions but I don't want to make a huge post asking everything. If any of these questions have been asked please direct me to the threads as I can't find them so I do apologise if that's the case! Sorry for the newbish questions.
#affiliate #marketing
  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
    Banned
    Originally Posted by shimpy View Post

    when you get some leads from that page - what kind of email do you send them?
    Answered here: http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...ml#post6123982

    Originally Posted by shimpy View Post

    For example if I was to promote a clickbank product many people say you should make a landing page and use the emails you get to market to them
    They do. They're all speaking from the experience of knowing that they didn't earn anything worth talking about until they did that: http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...ml#post7110523

    Originally Posted by shimpy View Post

    why not just send the traffic direct to the landing page of the affiliate?
    I think you must mean "to the landing page of the vendor"? You're the affiliate, aren't you?

    Originally Posted by shimpy View Post

    Doesn't making 2 landing pages make it twice as hard to sell?
    It would, but you don't make two; only your own. From which you build your email address list and pre-sell to your subscribers, and then recommend that they visit the vendor's landing-page, which is a sales page.

    These terms are all defined here, if it helps: http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...ml#post9319964

    Originally Posted by shimpy View Post

    Should you disguise your landing page as the company you are trying to get commission from?
    No, that would be both dishonest and futile.

    Here's the thing: to earn any significant money from affiliate marketing, you need to do three things ...

    (i) Keep your potential customers returning to the sales page (because not so many people buy anthing much at their first visit to a sales page!);

    (ii) Make increasing sales (ideally at progressively higher prices) to the same "captive audience" who regularly rely on and trust your recommendations;

    (iii) Establish the credibility and trust necessary to do both the above by earning's people respect as a provider of niche-related information.

    Without building lists, of course, you can't do any of the three and you'd just be throwing away almost all the traffic you ever generate that doesn't buy anything immediately.

    For most people, most of the time, it's just about as simple as that, overall.

    These three threads are more informative ...

    Is it a good idea to spend some time on building a mailing list ?

    Without Building a List, How Consistent is Your Income from Affiliate Marketing

    Does anyone even make money online without an email list?



    Originally Posted by shimpy View Post

    If you was to promote CPA offers ...
    That's a whole different subject, and lives here: Ad Networks (CPM/CPL, Display, SEM)

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    • Profile picture of the author shimpy
      No, that would be both dishonest and futile.

      Here's the thing: to earn any significant money from affiliate marketing, you need to do three things ...

      (i) Keep your potential customers returning to the sales page (because not so many people buy anthing much at their first visit to a sales page!);

      (ii) Make increasing sales (ideally at progressively higher prices) to the same "captive audience" who regularly rely on and trust your recommendations;

      (iii) Establish the credibility and trust necessary to do both the above by earning's people respect as a provider of niche-related information.

      Without building lists, of course, you can't do any of the three and you'd just be throwing away almost all the traffic you ever generate that doesn't buy anything immediately.
      OK so if for example you was promoting a health product from clickbank, what type of landing page would you make? Would you build one that contains the same information as the product your selling or just a page in general about the product and push them to buy one certain product?

      I think I may be over thinking it but I just can't get my head around what type of site I actually make to pre-sell products.


      PS. Thank you for the information I will take a look through it all.
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      • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
        Banned
        Originally Posted by shimpy View Post

        OK so if for example you was promoting a health product from clickbank, what type of landing page would you make?
        Personally, I would put up a small, content-rich blog/site, with a prominently incentivized opt-in on its home page (which would be my landing page), promoting a small "free report" covering the exact niche. The "free report" would serve all these purposes (otherwise I won't earn any money).

        And collect email addresses, and pre-sell (not "sell"!!) the relevant ClickBank product(s) by email.

        Originally Posted by shimpy View Post

        Would you build one that contains the same information as the product your selling
        No. I wouldn't mention the product I'm selling anywhere on the landing-page at all.

        Originally Posted by shimpy View Post

        or just a page in general about the product
        No - about the niche, not about the product.

        I'm not intending to "sell" the product, myself. I've chosen a product (from the 15,000+ available on ClickBank) whose vendor's sales page will sell it to my traffic. I'm an affiliate, not a vendor. I just need to pre-sell so that I can successfully send to the vendor's outstandingly good sales page some pre-targeted traffc already known to be interested in the niche.

        The essential thing, to pre-sell a ClickBank product, is to become trusted and respected as a provider of valuable information about the niche (not "about the product"!).

        Another perfectly possible way of doing it (which many affiliate marketers would use, though it isn't my own choice) would be to use a squeeze page as my landing page, instead of the home page of a little blog/site. But even in this case, the free report offered on the squeeze page would still have to serve all those purposes mentioned above, to work well.

        Originally Posted by shimpy View Post

        I think I may be over thinking it
        I don't think you are. Not meant as a criticism at all, but I suspect, if anything, you're under-thinking it, in that there's a lot to learn about "how to make this work". Nobody was born knowing how to do this stuff. And the proportion of people who succeed at it is rather low (partly becasue many people expect it to be rather simpler than it really is, and some don't even appreciate that ClickBank affiliate marketing is intrinsically a list-building and email marketing business).

        My post above is packed with links. There's a lot of reading-material there, but it will (at least) get you oriented.

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        • Profile picture of the author shimpy
          No - about the niche, not about the product.

          I'm not intending to "sell" the product, myself. I've chosen a product (from the 15,000+ available on ClickBank) whose vendor's sales page will sell it to my traffic. I'm an affiliate, not a vendor. I just need to pre-sell so that I can successfully send to the vendor's outstandingly good sales page some pre-targeted traffc already known to be interested in the niche.

          The essential thing, to pre-sell a ClickBank product, is to become trusted and respected as a provider of valuable information about the niche (not "about the product"!).

          Another perfectly possible way of doing it (which many affiliate marketers would use, though it isn't my own choice) would be to use a squeeze page as my landing page, instead of the home page of a little blog/site. But even in this case, the free report offered on the squeeze page would still have to serve all those purposes mentioned above, to work well.
          That's really good advice. That's what I was struggling to understand. When you say 'free report' I take it you mean that's where they click a button and you capture their email address etc? What would be included in this free report?
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          • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
            Banned
            Originally Posted by shimpy View Post

            When you say 'free report' I take it you mean that's where they click a button and you capture their email address etc?
            Yes, exactly.

            You have your opt-in page (whether it's a squeeze page or not) linked to an autoresponder like Aweber or GetResponse and when people put their email address in the box and click the button to submit it, that adds them onto your list, and the first automated email they get back from that (which normally goes out within seconds) gives them the download-link to the little "free report". In other words, you're making sure that they can actually receive and open email from you, before you give it to them.

            Originally Posted by shimpy View Post

            What would be included in this free report?
            Answered in this post.

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  • Profile picture of the author webmarke
    Here is what you need to do and why you need to do it.

    First you need to change your mindset.

    I apologize if I am not reading you correctly...but it sees you are focusing on the right things.

    If you realize that the best way to make money online is by helping people, then you will understand how to approach it.

    You need to offer something to help people using a squeeze page for 2 reasons...

    1. Build credibility by giving them something that helps them.
    2. Capture their email address so you can build more trust and recommend products that can help them while earning you affiliate commissions.

    Where most people fail is that they are only interested in making a quick buck not realizing that people are not likely to buy from you or your link if they have never had contact with you before.

    Sending people directly to an offer (unless the are actively search for a specific product) will not make you money. Only 1 in 100 will buy the product you are promoting.

    You need to build a list and send these people tips, tools, and resources that will help them achieve their goals.

    At least 75% of the emails you send them should not be promoting a product that requires them to buy something. Instead send them free stuff that makes them look forward to your emails.

    Then promote something that your list that pays you a commission once they trust and like you.

    When you focus on helping people in order to get them to buy through your affiliate link then you will achieve a lot more success!
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  • Profile picture of the author shimpy
    You need to build a list and send these people tips, tools, and resources that will help them achieve their goals.
    When you say resources would you just search the internet for freely available information and send it them from time to time? I think I know what you are trying to say. I am on mailing lists and often receive emails which are obviously from internet marketers - I think I will probably scan through these emails and see what these people are doing and saying in the emails.
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    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
      Banned
      Originally Posted by shimpy View Post

      When you say resources would you just search the internet for freely available information and send it them from time to time?
      Definitely not.

      That's exactly what the 95% of people who aren't really building a business/making a living do.

      You need to do much better than that. As explained in one of those posts linked to up above, you need to give them some information that they can't easily find online.

      These are people who "found you online" and "became your subscriber online" because they were "already looking online", weren't they?

      They've already seen the "freely available information" you refer to. They've probably seen it more often than you have. You won't impress them that way.

      The marketer through whose affiliate links people buy (or just "from whom people buy") is the one whom they trust and respect, who has provided new and different information.

      Assume that your subscribers are also/have also been on 10 other marketers lists as well.

      Originally Posted by shimpy View Post

      I think I will probably scan through these emails and see what these people are doing and saying in the emails.
      But who's the marketer you'll really notice, whose emails you'll really look out for, open as soon as you see them, and be pleased to receive? That's the one whose recommendations will interest you most, isn't it? That's the one whose links you'll actually click on? That's usually the one who will eventually earn money, one way or another, by having you as a subscriber. When you're a marketer instead of a subscriber, that's the one you need to become.

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