The Most Important Skill In AFFILIATE MARKETING

The most important part of affiliate marketing for me is building my email list, I love to provide value for my subscribers, you see when my subscribers do well, this empowers me to provide even more value for them...

I have transitioned these days to video and it makes sense because of the conversions.

However salesmanship in print, will never get old. They say that; the pen is mightier than the sword.

I'm not the expert here, so on a general level, would you not need to know where to put that message first, Your Target Audience ?

As any well written / video message in front of the wrong audience is not worth a cracker. You could be writing the very best copy in the world and it may be A bit like trying to sell Vegans a special on the latest Spring Lamb Chops.

Creativity is the most important skill of a successful affiliate marketer. The most successful affiliate marketers design innovative marketing campaigns and strategies(think out of the box), develop unique brand identities and provide engaging content to their customers.

Getting the right traffic would have to be up there. I've seen some bad sales pages still generate revenue, but getting traffic from the right audiences is one of the more challenging tasks to accomplish.

The most important thing in affiliate marketing is the traffic you build . It will determine who buys from you.

Actually i heard lot of about affiliate marketing but didn't try it before. But your content will help me. Thanks

It's important, but not even close to being the most important.

As an affiliate, it's even less important considering you are sending people to SOMEONE ELSES sales pages.

There's a lot more than ONE thing that goes into creating an online business.
Target Profile
Relevant Offers
Differentiation
Engagement


Here's the thing: Most people who are affiliates, are not going to become great copywriters anyway. I mean, if they can't put their own products together, how the fudge are they going to learn to write copy good enough to NOT turn people OFF?

Bad copy is worse than no copy in most cases.

What happens BEFORE you send someone to a sales page, is far more important.

The most important skill in affiliate marketing is the ability to identify your target audience and know all the paid and free method to reach them. For example, if you are going through the free route, all you need to do is brainstorm and do keyword research and build articles using long tails keywords. Then you create a blog which has a collection of the optimised articles, Then at the bottom of every article , you can create a link to the optin page and affiliate offer. Share those articles in popular sites. Traffic will start to follow as your page gets ranked in Google.

Hi everyone!

I know each of us are different! That's why the most important is different to each of us
It's good to learn from each other, it's good to learn from all of you

List building is the most important as far as I'm concerned.

Email is a distribution channel that no one can take away from you because you own the list (which is a real asset). Where most other channels you have no real control of because your just a user of it.

Plus you can follow up and promote additional offers at very little cost. Which is key if you want to be successful at affiliate marketing.

I think the most important skill in affiliate marketing is:
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Also, the content you create quite vital. If it is convincing, you get more sales.

Copywriting is a skill. An audience you can contact regularly is an asset.

Skills and assets are both important.

I'm not that good at copywriting, but I am growing 3 assets:
1) a website that:

• sends traffic to a Facebook group
• gets email list subscribers

2) an email list that:

• sends traffic to the website/offers
• sends traffic to the Facebook group

3) a Facebook group that

• sends traffic to the website/offers
• get's email list subscribers

I do spend time along the way trying to improve my copywriting skills, but that can not be the only thing I spend time on.

In my opinion i think the most important thing its the quality of knowing to add the most value to people .Adding the best value will reward you more

An easy way to think of it...

This entire affiliate marketing gig is matchmaking.

You're matching up the ideal product with the people who need it most.

I know it sounds corny... but think of affiliate marketing like a dating service.

You're bringing together 2 people who would work well together.

Well, same thing with affiliate marketing.

A LOT of the success in matchmaking will come before you even
match the 2 people up.

You gotta find people with similar wants and needs, similar problems
they want solved... and then match them with things that work for them.

So, the message or copy isn't really as important as making sure
you're matching up 2 people with what they're both looking for...
and that you do before the message/copy.

So, back to matchmaking... find people with an issue that keeps
them up at night, and then find a product or service that can help
them sleep better at night... and you'll make a sale more often than not...
even if the copy sucks.

Think of it as matchmaking... bringing together the perfect
product with the perfect lead looking for that solution... and you'll
do well even without good copy.

I saw that a lot of you guys are asking about building a list from scratch

You can easily do it by create something call SQUEEZE PAGE

You can create 100% free whenever you use almost any kind of autoresponder service out there

No hosting and domain required.

Unless you want to have a better conversions, then you will need to have hosting and domain to optimize

But at the beginning, free from autoresponder service is good enough to practice

After you have your first squeeze page

You are good to go, let's start driving visitors to it

That squeeze page is going to help you to build your list

and you can build a buyer list from that list

I hope this help

Following are the most important skills in affiliate marketing:

1. Problem-Solving skills
2. Create effective campaigns
3. Creativity
4. Data Analytics

Here are a few important skills to have as an affiliate marketer:

-Copywriting
-Email Marketing
-Sales
-Driving Traffic
-Listbuilding

Perhaps driving tones of traffic to the website is the most important skill.

I usually outsource copywriting, but I agree it is very useful.

There are many skills according to me which are important such as
* Ability to drive traffic
* Choosing the best products
* Marketing skills
* Building an email list
These are some of the many important skills.

Wow, thanks for the post, Mabu! I've equally considered and thought about copywriting as an important skill in affiliate marketing and a significant way to increase sales, making people take action that you want them to take. Thanks for mentioning this!

Israel Olatunji

Ok, Got It, Thanks for sharing the very informative information.

Targeted traffic is the lifeblood of your affiliate business.

The purpose of sales is to help customers solve problems. Customers don't understand the features and functions of the product, but they are very interested in the ability to solve their own problems and relieve their pain. The focus of sales is on the pain of the customer or the problem they are eager to solve, not your product. If you help customers solve problems, customers will accept you, trust you, and welcome you.

The true skill is targeting your appropriate audience to provide the right offer. With this mastered you get quality traffic.

The most important skill is reaching your targeted buyers effectively for free or at the lowest costs possible for the best ROI.

Haha... what's the point of this thread now? I mean, we all have different answers, so no one, I mean NO ONE can possibly benefit from this thread now. All they'll get are a bunch of different opinions which would do nothing more than confuse a newcomer.

For everyone else visiting the thread, who isn't a newcomer, the conformation bias will come into play.

Either way. It's pointless now.

Very open question, there are many important skills required for affiliate marketing not just one.

I think patience, persistence, and be willing to learn are important skills. There to many people that just give up.

While I agree that copywriting is important, I think that the most important thing is building a relationship with your potential customers. I focus on mainly bigger ticket items, and repeat sales, and to make those sales your customers need to feel a certain way about you. So, I think that building the know-like-trust factor (the relationship) is key.

Now, if you selling mainly lower-priced, largely impulse items, then you don't need to build the relationship so much. In fact, depending upon what you're selling and where you're promoting, the majority of your customers can be people who are hearing from you for the very first time. For bigger ticket items, prospects may need to hear from you 7-10 times before they buy... and then they often buy largely because of the relationship.

First of all it's patience what a man need to succeed in affiliate marketing. The industry is oversaturated and it's not easy to get your first paycheck. If you don't have another way of making money it can be very frustrating. IMO if you're willing to sacrifice two or three years in your life without having any significant results, then you can achieve. Patience will be rewarded and maybe you can achieve passive income from your affiliate after 4 or 5 years.
For all newcomers i need to say one thing-believe in your dream and keep working every day for it.

There are lots of workable systems in Affiliate Marketing. Try all of them and see what works well with your website. Some may found list building/email marketing as topnotch but others do best on Social Media marketing.

I agree. Words sell. It's definitely copywriting.

One thing I discover is not the skillset alone that is important. The ability to work as a term and leverage on each other's effort rather than one allows you to learn and build your business faster and effective!

The most important skill in affiliate marketing is the affiliate*marketer's creativity.

'Tis true... the MOST important thing in marketing is copy. I see people saying all sorts of things here, however, no matter what, copy is the 1st thing people will see. If you have an article it will have a eye catching headline = copy. If a video, it will have an eye catching title = copy. A Facebook ad = copy. Images can help, but it's the copy that will lead them down your path and copy (or video script = copy) that will create emotion that will inevitably be what causes a customer to buy.

Robert

Copy is indeed up there but also relationship with product owner and prospective buyer I feel.


Pat Flynn helps his readers immensely with great upfront content..he also has his commissions % Doubled multiple times by the Product Owner...Blue Host as he generously shares in his income statements.

I don't think it's a one skill which can make you successful. I can't just have one best skill in aff marketing and make a lot of money, what you need is set of skills. If you are super copywriter, but you suck at traffic, how people will see your copywriting skills?

Internet marketing is indeed a very broad undertaking. As mentioned above, multiple set of skills is needed at your immediate disposal e.g. doing split testing which one works best to which.

As an aff it's all about turning traffic into money. Copywriting plays a part for sure. But so does product selection and traffic sourcing.

I would go with the option of MARKET ANALYSIS. Its so very important that if done right then rest of the parts can be easily outsourced.

Not a skill but I see it seldom mentioned.

It's also the product. I simply redirected traffic via cloaked domains (IP delivery) without even building a list (people become immune to give up their info first), and showcased the product. If the cookie duration is long and I am being paid residuals, then I am sitting pretty on a goldmine.

So carving streams of traffic pays back in spades.

Master traffic building and you won't need to be a copywriter, just command hoards of traffic Affiliate networks will want to hear from you...

The goal for me is to learn to master list building and to launch your own internet marketing products and understanding copywriting I am working on that skill now sometimes I struggle to put the puzzle together but working on it sometimes roadblocks can very painful but they do occur often we all must go through growing pains.

I can't find the YouTube video ... However something I learned from Eben Pagan is: "The most important business skill is compassion." Think about it. : )

I really appreciate this tip, I also think that copywriting is really important!

Just read an amazing book by Seth Godin, called "This is Marketing".

I highly recommend it... and his description of what he feels is marketing,
is in my opinion, the best way to stand out if you're selling your own stuff
OR affiliate stuff...

From Seth's book...

"Marketing in five steps:

1. Invent a thing worth making, with a story worth telling, and a contribution worth talking about.

2. Design and build it in a way that a few people will particularly benefit from and care about.

3. Tell a story that matches the built-in narrative and dreams of that tiny group of people, the smallest
viable market.

4. Spread the word.

5. Show up - regularly, consistently, and generously, for years and years - to organize and lead and build confidence in the change you seek to make."

I think it's the ability to connect with your target customers through your writings in your niche. We should not solely offer our products but convinced them on why they need them in the first place. If we are being honest with the products we are selling, then they'll come again. Labor for impact as they say, not just for money.

Hi there,
I am new in affiliate marketing.In my short experience I can say that firstly audience are most important.Second important skill is creativity & understanding power of a customer behavior. I agree with your another point "the ability of influence people".A affiliate marketer must have ability of influence people but not through just copy writing.Through creativity skill affiliate marketer can attract targeted audience.

People can provide copy and sales funnel. Its called affiliate marketing. The only real skill you need is learning how to drive endorsed traffic. That's IT no other mysteries

I would say that knowing how to drive targeted, buyer traffic to your offers is probably the most important skill. You can have the best copy, but if there is no traffic (or even lots of the wrong type of traffic), few sales will follow. Don't get me wrong, copywriting is a very important skill as well. However, it must be paired with a steady flow of targeted traffic.

Patience, Persistence, Perseverance, and always learning

I think its the passion to succeed.

If you are all about money your not going to be successful. Granted you might make sales, you might even be able to earn enough income to not have to work a typical 9-5. However your morals will be compromised. Most likely you will be selling products or services that may not be working properly. Your words may be full of ideas and has great selling language to get the sale however in your heart all you care about is money.

When you put your passion into the products and ideas and services you are selling you know in your heart your giving products and services to people that work. You are in the affiliate marketing business more to help people fulfill a problem or need than to make money.

You will have a passion to succeed to rank well in the search engines, beat your competition, and sleep well at night because you know when you do make sales your not robbing peeople as some sleazy affiliates do.

Ok. Copy writing is important. If someone can't come up with good "Copy", is there any kind of a free PLR type of site to get good "Copy" from? Let alone, "Copy" that is still relevant for today? I wouldn't want to put up Copy info that was Obsolete. Thanks!

One situation I discover is not the skillset alone that is important. The finishing to undertaking as a term and leverage upon each auxiliary's effort rather than one allows you to learn and construct your issue faster and vigorous!

Yep, I agree.
I am not the best Copy Writer, so I hire people to do it for me.
Get the sales copy right and half the battle is won.
Great Post

Totally agreed. Copywriting is a must have skill if, even if it is affiliate marketing, social media, or e-mail marketing. If people do not even like what you write or speak, how are people going to trust you and purchase your product?

Yes, good copy-writing ability is essential for some forms of affiliate marketing.

An area which a lot of people overlook is understanding the basic mathematical concepts behind testing and results. For example, the fact that real random events are much more clustered than people imagine, means that a good "rule of thumb" is that one will need to spend 3 times the payout, for each test. Change a word or a setting, and that's a new test.

Newbies often assume that a higher payout is "better", then spend $25 on paid leads for a $1,000 payout and say "this method doesn't work", failing to understand that for that payout, each test will mean spending $3,000, and even the experts usually have to do several tests before finding a profitable funnel.

So, yes, copy-writing is useful, but without understanding how the numbers work, it's very easy to just lose money or waste a lot of time.

Chris

The most important part, without a doubt, is having a lot of money. It's the only reason I can't be successful. I can have the best SEO, I can share all day long, I can even hold the ultimate power of influencing people to take the call to action. I can have the WORLD'S BEST website. But, without traffic (which costs money), your efforts mean nothing.

I totally agree with most of the opinions shared.

The most important skill for me is the creation of value, obtaining quality traffic and building my lists of subscribers, by all methods.

I always advise my subscribers, asking them the question: "if one digs for gold and the other sells shovels, which one gets richer faster?"

If someone is trying to solve a problem, I'm glad if I can help it, even if I'm not paid. And I am happy when someone can help me. This must be in everyone's mind.

Nobody was born learned, we all need help sometimes.

Copy writing is very important , it's important to know how to write a message that connects and resonates with the end user....if the user can relate to your message, an action will be taken, otherwise your message will be ignored

OP, I beg to differ

You can hire a copywriter.

You can hire a graphics designer.

You can hire VA's to hunt for traffic for you or chase down leads.

The only thing you can't outsource is STRATEGIZING / GOAL SETTING / OVERALL EXECUTION

Sure, you can buy 'blueprints' or 'step by step' guides but those are just tools in your overall strategy

Everything else can be
- outsourced
- delegated


Invest in your ability to STRATEGIZE and make better decisions and you'll make MORE MONEY

Did I miss it, Has anyone mentioned Niche and Product Selection

As someone who has been out of internet marketing all together for over 5 years its been a lot of fun getting back on to WF. And its interesting to see how much things have stayed the same, this thread being a great example of that.

Some thoughts I had that maybe are not the single most important thing but I do think can make a HUGE DIFFERENCE.

Niche selection (As many of the general rules of Affiliate Marketing have stayed the same people and society are changing rapidly. There are so many more Niches as the world and its interest change.

Also having 5 children that range in age from 12 to 22 watching how they spend their time I have noticed how certain things are coming back around. Has anyone noticed the fashion of today is 100% pure 90s retro come back. So what I am saying is the hunt for the right Niche is always something that I find my self doing consciously, or subconsciously because an early implementer of the right Growing Niche is worth exponentially more.

Then to go along with that careful Product selection, because as an affiliate marketer you are relying the intellectual property of someone else make sure that you choose wisely. I experienced vast swings in refund rates, conversion and longevity of my email lists based on testing different products in the same niche.

I agree with you, COPYWRITING is vital in affiliate marketing. But your assumption that it is more important than others is debatable.

Good copies (ALONE) will not win over potential customers. How will a good copy, for example, create RAPPORT with a potential customer?

The most important skills in affiliate marketing are:

List building
squeeze page
Traffic/ conversion
Serving people
Give value
Copywriting
Headline

And much more, you have to learn the basics of each step above, then invest to know exclusive strategies.

Affiliate marketing is not easy but simple

Traffic. It isn't a chicken and the egg situation. Without traffic nothing else matters. It doesn't matter how good your copywriting is if no one sees your sales letter. It's impossible to make a sale with zero traffic. However with traffic it is possible to make a sale even with a poor sales letter.

As an affiliate, the vendor is responsible for copy. Sure, it's very helpful to understand copy principles for preselling and judging the copy of vendors, but sending (targeted) traffic to an affiliate offer is far more beneficial than writing copy as an affiliate.

Affiliate Marketing is about finding out what sells well, converts well and pays well. Simple :-)

Best bet in affiliate marketing is provide value to your subscriber, always keep in touch wit them.

This amazing!

Thanks guys for all your opinions.
Each person has his own perspective

Perspective is not right or wrong
it's maybe right to the person who has it and not to other people

I hope that you can be disagree with others but still respect their ideas.

Copywriting and communication skills matter the most when it comes to being a successful affiliate marketer. Both of these can help you become persuasive and creative, and eventually, help you achieve the objectives you wish to.

I agree that it's copywriting. It's discovering what your customers really care about, and then showing them that you can honestly help them.

The art of driving traffic to your optin page first and then to affiliate offer.
With this you are building a list for yourself first and making affiliate commissions as binus.

In my humble opinion, instead of trying to learn all the skills that are very important to affiliate marketing (copy writing, email list, generating traffic and loooot more), I think the most important thing above all is to get a good mentor.

Why ?

Simply put, a good mentor will lead you toward success because you will learn what you need to learn to be successful.

I underestimate the value of a good mentor for many, many years and it was until I find a mentor that I was able to have success online.

Just my 0.02$

Thanks for the idea of copywriting! I gained a lot from this thread. In addition to copywriting, I have found out that keeping people engaged and helping them solve problems through emailing and blogging would trigger more sales in affiliate marketing. Thanks for the thread!

Well, now I understand why I am not that good at selling: I am not a native English speaker, so even if the subject is good, the readers figure out fast that I am not native. However, I understand that copy writing is not something I am good at and I found other ways: coding. I am better at coding, so I build plugins, apps, gadgets and I give them away for free to promote products I sell.

I run a content marketing agency - and at the risk of kicking my own bread & butter - I won't classify it as the most important skill.

I'll tell you why.

Content is an amazing tool for ranking. The buck stops there.

The Clickbank days are long gone. Covid-19 hasn't helped either with the enormous content overload.

People's psyche is now not accustomed to long reads.

It is, as a matter of fact, entirely dependent on the product and - hold your breath - "guarantees".

Speak to any supplement manufacturer and you'll see that while refund rates were lower in the earlier days, they are much higher today. So is the ability for people to cry foul online. Everyone is a reviewer.

--

I won't negate the importance of high-end content marketing though. It still works wonders.

A good content marketing strategy is essentially what corroborates your claim with your product at your point-of-sale.

But the days of long posts to "convince people" with long form posts are long gone. As more and more people get online and read the same ad again and again with a different tone - they're quick to spot the pattern.

You need a solid content structure to pick the waywards - the detail oriented ones - who'll read everything carefully - then go and search some more. The more capricious ones.

For the average guy - the magic happens in your intro, the big star ratings and that big button which takes them to Amazon or the manufacturer's website.

You also need a brilliant content structure for the Big G to take you seriously.

Hello everyone
I am a beginner and I think you should start with email marketing
or do everything together?
what do you think?

Understanding the psychology of your prospective customer - their dreams, emotions and desires; and ultimately what makes them tick as a human being. This is the foundation for all campaigns and technical application in my opinion, but surprisingly, is often overlooked by marketers.