Demystifying Affiliate Marketing Quick survey – what level are we at? 101 – Affiliate Marketing is just advertising fees based on actual customer purchases. 201 – Affiliate Marketing is product searches, product links, reviews, and exploring deep links. 301 – Affiliate Marketing is datafeeds, RSS feeds, PHP, MySQL, and more…

Why am I here? Our retailer customers, along with those that I speak to who aren’t even customers of ours, are looking for you. New customers to them are more important than some of the more tired out concepts in Affiliate Marketing. You are in an enormously advantageous bargaining position.

How to Get Started? Bottom line, relevancy is the number one key. This isn’t adwords, display rotations, or CPC – this is relevant content chosen for you, to be directed at your audience. Think of the audience concept – your readers are your audience – what will they respond to? The number one benefit to Affiliate Marketing is the ability to be relevant, and it is also the number one roadblock to activity.

What is available? As a blogger, there are really 3 kinds of programs to participate in. 1. Retail products to solve problems 2. Business products you use to create your blog and 3. Things you do to either run your business or your family.

Let’s explore retail 1,000s of programs out there. Big box, little niche sites, just about everything you use on a day to day basis. Not all encompassing, but the best sites weave commentary with advertisement. Talking about a product that solves a problem leads to conversion. moms-guide-30-smart-tips-for-flying-with-a-baby/ moms-guide-30-smart-tips-for-flying-with-a-baby/ simple-ways-to-create-space-and-get-organized/ simple-ways-to-create-space-and-get-organized/ creative-gifts-for-her/ creative-gifts-for-her/

What about products you use? As a blogger, one of the more common questions is simply “how do you do all that?”. Tools that you use on a daily basis also can be recommended via Affiliate. Blog themes, social media tools, newsletter services, hosting providers, etc… etc… Create a post or newsletter every quarter or so dedicated to your “How” process. Many of the bloggers I know make more money in these areas as they are more comfortable there than interrupting content sections. Conference registrations, even referring other bloggers to programs can be productive as well.

Things you do Similar to how you structure your blog, often times there are simply events or life moments that you can share. You are an expert at a dozen things you do every day. From running your business, organizing your banking accounts, labeling your kid’s lunchboxes, to planning fun family vacations. Take advantage of seasonal trends – they are greatly impactful. This year’s World Cup was a great example. about-before-your-child-starts-kindergarten/ about-before-your-child-starts-kindergarten/

Get Away from the Sidebar Think about how you see things as an audience member. What makes you interested. Affiliate Marketing works because you get to choose these subtle moments when your audience will react the best. Think movies / product placement vs. billboard ads.

Get Outside the Box Don’t market what everyone else is marketing. Your audience isn’t generic – neither are products. Promote products that you use, care about, are passionate about, or those that you can relay pertinent information to your audience.

Supplement by using Deals I don’t recommend just specifically deals marketing to anyone at this point due to the crowded nature of the space. Supplementing reviews with available deals is a great plan – but if you do it, contact the merchant and get a custom code. Find out how they are commissioning coupon sites.

Beyond the Banner Don’t rely on Google. Create sticky sites. Readership/Audience/RSS/ /Capture If you aren’t capturing customers at reading time – you are missing out on customers. The #1 purpose of every blog post is to get someone to sign up for your newsletter.

Datafeeds What are they? Essentially a giant spreadsheet of data that an individual retailer has in inventory. They turn affiliate marketing into the powerful marketing channel that it is. vs

After all that – how do I pick and start? The following sessions will investigate this in detail – so I’ll stop for questions!