Affiliate marketing can be one of the most lucrative methods of promoting your business on the internet. By setting up an account at an established affiliate network and building relationships with top-tier affiliates you could potentially make thousands each month depending on how much traffic you drive to your site.
But not every website has the budget necessary to hire someone else to manage this aspect of its operation, so many businesses are turning instead to free automated affiliate marketing software to help them get started.
This article looks into some of the more popular programs available today and discusses what makes them different to other options out there.
The first thing that almost everyone recommends when it comes to affiliate marketing is using email. There's no doubt about it - if you're going to promote anything you'll need people to read your emails! And sending promotional messages via email is a great way to build those numbers quickly.
There are several ways to go about doing this though. The easiest option would probably be by signing up for an email service provider like Constant Contact or MailChimp. These services allow you to create lists and send promotional messages directly through their platform which will be picked up by anyone within their database. This might sound ideal but you'll find these services charge quite steeply per user (around $10/month) and may end up costing you far more than you'd expect to pay. If you don't already know enough about email marketing then this isn't really an option worth considering.
Another method would be to sign up to an email autoresponder service such as Aweber, GetResponse or iContact. You can use these tools to automatically generate emails containing links back to your blog or landing page where interested customers can click through and buy whatever product you're selling. Again, you'll find plenty of third party providers offering similar services and while they won't cost you as much as the ones above they still aren't cheap either ($20-$40/month).
Finally we've got paid solutions. One of the most well known being ClickBank. Clickbank allows you to upload your list of products onto their system and once members add items to their shopping cart you receive payment straight away.
One downside to using ClickBank however is that although you can set up unlimited listings under one account you only get paid for completed orders made through your listing. So if you want to start getting regular payments just because you've created a successful product page you'll need to take another approach.
You should also keep in mind that ClickBank doesn't offer affiliate commissions on Amazon Associates or Commission Junction accounts. Although these two systems are very popular among affiliate marketers, both companies require users to submit an application form before joining. For this reason alone it's unlikely that ClickBank will ever become a major player in the affiliate market.
Gmail does indeed have an affiliate program called AdSense. In order to join you'll need to register an account with Google and provide them with information regarding your domain name(s), web hosting company, etc. Once this is complete they will give you access to certain features including adsense.
Once you've added content to your pages you can embed adverts across your entire site. When visitors view these ads you will receive money sent directly to your bank account. It's a little complicated to explain but essentially Google pays advertisers based on how many times their advert gets clicked. If people see the same advert multiple times they tend to ignore it whereas if people click on it once it's likely it will lead them somewhere useful.
It sounds simple but it's actually pretty effective. According to recent figures released by Google themselves AdWords generated over £1 billion in revenue last year. While it's true that Google receives 90% of all clicks, the remaining 10%, around 1 million daily, are shared between advertisers. Which means that even if you were to remove all AdWords advertising from your site you'd still make around 890 thousand dollars annually. That's no small amount of cash!
Google's Adsense program was designed specifically to target specific keywords relevant to particular websites. As part of this policy, if you don't explicitly state that your site contains affiliate links then Google won't show your advertisements on sites that contain adult material.
If you wish to advertise with Google you'll need to follow their guidelines. But if you do decide to do so, remember that the number of impressions you receive will drop dramatically due to the fact that you'll be competing against millions of other websites.
That said, if you choose to link to an affiliate product without informing readers of the nature of your relationship with the merchant then you'll risk receiving a suspension notice from Google. However, there shouldn't be too many cases where this happens since Google clearly states that affiliate links must always be accompanied by a disclosure.
If you're looking for a way to increase search engine rankings and boost visibility then consider creating a custom HTML code snippet to display on your webpage. This is particularly helpful if you run a large ecommerce website and want to ensure that potential buyers can easily locate the products they're after.
In order to promote affiliate links inside your emails you'll need to include a tracking pixel. This simply refers to a line of text hidden on your webpages that monitors visitor behaviour. Whenever a customer visits your site they'll leave behind a unique string of characters that acts as a digital fingerprint. Your tracking pixels track this data and record it whenever a sale occurs.
When you sign up to an affiliate network you'll usually be given instructions on how to implement these codes throughout your various pages. Some networks, such as eBay Powerseller, even supply preformatted code snippets ready to insert into your templates. However, if you prefer to write your own scripts you can certainly do this yourself.
A good place to begin learning about the ins and outs of coding is YouTube. Here you'll find countless tutorials aimed at beginners explaining everything from basic PHP syntax to advanced JavaScript techniques. Just bear in mind that if you plan to publish your work publicly then you'll need permission from the owner of the video in question.
Post Affiliate Pro offers a variety of tools geared towards helping new affiliates learn how to successfully promote their goods online. Amongst them are step-by-step guides detailing exactly how to setup your own affiliate campaign.
Rakuten Advertising is a powerful toolset that provides detailed statistics on the success of individual posts. With this information you can identify high performing articles and optimize future efforts accordingly.
CJ Affiliate is another one of Post Affiliate Pro's main rivals. Like Rakuten Advertising, CJ Affiliate boasts impressive stats relating to post performance. The difference here is that rather than reporting on one single piece of content, it reports on an entire campaign. This gives you a better idea of the overall effectiveness of your efforts.
ShareASale is perhaps the least expensive of the three mentioned in this article. Its primary function is to act as a funnel whereby prospective clients enter your site through social media channels and are led down a series of steps until ultimately purchasing your product.
As a bonus feature ShareASale integrates seamlessly with Facebook allowing you to share content right from your profile.
For further reading check out our guide to choosing the perfect affiliate marketing platform.
Affiliate marketing has become one of the most popular ways to increase traffic and build up your business' presence on the internet. It's also an easy way to make money using tools such as Clickbank, Shareasale, Rakuten Advertising, CJ Affiliate, etc.
However, not everyone knows how to get started with this type of advertising. There are plenty of different options out there that can help with building your email lists, creating landing pages, and even automating certain tasks so you don't have to work too hard when it comes time to send emails! So which one should you use?
If you're just getting into affiliate marketing, then you might be wondering if you need to set up an entire system yourself. Thankfully, there are several tools available that will allow you to quickly and easily setup an account, begin sending emails, and track results. One of those programs is MailChimp. You'll find countless tutorials about setting up your first campaign through them.
Mailchimp offers three pricing levels at $15/month ($120), $30/month ($240) and $100/month ($1000). The cheapest option allows you to send up to 2,000 subscribers per month (and only 100 per day!), while the highest level lets you send unlimited subscribers every day. If you don't plan on doing much more than simply sending links to people interested in buying your stuff, then the lowest price may suit you fine. However, if you want to automate everything and grow your subscriber base, then you might consider paying more.
Mailchimp offers lots of features besides basic signup and email distribution. For example, they offer analytics reports, autoresponders, segmentation, tracking pixels, and more. While these aren't always necessary, depending on what kind of marketer you are, some of these features could prove useful down the road.
Another good resource for beginners is AWeber. This service costs $10/month but includes many similar features to Mailchimp. Unlike Mailchimp, however, Aweber gives you access to its full platform once you've signed up. In addition, Aweber does provide additional functionality like autoresponders and advanced segments. These extra perks add value beyond simple signups and email delivery.
A third great place to look is Constant Contact. With this program, you won't actually receive any emails -- instead, you'll pay monthly fees based on how many contacts you'd like to keep on file. These contacts include both new users and existing members of other mailing lists, making it perfect for expanding your reach without having to spend anything upfront.
The downside to Constant Contact is that they require a minimum subscription fee of $20/month before adding any contacts to your database. As well, they charge another $20/month after reaching 500 contacts. After signing up, though, you can choose between two plans: Standard or Premium. Both cost $40/month, but the difference lies mainly in the number of emails sent each week.
Standard sends 10,000 emails a week, whereas Premium sends 20,000 emails. Obviously, if you're looking to expand quickly, you'll probably opt for the latter. Otherwise, you might prefer to go with the cheaper Standard plan. Either choice will give you enough room to scale upwards if needed later on.
As far as automation goes, you can sign up for either Infusionsoft or GetResponse. Each company charges slightly different prices, but otherwise offer very similar services. Like Mailchimp, Infusionsoft offers a range of packages starting at $25/month - but unlike Mailchimp, you must purchase a license outright rather than subscribing to a "pay-per-use" model.
Infusionsoft also provides analytics that show you exactly where your visitors came from and what actions were taken by your customers. That information can be used to customize future email campaigns and improve conversion rates. But again, if you're just starting out and don't expect to see huge profits right away, then the lower priced package might suffice.
GetResponse doesn't necessarily offer quite as many bells and whistles as Infusionsoft, but it still packs in a lot of features. Some of the highlights worth mentioning include customer support via phone, live chat, mobile apps, and web forms. Plus, GetResponse promises a 99% open rate guarantee. That means if someone clicks on your link and signs up within 24 hours, you'll get paid regardless of whether they complete the transaction.
In terms of payment processors, Paypal is certainly one of the biggest names around. And yes, they do accept direct payments from affiliates. On the flip side, however, it takes longer to set up a PayPal account compared to other methods.
While we've already covered a few tools for helping you get started with affiliate marketing, let's talk about something else entirely: Amazon Associates.
Amazon Associates is basically a referral code that you can insert anywhere on your website or blog. When potential buyers click on your link, you earn commissions on whatever sale they end up making. Of course, since you're sharing revenue generated off someone else's site, you'll likely want to follow FTC guidelines regarding affiliate marketing.
There are tons of resources dedicated solely to Amazon Associates, including articles explaining how this works and tips on how to maximize your earnings. Just Google "how to write effective Amazon Associate content" and you'll turn up dozens upon dozens of helpful guides.
One thing to note, however, is that Amazon uses a complicated algorithm to determine how much credit you deserve for referring a buyer. Basically, you'll need to maintain high rankings on the search engine page for a particular keyword phrase. Then whenever someone buys something from a seller linked to your site, you'll automatically gain points toward the next tier of ranking. It sounds pretty confusing, but thankfully, there are several websites devoted specifically to teaching you how to optimize for specific keywords.
All things considered, writing quality content related to Amazon is definitely worthwhile. Even better, since you're earning income directly from Amazon's affiliate program, you can avoid the hassle of dealing with credit card processing and handling shipping charges.
Ultimately, choosing the right affiliate program depends largely on what sort of traffic you hope to attract. If you run a small ecommerce storefront, then maybe you would benefit from joining a network like ClickBank or Shareasale. If you want to drive massive amounts of targeted traffic, then perhaps you should try out Amazon or eBay.
It's important to remember that no matter where you decide to advertise, you'll eventually need to generate leads. To do that, you'll need to establish relationships with people who know what they want and why they're searching for it. Email newsletters are a fantastic tool for keeping in touch with them over time.
So now that you've learned a bit more about affiliate marketing itself, hopefully you feel comfortable taking action. Good luck with your new venture!
There are many different ways that people can make money on the internet today. Some choose to write about it and get paid by companies looking for content writers. Others may decide to create e-books and sell them directly. Still others find success selling digital files like videos, music, programs, software, etc., either directly or indirectly via affiliates (the latter being what we're going to talk about here).
Affiliates work alongside these other types of business owners in order to help increase traffic, awareness, and sales of whatever company sells their products or services. The most common way this happens is by using the power of email marketing. When someone signs up to receive valuable information from one of these business' websites, it's likely that they will check out more of its offerings if the website has an affiliate link embedded within the newsletter. This means that when someone buys something from the site after clicking on the link, both parties involved share some cash! However, not everyone knows how to properly set up an affiliate account or run effective email marketing campaigns, so let us explore some options available for those just starting out.
The first thing you need to know before choosing a platform is whether or not you want to use an automatic system or one which requires human intervention. Automatic systems tend to be more expensive but offer greater flexibility. If you plan to market multiple offers at once, then a good automation solution would allow you to manage each campaign separately without having to manually input data into every single campaign. On the flip side, if you only wish to focus on one particular affiliate network, it might not matter too much if you don't automate everything since you could still manually enter the required info yourself.
If you're interested in learning more about affiliate networks and where to start, check out our article outlining 6 popular affiliate programs. Another great place to learn more about creating successful affiliate strategies is through reading articles written by industry experts. For example, there are tons of resources available in books like "Marketing 101" and blogs such as Copyblogger. You'll also want to consider the size of your budget. Most affiliate marketers begin small and grow over time. It's important to take note of the number of clicks you generate per day and compare that to your monthly income goals. In addition, think about the frequency of your promotions. Are you planning to send out daily newsletters or weekly ads? Also keep in mind the amount of experience you expect to gain while working with various businesses.
Now that you've narrowed down your choices based on whether you want to go manual or auto, you probably already know which type of affiliate network you'd prefer to utilize. But did you know that some affiliate networks charge fees for joining? There are several reasons why some companies charge additional membership costs, including:
- To cover expenses associated with running the network itself
- To protect against fraud
- To compensate the owner(s) of the network because they created it
- To provide incentive to new members
Some organizations require payment upfront upon joining, whereas others accept payments through PayPal or credit card processing. Before signing up for anything, always read the fine print carefully to ensure that you understand exactly how the fee structure works.
In terms of compensation plans, some affiliate networks pay commissions straight away, while others wait until the customer actually makes a purchase. It's important to remember that affiliate earnings vary depending on the specific promotion or sale, so it's important to monitor your statistics closely.
Many affiliate sites also offer promotional tools designed specifically for members. These include banner advertisements, special landing pages, social media buttons, widgets, etc. Each organization has unique features which can give you another avenue for promoting your brand.
Finally, you'll want to look at the reputation of the affiliate network. Do they have a history of paying customers promptly and accurately? Does the company have high standards regarding ad quality? Is the support team friendly and responsive? And does the company maintain strong privacy policies? Make sure to research reviews left by current users to see what kind of experiences they had.
Email marketing isn't dead yet, despite what some may say. While it certainly takes longer than traditional methods of advertising, it remains one of the easiest forms of electronic communication to implement. Once you sign up for an email service provider and add a list of subscribers, you simply need to compose a message and send it out. That's pretty much it! Email marketing allows you to reach virtually anyone anywhere around the world instantly, allowing you to connect with prospective buyers quickly and efficiently.
You may even opt to try sending direct mailers instead of regular emails. Direct mailing is basically taking a piece of paper and hand delivering it to someone rather than sending it electronically. Although direct mailings aren't as convenient as emailing, they can prove very useful in certain situations, especially if you target audiences located far away.
It goes without saying that making money off of affiliate marketing is easier said than done. Not only must you master the art of writing compelling messages, but you'll also need to develop solid relationships with numerous vendors. However, if you follow the steps above and continue to educate yourself on the topic, eventually you'll become comfortable enough to start earning real profits. Good luck!
Affiliate Marketing Software
In order to run an effective affiliate program, you need some kind of software solution so that you can track which sites link back to your site and how much traffic those sites generate.
This makes sense because if you don't know where your visitors came from (and therefore what pages in your website they visited), then it's hard to determine whether they bought something from you or not. If you want to understand this better, read my article called "Why You Need An Analytics Toolkit" right now!
The most popular affiliate tracking solutions out there today include Commission Junction, Linkshare, ShareASale, Clickbank and Amazon Associates. All these allow you to set up accounts and receive commissions when someone buys one of your affiliated products. The only difference between them is what type of software platform each uses.
If you'd prefer to use a simple web based interface rather than download software onto your computer, then check out our list of top 10 free affiliate marketplaces.
Just follow our battle-tested guidelines and rake in the profits.