So if you have been following this blog you will have chosen your affiliate product and you now have an affiliate link that looks something like this:
http://www.yourdomain.com/?ref=abcd1234
The next question is what do I do with this ugly looking domain name (URL)?
The easiest thing to do is use the raw affiliate link to drive traffic to the product sales page and collect the commissions. However in this case the simplest is definitely NOT the best.
Reasons NOT to use the Raw Affiliate Link
1. People trust direct links with normal looking URLs more than they trust an affiliate link with lots of foreign looking code.
2.The long ugly affiliate link can also drive potential customers away from your site which is exactly what you don’t want to happen.
3. If your raw affiliate link is visible then people can either chop off the code bit at the end of the affiliate link and you lose your commission or worse still they can substitute their own affiliate link for yours and once again you lose your commission for the sale!
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When you start out on your internet marketing journey there are many mistakes to make and if you find someone whose information you trust then you may be able to learn how to avoid some critical internet marketing newbie mistakes as well. Subscribe to my internet marketing newbie top 10 mistakes to avoid report for some of the most common mistakes to avoid.
Internet Marketing Mistake
If I can offer some advice on making mistakes it is this: make as many mistakes as you can as fast as you can. You will not become a successful internet entrepreneur without making mistakes so make them early when the impact on your bottom line will be less.
This a mistake that I relate from personal experience that did NOT make it onto the report above (maybe I shouldn’t have stopped at 10!)
Backup is Critical!
Imagine that you have been busy working away at your internet marketing business for a few months and have quite a few projects on the go, when one morning you wake up and go to your computer to check your email. You gently nudge the mouse to wake up your computer and nothing happens (a bit like trying to wake up your teenager for school). Another nudge, this time a bit more forcefully and still nothing. You check that the power to the computer is on and try again – still nothing. It’s time to try rebooting – it takes forever and a few worrying messages are displayed then it gets stuck halfway through the reboot.
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A quick recap on what we have covered so far…
The first post on affiliate marketing explained how affiliate programs work and that all are free affiliate programs.Then we discussed finding a niche and there were heaps of ideas from James Schramko’s video about what kinds of products you can promote on the internet. Lastly we talked about how to find a niche market product that will be profitable.
So now that you have chosen your market and you know that people are looking for solutions to their problems in your market, you need to find a specific product. After you have found the exact product that you want to promote, make sure you save your affiliate link somewhere you can find it again!
Places to Find Free Affiliate Programs
1. Clickbank
Go to the clickbank marketplace and see what comes up when you type in your chosen keyword.
There are a few things to understand about clickbank. It is a place where you can find products to promote on many, many different topics and keywords but there have to be able to be delivered digitally. This means you can’t sell physical products through clickbank.
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So by now you should have quite a few ideas for different niches that you want to promote products in. Before you start looking for a specific product in your chosen niche it is wise to make sure that you have chosen a niche that has commercial opportunities.
Product Test No. 1
Does it solve a problem?
If your product/niche solves a problem for your potential client then you are much more likely to find people willing to spend money on your product. Examples of products that solve a problem:
Learn how to lose weight fast
How to give up smoking effortlessly
How to stop your baby crying and get a good nights sleep
Look out for words or phrases that signal a person would like to buy a product or service. Things like: how to, stop, get, buy, learn, order. If you include these kinds of words on your webpage then you are more likely to attract people who intend to spend money rather than those looking for freebies.
Product Test No. 2
Is it already selling?
To find out if there already is a market for the product that you wish to sell then you need to see if other people are already selling it.
Type your product into the Google search engine and see if there are any paid ads. The paid ads are usually the first couple of listings on the left hand column and all of the listings down the right hand side of the Google search results page.
If other people are willing to spend money on PPC in that market they must be making money! If there are pages and pages of PPC ads then you may have found a very competitive market and it might be a good idea to start with something less competitive. Either choose a new niche or become more specific within the niche that you have chosen. Read more »
Just in case you are still struggling with finding a good niche to begin your internet marketing journey, I thought I’d give you a couple more places to look for ideas for niches.
Magazines
Look at the magazine covers. Magazines have a huge research budget so any story that has made it onto the fron cover of a magazine has a large potential audience. You can check out what’s hot by heading down to your local newstand or check out www.magazines.com. This website has magazines under any category you can imagine. Just browse through and look at all of the front covers.See which topics are popular and what they are publishing articles about. If a magazine has devoted several pages to an article on a particular topic then you know there are people out there who are interested in that topic.
Dummies books
If someone has taken the time to write a Dummies book about a topic then you can be sure there is a hungry market out there. Either the bookshop or Amazon.com is the place to look for Dummies books.
While you are at Amazon.com you might also want to check out the best-seller lists. The top 10 best-sellers might give you an idea of a profitable niche.
And always remember you can never be too rich, too thin or too beautiful!
Still stuck? – Ask yourself the right questions
What products do I use everyday?
What videos are popular right now?
You can check out the top 10 videos on YouTube.
What are my friends and family talking about?
What are the issues being discussed on current affair shows and morning TV? Read more »
