Chris Jacobson asks: What Is The Best Affiliate Program? Which affiliate networks do you find deliver the best results to you as far as conversions go? And what is the best method in your opinion of promoting such affiliate offers... AdWords, forums, USfreeads, etc.?
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I get this question a lot, but its impossible to give a cut 'n dried answer. There is no best affiliate program, or best affiliate network. The key to success is finding a good match with an affiliate program, a target market, and the marketing campaign used to reach that market.
I've had success with a wide range, from independent programs to affiliate networks, and from pay-per-lead (CPA) offers to one-time sales of both digital and physical products. The same goes for promotion strategies. Again, there are many ways to successfully promote an affiliate program. It's all about finding the right combination.
You are going to start in one of two places. You'll either find the niche or market, and then choose an affiliate program to monetize that niche. Or you'll find a great product or affiliate program, and then look for the best way to promote it. Either way is fine, and in fact I do both on a regular basis.
When it comes to choosing a program there are a few key things that you want to look at in making your decision. First and foremost: Will people actually buy this product? Look at the landing page that your affiliate link takes visitors to, and analyze it from your ideal visitors perspective. Would you buy it?
Commission structure is also important. A lot of affiliates are attracted to high-ticket items simply because of the commission rate, but keep in mind that low-priced products tend to convert at a higher rate, due to impulse buys, and that the numbers can equal out in regards to profit potential.
If you are going to create a website around a product line, then you'll want to make sure the merchant offers deep linking - meaning they allow affiliates to link directly to internal pages and specific products.
There are tools and stats on some networks that will give you an idea of which programs or products sell best - but this is not always an accurate indicator. If you think you've got a good program on your hands, the next step is to test it.
The best and easiest way to test an affiliate program is to use Google Adwords to set up a pay-per-click advertising campaign. This will give you a good indication of the interest, and the conversion rate.
Ultimately, the best affiliate program is the one that converts well with your target market. Dont try to sell loans on your puppy dog website - sell puppy supplies. It's that simple.
If you dont have a website yet, that's your first step. You will either find a great niche, or a great affiliate program, and use that as your starting point. From there, you absolutely must set up a website. It will be impossible to become a successful affiliate marketer without one.
Best,
p.s. Rosalind Gardner is the woman you should follow if you want to learn the tricks of the trade. See: http://www.clicknewz.com/super-affiliate-handbook.htm She is the one that turned ME into a super-affiliate 😉
About Lynn Terry
Great video Lynn...You really present quite well - be it either a podcast or video.
Lynn, I didn't realize how pretty you were!!
I'm gonna have to be nicer:)
LOL :p
Thank you Sandy - I appreciate that 🙂
Great Job Lynn!
Moving on to videos now huh? You must be a jack of all trades! 🙂
Thanks Lynn
Thanks Paul - nothing new actually. I have a video coming out in the next few posts that explains that - and gives a hilarious flashback into my start in how-to video 😉
Thanks for the response, Lynn.
I like the shirt, by the way. lol
Thanks for the great tips Lynn! Love the video post.
Great video Lynn!
I would just like to make one suggestion though - you seem to be reading from your computer screen a lot - I think it would look a little more "professional" if you would not have to read at all, or read off of a screen that is behind the camera.
I think if you did that, it would come off as a little more polished, kind of like you have been doing video forever and it is second nature to you.
Thank you Marc - true on that one. I've never exactly enjoyed doing video, but its nothing new for me. I'll be incorporating it more and more so I appreciate your feedback and will certainly work in the improvements 🙂
I'm wondering, to promote affiliate products you say having a website is important. Got it. You say that having a good product is important. Got that too. My question is, have you ever experienced starting a site to promote an affiliate product and then the affiliate company did not want to pay you your commission for the goods you helped sell? This seems like a great type of business to be in. I am just wondering if you think it's better to start a website about a specific type of product to promote that product, or a general website about an industry where you can promote different products being offered by different companies within the industry. Please let me know your thoughts on this one Lynn.
There are so many different ways of marketing a campaign that it is hard for a beginner to understand which one to use. A lot of people are just looking for something fast, and don't stick with one strategy long enough to get it going. Whether the affiliate is a good product or not, or what kind of campaign you use. You still have to put in the time and effort.
I agree Scott.
SEO - wow, interesting name your parents picked for you! Anyway, in all my years of Affiliaet Marketing (10+) there have been very few cases of that. Three total I think, and I ended up getting payment from all 3 merchants ultimately. SoI dont worry so much about that.
That said, I do prefer to go with markets or niches, instead of individual products. It gives you a wider reach.
Hey! first time visitor, but gotta say, nice vid post. I get asked the same question alot, but at the end of the day, it really is like you said, matching the product with the niche. I would say sign up for many programs, then you have an array of things to offer and solve the problems of the niche you are targeting! 🙂
Nice video clip and tips. Indeed, if one do not have your own product creation, the next best thing to do is affiliate product marketing where you will promote, experience and learn from the various products being created by different internet marketing experts.
Hi,
Its good to see the video!
Any way, thanks for the good article!
All the best!
Lynn, how much had you get as an affiliate in the SAH?
As a beginner into the affiliate marketing arena, I find that Clickbank is usually one of the easier one to get started with (although there has been reports that there tracking is haywire right now). Commission junction is another good one but keep in mind that if you don't generate any sales they will deactivate your account. Never Blue Ads is another one I've heard good stuff about but they will review your website manually to see if it's a good fit (expect a call from them before they accept you).
Peter
I like having a niche that you can promote a few related products for.
Wouldn't that keep your customers buying more from you?
That Super Affiliate Handbook has been around for ages! That's one of the first popular ebooks I saw when I discovered Affiliate Marketing a few years ago. I guess even now when we're moving on to video marketing, what's in the ebook still applies.
Nice video. I jut downloaded the ebook, I will be cheking it over the weekend. Thank you
Great video.
Affiliate marketing can be very profitable if you can find a good selling product. Of course you also need to get good targeted traffic to make the sales.
Downlaoded the book as well, looks interesting.
You'll love the Super Affiliate Handbook. I have a detailed review here: Super Affiliate Handbook Review. I'd love to hear your thoughts there once you've read it.
Hi
Great post i like it a lot, you seem to know what you're talking about.
Tom
I came upon your site looking for any affiliate networks that payout weekly. I found this post helpful, I'm going to save your blog to my favorites, I need all the help I can get with this IM business
I agree the Super affiliate handbook is a great read one of the few Ebooks I highly recommend to my readers. Just look up reviews on it their are very very few bad reviews on her book. Its well written and very informative highly recommended!
The video has been removed for TOS violation. Aaaaand...the blog post basically says nothing, to sum it up. So. Yeah. Bye.