Become an Affiliate Later Rather Than Sooner

I attended a presentation a couple of weeks ago given by Internet marketer, Michael Green. Michael runs the 'How To Corp' and has created numerous information products covering a wide range of topics.

There were a number of very interesting points that came out of the presentation but I wanted to 'steal' one of them as the topic of this newsletter. I am sure Michael won't mind :-)

The point in question is a simple one but one which is regularly overlooked by people just starting out in Internet marketing and that is to get into affiliate marketing later rather than sooner.

Many people jump at the chance of selling someone else's product as an affiliate as there are many obvious advantages:

No need to create a product of your own No involvement in the delivery or support of the product Minimal contact with customers No need to have your own website

At first glance, affiliate marketing can appear to be the ideal business opportunity and in many ways, it is. However, if you are new to Internet marketing and have no website, no email list and no traffic, affiliate marketing will almost certainly be a lot of hard work.

The key to being a successful affiliate is to be able to drive reasonable levels of traffic to a sales page that is relevant to the traffic in question. If you don't have any existing traffic or a mailing list, the chances are that you are going to have to pay for this traffic (at least initially). Whilst this can be very effective, it can also take time to get right and will be costing money in the process.

Therefore, to go back to the original statement, getting involved in affiliate marketing is definitely a good idea but if you start to work as an affiliate once you have built up your own website, traffic and mailing list, you will find that it is far more rewarding.

To illustrate this further, when I first started writing this newsletter, I would often throw in the odd affiliate link but they rarely resulted in any sales. The reason for this was simple - I hardly had any subscribers on the mailing list! Over the years, as my list has grown and as subscribers have 'got to know me' and I have gained more trust, my affiliate sales have increased.

Looking at it from another angle, I find that my most successful affiliates are those that have an established website or mailing list. Of course, this makes perfect sense since there is already existing traffic to sell to and often no effort is required other than adding a hyperlink to a web page or giving a product a mention in mailshot.

Once you have an existing website and customers/subscribers, you will also start to build credibility in your chosen field/industry. This means that your customers are more likely to trust your recommendations and actually purchase something if you promote it as being a great product.

In the early days of my Internet marketing career, I would regularly try and promote products that were about making money online. I wasn't very successful with these promotions and one of the main reasons was that I wasn't personally making much money online. Once I started to become more successful and my customers/subscribers were able to see that I did actually know what I was talking about, they were far more willing to purchase these types of products from me or on my recommendation.

Therefore, in summary, get your own website/product/newsletter/whatever up and running first and then concentrate on adding additional value to your product range by promoting relevant affiliate products.

If you choose to go down the road of only selling products as an affiliate, remember that this is perfectly possible to do but it will take time, hard work and a fair bit of patience.

Of course, the other benefit in selling your own product is that you don't have to share the sales proceeds :-)

Copyright 2005 Richard Grady

Richard Grady has been helping ordinary people earn online since 1998. He writes a free newsletter which is published every two weeks. To subscribe (and claim your free gifts), visit: http://www.thetraderonline.com/newsletter.html

---

10 Explosive Ways To Elevate Your Sales

1. Publish an ezine.Your ezine will provide you with a... Read More

How To Make Make Money From a Website

I've had numerous conversations with web entrepreneurs about this topic... Read More

Boost Your Sales Copy With One Simple Tweak

Do you want an amazingly simple trick to move far... Read More

Silver Surfers: Successful Online Marketing to Seniors

If you are marketing to an older audience, don't discount... Read More

Flat Tires, Slow Leaks, and Online Marketing

Does your online marketing campaign have a flat tire? Or... Read More

The Biggest Internet Marketing Mistake Victorias Secret Will Never Make

Victoria's Secret has about 1500 retail stores, a world class... Read More

How Do You Make Gold Online Without A Database?

That is a great question!We all know by now that... Read More

Help Your Online Customers Feel Confident Even If Theyve Never Heard Of You

The Internet world is truly exciting ? there is no... Read More

Paris Hilton? Your Online Marketing Fails Because You Market As If You Were Ms Hilton

Are you Paris Hilton? Is your name instantly recognizable when... Read More

Internet Marketing Strategy: Online Joint Venture Ideas To Increase Your Business

A joint venture is when two or more businesses join... Read More

A Powerful Selling Tool on the Net - 3 Factors To Apply

The Internet is a powerful selling tool. Never before has... Read More

10 Explosive Ways To Turbo-Boost Your Sales

1. Design your web site to be a targeted resource... Read More

Internet Marketing Secrets Spiel

Wouldn't you like to know all the Internet marketing "secrets"... Read More

Internet Marketing Reality Check

There are thousands of web sites, books, CD-ROM's, cassette tapes... Read More

Dealing with Refund Requests ? Internet Marketing

I think we all cringe and dread when we open... Read More

Having The Right Attitude And Start Becoming A Problem Solver

Do you really want to make money online?Do you want... Read More

Online Advertising for Dummies

Whether you are checking your email, shopping on a website... Read More

The New Marketing Landscape

Many of us in the marketing services and/or agency business... Read More

10 Ways To Increase Your Ads Efeectiveness

The current climate on the internet is very unfavourable to... Read More

An Internet Marketing Secret: Using Tie-Downs to Increase Sales

If you could get your prospective customers nodding their heads... Read More

Is that Niche Really Going to Make You Money?

Find a niche; pick a niche, niche markets will make... Read More

How You Can Acquire Exclusive Rights To Products; Part 1 of 2

If you have a marketing business, chances are you get... Read More

Book Yourself Solid Key Number 2: Choose Your Ideal Clients

The Book Yourself Solid article series continues withKey Number 2:... Read More

Scam And Scheme Free Advertising For Your Business Web Site

Since I own my own business web site and have... Read More

Outsourcing Your Web Marketing

The online world is constantly evolving. You may be thinking... Read More

Enough With the Upsells Already!

It happened twice during the same week. All I wanted... Read More

Generating Sales with Lead Generation and Online Marketing Tools

One of the best projects to undertake as an online... Read More

To Make the Most Dollars, Make The Most Sense

The world of Internet marketing isn't all it's cracked up... Read More

What You Wont Learn In Business School

What You Won't Learn in Business School----------------------------------------We all know the... Read More

The Five Golden Keys To Massive Passive Income

You can earn a large monthly passive income with a... Read More

Building Community Websites = Success Online

In this article I will discuss how important is it... Read More

10-Essential Points When Considering Pop-Under Advertising

I have been running tests on the use of Pop-Unders... Read More

Beat The Phenomenon Of Awful Sale Statistics

It is a purely shocking statistic, that only 4 in... Read More