Every day thousands of people join affiliate programs and yet every day thousands more get discouraged and give up trying to make money from their affiliate programs.
Still, thousands others wait for their generous checks from all sorts of affiliate programs and laugh all the way to the bank, every month. I make good money from an affiliate program using articles as the main part of my affiliate marketing strategy.
But what is more is that there are plenty of other guys out there doing the same, although some of them use more expensive methods than free articles. For example, recently I personally saw a monthly check for $15,000 shown to me by a friend involved in a leading affiliate marketing program.
So what is the difference between the frustrated and the successful?
The difference is that the top earners have an affiliate marketing system for generating a constant supply of leads or traffic to the web sites they represent. In contrast, the ones who do not make any money do not have any system. They often just sit back and wait for things to happen. Sorry folks the hype is just not true. You have to put in some effort!
In this first article in a series, we will deal with 3 key factors one needs to address to launch a successful affiliate marketing strategy using articles that can work for virtually any affiliate program.
1) You must know what works and what doesn't.
The problem with most affiliate programs is that you will not be able to know where your traffic is coming from. Online that is a disaster. It is like flying an aircraft blind. Sooner or later you will crush.
A good solution is to start a blog with an identical topic to your affiliate program. Use a good site meter to carefully monitor the traffic you are receiving. You can then easily refer the people who visit your blog to your affiliate site. To make your blog even more interesting you can carry Google Adsense pay per click ads. This way you can have some income even as you build up your affiliate program. Use the articles that you are posting elsewhere on your blog.
While generating revenue from your blog, do not lose sight of your main objective which is to monitor what articles posted at which web sites are bringing in the most traffic. You can then use this information to constantly improve on the volume of traffic headed to your affiliate program site.
This is yet another reason why it is so important to select an affiliate program based on a subject that you are personally interested in. Maybe closely linked to a hobby you really love. Only then will you have the enthusiasm to constantly come up with various new ideas to market your affiliate program and have the passion required to regularly test and improve and also enjoy doing so.
See my other articles on how to write effective articles and where to post them.
2) Write consistently
Some people will briefly post a few articles and then throw in the towel. What a waste. Not only do they lose the benefits of the viral effect all good articles enjoy on the net (of getting posted and reposted all over the place.) but they will also end up wasting a lot of their valuable time. Time is a very valuable resource, imagine spending so much of it on something and not then you abandon it and end up not having learned anything?
The other thing is that for traffic to rise and continue doing so, you will have to be very consistent with your posting.
3) Use keywords to increase traffic
Ignore keywords at your own peril. Keywords are the currency of online content. You will only enjoy 5% of the effect or even less, if you do not pay attention to keywords.
Look for keywords that are rising in popularity but do not have too much competition yet. That way you will have a fighting chance of pulling in traffic from the search engines, which is the most effective affiliate marketing method so far. This can easily be done using search engines and testing various keywords to see what results you get.
The effectiveness of search engines is the reason why many successful affiliates buy pay-per-click ads as the core of their affiliate marketing strategy. However since you are doing your affiliate marketing with articles, you will need to work a lot harder to place your keyword-rich articles in as many web sites as possible. Done properly it can be just as effective.
For example 10 keyword-rich articles placed in 50 different sites and viewed by an average of just two people per day on average will give you 1000 hits per day. If 20 per cent of these people make it to your affiliate site every day that is 200 serious visitors a day. Enough to make most affiliate programs work well for you.
Please do not take these figures too seriously. It also depends on a lot many other factors which we will discuss in future articles.
Christopher Kyalo is a writer/marketing expert who makes money online only by posting free articles. Visit his blog at http://www.big-online-story.blogspot.com for free tips and valuable secrets.
If you have an entertainment website then you're always looking... Read More
Determining keywords is a critical step in writing articles online... Read More
It is a well known fact that writing, distributing and... Read More
All writers aspire to recognition, but are we dedicated? Ambition... Read More
There is probably no easier way of earning extra money... Read More
Submitting well planned articles on-line will increase traffic and can... Read More
Two important factors that play a part in the rankings... Read More
Why do so many internet marketers waste their time on... Read More
Increase your ezine subscribers by submitting articles once or twice... Read More
A great way for self employed professionals to enhance their... Read More
"But I've only been on the Internet 3 months! How... Read More
Writing articles that are available for reprint is an excellent... Read More
Earlier, I published part 1 of this series, which contained... Read More
SEO writing is very different from content writing, article writing,... Read More
Article marketing is becoming more and more popular, especially as... Read More
Hey! Who's that I see, typing feverishly as brilliant ideas... Read More
Most all ezine publishers need fresh content. Article writing is... Read More
Many online marketers have crowed about the value of writing... Read More
Every webmaster knows that to gain ranking positions in search... Read More
It is not my intention to give you a 5... Read More
Online publishers, ezine subscribers, and Web visitors want short, useful... Read More
When you create your articles in TextPad format, something like... Read More
The first twenty-five words of your article are the most... Read More
One of the most common blunders by those using article... Read More
The traditional print media newsletter is still useful even in... Read More
Find definitions from Q to Z... Query -A letter... Read More
Not every web designer has the time ? or skills... Read More
Never before in the history of the business of writing... Read More
You pick a pen, grab a piece of paper and... Read More
Adsense is a program designed by Google to help publishers... Read More
Everyone that publishes a newsletter or ezine knows that the... Read More
Writing articles related to your business is a great way... Read More
A "Thought Leader" is someone recognized as an authority in... Read More
So you've decided to market your home-based copywriting business through... Read More
Congratulations! You've written your first article (or possibly your 10th... Read More
Looking to build your freelance writing career but don't know... Read More
Do you know the difference between simultaneous article submissions and... Read More
There are many different ways to improve link popularity for... Read More
I've been blogging occasionally over the last two months about... Read More
Article Marketing Builds Momentum and TrafficWhen I started submitting articles... Read More
There are two primary factors in creating a successful reference... Read More
Find definitions from H to P... ~~~~~~~~~~~ H ~~~~~~~~~~~ Haiku... Read More
Ever read one of those web articles written by an... Read More
Inspirational articles were once limited to self-help and religious publications,... Read More
If you want to increase the amount of visitors to... Read More
Writing for websites -- content, as it is called --... Read More
Publishers and webmasters can spend massive amounts of time just... Read More
A great way for self employed professionals to enhance their... Read More
Articles are a fantastic source of links and additional traffic... Read More
You have decided on a great idea and researched a... Read More
People who have an idea for a website sometimes require... Read More
I get asked all the time, "Lorrie, how can I... Read More
Writing quality articles is time consuming for the very best... Read More
It is a well-known fact that a key to obtaining... Read More
If you market online, whether it be your own information... Read More
I am often approached and asked, how do I write... Read More
You, too, can become a recognized expert in your specialized... Read More
Writing and submitting articles to article banks is a well-known... Read More
Submitting well planned articles on-line will increase traffic and can... Read More
No one can logically argue against the fact that content... Read More
The Whole reason you write those articles is so you... Read More
If you've spent any time online trying to promote your... Read More
A Consultant could be an expert about absolutely anything.Calling yourself... Read More
It is not my intention to give you a 5... Read More
Writing articles has proven time and time again to be... Read More
By now you probably understand how important writing for trade... Read More
Article Writing |