Top 5 Tips For Frustrated Affiliate Program Marketers

Do you go through affiliate programs like most people go through pairs of socks? Many Internet marketers do. In fact, 97% of all Internet marketers never make a single cent advertising opportunities on the Internet. They jump from one opportunity to the next and never see results. If you want to break free from this cycle of failure-- if you want to earn a living off of your Internet ventures--continue reading. I will tell you exactly how you can earn money from any legitimate affiliate program.

In order to get the most information from what I am about to explain to you, you must accept that these methods are not intended to be "secrets." These are scientifically-proven, best-practice methods that all top marketers use. If you want results, you will have to do and continue to do the following five things:

1. Know your product. Do not advertise for a product or affiliate program that you are not currently using. I cannot even count the amount of affiliate programs and product offers I have rejected immediately from people who know very little about what they are actually promoting. If you want to make money selling a product or service, you have to use it, understand it, and be able to convince your prospects that they should own it. If you yourself do not believe in it-- because you have not even tried it--then you will have a hard time convincing anyone else it is worthwhile.

2. Know your field. You must continually become more knowledgeable about the market in which you are selling your product or service. For instance, I try to read at least 50 pages on Internet marketing each day to complement the marketing I do. This keeps me learning about my field. The best part about this is that you can do it without spending any money at all. The Internet is loaded with free content sites where you can find free ebooks and special reports on any subject. The Internet is also loaded with affiliate program promoters who are out-selling you. Use google to find these sites and then reverse engineer them--pick apart the source code, page setup, and content layout to find out how you can become more like your competition who is outselling you.

3. Focus your efforts and limit your innovation. As much as "limiting your innovation" may go against your business instincts, it is an absolute must with a limited marketing budget. Figure out what works for you scientifically by measuring your advertising results. When you find something that works, stick with it. If you are getting traffic from reciprocal links, continue to build them. If you are getting constant sign-ups from your newsletter, improve your newsletter and order more leads. Do not stray far from your original plan. Preset the amount of innovative ideas you want to try out each night, but center your marketing efforts around getting better results from methods that have already worked for you.

4. Spend money wisely. The Internet is loaded with scams and bad information. It is really easy to be tricked into blowing money on "get rich quick" schemes and information that you can find in free resources. I personally have spent thousands of dollars needlessly. But do not get me wrong; I am not saying there are no legitimate affiliate promotion services or information products out there: I am saying that the vast majority of them do not work as well as they say they do. So hold onto your cash. When you find a product that multiple people have personally recommended to you, then consider buying it. Otherwise, conserve your cash for purchasing services or products that will produce hard, definite results, such as email leads for your newsletter or phone leads you can contact personally to promote your program.

5. Remember that your success is dependent on your choices and your work alone. If you get upset about not becoming successful with a specific affiliate program, do not blame the program--blame yourself. Do a thorough analysis of what you could be doing better and how you could be making quantitative progress every single day. There are people who do not pay any money at all for promotional services and yet are still able to make a living just from using free tools on the Internet. If they can do it, there is no reason at all why you cannot. Joining a marketing group or forum in your field will help you realize this reality. Seeing and talking to people who are succeeding in your field will remind you that it is entirely possible to make money online without having a million dollars to begin with.

While there are some "secrets" to getting more sign-ups and site visitors, the bigger part of affiliate program marketing is following a sound business plan. If you keep the five concepts I have listed above central to your marketing campaign, you will not fail. But, if you continue to market sporadically--switching from product to product and method to method--you will never break out of that 97% who never make money.

Copyright 2004 Isaiah Hull

About The Author

Isaiah Hull publishes Home Business Tips, a fresh and informative newsletter that focuses on building successful internet businesses and promoting affiliate programs. Stop by http://www.workathomerightnow.net or send a blank email to mailto:workathomerightnow.com to receive a year's subscription for free.

In The News:


TechCrunch

Refer.ly Lets Regular Folks Earn Affiliate Revenue For Recommending Products ...
TechCrunch
Will a few dollars in affiliate revenue motivate people enough to use Refer.ly? Don't we just share products with friends and family because we genuinely love to help other people out? Morrill said she doesn't expect Refer.ly users to make a living off ...
Danielle Morrill leaves Twilio to start Y Combinator-backed ReferlyGeekWire

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Advertising, affiliate revs lift Scripps: Revenue rose 11% to $535 million
Chicago Tribune
Scripps Networks Interactive, parent of Food Network, HGTV and The Travel Channel, said strong advertising and affiliate revenue boosted profit last quarter despite hefty programming costs. Net profit rose to $115 million from $101 million.
Ad & Affiliate Revenues Boost Scripps ResultsWorld Screen
Scripps Networks 1Q Net Up 14% On Stronger Ad RevenueWall Street Journal
Scripps Networks Interactive reports first quarter financial resultsMarketWatch (press release)
Zacks.com -NASDAQ
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Many nonprofits incorrectly claim no expense for fund-raising
Knoxville News Sentinel
By Thomas Hargrove Scripps Howard News Service Goodwill Industries operates more than 2600 retail stores, like this one in Sarasota, Fla., where leaders are rethinking how they report overhead costs to the Internal Revenue Service and the American ...
Local charities following tax reporting rulesRecord-Searchlight
Scripps national investigation: Thousands of nonprofits misreport fundraising ...Corpus Christi Caller Times
Harvard University has the distinction of running a nonprofit organizationTimes Record News

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Wall Street Journal

AMC Networks Earnings Call Insights: Affiliate Revenue Growth, Ratings
Wall St. Cheat Sheet
Two questions first on the affiliate revenue growth, 8% in the first quarter, two things there. Number one, it is an acceleration from your full year rate from last year. Does that acceleration represent some – or is that primarily due to some of the ...
AMC Networks 1Q Net Rises 45% On Strong Advertising RevenueWall Street Journal
AMC Reports Higher First-Quarter EarningsBroadcasting & Cable
AMC Networks quarterly profit jumps 45%MarketWatch
Chicago Tribune -paidContent.org -MediaPost Communications
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Three Multistate Tax Alerts from McDonald Hopkins law firm --
Sacramento Bee
A United States District Court in Colorado recently issued a permanent injunction against the Colorado Department of Revenue from imposing strict notice requirements on out-of-state sellers who do not collect sales tax on internet sales in the state.

and more »

MiamiHerald.com

Viacom Reports Higher Results For Second Quarter 2012
MarketWatch (press release)
Revenues in the second quarter increased 2% to $3.33 billion, driven primarily by higher Media Networks affiliate revenues. Operating income grew 23% to $932 million, reflecting the overall increase in revenues, as well as lower expenses principally ...
Viacom profit beats, but Nickelodeon worries loomBaltimore Sun
Viacom's 2Q Earnings Soar 56% on Networks StrengthFox Business
Viacom Profit Rises, Tops EstimatesNASDAQ
World Screen
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News Corporation Reports Third Quarter Earnings Per Share of $0.38; Growth of ...
MarketWatch (press release)
Contributions from STAR in India were essentially in line with the prior year, as higher revenues were offset by increased programming costs, including those from new channel launches. Affiliate revenue growth of 15% at the domestic cable channels for ...

and more »

PFSweb Reports 50% Service Fee Revenue Growth in First Quarter of 2012 ...
MarketWatch (press release)
"New business agreements and expanding existing client engagements continue to drive our strong Service Fee Business growth, resulting in a 50% increase in Service Fee revenue for the first quarter of 2012 compared to the first quarter of 2011," stated ...

and more »

TIME

The Walt Disney Company Reports Second Quarter Earnings
MarketWatch (press release)
The increase at ESPN was driven by higher affiliate and advertising revenue partially offset by higher programming and production costs. The increase in affiliate revenue was due to contractual rate increases and a reduction in revenue deferrals ...
Disney 2Q Profit Climbs 21% On Cable, Theme Park GainsWall Street Journal
Walt Disney's CEO Discusses Q2 2012 Results - Earnings Call TranscriptSeeking Alpha
Disney Fires on All Cylinders in 2QMorningstar.com

all 517 news articles »

Limbaugh Affiliate Cumulus Media Reports Millions In Lost Revenue
Media Matters for America (blog)
If carrying Limbaugh on 38 stations results in millions in advertiser losses over the course of two months, then when you factor in all the other affiliates as well as Premiere's own advertiser interests, the scale of lost revenue associated with ...

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