Are you thinking about getting into affiliate marketing or do you already have a few affiliate links on your website but you just don’t seem to be able to drive any traffic to those links? No matter what stage you are at with your online business journey, this guide will give you all the tips and strategies you need to master affiliate marketing, so that you can generate income for your online business.

Affiliate marketing seems like a magic money-making formula and all the online gurus are talking about it but actually, it is a little more complicated than that. In fact, strategic tactics that are popular with online marketing can be implemented in the affiliate marketing world, so with these top affiliate marketing tips to increase your sales and survive in the online business world!

Lesson 1: The 3 affiliate marketing tips all affiliate marketers need to know

1. Show them, don’t sell them

One big mistake a lot of online affiliate marketers make is by hard-selling their visitors, instead of showing their visitors exactly what these products can do for them. No one is going to trust you or buy an item that you recommend if all you’re doing is displaying that flashy “buy” button everywhere. 

If the product will solve the problems that your visitors have, then they will likely buy it. Show them about your experience with the product, how your affiliate product works and how they can help your visitors.

Always include useful product reviews when you’re talking about the affiliate product so visitors will have an understanding of what the product can do for them. Include testimonials from users who have already tried the product to increase credibility. Make sure that these customers are willing to allow you to use their names and photos on the site of the specific product you are marketing.

You can also write articles highlighting the uses of the product and include them on your website. Make the pages attractive and include CTA (Call To Actions), without overwhelming your visitors.

2. Be honest

Ok, I get it. The shiny affiliate commission can be tempting but if you were to promote products that aren’t reputable or ones that you don’t necessarily like or use, then chances are either your audience will buy it and not like it, or they will see that you don’t really know about the products and get turned off. 

Even if you have not used them personally, at the very least, you should only recommend products that people you trust have enjoyed and recommended.

Be honest with your audience. Don’t sell for the sake of generating profit because your audience will see right through you. If you lose that trust, it is likely you will never get the trust back.

3. Get the kind of traffic that is targeted to your product

Just think, if the person who visited your website has no interest whatsoever in what you are offering, they will be among those who move on and never come back. 

Include useful information and content on your website. This way you can attract your target customers and what you have put up might just grab their interest. By continuously writing and maintaining these articles, you can build trust with your audience.

Try to use these tips for several affiliate marketing programs. You can end maintaining a good source of income in this business that not all marketers can do.

Lesson 2: Things to know when starting out in affiliate marketing 

Do a little research about the choices of programs that you intend to join into. Get some answers because they will be the deciding point of what you will be achieving later on.

1. Promote what you use

Honestly, this is so important and ties back into lesson 1. What tools are you using in your business? Do you like them? Would you like to recommend them to other people and make a commission? 

Check if these tools have affiliate programs and sign up for those. Since you are already using them in your online business, people will be more likely to trust your recommendations.

2. Will it cost you anything to join? 

Most affiliate programs being offered today are absolutely free of charge. There are some affiliate networks such as Awin that charges you 5 dollars when you first sign up, but you can get it back once you make your affiliate commissions.  

3. When do they issue the commission? 

Every program is different. Some issue their checks once a month, every quarter, etc. Many affiliate programs are setting a minimum earned commission amount that an affiliate must meet or exceed in order for their checks to be issued

4. What is the hit per sale ratio? 

This is the average number of hits to a banner or text link it takes to generate a sale based on all affiliate statistics. This factor is important because this will tell you how much traffic you must generate before you can earn a commission from the sale.

5. How are referrals from an affiliate’s site tracked and for how long do they remain in the system? 

Check the percentage or set fee that you will get per affiliate that signs up to the product through your affiliate link. It is also important for you to keep in mind the period of time, called the “Cookie period”, that people stay in the system. This is because some visitors do not buy initially but may want to return later to make the purchase. Know if you will still get credit for the sale if it is done some months from a certain day.

6. What are the kinds of affiliate stats available? 

Your choice of affiliate program should be capable of offering detailed stats. They should be available online anytime you decide to check them out. Constantly checking your individual stats is important to know how many impressions, hits and sales are generated from your promotions. Impressions are the number of times the banner or text link was viewed by a visitor of your site. A hit is the one clicking on the banner or text links.

7. Is the affiliate a one tier or two tier program? 

A single tier program pays you only for the business you yourself have generated. A two-tier program pays you for the business, plus it also pays you a commission on the sales generated by any affiliate you sponsor in your program. Some two-tier programs are even paying small fees on each new affiliate you sponsor. More like a recruitment fee.

8. What is the amount of commission paid? 

20% – 60% is the commission paid by most programs. However, this is just a rough reference and the commission rates depend heavily on the program. Some companies pay you once when the user you bring in makes a purchase. Some companies pay you a recurring commission, especially on monthly subscriptions. 

You should be familiar with the many important aspects that your chosen program should have before incorporating them into your website. These can help you select the right program for your business.

Lesson 3: Which affiliate program to sign up to

It is obvious you want to be with a program that offers high-quality products that your customers will love. There are many different affiliate networks for you to choose from and here, let’s have a look at which affiliate network to look out for.

How do you choose a good affiliate program to promote? Here are some tips you may want to look over before choosing one:

1. A program that you like and have interest in

One of the best ways of knowing if that is the kind of program you wish to promote is if you are interested in purchasing the product yourself. If that is the case, chances are, there are many others who are also interested in the same program and products.

2. Look for a program that is of high quality

For instance, look for one that is associated with many experts in that particular industry. This way, you are sure that this program is reputable.

3. Join in the ones that offer real and viable products

How do you know this? Do some initial research. If possible, track down some of the members and customers to give you testimonial on the credibility of the program.

4. Program that is catering to a growing target market

This will ensure you that there will be more and continuous demands for your referrals. Make inquiries. There are forums and discussions you can participate in to get good and reliable feedbacks.

5. A program with a compensation plan

Look out for a program that pays out a residual income and a payout of 40% or more. I’m not saying you should only think about the money and not the value of the products, but ultimately, you’re doing affiliate marketing because you want to add an income stream. If you only sign up to affiliate programs that have low payouts, then chances are, even if you bring in a lot of customers, you will still not make much money. You want your work to pay off.

6. Be aware of the minimum targets that you must fulfill

Some affiliate programs imposes prerequisites before you get your commissions. Just be sure that you are capable of attaining their requirements.

7. Select one that has plenty of tools and resources

Some programs have great promotional images that can help you grow the business and generate more clicks and sales. Make use to use these tools and resources if the affiliate program you choose has them available for you.

8. Program incentives for members to renew their membership 

The affiliate program that provides continuous help and upgrades for its products have the tendency to retain its members. These things can assure the growth of your networks.

Knowing the kind of program you are getting yourself into will make you anticipate and prevent any future problems you may encounter.

Lesson 4: Using Product Recommendations

In affiliate marketing, there are many ways in which you can increase your earnings and maintain the account that you have worked so hard for already. Most of the techniques and tactics can be learned easily and they will continue to work for you even in your sleep. 

One of the more important ways of increasing affiliate marketing sale is through the use of product recommendations. Many marketers know that this is one of the most effective ways of promoting a certain product.

If the customers or visitors trust you enough, then they will definitely trust your recommendations. Be very careful in using this approach, though. If you start promoting everything by recommendation, your credibility will actually wear thin. This is seen especially when recommendations are seemingly exaggerated and without much merit.

Do not be afraid to mention things that you do not like about a given product or service. Rather than lose any points for you, this will make your recommendation more trustworthy and will tend to increase your credibility.

Furthermore, if your visitors are really interested in what you are offering, they will be more than delighted to learn what is good about the product, what is not so good, and how the product will benefit them.

When you are recommending a certain product, there are some things to remember on how to make it work effectively and for your advantage.

1. Sound like the expert in your field

Remember this simple equation: Price resistance diminishes in direct proportion to trust. If your visitors feel and believe that you are an expert in your niche, they are more inclined to making that purchase. On the other hand, if you are not exuding any confidence and self-assurance in endorsing your products, they will probably feel that same way and will go in search of another product or service which is more believable.

2. How do you establish this kind of expertise

By offering unique and new solutions they would not get anywhere else. Show proof that what you are promoting works as promised. Display prominent testi-monials and endorsements from respected and known personalities, in related fields of course.

3. Avoid hype at all costs

It is better to sound low key and confident than to scream and seek attention. Besides, you would not want to sound unprofessional and have that thinking stick to your potential customers and clients, now would you? Best to appear cool and self-assured at the same time.

4. Remember your visitors are not stupid 

They are actually turning to experts and may already know the things that you know. If you back up your claims with hard facts and data, they would gladly put down hundreds, or even thousands worth of money to your promotions. But if you don’t, they are smart enough to try and look at your competitors and what they are offering.

While recommending a product, you can also give out promotional freebies. People are already familiar with the concept of offering freebies to promote your own products. But very few people do this to promote affiliate products. Try to offer freebies that can promote or even have some information about your products or services.

Before you add recommendations to you product, it is given that you should try and test the product and support. Do not run the risk of promoting junk products and services. Just think how long it took you to build credibility and trust among your visitors. All that will take to destroy it is one big mistake on your part.

If possible, have recommendations of products that you have 100% confidence in. Test the product support before you begin to ensure that the people you are referring to would not be left high and dry when a problem suddenly arises.

Have a look at your affiliate market and look at the strategies you are using. You may not be focusing on the recommendations that your products need to have. Your plan of action is sometimes not the only thing that is making your program work.

Try product recommendations and be among those few who have proven its worth.

Lesson 5: Using Camtasia to increase your Affiliate sales

Since there are already lots of people getting into affiliate marketing, it is no wonder that the competition is getting stiff. The challenge is to try and outdo other affiliates and think of ways to be able to attain this.

There are also many tips and techniques being taught to these affiliates in order to best plan their strategy for their program to work effectively so that more earnings will be achieved.

What better way to wow your prospects and customers than to record and publish top notch, full motion and streaming screen-captured videos. Nothing like feeling your hard work getting paid by having your customers jumping up excitedly in great anticipation to buy your product right there and then.

This is Camtasia in action. It is a proven fact; giving your customers something they can actually see can explode your online sales instantly.

• You do not need to have training and education to be able to know how this system can work for your affiliate program.
• Anyone can create stunning videos, from multimedia tutorials and step-by-step presentations available online.
• The process is like having your customers seated next to you and looking at your desktop, as you show them the things they need to see and hear.

For those who does not know it yet, how does Camtasia work? 

• Camtasia can record your desktop activity in a single click. No need to have to save and compile all your files because it is recorded right there and then.
• Can easily convert your videos into web pages. Once converted you can have your customers visiting that certain page. Videos are easier to understand and take in unlike reading texts which oftentimes is a trying thing to do.
• Upload your pages- Publish them through blogs, RSS feed and podcasts. You may want your Camtasia videos to get around and reach out to other people that may be potential customers in the future. Nothing like being visible in many sites and pages to advertise yourself and get your message through.
• Create stunning multimedia presentations that are proven to increase sales because all the senses are engaged. This also has a tendency to reduce scepticism among hard-to-please customers.
• Reduce refunds and other customer issues by demonstrating visually how to use your product and how to do it properly. Complaints will also be minimized because all the facts and the presentation are there for the customers to just see and hear about.
• Promote affiliate products and services using visual presentations. This is an effective way of redirecting your viewers straight to your affiliate website after they are finished with the video. Make the most of the presentation by putting your site location in the end and make them go there directly if they want more information
• Multiple your online auction bids exponentially when you give your readers a feel of what you have to offer. Based from reports, auctions that include pictures increases bidding percentage by 400%. Imagine how much higher it will be if it were videos.
• Publish valuable info products that you can sell for a much higher price. It will be all worth the price because of the full colored graphics menu and templates that you will be using.
• Minimize miscommunication with your customers. Instantly showing them what you want they wanted in the first place is making them understand clearly the essence of your affiliate program. The good thing about multimedia is, nothing much can go wrong. It is there already.

These are just some of the things you can do with Camtasia that can be very helpful in your chosen affiliate program.

Note that the main purpose of using Camtasia is to boost the income that is generated from your affiliate program. Although it can be used for entertainment and enjoyment purposes, which is not really a valid reason why you choose to get all through that trouble.

Try to focus on the goal that you have set upon yourself and achieve that with the use of the things that may be quite a lot of help in increasing your earnings.

Lesson 6: Top 3 ways to boost your affiliate commissions overnight

The ideal world of affiliate marketing does not require having your own website, dealing with customers, refunds, product development and maintenance. This is one of the easiest ways of launching into an online business and earning more profits.

Assuming you are already into an affiliate program, what would be the next thing you would want to do? Double, or even triple, your commissions, right? How do you do that?

Here are some powerful tips on how to boost your affiliate program commissions overnight.

1. Know the best program and products to promote

Obviously, you would want to promote a program that will enable you to achieve the greatest profits in the shortest possible time.

There are several factors to consider in selecting such a program. Choose the ones that have a generous commission structure. Have products that fit in with your target audience. And that has a solid track record of paying their affiliate easily and on time. If you cannot seem to increase your investments, dump that program and keep looking for better ones.

There are thousands of affiliate programs online which gives you the reason to be picky. You may want to select the best to avoid losing your advertising dollars.

Write free reports or short ebooks to distribute from your site. There is a great possibility that you are competing with other affiliates that are promoting the same program. If you start writing a short report related to the product you are promoting, you will be able to distinguish yourself from the other affiliates.

In the reports, provide some valuable information for free. If possible, add some recommendations about the products. With Ebooks, you get credibility. Customers will see that in you and they will be enticed to try out what you are offering.

2. Use email marketing 

It is a known fact that people do not make a purchase on the first solicitation. You may want to send out your message more than six times to make a sale.

This is the simple reason why you should collect the contact information of your visitors. You can follow up on these contacts to build the relationship, and promote the affiliate products to them.

Get the contact information of a prospect before sending them to the vendor’s website. Keep in mind that you are providing free advertisement for the product owners. You get paid only when you make a sale. If you send prospects directly to the vendors, chances are they would be lost to you forever.

Find out more about email marketing tips here.

3. Ask for higher commission from affiliate programs

If you are already successful with a particular promotion, you should try and approach the affiliate program and negotiate a percentage commission for your sales.

Keep in mind that you are a zero-risk investment to your program; so do not be shy about requesting for additional commissions. Just try to be reasonable about it.

Try out these strategies and see the difference it can make to your commission checks in the shortest of time.

Lesson 7: How to avoid the 3 most common affiliate mistakes 

Here are some hazard signs and dangerous waters you shouldn’t be treading on in the affiliate marketing scene!

Affiliate marketing is one of the most effective and powerful ways of making money online. This program gives everybody a chance to make a profit through the internet. Since these affiliate marketing programs are easy to join, implement and pay regular commission, more and more people are using affiliate marketing to add an extra income stream.

However, like all businesses, there are lots of pitfalls in the affiliate marketing business. Making some of the most common mistakes will cost you a large portion taken from the profit you could be making. Here are 3 most common affiliate mistakes you need to avoid.

You can find more about common mistakes people make with affiliate marketing.

Mistake 1: Choosing the wrong affiliate

Many people want to earn from affiliate marketing as fast as possible. In their rush to be part of one, they tend to choose a band-wagon product. This is the kind of product that the program thinks is “hot”. They choose the product that is in demand without actually considering if the product appeals to them. This is not a very wise move obviously.

Instead of jumping on the bandwagon, try to choose a product in which you are truly interested in. For any endeavor to succeed, you should take some time to plan and figure out your actions.

Pick a product that appeals to you. Then do some research about that product to see if they are in demand. Promoting a product you are more passionate about is easier than promoting one for the sake of the earnings only.

Mistake 2: Joining too many affiliate programs

Since affiliate programs are very easy to join, you might be tempted to join multiples of affiliate programs to try and maximize the earnings you will be getting. Besides you may think that there is nothing wrong and nothing to lose by being part of many affiliate programs.

True, that is a great way to have multiple sources of income. However, joining multiple programs and attempting to promote them all at the same time will prevent you from concentrating on each one of them.

The result? The maximum potential of your affiliate program is not realized and the income generated will not exactly be as huge as you were thinking initially it would. Give your best effort by promoting your products enthusiastically. As soon as you see that it is already making a reasonable profit, then maybe you can now join another affiliate program.

The technique is to do it slowly but surely. There is really no need to rush into things, especially with affiliate marketing. With the way things are going, the future is looking real bright and it seems affiliate marketing will be staying for a long time too.

Mistake 3: Not buying the product or using the service

As an affiliate, your main purpose is to effectively and convincingly promote a product or service and to find customers. For you to achieve this purpose, you must be able to show the customers that certain product and service. It will be difficult if you have not tried these things out. You will likely fail to promote and recommend them convincingly. 

Try the product or service personally first before you sign up as an affiliate to see if it is really delivering what it promises. If you have done so, then you are one of the credible and living testaments aware of its advantages and disadvantages. Your customers will then feel the sincerity and truthfulness in you and this will trigger them to try them out for themselves.

Many affiliate marketers make these mistakes and are paying for their actions. To not fall into the same situation they have been in, try to do everything to avoid making the same mistakes.

These are just some of the many things you need to be aware of when you are planning to enter the affiliate marketing world. Affiliate marketing is a great way to add an income stream but it is also important to take it one step at a time. Implement what you learn through these lessons and you will be making money in no time. 

Conclusion

Affiliate marketing is a great way to generate income but it is also important to think about your target audience first, before thinking about the commission. If you put your audience first, you are likely to be able to gain trust and generate more income in the long run. Take these affiliate marketing tips in mind and good luck on your journey with affiliate marketing.