An affiliate marketing business is low cost with huge profit potential.

Photo courtesy of bfishadow

You can do affiliate marketing as a business or an a sideline for your main online business. Some tout it as fast, easy and low-cost. Let’s just see, shall we?

How Fast is Fast?

If you’re experienced online and decide some new product or service you bought is wonderful, you can join the affiliate program for it, get your affiliate link and recommend the product to your list.

Better yet, create a free report or ecourse that enhances the product, create an opt-in page for it and add a personal bonus for anyone who buys through your link.

This person could get at least one sale within 24 hours and feel it did poorly.

What If You’re Not Experienced?

You might not have used a product, so don’t know what you could recommend. So you’ must buy, use and review one. You maybe don’t have articles already written that you can repurpose into a free report or ecourse, so you must write them.

You may not have a blog yet, so you’d start a blog (better if you own the domain it’s on). You may not have a domain name for the opt-in page, so buy a domain name and hosting for the affiliate product’s opt-in page. You may not have an autoresponder yet, much less a list of people interested in what you say.

How Easy is Easy?

This depends on how much practice you’ve gotten with every step mentioned above–and more besides. An experienced person can upload a report in seconds. An inexperienced person could be stuck for a week, unable to get the settings right for logging in to their server.

An experienced person can create a download page or thank you message with a download link while drinking a cup of coffee. A newbie needs a checklist of every step, plus some assistance from an ebook, tutorial or friend.

Is It Really Low-Cost?

Yes, this part is quite true for everyone. You can join affiliate programs for free. If someone wants money before you can send traffic their way, go elsewhere.

You can write articles for free. It takes time and practice to make great titles with good keywords, provide good information and create resource boxes with a right bait.

You can spend under $10 for a domain name, around $5 a month for hosting and $10 a month for an autoresponder. Or you can start with a free site as a home base for your traffic. Just know you could be shut down if the site decides you’ve violated their terms of service by running an affiliate marketing business with it.

Best,

Karen

P.S.

If you’re not making the money you expected from affiliate marketing, which steps are you missing?

URL forwarding zips this fast!

Photo courtesy of Sabbath_Photography

If you write affiliate marketing articles for ezinearticles.com, here’s how to make a domain name in your resource box send your reader to your affiliate link.

Buy Your Domain Name

If you need a new name, use a keyword phrase for the product or service you’re an affiliate for. You can’t use the exact name, so get a similar one. For instance, if you’re an affiliate for GoDaddy, you might buy a domain name like: getdomainnamenow.com.

No Dotcom Available?

If you can’t get the name you want as a .com, buy a .info or .org or .biz. Some cost less and work great for your affiliate link. Here’s how to do URL forwarding after you pay for your new domain name.

While Logged in at GoDaddy.com

When you’re logged in at GoDaddy.com, your “My Account” page lists your domains. On the top right, click “View Domain Manager”. Once there, put a check mark in the box in front of your new domain name. This activates icons across the top of your list.

Hover over the Forward Icon

On the Forward icon, select Forward Domain. A new window opens. Copy and paste your affiliate link into the box. The first part is already in the first box. Keep a check mark in the box marked Update my DNS Settings. Click Preview to see if the link shows you the sales page.

Select Forwarding with Masking

This gives you three more boxes. In the first box, type a sentence as the title, giving a main benefit of your product in 80 characters. The middle box wants a 149-150 character description. You can elaborate a bit here.

The last box gives you 498-500 characters for keywords and keyword phrases for the product or service you’re an affiliate for. Type in as many as you can, separated by commas, no spaces after the commas. Click OK when done.

A message says please allow a few minutes for your changes to take effect. You can logout.

Test Your Link

Type your new domain name into a browser address bar and hit Enter. Did you land  on your affiliate product sales page? You’re ready to rumble!

Write an Article or Thirty

Select a good keyword phrase for your affiliate product. Use it in your title, first sentence and last sentence. Provide good information so a reader can start solving their problem, with something held back so they’ll look for it in your resource box.

Your Resource Box

Put your new domain name as a link in a sentence, like this: <a href=”yourdomain.com”>your keyword phrase</a> Good luck with your affiliate marketing!

Best,

Karen

P.S.

The bike racer wants to win. So do you. Are you sure you haven’t missed a lap in your affiliate marketing? Click here!

URL forwarding zips this fast!

Photo courtesy of Mauropm

If you write articles for ezinearticles.com for affiliate marketing, here’s how to make your resource box domain name send your reader to your affiliate link.

If You Need a New Name

Use a good niche keyword phrase related to the product or service you’re an affiliate for. Don’t use the exact name. You want something similar. For instance, if you’re an affiliate for NameCheap, you might buy a domain name like cheapdomainname.com. If the name you want is already taken, you might add the word now: cheapdomainnamenow.com.

If You Can’t Get a .com Name

Select .info or .org or .biz. It’s cheaper and works just as well for your affiliate link. Once you’ve paid for your new domain name, you can do your URL forwarding.

When You’re Logged in at NameCheap.com

Click on “Manage Domains” under “My Account.” If you have more than one domain name, you’ll see a list of them. Put a check mark in the box in front of the name of your new domain name. You’ll be taken to a new page. On the left sidebar, under “Host Management” click “URL Forwarding.”

Now you’ll see two empty boxes under IP ADDRESS/URL.

One has @ in front of it, the other has www in front of it. Put your affiliate link into these two boxes, either by copying and pasting, or by typing it without errors.

Go to the other two boxes on the right under RECORD TYPE.

Click in these boxes and select “URL Redirect.” Ignore the last two boxes. Click “Save Changes” button.

Test your link.

Type your new domain name into a browser address bar, click Enter and see if you land on the sales page for your affiliate product. Did it work? You’re good to go!

Now Write Your First Article

Use a good keyword phrase for the product in your title and the first and last sentence or paragraph. Give your reader a good tip or two on how they can start solving their problem. Hold one back so they’ll keep reading.

Your Resource Box Link

Somewhere in a sentence or two that looks like the rest of the article, put your new domain name as a link. Like this: <a href=”yourdomain.com”>your keyword phrase</a> Good luck with your affiliate marketing!

Best,

Karen

P.S.

The dog in the photo is running so fast, he’s skipping steps. How about you? Are you missing any steps in your affiliate marketing? Click here.

Got a goal? Write it down!

“A goal without a deadline is nothing more than a wish,” says Rosalind Gardner, the multi-millionaire affiliate marketer who literally wrote the book on affiliate marketing, Super Affiliate Handbook. That line shook me like a thunderbolt. Why?

Time Sickness

In my years as a tailor, I often laughed inwardly at three customers with their last-minute crunch-time need for clothing alterations. They are sisters who show up the night before Easter or a dance or a wedding needing alterations on an outfit they just purchased. Their whole family suffers classic time sickness.

I laughed because I regarded myself as having recovered from time sickness. Some recovery!

Always Late

When my well-organized daughter calls and we plan our errands, I tell her when I can be ready to go. Turns out she knows she can expect me a half hour after that. The weird part is *I* didn’t know it! I’m eyeball deep in dreaming I get things done–but with poor results, I’m now realizing.

Affiliate Marketing vs Time Sickness

According to Rosalind, an affiliate marketer takes 7 big steps:

• market research
• build a site
• add content
• monetize the site
• market it
• manage the business
• grow the business

All seven involve many actions, right? If you’re like me, you feel overwhelmed almost from the get-go.

I either set a work goal unaware it would take FOUR people all day to do it, then fail and feel useless. Or I feel whatever little step I take is inadequate. Or I guess how long a job will take and I’m way off. Whether the “hour” job takes ten minutes or a week, I don’t even NOTICE so I never learn better!

Score: Time Sickness 1, Affiliate Marketing 0.

My Cure–And I Do Have One!

Today I woke up with an idea to log my time. Sure I’ve heard this idea before, probably in Getting Things Done by David Allen. Never mind. Rosalind’s line about goals, deadlines and wishes hit me where I live. I’m ready for real, measured action–the kind that makes her a multi-millionaire.

24 hours ready for affiliate marketing action.

Here’s my time log I created in Note Pad and printed out with FinePrint. I’m recording my actions in fifteen minute increments from today on until I KNOW how long it takes for me to do the simplest or most complex things. I included a place for the top six goals for the day. I never get six daily goals done, so maybe this is ridiculous. We’ll find out, eh?

Today's top 6 goals

The Rewards

First, no more impossible goals that I beat myself up for failing. Second, lay out do-able goals and track my progress so they get DONE and I build my affiliate marketing business. Third, reach my necessary income goals–no more just wishing! My daughter’s look of surprise when I show up on time? Priceless.

Best,

P.S.

Thank you, Rosalind Gardner, for sending me that thunderbolt. That’s a life-changing lesson for me. Did you mean to teach that in the Super Affiliate Handbook? I bet you did.

P.P.S.

While all the links in my post are meant to help you, some are affiliate links, which means if you click and buy, I could earn money.

Your guide to affiliate marketing success!

Once upon a time I was an online newbie who wanted very much to buy the Super Affiliate Handbook by Rosalind Gardner. After all, I was online to replace my tailoring income with an online income. I wanted to play with my computer instead of being tied to my sewing machine all day.

I messed up.

At that time, I was still learning the magic of HTML and how to make .pdf’s and such. Trying to FTP just about drove me around the bend, so I feared I’d waste the $47 book. Little did I know how much I would spend on other books later.

Fast forward to now, years later and I stumbled across her book again, discover it’s newly-updated and I can FTP quite well, thank you. I finally bought the book with a kick to my own behind for waiting so long.

Why?

Rosalind promised I’d get maximum value by reading the book cover to cover before I zipped off to implement a new campaign. So I did. And soon discovered a chuckle-headed mistake I was making.

What color are your links?

She said one quick and easy way to get more clicks on my blog is to make sure my links are the classic colors people expect to see. My gray on gray blog links irritated me for being so nearly invisible, but being TOLD to change them and how it would boost my income was most welcome. Who knows if and when I’d ever have bothered to do that on my own?

That’s just one tiny tip and doesn’t give you any idea of the comprehensive education she provides in her book.

How do you keep track of everything?

Besides covering all the basics and steps, she shares organization tips. From the beginning, she kept track of everything–including her many passwords–with a spreadsheet.

That beats my file cards all hollow. Sometimes I have to remember a site name before I can find my card. I’d far rather be reminded of all the sites I own from seeing it on a list versus pawing through two (yes, I overflowed one a long time ago) file boxes of login info.

This book is never outdated.

As the internet is ever-changing, she keeps the handbook up to date to reflect the changing times and tools like RSS feeds, blogging and how to take advantage of foreign currency rates.  She shares her personal experience of what works and what doesn’t, so the book is evergreen.

Does it work in today’s economy?

The latest update addresses how the economic crisis affects affiliate marketing. The good news is this: focus your affiliate efforts on helping people spend their money more wisely and everyone wins.

Her methods are tried and true, proven to build a solid business with the likelihood of excellent income by using marketing methods she outlines and uses herself.

Let’s talk sales conversions.

Did you know she enjoys sales conversions 3 to 5 times higher than the rest of us? This is a lady I want to learn from!

What’s missing?

After reading the book, I wanted a simple list of the steps—a cheat sheet to accompany the handbook. So I’ll make one. Even so, as I reread and follow the links, I’m more than satisfied.

If only I’d bought it years ago. While she created wealth and a great reputation for helping, I created mounting debt. Ouch!

One last tip.

Rosalind says, “A goal without a deadline is nothing more than a wish.” What’s your goal? Write it down! Take action!

I highly recommend this book. Don’t get distracted and wait years to end the chaos like I did. Don’t lose what resources you have in a struggle to find an income-generating system that works. Grab your copy of the Super Affiliate Handbook today and get busy.

Best,

P.S.

Yes, maybe her big income figure seems outlandish and hypey. It’s no lie, though. See her YouTube video proof. Another video gives you affiliate marketing in a nutshell. Great stuff!

P.P.S.

While all the links in my post are meant to help you, some are affiliate links, which means if you click and buy, I could earn money.