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Affiliate Marketing Do’s and Don’ts

Do figure out who you are selling to.

Defining a Target Market is a key task in building up an affiliate income. If you don’t know who you want to sell to, how will you decide what to promote? And dig deep here. Don’t just say ‘Men’ or ‘Parents’. Choose a people group that can be defined in just a few words; Like ‘Brand new single moms’ or ‘Older men with thinning hair.’

Do make a list of what your target market needs.

Sit down with pen and paper or a fresh document on your computer and think like your target market. What do they need right now? What do they consume a lot of? What do they want when they have extra money? You’ll probably come up with a pretty good list.

Do choose affiliate programs carefully.

Different merchants offer different commission rates. Scout out the highest commission rate with the best affiliate resources available. Check out the website and make sure that it is easy to navigate and buy from. Check things like Cookie duration to make sure that you have the greatest chance of profiting from your promotions.

Do treat affiliate marketing like a real business.

The more you put into your affiliate marketing the better your chances of gaining super affiliate status. Treat your affiliate marketing like a real business and it will grow and develop over time. Spend time writing reviews, articles and promoting the products you believe in.


Don’t plaster your website with affiliate banners.

Introduce your affiliate recommendations in a natural way. A button or banner is great but may not make you too many sales, a product review or a personal recommendation will go further.

Don’t over promote products.

It’s easy to get overexcited and over do the product offers with your subscribers. Keep some balance and give more than you take. This will keep your list happy and more willing to consider your offers. Of course, you do need to promote things to your list; after all this is your business, but try to find a balance between free information and product promotions.

Don’t give up too soon.

Affiliate marketing is a business that builds up over time. You need to focus on developing your web traffic and email lists while you continue to faithfully offer your market what it wants and needs. As the months go by if you’re applying all the correct methods, your income will increase.

Those tips will give you a good starting point. Another very important element of affiliate marketing is your website. A good website can really increase your sales where a poorly designed website can really reduce your income, and we don’t mean you have to design a flashy, all singing and dancing website (actually you’ll want to avoid that). Instead concentrate on offering quality content and clean design to your visitors.

Did You Know?

When it comes to paid advertising, pay per click can be a great option. You can use a service, such as Google Adwords, to bid on keywords that your target market may use when searching for the type of product you are promoting. If they search for a term you are bidding on, your listing may come up in their search results. You will only have to pay for the ad if the person actually clicks on your ad.

You can also buy ad space on other people’s websites, blogs and ezines. This can take the form of a sign-up form to your newsletter, an ad for a specific program, or a general ad for your website.