Of the many things I have learned from over 10 years being online, I will share a major one about Affiliate Marketing:
Starting out in affiliate marketing must not be hard.
Here is the path that most take when starting out:
You buy an e-book for $50 that tells you how to make loads of quick, mega cash. You read the book a few times, and have a go at this craze of affiliate marketing using Google or Yahoo. You eagerly follow their “science” to a fine degree, and sit back to watch how your ad price goes up, but your sales don’t increase proportionately.
After a few weeks and split testing your ads to virtual perfection, and then reading as much as you can, you either have made a profit, or you’re so far in debt on your campaign(s) that you just cut a loss and (hopefully) stop.
Starting out in Affiliate Marketing is hard because most e-books will not tell you the very, very important parts that you need to factor in before you begin.
5 Important Things To Know
1. Realistically, while using adwords or keyword ads, you should expect to have about 100 clicks before you have a sale. This is called a 100 to 1 click to sale ratio, or a 1% conversion rate. If you happen to choose a program that has a higher conversion rate, then I suggest you be very quiet and devote more effort to driving eyeballs to that program…it probably won’t last long.
2. If you have to pay for 100 clicks before you get a sale, then you better make a profit after you have to pay for those clicks. Up front, you need to find out how much you make per sale. So much is focused on a program’s “gravity” that I have read authors completely miss the economics of marketing an affiliate product. For example, if I know I need 100 clicks, and they cost me 17 cents per click, then everything I make over $17 is money in my pocket. If the product does not even pay $17, then I will lose money. On Clickbank, it is represented as $/sale.
3. Do not expect to pay the same price for the first click as you do for the 100th click. Someone using the same keywords will up their price to keep a position. Then, you have to raise your cost per click to compete. You are safe to plan for a rising cost in keyword campaigns over time.
4. You will get no further than the conversion effectiveness of the ad copy. I know this will shock most, but do not always take the author of the product’s word for the conversion rate. Most authors forget to tell you to search through a couple of search engines for “[X] conversion rate” where [X] is the name of the program you’re so hot-to-trot to promote.
5. If the e-book you bought about affiliate program promotion does not cover the highly-effective art of split-testing ad campaigns, then you need to get a refund fast. Running an ad campaign without split-testing is like jumping feet first into quicksand! Starting off with split-testing will likely yield a 100:1 ratio. Once you get very good at split-testing/writing ad copy, then you should be able to expect a slightly higher conversion rate.
6. Wait… I said only 5. Well, I like to promise then over deliver; it’s just a whole lot more fun that way! Yes, so, point 6 is: always conduct as much keyword research and background investigation as possible of an affiliate product before you begin spending money on clicks. I still make errors in determining the “right” affiliate program to promote. The cool thing about having a website, though, is that I can test things a little cheaper!
You don’t need a website, but you do need a clear head and to stick to a well-thought battle plan, both of which will act as anti-quicksand-sinking boots, keeping you in the profit zone.
Josh Lamey is the owner and crafty word-a-holic behind
www.mymakemoneyplace.com, an internet marketing site devoted strictly to adding value to people's lives while helping them make real money online.
