Smart Affiliate Marketing Strategies

Do you know the amazing thing about hitting the sweet spot with innovative & proven affiliate marketing strategies?

Well, the rewards of implementing effective affiliate marketing strategies, could have you earning a 6 figure passive income as well as enjoying the financial freedom to live your life the way you’ve always wanted.

But wait, before you get too excited, I have to say that everywhere you read on the internet there’s someone trying to sell you a course on the best affiliate marketing strategies that practically guarantees you will make millions of dollars in just a few easy steps.

You have to wonder that if it’s that easy, why isn’t everyone doing it or is it really just an elaborate scam?

Whilst affiliate marketing has had a bad rap because of all the dodgy schemes, don’t get despondent as there are plenty of ordinary guys like you & me who have applied themselves intelligently to create some ingenious ways of leveraging their affiliate marketing efforts into big money earners.

Also, I’m sure you’ll agree that to live the life of a top-earning affiliate marketer would be fantastic and something to strive for, so let’s get going and see how best to achieve this.

Pro Tip: You can test these affiliate marketing strategies (without risking any of your own money) by using this guide to setting up your own free blog here »

5 Smart Affiliate Marketing Strategies

1. Endorsements

Giving the product or service your personal endorsement is one of the strongest ways to pre-sell an affiliate offer.

There is one caveat however, and that is that you need to have built a trustworthy reputation with your audience, via your newsletter or just the content on your site, for your opinion to carry any weight.

So if you do have that sort of credibility with your site visitors, your endorsement of the affiliate offer will significantly increase your chances of selling it.

You could provide the endorsement in your newsletter, which would increase your chances of making the sale, or in a blog post or article on your site which would also work but may not be as effective.

Just one thing that I would advise is not to provide an endorsement for a product or service that you haven’t personally evaluated.

Only endorse affiliate offers that you have either used or had experience with.

Pro Tip: Only promote & endorse products that you really think are awesome. This also makes it easier for you to give a totally honest, enthusiastic and positive endorsement for the product which will resonate better with your audience.

2. Bonuses

Offering a bonus to sweeten the deal is a really effective strategy for any customer who is on the fence and just needs a little nudge.

A bonus can be in the form of a special price or a free eBook or some other sort of deal you agree with the merchant that only you can promote.

The extra value your clients would be getting if they buy through your link would be highlighted in your endorsement, or product review with an effective headline and feature & benefit sales copy.

You’ll see this strategy used quite a bit in competitive pay-per-click situations, and also during big product launches where lots of people are promoting at once. But it’s a really strong strategy anytime because it demonstrates that you’re focusing on adding value and delivering great deals to your audience.

Pro Tip: Not all bonuses have to be of a monetary value, some of the most popular ones are these

• Quick start guides to help the user with the product
• Additional books or courses that complement the product, for example, a recipe book could have a bonus consisting of healthy dessert recipes or a diet cheat sheet
• Checklists
• Videos that show exactly how to use the product or more information on it
• Other ways the product could be used

3. Content Marketing

Many affiliates rely on PPC campaigns, using Adwords or similar, which can deliver quick results but can also consume loads of your cash, especially for poorly structured campaigns.

So for me, creating great content with a good mix of evergreen advice & information that is relevant, enhances your credibility with your audience and will keep on coming back for more.

If you want to measure PPC against quality content creation, I would say content creation is always going to win as you’re enhancing the integrity & value of your online space as well as the traffic & trust relationship with your audience.

For your content marketing strategy to be totally effective you’ll need to…

• Create a compelling keyword-rich title that piques your readers’ interest
• Deliver quality & real value to your audience
• Attract incoming links to your post
• Generate positive comments on your article
• Endorse a related product while disclosing your affiliate link (trust)
• Generate an immediate $1000+ profit immediately
• Rank in the SERPS (Search Engine Results Page) for your targeted keywords
• Generate recurring monthly commissions
• Receive positive feedback via email
• Only promote one product as too many may create confusion with prospects often leaving the site without generating a sale

Pro Tip: If you install Pretty Link, a really versatile free WordPress plugin, it will allow you to replace those long, cookie-filled affiliate links with more sensible, easy-to-remember ones as well as keep track of the number of clicks for each link you place throughout your site.

4. Create a Resource Page

Your resource page can often be the most profitable page on your site.

This is because the resources you recommend are often products you have or are using for your affiliate business and therefore you can recommend them without shame. As a result, often a healthy passive income is generated by people buying the products through your affiliate link due to your tacit recommendation.

Furthermore, the resource page is a win for everyone because your audience lands on a useful & interesting page where you have listed all of the best and most effective tools, services, books, etc. that you’ve used to build your successful affiliate business & website.

So what you’re actually doing is providing excellent value as well as generating a passive income at the same time, which certainly ain’t going to hurt.

Announce this at the top of your page so people will be more inclined to scrutinize your resources be more
confident in what you’ve shared with them.

Also, if you find some of your links aren’t getting much interest or clicks it would be best to remove them as it devalues the page.

Pro Tip: Email marketing is as crucial to an online business as ever – you’ll crush it with Aweber and you can try it out for free, start here »

5. Off-Site Marketing

Tutorials in the form of eBooks as well as marketing to your email list are very effective & direct ways of generating sales.

Creating a free eBook that provides content with real value for your user,  sprinkled with your affiliate links, has the ability to go viral and generate a useful passive income for you.

Another effective earner is sending out a mini-course to your email list, in which you deliver tutorial-type content in which you ultimately promote your affiliate product.

Pro Tip: Producing video tutorials that show how to use a product or service are awesome at pre selling affiliate products.

As teaching & selling are so closely related, easy-to-watch “how to” videos will soften up your prospect into making that purchase.

Please Note: I’ve deliberately not gone into the detail of building a great-looking website, site optimization, niche & keyword research, and many other basic online topics that I’m assuming you already have worked out.

These things are important though and should form part of your affiliate marketing strategies but would form the subject of a totally separate post.

However, for more information on these topics, I would suggest going to Mark Ling’s website where you can get stacks of valuable free information and grab his Free Online Tools for affiliate marketers which you can use to create a project.

Choosing the Best Products For Your Affiliate Marketing Business

Have an open mind when considering the types of products you want to promote and above all, as an affiliate, you’ll want to build trust so only promote those ones which will provide real value to your audience.

To get you thinking, here’s a list of just some of the products you could consider integrating into your affiliate marketing strategies;

• Online Courses
• Services (Various)
• Software Products
• Books (eBooks as well as physical books)
• Physical Retail Products (Amazon would be a good option but there are other retailers you can choose from)
• Mobile Applications (iTunes Affiliate Program)
• Music (iTunes Affiliate Program)

The great thing with affiliate marketing is that your earning potential is only limited by you and the amount of effort & perseverance you’re willing to endure.

There is one thing I can guarantee you though, and that is as you see the money starting to roll in, your enthusiasm for making more money will have no boundaries – affiliate marketing could be a huge game changer in your life.

If I had to write the perfect affiliate marketing blueprint it would be this one that Mark Ling (affiliate marketing millionaire) has created

Want a step-by-step system to make real money as an affiliate?

Grab This Step-By-Step Affiliate Blueprint To Make $29 to $550 Daily »