How to Be an Affiliate Marketing Rockstar?

Have you been living the rat race life for quite a while and now you've grown tired of the boss breathing down your neck and the exhausting office politics? Or maybe you simply need an extra source of income? Whatever your reason may be, if you want some good decent income going your bank account's way, doing affiliate marketing can be a very viable path to follow.

What exactly is affiliate marketing? It is a technique posing as a business opportunity that lets those with entrepreneurial spirit explore the world of passive income through marketing products for other businesses. You can earn through commissions.

So if you think you'd like to give affiliate marketing a try, how do you ensure your success in this field? Here are some very important tips you should follow:

- Choose your niche well

One of the most important factors to consider in doing affiliate marketing is choosing the best affiliate company or products to market. It can make or break your earnings. If you have a certain field that you're most interested in, the easier you can go through the process of deciding what affiliate program to join. So start making a list of your interests and see what affiliate programs come up from that list.

- Create a website that gets followed

One of the best ways to make the most bucks in affiliate marketing is through the creation of well-designed websites. Make sure that your site is easy to navigate and compels targeted visitors to convert - either to sign up under you as referrals or to purchase the products you are marketing. A quality landing page that has a call to action for your targeted visitors to do what you need them to do has excellent content that can either be texts that reviews the product, a video tutorial that lets visitors learns how to benefit and use the product well and a very conspicuous opt-in form.

- Use the power of freebies

Useful content is what you can use in making the word free mean money to you. When you offer free content, like say, free reports, when the right people get hold of this report, it can translate to more referrals or purchases.

- Learn how to get targeted traffic to your site

You can't benefit from your well-designed website, no matter how good your content and freebies are if you don't have the right visitors. So how do you drive targeted visitors to your site? You can do off-page search engine optimization or also known as link building. Whether use blogging, social networking and word of the mouth just to get the attention of the right people.

There are different ways on how you can successfully make people go to your site through this means - article marketing or the use of written content and submitting it to directories for publishers to pick it up and drive people to your site, you can set up and maintain social network accounts and let people know about your affiliate sites, or you can tap on your contacts - especially the new media savvy ones like popular bloggers and or community managers to spread the word about your sites.

If you follow all of the abovementioned bits of advice, it will be hard for you to fail as an affiliate marketer.

Article Marketing Tips

Article marketing can do a lot for your business. You just have to know a few things and here are some tips to help you out.

1. First, you have to make sure that whatever you are writing about is relevant. If you know for a fact that your product could be very useful, then do some research about it and then end the article with a link to your website. Before you upload the article, check if the site you plan to put this has this as one of their topics.

2. Just like what you read in the newspaper or see on television, the article must be both timely and newsworthy. This will allow you stay in touch with what is happening in the world. One good way is signing up with a site that gives you alerts with regards to certain topics.

3. Some writers post one article and that’s it. Just like movie producers in Hollywood, you should post a sequel to this because there could already be new information available which you could share to the public.

4. You should also make your articles viral. What this simply means is allowing other people to publish your article just as long as nothing is changed and you are given credit for it. Another way of doing this is offering your writing services to others which will become added revenue for you.

5. Each article you write must be short and simple. It must be short so that it will not bore the reader. Simple so that they will be able to understand the message you are trying to convey.

6. Just how many articles must your write to increase traffic? The good news is that you only need 2 to get things started. A good title will be “ how to do something” and “ x number of tips for something.” If this catches their interest, that person will most likely click on the link to your site and then buy something. The bottom line is that it increases web traffic.

7. You can stop at just 2 articles to promote your site. If you have other products, you can write articles on it as well and then mention in the resource box. This is known as cross-referencing which a lot of webmasters allow their contributors to do.

8. Aside from posting your written work in other websites, don’t forget to also put these in your own. If you have written 10 or more about the same topic, put these together to what is known as an e-book and then pass this along for free. Again, if people like what is written there then people wouldn’t remind reading it several times.

9. Aside from posting in websites, make use of RSS feeds. There are plenty of them around so make use of it.

There are two ways to get into article marketing. The first is to write it yourself and just hope that people will appreciate your writing style. The other is to hire someone to do it. Some charge by the hour while others charge per word. It may be worth it if this increases traffic to your site.

By following these article marketing tips, it won’t be long before you get a lot of hits.

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Article Marketing Basics

What is article marketing? It is a form of advertising wherein a business hires a writer or does it themselves to write short articles in the hopes that this will promote their business. These articles are made for distribution and publication which means this can viewed by just about anybody both in the print and online form.

So people will know who wrote the article, at the bottom there is usually a bio box and byline which shows the references and contact person of the one who wrote it. If the reader liked the article so much, they can get in touch with him or her which, translates to increased sales.

Article marketing has been around for quite awhile. Some say this was first used when mass print became available. In the print form, this type of advertising was used by entrepreneurs as a means of obtaining free space. This is given to a newspaper free of charge in exchange for the business’ contact information with the article.  Most newspapers are happy to accept this kind of arrangement because their budget was very limited in compensating writers for their work.

The setup is not that different for online article marketing because writers may post their work in different websites as well as put it in their own. Articles that are posted elsewhere are known as an article directory.

The reason why articles posted in such sites are free is because the directory owner puts advertisements on the side and collects revenue from it. As more traffic is achieved, both the directory owner and the writer gain something from it.

Some websites give the writer the option of choosing the kind of advertising to be displayed on the page. If you don’t like the options, you can always go for the page without any advertisements.

There are differences though between printed and online article marketing. For one, it is much faster to look for a certain article online because keywords are often used for search engine optimization. This means if you are looking for a certain topic, you will be able to see what you are looking for in just a matter of seconds.

If you think that the articles posted can only be seen in sites such as www.ezinearticles.com or www.about.com, think again because some have now used social networks to their message across. Examples of sites include Facebook, LinkedIn and Friendster. This strategy is known as Web 2.0 generation.

Some people say that the rise in the number of people who use article marketing has a negative effect because it has brought down the quality in the articles written. To prevent this from happening, you have to post articles that are relevant and informative.

Article marketing is just one way of promoting a service or product. If you don’t have enough money to market it using other means, this will be a good way to get started. In posting elsewhere or in your own website, the most important thing to do is to use relevant keywords so it will be easy for visitors to see your site.

For that, you have to think what words will a person likely type to see your site. If you are able to figure that out, it won’t be long before you will get a lot of traffic which translates to additional sales to your business.

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Proven Ways to Drive Targeted Traffic

When you're involved in affiliate marketing, easily one of the most major concerns you'll have to face is driving traffic to your site.  And not just any traffic – you'll need targeted traffic.  Here are the top 10 proven ways you can drive quality traffic to your affiliate marketing site and increase your income-generating potential:

E-mail campaigns
Used carefully, e-mail campaigns can easily drive targeted traffic to your affiliate marketing site.  This can be done by providing highly relevant and valuable information on the body of the message and then offering a link that will bring the recipients into your site.

You can do this two ways: one is by providing the full content in the e-mail message and then offering a link inviting the recipient to view more similar write-ups on your site.  Another is by giving only a portion of the content and offering the rest on the affiliate site.  A linked e-mail signature should also be included.

Articles
Informative and how-to articles, especially well-written ones, are proven traffic baits for affiliate marketing sites.  Include links to similar or additional information within the content body that can only be read from your site and provide additional links on your signature.

Newsletters and e-zines
People love information, particularly those about subjects they are curious about or are involved in – which explains why targeted methods to drive traffic to affiliate marketing sites work best.

Offer e-newsletter and e-zine subscriptions, making sure that links bring recipients to your site.  Use a separate landing page to handle the subscription process for your visitors' convenience.

Blogs
Other than your affiliate marketing site, use a blog to get in touch with prospective customers and members.  Blogs are considerably more personal and lighter in tone than most affiliate business sites and they can be a great source of information, news, advice and tips from you to your prospects.  Include a link from your blog to your affiliate marketing site.

Social bookmarking sites
These sites are a rich source of targeted traffic that you can drive to your affiliate marketing site.  Your market demographics are also easier to define so sending out invitations to potential leads and members is a lot easier.

Discussion forums and boards
By leaving useful and thought-provoking comments on discussion boards and forums, you encourage other members to react and send you a reply.  You'll be able to build a networking relationship from here.  Make sure to sign with a link back to your affiliate marketing site.

Guest blogging
You could drive another blog's captured traffic to your affiliate site by becoming a guest blogger.  If you can write well and can offer unique and useful content, the site's readership will find you interesting enough to follow you to your own site.

Allow bookmarks on your web pages
If you have content, you can drive traffic to your affiliate marketing site by allowing your readers to bookmark certain pages.  This will help promote those pages and your website to other people who might be interested in the same subjects.

Host a contest
Locate your target market and then promote a contest through ads or e-mails.  All details must be found on your affiliate marketing website so you can drive traffic there.  Registration must also be performed on one of your landing pages.  Just make sure to offer prizes that visitors who will be coming in will find useful.

Freebies!
There's nothing like a nice gift to drive targeted traffic to your affiliate marketing site.  It's easy to implement and can be relatively cheap.  Furthermore, you offer these visitors an incentive to sign up for whatever campaign it is you're promoting.

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How to Promote Your Affiliate Product Sites

Promotion can never be a walk in the park. That’s what most of us say. Promoting somebody else’s site for instance makes it much harder for you to attest for the said website. That’s how affiliate marketing works by the way. You are tasked to promote a certain website through your own website. It may sound like a hard task but in reality, that is not true.

Promoting your affiliate sites can simply start by enticing your website visitors to try out this particular product you are endorsing. If you are running a blog, you can simply shift your entries t the product’s advantage. Here’s an example.

You are currently promoting an Xbox website which caters to online gamers. The products range from Xbox accessories to online downloadable games. Your blog is about your everyday living experience, sort of a journal like website. So how would you shift your blog so it could help your affiliate to boost up its product’s sales? It is pretty simple. You could make your entry for one day something like – you are bored and tried to look for something to do. Luckily your cousins arrived and look what they have brought – an Xbox! So you hurriedly setup the console and played to your heart’s content! You must emphasize how you have enjoyed the experience, hence, now you are longing to buy yourself that same console. That’s when you will introduce the affiliate website that you have. You will then mention there how they will save if they go to these certain website and order. You know the drill – just make sure that you always say good things regarding your affiliate.

Here’s another example. Same thing – you have a blog and your affiliate site is for a Nintendo Wii. You could make your entry for one day something like this. You are bored and tried to look for something to do. Luckily your cousins arrived and look what they have brought – a Nintendo Wii! So you hurriedly setup the console and played to your heart’s content! You must emphasize how you have enjoyed the experience, hence, now you are longing to buy yourself that same console. That’s when you will introduce the affiliate website that you have. You will then mention there how they will save if they go to these certain website and order. You know the drill, you have to detail the good testimonies you have regarding the website you want them to visit.

If you are running a blog, you can simply shift your entries t the product’s advantage. That’s when you will introduce the affiliate website that you have. Promoting your affiliate sites can simply start by enticing your website visitors to try out this particular product you are endorsing. That’s when you will introduce the affiliate website that you have. You will then mention there how they will save if they go to these certain website and order. If you are running a blog, you can simply shift your entries t the product’s advantage.

In this manner, promotion of the affiliate sites will be much easier. No pressure on your part and the effect will be colossal. You can simply make the most out of your advertisement by simply using your blog to your advantage. It is like telling a story and at the same time, enticing to your target audience. Now that’s what I call effective blogging marketing.

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