An Introduction to Affiliate Marketing For Beginners
As the global economic situation continues to deteriorate, more and more people are beginning to look to the internet, seeking a way to make themselves a little extra income. There are many possible ways to make money on-line; arguably the most established form is through affiliate marketing.
Most people wrongly assume that affiliate marketing is a new buzz phrases cooked up by internet users, which is entirely incorrect. Affiliate marketing has been around for a long time, anyone who is familiar with the concept of commissioned based sales will already understand what affiliate marketing is all about.
o Definition of affiliate marketing – Quite simply, affiliate marketing deals with the promotion of a third party product, in exchange for a percentage of the proceeds from any successful sales. In the past these sales would have been tracked on paper, the internet changed all that. Modern affiliate marketers have very little involvement in the allocation and payment of contracts, as everything is now automated. Instead they are free to spend their time on the actual marketing of the affiliate products.
o Choosing a program – The most common way that an internet marketer will attempt to generate an income stream through affiliate marketing is very straightforward. They will sign up with one of the major affiliate product networks, the most prominent being ClickBank. Once they have an account set up they will try to find suitable products that they can market, from within the affiliate network. Once they have located a product that they feel would be successful, they will begin the marketing process.
o Marketing process -The marketing process can consist of either paid forms of advertising such as PPC (Pay Per Click), or it can consist of free forms of advertising, such as writing articles and publishing them to large article directories. The article contains a tracking link to an affiliate product, anyone reading the article may be likely to click on the link, and hopefully make a purchase.
o Website created – Quite often the affiliate marketer will actually create and operate a website, which will be used to attract visitors. Upon the website the affiliate marketer will place advertisements and offers for a range of affiliate products. Once again, when a visitor clicks on a banner or a text link, and proceeds to purchase the product, the site owner will receive commission from the sale.
Overall, affiliate marketing is an exciting and challenging way to attempt to generate an on-line income.