The Affiliate Journey

One of the most frequent things I get asked by other affiliates is how they aren’t making any money. They are getting 500, 1000, 10,000 uniques a month their site but aren’t making more then what they feel is chump change.

Each of these webmasters is suffering from one of 2 problems:

1. Not really selling
2. Too many programs

I’ll go through each of these one at a time.

Not Really Selling

This is the problem when we see that you have some affiliate links in the side bar of your site, or you have a banner or two setup, but that’s it. You’re hoping for your visitors to notice these banners off to the side, click them and buy something.

Don’t get me wrong I know that does happen, and hopefully if this is you you’ve had some success this way. How ever your results are not as good as they could be.

You want to be passive but in your visitors faces with what you’re trying to market and/or accomplish. If this makes you feel uncomfortable then I’m sorry but you’re probably going to find that affiliate marketing is harder for you then you may have first thought it would be.

Affiliate marketing is sales in a different medium. You need to be mentioning, selling and promoting if you expect to make sales.

Of course if you have a site about how to get out of debt don’t start trying to pimp MP3 download or ring tone offers but if you’re following a niche site business plan then you can probably stand to be a bit more “promotion” like in your content.

Don’t be afraid to recommend, suggest or even ask/tell your visitor to go take action on something.

Too Many Programs

This is the second issue, but it usually goes hand in hand with the first. Someone who has ten different affiliate offers running on their site. It could be banner ads, or it could be choices for products to buy.

I have found my best successes come from promoting just one product from one merchant at a time.

EXAMPLE: You are interested in selling music equipment, and you’re a guitar player. Rather then building a site that tries to promote MusiciansFriend.com or ZZsounds.com all at once think niche.

Build a site or section of your site all about guitar amps, or guitar effects pedals. Then from there build out as you start to get some solid conversions on those products.

Think building a page that reviews or compares products. Articles and content about choosing the right beginner amps, or best effects pedals you have to own. Get creative and find new ways.

Most sites no matter which issue they’re having can be turned around. Sometimes it takes a bit more work but it can be done. Take some time to think about how you can better position your content to suggest people buy, or integrate ads better into the mix to get better exposure.

A little planning goes a long way!

Good luck and happy earning!!

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