Affiliate Marketing Tips for Beginners

If you are new to affiliate marketing, you may be feeling a bit overwhelmed. It’s possible you are not getting the results you had anticipated. Maybe, you don’t even know where to start. Here are a few of my affiliate marketing tips for beginners to get you going.

Content and Traffic First – If you are hoping to promote products or services other than those found in Clickbank or e-junkie, you will need to get accepted into the bigger affiliate networks. Before you even get your foot in the door to start applying to individual merchants, the network itself with have to determine your new site is worthy. This is typically done by looking at your content and traffic. You need to come to the table with more than one post. Your content needs to be original. There are no “hard and fast” numbers when it comes to traffic standards, but some networks want to see that you are reigning in a minimal amount of traffic each month.

Once you are in the network, you may need to apply to individual merchants. Many of these merchants will look at your site for relevancy. If they don’t think your topic is relevant to their products or services, they may decline. However, you can always reapply a few months down the road. Or, you can contact the account manager for an explanation and to state your case. If first you don’t succeed, try again.

Sign Up for Programs before You Need Them – Oftentimes acceptance doesn’t happen immediately. It may take days, or even weeks. If you see a relevant merchant that you may use down the road, go ahead and apply. Benefits in addition to having them handy when and if you need them, you will likely be notified in advance of sales, and you may have access to affiliate-only coupon codes and sales. You will likely start receiving emails from account managers at least monthly. Open and read those emails.

SEO – Search Engine Optimization is the lifeblood for many of us affiliates. It isn’t only your regular readers that you can earn on. The vast majority of my earnings come from search traffic long after a post has published. This wouldn’t happen without search traffic. You want your post earning for more than one day.

While we are talking about SEO, shoot for long-tail keywords. It is highly unlikely you are going to outrank Amazon for the term “Amazon.” It is also unlikely you are going to show up on Page One for cribs unless you are a backlinking feign. Don’t waste time on short phrases. Go for the gold.

Intext Links – Banners are easy, but they are not the best converters. You also can’t rank in the search engines for a banner. Intext links are where it is at. Write reviews. Give recommendations. Don’t rely on blinking sidebar banners to do the trick. They likely won’t.

There are just a few tips. You will find far more information on making money with your blog in my How to Make Money Blogging guide. If you need help with your long-tail keywords, contact me for a quote.

What is your favorite affiliate marketing tip for beginners?