Affiliate Archives - Page 2 of 2

How to Make Money Online Part 2 – Starting Your Affiliate Marketing Business

Last article we looked at lots of different ways to make money online. We found that affiliate marketing is a great choice for people starting out. This is because quite large sums of money can be made for a very small investment of money. This is exactly what everyday people need, to pay off credit cards, mortgages and get back on top of their finances.

The first thing to be aware of when starting up an affiliate marketing business, is that making money online is never quite as easy as it is promised. After reading lots of “how to” articles, and paying to join a training system, I discovered that it takes time and effort to make anything happen. If we were told this before we signed up and started, we would have a much better frame of mind, and be much more likely to succeed.

For those of you thinking of starting affiliate marketing, rest assured it is definitely a worthwhile thing to spend time doing. You need to begin by expecting to “learn the ropes” first. There are quite a few processes and skills which need to be learned, before any real substantial money can be made. If you begin by thinking you will earn $2000 in the first month, you may be disappointed. Don’t get me wrong, goals and dreams are very important, but expect to do some hard work before you see the money they promise.

Some useful tips when first staring out are:

• Have a goal – Where you end up is largely set by what your goals and dreams are.

• Write them down – There is a lot of research showing that written goals are a lot more likely to come to pass than goals in your head.

• Do some research – Don’t buy into the first training package or system you find, look around and find one which is best suited to you.

• Have a plan – Plan what steps you will take to successfully get a campaign off and running. A good training package will outline the steps needed to make money online.

• Follow your plan till you see results – Don’t get distracted by all the other things you can do to make money, if it’s not in your plan.

• Fine tune – When you are making money, analyse your results, see what is working and what isn’t and plan your next campaign to suit.

If you invest in a training program, they will outline the practical things which you need to do to get everything linking together and working properly. Some of these include:

• Setting up a ClickBank account.

• Setting up a PayPal account.

• Buying web hosting, or showing you free hosting websites.

• How to get cheap domain names.

• How to link your domain name to your hosting site.

These are mechanical steps which every Affiliate marketer must do, before they can start choosing products, researching keywords, creating landing pages, driving traffic and analysing the results.

Next time we will look at how to choose the best products from ClickBank

Google Secrets to Make Money With Affiliate Marketing

Now that you have seen the Keyword Research Tool, we can discuss the importance and role of keywords to the level of your achievement. It is also important to decide on a niche, so you know which direction to take. Direction is so much more important than speed because 97% of affiliate marketers are going nowhere fast. The only difference is that the 3% built their Online Empire with Keywords as the foundation. You are looking for keywords with a high search volume and a low competition within your niche.

There are three kinds of Primary Keyword Research Steps known as;

Short Tail Keywords – Are single keywords and often referred to as Primary Keywords. These are the keywords that you want present in your domain name, but be objective and precise. Let’s use the Dieting Niche for demonstration. Good Short tail keywords will then be Health, Diet and Weight. These three particular keywords get searched around 982,000 times on Google Per Month. That’s almost a Million Searches, can you see where this keyword thing is going?

Long Tail Keywords – These are normally no more than Three Keywords making up a Keyword Phrase. Within the Niche we’re using for demonstration, lose weight, losing weight, lose weight fast, and fast weight loss are excellent Long Tail Keywords. They are searched around 564,100 times on Google Per Month. But you will have to research the keywords relevant to your niche, which means your results will be different. Long Tail Keywords are being used in your Site, and Posts Title. It works really well if the Long and Short tail Keywords are combined.

Anchor Text – These are Longer Keyword Phrases and refer to the phrase someone will type into their browser to search a specific interest. The kind of search someone would enter when they are much more likely to buy. For this demonstration, how to lose weight, how to lose weight fast, and want to lose weight are great examples. Anchor text is what must be present on your site’s home page, the Google Spider love seeing this and it helps with ranking. These anchor texts are searched 852,300 times on Google Per Month. Now combine the results of the three tests we’ve just done.

Yes, 2,398, 400 Searches on Google Per Month for the three search categories combined. By now you must realize the potential of proper keyword research, and why the 3% get to make those disgusting amounts of money online! This article will Simplify the Basics of SEO, what to include in Headers with Titles and even Categories, Tag Lines and Single tags. There is also the Site Map within Google Search Console.

Identifying the H1 Heading – May sometimes also be a Post or Blog Page Title but this usually refer to the Blog, Site or Video Title. The H1 Heading is where you include the Primary Search Phrases you wish your Site or Video to Rank for in Google within 15 – 65 Characters. It is important to preferably keep the H1 Heading within 60 Characters, because the H1 Heading will appear at the top in Google Search Result pages. Make the H1 Heading both Easy to Read and to Remember.

Identifying the H2 Heading – This is usually the Blog Post Title and once again the desired Search Phrases and Keywords need to populate this Heading. Numbers play a huge role with H2 Headings, and strangely enough uneven numbers have a more striking effect, combine this with a “Reason Why” kind of suggestion and you have a winner H2 Heading.

Identifying the H3 Header – Post Titles often also make up the H3 Header, along with Widget Descriptions within the Blog Side Bar. When you use the Text Widget to load HTML code, then the “Alt=” Attribute usually appear as an H3 Header.

A Blog post Title also appears as an H3 Header when you use an SEO Plugin like “All in One SEO Tools” and your Blog Post Title appears after the forward slash (/) to the Primary Domain. Using an SEO Plugin will allow you to submit all your individual pages, posts, tags and categories as individual site maps.

Identifying the H4 Header – This can be defined as something like the Tagline to you Blog Title Tag or H1 header. A Logo image is also often accepted as an H4 header within certain Plugins which may display a logo icon.

The Site Map Description – Your Blog Site Map is extremely important, and for this you simply install the Plugin “Google XML Site Maps”. This Plugin will share an updated your Blog Site Map to the Google Search Console each time you make changes, but the changes may take a while (Normally 2 – 3 Weeks) to show up in Search Results.

It is however important to manually check for the Site Map Acceptance from inside the Google Search Console, even with the Google Site Maps Plugin Activated. There may be times when certain errors occur with your Blog Site Map inside Google, which means Google cannot find your Blog.

You have to then test the site map with the tools provided from within the Google Search Console, fix the errors found from inside your Blog C-Panel and test the Site Map again. When the results return with Zero errors found, you simply delete the old site map and upload the new site map.

Accessing the Google Search Console you will need a Google account, as with all the Free Tools Google gives you and it’s a Lot. You simply need to look in the right places and then take your time getting to know how to use the tools. Simple Search your Browser (Preferably Chrome) for the search phrase “Google Search Console” and simply follow the instructions after opening the link on the search result page.

The Blog Site Map is what Search Engine Spiders use to Crawl your Blog so it can be categorized correctly, sending the right visitors your way. This is why the presence of Keywords and Search Phrases are so important throughout all content on your Blog, just the right ones in the right positions.

Writing Your Affiliate Home Business Plan

Here’s a typical scenario: You are deciding to start a home business and suddenly everyone you know has his nose in your business, literally. What do you tell them? And how do you answer your own questions? What should you expect from the company in terms of stability, longevity, vitality, trust, income, and so forth? First the bad news: there are no guarantees. Then the good news: there is plenty of information from which to draw your own conclusions. The internet is huge, and any good company will offer free marketing tools and training.

But back to the WHY of that business plan. You’re going to be starting small, slow and boy! is there a lot to learn. What’s the point of actually sitting down and writing a business plan? You’re not Bill Gates, this isn’t Microsoft, just you in your home office a few hours a week, slowly building an online business presence, not really understanding what the heck you’ll be doing.

Relax and breathe. Unlike Mt. Rushmore, your plan won’t be designed to withstand the weathering of the ages. You can expect it will change and bend with the flow of your real experiences, which will be totally yours, not identical to anyone else’s.

What writing your plan will do is cause you to pause, think, dream, study and focus. The written document, whether it is one page or twelve, will give your business a framework to work within. The internet is vast and seemingly endless. It is easy to lose focus and drift away on a different whim or idea every day. Understanding where you are today, what tools you have to work with, what your goals are, and how you can best achieve them and measure your success, will help you stay on target and not waste what few hours you may be investing in your business at start-up.

Whenever you feel lost or confused, you can return to what you have written. When you analyze your situation and decide to make a change, rewrite that part of the plan. Understand that it’s a living document, intended to grow with you and your business. Your business plan is your friend.

Getting Started with the Business Plan

First you need to study the company and its management. You need to read and learn about the products, the compensation plan and the network structure. See you next month. Just kidding.

Plan on doing SOME reading each and every work day for the next few months, if not indefinitely. Keep up with the company forum entries every day; read something in the training reports every day. Your education will continue. Plan for it.

When you are ready, open up a Notepad window and answer these questions:

What service/products does your business provide and what needs does it fill?

Who are the potential customers for your product or service and why will they purchase it from you?

How will you reach your potential customers?

Where will you get the financial resources to start your business?

Ok. Maybe your company offers many products and services. What do you want to focus on? I suggest that, at first, you focus on one or two products and/or the affiliate opportunity. In other words, keep is simple. Once you get the hang of what you’re doing, you will KNOW when it’s time to expand. Do only what you are comfortable with, every step of the way. This is YOUR business, it’s your right and privilege to decide on your approach.

Internet marketing hinges on building trust. How will you do this?

Reaching customers means marketing. Your decision, once again. And again, the options should be in your company’s training materials.

So we’re talking developing a reading/study schedule. Here’s a possible list, once you’ve read enough to make your own decisions to answer the above questions, start writing. Your writing can be lists of words and phrases, free-form brainstorming, outlines, mind maps, whatever works for you. Just write it down, and don’t forget to save often. If your home office is inhabited by cats or small children, they have the tendency to press on random keyboard keys. Documents do occasionally just disappear. Saving avoids total disaster.

Study the products.
Read the training materials.
Read about commissions, bonuses, etc.
Study the marketing aids and strategies
Find out what free tools are available.
Visit the forums on a regular basis. Read everything about getting started.
Ask questions.

Your final written business plan will have at least four parts:

Introduction/background: history of the company and its founder, internet marketing trends, why THIS company and why NOW, and so on.

Goals: I suggest you think of what you would like to be earning in two years, but mainly focus on goals for your first year. Realistic goals can be projected based on info on the company website, in newsletters, searches on the forums, and focused questions to other affiliates.

Marketing plan: based on your answers to the first 3 questions above and your study of marketing aids and tools.

Action plans: the specifics of what you will do on a monthly, weekly, and/or daily basis for the next year.

I can’t tell you what your answers should be, because you have to decide how much money you have to invest. Only you can decide how many hours per day, week or month you can invest in your business. What products you feel most comfortable marketing, and who you decide to target as your customer base, are all decisions only you can make. If you get stuck and don’t understand a question, don’t know where to find information, or don’t know how to ASK a question, contact your sponsor or someone in your upline. If they can’t help you, they should be able to send you to someonewho can.

You should NEVER feel alone. Work should be FUN!…