Affiliate Marketing for Beginners: Market Research

March 28, 2009 by affiliate starting line · Comment
Filed under: Affiliate Marketing for Beginners

A critical phase in setting up any business in general and an online business in particular, is conducting the right kind of market research from the very beginning.

2 Critical Characteristics

The most common approach is to find a group of people who share a common interest. This is called a niche. The niche must have two important characteristics. One is that there has to be a large number of people with defined needs and wants and the other is there have to be products and services available to satisfy those wants and needs.

Keyword Research-separate browsers from buyers

The most common way people search on the Web is by typing in words that describe what they are looking for. These words are called “keywords” and can consist of a single generic term “shoes” or can be made up of several words, “light summer shoes”. Whatever the composition of the keywords, your task is to research and create a list of keywords based on the number of people looking and using the terms for the product or service you want to market. This will ensure that you develop a business that will have known steady demand and that you will be offering products and services people want and need.

Keyword Tools

How do you to that? You use certain tools that will give you data to look at. One key tool is called Wordtracker. They offer a free trial product you can use to see how it works. Another is the Google Adword tool. The trick is to start with a generic term, “shoes” for example, and then look at the list of related keywords that the tool returns. From there you can mine down using words on the list, “shoes” can lead you to “summer shoes” for example. Repeat the process and see what returns come up. Invariably with a retail product, brand names will appear and search numbers will show you what the daily search rate is along with monthly search rates from a list of all the search engines.

The real pros in internet marketing like to see about 100,000 searches in any given month for a generic term related to the product or service they are interested in.

As you mine down your keyword list you should end up with 100 to 200 keywords in your category that you will use to grow and develop your business. The standard for a niche is to see if you can find a term that gets 80 searches a day on the low end with not more than 30,000 web pages devoted to that product or service for that niche. That allows for you to find a way to compete and establish yourself as you start out.

Market Information Sources

Once you have determined what your market is, who your customer is and how you will reach you niche, you will want to confirm that your online business has a future. For that there are a number of sources that will help you in staying on top of your market. Among them are Online Publishes Association, a non-profit industry trade association that generates online advertising and media consumption data; ClickZNetwork, a great source of news and information in the interactive marketing sector; PRWEb.com the largest online press release newswire and eBay marketplace that publishes transaction trends on eBay.

Setting up Google alerts in your niche area and tracking them on Google reader is another great way to stay on top of you market.

Whatever you chose as your business, the proper market research in the early phase of your business development will make the difference between success and failure. So give it the time and effort it deserves as you set out to make your mark in affiliate marketing. Affliate marketing for beginners is a process of trial and error. You can minimize the time and cost with a the right approach and making the right decisions early on.

May Your Travels Be Prosperous

Tags: affiliate program

How to Deal with False Offers and Misleading Programs

March 23, 2009 by affiliate starting line · Comment
Filed under: Affiliate Marketing for Beginners

Abraham Lincoln was famous for his humorous and pithy remarks. One of them was; “You may fool all the people some of the time, you can even fool some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all the time.”

This pretty much sums up the dilemma of the marketer who is just starting out on the Web. Where do you start? Whom can you trust? What should you be doing first? If that is where you happen to be, then I may be able to point you to some options that will save you time and frustration, let alone money.

“You may fool all of the people some of the time”

There are some very savvy people who can fool even well seasoned marketers. Not the really super affiliate types, but just enough of the lower tier professionals. It goes with the territory but can be quickly caught on forums where seasoned online veterans meet. The Warrior Forum comes to mind. Once the word is out that a launch isn’t what it’s cracked up to be, you can always cancel out and get your money back. You may be beaten and chastened but you’re not out.

“You can even fool some of the people all of the time”

This is where you find yourself starting out. And there are enough new entrants on a daily basis to keep some of the operators in business. Mind you, there business is not repeat business, but the steady supply of “newbies” and the openness of the Web allows for this to happen.

If you were like me you started with the simple desire to do data entry. So you pay your entry fee and find out the site isn’t about data entry. It’s an aggregator for all these affiliate sites that will make you a millionaire in three easy clicks…all for another fee of course. Some of these sites have a “system”. So you fork over another fifty bucks and get a sixty page PDF all about Click Bank or Paydotcom or whatever… But no system. OK so you learned a few things you didn’t know but you’re no closer to making a living, not by a long shot. Not until you find the 30 Day Challenge offered by Ed Dale and his team. Or maybe you sign up with ClickNewz by Lynn Terry. These resources are free and full of useful information.

Though you learn fast enough to avoid the pot hole again, the nature of the Web is such, that there are thousands of newcomers right behind you ready to hit that hole just like you did. If they’re lucky they might join a forum and read one of your comments, but more likely than not, they are just going to have to go through the gauntlet just like you did.

The idea here is to find someone who can give the shortcut to decent information. Someone who knows it’s a business and that it takes time to grow a business.

“But you cannot fool all of the people all the time.”

This is the stage where you may not be established but you are much more aware of the context in which you are working. Hopefully, you have found some good reading to start with. Rosalind Gardner’s The Super Affiliate Handbook is one resource that comes to mind.

It will take time, money, and determination to hang in there. You’ll have to work the forums and ask a lot of questions, but you’ll soon begin to see things more clearly. The scams with lousy graphics, endless sales pages that don’t tell you what they charge. The so called “free” offers that are never free. It will soon be more obvious to you. You might even find a system that works for you.

If you are into sales, maybe it’s a product marketing system that teaches you to buy resell rights and shows you how to set up your business. Maybe it’s a Web site building system that teaches you to create you own business out of your hobby or passion.

Whatever it is, you have now developed the instincts and ability to see through the smoke. You keep your emotions in check and coolly test and cancel promotions based on your well learned lessons of product quality and market knowledge you now possess. You may not be making a fortune and you may even not be earning anything yet; but you are on your way because you can lay out a realistic plan to develop your business.

In many ways, online business is no different than offline business, except that in the former, you work at your own pace and answer to only one boss…YOU!

So keep up the hard work and may your travels be prosperous.

Tags: internet marketing program

What is the most sought after word? FREE- Give away a free report!!

March 22, 2009 by affiliate starting line · Comment
Filed under: Affiliate Marketing for Beginners, Affiliate Starting Line, Internet Marketing

Image via Wikipedia

Affiliate Marketing for Beginners—Help Your Affiliate Sales with Free Reports

Free Reports

There is no doubt a lot of competition in life and in business. As an affiliate marketer you are going to find yourself with plenty of company in the marketplace promoting affiliate online programs. As you build your business, you will want to stay in front of your customers so that they can think of you when the time comes to buy. One great way to do that is to give away a free report. What that does is provide quality content and effective care regarding their current and future needs. It leads to a building of trust and confidence in the relationship you have worked hard to establish.

Expert Status

Another benefit is that it confirms your position as an expert in your niche by giving you the published status associated with someone knowledgeable and concerned. The report is a digital product that will create a sense of added value and gratitude for the offer to address the concerns of your customer.

Convenience

The idea that your free offer is available 24/7 at the convenience of the site visitor and is downloaded on their computer, reinforces the notion of commitment and relationship building. A report is far less likely to be ignored or deleted as might be the case with an email originated by you.

Timing

Timing is everything. Write your reports as you see the need to promote a product or solution to your customers problem. Have a product on identity theft? Then when the shopping season takes off, it might be a good time to remind your customers that it is worth taking precautions to avoid the disaster of hearing the news from the bank or credit card company.

Content

Design the report to offer useful information as to the benefits of your product and service, and how your solution will make life better. In a report on identity theft, you could offer links to government and non profit resources useful to set up and prevent identity theft. You can include links to products you offer and other products related to the identity theft niche. You must be careful though to avoid heavy selling and promotion, so you want to keep the number of links to a reasonable number and make sure all your recommendations are related to your core niche.

Report Length

Reports vary in length depending on the subject. Some reports can be 50 to 70 pages in length. Generally, long detailed mini books command a fee. Free reports can vary anywhere from 5-7 pages to 30-35. An average of 15-17 pages is generally accepted as a good length for a free report. Length will really depend on the subject matter and what you know your target market is looking for. If the content design addresses reader interest and concerns, report length is really not much of an issue. Some information can be offered effectively in 3 pages while other content may require several chapters or sections. Your knowledge of the market and your planning and research will help you determine optimum length.

Conclusion

Free reports are a great way to build a long and fruitful relationship with your customer base. If you really believe in what you are offering the marketplace and the benefits of your product or service, then creating your reports will be easy and even fun. You will learn more about your niche and you will learn more about your customers, especially if you provide a way for them to give you feedback.

So give it a try. Do the planning and research and get your first report onto your Web site or blog. Offer it in your newsletter and watch your internet marketing program grow.

May Your Travels Be Prosperous