7 Big Mistakes New Affiliate Marketers Make

When I first started in affiliate marketing, all I wanted was to just make money. Off I ran in every direction, trying everything, with no real idea of the mistakes I was making that could very well affect my chances at long term success.

Through my years of experience with both affiliate marketing and teaching other affiliate marketers, I have come to the conclusion that there are 7 big mistakes new affiliate marketers make.
Let’s talk about these mistakes in more detail.

 

1) Selling Rather Than Helping

Yes, the word “marketing” is part of the phrase affiliate marketing, but for the most part, our job as an affiliate is not to sell — that is the job of the sales page our affiliate links lead the reader to.

When I first started, my overwhelming (and totally naive) impulse was to fill my pages with words and links that screamed “BUY THIS NOW!”. I didn’t help the reader learn why they should have this product. I only wanted them to click a link which would hopefully lead to a commission for me.

People want to hear from other people when making a decision to buy a product or not — that’s why the reviews on Amazon products are so powerful. Those reviews are genuine feedback from people who (usually) have absolutely nothing to gain if someone buys that product or not.

When we talk more like an unbiased reviewer rather than a high-pressure salesperson, we will find we make more sales and people will come back for advice on other products in the future.

 

2) Too Many!

This is another big mistake I made when starting out — joining any and every affiliate program I came across. While I absolutely do believe in cultivating multiple streams of income when working online, there is a point where you have too much to deal with and it becomes unmanageable.

Choose your affiliate programs wisely and don’t overload yourself.

3) Not Testing

Whenever I choose to promote a Clickbank offer (for example), I put myself in the shoes of a potential customer and opt in to test the vendors’ follow up sequence.

I learned this the hard way.

Nothing breaks a reader’s trust more than being led to a promotion that will blow up their inbox. Put yourself in the shoes of a potential customer and see what will happen if they follow your advice.

4) Not Tracking

This was a BIG mistake I made when I first started out. I began my affiliate marketing career using free-to-make web pages on a site called Squidoo (and I still do this to this day).

I am fond of promoting Amazon products on these pages, but would forget to use unique tracking affiliate links on each page.
Why is this a mistake? Very simple — when you make a sale, you want to know WHERE the sale came from. This enables you to know which pages are converting well so you can grow and scale that campaign.

Creating a unique tracking ID for an Amazon link is easy. Simply log in to your Amazon affiliate dashboard, click “Account Settings” at the very top on the right, then click “Manage Tracking IDs”. From there you can make a new tracking ID so you can track which web page/campaign sold what.  You can learn more about using Amazon’s Tracking IDs here.

Yes, making any commission is cool, but knowing where and how you made that commission is what makes you a better marketer. It lets you grow and scale your campaigns — as opposed to working blindly.

5) Not Comparing

One of the best converting tactics I use to sell affiliate products online (especially physical products from Amazon) is to compare the “main” product with two other similar products.

When people are in buying mode for a physical product, they tend to have their options narrowed down to 2 or 3 and need help making the choice that is best for them.

By comparing the “3 Best Widgets For _______”, I not only help my readers make a choice, but I also have my affiliate links there for THREE products instead on only one.

Over time, when I track that web page, I will be able to see which product is most interesting to readers and move the best converting product to the top of the page for better CTR.

Comparison web pages are not only very popular and helpful for readers, they are also very profitable for you.

6) Make Money Online Products

Perhaps you’ve seen this before. You’re in a “learn online marketing” type forum. A person publishes a post complaining that they can’t make a dime online. But in their signature line they have something along the lines of “I Made 50 Million Dollars with This” followed by their affiliate link.

It happens all the time. Please, don’t be that person.

If you’re new and you want to promote products in the Make Money Online arena, don’t make false claims that it made you money. In fact, don’t make false claims at all!

Sure, talk about the benefits of the product/training — maybe even why it sounds awesome to you — but don’t try to trick people. You will ruin your credibility.

7) “Oh Look! A Butterfly!”

This is the biggest downfall for any new affiliate marketer. In fact, it can cause really big issues for seasoned affiliate marketers as well.

It is all too common to be working on one thing when all of a sudden, something “shiny” comes through your inbox or is mentioned in a forum you frequent. Then off you go chasing some new idea to make money online.

Ignore the “butterflies” that are sure to fly by on a constant basis. They will just distract you from your project/campaign at hand. One completed and profitable campaign is worth so much more than 50 almost half-finished campaigns or projects.

Affiliate marketing is a business that requires self-motivation and focus. For many of us, these are learned skills. Once you are aware of the the mistakes that can cause a lack of profits and productivity, you will be better able to grow your business and be profitable long-term.

Best of luck!!

http://marketingland.com/7-big-mistakes-new-affiliate-marketers-make-19195 

5 Steps You Can Use to Find Your Niche

You want to start a business, but the thing that's holding you back is the market niche you know you need to choose. And, honestly, this can be tricky: You could list all of your interests and passions and still come away feeling as if you haven't hit upon the singular thing you were meant to do.

Yet putting that kind of pressure on yourself to choose the exact right niche may cause paralysis.
 
Certainly, you want to do your due diligence in selecting a viable niche business, but it's better to get up and running than to wait around. That way, you can test out ideas, enter the market sooner and learn from your successes and failures. That way, too, if your first business doesn't take off, you can always take what you've learned from previous attempts and move forward with new ideas.

If you're struggling to decide, or you need more data to work with, use the following five steps to find your niche.

1. Identify your interests and passions.

This may be something you've already done. But, if you haven't, make a list of 10 topical interests and passion areas, immediately.

Business isn't easy, and at some point it will test you. If you are working in an area that you don't care about, your odds of quitting will greatly increase -- especially as a first-time business owner.
This doesn't mean that you need to find a perfect fit. If you are passionate about some aspect of running the business, you will stick with it. If you don’t care about the topic, you may not be able to find the drive within to persevere.

Here are a few prompts to help you determine what your interests and passions are:

• How do you like to spend your free time? What do you look forward to doing when you aren't doing it?
• What magazines do you subscribe to? What topics do you like to learn about most?
• What clubs or organizations do you belong to?

 

2. Identify problems you can solve.

With your list of 10 topics in hand, you're ready to start narrowing down your options. To create a profitable business, you first need to find problems your target customers are experiencing, then determine whether you can actually solve them. Here are several things you can do to identify problems in specific niches:

• Have one-on-one conversations or idea-extraction sessions with your target market. Make sure to find or create a framework for asking questions that helps you uncover pain points.
• Peruse forums. Search Quora, or find forums related to your niche, then take a look at the discussions that are taking place. What questions are people asking? What problems do they have?
• Research keywords. Explore different keyword combinations on Google Trends and Google AdWords’ keyword planner. This can help you uncover popular search terms related to pain points.

 

3. Research your competition.

The presence of competition isn't necessarily a bad thing. It may actually be showing you that you've found a profitable niche. But you do need to do a thorough analysis of competing sites. Create a new spreadsheet and start logging all of the competing sites you can find.
Then figure out whether there's still an opportunity to stand out in the crowd. Can you still rank for your keywords? Is there a way to differentiate yourself and create a unique offer? Here are several signs that you can enter a niche and be successful, even if there are already other sites serving it:

• Low-quality content. It's easy to outrank your competition in a niche where other business owners are not creating high-quality, detailed content that serves the audience.
• Lack of transparency. Many online entrepreneurs have disrupted entire industries by creating an authentic and transparent presence in a niche where other sites are faceless and overly corporate.
• Lack of paid competition. If you've found a keyword that has relatively high search volume, but little competition and paid advertising, an opportunity definitely exists for you to upset the market.

 

4. Determine the profitability of your niche.

You should now have a pretty good idea of what niche you're going to get into. Maybe you haven't narrowed your list down to a single topic area, but you've likely found a few ideas you feel pretty good about. At this point, it's important to get an idea of how much money you have the potential to make in your niche. ClickBank is a great place to go to start your search.
So, browse top products in your category. If you can't find any offers, that's not a good sign. It might mean that nobody has been able to monetize the niche.
If your search does turn up a decent number of products -- but not an overabundance of products -- you're in luck. Make note of price points so that you can price your own products in a competitive manner.
Also keep in mind that you don't have to start your business with a product offering of your own. You can partner with products creators, advertisers and site owners in your niche to begin generating commissions while you're working on your unique solution.

 

5. Test your idea.

You are now armed with all of the information you need to choose a niche, and the only thing left to do is test your idea. One simple way to do this is to set up a landing page for pre-sales of a product you're developing. You can then drive traffic to this page with paid advertising.

5 Digital Marketing Tips To Increase Your Brand's Growth Online And Improve Ad Results

1. Clear Call-To-Actions

Buy Now, Book A Flight, Request A Quote--Whatever next step you want the user to take (which is typically the objective of your campaign) should be vibrantly displayed in your content.

Every successful advertising campaign contains a clear and compelling call-to-action (CTA). This “button” tells the user what the next step is and is how they get from the advertisement back to your site, moving them further down the funnel and closer to the point of conversion.

When it comes to selecting a CTA, you want to focus on language that is relevant to your brand, service or products, and completely obvious to the user. Anything ambiguous can confuse the user, and even if they click on the CTA, arriving to an onsite page that doesn’t meet their expectations won’t result in a conversion. That being said, you want to avoid generic language like “learn more” or “read more”—while this can be relevant to what you’re promoting, it isn’t unique to your brand, or even your respective industry.

Image Credit: Jet Blue

Jet Blue's digital ads feature compelling call-to-actions and unique messaging.

JetBlue uses language tailored to their industry and brand in their digital ads, as seen above.

In the example below, Sotheby’s has a beautiful digital ad campaign that promotes different destinations. The imagery is striking (another must-have for successful digital advertising), the text is readable, and it’s ultimately a clean design. However, there is no real CTA. As a user, I could of course click on the ad and be directed to their site, but there is no real incentive to do so and no real button showing me what step to take next. Simply adding a CTA button to this ad would likely improve the performance of these campaigns and result in higher conversions.

Image Credit: Sotheby's International Realty

One of Sotheby's digital advertisements is featured here.

 

2. Compelling Messaging

It should come as no surprise that messaging is important. With any digital platform, messaging is critical as it’s the core communication with a potential customer. In terms of digital advertising, when you don’t have a ton of copy space or even time to capture user attention it’s important that messaging be compelling and, most importantly, succinct.

You lose the attention of most digital users in just a few seconds. That limited period of time is all that you have to capture interest. Stick to messaging that evokes emotion or encourages the users to click through the ad, and keep it to just a short phrase. For many brands, this means highlighting their value proposition, showcasing their core values, or defining an incentive for the user.

Image Credit: Biotherm

Biotherm uses compelling messaging to encourage users to make a purchase.

In the example above, Biotherm incentivizes the experience for the potential customer. Their core message “Enjoy Free Shipping + 25% Off All Orders” captures the user’s attention and for someone already interested in their products, it’s likely to be that last added touch to convert. For all brands, this is an incredibly well done ad to take notes from. If you’re running a retargeting campaign where the user has already visited your site, for example, this type of incentivization could not only help you stay top of mind as the potential customer navigates other sites, but can serve as the final touchpoint before the user finally makes the purchase.

 

3. Designated Landing Pages

Whatever the content you’re advertising is related to, you should always drive users to a page that is relevant to that content. This simple step will help to keep users on your site, offer a better user experience, and ultimately improve conversion rate.

If you’re an athletics brand and you’re advertising women’s running shoes in an AdWords campaign, sending users to your women’s running shoes page will help facilitate the conversion process. The more relevant the page is that you drive clicks to, the greater likelihood that the user will follow though and convert. 

After all, your advertisement has captured that user’s attention enough that they clicked on the ad, so the likelihood is they want more information pertaining to that specific subject – not general information you’d find about your brand and entire line of athletic attire on your homepage.

Sending users to your homepage instead of a designated landing page that is correlated to the particular campaign can be a costly mistake. Users generally won’t search or navigate your site in search for the item they’re looking for. As a brand, bringing the potential customer as close as possible to their unique needs and the point of conversion is not only the best approach, but also the best user experience.

 

4. Imagery Matters

For each of your digital campaigns, it’s essential that you think about where you’re serving users with these ads. The likelihood is that the ad will appear while the user is absorbing other content somewhere else online, so the way your ad appears visually is important.

Using high-quality imagery that is telling as to what the ad promotes is one of the most important features for all successful digital advertising campaigns. Failure to use imagery that is captivating or visually-appealing doesn’t help capture the user’s attention. In the example below, Waldorf Astoria uses beautiful photos of their resorts to advertise to a targeted set of users. Not only does this stand out as the user scrolls through the page, it truly sparks interest.

Image Credit: Waldorf Astoria

Waldorf Astoria's beautiful imagery helps to enhance ad effectiveness.

For brands in the B2B space, or in industries where imagery may not be as “naturally” beautiful as a beachfront resort, there are still options. Focus on imagery that is bold, clean, and compelling. In a lot of ways, imagery should tell the story your brand is trying to convey and give the user a solid expectation of what you have to offer. This is especially important for new or potential customers that may not be familiar with your brand. If the imagery in your ads doesn’t stand out, they may not even recognize your brand or your products if they see them later on a different platform.

 

5. Test, Monitor, And Test Again

You’ve probably heard it said many times, that for any marketing channel, testing the effectiveness of your efforts is important. When you’re running digital advertising campaigns, this is no exception. 

Without monitoring your campaigns, how are you able to identify areas to continue focusing on versus areas for improvement?

Sometimes, seemingly arbitrary factors like time of day, language choice, audience segment, or image selection can really play a role in the success of your campaigns. For that reason, it’s critical that you pay attention to these factors and monitor which campaigns have which varying elements. If you’re finding success with one campaign, or finding an alternate campaign to be less effective, don’t be afraid to change it. A/B testing with digital ads, where you test ads with varying content, can be incredibly telling in which messaging or content resonates best with your audience—and often for reasons you can’t foresee.

Also, testing your ads before you implement them is critical. More times than I’d like, I’ve seen brands with fantastic ads pointing to the wrong pages, 404 pages, or with messaging targeted to an audience that I’m mistakenly segmented in. Take the time to make sure your ads are appearing as they should and are directing users to the right pages. When little mistakes like this happen, not only have you wasted the resources spent for this particular campaign, you’ve also adversely impacted the user-experience. This extra moment of testing can save your company a lot of money in the long run.

Driving Results With Digital Ad Campaigns
In this day and age, digital advertising holds a ton of potential. For most brands, it’s one of the most effective ways to get your company, products, or services, in front of a qualified and targeted user. However, if you’re not following the right guidelines to make your digital advertising the most impactful, the likelihood is that you won’t garner the results you’d most like to see. Keep in mind the above tips when crafting your campaigns and optimizing your conversion rate.

What do you do? What do you need help with? 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/gabrielshaoolian/2017/04/24/5-digital-marketing-tips-to-increase-your-brands-growth-online-and-improve-ad-results/#721b50c67494