Tips For Creating a Successful Affiliate Marketing Program

Affiliate marketing programs are a popular strategy for earning income with an internet business. An affiliate program involves a partnership between an internet seller with an online store and an internet publisher with a website that refers leads to the merchant's online store. The publisher who refers a lead earns a commission from the merchant when the referral purchases a product from the merchant. Both the online merchant and the affiliate publisher benefit from the affiliate program. For the merchant the affiliate program is an inexpensive marketing strategy which will drive traffic to their store, increase sales, and give the merchant interested long-term customers. For the affiliate the program is a simple and inexpensive means to earn income. To join an affiliate marketing program a potential affiliate must first search for a merchant in their chosen niche who offers a good affiliate program. The affiliate joins the program and is given a unique identification and access to the merchant's special affiliate links and tools. Next, the affiliate places their affiliate links on their website, blog, newsletter, or social networking site. Then when a visitor to the affiliate's site is referred to the merchant's online store the affiliate earns a commission, sometimes for the lead itself, or for a resulting sale. Here are a number of good tips for the affiliate marketer. First, and perhaps most importantly, the marketer should choose high quality products to promote and then promote them by writing honest and interesting product reviews. These two commitments to high quality will allow the affiliate marketer to build a list of loyal subscribers who can be contacted and marketed to again in the future. Next, the marketer should create a website around a specific topic and fill it with valuable content devoted to a good selection of product options. This strategy will attract more traffic and produce more return visitors than will a website that is focused on a single product. When choosing a topic area the affiliate marketer should avoid picking too broad a topic but should narrow the topic to a smaller niche within the overall topic. This strategy will allow the marketer to take advantage of the many forums and social media sites that are devoted to more narrowly focused topics and which can give the marketer important free traffic to their site. The affiliate marketer should plan on making good use of forums, blogs, groups, and social networks that are related to their topic and products that they are promoting. The marketer should leave helpful tips and comments and then link their comments back to their affiliate site. Additionally, the marketer should use Facebook, My Space, Twitter, and Flickr to reach a larger audience. The marketer should post their articles, blog posts, reviews, and pictures on these social networking sites to drive interested readers to their affiliate site. Also, it is recommended that the affiliate marketer should use a blogging platform such as Wordpress to build a professional-looking affiliate site. Further, purchasing a professional theme will produce a better-looking site and will save time in the long run over using a stock theme. The marketer should write their own good product reviews but could augment their selection of general articles with private label rights article packs. These can be rewritten by the marketer or outsourced inexpensively to be rewritten, allowing the marketer to concentrate on what is most important. Finally, the marketer should plan on generating considerable free traffic to their site through blogging, article writing, and social media marketing. However, the marketer should also plan on jump-starting the traffic flow by using pay per click advertising. This plan should be used for a limited period until the affiliate site is running smoothly and attracting many visitors. A successful affiliate marketing program will benefit both the online merchant and the affiliate marketer. Each will be rewarded with income and pros