Breaking Out in Affiliate Marketing
22-09-2019
According to a TUC report from last year, the average yearly time spent commuting in the UK is up 18 hours compared to commutes from a decade ago. Rail commuters, bus commuters, and drivers all saw increases from past years. Those fortunate enough to walk to work still enjoy relatively short commutes at an average of 29 minutes daily, but the average rail commuter spends 2 hours and 11 minutes in their routine back-and-forth. If you’re dealing with the hassle of commuting, you may be inspired to seek opportunities that won’t require you to yomp to an office every single day.
That opportunity could come in the form of affiliate marketing. The surge of digital marketing success from affiliates has proved that it is entirely possible to set your own hours and build your own business. It may be intimidating to those not familiar, but an abundance of resources and technological advancements has made affiliate marketing accessible to many. Here are a few of the essentials of getting your start in this industry.
Defining Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is the practice of a company, usually an advertiser, that will depend on some or many independent marketers (affiliate marketers) to promote the company’s product or services and generate leads on behalf of the advertiser. Affiliate marketers will either deliver leads directly to one company, or they may generate leads for certain services—like loans or insurance—and market those leads to different advertisers. The keys to success for an affiliate marketer is to have keen insight into how to drive web traffic and possess an irrepressible work ethic.
Here is the most direct path towards getting your start in affiliate marketing:
Step 1: Find a Network
The first step in beginning as an affiliate marketer is to find your niche—the services that you are going to be promoting—and the best way to do that is to find an affiliate network that you can work with.
An affiliate network will not only give you fast insight into a niche that you can focus on, it will also give you the guidance and resources you’ll need to get started right away. You’ll have the chance to work with an affiliate account manager who will be able to walk you through the set up process and offer their experience as to how you can get off to a great start. An affiliate will also have a sophisticated platform for managing your leads and campaigns, so that you can keep a close eye on your business.
Step 2: Create a Strategy
The next step is deciding exactly how you want to generate leads. Working with an affiliate network will help you sketch out the framework—like setting up a landing page and understanding different ways to drive traffic. Then you’ll want to brainstorm as to how you’ll attract prospects to your site. Those who have no problems writing may see opportunity in creating tonnes of web content to rank high on SEO. Or you may want to focus on paying for ads on Google search. Social media is an option that can be used in conjunction with content or paid ads. It’s up to you to decide what traffic drivers you think will be most effective.
Step 3: Execute and Adjust
Once you have decided on your plan for generating leads, it’s time to launch your campaign and watch closely. Working with your affiliate manager, you can set goals for your efforts and closely track campaigns to see if you’re hitting your goals or not. It can be very important to work with a network so you can set your expectations for your first few campaigns. Generating significant traffic can take time. It’s best to not get frustrated by your earliest numbers.
A critical part of the execution of your strategy is to follow along closely with up-to-date reporting on your campaign performance. You may notice that certain strategies are working better than others and you can make immediate changes that reflect that. Being able to shift resources will help you optimise your ROI and build a strong foundation for your business.
Step 4: Sustain and Grow
After your first few campaigns you should begin to get a better understanding of the complexities of digital marketing. Hopefully you’ve experienced some trial and error that will be useful as you put future campaigns together. Digging into data is important as well, because that information can help you get a better return on your investment. Once you know how to put together successful campaigns on a consistent basis, you can start strategising for ways to maintain that success and scale up to grow your business.
With a business plan that brings in consistent revenue, you put yourself in the best position to operate as an affiliate marketer full-time and reclaim all that maddening commuting time for yourself.
Those looking to begin their time as an affiliate marketer should sign up with T Dot UK today!
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