The Ultimate Guide to Affiliate Marketing
03-10-2017
Affiliate marketing is a digital marketing strategy in which the individual marketer, or Affiliate, earns a commission each time he or she generates a converted sales lead. Affiliate marketing can be applied to almost every single industry that can be accessed online. If a business wants to reach out to an online audience, then Affiliates are the go-to influencers and marketers for the job.
That doesn’t mean that all industries are equal in profitability. If you’re an individual marketer and you choose to advertise for a small, hyper-specific niche, you will have a substantially harder time driving traffic to your website (at least through organic search) because there isn’t already an established audience for your chosen topic. You would have to slowly carve out your own audience base for that niche. Now, if you choose a more popular and widespread niche, such as the financial loans industry, then you can be sure that regular traffic will come pouring in because this is one of the largest, most sought-after online services to date. The audience base is already set, and all you’ve got to do is join an Affiliate Network, optimise your website, market it, and profit.
The Basic Structure of Affiliate Marketing
The basic formula to affiliate marketing is simple enough to memorise the first time around. This doesn’t mean that it’s any easier to execute, however. The road towards success always require hard work at first, but once you get into the rhythm of lead generation, it should start becoming second nature to you. There will be moments were you can simply maintain your ongoing campaigns rather than being in hustle mode all the time. The great thing about affiliate marketing, however, is that there is always more to learn; whether that be newer strategies, better platforms, or industry news that affect your overall revenue as an Affiliate. Here’s what affiliate marketing looks like when broken down into five simple steps:
Step 1: Choose a Network
Choosing a network can be a toughie because there seems to be handfuls of networks out there, each one boasting the same things as the other. Yet, there are top networks in the industry that don’t have to say much because their reputation precedes their name. T DOT UK is known to have high payouts, optimal resources, available help and support, and detailed analytics to help you track your leads and attribute ROI to your various campaigns. Our online form is simple and easy to fill out, so if you want to work with the best network in the industry, sign up here.
Step 2: Appeal
After you’ve signed up for the right Affiliate Network in your niche, it’s time for you to optimise your web content to attract as much traffic as you can. Your ultimate goal is to drive as much high-quality traffic to your website as possible, so it’s a good idea to consider all forms of digital marketing (i.e. social referrals, guest posting, SEO, etc.). The only traffic you don’t want to attract is the wrong kind of traffic, which basically encompasses any audience group that doesn’t fall within your target audience. Not all traffic will be beneficial to your cause. Optimise your website to service the consumers who are actually looking for your service.
Step 3: Convert
Use powerful conversion strategies to persuade visitors to convert into sales leads by getting them to sign up with your online form. Here are some common, yet effective, conversion strategies:
- Make your call-to-action hard to ignore
- Proofread your content
- Include a clear FAQs and Contact page
- Get a professional, mobile-friendly website template
- Create a blog
- Use reviews and testimonials
Step 4: Profit
This next step is as rewarding as it sounds: enjoying the fruits of your labour. This is why you got into lead generation to begin with, so this step is crucial to your longevity in the business. If your Affiliate Network has high payouts that are always consistently on time, like T DOT UK, you will be a lot more encouraged to keep performing well in the business. Make sure that you choose the right Affiliate Network so that your rewards will match your efforts!
Step 5: Retain
Finally, the last step to affiliate marketing is customer retention. Unlike customer acquisition, where you actively try to search for new visitors and leads, customer retention is doing your best to nurture the customers that have already worked with you before. Believe it or not, people who have purchased your product or used your service are more likely to convert again than brand new customers. If you want to make the most out of your acquired contacts, keep marketing to your existing customers through email and social platforms. These interactions will keep them interested.
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