I have been doing a lot of talking with folks lately on how to get started as an affiliate.   What is the best way to do it?  What tools do I need?  What skills do I need?   What does it cost?

I’m here to tell you that anyone out there can get started in affiliate marketing for close to free.  How?

Well, there are a few things that you need to get started in affiliate marketing.

1. a topic or topics that you care about
2. a platform for your marketing
3. a top level domain
4. a method for marketing to your visitors again
5. time to research affiliate offers to find the right ones for your site
6. time to write about your topic
7. commitment to write regularly

You’ll notice that I started with “a topic or topics that you care about.”  I should probably modify this to say a topic or topics that you are passionate about.   What does it matter?   It’s everything. The bottom line is this: being a successful affiliate takes time and effort and if you aren’t working in a topic that you are passionate about, and if you are just in it for the money, you will have a really tough time at putting in the time it takes to get traffic and more importantly, to get the trust of your visitors.

I’m passionate about promoting Christian merchants and building a niche market of affiliates who have access to the audience that the Christian merchants are looking to market to.  This makes it not just possible, but fun and inspiring to get on every day and write something about what I love.

I’m also passionate about food - so launching a site or blog that is centered on food and food related affiliate offers is easy to commit myself to as well.

What is your passion?   Have you studied the topic?  Are you someone your friends would consider an “authority” on it?

This is a great place to start.

Part 2 coming tomorrow - we’ll talk about a platform for your marketing effort that is super easy to get into in terms of both cost and technical skills needed.  We’ll also talk about top level domains and what I really suggest that you invest in one.

God Bless,

Wade

I got a phone call from an affiliate newbie yesterday who was looking for some guidance on how to get started as an affiliate. Should she use a product like SiteBuildIt? Or should she do something else? What should she write/blog about?

I bump into questions like this all the time when I talk to followers of my blog and I never get tired of trying to steer people in the right direction here. I respond to their question with a question as well:

What are you passionate about?

I think this should be one of the first things we ask ourselves when it comes to any project that we undertake. Why? For a few reasons:

1. If you are passionate about a topic, it will be easier to commit yourself to blogging multiple times a week or even daily.
2. You will know more about your topic and be more willing to learn more through reading, product experimentation and online research and this means more and better content.
3. If you review and recommend products that you have experience with in an area you are an “expert” in, your recommendations will carry weight and your reviews and other content will be compelling.

Anyone can slap up a site or a blog and start writing on topics that they think will generate revenue, but if they really don’t know anything about the topic or care about it, they won’t be as effective as they could be and blogging or site building will seem like a chore. If you’re passionate about your topic, creating content won’t be a problem and it will show.

In terms of the Site Build It vs Blog question… I have to vote for blogging. Site Built It is a decent product and Dr. Ken Evoy is one of the best marketers in the business, but to really leverage his stuff, you have to be able to get through his instruction manual, which is a bit overwhelming for my ADD addled brain.

If you are new to the blogging game, and would like a kick-start, check out my post on Blog Classroom from a few days back.

Whenever I speak with new clients about affiliate marketing, the topic of blogging usually comes up (my fault most of the time.)

Many clients or prospects mention that they are worried about blogging because of users having the ability to comment on their posts and potentially post damaging or negative things.   They want to make sure that they can get rid of the negative comments if they want to to protect their company’s reputation.

Wrong.. I tell them.   The key is not that you have a negative comment posted on your blog, it’s how you deal with it.  If you leave the comment up and respond in a positive and constructive way, thanking the poster for their feedback and working to get to the bottom of their issue, you can turn around the situation.  Best of all,  you can do it in front of your blog’s entire audience and likely in front of Google and it’s searchers.

“But what if the person is an unreasonable jerk who won’t be helped?”

Well then… most likely, they will be seen for what they are.

Your blog is another medium for you to have conversations with your customers and prospects.  Embrace it and you will reap the benefits.

Web 2.0  (and beyond) is all about conversations.  Don’t miss out on your chance to connect with your prospects and customers through the blogosphere.

God Bless,

Wade

If you are interested in getting into the affiliate game, I have contended for the last year or so that the best, and quickest way to do this is by blogging. Why? There are a few reasons.

• Blogs are easy to set up and maintain
• You don’t need a lot of technical skill or programming ability to blog
• When formatted correctly, blogs get great rankings in Google - it’s a function of the fact that they are content heavy and of the link taxonomy
• It works for me. I am a total hack of an HTML coder and I made nearly $1000 promoting Affiliate Summit alone on this blog.

The fine folks at AffiliateClassroom.com and Rosalind Gardner have teamed up to bring you The Blog Classroom to show you how you can quickly and easily set up a profitable blog and get traffic in a hurry.

The Blog Classroom is in pre-launch and they would love you to come check out their system before it launches officially in a couple of weeks. They have some great videos in place from Anik and Rosalind that will get you off to a great start, from launching your blog, to getting your first visitors within an hour of set up.

Anik is promising some great deliverables over the 2 weeks of the pre-launch.

• at least 8 free video lessons
• 2 Teleseminars
• interviews with top bloggers

And this is all during the free pre-launch phase. The resources for the paying folks should be substantial.

If you are looking for that kick start to get into the affiliate business, I recommend that you head over and sign up for their free Pre-Launch Blog Classroom Course today. You can’t beat the price.

God Bless,

Wade