Author: Tiara Rea

Affiliate marketing is either the best or worst thing, depending on who you talk to. Personally, I love it, and that’s not just because I manage the Affiliate Program here at Lunarpages, although that’s as good a reason as any! I like affiliate marketing because it allows for faithful word-of-mouth, old-school type referrals. Though affiliate marketing gets a bad reputation at times, if you are marketing a company successfully, you can run a really lucrative business.

With that said, here are five quick tips to make your affiliate marketing a success!

1. Create Need

Odds are, you are going to be competing with thousands of others (or more) in your given niche, so in order to be successful you must stand out in your market. I work in the web hosting business, which is about as competitive as it gets, and yet there are numerous ways to make a simple Top 10 Web Hosting site stand out.

To think of these ways, you should first analyze your competition. What are all the other Top 10 Web Hosting sites doing? Once you figure that out, don’t repeat their mistake! It might be effective for a time, but if you don’t have natural Google rank or can’t afford to advertise to compete directly with these guys, you need something that will stand out and turn heads. Just like writing a good advertisement will bring more customers your way, creating an intense desire for your product above the rest is what will get you big bucks in the affiliate sphere.

2. Landing Pages Are Important

So many affiliates don’t realize the importance of a good landing page, but consumers do, so you better jump on that bandwagon ASAP. Landing pages, if you’re unfamiliar with the term, are just uniquely designed pages hosted off your main website that are designed with your campaign in mind. So if you have a Top 10 Web Hosting site and you are advertising in Google for “Lunarpages Web Hosting”, you’d better have a landing page that talks about the value of going with Lunarpages and not some other company you work with.

Landing pages should be targeted to the campaign you’re running but also conscious of the customer experience. For example, I wouldn’t want to land on a page that just said “OMG Lunarpages is so awesome! Buy now!” because it doesn’t tell me why I should buy or what Lunarpages is or does. Really sell your product, make the page stand out, and always, always, always include a link back to your homepage so they can view the rest of your offers as well. That way, they won’t be tempted to click Back and go visit someone else.

3. Proofread Before You Launch

Does that sound silly? You’d be surprised how many affiliates don’t take this rule to heart!

By proofreading, I mean really get down to check each and every link, read and re-read and re-read again all the text on your website, ensure accuracy with the information you’re providing, and make sure your website makes sense. I always recommend emailing the Affiliate Program Manager on staff at the company you’re marketing to ask their opinion. They want to sell the product as much as you do, so they should be able to tell you what works and what doesn’t. Better to know now than when you’ve already spent $500 in Google advertisement.

4. Think Outside Google

Hopefully the Google police won’t send someone out for me for saying this, but there are other avenues that can be just as lucrative as Google for affiliate marketing. The rule of thumb for this tip is if you are joining a competitive niche like web hosting, online gambling, ring tones, etc, try starting out in Yahoo, MSN, or even through using tools like the ones we offer free to all customers, such as LinkWorth and BidVertiser. Your cost will be lower and in most cases your conversions will be higher. However, if your niche isn’t as competitive, your keywords won’t be as expensive, so going with Google is still your best bet.

5. Communicate

Your Affiliate Manager is there for a reason – to help you make the most of your affiliate marketing. So take full advantage if there is an email, telephone number, or contact form where you can reach your manager. Ask them questions, give them examples of what you plan to do, and ask for their feedback. The best kind of affiliate relationships are the ones that bring income for both the affiliate and the company, so remember that as you email them. They want you to succeed and sell their products just as much as you do, and if you do well, you’ll likely be handsomely rewarded for your efforts.

Do you guys have any cool affiliate marketing techniques you can recommend? If so, please share!