What is it (according to me): you join an affiliate program, and get an affiliate link. You then find creative ways to post the link such that others will find it, click through the link, and take some action. Sounds easy, huh?
Well...if it was that easy, we'd all be doing it (or not). The first hurdle is getting into an affiliate program. In the past (say 5-10 years ago), you just supply your name, address and an email address, and POOF you're in!
These days, major advertising networks that offer affiliate programs screen applicants...sometimes by phone!
This is where I am today...trying to apply to affiliate ad networks.
OK...so once that's done...what next?
You need to find places to place your affiliate links. Not all affiliate programs let you do this...be sure whatever program you sign up for (I don't mean the advertising network, like Commission Junction, for example, I mean the programs within Commission Junction).
OK...back track...so you got accepted to an advertising network and signed up for an affiliate program that allows search engine marketing via click through links. And you've decided (like me) that you want to give this a whirl.
Now, go open a Google Adwords account (Microsoft and Yahoo have their own versions of this program that you could sign up to as well).
Set up a 'test' campaign, just to see how it all works - there are lots of articles on the web on how to do this.
Now the real fun begins -
Picking keywords
Here's an interesting article I found...and here's some text from that article:
There are two kinds of keywords- the kind that people search for and the kind that people do not search for. A keyword can be defined as a word or phrase that someone would enter in to a search box at Google or Yahoo. It is the search term or query. This keyword is very important for you to know as an online business owner.
You must know this search term for two reasons. 1) You must have a page that is dedicated to that search term. Choosing search terms is rather easy. Just ask yourself what word or term you would use to find your product or service. 2) You must know if it is possible for you to rank well at search engines for that keyword or search term. Determining if you can rank well is very difficult. After all, no one knows the exact algorithms Google, Yahoo, MSN or any other search engine uses to rank websites.
Let's throw in some examples. I have a website dedicated to strength training for women. I can safely assume that "fitness" is a word that people use as their keyword or query at Google. So I have now picked my keyword. Simple enough. However, I need to rank well for that search term. Otherwise what is the point? If no one is going to see my page on fitness then why create a page using the keyword "fitness"?
I can check out my competition by doing a quick search at the major search engines. If I type the word "fitness" (without the quotes) into the Google search box, it returns 799,000,000 search results. Gulp. How can I ever compete for a position in the first 3 pages of Google? The chances of me ranking well for the keyword "fitness" are very, very slim.
The fact of the matter is that most generic terms are going to be difficult to rank well for. You need to narrow your search terms down. You need to get nichier with your terms. You can spend most of your day picking search terms and then checking the competition numbers. This eats a lot of your valuable time. I built my online business by using a hosting company that completely eliminates this tedious process of keyword and search engine ranking data mining.
Writing good ad copy (I've found out that this is what professional ad copy writers call writing an ad...I guess just calling it 'writing an ad' doesn't sound nearly as cool as 'creating ad copy'). This is another skill to master...even for those teens Google AdWords ads.
I found this link Ad Writing 101 that may prove to be helpful
So...you have an AdWords account and funded it, learned a little something about writing ad copy (I'm cool now too), joined an advertiser's affiliate network.
You gotta do your homework on the keywords - Will they attract people? Will the attract people that will do what you want them to do once they click through your link? The latter is the important part. It looks like simply attracting people will quickly deplete you Adwords funds, as people will click through the link, and then not do anything on the other side.
Imagine this - you've set up all the various accounts, and chosen 'American Idol' as a keyword. But your affiliate link is for health insurance. Sure...lots of people will click through it, expecting to see American Idol stuff, and will not do what you want on the affiliate landing page.
So...do your homework on keywords!!
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