The Extreme Newbie Buddy System

You don’t have to go into the affiliate marketing business with a partner; although for my sister, Karen and me it has turned out to be the perfect business venture. You will definitely benefit from having a few buddies, throughout the process. Karen and I each bring different talents and skill sets to the table, which works well, especially during the stressful times. Of course, you can do this alone, but our experience has proven that a helping hand here-and-there is a good thing.

Our greatest business asset, outside of each other, was our decision to share the learning curves in this experience with two other newbies. We began with a weekly, one-hour conference call to learn each stop of the process together, sharing tips, resources and lessons learned. We chose to use Affilo Blueprint 2.0 as our primary training tool, so each week we had tasks to complete, which kept us moving forward.

Along the way, each member of our team found resources and information to share that enhanced our learning experience. Together we’ve made these recent newbie discoveries we want to share with you:

You can build your own affiliate website or hire a contractor to do the work or purchase a pre-built website.

• If you buy a pre-built website, your purchase generally includes the domain name, a number of articles about your niche, an opt-in box and products to monetize the site.

• Buyer Beware: Find out if the seller will take care of replacing the their affiliate links with yours, i.e., your Click Bank name, so that subsequent sales from visitors to the site are properly credited to you. You don’t want to buy a website that’s set up to pay someone else. Many sellers will also take care of minimal installation of the site, for a small additional fee; some will even coach you through establishing your first affiliate marketing site. Just figure out exactly what you’re getting.

You can write your own content, hire a freelance writer online or purchase private label rights (PLR) articles that target your specific niche/topic.

• PLR content is written by someone and available for fee or free for you to edit, rewrite and claim as your own. We recommend changing the title and make word changes and text edits. Some PLR vendors require that you change an article by 30% or more.  Be sure to check the list of rights you get with a PLR purchase and always do spell and grammar checks before you publish.

Continue to grow your buddy list as needed. The goal of building a network of relationships is to help you sustain and grow your affiliate marketing business, whether it consists of one site or a hundred. Some good ways to network include:

• Join a group like Warriors Forum. It’s an amazing place to get quick answers to questions, referrals for various resources to help you build your business and those must-have tips and tricks.

• Learn about the tools and resources you need to maintain and market your site. Take the time to learn how to use these tools. Your learning curve will lead to profits down the road.

The point is that just like building a house, you don’t have to do everything yourself. This is the true key to your ultimate success. So hang in there, Extreme Newbies. There’s light – and income – at the end of the tunnel.

Hosting For Your Affiliate Website

If you’re getting into affiliate marketing, you’ll end up with a website at some point and want to find a home for it. That’s what “hosting” is in the online world – that place called a server where your website lives. There are a number of website hosting companies with even more features and benefits. How do you select one?

Well here’s a review site to visit, one of many that give you the skinny on hosting sites.  Remember any review site is bound to be someone else’s affiliate site – just so you know. But that’s OK, it’s where you get to see one of the more popular kinds of affiliate websites, something you can have after you pick a niche.

Just a few things you might want to look for:

1. Does the hosting company have a cpanel? That’s what you need for Wordpress which is the platform we are using for our affiliate websites. Look for our post on Wordpress here on Extreme Newbies.
2. What’s the monthly fee – and do you get a break if you pay annually?
3. Something new – is the hosting company eco-friendly? If this is important to you (and shouldn’t it be for all of us), look for green hosting. It’s out there.
4. Do they have 24/7 easily-accessible support? There’s nothing worse than having a problem at 1am and no one’s home at your hosting company.

Benefits of Being an Affiliate Marketer

Affiliate marketing has become one of the most effective ways to advertise online. It is also one of the easiest ways for anyone with a website to make a profit online. Affiliate Marketing is an agreement between a merchant and a website owner. The website owner, or the affiliate, allows the use of their site for the promotion of the merchant’s products by linking to the merchant’s website. In exchange, the merchant pays a commission to the affiliate on all sales generated by the affiliate. Every time someone clicks on the link on the affiliate website and proceeds to make a purchase, the affiliate gets a commission. The merchant will pay the affiliate only when a customer clicks on the product link and makes a purchase.

Affiliate marketing programs are described as a win-win situation for both the merchant and the affiliate because of the pay-for-performance scheme. Both the merchant and the affiliate enjoy some benefits in affiliate marketing. There are many benefits on the merchant’s side. It gives the merchant a wider market in which to advertise a product or service. Affiliate marketing will give the product or service the maximum exposure that it may not get with other traditional advertising techniques. The more affiliate sites a merchant has, the higher the traffic, which can convert to sales. Affiliate marketing is the equivalent of having an army of sales people who will do the advertising and will only get a commission if a customer purchases.

Meanwhile, since an affiliate marketing relationship is a win-win situation, the affiliate also enjoys many benefits. Foremost among these is the easy way to make a profit. The affiliate can earn by having an ad or link to the merchant’s website, which prospective customers will hopefully click and proceed to make a purchase. As soon as the customer clicks on the ad on the affiliate’s site, is redirected to the merchant’s website and goes on to buy that particular product, the affiliate earns a commission. The more referrals there are the more profit for the affiliate.

Affiliate marketing is an excellent way to earn money while at home. There are virtually no production costs. The product is already developed and proven by the merchant, and all you have to do to find, as many prospects as you can that will bring in the profit for both the merchant and the affiliate. Affiliate programs are usually free to join, so affiliates do not have to worry about start-up costs. There are thousands of products and services you can choose from. You can find affiliate programs for every product under the sun. Surely, there is a product or service out there that is relevant to your website.

In addition, there is absolutely no sales experience necessary. Most affiliate programs offer excellent support when it comes to providing marketing material. The simplicity of affiliate marketing allows you to be an affiliate marketer at the least cost and the most comfort. You can even build a successful affiliate marketing business right in the convenience of your own home. In affiliate marketing, your responsibility is simply to find prospects for the merchant; you do not have to worry about inventory, order processing, and product shipping. These, along with customer service support are the duties of the merchant.

Because of the global reach of the internet, you can easily find thousands of prospects. You can intensify your advertising campaign by exploiting more aggressive and productive strategies such as viral marketing. By attracting more prospects, you also maximize your potential to earn. Another benefit of an affiliate marketer is the minimal risk involved. If the product you are advertising is not making money then you can dump it and choose another. There are no long-term binding contracts tying you to products that are not making enough money.

All the same, the best benefit of being an affiliate marketer is the opportunity to increase your income; and you can make a profit even if affiliate marketing is only a sideline business. With your own affiliate business, you can earn easily earn extra income, although you do have to exert effort and use your imagination to maximize your earning potential. Indeed, affiliate marketing is one of the simplest and most effective business opportunities on the web today.