By Karon Thackston © 2013, All Rights Reserved
After all the hoopla over Google’s latest update, I’ve personally heard from many website owners who are trying to recover from the loss of nearly all their traffic. The stories are sometimes downright heartbreaking. Regardless of how much we want to point fingers, the truth is Google’s engine belongs to Google. They are free to do whatever they choose. So where does that leave frustrated webmasters? Looking for alternate ways to build targeted traffic without Google.
In part 1 of this series, I showed you a simple way to set up a very effective, automated list-building system using a special report. Now I want to introduce you to the real world of affiliate marketing.
Don’t Get Caught in the Stereotype Trap
Sometimes affiliate marketing conjures up visions of hyped-up information marketers on steroids. That’s not what I’m talking about here. Affiliate marketing is something major corporations use to their advantage every day. Amazon.com, NetFlix, ProFlowers.com and literally millions of other companies draw in a hefty portion of revenue thanks to their affiliates. From emails to banner ads to even TV commercials, affiliate are the unsung heroes of many organizations.
Truth be known, affiliate marketing can frequently generate more sales for your business than you ever could alone. How? By giving you a powerful, global sales force that is willing to work strictly on commission.
Don’t get all caught up in stereotypes before you see just what this incredibly powerful marketing method has to offer.
How Does Affiliate Marketing Works?
It’s quite simple. You sell something (products or services). You offer to pay those who promote your products or services to others a commission for every sale they make. (You can also pay per action… leads calling your sales line, for instance.) When sales/conversions come in, your affiliates earn money… and so do you!
By paying a commission to those who have access to others, you can expand your reach in ways you might not be able to do on your own. After all, people buy from those they like and trust, right? So you’re getting an insider’s introduction to market segments you could have easily missed.
Is that it? In a nutshell, yes. Of course, there are lots of ways to handle all the logistics. You can have someone else run the affiliate program for you (such as CommissionJunction.com or ClickBank.com) or do it yourself. As I found out during an unexpectedly eye-opening trip to Atlanta in January 2010, there are more options than you can shake a stick at.
What’s a NAM and Why Do You Need One?
Those were the questions I was asking when Super Affiliate Lynn Terry introduced me to the whole concept of affiliate marketing (which I now use to sell my Step-by-Step Copywriting Course.)
NAMS stands for Niche Affiliate Marketing System. The founder of NAMS (David Perdew) holds two conferences every year in Atlanta: one in January and one in August. This is how I learned the legitimate, ethical and most profitable way to set up and run an affiliate program for my products.
What’s so great about the MyNAMS community is that there’s information designed for your exact level of experience from raw newbie to advanced affiliate marketer. The other thing I love is that it’s complete. It’s not just a forum. You get weekly webinars, website graphics, articles, checklists, comparison charts, accountability groups… it goes on and on. And yes, there’s a forum, too, so you can ask questions, chat with others and learn from the discussions.
From deciding whether you’re going to launch an affiliate program to optimizing every nut and bolt for maximum impact, it’s here.
Now you’ve got two new ideas to put into action so you can reduce your dependency on the Google Monster. There’s more to come in part 3.
Additional Resources
MyNAMS – Highly recommended! Been learning from these folks for over 2 years and I can attest to the fact that they teach affiliate marketing the right way. Come see me in at the next NAMS event.
Smart Passive Income Blog – Pay Flynn is a force to be reckoned with when it comes to passive income. Sometimes selling his own products, sometimes selling other people’s. Read all about it on his blog.
ClickNewz Blog – Lynn Terry, as I mentioned, is the person who formally introduced me to affiliate marketing. She’s another great resource you can learn from.
Online Marketing Consulting – Need someone to walk you through the steps of setting up your own in-house marketing system? I’d love to help through Internet marketing consulting services.
