The Complete Definitive Guide To Affiliate Marketing 2020

The Complete Definitive Guide To Affiliate Marketing 2020

The ubiquitous rise of the Internet has had a profound effect on humanity, drastically altering the way we live and work. However, in our society on demand full of endless comforts, one of the most resonant benefits has been the ability to digitally obtain an income from virtually anywhere on the planet. It is an attraction that attracts a large number of people who are frustrated by the agony of life from 9 to 5, looking for ways to unleash the cordon of corporate responsibility.

Clearly, the temptation to become a digital nomad and travel the world, or just work from home at your own time, was born long before Tim Ferris's iconic 4-hour work week. However, for most of those who are attracted to this life full of the potential for income and wealth without complexes, along with the ability to make their own decisions and build a business around a planned lifestyle, marketing Affiliation offers a cliché path to wealth beyond measure.

For Dan Henry, the outstanding dream of living life and succeeding in marketing products or services as an affiliate was not only alive, it was lucid. Still, dreaming as he could, in 2011 Henry was still just a college dropout delivering door-to-door pizzas just to make a living. However, driven by a nascent desire to live on their own terms, I knew there was more to life than the existing pay-to-pay check.

However, like any other young adult, Henry struggled in life, unsure of where to go or what to do, fought for bad habits that included a chronic addiction to cigarettes. It was a product of circumstances, but that did not make him a victim. Like any other person who seeks to succeed, he knew that some serious changes in his life were in order. And one of those changes was the need to quit smoking, a habit he had abhorred.

Although he had tried countless times in the past, he had not given up. But this time it was different. His mood had changed. And something inside him clicked when he realized he could use electronic cigarettes to stop being "real." He implemented a system in which he used a brand of service station of low quality, and went from strong to medium and then smooth over a period of several weeks.

When he realized that it had worked and had largely eliminated the habit he wanted to get rid of for so long, he decided to share his story with others. Then started a blog. This was long before Henry discovered the great world of affiliate marketing. In fact, I knew little about selling something as an affiliate at that time.

However, his story was powerful. And the way he related his experiences on his blog resonated with others. He was honest and transparent about the pain caused by smoking, and transmitted his journey to quit. Very quickly, your blog traffic grew. People came to the place and Henry knew he was in something.

Over time, he began reviewing other brands of electronic cigarettes just to inform his audience. He methodically reviewed all the brands in the market and finally realized that the V2 Cigs were one of the best he could find. In fact, it was that exact mark that helped him completely eliminate the habit of smoking real cigarettes.

His blog became a great success. At approximately the same time, V2 Cigs informed him of his affiliate program where they paid 50% commissions. That was Henry's "aha" moment. Almost immediately after adding those affiliate links to your blog, your income exploded. I was earning more than $ 30,000 per month and it was a passive income. I was on top of the world.

Then, the dreaded updates of the Google algorithm arrived. After taking first place in the category of "electronic cigarettes" and "electronic cigarette reviews", which constantly drove large amounts of traffic to his blog, his ranking fell by a precipice. He tells me that he made a big mistake by relying solely on Google for traffic and not taking advantage of it to create an audience elsewhere.

After the updates, it was not found anywhere. It wasn't even in the first 10 pages. In fact, its ranking fell to the 126th list of "electronic cigarettes." Henry was devastated. He tried his best to eliminate poor quality links and reject them, but it was in vain. He had received a massive slap from Google. His heart sank.

Depression settled for Henry. But he did not wallow for a long time. I knew I needed to move on. Fortunately, he had saved a lot of money and bought his house in cash. He didn't need to pay the rent, but he also knew he couldn't.

This was in early 2013 and Facebook had been launched. Then Henry tried his luck with Facebook ads. And it was a success. He was able to reach the right people and pack the nightclub. Shortly after, he sold it for a great profit. But that was when he realized how he could combine the power of advertising and affiliate marketing to really take things to the next level.

Today, Henry is one of the leading affiliate marketers, winning contests and awards (even recently won a Lamborghini in a ClickFunnels affiliate marketing contest) in almost every way. And he has created a devout tribe that is so emotionally attached to him and his message that he has reached a level of collective hysteria that would only compare with an Internet celebrity, which earned him more than three hundred thousand dollars per month on autopilot.

What Is Affiliate Marketing? 

When you sell something to someone else and receive a commission for it, you are promoting as an affiliate. You are not just a salesperson who works for that company. You are independent and on your own. There are no thresholds that must be met. But the more you sell, the more you earn.

The beauty of affiliate marketing is that there are no limitations and you can make money effectively by marketing to many companies at the same time. This offers a low friction opportunity in the market because you don't need to create your own products or services to make money selling anything in this format.

However, don't get me wrong. Affiliate marketing is not easy. Unless you have an important audience or a platform, selling anything will require a significant investment of both your time and your money. The truth is that without traffic, you will fight. This is probably the problem that many potential affiliates face today.

I convey the story of Dan Henry because it exemplifies the power of this thing called the internet that unites us all. And while Henry has been successful on a large scale, many others have encountered obstacles, stumbled, fell and failed. The high failure rate helps to baffle and obfuscate this affiliate marketing world because many are trying to penetrate this market, but very few can succeed on a large scale.

That could be the reason why many people compare the marketing of anything as an affiliate, more like making a war than living in an easy street. The truth is that it is not easy in any way. Take time. And you can't buy all the hype. However, by taking into account some principles and steps, you can also master the world of affiliate marketing and earn money while you sleep. The trick? Stay persistent and don't give up.

How to succeed with affiliate marketing

When it comes to tacks, there are some important steps that must be taken to succeed as an affiliate marketer, and a general framework that must be followed. But before entering that, it is important to know the terrain and observe the macro aspects of marketing and the mentality of the buyer before being able to take advantage of that psychology to sell commissionable products or services.

One of the most important things I learned from talking to Henry is that there are two types of buyers in this world:

1.  Logical buyers: these buyers base their entire decision on difficult events and suffer from something called analysis paralysis. They overanalyze and judge each thing too much. They base their purchase decisions on data because they don't believe in you, so they don't give you their hearts and souls.
2. Emotional buyers: when someone buys a product or service based on their emotions, they believe in it. When people get emotionally involved in you, it allows you to build a massive tribe. These are the best types of buyers because their history resonates with them and they become firm believers in you regardless of what you have to sell.

This is important in the framework not only of affiliate marketing, but also of the marketing of anything online, especially when the products are their own products and not only receive a commission for selling them. Clearly, you need to generate excitement around the whole process. In other words, you must create an emotional bond with each stage of the sales funnel.

The word sales funnel is just a technical word to describe the purchase process. You can think of it like any ordinary funnel. On top, you would pour a large amount of liquid or oil or whatever else you decide to channel. As you pour, filter a large amount of whatever you are pouring into a defined space.

Like a real-world funnel, a sales funnel acts similarly. It attracts visitors through several stages before they become buyers. The way Henry explains it, if you're not creating an emotional bond during each stage of that funnel, you're wasting your time greatly. It has to start from the beginning, and must be carried out beyond the purchase.

This is how you turn visitors into shoppers into delusional fans. If someone takes the idea of ​​"achieving" in affiliate marketing seriously, or simply making an appearance of money online, they must comply with this unique principle. The better you manage to create an emotional bond during each stage of your funnel, the more likely you will be to succeed and even get rich through your efforts.

Understand the trip and the bigger picture

While sales funnels help illuminate the systems necessary for implementation and eventual success as an affiliate, they do not illuminate the overall picture. To understand an affiliate's journey, you must understand the four main components involved in affiliate marketing:

• Editor: the editor, who is you, requires the development of a platform that can be used to market products, services or information that you intend to sell as an affiliate. One of the most difficult aspects of this industry is to build a platform with a massive reach.
• Merchant: Once your publishing platform is in place, wherever you are, you must select the merchant. The products, services or information that you will market as an affiliate will come from a specific merchant. You must select a merchant with an offer relevant to your audience.
• Network: Every merchant worth pursuing is often part of a larger network of companies that extend their offers on an affiliate marketing platform. There are many networks out there. Sometimes, specific companies create their own affiliate programs instead of joining a larger network.
• Consumer: Once everything is in place, you must create content aimed at the consumer and offer value. If you try to sell at every step or create thin content that is simply veiled in an effort to promote a specific offer, you will not get the traction you are looking for to be successful in this industry.

The next 8 steps provide a deeper approach to becoming a successful affiliate seller.

[Editor] - Create platform and generate audience

Step 1 - Develop your story

Be transparent and create your story. Why did you suffer? Are you a reluctant leader or are you the hero who leads the charge? Be sure to properly convey your story so you can link the emotional bond between people who have no idea who you are. Why should they listen to you? What "secrets" have you discovered over the years? What failures did you suffer or what lessons did you learn throughout your trip?

Make people worry about you. You have to make them emotionally invest in you before you can sell them anything. In fact, Henry says you should never try to sell something immediately, at least not until people are fully invested with you and your personal journey. Russell Brunson calls this his attractive character. This is what allowed both Henry and Brunson to obtain extravagant income from their affiliate marketing efforts.

Step 2 - Create your diversified platform

The second step in your trip is to create a diversified platform. Why diversified? Well, when Henry was flying high with his Google search results, then he suddenly dropped past page 10 after an algorithm update, he tells me he wishes he had diversified. Instead of focusing solely on the blog, he tells me that he should have been creating a Facebook group, an online forum and other ways he could stay connected with people.

Instead, it focused only on one platform. When that platform failed, he lost his base and his position as an affiliated seller. He could not communicate with people who had once visited his website because he was nowhere to be found. If he had diversified, he would not have gone through the massive pain related to that change in classification.

Step 3 - Develop and nurture your audience

Once you have created your platforms, you must develop and nurture your audience. Communicate with them and connect with them on social networks. Respond to your emails. Commit to them in the comments. Do not make it difficult for them to reach you. You need to connect with your audience and develop that relationship over time. Henry tells me that if you manage to create this emotional bond or connection, people will follow you, trust you and, in most cases, buy whatever you offer them.

For example, when someone leaves a comment on a blog post, they should interact with that person, even if it's just to be thankful. This helps close that emotional division. Make sure you are aware of all the commitments on each platform. Do not let him consume it, but do everything possible to respond to people in a timely manner. This could make a difference to succeed with a sale or make someone overlook you. The more you take care of and develop your audience, the more they will believe that they become fervent buyers.

[Merchant] - Find product or company to promote

Step 4: Search for a relevant product or company

Once your platform is active, you need a product to promote. However, you should avoid the temptation to do this from the beginning. Get that emotional investment before trying to do this. If you start too early, you run the risk of losing a large part of your audience. Take the time to first create insatiable content and deliver huge amounts of value before trying to sell something to your audience.

However, when you are ready, look for the right product or company that is relevant to your audience. When Henry stopped smoking, his story was part of the big picture of selling electronic cigarettes as an affiliate. Although the success of his blog was short-lived at that time, at its peak, he was generating more than $ 30,000 because he nurtured his audience and built that emotional bond before trying to sell them something as an affiliate.

Step 5 - Survey your list

If you have taken the time to create an email list, you should take this opportunity to survey your subscribers. Consider asking them specifically what interests them most. I recently did this and the answers really surprised me. However, another thing the answers did was to allow me to laser-focus my affiliate offers in the right direction. This is invaluable information and comes directly from your list.

To do this, you must offer something in return. Use email providers such as InfusionSoft, MailChimp, ConvertKit, Aweber or any other to send email to a survey. You can use Survey Monkey to build your survey, but you must give them something in return. Will you give them a free cheat sheet? Maybe a downloadable ebook of instructions? Determine the best you can offer and make sure you are clear about what you need to do and what you will give them in return.

[Network] - Apply to related networks

Step 6: search for related networks

The fact is that most of the largest companies that offer products and services for affiliates to promote use larger affiliate networks to position their offers. Some of the largest affiliate networks include ClickBank, CommissionJunction, Rakuten's LinkShare, Impact Radius and many others. Sometimes, as in the case of Fiverr, for example, they manage their own affiliate networks, so it would be applied directly to the company.

However, keep in mind that you must send a request to most of these networks to be accepted. Once it is accepted, you are often required to submit your request directly to the merchant. Therefore, there are two layers or doors that you should avoid. That is why it is also important to build your platform and create that emotional bridge between you and your audience before trying to promote something.

[Consumer]: Create content to promote

Step 7: deliver a massive value

There are countless ways in which you can deliver valuable content to your audience. You can use your blog. If you don't have a blog (which is a big mistake by the way), you can use social networks, content marketing, video tutorials, infographics, etc. But your main channel to deliver long-term value will be your blog. Start building an early blog and stay consistent with it.

Not only do you have to create content that offers massive value, but it must also be attractive. People need to stay and read its content, interact with it and share it. That's when you know you have something great. And that is what it takes for search engines like Google to really stand up and notice.

Step 8 - Promote your affiliate links

Each network or merchant will provide you with specific links that you can use to promote whatever you are looking to sell. Be sure to analyze the details of any offer in which you decide to participate. Then, create your affiliate links and make sure sales and clicks are recorded in your account. You can use URL shorteners such as Bitly or the Google shortening to make links more manageable in terms of length.