Do's and Don'ts of Affiliate Marketing

Most affiliates promote affiliate programs by using the link that is created by the product's owner. If you don't do anything else, disguise that link by using www.shorturl.com or www.tinyurl.com.  But, here are a few other tips to help you out:

DO:

Create your own website. This is the best way to promote your affiliate programs. Make sure your site matches the category that the product is about. For instance, don't create a website about cats if you're promoting household cleaning products.

DO:

Register a domain that reflects your website's topic, which in turn, will match the product your are promoting. If you plan to have a website dedicated to one product, try to use that product's name in the domain name.

DO:

Put reviews and articles on your website that are related to the product you are promoting. Search engines (and humans!) love content. Be sure to use title, keyword, and description Meta Tags that contain your product name and description.

DO:

Have your own newsletter. Starting your own opt-in list is the most important thing you can do for any kind of online (or offline) marketing. If you don't want to publish a full-blown newsletter, have a "tips" list. I have seen a simple "subscribe to my list" form on some sites, without explaining when they will receive a newsletter.

DO:

Create an e-course or autoresponder series with how to's and articles relating to your affiliate product. Create text links to your product to introduce your readers to the benefits of that product.

DO:

Write articles and submit to article directories. This is a good way to get your name out there and become "known" in the Internet circles that your affiliate product relates to. A good way to find directories to submit to is to do a search in your favorite browser for "submit + article".

DO:

Re-Write the ads that the affiliate program owner provides. After a while, you see the same old ads and headlines being used and, "click - delete," the ad isn't read.

DON'T

Put multiple products on one site - especially if they are not related. If you have a website dedicated to the product's "category," then try to have a page dedicated to each product. In this case, you might want to create a "portal" site that will contain links to review and articles for certain affiliate products.

DON'T

Promote a product you do not believe in or that you don't understand. The more you know about your affiliate product, the better.

DON'T

Don't use articles in your newsletter that have already been recycled numerous times. If you don't feel you can write your own, at least search for articles that are fresh and new. I get a lot of newsletters and one day I found the same article in ten different ezines. That can be very
off-putting and tend to make subscribers just "click" the delete button.

DON'T

Again, don't show your affiliate link in your ad or resource box of your articles. It makes it way to easy for someone else to steal just delete the affiliate ID - or insert their own for their own commission.

These Tips should help you get started on your way to becoming a "super" affiliate. And keep the readers of your ads and articles from using that "click - delete" finger!