Monday, April 26, 2010

Learn Affiliate Marketing Quickly

Do you think that you can learn affiliate marketing quickly?

I thought so too. Maybe you are the exception, but if you are, my guess is that you would not be reading this. You are either still researching this topic, or are looking for an instant cure. So, why are you learning about affiliate marketing?
  • Have you been lured by the desire to work from home?
  • Do you want to be your own boss?
  • Do you want to set your own hours?
  • Do you want to work as much (or as little) as you like?
  • Do you want to work from anywhere in the world?
  • Are you trying for your share of internet millions?

Internet Marketing Reality

There is something alluring about internet marketing. This is why you want to learn affiliate marketing quickly. Quickly, because you want to make the quick bucks. It's easy! Right? Just build a website and they will come.
First let's start with building a website. You do know how, right? You know what a domain is, what a host is, where to find a host and you can write HTML. Right? If not, you have a technical hurdle to overcome.

So much for doing it quickly.

Okay, so you figured out how to build a web site or develop a web presence of some kind (e.g. squidoo). Now you have a few more questions to tackle:
  • What is the site going to be about?
  • What content are you going to put on it?
  • Who is going to create the content?
  • Is there a market for your content?
  • Who is it?
  • What affiliate products can you promote to this audience?
Polish your writing skills.

You need to write for two purposes:
  1. To convince your audience to investigate products related to your site, and
  2. To write so that the people looking for your information can find you.
So you built your site. Now the people will come, right? No, not really. A good deal of it depends on how well you did step two above. But the reality is...

You have to promote your site.

You Are Your Own Boss

  • Do you want to be your own boss?
  • Do you want to set your own hours?
  • Do you want to work as much (or as little) as you like?
Yes, that is part of being your own boss. But affiliate marketing is not a job, it is a business. It requires planning, time commitment and dedication -- all the attributes of a successful entrepreneur. Is that you? Or are you just hoping to put in a few minutes here and there, learn affiliate marketing quickly, and live on easy street?
Perhaps affiliate marketing can be your ticket to easy street. But it takes time, dedication and perserverance to get there. The dirty little secret is:

You need to work at it.

How do I start Affilate Marketing Quickly?

It seems so easy. Here is affiliate marketing quickly in a nutshell:
  1. Set up a web presence,
  2. Create content, and
  3. Promote.
These are the basic steps. But there is really a lot to each step.


One way is to start with what you don't know.
Web Presence
  • Learn about basic web terminology.
  • Learn what a domain is and how to get one.
  • Learn what a blog is and start one.
  • Learn basic HTML to spice up you blog entries.
  • Learn how to insert a link and a picture.
  • Learn about the basics of building a website.
Create Content
  • Learn about niches.
  • Learn about keyword research.
  • Learn how to define demand and an audience.
  • Learn how to write search friendly copy.
  • Learn how to write copy that converts.
Promote
  • Learn about article writing.
  • Learn about PPC
  • Learn about e-mail marketing.
  • Learn about link building.

There are all sorts of How to Affiliate Market courses out there. The problem is that the courses run the gambit of what can be done. Some are irrelevant to beginners. Others gouge beginners. And some are good.
Perhaps you signed up for a free e-book. It did tell you something, but could you use it? Is your e-mail box now overflowing with offers to teach you affiliate marketing? Watching a lot of videos are you?
Or are you trying to go the free route and are surfing the web relentlessly. Yes there is enough information out there to put together a plan, but you have to digest it all first.
This leads to:

Information Overload! I don't know where to start!

Wealthy Affiliate University

The best way to learn affiliate marketing quickly is through a structured course. Wealthy Affiliate University helps get you started learning with an eight week action plan:
  1. Learn how to get the most out of WA
  2. Choose a direction
  3. Marketing and keyword research
  4. Website development and pages that convert
  5. Creating and managing marketing campaigns
  6. E-mail marketing
  7. Analyzing and testing
  8. Creating a long term business plan

Get out of the overload. Click link below.

The Truth

Yes, you can still get overloaded at Wealthy Affiliate. This is because it has a great community. There is an active private forum for members full of great information, You can spend hours there. it can be a huge time sink. There is also a lot of advanced information there - a lot for a beginner to digest. So this is what you do:

  1. Join Wealthy Affiliates
  2. Unsubscribe from all of the promotional e-mails you receive from everyone else.
  3. Work through the eight week program.
  4. Invest in the Article Writing and PPC accreditation programs if you'd like
  5. Take action throughout your learning.

This is not a get rich quick scheme, and you need to take action. Follow the above plan, and you will be well on your way to making money online.

Sean_Kells Oct 27, 2009 @ 6:41 pm
Nice lens. As a fellow Wealthy Affiliate member, I can certainly vouch for the program. It's a fantastic learning resource and I highly recommend it to everyone. Sean Kells ReviewAroo.com