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If you’ve been on the mailing list of a few internet marketing gurus for even a few months, you must have surely heard some wildly successful stories. Something that goes like – “I sent one email to my list of 64452 subscribers and earned $9388.77 within 24 hours”. Have you ever wondered how they do it? More often than not, these stories are true and it is indeed possible to achieve this type of success. But reaching such levels takes time – it does not happen overnight. If you really want to achieve success at affiliate marketing and are willing to do what it takes to be one, this article will put you in the right direction.

To begin with, you first need to pick a category of products or services that you wish to promote. To identify your niche, there are 3 things you need to keep in mind:

1. It should be something that you’re quite passionate about.

2. The product or service you wish to promote should be in demand.

3. Your target audience must be willing to spend money on it, or are already spending money on it.

Do not try to promote anything that does not meet these 3 elements, or you will be frustrated. Once you’ve identified your niche, you need to select the products / services. You can find them at CJ, AssociatedPrograms, Clickbank (for information products), etc. Some suppliers have their own affiliate program, but do some research before promoting them. You need to ensure that they pay you your commissions, and on time.

Once you’ve made a list of products that you would like to promote, do proper research on each of them. Check out what others are saying in forums; don’t just go by the testimonials on the vendor’s website. Make notes of the commission amount and percentage. Some even have a recurring commission, some pay on multiple levels and some pay commissions across all their products. Make a note of all this information in an excel sheet.

The next thing you need to do is actually try out the products. See if the vendor gives samples. If it is an information product, you may get a review copy or even the actual product. If it is an ebook, don’t feel shy to ask the vendor if he can give you a review copy. You will be surprised at how many are willing to give! If it is a hot product and you’re unable to get a sample, consider buying it yourself. Remember – if you have used the product and you are very satisfied, you will give full justice when promoting it. This is because you’re speaking from your heart. People can tell when you’re being honest.

Next, you will want to create a squeeze page (or a landing page) where you want your target audience to visit. This should ideally be something about the niche and also maybe about the product, but not a copy/paste of the vendor’s page. This should have an optin form where visitors can enter their name and email address. You may want to bribe the visitor by giving them a free report (that contains your affiliate link) or an ebook in exchange. Don’t just send your audience to the vendor’s page through your affiliate link. You want to ensure that you also keep the lead so you can send him other offers in the future.

Now that you’re ready, you need to identify all the places that you can find your target audience. Things like related discussion boards, yahoo or google groups, etc. Start participating in forums actively and have the URL of your squeeze page in your signature, with an enticing anchor text. Consider using PPC for fast lead generation.

The key takeaway here is – build your list slowly and surely. Be in touch with your list at least once a week. Don’t just pitch in your emails, give some good and useful content regularly. Ideally, your emails should be free content 75% of the time and promote in the balance 25%. This will ensure long term success.

I hope you found this article useful. Unfortunately, affiliate marketing is a huge subject and I cannot give it justice with just one article. If you’re really serious in being a successful affiliate, I urge you to visit http://www.bharatbhasha.com/affiliate-programs.php where we cover this subject in much more detail. It is a free content site, so do drop in!

Nirjara Rustom moderates the affiliate marketing section of http://www.bharatbhasha.com at http://www.bharatbhasha.com/affiliate-programs.php. This section is updated with new tips at least once a week, so do check it out.

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