How To Become A Powerful Affiliate Marketer Part 2

#4: Pay Attention to the Industry and Communicate with Other Affiliates The world of affiliate marketing changes every day. There is always a new tactic to implement, a change in the rules at one advertising service or another, a serious technology failure at one of your merchant's sites and so on. Even though affiliate marketers are rabidly competitive group, they are also quite helpful and willing to trade information and tips with one another. You should bookmark the following sites and make a point of visiting them at your convenience periodically:

http://www.associateprograms.com/
http://www.webmasterworld.com/
http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=6
http://www.affiliatesdirectory.com/

Day 5 - The Importance of Building a List Out of all the possible approaches to affiliate marketing, lead capture and list building represents the smartest and most effective option.Why?

A lost visitor is a lost sale. A lost visitor is the loss of potential repeat sales. Think of it this way: you're putting time and money into your advertising. If you aren't capturing your visitor's email addresses, you're basically throwing all of that traffic right down the drain. When you capture your visitors to your list, you open a whole new world of profit opportunities - not just for the short term, but for the long term as well.

The Benefits of List Marketing

You can educate your prospects. This will increase your conversion rate by giving you the opportunity to turn hesitant prospects into enthusiastic customers.

You can market to your prospects over and over again. Your long term profit potential exists in repeat sales. Never work for "just one sale".

You can double your return on investment while lowering your advertising costs. Once you've got a list in place, you don't have to limit your offerings to just affiliate product. You can bring in any additional, related products of interest to your list and make sales immediately without going through the same advertising process all over again.

Can you see the benefits yet? Why spend money over and over again sending people to the same page and "hoping for a sale", when you can capture them to your list and have full control over the conversion process?

Any other approach leaves you at the mercy of the merchant's web copy and the customer's mindset at first contact. You've got to lure your prospects in and expose them your message multiple times. This will save you so much time and money you'll wonder why you ever did it any other way.

Day 6 - Advanced Topics

We've come to the last day of the course, and it's time to tie up the loose ends and cover some advanced topics.

As you know by now, affiliate marketing can be incredibly rewarding when done properly. There are also a lot of pitfalls you need to watch out for as well. One of these is merchant fraud.

Merchant fraud, unfortunately, does happen. Merchants can use any number of clever tactics to cheat you out of your commission. One of these methods is to offer multiple payment options to customers without linking each one to their affiliate tracking software. For example, let's say that a merchant offers credit payments, payment via Paypal and payment via check to the customer.

The merchant tracks your affiliate ID up to the point of sale and credits you if the customer chooses to pay via credit card through the merchant's main payment gateway. However, if the customer chooses Paypal or check, your affiliate ID is immediately tossed.

The only way around this clever trick is an exercise of caution on your part. When you evaluate a potential affiliate program, check to see how many payment methods the merchant offers. Secondly, after you sign up for an account, examine you referral links. In fact, if you have the budget to spare, follow your own link and choose one of the alternate payment options and purchase a product. Did you get credit for that sale? Great! If you didn't receive credit, though, it's time to can that merchant and move on to more ethical waters.

Here's another 'advanced' tip to consider: use affiliate networks like Commission Junction to evaluate potential merchants. Joining programs via a network is often a better choice than signing up at individual, non-networked sites. The reason is simple: membership in an affiliate network imposes stricter standards on merchant behavior. You also have access to a wealth of data on the overall performance of other affiliates in that merchant's program. Last but not least, you need to focus on building trust among potential customers. If your merchant site doesn't do a very good job of this, then send your visitors to your web site. Make it clear what products and/or information you have to offer.

Also, be vigilant about posting your contact information in a prominent place. Anonymity might be fun in a chat room, but it turns off consumers very quickly. For an extra advantage, consider having your site evaluated "net cop" programs like the one at http://www.i-cop.org/, and get your site listed in the online section of the Better Business Bureau's web site.

Day 7 - Let's Work On it!

Now you are fully equipped, let's do some work today and rake in profits together!

You may consider joining our lucrative affiliate program here: http://www.pushbuttonhealthguide.com/affiliate_signup.thml

About The Author: Roy Chan is a wellness practitioner. Receive free weekly health tips and claim your 4 bonus gifts (worth $127) when you subscribe to the Health & Wellness newsletter. Go here now for details:   

Affiliate Marketing Products, Tools & Latest Resources to make Money Fasts

Email Marketing   Unlimited Domain Hosting $9.95 a Month  EbookPRO  AssocTRAC 4.0  covertLinks Advanced Link Cloaker  XsitePro Version 2.0 Website Building Software  PLR Article PRO Site Builder  Insider Secrets to Marketing Your Business on the Internet  Easiest Way to Build Your List  SuperAffiliates Handbook  Keyword Elite  Master Affiliate Marketer  Commission Blueprint! 

Earn Money Online Working on Computer  Make at Least $1,000 in 15-Days!  New Breakthrough Money-Making Technology  Working From Home  Work at home plan  Profit Online Without Selling Products!  Autopilot Profits!  Ewen Chia Instant Bestsellers! Tele-Coaching Program!  Revolutionary Breakthrough Technology that "FORCES" Cash Directly Into Your Pocket!Guaranteed!