Top ten rules for new affiliates

October 16th, 2007

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I’ve been trying to be an affiliate tycoon with varying degrees of success for four months now so I thought I’d put together a list of some of the things I’ve learned so far.

1) Don’t follow the herd

If there’s one thing I keep hearing over and over again it’s “find a niche”. Affiliate marketing is getting crowded and more sophisticated. Steer clear of the big shiny commissions that gambling, mobile phones and loans offer. Many first time affiliates go down those roads and quickly get disheartened when they find their site at number 10 million on Google for “cheap mobile phones”. Find a niche for yourself when you’re starting out. There’s a lot to learn before you can try to take on the big boys.

2) Read blogs

There’s a wealth of knowledge out there on the net for free in the shape of successful affiliates’ blogs. Take advantage of their tips. Use a feed reader or aggregation service so you can check them all in one go. Try Affiliates4u blogs or internet marketing blogs for a quick start.

3) Don’t be seduced by big name merchants

It can be reassuring to see a well-known high street name in amongst the huge list of merchants some networks have. Brand recognition counts for a lot and it might make your affiliate links more attractive to your users but generally the big name merchants pay the lowest commissions. Also there are more affiliates promoting them so customers who are shopping around are more likely to pick up a competing affiliate’s cookie before they buy. Smaller merchants are likely to pay higher commission and to be more niche in their product offerings.

4) Blog

Writing your own blog helps to channel and focus your thoughts and helps you to build networking connections with other affiliates. Try to be honest and interesting and don’t use your blog as an excuse to push affiliate links - other affiliates will see straight through you. A good blog will attract inbound links which will help build Pagerank; you can then link out to your affiliate sites and pass on some of that Pagerank.

5) Keep a very tight grip on PPC

PPC advertising (Google Adwords etc) can be a great way of delivering targetted traffic to your sites but it can also burn through a silly amount of money very quickly. Make sure you set a daily spending limit you are happy to lose if it all goes wrong. Don’t just add every keyword in the world on day one. Focus on one product and keywords specific to it. See what works and build out from there.

6) Don’t be afraid to make mistakes

You will not get it right first time. You will make mistakes. Don’t let it get you down. That which does not destroy you makes you stronger.

7) Don’t expect anyone to understand what you are doing

Outside of affiliate marketing nobody will understand what you are spending your time doing. You can show them your sites and they still won’t understand. They’ll ask if it’s legal. They’ll ask if it’s like spamming. Most annoyingly they’ll ask you to show them how to do it cause it sounds like an easy way to make money. Come up with a stock answer to their questions which is suitably dull and vague that they’ll lose interest and leave you to get on with it.

8 ) Keep proper records

You might not think you’re earning enough to be bothered with proper records now but you need to get into the habit before it’s too late. You don’t need an accountant when you’re just starting out but make sure you keep copies of all invoices and receipts and keep a simple set of accounts in a spreadsheet or a package such as QuickBooks. Register with Inland Revenue as self-employed. Read the tips at High Royd Business Services

9) Learn how the different networks and link types work

Each affiliate network is different. They have different portfolios of merchants, different tools, different payment procedures and different levels of support. Take time to understand each one. Four months in and I’m still finding features I didn’t know existed. Even if you don’t understand what all the different link types and content units and so forth are now at least you will know that they exist so when you find a need for them you’ll know what to look for.

10) Don’t expect to make a million overnight

I can’t emphasize this one enough. It takes time to be successful at anything. You won’t make a fortune overnight. I thought I’d be able to quit the day job within six months when I started; now I’m thinking one year or more like two and only then if I work really hard and have more than a fair amount of luck. This is the toughest of my rules for me to stick with. I get really frustrated if I can’t do something the first time I try.

It can be done. But the odds are against you. You need to work hard to succeed.

Leaving The Day Job