I got an e-mail from a blog reader recently. He really wanted to get some advice on getting a start in affiliate marketing. Like many people who are strongly interested in giving things a go, he’s been having real difficulty working out just what you have to do to get that first precarious toe hold on the affiliate marketing ladder.

I replied to his initial e-mail and asked for more information on what he was trying to achieve and asked if I could publish my reply to help other newbie affiliate marketers.

Here’s what Mark wanted to know: -

Well I have often wondered whether it still is possible to do ok in this field, people say so many different things it’s hard to know what to do, but deep down Im dying to give it a go and see what happens.

Dear Mark,

You are facing what is probably the biggest barrier to entry in this area of marketing, so you’re not alone!

It is still possible for newbies to enter and do well in this field. Read the rest of this entry »

Ah, come on now. You surely didn’t fall for that did you?

And yet people do. Every day.

To be honest, it irritates me that people fall for straplines like that. Now, I’m not saying that the people selling affiliate marketing books / online income books are all fraudsters preying on desperate newbies who want to make quick money. But the ones who offer “iron clad” earnings guarantees most definately are. To my mind, this does two things. First, it gives the whole affiliate marketing industry a spammy sheen that it most definately does not deserve. Second, it disappoints people and adds a burden of failure to their aspirations to improve their financial situation.

So. What I’m trying to say is that if you’re someone looking for more information on affiliate marketing remember this: - If it sounds easy or too good to be true… it is. Save your money. Here’s what I think the biggest secret to success in affiliate marketing: Its hard bloody work, a lot of research, and a few failures before you get that first golden paycheque.

Another secret: - All the information you need to succeed is available for free on the internet.

So with that in mind, I’m going to chuck up a handful of places you can get good free information. If anyone has any additions to my list, drop me a line in the comment field and I’ll get them added. Purveyors of spam need not apply

I absolutely do not make any kind of guarantee as to your earning potential once you have read these information sources. That’s entirely up to you and your own entrepreurial flair… which is something no crappy e-book can give you (and something nobody else can copy from you and resell either).

This is intended as a starting point, not a comprehensive list. Good luck!

Affiliate Marketing Forums: -

There’s also a great series of podcasts for newbies over at Frasers Affiliate Blog.

Oh, and lets not forget my very own beginners guide to adwords PPC and the Setting up your first affiliate site guide by Steven Marwick of Virtual Cards!

Both of these have newbie sections, and seem to be pretty friendly places. Any question you might have is likely to have been asked already, so there’s great information in forum archives.

SEO: -

I love affiliate marketing. I eat, sleep, and breathe it. Why? I could go on forever, but here are my main reasons.

Every day I wake up, and it feels a bit like Christmas. I have a funny little feeling of excitement in the pit of my stomach and a great feeling of optimism. The cause? My one true passion in life, affiliate marketing. As soon as I open my eyes, that’s me… I have to get up, grab a quick tea and get straight onto the internet to assess what happened yesterday and plan my day ahead.

The other great thing about affiliate marketing, is that you don’t need to stay in one place to do it. You can take time off whenever you like and generally your earnings don’t suffer from it (within reason!). I’ve been travelling for the last 7 months and running my affiliate business on the road. So far I’ve been to Thailand, New Zealand, and half way round Australia whilst still earning 5 times my salary when I worked for an online marketing agency.

I feel blessed each and every day. Whenever I’m doing something amazing on my trip like swimming on a beautiful reef in Thailand, or sitting on an impossibly beautiful beach, I think about affiliate marketing… because it’s the real vehicle that has brought me to all the wonderful places I’m seeing right now. I do have to work part time on my trip… here’s a picture of me in my mobile office complete with internet connection from a 3G datacard.

Finally, I love affiliate marketing for its wonderful economy of scale. One person can run a business with virtually limitless turnover and profit. Once you have something set up and bringing in an income stream, you can move onto your next project again, and again, and again, and watch the turnover slowly build into something truly special. This is a simplification; but if I really told you guys how I do things, this post would be encyclopaedic in nature!

Affiliate marketing… I love you!!

Affiliate marketing seems to be ridden with bits of jargon that are almost certainly designed to confuse and bewilder the unwary newcomer. We just LOVE our abbreviations… SEO, PPC, CPM, EPC, CTR, CPC… the list goes on! Combine this with the many industry terms that we need to get to grips with just to hold a conversation with another affiliate marketer, and we’ve got a proper recipie for confusion.

With the pain of this particular learning curve in mind, I’ve compiled a reasonably comprehensive list of all the different buzz words we tend to get thrown at us on a daily basis. So if you don’t know your EPC from your elbow, this is the guide for you.

Check out my Affiliate Glossary now, and it will all become clear!

I see many new affiliates asking questions about bringing in revenue from PPC campaigns. Understandably, many new affiliates are completely daunted by the prospect of putting money into something they may not fully comprehend. When I was managing the PPC and affiliate programme for Greenfingers.com I saw affiliates sitting on terms that I couldn’t nearly make work within the margins available for the merchant.

I even once got an extremely annoyed e-mail from one affiliate demanding to know why he hadn’t made the money the programme’s EPC rating suggested he would when he’d “uploaded all your suggested search terms from Commission Junction”. I had to gently explain to the poor chap that the suggestions were extremely generalised and that it was up to him to find his own niche (I’m not completely heartless, I gave him some suggestions about how he could do this!).

With those kind of early mistakes in mind, I’ve compiled a newbies guide to PPC via Google Adwords. I’ve written this without going into detail about any of the current issues with Googles landing page algo as pertains to affiliate sites. The guide is purely about identifying merchants, and the way affiliates should think when working on their first campaigns.

Check out my Beginners Guide To Google Adwords!