I'd love to become an affiliate

[JayFCF]

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Hi all,

I have recently become involved in survey taking which is somewhat painstakingly slow earning me 0.25p for maybe half an hour of my time.

On using these survey websites I keep being offered the chance to become an "Affiliate Genius" you know the "earn 10 million in your first year".

I am interested in becoming an affiliate and understand it isnt a "get rich scheme" some some sites promote.

The problem I have is I genuinely haven't got the first clue where to start.

I have 1 website at the moment which isnt published that I am hoping to use to promote all aspects of the loan market.

Please could you give me some guidance as I believe the websites claiming to make you millions are charging a small fortune for the privilege.

Thank you very much for your time

[Keith]

You are right to disregard all the make $10million rubbish.

You are probably in the best place to learn about UK affiliate Marketing, read this forum, and read the affiliate marketing blogs, one in particular most helpful to new people like yourself is UK Affiliate Marketing Blog - Affiliate Marketing Guide - Affiliate Stuff UK by Kirsty McCubbin.

Promise your self you are going to do something positive towards your goal every day, stop dithering, publish that first site.

best of luck

[mainlime]

It just so happens a fine up-and-coming new affiliate has written some advice in his blog : Top ten rules for new affiliates | Leaving The Day Job

[tbp]

Im not sure if the loan market is the best way to start. It's extremely competitive, and also strictly controlled by the FSA.

I think you`d be better off picking a theme eg gifts, kitchenware etc, or a single product and work at promoting that to start with. Build a site based around it, optimize it the best you can for SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), or use PPC (Pay per Click ie Google Adwords).

One you`ve learnt more about how things work, and working as an affiliate, then you can move into the more competitive markets. Starting too early before you`ve found your feet could lead to you losing a lot though PPC, or getting despondant and giving up because you're not getting the results you want. Theres a lot to learn, so you need to pace yourself.

[zinc]

Welcome JayFCF

Everyone feels like that when they start out so just go with the flow, ask questions and read read and read some more....

Good luck

[Michael_Anthony]

We can help you, in the loan market, for free.

You certainly WON'T make $10 million in year one, but we have many members who started small and are now making over $1 million per year.

This said, you have to have a pretty healhy attitude to risk, and for every person that really cracks it, we probably have 50 who either make a reasonable living, or give up because it's too much like hard work, especially in the early days when the learning curve is steepest.

[JayFCF]

I do have a lot of experience in the Finance Industry and do have DP and CCL.

Like I said before I dont have any experience in Marketing although I have been reading up on it over the last few days.

I've found a download called wordtracker has anyone used it?

Do you think that maybe a used car site could generate income?

[kcheung]

speaking from an affiliate management point of view, you'll find that as an affiliate, to begin with you'll not get significant result, but as you persevere and learn your results will improve as well.

I make my own websites in my own time, (dj store uk on Squidoo) these don't generate any money as yet (I'm hopeful) but i do get a chance to see how SEO and affiliate marketing works without having to spend silly amounts of money.

Certainly, if you have any questions everyone on this forum is really friendly and helpful, and if you have any questions you're more than welcome to give me a shout (not that I'm the most experienced on the forum).

I'm currently working for Altogether Digital, and at present am actually helping an potential affiliate to build an affiliate site that converts effectively and maximizes the users experience.

Stick with it, you'll find that affiliate marketing is addictive and plenty of fun

[KirstyM]

Thanks for the mention Keith!

Lots of good advice in this thread, but I have to echo what Keith has said. Make sure you do one thing each day that will potentially make you a bit of money. Even if its a five minute job.

I still work to that rule. A day is not a success for me unless I have put one thing live that will potentially make me a bit of commission. Inaction is failure!

Good luck

[123debtsolutions]

Hi Jay

Nice to see you have left those other guys to try on your own.

As an affiliate your in control of your own destiny.

Remember that even though it isn't as easy as one would lead you to believe, don't give up and set achievable goals.

Don't be affraid to ask for help, there are lots of people here that are always happy to help and offer a different presepective.

Good Luck.

[JayFCF]

I have a question for you all.

You mention "niche" in just about every post and I just wondered is there anyway to tell if the product you are trying to market is "niche" or not??

I'm getting more confused!!

I really appreciate your help and ask you to bear with me as I really dont have a clue!!

Also what is the differnce in PPC and ADwords, Adsense and SEO.

Please help

[Keith]

Niche can also be construed as specalising

for example in the loan sector:

Student Loans
Bad Debt Loans
Loan Consolidation

could all be classed as different niches.

[JayFCF]

ok now that makes sense, but I also have read blogs that suggest you should do something that doesnt have many competitors.

On google if you search a term and it says page 1 of 2300000 is that not a good idea to jump into that market??

[kcheung]

niche products, are a compramize between volume of ppl looking at your product, and potential buyers.

eg. if some one searched for loans they may not be looking for the specific loan your offering so a larger % of users will not buy your product. on the filp side, if they do a specific search for your specific product, you can be far more confident they are looking for what you have to offer and so there will be a higher % who will by your product.

how this relates to competition is that in theory the more niche your product the less competitors and the higher % of convertable buyers, but at the compramize of volume of traffic
eg
search for extreme sports and you'll find lots of competition and site, as well and many people searching for that subject.

search for 'street lugeing in las vagas dressed as a chicken' and you'll probably find only a very small amount of sites as well as searches on that subject, that being said, despite the lower volume, its likely that the person searching for street lugeing in las vagas dressed as a chicken' is genuinely interested in that subject and will probably buy a product related to that subject.

[madeline]

Hi

I work for Calls You Control, a lead trading company, and it sounds as if our affiliate marketing scheme could be relevant for you. We generate calls for financial products (including loans) from a variety of media (including classified directories as we are owned by Thomson Directories) and sell these on to a panel of financial service providers.

To drive call volumes we have recently launched an affiilate scheme where relevant websites promote our unique telephone numbers - we sell the calls on to our panel and the affiliate receives a share of the cost per call paid.

If this is of interest to you then please get in touch when you are up and running with your loans site - good luck with it!

Maddie