How to get your first Affiliate Sale? With so much conflicting information out there, a different ‘method’ for success around every corner, which one do you pick when you’re getting started with affiliate marketing?
Before you go and spend a few hundred bucks on the next guru product launch, here’s a free, sure-fire method to help you make your first money online – without investing a single dime!
1. Sign Up For Clickbank and pick a product to promote
Sign up for ClickBank as an affiliate if you don’t have an account already. It’s free to sign up, and there are a huge number of affiliate programs to pick from. Clickbank is one of the easiest, fastest, and highest-paying affiliate networks to start with – although this method would work just as well with many others.
Next, you’re going to go to the Marketplace and find a product to promote!
This needs to be a solid product with an appealing pitch page – would you buy it yourself (or ideally, have you already)? Also, it helps if you’re interested in the subject. You’re going to have to create some content with this method, so pick a topic you can at least tolerate, and ideally are passionate about.
The last criteria is that the product is actually selling – a gravity of 25 or more is a good indicator. This will tell you that it’s a product that has sold and has a track record of success.
2. Keyword Research
Go to Google’s external keyword tool. Enter your target keyword phrase – the most basic phrase that has to do with your product. For example, if I’m promoting a product that helps you get six pack abs, I would type ‘six pack abs’ into the search box.
You’re looking here for search results of 1,000 – 10,000 global monthly search phrases that have to do with your product. Make a list of all these keyword phrases.
3. Research your Competition
Do a Google search for each target keyword in quotes. Here, you’re looking for under 10,000 optimized results. More than 10,000 optimized results and throw it away. Short of cash, many people use shared SEO tools.
Also, look at your general competition for each keyword phrase. Are the sites you’re going up against on the first page established sites with thousands of articles? Or are they web 2.0 type of properties that you can take over?
Make a list of all the keywords you’re left with.
4. Build Your Blog With Blogger
Now, you’re going to make a Blogger blog using your ‘#1 keyword’ as the title.
For example, ‘sixpackabs.blogspot.com’ would be ideal if the product you’ve picked to promote helps you get six pack abs.
But since that’s probably already taken, we can add: Dashes – ‘www.six-pack-abs.com’
Or alternate phrases, like – ‘www.sixpackabssecrets.com’ or ‘www.sixpackabsworkouts.com’
The important thing is that your target keyword is in the url of your blog somewhere.
Now, write posts around keyword phrases you’ve found. The more you write, the better your results will be. Make it a goal to write one 300-400 word helpful article a day based on the keyword you’ve found.
Insert your product affiliate link into these posts. Link to it when relevant, and you can also do a review post to talk about the positives and negatives of your product. Also, make sure to make your links very visible – this is how you’re going to get paid!!
5. Build Links and Drive Traffic
There are lots of ways to build links and drive traffic to your blog – among them are:
– Blog commenting
– Forum posting
– Article marketing
– Social bookmarking
– Guest posting
These are just a few methods – the idea is that you’re out there getting the word out about your blog and getting people to check it out. You need to be out there leaving at least several of these links every day.
6. Rinse, Repeat, and Get Paid!!
Keep writing content for your blog, keep building links and driving traffic, and you’ll make your first affiliate sale in no time!! If you make a point of creating new content for your blog and building backlinks every day, you’ll see your first affiliate sale in the first few weeks, if not much sooner, and your efforts will compound as you build your business.
So there you have a simple, easy and free system to make your first affiliate sale. Good luck with making some money online!!
Forest Vance is a blogger, internet marketer, entrepreneur, and personal development junkie. Visit his site money-making-blogs to find out more about the power of using free blogs to make money online and to get your detailed 30-day plan for generating your very own cash-generating mini blogs. You can also submit guest posts and share your affiliate marketing tips.