My Approach to Affiliate Marketing - An SEO's Perspective
Let's say you are looking to make a living on affiliate sales and you are not looking at this as a hobby or a way to just earn some extra cash. So to make a living you set your goal @ $12000/month.
Getting Started (steps 1 thru 3)
1. Look for markets that offer either high commissions or high $ products/services (even if commissions aren't as high).
2. Look for niches within these markets that are very targeted to the customer purchasing the product/service with low to medium amounts of competition (ex. buy product x online would be very targeted, product x information might not be).
3. Find the right affiliate program (it's all about the math)
A few examples of programs I would or wouldn't join. The 2 main factors are Average $/sale and commission %
Example 1 <--Program I would join-->
Average Sale=$100/sale
Commission=40%
In this scenario, you make on average $40 per sale. If you average 10 sales/day, you make $400/day = $12000/month. 10 sales/day is very realistic and that is why I would join. I would try to hit this market from several niches.
Example 2 <--Program I might join-->
Average Sale=$1000/sale
Commission=10%
In this scenario, you make an average of $100 per sale. If you average 4 sales/day, you make $400/day = $12000/month. You only need to make 4 sales a day
to meet you $12000. It may or may not be realistic to get 4 sales a day considering the average sale price. Whether I join or not would mostly depend on
demand and competition to sway me one way or another.
Example 3<--Program I wouldn't join-->
Average Sale=$100/sale
Commission=5%
In this scenario, you make on average $5 per sale. Lets say you have 50 sales/day (which is a lot), you make $250/day or $7500/day. You would actually need to have 80 sales/day to meet your goal of $12000/month. This would be very difficult to accomplish, so I wouldn't join.
Example 4<--Program I definately wouldn't join-->
Average Sale=$20
Commision=Any %
Low $ products just are worth your time. It's not even worth my time to do the math :-)
Finishing Up (steps 4 and 5)
4. Build multiple sites that are optimized toward each of the niche keywords/phrases you have found.
5. Increase your odds. Repeat steps 1 thru 4 in several markets. "Don't put all of your eggs in one basket". If one market fails you (generally because you lose your search engine listing for one reason or another), you have other markets to fall back on.
Conclusion
Mainly it breaks down to working smarter rather than working harder! Don't get me wrong, a lot of hard work will need to be done to meet your goals.
I don't think it is necessary that the market(s) you are in are something that you are passionate about. If you can find good programs in a market you are
interested in, that is certainly a plus. If you are looking at this as a business to make a living at, this just might not be possible.
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