In my previous blogs, we touched upon how Affiliate Marketing Industry took its shape and who are the key players in this industry – the brands who want traffic on brand.com, the Affiliates who send traffic to brand.com and the Affiliate Platforms like Flickstree, who aggregate brands and Affiliates together.
In next few blogs including this one, we will see this industry from the lens of the Affiliate Marketers – or more popularly known as Affiliates, who send traffic to the brands.
Most Affiliates started their journey as Hobby Bloggers, and some of them became Business Moguls. I have personally met many Super Successful Affiliate Marketers, and some stories can clearly be classified under the “Zero-to-Hero” genre.
There is one common theme that emerges in all of their stories. Following a Step-by-Step approach. Their steps could be different, but they all have a Blueprint of sorts.
In this blog, I have listed down the key Steps that every Successful Marketer follows, to become the Affiliate Marketing Giants that they are today.
This could be your broad template, if you ever wanted to generate a passive income, or maybe, wanted to become a full time digital entrepreneur!
What’s type of Marketer are you?
There are two kinds of Affiliate Marketers.
- There are bloggers who write about what they love – travels, movies, sports, fitness, gaming, or any other niche. And over time, they find followers who love what they write. Then they start promoting some products to their followers that suits their narrative – the affiliate marketing bit.
This works pretty well for many, and can be classified as “interest-based” affiliate marketing.
Sounds intuitive, right?
- Then there are affiliate marketers who treat blogging as a business. They promote 25-to-30-to-50 different brands across various verticals. Some verticals they understand pretty well, some they don’t. Yet, they are able to promote and sell in each of these verticals.
People in the second category are the ones who have built Affiliate Marketing Empires.
Sounds counter-intuitive, right?
Simply put, finding the Best Brands and their Offers that converts into sales, is the Key. It’s all about the Research. And NOT necessarily about what suits your style!
What’s your writing style?
Your blog is the most crucial aspect of where the Magic happens. The difference between conversions vs the dropouts. The difference between creating a connection with your readers vs trying to sell them your Brand Offer. The difference between becoming a successful affiliate marketer vs remaining an aspirant.
Super Affiliates have understood this one piece so well, that when their readers read their blog, they hardly realise that they are being warmed to eventually buy a product.
Copy is everything. But what if it wasn’t that difficult?
Are you An Ad Artist?
After writing the blog, you need readers. Well, who else will otherwise buy the product that you’re promoting. But where are these readers if you have just started writing?
While over time, you aspire to get followers, promoting your article through ads is the easiest way to attract readers, and customers.
But promotion costs money. So cost of showing an ad vs. the Affiliate Commission earned becomes the key. Simply put, the math should work in your favour!
Creating captivating ads is an art! But is there a simple blueprint to that too?
Showtime begins! Are you ready?
You have written a blog, and created an ad. Now it’s time to show your ads on Facebook, Google, Taboola or any other ad network. It’s that simple. Or is it?
Who should I target? And where are my readers who will eventually buy?
5 years ago, it was pretty tough. Today, not so much. While this is an important aspect, remember, the real magic shall happen when your readers read your blog!
A targeted reader will drop out from a poor article. A not so targeted reader may still buy after reading a good article. Makes sense?
Can I talk to my readers, without talking to them?
There will be readers who will buy. And then there would be those who won’t. And then, there is a third set who would be in 2 minds – the fence sitters.
If these fence sitters can be converted with follow-ups, there is a goldmine out there. And what if these readers can be converted to customers automatically, consistently?
Below, I am laying down a simple template that Successful Affiliate Marketers follow. I will write a separate article about each of one it. And how you can use it in your affiliate marketing journey.
Step 1: The Great Affiliate Treasure Hunt: All about Research to find the Best Offers out there.
Step2: Content Choreography: The Science of Writing a Blog, that converts readers into Customers.
Step3: The Art of Attraction: Creating Captivating Ads to Promote Your Blog.
Step4: The Promotion Playbook: Strategies to amplify your blog’s reach to targeted readers.
Step5: Sales on Auto-Pilot: Automating Customer Reach outs for Abandoned Carts and upsells.
You now know the next set of blogs. These will be more focussed articles, with clear action items!
Saurabh
CEO, Flickstree
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